The U.S. Senate blocked this week a proposal to stop handouts to the 5 big oil companies worth 5 billion.
All of the 47 Republicans and 3 Democrat Senators voted to keep the subsidies under the pretense that it would hurt customers at the pump. Customers are already hurting. The Energy Committee of the U.S. Senate had hearings with the Chairmen of the big oil companies. One of the chairmen said that the American public does not want the oil companies to sacrifice, they only want the wellbeing of businesses.
A poll taken by NBC/Wall Street Journal taken in February of 2011 showed that 74% of Americans believe that subsidies should be eliminated.
But the members that voted not to eliminate those subsidies have received 25 million in campaign contributions from these companies while the people who voted in favor of eliminating them only received 5 million from the oil industry.
I have said in the past that the oil industry together with other big contributors is one of the cancers of this country. They corrupt the system, poison the air we breathe and pollute the water we drink with leaks into soil.
The hoax of the republican party about cutting the federal deficit is nothing but a cover up of what it really is, the dismantling of ALL the programs that help the middle class and the poor, destroying Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Dond Trump and the shameful white majority of the US
Today is a sad day in the United States of America when an African American man had to show his papers just like in the times of slavery when white people considered a black man a second class citizen.
Donald Trump has proven to the whole country that he nothing short of a buffoon, questioning the fact that President Obama was born in Hawaii. He is also focusing on the fact that nobody can remember going to school and to college with this president. He is questioning Obama’s grades and how he got into Columbia and Harvard.
What makes this matter sad is that no other republican candidate or member of the Republican Party is denouncing Trump for this. When you have almost 50% of republicans who believe that Obama was not born in the U.S. and that he is a Muslim.
The main reason the Republican Party has behaved shamefully is because the president is an African American. Nobody would have ever questioned him if he would have been white.
It is hard to believe that the white majority in this country have not moved on since the Civil rights act of the 60s.
Donald Trump has proven to the whole country that he nothing short of a buffoon, questioning the fact that President Obama was born in Hawaii. He is also focusing on the fact that nobody can remember going to school and to college with this president. He is questioning Obama’s grades and how he got into Columbia and Harvard.
What makes this matter sad is that no other republican candidate or member of the Republican Party is denouncing Trump for this. When you have almost 50% of republicans who believe that Obama was not born in the U.S. and that he is a Muslim.
The main reason the Republican Party has behaved shamefully is because the president is an African American. Nobody would have ever questioned him if he would have been white.
It is hard to believe that the white majority in this country have not moved on since the Civil rights act of the 60s.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
House Republicans getting a little bit of their own medicine
House Republicans voted last week to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid as we know it and provide vouchers to seniors so that people who have a hard time figuring out how to setup a VCR, how to turn on a computer and how to use a cell phone can negotiate their own policy with the insurance companies.
We have to imagine that these members of the House were expecting to be treated as, in the words of Vice-President Cheney, “liberators”. But that was not the case. People are not only extremely angry at this House members, but they are telling them that they don’t want their health coverage to be taken away so that the wealthy get more tax cuts.
If I didn’t say that I am extremely pleased with people’s reactions I would not be honest. I am very happy. All the networks are talking about this, all of them with the exception of one, Fox News. This does not come as a surprise as they endorse the destruction of all the programs that help the needy.
What the majority of people across the country are saying is the same that polls are showing, do not take away Medicare and Medicaid, raise taxes on the wealthy, raise taxes on corporations, take away subsidies for the oil companies.
Republicans are not in the business of listening to the middle class and the poor. They are there to defend the interests of the wealthy, the insurance companies, the banking industry and corporations that do not want to pay their fair share in taxes.
What the public needs to understand is that unless they show up to vote this will not change. The people who want to take their social security and Medicare and who whipped out their 401ks will make sure that no programs that benefit most of Americans will be left untouched.
We have to imagine that these members of the House were expecting to be treated as, in the words of Vice-President Cheney, “liberators”. But that was not the case. People are not only extremely angry at this House members, but they are telling them that they don’t want their health coverage to be taken away so that the wealthy get more tax cuts.
If I didn’t say that I am extremely pleased with people’s reactions I would not be honest. I am very happy. All the networks are talking about this, all of them with the exception of one, Fox News. This does not come as a surprise as they endorse the destruction of all the programs that help the needy.
What the majority of people across the country are saying is the same that polls are showing, do not take away Medicare and Medicaid, raise taxes on the wealthy, raise taxes on corporations, take away subsidies for the oil companies.
Republicans are not in the business of listening to the middle class and the poor. They are there to defend the interests of the wealthy, the insurance companies, the banking industry and corporations that do not want to pay their fair share in taxes.
What the public needs to understand is that unless they show up to vote this will not change. The people who want to take their social security and Medicare and who whipped out their 401ks will make sure that no programs that benefit most of Americans will be left untouched.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Argentina y la eleccion del 2011
A pesar de haber emigrado de la Argentina hace casi 26 años sigo con interés y de manera casi diaria los acontecimientos que viven los argentinos. Mi incentivo son mis familiares y muchos amigos aún viviendo ahí, y porque he podido volver a visitar casi todos estos años de vivir en el exterior.
Durante este largo período he notado una gran cantidad de cambios, algunos más preocupantes que otros.
Primero está el tema de la inseguridad, que he notado en parte en carne propia la última vez que estuve ahí. El incidente me tomó por sorpresa, tal vez porque donde vivo no se da. Se ve de todo en EEUU incluyendo crimininalidad, pero el incidente fue algo inesperado. La falta de seguridad comenzo con el gobierno de Menem, pero se ha acelerado en estos ultimos años.
Segundo está el tema de los cortes de las calles, avenidas, rutas, etc. Yo soy un ferviente defensor de las libertades individuales, incluyendo el derecho de manifestar. Pero cuando las libertades de un grupo de gente invaden las libertades de otros, eso deja de ser libertad de expresion.
Tercero, la represion o el intent de callar las voces de la oposición al gobierno central de la República. Hago esta distincion porque tambien existen los gobiernos de la capital y de las provincias. Esta represion se da por distintos medios, desde no permitir la circulacion de diarios como tambien de traer juicios contra miembros de la oposicion.
Hay otras cosas que leo que tambien son de preocupacion como los sindicatos, que en mi opinion estan fuera de control, como exigir representacion en empresas. Si Argentina fuese Alemania lo aceptaria, dado que miembros de sindicatos tienen representacion en Mercedez Benz, como tambien en otras empresas. Pero los sindicatos de Argentina no son los sindicatos de Alemania.
Inflacion que se esta acelerando, a pesar de no reconocer esto, provocando un deterioro del poder adquisitivo, y creando mayores problemas sociales producto de la pobreza, como tambien relegando a los jubilados a decaer en su calidad de vida. La prueba de que se sabe el verdadero deterioro del salario son los constants reclamos de incrementos de los sindicatos.
En todas estas cosas hay siempre un factor común que no he nombrado, pero que para mi es evidente. La familia Kirchner. El desaparecido ex-presidente tenia sus tentaculos en todo. Durante su presidencia y durante la presidencia de su mujer.
La familia Kirchner y todos sus emisarios, desde Moyano, Fernandez, hasta miembros del congreso y el senado manejan todo, y se reprime o calla a la oposicion.
Y no he incluido en todo esto el enriquecimiento ilicito de la familia Kirchner y todos sus secuaces. Esto parece mas Ali Baba y los 40 ladrones.
La eleccion presidencial por venir es una de las mas importantes en la era post-militar 1976-1983. A pesar de no estar mas Nestor Kirchner para seguir con la dinastia, todo indicaria que la actual presidenta sera re-elegida, no por sus cualidades sino porque no existe una oposicion organizada. La falta de una oposicion es gran gran parte del problema. Da la impresion que todos quieren una parte de la torta. Carrio no tiene ninguna posibilidad por su cuenta, Alfonsin esta en la misma, Macri no puede ganar con la Capital Federal solamente, Duhalde, no se decide. En la ultima eleccion presidencial la actual presidenta no llego a la mayoria, pero tuvo la mayor minoria. En esta proxima eleccion da la impresion de que va a suceder lo mismo. Es hora de que la oposicion se unifique para destronar, y por fin terminar con todos estos abusos de poder que han vivido durante esta ultima decada.
Durante este largo período he notado una gran cantidad de cambios, algunos más preocupantes que otros.
Primero está el tema de la inseguridad, que he notado en parte en carne propia la última vez que estuve ahí. El incidente me tomó por sorpresa, tal vez porque donde vivo no se da. Se ve de todo en EEUU incluyendo crimininalidad, pero el incidente fue algo inesperado. La falta de seguridad comenzo con el gobierno de Menem, pero se ha acelerado en estos ultimos años.
Segundo está el tema de los cortes de las calles, avenidas, rutas, etc. Yo soy un ferviente defensor de las libertades individuales, incluyendo el derecho de manifestar. Pero cuando las libertades de un grupo de gente invaden las libertades de otros, eso deja de ser libertad de expresion.
Tercero, la represion o el intent de callar las voces de la oposición al gobierno central de la República. Hago esta distincion porque tambien existen los gobiernos de la capital y de las provincias. Esta represion se da por distintos medios, desde no permitir la circulacion de diarios como tambien de traer juicios contra miembros de la oposicion.
Hay otras cosas que leo que tambien son de preocupacion como los sindicatos, que en mi opinion estan fuera de control, como exigir representacion en empresas. Si Argentina fuese Alemania lo aceptaria, dado que miembros de sindicatos tienen representacion en Mercedez Benz, como tambien en otras empresas. Pero los sindicatos de Argentina no son los sindicatos de Alemania.
Inflacion que se esta acelerando, a pesar de no reconocer esto, provocando un deterioro del poder adquisitivo, y creando mayores problemas sociales producto de la pobreza, como tambien relegando a los jubilados a decaer en su calidad de vida. La prueba de que se sabe el verdadero deterioro del salario son los constants reclamos de incrementos de los sindicatos.
En todas estas cosas hay siempre un factor común que no he nombrado, pero que para mi es evidente. La familia Kirchner. El desaparecido ex-presidente tenia sus tentaculos en todo. Durante su presidencia y durante la presidencia de su mujer.
La familia Kirchner y todos sus emisarios, desde Moyano, Fernandez, hasta miembros del congreso y el senado manejan todo, y se reprime o calla a la oposicion.
Y no he incluido en todo esto el enriquecimiento ilicito de la familia Kirchner y todos sus secuaces. Esto parece mas Ali Baba y los 40 ladrones.
La eleccion presidencial por venir es una de las mas importantes en la era post-militar 1976-1983. A pesar de no estar mas Nestor Kirchner para seguir con la dinastia, todo indicaria que la actual presidenta sera re-elegida, no por sus cualidades sino porque no existe una oposicion organizada. La falta de una oposicion es gran gran parte del problema. Da la impresion que todos quieren una parte de la torta. Carrio no tiene ninguna posibilidad por su cuenta, Alfonsin esta en la misma, Macri no puede ganar con la Capital Federal solamente, Duhalde, no se decide. En la ultima eleccion presidencial la actual presidenta no llego a la mayoria, pero tuvo la mayor minoria. En esta proxima eleccion da la impresion de que va a suceder lo mismo. Es hora de que la oposicion se unifique para destronar, y por fin terminar con todos estos abusos de poder que han vivido durante esta ultima decada.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The elimination of Medicare and Medicaid
Representative Paul Ryan, House Budget Committee Chairman, proposed yesterday what will become the dismantling of Medicare and Medicaid as we know it.
His plan proposes to eliminate the program and its place offer vouchers to senior citizens. He said that Medicare will be available to people 55 and older, but that, and I quote “the government should stay out of healthcare”.
What he is proposing is a fixed amount so that seniors can go out and purchase health coverage. What he is keeping in mind is that healthcare has had increases far above the inflation. That means that eventually, down the road, senior will have to choose between food and healthcare.
These are the same people who were saying that the healthcare reform that President Obama was proposing would kill granny.
Rep. Ryan as says that the problem is that the federal government spends too much, and not that it taxes the wealthiest and corporation not enough.
He is proposing together with the elimination of Medicare and Medicaid, programs that help the middle class and poor, the reduction of taxes for the wealthiest and corporations to a 25%, instead of the 35% that “they are paying today”. The reason I used quotation marks is because they do not really pay that percentage. They find loopholes to avoid their fair share of taxes.
Rep. Ryan is not interested in eliminating the welfare state for corporations that we have right now. He does believe of eliminating subsidies to oil companies. Companies that have made over 1 trillion in profit in the last ten years.
He does not believe in the reduction of the biggest waste in the federal budget, the Department of Defense. The 2011 budget for defense is 750 billion dollars. There is plenty of waste there.
The U.S. has not been able to get out of the war economy that brought the country from the depression during WW II.
After President Clinton reduced the size of the Pentagon, came the Bush-Chenney administration and almost doubled the budget that President Clinton had. We will have spent 3 trillion dollars by the time we are finished with Iraq, a war not only based on lies, but also unnecessary and that has not been paid.
After republicans will try to impose the demolition of the healthcare system in this country they will also try to sell us the idea of the elimination of Social Security.
And all this is under the premise that the country cannot afford these programs.
The beginning of the government having problems with its finances started with the Reagan administration when taxes on the wealthiest and corporations were reduced in half.
Republicans are now threatening a shutdown of government. This may be the only way that people who voted for these members of congress wake up and realize the mistake they made.
His plan proposes to eliminate the program and its place offer vouchers to senior citizens. He said that Medicare will be available to people 55 and older, but that, and I quote “the government should stay out of healthcare”.
What he is proposing is a fixed amount so that seniors can go out and purchase health coverage. What he is keeping in mind is that healthcare has had increases far above the inflation. That means that eventually, down the road, senior will have to choose between food and healthcare.
These are the same people who were saying that the healthcare reform that President Obama was proposing would kill granny.
Rep. Ryan as says that the problem is that the federal government spends too much, and not that it taxes the wealthiest and corporation not enough.
He is proposing together with the elimination of Medicare and Medicaid, programs that help the middle class and poor, the reduction of taxes for the wealthiest and corporations to a 25%, instead of the 35% that “they are paying today”. The reason I used quotation marks is because they do not really pay that percentage. They find loopholes to avoid their fair share of taxes.
Rep. Ryan is not interested in eliminating the welfare state for corporations that we have right now. He does believe of eliminating subsidies to oil companies. Companies that have made over 1 trillion in profit in the last ten years.
He does not believe in the reduction of the biggest waste in the federal budget, the Department of Defense. The 2011 budget for defense is 750 billion dollars. There is plenty of waste there.
The U.S. has not been able to get out of the war economy that brought the country from the depression during WW II.
After President Clinton reduced the size of the Pentagon, came the Bush-Chenney administration and almost doubled the budget that President Clinton had. We will have spent 3 trillion dollars by the time we are finished with Iraq, a war not only based on lies, but also unnecessary and that has not been paid.
After republicans will try to impose the demolition of the healthcare system in this country they will also try to sell us the idea of the elimination of Social Security.
And all this is under the premise that the country cannot afford these programs.
The beginning of the government having problems with its finances started with the Reagan administration when taxes on the wealthiest and corporations were reduced in half.
Republicans are now threatening a shutdown of government. This may be the only way that people who voted for these members of congress wake up and realize the mistake they made.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
We, the corporations
I am always amazed at conservatives who talk about the constitution and the declaration of independence.
They talk about the fact that if the forefathers would have wanted health care to be a right and not a luxury, like they believe it is, they would have said: life, liberty, healthcare and the pursuit of happiness.
But I don’t see anywhere in the declaration of independence that corporations should be deciding elections, and that they should have a voice.
With the new legislation passed in states such as Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan we are simply going back to times of slavery, with corporations deciding what we should eat, where we should work, was in environmentally safe, and next thing will be if we have the right to assemble.
Conservatives believe that we are better off if the board of a company decides if we should receive healthcare.
They will also decide if we should vote, if our vote counts, because they don’t want anybody rocking the system, and challenge their authority. They already have the right to destroy communities, by sending jobs overseas, as long as the boards of those companies can pay themselves bonuses by impoverishing cities, to pollute the environment, to lower the standard of living for the middle class and the poor in this country.
And all this is so that the top 10% of the top 1% maintain everything they have, and accrue more, if possible.
The theory that if we cut taxes for them they will share a little bit of their wealth with us by investing and creating jobs, has been totally debunked. The proof is that tax cut create nothing, except transferring wealth from the middle class and the poor to the wealthy, or in other words, from the have-nots to the haves. During the first eight years of this millennium we ended up losing jobs in this country, salaries going down, and Wall Street provoking one of the biggest collapses in history, if the not the greatest, again making the rest of us pay for all their eccentricities.
Only in America. When I talk to friends that I have around the world they cannot believe this. And still conservatives want to make us believe that the wealthy are paying too much. If that would be the case they would have moved somewhere else.
They talk about the fact that if the forefathers would have wanted health care to be a right and not a luxury, like they believe it is, they would have said: life, liberty, healthcare and the pursuit of happiness.
But I don’t see anywhere in the declaration of independence that corporations should be deciding elections, and that they should have a voice.
With the new legislation passed in states such as Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan we are simply going back to times of slavery, with corporations deciding what we should eat, where we should work, was in environmentally safe, and next thing will be if we have the right to assemble.
Conservatives believe that we are better off if the board of a company decides if we should receive healthcare.
They will also decide if we should vote, if our vote counts, because they don’t want anybody rocking the system, and challenge their authority. They already have the right to destroy communities, by sending jobs overseas, as long as the boards of those companies can pay themselves bonuses by impoverishing cities, to pollute the environment, to lower the standard of living for the middle class and the poor in this country.
And all this is so that the top 10% of the top 1% maintain everything they have, and accrue more, if possible.
The theory that if we cut taxes for them they will share a little bit of their wealth with us by investing and creating jobs, has been totally debunked. The proof is that tax cut create nothing, except transferring wealth from the middle class and the poor to the wealthy, or in other words, from the have-nots to the haves. During the first eight years of this millennium we ended up losing jobs in this country, salaries going down, and Wall Street provoking one of the biggest collapses in history, if the not the greatest, again making the rest of us pay for all their eccentricities.
Only in America. When I talk to friends that I have around the world they cannot believe this. And still conservatives want to make us believe that the wealthy are paying too much. If that would be the case they would have moved somewhere else.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
What the election of 2010 has given us
The United States of America is starting to live a very “interesting” period. I wrote recently how the middle class is under attack and it is facing the possible destruction by the top 1% of Americans who earn more than the bottom 50%.
Several governors that ran the last election did it as fiscal conservatives taking advantage of a mid-term period with high unemployment, and with unhappiness towards democrats, as if they had created the Wall Street collapse of 2008.
Their campaigns were all about the budgets and how to balance them, of course without specifics, helped by a very low turnout.
Now that they are in office they are coming out of the closet. It is no longer about the budgets and the deficits, and more about giveaways to the people who paid for those campaigns.
In states such as Wisconsin where they have majorities in both chambers, but not enough votes to shove down the throat of its citizens without some kind of compromise they will have to negotiate, or face the unhappiness of its citizens, with some members of the senate possibly being recalled.
Governor Walker of Wisconsin said that the only way of balancing the budget was stripping the right of collective bargaining of state employees. That includes firefighters, police, teachers and other workers.
What he didn’t tell the public is that he created the deficit by giving away $160 million to corporations the moment he walked into the governor’s office.
In other states such as in Ohio where governor John Kasich has done away with collective bargaining for state employees. He is also cutting education and middle class programs to give tax giveaways to the wealthy.
In Florida Governor Rick Scott is cutting funds for public education by 1.75 billion dollars, not to balance the balance his budget but to give 1.60 billion to corporations.
But we have to put the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, as the person who hit it out of the ball park.
His argument is that because the state is facing a deficit he will not only cut funds for education and other programs that help the poor and middle class, he is cutting assistance to communities all across the state, but this is the best, he will also decide what towns, who are in the red will survive. What I mean by survive is he will put a member, chosen by him, to replace the mayor, school board, will merge school boards, etc. This is truly amazing. Republican always talk about everything being local, but this sounds more like a tyranny than a democracy. This is more of a similarity with either Hitler or King Henry VIII.
I wonder if this is what the citizens of Michigan bargained for at the last election.
One common theme in all these governors, and I cannot forget my governor, Mr. Christie, is the increase of subsidized private education at the expense of public education.
I always say that education is an investment in our future. Republicans agree with that as long as it is in their own kids, and of those who help finance their campaigns, not the rest of the population. An educated population is harder to mislead, so the less educated the better.
Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff of Obama, and present mayor of Chicago said in 2009 that you should not allow a crisis go to waste. He was criticized by all the right wing pundits. What a bunch of hypocrites. They are the masters of that. We don’t have to go too far back, after 2001 the previous administration used all kinds of lies and excuses to invade a country that had not been involved in the attack of September 11th. Republicans use fear mongering at every single opportunity, scaring senior with the health care reform, saying that Obama raised people’s taxes, that Obama wants to take the 2nd their guns away, and so on and so forth.
Hopefully at the next election the people of Ohio will wake up and see how their interests and those of the corporations are completely opposed.
Unfortunately by then the damage will have been done, like it was for the first 8 years of the previous decade with the Bush Administration, involving the whole country in wars we did not need, with nothing but lies, and paid pundits to scare this country’s population.
Several governors that ran the last election did it as fiscal conservatives taking advantage of a mid-term period with high unemployment, and with unhappiness towards democrats, as if they had created the Wall Street collapse of 2008.
Their campaigns were all about the budgets and how to balance them, of course without specifics, helped by a very low turnout.
Now that they are in office they are coming out of the closet. It is no longer about the budgets and the deficits, and more about giveaways to the people who paid for those campaigns.
In states such as Wisconsin where they have majorities in both chambers, but not enough votes to shove down the throat of its citizens without some kind of compromise they will have to negotiate, or face the unhappiness of its citizens, with some members of the senate possibly being recalled.
Governor Walker of Wisconsin said that the only way of balancing the budget was stripping the right of collective bargaining of state employees. That includes firefighters, police, teachers and other workers.
What he didn’t tell the public is that he created the deficit by giving away $160 million to corporations the moment he walked into the governor’s office.
In other states such as in Ohio where governor John Kasich has done away with collective bargaining for state employees. He is also cutting education and middle class programs to give tax giveaways to the wealthy.
In Florida Governor Rick Scott is cutting funds for public education by 1.75 billion dollars, not to balance the balance his budget but to give 1.60 billion to corporations.
But we have to put the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, as the person who hit it out of the ball park.
His argument is that because the state is facing a deficit he will not only cut funds for education and other programs that help the poor and middle class, he is cutting assistance to communities all across the state, but this is the best, he will also decide what towns, who are in the red will survive. What I mean by survive is he will put a member, chosen by him, to replace the mayor, school board, will merge school boards, etc. This is truly amazing. Republican always talk about everything being local, but this sounds more like a tyranny than a democracy. This is more of a similarity with either Hitler or King Henry VIII.
I wonder if this is what the citizens of Michigan bargained for at the last election.
One common theme in all these governors, and I cannot forget my governor, Mr. Christie, is the increase of subsidized private education at the expense of public education.
I always say that education is an investment in our future. Republicans agree with that as long as it is in their own kids, and of those who help finance their campaigns, not the rest of the population. An educated population is harder to mislead, so the less educated the better.
Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff of Obama, and present mayor of Chicago said in 2009 that you should not allow a crisis go to waste. He was criticized by all the right wing pundits. What a bunch of hypocrites. They are the masters of that. We don’t have to go too far back, after 2001 the previous administration used all kinds of lies and excuses to invade a country that had not been involved in the attack of September 11th. Republicans use fear mongering at every single opportunity, scaring senior with the health care reform, saying that Obama raised people’s taxes, that Obama wants to take the 2nd their guns away, and so on and so forth.
Hopefully at the next election the people of Ohio will wake up and see how their interests and those of the corporations are completely opposed.
Unfortunately by then the damage will have been done, like it was for the first 8 years of the previous decade with the Bush Administration, involving the whole country in wars we did not need, with nothing but lies, and paid pundits to scare this country’s population.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)