FFM

We assisted our allies in many ways to recover from World War II and the Korean War. We helped rebuild Europe. We defended the "free world" from a take over by communism and we helped their economies by entering into trade agreements that did not always help the American citizen. I am proud of what we did. I also acknowledge that most often we also benefited from our decisions. However , That was then and this is now.

Guest Author: Ozzie Banicki http://oz7.com There is an old saying, “I can’t lay eggs but I know a good one from a bad one.” The results of G20 pretty much destroyed the basic premise of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s education policy stated in his article called “Back to School: enhancing U.S. education and competitiveness” in Foreign Affairs Magazine November/December 2010. Ironically, his insight is a good example actually laying an egg and not knowing it was a bad one. The huge rejection of trade results in the G 20 summit, and a manipulated yen by China and similar acts of currency manipulation by other countries should be obvious, even our exporting of re-cycled materials has collapsed. Mr. Duncan, protectionism exists. That is why Mr. Duncan’s basic premise for pushing our students to engage in technology jobs abroad is a fruitless and foolish piece of educational policy.

There is much talk about the President's commission on how to regain control over the federal deficit. Many constituents are advocating a more progressive income tax structure saying that it was the wealthy that benefited disproportionately from the asset bubble and sub prime lending that drove our economy into the ditch. Since they drove us in the ditch, they should pay the cost of getting out of the ditch. It is hard to disagree with this logic, however we also need to consider what were the causes of the growth in the disparity between the wealthy and the middle class as depicted by the chart below.

The best weapon Obama has to win back the American people is the Republicans! Now he must use it. Go on the attack. They will provide you with lots of ammunition. For starters they are opposed to a new arms treaty with Russia. Since when has the American people been against peace? Secondly, the Republicans are against the Federal Reserve injecting more money in the economy to stimulate spending and lower the value of the dollar so we can increase exports, which will create jobs. The Republicans are also against extending unemployment benefits. I guess they feel it is unamerican to help your fellow man. Jump on this. Communicate to the American people. Let them know what the Republicans are doing. Encourage the Republicans to keep giving you opportunities to show the American people why the Republicans do not have the answers.

Here is an essay originally posted May 13,2010 We need to adjust our style of life, both as a nation and as citizens. The government and households have huge debts and this will choke us unless it is addressed. We can no longer live by plastic; credit cards and other debt.  The chart to the left was taken from a post of Paul Krugman, which he obtained from the Federal Reserve depicting the explosion of household debt. However, now is the time for the government to develop a credible plan to reduce our nations debt over the next decade, but not to implement it until the economy, including jobs, is on a stronger footing. We need the plan now; not later. The world, including myself, has doubts that we have the desire and fortitude to develop such a plan; let alone implement it. The immediate development of the plan is a critical part of us continuing to recover from the economic calamity of the last few years. The world needs to know that we are going to do something about

Only after they destroy us economically! Americans are not good at looking at the long term. Long term for us is more than a year. Long term for the Chinese is well over a century. Part of the reason is that our country is just over 200 years old while China has been around well over 3,000 years. Both countries are willing to make short term sacrifices in order to gain a long-term advantage. The problem is our definition of short term is measured in months and years while the Chinese measure short term in decades or maybe centuries.