The Illusion of Economic Recovery

They say that the economy is growing and that we are in the midst of an economic recovery, but as I look at my neighbors who are losing their homes and the parents in the PTA who are under-employed and looking for full-time employment, I must admit I do not see or feel it.

I figure Obama and the democrats have to say such to make themselves look good. Likewise, the Republicans have to intentionally imped programs and the efforts of the President to make him look bad. Regardless, the view from the ground level remains one of wealthy politicians bickering like caddy nanny goats. Charlie Brown’s sister Sally said it best in “The Great Pumpkin”…”You elect them then they weasel out of their promises.”

Maybe we get what we deserve. We have been on this trajectory since Nixon accepted the Britton-Woods agreement, removing American from the Gold standard and an asset based monetary system. Now artificial asset bubbles are retro chic and occur everywhere we look in our economy. That’s what happens when one has no asset to back paper. All the government has to do when they are short on cash and need to pay someone is print as much paper money as needed, borrowing more and more and growing more debt (something us regular folk cannot do) creating an environment where everyone from the Government to the Banks accrue debt to capitalization ratios, like MF Global of more than 30 to 1. USB for example is leveraged at 50 to 1.

The question for remains how can one assert that there is an economic recovery occurring in the United States presently and even worse, how can anyone that can do basic math accept this premise? Especially after the credit and derivative based, over leveraged bubble economy we have just experienced that resulted in the financial meltdown in 2008? I cannot put this at the feet of Obama singularly seeing that Republican don’t even have nor have proffered any leadership for improving the economy on anything from the need for state regulation or tax reform, albeit the Democrats especially Obama seem to always cave-in in practice what they dare not abnegate in dictum.

Likewise is the hypocrisy of the GOP, which is on center stage with Mitt “anybody but” Romney. He points fingers at china but seems to ignore the fact that in that nation, spending represents 23% of GDP compared to the United States with 44%. Romney is quick to also say that we are down a path to being like socialist Europe although Germany level of government spending accounting for 48 percent of GDP. In other words that by his logic our goals is heading towards Europe when the facts suggest we are competing with China and playing catches up. He claims that in order to succeed and grow the economy that he will cut spending and balance the budget and lower taxes, which is funny in itself given what we know about our dysfunctional government.

First, the reality is that Obama and Romney are lying out the sides of their necks. On the one hand none of what is being done or said by either can lead to economic growth or a recovery sufficient enough for stable growth in the next decade. It is not the people (although we do have a minor role) the real problem is corporate welfare in the form of state and federal aid to the folk who already have the money and not the folks at ground zero. Yes the Americans with the most loot and corporations have redistribution and shifted wealth and income in America from the middle class to the uber rich and been doing so in plain view since the end of the Regan era. Yet the Republicans claim class warfare on behalf of the Obama Administration and the Obama Administration say he is for Main Street when his actions exhibit otherwise. There is a reason again why The United States has more government debt per capita than Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or Spain. Not to mention that total consumer debt rose at an annual rate of 9.3 percent in December. It is now sitting at a grand total of 2.498 trillion dollars.

Let us examine American International Group, Inc. (AIG). This week AIG with the assistance of the Bush and more so the Obama administrations, reported $19.8 billion in profits last quarter. This the result of a tax break consequent the Treasury Department for AIG and a few other major corporations that helped create the financial crisis of 2008 that exempts them from its right to employ using net operating losses (NOL).

What the past few administrations, the present one and the GOP Presidential contenders are doing is Machiavellian – hiding the truth about how bad our economy is. The unemployment rate today is computed differently from the way it was in 1994. Back then, people who stopped looking for employment and the underemployed—folk who want to work full-time but cannot—were still counted in the numbers. Now they do not. Yet drop in unemployment rates are reported when in reality the US Government measures unemployment using a survey and sample of approximately 110,000 individuals and not number of persons claiming unemployment benefits.

Folks are right when they say there is limited difference between The President and Romney. Both promote economic policies that tighten the association between larger corporations and government. We all know for example that Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel was once a partner at Goldman Sachs and that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who now advises the President on Health care reform, is a well-paid lobbyist for the health-industry. Then there is the observation that the Obama administration talks a god game against corporatism, the problem is like Romney the facts state otherwise – at least Romney admits he believes “corporations are people. “Washington has and always will subsidize big industry and provide loot for their research.

Obama knows this and this is probably why General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt Started a PAC to collect money from its employees for candidates “who share GE’s values and goals” of which Obama got more than any other politician. Immelt was appointed to Obama’s economic recovery board and eventually was named to head his Jobs Council (although it continues to ships jobs abroad). His company stands to make a mint on its investing in “carbon offset” assets if the Obama administration institutes its cap-and-trade energy plans via, HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. If passed, GE will get “incentives” to sell energy-efficient appliances ($75 for each dishwasher sold until 2013 and $200 for each refrigerator) that will make it a bundle.

Romney by the same token is no different. He talks the same game. His tax cuts from what I have read and worked out will result in more than $500 billion in lost revenue over the next decade if he is elected, meaning he will balloon the deficit even more than Obama – Greek economic mathematics revisited if you ask me.

All I am saying is that what they say is an economic recovery to me is an allusion, a penumbra of false light. Alexander Hamilton wrote The Federalist No. 85 for a reason - that is possible for wealth to corrupt and result in a central government that is too powerful that serves the elite at the expense of the many. The republicans and the democrats, as articulated through their economic policy don’t see to get this. Obama or a Romney will still continue programs like the why H1-B visas, which are provided for foreign workers in areas such as engineering, when folk like one of my neighbors, a chemical engineer can’t find a job. In general because they cannot problem solve or accept that neither fiscal austerity nor monetary stimulus will work because neither targets nor deal with limiting inflation or increasing employment. Instead they focus on nominal GDP growth, which will get more US citizens to get more and more in debt, which only make things worse.

All while China sits on the side line, with about $2 trillion dollars of our debt, that may eventually depreciate in value because eventually we going to have to deal with the possibility of runaway inflation in a time when it will become more difficult to borrow. We see and feel it o the ground but I doubt Romney or Obama have bought a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread lately. In the “Dunciad”, Alexander Pope wrote “Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall,
And universal darkness buries all.”

That us the way I see things now. Like I said, they say that the economy is growing and that we are in the midst of an economic recovery, but as I look at my neighbors who are losing their homes and the parents in the PTA who are under-employed and looking for full-time employment, I must admit I do not see or feel it.

Pork Belly: Another Name for Yellow Belly Sap Sucking House Republican

Funny how time flies when you are having fun. Just two years ago, the November massacre occurred in Washington, DC and the Congress, bring in a flock of freshmen tea part republicans vowing to change the political as usual mantra inside the beltway.

I guess some folks can talk a mean game, especially when they just talk out the side of their necks. It was just less than two years ago on November 22, 2010 when the House Republicans Vote to End Earmarks. It was supposed to be an important first step toward fundamentally changing the way taxpayer dollars are spent in Washington” since a large corpus of US citizens see earmarks as wasteful spending and another form of corruption. At the time, Doug Lamborn (CO-05) wrote on his webpage, “The new House Republican Majority is firmly committed to cutting spending, reining in government, and listening to the people who sent us here. We have an enormous task ahead to get America’s fiscal house in order. Today’s vote to end earmarks is proof that Republicans are serious about ending wasteful spending.” He added, “I call on my Democrat colleagues in the House and Senate to get equally serious about reforming Washington and pass their own earmark bans. The task before us requires a bipartisan commitment to reform.”

Earmarking is the longtime Washington practice in which lawmakers insert money for home-state projects. Although it was said they this practice would end if Cut-happy Republicans were elected to office, it has not and the practice of embedding legislation with billions of dollars in pet projects and federal contracts is still alive and well on Capitol Hill.

Personally, only a fool would have believed that earmarks would be obviated completely in Washington, in particular for the GOP clowns who vowed to end them and even got elected for having such position. But their effort to permanently ban earmarks has split Republicans with a majority wanting to go back to earmarking, even placing them in contradiction with GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, who according to A spokeswoman for the former Massachusetts governor is in favor of a permanent earmark ban.

Even in 2010, just days after the Senate GOP caucus imposed a voluntary moratorium on earmarking, Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, dropped $200 million to settle an Arizona Indian tribe’s water rights claim against the government for his home state via a spending bill right before final passage. There is Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, won an additional $20 million for "mixed conventional load capability for Air Force bombers." Hartzler's district is home to Whiteman Air Force Base, keeper of the nation's B-2 bombers, and Fort Leonard Wood.

In fact, during the 111th Congress, six sitting Republican senators voted against considering a three-year earmark moratorium: Sens. Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), James Inhofe (Okla.), Dick Lugar (Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Richard Shelby (Ala.).

But this is not all. Republicans wolf tickets were all about stopping excessive government and bring an end to earmarks reflect another reality of the GOP that is rarely talked about – their two-facedness (if such is a word.)

Even last summer, when the $553 billion bill providing a budget for the Pentagon was passed, it contained millions of dollars that President Barack Obama didn't request for other projects in places from Illinois to Mississippi represented by House GOP freshmen. Including $2.5 million for weapons and munitions advanced technology, money for the Quad City Manufacturing Lab at the Rock Island Arsenal in freshman Rep. Bobby Schilling's Illinois district. Ironic since during his 2010 campaign, the tea party-backed, pizza-business owner Schilling ran against Democratic Rep. Phil Hare’s penchant for earmarking. Then there is also Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who bought Vista Medical Center and requested $2 million to expand the road in front of his “long-term investment,” in 2008 but only received $245,000 from the government. Eventually receiving an additional $570,000 he personally earmarked to widen the road, add bus stops, improve the sewer system, and other utility work to benefit his business investment.

Now the sad story line is that for many in the GOP, these are not considered as Earmarks. Now they have a new name for these which is described by the New York Times as “special funds in spending and authorization bills that allow them to direct money to projects in their states.”

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill recently released a report finding that members of the U.S. House of Representatives attempted to side step their own self-imposed ban on earmarks, via methods designed by the House Armed Services Committee’s Chairman, Howard McKeon (R-Cali.). It was effective since of the 225 amendments to the legislation that were approved by the House Armed Services Committee, McCaskill proved that 115 of the amendments added had previously been earmarks$834 million in proposed federal spending. More damaging was that of the earmarks secretly inserted into the legislation, 20 were from freshman House GOP members who at one time or another campaigned to end earmarks. Sad truth is that earmarks do not account for no more than 1 percent of the entire federal budget.

I do not know if things will ever change inside the beltway.I do know it is getting more difficult each day to find a politician, democrat or republican that is working on behalf of the people moreso that doing work because of the feeling of owing favors to those that may have greased their palms. It is as Mark Twain said, “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”

Congress has No Job Plan and Obama’s Job Speech: No Substance- No Peace

When I started High School in the tenth grade in Memphis in 1977, my homeroom teacher Dr. Meyer’s was also my economics instructor. Although a public high school, at least a third of my teachers had PhD’s. In his class, according to him I did so well that he suggested I take another economics class as an elective albeit he knew I was concentrating in math and science classes. Thus via a flip of a coin I took microeconomics over macroeconomics. Herein this essay begins, upon a reading of the President’s job speech.

I have come to accept as abstruse as it may seem for some to grasp, that the plausible allure for present day politicians regardless of race, gender and political affiliation, must either be the ability to lie or the scarious inability to see a truth in order to tell it like it is. All because it is clear they do not want to tell us the truth about the nation’s current economic conundrum – that it has taken decades to create this problem, that there is no easy solution out of this mess, or worse that they intentionally vitiate solutions because they have no answers because they have no answers and lack the scrotum to say honestly it will require decades to get out of this mess, that it will be hard and that Americans will have to tolerate difficult times and live within our means to do so.

Telling the truth, no matter how saddening or worrisome lost on politicians even Obama. Not to mention it is difficult for a class of millionaires like Washington, DC politicians the pains economically us regular folks feel. Factually since 1960, there has never been a time in which four straight months of stagnate job growth as we have just seen has never manifested without a recessionary period to follow. Yet politicians on both sides of the aisles quip they have answers and solutions to solve this problem in the immediate future – a bold face lie. They say the recession is over, that we will not experience a double dip recession and that the nation is not in a depression – a bold face lie.

Now as for the President’s speech, it was passionate, but passion and great subject verb agreement does not amount to substance. I disagree with GOP stalwarts who assert a joint session was not the place for such a speech under the auspices it was not an urgent situation. But as I stated prior, for people who are not wealth like most inside the beltway politicians are hurting and the state of the economy is a serious national security issue.

Still with this said, Obama’s speech was more of the same rah rah type. Not that it was bad, but still the same old same old. Only thing missing was a “cash for clunkers” program. Why because it was not specific and talks around what I see and experience as a person under employed who has grown through $300,000 of savings just to keep from losing his home. I guess he knows that in this weak economy his numbers are bad but that the approval for congress is worse. On the ground, those of us without sufficient employment know that things will most likely get worse before they get better and that none of what he proposed even attempts to thwart the impact of the troubles of Europe through its banking and market crisis on the average American citizen, for consumers remain deep in debt and the depression in the housing market has yet to hit bottom.

We in touch and on the ground see the economy is too weak to add enough jobs monthly to even keep up with US population growth. My understanding of microeconomics and math indicates anything less 140,000 jobs a month will only keep adding to the ranks of the unemployed.

The plan had nothing I would consider big or different. He should have [1] offered to implement some sort of profit tax on large corporations that earn more than 20 million annually in profits of around 4 to 6 percent. He should have [2] offered some type of net job creation tax for large and small businesses for about a five year period to serve as an incentive for job creation that would said companies a tax credit that would cover at least a third of their salaries for that time period. He should [3] look at international growth sectors and instituted a re-employment service as opposed to unemployment that focus on industry specific training programs that would prepare the young and poor for skilled jobs.

Nothing in his proposal is punitive. He should have [5] mentioned that the top 100 companies in the US have uprooted around 3 million jobs here in the states over the past decade yet created around 2.5 million jobs overseas. He should have [6] specifically addressed Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and only implement them for corporations making under $200 million annually (I could only imagine the strain and expense on businesses with respect to their legal cost alone to comply).

Lastly, he should [7] reinstate Glass-Stegall, [8] eliminate Dodd-Frank, [9] increase tax rates on short term capital gains for hedge funds for example who create most of the market volatility and lower long term capital gains taxes and lastly – [10] relegalize the sale of marijuana.

This is just what I think, based on what I learned from Dr. Meyer in high school and my subsequent readings since then. It aided me in being able to amass more than $300,000 in investments without the aid of a broker or financial planner; although I have been using it up to stay afloat after my business closed and lost full time employment before then.

Politicians are scared to tell us the truth, do not understand the problem and too busy with the interest of large corporations to really solve or care about us little folk. They are afraid to tell us and won’t tell us the truth, and Obama’s plan is nothing more than the same thing he did the first two years while in office – hum bug.

Neither the congress nor the President can honestly feel what we feel on the ground. They argue about finding funds to provide for simple people who have lost everything due to floods, fires and tornadoes. They do not see that the games they play are not funn for us and look away from the possibility of what has been seen in France, Greece, Italy, Syria, Israel, England and else where in the form of civil disobedience can manifest over here. Nice speech Mr. President. Way to sit on your hands Congress. Just be reminded though – No Substance, No peace. For republiacns and democrats seem to not understand I am human capital not political capital.

Humpty Dumpty Economics

I have come to accept that all the King’s horses and all the King’s men cannot rebuild and grow the US economy with the approaches being considered currently and the inability for adults occupying the political grounds within the beltway to accept the common groundwork that they work for the people, not themselves, corporation or K Street lobbyist. All that has been proposed or ignored, whether by the President or the congress misses the point completely, avoids a historical context for understand and is rooted on feculent assumptions.

For starters we cannot deal with our soverign debt issues until we recognize the need to obviate the massive credit contraction we are expericing.se in point, it is a fact that the top five percent of the people in the US with respect to income account for nearly 40 percent of all US consumer spending. Just imagine if the annual salary of the top one percent is above $700,000, this group includes individuals earning more than $500,000 and up yearly. Coupled with the recent news that no, zero jobs were created in August and the prior months numbers were revised to show lower job creation, it is no way possible for any of the suggestion proffered by the Congress or Obama can work to create jobs without addressing the massive gap in consumption between the rich and poor, in particular if demand (more specifically lack of demand) is why there is minimal job growth. Now there are some who say Obama saved the country from a depression with his stimulus, but in fact it resulted in 2 million jobs vacated from the system, since the money went to the folks who already had money and desired to save it, or it went to those from foreign countries who currently own our debt and subsequently spent that money abroad and not here to create jobs.

Obama’s effort, even if more stimulus is introduced, will not produce any jobs. Likewise, the Republicans, who say they do not desire excessive regulations and want lower taxes, will not create jobs either, if history is any indication of what such policies evince. One reason is because over the past twenty years, household debt grew by more than thirty percent. Namely because of the lack of regulations proposed by the GOP for large corporations and Wall Street especially. Second, growing the economy, by reducing taxes for the top 2 percent while sales and payroll taxes for the masses continue to increase, will mean less money in the pocket of the average American, thus keeping consumer demand as it is or lowering it. Math shows us that US workers fortunate to be employed have increased in productivity, yet compensation and hourly wages have stagnated, not matching this productivity. Why, because just as prior to the great depression as it stands now, the majority of the wealth was in the hands of the top five percent. As Robert Reich notes in his book “Aftershock: the next economy and America’s Future” the top earners in the share of the nation’s total income reached their highest levels in 1928 and 2007 – both two years before major economic depressions. And Yes Virginia, a double dip recession as a kind way to say a depression.

Both Obama and the congress need to accept these facts. Obama needs to recognize big corporations are no longer singularly loyal to the US – they are global and have global interest. Republicans need to understand that deregulation places short-term profit gains over long-term economic. But I doubt if they will, seeing that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor wants to stop rules that regulate deadly mercury emissions and toxic coal ash from power plants suggesting that such regulations kill jobs (he fails to speak of the public health risk and loss of human life). I published a list four years ago that would grow the economy and create jobs, but what do I know, I just study history and do math.

I just wonder why places like India, China and Germany can do what we can’t – grow the economy and create jobs and increase earnings. German economic growth has outpaced the US for the past 15 years. Over the same period they have increased annual pay close to 30 percent while ours has increased almost 6 percent over the past fifteen years. The top 1 percent only takes 11 percent of the nation’s total income. Oh that’s right, they value education more, just as the other countries, and consistently out pace us in math and science aptitude, just as 26 other nations around the world.

Yes Obama has the second worse record to job creation of all US presidents, ranking only above Herbert Hoover. Yes, our attention deficit disorder having republican dominated congress seems to display the inability to comprehend that cutting taxes is not correlated to a decrease in the ratio of revenue to GDP. Not to forget a Treasury secretary who said the US credit rating would never be lowered, we have incompetence all around the nation’s capital.

Our economy suffers because in 2008 the chickens came home to roost – with no regulations, Wall Street, Banks and multi-national corporations were allowed to deal complex papers with unknown values like mortgage backed securities, which gave banks extra capital to enrich themselves by selling the same debt based securities of unknown value around the world. Simply because oligarch, people with great economic power and influence on politicians, republican and democrat equally, make the rules defining American economic policy to benefit themselves and ignore 95 percent of the nation. It not happen stance that The poorest 50% of all Americans now control just 2.5% of all the wealth in this country, or that the wealthiest 1% of all Americans now own over 50% of all the stocks and bonds.

Perry Compares Civil Rights Movement to Tax Cuts for Billionaires

Herman Cain Will Never Get Serious Consideration from Blacks on Democratic Plantation

I am a proud graduate of Morehouse College. I am among a distinguished group of alumni who include Martin Luther King, Jr., Edwin Moses, Spike Lee, Samuel Jackson, Maynard Jackson and current Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain. It is unfortunately, most African Americans will not give Cain any objective consideration simply because he is a member of the Republican party. This confuses me and is also an issue of consternation when we look at the history of African Americans.

Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, once served as a Federal Reserve Bank chairman in Kansas City, takes heat from the Republicans establishment just as much as the general black community, including former Bush adviser Karl Rove and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer who said his campaign was all about “entertainment.”

Although a long shot and the fact that many consider Barack Obama, America's first African American president, Cain if elected would be really the first black president into office. This is not about his skin color, but rather his experience. His experiences and history of a robbed heritage, more akin to most African Americans that that of President Obama. Obama can speak of his lineage to Kenya through his father and Ireland through his mother. Most African Americans cannot trace their family history to any specific person, time or place in Africa.
Cain, the son of a chauffeur and a domestic worker in Georgia, graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in mathematics, and he earned a master’s degree at Purdue before joining the Navy. His rise in the corporate world started first at Coca-Cola and then at the Pillsbury Company, where he was an executive overseeing Burger King and chief executive at Godfather’s Pizza.

At 65, Mr. Cain, platform will push for new energy policies to make the United States less dependent on foreign oil. In a recent interview he said, "My great, great grandparents were slaves, and now I'm running for president of the United States of America," he says later. "Is this a great country or what?" He also upset many Tea Party supporters when he stated that African Americans are too poor to tea party. “They can't afford to," Cain said. "So I think the first reason is economics. If you just look at the sheer economics of it. If you look at the typical income of a black family of four it's going to be lower than a non-black or white family of four," he explained.

Now I am a libertarian and see no big difference between democorats or republicans inside thebeltway. My reality is that Cain’s experiences is closer to mine than Obama. Most do not know that it was democrats that fought against integration, both in the North and South. That it were the "Democrat-controlled state legislatures in the South that placed the Confederate battle flag on their state capitol flags." That the democrats founded the KKK (the first Grand Wizard of KKK- Nathan Bedford Forrest was honored at Democratic National Convention of 1868) and the Council of Conservative Citizens. That no democrat voted for the 14th amendment and that then Senator John F. Kennedy – with an eye on the Democrat presidential nomination for 1960 – voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Cain has no chance because African American myopia will vote for anyone who is a democrat without out question. Sad fact is democrats are happy to see blacks ask the government to do for them because they will not have to and take the black vote for granted. The way I see it, democrats are like Church’s Fried Chicken and the Republicans are Ruth Crisp. Democrats will sell us foods that kill us and set up shop throughout our communities. We accept without question for that is reality on any plantation, democratic or republican.

The President, Congress, Senators and Wall Street: The True Sodomites

Now I am no biblical scholar, but I can admit to reading the Bible as well as the teachings of Buddha from cover to cover. The reason I am writing this is based on what I isolated in a post last week regarding the West-Obama narrative. Now I basically pounced on Black and Africana studies for two reasons, first it is not an area of science and singularly doesn’t mandate scholarly or intellectual discorvey pertaining to African descendents and our culture via existence. Secondly, it seems to promote more discussion regarding the use of the word black as a descriptor and issues of race and racism than pedagogy.

Many found that Dr. West statements regarding President Obama as a personal attack. In some accords they were but in other I do not think so and in fact would wager that if he had not used the descriptor black his statements would have accurately described every President since `1980 and nearly every politician within the beltway. West described Obama as being a "black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."

Now if he had just called Obama a “mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a puppet of corporate plutocrats,” he would have been 100 percent on point. That’s why it seems strange to me that the quasi intellectuals who want to make a big deal of this appear to only focus on the use of the word “black” and name-calling.

The reality is they cannot tackle the content of the assertion for the reality is that Wall Street is handled as if it is more important than the people of America. They get bailed out and we loose our jobs and homes. Wall Street bankers have amassed and wield more power than Harry Potter, or the politicians they purchase like EMF’s.

Obama, just as Bush and Clinton and Regan before him are all guilty and regardless of color, “mascots of Wall Street oligarch (A very rich businessman with a great deal of political influence). Yes they are for oligarchs of big business and Wall Street have employed large amounts of loot to corrupt both Democrat and Republican politicians equally. I wonder why Prof. Melissa Harris-Perry piece in the nation doesn’t even discuss this.

Why is it wrong to note that without Wall Street, in particular Goldman Sachs (Obama's Top contributor), that Obama would have never been elected. Why is it wrong to note that the Obama policy assisted in giving bankers on Wall Street $700 billion after his election when most folks were just satisfied to have his picture on the wail on the side of Jesus opposite martin Luther King, Jr. in the front room.

Like Bush, he has sang the GOP and big business song that deficits are what we need to deal with first before we deal with the poor and middle class. In Ezekiel 16:49 the problem with those of Sodom was that they “had pride excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”

I have been saying all along that Obama was no different than the crooks that occupied the Whitehouse before him. That he was another in a long line of sodomites who give it to the populous with no Vaseline. Although sodomy is used to refer to gay sexual acts, there is no mention of such in the bible – none. Who ever came up with this was like an old television show I grew up watching, “Lost in Space.” In today’s world in the United States, The President, Congressmen, Senators and bankers Wall Street are the true sodomites, for while millions of Americans, of all ethnic/racial distinctions have lost jobs and homes, politicians like the president and others inside the beltway have turned a blind eye to the criminal activities of Wall Street’s banking and finance system. All we see are the outcomes – the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the uber-wealthy oligarchs. But what can one expect for a collection of millionares the likes of Obama and the wolk on Capitol Hill.

Redistricting and the Electoral College: Two Reasons Why Obama May Loose in 2012

Around the media world and blogosphere I incessantly see articles suggesting how Barack Obama has assured a victory in the 2012 Presidential election after his decision to go into Pakistan and kill Osama bin Laden. Words used to describe his eminent reelection included “sealed”, “slam dunk” and certain. This only demonstrated to me how little some black folk know about American government as if a bump from an assignation is all he needs.

Now I too, wrote a piece some weeks ago asserting six reasons why he had the inside road to winning in 2012. Although I stand by it, it was written before the raid on Osama bin Laden and more importantly, the actual redistricting of the GOP. Redistricting occurs once every ten years which just happens to be now.

Redistricting efforts will be very important in the 2012 Presidential elections since many states have become Republican dominated since the November 2010 elections which saw sweeping changes in legislations across the nation. The census shift that was documented last year will more than likely hurt Obama in 2012 since people have left traditional blue states for Red ones. Texas is one such case where it is expected to pick up three house seats and electoral college votes while Michigan, a traditional democratic state is expected to lose a house seat. In fact, census data indicate that states won by John McCain in 2009 are projected to gain six seats in congress, meaning states Obama won will lose six. New York and Ohio, also traditional democratic states are expected to lose congressional seats as well.

In North Carolina for example, the Republican-controlled state legislature looks to create new districts benefiting its party and are planning to try to re-draw the districts that would shift power to Republicans statewide by increasing GOP voting strength in non-Black regions. The reality is that November's elections put Republicans in control of dozens of state legislatures and governorships, just as states prepare to redraw their congressional and legislative district maps. Republicans now control the governor's offices and both legislative chambers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Maine and Wisconsin. They are governors' in Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and Iowa.

Those that assert his re-election is assured by the raid on the bin Laden compound are missing or lack the foresight to include the aforementioned and the electoral college on the selection of the Presidency. The Electoral College, administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), is a process that began as part of the original design of the U.S. Constitution. It was established to serve as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote. The political parties nominate electors at their State party conventions or by a vote of the party's central committee in each State and often recognize and are dedicated to their political party first.

Although Obama has a good chance of being re-elected, he may just as likely lose due to the census, gains in republican dominated states and the electoral college. He laso has on his side, a group of GOP hopefuls who for lack of a better word are comical to say the least. So if he doesn’t win and the projections of pundits based on one political/military event that he would, just remember their failure was due to a lack of knowledge of the constitution and middle school civics.

US Economy to African Americas Says "Once a Slave Always a Slave

Listening to all of this discussion inside the beltway on the deficit, our national debt and raising the debt ceiling should get some folk to investigate their personal and individual connection with all of these events we too often define as having nothing to do with us. But what is missed is how all of the bickering and indecisiveness hurts African Americans more than any other racial/ethnic groups. Now this is not to assert that other folks are not hurting economically, just that the history is incessant and well verified to this observation.

It has been reported that the current national economic recession that officially began in December 2007 and said to have ended last year, continues to take a major toll of workers, in particular black males. In theory the back and forth between the Whitehouse and House Republicans is to deal with creating an environment, via budget cuts to improve the economy and grow jobs. But jobs for whom? Not African Americans.

As of April 2009, the recession had already abrogated about 6 percent of all employed men and about 10 percent of the jobs held by black men at the time. Since the onset of the recession overall black unemployment rate increased at a faster rate than whites. And after the recovery started in June of 2009, the unemployment rate for blacks increased two percentage points above 16 percent while white unemployment has returned to its rate prior to the recover (8.7%). African Americans have been the hardest hit during each of the past recessions. For example, during the 1990-91 recession Asians and Hispanics gained 55,104 jobs and 60,040 jobs, respectively, but blacks lost 59,479 jobs, especially in states with the highest immigration.

A recent study by Andrew Sum, professor of economics and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., called “The Impacts of the 2007-2009 National Recession on Male Employment in the U.S. through January 2009; noted that Black male employment fell by 6.4 percent (482,000), compared to overall Black employment at almost 3 percent (463,000); and that the unemployment gap between Black men and women increased with Blacks the only group where the gap favors women. Currently, a third of blacks live in poverty with employers tending to fire blacks while retaining and hiring people of other ethnicities during a recession.

What makes all of this worse is the seemingly endless onslaught of republican legislation outside of Washington that impacts if not intentionally, brazenly accrues more harm with those traditionally at the bottom of the economic totem pole. In Alabama, U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) whose district was one of the hardest hit by the recent plague of Tornado’s across the south, prior to this tragedy along with other Alabama Republicans, voted against funding for satellites that are critical for accurate storm forecasting.

Strange how Karma works, Bachus, Martha Roby, Mo Brooks, Robert Aderholt, Mike Rogers, and Jo Bonner--voted against a bill that would save lives in rural areas via more accurate weather information and warning systems suggesting that they were a waste of money and unnecessary. Lamentably they were more interested in protecting the $5.5 billion in subsidies and foregone royalty payments for Big Oil.

In Florida, GOP Lawmakers have just approved deep cuts in unemployment benefits. Legislators have just passed a measure that would cut maximum state benefits to 23 weeks from 26 when the state has a jobless rate near 11 percent. The rate for African Americans in the state is near 20 percent.

Across the nation, April’s unemployment figures display how African-Americans are suffering. Along with increased cost for gas and other staples, it is no wonder household participation in food stamps continues to steadily luxuriate. Data reported by the Department of Agriculture for February of this year evince that an additional 11,517 recipients were added, representing a household participation rate of about 14 percent nationally.

Now something has to give. Either folks become proactive and recognize how dire these circumstances are for the masses, and take the time to learn more about economics, saving and global economics as a function of the value of the dollar or either we continue to lag behind. Too many folk think and worse, believe that President Obama has the ability to do something about this or that he actually cares. The reality is that actions speak better than words.

Under Obama’s current budget, federal prison spending will rise from $6.2 billion to $6.8 billion. His budget also desires to reduce $5.1 billion in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program to $2.57 billion. Last year he cut spending for Food stamp programs.

We need to look at this troubled period with objective eyes, for the way I see it, Republicans in the house and Congress, as well as the Democrats under the leadership of the current administration, do not have the interest, or best interest of our community at hand and both seem content to let us suffer most of the burden of this faltering economy. For they understand, live practice and through their actions know that when it comes to Money, credit, and debt: Once a slave always a slave.

Oklahoma Republican Says Blacks don’t work as hard and have less initiative than whites

The Oklahoma House of Representatives has approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would eliminate affirmative action in state government. Just last week President Obama revealed his long form birth certificate in an attempt to satisfy birthers, which it did not. And from sea to shining sea, republican politicians are showing their innate racist tendencies. This past spring in Georgia, a Republican pushed a bill to make abortions a crime punishable by life imprisonment or death. Now, the stage has been set in Oklahoma, where a proposed amendment passed by a vote of 59-14 Wednesday evening, with 28 members absent or not voting, to ban Affirmative action.

What makes this worse are the beliefs voiced by Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City who suggested that minorities, namely African Americans earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative than whites.

Rep. Kern added to her inflammatory and ignorant remarks by saying, “We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”

It is obvious that Republicans, as well as their Tea party constituents desire to “take America back,” which means restoring the legacy of white power, white supremacy and discrimination for the benefits of whites at the expense of others including Spanish speaking immigrants, Muslims and African Americans.

They desire to turn the clock back far enough where Blacks will not be able to vote or hold office. Kern and Trump feel that the solution to America in the age of Obama is to discriminate more and make it hard to discern any distinction between a "birther" and a "racist.” They fail to see that they are the problem and that if Oklahoma is like the US Congress, as legislators, they work less than the average American, yet receive a FULL benefits package. Republicans claim that playing the mythical race card is bad politics but yet they live on divide and conquer.

Florida Republican​s advances bill Supporting David Dukes Idea to make welfare applicants undergo and pay for drug tests

It is evident that class warfare is on the front burner for Republicans and Tea party activist across the nation. From inside the beltway to state capitols across America, legislatures have specifically targeted programs that disproportionately assist Blacks and minorities communities who also happen to subsist mainly at or below the poverty level. The latest example is in the state of Florida, where a bill is being brought to the floor, based on ideas first offered by noted white supremist and Klansman David Duke that would mandate that the state’s welfare recipients would have to undergo -- and pay for -- drug tests to be eligible to receive welfare benefits. The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jimmie T. Smith, has argued that this is necessary to ensure that state and federal dollars are being spent on families who truly deserve the aid and that those who receive the money don't spend it on drugs. If successful, Florida would become the second state in the nation to approve such an ordinance. It was a central part of the campaign of current, Gov. Rick Scott last year. This would require that more than 21,000 Floridians currently receiving assistance as heads of households would have to submit to the drug screenings, according to the Department of Children and Families. Although it has been pointed out that this could be a profit windfall for Rep. Scott, the measure (HB 353) was approved by the House Judiciary Committee Thursday by a 13-5 vote. Scott founded the urgent care chain, Solantic, would be the owner of the company that will conduct the drug test at a cost of $35 each. Scott has since transferred ownership of the chain to his wife, Ann, after taking office.

A More Perfect Union

School House Rock this was the show, early Saturday mornings in my childhood that taught me the preamble of the constitution. I can still sing that song today. I especially was fond of the stanza “We the people in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility.”

The two phrases of importance herein are “we the people” and “more perfect union.” In Wisconsin, Ohio and several other stats around the country, a battle for these two phrases are underway. The consternation is that Republicans do not agree with these founding principles albeit they claim the innateness of the constitution as being sacrosanct, but what can one expect from racist, sexist, kkk, bible toting republican backing nutt sacks?

Not to mention these same folk claim to know how to correct the economy and create jobs yet the only economic prescriptions they advocate support individuality and ignore social responsibility while enriching self on the backs of the hard working citizenry. The way I see it the query remains do they? The social issues seem to be more paramount. I figure if a person doesn’t want an abortion don’t have one and if you do not want to marry a gay person don’t – a lot of my heterosexual confederates do just that. But back to the Wisconsin example.

Although many believe that the governor of Wisconsin is conducting a personal raid on pensions and attack on collective bargaining as being essential to balancing the budget – it is not What is not overtly discussed are the facts. One is that just a few days after taking office the Governor gave more than $100 million in tax breaks to large corporations. This on top of the fact that corporations really do not pay any taxes as it is in Wisconsin. More than 60 percent of Wisconsin corporations pay no taxes at all.

Factually the Governor is attempting to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class during the middle of a recession. Not to mention he desires to make up for differences in the tax breaks for corporations he gave with $78 billion in the pension fund. He like the Governor of Ohio does not want folk to have a say in their money they put in their own pension. It seems strange that while Gov."I don't need any Blacks" Kasich of Ohio takes from folks making 50k a year, he has given his chief of staff a raise of $50,000 not even being in office six months. If this is ok, then the next thing would be someone telling you they have control over what you put in your 401k, what is the difference. A pension is similar for it is just deferred pay for work done. You can’t tell me a DA working for the state makes the same as a lawyer working in the private sector. If it is ok to raid union pensions then it is ok to raid a 401k or a credit union as well as prevent class action law suits.

Across the nation, the GOP has gained almost 700 seats in state assemblies. Fifteen are considering Arizona styled immigration acts including Kentucky, Nebraska and Oregon and several others are pushing for the drug testing of welfare recipients. In North Carolina, Republicans are trying to repeal the state’s Racial Justice act – it allows inmates on death row to use statistics to appeal based on discrimination. In Wisconsin they are trying to repeal a law that requires police to record the race of folk the pull over.

Go figure, from inside the beltway to the state level, the GOP is dealing with everything except the economy and jobs. I have yet to hear of or read any job creation legislation on their behalf. And I am sure they know the US trade deficit has increased to its largest gap in four months – by 33 percent. Mainly due to extending the Bush Tax cuts (which increased their beloved deficit). We have $365 billion in imports from China while we export $10 billion there in the midst of increasing oil prices.

They complain about Obama’s budget yet admit they do not have one of their own. Although the public decree is to focus on jobs and unemployment, they seem to have formed their own Napoleonic Rhenish Confederacy while at the same time the metternichian principles of the Tea Party in congress attempts to maintain political hegemony via sleight of hand and inquisitional methods. The more I try and understand, the more confused I get. I mean where does the GOP get spending cuts, abortion and civil rights as being what the electorate wants dealt with first from when our economy is sinking? Strange for again, I thought it was jobs.

America, I hope we are not that stupid. A more perfect union is we the people, not we the corporation.

You Big Dummy

Imagine this; Fred Sanford is at home, sitting down listening to the election returns from around the nation on his radio from NPR. Well not really, imagine me at home in the bed listening to the national election results on the radio, after all that’s what amounted for my entertainment last night. All I could say to myself, upon return upon return were Mr. Sanford’s legendary description of his son Lamont “you big dummy.”

It seemed to fit the evening correctly, both in terms of describing the democrats and the Obama administration and the fools who voted the GOP in office around the country by a historic level. In fact not since 1948, when Truman was president have we seen such a large take over of the house by one party. We know what happened nationally, now in the US House of representatives the GOP controls 239 seats, a pick up of 60 and also added 10 gubernatorial seats that they swiped from democrats

But even more troubling is what occurred on the state levels. In Georgia for example, the second Republican governor was elected in a row since 2002. Prior to this Georgia had not had a Republican Governor since Reconstruction. And for your history Buffs that is since Benjamin Conley in 1872, who ironically was one of the persons who assisted in promoting harsh resolutions condemning the state's failure to comply with the Reconstruction Acts of Congress in the organization of the General Assembly in an effort to reseat the colored members, kicked out by democrats.” A former Whig, Conley had opposed secession and retired to his plantation near Montgomery, Alabama, for the duration of the war. On his return to Georgia after the surrender it was natural for him to join the Republicans and to support the congressional plan for Reconstruction.”

But back to my point. In the state house the won 17 seats giving republicans 107 of the 180 seats and in the senate the control 37 of the 56 district senate seats.

Now what caused this? I don’t listen to pundits but I have my own developed postulate on the outcome. Now unlike many I don’t credit this too the Tea (Taxed enough Already) party, and don’t understand how folk, especially black folk can suggest such when they likely don’t even know what the acronym stand for or their beliefs, albeit most of which are rooted in agoraphobic based nativism. But I can say first and foremost is President Obama.


President Obama selfish tendencies and his ethnicity brought this on. Only a fool, taking office after George W. Bush, who inherited an economy in shambles and on the brink of collapse would put health care before Jobs and stabilization of the dollar. I just don’t get it, I mean it seems to be misdirected attention to spend 18 of your first 23 months on passing health care with the way the market and unemployment situation is currently. Moreover, Obama also appointed some foxes (Geitner and Sumners) to run the hen house and allowed the to suggest policy, without critical examination too solve the economic crisis that history tells us would not be able to improve the economy that has taken 20 years to get this bad in a two year period.

All of this has made me prophetic since two years ago I stated that people were blinded by the “Obamafication of America” and we were moving from “Tobe to Joe Six-Pack.” Now the lunatics run the asylum.

Now Obama has to depend on Black folks to keep him in office, since he may loose the Latino electorate since he promised to deal with comprehensive immigration reform in his first year – which he did not, just as he promised to address needle exchange – which he did not.

The tea party is another issue. It seems that they do not understand that one cannot fix an economy as bad as ours in one or two years (idiots). Plus they are dishonest, for if the pundits knew anything and were honest, they would call this election for what it was. No, this is not an anti-incumbent protest vote; it was an anti-democratic incumbent vote. No it was not anti-Obama vote; it was an anti Black man as president vote. Which in summary means that this vote was directed to punish democrats for promoting and getting a black man elected as President.

Black folk if they were smart could learn something from the tea party. Instead of voting democratic without question, and complain about the GOP, if they truly desired change they would join the GOP, and vote for their own kind and once elected form their own political coterie. But requires too much though and many, as I said drank the kool laid – since they were just happy to have a black man as president. See what a vote does, nothing, for America is not a democracy it is a republic – and only land owners make decisions in republics, You big dummy. Now we have a collection of Andrew Jackson’s all over the place and all that is missing now is David Duke. Arizon just passed by a large margin, Prop 107, legislation that bans preferential treatment and discrimination prohibition (Affrimative Action) so the way I see it its on and all down hill from here - thanks for nothing.

You a Tea Bagger if....

I Before E except after C: This is their mantra. They hate Islam and immigration, except that is after colored Folks.

They believe that if their children , in particular daughters, swim in a pool with men they will certainly get pregnant.

They actually only watch one television station - Fox, but they both think every thing on it from Football on Sunday to Glee is actually NEWS and fact taken from Revelations - Fox News Most Trusted Channel In News.

You applaud the assertion that Obama is a Muslim, non-christian, off the main Land born Kenyan, yet find it inaccurate and offensive when you call Christine O'donnell an tax cheating, masturbation crazed warlock apprentice.

The father, the son and the holy ghost are code words for David Duke, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh

You believe the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Rev. Jerry Falwell and not Jesus.

You believe only racists, homophobes, Nazis, polygamists, rednecks and Republicans are the only real Americans

You believed that Sarah Palin actually can see Russia from her front porch or that she has even read anything written by Shakespeare or anything other than what someone writes on the palm of her hand for her.

You have someone in your family that fly's the rebel flag and/or lives in a trailer park.

You believe the sun revolves around the Earth.

Are Democrats and Republicans Trying to Ruin Black Politicians?

The current climate in Washington is tense. Not only are the upcoming midterm elections expected to change the future political landscape, but so too will the recent rash of ethical complaints leveled at prominent Democrats.

Two longtime members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters are being investigated for alleged ethics violations.

Both of the aforementioned have declined plea offers and have accepted to fight the charges publicly prior to the November elections.

Since the establishment of the Office of Congressional Ethics by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2009, all eight individuals cited for alleged ethics violations have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus, meaning all are African American. As such, many are starting to question if these investigations are racially or politically motivated.

The recent allegations against Congressman Rangel, who faces 13 ethics charges, including improper fundraising and tax evasion, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, whom the House ethics subcommittee has alleged broke ethics rules by lobbying Treasury officials for a $25 million bailout of OneUnited Bank in Boston, have given Congress a witch hunt environment. Waters’ husband, former NFL player Sidney Williams, has a financial stake in OneUnited.

In addition, the GOP has incessantly promoted an all-out ground assault against President Obama. Ironically all of this is happening while Republicans are trying to make the upcoming elections a referendum against the Democrat-controlled Congress and White House.

If the trials of Rangel and Waters do manifest, they may serve the interests of the GOP by driving a wedge between the Democratic Party, mainly the Obama White House, and his large corpus of African American supporters, and white Democrats.

The strange thing is that what Rangel and Waters are charged with is historically no different than activities conducted by former President George W. Bush.

Although to the dismay of many Democrats, Obama refused to charge the Bush administration with any criminal acts regarding his war against Iraq and his involvement with Enron.

During the first nine months of his administration, Bush used his presidential powers to assist his personal friend, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, in covering up criminal activity. Bush fought vehemently against imposing caps on the price of electricity in California when Enron drove up prices artificially by manipulating and controlling supply. In addition, under the Bush administration, Lay was able to influence the administration's energy policies. In fact, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was replaced in 2001 after he started an investigation into the now-illegal complex derivative-financing schemes practiced by Enron.

However, the Republicans are willing to take the opposite road if they are able to win back the U.S. House of Representatives in November. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has stated that he will launch several investigations of the Obama administration if he becomes chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Of specific importance to Issa is the Obama administration’s alleged interference in U.S. Senate races in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Issa has attacked the administration with ethical wrongdoing charges consistently since Obama took office.

The double standard with respect to how Republicans and Democrats are being treated in regards to ethics violations sends mixed messages to the African American community. First it looks as if the white Democratic leadership, in concert with the GOP, is targeting blacks singularly. Second, it lets the world see America’s hypocrisy in regards to how Republicans are treated compared to black political officials, especially if one happens to be the first African American president of the United States of America.