A letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

On November 6, 2012 you made history and I helped you, as I did in 2008. But this time I expect more. 

I don't want to see a grand bargain that includes you selling out the people who elected you. The election really was a clear choice and voters said, we want a government that helps us up, rather than shuts us out.

I voted for you because you are supposed to support and defend the things Democrats believe in, like Pell Grants, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. You are supposed to keep our environment clean and safe from people who want to pollute it for profit.

Now is your time to prove that you will not bend to the will of the losing party. America does indeed want to move forward.

So, Mr. President, stick to your guns and break the gridlock because the best way to tame a spoiled child is to simply say no.

• ·       No to cuts in Social Security and the chained CPI index.

• ·       No to education cuts.

• ·       No to Medicare and Medicaid cuts

• ·       No to more tax cuts for the rich

And most importantly, say no to John Boehner and his Tea Party caucus. Just because they refuse to listen to the voice of voters doesn't mean you should go along for the ride.

Image: Wiki file

If you think you're not a liberal, think again

During the health care reform debate in 2009, opponents of what is now commonly called Obamacare, called the new law socialism. Political pundits will never forget images of anti-Obama, Tea Party supporters carrying signs that said, keep your government hands off my Medicare.

But many of the people protesting against government control of Medicare didn't know that it was and always had been a government-controlled program.

Even today, many of the people receiving Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits insist that they are not getting any government assistance, according to polling data.

How can so many people be convinced of something that is so completely false?

Read the full story here....

Bernanke warns of economic damage from deep budget cuts

Warnings grow on Republican budget cuts

Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, agrees with many economists, who have warned Republicans in congress not to follow the failed economic policies of European nations who have ruined their economies with deep and sudden spending cuts.

“Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee that lawmakers face a delicate challenge: They must avoid deep spending cuts that could impede the recovery.”

Senator Max Baucus agrees. “The United States is on a "dangerous path" that could lead to a European-style fiscal crisis, warned the Senate's top tax legislator on Monday,” according to Reuters. “We're on a dangerous path. If we don't act, it could lead towards fiscal crisis like some European countries,” Baucus added.

Economist Mark Weisbrot compares deep budget cuts and austerity measures to “pouring gas on a fire,” and said the European financial crisis created a “self-inflicted recession.”

Cuts in government spending means layoffs of federal workers, which takes spending money out of the economy. When US consumers spend less, demand for goods and services decreases, causing further economic contraction.

With deep budget cuts, Republicans are actually selling more unemployment under the auspice of ‘smaller government.’ But in reality, the policy is in complete contrast to proven methods to stimulate job growth.

Can Republican Budget Cuts lead to Another Triangle Fire Disaster?

This week marked the one-hundredth anniversary of the Triangle Fire in New York City. Two 14 year old girls were among the 146 victims of the deadliest industrial fire in American history.

The workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory were mostly immigrants, many of whom jumped to their deaths to escape the blaze. The rest burned to death. Images of their charred bodies on the sidewalks of New York should serve as a reminder of how necessary the regulation of industry is, but the lessons learned from the Triangle disaster are quickly being forgotten, as more and more safety regulations are being rolled back.

Over the past two decades, the conservative movement in America has thrust corporate favoritism upon the public. Proponents claim less regulation creates more jobs. However, the number and quality of jobs in the US has declined since the trend began in the 1980’s under the Reagan Administration, and expanded under the George W. Bush Administration, according to reports from  the Congressional Budget Office.

The results of deregulation can be seen in recent disasters, such as the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill,  the death of 29 West Virginia miners in April of 2010, and the collapse of the US financial and housing markets in 2008.

Big business has proven time and again that they cannot be trusted to put public and workers safety before profits. Yet, the US Congress has put legislation on the table that will roll back Environmental Protection Agency powers, and OSHA regulations. For the American labor force, the trend toward union busting may only lead to future economic and safety disasters of Titanic proportion.

The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory were charged with first degree manslaughter in 1911, nine months after the fire that needlessly took 146 lives.

Three years after the Wall Street debacle that crushed the US economy, not one banker has set foot inside a prison. And record profits have been recorded on the books of some of the worst corporate mortgage industry manipulators. BP has yet to be formally charged with criminal negligence after the Deepwater Horizon exploded, took 11 lives, and polluted the Gulf of Mexico with more spilled oil than any other company in US history.

If history holds the truth on which we should base the future, then deregulation has already proven that it will take America nowhere, but down the path to disaster.