After Budget Deal, Time to Move Forward

The Republicans claim that the United States has a spending problem. They are right. The only thing they have wrong is that we need more federal spending in order to put our economic growth back on track. Cutting spending is exactly the wrong thing to do. The Republicans want, more than anything else, to hold the line on tax revenues. What is needed are more tax revenues to fund programs that this country desperately needs. Restoring all the Clinton era tax rates on high incomes and broadening the tax base to include some income that is currently sheltered, such as those that allowed Mitt Romney to pay very little on his very high annual income. That would go a long way toward funding important and necessary government spending programs. Dean Baker listed many of those things in his great column above. Food aid to low income families was missing from his list but it was a good start on addressing the pressing need to restore economic health to the American economy. The Republicans have resisted the spending to accomplish those important programs. People refer to the Republicans as conservatives, but the truth is that they are not conservative; they are reactionaries who fight tooth and nail against progress.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Republicans Are Shutting Down the Government Because They Want to Stop Obamacare

Dean Baker has nailed. It does not make sense to cut Social Security by using the chained CPI. As he points out, that would hurt seniors and reduce their purchasing power. That impact would reduce economic activity throughout the economy and slow job growth.



The Republicans become deficit hawks every time that a Democrat is in the White House but spend like drunken sailors when there is a republican occupying the Oval Office. Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt in 8 years, Bush 1 added even more and Bush 2 doubled the national debt and left the country in a deep recession and huge deficits. It is time that the general public woke up to the fact that they are only trying to protect the rich from further tax increases which we would need if we really want to balance the budget.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Pinching Pensions to Keep Wall Street Fat and Happy

Apparently, there are those who see government workers as slaves that are unworthy of having secure, contractual retirement accounts. I can see Republicans pulling stunts like those in Detroit, but Rahm Emanuel is another kind of an animal, he is an .abrasive hateful individual who should change his party affiliations and to move over to the republican side where he belongs.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Protesters Sing 'Bye Bye Black Sheep,' Rail Against 'Half-White Muslim' In Arizona

I am proud to say that I voted for the first African American President of this country. I attended a meeting where everyone there had supported President Obama in his first election in 2008, and were proud to have been able to contribute to that historic vote. Of those there, 90% were Caucasian.



It is clear that the Republicans hate President Obama because of his race. They will go to any lengths to insure that he does not make big accomplishments during his Presidency. They want him to fail. They overlook the fact that if this president fails, the whole country fails. Many initiatives that the President has proposed would go far toward restoring our thriving economic growth. But with Republican obstructionism, the much needed recovery is put on the back burner. They have voted 40 times to overturn the Affordable Care Act which is essentially the same plan that their party adopted from the Heritage Foundation.



Those biased people who protested the President in Arizona helped to elect those Congress members who have done their best to stifle our economic recovery. They should be ashamed of their juvenile behavior. We are in the 21st Century; this is a time when people should get beyond their senseless biases.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

'Lone Ranger': Christianity Fares Poorly Alongside Native American Beliefs

This is the second writer that I have read who has attacked the Lone Ranger movie over Christianity. How stupid can people be? This movie in no way attacked Christianity. If depicting Christians for the way many of them act is a crime, then I guess, this movie does it. But, folks, the whole movie was a farce. For "God's" sake, the real star was Johnny Depp, what would you expect?



I found the movie to be weak because of the way it developed the character of the Lone Ranger, but then again, it was a comedy, folks. So some privileges were taken along the way. The Lone Ranger was not the strong confident man that was depicted in the original movies. Tonto, was not a weak character, although he was a bit deranged.



People who take comedy movies so seriously worry me. Those with thin skins about their religious beliefs have a problem that they need to address. I suggest that taking a second look at Genesis in the light of our present day knowledge should give Christians a reason to re-evaluate their beliefs based upon the scientific facts that were unknown to the world when the biblical stories were invented. Anyone who believes Genesis as the true story of creation has a problem with accepting reality
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth

At you a lawyer from British Columbia? It is quite ovious that you do not understand the American economy and our many for jobs needs for spending programs for long term assets. More jobs create more spending and more tax revenues with which to pay down the debt
About Stimulus
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth

You are wrong! The Chinese do not own trillions of our national debt. They own only about 1 1/2 trillion. The Social Security trust funds owns twice as much. The Chinese hold only about ten percent of our national debt. U.S. entities own 65.8 of our own national debt.
About Stimulus
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Deficits Are Bad and the Sun Goes Around the Earth

It all depends on when the securities mature. Interest rates have been low for sometime and will probably stay low until the economy fully recovers. A good financial planner would take everything into account. THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO BORROW FOR INVESTMENTS and for redemption of long term bonds. Again, debt is not the problem. The government can spend to create jobs and to build long term assets at low interest rates. It doesn't make good economic policy to focus on the debt while there are so many Americans who are out of work, who are without adequate health care, and while our infrastructure is deteriorating.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Corporate power and Priveledge

Dean Baker recently had a column on the Huffington Post concerning CEO salaries.  They are paid huge salaries that are thousands of times what employees.  They are the ones who decide how political donations are made now that the Supreme Court has unleashed corporate money for political campaigns.  This horrible situation must be brought to an end and will only be when our Constitution has been amended.  

The following is my comment concerning Dean Bakers column.

"Ah ha! These are the "people" that the Supreme Court wants to allow to donate to political campaigns. The interlocking boards of directors often draw salaries from various corporations. We need to Amend the Constitution to prevent corporate political donations. At least, unions represent their workers and support politicians who will work for workers, all workers."

Read the column at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/corporate-governance-and_b_3103658.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

The Biggest Republican Lie -- 'America Is Broke'

The Republicans are really good at framing their arguments to support their lies and exaggerations. When adjusted for inflation, our national debt is not out of line. The argument that our children will be burdened by the huge national debt is a distortion of fact. After WWII the national debt was at a far higher percentage of GDP. I did not feel burdened by that debt. President Eisenhower built the Interstate freeway system that provided jobs and a lasting transportation infrastructure. The fact is that interests rates are at a decades long. low. There has never been a better time for the government to borrow and spend on infrastructure improvements that would provide millions of jobs and long lasting transportation infrastructure. The same can be said of renewable energy projects and education. The money velocity is nearly 7 times in a year. That means that for every dollar of increased spending, there would be about seven times more spending done causing more job creation and tax revenues. This country has many needs; ignoring them and failure to spend to meet those needs is exactly the wrong formula for improving our economy. The GOP is the party that is holding up progress in the hope that they can regain control of the WHITE HOUSE. I shudder to think of what would happen to our country if they controlled the helm of our ship of state.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost