Pay days.
Writing this totally on the fly, so try to read fast and skip over any errors in grammar (or judgment). Have a heart, will you?
Tax fraud. It was probably inevitable that, as the sunset for the Bush 2003 tax cuts approached, the chorus of whining from the well-to-do would begin in earnest. Now we are faced with the remarkable phenomenon of hearing politicians who identify the federal deficit as public enemy #1 argue forcefully for an extension of tax relief for millionaires that will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt over the next ten years. I know Americans have a short memory, but some of you out there must surely remember the 1990s. Were rich people overtaxed in those days? They seemed to be living pretty high at the time. Then their president, W. Bush, had the audacity to deeply cut their taxes with one hand while he launched two pointless wars with the other. Having blown a huge hole in the budget, they now want to stretch it wider. Time to come in now, children. You've had enough fun.
Job one. The president has been speaking a bit more forcefully about the economy in recent days. That is good, but not good enough. We need a deeper, broader commitment to the notion of full employment in this country, and to back it up with some appropriate action. Various T.V. pundits blandly claim that there is little government can do, but I disagree. The fact is, government has to take steps to provide incentive to industry to employ workers in this country. They could start with procurement. The entire Federal Government, including the Defense Department, should require all contracts to be fulfilled with U.S. labor. If we need it, let's build it here. We've got the skills, the money, and a workforce more than ready to do the work.
Would this be in violation of our myriad trade agreements? I hope so. Then maybe we could dump out of them altogether. That is the commitment Obama needs to make. Stop making it easy to export manufacturing and other jobs. Use the power of the federal government to drive domestic manufacturing and service employment. And for Christ's sake, if people are willing to work and can't find a job, provide them with work.
There's plenty that needs doing in this country. Let's get it done... and put people to work at the same time.
Tax fraud. It was probably inevitable that, as the sunset for the Bush 2003 tax cuts approached, the chorus of whining from the well-to-do would begin in earnest. Now we are faced with the remarkable phenomenon of hearing politicians who identify the federal deficit as public enemy #1 argue forcefully for an extension of tax relief for millionaires that will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt over the next ten years. I know Americans have a short memory, but some of you out there must surely remember the 1990s. Were rich people overtaxed in those days? They seemed to be living pretty high at the time. Then their president, W. Bush, had the audacity to deeply cut their taxes with one hand while he launched two pointless wars with the other. Having blown a huge hole in the budget, they now want to stretch it wider. Time to come in now, children. You've had enough fun.
Job one. The president has been speaking a bit more forcefully about the economy in recent days. That is good, but not good enough. We need a deeper, broader commitment to the notion of full employment in this country, and to back it up with some appropriate action. Various T.V. pundits blandly claim that there is little government can do, but I disagree. The fact is, government has to take steps to provide incentive to industry to employ workers in this country. They could start with procurement. The entire Federal Government, including the Defense Department, should require all contracts to be fulfilled with U.S. labor. If we need it, let's build it here. We've got the skills, the money, and a workforce more than ready to do the work.Would this be in violation of our myriad trade agreements? I hope so. Then maybe we could dump out of them altogether. That is the commitment Obama needs to make. Stop making it easy to export manufacturing and other jobs. Use the power of the federal government to drive domestic manufacturing and service employment. And for Christ's sake, if people are willing to work and can't find a job, provide them with work.
There's plenty that needs doing in this country. Let's get it done... and put people to work at the same time.
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