The shouting is over and directions for the next four years selected. Judging by past behavior (the best predictor, psychologically, of future behavior), we can look forward to:
1. Continued and probably expanded tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large Corporations. It is no surprise that the stock market soared on the election news: big business stands to gain greatly by the results. Predictions? A strong effort to curtail product lawsuits, no matter how valid, to protect bottom line profits and continued tax incentives to offshore jobs to third world countries where labor costs are low, worker protections minimal, and profitability unlimited.
2. Protection of drug companies by barring pharmaceutical imports from Canada and discouragement of the formation of purchasing cartels for Medicare and other public programs.
3. Semi-privatization of Social Security leading to the emigration of higher paid young employees into private plans, unavoidably diminishing the influx of money available for current and future recipients.
4. Expanded funding for the morass of Iraq and support for the new Afghani government, benefiting the Haliburtons of the world rather than the American worker.
5. Increasing isolation throughout the world as the perceived "big bully of the west" shuns any support which demands shared power and responsible accountability.
6. A decreasing emphasis on job creation as it is no longer a political football and therefore a dead horse. The hope is that the unemployed will eventually take minimum wage service and temporary jobs, the only widely available positions, and business will reap the rewards.
7. The jury is still out on what may happen to a woman's right of choice and committed homosexual unions but we would be well-served to fear cultural values legislated by anyone.
The Have-Nots - the jobless, the homeless, the powerless, and the poor - stand to lose what little they have in a nation where the wealthy gain ever more power while the working class, by the thousands, slips permanently below the poverty line.
"A society may be defined by how it treats its most vulnerable members."
Who said that and where is he when we need him?
Virginia Bola is a licensed clinical psychologist with deep interests in Social Psychology and politics. She has performed therapeutic services for more than 20 years and has studied the effects of cultural forces and employment on the individual. The author of an interactive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be reached at http://www.virginiabola.com
top rated cleaning service Lake Forest ..The furore in the BJP camp in India, triggered by... Read More
Where are all the high-speed trains we were promised? Where... Read More
The paper industry in the US is hurting. Due to... Read More
Believe it or not, every theatre, church, or Britney Spears... Read More
It is important as populations expand to work on the... Read More
Former Governor of Alaska, Jay Hammond, died at age 83,... Read More
In the most rewarding new industries, there is often a... Read More
Many people make a lot of money in war. In... Read More
The filibuster has been a tool available to U.S. Senators... Read More
Capitalism as the social structure was founded in order to... Read More
Do you really want to get ahead in your life?... Read More
Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Lafayette in 1823 that... Read More
The blogosphere has been jumping around the story like crazy... Read More
Many parents might think it a bit farfetched to compare... Read More
What is the so-called "nuclear option" that Senator Bill Frist... Read More
If a farmer plants the same crop three seasons in... Read More
Maybe some of the people complaining ought to go to... Read More
UNAUTHORIZED HACKINGThe term "computer hacking" traditionally describes the penetration into... Read More
The Presidents Before Washington:From the moment that the first Declaration... Read More
When organising a country or a group of people in... Read More
On June 16, 1972, a security guard at the Watergate... Read More
Recently the Los Angeles Transit workers are on Strike and... Read More
Please read through this quick thought and discussion as if... Read More
(1) Each person is to have an equal right to... Read More
The plight of whistleblowers ? those employees who sound the... Read More
insured cleaning company Morton Grove ..The expertise and advancement of the evolution of man and... Read More
IN A DAY AND AGE where one voice screaming among... Read More
Some people say that we cannot put a colony on... Read More
Our government is set up like a modern day franchise.... Read More
Many believe Al-Qaida already has nukes in the United States... Read More
Maybe some of the people complaining ought to go to... Read More
The FTC franchising division purports their law enforcement experience in... Read More
Death may not be dignified in any light but the... Read More
When Boris Yeltsin spoke about an experiment that 'they' wrought... Read More
In these times when states are suffering extreme downward pressure... Read More
This is the second of a series of four articles... Read More
Do you find it interesting that people complain about the... Read More
Recently in Professional Builder a cover article discussed how the... Read More
The gun control debate in America is a battle between... Read More
We need a government that can be as responsive to... Read More
We learned some lessons in these last few wars. For... Read More
The devastating loss in case of Elliot Spitzer for NY... Read More
The Right's defense of John Thune in the Dan Nelson/MetaBank... Read More
Why did FDR say Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Count... Read More
I have to be honest. It is time to come... Read More
Since the court case was over turned against Arthur Anderson... Read More
This is a thought on the study of Home and... Read More
In the event of that a threatening nation to the... Read More
The NSA failed the American people and allowed the attack... Read More
Let the reader be reminded, that this document we are... Read More
Political |