ECONOMY

ECONOMY

It is no secret that out country is facing significant challenges and our leadership is working hard to come up with answers and solutions. As far as I can see, the financial health of our country is one of those challenges.  However, I am concerned that we might be looking at trees while failing to see the forest. We all know what happened when housing bubble burst and financial institutions faced melt down. However, I do not agree with expert opinions on what caused it. Here is my take on the issue and how to prevent it from happening again. Here are some of my observations on the health of our economy;

1)      In the 60s, every time there was a tax cut for the consuming segment, the economy recovered and the recession ended. Nowadays, after every tax cut for the consuming segment of the economy, I am talking about working class Americans, Pacific Rim Countries experience another economic expansion and every time there is a tax cut for the producing segment of our economy, the rich and the wealthy, U.S. Dollar takes another nose dive against Euro.

2)      In the 60s, every time a recession ended, jobs were created, but nowadays, all recoveries are jobless in general.

3)      After the WWII, the US economy supplied goods and services to the rest of the world without any competition from war torn countries like, France, Germany, Britain, Japan and China, but that is not the case anymore. We are no longer the only supplier of goods to the rest of the world and it appears our competition is strong. The proof? Our ever widening trade gap with the rest of the world, which means, our jobs are being shipped abroad.

So how we can solve the challenges we are facing today?

Remember the Economy 101 where we were first indoctrinated about “Supply and Demand”? Well, today I believe it is no longer supply and demand, but rather it is supply, demand and distribution of money, meaning fiscal and monetary policies of our government. Phrased differently, it should read if the money supply to consuming segment of the economy is larger than the money supply to the producing segment of the economy as a result of Fiscal and Monetary Policies, it results in inflation. Similarly, if the money supply to the producing segment of the economy is larger than the money supply to the consuming segment of the economy again as a result of Fiscal and Monetary Policies, it results in deflation. Now, let us introduce the names of two prominent economists, (luckily they are still around), Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan, well known deflationary economists and former Fed Chairmen whose main job was to fight inflation. For the nearly 20 years, they were at the helm at Federal Reserve and relentlessly pursued a “Deflationary Policy” draining money supply from the consuming segment and in doing so, preparing our country for the financial meltdown we had recently experienced. Tipping point came, when 2^nd Bush Presidency and Administration, further reducing the money supply once again to consuming segment by means of tax cuts to the top 2% in order to reduce the taxes on the producing segment of the economy.  Suddenly, consuming segment had no money to pay mortgages, credit cards, car loans and college tuition expenses, among others while producing segment shipped astronomical sums of capital to foreign countries (decline of dollar against Euro beginning from a parity) for investment in order to reduce labor costs to be competitive in a global economy.

So what do we do now? Almost everything we consume come labeled “Made in Somewhere Else” and as a result, the tax cuts for the consuming segment no longer create jobs here in the United States. The new technologies that are supposed to create new jobs are years away and are not exclusive to us. Trade deficit is in billions every month and the budget deficit is in trillions every year. Our government printing so much money that we stopped publishing M1 Money Supply Data during the Administration of Jr. Bush. A real dilemma, I would say. For whatever its worth, here is what I think we should do;

1)      Switch from a system of taxation on net profit to taxation on gross revenue in order to simplify tax code and increase transparency, both for individual and corporate filers. Under this new regime, corporations and businesses can only itemize payroll expenses for the first US$ 40,000 of compensation for each U.S. based employees only (non transferable between employees) including salary and wages, medical, dental and other health insurances, (part time, commission, contract and performance based pay should be excluded from itemization and no other itemization should be allowed). Tax rates should be readjusted and lowered in order to prevent an effective tax increase.

2)      Increase personal exemption significantly (to 24,000 from current 6,000 dollars per individual) while eliminating itemized deductions for individuals in order to eliminate taxing people living under poverty. According to our tax tables for 2009, if you made 5 taxable dollars last year, our government wants 2 dollars back in taxes.

3)      Increase to top tax rate to 70% for those earning over 1 million dollars.

4)      Remove cap on income subject to social security tax while reducing social security benefits for high end beneficiaries while increasing benefits for low end recipients, which will stimulate demand.

5)      Remove Federal Guaranties from Students Loans that are sold to secondary and tertiary financial institutions by primary lenders. Forgive the first US 100,000 of existing student loans, whether current or not, to reduce the deflationary burden on the consuming segment, primarily middle class.

6)      Rigorously implement on new rules on credit card companies and impose new rules to limit bank charges.

7)      Eliminate all taxes on new business start ups and venture capital investments in the USA for the first 5 years, if they continuously employ at least 1 full time employee with benefits and health insurance.

8)      Gradually switch from a payroll based taxation to a consumption based tax system, which should exclude food, pharmaceuticals and other essential consumer items.

9)      Impose a sale tax on all security exchanges including stocks, bonds, commodities, numismatics, foreign exchanges, options, futures and derivatives in order to reduce short selling and market manipulation.

10)   Coordinate taxing authority of states, counties, municipalities and local governments with that of the Federal Government, including toll roads, user and processing fees, real estate taxes, insurance deductibles and other forms of hidden taxes, in order to prevent over taxation.

11)   Eliminate all property taxes on primary residence at federal, state and county levels.

12)   Eliminate all taxes on U.S. citizens working overseas as expatriates to make it easier for U.S. citizens find jobs in other countries. (Did you know that the U.S. is the only country in the world that taxes its citizens working overseas?).

13)   Eliminate all tax breaks for companies and corporations and phase out all government subsidies.

14)   End the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan immediately (we can change regimes but we can’t change cultures) and reduce the number of US bases in foreign countries while scaling down the size of the US military.

15)   Reduce or completely eliminate foreign aid.

16)   Reduce the cost of higher education and replace student loans with grants.

17)   Repeal the Bush Bankruptcy Law.

18)   Make it illegal to charge interest rates and fees to non-performing credit card loans and loans sold by primary lenders.

The list goes on, but the idea is simple. Increase the money supply to consuming segment of the economy until a balance between the consuming and the producing segments of the economy is established. Because right now, our economy is top heavy and as a result, it will keep on tipping over.

Now, critics will probably say, this is socialism. I am really not interested in what it is called. Main question here is to identify our nation’s economic challenges so necessary solutions can be found.  Furthermore, our so called capitalist system has proven itself to be unsustainable in its present form and it has to move to the center. It is no wonder that our economy came close to being bankrupt under Reagan and finally became bankrupt under Jr. Bush, both Republicans and supporters  of the “Trickle Down” economic theory. It is clear to me that economies can’t be built from top down, but they should be built from bottom up. Our country’s economic development proves that to be true.

Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich makes an important observation in his new book “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future”. On page 21, Fig: 1, he demonstrates a correlation between wealth distribution and the depression of 1929 as well as the great recession of 2008. It is another sign that our economy is top heavy and unless we implement a better tax system to insure a fair distribution of wealth, our problems will not go away. (You should really bring this chart to the attention of your wievership).

As far as I am concerned, it is clear beyond any reasonable doubt that our economy is suffering from a significant imbalance of money supplies to consuming and producing segments of our economy. Accordingly, all remedies should be directed toward striking a balance in the money supply between these two segments in order to induce a recovery with job creation. I firmly believe that nothing else will work and a robust economic recovery will be a pipe dream.

Signs of Higher Intelligence

Includes a desire and an inclination to;

1-  Search for knowledge

2- Preserve nature and protect environment

3- Elevate humanity above religion

4- Choose peace over war

5- Advocate fairness, tolerance and social justice

6- Stop cruelty

7- Support family

8- Be honest and work hard

9- Promote common good

10-Let people rule

THE FOUR PILLARS

There are four pillars of Conservatism according to a book written by a 14 year old named Jonathan Krohn and they are;

1- Respect for the Constitution

2- Respect for life,

3- Personal Responsibility

4- Less Government

Let us look at these briefly…

Let us start with the respect for the Constitution.  First Amendment clearly prohibits making of any law respecting to an establishment of a religion and impeding the free exercise of a religion and yet Conservatives assert that we are a Christian nation and there is no such thing as the separation of church and state. In fact, for Conservatives, church is the state. Furthermore, 10 Commandments must be posted in all schools, all government offices and all courts. All official activities should start with a Christian prayer. All mosques and synagogues should be closed and/or relocated to somewhere else, preferably to another country well beyond our borders.  This is what Conservatives mean when they talk about respect for the Constitution…

Respect for life… This is a good one since it stands for respect for life of the white Christian folks only. If you are a Jew or a Muslim or a Sikh or a Black or a Hispanic or an Oriental or a member of any other ethnic groups, you need to be put in concentration camps or deported or if necessary, be killed. Just ask a well know Conservative radio commentator, he’ll be happy to tell you what needs to be done.

Personal responsibility. Now this one requires that if you are in a leadership position, you must be responsible.   If you are a Conservative, however, it means go ahead and ruin the country’s economy by starting wars that are fought on borrowed money, double national debt so your rich supporters can get richer, steal elections by whatever means even if that means breaking the law, lie and claim that some country in the Middle East has WMDs, get rid of social security, Medicare and Medicaid declaring that they are nothing more than Ponzi schemes and claim that you need AK-47s, RPGs, and dirty bombs to protect our freedom. At a personal level, it also means that, ship American jobs overseas, raid corporations and companies and lay off workers, open up tax free accounts in Cayman Islands or Bermuda or stash some money away in a Swiss bank account or start a bogus IRA account so you don’t have to pay any tax on millions of dollars.

Finally, less government. This is another way of saying “you are on your own”. A tornado devastated your neighborhood?  You are on your own.  Lost your job and medical insurance and got sick and can’t afford medical care? You are on your own. You are laid off after 20 years with a company that went bankrupt and you can’t support your children? Don’t expect any unemployment benefits. You are poor? It is your fault (Remember Herman Cain?). Can’t afford higher education, don’t bother us… The list goes on and on.

Now, I do not consider myself to be a Conservative or a Liberal (I like to think of myself as an Independent) but in order to reflect the reality and the true values of Conservatism, I think their 4 pillars should be

1-      We are a Christian nation, all others must leave

2-      Choose war over peace

3-      Long live Plutocracy

4-      Down with social justice and fairness.

Having said that I really don’t think that those 4 pillars I have proposed will nearly be enough to describe Conservatism in full. Hence, here are some others for additional clarification;

5-      Take it from the needy and give it to the greedy.

6-      Ban theory of evolution and instead teach creationism

7-      If you can’t win a debate, launch a personal attack and/or demonize,

8-      Use coercion, incitement, intimidation, fear mongering and blackmail to get your point through

9-      Hide behind patriotism

10-   Don’t retreat, reload…

Feel free to chime in to add yours to the list…

Questions

Here are some interesting questions…

Why is it that Republicans and Tea Party members are pushing higher taxes on middle class Americans, labor and poor in order to give bigger tax breaks to Corporations and super rich? 

How come they are dead set to protect Bush tax cuts at all cost while they are trying to end all unemployment benefits for those laid off for reasons beyond their control?

Why is it that they have instituted tax incentives for Corporations and Big Companies to ship jobs overseas in order to create a depressed labor market here at home?

What are the reasons behind their actions to take away millions of dollars allocated for public school system in order to down grade and destroy education?

Why is it that corporations like Exxon/Mobil, GE, Conoco/Phillips and many others have paid no taxes for years while receiving billions in incentives?

What are the reasons that they are trying to end programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are entirely paid by the participants and not by a red cent of the government money?

Why do they want a bigger defense spending despite changes in global geopolitics toward a more peaceful mutual co-existence?

Why they invented this perpetual war on terror in order to create a sense of insecurity and to justify and sustain wars overseas?

And how come Obama appears to be so totally ignorant of this apparent strategy of Republicans?

Could it be that Republicans and Tea Party members would like to create a class of Americans so poor that they will be more concerned with where their next meal is going to come from instead of being concerned with what their government is up to? People will be so destitute for food and basic necessities that they will have no choice but to accept jobs at minimum wages? Generations will be so poorly educated that they will not be able to understand and question the actions of a government of the rich, for the rich and by the rich? Is it possible that the final goal of this plan is to create a new holy Roman Empire under one intolerant GOD?  Will there be no questioning of the authority of this spiritual Empire and no tolerance for dissent?  Will those who stray away from the holy principles of this world power be punished by exclusion and eternal condemnation while all their privileges will be stripped away in order to forever confine them into poverty, dissolution, desolation, destitution and prostitution? Could this happen here in the land of the brave and the free if we are not alert? You be the judge…

Killer Politics

A US Army sergeant pulled the trigger that killed a number of Afghans including women and children.  According to media, he has served 3 tours of duty in Iraq before being shipped to Afghanistan for more combat operations. He is said to be married and the father of two children of his own and in my opinion he is also the victim of a civilian leadership that has no understanding of the use and misuse of military power. President Obama who has never served in a uniform is surrounded by 4 star generals who advise him that the war in Afghanistan is winnable (some even wrote the military manual in counter insurgency) and the progress is constantly being made, just like they did for years in Iraq. (Just look at how things are in Iraq now.) They insisted that a surge in military power would be enough to bring the final conclusive victory. Those who expressed their disagreement with the civilian leadership (remember  Admiral Fallon and Gen. McChrystal?) were retired and sent home in order to eliminate dissent.

It is understandable that primary motivation of our military top brass during relative calmness of peace times is to secure funds necessary to maintain combat readiness for future conflicts but a President should be able to tell the difference between the concepts of liberation and occupation, a conventional war between regular armies and an insurgency operation against a resistance by civilians. (Apparently, being the President of Harvard Law Review does not give someone this insight.) For this reason alone, I believe it is in the best interest of our national dialog to bring the military draft back so each and every one of our young men and women will have a chance to serve in military in order to understand how a military organization works and what are the limitations of military power as well as developing a sense of self discipline in addition to gaining a global perspective by going locations around the world and by being exposed to other cultures.  (Rightly or wrongly, I believe that if V.P. Cheney has not resisted to being drafted, his opinions about the war in Iraq would have been somewhat different after a tour in Viet Nam. I also believe that if President Obama has ever been in uniform, his understanding of military would have been somewhat different.)

Although it has been generally accepted that the civilian rule over military is the political norm to be followed, a lack of understanding by civilian leadership about the inner workings of a military organization often leads to the events like the one happened in Afghanistan.  A political leadership whose main concern has always been political gains and control of political power by going to great lengths in order to preserve status quo can invent concepts such as “War on Terror”, “Enemy Combatants”, “Secret Prisons”, “Executions without due Legal Process” , “Indefinite Detention without Charge”, “Drone Warfare and Strikes” and can re-invent torture against clearly written articles and accepted norms of International Laws and Agreements.

For a man who was perpetually engaged in combat away from his family and children during most of his military career, it is unavoidable that the realization of being caught in a never ending military quagmire where you can not tell the difference between the  enemy in civilian clothes and the innocent civilians as well as the friendly Afghan soldier and the Afghan in uniform waiting for the opportunity to shoot at you will eventually catches up with you and I suspect this is what happened to this young man. It is possible that in a final desperate moment, he convinced himself that the only way he was going to escape from the hell he was so desperately trapped in was to take this drastic action.  I believe that he is as much as a victim of a morally corrupt civilian rule as he is the vicious criminal involved in a massacre. But as always, the civilian leadership will ignore the part of his story that favors him and stick with the part that condemns him in order to exonerate the political process.

No doubt, there will be those who will try to sugar coat and distort the facts in order to defend our good name as a nation. We will hear statements like “He had previous brain trauma” or “He is a member of a troubled military unit”. Those statements will make us feel better as Americans but will not change the facts that there are bigger issues here for all of us to consider and try to understand.

Iraq experience proves beyond any reasonable doubt that military power can change regimes but can not change cultures. Nation building is nothing more than a hoax invented by corrupt politicians looking for ways to fulfill the pockets of their special interests buddies. Then there are those who believe that there is a military solution to every political problem overseas (a Navy pilot turned politician comes to mind) as well as those who have dual national interests at the highest levels of our government including the Senate.  And yet we, as the people, need to finally understand and accept that terrorism is a reactive cultural phenomenon and can not be defeated by guns, missiles and drones and yet it can be defeated by other means. 10 years of inconclusive fighting in Afghanistan should be enough to prove the validity of this postulation for all current and future leaders.

May God bless America and our men and women in uniform..

World Domination

The Genghis Khan tried but failed. So did Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, Napoleon Bonaparte, Hitler and Stalin. World domination is a pipe dream with a strong lure. The need for power becomes a deadly trap for the narrow minded self-centered nationalistic ignorant militant pseudo leaders who eventually become tyrants. They act in the best interest of the nations they lead while leaving behind a trail of destruction, desperation and misery. World domination is a poor substitute for global peace and co-operation.

The single most important question facing us

The single most important question facing us tonight is: Do we reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share—or do we accept bigger budget deficits, higher interest rates and higher unemployment…  We’re within sight of a safe port of economic recovery. Do we make port or go aground on the shoals of selfishness, partisanship and just plain bullheadedness? Ronald Reagan, Televised speech, August 16, 1982.

The New America

Imagine for a moment an America entirely different from the one you have known so far. An America, for instance, with no public schools. Instead your kid goes to a charter or private school you pay for and that includes kindergarten, elementary, secondary and high schools. Theory of evolution will not be taught, instead your kids will be proficient in the theory of creation. There will be no school bus paid by the school district. You pay for a bus owned by a privately held company to take your kid to school. School lunch will be served by, you guessed, another company at a reasonable cost. You got caught driving under the influence. You go to a jail owned and operated by a private company. There will be no unemployment insurance. If you get laid off, your family and friends will have to support you. Public universities and colleges will be a thing of history. You go to a private one if you can afford it. You don't get any college education or degree if you don't have the money to pay for it. There will be no US postal service. There will be no EPA, no FCC, no FDA, no etc. etc... If you have no health insurance, you are on your own. You are unfairly fired from your job? There will be no laws to protect you. Top 1% will pay no tax but those living under poverty and the working Americans will have to pay the highest tax rate. There will be no Food Stamps. As Michele Bachmann once said "You don't work, you don't eat". But, as a mother, you can always shot your kids first and then commit suicide. That will be OK in the new America. The new America will destroy all other countries with different cultures and religions, especially those who would disagree with our policies. We will be fighting wars all over the world. The separation of church and state will be gone. You will have to pledge allegiance to the state religion. Articles of the Constitution that do not support new America will be thrown away. Rich will have the absolute power and you, the citizen, will have nothing. Now, is this the America you want to live in? So, next time you go to a polling place to cast your vote, ask yourself "Which America I would like to live in?" You have the power to shape our destiny.

Social Security

Currently, income above $106,800 is not subject to Social Security tax. Remove that cap to allow millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share and Social Security will be solvent forever. This is another GOP secret plan to push Social Security into bankruptcy so they can get rid of it forever. It is part of their smaller government vision for America. Only way to stop their actions is to send home from the Congress in 2012 those who favor Republican policies targeting our social safety nets.

Republican Plan

Republican - Tea Party plan for corporate takeover of America and dismantling Federal Government is in full swing. Next step? Destroy U.S. Postal Service so private companies can charge over $10 for a first class mail that costs only 42 cents to mail now and lay off 100,000 plus postal employees to further weaken negotiating power of the labor. Their objective is to get rid of all regulations so we can have more arsenic in our drinking water, more growth hormones in our meat supply, more pesticides in our fruits and vegetables, more pollutants in the air we breathe and more carcinogens in our groceries. Dismantle Social Security so private companies get their hands on the only money left in the Government so they can privatize it in order to feed the money to Wall Street greed. Make education available only to the children of rich. Stop teaching positive sciences and limit learning to Sunday schools.  Restrict voting to white folks and regular church goers.  Ban all collective bargaining rights to enslave workers.  And for the national defense, plan is to dismantle our military so private companies like Black Water can provide national security and shoot anyone at will under the disguise of self-defense.  Let them handle our nuclear arsenal and military hardware. Republicans and Tea Baggers have only one goal. They want to create a slave nation in which there will be no liberty or opposition, governed by the Corporations, Billionaires and Hedge Fund Managers with the help of corrupt politicians and Wall Street Bankers. 

OIL

Year was 1983, oil was about $40/barrel and economy was stagnant. Ronald Reagan was the President and he was soliciting suggestions from the business community to revitalize the economy in order to insure his re-election. Business leaders he had talked to at the time suggested him to lower the oil prices to help the economy. Against that background, Reagan asked his then VP George Bush Sr. to work out a deal with Saudis to lower the oil prices during one of their weekly lunches. After that conversation, George Bush Sr. made 4 trips to Riyadh in the following 12 months to work out a gentlemen’s agreement with the Saudis. In exchange for national security guarantees from US, Saudis pumped up the production to flood the markets with oil. Oil prices tumbled to $10/barrel just before election and Reagan got re-elected. Unfortunately, at $10/barrel, oil exploration came to a screeching halt in the US. Rig count fell from 1350 to 300 in only a few weeks. Thousands of independent oil companies in US closed doors. Nearly half a million oil field professionals and workers lost their jobs. That event is known today as the great "Oil Bust" in the oil belt states. For the next 20 years, there will be no oil exploration in the US. Oil imports will increase over time from just 26% in the 80s to today's 60%. How those events of the 80s relate to our economy today? First of all, this is the behind-the-scenes story of how oil prices are hovering around $100/barrel nowadays affecting your personal well-being and your money as well as how we have became so dependent on foreign oil. But it also explains some of those untold reasons behind the first Gulf War and why we should pay attention to what is happening in Libya.

Mr. President,

Mr. President,

If you sign the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 , as a nation, we will be no different than the former Soviet Union whose secret police KGB used to knock on doors at midnight during the cold war to haul away people, most of which have never been seen again. As defined by Ronald Reagan's words, we will become the new "Evil Empire" under your leadership. In the eyes of the history, you will forever own the distinction of being the President who has betrayed our fundamental values and freedoms as defined in our Constitution which you have been sworn in to protect. As if your failure to distinguish the ill-defined nature of war on terror isn't bad enough, your signature of approval for this legislation will insure your place in our history which will be lower than that of George W. Bush, currently the worst President of the United States. Despite your monumental failures as President, here is a chance for you to redeem yourself in the eyes of the history. I hope you will not shy away like you did when you failed to invoke the 14th amendment.

North Korea

I believe North Korea to Chinese is what Israel is to us... There can be very little pressure on the North Korea without risking a deterioration of relations with the mainland Chinese. I believe that Chinese top brass is extremely concerned with our troop presence in South Korea and would see a military conflict between North and South as the only option available to eliminate US presence in their back yard. This is why a war between North and South will be more compelling to North Korea and Chinese than the South Korea and the USA. Proof is sinking of South Korean war ship by North Koreans and the bombing of a South Korean island as a provocation. With our relations with Russia is at a turning point over missile defense system and our cooperation with Pakistan at its lowest level coupled with worsening relations with Iran over their nuclear program, the odds are Chinese will be more defiant on the subjects of North Korea and Taiwan. Our policy towards to North Korea should be directed towards unification of North and South. After all, a divided Korea is a remnant of the cold war. East and West Germany got unified. Why not South and North Korea?

HERE ARE....

Here are some documented facts; the share of total income going to the richest 1% of Americans in 1928 was over 23%.  Similarly the share of total income going to the richest 1% of Americans in 2007 was also (SURPRIZE) over 23% according to Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, authors of “The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective”. After 1928, the ratio declined steadily. Between 1953 and 1983, the ratio was around 10%. In 1987, second term of Ronald Reagan, the ratio jumped to almost 16%. The same ratio also jumped from  17% in 2002 to 23% in 2007 under George W. Bush. Of course, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Great Depression was precipitated by the 23% ratio of 1928. Similarly, the Great Recession of 2008 was precipitated by the 23% ratio of 2007, which brings me to the great GOP fallacy that giving more to rich creates jobs. If we want to get out of this economic mess, we must reduce this ratio down to 10% by taxing rich and passing the saving to consuming segment of the economy. Cutting spending while keeping tax breaks to the super rich will have a devastating effect on the economy, possibly leading to food riots and social unrest. Although debt issue is a critical one, it should be addressed after economy sufficiently recovers from its current slump.  I sincerely hope that we will wake up in time to save our economy and our way of life. To find out more about this subject, I suggest you read Robert Reich’s book “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future”.  

HEIR APPARENT

Lately, radio talk show hosts, political pundits and TV commentators are all talking about how Republicans are so unhappy with the current crop of Presidential candidates. So, why isn’t there a candidate every Republican can happily support to be the next President of the United States? The answer is George W. Bush… No, I am not talking about two wars, trillions in borrowed money, big tax cuts to super rich, budget deficits, etc. etc.. . There is something else…

When George Bush accepted the nomination of GOP in 2000, he chose Dick Cheney as his running mate. Born on January 30, 1941, Cheney was almost 60 years old when he was sworn in as the V.P. in 2001. When 8 years of Bush Administration ended in 2009, Cheney was about to celebrate his 69^th birthday, too old to run for President. As a result, he couldn’t be the heir apparent to the GOP dynasty. Should Bush has opted for a younger V.P in 2000, not only GOP would have had a better change at keeping the White House against Obama in 2008, but would have established a protocol of succession in Presidency.

Fast forward to 2008. Obama chooses Joe Biden as his running mate to be the next V.P. of the United States. Biden who was born on November 20, 1942 will be 72 years old this November. If Obama gets re-elected and stays in the office till 2016, Biden will be 76 years old by the time the elections of 2016 are held.  This also means, there will be no heir apparent for the Democrats in a stunning similarity with GOP.

Enter Hillary Clinton, former First Lady of the United States. Born on October 26, 1947, current Secretary of State is going to be 65 years old this year. If she replaces Biden and becomes a V.P. for Obama, she will be the heir apparent for the Democratic ticket in 2016 at the ripe age of 69. Add 8 years, she will be 77 years old by the end of her second term if she holds the office for two terms. Can she wake up to answer the phone at the White House at 3 o’clock in the morning towards the end of her second term?

There are however exceptions… John Kerry selected John Edwards in 2004, 10 years of his junior, as his running mate. Born on June 10, 1953 Edwards was only 51 years old in 2004 and would have been 59 after 8 years of Kerry Presidency. By the end of his second term, Edwards would have been 77 years old, just one year younger than Ronald Reagan at the end of his second term.

So, who should Obama elect as his running mate in 2012 to insure an heir apparent for Democrats in 2016? The answer is someone who would be in his 50s in 2016, someone, for example, who was born on March 26, 1960. That hypothetical person will be 56 years old in 2016, perfect age to lead the nation with already  4 years of experience in the White House as an apprentice under Obama.

Enter Jon Huntsman, born on March 26, 1960. He clearly has strong support among Independents, something Obama desperately needs but doesn’t have after 4 years of his monumental Presidential miscalculations. On the other hand, Huntsman has already dropped out of the Presidential race. Nevertheless, he has in depth understanding of China, our mightiest current competitor and a major challenge to our economic wellbeing and geopolitical future.  He has leadership qualities since he served as the Governor of Utah. He is no Wall Street shark like Romney. He understands global economics. So, can he be snatched off from GOP to create a national ticket for 2012? Obama/Huntsman for 2012? This might be a good time to think outside the box…

A Closet Republican...

I sincerely believe Obama is a closet Republican controlled by extreme right wingers to destroy progressive movement from within. His role model is Ronald Reagan. He said that many times. He quotes from Reagan. He is surrounded by Wall Street bankers. He advances Republican agenda. He has kept all Bush policies in place since his election. At a time we can't pay our teachers, policemen and fire fighters, he opted to waste a billion dollars a day in Afghanistan to support a corrupt government. He offered cuts in entitlements without anybody asking for it. He extended Bush tax cuts despite his campaign pledge. His first term actually can be called the third term of Bush. He needs to go back to Chicago where he can resume his job as a community organizer.

Bush Legacy...

Bush legacy; 2 senseless wars, 6 trillion in additional deficit, 8 million lost jobs, stock market crush of September 29, 2008 and an economy on the brink of total collapse, trillions of tax cuts to his rich buddies with borrowed money, squandering 280 billion dollars of budget surplus to 1 trillion in annual deficit, Patriot Act, breaking International Laws on torture, lying to Congress and American people on Weapons of Mass Destruction, 5,000 military deaths, 50,000 wounded servicemen and women, 600,000 civilian deaths including women and children, 6 million dislocated civilians, Abu Ghraib and Gitmo to name a few. He is the worst of the worst, not only as a President, but as an American as well.

Attila the Hun...

Attila the Hun tried but failed, so did Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Hitler among many others. World hegemony is a pipe dream that has led to the self-destruction of many great nations including Romans. Are we, as a nation, going to be the latest victim of this pipe dream? We are as good as bankrupt and yet we keep on spending 2 billion of borrowed money every week in Afghanistan. Thousands are in revolt filling streets for fairness and yet our incompetent leadership has locked horns. Is this a good time to wake up or is it already too late?