The Big Sell-Out Must Stop Now

A Strategist For John Edwards Says Democrats Must Emphasize Economic Fairness

(CBS)  Looking at the numbers, how can anybody disagree that a Democratic campaign with a strong message of economic populism would without question increase the number of targeted states and put a much-needed end to the mathematically-challenged "thread the needle" Democratic presidential strategy of late?

John Edwards is the only Democratic candidate talking tough about economic fairness because he is the only candidate who sees (and acknowledges) the powerful 6-foot rabbit whose name is not "Harvey," but instead "economic populism." To me, it is a certainty (with things being where they are) that rural and other hard-working (not just blue collar) Americans will understand and embrace "true economic populism" if it were shown to them just once in their life. Just once.

Check this out. Last Oct. 26, the Center for Rural Strategies conducted a poll of voting patterns in rural America. Lack of economic fairness ranked first when rural voters were asked what kind of changes voters wanted to see after the election at 38 percent. Just 11 percent said they were most concerned about a new direction in Iraq.

During the past 25 years, our national party's political strategy for much of the nation has been dominated by defensive action instead of offensive action. We simply have not gone after these guys. It is my strong belief that the "greed" factor that created this economic crisis has also found a home in some Democratic campaign circles. This is at the very root of the problem with lack of "spirited" economic debate amongst Democratic candidates.

Some candidates seem to be thinking, "Why shoot at the big boys and disrupt my contributor base?" Contribution fears abound.

I say to hell with Democrats who fear taking on the big boys and to Democrats who would shun economic fairness in exchange for pieces of silver. With all the information that is out there on what unbridled greed has done to our once thriving capitalistic way of life, it is an absolute disgrace to our party that John Edwards is the only top-tier Democratic candidate out there ready to go after the greedy harlots.

"In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy — that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street." — Sen. Jim Webb, State of the Union response, 2007.

There are many more voters who will vote with Main Street than those who will vote with Wall Street … that is, if they are asked to do so.

[bill1fj]

We, the people, need to decide if these professional politician in both parties and at all levels are really representing us.
If they are not representing us and are not doing there jobs lets vote them out of office.
I believe most of them have not been doing there jobs.
Just look at the mess we are in with millions of illegal aliens here and our borders open to anyone no matter what our laws say.
Look at the mess we are in in the middle east.
Look at our health care and education systems.
Its time to throw these rascals out and get some fresh representatives of the people, at all levels.

[ubrew12]

I support a redistribution of wealth, such that the wealthiest 10% of the country don't own more than 60% of the countries wealth (based on our history in the 20th century). Within that broad directive, capitalisms 'invisible hand' is free to operate. If you think that would be bad for competition, consider the game of football. After each game, the wealth is redistributed; each new game proceeds as though the previous had never happened. Is this bad for competition? Far from it. If instead you allowed teams to ACCUMULATE points, like the accumulation of wealth in capitalism, the game would soon be a farce, with neither team particularly interested in showing up to play. That is what happens in our society when wealth concentrates too acutely. And it HAS been concentrating:
Income bracket_____% Change in income* (1970-2000):
Bottom 90%________-22.5%
90-95%______________0.4%
95-99%_____________19.5%
99-99.5%___________47.0%
99.5-99.9%_________90.0%
99.9-99.99%_______227.0%
Top 0.01%_________412.0%
*as a share of ALL U.S. income. Source: 'Perfectly legal' by David Cay Johnston

[bill1fj]

We, the people, need to vote out these professional politicians that have screwed up the system. Lets get them to simplify the tax laws, and other laws. Lets deport the illegal aliens and fine and/or jail any company or idividual that hires them. This should open up millions of jobs that should pay better once the illegals are not here to drive wages down.
Then lets each one of take more responsibility for our actions. Take care with what we spend. Learn to become more self sufficient. Teach our children about being self reliant, respectful, and able to deal with lifes ups and downs.
I don't believe its either political party to blame for this mess, but its the professional politicians of both parties that are driving this country down.
Thank You

[caldwellptr]

There is an American Dream ????

[sparks224]

The gutting of the middle class continues.
It won%u2019t stop until we reach neo-con Utopia (1% of the population owns 99%of the wealth).

[cantshutup]

BRIANBWB wrote: "Planting Gardens; on what land? Who will tend it? how will the harvest be used? will a garden in the inner-city even produce anything edible?
Renting; no gardens, no return for your hard earned money, no closer to ownership of anything, just more hard earned money going to the already well off landowners, who, history shows, don't bother to maintain the rented property, which, over time, become tenements and slums."

Brian, my landlord lives in a victorian mansion right behind me. He's got a perfectly landscaped yard, huge pool, nice suv, and all the luxeries I can't stand to see over his 6' privacy fence. He is in essence a slum lord. He took care of his own property during last winters ice storm. I had no electricity, heat, nothing for 12 days while I heard his generator warming his mansion. I DO have a garden and I live right downtown in my city. I grow lettuces, spinache, tomatoes, cucuumbers, squash, corn and watermelon. I TEND IT,I plan on eating it. I work a 40 hr week at only 20,000 a yr and I'm a single parent. Life is hard, we go without a lot, the garden helps defray some costs and this summer I hope to build up more spaces for planting. If you are hungry and can't afford tomatoes, grow your own. It doesn't take a lot of brains to figure out how...google it. In my case I grew up on a self-sufficient farm...I sure miss it. As for the state of our country...it is the saddest and most unbelievable nonsense I've ever witnessed.

[peacock5]

Mudcat is right on the mark!
Anyone who is in doubt as to what John Edwards stands for, can just look at his policy statements at johnedwards.com.

[neobrian-2009]

Huey Long pegged " Income Disparity " many years ago. Maybe some of his ideas were a bit radical. But the fact remains,this trend has to stop. Republicans have long fueled this economic tendency. It`s grossly unfair to the working people of our country.This real problem has sky-rocketed under our most corrupt administration ever assembled.
Justice must prevail over greed. Common sense is needed at every level of our government.Let`s get started,everyone needs to do their part. Remember one snow flake may melt,but look what happens when millions unite. Come on people,wake up !

[r9119111]

monkfellow:

There is a happy medium and that has been lacking recently which forces people into extreme positions. Compromise has been lacking. We are too far to the right. America is in sad need of repair.

[monkfellow]

some of these comments about government decision-making in our free market have that soviet union-style ring to them and it's scary.
I prefer to make my own decisions about what to buy(and I happily buy a vehicle with a domestic nameplate;it's such a joke anyway.It's a Chevy Tracker, made by Suzuki in Japan,with drivetrain assembled in China and vehicle assembled in Canada-that's it-Edwards' new campaign slogan:close the Canadian border to imports!!!)Actually,the whole foreign vehicle ruckus smacks of racism towards the Japanese.I don't hear the big bad AFL-CIO complaining about BMWs and Land Rovers, so I have to presume the leadership is simply pro-white and anti-Japanese,which I thought ended after World War II.
But,I digress.
Forced unionism is the underlying goal for all Democrats,and that WILL be our undoing. The Soviets had unions and it was required for workers, under pain of shunning. I will stop working before I am forced to support an organization at odds with my individual beliefs.

[r9119111]

With the Republicans in control, it is every man for himself. What the consumer hasn't recognized yet is that they have a say in it also. Corporate advertising has made us all want more even if we don't need it. What you have isn't right and not enough, what you need is new, larger, bigger and better -- and we have all fallen for it. We live way beyond our means. Since our jobs are all being sent over-seas. We have been played for suckers.

The solution: Stop spending on unnecessary items.
economize in every way just like the corporations. Live within our means. Stop letting corporations suck the life blood right out of us. Demand more affordable homes.
Refuse to take out large mortgages. Don't accumulate high interest rates. Put savings in the bank. Refuse to elect people who will ignore the wishes of the people in favor of corporations. We do have a say in this. Demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share of taxes. I'm sure you can think of more -- so go ahead and do it.

[toddpw01]

Right now we have government by, of, and for the Rich -- with very few exceptions. This really got underway about 30 years ago when Commercial Free Speech enabled the bacterial explosion of lobbyists on K Street.

I think the analysis in the book about the FairTax proposal makes one very good point -- we have accumulated so many taxes now, that it is very hard to understand the true distortions they cause in our economy.

For example, you wouldn't need minimum wage so much if your Rent wasn't inflated by your Landlord's property taxes, or if your food bill wasn't inflated by Fuel Ethanol incentives inflating the price of corn and many other crops.

You wouldn't be so worried about a deflationary Depression (like the 1930's) if you didn't have a 30-year mortgage whose cost would remain after the prices of everything (including your salary) had dropped.

The national savings rate wouldn't be so *** low if the Federal Reserve wasn't forcing interest rates down in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the 1930's. Of course, once they fix that you still have to pay full income tax on the bank interest, which punishes the upper-middle class for not tithing to Wall Street by investing in stocks, bonds, or funds.

[brianbwb-2009]

to Mr. BobEBenson

Your ideas, while useful, have problems of their own, for example;

Living within our means; ever hear of the "employed homeless", those who work at minimum wage jobs that cannot afford the deposit for an apartment? Should a laid off but willing worker simply give up and die because they cannot find work?

Saving; when ones' paycheck just almost covers hostelry and food, what is there left to save?

Carpooling: would you add two or more hours to your drive time to pick up co-workers? Assuming your minimum-wage job lets you afford a car, but still living within your means

Planting Gardens; on what land? Who will tend it? how will the harvest be used? will a garden in the inner-city even produce anything edible?

Renting; no gardens, no return for your hard earned money, no closer to ownership of anything, just more hard earned money going to the already well off landowners, who, history shows, don't bother to maintain the rented property, which, over time, become tenements and slums.

Like I said your ideas do have some merit, but how do you address the inherent weaknesses of each?

[brianbwb-2009]

to lorinkundert

Your argument rests on pure unsubstantiated, often-repeated jingoism, since when are the migrant harvesters unproductive, or the minimum wage workers? Or the unemployed, who are not jobless because of laziness, but because unemployment is maintained by the federal reserve chairman as tool used to moderate inflation?

When is a mother unproductive, who stays at home to raise her kids, while the father, even though working overtime, makes barely enough to pay for it? Unproductive?

The truly unproductive are trolls such as yourself, who have no ideas to contribute to finding solutions, but rather try to escape responsibility by "blaming the victims" of economic corruption...

[sparks224]

"... when you steal from the productive to give handouts to the unproductive you destroy incentive for the productive individuals to continue to be productive."
Posted by lorinkundert

You mean like when you give away the money in the Treasury in the form of cost-plus no-bid contracts to corporate welfare recipients.

[lorinkundert]

"economic inequality" that is threatening to take down this country. That will not take down the country, Socializing everything will take this country down, when you steal from the productive to give handouts to the unproductive you destroy incentive for the productive individuals to continue to be productive.

[bill1fj]

You know I hear a lot of talk from Edwarda, and the other professional politicians, but no action.
We are in a mess in the middle east that seems to have no end in sight. We have 15 million illegal aliens here and all the politicians want to do is grant them amnesty, when over 75% of the legal citizens want them out. Education and health care access is getting worse, not better. Waste and "pork" in the government grows every year.
What you gonna do John Edwards, or any of you people running for office?

[ubrew12]

"Why don't people who want to live in a "European style democracy" move to Europe rather than forcing this on people who don't want to live in such a society?" Posted by davidlar2 at 06:37 PM : May 31, 2007

That giant sucking sound you hear is the sound of your dollars being deposited in Europe (dollar down by 35% against the euro in the last 5 years and YOU KNOW its going to get worse). Why should the rich move to europe? They'll just put their wealth there while America slips into decline. In Europe that wouldn't be allowed. But I guess that's socialism and we can't have that.

Regarding economic freedom, ask yourself if the stock market is an example of a free market, or one that is FORCED BY LAW to be open and fair to all investors. Your answer should tell you all you need to know about whether economic 'freedom' is really what you want.

[redwilma]

I hate the huge economic divide in the U.S.

I hate myself for staying on the dreary stressful treadmill so that I can have a house that is larger than I need or even want, buy the kids stuff they don't need (or even want), etc., etc., etc.

Changes must be made. From within and without.

[walt1944-2009]

Edwards was the only Democrat talking about the disappearing middle class in 2004, and the only one talking about it now. Everyone's priority is getting out of Iraq, before addressing anything else and restoring the middle class is at the bottom of the list.

There is only one answer to bringing back the middle class and that is bringing MEANINGFUL JOBS back to this country. Not jobs working part-time at Wal-Mart or Dunkin Donuts, but real manufacturing jobs. Look at India and China; their economies are booming because of manufacturing jobs and the growth of a strong middle class. But Bush and company won't have that here, as they are too busy making money from the "free trade" policy that Bush Senior started.

So get rid of "Free Trade", NAFTA, CAFTA, impose a stiff tarriff system, and levy penalties that can't be passed on to the consumer against companies farming out their manufacturing overseas. "Look for the union label" and the "Made in America" signs, or we will be wearing buckskin and hunting rabbit and possum for our supper with flintlocks.