BLOGS

Notes and cases for:

Events and meetings

read the news, oh, boy

Links:
ecology
social justice
grassroots
peace/nonviolence

local area political directory

 

 

 

BLOGS: They're listed here in reverse chronological order with titles and brief annotations.

08.02.11 Dance Macabre. A different perspective on the "debt crisis." In the entire debate, I heard nary a word about the trade deficit. Maybe I missed it; maybe it wasn't even there. No, the trade deficit does not contribute to the debt, but what it does relate to is the Gross Domestic Product, the size of which is indicative of how much of a problem a given level of debt is. Economists think of nearly 100% as amvery dangerous level for any country. But the other way out of the debt trap is to grow the GDP, which is what we are not doing, because it is not the focus of our efforts.

12.10.10 Triangulation and the Tax Cuts. The Bush tax cuts are no longer just Bush's. They're also Obama's now. He was successfully maneuvered by the GOP into extending them for two years, with extension of unemployment hanging in the balance. The irony of these actions happening concurrently with the proceedings of the deficit commission, when $2.48 trillion of the national debt stems from these tax cuts, seems lost on almost everybody. Then, the extension of the tax cuts were accompanied by a reduction in the payroll tax, which if not rescinded could end up defunding Social Security. The payroll tax reduction comes up for re-consideration during the 2012 campaign season. Fat chance of rescinding it, eh?

10.03.10 Beyond Just Protest. This is about whether we can inspire government to create more jobs by protest. It was written on the same day as the One National Working Together rally in Washington, D.C. and touches on green jobs and infrastructure repair, as well as public sector employment. Can we protest our way to a recovery with jobs, without preparing for the possibility that the jobs won't be forthcoming?

09.20.10 The "Community forum" at Whittier_Manor. Your webmaster goes to a Detroit "Community Forum" on the so-called "Detroit Works" plan and finds the "new" plan, called "Detroit Works" is really just the old plan with democratic window dressing. Some of the public relations inspired ways of running the meeting are explored.

03.20.10 Yesterday. The tea partiers as a white mob, throwing the "N" word John N. Lewis, Civil Rights Veteran, and now a Congressman from Georgia's 5th District and throwing the "F" word, Fa**ot, at Barney Frank. A strange day with malevolent nonsense thrown at a health bill that misses the mark widely on several fronts. Mentions several alternatives to this grisly beast of a bill, which is mostly a subsidy of the health care insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

02.16.10 Detroit: One Chance? The economic situation of Detroit, before and during the current recession. The Granholm version of diversification, how does it effect Detroit and how much of it will Detroit even see. The role of urban agriculture. Could that and green jobs save Detroit?

01.27.10 Zombie Walks. An evaluation of the State of the Union address from the perspective of the CCC, as well as of the freeze on discretionary spending, except for the military and the perspective of actual clean energy. What is the problem with the Obama administration and what is the solution that will really enable us to solve the problems of the country?

11.02.09 The Outer Box: Systemic Thinking About Public Issues. Here are some problems and effects that would fall within that: The effects of the food system on human health, the effects of climate change on human health, the effects of climate change on national security and foreign policy, the effects of toxics in the environment on human health, the effects of militarism on our ability to pay for a fix of the malfunctioning "health system."

10.24.09 Thinking Inside the Box: an Exploration in Honor of International Climate Action Day. Junk the two cap and trade bills, and pass the Larson bill, or at least some version of the carbon tax. Climate change has become a very dangerous emergency during the past 21 years, mostly marked by inaction. If the politicians yielded by our broken electoral system won't act, then popular pressure is required to make them act. If they do act, watch their backs.

09.19.09 The Stimulus: Waiting for the Jobs that Aren't Coming. There are all the numbers of jobs that the administration claims have been created or saved. But the real problem is that the Obama administration still has not caught up to where FDR's administration reached in 1933, and it is doubtful that it ever will. This is despite what may become a need for a permanent jobs program along the lines of the WPA and the CCC.

03.04 (revisisted 06/17/09) The Theology Of Cupdity: An Excursion Into Fictional Economics
Very unfortunately still timely, five years and a "change" administration afterwards, it talks about government subsidized and supported corporate gain, none of it in the interests of American citizenry and all of it sheer economic waste.

04.18.09: Questions We Need Answered ASAP
1. How much bigger would the stimulus package have to be in order to make a real difference?
2. Does anyone in the Obama administration know the difference between the following New Deal Agencies: the Public Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration?
3. How is it that some of the big banks are now reporting profits? IS that for real?

12.12.08: The Marketplace and The Automobile
More on the inequitable treatment of the financial sector and the auto industry. It was written after certain Republican Senators led the charge against the auto loans, which was in large degree union busting, since they said workers in union plants ought to be paid the same as the non-union plants in right to work states.

11.15.08: Bailouts and the Treasury: Auto
The LA Times writes of the various shortcomings of the auto industry, and concludes that auto should not be bailed out. The inequity of policy here is that the financial sector can match the auto industry shortcoming for shortcoming and perhaps have some left over and yet it has been already bailed out at many times what auto is asking.

10.03.08: Mandated Sacrifices to the Financial Gods
The TARP is a fraud in which the taxpayer is asked to make up for the losses in finance sector, while being satisfied with not having collected anything from the profits. In popular parlance, the banks are saying essentially "heads I win, tails you lose." Additionally, the whole economy is maxed out, and bankruptcy beckons if we continue on the present path of fixing the financial sector and solving none of the other problems.