“Super” Failure

It was announced late Monday night that the supercommittee that was formed as part of the debt ceiling compromised reached earlier in the year had failed to come up with $1.2 trillion in cuts from the budget.  So now automatic cuts will take place… most of which are coming from the Defense Department, starting in 2013.  Let me ask you this…  Was anyone really surprised that this “super” committee of 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans couldn’t agree on a deal?

Washington is more polarized than ever.  Even if Party A agrees now with something that Party B said several years ago, Party B won’t agree to it now (and vice versa).  And we also have to contend with the Tea Party factor, too.  You know, the faction of the Republican Party that refuses to compromise on anything and is probably that biggest hindrance on anything being accomplished in the last 2-years because most of them don’t understand how a government truly works.  A government, and most importantly our government, has always been give and take since the beginning.  It’s what created the two chambers of Congress.  It’s what created our financial system and decided where our nation’s new capital would be located.  So why does it seem like no one these days can agree on cutting even the smallest amounts from our federal budget?  What makes compromise such a dirty word in today’s times though it’s basically what formed our nation?  Let us not forget that the Tea Party Republicans were elected in 2010 on their no-compromise platform.  So is this faction of the Republican Party to blame or is it the voting populace that actually voted them into office and believed the drivel they were being fed?

In this particular instance, you had two different ideologies at work against each other, and it basically seemed like failure was going to be the only option from day one as both sides dug in their heals and refused to cooperate.  The Democrats wanted to take away the Bush-era tax cuts for the top 2%… something they’ve been hounding on since 2010 (and even as far back as the 2008 elections) and refused to accept any budget cuts until the Republicans agreed to do so. Republicans would only agree to close tax loop-holes but not tax hikes on the upper 2% of the population (who are paying their lowest percentage in income tax since income taxes became legal by the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1913).  It’s the same old story we’ve heard time and time again.  They couldn’t even come to an agreement on smaller things because they couldn’t get over their bigger ideological differences.  I will, however, give some credit to Senator Pat Toomey, R-PA, who is very vocal about not raising taxes, for attempting to bridge the gap though his plan would still fail.  (You can read about the Toomey plan on the Bloomberg Businessweek website by clicking HERE.)

So does this mean that Washington is broken?  The general population tends to think it is.  Afterall, Congress has its lowest approval rating ever at 9%.  To give some bearing to this, President Richard Nixon had a higher approval rating during the height of the Watergate Scandal.  If you were to ask conservative columnist/commentator George Will this exact same question, you would get an entirely different answer.  He has repeatedly said that Washington is not broken.  This is routinely what happens when you have a two party system that have two different ideologies.  Though I respect George Will and see his point, I don’t really agree with him on this.  Yes, this does happen when you have two different political parties with two different ideologies, but throughout our history, we’ve managed to come up with solutions or compromises when our nation has needed it the most.  And yet, now, we can’t even agree to a simple $1.2 trillion in budget cuts.  And to put it into perspective, cutting $1.2 trillion from the federal budget is like taking a crumb from the crust of pie.  It’s basically all smoke and mirrors.  They look like they’re doing something when they are, in fact, doing nothing that would really curtail our rising debt by any significant measures.  And somehow, they still failed at doing nothing.

In August, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+ marking the first time in history that has happened.  It’s main reason for doing so was the political climate in Washington and that the two political sides would not be able to come together to cut our spending and get our budget back under control.  (click HERE for report)  Our political leaders immediately screamed foul and pledged to get the deal done to prove S&P wrong and show the world that we were on top of things.  As it turns out S&P was right and maybe we earned that downgrade in our credit rating.  Washington doesn’t seem to want to solve our problems… just fight amongst themselves and stick to their political ideology rather than do what is needed for our country and for our future.

So what happens now?  S&P has already announced they won’t downgrade our credit rating over the failure to reach a deal, so I guess that is some good news.  Any budget cuts or tax increases the committee would have reached would not have gone into effect until 2013, so there is still time for Congress to dwindle the amount of cuts or eliminate the cuts completely… though President Obama is standing firm on those automatic cuts by saying that he will veto any legislation sent from Congress that takes away the automatic cuts that were part of the debt-ceiling compromise.  As for the general public in America, they need to wake up and realize that this is a bigger problem.  The voters are just as divided as the members of Congress are… which isn’t helping shed any light on the issue.  There are going to have to be major budget cuts (even more than 4-trillion) to get things back on track, and, sadly, taxes will have to be raised as well as other forms of revenue.  We can be somewhat creative in this approach though.  I have seen one Congressman suggest legalizing medical marijuana and taxing it.  Regardless, we as Americans are going to have to change how we are looking at this particular subject and what its really going to take to get us out of it.  The situation is only going to get worse.  If we don’t get a handle on this, major budget cuts are going to become massive budget cuts.  Our infrastructure that is already falling apart will be completely out of reach of being repaired.  And as for those politicians on any side of the aisle that think compromise is a dirty word, they need to be voted out of office and taught a little bit of American history.  (Sadly, most of them will probably win reelection in 2012 or beyond.)  We need to be electing officials that are will to compromise… not just give in.  Both sides should be working through their different ideologies rather than just cementing their feet into the ground and refusing to budge.  Compromise is part of the fabric of our nation.  It has made us the super-power that we are today.   And it is time that we bring the term ‘compromise’ back into the congressional dictionary and back into the light.  Only then will our elected officials and the people of this country be able to tackle this major issue.  We have the ability to do it.  We are Americans, afterall.  Now let’s get it done before the real clock does run out.  It is still ticking down.

You Say Tomato

So the United States Congress, for lack of anything better to do with their time, has decided to announce that tomato sauce/pizza is now to be considered a vegetable.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Our Congressmen and women wasted away time to make this announcement today.  But apparently, whoever sponsored this bill forgot to use their brain at all.

First of all… I hate to be the one to point this out, but a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable.  Yes, you can actually look that fact up.  We tend to think of it as a vegetable, but it is indeed a fruit.  So tomato sauce comes from a fruit and not a vegetable, and therefore, it can’t be a vegetable.  One would tend to think that our leaders in Congress would tend to know this little fact.  Really??  Not one of them caught that mistake out of everyone there?  They have to be complete dumbasses.  And we expect these people to help fix our economy and get us back to work?  They can’t even tell a fruit from a vegetable.  I’m sorry, but my jaw is still on the ground from this complete lack of using one’s brain.  I honestly wish that we could walk up to them, smack them upside the head, and call them fucking dumbasses.

My second point comes along the lines of pizza being a vegetable because of the tomato sauce.  Now keep in mind the earlier bit of this rant.  Now yes, a pizza can have your dairy group, your fruit group, your meat group, and your vegetable group, and your bread group depending on what you put on your particular pizza.  However, the tomato sauce does not make the entire pizza a vegetable… and not just because a tomato is a fruit either.  We’ve been complaining for years that Americans are getting too fat… which is now leading to several health issues.  Now some of this is because we as a society are becoming lazy-asses.  But it still doesn’t help by the food that we eat (and the amount in which we eat it in).  This only exacerbates the problem.  I mean… how fucking fat do we have to be as a society before we get it into our heads?  Eating pizza every once in a while is OK, but it is not a vegetable (or a fruit) and isn’t healthy for any of us.  Chef Jamie Oliver must be having a stroke right about now if he’s read this story yet.  This just makes the school system in America shove pizza down our kids throats , teach them bad eating habits when they should be learning good eating habits, and making them get fatter and fatter (especially as recess and PE are being cut).

I would honestly like to know which Congressman or woman came up with this legislation… and which ones voted for it.  They need to be voted out for being complete fucking dumbasses who couldn’t even get the basic information right to start with.  We expect these people to help us out of our current problems and run our country?  Thank God that Congress had already solved all of our problems.  People are back to work, the economy is booming, no more people sneaking across the borders, no more dependence on oil, pollution is in check, drugs are gone, our infrastructure is the best in the world… oh wait.  None of that has actually happened.  This has been a huge waste of their time and our taxpayer dollars.  I haven’t seen Congress do something this frivolous since they renamed French Fries to Freedom Fries (and then back again) after France was against us in going into Iraq.  (funny how France was right and called us on our bullshit.)  These people need to be taught that there are better things to do that isn’t wasting our time and dollars as this has done.  Maybe they should put focus on jobs and the economy instead of tomatoes.  Last time I checked, tomatoes aren’t going to solve our problems.  And maybe, just maybe, even with the simplest of things, Congress should do a little research on whatever subject they are going to be talking about before they open their mouths.  Tomatoes… a vegetable… really?  Apparently, even I am smarter than all of you since I already knew it was a fruit.  Maybe we should send them all back to elementary school because, as the game show used to say, they are not smarter than a fifth grader… and that is truly sad.  I think it’s time we elect people that actually have a brain and know how to use it.  And for anyone who did vote for this bill, it’s time for them to go back to the real world and find a new job.  Bon Appetit.

They Are Egypt

“And as much joy as I have for the success of the Egyptian people and what they have accomplished (and how they have accomplished it), I sincerely hope it doesn’t spiral into a military dictatorship.”  I wrote those very words back on February 11 after the Egyptian people were successful in overthrowing their long-time president Hosni Mubarak. (read here)  And though the revolution was largely peaceful, the end result still had me concerned.  The military had stayed on the side of the protesters instead of the government (the exact opposite of what we are seeing in Syria right now).  But when Mubarak was gone, it was the military that stepped in to the void to make sure the country didn’t fall into anarchy.  They were supposed to “look over” the country until a new constitution could be written up and democratic elections could be held.  But my concern back in February was that once in power, the military leaders would do everything they could to stay in it.  And it is starting to seem more and more like that might be the case.

The elections were to be held a couple of months ago, though they are supposed to get underway by the end of November and last until March.  These are just the parliamentary elections… and this body is what will draft the new constitution for the country.  However, besides for dragging their feet to the elections, the military leaders are now trying to make it to where they can overrule the Parliament and the President if they disagree with anything.  Military funding would remain secret and not released to the public.  And, in an early draft as to what they wanted, the military would make up 80 out of the 100 people that are to draft the new constitution.  It sounds like they would be setting up a puppet government.  It would “look” free and democratic to the outside world, but they would be running a military dictatorship behind the scenes.

In Tunisia… which is slightly farther west from Egypt in North Africa, free elections have already been held.  Why is this important?  It’s because it was in Tunisia at the beginning of the year that these democratic revolutions started.  Once simple act of protest turned into something much larger.  Within days, Tunisia had overthrown its government.  An interim government was put in place until elections could be held… and they have been.  (NOTE: Tunisia had a higher voter turnout than any election in the US in modern history.)

Egypt has now come to the fork in the road.  Which way do they turn can only be decided by them?  The people have taken to the streets once again to show the military leaders that they will not accept anything short of full free and democratic elections… and a government that answers to the people and not the military.  It has now mixed spiritual and secular as religious denominations are lending their voices and helping to organize the masses.  The military leaders would be wise to listen to the people.  They should be smart enough to see what is still going on across the Middle East with leaders that are trying to hang on to power despite objections from the masses.  The Egyptian people will unite once again to overthrow the military if they try to stay in power.  It is a movement that probably would not be as peaceful as the last one, but it would end with the same outcome.

I personally hope that I am wrong on this one.  I do not want to see a military dictatorship set up in a country where the people worked together peacefully to overthrow their government and institute new democratic policies… something that every American should even cherish.  The Egyptian people need to stand strong and not back down.  The country does belong to the people.  They must be willing to fight against the corruption that still exists within the military hierarchy for the freedoms and reforms that they are seeking.  It was Thucydides that said, “The secret of happiness is freedom.  The secret of freedom is courage.”  The Egyptian people had the courage before in the early part of the year, and now I see that courage once again in the streets.  Their first parliamentary elections are about to start in earnest within the coming weeks, and they must make sure that their voices are the ones that are heard over all else.  They are not just the Egyptian people. They are Egypt.

LINKS:

For previous entries on the Arab Spring… uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, click the following links:  Ivory Tusks, African Political Upheaval, The Pharaoh’s Tomb, Riding the Waves of Democracy, Eye of the Beholder.

The Fed

This past Wednesday night, I found myself watching the Republican Presidential debate on CNBC.  This was the first time I had been able to watch a full debate without having to leave, flip the channel, or do things in other rooms.  I always find it important to watch such debates because it allows me to compare each of the main candidates next to each other.  At one point, a couple of candidates brought up the notion that they would abolish The Federal Reserve.  (This was Texas Governor Rick Perry and Texas Congressman Ron Paul.  I’m sorry if I have forgotten any other candidate that agreed with this.)  Earlier in the night, on a topic completely unrelated to this one, former-House Speaker Newt Gingrich actually criticized his fellow-Republican candidates for not knowing history.  And completely abolishing The Federal Reserve (the Fed) could bring us into another economic meltdown… as it has happened before.

The Federal Reserve was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act.  However, the Fed was not the first national bank within the United States.  The Bank of the United States (later known as the First Bank of the United States) was created under Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during the administration of President George Washington.  It was part of the negotiated deal between Hamilton and House-Speaker James Madison that placed the nation’s capital city along the banks of the Potomac River (though Washington, himself, would pick the exact spot).  The First Bank of the United States was in operation from 1791-1811 when it’s charter expired under the administration of President James Madison (the vote to renew the charter failed by one vote in the House of Representatives).

The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816… only 5-years later.  It had been created because of the war of 1812… and done so by many of the same people who had refused to renew the first bank’s charter.  Why was this done?  The United States was suffering from severe inflation and could barely afford to pay for military operations during the War of 1812.  Also, the credit and borrowing status of the nation was at its lowest level since the nation’s founding.  Having dissolved the First Bank of the United States had led to a small financial problem since there was no national bank to oversee the entire financial system.

Now let’s skip ahead to the 1830s.  President Andrew Jackson disliked the Second Bank of the United States as he saw it as corrupted and filled with fraud.  And in a political move, he vetoed the renewal for its charter… which came to his desk early.  (It was sent to him by House Speaker Henry Clay in a political move to keep President Jackson from being reelected.  Clay was also on the side of Bank President Nicholas Biddle.  Jackson vetoed the bill and still won reelection).  Though President Jackson had vetoed the renewal charter, the Second Bank of the United States had several years remaining under its current charter, but Jackson decided to move first.  He ordered his Treasury Secretary to remove all of the funds by the federal government from the bank and redirect all the federal government’s deposits to the state banks.  This was being done at a time when Congress was on recess.  When his Treasury Secretary refused, he fired him and appointed another… and did so until he found a guy that would do the task at hand.  This was done in 1833.  The Second Bank of the United States was no more.  It charter officially expired in 1836, and five years later, the bank went bankrupt.

So why did I just give you that huge history lesson?  Simple.  It all comes down to the year 1837 and a financial crisis.  The Panic of 1837 was caused by severe runaway inflation due to the demise of the Second Bank of the United States.  The Panic was followed by a five-year depression with bank failures and severe unemployment.  So now I ask you this… are you seeing a trend from when we have done this in the past?

The Federal Reserve was created for a reason… maintain employment, keep prices stable, and keep interest rates at a moderate level by regulating monetary policy.  Sounds simple enough.  But like the 1830s, I do think The Fed is filled with corruption and fraud.  Interest rates have been placed at zero, and money is being printed off more abundantly than at any time in our nation’s history.  Problem?  This, too, can cause massive inflation.  This would the other extreme of having The Fed completely dissolved.  So what needs to happen?  It needs to stop printing off money that has no support behind it.  You must remember that any paper currency is completely worthless without anything behind to support it (i.e. the gold standard, the silver standard).  And The Fed needs to be completely overhauled.  The waste needs to be thrown out, the organization needs to be completely restructured, and it needs to have government oversight so that it can’t just run amok and do whatever it wants to do.  There are severe consequences to allowing a government agency do as it wants without any checks.  It also needs to have the oversight of the people.  Though we may not have a complete understanding of things, it should not be treated as though it’s out of our reach.  We need to have a voice in the matter and know what The Fed is doing.

Changes need to be made… some of them need to be drastic changes.  But I think the message of completely dissolving The Federal Reserve is the wrong way to go.  I think it would lead to an even bigger crisis than the one we have been facing for the past few years as history has indicated.  Author David McCullough once said, “History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”  We need to learn from our past mistakes and not repeat them this time around.