Center on Budget & Policy Priorities: Sharron Parrott: War on Poverty: Large Positive Impact, But More Work Remains

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Derik Schneider

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Blog: Sharron Parrott: War on Poverty: Large Positive Impact, But More Work Remains

The New Democrat

I agree with Sharon Parrott from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that there has been some real success in the so-called War on Poverty in America, but there is still a lot of work to be done. And I believe that is sort of the obvious answer. But if CBPP was a partisan political outfit and not a real think tank especially coming from the Left, they wouldn’t have admitted that. And that is why I respect CBPP because they are a real think tank.

CBPP is like what the American Enterprise Institute is for the conservative-right. CBPP is for the progressive-left a real think based on analyzing facts and not trying to make facts look as positive as possible for your side. Which is what partisan think tanks does for Progressives. And The Heritage Foundation does for the neoconservative right in America. The difference between think tanks and political action groups.

The War on Poverty in America and by the way if it isn’t obvious enough, the War on Poverty is not a real war and I hope that isn’t a newsflash for anyone. Wars involve military’s, combat, deaths obtaining land and so-forth. The so-called War on Poverty launched in 1964 by then President Lyndon Johnson end goal was to eliminate poverty in America. And not by fifty-years, but even if the goal was by year fifty and I can guarantee you the original goal wasn’t to eliminate poverty within fifty-years.

But if he original goal to eliminate poverty on this scale alone, it has been a failure. We’ve gone from having a poverty rate by 1968 of twenty-five percent to now somewhere around twenty percent today with all that trillions of dollars being spent on it. For African-Americans they went from fifty-percent of people in poverty to today of thirty-percent. And these aren’t from partisan right-wing sources, but from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Because we still have a very high poverty rate compared with the rest of the developed world, that is not all the fault of the War on Poverty. We had the Great Deflation of the 1970s a real bad decade for our economy that included two bad recessions. 1974-75, and again in 1979-80 and then another bad recession in the early 1980s.But the rest of the 1980s and the 1990s were very good and then we of course are off to a horrible start in this century when it comes to economic and job growth.

But the so-called WOP does deserve some of the blame because of how it was designed. What they basically said was “lets give some people with very little a little more and not much hope for a future outside of poverty.” And then say, “if you add up all of their cash benefits, they technically do not live in poverty”. When of course that is not true, because unless you are retired and on Social Security, if you do not make enough money to pay your own bills, you live in poverty.

If you are familiar with my earlier posts about poverty in America, you know I’m about yes short-term cash assistance so these people can pay their bills in the short-term. But long-term I’m about job training, education and job placement in good jobs. So these people can get themselves out of poverty all together. And better economic and job growth for everyone else, has to be part of that package or good jobs for our less-fortunate won’t be around at all.

Which I why I would like to see a new national campaign to defeat poverty. And 2014 may not be the time to launch it with so many middle class Americans struggling. Saying “hey what about me I work for a living, that is for the people who still have jobs”. But that is basically what we need that is about short-term cash, assistance, education and good jobs.

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PBS: The Tavis Smiley Show- George Carlin: On Freedom of Choice

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Derik Schneider
PBS_ The Tavis Smiley Show- George Carlin_ On Freedom of Choice (1)

Source:The Tavis Smiley Show– George Carlin, on the Tavis Smiley Show, in 2008.

“The important big things no Choice. Fewer banks, news media, oil companies etc. For consumers though more choices as to what to buy.”

From The Tavis Smiley Show

George Carlin is arguing that Americans don’t have freedom of choice as far as things that matter. Yet we as Americans make both personal and economic choices everyday. And so did George Carlin when he was alive and I wish he was alive today. But he made real consequential choices about his life everyday. Like what he would talk about in his monologues, or should he go on the Tavis Smiley Show to use as examples.

Americans make real consequential choices everyday about what we eat, what do we wear, when do we wake up, what to do in our free time, who we want to befriend and get involved with romantically. And as we are becoming more liberal and libertarian as a society, we are getting more power to decide what we should do with our money. Like should we gamble or not purchase and use marijuana or not. Gays are being able to decide should they get married or not.

Perhaps what George Carlin and excuse me for trying to get into his great head and great brain, but maybe he was saying what Americans really have now are fewer choices with what we can do with our own money. Since we now have such large multi-national corporations. That we have less competition now with so much financial power in the hands of a very few. And we have less choice economic choice from that perspective than we use to. And that would be a very fair point.

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Thom Hartmann: Professor Harvey J. Kaye- ‘Why FDR’s Four Freedoms are Real Freedoms’

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Derik Schneider

Professor Harvey J. Kaye: “Why FDR’s Four Freedoms are Real Freedoms

My Four Freedoms

1. Freedom of Speech-
The right to be an insensitive asshole even. And say whatever the hell we want to as long as we aren’t threatening people. Libeling people or inciting violence.

2. Right to Free Assembly-
The right to associate with anyone we want to who consents to associate with us. As long as we aren’t involved in criminals activities.

3. Right to Privacy Including Property Rights-
The right to do whatever the hell that we want to on our own property or in public. As long as we aren’t hurting innocent people. And if you are familiar with this blog. You know a lot of it is about a liberal amount of both personal and economic freedom.

4. Right to Self-Defense-
The right for people to defend ourselves or any innocent person. As long as we aren’t hurting innocent people.

We are only talking about four freedoms here. Otherwise I would include the right not to be discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, religion or sexuality. And as far as freedom to practice or not practice religion. Which I’m in favor of as a huge supporter of the first amendment. Again we are only talking about four freedoms here. Besides you could make a pretty good case that religion would follow under the Right to Privacy. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly.

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WBAL-TV: David Collins: Governor Martin O’Malley Focus on Minimum Wage Hike

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Ederik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

Appears to be plenty on the legislative plate for Maryland State Assembly members in 2014. Everything from tax relief to actually legalizing marijuana in the Free State. As well as increasing the minimum wage in Maryland. And I support all of these ideas if done in the right way that benefits the Maryland economy. And doesn’t send Maryland money and jobs out of the state things that should be here instead.

I’m in favor of these things because Maryland is a high cost of living state. Whether you think our taxes are too high or not and I’m a Democrat who believes they are, all of these new ideas are about economic development, economic and job growth. As well which would allow for us to cut taxes without creating a new deficit or adding debt. We could increase the minimum wage while cutting business taxes and legalizing marijuana. But regulating and taxing marijuana as well so the economy, public safety and the state has the revenue it needs to do the public services that we need like new infrastructure investment.

Maryland should increase the minimum wage to around 10-12 dollars an hour. And include tax relief to make up the difference in additional payroll costs. So we get more job creation and more people working and not less and more people investing in Maryland not less. Similar to what has been done with gambling legalization in this state. Which has already created new jobs in this state. And legalize marijuana, but regulate it like alcohol which would include taxing it and licensing dealers and sellers like for alcohol. And have more money coming into and staying in the state and less going out to nearby states.

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Patrick J. Buchanan: Is America Going to Pot?

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Rik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

All the evidence you need to know that Liberals are winning the culture war and paternalists on the Left and Right are losing the culture, just look at these personal freedom issues and civil liberties. And the so-called War on Drugs is a perfect example of that with all these states either having legalized marijuana or decriminalized marijuana and legalizing medical marijuana. But if that is not enough for you go to one of the generals of the Culture War coming from the Far-Right in Patrick Buchanan essentially admitting that marijuana is just more evidence of the moral decline of America.

As Pat Buchanan said on his blog today and I have his link up, it started with alcohol prohibition, then it went to the War on Drugs and outlawing other so-called narcotics that were popular especially with the Baby Boom Generation of the 1960s, to making it more difficult to smoke tobacco in America. And I actually agree with some of the tobacco restrictions. I’m not in favor of tobacco prohibition either, but the idea that someone should be able to force others to breathe in their tobacco in tight spaces, you are violating the person who doesn’t smoke the right to breathe clean air.

But as a country we are moving from an era where Americans believed government knows best about a lot of key areas of Americans lives both personally and economically, to an era where Americans saying, “no thanks Uncle Sam, we can manage our own lives. Thanks anyway.” I rarely agree with Pat Buchanan on anything. If he told me it was hot and sunny in Miami, Florida in July, I would get a second weather report from South Florida to make sure. But he’s right on the Culture War that it is almost to the point that the Right no longer wants to fight it. I already knew this, but to hear it from the other side is just more evidence that this is actually happening.

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The White House: President Obama Speaks on Extending Emergency Unemployment Insurance

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Erik Schneider

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Source:The New Democrat 

The Democratic path to victory in 2014. It’s the economy stupid and make 2014 the Democratic economic vision vs. the Republican economic vision.

Middle out bottom up economics that is about expanding economic freedom for everyone and reducing government dependence. Based on rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, a national energy policy based on using all the country’s natural resources. Comprehensive immigration reform so we bring our illegal immigrants out of the shadows paying their share of taxes. And so Americans do not have to pay as much in taxes. Education and job training for our low-skilled workforce and unemployed workers so they can live in economic freedom as well.

The Democrats should label the Republican economic vision as trickle down economics. That if the wealthy are just doing even better than they are now, that could somehow benefit everyone else even if the middle class and everyone else is paying for wealthy’s prosperity. And what the Republicans really want to do besides talk about nothing other than the Affordable Care Act, is to weaken consumer protections and making it harder for workers to unionize and collectively bargain.

That is how Democrats get off of ObamaCare and on to something where they have the upper hand. And be able to force Republicans to talk about things they do not want to and try to get them explain why cutting additional taxes for the wealthy and regulations for corporations and deficit reduction especially in areas that help create jobs like in infrastructure, somehow helps the economy. Which is hard to find many people outside of the Tea Party wing of the GOP who actually takes that seriously.

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The Nation: Zoe Carpenter: The Progressive Resurgence

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Derik Schneider

The Nation: Opinion: Zoe Carpenter: The Progressive Resurgence

The New Democrat

When Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives in 2011, thanks to the Tea Party, the Republican right-wing had all the momentum when it came to economic policy. As well as fiscal policy when it came to the debt and deficit and had the public behind him. Especially going up against a Democratic President in Barack Obama who was up for reelection a year later, who wasn’t very popular at the time with the economy going through low economic growth and high unemployment.

Which are obviously bad signs for an incumbent president to be facing who was elected with fifty-three percent of the popular vote. But that started to change by the summer of 2012 with a very divided Republican Party not able to find a presidential nominee that could unite the party, plus a poorly run presidential campaign by Mitt Romney and a strongly run presidential reelection campaign from President Barack Obama. Who made the 2012 elections a choice between the Democratic economic vision and the Republican Tea Party economic vision.

We are now with a new Congress, but with basically the same players in charge. With a Democratic President Barack Obama, with a stronger Democratic Senate led by Leader Harry Reid and with a Republican House with smaller numbers, but still with John Boehner as Speaker of the House. But again with another mid-term election with the control for Congress in play, I still believe in both chambers, but definitely the Senate is at stake with a strong possibility of even if Democrats retain control of the Senate, it could very well be with smaller numbers than their 55-45 margin right now.

And with House Republicans in a solid position to add to their sixteen seat majority. But I believe the party that best communicates and economic message that can win a majority support of the country, will decide who runs Congress next year, or will we still have a divided Congress. And that is assuming that the Affordable Care Act is working normally by then without the same problems. Or any new ones which is not a safe bet, but there is a realistic possibility that voters won’t make ObamaCare the issue by November.

The Democratic path to victory which at this point may mean just holding the Senate whatever happens in the House which I believe they are still the favorites to do, with how they are protecting Montana, West Virginia and Louisiana and with possible pickups in Kentucky and Georgia, is to make the 2014 elections about the economy. And say this is their vision for how the American economy moves forward and why Congressional and gubernatorial Democrats should be elected and reelected. And this is the Republican vision and why their’s is better.

And the Liberal Democratic economic vision should be about not trying to run the economy, or the economic, or personal affairs of Americans. But using government to empower Americans who need it to be able to live in economic freedom. And how things like infrastructure investment, a national energy policy built around using all of America’s energy resources and comprehensive immigration reform and a minimum wage increase benefits all of Americans so none of us would need government to take care of us.

President Obama has already done a very good job of communicating this message or a message very similar this to the people. With his build the economy from the middle out theme. The problem is Congress and not being able to get any of it acted on for the most part. Because with a Republican House and a strong Senate Republican minority. And that is the problem right there that Democrats as a party incumbents and candidates haven’t done a very good job of getting behind that message making these elections a choice. And 2014 will be another opportunity for them to unite and take on the Republican Party with a unified economic message.

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Slate Magazine: David Weigel: Brian Schweitzer Interview

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Ederik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

The libertarian Reason Magazine posted the link for this Slate interview of Brian Schweitzer. Who happens to be just one of my favorite Democrats and a real Liberal Democrat. And I mention that for the simple reason that Reason called it, “Brian Schweitzer the Libertarian Democrat?” Well if you look at state of the current libertarian movement you know why Libertarian and Democrat tend not To go together. And yes Libertarians and Liberals tend to agree with each other on social issues and personal freedom related issues.

But Liberals and Libertarians are very different when it comes to economic policy and on foreign policy. Libertarians tend to sound more like the Far-Left social democratic Dennis Kucinich wing of the Democratic Party. Than they sound like Center-Left Liberal Democrats. Brian Schweitzer the former governor of Montana which recently at least looks like a very Democratic state. At least at the state level and why the governor and the two U.S. Senators are Democrats. The one U.S. Representative isn’t, but Montana is a state that appeals to both liberalism in its real sense and libertarianism as well.

And Governor Schweitzer who was governor of Montana from 2005-13 has been labeled as a Moderate, a Conservative Democrat, a Liberal and apparently by Reason as a. Libertarian. And if you look at where Governor Schweitzer is on civil liberties and personal freedom in general like privacy, homosexuality, speech, the 2nd Amendment which by the way is also a personal freedom issue but, then look at the fact that he’s a Democrat which should be a pretty good clue that he’s not a Libertarian.

And where Governor Schweitzer is on economic policy. Like on things like infrastructure, and energy where he would like to see us use all of our natural resources. And Montana produces a lot of them and not just oil and where he is on immigration and supports a comprehensive approach. His liberal politics are pretty clear, but he’s a real Liberal whose Center-Left. And doesn’t want big government in our economic affairs either.

When I saw the Reason headline, “Brian Schweitzer the Libertarian Democrat?” I almost laughed and got me thinking maybe The Nation magazine a more socialist Far-Left magazine will have a headline something to the effect, Susan Collins the U.S. Senator from Maine a Moderate-Conservative lets say, “Susan Collins the Socialist Republican?” Which would be pretty difficult to take seriously if you know anything about Senator Collins or socialism.

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National Affairs: Opinion: Henry Olsen: Conservatism For The People

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Rik Schneider

Barry and Ron
National Affairs: Opinion: Henry Olsen: Conservatism For The People

This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

“Conservatism For The People”, with all due respect what the hell does that mean? I mean if that is the 2014 Republican campaign slogan, you might as well run on American guns and Jesus and see how well you do outside of the Bible Belt. For conservatism to have meaning for American voters than Conservatives need an agenda with some slogan. That makes it clear what that conservative agenda is about and what Conservative Republicans are trying to accomplish. You don’t even need a slogan, but certainly an agenda about “this is what conservatism is and what we are trying to accomplish as Conservative Republicans.”

The changing demographics right now are a political nightmare waiting to happen for the Republican Party at least at the national level. And if they do not change course, they will get wiped out by them as a governing or even as a strong opposition party. Meaning controlling at least one chamber of Congress. Generation X, my generation and Generation Y are pretty liberal and even libertarian on social issues. And we are not crazy about big government either as it relates to economic policy.

Which is an opening for Republicans if they move away from their big government social agenda that is about forcing Americans to live the way they want them to and pretend it is still 1955 or something. By the way if you were born in 1955, you’ll be fifty-nine years old at some point this year. And probably have a kid or kids in the X or Y generations. This is a long time ago, but you wouldn’t know that if you follow the religious and neo-right of the Republican Party.

I’ve blogged about this before, but the path back to power for the Republican Party is back to the future. Not just speak highly of Barry Goldwater and Ron Reagan, but embrace their politics. Embrace Ron Paul as well and this doesn’t mean you have to embrace his foreign policy and what he wants to do with the Fed and gold and silver and so-forth. But tell him “we are with you on economic and fiscal policy for the most part and we should work together.”

Time for Republicans to move past the religious-right and their big government social agenda and bring the Rand Paul supporters with them. Doesn’t mean they have to go libertarian on social policy. But stop trying to nationalize social issues and making your campaigns about Jesus, Gays and guns. Meaning trying to put Jesus in every Americans life and trying to kick Gays out of the country. And just running on guns when it comes to personal freedom, but saying “we believe in economic freedom and we aren’t interested in running people’s personal lives, at least at the federal level either.”

Maybe the Republican campaign slogan should be Back to the Future. Or its Morning in America again in the Republican Party. Meaning the GOP has woken up from their twenty-year dream or nightmare for a lot of other Americans. And they are embracing the 21st Century and are going to now adapt it. And they are still that fiscally and economically conservative party, that a lot of Americans use to love. Who perhaps grew up supporting Barry Goldwater or Ron Reagan, but now they are also that socially conservative party, but in a classical sense. That doesn’t embrace all social change, but is also not afraid of it. And won’t try to stop Americans from living their own lives.

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VOA News: Washington Week: Focus on US Unemployed

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Erik Schneider

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Source:The New Democrat 

Here’s an idea that even Republicans could support especially since one of them proposed it when he ran for president a couple of years ago. And still talks about this and is in favor of it. That being former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and current CNN commentator.Pass a twelve month Unemployment Insurance extension, but with that would come a voucher lets say to pay for classes at a community college or a vocational school or some private job seminar. Where these workers could get additional skills and learn about other fields and use this to get themselves a good job and get back to work sooner. Instead of just collecting their Unemployment Insurance and continuing to look for work, but with little or no success.

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