You Should Know B4 You Vote in 2014 - Part IV

I ask if it is right that:

·         15% of Americans live in poverty (some families have two working parents) while others make millions and some pay zero individual income tax.

·         9.3 million Workers are without jobs because businesses took/take them overseas.

·         Congress and criminals have access to better healthcare than the average American.

Yes, there was a 10% increase in the cost of government from Kennedy to 2012 but there was also a decrease of revenue from the corporate tax (27%) and individual tax on the rich (about 40%). In early September 2014, Reuters reported that a Federal Reserve survey (conducted every three years by the Federal Board of Governors) found: from 2010 - 2013 the average income for US families rose about 4% after accounting for inflation and none of the groups analyzed had regained their 2007 income levels by 2013; the top 3% of income earners accounted for 30.5% of all income. On October 28, ABC/WA Post released a poll showing 68% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track; 28% say the economy is improving. This shows that Americans have no idea of what is really going on. Republicans continue to fool the people with their rhetoric. Unemployment is down to its lowest point since 2008 and we are on track for the best job creation in 15 years. Americans need to look at the facts presented in the four segments and ask themselves if the information supports Marco Rubio’s 2012 idea that a Republican is what we need to make ”This century…just as great for our country if not better than the last hundred years”.  

Republicans have not supported the law changes that allow US companies to: headquarter or produce products overseas, donate millions in campaign funds and make billions in profits without consideration for fellow Americans. To stop the US situation from getting worse, we need more Democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

You Should Know B4 You Vote in 2014 - Part III

·       In 2012, while Thirdway.org showed a taxpayer earning the 2009 median income of $34,140 paid $5,400 in federal income tax and FICA, a Detroit Free Press analysis showed as of 2009: the total number of tax returns increased slightly over 2006 but the number of taxable returns actually fell by more than 10 million. Nontaxable returns from people with income between $75,000 and $100,000 went from 4,025 in 1996 to 476,624, an increase of almost 12,000%; more than 20,000 filers making more than $200,000 a year owed no income tax and this included 1,470 filers who had adjusted gross incomes of more than $1 million, 6 of which made about $200 million each. In May 2014, a study found that the median 2013 CEO annual salary was $10.5 million; 257xs the average worker’s pay. By September, a study found it would take a typical American worker 354 years to make the average annual salary of a CEO.

·       In 2012, Paul Ryan said both Kennedy and Reagan tried their approach at tax reform. Even though Reagan took back half of the tax cuts he gave in 1981, the overall top marginal individual income tax rate fell from 70.1% to 28.4%; the lowest point in US history since 1931. During Kennedy’s time, corporate taxes made up more than 20% of the total federal revenue and government was 27% of the budget (7% difference). In 2012, the government was 37% of the budget and corporate tax made up less than 10% of the revenue (27% difference).

·      In 2012, Romney talked about the growth in government since Kennedy and said it needed to be scaled back. The US government grew because the world changed a lot in the last 50 years. Americans showed concern with civil rights, health and safety. The Food and Drug Administration, created in 1930 and subsequently expanded, regulates about 25% of consumer expenditures; includes food, drugs, cosmetics and vitamin supplements with most of its expenditures due to monitoring goods imported into the US. The Center for Disease Control, created in 1946 now part of Health and Human Services, expanded from 1967-1992. Lyndon Johnson in 1964 created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in 1965, Medicare/Medicaid. In 1967, he created the Department of Transportation which in 1970 included the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration created by Richard Nixon. In 1970, Nixon also created the Environmental Protection Agency (watches air, ground and water pollution) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In 1972, he also created the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 1978, Jimmy Carter created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which is now under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created by George W. Bush in 2002. The Transportation Security Administration, DHS and other agencies assist in deterring another 9/11 incident. Every depression and recession was tied to poor banking and stock market rules. Obama signed the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on July 21, 2010 to curb their risky actions. Basically, the government grew largely due to the need for oversight of businesses and the 9/11/01 terrorist attack. With the threat of ISIS and other terrorist groups, the Ebola scare, the numerous food recalls, the airbag and other automotive problems, as well as other issues the government tries to monitor, the bottom line is that we, the people, must decide if we are willing to give up our health, homes, retirement funds, and safety so businesses can continue with their bad practices. 

You Should Know B4 You Vote in 2014 - Part II

·      Tea Party Texan Ted Cruz led the government shutdown of October 1-16, 2013 that caused about 800,000 federal employees to be furloughed and 1.3 million to report to work without knowing when they would get paid. Operations resumed October 17 after an interim appropriations bill was signed for fiscal year 2014. Note: In August 2011, the US credit rating dropped for the first time in history because a timely budget was not achieved.

·         The US has been trying to get health care since 1854; Democrat Franklin Pierce vetoed a bill saying he believed social welfare was the responsibility of the states. Democrat and Republican presidents alike have over the years tried to build a health care system but it was not until Obamacare was passed in March 2010 that a comprehensive plan was enacted. Although, the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare in 2012, Cruz continues to lead the way in trying to eliminate it; by March 2014, Congress had voted on it 54 times.

·         According to a report on outsourcing by Working America, manufacturing employment went from 19.5 million workers in June 1979 to 11.5 million in December 2009, a drop of 8 million workers. Although unemployment fell by September 2014, there were still 9.3 million workers without jobs. A 2012 survey from Duke’s Fuqua School of business found “only 4% of large companies had future plans for relocating jobs back to the US.” Seth Hanlon, Director of Fiscal Reform, Center for American Progress, explained that the US tax code “rewards companies for making investments abroad—and leads to them shifting offices, factories, and jobs abroad even if similar investments in the US would be more profitable absent tax considerations.” On ABC’s This Week John Boehner on September 28, 2014, said - there are 40 bills in the Senate and gave the examples as the repeal of taxes on medical devices and implementation of the Keystone Pipeline. In my opinion, these are poor examples of job creation (the pipeline from Canada to TX is short term, will pollute the land and afford only Texans with ongoing job opportunities. 

Things You Should Know B4 You Vote in 2014 - Part 1

Republican policies and actions have given the US:

·         Four depressions and 9 out of 11 recessions with the last being 2007-2009.

·         Unemployment during the depressions was nearly 25%. The highest level of unemployment in the recessions was under Ronald Reagan (1981–1989); in November 1982 it was 10.8% (stayed above 10% for 10 months). Under George W. Bush (2001-2008) unemployment rose from 4.2% to 7.8%. As of September 30, 2014, it dropped to 5.9%; it would have been lower if Barack Obama’s Jobs Act of 2011 was passed.  When unemployment benefits were running out for some 1.3 million workers, Rand Paul basically said from December 8, 2013 to January 7, 2014 that it was better to give them nothing then to extend the benefits; the law extending benefits was passed on April 7, 2014.

·         Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times and increased the federal debt by 218%. Democrat Bill Clinton (1993-2001) raised the ceiling 7 or 8 times and increased the debt by 37%. GW Bush raised the ceiling 7 or 8 times and increased the debt by 86%. As of the close of business July 30, 2014, Obama raised the ceiling 6 or 7 times and the debt rose 65.8%. Obama’s increase has been due to the failure of passing the Jobs Act and an appropriate tax increase on the rich.

·         During Reagan’s tenure, to reduce inflation and lower interest rates, the US borrowed both domestically and abroad to cover the federal budget deficits. This led to the US moving from the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation. (Mitt Romney wanted you to believe that Obama caused this situation.) 

·         Reagan’s domestic borrowing included taking money from Social Security and Medicare. Clinton saved the programs but GW Bush used some of their money to fund the Iraq War. Paul Ryan’s solution was to overall drastically cut benefits but Obama reduced the benefits to the wealthy. Note: Republicans want the programs to be privatized. If this had happened they would have gone under with the Wall Street failures during the recession.  

Last Blog

This is probably the most important election of our time - for us and the generations to come. This election should be about our Constitution – civil rights, the welfare of the general population, our standing in world events, the resources we leave the next generations – global warming and much more. No matter what mistakes Obama has made – he is the one with the real experience and knowledge of these issues on a national, not state, basis. The President’s record is out there but the reasons for his failure to keep his promises are not.

The Republican Party since Reagan has torn down the Fairness Doctrine of 1949 that required truth in the news media and although Democrats have been trying to get it back since 2005 they have continually failed. It seems the Republican motto is Party before Country and they’ll say anything to get you to vote for them – if you’re not listening, you don’t hear the lies or changing positions. The main focus of the Republican campaign is and has been to take from the poor and continue giving to the rich; make us a capitalistic country which also goes against our Constitution. 

The President has mainly told the truth but it seems we now honor liars and thieves that preach the gospel and break the commandments. Although we’ve been told about false prophets we do not try to identify them. We want truth in advertising but not in our politics. If you think something is wrong in this country – you are right. I guess we’ll find out on Election Day if the American people are as dumb as the Republicans think. My support is with the man trying to do what FDR and Clinton did to make us a better country; I do not want an administration that will take from the programs needed by the people to support the Wall Street schemers and other thieves – a message that seems to have gone over the heads of many Americans.

This is my last blog.   

Romney and Staples

On October 31, 2012 there was a Boston Globe article that said – In documents obtained from Tom Stemberg’s 1991 divorce case it was found that Stemberg met Romney in 1985, introduced by a partner from another local investment firm, Bessemer Venture Partners. In early 1987 Mitt Romney was walking the aisles of Staples, a little-known retail store his firm had bet $1.5 million on so far, and picking up office supplies; he waited in line at the checkout counter for far too long and he was angry. Bain and Bessemer wanted to be the lead investors. Then came the negotiations and they were brutal. Stemberg and his lawyer were driving a tough bargain, trying to keep “a very large portion” of the company for the founder while Bain and the other investors were “of course thinking we should take a large portion of the company.” The problems continued into late 1987 and Romney was pessimistic about the company’s prospects. Bain’s goal was to make 10 times its money in 5 years in venture deals, he said, or about 58% a year; he felt there was a 25% chance Staples would be successful, 25% that it would be an “OK investment,” another 25% probability it would be a “bad investment but we’d get our money back” and a “25% probability we’d lose money.” Fearing Staples could fail Romney put less Bain money on the line in the third round of fund-raising and helped put a value on the company’s private stock at $2.90 a share (an amount Stemberg’s ex-wife would later argue was too low). Romney remained a skeptic about Staples’ prospects for a long time, according to his testimony, maintaining that many start-ups fail, and reeling off cold statistics that betrayed no illusions about Staples’ chances. “It was very clearly our intent to [reward] Tom handsomely if the company did spectacularly well. On the other hand, we did not want Tom to receive any reward if he were to turn out to be not an effective chief executive officer,” Romney said in his testimony. Stemberg, who is now a professional investor himself at the venture capital firm Highland Capital Partners declined to comment on the testimony from his divorce case but did not dispute that the Staples negotiations were intense. By April 1989 Staples went public at $19 a share and jumped to $22.50 in the first day of trading. The company’s value soared to more than $200 million and Bain ultimately made $13 million on its investment. “We were obviously proved wrong ultimately but the price we thought was high at that stage given the company’s performance’’ Romney said. It was a small sum compared with the massive profits Bain was starting to reap in leveraged buyouts. But it would be one of the few successful start-ups Romney could claim to have worked closely on. Today, Staples is the world’s largest office supply company, with more than 1,870 stores, 88,000 employees, and a market capitalization of $7.8 billion. Bain no longer has a stake in the company but Staples has remained a centerpiece of Romney’s campaign narrative about understanding small business.

What should we take from this? Stemberg made Staples work, not Bain Capital as Romney admits he was wrong about their potential. This coupled with his real performance in Massachusetts and the fact that he doesn’t handle his own money should give Americans a clue that he has more of an understanding of leveraged buyouts than business.   

The Candidates Weathering the Storm

On October 28, 2012 the President cancelled campaign events to monitor hurricane Sandy and met with FEMA; Romney went to Ohio. October 29 Obama signed emergency declarations, spoke with all the Governors, received a full briefing from FEMA, the Department of Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. The President told us that local, state and federal governments were working together, listen to officials so we don’t have unnecessary risk to first responders – they have to be in multiple states at the same time; gave a website for assistance, reminded people that because of the damage and winds it’ll take a while for responders to reach them; said in times like this we pull together (people as far away as California headed east to help). A reporter asked – what about the election and Obama said he wasn’t worried about the election right now, it’ll take care of itself – he was worried about families, first responders, the economy and transportation, saving lives, making sure search and rescue is in place, people getting food, water and shelter they need, and that we respond quickly enough to get the economy back on track.

October 30 Republican New Jersey (NJ) Governor Chris Christie on NBC’s Today show said “It’s a major disaster. We have battered, battered NJ shore that I hope to tour a little bit later on today, but I think the losses are going to be almost incalculable.” Christie said “I was on the phone at midnight again last night with the President personally, the President has been outstanding in this and so have the folks of FEMA, Craig Fugate and his folks have been excellent”. Instead of helping the Red Cross, Romney spent $5,000 and turned an Ohio rally (had the stage, big flag, campaign music, supporters and shirts) into a makeshift aid effort with can goods and other supplies for victims of the storm. Romney handed out water and took the time to say – a lot of people will still be looking for goods even though we’ve gathered these things, one of the things I learned in life is you make the difference where you can. Romney ignored questions about FEMA; we were reminded that during a June 13, 2011 CNN debate when talking about FEMA he said “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go further and send it back to the private sector that’s even better.” Now, he believes FEMA has a major role to play in providing hurricane relief (another turnaround). On October 31 we have kids in New York talking to Elmo about the storm – something they probably won’t get to do if Romney is elected. The President visited NJ and he and Christie had nothing but good things to say about one another. Romney in Florida didn’t criticize the President, he said – we can’t go on the road we’re on, we can’t change course in America if we keep attacking each other, we’ve got to come together and get America on track again; while this goes on the automakers protest Romney’s Jeep ads in Ohio that say Chrysler was sold to the Italians who plan on making the cars in China – Biden in Florida said it’s another lie and a cynical thing to do. The sad part is none of Romney’s ill or Obama’s right behaviors makes a difference in the polls.