Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Right, Wrong, True, Fiction, Facts and Falsehoods

The American people seem to be in their own created state of malaise. The country is still trying to deal with the horrific economic mess, loss of jobs and financial uncertainty placed on its people by the failed policies of former President George Bush. President Obama is catching flax from all quarters, especially republicans who are on record as wanting to see his administration fail.

Voters who helped elect Mr. Obama are un-willing to give him more time to get the country moving again and some say they will return to vote republican. The public is fed all kinds of stories on the T.V. networks by those same people who during the Bush administration said every thing was going great guns for the economy and the people. They are still there every night and they still have the same wrong answers. Many go back to Clinton's time in office and were wrong back then also.

The most recent drum beat is that the stimulus is not working. The facts are the stimulus is working, not to the extent to put the country back to work at the needed level of economic activity, but it is working. Half of the stimulus has yet to be spent. Most governors are bitching not enough jobs have been created under the stimulus. Well lets do some comparisons.

Take the state of Louisiana for instance. Louisiana governor Jindal often talks about how well La. is doing, however Edward Ashworth, Director Louisiana Budget Projects, Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations pointed out, "that an array of Louisiana Tax Exemptions were projected in this years state budget at approximately $6.5 billion." Those exemptions are supposed to be a stimulus to put Louisiana people to work and create jobs. The latest unemployment figures in Louisiana prove otherwise. December 2009 unemployment was 7.2%, up from 6.4% in November and up from 5.6% in December of 2008. (Source: Louisiana Workforce Commission) All that Louisiana stimulus and unemployment in Louisiana is going up not down. Perhaps voters should hold their governors to live up to the same standard as their President especially when creating jobs.

President Roosevelt had to deal with the great depression and it took longer than a year to put the country back on track economically. It took many government projects and a world war and many sacrifices by the people and finally we emerged as a nation and people to see and live better days. Mr. Roosevelt had to put the country in debt to get back on track. But we survived and paid off that debt. President Obama was not as fortunate when it comes to debt as the last 3 previous republican Presidents added $9.5 trillion to the national debt plus trillions of dollars in interest paid on that debt. Mr. Obama is left to deal with that debt burden along with the other economic problems not of his making.

President Obama should be given a fair chance to turn things around and the people need to have the wisdom to see what is going on. Mr. Obama has 3 more years to create a record to be judged by. Until then his policies should be supported. The alternative would be worse. The people should also seek the truth for themselves and be better prepared when called on to vote.

The Latest U.S. Supreme Court Decision

The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows Corporate America and lobbyist to use their wealth for or against legislation or individual elected officials and or those running for public office is keeping the status quo alive and kicking for wealth to continue to control the political process.

We are already experiencing how the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy has ruined the economy that has resulted in record job losses for the American people. Now the court has legitimatize the wealthy's corrupting influence on our political system. So what is the next step and what can be done to negate the political influence of wealth. The answer is amazingly simple, the problem that makes it difficult is a lack of courage by elected officials.

Since it is the democratic party that control congress and the White House, the democrats should announce they will no longer accept any money from Corporate America or any lobby group for campaign contributions or any other reason and that if those people want to be heard they will have to go thru the same process as the average Joe. There is no law that can make a elected official take any money from any group of people. The republicans should do the same thing and remove the corrupting influence of wealth from our political system.

Courage, the virtue that is lacking in our political system can be re-discovered in order to make the hard decisions necessary to once again live up to our American heritage of ideals. Special interest groups have to go and there is no better way to achieve that goal than the above because it does not require any laws or debate to water down the results. It would send the most powerful and legal message around the world. The wealth used by those special interest groups is man made and there fore can be changed by man. There are no excuses.

It is past time for both parties to step up to the plate and remove special interest money from the political process and legislation decisions. It is so phony to see Journalists in the news media talk to elected officials about reform but never discuss the above way to truly reform the political system.