Apparently, according to the news the Democrats are going to attempt to use reconciliation. That method only allows for budget items so someone procedurally has to go through a cross out anything not budget related.
This is to me an interesting thing. As the president said if the people don’t like it that’s what elections are for. He forgets something, I think, and I could be wrong, that he’ll lose a lot of democratic support if he tries this. I could be wrong but it may happen.
Several outcomes are possible.
First, the news is wrong and this isn’t what they are going to do. A real option.
Second, it will pass in some unrecognizable form. The democrats will lose both houses in the process or you won’t be able to get a hotel room in DC due to all the protestors. Both are fine options with me.
Third, it will fail and President Obama’s approval rating will take a deeper dive than it already has.
I don’t see any of these except for the first as something beneficial to the President or the Democrats. They have to know this. I can’t see their angle. What are they trying to accomplish? Being able to paint the republicans as the party of no? Because they are doing what the polls show the American public wants at least on this subject? Confused at the real motivation here. If anyone has an idea what that motivation is please leave a comment and help me see it.
In the out-sourcing of labor, it is really to be wished that up and coming countries start getting decent jobs. But there are the transnational corporations, countries, and the global economy. When the corporations out-source labor they are getting very cheap labor, undermining the standard of living of the labor force in more developed countries. (I’ll leave out environmental regulations for now.) It should not be a zero sum game. Why should the labor of one country have to suffer for the sake of out-sourcing jobs? Corporations are of course accruing more profit by this practice. They do not have the real benefit of the labor in those countries at heart or in mind.
I forgot the exact figures that Jeffrey Immelt, the chair and CEO of General Electric, told Charlie Rose on TV (On Thursday, June 25th, 2009), but it was something like the financial industry, that is, Wall Street had grown to 47% of our economy while the manufacturing sector had shrunk to 11%. CEO’s should realize that if they destroy the middle class in this country, they also destroy one of the most lucrative markets in the world, thus hurting their own profits. He suggested that the CEO’s of our country try to balance these figures more and bring our industrial base to 20 or 25% of the economy as a goal.
All of this initiative, if it was not blown away in the wind, should however, think in terms of the global market. Rather than shrink the financial industry, workers should be encouraged to buy into stock and become beneficiaries or take the losses as well of the global industrial base. of course, blatant “bank robberies” by that I mean the way banks are short-selling on the country of Greece right now after knowing and hiding its debt and now standing to reap billions if Greece defaults, need to be stopped and prevented by the governments of countries.
Financial corporations that make their money in the stock market also have shares that can be purchased, of course, but the little investor, really investing for the sake of industrial growth and more productivity, versus the big financial powers that can game the system, need to be protected. The mutual funds help them somewhat, but one gets the impression that the hedge funds and other fancy financial firms leave others with the short end of the stick.
But labor ought to be encouraged to become part of the stock market and partially have ownership of the corporations. CEO’s and management needs to stop taking a lion share of the profits out of the pockets of individual shareholders. Now these have also become middle class and the holders are not merely the great pensions, institution, and the rich.
When jobs are outsourced, labor there ought to receive access to shares in the stock market as much as the middle class and labor here. When labor here is helped by stock market income they too will become middle class. But real investment would not be so much of a gamble if so much irrational speculation and gaming the system was not going on.
When productivity grew in the global market place and and when investment for productivity in the financial industry became reality for the global labor force, the industrial base could grow for many countries and the labor could also enjoy the profits. In consort with corporations countries have to figure out how to guide this growth and not allow industries to do the race to the bottom in terms of environmental regulations and wages. D’Angel Rugina argued that if the irrational speculation, that is, the speculation were taken out of the stock market, then the real investment in productivity would produce full employment. Applying that to the global market place is not utopic for our computer enhanced consciousness.
The propagandists are out again claiming that the economy grew in Q4 last year.
It did not grow. One has to keep in mind that GDP is a measure of spending. With the trillions that have been borrowed and spent by the Obama administration it is not surprising that would show up in the GDP.
The reality is that the country continues to lose jobs, there is no manufacturing base, the US consistently runs massive trade deficits (we buy more than we sell) and Obama has been increasing spending deficits and the debt more than any other in the history of the world.
How is it possible that the economy could grow? Saying that is like saying that someone who is in debt should go out and max-out their remaining lines of credt, get some more cards and max those out, take out a second mortgage and spend it all on a vacation. That way when their statements come they can look and say, wow, look at how much my econoomic activity grew, I must be doing great!
That may seem ridiculously silly but it is in fact exactly what has been going on. The time is not long before all of that stops because nobody is willing to give that person any more money and that holds for countries as well. The Chinese just dumped almost $40B in US treasuries, they are not buying more, they have plans to buy nearly 200 metric tons of gold from the IMF and they have already chastised Obama and Geithner for their inept economic policies. Chinese students actually laughed out loud at Geither during his presentation. And the rest of the world is talking about moving away from the US$ as the reserve currency.
This economy is a sham and the rest of the world is waking up to that and when they do this country will be left in utter shambles. It will look a lot like Chavez’s Venezuela, Castro’s Cuba, the USSR or any of the other socialist states that have failed so miserably.
The government is doing everything in its power to perpetuate the failed policies of the past and preserve the economic slavery that it has been imposing upon the Americans. It does not work, it never has worked and it never will work. Hopefully Americans will wake up to that and change things before the rest of the world does.
Greece has symptoms.So some buy some bond insurance.So the cost of bonds go up.So it costs more for Greece to sell bonds…..so Greece has more symptoms ..until the bonds fail to sell and the insurance makes money.
Self -fullfilling…or just an accelerator to the inevitable ?
Probably the latter.Greece could’nt balance it books in the good years..it won’t now in the hard years to come. A default is coming….
The Germans will have to lose some fingers before they act….so they will act late in the day and that will cost them.Thats politics…..just not possible for the Germans to act early.
I wonder what the political fallouy cost will be…..German State control over EU finances…a German Chancellor for Europe ?
Three econometricians were hunting in the woods. After several hours, they finally spotted a deer. In their excitement, two of them fired at the same time. The first one hit a tree a hundred feet to the left of the deer. The second one had equally bad aim and hit a tree a hundred feet to the right of the deer. As the animal fled, the third econometrician shouted, “All right, we hit it!”
I know, you can’t stop laughing. Stay tuned for more content.
I was surprised to hear Brit Hume and Newt Ginrich (former Speaker of the US House) (re)define socialism as “government control of private property.” My understanding of socialism is that the state owns as well as controls the means of production. By “owns,” I do not mean holding the majority of shares, for there are no stockholders in socialism. Government control of a give economic transaction is called government regulation; this is not to say that the government owns the economic institutions. Remember socialism is a type of economic, not political, system. Anyway, Ginrich then said that Obama would instill socialism in the US if he could…and that it would be like Western Europe (which by implication is socialist already)…but there are plenty of privately-held companies sourced in the EU. To say that the EU or any of its states own the businesses would be a gross error. But all too often, if someone on television says (or implies) that this is so, it is taken as such by the general public. What concerns me here is that our public political discourse over the airwaves lets such redefinition go unfettered. The graver implications from the real definition can still scare people even as some new definition is cited. That is to say, people who know what socialism really is might fear that the US Government may take ownership of their small businesses, when what is being feared is that government regulations will increase. That is a far different thing than government ownership of the means of production. When such distances are trespassed in the name of political expediency, we all lose.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
-William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”
The time has come to tackle a subject which many pundits, opinion-makers, and ideologues across the political spectrum have been speaking of with increasing vitriol and divisiveness, which is the fracturing of the veil of prosperity and upward mobility which has been the hallmark of the American Dream for generations, forged in the fires of our Founding Revolution gaining independence from Great Britain.
We’re in trouble, folks, and pretending otherwise is foolish and will only postpone the inevitable. The United States has become a massive debtor nation, and an increasingly large percentage of the population in what is the “richest, most powerful nation on earth” are living lives of increasing desperation, at least so far as our traditional American standards and expectations have defined. While politicians dither and in many cases, cynically manipulate the system out of personal interest and beholden to those that control their purse strings, the physical and educational infrastructure of this country crumbles, executives with little concern beyond the next quarter’s bottom line make decisions with implications that impact the lives of millions, our population grows even more anaesthetized and disengaged as it gorges on a diet of 24/7 “info-tainment” and mindless lowest common denominator “reality” fare, and meanwhile, we engage in conflicts which on many levels may be necessary, but with a tiny fraction of the population bearing the actual burden of the fighting.
Like all civilizations before us, we have reached a crossroads and the choices (difficult as they may be) which we make now will define us for eternity. Even if we do nothing, which is what many in positions of power seem compelled or resigned to do, we have made a choice, and the repercussions of our inaction will echo throughout time as we slide into the chasm which has engulfed other once great peoples. If recorded history teaches us one thing, it is that human nature does not change, and throughout the world lie hints that contrary to the widely accepted view that mankind has technologically evolved over time, save for periods of “back-sliding,” we operate under no assurance that this is a constant or that we are somehow immune to the pressures and choices which have destroyed empires and nations that had cohesively endured far longer than our 234 year run thus far.
REVOLUTION OR EVOLUTION? WHICH WILL IT BE?
As I see it, we face very stark choices right now, which will likely become more restricted as time goes on and we slip deeper into the quagmire we’ve created for ourselves. The United States as a whole can seek to evolve, to apply the enormous potential of our creative and business minds to adjust our course, to make certain sacrifices which may be unpleasant in the short-term, but which are far more preferable to what we could face in the mid or long-term if we do not take such action. Or we can continue to allow the fear, hopelessness and steadily building anger which is permeating many sectors of our population to build, until it finds release in revolution, which even in its non-violent expression leads to fractures and rifts in which the rights of dissenters to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – as well as the rule of law – may be compromised as passions inflame action and desperation yields to extreme agitation.
Before I get too much farther, I should clearly state for the record that the thought of our present circumstances leading to violence, organized or not, is deeply troubling and not a course that I wish to see inflicted upon this nation. Yet I cannot help but observe that circumstances are staging themselves nicely for the emergence of demagogues on either extreme of the political spectrum, and I do not deceive myself into believing that right-wing or left-wing extremism cannot take hold in the United States. I believe it is the duty of the vast majority of us who occupy positions somewhere in the amorphous and not easily defined “middle,” that understand that we can find solutions if we bravely face and acknowledge reality, to try to prevent a schism which would destroy the very promise and noble ideals that America was founded upon.
OUTLINING THE STAKES – THREATS FACING THE STABILITY OF THESE UNITED STATES
In order to present solutions to any problem, it is first necessary to acknowledge that the problem exists, to understand what the repercussions are if the problem is not addressed, and to seek to find solutions that will eliminate the problem as an ongoing concern or at the very least, minimize the impact that the problem will have on the future.
Unlike many op-ed writers in many “papers of record,” at the very least I feel compelled to try to offer possible solutions to these problems in upcoming postings. Rather than be yet another “doom and gloom” naysayer crying that the sky is falling, I believe it is incumbent to try to motivate others to seek solutions while we still have palatable options, or before we are backed into a corner individually and collectively and the only choices remaining are poor or unthinkable. I can’t promise that my answers are the best ones available, but I hope that they are better than silence or the monumental and borderline criminal obfuscation and collusion with special interests as is evidenced by the majority of our current crop of politicians.
As I see it, there are seven vital issues facing us right now, some of which are interlinked, which must be addressed in a coherent and forward-looking manner:
Unemployment and Underemployment – Why the U6 Number Matters
Crumbling Physical and Technological Infrastructure Heading Towards Obsolescence
Energy Dependence on Foreign Oil
Geo-Politics and Global Security – Why Radical Interpretations of Islam are a Threat
Spiraling Healthcare Costs and Government Entitlements – There is No Free Lunch
Underfunded Pension Liabilities – The Nasty Surprise Awaiting Many Future Retirees
Education and Lifelong Learning – Ignorance is a Choice with Serious Consequences
Each of these issues is of significant scope and pressing need to present formidable challenges on their own; the fact that we are facing these in a confluence of bad timing due to years of inaction, recklessness and lack of political will to deal with these before they escalated to pending or current crisis status is most unfortunate.
WHY FREEDOM IS PREFERABLE TO SLAVERY IN ANY FORM
Many Americans would do well to remember Gerald Ford’s admonition that, “The government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.” I do not believe that more government is the answer to the problems facing us – our government is bloated and inefficient as it is, and while government can work in partnership with the private sector to help facilitate solutions, with rare exception has government ever proven to operate more efficiently or productively than profit-motivated private industry. It’s not that Capitalism as a concept is fatally flawed or outdated; however, unbridled and unregulated capitalism does concentrate wealth, and correspondingly, power, in the hands of a few and if we rely on a sense of benevolence or noblesse oblige from some of today’s oligarchs (little better than the 19th Century’s Robber Barons) raised with little sense of a moral compass or civic responsibility greater than themselves, we are really in trouble.
While it may be true that it’s hard in modern society to be completely self-reliant and to one degree or another, as individuals and nations we are all inter-connected, this does not mean that we cannot strive to do better. For all the pessimism and bad news that the 24/7 news cycle seems to feed upon, every day witnesses all too often unheralded acts of kindness, compassion and heroism from ordinary people that are willing to put their money, principles and sometimes even their lives on the line to help others.
Freedom is a scary proposition, because freedom entails risk, but ultimately, we can only trade our freedom for the illusion of security while voluntarily and cowardly slipping on the shackles and fetters that enable us to become little more than serfs to the minority in power at any given time or place in history.
In my next posting I’ll delve deeper into the employment situation in America, taxation and our faltering primary and secondary educational system…
Jonathan S. Ross is the founder of Black Rock Consulting and the blog “Tao of the Zentropist.” In the interest of full disclosure, he is a political independent that deeply admires President Teddy Roosevelt and believes in the principles of limited government by, of, and for the people; increased personal responsibility and accountability to society;, and enlightened regulation of free market economies to safeguard the financial interests and livelihood of the majority. He believes that the Bill of Rights enumerates individual rights and that it’s specious and self-serving to selectively claim that any (e.g. The Second Amendment) are meant collectively only. He feels that people’s personal lives ought to remain personal and that what goes on between consenting adults, so long as no one else is getting hurt, is neither the business of the state nor of anyone else. While he believes in international cooperation and free and fair trade, he also believes that nation-states and their populations have the right to sovereign and secure borders and the right to self-defense, which extends to the individual level as well. And finally, he believes that as flawed as it may be at times, representative democracy is the best means of governance yet devised by Man and those that threaten it are a clear and present danger to peace, freedom and any hope of global stability now or in the future.
