A tale of two cities!

Friday – January 28, 2011

A tale of two cities!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities,

When we stop to analyze these words we should consider our time in history. Some do say that it is the best of times. That, of course, depends on if you have a job. Some would say it is the worst of times. That, of course, depends on if you don’t have a job. Some would say it was the age of wisdom. That, of course, depends on what side of the aisle you are on. If you are on the wrong side, then it is truly the age of foolishness, for comparison purpose only.

The new unemployment numbers are out. For the week ending (January 22) new time unemployment claims are 454,000. This was unexpectedly high. It was estimated that the new number would be 408,000. The new number is 50,000 more than expected. A good economy would have about 350,000 job losses in one week, on a four week moving average. According too many economists the normal job movement numbers at that rate would indicate an economy that is building jobs and not loosing them.

This is truly a tale of two cities, because if you are the Head of State, in Washington D.C., you would be saying that jobs are being created. However, if you are a non elected citizen, living in Detroit, you would be saying I got laid off a year ago and I can’t find another job. There are 3.9 million people who are still unemployed. This does not take into account the others who have been unemployed and those whose benefits ran out two years ago.

One might ask: what city has the season of light, because it is still the season of darkness for many, for comparison purpose only.

The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) projects a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit in 2011. They also predicted that normal unemployment numbers of 4.6 % to 5% won’t begin before 2016. I guess that is the spring of hope that we all are waiting for, for comparison purpose only.

The one sided Congressional Crisis Inquiry Commission released their findings on a report that investigated the financial crisis of 2008. They said the “2008 financial crisis could have been avoided. Let us be clear, this calamity was the result of human action, inaction and misjudgment and not of Mother Nature.” However, what they didn’t say is that it was also the huge global capital flows that contributed to the financial bubbles and that government was encouraging home ownership. It was the failure to stop the flow of toxic mortgages and low mortgage standards. In 2007, 1 out of 3 mortgages had down payments of only 3% to qualify. The standard was 20%. What they didn’t say is that in the 70’s under Jimmy Carter the Community Reinvestment Act provided that government backed the mortgages for low income and minority families. This was noble but not economically sound. No matter whom the noisiest authorities are, for comparison purpose only, they are insisting that they be received for the good and that the others are evil.

When we compare who is right and who is wrong, we must remember the history of our objection. I object to a finding that is made public by a one sided panel. This week, I wrote about the 1000 plus panels that the president can go to for findings and get the results that are needed to support a viewpoint and to even re-write history.

I wrote this week about Jeffery Immelt of General Electric, taking the leadership of one such panel, The Counsel on Jobs and Competitiveness. The title of today’s FORUM is “The Tale of Two Cities.” If we are creative with the title, we can stretch it a bit to fit this comparison. The Democrats will always have Halliburton, to demagogue the Republicans, along with Dick Cheney and George Bush, regardless of the truth. For comparison purpose only, let’s make General Electric the Republican’s FORUM for demagoguery. Jeffery Immelt has closed 25 General Electric plants. He has stopped the production of the incandescent light bulb and moved production of the new mercury light bulb to China.

General Electric has the largest PAC (Political Action Committee) and it supports the Democrats. Immelt is a believer in green energy and he has moved GE exclusively in that direction. Immelt is an Obama supporter and contributor. He now heads a commission that will provide documentation in the value and necessity of green jobs.

In the tale of two cities, Washington D.C. and Chicago, the President’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, wants to be Mayor of Chicago. The Illinois Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision and granted that Mr. Emanuel could run for Mayor, after a residency dispute made him ineligible. My money would be on Emanuel becoming Chicago’s next Mayor and it’s next head of the political machine. In the tale of two cities, the connection between Chicago and Washington is still very real.

No matter what the city, the tale of politics will continue to play out until the end of time. Like Dickens wrote, “we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” When you look at the connections of people and their desire to rule, from the standpoint of power, then it truly becomes a winter of despair.

As Dickens writes in the story of “A tale of Two Cities" - "Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis,” will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof," looking up to it, "shuts out the sky."

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: History and the tales of stories can sometimes be fiction. However, we must recognize the difference when fiction becomes fact. There is no comparison between the two.