Expedia Was Not Helpful in Puerto Rico

This is how the Slate article by David Lindorff in early October begin,

“The Trump administration is not the only entity that has been missing in inaction in Puerto Rico in the wake of the island-wide destruction caused by back-to-back direct hits from two major hurricanes. The island’s many ‘corporate citizens’ have thus far been looking to their own interests during this crisis.”

He details all the companies with offices on the island who have not gone out of the way to help. I would add to his list the many hotels that closed down and left tourists stranded. The airlines were not bold or willing to think outside the box to help those stranded in Puerto Rico. The industries which make billions off of tourism did not put much of their reputation or provide much assistance into helping after the disaster.

I was most disappointed with Expedia who must have told me a hundred times that they could not help in a time of crisis in Puerto Rico. They could have set themselves apart and earned some kudos in the media for going the extra mile to help.  Instead, their staff sat helpless, saying that there was nothing that they could do.  The thing is that there was nothing we could do on the island and there was a lot that they could do.  They were sitting in an air conditioned offices with power and working telephones.  Expedia employees had the power of the internet, and its customers had none of that.  With climate change and natural disasters becoming more frequent and more severe, they better revamp their business model when there is a natural disaster or they are going to be overtaken by a company that cares.  We booked both our flight and hotel through Expedia and wound up trapped on the island for an extra week and their Customer Service staff were less than helpful.  We were kicked out of our hotel; had to spend two days in the disaster center, and our flights kept getting cancelled and the Expedia staff just kept saying, “I’m sorry, there is nothing we can do.”

Here are a few articles on companies that gave money, but not much on companies that excelled in responding to this crisis.  

• Money Magazine detailed some funds given in September
• Vice Story compared Harvey relief vs. Maria assistance.  
• Fortune detailed assistance from Facebook, Google and Tesla  

We were in Puerto Rico for our 25^th wedding anniversary.  We had booked our honeymoon trip 25 years ago through a local travel agent who would have helped us if we had been trapped in Hawaii.  She would have felt some obligation to help us.  She would have done all she could to get us back home.  Expedia failed its customers and had zero suggestions.  I understand that this was one of the worst disasters ever, but a huge corporation should have some protocols in place for these type of situations.  Expedia comes off as a horrible travel agent with a new motto “Sorry, we can’t help.” 

We booked a trip back in early August for Puerto Rico for September 16 to September 23. We were not aware of Hurricane Maria until September 17 and it was too late to leave.  We were not that worried since what are the chances that a second hurricane would hit the Island in two weeks?  We rode out the Hurricane at the CIQALA which had a generator and had a kitchen.  The initial damage was that it knocked out the air conditioner and our room flooded, but we were not complaining.  We saw the damage and heard from the staff how bad things were around the island so our small inconveniences were nothing. We considered ourselves lucky that we had found a hotel that had a generator, and hoped that we could get the earliest flight out. 

For those not familiar very few of the 3.5 million people on the island had access to cell service or any power, and we were one of the few that were staying in a hotel that had electricity.  We used the hotel’s telephone to call and confirm our flight out for Saturday September 23, and the Expedia representative had no information, but thought the flight would still leave. We found on Friday that only one humanitarian flight was leaving the airport on Saturday, and so we needed to find a place to stay.  We called the Expedia numbers and Customer Service staff was not helpful.  They were willing to charge $1,100 for changing to a different airline for September 27 which we could not afford, and seemed like they were taking advantage of us during a crisis.   

They booked a flight for Saturday September 30, and were able to provide notification to our daughter in Florida of any changes since our cell service was not working.  We tried to stay in the hotel, but they were booked for Saturday.  We tried to find a place on the island to move to, but there were only 4 rooms on the Expedia site.  We realized that 2 were in flood zones so probably had not updated their status.  We booked another hotel and spent our precious cash to get to this location by cab.  When we got there they were shutting down and sending all their customers to other hotels because they had some rooms flooded; they no water and no electricity.  At this point we on the streets without a cell phone, little cash, and no place to stay.  We walked around Old San Juan with all our bags in the 90 degree heat until a hotel put us up for 2 nights because we were desperate.  This place had no water or electricity, but we were happy to have a bed. 

Our family back in the mainland called and tried to get us a place to stay through Expedia, and their staff had no suggestions.  We stayed at the airport on Monday September 25 to try to get a flight off the island.  The earliest we could get was October 6.  We had no where to sleep on Monday September 25 and so we stayed in the Convention Center on a cot.  Our family tried and tried to find a place for us.  We had a Good Samaritan drive us around to hotels which we found to be closed or full.  All the relationships that Expedia has with local hotels and the power of a huge corporation, it seems that they could have done something; anything.  The Expedia staff had access to the internet and power that we did not have.  Expedia staff offered us nothing and stranded us in the Disaster Center.  Those resources should have been used for native Puerto Ricans who were suffering.  We spent two days at the Disaster Center because Expedia could not help us and had no suggestions.  Then our Saturday September 30 flight was cancelled, and again they offered no help.  The ATMs were not working and so we had to use our precious cash to hire cabs to try to find a place to live. We were rescued from the Disaster Center only because I made signs and a public stink.  We only got off the island with a flight because of our efforts. 

I know that this was a highly unusual situation, but it is hard to imagine that Expedia has not dealt with similar disasters with tourists trapped in New Orleans or Mexico or the Virgin Islands or the Bahamas who needed to be rescued.  I think that Expedia could have chartered a plane to fly into one of the private airports.  Expedia could have assigned us a staff person to work on finding us a place to stay. This way when we did get to a working phone, we would not have start from scratch.   Expedia could have partnered with a cruise line to send a ship to rescue their customers.  They could have partnered with a local hotel chain to get it operational with a generator and tentative repairs to make it a temporary respite for Expedia customers.   They could have done something, but instead they did nothing.  Expedia could have set themselves apart from the other corporations, but did not use their corporate strength to intervene at all.  They left their customers on their own without power, cell service, or any currency to survive.  Expedia could have come out as a hero by trying to help their clients, instead they look like a greedy corporation which does not care. 

I got a call from Expedia staff after I filed a written complaint, who toed the company line, which was “I am sorry, but there was nothing we could do.”

We regret the limits faced by travel agencies during times of crisis such as this one. When hotels have no availability and airlines experience delays, travel agencies do not have special resources to secure alternative lodging and flights; all travel agencies and travel suppliers are working to rebook thousands of travelers from the save inventory, and suppliers provide services on a first-come, first served basis in terms of availability. It was, regrettably, not possible for our representative to make any guarantees to you regarding your travel.

This customer service representative from Expedia said that we should have taken out travel insurance and everything her staff did seemed to follow company policies.  She went further in angering us by indicating that we should have pushed her customer service staff to help us find a place, but we did not do that.  By the time we realized that we did not have a place to stay, we also did not have a cell phone either.  Our daughter was calling, crying, pleading for help but got nothing.  We would have appreciated any help or any attempt to go above and beyond. Expedia failed, and did not go out of the way to help their customers.  We will be using other companies for our travel assistance.

by Brian Davis

Corporations Need to Start Thinking About Climate Change

Remember those carefree days of 25 years ago when you would go into the local travel agency to book a flight and hotel in a far off land or a strange part of this country?  They knew the good deals and they knew where were the best places to stay.  Then if you got stuck in a foreign country because of, lets say, a hurricane, they would do their best to get you home.  If you don't remember these times check out The Americans TV show, because travel agent is the front jobs that the two Soviet spies use in the series to stay off the radar of their FBI neighbor.

Those were good times when you could reach a human on the telephone and they may in fact work in the United States.  All the travel agencies including those that were fronts for spies were put out of business by the big bad on-line experience.  As has happened with record companies, book stores, and video stores, travel agents were gobbled up by big corporations who distribute that service via the internet. But are they prepared for facing down Mother Nature?

In a time of climate change when storms are bigger and more frequent, are these companies ready for once in 500 year floods, hurricanes and earthquakes that seem to happen every 10 years now?  The internet based travel companies need to hire a Vice President for Climate Change/Disasters.  Their customers are getting stuck on islands that they can not get out of or are cut off from the rest of humanity because of a flood.  They need help and right now, and corporations are not prepared to help.  They need to establish a procedure for assigning staff to get their clients into a safe place and home as quickly as possible.  They could provide a vulnerability index for how safe places are to climate change; how secure is their infrastructure; and how prepared are these places to natural disasters.   Those who want to vacation in a place with a higher vulnerability would need to pay a slight surcharge to compensate these companies for rescuing travelers.  They could set up procedures if their customers are facing a natural disaster.  They could help with relocation when a customer is dealing with no power and sporadic cell service where they are vacationing.

These companies could publish these vulnerability indexes which may prompt locals to do more to fix their infrastructure or better prepare for disasters.  Would large hotel corporations and airlines want to see a 5% climate change vulnerability fee attached to every room or seat? Tourists should not be in the way when a country or city is dealing with keeping the population safe.  There may be seasonal increases in the price of a hotel/airfare during hurricane season as a form of rescue insurance.  I would have paid more for my ticket if I could be assured that the group that booked my trip would charter a flight off the island.  They could incorporate this into their advertising..."We will get you home."  They would need to set up a special team to work to get people safe with an expertise on disaster planning and relief.  With all the epic disasters, there is a lot of expertise in the United States on evacuations and finding safety when the infrastructure collapses.

People are going to begin demanding that these companies respond appropriately as the disasters grow in strength and numbers.  They will need to put plans in place to shelter in place, evacuate, and think creatively about helping their customers.  Some of these companies are going to see the writing on the wall and then the rest will have to follow.  Other industries will have to follow as well.

By Brian Davis

What has happened?

Wisconsin and Ohio lost in the wilderness?
by Max Johnson

I was inspired by what took place in Egypt and Tunisia, and the largely peaceful change in the Middle East. These brave citizens finally spoke up, and said, "Why can't we vote for our leaders? Why don't we have the same rights as the citizens of Israel, Turkey, South Africa, and the Philippines?" The United States now has to re-evaluate every one of our relationships with all these ruthless authoritarian leaders in the world.

Now, we move from the Mid East to the Midwest, and find days of rage in Ohio and Wisconsin. What happened to these states? Wisconsin was the cradle of the progressive movement in the United States and now it is dominated by the Party of Platitudes. How did we allow our government to fall into the hands of arch conservatives? These guys are masters at campaigning is the only think that I can think of. They are great at identifying enemies and pointing blame at some boogie man. They campaign on "small government" no matter if they preside over the largest expansion of government in history like they did in the 2000s. Their only motto is "lower taxes" no matter what the situation. In good times they want to cut taxes, and in bad times they say we can't raise taxes. They tell people what we want to hear and people vote for them. The are the elementary school class president candidate promising pizza everyday for lunch, fruit punch in the drinking fountains, and no pop quizzes ever.

Their skill is finding ways to win elections when you are lost with the war of ideas. But I am not sure this is what Ohioan and those living in Wisconsin thought they would get when they threw out the Democrats. Did they vote for an attack on teachers, firemen, and police officers? There is a lot of anger toward unions, but did they want the legislatures to destroy 50 years of hard fought worker's rights to go up in flame in the first 30 days of these two new administrations? Did they imagine that we would give hundreds of jobs to other states with the canceling of infrastructure improvements in the high speed rail projects. We shall see what voter intent was in 2012.

Ohio is Open for Business?

Ohio Governor Declares His Support of Business

by Max
After meeting with automakers and asking for more auto business for Ohio, new Ohio Governor, John Kasich declared that "Ohio's open for business." What does this mean exactly? Does this mean that we need to reduce corporate taxes in order to compete with Alabama? It is likely that this will mean that we need to reduce the individual income tax in order to attract CEOs with their obscene salaries. But the big issue, in which Kasich campaigned on, was to reduce government regulations that stifle business. Here are some examples of ways that Kasich could reduce the development and expansion of businesses in Ohio.

• Strip away regulations of mines so that we could experience the tragedy that took place at Massey Energy mines here in Ohio and the loss of 29 miners deep inside the earth.
  
• Eliminate funds for government expertise to even be able to understand complicated drill mechanisms such as those in the Deep Water Horizon. Ohio too could join the other communities that have experienced a man made disaster by reducing government regulations.
• We could allow insurance companies to do whatever they want and charge whatever they want.
  
• Ohio could have the fun of cleaning up a coal ash dump like at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee without proper government oversight. We may be able to add jobs cleaning up 1.1 billion gallons of sludge like they did in Roane County after government did protect the citizens against improper fly ash dumping.
  
• We can get rid of the regulations of payday lenders, and allow companies to exploit low income residents in need of small loans.
  
• We can eliminate regulations on the banking industry and financial services like Kasich's old firm the bankrupt Lehman Brothers. We could continue to allow Ohioans to be exploited by the sharks with lawyers who rob them of their houses.
  
• Maybe we can go through another Savings and Loan fiasco with government not watching out for fair lending practices.
  
• We could allow corporations unlimited access to influence our elections without transparency and without limits.
  
• We could turn our attention away from the regulation of vehicles so that they are unsafe or we could turn our roads or bridges over to private corporations to maximize profits while minimizing maintenance.
  
• We could reduce regulations on public utilities in the hopes of reducing red tape and improving competition or causing another Love Canal or Davis Besse reactor head hole.
• We could turn our public education over to corporations so that we could drop out of the top 10 states with the best education system in America.
  

I am not comforted that Ohio is open for business. I want someone watching corporations to avoid all the abuse we have seen just over the last decade by corporations. Kasich's friends on Wall Street almost took down our economy with their disregard for rules and their lust for money. I have no confidence that he will be our watchdog in Columbus. How many government regulations will he cut to bring in businesses? How many people will die or have their housing taken for the greater good of bringing jobs to Ohio? How many taxpayers will be harmed because Ohio is open for business?

Why You Can't Vote for the Republicans in 2012

Reasons to Vote Against the Corporate Take Over of America

There is so much coming over the next two years to be angry about, we should keep a running list that is easy to reference. Just since the 2010 election, there is plenty to be angry about with regard to the Corporate Party of America. We are going to keep a running tally for you of why you should not vote for Republicans. We are going to update this with a running list for you to use when arguing with your conservative friends or family. We are not going back to "You lie" or pre 2010 election. Feel free to add your own in the comments section and we will post them.

December 2010/January 2011:
1. Two Republicans skipped the swearing in ceremony to attend a fundraiser.
2. The Tea Party staged a political event to read the Constitution, but featured an edited version to remove the "three-fifths of a person" clause so as not to damage the belief that we should go back to the original document.
3. Dismissed the CBO estimate that repealing health care would cost $230 billion.
4. Ohio and Wisconsin and New Jersey Governors reject huge jobs programs with the canceling of passenger train projects.
5. Ohio governor refused to release his taxes, objects to media knowing who had applied for jobs, and wanted to close the media out of his swearing into office.
6. Two people die in Arizona because the state cut off funding for urgent transplant funding.
7. Dick Armey said he wanted to eliminate the AmeriCorps Program that allows young people to work on fighting poverty.
8. 97 judicial vacancies (44 judicial emergencies) because of Republican blocking votes on nominees.
9. Cut the time down that Congress members spend in DC, so that they can spend more time back in the district (read less time working--more time fund raising).
10. Promised $100 million in cuts, but the first week in power cut that in half.
11. Further weakened Congressional power by delegates from territories, the district of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
12. Placed a provision making it difficult to close Guantanamo Bay prison (a leading cause of terrorists to take up arms against the US) in the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill.
13. Tax breaks for BP, Exxon and other oil and gas interests are already exempt from any budget cuts also off-shore tax havens are exempt.
14. Ohio Governor Kasich had campaigned against waste in government then gave his new staff huge raises over similar positions in the Strickland administration.
15. Darling of the far right, Sarah Palin, suggested the media were "manufactur[ing] a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn" in response to the murders in Tuscon Arizona in January.
16. New Ohio Jobs private entity to oversee economic development will not have the same level of scrutiny as a public governmental organization including open board meetings.
17. Ohio Governor could not find one member of a racial minority population who could be characterized as the best person for a job within his cabinet. What about a minority and senior citizen for the Department of Aging who may remember the 1950s--the last time that there was not a member of a minority in the Governor's cabinet?
18. A conservative house caucus has proposed massive cuts to the federal government, which would mean people without money not having access to a lawyer, public radio in small communities would close, no more renovations of public housing, and access to train services. Nothing in the study talks about cuts to the military industrial complex.
19. The Majority party of the House demanded that every bill cite some constitutional authority. In the introduction of the Protect Life Act, they failed to cite any constitutional authority in violation of their own rules. They have an easy time criticizing, but a tough time following the rules to govern.
20. Ohio Senator Tim Schaffer believes that poor people are to be assumed guilty until they prove themselves innocent with a drug test. He would prefer that they freeze to death in their house over providing them any public dollars while they struggle with their behavioral health problem of addiction.
21. Ohio, Wisconsin, and New Jersey governor wants to kill the unions representing public employees (including teachers) in the state. Unions built this country and this state, and has allowed blue collar workers to crack the middle class.
22. The most conservative member of the US Supreme Court improperly hid his wife's income for 20 years, which is not a big deal unless she was receiving funds for political and lobbying activity. An argument could be made that the success of her business which richly rewarded her family could influence her husband's conservative opinions.
23. The Banking Party passed a reform of bankruptcy law in 2005 written and pushed by the banking industry, which now we see contributed to the housing bubble and recession of 2008.
24. Fundamentalists within the Corporate Party repeatedly attack the President's faith. The previous two Republican presidents were rarely seen in church, but no one questioned their faith. These fundamentalists can't even give take the guy on something so personal as his own religion.
25. They ran on a platform to get the US working, but have focused all of their attention on repealing health care and balancing the federal budget--both of which will put people out of work.
26. Ohio Governor called a police officer an "idiot" in January for giving him a ticket for not yielding to a emergency vehicle on Interstate 315 in Columbus.
27. Ohio federal Corporate Party members support a second engine $450 million defense bill even though the military does not want it. They preach fiscal restraint until it hurts their own district.
28. In a prank phone call Wisconsin Governor Walker admits to contemplating dirty tricks when speaking to a fake David Koch.
29. Republican dominated executive branch locked out protesters from the Ohio Statehouse, and then made up stories about disruptive behavior.
30. Ohio Republicans, over the objection of both Police and Restaurant and Bar owners, are voting to allow concealed guns into a bar.
31. Ohio legislators are moving forward on ending the estate tax so that rich people can keep their money within the family to set up an aristocracy.
32. Ohio has stripped away collective bargaining rights of public employees from fire fighters, police, teachers, social workers, and trash collectors. This despite President Ronald Reagan declaring unions a fundamental human right.
33. Unwilling to raise taxes on the wealthiest and cut the tax breaks for corporate jets and the oil industry while pushing the country near the edge of default.
34. Ohio leaders of the far right claim that the new voting law in Ohio does not make it harder for people to vote. How could a shorter time to vote and an inability for local Boards of Elections to notify voters of early voting option not hurt voters?
35. One of the Ohio far right delegation from Cincinnati who championed family values was arrested for drunk driving in a car with a young woman (not his wife) who worked at a local strip club and refuses to resign his position with the Ohio legislature.
36. Extreme Conservatives passed an Ohio budget that cuts local governments, education for our children, selling public infrastructure, and destroying consumer protections, while not closing tax loopholes or raising any additional resources.
37. One Northeast Ohio GOPer state legislator actually admitted that he accidentally voted for the water legislation which allows massive amounts of water to be withdrawn from Lake Erie in Ohio as a "reflex" because others from his party were voting for the legislation.
38. Two weeks after passing a major reform of the procedure for voting in Ohio, the Empire reformed the reform law. Without explanation and despite the objections of the Ohio Secretary of State, the Ohio legislator dominated by one party made more confusing changes on the voting procedure.
39. Again trying to shove unnecessary cuts down the throat of the other party and displaying an inability to compromise and thus an inability to govern forced the partial shutdown of the FAA. Then they went on vacation while the FAA was still shut down.
40. Both parties are to blame for the loss of AAA rating for the United States, but the Corporate party staunch loyalty to not raising taxes has to be considered a huge factor. Get back to work!!!

Good News /Bad News

by Max Johnson

Today is a rough day, but there are bright spots. It is much like the Corporate Party taking over the House--there are some small windows of light. Today, there is tons of snow on the East Side of Cleveland which is symbolic of how we got dumped on with the election. It was a repudiation of government, big cities, and progressive ideals. But the one bright spot for today was the end of Daylight Savings Time. I love getting that extra hour back.

Even though the states are going to be crushed with debt and mental health, pensions, alcohol and drug addiction treatment, housing assistance, and welfare will be cut, there are some bright spots. We have heard a few positives from federal officials about their plan. They include:

1. Reform of the legislative process in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster.
2. There are many corporate party members talking about ending earmarks.
3. Rand Paul and others said that they are willing to cut defense spending.
4. They have pledged to cut the budget to reduce the deficit. This is going to annoy some people. Right now, we have had 30 years of cutting taxes while promising to cut the deficit in the future. The future is today, and people are going to be angry.
   
5. They are going to try to repeal health care, which will make people realize that it is better than going back to the old way of an insurance company run system.
6. They are going to investigate the Federal Reserve, and transparency is always good.
7. The Corporate party is only focused on defeating the President in 2012. This single minded focus will lead to plenty of mistakes.
   

It might not be all bad. The Dems are delusional if they think they can work with the other party. I predict that a few states are going to have to go to the brink of bankruptcy because of budget shortfalls. It is like the easier ride into work in Cleveland as a result of the foreclosure crisis and so many people out of work.

Now You Have to Govern

by Max Johnson

We have seen these swings for the past 25 years at the federal level, so we can weather the changes in the House of Representatives. In addition, there is this internal war going on within the Corporate party which will eventually lead to a Day of Reckoning. I mean these tea baggers will wake up and realize that their partners in bed were the very people who ran up the deficit. They will realize that Dan Coats was a lobbyist and long time Congressman who brought the pork to Indiana. They will realize that Marco Rubio and Rick Scott in Florida are businessman who are more interested in enriching themselves and improving the business climate than being a populist. They will see that the amount of discretionary funding available to cut is so small that it is meaningless. The Corporate Party will have to cut defense, transportation, education, social security, and Medicaid (all popular programs) to make any impact on debt. When this day of realization comes will be interesting to stand back and watch the feud.

I have to wonder if the corporations of America held off hiring until after the election to make sure that they would have a favorable election. There is nothing comparable to motivating people to vote for the party out of power like unemployment. It certainly would be a good strategy to reverse the Obama gains to keep the economy sluggish. I just have to wonder.

Where we have to worry is state government and especially Ohio. Kasich of Ohio, Perry from Texas, Scott in Florida, Brewer in Arizona, and many others are facing huge budget deficits and have made pledges that they will not raise taxes. There is no way to cut enough out of the budgets to get a balanced budget. Even if the economic climate improved today that would not raise enough dollars to balance the budget with additional income tax in the next year. So, what is left? The only choice left is to sell off public assets. They will have to sell public parks, roads, and maybe even schools, parking meters, and public utilities. Anyone want to buy Interstate 70 or 71 for $8 billion? We are not going to have a train, so in order to get to Columbus we will have to pay a toll. We will have to pay for a quality elementary charter school, and the poor kids will go to the crappy public schools. There is nothing else to do when these right wingers have painted themselves into a corner. The entire state except Cuyahoga County is now red, and they break it, they buy it.

Bloodbath

by Max Johnson

What a horrible night on Tuesday for America. The minority population that takes the time to vote rejected the Democrats. What an amazing move by Fox News and Corporate America. They had their boys in power in the late 1990s, and they repealed Glass Steagall, and created the risky housing financing schemes. Their Corporate Boys in DC stripped away regulations on many corporations and began reducing corporate taxes while also reducing taxes on the rich. This continued through most of the Bush administration until 2006 when it all began crashing around them. The Corporate party in Congress began being exposed for corruption led by Tom Delay and Casino Jack. The kicking out of the corporate party was complete in 2008 just as the world was plunged into deep financial chaos. The Democrats had two years to straighten out 15 to 20 years of propaganda against government. Very little changed and people are angry. A paranoid person would look at this as some grand conspiracy: Give the keys over to the other party temporarily and then come back with tons of private money to rebrand themselves as the party to save the day.

How do you compete against this? They have their own network that has mastered the art of turning spin into propaganda. They have a Supreme Court that will make new rules to maintain the power of corporations even to the point of declaring that Corporations have the same freedom as an individual. I thought that they were originalists? Where is that in the founding documents? And now they are awash in money from corporations to flood the airwaves with vicious tearing down of the Democrats. People are now routinely voting against their own interests in the hopes for a change. They have now voted to change to the party that bankrupted the country. They voted to bring back the party that turned a surplus into massive deficits under the guise of fiscal responsibility.

I can't believe that Richard Cordray lost. He seemed very committed to addressing the concerns of Ohioans especially with regard to the foreclosure crisis. We now have to hope that the Attorney General of New York can take up the cause for us, because we know that Dewine will never buck the people who put him in power. Cordray seemed like he had everything going his way including law enforcement endorsements, every major daily newspaper endorsed him, and he was regularly making news for bringing dollars back to the State in lawsuit settlements. The only thing he did not have was huge money. This is going to be bad for Ohio.

What do the Independent's Want?

by MAX JOHNSON

It is election day, and there is a stench of anger in the air. The electorate hate the Democrats and want them gone. I heard today on NPR a woman say that she can't stand that Obama has brought such divisiveness to the country and is now looking for divided government. This makes no sense. She wants more unity, so she is going to put polar opposites in charge of each branch of government? I watched the day long summit that the President hosted on health care with the Conservative leadership. There is no doubt that the President pummeled the Corporate Stooges, but all they kept spouting was their tired spin on health care reform. All they could talk about was tort reform no matter how many times Obama shot it down. The President has tried to extend a hand of compromise only to be shot down repeatedly.

He could have pushed through an end to Don't Ask Don't Tell. He could have closed Guantanamo prison. He could have gone ahead on the trial in New York City against KSM, but each time he stepped back to reach across the aisle. His party did not pass a budget, and there was a compromise on the auto bailout to serve the Big Business leaders. He has not attacked the other party over the slow process for judicial and executive branch appointments. Obama has allowed the party of "No" to get away with opposing everything. He should be on the news every week doing press conferences and the Sunday shows to sell his ideas to the public. He needs to talk about how un-American it is not to pay taxes. These guys are so conservative that we need a counter balance in this country. Americans voted for change, but we all we are getting is a tepid version of the Clintons. If they are going to call you a socialist anyway, you might as well make it worth their while by forwarding a progressive agenda.

No matter what he needs to go after the Independent voters. He needs to solidify the tea partiers or at least neutralize them by convincing them to vote Libertarian. He needs to show the hypocrisy of the other party every day. Obama must show that the Democrats are much better at fiscal discipline than the other party every single day. He has to throw out Geitner and anyone else who guided previous economic teams, and then he has to take on the banks on behalf of the nation. He needs to force a vote on Global Warming, and a vote on immigration policy. We need simple votes on big issues to show the stark contrasts between the parties. He needs to take on unemployment, and the foreclosure crisis. The party needs to enforce discipline and force unity on populists issues.

It is all so depressing.

More on Endorsements

by MAX JOHNSON

All three major daily Newspapers endorsed John Kasich for Governor of Ohio. Do the readers of those papers actually believe that Kasich will be the best candidate for Columbus, Cleveland or even Cincinnati? Have we heard any plan that would benefit the major cities? Shouldn't these papers speak on behalf of the readers in making endorsements? He has proposed cutting expenses and canceling the high speed rail project. How is that good for the three big cities? What state funded government program is not necessary to Cleveland? Is it elementary education? Colleges and Universities? Foreclosure assistance? Law enforcement? Health care for seniors or the disabled? I don't understand how Kasich canceling the train will help Columbus? I have not heard anything from Kasich about a plan to bring jobs to Cincinnati?

I just cannot understand how these papers could endorse the Lehman Brothers candidate. I don't understand how these guys are even close in the polls. What is Kasich going to bring to Ohio and especially the heart of Ohio: our cities? Higher pollution, larger numbers of students in the classroom, and an attack on the federal government's health care plan seems to be the policy of the candidate for the Corporate Party. We will see greater tension between the federal regulators and the state government, and we will see a mess of a state budget. There will be more mentally ill people and drug addicted people turned away from treatment, and fewer resources going to the cities and counties to pay for law enforcement, jails, and parks. Someone needs to explain what Kasich stands for, and not what he stands against?

Beholden

Photo from the Smithsonian Collection

by Max Johnson

In the wake of the Citizen United decision by the Supreme Court, there is a flood of anonymous money supporting the Corporate Party in America. I thought the Peter Overby and Andrea Seabrook story on NPR was especially telling. They reviewed political advertisement purchased in the Pittsburgh area and found all of the them targeting Democrats. But what does this mean in the end? It has to be that many or most of these newly elected candidates will be beholden to corporations for their stay in Washington. Will they serve this multi-national master? Jon Stewart described the hypocrisy on the part of the right asking for disclosure over the money to build the New York City Muslim Community Center.

My concern is that this is a competition between government vs. corporations, and if the corporations paid for your ticket to the big dance they will want payback. Those boys at Ford will not stand for government taking over the competition. We are going to eventually have to take over the toxic mortgage assets in this country to stop the flood of foreclosures. Then the government will own 25% of the housing industry, and they will have resell them into the private market. The Banks will demand some payback from the candidates that they placed in office. They will not stand for revaluing these assets to their true value for fear of a further decline in the price of housing. This is a battle between government operating the roads, postal service, voting machines, and the BMV or some multi-national with their secrecy, profits-over-people mentality overseeing these fundamentals functions of democracy. Do we want "we the people" reviewing our taxes and protecting our diplomats in foreign countries or do we want an overpaid group of rich people?