Has the Great Recession ended with our economy returning to normal? That may be “conventional wisdom,” or the word we get from those who think that there is no more intervention needed to stimulate the economy. President Barack Obama has bragging rights on the reduction of unemployment rates and the fact that economic growth is robust. Citing these improvements, our Republican Congress wants to continue to tighten the federal budget belt. Despite this, the Federal Reserve Bank’s Open Market Committee says that there is too much slack in the labor market, and that unemployment rates could be lower than they are now.
Category: Opinion
Posted inPractical Politics
The politics of leaving well enough alone
In February, 2012, George Zimmerman got away with murder. That is a generalized public perception, particularly among African Americans. Trayvon Martin is dead from a bullet put into him by Zimmerman, and Zimmerman was acquitted of manslaughter in Florida court for killing Martin.
Posted inCounting the Cost
After the chants
Just a week or so after Black History Month concluded, the Civil Rights Movement experienced a special commemoration. Tens of thousands thronged to Selma, Ala. for a historic march across the Edmond Pettus Bridge, marking March 7, 1965, the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” when armed police officers attacked peaceful marchers attempting to walk to Montgomery, the state capital. More than 10,000 people were attacked in 1965, including Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), whose powerful eloquence puts the entire protest movement in context.
Posted inPractical Politics
The politics of legal change
Okay, two quick points here. As predicted in previous columns, the Marvin Gaye offspring, Nona, Frankie and Marvin Gaye III, won their lawsuit against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke for copyright infringement regarding the monster hit song “Blurred Lines.” The eight-member jury voted unanimously in U.S. federal court that Williams and Thicke had too closely copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit, “Got to Give it Up,” without paying the proper royalties to the copyright holders (the Gaye siblings). Whether the copying was willful, or unintended, the jury said, it was not innocent and a penalty had to be imposed. The Gaye family won $7.4 million dollars as a result of the jury’s decision. The rapper, T.I., who co-wrote a later segment of the song after the track was already laid, was not penalized by the jury.
Posted inCounting the Cost
How about letting members of Congress live like other people?
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) couldn’t bring his French bulldog, Lily, on an Amtrak train. So when Amtrak funding came up for a vote, he inserted a provision that required one car on an Amtrak train to be designated a “pet car.” Pet owners will pay a fee to bring their furry companions on the train, and there are size restrictions to the pets that can travel. Still, this new provision is seen as a victory for pet owners who ride trains.
Posted inCounting the Cost
Democrats still searching for winning formula
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel just got spanked. Despite a campaign war chest of more than $15 million and the support of President Barack Obama, the former Congressman and White House chief of staff could not avoid a run-off in the non-partisan mayoral election.
Posted inPractical Politics
The effects of Black History Month
Carter G. Woodson was born in New Canton, Va., and raised in West Virginia, the son of former slaves. Getting education and using it to better the conditions of Black Americans was part of his cultural upbringing. Deprived of opportunities to go to public school, he educated himself until the age of 20, then attended and graduated from high school in a little less than two years. He then found a way to obtain acceptance to Berea College in Kentucky while working in a coal mine.
Posted inCounting the Cost
At 100, Olivia Hooker is a living history lesson
Olivia Juliet Hooker celebrated her 100th birthday on February 12. In 1944, she was among the first five African American women allowed to serve in the Coast Guard as a SPAR (the acronym derived from the translations of the Coast Guard’s motto, “Semper Paratus, Always Ready”). SPARS was the nickname of the United States Coast Guard’s Women Reserve.
Posted inPractical Politics
The politics of re-balancing the system
This column covered the Marissa Alexander case previously. What’s the status and significance of it? Alexander, from Jacksonville, Fla., reported that nine days after giving birth to a daughter in 2010, her estranged husband, Rico Gray, choked her, beat her and threatened to kill her in front of his two underage sons. She retreated to the garage of the house, seeking to get out and get away, she reported, but could not exit that way for some reason. In a signed deposition, Gray agreed with this rendition of the facts to that point. Alexander then went to her car, pulled out a gun and went back into the house. When Gray approached her again, reportedly saying, “Bitch, I’ll kill you!” she shot the gun once, above his head, as a warning shot she said, hitting the wall. She did not fire again and no one was hurt.
Posted inCounting the Cost
Poverty doesn’t have to be a state of mind
The racial differential in the poverty rate is staggering. Last time I checked, about 12 percent of people in the United States, one in eight people are poor. Depending on race and ethnicity, however, poverty is differently experienced. Fewer than one in 10 Whites are poor; more than one in four African Americans and Latinos are poor.
