Great Depression

The Destruction Of Public Employees Labor Unions: An Assault On The Middle Class And 80 Years Of American History! :(

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As the nation faces the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, we are witnessing an assault on public employees and their labor unions, wiping out eighty years of hard gained rights since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in so doing, further eroding the middle class!

It was labor unions, which came to full development and success beginning in the 1930s, which helped to create decent working conditions for millions of Americans, both in the public and private sector.

Now Republican Governors, and backed by the Republican leadership in Congress, are salivating over the loss of pension and medical benefits, the end of collective bargaining, and the return of employers, including state governments, dictating conditions of work to employees, as if this was the Gilded Age or the 1920s revived! 🙁

In the process, the middle class is being wiped out, being added to the growing number of Americans who are falling into poverty, and yet the suggestion that raising taxes on the wealthy and business might lessen the assault on hard won labor rights is automatically dismissed.

If the states and the national government continue the Republican assault on the middle class, there is the real danger that people will not just sit by and take punch after punch, and allow their dignity and rights gained long ago to be taken away without a counter reaction.

We are entering very dangerous territory and conditions, and yet the Republican Party seems to be tone deaf and immune to the reality of human suffering, only concerning themselves with the comfort of the elite wealthy and corporations.

It may remind many of the arrogance of the elite in other societies, and how their short sightedness led to unfortunate tragedy!

Democrats and progressives must continue to speak up and oppose with all of their energy this great tragedy of the middle class being destroyed, without any concern as to the long range effect!

January 20: Historic Day Over And Over Again! :)

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Today is January 20, which has been Inauguration Day for the President of the United States every fourth year since 1937, due to the 20th Amendment which was added to the Constitution in 1933 in record time, after the horrors of waiting four months until March 4, 1933, to see the transition between defeated President Herbert Hoover to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the worst days of the Great Depression.

So every President since then has been inaugurated on January 20, with the exception of Harry Truman in 1945 (upon the death of FDR), Lyndon Johnson in 1963 (upon the death of John F. Kennedy), and Gerald Ford ni 1974 (upon the resignation of Richard Nixon). But Truman and Johnson were later inaugurated for a full term on January 20, with only Gerald Ford never experiencing the pomp and circumstance of Presidential Inauguration Day, as a result of his defeat for a full term of office in the 1976 Presidential Election to Jimmy Carter.

Round numbers tend to carry more weight, somehow, so today it is 50 years since John F. Kennedy took the oath and 30 years since Ronald Reagan uttered the oath.

It is also 30 years since Jimmy Carter left the White House, and 10 years since Bill Clinton left the Oval Office.

Kennedy and Reagan have become the favorite Presidents of the poorly informed general public, based on public opinion polls every year to commemorate President’s Day every February.

But it is worth some consideration to think about the contributions of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton AFTER they left the White House!

Carter has already had the second longest retirement of any President, and in mid September 2012, he will surpass Herbert Hoover as the longest retired President ever, and since he is seemingly in tip top shape physically and mentally at age 86, it seems likely he will beat the Hoover record.

Often called the best former President in American history, while far from the best President in office, Carter has stirred some outrage and animosity for some of his views and statements in the past thirty years, particularly regarding Israel and the Arabs.

But despite this, he has been engaged in many good deeds, including Habitat for Humanity and promotion of democracy and free and fair monitored elections all over the world through the Carter Center in Atlanta, and he has great acceptance as an outstanding man promoting peace and diplomacy and the fight against poverty and hunger in the world community.

His stature has risen, and he is the author of about ten books, the most prolific author ever, even surpassing Richard Nixon.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton in ten years time has pursued a similar commitment to peace, diplomacy, and the fighting of hunger and poverty through the Clinton Initiative. He has a great international image and is seen, much like Carter, as a man of wisdom and principle. He has written his memoirs and has given advice to President Obama, and has stood by very proudly as his wife has become an exceptional Secretary of State after being a Senator from New York for eight years.

Both men have their definite faults and shortcomings, as all of us do, but both have gone the extra mile and done the office of the Presidency proud, setting a distinct image and imprint on the potential of a former President to have a major impact even beyond his years in the Oval Office!

So there is a lot to celebrate on January 20 this year!

History, Losing The Vice Presidency, and Sarah Palin: A Reality Check!

Ronald 1 Comment

Many people seem to think that Sarah Palin, the losing Vice Presidential nominee in 2008, has a real shot at being elected President of the United States in 2012.

The fact that Sarah Palin is ill qualified to be President, and the thought of what a nightmare it would be if such an ill informed, ignorant person such as the former Alaska Governor were to be elected, is also mollified by historical reality.

What is that historical reality? Only ONCE in American history has a LOSING Vice Presidential nominee gone on later to be elected President!

And what is that one exception to the rule that losing candidates do not go on to become President? FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, who ran with Governor James Cox of Ohio, in the worst ever defeat of a Presidential candidate until that time, in the Election of 1920, which brought us Warren G. Harding to the Presidency and Calvin Coolidge to the Vice Presidency! Franklin D. Roosevelt went on to be elected President TWELVE years later, in the worst depths of the Great Depression.

But that is indeed the only time a losing VP candidate has been elected President, and when one looks at all of the losing Vice Presidential candidates since 1960, Sarah Palin pales by comparison!

The list includes, chronologically by election, the following:

Henry Cabot Lodge
William E. Miller
Edmund Muskie
Sargeant Shriver
Bob Dole
Walter Mondale
Geraldine Ferraro
Lloyd Bentsen
Dan Quayle
Jack Kemp
Joe Lieberman
John Edwards

And only Dole and Mondale were nominated by their parties to run for President.

So the Palin lovers out there–it is time to face reality, as Sarah Palin has no chance to become President, and she certainly is no Franklin D. Roosevelt! 🙂

Tim Scott And Allen West: New Black GOP Congressmen Creating Headaches For Speaker Of The House John Boehner! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

Next month, John Boehner of Ohio becomes Speaker of the House, and he has been tearful about the fact that he has risen to the top from a difficult economic circumstance as a child.

But he may be doing more than being tearful, once he has to deal with the Tea Party favorites that have been elected in many House districts.

Already, the two freshman Black Republican Congressmen, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Allen West of Florida, are causing grief with their statements and intended actions! 🙁

Scott and West both have spoken up against raising the debt limit when that unpleasant issue occurs in the spring, an action which if pursued by enough other Republicans in the House and Senate would cause the bankruptcy of the government, and lead to a world wide economic collapse.

Both Congressmen-elect talk about cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in spending as an alternative, which it is not, as to cut spending drastically at a time when most cities and states are already in bankruptcy or close to it, would cause human suffering and mass unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Depression. 🙁

And the fact that these men are from minority background, and refuse to recognize that it is precisely people of their own race who are suffering the most when it comes to unemployment, bankruptcy, home foreclosures, hunger, and poverty in this economic downturn, makes them truly disgraceful, and is a sign of their truly loony and wacky behavior, in many ways worse than that of their white counterparts who are so far to the right that one wonders if they have basic humanity as part of their nature! 🙁

46 States Face Bankruptcy: Do The Republicans Have The Answer? :(

Ronald 1 Comment

In an unprecedented situation, 46 states now face bankruptcy, and are being forced to cut government workers and services, raise taxes and fees, and cut government pensions that were guaranteed to workers when they began to work for the state and local governments! 🙁

The states were prevented from such dire straits up to now because of the economic stimulus provided by the federal government, as the result of the initiatives of the Obama Administration!

The Republicans in the House now propose to do no more spending, as they emphasize the federal deficit, something that they caused by their reckless budgets under the Bush Administration, when they were in control of Congress for the first six years! But they also propose to cause more deficit by cutting taxes endlessly, and giving a great gift of most of the tax cut to those who do not need it, will not spend it, and are in many respects, very greedy and selfish! 🙁

So with more deficit being created, while unemployment compensation is not being extended, and hundreds of thousands of workers in state and local government are to be laid off, meaning they have no purchasing power and add to the already burgeoning unemployment rolls, the GOP prescription to do nothing will cause the Great Recession to turn into the Great Depression Number Two! 🙁

The American people are going to suffer mightily under this scenario, whether government workers or the general public! There will be increased crime, more fires not being able to be extinguished, more students per classroom making learning harder than ever, more libraries and parks shut down or cut down in hours, more prisoners released for lack of prison guards and adequate prison facilities! 🙁

All of this creates social dynamite, and the Republicans, who show clearly they only support the needs of the corporations and the wealthy elite, will have created a dangerous situation that might make the troubles of 2008-2010 look like a dream that people would wish for! 🙁

The only states that seem not to have a budget crisis are small states with small population–Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming–each with only one Congressman state wide–and Arkansas–the so called “Giant” of the group with a grand total of four Congressmen! So only four states with a total of seven House members represent states not having financial difficulties! 🙁

This situation is, obviously, an unmitigated disaster that is bound to get worse, if that is possible to imagine! 🙁

The Growing Inequity Of Wealth In America: New Report! :(

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In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and with Republicans wanting to extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy while calling for cuts in government spending, a new economic report by an economics professor shows just how much the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy in the past ten years have made for an extremely stratified society! 🙁

The report shows that the top 20 percent of the population now control and own 85 percent of the wealth of this country!

The next 40 percent own or control about 14 percent of the wealth!

The bottom 40 percent have less than one percent of the wealth, with many in that category having negative wealth with no hope of bettering their lives at any time in the future! 🙁

Considering the seriousness of the inequity of wealth and income in this country, how can anyone justify more tax cuts to the wealthy, which would add $700 billion to the national debt over the next ten years, requiring even greater cuts in social programs? 🙁

How can anyone justify such proposals as to end unemployment compensation, eliminate the minimum wage, privatize Social Security and Medicare, gut the new health care law, and cut education funding, among other terrible suggestions by the Republican party? 🙁

If this kind of social injustice is allowed to continue, it is really going to make many people desperate, and that endangers the public safety, as desperate people will turn to crime and bloodshed to feed and house their families! 🙁

You cannot kick people around endlessly, and show lack of concern for fellow human beings, and expect a peaceful, nonviolent response in return! 🙁

The States And The Economy: Calamity Ahead! :(

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As conservatives and Tea Party activists are applauding the Republican takeover of the House, many new Republican governorships, and a gain in seats in the Senate, the American people are apparently unaware of the economic calamity that faces us in the next two years! 🙁

The emphasis is on cutting taxes in a totally irresponsible way, which will increase the national debt! But of course, the GOP answer is to cut spending as well, which will mean MASSIVE cuts in public jobs in the states ( teachers, firefighters, police officers, prison guards, librarians, park workers, other state and local government agencies), adding to the unemployment rates!

It also means a tremendous drop in public services–larger number of students in each classroom, fewer firefighters to respond to fires, fewer cops to fight crime, fewer staff for prisons, fewer hours of libraries and parks, fewer locations and hours for state and local government services, which will all worsen the quality of life for all Americans! 🙁

All of the states will have massive deficits, with the larger states in true crisis mode–California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey–and with all of the above states run by Republican governors, except California, New York and Illinois!

No stimulus money will be coming from the federal government, as the GOP will have the “power of the purse”, so we will see massive deprivation and poverty, and we will be on the road to far worse conditions than we are in at the moment! 🙁

This harsh, hard line approach in the states and the federal government will bring millions more unemployment and home foreclosures, and the potential is there for the Great Depression of the 1930s to be perceived as minor, compared to what might be happening over the next two years! 🙁

Also, the danger exists that if there is great human suffering and deprivation that we could see the horrors of the breakdown of law and order, and see bloodshed in the streets of America!

This is a human crisis of major proportions, and it is hard to see “the light at the end of the tunnel”, a term from the Vietnam War era! 🙁

Corporate Threats On Employees And Politics: 1896 And 2010! Back To The 19th Century! :(

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More than a century ago, corporations were dominating our politics and corrupting it in what was called “The Gilded Age”!

Many corporations pressured employees to vote for the Republican party as the party of big business and its belief in laissez faire capitalism. So when William Jennings Bryan was nominated by the Democrats in 1896, corporations became intimately involved in working to defeat him, depicting him as a socialist, a Marxist, a radical, and an extremist. Many corporations warned their workers that if Bryan was elected, the companies would be firing workers and eventually shutting down!

The tactic worked, and conservative William McKinley won the Presidency, continuing GOP and big business dominance of American politics. Only with his tragic assassination in 1901 did the nation gain Theodore Roosevelt, who represented the beginning of progressive change, including some of the ideas and visions of William Jennings Bryan!

Now, more than a century later, and thanks to the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case in January of this year, corporations are again running amuck in their determination to defeat the Democrats, and reverse the reforms brought about by President Barack Obama! They are spending inordinate amounts of money, and promoting distorted commercials to scare and intimidate voters, either not to vote, or to vote out of fear and trepidation of what Barack Obama represents, a very typical depiction similar to that used against William Jennings Bryan more than a century ago!

But even more outrageous is what one franchise owner of a McDonald’s in Ohio has done–to warn workers that if the Republicans do not win the political races in the state, that their measly pay will be lowered and benefits will be lost! 🙁

This is just one example of how corporations are intimidating their employees and trying to fix the election results, and it is evidence of how labor rights hard won over the past century are now endangered by newly gained corporate powers that make us realize that the Supreme Court is setting the nation backward, before the reforms of the Progressive Era, to the traditional corporate dominance and abuses of the Gilded Age!

Are Americans going to sit back and allow a century of political, social and economic reform to be wiped out by the reactionary desires of corporate America, which caused the Great Depression and the Great Recession? 🙁

Will the Supreme Court be allowed to take us back to the 19th century Gilded Age, and repeal the 20th century? 🙁

One thing is clear: no matter what happens on November 2, the struggle for progressive political, social and economic reform, which many had thought had been won under Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama, will have to continue!

We may have to redo old battles for reforms we thought were permanent, and the division that exists in this country may become greater than ever, as progressives cannot allow the return of the 19th century and the Gilded Age without continuing to fight for change!

America’s Crisis With Institutions And Centers Of Authority: The Reality Of Class Conflict!

Ronald 2 Comments

It is becoming increasingly evident that America is facing a crisis over institutions and authority!

The average American is disillusioned and angry with all major institutions and centers of authority, the feeling that the interests and viewpoints of the average American are being ignored, and that they are victims of the corruption and malfeasance that exists in all of these institutions and centers of authority!

The institutions are big business corporations, banking and finance, auto companies, insurance companies, but also organized religion, the news media, labor unions, major league sports, the most prestigious universities, and most disconcerting of all–our own local, state and national governments! 🙁

All of these institutions and centers of authority have witnessed corruption and scandals, and many have them have shocked average Americans who feel a need to believe that our major institutions work! But, along with corruption and scandals, we have also witnessed incompetence and a level of arrogance that has totally alienated millions of Americans, who feel as if they have no anchor to latch onto, no institution that can assure them of stability and reliability! 🙁

A lot of this feeling is due to the horrific economic situation that millions of Americans have suffered through in the past two and a half years as the economy has gone through the biggest meltdown since the Great Depression of the 1930s!

But the difference is that the average American has been accustomed to more materialism and prosperity prior to the Great Recession, than was true before the Great Depression!

Having become accustomed to more, the loss of economic status now is far worse psychologically and in real life situations than it was in the 1930s! This is a loss of economic status that affects not just those who are racial minorities (although they are comparatively suffering to a greater extent based on statistics), but also the white majority which also sees minority advancement and immigration as major threats to their own status, which has been rapidly declining as well! 🙁

So while there are racial tensions, and accusations back and forth this week between the Tea Party Movement and the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People, the real crisis is not race itself, but rather CLASS! The middle class is being rapidly destroyed, the poor are worse off than ever, and the upper class is becoming more stratified and narrowly based!

The dangers of violence and radical action, while certainly always possible between racial, ethnic and nationality groups, is much greater on the issue of class! Basically, the “American Dream” concept is being destroyed, although many would say it has always been a myth, that anyone can go from “rags to riches”!

This disillusionment and tension in America explains why millions have no faith in their national government under President Barack Obama, or even in the state and local governments!

This complicates the issue of how to deal with the economic crisis we face, if citizens complain about the power of corrupt economic interests, but also remain angry at government attempting to resolve the issue!

The danger is that the lack of faith in government could lead to anarchy in America, which is NOT acceptable as a solution! So the crisis of confidence in America’s future, and how to deal with it and resolve it, is the major crisis the country faces as we move into the campaign season for the midterm elections of 2010! 🙁

1935 And 2010: Big Business Declares “War” On The American President! :(

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In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was starting the third year of the New Deal programs to tackle the Great Depression. His party, the Democrats, had gained a resounding mandate in the midterm elections, winning 9 seats in the House of Representatives and 9 seats in the Senate, the best performance ever for a sitting President in the first midterm election after being elected!

1935 also saw a major attack by big business corporations, declaring “war” on the New Deal as socialistic, and dangerous to American freedoms and liberty. They formed the American Liberty League and allied with right wing groups to attempt to stop the New Deal in its tracks! The nerve of the President to promote regulation and want to tax wealthy people was their rallying cry!

Now we are in the year 2010, and big business is early in beginning its attack on President Obama on the same grounds and using the same propaganda! The fact that financial regulation has just passed the Senate infuriates big business and conservative interests, which have now been responsible for having created the economic conditions that caused the Great Depression and the Great Recession! 🙁

Now the Supreme Court has made it easier for big business to get involved in political action designed to undermine the Obama Administration, and these interests are, therefore, not waiting until past the midterm elections, as they want to influence those results, and insure that nothing like 1934 occurs!

Big Business has made profits even in these difficult times, but refuses to spend to hire people and promote the economy, and it makes one wonder if the purpose is to insure that economic conditions are so bad four months from now as a method to insure the failure of the Obama agenda in the next two years!

Just as FDR faced an antagonistic Supreme Court in the 1930s, Obama has a Court determined to promote big business now during his time in office. The common themes of FDR’s time and Obama’s time are a reality, but the battle for Obama to maintain enough support to gain passage of the rest of his agenda goes on! 🙁