Tag Archives: GOP

Nov 20 2014
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Economics

Its the Economic Inequality Stupid!

A recent financial investor report issued by non-partisan economists at Standard & Poor’s rating service, concluded that slow US economic growth is directly attributable to income inequality.   This is no left of center political organization and they are not driven by ideology. S&P helps investors make money, so what they say shouldn’t be taken lightly.  Today they warn that income inequality in the US is at its highest levels since the 1920’s and this inequality is dampening US GDP growth  “at a time when the worlds biggest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession and the governments need to support an aging population.”  S&P economists are just informing investors of where the US economy is headed.  They go on to say that there isn’t enough demand for goods and services to maintain strong economic growth because the middle class doesn’t have the purchasing power  needed to drive our economy. They warn, that high income inequality can feed on itself, as the wealthy use their resources to influence the political system toward policies that help maintain that advantage, like low tax rates on high incomes, tax avoidance loop holes, subsidies for corporations, and low estate taxes, and under investment in education and infrastructure.
Sound eerily familiar to what’s been going on in the US over the last 3 decades?  Sure does.
Today one political party, the GOP is pushing an ideology of more tax cuts for the rich & corporations, keeping their generous tax loopholes and subsidies, and refusing to revise the outdated tax code. They oppose any efforts for campaign finance reform and getting secret money out of our elections.  Do you ever wonder who is paying for all those misleading commercials?  The GOP also opposes raising the minimum wage, supports privatizing Social Security, supports turning Medicare into a premium support voucher program, while slashing funding for programs that actually help the poor & middle class. They also promise to dismantle the NLRB, it’s part of their war on unions and labor and keeping US wages low.  They are also against efforts to lower interest rates for student loans.  Why would they want to make it harder to get a good education?  S&P concludes that investment in education would add 2.4% annually to our GDP growth over the next 5 years.
Then why would the GOP support spending cuts to education and our crumbling infrastructure, if it would help improve our economy?  So do they really care about it?   Then they have the gall to say ” where are the jobs” then blame the President for slow economic growth caused by the policies they so strongly support.
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Without coming out and saying it, this S&P report clearly points a finger at the flawed GOP policies of trickle down economics, and cuts to education and infrastructure.   Without a doubt, the future of our country’s middle class isn’t a top priority for the GOP.  The just play lip service to their constituents, while catering to the powerful and secret donors that play them like a fiddle, while the American Dream is burning.
The results of the this mid term election guarantees this trend will continue, sadly at your expense.
Dennis Dubois
House candidate for Strafford District 10
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Dec 29 2012
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National Politics

Three Tea Party Fallacies

Three Tea Party Fallacies

To combat the Tea Party’s misinformation, a rational examination of historical facts is the simple solution. I present three of their fallacies for your review:

#1: We need more guns to combat gun violence. In the last thirty years, we have had 61 mass killings, including the monstrous killings in Newtown, CT. In no case, was the killer prevented from completing the terrible crime by an armed private individual with a gun. Nonetheless, gun rights advocates always claim that if someone with a gun was present, he or she could have stopped the carnage. This is the reason that thoughtful people are working to establish gun-free zones, including schools, colleges, churches and airplanes. Even if an armed person could intervene, gunfire would probably make the situation more dangerous. Furthermore, we now have over 310 million guns in this country, 8.8 guns for every 10 people. Would you feel safer with 100%?

#2: If we lower taxes, the economy will improve. All income classes in the U.S. have been “enjoying” historically-low income tax rates for at least the last 12 years.
Actually, rates have been going down since the 1970’s.  Do you believe that tax reduction has led to a robust economy? By not raising additional taxes to pay for additional defense, retiree support, transportation and social programs, we have been brought to the highest deficit and debt in our history. Cutting spending, or any particular programs, will not solve the problem because government, just like a family, cannot survive if income is reduced every year.

#3: The states and not the Federal government know what’s best for their people. The fallacy of this argument is actually tied into #2. One of the most conservative states in the union is Louisiana. I remember visiting New Orleans one year. I met a man in the city who owned a small, one family house in one of the parishes. He told me how happy he was to pay a yearly property tax of  $200 dollars. About a year later, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. Governor Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat called out the State Police. I was amazed to learn that the Department numbered 91 officers for the entire state. Federal troops had to be called in.

In another example, a month before the recent deep well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, defunded and eliminated the state’s Office of Well Drilling Safety Management. What followed was the Gulf’s biggest natural disaster that costs the Federal government nearly $30 billion to clean up. Thankfully, not all states are as dysfunctional as Louisiana, but to claim that the Federal government has little responsibility is not only short-sighted but dangerous to state residents.

I write this commentary to encourage you to seek the historical facts surrounding our political problems and come to your own informed conclusions. As a voter, you owe it to yourself to challenge the fallacies that could hurt our society and weaken our nation.

Nick Vazzana

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