It is always amusing to me when certain white people attempt to designate a Black person and suddenly make him the spokesman for all Black people in America. It is about as cheerful as Black people declaring Ted Nugent to be the spokesman for white people in America. Get the point?
Black people are no more monolithic than white people. This strategy of declaring “leaders” and then only dealing with those handpicked few is another form of racism. Who are the white leaders? Who speaks for ALL white people?
We are not aliens and neither are white people. Thus this whole “take me to your leader” shtick needs to be retired. Most recently it has reared its ugly head with a meme being circulated quoting something Morgan Freeman said during an interview. Morgan says that his policy is not to discuss racism. I think he should probably stick to that policy. On the day in question, he proffered a solution to the racial problems in this country as to simply stop talking about it.
What a novel idea? Of course, not talking about a problem has always been effective right? Following this logic, we could solve all the ills on this planet simply by not talking about them! World hunger? Stop talking about it! Global poverty? Stop talking about it. Violence against women? If we stop talking about it, it will go away! Our declining educational system. Don’t mention it and suddenly all our students will begin getting straight “A’s.”
Radioactive Seawater
If we simply stop talking about the Fukushima melt down, all that radiation that is being continuously released into the ocean ecosystem and the environment will stop. Want terrorism to end? Simply stop talking about it! What about the economy? Out of work? Under water on your mortgage? Just stop talking about it and everything will be fine!
Of course this is utter nonsense! One of the keys to our successful survival on this planet has been our ability to communicate to solve problems. Talking about our problems has always been the preferred solution. Talking about our problems has prevented and ended wars. The Internet wasn’t invented so you could update your relationship status on Facebook or post happy pictures of your feline. It was originally invented as a way for scientist to collaborate and share their research with other scientist around the globe. The quickest path to progress is through talking. Never forget this simple truth! Should we stop talking about racism? Hell no!
Ask almost anyone in these United States, “what are the top 3 issues facing our nation” and you’ll get pretty much the same answer: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. What there is little agreement on, is the cause of the problem and the solutions to the problem. Axiomatically, before one can solve a problem, one must define the problem. To define the problem one must understand the problem. It is time to take a hard look at how and why we find ourselves at this point and place in our history.
Greed Is Good – Gordon Gekko – Wall Street
A basic foundation of our Democracy is Capitalism. One of the fundamental premises of Capitalism is that people will do what is in their own selfish interests. Where they work, what they buy, how they vote, the fundamental premise is that people will look out for “number 1” before all others. You raise capital because you have an idea you believe is profitable. I invest in your idea – give you capital – because I’m anticipating a nice – ROI – Return On my Investment. Or, as Gordon Gekko says, it is all about “greed.” I’m greedy to make more money without having to do anything but loan money. You’re willing to go into debt to me and other investors because you’re anticipating all of the money you’ll eventually make.
Government’s Role
The 10th Amendment which recognizes that any powers not specifically enumerated within the United States Constitution, remain within the province of the various States, has as it’s basis the premise that local government being closer to the needs/greed, issues and concerns of the citizen, is much more responsive and reflective of those needs.
It does make a certain amount of sense. Farmers in Iowa are going to have a different set of issues and concerns than bankers in New York. People who work in a Steel Mill in Cleveland are going to have a different set of concerns than peanut farmers in Georgia or cotton growers in Mississippi. The theory is, communities govern themselves much more efficiently than a centrally located federal government. Again we embrace the theory that greed or selfishness with regard to issues works best when it comes to government.
Corporations
Ayn Rand High Priestess of the Virtue of Selfishness. Darling of Paul Ryan and Guru of the Republican philosophy
The problem of course is, when you take the “virtue of selfishness” – thank you Ayn Rand – turn it into a fundamental principle and apply it across the board. Suddenly you have businesses and corporations operating on this exact same premise. To wit: do what is best for the corporation and everything else will take care of it’s self. This requires quite a leap of faith, since there haven’t been any real studies done – at least that I’m aware of – which have actually studied the effect on society of a “me first, damn everyone else, philosophy.”
Corporations exist for two purposes only. The first is to become as profitable as possible. The second is to grow as large as possible. These two objectives may not be what is best for our planet or it’s population. Balance is critical to the health of all living organisms. Make no mistake about it, our planet, this Earth is a living Biosphere. When things get out of balance, whatever it takes, balance will always be restored. One way or another.
Usually the largest cost for any corporation is labor. It is also the one cost over which management of the corporation can exercise the most control. The cost of supplies, raw materials, the building, land etc., are fixed costs. The labor however, can be manipulated relatively easily.
Unions Fight Back
Children Working in a Textile Mill
Collective bargaining – Unions – were created to protect the workers. Before Unions you worked 7 days a week. You had no vacations, no sick days, no benefits, no healthcare. Children could work in factories, mines and scampered along the steel girders of “sky scrapers.” There was the very real danger that going off to work in the morning might be the last time your family, wife and children would see you alive.
You were paid a pittance for your labor and the company owner – usually a “robber baron” – kept all the profits. Unions changed everything. The conditions for the workers improved. Children no longer could work when they were supposed to be in school. Profits were shared with the employees and the “middle class” was born. Prior to Unions, there was little to no upward mobility within our society. If you were not born rich, chances were you were going to die in poverty.
The only people who could afford a higher education were the wealthy. Thus, one could not better one’s self through education. It simply was not available. Remember the “Gold Rushes” in the 1800’s? The only chance you had for upward mobility was to strike it rich. People were willing to endure unbelievable hardships for the opportunity to have financial security. Unfortunately, without the education to go along with it, there were a lot of people who became millionaires but still died penniless. They did not know what to do with their money. They did not understand how to invest it or what to invest it in.
Return of the Robber Barons
“The Strong Takes From the Weak and the Smart Takes From the Strong.”
The “Robber Barons” and their bastard offspring, the modern mega- corporations have not forgotten their “Golden Age.” They are doing everything they can to return to those times of rapacious profits and the labor force is their primary target.
Union Workers On Strike for a Living Wage.
Unions and collective bargaining have always been their arch enemy. Their technique and methodology has been subtle and insidious. The first thing they did was get the government to pass laws to protect workers. This may seem counter intuitive until you realize, by doing this, they’ve been laying the ground work to make the argument that Unions are obsolete. We now have OSHA laws to protect workers in the work place. We’ve got child labor laws to protect children. You get the picture. The next step was to use their media outlets to begin disseminating the idea that Unions were the reason for the high costs of goods and services.
You must never forget, our media is totally corporate owned. The stories you read, programs you watch are controlled, approved and directed by powers and people with agendas you never see, never hear about and do not know exist. As a friend once advised me, “whenever I hear something in the media, I always ask myself, why do they want me to believe this.” I’ve found this to be invaluable advice. Everything that happens, happens for a reason. For every effect, there is a cause. There are no coincidences.
“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one — and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces..” __Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Looking out for and treating workers fairly has always been good for business. Henry Ford realized this and built Ford Motor Company on the principles of paying his workers enough money so that they could afford to purchase the products they were assembling. Thus, he had a built in customer base.
Somewhere along the line, businesses, corporations and industry rejected Henry Ford’s wisdom. It has become “open season” on the American workforce.
Globalization – That New World Order
I was a virgin when I got married for the first time at the tender age of 23. I heard you were supposed to talk and really get to know one another during the courtship phase. To that end, my prospective wife and I talked about anything and everything. From how many children we wanted, to finances – always an important issue – and of course sex. “Oh,” she said, “once we’re married, why you can have it any time and as often as you’d like!” Damn! That sounded good! As those of you who have been married already know… Boy was I in for a surprise!
What was promised, sold and delivered… turned out to be nothing like what I had envisioned. Thus it was with the promises made when it came to the wonders of globalization!
President Nixon greets Chairman Mao
In 1972 when President Richard M. Nixon went to China, all the talk was about how a whole new market was being opened up. There would be billions of Chinese just waiting to buy American products. Our economy would boom trying to keep up with the Chinese demand for American goods and services. So, how’d that turn out? Like my first marriage… not well!
Sleeping With The Enemy
Young woman in a Chinese sweatshop assembling Nike shoes
To be fair, it has turned out pretty well for the “neo-Robber Barons” of today. We began to get our first intimations of what was going on back in the early 80’s. Some of you will remember? There were a series of news stories that exposed the working conditions in 3rd World countries where some of our popular athletic shoes were being manufactured. Nike was heavily criticized for their practice of manufacturing and assembling shoes for sale and distribution here in America, that were made in 3rd World “sweatshops.”
A popular Nike shoe
The new model was make it there and sell it here. Because of their extensive marketing campaigns we did not seem to mind that their $80 – $150 dollar shoes only cost about $5 dollars to make and were being manufactured by – in some cases – children working 14 hour days for $50 cents an hour. Nike shoes became a fashion statement and we just had to have them.
Other companies took notice. If you could manufacture your product in a part of the world without minimum wage laws, without having to pay for benefit packages such as healthcare, payroll taxes, social security etc. what a deal! The steady exodus of jobs began.
Why Congressional Bills Are Written By Lawyers
Believe it or not, short, simple contracts are often the hardest to break.
If you’ve ever looked at a piece of congressional legislation, I’m sure you found it long, wordy, hard to read and even more difficult to understand. This of course is by design. It accomplishes several things. The first of course is the insertion of loopholes. Lawyers and our courts would be out of business if laws and contracts were written in plain English. There would be no dispute over our intent. If you and I wrote up a contract saying, “You were going to paint my house for $1,200 and I was going to supply the paint.” We sign and date it and it’s an enforceable contract. It could easily be written on a napkin.
IRS Tax Code
When you have a bill that’s 500 pages or more long, you’d best believe there’s plenty of chicanery buried in that bill. Who’s responsible? Lobbyist are. This is what they get paid big bucks to do. Our tax code is an excellent example. It would take you longer to read all the way through it than it would take you to read your King James version of your Bible… twice! What’s worse? It’s much more difficult to understand. Buried within our tax code are such gems as:
A Foreign Tax Credit.
Companies pay taxes on their profits to foreign nations, usually at a reduced rate because of tax incentives given them by that nation to open a manufacturing plant there. Then they get a deduction from the IRS for foreign taxes paid.
Reinvestment In The Foreign Location.
The American company has the option, or loophole as some have called it, to reinvest the profits made in the foreign country back into the foreign location. If the profits are never transferred to the company in the United States, the company is not required to pay taxes on those profits. These profits are used to expand overseas operations and remain not taxable by the IRS. The IRS calls this money, “Unrepatriated Earnings”, and the total of unrepatriated earnings reaches well into the $600 billion range.
Savings On Payroll Taxes
For many corporations in the United States payroll expense represents half of their total expenses every year. Overseas companies do not have the employer contributions, unemployment taxes and the minimum wages that contribute to the large expenditure that it is in this country. Coupled with the literally thousands of people in other nations for whom a $7.00 per hour job would be a windfall, many companies see these tax benefits as more than making up for the negative publicity and the constant campaign against outsourcing.
Hitting The Snooze Button
The alarm clock has been ringing and the American people are starting to wake up! As the “Middle Class” sees it’s self decline, along with a shrinking job market, they’re becoming concerned. They should be! If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed sleeping potion has been delivered through our media. The first concoction was a dose of “the American worker is not competitive on the World Market.” This was back during our trade war with Japan.
Rising Sun Movie Poster
The movie “Rising Sun” (1993) starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes, based on a book by Michael Crichton, was a fictional account of the very real business philosophy of Japanese corporations. They were in essence dumping products onto our markets to gain market share. It wasn’t until our Government began fighting back that things evened out. The Japanese wanted to sell their cars in our market. Thus we demanded that they not only open their markets for the sell of American made and manufactured cars, but that they build manufacturing plants here in America and employ American workers.
There was some hemming and hawing at first, but things got better for both countries when the doctrines of fairness and fair trade were introduced into the equation. Nevertheless, at first the excuse for the imbalance in trade was to blame the American worker for not being as competitive and competent as his Japanese counterpart.
Blame It On Mexico
The next dose of sleeping potion has been to place the blame for the loss of American jobs, on illegal immigrants. The party line is, they’re sneaking across our southern border at night to steal our good American jobs.
Undocumented Migrant Workers
It is not that I wonder whether or not there is intelligent life in the Universe. I wonder if there is intelligent life right here in these United States! I really have to take my hat off to the corporate propaganda machine that has silly “Red Necks” screaming about building a fence across our entire southern border and staying up all night with night vision goggles and walkie-talkies trying to catch Pedro. Waste your time on any and everything except, rounding up and arresting corporate CEO’s who hire and employ undocumented workers. It’s lunacy. It’s like watching someone try to go up the “down escalator.” After you’ve had a good laugh, you really should take them by the hand and lead them around to the up “escalator.”
Scene from the Untouchables starring Costner and Connery.
It is like that scene in the movie “The Untouchables” starring Kevin Costner. I’m referring to the scene where Sean Connery’s character is giving him the “how far are you prepared to go speech?” Everybody knew where the booze was. The problem was that the money had corrupted, government, law enforcement and the courts. Sort of sounds like what we’ve got going on today doesn’t it?
They know where all the factories, meat packing plants and farms employing undocumented workers are. The problem is, our prices are now based on exploiting the cheap – though invaluable – labor these workers provide. The equation is simple. The lower the labor cost the higher the profits. The more profitable the company the larger the compensation package for the CEO.
Stop and think! When is the last time you or someone you know, filled out an application to pick fruit on a farm? When is the last time you or someone you know filled out an application to work in a meat packing plant? How about cleaning an office building at night? It is all smoke and mirrors. A shell game. It is based on misdirection. Focus on the undocumented workers simply trying to make enough to get by. Pay no attention to the owners of the corporations!
Outsourcing
One China is Enough
The average annual salary of an American middle class worker is right in the neighborhood of $48,000 dollars. The average annual salary of a Chinese middle class worker is less than $7,000 dollars U.S. See the problem? There is no way that the American worker can compete with a Chinese worker. To do so America would have to become like China. I don’t think this is what we want. Truth be told, it’s not what “big business” wants either. Why? Because people making $7,000 a year cannot afford the products they must sell to remain profitable.
Sensata Made over $450 million in profit during their 4th quarter. It wasn’t enough and the plant is being moved from Illinois to China.
Outsourcing will ultimately bring down American corporations. Outsourcing is like heroine being injected into the veins of corporate America. It may feel euphoric at first, but eventually there is going to be a fatal overdose. As more and more Americans lose their jobs to outsourcing, the American market will contract and there will be no one able to purchase those new iPads, SmartPhones, automobiles or new homes. Families will be unable to send their children to college. Indeed it becomes pointless to obtain a college education when there will be no jobs guaranteeing you can pay back your “student loans.”
Colleges and Universities will begin to fail and we will no longer produce the people necessary to maintain our society. Doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, computer programmers, the people who have designed and invented American society and culture will vanish.
The Future Of The Path We’re On
Damage from Hurricane Katrina
Those post-apocalyptic movies we’ve all seen about a dystopian future will become prophetic. It is already happening around us right now. Hurricane Katrina devastated our Gulf Coast. That was seven years ago and we still haven’t fully recovered and rebuilt. What’s worse, the hi-tech preventive measures that need to be put in place, have not been because we simply cannot afford it. When your philosophy is to shrink government to the size you can drown it in a bathtub, you discover that nature and the oceans may drown you first.
A dystopian future is a great setting for a movie… but not in real life. This is how Hurricane Sandy left a portion of New Jersey. Can we rebuild?
Now we see that New York is equally at risk. Hurricane Sandy dealt a devastating blow to an area of the Country that has basked in the delusion that they were largely immune from the types of storms that hit the Gulf Coast . We need “Storm Surge Barriers” similar to the ones in Amsterdam. These types of projects require significant government expenditures. Where does the government get it’s revenue? From taxes, both corporate and personal.
They’ve got Storm Surge Barriers in Amsterdam. Why can’t we build them here? Oh, right! That might involve raising taxes…
When corporations outsource jobs to China and other places, American workers lose their jobs. If they’re not working, they’re not paying income taxes. When corporations take advantage of loopholes in the tax system, when rich people are not paying their fair share, we do not have the revenue stream to repair and rebuild after a natural disaster.
Let’s say you live in Wyoming or somewhere and you feel that hurricanes are the least of your worries, where is your money invested? Where is your pension fund? What stocks are held in your mutual fund and or annuities? You may not live on the Atlantic seaboard or on the Gulf Coast, but believe me, you took a sizeable hit along with everyone else. We’re all in this together and yes, you’re affected too.
Outsourcing Our Way To Poverty
Small Business Owners are affected when their customer base becomes unemployed. We’re ALL in this together.
You may feel relatively secure because you are self-employed or own your own business. What you need to understand is, in order for you to survive, you need a customer base. When people in your community are out of work, your business takes a hit. Think about this the next time a factory closes and ships it’s jobs overseas.
You just lost a percentage of your customer base. Yes, outsourcing affects you. When people have to make those hard decisions with regard to rent/mortgage, food, clothing and transportation, there is no money left to patronize your “ice cream parlor,” car wash, or whatever your business is. You need to be concerned and you need to not only support those workers who’ve lost their jobs due to outsourcing. You need to become an activist.
Greed
Is this fair?
Let’s go back to where we began. Believe it or not, it actually is in your own selfish best interest to look out for your fellow man. The better he does, the better you can do. The more he achieves, the more you can achieve. I’m not talking about those CEO’s who are raping the profits from their companies and giving their employees the down elevator shaft. They’re not putting their money back into the community any ways. This is why painting them as the “job creators” is such nonsense. If I give $100,000 dollars to a poor person, that person is going to spend it to buy goods and services. If I give that same $100,000 to a millionaire, they’re going to tuck it away with all their other 100’s of thousands of dollars and it will not be circulated back into the economy.
The people who will spend that money – the poor and middle class – are the ones patronizing your business and creating demand for your products or services. It is thatdemand that causes businesses to have to hire more people and that is what creates jobs!
Do me a favor, the next time one of your Republican associates starts reciting his silly talking points and mentions “illegal immigration” as a huge problem, ask him how many American jobs Mexicans have outsourced to China? Enjoy the ensuing silence.
The lessons of this election? RACISM NO LONGER WINS ELECTIONS! You cannot simply play to white people and ignore all the other groups in our multicultural nation. Non-racist white people are cool with this because they see themselves as Americans FIRST. They embraced their brothers and sisters of all races and sent a powerful message to the less enlightened. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! We must never forget this simple truth.
Mitt Romney believed he did not have to release his tax returns. He believed he did not need to give any specifics on anyof his plans to actually fix the economy. He did not lay out any foreign policy agendas. He promised 12 million new jobs – ironically the same number economist forecast would be created if we simply continued on the path we’re on – but gave no specifics as to how he would create these jobs. He said he would repeal “Obama Care,” – a program growing more popular by the day – without saying what he’d replace it with… if anything!
He promised a $5 trillion dollar tax cut. Again no specifics about how he would actually achieve this figure or how it would be paid for. Evidently the”peasant class” doesn’t need to know these things?
Mendacity aka Lying!
Mitt and the truth evidently are not even passing acquaintances. I’ve been around for 55 years now and I’ve seen a few election campaigns. I am familiar with the fact that lying and politics is like ham and eggs, peanut butter and jelly or smoke and fire. When you see one, you assume the other is in the immediate vicinity. However, Mitt Romney’s campaign took things to a whole other level! In fact, there is strong evidence it may have been the “bridge too far,” “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
In 2008 when our economy was in free fall and our automotive industries were on the verge of collapse, Mitt wrote an “Op-Ed” entitled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Without going into the mechanics of the theory of how in certain cases, bankruptcy could be a good thing. I will say, for there to be any chance of a bankruptcy leading to a positive outcome, there has to be some entity out there willing to buy the distressed company, reorganize it and take on it’s debt. Suffice it to say, there were noentities capable of doing this for our automotive industries. Thus, what Mitt was proposing would have been the total end of the American automotive industries. Not just the “Big – 3,” but all the other industries that support and rely on our automotive industries. Put another way? He was proposing manufacturing Armageddon for the United States.
Fortunately, President Obama took a different approach and the United States Government stepped in to save our Automotive industries. Mitt’s big lie came into play when he attempted to take credit for what happened by pretending that what the President did was exactly what he was suggesting. No it wasn’t!Mitt never suggested that the Government bail out the Automotive industries.
The lies continued. When our embassy in Libya was attacked, Mitt tried to get as much mileage as he possibly could from it by claiming that the President – yeah, the same President that killed Osama Bin Laden – was either too inept or trying to cover up something, to call it an “act of terrorism.” I’m not sure what he was trying to get at. Perhaps he was trying to say that the President has been faking it with regard to our successes taking out Al-Qaeda’s leadership? Nevertheless, he was severely embarrassed in the 2nd Presidential debate when he was “fact-checked” in the middle of his lie. Turns out there is video tape of the President calling the attacks terrorism the very next day in a “Rose Garden” press conference.
Mitt’s most egregious lie had to be his “Hail-Mary” pass at the end of his campaign where he claimed that Chrysler was secretly going to move the production of Jeeps to China. He released television and radio ads to this effect based on – far as I can tell – absolutely nothing! What he did was force Chrysler to weigh in and call his ads a lie!
October Surprise!
This years October surprise was delivered – if by anyone – God! Although tragic, Hurricane Sandy revealed all the lies the Republicans have been telling. The American people saw a President extend his hand in a bi-partisan way to a Governor who was one of the leading attack dogs for the Mitt Romney Campaign. Governor Christie did not have the luxury of playing partisan politics and showed himself to be grateful and appreciative of the Presidents competent handling of the disaster.
A Real President
One of the many lies told by certain Republican nitwits was that the President – who’s mother was white – doesn’t like white people. The American people saw our President holding and comforting a white lady who’d lost everything in the storm and promising her that he personally and the Federal Government would be with her and all those who suffered catastrophic loss, every step of the way until they recovered. This is the way things should be and the way they’re supposed to work.
FEMA
Ironically, during his primary campaign, the question of FEMA and “Disaster Relief” came up. Mitt’s Response? “We should do away with FEMA and send it back to the States and if possible privatize it. As you might imagine, Hurricane Sandy put Mitt’s position on FEMA front and center. Instead of giving a response or answering the questions, Mitt chose to duck, avoid and ignore the questions of the American People. Evidently, In Mitt-land, we don’t deserve any answers from his majestic presence.
I’M THE WHITE GUY!
When you add it all up. The only real argument Mitt Romney’s campaign delivered was, vote for me, I’m white and wouldn’t you really rather have a white president? That message may have been enough 10 years ago. However, America is different. It is more mature. It is definitely more brown and we are much more sophisticated. You can no longer simply assume that because someone is white, they share your views on race.
I am pleased to report, we have finally reached the place where many white people are not only put off by racism, they’re not afraid to call other white people out for it! If I must say so, the future of our nation is looking very bright indeed. When we all come together, there is absolutely nothing we cannot achieve.
Faced with how a real President responds to a national crisis, Republicans are running around with their hair on fire! One is forced to ask, are they really that unpatriotic? Or is it that their hatred for our first Black President is greater than their love for country or their concern for the welfare of their fellow American citizens?
A Tale Of Two Storms
Woman picks through the rubble of her home after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina and it’s aftermath is still fresh in our collective psyches. For the first time in our modern technological history, a portion of our nation took on the optics of a 3rd world nation. We seemed powerless to help our fellow citizens and this impotence was hammered home day after day, night after night by our 24 hour news coverage.
Hurricane Katrina Victims signalling for help
We watched as the people of New Orleans – those fortunate enough to make it to their roofs – stood on their roofs, some waving t-shirts, other’s spelling out the word “help” with whatever debris they could get their hands on, all begging for rescue. News helicopters unequipped to be any more than a photographer’s platform, filmed the horror with the unblinking eye of the camera… and we watched. We saw men, women and children endure what none of us could possibly imagine ever happening in the United States of America.
We pride ourselves on coming to the aid of other nations to bring relief and rescue. Suddenly it appeared that we, the worlds last remaining “Super Power,” needed aid. It was a blow to our pride, self-esteem and wounded our delusion of independent self-reliance. The notion of “American Exceptionalism,” was laid bare for the myth that it is.
Michael D. Brown – Head of FEMA under George W. Bush
When Katrina hit, Michael D. Brown – an appointee of G.W. Bush – was the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. This was a curious appointment because Brown had absolutely no experience in emergency management of any sort! He was a lawyer and a radio personality. The only management responsibility on his résumé was his time as commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association. Bush might as well have made him “Surgeon General.” He was just as qualified for that position.
To his credit, following the Katrina débâcle a video tape emerged showing Michael Brown warning George Bush that Katrina “might be the big one.”
Unfortunately, being able to perceive that the light at the end of the tunnel might be a train, doesn’t necessarily mean you know the way out of the tunnel. In short, from my perspective, Michael Brown did the best he could, he was just in over his head.
George Bush in his pick-up truck on his ranch in Crawford, TX. Secret Service wouldn’t let him drive it on the streets.
George Bush had been vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, TX. On the Monday the storm hit, he was attending a ceremony in California. He did not return to Washington until Wednesday following the storm and did not visit New Orleans until that Friday. It was 5 days before he arrived on the scene of what he called “our worst natural disaster in history.”
Unusable FEMA Trailers – Contaminated with toxic levels of formaldehyde.
FEMA under the Bush administration had given a no bid contract to Bechtel. They were to provide trailers to be used to house victims of major disasters until they could return to their homes. The problem was these trailers had toxic levels of formaldehyde. The people who were moved into them became ill. Of course law suits were filed. Needless to say, this gave FEMA a “black-eye” in the view of the public.
To sum things up, the government’s handling of Katrina was worse than a Chinese fire drill. People died who could have been rescued. The perception that the government was ineffective and more hindrance than solution, was reinforced in the minds of many.
When Hurricane Sandy struck we all, I included, expected the government response to be similar. No, I did not think it would be anywhere near as bad as it was under the Bush administration. Cronyism and incompetence simply oozed from the pores of the Bush administration. However the differences in the responses between the Obama administration and the Bush administration have been stunning!
Craig Fugate – Head of FEMA under President Obama
The first notable difference is, when it came time to select a Head of FEMA, President Obama hired the director of Emergency Management from the State of Florida, Craig Fugate. Why? Florida is in the line of fire 6 months out of the year during Hurricane season. Florida gets hit frequently. Thus when he hired Craig Fugate, he was hiring someone with actual experience in crisis management and disaster mitigation. Yes, competence makes a difference.
In the aftermath of Sandy, in the words of Dawn Zimmer, the Mayor of Hoboken, NJ, “I put out a call for help and within 90 minutes, FEMA and the National Guard were here.” The other difference? The day after the storm, President Obama was on the scene, viewing the damage, finding out what was needed and giving physical and emotional comfort to those who’d lost everything. George Bush? 5 days. President Obama? Next day. There is a difference.
A Real President
I’ve heard some make the claim that the President does nothing other than show up for “photo-ops.” The explicit implication – I know, borders on an oxymoron – is that the President is using a tragedy for political gain. While there is little doubt this has happened in the past, with President Obama this is clearly not the case. Sometimes it requires an “Act of God,” to cause people to realize what is truly important.
President Obama meets with Governor Christie in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has been an outspoken supporter of Mitt Romney and an ardent, vociferous, bombastic critic of the President. When Hurricane Sandy devastated New Jersey, that was his “come to Jesus” moment. Partisan politics went out the window and Governor Christie found himself in the awkward position of needing the help of the President of the United States for the people of New Jersey. When your home gets blown away, you don’t give a damn which party the person helping you belongs to. You’re just happy someone is extending you a helping hand.
President Obama Comforts Female Victim of Hurricane Sandy
Having a real President show up clearly means a lot in a time of despair. It clearly meant a lot to the people who’d lost everything. When President Obama took that woman in his arms and told her that everything was going to be alright and that our government was going to help her put her life back together, it carried the weight of a President who means what he says and says what he means.
Say what you will about President Obama, there’s one thing that is beyond dispute, whatever he says he will do, he does. He said he would defeat Al-Qaeda, he’s done that. When the question was asked in the primary debates, if he would go into Pakistan to get Bin Laden if he had actionable intelligence, he said he would and he did. He said he would pass healthcare reform, he did that. So when he tells a grieving lady that everything is going to be alright and that the government was going to be with her every step of he way, she tends to believe it and takes hope from it.
Aircraft Carrier turning
What can a real President do? First of all, he can cut through government “red tape” like a hot knife through butter. President Obama gave instructions that he didn’t want any hold ups or impediments to government aid. He can do a lot more. This is what I believe stunned Governor Christie. When the issue came up of helicopters coming in to bring supplies and assist in search and rescue missions, the problem was where to land them. President Obama picked up the phone and ordered 3 aircraft carriers to station themselves off the coast of New York and New Jersey, to act as mobile bases for the helicopters that would be needed.
C-130 being loaded
Getting the power back on? We’re Americans. When one State is in need, all of the United States pitch in to help. States all around the nation began rolling crews, equipment and trucks toward our Atlantic seaboard. California sent crews. When President Obama heard they were driving all the way from California to New Jersey and New York, he told them to divert to an airport where he would have C-130 military transports waiting to pick them up, trucks and all. This is what a real President can do. I’m damn glad we’ve got one.
As I write this, we are in the middle of an unfolding natural disaster the likes of which most have never seen. A few hours ago, “Hurricane Sandy” made landfall off the coast of New Jersey. To give you some perspective on the size of this storm, it would take a jet liner 2 hours to fly from one end to the other. As is our custom, some have named it “Frankenstorm.” It is a monster of a storm to be sure. Ironically, this type of storm is predicted and fits perfectly within the oft denied “Global Warming” model of climate scientists. Thus far there are 8.2 million power customers without power.
This is the only light some people have right now.
New York is flooded. Public transportation has been suspended and the Subway’s have been shut down due to the tunnels being full of salt water. Wall Street was closed today and will be closed tomorrow as well. The American marketplace, the engine of our economic system has been suspended while we all listen to a sermon from “Mother Nature.” All our technology, ingenuity and current “know-how,” has been placed in it’s proper perspective by a power greater than ours.
Power Company Truck – Ice Storm
Every State in the path of this monster is experiencing power outages and devastation from high winds and flooding caused by driving rains. It gets worse. A dip in the Jet Stream has allowed a blast of Arctic air from Canada to come down to join the party. Where the moisture meets the cold, you have extremely heavy snowfall and ice formations. Because this storm has hit at a time when leaves are still on the trees, we’re now looking at even more devastation from trees icing up and limbs breaking. The limbs falling on power lines is bound to increase the number of power outages exponentially.
Power Outage and it’s growing
It would be folly at this point to attempt to project the extent of the devastation we’re facing. Thus far at least 48 people are reported as casualties of this storm with more reports coming in. We do know that a hospital’s generators failed. As yet we have no idea what ramifications this may have caused. We are being reminded in the most fundamental way of how truly fragile our technology based society actually is. You turn on the faucet without ever considering that somewhere there is a pump driven by an electric motor, pumping that water into your home. If the power goes down at the pumping station, nothing but a distressing gurgle will flow from your faucet.
Modern Refrigerator
We no longer have “ice boxes,” what we have are refrigerator/freezers. Unlike our ancestors who had to spend a good portion of each day, either hunting, gathering or harvesting what they were going to eat each day, we now avail ourselves of supermarkets and grocery stores and buy food for the week. We store it safely in our refrigerators freeing up the hours in our days to pursue careers and other endeavours. When the power goes out, the clock starts ticking and that food we counted on is at risk of being lost. When the power goes out, the most disturbing thing is the absolute silence. You live each day surrounded by that 60Hz hum. You’ve become so accustomed to it, You don’t even notice it. That soft background hum is like the soundtrack to our lives. When it’s gone, the silence is deafening.
The Myth Of Self-Sufficiency
Dave Canterbury of the Pathfinder School. He’s no fool! He teaches survival but it’s a business. He gets paid to teach people how to rough it.
Most evenings, I listen to a radio program called, “Coast to Coast with George Noory.” The show covers a wide range of topics with an ever growing number of guests. There are a few guests who have become “regulars.” Depending on the news du jour, there may be a segment with a guest who’s written a book or has a website dealing with the particular hot topic of the day. Needless to say, tonight there were several guest who are into self-reliance and preparedness.
Survival Lean-to Shelter made from brush. If it comes down to this, you’ve got a lot of problems.
Back in the early 90’s I wrote a piece for a Usenet news group on being a survivalist. It was entitled, “The Realities of Being a Survivalist. (Getting Past the Bug-Out Mentality.)” Much to my surprise it is still around and referred to from time to time. It was written around the time the movie “Red Dawn” was in a lot of people’s minds. Many people had the mindset, that in the event of TEOTWAWKI – The End Of The World As We Know It – the thing to do was grab your “Bug Out Bag,” your guns and head for the hills. Live off the land, hunt and forage for food and survive like a hero from a Mad Max movie.
Sounds exciting, but it’s not very realistic. The gist of my article pointed out many of the fallacies of that type of thinking. For one, I’m not at all interested in running around in the woods with a bunch of other armed people all hunting for that same damn deer. My suggestion was to make your own home your survival retreat. Yes, I preached self-reliance. Food stores, water, a backup generator, certainly the ability to protect yourself and your family, with the added admonition of giving some thought to where you were living and relocate now to a safer, more strategic location. You probably wouldn’t want to be in the heart of a metropolis in the event of a crisis. We’re seeing some of the problems with this unfolding right now.
Desperately Needed Food Supplies
There are a lot of people in New York. In a day or so, they’re going to need access to food and fresh water. With transportation shut down and limited, bringing supplies to that many people is going to present a problem the likes of which may rival or surpass the problems caused by Hurricane Katrina. One thing in favor of the denizens of New York, the administration of President Obama is much more competent than that of George Bush. Nevertheless, it may be weeks or even months before New York and the rest of our eastern seaboard is back to normal.
Nobody ever thinks about toilet paper. How much do you have stored up?
Yes, self-sufficiency is good. Having supplies on hand is a great idea and everybody ought to have enough on hand to last at least 72 hours without assistance. A week or two would be even better. However, let’s be realistic. We cannot maintain our quality of life on our own. “No man is an island.” Even if you have a generator, eventually it is going to run out of gas. With the power out, if you can make it to a gas station, those pumps will not be working. How much food can you store? Toilet paper? How long can you stay or would you want to stay if you could not flush your toilets? Is it winter? How long do you think it will take for your apartment or home to reach the same temperature as it is outside? Is it summer? How long can you go without air conditioning? Excessive heat can be just as dangerous as freezing cold.
Ayn Rand High Priestess of the Virtue of Selfishness. Darling of Paul Ryan and Guru of the Republican philosophy
The Republican ideology of the virtue of selfishness begins to fall short when faced with the reality of the survival of a society. For years now the Republican mantra has been, “Government is the problem.” They’re right! Bad government is the problem. They fail to make this distinction. There is a reason human beings invented government. We exist today and have achieved what we’ve been able to achieve, even with all the setbacks and missteps, because we learned that working together in a coordinated fashion increased our chances for survival.
It was a hard and rugged life out on the frontier. There was nothing glamorous about it.
Species who’s survival strategy focused purely on distinct individual achievement are no longer here. They’ve gone extinct. Wolves hunt in packs, whales swim in pods, fish swim in schools, bees, ants and other insects have hives and colonies. The coordinated efforts of a group increases efficiency and effectiveness. In our recent history, early 1800’s, the era of the self-reliant outdoors-man, frontiersman, the average lifespan was just 40 years old. Think about that for a moment. You reached 40 years of age and died of the natural cause of old age. Why? Life was hard. It was brutal. It was dangerous. Your caloric intake was low. You suffered from malnutrition. You died.
The things we enjoy today and take for granted come to us because we’ve learned to work together much more efficiently than at any other time in our recorded history. We have become a society of specialists. We make the education of all our children mandatory. Not just the aristocrats or plutocrats. Allour children. Why? Because genius and innovation are not the exclusive province of the privileged and wealthy. We develop all minds both male and female.
We realize that you cannot be a productive, contributing member or society if you’re tethered to your home, armed to the teeth to repel thieves, robbers and invaders. Thus, we have professional police officers and if need be a military. You do not have to rely on folk medicine and remedies handed down by your family traditions. We have hospitals, emergency care facilities and emergency response personnel. They are specifically trained to quickly and efficiently respond to all medical emergencies.
Gas main exploding in a residential neighborhood.
Should some disaster strike, or your home or business catch fire, we have professional firemen and first responders. In times past, should your home or business catch fire, or some natural disaster befall you, you were largely on your own. To be sure, some of your neighbors may have come to help after they saw to their own needs, but professionals with equipment they were not! Because of our combined efforts – coordinated by Government – to care for and meet the needs of everyone in our society, we have experienced progress heretofore unknown in recorded human history.
Climate Change Anyone?
Notice a trend?
The Lunacy in the way the Republicans and the so called conservative movement, have dealt with the issue of “Global Warming” has been simply appalling. They have treated this issue as though the planet is sick and you can go shop for a doctor until you find one that will give you the opinion you want to hear. Scientist after scientist has sounded the warning. “We’re in serious trouble if we don’t do something now.” “We’re nearly at the tipping point.” I’m sure you’ve probably heard all the warnings. They haven’t exactly been keeping things a secret. The prescription has not been that severe. Reduce our use of fossil fuels. Invest in more wind and solar. Incorporate hydro-electric wherever possible. Develop wave powered tidal generators. Increase batter efficiency. Increase fuel efficiency standards in automobiles to bridge us over.
What the Republicans did was turn to their own scientist – most on the payrolls of the energy industry – who say, “Global Warming” needs to be studied more. Or, “we’re not sure how much of this is caused by man.” Really? You’re kidding me right? It’s like that commercial that says, “4 out of 5 dentist agree…” and they turn to that 5th dentist for advice. We simply cannot afford this.Too much is at stake. Remember the GOP convention where they were chanting “Drill Baby Drill” as though it were some Buddhist Mantra? I want you to hold that in your mind and hear it as you look at the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.
Two huge lies. The first is, that the global supply of oil determines your price at the pump. The price per barrel is set by oil speculators who are trading oil futures like Day Traders trade “penny stocks” on the Stock Market. It’s pump and dump. They don’t give a damn about consumers, they’re in for he quick kill and you pay for their profits.
Coming to a National Park Near You?
Lie number two: We can drill our way to lower energy costs. The United States has a little over 2% of the World’s proven oil reserves. We consume roughly 20% of the World’s oil. Do you see a problem? I do. Simply put, if we were at peak capacity we’re not able to produce as much oil as we consume. It’s like being behind on your mortgage and coming up with the brilliant idea that going through you couch cushions looking for change, will solve your problems. The humor is muted by the tragic reality. You’re going to lose your home. If you were lamenting to me that you were facing foreclosure and I asked you if you’d checked your couch cushions for change, I’m pretty certain you’d have to suppress an impulse to bust me in my eye. Hell! I wouldn’t blame you if you did! I have the same impulse whenever I see or hear a Republican talking about “drill baby drill.”
The reality is, our planet is heating up. How many “100 year storms” have we had in the past decade? They’re coming almost every two years now aren’t they? Coincidence? I don’t think so. To those who lamely try to make the argument that “Man” is not involved, look at it this way. If you were coming down a mountain and you tapped your brakes and they went all the way to the floorboard, what would you do? Would you throw your hands in the air and say, “oh well, there’s nothing I can do. Might as well floor it and go out in a blaze of glory?” Or would you down shift and try the emergency brake? Would you look for a place to drag your car along the side of the mountain to slow and stop it?
The Republican Lie
Republicans have as one of their confessions of faith, “Government is the problem.” “We want Government so small you can drown it in a bathtub.” What about now? When disasters strike like Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, Mt. St. Helens erupts, Earthquakes, God forbid, Yellowstone’s super Caldera lets loose, you’re going to want Government there with all the resources necessary to return our lives to some semblance of normalcy. this is why we pay taxes. This is why whom we elect is so critically important!Everybody complains about taxes… until their home is under 6′ of water or on fire. When your child gets lost in a National Park while you’re out on a picnic, you couldn’t afford the cost of the search and rescue effort that the government – we the tax payers – will mount to reunite you with your child.
Irony – It’s a Bitch isn’t it?
If your home is on fire, you don’t want the fire department to show up with a clipboard and ask you, “will this be cash, check or charge?” Same thing if you were having a heart attack. These things we take for granted, are the very services that cause people to want to live in our country. No matter whom you are. No matter what you’ve done. If you’re in trouble, society will come together to save your life and help you get back on your feet. We call it “Our Social Contract.” It is what makes us Americans. There is a cost associated with this contract and we cover this cost by paying taxes.
Ever hear the phrase,”all roads lead to Rome?” There is a reason for that expression. The Romans knew that to build and maintain an empire, they needed to be able to quickly move and supply their armies to any location within their empire. Thus they built roads. These roads made marching easier and faster. They made it possible for wagons with supplies to accompany their armies. People spend a lot of time talking about the Roman phalanx, armament and use of the short sword to explain their military success. True their tactics and use of equipment played a large part, however the most important part in my opinion were the roads they built that increased their logistic efficiency and made it possible for reinforcements to quickly arrive on the scene of a conflict.
Collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis in 2007
At one time, we knew this. At least we acted as though we did. We spared no expense to connect our country, first with rail lines and with the invention of the automobile, our interstate highway system. Our roads made commerce possible and caused towns and cities to spring up and grow along these thoroughfares. Power lines, roads, rail systems, bridges all these things make up parts of our infrastructure. If we do not maintain them, they will crumble and fail. It always costs more to rebuild something than it does to maintain it. Don’t like paying taxes? Think about this the next time you’re crossing a bridge. Saving money can be expensive.
When Katrina struck, the Levees broke.
How expensive? Hurricane Katrina really wasn’t all that bad by the time it came ashore. It had greatly weakened. The problem was the levees. They knew there was a problem with the levees and in fact money had been set aside to address this problem. However, instead of that money going to fix the levees, because of decreased revenue caused by cutting taxes, that money went to take care of other things. A levee is sort of like a parachute. You can fly 1,000 times and never need one. However, when you do, you need it to work. Again, infrastructure like those Roman roads, gets ignored until it crumbles or is no longer there.
Privatizing Profits, Socializing Costs
David Cay Johnston – Author of “The Fine Print.”
In his book “The Fine Print,” David Cay Johnston lays out how we’ve arrived at our sorry state of affairs. We have deified the private sector to the point we damn near worship corporations as gods. We have allowed such aphorisms as, “the business of America is business,” or “what’s good for business is good for America,” to filter into our collective psyche. We accept these pronouncements as divine truth. We do not question them or actually analyze them. Perhaps we should. First of all, the government of the United States is not nor should it be considered a business. When the Constitution speaks about “promoting general welfare,” it is not talking about corporations or business interests. It is talking about the welfare of the citizens. Quite often what is best for corporations is terrible for citizens.
To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, “the game is afoot!” It has been afoot for quite awhile now. Step one in the game plan? Promote the idea that taxes are bad and that they’re too high. This part is easy. When you tell people they’re paying too much, who is going to disagree? Everybody has been convinced that paying more for something than you have to is a sign of a mental defect.
Step two in the game plan? Convince the State that the “private sector” can provide the same services cheaper and more efficiently. Has anyone ever studied this leap of faith? Yet, because you’ve got the citizens up in arms over paying taxes, this suddenly looks like an attractive alternative. Utilities which used to be owned by the commonwealth have been turned over to private companies. Of course, they’re going to need some assistance and incentives in the way of tax abatements, but hey! It’s off the State’s books. Did you catch that? “tax abatements?” What that means is these companies won’t be paying State income taxes. Thus, the revenue of the State has just been decreased. The State also has lost control over vital parts of our infrastructure.
Here’s what this means. One of the reasons Hurricane Sandy has caused over 8 million people to be without power, is because, power lines have been knocked down by the high winds of the storm. There is a really simple solution to this. Bury the damn lines!Because power companies are now privatized, they’re not interested in incurring the cost of burying the power lines. What’s in it for them? If they cannot justify the cost – translation: make a profitburying the lines – it’s not going to happen. Had the power lines been underground where they should be, our power grid would have been largely unaffected by Hurricane Sandy.
Isn’t it interesting that Mitt Romney wants to get rid of FEMA?Right now when people’s lives and the restoration of their property hangs in the balance with FEMA standing between them and total unrecoverable loss, Governor Romney wants to get rid of FEMA. Hear him in his own words.
Just as he showed abysmal judgement when it came to – in his words – “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt!” Drawing from the same arid well of wisdom, he has prescribed doing away with FEMA. I don’t know how to say this any other way… but the man is a dangerous idiot!
Hurricane Sandy Destroys Republican Ideology
I am not a religious man, but it seems that some form of divine intervention may have occurred. “October Surprise?” This one may have come from higher up than we’d like to consider. For the past four years, Republicans have been trying to paint President Obama as divisive, partisan and refusing to work with Republicans. The reason they’ve been so successful in selling this nonsense is that their base only watches FAUX News. In point of fact, President Obama has alienated his own progressive base by reaching out to Republicans.
The Affordable Care Act called “Obama Care,” went before the U.S. Supreme Court over one issue. That issue was “the individual mandate.” The “individual mandate” was a Republican idea. Republicans have added “poison pills” to Bills and proposed them. When President Obama has said, “okay, we’ll do it your way,” they then turn and vote against the very Bills they’ve written and proposed.
President Obama with an extremely grateful Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey
The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy has made it necessary for Republican ideologues such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to have to put aside partisan politics and seek Federal Aid from the President of these United States. Right about now, Chris Christie is damn glad that Barack Hussein Obama is the President of these United States. He has been effusive in his praise of our President. One can only imagine how things might have been had the Republicans acted like grown-ups from day one and participated in governing instead of collecting tax payer checks for doing nothing?
The Monk, Monastery, Basket and Rope
A traveller visiting an ancient monastery was surprised to discover that the only access was by an elevator up the side of the cliff in a basket pulled up by a rope. As he rode up he noticed that the rope was frayed. He turned to the old Monk and asked how often they replaced the rope? The Monk replied, “each time it breaks.” This describes the way we currently handle business.
Rather than raise taxes and spend the money maintaining, repairing and improving our infrastructure, we will wait until it breaks. Had the levees in New Orleans been fixed and maintained as they should have been, the flooding from Katrina would have been minimal. The loss of life would have been greatly decreased. If our power lines were buried underground as they should be, we’d have very few power outages.
Had the Republicans extended their hands in a willingness to work with our President, instead of coming to him in their time of need, imagine what things would be like today.
by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.
