Karen Ramsburg for Congress!

Hello! My name is Karen Ramsburg and I am running as a 2012 Independent candidate for PA's 9th Congressional district.

I am looking for petition carries to gather signatures so I can get on the Nov. ballot. My campaign website is http://ramsburg4congress.com. I am also on Karen Ramsburg For Congress on facebook.

I look forward to meeting all of you in the near future! If you have questions and would like to support my campaign please email me at info@ramsburg4congress.com.

All the best to you,
Karen

"I talked to Karen this afternoon, and I think she would fit right in with us with her independent, progressive thinking. I'm responsible for publishing the information she included as a comment to our Mission Statement Blog.
Sincerely,
Tony Wagner IV"

Bedford County Progressives - Mission Statement

Bedford County Progressives is a growing network of citizens distressed by growing economic disparities, poverty-level wages, and environmental degradation. We meet regularly in mutual support to address these issues, learn and investigate, and to see where we can have the most effective impact. We feel a sense of civic duty to inform and educate and to take action. We welcome cooperation with other groups and individuals who are interested in the right to livelihood, community empowerment, and points of views beyond those limited by traditional party loyalties.

Letter To The Editor, Bedford Gazette, 2.21.12

The following is a letter published on 2.21.12 in the Bedford Gazette.  I post it in hopes of a wider audience.  Others BCP's may want to do the same.

Letter to the Editor - Bedford Gazette -

I saw a couple of items in the New York Times for Feb. 12, 2012  that complement Elaine Sollenberger’s recent letter, and go to a similar observation -- that those who unthinkingly spout anti-government rhetoric ought to take a look before, out of spite for their faces, they make a bloody mess by slicing off their noses.  

First,  an interactive map on “The Geography of Government Benefits,” shows how much people in each county in the country receive from all government programs, including Social Security, Medicare, VA benefits, food stamps, earned income tax credits, disability, and the like. In Bedford County, the figure is $8827.00 per person per year, almost 29% of total personal income. In both Cambria and Somerset counties, the figures are higher --  $10,262 (31%)  and $9006 (29%). The national average is 17.6% of personal income.

The other item -- also based on the US Census -- was an article, “Even Critics of Safety Net Increasingly Depend on It,” which makes the point that while many people recognize too much is going out compared to what is coming in, pretty much everyone tries to get as much as he can.  In 2010, almost half the people lived in households receiving federal government benefits of some kind.  As recently as 1988, the figure was only 38%.  At the same time, the percentage going to the poorest 20% has declined greatly during the same period.

The point isn’t to deny that we have serious problems, including budget deficits and policies that have greatly increased inequalities over the last 40 years. But aren’t you weary of people reaching out for benefits with one hand, and holding up a sign denouncing the government as a flat-out tyranny with the other?   Candor is a virtue in dealing with our public issues.

Bill Fine

Gasoline Prices

Republicans are fabricating another wedge issue, blaming President Obama for rising gas prices. The link provides the truth about what's really going on!

Frank

2009 Stimulus Debate

I often hear this debate frequently between conservatives and liberals.  Conservatives claim that the 2009 stimulus package failed because it didn't keep unemployment below 8%.  Liberals riposte saying that the stimulus worked it just wasn't big enough.  The recent revisions to GDP numbers of 2008/2009 help support the "stimulus wasn't big enough" argument. 

Initially the first quarter 2009 GDP decline was 5.5%, now the revised numbers indicate a 6.4% decline- meaning the recession was much worse than initially thought.  This helps support the notion that economists didn't realize how bad the 2008 melt down really was.  Many economists would have advoated a bigger stimulus package for 2009 had they known the severity of the decline in economic activity. 

Here is a good report from the WSJ.  

Also check out The Economic Report of the President found here.

Arguments against Austerity

Troubling pieces of economic news have recently called into question government economic policy during this recession:  the International Monetary Fund’s prediction that the entire European economy will continue to shrink in 2012, and recent comparisons showing that the British economy--by growth standards--is doing worse four years into this recession than it did four years into the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Taken together, these stories indicate that government austerity (cutting spending) is not working.  Why doesn't the U.S. learn from Europe's failing attempt at austerity?

The argument against government stimulus is normally that it "crowds out" private spending.  But this process involves government debt levels to push up interest rates.  Since interest rates are already ridiculously low in the U.S., this argument falls apart. 

Another prominent argument against fiscal stimulus is that high debt levels force rates on government bonds to spike.  We are not witnessing that in the U.S. right now, in fact, America can borrow at some of the cheapest interest rates in history as the rate of our 10-year T-bill indicates. 

Here is an excellent peice discussing why our govenrment should be doing more to help the ailing economy.  The graph is very interesting, in that it shows the decline in state/local spending which is one reason why the economy isn't recovering as quickly.