Thursday, March 22, 2012

The XL Pipeline and Other Progressive Rumblings; A Letter to the President

The Keystone XL pipeline is touted as necessary, even though it will lead to only 50 permanent jobs, and any output will be sold abroad, not here in the U.S. And there is a reason that Canada does not want the pipeline to be built to their seaports. It is called the environment.

The price of crude oil is set on the world markets, and speculation in oil future's markets has increased dramatically, yet we are told that somehow gasoline prices can be lowered by the actions of the president, and in particular, by allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be built. Those gas prices rise or fall world-wide, and the major difference in gasoline prices across the globe is due to taxes.

Support for the pipeline sounds like a purely political move at the expense of the environment.

We want the progressive president that we elected in 2008, not someone who continually caves in to the uncompromising demands of the opposition party. We need someone who understands that the GOP wants low revenues in order to cut social programs. We need someone who understands that individual responsibility without social responsibility is just selfishness and greed.

We need someone who will stop mixing general revenues with the payroll tax revenues in the Social Security Trust Fund; general funds in the Trust Fund gives the GOP the excuse they want in order to cut expenses by cutting Social Security. We need someone who will fight for allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices rather than paying whatever the pharmaceutical companies demand.

We need someone who will refuse, absolutely refuse, to allow the Bush tax cuts to continue. We need someone who demands an end to preferential tax treatment for income from working money over income from working people; end the 15% capital gains tax and treat capital gains (and special dividend income) the same as regular income. Anything else is a slap in the face to blue-collar workers.

End the saddling of expenses on companies in the form of employee health care insurance. American companies which employ American workers have to compete with overseas companies which have employees with national health care. Fight for health insurance which is not dependent on the type and longevity of employment as well as the size of the company. That alone would help small businesses attract quality employees.

Again, please stand up for the principles of candidate Obama, and become the great president we so desperately need.

Monday, March 19, 2012

On the Road Again to 1929 - The JOBS Act

Copy of Letter to Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN):
I am writing about your YES vote on the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, HR3606 (JOBS, or Jumpstart Only Big Scams Act).

Thank you for voting to end protections that were put in place after the stock market crash of 1929. And thank you for making the raising of capital more difficult and expensive because of the increased risk of fraud.

Exempting some types of transactions from SEC disclosure requirements as well as getting rid of penalties for lying will definitely make raising capital easier.

Getting rid of many parts of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law will facilitate the return to the era of innovative accounting such as those practiced by Enron and WorldCom.

We have already eliminated the Glass-Steagall Act which kept commercial and investment banking separate, allowing bad investments to endanger commercial financing. With taxpayer financed bail-outs available, what danger could there really be?

So let's say good-bye to investor protections and give more jobs to people like Bernie Madoff and others who benefit from laws promoting economic self-destruction.

And by the way, how much did those securities industry special interests have to contribute to get you to vote yes on this bill? I bet you sold out real cheap.
This is yet another bill whose purpose is at odds with the title, unless the title only refers to the jobs of our representatives in Congress. I have also written my other representatives, President Obama, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to let them know my opinion of this bill.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

AARP Wants Social Security Cuts Again?

From the Huffington Post, we have that AARP "will soon be holding a private, principals-only 'salon-style conversation' with a host of advocates of entitlement cuts." A petition opposing this outrage is at FireDogLake.com.

AARP meeting "off-the-record" with social security opponents to discuss strategies for changing Social Security, including possible benefit cuts? How ignorant and despicable!

The only change which should be made is to raise the cap at which payroll taxes are taken out (the cap should be indexed, not fixed), and that is only to insure full benefits past the next 25 years.

Raise the retirement age? You have got to be kidding. Social Security is fully funded for 25 years at current retirement ages. Will you penalize future retirees because of lies? And get rid of the payroll tax holiday and stop mixing our retirement insurance payments with general revenues.

If AARP want me as a future member, they had better start acting like advocates for seniors.

And get rid of AARP CEO Barry Rand along with whoever advises him. NOW!