The least among us

As the fiscal curb negotiations proceeded, we heard often--and rightfully so, as we make up the vast majority of Americans--about helping the middle class.  Kudos to the Chicago Tribune for reminding its readers that another very large (unfortunately) constituency is also still in desperate need of help:  the poor.

As the editorial notes, the amount of hungry and homeless Americans continues to rise despite the (somewhat sluggish) economic recovery.  In the wealthiest nation in the history of mankind, this is simply unacceptable.

The editorial suggests we do not let the spirit of giving expire as the Christmas season ends.  It correctly states that we should not depend on government alone to help the poor--both public and private assistance is needed.

I work running a thrift store for a non-profit organization.  I am one person among several who works in the store, and it is a rare day when I do not take at least one phone call (it's always from a woman, usually on the verge of tears, spitting out words that are among the hardest she's ever had to say) from people who need reliable transportation to get back and forth from the doctor, need a place to stay until they can get back on their feet, can't pay their heating bill, or the worst, can't feed their children.  They are not people looking for a free ride--they're just looking for some help until they can help themselves.

Try as we might, we cannot take care of every person who needs help.   We just don't bring in enough money, despite the best intentions of many, many people.

And this is why we need government--to supplement (and then some) the best intentions of some very good people.

It's either that, or we step over dead men, women, and children as we go about our daily lives.  And that would not be, despite conservative wishes, the promise that is America.

Peace,
emaycee

Let's get serious

Defense spending in the U.S. currently makes up 40% of the defense spending in the entire world.  The next closest nation to ours is China, which makes up almost 8% of the world's defense spending.  We spend five times as much as our nearest competitor, and nearly as much as the rest of the world combined.  Unless our military is completely incompetent, there is no reason for this discepancy in spending between us and the rest of the world.

If the republicans are indeed serious about cutting spending, then they should be more than willing to slash defense spending significantly.  Cuts of 30-40% would  leave us no weaker in the face of any threat to our national security.  We would still have a tremendous edge in firepower over any potential enemy.

Alas, republicans are not serious about cutting spending.  They're only interested in cutting spending that their moronic base hates or their wealthy benefactors think would make them wealthier.

Most of all, they aren't about to give up their continuous gluttony at the trough of the military-industrial complex.  It's not about austerity--it's about filling their coffers with blood money.

And there's no way we should ask the poor and the middle class to shoulder more of the burden than they already do because of republican psychopathology.

Peace,
emaycee

Yakety-yak, don't come back

Blah, blah, blah, old Nolan, blah, blah, blah, it's not about tax cuts, it's about spending, blah, blah, blah, skip to my lou, who cares if there's no empirical evidence that tax cuts create jobs, cock-a-doodle-doo, cut spending, cut spending, never mind the failure and human toll of austerity measures, put the needle to the record, yo, cut it....

Yawn.  In fact, double yawn.

And try feeding that bullshit to the mobs in Spain.  Or else pay careful attention to them--because if such brutal austerity measures are ever enacted here in the States (where we're raised from birth to believe that we we have a God-given right to live like millionaires) the Spanish protests are going to seem quite tame compared to the Mansonesque circus you're going to see here. 

You never know when you just might need some useful tips on dumpster diving.

Peace,
emaycee

When will we ever learn?

While George Bernard Shaw has famously remarked that we learn nothing from history, it's amazing that we can't even learn when it's right in front of our faces.

Hunter from The Daily Kos has an excellent piece (a little long, but worth the time) on the utter failure of austerity measures in the European debt crisis.  Rather than expand economies--the conventional and incorrect wisdom--they've actually contracted the economy and made it worse.  But you cannot pick up a newspaper or watch a news show without idiot after idiot (including plenty of Dems, and our fearless leader, President Obama) saying we have to get the deficit under control.

No, we don't.  We have to get people jobs.  We have to fix our sorry ass infrastructure (how come so many people don't want to leave their children a huge federal debt but seem to have no problem with leaving them with crumbling bridges, debilitated aqueducts, and roads with zillions of potholes, all of which pose a much greater danger than a red balance sheet?).  We need to train and educate the workforce displaced by the Great Recession.

It takes money to make money.  Do that, and the deficit will take care of itself.

Peace,
emaycee

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

Oh, Molly, Molly, will I be the one...

I had a few other things I wanted to post about, but sometimes something so pitiful comes along that you really can't ignore it. This is absolutely pitiful--a White House aide celebrating that labor spent $10 million on a candidate (Bill Halter) who lost to a candidate (Blanche Lincoln) who has no chance of winning the election in November. Um, whose side are these guys on? If we didn't know before, we certainly know now. (Those shots of Lincoln saying her vote isn't for sale--really, Blanche? I wonder what the Chamber of Commerce thinks about that?--were enough to make one vomit).

I really can't add much more to what Mr. Lewison wrote (or Digby) but I can honestly say that whatever hope I had for the Obama administration is gone. They have failed us on jobs, failed us on healthcare, failed us on Wall Street reform--and now they're dissing the very folks who played a major role in getting them to the heights they've reached? The private sector is not going to get us out of this economic mess, and now, apparently, neither is the Obama administration.

And all this bullshit talk about ordinary people having to tighten their belts--until we start talking about higher taxes on the wealthy, cuts in executive pay, an end to golden parachutes, and massive cuts in defense spending--in short, fuck you, next idiot please!

Peace,
emaycee