Unemployment

Newt Gingrich, The Hypocrite: The Nerve To Condemn “Occupy Wall Street” As People Who “Need To Bathe And Get A Job”

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Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, and front runner for the GOP nomination in many polls, has often said he regrets actions and statements he has made in his past.

Well known for his lack of ethics and no morals at all, Gingrich claimed by becoming a Catholic that he had reformed, and that has turned out to be a lie!

Gingrich, now that he is surging in the polls, is showing his ugly, hypocritical side again and again, reminding us that a “leopard does not change its spots!”

He says liberals, progressives and the left have lost their “moral compass”, an ironic thing for a man to say who has been an adulterer multiple times, and has been shown to have been involved in ethical violations in the House of Representatives leadership, and to have lied incessantly!

He also, as stated earlier in another entry, suggests that young children who are poor should clean their schools, in place of janitors, advocating a return to child labor.

And he has the nerve to state that the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators in New York City and elsewhere “need a bath and to get a job”, as if these people are not facing the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, and the fact that there are not anywhere near enough jobs with millions of layoffs since 2008!

This man sounds like Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, but even more hardhearted and nasty and mean and vindictive!

The nerve of Newt Gingrich who has lived off the public dole as a government employee for so long, and then as a lobbyist and propagandist ever since, to condemn principled people who are being labeled as “losers” by the privileged and those fortunate enough not to face the horrors of long term unemployment!

Even if one is NOT religious, one should never forget the saying” “There but for the grace of God go I!”

The Nevada GOP Presidential Debate: In The Ultimate State Of Illegal Immigration, High Umemployment, And High Foreclosures!

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It is extremely ironic that the Republican Presidential debate tonight in Las Vegas, Nevada, sponsored by CNN, is in the ultimate state of illegal immigration, high unemployment, and high foreclosures!

Here we have Herman Cain talking about electrified, barbed wire, 20 foot high fences to keep refugees from entering the country. He jokes about it, and also earlier had talked about having alligators in moats to stop illegal immigration. Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and even Mitt Romney talk tough about creating barriers, and being hardline about undocumented aliens, as if we are about to deport 11 million people who have become part of our society in a positive manner, but yet face discrimination in states such as Arizona and Alabama!

At the same time, the Republicans have no plans on job creation, and instead refuse to support legislation to keep teachers, fire fighters and police officers on the job, undermining the education and safety of American citizens. They refuse to back any programs for infrastructure or technology advancements, and to extend unemployment compensation to the most desperate! What a despicable state of affairs!

Also, Mitt Romney makes clear that there should be no slowing of foreclosures on housing, effectively throwing people out on the streets of America without any shelter, except maybe their cars, if they still own one!

Nevada is, in many ways, GROUND ZERO, on the most crucial issues of the day, and the Republicans will, hopefully, face tough grilling by Anderson Cooper and CNN on their hard hearted, “tough love”, approaches to crucial issues of survival for those less fortunate in our society!

Ohio (John Boehner) And Kentucky (Mitch McConnell): Ground Zero Of Fight For Infrastructure Projects To Fight Poverty And Joblessness

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The Republican leaders of Congress come from states that border each other–Ohio (Speaker of the House John Boehner) and Kentucky (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell).

Both states have lots of poverty, particularly Kentucky, and lots of joblessness, and lots of infrastructure projects that need to be funded!

President Obama was in Cincinnati (southern Ohio near Kentucky) today, emphasizing the need for the rebuilding of the Brent Spence bridge which connects Cincinnati to northern Kentucky, as an example of what the American Jobs Act would do to create jobs and improve infrastructure of the nation.

Of course, both Boehner and McConnell are very irritated that Obama is pushing this issue into their faces, but this is the precisely proper thing to do, as it is despicable that both GOP leaders have done NOTHING to promote jobs to help their OWN constituents, let alone others around the nation!

This is a strategy that is a winning strategy for the Democrats, and the more that it is protested by the Republicans, the more it should be utilized!

The Loss Of The Anthony Weiner Congressional Seat In New York: Its Meaning

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The 9th Congressional District in Queens and Brooklyn, New York, was represented in the past decade by an aggressive, outspoken Democrat named Anthony Weiner, who was noticeable for his fighting spirit against conservatives, the Tea Party Movement, and the Republican Party. He made a lot of news with his confrontations on the floor of the House of Representatives in the past few years.

But Anthony Weiner also had a fatal flaw, not unique to him among politicians, and that was his private sexual drives, which led to him putting text and pictures of his naked body on Facebook and Twitter, erupting in a scandal which forced him to resign in June of this year.

Now, as a result of his antics and stupidity, a district which was Democratic controlled since 1923, has gone to the Republican nominee, and it is being interpreted in different ways.

Let the author point out that this district was the one in which he resided for 15 years before his move to Florida in 1989, and he lived specifically in the community known as Fresh Meadows in the Flushing area of Queens County.

The thought that MY district is now represented by a Republican is hard enough to take, but the issue is its meaning!

Some would say it is an aberration, and a reaction against Anthony Weiner himself, as a similar situation with an upstate New York district, traditionally Republican for a very long time, went to the Democrat a few months ago after a similar sex scandal.

It should also be pointed out that this district will disappear due to the mandated change in district lines for all members of the House of Representatives after reapportionment of seats with census results now in, and therefore, the whole district will be divided among others, with New York losing two seats in the House of Representatives. So the new Republican, as much as if the Democratic candidate had won, is unlikely to be able to stay in Congress more than one year. In fact, since Weiner was personally not well liked in the New York delegation, he probably would have been thrown into a primary against a fellow Democrat in a newly established district, with a good chance of being defeated, without the scandal which unseated him!

Having said all that, some see the defeat as a repudiation of Barack Obama on the economy.

Others see it as a repudiation of the stand on Israel and the Palestinians that Obama and his administration have promoted, seen at least by Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, a large portion of the Jewish population of that district, as anti Israel.

Still others see it as a repudiation of the Democratic nominee, who while Jewish, supported gay marriage in the state legislature, something that Orhodox and Hasidic Jews loathe with passion!

Does this mean that the general Jewish population is ready to abandon Barack Obama and the Democrats nationally?

The answer is who knows, but while it seems highly doubtful that large numbers of Jews will vote Republican, it is certainly a warning to Obama and the Democrats to work hard to convince Jews that Obama is NOT working against Israel’s interests, that they will fight for more jobs, and at the same time, NOT back off on gay marriage and gay rights!

Orthodox and Hasidic Jews have the right to be against gay marriage, as much as many Catholics and evangelical Christians, but that does not mean that their personal prejudices should deny equality in all ways to gay and lesbian Americans! This needs to be seen as a civil rights issue!

Since the percentage of Jews who are Orthodox or Hasidic is small, and since most Jews believe in the New Deal and Great Society programs that continue to be defended by Barack Obama and his party, this election, most likely, is simply an aberration!

The “Social” Issues In The Presidential Campaign Of 2012: Are They Really Gay Marriage, Abortion, Affirmative Action, Gun Rights, School Prayer, And Immigration?

Ronald 2 Comments

If you listen to Republican Presidential candidates and “social” conservatives, many of whom claim to be “good Christians”, one would conclude that the social issues for the nation in 2012 are:

1. Gay Marriage
2. Abortion
3. Affirmative Action
4. Gun Rights
5. School Prayer
6. Immigration

All of these issues are extremely controversial, but what are the REAL social issues in America?

1. Homelessness of so many Americans, including those once middle class citizens.
2. Hunger, where many Americans, millions of them children, have inadequate nutrition, which will affect them long term.
3. Unemployment long term of millions, many of them over 40 and through the 50s and early 60s in age, who will never be able to gain employment at all at any time, or at the most, never make anywhere near the same income they had been earning in good times.
4. The destruction of the retirement funds and plans of millions of senior citizens, who now have to work many more years than planned just to survive.
5. The lack of health insurance and coverage of many millions of people who cannot afford to go to a doctor or hospital, or afford extremely expensive medication that would prolong life.
6. The lack of educational opportunity for those who are in poverty stricken neighborhoods, and receive an inferior education due to local property taxes being the main source of educational funding.
7. The discrimination against the children of undocumented immigrants, who discover when becoming adults, that they cannot attend college or join the military, and are threatened with deportation, along with discrimination visited against them and their parents and family members in states, such as Alabama and Arizona, because of illegal immigration laws which are being challenged in the federal courts.
8. The continuing challenge for disabled Americans, whether from birth or as a result of accidents or health problems, who, despite the Americans With Disabilities Act passed under President George H. W. Bush in 1990, still face barriers to equality of treatment.

These eight problems listed above are the REAL social challenges, but the Republican Party and so called “religious” people totally ignore these issues, instead promoting a new version of the old Social Darwinism and Laizzez Faire Economics prevalent in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century!

In other words, they want to go back to the 19th century, wipe out the 20th century, and promote good old “Christian” and “Unbridled Capitalism” values, which made America a nation ripe for reform and change, including the Progressive Era, The New Deal, and The Great Society!

This attempt to return to the old conservatism is a great evil which must be defeated by all good, really “religious” people of all faiths, who believe in equality of opportunity and fairness and consideration of others less fortunate than those of us who are lucky and successful, and do not experience the hardships of others!

The past is the past, and we need to look to the future, and realize if one American is homeless, hungry, denied health care and education, or discriminated against, then we are all worse off because of those realities!

This must be a country of WE, rather than simply ME!

A Sobering Labor Day: Bad Times For Labor Unions And Workers!

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As Labor Day 2011 comes on tomorrow, it is a sobering time for labor unions and workers, whether in unions or not.

Labor unions have been under sharp and sustained attack across America, continuing a 30 year decline beginning under Ronald Reagan.

Workers’ wages are stagnant or declining in purchasing power, and most employees know they are in a weak state, afraid of antagonizing management in a time of extremely high unemployment, where any problems created with employers can lead to quick unemployment lines.

With 9.1 percent official unemployment in August, and absolutely no job growth at all, for the first time since February 1945, there is great fear among the unemployed, as well as those who have jobs, that the labor situation is going to get worse before it gets better.

African Americans have an unemployment rate nearing 17 percent, and Hispanics and Latinos have over 12 percent, and people without a college degree have about 9.5 percent, while college graduates actually have only about a 4.5 percent unemployment rate.

So race and ethnicity and lack of adequate education are key factors in unemployment. But also, alarmingly, many people between 50-60 years of age are experiencing long term unemployment for the first time in their adult lives, with little opportunity to retrieve an equivalent job and salary anytime, and with Social Security and Medicare still years away from occurring.

Also, while the unemployment rate remains stagnant at 9.1 percent, the REAL unemployment rate of those with only part time hours added to those who have no work, is closer to 18 percent, an unacceptable and dangerous number!

We must not forget that it is young people, plus discontented older people, who have led for change in the “Arab Spring”, and also now are demanding major change in government policies in our Mideast ally, Israel.

How much longer can labor conditions continue the way they are going without a reaction which might include radical action, some of it violent or incendiary?

So the urgency of a serious jobs program by Barack Obama, and cooperation by Congress is needed, but not likely due to the divided Congress, and the power of the Tea Party Movement, which wants no government involvement in creating jobs!

So crisis conditions and divisions are bound to get worse very soon, a troubling scenario!

The “Joes” And Barack Obama: “Joe The Plumber”, Joe Wilson, And Joe Walsh

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In the age of Barack Obama, we have “Joes”, just about the most common male name, but three of these “Joes” are an embarrassment to their country and to politics!

First of all, we had “Joe The Plumber”, actually Samuel Wurzelbacher, who became a Republican propaganda point for John McCain and Sarah Palin in the 2008 Presidential campaign, making a total fool of himself, and being revealed as NOT being a plumber, regarding the issue of lack of proper licensing in Ohio. Wurzelbacher has made money from the title given him, and has worked as a motivational speaker and commentator since then, without much renown or brilliance being revealed!

Secondly, we had Joe Wilson, Republican Congressman from South Carolina, who had the gall to attack President Obama, when he gave his speech before a joint session of Congress in support of a health care law in 2009. Yelling “You lie”, Wilson refused to apologize after the fact for his insulting behavior, which could not be recalled as having occurred before, but immediately he became a celebrity in right wing circles, and raised quickly a lot of money for his 2010 reelection campaign. Now Joe Wilson has declared that he will NOT attend the joint session of Congress next Thursday when Obama speaks on his jobs program, at a time of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, something caused by the Republican Party during the years of the GOP control of Congress and the Presidency under George W. Bush!

Finally, we have Joe Walsh, Republican Congressman from Illinois, a freshman who has drawn great notice for his insulting, belligerent, and rude behavior, including his constant use of the first name of his interviewer on any cable channel or news show, as he talks over him with non stop attacks on President Obama. He, along with Joe WIlson, has decided NOT to attend the joint session of Congress next Thursday, claiming what Obama is doing is purely political, and he will not be part of it! He also has called Obama “idiotic”, claims he was not vetted by the news media, and that he was elected only because whites who felt guilt about racism hooked onto an intelligent, articulate black man to feel better about their guilt over the past of race relations. Walsh claims that private enterprise knows how to create jobs, but seems unwilling to offer any advice on the topic, but instead simply uses rhetoric to keep public office, so that he can pay the back child support he owes his former wife after his divorce and bankruptcy!

The idea that any member of Congress refuses to attend a joint session of Congress to listen to a President is mind boggling, and there is no historical record of such a snub being done before!

These three “Joes” cannot match the intellect, the brilliance, the sincerity, the decency of our President, and every principled American should condemn the despicable, disrespectful behavior they have demonstrated against our President! Instead of attempting to come to the aid of their country, they would rather just throw darts and zingers at our Commander in Chief and wish for his downfall!

Important To Remember: Elections Are About The FUTURE, Not The Past!

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In the midst of all the heated debate about who is best to be our President in the future, one point is often forgotten.

That is the reality that elections are about the FUTURE, not the past!

The past is always full of negative, as well as positive, developments, with, of course, the negative somehow easier to recall, since most human beings remember negative over positive.

So the issue of 2012 is not the high unemployment rate, which the opposition Republicans have no solutions for.

The issue is which party and which candidate is best equipped to make a better future, and in that, it is clear that the Republicans see the future as one without all of the social safety net programs of the New Deal and Great Society, which despite criticisms, have worked very well, made for a stronger middle class, alleviated poverty, and given the masses, who are not born to or inherit wealth, to have a belief in the “American Dream” and a faith and hope in a better future.

If such faith and hope is dashed by wiping out the virtues of the New Deal and Great Society, then what is to prevent violence, bloodshed, and revolution against the ruling economic class? By softening the worse aspects of unbridled capitalism and giving people dignity and consideration, whether young, old, poor, or disabled, we have a safety valve that allows all of us to coexist in society, with the elite rich still holding on to most of what they have!

The price of higher taxation actually protects the elite rich from troubles they would not wish to see occur!

So the better, more dignified future is definitely with Barack Obama, and this is not even considering his many accomplishments, which are often forgotten, but will be emphasized as the campaign of 2012 continues, so that voters do not go to vote with the thought that nothing good has been accomplished in the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression!

And do not forget that foreign and national security policy only adds to the credentials of Barack Obama, as compared to all his potential opponents, with the one exception of Jon Huntsman! But the Republican Party seems suicidal in nature, not smart enough to give Barack Obama a really competent opponent as his rival. So this is another of the many positives about Barack Obama that will be emphasized as the campaign develops!

A Moment Of Reckoning For Barack Obama: Acting Aggressively, But Realistically!

Ronald 1 Comment

As we reach Labor Day next Monday, the economy is the number one issue, and it is only 14 months to Election Day.

The economy has stalled in relation to job growth, the first time to have no job growth since February 1945. We are likely going into a deep recession, although one could argue that we have never left the Great Recession, which supposedly ended in 2009.

This is an extremely tough time for President Obama and the nation, and he MUST act aggressively, but also realistically about the economic situation.

People have been speculating in the news media about the “What Ifs”, if Hillary Clinton had won the Presidency, or of John McCain had defeated Obama in 2008.

This is pointless, as we must live with reality, but to believe that Hillary Clinton, who had already gained the hatred of Republicans and the Right Wing conservatives, would somehow have magically produced a better economy and more support from the opposition party is to dwell in fantasizing on a major scale!

And to believe that John McCain, who had reportedly had plans to select former Texas Senator Phil Gramm, one of the architects of the financial disaster through his corrupt connections, to be his Treasury Secretary, tells legions about what he would have done regarding the economy. And having Sarah Palin, rather than Joe Biden, as an adviser on foreign policy, is enough to make anyone have nightmares!

So, as Michael Beschloss, the historian, told Obama at a retreat recently, he must make it clear to the American people that he is fighting difficult forces, not all of which can be controlled, and that things are going to get better, and that a lot of the responsibility for the mess we are in is due, not only to the Republicans led by the Bush Administration, which put us in the financial crisis, but also by Republicans now who are willing to sacrifice high unemployment as a way to convince voters that they should switch back to the failed policies of the past!

So, as Beschloss told Obama, fight like hell like Franklin D. Roosevelt, who faced much higher unemployment rates, but was reelected, by making it clear that the GOP hates him, and he accepted their hate and would fight them tooth and nail for what must be done! Obama can no longer be “Mr. Nice Guy”, but must instead “give them hell”, as Harry Truman did in 1948!

So therefore, a very bold, aggressive jobs plan MUST be offered by Obama next Thursday, even if it seems likely that nothing will be done by the Republican House of Representatives! Use the plan against them in the upcoming Presidential campaign as an issue if they will not budge, and make it clear to voters that it is because of the Republicans that nothing can be done! Emphasize education, health care, infrastructure projects, and energy programs, making it clear these are the future of America, now, or after the Election of 2012, with a rejuvenated Democratic majority, at least in the House of Representatives, if not the Senate!

And as part of this strategy, Obama has already, through his Justice Department, decided to pursue those corrupt, evil banks that helped to cause the housing crisis, and have been continuing their harm in the mortgage market by their dirty, corrupt tactics even up to the present! These banks include Deutsche Bank, J P Morgan Chase, and Bank of America. The executives who run these banks, and others that have proved to be greedy and selfish, having no concern for the American people, need to be prosecuted and sent to prison, held accountable for their evil actions, and finally, it looks as if the administration is starting to show its muscle in this regard!

And the unpopular decision today to delay the smog standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency to 2013, while highly regrettable, seem reasonable now with the high unemployment rate and the stagnant economy. But it should be seen only as a DELAY, not an abandonment, of higher environmental standards for business and industry, and hopefully, with a Democratic President and Congress in 2013, the crackdown on the pollution standards can be revisited!

The Republicans, Barack Obama, And The 2016, NOT 2012, Presidential Election!

Ronald 1 Comment

All of America is focused on the 2012 Presidential Election, as the Republicans compete over who should oppose President Barack Obama for re-election.

There are a lot of people who seem to think that Barack Obama will be easy to defeat, because of the high unemployment rate, which will be the highest for a President running for re-election since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But these are not ordinary times, and the thought that Barack Obama is going down the road of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush is a false premise!

Remember that Ford, Carter and Bush I all had strong primary challenges, with Ford having to deal with Ronald Reagan, Carter with Ted Kennedy and Jerry Brown, and Bush I with Pat Buchanan in the primaries and Ross Perot in the general election.

Also remember that none of those three Presidents had a record of domestic accomplishments that Barack Obama has!

Also remember that none of those three had the charisma or oratorical ability of Barack Obama!

Also realize that Obama has foreign policy accomplishments in the fight against terrorism, unmatched by any of those three, except briefly with the Gulf War under George H. W. Bush!

Although there are those competing for the Presidency in the Republican Party, actually, on the sidelines, there are others who desire the job, but either are not ready yet to run for the office, or are smart enough to realize that the odds of ultimately defeating Obama are long, so better to wait to 2016, when Obama would be finishing his two terms of office, if he is reelected.

It is a gamble, of course, to sit back and wait, but likely a good gamble, and if it is an open Presidential election, the odds of success for the Republicans grows by 2016.

So who is sitting on the sidelines, salivating for the Presidency, and secretly hoping no Republican is elected in 2012?

In no special order, here is a list of ambitious Republicans:

1. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey
2. Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
3. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida
4. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
5.Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts
6. Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia
7. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin
8. Governor Rick Scott of Florida
9. Governor John Kasich of Ohio
10.Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina

Notice particularly THREE Floridians who have ambitions–Bush, Rubio and Scott, and realize the fact that Florida will have 29 electoral votes, the fourth largest number, as Florida is the fourth largest state.

So, particularly among Republicans in Florida, there are those who secretly hope that 2016 will be an open election, and are willing to sit back and wait for just that reason!