WHERE THERE IS SMOKE, THERE IS CERTAIN TO BE FIRE

October 17, 2011

          For the last week, there has been a concentrated demonstration by the masses against Wall Street, which has now spread worldwide.  At first, it was attributed to the so called liberals of America who are looking for something for nothing while others said it was dreamed up by President Obama to take the pressure and attention away from his failings to find the jobs necessary to bring the economy back to health after nearly five years of rising unemployment.

          The fact is that Americans have every reason to complain about the Wall Street Financial Institutions and banks in general, because, with the help of congress and the last two presidential administrations, Bush and Obama, they are the chief causes of the mortgage collapse of 2008 and the start of the latest economic recession which has become progressively worse every month.  As if that was not bad enough, both Bush, Obama and Congress jumped in with haste to approve nearly a trillion dollars of financial help to the International Insurer, AIG and the Financial Institutions to bail them out of the mess they created in their greed, while leaving the Americans who were the victims of this scheme with mortgages, in most cases exceeding the value of the property they mortgaged.  Also, in many other cases, mortgage were freely given to Americans who really didn't qualify for them, in violations of standards the government had set up and the banks deliberately failed to follow in their quest for more profit.  The banks were given free rein to assign these mortgages to Financial Institutions on Wall Street, who in turn bundled them together and sold the in the stock market worldwide.  Of course when the bubble burst due to rising unemployment, and the collapse came, it affected the financial market worldwide.

          But, the main reason for the bailout was purely political.  Wall Street and the banks are one of the chief contributors to members of congress and to each presidential administration and they been for years.  For example, in the last ten years they have contributed the sum of 5 billion dollars to our politicians in Washington.  This is an average of about a million dollars a year to each political office holders, supposedly, a contribution to their re-election effort.  When I heard Obama say "...they, (the financial Institutions) are too big to fail..." I knew he was in the bag, also, bought and paid for.

It is no wonder that nothing has been done to help the poor real estate and home owner over the last four years while foreclosures have risen and real estate values of everyone's home and property has fallen an average of one third of their original value and continue to fall while new foreclosures continue just as soon as the mortgage of a property exceeds its value.  The banks and Wall Street companies don't care because they were insured against such losses by insurance companies like AIG and others.  Of course no one is revealing that the United States government has been on the hook as guarantors of about three trillion dollars of these loans under its V.A., FHA, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mack guarantee programs all that have been swept under the table by our politicians in Washington.

          Because of the present situation, with falling real estate values and people with poor credit ratings or being unemployed, banks are very reluctant to made loans to buyers or requests for refinancing, because of the falling values and unstable markets all over the world.

          When the Stock Market collapsed in 2008 and the bank bailout money to recharge the Stock Market to recovery, instead of using it for the specific government stated intention of helping out the mortgage holders and the commercial borrower.  The tragedy was that the Financial Institutions made a lot of money bringing back the Stock Market averages while the American consumer lost about a third of its retirement and other investments.

To add insult to injury, the government's Federal Reserve system joined in with these bailed out Financial Institutions and poured money into the market to insure it's rebound congress the president and the big money people of the country, in the know all got rich in the market while the American consumer took the loss.

          Therefore, if you wonder why the American consumer is demonstrating against Wall Street and the banks and lending institutions, know you know the reason.  Our United States government is actively helping the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

          Unless the American people wake up and turn out all those office holders in Washington in 2012, nothing will change.  This has been the selfish action of one business faction, the Financial Market, when you added all the product producing companies who have gone overseas, with the help and tax breaks of congress, in search of cheap labor to the point we have no industrial institutions left, you begin to realize why unemployment cannot recover if we do not reverse this trend.

          We still have to talk about the outrageous profits being made by the oil and drug companies which have also contributed to the decline of our American economy which is now in shambles, as a result of big business's contributions and control of our politicians in Washington.

          I only hope, when things get worse, as they surely will, if we keep re-electing these politicians, the American people will continue to peaceable demonstrate and vote for the changes they need, instead of starting an active revolution, the likes of which we have not seen since 1776.

October 14, 2011

          It is a sad day when the American people, already burdened by a bad economy, lack of jobs, spiraling national debt and a yearly budget deficit of 1.2 trillion dollars need to publically demonstrate to show their anger, mistrust and disgust with their elected officials in Washington, who for the last ten years have stood by complacently and allowed matters to go from bad to worse.

          However, the American people have it within their power to solve most of these economic problems, themselves, rather than to continue to depend on "bought off" party loyalists, whose only interest is to control the government for the benefit of its backers and not the American people who elected them.

          Public demonstrations are one of the people's rights, under the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution.  It is also a way to drum up support for the demonstrator's demands and to force those demonstrated against into submission.

          Since our politicians in Washington are in election mode, with one political party poised and determined to destroy the other at the election of 2012, they have no reason to compromise and work together to find help for the masses but must be content, for political reasons, to complain and chastise the members of the other party in order to defeat and replace them in office.

          In the meantime it is made very clear that our representatives in office have no interest or time to help solve the worse economic recession and nagging unemployment problem in this country since the days of the great depression. 

          Therefore, if the American people expect relief from their problems they must also seek the self help that always is available to them if they only organize themselves in the same way with a determined purpose.  For example:

• 1. About 45 percent of America's industrial and manufacturing jobs have been lost over the last 15 years to countries like China because of its cheaper labor force. About one half of our unemployed were employed in those companies, now located overseas or shut down because of lack of competition. There is a sure way to bring these jobs back and that is a demand and purchase for American made goods. This is the quickest and surest way to return the needed demand for American goods and return the needed also for the defense of our country. The best example of this problem is to look at the vehicles being driven on American roads these days; three out of four are made or owned in a foreign country which helps their economy not ours. It is time we buy only American made products made with American raw materials.
• 2. Fifty percent of the jobs lost to cheap labor overseas were union jobs. Union bosses allowed this to happen without more than a whimper. Instead, if they had the foresight to take over these factories and workplaces and use some of the vast union's pension and health and welfare money to fund the cost of operation of these union shops, they would have been able to compete because the profit margin needed not be part of the needs in order to keep union men/woman working on the job they were already performing and adept at.
• 3. New construction work is at a standstill due to the huge inventory of foreclosed properties on the market, which has depressed the value of all real estate in the country this problem accounts to 25 percent of the unemployed today. Banks are reluctant to deal with the defaulted homeowners because they are protected by insurance companies or the U. S. Government in many cases, from loss in the event of default. If the government agency, bank and banking, force the bank to reduce the mortgage to at least the present value of the home, there would be no need to foreclose and the prices would stabilize and new construction work will return to a stable market.
• 4. Now is the time for many talented unemployed persons to set up their own business in a field of their talent, starting as a "mom and pop" operation where, at least they will be self employed and not dependent on finding employment elsewhere. They could operate out of their homes or garages where the overhead and costs would be minimal. Historically, most businesses have started in this manner and America is the best example of the free enterprise system. Very little capital is needed to start and expansion comes with success and hard work.
• 5. The state and federal government must stop paying unemployment benefits to the chronically unemployed and put them to work at minimum wages in town, city, state and federal jobs to replace those high salaried public workers, already unaffordable. These people would at least be productive, have their self respect or will quickly find other jobs to escape their plight.
• 6. The last 25 percent of the unemployed are from service industries like restaurants and retail places like hotels and shops. As the other 75 percent return to work, so will these service workers and the economy will recover without the help of the U. S. Government of our "do nothing" representatives in congress and the White House.

          This self help is a quick way American can take charge of their destiny when their elected officials fail to help them in a time of need.  Of course, when election time comes in 2012, they will know enough, not to re-elect those same representatives who have been representing everyone but the American people who elected them and whom they are duty bound to represent, but have not.

PUBLIC OPINION AGAINST OUR GOVERNMENT IS GETTING SO BAD, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN TO THE STREETS TO VENT THEIR ANGER AND PREPARE FOR THE NEXT REVOLUTION

October 11, 2011

            The American people are disgusted and discouraged with the actions of the last to administrations and congress for the last eleven years, because their failure to help the economy and put 15 to 20 million people who lost their jobs back to work with permanent work.

          Yes, they were surprised and disappointed, when the republican Bush administration chose to help A.I.G., the financial institutions and the nation's banks out of a mortgage boondoggle they themselves caused by their greed, while cutting the homeowners adrift from help.

          The American voter thought they had found a savior in democrat, Barack Obama, when they elected him president on the promises of "can do" and "change" while also giving him a democratic house and senate to help him solve our urgent problems, and also end the two winless wars Bush started in haste at a horrendous cost in lives and money.

          Instead, Obama fell into the same groove of helping these same financial institutions with the second half of the nearly trillion dollars bailouts, while unemployment doubled and the economy worsened, his trillion dollar stimulus bill only helped congressmen and city and state administrations keep political appointees on the job, while not one permanent new job was created.  Instead of getting us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama extended the troops presence and added 50,000 more troops in Afghanistan to provide more targets for the Taliban and passed a national health care program no one really understood or can afford, while he also doubled the national debt to more than 14 trillion dollars and handed us a budget shortfall of 1.3 trillion a year.

          As a result and in utter disgust, the American people returned to the polls in 2010 and returned the power of the House of Representatives to the Republican Party while also nearly giving republicans control of the senate.

          The election of 2010, was a clear message by the American people to congress and Obama, that they wanted the two parties to work together to solve the economic situation and get people back to work and do something about increasing mortgage foreclosure problem which has steadily depressed real estate values for the last five years and kept the construction field from revitalizing.

          Instead the republican controlled house has foolishly wasted time trying to repeal an Obama health plan when they don't even have the votes in the senate never mind the certain veto of the president to overcome.  Then any attempt to legislate money bills was stymied by the republican demand that the money be cut from anywhere else in government but the sacred cow the tax cut for 1% of the richest people in the country or without any new taxes to have any national debt reduction.

          By June everyone's attention was therefore turned to the federal election of 2012 and the campaign of every congressman and presidential hopeful has consumed both parties in a kill the other political party mode.  Thus the hoped for end of a dysfunctional congress and administration has worsened instead of improving before anything can be meaningfully accomplished in Washington to help the worsening economy and national unemployment.

          The American people have now taken to the streets in protest as a last ditch effort to get Washington to help them out of this hopeless situation of a "do nothing congress" before the next national election of 2012.

          I can promise you that the American people are not going to re-elect Obama or any congressmen back into office unless in the next twelve months they show definite progress in fixing the economy and putting the people back to work with a definite plan to accomplish this.  They had better hope that if there is a revolution coming in the country, it will be at the polling book as it should be in democracy.  By 2014, if the economy does not improve significantly, you can kiss the two political parties, the democrats and republicans goodbye and Independent candidates will be chosen for office by the American people as they should have since this country "of and by the people" was formed by our forefathers.

          Political parties may have their place in backing candidates but the people at large should always choose the candidates for federal office.  Once elected, a person's politics should be left at the door of their office and each successive office holder must realize he/she represents every person in their district, state or country not just the party or people who elected him or her.  The unusual promises of candidates just will not cut it anymore, the people want to hear a plan that makes sense and can be implemented immediately, if not sooner.

REWARD CONGRESS, RE-ELECT NOBODY IN 2012

September 17, 2012

          This headline may sound comical, but, in reality, it carries a very serious and necessary message to the American people.  America has been suffering for many years in a serious recession, with high unemployment and, without the needed relief and plans we need to survive today and, in the future.

          The American people thought they had found their savior, when Democrat, Barrack H. Obama, and handsome charismatic young man, came onto the scene during the Presidential election of 2008.  After eight disastrous years of Republican President George Bush, who managed to get us into two unending wars, and a costly tax cut for the rich while the economy collapsed from the weight of greedy bankers and the Wall Street financial market.  Coupled with the loss of millions of jobs to foreign countries under free trade agreements they have crippled the American economy, while making China, a communist country, rich.

          Most Americans, though they had "fixed" the problem, with the election of President Obama and handing him a congress controlled by Democrats, to get the job done and reverse this trend, end the recession and find permanent jobs for the unemployed Americans, as promised by Obama.

          Unfortunately, in less than two years the American people realized they had made a very serious mistake, since the recession deepened, unemployment doubled and democratic president Obama and his Democratic congress, instead came to the aid of the very financial institutions who caused the final economic collapse in the first place, instead of the duped public in the mortgage market, since congress passed laws allowing this debauchery, in 1999.

          Of course, you should know that congress and each presidential administration is controlled by Wall Street and the big money business corporations of America by so-called campaign contributions for the continual re-election of member of both parties.

          The American public, once again, thought they had solved the problem in 2010, by removing about a third of those "Do Nothing," "self interested" Democrats in congress by replacing them with Republican congressmen.  Soon and unfortunately, it became abundantly clear, they may have changed one political party for another, but the actions of each party is consistently the same.  They are sworn to by a political party, bent on control and winning elections for the interest of the party and their big money supporters.  In this endeavor, they have only one goal, and that is to defeat and destroy the other party.  Just look at what congress has done this past year, not one congressman is working to help the American people find permanent employment for to help the economy.  Both parties are in that re-election mode, and all are running for re-elective office or vying to replace Democrat Obama, with a Republican President.  To do this, they feel they must work very hard at destroying the other party and its candidates and, have no reason to make an opposing incumbent, like Obama, look good in any way, since they must destroy his chances for re-election.  He does not deserve anyway.

          In the meantime, the American people are held hostage to any chance that their lot may be improved by any help from congress.  When matters, after about five years of neglect are now desperate, with an economy that is worsening by the day and, a crisis may be looming, with riots in the streets of the United States of America, predicted by many including the Mayor of New York City.

          The fault lies with our elected representatives in Washington and with the Republican candidates hoping to unseat Obama next year.  No one has a plan or proposed solutions to our economic problems.  The American people have heard all these campaign promises before.  They want the relief promised and not delivered by Obama and the Democrats and, now promised in the same general way by the republicans, again.  We have two local enemies in our midsts, the Democratic and Republican parties.  Who, we must defeat and destroy, if we expect our country to work for its people.

          The American people's frustration has now come to the forefront, since they realize the two political parties and their members are the real problem, and have proved not to be the solution for the last eleven years.  These two opposing administrations have brought this country to its knees with an added, insurmountable debt of about 17 trillion dollars.