Foolish Fools Fooling You
Sinking the nation deeper in debt to offset inflated costs of living is a blind fool's approach to economics.
Gasoline prices are up about 84 cents a gallon from one year ago, while food prices are up five persent and dairy products spiked 20 percent.
Washington poiticians want to give American workers earning under $75,000 a rebate of $600 plus $300 per child as part of an economic stimulous plan.
Consumers will most likely spend rebates on food, gas and groceries while other nations like communist China continue to advance beyond America in manufacturing and other industries.
The essential problem that politicians are ignoring is that more and more wealth is being concentrated in the hands of fewer people. This eliminates the middle class and threatens democracy itself, but the situation is worsened by a lack of opposition action among politicians who are embedded in a fundamentally corrupt system.
We need a trust-buster like Teddy Roosevelt who understands the high cost of war, inflation, deficit spending and the risk associated with failing to require the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Until Americans stop being conned by profiteers who do more to benefit communist China than they do for our own country -- and I mean such companies as Walmart -- we will continue to witness the decline of democracy and prosperity in the United States.
The best economic stimulus plan would be a withdrawal from Iraq and a true dedication to peace, so our greatest minds and richest investors can work on things like renewable energy.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Barack Obama means real change,
Hillary Clinton offers same old story
He says the gravest danger to the American people is the threat of a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon and the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes.
Obama will make the investments we need so that our military -- the finest -- in the world is prepared to meet 21st-century threats. Obama will give our troops new equipment, armor, training, and skills like language training. He will also strengthen our civilian capacity, so that our civilian agencies have the critical skills and equipment they need to integrate their efforts with our military.
I know a lot of Democrats like the Clinton's, but the bottom line is that Bush divided Americans and Hillary Clinton offers only more of the same.
Learn more at http://www.barackobama.com
Hillary Clinton offers same old story
America decides Tueday, Feb. 5
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. The rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey.
In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit.
As a candidate for the United States Senate in 2002, Obama put his political career on the line to oppose going to war in Iraq, and warned of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” Obama has been a consistent, principled and vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.
In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator.
His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.
As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world.
Knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.
Obama wants to preserve the integrity of our borders. He supports additional personnel, infrastructure and technology on the border & our ports of entry, and believes we must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy.
He says the gravest danger to the American people is the threat of a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon and the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes.
Obama will make the investments we need so that our military -- the finest -- in the world is prepared to meet 21st-century threats. Obama will give our troops new equipment, armor, training, and skills like language training. He will also strengthen our civilian capacity, so that our civilian agencies have the critical skills and equipment they need to integrate their efforts with our military.
I know a lot of Democrats like the Clinton's, but the bottom line is that Bush divided Americans and Hillary Clinton offers only more of the same.
Learn more at http://www.barackobama.com
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Keep your opinion to yourself
Environmentalists, small business owners, taxpayers and commuters who pay tolls were not listed among the special interest groups briefed in advance about Gov. Jon Corzine’s proposal to raise tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Atlantic City Expressway by 800 percent and start charging motorists along Route 440.
In order to escape the vast public debt Corzine plans to borrow $38 billion, for which the commuters and truckers who use toll roads will pay more than $200 billion during the next 75 years, without asking permission from voters.
Borrowing $38 billion at a cost of $200 billion is no way to get out of debt.Polls show that nearly 60% of New Jersey residents oppose Corzine’s scheme, 15% support it and 25% don’t have an opinion, but undeterred by public opinion, Corzine is pushing the legislature to pass the plan in March.
Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and South Jersey radio personality Seth Grossman were arrested last weekend while peacefully protesting Corzine’s proposal.
Corzine’s reputation as a financial genius seems a silly. Maybe the guy has no more fiscal ingenuity that someone who hit the lottery.
Corzine also plans to borrow $2.5 billion, over and above the toll road scheme, to build new schools but he does not want to put that measure before the voters either.
Environmentalists, small business owners, taxpayers and commuters who pay tolls were not listed among the special interest groups briefed in advance about Gov. Jon Corzine’s proposal to raise tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Atlantic City Expressway by 800 percent and start charging motorists along Route 440.
In order to escape the vast public debt Corzine plans to borrow $38 billion, for which the commuters and truckers who use toll roads will pay more than $200 billion during the next 75 years, without asking permission from voters.
Borrowing $38 billion at a cost of $200 billion is no way to get out of debt.Polls show that nearly 60% of New Jersey residents oppose Corzine’s scheme, 15% support it and 25% don’t have an opinion, but undeterred by public opinion, Corzine is pushing the legislature to pass the plan in March.
Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and South Jersey radio personality Seth Grossman were arrested last weekend while peacefully protesting Corzine’s proposal.
Corzine’s reputation as a financial genius seems a silly. Maybe the guy has no more fiscal ingenuity that someone who hit the lottery.
Corzine also plans to borrow $2.5 billion, over and above the toll road scheme, to build new schools but he does not want to put that measure before the voters either.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Corzine's School Switcheroo
All six African-American senators opposed Gov. Jon Corzine's state school aid plan but the measure cleared both houses of the Legislture with the minimum number of votes needed for passage. The senate vote was 21-8, with the Assembly approving the measure with a 41-36 vote.
Corzine hailed passage of the complex bill, which he made a centerpiece of the legislative agenda he promoted during the short lame-duck session that followed November's legislative elections. Nothing got done on the ethics reform package that was promised so many times, but we were also spared massive toll hikes and billions in new public debt.
"The new law replaces a flawed system with an equitable, balanced and nonpartisan formula that addresses the needs of all students, regardless of where they live," said Corzine. "This formula puts the needs of all children on an equal footing and will give them the educational resources they need for success."
Corzine's new formula will cost poor cities hundreds of millions of dollars, but lobbyists from the New Jersey Education Association were able to overcome objections by minority lawmakers and other education advocates.
"The governor's formula is deeply divisive and fundamentally flawed," said David Sciarra, the lead attorney in the long-running Abbott vs. Burke state Supreme Court case.
Unfortunately, the conflict leaves New Jersey's 618 school districts in terrible disarray with vast shortfalls in the learning achievements of our children.
The quality of education will not be addressed, and neither will the inequity of funding schools with high property taxes, until politicians take real responsibility.
That is, unless the state Supreme Court imposes an Abbott vs. Burke style ruling that eliminates the current hodge podge of 618 districts and demands a single statewide system of free public schools, as the state constitution clearly requires.
The state constitution is really a remarkable document. It would do a lot of good if lawmakers and others responsible for implementing government policy took the time to read it.
Meanwhile, it's politics as usual in Trenton. Black lawmakers will get pushed to the back of the bus by white multimillionaires like Corzine, as taxpayers and children go on being cheated by incomeptence, corruption and greed.
All six African-American senators opposed Gov. Jon Corzine's state school aid plan but the measure cleared both houses of the Legislture with the minimum number of votes needed for passage. The senate vote was 21-8, with the Assembly approving the measure with a 41-36 vote.
Corzine hailed passage of the complex bill, which he made a centerpiece of the legislative agenda he promoted during the short lame-duck session that followed November's legislative elections. Nothing got done on the ethics reform package that was promised so many times, but we were also spared massive toll hikes and billions in new public debt.
"The new law replaces a flawed system with an equitable, balanced and nonpartisan formula that addresses the needs of all students, regardless of where they live," said Corzine. "This formula puts the needs of all children on an equal footing and will give them the educational resources they need for success."
Corzine's new formula will cost poor cities hundreds of millions of dollars, but lobbyists from the New Jersey Education Association were able to overcome objections by minority lawmakers and other education advocates.
"The governor's formula is deeply divisive and fundamentally flawed," said David Sciarra, the lead attorney in the long-running Abbott vs. Burke state Supreme Court case.
Unfortunately, the conflict leaves New Jersey's 618 school districts in terrible disarray with vast shortfalls in the learning achievements of our children.
The quality of education will not be addressed, and neither will the inequity of funding schools with high property taxes, until politicians take real responsibility.
That is, unless the state Supreme Court imposes an Abbott vs. Burke style ruling that eliminates the current hodge podge of 618 districts and demands a single statewide system of free public schools, as the state constitution clearly requires.
The state constitution is really a remarkable document. It would do a lot of good if lawmakers and others responsible for implementing government policy took the time to read it.
Meanwhile, it's politics as usual in Trenton. Black lawmakers will get pushed to the back of the bus by white multimillionaires like Corzine, as taxpayers and children go on being cheated by incomeptence, corruption and greed.
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