Conventional wisdom says that the Republicans are the party of business and that the economy is in more able hands if they are in control.  Well, this is a myth and conventional wisdom has been wrong for a very long time.  So let’s dig deeper into that myth, which the recent events in the housing market and now those on Wall Street have started to crack.

Not only are Republicans not good at helping small businesses (as discussed in the section Time for Change), it turns out they actually aren’t even really good for big business as well, as evidenced by the collapse of all those major Wall Street firms and the economy as a whole. The reality is that Democrats have been far better for jobs and therefore the economy than Republicans and there is ample evidence to support that.

For more proof about Democrats being better for the economy, let’s examine the actual results of the last 60 years of both Democrat and Republican administrations. We find that the reality is that jobs have been created by Democratic administrations at more than twice the rate of Republican ones.*

Since Truman was elected in 1948, Democrats have presided over the creation of 53.2 million new jobs during their 24 years they have controlled the White House, and the Republicans created 38.3 million during the 36 years of Republican administrations. This turns out to be an average of 2.217 million jobs a year under Democrats and 1.064 million a year under Republicans – more than twice as much.

And not a single Republican president succeeded in creating more jobs in his administration that his Democratic predecessor.  So much for the myth that Republicans are better for business.

   (*Source: The Bureau of Labor Statistics seasonally adjusted for non-farm payrolls. The job increases for George W. Bush are through August 2008, but don’t reflect that over 600,000 Americans have lost their jobs since January and given what is taking place on Wall Street at this time, most economists expect many more job losses before the end of this year.)

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we now find ourselves caught up in the further exploding of that myth, by the breakdown of the economic system controlled by big business. Under the influence and control of the de-regulating Republicans, beginning with Reagan and culminating with the Bush 43 presidency and his Republican Congress, we see the real results of their drive for a near total absence of any government oversight, in their quest for profits and free market capitalism.  This form of business has become personified with value based almost completely on speculation and not on any underlying real value.

The speculative value proposition under their model of capitalism has realized its penultimate expression (and ultimate folly) in the form of something called a “derivative”  with the corresponding derivatives markets.

Derivatives are various financial instruments whose value were derived based on the value of something else, and in and of themselves represented no direct value in the form of real goods and services.  Nonetheless, they represent means by which huge “profits” (and losses) can be realized and the use and trading of such instruments has became a massive gambling casino wherein paper value chased paper value. And with the exception of the gamblers, there was essentially no other direct benefits to society and the planet.  

And frequently these instruments get compounded by derivatives on derivatives on derivatives, in a long complicated chain. The problem with this entire system is that once the original asset upon which these derivatives are based loses its own inherent value (think sub-prime mortgages for example), and that long chain of derivatives all begins to collapse.

And unfortunately, huge amounts of money have moved into these instruments, whose collective “market value” has grown to over 10 times the value of the entire world’s value in real goods and services (GDP). The Bank of International Settlements, the world’s clearinghouse for central banks in Basel, Switzerland (which tracked such transactions) reported that by the end of 2007, the total derivatives market was estimated to be at least $516 trillion.

This is what we are seeing unraveling before our eyes. The underlying assets upon which all this paper value has based is no longer worth what their paper empires presumed it was worth, and the whole system is falling apart because of that.  Even Alan Greenspan, one of the chief enablers of this system, has declared that he believes it will get much worse before it gets better.

Which leads us to the question – What can be done about it? The next President and Congress will face a daunting task on reversing this economic catastrophe (which could actually be worse than the Great Depression), and instead will have to lay the foundations for a new economy, based on sound economic principles and systems.

The E-Revolution From The Jorgensen For Congress Campaign

Building A New Energy, Economic, Environmental, Educational Future

For Our Country and Our Planet

          Democratic candidate for California’s 24th Congressional District, Marta Jorgensen has formulated a bold new campaign platform called E-Revolution.  She believes this platform, so named for its focus on the strong and productive reform of federal energy, economic, environmental, and educational policies as well as on citizen engagement, is necessary for the United States to compete and survive in the new millennium.  

The first pillar of E-Revolution is energy reform.  As our older energy sources continue to pollute our environment, make us dependent on foreign governments, and slowly get used up, we must adopt clean, independent, and renewable forms of alternative energy like solar power, wind power, tidal power, geothermal power, and biofuels.  

Countries like Denmark, which already gets 25% of its energy from wind power, and Germany, which expects to get 45% of its power from renewable energy sources by 2030, have already recognized the dangers of an addiction to oil and coal.  But Marta Jorgensen believes that the United States can meet this challenge head on; we can take back the mantle of energy pioneer we once held by supporting these new technologies with tax breaks and federal mandates.

The second pillar of this platform, economic reform, seeks to return the American economy to the robust strength it once had and to create new Green and higher paying jobs for American workers.  This can be done by steering our economy toward alternative energy sources, by making our economy more efficient, by working to overcome global warming, and by creating more favorable trade agreements.

While the American oil and coal industries are losing jobs, renewable alternative energies can create and support millions of new jobs.  According to studies, wind power can account for nearly 350,000 jobs, solar power for over 260,000 jobs and $45 billion in economic investment, tidal power for thousands of jobs per plant, geothermal energy for over 20,000 jobs; and biofuel for over 200,000 jobs.  California is the natural home for many of these industries, and with them our state’s economy, already one of the largest in the world, will surely grow even larger.  

We can also make our economy more efficient.  For example, one study found that an increase in fuel efficiency standards starting in 2001 could have saved drivers in upstate New York more than $2.4 billion in gas by 2012; the savings for California, with its much bigger economy and many more residents, could have been astronomical.  Calling for stricter fuel efficiency standards and supporting the creation of new cars with alternative forms of power like electricity, hydrogen, or fuel cells can make our economy more efficient and each of us better off.

Switching to alternative energies and making our economy more efficient as well as working to reduce pollution and instituting a carbon tax will have the additional and very important effect of helping to ward off the effects of climate change.  The costs of untreated global warming is an increase in wildfires, water conservation, public health, agriculture, and flooding could be incalculable; if we take steps now to mitigate those effects, we will be able to sustain and grow our economy far into the future.

In addition, we can take steps to keep our thriving international trade alive and growing while fixing bad trade agreements so that our only exports are American products, not American jobs.  We can also address the issue of our crumbling dollar by reducing the federal deficit and paying down the federal debt.  These policies form an important part of Marta Jorgensen’s platform.

       Such sweeping economic reform may sound difficult, but it is nowhere near as hard as keeping our economy beholden to the old energy sources, old technologies, and bad trade agreements that have made our economy so weak.  But America is no weakling, and Marta Jorgensen believes that we are strong enough and motivated enough to do what we must to secure success for our economy.

The third pillar of change in E-Revolution, environmental reform, is closely related to Jorgensen’s call for both energy and economic reform.  We face serious peril from the effects of global warming, including a catastrophic rise in sea level, widespread drought, and myriad extinctions in plant and animal species all over the planet, effects that will change our world for the worse.  But Marta Jorgensen thinks we can change the world for the better; Marta Jorgensen has a plan.  

First, she calls for freezing carbon emissions and instituting a carbon tax, which will go a long way to reduce any further impact we might have on the atmosphere.  But we also need to further reduce our creation of greenhouse gases by instituting a moratorium on coal plants not outfitted with carbon capture features, calling for the replacement of inefficient incandescent light bulbs, and building a more efficient electrical grid.  In concert, these changes will drastically reduce our negative impact on the environment.

Of course, while we in the United States bear well more than our fair share of responsibility for global warming, we cannot address this problem alone.  That is why Marta Jorgensen will call for a new and stronger global treaty, more effective than the Kyoto Protocol and with a closer compliance date, and she will do all she can to make sure that this time, we sign on and we stay on.

The final pillar of E-Revolution, educational reform, centers on the need to teach our children how to succeed in an E-Revolution world.  We need programs to teach them how to work on a wind farm, how to design a better solar panel, and how to build a more efficient energy grid.  We need to make sure that they know how important our environment is what they can do as individuals to make sure we maintain it.  In short, we need comprehensive environmental education, and we need to do it on the national level.

      The four pillars of E-Revolution are closely related; if one of them fails, the success of the whole project would be cast into doubt.  Without energy reform to create new jobs in alternative energies and to make the economy more efficient, true economic reform is impossible, and without a switch to cleaner energy sources, true environmental reform is impossible.  Without economic reform to create and maintain alternative energies, true energy reform is impossible, and without a more sustainable economy, true environmental reform is impossible.  Without environmental reform to wean us off our addiction to fossil fuels, true energy reform is impossible, and without an environmental policy that seeks to overcome the problems of global warming, true economic reform is impossible.   And unless we have educational reform to teach our children how to thrive in this new world, all the gains of the rest of the project will be for naught.

We need to make E-Revolution a reality; we need to elect Marta Jorgensen.

Please support Marta Jorgensen’s campaign to unseat Republican Elton Gallegly in California’s 24th Congressional District.

             For more information, visit her website at: www.jorgensenforcongress.com.

805-742-0163

[email protected]

(Welcome Marta Jorgenson to Calitics. – promoted by David Dayen)

Hi, my name is Marta Jorgensen and I’m running…

Today, I am championing my candidacy for Congress to all of you here at Calitics, because it is time the citizens of California’s 24th Congressional District had someone to fight for them, not for lobbyists and special interests.  My opponent, Elton Gallegly – R, has a long history of ignoring the views and concerns of the people in our district, and I’ve decided that enough is enough.  

 

The theme of our campaign is, “It is the money, stupid.” Lobbyists for powerful corporations come to Congress to block progress of better legislation for the critical issues of our time.  It’s their money.

If elected, one thing I’d like to do is reinstitution the Golden Fleece Award that the former senator from Wisconsin, William Proxmire initiated. Remember that?

We must stop paying Global Warming lip service. I am making it the number #1 Issue.

Our campaign is planning town hall meetings to discuss issues that never get covered in the MSM. We are also hoping to have the Climate Project give a presentation.

As a nurse I’ll work for a Universal Single Payer Health System. We need health insurance for everyone, a program with quality and cost controls and an emphasis on prevention. Full Medicare for everyone will save thousands of lives a year while maintaining patient choice of doctors and hospitals within a competitive private health care delivery system.

I’ll advocate for Agricultural Reforms, regarding food safety, genetic engineering, and excessive food transportation, as in long distance hauls versus local production; work to promote Healthy School Lunches,  “No nation is healthier than its children”… Harry Truman.  Good nutrition plays a critical role in healthy child development. Many kids are deprived of good nutrition at home due to poor economic conditions. As a nurse working with inner city handicapped and chronically ill kids in Los Angeles, I have seen this first hand. Unitary Executive and Signing Statements – This is a dangerous trend that could be carried on by the next President. We need to elect someone we can trust who will put this Pandora back in the box. Electoral Reform – same day registration; a voter verified paper record for electronic voting; run-off voting to insure winners receive a majority vote; binding “none-of-the-above” on the ballot. Voter Participation – It is the duty of every elected official and those running for office to rekindle the love of the democratic process and engage all people to participate in it. And that’s not easy these days.  Internet Neutrality -We must work to protect our freedom of the Netroots Nation. I don’t care who invented it just happy it’s here.

Here’s what I think…the Republicans for many years have slapped Democrats in the face with the phrase, “Tax and spend.”

We can now return the favor. It is our turn to chastise, to reprobate, the Republicans. The history of this country that the Republicans have handed us, the laws they have created in the name of fighting terrorism, and the war that we have had to endure brought to us under false pretenses, has earned them a new phrase. Listen up. Your history has earned you a new mantra. Here it is. “War and waste.” This also gets back to the Money Stupid theme.

To the demand for more money for war, we answer, “War and waste.”

To the demand for more laws that monitor our lives with government intrusion and the cost of money for more bureaucracies, and at the cost of individual freedom, we answer, “War and waste.”

To the president who demands an imperial presence that negates Congress and violates human dignity, we answer, “War and waste.”

To the demand for more lives of our sons and daughter to fight a war that people, even veterans, want to end, we answer, “War and waste.”

“War and waste” has been the behavior of the Republican Party. We now throw this phrase in their face. To those who think we are too strong in our declaration, I say, “Offend the offensive.”

Let us not think that we can meet aggression in our lives or against our land with a prayer and a cupcake. But how strong can we be if the treasury is empty?

How can we negotiate from strength if the funding for this war comes from banks and countries across the sea?  How can we guarantee unbiased negotiations for the best interests of our workers and our economy if we sit across the table from the representatives of a country to whom we owe a great financial debt?

Our campaign at present is grassroots. Until the big Endorsement manifests, we need help financially in small donations, like at our ActBlue Account. Want to help in other ways, just go to our website and sign up. The Big Blue Thermometer must hit the $15,000 mark real soon!

Imagine… one more of your own in the House of Representatives, crashing the gate.

Jorgensen For Congress,

Bringing Representation To The People, Not The Powerful…

www.jorgensenforcongress.com

http://www.actblue.com/page/jo…