When I began this blog in 2001, I was appalled by President Bush's headlong rush to an illegal war (we were not in fact under attack). As time wore on and Bush began his assault on the Constitution and any people bold enough to criticize, I believed that "the republic is endangered more by actions of our own government than by those of any terrorist." With the election of a high-minded, compassionate, intelligent man like Barack Obama, my fears have ceased.
"Honor them with peace, not war"
United for Peace
Sunday, December 15, 2002
It may be time to start consciousness-raising among the nation's middle class. Those with a decent education, a good job, and a nice home will rapidly find their economic position eroding if today's national policies continue. Look at the scene in the comfortable town of Corvallis, Oregon:
Corvallis is cutting electives in its middle school and 13-year-old kids are telling them save the programs and let the kids do some of the janitorial work.
It's time for folks to wake up and realize that Bush's policies are killing the economy. Exorbitant military expenditures are a horrible drain on the federal budget, and being made just when he has been anxious to return wealth to those who skim it off the top.
In all the debates about tax cuts going mainly to the rich, did we hear it said that not only are the tax cuts unfair to the middle and lower classes, but they are overall bad economic policy.? No, we did not.
Bush claimed that putting money "back in the pockets" of the rich would stimulate a faltering economy, as the rich would invest. Please note that not even the rich have pockets big enough to contain the huge profits they take home after sending American jobs to low-paid South Americans or Chinese.
Bush was and is wrong. His policies are driven entirely by the profit motive and not the public interest at all. There is room for both of these to operate together, but i the Bush administration, the balance is gone. The public interest is utterly neglected. He thumbs his nose at environmental damage, at human costs.
Owners of corporations are making more and more, while the rest of the people are making less and less. Economic malaise, which started hitting the bottom of the economic pile 10 years ago, is creeping upward.
As more and more jobs are sent abroad, the nation's wealth (which is not diminishing) resides in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The first answer here is to greatly increase taxes on those huge profits. The second answer is to stop funding military exploits, which is investment that does not help the community at all, and instead have the government make investments that help us.
I believe the primary reason the economy soared during the Clinton years is not because of anything Clinton did,but because of the drop in military spending at the close of the Cold War. As the military stopped sucking off the best and brightest of engineers, other products begain improving. For example, cars made from about 93 onward are far better than their predecessors-- they rquire less maintenance and are less likely to break down on the road.
To recap, the two things that will get the economy back on its feet are for the miltary and the super-rich to tighten their belts:
1. Cut military spending sharply (and, of course, rein in the lust for war).
2. Sharply graduate the income tax for those earning over some modest amount like $200,000 a year - keep graduating it, dont stop at half a millon and make it a flat tax thereon up. Simultaneously, reduce the income tax on those making less than $200,000 a year, and eliminate it altogether for those making only enough to live on, approximately $40,000 a year.
After doing that, let's take a look and ses what adjustments might need to be made. We probably ought to start sharing our wealth with the rest of the world, and working to improve ecological balance of the planet before we destroy it all.
This might involve curbing the lust for profits as well - but oh, well. Life before profit, I say.
.
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
Time for consciousness-raising
It may be time to start consciousness-raising among the nation's middle class. Those with a decent education, a good job, and a nice home will rapidly find their economic position eroding if today's national policies continue. Look at the scene in the comfortable town of Corvallis, Oregon:
The effects of the national slump have tumbled to the biggest cities and smallest towns and places between, like Corvallis, where the abstractions of daunting budget numbers have become personal and concrete.
City Hall, in the core of Corvallis's lively downtown, made $482,000 in cuts this year from a $30 million budget, and $2.3 million in cuts are on the list for next year. Revenues are running $3 million less this year than last, largely because of nearly frozen property tax revenues. Cuts in revenues the state sends the city have just begun. The city's rainy-day fund, the savings that cover unexpected spending, had $15 million two years ago and has now all but disappeared.--N.Y. Times 12-15-02
Corvallis is cutting electives in its middle school and 13-year-old kids are telling them save the programs and let the kids do some of the janitorial work.
It's time for folks to wake up and realize that Bush's policies are killing the economy. Exorbitant military expenditures are a horrible drain on the federal budget, and being made just when he has been anxious to return wealth to those who skim it off the top.
In all the debates about tax cuts going mainly to the rich, did we hear it said that not only are the tax cuts unfair to the middle and lower classes, but they are overall bad economic policy.? No, we did not.
Bush claimed that putting money "back in the pockets" of the rich would stimulate a faltering economy, as the rich would invest. Please note that not even the rich have pockets big enough to contain the huge profits they take home after sending American jobs to low-paid South Americans or Chinese.
Bush was and is wrong. His policies are driven entirely by the profit motive and not the public interest at all. There is room for both of these to operate together, but i the Bush administration, the balance is gone. The public interest is utterly neglected. He thumbs his nose at environmental damage, at human costs.
Owners of corporations are making more and more, while the rest of the people are making less and less. Economic malaise, which started hitting the bottom of the economic pile 10 years ago, is creeping upward.
As more and more jobs are sent abroad, the nation's wealth (which is not diminishing) resides in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The first answer here is to greatly increase taxes on those huge profits. The second answer is to stop funding military exploits, which is investment that does not help the community at all, and instead have the government make investments that help us.
I believe the primary reason the economy soared during the Clinton years is not because of anything Clinton did,but because of the drop in military spending at the close of the Cold War. As the military stopped sucking off the best and brightest of engineers, other products begain improving. For example, cars made from about 93 onward are far better than their predecessors-- they rquire less maintenance and are less likely to break down on the road.
To recap, the two things that will get the economy back on its feet are for the miltary and the super-rich to tighten their belts:
1. Cut military spending sharply (and, of course, rein in the lust for war).
2. Sharply graduate the income tax for those earning over some modest amount like $200,000 a year - keep graduating it, dont stop at half a millon and make it a flat tax thereon up. Simultaneously, reduce the income tax on those making less than $200,000 a year, and eliminate it altogether for those making only enough to live on, approximately $40,000 a year.
After doing that, let's take a look and ses what adjustments might need to be made. We probably ought to start sharing our wealth with the rest of the world, and working to improve ecological balance of the planet before we destroy it all.
This might involve curbing the lust for profits as well - but oh, well. Life before profit, I say.
.
Palema
7:15 AM
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Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
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