2012 Election Issues #4–Europe Economic Crisis

All the crap that people bitch about and this one is NO where to be found……of course, a couple politicos have compared the US to Greece, most notably some on the pseudo-news channel that shall remain un-named…..my problem is that Europe and its problems will eventually come to our shores and roost and yet neither candidate has mentioned except in passing and saying one candidate sucks…….maybe these dorks need to tell the American people what is awaiting the US…….

But it does matter….even if you ignore it…..it still matters….and why is that?

AP has a beautiful explanation——-

Europe buys 22 percent of the goods America exports. U.S. companies have invested heavily in Europe. So any economic slowdown in Europe dents U.S. exports and corporate profits. But the biggest fear is that a European financial crisis will flare up and move west across the Atlantic — the way Wall Street’s 2008 crisis moved east to Europe — with dire consequences for the U.S. economy.

Europeans are struggling to repair a system that was flawed from the start. The euro, introduced in 1999, makes it easier to do business across Europe; no more changing francs to deutschemarks when French and German companies do business. But the common currency joined countries with vastly different economies and political cultures — and each got to keep running its own budget. During the 2000s, banks were willing to overlook the differences and lend at low rates to countries like Greece with dubious records of fiscal discipline. Lenders knew they’d be repaid in euros, not local currencies that could be devalued by inflation. Greece and other countries took advantage of the easy money. Their debts proved crushing after the recession hit.

To fix their finances, European countries have cut government spending and raised taxes. Greece, Portugal and Ireland had to tighten their belts to qualify for bailouts. But the austerity has taken a toll. Europe is sliding into recession. The pressure might force Greece to abandon the euro and revive its old currency, the drachma. Other countries — notably Italy and Spain — might follow Greece out of the eurozone.

Abandoning the euro would free countries from an economic straitjacket. When they joined the eurozone, they surrendered control of interest rates to the European Central Bank, so they cannot cut their own rates to boost their economies. Nor can they push down their currencies to give their exporters a price advantage and trade their way out of trouble.

But breaking up the eurozone would be dangerous. Borrowers in countries that left the eurozone would struggle to produce enough money in their weak local currencies to repay old debts denominated in much stronger euros. As debts soured, Europe’s banking system would freeze. Its economy would follow. The pain would spread. Worried about a crackup, investors are demanding higher rates on Italian and Spanish debt, driving those countries’ borrowing costs to unsustainable levels.

The Euro-Zone problems are our problems…..we will suffer as much as the countries of the EU if the wall cracks and falls in the economy’s lap….but yet it is not important enough for either candidate to try to explain the situation to the American people……

2012 Election Isues #3–Infrastructure

Sandy should make this issue a bit more important…….

Here is one that should make all concerned heads explode……..our infrastructure which use to be the envy of the world is old and decrepit …..our highways have potholes the size of Rhode Island, our bridges are falling apart slowly but methodically and our rail system is something out of the 1920’s and yet this was not important enough to talk about in the debates…..what will Mitt do?  What will Obama do?

President Barack Obama has favored stimulus-style infrastructure spending plans, talking up highway, bridge and rail repairs as job creators, and pushed for innovations like high-speed rail and a national infrastructure bank to finance projects with the help of private capital. But Republican opposition to increased spending and taxes has blunted many such plans.

Mitt Romney favors less involvement by the federal government in infrastructure, preferring to let states lead the way. Romney shuns the idea that public-works spending is a good way to jumpstart the economy, saying decisions on worthy projects should be based on need and potential returns. Romney also wants to privatize Amtrak by ending federal subsidies for the money-losing passenger rail system. He’s OK with borrowing to pay for megaprojects if there’s a revenue stream to pay the money back, like tolls or port fees.

This is a simplistic answer to the question….but at least the voter now has at least an idea of the stances……this is another one of those issues that few people want to talk about but everyone uses them daily…..something we talk for granted but seldom want to do anything about the destruction of the system….

2012 Election Issue #2–Debt

I cannot wait to see the crap that will spread about the people effected by Sandy….I recall some of the bullsh*t that was put out by the whackadoodle fringe in 2005……but until then……….

We have had lots of lip service by the players in this drama that we call our political process……but all the time in front of the cameras and the audiences….very little has been said but either candidate…..about the best we can say is that both think the other guy’s ideas….SUCK!

But what about the national debt?

The budget deficit — the shortfall created when the government spends more in a given year than it collects in taxes and fees— is on track to top $1 trillion for the fourth straight year. When there’s not enough to pay current bills, the government borrows, mostly by selling interest-bearing Treasury bonds, bills and notes to investors and governments worldwide. It now borrows about 40 cents of every dollar it spends.

The national debt refers to the total amount the federal government owes; the deficit is just a one-year slice.

The U.S. has been borrowing since the 1700s, when it needed money to finance the American Revolution. The outstanding debt has since risen to a shade over $16 trillion. While there’s plenty of finger-pointing by politicians over who’s to blame, deficits historically surge during wars and deep recessions, and the U.S. has had both in the past decade.

What do our candidates think?

President Barack Obama has proposed bringing deficits down by slowing spending gradually, to avoid suddenly tipping the economy back into recession. To help, he would raise taxes on households earning more than $250,000 annually and impose a surcharge of 30 percent on those making more than $1 million.

He acknowledges his spending on recession-fighting stimulus, tax relief and bailout programs — much of it started under President George W. Bush — has contributed to the deficit. But so have bipartisan agreements to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also raising deficits: a drop in tax revenues as more people found themselves out of work and personal and corporate incomes that sagged in the deepest downturn since the Great Depression.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney would lower deficits mostly through deep spending cuts, including some of the reductions proposed by his conservative running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee. But many of the cuts they’re pushing would be partially negated by their proposals to lower top tax rates on both corporations and individuals.

Our cracker jack politicos need to man up and stop being cowards and face the music….the debt will be one of the first situations that they will have to handle in the 2013 Congress.  They can play their games with non-issues but eventually someone will have to be a man/woman and take a stand and find a solution that all can agree on.

Personally, I do not see any of the boobs in DC as that person….and that means ALL of them.

2012 Election Issues #1–Energy

The debates are over (mercifully) and now the dash for the finish line….we will hear lots of slogans, spin and utter bovine fecal matter (that is bullsh*t in case you were confused)…..but what about the issues…you know those stances that were seldom spoken about during the debates…..if you could call them debates (that is a future post in the making)……..let me give you a few of the issues that I think should have been more important during the debates……

Energy–

President Barack Obama proposes an “all of the above” strategy that embraces traditional energy sources such as oil and coal, along with natural gas, nuclear power and renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydropower. Obama has spent billions to promote “green energy” and backs a tax credit for the wind industry that his Republican rival Mitt Romney opposes. While production of renewable energy has soared, critics point to several high-profile failures, including Solyndra, a California solar company that went bankrupt, costing taxpayers more than $500 million.

Romney pledges to make the U.S. independent of energy sources outside of North America by 2020, through more aggressive exploitation of domestic oil, gas, coal and other resources and quick approval of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas. Obama blocked the pipeline because of environmental concerns but supports approval of a segment of it.

Now this is something that needs attention……we can whine about a lot of things but some of us want more information…just keep in mind that academics are for sale……they strive for grant money and in doing so they become whores to special interests….just ask yourself….how funded that study…..and then you will know just who will benefit from the “findings”…….There needs to be a clarification by both candidates and their plans should be more informative.