Day: March 7, 2008

Bush Almost Admits Recession; Can Global Warming Be Far Behind?

Trish

After losing 63,000 jobs in the 29-day month of February, the current occupant was finally forced to admit there’s a problem with the economy. Gee, the total collapse of the housing market, the weakest dollar in modern times, and consumer confidence at 33 percent might be good indicators too.

“Turn out the lights. The party’s over. We are in a recession,” said the chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal

“Losing a job is painful and I know Americans are concerned about our economy. So am I,” Bush said during a hastily arranged White House appearance on the heels of a gloomy government economic report that said employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years.

The Labor Department’s report, released Friday, also showed that the nation’s unemployment rate dipped to 4.8 percent as hundreds of thousands of people — perhaps discouraged by their prospects — left the civilian labor force. The jobless rate was 4.9 percent in January.

Bush’s idiotic solution — sinking us deeper in debt by issuing everyone a tax rebate — isn’t seen by anyone with the sense God gave celery as a cure.

“Turn out the lights. The party’s over. We are in a recession,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal in New York.

Don’t count on debt-laden households to spend their way back to growth. As for banks, they are preoccupied with cleaning up their balance sheets after seven months of credit turmoil, which means they are unlikely to throw open the cash spigots. The federal government is mired in debt as well.

Like I said, no one with any sense would think a tax rebate will do anything but deepen the hole we’re in. But Bush is a one-trick pony. Got a problem? A tax cut must be the answer.

“I know this is a difficult time for our economy,” he said. “But we recognized the problem early and we provided the economy with a booster shot.”

Congress passed and Bush signed a stimulus package that will send tax rebates to many families and businesses. But some fear it will come too late – or that people will use the money to save or pay off debt, rather than go on a spending spree that will boost the economy.

Bush gently urged people to do the latter. “When the money reaches the American people, we expect it to boost consumer spending,” he said.

Sorry Georgie. I’m putting it toward my car payment. The sooner I pay that off, the more I can put against my mortgage.

How about you? Are you planning to buy more cheap crap from China with your tax rebate or pay down your debt? Leave a comment; I’d like to know.

Why Clinton Really Wants Florida’s Primary to Count

Trish

Hillary Clinton wants Florida’s Jan. 29 presidential preference primary results to stand, and the delegates counted as they are now. Her position is interesting for two reasons. First, Clinton won 50 percent of Florida’s vote back on Jan. 29. Obama won 33 percent and John Edwards, 14. All the other Democratic candidates won a combined total of 1 percent.

Clinton seems to presume that Edwards drew votes away from Obama, not her. She must think that everyone who wanted to vote for her already did so, and she has maxed out her support in Florida. I agree.

Which leads us to the second interesting thing. Clinton seems to presume, like I do, that Edwards drew votes away from Obama, not her. She must think that everyone who wanted to vote for her already did so, and she has maxed out her support in Florida. Again, I agree.

In my case, given a choice of Clinton, Obama, Edwards, and the others, my first choice was Edwards, my second choice Obama, and my third choice Clinton. Today with only two choices, Obama would resoundingly be my first one. Only if I were forced to pick between Clinton and McCain would Clinton get my vote.

Clinton also seems to suspect, as I do, that her conduct on the stump in the time since the Florida primary might cost her votes if another election were held. I doubt, but will hopefully never know, if she could take 50 percent now.

I say “hopefully never know” because I am against wasting taxpayer dollars on another Florida primary. I so detest Howard Dean that I hate to see him win his battle to keep Florida voting later. I am also against a re-do because the sooner we sink a wooden stake in the Hillary Clinton monster (whoops, hope I won’t be forced to resign now), the better for the party. Keeping things unsettled on our side while John McSame’s messages go out loud, clear, and undiluted by competition is bad for Democrats.

Rolling Stone Magazine: We Need Obama

Trish

Rolling Stone Magazine’s Jann Wenner makes the case for Obama. He draws distinctions with the former first lady (and to hear her version of it, the former actual president) that make the feeling I get when I imagine her winning even more like my stomach is full of mud.

[Clinton’s] campaign proved her experience didn’t count for much: She was a bad manager and a bad strategist who naturally and easily engaged in the politics of distraction, trivialization and personal attack. She never convinced us that her vote for the war in Iraq was anything other than a strategic political calculation…

Throughout the primaries, and during a visit he paid to our offices, we have come to know Barack Obama, his toughness and his grace. He would not be intimidated, and he declined to back down, when Senator Clinton called him “frankly, naive” for his willingness to meet leaders of hostile nations. When one of her top campaign officials tried to smear him for his earlier drug use, he did not equivocate or backtrack. On the matter of experience and capability, he has run an impressive, nearly flawless campaign — one that whupped America’s most hard-boiled political infighters. Indeed, Obama was far more prepared to run a presidential campaign — from Day One — than Senator Clinton. And at no point did he go negative with personal attacks or character assassination; as much as they might have been justified, they didn’t even seem tempting to him.

Obama has emerged by displaying precisely the kind of character and judgment we need in a president: renouncing the politics of fear, speaking frankly on the most pressing issues facing the country and sticking to his principles. He recognizes that running for president is an opportunity to inspire an entire nation.

All this was made clearer by the contrast with Hillary Clinton, a capable and personable senator who has run the kind of campaign that reminds us of what makes us so discouraged about our politics. Her campaign certainly proved her experience didn’t count for much: She was a bad manager and a bad strategist who naturally and easily engaged in the politics of distraction, trivialization and personal attack. She never convinced us that her vote for the war in Iraq was anything other than a strategic political calculation that placed her presidential ambitions above the horrifying consequences of a war. Her calibrated course corrections over the past three years were painful. Like John Kerry, who also voted for the war while planning a presidential run, it helped cost her that goal.

Although Obama declined to attack her personally for her vote for the war in Iraq, he did call it, devastatingly enough, a clear demonstration of her so-called experience and “judgment.” He has also spoken forcefully about the need to break the grip of lobbyists — at a time when Clinton is the largest recipient of drug-company donations of anyone in Congress. Clinton could not address this issue at all, and neither will John McCain, who is equally a player in Washington’s lobbyist culture.

Despite Clinton’s spin that her two primary victories this week restore her claim to inevitability, Obama is ahead in the delegate count. Superdelegates appear committed to following the voters’ will. Depending on what happens here in Florida — where just like in 2000, Republicans are in a position to twist the process — and in Michigan, Obama’s chances are strong. I am keeping my fingers crossed, and my hopes high.