The Help Helps Us All

  This movie, The Help, helps us all to remember a special time in our history when African Americans put their lives on the line to change the conservative culture of the South.  Even though the story is fictious, it captures the spirit of that time and reminds a new generation of the sacrifices Black Americans endured.  They fought against a conservative southern culture that treated them like second class citizens a hundred years after slavery ended.  In the movie you witness the roots of modern conservativism and wakes us up to the realities of what is happening today in our society.  Conservatives today would like nothing more than to gut government programs that help lift African Americans out of poverty.

African Americans during the Civil Rights period put their lives on the line to make it better for future generations.  We owe them a debt of gratitude for their courage but we also owe them a better world.  Otherwise, it was all in vain. Sacrificing your life for something you believed in is something very few people would do today.  Sadly, people wear their conservative philosophy like a badge of honor even when it includes prejudice.  That conservative southern culture has just repackaged itself today and is still trying to undermine struggling African Americans with substandard public schools, housing, and health care. 

Perhaps it is most important for young African Americans to see this movie as a source of pride in their heritage.  These wise black woman wanted a better life for their children and they knew that education was the way out of poverty. Too many young African Americans today have forgotten that message and get left behind when it comes to their education. 

It seems everyone today has forgotten the many themes of this movie and need to be reminded of our history again.  Most people today are complacent about the issues of prejudice, class warfare, and social injustice.  We need to have the courage to stand up for our convictions, for what is right and decent again, and we need our leaders to do just that.  Modern day conservatives are winning today because we have forgotten that right is might.  If you want your day in the sun, be prepared for a few blisters.  Draw on the courage of the women depicted in this movie.  Wake up America!  

Obstructionists Win, Win, Win!!!

It is a win, win, win for Republican conservative obstructionists!!!  There is absolutely no reason why they should give Obama an inch and he knows it.  Having the economy tank for the next year is the greatest political ploy they could ever hope for.  It is worth way more than any political cartoon or advertisement.  The pain and suffering inflicted on the massas only helps their cause.

The first win  for Republican obstructionists is that high unemployment and economic crisis will get Obama out of the White House.  If there was any meaningful dip in the unemployment rate, people would tend to give him a second chance.  Without it, Obama is extremely vulnerable.  So the Senate and the White House will give the Republicans complete control over our lives.

The second win comes by destroying public sector unions and eliminating collective bargaining at the state and local levels.  The public embraces this one because they hate unions anyway for the pensions and benefits that the private sector doesn't have.  So you have the rise of Republican Governors who are arrogantly throwing their weight around making cuts to the middle class public sector because the States are broke.

The third win comes in the way of destroying the social safety net which they have been trying to do for years.  Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are programs that cost too much now and must be modified.  Universal Health Care must be overturned and this is the time to do it.  They get everything they ever wanted and they do it by "starving the beast" and never raising tax revenue in any way, shape, or form.

There is no incentive for Republicans to cooperate with Obama even if it means destroying America's economy along with the rest of the world.  By controlling the House they control the purse strings with no regard for the effects on the poor and the middle class.  Their goal is complete political control and no one can stop them.

Sadly, there is no one in the Democratic Party who will expose them for what they are.  No one will challenge them, openly debate them, and take them on.  People are too complacent today to even demonstrate against them.  They are masters of manipulation and politics.  They are so good, they get people to vote against their self-interests!  Game over, they win, and we all lose.  Wake up America! 

Pyromaniacs of Politics

Republican conservatives started a fire under the leadership of President Bush and now they insist on watching our house burn to the ground rather than taking the necessary steps to put it out.

 President Clinton left Bush a surplus which, he insisted, had to be returned to the people.  Instead of paying down the debt, he initiated the ten year tax cut foolishly extended by Obama. A wise leader recognizes when the situation has changed and sadly, 9/11 was the beginning of our odyessy.  Two unpaid wars, a new branch of governemnt in Homeland Security, the housing crisis caused by deregulation, and a prescription drug plan  that was not paid for, set our house on fire.  Republicans ran up the tab under Bush which culminated in The Great Recession.  Bailouts, stimulus, and debt ceilings raised routinely were all necessary steps to put out the fire but we continued the same policy of tax reduction. 

Now our house is starting to collapse with a downgrade and the fire spread to Europe causing the flames to feed off each other.  Yet Republicans continue to act like it is 1999 and we need to return tax dollars to the people.  They won't even discuss closing loopholes on major corporations or having the wealthy pay their fair share.  They call these people the job creators, but they are sitting on trillions in profits and they are not creating jobs, at least not in this country. 

They refuse to raise revenue in any way and insist on cutting our way back to a balanced budget.  The polls say we need to raise revenue, the chief economists say we need to raise revenue, Standard and Poor's downgrade happened because we didn't raise revenue, and it's not even on the table because they all took a middle school pledge to Grover not to raise taxes.  It's like saying we're not going to use water to put out this fire.

While it may seem noble to some that Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy and the corporations, most of us who invested in the Stock Market are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, much more than any tax increase. A tax increase is looking good in comparison to the trillions being lost in the Market!  The consequences of a down market also include the loss of jobs, and a loss of consumer confidence which will just pour gasoline on the fire!

This Conservative philosophy of never raising taxes is burning our house to the ground.  When the economy is in free fall everyone suffers, even the corporations and the wealthy.  It is all heading towards economic armageddon and it is all in the hands of the House Republicans.  John Boehner bragged that he got 98% of what he wanted.  Look at what has happened since the debt ceiling crisis, is that worth bragging about?  Since they got 98%, they now own this problem and must take responsibilty for it.  But they won't, they'll just blame Obama.  They start the fire and then blame someone else.  They are the Pyromaniacs of poitics!  Wise leaders have the sense enough to realize when the situation has changed.  Wake up America!

The Refrigerator Repairman vs. the Sub

I'm a recently retired elementary school teacher who occasionally substitutes in my former district.  After thirty-eight years in the classroom I was making a comfortable salary thanks to my union.  I never really thought much about the courageous substitute teachers I met through the years.  For many of these professionals who had spent a fortune on their undergraduate education and even more attaining a Master's Degree, they were now relying on a salary of about $85.00 a day or roughly $12.00 an hour.  Now, I was one of them, but I had a comfortable pension to rely on thanks to my union.

In contrast to this scenario, my local appliance repairman charges about the same amount ---just to walk in the door!  Only to let me know that my refrigerator is shot and I need a new one.  I'm sure his training did not involve 5 years of college tuition.  After five minutes he makes more than teachers who spend seven hours in a school putting up with all kinds of torture that kids unfortunately inflict upon subs.  In fact, if subs work everyday at that rate, they will make a maximum of $15,300 annually before taxes. 

Why is there such a discrepency between the two?  It hit me like a lightning bolt.  Subs are not unionized and that is the pay scale for a non-unionized worker.  Elementary catholic school teachers do a little better as do private school teachers, but not much better. The one thing they all have in common is that they all spent a fortune on their education and they're all making a substandard salary because they are not unionized.

So to all those young people out there who think unions are a thing of the past and are no longer necessary, remember this little story.  Most people would like teachers to work for the simple joy of working with children.  They think it is a cushy job for glorified babysitters.  Anything a teacher makes is too much for most taxpayers.  If it wasn't for unions we would still be shoveling coal to heat our classrooms.  Unions have provided teachers with a living wage that allows many to continue their education in the summer. This enables them to stay current with best practices, improving their teaching skills, rather than having to cut lawns to supplement their income.  Wake up America!

Cutting Government at the Wrong Time

This debt deal has hurt the economy not helped it.   Growth comes about only when there is a market to sustain it.  As long as our government keeps downsizing, public sector jobs will continue to be lost, as well as buying power.  This is a formula for disaster. 

                                 

Can someone explain to me how cutting public sector jobs helps the economy?  How can laying people off be good for unemployment?   Unemployment is going up and local revenues are going down, so how does that help us out of the worst recession in the history of our country?

Republicans are engaged in fuzzy math again.  Their simplistic remedies of tax cuts plays well with the voters but make no sense.  Public sector jobs prime the pump in a time of high unemployment.  It is the remedy that sustained us during the Great Depression until the ultimate stimulus came in the form of World War II.  Again, our government spent money giving huge contracts to private sector companies for the war effort.  Ultimately, it was government spending that got us out of the Great Depression.  Did we all sleep through history class?

Why don’t we take a page out of the Clinton economic plan in the nineties?  Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy without a single vote from the Republicans.  He also cut government spending.  The result was the greatest economy in our history creating growth and surpluses.  We need to grow ourselves out of this recession not cut government expenditures.  

When you cut public sector jobs you hurt the middle class worker and small businesses.  If you own a small business, are you going to expand when hundreds of teachers, postal workers, and government workers are being laid off?  Small businesses, which are the greatest creator of jobs, are going to shut their doors because public sector workers keep the economy going.  They are the job creators, not corporations that outsource jobs to increase their profit margin.

It is going to have a negative ripple effect on tax revenues, too.  When you lay off thousands of public sector workers, they don’t buy houses, don’t dine out, and don’t take vacations which lower sales tax revenues.  Let’s not forget that all of those layoffs translate into more unemployment benefits that need to be paid out.   As a result, next year, state and local governments will be in greater deficit forcing even more public sector layoffs and our taxes will still increase!

Our goal as a nation should be to keep people working not laying people off.  If anything, we need more public sector jobs to employ the millions of young people out of work.  This is an opportunity to fix the problems in infrastructure, education, health care, and energy.  The private sector has demonstrated their unwillingness to invest in this country.  They would rather create jobs in other countries to increase their profit margin.  They are sitting on trillions of dollars and getting the job done with foreign workers.  Personally, I would rather have a tax increase and have all our sons and daughters working!   Wake up America!

  

The Failed Tax Cut Policy

We have lived with the Bush tax cut now for over a decade and it is clear it isn’t working.  President Obama has continued the tax cuts and the unemployment numbers have worsened. 

During the Bush tax cut years we put the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars on our credit card, we passed a costly Prescription Drug Plan that was not paid for, we expanded government with the Department of Homeland Security all without increasing tax revenue.  All of this culminated with the Great Recession in which tax revenues dwindled and government expenditures for a much needed stimulus program and unemployment benefits drained the system even more.  Our government lost even more revenue with the housing crisis which continues to be a drag on our economy.

The Tea Party has some people convinced that we need to cut taxes and government even more which will exacerbate the problem further.  Did they ever consider that our government will not be able to function without added revenue?  Tax cuts get eaten up with higher prices at the gas pump and paying off credit card debt.  Obviously, tax cut don’t create jobs and actually hurt the economy by putting more middle class public sector workers out of a job.   The private sector has not come to the rescue outsourcing jobs to other countries.

We need to increase tax revenues by having the wealthy Americans along with corporate America pay their fair share.  The extra revenue must be used to create jobs so that consumers will start spending again, buying houses, and getting off the unemployment rolls.  This will increase corporate profits and the rich get richer.   Wake up America!

Dump the Tea (Party)

Please don't do me any favors!  Tea Party people want to save the country by making cuts to government with no revenue enhancement.  Are these people economic experts?  Did they get any input into the consequences of such a policy?  Some even went so far to say that default would not cause any problems to our economy.

Look at what has happened to the Stock Market when Standard and Poors did a simple downgrade from triple A+ to double A+.  The Market reacted with a dismal drop, mortgage rates will rise along with credit card interest.  All of this is a reaction to the stubborness of a small group of irrational Tea Party members elected by a "mandate" of a small group of voters.

This chain reaction of making an issue out of a routine rise of the debt ceiling caused a drop in the stock portfolio of thousands of dollars to most Americans.  So the Tea Party prevented a rise in taxes on the wealthy and I'm out thousands of dollars in my portfolio!  I would have been better off paying a higher tax rate, so please don't fight so hard for most of the middle class people invested in the Stock Market!  We lost way more because of the irresponsibility of a few radicals in the House of Representatives.

Cutting government spending translates into cutting government jobs in the public sector.  This economy is too fragile to take such a position.  Putting more people out of work can never be a good thing during a recession.  Causing a debt crisis will put even more people out of work when their portfolios get trashed.

We need to raise revenue to be specifically used to create jobs along with closing the loopholes in the corporate tax structure so that it doesn't add to the debt.  This would allow our country to grow our way out of this debt crisis.  Wake up America!