Opinions and Letters

Upbeat ending? Really?

The Republican-led Legislature has again figuratively (possibly literally) thumbed its nose at the people of Florida. A definition of insanity is to regularly repeat a course of action which has previously failed. Reelecting the Republicans in the House is therefore insanity.

Just where is the upbeat ending? In the failure of the House to take $51Billion in Federal money to insure more than 1 Million Florida residents, while ignoring the fact that the uninsured cost Floridians Millions in emergency room care? The ideologue who is Speaker of the House has caused the future pain and even deaths of uninsured Floridians simply because of his disdain for our President and for ObamaCare, which, by the way, is the law of the land. In order to make his case he lied about the Federal Government's non-existent past failures to live up to its word. To put salt on a wound, he had to admit, after denying it, that his family received Medicaid for his ill brother. What is good for the Speaker and his family is a weakness on the part of uninsured Floridia families? As far as I can see, Weatherford's only claim on the Speakership is a politically powerful father-in-law.

Or is the upbeat ending the Corporate Welfare it bestowed on Duke/Progressive Energy for years? Do they really feel that the correct thing to do is to have Floridians underwrite the power company's incompetence in nuclear energy? We should remember the Legislature every time we pay Duke our non-refundable and undocumented fee.

That is not all. The "Ethics" renovation is a farce. More money will flow to already overfunded campaigns. Why, when the salary for Representatives is under $30,000.00 a year, do they feel they should be able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to get elected? I leave it to you to answer that.

The correct answer to the voting rights bill would have been to completely delete the bill passed in 2011, not to pick and choose which Rights the people will have returned to them.

I guess we can thank the Legislature for not passing the parent trigger bill (barely), and the Governor for vetoing the one-size-fits-all Alimony bill.


There are other problems and not very many upbeat endings. We should be grateful that the Session lasts only two months. What damage this group could have done with more time!

I sincerely sympathize with and thank those Legislators who tried to vote to support the people who elected them rather than supporting special interests. We appreciate your efforts.

Mary Louise Ambrose

Club Member/Officer

Letter to Tampa Bay Times

Published Thursday, May 9th in the TBT

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Florida Legislative Session Ends Without Deal On Medicaid Expansion

Upbeat lawmakers celebrate session's 'sausage'

IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE TAKES ON WALL STREET BANKS

Largo/Mid-Pinellas Democratic Club members are celebrating President Obama's appointment of Elizabeth Warren to establish a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Most agree with MoveOn.org that this is the boldest step Obama's taken so far to rein in the big Wall Street banks. And it's a major victory for grassroots progressives who rallied for Warren. 

According to MoveOn, "the banks fought to keep her out of this job—and now that she has it, they'll do whatever they can to keep her from exercising her full authority. That's why we need to get the word out—to make sure she has the grassroots support she needs to aggressively police Wall Street. So we made a video of Warren's greatest hits from her appearances on the "Daily Show" and a list of five cool facts about her. Check them out at the link below and send them to all your friends:
http://pol.moveon.org/warren_fivethings_share.html?id=23504-11149306-SVeFSGx&t=2
Top Five Things You Should Know About Elizabeth Warren
1. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was her idea.  Here's why she thinks this agency is so critical: "It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to refinance your home with a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting your family out on the street."
2. The Republicans are so scared of her, they tried to pass a law blocking her from leading the agency. Republicans in Congress and the big Wall Street banks have always been against Warren leading the new consumer agency. Republicans even offered an amendment that was widely understood as designed to block Warren. That amendment failed.
3. She is one of the most prominent, successful and fierce female lawyers in America. Coming from working-class roots, she graduated from high school as a debate star at 16. She finished law school when she was nine months pregnant. And she has repeatedly been named one of the 50 most influential female lawyers by the National Law Journal and was twice nominated as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (among other honors).
4. She spoke truth to power about the failed foreclosure program. The Home Affordability Modification Program was supposed to save homeowners from losing their homes but has left many deeper in debt than they were before. Warren used her position on the Congressional Oversight Panel to bring the voices of these disaffected homeowners right to the decision makers in the administration and demand accountability.
5. She may have actual superpowers. She once calmed a crowd at an NBA game with her encyclopedic basketball knowledge. She explained the financial meltdown so clearly to Jon Stewart that he said it made him "want to make out with" her. And there's a viral cowboy rap video about her.

Kathleen Jamison, Club Member

Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years

Good article in the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 

Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers

By Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney

The events and policies that have pushed deficits to these high levels in the near term, however, were largely outside the new Administration’s control. If not for the tax cuts enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush that Congress did not pay for, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were initiated during that period, and the effects of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression (including the cost of steps necessary to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term.

This non-partisan organization focuses on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families/individuals.  Their analysis shows that the budget deficit will continue to grow if the Bush tax cuts remain.  They don't distinguish the different aspects of the tax-cuts; i.e., "high income", which Obama & Democrats want to let expire, and "middle/low income", which they plan to renew.

The graph to the right illustrates the impact of the various programs on the growth of the deficit into 2019.  It is quite unfortunate that none of the high profile Republican politician and pundits, or conservative media (CNN or FOX) bother to read anything that doesn't come out of their own think-tanks.  

Without the economic downturn and the fiscal policies of the previous Administration, the budget would be roughly in balance over the next decade. That would have put the nation on a much sounder footing to address the demographic challenges and the cost pressures in health care that darken the long-run fiscal outlook.[7]

One and the Same: Great new DNC web ad.

Slow recovery, double-dip or worse?

The deficit hysteria among Florida and national Republicans is not only slowing the recovery, but may actually cause a second recession.

The deficit hawks won the day w/ FDR in 1937-38 resulting in big cuts in spending which caused the 1938 recession. I'm reminded of the famous quotation, " Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" which is exactly what the Republican public officials are attempting to do.

Also, short term stimulus, such as extending jobless benefits, saving jobs of police officers, fire fighters and teachers, giving tax breaks to small businesses to encourage more hiring, and directly aiding states to protect vital services to it's citizens is not at odds w/ long term deficit reduction as many Republican public officals are claiming.

Many economists, including Diane Lim Rogers, the Chief Economist of the Concord Coalition, a non-partisan organization which advocates for fiscal responsibility, states that short term stimulus spending need not conflict w/ deficit reduction. Rogers states a fairly serious injection of funds-say $300 billion over the next two years, could be paired w/ twice as much deficit reduction in the three years following the spending.

We need a second stimulus package now to accelerate the recovery and avoid a second recession which will get us to a full employment economy sooner and allow significant deficit reduction.

I urge the Republican elected officals to learn from history so we're not condemned to repeat it.

Frank Lupo , St. Petersburg, Florida  (PC DEC Member, Dist 54 member and Dem activist)

Published by the St Pete Times July 21

"He has done what he promised. He's transforming our country"

I read dailyKos.  Daily.  I have a few favorite diarists, whose wisdom and/or warnings I share on Facebook or by email.

But this is such a moving summary - lots of photos and video - that I thought I'd share it here.

blackwaterdog is an unabased fan of President Obama.  Given the bashing he takes every day (and yeah, I complain that he isn't the strong progressive I would have liked, too), I look forward to the narrative bwd pulls together a few times a week in photos, videos, news bits, etc.  She reminds us of why we voted for Barack Obama.  Why we felt so hopeful.  And why we really, truly should not STOP being hopeful. 

BWD quoted Greg Sargent at the Plum Line:  (click on link to read full article)

Once Obama signs financial reform into law next week, he will have not only passed a stimulus package that helped pull the economy back from the brink; he will have also begun reshaping two major chunks of our economy: Health care and Wall Street. As many have noted already, he's probably done more than any president since FDR to transform our country.

and that was just her intro!  .... 

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: "America . . must never be on it's knees before Corporate Power!" (C-SPAN video)

This is a very powerful speech.  This sums up the damage done by decades of deregulation and worshiping at the altar of greed and profit.  I have always been impressed by Sen. Whitehouse, but this..... wow.   This says it all. 

Mr. President, we have watched with horror the unfolding disaster in the Gulf. We have seen precious lives lost; hard-earned livelihoods hammered; treasured ways of life imperiled. We have seen the largest deployment of resources ever against an environmental disaster. We have seen astonishing corporate negligence. But we have seen something else too-something that ought to be a lasting lesson from this catastrophe: we have seen the revolting specter of an agency of government subservient to - captive to - the industry it is supposed to regulate. ... ...What lesson of history, if left unlearned after this disaster, are we condemned to repeat? I hope that the lesson we learn is this one: that we can never, never, never again let agencies of the government of the United States of America fall so far under the influence of the corporations they are supposed to regulate.... ...This American government of ours should never, never be on its knees before corporate power, no matter how strong. It should never be in the thrall of corporate wealth no matter how vast. This American government of ours should never give the American citizen reason to question whose interests are being served. Never.... ...We must act in defense of the integrity of this great government of ours, which has brought such light to the world, such freedom and equality to our country. We cannot allow this government - that is a model around the world, that inspires people to risk their lives and fortunes to come to our shores - we cannot allow any element of this government to become the tool of corporate power, the avenue of corporate influence, the puppet of corporate tentacles.

Please make the time to watch the entire video (click below).   The transcript is also <<here>> with commentary added by MinistryOfTruth.

Momentum Builds for Financial Reforms

Momentum has clearly swung toward new financial sector regulation. Some are predicting that new reform will be in place as soon as May. Recent news out of Congress suggests that Republicans in Congress may be more amenable to a deal on financial reform than they seemed only a few weeks ago. Some voices on the right are suggesting that the Republicans should now begin attacking the bill as being too friendly to Wall Street. Other reports indicate that Senator Richard Shelby has proposed exchanging a stronger Consumer Financial Protection Agency for less stringent derivative regulation currently proposed. Unlike health care, debated for decades, Congresspersons are notoriously underinformed about matters of Wall Street and the financial markets. As Congress and staff become more educated about the reckless excesses engaged in by Wall Street leadership in the run-up to the financial market crisis, it is likely that the desire for thoughtful and meaningful reform will increase. President Obama remains heavily involved in shepherding the legislation through Congress.