Disneyland Closes At 35

And Now the Bill has Passed

It was gratifying to see the passage of continuation of the Bush tax cuts and the extension of the unemployment benefits for millions of Americans who were in danger of being forced out of their homes and into the streets.

I, like most Americans, certainly benefit from the extension of the Bush tax cuts. Had the bill to extend the cuts not passed I would have been faced with an additional $6000.00 burden per year which I can ill afford.

I also benefit from the extension of the unemployment benefits. I am not unemployed, but persons very close to me are. I will sleep much better knowing that they have some additional time to find work.

Now - to the future.

Americans are faced with myriad economic problems. I suppose Medicare and Social Security are at the top of the list of problems. We are told that Social Security will no longer be viable in 10 years, or 15 years, or 20 years. The forecasts about the viability of Social Security are numerous and gloomy; so, how can we save the program?

Many Republicans believe that Social Security should be privatized in order to allow each American to decide how to invest their mandatory retirement savings. It may sound arrogant and insulting, but I do not belileve that the average American would have any idea how to invest their money in private accounts. Call me an elitist, but I am not.

I have no particular knowledge to assist me in picking stocks or bonds or real estate investments, or whatever that would assure me that I invested my mandatory savings responsibly. I might have gone with the investment advice of any number of scoundrels and lost my entire savings. I have no reason to believe that the average American is any more knowledgeable than me in these regards.

Has the government invested my Social Security savings in a professional manner that gave me the highest return on my investment. I think not; still, perhaps they did better than I could have done.

It is then clear that the percentage of payroll to be deducted from every American's pay check each month has to increase to some degree or the program will at some time in the forseeable future go bankrupt. How much should it be? I would suggest a 2% hike for both employee and employer. You can run those numbers for yourself.

Then, there is of course, Medicare. I am thankful that the Congress did not act to reduce Medicare payments to physicians by the 25% figure that had been proposed; still, the program needs immediate attention. Many Senior Citizens, particularly in rural areas, cannot find a physician who will treat Medicare patients, which means these Seniors have no primary care doctor. Absent a primary care physician one cannot be admitted to the hospital.

Monies need to be redirected from non-essential programs, such as million dollar grants to study the mating habits of the Moravian land Mole, to essential programs like Medicare.

Lastly, I am a firm believer in a flat tax rate to cut off all the loopholes of the current tax code. This nation, through an by its Congress, should be able to figure out our monthly family budget as Americans. We have to have a budget and we have to live within that budget. We can't afford to subsidize everything. FIrst things first. No child, no elderly person, no poor person, no person whatsoever, should be denied health care.

No person should be denied an opportunity to get a good education. An opportunity - not a gift.

The unemployment benefits should be extended ad infinitum so long as unemployment is over 5%, but, every able bodied person who receives unemployment should be assigned to public service projects and put to work in some capacity. I personally would not feel good about receiving unemployment unless I could contribute somthing in kind to my community.

I am out of thoughts for today.

Happy holidays for all.

Can Congress be Resussitated?

Congress can be said to be alive only because it still moves about spasmodically, indicating that the body is yet alive while the brain may well be dead.

How is it possible that any rational congressman or senator could go home for the holidays and announce to their constituents that they did not vote to maintain taxes at their current level, and that they did not vote to extend unemployment benefits for two million people who find themselves in dire circumstances with no end in sight. I cannot imagine that they will do so; still, many are talking as if they will do just that.

Why?

The answer seems to be that our representatives in government are arrogant, pig-headed and hateful.

The Republicans hate the Democrats and vice versa, and to hell with the American people. Who cares if the average American's tax burden goes up by $1000 or $4000 or more?  Who cares if two million people go hungry for the holidays and into the coming year? These concerns do not seem to register with these so-called representatives of the people. 

To hell with the people they seem to say. I don't care what happens. if I am a Democrat I am not going to be bested by a Republican. If I am a Republican I am going to jam my political victory in the recent elections down the Democrat's throat. That's all that matters to these infants in adult clothing.

President Obama compromised and he was correct to do so. The fact is that the recent elections sent a message to the President. As unpalatable as it may be, he, through his actions, acknowledges that he cannot simply do whatever he wants to do.

It is not as if he got nothing from his negotiations with the Republican leadership. He got an extension of the unemployment benefits, a dimunition of the payroll tax for a year, etc.

What was he supposed to do? He could have acted like a petulant child and all of us would have suffered, but he didn't. His decision to compromise was rational and insightful.

The Right Thing to Do

It was gratifying to learn that the Republicans and President Obama had come to a compromise that will allow unemployment benefits to be extended for a period of thirteen months. No doubt that news has been a source of monumental relief to literally millions of Americans in these days just prior to Christmas. I am not on unemployment, but I know many persons that are. I worry about them, their future and the future of their children; thus, I am pleased that the benefits are going to be extended. I say going to be extended because they have not yet been extended.

The President's compromise with the Republican leadership was actually one of the most sensible actions that he has taken. It is clear that he did not want the Bush tax reductions to be extended to those persons who earn more than $250,000 per year. It seems to me that he actually believes that the extra taxes which he wanted to impose on the wealthiest of Americans would serve to stimulate the economy. Perhaps it would. I am not an economist, but many of the economists that I have watched on televison, read about on the internet or in periodicals, do not feel that taxing the rich will serve to stimulate the economy.

I also question whether or not extending the unemployment benefits will stimulate the economy. It seems to me to be a wash. I was not in favor of extending the benefits because I thought that it would stimulate economic growth. I was in favor simply on moral grounds. If our government can bail out Goldman Sachs it can bail out Joe Citizen, and it should.

All this to say that the debt continues to grow, job growth is stagnant, unemployment is at nearly ten percent, we cannot give our military personnel a decent pay raise, etc. So, what is to be done?

I can think of a few strategies.

1. Remove all our forces from Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as is logistically practible.

This is a logical strategy, and yet I cannot help but recoil a bit from my own words. Surely the removal of American troops from these two wars will result in breaking promises to our allies in both these countries, just as it did in Vietnam. I despise the broken promises we have made in the past all over the world, still, I can see no other way out of our economic woes, and just as importantly, I believe that our military is exhausted. We cannot continue to ask our young men and women to serve two, three and five tours of duty in these theatres of combat to support corrupt regimes.

2. Calculate the amount of monies necessary to balance the budget and establish a flat tax rate that  will accomplish that goal within a specified amount of time. I am just as sickened by the high salaries and bonuses paid to corporate executives and their minions as the next guy. I do not believe that bonuses should have been paid to a single person responsible for the economic debacle in the first place. On the other hand, I do not believe that a person who is wealthy should bear a higher tax burden than those who are less wealthy. Everyone should pay their fair share. The tax code should be completely revamped. There should be no more loopholes that allow corporations or the rich to pay less than their fair share, but they should not be asked to pay more than their fair share.

Simply calculate what is owed, what is needed to balance the budget, and tell me what it is. I will pay whatever percentage of my income that is necssary to meet the goal and every other American, every one, should do likewise.

3. Increase the payroll tax relevant to social security payments. I constantly hear that the government knows the hour and the minute when social security will become bankrupt. If I knew that my personal retirement savings were going to run out on a day and hour certain I would have no choice but to reduce my current spending, or find ways to increase my current income. I know that the current payroll tax for social security cost me nearly seven percent of my payroll income over the course of my working years. Perhaps it should be nine percent, or eleven percent. It needs to be what it needs to be to support the program in perpetuity.

These are a few of my thoughts. I'm sure you must have some strategies as well. Perhaps we should have a national discussion about these issues that is not partisan.

Extension of Unemployment Benefits

I am aware that this topic has been discussed and debated ad nauseum; still, I feel compelled to put in my two cents.

It is simply immoral to cut off unemployment compensation to two million people at the end of December. It is particularly immoral in light of the billions of dollars that were spent to bail out AIG, General Motors, as well as scores of banks and megabusinesses.

In order to qualify for unemployment compensation one must have had a job that one lost. I find it hard to believe that people set out to lose their jobs on purpose simply in order to go on unemployment. I can't imagine that any of those persons who are on unemployment would not be delighted to find gainful employment.

The Republicans claim that they are not against an extension of the benefits. They say they are for the extension so long as it is paid for from existing funds. The Democrats seem to be opposed. It seems clear to me that they should work together to find the funds in the existing budget. If the government can find monies to examine the mating habits of the three toed sloth they should be able to find the money to fund the extension of benefits to unemployed persons.

I am personally disgusted by the fact that the members of Congress spend most of their time hating and obstructing each other in every way. Democrats and Republicans are sent to Congress to serve the needs of the people. The unemployed are in desperate need. It is the responsibility of Congress to meet that need.

I will no doubt be asked how long can we afford to keep people on the public dole? I do not know, but it should be for as long as possible given the current economy. I imagine we could afford to extend benefits and set about creating jobs if we were to take our troops, all of them, out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It would also help if some mentally balanced person had line item veto powers. It would help if there was an end to pork barrel spending and earmarks.

Instead there is talk about trimming Social Security and Medicare. That's a great idea. Let's steal from middle class people who worked their entire lives to earn these benefits. Of course I suppose I am biased as I am one of those people

We, as a people, should insist that appropriate spending cuts be instituted. I am pro military to the core; still, it is clear to me that to be pro military at this point means advocating for the return of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from Iraq and Afghanistan. Why are we wasting billions of dollars and American lives to support drug dealers, arms dealers and a deranged Afghani president?

Congress should do the right thing. Among the right things to do is to immediately extend benefits to those persons who are about to face a very dismal holiday season.