The Revival of Red-Baiting

USA politics is rediscovering what has occurred on the Delaware conservative blogosphere for years: viz., if you want to nuke progressives instead of dealing with their arguments, then red-bait them:

Conservatives might be seeking a spiritual leader, organizing principle and fresh identity, but they at least seem to have settled on a favorite rhetorical ogre: socialism.

As in, Democrats are intent on forcing socialism on the “U.S.S.A” (as the bumper sticker says, under the words “Comrade Obama”).

It seems that “socialist” has supplanted “liberal” as the go-to slur among much of a conservative world confronting a one-two-three punch of bank bailouts, budget blowouts and stimulus bills. Right-leaning bloggers and talk radio hosts are wearing out the brickbat. Senate and House Republicans have been tripping over their podiums to invoke it. The S-bomb has become as surefire a red-meat line at conservative gatherings as “Clinton” was in the 1990s and “Pelosi” is today. 

Apparently, the “L-word” has lost its frightening connotations and, in fact, has been replaced by the C-word thanks to the conservative George Bush and the erstwhile Republican Congress. Since the L-word seems like a balm to the deep trauma brought on by those aligned with the C-word, C-word devotees are going for the jugular. Here are some examples:

“Earlier this week, we heard the world’s best salesman of socialism address the nation,” Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said on Friday, referring, naturally, to a certain socialist in chief. 

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas decried the creation of “socialist republics” in the United States. “Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff,” Mr. Huckabee said, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference here over the weekend, a kind of Woodstock for young conservatives.

“Socialism is something new for us to hit Obama over the head with,” said Joshua Bolin of Augusta, Ga., who founded a Web site, “Reagan.org,” which he calls a conservative analog to the liberal MoveOn.org.

Given that the USA requires New Deal like solutions to its quasi-Great Depression like problems, it's not particularly surprising to see the use of the S-word by contemporary Hooverites:

“The right would use ‘socialist’ against Franklin Roosevelt all the time in the 1930s,” said Charles Geisst, a financial historian at Manhattan College in the Bronx. “To hear him referred to as Comrade Roosevelt during that period was not unusual.” 

In short, it's an old ploy used by a party and political ideology that has even run out of new material for attacking its opponents. It's a cliché used by hackneyed thinkers. The ad hominem is what is being conserved by conservatism. Let them have at it if that is the best they can do. 

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First Inklings of a Recovery?

The evidence is tenuous and certainly premature as a sign for an overall recovery, but it does seem as though the economic activity below stems from the objectives of the stimulus program:

The first Ford Motor Co. plant to make a new line of fuel-efficient engines will help the company deliver the kind of fuel economy that customers demand, officials said Friday.

The plant in suburban Cleveland, idled since 2007, was chosen to make the 3.5-liter, V-6 EcoBoost engines that will be standard on the Ford Taurus SHO and optional on the Lincoln MKS and MKT, and Ford Flex cars.

EcoBoost engines combine direct injection technology and turbo-charging for improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. Ford says they can achieve up to 20 percent better fuel and 15 percent lower CO2 emissions, compared with larger displacement engines, without sacrificing power....

Pressured by Washington and last year's spike in gasoline prices, the troubled auto industry has accelerated what was a gradual push toward smaller and more fuel-efficient cars. (link)

Next is Republic Windows and Doors, the company where the workers did a sit-down strike protesting the loss of their jobs. Republic Windows and Doors went bankrupt, but now there is good news:

The sale of what had been Republic Windows and Doors to a California company, Serious Materials, for $1.45 million, was completed in bankruptcy court this week, with company officials promising United Electrical Workers Local 1110 to rehire all the laid-off workers at their former rate of pay.

"We see this opportunity to expand our operations in direct relation to the stimulus package, which includes the greening of federal buildings and the weatherization assistance program," said Sandra Vaughan, the chief marketing officer for Serious Materials, which also manufactures energy-efficient windows and building products in Boulder, Colo., and Vandergrift, Pa. (link)

Perhaps.

Medical Marijuana Laws are Now Up to the States

For those who claim that nothing substantial has changed from the Bush administration to the Obama administration, this significant development will come as a challenge for their sophistry.

This is great news, which could potentially help millions of Americans suffering from terminal and debilitating illnesses. Good for Obama.

clipped from www.commondreams.org U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is sending strong signals that President Obama - who as a candidate said states should be allowed to make their own rules on medical marijuana - will end raids on pot dispensaries in California. Asked at a Washington news conference Wednesday about Drug Enforcement Administration raids in California since Obama took office last month, Holder said the administration has changed its policy. "What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy." During one campaign appearance, Obama recalled that his mother had died of cancer and said he saw no difference between doctor-prescribed morphine and marijuana as pain relievers. He told an interviewer in March that it was "entirely appropriate" for a state to legalize the medical use of marijuana "with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors."

On President Obama's Speech About Leaving Iraq

I wish we were leaving Iraq sooner:

Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.

Note that isn't the date the US will no longer have any troops in Iraq. That's when the mission for the remaining “35-50,000 U.S. Troops” will change:

After we remove our combat brigades, our mission will change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its Security Forces as they take the absolute lead in securing their country.

As I have long said, we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq. Initially, this force will likely be made up of 35-50,000 U.S. Troops.

That's a lot of trainers, equippers, and advisers. It reminds me of the US “trainers” who “trained” the South Vietnamese army at the onset of the Vietnamese civil war and who weren't supposed to have any combat roles but did. But, perhaps, the analogy will turn out to be a false one. I hope so.

Limiting our help to "advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian" is a wise move. It makes the USA's continued help contingent on Iraq steering a pluralistic path.

The absolute end date for any military presence in Iraq will be later:

And under the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Just in time for the 2012 presidential election year. Note also that the August 31, 2010 date occurs before the congressional elections, just when they will start heating up.

While these are dates certain, and I applaud President Obama for giving us what George Bush never did, President Obama did inject a caveat:

But our enemies should be left with no doubt: this plan gives our military the forces and the flexibility they need to support our Iraqi partners, and to succeed.

I suppose such warnings/escape clauses are obligatory for someone tasked as the Commander and Chief.

For those who would define his plans as “surrender,” Obama said not so. He gave his own version of “mission accomplished:

We sent our troops to Iraq to do away with Saddam Hussein's regime - and you got the job done. We kept our troops in Iraq to help establish a sovereign government - and you got the job done. And we will leave the Iraqi people with a hard-earned opportunity to live a better life - that is your achievement; that is the prospect that you have made possible.

Note what remains to be done is giving the Iraqi people the “prospect” of a “better life.” There are no guarantees because President Obama rightly realizes that only the Iraqi people can give themselves that kind of guarantee:

The drawdown of our military should send a clear signal that Iraq's future is now its own responsibility. The long-term success of the Iraqi nation will depend upon decisions made by Iraq's leaders and the fortitude of the Iraqi people. Iraq is a sovereign country with legitimate institutions; America cannot - and should not - take their place.

Nevertheless, the US should not expect an Iraq to emerge that is all friendliness and bliss:

What we will not do is let the pursuit of the perfect stand in the way of achievable goals. We cannot rid Iraq of all who oppose America or sympathize with our adversaries. We cannot police Iraq's streets until they are completely safe, nor stay until Iraq's union is perfected. We cannot sustain indefinitely a commitment that has put a strain on our military, and will cost the American people nearly a trillion dollars.

His realism is refreshing, especially since it comes after an administration that actually fantasized the Iraqi people en mass would strew flowers at the feet of our soldiers.

President Obama offered the Iraqi people some words they should find reassuring:

So to the Iraqi people, let me be clear about America's intentions. The United States pursues no claim on your territory or your resources. We respect your sovereignty and the tremendous sacrifices you have made for your country. We seek a full transition to Iraqi responsibility for the security of your country.

Of course, the Iraqi people might ask why they can't have their “sovereignty” respected and be left with their “resources” (oil) in their control sooner than the “end of 2011.” That is an excellent question.
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Six Delaware Hotels Recogonized as Green Hotels

A little free advertising for a job well done.

clipped from www.milfordbeacon.com Six hotels recently received Delaware Green Lodging certification for implementing basic green lodging practices that conserve natural resources, save money, and enhance their marketing potential as an environmentally-responsible business. The announcement, which brings the total number of Green Lodging Hotels in Delaware to twelve, was made by program partners – the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Hotel and Lodging Association. The six hotels recognized were Holiday Inn Express in Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach, the Atlantis Inn in Rehoboth Beach, Embassy Suites in Newark, the Awaken Inn in Millsboro, and The Biden Environmental Training Center in Lewes. To qualify for the program, the hotels implemented five basic green lodging practices – recycling, water conservation, optional linen service, energy conservation and a “green events” package.

The Jindal Lesson: Keeping Those Republicans Out of Power

by Stephen Crockett

After listening today to the Louisiana Governor respond to Obama’s speech to Congress and the American nation on the economic crisis and healthcare, I suddenly realized that the Jindal-type of Republican should never, ever be placed in a position of governmental responsibility. Unfortunately, the Jindal-type dominates the national Republican power structure.

Governor Jindal simply does not believe in government. His references to the awful Bush Republican response to Katrina show that he just does not get it. Jindal seems to think that since Bush blew the federal government response to that disaster, therefore, government is inherently incompetent.

It is true that under Bush the personnel responsible for disaster relief were incompetent. Those individuals were selected for entirely political and ideological reasons. They did not believe in government. Essentially, they were Jindal-type Republicans! They were Bush Republicans!

If you believe government will always fail, you are very likely going to fail in the management of government. If politics, ideology and achieving power take precedence over implementing sound policy in your value system, you are a poor candidate for being good at managing government agencies or programs.

Jindal is certainly not alone in his contempt for using government to better the condition of our economically suffering citizens. Along with Jindal, the Republican Governors of Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Alaska have indicated that they would not accept federal money to extend and expand unemployment benefits for the citizens of their states. The reasons they gave are illogical and seem to be motivated by politics instead of real policy concerns.

The citizens of these states losing their jobs are going to suffer simply because these Governors do not really believe in helping citizens facing economic adversity not of their own making. Texas Governor Perry has never been concerned with helping the unemployed, in my opinion; because they do not write big campaign checks and Perry does not really believe in government. Governor Palin of Alaska along with Governor Jindal of Louisiana both seem to be more concerned with running for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination than in serving the citizens of their states.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford should be more concerned that in December his state was losing 830 jobs a day than scoring points with the Republican Right and Michael Steele’s Republican National Committee. Michael Steele is another Jindal-type Republican. In Jindal’s Louisiana, they were losing 430 jobs a day during the same time period. Instead of dealing with the crisis in a constructive manner, both Governors (along with Steele) went into full political spin mode.

Nothing stimulates the economy more than expanding and extending unemployment benefits. Basically, all that money gets spent as soon as it arrives unlike tax cuts for the wealthy.

The Jindal-type thinking is not limited to Republican Governors and the Republican National Committee. Senator Ensign of Nevada gave an amazing interview today on cable with Chris Matthews where he frankly stated that he did not believe in the key principles of Keynesian economics where governments run surpluses during good economic times.

According to Keynes, they should pay off government debts and build rainy day funds to use during bad times. The economic policies of the Clinton-Gore era were Keynesian. They were working until Bush changed our government tax and spending policies and began giving huge tax cuts to the wealthiest of the wealthy during good times while running huge deficits.

Under Keynesian economics, governments should run deficits during bad times to even out the boom-bust cycles in the economy. Ensign falsely stated that government spending did not help end the Great Depression. This historical misinformation has become a regular talking point among the Jindal-type Republicans, Right Wing talk radio and the Fox News crowd. The real lesson of the New Deal was that government spending was not large enough (largely because of Republican opposition) until just before World War II to end the economic crisis.

Ensign and Jindal both want more of the same policies that got us into the current economic crisis. They want to play the same obstructionist role under Obama that the Republicans played under FDR during the 1930’s. The Jindal-type Republicans are really Bush Republicans following in the tradition of Herbert Hoover.

If tax cuts for the wealthy actually created jobs, the last 8 years under Bush would have created the biggest, baddest economic boom in the history of mankind! Everyone would be working at huge salaries. It did not happen and will never happen on the basis of just more tax cuts. We need spending. We need higher incomes for the majority instead of just the wealthiest of the wealthy! We need controls on predatory lending. We need a re-industrialization program for the American economy, higher taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy, the end of poorly regulated international trade, limits on corporate executive compensation, stronger consumer protections against price-gouging, new anti-usury laws and enforcement of anti-monopoly laws.

We have an income crisis in America. In 1929, the top one percent of Americans in terms of income had 29% of the total national income for that year. In 1979, just before Reagan was elected, that number had declined to just over 10%. Currently, that number has risen to around the 1929 level.

The Republican assault on progressive taxation along with wealth destroying “free trade” deals were combined with halting anti-monopoly law enforcement and repealing anti-usury laws to concentrate wealth. These policies have weakened our economy. Excessive corporate compensation and excessive industry deregulation (especially in energy and finance) played important roles in destroying the buying power of the American middle class.

The Republican and corporate assault on labor unions severely weakened the economic position of all members of the middle class including those not in unions. The unionization process was rigged by law and government regulation against workers attempting to bargain collectively with employers. Enacting the Employee Free Choice Act is a key to real economic recovery along with healthcare reform for the vast majority of Americans. The Jindal-type Republicans stand strongly in opposition to both.

When income gets concentrated at the top, it destroys the market for goods and services. It additionally fuels unsound speculation and investment bubbles. There is excess investment money chasing opportunities that do not really exist because there is not sufficient customer liquidity available for the output of those investments. We get asset inflation followed by severe deflationary pressures.

Facing problems like these, we cannot afford public officeholders like Jindal, Palin, Perry, Sanford and Ensign. Their approach to government could turn this recession into a depression even worse than the Great Depression.

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Stephen Crockett is host of Democratic Talk Radio and editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com.

Last Week's Jobless Claims Set Record

To think that some people still believe the problems with the economy are exaggerated. Worse yet, the rabid free marketers think the government should do nothing about it.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com First-time claims for U.S.unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week and total benefit rolls soared to a record high, a sign companies may keep shedding jobs as the recession worsens. First-time unemployment applications increased by 36,000 to 667,000, the highest since 1982, in the week that ended on Feb. 21 from a revised 631,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of people staying on benefit rolls rose in the previous week by 114,000 to 5.112 million. Job losses are crippling the consumer spending that makes up about 70 percent of the economy, threatening to prolong what maybe the worst recession in the postwar era. Another government report showed orders for U.S. durable goods fell for a record sixth consecutive month in January. The 5.2 percent drop was more than twice as large as projected and followed a 4.6 percent decrease the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.

Americans Putting Off Health Care because of Costs

Only ideologues would deny that an important element of a good health care system is access and affordability. When 27% of Americans put off needed health care because of the cost to them, we have a failed system.

clipped from www.google.com One in four Americans said in a survey that someone in the family put off needed health care in the past year because of cost, including 16 percent who postponed surgery or a doctor's visit for chronic illness. In all, 53 percent of Americans in the Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Wednesday said they or a family member living with them cut back on health care in one or more ways to save money in the past 12 months. Most commonly, they relied on home remedies or over-the-counter drugs instead of seeing a doctor, or they skipped a visit to the dentist — about a third of respondents reported doing each. Nearly one in four postponed a recommended medical test or treatment. Nearly as many didn't fill a prescription, while 15 percent cut pills in half or skipped doses of medicine. Seven percent reported problems getting mental health care. Overall, 27 percent said their household postponed needed medical care. That included 16 percent who put off dealing with at least one serious problem

A Message from Gov. Jack Markell

Dear Friend,

This past weekend I traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Obama and Vice President Biden. We discussed the federal stimulus bill and how it could help the challenges facing Delaware, and how we can create jobs and get the economy moving in the right direction.

There is no question that Delaware needs the help the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide – we are facing historically high levels of unemployment and a historically large budget shortfall. The projects funded by the federal stimulus package will put thousands of Delawareans back to work. It is absolutely critical for Delaware to create new jobs so that it can tackle these historical challenges.

Yesterday, I announced that Barclays would be expanding to a new location in Newark. They will be opening a new customer care center in the Iron Hill Corporate Center. The expansion will bring at least 500 new jobs to the Newark area. This is a welcomed bit of good news in this tough economy. My administration remains focused on creating an economic climate where Barclays and other companies across a range of industries can thrive.

We also continue to make every effort to find efficiencies, eliminate waste, and ensure that the citizens of Delaware are receiving the best value for their taxpayer dollars, but that will not be enough. Difficult decisions remain and will demand shared sacrifice across the state.

We need to continue the honest discussion about the State's fiscal reality. I hope to have you join me at one of my town-hall discussions on the budget crisis. To submit your thoughts on cost-saving measures, or to see where I will be holding my next town-hall meeting, please go to http://ideas.delaware.gov/.

I am confident that by working together and by working intelligently, by our willingness to lead both for the short and long terms and by our willingness to make tough decisions, we will be able to get through this crisis and we will ensure that Delaware emerges prepared to prosper.

Thank you.

Governor Jack Markell

TARP Funding Likely to Be Used for Fraud

Trust the markets, eh? Trust them to act with honesty and integrity? Yet only 5% of those who have received TARP funding have reported what they've done with it. Why are the rest dragging their feet? Could it partly be because of fraud? That seems likely.

clipped from online.wsj.com The U.S. government's rescue of the financial system is vulnerable to fraud that could potentially cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, government watchdogs warned lawmakers Tuesday. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, told a House subcommittee that the government's experiences in the reconstruction of Iraq, hurricane-relief programs and the 1990s savings-and-loan bailout suggest the rescue program could be ripe for fraud. He also said fewer than 5% of banks receiving government aid have responded to a request about what they have done with their bailout money. "History teaches us that an outlay of so much money in such a short period of time will inevitably draw those seeking to profit criminally," Mr. Barofsky said.

Health Care Costs to Exceed $8,000 Per Person

Our private health care system is broken. It's been broken for some time. We've been propping it up.

The $8,100 cost person is nothing compared to its projected cost in the coming years:

"The government statisticians estimated that health costs will reach $13,100 per person in 2018, accounting for $1 out of every $5 spent in the economy."

As long as we continue to tell ourselves that a private health care system is the best one, we will continue to be taken for a ride.

clipped from news.yahoo.com A new government report on medical costs paints a stark picture for President Barack Obama, who is expected to call for a health care overhaul in a speech Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress. Health care costs will top $8,000 per person this year, consuming an ever-bigger slice of a shrinking economic pie, says the report by the Department of Health and Human Services, due out Tuesday. As the recession cuts into tax receipts, Medicare's giant hospital trust fund is running out of cash more rapidly, and could become insolvent as early as 2016, the report said. That's three years sooner than previously forecast. The report found health care costs will average $8,160 this year for every man, woman and child, an increase of $356 per person from last year. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured has risen to about 48 million, according to a new estimate by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Tonight on Progressive Voices: Abdullah Muhammad

Listen to “Progressive Voices” every Monday evening on WVUD, 91.3 FM from the University of Delaware in Newark, DE.

Tonight’s hosts: Marion Peleski & Dana Garrett.

Note: Monday’s show starts at 6:30 p.m. and ends at 7:00. Listen from anywhere in the world you at http://www.wvud.org/listen_online.htm

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Tonight we will interview Abdullah Muhammad, author of "The Making of Delaware One Day at a Time." He also is working on a piece about Antoni Swart (Black Anthony), who was the first free African and permanent settler in the Delaware Colony.

Mr. Muhammad taught history in Baltimore and moved to Delaware in 2003. His book presents a Delaware historical fact for every day of the year, starting from Captain John Smith's visit in the early 1600s and ending in the year 2007. The book also has chronological listing of Delaware historical facts beginning with June 8 - 10, 1608.

The US is Begging Communist China Now

Look at what we've been reduced: beggars. We are begging Communist China to continue to buy US bonds as a way to finance our deficit.

And to think that George Bush inherited a budget surplus.

clipped from www.latimes.com Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday entreated the Chinese to continue their economic support for the United States, saying, "We are truly going to rise and fall together." Closing her maiden overseas trip as chief diplomat, Clinton urged Beijing to keep buying U.S. government bonds despite their declining value. And she defended the Obama administration's economic stimulus spending package, saying the added debt load, though "drastic," would benefit China. Her plea was a reminder of the shifting balance of power between the longtime Western superpower and the Asian giant that finances its consumer and government spending with $1.9 trillion in foreign currency reserves. In an interview with Yang Lin of Shanghai-based Dragon TV, Clinton said the Chinese understand that the United States "has to take some drastic measures" with the stimulus package to restore American spending, which in turn will help revive Chinese exports.

Thinking Like a Serf

With hard times comes hard choices and often sacrifices. I don't know entirely what sacrifices must be born to alleviate the state of Delaware's financial crisis, although I remain perplexed that a modest tax increase, falling mostly on the well-to-do, isn't discussed as part of the sacrifices that ought to be made. Increasing taxes remains a perennial blind spot in the American body politic.

What erupts easily, even during the best of times, is all the jabber about how government employees make too much money. Now that our crisis is in full throttle, the livelihood of Delaware's state employees is on the chopping block. We've heard talk about unpaid furloughs and layoffs and both. Now it's how the state pays its workers too much money, especially in benefits:

The 30,000 employees pay an average of $54 a month for health care insurance -- just a small fraction of what is taken out of the typical American worker's paycheck.

Upon hiring, workers qualify for three weeks of paid vacation a year, three weeks of annual sick leave and 12 paid holidays. The state also pays all costs for wellness programs such as Weight Watchers.

In addition, a $50,000-a-year employee who retires this year after 30 years would collect $29,000 annually for the rest of his or her life....

The annual state employee share for the Blue Cross PPO plan is $1,545. That's less than half the annual average of $3,354 that employees pay for a family plan, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2008 nationwide survey of public and private employer health plans....

At the benefits panel's Feb. 12 meeting, senior health care policy adviser Faith Rentz cited a handful of examples where public or private employees pay far more for health coverage than state workers. City of Dover employees, who also use the state's plan, pay more than $200 a month for the Blue Cross PPO plan. Employees at DuPont Co. pay up to $218.50 per month for its PPO plan, officials said.

We see the same analysis blithely applied to the wages of state employees:

Though Delaware does keep statistics comparing compensation packages, U.S. Department of Labor Statistics show that total pay (wages and benefits) for state and local government workers nationally is not lower than for the private sector -- but 45 percent higher.

The average state and local employee in America gets $39.18 an hour in total compensation -- $25.77 in salary and $13.41 in benefits, the agency's September 2008 statistics show. By contrast, private workers get $27.07 an hour -- $19.14 in salary and $7.93 in benefits.

What I find objectionable about this kind of comparison are the use of two unexamined assumptions:

• That the private sector is naturally the standard for setting the wage and benefit compensation for government employees.

• That the private sector compensates its employees adequately.

Obviously, if the latter assumption is wrong (and given the great disparities in wealth in the USA, it most certainly is), then use of the former assumption is unjustified and misleading. But instead of examining these assumptions, we accept them uncritically. We think that a low common denominator ought to serve as the standard for us and others. In short, we think like serfs.

What is perhaps more perplexing is how we fail to see that it is precisely low wages that accounts for a large part of our national and state financial crisis. Low wages means people can't pay their mortgages and consumer debt—what causes banks to crash and ask the government for bailouts. Failing banks don't lend to commercial enterprises, which in turn lay off employees. Low wages means less revenue for the state's coffers. Low wages means a negative savings rate, the cushion that helps households during downturns in the economy.

While it might turn out that state employees will have to bear some sacrifices, I don't think that should be the default position. If low wages is precisely the problem, how does it help to impoverish people further? It's counterintuitive.
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Obama Sides with Bush in Missing E-mail Case

The missing e-mails of the Bush administration could be the smoking gun of the run-up and conduct of the Iraq war. They might, for example, tell us once and for all if the White House really took its claim that Iraq had WMD seriously.

But the Obama administration, which is avowedly inclined not to look backwards at what happened during the Bush administration, is providing cover for the Bush administration by continuing to oppose the lawsuit that asks for the restoration of all the missing e-mails.

Is this the transparency in government that Obama promised?

clipped from www.commondreams.org The Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush, is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails. During its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, resulting in millions of messages that could not be found. Recently, the Bush White House said it had located 14 million e-mails that were misplaced and that the White House had restored hundreds of thousands of other e-mails from computer backup tapes. The steps the White House took are inadequate, one of the two groups, the National Security Archive, told a federal judge in court papers filed Friday. "The new administration seems no more eager than the last" to deal with the issue, said Anne Weismann, chief counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the other group that sued the EOP.

Hesitating to Accept the Inevitable

The White House will have no talk about nationalizing failing banks. It should. I predict it will eventually.

But I wonder how many billions will be wasted propping up the failing banks before the government realizes it needs to nationalize them. It worked in Sweden. There is no reason why it can't work here.

clipped from news.yahoo.com The White House on Friday insisted it's not trying to take over two ailing financial institutions, even as stocks tumbled again. On Wall Street, talk of nationalization of Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp., prompted investors to continue to balk, worried that the government would have to take control and wipe out shareholders in the process. "This administration continues to strongly believe that a privately held banking system is the correct way to go, ensuring that they are regulated sufficiently by this government," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said when asked about nationalizing the banks. "That's been our belief for quite some time, and we continue to have that," Gibbs said. Citigroup and Bank of America have already received significant help from taxpayers as the government has rushed in to try to save the financial sector, which has been choked by bad assets and seen the flow of credit shrink.

Winging It: A Book Review

Imperial Life and the Emerald City is the smoking gun on the failed occupation of Iraq. It fleshes out all the news accounts about the little planning that went into the occupation by the Bush administration before the invasion began.

Some of the details are stunning. Soldiers tossing bundles of dollar bills about for sport, wholly incompetent and inexperienced persons appointed to critical positions of importance, people placed in positions of importance solely because of their political affiliations, little regard placed on finding and securing the weapons of mass destruction that were supposed to constitute the grounds for the invasion (WMD that were never discovered), an on and off again approach to working closely with Iraqi nationals in setting up a new government and securing the good will of the Iraqi people during the interim to a new government, the numerous blunders made by the US that helped to create and sustain popular support for elements of the insurgency, the imposition of US economic models throughout various aspects of the Iraqi economy with little regard for the impact it would have on the Iraqi people, and so on. What we see is a picture of the US winging it during the occupation phase.

Although the author Rajiv Chandrasekaran never quite says so, one quickly gets the impression that the US approach to the occupation was faith-based. It appears to have been based on the assumption that the Iraqi people would be so delighted to be free from a ruthless dictatorship that most of the critical elements of the occupations would fall easily into place, that the cooperation and good will of the Iraqi people could be taken for granted. It was yet another example of imperial hubris.

I highly recommend this book. It is impossible to properly understand the occupation without reading it.

I Call It Racist

Here's the excuse the New York Post gave for its threatening and racist cartoon directed at President Obama: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy."

It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy? Please! That effort is clearly associated with Obama and it uses a monkey to depict him, a racist image. The message that "someone else" will now be needed indicates that the cartoon has someone in particular in mind in the representation of the dead chimp. That someone is clearly Barack Obama.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com A cartoon likening the author of the stimulus bill, perhaps President Barack Obama, with a rabid chimpanzee graced the pages of the New York Post on Wednesday. The drawing, from famed cartoonist Sean Delonas, is rife with violent imagery and racial undertones. In it, two befuddled-looking police officers holding guns look over the dead and bleeding chimpanzee that attacked a woman in Stamford, Connecticut. "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," reads the caption. At its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Others believe it compares the president to a rabid chimp. The New York Post has released a statement defending its cartoon and slamming Al Sharpton. Read it here.

States May Stop Executions to Cut Costs

I didn't count on there being a silver lining in the current economic crisis, but this is one.

It's, of course, telling that when we are prosperous we kill people and it's only when we fall on hard times that we are motivated to relent. Prosperity doesn't make us generous about human life, only stinginess does. That is a rather serious indictment of our national character.

clipped from news.yahoo.com In an unexpected twist to the economic crisis, several US states are weighing whether to abolish the death penalty as the execution process proves too great a drain on dwindling resources. across the nation, states as diverse and far-flung as Montana, Kansas, New Mexico and Maryland are among those actively considering abolishing capital punishment in a bid to overcome ballooning budget shortfalls The financial savings could be considerable. Carrying out the death penalty can leave a state footing a bill that is 10 times higher than for an inmate serving life imprisonment. On top of a complex and lengthy process, appeals can last years and the prisoners are often represented by lawyers paid by the state. Guarding death rows and death chambers are also costly items on a state's budget. Activists have calculated that in Kansas the cost of executing a prisoner is 70 percent higher than keeping someone in prison.

Industrial Production & Housing Starts Decline Sharply

I fear it will require a Herculean effort just to get back to the status quo and real prosperity for most Americans will elude us.

clipped from news.yahoo.com The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities fell 1.8 percent last month. Many economists expected a 1.5 percent decline. It marked the third straight month where production was cut back and December's performance was even weaker than initially reported, plunging 2.4 percent. Another report from the Commerce Department said construction of new homes and apartments plummeted 16.8 percent in January from the previous month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, a record low. Analysts expected a pace of 530,000 housing units. Builders are slashing home construction as skyrocketing home foreclosures dump more empty properties on an already glutted market. The pair of new government reports underscored the growing toll wrought by a trio of crises — housing, credit and financial — that are the worst since the 1930s.