Economic Doom and Gloom Predicted Even By "Optimists"

I confess to some confusion when hearing the economic forecast by this administration.  The whole “meme” has always been that yes, this year will be passable, but after that things will be getting worse again in terms of both deficets and inflation, and the amount the United States pays on debt interest.  Unless you are of the Glen Beck or Thom Hartmann school of economics predicting a crash - - in the absence of that- - why shouldn’t the economy continue to improve this year, the next year, and the year after that?  Stocks were down over two hundred DJI points today.  Many people still believe in that proverbial "turn of the page" and that good times are just around the corner.  In other words why shouldn’t the federal deficit continue to come down year after year?  Perhaps it’s an increase in the Medicare costs due to the retirement of so many baby boomers, including myself.   I am also confused by those who maintain that our Social Security payments situation is doomer.  Some of the obsurd alternatives are to cut payments because the old people are getting so rich on Social Security payments.  Some even dare to say that the boomer generation is spoiled.  This is despite the fact when our generation went to work withholding rates were jacked up into the stratosphere running up a big surplus in the social security fund.  Any implication that our generation didn’t collectively earn that money – is downright insulting.  Others say “What we need are ten percent interest rates so savings will be worth something”.   This too is madness.  Also madness is the idea that we have th - - RAISE the inflation rate up to - - TWO percent, as if it already isn’t five or six percent inflation per year.  Some of these analysts are off in la la land.  Others say “We CAN’T raise the withholding taxes on people earning over $250,000 because there aren’t that many of them”.   Well, what about a flat rate up TO $250,000 and there are a lot more of those.  If you look at the economic statistics, the “middle class” hasn’t shrunken nearly as much as the liberals have been saying.   One blog says “Getting more in revenue from rising salaries won’t work, either”.  Why not?  If you raise salaries - - by hiking minimum wage, tax incentives to bring industry back to this country - - AND to strengthen labor unions- - then FICA revenues will go through the roof- - problem solved, just like that.   But I’m also honest enough to admit there may be economic factors to somehow bolster this rather gloomy prediction from our own people that “2015 is as good as you’ll ever see economic statistics get- - and it’s down hill from here on out”.    That forecast would depress anybody, particularly after what we’ve been through the past seven years.  And if people turn to the stock market to “get in on a good thing” the golden goose will quit laying those gold nuggets.  She’ll go on strike, and a lot of people will lose their shirts.

This Republican congress is still a bit of a blank slate because we don’t know how many bills will be passed and the president signs- for whatever reasons.   Today we learn that a long standing complaint of the Republican party will be dealt with.  We’ve heard the cry from late August of 2008 of “Drill, baby drill”.    President Obama, we learn, was considering extending oil leases off the east coast of the United States before the horrendous BP gulf spill.  Now years later it seems the President had thought about it and decided he will begin granting leases off the east coast from Virginia to Florida.  But I stand by my allegation that there was and is some sort of politics in his decision to shut down Alaska oil.   Some say “He giveth and he taketh away” from both the environmentalists and big oil.  But I’m wondering whether he’s harboring hopes that perhaps some of these states like Florida and North Carolina could be persuaded to go republican in the 2016 election if there is oil being pumped off the shores of these states.  What I do not know is just how open the leadership of these states are to opening sites up for drilling permits.  I’ve heard rumblings that the environmentalists in these states are all against it.

The concencus at this point is that this time will be different from all other elections in that the candidate leading four years before the election year, will be the candidate who wins in a landslide.  Hillary Clinton, contrary to rumor, continues to be supported by a majority of those who call themselves "progressives".  This doesn't bode at all well for the Republican's chances with their fifteen candidates, all bloodying each other up.  Now Donald Trump wants to add his name to the same tired list of political retreads.  There seems to be an ardent dislike of candidates Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.  If there is a split in the Republican party over this- - all the victories of 2014 may soon be a thing of the past as candidate after candidate on the rights wants to "make his or her point" on this topic.  I refer to Sarah Palin's "word salads", proving that she still has the nack of making a total baffoon of herself.

President Obama still believes in whoring himself out to Mideast countries such as today's Presidential trip to Sauti Arabia.  Back in the 'eighties there were those on the right who said that we needed to "keep a dialog going" with South Africa and engage in "quiet persuasion" to bend them to our way.  President Bush spoke of doing the same thing with China of giving them "most favored nation status" all the while "dialoging with them" to sway them more twords democracy and human rights.  That didn't happen.  But of course we didn't care what South Africa thought because after all they didn't have "Oil".  Norman Goldman said today "National leaders ought to come right out and admit that as Nations we don't have "friends" but only "common interests".   Everything is the carrot and the stick.  Now we see all these beheadings and dismemberments in Saudi Arabia going on on a regular basis, and we give it a wink and a nod.  If I were President I'd change all of this, and no matter what I thought of the ecology of it, I'd do everything I could to prove to the Saudis that we didn't need their oil because we've got plenty of our own.  In other words I would give the Presidency an "attitude adjustment" and stop morally compromising with people who under any other circumstance, we would not cross the street to say Hello to.

The United States Supreme Court issued a blow to labor unions today when they disallowed “life time pensions” to workers at some unionized chemical company.  It seems that they are arguing whether the expression of “receiving pensions when you retire” means “life time pensions” or pensions for a limited time.  My understanding of the word “pensions” is that it is for life, and lower courts agree that “pensions” are to be received for life.  But now you have some legalists splitting hairs over this.  But let’s draw a parrellel example.  The Constitution states that Supreme Court justices receive salaries for life that cannot be diminished.  If this is the case, what about a justice that receives a heart transplant, or a liver transplant, or has hip replacement surgery.  It could be argued that the founders of the Constitution only envisioned that a person would have “all his own parts that he was born with” when he got those salaries promised to him.   I said it was an absurd argument, but some nit picking legalist might make it.  Since this was a nine to nothing decision- - the democrats all jumped ship.  It further disturbes me that justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion.  That’s a little scarey right there.

 On the soap opera the snow is turning Clyde’s body into a “Clyde-cycle”.   Victor just says “leave it”.   But Nicole is not so careful and got caught – again – by Serina- - again.  Who would know that the file access times are readily available and that Serina checks these past access times every time she turns on the computer?  I sure don’t.   I certainly would not check every file access time on every category of file I own.  This morning I played “Street View” and “Friends and Neighbors” or whatever in Power Point, just for a diversion.  This Japanese baseball player is so guilt ridden about not “coming out” for Sonny, that he says he’d trade in all of his baseball fame just to have sonny in his life now.   Even for a gay man- - this is more than anyone would ever ask.

Some may come out and ask me "Do you believe in the Big Bang and in the expanding universe?"   There is a logical problem here because - - geometrically given an expanding universe there has to be some sort of "edge' to it somewhere.  But keep in mind the "space" that said universe is "expanding into" isn't really space because at the time of the inception of the Big Bang there were no gravitons or Higgs bozons or what have you - - that denote space and time and gravity.  You have the same logical problem is you say that "God created time" and then go on to speculate what God was doing BEFORE he created Time.   Of course we also view as all of the stars as moving incredibly slowly given their distance away from us.  Indeed an amoeba is a lot swifter moving relative to its size, than is the expansion of the Universe, at least what we can see.  And yet I have postulated that there could be and no doubt ARE - - vast areas of the Universe beyond our Event Horizon where at super light speeds, groups of stars and galaxies travel in a group with respect to each other.  The one thing wrong with this theory is "How come we don't see these fast moving galaxies with our telescopes?"   It's kind of the UFO argument, where you can talk all you want to about the existance of UFO's but if there are never any scientifically documented case, how can you mount proof of something with no evidence that would be deemed acceptable in any court of our land?