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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

It’s always a Catch 22



I don't think we'll ever be able to prove who the job creators really are. We have always considered our bosses to be the job creators but what would happen if the employees were to take their pay and only bought foreign goods? What if we didn't have enough consumers buying the goods? It's a Catch 22.

That's where we are today. We have two major parties and an element of one party with three different theories on how to get this economy back on its feet. The Republican Party wants to make it easier for big business to hire by lowering taxes and scaling back what they called job- killing regulations. The Democrats want to continue to use Keynesian policies such as a joint venture with the private sector to repair our infrastructure, until our economy improves. The third element, the Tea Party, wants to drastically cut our budget back to 2006 levels, no matter what the outcome. Meanwhile, we are not doing any of the above. We should congratulate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Boehner for agreeing to fund the government for an additional six months. It still has to be approved by Congress.

We all make assumptions and think it's a truth certain. This morning I was watching Joe Scarborough telling us for the umpteenth time, that he was a small government conservative and praising the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Adam Smith. He was also praising conservatism as if it was the only economic philosophy that made sense. Joe was on the defensive because the new NYT/CBS poll had President Obama ahead  in 3 key swing states  and in Florida by six points(Scarborough's home state) even thou the state has a Republican governor and the majority of the legislators. It's even more remarkable since our unemployment is still high and showing no signs of coming down before the election. Joe advised the Mitt Romney camp to come out with another ad saying " Obama got his near $900 billion stimulus package, unemployment was at 8.3%, today it's at 8.2% ." This will drive home the point that we spent $900 billion for .1% drop in unemployment. That's the outcome but not the real story.

Mitt Romney is not a good politician, and he showed it recently with his overseas trip. He had to know that his trip was going to be compared to Obama's 2008 trip where he wooed the Europeans, drawing 200,000 Germans at one event. We can argue that Romney's gaffes won't matter in November, but his mistakes are cumulative and the clock is ticking. Joe Scarborough thinks that all Romney has to do is tout the small government conservative message, and it's in the bag but this is 2012 where it's all about the candidate's plan for the future,  money and optics. Romney has the money but nothing else. The people may say," I don't have a job, and neither does my brother-in- law and Obama has been in charge but Romney sounds and acts like the person that fired us."Obama wins the likability factor hands down.No matter how hard he tries Romney will always have a hard time proving that he understands the middle class. 

Today is August 1, 2012, so that means the Affordable Care Act,  will provide women, with the limited exception for those working for pervasively religious employers, to have access to all contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration as well as to sterilization procedures and to related patient education. And pregnant and postpartum women will have access to the counseling and equipment needed for breastfeeding -- one of the most effective ways mothers can protect both their children's health and their own.

"Women, with the limited exception for those working for pervasively religious employers, will have access to all contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration as well as to sterilization procedures and to related patient education. And pregnant and postpartum women will have access to the counseling and equipment needed for breastfeeding -- one of the most effective ways mothers can protect both their children's health and their own.

Finally, the ACA will ensure coverage of screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence."

This is what Nancy Pelosi meant when she said," we have to pass the bill, so you can find out what's in it." Crudely put and it does take some interpretation, but I understood what she meant.

What does Mitch McConnell think of all this? He said it's time to add an amendment to repeal Obama care. And he wonders why the GOP has been accused of waging war on women. It's no better at the other chamber where the GOP controlled House of Representatives tried to pass yet another abortion bill, yesterday, instead of working on a jobs bill. They're not paying attention to the memo that states that women represent the largest voting bloc, and they vote.

It looks like Texas took the first step to ensure that gridlock will remain the status quo in Washington by voting in Ted Cruz  over David Dewhurst. It was a terrible blow to Rick Perry and the establishment Republican Party in Texas. David Dewhurst was a conservative's conservative but Ted Cruz was to the right of him. Ted Cruz with the help of the Tea Party, and outside influences was able to pull off the upset. This is after; David Dewhurst lent his campaign $25 million and bought a family-size Chick-fil-A just to cover all the bases. The man I voted for, Paul Sadler spent a whopping $132,000 to defeat his opponent. I heard a Republican pollster say that Ted Cruz will win handily in November but the GOP will pay because in 2016, Texas will become a purple state. He said in Travis County alone there are 600,000 unregistered future Democrats who will be courted by the DNC in 2016.

12 comments:

Mike said...

I can't wait for the debates to hear how Romney will explain his tax policy to the struggling middle class.

" Republican U.S. presidential challenger Mitt Romney's proposal to slash individual income taxes by 20 percent across-the-board would primarily boost the income of the wealthiest taxpayers, according to a nonpartisan analysis released on Wednesday.
The report by the centrist Tax Policy Center found that Romney's tax cuts would boost after-tax income by an average of 4.1 percent for those earning more than $1 million a year, while reducing by an average of 1.2 percent the after-tax income of individuals earning less than $200,000.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/mitt-romney-tax-plan_n_1727909.html

You can't make this stuff up.

I wish today was Nov 6, 2012 because Obama leads in the all important electoral college
290-191 that's 20 over the required 270.

Edith Ann said...

Do you get emails from State Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa? For those who don't, here is what he sent today. It is excellent!

Dear Democrat,

Yesterday was a good day for our Party. The day commenced with the news that San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro would be giving the keynote at this year’s Democratic National Convention. Texas Democrats then gave Paul Sadler the nomination for U.S. Senate. We could not be happier that such an exceptional candidate is leading the Democratic ticket. Paul has a proven track record of working to improve the lives of Texas children. While Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst were busy trying to out-rightwing each other, Sadler was talking about the issues that matter to middle class Texans. And with Cuban-American Ted Cruz leading the GOP ticket, we have a real shot at winning the U.S. Senate seat THIS November.

Let’s show the Republicans that we’re serious about winning this November.

Last night was the Republican Party’s Thelma and Louise moment. It may feel pretty exhilarating now, but that landing’s going to be hell. A Ted Cruz victory is the absolute worst thing that could have happened to Texas Republicans. The inmates are officially running the asylum. By nominating Cruz they’ve nominated the equivalent of Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell, and we know how those stories ended.

If Republicans think that a Ted Cruz victory will help the Republican Party’s Latino problem, they haven’t done their homework. Ted Cruz is the anti-Latino Latino. In his bid for the Senate, Cruz launched constant unrelenting attacks on the Hispanic community. Ted Cruz said that bilingual education creates a language ghetto. Cruz supports Arizona’s discriminatory “show me your papers” law. Cruz opposes the DREAM Act. Cruz is against President Obama’s deferred action policy that protects DREAM Act students from deportation. And he’s still running behind a party platform that wants to take away our constitutionally protected birth-right citizenship. The only people Cruz is going to attract are voters more extreme than he is.

We’ve got a real race on our hands.

Yours,
Gilberto Hinojosa
Chair
Texas Democratic Party

Mike said...

Thanks EA, I did not get that interesting email.

I wish I could be as optimistic as Gilberto is but he's the Texas democratic chair. That would be a senate seat that the Dems were never expecting.

I don't see the DNC pouring any money into Texas right now because that money is needed elsewhere like the congressional races in the current blue or purple states.

I can see Ted Cruz, joining the likes of Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, Jerry Moran, and Rand Paul to gum up the works in the senate.

Mike said...

Silly games ...It's all they are good for.

POLITICO Breaking News
08/01/2012 06:24 PM EDT (expires: 08/01/2012 07:24 PM EDT)
The GOP-controlled House on Wednesday passed legislation on a 256 to 171 vote to extend the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts through 2013. The bill has little chance of making it through the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. Last week, the Senate passed a measure allowing taxes to rise on top earners.

dale said...

Cruz's victory over Establishment backed Dewhurst sends a message. Romney's possible (probable) loss to Obama will send another message to the Republican Establishment. Mike, moderation in the Republican Party (local/state/national) is about to take a sharp turn to the right. It is about time we give American's distinct political choices. And I for one am willing to place our future in the hands of the voters. Majority rule, right?

born2Bme said...

If Republicans turn too far right, they will lose independents and most undecideds. Romney is in one hell of a pickle.
The tea party cannot win a major election.
Texas is another story, though.

Mike said...

dale

You are 100% correct; a message was sent.

You are also correct in saying the moderate Republican is no longer wanted in the GOP.

We no longer have the northeastern Republican.

I'm ready to the future in the hands of the INFORMED voters.

I don't know if right wing purist is the way to go but that's a Republican problem.

Majority rule is not an absolute because it takes a 60 vote margin to pass anything in the senate...If you are saying that if you can garner 51% of the votes, you get a chance to govern; then I am in agreement.

Mike said...

Well,born if poll numbers mean anything ...the tea party has a whooping -14% (that's a minus 14% approval) and the GOP Controlled house has at 12% approval....I say let them move even further to the right..:-)

dale said...

Mike, To clarify, I will always trust the American voter and his choice. My comment referred to the the individaul voter, not any particular politician or legislative bodies.

Every voter is informed, in his or her own way. Each of us have our own political "hot button". Anyone who takes the time to vote and does their share of pulling the wagon is a good American to me. They have earned my praise and respect. Especially Democrats. ;-)

Mike said...

dale
I have said many times that I'm not well informed on local issues. I'm not bragging about that but I'm emphasizing that the voter is not always well informed. I also said that I was stunned to hear the views of Governor Perry in the debates. I was uninformed because he was governor for 10 years, so I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't know he held those thoughts.

I'm one those people that believes that you have to look inward before you can look outward. You won't see me throwing out the word hypocrite as if it was candy.

I will never say anyone is unpatriotic but if protesters are holding up a signs that reads “keep the government out of my Medicare" or shouting something about government death panels; those voters are uninformed. The president of the United States was forced to show his birth certificate because of the pressure coming from the uninformed. There were some people who believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. UNINFORMED

I agreed that every one of us have our own political" hot buttons" but doing their share of pulling the wagon can be subjective... But as always, you are entitled to your opinion.

Another example, the jobs report came out this morning and 163,000 jobs were added but the unemployment number went up to 8.3%. Watch, as these numbers are being spun from both sides but the truth is that unemployment number has to go up before they can start to decline. The fact that more people are applying for jobs is the reason the unemployment figure is up. The uninformed think that the president can do something about gasoline prices and the private sector's decision to hire.

Anyway some uninformed voters will continue to send the same politicians back to Washington and expect a different result. Congress left for their summer recess and won’t come back until September and their constituents will praise them for not compromising. They left behind bills that are usually settled in a bipartisan way but the transportation, jobs program and violence against women bills will have to wait for the 113 Congress.

Unknown said...

I believe that a good percentage of American voters are misinformed, due to the constant stream of propaganda (from both parties) passed off as news. A larger percentage of the blame goes to networks hiring inflammatory commentators because they sound good on the air, rather than having the proper credentials to analyze, speculate, and comment. Also, our public schools generally have someone who treats Gov/Eco classes as their own personal soapbox.

The ignorance comes at different levels. You have the uninformed, misinformed, ill-informed, and outright delusional (in that order). I think if we swayed the conversation towards policy rather than politics, we'd have a very different breed of voter.

Mike said...

That's a good point..We can have disagreements on policy without being misinformed..Sometimes we have to try it before we know if it's going to work.