The Tipping Point?

We are coming to a tipping point in America. We are coming to the time, as we have before, where one national meme gives way to another. The meme that we have been following since 1981 is "what is good for corporate America is good for us all." The sub-meme is "government is a hinderance to corporate America, and therefore bad for Americans."

We, the unwashed masses, are waking up to some realities.

• Reality #1: There is no corporate "America," just multinational corporations that have headquarters in America.
• Reality #2: The distribution of money in our economy has become unjust.
• Reality #3: Government itself isn't necessarily bad, but our elected leaders are mostly corrupt.
• Reality #4: Because of this corruption, we don't have a political spectrum representing the people, just government by and for narrow corporate interests.

Reality #1

Corporations are not evil, nor are they good. They are amoral entities that exist to help the corporation's bottom line. They do not sit in mahogany-paneled rooms and plot to destroy America. But if, say, environmental regulations  get in the way of profits, then they will fight those regulations - especially if fighting is cheaper than compliance. Likewise, they do not sit in a circle asking how they can benefit the nation - that is not their responsibility. Their fiduciary duty is to their shareholders, and to the company's bottom line.

Unfortunately, things that are good for a corporation's bottom line that are bad for us are polluting, paying less (or in many cases NO) taxes, trimming their work force, outsourcing American jobs, and avoiding compliance with health, safety and labor regulations. All of these things impoverish or endanger American citizens, and lower our quality of life. But I would again point out that this does not make corporations evil - it is what they do. It is the role of government to regulate the behavior of corporations, so they don't shit all over the commons, and the citizens of America. 

And people see this now. It is common knowledge, for instance, that in 2010 GE paid NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX, and in fact, got a rebait. Joe lunchpail, who paid his taxes in 2010 gave part of that to GE. Same for some banks, same for big oil. And yet, Democrats rush to defend Wall Street's tax shelters. BP not only fouled the gulf, but killed 12 people in that infamous rig explosion. Yet you had a Republican Congressman apologizing to them for the harsh words that some in DC were using at them. Our government is supposed to protect the average guy from the powerful's abuse. But that is not happening, so corporations continue to suck all the nation's money right up to the top, which brings us to...

Reality #2

We have the worst inequity of income distribution since they have been keeping track. Our disparity between rich and poor puts us on par, according to recent economic studies, with Mexico and the Philippines. The top 400 richest people in American have more money than the bottom 50%. The bottom half is over 150 million people. The six Walmart heirs have more money than the bottom 30%! No, no...six people have more money than the poorest 100 million Americans. That is insane. Also, since the mid 1970s, the American middle class has barely held steady with inflation as far as income. That is, except the last five years. In that span, we have lost seven percent. We are getting crushed. Why are we getting crushed?...

Reality #3

Our government is the longest-lasting system of constitutional government in the world. Our framework works to, more of less, serve the people. We don't always like it, it's not always fair, but it has worked for about 230 years. 

Now, however, our government works to serve the top 2% almost to the exclusion of all else. Those that govern haven't completed the transformation, but they are working hard to get rid of entitlements (that we are, by the way, entitled to), and to shape the tax structure to insure a permanent upper/ruling class in the United States. Shit like this has gone on since the founding - like Hamilton and Washington and their buddies swindling Revolutionary War vets out of their bonds. But it feels like this is a tipping point. 

American has been raided. Corporate raiders have cleaned the safes and cupboards, and now they're shorting the United States. The credit downgrade was just the first move. Once Social Security is scooped up into bags marked "swag," and state education budgets are transferred to a few corporations, and all the prisons privatized, we will cease to educate ourselves, have no cushion for our elderly and handicapped, and fall into third world status. We are getting crushed, squeezed as it were, because the ruling elite want to suck the last juice out of us before moving on, like fat locusts. And why is this happening?

Because our government leaders are in the employ of these locusts. Their campaign money, and their future wealth comes from the corporate oligarchy. This is true for their staffers, and for cabinet officials, and for generals and colonels in the military. Serve the master, get your reward. Not just in campaign funds (bribes), but in future jobs, speech fees and consulting fees. And, this is legal. But it is wholly and utterly corrupt. Our elected leaders are, by and large, whores who we pay six figure salaries, get great benefits and pensions, but only blow the oligarchs. We are left with empty pockets holding our dicks. 

So, does anyone represent us?

Reality #4

Basically, no. If you are lucky enough to have Bernie Sanders as a Senator, you have maybe the last principled senator in America. Now, some conservatives do go to bat for their voters on social issues, and swing hard. And a few so-called liberals do the same. But they both cater first and foremost to the top 2%. Republicans do this openly, having claimed the mantle of "pro-business" for a long time they have no trouble voting to erase regulations that save children's lives or keep the nation from becoming a toxic waste dump. Democrats, however, are having a much harder time doing this. As the final looting of America begins, the votes they must take are more egregious, and harder to defend. 

So, you get Senators like Patty Murray, who has liberal cred for voting against Bush on the Iraq War, put in place to shepherd the corporate agenda through the Super Committee. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who rail against Wall Street, and yet wink and nod as their bill gets watered down, especially where the horribly dangerous derivatives gambling is concerned. And, oh my god, President Obama, who often executes his office to the RIGHT of how Bush Jr. did - with Democrats like this, who needs Republicans? 

Seriously though, as voters who care about our own economic plight, we have NO CHOICES to make between Democrats and Republicans. We don't have a "left" and a "right" any more. We have a far, far right corporatist party, and a right wing corporatist party. The right wing corporatist party dallies on a few social issues, but does not waver from ANY legislation that protects the bonus of a CEO.

So, where does that leave the 98% of American voters? Well, if you are super right wing, you can go with either party, as they will speak to your economic and foreign policy mythology, or vote Republican and have them cater to your draconian, Old Testement-based social agenda. If, however, you are an American who does not want to be economically fucked hard, while bent over the meat-counter of corporate America, you have no choice. The question really becomes: do I bother getting off the couch. Many potential Democratic voters in 2010 answered "no."

Soon, it will be 2012, and the answer will be "hell no!" The Democratic Party, and its de-facto leader President Obama have not done the job for the 98%. Sure, he has scolded us, and told us we are unreasonable, and backed down from just about EVERY fight from the so-called opposition, but some how...that's just not enough. We now see that losing those fights is his job. He is supposed to lose, so that the corporate oligarchy wins. We see this, and have lost hope. We see this, and know that the Democratic party is a dead end. The 98%, economically, have no representation in our national government (with very few exceptions).

The next burst of energy from the average working American will come as a protest, and as organized action to change the rules. Perhaps a Constitutional amendment to change how campaigns are financed. Perhaps as a third party, one that does damage to both of our established parties. Perhaps all of the above. But it's coming soon. 

Let's hope so, anyway.

Credit Where Credit is Due

My last post was a blasting of the Jobs speech by President Obama. Of my many concerns, my most damning one was over the math. When he proposed paying for it by letting the "Super Congress" find the money, that meant that it would be paid for by cuts that would affect all of us, because you know that "Stupor Congress" will not raise a nickel in new revenue. And with over half of the bill in the form of tax cuts, that would mean we would ultimately pay for another 300 billion in tax cuts for big business.

Then, this last Monday, the President changed his tune. Usually, this means he is weakening his position in order to agree full-throatedly with Republicans. But, credit where credit is due, he stood strong. In fact, he turned up the heat. He insisted that the undertaxed rich could pony up a few more coppers each to pay for this legislation.

I like it.

I like that he had specifics. He proposed taxing hedge fund managers like normal people. He proposed limiting deductions on families making over a quarter million a year. He proposed canceling taxpayer  subsidies for the large uber-profitable oil companies. These are things that a liberal president should be for.

They will also make Republicans turn green.

But that is good politics. Now, Fox news and the Republican talking-point machine have made powerful imprints on the national psyche. But their imprint does not poll well, and will be very hard for most Republicans to defend over and over and over. If the Dems run ads in all the Republican districts that show a Wall Street hedge fund villain lighting a cigar with a fan of hundreds, and then split the screen with that district's closed factory or food bank with empty shelves - damn, that will be pressure. Republicans are already having awful times at their town meetings, with people asking them about jobs, and telling them to tax the rich. And there is, unfortunately, no liberal equivalent of the Tea Party. These are their constituents who are pissed about being poor and jobless while the money flows upward.

And it heartens the base. When the President says "pass this bill, right away," and goes after a Republican party that openly despises the average working American, we feel glad that someone with power is finally fighting for us. If he keeps at it, he will change the message away from "deficits" and "spending" to "jobs." And "jobs" will become synonymous with the kind of government stimulus that he is proposing. The idea, that Obama has endorsed at times, that cutting taxes and spending is the way to economic recovery will give way to the idea that the government needs to take action to pull its people out of the economic morass.

Look, I still strongly disagree with the proposed bill. Over half tax cuts will not get it done. The trade agreements will not result in job one, and are largely tax shelters for the fortune 500. But if hedge fund managers pay for it, then I'll take it, along with the 200 billion in infrastructure and teachers hired. Unlike the claims of the Obama cultists, liberals like me who criticize the President don't want the perfect over the good. We just want some of the good.

Here's what I will watch for - as one who has been disappointed over and over again by this White House. I will watch for a back-track. I will listen carefully for a White House spokesperson to come out and say that "what the President meant was that maybe hedge fund managers could chip in a little, but that ultimately the Super Congress will decide..." or something like that. That means here we go again. I will also watch and see if the President quickly agrees to sign the tax cut parts of this bill now, and say he will fight for the other parts going forward. If that happens, we've been fucked. And I say we've been fucked because this President just doesn't fight (unless it's to kill a progressive proposal), and this was all a sham to slip through another 300 billion in tax cuts for big business.

I would rather he got none of this bill, than just the Republican-approved parts. If he uses the bill as a blunt instrument, it may not even save his presidency, but it could flip a lot of seats in the House. There are over 60 Republicans in districts that voted for Obama in 2008. These are not massively red districts, and could go blue with a strong, populist message centered around jobs, and how the Republicans have done nothing to create them, after running on jobs in 2010. I'd rather, in this case, to have the good be the enemy of the lame.

I want a fight. I want my President to fight. He's sounding like he finally wants to fight the opposition, and I like the sound. "No tax cuts of ANY KIND without stimulus!" should be the rallying cry. If the Republicans kill it, then beat them senseless for a year with it, and watch them lose. In reality, beat them senseless for a couple of months, and watch them start to flip. Watch as the pressure mounts at those town halls, on the forums, and maybe even on cable news. Watch those fuckers fold when someone finally hits them in the face.

I want good policy, and I think the President's proposal is luke-warm policy, at best, but has good parts. But I am partisan, and I want good politics too. As a liberal, I want a strong liberal counter-punch to conservative devastation to the nation. Fighting on jobs is great politics - IF the Dems, led by Obama, stay strong. Jobs is the issue that Americans care most about, and the Republicans are on the wrong side of the issue.

Stay strong!


****Late update to this post****
The Huffington Post has an article that says, uhg, that says the President will sign what the Republicans agree with, and fight for the rest after. God dammit.

The Jobs Speech

So, last Thursday, the President made his vaunted jobs speech. You know, the one he asked permission from the Republicans for? The one he was told "no," and then had to reschedule?

So, how did it go?

Well, let me back up a little, and start from the beginning. The start of the process was bungled about as bad as it could have been.

He tried to "bigfoot" the Republicans, as Cenk Uygur put it, by having the speech in the well of Congress on the same night as the comical Republican debate - one of about 3,000 debates they are having BEFORE the actual primary season. He has to, by law, get permission from Congress to address a joint session of Congress, so he asked. Now, NO PRESIDENT has EVER been refused. What do you thing this Congress did to our first black president? Of course, they refused. And the manner in which they did it? Well, Thomm Hartman said, on his radio show, that they might as well have put the word "boy" at the end of the reply. No, instead they let him have his speech on the same night as the opening of the NFL season. Only Green Bay against the Saints. This guarantees that three and a half people would watch the President's speech live. (In fairness, the speech was before the game, and probably seventeen and a half people watched it - I listened to it on the radio while running errands.)

So, if you are the President who is touted by his supporters as a political genius, a "chess-master" whose political machinations are far above the comprehension of us mere checkers players, don't you anticipate the refusal by the Republicans? And if you did, was your brilliant strategy to bow your head, and say "yes sir, Thursday will be fine sir"? Again, the Republican response was UNPRECEDENTED! A president has NEVER been refused an address to a joint session of Congress. But apparently this WAS the strategy - for the President to look reasonable, and for the Republicans to look unreasonable.

Dude, you look weak. You look like Oliver Twist asking for a little more gruel, and being slapped by a fat, Victorian white guy.  Here's what you should have done:

You should have expected the refusal, and said "no problem, I have another place to make the speech." Then, as you should have pre-arranged, fly Air Force One to John Boner's district, and make a speech in front of a closed factory. You start the speech with: "Can you believe those sons' o' bitches...debating how to give more tax breaks to the rich while you have no jobs! I want to create jobs, and they won't even let me speak..." you get the idea. This puts Boehner in a horrible vice, squeezing him between the tea baggers and his constituents, and changes the conversation from cutting spending to jobs. It makes Congress the enemy of the President, who is fighting for the people.

Ah, well...to dream.

Still, his speech had some marginally good points. I liked how he kept saying "pass this bill, right away." It is a rhetorical device that this president hasn't used. It spoke to the urgency of the jobs situation. His whole tone was a little louder, a little faster and a little more urgent. These are key things he needed to do...about two years ago.

Substantively, his speech contained a few things that can possibly help the jobs situation. He called for infrastructure spending, around 200 billion dollars worth. This is great. Construction workers, teachers and manufacturers of building and energy products will do well with this. He called for a one-year extension of unemployment benefits. This is not only humane, and "liberal," but a boon to the economy as well, as ALL of this spending will go to the consumer economy. He also said that he would not sacrifice collective bargaining to get this.

Pardon me if I don't fire the gun in the air, release the balloons and high-five my neighbors.

Here's the main things that I heard from this speech. And I am admittedly a massive Obama skeptic at this point, but I heard three main things: 1) "Republicans and Democrats working together" and "this was a Republican idea," 2) "tax cuts," and 3) "everything will be paid for," which means that massive cutting of services will follow. I also heard the nail in the reelection coffin: "we must reform Medicare."

Let me run these down. First, Mr. President, stop agreeing with your opposition. You are running to become the DEMOCRATIC President in 2012. Constantly agreeing with, and adopting Republican policies is terrible for all of us. First, they are generally bad policy. The bottom 98% of us suffer when policies designed to benefit the top 2% are supported by BOTH sides of our political spectrum. Second, it is horrible politics. We Americans don't care if you are reasonable and bipartisan. When it is your only move, you look weak, and we hate that in a President - just ask Jimmy Carter. And by the way, has it helped? Do the Republicans work with you? NO! They just yell at you even louder, and then blame you when their horrible policies fuck us all. Finally, it shifts the political spectrum further to the right. No matter what you do, they call you the extreme left. When you adopt right wing policies, those become the positions of the liberal left to the beltway media. Agreeing with Republicans makes Democrats' jobs that much harder.

It's not that you never compromise, that would be crazy. And Republicans are crazy, they never compromise. They drag you further to the right, and we have to suffer that trip with you. No, you fight for a Democratic position. You make our case, loud and often, which puts pressure on THEM to move LEFT! That way, the compromise is actually somewhere in the middle. I mean, Jesus Christ man, you are supposed to be a Democratic president. MAKE THE DEMOCRATIC CASE!

The next point is the tax cuts. If you do the math, over half of this proposal is tax cuts. For fuck's sake, our taxes are at historic lows! If tax cuts were a panacea for economic woes, we'd have the greatest economy in history right now. But we don't, we have one of the WORST economies in our history. And big business, the S&P 500, is sitting on TWO TRILLION dollars in cash right now. Really?! You want to reduce the payroll tax for them? What the fuck!?!

Look, the original stimulus package was over a third tax cuts. Many economists argue that that is one reason why it fell short - not enough spending. We don't need tax cuts. Our economy doesn't need tax cuts. Only the wealthiest Americans want them. And when you pay for them by having the disgusting "Super Congress" cut spending later, they come out of our pockets. Services that benefit Americans will disappear so that the money can flow to the top. In the middle of the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression, and the kick-off of your reelection campaign, more than half of your proposal is to transfer yet MORE money to the top 2%. Man, you must be the stupidest politician, or you must hate us. Good luck getting our votes with that strategy.

Which leads to a repeated point here - when he said, near the beginning of his speech, that "everything will be paid for." He said that it will be up to the Super Congress committee to find an extra half-trillion to pay for this jobs bill. That means that this bill is NOT STIMULUS. It is NOT a jolt to the economy, because it will kill jobs on the back end as services are cut. So, for 200 billion in infrastructure spending, we cut an additional half-trillion in overall spending. Well guess what? That half-trillion is spending in the economy. This plan ends up shorting us on close to 300 billion in spending that would create - wait for it - JOBS!!! Fuck! And look, as I have said many times, I am a crank who works two jobs. I don't have time to research this. And yet I can figure out that this plan actually puts us on the hook for another 300 billion of wealth transfer to the top 2%. That is the net figure in this transaction the way the President has proposed it. This is terrible, terrible, terrible.

And the cherry on top of this turd sundae - the "reform" of Medicare. Now, to be fair, Medicare is not like Social Security. Medicare is in trouble, and does not have SS's HUGE surplus. (Whenever you hear that SS is in trouble, know that that argument is total bullshit.) Medicare does face insolvency. And, there are some reforms that could really help. But the devil is in the details. For instance, if you get rid of the Medicare debacle that Bush put in place, you will save billions that now are skimmed off the top to enrich corporations.

Also, if the Affordable Care Act had actually tried to be affordable, like with a public option, and drug reimportation, Medicare would largely be out of the woods. Medicare is in so much trouble because medical costs have NO CONTROL! And the derisively named "Obamacare" does much too little to control them. Reforms along these lines would be wise and welcome.

But if the President's proposal is to raise the eligibility age, then he has once again sided with the wealthiest CEOs, and is content to watch you suffer and die so that the top 2% doesn't have to part with a nickel extra to help the nation that has been so good to them. And believe me, this will not be lost on the seniors, or those approaching seniorhood (like me). We will turn on this president at the polls. Even talking about Medicare reforms in an election year is crazy, unless you can make it crystal clear how every American's lives will be better for these reforms.

So, bottom line? This speech was largely a disaster. It showed urgency, and some amusing repetitions of the phrase "right away," but was more of a weak president saying how much he is in favor of the ideas of his political opponents. And although the tone was urgent, which could put pressure on Republicans if he framed it better, instead had a pleading quality. It was as if he was saying "cum oooooon, guys...help me with jooooooooooobbbs. Please? Pretty please? I'll let you ride my bike!" And, the math works out horribly for us, and fantastically for the top 2%. Whose surprised?

Nobody whose been paying attention, that's who.