Monday, May 16, 2011
Rick Snyder's job-killing agenda
Rick Snyder's senseless partisan attacks on the film industry have already cost Michigan thousands of jobs. The network officially announced they canceled the successful TV show Detroit 1-8-7 because of Rick Snyder. Marvel studios also announced they will no longer be filming the Avengers movie here in Michigan because Snyder removed the tax incentives. What is most frustrating is that tax incentives always used to be championed by Republicans but now that a Democrat successfully implemented them, Repblicans are suddenly against it. Its the worst, most harmful kind of partisan politics. The kind that does not care about the people at all. Thanks a lot Rick Snyder. May your term in office be very brief for all our sakes.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The rich don't create jobs, we do.
This is a great article over at truthout.
Actually, "the Rich" Don't "Create Jobs," We Do
Simply put, jobs are created to meet demand and demand is driven by how much money the average person has to spend, which is primarily driven by wages. Its not that complicated. Jobs are not gifts bestowed upon us by the rich. There are simple economic realities to how jobs are really created.
Trickle down economics has caused the economic crisis of today by keeping wages down so demand has plumetted, which is why there are no jobs being created. Think about it, the rich are doing great yet are creating no jobs. Why? Because the rich do not create jobs. Consumer demand does.
Actually, "the Rich" Don't "Create Jobs," We Do
Simply put, jobs are created to meet demand and demand is driven by how much money the average person has to spend, which is primarily driven by wages. Its not that complicated. Jobs are not gifts bestowed upon us by the rich. There are simple economic realities to how jobs are really created.
Trickle down economics has caused the economic crisis of today by keeping wages down so demand has plumetted, which is why there are no jobs being created. Think about it, the rich are doing great yet are creating no jobs. Why? Because the rich do not create jobs. Consumer demand does.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
The rhetoric of violence - "Nothing better than a dead liberal"
After a political season marked by the rhetoric of violence, why is anyone surprised that we see violence?
I filmed this in 2009 at a local "tea party" protest in Michigan. At the time I found the casualness with which this woman started chanting "Nothing better than a dead liberal!" and the nonplussed reaction of the other protesters around her, chilling.
This was after we had already seen politically motivated assassination attempts against liberals, like Jim D Attkinson in 2008. In the killer's home they found books by right-wing provocateurs like Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.
Tea Party darling Sarah Palin recently put a target on Rep. Gifford's head and told her followers to "reload".
The shooting yesterday took place in Arizona, right next door to Nevada, where just a few months ago Sharon Angle proposed "second amendment remedies" to her "Harry Reid problem".
Not to mention all the rhetoric of the Bush era where people like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity called liberals "traitors" for not supporting the president, called for the death sentence for liberals and said that liberals should be "physically intimidated" and reminded that we can be killed.
Yes, obviously the shooter was insane. Isn't that a given? But does that excuse everyone in the public sphere from all responsibility for what influence they may have had on sick minds like that within the public?
That kind of rhetoric in the public sphere has real consequences.
As we are seeing for what seems like the millionth time.
And once again we see those who espouse the ideology of "personal responsibility" refusing to take ANY responsibility for their own use of violent rhetoric. For now, the Radical Right is feigning surprise and sympathy for the victims but they will be back out fomenting anti-liberal, anti-Democratic hate and violence again Monday morning.
The best way for the center/left to fight against this is to shine a huge spotlight on those doing it and expose the hate mongers for what they are. Shine a light the real effects their violent rhetoric has on society. Shine a light on the mindset that spawns these people who mistakenly think they have "second amendment remedies" to their electoral losses in a civil democratic society.
I filmed this in 2009 at a local "tea party" protest in Michigan. At the time I found the casualness with which this woman started chanting "Nothing better than a dead liberal!" and the nonplussed reaction of the other protesters around her, chilling.
This was after we had already seen politically motivated assassination attempts against liberals, like Jim D Attkinson in 2008. In the killer's home they found books by right-wing provocateurs like Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.
Tea Party darling Sarah Palin recently put a target on Rep. Gifford's head and told her followers to "reload".
The shooting yesterday took place in Arizona, right next door to Nevada, where just a few months ago Sharon Angle proposed "second amendment remedies" to her "Harry Reid problem".
Not to mention all the rhetoric of the Bush era where people like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity called liberals "traitors" for not supporting the president, called for the death sentence for liberals and said that liberals should be "physically intimidated" and reminded that we can be killed.
Yes, obviously the shooter was insane. Isn't that a given? But does that excuse everyone in the public sphere from all responsibility for what influence they may have had on sick minds like that within the public?
That kind of rhetoric in the public sphere has real consequences.
As we are seeing for what seems like the millionth time.
And once again we see those who espouse the ideology of "personal responsibility" refusing to take ANY responsibility for their own use of violent rhetoric. For now, the Radical Right is feigning surprise and sympathy for the victims but they will be back out fomenting anti-liberal, anti-Democratic hate and violence again Monday morning.
The best way for the center/left to fight against this is to shine a huge spotlight on those doing it and expose the hate mongers for what they are. Shine a light the real effects their violent rhetoric has on society. Shine a light on the mindset that spawns these people who mistakenly think they have "second amendment remedies" to their electoral losses in a civil democratic society.
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