Media and Republican Lies

Jobs are not being created!  Millionaires and billionaires have the low tax rate right now and they are NOT doing a DANG thing to create jobs!  What makes the morons think that if they extend their tax cuts (at a cost of adding $700 billion to the deficit they claim they want to reduce) that the millionaires will suddenly start creating jobs?  Besides, they will get the same tax cut as everyone else - a cut on the first $250,000 of earnings!

Companies have millions in cash on hand and are just sitting on it!  Why? Because the middle class is under attack and we are shelling up!  We are not spending on stuff - therefore no demand (read that link!), therefore no job creation.  Its NOT millionaires and billionaires who create jobs.  It is We, The People, who create jobs - the middle class who purchase products and services.  We create the demand that requires those jobs to be created.

Another question on this topic is why are the media outlets not pointing this absolute fact out?  How can they ignore the stupidity of the idea that the rich create jobs?  They are only, what 2% of the population?  2% can not create the demand for product that creates jobs!! 10% couldn't drive demand!

Ever since the advent of "Supply Side" economics - also known as "Voodoo" economics - the middle class has been under attack and stagnating or declining.  You can "Supply" all you want - but if the middle class - the "Demand" side - has been drained dry, all purchasing power drained out by high cost of living, outrageous interest rates and predatory lending practices, then you are not going to sell much of anything.

Listening to the Public?

Lets just pick a small thing here.  The Bush Tax Cuts - which Bush and cronies designed to expire.  The Republicans say they are listening to their constituents and want to extend the tax cuts for everybody.

However, that is not what their constituents want.  A few polls show that roughly 48% of Citizens want the tax cuts extended only for those making $250,000 or less.  37% want the rich to partake in the extension.  A bold 14% want to end the tax cuts for everyone - those are the people who are serious about bringing down the deficit.  And to round things out, 2% surveyed had no opinion.  So, at total of 62% of 'constituents' do not want tax cuts extended to the rich.

When these FACTS are evaluated - how can the republicans claim to be listening to the voters? How can they say with a straight face that they want to reduce the deficit?

Here are my calculations on the polls conducted :

And a little footnote article to read - Let's not do the crazy thing...

Realizing the Promise of Democracy

Today, we have allowed tyrants to usurp our democracy.  This is a Fact.  Corporations have moved into the forefront and are poised to seize power out of the hands of the People.  These Artificial Entities should not have the same rights as natural people.

You know, I was looking for movies where "corporations have taken over" - but most I found were Factual Documentaries!!  I was looking for movies like Robocop, Max Headroom, Total Recall and stuff where in the 'near future' corporations have taken over control of the country and everything is the worse off for it.  Yet, what I got were movies like The Corporation (and a sermon, based on the book, that is well worth a read and a few thoughts) and Flow and others.  Reality based movies are more frightening than fiction!  At least in the Fiction movies, there is a happy ending or a victory for the heroes.  What we see in reality is a long, hard fight ahead of us - or eventual enslavement.

Thomas Jefferson spoke against the rise of corporations ("Rise of the Machines"?) often.  The idea of Corporate Personhood - our very own Frankenstein's Monster - is a bad one that needs to be put down.

I believe that the first step to protecting the promise of Democracy - the very foundation of our Democratic Republic that is the United States of America - is the work being undertaken by the Move to Amend group.  The goal is to amend the Constitution to forever define corporations as created legal entities, not Citizens.  This will protect the rights of Citizens - We, the People - to govern ourselves, protecting us from our own soulless creations. (Yes, "I, Robot" is running through my head!)  Maybe, if we had businessmen the likes of Henry Ford, it would not be such a bad thing.  But, sadly, we do not have such noble and fair-minded individuals.

Okay - some may say its only because he supported my idea of paying your workers enough to buy the products they help produce... but I only read about that for writing this piece!

When Ford started the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage, he was criticized by other industrialists and by Wall Street. He proved, however, that paying people more would enable Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing and be good for the economy. Ford explained the change in part of the "Wages" chapter of My Life and Work. He labeled the increased compensation as profit-sharing rather than wages.

 and another quote I found browsing around :

In 1913, Ford wrote the following as the directors had been reaping the rewards of profits - "The wages we pay are too small in comparison with our profits. I think we should raise our minimum pay rate".

 Alas, we now have offspring of the Dodge brothers - who sued Ford when he tried to profit-share with his workers (as well as shareholders) too much.  They then had the nerve to start up a competitor!  ( I will never buy a Dodge now. )  So, Move to Amend is something that is fundamentally necessary to protect our Democracy!

Another item that I believe would further promote our Democratic process - though I strongly suspect corporations would attempt to take over and sway opinions in the process - is the National Initiative for Democracy.

Well, Obama was Right

Yeah, it didn't happen over night and we still have a long way to go, but we are back on track with the economy.  Unfortunately, we now have the people who steered us into this mess back in some power, so, we'll see how bad they set us back in the next two years.

Health Care

I think I've pretty much decided that For Profit health care is the source of our health care woes.
Think about it - the best interest of the hospital and doctors is to keep you sick, not heal you.  The Insurance companies seek to charge us more, pay the doctors less and pay out as little as possible. Pharmaceutical companies also need more repeat business - so why make something that ends the demand for the product??
It is a fact - no matter how many people claim otherwise - that the United States Health Care is one of the worst of all the Developed Nations.  In 2000, We were number 37.  Thirty Seven!!  We are not getting our money's worth!  I don't think we can realistically blame the low ranking on traffic accidents...
I believe the reason we are first in costs, last in effectiveness in Health Care is that our health providers have a vested interest in keeping us sick.

Create Jobs!! Where are the Jobs??

How is a Job created?

First, there has to be a product or service.  Second, there has to be a demand - a need - for that product or service.  Third, there has to be someone willing to pay to fill that need.

So, as companies sit on record profits and large sums of cash on hand, there is little to no extra demand to require adding jobs.  Why?

The way I see it, the Middle Class has been lured - or walked willingly - into a fiscal trap.  We have mostly acquired cars, houses and credit cards - all with significant debt payments.  This debt payment ratio may be a fairly high part of our monthly expenditures.  With expenses remaining high while salary and take-home pay fall slightly, we have reached a point of really living paycheck to paycheck.  So, we are cutting back on acquiring 'stuff.'  We still need the essentials, but we are cutting back on those too.  "Conserve" is the new motto and our economy - based on "Consume" - is suffering for it.  So, while those companies sit on cash reserves, we don't have the cash to consume any more of their product, so there is no more demand.

To increase demand, we, the workers will have to be paid more.  Either that or Gas/Oil, Energy and Food will have to reduce prices to see an increase in demand.  Either way, corporate profit margins will have to fall and the culture of paper profits will have to go away.  Right now, our economy is driven by Investors putting their money in the right earning entity.  We will need to get back to the times where Hard Work making things, contributing to the good of society and being self sufficient drive the economy - where we invest in living our lives, not some corporate fiscal creation.  We need to get away from our most profitable businesses being Insurance, Credit Card and Financial companies.  The United States are built on Industry - creating things, providing services - not moving money from one balance sheet to another.

My solution would be to have every company, where the CEO makes more than 50 times what the average worker earns, lower CEO pay and give every employee a raise to bring that gap back down to 50 or under.  More people with more money = higher demand for everything = more jobs = even more people with more money = even more demand = more jobs.  The trick is to know when that levels off and be able to adjust in order to maintain.

(PS: Dude from Harvard Business Review agrees with me! Time for a new $5 day!)

Personal vs Social Responsibility

I wrote this for a reply to a forum conversation (which is irrelevant for this post, so not linking to it).

Currently (well, as of 2007), we, the bottom 80% hold about 7% of the wealth, but pay 40% of the taxes.  The top 10% pay 60% of the taxes, but control 90% of the wealth.

This is roughly the same situation as just before the Great Depression.  History repeats itself.

I am not for socialism, but there does need to be responsibility in wealth management.  Right now, the money is all going up - but very little coming back into the economy. The Rich save and invest in paper funds.  They don't spend.  Therefore, money accumulates at the top till it topples - an endless cycle of growth and crash.

We have government to try to help protect us from the Irresponsible actions of others - both the very poor on welfare and the very rich who contribute nothing to society are irresponsible.  We, the Middle, need to solve the problem and balance our society and economy.

 This got me thinking about Personal Responsibility versus Social Responsibility.  Right now, I don't think you can separate the two.  I am thinking about wealth management right now.  Lets ignore the rich who inherit and never actually made a contribution to society to begin with.  Instead, lets focus on the guy who started at the bottom.

Our guy starts with nothing.  He works long hours, hard days and starts a business.  He saves his money, invests wisely and grows his fortune.  His fiscal habits make for a sizable wealth.  At what point does he need to stop the aggressive saving and investing and start returning more of his money to the society that created the environment for him to succeed?  I do believe that it is vital to return, to give thanks and appreciation.

Its my old "Farmer tends the soil for his crops to grow" scenario.  There comes a time that all the good habits of saving and investing turns into bad habits of hording.  Is this, possibly, what we are facing now?

I know the Rich should put their savings back into the economy.  Any serious analysis of the mathematical aspects of savings vs spending practices will clearly display the unsustainable reality of our current system.  I do not believe Charity is the answer though.  We need something to help the Middle.  Those of us who are working, making ends meet, but not much else.  Society needs us, the middle 80%, to have some spare change.  We need, along with a little stimulus money, some wealth management classes.  Some counseling, education, therapy - something to get us away from the spend, spend, spend mentality and teach us to put back some savings.  We need some good "Buy U.S. Made" indoctrination.  Some "do you really need a 64 inch tv in your bathroom?" kind of therapy.  We are sick with an overabundance of consumerism and need to get it back down to a reasonable level.

Heck, we need to get EVERYTHING back down to a reasonable level - the Deficit, CEO Salaries as compared to average worker pay, consumerism, political rhetoric, entitlement programs.  Well, maybe some things need to get back up to a reasonable level - average income, savings, product quality, employment rates, ethical standards.

... enough rambling.  So, on a side note - the U.S. Health system actually, truly, honestly, SUCKS!