An Open Letter to Joe Biden
Hi Joe, Jim Freeman here, a staunch supporter now that you’re in the wheelhouse of American government. That’s been a long-term goal of yours and I congratulate you, but we need to talk. You’re in danger of losing the whole shebang, not because you don’t have a great program, but because you’re pushing and pulling the levers that once ran Washington politics and they no longer rule. I thought you might have noticed how Donald broke the machinery. Case in point, your $3.5 trillion recovery program, which is essentially a Green New Deal, no matter what you care to call it. You see Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema as problems, Joe. They’re not even the beginning of problems and you’re wasting time and energy. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind. Hear Me out.
The Green New Deal remains highly popular, enjoying a 31-percentage-point margin of voter support. This includes nearly all Democrats, a majority of Independents, and over one-third of Republicans. Jesus, Joe, that’s way more than what you won by and you’re leaving that advantage lying on the pavement, gasping for breath. Why isn’t the American public out in the streets nationally, as well as in West Virginia and Arizona?
Because no one has explained that the $3.5 trillion that has them scared and quiet, is money in their pockets. No one has told them there are two kinds of national debt: the kind that keeps the lights on and the kind that invests in assets.
Case in point: useless wars are not an asset. They leave nothing behind of value, only rubble and misery. Yet we blew $10 trillion (and counting) on wars, and no one even made a good case for why.
Voters wonder how we pay for it. Print the money. Every economist in the country agrees that printing money for wars weakens the economy and increases inflation. But printing money for assets, like improving roads and schools, fixing our dilapidated electric grid (Texas and California, listen up), and investing heavily in renewable energy, as well as getting citizens back to work at union wages, strengthens the economy and repays three bucks for every dollar invested. There’s no advertising campaign, Joe. And I don’t mean your heartfelt messages from the Oval Office, I’m talking Madison Avenue. Talk about a hard-sell, try palming off $10 sneakers for $150 and then getting those customers to pay double for a tee-shirt or jacket with a swoosh on it. Nike did it and there wasn’t an American job in the manufacture. The Joe Biden swoosh is built, installed, operated and maintained by Americans in America, Joe. Let Manchin in West Virginia and Sinema in Arizona try to sell their voters on why they shouldn’t bother to be part of the reconstruction of their country. You need the best ads Madison Avenue can create, pounding away on Fox News, Facebook, Google and every other available media outlet. The 2020 election spent $14 billion on ads. Find the money, Joe. We’re in the middle of a national (and international) emergency. The least we can do is get the message out. The worst we can do is allow a bunch of self-serving politicians to water down the final bill, then lose your razor-thin majority in the 2022 mid-term elections and wonder what should have been done better. There is no second chance, my friend and perhaps no second term. Truman had “the buck stops here” on his Oval Office desk. You just need a note in your desk-drawer, to read when things look tough. “Nike can sell $10 sneakers for $150, and I can sell this program.” Then dial up the ad agencies. Get a one-percenter to pay for it. Or print the money. What the hell, life is short. Yours, with every good wish and continued support, Jim Freeman
Image Credit: NPR