The Rise of American Socialism

One thing remains clear, the Occupy protests demands don’t seem very clear to a lot of people.  I’m not a social scientist and not really much of a political activist (the key word is “active” here), but for the most part, these protests have one clear, common thread running through all the groups involved.  99% of Americans are pretty damn tired of the other 1% manhandling the wealth of the country.  99% of Americans are essentially watching a frantic game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, but aren’t allowed to play.  We just have to sit there and watch the wealthiest Americans eat and eat and eat, but once and a while, one of those little white marbles will fly off the playing area and we all get to wrestle over it.

So if I were a leader amongst these activists, what would I want?  How would I defend the protests?  Glad you asked.  Basically, if American businesses, and we’re talking about big business here, want to act like a bunch of scared little children and stockpile cash while not creating any measurable amount of jobs for people, then we only have one simple choice… make them.  Tax their massive earnings.  Tax the massive incomes of the people whose best interest is not to create jobs because it preserves their massive wealth.  Tax the hell out of them and tell the politicians to stop the apologetic demeanor when doing it.  Why should we be ashamed to want to tax people and organizations that have figured out that they stand to gain more by laying people off, not hiring and not paying taxes, then they do to act like patriotic Americans?  It’s total garbage.  Tax these people. Tax these corporations.  Tax the hell out of them (yeah, I said it twice).

What will that do?  Well, it might actually save them a little face.  We take the money they don’t want to spend on helping the country that helped them become what they are.  We pile it into government coffers and we turn it into jobs.  We start rebuilding infrastructure and get this… we pay people to do it.  We stop slashing government spending and start ramping it up, through job creation.  This is what I don’t understand about the Tea Party.  Most of them want to slash government spending and give more money to the private sector.  Why?  They have piles and piles of cash and refuse to create any jobs.  The only entity creating jobs is the government and they want it defunded thus eliminating its ability to not only create, but sustain current jobs.  Why?  The Tea Party and just about every Republican candidate for president are essentially saying, we don’t wan’t none of you sons a bitches creating any jobs at all… let the free market sort it out.  Stupid.  Destructive. Moronic.  Insert your own adjective.  We tried that for the last 30 years… it failed.  If no one has a job, no one is going to buy whatever useless crap your selling.

If business won’t create jobs, make them create them.  That’s the bottom line.  If that makes me a Socialist, then I wear the label as a badge of honor.  But one thing is clear, the rise of American Socialism is not through choice, but necessity.

What Pittsburgh Sports Can Teach Us About Politics

The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had a winning season in almost 20 years.  In that same span of time, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had winning seasons in all but three of those years and won two Super Bowls.  So the question is why the drastic difference in success from teams that reside in the same town with the same rabid fan base?  Some could attribute it to management, coaching or work ethic and I'm sure all this plays a part in the equation but when it gets down to brass tacks, there is a far more influential situation that moves these teams in different directions.

The NFL and MLB operate on two very different economic models which impact small market teams much more often than large market teams.  In the grand scheme of sports, Pittsburgh definitely falls into the small market bucket.  The NFL can be considered the "Socialism Model" (or as Tea Partiers across the land refer to it: "Fascism" - you figure out how they came to that conclusion and you be sure to send me an email and explain it), while the MLB more closely resembles the "Capitalist Model." 

Major League Baseball operates on luxury tax model.  Teams can spend as much money as they want on any players they want and if they go over the luxury tax threshold, they must kick in to a general fund that is distributed to all the teams.  They don’t even kick in the full amount they go over the limit, in most cases it’s less than 25%.  The problem is that this threshold so obscene, that small market teams like the Pirates will never be capable of reaching it.  As of 2010, only the New York Yankees exceeded the limit.  The disparity is so great that the most economically challenged team, Pittsburgh, had a payroll of only 16% of the highest, The Yankees. So what you have is a top-heavy league where the teams in large markets and lucrative media contracts always available able to buy the best players and put together the best teams.  Have you ever wondered why you always see teams like The Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies in the playoffs?  It's because they can afford to buy their way in there.  Other teams like the Royals, Pirates and Indians are left to languish because the capital to build winners is just not there.

The NFL operates on a salary cap.  What that means is that teams have a specified amount of money they can spend on players, there’s a cap and a floor, and you must fall within that area.  The limits are reachable by any team easily and often the pain comes when teams are trying to stay under the cap, not above the floor.  What this does is give every team in the league an equal opportunity to succeed and many of these small market teams do just that.  Succeed.  The playing field is level.  To illustrate, the team with the lowest payroll in 2010, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent 54% of what the highest payrolled team spent, The Washington Redskins.  And of the top 5 spenders, three were small market teams, New Orleans, Minnesota and Seattle.

In the last five years the NFL has produced championship teams from four small market teams (Green Bay, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis) and one large market team (New York Giants) while the MLB has produced champions from four large market teams (San Francisco, New York Yankees, Philadelphia and Boston) and one small market team (St. Louis).  It's no surprise that the NFL enjoys far more popularity and commands the highest prices for advertising.  It's anyone's game in the NFL whereas in MLB the spoils always seem to go with the teams with the deepest pockets.

So how can we apply sports to politics?

Since the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and business entities can contribute unlimited amounts of cash into political campaigns and these entities generally tend to donate to Republican candidates, we are seeing a shift in America from the NFL to MLB.  In other words, if you got the money, you get elected.  What this does is further tilt democracy away from the masses in into the hands of a select few, ultra-wealthy donors.  The spoils of political powers now always seem to go to those with the deepest pockets.  What this does, in turn, is tilt the economics of America further towards those with the money to buy elections rather than the masses who cannot.  Sure we can say that there are far more "ordinary Americans" (and I hate that term, it sounds demeaning to the middle class) so we should have the most money to contribute.  There is some truth to that but it's much easier to get a million dollars from one person than it is to organize 100,000 people to give $10.  And all the while these "ordinary Americans" are being bombarded with rich campaigns chanting half-truths and sometimes flat-out lies.  The money keeps flowing in and the revisionist history keeps flowing out.

As more and more ultra-conservatives are being elected, more and more is being taken away from schools and colleges and given to the ultra-wealthy.  As this happens, the dumbing down of America soldiers on.  A less educated population is much more easily swayed by a constant barrage of right-wing political advertisements preaching impeding doom for all things "socialized" and in turn you have more an more people voting out of fear and misunderstanding and in many cases based on deliberate misrepresentations.

History shows us that Republicans have always had a cash advantage when it came to political campaigns.  Let's be honest, more rich people vote Republican because they are there to serve their needs.  But Democrats always campaigned on leveling the playing field.  And it worked.  Since FDR changed America for the better, we all saw how well it worked.  But these days, with the political donations moving from an NFL model to an MLB model, the voice of the "ordinary American" is slowly being drowned out as we are choked with the endless supply of money from the conservative right.  In turn, we are losing our Democracy and ceding power to the Plutocracy.  And as much as conservative, Republicans and Tea Partiers love to claim that they are on the side of our Founding Fathers, I am certain our Founding Fathers would be sick to see how much of our democracy has been sold to the highest bidder.

Our country should be governed by those with the best strategy, the best leadership and the best vision for our future, not by those who have the deepest pockets.

The European Dream

If you’ve ever been in an argument with a right wing idealist you would know that their world exists in a vacuum.  Essentially, they believe America is the greatest country in the world and any ill will spoken toward the good old USA is generally met with harsh words, an odd look or just plain anger.  If you actually mention that another country may do something a little better than America… well, that's right in line with treason to these people.  And almost on queue, you would be asked to move to said country.

Let’s get one thing clear, I love America.  There is no other place on Earth that I want to live.  I have never once thought about moving to another country.  This is my home and it’s my country.  But having a worldly view has many benefits.  For one, you just come off a bit more intelligent.  But, and more importantly, it gives you the freedom to study what other countries do right (as well as what they do wrong) and figure out how America can do it better.  Without the ability to understand your flaws, you can’t progress.

“The American Dream” is a phrase that everyone in this country is familiar with.  It’s the basis for everything that is America.  It is what has allowed us to become the great country we are.  But everyday it seems like that American dream is more of an American fairy tale.  For many Americans, it just doesn’t exist anymore… at least not in this country.

The fundamental basis of the American dream is upward mobility.  Where a person can do better than his or her parents did from an economic perspective.  It’s what brought people over to this country from far away lands.  America offered hope. But that hope is now gone for most middle and lower class Americans.  Over the last 30 years there has been a substantial drop in median household incomes.  And when we look at other countries, countries who have embraced a more socialist economic model, it’s clear that we now enjoy much less economic mobility than other developed nations.  In short, middle class people of the world are more likely to live The German Dream, The Canadian Dream, The Norwegian Dream and The Finnish Dream than they are The American Dream.

Ben Bernake once stated, “Without the possibility of unequal [economic] outcomes tied to difference in effort and skill, the economic incentive for productive behavior would be eliminated.”  I find this statement interesting because when looking at the productivity vs. income figures over the last 40 years, worker productivity has increased dramatically while family incomes have essentially remained flat.  Looking even further, the real separation of income vs productivity begins during the early 1980s when the Republican hero was elected President and a dramatic separation occurs in the early 2000’s when Reagan’s lackey won his Presidential bid.  So while Mr. Bernake’s comments make absolute sense, our market economy hasn’t quite lived up to the "productivity equals financial growth" theory.

So while the big argument is that socialism kills the benefits of the supply side economics, I would argue that unbridled capitalism has killed The American Dream – and have the figures to back it up.  The truth is that capitalist economics no longer provides the hope of the American dream and may just be leading us to the next Great Depression.  The truth is that men in their thirties have less income than their fathers did when they were in their thirties and income growth is covered up with smoke an mirrors by stating (a fact, I might add) that family income is greater now than in our parents’ generation.  What this doesn’t tell you is that more women are working.  Naturally this would lead someone to believe that family incomes should be about 30%-50% higher now than 30 years ago because of the drastic increase of two income households.  In actuality, family incomes have only increased by 9%.  American’s added an additional wage earner to their families, yet income growth has only grown by 9%!  The math just doesn’t add up.

I can’t leave this article without telling you all that the American Dream is still alive for some Americans… chances are it’s not you, though.  In the last 40 years income growth for the bottom 20% has grown by about 10% (no dream here), but for the top 1%, income growth has been closer to 180%.  At least we can all sleep at night knowing there are some winners out there.  If your back hurts, it because these winners are stepping on it to get that Dream.

Why Does This Rain Smell Like Ammonia?

In the grand scheme of things, republicans seem to be very crafty in their messages to the people.  They tell us that the sky is falling and we tend to believe them.  They tell us Democrats caused the sky to fall and we believe them.  They tell us that spending needs to be brought under control and the only way to do that is to put the screws to the working people they represent... and we fall right in line.

I was glad to see that the massive protests in Wisconsin have not subsided since governor walker stamped out the voice of the middle class last week.  It shows the world that you can't piss all over us anymore and tell us it's raining.  In my home state of Pennsylvania, our newly elected republican governor just rolled out his new budget plans.  You guessed it, it isn't raining, but the middle class is all wet again.

This is how it works.  He leads in with reinforcing his campaign promise that his budget doesn't raise a single tax.  We all cheer and party and think this guy actually cares about the working man, after all, he's not going to ask us for more money.  That's when the smell of urine begins wafting through the air.  You would think that the only way to shoulder such a bold promise would be to ask those that can pay for it to shoulder the load.  But we're not dealing with the logical mind, we're dealing with republicans, here.  While we'll enjoy steady tax bills, we'll also enjoy layoffs, wage freezes and cuts to that age old root of all evil... education.

While Ed Rendell was Governor, education saw a boost in funding and I have to admit, I proud of the public schools in Pennsylvania.  The teachers are dedicated, many of them have won awards and consistently rank high in quality of education.  No better reason to cut funding, right?  And educated middle class is a dangerous middle class.  Instead of asking business and wealthy residents to kick in, corbett has decided to attack the unions, put people out of work and slash the wages of public employees.  These are the people that depend on their salaries to... you know... eat.

What's even more shocking than the very clear disdain for the working Pennsylvanian is the obvious favoritism for the rich and businesses.  Lowering capital gains taxes is obviously much more important that funding programs for kindergartners, even I thought that was obvious.  Also avoiding the knife are those environmentally destructive natural gas companies.  A nice tax cut for those guys who have this amazing ability to turn normal drinking water into a volatile explosive.  Apparently this is much more interesting than say... mental health care for Pennsylvanians.

The one good thing about all these republicans and their budget plans is that the middle class now sees the error of their ways.  I have a feeling in 2012, the working American is going to be pretty tired of being the republican's toilets.  Hell, in Wisconsin, they're probably not even going to have to wait that long

The Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

In light of the recent events in Wisconsin, where governor walker and his team of republican senators have effectively silenced the voice of the government Worker, cyberspace has been chattering away.  One of the biggest arguments on the right, and I’m talking about the common republican citizen, is that Unions, while serving a purpose many years ago, have no place in our world today.

What I find so shocking about this is the fact that the corporation has effectively zipped up his sheep suit and now walks amongst his prey.  We’re at a point now where people no longer believe that corporations follow the “profits over people” mentality.  I’ve got to hand it to all those public relations departments, they did a hell of a job pulling the wool over the worker’s eyes.  Now we’re all hanging out, having a good time – one big happy family.  Corporation and worker, together again.

The problem here is that this is all a big farce.  Market forces do not dictate corporate actions, which is clearly evident by the fact that even in this recession, these businesses are recording record profits, yet aren’t hiring people on to the payrolls.  They are just sitting atop their mountains of cash and looking down on their peons.  And because no one seems to be looking up at them and realizing what is going on, the first domino against the voice of the worker has fallen – the rest are sure to follow soon.

When people see the word “Union,” they should be seeing what it really means and that is “Worker’s rights.”  Anyone who say’s Unions have no place in today’s world are really saying that the Worker has no rights in today’s world.  And once the Union counterweight to profits over people has been eliminated, the corporation will rip off that sheep skin and show his true colors.  And it will not matter if your are Liberal or conservative, Democrat or republican – YOU are what’s for dinner.

The Socialism Scare Tactic

Originally published on September 16, 2009 - Bucks County Courier Times

The debate on health care has reached epic proportions, with heated arguments from the masses on why a public option health plan is a bad idea and in some cases, downright illegal.

More often than not, opponents will cite our old friend, the U.S. Constitution, as a defense against universal health care.  They tell us that it's unconstitutional to provide universal health care and that health care is not a right guaranteed to us.

Using this document to defend against a public health plan is insulting to each and every citizen who believes in the vision of our Founding Fathers.  For starters, the preamble of the Constitution clearly states that one of its purposes is to promote the general welfare of the people of the United States.  Isn't giving every citizen the "luxury" of health care promoting the general welfare?

The Constitution was also written to be flexible.  In other words, just because the Constitution doesn't specifically guarantee a right, doesn't mean it can't be changed to do just that.  Furthermore, the forerunner of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, also notes that the Founding Fathers of this country expressed the desire to uphold certain inalienable rights.  The rights are, of course, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

When I hear stories of health insurance providers rescinding coverage for sick people and refusing to pay for life-saving services, aren't they denying Americans their right to life?  Isn't a person who is in good health made happy by the peace of mind that their health concerns will be addressed by a doctor without worrying about how they're going to pay for it?  Therefore, aren't health insurance companies also denying Americans the right to the pursuit of happiness when they allow people to die for the sake of their own bottom line?  When did the right to corporate profits trump our rights to life and happiness?

I also hear the term "socialism" thrown around quite a bit in these town hall meetings.  I suppose this has a greater effect on people just a little older than I am, when Soviet Russian dominated the nightmares of Americans.  At 33, the socialism scare tactic doesn't really have much of an effect on me, as I assume is the case for most people my age.  But when we really think about it, the current health care system is based on a socialist business model.

Health insurance profits rely on the masses contributing to a pool of money that is then spent on the few who need it.  In a sense, if you're healthy, you're paying for a sick person to get better.  The only difference is that under the capitalist model, you have no power to evoke change should your insurance provider not provide the optimum service.

Health insurance is a special industry that doesn't even fall under the "freedom of choice" defense because of the pre-existing condition clause.  You get cancer, your health insurance decides not to pay because you had a wart on your toe when you were seven - and you can't even get a new provider.  At least under the socialist model, you can vote in a new political administration.  Or better yet, you can switch to a private plan, because, contrary to popular belief, the public option will not be the only option... hence the word "option."

Bit let's go back to that one sentence:  "If you're healthy, you're paying for a sick person to get better."  If anything, doesn't that make you feel a little better about yourself?

Two Wrongs Can Make A Right, Actually

Two major tragedies have recently occurred in the world. The first being Libyan pilots, who decided that their loyalty to a deranged idiot who never did anything good for any of his people was stronger than the their sense of right and wrong, went ahead and bombed and strafed civilians with their fighter jets. The second calamity was that the Supreme Court decided that Reverend Phelps and his cult of complete douchebags is protected by the First Amendment when they protest the funerals of military service men and women.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court was most likely right in their decision, but boundaries need to be made when interpreting free speech. After all, yelling “fire” in a crowded theater isn't worse that what these morons are doing. We have wiggle room and it should have been utilized.

So here is my solution to these problems. First we fill a casket full of rocks, drape an American flag over it. Next we put that casket out into the middle of the desert in Libya. We place a call to Reverend Phelps (I'm sure we could get Ian Murphy to work his magic again) and tell him that they are trying to avoid the word of God, spoken through you, of course, by holding a funeral out in the desert. I honestly don't think it would be too hard to fool this idiot, after all, he believes picketing funerals is Godly. His IQ has to register somewhere between Forrest Gump and a rock.

What we will then have is a bunch of people that the world would be better off without in the middle of the desert. Next we place another call (thanks again, Mr. Murphy) that there are unarmed civilians throwing shoes at pictures of Gadhafi and send them into action. Grab a cell phone and record a bunch of douchebags slaughtering a bunch of douchebags. It's guaranteed to go viral.

While I certainly don't condone to use of deadly force on anyone, this may be a case of two wrongs finally making a right. After all, anyone who is going to miss a member of the Westboro Baptist Church will be rotting out in the desert anyway.

Why Negotiate When You Can Strongarm?

When I was in school, taking those Civics classes that I thought were so boring at the time, the one thing you always learned was that politicking was about negotiation. It's the fundamental core of that cornerstone test question on “checks and balances.” Checks and balances is what made the American government so unique. No one had all the power. Of course this refers to the three branches of government, but at it's heart is figuring out how to compromise.

Apparently Governor Walker did not pay attention during Civics when he was in high school. That's probably why he wants to dismantle public education with the fervor of an Al-Qaeada militant. Walker could easily find a compromise for the current budget stalemate in Wisconsin if he really cared about the state and people of Wisconsin, but he doesn't. He's a republican and republicans can't be bothered by the needs of the common taxpayer. Sure, they mask all their generous tax breaks for the wealthy and businesses as helping the middle class, but do they ever help the middle class? Looks like we need one of those “overpaid” Wisconsin public school teachers to pull Walker aside and give him another lesson on voodoo economics. It's clear that it doesn't work for the middle class as the only thing trickling down on us is wet and stinks of ammonia and processed Dom Pérignon.

So with the worker of Wisconsin sending a message that they will not be trampled on at any cost and their Democratic Senators unrelenting in their support for these workers, isn't it time Walker got the message that what he is doing is just not the right way to go? Wouldn't a reasonable governor say, “Hey, lets negotiate and work this out so everyone is happy,” or "Maybe giving tax breaks to those who don't need them and make the people who do, pay for them, isn't such a hot idea." Of course not. Instead of negotiating, Walker is trying to strong arm the Senate by cutting off direct deposit payments thus forcing them to claim their paychecks in person, passing late-night resolutions to now fine lawmakers who wont show up to vote for his budget and restricting taxpayer access to the state Capitol. Civics: Fail, Gov. Walker.

Just because the Koch brothers and their wealthy campaign donors-in-arms managed to get Walker elected, doesn't mean that this is what the people wanted. People want sensible cuts without being stomped into the ground. The worker is drowning and it's tough to get air when people like Governor Walker have their boot on their head holding them under.

Be a politician, Governor Walker, and negotiate. Take the concessions offered by the unions and let the teachers and other public employees retain their dignity and power to negotiate with their employers so the checks and balances between employer and employee remains intact.