Category: Observations

The “economy” is where it is today because of factors that began in the Bush/Cheney administration over an eight year period causing a budget surplus to turn into a huge deficit, unemployment to rise, and involved the country in two wars. The United States  sank into a major financial depression triggered by banking industry malfeasance. In 2012 the economy is slowly healing despite the unyielding efforts of the Republican Party far right radicals, Neo-Cons and others to obstruct any policy that would help the country heal faster.

President Obama has succeeded despite this adversarial, partisan climate to not only avoid a long term depression in the US, but to also create over four million jobs, save the US auto industry, reduce unemployment and end one of the wars. His landmark achievement, a progressive bill to reform healthcare, has been totally misrepresented by the far right and then used against him.

Opponents of the Affordable Health Care Act and other accomplishments of President Obama have adhered to the propaganda axiom that recommends taking someone’s strengths and turning them against them. In recent months the radical right, the Romney campaign, Fox Fake News and Republican politicians have even tried to take the elimination of Osama Bin Laden under Presidents watch and turn it against him using alleged leaks about the mission afterward.

The attack on the President is amplified by “framing” positive accomplishments in a negative light. Of course this makes it difficult for the person being attacked to showcase his administrations accomplishments. Every trick in the book has been used to destroy not only the economy but the President himself with countless personal attacks, overt and “dog whistle” racism, not to mention demeaning rhetoric never used against a President of the United States.  The President is essentially a moderate Democrat but his adversaries try to “frame” him as “socialist” who is somehow foreign. Everyone knows the President was born in the US but the Republicans support “birther” nonsense to spin the Presidents credibility in a negative way.

Is the economy as bad as it’s made out to be?  Is the “economy” the only standard by which we judge the success of our democracy? Should we take to heart all the predictions of gloom and doom put out by economists who all have different theories of what is needed and what should be done “to turn the economy around?  The “economy” is turned around and making slow by steady progress against the head winds of partisan obstructionism. We don’t have a “do nothing congress,” we have “do nothing Republicans” stopping congress from doing anything. Now we have a presidential candidate who’s only plan is to go “back to the future” and repeat what didn’t work before? A candidate who is getting advice from Dick Cheney!

As far as the barrage of negative predictions and reporting by media pundits and bombastic radio personalities there is a self-serving tendency to stay negative in order to prove themselves right. Even when there is positive news it is spun or framed to favor their point-of-view. For example, when a “Jobs Report” comes out stating the fact that say, 250,000 new jobs were created, it is reported as ONLY 250,000 jobs were created. It could also have been reported as ” 250,000 new jobs were created, continuing the trend of new job creation each month for the past 24 months.” There is very little original thinking in the media industry. A new development reported in the New York Times, ends up being reported or misreported by Broadcast, Radio and Cable shows. The negative spin on all economic and political news is like a virus that has reached epidemic proportions.

We live in an era of instant gratification. We want everything to happen now. We are told that what took eight years to destroy should take a year or two to recreate. Progress is being intentionally held back by forces who don’t give a damn about the economy. billionaires are set for life, why would they care if the economy is bad while they achieve goals that have to do with ideology, power and control? Goals that in the long term will make them even richer.

Using all sorts of fear tactics the billionaires backing Romney have convinced a large number of people that the government is their enemy except when the billionaires candidates are in power. But the actual reality is that in every State where the Republicans gained control in 2010 they have enacted laws in which their state governments restrict the rights of citizens in many areas including the right to vote, women’s health issues and the rights of working people, especially in the public sector. They campaigned on creating jobs. In fact they have eliminated jobs, refused federal stimulus money and hampered commerce in their own states.

This upcoming Presidential election is not about the economy it is about whether the United States will remain a democracy of and by the people, with majority rule deciding issues. It’s about the middle-class surviving and flourishing or being reduced to working for minimum wages.

We voted for President Obama because the Bush/Cheney polices that favored the very rich were hurting the country. Bush/Cheney wars and tax cuts ruined the economy. Cheney’s “crony capitalism” (connections with Haliburton and the oil industry) gave billions of dollars away in government contracts which often didn’t deliver the goods as ordered.

Now we have Romney the  “vulture capitalist” who is too arrogant to release his tax returns running on a Bush/Cheney platform. In the words of Romney’s wife, “…you got all you need to know,” this after one year worth of taxes were partially released.  But it’s more than arrogance, Romney is quite possibly hiding the fact that he’s a billionaire. It’s likely that he has stretched he limits of ethical financial behavior and the tax laws. That the tax returns for certain years may well prove he has been lying about his involvement in Bain Capital from 1999 to 2002.

Moderate and Independent Americans of all persuasions have only one choice.  Give the current administration four more years and a clear majority in the house and senate. The economy will continue to improve. Employment will increase. The deficit will be reduced. College graduates will find jobs again. Teachers, firefighters, policemen and public sector workers will be able to do their work again. The war in Afghanistan will end. Our troops will come home. There will  not be another war like Iraq started in Iran. Veterans will get the kind of aid they need in all areas.  Social Security will not be destroyed. Medicare will not be turned into a voucher program. Students will not be dropped from their parents healthcare policies.

This country and working middle-class  does better when Democrats have control of the government. FDR brought the country out of a major depression, created jobs, and enacted Social Security. Under the Clinton Administration a surplus was created — there was no deficit until Bush/Cheney. President Obama has been systemically obstructed in his efforts to create jobs and move the economy by Republicans. Since 2010 the Republicans have had control of the House of Representative and have done nothing but obstruct progress. Republicans in lockstep have voted to repeal the Affordable Health Care act thirty-one times but have not created one stimulus bill for the economy.

The choice is clear move the country forward, save the American way of life or let the ultra conservative billionaires create a country with only two classes, the super rich and the poor.