In the recent senatorial debate, candidate Gabriel Gomez chided Rep. Ed Markey for not promoting more forceful action against the Syrian government.  Gomez said something to the effect that “all you have to do is find the right rebel group in Syria and back them.”  Since John McCain was recently in town to support Gomez, he might have been referring to McCain’s efforts to find the right rebels.

Here is an email that I just received from VoteVets.org.

Dear Steven –

It’s been two weeks since the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to give President Obama the authority to arm and train the Syrian rebels in their nation’s civil war.

Since then, the fighting has intensified along with Senator McCain’s insatiable appetite for intervention.

Ironically, the Senator’s relentless pursuit of more war crystalizes the case against our involvement better than anything else has so far.

By now you’ve probably heard the story about his secret trip to Syria to meet with rebel leaders and the picture he took with members of a known terrorist group during his short stay. His staff says he didn’t know who they were, and no one doubts that.

But that’s the point: if a U.S. Senator can unwittingly pose for pictures with terrorists in Syria, how can we guarantee the arms he supports sending won’t end up in the same place he did — with terrorists?

Will you use our “Contact Congress” tool to write a letter to your Senator telling them you oppose intervention in Syria at this time?

http://action.votevets.org/senate-intervention

No doubt, there’s an unquestionable humanitarian crisis unfolding in this conflict, but the truth is there are no good guys in this fight.

The government of Bashar al-Assad has the support of a number of groups who targeted and killed many Americans in Iraq. At the same time, many of the rebel fighters have also killed American and Iraqi troops, and they still seek to bring down Nouri al-Maliki’s government.

At some point we must learn that we will never, ever successfully maneuver the millennia-old fight between Sunni and Shia and the best move for our own security is to stay out. Write a letter to your Senators today.

http://action.votevets.org/senate-intervention

Thanks for taking action. We’ll keep you updated as things heat up on this issue.

All the best,

Jon Soltz
@jonsoltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org

As I would have said to Gabriel Gomez had I been there, ‘All you have to do’ is easy for you to say, but how are you going to do it? For somebody who thinks the government in Washington is incompetent, you put a lot of faith in them to pick the ‘right’ rebels

I favor Ed Markey’s approach to military intervention. On top of his requirements for using military intervention, I would include the caveat that you have to be pretty sure that the intervention will help our interests and not hurt them.

At this time in the economic cycle, we have a problem of high unemployment and low real economic growth.  The Republicans in Congress won’t allow us to use the tools that the government has to fix the problem we have  at this time  because they are worried about a problem that we do not have  at this time.

The tool that the Republicans won’t let us use is called fiscal stimulus.  Government fiscal stimulus means that government spends money to buy goods and services in order to replace the demand in the economy that individuals and individual corporations cannot  create.  This is different from the tool that the Federal Reserve has which is called monetary stimulus.  Monetary stimulus means that the Fed pumps liquidity (money) into the economy in the hope that individuals and individual corporations will spend the money to create the economic demand that is missing. What excess monetary stimulus produces at this time is a bubble in the stock market. This is not real economic growth, as much as I personally benefit from it.

At this time, monetary stimulus is not the most effective tool to use.  With high unemployment and lack of demand and the corporations swimming in excess cash, there are no demand stimulating investments for corporations to make.  People who fear unemployment and whose asset values (homes) have declined, are not in a position to spend enough money buying goods to lower unemployment.  The only sensible thing for individuals to do is to hunker down, save money, and cut personal debt.  If enough people do this at this time and there is no countervailing force from government, the economy will nose dive. Remember that the student and former student loan debt is a very strong component of the problem that Elizabeth Warren proposes to fix at this time.

There is a very important reason why I have emphasized the phrase at this time.  The Republicans accuse Democrats of always wanting to spend.  This is not the case as can clearly be seen with Bill Clinton’s massive deficit reductions at his time. The prescription to fix what ails the economy at another time will be different from the prescription to fix what ails us at this time.

Republican business people who want to get into government claim that they know how to create jobs to lower unemployment because of their business experience.  The trouble with this claim is that the tools that a business uses to create jobs in an individual corporation are nothing like the fiscal policy tool that the government has at its disposal.  Business people who do not recognize this difference pose an immediate threat to our economy at this time.  These people also ought to understand that the major goal of a corporation is quite different from the major goal of the federal government.  The major goal of a corporation, and rightly so, is to make a profit for its investors.  The major goal of the government is to see that we have a smoothly running society where just about everyone can live a reasonably comfortable life style.

If there is one thing to remember from this post is that in economic policy timing is everything.  Don’t be fooled by so-called experts who have only one prescription for all economic ailments at all times.

I just participated in a Web event where Elizabeth Warren talked about her Bank on Student Loans Fairness Act that she has introduced in Congress.  There were over 10,000 people participating in this event.

Elizabeth Warren promised that keeping the interest rate low on government Stafford Student Loans is just a first step in solving the crisis of student debt.  When we are talking about student debt, we are not just talking about 20-something-year-olds.  Many people are carrying student debt into their 50s and beyond.

Here are Senator Warren’s remarks when she introduced her bill to the Senate.

When I started my career in 1967, it was a policy of all companies to pay for the advanced degrees of their employees.  My Master of Science in Electrical Engineering was paid for  by Texas Instruments, RCA, and Digital Equipment Corporation.

In today’s world of high unemployment and international competition for jobs, companies have discovered that they don’t have to pay for their employees’ educations.  They can always find somebody who has already earned their advanced degree.  The corporations are saving huge amounts of money by not having to pay for this expense.

The same set of circumstances that has let the companies off the hook for this expense is causing governments to cut back on their support for higher education.  High unemployment stresses government budgets at all levels of government.

It is probably true that we never should have depended on corporations to shoulder the burden that government should have borne.  Now that there are no corporations willing to take on this burden, who should take up the slack?

Now the private citizens must individually bear the burden.  This is an untenable situation.  Bearing this burden puts people into a lifetime of debt.  They cannot buy houses while they owe the cost of a house for their education.  They cannot save for retirement.  They will not be able to help their children pay for college.  They cannot buy the goods and services that provide the demand stimulus to keep our economy out of depression.  They will not be able to support their parents when their parents, you and me, become too old to take care of themselves.

What about this big picture is too big for our citizens to comprehend?

You can sign a petition at BankOnStudents.org to let your Congress people know how upset you are about their failure to act for the best interests of the country.

Another place to keep track of this issue is StudentDebtCrisis.org.

We must raise our voices in support of Elizabeth Warren’s efforts because she cannot accomplish our goals by herself.

Kelley Wright at Investment Quality Trends kelley@iqtrends.com has written an interesting commentary in this issue of the newsletter.  Here are some quotes to give you a taste:

Another intent of QE was to increase employment. To that end the policy has not been as effective as unemployment has remained fairly elevated. It is curious when one considers the intellectual horsepower at the Federal Reserve, why serious studies by well-regarded academics and economists that provide empirical evidence that although monetary policy can improve general economic conditions, it cannot induce employers to hire additional labor, have largely been ignored. Apparently the primary reason employers hire additional labor is to fulfill consumer demand for their products/services. I can’t put my finger on it but I seem to remember that consumer demand is somehow tied to income, which, if I remember correctly, is somehow connected to wages.
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Due to massive deficit spending, record low interest rates and cutting costs to the bone, corporations are more lean and mean than almost any previous period and their balance sheets are absolutely pristine. Choosing not to make any large scale capital expenditures, corporations are generating so much cash it is sloshing around as in a bucket. The end result is that dividends, which are mother’s milk to us, have risen significantly, as have share repurchases.

I use the investing strategy laid out in this newsletter, but I have sent quite a few emails to Kelley Wright lambasting his comments about macro-economics.  Perhaps he has actually gotten something from my emails.

The point about QE and the employment situation is right on the mark except for his disparagement of the Fed.  The tools that “well-regarded academics and economists” say should be used to boost employment are not available for the Fed to use.  You cannot fault them for not using the tools that they do not legally have.  Fiscal stimulus is in the province of the Congress and the President.  The blame for not using the effective tools lies with the Congress and to a lesser extent with the President.

Kelley Wright may say “Apparently the primary reason employers hire additional labor is to fulfill consumer demand for their products/services.”  The way I put the lack of the unemployment level going down is usually elegantly stated as “What part of no freaking customers do you not understand?”  I’d like to have a chance to put this to one of our current Senatorial candidates, Gabriel Gomez running on the Republican ticket.

I’d also like to ask Gabriel Gomez if he thinks that giving tax breaks to  “corporations [that] are generating so much cash it is sloshing around as in a bucket” would induce them to hire more people?

Is the title of job creator appropriate for  corporations that gives jobs to 100 people so that those people can manipulate markets and raid other companies to destroy millions of jobs?  Perhaps, as a business man, Gabriel Gomez does actually know what it takes to create jobs, but I bet he didn’t make his fortune putting those ideas into practice.  What he tells us he would do in Congress doesn’t give you a lot of confidence that he actually does know.

PC Magazine has the article Chinese Cyber Espionage: Don’t Believe the Hype.  The article touched on some scary headlines about cyber espionage reputed to be coming from the Chinese government.

These headlines are scary, and they are certainly indicative of how nations will interact in the digital age: countries will hack one another, secrets will be stolen (and likely sold). Retired Lieutenant General Harry Raduege said as much at the RSA conference this year, when he described a kind of cyber “warm war” with a few major hacks hitting the front page of newspapers from time to time. The scariest thing from all these reports is that the U.S. seems to still be coming to terms with that.

But it’s also important to take this news with some big grains of salt. The Department of Defense is facing the possibility of huge cuts while the nation wrings its hands about the deficit. In an age of sequestration, it’s a good idea to have a reason to spend billions and trillions on new and better defense programs. And with the war in Iraq over while operations in Afghanistan coming to a close, the search is on not just for future threats but also the justification for future spending.

I don’t claim  that this article is the definitive word on the subject.  Even this article says that our government is not treating the threat seriously enough.  What we have to guard against is being stampeded into taking irrational actions either on poorly thought out Defense Department/CIA/NSA spending or on punitive actions we take against countries like China on scant evidence put forth by people and groups with an ulterior motive.

Jacquelyn Wells has started a new blog, The Sturbridge Progressive Front.  I’ll quote the reason given for starting the blog.

Hello Everyone! I am proud to be starting up a new blog to rival the Sturbridge Tea Party. We need to fight for the common sense values we as progressives believe in on every front and that includes the internet. For the most part I have only seen the Sturbridge Tea Party and their cronies posting their opinions of what is going on in town and I was really getting to the point of utter disgust reading their vitriol. So I decided that we needed to start showing the Tea Party that there is a strong opposition to what they believe in. And this blog will be here to voice what is often the majority opinion in our town. I hope you consider joining us and our cause.

If you are a Facebook aficionado, then you can see the blog reflected on Facebook.

We’ll see how this turns out.  It’s always exciting to be at the front.

Here is an email I received from my favorite Ed Markey campaign field organizer.

Happy Memorial Day! Hope everyone enjoyed the long, holiday weekend! Now it’s time to get to work! We have 29 days to elect Ed Markey to the US Senate. We need your help to get out the vote for a true progressive voice for Massachusetts families! Here are some events coming up in your area… 

 

* * * To RSVP, for any of these events, please call Seth at 774-230-8519 or email seth@edmarkey.org

 

Webster Canvass 

Wednesday, May 29th 5:30 PM 

Meet in Burger King parking lot

 

Southbridge Canvass 

Thursday, May 30th 5:30 PM 

Meet in RMV parking lot

Webster Canvass 

Saturday, June 1st 11AM

Meet in Burger King parking lot

 

Southbridge Canvass 

Sunday, June 2nd 1PM 

Meet in RMV parking lot

 

This is going to be a close election. We need you this week to help move Ed closer to victory! Please consider joining us for one of these events!

October 6, 2019

Look at the date of this post – May 27, 2013. It is obsolete for the purpose of the title. I keep it on the blog for historical reasons, only.

I may be able to get lawn signs from the Ed Markey campaign as early as Wednesday.

If you would like a sign and live in the Sturbridge area, let me know by using the online request form.  It is very short notice from the time I can get the signs to the election on June 25th.  I’ll try to deliver the signs as I did for the Warren campaign.  However, if some of you will be able to pick up the signs from my house, I’ll have a better chance of delivering the signs to the people who cannot pick them up.

Given Ed’s record in the House of Representatives, I think he could be just as strong a fighter for us as Elizabeth Warren has proven to be. The two of them in the Senate might make an unbeatable pair.

After all the work we put in to get Elizabeth Warren elected to the Senate, how could we possibly think of sending someone to the Senate who will work against her? That is just one reason why we must send Ed Markey to the senate instead of his opponent.

The campaign for U.S. Senator between Ed Markey and Gabriel Gomez seems to have devolved to the pond scum level.

From WBUR, we have Gomez Stands By Markey ‘Pond Scum’ Remarks.

You know, I’ve got four young kids, and they’ve got to sit there and they gotta see an ad with their dad, who served honorably — talk to anybody I served with, whether as a pilot or as a SEAL or anybody I’ve worked with — and for him to be as dirty and low, pond scum, to put me up against bin Laden, he’s gotta be called what he is.

I had never seen nor heard about the Markey ad until Gabriel Gomez started promoting it in his own ads.  I had never bothered to do any research into it, until I read about the pond scum remark today.

Here is the trail I followed to finally find the Markey ad.

Ex-SEALs slam Obama over leaks on Osama bin Laden

Dishonorable Disclosures

Remember this video when you think of the so-called scandal that Attorney General Holder is looking into reporter’s phone records to try to see who is making security leaks.

To my knowledge, neither the U.S. Government nor the Israeli Government has ever admitted to a connection with the STUXNET virus. What did the above video just do?

Meet Gabriel Gomez: Just Another Republican

Now we come to the Ed Markey ad.