If Obama Was Markell… lol… We’d Have Taken It…

Ecuador just offered the US $23 million for human rights training.

The US will probably turn down that little bit of free money with considerable strings attached.

How different that is from the Markell administration which gutted and revamped our entire educational department with its pursuit of Common Core…   just for its offer of  free RTTT money..

Where there is little chance the US will accept this Ecuadorian offer,  Delaware was all over its equivalent when proffered for our schools.  Its mantra as if before a limbo cord, was “how low can we go…”

Which just the opposite of  Markel, makes the Christina School District a bit more principled than the “Education Governor”,  when it comes to accepting free money with large hemp-wound ropes attached.

Republicans Cost to the World Today….. $1.2 Trillion

The global markets lost 1% today… Actually that is pretty good. The losses stemmed over the fact that Republicans won’t allow new revenue to enhance our failing budget…….

Like George Washington, they want to apply more leeches (tax cuts) which eventually will bleed the father of our country dry, and kill him dead.

There are great ideas to get around the impasse……

One was so close last week in which Obama and Boehner had come almost to a 4$ Trillion Deal… It was so, so close. Boehner was about to become the Alexander Hamilton of the 21st Century: Historians would forever know him as the man who brought America back from economic ruin…….

But Boehner’s owner, jerked hard on his leash… cracking Boehner’s trachea. He then spun Boehner to the ground, and applied zip strips to his wrists and ankles. He then tazed Boehner repeatedly. For the first time in his life, Boehner did not cry. He was then strapped to a board, tilted backwards into a tank of water, and held for 45 seconds, over 111 times. He was then blindfolded and pummelled with cans of Pepsi, embedded in old cotton socks, leaving no evidence. He then poked with a tube, in his (you know where) and the other end was attached to a fire hydrant.

The next morning, Boehner said the deal was off; he refused to return Obama’s calls.

Leaks from those working for his owners, tell us the taxes on the wealthy 1% were the sole reason Boehner was given “the treatment”… It’s a damn shame; for a package of $3 trillion in cuts, (yes, includes modifications to SS and Medicare) and a Trillion in tax increases on the top 1%… would shake the dynamics of our economy.

It would spur investment here in America.
It would therefore create jobs.
It would stop the uncertainty where America was financially headed.
It would prevent the immediate loss to our economy of $4 billion a day.
It would reduce the deficit over time, and save money spent paying interest, which could then be used for services.
It would be the proper step at this time in the direction we need to go.

But, if the US defaults on its debt, nothing in the financial markets is sacred, and when nothing is sacred, that… causes panics…

And a panic in 1929… caused the Great Depression. A panic in 2008, caused the mess we’re in right now.

The world’s managed wealth is $122 trillion… A one percent drop.. is $1.2 trillion. That is the amount, that one half, of one third our government,… cost the world today.

They are kids, playing with a live junction box… Sticking a screwdriver in the wrong hole, burns down the entire house……

(At $50,000 a job, today’s loss is the financial equivalent of putting 24 million human beings out of work)

Castle Should Run

We were round tabling this discussion when one person said… “What if the US just gave up after Pearl Harbor?”

Valid point.

Now I’m all for people speaking their mind. I’m all for supporting the majority. And like the founding fathers, I have implicit faith in the ability of the people to sort out our problems and separate wheat from the chaff… if not the first time, then definitely over time.

Most ordinary people I know have far more wisdom than any leader I’ve had the privilege to share conversation with. Therefore I believe in the sanctity of the people’s choice. If the people voted him in, he’s there for a reason.

But that’s only if the election was fair. If someone padded the ballot box, or switched vote totals, than obviously this premise wouldn’t apply for the very reason that the choice of the people was not the person who was actually representing them.

Mike was bushwhacked, sort of like the US was at Pearl Harbor or on 09/11…Reading his interview yesterday in the News Journal, one gets a sense that perhaps this was not a fair fight…. By election laws it was, and we all have to accept the primary results. However, if Mike doesn’t run as a write-in, he is putting himself in the same position as if the United States did nothing after Pearl Harbor or 9/11….

And with Mike, it is not about winning, although winning would be nice. It would be about whether good or evil triumphed. Polls say it’s Mike’s race to lose. He actually has enough money to send every voter a personal card telling them exactly how much he’s done for them, how that will soon change for the worse, and explain how to write in his name and send the evil perpetrators back to their cardboard boxes.

If Mike doesn’t do this…. exactly then, what is he saying to future generations of Americans? ? That we should just give up when hit from behind with a baseball bat? That it’s the American way to lay down and bend over? That being a man, is knowing when to run away and hide? That brutality and tastelessness are the new American Way? That perhaps Christine was right? Castle has no man pants on? That the wishes of Delawareans don’t matter; we’ll stop immediately and do what Californians tell us? That how we brush off defeat is a better mark of character, than coming back strong and punishing the evil that befell us?

And sentences keep coming one after another… the list keeps going on…

But if I were in Mike Castles shoes, and if it were me looking over the entire scene before me… I would have no choice but to say I’m in… Oh yes, I would wait till the last minute of September 30th to do so… and I would create a smoke cloud beforehand by pretending to roll over and let bygones be bygones… …. …. and from somewhere out of the fog, then overwhelmingly, I’d strike.

I wouldn’t hold back.. It’d be my last race, it would be the one I pulled all my stops for. Every person I’d ever helped would get a personal appeal from me. Unconditional Surrender would be our rallying cry, just like for the troops of WWII… Our goal would be not just to win, but destroy the O’Tea Party forever.

Ok, Hannity O’Tea Partiers: so you were secretly prepared and yes, you overran Poland, and yes, you then went on to incorporate the Low Countries, Denmark and Norway, and even surprised France pushing their ally Britain into the water… But this time, you went too far.. You’ve taken on the United States. You’ve pissed off someone five times your size. We will Normandize you, Elbetize you, Dresdenize you, give you a Kolnectomy, Rhineantipuovertize you, Remagenisque you, and even liposuctionize your Battle of the Bulge. We will Pattontize you, Bradleydice you, and Marshall you into a corner from where you can’t maneuver.. We will take average civilians and turn them into a fighting force the world has never seen…

We will do so for the honor of America.

What kind of an America? An America where truth wins out, where decency prevails, where honesty and hard work eventually win out over trickery, skulduggery, and political assassination. You wanted to play dirty? We’ll show you how it’s done… In doing so we will show the world that modernism prevails, that decent people still run America. that the “Boehner Bullshit” is just that. It’s time to show the world what we’ve known all along.. That in America, it’s the people who run politics..Not the Politics who run the people…..

I’d tell every Delawarean… Do yourself a favor… Turn off your TV’s.. You got a question? Call me or my staff directly! We’ll talk to you… try talking back to their commercials! Where will that get you?

That stuff they’re airing? That’s not Delaware talking, That’s California money talking… That’s rich bitch snitch drug money being laundried to throw a Senate seat into supporting their snatching up of all your money… You want to keep some of your money? Call me. Call my staff… That’s Delaware talking.

Do you want reason to take on ins’hannity?

Well, it’s on. Support me. You can’t let the devil win… ”

Well anyway, if I were Castle, that’s exactly what I’d do. And I would do it selflessly, not to win, but to give Delawarean another alternative between a Democrat and our equivalent of the brown shirts of the Nazi Party.

Yes, if there is still good left in America, then Castle needs to run.
If the doesn’t, then the America that came back after Pearl Harbor……. is gone.

Response to Duffy

Duffy is God’s answer to a prayer.. I miss the old days of blogging when we were debating principals instead of people… Duffy has stuck to the old line of debating principals with facts, and that is what makes him special in the eyes of bloggers everywhere…

Since the passing of Steve Newton, he has been the only one to challenge me in any argument, and usually some pretty good stuff comes out of both sides during the exchange… I have respected that.. Cause once again, opinions mean dick. Facts are what we steer by.. It is my hope that in responding to his challenge that an answer may make itself apparent.. Who knows? It may not come from me… But if I’m the catalyst for bringing it out in the open, then… none of this was in vain..

Why I like to debate Duffy is simple.. Neither side, he or I, is concretely set in their opinions… We accept it when the other side makes sense… I usually go into such debates having no idea where they’ll end up… I hope the rest of you enjoy the ride as welI….

That said..

Duffy leads: Wall Street’s problems were caused by Fannie and Freddie loaning money to people they knew couldn’t pay and moreover, forcing banks to lend money to people who couldn’t pay. That was not deregulation but misregulation

kavips rebutt’s:Uh… Mr. President. That’s not entirely accurate.

First off, the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 was developed for, and locked in on, urban developmental areas and had no part of the subprime boom, which primarily occurred out in western desert regions where owning 4 to 5 investment homes was normal… Those homes were overwhelmingly funded by loan originators NOT SUBJECT to the act… We all know the crises was not because people couldn’t afford a payment on their house. It came about, because with no occupants, people could not afford the payments of 4 to 5 houses….. Instead of one loan per borrower turning up in default; four to five were.

Second off, The housing bubble reached its point of maximum inflation in 2005.

Courtesy of NYT

Third off, During those exact same years, Fannie and Freddie were sidelined by Congressional pressure, and saw a sharp drop in their share of loans secured by the Feds… Follow the dotted line on the very bottom of the graph…

Courtesy of NYT

Fourth off; During those exact same years, private secures, like Delaware’s own AIG, grabbed the lions share of the market.

Courtesy of NYT

Remember these graphs for later on when I discuss the results of deregulation, versus regulation… But like it or not, these graphs conclusively show that private insurers, who thanks to Marie Evans, we now know were deregulated by Phil Gramm in the 2000 Omnibus Bill, were the primary cause of the worlds financial collapse.. Probably put best by these words of AIG’s spokesperson, who when asked why they didn’t have sufficient funds to cover losses, said point blank, “We were deregulated. We were no laws requiring us to keep any funds, ..so we spent it…”

Duffy leads: The loosely regulated hedge funds escaped this mess largely unscathed. Why? They can’t count on a bailout like the big banks. The Too Big To Fail banks were counting on a bailout (not unlike the S&L bailouts which started on the Republican’s watch) and they got them.

kavips rebutt’s:Uh… Mr. President. That’s not entirely accurate. I agree that the hedge funds did survive better than the banks. Not because of bailouts, but because they sold short during the crises and made billions while firms closed and people got thrown out of work. There is nothing wrong with that; I did the same. In fact close readers may remember my warnings that the crises was impending almost a year earlier. Very close readers may remember my telling them exactly when to sell, and at what point the stock market would rebound… I must say: I called it rather well. 🙂

“Hedge funds were not in my understanding, at fault in the credit crisis,” said David Ruder, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. “At the most what they did was to sell securities when some of their investments were declining and they needed to have liquid funds. They were not the architects of these problems.”

De regulated hedge funds are not the issue… De-regulated, excessively leveraged, mortgage securities, are a different story however… They, not the banks that held them, are the cause of the crises…Years from now, when academics search for causes of the stock market crash of 2008, they will focus on the pivotal role of mortgage-backed securities. These exotic financial instruments allowed a downturn in U.S. home prices to morph into a contagion that brought down Bear Stearns a year ago this month – and more recently have brought the global banking system to its knees.

Where you err is when you state that banks too big to fail, assumed they would be bailed out… By implication, you say imply they failed from squandering money, and wanted the bailouts.. But your tax dollars didn’t flow directly to the bottom line.

The roughly $200 billion the Treasury Department has handed out to battered banks was swapped for a special class of stock that pays a 5 percent dividend (rising to 9 percent after five years.) As of April 15, the Treasury had collected about $2.5 billion in dividend payments on its investment.

So in that sense, the bailout money represents an expense for banks. That’s one reason a number of banks have said they want to give the money back as soon as possible.

You say big banks were counting on a bailout, and they got them? That didn’t happen to these banks. New Mexico, Georgia, and Florida each lost a bank just last Friday. That brings to 8, the number of banks failed in June. Unfortunately if a bank is failing, it can’t bet on itself to fail, as can a hedge fund.

Duffy leads: Banks have successfully lobbied to get their losses absorbed by taxpayers and gains are kept private. How nice for them. They felt comfortable making insane gambles because they knew they’d be bailed out. Most of them were right. Also remember that it was Bill Clinton who tore down the wall between retail and investment banking. The idea was to give banks more stability as they typically perform as exact opposites in bull and bear markets. (FWIW, I think that was a good idea and I can tell you first hand that two of the Fortune 100 banks I worked for were carried by retail banking in bear years. They may not have had bonuses those years but they didn’t have layoffs either)

kavips rebutt’s:Uh… Mr. President. That’s not entirely accurate. The idea is that the banks made bad decisions knowing taxpayers would bail them out is the issue that is inaccurate. For the record, I have no qualms that it was the Clinton legacy who tore down the wall between banks and investment banking. Like you, I feel it was a good idea to do so… Again the problem was not primarily with banks making loans to people who could not pay.. Although, it was as late as October 2009, when I was made aware of one private Bank in Denver still exaggerating income to make loans look good enough on paper to get approval of securitization. What caused the collapse was the leveraging of those loans as securities, so that as the housing market became overextended, and the ARM jumped past the low cost opening years, the damage was 100 times worse because of leveraging. What made the collapse criminal, was that the insurance most financial institutions had bought from AIG, to cover such an improbable event, had already spent by that companies executives, out on bonuses to themselves. What made it doubly criminal, was that when they received government dollars through a taxpayer bailout, those same executives assumed it was to first go towards paying their bonuses again. However, very recent events may give some cover to the argument that some collusion was implicit in the bailing out of Goldman Sacs and AIG… Basically, once bailed out, AIG paid Goldman Sacs for shares twice as much as they were worth. The documents also indicate that regulators ignored recommendations from their own advisers to force the banks to accept losses on their A.I.G. deals and instead paid the banks in full for the contracts.

Polls and The Delaware Way

During break I had a chance to browse the changed landscape of the Delaware blogosphere in depth.

There are two blogs that now carry the weight. Delaware Liberal and Delaware Way. Each are different in their own way. Delaware Liberal is an institution of fine writers, but is primarily dominated by two: Delaware Dem and El Somnambulo.

Delaware Way is where one goes to get news in the raw; for Nancy publishes everything… which is good since that is the only place one can go to find it.

Each of these provide a function… Delaware Liberal is where one can go to skim the headlines. Due to their updated format, if you missed a couple of days, it is hard to catch up… Being tied up, that has made following the news through them a little difficult. Nancy’s blog, although panned by Hube for it’s outdated format, is structured so one can follow it in consecutive order… Sort of like a facebook feed where one can drop back continuously until they reach where they last dropped off…

Other than that, there is nowhere else to look… That may be good for non- thinkers. But those of us who plan and run this state, are running blind… A scary thought as we approach the election year…

It seems like the old days mimicked the foundation of this nation. Whereas they argued over pints of ale; we argued over electronic wires… In our exchanges we tampered our views into an amalgamation of something that included the best of both worlds, and for that reason, the policies we forged, could pass the test of time… The only test it couldn’t pass, was us getting old and tired…

What is at stake, with the upcoming election… is a lack of depth. The brilliant group assembled under the general grouping “Delaware blogosphere”, was able to uncover all types of shenanigans; most of which had been going on under the cloak of looking the other way for most of our lifetimes… One, or even two blogs, cannot do the research being done independently by those of ALL political persuasions….

Which of course, means it will be easier to fool all the people some of the time… As long as they stay fooled until the votes are cast….. it doesn’t matter what happens later…

It is time each of the old bloggers look into their hearts, and review what they accomplished… It is time they look through what is written now and compare it to the days of yore…. It is time they return to the fight… the fight for truth… the fight for knowledge… the fight for justice.

It is time they realize they mattered and that like it or not, they were important to the everyday flow of politics… They made this past election happen. They changed the political landscape. They are what made local politics an issue….

We can go back to the pre-blog days of 2006… or we can continue exposing, inspecting, digressing, and scooping each other and the News Journal with information, that if left in the dark, would cost us each our money going into someone else’s pocket…

Delaware needs us. And you can’t escape that fact… It needs us.

Nancy has an example as to why….

On that page is a link to this Rasmussan Report.

VOTERS AGREE ONLY ON TAXING THE RICH TO PAY FOR HEALTH CARE PLAN.

Now anyone who knows me, knows I don’t take any stock in polls. I am smart enough to twist them into whatever I want, and so I can assume others out there are smart enough to do as well…

But over the past election, this group was the one closest to actual results throughout the primaries, as well as the general… So even though they were made up figures, I guess I’m saying, they still were closer than anyone else’s made up figures….

So the fact that a majority of Americans, all smart people mind you, believe that the rich should pay for our nation’s deficits… you know, the ones their party caused…. is rather telling. It implies that all the talk of no new taxes is baloney. New taxes on the rich are what Americans want. We want it sooner instead of later…

It boils down to ethics. Shouldn’t the wealthy take care of those who made them rich, now that times are hard? It reflects this nation’s battle with slavery 150 years ago.. Shouldn’t plantation owners take care of their slaves, like feed them? like give them a place to sleep? like allow them to get a drink of water?

If we had laws in place 150 years ago to cover the welfare of slaves, why then, can’t today’s wealthy and rich assist and help out law abiding citizens who have no jobs, who have no homes, who have no food… but still have their freedoms?

They can and it’s called paying their fair share of taxes… Americans who work, eat, live and die in our towns are saying the rich need to pay their fair share… Not get soaked mind you… BUT PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE…. Every American knows deep down that it is true… Every American knows that during WWII almost every family gave up someone to the war effort, because it was needed to save our nation… Yet today, we have the speaker of the House, A DEMOCRAT MIND YOU, saying there will be no new taxes on the table?

That goes even against the Rasmussen Report linked to above… Which plainly states: THAT THE ONLY THING AMERICANS ACROSS THE BOARD CAN AGREE TO, IS THAT THE RICH PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE….

And as proven in the post below, taxing the wealthy is super good for the economy. It fueled the Clinton boom. It drove the post second world war economy to new highs. Every time we had higher taxes, each person’s welfare, including the wealthy, just kept getting better….

Gilligan needs to get into the real world. and out of the pockets of wimpy land… (Everyone knows I love Gilligan but I get yelled at when I make mistakes and so should he). We are not on Gilligan’s Island. ( I fought the urge and succumbed). We are in a real world with real problems and one of those problems is that we are running out of money….

As one notorious bank robber responded when asked as to why he robbed banks responded: because that’s where the money is….

… so does our legislative need to solve it’s monetary needs by going to where the money is… the state’s wealthy….

It is such common sense and America knows it…. And the only reason we know America knows it…. is because Nancy published it in Delaware Way.

We need more like her…

Oh, The Communists of Sussex County

Sussex Green drops a bombshell…

Despite what Meatball says, there is something sick in Sussex County and it rhymes with taker….

Here in essence is the argument for open government… This type of stuff goes on all the time and those of us jaded by its constant misuse, forget that is really antithetic to representative government… Which is why we need citizen watchdogs… and Sussex County has one now….

This must be read… Not only by residents of Sussex County who have to put up with the antics of a family who thinks they can rule with impunity, but by every man, women, and child of the future, so they know exactly how these things are done, and can intercept their implementation before similar actions are finalized.

Here are several examples of the travesty those communists who represent the fine folks of Sussex County have levied against their own kind….

Instead, the list of parcels and areas being considered for inclusion on the future land use map were presented to the P&Z Commission as Old Business at a meeting on April 30, 2008. The parcels and areas were discussed by the P&Z Commission, approved or rejected, and that was that. There was no public hearing on any of them. Then, when the Comp Plan was finally approved (June 24, 2008) all those amendments, which had been approved at the April 30, 2008 meeting were incorporated into the land use map and became part of the ordinance that authorized the Comp Plan.

The Wilson Baker parcels case illustrates this. Baker got a conditional use (c/u) for the smaller parcel in 2005. He either owned or quickly acquired the larger adjoining parcel of AR-1 soon after being granted the c/u on the smaller parcel. He established a propane, kerosene, and diesel fuel business on the smaller parcel under the c/u requirements. However, he wanted to sell both parcels and that proved a bit too complicated because of the c/u, or so his representative testified at the recent change of zoning hearings before the P&Z Commission and County Council. As a result, he apparently decided that getting both parcels rezoned to heavy industry (HI-1) from their current AR-1 would be the most profitable option.

The P&Z Commission scheduled the Wilson Baker parcels for the June 18, 2008 meeting under the agenda heading “Additional Old Business”. The one item under that heading is “Comprehensive Land Use Plan”. The minutes state that Mr. Lank “advised the Commission that a request had been received for inclusion into the Town Center Area around the Town of Milton; that the request came from Baker Petroleum of Wilson Baker, Inc. for the inclusion of their properties; that they are intending to apply for industrial zoning and to create a railroad spur for access to rail service; that the site has been reviewed through the PLUS process” (P&Z Commission Minutes, June 18, 2008, Page 8). The P&Z Commission decided to incorporate the request of Baker Petroleum into the Future Land Use Map by consensus. There was no public hearing

.

On June 24, 2008, the County Council voted to adopt the ordinance establishing the 2007 Comp Plan Update, with amendments. There was no public hearing

.

The entire sketch of how this parcel was rezoned was not done in secret.. It is available on reruns of the Dukes of Hazard television series that was shot during the 1980s.. The faces may look a little different, but the characters who play them are the same…….

Chapter 9: Bright Spots And A Tax Check To Spend

Even in the direst storms, it is nice to know the sun is burning 93 million miles away…. — kavips

Despite the gloom there are some exciting bright spots in our current mess.

One, we have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that privatization of Social Security is a very, very, very, very bad idea. That argument, shown by today’s events, is now not only proven to be inane, but extremely dangerous. As briefly mentioned in the last chapter, Social Security whose purpose is to provide our nation with a safety net should the unthinkable ever happen, is the only plan that survives global economic meltdown. For it is funded (as is a ponzi scheme) by newcomers entering the plan and contributing their money. Privatization plans based on savings and investment can make no such claim of constant solvency. So despite all the problems caused by today’s global meltdown, its economic trauma should keep Social Security safe at least through three more generations, ie. those who lived through these trying times and saw Social Security’s benefit with their own eyes…. Anyone foolish enough in the near future to bring up Social Security privatization will over that span be met with a chorus of “uhh…Remember 2008”.

Two, we are now given unlimited opportunities to fix long term problems that before seemed insurmountable under the old system, because back then….. we had to play by “old rules”. One of those old rules was that Medicare and Medicaid were here to stay. As mentioned in the previous chapter, replacing Medicare/Medicaid with a national insurance reimbursing physician’s visits, opens the door to getting one costly entitlement out of way and replacing it with a less costly but far better service…..

Three, today, the collapsed economy because of its severity, forces us into a massive Keynesian economic expansion unrivaled since World War II.. The huge impact of that last expansive episode took us 17 years to get our tax rates back to normal. But because of that wise investment we made back then, the global economy got fixed, which then went on to provide a remarkable 60 years of unparalleled growth and low risk. We can be assured that tax rates will remain extremely high for the next decade in order to pay back the deficit we just recently incurred by cutting them…. And that is a good thing.

Four. It is hard to raise taxes. But that is exactly what is needed. Wealth is good for a society only as long as a portion of it is invested back into to real people, real jobs, and real things. Rewarding the pursuit of “virtual” wealth caused by placing “bets” on rising or falling values may be fun, but leaves no lasting collateral once the fun runs out…. Taxes, on the other hand, serve the noble purpose of recycling money down to where it does its best work… I know, I know; arguments have often been made to the contrary, but today we actually see results; ones we have rendered from following the tax cutter’s plans. Unfortunately today’s economy and events have proved once and for all, that despite the copious amounts of hot air once spouted aloud about their potential, their “cutting taxes” hypothesis turned out to be nothing more than simple “voodoo” economics after all…

But fortunately because of today’s crises, we can again responsibly raise taxes on the wealthy and again fortunately for all (especially the wealthy), return this nation back to real prosperity. (Editors note: For fun, some snark is embedded above but in reality we will be only talking about the increase of a measly 5%).

Likewise for five, today’s crises gives us the opportunity to expand government. Some say that is bad… To them, I say “oh, no, that’s not what bad is… Bad is when you lose 50% of your retirement in 2 weeks because funding was pulled from the regulatory agencies responsible for monitoring the markets. THAT’S BAD!” There may be a point in the future where government does again get too big and too intrusive; but that time is not now… We are now at the point where if our government can’t save us…. there is absolutely no one left who can… Our world is deep in a WWII-mode crises all over again; where only the United States is big enough to mount the adequate defense and then initiate a future counter attack…

Six. Over the past 8 years, it became obvious that our infrastructure most definitely needed reworked. This crises gives us the opportunity to fix it; for now, “progress” will no longer get tied up with cries of “over-spending”… Today’s crises put that argument far, far behind us now… We are now more concerned with getting projects moving forward in the least wasteful manner possible. To our chagrin, it would be pure irony if the winning party that won by chastising the past administration for wasting “so much money” on “their pet project”, were to open themselves to the same criticism, by recycling “the past administration’s argument” in order to justify their “pet project’s” waste of money today….. Putting every expense on line will solve it…. Just as we recently discovered our bailout money going towards a corporate jet… having the ability to sniff out corruption in short time, will over the long term, give us the trust we need to get things moving forward quickly… We desperately need that trust in order to be effective; the quickest route to achieve it…. is openness.

Seven, we have historical accounts of what did and didn’t work during a previous Great Depression and we have at our finger tips a vast information system, allowing anyone to bring forward the next “great idea” which just may turn the tide. This epistle is just one example… The tried and true proposals prescribed herein are options that have been researched against the past economic downturn, and have therefore been tested in real time. The novel solutions incorporated herein were built out of questioning why the American economy of the 1930s took so long to recover… and what eventually caused it to grow. These theories may be untested by time, but then… so is every new idea. At their core however, they hopefully have enough historical data to sway even the most skeptical towards implementing their solutions…

The greatest lesson taught by the Great Depression is that “time” is our greatest foe.. Waiting, or allowing things to break up completely before beginning to rebuild from the damaged pieces, means we live squalid lives for decades. Rapid fixes and follow-up solutions will make our lives more enjoyable… We can deal with the long term problems later. But 1933 tells us we needs to jump start it now…

The second lesson that Great Depression teaches us is that change is hard to accept. Even after receiving a mandate for change as did our current leader, FDR still tried to win over the opposition party… It was to no avail.. Eventually he scrapped his attempts at conciliatory moderation as it became obvious that they would oppose whatever he did. Still under the sway of the capitalist’s philosophy that had ruled the previous decade, Roosevelt himself was guilty of inching far too slowly towards implementing direct government involvement. It took an upcoming war to finally sway him to embrace the direct injection of government borrowing into the economy on a massive scale. That made the difference.

Recently the U. S. House of Representatives voted 244 to 188 to pass the Economic Stimulus package; and every Republican lined up against it… As an observer of history it is interesting to note that the same Republican party made exactly the same political error during the Roosevelt’s first term, virtually guaranteeing a one party system over the next 14 years… It is somewhat sad to see history repeat itself… Republicans, apparently are neither familiar with history, …..nor the internet.

Eight, we have at the top of our government, an extremely gifted group of individuals who are charged with bringing major changes to bear in their respective areas. It would be hard to note a more talented cabinet thorough out our history… ( I can maybe think of perhaps two…) Perhaps we should thank the economic crises that brought this group together.. With current challenges being great, political differences were put aside in the interest of saving our country. Our past president’s litmus test was loyalty. This president’s…. is expertise. There is great deft of political instincts now surrounding this president, as well as expert wisdom, unparalleled in recent executive branch appointments. It’s ability to listen and think, seems to become the defining character trait we will forever associate with this administration..

Nine, we finally have a Congress working in sync with the Executive Branch in order to pass the necessary changes required by today’s events. Thanks to the American people, we were not given a stalemated Congress… Truly, the American people deserve their lion’s share of credit for making quick progress possible… It was they who ascertained that the “right president” backed by the “right” party in Congress, would be the only solution to move this nation forward. Yes, they can change their minds in two years.. but for now when timing is at its most critical, our two branches can work in sync as they were designed to by our Constitution. The antique politics of loyal interference, received a big thumbs down by the American people on November 4th, 2008. The voters were wise. Thanks to the American people, we are given a two year window of opportunity to right our ship of state, repair its structural damage, and unfurl its sails once more to set a course for greatness not even fathomed back in the August of last summer.

This economic cloud does indeed have its silver lining.

But…. sometimes…. just the opposite occurs. We see the silver lining…. and forget the dark cloud lurking underneath…. Today there are several proposals working their way through Congress which could cause harm even in their attempts to brighten our financial landscape.

One is a tax check to spend at will, … most of which will go to pay bills in order to stave off bankruptcy and will do nothing to generate either new manufactured products or new services.

Here it becomes clear just how far removed contributing authors to main stream media publications are from the reality that pervades the livelihood of everyday Americans.

Mr. Lindsey, a former Federal Reserve governor and assistant to President George W. Bush for economic policy, is president and CEO of the Lindsey Group. In a piece written to the Wall Street Journal, he uses this statement to demote the economic stimulus package that was dissed by every House Republican…

For a similar amount of money, the government could essentially cut the payroll tax in half, taking three points off the rate for both the employer and the employee. This would put $1,500 into the pocket of a typical worker!

This bragging about $1500 dollars, shows us they don’t grasp the scale that’s needed. The manager of my almost empty hair salon does… Her plan is exactly the same as Lindsey’s, but adds an extra zero. In her words, “if they would just give us $15,000 dollars to pay our debts, the economy could be rolling in 30 days.”

That’s the need… Sure, anyone desperate for cash will take one tenth of it, or $1500 dollars, for it will buy some time. It won’t create a turnaround in the economy, especially if a person is unemployed and not working. At best, the one tenth we receive will keep us from dropping…”as much..”

(Giving $15,000 to every American household irregardless of income level…at 117 million households: costs twice the Iraq War: $1.75 Trillion.)

But Lindsey’s plan is really aimed at providing bonuses to his base (business interests) . For if you read the details under his plan, they too will get $1500 payroll tax deduction for every employee. Have 10 employees? They just got the $15,000 that you said you needed. His plan sucks money out of the economy; it does not put it back.

Remember this: no business has to make money in order to survive. They just have got… “not to lose it”. On the other hand, working people DO have to make money in order to survive. For them, just “not-losing-money” is not an option that they have.. Whenever money is given out to any business, the benefit is political, not economic. Our economy is not bettered by corporations or companies making excessive profits. In fact, as one can see from the “Roaring Twenties”, the Reagan/Bush1 years and the Bush 2 years, excessive corporate profits are just the symptoms of a swelling bubble that inevitably bursts spectacularly. We’ve seen it three times; just before each time, corporate profits soared. On the other hand sustained long termed growth as accomplished by plans formulated during the Eisenhower and the Clinton years, forces corporate money thorough fear of higher taxes back into the companies themselves, in order to hide their profits from being taxed. That re-investment created jobs, which then created more demand for goods and services, which created more re-investment, which then created more jobs, and the economic circle begins climbing.

One must remember that there are two kinds of investments. One, is investing in the building of a manufacturing plant or service industry that employees people… The other, is simply making bets that certain stock certificate will rise in value… One adds money to the economy, causing the economy to grow. The other, is “virtual”. It does not affect the GDP. It does not create jobs. It has as much effect on the economy as betting on a horse.

For the recovery, if it is to happen, hinges on jobs. We need people who buy things. Giving loans to those at the top, for example a corporation like Macy’s in order to keep that brand afloat, will be wasted because those who do the buying, are the ones who still won’t have any money… Therefore in principal, if we are going to borrow a full $3000 dollars to give to every employee, in order to increase their spending which we hope will generate growth, it only makes sense to put that full $3000 directly into the hands of that employee. Splitting it 50/50 with a business dilutes its impact by half.

Republicans bet. Therefore their policies always help out those who play and bet with them.. Democrats don’t. They work. Therefore their policies always help out those who work hard with them.. That is an over simplification to be sure, but if you are approaching this issue for your first time, this simplification gives you some insight and structure into how each party’s actions correspond directly to their supporter’s motives.

Now back to having a tax check to spend…. Didn’t we just have one of those? Someone once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and each time expecting a different result…

Has anyone ever thought of looking at the economic data from last summer and seeing what it’s net effect was then, then modeling it on what impact it might have on today’s economic situation?

What, no?

Well, now might be a good time! The stimulus of last summer was largely saved or used to pay down debt, despite George Bush imploring us to spend it as fast as we could. What was an annualized stimulus of 3% of GDP in the second quarter — which is quite large — only kept GDP growth positive for 1 quarter.

Considering the past quarter, it’s long term effects were nil. Its impact on savings were wiped out. It’s impact on debt was inconsequential.

As we see from these results, the Economic Stimulus Plan did little but raise the 2nd Quarter GDP 3%. After the funds were used, the collapse continued. All a stimulus plan does if it is not big enough, is buy three months of time…

We need something much bigger. Here is why. In November the average credit card debt alone amounted to $8320 dollars per household. Dropping a measly $1500 down off your credit card bill, will unfortunately, accomplish as little for the economy as if one dropped zero $0 dollars down. For if you still owe, … you still owe… Your minimum payment stays the same. The economy does not improve if everyone’s average debt drops from $8320 down to $6820. In fact, the economy actually gets hurt by those banks dependent upon the monthly 1.5% interest. Under this scenario, they lose (per household) $22 dollars in interest. Times twelve months this drop in income costs banks $264 dollars and if every household were to apply their stimulus check to their credit card bill, the yearly net loss to the banking industry would amount to 30.9 billion dollars; right at the time we are throwing money at them to keep them solvent.

The concept of stimulating the economy with a tax rebate is principally flawed. It is extremely flawed when consumer confidence is at an all time low such as it is now…. Tax cuts work only if the consumer spends all the extra amount that they receive. If the check just gets signed over to a bank, either in the form of an increased savings account… or of paying down debt,…. it doesn’t really help the overall economy.

But one would think so however. After all, with that much money available to be lent out, the supply cost for credit should drop, causing the price of credit to inch downward, thereby increasing the volume of it that is bought and used… The increased borrowing should in principal eventually spur the economy forward….

Aye, now here’s the rub.

If everyone is afraid to borrow because of sagging consumer confidence, the money just sits there. It does not get lent and there is no resulting positive impact upon the economy. Businesses have no customers and won’t borrow; at this time they certainly do not need to invest in new plants and equipment (which is why they need a tax cut least of all). Likewise a consumer who anticipates losing his livelihood, won’t spend and will instead, salt away every bit possible to enable him to survive should that happen.

The only people who will benefit from a tax cut and rebate… are the poor who live day to day.. Give them even a little money; it is spent that day. Unfortunately most of the items that they buy come from China, so the tax cut spurs little domestic manufacturing on these shores.

Realistically there are only two things that actually make the economy grow: population growth and gains in productivity. The former carries a lot of costs; the second is the only real fountain of prosperity. Tax cuts do absolutely nothing to aid our productivity.

On the other hand making a choice to use that money for infrastructure spending, for example rebuilding that I 35 bridge across the Mississippi, does increase efficiency by causing products to move faster between two points and actually does something solid to improve productivity.

For a tax cut to work, it has to spur consumption. The last one didn’t and now that consumer and business confidence is even lower, obviously, this upcoming one will not either…

As mentioned earlier, those touting for the passage of a tax cut stimulus check, are not really looking out for the average American’s interest. Other nefarious motives must be lurking behind their support for the receipt of a stimulus check in the mail….

For if they were truly concerned about our welfare, instead of wringing their limp hands over tax cuts, they should be working together to come up with something serious that eliminates our debt.

When Dick Cheney Speaks: You Can Bet On It

The official results do not come out until later. But preliminary evidence has now proved beyond all doubt that no recession this grave has been experienced during the lifetime of anyone younger than 69 ( a good number by the way).

There are signs that those in the know like to watch, which tell the future years down the road and those signs now point to a Great Depression. It would be wise to note, that these “shades of what may be to come” as mentioned in Charles Dickens Christmas story can still be altered by changes in future events…

The fate was solidified with this which occurred on today’s last broadcast of CNN’s Late Edition. Vice President Dick Cheney, known among betting men, as “the man who is always wrong”, today declared “that its premature to call it the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”

Being the one to know, Mister “He-who-is-never-right”; with a record of wrong choices a mile long, some of which include statements such as: “I am the best person to serve as the Vice President of the United States”; “Deficits Don’t Matter”; “Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid”; “There are stockpiles of WMD’s in Iraq and we will find them”; “We have to make America the best place in the world to do business”; “We will in fact be greeted as liberators”; …… always seems to make sense at time, but after ample time has passed, seems to have strung us along, fully knowing what he was saying was not backed up by facts, and each time seems to have bettered himself financially by having us believe in what he says, and take him for his word.

So if we look at his record, we see that he was wrong on Iraq, wrong on Afghanistan, wrong on Iran, wrong on Israel, wrong on Syria, wrong on Georgia, wrong on tax breaks, wrong on the deficit, wrong on securities deregulation, wrong on the economy, wrong on global warming, wrong on renewable energy, wrong on Enron, wrong on education, wrong on environmentalism, wrong on ethics, wrong on Executive privilege, wrong on gasoline prices, wrong on immigration, wrong on privatization,wrong on racism, wrong on what’s best for America; we can only assume by his track record that he is also wrong when he says it is too premature to call this episode equal to the Great Depression. Of course you can go against conventional wisdom and bet against him, ……… but the odds of winning are long…… way too long……

As his track record shows, he is fully aware of the facts, and each time he makes such a brash statement, it is ultimately proven to be wrong and designed to throw us off. Therefore the best option to take away from his last interview as Vice President on CNN is to accept the premise that we ARE in a Great Depression, and pull out all stops now to stop its slide, ….. before it is too late… That means pulling out ALL stops, so that the opposite of this foreboding last statement by Cheney is not given its chance to come due:

“The days of looking the other way while a despotic regime tramples human rights, robs it’s nations’ wealth, and then excuses it’s failings by feeding it’s people a steady diet of hatred … are over.”

As of this writing we have 8 days and twenty hours before it really does comes true………. Let’s not jinx ourselves by listening to any arguments being made by Cheney’s compatriots now arguing against the passage of Obama’s “Economic Jump Start”. Remember all along, they were just as wrong too……..

Are Republicans On Crack?

People on crack lie… John McCain and Sarah Palin are lying as we speak…

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

People on crack are inclusive… Sarah Palin when creating Alaska’s budget, did so secretly only in the presence of her husband and budget director…  Now that’s inclusive..

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

People on crack make up stories..  The McCain camp made up that Obama called Sarah Palin a pig…  He didn’t… It was McCain himself who used the term….

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

Crackheads change truth when it does not suit them…. The McCain camp is portraying Sarah Palin as an anti lobbyist government reformer… She isn’t… She spent Alaskian dollars on Washington Lobbying firms..  She spent Wasilla’s limited resources on lobbying firms…. She was gung-ho, whoop-de-doo for the boondoggle “Bridge for Nowhere” and came out against it only after the Federal Government made it clear she could spend the money earmarked for that bridge, anyway she chose….  Then she pretended she was against it…

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

People on crack, twist reality into exaggerated half truths designed to shock and awe….  The McCain camp accused Obama of pushing sex education in kindergarten…..   when in fact, the program was to warn children of child molesting predators….  a good thing.

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

People on crack make believe others say something different than they really said….   The McCain camp slurred Obama being slammed by Fact Check.Com, causing Fact Check. Com to issue a warning about McCain using them irresponsibly….

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

Crackheads think nothing of pimping out their family members… We won’t even mention what happened at the Bike rally at Sturgis, South Dakota… with the beautiful Cindy McCain…..

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

Crackheads are prone to rash actions… When a builder complained to Wasilla’s mayor, that the city attorney was too picky, actually applying code to what he was building… Sarah fired the attorney….

Is that enough evidence to link them to crackheads?

(Loyal readers no doubt will by now, realize something great is about to be sprung…… Those still new to this blog are no doubt, swallowing this argument hook, line and sinker, like a steelhead trout about to be landed on Todd Palin’s pontoon plane…)

Alright, it’s time… Of course they aren’t…

But what I’ve done is use the Republican’s strategy against themselves..

Nothing above is untrue, but the linkage and the clever wording, is beginning to make you wonder whether perhaps they are on crack.  Actually you can’t help it;  based on the actions stemming from the campaign… I mean after all, look at the Republican Interior Department scandal breaking today…

This is what the McCain campaign is doing… Using half truths, repeated twenty-four hours and linked to unsavory characterizations, and building a controversy that simply has no gas to go anywhere…  It makes news for one day, then he throws out another tidbit….

That is politics.. It is also the behavior of a crack addict… So which of the two are he and Sarah?  He is not the same McCain who ran in 2000, and got plastered in South Carolina by rumors the he, the candidate, had a black baby born our to wedlock….  In Bob Jone’s country, that allegation was the kiss of death…  So is John just playing nasty,… or is his brain chemically imbalanced?

From this point it is hard to tell..  On the one hand, we don’t want to believe it so we dismiss it as coincidence….  “It’s McCain, man”, his supporters say… “He can’t be on crack!”…. But what do you do when all the evidence points to the contrary… There are the tell tale signs of a polar change in behavior, of a complete disregard for the importance of truth, of saying bizarre comments to garnish attention, all of which circumstantially point to crack as the culprit….

Those moments of memory lapses?  You thought it was old age?  Guess again.  Those sultry slips of the tongue,  you thought it was simple fatigue?  Guess again…

Whoops there I go again….(Disclaimer) Of course you know that this was fabricated… It was set upon you just as was the material the McCain camp has handed out about its opponent…

And just like the stuff about his opponent, you, yes you, are starting to wonder if he is not on crack, then perhaps he IS on some type of prescription medication, or Rush Limbaugh painkillers, that cause reality to take a back seat to being the center of attention….

After all, he is getting up there…  how many 72 year olds do you know who are NOT on some type of blood thinner, diabetes or other medication that makes one a little light headed, as well as somewhat fuzzy about the facts…

Can we trust someone in this capacity to handle the power of the greatest superpower this world has ever seen?  Can we trust someone in this capacity to push the right button ( No, Mr. President, Not the RED button) to call for room service instead of a pre-emptive strike?  Can we trust someone this loose with the facts, to trim our budget and not continue to inflate government spending even further out of control? Can we trust those who act like this during a campaign, to behave once they are in office?

Most crackheads would tell you flat out:  “hell no.”  🙂

Since they are about as credible as the National Republican Party these days, perhaps we should listen to them…..

lol

Earmarks

Photo: Jennifer Wheatley c/o DNREC

On the day of the storm, the same one that washed ashore the Bluewater research vessel, the Corp of Engineers was scheduled to turn over Bethany Beach replenishment as a fait accompli….

They can’t do it now….

The entire operation, was washed out to sea. Almost as if “Someone” was trying to tell us that spending tax dollars there………was truly a waste of money….

Unfortunately, the actual beach area at Bethany today is quite small at high tide. Water comes right up to the dune. It was rather comical to see sunbathers lying down almost in a vertical position, to enjoy the ocean view…..

Some of the areas are considered dangerous. A dune washed away at its base could collapse and bury a nonchalant walking by…..

Could that money have been better spent? It is hard to say….for had that storm hit without the buffer that the new sand had provided, the town could have been eaten away instead………………….

The Corp of Engineers is still responsible for completing the project. Of cousre they will need another earmark to pay for it……

I can hear the land lubber states complaining about throwing money into the ocean ….right about .now…..

I say fix the damn thing, and repeal the Bush tax cuts going to the top 1% to pay for it…….. I know some people in Sussex County will arbitrarily disagree….but big government IS A GOOD THING. Imagine if Bethany had bonded our the project and had it done by themselves? Stuck they would be……and that is exactly the problem with the philosophy that says trim government down to nothng……..

After the storm of this destructive administration has passed, we can see that perhaps taxing the rich a tiny bit, is a damn good idea after all.

photo by xzmattzx