Posted by Michael Haran on Oct 11, 2008
I may be preaching to the choir but a few things need to be said. Electing Barack Obama is crucial now more than ever. We need this man to move our society forward which is, arguably and not discounting the economy, the most important benefit of his election. As president, Obama will have a mandate to re-direct our economy and to re-establish our leadership in the world.
With Obama as president we would again be seen as the leader of the world not just the free world but the whole world. People may not believe this but most people around the world are rooting for us; they want us to win because they want to be us; they look up to us; and why? – Because they are us and we are them. The U.S. melting pot is the model for the world because the world is us. In another 100 years, or whatever, the world will be the United States of the World. This is the real reason for our Muslim confrontations. Their Muslims never went through a renaissance like the European Christens did in the middle of the first Millennium. The governing of the world has to be secular or it won’t work and 1.3 billion people out of the system won’t work.
Our economic/political system is basically designed like a pendulum. Put simplistically when the country needs to rive up its economic engines traditionally the Republicans would lead the charge. As the pendulum swings to the right jobs and wealth are created as taxes for the wealthy are cut hoping for the questionable “trickle down” to simulate the economy. Inevitably as greed drives too much money into the hands of the wealthy at the expense of the common good, our social safety net begins to fray and our infrastructure begins to deteriorate. As cries of “throw the bums out,” become common the pendulum swings back to the left. The wealthy are taxed and the social fabric is sown. The problem was that this time the Republicans decided that they were above the laws that were put in place to keep the system working and to prevent the exact things that happened. When you put egomaniacs in power bad things happen, like ill-advised wars and the deregulation of Wall Street.
The current economic situation in the U.S. is governed by fear. It is the same fear that dictated the 1929 crash. The difference now is that we have an historical reference. Their have been 10 depressions in the U.S. since WWII and we have not only survived but have prospered after them. Remember, our economy is about in the $14.5 trillion range. We have a large amount of recourses. The closest economy to us is the EU at $10 trillion. We are still the big dog and you never want to bet against the big dog. The deflation which we are now going through is across the board – we’re all going though it. Once re-regulation is back in place equities will come roaring back.
Normally, when one economic growth cycle ends it settles into a relatively stagnant period. The normal real estate cycle is about five year. The market would go along then shoot up and then back off. This back off normally bottomed out above the prices at the start of the cycle so everyone was happy. What happen this time was that there was too much money looking for maximum returns with to few investment opportunities. The housing market was in the boom part of the cycle and all this money wanted to get in on it. The mortgage industry then changed the rules to accommodate this demand with disastrous results.
This deregulation caused an artificial housing boom which built too many houses for an artificial market. If these subprime loans were fixed rate and required people to have real income this problem would never have existed – but they weren’t and so now we are in this mess. Once the ARM loans adjusted the unqualified home owner defaulted. The defaults snowballed and the builders were left holding unsold homes, ergo too much supply for demand which translates to “bust.” Once the ARMs have been replaced with low, 30-year fixed loans and foreclosure prices have reached the “I just can’t pass up this deal” level while at the same time the lack of new construction affects a still growing population, the market will stabilize and homes will again appreciate.
This administration took a traditionally foundation industry and turned it into a giant, deregulated security. If this happened within, say, the hedge fund industry the average person would have never known about it let alone be affected by it. But when a foundation industry, like housing, food or clothing, gets deregulated everyone is affected. This current administration is not only dangerous and greedy they also seem very stupid.
What has to now happen is that to stop the fear the government has to step in and take control of, first, the financial institutions. We (the U.S.) shoul buy all bad debt dollar for dollar and take an equity position in the banks. The U.S. should do this for any bank around the world (the British have already do it with Barclays’ and The Royal Bank of Scotland). This would liquefy the credit markets which will allow the financial markets to start trusting one another and get back to business.
Second, we need a ground up U.S. stimulus package to grow jobs. Did some one say WPA? It worked before and it can work again. The other “project” which pulled us out of the Great Depression was WWII. Well, since in this day and age I doubt another WW would go over very well, we need another “boom” to drive our economy. How about this? Instead of putting all this money into foreign wars and the oil industry we put it into developing a working system of complete energy independence by, say, in ten years.
Now we really don’t know if global warming is completely man made since the earth goes through these warming and cooling trends about every ten thousand years, but since we have the technology to develop clean energy and stop using fossil fuels why on heaven’s earth not do it? We can do solar, wind, nuclear, clean coal, electric and air (the Germans are working on an air compression engine – you know kind of like a BB gun). This would lead to an economic boom every bit as big as the dotcom or housing booms.
The U.S. auto industry is in dire straights. They are now paying for making an inferior product and being blind to the future. Toyota and Honda have long made comfortable, fuel efficient, highway friendly cars that are inexpensive and last for years with minimal repairs while Detroit continues to produce an inferior product with planned obsolesces. You can only thumb your nose at an educated populace for so long until the chickens come home to roost. With the latest U.S. loan to the auto industry we now own a piece of these companies as well. As owners we should direct that Detroit stop sucking at the oil industry’s tit and build energy efficient cars that contain the latest technology regarding fuel efficiency and quality of construction. Why can’t we have a car that uses air as fuel?
We need jobs and we need our infrastructure rebuilt. If we gave every person in this country, over the age of 18, an equal share of the $85 billion (it’s now $120b) AIG bailout, each person would have about $250k after taxes. Now this would create an unprecedented economic boom in this country and, for that matter, the world. The only problem would be that this would do nothing for the country’s work ethic especially with the 18 year olds. So – if a WPA program was initiated it could be paid for by taxing the upper class that got rich off the past eight years and by cutting oil and war expenditures. This is known as the “bottom up” instead of the “trickle down” which worked like not at all. A WPA worked once and it can work again.
Obama is this generation’s JFK. He’s young and smart. John McCain is old (can senility and Alzheimer be too far behind?). At the beginning of this campaign I had respect for John McCain. Although I thought that either Hillary or Obama would be better suited to move our society and culture forward, I felt that if the Republicans’ were to win again, I hoped that it would be McCain.
He seemed to be a moderate and he seemed to put America first. Now I’m a Vietnam vet and my daughter is an Ensign in the Navy and I had respect for the man. Then he goes and gets this Sarah Palin for his VP. The question I have is what has made John McCain so bitter at the U.S. that he would put this woman so close to the White House? I can never forgive him for this. As far as I’m concerned he has betrayed us all.
As Obama has said we need change. We do need change to take us into the future of an ever shrinking world. But we also need to change back – change back to the market regulations which served us so well until greed and stupidity brought the system to its knees. “Throw the bums out!”
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Posted by Michael Haran on Nov 10, 2004
“The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation a spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.” Adolph Hitler, 1933.
This quote popped up in my email after the presidential election. It got me thinking about the “mandate” that President Bush said he had just gotten from the American people. Nothing is new about politicians giving lip service to issues in order to get elected and then ignoring those issues and the people who voted for them.
American democracy works because it’s a system of checks and balances, which are protected by the constitution and its amendments. Traditionally, our political system deals with two primary issues. These issues are the social well being of the citizenry and the economic well being of the nation. The first feeds our souls and the other feeds our bodies.
The system works like a pendulum. The needs which reflect the well-being of our country swings back and forth between the left (liberal needs) and the right (conservative needs). Traditionally, the Democrats have represented the social issues of the nation and the Republicans have represented the business issues. Obviously these roles switch and overlap depending on which faction is in office and the economic state of the union. This has created the perception that the Democrats are liberal and the Republicans are conservative. Fortunately, as a byproduct of an educated populace, most people in this country, depending on the issue, think for themselves. On some issues they are liberal and on some issues they are conservative. Only the extremes on both ends are all liberal or all conservative.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Democrats were elected to address the social ills of the country. The economy boomed during the 1920s and, as a natural progression of a free market system, went bust with over supply and, as Allen Greenspan once said, “Irrational exuberance.” The economic system, other than some checks and balances, which were imposed on Wall Street and the banking system, is still basically the same then as it is now. What was needed change was a social safety net. The world at that time didn’t know which system (a representative democracy, communism or fascism) would emerge as the most variable form of government.
As it turned out, “the business of America is still business,” represented the best way to go. Communism and fascism were not conducive to human nature. It is always better to “just make the money… we can always divide it up later.” What was needed was a way to stave off socialism and communism while keeping our market driven economic system. The answer was the New Deal which ushered in the big government which was needed to not only distribute the country’s wealth but was used to win WWII. From that era we got a social security system of welfare, retirement and unemployment benefits. This system stabilized our society and created the environment for the free market system to flourish.
Common wisdom would have predicted a Democratic victory. The unemployment numbers are higher that when this administration took office; we continue to lose jobs to outsourcing; the budget and trade deficits have soared; we are in an unpopular war; and the welfare rolls are growing. So how did President Bush get reelected? By appearing to be more democratic than the Democrats. The traditional protectorate of social values has been the Democrats. The theory goes that Republicans just care about making money. Employees and social support systems were just costs necessary to get to profits. These “costs” could be passed on to the consumer. The Democrats were there to champion labor and to protect human and consumer rights.
Like it or not the Republicans will now be the keepers of both the county’s social and economic well being for the next four years. Fortunately, an American was elected president and so I see no real threat to our civil liberties. Even with the terrorism issue, this administration wouldn’t want to face the wrath of the American people if you start restricting our basic freedoms. Plus, this would adversely affect our free market system.
I will, until further notice, give the Republicans the benefit of the doubt regarding the health of our current economy. The world economy is changing and all negative elements aren’t necessarily what they seem. The trade deficit not only creates an environment for other nations to consume US goods and services but also favors our multinational conglomerates. Tax cuts, although lowering the taxes of the rich and increasing the amount paid cumulatively by the middle and lower classes, should create jobs as more money is spent. This is similar to the Reagan, “trickle down economic theory.” favoring the rich. Although this administration is giving lip service to a simplification of the tax code, such as a flat tax of say 10%, this would not favor the rich as they would be paying more real tax per capita. America is still the “big dog on the block” with the dominant economy in the world. Plus, if Allen Greenspan isn’t particularly worried either am I. We have some pretty smart people doing business in this country.
Now for the mandate. With the reelection of this administration some disturbing social issues have been seeping to the surface. The American Heritage College Dictionary defines mandate as 1. An authoritative command or instruction. 2. A command or an authorization given by a political electorate to its representative. The problem I have is which definition this administration is using. If it’s the second definition, it would imply that the will of all the people who voted would be taken into account on all political decision making. That would be good. If the first definition were used then the “authoritative command” would be open to interpretation such as say, a god. That would be bad.
President Bush, as a self proclaimed “born again Christian,” has, on several occasions, referred to following God given commands, not commandments, but commands. This mentality is coming awfully close to combining religion and state. A big “no-no” in this country. Organized religion was the precursor to modern secular government. The problem with religion, as we all know, is that it has no accountability. Anyone in charge can say, “God told me to do it,” and no one can argue except the guy who says, “no… God told me to do it.” And if these two didn’t have hidden agenda and actually believed that God is taking to them, they both might be up for a psychiatric examination.
Quite frankly, religion has out live its purpose. It came into existence to fill the void created by the human ability to conceptualize “forever” but not being able to live forever. This created a fear of the unknown, which was alleviated by religions promise of eternal life. This may be true or it may not be true. The fact is, none of us will really know until we die. What we do know is that there is no shortage of people willing to exploit this natural fear in people, especially religious leaders and politicians.
Religion is a testament to the insecurity caused by human fear. It is amazing that religion has survived at all. Most all of the world’s ills are caused by right wing religion and all religions have extremist factions. Given Islamic terrorists, pedophile Catholics and predatory Evangelicals, its surprising religion hasn’t been outlawed. The Catholic hierarchy, which had the hypocrisy to dictate who Catholics should vote for, should all be in jail for aiding and abetting. Islamic clerics should be incarcerated for their treatment of women and children. Evangelicals should not be restricted from collecting money from their poor congregation, which they used to buy mansions, yachts and obnoxious life styles. The world’s great cultures should be preserved and protected. The world’s great religions should be outlawed.
The treatment of homosexuality is another example of the inhuman hypocrisy of religion. Homosexuals don’t make a choice to be homosexual, they just are. Homosexuality is a human condition just like brown eyes, blonde hair and sex. Since the dawn of time 10% of any population has been gay. If you were gay, or your children were gay, wouldn’t you want an environment where you could live in peace? Most gay people are law-abiding, contributing members of society. They are intelligent and add to the quality of our lives. Two homosexuals living together, or even legally married for that matter would never replace our traditional marriage because they are not physically a man and woman. Who cares what they do in their bedrooms. I don’t care what they do in their bedrooms and I don’t want to know what they do in their bedrooms. I don’t want to know what anybody does in his or her bedroom either. Homosexuals are a fact of life and should be afforded all the same rights as the rest of humanity. Religion’s professed homophobia is nothing more than just another way to manipulate people’s fears that blindly trust their church leaders. Politicians are well aware of this.
Abortion issues are another issue that is being held captive by religion. The predators that run these religions could care less about the human conditions involved and care only about more people to feed their ideology. It seems the Catholics, especially in poor third world countries, would be happy to see poor populations grow to a point where all support resources are cannibalized. The Christian Right’s fanatical anti-abortion stand is similar to fundamental Islam’s attitude toward women. If they had their way they would send young frightened women back to the filth and brutality of back alley abortions.
A person’s belief in a god is personal. Just as a person’s sexuality and how it is manifested is personal so should a person’s belief in their god. As soon as two people join their belief in a god that belief becomes corrupt. Group sex is a bad idea and so is group religion.
This administration will be addressing such social issues as health care, welfare and social security reform. Health care can be reformed once laws are enacted to eliminate the corruption involved in the system. A transparent federal agency should administer the system just like social security. Restricting it to only people below a certain income and asset level could reduce the cost of the system. An accountable and transparent government agency should administer the system.
Welfare reform is totally related to jobs. Most people would rather work if they could get a job which pays enough money to afford a decent and upwardly mobile life style. The problem with that is jobs of that caliber have been shrinking and/or being sent overseas. The answer is to retrain people so that they can self-educate themselves (a skill that should now be taught in high school). This should be a high priority for this administration as the vast majority of people who are on welfare are members of the Christian majority.
The Social Security system is in need of a make over. The system was based on a growing population. Based on the iffy future of the world’s resources, population growth in the US cannot be assured. People will be living longer and the benefit age should be raised in accordance with longevity rates. Allowing access to social security benefits, like health care should be by need. This is an insurance program and should act like an insurance program. The only way to get money back from auto or homeowner’s insurance is a claim through need. It should be the same for this social security system regardless of what a person has paid in. Allowing people to self-direct their benefits I don’t think is such a hot idea. This would pit the average person, many in declining health, against Wall Street. Talk about throwing the Christians to the lions. A person should have to qualify to be allowed to self-direct their benefits. It’s one thing to have an Evangelical steal from their congregation but quite another to have a government steal from its citizens.
Now that this administration has been given a “mandate” for another four years and the Republicans have increased their majority in the house and senate it will be interesting to see what they will do with their elected responsibilities. They are now the keepers of our traditionally liberal values. Oh sure, the Democrats can still filibuster in the house and senate and block any radical attacks on our constitution and/or its amendments; and we still have a strong set of minority rights, but what will the Conservative Right try to do to influence this Republican majority?
Will any social progress be made or will they try and move us back to a time when women and minorities were second-class citizens? Will our human condition be advanced through the support of stem cell technology? Will our quality of life be improved by the development of alternative fuel sources such as solar power and fuel cell technology or will it be business as usual with this oil administration’s special interests? Will we regain our respect around the world as we evolve into the United States of the World or will we decline into political isolation as we bully our way in the world order?
I have an undying faith in my county. We are a great country because of our secular cultural diversity not in spite of it. It’s not a question of whether or not a mandate has been given. The question is, which one?
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