Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Please note I have a new phone number...

512-517-2708

Alan Maki

Alan Maki
Doing research at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

A program for real change...

http://peaceandsocialjustice.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-progressive-program-for-real-change.html


What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would make it a mandatory requirement that the president and Congress attain and maintain full employment.


"Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens"

- Ben Franklin

Let's talk...

Let's talk...

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Do you need a bunch of overpaid party hacks to do your thinking for you?

Trust yourself based on what you see happening in the world around you and your real life experiences; chances are good you know more than you think you do.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Ferguson--- A travesty of justice.

Ferguson--- A travesty of justice. Blame Obama and Holder for not going after this racist cop and the racist Ferguson Police Department for civil rights violations which prepared this grand jury to think that they could come to this decision and get away with it.

Racism and all forms of hate are like a snowball going down a long steep hill on a warm spring day--- the snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
If you let these racist bigots who are cops in this case get away with murder and violence it will encourage other bigots to act in the same way thinking they can get away with murder.

The fact is, it was either convict this racist cop, Darren Wilson, for murdering an innocent Michael Brown or let him go free because if convicted of this racist, cold blooded murder Wilson would have been placed on Missouri's death row and this would have sent a completely different message to all racist bigots that they would be prosecuted for their crimes to the full extent of the law.

This racist cop pumped six or seven bullets into Michael Brown. Could you just imagine what the talk would be had Michael Brown pumped six bullets into Darren Wilson? All these racist bigots would be calling for Michael Brown's execution.

We have gone through this up here in Northern Minnesota with racist cops who kill and commit acts of violence and all kinds of dirty racist acts against Native Americans...

The same United States Department of Justice comes in and says the solution to this racism is "educating" these racist cops with "diversity training."

So, these racist cops get off with an education and people of color go to prison or sit on death row.

What does all of this tell us about justice being blind in America?

And will we find out years from now that the role of the FBI going into Ferguson was to incite the violence we are seeing now in order to cover up the crimes involved in this grand jury decision.

Note how the grand jury was used to shield this racist killer cop from prosecution.

Monday, November 24, 2014

What is the condition of the working class today?

"The condition of the working-class is the real basis and point of departure of all social movements of the present because it is the highest and most unconcealed pinnacle of the social misery existing in our day." Friedrich Engels writing in 1845; as true today as when Engels wrote it.


The AD NAUSEUM support for Obama and the Democrats coming from people who haven't even attended a Democratic Party meeting to push an anti-imperialist working class agenda is sickening. In fact, they don't even attend Democratic Party precinct caucuses, county, state or national conventions because they know if they bring forward peace, social and economic justice issues that would remedy the problems working class families are experiencing they would be red-baited, called names, silenced and chased away by the corporate lawyers placed in charge by the Wall Street firms they are employed by.


Read what former socialist governor of Minnesota elected on the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party ticket had to say:


http://collections.mnhs.org/…/articles/47/v47i04p154-161.pdf

Sunday, November 23, 2014

An interesting article about the Minimum Wage/Living Wage Movements by Steven Greenhouse in today's New York Times... BUT---

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/business/how-a-coalition-pushed-for-a-hotel-workers-minimum-wage.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

But, are these real living wages?

More to the point: Will these be real living wages at the time they go into effect?

This is the trap we are led into by the "$15.00 NOW!" movement. Instead of demanding that these wages be tied to actual cost of living, the "$15.00 NOW!" movement assures employers of poverty wages and rising profits.

Workers are always thrilled with any wage increase; nut, being thrilled is not the issue.

The issue is eliminating poverty wages which eliminates poverty.

Furthermore, all of these schemes are attached to leaving thousands of workers without the wages being held up as advances.

We need universal Minimum Wage legislation which assures non-poverty, real living wages tied to actual cost of living factors... and we need a powerful coalition to accomplish this but as a first step we need to widely promote the idea of wages being linked to cost-of-living.

Most unions are opposed to making this link simply because most of the contracts that have been shoved down workers throats since the late 1940's have been poverty wage--- or near poverty wage--- contracts with COLA not being anywhere near the actual rise in cost-of-living.

As Mark Froemke, a leader of the Minnesota/Dakotas AFL-CIO blatantly stated: "We aren't going to advocate anything higher (higher than $10.10) because we aren't getting any dues from these workers." This is the way millionaire labor leaders and their flunkies in the labor movement think.

I was recently thrilled to get a forty-cent an hour increase in my pay... but I'm still getting a poverty wage under a union contract! And I make far less than the pay in this NYT's article.

I would point out that the intent of the Minimum Wage is to get workers to a real living wage in line with actual cost-of-living and not to provide employers with low wages from which they reap huge super-profits.

Steven Greenhouse obviously understand "the big squeeze" workers in this country are being subjected to but does he understand every single working class family is trapped in a COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS and the only way out is through full employment and a real living Minimum Wage based on actual cost-of-living?

What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" where swords will be beat into plowshares and instead of manufacturing multi-billion dollar Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carriers with massive cost overruns (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford-class_aircraft_carrier) we need to invest our resources in National Public Health Care and Child Care Systems which will create meaningful jobs providing the American people with the requirements for decent lives and livelihoods.

An argument is made that these adjustments in the Minimum Wage will eventually get us to real living wages. This simply is not true. Nor will the advocacy piecemeal reforms result in the reforms required.

The Full Employment Act of 1947 was defeated by a vicious red-baiting assault launched by Wall Street. It is time for rank-and-file workers, organized and unorganized to unite and fight for what is needed:a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity."

We should be asking what happened to the AFL-CIO's Committee on Conversion that was brought into existence as a result of the work done by the IAM's William Winpisinger.

Also see:
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/Article/60/uss-gerald-r-ford-check-out-the-construction-of-the-most-expensive-ship-ever/tab/4458

I find it interesting that the Wall Street merchants of death and destruction are always allowed by the government to implement whatever cost overruns they want to claiming rising prices and costs but when it comes to workers needing wage increases to meet their rising cost-of-living requirements the employers and the politicians they elect cry.

Friday, November 21, 2014

More money for militarism and wars

What could we do to improve the lives of people with this kind of money and resources?


Bloomberg.com
November 21, 2014
U.S. Aircraft Carrier’s Cost Likely to Rise Again, GAO Says
By David Lerman and Tony Capaccio

The cost of the U.S. Navy’s new aircraft carrier is likely to keep rising from the $12.9 billion now estimated, with the final price masked by deferring some work until after the ship is delivered, the Government Accountability Office said.

In the latest in a series of reports offering political ammunition to critics of the Navy’s most expensive warship, the GAO yesterday reaffirmed its earlier concerns that the Ford-class carrier being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (HII) will cost more and take longer to complete than advertised.

“With the shipbuilder embarking on one of the most complex phases of construction with the greatest likelihood for cost growth, cost increases beyond the current $12.9 billion cost cap appear likely,” the watchdog agency said.

To stay within the cost cap, the Navy is deferring some work, including installing satellite communications equipment and correcting defects, until after the ship is delivered, to create a funding reserve, according to the report.

“This approach obscures visibility into the true cost of the ship and results in delivering a ship that is less complete than initially planned,” the GAO said.

The report may serve as fodder for renewed attacks on the Navy’s construction plans from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican poised to become chairman of the panel in January, has been a persistent critic of the carrier.
McCain Criticism
McCain said in a statement that “after $2.4 billion in cost overruns on this ship already, the Navy is now trying to artificially shift more cost overruns until after the Ford’s delivery.”

“The Armed Services Committee will be seeking further explanation from the Navy on this troubling report and will work to hold those responsible for these cost overruns accountable,” McCain said.

Huntington, the only U.S. builder of aircraft carriers, defended the progress of the Gerald R. Ford, which is the first major redesign of a carrier since the 1960’s-era Nimitz class.

The Ford is 83 percent complete and “we continue to see improvements on our performance on Ford and we continue to further increase efficiencies and to retire risk,” said Beci Brenton, a spokeswoman for the Newport News, Virginia-based shipbuilder.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, urged lawmakers to consider revising legislation that set the cost cap on the ship “to improve accountability of Ford-class construction costs.”
‘Operational Capabilities’
The Pentagon rejected that advice, saying all needed funding is already included, according to a written response to the report by Katrina McFarland, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition.

The GAO also found that Ford will deploy “without demonstrating full operational capabilities” because some requirements, such as increasing aircraft launch rates, won’t be met in time and will limit the carrier’s operations.

The Navy is confident that a ship will be delivered under the cost cap, said Commander Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokesman.

Deferring “some non-critical work, such as air wing berthing spaces, that are not required at delivery was done to allow the shipbuilder to focus his resources on the most critical activities to deliver the ship,” Kent said.

To contact the reporters on this story: David Lerman in Washington at dlerman1@bloomberg.net; Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net; Larry Liebert, Michael Shepard

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Is there a link between problems with foster care in this country and incarceration?

Recently a group of reform minded people were granted a meeting with the head of the Michigan Department of Corrections.

During this meeting a very important fact came out which I was never aware of and probably most people in this country are not aware of this important fact:

Over 80% of the people locked up in local, state and federal prisons come out of foster homes.

This has apparently been well known by politicians and bureaucrats for a very long period of time.

Common sense would seem to dictate that the foster care system in this country should have come under very close public scrutiny since so much money--- public and private--- is spent on foster care.

I am sure there are some very good foster families because I know some; I also know some who just do foster care for the money.

Much of this foster care is related to the churches and given all the corruption, unethical and criminal behavior of so much of the clergy it would only be logical to conclude many people are in jails and prisons because of the failures of the foster care system in this country.

is there or isn't there a direct correlation between foster care and people being imprisoned?

Seeing as how the government has failed to investigate this I think we have to consider that there is a direct link between foster care and the high rate of incarceration in this country.

I would also note that many of these priests being found guilty of molesting young children have been deeply involved with foster care programs.

I am sure there will be some people who come forward telling me that I have no right to draw these kinds of conclusions based on the fact that 80% of the people incarcerated have been in foster care; however, I ask:

Why has the government failed to investigate this connection?

What will politicians in Michigan now do with this information?

And why aren't the reformers like activist Angela Davis who are so concerned about the prison-industrial complex bringing forward this fact?

Monday, November 17, 2014

The time has come to break free from the two-party trap.

Haven't we heard this talk of "fighting back" from these same millionaire labor leaders over-and-over again with no attempt made to mobilize the working class for fighting back?

What a crock of bullshit.


After tough election, labor leaders say unions are here to stay

mmonday520x2
CHICAGO - Just weeks after many Republicans were swept into office three of the nation's top labor leaders declared at a public forum here Nov. 13 that unions are ready to fight what they expect will be a renewed nationwide assault on workers' rights.

"What happened in this election," Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO declared, "is that the vast majority of the voters stayed home." He attributed the massive stay-away to widespread disgust with falling wages, fear of the uncertain in both foreign and domestic affairs, a flat or declining standard of living and serious problems in the messaging that came form both major political parties. "The Republicans blamed everything on President Obama and there was no real message coming from the Democrats either," Trumka said.

He warned that the GOP should not interpret the results as "any kind of mandate for their policies," pointing out that when given the chance to vote on specific issues, "people voted overwhelmingly for hikes in the minimum wage. When polled they were overwhelmingly against any cuts in Medicare and Social Security."

Trumka was joined by Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers and by Eliseo Medina, former SEIU secretary-tresurer and currently a leader in the national fight for comprehensive immigration reform. The event was a forum sponsored here by the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics.

Gerard said the election results should also be blamed on "the record amount of dark money poured into the Republican campaigns. They, the Koch brothers and their like spent four and a half billion buying this election," Gerard said. "That's a record."

Trumka said the labor movement "can usually be counted upon for 25 percent of the vote. That usual 25 percent went down to 18 percent. Still," he noted, "the fact that 18 percent of the voters were union members puts our participation in the election ahead of our percentage in the overall population."

Nationally, only 11 percent of the workforce is unionized.

Trumka noted that because of the small size of the labor movement, unions cannot alone carry on the fight to defend workers rights and turn the country around. "This is why we are fully engaging with our allies in the community," he said. "Our values and what we stand for are in sync with the majority of Americans. We want to build a permanent coalition on as many issues as possible together with other groups," he added. Trumka noted that current efforts to build lasting coalitions with allies differ from past efforts by unions "which were directed at forming temporary alliances on single issues rather than ongoing coalitions around a number of concerns we all have."

Some in the crowd at the University of Chicago last Thursday questioned the enormous amount of effort unions have been putting into the fight for immigration reform. "Wouldn't it be better if we just froze all immigration for the time being, until the job situation improves?," one participant asked.

"That is not the way to deal with the problem we have," Medina said. "There are millions who are now here with their families. Their immigration status is being used to deny them their rights and this brings down conditions for all workers in the country."

"As long as I am president of the AFL-CIO," Trumka said, "our fight is going to be for full rights for immigrants. That is the only way unscrupulous employers can be prevented from playing immigrant workers against native born. It's the only way to resolve the problem."

Gerard said that when President Obama acts soon by executive order, to provide relief for perhaps millions of undocumented workers, "we [the labor movement] are going to have to get behind him and support him; the Republican attacks on him will be unrelenting," Gerard warned.

Trumka vowed that unions will continue their battle for civil rights on every front.

"We were down in Ferguson right away," he said. "During the last pesidential elections we made it clear that the one totally unacceptable reason for not voting for Barack Obama was that he was black. Equally, it would be unacceptable not to vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman."

Gerard said that there is work to be done yet in the area of increasing workers' understanding of major economic issues.
"People need to know, for example," that when the Republicans talk about the 'free market' they are talking about something that doesn't exist. No markets are free. They all have rules, it's only a question of who makes the rules for whom."

Trumka followed up on that theme: "People need to know, for example, that it was Milton Friedman from this university who first developed the extreme free market shock capitalism model and that it was no accident where he applied it first - in Chile where it resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and economic disaster that continues on some levels today."
He was referring to the right-wing economic policies instituted under the Washington-backed military coup that resulted in the death of elected socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973.


Come on; does anyone really believe this bullshit?

We have all heard this same talk from these big blowhard millionaire labor leaders before with nothing ever being done. They will do nothing now except what Trumka has more than hinted at--- helping to elect Hillary Clinton who is just one more puppet being worked on strings controlled from corporate boardrooms by the parasitical crowd of Wall Street warmongers.

As for what happened in Chile, the barbaric carnage and brutal repression orchestrated by a bunch of murderous fascist bastards working at Wall Street's behest, the AFL-CIO was working side-by-side with Wall Street bosses and hand-in-hand with the U.S. CIA; apparently a story Trumka and Gerard do not want to  fully tell and explain.

These never-ending dirty imperialist wars are making us all poor. There is always enough money for another war but never enough to fund the requirements of working class families for more decent lives. Trumka and Gerard are eating up this crap about a "populist economics" spewed by the likes of NAFTA supporter Robert Reich without any mention of how militarism and wars are robbing our Nation of the wealth created by workers which should be used to fund people's needs like health care and child care through National Public Health Care and National Public Child Care systems which are publicly funded, publicly administered and publicly delivered just like public education.

The Democrats, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, are no better than the Republicans.

It's time for working people to break free from Wall Street's two-party trap otherwise we are not going to improve our lives and livelihoods; we will not have peace and our living environment will be unable to support healthy populations with clean air, water and land.

As for Obama and "immigration reform;" Obama has deported more workers than any other president and he has not ended these maliciously racist deportations where the only "crime" committed by these working class families has been seeking a better life through hard work.

Compare the way these "undocumented workers" have been treated like criminals to how this rotten Wall Street government has coddled Nazi war criminals who should have been dangling from the hangman's noose, but, instead, were provided with the highest Social Security payments as their dirty deeds were covered up.

 In fact, thousands of workers who have been deported by Obama were paying union dues--- and how have their unions defended them? Listening to Trumka and Gerard talk as if they are actually doing something to defend the rights of "undocumented workers" who are no different from any other workers and entitled to their rights under the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and the words proclaimed in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights is enough to make one vomit. Mere words; no action.

The cause of workers leaving their homelands is Wall Street's exploitation of workers and the rape of their lands and resources and now these innocent workers are being used as scapegoats for Wall Street to hide its criminal dirty deeds behind. Just leave these "undocumented workers" alone and let them live here in the United States in the peace and dignity they are entitled to; they have had enough punishment for several lifetimes. If anyone should be locked up it is the Wall Street warmongers and the crooked, corrupt and unethical bankers robbing this country blind while creating havoc and misery all over the world--- not to mention these politicians being bribed by Wall Street.

Unions should be using their resources to organize the unorganized and to build a progressive working class-based people's party that has as its intent deep-seated reforms while challenging Wall Street for political and economic power.

To go along with a new people's party we need an anti-imperialist movement and working-class think-tanks all over this country in every place of employment and in every working class community.

As far as all this talk coming from Trumka and these other millionaire labor leaders about how we need a "new economy;" they are definitely correct about this--- but, what are they seeking? A more human capitalism and there is no such thing; never has been and never will be. What we need is what millions of Americans are supporting: socialism, a cooperative socialist commonwealth.


All these people who claim we have such a great democracy, let's find out what they think about giving the American people the right to vote on whether or not they want to continue down this dangerous capitalist road or get on the road to socialism. Capitalism is Wall Street's system; socialism is the workers' system. Capitalism is evil. Socialism provides peace and harmony.

Capitalism was evil at its birth and is even more evil today as it has grown into a barbaric monster of state monopoly capitalism with Wall Street the head of this most cannibalistic imperialist system that capitalism has become. Life for working people under this rotten Wall Street imposed capitalist system will never get any better; life can only get worse--- this is the nature of the beast. The rich get richer; the poor get poorer. This is the way the system works.

That what is supposed to be a revolutionary working class newspaper like the People's World would actually publish a story like this without comment and analysis that is so full of lies, excuses and misinformation is shameful and disgusting. No mention of the need to build working class Communist Party Clubs and united, militant rank-and-file committees and organizations capable of taking to task these millionaire labor leaders living the "life of Riley" off the dues they take in from workers who in return are only getting one bankrupt message from them: Elect more Democrats... when everyone knows that if there was a Democratic super-majority--- a Democratic president, all Democrats in the House and Senate, working class families would fare no better than they do now because the Democrats, just like their Republican counter parts, are part of Wall Street's two-party trap. The two-party trap is intended to trap workers and the working class. Millionaire labor "leaders" like Trumka and Gerard are part of this trap as they use their persuasive powers to push workers out of the streets and into the arms of the Democrats who work for the bosses.

And as for racism, every single community in this country is a "Ferguson, Missouri" with racist killer cops acting just like the black-booted fascists who trampled democracy and murdered a sickly Pablo Neruda in Allende's Chile; fascists who were being being defended in the same way as racist murdering cops by the AFL-CIO.

Has anyone heard Richard Trumka or Leo Gerard call for the arrest of this murdering cop in Ferguson, Missouri which justice requires?

The same military equipment being brought out against the people of Ferguson, Missouri who are demanding justice will be used against workers fighting for justice against the Wall Street bosses.

Workers paying union dues are not being properly represented by these millionaire labor leaders who don't have a clue as to what is meant by "the duty and responsibility" to represent workers when it comes to the most basic and fundamental grievances. How many grievances are just allowed to pile up waiting for filing in "the circular file cabinet"--- the trash can?

Trumka and his coterie of millionaire labor leaders refuse to stand up for the workers whose dues are paying their big fat salaries--- does anyone really believe these millionaire labor leaders have the moral and ethical integrity to defend the interests of the entire working class? They will continue to piss away the dues of hard working Americans supporting Democrats who are owned by Wall Street.

People aren't voting because there is no organized alternative to vote for.

Workers in Canada have their own political party--- the socialist New Democratic Party now challenging Wall Street and its junior partner, Bay Street, for political power. We should be looking north of our border to find out what Canadian workers are doing--- workers who recently elected a class struggle trade unionists to lead the Canadian Labour Congress; why is Trumka getting a free pass?

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Robert Reich offers Hillary Clinton advice...

I told this to Robert Reich who is backing Hillary Clinton for President with the advice that she should mouth his "economic populism:"

Hillary Clinton intends to "ride your phoney populist wave" which is based on an "economic populism" that doesn't even take into consideration the adverse impact of Wall Street's militarism and wars on the economy.

Hillary Clinton will take your advice and talk a good line about an "economic populism" which is nothing but nice sounding bullshit who, like your friend Obama, she will forget about her "economic populism" if elected.

I wouldn't lift a finger to support Hillary Clinton who is nothing but a Wall Street warmonger and it is these dirty imperialist wars that belong to her as much as to Bush and Obama which are making us all poor.

Any economist with an once of common sense understands that when a nation pumps its wealth into militarism and never-ending dirty imperialist wars that wealth, which has been created by the very workers you claim so piously to love even though you sat in silence through Bill Clinton's welfare "reform" as you were a primary advocate of NAFTA which killed millions of jobs, end up poor as their labor is squandered on this senseless militarism and wars.

We might better ask the people of this country just to toss their pay-checks into the ocean rather than fund war after war.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Just what is Richard Trumka's idea of a "new economy?"

Richard Trumka held another one of his press conferences claiming he was expressing the anger of the American people over the direction of the economy but he failed to articulate that this is Wall Street's capitalist economy and imperialist system.

Trumka also failed to articulate an alternative economy that would best serve the interests of the working class--- which would be socialism.

Not only did Trumka fail to articulate the need for socialism, he failed to spell out and articulate the kind of real reforms required that would improve the lives of working class families because Trumka knows full well that this would require the working class to become engaged in the class struggle.

Is there really anyone who believes that what is good for Wall Street will be good for the working class when Wall Street's greatest profits are derived from what makes working class families suffer?

Are we fed-up yet?

I find it interesting so many of the people associated with the Citizens United movement claiming they are for getting big money out of politics were so heavily involved in supporting millionaire and billionaire Democrats as if these wealthy Democrats have interests in opposition to the Wall Street interests of Republicans when nothing could be further from the truth.


There is now plenty of time for these people to become active in 2016 campaigns providing alternatives to the two-party trap but do you think they will join us even though they piously and hypocritically claim they are "with us?"


Heck no; what we will be hearing from them, again, is that big-money Democrats exploiting labor and raping Mother Nature to amass even greater wealth for themselves is somehow better than voting for wealthy Republicans.


And they continue to ignore the plight of working class families suffering from poverty and unemployment while touting figures "proving" that this crumbling capitalist economy is somehow miraculously "recovering."


Isn't anyone else besides me fed-up with this bullshit being dished out over and over again playing us all for fools?


It's the same scratched record being played over and over again as millions of working class families continue to suffer with no relief in sight.


Perhaps the people of Ferguson, Missouri will be teaching us how to revolt to get results.


Are we fed-up yet?

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Did Obama's supporters vote for him so he could work with the Republicans?

I think this is a question his supporters are going to have to answer.

Congratulations to the Green Party of Minnesota; their candidates did very well.

The Green Party in Minnesota did really well in the 2014 elections which should put them in a position to start winning.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Blame Obama and the Democrats.

Obama's and the Democrats' dirty imperialist wars, combined with the austerity measures being shoved down our throats to pay for these dirty wars, is what set the stage for this Republican comeback.



Those who speak of Obamacare being some kind of progressive reform have most likely never had to use it because most of the people I talk to who have used it have incurred horribly high deductibles shoving them into medical bankruptcies.



As for "saving the economy," again, ask someone who is unemployed or trying to scrape by from pay-check to pay-check and I doubt these people feel the economy has been saved.



People turn out to vote mostly for one simple reason: because they know, or think, their lives will be improved.



By putting twenty million unemployed people to work and ending these dirty wars, the Democrats could have won a landslide but, they, like the Republicans, are committed to Wall Street's thoroughly reactionary agenda.



People are just plain fed up and the only reason the Democrats got as many votes as they did was because the votes were anti-Republican.



If we started spending as much time working to build a new progressive working class based people's party for peace, social and economic justice which declares its intent to challenge Wall Street for political and economic power we would see big changes for the better with improved lives for working class families--- but, we won't be seeing any kind of even the most basic progressive reforms until then.



If we think about all of this, isn't this the reason people turned out in droves to vote for Obama the first time around thinking he would take the path of anti-Wall Street, pro-peace progressive reforms?



Obama lied. the Democrats lie. And this is what has people fed up. Thank Obama and the Democrats for a Republican controlled U.S. Senate and Republicans retaining and winning new seats all over this country.



But the Democrats will not be blaming their Wall Street agenda on their losses; they will be blaming the voters who refused to show up to vote for them because they felt betrayed between what these Dumb Donkeys say to get their votes and what they do once elected.


Already some mean-spirited and vindictive Democrats are starting to blame the very people they claim they are for helping by saying things like, "I hope all these people who didn't vote or voted for Republicans like losing their Social Security benefits and pensions."


Well, the fact is, working people have lost plenty while Obama has been at the helm of government and Democrats had a solid majority in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate when Obama first came into office and what did they do? They squandered their majority along with the wealth of our Nation on more of these dirty wars which are making us all poor while implementing Wall Street's thorougly reactionary agenda and bailing these parasites out to boot.