I can praise Rahm Emnual’s dedicated efforts for the stimulus package and healthcare and the teamwork of Robert Gates and Hilary Clinton (Defense thinks State should be bigger and get more money). These peoples’ hearts and yours and Axelrods’ are in the right place.
These good efforts have been undermined by your failure to mind the store and the economy has sunk. I never fail to remind you how Geither has failed you. In March, he never produced a plan to address the banking credit crisis. He gave away billions of dollars of Tarp money that ended up as Goldman Sachs bonus pay, yet the bad debts still remain on the bank books. You talk of taking more care to get out of Iraq than was taken to go to Iraq. Geithner said he was unprepared to think of exit strategies during Congressional hearings. Your failing is that you don’t have a clue as to the difficulty to extricate tax payer money from the bailouts Geithner dived into. When debating whether to bail out the car manufacturers, certain members of Congress asked, what assurances there are, that more bailouts won't be needed. Well GMAC came back and asked for more. Someone told me that your Grandmother was concerned that you if didn’t manage your money well, someone would take advantage of you. Her fears were well founded.
If you want to salvage your Presidency I would create a true economic recovery team. Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan and James Baker. Each man brings a great talent, Clinton the vision, Greenspan the specifics and Baker the implementation). Sadly you bring nothing.
I perceive an intellectual smugness on your part (some would call it cockiness). If you think you can win in 2012 because the Republicans are divided, you may not see the surprise attack. I will be following the Michael Bloomberg candidacy for President. He can buy the Republican election machinery and appeal to enough Democrats, Republicans and Independents to wipe you out in 2012. He is truly purple. Frankly speaking, six words can wipe you out “The economy, stupid. Jobs, jobs jobs”.
If you see the light and concede that you are a lame duck, you could finish your days by doing the right things such as:
-eliminate farm subsidies. Farming is too fragile to be a naked open market. Build a farm marketing board that charges a 3% surtax on profitable farm income, but guarantees a break even selling price when market prices are below farmer’s costs. This board allocates quotas to define how much of a farmer’s output will be covered by the break even guarantee to prevent overreach by farmers.
-downsize the military budget. The military budget is filled with political payoffs that are not functional if not wasteful. Better to pay these people unemployment rates than the marked up rates.
-introduce election reform. Geithner gave AIG money that flowed through to Goldman Sachs, before the CDS were valued, because Goldman Sachs was the biggest contributor to the Democratic election campaign. Anti-trust suits against Goldman Sachs are not forth coming for the same reason. Fanny Mae should be forced onto Goldman Sachs and Freddy Mack forced onto J.P. Morgan Chase. You cannot do the right thing because your very election and re-election attempt are beholding to Goldman Sachs. Government fails the people. The same could not be said if Bloomberg wins in 2012, he could use the full force of the government to serve the people.
-for the energy independence dream, focus on the energy conservation stuff, kick this issue down the road.
-immigration reform is a dead issue in a recession that feels like a depression.
-my personal concern is the huge and growing gulf been the haves and have nots. The social unrest among the poor will explode into crime and then riots and cries for revolution. You worked this beat. My life experience tells me that oppression breeds a powerful revulsion. You seem so out of touch with main street (people who buy a loaf bread and gallon of milk) never mind the mean streets. This does not appear to be an issue for your administration.
These measures address serious problems with the deficit that most President’s can’t touch. You got a million from the Swedes, you could split some with Axelrod. I think President elect Bloomberg would hire back Emnual, Clinton and Gates and I know he would fire your 38 czars. Geithner will get hired by Goldman Sachs with the flow-through government money he gave AIG.
This bitter tone stems from the frustration that you must accept that this economic fiasco is of your doing, since you never intervened when the problems were pointed out to you along the way. I told you so.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Empathy
Rahm Emnual, the noble statesman, picks his spots and fights the truly
worthy battles, the stimulus package and healthcare. His next
assignment should be to battle the national debt. Let him make
government more efficient, cut the waste and reign in uncontrolled
treasury excesses.
Your sense of government is troubling. There are 38 czars! You
required empathy in the Supreme Court nomination yet created a void of
empathy in the economic branch. Your economic teams operate with the
impunity of George Bush’s Defense Department invading Iraq. PBS makes
them out to be the Robert Rubin’s cabal.
I never fail to remind you how poorly Geithner is doing. He operates
like a czar, yet his sole supporter is you! He has no support in
Congress, among White House staff or the public. His plan to address
the credit crisis at the banks has not worked (I offered a timely
constructive alternative). The investment market place is not headed
to the sound foundations that you promised. A wage czar over the
private sector is an absurd sense of government. Turn your wage czar
on the government especially the military and the empire of czars.
You should be privately vetting candidates to replace Geithner
I think an empathetic White House would not ignore the plight, for human
dignity, of a person who is unemployed but is willing to work. You
are ignoring human suffering, the rising cost of the necessities of
life is not an arcane economic term “the cost of living” but the cost
of surviving! Like many successful people, you deny your past when
your mother was on food stamps. America is more than surviving, it can
afford to embrace human dignity.
You need an economic plan for main street.
Let’s do something to get American kids to exercise. In-line skating
and bicycling are great activities that can even save gas. So public
works for bike and skate lanes would be good. Ice skating is a great
activity and the rinks can be used as in-line skate rinks in summer so
build some ice rinks. This idea is so good even your daughters can
get excited about it.
Basketball is also great, church and school gyms should be modified to
allow public access after school hours.
How do you finance the rinks and gyms? Partner them with Starbucks,
McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. Rinks and gyms could be operated
by chains. You have to work on laws to address litigation for
personal injury because unfortunately these activities can break
bones. A screwed up society has made skating, biking and pick-up
basketball legally unappealing.
Mass transit is important for main street. Have a plan where
companies gain when they subsidize or pay for bus lines that service
their street so their employees use the bus to get to work. Encourage
companies to work with public transit to make it worthwhile to involve
public transit to transport employees.
Public works, that help Americans change the way they eat, would be
healthy. Greenhouses built on the roofs of government buildings.
Grow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries. Use pubic lands
for urban farms. This was done in the thirties.
There is a real loss of sense of government. The big financial
companies can bully the government because government isn’t strong
enough to enforce laws like anti-trust. Government has spent the
people’s money bailing out failed companies not hard working people
who may become unemployed or lose their house. Government, at
30,000 feet, says there is no inflation but when you live on the ground, the
cost of surviving has increased while income has declined. The future
is bleak because of the national debt and unemployment. You talk as
if unemployment is some kind of economic term, ever think that in
three years you could be unemployed?
worthy battles, the stimulus package and healthcare. His next
assignment should be to battle the national debt. Let him make
government more efficient, cut the waste and reign in uncontrolled
treasury excesses.
Your sense of government is troubling. There are 38 czars! You
required empathy in the Supreme Court nomination yet created a void of
empathy in the economic branch. Your economic teams operate with the
impunity of George Bush’s Defense Department invading Iraq. PBS makes
them out to be the Robert Rubin’s cabal.
I never fail to remind you how poorly Geithner is doing. He operates
like a czar, yet his sole supporter is you! He has no support in
Congress, among White House staff or the public. His plan to address
the credit crisis at the banks has not worked (I offered a timely
constructive alternative). The investment market place is not headed
to the sound foundations that you promised. A wage czar over the
private sector is an absurd sense of government. Turn your wage czar
on the government especially the military and the empire of czars.
You should be privately vetting candidates to replace Geithner
I think an empathetic White House would not ignore the plight, for human
dignity, of a person who is unemployed but is willing to work. You
are ignoring human suffering, the rising cost of the necessities of
life is not an arcane economic term “the cost of living” but the cost
of surviving! Like many successful people, you deny your past when
your mother was on food stamps. America is more than surviving, it can
afford to embrace human dignity.
You need an economic plan for main street.
Let’s do something to get American kids to exercise. In-line skating
and bicycling are great activities that can even save gas. So public
works for bike and skate lanes would be good. Ice skating is a great
activity and the rinks can be used as in-line skate rinks in summer so
build some ice rinks. This idea is so good even your daughters can
get excited about it.
Basketball is also great, church and school gyms should be modified to
allow public access after school hours.
How do you finance the rinks and gyms? Partner them with Starbucks,
McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. Rinks and gyms could be operated
by chains. You have to work on laws to address litigation for
personal injury because unfortunately these activities can break
bones. A screwed up society has made skating, biking and pick-up
basketball legally unappealing.
Mass transit is important for main street. Have a plan where
companies gain when they subsidize or pay for bus lines that service
their street so their employees use the bus to get to work. Encourage
companies to work with public transit to make it worthwhile to involve
public transit to transport employees.
Public works, that help Americans change the way they eat, would be
healthy. Greenhouses built on the roofs of government buildings.
Grow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries. Use pubic lands
for urban farms. This was done in the thirties.
There is a real loss of sense of government. The big financial
companies can bully the government because government isn’t strong
enough to enforce laws like anti-trust. Government has spent the
people’s money bailing out failed companies not hard working people
who may become unemployed or lose their house. Government, at
30,000 feet, says there is no inflation but when you live on the ground, the
cost of surviving has increased while income has declined. The future
is bleak because of the national debt and unemployment. You talk as
if unemployment is some kind of economic term, ever think that in
three years you could be unemployed?
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