Peter Bradley
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Peter Bradley commented on Who are we? on May 7, 2008, 9:55 PM
Senator McCainNAFTA is the wet dream of the rich industrialist. But what makes me sad is that I think you really believe the things you say about "training the displaced workers. THAT DOESN'T WORK!!You can not train workers for jobs that don't exist. Please think about this. The jobs are sent to Mexico. The workers are not. They HAVE NO WORK! You talk of retraining but as a conservative republican you oppose education handouts. You oppose government getting involved in supporting the workers while they are out of work. You oppose giving aid and educational grants to junior colleges and universities. You, as a conservative republican want people to borrow their educational loans from private lending institutions. You, as a conservative republican, BLITHLY ignore the fact that private loans have been proven to be more expensive. You talk of generalities when you talk about jobs. You talk about downsizing government and replacing government workers with private sector workers. But you never explain how private sector workers can cost less than government workers. What you NEGLECT to verbalize in your plan is that the only way government workers can be replaced at a cost savings to the taxpayer is if the private dector companies that take their place renounce and re=ject the chance to earn a profit. Government workers replaced with temp workers who can't afford insurance, aren't provided insurance or pensions or sick days or vacations and have no expectation of steady long term emp;oyment. Not to mention actually knowing what they are diong in that former government job. Believe me, I would rather square off with an intractable government beuracrat any day than have to face a steiroid pumping inexperienced Blackwater rejected private sector temp worker who really doesn't care if I get admitted to a National Park because then he doesn't have to worry I am going to trip over the oil well and mess up production quotas for the rich international industrialists that you refuse to ask; "So how many good jobs have you created with in the United States of America in the past eight years?" I this a run on sentence? Sorry, you got me on a roll. Seriously though; Okay, deep breath and...The way it works is this. An industry opens a facility and needs to staff it. THAT IS WHEN you start training people for jobs. When you know what to train for and the trainees will be able to start using their new skills as they learn them. And they need to be paid while they are learning. And government is needed for that. And they need child care and government is needed for that. And they need health COST help and government is needed for that. And they need affordable housing and government is needed for that. And the industry that is opening needs tax breaks so they can compete with the companies you incentived to move to Mexico and government is needed for that. And everything, all the systems and infrastructure that was already in place and working just fine until you made it possible for the old jobs to move to Mexico or American Samoa or Saipan needs to be rebuilt and you need government for that.Hey Mister conservative republican! Tell me again how this philosophy brings about smaller, more efficent government? Especially you, Mr. Senator Reagan republican McCain who has held office during the largest republican buildup and espansion of both government and national debt than ALL THE OTHER PRECEDING ADMINISTRATIONS COMBINED!I used to work in an electronics factory that bought parts from Mexico. every January our defective unit count would spike because in Mexico, the border factory workers would go home for Christmas. Rather than shut down, The factories would go trolling for temporary workers. These people had very little idea what they were doing and cared less. These were the people the factories usually DIDN'T want working for them, but Hey! in a culture of just in time inventory, you gotta keep up production, even if the parts don't work. So what did my company do? They trained us to spot the defective parts so they could be returned for 2.5X credit.That's NAFTA
Peter Bradley commented on Who are we? on May 7, 2008, 5:55 PM
Senator McCain NAFTA is the wet dream of the rich industrialist. But what makes me sad is that I think you really believe the things you say about "training the displaced workers. THAT DOESN'T WORK!! You can not train workers for jobs that don't exist. Please think about this. The jobs are sent to Mexico. The workers are not. They HAVE NO WORK! You talk of retraining but as a conservative republican you oppose education handouts. You oppose government getting involved in supporting the workers while they are out of work. You oppose giving aid and educational grants to junior colleges and universities. You, as a conservative republican want people to borrow their educational loans from private lending institutions. You, as a conservative republican, BLITHLY ignore the fact that private loans have been proven to be more expensive. You talk of generalities when you talk about jobs. You talk about downsizing government and replacing government workers with private sector workers. But you never explain how private sector workers can cost less than government workers. What you NEGLECT to verbalize in your plan is that the only way government workers can be replaced at a cost savings to the taxpayer is if the private dector companies that take their place renounce and re=ject the chance to earn a profit. Government workers replaced with temp workers who can't afford insurance, aren't provided insurance or pensions or sick days or vacations and have no expectation of steady long term emp;oyment. Not to mention actually knowing what they are diong in that former government job. Believe me, I would rather square off with an intractable government beuracrat any day than have to face a steiroid pumping inexperienced Blackwater rejected private sector temp worker who really doesn't care if I get admitted to a National Park because then he doesn't have to worry I am going to trip over the oil well and mess up production quotas for the rich international industrialists that you refuse to ask; "So how many good jobs have you created with in the United States of America in the past eight years?" I this a run on sentence? Sorry, you got me on a roll. Seriously though; Okay, deep breath and... The way it works is this. An industry opens a facility and needs to staff it. THAT IS WHEN you start training people for jobs. When you know what to train for and the trainees will be able to start using their new skills as they learn them. And they need to be paid while they are learning. And government is needed for that. And they need child care and government is needed for that. And they need health COST help and government is needed for that. And they need affordable housing and government is needed for that. And the industry that is opening needs tax breaks so they can compete with the companies you incentived to move to Mexico and government is needed for that. And everything, all the systems and infrastructure that was already in place and working just fine until you made it possible for the old jobs to move to Mexico or American Samoa or Saipan needs to be rebuilt and you need government for that.Hey Mister conservative republican! Tell me again how this philosophy brings about smaller, more efficent government? Especially you, Mr. Senator Reagan republican McCain who has held office during the largest republican buildup and espansion of both government and national debt than ALL THE OTHER PRECEDING ADMINISTRATIONS COMBINED! I used to work in an electronics factory that bought parts from Mexico. every January our defective unit count would spike because in Mexico, the border factory workers would go home for Christmas. Rather than shut down, The factories would go trolling for temporary workers. These people had very little idea what they were doing and cared less. These were the people the factories usually DIDN'T want working for them, but Hey! in a culture of just in time inventory, you gotta keep up production, even if the parts don't work. So what did my company do? They trained us to spot the defective parts so they could be returned for 2.5X credit. That's NAFTA
Peter Bradley commented on Paul Krugman on Crisis Causality on April 18, 2008, 12:25 PM
Mr. KrugmanI believe that the current crisis is fundamentally no different from the great depression. I was taught that in the 1920's , people would borrow money to invest in the market. Maybe they would go to the bank or maybe they would buy "on margin" It was speculative borrowing none the less. As greed took over people would borrow on their borrowed "assets" in order to buy more (get richer). When the margins were called, everything fell apart. At thge same time, Europe (France and England) were continuing to attempt to stomp Germany into the ground with what might be considered one of the greatest acts of economic terrorism ever perpetrated on a Nation. And the brand new Soviet Union was starving millions of it's own citizens.Germany was starting to blame the Jews because they were 1500 year old target of opportunity. Germany knew it couldn't attack France or England (yet)Today we have people who have borrowed over 100% of their equity in order to live the affluent life. These people have no hope of ever repaying the hundreds of thousands of dollars they borrowed. The institutions also knew this. At least I hope that a reas0onable loan officer would realize that a 50 year old couple have virtually no hope of discharging a $250,000 loan before they die. But the institutions continued to lend against equity that was in reality a loan itself. Back in the 20's we didn't have "big government". Today , thanks to the bush administration, we have the biggest government ever. So we can't blame the size of the government and the conservatives are full of hooey. The United States has decided to be afraid of something that could have been wiped off of the face of the earth in about one year. And the government keeps it alive so we the people will be afraid, just as Germans were afraid of Jews and Russians were afraid of Germans and capitalists. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, Sometimes you are lucky enough to go to war against the enemy you can invent.Vilfredo Pareto found that 20 percent of the population control 80 percent of the economy. In other words, the rich control the money. I believe this because of what I see happening today.Large companies are quietly renigging on their retirement package promises, keeping the money or wirting it off after sending it after bad financial decisionsFinancial institutions buy into get rich quick schemes while the government looks away.The citizenry is continuing to amass debt that cannot possibly be paid off.There is no pay as you go, pay cash, or even pay it off mentality in the country.This mentality has a sinister side because of a deliberate policy of the current administration to place this country so far into debt that a future administration will have no choice but to dismantle social security and medicare.Thus the current administration not only allows, supports and condones private companies renigging on retirement packages, they also are activly and purposfully renigging on the promise of the government retirement packages.THE ECONOMICS OF THE 1920's AND THE 2000's ARE SIMILAR IN THAT THEY ARE BOTH BASED ON A GIANT GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED PONZI SCHEMEWhat is needed?A NATIONAL effort to change the national economic philosophy to:Pay as you goDebt is temporary and meant to be entered into AND DISCHARGED responsiblyand a tax system that extoles pride and patriotism in paying ones fair share, for sure.My experience is that no-one who wears an American Flag lapel pin is patriotic enough to pay their fair share.
Peter Bradley commented on Paul Krugman on Crisis Causality on April 18, 2008, 8:25 AM
Mr. Krugman I believe that the current crisis is fundamentally no different from the great depression. I was taught that in the 1920's , people would borrow money to invest in the market. Maybe they would go to the bank or maybe they would buy "on margin" It was speculative borrowing none the less. As greed took over people would borrow on their borrowed "assets" in order to buy more (get richer). When the margins were called, everything fell apart. At thge same time, Europe (France and England) were continuing to attempt to stomp Germany into the ground with what might be considered one of the greatest acts of economic terrorism ever perpetrated on a Nation. And the brand new Soviet Union was starving millions of it's own citizens. Germany was starting to blame the Jews because they were 1500 year old target of opportunity. Germany knew it couldn't attack France or England (yet) Today we have people who have borrowed over 100% of their equity in order to live the affluent life. These people have no hope of ever repaying the hundreds of thousands of dollars they borrowed. The institutions also knew this. At least I hope that a reas0onable loan officer would realize that a 50 year old couple have virtually no hope of discharging a $250,000 loan before they die. But the institutions continued to lend against equity that was in reality a loan itself. Back in the 20's we didn't have "big government". Today , thanks to the bush administration, we have the biggest government ever. So we can't blame the size of the government and the conservatives are full of hooey. The United States has decided to be afraid of something that could have been wiped off of the face of the earth in about one year. And the government keeps it alive so we the people will be afraid, just as Germans were afraid of Jews and Russians were afraid of Germans and capitalists. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, Sometimes you are lucky enough to go to war against the enemy you can invent. Vilfredo Pareto found that 20 percent of the population control 80 percent of the economy. In other words, the rich control the money. I believe this because of what I see happening today. Large companies are quietly renigging on their retirement package promises, keeping the money or wirting it off after sending it after bad financial decisions Financial institutions buy into get rich quick schemes while the government looks away. The citizenry is continuing to amass debt that cannot possibly be paid off. There is no pay as you go, pay cash, or even pay it off mentality in the country. This mentality has a sinister side because of a deliberate policy of the current administration to place this country so far into debt that a future administration will have no choice but to dismantle social security and medicare. Thus the current administration not only allows, supports and condones private companies renigging on retirement packages, they also are activly and purposfully renigging on the promise of the government retirement packages. THE ECONOMICS OF THE 1920's AND THE 2000's ARE SIMILAR IN THAT THEY ARE BOTH BASED ON A GIANT GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED PONZI SCHEME What is needed? A NATIONAL effort to change the national economic philosophy to: Pay as you go Debt is temporary and meant to be entered into AND DISCHARGED responsibly and a tax system that extoles pride and patriotism in paying ones fair share, for sure. My experience is that no-one who wears an American Flag lapel pin is patriotic enough to pay their fair share.
Peter Bradley commented on Alan Dershowitz on Torture on April 24, 2009, 5:44 PM
I believe that the Constitution of the United States has cancer.My understanding of cancer is that it usually takes decades of exposure to toxins before cells become cancerous.Today we are faced with a cancer of the Constitution.It may have started with two cancer cells, Cheney and RumsfeldDid they get their start in the Nixon administration? I think so. I think they believed, and still believe, that Nixon was right and that he was above the law while he was president and that a unitary executive branch is best for this country.They first appear in public, and with power under Gerald Ford. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. The cancer Nixon started was not thoroughly killed by irradiation of the bright light of public scrutiny. Cheney and Rumsfeld and crew were allowed to continue to silently grow and infect others around them. The tumor was regrowing.The cancer grows, quietly and becomes more powerfulThrough Reagan and Bush, 41. Through Iran-Contra where the United States hired people like Eugene Hassenfus to run cocaine into black neighborhoods and to sell weapons to Iran to raise money to fund an extra-constitutional war.A temporary seeming remission during Clinton. But the military continued to privatize their support services. Now, instead of having Army cooks, we subcontract the jobs out to Halliburton and pay Blackwater (I mean Xi) to guard the civilians. If we had that arrangement during the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans would have won their Argonne offensive because then e had an army that could fight in depth. We had cooks who were soldiers first.Then the full symptomatic eruption happened during Bush 43. Just the right mix of carcinogens and precancerous cells got mixed together. The body of this nation was subjected to a terrible shock. We all (most of us) bought the big lie. We could not see that giving George Bush – and, by extension, the people who had their hand up his butt like a sock puppet – Giving George Bush war powers was no different from giving any other redneck an ax handle, a six pack and a pick-up truck.Our Constitution has been exposed to eight years of rapid and unimpeded growth of Constitutional Cancer. The tumor has not yet killed the Constitution.Smoking causes cancer, right? Stopping smoking is a preventative method of avoiding the disease.But once cancer is present, it continues to grow even if the victim stops smoking.Now, by pardoning torturers and justifiers of torture, and orderers of torture and promising to just not ever do it again, the country is trying to cure cancer by just stopping smoking. We pretend that the the concept of the Unitary Executive is behind us. We say that we will no longer torture. We do not repudiate unwarranted invasions into the private lives of our citizens. We seek to protect some of the people, the CIA civilians, who tortured in the name of The United States of America. Yet we do not pardon the military people who, acting under the very same legal determinations, followed their orders in military prisons and were scapegoated and themselves sent to military prisons.Once the disease starts, appeasment and promising to change do not rid the body of the Constitution of the cancer. If those things worked then Gerald Ford’s pardon would have worked – and it didn’t.The patient may get a few more years of life if surgeons cut out the big, easy to get pieces But the patient will still die of the cancer because it is still there and will grow back.It may even metastasize and spread to other parts of the body.Sometimes a person with lung cancer dies because the cancer spreads to the liver or the brain and those tumors kill the person first.Is this what we want of our Constitution? Is this what we want for our country?I for one do not.Therefore – I am sending this to my president, my senators, my representative and several various public media outlets.I am imploring those with the power, I’m begging, I’m asking nice, I’m saying Please“Please, If we are truly a nation of law (and we are a nation of law because we legitimize our government through the set of law we refer to as the Constitution) independently and publicly investigate every abuse of power, real or imagined, that makes up the legacy of the Bush Cheney Administration.This will not be so hard to do. PBS has already a half dozen programs outlining abuse. Even the Comedy channel has researched and developed numerous “news” stories.Surely Congress, and the Justice Department can do as well, if not better.My pledge. Just as Gerald Ford’s putting the past behind us by pardoning Richard Nixon cost him my vote in 1976, not investigating torture and other abuses of power and office between the years of 2000 and 2008 will cost President Obama my vote in 2012.