The Middle Class Tax Cut

President-elect Obama's promise of a middle class tax cut is needed more now than ever before.  It is estimated that consumer spending represents 70% of the economy and with the economy in free fall, retail sales down big time and still falling and the unemployment reaching 10.1 million people, the middle class is in a bind with too few dollars to spend.

 

The people who have benefited the most from republican trickle down economics are holding all the cards now.  These are the people who were supposed to use the money to grow the economy and create jobs.  Yet so far this year through October the economy has lost 1,179,000 jobs and the economy is in its second recession in 8 years.

 

A substantial tax cut for the middle class will go a long way to help revive the economy and put the middle class back in the ball game to some degree.  The big problem is that the middle class has fallen so far behind, part of their tax savings will have to go to pay off debt and to replenish savings.  That is good also but it means less money to use for buying to keep our economy running and hiring people.

 

In addition to the tax cuts, the middle class needs better paying jobs and a larger share of the profits they help create.  Corporate America must no longer be able to reap the benefits of what their workers produce without sharing those benefits with the worker.

 

The tax cut should be only the first step to help the middle class advance its economic power and Obama and his administration should keep that as a priority.  That would be the greatest foundation for a sustained economy and job creation.  President Kennedy said over 40 years ago business needs customers to have a productive economy.  It should be obvious that has never changed and it is playing out today.

 

It should be noted the 10.1 million workers without jobs is the highest since 1983 when Reagan was in office.  Republicans have run the country 20 of the last 28 years, yet it was the democratic administration of Bill Clinton who achieved the greatest economy and job creation and where the middle class did better.  President-elect Obama's administration will turn things around for the middle class, the economy and job creation.  Twenty years of trickle down economics should be put to bed with good reason.

Israel and Palestine

Last year, after seven years of being disengaged on the Israelis and Palestinian problem, President Bush and Secretary of State Rice set out an agenda to forge an agreement on the long running problem to be concluded this month, November.   The idea was to finally get involved so the Bush administration would have a foreign policy triumph before he leaves office.  But it is not to be.

 

The Los Angeles Times reports Rice has just completed her latest and final visit to the middle east and acknowledged the failure of the talks to reach a peace deal by the end of the Bush administration.  The Times article also reported:

 

       

         Hani Masri, a Palestinian analyst and columnist said, It's dead, and they don't want to admit the

         failure.  All it produced was a model for negotiations until the end of time. 

 

         Menachem Klein, a political science professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, said the negotiations 

         produced no tangible progress while the situation on the ground actually moved backward in the past

         year. 

 

The American people would do well to remember that Bush blamed the lack of progress on the problem at the foot of Yasser Arafat.  Well Arafat passed away in 2004 and still no progress.  Israel has to share in much of the blame as well as a detached Bush.  Israel is still building settlements on Palestinian land and this issue is a huge problem. 

 

When Obama takes office his administration needs to pursue the problem head on and put the responsibility on both nations to work out a workable and lasting peace in the middle east.  Obama needs to make sure the U.S. does not favor one side or the other; the U.S. has turned a blind eye for too long to Israeli transgressions.  Why would any nation be willing to be part of any agreement that is not even handed?

 

Obama needs to ensure the right approach is taken in future talks and make it clear that both Israel and Palestine will be held accountable if progress is not made.  The status quo has to come to an end.

Escalation in Pakistan

The war in Afghanistan is seven years old and for the past several weeks we have read reports of our drones attacking Taliban and al Qaeda targets with missiles inside Pakistan.  Why now seven years into the war and not before?  What is behind these recent attacks?  We always knew the Taliban/al Qaeda were there in that region.

 

The answer lies in the type of person we have as President.  Mr. Bush's performance and reckless behavior in fighting the war on terror is dismal.  He faces the prospect of leaving office in a few months with the lowest approval rating of any President in recent memory.  The reason for the recent attacks in Pakistan is a political decision by Bush to finally try to get bin Laden before he leaves office to improve his rating and salvage his Presidency.  One will remember it was Mr. Bush himself shortly after 9-11 who said bin Laden was wanted dead or alive but then failed to pursue him. 

 

Seven years of war in Afghanistan and almost six years of war in Iraq have already been recorded in history.  Those years can not be rewritten and history will not be kind to Mr. Bush.  The American people gave Mr. Bush two chances to serve and uplift America a its people, but he lacked the wisdom, character and humility to serve as President.

An Analogy Of The Iraq War

Generally speaking, when things go wrong in America, the issue is usually faced early.  However, not everything is.  This brings us to the War in Iraq.

 

During one of my travels to Alabama in January of 2005 with my wife to celebrate our 50th, I read an article in the Mobile Register Sound Off section and I quote as follows:

 

                                        

Something is not right here, folks:

      Our President has just announced there are no WMD in Iraq and we will now stop looking.  People, this

      is the reason Bush gave for invading a country.  Does anyone in this country even care?  Thousands of

      people are dead over this.  We are treating it like a footnote to a brief announcement from the White

      House.  What is even more alarming is that he says knowing what he knows now, he would do it again.

 

I saved the article because it represents my own thoughts but I never thought almost 4 years later we would still be in Iraq.  The news media failed the people and the country big time concerning this war and the people failed themselves by reelecting Mr. Bush to a second term.  Sadly, Mr. Bush is not capable of admitting his mistakes.  If ever a President needed to be impeached, it is Mr. Bush.  His own actions and words have convicted him.

 

Mr. Bush is now trying to nail down a security pact with Iraq that will keep our troops there till 2011 and beyond.  He is trying to tie the hand of the new President.  Every one should read the book, "The War Within" by Bob Woodward.  It documents how the President and senior people on his staff played politics with the war especially before the 2006 congressional elections and never told the people what was actually taking place in Iraq.  He told the people just the opposite.

 

The writer to "Sound Off" was right about this war being treated like a footnote to a brief announcement from the White House.  Our men and women in uniform deserve better from the Commander in Chief.

Another First for PolitiDose

A $25 billion loan for the auto industry has already passed congress.  A $700 billion bailout of several Wall Street firms and the Financial Industry has passed congress.  Now auto makers are asking for more federal money to help them survive.  Their lobbyist have been talking to congress now for several weeks and it is in the news every day.  The congress is supposed to take the matter up soon in a lame duck session.

 

Thomas Friedman in his November 16 editorial about the auto industry got it right under the heading, "Automakers Drive Themselves To Doom."  He asked the question, "do we have to subsidize Detroit sothat it will innovate."  He also described the business as "a very un-innovative business culture and visionless management."  That brings us to the title of this article.

 

On July 23, 2008 I wrote in politidose under the heading, "Innovation: Lost In America."  That article described exactly what is going on today in our business world and why it is happening.  I outlined the problem.  I will not repeat it again here because the article can easily be pulled up on politidose.

 

Corporate America and our elected officials because of Corporate lobbying has become a partnership in greed.  If President-elect Obama is serious about cutting political strings to lobbyist it will be one of the most sound economic decisions he will make. 

 

Greed stands in the way of innovation.  The industries who are in trouble have proven that.  Corporate America can not be trusted to regulate itself, that has also been proven.  Obama and the democratic controlled congress will have an opportunity when Obama takes office to use legislation and other forms of regulations and common sense to redirect our economy where it works for all Americans and not just the wealthy.  The administration must demand innovation to meet the serious challenges we face as a people and a nation.  The average American worker has to share more in the wealth he helps create.  The opportunity is here now and actions needs to be taken.

 

I am of age to remember the effort of American industry and its people during WWII how our country pulled together with innovative idea's and products to successfully defend the country.  That same spirit needs to be reclaimed to replace the greed that has brought our country and its people to this sad state we now find unfolding.  The time to act is now.