The Black Liberal Boomer Blog

This morning the President spoke at the University of Michigan, which is why it made sense for him to hammer as hard as he did on the critical issue of student loan debt which, as he pointed out, is now surpassing credit card debt as the number one debt burden faced by middle class families. But another thing Obama said in the speech caught my attention just as much, namely that he and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, would never have accomplished all that they have without the assistance of a first-rate education. Never would have happened.

This is supremely important for struggling families of color, because the Obamas, similar to most African American families, hardly came from privilege. They are well-acquainted with struggle. Matter of fact, you might even say they are on a first-name basis with financial strain and struggle. But despite their challenges, Obama was able to attend Harvard, where he excelled. His wife - and her brother Craig - both attended Princeton where they excelled as well. Obviously this education made a massive difference in all their lives, just as a college education makes a significant difference in the lives of most who are able to attend. Matter of fact, as the President pointed out in his speech, the unemployment rate of college graduates is half the national average, so that tells you something right there.

But what also tells you something is that college tuition is swiftly escalating far beyond the affordability range of many families, and that's not just Harvard or Princeton but many state institutions as well. Matter of fact, according to Obama, 40 states cut their education budgets last year, forcing state institutions to make up the difference by significantly raising tuitions, thereby putting college out of reach for many. Others are now forced to choose whether it is worth it to get a college degree if it means paying back that loan for practically the rest of their lives.

If something is not done to address this issue, this country will become even more divided along race and class lines than it is already. So many of our children are already receiving grossly inferior education in public schools that have been practically abandoned by all except the poor non-white kids who have no choice but to attend. To slam yet another door in their faces is unacceptable. But the rates of college tuition are now so high that it is not just these kids who cannot attend, but kids from slightly better off middle class families who may have even attended private schools.

If you want a better idea of what we're looking at if we continue down this road, consider what this excellent article in The Nation had to say about discrimination in education:

How Educational Redlining Works

The racial and economic segregation that sets the stage for redlining is now firmly in place. One in four American children lives in poverty, nearly 60 percent more than in 1974, and the number of people living in severe poverty has reached a record high. A national study released in 2009 found that one in fifty children in America is homeless and living in a shelter, motel, car, shared housing, abandoned building, park or orphanage. The proportions in some school districts exceed one in ten, and the number is growing rapidly.

Furthermore, this poverty is concentrated in increasingly resegregated communities and schools. More than 70 percent of black and Latino students attend predominantly minority schools, and nearly 40 percent attend intensely segregated schools, where more than 90 percent of students are minority and most are poor.

Poverty rates make a huge difference in student achievement. Few people are aware, for example, that in 2009 US schools with fewer than 10 percent of students in poverty ranked first among all nations on the Programme for International Student Achievement tests in reading, while those serving more than 75 percent of students in poverty scored alongside nations like Serbia, ranking about fiftieth.

The schools identified as low-performing not only serve a growing underclass of impoverished families; they also typically do so with fewer state and local dollars per pupil than wealthier districts around them. Unlike high-achieving nations that fund their schools centrally and equally, most American states spend three times more on their wealthiest schools than they do on their poorest.

To take a page from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this is why we can't wait.

Yes, there are many really rich people in America who realize that they are rich BECAUSE of the uniquely American opportunities and the right thing to do is not--as a lot of rich and even not-so-rich Republicans want--to make themselves even richer at the expense of the middle class and the poor.

There is actually a group of people whose "Adjusted Gross Income" (such as it is) is OVER $1,000,000 annually and who WANT to be taxed accordingly. Their reason is simply that if rich people were taxed fairly, the deficit would be practically wiped out. Meanwhile, they would still be really, really rich.

The Patriotic Millionaires, as they call themselves, urged President Obama and Congress NOT to extend the Bush tax cuts last year; and after losing that effort, have now written a letter to the President, to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and to Speaker of the House John Boehner. In that letter, they are BEGGING to be taxed fairly; BEGGING to have their taxes RAISED.

Here is some interesting information from the group's website:

Only 375,000 Americans have incomes of over $1,000,000

Between 1979 and 2007, incomes for the wealthiest 1% of Americans rose by 281%

During the Great Depression, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 68%

In 1963, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 91%

In 1976, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 70%

Today, millionaires have a top marginal tax rate of 35%

Reducing the income tax on top earners is one of the most inefficient ways to grow the economy according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office

44% of Congress people are millionaires. The tax cuts were never meant to be permanent

Letting tax cuts for the top 2% expire as scheduled would pay down the debt by $700 billion over the next 10 years

While the greedy and heartless Republicans like Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, et al, are doing everything possible to destroy the middle class and the social safety nets for the poor, there are rich people in America who are willing to stand by the true morals of our country and put their money where it can help EVERYONE.

The February 2011 jobs numbers were released today, and the 192,000+ jobs added produced the largest monthly gain since May of 2010. Plus, the jobless rate fell below 9% to 8.9%--the lowest in two years.

There are many factors in play here, but the economic turn around and improved jobs picture is NOT a result of "tax cuts for the rich" or any of the jobs proposals that the Republicans haven't yet submitted.

Even though the tax cuts for the top 2% were extended for two years in January 2011, they did nothing to improve the job outlook for February 2011; just like they did nothing for job growth the previous TEN YEARS they were in place.

The Republicans have had control of 1/2 of 1/3 of the U.S. government for about two months now, and they have not submitted even ONE job-building proposal. They are just planning a decimation of the economy with draconian "budget cuts", declaring war on the middle class and contiunue to focus on social issues that the majority of the American people do not want implemented. 

The 2009-2010 Federal government stimulus did exact what President Obama said it would do: it STIMULATED the economy ("primed the pump") to produce job growth in the private sector. We still have a long way to go, but at least we're moving in the right direction.

Meanwhile, many Republicans governors are refusing government stimulus money for projects such as high-speed rail; projects that would provide rens of thousands of immediate and future jobs and further private sector growth--just because the funds are "government money". Way to go Republicans--kill job growth by slashing public and private programs that provide employment while giving even more tax breaks to your rich friends who have NOT increased jobs.

All of the Big Three have either posted billions in profits or are on their way to their first profitable years since the early 2000s. GM and Chrysler are also on track to completing repaying the loans (not free bailouts) they received from the Federal government in 2009 to stay afloat and continue operations. GM issued an IPO several months ago that was hugely successful. Ford continues to be profitable. All three car companies have retained employees, hired more workers, built new plants, and many new exciting and forward-thinking car models are hitting the showrooms.

All of this was made possible by President Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats, who in 2009, refused to let the auto companies die. It was hard and messy, but the auto companies got the money and the time they needed to re-invent themselves and save the U.S. auto industry.

Meanwhile, the Republicans wanted the American car companies to liquidate, throwing hundreds of thousands out of work (including employees of thousands companies that support the auto industry) and negatively impacting the economies of many U.S. cities and towns.

Even as the bonuses for hard-working everyday American auto workers (and union members) were announced over the past few weeks, many Republicans stated that the workers shouldn't get bonuses while the auto companies still owed money to the government.

Those Republicans didn't say the same as Wall Street employees received millions in bonuses--the same "Wall Street" that caused the recession; the same Wall Street that also has not completed paying back the government.

The Republicans only want the auto workers to forgo their thousands while applauding the millions their financial buddies have received for years. The union workers at the auto companies gave up huge amounts of their negotiated pay to help keep the auto companies going; the Wall Street employees gave up nothing.

On the scale of who is really on the side of the American worker--unionized or not, one only has to look at the record of the Democrats and the Republicans over the past several decades.

Congratulations to the U.S. auto workers on their bonuses. A great new stimulus to the economy!

Jobs and increased income stimulate the economy, not draconian budget cuts or tax cuts for the rich.

The Healing Ceremony at the University of Arizona was a beautiful and moving event. Some people were expecting a boo-hoo morbid funeral-like affair. No. The purpose of this celebration--which was planned by the victims' families and the University of Arizona President; not by President Obama--was to:

1) Heal the nation and move us past negativity and knee-jerk finger-pointing.

2) Celebrate the lives of those who died.

3) Celebrate the lives of those who survived.

4) Honor those who bravely helped in the midst of chaos.

5) Remind America of her greatness--not of the pettiness and "victimhood" that others tried to portray for themselves.

6) Celebrate the diversity of this nation and focus on our commonalities, not on our differences.

This event was for the families, the people of Tucson and Arizona and America. It was not about or for President Obama. Yes, there was cheering and clapping--even in the sorrow of losing six precious lives, thirteen other lives were saved, and the target of the terrorist attack--Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is stunning her doctors with her recovery. Upon realizing that the President, the First Lady, and several of her Congressional colleagues came to visit her, she opened her eyes for the first time since a bullet went completely through her brain and came out the other side.

President Obama was the invited guest speaker. This event was not supposed to be just about him. People cheered because they were glad to see the Leader of the Free World act like an intelligent, compassionate and charismatic leader, not like a whiny, complaining, incendiary cretin.

It was a beautiful tribute and an uplifting speech for a nation still in shock. It was a healing ceremony, not a funeral or even a memorial service.

(Thank you to my FB Friend:  "I Love It When I Wake Up in the Morning and Barack Obama is President" for this beautiful graphic.)

[I am posting this to both of my blogs, so there may be some duplication for some of my readers.]

Photo Credit: Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press reports today that all three of the U.S. auto companies, after being in serious trouble during the first part of the recession that began in December 2007, are reporting profits, saving and adding hundreds of thousands of jobs, and planning for a brighter, although leaner, future.

According to the article:

On Wednesday, General Motors reported a third-quarter profit of $2 billion, bringing the combined profits of the Detroit Three and publicly traded local suppliers to more than $11 billion so far this year. 

 While challenges remain, some are celebrating the results. "GM's third-quarter earnings ... are, again, proof positive that the federal government's investment in the company has yielded wonderful results," U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat, said in an e-mail to the Free Press. 

Leaders at GM and Chrysler, which is still making progress toward profitability, say they've made changes for long-term success. Thousands of jobs also were saved. Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said workers have a different look on their faces these days: "I sincerely hope that what I see is indicative of how the whole population feels."

Meanwhile, Ford Motor, which restructured without taxpayer aid and has posted a $6.4-billion profit through September, "will be hiring," though prudently, Bill Ford said Wednesday on CNBC.

[Emphasis mine.]

A quick political reminder: at the end of 2008 and into 2009, a certain U.S. political party (The Party of "NO!") wanted all of the U.S. auto companies to fail and cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in plants, factories, and supplier companies throughout America. It was President Obama and the Democrats who loaned (not bailed out) the auto companies the funds they needed to re-structure and re-build. Most of those loans are already paid back.

Here is my Top Ten List of what I hope the President has learned:

1) “Why Can’t We Be Friends” is just a song; the Republicans neither like nor respect you. Their only agenda is to destroy you.

2) Dance with the ones who brung ya. (African-Americans, Latinos, Young People and Unions)

3) Stand up for your convictions; don’t let the haters melt your resolve.

4) Dance with the ones who brung ya. (Progressives, Liberals and Independents)

5) Just as you can’t be both a Christian and a Muslim (not that there’s anything wrong with that), you also can’t be both a Democrat and a Republican (there is something wrong with that).

6) Dance with the ones who brung ya. (Dr. Howard Dean and the Professional Left)

7) He who gets his message out gets his message across.

8) Dance with the ones who brung ya. (LGBT)

9) While keeping America striving for excellence and intelligence, realize that most Americans are “not smart”, can't spell worth Jack,  and can’t understand your elegant professorial speech. Many Americans need to be spoken to like six-year-olds.

10) Dance with the ones who brung ya. (The 54% of Americans who voted for “Change They Can Believe In” in 2008)

Mr. President, a great majority of your core constituency is still behind you and we definitely still want you and your administration to succeed. I truly hope that before you take a well-deserved holiday vacation in Hawaii, that you use these two months to make the changes necessary for America to thrive and people to know that what you are doing is both transformational and for the greater good.

Perception is everything.