Category Archives: Economy

Teapublican Obstinance Jeopardizing Economy Again.

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Last Fall, Teapublican demands that Democrats make drastic cuts to the so-called “entitlement” programs led our still fragile economy to the very brink, resulting in the first ever downgrade of our credit rating.  While Democrats were willing to make cuts, Teapublicans steadfastly refused to consider revenue increases such as letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those who make more than $250,000 per year in adjusted gross income.

Now Teapublicans are at it again.

They refused to discuss the budget and debt ceiling until after the election, hoping that they would gain control of the White House or Senate so they could force through their own agenda.

In the meantime, the uncertainty is causing manufacturers and other large corporations to hold back on investments in production and hiring.  As a result, our economy is growing at a much smaller rate than it might otherwise.  And, if Teapublicans again push deficit discussion to the brink, they just might cause our economy to go over the cliff again.

Don’t believe me?  Read It’s Even Worse Than It Looks by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein.  It details the history of the dysfunction of our political system and places much of the blame on Newt Gingrich and the new breed of ideologues in the Teapublican caucus.  And before you think the authors are “wild-eyed” liberals, Mann is a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and Ornstein is a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Obama’s America In 2016.

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The shockumentary “2016” provides one man’s view of what America will be like in 2016 should President Obama be re-elected.  The future it portrays would be dim, indeed, IF this example of Teapublican propaganda were true.

But “2016” is based on a false premise…that President Obama is un-American.  That he’s a socialist out to destroy the very nation he has sworn to protect.

In truth, given his history of accomplishment against long odds, no one represents the American Dream better than Barack Obama.  And despite Teapublican rhetoric (and the film’s premise), Obama’s policies are decidedly not un-American.  In fact, the reverse is true.  It is the continuation of Teapublican policies that threatens to undermine our democracy.

For 40 years, the GOP (Guardians Of Privilege) have weighted tax cuts to aide the wealthy and large, multi-national corporations.  They have engaged in union-busting and cut funds for the poor.  They have used those in the military to pursue their goals of international domination and they’ve abandoned them as soon as they were injured or retired.  In order to win election, they have vilified teachers, firefighters, our postal service, government employees and immigrants.  In order to maximize the profits of multi-nationals, the GOP has proposed to eliminate the agencies responsible for clean air, clean water and product safety.  GOP policies have even rewarded those who ship jobs overseas and who take advantage of offshore tax havens.

President Obama threatens to change all that.  He dares to propose tax fairness, higher standards for fuel efficiency, sustainable forms of energy, investment in infrastructure, improved education and incentives to bring jobs home to the US.

So every time you see an ad for “2016,” imagine how much better off we’ll be with President Obama in the White House than with Mitt the Twit and his 47 percent-hating plutocrats.

The Corporatization Of America.

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Teapublicans are fond of calling President Obama a socialist, a communist or worse.  Of course, there is absolutely no evidence to substantiate their claims.

Most likely, the reason for their accusations is to distract voters from recognizing what’s really happening to their country.  Over the past 40 years, Teapublican policies have given virtually all of the political power to large, multi-national corporations as well as the very wealthy and the very powerful. They’ve accomplished this through the systematic use of propaganda.

Following more than a decade of acccusations that mainstream media was liberally-biased, they were able to repeal the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.  Within 20 years of the repeal, 91 percent of talk radio was conservative blather, giving them a large megaphone with which to peddle their ideas.

In the 1980s, Republican-appointed bureaucrats (along with a few Democrats) approved an unprecedented number of mergers and acquisitions in defiance of monopoly laws.  It was done under the guise of globalization; to better prepare American corporations to compete with European and Japanese businesses.  As part of this globalization, multi-national corporations were permitted (actually incentified) to ship manufacturing jobs overseas in order to cut labor costs and crush labor unions.

The Free Trade Act, intended to make it easier to export our products, instead made it even easier to export our jobs.  It also allowed our subsidized agri-businesses to dump cheap corn into Mexico and Central America, displacing tens of thousands of small farmers.

When Americans began to recognize the full impact of jobs being sent overseas, Teapublicans created straw dogs.  Prior to elections, they proposed so-called “values” legislation banning abortions, banning gay marriage, and denouncing so-called attacks on Christianity in order to distract voters.  They blamed our economic problems on immigrants, unions, “entitlements,” government employees, teachers and first responders to keep voters from focusing on the real issues.

Conservative Supreme Court justices ruled that money equals free speech, and that corporations should enjoy the same rights as individuals.  Of course, these rulings allow multi-nationals to spend as much as they want to elect officials who will be most favorable to their issues.

To keep President Obama from meddling with their grand corporate plan, Teapublican legislatures passed a variety of strict voter ID laws to disenfranchise many of those most likely to vote for Obama.  Now they’re crying “Class Warfare” and “Redistribution of Wealth!”

Will they continue to get away with this corporate takeover?  Or will the majority of Americans finally recognize what’s happening and take our country back?

Who’s Really Redistributing Wealth?

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Following the “Mitt Happens” moment in which Romney was caught on video disparaging the 47 percent who pay no income taxes, Teapublicans have countered, claiming that President Obama and the Democrats are guilty of trying to “redistribute wealth.”

Apparently, they believe Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits, GI Bill benefits, Unemployment Insurance and Food Stamps are evidence of “class warfare.”

Fact is, redistribution of wealth has occured since the beginning of graduated federal income taxes in 1862.  The idea was to ask the wealthy to pay a larger percentage of their income in taxes than those who are less fortunate.  Our tax code embraced the idea until the election of Ronald Reagan.

Reagan’s flawed policy of “Trickle Down” economics greatly reduced tax rates for the rich while, at the same time, increasing taxes on the poor and the middle class.  Indeed, one of the largest tax increases in history was Reagan’s elimination of tax deductions for interest on loans: car loans, college loans, credit card loans, etc.  Now who do you think was harmed the most by that change?

Around the same time, Reagan eliminated the estate tax (aka the “death tax”) so the wealthy could pass their accumulated wealth to their children without penalty, and Teapublicans cut the capital gains tax rate paid on earnings from stocks and other investments.

More recently, the infamous Bush tax cuts were also weighted to benefit the wealthy.

But that’s only part of the redistribution of wealth upward.  During the past 40 years, multi-national corporations have been given a host of unfair competitive advantages over their smaller competitors.  Teapublican policies not only encouraged them to ship jobs overseas. They allowed multi-nationals to shelter income overseas in order to avoid paying taxes to the very government responsible for their success.

Meanwhile, small businesses and ordinary citizens have been asked to take up the slack.

The result of all this is the hollowing out of the middle class, the destruction of our domestic manufacturing base and the deterioration of our infrastructure.  It has led to higher unemployment, lower federal revenues, decaying cities, higher poverty and millions without access to basic healthcare.  Over the same time period, the wealthy have gotten even wealthier.

Class warfare, indeed!

Are We Better Off Than 4 Years Ago? Let Me Count The Ways.

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What an utterly ridiculous question!  As a campaign technique, it may have worked in 1980 against Jimmy Carter and in 1984 against Walter Mondale.  But it’s completely absurd now.

At the end of the Bush administration, the US was losing 800,000 jobs a month.  Since President Obama took office, those losses have stopped and our economy has added private sector jobs for 29 straight months.

On December 31, 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 8,776, resulting in devastating losses for pension funds and Individual Retirement Accounts.  Today, the Dow has soared to more than 13,300.

When President Obama took office, General Motors and Chrysler were on the verge of bankruptcy, jeopardizing more than a million jobs. Now both automakers are thriving, and General Motors has reclaimed the title of world’s largest automaker.

Four years ago, we were immersed in two lengthy and costly wars.  Since then, President Obama has ended the war in Iraq, ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden, and placed an end date on the war in Afghanistan.

In 2008, healthcare costs were soaring out of control, sending many American families into bankruptcy and costing those who could not afford insurance their lives.  In 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act which has stemmed the rising cost of healthcare and given more than 30 million people access to health insurance.

I could go on.  But, seriously, do I really need to?

If you can’t see that our nation is a whole lot better off since the beginning of the Obama administration, you’ve been spending far too much time watching the Fox News Channel and listening to conservative hate radio.

Liein’ Ryan.

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First, I must credit my friend, Mike Cosentino, for the title.  To my knowledge, he was the first to coin the description of the Teapublican Vice-Presidential candidate.  And Ryan has certainly lived up to the title ever since.  Indeed, his penchant for ignoring the truth was on full display at the Republican National Convention.

For example, Paul Ryan says that his budget plan will “save Medicare.” But in reality, it will leave the next generation of seniors at the mercy of greedy health insurance companies. Ryan says that his budget will cut the deficit. What he doesn’t tell you is that his plan will increase an already bloated defense budget and give large tax cuts to the wealthy while cutting healthcare and food stamps for the poor.

Ryan has lied so much and so often, he couldn’t even tell the truth about his only marathon time.

Prior to the convention, Ryan condemned Congressman Todd Akin’s remarks on “legitmate” rape as offensive. Yet Ryan co-sponsored a bill with Akin that would ban all abortions except for pregnancies that resulted from “forcible” rape.  In other words, you would be denied an abortion unless you could show that you had been bruised and beaten sufficiently in an attempt to fight off the attacker.

Moreover, Akin and Ryan co-sponsored a “personhood” bill that would give fetuses all of the rights and protections of the First Amendment thereby outlawing all abortions, even in vitro fertilization. And lest you think Aikin and Ryan are alone in their extreme beliefs, the GOP adopted a platform that would ban all abortions. No exceptions.

Of all the liars in the Republican Party, Paul Ryan is one of the most prolific. By himself, he could easily provide enough material to fill a second volume of the Teapublican Book of Lies.

Ted Strickland Outlines The Stark Differences Between Candidates.

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Michelle Obama and Duval Patrick gave great speeches at the Democratic National Convention. But, so far, nobody has done a better job of contrasting the two presidential candidates than former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. In case you missed it, here is the text of his prepared remarks:

I’m Ted Strickland, and I come from Duck Run, Ohio. Let me tell you, folks in Ohio know what happens when you have a president who stands up for average working people.

Ina Sidney is a grandmother who lost her ability to provide for her family when they closed down the auto plant in Perrysburg, Ohio. Ina says thanks to Barack Obama for having the courage to back an industry that others had given up on. She’s an autoworker and a breadwinner once again.

As he celebrated the birth of his newborn baby boy, Brian Slagle lost his job just at the moment he needed it most. But today he’s back making auto batteries in a factory in Springfield Township, Ohio. And he said there’s one reason he has a steady paycheck again: Barack Obama refused to let the American auto industry die.

James Fayson felt like there was no tomorrow when he was laid off. “I believe in working every day,” he said, “and that was taken from me.” Today, James is working sixty hours a week on the Jeep Liberty line in Toledo. He is thrilled to say that his life right now is “eat, sleep and Jeep.” He’s back, he said, because Barack Obama gave us a chance for a comeback.

The auto industry supports one of every eight jobs in Ohio, and it’s alive and growing in America again. Late last year, Chrysler announced they were hiring eleven hundred new autoworkers in Toledo. Just last month, GM announced a plan to invest 200 million dollars in Lordstown, keeping five thousand jobs in Ohio and building the next generation of the Chevy Cruze—a car we are proud to say is made entirely in Ohio.

It’s been a long slog back, and we’ve still got a long way to go. But all over Ohio—all over America—men and women are going back to work with the pride of building something stamped “Made in America.” Before Barack Obama took office, it looked like that pride could have vanished forever, but today, from the staggering depths of the Great Recession, the nation has had 29 straight months of job growth. Workers across my state and across the country are getting back the dignity of a good job and a good salary.

Vince Lombardi was right when he said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” And my friends Ina Sydney, Brian Slagle and James Fayson were all knocked down. But Ina, Brian and James are all standing today. The auto industry is standing today. The middle class is standing today. Ohio is standing today. America is standing strong today.

That’s what happens when you have a president who stands up for average working people. President Barack Obama stood up for us, and now by God we will stand up for him. Quite frankly, Barack Obama knows what it’s like to pay a mortgage and student loans. He knows what it’s like to watch a beloved family member in a medical crisis and worry that treatment is out of reach. Barack Obama knows our struggles. And, my friends, he shares our values.

Now, Mitt Romney, he lives by a different code. To him, American workers are just numbers on a spreadsheet.

To him, all profits are created equal, whether made on our shores or off. That’s why companies Romney invested in were dubbed “outsourcing pioneers.” Our nation was built by pioneers—pioneers who accepted untold risks in pursuit of freedom, not by pioneers seeking offshore profits at the expense of American workers here at home.

Mitt Romney proudly wrote an op-ed entitled, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” If he had had his way, devastation would have cascaded from Michigan to Ohio and across the nation. Mitt Romney never saw the point of building something when he could profit from tearing it down. If Mitt was Santa Claus, he’d fire the reindeer and outsource the elves.

Mitt Romney has so little economic patriotism that even his money needs a passport. It summers on the beaches of the Cayman Islands and winters on the slopes of the Swiss Alps. In Matthew, chapter 6, verse 21, the scriptures teach us that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. My friends, any man who aspires to be our president should keep both his treasure and his heart in the United States of America. And it’s well past time for Mitt Romney to come clean with the American people.

On what he’s saying about the president’s policy for welfare to work, he’s lying. Simple as that. On his tax returns, he’s hiding. You have to wonder, just what is so embarrassing that he’s gone to such great lengths to bury the truth? Whatever he’s doing to avoid taxes, can it possibly be worse than the Romney-Ryan tax plan that would have sliced Mitt’s total tax rate to less than one percent?

My friends, there is a true choice in this election. Barack Obama is betting on the American worker. Mitt Romney is betting on a Bermuda shell corporation. Barack Obama saved the American auto industry. Mitt Romney saved on his taxes. Barack Obama is an economic patriot. Mitt Romney is an outsourcing pioneer. My friends, the stakes are too high, the differences too stark to sit this one out. Let us stand as one on November 6th and move this country forward by re-electing President Barack Obama.

GOP Convention: Lies, Lies And More Lies.

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That’s not just my opinion.

Surprising as it may be, the media finally seemed to be paying attention and checking facts! Sally Kohn of Fox News summed it up best when she wrote that the convention speech by Teapublican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan was “an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech.”

For example, Ryan tried to pin the downgrade of our nation’s credit rating on President Obama, but it actually happened because Teapublicans threatened to not raise the debt ceiling.  Ryan blamed the closure of the GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin on Obama, but it actually closed under President Bush.  Ryan claimed that Obama said that government deserves credit for the success of private businesses, but that’s not what he said.  Ryan also claimed that Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare, but in reality, that amount is the result of savings from insurance companies and hospitals as the result of the Affordable Care Act.

Not to be outdone by his vice-presidential choice, Romney also lied about the Medicare savings.  He made misleading statements about energy costs.  And his claim that Obama began his presidency with an “apology tour” of the world earned a Pants on Fire rating by Politifact.com.

Of course, Romney and Ryan were not alone in showing a complete disregard for the truth during the convention.  Jeb Bush, Calista Gingrich, Nikki Haley, John Thune, Rob Portman, Rick Santorum, Scott Walker, Michele Bachmann, Artur Davis and others had difficulty with the facts.

Their statements weren’t the result of a difference of opinion, misunderstandings, or spinning the truth.  These were outright falsehoods, half-truths and intentionally misleading statements.  For Teapublicans, lieing is a strategy.

For more, read The Teapublican Book of Lies available at Amazon.com and other on-line bookstores.

America’s Collective Amnesia.

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It seems many Americans have forgotten what happened in 2008.  They can’t remember who was at the wheel when our economy was driven into a ditch.  They can’t remember who led us into an unnecessary and unfunded war.  They’ve blanked out the memory of the second-largest stock market crash in history.  They can no longer picture the deer-in-the-headlights look of the Bush administration when the housing bubble burst.

As a result, many Americans seem to accept the latest assortment of conservative lies.

Despite the fact that President Obama rescued our economy from the abyss, many voters seem to accept Teapublican claims that his policies have failed.  Despite unprecedented obstruction by Teapublicans, voters seem inclined to reward them for their disgusting behavior.

Nevermind that it was decades of “conservative” policies that resulted in the loss of American jobs and growing disparity between the rich and the middle class.  Nevermind that Republicans squandered the surpluses of the Clinton administration in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy.  Nevermind that Romney intends to reinstate many Bush administration policies, voters are considering giving him a chance to repeat the same failures.

(Sure, trickle-down economics and free-market ideologies have repeatedly failed in the past, but maybe they’ll work this time.)

President Obama has not only guided our nation back to solid economic footing.  He has restored America’s reputation throughout the world.  He has earned another four year term.

Indeed, if voters sought the truth, this coming election wouldn’t even be close.  But Teapublican lies seem to have placed the outcome in doubt.  Teapublicans seem to have convinced voters that the path to prosperity isn’t the high road after all.  It’s back through the same ditch they drove us into more than four years ago.

GOP Platform Full Of Hate, Fear And Greed.

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Under the new GOP platform, every fetus will be protected or avenged, and women’s reproductive systems will be controlled by the people who know best…male politicians and churches.

Under the GOP, our borders will be secure.  Those foolhardy enough to cross will be shot or imprisoned.  And Latinos will never be without papers.

Under the GOP, the military will be made more powerful to protect “American interests.”  So our corporations will be free to extract resources and money from anywhere on the planet.

Under the GOP, billions of dollars for Social Security and Medicare will be liberated from the evil government’s control to earn profits for corporations.  The power to decide who lives and dies will be returned to those who know best – large insurance companies and PhRMA.

Under the GOP, the wealthy will pay fewer taxes.  Corporations will pay no taxes.  And the rest of us will have to work harder and longer to make up for it.

Under the GOP, there will be no Environmental Protection Agency and no Endangered Species Act.  Nothing to interfere with the profiteering of Big Oil.

Under the GOP, the “sanctity” of marriage will be protected from “sinners” such as gays and lesbians.

Under the GOP, people of color will have their right to vote protected.  But only if they have proper ID and are willing to stand in long lines.

Under the GOP, the deficit will be reduced at the expense of the poor.  There will be no Medicaid.  No public education.  No food stamps.  No unemployment insurance.  No welfare.  Charity is only for churches, and today’s evangelicals are only interested in your soul and your fetuses.

If elected to control the White House and Congress, the Guardians Of Privilege vow to “Restore America” – to the 18th century.  And if you think I’m exaggerating, you definitely haven’t been paying attention.