Monday, January 31, 2011

State Competition

Worldwide since the early 1990's we've witnessed the global push towards free trade. Today, labor forces are susceptible to the race to the bottom business model as large labor pools exist worldwide and large multi-national corporations draw from them until the standard of living is raised to a point where another countries labor force provides a more affordable labor force. Since large corporations can freely move capital they can and do easily move their operations from country to country.

Unfettered capitalism is after one thing and one thing alone!




When competition becomes fierce between states in a particular area of trade, production or commerce, states politicians are given increased incentive to dismantle currently existing regulatory standards to further their own means.

Our federal system has always been vulnerable to interstate competition. Look around, do our states compete with each other as each tries to underbid the others in lowering taxes, spending, regulation...so as to make itself more attractive to outside financial interests or unattractive to unwanted outsiders.

Unfettered capitalists seek to increase returns for their shareholders with a greedy vengeance as this they believe is their sole means for existence.




Races to the bottom affect many things, including but not limited to the following: infrastructure, tax revenues, human and natural resources, social services, labor standards, environmental and safety standards.

We see it today in our middle class standard of living, in the distribution of our countries income, and self serving politicians wanting to privatize government services such as prison systems, educational institutions, health care and social security systems.


The term is frequently used pejoratively, to describe the elimination of what is seen as beneficial legislation: environmental safeguards or workers' rights, for example, however, there are instances where a race to the bottom drives efficiencies in bureaucracy and/or eliminates graft.

The mere fact that we live in a Federal System provides us an opportunity to limit the "eat our young" mentality of the race to the bottom.

One such example of a Federal Regulation enacted to prevent the rape and pillage of the American Citizen working in our labor pool is the "Minimum Wage Law"

Eyes wide open people as we can limit the ill effects of races to the bottom since our federal government has recourse to enact legislation slowing or halting the race before its effects become too pervasive.





Don't be caught alone in the wilderness.


It is not the year 1787 any longer, our constitution must work for all citizens.

Being conservative requires a different approach in today's global marketplace.

I am not my corporations but my countries keeper!

.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Coal Producing States - Surface Mining Sucks

Clean up Your Act!

Have a look at the rape and pillage of my country's land.


Click Here: Mountaintop Coal Removal



Click Here: The Last Mountain





Click Here: The Virtual Mine







Click Here: The 60% of Coal Production which is above ground needs to end!

Balanced Budget: - Choices

• Institute spending caps and a strengthened pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) statute.
• Establish a Disaster Fund (as with any entity we must account for all possible risks)
• Fully Fund All Trust Funds (Borrowed Funds to receive risk free interest rate returns)
• Impose three years pay freeze on congressional members and staff.

• No reduction in Social Security Retirement System benefits rather raising the on wage earnings subject to the Social Security tax. (Entire projected shortfall erased)
• Reduce poverty by providing an enhanced minimum benefit for low wage workers.
• Enhance benefits for the very old and long time disabled.

• Support the bipartisan Sustainable Defense Task Force recommendations ($960 billion)
• Reduce federal travel, printing and vehicle budgets.
• Reduce Agriculture Program spending (over reasonable time frame).
• Require Tennessee Valley Authority to charge market rate for electricity transmission.

• Repeal the BUSH-ERA tax cuts for top earners in America.
• Reenact an Estate tax with a progressive schedule of marginal tax rates.
• Limit corporate debt interest payments (individuals is already limited)
• Eliminate fossil fuel production tax credits
• End financing tax deferral for financial firms
• Tax capital gains and qualified dividends as ordinary income; to include private equity and hedge fund managers (no longer allow them to pay “carried interest” tax as a capital gain but as ordinary income).
• Enact a financial speculation tax.
• Reinstate the personal exemption phase out for high income earners.
• Move to a competitive territorial corporate tax system.
• Increase motor fuel excise tax.
• Institute a cap and trade tax/investment program.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

FINANCIAL CRISIS REPORT

THE
FINANCIAL
CRISIS
INQUIRY REPORT READ HERE




The Dissenting Report Embedded in Original Report Stands Alone Here.

United States Of America Budget Proposals

This post is intended to provide you with one place to reference and locate organizations who have made viable patriotic proposals to move the United States of America forward into our next century.

Read Summaries:
Read 1st two and last paragraphs of major subject headlines;

Leaving the rhetoric of the political class behind: Here you go!

Investing In America's Economy: A Budget Blueprint for Economic Recovery and Fiscal Responsibility



Our Fiscal Security:


Investing in America's Economy


The President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2012



Report And Recommendations Of The Citizens’ Commission On Jobs, Deficits And America’s Economic Future

Download PDF:


Schakowsky Offers Alternative to Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan

Download PDF:

THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REFORM


Commission Final Report

Below we have a systems approach to fixing what's wrong with government as opposed to specific budget solutions.


Getting Back in the Black, the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform



Getting Back in the Black



Will add more as viable solutions become available! Country First!

All In Good Fun

Does the Minnesota Female Representative demand to have sex?


OMG Run for Your Lives!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

With 31 in the Clip Cat Did the Right Thing!

Stick em Up!

2011 Enhanced State of the Union Address Graphics

Republican Does Not Equal Conservatism

The party who says they represent small constitutional government, are primarily the white men who controlled Congress and the White House from 2000 to 2006, During which time they gave us record spending, record deficits and record debt. They presided over the printing of untold trillions in fiat currency, the subsequent devaluing of the dollar and the continued destabilizing of the economy. They were consenting to policies that allowed the exportation of united States citizens jobs and the importing of illegal aliens who worked in jobs here in America.

The very same guys who bailed out AIG/Wall Street, added an unfunded mandate called Medicare Prescription Drug Program, added untold dollars to our deficit spending on military programs the defense department did not want/need while entering into two wars in two sovereign countries around the world.

This is who they are, this is what they did, and now they try to rewrite history, dress up in campaign mode so they speak to American citizens about GOP commitment to running a small constitutional federal government.


Don't forget their 2010 campaign, where they rolled out the latest manifesto called the “Pledge to America”

"The “Pledge to America” budget would mean $11.1 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years. By 2020, the federal budget deficit would be 6.3 percent of gross domestic product, the federal debt would exceed 93 percent of GDP, and interest payments on the debt would be more than $1 trillion a year. The budget deficit would be about $200 billion larger in 2020 under the “Pledge to America” plan than it would be under President Barack Obama’s budget, and over the next 10 years deficits would be $1.5 trillion higher than under the president’s budget."


I thought they ran on fiscal conservatism. An outright joke!

Republican does not equal conservatism, let alone fiscal conservatism.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

"Federalist Papers" - "US Constitution" - "Charters of Freedom"

Justice Scalia wants familiarity with 'Federalist Papers".

Click Here!

I want familiarity with the 'United States Constitution" and "Charters Of Freedom".

Click Here!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

GOP Pledge to America

We have over 360,000,000 million citizens in America.

So the propaganda machine of the "Grande Ole Party" writes a "Pledge to America".

Then they publish their "Pledge to America".

The next step in the propaganda process is they start the mantra of "We are Keeping Our Promise to America" or "We are doing the American Peoples Will".

Think about the implications here:

It's likely less than 25% of our citizens even know what the "Pledge to America" says never mind it's true implication to our country.

This is the way the GOP markets their political agenda - they are and have been using these propaganda plays to influence the unsuspecting citizen with political platitudes and Euphemisms.

LOOK HERE and PASS THE WORD

Friday, January 21, 2011

GOP Political Euphemism (s) - Fast Facts #5

GOP Montra: "Cut government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels saving at least $100 billion in the first year alone"

Speaker John Boehner: "When Congress returns, we should force Washington to cut non-defense discretionary spending to 2008 levels – before the 'stimulus' was put into place," Boehner said. "This would show Washington is ready to get serious about bringing down the deficits that threaten our economy."

Factual Response: Actions have consequences. Euphesims and Platitudes sound very nice and are pleasant to hear by design. Though, the actual result of implementing the vague and misleading language is not nice or pleasant. This whale of a tale requires a response too complex for me to try replicate here and now.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a printed document which fully demonstrates the effects of this pledge.

Open that document here.

The full web site is here

"General Welfare Clause" - USA Constitution

Article I, section 8 of the U. S. Constitution grants Congress the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common defense and general Welfare of the United States."

Since the late eighteenth century this constitutional language has prompted debate over the extent to which it grants powers to Congress that exceed those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution. The precise meaning of the clause has never been clear, in large part due to its peculiar wording and placement in the Constitution.

The confusion about its placement arises because it makes up a part of the clause related to Congress's spending power, but does not specify if or how it affects that power. Due to the imprecise nature of the words and their placement in the document leave men arguing about the intent of our forefathers more than 200 years after the document signing.

At the time the Constitution was adopted, some interpreted the clause as granting Congress a broad power to pass any legislation it pleased, so long as its asserted purpose was promotion of the general welfare. One of the Constitution's drafters, James Madison, objected to this reading of the clause, arguing that it was inconsistent with the concept of a government of limited powers and that it rendered the list of enumerated powers redundant. He argued that the General Welfare clause granted Congress no additional powers other than those enumerated. Thus, in their view the words themselves served no practical purpose.

In his famous Report on Manufactures (1791), Alexander Hamilton argued that the clause enlarged Congress's power to tax and spend by allowing it to tax and spend for the general welfare as well as for purposes falling within its enumerated powers. Thus, he argued, the General Welfare clause granted a distinct power to Congress to use its taxing and spending powers in ways not falling within its other enumerated powers.

The U. S. Supreme Court first interpretation of the clause was with the United States v. Butler (1936). In the courts majority opinion, Justice Owen Roberts, agreed with Hamilton's view and held that the general welfare language in the taxing-and-spending clause constituted a separate grant of power to Congress to spend in areas over which it was not granted direct regulatory control.

Nevertheless, the Court stated that this power to tax and spend was limited to spending for matters affecting the national, as opposed to the local, welfare.

It was further noted that the constitution established the Supreme Court as the final arbiter of what was in fact in the national welfare. Next there was Helvering v. Davis (1937), here the Supreme Court sustained the old-age benefits provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935 and adopted an expansive view of the power of the federal government to tax and spend for the general welfare.

In the Helvering case, the Court maintained that although Congress's power to tax and spend under the General Welfare clause was limited to general or national concerns, Congress itself could determine when spending constituted spending for the general welfare.

And to date, no legislation passed by Congress has ever been struck down because it did not serve the general welfare. Moreover, since congressional power to legislate under the Commerce clause has expanded the areas falling within Congress's enumerated powers, the General Welfare clause has decreased in importance.

The Supreme Courts expansion of congressional power under the Commerce Clause has rendered the question almost moot since Congress's authority, in practical terms, now reaches most of the concerns that might come under the rubric of “general welfare”.

As the nation expanded and problems began to spill over state borders, pressures increased for congressional action to deal with matters that could no longer be effectively handled at the state level. Since the Constitution nowhere permitted Congress to legislate in behalf of the public health, morals, safety, or welfare, it could do so only by indirection, by relying on a specified power that might be tied to the regulatory measure. It was the Commerce Clause that became the primary vehicle for such regulations.

Our country is steeped in rich history of “Constitutional Law”. Knowing our great history is powerful. “We the People” must not allow movement backward. Leaning forward together to compete in the world as a “Union of States”.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Just a Few More Shovels

Just a Few More Shovels and We're Good!

Funny Cat Photo




Is this a hoot?

Move America Financially Past Political Rhetoric

This post is intended to provide you with one place to reference and locate organizations who have made viable patriotic proposals to move the United States of America forward into our next century.

Read Summaries:
Read 1st two and last paragraphs of major subject headlines;

Leaving the rhetoric of the political class behind: Here you go!

Investing In America's Economy: A Budget Blueprint for Economic Recovery and Fiscal Responsibility



Our Fiscal Security:


Investing in America's Economy



Report And Recommendations Of The Citizens’ Commission On Jobs, Deficits And America’s Economic Future

Download PDF:


Schakowsky Offers Alternative to Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan

Download PDF:

THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REFORM


Commission Final Report

Below we have a systems approach to fixing what's wrong with government as opposed to specific budget solutions.


Getting Back in the Black, the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform



Getting Back in the Black



Will add more as viable solutions become available! Country First!

Monday, January 17, 2011

USA Federal Legislation

America is like the operation of a large complex 12 spoke wagon wheel; tugging on one spoke in this wheel effects the entire wheel, some effects anticipated other effects unanticipated!



Pure Unfettered Capitalism suggests that any government economic action beyond basic regulation of fraud & contract enforcement in an effort to affect its own economy is interventionist.

Our history is richly steeped with real life consequences from actions of a country created under the United State Constitution. Highlighted below are a examples of constitutionally legislated regulations meant to:

1. To form a more perfect Union - The national government will be fair across different state boundaries, helping keep the union together.

2. To establish justice - The government's responsibility is to protect those who do obey the law and punish those who do not.

3. To insure domestic tranquility - In order that all may lead a tranquil and quiet life, according to their own conscience, in a godlike and dignified manner.

4. To provide for the common defense - All life is held as sacred, with the protection of innocent life at the base of capital punishment. The government is to provided an army for protection from external threats.

5. To promote the general welfare - Civil rulers are servants for the general good. All classes of citizens are to be represented equally by any laws the government may pass. The government may not provide or aid special interest groups above others. It is to promote, not provide, for the people.

6. To secure the blessings of liberty -

as a result of the lessons we've learned from our great history:

Government Interventions: #2 -1890-Sherman Antitrust Act, a law designed to restore competition & free enterprise by breaking up monopolies.

Government Interventions: #3 -1906, laws passed to ensure food & drugs were correctly labeled & that meat was inspected before being sold.

Government Interventions: #4 -1913 came the Federal Reserve to regulate the nation's money supply-place some controls on banking activities.

Government Interventions: #5 -1930's-United States concluded that unfettered capitalism failed-largest change in government role-"New Deal"

Government Interventions: #6 -Securities Act-Glass-Steagall Act-Farm Credit Adm.-Securities Exchange Act-National Firearms Act-Housing Act,

Government Interventions: #7 - Point made? To all my GOP, DNC & #nolabels friends I say-Serious about small & effective-Start Discussions!


Small & Effective government for 360,000,000 people is a bit more complex than the euphemisms and platitudes voiced from some in our political ranks.



Open discussions for a small & effective Federal Government enacting or repealing laws in accordance with our constitution for an informed citizen votes!

A History of Federal Legislation in the United States of America


Click on the Bold and Italics above to read more about our magnificent history!

Investigate every congressional legislative historical record you choose by visiting the URL provided above!

America's Largest Government Subsidies

Outside of fossil fuel energy. The United States of America pays near $20 Billion per year to farmers in Direct Subsidies as "farm income stabilization" (Title V) using U.S. farm bills. A Canadian Government report concludes that for every dollar U.S. farmers earn, 62 cents comes from some form of United States Government, with total aid in 2009 from all levels of government adding up to $180.8 billion.

According to Wikipedia "In the 1930s, about 25% of the country's population resided on the nation's 6,000,000 small farms. By 1997, 157,000 large farms accounted for 72% of farm sales, with only 2% of the U.S. population residing on farms. In 2006, the top 3 states receiving subsidies were Texas (10.4%), Iowa (9.0%), and Illinois (7.6%). The Total USDA Subsidies from farms in Iowa totaled $1,212,000,000 in 2006. From 2003 to 2005 the top 1% of beneficiaries received 17% of subsidy payments. In Texas, 72% of farms do not receive government subsidies. Of the close to $1.4 Billion in subsidy payments to farms in Texas, roughly 18% of the farms receive a portion of the payments.





Mind you a full 20% of the total subsidy or $20 Billion are "Direct Pay Subsidies" which are handed out with no regard to recipients economic need. Farms big or small financially healthy or hurting is not taken into account; the money is paid. The states where most Direct Pay Subsidies" go: Iowa ($501 million), Illinois ($454 million), and Texas ($397 million).

I make no judgment regarding government promotion in this matter.

Simply put I point out an intervention by government regulation as the hypocritical Grand Ole Party (GOP) takes control of the 112th House of Representatives.

I support Small and Effective Government - Very far from what today's GOP professes to represent!

Farm subsidies have the direct effect of transferring income from the general tax payers to farm owners. These subsidies act just the same as every other government regulation does.

The United States Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

"Section. 8."

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;..." "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;"

Here you can find information on the Fossil Fuel Industry Subsidies:

Energy Tax Subsidies

Oil Industry Protection Cost

Program Level Corporate Tax Subsidies


Centralize to Eliminate Overlap & For The General Welfare

Who needs a political label to seek viable working solution's applicable to present day society and the competitive world in which we live today.

I see 16% of our economy being held hostage by an oligarchy of insurance companies that contribute to political candidates campaigns whom place their position in office above the greater good of the people; this requires extreme measures for the betterment of people of this country as a whole.

The United States Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Section. 8. "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;......To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;...."

Our Congress "the government" like all private corporations ought to develop one national policy concerning the nations health insurance coverage; a minimum standard developed which all providers must meet in order to end any "race to the bottom" in our health care system.

Furthermore, like every successful corporation that enacts a new organization wide policy, a network of communicators that instruct and counsel to inform participants; in our government's case it's the citizens, follows.

The last function in a centralization of any process is the reallocation of resources to accommodate the system changes. This includes the change in roles and responsibilities that allow implementation, testing, verification and audit to allow for continuous improvement of the new system's processing.

Reducing government waste through reallocation of resources; ending more expensive local processes and duplication of effort. In the end, a reduction in state and local government size, reduction in state and local regulation and likely a reduction in state and local taxes attached to the centralization of our nations health care system.

Small business owners also benefit from the ability to follow one national regulation rather than a patchwork of State and local regulations which reduces the burden on our nations job creators.

The United States Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Spreading False Medicaid Facts - Are You Afraid?

The bold italics words below take you to two sites which offer misleading statements about payments vs benefits for our Medicaid Program today. Click to see who falls short on facts.

What you pay for Medicare won't cover your costs

Rise of the Center's "Simple Math Explains Why Social Security and Medicare are Leading us Into Bankruptcy"

Lets us look at all the facts: $43,100 or $89,000 annual average salary provide a similar outcome, let us look at the facts for a couple earning an average of $89,000 per year.

A couple earning $89,000 a year are required to make annual payments of $3,250 per year as a tax to secure medicaid benefits when they are of retirement age. A couple paying Medicaid tax of $3,250 a year for 35 years totals to just under $114,000 in contributions.

I project their working life at 35 years before retirement and give them an annual compound interest rate of 5% on the money paid in each year until they retire and want to collect on their Medicaid insurance benefits. After 35 years of payments with the annual compound interest rate of 5% they have a running balance of $308,218.05 in payments and interest earned on their account.

The value would be $480,718.74 if the annual compound interest rate was 7%

At this point the couple starts to draw from their running balance in the Medicaid bank. But remember they continue to earn an annual compound interest from retirement through their death. So the $308,218.05 invested @ 5% annual compound interest for next 20 years during retirement leaves this couple a future value of $817,794.24, fully covering their anticipated Medicaid expenses during their lifetime.

Remember the AP article written by Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press – Thu Dec 30, 11:15 am ET states:

"But they can expect to receive medical services — from prescriptions to hospital care — worth $355,000, or about three times what they put in."

"Consider an average-wage, two-earner couple together earning $89,000 a year. Upon retiring in 2011, they would have paid $114,000 in Medicare payroll taxes during their careers."


Knowledge is power!

Contain Health Care Costs

The United States spends an estimated $2 trillion annually on health care expenses, more than any other industrialized country; some argue that the USA spends two-and-one-half times the average of other economically developed countries in the world. And unfortunately our outcomes are NOT better and our life expectancy does not exceed.

Did you realize that we enjoy the company of Mexico and Turkey as the only industrialized countries without some form of universal health care coverage?

And that we are spending more than 16% of our gross domestic production on medical costs; some solutions:



Cost Containment Ideas:

• Require transparency in physician historical record: Include publication of law suits, insurance claims and associated settlement payments.

• Support and encourage better individual choices

• Focusing on quality and transition to accountable payment systems

• Paying for better care, not more care, supporting improvements with better evidence.

• Invest in better information and tools

• Aggregation I: Restructure non-group and small-group health insurance markets and coverage subsidies

• Aggregation II: Establish a public option which provides opportunity for real consumer driven competition and requires employer driven option to compete in a free market based environment.

• Aggregation III:
Better pricing and market leverage, governments should evaluate whether to aggregate their purchasing power. This includes (to be allowed by law) formation of health care insurance pools, intergovernmental agreements for procurement of prescription drugs, partnerships with private sector organizations, or local government participation in state master agreements.

• Aggregation IV:
Can be achieved simply by using fewer insurance carriers or vendors to deliver benefits.





• Vendor Management: (This includes such steps as (a) audits of claims to ensure that carriers or third-party administrators pay benefits according to plan rules, (b) verification of enrolled participants (“positive re-enrollment”), and (c) coordination of benefits.)

• Individual Health Management:
( Wellness programs, Disease management (for at-risk employees or employees undergoing initial treatment), Financial incentives for behavior /lifestyle modification, Patient education on health care matters, Greater cost awareness-make all provider costs “visible” to participants (e.g., providing incentives to employees who discover inaccurate billing)

Ideas?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

GOP Political Euphemism (s) - Fast Facts #4


Speaker John Boehner GOP Quote
: "The Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act"

Factual Response: The CBO which points out the fact that many retirement age people who do not need to work for any other reason other than to be afforded an employer based health insurance program may choose to enjoy life in permanent retirement securing their insurance coverage in the newly created environment made possible by "Obamacare" more properly called the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)".

Speaker Boehner, it is good if folks of retirement age are able to purchase health care insurance as a result of this new legation's and enjoy their retirement well protected from a catastrophic health event which might otherwise bankrupt them.

While the positions created by those retiring will be filled by unemployed people who need a job thereby lowering the ranks of our unemployed.


GOP logic follows that if the GOP repeals this legislation they will be increasing the ranks of the unemployed!

Want My Vote? - Start Talking Facts!

Big problem when any political party cannot win over a citizens vote using facts reasoned through the prism of their political philosophy. Far too many messages used today are fact less, or worse, they are misleading and/or downright false.

I have been railing on political platitudes and euphemisms these past days since I see this blather as a suppressor of knowledge and the education of our citizenry. I see our political class with a moral obligation to increase the capacity of our countrymen. And not to purposefully, for political gain feed our countrymen’s biases keeping them suppressed in ignorance by feeding them falsehoods, false hopes and false images.

This offending Tucson resident was clearly confused about life, his position in it, and his obligation to other human beings going about the business of living their lives. Never the less, he chose a “Congresswoman on her corner” as the place for his premeditated act and this makes the terror act political by its very nature; period.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

GOP Political Euphemism (s) - Fast Facts #3

GOP Quote: "Should Democrats get their way; every income tax bracket will increase on Jan. 1, 2011. Every single one."

Factual Response:

Less than 3-months ago Mike Pence made this statement: Fact is the Democrat plan would have provided a tax cut to every taxpayer in America. Fact was that persons earning greater than $250,000 in adjusted gross income on their 1040 tax form would have had to pay higher taxes on the first dollar above $250,000.

This means they received a tax cut on the first $250,000 of their earnings but pay a higher tax rate on every dollar at $250,001 and above.

Monday, January 10, 2011

GOP Political Euphemism (s) - Fast Facts #2

GOP Quote: "The new Majority will be about “cut-and-grow": cut spending & job-killing government regulations, grow the economy & private-sector jobs"

Factual Response: "Job-Killing" Platitudes continuously used by the GOP are dispelled by the facts of actual hiring during the terms of our most recent presidents.




Looking at the following chart the GOP can talk all they want about Democrat "Job-killing" but the facts are clear, Democratic Administrations create more jobs than Republican Administrations, though the GOP routinely beats the drum using platitudes to coerce the public into believing that Democrats are killing jobs.



"Charts courtesy of Mike Kohr Graphics by: Bonny Kohr http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com /"

The fact is they are using hyperbolic euphemisms, again and again and again.

Data Source


The Obama administration inherited an economy that was losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month; thankfully that has ended.As of July 2012, in the most recent 18 months of the Obama administration, has added approximately 2.8 million jobs to our economy.


The average monthly job loss during the “great recession” Obama inherited from a Republican Administration and Republican Congress (6 of 8 years); before Obama policies took effect was job osses averaging 417,000 a month.

And over the last year-and-a-half, the average monthly job gain has been 155,000.

Pass along the facts so citizens can make informed decisions unaffected by "Platitudes and Euphemisms".


Sunday, January 9, 2011

Own Your Words - Understand Others

George Orwell once wrote that “if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought”. Six decades later our political prose is as insidious as ever, with a large population of Americans kept politically illiterate mostly due to the propaganda of Fox News and other right wing organizations as well as the country’s inept leadership which brings disinterest to many citizens of the United States of America.

We live in a free land where less than half of our citizens exercise their precious right to vote, hmm.

Political platitudes and/or euphemisms used to describe commonly understood concepts so that they align with one’s political viewpoint. Sometimes the political agenda embedded in the phrase is obvious though more often these terms are used with ulterior motives:
• to make a reasonable concept look or seem to be unacceptable
• to make an unacceptable concept seem reasonable, if not desirable.

Frequently our countrymen women are not even aware of the political undertones implanted in the phrases and words we use because we are not the one who orchestrates the deception. They are handed to the 24 hour news cycle at such a feverish pace that these euphemisms find their way into our every day talking points with an easy stealth.

An example of some of these terms recently used in our political discourse:

“Obamacare”
“Death Panels”
“2nd amendment remedies”
“Job Killing Regulation”
“Job Killing Tax”
“Welfare Tax”
“Pro-Choice”
“Pro-Life”


“Energy Recovery”
“Undocumented Workers”
“Illegal Aliens”
“Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”
“Support the Troops”
“Axis of Evil”
“Surge”
“Peacekeeping Mission”
“Information extraction”
“Surgical strikes”
“Collateral damage”
“Extraordinary rendition”
“Tort reform”
“Social Security reform”
“Medicare reform”
“Welfare reform”
“Judicial reform”
“Fiscal Restraint”
“Ethics reform”
"Revenue Enhancer"


As previously stated, the twisted language above is used to deliberately disguise, distort, or reverse the true meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs), making the truth less unpleasant, without denying its nature. It may also be deployed as intentional ambiguity, or reversal of meaning (for example, naming a state of war "peacekeeping"). In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth, producing a vacuum in true communication.

Knowledge is power and we the people need to educated and be fully informed.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Washington Sleeps With Wall Street

The responsible parties to our existing economic situation are the government and its public monetary policy, private financial institutions business practices and the public (often times unsuspecting).

Opposition to any form of real financial regulation by law makers in power at the time, the Federal Reserve and it insistence on lowering Fed Fund Rates to near or below 1% allowed huge amounts of "easy" credit-based money to be injected into the financial system and thus create an unsustainable economic boom. This was the wondrous response to our DOT.COM bubble.

Our real estate troubles first reared their ugly head in the fall of 2006. Subprime mortgages were the original symptom of a credit boom tuned to bust and of a real estate shock. But large default rates on subprime mortgages does account for the severity of the crisis. Rather, low-quality mortgages acted as an accelerant to the fire that spread through the entire financial system. The latter fragile due to factors unique to this crisis (transfer of assets from the balance sheets of banks to the markets; creation of complex and opaque assets; failure of ratings agencies to properly assess the risk of such assets, and the relaxed accounting rules known as fair value accounting.

In order to counter the Stock Market Crash of 2000 and the subsequent economic slowdown, the Federal Reserve eased credit availability and drove interest rates down to lows not seen in many decades. These low interest rates facilitated the growth of debt at all levels of the economy, chief among them private debt to purchase more expensive housing. High levels of debt have long been recognized as a causative factor for recessions.

The recent events caused a snowball effect that Secretary Paulson thought the private homeowner default could cause lenders to default, causing further defaults through a domino effect. The chances of these follow-up defaults in increased at high levels of debt. Attempts to prevent this domino effect lead TARP to bail out Wall Street lenders such as AIG, Fannie May, and Freddie Mac.

Deregulation of the Banking Industry in November 1999. In 1992, the 102nd Congress under the George H. W. Bush administration weakened regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with the goal of making available more money for the issuance of home loans. Whereas banks that held $100 could spend $90 buying mortgage loans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could spend $97.50 buying loans. The 106th Congress, in 1999, under Bill Clinton, passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. This contributed to the proliferation of complex and opaque financial instruments which are at the heart of the crisis and this lead to a devastating miscalculation by banks and investors of the level of risk inherent in the unregulated Collateralized debt obligation and Credit Default Swap marketplace.

Under this theory, banks and investors systematized the risk by taking advantage of low interest rates to borrow tremendous sums of money that they could only pay back if the housing market continued to increase in value. The pricing model for CDOs clearly did not reflect the level of risk they introduced into the system. The average recovery rate for high quality CDOs has been approximately 32 cents on the dollar, while the recovery rate for mezzanine CDO's has been approximately five cents for every dollar. These massive, practically unthinkable, losses have dramatically impacted the balance sheets of banks across the globe, leaving them with very little capital to continue operations. And guess who bought these instruments from the bankrupt entities that owned them?

I’m tired and have had enough……

When will the "Middle American" call UNCLE?

Book Review: 'The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America - and Spawned a Global Crisis'

Read the book - what is your view?

The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America — and Spawned a Global Crisis. By Michael Hudson.


Can you believe some view the real estate bubble we have solely on the homeowner securing the mortgage stating" "Nope, ultimately, it was the dipstick holding the signing pen who couldn’t figure out that the deal on paper wasn’t right for him."

A perverse point of view that completely neglects a corporations moral and ethical responsibility to their customers, their country and the world.

There is no question a contributing cause of this world wide debacle was (and is) an individuals personal responsibility to understand the basic tenants of financial planning. Maybe a failure to have taught or have learned, but the root cause for this crisis has been assigned right where it belongs.

Sure regulators were a contributing cause by not understanding the size and breadth of the snowball careening down the hill. they failed to slow/stop or at the very least send warning signals that danger lies ahead. And the legislators hold the honor of being a contributing cause due to their removal of some of the barriers that existed to prevent the very activities which precipitated these events. And recent politicians hamstrung regulators making enforcement of existing laws impractical if not impossible.

No, it is the failure of corporate America to make sound loans, protecting their shareholders, meeting their moral and ethical obligations to their communities. This failure is followed by the investment houses who financially engineered casino games who went on to mislead investors at large while peddling these instruments; who then and now are laughing aloud at the fact that they made large sums of money on the historical ride up, ride down and on the historical bailouts.

The problem remains since the very entities responsible are still making gobs of money on the Federal Reserve Policies that remain in place providing the ability of all those unethical/immoral corporations to work their way back to solvency.

They receive virtually free money to invest in the world financial markets while having close to no positive affect in the present day American economy.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

GOP Political Euphemism (s) - Fast Facts #1

Platitude Defined: A platitude is a trite, meaningless, biased, or prosaic statement, often presented as if it were significant and original; is often—but not always—shallow and without real meaning!

Now, should I be proven wrong and the GOP steps up to the plate with actual factual data to support and/or succeed in accomplishing significant verifiable movement on any of the issues listed below I STAND prepared to be corrected.

In the course of time additions will be made to this list and during this same period addendum will be made to factually demonstrate exactly why this list of GOP statements are nothing but Platitudes.

GOP Quote:
"We will also identify & eliminate job-killing regulations that are impeding capital formation in America":

Factual Response: For more than two decades, both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations have supported the use of cost-benefit analysis in the review of federal regulatory decisions, some three decades; both Republican and Democratic Executive Branches supported the use of a cost analysis for such decisions. This means regulations passed in the last 30 years has undergone some form of cost benefit analysis which estimates the net economic value of a given policy or project. It converts all costs and benefits into a monetary metric and then measures whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

Some facts to consider when GOP comes after OSHA Regulations: Roughly 6,371 job-related injury deaths, 13.3 million nonfatal injuries, 60,300 disease deaths, and 1,184,000 illnesses occurred in the U.S. workplace in 1992. And the total direct and indirect costs associated with these injuries and illnesses were estimated to be $155.5 billion, or nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Direct costs included medical expenses for hospitals, physicians, and drugs, as well as health insurance administration costs, and were estimated to be $51.8 billion. The indirect costs included loss of wages, costs of fringe benefits, and loss of home production (e.g., child care provided by parent and home repairs), as well as employer retraining and workplace disruption costs, and were estimated to be $103.7 billion.

GOP Quote: "Over the coming weeks we will pass a repeal of last year’s health care bill to remove the strain on job creators"

Factual Response:
Small businesses benefits included in the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)" include Small Business Health Options Programs, or "SHOP Exchanges," where small businesses will be able to pool together to buy insurance by 2014. ("Small businesses" are defined as those with no more than 100 employees, though states have the option of limiting pools to companies with 50 or fewer employees through 2016; companies that grow beyond the size limit will also be grandfathered in.)

The CBO states that costs will fall marginally with premiums forecast to fall between 1% and 4% under the exchanges, while the amount of coverage would rise by as much as 3%.

Until 2014 (next 4 years) businesses with 10 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees earning less than $25,000 a year on average will be eligible for a tax credit of 35% of health insurance costs. (Companies with between 11 and 25 workers and an average wage of up to $50,000 are eligible for partial credits.)

These tax credits will remain in place, increasing to 50% of costs, for the first two years a company buys insurance through its state exchange. The CBO projects this tax credit will affect about 12% of individuals covered via the small-group insurance market, lowering their cost of insurance by between 8% and 11%.

Deficit Reducing Health Care Reform Bill

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, Public Law 111-148); and, following that, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872)



On March 20, 2010, CBO released its final cost estimate for the reconciliation act, which encompassed the effects of both pieces of legislation. Table 1 (on page 5) provides a broad summary and Table 2 offers a detailed breakdown of the budgetary effects of the two pieces of legislation. CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that enacting both pieces of legislation will produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010-2019 period. About $124 billion of that savings stems from provisions dealing with health care and federal revenues; the other $19 billion results from the education provisions.

Want more information click on the links below:




An Analysis of Health Insurance Premiums Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act


Correction Regarding the Longer-Term Effects of the Manager's Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Simple fact is the CBO - Non-Partisan arbiter of projection of cost of implementation of government regulations says deficit reduction if fully implemented over 10 year period and beyond.

Last thing, GOP can factually say heath care costs rise with "Obamacare"; the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)" but the usage is deceiving.

They can say this and be correct because health care costs rise no matter what.

The fact is that health care costs rise with or without the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)" but the REAL FACT is that with the passage of "Obamacare" health care costs rise slower; therefore the regulation COSTS AMERICA LESS and INSURES MORE PEOPLE!

Moving forward: Now let's establish real cost control by wrestling our health insurance oligarchy from their hiding place behind the thinly disguised Grande Ole Party (GOP) "PLATITUDE" named free market system out and into the light of day!

ADP National Employment Report December 2010

ADP National Employment Report December 2010


Looks Promising, yes?

How is it possible that these jobs are created when we have all this job killing regulation burdening the formation of capital and the creation of jobs?

Makes one wonder, yes?

National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Report

National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling


Hello America-Are you Listening?

Briefly looking at the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling report the first thing I can think of is getting rid of those


"Job killing regulations" on the oil industry. This clearly hurts the formation of capital, as a matter of fact, since the government regulation was ineffective in this case, let us infer that government regulation is ineffective in other cases too. So lets us abolish all OSHA, EPA, FDA,DOT and MSHA regulations too! This important move will reduce the size of government while simultaneously reducing our huge budget deficit and free the private formation of capital in order to produce jobs in America.


Look forward to hearing much more from our newly elected majority in the House of Representatives in this matter in coming days, weeks and months.

We need to cut the corporate taxes to create certainty for our businesses and let them create jobs.

We need more GOP corporate social programs to maintain the transfer of wealth from the citizens of the United States of America to the elite of our country since they are the job creators. Trickle down socialist economics.

Also look forward to sound investigative journalism about the allegations made in my statements in order that the American people are factually informed and capable of make sound judgments.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Worst Political Platitude - Euphemism (s)

Platitude Defined: A platitude is a trite, meaningless, biased, or prosaic statement, often presented as if it were significant and original; is often—but not always—shallow and without real meaning!

Now, should I be proven wrong and the GOP steps up to the plate with actual factual data to support and/or succeeds in accomplishing significant verifiable movement on any of the issues listed below I STAND prepared to be corrected.

In the course of time additions will be made to this list and during this same period addendum will be made to factually demonstrate exactly why this list of GOP statements are nothing but Platitudes.

Representative Eric Cantor:

"We will also identify & eliminate job-killing regulations that are impeding capital formation in America"


"Over the coming weeks we will pass a repeal of last year’s health care bill to remove the strain on job creators"


"The new Majority will be about “cut-and-grow": cut spending & job-killing government regulations, grow the economy & private-sector jobs"


"Our new Majority stands for a different, better way: a government that controls less & spends less, but accomplishes more"


Representative Mike Pence:


"To use money from the TARP fund in the manner that is being discussed by the White House and congressional Democrats would be a violation of the law."


Under the Democratic health plan, families "will be forced to spend an additional $2,100 a year to keep their current health care."


fretting "the idea that you would raise taxes on small businesses owners and job creators in the middle of this recession doesn't make any sense."


“And no single policy is having a greater effect on hindering job creation than the possibility of a tax increase in January.


"The Democrats propose "a government-controlled health care plan that will deprive roughly 120 million Americans of their current health care coverage."


“Higher taxes won't get anybody hired. Raising taxes on job creators won't create jobs. And House Republicans will stand united to oppose any tax increase on any American in January.”


"Anybody who is familiar with the historical data from the IRS knows that raising income tax rates will likely actually reduce federal revenues."


"Should Democrats get their way, every income tax bracket will increase on Jan. 1, 2011. Every single one."


"This administration and this Congress have been systematically cutting funding to border security since the Democrats took control."


"The stimulus has "$30 million in there to protect mice in San Francisco."


GOP House Speaker John Boehner:

"The American people have sent an unmistakable message, change course"


"The Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act"


"Forcing Americans off of their current health coverage and onto a government-run plan isn't the answer, but that's exactly what the Democrats' plan would do."


"The American people spoke pretty loudly. They said stop all the looming tax hikes...."


"It’s gotten to a point where the average federal worker makes twice as much as the average private sector worker."


Senate health care legislation will "levy a new 'abortion premium' fee on Americans in the government-run plan."


The Democrat-backed health care reform plan "will require (Americans) to subsidize abortion with their hard-earned tax dollars."


On Fannie and Freddie mac and the financial crisis: "[H]ow you can attempt to fix it without going to the root of the problem, Fannie Fae and Freddie Mac, is really beyond me,"


"Democrats Reaffirm Commitment to Impose Job-Killing Tax Hike on Small Businesses"


"The (economic stimulus) legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)."


Make no mistake, a 'yes' vote on the Democrats' health care bill is a vote for taxpayer-funded abortions.


Senator Mitch McConnell:


New financial regulation "actually guarantees future bailouts of Wall Street banks."


"In just one month, the Democrats have spent more than President Bush spent in seven years on the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina combined."


General GOP Mantras:

“work on jobs and the economy,”

“stop out-of-control spending,”

“we have to keep America free, safe and sovereign.”

“The budget is a radical proposal that will change the character of our nation, trampling on freedom and liberty.”

“The only approach that has not been tried is the conservative approach – limited bureaucracy, lower taxes, and responsible regulatory structures.”

“The administration is disingenuous, unfocused, and reckless.”

"Over $800 billion in stimulus spending that hasn't worked"

"Using TARP funds to cherry-pick which banks survive and which don't"

"9.7% unemployment when Obama promised it wouldn't go above 8%"

"Bypassing federal bankruptcy laws and regulations to take over GM and Chrysler - using taxpayer money'

"A "pay czar" deciding how much corporate executives can earn"

"Almost three million jobs lost since Obama took office - when he promised to add four million by the end of 2010"

"Passage of a health care bill against the majority will of the American people - many states are now challenging the bill as unconstitutional"

"A slow and incompetent response to the Gulf oil spill - still leaking thousands of gallons a day over 70 days later"

"Obama's deep water oil drilling ban will cost thousands of American jobs"

"Failure to secure our Southern borders while suing Arizona for trying to protect its citizens"

"A national debt increase of almost $3 trillion since Obama took office"

"A federal debt that will represent 62% of the nation's economy by 2011 - with estimates of 100% in ten to fifteen years"

"Pending cap and trade legislation laced with energy cost and job loss issues"

"Democrats pushing a financial regulation reform bill that protects financial firms and ultimately hurts consumers - also being challenged as unconstitutional"

"Democrats became the first House majority that failed to pass an annual budget resolution since the Congressional Budget Act was adopted in 1974"

Democrat tax increases slated for 2011 that will further harm taxpayers, the economy and job growth"

"Numerous pay-to-play political scandals"

"Obama's promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $250 thousand - already broken"

"A weak and dangerous foreign and domestic terrorism policy"

"Cut government spending to pre-stimulus, prebailout levels saving at least $100 billion in the first year alone"

The United States of America Constitution

Click on bold italics entry to be delivered to sites link.

The United States Constitution

This is an important document which has been living and breathing since its inception on September 17th, 1787.

Pay close attention to our amendments beginning on page eleven. Note: The first 10 amendments to the Constitution were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the “Bill of Rights.”

Time for Amendment XXVIII to undue all injustices with regard to the peoples right being eviscerated by the Supreme Cort when it comes to Freedom of Speech for man made entities, paper entities, better known as corporations.

Start Now

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy.
The chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation).
There is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills
Countless ideas and splendid plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
Then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would
Never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
Raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents
And meetings and material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Deficit Reduction Plan Alternative

Read the Schakowsky Deficit Reduction Plan Here



The Schakowsky plan would close the deficit without "Forcing the Middle Class" to pay all the bills is based on five key elements:


1) Increased economic stimulus to spur growth in the immediate term

· Provide $200 billion to invest over the next two years in measures to create jobs and spur economic growth, including passing the Local Jobs for America Act; and funding for education and law enforcement; Unemployment Insurance, Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program extensions; and infrastructure.

· Adopt the President’s proposals to eliminate overseas tax havens and incentives for outsourcing

2) Smart, targeted spending cuts

· Non-Defense Discretionary – $7.55 billion in savings through increased efficiency and cuts to programs that benefit large corporations that don’t need assistance.

· Defense Discretionary – $110.7 billion in cuts from the 2015 defense budget, including efficiency savings, reducing our troop levels, cutting weapons systems we don’t need, and scaling back the wartime increases in the size of the military.


3) Mandatory spending cuts

* Health Care – at least $31.2 billion in savings by implementing measures to bring down the cost of health care to the federal government and lower health care inflation overall.
* Other – $7.7 billion in savings by cutting agriculture subsidies in half, and redistributing federal support to offer greater benefits to small family farms reduce subsidies to large corporate agribusiness.

4) Reductions in tax expenditures

* Raise $132.2 billion by closing tax subsidies for companies that ship American jobs overseas.

5) Increases in revenues

* Raise $144.6 billion in revenue through progressive reforms to the estate tax, treating capital gains and dividends as regular income, and enacting a cap and trade proposal that includes protections for lower-income people.
* Enact President Obama’s budget proposal to let the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 brackets expire and return to 2009 estate tax levels.
* Non-tax revenue – raise $7 billion by addressing places where the private sector is currently under-paying.

About Me

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Elections matter-openly cynical of government business as usual-Supreme Court Justices 5-4 open warfare on my Individual Liberty-Teach as Knowledge is Power!