One More Jobless Recovery

You know the more things change the more they stay the same. Haven't you had about enough of Summers and Geitner, Obama's chief economic advisers? Now we are hearing that for the rich the recession is coming to an end. The stock market is up and so are corporate profits. Banks that were going down for the third time last fall are solvent once more thank to the Obama-Bush adminestration, and the banks are now awash in money. Of course since the government pays them six percent not to lend that money out, the rest of us are not profitting from either increased liquidity or spending power. One person on the right told me, "Well, the banks are hoarding their money because next year there will be another round of real estate defaults. Oh yes, these conservatives will serve up the doom and the gloom when it suits their purposes. They are hoping that in 2010 the economic statistics will still be poor so that the people will turn against Obama. And dag nabbit, the President is playing right into their hands by having his henchmen act as "apologists" for this economy, defending the giving of money to the rich, but letting the poor fend for themselves, as it says in Revelations, "Starve the comon people but touch not the olive oil and the wine", for these are associated with rich people. (Either that or Italians) Now the banks are so well off that the fat bonuses for their CEO's is returning. Happy times are here again- - whoppee! But this is a jobless recovery. How often have we heard that addage in the past 28 years. This phenominum of the jobless recovery began under Reeagan and Bush continued the tradition with the 1990 - 1992 recession. This recession put Bill Clinton in the White House. But as Thom Hartman points out- -Clinton received a progressive mandate from the people, and yet government as a centerist, promoting such pet conservative projects as N A F T A. Indeed, and it's difficult to over-state this, it was President Clinton that gutted our economic regulations which were our safeguards in the 1990's. They have been saying now (though I don't remember it) that Obama promised that if the stimulus package was passed by Congress, which it was on February 17th of this year, that unemployment wouldn't rise above eight percent. It is now 9.5 percent. So despite what they have been saying, more people are still being laid off than are being hired. For most people, this is the hallmark definition of a recession. We are salved with news that "The economy went down less last quarter than it had, and that we had been expecting, so this is a good thing." We keep hearing of a second stimulus to deliver more cash into the hands of the buying American public. And yet congress seens, not snake-bit but "blue dog" bit. The blue dogs in congress appear to be running the show and dictating all the terms. No wonder support for the health plan has fallen from 58% to 49%. People sense that the bill is being talked to death. And the right-wing media is filling all of us, including me, with all sorts of doubts about whether it wouldn't just be easier to scrap the whole health care plan for a while and save a lot of money that we could use for other things. Conservatives love to attack Obama's spending saying the money could be better spent for "other things" but I doubt that "other things" refers to the comon man on main street looking for more spending cash in his pocket. Liberals on the other hand are criticizing Obama for not being more out front and pitching his ideas but instead leaving the issues for congress to wrangle with. In this day and age, outspokedness is no vice, and passivity is no virtue.

This cash for clunkers plan may not be what people are expecting. Apparently they pour corrosive liquid in the engines to make them useless ever to be used again. Perhaps we should put in Oscar Schindler at General Motors and really "fix things". (If you've seen the movie you know what I'm referring to) But if we cripple our economy, space aliens aren't going to swoop down and liberate us at the last moment. We have to live with our problems. We certainly don't need in thye process of dealing with one problem, like pollution, make a far more urgent problem, economic recovery and production, that much worse. What about all the used car dealers that need cars to sell. This program is taking merchandise out of their hands. I'm kind of a fan of letting the free market decide these sort of economic issues.

This is Sunday August 2, 2009, and the 42^nd anniversary of my first threatening to commit suicide in 1967. Today all day I’ve been thinking it was Saturday because the change in events yesterday threw me off. I went down to the courtyard in the afternoon for coffee. I sat in that swing like thing both in the morning and afternoon sessions. Then I played the remainder of “The Letter” on VCR, which was most of the movie. We are told Bette Davis didn’t like the Hollywood ending, although that ending was fore-shadowed all through the movie with the full moon going behind a cloud and the creepy Orientals. But the last scene in the original script was Bette Davis saying “I can’t help it; I’m still in love with the man I killed”. The last time I watched this movie was the Saturday before Father’s Day in 1998. After watching this movie while it was still light, I went out for what became a habit, those Cisco wine coolers 18% fortified.

I turned KFI on briefly and was surprised it wasn’t John and Ken, since I still was thinking it was Saturday. It was a guy talking about global warming, and he was saying that only white people from Santa Monica and Malibu care about such things. I’m not going to have him “dis” every other race. He can stick his opinions and stick them where the son don’t shine. They rang the bell just after four when I had KLOS on. But once in the dining room we weren’t served till after 4:20. 4:00 is too early to eat anyhow and I doubt anybody is happy about the change in time. We had roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy, with apple sauce for desert. Sarah handed me my phone bill, and I’ve never known the bill to come as early as the second since living here. I had a smoke upstairs and then went to the bakery for the very last of the coffee from the thermos.

Hollywood had its morals in 1940 with the Hayse office and all and they weren’t going to let them put out anything that might not be morally upright. I’m working or rather re-working that Jesus thing from April or so of 1994 that like Schindler’s List had “the past” in black and white and “reality” (scenes where Jesus wasn’t there) appear in color. Phone. I don’t know who thinks that I live in the LA Unified School District.

I watched the Mc Laughlin report. I found the whole thing disheartening. They were all bashing the President mentioning his pathetic efforts to try and redeem himself in the public’s mind with the “beer sumet”. They put Byden in there to balance the races and because Byden has “credibility” as a blue collar white man. Eleanor Clift wasn’t holding up her end of the conversation. I wonder if the American people are just as lily livered by be cowed by every little thing the right wing media puts out.