As it turns out, the giant sucking sound I heard this week wasn’t the rapture—it was my job disappearing, vacuumed away by a one-two punch of mismanagement and a lack of revenue in the Salem-Keizer School District. But I’ll leave the local problems aside.
Maybe it took losing my job to see it—it’s easy to look past unemployment when you’ve got one—but if it wasn’t clear before, it is now. I had an epiphany. It is simple. It is something that deep down, we all know is true; and yet, somewhere along the way, this country forgot about it.
See, what happened to me, and what is happening to teachers all over this country, represents a greater philosophical choice, that involves not only teachers, students, and parents, but every single person that lives in and loves this country: We don’t invest in education. We don’t invest in our young people.
If we did, class sizes would be getting smaller, not ballooning past 35 or 40 as they are in so many school districts. Tuition would be affordable—not crippling. And we’d see to it that there were living wage jobs available for high school and college graduates. We might even provide affordable health care. But we don’t invest in education. We don’t invest in our young people.
Instead, we invest in the rich. Currently, the wealthiest 1% of Americans owns 40% of our wealth. We’ve had the top marginal tax rates go from 47.7% in 1982 under Reagan to 32.4% with the Bush tax cuts in effect. We’ve cut capitol gains taxes so that the very rich pay a smaller percentage (15%—less if they have a good accountant, and they usually do) than someone who makes $50,000 a year earning paychecks.
Just last year, Republicans in congress held the President hostage over extending these tax cuts in order to agree to extend unemployment benefits for out of work Americans. They wouldn’t even agree to end these tax breaks for millionaires. And most recently, Republicans in the Senate, joined by a few Democrats, voted to continue giving billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to the 5 biggest oil companies in this country.
So we invest in the rich, we incentivize their success with tax breaks and subsidies, and like all investors, we expect a return. So…where are the jobs? Where is the reinvestment in American industry? Where is the thriving capitalist marketplace this trickle down dogma was supposed to create? Oh yeah, I remember now: it’s in China, where labor is cheap and consumer laws are non-existent.
As a result, what do we see for our young people, our future? Shrinking opportunity. We give them larger class sizes, less or no elective and industrial classes, fewer student loans, rising tuition, and a job market that is bleak at best. We tell them to work hard in school, go to a good college, and then…good luck schmuck. We don’t invest in education. We don’t invest in our young people.
And yet, who are the consumers that are going to buy washing machines, cars, furniture, refrigerators, televisions, and houses? Young people. We’re culling our society’s ability to produce consumers, because we don’t provide an environment where young people can be successful, and we don’t provide job opportunities for those who are.
That is what hit me when I was told my teaching job was going away. I worked hard in school. I paid good money to go to Willamette and earn a Masters in teaching. I coached baseball, worked summer school, was a member of SITE council, and taught my classes with passion and intelligence. I did everything I could, and in the end it wasn’t enough, because our society has made a decision.
We don’t invest in education. We don’t invest in our young people.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Prognostication
While it may be a bit early to prognosticate on the next election, given that it’s only been a half-year since the last one, there’s an overall trend that is extremely interesting, and if the Democrats ever want to buck that trend, we’re going to need to see more out of them than what we’re seeing now and what we’ve seen before.
For now, it seems, the Dems are content to sit back and let the Republicans shoot themselves in the collective foot, which is what happens when you love guns and you’re a dumbshit. Immediately following the last two successful Republican elections (’04, when Bush won re-election, and last year, when they took several Senate seats and took over en masse in the house), they haven’t been shy about their ambitions: cut Social Security (Bush), and cut Medicare (Boehner). And in the elections immediately following Bush’s blunder, they were horrified: they lost the House and the Senate in ’06, and Democrats increased their margins in 2008, adding the presidency as well.
My guess is the same will happen next year, assuming the world doesn’t end before that time. None of the Republican candidates can seriously challenge Obama for the presidency, and unless the voters suddenly forget their spurious attacks on unions, teachers and other public employees, women, and Medicare immediately following their victory in 2010, the prospects for the Elephants in 2012 don’t look good.
The real question is whether or not the Democrats will actually take advantage of it. They certainly didn’t after ’08, not like they should have anyway, although that was a tough situation, given the post-racist ripple that ran through the South and retirement homes across the U.S. after Obama’s election, not to mention the massive campaign of misinformation that came spewing out of the right wing noise machine. In any case, the past is the past, and in 2012 the Democrats will have officially run out of excuses. They should have majorities in both houses (if they have even mediocre campaign management), the presidency, and a supportive American public who will be in desperate need of real solutions.
In other words: they need to get shit done. That means taking actions on several key issues:
1) They need to find money for a great deal of investment in this nation’s infrastructure, as well as our system of education. Both are basically rotting into oblivion as it stands now. A significant investment in our roads, bridges, rail, and the electric grid would make our country more efficient and in the long run would save energy and money, not to mention the boost to the economy that would follow in the form of construction contracts and jobs.
2) They need to find a permanent fix for Medicare and Social Security. That might mean raising taxes on the rich, cutting benefits, or both, but if they can successfully tackle this problem, the future salience and financial security of our nation would be solved, and the Republicans, who already go forward with the equivalent of a rope bridge of a platform, would be totally fucked.
3) They need to simplify the tax code. Less deductions with a lower rate—especially for corporations. This combined with a higher tax rate (much higher, really) on the rich--there's no reason those making more than 1 million a year shouldn't be taxed at a 45 or 50% marginal rate (for every dollar they make after that million)--would really go a long way toward fixing our finances. And while they’re at it, they need to end the subsidies to farming and big oil. These industries do not need taxpayer money and are more than profitable enough to succeed in the marketplace on their own.
4) They need to cut military spending by at least a third. It is a massively bloated portion of government spending, and in the end it is simply untenable to saddle the American taxpayer with such a massive and unnecessary burden.
5) Pass some sort of election campaign finance reform that bypasses the Supreme Court’s horrible ruling in the Citizen’s United case. Much of the reason that nothing gets done in government is that there is way too much money given to both parties to maintain the status quo, and at some point, without change, it is going to cripple this nation irreparably. While they’re at it, they need to end the revolving door that exists between boards of directors, lobbying, and members of Congress and other government officials. The plain fact is that our political system is corrupt, and it is absolutely killing the average American.
In conclusion, though I am hopeful about the prospects for the Democrats in the next election, I’m skeptical about whether a win is actually going to translate to change. It doesn’t seem much has been done at all to help the average person recently by either party, and if it continues I won’t be prognosticating: I’ll be emmigrating.
For now, it seems, the Dems are content to sit back and let the Republicans shoot themselves in the collective foot, which is what happens when you love guns and you’re a dumbshit. Immediately following the last two successful Republican elections (’04, when Bush won re-election, and last year, when they took several Senate seats and took over en masse in the house), they haven’t been shy about their ambitions: cut Social Security (Bush), and cut Medicare (Boehner). And in the elections immediately following Bush’s blunder, they were horrified: they lost the House and the Senate in ’06, and Democrats increased their margins in 2008, adding the presidency as well.
My guess is the same will happen next year, assuming the world doesn’t end before that time. None of the Republican candidates can seriously challenge Obama for the presidency, and unless the voters suddenly forget their spurious attacks on unions, teachers and other public employees, women, and Medicare immediately following their victory in 2010, the prospects for the Elephants in 2012 don’t look good.
The real question is whether or not the Democrats will actually take advantage of it. They certainly didn’t after ’08, not like they should have anyway, although that was a tough situation, given the post-racist ripple that ran through the South and retirement homes across the U.S. after Obama’s election, not to mention the massive campaign of misinformation that came spewing out of the right wing noise machine. In any case, the past is the past, and in 2012 the Democrats will have officially run out of excuses. They should have majorities in both houses (if they have even mediocre campaign management), the presidency, and a supportive American public who will be in desperate need of real solutions.
In other words: they need to get shit done. That means taking actions on several key issues:
1) They need to find money for a great deal of investment in this nation’s infrastructure, as well as our system of education. Both are basically rotting into oblivion as it stands now. A significant investment in our roads, bridges, rail, and the electric grid would make our country more efficient and in the long run would save energy and money, not to mention the boost to the economy that would follow in the form of construction contracts and jobs.
2) They need to find a permanent fix for Medicare and Social Security. That might mean raising taxes on the rich, cutting benefits, or both, but if they can successfully tackle this problem, the future salience and financial security of our nation would be solved, and the Republicans, who already go forward with the equivalent of a rope bridge of a platform, would be totally fucked.
3) They need to simplify the tax code. Less deductions with a lower rate—especially for corporations. This combined with a higher tax rate (much higher, really) on the rich--there's no reason those making more than 1 million a year shouldn't be taxed at a 45 or 50% marginal rate (for every dollar they make after that million)--would really go a long way toward fixing our finances. And while they’re at it, they need to end the subsidies to farming and big oil. These industries do not need taxpayer money and are more than profitable enough to succeed in the marketplace on their own.
4) They need to cut military spending by at least a third. It is a massively bloated portion of government spending, and in the end it is simply untenable to saddle the American taxpayer with such a massive and unnecessary burden.
5) Pass some sort of election campaign finance reform that bypasses the Supreme Court’s horrible ruling in the Citizen’s United case. Much of the reason that nothing gets done in government is that there is way too much money given to both parties to maintain the status quo, and at some point, without change, it is going to cripple this nation irreparably. While they’re at it, they need to end the revolving door that exists between boards of directors, lobbying, and members of Congress and other government officials. The plain fact is that our political system is corrupt, and it is absolutely killing the average American.
In conclusion, though I am hopeful about the prospects for the Democrats in the next election, I’m skeptical about whether a win is actually going to translate to change. It doesn’t seem much has been done at all to help the average person recently by either party, and if it continues I won’t be prognosticating: I’ll be emmigrating.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The truth, is the truth, is the truth...
The reaction by right winger’s to the killing of Osama bin Laden was absolutely predictable. “Where’s the body?” “This puts more American lives in danger.” “The military acted on its own and Obama deserves no credit.” These were the typical nay-saying responses from a group of people that won’t give President Obama credit for doing anything unless they think it’s bad. From a distance, it’s laughable, but when examined more closely for the larger trend it represents, it explains exactly why it is that this country can’t get its act together: a huge number of people do not accept or do not receive accurate information, and because of it, our country fail’s to think, act, and vote rationally. Nearly all of this misinformation and failure can be attributed to Republican politics.
The most egregious example of this trend in American politics is probably the right wing’s refusal to accept climate change. Scientific evidence, from atmospheric carbon levels to disappearing glaciers to warmer average temperatures to extreme weather, is abundant, and about as in-your-face as you can get. Yet conservatives continue to refute, misinform, and bloviate on this topic. And because of that, we’ve done nothing in this country to address the causes or effects of climate change.
The problem is this complete lack of basic knowledge, the inability of conservatives to accept plain truths, extends far beyond climate change. Heard of the “birthers?” The people who believe that Obama is not even a citizen of this country—that in spite of the CIA, the FBI, and all the other security organizations in this country—that somehow Obama escaped their scrutiny to become an “illegitimate” president. It’s an absolute joke, and yet, 51% of Republicans believe that our President was not born in this country.
Far worse are the articles of faith in Republican economics, such as: “let the market solve our problems,” “regulations prevent profitability,” “tax cuts create jobs,” “tax increases kill jobs,” “corporations are too highly taxed in the U.S. compared to other countries,” “private business is always more efficient than government run programs,” and “wealth redistribution is counter productive.” These are all ideas that many people, not just Republicans, believe as unquestionable truths, and yet, every one of them can be proven false if one looks at data from the last twenty years.
1) The market doesn’t solve all of our problems—it only solves the problems that people are willing to pay to have solved. In other words, only problems where there is profit to be had will ever be addressed by the market. Moreover, this does not mean that letting the market decide is good. Consider the insurance market for medicine: my own sister cannot be covered even though she is a health young woman in her 20's, and in related news, just yesterday Blue Cross in Oregon announced that they will be raising rates on individuals by 22% starting in August. This is the market at work, and in some cases, it just doesn't.
2) Regulations may provide certain barriers or problems for businesses, but a lack of regulations and/or oversight can have horrible results that cost jobs and are far worse, in the long run, for the economy—consider the recent Wall St. crash in 2008 that completely tanked our economy, or the oil spill in the gulf that has cost the people in that region billions in lost revenues from the hit to the tourism and fishing industries.
3) If tax cuts created jobs, we should have an unemployment rate near 5%, not 10, because the effective tax rate in the U.S. for both business and individuals is about as low as it has been in recent memory. On the flip side, when Clinton increased taxes on the wealthy, the economy did just fine, growing rapidly in fact, until deregulation and 9-11 caused Wall St. to crash again in 2000.
4) The idea that corporations are taxed too heavily in the U.S. is laughable. While the highest marginal corporate tax rate is high at 35%, almost no company actually pays that rate. There are literally thousands of deductions available to any business large enough to hire an accountant, and many of the largest U.S. companies pay zero in taxes, or worse, are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
5) Government run health care, in the form of Medicare, delivers care more efficiently and for a far lower cost than private insurance. And imagine what would have happened if Social Security had been privatized and put in the hands of Wall St. to manage: all of that money would be gone when the banks failed in 2008. The government can and currently does do many things better that the private market. That is a fact.
6) Income redistribution, in the form of forcing corporations and the richest Americans to pay higher tax rates, would actually do a lot of good. Part of the reason we’re in such bad economic straights is that people in the lower and middle class are running out of money. The richest 1% of families in this country own more wealth than the bottom 50% of all Americans. Given that 67% of our economy is based on consumer spending, it is not good that so much of our nation’s wealth is held by so few hands.
Ultimately, all of this will come crashing to down at some point. One can ignore the truth, but like it or not, the truth still exists. Republicans can sit there and claim that a pot of boiling water isn’t hot, but they’re still going to burn their hand if they put it in the water. They can continue to deny climate change, but it’s happening, and it is going to have dramatic consequences at some point if we refuse to do anything about it. They can continue to believe Obama isn’t a legitimate President, but he’s running in 2012 whether they like it or not, and he’s going to win that election because they have a stable of idiots running on their side. And if we continue, as a country, to legitimize and enact trickle-down economic policy; if we continue to allow the rich to take their money and run; if we continue to make it possible for corporations to send jobs overseas and receive tax cuts for doing so, we’re going to be hosed. Because at some point, people aren’t going to have any money left, and then who are GM going to sell their cars to? Who’s going to buy GE washing machines? Who’s going to buy houses and reinvigorate the construction industry? There won’t be anybody—there won’t be any customers! Consider what Henry Ford said about business: “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” Where is that spirit from our entrepreneurs and business leaders today?
The final question is whether U.S. voters will make the rational choice? The plain fact is that Republicans are wrong about how to run a government and how to manage an economy. They are simply bad at governing. On top of that, they don’t have the best interests of America at heart—and every time they lie about, distort, or spin the facts, they're effectively stabbing every American citizen in the back.
Just think about the last election, they came in crowing about jobs, and then what was the first thing they did? Nearly force a government shutdown so that they could hack down the size of the federal government. What is the first thing Republican governors did? Curtail the right to collectively bargain for public employees and then cut their jobs and wages. And now we have the budget plan from Republican Paul Ryan, which might be best summarized as trickle-down, reverse Robin Hood economics on steroids. But the question remains: will Americans make the rational choice when they go to the voting booths in 2012? Because unless they vote for huge Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, nothing is going to get done as usual, and the Republicans are going to force their mythical philosophies and beliefs down our throats as much as possible.
Rest assured, it will end eventually—the question is how bad is has to get before Americans learn that they can’t believe their way to a better tomorrow. Only a country that makes rational decisions based on facts can survive in this 21st century.
What can you do? You have to confront people that hold these irrational thoughts. You have to establish the truth and embarrass people that will sit there and spread ideas that are simply untrue. It is not easy, but if every rational American made a real effort to stop this nonsense, it would go a long way toward ending this era of irrationality.
The most egregious example of this trend in American politics is probably the right wing’s refusal to accept climate change. Scientific evidence, from atmospheric carbon levels to disappearing glaciers to warmer average temperatures to extreme weather, is abundant, and about as in-your-face as you can get. Yet conservatives continue to refute, misinform, and bloviate on this topic. And because of that, we’ve done nothing in this country to address the causes or effects of climate change.
The problem is this complete lack of basic knowledge, the inability of conservatives to accept plain truths, extends far beyond climate change. Heard of the “birthers?” The people who believe that Obama is not even a citizen of this country—that in spite of the CIA, the FBI, and all the other security organizations in this country—that somehow Obama escaped their scrutiny to become an “illegitimate” president. It’s an absolute joke, and yet, 51% of Republicans believe that our President was not born in this country.
Far worse are the articles of faith in Republican economics, such as: “let the market solve our problems,” “regulations prevent profitability,” “tax cuts create jobs,” “tax increases kill jobs,” “corporations are too highly taxed in the U.S. compared to other countries,” “private business is always more efficient than government run programs,” and “wealth redistribution is counter productive.” These are all ideas that many people, not just Republicans, believe as unquestionable truths, and yet, every one of them can be proven false if one looks at data from the last twenty years.
1) The market doesn’t solve all of our problems—it only solves the problems that people are willing to pay to have solved. In other words, only problems where there is profit to be had will ever be addressed by the market. Moreover, this does not mean that letting the market decide is good. Consider the insurance market for medicine: my own sister cannot be covered even though she is a health young woman in her 20's, and in related news, just yesterday Blue Cross in Oregon announced that they will be raising rates on individuals by 22% starting in August. This is the market at work, and in some cases, it just doesn't.
2) Regulations may provide certain barriers or problems for businesses, but a lack of regulations and/or oversight can have horrible results that cost jobs and are far worse, in the long run, for the economy—consider the recent Wall St. crash in 2008 that completely tanked our economy, or the oil spill in the gulf that has cost the people in that region billions in lost revenues from the hit to the tourism and fishing industries.
3) If tax cuts created jobs, we should have an unemployment rate near 5%, not 10, because the effective tax rate in the U.S. for both business and individuals is about as low as it has been in recent memory. On the flip side, when Clinton increased taxes on the wealthy, the economy did just fine, growing rapidly in fact, until deregulation and 9-11 caused Wall St. to crash again in 2000.
4) The idea that corporations are taxed too heavily in the U.S. is laughable. While the highest marginal corporate tax rate is high at 35%, almost no company actually pays that rate. There are literally thousands of deductions available to any business large enough to hire an accountant, and many of the largest U.S. companies pay zero in taxes, or worse, are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
5) Government run health care, in the form of Medicare, delivers care more efficiently and for a far lower cost than private insurance. And imagine what would have happened if Social Security had been privatized and put in the hands of Wall St. to manage: all of that money would be gone when the banks failed in 2008. The government can and currently does do many things better that the private market. That is a fact.
6) Income redistribution, in the form of forcing corporations and the richest Americans to pay higher tax rates, would actually do a lot of good. Part of the reason we’re in such bad economic straights is that people in the lower and middle class are running out of money. The richest 1% of families in this country own more wealth than the bottom 50% of all Americans. Given that 67% of our economy is based on consumer spending, it is not good that so much of our nation’s wealth is held by so few hands.
Ultimately, all of this will come crashing to down at some point. One can ignore the truth, but like it or not, the truth still exists. Republicans can sit there and claim that a pot of boiling water isn’t hot, but they’re still going to burn their hand if they put it in the water. They can continue to deny climate change, but it’s happening, and it is going to have dramatic consequences at some point if we refuse to do anything about it. They can continue to believe Obama isn’t a legitimate President, but he’s running in 2012 whether they like it or not, and he’s going to win that election because they have a stable of idiots running on their side. And if we continue, as a country, to legitimize and enact trickle-down economic policy; if we continue to allow the rich to take their money and run; if we continue to make it possible for corporations to send jobs overseas and receive tax cuts for doing so, we’re going to be hosed. Because at some point, people aren’t going to have any money left, and then who are GM going to sell their cars to? Who’s going to buy GE washing machines? Who’s going to buy houses and reinvigorate the construction industry? There won’t be anybody—there won’t be any customers! Consider what Henry Ford said about business: “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” Where is that spirit from our entrepreneurs and business leaders today?
The final question is whether U.S. voters will make the rational choice? The plain fact is that Republicans are wrong about how to run a government and how to manage an economy. They are simply bad at governing. On top of that, they don’t have the best interests of America at heart—and every time they lie about, distort, or spin the facts, they're effectively stabbing every American citizen in the back.
Just think about the last election, they came in crowing about jobs, and then what was the first thing they did? Nearly force a government shutdown so that they could hack down the size of the federal government. What is the first thing Republican governors did? Curtail the right to collectively bargain for public employees and then cut their jobs and wages. And now we have the budget plan from Republican Paul Ryan, which might be best summarized as trickle-down, reverse Robin Hood economics on steroids. But the question remains: will Americans make the rational choice when they go to the voting booths in 2012? Because unless they vote for huge Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, nothing is going to get done as usual, and the Republicans are going to force their mythical philosophies and beliefs down our throats as much as possible.
Rest assured, it will end eventually—the question is how bad is has to get before Americans learn that they can’t believe their way to a better tomorrow. Only a country that makes rational decisions based on facts can survive in this 21st century.
What can you do? You have to confront people that hold these irrational thoughts. You have to establish the truth and embarrass people that will sit there and spread ideas that are simply untrue. It is not easy, but if every rational American made a real effort to stop this nonsense, it would go a long way toward ending this era of irrationality.
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