In view of the political agenda, which is the center of debate in Congress and the state houses around the country Replica Tag heuer Watches, cutting budgets at a time of recession seems to me as logical as the way in which educational “reform” is being run — improving education by wrecking the teaching profession.

I would like to offer my own modest proposal to not just balance the budget but eliminate the deficit, not in ten years, or even five years, but in two at the most. (NOTE: Although the numbers for savings are imaginary, the politicians who believe that balancing a budget and reducing the deficit during a recession are more important than providing the vast majority of the American citizenry with a chance at a decent life are real.)

Reducing the requirements for teacher certification to a high school diploma (or GED) and hiring anyone at minimum wage (See #5) who can read a scripted lesson and be able to look at a camera in order to increase distance learning. Savings: $500 Replica Cartier Watches,000,000,000.

Closing all libraries, community centers, public parks, beaches, zoos, museums and other publicly funded cultural and recreational facilities and reopening only those that can charge enough of an admission fee to recoup any operating expenses. Savings: $100,000,000,000.

Eliminating any government subsidies for college education, including Pell Grants, low-interest loans, scholarships and any other financial support. Savings: $250,000,000,000.

Raising the retirement age for social security immediately to 75 and capping the age eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare to 65. Savings: $1,000,000,000,000.

Reducing the minimum wage to $2 an hour which would make us more competitive with China and India and cut costs for municipal, state and federal employees by pegging their recalculated salaries to twice the minimum wage. Savings: $2,000,000,000,000.

Eliminating the EPA, the Consumer Protection Agency, the Center for Disease Control and any other regulatory agency that impedes the God-given right of the entrepreneurs to bring prosperity to this country through their ability to create wealth — mostly theirs. Savings: $150,000,000,000.

Passing the XXVlll amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Xlll amendment so that slavery can be legalized again. Since it is already in practice in some states in the guise of “prisoner vocational training,” it can be easily adopted to wider uses in the “Worker Rehabilitation Camps” that will be built around the country to deal with “disruptive social elements” such as union organizers, the unemployed, the sick, and the aged. Savings: $1,000,000,000,000.

Eliminating government support for any publicly financed media such as National Public radio, and such cultural and health organizations as the National Endowment to the Humanities, the National Endowment to the Arts and Planned Parenthood. Savings: $500,000,000.

Using the newly legalized slave labor force to build the WRC’s that will provide the overwhelming majority of Americans with shelters, limited recreational facilities and isolation from the 10 percent of the population that will truly thrive even more than they have now when the budget is finally balanced. Savings: $500,000,000,000.

Total savings: $5,550,000,000,000. In two years the deficit would vanish! With a balanced budget the United States will return to fiscal solvency in a “New America” for those who make more money than they could ever need from those who never had enough money to afford what they needed. So we will go down in history as Athens, Rome, Spain and the British Empire have done before us.

My only alternative suggestion is to establish a massive WPA for the unemployed building and restoring our crumbling infrastructure, return the tax structure to what it was in the 1960s, lift the income cap on social security taxes and let income redistribution finally go in the right direction — downward, not upward.

Who is our economy for? Who is our government for? undergoing a transition from “We, the People” democratic government to a plutocracy run by and for the wealthy. One indicator of this transition is the way the D.C. Elite respond to unemployment. 9-10% unemployment used to be a national emergency. Now it’s a yawn.

What The Washington Paper Says

The Washington Post has a front-page story, “Why does Fresno have thousands of job openings — and high unemployment?” that says the problem is really “structural,” a skills gap, and there is little we can do. This is significant because so many people who make policy read the Washington Post while sitting in their nice, expensive restaurants. Stories like this risk that they will think that there really are plenty of jobs out there, but the serfs just aren’t up to taking them, or are too spoiled, but in any event there is no problem that needs solving, and call the lobbyist because this month’s check is late.

Meanwhile, anyone in the real world outside of Washington or Wall Street reading about “thousands” of job openings going unfilled immediately knows something is fishy. In fact, if this story ran on the front page outside of DC or Wall Street we might even need to worry about Egypt-style riots. Anyone on the same side of the continent as Fresno knows that there are not “thousands’ of unfilled job openings. There might be thousands of foreclosures, or thousands of people in food lines, or thousands of people whose unemployment has run out but there are not thousands of unfilled job openings.

What The Local Paper Says

The Fresno Bee has a different story to tell, “EDITORIAL: President should come see impact of joblessness in Valley”:

The economy may be improving, but it would be difficult to persuade the thousands of out-of-work Valley residents that things are looking up.

The six Valley communities cited in a U.S. Labor Department report have unemployment rates that run from 16.4% in Hanford-Corcoran to 18.6% in Merced. The other Valley cities on the list are Fresno (16.9%), Visalia-Porterville (16.8%), Modesto (17.2%) and Stockton (17.5%).

. . . The nation’s economic recovery will not be complete until Americans go back to work. At every level of government, the goal should be to implement policies that improve consumer confidence and encourage businesses to hire workers.

The Fresno Want Ads

The Fresno Bee help-wanted ads tell the story.

There are 963 “Sales” jobs listed, but the first 519 of those are at the same “company,” called “Work At Home Jobs, Inc.” and are mostly the same “job,” if you can call it that. The next 136 are a different “company” and the “jobs” are calling people from home to sell them wireless cell service — on commission. The next 52 are the same deal but a different “company,” selling internet from home, on commission. The next 46, same story. Etc.

The next category after Sales is “Business development”, with 691 jobs, 466 are “work at home” and many of the rest are the same jobs at the same companies as the “sales” jobs. The next two categories are “General Business” and “Other” and, again, list the same “jobs” at the same “companies.” The next category is “Business Opportunity.” I challenge you to guess what “companies” and “jobs” are listed. (Hint: it’s the same ones again.)

Supply And Demand

Among the few specifics in the story is the example of “Jain Irrigation, which cannot find all the workers it wants for $15-an-hour jobs running expensive machinery that spins out precision irrigation tubing at 600 feet a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

$15-an-hour is just above the poverty level for a family of four, at about 130%.

Dean Baker, writing in “The Problem of Structrual Unemployment: Really Incompetent Managers,” makes the point that a company complaining they can’t find skilled workers at $15 an hour needs to think about raising their offer. Baker writes,

It presents comments from one employer who complains that he can’t find workers for jobs that pay $15 an hour. This is not a very good wage. It would be difficult for someone to support themselves and their children on a job paying $15 an hour ($30,000 a year). If the company president understand economics, then he would raise wages enough so that the jobs were attractive to workers who have the necessary skills.

If they can’t get workers, they should know that they need to bump up the wage offered until they can. That is about as basic as it gets in the supply/demand equation.

Can’t Sell The House And Move

Part of this problem is the housing market. If Fresno really doesn’t have the skilled workers businesses need, Silicon Valley and Las Vegas certainly do, and have very high unemployment rates, but the people there can’t sell their houses and move! And even if they could sell they are “underwater Replica Tag heuer Watches,” will come out of the sale owing a ton of money that they can’t make up by taking a $15-per-hour job!

Externalizing Training Costs

Companies expect workers to already be trained, “externalizing” one more cost onto local communities, while shopping for the lowest tax areas to locate.

California has a budget crisis and is cutting back on funding for the community colleges and other programs where people are trained for jobs. One reason for the budget crisis is businesses demanding ever-lower taxes, or playing communities and states against each other for tax incentives to relocate, using property tax avoidance schemes and so many other ways to get out of paying something back to the public for the public investment that enabled them to prosper.

The Real Problem

Out here in the real world the real problem is not “structural,” it is that there just are not enough jobs, they don’t pay enough, “free trade” deals have lowered wages and undermined our manufacturing base, there is not enough demand in the economy and the government is not doing its job of picking up the slack and after 30 years of tax-cutting the infrastructure is crumbling and not supporting competitiveness for our businesses.

There are millions of unemployed and millions of infrastructure jobs that need doing. There is a new green energy and manufacturing revolution going on in the world and we do not have an economic/industrial policy to capture our share. There is problem after problem that is not being addressed by a government captured by interests.

DC Avoids Dealing With The Problem

It seems that the DC Elite will do anything to avoid just seeing what is in front of their faces.

Clearly we have lost jobs from trade deals, Wall Street financialization and domination, lack of investment in infrastructure and education, etc. But the DC Elite come up with a thousand reasons not to fix these because the interests that benefit from those deals have influence over them. Our budget deficit is obviously from tax cuts and military spending — but you will never, ever, ever, ever hear that. Instead we hear job-killing “austerity” solutions that avoid asking the wealthy few to pitch in.

On one issue after another, the DC Elite provide cover for the wealthy elite interests who now control DC. The transition from We, the People democracy to a plutocracy of, by and for the wealthy few is nearly complete.

The real problem is not a breakdown of the structure of the job market and is not a mismatch between the jobs and the skills, it is a lack of jobs because of lack of demand, and a mismatch between who our government and economy are supposed to work for, and the interests that have brought this about.

March 10 Summit on Jobs and America’s Future

On March 10, 2011 Replica Rolex watches, the Summit on Jobs and America’s Future will bring together leaders and activists who understand that America faces a jobs crisis — and who are committed to building a political movement for sustainable economic growth, dynamic job creation, and a revival of the American economy.

It’s free, $15 if you want lunch. Beat that.

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.

Sign up here for the CAF daily summary.

Going into the 2012 elections people on the progressive end of the political spectrum need to ask the simple question: How will the first post-Citizens United presidential election affect the outcomes for those desperately seeking social change? The most likely result, unfortunately, is that after the mountains of anonymous campaign money come crashing down in a deafening avalanche of sophisticated negative ads aimed at Democratic politicians, Republicans are probably going to come out on top. Our current collection of post-”Hope and Change,” tepid, apologetic Democrats at the national level that President Barack Obama has come to personify could get throttled just like they did in 2010.

The reality is that in 2010 the Democrats suffered what President Obama conceded was a “shellacking.” Republicans swept the table winning 63 House seats and wiping out in a single election what took the Democrats two arduous election cycles to build. Republicans also made huge gains in governorships and state legislatures, including key states (some of them “swing states”) like Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia. The first midterm election in the post-Citizens United universe was a Republican rout. Going into 2012 I fear that the smug predictions I’ve been hearing throughout the corporate media of an inevitable Obama reelection are premature. Surveying the landscape I would not be a bit surprised if the Democrats lost the Senate as well as the presidency this November. The Republican strategy in Washington of making sure that the economy stays in the tank through November is working.

Take a recent example: The political talking heads on the cable news shows and on the editorial pages of what’s left of the major newspapers almost unanimously portrayed Obama’s recent deal with the Republicans to extend the payroll tax cut for two months as a “victory” for the president and his party. But it was nothing of the sort. As was the case every time Obama “negotiates” with the GOP Congress he dumped his key demand even before the “negotiations” began: the 3.8 percent surtax on millionaires and billionaires to pay for the payroll tax extension. When Senate “minority” leader Mitch McConnell is high-fiving after a deal is cut (and 89 Senators voted for it) what just transpired was no “victory” for Obama and the Democrats.

So things will lumber along in 2012, the economy will remain mired in deep recession, Washington will show again and again its complete dysfunction Replica Breitling watches, and the electorate will grow angrier and angrier. And right-wing SuperPAC money will dominate the airwaves with one simple message: the recession is Obama’s fault.

In the land that Gore Vidal called “the United States of Amnesia” one can already sense the 2008 banking meltdown and the misrule of George W. Bush and the Republican Congress (2003-2007) receding into the distance, vanishing into oblivion, going down the memory hole (insert cliché here). In 2012 nobody is going to be talking about the previous administration or the underlying causes of the great Wall Street heist of 2008.

And Obama has no one to blame but himself. The political costs of deciding not to prosecute or investigate any of the perps of the mortgage Ponzi scheme and denying the public even a handful of high-profile cases where we could convince ourselves that a little justice was served, never materialized. Instead, the Obama administration gave the banking executive hucksters a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card and his political party is going to suffer the backlash for coddling these white-collar criminals. That failure was a key motivating force for the Occupy Wall Street movement and it is not going to go away.

The backlash will be twofold: 1) A lack of enthusiasm of the Democratic base (just like 2010); and 2) The political energies that might have been put into organizing for Democratic candidates will be focused on other causes and organizations, like OWS. Why would anybody get “fired up” by working to send back to Washington a crew of failed politicians just so they can continue to fail for four more years?

Over the course of his first term President Obama has shown that he will not do the heavy lifting required to build a sustainable and coherent challenge to the dominating narratives that the Republicans have thrown at him. He buckles and capitulates and MSNBC can call these “victories” but that’s not what millions of people who voted for Obama in 2008 believe. He was not elected to cut deals with corporate miscreants and tell us that what he really meant by the “fierce urgency of now” was that the country needed a string of U.S. presidents to move toward tiny, incremental “change” that we may or may not see in our lifetimes due to the power of the lobbies and complexity of “our” problems.

Obama’s words today, no matter how stirring or eloquent or right on, are just another small part of the cacophony of bullshit we hear from our venal, mediocre politicians every minute of every day (especially in an election year). Few people on the progressive side believe a word that comes out of his mouth anymore because they stopped listening to him about 1,500 betrayals ago.

The Occupy Wall Street movement, as inspiring as it was, unfortunately, could follow the path of the Iraq peace movement that also organized enormous demonstrations during the lead up to the Iraq war only to be brushed aside and rendered irrelevant when it came to actually having an effect on reversing disastrous policies. George W. Bush taught us that mass protest isn’t what it used to be — he compared 15 million people marching worldwide against the Iraq war in mid-February 2003 to a “focus group.” Maybe he was right. Maybe in our post-modern, fragmented and compartmentalized social unreality the will of the people matters about as much as one of Frank Luntz’s dial-a-view sessions.

Which brings me, after my many depressing points above (for which I apologize) Replica Tag heuer Watches, to the subject of this little blog: the powerful right-wing political obstacles that must be sidelined if progressive change can have any chance of success, whether Obama is at the helm or any number of the string of future presidents he now tells us we’ll probably need.

1). Grover Norquist

This un-elected, cynical, elitist political animal — with his denunciations of everything associated with the word “public” — has carved out a niche for himself in the nation’s political discourse that far surpasses any “Czar” we’ve heard Fox News howl about. Politicians across the country kiss Norquist’s ring in the form of signing a “pledge” and taking an “oath” that no matter what crisis the U.S. might enter, they will never turn to increasing taxes on the rich to help deal with it. Unless this guy’s power is curtailed there won’t be any chance for using public policy to mitigate the effects of the yawning inequality in American society.

2). Frank Luntz

This advertising technician has proved that George Orwell was correct in his prediction that political language would be manipulated by the most powerful elements of society to entrench their power. Like Norquist, Luntz has become a power among the organized Right because his amoral, unethical, manipulative, dishonest, and downright greasy wordsmithing for the 1 percent works wonders and has already polluted our public discourse. With no real watchdog in the press exposing his lies and misinformation Luntz has been free to employ his techniques with great effect for his right-wing clients. Unless his lies, and the motives behind them, are widely and continuously exposed, progressives will have difficulty framing our major political debates.

3). Roger Ailes

This cunning right-wing apparatchik consciously controls the nuances and subtleties of the “news” narratives that Fox pumps up. Ailes’s life work has already irreparably damaged the rationality of our political discourse by infusing it with lies and hyperbole in a format that ingeniously mimics a legitimate “news” broadcast. All of the superficial trappings of “journalism” are present on Fox without any of the substance. As long as Democratic presidents feel it necessary to have a sit-down interview with Bill O’Reilly (a McCarthyite blowhard who has been caught in countless lies and misinformation) there’s little hope that progressive issues are going to get a fair shake in the mainstream media (of which Fox is now central due to its dominance in the ratings).

4). The Koch Brothers

These 19th Century-style Robber Barons have been so successful in buying politicians to act as servants for their vast oil and gas holdings — even when one of their governors is exposed (as with the prank phone call to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin) — they still keep chugging along in their apparently long-term project of turning over the United States of America lock, stock and barrel to an aggressive right-wing corporate oligarchy. Citizens United has expanded the Kochs’ power and others like them to proportions that would be unimaginable as recently as the last presidential election. The millions of dollars they routinely pump into every pet right-wing cause, and who knows how much in anonymous SuperPAC money, just further destroys the election system in the world’s oldest “functioning” democracy. Progressives either have to match the Kochs’ spending dollar-for-dollar (good luck) or somehow get their damaging effects to American democracy exposed in a vigilant press (don’t count on it).

5). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

This Machiavellian power monger who has abused the filibuster and imposed minority rule on this country more successfully than any Senator in U.S. history has a 100 percent winning streak in every battle he has enjoined with Obama. McConnell knows whose side he is on and he loved the Citizens United decision so much he attended the Supreme Court’s announcement of the ruling. What Obama needs more than anything in 2012 is one — just one — confrontation with McConnell where the Kentucky Senator is the clear loser and everybody in the country sees it that way. The recent vote in the Senate on the payroll tax cut extension where McConnell was seen high-fiving with Wyoming Senator John Barrasso does not bode well for the battles to come in 2012.

All these personalities can continue their work in freedom and live in the lap of luxury; they just cannot be allowed to influence the direction of the nation. They cannot be “compromised” with or brought into a “big tent,” or be “reached out to” in a spirit of “bipartisan comity” — they must be fought and pushed aside.

When Herman Cain boasted that he was the Koch Brothers’ “brother from another mother” we were shown pretty clearly that this is not your mother and father’s Republican Party. They’ve succeeded in pulling the “center” of American politics far to the right and Obama’s tepid compromises are only facilitating this rightward trajectory. We’ll have to wait and see where the limit (if any) to this 30-year rightward lurch lies. But as the Tea Party onslaught in 2010 showed us there really is no conceivable limit to how far they can pull the center to the right, unless and until there is a forceful push back from the “opposition.” Why did 200,000 people come out to hear Obama’s inaugural address? Because they wanted him to reverse the Bush policies, not continue them and in some cases expand them. Therein lies the biggest disappointment.

Ramallah, West Bank – The Palestinians’ rival leaders have quietly decided to keep their respective governments in the West Bank and Gaza in place until elections, a senior Hamas figure told The Associated Press. This proposal would remove a major obstacle to efforts to reconcile the factions: the need to form an interim unity government.

A representative of Hamas’ rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, denied that such a deal was struck. Abbas envoy Azzam al-Ahmed insisted there was no agreement and “no possibility of holding elections without a unity government.”

The Hamas figure said the understanding was reached between Western-backed Abbas and Khaled Mashaal, chief of the Islamic militant Hamas, during one-on-one talks last week. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because he said the two leaders decided not to make the arrangement public.

Another top Hamas official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said that it was at least possible to skip an interim government and head straight to elections, tentatively scheduled for May.

The Hamas statements suggested that a solution was being finessed to get around the disagreement over keeping Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the West Bank government, who is popular with Western donors but strongly opposed by Hamas. By retaining the separate governments until the elections and perhaps enabling them to work closer together, both sides could save face.

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Keeping the existing governments in place would help Abbas avoid a Western backlash and continue the flow of international aid to his government in the run-up to elections. Western powers fear a unity government, even one composed of technocrats without clear political affiliations, would be heavily influenced by the Islamic militant Hamas.

It also would mean that Salam Fayyad, an internationally respected economist, remains in charge in the West Bank for the time being and continue to ensure that donor countries keep funding Abbas’ Palestinian Authority. Hamas will keep running Gaza, the territory it seized from Abbas by force in 2007. The Hamas government is not internationally recognized.

Shelving the unity government step would also remove a major sticking point in Hamas-Abbas negotiations.

At Thursday’s meeting, Abbas told Mashaal that that the two-government status quo was “convenient for both sides and any change might be costly Replica tag heuer watches,” according to the Hamas figure. The Hamas figure said he was briefed by Mashaal Replica chopard watches, who welcomed the idea.

Al-Ahmed, the Abbas envoy, said negotiators from both sides would meet again next month to try to form a unity government. Abu Marzouk confirmed that such talks are planned.

This post is part two of “Photographing National Parks in the U.S.”. Click here to read Part One.

Utah

When we arrived at Zion National Park the leaves were changing colors. There were gorgeous yellow fall leaves, red rocks and emerald water to photograph. The hiking is great here if you are not afraid of heights and be sure to check out the Narrows, a slot canyon with a cold river bottom and the Subway, a rounded tunnel hike that requires a backcountry permit. The shuttle service in Zion is great because you can stop at any major point along the way to hike and not worry about driving. The shuttle drivers are also very informative when describing the wildlife, the formations and the parks early visitors. Zion is a must see for any photographer or nature lover.

Bryce Canyon is not a huge park and much of it can be seen in a day. It is approximately 8,000 feet above sea level and cold Replica Rolex watches, but it is a must see with its large, orange graphically shaped hoodoos. It is best captured at sunrise because the position of the park makes it difficult to get a good sunset image.

Arches National Park, as its name describes, has many sandstone arches and there is probably not a better place for astro-photography due to the elevation and lack of light pollution. Pictures can never do the sheer size of Double Arch justice. It is a stunning, natural outdoor cathedral. If you are going to shoot Delicate Arch at sunset, get there early Replica Tag heuer Watches, you are going to have to share your elbowroom with a lot of other photographers.
Arches National Park is photogenic any time of day or season, I prefer sunrise and sunset, but if you are out in the afternoon, bring a polarizer to help bring out the colors of the sandstone and the blue of the sky. Give yourself at least three days and a couple of nights for stargazing. Remember to have flashlights and batteries for your flash. It gets really dark and quiet here and I’m talking hear the blood pumping of your ears quiet.

Canyonlands National Park is a very large park cut into sections by the Colorado and Green Rivers. Most of the park is only accessible by raft or 4×4 but the most well known section of the park has its entrance about 45 minutes out of Moab called the “Island in the Sky District”. This section of the park has one of the most photographed arches in it, Mesa Arch. Photographers will create a half circle around the arch and there is a pact among them not to walk in front of the others so that everybody gets a shot. The down side to this is that there are so many images of the arch already out there that it is hard to create something original at this location, the up side is that you will get a beautiful image. This is also a good spot to meet and talk shop with fellow photographers. You never know what secrets they may have for additional locations or shots.

New Mexico

New Mexico seems like a dry and desolate place from the viewpoint of the interstate, but there are many hidden gems all across the state.
White Sands is white gypsum that forms sand dunes between two mountain ranges. No other place I have been has the ability to take away all the distracting elements in a photograph. It easily makes the image purely about texture, pattern, line or color. It is best to photograph in the early morning or late evening when the sun is raking its light across the dunes making stronger patterns. Another good time to photograph White Sands is during sunset, moonrises, full moons and at night. In fact during season, the park offers full moon walks. Don’t forget long sleeves and sunscreen. I went to White Sands and forgot, the next day I could not walk due to sunburn!

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is a great day hike. The 2 1/2 hour hike takes you through narrow slot canyons as you climb. This is definitely a 5 star hike. If you want to take a walk through the “Candy Land” game you must visit this monument.
Petroglyphs National Monument is a wonderful daytrip right outside of Albuquerque that is worth seeing if you are passing through. Bring water and shade as there is none during the hike.

Remember: The best light is early morning, late afternoon and in bad weather.

Nikon D300s, 12-24mm @24mm, Tripod, Cable Release, F16 @ 1 Sec, ISO 200, Polarizer – For this an 8-10 stop neutral density filter is a must to get that soft misty water. A neutral density filter is essentially a dark piece of glass, when put in front of your lens it makes your exposure longer. The longer your exposure, the “softer” or more misty your water is going to look. My minimum exposure with cascading water is ¼ of a sec but I try to get it anywhere from 2 seconds to 2 minutes. 1  / 7 ADVERTISEMENT CURRENT TOP 5 SLIDES RATE THIS PHOTO 1
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