Fourteen Columnists, That 400 Million Dollars, Why Hillary Will Win and Job Rationing

                              

Fourteen Columnists Can't Be Wrong

The Palm Beach Post publishes fourteen columnists each week, one “from the left” and one “from the right” each day.  Those from the” left” are Paul Krugman, Mary Sanchez, Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman, E.J. Dionne, Jr., Gail Collins and Leonard Pitts.  Those from the “right” are Mona Charen, Ross Douthat, Michael Gerson, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer and George Will.

I read them all and from what they have been writing I have concluded that all of those “from the left” will be voting for Hillary Clinton, and that none of those “from the right” will be voting for Donald Trump.  This does not mean they will be voting for Hillary Clinton, but from what they have written, it doesn't look as if they will vote for Donald. What a sorry state of affairs for the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and the Bush family. 

What happened to cause this?  Recognizing that they had become a minority party in the nation, the G.O.P. welcomed all to join with them under their big tent.  That was the only way they could manage to corral enough support to elect local, state and national candidates.  And that is how racists (closet and otherwise), gun enthusiasts, anti-abortionists, isolationists, foes of immigration, those who wished to minimize the regulatory and socio/economic role of government and assorted “haters” and “crazies” came to dominate their party.  This resulted in the victories of Donald Trump in the primaries and at the G.O.P. convention.


Trump agrees with the N.R.A.

  

Some of this group originally called themselves the Tea Party, likening their opposition to our government’s increasing role in our society to the dumping of tea into Boston harbor in 1773 by the Sons of Liberty, a protest by colonists against arbitrary taxation by the English government.  This supposedly gave them claim to a legitimate heritage, which masked their true role as reactionaries bent on instituting eighteenth century limited government in our twenty-first century world.  Well, they got what they wanted, a totally unqualified Donald Trump as their candidate, and along the way, destroyed the Republican Party, which brought all of this upon itself.

Republicans who saw what was happening, like former House Speaker John Boehner, got out of the way.  Others, like Jeb Bush, were swept away by the onslaught.  The “from the right” columnists mentioned above have also jumped ship or are poised to do so. Those Republicans that remain, like Paul Ryan (a pretty conservative guy himself with still untested abilities) are in a quandary, hitched to a wild horse pulling the G.O.P.’s wagon toward a precipice.  Should they jump off, or go over the cliff with the crazed horse and the wagon?

                                
Jack Lippman

                                      


That $400,000,000 Refund to Iran 

Here in a nutshell is the truth about what Donald Trump and the Republicans are screaming about in regard to the United States supposedly paying a ransom to facilitate the release of four Americans being held in the Iranian “judicial” system.

Back in 1979, the Shah of Iran’s government ordered some jet aircraft from the United States, for which they paid us 400 million dollars in advance.  That year there was a revolution in Iran, which threw out the Shah, and installed the present government so the planes were never delivered.  At that time, the Iranians took several hundred Americans prisoners and held them as hostages until 1981, when Ronald Reagan took office.  Their release was worked out at a conference in Algiers, at which time an international court, the Iran-United States Claim Tribunal, was set up to handle outstanding claims between the two countries.

One of these was the Iranian request for a 400-million-dollar refund for the undelivered planes.  Because it was, and still is, illegal for us to send money to Iran’s present regime, we had been sitting on that 400 million ever since, and it had been accumulating at interest all the while.  The matter has remained in that Claim Tribunal ever since, and it looked as if, sooner or later, we would have to return their money.  It appeared that the Tribunal’s decision, based on the passage of time, would be for a much greater amount than the $1,700,000,000 to which the $400,000,000 claim, including interest, had now grown over 37 years, so it was a wise decision for our government, back in January of this year, to start planning on the mechanism of starting to return the money, which was a complicated task since it is still illegal to send dollars to Iran. 

 The four hundred million, in currency equivalents other than in dollars, which would be against U.S.laws, was carried in a Swiss Air Force plane.  Trump erroneously claimed, and later retracted, his statement that this picture was from an Iranian propaganda video.  The picture was actually taken in Geneva.  

When the payment was finally made to Iran, the Iranians found it to be a convenient time to release the four Americans being held there.  Their doing so made it seem as if we were succumbing to a ransom request.  We were not.  The money would have been returned even if no prisoners had been involved.

Actually, the 400 million is the first installment of a total of the $1,700,000,000 mentioned above.  Regardless of how it appears, and the impression the Iranians attached to this repayment, it was not our giving in to a ransom demand that Trump and the desperate Republicans paint it to be.  And the only money involved was Iranian money we had been holding and the interest it had accrued.

Foreign relations and diplomacy are complicated areas for which professionals at all levels spend years developing expertise, learning how to solve problems without resorting to violence.  Much of what happens takes place behind the scene in covert, confidential meetings, often involving intermediaries. It is an area of “deal-making” in which Donald Trump is pitifully prepared to operate.  He may bellow and scream and criticize, but that is the limit of his diplomatic skill.

For a detailed description of the entire matter and an overview of our relationship with Iran, just click right here!  This article served as my source for most of the information reported above.

JL

                                            



Why Hillary Clinton Will Be Our Next President

Let’s talk about why a majority of Americans in enough states to produce 270 electoral votes will be choosing Hillary Clinton to be our next President, providing her with a Democratic majority in the Senate and significantly reducing the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.  (Please note that the name of the Republican nominee for President is not mentioned, not even once, in this article!)  

Check out Larry Sabato's predictions from the University of Virginia's Center for politics.  Take a look at his Electoral College map. Click right here to see it.  He predicts, as of August 4 (but things can change), a Clinton victory by an Electoral count of 347 to 191.   You can play around with it on his map, moving states from one candidate to the other if you wish.

But here's why Hillary Clinton will win.  The economy must be recalibrated to stress job creation and growth, reflected by a rising Gross Domestic Product.  It would be wonderful if this could be accomplished, as Republicans always unsuccessfully claim it can, by the private sector alone via “trickle down” theories.  That has never worked.  Even for Ronald Reagan.  Businesses exist to make a profit.  If outsourcing jobs to places where labor is cheaper, or eliminating jobs here by taking advantage of advances in technology, will produce a better bottom line, the private sector will do it!  Businesses do not necessarily work with a sense of social responsibility. 

A Democratic Congress, and a Democratic President, will work together with the private sector to develop new areas where jobs will be created and funnel the benefits of to those at all levels on our economic ladder.  This will necessitate some revisions in our thinking about international trade agreements, cooperation with labor unions, massive skills retraining and the providing of government aid not only to individuals, but to businesses as well.  Americans, particularly those who are unemployed or underemployed, recognize that only a Democratic President can help solve these problems.  (For my long-term solution to these problems, one that even Hillary has not embraced, check out the final article on this posting.)

Improved healthcare is another area where on a Democratic President and Congress can accomplish something.  The partnership with the private health care insurance industry which the Affordable Care Act provides is more expensive and less effective than Medicare (in which the private insurance sector only serves to fill gaps).  Ultimately, we will have to have a single payer traditional Medicare-type health insurance program for all, replacing the Affordable Care Act.  Americans know that only Democrats can bring this about.

And there are other critical areas where only a Democratic President and Congress can do what is necessary: (1) Protecting our environment, (2) Dealing with climate change, (3) Providing greater opportunities for higher education for all, (4) Rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure.  (5)  Regulating Wall Street and the banking industry so that financial resources are available to all Americans in a fair and honest manner.  (6) Appointing Supreme Court Justices who will properly interpret the Constitution in regard to corporate involvement in politics (Citizens United), gun control (Heller vs. D.C.) and individual voting rights.  Americans recognize this and will vote Democratic!

Americans are aware of the fact that all of the above will cost a lot of money.  They know that taxes will have to be increased to provide it.  But they also know that these necessary tax increases will fall upon the very wealthy and upon corporations which choose to outsource jobs or relocate their domiciles outside of the country to avoid taxation.  Taxes on small businesses and all but the wealthy will not increase. Americans know that this is what they can expect from a Democratic Congress and President.   They also know on whose side the Republican Party always stands.

Finally, Americans know that a Democratic Congress and President are best for preserving world peace and conducting foreign affairs.  The Marshall Plan, which saved Europe from Communist domination after World War Two as well as NATO and our alliances in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, are Democratic accomplishments.  Even the United Nations, with all of its shortcomings, stems from the inspiration of Democrats like FDR and Harry Truman.  Our military has never been stronger than it has been during the past eight years of the Obama administration.  And Americans, most of all, know that a Democratic Congress and President will never rush to put American military might into action, risking American lives, without there being real concern for the nation’s security.  Democrats believe that diplomacy can often be a bloodless alternative to war, and Hillary Clinton has vast experience in that area as Secretary of State.  Americans know this and will vote Democratic.

(I try to watch Fox News, which generally is not favorable to Secretary Clinton, to get an idea of what those who do not think as I do are saying.  All I hear there are discussions of "Benghazi" and "missing emails" with rarely a word as to how Republicans would address any of the problems cited above. Secretary Clinton has provided reasonable explanations, unfortunately too often tied up in circuitous and legalistic language which opens her to perpetual criticism, in regard to both "Benghazi" and "the emails."  But still, they are reasonable explanations.  Only those interested in finding ways to attack her would persist in discussing these two things.)

The American people know what has to be done to keep America on track to accomplishing the goals discussed above.  Barack Obama has been trying to do these things, and Hillary Clinton will continue his efforts.  She will succeed, however, where President Obama's efforts fell short, but only if the American voter gives her a solid majority in the Senate, and significantly reduces (or even eliminates) G.O.P. control of the House, which exists only because of State-managed gerrymandering. But every thinking American must do their part to bring this about, and not depend on the other guy.
JL

                                                  

Job Rationing

Recently, Daniel Griswold, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times which touched upon the effect of trade on unemployment in the United States.

He pointed out that during the decade from 2000 to 2010 (basing his information on a study done at Ball State University), 5.6 million factory jobs disappeared in the United States.  Of this job loss, trade (and that means globalization) accounted for only 13% while productivity growth (and that means technological advances) accounted for 85%.  (I don’t know where the other 2% went to, but does it matter?).

So don’t be so fast to put the blame for job loss on globalization, NAFTA and other world trade agreements.  The main culprits in job loss are the advances we are making in technology.  Sure, the answer seems to be to create new jobs in new areas and educate Americans for those jobs, but I fear that further advances in technology will sooner or later cut into the number of those new jobs too!

As I have said before, we will soon become so efficient in this country that our economy will be able to function and grow vigorously with less and less labor.  


Not too many employees in this scene at the Coors brewery

This will be due to ongoing advances in technology.  Sure, there will be some high tech job growth in creating that very technology, but it will be relatively limited.  The important growth will take place in the economy, specifically in the gross domestic product (the dollar value of all goods and services produced in the country) which is much more crucial than simply increasing the number of jobs.  That growth in GDP will be independent of job growth.

My answer is to ration the available work in this country.  There isn’t, and will never again be, full time jobs available for everyone.  We could start with a maximum 30 hour work week, mandatory retirement at age 55 and not allowing anyone to have a second job!   Americans must learn to fairly share the jobs that are available!

In situations where such “rationed” employment in the private and public sectors cannot provide enough income to support families and provide for a comfortable retirement, the Government will have to step in and (1) enact vast and expensive changes in our Social Security program as well as (2) providing increased government support for families that won’t earn enough to live on from what a 30 hour work week would provide.

Families must have to have enough, not only for food, clothing and housing, but for generous consumer spending as well.  That, and spending by businesses and government will contribute to a vigorously growing GDP which will increase the tax base, to the point where govenment will be able to afford its additional responsibilities. 

   Undeniably, it initially will be expensive and taxes will have to increase significantly, but everyone will have a job, plus a lot of leisure time as well.  

JL

                                                 

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