Republicans, in this Presidential election, say they want to focus on the economy. They would prefer that you not focus on the state of the economy that was left to President Obama when he took office. In fact W handed over the problem even before the inauguration. I believe we can expect the economy to stall until November. Problem is; the same corporations that are now “people”; thanks to the Supreme Court, have the capacity to stall the economy without appearing to or shouldering the blame for it. They have pockets deep enough to withstand 6 months of “hardship”. This is particularly so, if their payoff is lifting all forms of regulations and allowing them to move jobs overseas and cut wages and benefits here at home. They will spend obscene amounts of their $$ blaming Obama and obscuring his considerable accomplishments.
Romney, and his Super Political Action Committees will tell you his business experience qualifies him to lead us out of this mess. What they won’t say is that for him and his super rich cronies THIS IS NOT A MESS. They are amassing a larger and larger percentage of this country’s assets. Cash that used to be held in middle and lower class homes and swelled the aisles of Walmart, Target and SuperValu stores with shoppers is now fueling the political campaigns of Tea Party candidates. Today, even “moderate” Republicans are forced to toe the Tea Party line. Ronald Reagan couldn’t get his campaign funded in today’s Republican political climate.
Back in the day; when I was a young man, poor white folk, even those with three teeth, would bolster their self image by feeling superior to “Negroes”. Too many white folk, these days, are having a tough time feeling superior to the first family. They are fertile ground for the lies that the Super PACS will be selling over the next 5 months. Yesterday, a man in a battered pickup truck yelled “Obama sucks” as he passed my car. My bumper sticker seems to have infuriated him. Quite possibly, it was the blackness President Obama and I share that set him off. Believe it, Obama’s election did not usher in the post racial era in America. Quite the contrary, it ripped a scab off an old wound.
What you can expect to get from Romney, if he is elected, is the same thing folks got at the companies that Bain Capital took over. Raids of their pension fund, attacks on benefits and wages, winking at safety regulations will be translated into the dismantling of the social safety net that unions and progressive legislators have constructed over the last half century or so. Social Security and Medicare will be privatized without benefit of regulations on the administrators.
It is not overdramatic to say that “Mainstreet” is in a battle for its life.
If it loses this battle, expect it to move to Manila and Hunan province.
