Tag: Issues

That Was The Week That Was #3

In the past week there have been a few stories other than the trial or the plane or the train……but what else is happening that the MSM seems intent on ignoring?

There was the good, the bad and the ugly…..and it is not some weird spaghetti western with really cheesey music…….there were real issues………

The Good

The Bad
The Ugly

Now we have something to talk about……..please break into focus groups and discuss……

2012 Election Issues #7–Global Warming

It is Sunday and I was gonna post something besides politics but Sandy, that weird storm that hit the Northeast, has because of all the damage , reawakened the dialogs on global warming….and since neither candidate seem to have much to say on the subject, I thought I would help the voter out in a small way…..

In 2009, President Barack Obama proposed a bill that would have capped power plant carbon dioxide emissions and allowed trading of credits for the right to emit greenhouse gases, but the measure died in Congress. An international treaty effort failed. Obama since has taken a different approach, treating carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the law. He doubled auto fuel economy standards, which will increase the cost of cars but save drivers money at the pump. He’s put billions of stimulus dollars into cleaner energy.

Mitt Romney’s view of climate change has varied. In his book “No Apology,” he wrote, “I believe that climate change is occurring” and “human activity is a contributing factor.” But on the campaign trail last year he said, “We don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.” He has criticized Obama’s treatment of coal power plants and opposes treating carbon dioxide as a pollutant and the capping of carbon dioxide emissions, but favors spending money on clean technology. Romney says some actions to curb emissions could hurt an already struggling economy.

I realize that this was a very simplistic look at the candidates and thanx to the AP for their breakdowns……..I suggest that the voter do a little research if the idea of global warming is on their minds……..remember no matter the issue it is a great day when ALL Americans can go to the polls and vote for their chosen candidate..3 days and counting……some will be happy and others will just have to get over it and move on to finding real answers to the problems this country has…..

2012 Election #5–Immigration

Lots of lip service here……..but during the debates not so much……and yet the campaigns are pulling out all stops to try and win the immigrant vote…..but why would they care about that since neither candidate has a comprehensive stand on immigration…..they have lots of spin and slogans……but fall short on solutions….

What do the candidates really think about immigration?

President Barack Obama has pushed for the DREAM Act, a path to citizenship for many young illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. Efforts to pass the bill have repeatedly failed, most notably in 2010 when it stalled in a Democratic-led Senate after failing to win the 60 votes it needed to proceed to a full vote. Five Democrats voted against the measure. In June, Obama announced a plan to delay deportations for many illegal immigrants who would have benefited from the DREAM Act for up to two years and let them get work permits.

Mitt Romney has said that as president he would veto the DREAM Act should it ever cross his desk. He told The Denver Post that he would honor work permits for those immigrants who benefit from Obama’s new policy and promised to put a comprehensive immigration plan into place before those permits expire. He favors completing a towering steel fence along the Mexican border, in addition to the 650 miles already constructed, and opposes letting illegal immigrant students pay in-state tuition at state universities.

Still the stands are nothing but vague spin to win a vote or two here or there…….and yet these candidates want us, the vote, to just trust them to do something positive after the election…….if you fall for that approach then you deserve whatever f*cking they have in store for you……

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.

2012 Forgotten Issue

This could be just about anything….there is a wide array of issues that neither candidate wants to talk about……we know that both Obama and Romney say they will create jobs only if they are elected…….we know that taxes are too high in one camp and too low in another…….we know that Obama sucks and Romney is a liar………the spin is so thick that it borders on propaganda….well it is propaganda but we Americans cannot call it for what it is……but there is one issue that both candidates have been unwilling to talk about……..can you name that elusive issue?  (Pause he for thought…….oh who am I kidding voters do not want to think that is why we have the two pathetic candidates that we have)……okay the forgotten issue is…..(drum roll please)……..the stagnant income….yes for all the progress and all the hoopla on Wall Street, income is not moving at all…..Corporate biggies are doing marvelous but the rest of us mere mortals are stuck in limbo with worse than modest increases in wages that is quickly ate up by those inflationary things that are not counted as inflation…..like gas….food…….etc.

Newser) – The economy has taken center stage in the race for the White House, but amid the chatter about government spending and taxes, the New York Timesthinks one subject that hits close to home for many poor and middle-class Americans has been largely left out: the long-term stagnation of income. For the first time since the Depression, median family income has decreased over a decade, and though both candidates acknowledge the problem, they rarely touch on the true catalysts behind it—automation, globalization, and education. All are complex issues that can’t be “quickly remedied through legislation,” writes David Leonhardt.

Often, politicians place the blame for falling wages on flashpoint issues such as immigration, but what’s going on is far larger in scope, writes Leonhardt. Pessimism abounds because no quick fixes are in sight, though “maybe the biggest reason for optimism is that there is still a strong argument that both globalization and automation help the economy in the long run,” he writes. It just happens to be painful in the interim. Click to read Leonhardt’s full piece.

With about 10 days left before we decide who will lead the country…….the most important issue is still unexplained…..why?

Things Not Spoken

We have had two debates and depending on your sway they were either good or bad….our two combatants spoke on many things……many attempted gotcha moments but personally, I heard nothing about the ideas to move this country forward…..lots of the other guy sucks!

There are some things that needed to be debated but for some reason they were not…..Michael O’Brien has given us a good idea of things not spoken…..

FISCAL CLIFF

Regardless of the outcome of next month’s election, Obama or Romney would almost assuredly encounter a potential fiscal crisis immediately upon being sworn into office.

While the topics of taxes, spending and entitlements were rampant during the first two debates, the so-called “fiscal cliff” looming at the beginning of 2013 presents a far more beguiling challenge for either candidate come January.

The fiscal cliff is a shorthand way of referencing the cocktail of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect at the beginning of next year, the by-product of legislative gridlock which economists warn could do serious damage to the recovery.

This is something whoever wins this lame election will have to face very soon into the year……why was it eliminated?

HOUSING MARKET

A troubled housing market and financial crisis related to over-extended mortgages are the root cause of America’s current economic headache, but the topic received scant attention during the first two debates.

But neither candidate paid lip service to the full severity of the housing market except as an aside in a larger discussion about the regulations on lenders included in the 2010 Dodd-Frank regulatory reform law.

Viewers looking for more details about how Obama or Romney would handle Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac – the troubled mortgage-lending giants that were taken into government conservatorship in 2008 — also might have been disappointed in the first two debates. Neither candidate explained how they would move the troubled companies off the government’s books.

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

The winding-down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan received more attention during the lone vice presidential debate than they did during the first two meetings between Romney and Obama.

American combat troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003, and Obama has begun the process of ending the wars in each country — something of which he has been quick to remind voters during the debates.

Romney has sought to distinguish himself from Obama on both theaters, focusing his criticism on the pace at which Obama has withdrawn troops from both countries, and Obama’s decision to set timelines by which American combat troops would leave both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Personally, I think our troops and vets deserve a little more attention than being used as political prop.

EUROPE’S FISCAL CRISIS

The debt crises beguiling Greece, Spain, Italy and a host of other European nations have imperiled the health of the European Union and its currency, the Euro. Moreover, much of Europe has plunged into a double-dip recession, the effects of which have imperiled the American economic recovery.

But the still-serious situation in Europe has been little more than a punchline for the candidates through the first two presidential debates.

But the situation in Europe received no attention in the first two debates, even though the EU was just awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize in part for its perseverance through a politically-trying period in its history.

If the economy is going to bite us in the butt again, then it will most likely start in Europe…..it needs a little more attention than it is getting now.

Just a few issues that both teams seem to be avoiding….why?  The housing market is NOT stable in the least….Europe is far from stable…….and then there is the fiscal cliff….it was all the are a few months ago but now NO one seems to give a crap…..why?

The next debate is suppose to be about foreign policy, if that holds true then Europe may be the only issue we shall hear about and we can go into the November election with NO idea how either one of these men will handle the important issues mentioned above…..Now take a few moments and explain why you would vote for either candidate and please try to be honest……