If Bush Tax Cuts are so great, Where Are All of the Jobs They Are Supposed to Create?

THE LEGACY CONTINUES

The short term memory of the American public often needs a jolt of history and there has  never been a more important moment than now to exterminate our amnesia. I would like to offer a view of the situation as I saw it evolving during the last administration.  People on Main Street were suffering from the toxic effects of the Bush administration’s economic policies much earlier than their radioactivity hit Wall Street and other investors.

For people on Main Street it went something like the chronological list below combined with imagined (though probably not too far from the truth) conversations among President Bush’s string pullers and other Republican power players:

• 1999-2000 The economy continues to soften after the dot-com bust.  
• Wages flatten
• September 11, 2001
• Voila’ a distraction from our economic woes
• A great way to capitalize on this American rally & create more profit for our wealthy base is to ramp up the war machine
• Anyone who opposes war becomes unpatriotic
• Go to war & keep the American public in a state of fear
• Don’t let the public see the real cost of the war by creating tax cuts for everyone
• Make sure the public believes that the tax cuts for the wealthy will stimulate jobs
• When this doesn’t work, hide the fact by lowering interest rates
• Promote “It’s patriotic to shop.”
• As Americans get a little more money in their hands & a lot more credit available to borrow, everyone experiences the illusion of wealth.
• Even the poorest Americans are swept up in the moment with credit they never had before!
• Poor people in America have big, shiny trucks, SUV’s & Hummers & own homes for the first time. Magically, many first time homebuyers even qualify for homes big enough for 3 families, complete with 3 car garages.
• Regulators turn a blind eye so a building boom can further disguise the true cost of the war and real weakness of our economy, just until the elite & savvy base can quadruple their wealth.
• All that matters is whether housing starts & the DOW are up; just hide the rest.
• Tax breaks for the rich are tasty as regulators sleep. The real clever rich hide more money in Swiss banks so they don’t have to pay taxes at all. This party looks like it will never end.
• Deficit grows further (but the true cost of the war still is not disclosed in the Bush budget; private contractors create an unknown factor that works to the advantage of the Bush policies).
• Let’s distract further and go after Saddam Hussein; we can buy a few more years from this one and no one will notice whether or not we find Osama Bin Laden if we catch Saddam Hussein.
• People protest
• Interest rates drop further.
• Let now become the best time to buy a house.
• It’s the best time to buy a big, new car.
• “An Inconvenient Truth” is released.
• Consumerism starts to wane as conservation efforts multiply.
• Economic woes continue as the bubble starts to burst & consumers realize that too much debt & waste is not the key to happiness.
• Bush administration ignores the economic warnings, just until they get enough of that wealth stashed away.
• Election of 2008 takes place.
• Let the Democrats deal with this & let’s make sure they fall flat on their faces by depending on the American short-term memory.
• Obama reveals the true cost of war.
• Obama continues to shed light on the true American problems, removing the veil of illusion. (Of course, Obama cannot help but have some of the problem makers work with him to untangle the mess they made.)
.• Republicans find the best strategy to channel the anger at the true devastation to the American economy is to again, use distraction by igniting the witch hunt against Obama.
• Let’s make Obama the problem; let’s hide what really went on by allowing the Tea Party voices to drown out the truth once again. Fox News will help, which they do!
• Damn- we’re good!
• The perfect storm for the 2010 election now that the Democrats have been successfully characterized as the problem.
• And on and on and on………

So, my question is:

IF THE BUSH TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY ARE SO GREAT, WHERE ARE ALL OF THOSE JOBS THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO CREATE ?

They never were meant to create jobs as much as they were meant to extend the free ride for those at the top in an act of  The Base self-preservation, protecting  investments with no strings attached. These tax cuts encouraged investors to seek haven outside the U.S. and outsource to increase profits.  Instead of job creation, tax cuts for the rich that are still in effect today continue the lifestyles of these rich and famous, like personal luxuries shown on the Today Show recently where $75,000 a pop did not seem to make these tax cut beneficiaries think much about job creation: “Gone in 180 Seconds” is how Neiman-Marcus  the run on 100 specially outfitted 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertibles from the luxury department store’s annual Christmas catalog.

So, for anyone on the fence about a candidate and all others, including  Tea Party candidates and Republicans who think that trickle down really works, think again! These policies have not worked. If they have, WHERE ARE ALL OF THOSE JOBS?  Perhaps the Fair Tax is what we need!

Leno? Conan? The Real Score is: Media-2 Other Corporations-1 & Everyone Else-0 !

NBC Wars - Just another Weapon of Mass Distraction with Media Taking the Ultimate Prize!

Well, as an American citizen, I have just about had it! Between the Supreme Court decision to allow a Pandora’s Box of financing to flow into the hands of Television & Radio Moguls for Campaign ads to the Contrived Drama between Jay Leno & Conan O’Brien that made light of overspending millions of dollars on his last show, I have one question for Americans:  

Don’t we need Schools & Teachers & Health Care & Jobs & Infrastructure & Renewable Energy? Don’t we need high-speed rail and insulated homes? Don’t we need lowered tuition so low & middle-income students can actually attend college? Don’t we need representatives that are more focused on doing their job than in raising money against bigger corporate influences?  

WHY ARE WE ENCOURAGING ALL OF THE MONEY THAT CORPORATIONS COULD BE USING TO FINALLY BECOME A LARGER PART OF THE SOLUTION TO INSTEAD, FUNNEL THESE BILLIONS TOWARDS MORE SELF-SERVING CAMPAIGN FINANCING? Didn’t we learn anything in the last 2 years? How will this help California’s financial rating? How will this help states gain funding and support for job growth?  

IF YOU DOUBT ME, JUST WATCH THE STOCK MARKET AFTER THIS RULING! I’M SURE IT WILL SHOOT BACK UP AFTER YESTERDAY’S DROP FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT OBAMA’S STIFFER BANK REGULATIONS. Now, investors can be comforted their interests will be maintained by “their” government representatives.

AT LEAST IT APPEARS THAT OBAMA IS BACK ON THE SIDE OF THE MASSES ONCE AGAIN & WE ARE WILLING TO SUPPORT HIM IF HE IS!

DOES THE AVERAGE AMERICAN REALLY HAVE ENOUGH TIME & MONEY TO TRY TO FIGHT & MATCH CORPORATE FINANCING JUST TO GET REPRESENTATIVES WITH THEIR INTERESTS IN OFFICE? I think not! This is an argument Newt Ginrich will lose in the long run! He is snowballing his followers once again for his own personal gain.  And don’t feed me that “Trickle-Down-Dung!” It hasn’t worked before and it will never work because most people with power get greedy and more self-serving the more privilege you give them! 

SHOULDN’T WE BE SPENDING OUR MONEY ON SOLUTIONS, NOT ON CAMPAIGNS?  

SHOULD UNIONS BE SPENDING MEMBER’S DOLLARS ON BUYING CANDIDATES? SHOULDN’T THESE MEMBER DUES BE DIRECTLY HELPING MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES INSTEAD?  

IS THIS WHY THE MEDIA DID NOT COVER THE LEAD UP AND THE DEBATE ON THIS ISSUE BEFORE IT WENT TO A VOTE?  IS THIS JUST ANOTHER WEAPON OF MASS DISTRACTION WITH THE NBC WARS & OVER-COVERAGE OF HAITI TO ALLOW THIS TRAVESTY?  

WHERE WAS NPR DURING ALL THE DEBATES ON THIS RULING? YES, NPR has also become subject to corporate interests and beating a dead horse with singular story distractions! I have been getting tired of the repetitive tunnel vision media coverage this past year and this takes the cake! My listener loyalty just shifted another place to the left and I don’t know if NPR is residing there! 

I AM SO FURIOUS AND DISTRAUGHT AND APATHETIC AND WORN OUT BY FIGHTING AGAINST THESE INFLUENCES AND NOW IT SEEMS THE GIANT JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT BIGGER AND BADDER TO FIGHT AGAINST!  This feels like the nightmares I used to have as a child where my mother and father would be fighting with pillows. His pillow would get bigger and bigger while hers would get smaller and smaller until poof! It was gone!  The voice of the voiceless just got smaller like those pillows. 

THANKS ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, FOX, TNT, & ALL OF THE OTHER TELEVISION AND RADIO NETWORKS WHO WILL BE THE ONLY ONES WHO TRULY PAD THEIR POCKETS WITH EVERY ELECTION AFTER THIS LATEST SUPREME COURT RULING . THOSE ADVERTISING DOLLARS JUST GOT THE ADRENALINE BOOST THEY NEEDED TO KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS!   Congratulations Rupert Murdoch! I am sure you and your peers are quite pleased with this ruling!  

NOW, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO MAKE SURE SCHOOL CHILDREN IN LOS ANGELES HAVE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH AND TEACHERS AND CLASSROOMS AND SUMMER SCHOOL TO KEEP THEM OFF OF THE STREETS?  

OR WILL YOU JUST INVEST YOUR PROFITS IN THE FUTURE OF PRIVATIZED PRISONS TO MAKE ALL OF THOSE PROBLEMS GO AWAY?  

As an American, I am so disgruntled with the warped priorities of popular culture that falls so gracefully into the hands of the manipulators, while ignoring the real important issues. The drama of the day seems to wipe the American conscience clean of all accountability or responsibility to insist we have a “fair and balanced” country. Shouldn’t we be heading in the other direction to make elections shorter, fairer and less expensive as they do in other countries like Australia?   Ahhhhh!!!!!!

Is There Anyone Out There That Can Help us??????http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKazKb5f79A

A Winter Wonderland

Here are some photos of Helsinki during this very rare and cold winter! My descriptions are lame because it is late and I am tired!

View from my apt. window

Dreamy

Frosty Tree

Frosty Bush

Frosty Limbs

Since I do not have a good camera with me on this trip, I am sure others are getting spectular photos of Helsinki this week. The fog created almost an inch of flat, paperlike frost on each limb yesterday, but today the fog was lighter. I hope to get more and better photos in the future and am kicking myself for not having a good camera!!!!!!!  I feel like I am in the middle of Dr. Zhivago!

GOOD-BYE JET LAG, INSOMNIA, & AMBIEN, I hope!

That was delicious…….a full night’s sleep without the need to drink myself into oblivion.  

After 11 straight days of insomnia, save one brief night of a 5 hr. stretch, I actually slept for almost 8 1/2 hrs. last night without waking. I silently celebrated when I finally opened my eyes this morning to discover it was 7:50am. Not 1:30am, or 3:30am, or 4am, but 7:50am!  

Then, with a bit of rebellion, I went back to sleep, because I could. My friend had recommended not to sleep-in but get up and take a siesta later because it was better. However, after 11 consecutive days of tossing and turning and waking and reading and writing and nonsense of all sorts, it was difficult to resist the temptation to doze off into the most wonderful dreaminess for two more hours, so I did.  Now it feels like a holiday!  

What was the secret to my successful slumber last night?  

I have to confess that I was on the verge of hunting down a sleeping pill if I experienced one more restless night. Me, the anti-pharma activist was actually considering a sleeping pill! Perhaps this experience was important to allow me to step into the shoes of the insomniacs I know. But I knew I wasn’t sleeping for a variety of reasons, which I addressed quite faithfully yesterday as a personal vow to try before I resorted to pharmaceuticals. (I already knew that alcohol didn’t work because I tried it without too much success.) Lack of the following factors contributed to my insomnia:  

• Exercise- 2 times
• Fresh Air and natural light
• Sunshine

These are the three things I got yesterday that I had not had previously. The sun actually came up yesterday, even though it was 20 below zero in this Finnish heaven.  

I practically ran outside to seek the sunshine on my face last morning, after adding an additional 3rd. layer to my clothing.  

Due to the winter darkness here in the north, the sun rises ever so slightly above the horizon for what seems to be a brief moment. Knowing this urged me to rush to capture it, even if it meant stepping onto someone else’s property, which I did after crunching down the icy driveway and road.  

Seeing that glowing ball of light peaking through the dense forest was like the end of  

Here Comes the Sun!

  my treasure hunt. Naturally, the people who owned the property would understand if they found me. They would know exactly why I was standing in their driveway. I was an authentic sun worshipper.  

There I stood, eyes opened, with just the top half of my face peaking out from my thickly wrapped layers. From my studies and research, I knew that light into the iris stimulates the hormonal responses that regulate normal sleep cycles and I knew that I needed at least fifteen to twenty minutes of the sunlight to produce the changes I needed. I also needed more of the natural light, the reflective light from the snow to help me sleep better. Natural light is extremely important for sleeping as is sunlight and exercise.  

A gentleman I met on the plane over to Helsinki illuminated me about the importance of snow in the northern hemisphere. Rainy winters without snow are dark, whereas when you have snow, you have light reflection and brightness, which is necessary for well-being. (Could climate change affect our mental health as well?) And is this why everyone in Finland seems to be so happy about the snow this year after years of rainy winters due to global warming?* 

Is this also why the Finnish people do not care how cold it is; they are determined to get outside for as long as they can every day, even the children and the elderly. I have enjoyed their appreciation for fresh air and exercise. Just another affirmation regarding what I know we all need no matter our age. 

So, I had the three factors to kick-start once again, which has been my lifelong pattern of solid sleep regardless of my enviroment or conditions (minus the years of babydom, which don’t count). You can’t really separate these factors because all are important, though the actual sunlight had been the one missing link for me for way too many days. The below reference from just one of many studies proves that we do not need to be addicted to pharmaceuticals for restful sleep during winter months or any other time for that matter. This study in the Lancet on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) confirms what I knew to be true:  

“These findings support the use of morning light for treatment of SAD, and are in keeping with the “phase-shift hypothesis”, says Lewy. “People get depressed in winter at least in part because of a delay in their body clocks”, he proposes. In summer, exposure to bright light occurs on waking. In winter, dawn is later, “and since we cue mainly to dawn, our other circadian rhythms drift later, and get out of phase with sleep”. Morning light pushes the rhythms back into phase with sleep, reducing SAD by “removing the internal dysynchrony”. Alternatively, people could simply be more sensitive to light in the morning, he notes.” (Benefits of phototherapy on SAD illuminated by Marilynn Larkin. The Lancet, Volume 352, Issue 9136, Page 1289, 17 October 1998)  

With this morning’s cloudy sky, it gives me a thrill just thinking of that glorious feeling of sunshine on my face yesterday. I hope it was enough to carry over because sunshine does not look like an option today!  

In the past, if I ever find myself ruminating over my thoughts at night, unable to sleep, I can almost always attribute it to lack of exercise and/or natural light. Insomnia doesn’t have a place when the body is in balance. Unresolved issues can be resolved better in the morning after a good night’s sleep, though I have always felt that writing my thoughts down in a journal or on a list of “to-do’s” so I don’t forget them, also helps me release them before bed so I can sleep. Then, I have no excuse. But it almost always stems from lack of exercise first, which prevents my body from shutting down; it is as if there is a clock wound up inside that just can’t stop because it hasn’t wound out yet.  

Yesterday, I was able to get those three necessities to a good night’s sleep in one morning walk: exercise, sunshine, and natural light. How easy it actually was to cure my insomnia! I just wish it wasn’t so darn difficult to find the sunshine around here! 

Today, after posting this, I will bundle up again. It is a little warmer, yet the wind is blowing and I don’t want a chance of cold air sneaking into my bundle. I will head out for my ritual brisk morning walk and enjoy the natural light at least, while it is here because it will be gone in a few hours. 

Wish me luck and remember that natural light and sunshine are highly underrated! Generally in the U.S., we need more of it than we get and perhaps we can give big pharma a run for their money if we take the free stuff instead: sunshine, exercise, and natural light! If it works for me here in the dark winter north of Finland, couldn’t it also work for you.  Bye-Bye Ambien, hello Sun!  

SUNSHINE- EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS

Please leave your thoughts on this subject! I want to know there are more people out there that actually know that we have choices that are much healthier and necessary to our well-being without side effects. 

Oops! I forgot to credit the power of a good piece of literature, the fiction variety; books that take you away from your world so you can actually let go of your attachments enough to slumber!  absent-mindedly, I committed the cardinal sin while packing for my 2 1/2 month-long trip, forgetting to include a good story or two or three to read! I finally bought some books yesterday and will be using these as well to help me sleep better. 

Granny Pants 

*Naysayers on global warming can ruminate on this thought: With several warm winters and the escalation of icebergs falling into our oceans, isn’t this winter just an example similar to a piece of ice being dropped into a glass of warm water? It produces a chilling effect for a short time period and then warms up again. Doesn’t this hypothesis make sense and aren’t we just experiencing the effects of a briefly cooling ocean this winter from this “ice-cube” effect?