Sounding The Economy Alarm

Suddenly everyone is talking about how bad the economy is doing. Most American workers have felt it at the pump or the grocery store. Many of us have been cutting back on nonessentials since the first rumblings back in May. Today however a noticeable change has taken place. The President of the United States of America has pushed the panic button. Even Senator McCain got in on the action by suspending his campaign and canceling Friday’s debate. I’m pretty sure he’s going to regret that move.  

On the television and radio the economy is the topic of the day. Here in California the Governor is threatening lawmakers with cutting their pay for not passing budgets. Mayor Villaraigosa is talking about a 120 million dollar budget deficit.  What has really changed in the last few days? The answer is…. President Bush pushed the panic button.   

I remember while on vacation in Tahiti in 1994 a woman from Club Med rang the church bell as a joke. Suddenly villagers ran out into the streets to see what was happening. The rope, just hanging there was too tempting to pass up. She was the center of attention. She said she didn’t expect it to be that loud. That’s what this reminds me of. 

President Bush has never shown much mastery of domestic issues. Like his father before him he always tried to convince a weary public that the economy was expanding, when all indications were that it wasn’t.  If he seemed out-of-touch it was because he was optimistic when everyone knew better. Remember his astonishment at hearing gas would soon hit $4 per gallon. Imagine an oil-man being unaware of the price of a gallon of gas. Everyone else was only too familiar with the pain at the pump. 

This time however is different. He looked more like a sweaty Richard Nixon than a calm John F. Kennedy. His insistence that the market would suffer without passage of his bailout dared naysayers to dig in their heels to find out. 

A friend emailed his congressman to express his opposition to the bailout. I did the same thing. In fact I called the congressman’s office as well. If you took the Presidential Address as a call to action I would like to hear from you. I’m glad I made my son watch the Presidential Address. This was an historic event. Presidents don’t usually risk an all out panic. 

Green Economy Forum in LA

The Los Angeles Apollo Alliance. S.C.O.P.E. L.A., and the AD47 Environmental Commission will be presenting a Green Economy Forum at Dorsey High School on April 12th from 10am to 12pm. Guest speakers will include Assembly Speaker-Elect Karen Bass, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, DWP CEO and General Manager, David Nahai, Los Angeles City Councilmember Herb Wesson and others. The new Green Economy is emerging in California and will create thousands of jobs through new technologies to clean our communities and the environment. State Lawmakers and Gressroots, Labor and Environmental Leaders will come together to discuss how to ensure inner city communities benefit from these jobs and new technologies, and what best practices can be implemented. You are invited to attend and participate in the planning. For more information please call (323) 789-7920.