It's About Time for America!

Following are a series of links and objectives that walk the reader through our time relief proposals. We believe time relief, styled as the "Time for America Worker Rights" is a mounting issue ready to take a national stage. If you doubt this, ask yourself a few simple questions: Do you feel like you had enough time today to get the things done you needed to? Do you feel like no matter what you never have enough time to give to your kids, your parents, and your community? Do you feel like someone else is managing more and more of your day? Now remember, most everyone feels exactly the same way.

Time for America Worker Rights Bill - A Six Part Program.
I. Home-based Worker Program.
II. Maternity & Pregnancy Discrimination Reform.
III. Health Care Credits for Business.
IV. Tax Incentives for Technology Investment.
V. National Religious Observance Days.
VI. National Emergency Day.
Other links and objectives below.
Quick Economic Rationale for Time Relief.
National Commercial Rollout, "It's About Time!"
Anticipated Attacks & Responses.

4 major economic objectives of time relief:

(1) Utilize a minimum of 500 million currently unused man-hours per year.

(2) Increase demand for services.

(3) Decrease travel demand during major metropolitan rush hours.

(4) Increase corporate and government investment in productivity enhancing technologies.

5 major political objectives of time relief:

(1) Increase low-income turnout in federal elections.

(2) Reverse current interest aligning trend by wedging middle management and professional class of workers away from equity owners.

(3) Assist if not achieve effective re-branding of Dem party as the party fighting for working families.

(4) Assist in re-branding GOP as radical Christian party. Wedge moderate Christians away from GOP. Drive a permanent wedge between diverse faiths and GOP.

(5) Increase gender gap and peel away GOP support from white males making over $75K/year.

Carbon Tax for SS Accts

Me like this idea. Me think it good. Only thing is, we'd like it a lot better if it were phased in, starting first with the carbon sources and moving out towards carbon users. This would allow for a smooth transition of higher fuel prices and enhance the desired ancillary effect (decreased oil dependency). Also, if you could fix the tax to oil prices, should a sudden drop in oil supply appear, the tax could fall in sympathy and alleviate artificial price fluctuations based on reserves (witness our hurricane season this year). Other than those two modifications, its an excellent idea and the Dems should start getting on board and stop worrying about who the next DNC chair is gonna be. Nice work Moose. Nice to have friends looking out for us!

Exhibit A of Whats Wrong with the Hard Left.

We've thought long and hard about posting this. And Lucas Doolin has inspired us with his recent post to go ahead and let the criticism begin. We won't go anywhere fast if we don't allow room for critique, no matter how biting that critique may be. So in the spirit of self-criticism and open inquiry, we proceed...

From our friend, we have the following, disturbing episode, which sheds some light on the hard left. A diary was posted by Jerome Armstrong, founder and editor of his site, MyDD.com, on Sunday, 11/14 at 3:19pm (est). You can link to to the diary by clicking here. Mr. Armstrong was posting a question in response to a post from another blog saying the US is violating the Geneva Conventions in Iraq. He expressed concern that this was becoming commonplace under the argument of "whatever it takes." 2 hours later, a regular blogger on MyDD responds with this comment to Mr. Armstrong's post.

The news is so consistently grim (3.00 / 3)

That one starts to try to protect oneself from it. One hears, reads, registers, notes it away, but holds back a response, because how can you respond to this unbelievable thoughtless violence. And we are those who knew from before March 2003 that this was a criminal invasion. ...

The only reassuring thought I have is not a happy one, and it is that the level of casualties which the stormtroopers of the United States have received --- at least 40, and possibly many more than than killed, and several hundred maimed -- will slow down the juggernaut. It is horrendous that these young men and women have been psyched up into Nazi brutes, and are now paying the price for those criminals in Washington. And the poor Iraqi people whose blood is spilling for lies.

Now, our good friend retorted to this comment, and the general tenor of the other comments , to the effect of: "shit, my cousin lost his leg over there and now you all are calling him a Nazi?" Indeed, we've all lost something over there. But we'll lose more if we let this sort of sentiment stand for our party.

Its unbecoming of the Party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy to speak like that while our men and women are facing steel teeth. I'm not saying you must agree with Pres. Bush, I'm saying you must always put yourself in the place of military families. We should help them with our words, not ignore them with our rhetoric. They are listening.

We should also pause and reflect on this sad fact. This comment, comparing our soldiers to Nazis, and encouraging the further death of boys and girls in order to "slow down the juggernaut", was "rated up" three times by readers at MyDD. Surely some of them were conservative "trolls" up to no good and indeed two of the readers rating it up we don't know. But the third? You guessed it.... founder and editor of MyDD, Mr. Jerome Armstrong.

I guess he thought the comparison of our soldiers to Nazis was "Super"! Come on Democrats... we can do better.

Why are They So Much Better?

Do they just love their people more? Someone should ask the White House why it is that the Brits and the Clinton Administration were able to foil attempt after attempt but the Bushies just rolled right over on day one and got us our asses smacked.

If It Sounds Good in Baghdad...

Front Page, today’s FT, big picture of Bush and Pooty-Poot. Each are wearing something over their shirts which looks like a blanket Putin's grandma made and now is used by his cat to sleep on. Sad. But the story is sadder. Paris, Moscow et al have forgiven approximately $30B of Iraqi debt. Now I know what you’re saying, $30B today ain’t nearly as much as $30B a year ago, but it is still a lot. Hey Georgie? Wanna spread the wealth a little? Our consumer debt relief program would be of a smaller scope, and it might help this war-torn nation increase its savings a little? Ithink it’ll play great in Dixie.

Just do it

Sign the petition. And if you need another reason, read this. Atrios has more. And remember, George W. Bush would rather pass a tax cut for the rich than help girls like her get their health care.

No More Kick in the Donkey

Time used to be if someone said Hitler was a great guy, the Nazis had a great idea, and the Holocaust didn't happen, that person would be branded, quite rightly, an anti-semite.

If another person said gays were getting AIDs because they deserved it, hispanics shouldn't be allowed to live in the US, and the Chinese just want to take over the world because they don't understand democracy, that person would be branded, quite rightly, a hate-filled xenophobe.

And if a person was on record as saying that they wanted "segregation forever", that person would be branded, quite rightly, a racist.

I guess if you combine all three of those into one person, they should be called: MSNBC Political Commentator? Yep, that's right, Pat Buchanan. In case you forgot about the hatred this windbag spews, you can find some of his Klan inspired rhetoric here, here and a good run-rundown on him here by Slate.

My point in bringing this up is simple. Why is this guy still on TV? Why is he talking to me after every Presidential Debate? And why, when he says, "I think George W. Bush did a great job" aren't Democrats turning around and saying: "Well of course you do, you anti-semitic, xenophobic racist. He is, afterall, YOUR GUY!" ???

Why aren't Democrats raising a stink everytime a big news outlet lets this guy, and others just like him, have a forum? Tolerance of diverse political views is one thing, but a Democrat isn't allowed to tolerate hate. Its a "value" of the Democratic party, that its always better to bring people together. And people who spew hate will never make room for that value. So, why don't Democrats protest and boycott and send letters and emails telling MSNBC to take this shell of a human being off the air? I trust the GOP would never let similarly held views on the left get an ounce of airtime. Are Democrats just too tired?

You wonder why people say the Dems have no values, they can't even hit a softball like this. Pathetic!

Dick Morris Counsels

W on, of all things, moderation. Dick, not that tired ol' tune?

I agree with Sharpie

On tomorrow morning's crude report... a truly big deal indeed. But I got another 800 lb gorilla to watch over the next month or so. Fannie Mae. Yesterday's missed filing, and the potential $9B derivative loss all give me visions of Adelphia dancing in my head. (btw, I hear we should be expecting good news soon on that front, eh, Mr. Sharpie?) Good old Fannie Mae. Keep an eye on them. I think I'm starting to hear the ever faint sound of some type of bubble somewhere, somehow, beginning to pop...

Editor's Note

Tim Russo appeared today as a guest blogger to Amendment Nine. Many of our readers wanted to know more about him, why he's guest blogging at Amendment Nine, and other such stuff. We saw his work at MyDD and liked it. So we asked him if he'd like to post here. He agreed to post his latest section of a multi-part series on what he calls: "the Unrepentant Left". We hope he'll agree to post more, and we thank those readers who left comments today (we'll be upgrading to haloscan shortly to accomodate comments more readily). Tim also has his own blog, Ohio Countdown, which can be accessed on our recommended links list. Thanks Tim for your post, and we look forward to seeing more of you!

Gosh Darn It!

So diplomacy and the international community work after-all. Iran has agreed, through diplomacy and strong-arming by, dare say it, "old europe", to suspend its nuke program. You know what W is thinking now right? "Better get Unka Dick on the phone. This program suspension stuff has got to stop!"

Mea Culpa & Apologia

My predictions were off, way off. I'm sorry. I was suckered in by the polls just like everyone else. I got NM, CO and IA going to Bush right, but I got just about everything else wrong. Of course, it wouldn't be right to just say, I got it wrong. I also need to offer some sort of apology on my behalf.

Here it is:

The poll numbers weren't what threw me off. What threw me off were the stories, now mostly the stuff of urban legends, of massive registration efforts and high predicted turnout. I had heard from insiders in these groups say to me that 10M new registrations were not improbable. I heard a lot about unprecedented turnout expectations, so much that a 120M total vote was conceded; Charlie Cook even suggested 130M! There is no way we are going to lose if 60% of Voting Aged Pop. votes. You hear? No way at all. But only 117M folks voted. I knew the closer we were to 115M the more likely it was we'd lose. 117M is right in the middle, and we just barely lost. I like Donna Brazile a lot, but she needs to be held accountable here, there weren't the numbers that we needed to win. PA was a success, but that was pretty much it. Everywhere else was a valiant turnout fight, but still a loss. I think sometimes Ms. Brazile fails to appreciate the importance of message in turnout. Organization matters, but without a message that spreads like, quicksilver through the camps, the troops won't show up to fight. If you're in charge of GOTV, you gotta demand fire from the pulpit.

James Carville

Just saw a brief part of his appearance on Meet the Press with his lady-love at his side. The esteemed James Carville says its time to re-examine where the Democratic party is headed. Rethink the party's "narrative". I agree. And since you volunteered, Mr. Carville, let's begin by examining you. Why wasn't John Kerry allowed to continue running to the right of Pres. Bush after the first debate on foreign policy (a debate where Sen. Kerry demolished Pres. Bush)? Josh Marshall has more on the need for purging, but I can't help but to lay this defeat on the backs of Kerry's helpers. Sen. Kerry did what he had to do. He beat George Bush, soundly, on George Bush's turf: the war on terrorism and the Iraq War. But Carville and others let the President back into his corner, let him regroup, and he came out swinging. Moreover, the Democratic "ground game" was pathetic. We needed 120M voters, and we didn't get them. In fact, we were 3M short. Hmm. 3M short. What we'd lose by? Carville, I know you weren't "responsible" for the ground game, but your failure to let the Senator be the Senator was a large reason why we lost. Next time around, stick to polling.

Burn Hollywood Burn I Smell a Riot

Ain't no way to deny it. Was that from fear of a black planet or one of their later albums? Anyway, J. Marshall has a pretty disturbing letter from Pres. of Bob Jones U to Pres. of USA. Josh calls him a "radical cleric". That's cute, but pretty ineffective. In keeping with the theme posted by Schenker, I'd like to call him: a "Religious Biggot"... as members of the BJP are now called.

Oh yeah, and in case I forgot, Happy Diwali Everyone!

Blue state / Red state

Man, I spoke with some Dem activist types coming back from the "field" today and they are absolutely hysterical! The party of pragmatism is now the party of: "those damn red states!" boogey-mania. What is going on? Do you all really believe there is such a thing as a "blue state"? If you do, Karl Rove pretty much has you brainwashed. Drive across the country once or twice and see how similar everything is. In red states and blue states the unwashed all shop at Kmart, the yuppies shop at Target, and everyone shops at Wal-Mart cause their prices are so damn low. In both red and blue, main streets in small towns are pretty much boarded unless a Starbucks has opened up, in which case there are too many coffee houses to shake a stick at. Gas stations in red states look just like gas stations in blue states. People who should know better drive big SUVs in both redand blue. Kids like to play ball instead of do their homework in both blue and red. Medical bills pile up in both red states as well as blue states. Traffic sucks in both blue and in red. And most importantly, everyone's shit stinks in red and blue. Ain't none of us any better or worse cause of where we live. This is America afterall. Gay rights didn't win or lose this campaign, guns didn't neither. Nope, not even terrorism. People won this election, and people lost it. Not red and blue, but American people. There just isn't that much difference between each of us, merely shades of... well... gray!

Debt Relief - Part I, Plank One

This is a high-level overview of the first of three planks of Debt Relief. Sharpshanks contributed to this particular plank and Mitya K is currently working on planks two and three. We believe these policies are necessary, and at the current time, they make good political sense. If you want to flood the polls with your voters, you'll be for debt relief in the coming elections.

Debt Relief; (Saving America's Middle Class)

Plank One: Retail Debt Relief
Plank Two: School / Home / Medical Debt Relief [coming soon]
Plank Three: Small Business Debt Relief [coming soon]

Retail debt means credit card, store card, etc., debt of household consumers above the age of 18. Total debt estimated at current time is: $672B (not including business credit cards or no-interest cards). Retail debt has the highest default rate for consumers and is therefore the highest interest debt burdening America's great consumer class. There are two ways to go about restructuring this debt, one gentle, the other heavy-handed. The policy goals of retail debt relief are: a) increasing solvency (and eventually savings) of America's households and b) aiding state governments strapped for revenue to fund higher education.

The gentle approach uses tax incentives and banking regulations to induce banks to offer lower interest rates. Over time, as consumers become aware of the lower rate offerings, a great chunk of this debt will be transferred to lower interest accounts, freeing up vast amounts of capital and increasing demand. The incentives for credit card companies will be additional tax credits (cents on the dollar) for every dollar saved through lower rate transfers as well as less restrictive regulations for participating banks.

We would like a two-point concession targeting 1/10th of outstanding bank credit card debt (or approximately $67B) to be achieved in two years. This restructuring would free up approximately $3B in annual interest payments made by consumers. It would also free up about a point of available credit to American consumers, or approximately $10B. Obviously the impact to the economy would be enormous. A significant infusion of sales tax receipts to our state and local governments would be another benefit. Also, by of using the soft approach, banks will compete for the restructured or transferred business merely through the use of tax and regulation incentives. Equally obvious is that banks will oppose this, which is why the federal government must make the pot sufficiently sweet. If it isn't enticing, they won't bite. After assessing the two-year impact, a more aggressive restructuring could commence if there is sufficient evidence it will work. Again though, if the deal isn't sweet, they won't take it.

The heavy-handed approach could be used at any time but we prefer it to be used only if the gentle approach doesn't achieve the desired two-year results. The heavy-handed approach raises taxes on all banking institutions that do not offer credit rebates to their clients. For every dollar of debt, clients will be offered $0.18 of rebate from participating banks, up to a maximum of around $2,500 (or the present average retail debt / person plus 8.5%). Note: for those thinking this is quite high, remember the feds gave $400 back to everyone w/dependents for the Bush tax cut, this is merely $450 for every card-holder.

The tax increase under the heavy-handed approach will not be prohibitive, but it will account for the loss in free-floating capital with an increase in treasury receipts (perhaps for every dollar lost, $0.10 in receipts). Any banking institution showing signs of distress from participation in rebate plan will be allowed a one-time write off and restrictions on the mergers of distressed banks will be removed. This isn't a pretty picture. Some banks will fail. But with hardwork, only a few of the already high risk banks will be exposed and the benefits to the longterm health of the economy will more than make up for it.

The above is Plank One of the Debt Relief Proposal. The other two planks will be unveiled within the coming days. Please discuss...

Global Test

CNN says: Allawi tells US troops to attack Falluja.

Wedge Issues

At the risk of oversimplification... wasn't it Lyndon Johnson who said all you need to do to win an election these days is run down to the courthouse and scream negro, negro, negro (though, he sounded like he was saying: "nigrah, nigrah, nigrah")? I guess now what you do is run down to the courthouse and scream: "faggot, faggot, faggot"

This federalist is a little appalled at the state of the union. Not sad, just a little disgusted. Along with helping out with the big ideas for this site, I'm also gonna show progressives a few ways to fight fire with fire. More to come soon...

This too shall pass

So we need to make sure we have ideas at our disposal and the tools necessary to take advantage when this passes. The central idea to any reform must be constitutional enfranchisement. We need it, it is required to eliminate election day hijinks and hijacks for that matter. See the post below for more. Also, we will be unveiling a new idea at least once a week for the remainder of the year. Please check back early and often.

Preview of Big Ideas

We had some more contributors scheduled to join today. It seems the election has upset their timetables. In the meantime, here is a preview of some of the ideas we will be unfolding...

(1) Debt Relief
There is a responsible and irresponsible way to do this. Both will be discussed. Our proposals will include corporate as well as consumer debt relief, and will use a series of tax and regulatory incentives.

(2) Time Relief
Essentially, as our society ages, work will be performed by fewer and fewer people. Some regulation (or as we prefer, incentives) will be necessary to avoid the temptation of slipping into a split-level economy.

(3) Tort Reform
This is exactly what it sounds like. You might be surprised though because its nothing like you've ever heard before. Our policies will have less to do with government and more to do with the markets.

(4) Tax Reform
The big daddy of the whole thing.

(5) Federalism Concerns
Numerous proposals will be explored including: representation levels, federal body structure, policies behind national voting, as well as others.

(6) Religion
The inability to clothe economically efficient arguments with moral righteousness has led to a widespread distrust of the greater scientific world. A schism between religion and science will only work mischief. We will examine ways to buttress scientific and economic analysis with moral force and persuasion.

The that for the sake of which.

Despite the initial posts from this site, Amendment Nine exists because several people would like to put their various ideas out for a new progressive agenda. Here is idea one:

A federal right to vote; Amendment 26 redux.
There isn't one now. Bush v. Gore made that painfully clear. There is only a right to equal protection. This is problematic and yields the hodge-podge regulations amongst are states. Further, with no federal right to vote, states are able to disenfranchise certain groups of voters (today, typically black and hispanic voters, earlier in history, typically debtor voters) so long as they avoid obvious racial classifications. A universal federal right to vote (all adult American citizens) puts pressure on the states and Congress to treat the ballot professionally. This increases confidence in the political process. It also makes attempts to disenfranchise minority factions extremely difficult (here minority is used generically, not exclusive to race). Moreover, an increase in minority participation (again, generic) makes the likelihood of an extreme or radical government closer to zero. Ancillary benefits include reexamination of the Electoral College, reassessment of representation between big and small states, a revisit of campaign finance policy, significantly less volatility in presidential elections. This is just the kernel of the idea, but it is the central idea for any progressive platform. Both parties would ultimately benefit from such a move, though each would experience inevitable growing pains as the sphere of political influence grows. A federal right to vote is necessary for the continued success of the American experiment.

In order to be as effective as possible, this right should be added to the Constitution. Altering the poorly drafted Amend 26^th would be one interesting way to achieve this goal. Less effective, but equally interesting, would be challenger litigation suing for a violation of a federal, constitutional right using Amend 9, Amend 10 and Amend 26 to argue for a constitutionally implicit federal right to vote (novel). Note: coincidentally, this would have the effect of overturning Bush v. Gore (which with its judicially created “our holding applies to this case only” caveat, wouldn’t really matter that much anyway). Please discuss…

Oil - Too little too late?

I hinted earlier that oil's sudden price drop was odd. Given the correlation between Bush's approval rating and the price of gas, it was less odd but more alarming; perhaps an October surprise? Today Nymex shows oil testing the $50 mark and likely to close under it. The economic analysis I've seen says this is unjustified. Why is the market not worried about the decrease in heating oil as winter approaches? Not sure. According to this article, a "change of psychology" is to blame. Hmmm. Last time we had a change of psychology, I think it was when everyone realized that dotcoms needed to make money, not just issue stock certifactes... this could be the inverse. I continue to get panicky emails from traders and analysts alike. Something is amiss. Look for a much different crude oil supply report in the future. I still don't think this will change the election at all though. Early voting, as I said in the post below, has essentially given the Kerry campaign a touchdown before the game even starts. Gas prices last week were pretty horrible... least, around here they were!

But who scored the touchdown?

Imagine you're about to play in your first superbowl. You dominated your conference during the regular season, as did your opponent. And both teams breezed through the playoffs. All the sportscasters say you're evenly matched with the other team, and virtually everyone has a final score prediction within a field goal. You know this means the game will be hard fought, and won on the field, not the booth. Yet, just before the game starts, the officials decide to award your opponent a touchdown and extra-point, before the first kick-off. You'd pretty much feel like the game is over right? Well, that's why I say this game is over. Josh has a rundown on the pre-kickoff touchdown going Kerry's way. Long as the Dems don't go around and fumble the football near their own goal line (this would be equivalent to losing to NJ), they are definitely going to win. Ruy's roundup gives you some more color.