Social Security? Hell no you can't!

I'm so angry right now that the president is considering putting Social Security and Medicare on the table in order to make a "deal" with the most radicalized republicans I have ever had the misfortune to see.  We cannot afford to give up our responsibilities just to get a few crumbs from the "we-voted-four times-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling-under-Bush-with-no-problems-at-all-but-if-a-Democratic president-wants-it-we-say-hell-no-you-can't!"

I've been following the tweets of Speaker Boehner and his laughable reasons behind the job crises can be summed up as follows:  Tax cuts, tax cuts, give my buddies more money!  It is quite sad that the actual facts of tax cuts to wealthy millionaires and billionaires does nothing notable to job growth.  Didn't we learn this lesson with the so called "Trickle Down" economics of the Reagan era?  It's like we all have brain damage.

The president of course is dealing with the hand dealt him.  We failed to make good budget decisions when we had the political clout of 2008.  We could have repealed the Bush tax cuts and solved the problem then.  Instead we diddled around feeling happy that we had elected a good person as president.  The president can't do everything on his own. 


The problem is that we got used to a cowboy shooting from the hip in the oval office.  As much as many of us disagreed with his policies, decisions and motivation, we did get use to seeing that six shooter twirling about.  When you keep stepping on thorns eventually your feet get calloused. 

The president actually leads like a president is supposed to.  He cajoles and influences with a manner that changes law and gives us longer security.  But sometimes I wish he used a club.

Choosin' not excusin'

I've been writing so much lately, but for other people that I haven't chosen to write for my own damn self in a while.  I hate going more than a few days between blog posts so dear reader, I apologize.

I've been in a few heady conversations lately in the past few days and I must say the intellectual stimulation is like licking a battery.  I feel refreshed, charged up and ready to keep on keeping on.  Oh, by the way if you hadn't read my latest post for Sustainable Seattle, ya really should.  It's one of my better ones and you can check that out right hee-ah.

Ya see, this week has been all about the benjamins both locally, and nationally.  The president gave a speech that outlined his budget plan that is a middle of the road approach to fiscal responsibility and I've been trying to craft my own middle of the road approach to rent and bills.  I figure if I give them the middle of the bill, they should be happy with that.  I mean after all I could easily skip out on payment at all right?  So what's wrong with a little few dollars hee-ah few dollas dare?

Okay I will speak English for the rest of this post.  I'm just in a goofball mood I guess.  The president had a few good lines in his speech about how we cannot afford to give the wealthiest 1% more tax cuts when it would take 33 seniors to pay for every one rich person's tax cut.  When it comes to our tax code we really have slid from the progressive tax code that has been the basis for our continued economic success for the past 100 years.  It is like we've forgotten that we are not self reliant no matter how much we adhere to the lone cowboy Marlboro Man grilling his freshly caught rabbit over an open flame in the middle of rattlesnake country out on the ol range.

We are dependent on each other and the best security we have is the security of mutually assured construction.  We need the engineers, architects, teachers, policemen, farmers, and shop owners because none of us has the entire skill set in order to survive.  Let's stop pretending that what happens to our neighbor doesn't affect us.  Let's choose compassion and community.

Half Way There

The economy is tough everywhere for most people anyway.  People are living their lives on a prayer and a shoestring budget a far cry from what they are used to.  We've seen a stubborn unemployment rate hovering around nine percent for nearly two years now and the numbers that seem to be shrinking are still not getting to the real picture of hardship that most families are going through.

Unemployment itself is of course misinforming.  The rate of unemployment is calculated with quite a few omissions.  Firstly, the rate only reflects those who are actively looking for work, as in filling out resumes, writing cover letters and attending job fairs.  Those people who have given up or have stopped actively pursuing work are not counted.  So that means that anyone who is homeless, anyone who is living off of a loved one, relative, or acquaintance or anyone who is infirm or unable to work is not counted.

Also, the unemployment rate does not discriminate between someone working full time or part time.  The people who have work that is under twenty hours count as fully employed.  Those who work more than one job due to economic pressure do not count for more than one, but they reflect the fact that many people may be working and not earning a living wage.

One callous congressman, who shall not be named, once boasted that the United States had ninety one percent of people working failing to realize the insensitivity of such an asinine statement.  The amount of living wages in the United States has been dropping faster than we can replace them.  We have seen good paying work being replaced by either technology or outsourcing and that is simply a matter of economics.  I am not one who believes we can or even should bring back manufacturing jobs if we cannot make products that are superior or more cost effective.  Our future does not lie in the past "glory days" of manufacturing, but in the future of ideas and innovation.


Perhaps the most unintentional effect of the economic downturn has been the idea that no class, no socio-economic class is safe from the potential of economic harm.  Many people in the "Middle Class" have had to come to grips on the lack of choices and options many of their fellow Americans have had to face for their entire lives.  The problem in the United States is that many people have to experience the hardship themselves before they can have compassion for the less fortunate.  However, the haves are beginning to cling to what they have even more so. 

On the political side congressmen and women are taking aim at teachers, policemen, firemen and trying to label them as "elite."  The struggling middle and lower middle class is a bit too eager to believe the hype surrounding state workers and they are forgetting that those who work for the state are fellow citizens as well. 

The unemployment numbers are misleading in that they equate simple employment with success when the story is much more complicated than that.  The real story that is not being told is the loss of livable wages and a society that is still riding on a consumption train off the cliff.  Until we solve the underlying problems of over consumption and an economy based on throw away items and throw away people the numbers will continue to misinform us.  We need to take a real look at where our economy is headed and we need to re evaluate the idea of "winners" and "losers" when it comes to economic opportunity.