You know who tax cuts don't help?

The jobless is who. As Republicans continue to support tax cuts yet refuse to hear talk of more stimulus and extending jobless benefits it's important to point out that the tax cuts Republicans support don't help people without jobs because well they won't pay much if any taxes without a job. This is another case of Republicans standing up for the big guys and leaving the little guy to fend for himself.

Another important point here is that nothing will have a greater negative affect on the national debt than an obsession with the national debt that leaves you so paralyzed with fear of more debt that you completely ignore economics 101. The increase in the national debt is not from earmarks, its from loss of revenue, which is from job loss. Create jobs, increase revenue, bring down the debt. Simple as pie.

Repubocrisy

After listening to Republicans say one thing and do the exact opposite ever since Barack Obama was elected (and quite a bit before that as well) I have decided that this policy should have it's own term so I give you Repubocisy. The Definite of this word is as follows:

Repubocrisy - To politically have actions that belie stated beliefs.

I feel that we need this definition to help out moderate and Republican brethren. Apparently they are completely unaware of Repubocrisy and some of them have even been duped into using it themselves. Please help us eradicate Repubocrisy by education the less fortunate among us.

Actions speak louder than words...unless your a Republican

Republicans continue to use scare tactics on statements that poll well and Democrats continue to let them get away with it. Republicans claim to care about jobs and the national debt but history shows Democrats actually do something about it.

Stimulus Surge

I know Republicans can really rally behind a good catch phrase so in another effort to reach across the isle, I wanted to propose a surge. Republicans love a good surge and Democrats love creating jobs with stimulus. Like Paul Krugman says "Spend now, while the economy remains depressed; save later, once it has recovered," "How hard is that to understand?"

What I propose is a Stimulus Surge. It worked for Reagan, and McCain so why not President Obama. This gives the Republicans a name they can get behind and Democrats the money they need to actaully make a difference.

Many economists suggested the Stimulus Package needed to be about twice the size but Republicans are so scared of Deficits (at least when Democrats are in charge) that they limited the package to a bunch of tax cuts and small government spending. The irony is that the only reason the Stimulus Package hasn't had a bigger impact leading Fox News to claim it's not working is because the Republicans watered it down to a point where it's benefits can't be fuly realized.

I say we leave Republicans to making the catchy names and charge Democrats with the actual policy. Republicans have proven time and again that they are not interested in making new policy so why force them to be involved. I just takes time away from the Dolphin hunts and Manitee roud ups.

Deep Water Oil Drilling Moratorium

There has been a lot of talk recently about the jobs lost due to the moratorium on deep water drilling. Yesterday on NPR and expert on the subject came up with a possible 50,000 jobs being affected (around 8,000 directly and another 42,000 indirectly).

I certainly understand the concern for those people and their desperation to keep their jobs regardless of risk of possible environmental damage. My issue comes in with the Republicans that are suggesting these 50,000 jobs are very important yet they claim the stimulus isn't working because it only created around 41,000 non-census jobs last month.

You can't think 50,000 jobs in the Oil industry are important and 41,000 in the other areas of the private sector prove the stimulus is a failure regardless of how much money big oil "donates" to your campaign.

Where You Been, Bob?

Another weekend of watching sports where announcers said stupid things. Did I actually hear an announcer say regarding Phil Mickelson: "one thing we know about Phil is that he is clutch"? That floored me.

But I am going with another comment for the dumbest thing I heard all weekend. I had on the Mets-Yankees game on Sunday afternoon and the analyst (who I think was Bob Brenly) said this jibberish regarding Alex Rodriguez:

You'd have to go back a long ways to find out about with him with only eight home runs up to this point and his, uh, almost middle of June, eight home runs, you got to wonder if he's really all that healthy this year.

Hmmmm... what else could explain his lack of home runs? Has anything happened that might explain why he does not have the same power that he used to?


By the way, I wrote down what he actually said. All those grammatical errors are his... not typos by your humble blogger.

Hey Catholics; It's not about dedication

I recently heard that the Popes solution to the pedophile crisis gripping the Catholic church was to essentially have the priests rededicate themselves to the teachings of the church.

Hello! Even Gretchen Carlson does more accurate analysis than this. Your religion requires the priests to be celibate. I don't care how dedicated you are to the church, if you tell a guy he can't have sex you've almost guaranteed that sex will be the only thing he will be thinking of.

Unfortunately for young catholic boys everywhere the Pope is in denial more than Tom Cruise.

Hiding behind Patriotism

As a Michigan resident there has always been a lot of pressure to buy American particularly American automobiles. For most American auto employees it is a matter of Patriotism. I have a huge problem with this mentality. As a consumer I look for the best value and for much of the past three decades American automobiles have been less dependable than their foreign counterpoints. You can't make a crappy product and then act like I should buy it just because we share a common citizenship.

This gives the American auto worker an excuse. The fact is if you make the best stuff people will buy it. Ford has seen a significant rise in sales recently and not coincidentally they are also now ranked as the most reliable vehicle in many categories. Conversely Toyota has seen a sharp decline in sales because of reliability issues.

Let's stop making excuses for poor workmanship and start holding ourselves responsible for the jobs we do. This is what made America great and holding ourselves accountable for our own actions will help to make us great again.

We Have Seen The Enemy

The BP Oil Spill is a tragedy. I know what you're thinking. Yeah, no shit sherlock! Just hear me out as to the context of what I mean.

I assume all of us have certain quotes or observations we've come across over the course of our lives that just stick with us for some reason. They aren't necessarily the most eloquent quotes or astute observations but, nevertheless, for some reason, they remain active in your brain. One such observation for me was, I think, made in George Carlin's Brain Droppings (published back in 1997)... I'm not even 100% sure about that because it has stayed with me for over 10 years now.

Anyway, Mr. Carlin, ever the commentator on language, observed that modern society has misunderstood what makes something a "tragedy". A plane crash, in his observation, was not a tragedy. Death and destruction from an earthquake or hurricane or tornado also not tragedies. His argument was that, in the classic sense, the word tragedy refers to a specific kind of art form - developed (I think) by the Greek playwrights in the centuries before the birth of Christ - where the protagonist inadvertently brings about their own downfall because of their own actions and/or (flawed) character traits. I checked an online dictionary and it does still have this as the primary definition:

A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.

So, excepting that real life is obviously not a drama or literary work, I contend that it is the weakness of the American people that has led to the circumstances that brought about the oil spill. It seemed for a little while there that I was not hearing anyone else voice this opinion but then I watched Dylan Ratigan on Tuesday and he unleashed this rant which is better than what I would have come up with:

"Regardless of all the fingerpointing, when it comes down to it, we all...share responsibility for what is unfolding in our country - not just in the past eight weeks but over years here. And the past eight weeks being the most obvious example of it. Regulators who do everything but regulate... in fact, seek to accomodate in the hopes of getting a high paying job when they leave the government. Politicians who choose policy based on what's popular and don't provide any leadership to do what is necessary to end our dependence on fossil fuel - specifically foreign energy or dangerously obtained energy (deep water drilling). Ultimately, it comes down to us (being) so focused on our short-term gains and indulgences... don't pay a lot at the pump. Avoid a lot of the real cost of energy because we refuse to actually see what we stand to lose in the long term in order to enjoy the pleasures of the moment... that cheap gas." -- Dylan Ratigan (6/15/10)

So, that echoes my take. It is wrong to just yell and scream at BP and allow ones self (no matter how tempting) to lose sight of the context of their actions. They and other oil companies are drilling off our coasts because we permit it. The people of the Louisiana elected politicians that aggressively pursue off-shore drilling... even in the face of this disaster (see here or here or here). Ditto for Mississippi.

So while I acknowledge it's unreasonable to expect all of us to transform ourselves into Ed Begley, Jr. It is still a truism that we should only expect change if we demand change. Otherwise, we should expect to remain our own worst enemy and we will see more classic tragedies in the decades to come.


Note: To give credit where is due, I should say that the cartoon was borrowed from The Atlanta Journal Constitution and was found online here.

Mea Culpa

How could it be that I have gone three consecutive posts without mentioning "The Scappoose Slinger"?!? This was my bad. As a special treat, I present this video that I horked from YouTube.

James Carville vs. Fareed Zakaria

As I do most every week, I tuned into Fareed Zakaria GPS this past Sunday. Fareed opened his show with his take on the media coverage of the BP Oil Spill that I thought was more or less perfect (in that it echoed what I have thought along... yay me!)

After returning to the Furriners office with the intention of putting up a link to a YouTube clip of Fareed, I found out that James Carville had blasted Fareed earlier in the week in response to Fareed's column in Newsweek. With all due respect to Mr. Carville, he does not seem to be thinking completely rationally on this topic. I certainly appreciate his passion and I think it is overall a very positive thing that he is screaming to anyone who will listen that more needs to be done to help the Gulf Coast - but Fareed, as is usual, is a tremendous voice of reason on an emotional topic.

Here are links to the relevant clips if you're interested:

Carville Blasts Zakaria (originally aired on June 10th)

Fareed's Take (aired on June 13th)

And here is one example of at least one news show "properly" covering the BP Oil Spill:

What We've Learned

Drill Baby Drill, also known as Government Gifts for Big Buiness

Ironically the very conservatives that want government run more like business don't understand supply and demand. NPR recently reported on the leases that the government gives to oil companies. Unfortunately the conservative idea of Drill Baby Drill is watering down the market. In 1983 the Reagan administration opened up millions of acres for drilling. This additional acreage caused a huge drop in value for the government leases, an 88% drop to be precise. Considering the government currently makes $264 million a year off of these leases an 88% increase is no chump change. Additionally these same conservatives that bought into the Drill Baby Drill ideology also consider themselves to be deficit hawks. Well let me tell you failing to get maximum value for your products is worse than pork barrel spending since at least the pork creates some jobs. All undervaluing your leases does is get the Oil execs bigger bonuses.

BP Is Not Too Big To Fail

I know a lot about a little and I know a little about a lot of things but I don't know a lot about everything.

That is a quote from American Idiot and conservative icon Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka Joe The Plumber). He is stupid. The quote, in my opinion, at the risk of alienating our progressive readers is actually not stupid. It probably describes most of us walking around killing time on this planet.

I am one of those people. I am not an expert on many things. For me, the list consists of the diet of anteaters and quotes from The Big Lebowski. That is about it. (This is an admission that should come as good news if your favorite NBA team happens to draft Patrick Patterson.)

So keep in mind that I am not an expert on BP and/or it's place in the national or global economy. However, I have an opinion and a blog so here goes:

There seems to be speculation amongst reputable media outlets that BP may be Too Big To Fail. I call bullshit on that. This is much different from the financial services industry. The difference primarily being systemic risk (the interconnectedness of that industry). It basically turned the financial services industry into a row of dominoes where the failure of AIG or Citigroup would have started a chain reaction where otherwise healthy financial institutions could've collapsed. I don't see that as the case with BP. If BP were to fail, Exxon and Shell and Chevron and the others would just gobble up their market share, employees would change employers but most presumably would still have jobs, etc.

True, if the BP stock price went to zero, there would some people who would see devastating loss to their retirement portfolio. So be it. That is the risk you take when you invest your money! If you did not want to assume some risk, keep your money in a low yield savings account (or other essentially risk free investments). Moreover, and I have admitted I am not an expert, even I know that the first rule of investing is to diversify! Furthermore, as I believe my co-blogger has pointed out, the shareholders of BP have long been reaping benefits of their inattention to safety so it is only fair that they "take the hit" when those business practices result in disaster.

I began this post with a quote. I will end it with a quote:

"Given the nature of all this new shit... this could be a lot more, uhhhh, complex... I mean it's not just, it might not be just such a simple.... you know?" --- The Dude

I know, Dude. Well said.

I Could Not Agree Less

It is one of my pet peeves of Dylan Ratigan that he ends so many of his interviews with the phrase "I couldn't agree more"; he could be talking to a far left liberal like Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) or a far right conservative like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and he ends up buying the shit they're selling (no offense, Alan!).

This comes to mind because I was watching the Thursday (6/10/10) DR show and Mr. Ratigan posed this question to Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) (often referred to as the #3 Republican in the House (behind John Boehner and Eric Cantor)):

DR: "Is there a political opportunity for conservatives or Republicans... to call out the Democrats as you just did (my note: he actually had done no such thing) and push to actually address Too Big To Fail, to actually force capital requirements as Susan Collins, a Republican, has done?"

I mean, does Ratigan have any idea what he says on his own show? It was Ratigan who was strongly advocating for the Brown-Kaufman Amendment in the senate bill because it truly addressed TBTF. He should be very well aware that three of 41 Republicans voted for that amendment! How are they going to credibly "call out" Democrats when they have no interest in legitimately addressing the issue?

Moreover, it was also Ratigan himself who has long called out Republicans for a talking a good game (such as Mike Pence's oft-repeated talking point "Freedom to succeed must include the freedom to fail") while not actually being willing to follow through when a crisis hits. Keep in mind, it was the Reagan administration that bailed out Continental Illinois in 1984, it was George H.W. Bush administration who bailed out the savings and loans in 1989, and the George W. Bush administration bailed out the airline industry in 2001 and, obviously, passed TARP in 2008.

So without passing judgment on the wisdom of any those financial rescues, it is clear that bailouts, rescues, emergency loans, by whatever name you wish to call them, are a bipartisan tactic.

A former president once (in)famously said:

"Fool me once shame on... shame on you... fool me can't get fooled again." -- George W. Bush

I guess what I am saying is that if you believe Mike Pence and the other Republicans and their Frank Luntz approved rhetoric, you're a fool. Sorry, Dylan... it had to be said.

legislative Sack Tap to the Michigan Tax Payers

So yesterday the Michigan State Congress voted to approve an extension of a tax credit for the Michigan International Speedway. The rationale being that MIS brings in tourists which help local businesses and Michigan in general.

The Owner of MIS, International Speedway Corporation, reported a profit of $25.4 million for the first quarter of 2010. With coin like that I can tell you they aren't packing up shop and moving just because they don't get a tax break. The Michigan tax payer is asked to subsidies the profits of ISC.

If the Michigan Legislature had chosen instead to put let this tax break lapse then to keep their profits high ISC would have had to pass the burden of these costs along to the viewing public. So if you, like me, loathe race car driving "sports" you are now paying for keep ticket prices down for those that watch these events.

Keep in mind this is the same Legislature that is allowing massive per pupil cuts to Michigan schools because there isn't enough money to sustain current levels. Chalk up another win for big business. The Republican lead legislature has again chosen the profits of big business over the common good of its citizens.

I hope these legislators at least got some free add time during this weekends broadcast. After all they earned it.

Hook, line and sinker

If you listen to the media recently you would believe that you, as a registered voter, were blindly mad at your incumbent. So much so that in the 82 primaries on Tuesday a whole two incumbents lost. These guys are showing the analytical skills of a Dylan Rattigan guest. Turns out people are pissed because the economy sucks. The economy continues to struggle because Republicans take good bills and make the useless (see Paul Krugman on the stimulus). The right insists it wants to create jobs but offers no solutions other than out dated theories that have been proven time and again to do the exact opposite of what they claim it will. Republicans use the ignorance of their uneducated base to make the rich, richer.

One pertinent example of this is the BP oil spill. The Republicans weakened regulations so much that BP could run roughshod. They let the MMS become so dysfunctional it became as corrupt as Enron or the Mexican government. They rail against new spending then complain when the government doesn't have the resources to properly combat this disaster. They act like this was the result of the perfect storm when it is business as usual. BP is the kid that got caught stealing not the only kid stealing.

While some of this is convincing to the Republican base the argument the right will make that really hits below the belt is that we need the jobs these oil rigs create. On this I call Bullshit. This is fear mongering. This is the Big Money of Big Business talking through their socially accepted mouth piece known as the Republican Party. The truth is continuing our dependence on oil creates very few American jobs. What is does create is millions of jobs in the Middle East (and of course it also makes the big donors from big business richer). If the right truly cared about jobs and the debt they would push for big taxes on oil and big subsides for renewable energy (the kind not owned by ADM since ethanol was just another great Republican scam created by a big business and big donors for Republicans). The tax on gas would lower our debt or at least allow the government to subsidies the renewable energy jobs that can't be outsourced. This would also bring the cost of oil in line with the cost of renewable energy eliminating the easy out Americans use of "renewable energy is too expensive". This is the tactic we did for another American addiction - cigarettes.

If want a way out of the economic crisis it starts with an educated public. Failing to know the facts allows for a continuation of the class system that the Republicans helped create, and unfortunately even if you vote for them you will not be joining their club.

Lose Some. Win Some. Eat Twinkies.

The Furriners office presents a fairly unified front. However, we do not agree on everything. One of us believes Derek Anderson will lead the Cardinals to multiple Super Bowls. On this issue, the rest of the office is wrong.

Another issue that caused some recent disagreement was the logic of going after Sen. Blanche Lincoln from the left. As I alluded to in a previous post, I was 'all-in' with Bill Halter. My Furriners colleague, playing the role of the ignorant Brady Quinn supporter, seemed hesitant to support such a primary challenge. Ideas were discussed. Insults were hurled. Twinkies were eaten.

Fortunately for me, I now have Ezra Klien backing me up. Check it:

What labor did by almost defeating Blanche Lincoln in a primary - and everybody in the Democratic Caucus knows it almost happened - was they made clear to people that if you cross us on things that you said you'd be with us on... we will come after you.

Ezra continues...

So the point isn't even beating Blanche Lincoln, it is making sure that Blanche Lincoln and others like her don't want to face this type of challenge from labor in the future.
--- Ezra Klein on Countown with Keith Olbermann (6/9/2010)

So, even if I am considered too "out there" just because I may have suggested Bill Halter was the second coming of Jesus... surely my colleague will bow down to the impeccable logic of Mr. Ezra Klein. I win!

I Want To Be Your Betty White

I think it goes without saying that I should be on TV discussing politics and all things Derek Anderson. The reason it goes without saying is because, quite frankly, no one is actually saying it. This post should correct this injustice. Now, ideally, I would be booked on The Colbert Report or Real Time with Bill Maher but, if I have to, I will settle from the dregs of cable like a CSPAN2 call-in show or The Dylan Ratigan Show.

The reason I bring this up - besides the fact that I want to be on TV - is that I was watching the "mix-it-up" segment on The Dylan Ratigan Show on Tuesday and Ratigan posed this question to his guest Alicia Menendez of New Democrat Network (yeah, I never heard of it either):

DR: What's the difference between (President Obama) stumping to give away the so-called 'doughnut hole' (checks) and President Bush a few years ago coming up with Medicare Part D? In other words, giving money to old people who vote prior to an election... particularly when the country doesn't have the money... (it) seems to be a common trait whether you're a Republican or Democrat. Does it work?"

The answer by Ms. Menendez was a talking point word salad about "taking care of our seniors" that is entirely not worth quoting here. But you know what she DID NOT SAY? Anything about how the health care bill is fully paid for! (At least according to CBO scores). That was the difference, Dylan!

And the conservative blogger, Liz Mair (yeah, I never heard of her either), was not exactly reminiscent of William F. Buckley.. Dylan asked her about Nancy Pelosi being heckled at a progressive conference and she said:

LM: Well, I think that unfortunately for Nancy Pelosi, we are increasingly seeing that there are a lot of progressives who are very disenchanted with the Democratic Party and Democratic leadership and I think that's something that we're gonna see consequences of in the elections this year.

Is that not tremendous analysis!?!? No wonder she was invited on the show! That would be like Barry Melrose analyzing last nights Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup win with: "Well, I think that unfortunately for the Flyers, we have seen that Chicago won their fourth game in the series tonight. As a result, the Blackhawks were awarded the Stanley Cup and the Flyers were not."

So, what can you do to help me? I'm glad I asked that for you. Well, I noticed that Betty White recently got to host Saturday Night Live after her fans started a Facebook page demanding it. I want to see all loyal Furriners readers start such a page for yours truly (get Elijah Moon on The Colbert Report). Don't worry, mom... I'll help you... just see if you can get your Bridge Club to pledge their support. You can assure them I will try as hard as I can not to say anything nasty about Sarah Palin.

Racists Rejoice

Yes the agenda of the white American is still very much alive and kicking. A recent report by the IASP shows that the wealth gap is increasing. While education will not cure this issue it would certainly help if we didn't have such a huge education gap especially with regards to how to use money to make money.

John Stewart misses the point

I'll start by saying that the furriners office are huge fans of the Daily Show and I understand that the show tries to call a spade a spade even when that means taking on the very Liberals they support but the montage of "it's complicated" quotes really misses the point.

- The Oil Spill - While there are certainly things that the Obama administration could be doing better this is still a failure of a private company not the government.

- Health Care Reform - Turns out like most topics that make it to congress for debate it really is complicated. This has been thorn in Americas side for 40 years and this President finally did something about it.

- Financial Reform - I can only assume that the complaint here is that the administration is pushing it's agenda enough however it doesn't do the President to take a stand on and push for legislation that this historically obstructionist congress won't pass. Just ask President Clinton how well that works.

- Gitmo - This is complicated because, as the Daily Show has aptly pointed out, Americans are completely ignorant on the topic. Some how people are convinced that accused Muslim terrorist are more dangerous than a good ol American born and bread violent criminal. The President is between a real rock and a hard place here because it would be political suicide to just let these guys go, even though the vast majority of them are nothing more than foot soliders, but even if the public would allow it we can't bring them to American prisons because to do so would require that we actually charge them with something and the previous administration was more concerned about perfecting its torture techniques and covering up the illegal nature of them than the were in collecting actual evidence to charge these "terrorist" with a crime.

What John Stewart seemed to indicate was that the President should be less politician and more forceful, but this request is really the ultimate in hypocracy for a guy who one could argue is largely successful for having railed against this very tactic when employed by the Bush administration. Unfortunately you can't have it both ways. I for one am glad that President Obama surronds himself with the brightest and best, gathering as much information as possible in order to make calculated moves that result in more success than failure. Just imagine where we would be right now if President Bush had a similar policy.