OOPS!   There goes another Republican myth! They don’t balance the budget.  They just claim they balance the budget!  They rob social security and the working class to make it appear as if they balance the budget.

Last night we learned what the Republicans REALLY mean when they say they “balanced” the budget.  They mean they took money out of Social Security–a fully funded entitlement by the American workers that should be hands off.   Anything but making the investor class pay a fair percentage of income tax–that the way of the investor class, Democrats and Republicans alike who are currently in Washington DC.

In spite of his other short-comings, the American people owe Ron Paul a cheer for calling the public’s attention to what Gingrich really meant when he said he “balanced” the budget.

Newt has been claiming that he “balanced the budget four times when he was Speaker.  Ron Paul pointed out last night that Gingrich didn’t balance the budget.  What the Republicans did was to take money out of Social Security.  Borrowing money is not balancing a budget.  Ron Paul even attacked the party’s sacred cow–Ronald Reagan whose administration did the same thing.

Ron Paul pointed out that the national debt during those four years Newt brags about actually went up about a trillion dollars. He pointed out that Gingrich doesn’t count the money he took out of Social Security.  Paul said. “So neither Reagan nor you had a truly balanced budget, because the national debt goes up and that’s what we pay the interest on.”

Gingrich responded: “Under the system that was used, we were $405 billion in balance.”  [What a lying weasel.]

At this point, the audience booed Gingrich.   I’m glad the point of Gingrich’s dishonest wasn’t missed on them.

___________________________________________________

It’s not just the Republican brand that’s coming apart at the seams!

THEY ALL MUST GO!   WASHINGTON ENTRENCHED DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ALIKE! Vote for anyone but a Democrat or a Republican in 2012.

If you are thinking that this is all about the Republicans, it is not.  The Washington leadership of BOTH parties are to blame!  Many of the same jackasses who were in Congress when Gingrich was in Congress and robbing Social Security are still there today.  In case you have forgotten, Bill Clinton, the president who turned the American people over to the Wall Street financial institutions was the guy in charge of balancing the budget.  Clinton worked hand in glove with Gingrich on that one.

If you will remember the ‘bipartisan’ Deficit Commission that President Obama appointed to reduce the deficit, you will remember that the first thing those jackasses went after was Social Security. You will realize that the more things “change” with the entrenched investor class, the more things remain the same.

Deficits are created by budget items–things that we purchase like war munitions for example.  Social Security is not a budget item because it is a totally funded and self-sustaining program.  But that didn’t stop the investor class a-holes who were hand-selected by President Obama from going after Social Security the first thing.  Social Security as a fully funded program was not even in the scope of this group’s discussions.  If  Obama were a leader, he would have pointed that out to the committee instead of giving them free reign to ride rough shod over the American people with his silence.

BUT FOR NOW FLORIDIANS:  VOTE FOR GINGRICH TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING FOR AMERICA!  This is the best education the American people have ever had regarding the criminal behavior of BOTH parties.

_________________________________________

Note on Social Security and the investor class:  Since they robbed the coffers of the working class, they should be required to return that money and here is how:

ALL Americans should pay Social Security tax on all of their income.  Currently, only the majority of Americans, those of us who earn less than $106,000 a year, are required to pay Social Security on 100% of our income.  Any American earning more than $106,000 doesn’t pay a cent of social security tax on amounts earned above that.

In other words, the members of the US Congress don’t pay Social Security taxes on at least half of their annual income.

The Two-Party System Is the Biggest Lie of All. Currently the USA has one Party.

The two parties are literally  a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation as defined by Federal US tax laws that was formed in 1987 and is funded by contributions from Wall Street corporations. (See Wiki for more information.)  But beware because over the past 4 years this article continues to have the truth removed from it.  For example, in 2008, it had a quote in there from Walter Cronkite who referred to the formation of this corporation as “the greatest scam ever pulled on the American voters.” Somewhere along the way that truth has been scrubbed out of the WIKI citation.

_________________________________________________

To those who say:  ”I’m tired of voting for the lessor of two evils.”

I say:  Stop pretending that you have to and do what you can now to create even more and better choices!

Yes, we already have better choices than the fake “two-party” (one Wall Street Party) choice that we are being offered.  There are many third choices for candidates for all elections in 2012 from local dog catcher to the President of the United States.  The 99% need to stop being part of the problem by pretending that we don’t have these choices.  The 99% need to work hard now to create even more and better choices at the polls in 2012.  The 99% need to turn our backs on the two-party farce of our political system.

They may have all the money, but where is it written that we are so damn stupid that we must continue to succumb to their cyclic 2 year side show and 4 year circus of obvious disinformation, character assassinations of those who oppose them, their fake two-party system, their fake flag-pin debates, their outright lies and their Wall Street sponsored propaganda?  Where is it written that we cannot turn our backs on them and all their self-serving political rhetoric, outright lies, propaganda, and smear campaigns bought and paid for by Wall Street?

Who exactly is forcing us to make the false choice between two candidates from the same party of the 1%?  Are we helpless to resist them?  I don’t know about you, but I damn sure can and will resist them.  It won’t even be that difficult as they have become so damn obvious.

________________________________________________

There is a  lot of hand-wringing going on in regard to choices for candidates–particularly for the President.  Wake up folks and look around you.  Stop whining and moaning about Obama and Mitt Romney being the only choice for president when you do have a great alternative:  Jill Stein who would be better than the two male jackasses from the Wall Street Party of One put together.

Are you tired of war?  Then stop voting for the Party of One (Democrats and Republicans) who increase their own personal net worth by voting for war.   DUH!  Start using your brains. As long as Democrats and Republicans are running Washington–that’s how long the USA will be embroiled in the fake wars to make money for war mongering Wall Street corporations which in turn make money for them. That’s how long these cynical criminals will be dumping the remains of American soldiers in landfills. They don’t care about us and they don’t care about our children.  If they did, they would not be giving our tax dollars away to Wall Street Corporations who in turn give some of it back to them in the form of quarterly dividends.

_________________________________________________

As for me, I’m being the example that I want to see.  I have filed my intent to run as an independent candidate for the 32nd U.S. Congressional District in Texas against millionaire Republican incumbent Pete Sessions.  Our representative, like many Wall Street shills in Congress, increased his own personal wealth by over one million dollars from 2008 to 2009–as many of his constituents were losing their jobs and homes while they were fired by Wall Street corporations.

How did Wall Street make its billions over the past four years to pay off people like Pete Sessions and other members of Congress?  Not by job creation!  We should at least know that much. Wall Street made its billions by cutting costs–by firing Americans and selling off assets.   Members of the U.S. Congress have increased their personal wealth by over $100 million over the past three years while the rest of us have been losing our jobs and homes.  Their wealth and the wealth of all Wall Street investors has NOTHING to do with hard work and everything to do with sucking off the majority of working Americans.

_________________________________________

As long as Americans vote for candidates from either party, we all will continue to lose.  No decent person with a conscience for doing the right thing would sign on with either party.  It has come to that. A person of integrity will stand alone against both parties.

If the candidate is a Democrat or a Republican/Tea Party–forget them.

If the candidate owns Wall Street stock–forget them

If the candidate is a millionaire–proceed with extreme caution by asking about the source of their wealth.

____________________________________________

So what are YOU going to do?

Are YOU going to continue to buy into the two-party propaganda?

Or will you support a non-party choice in 2012?

Will you vote for third party choices like Jill Stein for President?

Or will you continue to drink their Kool Aid about “throwing your vote away”?

YOU are the one who can make a difference, but not if you keep doing the same thing by succumbing to their political rhetoric and fear mongering.

I say:  Don’t even participate in their primaries in 2012. In many states such as Texas, if you vote in the primary you cannot sign the ballot petition of an Independent.   (And remember, you can only sign the ballot petition of an Independent for the same office once.)

I do believe in the power of  collective thought as a form of energy that somehow creates great shifts in human endeavors bringing real change and new innovations.  A  critical mass of enough people thinking the same thoughts are  somehow like the building pressure and resulting power that shifts geophysical plates miles below the earth and creates earthquakes on the surface.

I could feel that happening today when I read an article written by Jim Hightower titled:  ”If you are not Outraged, You are not Paying Attentions:  5 Major Ways Corporate Elites are Degrading America.”

” If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention”–I have written and spoken the very same words many times over the past year and so have many other Americans.  It’s not that we are copying one another.  It’s that we are collectively reaching the same truthful conclusion and that is very powerful.

Hightower is right and many have written these same words as well:  ”While it can be disheartening to see the smallness of those in power, don’t let it get you down, for the want us to become so disheartened that we give up.”

Yes, absolutely yes. That is precisely the game of the 1%–to overwhelm and dishearten us so that we give up ad give in to the continuation of their wicked criminal behavior that makes them richer and the majority of us poorer. They can only defeat us if we allow it.  That is absolutely the only way!  If we allow it by believing their propaganda, we will be like an elephant tethered by a rotten string believing the string has the power to hold us in place.

Close to 100% of the disinformation that comes out of the mouths of politicians in Washington, Crooks on Wall Street and their stock monkey pundits on corporate owned and sponsored media are nothing but bold-faced lies.  Know that and stop acting as if these liars are doing anything more than trying to manipulate us for their own selfish purposes and you will have taken the first steps toward taking control to shape your own destiny and the destiny of our nation.

The overwhelming majority of those in Congress and the White House are liars.  They lie to us on a daily basis. They purposely hide the truth from us.  They know EXACTLY what they are doing when they do things like hide the renewal of the Patriot in a Medicare renewal bill or a billion dollar appropriation to the IMF in a military appropriations bill for Iraq.  They know EXACTLY.  They intentionally lie to the majority of the people whom they are supposed to represent.  Over the summer break in 2009, Chuck Grassley knew that he was lying to his constituents when he told them there were death panels in the health care bill.  He was on the committee that created that bill.  He knew there were no death panels and he lied.  They hide the truth from us and lie to us on a daily basis and nothing will change until they are ALL voted out of office and replaced by non millionaire, non-Wall Street stock owning Americans.

___________________________________

Solutions–Not Status Quo

The favorite game of Congress these days is to create a gridlock on real solutions that could benefit the majority and then pretend that their hands are tied and that they had nothing to do with creating the mess, as if they are innocent bystanders.  The leadership of the two parties have been playing this good cop/bad cop game for at least 30 years.  It’s time to turn our backs on the leadership of both parties.  Since our elected officials in Washington showed us on Wednesday that they have no intentions to keep their promises to create jobs and rein in the greed of Wall Street, it has become obvious that these tasks are now in the hands of the 99%.  Following are a few suggestions for the 99% to move us in the direction of taking back  our government and creating solutions that work for the 99%.  These suggestions are intended to encourage others to join me in thinking up real solutions for our nation’s problems.  They are, of course, built around the two actions I desire the most at the moment:  Replace the entire House of Representatives in 2012 and work with the people in our communities and those from the United Nations to establish at least one local cooperative in our community by the end of 2012.

1. REPLACE EVERY MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITH A NON-MILLIONAIRE INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FROM THE 99% IN 2012.

One ordinary citizen from each Occupy group can research the requirements for running as an independent in their state and then post an announcement similar to the example found in the link,  Replace U.S. House.  (Practicing what I preach, I have already done this for the people living in the Congressional Districts in and around Dallas and sent out a call to action as seen in the two-page document previously referenced.) It is important to begin this process now as many states, such as Texas, require that Independents file before the end of 2011.  Here are links to assist you:

Replace U.S. House

http://iflizwerequeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Replace-US-House.pdf

This two-page document will assist those who want to call together interested citizens from your local area to discuss what actions you need to take to replace all the US representatives in the various districts in your region with Independent non-millionaires from the 99%.

Independents Can Win

http://iflizwerequeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/INDEPENDENTS-CAN-WIN.pdf

This document provides an overview of all the steps that those who plan to run as a U.S. Representative for their Congressional District must take prior to the end of December 2011.  It may be  helpful for a first read to provide you with the big picture of what candidates need to do in order to win.  It is generic and applicable for all states and will take less than an hour to read.  You can download it for free from the link provided above.

Platform for U.S. Congressional Representative

http://iflizwerequeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Platform-for-US-Congressional-Representative.pdf

This is provided as a sample ONLY.  I’m not suggesting that this platform be adopted by candidates!  All independent candidates need a written platform. This document provides an example.  One idea might be that you use the group that meets with you as a caucus to draft a platform.  Perhaps appoint a secretary to take all the suggestions and then appoint a committee to draft the platform.  At your second meeting you can vote on it.

_________________________________________________________

2.  REPLACE WALL STREET WITH A BUSINESS SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR THE 99%

It’s more than obvious that the current members of the US Congress have no interest in doing this.  After all, why should they?  The truth is that Wall Street works very well for them.  Don’t take my word for it,  Go to Open Secrets and look at the increase in their net worth from 2008 to 2009–a time period in which you and I from the 99% were losing our jobs and pensions and homes.

Eric Cantor, for example, the current majority whip of the House of Representatives who sponsored the Korean Trade agreement which will increase the trade deficit by $16 million and ship out 169,000 American jobs: From 2008 to 2009, Cantor increased his net worth by over a million dollars.  It’s not just the Republicans either.  Nancy Pelosi, former House Majority leader, increased her net worth a whooping $28,248,999 from $95,980,989  in 2008 to $124,229,990 in 2009.

It may take two or three years to do this but we, the 99% can begin immediately with a few steps.

1) Do everything you can to remove all money that belongs to you that is invested in Wall Street.  If you own Wall Street stock, you are part of the problem.

2) Remove your money from any too big to fail bank if you have not already done so. Use credit unions and local banks. [Another related step is to work to establish a state owned bank.]

3) Patronize locally owned businesses as much as possible.  Buy used if necessary to avoid supporting foreign imports whose manufacturers are getting a free ride from the American taxpayer thanks to the trade agreements that our elected official pass to support Wall Street corporations and their slave labor.

4) Cooperatives are a democratic model for business.  Create a group in your community to establish cooperatives in your community.  Get involved!  The United Nations have declared 2012 as the “Year of the Cooperatives”.  They have a kickoff meeting in Cancun Mexico November 14-18.

Local “Cooperations” Now

http://iflizwerequeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Local-Cooperations-Now.pdf

This is a report that I created and sent to the leaders of all the towns in Dallas County in August of 2010. I never heard one reply from a single municipality.  All of the reports were sent first class, and a few of them I even hand-delivered.  We need to take a look at our local government leadership  as well as our national government leadership because many of our local governments follow the same format for the 1% that our national government does.

International Co-operative Alliance

http://www.ica.coop/al-ica/

This provides information regarding the UN initiative:  2012 Year of Cooperatives.

____________________________________________

Replace Wall Street

http://iflizwerequeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/REPLACE-WALL-STREET.pdf
This tw0-page document provides you with just enough information to get you started in gathering the 99% together in your area to discuss creating a “cooperation”/local corporation/cooperative in your home town and how you might get involved with the UN Initiative:  2012 Year of Cooperatives.

_____________________________________________________

Think about it 99%rs

I am only one member of millions of us and these are two suggestions with supporting documentation that I have gathered and created.  If you want to fully understand the power of the 99%, take my effort and multiply it by millions worldwide.  Congress and other world leaders have solutions–unfortunately these solutions are for the 1%.  It is time for us to push them out of the way with our votes in 2012 and I mean both parties.  We cannot afford to allow the 1% to rule any longer.  They and their greed are destroying not only our nation but our entire planet.  They do not represent the interests of the majority of the USA or the world. They have had their chance and failed us miserably.  It is too late for amends, even if they sincerely tried, I doubt that many of us would believe them.

BTW:  This post is also available as a PDF for your convenience and it’s all free.

Solutions Not Status Quo

http://iflizwerequeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Solutions-Not-Status-Quo.pdf

The Story of “Sold Out” Continues

Find out if your elected official sold out the Majority yesterday!

If any member of Congress gave a damn not only about American workers, but all workers of the world, they would not have voted for any trade agreement yesterday (October 12, 2011) and Barack Obama should be ashamed of pushing the legacy of George Bush.  These trade agreements will do nothing more than make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

These trade agreements are nothing more than more of the same:  neoliberalism promoted by the rich.  In Mexico in the first year of NAFTA  the cost of living rose by 80%. Over 20,000 small and medium businesses  failed and more than 1,000 state-owned enterprises were privatized in Mexico. As one scholar said, ‘Neoliberalism means the neo-colonization of Latin America.”
________________________________________________________

Sell-Out #1  Korea Trade Agreement

Another way to look at this vote is that our elected officials voted to approve sending 159,000 American jobs overseas and to raise the deficit $16 billion dollars.  They all had this information before they cast their votes.  They knew what they were doing and they didn’t give a damn.  They did it because, as Wall Street investors, this trade agreement means more money in their pockets.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the agreement with Korea, which is expected to be the largest trade deal since NAFTA, will increase the US trade deficit by $16.7 billion and displace 159,000 US jobs within the first seven years after it takes effect.

HOUSE SELLOUT

Select the link above to see how your representative voted.
278 Yeas and 151 Nays

SENATE SELLOUT
83 Yeas and 15 Nays – 2 Cowards

The 15 who stood up for the American Majority :

Blumenthal (D-CT), Brown (D-OH), Cardin (D-MD), Casey (D-PA), Hagan (D-NC), Harkin (D-A), Leahy (D-VT), Manchin (D-OR), Reed (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Rockefeller (D-WV), Snowe (R-ME), Tester (D-MT) Whitehouse (D-RI)

Two cowards: Coburn (R-OK) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) did not vote.

__________________________________________________________

Sell-Out #2  Colombian Trade Agreement

Those who voted for the Colombian Trade Agreement gave their stamp of approval to one of the worst abusers of human laborers in the world.  In 2010 no less than 51 workers in Colombia were murdered by right-wing goon squads for trying to establish unions to protect workers from the abuse of the rich.  This year so far 22 unionists have been murdered.  But why should we be surprised.  Eric Holder, the man that Barack Obama chose for his Attorney General got the executives of Chiquita off the hook for paying good goon squads to murder unionists and this case even included [evidence of] a signed check by one of the Chiquita executives.

HOUSE SELLOUT

262 voted for it and 167 voted against it
4 abstained (among them Ron Paul)

As with the Senate, more voted against the Colombia trade agreement than voted against the Korean trade agreement. [Note:  Wall Street interests stand to gain a lot more from the Korean agreement than the Colombian trade agreement.]

SENATE SELLOUT

66 for the Colombia trade agreement  -33 against

The legislators did not vote the same on all the agreements. For example, while only 15 senators were against the Korean Trade agreement–an agreement that is guaranteed to ship at least 159,000 American jobs overseas, 33 of them, almost one third voted against the Colombian agreement.  Note also that Bernie Sanders voted on this one but not the Korea Trade Agreement and once again, Coburn is the coward not voting.  In fact, neither Coburn nor Ron Paul voted on any of the trade agreements.

Another observation:  Some like Leahy who voted against the Korean trade agreement voted for the Colombian Trade Agreement.

Those in the Senate who did the right thing and voted against the Colombian Trade Agreement

________________________________________________________

Sell-Out #3 Panama Trade Agreement

No wonder the plutocrats in the House and Senate approved this trade agreement for a country known, like the USA, for its abuse and mistreatment of its workers.  Panama is also known as country where the rich of America can hide their money in offshore accounts.  How convenient.  Not only a place for outsourcing American jobs and increasing the wealth of Wall Street investors, but  also  providing a place for outsourcing tax money that should be going to the United States of America.  One banana republic serves another.

HOUSE SELL OUT
300 voted  for the Panama trade Agreement 129 voted against this heinous trade agreement.
Once again, Ron Paul did not vote on this bill either.
SENATE SELL OUT

77 sold the American Majority out, 22 supported us
(and once again Coburn didn’t vote.)

The 22 who supported the American Majority by voting against the Panama Trade Agreement in the Senate were:

_____________________________________________________

ILWQ Summary  and Conclusions

Both Houses seemed to like the Korean Trade Agreement the best–the one that we have the most hard core intelligence on that will ship at least 159,000 American jobs overseas and will raise the trade deficit by $16 billion dollars.  Why?  The answer is simple:  There is more profit in this trade agreement for them as wealthy Wall Street Investors.

The Colombian Trade agreement ranked #2 in approvals with the Senate while the Panama Trade Agreement ranked #2 in approvals with the House.

Overall Conclusion

The majority of both Houses are Wall Street Corporate shills who are lining their own pockets with their votes and Party does not make a damn bit of difference–unless you want to split hairs with meaningless differences.  The point is folks:  With a Republican majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate, this 44% Wall Street millionaire body managed to pass no less than three devastating trade agreements yesterday.

FORGET ABOUT PARTY

RUN FOR CONGRESS AS A NON-MILLIONAIRE FROM THE MAJORITY IN 2012.

We can kick every single member out of the House of Representatives in 2012 and replace them with non-millionaire representatives from the majority.

Representative Sander (“Sandy”) Levin, Democrat and older brother of Senator Carl Levin, co-sponsored the Korean Trade Agreement. Rep Levin is supposed to be representing Michigan U.S. District 12 located in Detroit’s inner suburbs to the north, along the Interstate 696  corridor in macomb and Oakland counties, as well as a portion of Macomb north of the corridor.Michigan District 12 is 100.00 percent urban, 15.51 percent non-white, and has a population that is 1.45 percent Latino and 9.78 percent foreign-born.[Source]

____________________________________________________

Here are a few statistics on the children that Levin purports to represent:

1. In 2006, 29,000 children in Mr. Levin’s district were living below poverty and in 2010, 49,000 children were living below poverty. [Source]

2.In 2006, 61,000 of the total population of Mr. Levin’s district were in poverty.  In 2010, 96,000 were in poverty. [Source]

____________________________________________

Levin voted yes for H.R. 4853 the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich.
The 2010 extension of tax cuts didn’t just continue the tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires enacted under George W. Bush. It expanded those tax cuts, allowing inheritance of estates of up to 10 million dollars tax-free and deepening special tax favors for investors. The legislation also undermined the integrity of Social Security by creating a new standard of low funding for the Social Security trust fund, exposing Social Security to new charges of being unsustainably funded.

Levin voted yes on Motion to Concur on Patriot Act
On February 25, 2010, the House of Representatives passed an extension of Patriot Act provisions for spying on Americans without establishment of probable cause or so much as a demonstration that the person being spied upon is even tangentially connected to terrorism. This reauthorization of the most controversial of Patriot Act powers made it through the House hidden within Medicare legislations and contained no reforms whatsoever.

________________________________________________

If you agree that tax cuts for the rich help the majority.

If you agree that it is fine to spy on the majority.

If you believe the totally unsubstantiated claims put out by the Chamber of Commerce that the Korean Trade Agreement will “by one estimate, the trade agreements could create as many as 250,000 American jobs and generate billions of dollars in new exports within a few short years.  . . ” instead of the thoroughly documented claim by the Economic Policy Institute estimates that the agreement with Korea will increase the US trade deficit by $16.7 billion and displace 159,000 US jobs within the first seven years after it takes effect, then go ahead and accept the unsubstantiated claim of the Chamber of Commerce. It’s still a free country.  And while you are at it, you can also ignore all the historical data on NAFTA, a similar agreement, and what it did the the majority of the people.

These trade agreements are great–for the upper 5% who are wealthy millionaire Wall Street investors like Rep Cantor and Rep. Levin–in fact they are just great for 44% of our Congress who are multimillionaires.

________________________________________________

What I want to know:  What are the Majority living in  Michigan’s 12th District going to do?

Are you going to continue to believe that there is an ounce of daylight between a Republican and a Democrat?  Then show me where it is.  Mr. Levin the Co-Sponsor of the Korea trade agreement and Mr. Eric Cantor the sponsor of this bill vote on much of the same legislation that is actually passed to support the rich to the harm of the majority.

Are you going to get out there now and find a replacement for Levin from the majority of people in the 12th District–a citizen who is not a millionaire like Mr. Levin, a citizen whose income is representative of the majority instead of the upper 1%?  That is correct.  While millionaires occupy 44% of our Congress, the population of the USA consists of only 1% millionaires. [Wiki]

I wonder what the Occupy groups think about these trade agreements in the 12th District?  Here is one city from this district that has an Occupy Group.

Occupy Ferndale

The Huffington Post reported this morning that:

”In an election that’s supposed to hinge on jobs and the economy, the Republican presidential contest in recent months has been defined by almost everything else.

Immigration and children’s vaccines. Race and religion. Homosexuality and health care. The issues range far from the economic woes that concern most voters, but they have captivated Republicans in New Hampshire and other early voting states, providing the candidates with ways to distinguish themselves from their rivals. The biggest applause lines on the campaign trail usually have little to do with a candidate’s economic positions.”*

*[Of course they don't applaud the candidates on their economic positions.  What's to applaud?  Their treatment of this central issue is so lackluster  and obviously inadequate that not even their base will applaud them on their predictable suggestions.  No wonder they stay away from the topic. IFLWQ]

__________________________________________

More IFLWQ comments

You betcha!  Any discussions that the Republican candidates might undertake that involve the issues of the economy and job creation that the majority of Americans care about are no-win topics for the Republicans. They will stay as far away from such topics as possible–and so will  many conservative/corporate centrist Democrat incumbents.

The Republican leadership have two pat solutions for the economy, but don’t ask them for details:  tax breaks for the rich and tort reform.

They don’t “debate” jobs and the economy because they all agree on how to create jobs and that would make for boring fare as all the candidates would look like the cookie cutter Wall Street suck-up millionaires that they are.

They don’t “debate” jobs and the economy because they would be sure to get embarrassing questions from the crowd such as:  If tax breaks for the rich work so well to create jobs, then why during the Bush years did we have  zero job growth?

By the Way, speaking of debates,  the latest buzz is that Obama will debate himself.

The series is to be titled:  The Hologram and I

One will be a hologram of the Obama from 2008 and the other one will be the real Obama in 2012 responding to remarks from the past made by the hologram.  It will be very realistic. As we move deeper into the 2012 campaign season, I’ll feature more of The Hologram and I.  Believe me, the material is endless.