Morning Joe 1/21/11

Karen Hughes, who worked in the Bush Administration, was on this morning, and she talked about the midterm, the healthcare battle and of course, heated rhetoric. Hughes said something I've heard bandied about lately, that there are loud megaphones in the new online media but no filters. Hughes said it is difficult to read what is on some of the blogs. I would like to recommend a good filter to all those who seem to be new at online media -- don't read the blogs which offend you. Yes, you don't have to read it just because it's on the internet. By not reading the blogs which offend you, it filters out these blogs, thereby making your life and ideology safe from unfiltered attack.

It's clear now that the Tea Party, the diligence of Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, Coulter, Levin and Hannity, whether you hate them, love them or don't care one way or the other, had a definite effect on the midterm results and this has pushed Obama to create a new image in the center. Joe Scarborough and all the liberals and moderates who have been trashing Palin, Beck and co. can't give credit to the TP/Beck/Palin efforts, so they talk about how politically shrewd Obama has become and how he has turned his image around completely. In other words, many liberals and moderates are praising political manipulation but still smearing the ones who have been consistent throughout and who have created pressure to cut spending and prevent a financial collapse. I'm glad Joe and his cohorts have their priorities in order and their values are so clear.

Later in the show, Tommy Lee Jones was on to tak about the movie Company Town and the plight of manufacturing workers being fired and going through awful adjustments in unemployment or underemployment. The implication made by some is that the companies are just throwing the workers out on their asses with an evil heave-ho, that now it's all about numbers on a balance sheet. They didn't take the opportunity to talk about reality in the global market, but this converstation is vital, because things are going to get worse until everyone understands that prices are now set in a global market.

It might sound brave and virtuous to stand up for the worker and praise a GM bailout because it saved good manufacturing jobs, but unless there's a major restructuring, this type of bailout is temporary and it delays the recovery for millions more who didn't get bailed out and are still unemployed. Many of our workers and companies priced themselves out of the global market. This is not about blame -- it's just a fact.

It will take a drastic change in mindset to understand what has to happen. Certain industries can't be favored until their products are priced so high they can't be sold. And even if pay goes down, if prices go down, the worker hasn't necessarily lost anything and could be gaining. A Union worker in Detroit doesn't understand that his paycheck could be lower but his standard of living could improve -- his descretionary spending amount could be higher. If we can bring prices down to be competitive in a global market, all that matters to a worker is what he/she has left over after paying the bills and what the left over amount can buy in the market -- plus healthcare and such. But all these things can adjust to the worker's benefit without continuously receiving a higher rate of pay. It might take deflation to make us competitive again in manufacturing.