Saturday, December 8, 2012

The Disappearing Middle Class


The head of Papa John's Pizza was recently caught whining about how Obamacare is going to make him provide healthcare to his employees and that it would cost 14 cents per pizza to do so. 14 cents! I guess no one will ever buy another pizza if it cost 14 cents more. Seriously, if it only cost 14 cents per pizza to provide healthcare to your employees, then why in the heck has he not been doing so all along? I think we all know the answer to that question; greed. Today's workers have almost no bargaining power, if a worker attempts to hold out for better pay or benefits, they simply get fired and another waiting applicant fills the job.
Did you know that 50 years ago General Motors was the largest employer in the U.S. and their average wage was about $50/hour in today's dollars? Now our largest employer is Walmart with an average wage of $8.18 per hour. Is it any wonder that the middle class is disappearing to be replaced by full time workers who are below the poverty line? This needs to be corrected, hard working full time employees should not be working for poverty wages in America. These things tend to move like a pendulum and swing from one extreme to the other; back in 1962, GM workers were probably making too much and now today's Walmart workers are clearly making too little.
Here's a possible solution to how we can swing the pendulum back toward the middle. If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would now be close to $12 per hour. We should raise the minimum wage to $12 and apply a cost of living adjustment to it (like we do with Social Security) so that it keeps up with inflation. Sure it will mean that we pay a few cents more for plastic doodads at Walmart but that seems to be as good a bargain as 14 cents per pizza.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Life in a Bubble


We all, left or right, have a tendency toward being blind to facts that disagree with our opinions, the best way to avoid this is to obtain our information from a variety of competing sources. Those living in a pure partisan bubble are doomed to succumb to a distorted view of reality derived from one-sided sources of information. We all do this to a degree but the right wing has raised this to an art form. As proof, look at how almost all right wing pundits were absolutely certain of a Romney landslide. The math clearly indicated an Obama win yet these people with few exceptions said the polls were wrong because they were done by liberals and didn't match up with their “facts”. Turns out, the average of the polls were almost exactly correct, clearly those right wing “facts” were not in line with reality.
Have you noticed how someone on the right makes up an assertion against Obama and then many others take up that idea and use each other as “sources” in a kind of circular self-reinforcing storm? The original assertion may be completely untrue yet many come to believe it; A few examples: Obama wasn't born in Kenya, Obama isn't a socialist, Obama has never taken anyone's guns, Obama isn't a Muslim, the Bureau of Labor Statistics didn't make up the job numbers last month, rape does result in many pregnancies, FEMA is not building concentration camps to house right wingers after they take away their guns, evolution is real, instituting moderate re-regulation on Wall Street is not communism, there were no death panels and climate change is not a hoax.
Our country's strength is the competing marketplace of ideas, and if we can't even agree on basic facts, that marketplace ceases to function; that is what we have witnessed for the last four years. In the election, reality has just smacked the Republicans upside the head and because they swim in a soup of self created “facts”, they were the only ones who didn't see it coming. We watched them on election night on Fox News as they stumbled around completely shell-shocked. Romney was so certain, he hadn't even prepared a concession speech! Obama had a concession speech because he knew the math said he had about a 10% chance of losing. So which of those two is grounded in reality? Maybe this election will serve as a wake up call for Republicans to rejoin the real world of real facts and stop getting their “facts” only from biased sources like Fox News, talk radio and right wing blogs. America would be much better off if we can have an honest debate in a free marketplace of ideas using facts arising from reality.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Thank you, American Voters


Congratulations America, you chose....wisely.
Some on the left are disappointed in Obama because he is just a moderate but look on the bright side, we are not going to get rid of Medicare, we are not going to put more Scalias on the Supreme court, we are not going to give a 20% tax cut to millionaires and pay for it on the backs of the poor, we are not going to reinstate “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”, we are not going to enshrine discrimination in the Constitution to keep gays from marrying, we are not going to force women to get permission from their boss if they want to get birth control through their health insurance, we are not going to redefine rape, we are not going to spend an extra $2 trillion on the military that even the military says is not needed, we are not going to cut back on aid for education, we are not getting rid of universal healthcare, we are not going to get rid of the Dream Act, we are not going to self deport, we are not going to start a trade war with China, we are not going to have John Bolton as our Secretary of State, we are not going to have Dick Cheney back as foreign policy adviser, we are not going to reassemble almost the entire Bush team of neocons and financial geniuses that left this country in shambles and from which we are just now recovering.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, American voters.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Heckava Job Romney


Wow, Bush's former FEMA director, Michael (heckava job Brownie) Brown is criticizing Obama for acting too quickly in his Hurricane Sandy response. I guess he thinks Obama should sit on his hands for 3 days before responding like he did in the aftermath of Katrina. This calls to mind the consequences of putting people, who hate government and don't want it to work effectively, in charge of government. Isn't it a self fulfilling prophesy to put people in control of the government who proclaim that government is the problem? Isn't that like hiring a manager to run your business who doesn't believe in your business? Who would ever do that?
So Romney thinks we should get rid of FEMA and put it in the hands of a private for profit business. Really!? So after a disaster, with people hungry, thirsty and homeless, instead of giving those people food, water and temporary shelter so they can get back on their feet, we would have private businesses come in and exploit them for profit which would just compound their problems. The whole idea of profiting off desperate people is completely wrongheaded. George Bush taught us the painful lessons of putting someone in charge of our government who has a contempt for government and his FEMA director, Michael Brown, was a perfect example.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Pro-Life is Mostly About Sex


Watching these GOP men slipping up and getting caught expressing their true hateful views on women, abortion and rape, calls to mind a pivotal event in my life that started me toward a path away from right wing ideology. In my early-teens, I was at church and the pastor went into a spittle flecked, red faced, vein bulging rage about abortion. He wasn't concerned with the life of the fetus, he was enraged that a woman could sin and then escape God's punishment by getting an abortion. Back then the anti-choice people hadn't become skilled at playing the “I'm so concerned for the life of the fetus” game. I watched over the years as the pro-life crowd has evolved the “I'm so concerned for life” strategy. It turns out to be an effective strategy, since it is a valid position if one really does care about life. But you know, you can tell if their concern for life is real or fake by whether their concern for the fetus ends at birth and whether or not they support life in other instances. How many times do you see these GOP politicians rant and rave about the life of the fetus but when it comes to helping out young single mothers with education, child care and enriched early childhood development, they couldn't care less?
There is a tried and true method that prevents almost all abortions without infringing on the rights of women. If the GOP was truly concerned about the life of the fetus and stopping almost all abortions, they would support responsible early sex education and easy free access to birth control. This has worked everywhere it has been tried and results in an abortion rate close to zero after subtracting for those abortions that are medically necessary. For example, see the Netherlands where they have the lowest abortion and teen pregnancy rates in the world. Contrast this to abstinence only states that have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country. The Republican opposition to sex education and easy access to birth control is telling, it comes back to the attitude of my pastor all those years ago, the real concern is not about fetuses or life, it is about women having sex and not paying the consequences. That is what gets these GOP men into such a lather.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

If You Repeat a Lie Often Enough

This amazing video is composed of excerpts from one 30 minute speech before the Iraq war. A perfect illustration of the old adage, "if you repeat a lie often enough".

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Anti-Americanism

A few videos detailing the new anti-Americanism that has reached an unprecedented level, spurred on by intense hatred of Barack Obama. Why so much hate for Obama? He's just a moderate, just a little to the left of Bush. Is it because he stole their ideas and enacted a largely Republican health care proposal? Or could it be something else?

This video shows a roomful of Republicans reacting with cheers and high-fives upon hearing that the U.S. has lost the bid to host the 2016 Olympics.




This is a video clip of Republican Joe Scarborough expressing dismay at the way Rush Limbaugh reacts to America's failed Olympic bid. Shows that not all Republicans are consumed by Obama Derangement Syndrome.




Are Republicans actually obstructing the economic recovery so that the bad economy will benefit them in the coming elections?


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


Here is a link showing Republican distress over recent good economic news.


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Which Party Would Be Better at Protecting Medicare


Remember in 2010, those tea party Republicans prancing around with signs decrying the evils of government and the evils of “socialized medicine” and demanding that the government keep its hands off their Medicare? Someone must have tapped them on the shoulder and explained to them that their beloved Medicare is, in fact, pure government run socialized medicine because now they are all for doing away with Medicare and replacing it with another program they just happen to call Medicare.
The Republicans are using word tricks to fool people; they want to completely do away with Medicare (and by “Medicare” I mean the real government provided single payer healthcare) and replace it with a completely different program (seniors go to private insurers with a voucher and purchase their own healthcare) which they also call “Medicare”. So the Republicans can claim they are not doing away with “Medicare” because there will still be a program called “Medicare”. It's kind of like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” where the aliens take over humans and assume their outward form but inside they are really alien. So the Republicans take over Medicare and it is still called Medicare on the outside, but inside it is something completely different and alien.
This Republican Vouchercare will phase in over a number of years and completely do away with the real Medicare. When Romney claims Obama is “raiding Medicare” isn't it ironic that that is exactly what Romney wants to do? Here is Charlie Crist, former Republican governor of Florida, “The $716 billion in savings his (Obama's) opponents decry today extended the life of the program by nearly a decade and are making sure taxpayer dollars aren't wasted in excessive payments to insurance companies or fraud and abuse. His opponents (Romney/Ryan) would end the Medicare guarantee by creating a voucher that would raise seniors' costs by thousands of dollars and bankrupt the program.”
Changes are indeed going to be required in order to keep Medicare solvent as the huge bulge of boomers retire. Since Medicare is a Democratic program, Democrats are invested in the continued success of the real Medicare. On the other hand, remember the tea party signs, the Republicans are fundamentally opposed to socialized medicine as found in Medicare. Which party do you think will do the best job of protecting and preserving “the real Medicare” for the generations to come?  

Friday, September 7, 2012

Is Romney a Tax Cheat and Felon



In 2009 the Swiss bank UBS agreed to settle U.S. criminal charges that it had engaged in a multi-billion dollar scheme to help wealthy U.S. taxpayers hide assets from the IRS. This meant those secret accounts hiding money from the IRS in foreign banks were about to be revealed. The IRS offered an amnesty program for these wealthy people to avoid felony conviction if they owned up to these secret accounts and paid back taxes and penalties.
We know that Romney was heavily involved with foreign accounts; his 2010 return shows he has accounts in Switzerland and at least 5 other countries. Did Romney take the amnesty offer in 2009? And is that why he refuses to release his 2009 return that would show the felonious behavior and the amnesty?
They keep reporting in the media that Romney has released two years of tax returns, 2010 & 2011, but that is not quite true; he has only released a partial return for 2010. His 2010 return is missing one key page. The Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) in his 2010 return for detailing offshore accounts is purposefully absent. It just coincidentally happens that this one missing page would have referenced his previous (2009) amnesty if he had taken it. Why is the FBAR page the only page missing from his 2010 return? John McCain looked at Romney's taxes in 2008 and I'll take McCain's word that he didn't see anything illegal but the amnesty didn't occur until 2009 so McCain wouldn't have seen it.
Of course this is speculative, but why would Romney take so much heat for not releasing his tax returns if he wasn't hiding something pretty bad? The circumstantial evidence presents a strong case that Romney is a tax cheat who stashed money in Swiss accounts and then took the IRS amnesty in 2009 to avoid prosecution. For what other reason does he refuse to show his 2009 return? For what other reason would that one page be missing from his 2010 return?
Romney could clear up all these questions by just releasing his 2009 return or even releasing his complete 2010 return with the FBAR but he is not going to do so which is a pretty strong indictment that he is hiding some seriously nasty stuff that would disqualify him from the presidency. Even if you are a Republican, are you willing to vote for a likely tax cheat who hid money offshore and thus committed multiple felonies, or are you going to just vote for the guy no matter what, just because he has an “R” after his name?

Sunday, August 19, 2012

An Up or Down Vote on Medicare


This election is rare in that it is a clear up or down vote on the Republican budget designed by Paul Ryan, passed by the Republicans in the House and endorsed by Romney. This budget dismantles Medicare, increases defense spending and gives huge tax cuts to the rich while cutting education, child care, science and infrastructure.

Here are a few facts about Medicare and Social Security to keep in mind:
1. Medicare and Social Security are Democratic programs and have been hugely successful and popular.
2. Many Republicans hate that Medicare and Social Security are so popular, and that so much credit accrues to the Democrats, and have always looked for ways to weaken or dismantle these “socialist” programs.
3. Since Medicare and Social Security are the crown jewels of Democratic accomplishments, Democratic administrations vigilantly protect these programs and make changes with an eye to keeping them sustainable into the future on a sound financial footing.
4. When you hear a Republican say that Democrats are trying to destroy Medicare and Social Security, you know he is lying.
5. When you hear a Republican claim he is trying to “save” Medicare or Social Security, Watch Out!

Remember in 2005 when Bush, after being reelected, tried to privatize Social Security under the guise of saving it. If he had succeeded in privatizing Social Security to Wall Street, Social Security would have been destroyed in the Wall Street collapse of 2008. Now they want to do the same thing to Medicare; electing Republicans this year will give them clear approval to dismantle Medicare and eventually Social Security. Choices in elections are rarely this clear; after all the smoke and obfuscation, this election boils down to a straight up or down vote on the future of Medicare and Social Security.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

The End of Medicare


The Republicans have a plan to get rid of Medicare. To make that plan palatable to present seniors, they are assuring them that if they are 55 or older they will still get Medicare, it's only people under 55 who get screwed, I mean get a voucher. If the voucher is so great, why doesn't everyone want vouchers?
Think about it for a minute; the only reason that we all paid into Medicare and Social Security for all those years was because of the promise that it would be there when our turn came, we were all in it together. Now the Republicans want to create a two tiered system pitted against each other, one group of over-55s who will receive Medicare and another group of under-55s that will pay for the oldster's Medicare but when their turn comes they don't get Medicare, instead they only get a stinking voucher. What makes you think that at some point the under-55s will not collectively say; Enough! We are not going to pay for these old people to receive benefits that we will not get when we are their age.
As time goes on, the younger group will become larger while the older group will be dying off and become smaller. Mark my words, at some point, the younger group will have the political clout to stop paying for Medicare for the older group and the oldsters will be up a creek without a paddle. Good luck trying to take that 50% off coupon to an insurance company and buying health insurance when you are 80.
The Republicans are telling us we need to get rid of Medicare because it costs too much and after they destroy Medicare, Social Security will be next because it costs even more. There is another approach to the problem: For instance, did you know that a grocery checker pays about 15% out of their compensation for Social Security and Medicare while someone who makes billions like Bill Gates pays only a tiny fraction of 1% into Social Security? Simple solution: Have the wealthy pay the same rate as everyone else and, voila, Medicare (with the cost savings from Obamacare) and Social Security will be on a sound financial footing far into the future and will be there for you and your children.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

A Suggestion to Save Our Democracy


As I watch the uber-rich buying our elections, I'm not sure which is more disheartening: The death of our democracy or watching half the country cheer it on because they think it results in their side winning. Truly, party before country.

It used to be that extremely rich people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, amassed huge fortunes (sometimes ill begotten) but then, in an American tradition, gave most of it back in philanthropy. Now with Citizens United and the Supreme Court equating spending unlimited sums of money to buy elections as free speech, we have a new breed of rich people like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson who instead of giving away money to help others, have decided to flood money into the political arena and hand pick our leaders thus subverting our democracy.
I have an idea how we can turn the Citizen United ruling around and use it to stop this political whoring. If we gather together 10 million regular folks that care enough about their country to each pledge $100 into a $1 billion kitty (they would only need to send in $10 and pledge the other $90) that is managed by a fairly non-partisan person with high integrity (like John Huntsman?) who has the duty to 110% counter-balance the ledger of giant political contributions (say over $1 million). So, if for instance, a Sheldon Adelson or a George Soros gives $10 million to buy a political campaign, our group would give $11 million to the other side. This would bring these massive political contributions to an end because they would actually be counter productive since it would result in the other side getting even more money. The fund manager would have the discretion to not make the counter contribution if he thought the contributor was just trying to game the system; such as if George Soros made a $10 million contribution to a conservative cause that he opposes with the idea that it would result in $11 million going to the side he actually favors.

Maybe we could call our group the “ Real Citizens United” and we could take back our democracy. If this works in elections, we could eventually expand this idea into countering the lobbying money spent to buy our elected representatives and effectively remove the influence of big money from our political process.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Goldwater is a Liberal in Today's America


On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism.”

When you can use a quote by Barry Goldwater as a voice of sanity and moderation, it demonstrates rather dramatically just how far to the right our country has swung. For those too young to remember, Barry Goldwater was considered a right wing extremist in the 1960s, today he would be left of Obama on many issues.
The doomsayers on the right keep telling us as a country we should do less, to aim lower, to shrink government, to invest less in the future, to spend less on education and to privatize everything from prisons to medicare. For the last 30 years the right, both Democratic and Republican, has won nearly every argument from denying climate change to achieving the lowest taxes on the rich. The right has gotten nearly everything they want at every turn and look at what a mess they have made of our country. That is what aiming lower gets you.
So here is an idea, we have tried it their way for the last 30 years and it clearly doesn't work, so let's try something different and progressive for a change. Let's aim higher. Let's try investing more in our future, more in education, more in science, more in single payer health care (medicare for all), let's extend full human rights to all people and invest more in the kind of infrastructure that will make our country a technological world leader again and pay for it by returning tax rates on the rich to the levels they were in the 1950s, 60s and 70s; you know, when we were prosperous. When the country was run by such wild eyed liberals as Republican Richard Nixon who created the EPA, OSHA, increased NASA and supported a woman’s right to choose her own reproductive options.