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It is interesting that the current unemployment rate of 9.8 percent is the only number quoted in the "mainstream" media. The U6 number of 17% quoted above is never reported on TV (at least that I have seen). The current unemployment situation is usually presented as "the worst since the 1980's". Ironically, if the BLS calculated the U6 as they did in the 80's the rate would be 21%--approaching depression-era levels.
One of my biggest disappointments came when Pres. Obama told a woman at a town hall meeting some time ago that many of the jobs would not be coming back. I must ask why not? There will be no recovery without jobs. The stimulus will not take up the slack, especially since many of the stimulus jobs are temporary in nature. Yet bringing jobs back in the private sector is not even being discussed.
Jobs must come back if the economy is going to recover, and yet what we are seeing is companies using the recession as an excuse for more offshoring and outsourcing. Even companies that are receiving taxpayer bailouts are retaining their foreign workers and offshoring operations while they lay off American workers. And congress is still allowing the import of H1B and L1 workers from cheap-labor countries as the corporations cite "shortages" of skilled workers.
This is disgusting and much more shameful than the Wall Street bonuses and CEO salaries. The irony is "We the People" are financing the movement of our jobs overseas and the destruction of our economy. I find myself thinking like a tea-bagger. "I want my country back." But I want it back from the corporations that control it today, and have run it into the ground.
Also in regard to something else Thom talked about yesterday, it seems to me that it is far too late for the U.S. to change course in Afghanistan, exchanging bullets for butter. We simply have lost all credibility with the Afghan people. China, which has no record of making war on weak countries in far away places, instead goes to South America and Africa to finance roads, schools and hospitals to facilitate access to resources. Of course China's motivation is cynical and greedy, but it is no more so than the U.S. is, and at least contributes something of use to the native people in return. The U.S. has had only blood on its hands anywhere it has gone in the recent past.
I watched a television commercial yesterday featuring a white female doctor (or someone playing a doctor), warning rather stridently against the government coming between you and your doctor. Apparently it never occurred to her to ask her patients if insurance companies were blocking their access to her, or maybe she is concerned about the possibility that she will not be able to make as much money as she would like if cost-reducing competition forces her to work harder at coming up with correct diagnoses, instead of piling on excessive costs for patients through needless procedures that insurance companies will not pay for. It is rather amazing that there is this disconnect between doctors and patients in regard to the effect of excessive costs.
It seems that this doctor doesn’t have the “socialist”—i.e. Utopian—tendencies that women are supposed to have, according to Thom yesterday. I have to admit that since I’ve never felt the need to be married, and don’t at present feel the necessity to impress a woman, I don’t understand the need to patronize them, since we are all supposed to be equal. Of course not everyone is treated equally equal, but in this country women are only marginally less guilty of perpetrating this as men (the increasing gender gap favoring women in access to higher education is a case in point). Now that I'm on a trouble-making roll, I will go on to say that I find it rather intriguing that anyone would believe that women in power are naturally disposed to “socialist” tendencies; if they are, it only extends amongst themselves. It is my experience that the old cliché that women can be your best friend or your worst enemy is often true; there is not much in the way of “in-between.” Tyranny goes hand-in-hand with compassion (of a sort). The personal seems more important than the universal; when one speaks of “brotherhood”—at least in the way it was understood since the 1960s—it has a universal connotation encompassing all people. This is not true of “sisterhood,” which deliberately means to exclude men from the conversation. One may quibble about whether or not women were part of the universal equation before suffrage, but there is no doubt that women are just as discriminatory—if not more so—as men are in establishing their own peculiar cliques. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I think, when all is said and done, that it is a fragile pedestal that we put women on when it is argued that they are more wired for peace and harmony than men.
Obama needs to fire McCrystal but he is too weak to be president.
We cannot win a war in Afghanistan. The terrain is a huge problem. Here are the mountains and Vietnam had the jungles.
Stupid does as stupid is!!!
A modest proposal, no yearling children involved.
You have one problem; a large number of forclosed homes that the banks or maybe now you, own.
You will have another problem when a large number of service-men-and-women return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Hopefully they will have a good modern version of the GI Bill. That would involve training, post secondary education and if I remember there was assistance in the original GI Bill for buying a home.
What about linking those; having a program where returning soldiers could reasonably buy up some of those forclosed houses? You might need some programs to renovate neglected houses.. jobs there, assistance with mortgages, especially if attending school, along with some help and attention so that people aren't just put in houses they can't afford.
Not an instant middle class but maybe a damn good start.
Advantages; a way for people, not developers, to get some bargains, a good form of 'thank-you' to the veterans, with a built-in and orderly system to determine who is entitled to the help.
Yes, there would have to be ways to qualify, but there should be lots who will.
In the neighbourhoods, empty houses get families back. Local businesses can recover somewhat and the over-all housing market would improve.
Let's see republicans fight this. Not deserving? Taking advantage? Don't 'support the troops'?
We all need to treat the veterans and troops' families better; Canada is no better; there have ben military families on food stamps etc.. shameful.
At least when one of ours is killed his name and story is the lead news item and the ramp ceremonies where they are sent home are televised, not hidden.
Cheers,
Rick
I love the Imperial Canadians scenario. If we invaded (sorry) I imagine you would take up arms (excuse us) to try to repel us.. Sorry about the White House, I see you have rebuilt it.. it's very nice..
Ok, maybe you invading us is a bit more believable.. oil, water.. doughnuts? Beer?
We sort of expect it. Of course if it was winter, you would forget to plug the tanks in overnight and they wouldn't start next day.
Point is, we would take up arms, at least in a resistance, just like you.
Once we pushed back, we would invade again, taking over the 11th to 60th provinces. When we take over Alaska we would exile Sarah Palin to Newfoundland with an english translator.
Conservatives believe that the Bible is too liberal. The Bible is a reflection of Jesus. Jesus was a liberal. In Jesus' heart was the essence of liberalism. Jesus' heart was filled with love, mercy, and forgiveness. This is the liberal's way of living his/her life.
Quark,
I'm glad you watched that segment with Jeff Sharlet. Between Jeff Sharlet, Frank Schaeffer, Max Blumenthal and Christ Hedges we have a lot of information and insight into the radical right and the Christian right. The point is what we do with this information.
I thought one of his most important points was his criticism of the “left” for looking down on the followers of the Christian right leaders. The left, by not addressing their justified concerns, some of which are the same as ours but seen through a different prism have left them as easy pickings for the Christian right.
all religions must talk about the greatness of living a life of compassion
the meanning of life is to live with the life condition of compassion.
one great problem in the world is fundamentalism in all religions authoritarian leader that dictate what they perceive as the truth. people must have total freedom to worship as they want. the goal of religion must be to empower people to a higher state of life. to me that higher state of life is one of compassion
Senators should give up their socialized health care plans.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Senators-Grassley-and-Hatc-by-Bill-Hare...
Thom continues to prove a point that Americans are stupid. What is the saying that every ninety seconds is born a stupid American? Americans are notorious for wasting money. That is the American way.
Build schools and educate girls and do not make wars!!!
I was only able to listen to the last 10 minutes of the first hour so the other 50 minutes may not match my comment. What the religious fundamentalists must understand that by 2080 Islam will be the majority religion in the US. Christians are committing crimes against humanity in the Middle East. The Islamic religion will gain more converts than Christianity. Our Christian atrocities are turning off millions of people.
Trying to follow and listen to Gaffney is difficult because he does not make any sense. He is endless babble.
Derbyshire believes women should vote but he writes a book to make a case for women not to vote. He did this book to make money.
Here is my pet peeve. We are fighting in three wars and a fourth war is around the corner in attacking Iran. The US has commenced WW III. If we are going to fight, then we should mobilize our population like WW II and not leave Nazi Americans with the idea that war is a video game. It is important for Nazi Americans to make some sacrifices back home in Nazi America. We carry on like nothing is happening in the Middle East. We are distracted so our minds are not on our crimes against humanity in the Middle East.
B Roll,
I just watched the GRITtv video you linked to in your previous post. Yes, that was a very informative interview with Jeff Sharlet. I was glad to hear his warning about Tim Pawlenty, too.
Thanks!
@Geph - M25/Golden Rule sounds good to me. Let's research if anyone else is already doing it, otherwise get cranking later this week. There ought to be similar lines in most religious & philosophical texts; a collection would be pretty useful!
And congrats on winning the book: "Talibangelists" made me snort my coffee!
OR Hillel’s: That which is distasteful to you; do not do unto others. This precludes the “I torture you cuz I love you” crowd.
About public postings:
What about graffiti laws that combine the First and Second Amendment by allowing folk to shoot taggers . . . You shoot then call it in then . . . We could legislate that the body be left for 30 days in the gutter . . . Graffiti would go away.
@rewinn - Love the beatitudes; however, it may be better to have an M25 movement that supports putting the central tenet of Matthew:25
"...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Variations on the Golden Rule would be good as it is found in most cultures and religions so would be acceptable to a broad audience and a wonderful central philosophy for all.
The closest thing to a male correlate of abortion would be child support payments made by unwed fathers. You could argue that since the father has no say in whether the mother aborts the fetus, she should have no say in whether he pays child support.
But seriously - about posting stuff in public places.
1. Ya can't beat something with nothing. As long as the alternative to posting the Commandments is to post nothing, we have a strategic disadvantage
2. The Bill of Rights would be a great pick. We could even pick up support from the gun nuts, which is strategically interesting
3. The other approach: post MORE! When the State of Washington opened up its winter holiday displays, there were Christian, Jewish, Atheists, Festivus displays ... it got out of hand because too many people wanted to speak. That's not a bad problem to have, IMO. It ended up with the State throwing up its hands and saying, forget it! No religious stuff at all.
So, as an alternative, I would suggest trying THAT approach; whereever the Commandments are posted, post either the BoR or else a HUGE catalog of religious, philosophical and legal tracts.
Jesus cursed a fig tree into dearth in violation of Jewish prohibitions of damaging fruit trees during war.
@Richard
Isn't the bill of rights some sort of commie rhetoric?
( joking )
Thom,
I have appreciated some of your recent conversations with conservatives. At least some of their responses didn't seem as knee-jerk jingoistic as so many from people from the standard right-wing think tanks.
As someone who has written posts bemoaning the "traditional" conservative representatives' so-called conversations with you, I just want to thank you for a broader selection of voices.
@rewinn: What if we posted the Bill of Rights on public buildings in lieu of any religious rhetoric?