CNN Late Edition, Jobs losses are the fault of CONSUMERS!!!!!

[Taeger]

Yep, on CNN late edition, Arkansas' Republican Governor Mike Huckabee layed the fault of job losses at the feet of CONSUMERS!!!!!

He said that consumers were choosing products from lower cost, lower wage countries and it's THEIR fault. He also said that we need to LOWER WAGES, LOWER TAXES and eliminate captial gains taxes in order to compete and restore our high standard of living.

OK backtrack ... We need to LOWER our WAGES in order to achieve a HIGHER standard of living. We need to SLASH government spending on the poor in order to INCREASE their standards of living. We need to CUT corporate taxes in order to INCREASE revenue!!!!!!

How do these assholes get away with such doublespeak. WHY for gods sake did the two governors on the panel let this asshole (along with Colorado Governor Bill Owens) get away with this idiotic nonsense!!!!)

[oneighty]

1. It's alive! It's alive!

"The New World Order" as visualized by Bush the first fool.

180

[Taeger]

10. We are missing a great ally !!!!

You see that the rheotoric is getting closer to the TRUE nature of the Reich Wing mission.

There were a bunch of "crazies" running around thinking that Clinton was trying to start the "New World Order" (first worded by Bush I) to put sovereign power into the hands of the UN. They were 100% wrong about the UN. It's a COMPLETELY toothless organization.

But the WTO IS the great beast that the milita "crazies" are afraid of. We can make a true ally out of these gun toters from the "presumed right". In fact, these folks are more like libertarians. Their concerns are real and genuine. They COULD be a GREAT ally against NAFTA, WTO, GATT and CAFTA. These things are Bablyon realized. But I'm not entirely sure that these folks shielded behind the "Rush Curtain" quite realize it yet.

This is one aspect about Dean's platform that was truly great. He had a "states rights" gun platform. This platform combined with anti-free trade rhetoric could effectively get these folks to switch parties. The Democrats COULD pick up the south again.

BTW, after watching "Bowling for Columbine" I think that the NRA AND the anti-gun (any guns) folks are full of shit. Democrats need to move to the center on the gun issue and towards the left on corpratism. Add an alliance with moderate fundies (those who worship the REAL Jesus, not supply side Jesus) and you have a formula to reclaim the South for the Democrats.

[w4rma]

28. I was just thinking, earlier today, the exact same thing, Taeger.

I am in full agreement with you re: WTO and militia folks.

[wryter2000]

2. OMG

If we LOWER people's wages, they'll stop buying goods from countries that produce cheap products and spend MORE on goods?

What planet do these idiots live on?

[LuLu550]

3. Why I'm shocked, SHOCKED!

These are the same people that are trying to say making a hamburger in a fast food restaurant is "manufacturing." The same guys that are trying to change the way we "count" our unemployed so it looks like we haven't lost as many jobs...are you really surprised that they employ 1984 tactics to control the weak minded?

[coloradodem2005]

4. I am fucking sick of Republicans.

They are all going down.

[aquart]

6. I really wish you'd say "they" on this board.

[coloradodem2005]

8. Edited.

Sorry. My mistake.

[Union Thug]

5. Republican doublespeak...

The Less you earn, the better off you will be. This is the mantra of globalization.

[coloradodem2005]

7. Fuck them.

[Union Thug]

9. I'm with you there...

And we should be raising the pitchforks and torches, we should be burning down the windmill.

What blows me away is that these people get offended at the idea of "class war", ie. democrats playing the class war card. Fuck them. THEY HAVE been waging class war against the working people of this country since the rise of industry. We had a very brief victory with the new deal, but that's almost all been eroded.

I'll tell you... the working people of this country had better grow some balls and quick. Back when I was growing up, my dad and his union brothers kicked ass..literally...and we all enjoyed a higher standard of living because of it. This is where we need to return...

Raise the fist, brothers and sisters... we're in for a fight. Are you up for it?

[Taeger]

12. Right on !!!

We shouldn't shy away from "class warfare" rhetoric. They have been conducting a class war for decades. They simply disguise it behind other rhetoric.

We need to EMBRACE the notion of class war. When they say we're trying to start a class war we should say "I DIDN'T START IT, I'M ONLY FIGHTING IT!!!!". Or perhaps they should resort to Shakespeare "Methinks the lady doth protest too much?".

American history is replete with class warfare. It defines our existence. When we "forget" about that war, we loose it. The very nature of "capitalism" is a class war against the poor. It is the aggregation of wealth into the hands of the few. "Investment" is for the saking of collecting more wealth, not creating new wealth.

We should not shy away from refusing to trade with countries where there IS NO CLASS WAR. That means that the war was lost LONG AGO!!!! Once upon a time, this was our policy. We REFUSED to trade with communists. We knew that their state represented one of repression and a FAKE emphasis on helping the little guy. They were merely dictatorships with command economies.

Modern China IS NOT communist. It is FASCIST. They have discarded the inefficient planned economy with capital economy. They have NOT abandoned their people. They never cared in the first place.

[Taeger]

14. Not for CEOs

Of course for CEOs, the MORE you earn the better off you are.

Also, VERY HIGH wages are required to attract individuals from these "very loathesome" positions requiring a person to

* Attend meetings
* Take stock options
* Play golf
* Eat lunch with clients
* Travel in 1st class OR on private jets
* Require others to do all the research for you
* Require your assistant to do any paperwork from you.
* Require lawyers to shield you from ANY possible culpability
* Appoint the people who are SUPPOSED to be holding you accountable (Board of Directors)
* Fire people to raise the value of your stock options in lieu of creating real sustainable business

You can obviously see that if a CEO wasn't paid MEGA-BUCKS, they wouldn't want to do the job. Instead, they would do something easier like picking crops for $3/hr or writing code. You know, do something tangible that actually PRODUCES measurable work.

I'm glad that we have all these Smarty-Smart MBAs to explain this stuff to us. Otherwise, I would have assumed that ANYONE would take a job for low wages when it's description reads like: goofing off, taking vacations, gluttonizing and shirking responsibility.

But don't mind my criticism of CEOs. They easily work 70 hrs per week OR MORE at goofing off, taking vacations, gluttonizing and shirking responsibility. Damn it seems tough. Seems like the ONLY work may be getting there and STAYING there. They must spend A LOT of their unearned cash at the dagger store.

[Supply Side Jesus]

11. funny thing is

this doesn't even shock me at all.
I'm pretty sure a time existed when someone would have taken this idiot to task for saying stupid shit like this.

[Taeger]

13. On Lou Dobbs

If he was on Lou Dobbs' program, he would have been TORN APART!!!!

I hope Lou clips this for his Monday show. It's absoluetly outrageous.

These creeps obviously feel that COMPLETE victory is in their grasp because they don't even both disguising their rhetoric anymore.

[The Traveler]

15. It is a strange world

in which I now found myself now saying, "Lou Dobbs is my man!" I never thought I'd be saying anything like that! He's like a pissed off pit bull when these confronting these jerks. And it sounds to me like they're feelin' the heat.

[Taeger]

17. AMEN!!!!

I'm VERY surprised that he's allowed to stay on the air. Whats even MORE surprising is that Lou has been the "money" guy on CNN for SO LONG!!!!

I come back to the theory that the media butters their own bread. They would slay their own mothers for 4 more million viewers. Lou's protection is LIKELY that he is being WATCHED so much.

That's why every time I talk about this topic, I tell people to watch Lou. If they pimp Lou as well, that will eventually trickle down to someone who's viewing habits actually COUNT (Nielsen households).

I could go on a GIANT shpiel about how the Nielson ratings KILL good TV, but I'll save that for later ;-)

[surfermaw]

23. Dobb's

You are right, I would never have believes he would speak out against the republicans

[orwell]

16. Ass Bag

They get away with it because their core assumptions are never challenged. Instead opponents resort to failed tactics like ad hominem while failing to form a coherent counter argument.

For example, when he decries consumers choosing products from lower wage countries, why doesn't anyone point out that this is exactly how "laissez faire" is supposed to work. Ask him if he is denouncing his core principles to make a rhetorical point and hide one of the initial external costs of unrestrained neoliberalism. Econ 101: For every benefit there is a cost.

If we lower wages, it would follow that consumption would decrease. How would that increase jobs?

There is no evidence that lowering taxes by itself increases economic activity, employment, or capital formation.

There is no direct effect of lowering capital gains and business investment. In the end, money goes where it receives the best real return. While lowering capital gains may influence the direction of capital flows, tax rates in and of themselves do not guarantee this.

In essence, the Governor assumes facts not in evidence. This is generally true of contorted logical arguments, frequently the terrain of the demagogue. In other words, he is spouting talking points. What makes it really amusing is that the talking points are logically internally conflicted.

To put it simply, he is talking out his ass.

O

[Taeger]

18. Free Trade ...

Free Trade is a religion. It's very convenient since ANY religion tends to serve it's PRIESTS first.

[orwell]

19. Free Trade Follies

I wouldn't class it as a religion. I would say the term is a fundamental misconception. There is no such thing as "Free Trade". All markets have rules, no matter how "free" people claim they are. Take a look at how many pages of Nafta regs there are.

The discussion should be about who sits at the table while the rules are being defined and whether or not the rules allow the system to be "gamed."

The term "Free Trade" is never challenged on its face, which is a testimonial to the billions of dollars the Cons have spent to frame the issue in their terms.

O

[valphoosier]

20. he's sort of right...

If you think about it, the loss of jobs is in part the fault of consumers shopping at wal-mart all the time. The economic theory of it all isn't that difficult... consumer's tastes drive them to cheaper, foreign goods. That being said, some of the blame also lies with government trade regulations...

[mac2]

27. A race to the bottom favors few of us....

I had hoped, we would bring the 3rd world up..but it is now reversed. No one wins but the few at the top of the crime family.

[neverborn]

21. What a joke...

Reps lay the blame at anyone's feet but their own, where it fucking belongs.

[surfermaw]

22. That is going to be one of their theme songs in the campaign

They are going to try to sell the nation a line that outsourcing jobs to foreign Countries is a good thing, and will try to put the blame on every one and every thing except George Herbert Hoover Bush and his administration.

[boobooday]

24. A gold medal in rhetorical tail chasing!

And with these lower wages, we are supposed to buy higher priced merchandise and support our own . . . lower wages?????

These people are mindless! I mean that literally, like their heads are big empty, cavernous, echoing warehouses like an abandoned American refrigerator factory. I should know. I got one in my town.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[auntpattywatty]

25. Happy to work for lower wages as long as my house payment is $500 a year

and my car payment $100 a year, and so on

[mac2]

26. Orwellian Rove talk