More than any time in the past fifty years, this country is in need of a qualified leader with a solid base of combined knowledge and experience. Barack Obama does not fit the bill. The first Clinton Administration provided disaster relief after Bush Sr left office and a first-rate team of responders is needed more now than in 1993.
Bush Jr's torrid affair with the oil and defense industries has turned the US economy into a war zone with Americans running out of money to pay for the basic necessities in life such as housing, utilities, and health care.
According to Nobel Prize winning economist and former World Bank vice president, Joseph Stiglitz, so far, the war in Iraq has cost $3 trillion, instead of the $50 or $60 billion price presented to the American people in 2003. On February 28, 2008, he provided testimony to the Senate Joint Economic Committee and told lawmakers we are spending $50 billion in operations every 3 months.
But the most important costs, he said, that go beyond the operational costs are the expenditures required to provide health care and disability for returning veterans. "These are likely to be very, very high, and we will be paying these bills for decades to come." he warned.
Professor Stiglitz also told lawmakers that our country and businesses are suffering due to America's changed standing in the eyes of the world because of the war and the way it has been conducted and surveys show a clear relation between attitudes towards America generally and attitudes towards American businesses. "In many quarters," he stated, "the supposed war for democracy has even given democracy a bad name."
He pointed out that the mounting war debt means we have borrowed more and more money from abroad. "The fact that we borrowed rather than paid the bills as they came due does not mean that the war was for free;" he said, "it only postponed the payments."
He criticized the "lose monetary policy," a "flood of liquidity," and "lax regulation" which allowed household saving rates to plummet to zero, the lowest since the great Depression, and fed a housing bubble, allowing hundreds of billions of dollars to be taken out in mortgage equity withdrawals that increased the irresponsible consumption boom.
He said, "the subprime mortgages and lending programs with slogans like "qualified at birth" meant that easy credit was available for anyone this side of being on a life support system."
According to the Professor, we were living on borrowed money and borrowed time and the day reckoning has now arrived. "The games we played-which for a time allowed us to hide the true costs of the Iraq war-are now over," he stated.
He noted the huge problem facing the social security system, and the jeopardy to the economic security of our elderly and said, "for a fraction of the cost of this war, we could have put Social Security on a sound footing for the next half century or more."
His prepared statement says the defense contractors and oil companies have been the only true winners in this war, evidenced by what has happened to their stock prices.
This assertion is proven by the August 30, 2006 report, "Executive Excess 2006, Defense and Oil Executives Cash in on Conflict," by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy, which shows that between 2002 and 2005, the CEOs of the top 34 defense contractors enjoyed average pay levels double the amount they received during the period of 1998-2001.
Defense contractor's pay was up 107% in 2005, compared to 2001, and the average compensation for the top 34 CEOs went from $3.6 million to $7.2 million. Halliburton CEO, David Lesar made $26.6 million in 2005, a bigger package than the $24.2 million send-off awarded to his predecessor, Dick Cheney, the report points out.
In stark comparison, the average pay for Army privates in combat in 2005 was only $25,085, and military generals with 20 years experience, only earned $174,452, with housing allowances and extra combat pay included.
According to the report, between the end of the year 2000 and the end of 2005, the share prices of the top 34 defense companies increased 48% on average.
The oil industry contributed $2,627,825 toward the 2004 reelection of George Bush. In 2005, the top 15 US oil company CEOs were paid an average of $32.7 million, and received an average raise of 50.2% over their 2004 pay packages.
Lower grades and not being president of law review - like her opponent was.
Not passing the bar like her opponent did.
Riding on your husband's record and his political machine, or building your own, like her opponent did.
Claiming her husband’s years in office to appear to have more "experience" than your opponent who actually has more years as an elected official than you.
Lacking the character to congratulate your opponent when he wins
Lying about NAFTA to dodge responsibility for the fact that you championed it and turning it around to create the false impression that your opponent supports NAFTA
Disloyally identifying with the opposing party’s candidate as having "a lifetime of experience," in common with you and mis-characterizing the 20 years of experience of your fellow Democrat as "a speech."
Casting yourself as the feminine victim: they call on me first, the press is coddling my opponent, placing people in the audience to ask if you prefer diamonds or pearls, surrounding yourself with sympathetic women who want to know "how you do it," and then getting "victimized" by men who tell you to "iron their shirts," just in time for the New Hampshire primary . . . Characterizing your opponent as getting a free pass from the press when the press reported everything they even guessed about him, and the wrongs of everyone who came into contact with him, multiple times. while never mentioning the skeletons in your closet like: travel gate; renting out the Lincoln bedroom; removing papers from Vince Edwards’ residence after his suicide; non-disclosed tax returns; undisclosed donors to Bill’s foundation; undisclosed donors to Bill’s presidential library, besides Saudi royal family $10 million donation; undisclosed earmarks; cattle futures scandal; Whitewater . . .
Not encouraging your supporters - like your opponent did, when you loose. Instead running out of town, leaving your supporters to fend for themselves when you loose, but showing up to bask in glory when you win. Kind of like George Bush making his appearance on a naval ship to announce the victory, that never was . . .
Not taking responsibility for your actions - "I voted for it but I hoped it wouldn't pass . . ." Give me credit for my husband’s administration, but not the things that go wrong, like NAFTA.
If you want a woman in the White House who perpetuates every stereotype about women who want to run with the big dogs, but who don’t want to take the responsibility that goes with that status, then Hillary's the one.
by
Hargrove (7 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 1:38:14 PM
Gloria Steinem once said, "There won't be true equality until there are incompetent women in high places." Condolezza Rice comes to mind, and Hillary. Neither has accomplished anything of note in public life, let alone anything worthy of their lofty ambitions. All one need do for confirmation is examine the trail of utterly useless legislation Hillary has sponsored since taking her Senate seat. It's exactly the sort of chaff one might expect of a Junior Senator. It is not the sort of legislation one might expect from a presidential candidate.
There are any number of brilliant, dedicated women qualified to assume the presidency. Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton is not one of them.
JP
by
JonmarkP (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 57 comments)
on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 3:21:37 PM
