Economic Facts By Numbers

The Labor Department's report released on January 9, 2008 is another sad reminder that the economy is still suffering with no end in sight.  The unemployment rate in December jumped to 7.2%, up from 6.8% in November, the highest in 16 years.  The economy lost 524,000 jobs in December and employers are also cutting workers hours and forcing some into part time work.  The average work week in December fell to 33.3 hours, the lowest on record since 1964.

 

For all of 2008 the economy lost 2.6 million jobs, the most since 1945 and job losses occurred in every month in 2008.  The recession is in its second year and is the longest in 25 years.  During George Bush's 8 years in office only 3 million new jobs were created.  That's an average of 1.5 million jobs per term.  His father's administration created 2.5 million new jobs in his only term in office. 

 

When it comes to a sustained economy and job creation the numbers prove "trickle down economics" that the last 3 republican Presidents embraced has been a failure.  Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 served a total of 20 years that produced a total of 21.6 million new jobs.  By contrast, President Clinton in only 8 years produced a total of 22.7 million new jobs.  President Clinton had a true economic plan to sustain the economy, job creation and balance the budget.  His administration accomplished all that with out one republican vote.

 

Make no mistake the lack of a true economic and fiscal policy and the massive debt created by those 3 republican Presidents is the number one reason the economy is where it is today.  The facts tell the story and Mr. Bush's failure to properly use the record surpluses that he inherited from the Clinton administration was a tragic mistake by a President who governed by ideology.

A Time Warp Of Republican Conservatives

Republican neocons have already forgotten the American people spoke with their voice and vote when in November rejected conservatives in favor of Barack Obama.  Their Republican President is leaving office with 73% of the people rejecting the policies of Mr. Bush.

 

Now comes Republican Senator David Vitter in a report published by the New Orleans Times Picayune written by Jonathon Tilove of Washington bureau that Vitter has unleashed an onslaught of legislation filing 34 bills and resolutions on the first day the new 111th congress convened. 

 

Some of his filings are: Abortion, public prayer, stem cell research, a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag.  As usual these are the divisive issues that divide our country and is typical of Republicans trying to divide the people.  A few people burn the flag every few years in protest and for that Vitter thinks the constitution needs to be changed.  Our flag has stood the test of time for over 200 years but Vitter is once again showing how phony conservatives are.

 

The republicans in congress will continue to do their phony thing but can never change the fact that the democrats are the only party who have a record of balancing the federal budget, paying down debt, creating a sound economy and sustained job creation, low unemployment and real tax cuts for the middle class.

 

The American people showed their wisdom when they voted for Obama in November and sent a loud voice they want change.  Senator Vitter's legislation and resolutions represents not only the status quo but a lack of character and wisdom in falling to recognize the real problems the country faces.

President Elect Obama's Choices For Intelligence

Leon Panetta, former member of Congress, White House Chief of Staff under President Clinton and U.S. Army veteran has been chosen by Obama as the next Director of CIA.  Retired Adm. Dennis Blair has been chosen to be the next Director of Intelligence.  These two men are not a product of the intelligence community and that is good.  They do have great management skills and that is what our intelligence services need at the present time.

 

The CIA came into being during President Truman's administration and was prior known as the OSS.  The CIA was an intelligence gathering agency with no operational duties under Truman.  Eisenhower and other Presidents that followed let CIA get into operations and that is when the intelligence community got out of control.

 

Over the years congress has had to investigate their wrong doings and found CIA to be involved in illegal activities and out of control.  Iraq's so called WMD and the Iran Contra affair should still be fresh in the peoples mind.  The director of CIA during the Warren Commission investigation failed to turn over to that committee documents that were important to their investigation.

 

Mr. Panetta and Mr. Blair will have an opportunity to manage American intelligence and make sure the gathering of intelligence is in line with the President's foreign policy and the standards that make America and its people strong.  Panetta and Blair need to make sure intelligence is not manipulated to reach a predetermined outcome.

 

America should never again have a President and an intelligence community that manipulate intelligence to push a Presidents ideology that commits our men and women in uniform to any action that is unnecessary.  Congress should approve both nominations.

2009: In Hope Of A New Beginning

Every year America celebrates a new year with hope, joy and a desire that the new year will truly bring advancements for the common good and that the quality of life will be improved for all people everywhere.

 

Those above words were written on January 4, 2008 in an article titled 2008: Celebration Or Return To The Status Quo.  Our only celebration was the election of Barack Obama as our next President. The American people stepped up to the plate and voiced their independent thought and decided to vote for change.

 

Outside of the election most of 2008 was a return to the status quo under Mr. Bush and the year turned out to be a disaster for the people and our country.  That disaster is still playing out so there is no need to repeat it here.  America will have a new leader on January 20 and our hopes are high that a new direction will be charted for our country and its people.  The status quo has to be reversed with new idea's and direction.  Our fiscal and economic house has hit rock bottom because of the Bush administration policies and now our people have to realize President-elect Obama will not be able to turn things around over night.  He deserves our support and patience and at the same time we the people have to hold him to his promises of change for the better.

 

The people's support and patience is important because the news media, especially the neocon journalists on cable news will look for any thing negative to create a story that is not even there.  President-elect Obama has a great challenge ahead and America and its people will enter 2009 with the hope that our country will once again answer the call.

The United States: Past, Present, and Future

A triple history is being played out before our very eyes at a time of great challenges.  The Bush administration is coming to an end; a new year is dawning and a new administration will assume the governing of America.  Written records have been found that date back 5 thousand years that deal with the past, present and future of that time period.

 

The ancient people of Sumer (The Sumerians) where civilization began took the events as a portend of what would happen because they believed the past was the key to the future.  The Sumerians said they were taught that man lived by destiny and fate.  That destiny (NAM) was a predetermined course of events that was unalterable, could not be changed and was preordained.  That fate (NAM.TAR) was a predetermined course of events that could be altered or changed.  Their beliefs can guide the incoming administration for a better future and to learn from the mistakes of the outgoing administration and the past.

 

President Bush decided to be a war president so he set out on a predetermined course to go to war in Iraq.  He failed to understand that decision was not his or the country's destiny.  His decision could have been altered or changed (fate) at any time.  He failed the test of a true leader.  Bush's lack of understanding those two basic principals has caused our country great damage around the world.  His concept of being a President-King who can do what he pleases has to be reversed by President elect Obama.  America's destiny is not to run the world but we are fated to be a good steward of the world because of our ideals and our President and the people can alter and change our fate when the need is called for.

 

Tyrants around the world fail to recognize the difference between destiny and fate and as a result end up being fated by history.  Knowledge about the past is the key to the future because it gives us the opportunity to change our fate.  WWII should teach us that nuclear  weapons should never be used again and that using nuclear weapons is not our destiny in the future.

 

The destiny of earth is to orbit the sun.  It is not alterable.  But man's fate on earth can be changed and altered at any time.  That is the key to the future.  Great leaders understand the difference between destiny and fate.  President Kennedy knew the U.S. was not destined to invade Cuba during the Cuban Missile crisis and knew our fate in that situation could be changed.   President-elect Obama hopefully will realize man on earth is only destined to die and that whatever is fated to man can be changed or altered for a better world.

 

Note:  The dictionary lists the words destiny and fate as interchangeable, however, the Sumerians believed otherwise.

Economic Recovery and the Middle Class

The economic recession that is playing out shows just how much the middle class should receive a tax reduction benefit as one of the first priority of the new administration.  Everyone knows that the middle class is the first to feel the effects of a recession but Republican policy have never taken that into consideration.

 

Job losses, weaker pay and weaker benefits hit the middle class the hardest and now other consequences from the recession are taking its toll on the middle class.  Louisiana just announced it will have to cut back its budget because of the recession and guess what programs are going to take a hit.  Yea, you guessed right, health care and other programs that are designed to help the middle class.  It is happening all across state governments.

 

Our economist tell us that spending represents 71% of the economy.  When the middle class is pushed farther and farther down their disposable income becomes insufficient.  The transfer of wealth from the middle class to CEO's and executives instead of sharing the good times with the average worker is one of the causes.

 

Federal and state tax codes should be revised to benefit the middle class and adjusted from time to time so their income can stay ahead of inflation and other causes that erode their incomes.  The present tax codes favor businesses but they do not use those benefits to expand business, create jobs or sustain the economy.  It is used to increase their greed.  The current economic conditions is proof.

 

It is time the middle class is put front and center and be at the heart of any economic recovery and tax reduction.

Republicans: The Anti-American Ideology Still Exists

Senate republicans torpedoed a bill that was passed by the House to provide $14 billion in loans for General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.  Republican Senator Bob Corker led the way by insisting that the UAW give him a date certain by which the union would reduce their own wages to be competitive with the foreign auto plants in the U.S.

 

I don't know of any taxpayer who likes the bail out of any industry but when the economy has already lost 1.9 million jobs so far this year and the country has a President who never had an economic policy, some thing has to be done to strop the erosion of jobs and the economy.  Those Senate republicans really showed their true colors because their opposition was not about the bail out, it was about breaking the union.

 

Not one of the Senate republicans proposed that the CEO's and executives of the auto industry work for salary only, no bonuses or other compensation for the near future.  But they want the union to take another cut by a date certain. 

 

President Bush, who is eager to find something to accomplish before leaving office said his administration would furnish the industry some kind of emergency life line if talks with congress failed.  The hint was he would use some of the money from the $700 billion already approved by congress.  The democrats in congress asked the President a month ago to use some of that same money for the auto industry and he refused.  It is just another example of this President being out of touch with what is happening with the economy. 

 

The average American, hopefully is starting to realize just how phony the republicans in congress really are.  Is it any wonder why the economy is in such bad shape under George Bush and the republicans.

The George W. Bush Presidency:

I have often written about Mr. Bush being a small person and it is all coming front and center now as he prepares to leave office.  His lack of character and integrity is now playing out in his final days on the job. 

 

It was reported how the Bush administration has issued talking points to his cabinet members to go out to the news media and talk about his accomplishments the last 8 years.  Never mind that Presidents usually stand on their record with out having to tell the people how good they have been.  Those  talking points follows the talking points of Bush himself during the run up to war with Iraq when he and his administration tried to brain wash the people with lies about Iraqi WMD.  This is a President who believes in his own lies and thinks if they are repeated over and over they will become facts.

 

Ben Feller, Associated Press writer reported that Bush, speaking at West Point told the cadets, "That today's military is stronger, more agile and better prepared than the one he inherited in 2001.'  But the fact is Bush's unnecessary war in Iraq stretched the military so thin it did not have enough troops to fight the real war on terror in Afghanistan and now 7 years later we are talking about sending more U.S. troops to that country from Iraq.

 

Never in my lifetime has a sitting President passed off so many problems that he himself created to the new President-elect.  Mr. Bush is leaving office just like he governed, "passing the buck."  He is such a small person in stature.  Despite his self serving statements history will record his Presidency as a house of cards, a house that can easily collapse.  The change over from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration has been an 8 year disaster for the country and its people.  What a shame.

The Economy Continues Its Downward Spiral

The Labor Department announced that the economy lost 533,000 jobs in November.  That brings the total job loss for the first 11 months of 2008 to 1.9 million.  The unemployment rate increased to 6.7%.  The number of unemployed workers increased 2.7 million since December 2007.  Currently there are 10.2 million Americans unemployed.

 

About the same time President Bush acknowledged the fact that we are in a recession, the second one to take place on his watch.  A new report said the recession actually started in December 2007.  Just a few months ago both Bush and McCain said the fundamentals of the economy were sound.

 

The job losses are a blow to each individual who has a family and other responsibilities to take care of. Its a personal loss with repercussions.  There is a real face behind every job loss and the greed and policies that put our nation and the people in this economic mess has to be reversed. 

 

The November job losses were the highest in 34 years, since December of 1974.  It is note worthy, that occurred doing the republican administration of Nixon-Ford.  President Bush and the Reagan-Bush administrations trickle down economics ideology has been in place 20 of the last 28 years and has been an economic failure.  Not only have they been the party of record deficits and debt creation, they have been the party most responsible for letting corporate America do as they wish with no checks and balances.

 

Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 have bankrupted the federal treasury at a time when the country and its people most need a treasury in the black to take care of the cost that is needed to revive the economy.  Don't be surprised if you see the republicans in congress and the neocon journalists call for cutting back Social Security and Medicare and other needed programs that truly help the people.  It is going to happen as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow.  That is the real reason behind the Republicans ideology. 

The India And Pakistan Problem

India, Pakistan, and Israel was the subject of one of my articles on 11/14/07 concerning their nuclear capabilities and the fact that they were not a member of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty like the U.S. and other nuclear powers.

 

Those three countries operate their nuclear facilities without checks and balances and are a threat to world peace.  The tragic terror attack on India at Mumbai recently points out the need to bring those WMD under control before they are used.  India has said elements from Pakistan had carried out the attacks and that those elements trained inside Pakistan.  Pakistan insisted it was not behind the attacks.

 

Both India and Pakistan have attacked each other for years over disputed territory.  Such attacks and now this major terror attack at Mumbai could push them over the top to resort to nuclear weapons. All it would take is one of their leaders to miscalculate.  President elect Obama and other world leaders should make it a priority to have all three nations join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty so checks and balances can be put in place.  Diplomacy has to set in motion a means of communication that would take place instead of violence.  The U.S. should also take another look at its relationship with all three countries.