President Obama attack Bush's Public Sector Deficit ASAP

The US in the course of the eight years of the Bush Administration and the Republican led Congress has made us a debtor nation. I will say it again: The Bush-Republican led administration sold out our nation to foreign investors making us a debtor nation. Bush-Republican "Lone Ranger" approach left our nation "Tonto (silly)" in debt.

What is left of the economy the Bush Era Republican majority (now the minority) are slowly pivoting the responsibility of the economy onto the President Obama. The truth is the Republican's and Bush are solely responsible for the current crisis we face both militarily and economically.

The security question we should be asking is: "Are we as a nation more secure in light of the Bush/Republican economic sellout and economic catastrophe of 2008?" The answer in my mind is unequivocally, No! If military security hinges on our ability to raise, produce, and reconstitute our economy then the defense of our nation is treading on thin ice. All thanks to Bush-Republican sell out policies of their administration to fund an unwarranted war, and if the country does not rebound, then history will mark the Bush-Republican era, as a failure.

No matter where we are now or four years from now if our economy is not better by 2012 it certainly will not rest on the hands of President Obama. Realistically it took FDR three terms and the destruction of Europe to make our economy humm and grow. It took Clinton two terms to create record setting job growth, and economic solvency. It will take President Obama just as long.

It is completely the fault of Bush and his Republican co-horts, and if President Obama fails to revive the economy it will certainly not be because of his lack of effort, or the democrat lack of effort, but the blame will lie squarely on the shoulders of the party of NO, the GOP, the "GOPNO's," the people who at every turn said NO to President Obama.

Who wished his failure for their political gain. The "GOPNO's" will realize one thing that the tree will lay where it falls, and when it falls it will directly fall on them crushing them for being "DO-NOTHINGS" wishing our nation and our President's demise. The public will remember who never extended their hands, who never rolled up their sleeves, and provided the all important effort to join forces to pull our nation, out of the pit the GOP and President Bush has let it fall into.

Our stability has been squandered by unrestricted bloating of the public sector by Bush Republican's and by borrowing heavily or selling out America to foreign investors in China, and Europe. This borrowing has turned us into a debtor nation, inefficient, and unresponsive to the changing world environment and economy. Led by "lazy-faire"privileged pugilists who have fought, at every phase to strip every sense of equal opportunity and destroyed the highest possible value of American pride in the American Dream.

Because we have trillion dollar deficits with a capital "T," the emphasis of crisis is even more daunting and dramatic than a million or a billion dollar deficit, but the solution is the same. The Economic approach doesn't change, the basics of economic problem solving is essentially the same, and the mode attack towards large deficits is essentially the same as it was during the Clinton years or in FDR's era, only know the scale and enormity of the problem breaks new ground, because we are in the trillions, but nonetheless the sure footed principles of economics that pulled us out of the Great Depression, and Reagan's 1980's recession in the 1990's can pull us out now.

Relying on tested, tried, and true economic principles to attack the growing trillion dollar deficit will assuage the widespread anxiety the Republican's are trying to spread in sensationalistic attacks on our worst fear of economic insolvency.

So what can the past tell us about the future: Dr. Milton Freidman and Edward Nell, a Malcom B. Smith Professor of Economics, at the New School for Research in New York City wrote an article in 1994, published by the New York Review of Books titled: How Dangerous is the Deficit? An Exchange. Here both agreed on one thing:

PROFESSOR NELL WROTE:

Moreover, included in the US measure is the highest ratio of defense spending to GNP of any advanced nation. This means that excluding defense, we have by far the smallest public sector plus transfer system, in relation to GNP, in the developed world. Moreover our public sector has grown more slowly than that of any other developed nation. Could it be that many of our problems arise because our government is spending too little, in relation to GNP, rather than too much? Can we really manage the problems of a modern economy with less government participation than other nations require? Our social and economic statistics do not paint an encouraging picture.

These issues call for analysis and interpretation. Yet in public political discussion it is all too commonly assumed that government spending must be reduced further. However, recent studies have provided evidence that public investment in education, R&D and infrastructure will add more to future GNP than private spending, and further is likely to stimulate private productive investment. Far from trying to curb or cut government spending, the Clinton Administration needs to do just what Professor Friedman apparently fears—"…deliver…little if any deficit reduction, but instead [provide us with] a big increase in domestic spending, financed by a combination of new taxes and defense cuts…"

DR. FREIDMAN RESPONDED:

I supported President Clinton's deficit reduction package (indeed, I argued in these pages for a more aggressive program than the President's) not merely because I believe increased investment is essential to achieving productivity growth and with it a rising standard of living but also, and importantly, because I share the President's assessment that on average the US economy will be near to full employment during the period in question.

For example, I suggested in Day of Reckoning that President Reagan's tax cuts and greater military spending not only did not crowd out US private investment during the high-unemployment years of 1981–1984 but probably crowded in some investment by increasing overall economic activity and hence people's incomes and their demand for many products.

In the end, I was therefore pleased that Congress passed the President's program. No one likes paying higher taxes, of course, or doing without the programs curtailed by cuts in government spending. But I believe that reducing the government's borrowing, and so increasing our country's investment, is the surest way we know to begin to correct the dual problem of declining average living standards and widening inequalities about which I have previously written here.

The answer is... not to stop government spending but to stop government borrowing, and reign in the government bureaucracy, which the Bush-Republicans created. They sold out our nation, our nest egg's and our children inheritance to foreign banks and foreign countries, and placed our overall security on the most untenable ground ever.

What President Obama needs to do is stop government borrowing to attack the deficit, and pay off the foreign debt, ASAP. President Obama must continue his full court press and pass the twin reform of both the energy and health sectors and achieve the economies of scale and energy indepence that are so large a part of our present and future GNP. President Obama must continue to invest heavily, and even take a more aggressive approach to implementing the public investment in education, R&D and infrastructure that will add more to future GNP than private spending will ever accomplish on its own, and which is further likely to stimulate private productive investment well into our childrens future.

OBAMA THE TRILLION DOLLAR PRESIDENT

The Rebuilding of America by President Obama will require “Guts” by himself and politicians to reinvest in “Trillion Dollar” terms, and in the legacy terms of long term thinking and planning. Let’s face it the nation knows our country is in dire straights. The nation has just undergone a multi-system trauma, and we are bleeding economically with no end in sight. We need resuscitation.

According to the US House of Representatives Committee on the Budget, report dated February 4, 2007, Bush inherited a 5.6 Trillion Dollar ten year surplus, and the Bush’s Republican policies took the nation’s coffers to a 8.8 trillion dollar nose dive into the red, ending with a 3.2 trillion dollar deficit, and we are arguing over a measly 825 billion dollars.

The Golden Hour

Poetically, “We” are at deaths door and there is no bright light at the end of the tunnel. The end of our republic is near, and congress is operating in the twentieth century of stinking thinking, partisan short-term positioning for the 2010 elections, and not in the long term survival of the nation. If we all survive this trauma then that means both the Democrat and Republican will survive.

If “We” as a nation were a patient loosing blood at the rate of economic loss-one would know we are about to die-and so it is with our economy and our nation. Our economy is critically injured and “We” have arrived at the critical juncture between life and death called the “Golden Hour.”

R. Adams Cowley, MD, from the University of Maryland states, "There is a ‘Golden Hour’ between life and death. If you are critically injured you have less than 60 minutes to survive. You might not die right then; it may be three days or two weeks later -- but something has happened in your body that is irreparable." The University of Maryland (http://www.umm.edu/shocktrauma/history.htm), tribute to Dr. Cowley also states,” the “Golden Hour” emerged based on the importance of speed and as well as in the skill in operating procedures.”

Doing nothing and not using skill in the “Golden Hour” of the implementation of our “stimulus procedures” or of deploying the stimulus package would be tantamount to negligence. It can mark the beginning of the end for President Obama’s presidency if he allows the Republicans to keep him in the mire of short term thinking, and partisan politics. If we don’t get this right we will be squandering the “Golden Hour” we have to infuse the economy with the Trillions “We” need to keep us from falling into irreparable damage, and it will be the Republican’s who will be at fault, if they keep blocking or delaying this measure.

It is Time We Invest in Ourselves.

President Obama has reached out during this economic catastrophe, and continues to reach out not to further the Democratic agenda, but because he knows why he was elected, to save the nation from economic catastrophe. President Obama is thinking of America’s best interests and its survival not politics-he wants this to work, and “We” know this. “We” the people also see who is undermining his efforts, and we will let our voices heard in the poll booths. Speed and skill is needed to pass this stimulus package and “We” understand that we need to invest “Trillions” not billions.

“Billion dollar” thinking ended when our governments budget reached the Trillions, and our GDP hovers in the Trillions, and John Boehner arguing over “Other projects included in the stimulus proposal are: funding for contraceptives, $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts, $44 million for repairs to the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters, $200 million for the National Mall, including $21 million for sod, and $400 million for "national treasures," is chicken feed. It is small thinking compared to the trillions we need to get this right.

Just to get the economy to base we have to spend at least 3.2 Trillion dollars just to break even. Let’s put this in real terms and think in terms of economies of scale. What will do the most good for the most people? If we stopped spending 700 Billion dollars on imported oil in five years we would recoup the 3.2 Trillion needed for a real Stimulus Plan, and one year to recoup the paltry 825 billion Congress is now working to pass.

Investment vs. Spending

Some Republican’s and people like John Boehner are stuck in the twentieth century. President Obama has repeatedly stated that he does not want pork, and some Republican’s are screaming “bloody murder” because we want to repair our Department of Agriculture, make our National Mall a jewel to see and visit, avoid a population explosion like China, support the Arts-our culture and our “national treasures,” but it is obvious they have not travelled the country and have seen our decaying cities like Detroit, Philadelphia, or our crumbling infrastructure-they live in a bubble.

Cities like New York seem “Old World” compared to Beijing, Madrid, Paris, Dubai, and Shanghai and Singapore. Philadelphia gave birth to the American Revolution and American Independence, and Philadelphia should be a showpiece of early American history, because they made the hard decisions despite politics, but the unfortunate thing is it is not. Today, it is run down and worn out. Our founding fathers legacy to us was to provide the framework in their long term thinking to see who and what we are today.

Our legacy can be that at the “Golden Hour” of our greatest needs our generation made the hard decisions to invest and see our country thrive and prosper well into the 23rd century. If our economy was a person it will take action, the right medication at the right time, and right now we need a massive infusion of 3 Trillion Dollars “stat.” Like blood we need it typed and crossed and ready to go.

The Republican’s view this as “Spending” and this is where they miss the mark. “We” see this as an “Investment” to a more prosperous nation. “We” need the stimulus package skillfully constructed and know it is the foundation of the figurative house President Obama is gutting and rebuilding. Like President Truman reconstructed the White House President Obama will be carefully and skillfully re-constructing our nation.

“We” are Patient but Exacting

“We” the people know this will take a long time to recover and we are willing to “hunker down for the long haul” if we have accountability and transparency. “We” are willing to forgo immediate tax relief if the foundation we set today will carry the nation to long term prosperity. “We” can shoulder the current tax burden if there is fiscal responsibility in the “Investment.” “We” can endure austerity if Congress and the states and our nation’s cities are willing to implement an austerity plan with us and use performance measures to improve government.

We have seen runaway spending in the Republican lead era of the eighties and in the Bush era and that is what Politicians have become accustomed to when they take power. We have seen the resurgence of the $5,000 dollar toilet seat, the crazy junkets, the gaudy spending of the rich and famous. “We” are willing to go “Quid pro Quo” but only if what is required of “Us” is not squandered by short term thinking, and unmeasured and unbalanced double standards.

Tax Breaks and tax relief have become political ploys and gimmicks to gain our vote, and we are tired of short term political efforts to reduce taxes when it just digs the nation into a bigger grave. All tax incentives should be removed from the stimulus package and be discussed when the tax reconciliation period ends in 2010.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published this article titled: JOINT TAX COMMITTEE ESTIMATE SHOWS THAT TAX GIMMICK BEING DESIGNED TO EVADE SENATE BUDGET RULES WOULD INCREASE LONG-TERM DEFICITS; By Joel Friedman and Robert Greenstein. The Minutiae of tax reform can be discussed when the Bush tax cuts expire. Right now, the patient needs a massive 3 Trillion dollar infusion not a prescription on tax policy or a paltry 825 Billion.

“We” need Home Values stabilized. Our colleges and Universities need funding. “We” need a plan to create jobs that is part of the “Investment” in America. “We” need our manufacturing sector restored. “We” need to see our infrastructure, and our cities rebuilt. “We” need mass transportation and electrical grid re-configured. “We” need to bring train travel into the 21st century by creating new hubs of 300-400 mph Maglev trains. But more than anything “We” need the government to think in the terms of economy of scale that “Trillion Dollar Thinking” can do to create opportunities, by demanding our economy to be off of fossil fuels, in the next five-ten years. Here is where the nation and our businesses can create the opportunity in “New Industry,” but first we need resuscitation.

THE OBAMA POWER NAP: The answer to late nights, long hours in Obama White House

President Obama and his incoming staff will inherit daunting and extra ordinary challenges that will require both peak and optimum mental and physical performance from his staff and his cabinet.

President Obama is known for his physical and mental strength because he works at being fit physically, and mentally. He is known for working long hours into the night calling his staff at 11pm and working on speeches and reading, sometimes until 2 am.

The White House is expected to revolve around this schedule, by all accounts his Chief of Staff; R. Emanuel can burn the candle at both ends. He is often calling his staff as early as 6 am, and working late into the night, as well. Coming of a grueling campaign schedule, enduring the transition, and then stepping into power Pres. Elect Obama may find his people cascading like dominoes.

A partial answer to maintain peak mental performance can be the Obama Power Nap! The second equation to this conundrum is requiring a series of physical activities for White House Staff, where staff can choose any number of physical activities that allows them 30 minutes of aerobic activity each day.

The Power Nap has it origins in the siesta, but is far from being a siesta, in its truest form; the Power Nap is truly American. Imagine a nation that works out for 30 minutes, eats for 30 minutes, and naps for 30 minutes, and produces more, while combating fatigue, in an hour and half lunch break.

Unlike, a siesta in Spain, Mexico, and other Latin American countries a siesta shuts everything down for 3 hours that is un-American. “The siesta for shops and businesses is from approximately 2pm until 5pm while bars and restaurants close from about 4pm until about 8 or 9pm, according to about.com.”

The answer: The Obama Power Nap! A nap after lunch is proven to improve your performance according to research web site Health, they say:

Therefore it is true; a nap after lunch can improve your performance. There is a wealth of evidence and research to support the validity of this claim. Napping is a very effective way of combating fatigue and lifting productivity in the work place. Only 15 minutes can lift someone's performance and concentration levels greatly.

"We actually have a dip in our core body temperature rhythm after lunch and that coincides with the sleep patch we have after lunch. And that happens even if we don't eat anything at lunchtime. So we're physiologically programmed to slow things down in the early afternoon," says Adelaide-based sleep researcher, Dr Sally Ferguson.

So, it is no surprise then that over 60 percent of workers are actually sleep deprived. Most other animals on the planet nap and humans have not evolved past this basic need.

So, it is no surprise then that over 60 percent of workers are actually sleep deprived. Most other animals on the planet nap and humans have not evolved past this basic need.

People are not getting nearly enough sleep at night and it's causing us to be less effective at work and bringing with it a whole host of health problems, which ultimately can lead to increased costs for businesses.

New York entrepreneur Arshad Chowdury has come up with the ultimate corporate kip — nap pods for rent.

"For the last 50 years in the western world we've been working longer hours and sleeping less every single year. This is the trend that's not going anywhere and something has to give," says Arshad.

If you nap for more than 20 minutes during the day, you'll slip into the deep sleep cycle, which means it'll take you longer to recover so a nap pod is designed to induce faster sleep by recalling your favorite nap settings, from music to contour preferences. By the time you freshen up after your nap, you'll be in and out in just 30 minutes.

According to Arshad, one in three Americans nap and he thinks this holds true for much of the western world. Therefore if we are given the opportunity to take a nap during the workday, one in three of us would choose to. He says, it's things like work culture that actually prevents us from doing so.

Nap pods are making their way to Australia.

A wise Pres. Elect Obama will see the benefits of a “Power Nap” and Nap-Pod’s may make their way into the White House especially if the grueling schedule continues, and if he wants to keep his staff from flailing, and falling like flies.

OBAMA'S RECIPE FOR STRONG DEFENSE: Requires Strong Beliefs, Strong Personalities, Strong Opinions, with Vigourous Debate

MSNBC Reports: December 1, 2008, Bullet Excerpts from President-Elect Obama's National Security Team Press Conference.

TEAM OF SUPPORTING RIVALS

• National Security Team shares consensus
• I will be Setting Policy as President
• I will be Responsible for the Vision
• I will expect them to implement that vision once decisions are made.
• "The Buck Stops with Me."
• I did not ask for assurances from these individuals that they would agree with me at all times.
• On the Broad Core Vision where America needs to go - We are almost in complete agreement
• There are going to be differences in tactics, and different assessments, and judgements made,
• That is what I expect that is what I welcome
• That is why I asked them to join the team.

"LOOKING FOR BROWN FACES: Latinos got 8 percent of President Bush's appoinments,"... Will President-Elect Obama do Better?

LOOKING FOR BROWN FACES
by Miguel Perez


As President-elect Barack Obama takes his time to make his first Hispanic appointment, the Latino leaders who supported him are beginning to squirm — not because they all expect job offers, but because they fear they could end up with egg on their faces.

Just a few days ago, they were saying they expected Obama to repay his debt to Latino voters by naming between two and four Latinos to his Cabinet — at least one to his executive staff and many others to sub-Cabinet positions.
It was these leaders who persuaded 67 percent of Latino voters to support Obama and helped him win the battleground states of Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

If the president-elect fails to deliver, he and his Latino surrogates will be held accountable. If Obama doesn't at least match President Bush's good record of Latino appointments, they will have "problemas" explaining it to their own constituents.

Yet as more and more people are appointed — or reported to be shoo-ins for various nominations — the cards being drawn have only black and white faces. The brown-faced cards are not coming up!

In fact, the main card Latinos have in this game — bearing the face of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — has been switched.

Instead of secretary of state, which is the job Richardson is most qualified to fill and the high-level appointment Latinos expected from Obama, it looks as if Richardson will be relegated to commerce secretary.

Ironically, Sen. Hillary Clinton, the presidential candidate who enjoyed the most Hispanic support during the primaries, is now the leading candidate for the high-level job that could have gone to a Latino. Richardson, a former Cabinet member under President Clinton, was called a traitor for supporting Obama over Clinton during the Democratic primaries. Now it is Clinton who is getting the secretary of state position, the job Richardson wanted, and it is Latinos who still are waiting for the appointments they feel they earned on Election Day.

To do better than recent presidents, Obama would have to name a significant number of Latinos not only to his inner circle of White House advisers and his Cabinet but also throughout his administration.

According to a Brookings Institution study, in 1993, 6 percent of President Clinton's initial round of appointments went to Latinos. In 2001, Latinos got 8 percent of President Bush's appointments.

In 2009, will Obama do better? He should! More Latinos voted for him than for any other president.

Of course, Obama himself helped to raise Latinos' expectations. "When I'm president, I'll be asking many of you to serve at every level of government," Obama said during a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in September.

For that reason, Latino elected officials and the leaders of many Hispanic organizations have been expressing complete confidence in their belief that Latinos will be in many positions of authority in the Obama administration. They bragged about how it was a foregone conclusion that Latinos would have seats at the table where policy debates will be held.

And they have a long list of qualified candidates, including labor leader Linda Chavez-Thompson, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa or Rep. Xavier Becerra of California for the Department of Labor; Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York for the Small Business Administration; Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado or former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid for the Department of the Interior; Miami Mayor Manny Diaz or Bronx President Adolfo Carrion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development; educators Susan Castillo or Blandina Cardenas for the Department of Education; and Federico Pena, who was the secretary of transportation and energy in the Clinton administration and who already serves on Obama's transition team, for a White House inner-circle assignment.

But as more non-Latinos are named to the Obama administration, the confidence of the Democratic Latino leadership is turning into nervousness. In this historic moment, when we will have our first minority president, could we end up with an administration that doesn't represent America's diversity?

Now that we will have a black president, some people might think we no longer need an administration that "looks like America." But it's the other way around! Now that we will have our first minority president, many of us are hoping to see a U.S. government that actually looks like the American people — for the first time.
If not now, when?



To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at http://www.creators.com/.





COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

Hillary’s New Hurdle for Secretary of State: Our Constitution

Sen. Hillary Clinton on the Hill. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Hillary really wants to be Secretary of State, and she would be an excellent choice from the current selection of candidates.

After intense purposeful, scrutiny, and deliberations with President Bill Clinton’s counsel and the Podesta transition team.

Just when Bill Clinton, tells the Nation and the Obama folks, “I’ll do whatever they want,” to eliminate any barriers, and disclose any all of his dealings with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and stop any extra curricular activities with foreign dignitaries, and stop any benevolent activities that may be viewed as a conflict of interest, to rid any obstacles to Hillary’s nomination to Secretary of State, another hurdle arises.

Two hundred and thirty two years later our beloved Constitution and founding fathers have something to say about President Elect Obama’s pick for Secretary of State. Our founding fathers are speaking to us through the Emoluments Clause, of the Constitution. Al Kamen, of The Washington Posts writes,

“… specifically, Article One, Section Six, also known as the emoluments clause. ("Emoluments" means things like salaries.) It says that no member of Congress, during the term for which he was elected, shall be named to any office "the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during his term."

The aim of the constitution and founding fathers is to make sure that members of Congress do not reward themselves by providing for raises and then taking possession of those lucrative higher paying spots. The objective is avoiding the appearance of conflict of interest or shall we say greed.

But there is precedent, and Hillary has a possible fix, read the rest of the story here, at the Washington Post.

Obama Taps Intelligence Transition Team supporting WMD and Rendition Reports

Democracy Now
The War and Peace Report
website link
November 17, 2008
Reports the following story:

Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama’s Intelligence Transition Team

John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. (link)

Watch Video Stream of this aritcle

FOR DISCUSSION:

"Doesn't it make some sense for Obama to hire some guys who have actual
KNOWLEDGE of what has gone on for the past 8 years, rather than come in
clueless?

I mean... these guys are on the "transition" team, not being appointed to be
in charge of future operations." - Michael Martinson

BUT doesn't their past automatically bias their suggestions for transition?

"I'm not going to second-guess Obama or try to read his mind, but he seems
like a pretty sophisticated guy. If you had to cross a mine field,
wouldn't it be advantageous to have the person who had laid down the mines
be on your team, at least until you were safely across?" Abigail Marshall

Or are we being naive here? What are your thoughts?

President Elect Obama's letter of resignation from the US Senate

Copy or Print it as a momento for your records or click on the title of this post and jump to the originating source the Chicago Sun Times Lynn Sweet Article