The Ghost of Reagan…..

 An interesting article about the effects of Reagan’s infamous firing of all those Air Traffic Controllers.  I wonder what the effects will be 30 years from now from all these Republicans and their insatiable quest to demonize all public service and/or union jobs?  What will our country look like?  One thing for sure, I’ll think twice before flying again.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42358842/ns/travel-news/

WWSWD – What Would Sam Walton Do?

The Supreme Court is due to hear this Wal-Mart sex bias lawsuit.  Any ideas on how the Court will decide. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42250811/ns/business-careers/

Teachers are Targets again……

Another battle in the GOP war against teachers?

indypendent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/15/austin-texas-protest-cuts_n_835503.html

Could a general strike happen here? Experts say maybe

Soon there will be no troublesome middle class

On May 2nd, 1933, the day after Labor day, Nazi groups occupied union halls and labor leaders were arrested. Trade Unions were outlawed by Adolf Hitler, while collective bargaining and the right to strike was abolished. This was the beginning of a consolidation of power by the fascist regime which systematically wiped out all opposition groups, starting with unions, liberals, socialists, and communists using Himmler’s state police.

Has Class War begun?

http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1752104686/code/cnbcplayershare

CNBC reports that over 200 members of the Sheetmetal Workers Union, wearing hard-hats and carrying bull-horns, stormed past security at a meeting of mortgage bankers.

The union workers were protesting 900 million in federal funds given to bankers to create jobs.

“Where are the jobs,” they demanded.

Obama: GOP Will Move Country Backward

With a victory on the financial regulation overhaul in his pocket—a “key pillar” in his recession recovery plan—President Obama said a Republican plan for the economy would move the country backward to the job-killing policies of his predecessor. “It took nearly a decade of failed economic policies to create this mess, and it will take years to fully repair the damage,” Obama said in his weekly address that aired Saturday, vowing that his policies would move the country forward. That’s expected to be one of the White House’s main messages during this fall’s midterm elections. The president admitted that the growth since the credit crisis two years ago hasn’t created enough jobs, but said the GOP would make things much worse. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) countered that the GOP would promote growth by cutting spending and taxes.

Read more here.

Or, listen to the address here.

Jim Hightower ~ A REAL Populist

I say Jim is a real populist, because right now, the right wingers have attempted to hijack the populist image. Beck, Palin and the Tea Party in particular. Let’s be clear. A populist is in this game to improve the lot of the average person. Beck, Palin, and the Tea Party are in this to FATTEN THEIR WALLETS!

THE ISSUES OF THE CIVIL WAR

Watching Chris Matthews going after Pat Buchanan on hardball about the Civil war and the issue in Virginia. Buchanan being a member of a Confederate ancestors group.

Brought back the differences between how the North see that war and how the South see it.

The same actions and occurrences but totally different reasoning behind it.

Matthews kept bring it back to the issue of slavery and stating that was what it was all about.

And that was the issue that brought Virginia into the war, Buchanan brought up a different reason.

Virginia did not separate from the Union because it was a slave state it was only after President Lincoln ordered Virginia to send its troops to attack into another state that was a part of the new Confederacy.

The Governor refused saying they would not kill their brothers!

Having talked to several and having lived in a State where the Stars and bars are still flew proudly.
I know how they saw it and their reasons for it, for them it amounted to the same as if Washington D.C. was ordering West Virginia to stop Coal mining.

When a entire regional economy is based on one aspect the questions of it right or wrong has a greater impact then just the moral question.

When it came to the question of slavery to the South it is the same as if the Slave South was demanding that the Industrial North stop using its industry. Either way it would have meant that region would be thrown into hunger and ruin.

I do not defend slavery of any people, but this war was so devastating that it still has not truly been settled.
And may not be until both sides can address the total cases of it.

I have never met a Southern that wants slavery back for them that is not the issue of redress or distress .

One Year Later, Results Of Stimulus

A year later, the economy is working again. But millions of Americans are not.

Private economists largely agree the stimulus has helped to cushion the recession’s blow.  But the general public is not convinced.  A poll by the Pew Research Center found more people think Obama’s policies have worsened the economy than made it better.   And Republican lawmakers, who almost unanimously opposed the stimulus, happily encourage those doubts.  In fact, those Republican lawmakers are fine with encouraging the lie that the stimulus bailed out banks and insurance companies.

Here’s what the stimulus bill included:

• Largest item —  $116 billion — tax cuts for workers
• Aid to states — $87.1 billion — Medicaid and Education
• Cover alternative-minimum taxes — $69.8 billion — benefited middle-income Americans
• Extend unemployment benefits — $35.8 billion
• Bridge and road construction — $27.5 billion
• Extend COBRA to unemployed and their families –$25.1 billion
• Food assistance to low-income Americans — $20.9 billion
• Expanded child tax credit — $14.4 billion
• Aid to seniors and disabled veterans — $14.4 billion

The above items account for 60% of the stimulus spending!  Most of the remaining stimulus spending was for business tax cuts, Pell grants for college students, public transportation systems, upgrades to the electric grid.

States are having difficulties balancing their budgets, but imagine the difficulties they would have faced without the stimulus spending.  Teachers kept their jobs.  America didn’t sink into a depression.  Seldom is credit given for what didn’t happen, but think long and hard about how much has been prevented and how much has been improved in the space of just one year!  When President Obama took office the recession was already more than a year old!  Before he took office the only bailouts that had been given were to insurance companies and banks.

Force the GOP to take a stand

Can a new campaign strategy save Democrats from a disappointing November? The party is settling on a new tack, says The Washington Post: inviting Republicans to vote for a series of modest and popular bills or forcing them to explain to their constituents why they oppose such measures. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s pared-down jobs bill is the first example. On its heels, in the coming weeks, Republicans can expect to vote on lifting the antitrust exemption for insurance companies, small-business assistance, an extension of unemployment benefits, and a proposal to slap new fees on Wall Street banks. “If they support the measures, great,” said one senior White House official. “But if not, the votes will show their hypocrisy and obstruction, which will demonstrate something in itself.”

MANCESSION -The New Reality or Just a Blip in Time?

Interesting article and very scary at the same time.  Can America survive this and if so, what will our country look like in 5 -10 years?  Will more women be working and the men become stay-at-home manwives?  Now there is a thought.

Lilacluvr

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/08/1-in-5-working-age-americ_n_415984.html

Hey, Government, Can You Spare a Job?

Paul Krugman in today’s NYTimes editoral describes the huge jobs problem America faces.  Krugman states: ” There are six times as many Americans seeking work as there are job openings, and the average duration of unemployment — the time the average job-seeker has spent looking for work — is more than six months, the highest level since the 1930s.”

A key among Krugman’s suggestions is that local and state governments need some help since they can’t borrow their way out of trouble like the Federal government can.  These agencies have direct impact on the quality of our lives in terms of police enforcement to education to the quality of our streets.

Krugman contends it is way past time for mere “symbolic gestures” and it is imperative that real job growth is promoted.

Hey, bloggers, can you spare an opinion?