Deficit Spending

Tom Coburn Blocks Funding To Prevent Veteran Suicides, Now 22 Per Day, As He Leaves The US Senate

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Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is about to leave the US Senate after ten years, and six previous years in the US House of Representatives.

Coburn has been one of the absolutely worst members of Congress, known as MR. NO, constantly blocking action on numerous pieces of legislation by using “senatorial privilege” to use a personal block to prevent legislation he does not like. He has abused his position in the Senate, and will NOT be missed by anyone who believes in rational, decent behavior, which Coburn seems incapable of!

Coburn has opposed abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and gay rights, and has supported gun rights and the death penalty. He has also been against deficit spending and pork barrel projects to the extreme. He has also worked against environmentalists on a regular basis, in that joining his Oklahoma colleague, Senator James Inhofe, making Oklahoma the state with the combination of the two worst Senators of any state in the Union!

Coburn is a medical doctor, an obstetrician, who, however, has opposed Obama Care. His commitment to life is clearly, a mixed one, as he has now caused outrage in opposing a bill to promote veterans suicide prevention, which is at 22 veterans per day, complaining it would not work, and that its $22 million cost is too much. This is beyond belief, as $22 million is a literal drop in the bucket of the federal government budget, and is supported by a vast margin of the US Senate and House, as the least that can be done to stem the suicide epidemic facing former military personnel.

The whole concept of “Senatorial privilege” to use a personal block to stop a bill should be ended, as no member of Congress all by himself or herself, should be able to stop what a vast majority of the Congress wishes to do!

How can this Senator sleep at night, and we can all hope that he will drop his opposition to this bill before Congress adjourns, as there is no justification for his preventing what the vast majority of Congress supports! He can vote NO of course, but should not be able to block the legislation all on his own!

Bush And Cheney Emerge: Reminders Of How We Became What We Are!

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The emergence of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from “exile” helps to remind us of how we came to be where we are today!

Bush was on National Geographic Channel, explaining and justifying his administration’s actions before September 11, on September 11, and since. You would think he would be a bit humble about the shortcomings of his administration regarding terrorism and the wars he initiated, but not one bit of apology was offered!

Even worse, Dick Cheney, who is seen overseas as an international war criminal, has been gloating about his attacks in his memoir on Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and George Tenet, and claims no mistakes, no shortcomings, no regrets about the foreign policy of the Bush Administration!

And of course, the man who said as Vice President that deficits did not matter, helped to preside over budget deficits that doubled the national debt, and convinced “fat cats”, corporate leaders and super rich people, that it was patriotic NOT to pay their fair share of taxes!

Adding insult to injury, we have today the former CEO of American Express, Harvey Golub, having the nerve to go on MSNBC this afternoon, and attack Warren Buffett for his assertions that wealthy people should pay higher taxes as part of patriotism, and appreciation for their success in America!

Golub says he earned his salary, worked very hard, and should not be forced to pay higher taxes until it is proved that the government handles money in a better fashion. While no one can criticize that assertion, it must be realized that CEOs are paid outrageous salaries to head major corporations, just at a time when many corporations have no morality or concern about firing their employees, cutting their benefits or pay, or adding more tension and pressure to their jobs!

But really, when a CEO says he works HARD, what does that mean? It means he “barks” orders to his underlings; spends time in his office intimidating others in meetings; uses his time on the phone and pushing papers to make himself look busy; and often could not survive without good staff, which he almost certainly treats in a disrespectful and disdaining manner! All he is concerned about is how much wealth he can acquire, how many perks he can have, and the level of arrogance and abuse that he can practice without accountability!

It is time to stop giving deference to corporate leaders, and start demanding that they do their part for their country, instead of expecting the “peasants” below them to bear the whole burden!

So Bush and Cheney emerging reminds us of the alternative of Barack Obama, and cannot but help make the choice for 2012 much clearer!

Alan Greenspan And David Stockman: Tax Cuts For the Wealthy Based On Borrowed Money Are Wrong And Do Not Pay For Themselves!

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Alan Greenspan, the former head of the Federal Reserve Board, and clearly a conservative and Republican in his philosophy, was on the ABC News This Week show yesterday.

Greenspan was asked if a continuation of the Bush tax cuts was a good idea with such a tremendous deficit situation. His response was that, in theory, tax cuts are good, but NOT on borrowed money!

Greenspan also said tax cuts DO NOT pay for themselves in the sense of economic expansion!

Is there any need to go further in seeing that what conservatives and Republicans are enunciating is totally hypocritical? 🙁

We cannot afford, supposedly, to give extended unemployment compensation to those who are long term out of work, even though giving this to them promotes spending and the creation of jobs! But we can give more tax cuts to the top two percent, even though it has been shown that in most cases these people SAVE the money, rather than spend it, and DO NOT create new jobs because of receiving more tax cuts!

To top it off, former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman came up with exactly the same prescription: that tax cuts to the wealthy top two percent on borrowed money does not stimulate the economy! Instead, economists tell us it creates a more stratified society, already the most stratified in the industrial world!

But does this affect Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, or others in the GOP? No, just keep on borrowing money and raising the deficit so that the rich can become richer, the middle class is made poorer, public services are cut, and the poor become even poorer!

Is this the kind of America we want? To think this is justice requires a warped sense of morality! 🙁