2012-02-08T19:17:51+00:00 ExpressionEngine Copyright (c) 2012, Staff tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75617 2012-02-08T19:16:49+00:00 2012-02-08T19:17:51+00:00

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2012-02-08T19:16:49+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion





Paul Munnis


When a political party is dying the way that the Republican Party in Minnesota is, then it is natural for the Party leaders to want to leave an everlasting mark.

We see the GOP controlled legislature reading the handwriting on the wall for this November’s election and trying to leave their mark while they still can.

They are doing it by leaving such measures as “Super Majority” voting, requiring 3/5’s of the legislature to pass any tax increase bills.

Republicans also seek to place all sorts of Constitutional Amendments on the ballot for such things as Gay Right marriage banning and voter ID requirements. Thus when they are gone they will still be legislating from the grave and spreading their bad ideas for generations yet to come.

Naturally Democrats oppose this unhealthy political response to the GOP dilemma thus we oppose the Super Majority legislation and we oppose all of the amendments to the State Constitution and we urge their defeat by voters.

Don’t let the GOP take away your rights and the rights of your children.

Don’t let the shadow of Grover Norquist get embedded into our Minnesota Constitution.



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2012-02-08T14:03:20+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


I attended the DFL Caucus last evening and as the evening unwound I was treated to a recall of Republican political events that have happened and which were totally unsatisfactory to me.

The first reminder of why I was there was the recall of a State shut-down of our government by the Republican Party during 2011.

The evening rapidly recalled the borrowing of money against our school system, money we are likely to never see again; borrowing of money to close off our State budget from future revenues and whose shortfall was covered by State Bonds that we are paying higher interest upon because the Republican Party managed to make our State credit rating worse.

I saw the consequence of the elimination of LGA to my city as a direct increase in property taxes appeared on my tax bill. I recalled the end of the Property Tax Refund for homestead credit and it has deprived me of a much needed mid-year tax refund that helped pay for my car insurance and my neighbors buy back to school clothes for their children. I came away thinking that every time that these Republicans seek “No New Taxes,” then it hits my wallet hard. In this case my taxes went up and there is nothing positive that has resulted as a consequence.

It gets even worse: we watched the disappearance of $2 million dollars from the Republicans’ own Party treasury signaling Republican inability to manage their own funds much less State funds and a Republican sex scandal that has caused the resignation of key Senate members and an investigation by the State Campaign Finance Committee into whether or not the Republican funds were stolen and then covered up with false reporting on required Party reporting documents. All of this has come wrapped to us in a Republican homily of “Family Values.”

At that point we shook our heads in disgust and shifted our gaze to the Federal government.

As we recalled the situation in Washington Republican behavior has been so unacceptable that the coming 2012 election is now all about sweeping out Congress and putting an end to the politics of hate and division just so that we can once more govern America.

In Congress we have seen Republicans give their vote over to Grover Norquist on his platform of “No New Taxes.” We witnessed this transfer of authority to Grover Norquist translate into the near collapse of the U.S. Treasury as Republicans refused to increase the necessary borrowing authority of the Treasury in order to keep our fiscal affairs into order and to pay our Bond holders. This fiasco translated in higher Bond interest rates that made the national debt worse rather than better.

The scheduled ending of the Bush Tax Cuts was held hostage to Republican demands as was unemployment insurance for 15 million people by Republicans who also threatened to shut government down in Washington once again while threatening to not pay our troops.

We witnessed a totally dysfunctional Congress unable to get real needs of basic governing met. Examples of what I am talking about has earned Congress a low job satisfaction rating by voters that has reached a low of 8-11% job satisfaction rating or to put it another way at least a 90% disapproval rating for Congress.

And that is only the beginning.

Since the 2010 election and with the House of Representatives stuffed with dissidents from the tea party movement we have seen a House divided and unable to work either their claim of tax reductions or to help in job creation. Obama had proposed a stimulus package that included infrastructure repair that would have created 2 million jobs and Republicans have turned it away refusing to fund it. Obama has insisted on a budget reduction in defense spending to reflect his withdrawal of troops from Iraq and his planned draw-down of troops from Afghanistan yet those Republicans who keep shouting that they want lower taxes still seek to maintain a huge defense budget. Between refusal to end the Bush Tax Cuts and the bloated defense spending we could eliminate much of the budget deficit right there.

A smattering of good news has resulted, as a direct result of the work by President Obama, the recession has ended, recovery is happening, and for 23 straight months new jobs are being created. None of this was a result of Republican leadership instead they have fought job creation and economic recovery every step of the way.

It gets even worse.

Besides ceding their responsibility to Grover Norquist for national governing Republicans adopted a “Just Say No” mantra in the Senate that threatened the use of filibuster on every piece of legislation brought forward to the Senate. That had the effect of shutting down the U.S. government. It earned the Republican Party the title of: “The Party of NO!” Lead by Mitch McConnell the GOP caused every piece of legislation of consequence to be tabled. All of this as the Senate put a hold on every appointment by the president thus denying him a full compliment of elected Party officials in positions of responsibility in Washington.

Sorry, that too is just the tip of the ice-berg.

Adding to Senate woes the House splintered into Conservatives versus the tea party factions and both of these against arrayed against Democrats. The result was more gridlock and a lot of symbolic nonsense that did nothing to solve the problems of debt, jobs, and taxes.

A House leadership war between John Boehner and Eric Cantor broke out and the Republican leadership has splintered leaving the House in total disarray. Not even the most basic of legislative progress can be made on things that both Parties agree upon. That is how the year 2012 began in Washington and it comes amid serious international tension of human rights abuses in Syria and pending war with Iran over nuclear disarmament and disclosure of severe insider trading by members of Congress.

The new year of 2012 has lead our own Congressman Tim Walz to sponsor the STOCK Act, legislation aimed at ending insider trading. Republicans are resisting that reform and they are watering the legislation down to where it is losing controls intended to end insider trading.

When Obama committed help to NATO to end the human rights abuses in Libya by Ghadaffi he was opposed by Republicans all of the way. He persisted, Ghadaffi was killed, regime change followed, and Republicans tried to take credit for Obama's successes.

All of this was wrapped in the most vitriolic language and disrespect for the office of the Presidency that I have seen in my 72 years on earth.

Anyway the list of grievances by Democrats against Republicans is long, it mirrors the dissatisfaction by Democrats with the Republican Party, it is accentuated by a lack of trust in governing and it has set the tone for the 2012 election.

Making it even worse we have watched six months of negative campaigning by the Republican Presidential candidates and it is marked by inter and intra-Party fights by Republicans with anger and name calling as their calling card. On a daily basis it reminds people of why we must vote Republicans out of office in 2012 and return President Obama to office to finish his agenda of change of Washington. It looks like this nonsense will continue till June and then become the fuel for a brokered Republican Convention where they will attack one another in out of control fashion and then ask the American people to please vote for them so that they can bring their sickness back to Washington on an even bigger scale.

We spent time in Caucus reviewing the planned abuse of our State Constitution by the Republican Party and reminding one another that every State Constitutional Amendment offered in November must be voted “NO” upon for it is a ruse to try to lock in “Republican Values" to our basic document of government within our State.

The evening ended with an expected endorsement of President Obama as our candidate on the ballot for President of the U.S., there was also affirmation of our existing Party elected officials and a commitment to vote to return them to office come the 2012 election.

It was a good caucus, and it was good to spend a couple of hours with friends and neighbors in this most basic of grass roots governing. It has set the stage for the coming fall election and has motivated Democrats to work for election of Democrats this fall.



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2012-02-08T13:58:21+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion




Paul Munnis


The STOCK ACT is proving highly useful to voters who want to identify those House of Representatives members who seek to enrich themselves as opposed to serving the public. Those opposing STOCK have motives for doing so and you can bet that the motives are closely tied to their wallet and wealth.

Voters are disgusted with Congress and they seek in 2012 to change the make up of Congress and there are several methods that can be used to do the job.

One is to check on votes cast in the House against Medicare. Another is House votes against Social Security. The third is those voting against the STOCK ACT. Add to that the pledge to Grover Norquist for “No New Taxes,” and you can easily sweep the House floor of the problem Representatives.

Over in the Senate the same issues and voting patterns will show what Senators should be swept out of office and we might add that the test for selecting new Congressional Representatives should certainly focus upon their commitment to support Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and to support the STOCK ACT. The “wannabe’s” should be vetted for their allegiance to Grover Norquist and his “No New Taxes Pledge and those who support the pledge to Norquist should be voted out if incumbents and not voted for if they are “wannabe’s” on the side of Grover Norquist.

Those issues can be used to easily separate the wheat from the chaff.

Most of those under the broom will be Republican but you can bet there will be some Blue Dog Democrats too. “Out with them both,” I say.

I hate like heck to recommend to people that they vote against someone. Ideally politics are a contest of good ideas vigorously defended and indicative of the sort of leadership to expect when a person is elected. Thus we should be voting “for” someone by virtue of their good ideas rather than against someone seeking to tear down the nation.

However this 2012 election so far has been vitriolic and has offered little by way of vision or choices to voters. Indeed Republican candidates, all of them, have been on the podium and are all calling for tearing down such things as our national health care program, our Treasury Department, our only national Retirement insurance program (Social Security) and they are once gain running on the classic wedge issue of God, guns, and gynecology. All of this wrapped in Super PAC dollars to buy negative ads. That is sick politics.

Honestly we expect better from Republicans for they are capable of it but they are being led down strategic paths that are the low ground in American politics.

What we Democrats must do, and are doing, is to look at the high ground, to dare to occupy it in spite of the flack we are taking, and to stay on the right side of the issues no matter the flak that we get. The right side of the issues is defensible, explainable, and is rooted in solid ideas and facts. We need to be on that side of the issues in order to rally voters to our message. When we do that we win, when we stoop to negative campaigning we lose.

Just ask Newt Gingrich.


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2012-02-08T12:23:25+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com What Others Say



Robert Reich
BLOG
Monday, February 6, 2012


January’s increase in hiring is good news, but it masks a bigger and more disturbing story – the continuing downward mobility of the American middle class.

Most of the new jobs being created are in the lower-wage sectors of the economy – hospital orderlies and nursing aides, secretaries and temporary workers, retail and restaurant. Meanwhile, millions of Americans remain working only because they’ve agreed to cuts in wages and benefits. Others are settling for jobs that pay less than the jobs they’ve lost. Entry-level manufacturing jobs are paying half what entry-level manufacturing jobs paid six years ago.

Other people are falling out of the middle class because they’ve lost their jobs, and many have also lost their homes. Almost one in three families with a mortgage is now underwater, holding their breath against imminent foreclosure.

The percent of Americans in poverty is its highest in two decades, and more of us are impoverished than at any time in the last fifty years. A recent analysis of federal data by the New York Times showed the number of children receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million in the last school year, up from 18 million in 2006-2007. Nearly a dozen states experienced increases of 25 percent or more. Under federal rules, children from famlies with incomes up to 130 percent of the poverty line, $29,055 for a family of four, are eligible.

Experts say the bad economy is the main factor driving the increase. According to an analysis of census data by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, 37 percent of young families with children were in poverty in 2010. It’s likely that rate has worsened.

Mitt Romney says he’s not concerned about the very poor because they have safety nets to protect them. He says he’s concerned about the middle class. Romney doesn’t seem to realize how much of the middle class is becoming poor.

But Romney doesn’t like safety nets to begin with. He’s been accusing President Obama of inviting a culture of dependency. “Over the past three years Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an entitlement society,” he says over and over, arguing that our economic problems stem from a sharp rise in dependency. Get rid of these benefits and people will work harder.

He and other Republicans point to government data showing that direct payments to individuals have shot up by almost $600 billion since 2009, a 32 percent increase. And 49 percent of Americans now live in homes where at least one person is collecting a federal benefit such as food stamps or unemployment insurance, up from 44 percent in 2008.

But Romney and other Republicans have cause and effect backwards. The reason for the rise in benefits is Americans got clobbered in 2008 and many are still sinking. They and their families need whatever help they can get.

The real scandal, as I’ve said before, is America’s safety nets are too small and shot through with holes. Only 40 percent of the unemployed qualify for unemployment benefits, for example, because they weren’t working full time or long enough on a single job before they were let go. The unemployment system doesn’t recognize how many Americans work part time on several jobs, and move from job to job.

And even those who are lucky enough to be collecting employment benefits are about to lose them. A record and growing percent of the unemployed have been jobless for six months or more, and Republicans in Congress are unwilling to extend their benefits.

Romney’s budget proposals would shred safety nets even more. According to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, his plan would throw 10 million low-income people off the benefit rolls for food stamps or cut benefits by thousands of dollars a year, or some combination. “These cuts would primarily affect very low-income families with children, seniors and people with disabilities,” the Center concludes.

At the same time, Romney’s tax plan would boost the incomes of America’s most wealthy citizens, who are already taking home an almost unprecedented share of that nation’s total income. Romney wants to permanently extend George W. Bush’s tax cuts, reduce corporate income tax rates, and eliminate the estate tax. These tax cuts would increase the incomes of people earning more than a million dollars a year by an average of $295,874 annually, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

By reducing government revenues, Romney’s tax cuts would squeeze programs for the poor even further. Extending the Bush tax cuts will add $1.2 trillion to the nation’s budget deficit in just two years. That’s the same as the amount that’s supposed to be saved by automatic spending cuts scheduled to start next year – which, by the way, will hit the poor especially hard.

Oh, I almost forgot. Romney and other Republicans also want to repeal of Obama’s health care law, thereby leaving 30 million Americans without health insurance.

The downward mobility of America’s middle class is the big news, but the GOP apparently hasn’t heard about it. Maybe it’s too hard to hear about from that far away – and Mitt Romney is certainly far away. His unearned income last year was more than $20 million. That’s about as much as the combined earnings of a thousand American families at or just above the poverty line.


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2012-02-07T15:29:37+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion





Paul Munnis


How sad it is to see politics in America are not coming down to a battle over ideas that are best for our nation but rather who can raise the most money to purchase negative ads. It’s a mistake too for politicians will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Super PACS are blamed for this and there is no doubt that they are being used to the hilt.

We all knew this would be the logical consequence of the Supreme Court ruling permitting Corporations to be treated as a person. Not that I really object to the ruling, just to the impact it is having on elections in America.

The fix lies with the campaign laws. We need to repair those and to limit the amount of money in politics. This has been tried in the past, for example McCain / Feingold, but it always gets defeated in some way, shape or form.

I should explain why I do not object to the Supreme Court ruling for it is widely demonized in the media these days by my fellow Dems. First the legal idea of corporate person-hood goes way back in time in English tort law. If you are a fan of Charles Dickens you will see its presence in his writings. It is a practical legal matter, in that it saves having to legislate fifty percent more tort laws to cover Corporations; indeed within the corporate structure it is a useful social and behavioral metaphor.

We Dems have Super PAC’s too such as Move-on.org and Republicans have their Super PACS too. Now instead of a battle of candidates we have a battle of Super PACS; surely we can do better than this.

But of course in politics everything has to be carried to an absurd level of behavior and just to the bleeding edge of what the law allows. We all look at the corrosive influence of money in politics but we don’t do anything about it. When we talk about cleaning up Congress this is a major dirty closet to be addressed.

While I’m on the subject another worrisome thing is the role that Grover Norquist is playing in the Republican Party. He seems to be the de facto Speaker of the House giving his imprimatur to legislation. If he gives it the thumbs up, it is embraced by the Republican Party; if he gives it a thumb’s down then it dies in the House. John Boehner’s job is just to swing the gavel and look serious from time to time for the press corps. Eric Cantor is just the “Angry Young Man” who is satisfying tea party members who were all elected by ‘angry old men.’

Before I forget, try to get out to the Caucus meetings tonight. Maybe some of our neighbors will have some good ideas about cleaning up politics in America.

For my part I advocate a shortening of the campaign period to just six months; limits of contributions that can be made by donors and supporters; a media rule of free and equal amounts of media coverage to a candidate, and the same rules to apply to all civil elections held in America with an upper money limit set on campaign spending.

See you at Caucus.

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2012-02-06T19:19:39+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion


Paul Munnis


Two Republican Party candidates for the Presidency will be in Rochester. Rick Santorum will speak at the Kahler Grand Hotel and Ron Paul will speak at Mayo High School on Saturday.

We welcome both of them to Rochester even though we are of a different political persuasion.

As they tour our city and see some 8,000 medical patients a day who are in process at Mayo Clinic facilities they will come to know the crying need for an affordable healthcare solution in America for people of all ages.

So far, the Republican opposition to the present plan has been heavy although it is modeled after the plan advocated, passed, and installed in Massachusetts by Republican Mitt Romney when he was Governor. This serves as proof that a good health care plan will not be rejected out of hand by Democrats.

The alternatives offered by the Republican Party have not been robust enough to meet the needs of our nation; especially if their wish of killing the present plan were to come true.

In a sense, any flaws that exist in the current plan are seen by Democrats as being a plan that does not go far enough. As Democrats see it we need more and affordable healthcare in America than even what the present legislation calls for; but we are forced to settle for this much given the stiff opposition from Republicans and the condition of the public purse.

Those Democrats that Rick Santorum and Ron Paul will encounter in Rochester are heavily employed at the Mayo Clinic as Doctors, Nurses, medical care givers, and health care workers. Each day they encounter people in urgent need of life saving health care. It is expensive to provide medical care requiring insurance to help pay for it and even working men and women cannot easily absorb the cost of medical care from the out of pocket expense side of medical billings.

We especially pray for Rick Santorum’s daughter Bella. We were glad to see she was able to get past the case of pneumonia that struck her and we pray she can continue to battle the rare disease that she has. Prayer is apt; many of us in Rochester see the effects of faith and prayer and we are privileged to witness miracles of health recovery.

We don’t hate Republicans here in Rochester; we live and we work with them on a daily basis. We do work to obtain control of government from them so that we can bring such benefits to America as a quality healthcare system that is both affordable and sustainable. We will work with Republicans to reach that goal knowing that all of us will benefit.

As these candidates work in Congress we hope that they will work at bi-partisan decision making because the negativity coming from Washington, DC, and from this Primary contest, is just not good for anyone.

Anyhow guys – Welcome to Rochester.


]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75503 2012-02-04T16:53:56+00:00 2012-02-04T16:53:57+00:00

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2012-02-04T16:53:56+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion




Paul Munnis


It is true that the Iranians are posing a foreign policy crisis for America by continuing their pursuit of nuclear weapons. It is also true that Israel is getting nervous and seeks a first strike. At the same time Syria is out of control and creating a human rights catastrophe that the UN must address today. It is also true that these events comprise risk for Obama as he seeks election for a second term.

On the other hand they also present a significant opportunity if he can rise to the occasion and manage them.

I do not propose to advise President Obama in this matter, just to remind him of Rahm Emmanuel’s quote that: “a crisis is too good of a thing to miss.”

Sanctions are working for Obama but they seem too slow. Diplomacy too is slow. Yet today the UN is going to take up the issue of Syria, the U.S. is going to participate in diplomacy aimed at ousting a tyrant from Syria, and that too is going to take time.

It is highly unlikely that in the case of either Syria or Iran that the U.S. will commit ground troops. We will likely participate, in both instances, by providing air interdiction.

In the case of Syria it will likely consist of a “No Fly Zone,” and organized bombing assistance to the Syrian rebels.

We will also assist NATO with strategic bombing of Iran taking out not only nuclear sites but missile sites, bridges and highways suitable for moving equipment to a battlefield to fight Israel. We will also likely work to negate Iranian military troop concentrations as well as to destroy the Republican Guards. It goes with out saying that the command and control system of Iranian forces, especially their communications, will be targeted.

Meantime Israel for all of its pressure on the U.S. is far from consensus on what to do about Iran. They need to work on that.

The outcome of today’s UN meeting on Syria will determine what follows with Iran.

The drums of war are sounding, the clouds of war are forming, and for Obama some form of limited engagement seems likely. If he manages it properly and goes to the America people ahead of time then he can enter into events with calmness and expectation of a reasonable outcome.


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2012-02-04T13:54:31+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com What Others Say



Robert Reich
BLOG
Friday, February 3, 2012


The most significant aspect of January’s jobs report is political. The fact that America’s labor market continues to improve is good news for the White House. But as a practical matter the improvement is less significant for the American work force.

President Obama’s only chance for rebutting Republican claims that he’s responsible for a bad economy is to point to a positive trend. Voters respond to economic trends as much as they respond to absolute levels of economic activity. Under ordinary circumstances January’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent would be terrible. But compared to September’s 9.1 percent, it looks quite good. And the trend line – 9 percent in October, 8.6 percent in November, 8.5 percent in December, and now 8.3 percent – is enough to make Democrats gleeful.

But the U.S. labor market is far from healthy. America’s job deficit is still mammoth. Our working-age population has grown by nearly 10 million since the recession officially began in December 2007 but many of these people never entered the workforce. Millions of others are still too discouraged to look for work.

The most direct way of measuring the jobs deficit is to look at the share of the working-age population in jobs. Before the recession, 63.3 percent of working-age Americans had jobs. That employment-to-population ratio reached a low last summer of 58.2 percent. Now it’s 58.5 percent. That’s better than it was, but not by much. The trend line here isn’t quite as encouraging.

Given how many people have lost their jobs and how much larger the total working-age population is now, we’ve got a long road ahead. At January’s rate of job gains – 243,000 – the nation wouldn’t return to full employment for another seven years.

When they’re not blaming Obama for a bad economy, Republicans are decrying the federal budget deficit and demanding more cuts. But America’s jobs deficit continues to be a much larger problem than the budget deficit.

In fact, we can’t possibly achieve the growth needed to reduce the budget deficit as a proportion of the total economy unless far more people are employed. Workers are consumers, and consumer spending is 70 percent of economic activity. And cutting the budget means fewer workers, directly (as government continues to shed workers) and indirectly (as government contractors have to lay off workers) and therefore fewer consumers.

Yet deficit hawks continue to circle. State and local budgets are still being slashed. The federal government is scheduled to begin major spending cuts less than a year from now. Republicans are calling for more cuts in the short term. Austerity economics continues to gain traction.

Meanwhile Congress is debating whether to renew extended unemployment benefits. This should be a no-brainer. The long-term unemployed, who have been jobless for more than six months, comprise a growing share of the unemployed. (In January they rose from 42.5 percent to 42.9 percent).

Republicans say unemployment benefits are prolonging unemployment, that people won’t get jobs if they get unemployment checks from the government. That’s claptrap, especially when there’s only 1 job opening for every 4 people who need a job. Republicans also say we can’t afford to extend jobless benefits. Also untrue. Jobless workers spend whatever money they get, and their spending keeps other people in jobs.

Government should extend unemployment benefits, and not cut spending until the nation’s rate of unemployment is down to 5 percent. Then, and only then, should we move toward budget austerity.

The job situation is better than it was but it’s still awful. The jobs deficit is still our number one economic problem. Forget the budget deficit until we tame it.


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2012-02-03T15:57:29+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


While reading a biography of Firello LaGuardia, known in New York as The Little Flower, the author described how it came about that the New Deal was organized.

In those days, all along the east bank of the Hudson River running from Manhattan to Poughkeepsie to Albany, were found mansions of the rich and powerful. Almost in a row it was: Roosevelt, Vanderbilt, Mills, Rockefeller, Livingston, and the list went on and on. They all had huge estates along the shoreline of the Hudson. They were all heading up large monopolies, they were all rich.

LaGuardia had made it a crusade to reform New York City, then New York State and now it had to spread to the Federal Government. The author described how LaGuardia went about organizing for change.

First, he went to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and he explained the disparity between the haves and the have not’s illustrating his point using New York City as a point of reference.

He described the resentment that was building over people working 60 hours per week just to make ends meet and he contrasted it with the lavish lifestyle of the people called “Robber Barons.” These few controlled all of the wealth in America. It had spawned a corrupt level of governing and LaGuardia described in detail the apparatus in use in government and how people felt about it. Tammany Hall was a disgrace and it needed to change and it was a model in vogue all around our nation. LaGuardia was determined to reform Tammany Hall and he did.

Next he showed the happenings in Europe where the same tensions were being played out. He then described the rise of Democratic Socialism and Communism as a response to the disparity between the rich and poor and how corruption fueled the anger of the working class people. Everything he had to say about riot, revolution, and reform was verifiable, often right in the front pages of the NY Times.

Lenin, Trotsky, Marx and Engles had caught the attention of working Europeans and change was coming on fast as a result. The forecast was for Communism in America.

He pushed his analogy until Roosevelt saw the inevitability of riot and revolution happening in America and agreed that change was needed.

Then they went to visit Roosevelt’s neighbors to discuss needed reforms.

They came away with the needed commitments to change America, especially at the industrial level.

Almost overnight the Unions began to organize and often it was a bloody affair as pipes, baseball bats and revolvers were used to persuade reforms within factories, and work places across America.

When the smoke cleared the workingman had a solid foothold of industry.

Meanwhile people like Henry Ford worked to improve wages and working conditions. In the meantime politicians espoused change. Soon child work laws were passed, labor laws were also passed and Roosevelt ran for the Presidency on a reform platform. He was swept into office by people hungry for change.

Then the economy fell apart. Roosevelt brought in Marriner Eccles, a Mormon, to head up a recovery plan and all sorts of things were passed such as Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, a Federal Reserve Banking system based upon the idea of fractional reserves. America was changing to create a middle-class.

Republicans so feared a Communist takeover that they ranted and railed against Communism as a threat to Capitalism and it eventually blossomed into a witch hunt for Communists lead by Wisconsin Senator McCarthy who used his position in Congress to hold hearings that amounted to witch hunts against anyone who had ever uttered a word of complaint against Capitalism.

We know the rest, the New Deal was born, it led to reforms and Communism was stopped before it could blossom.

The New Deal served America well until Ronald Reagan was elected president and he worked to restore the old system of monopoly and robber baron concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. Ever sense Reagan was elected we have been heading downhill and headed back to the real possibility of riot, revolution, and Socialism as a response to inequality of wealth distribution.

This 2012 election may be the last chance for America to resolve its problems without strife.

We hope you will participate in the Precinct Caucuses next Tuesday evening. We hope you will remember this little snippet of history as you recall the Occupy Movement and the disparity in wealth wherein 1% now own 99% of the wealth and refuse to pay taxes upon their income. We hope that you recall the whole recent history of the Presidential Primary, the situation in Wisconsin wherein workers are being denied the right to organize, and the intensity that people are feeling towards a failed Congress. Taking a moment to review the Civil Rights history of America wouldn’t hurt either.

You need to project where this present strife can go and then you need to offer resolutions on what change is needed, allowing your voice to be heard, allowing your neighbors to consider your resolution and to discuss it and refine it.

When that happens Democracy will be at work, a chance of needed change will be born, and your elected Representatives will have to pick up on the moment and work for change. To whatever degree change happens and succeeds then the lower the chance of Socialism and Communism coming to America.

Expect to soon hear the drums of revolution coming from Europe if they don’t get their society under control for the same disparity of wealth exists there. Conservative governments across Europe are expected to fall during 2012 and several are tottering right now.



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75391 2012-02-03T08:35:11+00:00 2012-02-02T14:56:12+00:00

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2012-02-03T08:35:11+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


People have wondered at my prediction that the Republican Party is collapsing and headed the way of the Whig Party. Yet just spend a few minutes and look at the circus the GOP is running trying to select a candidate to run against President Obama. Romney's selection in Florida and Gingrich's defeat shows that the neo-cons have lost their Party grip. Ooops!

If that doesn’t convince you then just take a gander what is going on within our own State of Minnesota with the GOP. Ooops!

The GOP presidential primary contest speaks volumes and doesn’t need me to add anything. Ooops!

Up at St. Paul, the GOP is collapsing with sex scandals, financial scandals, special interest scandals, and if that isn’t scandalous enough then look at the conflict of interest situation with Steve Sviggum and the firing of Ellen Anderson from her post in the Public Utilities Commission. Ooops!

When we look for a common denominator there is the Senator from my District, Sen. Dave Senjem, at the hub of it all. He has replaced Amy Koch as State Senate Majority leader and he is now doing GOP Party bidding in highly visible fashion. Dayton has accused the GOP Senate of incompetence at governing and he is correct. Dave Senjem is the underlying culprit. Ooops!

Such visibility invites competitors to run against him. Very soon, once the new redistricting maps are shown, then his competition will emerge. They will have plenty of meat for their campaign.

In 2012 Democrats will make every effort to replace Sen. Senjem with a more acceptable representative.

Until then, let’s see what other self-destructive stuff these people can dream up.

If you want to write a video book on politics then film some of these people in action and use them as illustration of how not to run a campaign. The footage is free; the actors are acting natural; while the political poses are for real.

Yesterday the GOP passed a Bill to prevent government worker pay raises. There goes another million or more votes for Republicans. Ooops!



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75436 2012-02-02T14:39:35+00:00 2012-02-02T17:17:36+00:00

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2012-02-02T14:39:35+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


I would call your attention to the economic failure of Conservative led governments all over the world. The US, UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, are examples of a massive economic failure and to say they have nothing in common is ludicrous.

They all have the same Conservative bent: no regulation, no oversight, no government controls, no new taxes, shrink government, let the private market work it’s will, and of course an argument that markets are self-correcting so you can screw them up as much as you want to.

At the economic theory level we see trickle down economics, rejection of proven Keynesian macro economics, and a belief that austerity in government is what is needed.

Economists like Paul Krugman have been refuting this nonsense for years but not listened to; rather people like Dick Chaney have set the dialog espousing a lot of nonsense that they attribute to Ronald Reagan whom Conservatives are trying to anoint with sainthood.

Give us a break.

The Conservative approach to governing has failed every time it has been tried. Voters keep voting for Conservatives for reasons having more to do with greed and their own rice bowls rather than doing what is best for the nation. The results certainly show and in case you have missed it just look at the donations from special interests to his Super PAC.

America knows a third way: balance the interests of Capitalism with the interests of the people, putting the nation first. We did that since 1930 and the results speak for themselves. America has gone steadily down-hill since Conservatives got hold of government and it is high time to bring back the third-way.



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75430 2012-02-02T13:50:18+00:00 2012-02-02T13:54:19+00:00

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2012-02-02T13:50:18+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion




Paul Munnis


The goal of education should be to let each person become all they are capable of being.

Each advances according to their ability.

Thus paying reward money for high test scores is just the opposite of that goal. It lets the high IQ person or an organized cheater walk off with the rewards while the average or less than average scholar is abandoned; among peers they might even be certified as “not bright.”

Consider the paraplegic who has taught himself to paint using a brush and his toes. Is he dumb? I don't think so although he might not test well in standardized testing. His reward: He is developing as best as he can under difficult circumstances. We cheer him on.

The real reward of education is that the knowledge that you have gained is yours and it can never be taken away from you.

]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75428 2012-02-02T12:56:54+00:00 2012-02-02T13:01:55+00:00

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2012-02-02T12:56:54+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


People who follow the news have picked up on the end of the Afghan War effort. The hints have been numerous as we read stories about negotiation: the Taliban opening of an office in Qatar, the move by Kharzi to be associated with the peace talks, the movement of Taliban prisoners from Git’mo to Qatar, the announcement that the war will end in 2013 with all troops withdrawn.

The clues are there and it is clear that Obama is extracting the U.S. from the Afghan War. The media is ignoring the clues and not really providing prime time coverage of negotiations.

It is important to understand why we were there and thus prevent the media from trying to craft mission creep into their Party propaganda stories.

We went to Afghanistan in retaliation for the bombing of the World Trade Twin Towers, in New York City, where thousands of Americans were killed in a sneak attack crafted by Osama bin Laden. Our purpose was to cripple mid-east terrorism and to kill bin Laden.

President Obama has accomplished that goal. He did in two years what Bush / Chaney could not get done in ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan while Republicans spent $15 Trillion in deficit spending trying to get the job done.

All the rest, about Afghan women’s rights, Afghan nation building, and other mission creep, is not why we went to Afghanistan. The reason we went there is now satisfied and we are free to come home.

If Afghanistan wants to build a nation for itself, this is the moment to do it. If Women’s Rights are to be a part of that nation building then right now is the time for Kharzi to stand up and be counted for it is up to him to lead that effort.

Personally I wouldn’t hold my breath. Kharzi is a weak figure not seen as championing anything much in Afghanistan. When America leaves he may leave himself and go off to some foreign country and live happily ever after.

Kharzi was the Bush/Chaney pick for a national leader and they could have done much better.

Anyhow, all that is up to the Afghan people now. We are headed out of there. The two brigades that were sourced from Germany are going to be retired.

For them the war is over. From a budget deficit viewpoint the source of our budget deficit is being retired. With two wars now ending the military and its budget will be downsized and a peace dividend will be obtained for taxpayers. The national dialog is already shifting on how to spend that dividend.

In both Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. has gone and fought terrorism toe to toe. The mid-east is changed as a result. Many nations have new governments, one nation is about to get a new government (Syria), America has in the meantime become very much more energy independent from the mid-east and Obama has accomplished all of that in addition to defeating al Queada and killing bin Laden. As for the Taliban, we did what we could for Kharzi and the Afghan people. The ball is in their court now and it is up to them to take hold and craft their own future.

Congratulations to President Obama. He will not fly onto the deck of an aircraft carrier with a big sign saying “Mission Accomplished,” but he has done the job that he was elected to do and he has changed the face of the mid-east in the process. He has also changed the face of our American military too although that is a work in progress.

We also have to congratulate Hillary Clinton who has been the best Secretary of State I have seen in my lifetime. Perhaps the word is not congratulate but the word thank would be more appropriate.

As the U.S. election proceeds forward then an appreciation for Obama and his team’s accomplishments will develop and many will come to see the real scope of this president and his contribution to America.

My bet is the American public will elect him to carry on the work he has begun since 2009 and that he will change a lot more in this world given the opportunity.



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75413 2012-02-01T14:29:58+00:00 2012-02-01T14:31:59+00:00

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2012-02-01T14:29:58+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


Every reader of TRD knows what is meant by “a self fulfilling prophecy.” As I look at the news coming out of Congressional Budget Office what I am seeing is an attempt at forecasting the deficit for the next five years. I am seeing the media accept the forecast as a fact of life and thus there is an attempt to make the forecast the reality of our times.

The variables in the forecast are precisely the matters that the 2012 election seeks to resolve. Examples are: impact upon our economy if and when the Bush Tax Cuts expire, and whether or not defense spending is to be checked.

Such variables must have an assumed outcome by the CBO in order to make a forecast and the likelihood of them getting everything right is near zero. Thus their forecast is: if scenario A then X results; else, if not scenario A, then Y results. That is not a forecast it’s a logic model and when we know the election results we can plug in the outcomes and see the real possibilities if the new Administration can achieve the promises of the candidate. In the meantime the CBO is claiming they can read the chicken bones and forecast the model outcome from a toss of those bones. “Nonsense,” I say.

So why does the media put so much stock on the CBO forecasts? Some say that in the absence of real data in a time of economic uncertainty the media is rushing to fill the vacuum. More political folk look at the forecast and say that depending upon how you choose to interpret the logic models then it is good for Republicans or Democrats. Many suspect it is to give a propaganda push to the Parties as the election approaches.

I would suggest to readers that they ignore the CBO forecasts, work at attending Precinct Caucuses, give Obama the Party Platform he needs to manage to and then hold his feet to the fire during the remaining months of the election.

In the meantime work like mad to unseat Republicans at every post that they hold including even local politicians. With the Republicans gone then the nonsense in government will end, the Administration will be able to manage the economy for a comeback, and our economy will return to strong performance.

Right now Republicans are busy spending their political capital on such things as the Keystone pipeline which is owned by Canada. They are pointing to a few temporary jobs in the pipeline construction effort as the reason to take an incredible ecological risk and they are trying to jam the calendar to force Obama to make a decision while they election press coverage is paramount. This is just one more example of the big variables involved in this CBO forecast.

We don’t know at this point what the outcome of the election is going to be, we can’t be certain of who will win. We can shape the election by working for the candidates whom we support and then holding them to their promises. Thus the CBO economic forecast isn’t worth paper it is written on but we can impact the application of the forecast logic model to produce what we seek from our government.

Forget self-fulfilling prophecies and concentrate on winning the election and making sure that our candidate has the right priorities. The rest will take care of itself.

For my part I think the most important aspect of this election is not either candidate or Party but rather is policy and a competent staff to achieve the stated policy. Obama is going to lose a lot of his Cabinet and Republicans do not make me at all comfortable with their Cabinet prospects or their real values.

I am going to our precinct caucus on February 7th with hopes of hearing some sound thinking by my neighbors as substitute for the media malarkey that is passing for “news” these days.

I’ll let you know if I am happy with what I experience.



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75390 2012-01-31T18:28:22+00:00 2012-01-31T18:29:23+00:00

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2012-01-31T18:28:22+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion




Paul Munnis


When looking at America and deciding whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about our future, I am coming down on the side of optimism.

I am buoyed by the disclosure that our energy future is secure and becoming more sustainable by the day.

I am not so overjoyed by what I see on the World Trade front but I do know that if push comes to shove we can abandon globalism and install a network of tariffs and hunker down and survive.

Europe may disintegrate before it can be rebuilt. If that happens then we will help them to rebuild as fast as we can and there are signs that Geithner is helping the Euro stay healthy right now.

Before we get to tariffs we have other things that we can try and they include resuscitating American manufacturing, isolating our plants and corporations from Internet theft of knowledge based designs, actually rebuilding our infrastructure, and boosting a world trade design that allows the Arab nations to rebuild their economies. We can partner with Europe and help them reset, and we can rescue Japan while helping China manage to transition to a more Democratic society. All of these things will benefit us as well as the recipients.

A tall order you say? Yes, it is. But it is something we are capable of. The nation that glued the world back together after WWII is now challenged to do it again after the Mid-east crisis that we have just been through. It is now a matter of thinking big, forming a new world vision, and organizing to achieve it.

Republicans point to our debt and wring their hands and predict that America will collapse like Greece is doing. Nonsense! We are not Greece, much of our debt is owed to ourselves and we could forgive a good deal of it in a heartbeat. We have solid investments that are covering the rest of our debt, and our dollar is the strongest currency on the planet.

We still have much work to do to tame the greed of monopolists and capitalists. We are up to managing that while regulating and performing oversight. The reason that we have not done well at this is that we had two decades of Republican rule that allowed corruption on Wall Street to run rampant. Financial statements of corporations were often false and deliberately misleading and the S.E.C. looked the other way. Now that Democrats have the reins of government we are headed once more in the right direction but there are still more reforms to be made concerning banking and finance.

We are throttling back the main source of our debt which is represented by too big of a standing Army. We are changing our foreign policy so that we are not the world’s cowboys. Once we get our military scaled back to a peacetime size we will have a lot of money to work with. The spare money can be used to chop middle-class taxes and some societal equilibrium can be obtained. Our military industrial complex will be reshaped by reducing our military budgets. That will force defense manufacturers to design products demanded by the rest of the world. If they want to export that is exactly what they must do.

It appears that the Obama Administration has nuclear non-proliferation coming under control. We will help N Korea feed its people; we will help them establish a more robust economy; we will disarm Iran and then work to rebuild the middle-east. We will bring Pakistan into the world of nations. The next four years are crucial and these matters can’t be done using Republican economics such as “trickle down economics” to accomplish what must be done.

Social Security is solvent and it looks good for the next 74 years if our government honors its debt. We have the elements of national healthcare plan in place, it needs more work but that has been impossible with a “Just Say No,” Republican Party intent upon “No New Taxes,” and preventing every bit of rescue legislation from passing. It’s time to boot the obstructionists out of government.

The Bush Tax Cuts are scheduled to end right after the 2012 election and if we stay with it we can completely revise or tax system so it is kinder to 99% of Americans.

We are working through a banking mess caused by home mortgage derivatives that have destroyed a huge sector of our economy. We are in the process of writing down much of that debt and restructuring it.

Our citizens are paying down their personal debt and investing their money for growth. The stock market has taken off like a rocket under Obama and is in far better shape than it was under Bush. The corporate news is that corporations are doing very well under Democrats. They are doing so well that we are now at 22 months of hiring, and this is happening even as we retire the biggest workforce in American history.

America has plenty of housing now, maybe too much, and our challenge is to construct a new kind of housing market. We will not and we cannot go back to the days before the ownership society of the Bush Administration destroyed housing in America; but we can recover. In fact, if you think back to the banking scandal led by Neil Bush in Texas we came through a terrible housing mess in the early 80’s and we recovered from that only to let another Bush destroy it once again. We didn’t learn our lessons from the 80’s.

Many of our problems are caused by the Republican Party which is rapidly self-destructing. After this 2012 election Republicans will be diminished in their role in government, perhaps for the next twenty years, for it will take two generations of voters to forget the bad governing of Republicans. By summer of this year I expect the GOP to be in a panic mode of operations as they realize that America is rejecting the Republican Party.

Once the GOP is under control once again then Democrats can then refocus America on its future and its destiny.

Yes, I am optimistic. Americans know how to make lemonade out of lemons. We have done so for generations and we are far from through with the present economic reovery.

I agree totally with Obama: “It is folly to bet against America.”

I would add that it’s also folly to bet against Democrats.


]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75386 2012-01-31T17:06:47+00:00 2012-01-31T17:07:48+00:00

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2012-01-31T17:06:47+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com What Others Say


Robert Reich
BLOG
Monday, January 30, 2012


Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos a few days ago, said the “critical risks” facing the American economy this year were a worsening of Europe’s chronic sovereign debt crisis and a rise in tensions with Iran that could stoke global oil prices.

What about jobs and wages here at home?

As the Commerce Department reported Friday, the U.S. economy grew 2.8 percent between October and December – the fastest pace in 18 months and the first time growth exceeded 2 percent all year. Many bigger American companies have been reporting strong profits in recent months. GE and Lockheed Martin closed the year with record order backlogs.

Yet the percent of working-age Americans in jobs isn’t much different than what it was three years ago. Yes, America now produces more than it did when the recession began. But it does so with 6 million fewer workers.

Average after-tax incomes adjusted for inflation are moving up a bit. (They increased at an annual rate of .8 percent in the last three months of 2011 after falling 1.9 percent in prior three-month period. For all of 2011, incomes fell .1 percent.)

But beware averages. Shaquille O’Neal and I have an average height of six feet. Exclude Mitt Romney’s $20 million last year — along with everyone else securely in the top 1 percent — and the incomes of most Americans are continuing to slip.

Consumer spending picked up slightly in the fourth quarter mainly because consumers drew down their savings. Obviously, this can’t last.

Meanwhile, government is spending less on schools, roads, bridges, parks, defense, and social services. Government spending at all levels dropped at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the last quarter – and that’s likely to continue.

Some economists worry this drop is a drag on the economy. But it also means fewer public goods available to all Americans regardless of income.

Congress still hasn’t decided whether to renew the temporary payroll tax cut and extend unemployment benefits past February. If it doesn’t, expect another 1 percent slice off GDP growth this year.

Tim Geithner is surely correct that the European debt crisis and Iran pose risks to the American economy in 2012. But they aren’t the biggest risk. The biggest risk is right here at home – that most Americans will continue to languish.

All of which raises a basic question: Who or what is the economy for? Surely not just for a few at the top, and not just big corporations and their CEOs. Nor can the success of the economy be measured by how fast the GDP is growing, or how high the Dow Jones Industrial Average is rising, or whether average incomes are turning upward.

The crisis of American capitalism marks the triumph of consumers and investors over workers and citizens. And since most of us occupy all four roles – even though the lion’s share of consuming and investing is done by the wealthy – the real crisis centers on the increasing efficiency by which all of us as consumers and investors can get great deals, and our declining capacity to be heard as workers and citizens.

Modern technologies allow us to shop in real time, often worldwide, for the lowest prices, highest quality, and best returns. Through the Internet and advanced software we can now get relevant information instantaneously, compare deals, and move our money at the speed of electronic impulses. We can buy goods over the Internet that are delivered right to our homes. Never before in history have consumers and investors been so empowered.

Yet these great deals increasingly come at the expense of our own and our compatriots’ jobs and wages, and widening inequality. The goods we want or the returns we seek can often be produced more efficiently elsewhere around the world by companies offering lower pay, fewer benefits, and inferior working conditions.

They also come at the expense of our Main Streets – the hubs of our communities – when we get the great deals through the Internet or at big-box retailers that scan the world for great deals on our behalf.

Some great deals have devastating environmental consequences. Technology allows us to efficiently buy low-priced items from poor nations with scant environmental standards, sometimes made in factories that spill toxic chemicals into water supplies or pollutants into the air. We shop for great deals in cars that spew carbon into the air and for airline tickets in jet planes that do even worse.

Other great deals offend common decency. We may get a great price or high return because a producer has cut costs by hiring children in South Asia or Africa who work twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Or by subjecting people to death-defying working conditions.

As workers or as citizens most of us would not intentionally choose these outcomes but as seekers after great deals we are indirectly responsible for them. Companies know that if they fail to offer us the best deals we will take our money elsewhere – which we can do with ever-greater speed and efficiency.

The best means of balancing the demands of consumers and investors against those of workers and citizens has been through democratic institutions that shape and constrain markets.

Laws and rules offer some protection for jobs and wages, communities, and the environment. Although such rules are likely to be costly to us as consumers and investors because they stand in the way of the very best deals, they are intended to approximate what we as members of a society are willing to sacrifice for these other values.

But technologies for getting great deals are outpacing the capacities of democratic institutions to counterbalance them. For one thing, national rules intended to protect workers, communities, and the environment typically extend only to a nation’s borders. Yet technologies for getting great deals enable buyers and investors to transcend borders with increasing ease, at the same time making it harder for nations to monitor or regulate such transactions.

For another, goals other than the best deals are less easily achieved within the confines of a single nation. The most obvious example is the environment, whose fragility is worldwide. In addition, corporations now routinely threaten to move jobs and businesses away from places that impose higher costs on them – and therefore, indirectly, on their consumers and investors – to more “business friendly” jurisdictions. The Internet and software have made companies sufficiently nimble to render such threats credible.

But the biggest problem is that corporate money is undermining democratic institutions in the name of better deals for consumers and investors. Campaign contributions, fleets of well-paid corporate lobbyists, and corporate-financed PR campaigns about public issues are overwhelming the capacities of Congress, state legislatures, regulatory agencies, and the courts to reflect the values of workers and citizens.

As a result, consumers and investors are doing increasingly well but job insecurity is on the rise, inequality is widening, communities are becoming less stable, and climate change is worsening. None of this is sustainable over the long term.

Blame global finance and worldwide corporations all you want. But save some blame for the insatiable consumers and investors inhabiting almost every one of us, who are entirely complicit. And blame our inability as workers and citizens to reclaim our democracy.


]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75354 2012-01-30T21:27:46+00:00 2012-01-30T21:27:48+00:00

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2012-01-30T21:27:46+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion





Paul Munnis


President Obama has started an American dialog that is badly needed. It is on the subject of a national energy policy.

He opened the subject up simply enough by declaring that the United States is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas and that we have more than 1.3 Trillion units of natural gas available. Most of it is embedded in shale oil; much of it is to be removed by using fracking, and it has brought out other competing energy interests and put them on the war path.

To start with, Obama questions if we need the Keystone pipeline? It carries a very caustic mixture of oil sands to be reclaimed and that has to travel from Alberta, Canada, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for processing. Any spills from that pipeline will bad for our ecology.

Republicans are trying to jam the pipeline through and Obama wants an ecology impact study performed. Republicans are talking about holding the Transportation Bill hostage to the Keystone pipeline and Henry Waxman has shown how mistaken that approach is; if they do then Obama can veto the pipeline bill and Republicans will have to accept blame for having killed the Transportation Bill which will damage every State. They will also get the blame for the Keystone pipeline loss of jobs and revenue. They are positioning themselves for a bad loss over the pipeline issue.

Coal interests are demanding their place at the table and oil interests are too. Obama’s answer is that there is room for all. He adds that American energy must include development of renewable energy and that mining, drilling, and clean distribution of energy is of utmost importance. These must be done without harming the environment.

When it comes to fracking President Obama wants it done under EPA supervision with disclosure of the chemical ingredients used in the process and monitoring performed to assure it is not harming aquifers.

Republicans are coming out of their seats at the suggestion that the Obama Administration would want to take control of energy policy. After all, Republicans have represented energy special interests for years. They know what is best for America, etc., etc.

None of that fazes President Obama. He is pushing full speed ahead.

The result: the American balance of trade as far as energy products is concerned is about to pivot.

As America deliberates, discusses, and debates what our energy policy should be, it will weigh heavily on the 2012 election and that is just fine with most Democrats. Most of the oil producing States and coal producing States are Red States. Naturally they want to protect their product and influence its export. Naturally they look to the GOP to protect their interests, and naturally it is turning political in a hurry. Eastern States have been heavy oil consumers because natural gas supply is lacking. Now States like New York will become net producers and that is going to impact oil prices significantly. It means cheaper gasoline too. The whole eastern state region is home to these huge shale deposits.

Here in the Plains States we have corn for ethanol and that is doing well. We heat with NG and we are pleased that prices will stay under control. America also has all of the competing products like coal and oil too and the outlook for a sound energy future for America is wonderful.

But what a wonderful set of problems for Americans to have and to debate. We have the needed energy. We can export natural gas. Clean burning oil is also available to us, and we are in a position to take control our energy future. The discussion now is how much of what, how will it be taxed, and what will it do for our trade deficit? All are welcome questions.

Much of the energy resources are found on public lands and must be leased from the Federal Government and that will supply government with fresh revenue streams and put an end to the hostage taking of political matters by the GOP.

So bring it on. This has all the makings of a win-win situation for America.

Obama has set the stage for the next phase of economic recovery and it is called: Prosperity.

]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75351 2012-01-30T02:26:50+00:00 2012-01-30T02:32:52+00:00

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2012-01-30T02:26:50+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion
Paul Munnis


To their credit Apple is working hard at providing better electronic textbooks, free online textbook authoring tools, and has introduced Apple I-Tunes U, a method of offering online multimedia electronic education course material.

It’s all available through I-Tunes, Apples online store supports many computer OS platforms.

Much of the existing online course material has been available on the Internet in the form of various websites in the past. I am told that some 50,000 open classroom materials are available today for online use. What is available however lacks a uniform template for presentation and Apple has overcome that as a barrier to a standardized learning paradigm.

What is more, Apple intends to extend the offerings by encouraging standardization and added course content.

Apple authoring tools are free and the outcome of using them is a multimedia textbook that is easy and interesting to use. The textbooks become engaging and learning becomes a relaxing experience. Major publishers have signed on to offer Apple authored texts for affordable prices and that sets the stage for a revolution in learning.

If the Apple I-Tunes U becomes widely established it is just a small reach to offer online degrees using the materials either by purchase, or through Libraries, and completing tests proving mastery of the subject matter.

When that is done then education goes global, degrees become affordable, and the educational monopoly ends. It has profound implications for textbook publishers and distributors as well as for students. Educational monopoly ending is good for the people of the world and bad for America who has prospered from a higher education monopoly.

Technology is moving must faster than our political system can accommodate.

To learn more and to see the Apple announcements in streaming video you can go to the Apple website link provided below. If you are using WINDOWS it requires the use of Apple QUICKTIME for video.

Link:
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1201oihbafvpihboijhpihbasdouhbasv/event/index.html





]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75350 2012-01-30T01:48:40+00:00 2012-01-30T01:57:41+00:00

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2012-01-30T01:48:40+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



By Reid Smith on 1.29.12 @ 1:18PM
The American Spectator


Putting aside politics for a moment, I hope we can send our collective thoughts and prayers to the Santorum family.

Rick Santorum's 3 ½ year old daughter, Isabella, is seriously ill -- she suffers from the genetic disorder Trisomy 18, also known as "Edwards Syndrome." I understand very little about the malady, but it's caused by a chromosomal anomaly and she exists "on the margins of life."

Santorum has been incredibly candid about young Bella's illness, but his decision to temporarily suspend his campaign in Florida speaks to the gravity of her condition. She's been admitted to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment -- arguably the best pediatric hospital in the country, and I'm not just saying that because I was born there.

Like I said, I don't know bupkis about extra chromosomes or autosomal disorders, but I know this little girl has already put up one heck of a fight. The median lifespan for this condition is 5-15 days, and only 8% of infants born with this syndrome live to see their first birthday. One percent of children make it to ten years old, but that small percentage who survive birth and infancy often live to adulthood. Fingers crossed for the latter.

I don't have kids, and I can't begin to imagine how difficult this must be for the Santorum family. All I know is, I hope this little girl gets better, and soon.

----------------


ABC NEWS REPORT
January 29, 2012


The reason Bella Santorum was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Saturday night is because she has pneumonia in both of her lungs, a campaign aide told ABC News.

The 3-year-old, who has the serious genetic disorder Trisomy 18, is not on a ventilator, though, which is a very good sign. The family has medical equipment in their Virginia home and because of the risk of infection in hospitals they try to keep her out unless it is absolutely necessary.

She was in and out of hospitals the first year of her life, but since then — aside from besides being admitted for surgeries — she has not spent any time in the hospital before Saturday, Rick Santorum has said on the campaign trail.


]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75322 2012-01-28T03:24:19+00:00 2012-01-28T03:39:20+00:00

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2012-01-28T03:24:19+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion





Paul Munnis


Sooner or later Americans are gong to start understanding the economy and its relationship to politics better. Media education articles abound now explaining everything from macro economics to international finance and people are tuned in.

When they learn fact from lie then they will be better able to separate reality from the propaganda pieces and people like Newt Gingrich will have to retire from politics for people will be on to his blarney.

For example take the reports that the housing market is not back to the level it was when Obama was president. Hello, that is never going to happen. A huge housing bubble was permitted to build under the Bush presidency called: “An Ownership Society” and it advocated a home for everyone. Then the bubble burst and the foreclosures hit the fan and the world has been reeling ever since.

We are not going back there and rebuild the housing bubble. The most probable scenario: existing homes will provide good value for the money, will be sold cheaper than they were bought for, and sold cheaper than a new home can be built; thus people are incented to get rid of the overpriced real estate and to not build a new home but buy an existing home instead or else to rent.

As people get out from these underwater properties their debt disappears and they can start to rebase to buy another home when they can afford one. In those markets where jobs are rebounding then housing will too, but it looks like the majority of it will be purchases of existing homes not building of new homes. For all practical purposes the new home construction market is way down and will stay that way until the existing home inventory is pretty well sopped up.

The best thing government can do is find a way to accelerate the rate at which banks accept or reject offers from people who bid on underwater properties. Having an open ended non-committal response date by banks to bidders discourages sales and is delaying a restoration of market equilibrium. If a bank lists a property for sale then they have decided to enter into a market auction and should be required to provide a prompt response to bidder offers.

My take: “if banks can’t speed up their response time then let them eat the losses. People want to hear within 48 hours whether or not their offer is accepted, rejected, or counter offered. Buying a house is essentially an auction activity and who ever heard of an auction bid having to wait six months or more to see if the seller will accept the bid or not?

Another example of economics confounded by propaganda is in the media coverage of jobs. It appears that now the jobs hiring machine has picked up and hiring should roughly pace baby-boomer retirements. As Joe leaves his job and rushes to file for unemployment insurance his company hires a replacement for him. Meanwhile the unemployment numbers are distorted and misleading and the Republicans use it to beat up on Obama.

Aging out of the workforce is a huge wave movement as the largest demographic group in American history ages out of the workforce. They are being backfilled by Generation X and Generation Y workers who have been left waiting in the wings for this recession to end.

Yet another example is found in deficit reform. The U.S. while screaming and shouting about the national debt is moving towards serious debt reform. It starts with budget cuts, reduction in defense budgets and elimination of overlapping programs and goes on to reorganization of the Federal government. Most of the yelling is for effect back home during an election year and most of the screaming comes from Congressmen whose District is losing government money such as a District having a defense industry or military base in it that will be closed. As these facilities close then unemployment will rise, aged out workers will retire and the rest will get in line for a job. The problem now is how to get the hiring machine running a little bit faster so that unemployed workers with skills do not have to wait so long for a job offer.

So, for those who are tuned in, there is some pretty good news lurking beneath the propaganda news pieces. Those that know how to listen can see America is getting healthier by the day and when contrasted to Europe and Asia we look like an economic powerhouse.

I am taking an online course on doing business with China right now and the emphasis is on China transitioning from Communism to Capitalism and the time it takes to educate large blocs within China while preventing riots and demonstrations. The manufacturing model is one of repetition manufacturing because many have not been educated to independent and individual performance and they need the same direction that they used to get from the Party bosses who are now working as middle managers within industry. America emphasizes individualism while the old Communist model emphasizes group behavior. The good news in this education course is that America is still the dominant nation in world affairs, economics, and diplomacy, and we will stay that way for decades to come. Scaring voters that the “Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming,” is a pure propaganda move and has little to do with the open markets that are evolving, the support of China for the American economy, and the entry of China into the World Trade Organization. All these are positive events.

For this Democrat I am content that President Obama is doing a great job and that if he is gifted with reelection and given control of the House and Senate then he will get the needed changes into place and America can move on.

My biggest concern with electing Obama for a second term are the losses to his cabinet. It is going to be very hard to replace Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner and both Americans and Obama owe a huge debt of gratitude to them for their public service.

The piece of news that I am waiting for in 2012 is announcements of Supreme Court vacancies so that Obama can straighten out that political arena masquerading as an objective manager of jurisprudence and Constitutional umpiring. It no longer reflects the demographics of America.

I can see the neo-cons hiring journalists to blather away about the proposed Supreme Court candidates while Senate Republicans refuse to allow a hearing by issuing threats of a filibuster.



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2012-01-27T13:47:45+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com What Others Say



Robert Reich
BLOG
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich’s ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.

Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency.

The Republican worry is understandable. “The possibility of Newt Gingrich being our nominee against Barack Obama I think is essentially handling the election over to Obama,” says former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a leading GOP conservative. “I think that’s shared by a lot of folks in the Republican party.”

Pawlenty’s views are indeed widely shared in Republican circles. “He’s not a conservative – he’s an opportunist,” says pundit Joe Scarborough, a member of the Republican Class of 1994 who came to Washington under Gingrich’s banner. Gingrich doesn’t “have the temperament, intellectual discipline or ego control to be either a successful nominee or president,”says New York Republican representative Peter King, who hasn’t endorsed any candidate. “Basically, Newt can’t control himself.”

Gingrich is “an embarrassment to the party,” says New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, and “was run out of the speakership” on ethics violations. Republican strategist Mike Murphy says “Newt Cingrich could not carry a swing state in the general election if it was made of feathers.”

“Weird” is the word I hear most from Republicans who have worked with him. Scott Klug, a former Republican House member from Wisconsin, who hasn’t endorsed anyone yet, says “Newt has ten ideas a day – two of them are good, six are weird and two are very weird.”

Newt’s latest idea, for example – to colonize the moon – is typically whacky.

The Republican establishment also points to polls showing Gingrich’s supporters to be enthusiastic but his detractors even more fired up. In the latest ABC News/ Washington Post poll, 29 percent view Gingrich favorably while 51 percent have an unfavorable view of him. (Obama, by contrast, draws a 53 percent favorable and 43 percent unfavorable.)

Independents, who will be key to the general election, are especially alarmed by Gingrich.

As they should be. It’s not just Newt’s weirdness. It’s also the stunning hypocrisy. His personal life makes a mockery of his moralistic bromides. He condemns Washington insiders but had a forty-year Washington career that ended with ethic violations. He fulminates against finance yet drew fat checks from Freddie Mac. He poses as a populist but has had a $500,000 revolving charge at Tiffany’s.

And it’s the flagrant irresponsibility of many of his propositions – for example, that presidents are not bound by Supreme Court rulings, that the liberal Ninth Circuit court of appeals should be abolished, that capital gains should not be taxed, that the First Amendment guarantees freedom “of” religion but not “from” religion.

It’s also Gingrich’s eagerness to channel the public’s frustrations into resentments against immigrants, blacks, the poor, Muslims, “liberal elites,” the mainstream media, and any other group that’s an easy target of white middle-class and working-class anger.

These are all the hallmarks of a demagogue.

Yet Democratic pundits, political advisers, officials and former officials are salivating over the possibility of a Gingrich candidacy. They agree with key Republicans that Newt would dramatically increase the odds of Obama’s reelection and would also improve the chances of Democrats taking control over the House and retaining control over the Senate.

I warn you. It’s not worth the risk.

Even if the odds that Gingrich as GOP presidential candidate would win the general election are 10 percent, that’s too much of a risk to the nation. No responsible American should accept a 10 percent risk of a President Gingrich.

I’d take a 49 percent odds of a Mitt Romney win – who in my view would make a terrible president – over a 10 percent possibility that Newt Gingrich would become the next president – who would be an unmitigated disaster for America and the world.



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75263 2012-01-26T13:04:12+00:00 2012-01-26T13:05:14+00:00

{summary}

2012-01-26T13:04:12+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion





Paul Munnis


When I look at Romney’s tax returns I do not see a nice law abiding taxpayer citizen but rather a fat cat getting a very low tax rate at the expense of middle class taxpayers who are forced to subsidize him.

When I look at his tax rate I say to myself: “Holy Smoke – no wonder we have a deficit in tax collections – these guys are not paying their fair share.”

I don’t know how others feel about this for I have not run a survey but that is how it strikes me and after all this is the Opinion Page.

The deficit we are running in this country is caused by a lack of income tax receipts and the rich and corporations are freeloaders not paying their fair share of income taxes is my full opinion.

I am sick of whimpering industrialists saying: “We pay too much in taxes compared to other nations.” My take is corporations should be paying 50% of the nation’s taxes – that is the price of market access to the greatest economy on earth. “Pay up or move to Afghanistan!” Also: “you have enough tax loopholes so that GE gets a tax refund from taxpayers.”

Long before I get hit with higher taxes I expect to see the rich and corporations pay their fair share.

My take is simple: end the Bush Tax Cuts and then cut middle class income taxes. That is only fair. Obama is right on! I don’t think we ought to wait till the end of 2012 to dump the Bush Tax Cuts either. Do it now and get a partial year benefit.

If the tea party wants lower deficits why aren’t they telling their Party to deliver on taxing the rich? More revenue will cut the deficit much quicker than more tax cuts.

The Income Tax is supposed to be a progressive tax scaled to earnings and it is not.

It is not just taxes on earnings either; taxes paid on investments in the form of long term capital gains need to be adjusted upwards.

Romney may not have violated the law but the law is favoring him unfairly and it is time to adjust things and make them fair. He is paying a lower tax rate then his secretary.

I have seen the enemy of deficits and it the Republican Party who is giving away the grocery store with tax cuts for the rich. End those right now!

If I were a cartoonist I would draw a man in a top hat and tails, sitting in his Rolls Royce Convertible, holding out a tin cup to passersby and with a sign leaning against the car saying: “I Need a Tax Cut!”

These guys are the modern robber barons of the USA. Allow these Republican candidates to be president of the USA? No way! They will rob the place blind and already are. I say: “Don’t give them access to the U.S. Treasury.”

Now it’s back to TurboTax for 2011 which I have to use because the tax laws are so convoluted. Gee it only cost $50 and I can’t even take it off my taxes.



]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75261 2012-01-26T12:41:33+00:00 2012-01-26T12:42:34+00:00

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2012-01-26T12:41:33+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com What Others Say




Star Tribune Editorial
Updated: January 19, 2012 - 7:15 PM


It's good to see former House Speaker Steve Sviggum back at the State Capitol -- good for the many friends he acquired through 29 years in the Legislature and three years as a state agency head, and good for the scandal-shaken Senate GOP majority caucus, where he can have a steadying influence as executive assistant and communications director.

But Sviggum's new job isn't good for the University of Minnesota, where he has been a member of the Board of Regents for 10 months.

For the second time since joining the board, Sviggum's employment has put him in a situation fraught with conflict of interest. The first conflict was resolved when Sviggum chose to resign from a teaching position at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

We believe that Sviggum again has a choice to make. He should not be both a regent and a Senate Republican staff member.

The problem was already evident on Tuesday, Sviggum's first full day on his new job. Reporters emerging from Gov. Mark Dayton's bonding bill briefing found Sviggum waiting outside the governor's office.

Was he there as a regent to say that Dayton's proposal had shortchanged the university? (It did: Dayton recommended $78 million in state bonds for university building projects, nearly $100 million less than the institution requested.)

Or was he there to make the very contrary Senate GOP argument, that Dayton's bonding proposal was too generous?

The answer was neither. Sviggum was there to help reporters connect with senators, not to make an argument himself.

But awareness of his dual loyalties was already raising eyebrows and making headlines. If the Senate GOP goal in hiring Sviggum was to put an end to media coverage of caucus staffing matters, the goal eluded them.

More's the problem for the university. Its separation from the rest of state government is the very reason the Board of Regents exists.

The state Constitution goes to great lengths to keep university governance out of the reach of legislators and governors, making the educational flagship nearly a fourth branch of government.

A unanimous 1928 Minnesota Supreme Court decision explains why. The Constitution aims to "put the management of the greatest state educational institution beyond the dangers of vacillating policy, ill-informed or careless meddling and partisan ambition that would be possible in the case of management by either [the] Legislature or executive," it says.

Regents, who do not receive a salary, are forbidden by their code of ethics to also be elected officials. The Constitution requires that legislators may not hold other elective offices.

But those strictures do not apply to his situation, Sviggum contends. He's a Senate employee, not a senator or "a decisionmaker."

But Sviggum's new job binds him to the legislative branch. As a Senate employee, he is beholden to his bosses.

He will be obliged to tell them what he knows about university lobbying strategy -- while as a regent, he inevitably will be party to shaping that strategy. He will be paid $102,000 a year to represent the Senate GOP position to the public.

Will that duty extend to the regents' chambers?

Sviggum has made matters worse for himself in recent days by claiming that he had been assured by other regents and by the university's general counsel that taking a job "such as this one" did not present a conflict.

Those conversations evidently left the other participants with a very different understanding. They issued a stinging joint statement Wednesday, saying that no discussion of his new job took place.

Clearly, relationships that are crucial to Sviggum's effectiveness on the board have been damaged.

The joint statement allowed that regents are weighing further action. But they have few options if Sviggum insists on keeping both his new job and his board seat, which has a six-year term.

The state Constitution makes no provision for the impeachment of a regent. All his fellow regents can do is appeal to an honorable man to recognize that, once again, he has a conflict of interest.

As he did 10 months ago, Sviggum should choose one position and forsake the other.


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2012-01-26T12:05:56+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


Members of the U.S. Military are angry as September hornets over the Defense Budget cuts that translate into veterans benefit cuts such as cuts to TRICARE and military retirement income. They feel that they are being cheated out of a contractual agreement with the U.S. government, it impacts their finances and their lifestyle, and they are very unhappy people.

Who do they point the finger at?

Some point at the Republicans for the Iraq and Afghan Wars and for making the nation believe it could all be financed without consequence. Some point at the tea party element of the GOP for demanding defense department budget cuts that lead to military benefits impacts.

Some point at Obama because he is involved but not all are sure where he comes into the picture.

Some know that Congress chopped nearly a half trillion dollars out of the defense budget and that a huge chunk of that comes out of the military retiree’s hide. They know the Super Committee was supposed to come up with another trillion in cuts but they failed to do so. They know that as a result of the Super Committee’s failure to act that a process called “sequestration” will set in and the cuts will occur automatically. They know that sequestration will chop an additional chunk out of the military budget and that it is in addition to the cuts mandated by Republicans. They are told that these budget cuts mean more stiff cuts to military pay and benefits.

Some have heard that there is to be a change in the military mission – we are no longer going to maintain a huge standing Army and Navy to police the world. That is being left to NATO and we will contribute to NATO but not be the world’s police force unilaterally any longer. That permits downsizing to perhaps four carriers from eleven when our next biggest competitor has but one carrier. The saving in men, materials, wages, and operational costs are huge.

Some who are more politically astute know that there is no likelihood of sequestration kicking in during 2012. The whole budget ball of wax and how it behaves is really up to the outcome of the 2012 election.

Here is how one soldier handicaps the situation:

“Here in my opinion the most likely scenario for 2013.

1. Obama wins and the Dems hold the Senate but the GOP also the House. This is the worst case scenario why under this condition the full trigger cuts will hit the DOD very likely! Probability 50%

2. Obama wins but the GOP holds the House and then takes the Senate. As consequences the chances are good for an acceptable compromise to spare the DOD from more cuts. Probability 30%

3. Obama looses against Mitt Romney and the GOP takes the Senate and holds Congress; under this Scenario the DOD is spared completely from the Trigger cuts and also likely from the cuts of the Budget Control Act. This is the dream Scenario but not very probable. Probability 15%

4. Obama wins and the Dems take the House back and holds the Senate as consequence the DOD will suffer additional cuts 200-300 Billions more them planned also a disaster ! Probability lower them 5%.”

The above comes from “DoDBuzz.com” a newsletter for the military. The article can be read at:

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2012/01/17/another-year-of-living-dangerously/#ixzz1kXMenAbu

The opinions and probabilities shown above are one person’s opinion as clearly stated by the author of the handicap exercise and not necessarily shared by the Democratic Party. Still, the article and the concerns being expressed by our military serve to illustrate the frustration that the troops are feeling. This is an area that cannot be easily fixed because nobody knows the real outcome or the reactions that it will provoke.


]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75233 2012-01-25T12:16:27+00:00 2012-01-25T12:18:28+00:00

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2012-01-25T12:16:27+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


If I had to summarize in just a few words the State of the Union speech made by President Obama tonight I would characterize it as: the domestic part of our nation can stand improvement while our nation’s foreign policy is in pretty fair shape.

In fatherly tones he counseled and chastised his warring children to settle down, get serious, and to work together to solve our nation’s problems.

Beyond that on the domestic side he provided a long laundry list of things that should be done and the rationale for doing them. None were impossibilities. Many were bi-partisan. Most will be rejected by Republicans still dedicated to making the president fail.

Obama correctly characterized the mood of the at-home listener: “Washington is broken and is not inclined to fix itself. Show me!”

He reminded America that our mission in the middle-east is over as far as troop deployments are concerned and that Afghanistan is rapidly winding down. He also stated that bin Laden is no longer a threat, that Iraq is now on its own and that Iran is cruising for a bruising. He spoke of spending the peace dividend to invest in our troops and their welfare and using half of it to repay our debts.

He described needed fixes in Education and Commerce. IN education he proposed a uniform truancy law up to age 18 for all States. For commerce he proposed a return to manufacturing as a key job creator.

Practically speaking an election is shaping up and the theme of rich versus middle class was present plus he provided an assertion that the need to tax the rich is affirmed. He also mentioned a bunch of tax reforms that are needed as well as improvements in the ethical climate of Congress.

The litany of lecture and counseling lasted a long time and others will provide a long detailed laundry list of every proposal he made. David Brooks, the Conservative editor on the New York Times felt the speech was reasonable, rational, not inflationary, and provided a fair characterization of how the Parties view the need for change.

From my viewpoint it was his best speech since he was elected. He took credit for legitimate successes and he made promises that he will find it difficult to keep. That does not scare me for if one doesn’t set high goals then they will not manage high achievement. Also, given a mandate to govern and control of the Senate and House then most of these things could be achieved in four years.

One couldn’t help but contrast President Obama to Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Neither can hold a candle to President Obama because neither are Presidential material. Gingrich thinks he can jawbone his way to the White House but frankly he is one who whines a lot and it gets old after about ten minutes of listening to him. As for Romney, he has little to offer of substance. He seems an empty suit.

Obama seems ready to raise the ante on debt and deficit reduction. He wants added tax income to manage these goals. He is prepared to negotiate Social Security and Medicare, something that raises the hair on the back of the neck of Democrats.

He did little to pour gasoline on the existing animosity between the Parties although animosity is still present.


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2012-01-25T09:58:33+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion


Paul Munnis


It is true that Americans search for a silver cloud in every challenge that we face and we seek to make the silver lining pay off for us. Usually we succeed.

The very election of president Obama was a solid response to the problem of prejudice in America. His election acts as proof of commitment to racial equality. It constitutes the next phase in our struggle for Civil Rights and President Obama has been admirable and will go down in history as one of the best American presidents.

One mess he inherited was the lack of a national healthcare program. He developed one and got it passed. He is successfully defending it and in 2014 a new healthcare system will be the law of the land. Some provisions are already kicking in and are indeed welcome news to most Americans.

He inherited two wars and an unhappy electorate who wanted the wars to end. He has pulled our troops out of Iraq after assuring that the Iraqi Army is fully trained. The future is theirs to win or lose. We have done what we can for them.

Obama is ending the war in Afghanistan now that our objectives are met and bin Laden is dead. He lent assistance to NATO and Ghadaffi is now dead. An Arab spring has blossomed across the deserts of the mid-east and it has caused a lot of problems with oil and terrorism. Obama has managed all of these issues with alacrity and has positioned America admirably.

Now Obama faces a hungry and starving North Korea with a new leader at the helm and all signs are that he is working a mutually acceptable deal with them. In the case of Iran he has saddled them with sanctions that hurt plenty and now they are proposing a warlike response that will not go well for Iran.

In the case of Europe, America will do out best to be supportive of European nations and help them get their feet back under themselves once again.

Yes, Americans are given to making lemonade out of lemons. At least Democrats are. By contrast our Republican friends seem to wallow in making catastrophe out of changing situations.

I think voters will take stock of these things and elect Obama this November.


]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75228 2012-01-25T00:50:39+00:00 2012-01-25T12:24:40+00:00

{summary}

2012-01-25T00:50:39+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion



Paul Munnis


Elections are won by people not by political donations. A framework has to be established wherein people make a decision about the election and then they vote.

Political donations buy advertising time and those ads try to shape public opinion but an informed electorate can push back on false ads and make the money backfire against those candidates offering false choices.

That is what the corporate high stake donations to Super PACS are all about; the PACS seek to buy the election through issue shaping via advertising.

There are already a lot of issues on the table to deal with. One is tax fairness; the other is job creation; a third issue is the economic approach to governing. Those three are about all that voters can handle. For some it might be too many issues. Nevertheless, the election must be framed in stark contrast between the two Parties and people need to understand the choices and then vote their preference.

So far, the elongated Republican Primary contest has provided Democrats a good opportunity to frame the choices while the GOP candidates have shown voters what they will get if they vote Republican. It is a picture of more war, sparse Main Streets devoid of consumers, and distorted taxation punctuated with more job losses. It is not the America that I want for myself, my children, and my grand children. It is a very negative offering by the GOP. They tell you outright that when they get control they are going to tear down America and end healthcare, gut Social Security, and end Medicaid for child heath. None of those is in my best interest. I want a government that will deliver on these programs and make them work.

The behavior of Congress has shown what results from a Republican controlled House and Senate. People are already registering their displeasure with Congress giving just an 8-11% approval rating. So far the Republican Political Primary coverage is just the GOP talking to itself and its members while the rest of us are eavesdropping. What we are hearing is not inspiring.

Tonight Obama will give his State of the Union address. If I could wish for the content it would be that among other things he proposes that the Bush Tax Cuts be ended, the middle class given tax relief, the extra income to go straight to pay-down of our national debt; his proposed cuts to government spending to take effect. I think that the tea party would join with Obama in this and the Conservatives be forced to bow to the economic issue of our time as manifested inside their own Party.

Given that then we could release a budget that would have broad national appeal.

Another thing I would like to hear Obama propose tonight is a Value Added Tax (VAT). That would get a lot better progressivity into the tax code than we are seeing today with this push pull of Party wrangling over tax breaks. These tax breaks for corporations and the rich have put our economy into the ditch and is paralyzing our future.

Tonight Obama needs to provide an upbeat vision of a Democratic governing Party and sharply contrast it to the negativity that comes from the GOP at every turn. The media says he will do that so I will be tuned in to see how it goes.







]]> tag:therochesterdemocrat.com,2012:ee/index.php/35.75211 2012-01-24T10:30:32+00:00 2012-01-24T02:33:33+00:00

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2012-01-24T10:30:32+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion




Paul Munnis


Tomorrow night Obama will give his State of the Union speech. I doubt he will have much to say about the 2012 election so I spent a moment to take stock of things.

As I look over the GOP primary race I sense that Gingrich mainly appeals to native southerners. Romney has low appeal all across our nation. Santorum is too bland for the American stage. Ron Paul is too radical to get elected.

Where does this leave Republicans?

Vulnerable to President Obama being elected once again, is the answer.

Adding to the Republican problem are the antics of the Republican Party. They are searching for another legislative matter to hold hostage. They are being counseled to “cool it” but they are not able to do so. They continue to open mouth and insert foot.

Meantime they talk about someone who can be elected to beat Obama but I sense there is no such candidate available to them. Thus they will go through the motions only to lose the 2012 election.

Voters are now wise to the Republican methods of campaigning and will not be so easily duped again.

The south has a lot of people who live there. Steady attrition has been happening as retirees and relocated company workers now reside in the south and southwestern part of our nation; however not all of these share the southern political ethos.

In fact many are disgusted with aspects of the south that include prejudice, hubris, abolition sentiments, and minority bashing. I have spoken to some who say that on the job they talk the talk but when it comes to the voting booth they will vote Democrat.

All in all, I don’t blame Obama for springing into a song of joy. He has inherited a terrible mess from the R’s. He has done his best to fix the mess and it is showing signs of solid improvement. Meanwhile he is doing well on domestic and foreign policy development although domestic adoption of his programs faces rejection by an increasingly southern oriented Congress. His management of war meets broad public approval. His handling of the economy is even satisfying tea party members as he works to cut the 2013 budget although they will not publically acknowledge their satisfaction.

Congressional members from defense company states are in fear of defense job losses but they have yet to hear Obama talk about rebuilding our armed forces and replacing equipment and what that will do for the defense industry.

Never mind, Obama will be re-elected. He will drag some Democrats into office and he will keep control of government too. Meantime, Republicans need to worry that their Party is dying and may not survive the 2012 election cycle. Even in southern states the economic methods of the GOP are being questioned and with it some of the GOP ideology may very well crumble.

Companies are seeking an educated workforce in the south and it isn’t there to be found. Importing workers from the North is still the order of the day for southern companies or else outsourcing. None of that pleases southerners. Minorities in the south are disgusted with the GOP. Obama could once more carry several southern states.

Taken in the aggregate, Obama is in good shape and his opposition does not look strong or palatable; more like “weak but noisy.”

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2012-01-24T01:25:28+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com Opinion




Paul Munnis


America is losing ground to the cost of production to Asian companies. Lots of dire warnings are resulting. A major debate is forming over who is responsible for American productivity – is it the private sector or is it government who must assure trained workers?

We are talking about a trained work force with primary education through the public schools and specialized training obtained as post-secondary education.

As the battle lines form it is interesting to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and see where all of this is heading.

Public education in America is failing and it need not be that way but when employers are tax exempt they contribute nothing towards getting a trained workforce but they demand access to same. They must resume paying their fair share of taxes or else suffer the consequence.

Presently the worker takes responsibility for their post-secondary training but it is getting too expensive for the student to bear the full costs and scholarships and grants and subsidies are failing to keep up. The student needs financial help. Graduating with $40,000 worth of debt is not acceptable.

Certainly when it comes to making investment in plant and equipment that is the responsibility of the private sector. Furthermore, a part of that investment should be in training workers to use the new equipment. It is this latter aspect of training costs that corporation’s dispute. They won’t pay for specialized training but it is often not available in the public sector, only from the supplier.

Certainly the individual also bears responsibility for keeping their skills up to date and marketable; that means investing in one’s own education and future.

But historically the worker is broadsided by change and when laid off he lacks the income for meeting retraining costs. Workforce centers help but the GOP wants to shut them down.

Let’s say, like a possibility, that multi-nationals move their jobs offshore. Let’s say that the problem becomes acute and that something must be done and that government is stuck with providing a solution. Then the likelihood is for tariffs aimed at leveling the playing field.

The multinational will scream that it is unfair. But is it? Certainly the people of a nation have a right to control access to their markets and certainly they do not have to give away jobs to foreign nations.

In this scenario globalization becomes obsolete and the poor nations suffer the most. There is no competitive advantage in sending work to the poor nation and that is a moral shame for they need work to lift themselves out of poverty and globalization is the method of choice. But greedy businesses are turning it into a tragedy of the Commons.

When you add the costs of shipping and distribution of product to the cost of offshore manufacturing and tariffs then it is a loser to ship work offshore when it is product aimed at consumption by Americans.

A matrix of international tariffs results with each nation seeking to load-level labor costs. Soon the comparative advantage of offshore manufacturing disappears. At home manufacturing thrives in industrial nations, virtual slave labor returns to Asian nations, and offshore nations that are poor cannot afford American made goods. The standard of living for the poor declines even further.

At the rate we are going this is likely to become a major topic in 2013, after the election is over with, for we cannot continue this way allowing victims to have their livelihood rise or fall according to the whims of multi-national companies.

Frankly, it will be inflationary for Americans when this happens because the cost of goods will rise and the nice bargains found in discount stores will disappear. The good news is that there will be many more consumers with cash in their pockets each Friday payday and so inflation can be managed.

A shortage of workers will also develop and more automation will be employed. That will be okay as long as jobs don’t fall too low. It will act to prevent outlandish wage hikes and force a certain amount of common sense to exist. If Automation gets too crazy then an automation tax will result to once more load level wages and jobs.

All very well and good for hard goods but a bit more difficult to deal with for commodities imported that are strategic or intellectual property in nature; oil being the most obvious commodity and software the most obvious intellectual property.

In the case of oil tariffs will just not be adopted. Software is a different matter.

Intellectual property is not a problem to collect tariffs on. Let’s say that computer software that enables sorting and searching is imported from a West Indian Software company. Let’s say the software company employs 1200 programmers, 100 that work on this particular software. Let’s say that American programmers get paid an average of $60 per hour and the Indian software company pays workers $12 per hour. Then the labor content of the import can be established and a tariff can be easily constructed. The cost will be passed on in the sale of the software, even if it is an embedded piece of the offering.

The problem with software is when it is delivered by telecommunications to American companies and does not pass through a port of entry. In that case a telecommunications gateway must be established, it must be run by government, and avoidance of the gateway would be declared criminal with import licensing refused now and in the future. In other words: market access is denied as punishment.

If the private sector refuses to hire, train, upgrade, and pay a fair wage for Labor, this is the inevitable consequence and they will bring it on themselves.

Multinationals do not need this article to make them aware of the threat of tariffs. Managers are taught this in macro economic courses. They do need to accept that because of greed termed optimization they are pushing themselves into a world of tariffs by doing off-shoring of work and that in the process they will be much the worse off for it.

This is a major discussion that lies just ahead for America.


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2012-01-23T20:07:29+00:00 Staff editor@TheRochesterDemocrat.com What Others Say



By Robert Reich
BLOG
Monday, January 23, 2012


Who should have the primary strategic responsibility for making American workers globally competitive – the private sector or government? This will be a defining issue in the 2012 campaign.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama will make the case that government has a vital role. His Republican rivals disagree. Mitt Romney charges the President is putting “free enterprise on trial,” while Newt Gingrich merely fulminates about “liberal elites.”

American business won’t and can’t lead the way to more and better jobs in the United States. First, the private sector is increasingly global, with less and less stake in America. Second, it’s driven by the necessity of creating profits, not better jobs.

The National Science Foundation has just released its biennial report on global investment in science, engineering and technology. The NSF warns that the United States is quickly losing ground to Asia, especially to China. America’s share of global R&D spending is tumbling. In the decade to 2009, it dropped from 38 percent to 31 percent, while Asia’s share rose from 24 to 35 percent.

One big reason: According to the NSF, American firms nearly doubled their R&D investment in Asia over these years, to over $7.5 billion.

GE recently announced a $500 million expansion of its R&D facilities in China. The firm has already invested $2 billion.

GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt chairs Obama’s council on work and competitiveness. I’d wager that as an American citizen, Immelt is concerned about working Americans. But as CEO of GE, Immelt’s job is to be concerned about GE’s shareholders. They aren’t the same.

GE has also been creating more jobs outside the United States than in it. A decade ago, fewer than half of GE’s employees were non-American; today, 54 percent are.

This is all good for GE and its shareholders, but it’s not necessarily good for America or American workers. The Commerce Department says U.S. based global corporations added 2.4 million workers abroad in first decade of 21st century, while cutting their US workforce by 2.9 million.

According to the New York Times, Apple Computer employs 43,000 people in the United States but contracts with over 700,000 workers abroad. It makes iPhones in China not only because of low wages there but also the ease and speed with which its Chinese contractor can mobilize their workers – from company dormitories at almost any hour of the day or night.

An Apple executive says “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.” He might have added “and showing a big enough profits to continually increase our share price.”

Most executives of American companies agree. If they can make it best and cheapest in China, or anywhere else, that’s where it will be made. Don’t blame them. That’s what they’re getting paid to do.

What they want in America is lower corporate taxes, less regulation, and fewer unionized workers. But none of these will bring good jobs to America. These steps may lower the costs of production here, but global companies can always find even lower costs abroad.

Global corporations — wherever they’re based — will create good jobs for Americans only if Americans are productive enough to summon them. Problem is, a large and growing portion of our workforce isn’t equipped to be productive.

Put simply, American workers are hobbled by deteriorating schools, unaffordable college tuitions, decaying infrastructure, and declining basic R&D. All of this is putting us on a glide path toward even lousier jobs and lower wages.

Get it? The strategic responsibility for making Americans more globally competitive can’t be centered in the private sector because the private sector is rapidly going global, and it’s designed to make profits rather than good jobs. The core responsibility has to be in government because government is supposed to be looking out for the public, and investing in public schools, colleges, infrastructure, and basic R&D.

But here’s the political problem. American firms have huge clout in Washington. They maintain legions of lobbyists and are pouring boatloads of money into political campaigns. After the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision, there’s no limit.

Who represents the American workforce? Organized labor represents fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers and has all it can do to protect a dwindling number of unionized jobs.

Republicans like it this way, and for three decades have been trying to convince average working Americans government is their enemy. Yet corporate America isn’t their friend. Without bold government action on behalf of our workforce, good American jobs will continue to disappear.


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