ECONOMICS CLASSES.

 

 

I wonder why trickle down economics never worked, but today, trickle up poverty is sweeping the country?

If 1 % of the people own wealth equal to 90 % of the rest of us, why do they need more wealth before they will create more jobs?

What industry gets 7,610 dollars a minute in tax breaks (that’s four billion of OUR tax dollars ) while making 35.5 billion more profit  in this quarter than last quarter?    (Hint: A three-letter word beginning with O and ending with L.)

Who was the first President to borrow from Social Security?  ( Hint:  He also started that trickle down theory and was once a movie star.)

Who said “I vote for the rich guys, they are the only ones that can pay me?”    My cousin Rose said that.   (I guess I have that  backwards. I always thought a business couldn’t run if people didn’t show up to work everyday)

What is the most expensive cost to taxpayers?   (President Eisenhower warned us against it)    (Hint:  Its not housing, education, health care, or welfare.  The next time you are asked to donate, ask your candidate of choice about the cost of the military/industrial complex.)

The Federal Communications Commission has the power to provide a free elections channel or two or even three, just like most industrialized nations.  Why don’t they?  Wouldn’t it save money?  (Duh!)

Why is it the  rich are incentivized by tax cuts, while the poor are incentivized by lower wages, no benefits, no health insurance and  minimum wage?

Shouldn’t all corporations have to pay SOME taxes?

Isn’t money the same as speech?

Corporations are the same as a person, aren’t they?  (My friend Domenic said he’d  believe it when they execute one.)

In a democracy, anyone in America (with enough money)  can run for public office, right?

I’m sure I got that last one right. But, in general,  I failed economics. Jim says I should get back on the road so I don’t get riled up about these matters.

Or maybe I should go into a business like this?  But how would I get the politicians into the truck?

 

 

JOB PRODUCING VIDEO

This Christmas, the  three gifts I bought for my grandkids I would have bought no matter where they were made. One was from Japan, the others were from Taiwan. From the giving tree, you choose a name and buy a gift for a  child in need,  which was a request for a robe, I absolutely could not find a robe in any store that wasn’t made in China.

Just before Christmas, I wanted to buy a picture frame. Small town shopping choices  are limited.  After realizing that every frame in every store came from China,  I went to a custom shop and had it made. Certainly not a choice for people on a limited budget.

At the grocery store, I bought an off brand of pumpkin for pies and much to my irritation, it too, came from China.  I’ve received emails about buying in America and then I received this one from my cousin Karen.  This job producing video was a real eye-opener.
http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/0_04vzdsr5/uiconf_id/5590821

Imports and trade are not all bad for our country.  I’m picking on China for a reason. My neighbor, Jan, had two teachers from China staying with her for a short time on an exchange program earlier this year. They bought a camera made in China. When she questioned their choice  they told her it was cheaper to buy it here than in their own country. I’ve read where China is manipulating money,  doctoring dog food, selling knock-offs illegally, pirating music and other shoddy business practices.  So, visit the Made In America Website after watching this video and see how much power our purchases have.

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

Yesterday, my congressional candidate brother, Will, visited  Cousin Gary visiting from Southern, CA. Gary had never been to an Occupy Wall Street protest because, as he put it, “I’m not interested in closing ports and businesses where people have jobs. And, I don’t want to lay down in the street.”

He also confessed to not quite understanding what the point is. While vitriolic radio show hosts criticize and condemn the movement as pointless and leaderless, I notice that all National news organizations are covering this movement- because  it has legs.  As one local protester, Rick Mines put it, “Protesting the concentration of wealth and power held by less than 1 percent of the population is an effort to  save capitalism.  Capitalism has to be fair,”  (And I would add regulated.)

You can’t compete when some guy is putting $100 million down to put a  Supreme Court Justice in place, or when 80% of congress regards their major job in governing is to get rich by way of  hand-outs, insider trading, and million dollar jobs when they leave. I take heart because the long term apathy among the general population is finally over. You couldn’t get people to take to the streets. That has changed all over the world as well as  in our highly conservative mountain counties, Tuolumne, Calaveras and Amador.

It was a small band on a cold December evening during the busy Christmas season. Two young students were there. The only other woman said to me, “In our county we are all part of the 99%. We don’t have any concentration of wealthy here. But, it is still important to let people know, its time to take a stand and we desperately need change and jobs and a robust middle class.”

This sign speaks to an issue that may be more important than the government laws that tilt toward the wealthy.  It is a slippery slope to a fascist state when we weaken our first amendment rights.  There are many good things in the NDAA, like protections for whistleblowers. But, we are not to know if sub-par maintenance of our airplanes is a factor in crash. We cannot know who contributed what to the congressional committee people overseeing the granting of government contracts. On any contract,  any savings realized cannot be directed to the National Debt once the money has been set aside and is not used for that project. No clue to where that money WILL go. Suspected terrorists will not have the same rights of trial, detention, and ability to defend themselves as we do now. There are good things in the act, but  many slippery areas. The idea to audit the Defense Department Budget was soundly rejected. Hmmm. It’s on-line. Read it.

LOGGING TRUCKS ARE ROLLIN’

At one time, gigantic logging trucks like this one rumbled right through downtown Murphys. Officially rerouted in the 1990′s,  they can no longer do that. They roll down the mountain and keep to Highway 4 on their way to the mill. Loggers can still plow right through  downtown  Angels Camp on Highway 49.  I must admit to a bit of joy at seeing them. In the 80′s I rode with a logger to the woods and photographed  the complete operation from cutting, skidding,  loading, chaining up and delivering them to the mill. In fact, the driver pulled over to tighten his chains once we left  the rugged logging road and I got out  to take the big behemoth’s picture.  A guy backing out of his driveway, without looking, backed into me with his pick-up. I was unhurt, thankfully.  I wish I had those pictures in digital format.

Today’s logs, compared to logging in the seventies and eighties look like toothpicks. I’ve seen two or three or four logs fill one of these trucks. A tree trunk riding high half above the cab made you fear a slipping chain would allow a log to  smash through the cab and kill anybody inside.  The weight of the load was especially noticeable on Murphys Grade from Forest Meadows to Murphys with the driver managing the winding road, his jake brake scudding.  The memories, the sights and smells are great and I’m glad for the truck owners and loggers who have work again. Standard recently opened their mill in Sonora and I followed three trucks down to the river, and across the other side over Parrots Ferry Bridge on my way to the dentist. I returned by way of Stevenot Bridge on 49 through Angels Camp. I counted, coming toward me, four logging trucks which means a full truck was moving through town every five minutes on both highways.  As I did some errands,  I saw two more pass. Sure enough, I waited and caught this one moving through town.  While the jobs are great, they are most likely clear cutting for Sierra Pacific. SP refuses to compromise and do select cuts. They clear huge swaths of land and destroy the beauty and ecology of our area in the Sierra Nevadas. SP owns over a million acres above us, and young trees are falling to the axe.  A local group, Forest Watch, has photographed and protested their business practices, but the best way to make them accountable to the local community is to refuse to buy Sierra Pacific Lumber. I recommend you  buy certified lumber that is sustainably cut. It is stamped on the end of each board. It is possible to log without desecrating the land and habitat, but the bottom line for corporations  is people, nature, and animals last and money first. When I saw that logging had resumed, I speculated on the recent appearance of bear and feral pigs at our elevation and wonder if clear cutting could be upsetting the balance?