September 15, 2004
because he's the education president, don't forget!
Thanks to the ill-named No Child Left Behind Act, and economic sluggishness (not to mention cuts in federal funding to the states for a wide variety of purposes), state and local governments are now having to cut back on their education budgets...
Then again, education is only important if you value literacy, which, as the President has demonstrated, is a take-it-or-leave-it kinda thing anyway...
Posted by timwise at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)
capitalists for government intervention???
By now, many of you have probably heard about the Alabama woman who was fired from her job for sporting a Kerry/Edwards sticker on her car. Today, you may also have heard, the Kerry campaign has hired her, essentially taking her former boss up on his demand to her that she could "either work for him or work for Kerry." So far so good, and all's well that ends well.
But what I actually found fascinating about this story was what the employer said to his workers in a memo sent around a while back, basically explaining to them why he loved the President's policies, and why they should too. According to the memo:
"Just so you will know, because of the Bush tax (cut):
I was able to buy the new Hammer Mill
I was able to finance our receivables
I was able to get the new CAT skid steer
I was able to get the wire cutter
I was able to give you a job"
What is amazing about this, is that it exposes the fallacy of the so-called free market. After all, here is a guy who basically is saying, had it not been for a tax cut, he wouldn't have been able to expand plant and equipment or hire workers. But basic market economic theory says that any investment that is efficient and productive will be made under capitalism, with or without the equivalent of a tax subsidy. If hiring workers makes sense, or expanding plant and equipment makes sense, economically, then those decisions will be made, no matter the existence of a tax cut. To the extent he says he could only do these things because of the cut, either means he is lying, or admitting his utter incompetence as a capitalist.
Now some might say, "but Tim, if his taxes were too high to begin with, then that would distort the market and make him unable to hire and expand without the cut, not owing to his own talents, but to intrusive tax burdens." But while this might make some sense in a much higher-taxed state, or if the relative business tax burdens were truly huge, it makes no sense in low-tax Alabama, or in a nation where the tax burden on businesses has been falling like a rock for more than 40 years, relative to other taxes (on workers, for example), or relative to the overall size of the economy.
In other words, to the extent we believe this yahoo, we have to conclude that his ability to run a business is dependent, entirely, on preferential tax treatment from the gov'mnt...the same gov'mnt he probably curses whenever it seeks to provide opportunity to others, like workers (with minimum wage hikes or labor protections), or social service provisions.
Capitalists: the primary opponents of Capitalism...God bless em.
Posted by timwise at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2004
Kerry Discovers Racism: a Little Late, Dont'cha Think?
So, John Kerry has apparently come to the conclusion that the GOP may seek to suppress black voter turnout in the upcoming election. This, he has concluded, a mere four years after they managed to do just that in Florida (and elsewhere) in 2000, after which time, Kerry the Senator DID NOTHING and said NOTHING about it, as with the rest of the white Democratic Party establishment, from Al Gore on down.
Amazing how nice white liberals like Kerry become indignant only when that indignation might help THEM, and not when it's needed to correct a grievous wrong done to others. Also, note that Kerry has only raised this issue publicly in front of the Congressional Black Caucus, but has yet to bring this issue up prominently in front of white audiences. Like most white liberals, challenging other whites on racism, and the ways in which power is maintained via racial domination and subordination, is something Kerry is far too afraid to do. So he goes before a friendly crowd and holds church, while downplaying the GOPs race politics every other day...If Kerry had any real guts, or principles on this issue, he'd run a commercial about racial/racist disenfranchisement, and not just talk about it at politically safe meetings...
And, not to put too fine a point on it, but Kerry's own votes in favor of Clinton-era crime legislation, resulted in the incarceration of tens of thousands of African Americans--mostly for non-violent and disproportionately for drug related offenses--thereby contributing to the very loss of voting rights about which he now complains. Not to mention the difficulties then experienced by many of these individuals after being released, in terms of finding steady employment, housing, etc.
If Kerry wants to boost black voting, the easiest way to do it would be to stop supporting laws that criminalize drug use and prop up the entirely racist war on drugs: a war that results in blacks being 35 percent of those arrested for drug use (despite being only 13 percent of users), and 75 percent of those incarcerated for drugs. These black inmates then lose voting rights while in jail, in most all states, and even lose their rights after release in several (including the key electoral state of Florida, of course). Yet, according to Kerry's own website, he is proud of his get tough on crime/drugs record, so don't expect a change of tune anytime soon.
Posted by timwise at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2004
Sorry for the long absence
Although I have no idea if anyone is really reading this blog (one can always hope!), I want to apologize for the long absence. I've been on the road for speeches a bunch, and was also having problems with my entries, due to the shitty microsoft-inspired browser I had been using. That has now been resolved and I will begin entering new material very soon, and daily (I hope). So check back often...thanks.
tim
Posted by timwise at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)