A Democratic Voice from North Georgia

The Gap between the Rich and the Poor continues to grow!

2012-01-12T12:49:00.000-08:00

This editorial was published in the Dawson News and Advertiser on January 9, 2012. The numbers are scary, and no one seems to care except the Democrats!

We Need Jobs!

As we begin the New Year I can’t help but think of the millions of Americans who continue to suffer as a result of the “greatest recession” since the great depression. I am trying to learn as much as I can about what happened to bring our country and the world to the brink of economic destruction. So far I’ve gotten a great deal of information from two books I have read. “The Price of Civilization” by Jeffrey Sachs and “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis have great explanations of the causes and results of what has happened over the past 30 to 35 years. Unfortunately, reading these books just makes me madder!

I believe that the Democratic Party is the party of fairness and security for all Americans. But things just aren’t fair anymore and Americans have lost the security of knowing that if they work hard, they will be fine. Our Tea Party Columnist, who calls himself an Old American, keeps talking about how we liberals are conducting class warfare. He also mentions what he calls the liberal media who forgives and or forgets, what in his mind, are the errors of President Obama. Then he uses the term “Fair and Balanced”, right out of the headlines of Fox News. Does he actually think that the news from Fox News is fair and balanced? A recent study found that people who watch Fox News actually know less about what is going on in the world than people who watch no news at all! Many of his quotes come directly from the Heritage Foundation web page. I guess the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, and Freedom Works are where he gets his “fair and balanced ideas!”

But as President Obama has said, “it is not class warfare, it is math”. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently completed a study on income inequality (The Washington Post, 10/26/11). It shows that the after-tax incomes of the middle class have grown at about 1 percent per year from 1979 to 2007. During that time the top 1% increased 281 percent and the top 20% has increased 105%. It is the feeling of many economists that the Bush Tax cuts exacerbated these differences. During this time period the top tax rate dropped from 70% to 35%. Of course, the Heritage Foundation took this information and told the folks that read their website that this data is flawed and these huge discrepancies in income really don’t exist. I haven’t read what they say about the recently released 2010 census data. This data shows that nearly 50% of Americans have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on income that classifies them as low income. What the Tea Party wants us to believe is that these folks are there because they are lazy—they just don’t know how to work hard. I would imagine they probably agree with Newt Gingrich who says that 10 year old children of poor families should be put to work as janitors in our schools so they can learn what it means to work. In fact Robert Rector, research fellow at the Heritage Foundation says these folks can’t really be poor because they live in nice houses. Does he mean we need our low income citizens to be living in cardboard boxes in order to be classified as poor? Maybe he should go and talk to some of the families who can’t buy food and clothing for their children and can’t afford medical care. To the 48% of Dawson County residents whose families are making less than $50,000 a year (low income to poverty), I don’t think you are lazy or don’t work hard. I do think you have been treated unfairly and it is time we got back to treating all Americans with fairness and security!

I watched 60 minutes on CBS a few weeks ago where they highlighted the plight of a group of Americans who were at one time considered middle class. These folks have lost their jobs and are in process of losing their homes because of the financial dealings of some of our banks and Wall Street gurus over the past thirty years. Those bankers and financiers are living wealthy lives now, while hard-working Americans are suffering because of the greed and unscrupulous business dealings of those individuals and their companies.

Hopefully the New Year will find our politicians recognizing that their job is not doing whatever it takes to get re-elected and amassing power for their political parties. Their job is representing all of the people of this great country. They need to begin working like legislators; not politicians and solve the problems that are affecting so many Americans.

Governor Deal Visits Dawsonville

2012-01-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

Governor Nathan Deal visited Dawsonville in December and talked about how great it was he cut 14,000 jobs. Then in his State of the State Address he basically ignored the facts that I presented in this editorial in the Dawson News and Advertiser. HE HAS NOT PLANS TO CREATE JOBS IN GEORGIA!!

Governor Deal, Where are the Jobs?

I read with great interest the two articles in our local papers about Nathan Deal’s visit to the Dawson County Republican/Tea Party meeting two weeks ago. I wasn’t able to attend but sent in two questions. From the articles I read it looks like the questions weren’t answered. One question was why he appointed to the 7 member all male/white board which enforces HB87, Phil Kent, a known member and leader of anti-immigration hate groups (Southern Poverty Law Institute). That wasn’t answered but this issue deserves a separate column. The other question had to do with how he planned to create jobs in Georgia. That wasn’t answered either. In fact he bragged about the fact that he eliminated 14,000 jobs in our state!

First some facts about what has happened in Georgia since 2001 when Republicans took over the Gold Dome. This data comes from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute which gathers its information from places like the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Georgia lost 351,400 jobs - third most nationwide - since the financial crisis began, and ranks dead last in job growth since the official start of the recovery in June 2009
Georgia has lost a greater number of jobs than all but two other states since the recession started in December 2007, and unlike the vast majority of states, has continued losing jobs at an alarming pace
Georgia's unemployment rate since 2000 has nearly doubled from 5.2 percent to 10.3 percent; September 2011 marked the 50th consecutive month that Georgia's unemployment rate outpaced the national average

The jobs which Deal eliminated were government jobs. Deal and his friends are proud that he was able to do that! But what exactly do these lost jobs mean? It means that teachers, firefighters, police, health care workers, librarians, DOT workers repairing our road and bridges, and social service workers, lost their jobs. Real people had these jobs! Sure there were probably some jobs that could have been eliminated, but what he and Governor Purdue did is a big part of why Georgia is near the top in unemployment in this country! Hey, Gov. Deal and Lt. Gov. Cagle have government jobs! Maybe we should just eliminate theirs, especially since instead of creating, they boast of eliminating jobs!

Then apparently Deal talked about two other problems our state is facing. One is the high incarceration rate in Georgia. He is right, that is expensive. But if we fixed one of the largest problems we have in education, the high dropout rate, our rate of incarceration would go down also. I agree with Deal that one way to do this would be to strengthen our dual enrollment and career classes. But instead of strengthening education, Deal is talking about firing teachers and making the good teachers who remain deal with teaching larger size classes. I am sure he is drawing his idea from headlines over the past few months that smaller class sizes are not necessarily better. But he is ignoring the rest of the information from these studies that say for some students, especially average and at-risk students, smaller class sizes are better. There are many factors to consider with this issue and just raising class sizes across the board is not the answer. I am sure the teachers trying to teach our young people how to write are thrilled with the idea that instead of trying to teach 150 children they face the prospect of perhaps having 200 or 250 children. Does Gov. Deal actually think that the best college students are looking at that prospect and choosing teaching over some other field?

So I ask Governor Deal again. What are you doing to increase employment in Georgia? It appears that all you have on your mind is cutting jobs. I am sure when the Heritage Foundation starts working on our budget this winter, they will make the same suggestions—cut programs for the middle and lower income citizens, cut taxes for the wealthy, and give cash incentives to large corporations like the $200,000 he gave to Delta last year. Same old, same old Republican tactics. It hasn’t worked in 30 years and I doubt it will work now! Georgia deserves better!

Support Small Business and American Made Goods

2011-11-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

This article appeared in the November 23 Dawson News and Advertiser

Support “Small Business Saturday” on November 26

After we give thanks for our family and friends, our community, our men and women in uniform, and our nation on Thanksgiving Day, we begin one of the rituals of the holiday season, shopping. Many of us will begin our Christmas shopping Thanksgiving Night or on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Many will shop at stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, Belk’s, or Macy’s. But Saturday, November 26 has been designated as “Small Business Saturday”. This is the 2^nd year of the promotion and it is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. If millions of Americans all over the country would “shop small” the results could be huge!
Think about the small businesses in Dawson County, in Dahlonega, or in Gainesville. It could be a gift shop, a clothing store, a decorating studio, a jewelry store, a bird store, a golf club, or a small restaurant. If everyone in North Georgia picked 3 or 4 of those small businesses at which to shop on Saturday, what an impact that would make! It used to be that small business was the backbone of our country. But unfortunately huge corporations such as Wal-Mart have pushed many small businesses out of business. Small business cannot compete with the might of Wal-Mart which has become the largest retailer in the world. Because of their might, they can dictate to manufacturers what to manufacture and what price to charge for the goods. This has led to many companies sending their manufacturing to China or India where they can get cheap labor to produce their products and then sell them to Wal-Mart for distribution in the US. The problem they have created, however, is that now middle class American has no manufacturing jobs available, jobs that used to pay $15 or $20 an hour. Now all they have left is jobs at Wal-Mart making $8 to $10 an hour. Even though retail sales are up at Wal-Mart, they are cutting employees hours and health benefits. If we don’t shop there quite as often, the Walton Family will be just fine! Why? Because the owners of the Wal-Mart Empire include 5 of the top 11 wealthiest individuals in America. But the extra sales created by shopping small businesses this holiday season could make their year a success.
It would also be a boost to our economy if everyone would shop for American made goods. Again these are hard to find, but if you buy from small businesses and get personal attention you may be able to find “Made in America” products. When Sam Walton first began Wal-Mart in the 1960’s he promoted Wal-Mart as selling products “Made in America”. But you would have to look very hard today to find anything in Wal-Mart today that is made in America. So step out of the “Big Box” store for one day (or everyday!) and shop small—shop the small businesses in your area! Look for local artists, seamstresses, bakers, and craftsman! In fact, if we would all shop small and shop American made every day, we could probably turn this country and this economy around!

Comparing Jobs Plans

2011-11-04T04:29:00.000-07:00

This article will be published in the November 9 Dawson News and Advertiser. As the Republicans continue to vote down every part of President Obama's jobs plan, our country continues to struggle, especially the middle and lower income people. Yet the Republican jobs plan cuts taxes for the wealthy, does away with Wall Street and Bank regulations, and would practically eliminate the Environment Protection agency. And the CBO says it wouldn't create any jobs in the short-term!

Comparing Plans to Create Jobs

President Obama has presented the American Jobs Act to the public and to Congress. According to polls, the majority of the public is in favor of the provisions in it. The Act includes things like giving grants to states to hire teachers, firefighters, and police, putting construction workers back to work and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. It also includes support of green industry—an industry where we must get a foothold or the rest of the world will pass us by. This all would be financed by a small increase in taxes on millionaires and billionaires. But the Republicans don’t like it and even if they did and thought it would get our economy going again, they wouldn’t vote for it. Remember Republican Sen. McConnell and Rep. Boehner both said their main goal was to make sure President Obama wasn’t re-elected, so they can’t let the economy get better even if it hurts the middle and lower income Americans!

The Republicans have come up with their own plan. They claim that the Obama Administration has had enough time (2 ½ years) to straighten out the economy. This economy was on the brink of total destruction when President Obama was inaugurated because of the policies of Republican Administrations since 1981. But the Republican’s plan is to go back to the very policies that brought us to the current economic state such as:

Tax reform which would include a flat tax of 25% for those who make over $100,000 and 10% for those who make less than $100,000. This would have higher income people paying more taxes if all deductions, exemptions and loopholes were eliminated. However, it would leave almost all middle income and low income people paying more taxes also. So the people who have already suffered the most during this recession would get hit with higher taxes. (In fact under Perry’s and Cain’s proposed tax plans, people like Warren Buffett would pay almost no tax.) In a recent speech Eric Cantor said The Republican Party would help “a single working mom…a small business owner…and make sure the people at the top stay there”. The problem is that taxing a single working Mom at 10% will not help her, especially since she is already paying 26% in payroll taxes, sales tax, state tax, and indirect property tax. But the people at the top will be just fine! "Republicans favor tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, but these had no stimulative effect during the George W. Bush administration, and there is no reason to believe that more of them will have any today," writes Bruce Bartlett, former Reagan Economic advisor.
Do away with regulations on banks and Wall Street. By deregulating these two industries we will allow them to create money at will. But wait a minute! Isn’t that what got us into this recession? Sub-prime mortgages, derivatives and hedge funds got us where we are today, but let’s do it again! As for the idea that cutting regulations will lead to significant job growth, Bruce Bartlett said in an interview, "It's just nonsense. It's just made up."
Do away with the regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and open up all federal lands to drilling. Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Senate Republicans have put weakened environmental protection at the core of their plans based on a study done by the American Petroleum Institute claiming that doing away with regulations will be favorable for employment. Republicans are claiming that if we create 1 job by drilling more, it will create 2.5 jobs elsewhere. Of course when this claim was made with Obama’s jobs plan to put teachers, firefighters, police and construction workers back to work they said it wouldn’t create more jobs elsewhere. Go Figure?? Damages to our world by doing away the environmental regulations would cost more than the sum of the wages and profits that would be made by cutting these regulations. Even global warming skeptic Robert Muller now agrees that there is global warming, probably caused by fossil fuels and that we should start cutting back on the use of fossil fuels to curb the over abundance of carbon dioxide. This revelation came after a study, actually funded by the Koch Brothers Foundation (one of the biggest global warming naysayers) found the data on global warming to be correct!
Shrink government and cut the deficit. More budget cuts will cost the economy around 700,000 jobs this year and next. In addition to increasing unemployment, a tax decrease will further increase the deficit. And their plans to decrease Medicare and Medicaid will shift the burden of this recession even further to the low and middle income American.

As Robert Reich (Economics Professor at Berkley and former Clinton Labor secretary) said, “Demagogues through history have known that big lies, repeated often enough, start being believed—unless they are refuted.” These . . . economic whoppers are just plain wrong. Make sure you know the truth—and spread it!”

Why Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

This Article was published in the October 26 Dawson News and Advertiser. Hopefully many of you have had an opportunity to participate in the Occupy Wall Street movement if not by attending a rally, by learning and supporting their cause through donations or conversations!

Why Occupy Wall Street?

A couple of weeks ago I worked at our Democratic Party Booth at the Dawsonville Moonshine Festival. At our booth we had flyers to hand out and posters with pertinent information about our economy. Reputable sources such as the Census Bureau, the Congressional Budget office, the Center for Tax Policy, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (all non-partisan organizations) were used. Much of what was in this information concerned what the people, young and old, rich and poor, white and black, are protesting at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations across the country.

1. The top 1% of Americans own 42% of the financial wealth and 24 Percent of the National Income, which is more of the nation’s income since the 1920’s. This great shift in wealth has taken place since the institution of “Trickle-Down Economics”, i.e., the wealthy pay less taxes in the hopes some of their money will “trickle-down” to the rest of us.

2. Middle Class wages have not risen over the last 30 years, (the beginning of Reagan’s economic plan) and in fact over the last 10 years wages have gone down (since the Bush Tax cuts).

3. Although the top 1% pay a large dollar amount in taxes, that is because they also have more money than 90% of the rest of the country. But in percentage terms, they pay (after exemptions, deduction, loopholes) an average of 17% federal, state, sales, payroll, and property taxes while people in the low and middle income bracket pay an average of 37%( federal, state, sales, payroll, and property)

4. Jobs! The unemployment rate remains at 9.1% but is at 14.7% for high school graduates between 18 and 24 (23% for young black Americans). Meanwhile corporate profits are at their highest level since WWII but corporations refuse to invest their more than $1.9 trillion in cash. The so called job creators are not creating jobs!

5. The corporate tax rate is 35% but no corporation pays this much because of loopholes and subsidies. In 2011 corporate taxes equaled 1.2% of GDP, the lowest in the world (NY Times, 5/11). Big U.S. companies (among them GE, Exxon Mobile, Chevron, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs) have become experts at hiding profits in tax havens overseas.

6. In 1959 the poverty rate among those 65 and older was 35.9%. Since the broadening of social security benefits and the beginning of Medicare in the 60’s, the poverty rate among seniors has dropped to 9.2%. But the Republicans want to do away with both programs!

These are just some of the disparities that have evolved over the last 30 years of cutting taxes for the wealthy (corporations and individuals) that the Occupy Wall Street movement is pointing out. The conservative view of our economy is that everyone is individually responsible for themselves, but that they have no social responsibility to their country. Liberals on the other hand also believe in individual responsibility, but also believe that citizens of America should also take responsibility for their community, country, people in general and the planet. As Elizabeth Warren has said, “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody! You built a factory out there—good for you! But . . . you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. . . . It turned into something terrific. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is that you take a hunk of that and pay it forward for the next kid that comes along.”
If you listen to the pundits on Fox News or CNBC, these folks that are part of Occupy Wall Street are just a bunch of “hippies”, socialists, lazy or worse. To quote Paul Krugman in an Op Ed in the New York Times, he explains these reactions very succinctly…. “The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.”
Occupy Wall Street is a patriotic movement based on a deep and abiding love of country. This patriotism is not about the self-interests of individuals, but about what our country is to be. Do Americans care about other citizens, or just about themselves? 99% of the people in this country are in the same boat! That is why we need to stand up for the Occupy Wall Street. Democracy is about citizens caring about one another as well as themselves. Let’s get back to “we the people”!

Population Growth, Climate Change, Energy, Sustainability, and Adaptation

2011-10-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

For the past 4 weeks I have written a series of articles for the Dawson News and Advertiser about Population Growth, Climate Change, Energy, Sustainability, and Adaptation. That is a lot of information to cover in 4 columns, so I just touched the surface and listed some reputable websites that one might go to to find out more information and/or become involved. I began my interest in these problems when my son, Brian, began his education at UGA and then continued into this field as his career. The more I learned from him, the more I knew this was an issue that we all must work towards finding solutions. If we are to leave an viable place in which our grandchildren can live, we must do this.

I will post these from the first to the last, although they were published in opposite order in the paper.

Published September 27, 2011

Sustainability, Energy, Adaptation, Population, and Climate Change

While the economy and creating new jobs continues to be the most important issue we face, concerns about sustainability, energy, adaptation, populations, and climate change, are intrinsically tied together and to the economy and jobs. There are mountains of data which speak to these issues, but they are so important that I will try to address each of these briefly. I will depend on the research of many scientists and environmentalists for data to support my thoughts. The reason I think it is important to address these issues now is that Republicans in Congress are doing their best to undermine the progress we have already made addressing these issues and the Republican candidates are actually even rebuffing scientific proof in some of these areas because they think this is what Americans want to hear. Just as Republicans refuse to listen to Americans about the economy, where a poll last week found that 70% of Americans approve of the President’s proposal to tax millionaires and billionaires for their fair share to help our economy, they also refuse to listen to their constituents about these issues. In a Pew Survey in May 2011, 71% of Americans said “This country should do whatever it takes to protect the environment”.

Because this is such a broad issue, I will address it is several columns in the next few weeks. We will address issues with our growing population, keeping our earth sustainable, energy conservation, how climate change will affect these two issues, and how we will try to adapt to some changes that cannot now be stopped. All of these issues affect the whole world, not just America and they affect some parts of the world differently than they will us.

Let’s start with our growing world population and being sustainable. This would not be a problem if there were unlimited land, water, and other natural resources. Unfortunately, with the growing population we will all be sharing the same earth with the same resources. Many are already addressing this issue, but others, because of the perceived influence on the money in their pockets, refuse to accept this as a problem.

But the facts are undeniable. The world population is growing at a rate of 1.3% per year. In 2010, the total population of the world was approximately 6.9 billion. By 2050 the population will have reached about 9.5 billion. By 2080 it will reach 13 billion. This means that my children’s children will face devastating problems in 2050 and their children will be facing even worse in 2080. Do we dare think and plan that far in advance? What if we don’t? And who is responsible for tackling this problem—is it us or do we leave it to our children and grandchildren?

What we have to understand is that all those people have to live on the same earth with the same amount of land on which to live. Those people have to have enough food to survive which means they have to have the land to grow the food or graze the animals, the water for the vegetation and the animals, and clean air to breathe. If we don’t have that, we will have massive starvation and illness.

That is just food. We also need water for all those people to drink in order to live. Throughout the world there have been severe droughts. Texas this year has suffered one of the worst in its history. Drought in the Colorado River basin which provides water for much of the west has been an issue since 1999. And that is just in America. Drastic drought around the world has cut the production of food and has resulted in a spike in food prices worldwide and famine in countries like Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Worldwide, over a billion people living in starvation. (World Famine Organization, Sept. 2011) This is happening now. What will happen when we have doubled the population of the world?

Other natural resources that are necessary to our survival include all those related to energy—oil, natural gas and coal. Because these will take considerable discussion, I will wait on the details for the next column.

So that is sustainability. As former President Clinton said in an interview on Wednesday, September 22, “We have to make room for the 9 billion people (in our future) without burning up the earth.” Next week we’ll talk more about the energy issue as it relates to sustainability, climate change and adaptation.

Published Oct 5, 2011

Our Earth and Our Children

Last week I talked about sustainability and it’s relation to the growing world population. We talked about how we will have to share the food, land, and water with a world population that could go from 6.5 billion now to 9 billion in 2050. The fourth natural resource that will begin to be in short supply because of the growing population is fossil fuels. Oil, gas, and coal are non-renewable natural resources. By definition that means that at some point they will be depleted and because they are non-renewable, they will be gone forever. That means that no matter if we blow the tops off all our beautiful Appalachian Mountains in search for coal, at some point it will be gone and we’ll be left with a degraded mountain range. It means that no matter how many oil rigs we build in our oceans and pipe lines we build through our country, at some point the oil will be totally gone and we will be left with damaged oceans and countryside. No matter how much farmland we devastate with fracking operations to find more natural gas, at some point it will be gone! Many believe that we have already reached the peak of production of these resources, even if we open new venues. When you combine the fact that we may have already reached peak production of these natural resources with the fact that the extra 2.5 billion people on this earth by 2050, we have a problem. And think about how many more cars will be polluting the air. If we don’t find alternative sources of energy, we will run out of what we have and pollution will be worse.

So what we need is a combination of conservation and alternative forms of energy. But again we hear arguments that we can’t afford to do these things—it will hurt our economy. But if we don’t conserve and start using alternative energy, at some point we will not have the resources to heat and cool or homes, bring us light, and carry us and the products we need from place to place. Many say we have already gone beyond being sustainable and that we are currently using 1.5 earths. “Having one planet makes this a rather significant problem. We are using up our resources faster than they can be sustainably replenished, so we are eating into the future. “ (Global Footprint Network)

When we talk about conserving energy we could also talk about what the high use of fossil fuels has done to our environment. Many Republican Presidential candidates prefer to deny the scientific facts that support that our earth is warming faster than it would naturally and that scientists link this to excessive amounts of carbon dioxide. The reason this is important is that it doesn’t only affect the quality of the air we breathe, but also the amount of water we have which affects our land usage and the ability to produce food.

As one of our Tea Party columnists said several weeks ago, plants need carbon dioxide to grow. That is true. In fact, without a natural greenhouse effect the temperature of the earth would be about zero degrees. But high fossil fuel combustion and deforestation are leading to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect. When this happens the earth begins to heat up. Human activity has been increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (mostly carbon dioxide from combustion of coal, oil, and gas). There is no scientific debate on this point. Pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide were about 280 parts per million by volume. The global concentration of CO² in our atmosphere today far exceeds the natural range over the past 650,000 years . If we continue in our current mode, by the end of the century we can expect to see a 350% increase above pre-industrial concentration. Global changes in temperature extreme include decreases in the number of unusually cold days and nights and increases in the number of unusually warm days and nights. In some areas of the world this has already caused extreme precipitation events despite total precipitation remaining constant or even decreasing. (National Climatic Data Center, US Dept of Commerce) Just in our own country we can point to the extreme droughts in the west and the extreme flooding in the east. The warmer air is also beginning to warm the ocean and melt our ice packs, causing changes in life in the ocean, stronger storms, and a rise in sea level.

If we value the lives of our children and grandchildren we will start taking steps to conserve the use of fossil fuels, develop alternative forms of energy and develop a plan to make our earth sustainable in the century to come. Our earth is a special gift and we must protect it for future generations.

Published Oct 12, 2011

Facing the Facts About our Environment

Last week we talked about fossil fuels and their proven affect on greenhouse gases, which have led to climate change. When you tie the affects of climate change to the population growth of the world, you can see why we will have a problem providing food, water, energy, and clean air by 2050. “You really have to wonder whether a few years from now we’ll look back at the first decade of the 21^st century—when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population soared, tornados plowed through cities, record setting floods and droughts, populations displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all—and ask ourselves: What were we thinking? How did we not panic when the evidence was so obvious that we’d crossed some growth/climate/natural resource/population redlines all at once?” (Thomas Friedman, NY Times, June 2011)

For instance, a 2010 report from the National Academy of Sciences found that “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for — and in many cases is already affecting — a broad range of human and natural systems.” A congressionally mandated report in 2009 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which integrates and coordinates federal research, concluded: “Observations show that warming of the climate is unequivocal. The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases.”

What will we see happening to our climate and the earth over the next century? It will differ from region to region throughout the world. Some areas will see more rain, others will see less. There will be extremes in droughts and heavy rain and flooding. There will even be effects on our health as some areas have longer growing seasons (increase in allergy and respiratory problems). Because of ocean rise, many populations will be displaced (one/half of the world’s population lives within 60 Kilometers of the shorelines) and will experience health problems from water borne disease. The list goes on! You can check this out on the World Health Organizations web site (http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/climate_change/en/index.html)

So it is too late to stop these changes? In some cases, yes. But the less we do to try to stop the changes, the more drastic the results will be. Even as small a rise in temperature as 2% can cause drastic consequences, and in fact already has in some areas of the world. “If dangerous climate change is to be averted it will require immediate and significant changes to how we fuel our economies in virtually all countries. It will require systemic action across all sectors of the economies of all countries.” (Food Climate Research Network, September 28, 2011) Yet our politician’s inactions are making it more and more likely that humans will suffer greatly from the effects of climate change.

Two examples of this come from our own north Georgia politicians. Amos Amerson, Republican Georgia State Representative, several weeks ago wrote that our enemy is corn produced ethanol. I agree it is not the way to go for energy as it uses up land and water and diverts production of food. He complained that it was the governments fault for providing subsidies and then mentioned the Bakken formation as our answer. He said we should check out the internet for information on this. Apparently the only thing he found on the internet about the Bakken formation was the false e-mail about how much of this oil can be extracted. He might want to look at www.Snopes.com, www.USGS.gov and www.theoildrum.com for facts about this oil supply and how much can actually be extracted. Although it would help reduce dependency on foreign oil, we also need to reduce emissions. Several weeks ago when Rep.Tom Graves (Republican, Georgia) was asked if he knew the name of the government loan program he voted to defund in exchange for giving more money to FEMA for disaster relief. He actually didn’t know the name of the bill or the fact that it provided initiatives for green jobs including fuel efficient cars and solar energy and has created over 40,000 jobs in a year. It is politicians like these that are blocking our nations’ ability to tackle the problems associated with climate change. When it comes to energy issues, it seems the politician’s main purpose is to make sure that big oil continues to get its government subsidies while providing no funding for the start up businesses that are doing research and creating alternative energy sources for our future.

So the effects of global warming have already started, but the effects could be minimized by actions that we take now for our earth and our children in the future. In the next article I will talk about what green energy jobs could do for our future and about the new field of “adaptation” which has sprung up because of the climate change effects that are already taking place.

Publish Date Oct 19 2011

Climate Change, Jobs, and Adaptation

In the last three columns, I have talked about issues that we will all face in the coming years and that our children and grandchildren will grabble with after we are gone. But through the resilience, determination, and innovation that has always been part of the American way we can solve these problems. We can make sure that our air is clean, that there is plenty of land and water on which to live and grow food, we can make sure our beautiful mountain ranges remain intact and our country sides continue to give us the joy of the Sunday afternoon ride. We can make sure we have plenty of power to heat and light our homes and run our cars and that we do all what we can to protect our fellow man and the animals that inhabit our planet. I have talked about the facts and the issues, so you have a basis for understanding why we have these problems.

On a more practical note, let’s talk about what jobs can be created by using our American ingenuity to come up with ideas that will save our earth for future generations. Some say that “green jobs” are not the answer. I liken that to what must have happened at the turn of the century when cars replaced the horse and buggy. Can you imagine the outburst from people on how bad this would be for the economy? What would happen to the carriage maker and the horse breeders? How would they ever survive? The same thing is happening now. Oil, coal, and natural gas companies talk a good game in their ads that they are searching for alternative energy, but it is small business that is taking the reins in that field. According to a recent Brookings Institution analysis, the growing clean technology section of our economy already employs 2.7 million workers—more than are employed in the fossil fuel industries. According to figures released by the Solar Foundation, there are now 100,237 jobs in the American solar industry. The Foundation found that between August of 2010 and August of 2011, the solar industry grew by 6.8%, far outpacing the 0.7 growth in the US economy. As the cost of these technologies continues to drop, solar is becoming increasingly competitive with nuclear and fossil resources. Much of this activity was spurred by a federal incentive package that made it easier to finance solar projects.

In addition to jobs being created, Americans are able to save money because of various green initiatives. According to Thinkprogress.org, as a result of investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the number of homes weatherized because of the act went up by 1000 percent. These weatherization services have saved families an average of more than $400 a year in energy costs. In addition to savings, residential and power plant emissions have been greatly reduced and 14,800 jobs have been created. Back in the 60’s the computer industry got this same boost/incentive from the federal government and of course we see what happened there. It is time for us to put our money and energy into the greening of America.

Some of the adverse affect of climate change have already begun to affect our world. Many cities have already begun to address these problems. A recent article in USA today stated that major cities are at the forefront of an emerging trend, adaptation. “It’s a new field,” says Brian Holland, Director of Climate Programs at ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability USA. In many cities around the country, flooding is going to be an issue because of higher tides brought on by climate change. In a study done by ICLEI in San Diego, the expected rise in sea levels mean that Chula Vista is requiring all new waterfront buildings to have higher foundations and Coronado Public Works is assessing their needs. San Francisco is building devices to prevent salty bay water from over-flowing into the city storm-water and waste water system. In Chicago they are replacing impervious surfaces with permeable materials to allow rain to seep into the ground. In Norfolk, Virginia they have been designing dam structures to deal with the 14.5 inch rise in sea level that has happened over the past 80 years, and in New York City they have a 20-year plan for green infrastructure to help manage storm-water runoff from increasingly powerful storms. As Holland says, “we are already seeing the consequences of climate change and those will only intensify.” Thankfully, an increasing number of cities have begun vulnerability assessments and as noted above have begun to take steps to counter these adverse effects.

There are mountains of valuable information about the issues I discussed in the last 4 columns. I highlighted many reputable websites and journals to look at for reliable information. Although we can adapt to some of the changes already taking place we cannot allow the things that are causing these changes to go unfettered. If we do, our grandchildren may not have the joy of living on this beautiful planet.

Solving Our Economic Problems

2011-09-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

I appreciate the comments I have received from neighbors and friends who encourage me to continue to publish these articles in the Dawson News and Advertiser. It is important to know that there is positive reaction, because all I read in the paper from the Tea Partiers is negative and hateful. I am glad they are reading my columns, however!

Solving Our Economic Problems

This has been a busy two weeks in politics. I’ve read columns from our two Tea Party writers in this week’s and last week’s paper using their standard “Obama and the liberals are all socialists” scare tactic. I watched the Republican Presidential debates—wow! Then I listened to our President layout a logical plan to get our economy going.

As for the Dawson News and Advertiser Tea Party columnists, I am certainly glad they read my columns. I am sorry that they refuse to look at the facts, but unfortunately it is emotion, whipped up by a few wealthy individuals, not the facts which drives their party. Their so-called grass roots movement was started by the Koch brothers—two of the richest men in America. The Koch brothers fund The Heritage Foundation and Freedom Works which relay their twisted facts to whoever will read their newsletters and websites. Rupert Murdoch, who we have found out will use any means possible to get a story, funds their media avenue, Fox (tell me how to think) News. So they blame anyone they can for the troubles with our economy. Last week it was immigrants, the ACLU, and too much freedom for black Americans. The week before the blame went to public education and teachers. And of course their biggest cause, President Obama.

Then there was the Republican Presidential Debate. The party’s current front runner, Rick Perry, made two outlandish statements. First, social security is a “Ponzi scheme”. There was nothing about keeping it in place and improving it. I wonder what that means? Then he said that we have seen the end of Keynesian economics. He wants to strengthen “trickle down” economics. Even President Reagan’s budget director David Stockton has said that “trickle-down” didn’t work. All it did was contribute to our huge deficit, increase the gap between the top 5% of Americans and the other 95% while stagnating middle class income and increasing the number of people living in poverty. That helped lead us to the brink of depression and the great recession of 2008.

Next was President Obama’s speech to both houses of Congress laying out the basics of his plan to jump start the economy and get people working again. Of course, this plan would require that the Republicans and the Tea Party compromise. The only problem is that Boehner has stated is doesn’t like the word compromise and McConnell has said his main focus is making sure that Obama doesn’t get re-elected. It doesn’t sound to me like their interested in helping save our economy.

There has been no plan from the Republicans/Tea Party as to how to create jobs. That hasn’t happened because they don’t want President Obama to be re-elected. They don’t want the economy to recover. That has been evident since Rush Limbaugh said a few days after President Obama’s inauguration that he hoped Obama failed. When there was no response from Republicans about his statement, you knew that was what they hoped for too. The only problem is that if Obama fails, then the country does also. And that is exactly what has happened in the last 2 ½ years. The Republicans and the Tea party have played the role of obstructionists knowing full well that it would mean that Americans would continue to suffer. Those Americans that don’t have jobs and are losing their homes are mostly lower income and middle class Americans. I recently met with a field representative of Tom Graves at his office and asked if perhaps those families making less than $50,000 a year might need help with rising health care and college tuition expenses. He basically said those people were making that amount because they were lazy. So to the 48% of Dawson County families who earn $50,000 or less, you can see their concerns don’t lie with you.

So now what happens? Do we continue to do nothing about our economy or do we work together for all Americans. In a recent editorial in the Gainesville Times by Joan King, a North Georgia resident, she said, “Whatever happened to the idea of the common good? These days even the words, "common good" have become divisive. When I wrote a column on the idea of common good back in 2010, I was accused of being a socialist. But if there is no common good, then it's every person for themselves. Not only is this not the Christian way, it isn't even good social history. Life is better for most of us today because of the cooperative efforts of those who came before us.”

So will we come together to save our nation or will we continue on the road to destruction. I hope our Congress decides it is time to work together to solve the economic problems we face.

Bette Holland

September 12, 2011

The Deficit--Where did it come from?

2011-08-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

This article was published in the August 24 issue of the Dawson News and Advertiser. The previous week two Tea Party articles were in the paper. The articles were basically calling liberals "socialists" and saying that only they cared about our country and our economy. I thought this was a good follow-up.

The State of Our Economy

We have some real problems with our economy. Not just in the United States but all over the world. I stress the word “our” because it seems many Tea Party/Republicans answers to some of these problems is--“we shouldn’t have to just because the rest of the country wants to.”

Let’s start with some figures that tell how we got to where we are—that is the deficit and the recession. Many want to blame it all on President Obama. But here are the facts as stated by Bruce Bartlett, Assistant Treasury Secretary under President Bush #1 and an advisor to Ronald Reagan. The national debt before Bush #2 took office was $6 trillion. There was a budget surplus of around $6 Trillion. Bush spent the surplus. Then, the increase in the national debt from 1998 to 2011 went like this. Unfunded Bush Tax Cuts added $3.7 Trillion. The unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Medicare Part D added another $4 trillion. Shortfalls in programs like Medicare and Medicaid added $3.5 Trillion. At the end of Bush’s term we went into the worst recession in American history (not counting the depression). That added $2 trillion. Obama’s policies in the last two years added $1.5 Trillion. That totals $14.5 Trillion, with only $1.5 belonging to President Obama. The major cause of the debt has been the Bush Tax Cuts and the unfunded spending that took place during his 2 terms. Conservatives keep talking about the Obama stimulus, which was $711 Billion. Yet under Bush, his stimulus including TARP totaled $1 Trillion! (Ezra Klein, New York Times, 7/25/11)

The Bush Tax cuts and all the previous one’s begun by President Reagan have caused another issue. We now have the greatest gap between wealthy and middle class Americans than ever before. In the last 30 years the richest 1% in the US has gone from owning 22% of the nations’ wealth to owning 40%. This is largely due to tax cuts for the wealthy investor class that began under President Reagan and continued under Bush. They were supposed to encourage investment and strengthen the economy. But over those years, the average annual GDP growth dropped 25%. The favored tax treatment for investments and the wealth concentration that resulted lead to the demand for investments exceeding the supply of worthy investment. (Econ 101) Investment bubbles and recessions happen and all but the wealthiest are at risk of losing their jobs, homes, and retirement savings. Hence, our recession.

So to many, one answer is to get rid of the Bush tax cuts, at least for the wealthy. This will have to be done together with cuts in spending, both in defense and in other national programs. Over the past several months, several multi-millionaire/billionaires including Warren Buffet, Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Gates have said their taxes are far too low. Bill Collins, a millionaire, writes: "Those of us who have the greatest ability to pay are not being asked to. I am not keen on being part of the freeloader class." In USA today and the NY Times this past week Warren Buffet, the 3^rd richest man in the world said, “While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.”

For more insight into how unfair our tax structure is, including a proposal for comprehensive tax-reform that would have everyone pay their fair share, cut middle class taxes by thousands a year, cut the deficit, and fix the economy by balancing the tax incentives for investment and work see the website “Fair Share Taxes” (http://fairsharetaxes.org/default.aspx).

What is the answer from many Tea Partiers and Republicans when they hear these people saying they need to pay more taxes? When I recently mentioned this to one of Tom Graves’ Tea Party Field Representatives, he said fine, let them pay more if they want, but everyone shouldn’t have to. And last week in a conversation with a conservative neighbor after Buffet came out with his statement, he said the same thing. This must be the mantra that is going around from Fox (Tell me what to think) News. So basically what the(Tea Party/Republicans are saying is even though the majority of Americans believe that the very wealthy should be paying more taxes, if you are a member of that group and don’t want to pay, then you shouldn’t have to! In fact, some are saying that it is the poor and middle class that should be paying more taxes. Unbelievable!

I guess we are no longer all Americans doing what is best for our country. From the Tea Party/Republican point of view, “if I don’t want to I don’t have to!” As we now know, the Tea Party held up any real compromise in Congress during the debt ceiling debate and as a result, Standard and Poors dropped our credit rating. Last week in this paper two editorials were written blaming President Obama for the debt ceiling mess. A spokesman for the S & P stated, ". . . the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned." The refusal of the Tea Party to compromise is the reason we had the debacle in Washington over the debt ceiling. It’s time to take some responsibility! And time to get our economy back on track! Oh, and look up the meaning of the word “compromise”.

The Tea Party/Republican destruction of our economy

2011-08-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

On August 10 I published the following editorial in our local paper. That was before the S & P Downgrade. More to follow on that.

Default Avoided, But Who Won?

The crisis created by the Republican Party and the Tea Party over the issue of raising the debt ceiling is over. It is evident that the Tea Party feels like they really showed their strength and came out the big winners in this debacle. Unfortunately, they made the rest of the American people the losers. Remember what John Boehner and Mitch McConnell said when the 2011 session of Congress began? Their main goal was to make sure that President Obama wasn’t re-elected. The Republicans and the Tea Party have proven that it doesn’t matter if the economy remains stagnate and millions of American people continue to be unemployed, because if the economy remains bad, there is a chance President Obama won’t be re-elected!

So they tied the issue of raising the debt ceiling to deficit reduction. The debt ceiling has been raised multiple times (74 times since 1962) without any questions. But they used scare tactics and lies to convince Americans it was the right thing to do. Sarah Palin, in a recent interview said, the Tea Party members were brave to stand their ground and not vote for the compromise debt ceiling package. They shouldn’t vote to allow even more spending by raising the debt ceiling. Does Mrs. Palin just not understand what raising the debt ceiling means or was she just lying for Fox News? When you raise the debt ceiling you are saying you will pay the bills you have already incurred not giving the OK to incur new debt! If we didn’t raise the debt ceiling we would have almost certainly lost our AAA credit rating (still in doubt), interest rates would have sky rocketed, and the stock market would have lost even more than it already has. Maybe the Tea Party feels you shouldn’t have to pay your bills. Take for example our 9^th district Representative, Tom Graves. He took out a loan for $2.25 million and now says he shouldn’t have to pay it. His Attorney, Simon Bloom contends “Bartow County Bank never should have issued Graves and his business partner a loan, citing statements in a deposition in which a bank official admitted knowing the partners did not have the money to guarantee the loan.”(Gainesville Times, July 22, 2011). Maybe that reasoning is why Graves didn’t care if our government went into default and therefore voted no on the “debt deal.”

Last week I visited Tom Graves’ office and spoke to a field representative about issues that concern me and many of my friends. The main issue I wanted to address was the Republican Party and the Tea party’s refusal to raise revenue. Most economists believe that the only way to really cut the deficit is to include new revenue along with cuts. What I heard from his representative was what we hear on the news all the time. No new tax revenues, cut programs that help families and those in need, and even if you do work hard for your $50,000 a year, you are not as worthy as the millionaire or billionaire. Rep. Graves will be back in town conducting town hall meetings next week. You may want to question him about this attitude about working people.

So what did the Tea Party accomplish? They tied up the government for more than a month over an issue that should have taken 30 seconds to decide. Instead of working on finding ways to create jobs, our Congress and President battled over the debt ceiling and tied it to deficit reduction. The “deal” that finally passed calls for budget cuts of about $900 billion. These cuts could possibly cause as many as 1.2 million jobs to be lost! It also calls for a “super committee” of congressional leaders to begin meeting to come up with another $1.5 Trillion in budget cuts by November, 23, 2011. So at a time when we should be focusing on jobs, we instead are implementing programs that will mean the loss of even more jobs! And Republicans have vowed not to place anyone on the committee that would ever consider raising revenue! Sounds like a stalemate in Congress in the making!

Did the Tea Party Win? I guess because there were no revenue increases in the deal, in their minds they did. They keep complaining about paying such high taxes, when in actuality we pay the lowest percent of our income in taxes now than we ever have. Though they won the no increase in revenue debate, they set the stage for our economy to become even weaker and for even more job losses nationwide! The stock market dropped drastically this week, many say because the damage was already done by the Congress and its inability to solve our problems. Republicans and the Tea Party have been in control of the House of Representatives since January, 2011. There has been nothing done to create jobs. But they did create this false crisis so they would look like winners. Thanks Tea Party and Republicans for caring so much about America!

July 27 Article; Are Our Politician Governing?

2011-08-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Are Our Politicians Governing?

I waited to write this column until Sunday afternoon in hopes that there would be news that our politicians had made a deal concerning raising the debt limit. I haven’t heard anything yet, so I decided I better get this done! Hopefully by the time this is published, the debate over the debt ceiling will have ended, and perhaps our politicians will have gone back to governing. We have a lot of problems that need solving. The deficit is one, but we seem to have forgotten along the way the myriad of other issues. What have we been doing about job creation, environmental issues, infrastructure issues, problems in education, foreign policy, and so on and so on! Our politicians haven’t been governing; they have been playing a game with the well-being of our country in order to garner political gain!

The pledge that Tea Partiers and most Republicans signed to never increase taxes under any circumstances is a major cause of most of this political bickering. Because they signed this pledge it basically precludes any possibility of compromise by Republicans. It seems that for those that signed the pledge, it is okay to cut social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and education programs, but not okay to raise taxes. In other words, it is okay for our elderly and most fragile citizens and our children to bear the brunt of cuts, but it is not okay for those who can afford to pay more taxes to do so. Grover Norquist has all their pledges in black folders and has sworn to “tell” on anyone who goes back on his pledge! I compare this pledge to the pledge that many of you made to your best friend when you were ten years old. You promised each other you would always be best friends, no matter what. Well, that rarely happens, because our values change, our interests change, or we move away. In other words, circumstances change! The pledge is probably what former State Senator Chip Pearson had in mind when at a recent hearing on raising the millage for the schools he said, “Friends don’t let friends raise taxes”. But Mr. Pearson, circumstances have changed and communities don’t let communities endanger the education of their children!

Tom Friedman, in his column on July 23 in the NY Times said, “DID I mention that I’ve signed a pledge — just like those Republican congressmen who have signed written promises to different political enforcers not to raise taxes or permit same-sex marriage? My pledge is to never vote for anyone stupid enough to sign a pledge — thereby abdicating their governing responsibilities in a period of incredibly rapid change and financial stress. Sorry, I’ve signed it. Nothing more I can do.” Michael Bloomberg, Billionaire Mayor of NYC was interviewed on Christiane Armanpour’s show “This Week” on Sunday. He said that there is no way to get out of our deficit mess with just cuts in spending. We have to increase revenue through tax reform. He pays a pretty hefty tax bill every year and he said this morning that he will gladly pay more. Why? Because he loves this country and as he said, he is privileged to live here. He said “I get pretty good value for my taxes. We get a lot for our tax dollars.” The reason he has made so much money is that he lives in a stable country with rules and regulations that make it possible to do business and make money. And I would imagine he wants his children and grandchildren to have those same opportunities in the future.

If it hadn’t been for the Bush tax cuts we would not be in the shape we are in now. We pay the lowest taxes of any major nation in the world. It is time we all—individuals and corporations—pay our fair share so we can maintain the greatness of our country! So politicians, please get back to governing and quit the childish games! We have problems to solve!