Attention, Wal-Mart Voters: Lost Jobs and Military Funerals Haunt Bush in the Heartland

Village Voice ^ | December 3 - 9, 2003 | Rick Perlstein

[okie01]

"I spent five days in four Illinois counties where Bush was successful in 2000 to see whether support for him was peeling off..."

Friendly wager for the author...

I'll bet a six-pack of Shiner Bock, a bag of porkskins and a pint of salsa that Bush will carry all four of these counties again in 2004.

Want to double up? I'll bet that he wins them by an even larger margin.

What's the counter, Ron?

And, dead, you wanna piece of this action.

[GOPJ]

When I was a kid, my anarchist friends decided to vote for Goldwater because they thought it would bring on the revolution. I had a good laugh then. Would I have another if you told me why you voted Republican?

" Are you a democrat?"

I'm an anarchist, but vote Republican.

[GOPJ]

Then what?

[finnman69]

I smell a troll.

[GOPJ]

He's not a conservative. That's for sure.

[Perlstein]

Friends, it happens that I do believe the Democratic Party (or the Republican Party) could support policies that could simultaneously 1) strengthen the long-term viability of the American economy and American society; 2) increase wages; and 3) increase American competetiveness. Of course, these are complex issues, and I'm not going to try to summarize them in a few sentences. Instead, I will recommend a decent book--only decent, not great, because like many British authors he gets American political history dead wrong. But Will Hutton's A DECLARATIONOF INTERDEPENDENCE: WHY AMERICA SHOULD JOIN THE WORLD, especially chapters 1,2, 4 and 8 (for God's sake, conservatives, skip the stupid chapter 3) provides perhaps the most accessible and thoughtful discussion of what I'd like to see the Democratic Party aspire to if it had the balls to do what needs to be done.

I won't take the wager, but I will make a deal: anyone who reads these chapters can assign me an equivalent number of pages in a book of their choice, for mutual discussion. Rperlstein@villagevoice.com

[GOPJ]

Maybe...

[finnman69]

from Amazon
DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE: WHY AMERICA SHOULD JOIN THE WORLD

Great societies, this book holds, are marked by essential core values: the social contract that enhances its citizens' lives; an honest and enlightened economy; a vital public realm; and a recognition that the world is an interdependent place, one best governed under international law. With the triumph of conservatism in America, each of these values has withered. Rampant materialism, corporate corruption, the failure of government regulation, an unquestioning faith in American exceptionalism, and a conviction that Americans must go it alone are all in the saddle.

We are not going in the right direction. To turn us around—to secure health services and decent work for all Americans, to build faith in the economy, to close the gap between rich and poor, to restore, in short, the American dream—America needs to reclaim these values. It could not do better in that task than to renew its historic philosophical partnership with today's Europe, which has chosen a better compass.

Hmm

So "Rampant materialism, corporate corruption, the failure of government regulation" all happened under conservatism and somehow liberalism is the 'better' answer? ROFL. Who was President in the 90's when "Rampant materialism, corporate corruption, the failure of government regulation" all happened? The European model, with it's breathtaking unemployment, out of control social programs, and complete disinterest in taking any responsibility for solving the world's problems, does not seem to be the model for America even though the very liberal author of this book is blind to that fact.

[finnman69]

EU verus US unemployment rates.

The fall in unemployment in the European Union during the late 1990s was steeper than that experienced in the USA over the same period. However, it served mainly to narrow what appeared to have become a permanent gap in jobless rates between the two areas.

Unemployment in the EU as a whole has not fallen below 8% of the labour force since 1990. The latest data shows unemployment edging up to 8.6%, some 2.5% above that in the United States and over 3% higher than the UK.

Unemployment is a lagging indicator of the economic cycle – the slowdown in real GDP growth in the European Union over the last two years will continue to push unemployment higher.

The evidence is that the more deregulated labour market in the United States has reduced the time lag between changes in real output and employment for the USA. Notice from the above chart for example, how quickly the US unemployment rate started to pick up once the cyclical boom experienced in the US came to an abrupt end from the 2nd half of 2000 onwards.

[finnman69]

Factory revenues seen growing 5.8%

Institute for Supply Management also expects capital spending to rise 3.2%, with jobs still weak.
December 9, 2003: 10:12 AM EST

http://money.cnn.com/2003/12/09/news/economy/manufacturing.reut/index.htm

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturers are significantly more optimistic about the economic outlook for the year ahead, but still predict only minor jobs growth, an industry report showed Tuesday.

In its semiannual report -- released as Federal Reserve monetary policymakers meet in Washington -- the Institute for Supply Management said it expected factory revenues to grow 5.8 percent in 2004, up from an estimated 2.8 percent this year.

ISM said manufacturing capital spending was expected to rise 3.2 percent but manufacturing employment would only inch up by 0.3 percent next year.

Separately, the non-manufacturing sector of the economy, which accounts for the majority of economic activity, is also expected to strengthen in the coming year.

"Manufacturing purchasing and supply executives are optimistic about their organizations' prospects for the first half and predict additional growth during the second half of 2004," said Norbert Ore, chair of the ISM manufacturing survey committee.

Manufacturing seemingly has significant momentum at this point with near-record strength in new orders and production, the outlook report said.

[Cacique]

bttfl

[douglas1]

PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT GWB KNEW BEFORE NINE ELEVEN,and did nothing about,are your eyes brown.

[spodefly]

BTTT