Not in my Neighbor's Pocket!

Legislators in Arizona and a couple of other states including but certainly not surprisingly Wisconsin have refused to change a word or two in a law that affects thousands upon thousands of unemployed citizens of their states.

The sad part about this selfish behavior by the “haves” of the ruling Republic Party is that the change would not cost the states one penny. And in fact if the legislators had an ounce of intelligence instead of pounds of animosity they would realize that the change would actually help their local economies.

The law concerns unemployment insurance for those unfortunate people who have been out of work and are entering weeks 86 through 99 of their hardship.

The states are attempting to stop their payments calling those voting citizens losers and lazy.

But the weeks in question are fully federally funded and do not cost those states any money.

If the people who would otherwise be getting the continuing aid had that cash on hand they would most likely be spending it on such frivolous things as food and clothing.

Unlike the super rich who take nearly every penny of their tax breaks and bailout gifts and either bank it or buy yachts etc. the needy people would of necessity be spending the money thus aiding in a small way the economy.

This case is a localized version of what is going on across America in every state in one way or another.

Possibly good intentioned people are falling for a flim flam game being run by the wealthiest and the politicians they back or fund without realizing the far reaching consequences.

It is a dangerous NIMNP – Not in My Neighbor’s Pocket game they are playing.

We used to say that all politics is local. But we should amend that to state that all anger and animus is local, all politics merely fuels the fire.

They fan the flames when they pit union workers against non union people.

They fan the flames when they claim illegal aliens are taking your jobs.

They fan the flames when they posit that Obama and the Democrats want to kill grandma.

They generalize every issue into a ‘we vs. they’ one and make the ‘they’ some other group to be feared and hated. Sadly we are all part of one of those groups but choose to ignore that fact.

And while those fans are set on high they sit back in the cool climate of their air-conditioned penthouse offices as if overlooking a community of ants and watch the frenzied citizenry try hard just to survive.

Like the boy who cries wolf and then slinks away as if he never uttered a word many of our legislators work in the shadows to rile and roil the melting pot that is America.

It seems as though we have all lost sight of a simple fact.

We are America!

We are the ones who make up the “We the people” of our constitution.

We are the people who made this country great!

And we are being fooled into submission.

The nation has been overrun by narcissism and schadenfreude.

It’s all about me and mine. And if you or he fail, hey that’s tough.

Whatever happened to “United we stand, divided we fall?”  (Listen to Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explain it all in two minutes.)

A few words have been slightly altered and inserted that have totally subverted the letter and spirit of that old phrase to wit, ‘United we of my district and extended family stand, dividing the wealth and property of others so as not to fall.’

The social and moral views in America like all nations have always been pendulum-like. We go through periods of extreme conservatism followed by euphoric liberalism and back.

Those persecuted women of 1600s Salem might today be running for Congress. Oh wait…

And with the pendulum in mind I give fair warning to those in Congress who show such disdain for those of us fighting for survival by way of an old proverb:

Be kind to those you pass on the way up as you will surely see them on your way down.

Would You Rather...?

When my kids were young one of the games they played required nothing other than their imaginations and wit. It involved absurd choices of impossible scenarios and the determination of which was the lesser evil.

For example one would ask the other, “Would you rather be an ant about to be stepped on by a big fat guy or a moth getting squashed on the windshield of a fast moving car?”

Some bright people at a toy company eventually hijacked the simple exercise of imagination and turned it into an unnecessary board game but that’s America!

But the funny thing is the game, like Trix^® is not just for silly kids but is inadvertently played by every living person every day and with far more important consequences.

Every choice we make whether it be conscious or sub is determined by a decision and most of the time we will choose the path of least resistance or greater return.

And armed with that knowledge and the time to research our decisions or those of others we can generally understand their underlying cause.

In today’s world where most of us are aware of the environment and its importance to our continued life and well being the choice to cause no further pollution would appear to be a ‘no-brainer.’

If simply using disposable, biodegradable paper cups for our morning coffee could help the environment there would appear to be no reason not to do so.

So why did the Republican leaders in the House of Representatives actively choose to overturn a Democratic decree to use paper products in government cafeterias?

Did Speaker of the House John Boehner find some obscure study that shows biodegradable cups are harmful? Perhaps he and his Republican colleagues are deathly afraid of paper cuts and they feel they are saving Americans from that awful fate.

Or could it be some lobbyist or special interest group has quietly explained the facts of life on ‘the Hill’ to the leadership of the House?

“Would you rather continue using the paper products or buy my service, wink wink, say no more, say no more.”

Now I am not saying he's on the take, nor do I mean to impugn the reputation of the good Representative from the great state of Ohio but he did make a conscious choice to overturn a good existing policy. I am certain he is not being unduly influenced by special interest groups, or at least I hope not, right?

Our Congressmen and women must make real hard choices every day. These choices affect the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. In some cases they could change the course of world history so they must be debated lucidly, using all available facts.

Even choosing which problems to tackle first is a signal of their utmost importance and a choice they should not take lightly.

That is why the decisions by the Republican leadership across the country should make all Americans sit up and take note.

After running for office on the mantra of creating jobs and promising to work on that as job one the new House majority has instead chosen to set its sights on:

Breaking labor unions and taking away their collective bargaining rights;

Firing or laying off many public workers and teachers to balance the budget deficit they caused by removing any tax burden from the wealthy;

De-funding such subversive organizations as National Public Radio;

Taking away support of that silly family oriented group known as Planned Parenthood;

Explaining away tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy by claiming they will create jobs (only not in America);

Overturning hard fought legislation that sought to clean the air we breathe by defunding the EPA;

Refusing to remove subsidies to the most profitable industry in the history of the Earth, oil companies;

And repealing any health care law that seeks to help Americans in need but cost insurance companies some of their record profits. (This was actually their first decision in office!)

The list of choices these men and women have made in the few months they have held the majority in the House is staggering and will surely stagger the middle class and others for some time to come.
Many of the above choices, as well as a few others had only two things in mind, break the backs of groups who support the Democratic Party and funnel more wealth into the pockets of the wealthiest of the wealthy.

Choosing big business over Big Bird may not seem like a big deal but it is a clear one.

The choice for the American voter would also seem clear.
But if we can survive the strange choices being made by the Republican Party until November 2012 we can then show them our choice for new leadership going forward.

Oh, and as for the question at the top of this post I believe the answer is obvious, the moth! Clearly both creatures would be dead but at least the moth would cause the murderer to take note!

Union vs. Union

There is a tragic opera, a Wagnerian tug of war being played out all across America.  The ‘haves’ vs. the ‘have nots’; the ‘needy’ vs. the ‘don’t need a thing,’ the we vs. they.

At the heart of the battle is the struggle in Wisconsin where both truth and a deceiving lie are the main characters.

First the truth and as painful as it may be to hear it labor unions have caused our municipal and federal deficits to rise.

Hey, facts are facts and to sane minds facts are indisputable.

You do remember facts don't you?

Facts such as global warming.

But I digress

Unions gain higher wages and concessions from their employers for their individual members either by collective bargaining or, in the extreme threats of slowdowns and strikes.

But for their loyalty and continued service they cannot and do not ask for so much that the company or concern for which they work would go under!

The public, comprised of many non union workers is told by the owners of the companies and certain media concerns that the unions cause prices to go up and therefore cost the rest of us money.  That tactic of playing to the media is meant to get us on the side of the them.

Union members are vilified by these groups as freeloaders on the public dime or even dole.

We are told that they get far better health care with lower rates than the rest of us and that they receive automatic wage increases for little or no increase in efficiency even while the rest of the country is experiencing high unemployment.

Many of us non union people have long since passed the so-called 99er status.  We can no longer collect unemployment wages yet we still cannot find gainful employment of any kind.

We have also been vilified as lazy, pot smoking, baby creating, sex crazed losers by the same people who are now fighting the unions.

The same people to whom we must apply for jobs.

And just what is the makeup of these wonderful finger pointing groups?

The people spending all that money to advertise against the public workers and former workers of all kind happen to have a very important dog in the fight so to speak.

No, I am not talking about Michael Vick but rather the owners of large corporations and their Republican friends.

It is this unholy union that is holding the country hostage as they attempt not to deal or negotiate with labor unions anymore.

Now I said that labor unions cause the deficit to rise but so does bad weather.  And a host of other variables in and out of our control cause the deficit to fluctuate.

And that’s where the deceiving lie comes in.

Aside from the obvious fact that each side in an argument will always place as much blame as possible on the other side the winner in this contest goes to management and many members of the government.

But while management is active in the fight they realize a poor public relations persona could hurt their bottom line so they remain quiet choosing rather to work behind the scenes.
In other words they pull the strings and their puppets dance to the music.

And that brings us to those puppets aka their friends in the Republican Party, the corporate army, not to be confused with Dick Armey who is but one of their evil uncaring henchmen.

These non-silent partners of big business have emerged as the the true mustachioed villains of the piece, Boris and Natasha if you will.

Our government is comprised of men and women duly elected to serve the people of the country.  We entrust them with the power to write, create and enact laws aimed at making our lives safer and better.  We also empower them with the means to regulate business and foreign trade all while keeping the country safe from attacks both foreign and domestic.

So what is the lie of which I spoke earlier?

It is no secret that Governors are going to attempt to balance their State budgets.  That is their responsibility.  And a key factor therein is the compensation of public employees.

The lie is that the unions are the biggest piece of the deficit puzzle.

They are not!

They are collectively a large piece but by no means the largest.  And the have been shrinking in numbers for years, much to the delight of the Republican Party.
If the unions can be busted there will be far less organized support for the Democratic way of thinking and the Republicans will benefit tremendously!
Their plan is to go forward without unions around to offset the billions of dollars the corporations can now spend on campaign ads per their puppets in the Supreme Court.

Last December (2010) the Nation witnessed the caving in of the White House and the Democrats when they incredulously extended the incredibly ill advised Bush tax gifts (they are not tax cuts but rather gifts) to the very people who need the money the least.  And many of these people own or are board members of companies that have already and are still laying workers off while not hiring new ones.
They argued that the tax gifts were needed to give them the wherewithal to hire new employees.  And even though we all know better the Government fell for it.

But the people in the above scenario have nothing to do with the public work force since they own private sector companies and hire private sector workers.

So how do they fit in with the gist of the story about unions and union busting?

Well, I'm glad you asked!

Simply put the cities and states across the country are hurting.  Many municipalities are near bankruptcy and they must get or make money somehow.

But if it became apparent that billions upon billions of tax dollars were eschewed in lieu of keeping the wealthiest 2% of the country happy the Governors and the rest of their political allies would lose most if not all their credibility.

And the very same people who are making the most money and are paying the least amount of taxes by rate are the ones orchestrating the fight against the middle class workers of America.
They are deflecting our attention from themselves and picking on an easy target.

And they do it very well hiring actors who look like average Americans complaining about everything from oil company bashing to silly ads about fake taxes and constraints on soda!

The gap between the average worker in this country and those at the top, the owners of those companies has never been wider.

And to add insult to injury the largest most profitable corporations in the history of the world pay zero dollars in taxes!

ZERO!!!

Get out a calculator and see how much money we lose by allowing this fraud to continue.
We're like France in the 1830s & 40s - "Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!"

Even Grimm would say our future is no fairy tale.

It's not too late!

If we cannot change the direction of this country and soon we may be spelling the end of the middle class.  The fat lady has started singing and the opera is well into the second act.

If these incredibly successful corporations and obscenely wealthy individuals were to suddenly lose their loopholes and inexplicably become honest and pay their fair share of taxes the country would be basking in a beautiful surplus rather than asking the poor and middle class to help pay down the current burdensome deficit.

If that happy ending were to miraculously occur the unions would no longer be depicted as the villain in this pseudo-Wagnerian tragic opera and perhaps all could live happily ever after.