The Federal Government: Robin the Hood

Well I was gonna start out by blaming Obama, as his new budget proposes major cuts in domestic spending. Things like heating assistance for low income families so they don't freeze (or starve by spending their money on heating), water treatment grants, airport grants, pell grants, etc. In other words he is slashing jobs during a recession. Right after we gave Billionaires a tax break. (In fact the cuts will save us far less each year than the tax breaks cost us.)

Slashing domestic spending is the opposite of what should happen in a recession. Money going to poor people gets spent, helping the economy. Money going to Billionaires gets put in the bank. In fact the lower the tax on the rich, the more corporations pay them. When we had a super high income tax on the super rich, corporations actually reinvested their money in their company.

And of course, looking down the road, the cost of health care is the real drain on the economy and the largest factor increasing the deficit. Too bad the chamber of commerce (who Obama courted last week) spent tens of millions to advertise against a public option.

So Obama is taking from the poor and middle class and giving to the rich. And ensuring a slower recovery from the recession, making his re-election bid less likely. (OK, for those of you who worry about the deficit two things: the quickest way to get rid of it would be to get our economy going again so we have revenue, but if we must cut, how about cutting OVERSEAS spending - try closing our military bases in Japan - they don't want us there anyway, or Germany, or Bahrain, or Italy, or Bulgaria, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or any of the 63 countries where we have military bases.)

But I said I was not going to blame Obama. Well he does not deserve all the blame. The Republicans want to slash far more of the budget. Obama actually increased spending in some areas like clean energy. The Republicans also want to make the tax cuts permenant and Obama has said this is a mistake.

So while I feel like I am sucking on a lemon when I hear what Obama is doing and the decisions he is making, if the Republicans get their way we will be eating shit.

I will take the lemon, but I hope enough Democrats are willing to suck it up rather than staying home on election day or we all just might have to choke down the latter.

Asmaa Mahfouz & the YouTube Video that Helped Spark the Egyptian Uprising

This is inspiring, often we think one person cannot have a huge effect on the world, this woman proves that idea wrong. I also love the feeling of solidarity and peace that she conveys regarding the popular movement in Egypt. This is sure a much nicer form of regime change than "Shock and Awe".