Another WTF? Vote.

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For some time, I’ve wondered why my Republican friends continue to vote against their own self-interest.  I do have a few wealthy friends who benefit from Republican policies.  But the majority are more often harmed by Republican initiatives.

For example, Republicans talk about tax cuts for the rich being good for small business owners who generate most of the jobs in this country.  That may sound reasonable.  However, you have to look at what Republican leaders consider small businesses.  By their definition of limited ownership, Cargill (the world’s largest privately-held corporation) and Koch Industries (the world’s second-largest privately-held corporation) are “small” businesses.  And, of course, extending the Bush-era tax cuts would be very good for them.

The reality is that eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would affect only 3% of small business owners.

Republicans have also been at the forefront of providing tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas.  They refuse to entertain penalties for large American corporations that move their “headquarters” off-shore to avoid U.S. taxes.  Republicans rail against common sense regulations that prevent greedy corporations from destroying our environment and robbing our citizens.  Indeed, Republicans actually apologized to BP when the Obama administration demanded it pay for damages to those affected by the massive Gulf oil spill.  And virtually all Republicans voted against reform of Wall Street after it collapsed our economy!

So what have Republicans done to earn my friends’ loyalty?  Social Security?  Nope.  That was passed by Democrats over the protests of many Republican.  Medicare?  Nope.  That was passed by Democrats with little to no help from Republicans.  Corporate-provided health care and profit-sharing?  Wrong again.  Employee benefits are the result of labor union fights (literally) against greedy company owners.

So what does the Republican Party do to deserve the undying loyalty of those who work for a living?  They lie.  And they are very good at it.

Okay, Republicans, now what?

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You lied, cheated and spent your way into control of the House of Representatives.  You took control of more governors’ offices.  And you took control of 19 more state legislatures.

Much of your success was the result of massive corporate donations and your filibustering of legislation that could have helped turn this economy around – the economy that collapsed on your watch due to your lack of oversight and regulation.  Remember?

You blamed your mess on President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  Then you talked about “taking your country back,” resorting to 2nd Amendment remedies, if necessary.

You won on promises of less government and lower taxes.  So what next?

Plan to cut the size of government?  Maybe you haven’t noticed, but the downsizing of state, county and local governments is one of the primary reasons our economy is so slow to recover.  We’re losing government jobs faster than private industry can add jobs.  Moreover, the lack of government oversight of Wall Street is one of the main reasons we’re in this predicament.

Plan to cut taxes by renewing the ill-conceived Bush tax cuts for the wealthy?  Then plan on adding $80 billion to our deficit over the next two years.  Want to repeal “Obamacare?”  Then plan on adding yet another $138 billion to our deficit over the next 10 years.  (Not to mention the fact that you’ll be denying health care access to more than 30 million Americans.)

Plan on cutting the deficit?  You could cut half of our bloated $663.7 billion defense budget (not including the Iraq and Afghan wars).  But what will you do about the defense contractor jobs you eliminate?

The most radical Republicans talk about eliminating or privatizing all “entitlements” such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  They want to get rid of the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science Foundation, as well.  All of that combined would save $1.48 trillion a year, completely offsetting the deficit and leaving us with a surplus of more than $200 billion each year (not including tax cuts for the wealthy, rising health care costs, increased military spending and increased border security).

But we’d have a nation of uneducated, unheathy children and heavily-armed, destitute senior citizens.  Try running on that platform in future elections.  Or will you do as some Tea Party candidates suggest, and limit voting to landowners or those already in office?

Who Left The Asylum Doors Open?

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In a letter to the Arizona Republic, a Democratic voter stated that he was going to vote a straight Republican ticket. His reasoning was that he was tired of the Republican whining and wanted to give Republicans the opportunity to fix the economy themselves. What genius! Let’s reward the very people who created this mess in the first place. At the same time, let’s penalize the people who have spent the past two years trying to fix it.

I now think I’ve read and seen it all this election season. Candidates who recommend the bartering of chickens for health care services instead of “Obamacare.” Candidates who consider the minimum wage and unemployment insurance unconstitutional. A candidate who dresses up in Nazi uniforms. A candidate who wants to abolish public schools. A candidate who thinks civil rights is a bad idea. Candidates who want to limit the vote to landowners. A whole host of candidates who want to solve our deficit problems by giving billions more in tax breaks to the nation’s wealthiest people. And a candidate who has to run a commercial saying “I am not a witch.”

These are the people the letter writer wants to fix our economy?

I guess Arizona’s education system is even worse than I thought!

How Much Is Your Vote Worth?

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$100? $1,000? $10,000? More? This year, corporate and foreign-funded shadow groups seem willing to spend whatever it takes to convince you to vote Republican.

Unfortunately, you won’t get to pocket the money.  But, thanks to the Supreme Court decision in the Citizerns United case, corporations (both domestic and foreign) are now able to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into advertising campaigns that attack Democrats. Even the Chamber of Commerce is getting into the act. The group has solicited large donations from businesses in China, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain and other nations to spend on attack ads against Democratic candidates. Best of all, unlike the $20 donations you give to candidates, the corporations can give anonymously. The shadow groups don’t have to disclose the source of their millions.

Now you may be asking, “Why are corporations so willing to open their vaults for politics?”

The answer is obvious. They expect something in return. And, as always, Republicans stand ready to give it to them. Republican candidates promise to continue their fight against labor unions. They will continue to promote lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy. They are committed to eliminating pesky regulations that protect the environment and consumers. And they continue to attack so-called entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare.

This year, Republicans even offer a few new bonuses for their corporate masters. Many of the so-called Tea Party candidates on the Republican ticket have questioned the Constitutionality of the minimum wage and unemployment insurance. After all, who wants to waste money on a bunch of lazy deadbeats who can’t hold a job?)  Further, Newt Gingrich is even recommending that GOP candidates attack food stamps! 

If all this corporate money is able to buy enough votes, just imagine what that could mean for working people. American workers can look forward to lower wages, fewer benefits, unaffordable health care and no safety nets. Who wouldn’t want that?

The Truth About President Obama And Congress.

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Out of more than 500 promises made by President Obama during the 2008 campaign, Politifact.com finds that 122 have been kept, 39 have been compromised, 238 are in the works, 82 are stalled (primarily in the Senate), and 3 have not yet been rated. A mere 22 promises have been broken and many of those were casualties of the economic disaster created by his predecessor.

The promises kept include a credit card bill of rights, expanded loan programs for small business, full funding of the Veterans Administration, removing combat troops from Iraq, closing the donut hole in Medicare prescriptions, requiring health insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, providing tax credits for those who need help paying health insurance premiums, requiring large employers to contribute to a national health insurance plan, and many other issues covered by the new health reform act.

In addition, he helped save the U.S. auto industry. And his policies have stemmed the bleeding of 750,000 jobs per month prior to his taking office, and led to the creation of millions of jobs in the private sector. 

That’s a lot of progress for less than two years in office. It’s even more impressive given the GOP’s record-setting use of the fillibuster to oppose his initiatives.

The inescapable conclusion is that when you voted for Obama, you got almost exactly the President you voted for. That begs the question of why there is so much voter anger and Democratic apathy this year. Likely, it’s a combination of impatience, misunderstanding and frustration.

For the past two years, Republicans, using their Fox Noise megaphone, have whined, complained and lied about every single Presidential initiative. They ginned up mock outrage over the lowest Federal taxes in 50 years. They labeled as “bailouts” loans to automakers that saved 10 million high-paying U.S. jobs. They labeled as “socialism” health care reform designed to provide health care access to 33 million Americans. They blocked and delayed legislation that would create jobs, help small businesses, improve the environment and take away tax incentives for large corporations that exported jobs overseas. And their corporate masters have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to attack Democratic Senators and Congressional Representatives who have dared to fulfill their own campaign promises.

Of course most Americans want to see an improved economy, reduced unemployment and reduced deficits! But voting for Republican teabaggers and the GOP’s disingenuous “Pledge to America” will not help. It will only make matters worse!

And if frustrated progressives fail to vote this November, they will only be contributing to the fiasco!

A Petri Dish For Wingnut Ideas.

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Since Janet Napolitano was selected by President Obama to head Homeland Security, the inmates in the asylum otherwise known as the Arizona Legislature have run wild.

Without adult supervision (and a strong Governor to veto their lunacy), legislators have unleashed a torrent of right wing legislation signed into law by Jan Brewer. In addition to the ill-conceived immigration law (SB1070), they banned classes on Latino cultural studies in public schools. They passed a law to fire teachers who have an accent. They made it legal for anyone to carry a concealed gun without a permit. They slashed spending on public schools (AZ now ranks 51st out of 50 states and D.C. in spending per pupil). They cut funding for highway rest stops and for state parks, forcing many parks to close, despite the fact that tourism is one of the state’s largest industries. And they voted to eliminate health care for children of low-income families until they discovered that the state would lose federal funding by doing so, which would cost the state more than it saved.

For 15 years in a row, the Arizona Legislature has cut corporate taxes. So corporations now contribute just 9 percent to Arizona’s total tax revenue. At the same time, the Legislature refuses to close billions of dollars in tax loopholes available to corporations. To compensate for the lost revenue, the state has raised sales taxes which place a disproportionate burden on the poor (in my town, the sales tax is now more than 10 percent). Moreover, much of the legislation represents solutions in search of a problem. For example, they passed a law requiring candidates to produce a birth certificate (take note, President Obama). And they have challenged the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, spending tens of millions to defend legal challenges by the Federal government.

As a result of all this, Arizona now has one of the largest budget shortfalls in the nation along with one of the highest levels of unemployment. The Legislature and the Governor have driven more than 100,000 people out of the state, made up stories about kidnappings and decapitations in the desert and told the world that Arizona is too dangerous to visit.

But the wingnuts aren’t yet finished with destroying the state.

The upcoming election has even more wingnut ideas on the state ballot. Legislators want to cut a program for Early Childhood Family Education and sweep the money into the general budget. They want voters to pass an amendment allowing the state to opt out of the national health care program. They also want voters to pass a NRA-backed amendment making it unconstitutional for the DNR to restrict hunting, even for an endangered species.

If you’re unhappy with the bickering in Congress, it may be tempting to send a message by electing a bunch of angry, uninformed Tea Party candidates to Washington. You may even think that Congress couldn’t possibly get any worse with them in charge. If so, you don’t have to wait to see the consequences to our nation. Just look at Arizona.

The False Promise Of Privatization.

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Since Ronald Reagan, Republicans have promoted the privatization of government services as the solution to all economic problems. They have long wanted to privatize Social Security and Medicare as a method of killing these so-called entitlements. They would like to privatize the postal service. Under Republican administrations, they have already privatized prisons, much of the military, even intelligence-gathering operations. And, at the state level, they propose to privatize highway rest stops and state parks.

The belief is that corporations are always able to do things better, and for less cost, than the government.

Well, let’s examine the concept. Had Social Security been privatized in 2008, most people would have lost large portions of their investments with the crash of the stock markets. Private contractors for the military have bilked taxpayers out of hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the recent escape by three murderers in Arizona occurred due to negligence at a for-profit prison.

Want more?

Then how would you feel about the sale of naming rights for the Grand Canyon or Yosemite? The sponsoring corporation could place its logo at the base of the canyon or the base of the falls. And why stop there? All park attendants could wear logos on their backs. There could be billboards for the corporate sponsors everywhere within the park borders. All highways and roads could become toll roads with a series of corporate logos replacing the white dotted center lines. Interstate rest stops could be turned over to fast food corporations and gas stations with pay toilets. All police squad cars could have corporate logos replacing the shields on the doors. And all 911 calls could be routed to call centers in India or the Philippines where the caller is put on hold for 20 minutes.

And once the corporations realize they have control of the business, prices will go up to pay six-or-seven-figure bonuses to the executives and dividends to shareholders.

The point is, corporations are in business to make money and they’re only responsible to their shareholders while government entities are non-profit and report to you. And, as for the claim that corporations are less bureaucratic than government, anyone who has ever worked for a large corporation or tried to get a claim paid by a large insurance company can tell you that’s simply not true.

Republicans Offer Dirty Tricks Instead Of Ideas.

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Ever since Tricky Dick Nixon and his Watergate crew, the Republican Party has seemed fascinated with gaining unfair advantage through political stunts. For many years, the party and its allies have created a series of shadow groups as a way of getting around campaign finance laws. Such shadowy organizations as the Cato Institute, the Goldwater Group, American FreedomWorks, 60-Plus, American Enterprise Foundation, etc., etc. have all spent millions to attack Democratic candidates.

In 2004, Republicans used just such a group to put together the so-called “Swift Boat” commercial questioning Sen. John Kerry’s status as a bona fide war hero. In 2008, with the help of Fox Noise, they trotted out a series of accusations and false controversies about then-Senator Obama to upset his election chances. And, in this election cycle, Republicans have resorted to vilifying minorities such as Latinos and Muslims in an attempt to frighten voters.

The same kinds of tricks occur on the state and local levels, too. For instance, in Arizona, Republicans recruited homeless streetpeople to run as Green Party candidates in hopes of splitting the progressive vote. And, in my small community, Republicans placed signs next to the Democratic Election Headquarters, took photos of their juvenile handiwork (with apologies to juveniles) then removed the signs themselves and, accompanied by police and a reporter, accused Democrats of stealing them.

Although I’m sure there are a few, I can think of no such instances of Democratic tomfoolery.

If Republican candidates are so great for our nation, why do they have to resort to chicanery to win? Shouldn’t they be able to win elections based on ideas, instead?

Beware The “Pledge To America”

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Republicans have just announced their new “Pledge to America” in an attempt to persuade independent voters to put them back in power.

Among other things, they promise to repeal “Obamacare” (leaving 33 million Americans without access to health care), reduce the deficit (which was largely created by Bush and Reagan), cut taxes (for corporations and the wealthy) and cut the size of government (so more Republican-led corporations can get government contracts to provide services at higher cost). They also pledge to cut all government funding for abortions (as if such a thing still existed).

What they fail to mention is that they also intend to privatize or eliminate Social Security (because homeless seniors are so entertaining), eliminate Medicare (because funding health care for those who are 65-plus is obviously a waste of money), eliminate unemployment insurance (if workers were any good, they wouldn’t be laid off), and ban gay marriage (only heterosexual Christian Americans should enjoy the full privileges of citizenship).

Before you join Republicans in taking the pledge, remember what happened the last time they were in charge. They immersed the nation in an unnecessary war costing more than $3 trillion.  And their policies of deregulation led to massive deficits, a run-up in oil prices, an ecological disaster in the Gulf, and the collapse of financial institutions which created the worst economy since the 1930s.

Based on those facts alone, I suggest we all take a different pledge – to never vote for a Republican again!

Tax Cuts As An Economic Stimulus.

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It’s one of the most important issues that will be debated in the coming months. Democrats, including President Obama, want to let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of our population expire. They claim that we can no longer afford these tax cuts and letting them expire would reduce the deficit and create more fairness for the middle class.

Republicans, on the other hand, claim that the majority of those making $250,000 or more per year are small business owners and that raising their taxes would cost us thousands of jobs. Indeed, they would not only make the Bush tax cuts permanent. They would cut taxes even further as a stimulus for creating jobs.

There are a couple of things I find troubling with the Republican logic. Most small business owners make far less than $250,000 per year. And those who make more than $250,000 likely won’t spend the extra money on their businesses. As a small business owner, I know that’s just not how things work. While some will put the extra money back into their business, most will invest the money in securities, save it or spend it on themselves.

But don’t just take my word for it. Let’s look at how most economists view tax cuts as a form of stimulus: They estimate that tax cuts have a return of 32 cents of economic growth for every dollar spent. On the other hand, programs like food stamps (which many Republicans oppose) have much higher rates of return. It’s estimated that such programs generate $1.71 of economic growth for every dollar spent. And, according to Mark Zandi, John McCain’s economic adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign, those unemployment benefits that Republican teabaggers so oppose are estimated to generate $1.61 in economic growth for each dollar spent.

As the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center put it: ” The tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 provided much less stimulus to the economy than other policies of equal cost would have. The underlying reason is that although the tax cuts were well-timed to provide a short-run economic stimulus, they were poorly designed for this task.”

They did, however, provide a nice windfall for the wealthiest Americans while adding billions to our deficit.