The return of the open-ended commitment

Would our commitment be open ended if Congress would pass a bill that the Iraq war has to be supported by increasing taxes? And all the debts incurred over the years has to be repaid by increasing taxes? Why don’t the democrats put this up for a vote while Bush is still president and find out who actually supports this unending occupation? Let the red, white and blue be measured with green and see who is willing to sacrifice? My guess it won’t be those who have benefited enormously by Bush’s tax cuts.

It appears as if Hillary and her supporters are going to cling to anything in the last moments of this Democratic primary to pull off a miracle and defeat Barack OBAMA. However, it is not going to happen. Hillary has lost, BOTTOM LINE! It intrigues me that the Hillary supporters think there is a chance that she can win. I am not mad with you. That is called loyalty and I can respect loyalty. I began as a Hillary supporter but switched my allegence to OBAMA. For me, it is not a matter of loyalty but of political reality. A lot of Hillary and McCain supporters talk about OBAMA’s track record and how limited his experience is as a means of saying he is unqualified to be president. But it is precisely the inexperience in Washington politics that allowed George W. Bush, Reagan, and Bill Clinton to get elected. People know Hillary and Bill and it is precisely that fact that turns off countless millions of Conservatives and Independents. They know them not through their associations with others but through their direct actions. Bill Clinton resided over one of the greatest periods of prosperity in American History. But the credit was not all his. George H.W. Bush instituted one of the largest tax increases in American History which endured through the Clinton years. The Congress, House and Senate, was Republican led and their agenda was pro business and pro growth. The Internet and e-business boom started in the U.S. that created new industries and new companies like Microsoft that generated hundreds of thousands of new jobs and connecting the world like never before. This was U.S. Corporations leading the way. The rest of the world was taking our lead but had not caught up yet. It was this connectivity to the rest of the world that allowed the rest of the world to begin catching up. “The Information Age” lead by U.S. Corporations allowed the rest of the world to become more educated. The U.S. no longer had a monopoly on Information. Corporate profits increased astronomically and U.S. and foreign investers demanded more and higher profits from corporations. Many of our corporations had to begin to compete in global markets to sustain this level of growth. The standard of living of the average American, to include wages, was almost 10 times that of any other country. At the same time, because of this information, the Industrial revolution in other countries was kick started. They began to produce similar products and services to our U.S. corporations. The wages of resources and the standard of living in these countries was much lower causing their products and services to cost much less. However, being new comers to the global marketplace the quality of their products and services was also less than many American products and services. But, it didn’t take them long to catch up. President Clinton was pushed by Corporate Interests to establish trade deals that allowed for our corporations to sell goods and services in global markets while allowing them to sell their goods and services in our market. Yes, this began with Clinton and the Republican led Congress!! However, because of our high standard of living and our cost structure, we were not ready to compete. Our companies, in order to maintain their cost competitiveness began to outsource to countries with lower wages and lower standards of living…..this also allowed them to sustain the level of growth that was demanded by our markets. (For all of you investors out their with 401ks, Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, IRAs you are part of that market). In the process, hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. were lost while some investors got wealthy and CEOs and Senior Executives achieved millions and billions of dollars in wages and stock for giving investors a great return on Investment.

During that time, the wages for most Americans was still high. With high wages, coupled with the George H.W. Bush tax hikes, Billions of dollars flowed into the U.S. Government coffers allowing us to reduced the National Debt and achieve a Budget surplus. This is why many Democrats piss off Republicans when they give complete credit for the prosperity of the 90s to the Clintons. Believe me, the Clintons don’t deserve complete credit. However, Bill Clinton does deserve some. It was through his Carisma and his diplomacy that a lot of global markets were opened to the U.S. Bill Clinton is one hell of a diplomat and a fantastic Orator. Anyone who doesn’t think so was asleep during the 90s. But, Bill Clinton was just the voice for an Information Revolution that that was led by a pro-business Republican Congress and Innovation on the part of our U.S. Corporations.

Now we are at a point where we still have to compete globally. If we don’t our global companies will not survive and millions of jobs will be lost. THAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE! For all of George W. Bush and the Republican administrations faults, I agree with them on this. We have to lower our standard of living relative to the rest of the world. We need to increase our competence as am AMERICAN people and create new industries and jobs that will replace those lost to other countries. The industrial jobs of the previous decades are NEVER coming back. That is the reality. Also, we have to become more realistic about what is possible and achievable.

However, I do feel that some of these trade agreements that were established during the Clinton and Bush administrations are somewhat slanted and there needs to be a balance established. Establishing a balance does not mean we will be able to bring many of the jobs back that were lost . It does mean that labor and environmental standards should be consistent to protect workers in other countries that are producing goods and services we consume and to protect the american consumer against faulty or dangerous goods and services. This will not however, overcome the vast differences in wages related to these industries.

Also, there has been no effort during either the Clinton or Bush administrations to decrease our dependence on foreing oil. NONE! This has caused us to become involved in conflicts in the Middle East that had absolutely nothing to do with the security of our nation. With Kuwait providing so much oil to the global market, we had to defend Kuwait against IRAQI agression. Also, during the George W. Bush administration we saw that the Industrialization of the largest populations in the world, India and China, drastically increased the global demand for oil and with the majority of countries in the ARAB world being anti-Israel (To Include Saudi Arabia where most of the 9-11 terrorists came from) and anti-U.S. we may reach the point where they don’t have to sale oil to our small 250 million people to achieve their profits because they are selling oil to the more than 3 Billion people in China and India. This forced us to consider installing a democracy in the Middle East (IRAQ with the world’s 3rd largest oil reserves) in order to keep our economy strong. IRAQ was the logical choice and 9-11 along with U.N. sanctions, even though 9-11 was not IRAQ’s fault, gave us the moral grounds for regime change. Because we had spent more than a decade dismantling their Army and Air Force, we felt that the task would be easy. However, this didn’t turn out the way that we expected and decreased our standing and reputation in the rest of the world. Our politicians played on our patriotism and morality because they knew the average american would not agree with a preemptive war based on economic realities.

I stongly field that is was the U.S. presence in the middle east, because of our economic interests that led to the 9-11 attacks. You can say I am unpatriotic but answer me this. We supported Bin Laden and Al Queda in their efforts to repel the Soviets from Afghanistan on the same premise that a major super power has no business having soldiers in a muslim country and interfering with Islamic affairs. IRAQ was a trading partner of ours. We sould them millions of dollars in goods and services to include weapontry. Our war on terror, whether you like it or not, is based on Islamic ideology and American econonmic interests.

So we are here now. We are in IRAQ, a country that is on the edge of being torn apart by religious differences that are older than any Western Country. I strongly believe we cannot leave this country and allow for civil war that will cost millions of lives on top of the lives that have already been loss. I agree with the Republicans on this. Also, our economic interests will not allow us to leave. We are still dependent on foreign oil. If we leave and IRAQI oil falls into the wrong hands, it will cause a spike in the price of oil globally and could be a nail in the coffin of the U.S. Economy. Like it or not people, we have to stay. However, we need to get other countries involved in sharing the burden of securing peace in IRAQ for many years to come. This will take a president with the moral stance of disagreeing with the war from the start and the charisma and speech giving abilities to rally the rest of the world to the cause.

Also, I think we need to rally the American people to a cause greater than ourselves. We need to crack down on corporate greed and establish realistic expectations for our market. This is not about the individual becoming wealthy but the country surviving. It will take a gifted orator/motivator to pull this off. It will also take somebody that was not involved in anything up to this point. Someone with an open mind that is not tied to anyone or owes favors. I believe that OBAMA as a factor of being in the Democratic party does have some ties and owes some favors but he does to a lessor degree than Clinton or McCain.

The next president needs to rally the American people to fix problems. Yes, only the American people can fix these problems, not government. People’s minds need to be changed and our younger generation need to be called to action, at a young age to increase their competency, get involved in their community and foster innovation.

This is my long winded rationale and it is not biased. I fault both Democrats, Republicans, and the American people for where we are now. The question is where do we go from here. The answer to that question will hold the key to the survival of this country and democracy.

I welcome any criticism of, feedback on, or support of my rationale.

CONCERNED AMERICAN CITIZEN

As the soldiers themselves are noting (since it’s their asses being put on the line), units being sent to Iraq in late July will be in Iraq until October 31, 2009. People sent one week later will becoming home three months earlier. What a great way to “improve” morale.

“All the time he needs…”

To do WHAT?

I might be inclined to support the “mission” if we could just say what the heck it IS?
Not even the supporters know / agree.