I don't quite know what to think about
Marco.
He seems like a real nice young man. He
is an excellent speaker and obviously
intelligent. The hard work of his
immigrant parents to raise and
educate him is a true tribute to
realization of the American Dream. Well
Done.
I think he could probably be very
successful in anything he tries,
but I worry about him.
First of all, he is a product of the Florida
Legislature which has been totally
Republican controlled for years. Our
legislature does not have the
best reputation for honesty and
openness, and,
in the legislature they don't even bother
to “compromise” with Democrats. Marco
was used to getting his way, with little or
no effort.
Although, not really a Tea Party member,
he has been swept onto the forefront of
the national scene by the movement and
may feel some allegiance. This worries
me. Politicians need to know how and
when to compromise.He has
demonstrated that he will not. I'm
also worried about some of his speeches,
which are eloquently done. However, like
politicians on both sides of the aisle, he
sometime speaks with forked tongue,
regurgitating party mantra of half-truths
and outright lies. In one speech
he praised Medicare for saving his father.
Couple days later, another speech, he
wants to do away with medicare.
I think he's smart enough to know
something about economics. If you need
to create jobs, you can create make work
projects like CCC and WPA, or you need
to create a demand for products and
services. This is sometimes done
by, cutting taxes on producers and/or
consumers. Bush 2, successfully did this
with his first cut or taxpayer rebate,
which provided a small pick-up in
spending. Obama, tried the Stimulus, to
increase consumer spending,
( Marco falsely called a total failure) which
CBO scored as creating 1.2 million jobs
and probably saved, at least temporarily,
more jobs. However, the Stimulus was
not as successful as it should have been.
Too many “non-shovel ready” jobs were
really just political pork for members of
both parties.
Actually the Stimulus was not big
enough. (I give Mario a “D” for his
remark)
It may be that the economy crash of 2008
was so severe that it was very close in
intensity to the Great Depression and the
economy may take nearly as long to
recover. However, one of the things that
extended the depression, was Roosevelt's
change in tactics in 1937,
when he sharply curtailed spending at the
urging of Republicans, and some
Democrats on his staff. This was an
immediate catastrophe that was only
overturned by the massive spending for
armament preparing for WWII.
There are two things that are
counterproductive during a recession.
Increasing taxes, and cutting spending.
Due to our enormous debt, it needs to be
controlled, and brought down, but during
the time of a very anemic recovery,
drastic near term cuts
are counterproductive. Cutting taxes on
the consumers might be helpful to
stimulate spending, but cutting taxes on
the wealthy producers, just doesn't make
sense and Marco should know this. The
wealthy, and corporations currently have
plenty of money to hire, but there is no
demand for their products and services.
They didn't accumulate or retain
money by being dumb.
Marco knows, or should know, that now
is not the time for draconian action, like
failing to increase the debt ceiling, and
simultaneously cutting spending . The
ceiling needs to be raised, and the cuts
need to be further in the future. The
wisest move for the present, would
be to let expire the Bush tax cuts (for the
rich).
The Balance Budget Amendment might
also be a good idea, but not while you're
trying to dig your way out of a hole
created by generations of politicians. The
current crisis is self made
and just being exploited to defeat
Obama, country be damned. The
Balanced Budget Amendment could have
been initiated when the Reps were in
total control, or when they are again.
I would feel a lot better about Marco, if
some of John McCain would rub off on
him. John sometimes is a little irrational,
but he loves his country, and when he
sees his party, or an individual, acting
against the best interest of
the country—he speaks out. Marco
appears to be falling in line as a political
hack, putting his career and his party
above all his constituents
(which are not only republican, but
democrat, and independent also). and the
best interest of America. I hope he
realizes this soon, before
he takes a leadership role.
Unfortunately Marco's father died last
year and now his mother is extremely ill.
My sympathy goes out to him and his
family and I hope his mother has a
speedy and full recovery, and
perhaps these unfortunate events will
soften his rather strident views regarding
the less fortunate among us.
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