If you’re to believe the Republican Party this election season (believe anything the political parties say at your own peril!), you’d think President Barack Obama has been bad for business, economic growth, and job creation. It’s true that we have not yet fully recovered from the effects of the greatest financial crisis in nearly a hundred years. Obviously, any reasonable person would expect it to take more than four years to dig our way out of such a deep hole.
Nevertheless, what is obvious and reasonable to you and me is a political opportunity for the Republicans. So, inevitably, they have seized upon our current economic state to justify their allegations against Obama. Of course, when it comes to politics, the most important thing, and often the most elusive, is the truth, as revealed by the facts. So... let’s look at the facts.
Let’s start by looking at it from the perspective of investors and business people. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by more than half since Obama took office. If you had invested in an S&P 500 Index Fund the week Obama was sworn in, your investment would be up nearly 70% as of today. And the Nasdaq has almost doubled in the time Obama has been president! So much for the claims that Obama has created an unfavorable business environment! I’ll take the investment returns of the past four years over the returns of just about any other four-year period!
Now let’s look at jobs. The Republican presidential candidate has reminded voters over and over how President Obama promised unemployment would be down to 5.3% by the end of his first term. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate is around 7.8%. However, I remember when the president stood before Congress and proposed the American Jobs Act. Did the Republican-controlled Congress pass this bill? No! Of course, Obama is not going to pass the buck, but there really wasn’t much he could do if the Republicans were holding just about everything he proposed hostage in the hopes of putting one of their own in the Oval Office on January 20, 2013. Would the American Jobs Act have brought unemployment down to 5.3%? Who knows? I guess the Republicans thought potentially keeping millions of people out of work was a small price to pay for the sake of gaining political power.
Finally, let’s look at the overall approach of the Obama administration when it came to handling the Great Recession. That approach can be summed up in one word: stimulus. While economists can and will argue for years, if not decades, about how best to have handled this crisis, it’s been fairly evident that the stimulus approach adopted by the U.S. has helped us recover faster than the austerity measures taken by our European Union counterparts.
All in all, whether you’re an investor, a job seeker, or an economist, the past four years coming out of the worst financial crisis in almost a century have been much better than they could have been, especially considering how bad things really were. So, it appears that, despite how desperately the Republicans might want you to believe otherwise, President Barack Obama has actually been pretty good for business!
Remember to vote on November 6!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
A Halloween Song
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I grew up going to a Christian church and a Christian school that both condemned Halloween’s pagan roots (I wonder why, on the other hand, most Christians choose to conveniently ignore the Christmas holiday’s pagan roots; what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, after all). To me, though, Halloween was mostly just about the costumes and the candy, as I’m sure it still is for most American kids. It was also about the change in the weather, especially in Miami. Halloween is always a marker for the beginning of the time when the oppressive heat and humidity gives way to significantly milder, more comfortable weather.
As far as Halloween music goes, there are some classics. “The Monster Mash” and John Carpenter’s “Halloween Theme” immediately come to mind. There are others. But the last October night’s holiday song list is not as extensive as its late December counterpart. So, how else can a songwriter like myself remedy the situation? Of course, write A Halloween Song! So, that’s what I did.
I wrote A Halloween Song way back in 1997, and I remember it coming together pretty smoothly, as most good songs should. The best songs are the ones that start with a simple idea. Then, they take you along for a ride. All the songwriter really does is document the ride itself, with all its twists and turns, so that others may enjoy it as well.
Ever since I wrote A Halloween Song, I’ve played it in public only once (at a hipster spot years ago where people were too cool to pay any attention to the performance). I remember performing it while wearing a mask I made myself with a built-in mini-bullhorn for a mouthpiece. I’ve also played it over the years for a number of kids in my family, and they always seem to get a kick out of it, especially when they get to the part where they can howl like a wolf along with the song.
So, this official worldwide release is both long overdue and right on time. As we get closer to the last October night of 2012, I present to you... A Halloween Song!
As far as Halloween music goes, there are some classics. “The Monster Mash” and John Carpenter’s “Halloween Theme” immediately come to mind. There are others. But the last October night’s holiday song list is not as extensive as its late December counterpart. So, how else can a songwriter like myself remedy the situation? Of course, write A Halloween Song! So, that’s what I did.
I wrote A Halloween Song way back in 1997, and I remember it coming together pretty smoothly, as most good songs should. The best songs are the ones that start with a simple idea. Then, they take you along for a ride. All the songwriter really does is document the ride itself, with all its twists and turns, so that others may enjoy it as well.
Ever since I wrote A Halloween Song, I’ve played it in public only once (at a hipster spot years ago where people were too cool to pay any attention to the performance). I remember performing it while wearing a mask I made myself with a built-in mini-bullhorn for a mouthpiece. I’ve also played it over the years for a number of kids in my family, and they always seem to get a kick out of it, especially when they get to the part where they can howl like a wolf along with the song.
So, this official worldwide release is both long overdue and right on time. As we get closer to the last October night of 2012, I present to you... A Halloween Song!
A Halloween Song
(Words & Music by Ramon Veunes)
© 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved.
(Words & Music by Ramon Veunes)
© 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved.
A Direction for our Democracy
With the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election just days away, we are at a crossroads that will determine our nation’s ultimate fate. While our president will figure somewhat in the direction we take, our current debt crisis requires making very difficult decisions that frankly, I’m not sure either one of the two major candidates is ready, willing, or able to make.
The same goes for our elected members of Congress. The problem is, our representative system of democracy is one where long-term achievements are sacrificed in favor of short-term goals. Decisions are made based on how they will impact the next election rather than the next generation, and as a result we accelerate ever quicker towards our national day of reckoning.
This is not some nutty Doomsday scenario. The fact is, if our government continues to borrow money in such vast amounts, eventually that debt will have to be paid, one way or another. In order to help mitigate the problem, bold steps must be taken. A combination of significantly higher taxes and severe spending cuts is probably the only way we will ever dig our way out of this hole. But neither of the two major candidates will suggest that overtly because it would be political suicide. And Congress will not pass the necessary legislation for very much the same reason.
So, what to do? Simply put, in order to survive this crisis and help us to better confront future challenges, we must change our entire democratic system. We need to abandon our representative democracy and form a direct democracy. We must take the legislative power away from Congress and put it directly in the hands of the people.
Sure, there will still be a place for Congress. They would be responsible for crafting the legislation that the public would then vote on. As a matter of fact, most of everything in our Constitution would remain fully intact. The only difference is that We The People would determine the direction our democracy takes, rather than a small group of individuals whose sole interest is perpetuating and expanding their own power at our expense.
How would it work? Well, in order to keep the extreme wings of ideology from controlling the political agenda, much like they do now with our two-party system, Election Day would be a national holiday. Most everyone would take the day off (early voting or absentee exceptions could be made for emergency personnel and others who are not able to take off from work) to vote. Voting would be a duty and required of all citizens, much like paying taxes. This would ensure that the results of the laws we pass accurately reflect the true sentiments of the citizenry, since voter turnout would be nearly 100%.
Congress and the two major political parties will not easily give up their power. But that power they have ultimately belongs to us anyway. And since they have repeatedly failed in their responsibilities to the citizens of the United States, we must take that power back. That is the only way we will save our great nation: by establishing a direct democracy.
The same goes for our elected members of Congress. The problem is, our representative system of democracy is one where long-term achievements are sacrificed in favor of short-term goals. Decisions are made based on how they will impact the next election rather than the next generation, and as a result we accelerate ever quicker towards our national day of reckoning.
This is not some nutty Doomsday scenario. The fact is, if our government continues to borrow money in such vast amounts, eventually that debt will have to be paid, one way or another. In order to help mitigate the problem, bold steps must be taken. A combination of significantly higher taxes and severe spending cuts is probably the only way we will ever dig our way out of this hole. But neither of the two major candidates will suggest that overtly because it would be political suicide. And Congress will not pass the necessary legislation for very much the same reason.
So, what to do? Simply put, in order to survive this crisis and help us to better confront future challenges, we must change our entire democratic system. We need to abandon our representative democracy and form a direct democracy. We must take the legislative power away from Congress and put it directly in the hands of the people.
Sure, there will still be a place for Congress. They would be responsible for crafting the legislation that the public would then vote on. As a matter of fact, most of everything in our Constitution would remain fully intact. The only difference is that We The People would determine the direction our democracy takes, rather than a small group of individuals whose sole interest is perpetuating and expanding their own power at our expense.
How would it work? Well, in order to keep the extreme wings of ideology from controlling the political agenda, much like they do now with our two-party system, Election Day would be a national holiday. Most everyone would take the day off (early voting or absentee exceptions could be made for emergency personnel and others who are not able to take off from work) to vote. Voting would be a duty and required of all citizens, much like paying taxes. This would ensure that the results of the laws we pass accurately reflect the true sentiments of the citizenry, since voter turnout would be nearly 100%.
Congress and the two major political parties will not easily give up their power. But that power they have ultimately belongs to us anyway. And since they have repeatedly failed in their responsibilities to the citizens of the United States, we must take that power back. That is the only way we will save our great nation: by establishing a direct democracy.
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