So High Above

Dylan Ratigan Tells It All

2011-10-19T15:42:00.001-05:00

Cairo or New York City, NY

2011-09-25T10:57:00.007-05:00

This spring the world witnessed the citizenry of Arab Countries around the world rise up against oppressive government regimes and demand social and economic justice. The United States Government feigned support for these uprisings with support offered by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama along with a host of Republican and Democratic Party Leadership. Today in New York City, New York in the heart of the Financial District young people are occupying and protesting against the economic and social injustice that has taken hold in the United States. Looking at their future, they see none, as it has been stolen from them by the excesses of the Financial Industry which has thrown the world economy and especially the United States Economy into chaos with their greedy quest for profits over growth and stability.

As the World watched the regimes of the Arab Dictatorships kill and arrest the protesters in an attempt to forestall the inevitable, the people of the world deplored the violence as did the people and the government of The United States. Now that the youth of America can no longer take a future without hope caused by the policies of the last couple of Administrations and the constant game playing of the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives, they are bringing Shadow of the Arab Spring to Wall Street. We all remember the scenes of the secret police in Cairo charging the demonstrators on camels and horseback bringing a backlash of world opinion that made it impossible for the Mubarak Regime to remain in power.

In the American Fall, the youth of America have found it necessary to make their voices heard, to call upon the leadership of America, to reverse the policies of institutional poverty, chronic unemployment and economic injustice where it is now in vogue to dismantle social programs and workers rights so that the rich can become the super rich, and the poor can become the slave class. On September 24, 2010 the New York City Police Department was akin to the secret police of repressive dictatorial regimes, man handling peaceful demonstrators and doing the bidding of the rich and powerful to keep the demoralize the threaten the youthful protesters who are demanding a future.

In 1968, when the youth of America was rising up to end an unjust war that was claiming the futures of their generation, the same Police State Tactics were used on the Campus of Kent State University where four innocent people lost their lives to National Guard Bullets and in he Streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. After the carnage at the Democratic National Convention in the Streets of Chicago the chant of the Protesters was heard around the world, "The Whole World is Watching!". In September 2011 in the Streets of New York City, this chant must now be revitalised, " THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!!!!"

Welcome Back - Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T10:38:00.005-05:00

The So High Above Political Blog has been on hiatus because the current the Bush Depression has also affected this writer's personal income, so time had to be dedicated to working more to stave off foreclosure and bankruptcy just as millions of other Americans.

First Happy 4th of July, a day to commemorate the founding of a new ideal in governance. A day that should remind us of the Revolutionary values of this Nation. many of the Founding Fathers warned in their writings that in order for this experiment to succeed the People must always be willing to engage in Revolutionary Change to protect Freedom and Liberty.

So High Above will no longer be published on a daily basis but on an as warranted basis, which may mean once a week or even twice a day as the situation warrants. Over the coming weeks So High Above will catch up on the Obama accomplishments and failures, the Democrats inaction, Governor Sanford, the Republicans in hiding, where did the money go, Senator Al Fraken, Governor Palin and the lack of a Stimulus for the American People.

Have a safe, healthy and happy 4th of July.

Returning July 4, 2009

2009-05-31T08:45:00.001-05:00

So High Above will return on July 4, 2009

Poverty Class

2009-04-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

The United States Department of Health and Human Services released the 2009 Poverty Guidelines. For a single person the Department considers $10,830 as the poverty level. Taking this figure in context that means that the United States Department of Health and Human Services believes that a person can live on $10,831 and not be in poverty. That would mean that the person would be able to maintain shelter, food and clothing for under $30 a day.

Since August of 2008, the American Citizen has seen the United States Treasury Bailout multinational corporations where their executives are making in excess of of $5 Million Dollars a year. So the Treasury Department sees the Federal Government as an insurance for the continuation of income for Executives who are earning more than $13,000 per day, while the Department of Health and Human Services believes that a person can live on less than $11,000 per year.

The United States Government does not have an obligation to secure the lifestyles of those that have prospered in good economic times and now find themselves in a position of losing their wealth and status. If the Government believe that a person can live on less than $11,000 a year then there is no justification for any Bailout of any Corporation. The Executives of these Corporations are far from the Poverty Levels as posted by the United States Government.

During the last eight years the debate over income equity all but disappeared. Again we arrive at the question is the best way to build an Economy from the top down or from the bottom up? The answer is obvious but the facts have been distorted by the so called "Conservative Agenda". An agenda that despise minimum living wage requirements but believes in rescuing Financial Institutions who through their own greed and excessive compensation of their Executives have landed in financial trouble. The average citizen does not even need a Bailout, they just need laws that protect them, such as limiting interest rates, late fees and other excessive charges that the Congress allowed in the Bankruptcy Bill of 2007. The most immediate thing that Congress can do to help the American Citizen is to revamp the punitive laws encased in the last Bankruptcy Bill.

Help Desperately Needed

2009-04-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

Congressional and Governmental help is desperately needed by the American People to regulate the loan sharking activies of the Credit Card Industry. Thanks to the revamped Bankruptcy Bill that was passed during the Bush Administration's Republican controlled Congress Credit Card Companies were given free reign to charge loan sharking rates on credit cards. Credit Card Rates charged by the credit card industry were always excessive but thanks to the revamped Bankruptcy Bill they now have the legal blessings of the Federal Government to set punitive interest rates that will keep Americans repressed throughout their lives.

The revamped Bankruptcy Bill allows credit card companies to randomly raise rates after a card holder borrows the money. If a card holder made a purchase at 3.99% interest and has been paying that bill in a timely manner, a late payment to another company gives the credit card company the right to raise the interest rate on the debt top them which is being paid on time. This was accomplished by the Banking and Financial Lobbyists who control ALL members of Congress, Republican and Democrat.

It is long past time that the United States Congress stop this insane system and return America to a Nation that is for the benefit of her Citizens and not the multinational corporation. Usury Laws MUST be re-enacted now, and the Credit Card Industry must abide by the law and have strict regulatory oversight.

The right Wing Radio Hosts like Sean Hannity are perpetrating this phony tea party protest throughout the US, what they should be protesting is the punitive interest rates that the financial lobby has been able to achieve by greasing the political treasure chests of Republicans and Democrats. The extreme interest rates charged by Credit Card Companies are more detrimental to the US economy than the tax rate.

Obama Administration Fails to Inspire

2009-04-02T10:00:00.001-05:00

As The Obama Administration approaches 100 days in office, there is a lack of an inspirational message to those suffering through the worst Economic Crisis of a lifetime. The Obama Administration was definitely handed a bad situation by the Bush Administration and as they try to unravel it, it appears worse each day. The problem is that the Obama Administration is failing to lead in an inspirational way, instead they are mimicking a lot of the Republican Policies.

The Obama Administration continues to be fixated on rescuing the Banking and Financial Institutions that created the problem using the same argument as the Republican Bush Administration, that these multinational corporations are too big to fail. An inspirational approach would be to rescue the middle and working class families from the depths of despair and as they are able to purchase goods and services the economy will recover from the ground up, as it should be. To continue the failed approach of trickle down economics championed by the Republican Party since the days of Reagan is not only wrong, it is immoral.

Banks and other Financial Institutions that can recover from the mess that they created by servicing a thriving Middle and Working Class are the ones that are worthy of survival, the rest should be placed into receivership, their remaining assets sold and the money repaid to the United States Treasury. It is long past the time to take the burden of the economic crisis off of the backs of the American Citizen and place it back on the multinational corporations that have caused the problem with their excessive greed, phony financial instruments, exurbanite salaries and conspicuous consumptive habits. The rescue that should be in place is the rescue of the American Citizen from the failed policies of the last eight years. If all the money that has been siphoned to the multinational corporations had been sent to the American Citizen, the economy would be on the verge of a boom instead of balancing on the edge of a bust.

Congress on Vacation

2009-04-01T13:27:00.000-05:00

The United States Congress is on a two week vacation. This is disgusting being that they have failed to accomplish much of anything at a time when the Nation is suffering the poorest economic downturn since the Great Depression and maybe the worst economic downturn of the entire history of the Nation.

Since this Congress has been in session they have failed to address the pilferage of the American Consumer by the Credit Card Industry that is charging loan sharking rates on consumer debt. The Congress has made sure that the most wealthiest Corporations in America received enough federal Bailout money to maintain the conspicuous consumption standard of living that they have become accosted to and they they have enough money in their Treasuries to continue political contributions even at the expenses of emptying the United States Treasury.

There has not even been one piece of legislation proposed by any Congress person or Senator to apply Usury Laws to loan sharking credit card companies, or to demand that banks and other financial institutions remove their back office centers from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines even after they accepted Federal Bailout Money.

The current scenario goes like this, Congress bails out the financial institutions that caused the mess, they continue to receive their unwarranted salaries, continue contributing to campaigns, Congress takes no action for the thousands of small businesses that are closing in record numbers, no help for the consumer paying loan sharking rates to the credit card companies. Congress then takes a two week vacation after voting themselves a raise while the rest of the citizens are losing income on a daily basis.

When Will Congress Work?

2009-03-31T15:21:00.003-05:00

The classic view of an empire in distress has always been summed up by the phrase, Nero fiddled while Rome burned". A new phrase can be added to the lexicon, "Congress played games while the People lost their Future". This Congress under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid seems to wander aimlessly from one fund raising event to the next without taking a proactive step in the direction of helping the American People. While they continue to appropriate Bailout Money for every multi-national corporate entity on earth not one piece of legislation has been proposed or enacted to stop these corporations from prying on the People.

We have a Nation where Credit Card Companies are worse than a neighborhood loan shark, where interest rates with late fees and over limit fees added to the interest costs of borrowing exceeds 50% in a lot of cases. Even with the best of credit worthiness interest rates are commonly exceeding 15% even though these companies are borrowing Federal Tax Payer Money at .5% from the Federal Reserve. There is a serious problem when the regulating body of a Country allows private corporations unlimited leeway in the way they do business. The Federal Government of the United States is charged with protecting Commerce across State Lines, yet they fail to stop the wholesale robbery of constituents assets by the floundering credit card industry that is a division of the banking industry that the Government continues to throw money at day after day.

The maleficence of the Financial Industry has basically Bankrupt our Nation, yet they are rewarded with Bailout Money from the Congress to continue the same practices that caused the demise of the Financial Structure of the Nation. While they spend excess amounts of times soliciting contributions to their political aspirations from the same corporations that they are charged with regulating, the Congressional Representatives do nothing about the loan sharking practices of the Credit Card Companies.

The Credit Card Companies are desperately trying to stave off the same fate as their Banking Parents by charging more and excessive fees and higher rates to the Citizenry at large with the blessings and deregulation of the Congressional Representatives who should be representing the people not the multi-national conglomerate. The reasons that they refuse to intiate any hearings or propose any legislation to regulate the the unsavory practices of the Credit Card Industry is because it is an industry that never says no to a Politician with their hand out.

Proposed Legislation should read, no entity in doing business under the laws of the United States may charge interest or fees exceeding 5% above the cost of Fed Funds, no entity engaged in the business of finance may contribute to the campaign funds, or Political Action Committees or pay for lobbyists to petition any member of Congress. Of course this will never be done as long as the Congressional Representatives continue to be fed by the Industries that they are suppose to regulate to protect the American Citizen. The failure of this Congress to act against the thievery that is occurring by the Credit Card Industry should be spotlighted in every media outlet so that they will be shamed into acting.

The Congress did not fail to vote themselves a pay raise, but they have failed to protect the buying power of the citizens wages. This Congress is a failure at a time of National Emergency, without a vision and a direction that will enable the Nation to have a strong and sustainable recovery.

USA Auto, Inc.

2009-03-30T14:05:00.001-05:00

The conclusion of the months of examining the Auto Industry by the Auto Committee appointed by the Obama Administration is that they are better off dead. After propping up the Auto Industry and letting them continue to burn cash, the Administration has basically decided that the Auto Industry would best be restructured in Bankruptcy.

The conclusion that the Bankruptcy Code is the best route for a streamlined Auto Industry is most likely the correct choice. The questions that arise from this conclusion are; Why did the USA waste Billions of Dollars waiting to come to this conclusion, and why is Bankruptcy not the correct choice for the Financial Industry.

The Financial Industry and the Auto Industry are both in trouble for similar reasons, bad management, greed, excessive loans, and no plan for the future. The Financial Industry continued to sell unregulated leveraged derivatives based on the premise that growth would continue indefinitely, every student of economics knows that this is not a true premise, yet, the Financial Industry in their quest for bigger and bigger commissions, profits and bonuses ignored the simple lessons of economics 101, growth is cyclical. The Auto Industry continued to build large SUV's because they were unregulated by CAFE standards, they made larger profits from them, and senior management paid themselves bigger bonuses based on sales. The Auto Industry had the opportunity and the technology available to build vehicles for the future, but instead put money into instant profit vehicles. When management and government have no vision for the future what we end up with is scavengers who are ready, willing and able to pilferage the future by taking advantage of the present.

The Auto Industry should have begun their road to alternative fuel vehicles in the 1970's, but through lobbying and keeping Politicians and Political Parties flush with cash they were able to have the regulations and laws adjusted to benefit their immediate needs instead of the future. Now that the future is here, the Auto Industry finds itself living in the past and unable to catch the future.

As the Auto Industry becomes part of the US Government, it is the responsibility of the Government to insure that a re birthing of the Auto Industry is midwifed through to a new vision and new vehicles that will benefit the society as a whole and not just the well heeled who amass profits from the advantages of the present. US Auto must recognize that the era of fossil fuel is dead and must be buried. US Auto must lead the way in alternative energy vehicles that will remove the needle of oil addiction from transportation. An Auto Industry must survive in this Nation least we become dependent on foreign vehicles for military needs, but it does not have to survive in its current form.

The Bull Market Lie

2009-03-29T14:46:00.000-05:00

After months of dire predictions from the various Financial Network Anchors, reporters and editors, these same people are telling us that the worst is over and we have seen the bottom of the economic crisis. Their reasoning is that the stock market has been rallying. However, a look at history will show that even in the depths of the most vicious Bear Markets there are rallies that often times brings the indexes up by as much as twenty percent before they reverse give it all back an tack on another 5 % on the downside just for good measure.

The important events in March that caused this rally are not the Treasury Plan, or the announcements by banks that they are doing better. Stock market rallies in the middle of a prolonged Bear Markets are usually caused by a beast know as short covering. This is when sellers of stock that they do not own begin to buy the stock to cover their position in order to lock in a profit. As they begin to buy stock to cover their short position it causes a short squeeze, wherein the volume of the stock being bought forces up the price causing other short sellers to buy creating more demand and even higher prices. When the short squeeze subsidies the Market price will again be dictated by the true valuations of the underlying corporate entity.

March is important because it is the last month of the first quarter and in order for money managers hedge fund operators and mutual fund managers to pretend that they were on the right side of things during the quarter they will buy the stocks that have done relatively well and report them as part of their holdings at the close of the quarter. This illusion makes their customers think that these managers know what they are doing because they owned all the right equities during the quarter. They just don't inform their shareholders that they only bought those equities in the waning hours of the quarter.

April is sure to bring surprises, it is the beginning of earnings reporting by the corporations for the quarter. With consumer confidence at historical lows and unemployment creeping up at record proportions earnings season is sure to disappoint the investors who will see that the economy did not have enough time nor stimulation to even begin to recover from the Ponzi Schemes of the Financial Institutions such as AIG, Citi Group and the like.

With the Government failing to help the average people of the Nation wade through the economic catastrophe caused by the unregulated trading of the Financial Corporations, consumers are at the end of their buying ability. Credit Card Companies left unregulated have forced thousands into bankruptcy on a monthly basis, and tens of thousands to just stop paying. Credit Card Companies will be the next industry crying that they can't make money even after charging people upwards of 43.99% interest over the last eight years of Republican deregulation shepherded by the Bush Administration. The other shoe that will drop will be the bankrupting of Commercial Real Estate Companies who are faced with their highest vacancy rates ever, this will force them to walk away from mortgages and loans that will again put a dent in the fragile balance sheets of banks.

When the TV Market Man tells you, "Buy Stocks Now", we are in a Bull Market, do not believe the hype. At most we are in a Bull Rally in the middle of a Bear Market where all of the bad news and depressed earnings have not even been revealed yet.

Andrew Cuomo and AIG

2009-03-28T13:24:00.000-05:00

The New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo seems to be the only elected leader that sees through the web of deception that is AIG. When the bonus furor came to the forefront, many elected leaders including President Obama feigned disgust in public but sought little legal remedies. Congress held hearings to publicly ridicule the AIG Executives, the President and Secretary of Treasury Geithner made public pronouncements but none of them began investigations.

Not only did New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo begin an investigation into the AIG Bonus Scandal, he issued subpoenas, set deadlines and demanded answers. Attorney General Cuomo was relentless in demanding the names and figures associated with the bonuses, and he was successful in shaming a majority of the recipients to publicly announce that they would return the bonuses. Of more significance is another investigation that Andrew Cuomo is pursuing in regards to AIG. Mr. Cuomo is seeking the answer that Secretary of Treasurer Paulson and the incoming Obama Administration should have sought, what did AIG do with the Federal Bailout Money.

The AIG downfall began with the issuance of Credit Default Swaps to banks around the world. These derivative instruments that were unregulated were secret transactions that were so complicated the purchasing banks did not even understand what they were buying. AIG sold these instruments under the guise of financial insurance against the deterioration of assets in a downfall, effectively insuring a default of a variety of other financial instruments. AIG was constructing contracts and charging premiums based on other pieces of paper that represented bundled assets that they were guaranteeing would not default. While the economy was charging ahead during the waning days of the Clinton Administration AIG was making money in the billions of dollars off of these premiums that they were charging for the Credit Default Swaps that they created. As thew Bush Administration crushed the growth of the economy with their liaise fare policies, the likes of AIG became more creative in constructing Credit Default Swapos and were selling them around the world to multi-national banks and national sovereign banks. These instruments effectively put the onerous of 6 trillion dollars on AIG if the economy started to deteriorate and these Credit Default Swaps came due. As we know that is exactly what happened.

Effectively, AIG went to the Republican Bush Administration and said we are Bankrupt and our failure to pay off the Credit Default Swaps that we have written is going to cause a global economic crisis. The Bush Administration bought the theory and began the Bailout of AIG which now totals over 182.5 Billion Dollars of United States Treasury Money. What Mr. Cumo is investigating is why did AIG use the Federal Bailout Money to pay off multi-national banks at face value, why were the payoffs of these Credit Default Swaps not negotiated as would have been the case if AIG had to decalre Bankruptcy. Effectively AIG took Federal Money and gave it to foreign companies with no questions asked by the Bush Administration or the incoming Obama Administration. Now someone is asking questions, New York State Attorney General has subpoenaed the records of AIG and wants the break down of who was paid off in full and what contracts are still outstanding. By most accounts AIG is still on the hook for trillions of dollars in Credit Default Swaps if the economy does not recover in the next two years. Will the Federal Government continue to throw money at AIG for bad business practices and how does it benefit the American People to hand money over to AIG in order to pay off these contracts that were written with no basis in reality. During the days that AIG was collecting massive premiums from these contracts their Executives lived the high life taking salary and bonuses in the hundreds of millions of dollars per person. Now that their Ponzi Scheme has collapsed they expect to be compensated from the taxes of the average American Worker that can never hope to even make 1% over the course of a lifetime what these people paid themselves in a year.

The entire Bush Rebate totaled 13 Billion Dollars to be split among all of the American People, AIG's rebate already totals 182.5 Billion Dollars, that means that the measly $400 check that you received from the Bush Administration that was suppose to stimulate the economy could have been ten times larger and still leave 5 Billion in change in the Treasury.

At least one elected official thinks that there is something rotten in AIG and is pursuing it to the best of ability. Surely, if Mr. Cuomo gets too close to the truth he will be stopped from continuing the investigation, for the games that AIG played are games that not only ravaged the US Treasury but also affected the Sovereign Banks of many Nations. The International pressure on Washington will surely have the effect of Washington trying to limit the scope of Mr. Cuomo's investigations and this will be the shame of the Obama Administration. The Obama Administration should back the efforts of Mr. Cuomo and assist his investigations by having Federal Investigations into the Corporate Structure of AIG and the individuals who wrote these contracts with foreign banks and governments and their relation to the same.

Obama Blows The Marijuana Question

2009-03-27T11:33:00.002-05:00

Billed as an online Town Hall Meeting, President Obama answered questions submitted online. Similar questions received votes and a question that received a lot of votes was about legalizing Marijuana which led President Obama to quip, "I don't know what this says about the online audience. The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow the economy".

President Obama missed a golden opportunity to modernize America's archaic drug laws. To have a President that has written about his marijuana use and cocaine use, it is an abomination not to want to lead the Nation in a more civilized direction in regards to drug laws and policy.

In Congressional Testimony on March 14,1995, David Boaz, Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute revealed some startling statistics, and although over a decade old, these figures are still mind boggling. In 1995, Mr. Boaz revealed to Congress that drug enforcement efforts in the United States accounted for 15 Billion Dollars in expenditures. This figure did not add the cost of prosecution, detainment, parole officers, probation officers, child care for the children of marijuana users who were incarcerated and a whole litany of expenses that go along with Marijuana Prohibition.

The last Administration demonstrated a propensity to ignore the lessons of History, and now the Obama Administration is showing the same propensity. The lessons of Alcohol Prohibition are very clear. Prohibition was an abject failure which gave rise to some of the largest criminal organizations that America has ever seen. Organizations that became so rich and powerful from circumventing the Prohibition Laws that the Federal, State and Local Governments still spend an inordinate amount of resources trying to dismantle them. Prohibition laws failed because the PEOPLE wanted alcohol and no law was going to stop them. With over 40% of adults over the age of 18 admitting to marijuana use in surveys it is obvious that the American Adult wants Marijuana.

The History of Alcohol Prohibition is being repeated on a much larger scale with Marijuana Prohibition. The cost of enforcement as of 2005 is now calculated at over 8 Billion Dollars a year just on the Federal Level, this does not account for the local and State resources that are wasted combating an herb. The costs associated with Marijuana Prohibition does not end with the costs associated with enforcement, the costs are astronomical in the Criminal Justice System that in 1995 prosecuted 696,000 American Citizens for possession of a plant. The costs to prosecute Marijuana arrests entail, the booking officer, the mug shot, the fingerprinting, the record retrieval, the detention, the arraignment, the defense attorney, the court stenographer, the court room security, the Corrections Officers, transportation of the accused to and from the arrangement and all the ancillary services that go along with running an over crowed Criminal Justice Systems and Penal System.

The arrest, prosecution and captivity of the Marijuana offender is only the beginning of the detrimental economic effect that Marijuana prosecution causes to the society. The incarceration, the parole and or probation all add costs to the arrest of Marijuana possessors. Then there is the lost GDP that is caused by the loss of productivity because these people are incarcerated instead of working. There is child care costs for the children of incarcerated offenders that is shouldered by the local and state governments, and there is non-economic impact of breaking apart families which are already at a crisis point in being able to survive together because of the economic policies of the Republican Trickle Down Economic Theory that has still not trickled down since 1980.

President Obama promised change but is failing to deliver. Real change would be to examine and modernize Drug Prohibition laws not only for economic reasons but for civil and societal reasons. President Obama dismissed the question as if it was absurd. The speed and the growing properties of the marijuana plant also make it an ideal plant to produce paper, clothing, oil, and bio-mass fuel on minimal acreage. So you see Mr. President, there is nothing absurd about the question. What is absurd is that a supposed progressive Democrat, educated at Columbia, an admitted Marijuana User himself would dismiss an opportunity to correct decades of damage done by the medieval drug laws of the United States. Drug Laws that wreak families, cause the proliferation of crime, the build up of criminal enterprises, the over whelming of the judicial system and the over crowding of the American Penal System ans are currently wreaking havoc in our southern boarder States with Mexico.

Obama Press Conference 3-24-09

2009-03-26T14:20:00.000-05:00

President Obama held his second Prime Time Press Conference on March 24,2009, his second Prime Time Press Conference since taking office January 20, 2009. Mr. Obama presented a brief statement about the various efforts of the Administration to heal the economic wounds left by the previous Republican Administration, they thoughtfully and politely answered inquiries from the press. Unlike the previous President Mr. Obama seems able to address questions from all segments of the 4th Estate regardless of their political leanings. In this regard Mr. Obama selects questioners from a wide range of media outlets and political persuasions throughout the conference. Most of the questioners focused on specifics and reasons of certain programs and the effect that the Administration hoped to achieve through their implementation.

Chuck Todd, from NBC, asked " Thank you, Mr. President. Some have compared this financial crisis to a war, and in times of war, past presidents have called for some form of sacrifice. Some of your programs, whether for Main Street or Wall Street, have actually cushioned the blow for those that were irresponsible during this -- during this economic period of prosperity or supposed prosperity that you were talking about.

Why, given this new era of responsibility that you’re asking for, why haven’t you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?"

The President gave an excellent response that shows he is well aware of the suffering that is going on throughout America because of the Economic Crisis, "Well, let me -- let me take that question in a couple -- couple of phases. First of all, it’s not true that we have not asked sacrifice from people who are getting taxpayer money. We have imposed some very stiff conditions. The only problem that we’ve had so far are contracts that were put in place before we took over.
But moving forward, anybody -- any bank, for example, that is receiving capital from the taxpayers is going to have to have some very strict conditions in terms of how it pays out its executives, how it pays out dividends, how it’s reporting its lending practices. So we want to make sure that there’s some stiff conditions in place.

With respect to the American people, I think folks are sacrificing left and right. They -- you’ve got a lot of parents who are cutting back on everything to make sure that their kids can still go to college. You’ve got workers who are deciding to cut an entire day and entire day’s worth of pay so that their fellow co-workers aren’t laid off. I think that across the board people are making adjustments, large and small, to accommodate the fact that we’re in very difficult times right now.

What I’ve said here in Washington is that we’ve got to make some tough choices. We got to make some tough budgetary choices. What we can’t do, though, is sacrifice long-term growth investments that are critical to the future. And that’s why my budget focuses on health care, energy, education -- the kinds of things that can build a foundation for long-term economic growth as opposed to the fleeting prosperity that we’ve seen over the last several years. I mean, when you have an economy in which the majority of growth is coming from the financial sector -- when AIG selling a derivative is counted as an increase in the gross domedic -- domestic product, then that’s not a model for sustainable economic growth.

And what we have to do is invest in those things that will allow the American people’s capacity for ingenuity and innovation, their ability to take risks but make sure that those risks are grounded in good products and good services that they believe they can market to the rest of the country, that those models of economic growth are what we’re promoting, and that’s what I think our budget does."

Mr. Obama's response addresses the immediate and the future, while reiterating that the American People are sacrificing on a daily basis because of the catastrophic economy that was left by the Bush Administration. The implications of Mr. Todd's question are that the American People are somehow being cushioned from the economic upheaval and that it is only affecting the Corporate Wealthy, and that the People should give up more to further the rescue of the Multi-National Corporations that caused the problems. Just the opposite is true. The Corporations should be sacrificing so that the American People can continue to live a life style that Americans have worked to achieve over 200 years. For Mr. Todd to suggest that the Corporate Economy is more important that the individual lives of the American People is a perverted concept that has been fostered by the Republican Agenda since the days of Ronald Reagan. To think that a Corporation and its survival and profitability is of more importance that the individual is no less than a fascist view and a degradation of the human being.

Exactly what did Mr. Todd expect the President to say, that the American People should give up a meal a day or refrain from heating their homes or buying clothing? Mr. Todd is obviously unaware of the cutbacks and sacrificing that the American People have been enduring throughout the last 7 years while the Press and Reporters like Mr. Todd gave a free pass to the Republican Bush Administration and never questioned the damage that was being done to the growth and progression of our Nation, our Society, and our Living Standard because of the Corporatist and Military Policies of the Bush Administration. Mr. Todd should offer to sacrifice some of his six figure salary to a family that is now living in tent cities because of the financial meltdown presided over by the Bush Administration while the Press and reporters like Mr. Todd failed to question the Constitutionality of their policies.

Build a Foundation

2009-03-24T15:50:00.005-05:00

The Obama Administration is stuck on the rebuilding of the banks as the way to solve the current economic situation. That might be a necessary element, but it is far from the only response that is needed. After eight years of neglect by the Bush Administration there is a dire need to address the downward mobility of the American Family. Not only has the income disparity grown throughout the Bush years to the point of creating two classes and almost making the middle class non-persistent, the disparity among racial segments of the American Society suffered greatly under the Republican Regime of George W. Bush to the pint the the wealth quotation of Black Americans is on 10% of the wealth quotation of White Americans. But this is not just a racial issue, the disparity between rich and poor has widened to an alarming rate throughout the Bush Administration and nothing that the Obama Administration has proposed will address this disparity.

Even if the Banking System is the priority at this moment in the economic recovery plan, it should not be pursued exclusively. Without purchasing power from the consumers a consumer based economy can not thrive. Mr. Obama talks about the extra money that the working class will see in their checks beginning on April 1, 2009 because of the payroll tax that he implemented, however the weekly sum is minuscule and will not add much to the weekly purchasing power of the consumer on a weekly basis. The Obama Team has acquiesced to the Republicans on a number of fronts and adopted Republican ideas, the Republican Idea that they should adopt that they have not is sending out Stimulus Checks to individuals.

The payroll tax cuts are a great idea for the long haul, however, there is an immediate need to foster spending at local stores and businesses that are closing in the thousands on a weekly basis. These small businesses are the life blood of neighborhood economic activity and employ large amounts of workers who are being ignored in favor of Corporations that employ thousands at central locations. It is just as important if not more important to stem the tide of business closures that employ a handful of people. It is these businesses that employ the most people in rural and middle America, and as these businesses close throughout small towns across America, it will cause these small towns to become like the ghosts towns after the Gold Rush, never to be revitalized again.

The Federal Government continues to throw Trillions of Dollars at the economic crisis targeted only to a few major corporations who are not stimulating the towns and rural communities across the Nation by spending the money in the small businesses that are the backbone of the American Economy. The Bush Rebate was the right idea, but it was too little too late. in Order to stimulate and grow the Economy on an equal basis throughout the Country, the money should be distributed to the people who are most likely to spend it as opposed to Corporations who have been and will continue to direct the money to paper investments and reserves. A program that will either put a large amount of spendable income into the hands of everyone either all at once or broken down to every sixty days for a year would do more to rebuild the foundation of the economy than any one Bank Bailout or Insurance Company Ransom Payment.

G20 March 14, 2009 Press Release

2009-03-24T09:06:00.003-05:00

Communiqué

Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, United Kingdom, 14 March 2009

We, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, met today to prepare for the Leaders’ London Summit. We agreed further action to restore global growth and support lending, and reforms to strengthen the global financial system. Restoring Global Growth

1. We have taken decisive, coordinated and comprehensive action to boost demand and jobs, and
are prepared to take whatever action is necessary until growth is restored. We commit to fight all forms of protectionism and maintain open trade and investment.

2. Our key priority now is to restore lending by tackling, where needed, problems in the financial
system head on, through continued liquidity support, bank recapitalisation and dealing with
impaired assets, through a common framework (attached). We reaffirm our commitment to take
all necessary actions to ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions.

3. Fiscal expansion is providing vital support for growth and jobs. Acting together strengthens the impact and the exceptional policy actions announced so far must be implemented without delay. We are committed to deliver the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth, and call on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assess the actions taken and the actions required. We will ensure the restoration of growth and long-run fiscal sustainability.

4. Interest rates have been cut aggressively in most countries, and G20 central banks will maintain expansionary policies as long as needed, using the full range of monetary policy instruments, including unconventional policy instruments, consistent with price stability.

5. We are committed to helping emerging and developing economies to cope with the reversal in
international capital flows. We recognise the urgent need to pursue all options for mobilising
International Financial Institution (IFI) resources and liquidity to finance countercyclical spending, bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, rollover risk and social support. We agreed on the urgent need to increase IMF resources very substantially. This could include further bilateral support, a significantly expanded and increased New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), and an accelerated quota review. We should also ensure that all Multilateral Development Banks have the capital they need, beginning with a substantial capital increase for the Asian Development Bank, and put it to best use to help the world’s poorest. We welcomed the progress by the IMF and World Bank in introducing new and enhanced instruments, including the development of a new high-access, quick-disbursing precautionary facility.
Strengthening the Financial System

6. To further strengthen the global financial system we have completed the immediate steps in theWashington Action Plan and we welcome the Financial Stability Forum’s (FSF) expansion to allG20 members. We remain focused on the medium term actions, and make recommendations to the London Summit to ensure:
• all systemically important financial institutions, markets and instruments are subject to an
appropriate degree of regulation and oversight, and that hedge funds or their managers are
registered and disclose appropriate information to assess the risks they pose;
• stronger regulation is reinforced by strengthened macro-prudential oversight to prevent the
build-up of systemic risk;
• financial regulations dampen rather than amplify economic cycles, including by building buffers
of resources during the good times and measures to constrain leverage; but it is vital that
capital requirements remain unchanged until recovery is assured; and,
• strengthened international cooperation to prevent and resolve crises, including through
supervisory colleges, institutional reinforcement of the FSF, and the launch of an IMF/FSF Early
Warning Exercise.

7. We have also agreed to: regulatory oversight, including registration, of all Credit Rating Agencies whose ratings are used for regulatory purposes, and compliance with the International
Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) code; full transparency of exposures to offbalance sheet vehicles; the need for improvements in accounting standards, including for
provisioning and valuation uncertainty; greater standardisation and resilience of credit derivatives markets; the FSF’s sound practice principles for compensation; and the relevant international bodies identify non-cooperative jurisdictions and to develop a tool box of effective counter measures.

8. To strengthen the effectiveness and legitimacy of the IFIs we must enhance their governance and ensure they fully reflect changes in the world economy. Emerging and developing economies,
including the poorest, should have greater voice and representation and the next review of IMF
quotas should be concluded by January 2011. The package of quota and voice measures
decided in April 2008 should be swiftly implemented. World Bank reforms should be completed by the Spring Meetings 2010. The heads of the IFIs should be appointed through open, merit based selection processes.

Coulter on Hannity

2009-03-23T17:29:00.003-05:00

Ann Coulter appearing on the new Sean Hannity Show on Fox News, entitled Hannity's America, had the audacity to call the current financial crisis, " The Obama Recession", with Hannity concurring. Both of these two right wing talking point hosts are shills for the Republican Party and continue to plant the seeds of divisiveness and hatred through their appearances and statements. We are lucky that History is not written by the likes of Hannity and Coulter, according to their remembrance of History, the economy was just fine until President Obama took office just a few short weeks ago, and it is his fault that unemployment continues to rise.

Ms. Coulter even said that Wall Street Executives are basically Democrats not Republicans. Talk about reconstructing reality and as far as can be seen Ms. Coulter does not use hallucinogenics. Ms. Coulter and Mr. Hannity continued to feed each other through a segment that is entitled the Great American Panel, which on Sunday Night consisted of Ms. Coulter, a Democratic Pollster (or so he was billed) and a former Ms. America. Whenever Sean Hannity asked the former Ms. America a question he referred to her being a former Ms. America as if this qualified her as an expert on the American Economy.

Fox News obviously realizes it is going to be a long four years of trying to defend the damage done to our Nation by the Bush Administration, so they will be content to rewrite the History of that Administration and continue to throw insults at half truths at the Obama Administration hoping that something will stick. Coulter and Hannity are perfect together one lies and other swears to it then they trade places.

Senator Gregg

2009-03-22T12:07:00.003-05:00

Senator Gregg, Republican from NH, who accepted then declined the appointment to Secretary of Commerce by President Obama, went on State of the Nation on Sunday and declared that the Obama Budget will Bankrupt the Nation. Does Senator Gregg realize that the Nation was Bankrupt by the Republican Economic Policies, the unwarranted invasion of TWO sovereign nations, and the deregulation of the Financial, Investment and Insurance Industries by the Republicans since 1981.

Senator Gregg bowed out of being the Commence Secretary after the Republican Leadership made disparaging comments about Republicans who join the Obama Administration and by right wing ideologues who have talk radio shows. Now Senator Gregg is spitting out the rhetoric that these right wing radio hosts spew on a daily basis. When President Clinton left office the Nation had a surplus and a growing economy, with the population raising through the economic classes at a rate never before seen in the History of America. Within one year of taking office the policies of George W. Bush and The Republican Congress turned a National Surplus into a National Deficit. Senator Gregg is disillusioned if he thinks the Obama Administration is the cause of the current mess.

Most World Economists agree that the way to stimulate an economy as ravaged as the U.S. Economy has become, is for the Central Government to spend money on massive infrastructure projects that will immediately create jobs, cause demand for goods and services and keep money flowing into the hands of consumers on a weekly basis. What is Senator Gregg's proposal, to maintain the policies of tax cuts for the rich, deregulate and eliminate government oversight, policies that have proven themselves to be failures by their implementation over the last eight years.

Senator Gregg claimed on State of the Union that the Obama Budget will Bankrupt the Nation. New Flash for Senator Gregg, The Nation is already Bankrupt, it was led into receivership under the policies of George W. Bush and The Republican Party in conjunction with Military Excursions and Corporate deregulation and non-existent oversight. Senator Gregg can not see that this economy is already in ruins and that the right course is for the Federal Government to become the spender of last resort.

The Future of America

2009-03-21T14:39:00.002-05:00

As the President of the United States in one of the most pivotal points of its history, President Obama has the ability to redirect the future of the Nation as only a couple of previous Presidents have been able to change the nation's Future. Abraham Lincoln was thrust into the moment and responded. FDR was thrust into the position and responded. President Obama has been thrust into another pivotal era in America's History and if he responds as he should, he too will be remembered as a President who changed the course of America's Future.

In order for President Obama to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln and FDR he must have the internal strength to push the agenda of the future even in the face of stiff opposition from the minority party. Although his intentions were well meaning when he tried to included the Republicans in planning the future through the legislative process, the results were less than stellar. Mr. Obama even has retained a Republican on his cabinet and tried to appoint others. Even as he tries to run an inclusive Administration, the Republicans are intent on thwarting his efforts. The Republican Brand is so badly tarnished from the eight years of the Bush Administration that they are trying to put their party in the news even if it is a cost to the Nation. The Republicans refuse to admit their economic policies that they have been pushing and their hindrance of Alternative Energy Initiatives that they have been blocking since the Carter Administration. The goal of bi-partisanship is a lofty goal for Mr. Obama to attain, but it should not be at the cost of the future.

An often overlooked Republican President who made a major difference in the future of America even though his Presidency was seen as a lackluster President was Eisenhower. President Eisenhower initiated the Interstate Highway System that was a major move to the future for an interconnected Nation. Although Mr. Obama has been thrust into a major crisis period, he can deal with the crisis and the future at the same time by putting America the path towards Energy Independence through renewable, sustainable means. If all of the money that has been thrown out the window to multi-national banking concerns had been dedicated towards renewable energy infrastructure, America would already be on a path to a new future. It is time for Mr. Obama to walk through the newly planted White House vegetable garden and contemplate a future for America that will enable the Nation to sustain without fossil fuels. It is time to announce a realistic, fully funded program that will put this Nation on the path to a sustainable future.

The Spring of the New Economy

2009-03-20T13:35:00.002-05:00

The dawning of a new economy is upon not only America but the entire world. It is a time that cries out for new leadership, new laws, new regulations and new directions for all Nations. As the world economy collapses one Country after another it is obvious that the old ways of doing business do not meet the needs of a global economy. Most of the world other than Japan can trace their own economic hardships to the crisis of the American Economy caused by arbitrage, leverage, complicated financial derivative instruments and contracts based on the perception of assets.

Throughout the last three decades beginning with the Reagan Administration the Republican Party and those that refer to themselves as Conservatives have been steadfastly undoing the regulations and safety nets put in place by the New Deal of the FDR Administration. They were so successful at eliminating regulations on the financial industry that the industry began creating products that had no assets behind them, such as Credit Default Swaps and Leveraged Index Funds to name just a few of the hybrid beasts that were created to circumvent Government Regulation. Instead of modernizing the regulations that would have put these instruments under the microscope of Government Regulations, the Republican controlled Congress and the Bush Administration preferred to loosen regulations even more. These instruments were then sold all around the world with every sale increasing the leverage than they represented. When the house of cards began to fall, ( The Bush Administration blamed on the increasing Mortgage Defaults), not only did the US Banking Systems, Investment Banking Corporations and the Insurance Industry begin to collapse it also took the investors from around the world down with them.

Don't misunderstand, the Democratic Party is also at fault, after all it was the Democratic Party as a Minority Party during the Bush Administration that refused to stand up and stand in the way or question the new policies of lax Government Regulations. Now that the results of this failed policy of deregulation and lack of Government oversight has caused the collapse of the American Economy as we have know it since the Great Depression it is again time to set some rules in stone. Especially focusing on the Banking, Financial and Insurance Industry. The Republican ideal of a so called "free market" which allowed banks to be insurance companies and insurance companies to become banks and investment firms to be financial supermarkets allowed the formation of the Corporations who now claim they are too big to fail even though they have already failed.

These Corporations who paid lobbyists to pressure law makers into eliminating any regulation that would stand in the way of excessive unregulated profit are now the same Corporations that are running to the Government for financial salvation. The damage already being done, the Government finds itself in the position of being the investor of last resort. Beginning under the Bush Administration and continuing under the Obama Administration these Corporations receive re-financing from the Government without any conditions resulting in the fiasco of the AIG bonuses.

The reality of the situation is that none of these firms are "too big to fail", just as individuals and small business is being forced into Bankruptcy in record numbers these Corporations should have been guided through Bankruptcy by the FDIC for Banks and similar Government entities for the rest. The "good" assets would be salvaged and sold to financially sound private sector funds and the property and other assets of these Corporations would be sold off to meet as much of their debt burden as possible just as individuals are forced to do in Bankruptcy. The idea that Corporations should be afforded more protection than individual human beings is repulsive and perverse.

Change will come only with new ideas, and leadership that is ready, willing and able to express and implement the change that is needed to reorganize the financial system into one that serves and protects the individual not the corporation. The idea of the Central Government should be one that serves the People and defends against the greed that is perpetrated by those that seek to profit unfairly. The function of Government is to maintain, rebuild and modernize the infrastructure of the Nation. When Governments continually must spend large portions of their GDP on Military Defenses and weapons of destruction it hinders their ability to invest in the future of their people. As more and more Government is controlled by the Corporate structure less and less of the Government is dedicated to the needs of the Citizenry. The Obama Campaign seemed to articulate the need for Government to once again take the path towards working on behalf of the people, but as of yet there seems to be no concrete plans to pursue that goal.

Spring begins the rebirth of the earth after the death of winter, the People were hoping that the Obama Administration would be the Spring for America after eight years of the Winter of the Bush Administration. If the Obama Administration has any chance of succeeding they must begin to plant their seeds of change now otherwise nothing will bloom.

IMF Says Global Recession Will Be Long

2009-03-19T18:05:00.006-05:00

In a report issued by the IMF on the state of world economies, they come to the conclusion that the global recession will last for years and are predicting world wide growth to be negative for the first time in 60 years. The World Bank in a statement last week had the same basic conclusion. The IMF report points to Government Stimulus Spending as the medicine needed to soften the recession and prevent it from becoming an Economic Depression. The IMF and the World Bank both of the the consensus that Central Government intervention is needed by every economically advanced economy to try to stem the damage of a long lasting recession.

The Obama Administration entered office with a seemingly clear understanding of the same recommendations as the world economists at the IMF and World bank, yet they let the Republican Senators bastardize the Stimulus Bill until it came out as a tax cut for the wealthy with very little upfront spending. The watered down version of the Economic Stimulus Bill did not receive Republican support even after the Obama Administration included their backwards tax cuts. The Republican philosophy of Tax Cuts and Deregulation for the wealthy and Corporations has been proven wrong since the Reagan Administration, yet they persist in stating that tax cuts are what grows the economy and creates jobs.

As if the current economic catastrophe is not proof enough of the folly of tax cuts as a means of stimulating and growing an economy, the IMF and World Bank do not mention tax cuts as a solution to the current crisis, instead the focus of their reports are on the Central Governments spending money on modernizing their infrastructures and firming up their banking systems. The original intent of the US Stimulus Bill that the Obama Team announced before they took office was a Bill that did just that. They spoke of massive spending turning the Economy from a Fossil Fuel Based Economy into a Renewable, Sustainable, Alternative Energy Economy, which is the wise way to create jobs and build an Economy of the future.

The Obama Administration must now consider a second Stimulus Bill that focuses on the right areas of the Economy, but it will be hard pressed to announce any new Stimulus Plans because of the follies and retractions of the first plan. So, America will wallow in a deep recession teetering on the verge of Economic Depression because the Obama Administration did not stand up to the false ideas of the Republican Party.

U.S. Hostage of "Too Big To Fail"

2009-03-18T09:14:00.002-05:00

Through the policies of deregulation and the Federal Governments failure to block the formation of monopolies, the U.S. Citizens are now in the untenable position of having their Government held hostage by Corporations that are "too big to fail" . The George W. Bush Administration began the ransom talks with these corporations in the waning days of their tenure. Surprisingly, The Obama Administration has continued to pay the ransom to these financial corporations who are flauntingly using the ransom money to turn failed businessmen into millionaires.

One of the public credos of the Republican Bush Administration was that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists, yet when Bear Sterns, AIG, Citigroup and a host of other failed financial institutions told Secretary of Treasury Paulson that they would take down the world economy, negotiations began in earnest and in secret. It didn't take long for the Bush Administration to gather the $750 Billion Dollar Ransom and package in into a bill that they expected the Congress to pass with no strings attached. They almost got their wish except for the fact that whenever money is in a Bill in Congress, there must be graft to get IT passed, so the add ons began until a one and half page Ransom Bill eventually became a 700 page Ransom Bill that no one bothered to read before passage.

The Bush Administration would have liked to have paid the entire Ransom before it left office, however for some strange reason the Congress actually began questioning the size of the ransom and decided to break it up into two drop offs to insure that some of the threats by the financial giants were retracted. The American People believing that Barack Obama would as he said look out for the People elected him to be President. One last time the week before Mr. Obama was to be sworn in, the Bush Administration tried to gather up the rest of the ransom and deliver it before their term expired but failed to convince Congress that the Economy would be killed by the Financial Hostage Holders.

With the Inauguration of Barack Obama and promises that were made from the time of his election until the inauguration the American People believed that the Obama Administration would take office with a plan in place that would revive the American Economy with a GREEN NEW DEAL. This failed to materialize and the Obama Administration was soon put under the spell of the lobbyists and Republicans who insured that the Stimulus Bill was noting more that tax cuts for the wealthy disguised as aid to the middle and working class. As the game continued the Hostage Takers saw more and more opportunity to up the ransom and were quickly rewarded with more payments for an ill prepared Treasury Secretary.

The Obama Administration is in serious need of an Organizational Meeting in which they can lay out the plan to free the Hostage without creating more millionaires out of the Hostage takers. If the money that was already paid in ransom to these "too big to fail" corporations had been put into the research, development and implementation of renewable, sustainable energy, the country could have been free from the threats of both the Financial Institutions and the Energy Corporations, plus this money could have acted as a Stimulus that would have created countless new jobs in the retrofitting American infrastructure with new energy sources. These jobs would have created spendable income that would have filtered throughout the Economy and would have grown all segments of the Economy. Instead the Ransom was paid to wealthy multi-national corporations which used the money to create a handful of millionaires in the US and throughout the world. It protected Hedge Fund Investors from losses at the same time that the lower classes of American Society were having their asset wealth depleted by the continued manipulation of the American Markets. All this occurred while the current Secretary of Treasury Timothy Gaither was still reading the ransom demands.

The Obama Administration was stop, sit down, make a plan, announce it and implement it free from the usual political trickery and aimed at the relief and revitalisation of the American People through a realistic and implementable Stimulus that will create real jobs while building the energy infrastructure of the future. If the Hostage is the Bankruptcy of 5 or 6 large multi-national corporations then let the hostage eat the bullet and fall. The Government can clean up the blood, sell any living pieces and put regulatory policies in place that will never allow for the formation of a large conglomerate that can hold the American Economy Hostage again. Meanwhile, the economy will be growing from the ground up building a foundation that will sustain a viable Economy based on goods and services not on worthless paper. The Obama Administration is failing in their attempts to deal with an economy that was destroyed by the deregulation and lack of oversight of the Republican Controlled Administration and Congresses of the last eight years and if they don't put a fully funded plan in place quickly they are going to be presiding over the worst Economic Depression that the United States and the World has ever encountered. The Hostage must be sacrificed and the Corporations that hold them must be taken under the control of the US Government in order to stop their terrorist threats to the American Economy.

Is Obama going to Change or Not?

2009-03-17T16:17:00.002-05:00

President Obama needs to spend some time getting a hold of his Administration and their message. Promises were made for a massive Stimulus Bill, the action taken was less than massive and included tax cuts for the wealthy. Promises were made to revive the middle class, yet no action has been taken against the predatory Credit Card Industry charging Americans loan sharking rates of upwards of 39.99%. The richest multi-national corporations continue to receive Bail Out money, while the average American is being crushed by the weight of mortgages and ever increasing local property and state taxes.

AIG Executives become millionaires for driving a prosper company into the ground, while millions of Americans continue to work 50-60 hours a week for non-livable wages. There has been no substantial plan presented to remove the US from the addiction to fossil fuels. A commission has been established to look at health care while Pharmaceutical Companies go on a buying binge. Local Hospitals are closing and medical care is provided by ER's for those without insurance. Those without insurance increase in numbers on a daily basis.

The withdrawal from Iraq is drawn out while the commitment in Afghanistan is increased. No one voted to put more troops in Afghanistan, the early primaries that Mr. Obama won were won by the anti-war vote. The Treasury Secretary seems at a loss as to what to do, while Corporations continue to hold the US Government hostage with threats of collapse that will crush the Economy.

It is not an easy task that President Obama has taken on, and no one expects answers or resolutions over night, but a coherent, viable plan was expected and the Obama Administration has failed to deliver this plan. It has failed to put the Congress on course and to dictate the legislative agenda that is needed to stop the middle class from falling into poverty, prevent the working class from failing into despair, and place a net under those in Poverty so that they can hang on. Instead the Obama Administration has continued way too many of the Bush policies including allowing the second half of the current budget to pass without any provisions that would immediately help the Nation into the future. Every day that change is delayed is another month that the economy will suffer. Action is needed now.

Cheney Defends Bush

2009-03-16T08:44:00.003-05:00

Former Republican Vice-President Dick Cheney made a rare appearance on a talk show Sunday, March 15,2009 in order to refute the known facts that the Republican Bush Administration was at the helm of the Unites States Executive Branch at the beginning of the economic collapse that is now besieging the American Economy. Mr. Cheney denying reality said that the Economic Collapse was not caused by Bush Administration policies and that it was beyond the control of the Administration because it was a global recession.

Mr. Cheney must have forgotten the rhetoric that the Administration was using throughout their tenure in claiming right up through the Presidential Election of November 2008 that the economy was strong and healthy and growing because of the Bush Administration Policies. In a speech in Arizona on August 1, 2003 when he was campaigning against John Kerry and John Edwards Mr. Cheney said, " The Bush tax cuts have helped our national economy create jobs for 10 consecutive months. We've added more than 1.5 million new jobs since last August. Here in Arizona, more than 62,000 jobs have been created over the last year. Home ownership is now at an all-time high. Mortgage rates, interest rates, and inflation are all low. Consumers are confident, businesses are investing, and families are taking home more of what they earn home. Over the past year, the economy has grown at a strong rate of nearly 5 percent. This is a strong economy, it's growing stronger every day. The Bush tax cuts are working. "

As Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards warned during that campaign the Economy soon began a downward spiral which accelerated two years later to the point of that United States Treasury under a plan called TARP had to begin bailing out the Nation's banking system. TARP was formed after the Treasury made arrangements to fund AIG, let Lehman Brothers fail and Bailed out Bear Sterns. Contrary to Mr. Cheney's statements the Bush Administration WAS very involved and responsible for the current economic downturn.

The Bush Administration used deficit spending to fund TWO invasions of Sovereign Nations while continuing to cut taxes for the most wealthy individuals and corporations, thus stripping the United States Government of needed revenue. The fallacy that tax cuts for the wealthy creates jobs has been disproved from the Administration of Ronald Reagan right through the Administration of George W. Bush. What the Bush tax cuts accomplished was the largest deficit in U.S. History. The Bush Administration left the economy and the Nation in far worse shape than even the Obama Administration would like to admit.

Even after bringing the Nation to the edge of economic doom, Mr. Cheney would like the American People to believe that the Bush Administration grew the economy, it is simply not true.

Tarnished Bush Looks for Polish

2009-03-14T16:25:00.003-05:00

Faux News (Faux News) continue with their obsession with George W. Bush. They ar now running one of their famous "Special Reports" Hosted by Bret Baier title, "Two Trillion with a T" in which they interview George W. Bush and Secretary Paulson among others. In the interview Bush is allowed to give his revised version of the economic crisis unchallenged and feigns ignorance about the collapse until Paulson came to him and discussed the collapse of Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers and AIG.

Neither Bush nor Paulson accept any blame for the situation and paint themselves as saviors of the American Economy, although if you read between the spoken words and interpret Bush's facial expressions it is obvious that he is lying, again. At one point he says, we were on the edge of a second Great Depression, and it was not going to happen on my watch" when defending the Bailout and the TARP money. It is clear through these interviews that Bush and Paulson want the American People to see them as the ones who stopped the Depression and anything that happens after they left office is not their fault.

At no time during this report does Bret Baier ask them was the Bush Administration responsible by their lack of Government enforcement of Banking rules and by their failed philosophy of deregulation. But as to be expected with Fox News, the point of this report is to exonerate the Bush Administration and put the blame on the Clinton Administration and forecast future blame on the weakening economy on the Obama Administration. Just as the rest of the Fox News pundits have taken to calling the current Situation "The Obama Recession", this "Special Report" by Bret Baier is a way for Fox News to continue to try to polish the tarnished Republican Brand and most especially to re-write the history of the worst Presidential Administration that has ever held the Executive Branch of the United States.

Fox News is on a campaign to lay the blame for this Republican Economic disaster at the feet of the Democrats from the minority Democratic Congress at the beginning of the Bush Administration to the current Obama Administration even going so far as to claim that the Stock Market downturn is because of Obama Policy decisions that have not even had time to take effect.

Even the title of this Special Reports implies that the Obama Administration is responsible for the 2 Trillion Dollars spent on corporate welfare, while at no time during the Bush Administration did Fox News do a "Special Report" on the 2 Trillion Plus Dollars spent on the Iraq invasion by the Bush Administration nor did they ever question the TARP funding under Bush that was handed out with no accountability even though a large chunk was given to Goldman Sachs, a firm that had very close and intricate ties with Secretary Paulson. Fox News will continue to try to put a shine on the George W. Bush Administration because of their unwavering support that they displayed for the eight years of the failed Bush Administration.

Sean Hannity Claims he is NOT a Republican!!!

2009-03-14T08:55:00.004-05:00

Starting with the pretentious title of his show, "Hannity's America", is nothing more than a show about hating President Obama, the Democratic Party, and working class Americans. The usual guests on this show are, ex- Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, ex-Governor Huckabee and and Dick Morris, not exactly sure what he is suppose to be but Hannity touts him as if he is some kind of Governmental Expert, even though most of his "predictions" and analyst turn out to be wrong.

On Hannity's show of March 13, 2009, Hannity claimed that he is NOT a Republican, but rather a Reagan Conservative. What exactly is a Reagan Conservative? In the eyes of people like Hannity, Reagan was the greatest President ever. People like Hannity believe that Ronald Reagan toppled the Soviet Union. That Ronald Reagan was a fiscal wizard. The myth created by People like Hannity are a glassy eyed reinterpretation of the Administration of Ronald Reagan. Let's remember some of the Reagan Policies that are now responsible for the economic situation America now finds itself in.

Ronald Regan's aids made a deal with the Iranian Hostage takers BEFORE Reagan was President to release the Hostages on the day of his inauguration. Ronald Reagan busted the Air Traffic Controllers Union by firing the striking workers and hiring scabs, the beginning of the end for a living wage for working Americans. The National Deficit soared under Ronald Reagan. Reagan sought to eliminate economic safety nets created during the Great Depression. Ronald Reagan sought to usurp the authority of the FDA in drug approvals and to speed up the release of new drugs to enable higher profit margins for Pharmaceutical Companies even though these drugs later were proven to be detrimental to human health. Ronald Reagan cut the food inspectors enabling the food chain to to become unsafe and policed by the food manufacturers and distributors themselves. Ronald Reagan began the deregulation of the financial industry and it was nearly completed under another admirer of Reagan, George W. Bush. Ronald Reagan wasted billions military research on his obsession with a project called star wars that never came to fruition. Ronald Reagan said that ketchup can be counted as a vegetable in school lunches for under nourished American Children. Ronald Reagan sought to curtail free public education at all levels. Ronald Reagan's economic policies were labeled as "voodoo economics' by his own Vice President, George H.W. Bush. Ronald Reagan was no more than an actor reading a script for the right wing anti-Federal Government industrialist who wanted all Government taxes and regulations eliminated while eliminating worker protection and wage standards. Let's not forget the Iran-Contra scandal which permeated every level of the Reagan Administration and circumvented the will of Congress. This is the kind of man that Sean Hannity would like to see as President, one who will crush workers rights, take food from the mouths of children, fund useless defense projects, run up the deficit, and weaken the Federal Government. This is Hannity's America.

Yes, Ronald Reagan is the man that Sean Hannity admires along with Newt Gingrich and a host of other Republicans who now claim not to be Republicans. It seems that the Republican Brand has been tarnished by eight years of the law breaking George W. Bush Administration, so now people like Hannity are claiming NOT to be Republicans. The Republican ideology is a proven failure and those that claim to be Conservatives are no more than Republicans fleeing from the failed ideas that they perpetrated for the last 30 years.

Madoff The Poster Child

2009-03-13T09:43:00.001-05:00

Bernard Madoff should become the poster child for Democratic Congresspeople and Senators to push through the reinstatement of financial regulatory rules and oversight that have been dismantled and voided by the Republicans over the last thirty years. The facts of the Madoff case prove that the lack of Government oversight and regulations in the world of high finance will not only affect a few but could affect the entire economy. The Madoff case is only one individual and yet accounts for over 50 Billion Dollars in losses to personal, charitable and corporate wealth.

If Mr. Madoff was able to accomplish what he did, is there any doubt that other investment firms throughout the country with no government oversight have been engaged in similar practices? The collapse of the financial markets could have been prevented or at least the tide could have been stemmed if the systems that were put in place during the Great Depression by the FDR Administration had been modernized not eliminated.

The carrion cry of the Republican Party and their leadership such as Senator John McCain has been deregulation. They even wanted to dismantle social safety nets that were created during the Great Depression such as Social Security. In fact after deregulating the financial industry these Republicans had the bright idea of investing Social Security Money in the deregulated Financial Industry. If this had passed would Bernie Madoff been an investment vehicle for Social Security funds, wouldn't that have been just great for the American Family.

Obama's Afghanistan War

2009-03-12T09:05:00.002-05:00

Barack Obama was able to garner early support throughout the Democratic Primaries because of his early and consistent opposition to the Bush Iraqi invasion. With 70% of the general American population opposed to the continued occupation of Iraqi, and higher numbers among Democrats, it was a key issue in Mr. Obama's early lead in some key States which thrust him into an insurmountable lead. Democrats in the liberal wing of the Party voted for Mr. Obama in overwhelming numbers because of his statements during the debates that he would remove American Troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking the office of President of the United States. Although President Obama has now issued a time table to remove a majority of American Troops from Iraq within 19 months, he is still committing a substantial number of troops to semi-permanent placement in Iraq. This is not why the American People and especially the Democratic Party voted for Mr. Obama, and the left is feeling betrayed.

Aside from his half hearted attempt to placate a faction of the Democratic Party that is opposed to the continued occupation of Iraq, Mr. Obama is issuing policies that will expand the United States Military role in Afghanistan. As a Harvard Graduate and a student at Columbia University, Mr. Obama should be very aware of the history of Afghanistan and of the Afghanistan people's ability to fend off occupations by world powers. With their tribal structure, formidable terrain, religious fervor and ever changing allegiances Afghanistan has managed to thwart and defeat many invading enemies throughout history. Although the Reaganites would have you believe that the Soviet Union collapsed solely due to the policies of Reagan, it is historically clear that the Afghanistan Invasion and Occupation by the Soviet Union took a devastating toll on the Soviet Union.

Committing more US Troops to Afghanistan not only continues a bad Republican Bush Policy but opens up the Obama Administration to another foreign quagmire to deal with in this time of National Economic Emergency. It is obvious that the Bush Policies of invading and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan were driven by profits generated by the privatization of Military Support Companies who were making money by the truckloads from no-bid contracts issued by the Bush Regime to Corporations that were "friendly" to the Administration.

Mr. Obama must explain to the American what are we to gain by the expansion of Military operations in Afghanistan and what cost is America willing to pay. Before the Bush decision to invade Iraq, it was contained by American surveillance, inspections and no-fly zones and was ostracized by the World Community. This was a very effective policy in keeping the government of Saddam Hussein on a short leash. By isolating Afghanistan the same can be accomplished without putting American Blood and Treasure at risk in a continuing war of attrition against a people who will not concede. No matter what puppet government the United States is able to place in Kabul, the tribal structure and antiquated thinking of the people of Afghanistan will never acquiesce to the occupation of their territory by any foreign invader.

Mr. Obama was elected on a platform of change, yet he continues to propagate some of the worst of the Republican Bush Policies including retaining the Bush Secretary of Defense. With less than 100 days in office President Obama is feeding a quickly growing dissatisfaction among the Progressives of the United States by not changing the policy of occupation of Sovereign Nations by the Bush Administration. Rightly or wrongly a lot of Americans feel that the wasted money during the Bush Administration used to invade and occupy these countries are a cause of the current economic collapse, and right or wrong, American can ill afford to continue this military adventurism as it tries to resurrect a dying economy that is forcing Americans from their homes, jobs and hopes for the future.

Using the money to isolate Afghanistan and protect our boarders would be a better expenditure of American wealth and would save the innocent blood of our Military Personnel. By redirecting the money used to occupy and increase the size of the force in Afghanistan to real boarder security, customs inspections, and immigration scrutiny, the US would stimulate the American Economy instead of flushing American money into the sands of Afghanistan.

The Uptick Rule

2009-03-11T16:06:00.001-05:00

The Uptick Rule is officially known by the SEC as rule 10a-1, it was first implemented in 1938 by the first SEC Commissioner as a way of stemming the downward spiral of stock prices. It served the market well from 1938 through July 6, 2007, when the SEC suspended the rule claiming that the trading patterns in the "modern" trading world did not warrant it. During the last few months the absence of the Uptick Rule was very noticeable. The Uptick Rule allows a "short sale" of stock only if the preceding sale was an uptick. This prevents traders from forcing the price of a stock down. The SEC suspended the rule believing that with so many other instruments available to "short" a stock, such as options and ETF's that the Uptick Rule would be ineffective.

In the current Stock Market drop of over 50% an Uptick Rule should have slowed down the downward spiral especially in certain securities that were sold short without mercy. Many stocks that have had their share prices forced down by the short sellers have had to defend their stock prices in order to preserve their credit ratings. Fundamentally some of these stocks were at realistic levels until the Short Sellers determined that they would be a good target for quick profits by forcing the stock price and the perception of the stock price down.

Rep. Barney Frank recently announced that the Uptick Rule would be re-instituted within a month. This is something that the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congressional Congress should have tended to on January 20, 2009, why did they and why are they continuing to wait. There are just some common sense things that could have easily be done by the new Administration that were overlooked and the Uptick Rule is definitely one of them.

The Republican Presidential Administrations and the Republican Congresses since the Reagan Administration have been systematically overturning banking, insurance and financial rules that were put in place under FDR during the Great Depression. These rules have served the Nation well since the Great Depression and as is evident by the current Republican Economic Depression were necessary to keep the financial house in order. The Obama Administration would do well to review all the rules and regulations that were overturned by the Republicans since the Reagan Administration and consider reacting them to again keep the financial in check.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

2009-03-10T08:48:00.002-05:00

The estimated wealth loss throughout the world by the IMF is now put at 50 Trillion Dollars. The Obama American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ended up at about 800 Billion Dollars after concessions to the Republican Senators who are intent on keeping the failed policies of the Bush Administration in place. Only about 25% of the $800 Billion is targeted to be spent throughout 2009, half of which is accounted for by tax cuts that the Obama Administration conceded to the Republicans. Tax cuts in a downward spiralling economy will accomplish only one thing, it will preserve the wealth of the wealthiest who are least affected by the Economic Depression. The only purpose these tax cuts serve is to cut much needed revenue from the Federal Government. While the Republicans clamor for tax cuts, they also squawk about the deficit, the same deficit that grew out of control under the Republican Congress and the Republican Bush Administration.

While the U.S. Government and the Federal Reserve has placed trillions of dollars of liquidity to the Financial Institutions whose over leverage and bad business practices led to the current Economic Depression, the Republican hierarchy led by John McCain and John Boehner continue to cry about excessive government spending on the rest of America. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a fraction of what has been spent propping up the financial institutions as multi-national banks, yet McCain and Boehner have nothing to say about these policies that began under the Republican Bush Administration ans was distributed by the Republican Secretary of Treasury Paulson, who came from Goldman Sachs, one of the beneficiaries of the original $350 Billion in TARP funds distributed by Paulson without accountability. The reciepents of the money distributed by the Bush Administration were able to spend the money any way they wanted even though the Bush Treasury Department sold the TARP program to Congress as a way to replenish the credit markets and enable banks to loan money into the economy. As usual with the Bush Administration what was said in public was not what was done behind closed doors.

Now with the Economy worsening everyday causing homelessness and tent cities like those during the Hoover Administration to pop up in even the most affluent of communities such as Sacramento, CA., the Republican Leadership still tries to perpetrate the myth that the wealthy must be accommodated in order for the economy to recover. The Obama Administration seems to be buying into this myth as they continue to administer the TARP program as established by the Bush Administration with only slight adjustments to the way in which the money is distributed.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has a very slim chance of affecting any kind of recovery. In 2009 the total expenditures will amount to no more than $100 Billion while the problems created over the last eight years require over $3 Trillion Dollars in US Government funded stimulation. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is doomed to fail, not only because the Obama Administration acquiesced to the Republicans and included 46% tax cuts in the total bill, but because their sights were set to low. The current situation cries out for programs funded in the Trillions of Dollars that will not only create jobs immediately but will build a strong foundation for the future.

It is imperative that the Obama Administration massively fund the research, development and implementation of energy self sufficient buildings and homes. It is imperative that the Obama Administration offer a clear concise plan with a target date of ten years to eliminate gas and diesel powered vehicles. Change happens with bold planning not a continuation of the past.

Obama Administration Running in Place

2009-03-09T08:50:00.005-05:00

After the Historic Election of Barack Obama and a Democratic Majority in both the House and Senate the transition team generated a lot of media coverage by announcing that plans were being made to "hit the ground running" on January 21, 2009. Since then there have been many mis-steps and it now appears that the Obama Administration is running in place. The nomination of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner hit snags right out of the gate with questions about not only his tax evasion problems but his over all view on what is needed to lift the Nation out of the severe recession and economic meltdown left by the Republican Bush Administration.

Secretry Geither does not exude confidence to the markets when he speaks and his long awaited speech on fixing the Banking System started a downward spiral on Wall Street and Global Markets that is still spinning out of control wiping away assests by the trillions of dollars on a daily basis. The supposed plan that Geither announced was not a plan at all but rather a general statement on the bad assets of the banking community. The Secretary did not offer any clear direction on how the Obama Administration would deal with the Banking Crisis, in fact all he did was reinforce the trickling in of Government Assets to the banks just as the Bush Administration and their Secretary of Treasury Paulson were already doing. In fact whenever Secretary Geither speaks it becomes clearer to the market that the plan is still being formulated with the aid of the very Corporations who caused the financial crisis with unregulated leverage. Instead of demanding that the Banks show their true assets, sell off their excess real estate, and fire their Boards of Directors while filing Bankruptcy, the current Administration of the Treasury is content to continue feeding money to a failing industry that refuses to eliminate excessive compensation and conspicuous consumption addiction.

If the United States problems were laid at the doorsteps of the IMF with the name of the Country withheld, it is a certainly that the IMF would recommend that the troubled banks be Nationalized, purged of bad assets and the remaining viable assets resold to Private Concerns to begin anew. Because the United States is the largest contributor of the IMF it it immune from the recommendations that the IMF would make to any other Country in a similar situation.

The Country had high hopes that the Obama Team would take office with clear and concise plans that would pass through the Majority Congress with ease. Instead the Country has received a Stimulus Bill watered down by acquiesces to the Republican Party that guided the Nation into this Economic Depression and general statements about the banking industry that will solve nothing. Every Day that the Obama Administration fails to introduce a real, bold and concise plan will further the economic turmoil by months.

Main Street America still bleeds as sales at local business slumps to record lows and more and more empty store fronts are seen on a daily basis. After eight years of Republican Dictatorship it was the hope of Main Street America that the Obama Administration was ready and would have tackled the problems plaguing the middle class immediately. More that 6 weeks into the Administration the economic crisis is being handled in the same way as the Bush Administration, pouring money into multi-national banks by the billions while ignoring the plight of the middle class.

The Obama Administration and The Congress have not even attempted to tackle one of the most egregious transgressions of the multi-national banks which is punitive credit card interest rates, late fees and charges. The Obama Administration saw fit to include tax cuts in the Stimulus Bill that they knew would only benefit those least affected by the economic downturn in hopes of winning Republican support. The Republican Support failed to materialize and a Stimulus Bill that is not a total spending bill is sure to fail to stimulate the economy. If the belief that a tax cut would somehow revive an economy that is reducing income on a daily basis would revitalize anything, then the Administration should have looked to regulate the loan sharking practices of the Credit Card Companies which by law are charging people and small businesses in excess of 50% interest if late fees and other charges are added to the outrageous interest rates that top 39.99%. By regulating the interest rates that can be charged, which was the norm before the Reagan Administration, the middle class and small business could be given instant "tax cuts". By limiting the interest rates that can be charged to 5% above Fed Fund rates, Americans and Small Business would see instant relief of over 25% as compared to the current loan sharking rates that banks are now charging. But as usual the Democratic Congress is not any different from their counterparts, the Republicans when it comes to real protection for the American People and Americana's small businesses that keep Main Streets alive. The Democratic Congress and Obama Administration are afraid to offend the large National Corporations that contribute massive funds to their hold on power.

If the Obama Administration hopes to prove that they really want change, they will get on it now and demand that Secretary Giether and the Congress tackle not only the Bankrupt Banks but offer relief to the American People and small businesses by stopping the illegal practices of the Credit Card Industry.

Japan Declares Depression - Is US Far Behind

2009-03-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

Japanese Economists agree that Japan is officially in an economic Depression. Japan's problems started in the early 1990's with the collapse of their banking system. Although warned by the IMF and the Clinton Economic Advisers that the way to fix the banking crisis was to Nationalize the banks, strip away the bad assets and sell off the good assets to new private concerns, Japan opted to continue feeding bailout money to the troubled banks thus keeping them on life support through the entire decade. These banks became know in financial circles as Zombie banks and were not effectively able to continue funding the growth of the private sector.

What is interesting about the Japan Crisis is that the Clinton Financial advisers who were counseling the Japanese Government to Nationalize the Banking System have again resurfaced as the Obama Financial Advisers, yet the same recommendations that they gave to Japan are not being followed in the current US crisis. The sane solution that was recommended to Japan is the same solution which should be followed to correct the problems of the 5 major Multi-National Banks in the US who are feeding off of Government Bailout Money. These banks should have been forced into bankruptcy just as these banks have forced millions of homeowners into bankruptcy. To continue propping up these banks and leave in the Board of Directors who caused the problems will result in the same problem that plagues Japan. Japan is now considered to have lost a decade of economic growth and stability because of the continued existence of the "Zombie" banks, and have now spiralled in to an admitted economic Depression.

If the US continues on the current path of propping up what are basically Zombie Banks that are bleeding money on a daily basis, the same result as Japan is to be expected. The Obama Administration must see the danger in the continued propping up of large multi-national corporations including the Auto Companies and the Banking Industry. This Bailout Money would be much more effectively spent by Bailing out the Middle Class enabling them to catch up on individual debt and thus creating a ripple effect throughout the economy which will filter money to the corporations, those that can maintain a profit margin will survive, those that can't won't.

The current philosophy is obviously flawed as certain banks continue to need more and more money while there is a whole industry of Regional Banks that are healthy and making a profit. These healthy Regional Banks will fill the void created by the bankruptcy of the failed Multi-National Banks and the local economies which they serve will become healthy as a result. The American People do not benefit by pouring money into Multi-National Banks who continue to engage in risky stock, bond and commodity speculative trading with the money provided by the US Government. If we add up all the money that has been handed out to these banks and divided it among the American People this economy would already be on the road to recovery from the ground up, which is after all the strongest way to build and economy.

Can Dow 3500 be Far Away

2009-03-07T13:33:00.000-06:00

As share prices continue to nose dive the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to follow a very similar pattern as the one seen in the early years of the Great Depression. If the pattern continues the Dow will fall another 50-60% from the current closing price average of the last few trading weeks, which would mean we will see a closing Dow Average of around 3500 before we can begin to regain the financial footing of the stock market if that is even possible. At Dow 3500 most individual investors will have lost over 70% of the value of their assets that they entrusted to the stock market. It will be decades before Wall Street can convince the average worker to invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds again.

This incredible fall of the Dow Jones Industrial Average points out the flaws in the Republican Idea of Privatizing Social Security. Americas should be thanking every Democrat who stood in the way of the Republican Bush Plan that would have invested Social Security funds in the Stock Market. One can only begin to imagine the devastation to the Nation's Aged and disabled had this plan been forced through with the rhetorical lies of the Bush Administration. Let us not forget that Senator John McCain who now stands up on the Senate Floor and criticizes the Stimulus Bill and rescue efforts of the Obama Administration was a major proponent of Privatizing Social Security, along with Republican John Boehner, and Republican Senator Lindsy Graham.

Republicans call all efforts of the Obama Administration to correct the damage done by the failed Republican Philosophies of the Bush Years as "Generational Thievery", remarks that ring hallow not only because the Bush Administration grew the Federal Deficit larger than any other Administration, but because all of these men supported putting Social Security Money into Stocks and Bonds. Although they fail to admit that their support of deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy are major contributing factors to the current situation, history will not fail to report it.

When the Dow is at 3500 at the bottom of this cycle created by the failed Republican view of economics they should be constantly questioned as to where they think the Social Security payments were going to come from if their plan to privatize had gone through the Congress.

Main Street Help Still not Addressed

2009-03-06T13:00:00.001-06:00

As the Obama Administration continues to tinker with multi-national banks offering more bailout money and programs, Main Street Businesses continues to layoff workers, declare bankruptcy and close their doors at an alarming rate. Yes it is true that the Nation needs banking, however, there is a world of banking that did not play the financial games that the multi-national banks played, thus they have well balanced books are are doing quite well. Small community based banks still thrive in most of America, but if all the attention is given to the multi-national banks and Main Street is allowed to continue to disintegrate these Community Based Banks who ran their banks they way they should have been will fall into fiscal trouble.

The Business Models of the Community Based Banks are simple, take in deposits from local business and local depositors, loan out that money to the same customer base and make a profit off the margins between the interest paid on deposits and the interest received on loans. These banks did not play the stock market, create and trade Credit Default Swaps, play currency hedges, speculate in commodity markets, pay their Executives Billions of dollars in compensation, and they did not lose it all. The Community Banks kept their books balanced, paid living wages, charged reasonable interest rates and paid reasonable interest rates on their deposits.

The Obama Administration has followed the Bush model thinking that the fiscal health of the Nation is tied to the health of a few large multi-national banks that offer little to the local communities. Just as the Obama Administration thinks that it is a viable solution for the Auto Companies to file Bankruptcy, it should also consider this alternative for the multi-national banks that caused the current crisis. The Federal Government would be better off supporting Americans real small businesses, those that employ a handful of employees in hundreds of thousands of local stores and companies. This would maintain the financial health of communities that would reinforce the financial health of local banks. A strong economy is built from the bottom up not from the top down.

The more the Government tries to correct the problems of the multi-national banks the worse the problem seems to become. What would be the difference in a Citi Bank worth $1.25 a share and one worth $0, or a Bank of America worth $3.50 a share and one that is bankrupt. There would not be much of a difference in the long run, and in the short term if all of the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been given to a select few National Banks could have been spread out throughout middle America supporting the continued existence of local business that will support the continued existence of the local banking industry. As it is now, each new program that is announced to prop up the multi-nationals seems to be causing more pain on Wall Street. Not only is it causing a bad reaction to the share price for these banks it is also causing desperate reactions in the share prices of major US corporations who were the bank bone of America's Industrial Giants such as General Electric.

If the Bankruptcy of the American Automobile Companies is a viable option than the Bankruptcy of the few Multi-National Banks should also be an option. Thew Federal Government continues to pour money into these banks with no results in sight. As they let this money be squandered trying to balance their books caused by the irresponsible behavior of these multi-national banks, middle America continues to die. The result will be a few zombie National Banks that will still be alive in ten years surrounded by empty retail spaces throughout America coupled with local banks that have lost their customer base.

Limbaugh Irrelevant

2009-03-05T12:26:00.000-06:00

Rush Limbaugh in giving a speech to CPAC claimed that his wish that the Obama Administration Fails does not mean that he hopes the Country fails but rather that it survives. Mr. Limbaugh intimated that if the policies of the Obama Administration were to succeed that the United States would fail to survive as we know it.

In his speech Rush Limbaugh misquotes the Constitution of the United States mixing it up with the Declaration of Independence then claims that the people he represents, the Conservatives, believe in the Constitution. "We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. Liberty, Freedom. And the pursuit of happiness. Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault. " It is hard to take someone seriously who grandstands and doesn't even quote the right documents, but the CPAC attendees applauded Limbaugh even though he misquoted our Founding Documents.

The speech goes on and on about why Conservatives want what is right for the Nation. Of course he points to the Reagan years as "good years" in America, even though Regan like the two Bushes during their Presidency made the National Deficit rise faster than during any other Administration and all three Administrations that Rush Limbaugh admires grew the Federal Government at a faster pace than the Clinton Administration or that the Obama Administration proposes in their current budget.

Mr. Limbaugh claims that the policies of the Reagan and Bush Years were policies that grew and protected American Freedoms and the Economy. Neither is the truth. Mr. Limbaugh claims that Democrats wanted the Iraq War to fail, quite the contrary Democrats when they had the nerve were speaking out against the illegality and necessity of the invasion and occupation. Mr. Limbaugh speaks about "winning" the Iraq War. What exactly was won?

The White House through Rahm Emmanuel, made comments about Mr. Limbaugh being the Spokesman for the Republican Party, the official Republican Party under the leadership of the newly elected RNC Chairman, Mr. Steele, said that was not true, that the Republican Party did not endorse the ideas of Rush Limbaugh. When Mr, Limbaugh got wind of the comments of Michael Steele, he lambasted him on his radio show forcing Mr. Steele to to apologize and deny his comments that are on videotape for all to see.

Mr. Limbaugh was a supporter of Sarah Palin, that alone shows how little he cares about the survival of the United States. His comments about supporting freedom, his anti-tax diatribes and his constant misquoting of the laws of the United States are enough to declare this man irrelevant to all but his small cultist audience. Mr. Limbaugh like to state that he has an audience of 10-20 million, that is less than 1% of the U.S. Population. Mr. Limbaugh has never served in the Military, and never been elected to any office. His expertise is in commercial radio, even his attempt at a Television Show was an utter failure. The White House does not need to engage in a public debate with this irrelevant radio talk show entertainer. Let him continue to talk to the small minority of an audience who believe the lies he tells, the facts tell a different story.

Obama Seeks to Fulfill Promises

2009-03-04T08:50:00.000-06:00

President Obama introduced a budget that addresses many of the promises made during the campaign. You can disagree with the percentage applied to each but each item seems to be there. The proposed budget gives a tax cut to a large percent of the working population and slightly increases taxes for the more affluent. Of course the more affluent will squawk because in their view being patriotic means not paying taxes and contributing to the progress of the great experiment of the United States Government. In reality the Obama Budget is only restoring the tax rates that were in place before the irresponsible cuts on the top 2% on income earners. Because of the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy and his irresponsible incursions into Sovereign Nations the Bush Administration left this Nation in the worst fiscal health since the Great Depression. The Obama Budget merely looks to begin the process of restoring responsible revenue streams to pay for the Federal Expenditures.

The Obama Budget also points us towards the path of REAL energy Independence, although a meager start, at least it is a start in the right direction. The supposed conservatives, i.e. Republicans who support fossil fuel, are still calling for massive expenditures on fossil fuel exploration even though the technology for renewable, sustainable energy is on the verge of an explosive innovative era that can produce an energy economy in a decade if properly funded and encouraged. Conservative by its intrinsic meaning means "Staus Quo", and these "Conservatives" who are irresponsibly clinging to the past of the fossil fuel era do not look to real energy independence for the United States. The path that the Obama Administration is beginning is a path that President Carter tried to begin in 1977 but was opposed by the "Conservatives" of that era. With the election of Reagan, the road was closed to energy independence until now with the introduction of the Obama Budget. As the most innovative Nation on the planet it is a sin that American Energy Independence was stifled by the quest for political profit. Brazil achieved energy independence over a decade ago because of programs that were put in place in the late 1970's, America should not have been left behind. If the Reagan Administration had continued to follow the Carter Administration lead in funding alternative, renewable, sustainable energy, there is no doubt that in 2009 the United States would have by now shed our addiction to fossil fuels.

The Obama Budget also seeks to begin addressing another National disgrace, the funding and administering National Health Care. Again, maybe not as drastically as most would hope, but it is a beginning. At least the Obama Budget addresses the issue in a realistic manner unlike the last eight years. It was not that many years ago that the United States had a non-profit hospital in every major city, since the so-called Republican Revolution of the Gingrich Congress, they have all but disappeared, replaced by Corporate Hospitals only concerned with profit margins.

The Obama Budget is realistic in its approach to restoring a proper revenue stream and at least starting to cut the deficit left by the Republican Administration of the Bush Regime. When you hear the Republican Senators, Congressman, and talking heads saying that the budget is too large, remember an important fact. The Obama Administration has put into the budget, massive amounts of money that the Bush Administration was allocating without being in the budget. The Obama Administration has decided to do away with accounting trickery that the Bush Administration used to make their budgets look smaller. In Reality the Bush Budget were much larger than the Clinton Budgets in discretionary spending if items were not removed from the budget.

Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2005: Analytical Perspectives and Historical Tables table 8.7 — OUTLAYS FOR DISCRETIONARY PROGRAMS: 1962–2009

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio)

2009-03-03T14:01:00.000-06:00

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) claims that the Obama Stimulus Bill and the Obama budget are the first steps towards American Socialism. He claims this without any justification other than that the budget includes tax increases for the wealthy, and that the Stimulus Bill leaves debt to the next generation. Here Ladies and Gentlemen is yet another of the clear concise Republican hypocrites. Mr. Boehner spoke nearly a word as the Republican Bush Administration took the Nation's largest surplus and turned it into the Nation's largest historical deficiet. Mr. Boehner had no qualms about the trillions of dollars spent on the Iraq invasion and occupation. He spoke not a wispher as the Bush Administration created the Home Land Security branch of government. Not a peep when billions of unaccountable dollars were spent in cash by the Iraqi Provisional Authortity under the Bush Administion.

Like his counterpart in the Senate, John McCain, Mr. Boehner still belivres that the proven failures of the Republican theory of economics is the way to solve the current mess. Yes, he actually has said that the way to grow the economy is to continue to cut taxes by making the Bush Tax Cut permenat, the same tax cut that contributed to the massive defiect left by Bush upon his departure. Like Senator McCain, Mr. Boehner is calling for less regulations on the same Financial Institutions that led America down the path to financial disater because of the Bush Administrations failure to regulate their actions.

When The Bush Administration proposed the TARP progragm we did not hear Mr. Boehner nor Mr. McCain talk about the sin of leaving debt to the next generation. They were also quite content to let the Bush Administration give the money to those that they deemed worthy of the funds. From the oringinal distribution of TARP funds by the Bush Administion, the American People recieved nothing. Those that accepted the funds continued on their spree of excess including parties with bills in the hundreds of thousands, bonuses awarded in the millions of dollars to the bankers who drove their banks into the ground and another ledger of non-paccountable funds from the US Government. Did Mr. Boehner or Senator McCain have anything to say about the waste in the first TARP fund distribution, not a word. Mr. Boehner's top political contributors came from the following industries in the last election cycle:

Insurance
$222,525
Securities & Investment
$180,600
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products
$163,950
Lawyers/Law Firms
$162,400
Commercial Banks
$150,450

Is it any wonder who John Boehner is concerned about or who he represents?

Citi, Ford and GM are Penny Stocks

2009-03-02T13:08:00.001-06:00

The rage before in the mid 1980's on the stock market was trading in what was then referred to as "penny stocks". These stocks were basically start up companies that could be bought for a couple of dollars a share, and because of the media hype and stockbrokers pushing and churning them to their clients they would go up a large percentage in a couple of weeks. Of course like all fads on Wall Street this soon came to an end when too many average people lost their savings in these ventures.

After Eight Years of Republican Rule under the Bush Administration which squandered the Nation's Wealth on invasions and occupations of Sovereign Nations, refused to keep a watchful eye on the Financial Markets, and in fact discouraged government regulatory agencies from forcing compliance, coupled with their quest for deregulation and tax cuts for Corporations and Wealthy Individuals, we know can look at a New York Stock Exchange listing that includes the biggest names in America's Corporate history trading at the level of "penny stocks". You can buy a share of Citi, GM, and Ford for less than the cost of a gossip magazine at the supermarket checkout. So one again, the average person who placed their trust in the investment system putting their retirement dreams and hopes, their children's college funds and their savings into Funds and Stocks are again wiped out.

While all of this continues to play out, (it's not over yet), the Republican Senators who are still sitting are calling for more tax cuts and more deregulation, claiming that Stimulus Money is not needed and that the Obama Administration is somehow responsible for the debacle now occurring on the Stock Market. It is almost as if they are detached from reality. Financial Regulations are necessary to prevent the kind of activities that the financial institutions were engaged in that caused this problem. Tax increases on Corporations and the Wealthy are necessary to pay off the largest deficit of our Nation left by the Republican Bush Administration. Withdrawal from all occupied countries is necessary to preserve the life and limbs of our servicemen, and to stop squandering the remainder of the American Treasure on useless intervention in the affairs of Sovereign Nation.

After 9/11/01 George W. Bush made a big show of responding to an enemy that he claimed hated our way of life and that is why they attacked us. He also stated that their ultimate goal was to bring the United States to Financial Ruin. There can be no doubt that when the stalwarts of the American Capitalist System are collapsing and selling for less than the price of a newspaper that the Bush Administration allowed our enemies to accomplish their goal as stated by Mr. Bush.

More Money for Banks

2009-03-01T11:23:00.000-06:00

The Federal Government has taken steps to bailout Citibank again, this makes the third time. There is an adage on Wall Street, "Don't throw good money after bad". Obviously this is not a concept that the Federal Government has embraced. Under Bush Citibank was propped up twice, now the Obama Administration feels it was necessary for the third time.

Someone needs to explain exactly why Citibank receives such favorable treatment. Lehman was allowed to fall, yet Citibank is somehow immune from this fate because the Federal Government seems intent on propping up this Bank which obviously had its own little pyramid scheme going on with its books. Citibank last full year earnings were reported at $159 Billion, it is mind boggling that a company that has this kind of revenue stream is not able to maintain on its own.

As the Federal Government continues to pour staggering amounts of money into propping up these bank supermarkets who gambled their money on Securities Obligations, Credit Default Swaps, Equity Trading, Options hedging and the like, the American Middle Class continues to sink to the depths of economic ruin. When any proposal comes up to prop up the American People it is met with disdain from the Republicans in Congress and it is short changed by the Democrats.

The American Electorate elected the Obama Administration along with a Congressional Majority in hopes that the Government would again represent the People, each new Corporate Bailout that is announced diminishes those hopes. Again, it must be stated, a strong, growing and prosperous consumer economy relies on the consumers being able to consume. With staggering unemployment numbers, wealth deprecation, and continuing to ignore the working class and middle class, consumption will continue to deteriorate.

Could it be that the approach begun by the Bush Administration and continued by the Obama Administration of feeding money to the banks is the wrong approach. If the American People had been sent the money that was given to all these banks, consumption would have increased, personal debt would have been paid, and savings would have increased, all of which would have filtered money into the banking system. Banks that were run well would have increased their bottom line, and those that didn't would have shown that there is a major problem with the way they handle money and should have been forced into Bankruptcy. As it stands now, the Banks have received 5 times the value of the Stimulus Bill that was opposed by all but three Republicans, the banks are still falling and the American People are swiftly fading into poverty.

Citibank is being treated like it is the American Treasury, it is not. The continuation of this policy will continue the ruination of the American People.

Where Did all the Money Go?

2009-02-28T14:41:00.000-06:00

With Banks reporting losses in the Billions, schemes like Madoff perpetrated, and the world's largest Corporations posting losses in the Billions do you ever wonder where did all the money go? Isn't it odd that throughout the Bush Years we were constantly being told that the Bush Tax Cuts had created a booming economy? Yet in 18 short months all of a sudden the entire world is broke. It has to make you wonder, where did all the money go.

No matter how many plans the Obama Administration and other Central Governments throughout the world announce, the markets react as if that is not enough. So how much is enough and what money will it be replacing? Where is the original money that needs replacing, or was there any ever money that equalled what was on the books. How could the Largest Bank in the U.S.A. be out of money, if they lost it didn't somebody gain it?

This is another mystery that we will never know the answer to in our lifetime, but one thing is for sure, plenty of money was sucked away from the working class and middle class in the last 18 months. The middle class has seen the value of their retirement accounts, money market accounts and savings accounts dwindle to historic lows. IRA's and 401K's are being cashed in in record levels, family jewelry is being sold by the ton, all of which sucks the assets that were built up during the Clinton Years out of the hands of ordinary people, and after all isn't that the point of all of this. The Republicans couldn't stand the fact that economic parity was being achieved during the Clinton Years and that wages were going up, home values were increasing, and more people were becoming property owners. The policies of the Bush Administration sought to widened the gap between rich and poor, and in the process they allowed greed to rule and now they are even losing their wealth. Notice however, that the wealthy were helped first and are still being helped while Republican Senators and Republican Spokespeople like Gov Jindal think that any help for the average person is wild spending by the Government. And although they never raised their voices while the Bush Administration was wasting trillions of dollars in Iraq, now that a President wants to increase aid to help the average person, they consider it excessive spending.

The best thing that can come of this Economic Crisis is that many wealthy people who never had to work might actually have to get a job.

Recovery.gov

2009-02-27T13:10:00.000-06:00

The Obma Administration has established the Web Site Recovery.gov as the clearinghouse for information on the money being spent in the Stimulus Bill titled - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Under Frequently Asked Questions there appears this question and response:

Q: What type of programs will this recovery package fund?A: The Recovery Act specifies appropriations for a wide range of Federal programs and will increase or extend certain benefits payable under the Medicaid, unemployment compensation, and nutrition assistance programs. The legislation also reduces individual and corporate income tax collections and makes a variety of other changes to tax laws. The package provides funds that will:

Create a framework for clean, efficient, American energy;
Transform our economy with science and technology;
Modernize roads, bridges, transit and waterways;
Overhaul education for the 21st Century;
Dispense tax cuts to make work pay and create jobs;
Expand access to health care and lower costs;
Provide assistance to workers hurt by the economy;

If the above stated goals are to be met than the money allocated towards it are a mere pittance of what is really needed. Just taking the first stated goal:

Create a framework for clean, efficient, American energy; as an example. To really achieve this goal much more than is being allocated is needed. To transform America's Fossil Fuel Economy into a clean, efficient, energy economy would require a massive Government investment into transforming every Local, County, State, and Federal Government owned building into an Energy Self Sufficient building. This would require much more than the Stimulus Bill has to offer and would be a major impetus in solving the economic woes. Let's assume that one hundred buildings a year in each State could be converted in each of the next ten years, and that each building would require an average of $2 Million to convert, that means that the Stimulus Bill is woefully underfunded. Although an extraordinary amount of money would be required to fund such an ambitious undertaking, it would not be money wasted such as the money that was poured into the Iraq invasion, and although it is money that will create a deficit, it is money that will also create a long term savings to the future budgets. As each building becomes energy self sufficient it would no longer pay monthly utility bills, hence, government budgets would be reduced by the amounts of these savings for the useful life of the systems that are constructed. This kind of expenditure would create jobs in every aspect of the economy, from laborers, to engineers, from factory workers to bankers, from inventors to architects. A plan of massive proportions that is capable of putting a dent in America's fossil fuel usage which would save in the future.

Gov. Jindal Republican Response to Obama

2009-02-26T12:32:00.000-06:00

On the evening of February 24, 2009 President Barack Obama delivered a speech to the Congress to discuss the state of the economy and the plans for its recovery. Because of what is left of the Fairness Doctrine, the Networks are required to air a response from the opposing party. Gov. Jindal of Louisiana was chosen by the Republicans to give the response to the Obama Speech.

Jindal started by listing a history of the United States that included the journey from slavery to the first African-American President to address a joint session of Congress. He then went into why the Republicans opposed the Obama Stimulus Bill stating, "That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs."

This failed Republican idea that cutting taxes creates jobs has been disproved throughout the eight years of the failed Bush Presidency, whose policies, including tax cuts, is what has landed us in this mess. Why would cutting taxes create jobs now when it failed to create jobs and grow the economy in the last eight years, the proposal is outright audacious. What good is cutting taxes for workers who don't have jobs? They will not be paying taxes anyway, so exactly who will benefit from the proposed tax cuts that Jindal claims will create jobs, only the wealthy, the same ones who benefited throughout the Bush Administration.

Jindal then goes on to blame the Democrats for not including Republican "ideas" in the Stimulus Bill, even though the Stimulus Bill was watered down and shifted to a Bill that contains almost 47% tax cuts and 53% spending in hopes of achieving votes from the Republicans. Even after this dramatic shift from the original drafts that the Democrats proposed to a Bill that included tax cuts, the Republicans failed to cast even 1 vote for the Bill in the House. The Republicans, as expressed in the Jindal speech fell jilted by the lack of Republican policies in the Stimulus Bill. The history of the last eight years have taught this Nation that the Republican Ideology of Governance is a failure and has brought our Nation to its Economic Knees, why should Republicans have any input in Economic ideals, when their ideals have produced a failed economy.

Jindal also claims that the Stimulus Bill was the largest spending bill passed by Congress, this seems to ignore the fact that trillions of dollars were spent by the Bush Administration to invade and occupy the Sovereign Country of Iraq. Although not all of the Iraq spending was contained within one bill, it is without a doubt the LARGEST WASTED EXPENDITURE IN AMERICAN HISTORY, and it was spent by a REPUBLICAN, without any accountability. Where are the accountants of money spent in cash during the Provisional Authority Government that the Bush Administration established under Paul Bremmer following the invasion of Iraq. Jindal talks about accountability, why is he not demanding accountability of the Iraq money spent in secret by the Republican Bush Cheney Administration?

Gov. Jindal continues, " Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt. Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It's irresponsible. And it's no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs, or build a prosperous future for our children." By this statement it is obvious that Jindall knows not from whence we came. The Republican Bush Cheney Administration with a Republican controlled Congress inherited the largest surplus in American History from the Democratic Clinton/Gore Administration and in eight short years turned that into the largest deficit in American History and spent it on NOTHING. They did not improve the lives of Americans, in fact more Americans drifted into poverty under the failed Republican policies of eight years of Republican rule.

Almost every main stream economist throughout the world states that the ONLY way to stimulate the economy is for every central government to spend as much money as possible rebuilding their infrastructures to create jobs, yet Jindal and the disillusioned Republicans still believe that the only way is to give the rich a free ride and reduce their taxes even further. If you are blessed enough to have become wealthy in America, as a human being you should have no moral objection to contributing a percentage of your wealth to the furtherance of the Society as a whole. The wealthy will now realize that if the People live in poverty even their wealth will be diminished.

President Obama has proposed raising taxes on the wealthy to start addressing the National deficit issue, but Jindal and the Republicans will also oppose this because although they talk about not passing debt on to the next generation they feel that they should not be the ones to pay, their approach is only the working and middle class should pay not only taxes but with their lives, sweat and blood.

Obama Administration Amateur Mistakes

2009-02-25T14:09:00.000-06:00

The Obama approval ratings after one month in office have come in at remarkable high numbers after some early mistakes. There were the nominees who had tax problems and had to withdraw, and one who was approved even after tax problems were revealed. The most amateur mistakes of the Obama Administration have been over looked by the general public, but not by those who make their living trading in stocks and bonds.

Obama and his Administration have made comments while the Markets were open causing some good trading days to stop in their tracks and reverse. The Obama Administration must establish a simple rule, do not make comments that will cause the markets turmoil when they are open. All such comments should be held off until after trading has concluded during the day. In this way the Administration will limit the damage that occurs due to instant interpretation of what is said. When the markets are open, rightly or wrongly the markets instant calculate what is said and if a negative is perceived it causes an over reaction on the down side because uneasiness feeds upon itself. If comment that will affect trading are held to right after the close that gives 18 hours of digestion and counter analyst time to ally any fears that might be connoted in the comments. This Administration must learn a simple rule especially in these turbulent times, don't rock the markets with off the cuff or even prepared statements that traders will instantly asses while trading is going on.

A lot of the downward pressure on market prices could have been avoided if comments were held until the end of a trading day, and preferably until the end of trading on a Friday. One of the worst days was not one caused by off the cuff comments but by the highly touted prepared remarks of the Treasury Secretary about the proposed Banking Fix. After months of supposed preparation and over a week of postponement, the Secretary's Prepared remarks were no more that an abstract outline. The Markets did not take kindly to the lack of specifics in the Secretary's plan thus causing a drop in prices that continues to feed on itself after nearly two weeks. This was an amateur mistake, in the mist of economic uncertainty the Secretary and the Obama Administration would have been wiser to say that the details are not ready yet and that a specific approach would be ready in weeks. If a very specific plan had been presented with actual numbers and a system for solidifying the Banking Sector, it would have been well received by the Markets and instilled confidence in the Economy. The Plan was so general that it left many on Wall Street with the feeling of no one steering the ship.

The Markets continue to punish the bank stocks because of the uncertainty left by the Secretary's lack of plan. As the Bank stocks are rocked they are bringing down the whole market and causing more economic uncertainty throughout the financial world. The lack of a cohesive plan when the Administration had since November to solidify one is inexcusable. The Amateur Mistakes of this Administration must end at the end of this month if any of their plans are to be taken seriously by the numbers people on Wall Street.

$900 Million to Palestine is Absurd

2009-02-24T12:02:00.003-06:00

Talk is now floating around that the United States is prepared to send Palestine $900 Million in aid through the UN. In this time of financial crisis in the United States all US funding should go towards helping AMERICANS. No matter what you believe about the Palestine Political Situation, The United States is not in the economic position to continue dispersing aid around the world until all American Citizens have the security of economic solvency.

The Obama Administration had to water down the stimulus bill in order to get it through the Congress, so we ended up with a stimulus bill that is about a third of what is really needed to revitalize the American Economy that was destroyed by the deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations under the Bush Administration. If the American People can not count on the Government to do the right thing for our own Citizens, why should the American People continue to send economic aid to other regions of the world.

The $900 Million that is being talked about to rebuild Palestine after the Israeli Invasion is targeted to "rebuild" Palestine after the $2 Billion dollars of infrastructure damage done by the Israel War Machine. The United States should have demanded that Israel withdraw as soon as they stepped foot in Palestine, but the Bush Administration was content to let Israel be Israel. After all after the Bush Doctrine of preemption, the Bush Administration was not in a position to tell another country that they could not preemptively invade. However, the Obama Administration is in the position to force Israel to offer the Aid to rebuild Palestine, they did the damage, they should pay, just as in Iraq the United States has poured Trillions of Dollars into reconstructing the damage caused by American Bombs.

The Priority of the United States Government should be to rebuild America not other Countries. The Obama Administration can not allow this aid to be spent until the American Family is on firm economic footing. There are still American Cities destroyed by Katrina that need rebuilding should $900 Million be dedicated to rebuilding American Cities before we rebuild cities around the world.

America has throughout History been a generous Nation that has never failed to aid the rest of the World. In these verge of Depression times, America must be restored first. When the American Families and workers are made whole and the Economy begins to prosper the natural generosity of the American People will naturally flow throughout the world. Americans have always shared the wealth of this Nation with the rest of the world, but it is not feasible to share a wealth that just does not exist.

The Federal Government has underfunded the Economic Recovery and the future infrastructure projects which are necessary to change America from a fossil fuel economy to a renewable energy economy by about $2 Trillion Dollars. Now is not the time to distribute aid to the rest of the world. The US should lead a UN call to have Israel fund the reconstruction of the destruction that they caused.

As Oil Falls

2009-02-23T15:10:00.000-06:00

As world demand falls for oil due to a slow down in economic activity the call for a new Energy Economy for the United States should not be placed on the back burner. The benefits of shifting the Nation's Economy from a Fossil Fuel Based Economy to an Alternative Renewable Sustainable Energy Economy has not lost its immediacy. Even if oil falls below $20 a barrel, the Nation's Future needs are the proper considerations.

President Obama and his Economic Planning Team need to remember that this economic depression was fueled by a lack of planning for the future. No matter how the cost of changing the National Energy Infrastructure it must be addressed now, not when oil again approaches $90 a Barrel. The goal of a new energy policy and economy should be a nation that uses 90% less fossil fuels than we used at the peak burning year of 2005. Every gallon of gas and oil that is no longer burned in the United States will become a building block for the future foundation of a new Energy Economy.

The largest block of money in the Stimulus Bill was assigned to tax cuts when in fact it should have been assigned to the research, development and implementation of Alternative Renewable Sustainable Energy Systems that will preserve the assets of the Nation while cleaning the air and water and lowering health costs caused by polluted air and water.

The priorities of the Obama Administration must not be knocked off course by public opinion that is shifted by the Republican Senators lies and the lies of media outlets like Fox News. In order for the Nation to grow out of the current economic crisis the future must be addressed along with the present, and the future demands an economy that does not burn assets but rather one that is able to renew energy assets.

Mark Levin

2009-02-22T14:22:00.000-06:00

There is a new right wing radio talk show host who is achieving National Syndication around the Nation named Mark Levin. Mr. Levin purports to be a Constitutional Attorney who worked under Edwin Meese in the Reagan White House. Mr. Levin is another of the Bush cheerleaders who thought that the Bush Policies were the right policies. Now that those policies have failed the Nation and led to an unprecedented Economic Downturn which will most likely last for the next decade, Mr. Levin finds it easy to blame the downturn on the Democratic Administration of Bill Clinton. These guys are simply unbelievable. The Eight years of the Clinton Administration are the only eight years that the Nation actually prospered since the Regan Administration and achieved a surplus rather than a deficit.

Mr. Levin has a problem with the stimulus plan, still insisting that tax cuts are the way to go even though the US has the lowest tax rate of developed countries. Mr. Levin is one of those who thinks that the roads, schools, bridges, hospitals, and infrastructure appears out of thin air and that he has no obligation to pay taxes even though this country has allowed him to live very well. This is the typical Republican attitude that Mr. Levin spits out on his radio show, no one should pay taxes according to him, the Society should be a free for all of Private industry that will take care of the needs of the infrastructure based on the profitability of the project.

And of course like all of the other Republican Radio Talk Show hosts, he never served in the Military but thinks that War is just great.

DNC Lacks Conviction

2009-02-21T15:24:00.000-06:00

The DNC has failed to counter the Republican lies that were exposed during the debate about the Stimulus Bill, now the Nation had to accept a Bill that is jammed with Republican ideas and policies that are sure to cause this Bil to fail to meet the goals that were originally intended. The DNC had vast opportunities to spend some of their overstuffed budget on fact based commercials and appearances by DNC members on talk radio and television shows. Instead the DNC let Republican Senators like Senators McCain, McConnell, Graham, and Martinez dominate the air waves with falsehoods, lies, innuendos and proposals to continue the failed Republican Ideas of Tax Cuts for the Wealhty.

The duty of the DNC is not only to get Democrats elected but it is also to insure that the policies that they espoused during their campaigns are achieved. The DNC missed the boat on the Stimulus Bill by letting the old tired failed ideology of the Republicans dominate the debate.

The DNC must always be willing and able to express the ideals of the Democratic Party whether during an election cycle or during a governing term. The ability to preach the Democratic Agenda has never been so available to the DNC as it is now. The DNC is flush with cash after the phenomenal fund raising abilities of the OBama Campaign. The DNC should be using that money to back the policies on which the Obama Campaign was able to get elected while suring up support for the policies that the Democratic Party hold dear.

Now is also the time to target every Republican US Senator that is up for re-election in 2011, and 2013 by pointing out their lies and fallacies when they go on the media and explain ideas and policies that are diametrically opposed to the goals that established our Nation and that are in opposition to the goals and aspirations of the Democratic Party.

REPOST of 10/09/08 Blog - Dow 6000

2009-02-20T15:47:00.001-06:00

With another steep drop in the DOW Jones Industrial Average today it is clear that Wall Street has finally realized what Main Street has known for years. The Republican Bush/Cheney Economic Policies have been a failure. The Economic Policies of the so called "Conservative" Movement of the Republican Party preaches "free market" economics. What they mean by "free markets" are markets that remove all regulatory oversight, the result of removing regulatory oversight is the current economic crisis. Senator McCain throughout his career has often referred to himself as a "deregulator" along with his other self proclaimed title of "maverick".

The result of maverick deregulation has arrived for all to experience. The Dow will seek its own level, a level that will be based on a realistic investment ratio. The traders, speculators and money mangers who have for years disregarded the fundamentals of investing must now recondition themselves to invest in a practical way. Throughout the years whenever the price earnings ratios of publicly traded stocks have been in excess, the markets corrects to brings those ratios down to a realistic level.

The news reports and the man on the street interviews seem to be amazed that the Dow has fallen from a high of 14,000 to its current level below 9,000. It really is not amazing, it is practical. The real value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average based on trailing earrings is probably around 7500 - 8000, but because the pendulum swings too far in both directions it will not be surprising to see the Dow fall as low as 6000 before reality sets in and it seeks its proper level at 8000. Between 6000 and 8000 there will be multiple bounces back and forth between those numbers until the markets settle down to be in line with actual earnings and not projected earnings. There are many reason that markets correct, this market has corrected because of the excesses that are now surfacing because of shoddy oversight and the deregulation of the banking and insurance industries.

The financial industries treated the American people as a never ending source of revenue that was kept alive by offering excessive credit without regard to stagnant wages. All of the deregulation will now have to be reversed so that Banks and Insurance Companies are again required to keep their assets safe and not gamble them in the casino called Wall Street. The Republicans will have to realize that an Economy is not grow from the top down, but rather it is nurtured from the roots.

The key to a fundamentally strong economy is to maintain an hourly wage base that will afford the hourly wage earner the ability to be a consumer. The hourly wage worker is the consumer that fertilizes the roots of the economy, as they spend, they create demand, demand creates jobs, jobs create demand and so on. Allowing the wealthy to park their money and speculate on made up derivatives does not benefit the real economy in any way. It creates games that only the rich can play. Now they have played and they have lost. It is a clear indication that the policies of the "conservative" Republican Economic theories are a fallacy that cannot work. The key to a good economy is a well paid working class, and a growing middle class. If you starve the working class and cast the middle class into poverty, the result is an economy that produces little, consumes less and stops growing.

The Lies of Greta Van Susteren

2009-02-19T14:40:00.002-06:00

The Fox News Network, better know as the Faux News Network to most of America has a show called "On The Record" hosted by Greta Van Susteren. Ms. Van Susteren has made her show an open forum for Senator Lindsy Graham to expose his opposition to the Obama Stimulus bill. Senator Graham was a major supporter of the Bush Administration of fiscal deregulation, cutting taxes for the wealthy, and invading two Soverign Nations. Mr. Graham was also a big supporter of the McCain/Palin ticket and offered vocal opposition to any spending in the Stimulus Bill that would redirect funds away from tax breaks for new drilling and redirecting that funding towards the future of Alternative Renewable Sustainable Energy.

Mr. Graham was a major voice in the Terry Shivo case, the most ridiculous use of the U.S. Senate that the Nation has witnessed in modern times. Mr. Graham exposes the same old tired failed philosophy of the Republican Party, that tax cuts are needed for the wealthy in order to stimulate the economy. This philosophy has been proven to be false for the last eight years, the eight years and the eight years of the Regan Administration. When George HW Bush did the right thing and raised taxes to stem the slide into defect spending Senators like Senator Graham opposed him and even caused him to lose his re-election by their lack of support.

Ms. Van Susteren besides agreeing that Senator Graham is right keeps reminding the viewers that $78 Billion of the TARP money was misappropriated not mentioning that this was done under the Bush Administration. Her favorite line when mentioning this is, " Can we trust the Government?" implying that it is the current Government that can not be trusted to administer the TARP money when in fact the misappropriation came under the Bush Administration. This is just another one of hundreds of lies of omission that passes for fact on the Faux News Network and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.

American Families Continue into Poverty

2009-02-18T13:22:00.000-06:00

As Congress dickered for weeks the American Family slipped deeper into poverty with no end in sight. Unemployment continues to escalate and those with jobs are losing work hours and income. Now the talk is of lower wages. The average American worker was not even earning a livable wage before this downturn caused by the failed policies that the Republicans have been pushing since Ronald Reagan. Even George H.W. Bush saw the danger in the Regan Economic Agenda when he called it "voodoo economics". Now that the trance is over the Nation continues to suffer though the fallacy of economic policies that the Republicans called "trickle down economics and "supply side economics. No matter what name it is given the truth is that is is "failed economics".

The so called Regan Revolution started the erosion of the wealth of the American Family and it was only stemmed by the eight years of the Bill Clinton Administration. After eight years of Bush capitalizing on the patriotism caused by 9/11 and ramming through the Congress laws that deregulated, privatized and stripped away the watch dog agencies of the Federal Government, the Nation is left with the worst economic catastrophe of a century. Not only did the failed policies of the Republicans affect the US, it also affected the entire world's economy. The Bush Administration let unregulated financial instruments to be given birth by the financial companies in America which in turn were sold throughout the world without any underlying assets. these unregulated instruments are not the only cause of the current crisis but they are a major contributing factor to it all.

Now that the Nation has a New Administration with progressive goals they are being blocked from implementing ideas and policies that are aimed at the future economic growth of the American Family by Republican Senators who prefer to cling to the failed policies of Reagan, Bush and Bush.

Especially irritating are the comments from Senator McCain who claims that the Obama Stimulus Bill is "generational thievery". There were no such remarks from Mr. McCain when he supported the invasion and occupation of Sovereign Countries using debt to pay the bills associated with these invasions instead of raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. At a time of increasing deficit Senator McCain supported policies to cut the taxes of the wealthiest Americans. If anyone believes that Senator McCain has any concern about the American Family, one only needs to look at the choice for Vice President that he made when he won the Republican nomination. Anyone who would feel comfortable with Sarah Palin in charge of the world during this time of economic uncertainty. Senator McCain and the other Republican Senators are still of the belief that the rich need to be tended to and the poor should fend for themselves. An appropriate response from the People is to remove these Senators from office.

Republican Senators to Defeat in 2011

2009-02-17T12:34:00.002-06:00

Every Republican Senator opposed the recovery bill presented by the Democratic Majority and supported by the current Obama Administration. These same Senators had no problem voting for the TARP money when proposed by the Bush Administration, even though they had no idea what the money would be used for, which companies would receive it, who would decide on the distribution or why the money was needed immediately. A Stimulus Plan that would push massive government infusions of cash into an economy that is collapsing day by day causing the American Family to descend into economic poverty. The Republican Senators have come to the conclusion that making the "Bush Tax Cuts" permanent would be a better solution than stimulating the economy with spending like every other Nation that is in an economic depression. These Republican Senators insist on clinging to an economic philosophy that has produced an economy in ruin. The fallacy that giving tax cuts to the rich will enhance a National Economy has been proven false from the time of Reagan right through George W. "Hoover" Bush. These Senators who wholeheartedly supported the failed Philosophy of the Republican are putting road blocks in the way of economic recovery and they must be removed from office as soon as possible.

The following Republican Senators are up for re-election in 2011 and if they can not removed before that by recall efforts of the citizens of the respective states that they represent, then the Democratic National Committee must begin now to campaign against these Senators who are up for re-election.

The Republican Roll Call of Scoundrels Senators who must be defeated:

Robet F. Bennett - R - UT
Christopher Bond - R - MO
Sam Brownback - R - KS
Jim Bunning - R- KY
Richard Burr - R - NC
Tom Coburn - R- ID
Mike Crapo - R - ID
Jim DeMint - R - SC
Chuck Grassley - R - IA
Judd Gregg - R - NH
Johnny Isakson - R- GA
Mel Martinez - R -FL
JOHN McCAIN - R - AZ
Lisa Murkowski - R -AK
Richard Shelby - R- AL
John Thoune - R- SD
David Vetter - R- LA
George Voinovich - R-OH

If you live in one of the States represented by these Senators and your annual income is less than a million dollars, these people are not in your best interest. If fact the policies that they vote for are against your best interests and you should start a recall movement to remove these people from the United States Senate, or at least begin to support a candidate in 2011 who will represent your interests.

Stimulus Bill Watered Down

2009-02-16T11:59:00.003-06:00

The Stimulus Bill that was passed and has been reconciled in joint House and Senate committees is a far cry from the original bill that was touted during the lame duck time of GW Bush during the transition. The Bill that has surfaced and is awaiting President Obama's signature on February 16, 2009 includes many Republican ideas dealing with tax credits. The Democrats acquiesced to the Republicans in hopes of getting bi-partisan support including tax cuts that are valued at 42% of the total bill's expenditures.

Other industrial countries that find themselves besieged by the same situation have decide to spend upwards of 20% of their GDP to stimulate their economies, while the US Bill barely approaches 2% in expenditures and almost 2% in tax cuts. Why would President Obama and the Democratic House and Senate allow the Republicans to dictate the details of the bill. Their old tired ideas of tax cuts for the rich trickling down to stimulate ye economy have already been proven to be a failure. It is ridiculous and detrimental to the Nation to allow the failed philosophy of economics to be included in any hopes of recovery.

Because the total $800 Billion is not spending but now 42% tax cuts to appease the failed Republican philosophy this stimulus bill will not accomplish what it was suppose to accomplish, President Obama and the Democratic Congress will now get the blame for the Stimulus failing. The only way this Stimulus had a chance of working was to dedicate massive spending to getting this Nation off of fossil fuels and onto a system of Alternative Renewable Sustainable Energy. Billions of dollars should be dedicated to having every Government owned Building retrofitted to alternative energy and removed from burning fossil fuels. This would have created the necessary millions of jobs now, save the Government Money in the future and spurred on a new industry that would grow for decades.

The Republican were in the Economic Driver Seat for eight years under George W. Bush and they drove the car into the lake. There is no reason to forgive them and new car and driver's license. President Obama should expose the failures of the Republican Philosophy, and have the Congress pass Bills that will comply with the Democratic Ideas.

Hannity's Insanity

2009-02-15T10:54:00.000-06:00

There is a talk show host on Fox News, Sean Hannity, whose show is called Hannity's America, he also has a talk radio show. During the eight years of the Bush Administration this FNC host was THE BUSH Administration Cheerleader. In his eyes and by his words George W. Bush could do no wrong. Because he was part of the Bush Administration propaganda machine Mr. Hannity had unprecedented access to the White House under the Bush Administration.

When Bush first took office and the Nation started sliding into a recession, Mr. Hannity liked to refer to it as the Clinton recession even though Bush was the President for over a year. Just for laughs I turned on Mr. Hannity's show a few times in the last couple of weeks and heard him refer to the financial mess as the "Obama Recession". President Obama is not even in office a month, it is trivial, but this is not a recession caused by the policies of President Obama, but rather a continuing recession brought on by the failed Republican Policies that Sean Hannity so wholeheartedly supported.

Mr. Hannity can not bear to say the words that this financial mess was created by the failed Bush Republican Policies. Mr. Hannity now expresses dismay over the Stimulus Package proposed by the Obama Administration and the use of the second half of the $350 Billion dollars of TARP money, yet when the TARP money was first requested by the Bush Administration, Mr. Hannity vehemently supported the funding of the TARP even before it was called the TARP by the Bush Administration.

Mr. Hannity professes often that he is a Catholic, and even says "Good Catholic", as opposed to a "bad catholic" I presume, however, he consistently opposes any help for the working class and feels that all the answers to society lie in tax cuts for the rich. Sean Hannity mocked and blamed the people of New Orleans during the Katrina crisis, claiming that it was the fault of people for not getting out before the storm.

As for the Iraq War, Hannity is your typical chicken hawk. He has never served in the Military, yet he is a strong advocate of War. As a "good catholic" Mr. Hannity of course has no sympathy for the thousands of Iraqi People including woman and children who were indiscriminately killed during the Iraq invasion and occupation. Mr. Hannity also supported Gitmo, and the torturing of prisoners, surely his book of Catholicism must be different than the rest of humanity's because I cannot find any passage in the words of Jesus which is the foundation of the Catholic religion that expresses support by Jesus for ignoring the downtrodden, torturing and killing innocents.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T16:59:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day

Did they have a Plan?

2009-02-13T16:03:00.000-06:00

During the George W. Bush lame duck session the Obama Team was suppose to be working on a plan to stimulate the economy. Rep. Pelosi announced that a stimulus bill would be ready on day 1 of the Obama Administration, those hopes were soon dashed. Mid February finally sees the passage of a stimulus bill after being misdirected by Republican Demands for tax cuts and incentives. The idea of the bill was suppose to be a massive Government spending to grease the economy. What did the bill eventually look like, 43% tax cuts. Exactly which unemployed person will benefit from a tax cut when they don't have an income to tax.

The Obama Financial Team either does not have a plan or they do not know what they are planning for. The Stimulus Bill will fail to stimulate and the Financial Bill proposed by the Treasury rocked the market with its lack of specificity and goals. Basically the investor class through up their hands in disgust and sold off investments as quickly as they could while fleeing to Treasury Bills, Bonds, The Dollar and GOLD.

The Obama Financial Team is stocked with world renowned economists, is this the best plan they could come up with? If it is, it is a disgrace. It would have been better off taking the money and paying off every mortgage in the country, whatever banks could survive after having all their mortgages paid off would be the ones that could continue to do business with tight regulatory controls, all the rest should enter Bankruptcy and sell off their assets.

The Current Treasury Plan is a fiasco. A mixed entanglement of failed banks, private equity and Federal back stops, what can this accomplish other than preventing any down side for the private investors who stand to make a fortune if the "bad" assets turn "good". This plan is in serious need of revamping.

Democratic Leadership

2009-02-12T16:34:00.000-06:00

The Democratic Leadership in the Senate and in the House is sadly lacking. Now that the watered down Stimulus has passed and maybe some money will start flowing it is time that the Democratic Leadership start leading and presenting an agenda of bills that will complement and restore the changes that were made to pacify Republicans who did not vote for the bill anyway even after the revisions that they wanted were included.

If the Republican Senators want to filibuster the future economic growth of the Nation and throw it into a Depression, then the Democratic Leadership should insure that they really do stand up and filibuster and insure that all of it is televised so that the American People can see in living color the nonsense that these Republican Senators are intent on perpetrating on the U.S. and her citizens.

Let them stand and explain the failed policies that they support and explain how we got here from the eight years of the Republican Bush Administration. The policies that they now want the Nation to double down on are the policies that led us to where we are. Should we continue on the same path or should we demand the change that the Democrats promised. As a People, it is time to demand that the Federal Government serve the People that it represents and if they continue to fail, it is time for the People to remove them from office no matter which party they claim to be from, for they have all failed us as a whole.

Why are Republicans Making Policy?

2009-02-11T13:36:00.000-06:00

After eight years of failed Republican policies that have led our Nation to the brink of economic catastrophe it is rather strange that the Republican Senators are still able to influence economic policy to the point of changing the stimulus bill in to a tax cut for the rich. The purpose of the bill was to put spendable money into a cash starved economy. The Obama Administration allowed the Stimulus Bill to be twisted by the Republicans into their failed vision that tax cuts for the wealthy somehow benefit the American Family and the economy.

Senator McCain had the gall to stand there and say that the Bill is "generational thievery", that is is a crime that the debt will be passed on to the next couple of generations. This from a Republican Leader who fully supported the policies of George W. (Hoover) Bush who took office with the largest US surplus and left office with a $ 5 Trillion deficit, who does McCain think will pay this back, this generation? The Stimulus Bill is less than 1/5 of what the Bush Administration left behind to clean up, and that is only the deficit, not counting the private sector mess that will amount to another few trillion dollars. But John McCain will stand up for future generations because he really cares about the future of the average American. If you don't believe that John McCain is truly concerned about the future of America, just remember that he thought that leaving the future to the hands of Sarah Palin was a great idea.

President Obama must neutralize the Republican ideas of failure. The Democratic Party must make a concerted effort to put the seats of these Republican Senators in play in the next election cycle. If President Obama is serious about changing America, the make up of the U.S. Senate must be changed if real change is to be effective.

Less Than Thoughtful

2009-02-10T13:15:00.003-06:00

Today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced the Obama Administration stabilization plan and Wall Street responded with a resounding thumbs down. The plan as announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner leaves the Banking Industry in the same situation as before the plan was announced, that is in disarray without any idea of the value of the paper that are on their balance sheets.

Not only does the Treasury Plan fail to address the underlying problem of how to evaluate the assets that led us to this point, it fails to address a cohesive formula for going forward and preventing the effects of these assets from continuing to affect the general economy. Judging by an immediate 300 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the investor class is not willing to buy this plan as presented by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

With all the money that has been doled out by the Treasury, The Federal Reserve and the Federal Government, it seems that there should be some progress or at least a road map that can be followed to get us to the end of this destructive path. Granted that the problem was caused over eight years of the Bush Administration and it will most likely take a decade to resolve, however, the plan to take us through the decade of revitalization should be clear and concise.

There is nothing in this plan to bring the consumer back to the cash resisters, and in a consumer oriented economy that would seem to be the first consequence that should be met. Maybe a more comprehensive solution would have been to eliminate the consumer debt instead of the bank debt. If consumers received the same fresh start that the Treasury is hell bent on giving the banks than the natural flow of spending from the consumers would spur on economic growth the right way, from the bottom up, instead of the backward approach of the top down that was the Republican Solution and that has now been taken as policy by the new Administration.

News Corp Reports $6.4 Billion in 2 Q

2009-02-09T16:47:00.000-06:00

New Corp the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch reported a $6.4 Billion loss in just one quarter on February 5, 2009. New Corp owns the infamous Fox News Channel, and the Wall Street Journal, both of which were propaganda machines for the Bush Administration and the Republican Agenda that swore that the Economy was great throughout the eight years of the Bush Administration. Even as the carrion calls were being sounded by the economist throughout the world that the Bush Policies were destroying the economic fabric of America, the Fox News Channel, joined by their sister Networks, The Fox Business Channel and Sky News, refused to criticize the policies of the Bush Administration or the Republicans or even report the facts.

In their earnings announcement Mr. Murdoch was quoted as saying, "a direct reflection of the recession that is deeper than anyone predicted". Totally not true. The Economic catastrophe was predicted by the economists that Murdoch Media Companies deemed "left wing" and refused to let their opinions see the light of day in the controlled environment that New Corp considers news but is merely a mouth piece for a particularly philosophy promulgated by the Republican and Conservative agenda.

Many so called "liberal" economists warned of the eminent turmoil that was being created by the failed policies of the Bush Administration, and the deregulation that led to the failed economy was whole heartily supported by the News Corp pundits and anchors. When News Corp acquired the once prestigious Wall Street Journal, all semblance of objective economic reporting was discarded in favor of articles that would bolster the lies of the Conservative Republican Agenda.

Karma is an interesting concept and maybe the $6.4 Billion loss is the Karma that News Corp deserves. Shareholders of News Corp should demand better. Maybe Mr. Murdoch should dig up all the clips of Sean Hannity reporting how great the Economy was under George W. Bush and have his staff edit it into a montage so that he can take solace in the words of his multi-million dollar propaganda announcer.

Do Not Cast the Future Aside

2009-02-08T16:28:00.000-06:00

Now that fossil fuel prices are at the low end of the spectrum it seems that the urgency of renewable, alternative fuels has been cast aside. This is exactly the wrong time to cast aside the plans to convert our asset burning economy into a renewable asset economy by changing the economy from a fossil fuel based economy into a renewable, sustainable, alternative energy economy.

The massive amounts of jobs that will be created immediately will benefit the economy immediately, and the constant technological advances that will occur in an Alternative Energy Economy will guarantee that the job base will remain strong.

If the President Obama had the guts to act on the future that he knows is right $800 Billion Dollars would have been doled out just to change the Energy Economy in a ten year plan. The immediate effect on the Economy would be enormous and the savings to the Nation in the future would be incalculable both in dollar cost terms and in our standings with Nations that now hold us hostage with fossil fuel production.

The Republicans will shout that the cost is to high relative to drilling and mining fresh fossil fuel sources, but again this is the party that lives on dead ideas. The future belongs to those with vision. President Obama should realize and take stock in the reality that he was elected to be a leader with ideas that will bring this Nation into the future. The time is now to act on those ideas before the opportunity slips away again.

While rescuing the Banks, the Obama Administration can demand that the money they receive from all the Government bail outs and easy credit be risked on funding a new energy economy that will raise the living standard of Americans now and in the future. The present crisis should not put blinders on the ideas that are needed to bring us into the future as a Nation. Every gallon and thermal unit of fossil fuel that we as a Nation no longer burn is an asset that will be reinvested into the other needs of the society. The sooner we stop burning our assets the sooner we will become a Nation that is able to re-invest in our future.

Obama Continues to Pick Wrong

2009-02-07T16:18:00.000-06:00

President Obama has a serious problem with naming nominees. Rep. Hilda Solis now has a tax problem. Ms. Solis is the nominee to be the Labor Secretary. The Senate on Thursday, February 5, 2009 put off her hearing when it came to light that her husband had a tax lien that was sixteen years old and was not settled till the day before the Senate Hearing. This should put a nail in the coffin of her nomination.

One starts to wonder why the Obama Team is not able to pick up these problems before the nominee is announced. Whatever the reasons, it has to stop. The Obama Team must make sure that any nominee presented to the Senate for confirmation does not have any skeletons that will prevent the nominee from a quick and overwhelming approval.

If these nominees are being presented for political reasons, it must end. It is the obligation of an Administration that campaigned on change to set the example. There are already clouds because certain appointments have the stench of Lobbyists after the President Obama firmly stated that there will be no lobbyists in his Administration. Certainly Mr. Obama has his hands full with the Economic Cris left by the Republican George W. Bush Administration, but that is not an excuse to not have the cleanest, most transparent government that this Nation has ever seen. That is what was promised and that is what is expected, before this pattern continues, it is imperative that the Obama Administration meet and put an end to these distractions.

Republicans STILL in the DARK AGES

2009-02-06T15:52:00.000-06:00

The Senate Republicans are opposed to the Obama Stimulus package. The Republican Leadership still insists that Tax Cuts are the way to go. Exactly what don't the Republicans get. Republican Tax Cuts were enacted by the Republicans during the Regan and Bush Years, it was a total failure. Tax Cuts for the wealthy help the wealthy, not the Nation or the National Economy.

Tax cuts are only productive in an Economy that is over burdened with taxes. As a whole Americans are not over burdened with Federal Taxes, what they are over burdened with are Local Property Taxes and State Sales Taxes, neither of which are on the Republican Agenda. The Republican Agenda still relies on the fallacy of trickle down economics, the economics that George H.W. Bush called "voodoo economics" when he ran against Ronald Reagan for the Presidency in 1980. Tax cuts will not restart an Economy that has been pilfered by the wealthy bankers and the financial schemers that were let run wild by the other failed Republican Policy of deregulation.

The Republicans had no problem voting for a $700 Billion Bail Out, when the Bush Administration told them it was needed to rescue the Banking Industry, no question asked, The Republicans approved it. Now the Obama Administration with mountains of data are telling them that the Economy needs massive government spending to jump start the Economy before a deep recession turns into a massive Depression, yet the Republicans balk at this because it does not include tax cuts.

Time and time again the Republicans show their lack of concern for the American People, yet they are re-elected. The districts that are sending these Republicans condone the ideas of failure must be re-educated to the reality that these elected officials are not voting in their best interests.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

2009-02-05T15:37:00.000-06:00

President Obama promised "Change That You Can Believe In" during the Campaign. Since taking office he has made a concerted at having a bipartisan tone to his Administration, even going so far as to hold over a Bush appointment on his Cabinet. So far these efforts have been met with disdain from the Republicans.

Mr. Obama amended the Stimulus Legislation to include Republican proposals and eliminate some that they were opposed to, yet, not one Republican voted for the Stimulus Bill in the House. On the Senate side, Republicans squashed an additional $25 Billion for roads and bridges claiming the money is excessive. They did not claim that $700 Billion was excessive when the Bush Administration wanted it without conditions to Bail Out the Banking Industry, but when $25 Billion extra is proposed by the Democrats to aid the recovery of the Middle Class, then they are opposed.

President Obama's idealism is refreshing, however, he must realize that the Republican Agenda does no coincide with his own. In the Senate negotiations, Republican Senators are whining that their ideas are not being put into the legislation, the question becomes why would ideas that have already failed for the last eight years be included in legislation for a new agenda. Mr. Obama does not have to check his outward civility at the door but he should view any attempt to include Republican philosophy with a jaundiced eye, for their philosophy was the cause of the current crisis. The crisis can be traced from their tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, to the destruction of Government regulatory and oversight and their lack of attention to the needs of the American People.

Bad Banks or Bad Bankers

2009-02-04T15:18:00.000-06:00

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, of JP Morgan Chase, defended Executive Bonuses for Bank Employees at a hearing on Capitol Hill Yesterday. Mr. Dimon likened the hard work that is asked of some in the banking industry to that of Viet Nam. Mr. Dimon stated that assigning a tough job to someone calls for a bonus. This is the problem. Maybe bankers don't realize that people all over America do really hard work, day in and day out for just their salary. A salary that is a mere pittance of the extraordinary amounts of money that we have seen bandied about in the wake of the Federal Bailout and the revelations of the compensation being handed out to bankers who shuffle paper and create fake assets.

Mr. Dimon and his ilk are out of sync with what it is like to work for a living, and what hard work encompasses. As Mr. Dimon and his kind sit in the back of their chauffeured limousines maybe they should reflect on the the people's lives who built the road that they are riding on, these are the people who do hard work. Most American Workers toil and sell their bodies to their employees for a salary, no bonuses expected. If a Construction crew gets a call in the middle of the night because a bridge collapses or a road caves in or a building crumbles, they answer that cal with the expectation that they will receive their pay check, not an expectation of a multi-million dollar bonus. When the police, firemen, and EMT's answers calls that save lives, their only expectation is their salary, they do not expect a bonus for their hard work, which is really hard work.

By comparing the work that bankers do to the jobs that were done in Viet Nam, Mr. Dimon diminishes the work that Military Personnel do. Bankers do not put their lives on the line for the benefit of society, wrinkled suit pants from sitting all day hardly qualifies as a job that requires extra compensation. It is a Societal Defect that Bankers receive higher compensation than teachers, nurses, janitors, construction workers, retail clerks, police, fireman, EMT's and all the rest of the Professions that enable Bankers like Mr. Dimon to pretend that they have a hard job and should receive compensation that is equivalent to the yearly salaries of over 170 average American Workers. If the purpose of Mr. Dimon's testimony was to create sympathy for the work that bankers do, he not only failed miserably, but he also exposed the backwards thinking of his Industry that thinks that they are entitled to be compensated at the same rate as 170 ordinary American Workers.

Obama Having Taxing Days

2009-02-03T14:38:00.003-06:00

So today makes two more Obama Nominees who have to fall on their sword because of their failure to comply with the tax code. Could this be a sign that the tax code is too difficult to comply with or merely am easy way for Democrats to take their own tax cuts. To be fair, plenty of Republicans bit the dust during the Bush years because of tax entanglements, however, that does not excuse the Democrats who accepted President Obama's nomination when they knew full well where their skeletons were buried.

Any nominees by the Obama Administration from this point forward should have to meet with a Tax Accounting Firm with all of their tax documentation from the last decade before they are announced as nominees. After all of the vetting is completed and the positions filled then it is time for someone in the Obama Administration to be given the task of simplifying the Tax system without being influenced by outside forces.

This is not a complex issue, it is only made complex by the Corporations seeking shelters and the politicians seeking donations. It is very simple. Every American should have the unalienable right to earn enough income to take care of their basic living needs. Set a number. $50,000 per person is reasonable at this juncture. The first $50,000 of any income should be unencumbered by taxes, and this number should be raised in conjunction with the cost of living index on an annual basis. After the first $50,000 then it is a matter of setting a two or three tier tax rate schedule for income above the basic necessities. A reasonable rate would start at 10% of income earned between $50,000 and $1 Million, then 20% of any income from $1 Million to $5 Million, and a 30% rate for all income above $5 Million in a year. There should be no deductions, no deferments and the same rate applies to all, People, Businesses and Corporations. Something similar to this plan is not only necessary, it is fair and equal to all.

Nominees and all others caught up in tax related cases would have very simple cases. Did you pay your 10%, 20% or 30% or didn't you?

Personal Debt vs Bank Debt

2009-02-02T16:56:00.000-06:00

The Personal Debt of Americans is at an all time high and the unsecured debt, such as credit card debt is at the largest interest rate to fed funds rates margins ever. The exurbanite interest allowed by the current Bankruptcy Law does not appear to be a priority of either the Obama Administration nor of the Congress. While the Congress bandies about Billions of Dollars in Bail outs to Financial Firms the Economy sees no relief and no bottom. Currently Congress is trying to pass the Obama Administration Stimulus Proposal that even if passed will not have a meaningful impact on the state of the economy for ate least 6-9 months and most likely 2-3 years.

The Federal Government can immediately stimulate economic activity by passing legislation that limits interest rates to a set percentage over Prime Rate and make it illegal for lenders to charge set fees for late payments. A set fee for a late payment as opposed to a percentage of the payment effectively increases the interest rate that lenders receive. To limit the legal interest rate that a lender can charge is not only economically sensible for the Nation, it is morally right for the Society. Am immediate limitation of excessive interest rates will have an immediate impact on the available income that consumers have to spend which will in turn create an immediate stimulus to the economy.

While the usual bickering goes on in Congress, the State of the American Economy becomes more and more fragile with thousands upon thousands of layoffs announced daily. layoffs are occurring because Corporations see the writing on the wall that demand will not be increasing any time soon due to a lack of spendable income by consumers. While waiting for any Stimulus Package to kick start economic activity wouldn't it make sense to act on behalf of Personal Debt and strip the confiscatory elements out of the Bankruptcy Bill that was passed during the Bush Administration that allows lenders to raise interest rates based on credit scores and payment history to non associated bills.

Congress acted swiftly to lower the interest rates for bank debt, yet not a pen was lifted nor an idea presented to lower the usury rates charged to consumers on Personal Debt. Is this Federal Government an arm of the confiscatory lending practices of the financial industry, or are they representing the American People who form the foundation of the Government, lately the choice seems clear. This Federal Government only cares about the economic collapse of the Millionaires that have steered this Nation's Economy down a Dead Man's Hill.

New Leadership

2009-02-01T23:14:00.000-06:00

Although Executive Branch of Government has begun a new age of leadership, the Congress still is relishing in the past. The American People will do well to make a clean sweep of the Congress in the upcoming 2010 Congressional Elections. On the verge of economic disaster the Congressional Leadership and Members are still playing partisan political games while thew Nation crumbles under the weight of 8 years of a non existent government for the People.

Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi seem unable to grasp the idea that the American Agenda MUST change. The new direction of the Nation must be guided by a new direction towards an alternative, renewable, energy pursuit. During the lame duck months of the Bush Administration, when the congressional Leadership knew they would have the votes to pass a new agenda, they did nothing. There should have been a plan in place to begin anew as soon as Obama was Inaugurated. Instead, what did the Congress do, why of course they gave themselves a pay raise so as not to be out done by the bonuses awarded to the Financial Industry Employees who also collapsed their Industry.

The reward for bad government and lack of leadership is simple. Fire THEM!!

Obama Warns Years not Months

2009-01-31T13:50:00.000-06:00

In a somber warning to the American People, President Obama warned that the Stimulus Package will take years to begin to correct the Economy, not months. The highly anticipated Stimulus Bill was passed by the House without any Republican Support even though President Obama in a conciliatory gesture to the Republicans acquiesced and added more of their coveted tax cuts to the measure.

Hopefully, President Obama has learned a valuable lesson from this experience and will realize that the Republicans have one goal and one goal only and that is to stop supporting the Federal Government with taxes from the wealthy and to place the burden squarely on the backs and families of the working class and middle class. The old tired idea that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will spur economic growth has been thoroughly disproved by the Bush Administration. The Spend and tax cut policies of the Bush years, along with invading Sovereign Countries has placed the US Economy on tenuous footing that is only inches from the edge of a economic depression.

President Obama would do well to cast aside his hopes of a bipartisan approach as evidenced by the lack of support that the stimulus bill received in the House by the Republicans. The goal now should be to change the National Agenda from a fossil fuel based economy to an intensive agenda of alternative, renewable fuel sources within ten years. The infrastructure upgrades and necessary systems changes that will be needed to accomplish a new Energy Economy should create enough new living wage jobs to halt the slide into an Economic Depression. If the Republicans can't see the need for higher taxes in order to have a healthier economy in the future then they should be left alone to ponder the incompetent government that they created under Regan and culminated under Bush.

Biden In Charge

2009-01-30T16:53:00.003-06:00

Today, President Obama gave Vice President Biden a job to do. He is to be in charge of a task force to pursue the economic recovery of the middle class. This is a rather odd job for Mr. Biden. His support of the current Bankruptcy Bill is a major factor in the pain that the middle class is feeling during this economic crisis. The pain for the middle class began years ago when the Biden backed and supported Bankruptcy Bill became law and was signed by Republican President George Bush.

The Bankruptcy Bill that Biden supported allows Credit Card Companies to randomly raise a card holders interest rate based on their Credit Score. It allows Credit Card Companies to place a card holder at a default rate even if the bill that they were late on was not the Credit Card Bill. A credit card company can dig through the personal financial data of a card holder to find any late bill, even a utility bill and claim justification for raising the card holders interest rate to an astounding 39.99%. The Bankruptcy Bill that Joe Biden supported while a Senator during the Bush Administration also allows for excessive late fees at a set price instead of a percentage of the outstanding balance due. It allows car loans to be set at a default rate, even if the person was late on a Cable Bill.

The most significant thing that Joe Biden can do to ease the pain of the Middle Class is to admit that his support of the Bankruptcy Bill was a major mistake and work to rectify it through new legislation that will benefit the American Family and not the money lenders, who are now Legalized Loan Sharks thanks to the Joe Biden supported Bankruptcy Bill. The task force would be a good idea if the man in change of it wasn't responsible for the most irresponsible piece of financial legislation that affected every American Family's ability to pay off their debt in a fair way based on the American value of justified interest rates.

Either Run the Banks or Let THEM Fail

2009-01-29T11:46:00.003-06:00

The continued effort to pump the large multinational banks full of American Money is getting us nowhere. The Banks continue to spend money like they are the aristocracy of the American Economy. Government Bailout money has been used by the Banks to continue their exurbanite salaries and bonuses to their Executives and Upper Management, while continuing to farm out service payrolls overseas to India, Pakistan and the Asian Countries.

First of all, what Bank Employees deserves any bonus? They should be returning 20-25% of their salaries that they received while they were practicing unusual business activities that led to the current state of affairs, never mind receiving bonuses. What person in their right mind would pay a bonus to an employee whose performance lead the business to ruin? Doesn't anyone see anything wrong with this?

What would be the larger crisis if these Banks were forced to sell off their assets in bankruptcy court. There are thousands of Regional, Community Banks and Credit Units that did not engage in these unsavory business practices and have well run, well capitalized banks, whose employees are ALL Americans who live here and spend here. There will not be a lack of banking facilities if the top multinational banks that have caused this crisis are forced to either fix their own problems or go through Bankruptcy.

Every one of these large Corporate Multinational Banks own large expensive buildings, art work, office equipment, jets, cars, and gyms. Let the Bankruptcy Courts have a fire sale and repay what can can be repaid by the sale of their assets. Why does the United States continue to waste the money on these banks without watching and regulating what they are spending the money on. If the Federal Government is financing these banks then they should be run by the various departments within the Treasury Department and all employees should be placed on the Federal Pay Scale, no of them are worth more than any Federal Government worker. At least Federal Government Workers contribute to the well being of the society, whereas bank employees don't even contribute to the well being of their own companies as evidenced by the fact that they are all in failure.

Obama Caves to Republicans

2009-01-28T11:14:00.000-06:00

In an effort to win Republican votes in the house on the highly touted Stimulus Bill, President Obama adjusted provisions of the Bill to cater to the failed, bankrupt ideas of the selfish Republican Party. President Obama even instilled more useless, wrong, tax cuts into the Bill to try to win bipartisan support for the Stimulus Bill. Well, not one Republican supported the Stimulus Bill, they ALL voted NO.

Hopefully, President Obama learned a valuable lesson from this experience. He has tried since day one, through both words and actions to get both parties to work in concert to work on the current economic crisis, but to no avail. It is a nice gesture, however, the Republican party does not care about the American People. Their only concern is that their millionaire banker friends and financial institution friends are able to continue to pay the exurbanite salaries and bonuses to their employees which include many family member s of the Republican Hierarchy.

Now that President Obama sees in black and white that the Republicans support the continuation of the failed policies begun under Reagan by the Republicans, he will amend his conciliatory ways to politeness and decorum, and never bend needed legislation to win non-existent Republican support. The President should now propose a Bill, and Reid and Pelosi should push it through Congress post-haste, that reinstates the changes that were made to the original Stimulus Bill in order to win Republican support. The Stimulus Bill as it stands now is too weighted in Tax Cuts that will do nothing towards putting people back to work.

The Republican Philosophy that tax cuts for the wealthy leads to a better economic life for all is a flawed philosophy and has proven to be a failed policy by its implementation during the Bush Years. In order to re-vitalize a consumer and service orientated economy, you have to empower consumers and service seekers with spendable income. A Tax Cut for the wealthy drives the money to paper investments that does not create consumption, therefore it does not create jobs. The Republican carrion cry is that the factory owners who receive the tax cuts will create nore jobs when they receive a tax cut, that is wrong. The factory owners will create more jobs when their factories can not meet demand caused by more consumption, a tax cut for the wealthy will not create more consumption. The tax rate for the wealthy should have been raised in this Stimulus Bill so that we may begin paying for it. Any Citizen of the United States who is able to provide for their needs and their family's needs and still have massive amounts of money left for trivialities should be more than willing to pay 38% of all income over $300,000 in taxes to support the Nation that enabled them to attain their financial status. All those making under $300,000 should receive the largest tax break, this will free up spendable income that will get spent on goods and services.

President Obama must stick to the principles that he knows are right and not acquiesce to the failed philosophy and policies of the idea dead Republican Party, they still think that we should drill and continue running the energy of the Nation on fossil fuels, that is a Dead Idea whose time has come and gone. Build for the Future, President Obama, if they want to continue to live in the past leave them there, they will either fade away or wake up.

Start in D.C.

2009-01-27T15:11:00.005-06:00

With the stimulus bill already becoming a cumbersome piece of legislation as it works its way around Congress, Ms. Pelosi has stated that it will be ready to pass by mid February. Obviously, Ms. Pelosi and crew do not read the news, major corporations announced layoffs yesterday, January 26, 2009 across a broad spectrum of American Business from heavy machinery manufacturers, Caterpillar, to coffee shops, Starbucks. Yet the Congress seems unfazed, only when the banks come crying that their risky, leveraged speculation has gone sour does the Congress perk up and find money to keep them going. Is it because every Congressperson and Senator can count on the Banks for Campaign Donations or is it just because the Congress feels that Banks can not fail even if it is due to a bad business model and risky speculation.

The place to get the stimulus started immediately is right in the Halls of Congress. First, Congress should vote to rescind the recent pay raise that they voted for themselves even while in the midst of the greatest economic downward spiral since the Great Depression of the 1930's, then then should follow that with a vote to decrease their salary by 5-7% to keep in line with the people that they represent who have been losing 5-7% of their assets for the last eight years thanks to the policies of the Republican Bush Administration that they failed to oppose.

Congresspeople should look around at the enormous Federal Building that they drive past every day and work in sometimes. There they will see the beginning of the stimulus, start converting all Federal Buildings to innovative, self sufficient, renewable energy systems. Start pouring the stimulus money into AMERICAN OWNED Renewable Energy Companies with deadlines and achievable goals for each building. Various contracts should be given to a variety of alternative energy companies, solar, wind, geothermal, and green roofs, so that the various systems can be weighed against each other for efficiency, cost, and useful life. Then we will have a staring place. When the Banks needed money it was done in a week, with hardly a question asked. America, the entire country needs to be weened from fossil fuel addiction which will make America Energy Independent and give a needed economic stimulus immediately.

Citi Bank Flying High on TARP Money

2009-01-26T15:24:00.003-06:00

In the January 26, 2009 edition of the New York Post in an article written by By Jennifer Gould Keil and Chuck Bennett entitled, JUST PLANE DESPICABLE 'RESCUED' CITI BUYING $50M JET, reveal that Citi Bank is planning on taking delivery on a $50 Million luxury jet with leather seats, sofas and a top of the line entertainment system. The Title of Ms. Gould Keil and Mr. Bennet's article hits the nail on the head. This is despicable. Citi has just taken massive amounts of government TARP money offered to them by former Secretary of Treasury Paulson and the Economic Wizard, former President George W. Bush. Obviously Citi Bank is not in such dire straits if they can plop down $50 Million for a luxury jet.

To paraphrase Shakespeare " something is rotten in Washington". Why are the banks being rewarded with Federal Money for bad business practices? Just like in the lead up to the Iraq War, the story keeps changing, first Bush, Paulson and Company said that the crisis was caused by 5 % of the mortgages in America in default, and that would collapse the financial system, that is an absolute lie. There is no way that 5% of the outstanding mortgages would cause anything but a minor blip on the balance sheets of these financial institutions. Then the story shifted to "bad assets" on the balance sheets, another lie. Then the story shifted to "we need to give the banks $850 Billion immediately to forestall a complete economic meltdown. They settled for half, have not even finished distributing it yet, and guess what, there was not a meltdown. So the immediacy of The Republican Bush Bailout was another lie. The truth be told, these financial institutions have created paper trades without any backing assets, they have leveraged this paper, increasing the value with every trade, until someone was stuck holding the bag with no underlying assets. So, the financial wizards that they are, they decided to blame the crisis on the working class who could not pay their "special" mortgages that the banks concocted to suck every last cent out of them. Now the Federal Government and an accommodating Federal Reserve have given the banks more than the value of all outstanding mortgages and what do they do with it, why of course buy a luxury jet.

It is time for the American People to be first in line. The Financial Games that these people have played are the one and only cause of the current economic crisis, the entire world can not be in an economic crisis because of a 5% default rate in mortgages, when that is close to the normal historical default rate. There is something rotten here, and in the case of Citi Bank, as Ms. Gould Keil and Mr. Bennet have stated, it is despicable.

Banks Still Falter

2009-01-25T11:33:00.004-06:00

Even after the secret distribution of $350 Billion of U.S. Treasury Money and an accommodating Federal Reserve Policy US Banks are still bleeding. First Centennial Bank in California was seized by the FDIC as insolvent. Over 8,000 Financial Firms and 318 Banks have received some form of Government Bailout, yet the problem still persists. This leads one to believe that the business models, including the employee compensation packages at these corporations are flawed. Fund Managers at these institutions receive millions of dollars in salary and compensation. A second tier fund manager at these institutions receive total compensation packages of $5 million dollars, even if we assume that these managers work 65 hours a week for 52 weeks, which they absolutely do not, that means their average hourly salary is right around $1500 per hour. That is a staggering amount of money, that is the equivalent of 171 hourly workers earning the National Average of $8.73. Is any ONE person worth the labor of 1761 people? There is no way, no matter how you calculate it that these banking executives are worth the hard, physical labor of 171 people.

Maybe the solution to the problems lies in helping the majority, the 171 workers as opposed to the one Banking Executive Millionaire. All working Americans should be outraged that the Federal Government persists in bailing out Millionaires while the average hourly wage of hard working Americans is suppressed by the Congressional failure to act on a fair and reasonable hourly wage law. The average AMERICAN HOURLY WORKER CAN AT MOST EXPECT TO EARN $728,000 FOR WORKING 40 HOURS A WEEK, 52 WEEKS A YEAR FOR 35 YEARS. One Bank Executive is compensated in one YEAR, over 6 times the amount that the average worker makes in a life time. There is no way to justify this disparity. There is certainly no way to justify the debt that the Federal Government is accumulating to Bailout these Banks that continue to pay this unjust compensation to their employees while the American Family is sinking rapidly into the desperation of poverty and despair.

The Federal Government and the Nation would be better served by insuring a livable wage for the Average American and by regulating the banking industry which has sucked the sweat and life from American Families for decades with excessive interest rates. Even with the ravaging of the American Family by the banks with interest rates that exceed 39% on credit cards, 15% on Auto Loans and over double the value of the house on mortgage loans these banks can not balance their books and show a profit because of the excessive greed of the compensation that they take from the banks. If these banks were allowed to fail, newer more efficient entrepreneurs would run banks in different ways and be able to make them work, pay livable wages to their employees and loan money at reasonable rates to the American Worker.

Banks now have access to Federal Money at virtually 0% interest from the current bailout programs of the Federal Government, yet the Federal Government has set no restrictions on the amount that they charge the American Worker for borrowing this money. For there to be any Credit Card or loan in America above a 6% interest rate is a sin of omission by the leadership of this Nation. Interest rates should be restricted by law to be no more than 5.5% above that which the Federal Reserve Loans money to the banks. If a Bank can not survive on a 5.5% margin than they have no business being in the American Industry.

The solution is to rescue the consumer from the grip of loan sharking from the existing banks, not to rescue the Loan Sharks.

Science and the Obama Administration

2009-01-24T13:36:00.003-06:00

"For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost." Barack Obama Presidential Inauguration Speech, January 20, 2009.

In a story written by By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, entitled FDA Allows First Test of Human Stem Cell Therapy and displayed on Reuters.com, Ms. Fox reports that "Geron Corp, a California biotechnology company, said it plans a clinical trial to try to use the stem cells to regrow nerve tissue in patients with crushed, but not severed, spinal cords."

The effects of the new Administration of Barack Obama are becoming reality in only a few days. After eight long dark years of the Neanderthal thinking of the Bush Administration, America can again become the world leaders in research and technology supported by science. In the Bush Mind, Science was like a demon that should be feared, thank God that America now has a leader that realizes the importance of scientific endeavors. If Genron is successful in their experiments countless people paralyzed by debilitating spinal cord injuries may walk again. Because of the the narrow minded thinking of the Republicans and the Bush Administration, Stem Cell Research was hindered, leaving America far behind in scientific research that could lead to countless cures for all sorts of sickness and injuries. Americans with disabilities and injuries that scientific companies might find a cure for in stem cells will have suffered longer than necessary because of the eight dark, backward thinking years of Republican Control.

In the article written by Maggie Fox, she quotes Geron Chief Executive Dr. Thomas Okarma said in a telephone briefing,"For us, it marks the dawn of a new era in medical therapeutics. This approach is one that reaches beyond pills and scalpels to achieve a new level of healing,"

The Administration of Barack Obama also marks the dawn of a new Era in many aspects of American life. In only a few short days, the evidence of a more productive society spurred by intellectual thought and scientific research has already begun.

New Morning

2009-01-23T14:18:00.000-06:00

Is it just me, or does everyone in American feel the relief? It seems that since Barack Obama has become the 44th President of the United States that the mood of the people has changed. It is like we are on the verge of the age of Enlightenment after living in the Dark Ages of greed and oppression for the last decade. For the sake of the Country, we should all hope that Mr. Obama will be able to quickly turn around the despair that has befallen our Nation during the failed years of the Republican Bush Government and guide America back to the path of scientific knowledge, experimentation and implementation of new discovers that will progress our Nation back to the fore front of Civilized Societies.

President Obama has already made it clear that the torture used by the Bush Administration throughout the world is not an acceptable American Practice. In his Inauguration Speech Mr. Obama said that Science must be restored to its rightful place. The only science that the Republican Bush Administration believed in was the science of destruction, the science that created the deadliest bombs and most sophisticated navigation systems to deliver those bombs on indigenous people throughout the world.

History will record the Republican Bush Years as the most deadliest for innocents around the world killed by the indiscriminate directives of former President George W. Bush and Company. Let us leave this history where it is and restore the American Principles of progress and civility throughout the world under the new Barabck Obama Administration.

Obama and A Government for the People

2009-01-22T13:57:00.000-06:00

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." Barack Obama Presidential Inauguration Speech, January 20, 2009

Hopefully President Obama will remember these words as he wades through the mess left by the Bush Administration and restores the Government to work on behalf of the People not on behalf of the Energy and Financial Industries which were given free reign during the Republican Years of the Bush Administration. President Obama is off to a good start issuing orders to limit the revolving door between Government and Industry Lobbyists, and also freezing the salaries of his his staff. Although the lobbyists rules should be stricter, at least there is a change in course from the Republican Bush Years and today. Congress should take a cue from the new President and rescind the pay raise that they voted for themselves in January. In Fact the Congress should vote to cut Federal salaries by the same percentage that the GDP has fallen under their stewardship while they refused to oppose the Bush Administration for the last years. Between the falling growth and the growth that was stifled by the Bush Administration that would amount to about a 7% decline in GDP. Therefore, Congress should vote to decrease all Federal salaries by 7%.

American Families have seen their real income decrease by over 7 % under the Bush Administration, so it is time that the Federal Employees who failed to oppose the policies of the Bush Administration suffer the same fate that they allowed the American Family to suffer.

The Banks and Your Money

2009-01-21T12:30:00.000-06:00

The Economic roller coaster was created by the Corporate Banks whose bankers sucked the assets of the banks to their personal holdings at an unprecedented rate. The Federal Government was called upon to clean up the mess caused by the lack of regulations and wanton greed that the last Administration fostered throughout the Financial World. They took their lead from the Bush Administration who absconded our National Treasury with handouts and no bid contracts as they ravaged Sovereign Nations. Corporate America followed the lead of the Bush Administration and took as much as they could leaving the bank's assets unable to cover the risks that they took in pursuit of enriching themselves.

These Financial Institutions were rescued by economic packages crafted by Treasury Secretary Paulson in the secrecy of back room meetings, hardly the way the United States Federal Government should operate. If, as a Nation, we are now stuck with the continuation of these rescue packages it is the duty of the Obama Administration to insure that these rescues are given with conditions. The conditions of these should include realistic benefits to the American People who are rescuing these banks with the assets achieved through a lifetime of work. Many families have seen a lifetime of savings and their future hopes of economic security vanish, yet at the same time, the Federal Government gave money to millionaires so that they could continue paying themselves million dollar salaries and bonuses, and so that their expense accounts could still pay for extravagant parties. The average American can not relate to an Executive making 10's of millions of dollars receiving a bonus of another 10 million dollars even though the assets that he was receiving his salary to watch have disappeared.

The conditions set forth when they receive Federal MONEY should be straightforward and free from loop holes. All of these Corporations accepting money should be committed to hiring an American workforce to service their American Clients. All the back office work and personal financial information that has been shifted overseas robbing Americans of relatively decent paying service jobs so that the bankers could cut corners to give themselves higher bonuses must be returned to the United States where they belong.

Bank that are majority owned by non-American entities should be the very last to receive any United States Tax payer money. There are few things more insulting to the American People than bailing out OPEC countries that invest oil wealth in American Banks.

President Obama's First Offical Act as President

2009-01-20T12:08:00.002-06:00

NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.
On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

Awaken from the Nightmare

2009-01-20T12:07:00.000-06:00

With the Inauguration of President Obama America's eight year nightmare of governance under the George W. Bush Administration is over. The darkness and despair of the last eight years has been lifted just by their departure. Even though the road will be filled with pitfalls trying to repair the damage done to our National Treasury, Foundation, Psychology and People, at least those that created and fostered the damage will be gone. A warning to President Obama, you must use your standing and power to guide the Congress to the right path, for over the last eight years the Congress has lost their way and have taken the road paved by the previous Administration, catering to the Corporation and forgetting about the People.

This new beginning should be the reestablishment of a Government for the People and the fallacious theories that the Government best serves the Corporations must be cast away. The duty of the Federal Government is to provide for the common good, security and protection of the People who are the foundation of the Nation. The philosophy of a top down approach to economic growth has been solidly proven wrong by the policies of the Republicans and the previous Administration as evidenced by the free fall collapse of the economic security of the United States in 2008.

The horizon looks gloomy for the quick economic recovery of the wealth and provision of the American Citizen, but at least there is now in place an Administration that is led by a person who grew up as most Americans have grown up, not by a man of privilege who has never had to answer the consequences of his actions. As George W. Bush flees yet another catastrophe that his decisions have caused, America should brand his image and philosophy of Governance in their minds forever, so that never again will the reins of power be given to such a person.

On The Verge of A New Day

2009-01-19T11:10:00.003-06:00

As the size and vigor of the Washington, D.C. crowds that have already arrived to view the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, a thirst for a new direction is evident. No one envy the job that Mr. Obama has been thrust into and his public comments rightly are trying to play down an immediate change in the fundamental crisis of the American Economy with which is is left to fix. However, just the new face of a responsive American Government is enough to spur hope among the People that President Obama will be able to right the ship of our Nation which was steered way off course by the outgoing Administration.

The Obama approval rating are the highest for a President and he hasn't even taken office yet. The Obama Team has been branding the change as a change that every American must be responsible to help implement. Expect President Obama to echo the famous words of JFK upon his Inauguration and remind People that they have a responsibility to the Nation. A responsibility as Citizens to hold their government and government programs and expenditures to a standard that will foster American Progress. A Progress that will again allow the vast wealth of this Nation to be enjoyed by all the Citizens of the Nation.

As Mr. Obama has been exposing an end to political pettiness he has taken public concrete steps to show that he does what he says. Last week Mr. Obama met with some of his harshest critics during the campaign for a cordial dinner. It is another example of how the flavor of the incoming Administration will change the bitter taste left in the mouths of Americans by the out going Administration.

Mr. Obama must hold the Congress fully accountable and forcefully encourage them to world for the benefit of the American and deny access to the Corporate Lobbyists that have been dictating the American Agenda for all too long. Although this is a new Congress many of the members remain the same as the last three Congresses, Congresses that failed to work for the good of the American People in the last eight years, who have failed to block the disastrous policies perpetrated by the outgoing Administration.

Mr. Obama will have his hands full with the International Follies of the last eight years, the Economic turmoil of the Last eight Years, but he must not forget the failures of the Congress from which he rose out of to become the leader of the Free World.

MLK

2009-01-18T10:54:00.000-06:00

Forty Years since the assassination of Martin Luther King,Jr. doesn't seem possible. I remember that night as clearly as if were yesterday. But I'm sure that Dr. King would not want time squandered on reminiscing, for he was a man of action and a man of peace. What would Martin say about the current situation in America today. America again finds herself in a war that it did not need to fight and a war that it will find difficult to win and difficult to leave. To quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. in a Speech, Beyond Vietnam given on April 4, 1967 in New York, N.Y. "I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together, Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: "A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. " Sourced from MLK Online

As Martin King realized that silence was not acceptable during the Viet Nam conflict, so too now, in the example of Dr. King it is time to break the American Silence about the current conflict in Iraq. American again finds herself with great inequalities, not based just on race, but more based on class. Just as the oppressors used race in the sixties, now class is being used. The middle class is disappearing because of the policies that now favor the super wealthy over the rest of the populace. Yes Dr. King would speak out about this path to two classes in America. Dr. King would have seen the danger in an Ultra Wealthy Class and service class. Martin King would be speaking out about over 50 million American Families without affordable health care access. Dr. King would be speaking out against usury of the working class by Corporate Banks. And Martin Luther King, Jr. would without a doubt be speaking out against the low graduation rates that has taken hold across the Country since this Administration has taken over America.

Forty years seems like an instant and like an eternity at the same time. When it seems like forty years was an eternity ago, one just has to look around and see that the problems that existed then, again exist today, sometimes camouflaged and sometimes blatantly. The American landscape today, lacks a galvanizing leader like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. but we must never let The United States of America lack direction, for America is the Greatest experiment of Human Civilization. The Experiment that we call America was established by men with foresight, men that knew that is must be a dynamic, ever changing Republic. A Republic that will always be able to save itself by the will, influence and actions of her People.

Just as Martin King stood up and revealed his dream, it is the duty of every American to stand up and restore the dream of democracy and human rights, equality and justice to the parchments called the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of The United States of America, the blueprints of this great human experiment of civilization. I Have A Dream Speech Audio

Obama Whistles his Way to Washington,D.C.

2009-01-17T17:26:00.004-06:00

President Elect Obama taking a page from the past is riding a train through the whistle stops of the East Coast on his way to Washington, D.C, for his historic inauguration on Tuesday, and not a day too soon. Since his election victory in November the Nation's Economic crisis has gotten decidedly worse in both scope and depth with the bottom still many months away as the rest of Corporate America reacts to the worsening Financial Crisis caused by the Financial Institutions that were allowed to run amok under Mr. Bush and Company.

President Obama is not taking office free of the encumbrances of the Corporate Financial protectors for along the way to Washington, D.C the train will stop in Wilmington, DE to board Vice President Elect Joe Biden, one of the biggest supporters of the revised Bankruptcy Bill written by the financial lobbyists and one of the biggest causes of the American Middle Class' personal debt crisis. In the most recent Bankruptcy Bill were clauses that allow Credit Card Companies to raise interest rates on whims based upon payment history to any other company on the planet. Of course the Credit Card Companies took full advantage of this provision and raised rates to as high as 39.99% even while going to the Fed Window and borrowing money at .5% from the Federal Government. For the life of me I can not understand the selection of Joe Biden as Vice President, he represent all that needs to be changed. Mr. Biden has always been a true soldier of the Corporate Credit Card Companies based in his home State of Delaware. On a micro-economic level, the credit card companies with the blessings of Senators like Joe Biden have caused the bankruptcy and mortgage defaults of thousands of American Families with their loan sharking rates, excessively high late fees and over limit fees. If Senator Biden had any concern for the middle class as he claimed during the campaign his first official act as Vice President should be to correct the damage done to the American Family by the Bankruptcy Bill that he supported.

The pageantry of the Obama Inauguration will soon be over and by the end of this January this Administration must show that they are willing to delve into and correct the mistakes of the last decade and regulate the Insurance, Financial and Credit Card Industries with the welfare of the American People as the priority of the reform, not the corporate margins. Because Vice President Elect Biden was one of the main proponents of the Bankruptcy Bill that accomplished taking thousands of Americans bankrupt, all the duties of correcting that should be placed ON his desk, and before any legislation is voted upon, it should be up to Vice President Biden to explain to the American People exactly what reforms will be undertaken, how quickly, and what retroactive rebates they will receive from the loan sharking credit card companies.

He Hasn't Got A Clue

2009-01-16T16:05:00.006-06:00

Wouldn't you love answer the George W. Bush Presidential farewell Speech - He obviously lives in his own reality if he thinks that his Administration has done anything to progress the American Dream. Following is the White House Transcript of the speech, words in red are comments, words in blue are what he might be really thinking.

Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your President. ( REMEMBER WHEN HE SAID HE WISHED IT WAS A DICTATORSHIP, THINGS WOULD BE EASIER?)The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence -- a time set apart. (WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?) Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey that we have traveled together, (We have not traveled a journey TOGETHER, dissent was treated as unpatriotic) and the future of our nation.

Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. ( Thank God) In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-Elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.

Tonight I am filled with gratitude -- to Vice President Cheney and members of my administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust (the majority never trusted you!!) you have given me. I thank you for the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity, and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.

This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house -- September the 11th, 2001. ( Why was Sept 11, 2001 the first time he addressed the Nation, he was in office for 8MONTHS before Sept 11 2001) That morning, terrorists took nearly 3,000 lives in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor. (Thanks to a President who ignored the August Presidential Daily Briefing because he was on vacation and couldn't be bothered)I remember standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days later, surrounded by rescuers who had been working around the clock. I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon, and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son's police shield as a reminder of all that was lost. And I still carry his badge. (THINKING TO HIMSELF: And I knew I would make Political Capital out of this Situation)

As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. (Because I could never again ignore another Presidential Daily Briefing, oh how boring they were) Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.

Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created. (A Great Place to dump political hacks who need jobs and an excellent Department to hide funding in because everything is nice and secret) The military, the intelligence community, and the FBI have been transformed. (Now none of them know their duties) Our nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists' movements, freeze their finances, and break up their plots. (And Spy on American Citizens) And with strong allies at our side, (The World Hate us NOW) we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them. (In Iraq, they weren't in Iraq, they were Saudis) Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. (And innocent people were bombed, the Taliban still controls most of the Country, the Heroin Trade is Flourishing, and you have put in place a puppet regime) Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States. ( A great source of un metered oil and no-bid contracts, I will even be a Board member of Iraqi National Oil Industries, wow another Great Job)

There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. ( America had gone its entire history before 9/11/01 without an attack like 9/11/01, so by that reasoning, you are to blame for 9/11/01) This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe -- law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Our nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. And America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander-in-Chief. (especially since I got to wear that uniform and land on the deck of the aircraft carrier, that was so cool, I looked great in that uniform, felt like a real pilot)

The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God ( and that is why we have the right to invade Sovereign Nations, God Told me), and that liberty and justice light the path to peace.

This is the belief that gave birth to our nation. (Invading Sovereign nations is not what gave birth to our Nation) And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. ( We are not supposed to be Imperialist) When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. (You were "Chosen" or Appointed and we live in Freedom) When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism. So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity. ( Remember in the debate with Al Gore he said, I don't believe in Nation building) We're standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to dying patients -- to bring dying patients back to life, and sparing mothers and babies from malaria. (We did that long before you became President, in fact you stiffed birth control with Christian rhetoric that the US supported before you became the President)And this great republic born alone in liberty is leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations. ( Not anymore - we are broke thanks to Republican fiscal policies)

For eight years, we've also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home. ( for who, the middle class is dying, poverty is rising, there are more hungry Americans now than since the Great Depression) Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools. (Liar, it was an unfunded mandate that prevented real teaching in favor of memorizing answers, we are producing a generation that doesn't know about critical thinking) A new Medicare prescription drug benefit is bringing peace of mind to seniors and the disabled. Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes. (especially the rich) The addicted and suffering are finding new hope through faith-based programs. (Because you cut all other programs) Vulnerable human life is better protected. (except in Countries you decided to invade) Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled. (Because we have over double the amount of Veterans) America's air and water and lands are measurably cleaner. (Outright LIE) And the federal bench includes wise new members like Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. (Right Wing Nuts)

When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. (WE ARE BROKE, our banks are failing, people's assets have disappeared you fool) Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. ( I didn't let one Financial millionaire go broke) These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted. All Americans are in this together. (Because I caused it) And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system. ( because I won't be here to screw everything up anymore)

Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I've always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. (LIAR) I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. (Even though I can't really think, Karl did that for me)You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions. (No, the tough decision would have been to admit that you had, still have and never had a clue about what was going on)

The decades ahead will bring more hard choices for our country, and there are some guiding principles that should shape our course. (Because I screwed everything up)

While our nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack. Our enemies are patient, and determined to strike again. America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict. ( Putting troops on their Holy land might be a reason, ya think?) But we have been given solemn responsibilities, and we must meet them. We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard.

At the same time, we must continue to engage the world with confidence and clear purpose. In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led. ( Wow, the Bush Administration has done more to diminish America's Standing in the world than any other EVER)

(The rest of the speech is so disgustingly delusional, judge for yourself if this man lives in an alternate reality.)

As we address these challenges -- and others we cannot foresee tonight -- America must maintain our moral clarity. I've often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense -- and to advance the cause of peace.

President Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." As I leave the house he occupied two centuries ago, I share that optimism. America is a young country, full of vitality, constantly growing and renewing itself. And even in the toughest times, we lift our eyes to the broad horizon ahead.

I have confidence in the promise of America because I know the character of our people. This is a nation that inspires immigrants to risk everything for the dream of freedom. This is a nation where citizens show calm in times of danger, and compassion in the face of suffering. We see examples of America's character all around us. And Laura and I have invited some of them to join us in the White House this evening.

We see America's character in Dr. Tony Recasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We've seen it in Staff Sergeant Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines.
We see America's character in Bill Krissoff -- a surgeon from California. His son, Nathan -- a Marine -- gave his life in Iraq. When I met Dr. Krissoff and his family, he delivered some surprising news: He told me he wanted to join the Navy Medical Corps in honor of his son. This good man was 60 years old -- 18 years above the age limit. But his petition for a waiver was granted, and for the past year he has trained in battlefield medicine. Lieutenant Commander Krissoff could not be here tonight, because he will soon deploy to Iraq, where he will help save America's wounded warriors -- and uphold the legacy of his fallen son.

In citizens like these, we see the best of our country - resilient and hopeful, caring and strong. These virtues give me an unshakable faith in America. We have faced danger and trial, and there's more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter, and never fail.

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your President. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country, and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other - citizen of the United States of America.

And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next President. And may God bless you and our wonderful country. Thank you. (Applause.)
END 8:14 P.M. EST

The Goodbye George Bush Tour Continues

2009-01-15T16:37:00.004-06:00

Wow, talk about a long Good-Bye..... George W. Bush began his rewrite history good bye tour almost as soon as Barack Obama won the election, it has been non-stop. Now he wants to address the Nation and has asked the Television Networks for 15 minutes of time on Wednesday Night. It is being billed as a recap of the accomplishments of his Administration. For fifteen minutes??? This is more than presumptuous of Mr. Bush, as Jay Leno said the other night, if he is going to talk about the accomplishments of his Administration with the 15 Minutes of air time that he has requested, what will he do with the other fourteen and a half minutes.

George W. Bush and the Republican Party really think that the American People are morons, he continues to tout the achievements of his Administration, if only he could name one it might have some verisimilitude. But really, what are the accomplishments? The George W. Bush Republican Administration has decimated the American Middle Class with bad economic policies, has catered to the Corporation and allowed them to go unregulated. He has invaded two Sovereign Nations without cause and used lies and innuendo to sell the Military Actions to the American People. This Administration has disregarded International Law and Treaties including but not limited to the Geneva Convention, and the Law of Sovereignty.

By privatizing aspects of the Federal Government and appointing Political Hacks he has insured that these agencies could not function. even bringing political appointees into the Attorney Generals Office to replace career employees. The fiasco of the FEMA response to Katrina is a glaring example of how privatizing Government functions is not a feasible alternative. Luckily he was thwarted in his attempt to Privatize Social Security otherwise there would be nothing left for the American Family to count on in time of need. Just as 401`K's and IRA was halved by the lax financial oversight of this Administration so too would Social Security have been if the Republicans and George W. Bush had had their way.

Hopefully this will be the last time that the American People will have to see this curse upon our Nation until he stands trail for the corruption, and incompetence of the last eight years.

We are Almost America Again

2009-01-14T21:00:00.002-06:00

Bring Back American Jobs With TARP

2009-01-13T16:27:00.002-06:00

President G.W. Bush has requested the remainder of the TARP (Trouble Assets Relief Program) money, $350 Billion supposedly at the request of President Elect Obama. Whoever is asking for its release by Congress is not relevant at this point, what is relevant is that the original $350 Billion was distributed to Financial Institutions with no accountability to the United States People, whose money it is. The Democratic Congress had better start showing some leadership and realize that they are the Majority Party in the Congress.

If the Democratic Congress is going to approve releasing this money in the same way as the first half was released then they will have failed the American People again. This money should not be released without specific targets. Any Financial Company receiving any more of the TARP money should be mandated to bring their back office workers back to the United States and they should be mandated tire United States Citizens, all call centers and customer service centers of Financial Companies must be moved back from India, Pakistan, the Philippines and where ever else they have opened them to circumvent paying a living wage.

The Congress should also require any Financial Institution that accepts TARP money to put the money into re-financing troubled mortgages at the an interest rate not to exceed 5% above the Federal Funds Rate, the rate at which banks borrow money from the Federal Reserve, currently at .5%.

The Congress should also demand accountability for the first $350 Billion of TARP money. Secretary Paulson basically handed out this money in secret without any pre-conditions that we know of to the Financial Institutions that received the money, unless of course the pre-conditions have to do with jobs and or pay for the outgoing Administration Officials who will no longer have access to the Treasure of the United States to which they have been accustomed to having access.

Congress should act in the interest of the American People that they represent not to Corporate America. Corporations are not people, they should not have the same rights as people. Something has gone awry in the last eight years, Corporations are afforded more rights and protection and financial assistance than the People of the United States, this must stop. If the Democrats are going to continue to claim that they have a different philosophy on Governance, then they must act and prove it. The Democrats now have a substantial majority, there is no better time than now, to prove that their philosophy of Governance is in the Best Interest of the People of the United States.

The Last Bush Press Conference

2009-01-12T13:27:00.002-06:00

In Today's last George W. Bush scheduled Press Conference as President, Mr. Bush again showed signs that he lives in an alternate reality. Although this time he did admit that mistakes have been made throughout his Administration he in no way took responsibility for the blunders. He is still claiming that the Federal Response to Katrina was a viable response to illustrate that Bush said that over 30,000 people were rescued from rooftops. Nothing was mentioned about the people herded into the Super Dome for weeks.

In any event we all know the truth about the Bush Presidency and the Iraqi Invasion, the Afghanistan Invasion and Katrina, no matter how Bush and his minions want to try to spin it now. The eight years of the George W. Bush Administration did not progress the American Dream in any way, shape or form. the Republican George W. Bush Administration and the Congress that was complicit during his years in office not only stifled the progress of the American Dream but they set it back almost a Century. The gains made in almost every aspect of American Life since the Great Depression have been reversed under the policies of the Republican George W. Bush Administration and the complicit Congress.

The best day of the George W. Bush Administration will be January 20, 2009 after he has departed from the Presidency. If this Congress had any fortitude and concern for America he will be a frequent guest of Congress as he testifies UNDER OATH before numerous Congressional Committees that should be investigating every aspect of the last eight years.

COUNTDOWN

2009-01-11T20:24:00.005-06:00

We Approach the End

2009-01-11T19:59:00.002-06:00

The end of the long National Nightmare, the Republican Administration of George Walker Bush is almost over, the damage of this Administration will linger much more than the eight years that it occupied the White House. The immensity of the damage done by the George W. Bush and Dick Cheney Administration will fill volumes, some of the highlights are worth remembering.

Failing to sign onto Global Warming Treaties -9/11/01 - The Iraq Invasion supported by the lies of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mission Accomplished, Haliburton Contracts, Corporate Para-Military No Bid Contracts, Billions of Dollars in CASH distributed by the Iraq Provisional Authority under Paul Bremmer, Secret Energy Meetings by Dick Cheney, yellow cake lies in the State of the Union, the outing of a CIA operative, illegal wiretaps, condoning torture, GITMO, Iraq Prison Scandal, being wired during the Presidential Debate, Katrina, FEMA, That a Boy Brownie, The Super Dome, The Astro Dome, Thousands of dead Iraqis, the invasion of Afghanistan, Gannon at Press Conferences, recess appointment of John Bolton, the Credit Default Swap Scandals, The collapse of the Credit Markets, banking failures, stock market slide, record oil prices, ENRON, No Child Left Behind, Clean skies Act, Clean water Bill, Deregulation of Insurance Products, and on and on...........and on and on........without a doubt the WORST PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA.

Will They Take it All?

2009-01-10T20:55:00.003-06:00

In the waning days of the Republican Bush Administration they are still trying to distribute the remaining 350 Billion Dollars from the TARP program that Congress in one of their rare moments of wisdom kept locked away from the Bushites when they enacted the TARP legislation. Although in December the Treasury Secretary and The Bush Administration made remarks that the "new" President and Administration should determine how to distribute the remaining 350 Billion Dollars in the TARP program they are now reversing their course and trying to get Congress to release the money to Paulson to distribute before the Bush Administration says ta ta.

I guess ravaging the Treasury since 2001, and creating the largest deflict in American History so that the millionaires in the financial industry could still receive their year end bonuses even though they created financial instruments with no underlying asset value that has taken our Nation broke, invading two Sovereign Nations wasting billions of America's Treasure and thousands of gallons of American Blood was not enough for the George W. Bush and Richard Cheney Republican Administration, so before they leave they would just like to distribute one last bit of America's wealth to their friends to insure that their friends will be inviting them to their summer homes and cocktail parties.

Hopefully Pelosi and Company will remember that the evidence presented for the resolution to invade Iraq was a lie and the information presented to pass the TARP was a lie, and the Congress will refuse to go along with this outgoing Republican Bush Administration request, if not then Pelosi and Company should be not only impeached but sent to Bethesda Naval Hospital for Mental Examinations. Will they let the lying scoundrels from the Bush Administration pull off one last lie, or will the Democrats finally stand for something and block this request and initiate investigations into exactly where the first $350 Billion went to.

Like Father Like Son

2009-01-09T16:32:00.003-06:00

The unemployment numbers for December 2008 were released by the labor Department today showing that unemployment has topped 7% under the failed policies of the Republican George W. Bush Administration. Who was the last President to preside over failed policies that led unemployment to top 7%, yes of course it was George H.W. Bush.

Although George W. Bush has made it a point that his Administration was not a continuation of the George H.W. Bush Administration it certainly seems to have been. Besides stocking the Administration with armies of personnel from the Bush Sr. Administration, Bush Jr. also followed his Father's footsteps in invading Iraq. At least Daddy Bush knew better than to attempt to occupy a Country like Iraq or Afghanistan. Irregardless they both invaded Iraq with no defensive purpose and no benefit to America.

On the economic front although they both reached the same results through different policies they accomplished the same outcome, higher unemployment, more people living in poverty and a diminishing middle class. If ever there is a Country on Earth that is progressing too rapidly the best solution is to get a member of the Bush Family to administer their government, progress will not only stop but it will reverse course.

In a recent interview George H.W. Bush wistfully stated that he had hoped Jeb Bush could be elected President. The last thing America will ever need is another Bush in the White House EVER!!! In 7 -10 years when we begin to raise our heads above the muck and mire of economic collapse that George W (C Student ) Bush has led us into, I am hoping that the History Books will name this era properly, The George Bush Depression Era. The only problem is that President Obama will have to deal with the worst of the results of the Bush Administration failures, because although the unemployment numbers were bad they were not disastrous. However, unemployment numbers are a lagging indicator, they tell you what has happened not what will happen. The numbers released today by the Labor Department that can give insight into what will happen are the average hourly work week which has sunk to an almost unprecedented level at 33 hours per week. Basically what this number suggests is that there is higher unemployment to come and if the work week shrinks by the next report we are almost guaranteed to see real unemployment at or above 12% in the near future. It took the Republican Bush Administration eight years to accomplish their destruction of the American Surplus and thrust the Nation into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, so President Obama does not have much hope of turning anything around very soon.

One thing that will not turn anything around is the continued unrestricted Bailout of Financial Corporations which swindled the Nation's Wealth from the Treasury. Continuing the unrestricted funding of these Corporations must stop. Most of the Financial Corporations that received the largest Bailouts like Citi Group have major foreign ownership, does it make any sense to Bail Out Foreign investors while the American Middle Class is collapsing and the Poverty Rates are skyrocketing and those in Poverty are slipping into despair. Is President Obama going to reverse this course and direct the assets of the United States Treasury towards the American People and stop Bailing Out Arab owned Banks and Financial Institutions in the United States?

Can the Obama Administration Lead

2009-01-08T20:18:00.003-06:00

It seems that the distraction of the Illinois Governor scandal has done more damage to the leadership capabilities of the Obama Team then first met the eye. The selection of Rahm Emauel as the Obama Chief of Staff was touted as a selection made because Mr. Emanuel knew how to work through Congress. Mr. Emanuel seems to have disappeared since he was linked to meetings with the Illinois Governor over the selling of the Barack Obama Senate seat. At least he has not been in public view and the Obama Stimulus is tied up in Speaker Pelosi's inability to find a consensus even with a larger Majority. All of this and Inauguration Day is still over 10 days away.

The Obama Plan has suddenly taken on the look of the same failed policies as the Republican Philosophy of the Bush Administration. Mr. Obama is now calling for the total stimulus package to contain 300 Billion Dollars of tax cuts. These tax cuts will only benefit those who are still earning enough money to pay taxes, which of course leaves the wealthy. During the Campaign Mr. Obama's resume was highly controversial because he was a Community Activist, it looks like the grips of wealth and power have already managed to work its grasp into the President Elect mind. Anyone who has worked in a Community in Poverty knows that what the People need is spendable funds to cover the essentials of life followed by jobs that pay a livable wage. The only way that the Obama Administration can justify that a $300 Billion Dollar Tax Cut will benefit anyone in Poverty is by using the tired, false economic philosophy of the Republican Party invoking the phony theory of trickle down economics. If Mr. Obama is now leaning that way, then surely we have elected the wrong man. Change that we can believe in is a change that will free us from the chains of the failed policies of the Republican Congressional Majority in the 90's and early 2000's. Those phony theories have put us in the economic straits that we are in now.

If Mr. Obama is to succeed he must stick to a plan that will benefit the immediate and build foundations for the future neither of which will be accomplished by a tax cut of any proportion. The $300 Billion that will be sacrificed by the Treasury for a tax cut for the well off can be better spent by sending out direct checks to the American People which will be spent six times over as the money works its way through the Economy creating a stimulation to the economy in the trillions. Second the money spent on infrastructure projects must include Alternative Energy Mandates no matter how low the price of oil goes. The longer we continue the addition to oil, no matter what the price, the longer we continue to burn the wealth of our Nation.

Mr. Obama must make it clear to the Democratic Leadership that the past is over and from now on a progressive agenda of the Democratic Party will be implemented. If Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are encumbering the enactment of new era policies, then their power must be neutralized. Mr. Obama should demand that the Congress rescind their recently enacted pay raise spearheaded by Ms. Pelosi. This is a direct insult to the American People who have toiled their lives away only to see their life long assets and hopes of a peaceful retirement devalued by the inaction of Congress while the Bush Administration ravaged the Treasury, Invaded Sovereign Nations, committed atrocities in the name of our Nation and allowed their financial millionaire supporters to play unregulated games with the Nation's Economy. This does not deserve a raise it deserves indictments for Treason.

If Mr. Obama's key personnel have already been rendered ineffective because of their ties to the Illinois Governor then it is Mr. Obama's duty to jettison them and quickly replace them with people who can stay focused, latching on to Republican ideas such as Tax Cuts for the wealthy is not focusing on the National Crisis at all.

Pelosi Gumming up the Works Already

2009-01-07T20:03:00.003-06:00

After the Presidential Election the Obama Team said they they would like to see Economic Stimulus Legislation on the incoming President's desk by the afternoon of the Inauguration , Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi agreed that was needed. Today, a mere 13 days before the Inauguration Speaker Pelosi announced that she hopes to have the legislation through Congress by mid February. Obviously the urgency of the situation escapes Ms. Pelosi's understanding and ability to lead a clear majority in the House to stand behind the Democratic Agenda as expressed by the President-Elect. Ms. Pelosi had no problem passing legislation through the House when it came to a pay raise for themselves. This most despicable legislation is no less offense than spitting in the face of the American People. While the assets of the average American has been wiped away by the unregulated financial games that the traders, bankers and insurance people played, the Congress thinks they deserve a raise. Every American should be outraged by this legislation.

First, the Congress runs to bail out the financial industry billionaires when their financial schemes went bad, at the same time allowing the schemes to continue with no accountability or regulation for the People's Money that were given to these billionaires. Meanwhile, the people are enslaved by the usury practiced by the Credit Card Industry with no action by Congress. The Credit card Industry is allowed to borrow the People's Money at a discount as low as .5% interest, then they are allowed by law (a law that Biden supported) to charge upwards pf 39.99% interest with fixed late payment fees and fixed over limit fees that effectively can bring some credit card balances to 76% interest. The Congress under Ms. Pelosi's leadership takes no action to protect the AMERICAN PEOPLE from the vampires of the financial industry, but they do take action to reward themselves with a raise just as they rewarded the financial industry losers with unrestricted bailout money from the taxes paid by the sweat and blood of the American Worker, and with the declining assets of all who have worked a lifetime.

If President Obama has any chance of moving forward with the recovery that is so necessary to stem the slide into the Second Great Depression, the priorities of the Congress must be straightened out. The People come first, not Corporations. Congress does not deserve a raise, the last Congress was the most do nothing Congress in American History under the Stewardship of Ms. Pelosi. The Obama Team should demand that the first fiscal reform be that Congress rescind the recently passed pay raise and cut their salary and expense accounts by the same 5% decline that the American Economy is experiencing. The Congress must commit to thoroughly investigating the financial instruments that caused the collapse of the American Economy, and it certainly wasn't a 5% mortgage default rate that caused the problem. It was the unregulated hybrid financial instruments that the sharks in the financial community dreamed up such as Credit Default Swaps and Collateralized Mortgage Obligations that were traded multiple times without an underling assets.

President Elect Obama must show leadership now by putting Congress on the right path immediately if he really intends to foster a Change we Can Believe In.

Pelosi REALLY?

2009-01-06T20:05:00.003-06:00

Is speaker Pelosi really worthy of re=election to the Speaker of the House? Her record says NO, a resounding NO. Speaker Pelosi has been the Speaker of the House of the most hated, do nothing Congress in History, there is no way she should be given another chance at this most prestigious position. In this time of National crisis and with the Economy in the grips of a second Great Depression the Congress needs a Speaker of the House that can lead the membership to do the right things for the American People.

What did the last House of Representatives accomplish under Pelosi, NOTHING. Ms. Pelosi blocked any challenge that Members wanted to pursue against the corrupt, illegal, Republican Bush Administration. When the Democrats won the Majority two years ago there were Members who were ready, willing and able to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney but they were stymied by Ms. Speaker Pelosi. This was an egregious mistake which should not be rewarded with a second term as Speaker.

The only Legislation that Ms. Pelosi managed to shepard through the House was a Bill that gave Congress a raise in Salary. How despicable, while Americans are suffering through the worst economic times since the end of the Great Depression, Ms. Pelosi thinks it is appropriate for the Members of Congress to receive a raise. That vote alone is reason to strip Ms. Pelosi of her leadership position.

The Obama Campaign has a slogan of "Change We Can Believe In", leaving Ms. Pelosi in the position of Speaker of the House is not change at all, she lacks the guts, determination and legislative acumen to accomplish what needs to be accomplished swiftly if this downward spiral into the economic abyss is to be halted. If there are no results from Ms. Pelosi's leadership withing thirty days of the new Congress convening, the Democratic Caucus should rise up for the people and remove her from the leadership position at the same time they vote to rescind their recently voted upon pay raise.

Obama Missing the Stimulus

2009-01-05T21:55:00.003-06:00

Although President Elect Obama realizing that the Economy is is much worse shape than was advertised and that the proposed stimulus package must be increased, the target of the proposed stimulus will miss the mark. While the President Elects proposals will aid the economy in the long run it does not address the immediate needs of the majority of the population. Tax cuts are great, but without a job there is not much tax savings.

A massive alternative energy project must be undertaken to get all State Owned buildings off of fossil fuels. A ten year fully funded mandate should be given to the States, this will provide the immediate relief money that they are seeking to create jobs and will accomplish a long term dividend to the Nation and the Nation's public expenses. Within the mandate it must be clear that no funded project can buy any manufactured product not produced and assembled 100% in the United States by American owned companies. The vision of alternative renewable energy as expressed by the Obama Team during the campaign must come to the forefront in any jobs stimulus package.

Each State owned building weened from the addiction to fossil fuel becomes a building block in the transformation of the economy from a fossil fuel asset burning economy to a clean, renewable asset creating economy, with the benefit of less childhood asthma and other lung related diseases from fossil fuel discharges. There is not a project in this Country that would transform so many aspects of the American Society and Economy than a massive project to transform this Nation to a new energy within tens years. An Energy Independent America will <>create long term jobs at home that can not be exported in the manufacturing, installation, maintaining and servicing the alternate energy systems that will become the Nation's new energy sources. The air will be cleaner year after year, the water, earth and fauna will cleanse itself of fossil fuel waste each year that fossil fuel burning is decreased. Global warming and the greenhouse effect will be less. As American Technology and Ingenuity progresses the industry, it can become a viable exportable commodity creating more manufacturing jobs.

Just because the price of oil is easing is not a reason to forget the urgency of transforming the Nation's energy sourcing. The price of oil will rise again and cripple our economy again if consumption and importation of fossil fuels is not drastically cut within a very short time.

January 20, 2009

2009-01-04T18:12:00.003-06:00

Tonight President Elect Barack Obama arrived in Washington D.C, to prepare for his inauguration in in a little more than two weeks. I hate wishing time away because that is wishing your life away, however, January 20, 2009 can't come soon enough for me and for our Nation. On January 20, 2009 our 8 year National Nightmare of the Republican Bush Cheney Administration will begin to end. It will only be the beginning of the end of the Republican Bush Cheney Administration because regretfully when they leave Washington they will leave behind messes that have not come to fruition yet, leaving President Obama to try to mop up the damage that the failed Republican Philosophy has left behind.

The continuing damage of the so called "Bush Doctrine" of preemptive invasion against a sovereign Nation and in violation International Law is now being acted upon by Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Israelis are confident that Washington will not say anything about this invasion because Israel will invoke the "Bush Doctrine" as a response. The damage that this man has done to world civilization is immeasurable. With another two weeks to go the damage is far from over, the sooner this incapable President leaves office the quicker our Nation can begin our long, arduous quest to rebuild our National values, economy and world respect, if in fact these can be achieved after the eight years of devastation to our National physic that this Republican Bush Cheney Administration have accomplished.

The Governors Need MONEY

2009-01-03T17:12:00.002-06:00

The Governors throughout the Country are now realizing that this "recession" is a bit deeper than they had anticipated and now realize that their State Budgets are in total disarray. They are now appealing to the Obama Administration for a Trillion Dollars more in State Aid stimulus money. Obviously the States needed this money a year ago but the Bush Administration was in denial that the Economy had a problem.

The Governors of course are looking out for their own re-election and will try to foster a plan that the Obama Administration finds palpable, but again this does not get to the foundation of the problem. The foundation of the collapsing economy is that the assets of the American Family have been decimated by the financial games that the Republican Philosophy of deregulation allowed the bankers and hedge funds and insurance companies to play. Now that their schemes have gone awry and they have been given the their money back by the Bush Administration and the FED, it still leaves the American Family in shambles. Without a viable middle class and a consumer class that can afford to consume, the economy which is a consumer based economy has no chance of recovery.

The bailout that is needed most, and the one that will strengthen the foundations of the Economy are a bailout of the American Consumer from the loan sharking activities of the Credit Card Industry, Banking Industry and Insurance Industry. Until the People are freed from the debt that enslaves them, the Government can continue to bail out banks, insurance companies and States, but that will only bail out the few, and those few cannot restart a consumer economy. Only the Consumer can restart a consumer economy and without funding their will be no available capital for the consumer to spend. It still and always will go back to the fact that a strong economy is built upon a strong and firm foundation. The Foundation must be built with living wages, benefits and reasonable credit for the majority of the People, not a bailout for the few.