Tag: economy

I have to vote for Joe. So do you.

Joe Biden was not my first choice as the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He wasn’t even on the list to be honest. But I will vote for him and Kamala Harris on or before November 3rd with my last breath if necessary. Anyone who is a registered voter in the US who does otherwise is a fool.

There have been a lot of people writing think pieces both before and now after the DNC about how Joe is reaching the “middle of the party” and Kamala is reaching out to the “Black vote” and how that “will heal the party”. I’m also personally seeing a LOT of folks on twitter and elsewhere who are angry. They’re angry that out of a field of Democratic candidates that included LGBTQ and BIPOC candidates for the top of the ticket we ended up with yet another old white guy.

I get that. And yet I’m still going to do whatever I have to in order to make sure that my vote for Biden/Harris is counted for November 3rd. This isn’t quite a hold my nose a vote situation, but it isn’t far off.

Here’s the thing, our country is literally and figuratively on fire right now. We’ve got nearly 200,000 dead of COVID-19, a number that could have been So. Much. Smaller. had we a competent administration in office. And that number, which is likely wildly low thanks to intentional failures of reporting in lots of states, doesn’t including “unrelated” but absolutely caused by COVID deaths such as suicides, domestic violence, overdoses, and the like.

Millions are out of work, the rights of humans all across this country are being stripped away in myriad ways, people are marching in the streets to try and, as I saw someone say the other day, “Legalize Blackness” and yet actual Nazis walk free in this land that fought to bring down the Third Reich. We have white supremacists and Nazis in our highest offices in the government and they’re enriching themselves and their billionaire friends at unprecedented rates all at the cost of the rest of us.

And yet I hear people saying that they won’t vote for Biden/Harris because, “she’s a cop” “he’s a white man” “he wasn’t my top choice” “I would have preferred X” “I can’t vote for someone who put black people in jail” etc, etc.

Here’s the thing. Biden/Harris are not gonna save us, they’re not gonna fix it all. No administration in the history of ever has done that. Not in one term, not in two, not in three.

But another term with Trump will kill us. That’s a fact.

And sitting in a position where you put your personal distaste of Biden or Harris over the good of this nation is a position of extreme privilege. If we expect the Republicans to put country over party then we should expect the same of ourselves, especially right now.

I want ranked choice voting. I want more than 2 parties. I wish it wasn’t this way. But right now, this is how it is. Right now, is not the time to try and make those things happen. Right now we’re voting for our very survival. We’re voting for our lives.

People are dying. If you don’t know someone who has died of or been ill with COVID, just wait. You will. And another 4 years of looting the American public, deaths en mass, and a destroyed government infrastructure is going to be the least of our worries if Trump isn’t beaten in a landslide.

Trump and his cabal are the greatest danger to our country, to each of us individually, and to the world any of us has seen in our lifetime. Every vote for anyone other than Biden/Harris is a vote for Trump. Hold your nose and and do your job as a citizen of this Republic and vote to save it.

Then, let’s get to work on fixing it.

Kelly

 

Lily Tomlin was right. No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up.

Well.  It has been a long time since I have posted anything political.  And that is because frankly, it has been just too depressing a topic to really talk about lately, particularly when I try to put it all in historical perspective, which is what I do – after all, I am a historian.

Not to be too dramatic, but I am really, really worried.

Continue reading “Lily Tomlin was right. No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up.”

#ShopLocal – Small Business Weekend Shows

This weekend isn’t all about Turkey, Black Friday, and football.  It’s also about Small Business Saturday & Sunday, sometimes called Plaid Saturday & Sunday.  These days are the exact opposite of what Black Friday is all about.  They’re about shopping at local stores, shopping handmade, and keeping your holiday spending in your local economy where it will do the most good.

As it so happens, I have two Small Business Weekend shows this weekend, and they’re going to be a wonderful antidote to Black Friday insanity, indigestion from eating too much, and Forced Family Fun Time.

Continue reading “#ShopLocal – Small Business Weekend Shows”

Brexit, or when people vote to harm themselves

Frankly, I am just stunned that the voters of the United Kingdom decided to leave the EU.  Obviously I am not British, and I can’t pretend I understand all of the issues going on there that might motivate people to vote that way.  But I do know that many of the consequences predicted were not good. And I also know that many of the people who voted to leave are in the parts of the UK that depend on the EU the most, like Cornwall.  The government of Cornwall is now insisting that the UK government make up for the 60 million pounds a year of EU funding that will be lost by Brexit.  To quote from Cornwall directly:

Prior to the referendum we were reassured by the ‘leave’ campaign that a decision to leave the EU would not affect the EU funding which has already been allocated to Cornwall and that Cornwall would not be worse off in terms of the investment we receive. We are seeking urgent confirmation from Ministers that this is the case.

Suddenly Cornwall is like some teenage kid who seriously pisses off his parents, and then suddenly doesn’t understand why they aren’t going to pay his college tuition anymore. You guys really didn’t think this through, did you?  And you believed everything that the Leave Campaign told you?

Oh, dear.

You know, that would be comical if it wasn’t so damn tragic, because there are going to be real consequences now, which will affect a lot of people’s lives.

Continue reading “Brexit, or when people vote to harm themselves”

I’m not a workaholic, I swear

After the post I wrote most recently and some discussions I’ve had with people in various parts of my life, I’ve run across a fair number of people who seem to think that this schedule I’ve been living, this logging of 60-70 hours of work a week, minimum, is fun.  That I do it because I like it and that somehow I’m not aware that it is inherently bad for me.

They are so, SO very wrong.  But they refuse to understand that this has been a matter of survival.  This has been the way that I’ve adapted to keep us afloat and alive and not living on the streets.  So few people truly understand that our economy here in the US has fundamentally changed.  Geoff and I are living proof that the old way, each having one job, having some security in that job, buying a house, and then eventually retiring just isn’t the way things work anymore.

Continue reading “I’m not a workaholic, I swear”

MLK and cultural appropriation

As a historian, and as someone who grew up in the South, I can’t help but shake my head at how a generation after the tumult of the 1950s and 1960s, we as a society are still struggling with virtually all of the issues that Dr. King fought against.  Don’t get me wrong, we have come a long way, even in my lifetime, but that progress still doesn’t mean that we live in a “post-racial” society.

Continue reading “MLK and cultural appropriation”

So… Scotland… I hear you might be single soon…

Wow.  Just, wow.

I am amazed, truly amazed, that this movement for Scotland to gain independence may actually succeed after all.  The referendum is set to take place this Thursday.

And it is an extremely complicated issue, one that I would imagine the overwhelming majority of Americans (including myself) understand very little, outside of having seen the superb (but historically inaccurate) movie Braveheart.

Continue reading “So… Scotland… I hear you might be single soon…”

Recent news roundup- Political cartoon edition

These are mostly what has been popping up on my Google+ feed lately.  Some of them are doozies.  Enjoy.

Continue reading “Recent news roundup- Political cartoon edition”

A few more stores decide to keep Thanksgiving

Both Apple and Radio Shack have decided to not open on Thanksgiving.  Good for them.

Like Kelly had mentioned earlier, too many stores are trying to maximize their profits by extending hours as much as possible on Thanksgiving weekend.  And they are doing it at the expense of their lowest-paid employees.  It’s not like the CEOs are going to pull a late shift themselves that day.  But the CEO class really can’t relate to their employees most of the time anyway.

And the supreme irony of this is that being open longer this Thanksgiving weekend is not likely to make the weekend more profitable.  Things sold on Thanksgiving are generally done at the expense of Black Friday sales, rather than generating new sales.  It’s not like people who avoid shopping that weekend or on Black Friday will suddenly decide to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day itself.

Of course, I don’t see a lot of people asking the question “what would happen if ordinary people had more money to spend?” either.  In fact, there’s no shortage of people who complain about the lack of consumer spending without asking “how are regular people supposed to increase their spending when they are broke?” These same people trash talk the idea of raising the minimum wage while talking about how tough a time the very wealthy have with their taxes.  Actually, not so much – especially when you look at the historical patterns.

As one of the broke people, I can definitely say that yeah, if I had a better paying job (or jobs), I would be able to spend more.  And we’re trying to get that better job or jobs.

-Geoff

 

Big egos and bad economics

The current debate over who should be replacing Ben Bernanke at the Federal Reserve should be a no-brainer, if you base it solely on abilities and sound judgment.  There is no good reason why President Obama shouldn’t appoint Janet Yellen.  But there is a lot of resistance to it anyway, and I imagine a lot of it is from the people who would rather see Larry Summers in the position.

Personally, I can’t believe people still take Larry Summers seriously.

Continue reading “Big egos and bad economics”