Time For The United States To Take Action

The Defense Department says we still have over 20,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea 56 years after the war ended.  Why are those troops still there after 56 years of economic and military aid by the U.S. to that nation.  Lets examine how things are today compared to how they were during the Korean War and a few years there after. 

 

The North invaded South Korea in 1950 and the United Nations and the U.S. responded by sending troops to defend South Korea.  The U.S. and its U.N. allies destroyed the North Korean army in the first year of the war.  China, which was called Red China at the time entered the war when General MacArthur threatened to take the war to China.  President Truman fired MacArthur for those actions.  MacArthur said China would not enter the war and he was wrong.  China fought the last two years of the Korean War for North Korea.

 

Today, the China North Korean relationship is different and the South Korea and North Korea relationship is different.  We are told that the U.S. still has troops in South Korea to protect that nation from an invasion by the North because South Korea only has a 600,000 man army and North Korea has a million man army.  Lets examine that.

 

On an economic scale of one to ten, South Korea is a 9 and North Korea is a one.  So who has the means economically to do what it takes to protect and defend their country from invasion?  Yea, you got that right, South Korea.  So let them do what ever it takes to protect their country if they feel threatened from the North.

 

North Korea has better sense than starting another war and invasion of the South.  They could not afford it economically and they could not count on China or any other nation to support them starting another war on their own.  The leaders of N. Korea are not so unstable that they would sign their own death warrant.

 

The U.S. is in its 6th year of war with Iraq and near its 8th year of war with Afghanistan and our military leaders have said our troops have bee depleted and we can't afford to fight both wars at the same time and as a result our men and women in uniform have been over extended.   Yet we have 20,000 plus troops in S. Korea when that nation has the capabilities of defending itself.

 

President Obama needs to rethink all of our foreign troop deployments and bring all those home that will not harm our national security.  Budget restraints dictate that and we need to recognize the world concerning war as it exist today.  The real answer for North and South Korea is to reunite both countries into one nation.  They should take the steps and do it on their own with no outside interference.  The North is an economic basket case that can not provide for the needs of its own people.  The South is an economic power house that can do just about any thing they need to do.  As long as those conditions exist they will always be at odds with each other.  But that is no reason to have U.S. troops there forever.  Their highly charged accusations is also no reason to have U.S. troops there 56 years after the war. 

 

President Obama should bring our troops home from South Korea.  It is not only past time to do so, but under the present circumstances it will enhance our national security.  If South Korea can not defend its own country after 56 years of American aid, our foreign policy has been a failure.  President Kennedy in his inaugural address said:  "My fellow citizens of the world, Ask not what America can do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."  Our troops in South Korea have served their purpose and the U.S. has done more than its part. South Korea has to step up to the plate.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal: A Lack Of Wisdom

Governor Jindal has once again displayed a lack of wisdom and his ignorance of the facts.  In his speech last month in his reply to President Obama's speech to the nation Jindal said, "Democratic legislation is larded with wasteful spending.  It includes $140 million for something called volcano monitoring.  Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.

 

The recent eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska brought the story to light.  It was pointed out that only $7.5 million is going to be spent on upgrading  equipment used to monitor Mt. Redoubt and 32 other active volcanoes in Alaska, not $140 million as Jindal said.  The governor can not seem to get his facts straight before he opens his mouth. 

 

When Jindal was in congress, he and his fellow republicans failed to monitor the eruption of Bush's record deficit spending and debt.  Is it any wonder he is so familiar with those words.  These guys lie so much they do not recognize the truth or facts any more.  Then on Tuesday, March 24, Jindal said at a republican fund raising in D.C. concerning President Obama, "republicans are now part of the proud tradition of the loyal opposition."  (That describes them to a tee.)  He and his republican cohorts will be opposed to Obama's programs even when they fail to learn what the programs are all about.

 

The governor is spending so much time outside Louisiana raising money for his campaign, it indicates his mind is on a national run for office.  It is also noticeable Jindal is getting closer and closer to Newt Gingrich and the republican right wing, the republican party base.  Jindal may be a new republican face to many, but represents the same old republican conservative ideology that brought economic disaster to our country and its people.  One would think he would have known how much was actually involved in the stimulus package for those volcanoes.

Deregulation: A Misconception

There has been a lot of talk about deregulation being the cause of wall street and the financial markets failure and even of the economy in general.  For sure, deregulation has played a part in past failures such as the meltdown of the S&L industry in the 80's which was covered in a past politidose article.  That failure cost the tax payers over $150 Billion which was never paid back. 

 

The present problem with the present meltdown in the economy and wall street is a result of the failure of the regulators to regulate, because that was Bush's policies.  The government does not have to change the laws to deregulate, all it has to do is let industry have a free hand.  The results are the same.  That was Bush's ideology and a long standing ideology of conservatives in general, even though it has proved to be a failure because industry will not regulate itself.

 

Our founding fathers knew how important it was for government to have checks and balances and accountability.  If they were alive today they would be astonished to see the principals they worked for and established be trampled on. 

Why Are Gasoline Prices Still So High?

For the past year the American people have reduced their use of gasoline in a number of ways in answering the cost increase of gasoline that hit $4.00 gallon.  There is a surplus amount of gasoline on the market and the combination of both have brought the price of a barrel of oil and a gallon of gasoline down to its present level.

 

The national rig count of rigs working in the U.S. has dropped and so has the Louisiana rig count in response to the reduction in use of those fuels, plus the fact that inventories are outpacing demand.  So why is the price of oil still in the $50/barrel range and gasoline still in the $1.90/gallon range?  The answer is manipulation by the oil industry.  That same manipulation occurred to create $147/barrel oil and $4.00/gallon gasoline.  There was not any shortage of oil or gasoline at any time during the run up to record price levels.  The industry created a smoke screen using the Iraq war and talk of inventory shortages to manipulate the prices.

 

The oil and gas industry is now saying they can not make money at the present level of oil prices.  They say they borrowed money to do more drilling and expansion when prices were in the stratosphere and now can't afford to carry on with those plans at current prices.  It is just another smoke screen excuse to keep prices high while demand is falling.  They are betting the economy will improve and the people will go back to their old driving habits that will give the oil companies a higher base to start increasing their prices again.

 

The other factor is the Bush's administration meeting with the energy industry representatives chaired by V.P. Chaney.  Those meetings were held in secret and the decisions that were made at the meetings are still secret and with held from the public.  There has been no disruption in the availability of oil or gasoline in the past 8 years that compares to the disruption caused by the Arab oil embargo of the 70's, yet the manipulation of prices during the past 8 years have been more severe and longer lasting on the American people.  Hopefully, the people will continue to use less and less oil and gasoline in favor of other alternatives.

Facts Tell The True Story

The republicans in congress and their cohorts, including the right wing neocon journalists are once again playing the blame game since President Obama became President.  Lets look at the facts.

 

What the Clinton Administration bequeathed to President George W. Bush:

 

1. A government in the black with balanced federal budgets and record surpluses.

 

2. Paid down over $450 billion on the public debt.

 

3. The longest economic expansion in U.S. history.

 

4. Over 22.7 million new jobs created, a record with over 91% coming from the private sector.

 

5. Lowest unemployment rate in 30 years with five of those months in his last year in office at 3.9%.  Unemployment rate went from 7.3% when he took office to 4.2% when he left. a decrease of 3.1%.

 

6. The unemployment rate never exceeded the high when he took office.

 

7. A yearly average price of a barrel of oil of $23.88.

 

8. A safe America. 

 

For those reasons, Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating.  The highest approval rating in modern times.

 

What the Bush administration bequeathed to President Obama:

 

1. Eight straight years of record federal deficit spending and debt.  The results of the first 7 years of deficit spending was $2.13 trillion.  Mr. Bush's final fiscal year budget will end Sept. 30, 2009 and is projected by the CBO to come in at over $1 trillion.  That will bring his total deficit spending to over $3 trillion.

 

2. An economic recession.

3. A doubling of the national debt.

4. Over 4 million jobs lost in Bush's last 13 months in office.

 

5. One of the weakest job creation in the last 40 years.

 

6. An increase in the unemployment rate from 4.2% when he took office to 7.6% when he left.  A

 

7. The economic price paid by the consumer for the record oil and gasoline prices.  The average yearly price of a barrel of oil was $50.80.

 

8. Record home foreclosures.

 

9. A calamity with the collapse of the financial industry.  That caused the President to recommend and then sign into law a $700 billion rescue package.

 

It should be noted the very first budget which ended fiscal Sept. 30, 2002 was in deficit to the tune of $157.8 billion and by Bush's own admission had not decided to go to war with Iraq so the war played no part in that reversal of fortune for the American people. 

 

At this point we do not know what President Obama will bequeath to his successor, but time will tell.  Those who are opposed to the Presidents policies will not wait.  But after the last eight years of failed policies President Obama should be given a chance to make his policies work. 

What Might Have Been

Just think what might have been had President Bush followed President Clinton's lead with sound fiscal policies.  The national debt would have been paid off, budget surpluses would have continued and our nation would be in a better position to face any problem that came along.

 

For the past eight years an opportunity was missed big time to have the means to do necessary things with out creating more new debt but just the opposite happened.  And now we are told because of the current economic problems we are looking at more deficits and more debt for future generations that could have been avoided.

 

If President Obama is really serious about going back to balanced budgets, it can be accomplished with less pain than predicted.  It can also be accomplished in a reasonable time frame.  We know the republicans in congress would like to see the President fail in this regard because they have no record themselves of balancing the federal budget.

 

One of the first thing members of congress should do is show lobbyist and special interest groups the door.  The lobby system can be broken by refusing to meet with them.  Meet only with businesses employers and only on the same basis as they meet with the average Joe.  If its good for the average Joe, it should be good enough for business.  All it takes is the political will and courage to do it.

 

Reexamine our foreign policy that has thousands of American troops still stationed in Europe, South Korea and around the globe and bring most of them home.  It can be done without harming our national security.  The savings would be tremendous in dollars.  I will have more to say why this can be accomplished in a future post.

The Real AIG Story

Every one is up set about the recent announcement by AIG that they will distribute millions of dollars in bonus money to their executives.  Every one should be up set, but not because AIG is receiving the benefit of taxpayers dollars in the form of federal bail out money.  Although that is a good reason, it does not address the real problem that has existed for to many years.

 

The real problem is the systematic transfer of wealth from the average workers to their CEO's and executives in the form of exorbitant bonuses, stock options and other financial rewards that the average worker helped create.  They should have a stake in that wealth.  This massive transfer of wealth is happening while the companies say they are loosing billions of dollars.  It is also happening at the same time the average workers are seeing a decrease in their health insurance coverage, loss of retirement benefits and a shorter work week with less pay.

 

Many of those who are opposed to the AIG bonuses are the same ones who supported them over the last 20 years and actually defended those bonuses all through those years as the "free enterprise system."  Our country and its people are going through tough economic times and it is past time our leaders recognize the real problem with corporate greed and take a stand once and for all that the status quo is unacceptable.  Anything less is a betrayal of the American working men and women who give so much.

The Other Meltdown Connection

Does any one remember the meltdown of the dot coms on the NASDAQ in late 2000 and 2001?  Unless one forgets, that was also about Wall Street greed.  Technology stocks were popping up all over just as subprime mortgages were doing the same with the housing boom. 

 

Wall Street brokers and financial institutions were offering IPO's (Initial Public Offerings) on newly created dot coms that had no balance sheet, no record of earnings, no record of revenue and no prior record of experience.  Those dot coms were promoted by Wall Street and the public had faith in what they were hearing.  Wall Street caution in those IPO's and dot coms were gone with the wind. 

 

Wall Street was making money offering those stocks and selling them, just like they were making money lending to non banks who originated trillions of dollars in subprime mortgages and then bought those subprime mortgages and packaged them as bonds and other instruments and sold to investors, many overseas.  Wall Street was not concerned about the viability of the dot coms as they were not concerned about the financial health of the subprime borrowers.  Then all came tumbling down.  Greed was the driving force on both accounts.

 

The NASDAQ lost over 60% of its value because of the dot coms crash and investors in those stocks were devastated.  In the mean time the DJIA was loosing only about 3%. Not many dot coms there.  The American people need to adjust their thinking when it comes to investing their hard earned money.  Don't pay any attention to those on cable news who have shows concerning the economy and the financial markets.  They have a proven record of being impotent on the subject.

 

The Savings and Loan meltdown of the 1980's, the dot coms meltdown and the present financial meltdown of 2008 all had the same common denominator, greed, big time.

Another First For Politidose

Bob Herbert, a writer for the New York Times whose editorials are published in many of the nations major newspapers, was right on target with his editorial published in the Times Picayune of 3/12/09.

 

In the article, "Smothering The Dream," Mr. Herbert pointed out public officials were part of the reckless and shockingly shortsighted alliance of conservatives and corporate leaders that rigged the economy in favor of the rich and ultimately brought it down completely.  Mr. Herbert continued, "working people were not just abandoned by big business and their ideological henchmen in government, they were exploited and humiliated.  They were denied the productivity gains that should have rightfully accrued to them."

 

If all of this seems familiar it is because you read it here first on politidose way back in November 2007 and in other post this writer has written since then about corporate leaders and the transfer of wealth.  This was way before the collapse of the economy in 2008. 

 

Mr. Herbert continued, "the right wingers were crafty: you smother the dream by crippling the programs that support it by starving the government of money to pay for them by funneling the governments revenues to the rich through tax cuts and other benefits, by looting the government the way gangsters loot legitimate businesses and then pleading poverty when it comes time to fund the services required by the people."

 

This writer has pointed out on more that one occasion in politidose that the purpose of the massive deficit spending and debt of Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43 over the 20 years they served was to bankrupt the federal government so programs like Social Security, Medicare and other needed programs for the people would go unfunded.  Also how the CEO's and their executives received billions of dollars in bonuses instead of sharing those benefits with their average worker.

 

The readers of politidose were alerted to our economic and fiscal problems caused by greed, trickle down economics, the conservative ideology and lies of Corporate America long before the current economic collapse and fiscal disaster the country is going through today.  And the alert came long before the facts became public by our leaders.  It was not heard on the cable news networks or Wall Street.  They beat the same drum as the Bush administration. " The fundamentals of the economy is strong and sound."  Yea, tell me another fairytale. 

 

The American people can not depend on the so called experts two deal with the facts that affect their own lives.

 

Note:  Past politidose commentary dealing with the subject matter listed below.

 

11/23/07     Corporate America:  Leaving The Average American In The Dust

 

1/27/08, 2/17/08,2/25/08 and 3/2/08  The U.S. Economy:  Which Party Performs Best.  3 part series with

                                                      conclusion.

 

4/6/2008     Republican Administrations, Fiscal Disasters

 

5/16/08      The Republican Trademark:  High Oil and Gasoline Prices

 

7/9/08        The Roadblock to job creation and a Sustained Economy, Conservatives

 

7/23/08      Innovation:  Lost in America

 

8/3/08       The Republican Cycle of Record Federal Deficits and Debt

The Traveling Fund Raiser

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is on another campaign fund raising trip.  This time to California where he will make 4 stops in his effort to add to his campaign war chest.  He raised over $3 million in 2008 for his reelection bid.

 

Despite his denials, Jindal is clearly trying to put himself in a position to be on a national ticket for the next presidential election.  It is ironic that Jindal talks about the Louisiana economy being in better shape than most other states, yet he is looking out side of Louisiana for most of his campaign cash.

 

More and more the governor is looking and acting like the same old republicans who has nothing new to offer the people or the country.  The only answer he has been able to give to Rush Limbaugh's statement, "he hopes the President fails" is Rush is a leader of conservative values.  Neither Rush or Jindal can describe what conservative values mean.

 

The governor also came out with egg on his face when he said he would not accept part of the stimulus package that had to do with unemployment compensation.  The reason, so he said was that it would make Louisiana employers un competitive with other states because their rates would have to be raised.  However, it was pointed out that Louisiana employers pay less unemployment tax than many of our neighboring states and that Louisiana workers receive less unemployment compensation that do workers in other states. 

 

The more Jindal exposes himself to the voters, the more they will understand that he represents the ideology of Newt Gingrich, Bush, McCain and the rest of the neocons.  In other words, he is a younger republican face that represents the failed policies that got us in the mess we are in today.  No wonder he is spending so much time raising money out of state.