US ECONOMIC MODEL A FAILURE


Freedom In The United States - Analysis Of The First Amendment


       " No other democratic society in the world permits personal 
freedoms to the degree of the United States of America.   Within the 
last sixty years, American courts, especially the Supreme Court, have 
developed a set of legal doctrines that thoroughly protect all forms 
of the freedom of expression.   When it comes to evaluating the degree 
to which we take advantage of the opportunity to express our opinions, 
some members of society may be guilty of violating the bounds of the 
First Amendment by publicly offending others through obscenity or 
racism.   Americans have developed a distinct disposition toward the 
freedom of expression throughout history.
        The First Amendment clearly voices a great American respect 
toward the freedom of religion.   It also prevents the government from 
"abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the 
people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a 
redress of grievances."   Since the early history of our country, the 
protection of basic freedoms has been of the utmost importance to 
Americans.   
        In Langston Hughes' poem, "Freedom," he emphasizes the 
struggle to enjoy the freedoms that he knows are rightfully his.   He 
reflects the American desire for freedom now when he says, "I do not 
need my freedom when I'm dead.   I cannot live on tomorrow's bread."   
He recognizes the need for freedom in its entirety without compromise 
or fear.
        Langston Hughes captures the essence of the American 
immigrants' quest for freedom in his poem, "Freedom's Plow."   He 
accurately describes American's as arriving with nothing but dreams 
and building America with the hopes of finding greater freedom or 
freedom for the first time.   He depicts how people of all backgrounds 
worked together for one cause:   freedom."

The above was quoted from CyberEssays
 

 


However,  as the UMBRELLAWALK is showing --  Freedom for the US people as well as for all of mankind is just a myth.


  The US is a not a great economic engine. The truth is that the US economy is a debt ridden prison of the mind and body providing no great prosperity and luxury as it is tied to an enormous burden of debt on the shoulders of the future children of the nation.


Myths about the U.S. Economic Model 
by Mark Weisbrot



The Great Recession is allowing some widely held beliefs about the U.S. economy -- which were the source of much evangelism over the last few decades -- to run up against a reality check.  This is to be expected, since the United States has been the epicenter of the storm of policy blunders that caused the world recession.  This month my CEPR colleagues John Schmitt and Nathan Lane showed that the United States is not the nation of small businesses that it is regularly dressed up to be for electoral campaign speeches and editorials.  If we look at what percentage of our overall labor force is self-employed, or what percentage of manufacturing workers or high-tech workers are employed in small businesses -- well, the U.S. ranks at or near the bottom among high-income countries.

As economist Paul Krugman noted after reading the study, "one more American myth bites the dust."  Indeed it has.  And as both the authors of the paper and Krugman note, there is a plausible explanation for the United States' low score in the small business contest: our lack of national health insurance.  There are enough risks associated with choosing to start a business over being an employee, but the Europeans don't have to worry that they will go bankrupt for lack of health insurance.

A number of other alleged advantages of America's "economic dynamism" are also mythical.  Most people think that there is more economic mobility in America than in Europe.  Guess again: we're also near the bottom of rich countries in this category, for example as measured by the percentage of low-income households that escape from this status each year.  The idea that the United States is more "internationally competitive" has been without economic foundation for decades, as measured by the most obvious indicator: our trade deficit, which peaked at 6 percent of GDP in 2006.  (It has fallen sharply from its peak during this recession but will rebound strongly when the economy recovers).  And of course the idea that our less regulated, more "market-friendly," financial system was more innovative and efficient -- widely held by our leading experts and policy-makers such as Alan Greenspan, until recently -- collapsed along with our $8 trillion housing bubble.

On the other hand, most Americans pay a high price for the institutional arrangements that bring us these mythical successes.  We have the dubious honor of being the only "no-vacation nation,"  i.e. no legally required paid time off and of course some weeks fewer actual days off per year than our European counterparts enjoy.  We have a broken health care system that costs about twice as much per capita as that of our peer nations and delivers worse outcomes, as measured by life expectancy or infant mortality.  We are near the top in terms of inequality among high-income countries; and at the bottom for parental leave policies and paid sick days.  The list is a long one.

Yet it was just two years ago that Nicholas Sarkozy successfully won the presidency of France by arguing that the French could not afford their welfare state and had to adopt a series of reforms that would make the French economy more "dynamic" like that of the United States.  These included tax cuts for the rich and labor law changes that would make it easier for employers to fire people.  Many French are now sorry they voted for this guy and very glad that they have more protection than most Americans have from the ravages of the recession.  Of course they could also use a larger economic stimulus, but the fact that they don't have one is due to the neoliberal policies of their own government and those of the European Union, especially the European Central Bank.

There is another area where the comparison between the American and European model has serious implications for the future of the planet: that is climate change.  "Old Europe" uses about half as much energy per capita as the United States does.  A big part of this difference is because Europeans, in recent decades, have taken much more of their productivity gains in the form of increased leisure time, rather than working the same (or longer) hours in order to consume more.

We estimated that the U.S. would consume about 20 percent less energy if it had the work hours of the EU-15.    This would have a significant impact on world carbon emissions.  Furthermore, when the world economy recovers, there are a number of middle-income countries that will approach high-income status in the not-too-distant future (South Korea and Taiwan are already there).  Whether they choose the American or the European model will have an even bigger impact on global climate change.

The major media in both Europe and the United States have played an important role, for decades, in helping politicians capitalize on economic mythology to push policy in economic and socially destructive directions on both sides of the Atlantic.  It remains to be seen how much the Great Recession will influence the thinking and reporting of these influential institutions.


Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, D.C.  He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. He is co-author, with Dean Baker, of Social Security: The Phony Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 2000), and has written numerous research papers on economic policy.  He is also president of Just Foreign Policy.  This column was first published by the Guardian on 13 August 2009 and republished on the CEPR Web site under a Creative Commons license. 

 



Here below is a quote from the First Chief Justice of the United States, who was appointed September 26, 1789 by President Washington.  John Jay (December 12, 1745 - May 17, 1829) was an American politician, statesman revolutionary, diplomat, Founding Father of the United States, President of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779 and, from 1789 to 1795, the first Chief Justice of the United States.  During and after the American Revolution, he was a minister (ambassador) to Spain and France, helping to fashion United States Foreign Policy and to secure favorable peace terms from the British (the Jay Treaty) and French.  He co-wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.


"The people who own the country ought to govern it."





“No power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent.”

JAY, John, (1745 - 1829)

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Quote courtesy of the Library of Congress:

JAY, John, a Delegate from New York; born in New York City December 12, 1745; attended a boarding school in New Rochelle, N.Y., and was graduated from King’s College (now Columbia University) in 1764; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1768; served on the New York committee of correspondence; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1776 and 1778-1779; recalled some months in 1777 to aid in forming the New York State constitution; appointed chief justice of the State of New York in May 1777 but resigned December 1778 to become President of the Continental Congress and served in that capacity from December 10, 1778, to September 28, 1779; appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain September 27, 1779; appointed one of the ministers to negotiate peace with Great Britain June 14, 1781, and signed the Treaty of Paris; appointed one of the ministers to negotiate treaties with the European powers May 1, 1783; returned to New York in 1784; appointed
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs July 1784, which position he held until the establishment of the Federal Government in 1789; appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States by President Washington September 26, 1789, and served until June 29, 1795, when he resigned; unsuccessful Federal candidate for Governor of New York in 1792; appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain April 19, 1794, and served until April 8, 1795, still retaining his position as Chief Justice of the United States; Governor of New York 1795-1801; declined reelection and also a reappointment as Chief Justice of the United States; retired to his farm at Bedford, near New York City, where he died May 17, 1829; interment in the family burying ground at Rye, N.Y.

Bibliography

Johnston, Henry P., ed. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay. New York: B. Franklin, 1970; Stahr, Walter. John Jay: Founding Father. London: Hambledon Press, 2005



"THE PROBLEM WE FACE IN TODAY'S WORLD is that a small Elite group of people who run and control our nations have employed a system of democracy and capitalism which enslaves mankind and ensures that all men are indebted to the system.  This ensures that for most people property ownership is a risky if not impossible dream.  Any property that is owned by the people is always at the risk of being indebted by others and eventually taken.  One reason this defiant and evil system exists, is that the people do not govern their country.  The Country is governed by private clubs of Elite people hiding in the corners of our countries.   It appears that the advice offered by our founders of our nations such as Justice John Jay, a Supreme Court Judge, carries much Truth and it should be taken and upheld"  

Harj Gill March 2010


"THE DECLINE OF THE US ECONOMIC MODEL IS APPARENT AS IS THE TRUTH OF THE EROSION OF THE FREEDOMS ONCE DREAMED OF BY THE FOUNDING FATHERS.

THE ECONOMIC MODEL HAS POISONED THE FORTUNES ONCE DREAMED BY THE PEOPLE AND NOW THE PEOPLE ARE LESS FREE AND MORE ENSLAVED.  THEIR HEARTS FULL OF FEAR AND SUSPICION TRUSTING NEITHER THEIR FAMILY, FRIENDS, NOR NEIGHBOURS.  THIS IS THE AMERICA THAT WE SEE, THIS IS THE AMERICA IN DECLINE

THIS IS THE AMERICA - A MODEL OF FAILURE"

HARJ GILL March 2010





NOW LISTEN TO JOHNNY CASH " I AM THE NATION"

"I offer freedom to the oppressed"

"May I be a beacon of hope for the world"







LISTEN TO " SONG OF A PATRIOT" 







UMBRELLA WALK


WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE TRUTH IS PRACTICED BY MAN

 

 

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