Why Would You Vote for This Guy? Volume 4

Dear Friends,

A review of The New York Times this morning points out a number of continuing problems with President Obama. 

"Detainees' Lawyers Can't Click on Leaked Documents" (here).  President Obama's Justice Department is continuing to make a mockery out of any claims that we as a country respect the rights of prisoners and are actually using a legal system to find the truth.  Notwithstanding the fact that the rest of the world can view the leaked documents assessments of the prisoners at Guantanamo, the Justice Department has warned the attorneys for the prisoners that if they look at those documents they will be violating the rules about reviewing classified documents.  How absurd can we be?

"Secret Case Against Detainee Crumbles" (here).  The article starts,

The secret document described Prisoner 269, Mohammed el-Gharani, as the very incarnation of a terrorist threat: “an al Qaeda suicide operative” with links to a London cell and ties to senior plotters of international havoc.
But there was more to the story, as there so often is at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba. Eight months after that newly disclosed assessment of Mr. Gharani was written by military intelligence officials, a federal judge examined the secret evidence. Saying that it was “plagued with internal inconsistencies” and largely based on the word of two other Guantánamo detainees whose reliability was in question, he ruled in January 2009 that Mr. Gharani should be released. The Obama administration sent him to Chad about five months later.

Apparently, justice is not the goal of the Obama Administration.  The goal seems to be just get rid of the prisoners one way or another.

"House G.O.P. Members Face Voter Anger Over Budget" (here).  The mainstream press is now beginning to follow the story of the difficulties that Republican Congressmen are having as they face their constituents over the break.  What makes this story interesting, is where is President Obama.  President Obama is not leading the charge.  The other members of the leadership of the Democratic Party are not leading the charge.  Regular ordinary people are leading the charge.  We need real leadership from President Obama and are not getting it.  Candidate Obama appeared for a couple days but now seems to have gone into hiding again.

"A State Manager Takes Over and Cuts What a City Can't" (here).  This headline is misleading.  The new Michigan law that permits Emergency Financial Managers to essentially get rid of elected officials.  It is not just about breaking union contracts although that is bad enough.  The manager can sell off town assets on a no bid basis.  The manager can cause the local governmental unit to be merged into some other unit.  These are all very drastic steps and the local elected officials have no say or control.  All decisions are made by a person or corporation selected by the state government.  In Benton Harbor one of the big issues that the manager may sell off a public park on Lake Michigan which is about the only beautiful asset that the city has and it was donated to the town years ago by a grateful local family.  The manager for the Detroit school system is trying to close a school for pregnant girls and girls that have babies.  The school provides the only hope for these women and their children.  Closing it will save money but cost lives.  Just as he has been silent in the attacks on public service employee unions, President Obama has been silent as attacks like these on democracy and those least able to help themselves has been carried out by Republicans.

"Irked at Democrats, Firefighters Suspend Federal Contributions" (here).  Speaking of President Obama's failure to speak out in support of unions, the Firefighters are actually trying to do something about the fact that at election time candidates like Candidate Obama talk about how they support unions but once elected they fail to show any support.  Is it possible that the old coalition of workers, unions and other liberals will actually come together again to force politicians to honor the promises that they make to us as candidates or else find new candidates?

"Deportation Halted for Some Students as Lawmakers Seek New Policy" (here).  As you may recall, President Obama has deported more people that President Bush ever thought of deporting.  Well apparently, he is feeling the pressure a little.  Is there hope that as the election approaches, President Obama will actually listen to those of us that elected him?


"Names of the Dead" (here).  The Names of the Dead column contained six more names today of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.  There is no rational justification for us to be there building a nation that is ruled by a crook and his cronies.  We need to get out now.

There must be a better choice for liberals than to support a conservative who calls himself a Democrat because he is better than the crazy Republicans that are running.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

The People's Budget

Dear Friends,

Over at Pronto Pup today (here), he raised the issue of the People's Budget.  The People's Budget has been introduced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.  I should note that my Congressman, Keith Ellison, is the co-chair of that group. 

You can read the People's Budget (here).  You can also read the technical analysis of the budget (here).  Here is my summary based on the technical analysis.

1.  Investing in job creation and economic growth - The budget invests $1.7 trillion over ten years in a real stimulus plan ($0.2 trillion in surface transportation and $1.5 trillion in general public investment that is front loaded in the first five years).  This government spending on infrastructure will create jobs and get the economy going for everybody not just Wall Street.

2.  Strengthening Social Security - the plan raises the maximum taxable incomes for social security taxes and does not reduce benefits.  The current approach means that the lower income earners are paying a higher percentage of their incomes in payroll taxes than the high income earners.  This approach would begin to eliminate that unfairness.

3.  Building on health care reform - the plan adds a public option which President Obama threw away before and also requires negotiating drug costs which President Obama also threw away last time.

4.  Realigning Department of Defense priorities - the plan gets us out of Iraq and Afghanistan wars and reduces the size of the military.

5.  Tax reform and modernization - eliminates almost all of the Bush tax cuts, enacts a progressive estate tax, adds new upper income tax brackets, taxes capital gains and dividends as ordinary income, limits the deductions for upper income earners, and a few other changes that make a good start at reducing the unfairness of the tax code that favors the rich and places the tax burden much more on the middle class.

6.  Corporate tax reform - the plan makes a number of tax changes on corporations that address the huge costs to the public from the recklessness of the large financial institutions and reduces some of the unconscionable corporate welfare provisions of the current tax code.

Here is the summary from the technical analysis of the bill.

Based on the policy adjustments noted above, the People’s Budget would reduce primary
spending by $868.9 billion, increase general revenue by $2.8 trillion, and increase payroll tax receipts by $1.2 trillion over a decade relative to the adjusted CBO baseline. Responsibly ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and recalibrating Department of Defense priorities would save $2.3 trillion. Roughly $1.7 trillion would simultaneously be invested for general public investment and a surface transportation reauthorization bill, including an I-Bank. Health care savings would decrease deficits by $308.1 billion from 2012 to 2021, more than offsetting the 10-year cost of maintaining the current rate of Medicare physician reimbursements, adjusted for inflation. Based on all of these policy adjustments, net interest payments are projected to fall by $856.3 billion over 2012-21. In total, the People’s Budget would reduce deficits by $5.6 trillion over 2012-21 relative to the adjusted CBO baseline (see Table S-2).
The People’s Budget is projected to turn from budget deficit to budget surplus in 2021,
with a surplus of $30.7 billion (0.1% of GDP) in that year (see Table S-1). That surplus
compares with a deficit of 3.1% of GDP under the CBO baseline and 4.0% of GDP under the adjusted CBO baseline (see Figure 1). The budget would hit primary surplus (revenues less noninterest outlays) in 2014. The budget is projected to run a primary surplus of 2.9% of GDP by 2021, compared with a primary surplus of 0.3% of GDP under the CBO baseline and a primary deficit of 0.4% of GDP under the adjusted CBO baseline (see Figure 2). After climbing to 73.9% of GDP in 2013, debt as a share of the economy would trend downward after reaching primary budget balance. By 2021, debt as a share of GDP would fall to 64.1%, down from 75.6% of GDP under the CBO baseline and 80.6% of GDP under the adjusted CBO baseline (see Figure 3).
The People’s Budget is projected to run lower deficits and place public debt on a more
sustainable trajectory than either the House Republican Budget or the president’s budgets. The projected surplus in 2021 (0.1% of GDP) compares with a deficit of 1.6% of GDP under the House Republican Budget and 4.9% of GDP under the president’s budget (see Figure 4). The People’s Budget is projected to bring debt as a share of GDP in 2021 to 64.1%, compared with debt at 67.5% of GDP under the House Republican Budget and 87.4% of GDP under the president’s budget (see Figure 5).

The People's Budget is the budget that President Obama should have proposed.  Please write your Senators and Representative telling them to support the People's Budget.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal