Volunteer to Fight for the U.S. Economy

Things now are officially so bad in the Great Recession that those of us near the bottom of the economic food chain need to start doing something--anything!--to try to fuel a recovery from the bottom up.

President Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill--with almost no constructive help from the Republicans--are struggling to do what they can, within the painfully slow, inefficient and chaotic framework of U.S. politics.

Meanwhile, many among us are suffering and getting their butts kicked. We need to try to help them, today.

Can you start a business, no matter how small? Can you create a job, even part-time, temporary or something for a consultant to do? Can you do it today?

Will you do it today?

Can you buy something extra? (It almost doesn't matter what: a latte, a Lamborghini, a Lava soap bar, a lava lamp, a leg waxing, a loaf of bread.) Almost anything you buy can help save or create a job. Can you buy something today?

Will you do it today?

Can you use and pay for somebody's service? Get the gutters cleaned, get a bicycle repaired, get a haircut, get a pizza delivered--today?

Will you do it today?

Can you donate money or food to a food bank and clothes, unneeded tools and other useful items to Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other organizations and agencies in your community? Can you do it today?

Will you do it today?

And don't forget churches, whether you attend or not. Many churches now are struggling to keep unemployed members, parishioners and strangers afloat even as they try to keep their own doors open, too. Can you donate a few bucks to one or more of them today?

Will you do it today?

Anything and everything we can comfortably afford to do needs to be done...today. Now. Immediately.

Do it today.

Start pushing the economic recovery from the bottom up and keep pushing. Do it today.

Maybe those at the pinnacle of the economic food chain soon will learn how to stop playing "gotcha" games (we can only hope) and start helping push recovery dollars downward where they are now desperately needed.

And maybe we'll all meet in the middle soon and hope things never get out of control like this again.

But it all starts by doing something today.

-- Si Dunn

Small Business: Too Big to Fail?

America's small businesses should also be viewed as "too big to fail." Indeed, small business should be given much greater focus in efforts to revive the national economy.

Small businesses create most of the nation's jobs. With better and focused support, they could create more jobs quickly.

With the top of the economy now in tatters and ruins, the recovery basically will have to come from the bottom up. That includes small business and the millions who own or work for small enterprises. The vast majority of them make a lot less than $250,000.

"Trickle down" has been completely and utterly discredited.

It's time now to emphasize and build upon "trickle up."

-- Si Dunn

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Senator Tom Coburn Shows His Strength ... as a Job Killer

By Si Dunn

In the movies, the good guys almost always win.

But Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn proved recently that the bad guys can win, too, after he took a look at the proposed $246 million tax break for movie production companies.

Instead of investigating and understanding how the tax break could save and create jobs, he simply saw vicious pork and proposed an amendment to strip it out of the Senate's stimulus bill.

Unfortunately, a number of other prominent U.S. Senators, primarily Republican, also demonstrated their ignorance of the movie business and how its health is vital to the American economy.

The vote was 52 in favor of Coburn's amendment and 45 opposed. Only a simple majority was needed to pass the amendment.

Sen. Coburn and the others who opposed the tax break should now congratulate themselves on efficiently killing off thousands of movie production jobs, post-production jobs and jobs at film manufacturing companies and film suppliers.

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Get Mad as Hell at the Recession---and Don't Take It Anymore!

By Si Dunn

What are you waiting for? Godot? A government bailout? Manna from heaven?

Yes, the financial news is bad, all bad. More bailouts, more layoffs, more fiscal stupidity everywhere we look.

And yes, we're all down. But we're still not out in this bad-and-getting-worse recession. No matter how hard we have been slammed to the turf, we are still not out of the game.

When you get knocked down, what matters is how quickly you get back up and start hitting back.

So get up. Hit back. Any way you can.

Turn Off the TV

Don't just sit there watching the Dow Jones and NASDAQ and the increasingly gloomy economists on the news.

Go outside and do something. Fix something on your house or car. Help a friend or neighbor or relative fix something.

Invite a friend or several friends over for coffee and conversation.

Contact distant relatives more often and go visit nearby relatives. Let them know you still care, no matter what else is happening.

Lighten up your load. Clean out a closet and get rid of some clothes you no longer need. Donate them to a charity that helps people who need more clothing. Clean out unwanted stuff in your garage and donate it, too, or recycle it. Having too much stuff sitting around just drains your psychic energy.

Spend some money on stuff you need. No, you don't have a lot to spend, and neither does almost anyone else. But if we all spend a little bit on things we need or want, we can help people keep their jobs. We can help keep money moving in the economy. This is vital.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Eat out every now and then. And add an extra dollar or two or three to the tip, whether the waitperson really gave you good service or not. He or she may be having a bad day or worrying about a sick child at home or just scared of going broke. A few extra bucks tonight could really help.

Do some things you've always wanted to do. Take up guitar, aerobic dancing, acting, bird watching, historical re-enactments, model airplane building, whatever. Read some of the books you have put off reading because you have been too "busy." See some movies, some plays. Go to some local concerts and recitals.

If you attend a church, get more involved. Maybe someone has started a program to help out the local food bank. Make a donation and volunteer to help. Put a little extra in the collection plate for the church and its staff, too. It's tax deductible. Sing in the choir, even if your main contribution is to just stand there, move your mouth and make the choir look bigger.

Improve your health. If you need to lose weight, start exercising. Spend a little less on groceries and use some of the saved money to fund a new hobby, a new membership, a new subscription or a new charitable contribution.

Find a New Focus

Get more focused on your community and its needs. You can't save the world. You can't stop the recession. But maybe you can help save an historic building from the wrecking ball and turn it into an arts center that serves as a magnet, a training center, and a rewarding outlet for people with creative talents. Maybe you can volunteer to help a preschool apply for state and federal grants. Maybe you can teach a community-education class or lead a volunteer recycling program.

Get more focused on your family and its needs and your friends and their needs. Those who need the most help may be those closest to you. Let love help push away the doom and gloom. You may have to help keep relatives and close friends from giving in to despair if they have lost their jobs and their homes. You may have to help them in other ways, too, including financial. It's just the way things are right now. Yes, maybe they did make some poor choices, or maybe they didn't. But what matters now is getting through this terrible downturn. We can all use the lessons learned to build better and more sensible lives later.

We will get through this. Together. But only if we get up and start punching back now that we have been knocked down.

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Here Comes the Christmas Bailout?

By Si Dunn

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas bailout time for U.S. consumers.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has told Congress that it should look at passing a new stimulus package to try to jump-start the economy.

Stimulus already has been given to Wall Street and the nation's banking system. If this proposed new bailout package is not directed straight toward Main Street and America's middle-class and lower-income consumers, there will be hell to pay in Washington.

Trickle-down economics should be relegated to the ash heap of economic history. It's time for trickle-up.

For Christmas, most Americans in the middle class and lower-income brackets just want--and anxiously need--a nice little bailout of their own.

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Want to Help Fight the Recession? Buy American...Anything!

By Si Dunn

Billionaire Warren Buffett recently has announced that he is now aggressively buying American stocks, because the current financial crisis has left them undervalued and ripe for turning a profit once conditions improve.

Most of us won't be buying large blocks of stock any time soon, of course. But there is another, less-expensive, way we can follow Mr. Buffett's lead.

The prices of American services and American-made goods also are being depressed by the economic downturn, as providers and merchants struggle to keep their doors open and pay their employees during the long months of recession that lie ahead.

We'll all have to be careful with our money, of course. But those of us who still have jobs and savings should make a special effort to help keep our favorite restaurants, car repair shops, laundries, book shops, gift shops, produce stands and other small firms in business.

We can't help everyone, of course. We can't save the economy on our own. But if we make a deliberate effort, at least a couple of times a week, to buy something extra or get a long-overdue problem fixed, we can keep a little money moving in our local economies.

The laundry owner who makes a few extra bucks today by dry cleaning your suit may decide to buy a hamburger on the way home from work. The tire salesperson who was happy to replace your thin tires earlier this week may have gotten just enough commission to buy a spouse a birthday cake from a favorite little bakery. A $5 gift you're planning to buy tomorrow may help provide the shop owner with just enough lifted spirit to decide to stay in business.

As the old saying goes, every little bit helps.

And don't forget the charities, churches and special programs in your community. The ones you have supported could use an extra dollar or two right now. And the ones that you've thought about supporting are now in need of something more substantial than your intentions.

Everyone is hurting, and we're all in this together.

If we each do a little bit and keep making it a weekly habit, our small gestures can add up to big help in a hurry, for our neighbors, our community and our nation.

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Time to Hunker Down and Focus on What Really Matters

By Si Dunn

Many Americans are about to get back to basics, because of the economy's massive and continuing meltdown.

Suddenly, we don't have nearly as much money as we used to have. Suddenly, we can't get credit. And suddenly, we're terrified, after being reassured just a couple of weeks ago that our economy was fundamentally sound and strong.

Oops. The global marketplace has turned out to be a massive house of cards.

After 9-11, many Americans were ready to sacrifice for a war effort and help fight terrorists. President Bush told us go shopping, instead.

Well, the time to go shopping is here again, only this time, it really is the time to go shopping.

All across our nation, thousands of small businesses suddenly are hurting and teetering on the brink of extinction. Millions of jobs and countless dreams are hanging in the balance in tiny shops, small stores, family-owned restaurants, and moderate-sized warehouses, car dealerships and strip shopping malls, as well as in big companies, factories and corporate headquarters.

Whether you need goods or services, now is the time to buy something from the businesses in your neighborhood, the ones that, even in good times, have provided just modest livings for their owners and employees. They are the real heart and soul of the American economy. They are Main Street.

Just a few bucks spent here and there can make a huge difference, if a lot of us are willing to get off our wallets and make the effort.

Neighbor helping neighbor; family member helping family member; friend helping friend; everyone helping those in need. And all taking care of the basics and focusing on what really matters.

This is how we can ride out the massive financial storms now savaging Wall Street and our own meager savings.

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McCain-Palin Ticket Is Now Imploding, Right Along with the Economy

By Si Dunn

Hey, it's your stupid economy, Republican leadership.

Your promises of more tax cuts and more "market solutions" now are falling on deaf ears as terrified voters suddenly realize they are facing what one prominent retail analyst has warned will be the “worst Christmas shopping season in a century."

Layoffs are surging. Families are losing their homes, their health care and their savings. And many large and small businesses are toppling into the massive financial wreckage you created by overdoing deregulation, then encouraging (and allowing) too much risk and greed.

You can't save yourselves now with wild-ass claims that Barack Obama is a terrorist or that overturning Roe v. Wade will create 20 million new jobs.

The uncommitted voters are waking up, taking a long, hard look at the vacuity of your platform and fleeing in terror toward the Democrats. Or, they are just fleeing. Either way, you ain't gonna get their vote, Jack. And you're gonna lose big-time among the contested seats in the Senate and House, as well.

Ordinary people finally are figuring out--after years of partisan gridlock--that "divided we fall." The momentum is shifting toward one-party rule again, and this time, the Grand Old Party will be marched outside the velvet rope.

The McCain-Palin ticket has bailed out of Michigan, and it's now starting to get its butts kicked in the polls in Ohio, Virginia and a few other key "battleground" states.

In desperation, the GOP is sending its Swift Boats out to attack. But all they are doing is colliding with each other and smashing into big walls of voter rejection and fatigue. William Ayers? Who cares? What about my job, my savings, my house, my Christmas?

Obama-Biden may not be the best governance team on the planet. But compared with the bizarre and twisted package the Republicans have put forth, they are far and away the best and the brightest for these troubled times.

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Robbing Peter to Pay Paul(son) and Golden Parachutes

By Si Dunn

In just one week, America's Republican-dominated economy has gone from "robust" and "fundamentally sound" to "in imminent danger of collapse" if $700 billion of taxpayer money isn't delivered immediately to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, so he can dole it out to Wall Street, banks, and other financial entitites.

This naked grabbing of money from average Americans' pockets supposedly will help keep the "robust" economy from going bust. But it also will help finance plenty of golden parachutes for the financial executives and leaders who got us into this mess and have been trying to conceal it until just after the end of the Bush Administration.

John McCain is no fan of this proposed bailout. But he can pretty well kiss his election to the White House goodbye. He's Republican, after all, and the Republican Party in general will suffer a very large, and very well-deserved, thumping at the ballot box Nov. 4, in the fallout from this fiasco.

Runaway deregulation plus rampant greed adds up to: (1) financial cycles that swing out of control; and (2) financial bubbles that explode.

The "trickle-down" economics famously championed by the Republicans has never worked. The upper class keeps getting more "upper," while spilling precious few drops of the money that is supposed to dribble down to the middle and lower classes.

Maybe it's time for some "trickle-up" economics, for a change.

To hell with the big financial institutions that lost sight of fiscal reality and got hooked on gambling with their--and our--money. Let them consolidate, downsize or die. Don't give them another dime.

Give most of the $700 billion, instead, to Main Street and small business, the real heart, soul and drivers of the national economy. And set aside some of it to help the thousands of lower-echelon employees in the financial industry who will lose their jobs, pensions and homes as a result of the avarice and selfishness of their corporate executives and the Republican political leaders.

Remind your Senators and Representatives in no uncertain terms: The buck starts here...well away from Wall Street and the Washington Beltway.

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Democrats for McCain: Are You Crazy?

By Si Dunn

Pollsters analyzing the Indiana and North Carolina primary results are again reporting a disturbing trend that has been seen in earlier primaries.

A number of voters in the Democratic elections are saying they will switch to John McCain if Barack Obama or (to a much lesser extent) Hillary Clinton is not the nominee.

Of course, some of these party-hoppers are Republicans who have showed up at Democratic polling stations specifically to vote against Clinton or Obama. They are hoping to help steer one candidate or the other into the general election in the belief that John McCain can beat them.

Others are Republicans so disgruntled with the Bush Administration that they are willing to back "an inspiring speaker"--Obama--despite his unabashed liberalism and somewhat thin record. Yet, if Obama is not the nominee, most of those Republicans say they will slink straight back to McCain rather than vote for Hillary Clinton and her slightly more conservative agendas. Never mind that John McCain basically is George Bush in an older--and, okay, yes, genuinely battle-scarred--flight suit. (And never mind that neither one of them could possibly outfly the embattled president in Independence Day.)

Some Democrats completely enamored of one candidate, however, say they will abandon the party and vote for John McCain in November if Obama (mostly) or Clinton (to a much lesser extent) is not the nominee.

Which raises three questions for these voters: (1) Are you crazy? (2) Have you paid any attention to these past eight years? And (3), do you always choose political petulance over practicality and common sense?

We need true change this time, not another pilot who will keep up the bombing runs on Iraq and the nation's economy.

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Democrats for McCain? Few Will Remain

A new poll is raising flags of hysteria and giddiness among some of the political candidates’ supporters and opponents. And once again the media is focusing mainly on how those flags, metaphorically, are rippling and popping in the wind.

We still aren’t being told enough about who the candidates really are, what they really believe, where they get their advice and counsel, how they really define the major issues facing the nation, and why they really think they can make a difference.

According to CNN, a recent Associated Press poll shows that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain are essentially tied, and McCain may be “benefiting from the drawn out Democratic primary race.”

The AP survey also supposedly found that “[c]lose to a quarter of Obama supporters reported they will back McCain if the Illinois senator fails to get the nomination, while a third of Clinton backers said they'd vote Republican if Obama is the Democratic nominee, “ according to the CNN story.

Actually, it’s difficult to believe that that many supporters of Obama and Clinton would throw over either Democrat in favor of at least four more years of rip-off economics, Middle East quagmire, and political stalemate.

In many other news accounts and blogs, there have been numerous reports of Republicans saying they have had absolutely enough of their party’s hard rightward drift and economic decline under Bush-Cheney and see little hope of meaningful change under McCain. They would rather vote for Obama or Clinton than bear any further responsibly for the possibility of a John McBush Administration.

It’s a safe bet that most Democrats who say they will back McCain if their candidate loses are just trash-talking to hear their jaws flap during the run-up to the Democratic Convention. Once their candidate does lose, and they realize it’s the other one vs. John McBush-McCheney, they’ll likely eat their threats and vote, even if grudgingly, for real change.

Yes, it would be something of a change to have an older Caucasian male succeed George W. Bush. Of course, given the history of the American presidency, that would scarcely count as any difference at all.

Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama--either combo would represent the all-time breakaway ticket for change in American presidental politics.

It will take a mega-change like this to start reviving the national economy and, more importantly, the national spirit, in January, 2009.

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