Great Recession

A Moment Of Reckoning For Barack Obama: Acting Aggressively, But Realistically!

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As we reach Labor Day next Monday, the economy is the number one issue, and it is only 14 months to Election Day.

The economy has stalled in relation to job growth, the first time to have no job growth since February 1945. We are likely going into a deep recession, although one could argue that we have never left the Great Recession, which supposedly ended in 2009.

This is an extremely tough time for President Obama and the nation, and he MUST act aggressively, but also realistically about the economic situation.

People have been speculating in the news media about the “What Ifs”, if Hillary Clinton had won the Presidency, or of John McCain had defeated Obama in 2008.

This is pointless, as we must live with reality, but to believe that Hillary Clinton, who had already gained the hatred of Republicans and the Right Wing conservatives, would somehow have magically produced a better economy and more support from the opposition party is to dwell in fantasizing on a major scale!

And to believe that John McCain, who had reportedly had plans to select former Texas Senator Phil Gramm, one of the architects of the financial disaster through his corrupt connections, to be his Treasury Secretary, tells legions about what he would have done regarding the economy. And having Sarah Palin, rather than Joe Biden, as an adviser on foreign policy, is enough to make anyone have nightmares!

So, as Michael Beschloss, the historian, told Obama at a retreat recently, he must make it clear to the American people that he is fighting difficult forces, not all of which can be controlled, and that things are going to get better, and that a lot of the responsibility for the mess we are in is due, not only to the Republicans led by the Bush Administration, which put us in the financial crisis, but also by Republicans now who are willing to sacrifice high unemployment as a way to convince voters that they should switch back to the failed policies of the past!

So, as Beschloss told Obama, fight like hell like Franklin D. Roosevelt, who faced much higher unemployment rates, but was reelected, by making it clear that the GOP hates him, and he accepted their hate and would fight them tooth and nail for what must be done! Obama can no longer be “Mr. Nice Guy”, but must instead “give them hell”, as Harry Truman did in 1948!

So therefore, a very bold, aggressive jobs plan MUST be offered by Obama next Thursday, even if it seems likely that nothing will be done by the Republican House of Representatives! Use the plan against them in the upcoming Presidential campaign as an issue if they will not budge, and make it clear to voters that it is because of the Republicans that nothing can be done! Emphasize education, health care, infrastructure projects, and energy programs, making it clear these are the future of America, now, or after the Election of 2012, with a rejuvenated Democratic majority, at least in the House of Representatives, if not the Senate!

And as part of this strategy, Obama has already, through his Justice Department, decided to pursue those corrupt, evil banks that helped to cause the housing crisis, and have been continuing their harm in the mortgage market by their dirty, corrupt tactics even up to the present! These banks include Deutsche Bank, J P Morgan Chase, and Bank of America. The executives who run these banks, and others that have proved to be greedy and selfish, having no concern for the American people, need to be prosecuted and sent to prison, held accountable for their evil actions, and finally, it looks as if the administration is starting to show its muscle in this regard!

And the unpopular decision today to delay the smog standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency to 2013, while highly regrettable, seem reasonable now with the high unemployment rate and the stagnant economy. But it should be seen only as a DELAY, not an abandonment, of higher environmental standards for business and industry, and hopefully, with a Democratic President and Congress in 2013, the crackdown on the pollution standards can be revisited!

George W. Bush To Rick Perry: The Potential Further Deterioration Of The American Presidency In The Election Of 2012!

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Much has been written about the faults and shortcomings of the George W. Bush Presidency, but we are now faced with another Texas Governor who could, if elected, make us wish for the “good old days” of Bush 43, and certainly for the “very good old days” of Bush 41, and even to wish for a “Bush 45 (Jeb Bush)”!

The Bush family and their supporters are clearly vigorously opposed to a President Rick Perry. Jeb Bush has been indirectly critical of the GOP Presidential field, saying instead of just attacking President Obama, real alternatives to his policies are needed, a swipe at Rick Perry. His son, Jeb Bush, Jr. has formally endorsed Jon Huntsman, and Huntsman met with the elder President Bush at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine, before entering the race. Bad blood has existed between the second President Bush and Perry, who was his Lieutenant Governor and succeeded him when Bush became President in 2001. Karl Rove, adviser to the second Bush, has been vehemently against Perry, as he and the Bush family were when Perry ran in the 2010 GOP primary for another term against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

George W. Bush promoted “compassionate conservatism”, and while that is often ridiculed, in fact, for all its faults, Bush’s administration DID promote a prescription drug plan for seniors, although it was not funded by taxes and has added to the national debt. Bush also was not, and his family are not, supporters of the Tea Party movement, which in many ways, are a reaction against steps taken by Bush in the economic crisis of 2008–2009.

Now we have Rick Perry, who has threatened Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve Board, an appointee of Bush. He has had the gall to say Barack Obama does not love America, even though Obama’s record of going after terrorists successfully far outdoes the eight years of Bush and Dick Cheney. Perry has also attacked Social Security, calling it a Ponzi scheme, and is trying to stir younger Americans to rise up against paying the Social Security tax, which effect would be to bring the whole system down and deny senior citizens the safety net that has worked well for 75 years, and is in good shape, even without any modification, for 25 more years, and with some tinkering, will be just fine for the long run!

Under Perry, the number of poor Texans, growth in minimum wage jobs, decline of educational funds and standards, and percentages of people with no health care coverage, has magnified, while under Bush, many of the statistics showed much more positive results. And one cannot just say that the Great Recession beginning in 2008 caused these downturns, as they were occurring all along during the past ten and a half years of Perry’s Governorship!

Perry has also had more people executed, including those on which there was doubt, than under Bush, and he is proud of this, as if that is an accomplishment! And the people around Perry make Bush’s “people” look brilliant by comparison!

The only virtue Perry would bring to the White House would be to make us “appreciate” George W. Bush for the first time, as the further deterioration of the Presidency would be in full swing!

Natural Disasters, Government, And Eric Cantor And His Tea Party Friends: The Battle For Fairness!

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Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has declared that any disaster recovery relief funds for the earthquake this week in his state and the Northeast, and now the upcoming Hurricane Irene, will have to be funded by cuts in spending elsewhere!

Isn’t this pretty? The intervention of Nature, which has become so prevalent this calendar year, should lead to punishment of the less fortunate, who are more likely anyway to be victims of the natural disasters! So add insult to injury is the way Cantor sees it, and that deserves the outrage of the American people! How mean, nasty and hard hearted can a politician be? But realize Cantor represents the viewpoint of many conservative and Tea Party Republicans who care not a bit about human beings, unless they happen to be rich!

When one looks at the total cost of natural disasters this year, it is absolutely astounding, and will grow dramatically due to the recent earthquake and Hurricane Irene. Trying to imagine the total cost, in the midst of the Great Recession, is mind boggling!

These natural disasters include:

The Great Blizzard in the center and eastern part off the nation in late January and early February, cost about $2 billion

Five periods of massive tornado activity in the Midwest and Southeast,, four sets of dates in April and one in late May, with the first three costing $6 billion and 47 deaths total, and the last two costing $16 billion and the unbelievable total of 504 deaths, so a total of $22 billion and 551 deaths overall

The Southern Plains-Southwest Drought, heat waves, and wildfires, costing so far a total of $5 billion

Mississippi River and Upper Midwest flooding, costing a total of $6 billion

So the amount in total BEFORE the earthquake and the upcoming Hurricane Irene, and other likely landfall hurricanes later on this fall, is an unbelievable $35 billion!

With the fear that Hurricane Irene could cost as much as earlier devastating hurricanes, including Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the likelihood of more earthquake activity or volcanic activity, as well as other hurricanes, one has to wonder how America will survive the onslaught of nature if we are being told there will be no raising of taxes to deal with what God has wrought!

This is an ultimate test of what government is all about, and whether we all have to be in this together, and to pay more taxes to promote economic recovery, not just the middle class, but also the wealthy! This will be a battle worth fighting when Congress comes back after Labor Day!

The Middle Class Alarm Bell: Declining Rapidly In America and Multiplying In Brazil, India, China, Russia!

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In the midst of the greatest economic crisis for America since the 1930s, the alarming reality is that the middle class, the backbone of America, is rapidly declining, as stratification of wealth has grown to be the greatest it has ever been in American history.

At the same time, we are witnessing the multiplication of the middle class in Brazil, India, China and Russia, and that is an alarm bell that this nation is in danger of a declining role economically on the world scene, in competition with these rapidly growing nations’ prosperity!

Who would have thought after World War II, that within two thirds of a century later, the concept of an American Empire that would be the world’s leader would come to a crashing halt, as the statistics now indicate is happening before our eyes?

This is not a time for accusations and for political points to be gained! Rather it is a time for all Americans to unite behind an economic program that promotes economic growth, rather than stagnation. Sadly, the likelihood of Congress working with the President when they come back after Labor Day is considered quite remote, and the losers will be all of us in this nation that deserves better!

Reality: The Bush Economic Collapse Of 2008 Will Be With Us, No Matter What Policy Is Pursued, Until The End Of This Decade!

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Politics abound as the Presidential Election of 2012 beckons, with the Republican Party claiming that the floundering recovery is due to Barack Obama, which is the furthest thing from the truth!

This economic disaster, which is called the Great Recession and is supposedly over, is really the second Great Depression and is far from over, and it would be no different if John McCain had been in the White House, and in fact, probably would be worse!

Economists almost unanimously agree that the Economic Stimulus legislation pushed through by the Obama Administration in 2009 saved the country from a worse situation, and a clear second Great Depression!

And now the end of stimulus funds, and the mad dash to cut spending, most economists agree, will cause a double dip recession, which will effectively bring about what everyone fears–a second Great Depression, which will drag on into at least 2019-2020!

So it means even if the GOP wins the Presidency this time or in 2016, we are not going to be returning to pre–2008 economic figures and unemployment levels for effectively an entire decade!

Economists are saying this economic recovery will be one of the longest, and most difficult in American history, and remind us of the Great Depression from 1929-1939, only ultimately resolved by World War II spending!

This severe recession, if you want to call it that, is worse because of the housing collapse, the taxation policy, and the lack of regulation of banks and corporations, all due to the terrible policies of the Bush Administration over eight years, and we are going to pay the price for the greed and selfishness of the Congress and the White House for a long, long time!

The social disruption that is likely as people realize there is no quick fix , but that the Republicans have learned nothing from their blunders and short sightedness in the first decade of the 21st century, is scary to accept as likely!

Instead of uniting to revive the economy and cut social suffering, they would rather just protect the rich and the corporations and preach religion as the answer, which is most certainly NOT the answer to our plight!

The Escalating Extremist Rhetoric Of Rick Perry: Reckless And Irresponsible!

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Texas Governor Rick Perry has only been in the Republican Presidential nomination race for less than 72 hours, and already, we are witnessing escalating extremist rhetoric that makes him the most dangerous and reckless potential nominee of the GOP since Barry Goldwater!

Wait until Perry begins his vicious attacks on Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and even Michele Bachmann!

This man has displayed already, while Governor of Texas, that he has no limits to irresponsible statements, as witness his threat two years ago that Texas might secede from the Union, even though that is an illegal, unpatriotic, and treasonous statement to make 150 years after the Civil War!

Perry has the gall to suggest that the Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke, trying to deal with the Great Recession, is promoting treason by trying to stimulate the economy and promote investment and job growth. It is part of his desire to strip the federal government of any control over the destinies of the American people, and instead promote the old, outworn doctrine of states rights, despite the fact that Texas and almost all other states have done a horrible job of dealing with the needs and problems of their citizenry!

Perry also has a lot of nerve to suggest that Barack Obama does not love his country, when he has suggested Texas leave the Union. He is promoting a continuation of the “Birther” myth, that Obama is not out to defend his country’s interest, even though Obama has been much more successful than George W. Bush in his pursuit of terrorists, including the massive use of drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the removal of more terrorist leaders of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, including the greatest accomplishment of all, Osama Bin Laden, in two and a half years, than Bush and Dick Cheney could bring about in eight years!

Rick Perry will stop at nothing in the politics of personal destruction of Barack Obama, and soon, his GOP opponents will discover the viciousness of this man who makes George W. Bush look like a moderate!

2011 Is Becoming A Repeat Of 1937-1938! Economic Disaster In The Making!

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In 1937, under great pressure from critics, President Franklin D. Roosevelt cut back federal spending on the New Deal after four years of greatly increased spending, which had brought down the unemployment rate and given millions of Americans hope for the future, with the growing number of jobs and economic expansion resulting from people having income increases.

Conservatives then, as now, condemned the New Deal spending, and Roosevelt, unfortunately, reacted to it, and the result was the infamous collapse of the economy again, what is referred to as the Recession of 1937-1938 within the era of the Great Depression.

The result of what was done due to conservative pressure was the following:

1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49 percent from its peak in 1937 by the year 1938.

2. Manufacturing production dropped by 37 percent, greater than from 1929-1933 under President Herbert Hoover.

3. Unemployment percentages, which had reached 25 percent in 1933 as Hoover left the Presidency and then declined to 14 percent, suddenly rose to 19 percent because of the cut in federal spending, and the corresponding loss of jobs all over again.

4. Price declines, due to lack of spending, led to deflation, which is far worse than inflation.

The events of the past week, with steep stock market declines, and gyration of stock prices like we have never seen them before, is a danger sign, a warning sign, that we could have a disastrous economic collapse that could be even worse than 2008!

So the urging of Nobel Prize winning Paul Krugman of Princeton University and the New York Times, and of former Labor Secretary, (Bill Clinton) and University of California at Berkeley Professor Robert Reich that MUCH MORE federal spending is needed to stimulate the economy, and that budget cuts on a massive scale with no tax increases is a disastrous policy, needs to be listened to by government leaders!

However, with a GOP House majority, and the fact that Republicans can filibuster in the Senate with their 47 members, it makes such a possibility just about impossible!

The American people, by their ignorance or lack of understanding, have caused this mess by creating a split Congress, with, of course, corporate spending endorsed by the Citizens United case of the Supreme Court, playing a major role as well in causing a disastrous economic situation, which will cause much suffering, and guarantee the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression will become far worse in the next two years, until the next Congress, hopefully, will reverse course, but only if the Democrats win both houses and keep the White House!

The Blame For The Standard And Poor’s Downgrading Of America’s Credit Rating: The Recklessness Of The Tea Party Movement And The Republican Party!

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The downgrading of America’s credit rating by the credit agency Standard and Poor’s last Friday evening was totally a reaction to the refusal of the Republican Party and the Tea Party Movement to negotiate and understand the need for new tax revenue, and also its carrying out a threat, all the way to the brink, to allow the government to go bankrupt, rather than agree to a clean one sentence bill raising the debt limit!

The recklessness of the Tea Party radicals demonstrates just how dangerous they are, as they had no concern before, and now hail the downgrading of credit as a victory for their cause! Just how much more irresponsible can any group be, when it will undermine the economic recovery, likely lead to a double dip recession, and make the economic collapse continue for many more years!

It is also clear that Standard and Poor’s made its decision to lower the credit rating based on incorrect information, and they failed to keep accurate track of past economic activity, which helped to lead to the greatest economic disaster in 70 years, when their ineptness helped to cause the Great Recession of 2008 and since!

Does this mean that the Democrats and Barack Obama are faultless? NO, as it is clear that Barack Obama failed to rally the American people against the opposition, refused to use the “bully pulpit”, seemed unable to understand the importance of clear communication, and has to understand that the American people will have his back if only he will show aggressiveness, make the economic future an issue of the people against the special interests, not worry about personal attacks since they will never stop anyway, and show the country that he is serious in following the example of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson in pursuing their goals, come hell or high water!

The President needs to take leadership, present a strong jobs program, and put the GOP on the spot! Even if nothing gets passed, as long as he makes the pitch for action, he will convince the nation that he is serious about jobs, and willing to put his neck out, rather than continue the “compromiser” image which fails to win Republican respect, and at the same time, alienates much of his progressive base for being too timid!

Back To The Era Of Calvin Coolidge On The 88th Anniversary Of His Ascendancy To The Presidency!

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On August 3, 1923, Calvin Coolidge became the 30th President of the United States upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.

While everyone who studies the era of the 1920s sees Coolidge as an improvement on Harding (regarded the worst President of the 20th century and one of the bottom two or three in all of American history), the fact is that the Coolidge Administration ushered in a full return to the mentality of the Gilded Age, leading to a revival of monopoly capitalism, exploitation of labor, a growing maldistribution of wealth,and the lowest level of taxation of the rich and the corporations in the entire 20th century!

And we all know what that led to: the Great Depression, which lasted ten years, and was only overcome by World War II and the highest level of taxation of the rich and corporations in the century, followed by very high levels of taxation under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, and lower but substantial rates even under Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and Democrat Bill Clinton, among others.

And the country prospered even when Bill Clinton RAISED taxes in the early 1990s, and we had a balanced budget in the last years of the Clinton Presidency.

But then, we moved in the opposite direction under George W. Bush, the lowest taxation levels of the rich and corporations since 1928, the last full year of Calvin Coolidge in office and the year before the Great Depression occurred under Herbert Hoover.

Now we are faced with the strong likelihood of a revival of the Great Recession, but the Republicans have made low taxation a religion that is ultimately going to destroy the social fabric of this nation, and endangers all of us with the possibility of violence and bloodshed as conditions deteriorate to the worst since the 1930s!

This is a terrifying time, and one has to ask, what happened to patriotism, the idea that we sacrifice for each other, and that the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxation to sustain the country’s economy! Apparently, greed and selfishness rule as they did in the Gilded Age and the 1920s, as if we have made no progress in the 80 plus years since the beginning of the Great Depression!

Shocking Maldistribution Of Wealth Due To Great Recession Of 2008: Pew Research Center Report

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A new Pew Research Center report demonstrates the alarming fact of the shocking maldistribution of wealth among the major racial groups in America, due to the Great Recession’s effect, and the findings should ring alarm bells among all Americans in regard to the likelihood of social turmoil and disarray that could, sadly, lead to violence, if nothing is done about the reality of the failure of the “American Dream”!

The study shows that white households are TWENTY times wealthier than African Americans, and EIGHTEEN times better off than Hispanic families.

These statistics are staggering and unprecedented, and show the stratification of American society is the worst it has ever been, and far surpasses any democratic nation in Western Europe or Japan.

The median white household in 2009 had a net worth of $113,000 as compared to an average of about $5,700 for black families and $6,300 for Hispanic households.

At the same time, poor families with zero or negative worth were found in one third of black and Hispanic families, but only 15 percent of white families.

The average median wealth of black families fell by 66 percent between 2006-2009, 53 percent for Hispanic households, and only 16 percent for white families.

The housing and unemployment crises and declining income during the Great Recession also harmed black and Hispanic families much more than white households.

The real danger is that even lower income whites have been identifying with the Republican Party, while minority voters continue to connect to the Democratic Party, so the racial conflict that seems to be developing is endangering the country, and seems similar to the old North-South split on slavery in the 19th century and the civil rights movement in the 20th century, but now based on race nationally, instead of in geographical regions.

It has to make one fear for the future civil peace of the nation, if this manifestation is allowed to continue unabated!