Has Obama just become a Hoover Republican?
By Louise
Economist Paul Krugman weighs in on the spending freeze, "It’s appalling on every level' he says. This is really a return to the principles of Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Hoover did it in 1937 and it led to a one-year mini-recession. Reagan did it in 1982 and it led to a recession. Clinton did it and slashed the social safety net, although he was able to leverage it to raise taxes on the rich slightly, which actually led to a budget surplus. So far there's no indication that Obama intends to follow Clinton's lead in raising taxes - instead he appears to simply be appeasing Republicans. Has Obama just become a Herbert Hoover Republican?
Cash for Geezers? Congressman Dennis Kucinich is unveiling a major jobs program he claims will add one million jobs for struggling Americans to find work. Aides to Kucinich say his new initiative includes allowing older workers, in their early 60s, retiring earlier, making room for younger workers who have been struggling to find jobs. Kucinich says he will introduce his jobs program bill this week on Capitol Hill. If enough Boomers left the job market, it would even flip the current dynamic of too-many-people-chasing-too-few-jobs upside down, and create a tight labor markets. Tight labor markets drive up wages. And as wages go up, tax revenues – which are paying for Social Security (among other things) – would increase. Everybody wins.
Comments
#2
Another glorious war awaits us!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/U-S-China-Military-Tensio-by-Rick-Rozof...
#3
The doomsday clock keeps on ticking.
#4
We have no money for domestic programs but we do have money for a forty year drone war.
http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2010/01/24/the-forty-year-drone-war/
#5
#6
Let’s see for the period from 1980 to 2005, 20 years, when Republicans had control they produced 19.9 million jobs per the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and the 8 years that Clinton, a Democrat, produced 23.1 million jobs. At the same time he raised the taxes on the wealthy, countering the Free Marketers trickle down dogma of lowering taxes produces more jobs, Ya right, in China. The Republicans have failed miserably by the statistics, and they don’t lie. They are the party of the corporatists who are good at producing huge pay checks for CEOs by shipping jobs out of the country and lowering their taxes by passing them on to you. And the corporate democrats, like Obama, are copping this failed policy of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy by keeping the Bush tax cuts. If Obama would point out the obivoius he would win on increasing taxes on the wealthy. And remember he did say he would do something about NAFTA, but has not
Reagan (1981-1988) 14.8 Jobs created when we had a manufacturing sector.
Bush 41 (1989-1992) 3.4
Clinton (1993-2000) 23.4
Bush 43 (2001-2005) 1.7 results from NAFTA and tax breaks for the rich.
Totals: Democrats 23.4 in 8 years and Republicans 19.9 for 20 years of free market politics and no results. Now you make the decision.
#7
Is Obama really just trying to stay alive?
We know MLK was an important role model for Obama as well as John and Bobby Kennedy. We know he understands the progressive movement on its deepest levels. He has communicated this well to us. By not being a true champion of today's progressive causes he not only forsakes the millions that sent in their few dollars to his campaign, but the very memory of his mother who devoted her life to helping the poor of Indonesia.
We want him to be the progressive bulldog wielding an iron fist against an international network of corporations and moneyed interest who possess a level of power we can only imagine.
But what is it we're really asking of him? What price would he ultimately have to pay?
Perhaps the forces we face are too strong for just one man in the Oval Office. Perhaps the only force strong enough is a movement, an uprising, of the people.
#8
You mentioned on FSTV yesterday that O did not campaign on the public option. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8QKUxang9g 2:10. O mentions public insurance option and the Minnesota crowd goes nuts.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
Thom & Louise at a "private audience" with His Holiness Pope John Paul II at his summer palace, Castle Gandolfo, Italy
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From Screwed:
"Once again, Thom Hartmann hits the bull’s eye with a much needed exposé of the so-called ‘free market.’ Anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read Screwed now."
Before I share some information, I want to offer a suggestion. We do not have in our newspapers a labor page. Thom, each of your hours has four segments for a total of sixty segments for the week. Would it be possible to have one or two segments a week devoted to labor news and labor guests?
I wish now to share some information. At times Thom has some humor on his show to lighten our day. Aside from these humorous pieces, please listen carefully to what he says. For example on January 25, 2010 Thom mentioned two pieces of information, such as retirement plans and Ronald Reagan.
Retirement plans came on the scene to eventually eliminate social security programs. Right now our COLAs are frozen for two or three years. This freeze is a prelude to the eventual elimination of social security programs and the elimination of Medicare programs will follow. But, money will not be frozen for wars and mass murders of God’s children.
Thom mentioned that Reagan showed signs of dementia in his first term. Dementia does not come overnight. It is a process that takes ten, fifteen, and in some cases twenty years to actually surface. With dementia Reagan was not running the presidency or the American government. I believe that Nancy was upset with the people in the White House because they were poor advisors to him. We must remember that is the way for our shadow government.
My counsel to the people who listen to Thom on the radio is to pay close attention to what he is saying.
P.S. I have not been receiving any of Thom's newsltters for the past several days. I am wondering if he has stopped writing these newsletters? They seemed to require time and maybe five newsletters per week were time consuming? Maybe one newsletter per week would have been sufficient for the readers?