Tag: Domestic Issues

What To Do About Baltimore?

After all the deaths of unarmed civilians at the hands of cops and after Baltimore erupted into a night of violence the big question in the media is….what can we do about Baltimore?  They are all looking for answer on how to fix the problem and not one of them actually knows what the problem is to begin with….so how does one fix a problem without knowledge of it?

The media is leading the charge to find answers……every political pundit that has ever voiced an opinion on this subject now has what he/she has always wanted…..15 minutes of fame.

We are bombarded daily with the proper “fixes” to the problems…….more this or more that with a little less this….we are talking…..and that is the problem!  Talk is cheap and NO where will any of the ideas be used no matter how good they sound.

Why would I crap on this parade?

Profits!

No plan will be put into action that does not guarantee a return on money spent!

Does anyone remember LBJ?  How about his program the “War On Poverty”?

The effort centered around four pieces of legislation:

• The Social Security Amendments of 1965, which created Medicare and Medicaid and also expanded Social Security benefits for retirees, widows, the disabled  and college-aged students, financed by an increase in the payroll tax cap and rates.

• The Food Stamp Act of 1964, which made the food stamps program, then only a pilot, permanent.

• The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which established the Job Corps, the VISTA program, the federal work-study program and a number of other initiatives. It also established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the arm of the White House responsible for implementing the war on poverty and which created the Head Start program in the process.

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, signed into law in 1965, which established the Title I program subsidizing school districts with a large share of impoverished students, among other provisions. ESEA has since been reauthorized, most recently in the No Child Left Behind Act.

Many of the programs started by the War on Poverty are still in place but are a mere shadow of what was intended.  For every president since LBJ has attacked and made worthless the intentions from 1964…..and that includes Dem presidents also.

So the question I posed was….what to do about Baltimore?  First place blame where it belongs…on Washington and the Congress.  Make all politicians explain why they cut programs that had the most effect on the control of poverty.  Do not let them get off topic. which they will because NO one in DC wants to accept the responsibility for the problems in inner cities.

Second, an attempt to get ALL Americans to care about poverty…..as it is now…it is someone else problem.  Poverty is a national problem and must be addressed on that level.

I wish I could say that there was a quick fix…….there is NOT and talking about the problem has done nothing in 40 years why would it help today?

The money spent on our interventionism would every helpful in solving social problems……….but we know that the American people will never let that happen.

Baltimore is just the beginning……….there will be NO peace until the country makes ending poverty a priority……and we know from past experiences that talk is cheap and not a solution.

The Orwellian Re-Branding of “Mass Surveillance” as Merely “Bulk Collection” – The Intercept

Most Americans Right or Left is concerned about the programs the government has to get our information……NSA is doing pretty well at their program of “bulk collection”………in other words they will spy on us mere mortal Americans in the name of national security…..but they must be politically correct so mass surveillance becomes bulk collection……but read it for yourself…….

 

The Orwellian Re-Branding of “Mass Surveillance” as Merely “Bulk Collection” – The Intercept.

 

After you read the above press….there is something else to consider……less than one third of Americans are worried about their data………why?

 

Two years after Snowden leaks, public split on government spying | TheHill.

2014 Autopsy: Dem Style

Remember the GOP autopsy after they were handed their ass in the 2012 general election…..they went about saying that they had mucked it up and that they would have more outreach to women, Hispanics, African-American, youth, on and on…..and so far they have done NOTHING but double down on the losing issues from the past…..like abortions, trickle down economics, voting, immigration….nothing new just the same stale policies from the pst….some of them from the ’50’s.

Now after the Dems were handed their ass in 2014 they also have set about issuing an autopsy of things they got wrong……..

Remember after the 2012 election when the Republican Party released its “autopsy” to diagnose what went wrong? Well, now, it’s the Democrats’ turn, and the consensus from the task force findings thus far is that the party needs to do a much better job at “reconnecting.”

And not just reconnecting to all voters, but specifically to certain kinds of voters. The autopsy reads, “In order to win elections, the Democratic Party must reclaim voters that we’ve lost including white Southern voters.” They also want to study “barriers” that keep people from supporting Democratic candidates, like they did last year when their party was crushed in the midterms.

Most of the autopsy is about standing on principle and reaffirming Democratic commitments to issues like voting rights and economic opportunity. In fact, one of their key recommendations is to “create a values-based narrative” for the party.

You can read the full autopsy here:

Democratic Victory Task Force Preliminary Findings by Zeke Miller

A noble plan….to reconnect with the people.  Just how will that be accomplished from a party that works more for the wealthy than the average person?

Let’s say they hold true to that autopsy report…..is Clinton, the front runner at this time, the right person to do that reconnection?  I mean in 2008 she was shown to not know where to put the gas in her car on the campaign trail.

The Dems need someone who can tap into the populist message….I do not think that Hillary is that person…..I just do not see her as a surrogate for local candidates.

If not Clinton….then who?

Poverty and Inequality, in Charts – NYTimes.com

A growing problem in the US is the growing numbers of people living in poverty and income inequality…..I know not many care as long as they are personally secure…..and to me that is the biggest problem….apathy!

You want an example?  Too bad gonna get one anyway.

Take JP Morgan and their latest ‘fine’…..in the neighborhood of $100 million……and the story is that they are taking away from the shareholders….not that they are forced to pay a penitence for stealing billions from retirees…..that my friends is called….APATHY!

Poverty and Inequality, in Charts – NYTimes.com.

2014 New Years Predictions

We begin a new year and let me say a couple of things….thank you…..thank you….thank you…..for without my readers and followers I would be talking to myself…..here’s hoping we all have a great year, 2014……..

AS per my tradition I will make my 10 predictions of what I think will happen in the world and in this country….so far, in the last 5 years I am batting about .750…….Nostradamus can kiss my butt….and you do not need a Capt. Video de-coder ring to figure out what I am saying……

Last year’s predictions (2013) came off as expected……(drum roll)……results are……

1–unemployment will rise during the year–blew this one

2–Consumer Confidence hits new low–blew this one

3–GOP settles into same talking points–PLUS

4–Problems in Syria spills over into border countries–PLUS

5–Major country leader dies–Mandela and Chavez–PLUS

6–Immigration will be a hotly contested issue—-this was a push

7–Democrat wins Mass Senate seat of Kerry—-PLUS

8–Earth 2 will be found–PLUS…matter fact they say they found 2 Earth 2s

9–US GDP will shrink by about 0.5%–blew this one

10-Gun issue will be missed–PLUS

Now you know why I do not use my economic training as a profession…..all my misses were in the field of economics…..but I did get a score of 6 out of 10 or 60%……..a fair year but it could be better….

Now let’s see if I can be a better soothsayer for 2014…….

1–GDP will rise to 3%

2–Unemployment will NOT go below 6.5%

3–Fed policies will NOT change with new chairman

4–Syria will become more messy than now

5–US Congress will not change much…same gridlock

6–GOP wins seats in Senate and it will be 50/50 mix

7–2014 mid-terms will be a circus for GOP

8–Clinton will let her intentions be known for sure

9–Afghanistan will become more and more chaotic as we pull out

10-Iraq will descent into chaos once again, Maliki will be gone.

I like to throw a little lagniappe in once in a while……the markets are reaching new highs almost daily…they creating another bubble…..there will be a correction after June of 2014……

Happy New Year, my friends!

2012 Election Issue #6–Income Inequality

I know it is the weekend and I usually take a break from politics to post on other happenings in the real world….but this election is nearing its end and there are a few things that I feel need to be discussed before the fatal day of voting…….

The income gap between the rich and everyone else is large and getting larger, while middle-class incomes stagnate. That’s raised concerns that the nation’s middle class isn’t sharing in economic growth as it has in the past. And it sparked the Wall Street protests that spread to other cities in the country.

President Barack Obama would raise taxes on households earning more than $250,000 a year, plus set a minimum tax rate of 30 percent for those who earn $1 million or more. He also wants to spend more on education, “a gateway to the middle class.”

Republican Mitt Romney blames Obama’s economic policies for failing to create enough jobs so that middle- and lower-income Americans can earn more. He wants to cut taxes more broadly and says that will generate enough growth to raise incomes for all Americans.

Why it matters:

Income inequality has risen for three decades and worsened since the recession ended. A report in mid-September from the Census Bureau found that the highest-earning 20 percent of households earned 51.1 percent of all income last year. That was the biggest share on records dating to 1967. The share earned by households in the middle 20 percent fell to 14.3 percent, a record low.

Poverty has deepened. Fifteen percent of Americans were below the poverty line in 2011, the Census Bureau says, slightly lower than the 15.1 percent in 2010. That was the first drop after four straight years of increases.

But the recession has pushed up the poverty rate sharply since it stood at 11.3 percent in 2000. About 46.2 million people were poor last year, 46 percent more than in 2000.

Some economists argue that income inequality contributed to the financial crisis. As middle-class incomes stagnated in the 2000s, Americans borrowed to fuel more consumption and buy larger homes. That caused an explosion in household debt that couldn’t be sustained when the housing bubble burst.

At stake, says Obama, is “the basic bargain at the heart of America’s story, the promise that hard work will pay off.” Romney says Obama’s policies have made the middle class poorer. He says he will remove barriers to opportunity, such as excessive regulation of small business, so that more Americans can succeed. “We’re not the party of the rich,” he said. “We’re the party of the people who want to get rich.”

This is a subject was seldom talked about on the campaign trail……it is something that needed more attention, in my opinion.

This is my last attempt to inform the voter in this election…….remember go vote on Tuesday!

Thoughts?

Why Pick On “Entitlements”?

Right-wing advocates of “fiscal responsibility” typically target “entitlement programs” like Social Security and Medicare as the main cause of the country’s financial problems. They prefer “market solutions” to questions of retirement security and health care coverage. To accomplish this privatization agenda, they promote the mistaken notion that both Social Security and Medicare are in crisis and are unsustainable.

In doing so, however, they ignore or distort some basic facts, progressive economists say. Advocacy groups and think tanks like the Campaign for America’s Future, the Economic Policy Institute, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Center for Economic Policy Research and the Center for American Progress tend to agree that Social Security is not in any imminent financial danger and that Medicare’s problems are not inherent but are related directly to the general crisis of health care in the country.

Take Social Security, for example. Social Security will have a $5.5 trillion surplus by 2027 and will be able to pay all benefits promised under current law, through 2041. In addition, Congressional Budget Office estimates show that if no changes are ever made to the Social Security program, in 75 years, the program will be able to afford to pay retirees better benefits than they receive now.

By comparison, if no changes are ever made to the health care system, in 75 years the cost to the country will equal about 99 percent of current Gross Domestic Product.

Nancy Altman, an economist and former advisor to Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, concurred. Of all federal programs, Social Security is the most “fiscally sound,” she noted. If predictions are correct and the program does experience budget shortfalls in 75 years, they will be “manageable.” By comparison, she noted, predicted deficits in the program 75 years from now will be less than the cost of the Bush tax cuts for the richest one percent of Americans.

Altman added that according to federal law, saving money in the Social Security program does not automatically translate into savings in the federal budget or in anyway help balance the budget.

At a time when Americans have lost $2 trillion in housing value and $6 trillion in retirement savings as a result of the market crashes, this is no time to privatize or gut the social safety, these progressives argued.

“We don’t have an entitlements crisis,” economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, added, “we have a health care crisis.” The word “crisis” should not be used to described Social Security’s financial situation either. Social Security is not “in anything that any reasonable person can call crisis.”

Medicare’s long-term sustainability is tied directly to the need for reforms in the health care system as a whole. “The root of the deficit problem is health care costs. Our leaders must get serious about improving our health care system. A concentrated effort by policy makers to control health care expenditures will help American business compete internationally and free resources for other pressing needs,” read a joint statement this week by Hickey, Baker and Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute.

Tax cuts and entitlements attacks….same song …same old tired party.