The Campaigner-in-Chief goes down & the economy moving forward

Are you sick of seeing President Obama on TV? I certainly am. Well, now that the campaigning is over, maybe he can actually govern?

The man spent so much time campaigning over the past month that Tuesday’s election results are a real blow – evident in his tone and manner during Wednesday’s press conference.

It’s not only a direct repudiation of the President, but also a clear statement that the American people are not happy with the Democratic leadership. It’s not too surprising; the party in power usually does poorly during an economic downfall.

The Democrats’ problem was one of policy. Their focus should have been on rebuilding the economy by creating jobs. Instead they focused on two massively complicated issues: banking & financial regulation and healthcare. These two things are vitally important to the future of our country, but not so significant in the short-term. If you do not have money to eat, you might not care if the banks can trade derivatives or not. If you haven’t worked in a year, you might not care about government subsidized healthcare in 2014.

The administration’s main tool to repair the economy was a massive stimulus bill that probably saved us from a depression. But two problems are evident within its architecture: 1) it was probably not large enough and 2) it could not be “released” fast enough. As the President recently said, there are few “shovel-ready” projects.

The government’s main focus moving forward must be creating jobs. Over 15 million people lost their jobs over the past two years. The economy, based so much on consumer driven demand, can not do better unless there are consumers to buy things. More buying = more products needed = more people hired to make them. And then the dominoes begin to fall.

Most of those job losses were in manufacturing and construction. Many of these manufacturing jobs may be gone forever; outsourced to places that provide cheap, efficient labor. The folks who were heavily involved with building houses and office buildings, have sat out of work for months and even years.

The housing market will continue to see pressure to the downside. People are walking away from their mortgages, even if they can pay them. Why? Because it is illogical to pay a mortgage on a house that you paid $700K for, that is now worth $400K. There is definitely more room to go down; one estimate noted 11 million homes, or 1 in 5, will enter foreclosure. A very scary proposition to anyone who owns a home, as a glut of supply added to the market, along with marginal demand, will push home prices even lower.

Moving forward, we have to invest in infrastructure. Build roads, bridges, tunnels, trains, subways, factories, etc. We need to take care of a system in tremendous disrepair. This will help hire many of the people affected by the recession, provide them a means to earn a living, which will also fuel economic output.

Governor Christie of NJ – I’m looking in your direction. He cancelled an infrastructure project; a $9.8 billion Hudson River rail tunnel, he said taxpayers couldn’t afford. In the short-term (like growing deficit spending), it is definitely a tough proposition. However, in the long run, it will cost NY and NJ about 44,000 jobs and $4 billion in additional income that would have come through economic activity, according to a NJ Transit study.

The government should also get a real grasp on what jobs openings are actually available. And then train people  to do them by investing in programs and institutions that assist in such training.

Congress must work together with private industry and the banking sector, to set up programs that help provide loans and credit to small business owners, as they are the ones that actually hire people. Over the past two years, credit markets have been so tight, that even businesses with good credit can not get the financing they desperately need. Whether it be to build factories, or hire workers.

We must do something about the housing slump. We need serious and creative policies that help keep people in their homes and prevent houses from going into foreclosure. The moral hazard here is high. If bankers can get a bailout, families on main street need to receive some type of relief, be it reduced interest rates, longer payment term periods, or ‘debt-forgiveness.’ We need action and need action now.

In the short-term, it may also be a good idea to extend the Bush tax cuts for a period of two years. Although the rich are now richer than they’ve ever been, if they start to feel “less rich,” they will spend less and that will not be good for the economy.

The government must act quickly and decisively. We will be in this ‘funk,’ for years, but the length of misery will be up to the government’s ability to address these issues. If they fail, 10% unemployment will be the new normal for the next 5-10 years.

If they can begin to invest in America, in a major way, similar to the New Deal of FDR, we can start to experience relief within the next 2 years. And if the economy does better, Barack Obama will be in a position to campaign again. And if we are not doing better, I can assure you of a one-term legacy.

Nightmare on Nov 2nd

It is imperative that everyone who is registered to vote, votes on Nov 2nd. Ignorance, frustration, and apathy will be dangerous pitfalls on Election Day; but we must VOTE.

Close your eyes.

Imagine now that ‘human caused climate change’ is a “myth.”

Imagine tax cuts going to the top 1% – who are richer now – than they’ve ever been.

Imagine the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” being cancelled.

Imagine the new leaders in Washington: Sharon Angle from Nevada who said, “People ask me, ‘What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?’ Well, that’s not my job as a U.S. senator;” or Joe Miller from Alaska who believes employees in the U.S. should not be provided a federal guarantee of minimum wage; or Christine O’Donnell of Delaware who couldn’t name a single current serving Democratic Senator she would work with to cross the partisan divide – or even a recent Supreme Court case she takes issue with; or Rand Paul of Kentucky who questioned whether or not the government should really get involved with private business owners who deny service to people – even if service is denied for discriminatory reasons, i.e. you’re black; or Ken Buck of Colorado who recently compared homosexuality to alcoholism on a recent episode of Meet the Press.

These are some of the Republican candidates running for office.

And this is very scary for the future of America.

Imagine Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader. Or John Boehner as Speaker of the House. If you do not know who these people are, Google them and watch them in a video or two. These are not people we want running our government. They’ve supported obstructionism versus action. They’ve said ‘no,’ on everything, even to appointments to standard positions in government. Their goal? Make the current leadership’s job so difficult that nothing gets accomplished and then sweep up victories by leveraging fear, racism, and misinformation.

We can not let them do this; they are counting on our apathy, on our frustration, and on our low voter turn-out.

What else do they stand for? See their “Pledge to America,” a 45-page booklet that outlines their ideas. I really enjoyed the picture of the Statue of Liberty on Page 2. That’s something I can rally around.

No seriously, their biggest goal is to repeal the health-care bill enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama. As someone who couldn’t afford to buy healthcare – and had a job that did not offer it – I have to say that I am totally for government subsidized healthcare.

In 2000, the World Health Organization listed us #37 in their ranking of world health systems. We are below Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Singapore, and Greece to name a few. I think it’s time to innovate and try something new.  

Their other big issue is spending. Moreover, it is hard to prove that the economy would have been worse off if we had not passed the stimulus. But, if you know anything about Keynes’ economics, in times of crisis, governments should spend more as a replacement to traditional consumerism. In reality, major economists claim not that the stimulus didn’t work – but rather that the American stimulus was actually not large enough.

Think about it—if consumers, the average Joe’s and Jane’s aren’t spending, who can spend? The government. In the short-term this may lead to significant deficits, but the alternative is further economic destruction.

However, this message is not only to share my own personal disdain with the Republican pool of candidates and their leadership and my disagreement with their policies. But more importantly, I hope to rally you, as a member of our citizenry to stand up and fulfill your duty on Nov 2nd.

Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, it is vital that you stand up and make your voice heard. One person can make a difference. We can’t spend millions of dollars on the candidates we support, but we can go into the voting booth and select their name. And at the end of the day, it’ll be those check marks that will make the difference. And those are check marks you or I can certainly make.

Dear Lord, I love America!

Where to begin. A long long time ago, in a land called England, there were people who weren’t being respected because of their beliefs. These people decided, ‘Fuck England, let’s get out of here!” So they packed their shit and got on boats and sailed to a place where terrible things happened including genocide and death, but also a distance from those bastards in England who told them they were wrong for what they believed. After lots of struggling and war, these newbies decided, “let’s create a government for ourselves where that shit that happened to us in England won’t happen here.”

And so they wrote:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The people thought: “Cool…now everyone can believe what they want, but the way we treat them as a public entity won’t be related to those beliefs.” And from that day forward, those who believed in God, Buddah, Satan, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster were all able to go to the same public schools and have the same fire department rescue them and use the same public roads. No one would have to leave their land like had happened in England so long ago.

With that, I give you Christine O’Donnell. Thank you Mid-term Elections!

And because I love it too much

Uncle Sam Needs You!

I’m pretty scared about this upcoming election.

President Barack Obama has not done a good enough job repairing the economy and he and his party will pay dearly for this. What’s truly frightening, however, is that the party that put us in this precarious position, is about to win major victories come Election Day.

How quickly some forget……

The ideological debate is not being won, by either party. People do not love the Republicans (see Tea Party excitement regarding fresh faces  and very strict conservative beliefs – i.e. get rid of the Department of Education & the minimum wage, etc.) And right now, people are pretty down on the Democrats – two years in office, and things are only marginally better – regardless of avoiding extreme tough times – proving that something that never happened would have happened otherwise is hard to do. (The unemployment rate could have been 20%!)

With that said- conservatives will have more folks out at the polling places come November; because these folks are angry, these folks are scared, these folks hate the President and his “Marxist, Socialist, Racist, Anti-Business liberal gay spending agenda” – so these folks will be voting. The Democrats and liberals, on the other hand, have been frustrated by the lack of capability of the current administration and Congress. To their defense, the Republican machine has been very good about road-blocking and being uncooperative in getting effective legislation passed. The party of “no,” has made the liberal agenda much harder to achieve and therefore has effectively brought stalemate and inaction.

Yet – the Administration’s handling of the BP oil spill, I believe, points to a scary litmus test of what they say and what they actually do. (I mean, come on, that oil “evaporated” away, right?) Barack Obama was big talk about regulating Wall Street and the banking industry – but when push came to shove – the actual legislation Congress passed was meek at best, and purely cosmetic at worst. Nothing was done about “Too Big to Fail;” if anything, the power, money, and information is now even more centralized among a few MEGA banks than before…..

JPMorgan Chase bought Bear Sterns and Washington Mutual. Wells Fargo bought Wachovia. Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial. When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, where do you think their business went? To the other investment banks; like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and UBS.

The folks that caused the credit crisis – essentially the bankers who sold pieces of crap and then bet the pieces of crap would fail – walked away with millions, billions of dollars in profits. Everything they did was focused on the short-term benefit of making gigantic bonuses without any concern of the moral hazard of what they were doing.

Republicans talk about extending tax cuts – tax cuts that would benefit many of these powerfully rich folks who profited during the run-up and were able to walk away with their wealth intact. While this has happened, the pain felt on Main Street – has been huge. People want a change to the corruption in Washington. They thought Barack Obama could change that.

But, he is only one man and, more and more, every day, very human. It will take an avalanche of public dissent and protest to restore some order and fairness in our political system. And nothing that is done this election cycle will go to change that – there’s just too much money pumping in the veins of our political democratic system. And after the Supreme Court’s decision, in the Citizens United case; organizations – and especially corporations, can now invest hugely in the political arena, and operate behind closed doors without clear and direct disclosure.

It is a dangerous time right now- as special interest steals our democracy from right in front of our eyes. Until we unite as an electorate, feverishly against these practices, we are doomed to be in this malaise for many more years to come – regardless of who is running our government. Because whoever they are – millions of dollars paid for their elections – and those millions of dollars didn’t come from people like you or me.

No commentary, just numbers

According to the Census Bureau, the number of Americans living in poverty in 2009, grew to the largest levels in 15 years. 43.6 million Americans, or 14.3% of the population fell below the poverty line: $10,830 for individuals, $22,050 for a family of four.   

50.7 million Americans go without health insurance.

The top earning 20 percent of Americans – those making more than $100K annually, received 49.4% of all income generated in the U.S. The 14.3% of the population living in poverty received 3.4% of income. This disparity between those at the top and those in poverty is the widest recorded since the Census started tracking household income in 1967.

According to Ronald Brownstein of the National Journal, the 10 year period between 2000 and 2009 was a “lost decade.” In inflation-adjusted dollars, the incomes of white families declined 5%, Hispanic families dropped 8%, and African-American families dropped 11%- a stunning reversal after decades of steady progress. During that time, 12 million people feel into poverty.

An ABC News/Yahoo News poll found last week that more than 40% of Americans no longer think that “if you work harder you’ll get ahead.”

The Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit Washington think tank, reported that there are “4.8 unemployed workers for every job opening in July.” This number doesn’t factor into account those people who want and can work, but have given up on looking.

Larry Mishel, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, noted that around “1970, things changed, and for the next four decades, as productivity skyrocketed 70%, hourly wages hardly budged, rising a mere four percent…..We know that CEOs in large companies make 270 times that of a typical worker,” Mishel said. “It used to be around 20 times, 30 times, back in the ’60s and ’70s.

In a paper titled, “The Evolution of Top Incomes, A Historical and International Perspective,” economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, note the top 1% of income earners take home over 20% of all income.

And lastly, according to an AFL-CIO analysis of 292 companies in the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 index, the Chief Executive officer of a company was paid, on average, $9.25 million in total compensation in 2009.

Interesting numbers for sure.

Stop begging them to listen (the Republicans and the American people)

Barack Obama has a clear problem. It’s that he is not acting decisively.

Quick comparison, re: George W. Bush: “George had immense simplicity in how he saw the world. Right or wrong, it led to decisive leadership.” – Tony Blair, in his recent autobiography.

I am not surprised by Mr. Blair’s description. For a man who prided himself on ‘going with his gut’ – “simplicity,” seems to go hand in hand with former President Bush’s leadership style. Hence the quick starts to wars without thought out exit strategies or significant preparation and research into best operational practices (maybe diplomacy?! – woops, I’m sorry, that takes too much time and definitely too much of that deem der words n thinkin’)

Regardless, he got things done.

President Obama, however, wants to lecture, elaborate, explain, inform, educate, and professorate to the American people about why jobs haven’t come back yet (we avoided a depression, so this is wonderful in comparison), or why healthcare needed to get passed (morally reprehensible not to have access to healthcare for those who need it / healthcare costs are out of control and the biggest contributor to deficit spending), why we have to protect the constitution (and allow people to build community religious centers where they want), why financial regulation was such a good thing for them (avoid bubbles, protect consumers) etc.

Wow. That sounds like he’s doing a lot actually. And he’s about to involve consumer advocate and Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren to help set up the consumer protection agency she helped champion into creation. Add another point to the working man’s score card.

So what’s Obama’s problem? Public perception. The President’s favorability numbers have crashed and burned as of late. That’s typical during tough economic times.

But, the President doesn’t have the luxury of being well-liked anymore. Especially because he’s not as folksy as previous presidents – where Clinton and Bush seemed to excel. The public’s perception that “they could have a beer with the President;” that he understands their predicaments, their values, and their lives.

Obama is a nerd in a nation full of unemployed construction and manufacturing workers. He is facing the brunt of the ramifications of a changing world – globalization, outsourcing, cheap off-shore labor, technology driven productivity advances, and the ultimate transformation of the US economy into one heavily based on information and services.

Barack Obama is dealing with an electorate that doesn’t understand the complex issues and dynamic involved in our greater economy. Or how we fix it. Or that it takes time to fix.

They connect to simple people and simple ideas (see: Tea Party movement). People just like them and ideas they “plum understand.” Barack Obama, as a highly educated, well spoken Black man, doesn’t vibe with most people’s identification. Especially because he’s an undercover terrorist, Muslim, Hitler-isc, socialist-elitist.

People do not want to be told that the jobs are coming back when they’ve been unemployed for 6 months or a year. When they’re upside down on their house, they don’t want it explained to them that it’s going to take time to get the glut of supply off the housing market. When they’re managing a small company, they don’t want to be told their taxes are going up.

They need solutions. Not talk.

What are the problems facing our economy? There’s a serious gap between workers’ skills and the jobs available. These people may NEVER get their old jobs back. So we need to train the available work-force for the jobs that are offered. Banks aren’t lending – that’s hurting small businesses. We need to get them to lend again. And now! Companies have tons of money on the side-lines because they’re scared- there’s too much uncertainty out there. So they’re not investing in research and development, not in employees, not in investment spending. And they will -only once there’s demand for their goods and services again.

Where will the demand come from? Consumers aren’t spending the way they used to and may never spend that way again. (Remember credit cards and living beyond our means?) With that said, the only way to increase demand, is to increase the number of people working so they can spend money again. That will get the businesses excited and spending money and hiring more workers. And then the dominoes will begin to fall.

Capitalism needs confidence to succeed. And confidence will only come with JOBS.

We need action. We need things to happen now. We need decisive leadership. Bold, strong, from the gut leadership. Creative solutions that have gigantic impacts.

So I say to President Obama: Stop talking. Stop being on TV. Stop showing people that you’re doing something. The sound-bites aren’t working. I hear in your voice, a staining, a begging, a “please understand it takes time to repair 8 years of backwards policies – of neglect, of irresponsibility, of short-term thinking,” a weakness that was not there when you spoke of hope and change. It is time to deliver. We can no longer talk about “the previous administration.”

We live in a different age now, where information is spread rapidly and media is omnipresent. You’re operating under the microscope, but that’s why we elected you. Because only you could do the job. Only you could fight for us.

But people are out there – literally being kicked out of their homes. When wall street was on the precipice of collapse, the government came in and acted decisively, and saved us from tremendous turmoil and pain.

Well—saved some. Others are out there drowning in debt, just barely getting by, trying to find work, trying to live, trying to just survive.

We can blame Republican blockades all we want. But, the problem, of this President, is decisive clear simple straightforward leadership. What we need now is the doing. The action. No more talking.

Mr. President, the campaign is over, we need you to lead now.

It Gets Better

Dan Savage is my personal hero. He may be “just” a sex columnist, but I love him. He constantly gives straightforward advice that people often don’t want to hear. He’s also incredibly connected to the gay community and efforts for equality.

Recently, he focused on a few gay teenagers who had committed suicide. Being a teenager sucks. As hard as being a Quarterlifer is, remember what it was like in high school. Between finding yourself, going to school, and all the pressures in between we had a hard enough time getting through. For those of us bullied for any reason, but specifically for being gay, teen survival is incredibly difficult.

Dan Savage wanted to tell those kids who think that death is easier than high school that life gets better. Once you leave high school and find a community that cares about you, life gets better. Once you’re away from the daily torment, life gets better. He’s started a YouTube channel where he and his husband Terry started by talking about their life and how things got better for them. Sure, we’ve experienced tough times as QLers, but if you’d like to send a message to our GLBT teen counterparts, visit the site and make a video.

Hustle and Flow, baby

You can tell your mom and dad to stop worrying—it’s not just you—it’s our whole generation. And not only in America. Joblessness around the world is affecting Quarterlifers

Bloomberg Businessweek reported that more than a quarter of China’s graduating class of 2010 has yet to find work. According to the Education Ministry, that’s about 6.3 million new Chinese college graduates who are unemployed.

In Great Britain, 18 to 24 year olds are suffering with 20 percent unemployment. And In America, our rate hovers around the same.

Yet, millions of students are going to college, hoping that their advanced degrees will help them get into the job of their dreams. The reality of it is they should just hope they get a job.

In America, the recession has wiped out about 8.2 million jobs during 2008 and 2009.

Peter Morici, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, calculates job increases would have to average 400,000 a month to return to a 6% unemployment rate by the end of 2013.

Suffice to say that those numbers are a far reach from where we are today. There was a net jobs LOSS in August of 54,000 jobs. We have a steep way up to climb to return job numbers to pre-recession levels.

What does that mean for quarterlifers? Hustle and flow baby. Hustle and flow.

No seriously, what it means is prepare to get underpaid, in a job you probably don’t love, for a while. But instead of getting down in the dumps about lack of opportunities, use this time to build work experience. This is the biggest thing that employers look for in prospective new employees. Do your job and do it to the best of your ability, and your sure to get someone to notice.

The biggest thing the recession has done has increased the supply of workers, while demand for workers has been low. In the competitive market of finding a job—you have to stand out—be someone who brings immediate value from the skills you’ve developed. For many employers, they want to see real world performance from actual work experience.

Also, in the interlude, Quaterlifers should take advantage of this time to work on personal projects that are meaningful to them. Whether it’s your music career, your great American novel, your stamp collecting, or whatever it is that you love.

The job of the Quarterlifer is to be resilient. College allowed us to put on various hats, try new things, be challenged, and tested. Now, practice is over and we must apply those tangible skills in the real world.

The refrain, “but I have a college degree…” no longer carries with it the promise of a the well-paying job. But, it does open doors and give you the opportunity to show your stuff.

Seize it.

A quarterlifer turns 30

Happy Birthday Adelaide!

Adelaide Mankato is the first of our staff to turn 30. For many people this sparks unknown fear into their hearts. She has dealt with this passage beautifully over at her blog

Beer and cake for everyone!!

Christine O’Donnell needs to get laid

I remember in the late 1990s watching Politically Incorrect with my minister father after my mom went to bed. It was a bonding moment for us and we had some pretty great discussions. One of our favorite reoccurring guests was Christine O’Donnell. She was noted, then, as being the founder of the “Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth” aka S.A.L.T. which from what my dad and I could figure out was some religious scare tactic to keep teenagers uneducated about sex. When you saw that she was going to be on the show, you knew it was bound to be a good show.

Three weeks ago, my dad called me and said- “What was that show we used to watch with Christine O’Donnell?” I’ll admit, I wasn’t paying attention to the primary elections in Delaware so the name didn’t ring a current bell to me. However, the memory of evenings watching her argue virginity, heterosexual relationships, and extreme right-wing conservative idiocy came rushing back to me. “Bill Maher!” I told him, after which he informed me she was facing a senate primary in Delaware. Thanks to Rachel Maddow, we had both been reintroduced to Ms. O’Donnell and her wacky antics.

Today, she won her race. While it terrifies me that there are people out there who would believe that this woman could make sane legislation, it looks like a good sign for her Democratic challenger. As fun as it has been to relive those evenings in 1998 watching TV with my dad, and as fun as it has been to see her say wacky things in interviews again, I hope she crashes and burns. At least until the next election cycle.

« Previous Page — Next Page »