Election Economics and Those Never Ending Debates

And yes, those two are joined at the hip. Whenever we enter an election year, partisanship overrules common sense; which is probably the main reason why so many of us have become expats, and why so many of you are still struggling with the direction the nation has taken while looking for an escape to a better situation.It becomes a free for all for anyone who can get a reporter and his notepad to pay attention for a fleeting moment. Many of the most ridiculous utterance of course come from those running for election, or better yet, re-election. Headlines sprout like mushrooms after a rain in a cow pasture, and just like those mushrooms, they wilt and disappear after a couple of days, and only fake news shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart are there to call out the various liars about what they did and did not say.Now comes the news that the sky is falling (again) because 79 “economists” surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a  3% increase in the U.S. GDP, but it turns out that it grew at a measly 2.8% according to figures released late Friday by the commerce department. In familiar Reagan/Bush tradition (remember the decreasing rate of increase?) bad news is always released on Friday afternoon, after the press corps has left D.C. so as to blunt the dissemination of the truth. Laughably, the Federal Reserve spokesman stated that they were concerned about the economy’s lack of recovery, two years after the recession ended! Did any of my readers notice the end of the recession? Yes, there was a decreasing rate of increase in new unemployment figures, and the accrued unemployed figures have been manipulated downward to below 9%, but that is due to the fact that after the first of the year, hundreds of thousands are not on the labor department rolls anymore. At the economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, Larry Summers, whose questionable government service goes back to the period of 1982-1983 when he was one of the trickle down advocate advisor to Ronald Reagan, boldly stated that U.S. recovery is well established. However... “Is escape velocity at a sufficient rate to get us back to full employment in a reasonable interval yet established? I think one would have to say the answer to that is ‘No.’” Ever since the first televised debate was held between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960, things have gotten completely out of hand. We are a little over nine months away from the election, and already the Republican candidates have subjected themselves to sixteen debates, most of them covering the same ground, just with a finer and finer rake, trying to dig dirt up on their opponents. Several of the early candidates had no chance in hell, but it sure made for good publicity. Everyone now knows who Herman Cain is, that he has a motivational book he would like to sell you, as well as what a lying philanderer he is, having had a fourteen-year affair and never mind the sexual harassment accusations that were settled with confidentiality payoffs. His wife of course is standing by him: “I know my husband, and he would never do such a thing.” Wake up call, Mrs. Cain; he was and he did and he probably still is!Then there is this season’s equivalent of Sarah Palin, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman who rails against socialism and public handouts while her family farm benefited to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies. And she did all that running for president while being absent from the duties her constituents voted her into office for, to represent them in Congress, the one job she continues to fail miserably at. Bob Dole said it best last week when he urged all the under-qualified candidates to stop it already with their circular firing squad, because they were handing Obama a second term on a silver platter. The naked truth is that the United States of America is still a very bigoted nation. Many people hate the current president for being a Black man, while others believe the accusations that he is a socialist, born in Kenya, who worked for Business International Corporation and is therefore a CIA front (where was the inherent distrust over President George H.W. Bush having actually been the CIA Director and Ambassador to China?), he has a forged birth certificate, and by golly, he couldn’t possibly be so smart as to have gotten into Harvard without some kind of special assistance or had meteoric success on his own merits. Oh, and did I forget to mention what people think of the First Lady?Now many U.S. citizens are contemplating casting their vote for one of the slimiest politicians in recent history, Newt Gingrich, just so they will not have to vote for a Mormon cultist. Ron Paul has great ideas in some areas and has a great fan base among the young and less politically savvy, but he unfortunately is unelectable. The Republican machine will see to that. Of all the candidates running, he is definitely the most honest, and that is precisely why he is unelectable. The citizenry of the Corporate States of America has been lied to, deceived and fed bullshit for so long, that they think it’s what’s for dinner tonight and every night.I encourage you to write to me, jamie@expatdailynews.com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel related business. My advice is based on my own experiences, and is free of charge. (Donations accepted). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.To read more of Jamie’s opinion articles, see Voices From Exile. You can also contact Jamie at jamie.douglas [at] yahoo.com

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