U.S. Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey

Recession affecting every aspect of American life

USA TODAY

By Haya El Nasser, Paul Overberg and Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

The nation’s financial crisis is altering Americans’ way of life from the home and the workplace to the highway and the altar, according to 2009 Census data released Tuesday.

Median household income — the level where half make more and half make less — fell 2.9% from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 last year, the second consecutive annual drop, according to the American Community Survey, far-reaching demographic data separate from the 2010 Census.

GENDER GAP: Women close in on male-dominated fields

CENSUS: Income gap between rich and poor got wider in 2009

LIVING TOGETHER: Numbers jump 13%, linked to job losses

POVERTY: People in poverty is highest in 51 years

“The recession has affected every aspect of American life,” says Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. “It doesn’t matter if you’re lower income or higher income, highly educated or just have a high school degree.”

People are cautious because they don’t know when the economy will improve, says Robert Lang, an urban sociologist at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. “They’re risk-averse,” he says. “It’s a short-term crisis but it’s changing long-term expectations. Just like the Great Depression haunted the postwar years, this recession is so deep, its impact may alter the first several decades of this century.”…

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2010-09-28-census-american-community-survey_N.htm

Although the December 2007 recession has the behavior of a TIGER, the neocons recognized it as a LAMB. Even in April of 2008, Mr. Bush called it a slowdown. While a recession could be called a “slowdown”, this kind of “slowdown” has a special name – “RECESSION”.

The neocons have a theory about controlling an economy. They theorize that TAX CUTS can control an economy. The reason it’s still theory, after twenty-some-odd years of TAX CUTTING, is there is no evidence to support the neocon tax cut theory. When the neocons, their mouth pieces and their press tell you this – and you want to believe – turn off your common sense latch.

With your common sense latch turned off, it is easier to believe that the RICH will ignore the recession and trickle down those TAX CUT dollars into America’s economic system – thus spurring an economic recovery – understand?

What do Americans do with those Tax Cuts? An article  at Bloomberg.com says this:

Rich Americans Save Tax Cuts Instead of Spending, Moody’s Says

That post can be read here.

Tax cuts and war spending are not the things that makes for a wise economic policy. And if the neocons are to transform the American intellect to a state that accepts that tax cut theory, the neocon press and their mouth-pieces will need to continue their impact on the “current events” knowledge base of gullible Americans.

Is America Better Off Now Than Under The Neocons?

YES!

There are already many differences between the Obama Administration and the Bush Administration. For example, wars and “booty-kicking” are no longer “front and center” as they were during the Bush Administration.

The Obama Administration replaced wars with peace. The Obama Administration replaced “booty-kicking” with diplomacy. And while peace and diplomacy have been tried and true for hundreds of years  the neocons relegated them to the trash heap.

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. And there was an idiotic response from neocons. The neocons, apparently, did not see turning the world’s most powerful military away from war and toward peace as being worthy of a peace prize. And they went berserk. Perhaps the neocons did not want to give up their colorful alert system that kept neocons on the political minds of America.

What happened to the yellow alerts that were the “foundation” of the neocons civilian/war management strategy? America has fought significant wars without the constant yellow alert reminders of war. And those wars, fought before the neocons came on the scene, were professionally executed without the need for yellow alerts. Did yellow alerts also play a political role? The neocons politicized most everything they touched. Did they leave politics out of America’s terrorist warning system?

Lets visit a HUFFINGTON POST article on the Bush team’s  COLOR-CODED Terror Alert System:

… And Democrats have said the Bush administration used the system for political manipulation to trumpet the administration’s anti-terrorist credentials.

“They raised and lowered it several times in fairly rapid succession,” former national Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean said. “It had something to do with politics.”

For example, in August 2004, then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge raised the alert level to orange, the second-highest level signifying a high risk of attack, in Washington, New York City and Newark, N.J., because of potential threats to financial buildings there. But Democrats questioned the Bush administration’s motives, because the change came as they concluded their presidential convention and swung attention to national security, the signature issue of President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign. …

America is better off after having left the constant references to war. The “collective nerves” of America are getting a rest.

Does focusing on peace mean there will be no war? Of course not. But it is better to walk softly and carry a big stick than to constantly hear the banter of a political party using war in an attempt to make itself look competent. Wars were highlighted but education was not.

The field of education is a category that “got no respect” from the neocons. And it shows. While the neocons’  “No Child Left Behind” sounds benevolent there is little evidence of  a hard push, by the neocons, to see a significant success. And besides – much of the neocons’ “performance” is rhetoric.

While it was said that 9 year olds showed a performance gain in the “no child left behind” program, America showed a striking performance loss at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Google was the brain-child of students at Stanford University, but now, you might start to show concern for what university will produce the next Google-like brain-child. It might not be America. At the ACM ICPC too many of America’s universities wound up clustered in 14th place,

While the neocons have shown no aversion to mediocre performances in politics and education, America, prior to the neocons, showed a distinct dislike for mediocre performance.

Much of what the Obama Administration has accomplished was done with “push-backs” from terrorists and neocons. And the Obama Administration’s focus on educating Americans is likely to be met with “push backs”. America’s current events knowledge-base has suffered under the neocon administration.

Party of No Pledges to solve Problems Some Day: Caroline Baum

By Caroline Baum

Sep 28, 2010

Bloomberg Opinion

A contract is a contract, a pledge just a pledge. If a contract can be abrogated when the political winds shift, what sort of staying power should we expect from a pledge?

The contract I refer to is the 1994 Contract with America, a legislative agenda presented and signed on the Capitol steps 16 years ago by 367 Republican revolutionaries. It included eight major reforms and 10 bills, which the aspiring lawmakers promised to bring to the floor in the first 100 days if they became the majority party. (They did and they did.)

The measures included a balanced budget amendment, term limits, tax incentives for small business, and Social Security, welfare and tort reforms. …

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-28/party-of-no-pledges-to-solve-problems-some-day-caroline-baum.html

Yes, the above is a post from Caroline Baum at Bloomberg.com. Yes, it brings into the “current events” domain neocon information that is not “pretty”. And “YES” it is quite a surprise!

Tony Blair warned of US torture claims in 2002

BBC News

By Dominic Casciani

BBC News home affairs correspondent

28 September 2010

A secret document has emerged in court, revealing Tony Blair’s mounting concern in 2002 about claims of torture of terror suspects by US agents.

The former prime minister was briefed by Foreign Office staff as suspects were being moved to Guantanamo Bay.

The document concludes with a hand-written note, said by lawyers to have been written by the former PM.

His note expresses concern about torture claims and urges officials to establish that “it isn’t happening”.

The memo, sent by the Foreign Office to No 10, emerged amid what is becoming one of the most protracted legal fights in decades.

Six former Guantanamo Bay detainees are suing the British government for alleged complicity in their ill-treatment. …

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11431359

It is difficult to believe that Tony Blair is an individual who is “rotten to the core”. It is easier to believe that Tony Blair got mixed up with the “wrong crowd”. And the Iraqi war is likely proof that he did. The Iraqi war was the “brain-child” of America’s neocons – not Britain’s Tony Blair.

Mr. Tony Blair may have come close to giving his life for his humanitarian efforts. It was said that Israel came close to shooting down Mr. Blair’s plane as it was in the skies claimed by the Israeli government.

It should come as no surprise that a quote like the below could, in 2002, come from Mr. Blair:

The key is to find out how they are being treated. Though I was initially sceptical about claims of torture, we must make it clear to the US that any such action would be totally unacceptable and v. quickly establish that it isn’t happening.

Tony Blair memo, January 2002

When one gets in with the wrong crowd, one is subject to be used by that crowd.

Britain is now trying to figure out how the Iraq war started but according to Mr. Bush, it was Britain that provided the evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush used his famous/infamous 16 words to describe that revelation to the world.

It looks like Mr. Blair did indeed get in with the wrong crowd.

The Price of Products and Services Can Disconnect From Customer’s Salaries

Disconnecting the price of products and services from salary is a “bold” business move.

Generally the owners of products and services are sensitive to pricing their products and services so that their market can afford to buy their products and services. This implies that customers have an option to buy or not buy. But it’s an ill wind that blows no good to customers if products and services are priced outside a customer’s ability to pay.

However, the health-care business may just be the kind of business that can really experiment with “maximizing” profit.

The health-care business inherited a powerful customer motivator – self preservation. Customers are literally born with the idea of self-preservation. This means they will pay and likely pay dearly to preserve themselves. And one of the first “laws” of preservation is stay out of coffins.  In effect, health care customers are captive customers to ever-increasing health-care prices.

Products and services that aim to keep customers out of coffins are prime candidates for a price – salary disconnect.

Of course, customers’ salaries fell victim to the “price – salary” disconnect long ago. Now businesses that aid those customers attempts to pay the ever-increasing health-care prices are feeling the “pinch”, on their profits. “Bubble bursting” price increases are beginning to get the attention of business. Health-care prices seem to have no “natural enemies” to their ever increasing growth.

The KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION’S website displays the below graph along with considerable other health care information.  The below graph is a representation of a profit comparison between the pharmaceuticals industry and the Fortune 500 companies for the time frame shown.

http://www.kff.org/insurance/7031/print-sec1.cfm

Joejolly, sometime ago, thought the profit comparison between the Fortune 500 companies and health-care business looked almost obscene. I suppose, if you are naive or extremely gullible or maybe even a dumb moron, you might believe that the health-care industry’s main concern was for the users of health-care system. The neocons put forth that idea to help themselves garner votes in the upcoming election. And the neocon press did its usual “current events” job on its believers.

A casual glance at the above graph should re-enforce the idea that business is responsible for its bottom line only. And not long ago, a blogger, perhaps of neocon ilk, over at the Wall Street Journal said this:

“The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility”

Business is responsible for its bottom-line only. It may be ok, in the mind of neocons, for America to sacrifice 6,000 soldiers and only show a business gain of perhaps the second largest OIL RESERVES IN THE WORLD.

Using the resources of government to make business gains in that manner, while still holding to a “case against corporate social responsibility”  must sound like music to the ears of neocons, morons, dumb morons and oxy-morons.

And so long as business owns America’s economy – it can be a force to be reckoned with – especially in a fascist oriented political party.

If, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, Americans still want to believe that the health care business was fighting for them – then there is likely going to be a “long, torturous  journey” back to the ethics and common sense home of pre-1980 America.

An Election is Nigh – Which Persuasive Tool Will the Neocons Use – Logos, Ethos or Pathos?

The neocons have exposed America to twenty-some-odd years of their administrative skills but they are likely to rule out their performance as being a persuasive tool in the upcoming election.

In the face of nothing but performance train-wrecks, the neocons are not likely to remind America of their political skills.

In past elections the neocons have focused on “lipstick on a pig” and suggested they would talk about one candidate’s “prisoner of war” experience. The Geneva Conventions may have aided the return of that POW without his experiencing “ENHANCED INTERROGATION” or unwanted surgery on his body parts.

The neocons WON’T talk about what they did for America and they CAN’T talk about what they did to America. So, how will the neocons persuade America to return to the HIGH RISK days of neocon political management/mis-management of the country?

LOGOS

Will appealing to reason work? Accept the neocons because they delivered democracy to Iraq  and therefore the neocons are good for the growth/spread of democracy? Vote Neocon!

ETHOS

Will appealing to ethics work? The credibility and character of the neocons are above reproach – so long as creditability and character don’t interfere with neocon’s POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY? Vote Neocon!.

PATHOS

How about an emotional appeal? Don’t you just long for the good old days of racism, and free interracial sex that did not register in the legal system? Vote Neocon!

All three of the above “tools” are rhetoric based so they could be used by the neocons in their attempt to, once again,  get their hands on America’s treasury. If, in-spite of twenty-some-odd years of neocon experience, America has not had enough – then recall that EVERYTHING has a life cycle – even countries.

‘Black Swan’ Author Taleb Says Obama’s Stimulus Made Economic Crisis Worse

Bloomberg

By Frederic Tomesco

Sep 25, 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration weakened the country’s economy by seeking to foster growth instead of paying down the federal debt, said Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan.”

“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”

Today, Taleb said, “total debt is higher than it was in 2008 and unemployment is worse.”

Obama this month proposed a package of $180 billion in business tax breaks and infrastructure outlays to boost spending and job growth. That would come on top of the $814 billion stimulus measure enacted last year. The U.S. government’s total outstanding debt is about $13.5 trillion, according to Treasury figures. …

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-25/-black-swan-author-taleb-says-obama-s-stimulus-made-economic-crisis-worse.html

Nassim Nicholas Taleb said:

U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration weakened the country’s economy by seeking to foster growth instead of paying down the federal debt

joejolly responds:

Sometimes one’s politics clouds one’s thinking. Sometimes one is a “johnny come lately” to an economic condition.

Reaganomics weakened America’s economy in 1980 with the election of America’s neocons.  There have been numerous accounts of this weakening over twenty-some-odd years. The greatest weakness of America’s economy came after President George W. Bush focused on the economy in 2003. It took only four years for the weakness of the economy to be obvious to all but those of the neocon ilk.

If Mr. Taleb did not publicly comment on the neocons’ crashing of America’s economy then one must consider his political “ilk”.

Mr. Taleb is likely correct in suggesting that there are choices in responding to economic disasters. And one of the choices is: “DO NOTHING”. And that is precisely how the neocons greeted America’s R-E-C-E-S-S-I-O-N “thingee” in 2007.  The 2007 Great Recession was ignored for almost a year by the neocons. So one of the possible choices was indeed – “DO NOTHING” . Perhaps – “ A stitch in time saves nine” took a back-seat to the neocon’s IN-DENIAL.

The neocons handed President Obama a real barrel of economic snakes. First there was a neocon President who refused to believe America was in a recession. By holding off the admission of a recession for as long as he could, Mr. Bush was able to do nothing at all about a recession that reminded people of America’s Great Depression.

The neocons depleted America’s treasury. What they could not spend on WARS, they gave away as TAX CUTS to the wealthy. The neocons, at the end of their rein, handed President Obama a CREDIT CARD! So called “conservatives(used to mean financial) broke America’s bank.

Now we can reasonably infer that if Mr. Taleb was President, he would opt to pay down debt first. No matter what happened first, America was “broke” so paying down anything could not be done with ready-cash – perhaps America’s credit card would need to be used. Perhaps you can get out of jail free, but you can’t get out of debt free. What hit America’s economy was not just a “blip”

America’s economy crashed because the neocons, using their Reaganomics tool, crashed America’s economy. This time it was the HOUSING BUBBLE. The PHARMACEUTICAL BUBBLE may well be the next bubble to burst.

Health care is a huge cost to America. And like the housing bubble, the health care bubble seems to have no “natural enemies” so its prices continue to grow and grow and grow. Health care prices, long ago, disconnected from workers salaries and now seems to be destined to disconnect from the profits of some Fortune 500 companies.

The neocons, a great producer of economic disasters, have yet to fix one. And the Democratic Presidents who have dealt with the neocons/Republicans economic disasters saw wisdom in trying to prevent future occurrences of the same type thing.

President Roosevelt in the 30′s would likely have been told that he was “off topic” in trying to get America’s bank deposits protected by the Federal Government. But had he not done that, there would have been no way for Mr. Bush to hide the 2007 Great Recession. It would have been a 2007 Great Depression. There would have been a run on America’s banks.

It could have been Mr. Taleb’s choice as to which problem type he selected first. But it is idiotic to attempt to make economics an exact science. Wise men fix the current condition and have the foresight to see and respond to future problems in the making.

Mr. Taleb said:

“total debt is higher than it was in 2008 and unemployment is worse.”

joejolly responds:

How could total debt not go higher? America had no money and could not write home to mama and papa and request they send cash. Some folks seem to think the GREAT RECESSION was free. It was not. Common sense should detect that the use of a “CREDIT CARD” means adding debt. As the song kinda says about “papa being a rolling stone” – all the neocons left the Obama administration was a “LOAN”. And the Obama Administration would NEVER, EVER  sell cocaine to Americans to make some quick cash.

Mr. Taleb said:

Obama, 49, inherited what the National Bureau of Economic Research said this week was the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression. Even after the stimulus measure and other government actions, the U.S. unemployment rate is 9.6 percent.

joejolly responds:

Perhaps Mr. Taleb is responding to himself . And yes, he is correct. The deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression could well require more than the already applied stimulus.

Economics is not an exact science. There is no guarantee of immediate success to any activity in economics. But if one does not have the moxie to recognize a recession then there will be a delay to responding to the recession. And there was. And that made matters worse.

Anyone who thinks that there is an equation that you can plug economic data into and a recession is removed  ought to go back to the books – perhaps economics 101.

If there ever was a need for an iterative process -  stabilizing an economy is that need. The Obama Administration recognized that need and started to work on it while the neocons spent way too much time in DENIAL.

Mr. Taleb Said:

Governments globally need to cut debt and avoid bailing out struggling companies because that’s the only way they can shield their economies from the negative consequences of erroneous budget forecasts

joejolly responds:

Converting rhetoric to professional performance requires skill and talent. And those who can - do. Those who can’t – blog?

There is likely no disagreement with Mr. Taleb’s idea about cutting debt. Even the misguided Reaganomics espouses “cutting debt” but that so far has been an unachievable neocon goal.

Anyone who thinks that General Motors should have been allowed to fail must not be from around here or perhaps must be a neocon. And companies, that are a huge American resource, should not be allowed to fail as a result of some politician’s experimenting  with a nation’s economy.

Mr. Taleb Said:

Today there is a dependency on people who have never been able to forecast anything,” Taleb said. “What kind of system is insulated from forecasting errors? A system where debts are low and companies are allowed to die young when they are fragile. Companies always end up dying one day anyway.

joejolly responds:

Forecasts predicts the future. Consequently, one expects forecasting errors. If one does not expect forecasting errors then there is a problem of a different nature.

Mr. Taleb seems to be saying that a system where debts are low and companies are allowed to die young, when they are fragile, is a system that is insulated from forecasting errors. Well, Mr. Taleb, welcome to the real world of business start-ups.

It has been said that a high percentage of new business start-ups fail.

Fragile companies can end up dying. Fragile economies can end up dying. Fragile human beings can end up dying. Fragile countries can end up dying. Much of what we relate to today has a life cycle. And although death of any kind is usually sad – we know that death is a fact of life.

[Mr. Taleb said “Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done...”.

Now, that sounds like the neocons ought to recruit this kind of talent - if not as presidential material - then as a presidential economics adviser.

"Experts" in the field of economics have been "spouting off at the mouth" all over the country since the neocons left office. Where was all that expert advice when the neocons needed it? Their expert advice could really have been used during the twenty-some-odd year rein of the neocons. Expert and effective economic advice could have especially been used by the latter-day neocons.

Why wasn't Mr. Bush informed of such talent before he left office. And if Mr. Taleb believes there was no need for his talent during the Bush administration - then once again - we have a problem of a different sort. ]

Some in The Press Calls The Neocons GOP – Why?

What does GOP mean? And is the title anointed or earned?

GOP, of course, is an acronym for grand old party. It was rightfully claimed by the long ago Republican party. There are many, many reasons why the Republican party – prior to 1980 could be called GOP. Prior to 1980, Republican Presidents, rank and file and the everyday “foot soldiers” could be called GOP.

It was the GOP that freed America from its evil enslaving of other human beings. It wasn’t the Democrats. The Democratic party, at that time, was filled with “boll weevils” and the “blue dog” concept. They were strong in the South. Life on earth was like HEAVEN for Southern racists. Sex and money(power) are the highest earthly achievements for  many of earth’s inhabitants – and America’s South was no exception. The South was the land of big mansions and lots of loose, interracial sex. A whole new population was born. Extramarital sex placed less of a sexual burden on marital sex. There was a whole industry centered upon human slavery. And the Christian Religion, apparently working in conjunction with the slave-masters, must have held GOD at bay.

The Republican party ended America’s enslaving of other human beings. And by the standards of civilized man – that is GRAND!

Prior to 1980, the Republican party was GRAND. After 1980, the grandeur is no-where to be seen. Lets Look again at the below graph and see how the Democrats and the Republicans(pre-1980) allowed the American worker to benefit from increasing productivity. Notice how the neocon era stopped the parallel tracking of productivity and salary.

Someone had to have the brains to feel that this post 1980 tracking condition – shown on the below graph – was bad for America or the BBC would likely not have published it. But for some reason, the neocon mentality seemed to not grasp the possibility of a very, very damaged economy resulting from their VOODOO ECONOMICS.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5303590.stm#graph

For some brains, the concept of relationship is difficult to comprehend. But there is a relationship between earnings and spending. You can’t spend what you don’t earn – even if the spending is on mortgages.

Notice that the red line of wages went flat during the neocons era. IT DID NOT GO FLAT during the administration of the REAL GOP. The real GOP kept productivity and earnings parallel to each other. It was the neocons who decided to give the productivity increases to someone else. The neocons took that money out of the pockets of workers and gave it to someone else. And we know it was a someone else because monkeys, our nearest cousins, have neither a concept nor need for money.

So, what happens when prices continue to rise and workers income stays flat? Well, it’s elementary. Workers get priced out of markets. A fascist leaning political group would put no constraints on escalating prices but all the constraints they could muster on workers salaries. You see…that’s how you control inflation – understand? Relationships are difficult to understand by some brains. That must be the case – right?

An oxy-moron could tell that there was a disconnect between wages and home prices. The high ranking neocon politicians, apparently did not understand or perhaps chose to ignore what Ben W.(bdarbs) said in his  “The Disconnect Between Wages and Home Prices”.

Where have the neocons shown expertise? What criteria do they use in pairing a job task with an “expert”? Is ideology  the primary requirement for a job with the neocons? It sure looks that way.

And the press calls them GOP. President Eisenhower was GOP. Is the press saying that President Eisenhower and President Ronald Reagan both deserved the GOP label?

Why does the press call the neocons’ version of the Republican party GOP? Could this relate to America’s poor “current events” showing? Is the GOP reference to the neocons news or propaganda? Or is it an attempt to brain-wash? Why does the press call the current-day Republicans GOP?

Will America Ever Learn?

Economics is not an exact science but neither is it VOODOO.

America knows or should know the meaning of propaganda. But does America know the meaning of “brain-wash”? And should politicians make use of either propaganda or brain-washing? WordNet gives this definition of brainwash:

The verb brainwash has 2 senses (no senses from tagged texts)

1. brainwash — (persuade completely, often through coercion; “The propaganda brainwashed many people”)
2. brainwash — (submit to brainwashing; indoctrinate forcibly)

WordNet

Back in 2003 President Bush focused on America’s economy. Among other things he wanted to have the economy provide jobs for everyone WHO WANTED TO WORK. And BBC News explained Mr. Bush’s plan:

Bush unveils tax-cutting package

January, 2003

President George W Bush has unveiled details of an economic stimulus package aimed at invigorating the sluggish US economy.

The package – expected to be approved by Congress – is worth $674bn (£420bn) over 10 years.

It abolishes tax on stock dividends and brings forward planned cuts in income tax.

The administration said the package could lift stock prices by 10% and would create 2.1 million jobs in three years.

But the Democrats have already dismissed the measures as financially irresponsible and “an illusion” designed to favour the rich.

Speeding up recovery

President Bush announced his plans in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.

“We cannot be satisfied until every part of our economy is healthy and vigorous,” he said.

He noted the vital role played by consumer spending in the US economy and said “there are warning signs I won’t ignore”.

“By speeding up the income tax cuts, we will speed up the economic recovery and the pace of job creation.

“If tax relief is good enough for Americans three years from now, it is good enough for Americans today.” …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2635557.stm

President Bush FOCUSED on the economy in January of 2003. And he said:

“If tax relief is good enough for Americans three years from now, it is good enough for Americans today.”

Mr. Bush did seem to make that “tax relief” conditional. He said, “IF TAX RELIEF IS GOOD ENOUGH… “

How did the Bush plan work? It looks like the target date for the BUSH plan to bear fruit was three years from 2003. OK, lets see: 2003 + 1 = 2004. 2004 + 1 = 2005. 2005 + 1 = 2006. That’s three years. President Bush’s plan results did not miss his target date by much.

A target date actually arrived in 2007 – a year later than expected. In December of 2007, America experienced its worse economic disaster since the Great Depression. While the December 2007 results may have shocked the neocon mentality, the dumb moron mentality might have said, “I told you so”.

The neocons have had twenty-some-odd years to play around with America’s economy. Why do they continue to beat the Reaganomics dead horse?

Perhaps, it’s simple. Perhaps it’s the LAWS OF CHANCE.

While wisdom plays no visible role in hardly anything the neocons have done, sooner or later the laws of chance may intervene on behalf of the neocons’ economic creations and they may get their EUREKA(word)!

The whole idea behind the neocons TAX CUTS is like an “old wives tale” which one should not believe. You see…when the neocons do their tax cuts, the wealthy are supposed to “trickle down” part of those cuts into the economy. So, if the economy is in recession, tax cuts will erase the recession. There is no proof of that anywhere on planet earth. The neocons wants America to believe that the best control for America’s economy is “TAX CUTS”.

What do the rich do with their tax cuts during a  recession? Lets visit a Bloomberg.com article by Timothy R. Homan:

Rich Americans Save Tax Cuts Instead of Spending, Moody’s Says

Give the wealthiest Americans a tax cut and history suggests they will save the money rather than spend it.

Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush were followed by increases in the saving rate among the rich, according to data from Moody’s Analytics Inc. When taxes were raised under Bill Clinton, the saving rate fell.

The findings may weaken arguments by Republicans and some Democrats in Congress who say allowing the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to lapse will prompt them to reduce their spending, harming the economy. President Barack Obama wants to extend the cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 and couples earning less than $250,000 while ending them for those who earn more. …

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/rich-americans-save-money-from-tax-cuts-instead-of-spending-moody-s-says.html

The two things driving the stupid neocon assertions are fascism and racism. Business wants the benefits of controlling America’s economy without any responsibility beyond its own “bottom line”. The neocons, darlings of BIG business, needed racism to improve their election chances. And it helps to have the CURRENT VERSION of America’s Supreme Court “grease the skids” for transferring huge sums of money from business to the neocons.

There are times when one deserves what one gets. If one is stupidity driven then what one gets will be of the same quality. America’s values, ethics, common sense and the like have already been stretched to their elasticity limits. America is already in danger of not being able to return to its pre-1980 self.

But no-one is more deserving of getting their “booties kicked” than the “booty kickers”.

For Many, Health Care Relief Begins Today

The New York Times

By KEVIN SACK

September 22, 2010

Sometimes lost in the partisan clamor about the new health care law is the profound relief it is expected to bring to hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been stricken first by disease and then by a Darwinian insurance system.

On Thursday, the six-month anniversary of the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a number of its most central consumer protections take effect, just in time for the midterm elections.

Starting now, insurance companies will no longer be permitted to exclude children because of pre-existing health conditions, which the White House said could enable 72,000 uninsured to gain coverage. Insurers also will be prohibited from imposing lifetime limits on benefits.

The law will now forbid insurers to drop sick and costly customers after discovering technical mistakes on applications. It requires that they offer coverage to children under 26 on their parents’ policies.

It establishes a menu of preventive procedures, like colonoscopies, mammograms and immunizations, that must be covered without co-payments. And it allows consumers who join a new plan to keep their own doctors and to appeal insurance company reimbursement decisions to a third party.

The arrival of the long-awaited changes propelled President Obama, whose Democrats have struggled to exploit their signature achievement, into the backyard of Paul and Frances Brayshaw of Falls Church, Va., to explain his decision to pursue health care.

“The amount of vulnerability that was out there was horrendous,” Mr. Obama on Wednesday told a gathering of people chosen to illustrate the law’s new provisions. He said he concluded that “we’ve just got to give people some basic peace of mind.” …

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/health/policy/23careintro.html?_r=1&hp

While some news sources are true news sources many others serve mainly a propaganda function. They support a political party. They print what’s politically favorable to that party and hide what is not. And since America still gets the bulk of its news mainly from newspapers, what America knows comes from what newspapers tell. And newspapers don’t tell it all. Some Americans don’t seem to have gotten the word about the beginning of America’s new health care law.

The below headline is the kind of headline you might expect to see in a “banana republic”:

Most still confused about health care, poll says

Only 14 percent knew about changes coming Sept 23, survey found.

By Susan Heavey

REUTERS

updated 9/9/2010 5:41:22 PM ET

WASHINGTON — Most U.S. adults are still not sure when they will see certain changes from major healthcare reforms passed earlier this year, according to a new survey.

Researchers for the nation’s insurance commissioners found that most people know the changes require coverage of young adults up to age 26 and bar health insurers from refusing to cover sick children. But they found just 14 percent of those polled knew those early provisions, among others, take effect Sept. 23.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39084332/

The above article said, “people are woefully underinformed…in spite  of the fact that we’ve had all this national discussion around health reform.”

Whose job is it to dispense “current events” to the people? The answer to that question depends upon the political content of the news. If the news is favorable to the neocons both the liberal press and the neocon press are likely to print that. But if its the other way around both news political categories are not likely to print.

The neocon press is on a mission and it does not seem to need Kipling’s six honest serving men.