2010 EDITORIALS

TIME TO GO

THE TOXIC WAVE

   National polls clearly indicated that jobs and the economy, including home foreclosures, have been the top priority for governments to address. So voters across the nation, in their collective "wisdom", ushered in a wave of political sludge that will further gum up the works in Washington, making it, and us, meaner and weaker--if we are lucky. Worse still would be that they get their way; that Obama and Dems allow the right wing to take us into another, even deeper recession if not an outright depression.
    The Conservative mantra this year, led by the Tea Party, has been to cut government spending and get it out of our lives--while it creates jobs. But cutting government spending means cutting government jobs. Unemployed government employees will have less to spend on goods and services, business will slow and more private sector jobs will be lost. And without another stimulus, state governments are going to cut still more jobs. What the dolts can't seem to understand is that without the previous stimulus the official unemployment rate would have been significantly higher than 9.6.
    And cutting government jobs will reduce the governments ability to regulate business so if Conservatives have their way there will be more Wall Street fraud, more oil spills or other "accidents", more tax cheats etc.. Without more spending on infrastructure we will witness continued degradation and inefficiency, making us even less competitive.
    The GOP mantra always involves cutting taxes, especially for the super rich. Cutting taxes allows beneficiaries to "invest" in the stock market and firms who will continue to shift workers overseas in order to maximize short term profits and returns. Major corporations have been the chief way the private sector channels income and wealth to the top 1%--at the expense of the middle class. Targeted spending is much more efficient at creating jobs which will benefit the country for years to come. Of course, Republicans can't be deficit hawks and tax cutters at the same time except in front of the excessively stupid.
    Voters should have kept in mind that the economic mess was inherited by the party they put back in charge of the House, that the impending House majority leader brooks no compromise and that the Senate minority leader wants to end the Obama presidency in 2012 first and foremost, regardless of the damage it might do to the country. So unless Dems do exactly what they are told by these types->gridlock; at least on the core issues.
    Some say that gridlock is okay. What they don't want to conjure with is that circumstances change and that an increasingly out of step, inflexible government will only have bigger problems to deal with later. We've seen a lot of that already.
    But specifically: Do Republican voters really believe that less regulated banks will stop throwing people out of their homes after they sold them improvident, if not deceitful loans?
    Do they really believe that repealing the American Care Act will make us a healthier nation?
    Do they really believe that shrinking the government will bring back jobs? The answer seems to be yes; and that is the bigger problem.
November 3, 2010
JBM
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THE INFAMOUS 45

   There is no question that Washington, actually the congress, actually the Senate, has failed to address the ongoing problems that continue to grow around us. Economic concerns are in the forefront but are not exclusive. Everybody is pointing fingers but many of the truly reprehensible culprits, those directly responsible for stopping or stalling remedies that would benefit most Americans, are rarely outed for all to see. This has been a huge Democratic mistake as many citizens don't even know the names of those who would destroy the country we wish we had. Here is the list:
    Lamar Alexander, John Barrasso, Robert F. Bennett, Christopher S. Bond, Scott Brown, Sam Brownback, Jim Bunning, Richard Burr, Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, Thad Cochran, Susan Collins, Bob Corker, John Cornyn, Mike Crapo, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Michael Enzi, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Judd Gregg, Orin Hatch, Kay Baily Hutchison, James Inhofe, John Isakson, Mike Johanns, Jon Kyl, George LeMieux, Richard Lugar, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, James Risch, Pat Roberts, Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby, Olympia Snow, John Thune, David Vitter, George Voinovich and Rodger Wicker are all Republican Senators who have stood as one to keep America in decline (Scott Brown joined the list this year). /You may recognize some of the names of the worst Senators: minority leader McConnell is right on top; against any proposal that doesn't directly benefit the super rich but many are close behind, including DeMint, Coburn, Inhofe, McCain, Kly and Hatch. Others are so obscure that many residents of their own states can't even name them. But they all have one vote and that vote has been cast to abuse the filibuster and rule by minority. The result has been the demise of compromise and hundreds of pieces of legislation sent over from the House which have been left to die. This do-nothing nihilism for expected political gain has brought out the Tea Partiers who have been corralled and co-opted by the plutocrats and thrust into the political arena to supply frightful and disturbing incompetency.
    Voters in some states stand out as significantly detrimental to our overall welfare: Oklahoma, Kentucky and South Carolina have provided the worst of the worst but the old South, right around to Arizona, richly deserves condemnation.
    There are many more who deserve national excoriation and job removal including House minority leader John Boehner, propagandist Rush Limbaugh, Rupert Murdock and the Fox "News" people, but they don't directly stand in the way of getting this country back on a positive track.
    And that brings us to the 5 others that do: Supreme Court justices Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito and Kennedy. The egregious Bush v. Gore decision begat Roberts and Alito who will be around for a long time to inflict the likes of the horrific and ludicrous Citizens United V. FEC ruling on us.
    When you get angry at the direction we are going, these are the people to focus on. And, of course, never forget Reagan and Bush 43.
October 23, 2010
JBM
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UPPING ANXIETY

   It is highly likely that distant historians will look back at these troubled times as a "golden age", the one before a potential storm of calamities descended on our nations. As the "not if but when" clock ticks away we can see (if we choose to look) a potential slew of coming assaults near the horizon. Many have seen various anxiety provoking reports which have been shunted off into our subconscious. Too many day-to-day worries to deal with. But the prepared won't be as shocked if one or more of the following occur:
    (1) We are all aware that nuclear war was averted because the few nations that had the capability also had control of their atomic weapons. We are also aware that the number of nuclear weapon making countries is expanding and includes at least one rogue state with more to come. We know that terrorists want at least one nuclear bomb to use and that North Korea et. al. will want the sales income as long as it can't be traced back to them. We also know that world organizations won't act together to forestall such a transaction or use. Then there are the "loose" nukes that are unaccounted for....
    If and when such a bomb goes off the damage won't be confined to the specific location. It will send shock waves around the world. There will be the fallout plume to consider. Financial markets will oscillate around the globe and that insecurity will cause a market contraction. Retaliation will be expected but the perps may be hard to identify. One detonation would likely lead to a military response which could quickly draw in other nations. Urban residents might think they will be next and panics would ensue. The cost to relieve and rebuild would be humongous and much of the advanced world is in precarious financial shape. Billions of people would be emotionally afflicted.
    (2)But there is another type of warfare that is growing in likelihood--cyber warfare. As Richard E. Clark and Robert K. Knake point out in Cyber War, the U.S. is most vulnerable to attack by hackers, acting alone or for a government or terrorist organization. Our private sector has consistently resisted regulation that would require their electronic systems to "harden" against attack. The authors contend that we quickly need to install a deep packet inspection system for Tier 1 ISP's and isolate electric power and grid communication systems detached from the Internet. Hear all the popular uproar for even these basic precautions?
    However, until we get serious about protecting ourselves from cyber attack we may not even have a viable military threat to counter foreign or even domestic demands. It is even less likely that we will be able to trace the attack source and counter it effectively without drawing in innocent bystanders, who will want revenge. You can see where this might all go. The darkness and chaos may come sooner than anyone thinks.
    (3)Scientists can't predict when but they are sure a major earthquake(s) will hit the U.S. west coast this century. The loss of lives and damage will affect the whole country. This won't be some villages in Chile. This won't be some Gulf oil spill. This will dwarf those disasters combined. Fortunately, this assault will be limited in scope. But it might pile on to some other hit.
    (4)Such as a meteor strike. These are very rare occurrences these days but as time marches on the odds increase. Anything sizable striking earth could end life as we know it.
    (5)But let's put that one aside for now. Much more likely are 2 man made calamities.
    We are warming the planet. Weather systems are becoming increasingly unstable. Summers will get hotter and torrential rains and flooding will be more frequent. Sea levels are rising which will force populations away from coasts in massive numbers. Where will they go? Drinkable water sources are drying up and will force people away from America's Southwest. This is a slow moving disaster and there would be time to avert the worst damage if we in America had an efficaciously functioning government and an informed, cohesive citizenry. We have neither and no positive change is in sight.
    (6)And relatedly; as it warms and populations increase it becomes evermore likely that some form of plague(s) breaks out. Air and water borne chemical pollutants are likely to combine with overcrowding and inadequate sanitation to reduce immune systems which will be unable to cope with an air (or water) transmitted, delayed symptomatic disease(s). Global air travel could spread this mutation pandemicly, well before any antidotes or relief can be discovered and generated.
    (7)Finally, but not necessarily exhaustively, financial collapse could be related to any of these misfortunes, or it could occur by itself. America has been in an untenable situation for some time. We have covered up our maldistribution of income and wealth with financial bubbles and middle class borrowing until there is nothing left but a dangerous debt load and the prospect of depression up ahead. Big business controls the government and acts in its own short term interest, not in the interest of the country or the world. This has been touched on in previous editorials. Suffice to reiterate here, until we take from those who have too much to refortify our middle class, any assaults will be compounded by our misplaced financial priorities.
    So enjoy it while you can; it could be worse.
August 18, 2010
JBM

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HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT

THE TIME IS COMING