Owning the Bad News

It was inevitable.  Obama's economic push could only work in red states for so long before our own backwards economic policies dragged us back down.  We've been listening to Nikki Haley brag on -- and take credit for -- South Carolina's declining unemployment rate for some time now.  I wonder if today's news about its recent upswing will cause her any problem, message-wise.

Here's where our Democratic candidates should be jumping in, first of all, to let us voters know that this has happened.  And then they need to offer the logical explanation, and the logical alternative.

Where candidates like Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky have stumbled has been in their fear of owning the best policies of the Obama administration.  In fact, employment began growing due to stimulus dollars, and has continued to grow because of programs like those he has undertaken to encourage alternative energy initiatives as well as protecting the environment.  Good for business, good for jobs.

Imagine where we might be if Obama had not had to waste time and tax dollars fighting a Congress which Republican members have had as their sole priority blocking administration initiatives.

Because of old-timey Republican philosophy, we have continued to have wealth stagnating in the reaches of the top one percent, while the consumers who are the actual "job creators" are unable to spend dollars they don't have.  Robert Reich describes in his documentary Inequality for All the "virtuous cycle" of economic growth that occurred up to the 1980's, followed by the "vicious cycle" that has resulted in the economic stagnation and increasing inequality that continues to this day.

What is frustrating is that the evidence is clear.  But we continue to spiral downhill due to lies and misdirection by right-wing politicians.

Take, for example, Nikki Haley.  Her policies have not been able to stop some economic growth in South Carolina in the past six years, but the bad ideas she has been pursuing have caught up with us.  The jobs she claims she has brought to the state have been not enough to counterbalance the drain on services that have resulted from her tax giveaways.  Bad business like refusing to accept Medicaid expansion dollars not only hurt uninsured individuals but result in loss in business due to employee illness, public safety issues, and loss of thousands of jobs in the health sector.

And then, of course, we have Tea Party's poster child, Tim Scott.  As long as he is prospering, he will promote any program groups like ALEC and the Koch Brothers are trying to sell.  And sell they do.  Scott's message sounds like Reagan's Morning in America, pretty words that belie the bad policies during the 80's "trickle down" years that began our decline from prosperity.  And if you look at his pro big business and anti middle class voting record, it becomes obvious why those polices just don't work.

So as we see our unemployment rate creep back up, let's spread the word that it's because of the bad policies of politicians like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.  We have a state that stands to grow and prosper if only we are able to understand why we are in decline even as national employment continues to grow.

We have some great candidates and despite the occasional ambivalence of our state party and shoestring budgets, the word is getting out about them.  Joyce Dickerson is one candidate to watch.  She is not afraid to speak up about what has been wrong with our state, and what national policies need to change to get us working and thriving again.  The thing is, that with Tim Scott's wealthy supporters, it is all too easy to miss this strong, wonderful opponent.  I am hoping that we all will do our best to spread the word about the election coming up on November 4, and the difference between our Democratic candidates and their fiscally backward opponents.

Joyce Dickerson

for US Senate

Let's make sure our elected officials own the bad news they have created through their bad policies, and let's elect candidates that will truly make a difference.

Obamacare -- Good News and Lies

Horrors!  The Congressional Budget Office report states that people are leaving their jobs because of Obamacare.  The champagne was overflowing yesterday as the republicans celebrated the proof of just how we lazy Americans would quickly begin to suck on the government teat when given cheap -- read "affordable" -- health insurance.

While employers have been twirling their mustaches and  threatening to let workers go if Obamacare was put into place, only some of us were aware of just how many of us have been stuck in jobs just so we could get health insurance.  And if our employer wasn't providing health insurance, we were stuck in badly paying jobs -- often more than one -- with horrendous hours and no benefits in an attempt to keep our heads above water without health insurance.

Well, fact is, now we have some options.  Some of us can quit our job to go back to school or train for better jobs.  Some of us can stay home to take care of our children or parents.  And some of us can quit jobs that were physically hurting us, many older people who were trapped until age 65 when they could be insured under Medicare.

All of the above absolutely infuriates those who have kept wages low because they always had a line of applicants willing to do anything to make ends meet.  Just listen to the whining from those who will now have to raise their standards if they want a work force.

Of course, it is a different story that is being put forth by the right wing, those corporate patsies who themselves have never had to worry about medical bills since they are graced with taxpayer covered insurance plans.  According to them, we suddenly have no work force.  People are bailing out so they can watch TV and drink margaritas, I guess.

In actual fact, the result of people choosing to leave their jobs is that jobs will be created for those who have been seeking employment.  We seem to be looking at a reduction in unemployment (and payment of unemployment benefits), a healthier and younger work force, and maybe even healthier retirees.

This is exactly why the right wing has been doing everything in its power to kill Obamacare before it could take a breath.  That is, because it works.  Suddenly the power base has somewhat shifted, and there is fear and loathing in corporate America.

But just as every progressive movement, from raising the minimum wage to the implementation of Social Security, has begun with wails and accusations of anti-Americanism, fist thumping and threats, this tantrum too shall pass.  As more people successfully enroll in health insurance, its opponents will search for other misinformation and attempts to scare us.  When it becomes apparent that in fact Americans are not quitting their jobs to live off the government, the muttering will turn to something else.

But the fact is that as more people are able to afford to be insured, more people are free to leave work for better jobs or to live healthier lives, fewer people will be on unemployment rolls, and employers will have to offer better wages, benefits and work conditions in order to staff their businesses.

And that's what is called a good start.

Tim Scott for the Workers

I'm not sure which weekly email is funnier, The Borowitz Report or Tim Scott's weekly message.  I know which one is more accurate, and kudos to Andy Borowitz for that.  Whoever is doing Tim Scott's messaging apparently thinks his audience not only will believe anything, but won't notice when he leaves out important things, like facts.

I was excited when I read today that Senator Scott is going to bring back the 40-hour work week.  And then I though, gee this is Tim Scott, I'd better read the fine print.  So I clicked on the link that said "Read more about the Amendment here," and I got what amounts to more nonsense about Obamacare and how requiring employers to provide health insurance to employees is destroying full-time employment, here.  So, to summarize, no guarantee of a 40-hour work week, just another way to keep employees from being guaranteed health care.

Of course, Tim Scott has a lovely paid health insurance plan, paid for by us, who I guess theoretically are his employers.

What I would like to say is that it is insulting for Scott to lie to his constituents.  He is not introducing a bill that will bring back the 40-hour work week.  If guaranteeing health insurance was the thing that was killing full-time employment, everyone would have had full-time employment before the Affordable Care Act.  In fact, when I got my first full-time job in a supermarket way back in the last century, in 1971, months into that job "time-study experts" descended.  Of course that means the harder you work the fewer people you need, and my full-time job was cut to part-time.  During the halcyon days of Ronald Reagan there was another wave of job killing, again nothing to do with requiring health insurance, but with increasing profit.

Here are a few more reality based comments on requiring employers to provide health care:

There has never been a correlation between employers cutting hours in order to avoid paying health insurance.  Now, that doesn't mean that they won't whine and threaten.  And I'm sure there are some employers who will actually follow through.

But employees with health insurance (and benefits like sick pay) are more reliable, and yes, healthier.  Employers who provide decent health insurance coverage (not Walmart) tend to have more respect for employees.  A business that is large enough to fall under the Obamacare mandate should have an employer that is savvy enough to understand that accessible health care is important to a smoothly running business, and able to budget insurance for employees in as an expense.

Chris Haire had a little fun with Tim Scott's nonsense.  I think we should all thank Scott for pretending to care about his working constituents.  After all, unlike his predecessor Jim DeMint, he at least cares enough to lie, whereas DeMint just pretty much ignored us.  Of course, just as with Scott's health insurance plan, his disinformation campaign is brought to us by us, the taxpayers.

Merry Christmas, Congress

Just as Congress made sure it would not be inconvenienced by airports delays they caused by allowing sequestration, they have for the first time in many years stopped fighting to block legislation in order to not delay their holiday vacation.  Both sides of the aisles have suddenly learned the art of compromise, Boehner has brought bills to the floor despite Tea Party ire, and all are heading home for what Bill O'Reilly would insist on calling "Christmas break."

In this season of warmth and giving, it matters not that our Congressional leaders have performed a slight-of-hand with the budget deal which we did not believe they were clever enough to accomplish.  We are all just happy they did it.

Beyond the holiday cheer, however, is a grim look at what this new era of compromise heralds for us.  The new budget reinstates the full funding of the military, its waste and the greed of military corporate interests.  The compromise part of the budget is in non-defense spending.  Long term unemployment compensation is gone -- Happy Holidays, to the unemployed from your US Congress.  Another battle in the right-wing war on poverty has been won, with food stamp cuts over the next two years.  Government workers -- not Congress, of course -- will suffer cuts to pensions and increases in insurance premiums, but all for the good of the country and the pretend reduction of the national debt.

So here we are, folks, with the new, improved Congress, gearing up for the 2014 Election Season of Lies.  If only I believed that the Democrats would loudly denounce this plan by the Republicans that would have us forget all the damage they have done to the fabric of our democracy over the past five years.  Rather, they will modestly speak to their ability to garner cooperation from their "colleagues across the aisle" while aiding and abetting the plundering of the poor and middle class.

Meanwhile, the 2014 Congressional calendar is proof of the fact that our leaders are not expecting to do much next year other than run for re-election.  The House of Representatives, apparently having wasted too much of the 126 days they were scheduled to meet in 2013, have reduced their calendar year to 113 days, many of which no doubt will be taken up by voting to kill Obamacare.

Indeed, Congress more than ever continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.  To themselves.

Occupy Charleston Y'All

I was delighted to find that Occupy Charleston has its own website.  Visit the site and become a follower.  Let's build this movement!


Even those folks who voted for Jim DeMint are the 99% -- they just don't know they are one of us yet.


Just as the Occupy Oakland protesters shouted to the police, "You are the 99 percent!", we need to let those who have been led to vote on the right that they are indeed one of us.


They too are unemployed or underemployed, their children unable to afford college, or get a job after graduation.  They may have to choose between health care and mortgage, or may no longer be able to afford either.  They are unable to retire although they are exhausted.  If they are employed, they are constantly at risk of losing their jobs or of wage and benefit cuts.


They have learned, as have we, that while their incomes stagnate, insurance costs skyrocket.  They continue to not have alternatives to being gouged by the oil industry because deMint and his ilk continue to vote cuts for mass transportation and alternative energy exploration.  They are unable to get loans because Wall Street is hoarding the billions it has made through gambling with our hard-earned savings.


And when their bodies ache from standing in front of a classroom or behind a sales counter or tending patients in a hospital or nursing home, they too will be told to tighten their belts and wait another year or two to retire, while those earning over $107,000 will continue to not have to contribute a penny over that amount.


So this Occupy movement can only grow, as long as we all fight the lies and let our friends, family and co-workers know that we are all in this together -- we are the 99 percent!


occupycharleston.com