tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72208188185057589222024-02-20T03:38:06.299-05:00grape_musingPolitics, media, economy.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-63677401458530816182014-04-21T13:33:00.004-04:002014-04-21T13:34:49.500-04:00The Skills-Education-Employment Dodge<div id="intro">
What sounds like a bit of good news was announced <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-biden-announce-600m-job-grants-23341940?singlePage=true">announced Wednesday</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
Emphasizing skills training as key to a growing middle
class, President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced $600 million in
competitive grants to spur creation of targeted training and
apprenticeship programs to help people land good-paying jobs.</blockquote>
The programs look like good news; $500 million for a competition
involving colleges and businesses to see who can create innovative job
training programs and another $100 million for expanding existing
apprenticeship programs...all without having to involve Congress, as it
uses money already allocated for spending. It's all being presented as a
couple of mid-to-long term actions that will help fight poverty:
<br />
<blockquote>
...9 out of 10 apprentices end up in jobs that pay average starting salaries of above $50,000 a year.</blockquote>
It's also evidence of positive forward motion in a tough political
environment, which we've had precious little of, thanks to a
recalcitrant Congress chock full of Republicans and Dems <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/14/1292085/-DINO-New-Scientific-Study-Says-Yes-But-It-s-Not-What-You-Think">who no longer really represent the majority of US citizens</a>.
I <i>should</i> be happy because actions like this could make a
positive impact in people's lives; it's hard to argue against increased
funding for any sort of expansion of education that can widen a
individual's sphere of opportunity. This is especially important
considering that <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/eye-collegeuniversity-enrollment-dropped/">it's been tougher to get an education as of late:</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
...between 2007 and 2013, there was no meaningful departure
from the long term trend, but that by 2014, enrollment was substantially
below the long-run trend. This drop in enrollment rates is worrisome,
particularly to the extent that it is due to students being forced to
drop out of school, or never enter, either because the lack of decent
work in the weak recovery meant they could not put themselves through
school or because their parents were unable to help them pay for school
due to their own income or wealth losses during the Great Recession and
its aftermath.</blockquote>
Yes, <a href="http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/ideas_summit/Redefining_College_Affordability.pdf">ever-increasing costs</a>
(.pdf) are a huge barrier to getting an education or training, and the
bulk of those costs are borne by individuals, either out-of-pocket or in
the form of taxes.<sup>0</sup>
But something's nagging at me, keeping me from seeing this news as an entirely <i>good thing</i>. I look at the announcement of these programs and think, "good, but where are these newly-skilled people going to work?"<br />
(please join me below the fold)</div>
<div class="divider-doodle">
</div>
The problem with all this is emphasis on education and vocational training is that education really doesn't solve the core <i>problem</i>, which is employment and <a href="http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2013/august/part-time-work-employment-increase-recession/">underemployment</a><sup>1</sup> at <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/26/2524431/falling-wages-help-explain-spreading-labor-unrest/">wages that are stagnant</a><sup>2</sup>
and/or insufficient to live on. The productivity gains of the past few
decades are not being passed along to the workers who are <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/a-decade-of-flat-wages-the-key-barrier-to-shared-prosperity-and-a-rising-middle-class/">at least partially responsible for making the gains happen</a>.<sup>3</sup><br />
The current conventional wisdom, however, identifies some vague
references to weak educational achievement or a 'skills gap' as being a
barrier to Americans' financial security and their ability to compete in
a global labor market.<sup>4</sup> This so-called skills gap is <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/unemployment-schools-wages-mythical-skills/">largely a myth unsupported by evidence</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
• The ratio of unfilled jobs to unemployed workers today is
quite low by historical standards. There are always unfilled jobs,
because workers leave and employers have not yet had time or opportunity
to hire replacements. This is a frictional, not structural, phenomenon.
There are very few, if any, jobs today that remain unfilled because
employers cannot find workers with the needed skills.
• Today’s long term unemployed have skills comparable to those of
recently laid-off workers “who quickly find new jobs.” The long-term
unemployed face a shortage of demand for their labor, not skill
requirements beyond their education and training.<br />
• If there really were a skills shortage, we would expect to see
wages increasing in job categories where skills are allegedly in short
supply. But such wages are not increasing.</blockquote>
At best, programs like the ones announced Wednesday allow individuals to
be on par with their similarly-skilled counterparts already in the
labor market when competing for a job. Train and educate as many people
as you can (or cannot) afford to; it's not going to make one whit of
difference if either the jobs aren't there or the jobs don't pay well
enough to maintain a fair standard of living.<sup>5</sup> If the jobs <i>were</i> there, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/31/3420987/college-degree-minimum-wage/">we wouldn't be seeing</a>:
<br />
<blockquote>
...260,000 Americans with bachelor’s degrees earning the
federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less in 2013, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics’ newest annual snapshot of minimum wage
workers. Another 200,000 associate’s degree holders also worked for that
wage.
These figures are sure to understate the total number of people with
higher education degrees who are working minimum wage jobs because data
does not factor in state minimum wage laws that are higher than the
federal floor. That means that likely thousands of workers in the 21
states with higher minimum pay rates are likely also degree-holders.</blockquote>
Or that, <a href="http://www.epi.org/blog/long-term-unemployment-elevated-education/">overall</a>:
<br />
<blockquote>
The long-term unemployment rate is between 2.9 and 4.3 times as high now as it was six years ago for <i>all</i>
age, education, occupation, industry, gender, and racial and ethnic
groups. Today’s long-term unemployment crisis is not at all confined to
unlucky or inflexible workers who happen to be looking for work in
specific occupations or industries where jobs aren’t available.
Long-term unemployment is elevated in every group, in every occupation,
in every industry, at all levels of education.</blockquote>
At worst, this competition among workers is another rationale given for reduced wages, <i>especially</i> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/28/how-the-recession-turned-middle-class-jobs-into-low-wage-jobs/">in the middle wage tier</a> which is vocational training's sweet spot, jobs-wise:
<br />
<blockquote>
Mid-wage occupations, paying between $13.83 and $21.13<sup>6</sup>
per hour, made up about 60 percent of the job losses during the
recession. But those mid-wage jobs have made up just 27 percent of the
jobs gained during the recovery. [...]
That's put downward pressure on wages: "[M]any middle-class workers
have lost their jobs and, if they have been able to secure new
employment at all, find themselves earning far lower wages
post-recession," the San Francisco Fed notes.</blockquote>
The counter-intuitive result of funding educational opportunity <i>only</i>
may very well be less work and lower wages for everyone, not more and
higher. This is especially worrisome, considering how the jobs covered
under "training and apprenticeship" are <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/12/inequality-is-rising-should-we-blame-robots-or-the-government-or-both/">not really the ones being created right now</a>:
<br />
<blockquote>
The result is a growth in occupations that are hard to
automate, which tend to either be very menial and low-paying (such as
janitorial labor) or high-paying but requiring considerable skills (like
computer programming). So as the middle of the distribution gets carved
out, the low and top ends grow.<sup>7</sup></blockquote>
Given all this data - and it's not all <i>new</i> data; we've known
this information for a while - why are we still being led to believe
that un-, under-, and ungainful employment are education problems that
requires 'reforming' the public school system and spending millions on
job training programs? It smells more like a dodge and a distraction
from making the real reforms needed in taxation, regulation, and the
labor market. Tweaking funding for education or blaming an
near-imaginary skills gap or closing public schools and opening charter
schools is not going to solve the problems we're facing, regardless of
how well they play on television and certain intellectual circles.
A skills gap is one of those zombie lies that is easily accepted by
the economic and business elite, while a 'failed education system that
doesn't prepare students for jobs' plays well to the conservative free
market and anti-government set. Of course, provision of more funding for
education and training is an easy sell to academics and most of us
lefties, who highly value education anyway...but feeling good aside,
putting the emphasis on a near-imaginary skills gap <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/krugman-jobs-and-skills-and-zombies.html">is a distraction and a misdirection of blame</a>:<br />
<blockquote>
The point is that influential people move in circles in
which repeating the skills-gap story — or, better yet, writing about
skill gaps in media outlets like Politico — is a badge of seriousness,
an assertion of tribal identity. And the zombie shambles on.
Unfortunately, the skills myth — like the myth of a looming debt
crisis — is having dire effects on real-world policy. Instead of
focusing on the way disastrously wrongheaded fiscal policy and
inadequate action by the Federal Reserve have crippled the economy and
demanding action, important people piously wring their hands about the
failings of American workers.<br />
Moreover, by blaming workers for their own plight, the skills myth
shifts attention away from the spectacle of soaring profits and bonuses
even as employment and wages stagnate. Of course, that may be another
reason corporate executives like the myth so much.</blockquote>
Moreover, as nice as increasing funding for educational initiatives like
the ones announced Wednesday will not have the desired impact; policies
like those aren't effective without other changes to government
policies and <a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/04/wolf-richter-structural-unemployment-crisis.html">private sector behavior that keeps this from happening</a>:
<br />
<blockquote>
It’s as if companies had been using the last two recessions
as an excuse to make their workforce more flexible, using people only
when absolutely needed, on irregular schedules, and keeping them on
stand-by the rest of the time. This is a powerful tool in bringing
payroll expenses down. It makes the company look awesome on paper. It
wreaks havoc on the lives and incomes of workers and is terrible for the
overall economy.</blockquote>
But those things are hard-hard-hard to turn around, considering that our
current state is the result of economic policy changes starting back in
the late 1970's and early 80's. We no longer seem to understand the
social utility of having vibrant unions or the value of having
economically patriotic policies in place that benefit the majority of US
citizens. We've almost never as a country have been truly united, but
it seems as if we entirely lost our way as a single nation.
<br />
<br />
--------------footnotes/comments/more links-------------<br />
<sup>0</sup>used to be that a company would find and hire a good
person first and then put him or her through some form of paid
training...whatever happened to the practice of companies paying to
train their employees?<br />
<sup>1</sup> see <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/great-recession-part-time-jobs">here</a> and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/great-recession-part-time-jobs">here</a> and <a href="http://stateofworkingamerica.org/charts/number-of-underemployed/">this chart here</a> for a little more on underemployment.<br />
<sup>2</sup> stagnant/decreasing <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/21/heres-where-wages-have-been-stagnating-since-1970/">since the 70's</a>, but <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/26/2524431/falling-wages-help-explain-spreading-labor-unrest/">recessions have their effects</a>.<br />
<sup>3</sup> The other part being robots and better technology...which
falls short as an explanation, given that other countries such as
Germany had similar tech improvements and didn't hulk-smash their middle
and working classes like the US has. It's more due to the decline of
unions and unwillingness to pay for a decent standard of civilization.<br />
<sup>4</sup><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2013/12/03/we_need_to_stop_letting_china_cheat_on_international_education_rankings.html">international comparisons don't work</a>;
comparing Singapore to the entire US is like comparing Massachusetts'
test scores to those of all of Russia...not to mention that
globally-average test results for American students <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/03/why-its-never-mattered-that-americas-schools-lag-behind-other-countries-2013-edition/">may not matter all that much anyway</a>.<br />
<sup>5</sup>put into perspective, $21.13 is around $44K/year...the
President's mention of jobs that are 'above $50K/year' is roughly $24-25
dollars an hour...not exactly the same, but not so different as to be
dissimilar.<br />
<sup>6</sup>which is not the same as saying education level is irrelevant; people with post-secondary education <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Earnings-Gap-Narrows-but/142175/">make more money overall</a> and <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cbc.asp">are unemployed less</a>
than those who don't have a degree. It does, and you will fare better
as an individual in the cutthroat job market if you have the education
and skills that your peers don't.<br />
<sup>7</sup> those high-paying-high-skill jobs - saying this based on
personal experience - tend to be outsourced overseas; 70% of the
software dev people I work with are not located in the US.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-38663485765161537622014-01-08T18:02:00.004-05:002014-01-08T19:00:21.545-05:00The Ark and the Intersection of Faith, Politics, and FinanceAfter engaging in a quick bit of schadenfreude over the probable failure of the fundamentalist Answers in Genesis (AiG) ministry's - yes, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answers_in_Genesis">they're the same organization</a> who gave us the Creation Museum - <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/has-the-ark-park-run-aground-ky-biblical-theme-park-has-only-weeks-to-raise">to keep its very-behind-schedule</a> "<a href="http://arkencounter.com/">Ark Encounter" theme park</a> from sinking, the more settled side of me started thinking.
The constitutionality of using public financing to promote religious dogma aside, how does something like this get such strong support on little more than overly optimistic promises of future benefits?
<a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2010/12/02/1548034/creation-museum-to-get-wooden.html">Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced the kickoff of the project back in 2010</a>, providing the following estimates of what it means for tiny <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamstown,_Kentucky">Williamstown </a> and the rest of Kentucky:<blockquote>The project is expected to create more than 900 full- and part-time jobs after its completion and attract 1.6 million visitors in the first year, with the number increasing after five years.
Beshear said the park could have a $214 million economic impact in the first year and bring $250 million into the state by the fifth year.</blockquote>Looks good, right?
Here's why those estimates were probably too optimistic.
Since it hasn't been built yet, it's tough for anyone to say exactly how attendance will pan out, but there's a couple of more recent examples indicating the numbers Governor Beshear used in 2010 are overblown.
First up are the attendance numbers for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Kingdom">Kentucky Kingdom</a> amusement park, which <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MEpeyqjV1Y">at its peak in 1998-99 never got over 1.4 million visitors</a>. Second are the not-so-strong attendance numbers from AiG's aforementioned Creation Museum; reported attendance in 2012 was 254,074, <a href="http://citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-26546-creation_museum_atte.html">lowest in four years of steady decline</a>, despite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_Museum#Expansions">additions</a> to the museum, with a corresponding drop in revenue.<blockquote>On its 2011 federal income tax return, Answers in Genesis reported a 5 percent drop in museum revenue to $5.1 million. Worse, AIG slumped to its first-ever financial loss - $540,218. As of deadline for CityBeat's print edition, AIG hadn't provided financial results for fiscal 2012, which ended June 30. </blockquote>
But...900 jobs when completed, right? Given its three-year delay, the finished park is <a href="http://arkencounter.com/park-map/">only concept drawings</a> at this time, accessed by clicking "Future Phases" link from the Ark Encounter's home page. <a href="http://wfae.org/post/funding-could-dry-kentuckys-noahs-ark-theme-park">Of the namesake Ark attraction itself</a>,
<blockquote>It was originally slated for completion this spring, when $37 million worth of tax breaks offered by the state are set to expire. Now, with construction still not started on Ark Encounter, the earliest it could be finished is 2016, AIG says. </blockquote><em>If</em> the planned expansion materializes, it won't be until some unknown point in the future and employment will be mainly low-wage menial service jobs <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140107/BUSINESS/301070086/With-7-000-applications-hand-Kentucky-Kingdom-suspends-summer-hiring-process">consistent with other theme parks</a>. Given this, the estimation of economic impact is suspect. Admittedly, some of this is hindsight given Beshear's announcement was in 2010, but enough information was there to raise some warning flags. <a href="http://insiderlouisville.com/news/2011/05/23/profits-of-doom-how-the-politics-of-the-ark-park-killed-kentucky-kingdom/">Probably the most telling flag was ignored</a>:<blockquote>If the Ark Park is such a good deal, why didn't any other state want it? Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio already turned down versions of the park, but not Kentucky.</blockquote>
It's at this point that the political environment comes into play. Despite its substantial representation of Democratic politicians, Kentucky is at best purple in its overall complexion. If Democrats want to maintain their representation (even improve upon it, given the upcoming Senate race between Alison Lundergan Grimes and probably Mitch McConnell) they need to win outside of Louisville. This means courting more <a href="http://insiderlouisville.com/news/2011/05/23/profits-of-doom-how-the-politics-of-the-ark-park-killed-kentucky-kingdom/">conservative voters in smaller districts</a>.<blockquote>Beshear doesn't care about the numbers or Louisville. He cares how the Ark Experience plays in Owensboro, Somerset, Corbin, Covington and Pikeville.
Beshear is using the Ark deal to drive a wedge between David Williams' religious base in eastern, northern and western Kentucky. We can hear the governor now: "Yeah, I know I have a big-city Jewish mayor (sort of) running with me, but I want to show you all with this Ark Park how I'm one of you." (Wink, wink.)
As far as politics goes, it's a pretty interesting development, one that could turn Beshear into a two-term governor. Louisville's a gimme, so we're not getting squat.
By appealing to the religious preferences of ultra-conservative voters outside the big metros, Beshear is vying to block any attempt by Williams to take those voters for granted. That forces Williams to put resources into courting voters who should already be firmly planted in his camp, and that wastes Williams' time and money.</blockquote>This sort of gamesmanship <a href="https://au.org/media/press-releases/kentucky-legislature-should-delete-budget-funding-to-benefit-%E2%80%98ark-park%E2%80%99-says">wastes money budgeted for infrastructure that could be spent elsewhere</a> and explains why the Ark Encounter project received <a href="http://insiderlouisville.com/news/2011/05/23/profits-of-doom-how-the-politics-of-the-ark-park-killed-kentucky-kingdom/">more favorable consideration from the state than the once-successful Kentucky Kingdom</a> theme park. From 2011: <blockquote>A few months ago, Ed Hart, Kentucky Kingdom entrepreneur and the park's original "baby daddy," went to the state with a plan to reopen the regional amusement park, which Dallas-based Six Flags Inc. abandoned in a 2009 bankruptcy.
The ambitious plan included a little matter of the state guaranteeing $50 million in bond issues Hart says it will take to reopen Kentucky Kingdom.
What Hart got from legislators including Rep. Larry Clark, (Dem., Louisville), wasn't just "no," but "hell no." The governor never weighed in publicly.
So, Hart is negotiating with Metro Mayor Greg Fischer on a more modest $20 million proposal.
Yet, last week, the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority voted unanimously to grant Ark Encounter more than $40 million in tax rebates.</blockquote>But again, that's all pretty much in the past; Kentucky Kingdom is set to be opened back up this year while Ark Encounter is...still seeking funding. To that effect, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-21/noahs-ark-replica-financed-by-unrated-muni-bonds">AiG partnered with the town of Williamstown to generate a $62 million dollar bond offering</a> intended to keep the project afloat. <blockquote>The town is offering the securities on behalf of Answers in Genesis, a Christian nonprofit that operates the Creation Museum 48 miles away in Petersburg. Bond documents project the Williamstown venue will attract at least 1.2 million visitors in its first year.
Investors who buy $100,000 of the securities, which are not tax-exempt, will get a lifetime family pass to the park, bond documents show. </blockquote>
A poor history of repayment for unrated municipal bonds in general combined with <a href="http://www.arkbonds.com/files/Executive_Summary.pdf">offering documents</a> that are less than encouraging <em>and</em> biblically-inspired has caused would-be investors to shy away; reportedly, no institutional investors have purchased the bonds. At the start of the new year, AiG and Williamstown are <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-03/noah-s-ark-risks-collapse-without-bond-buyers-by-february.html">still around $29 million dollars away</a> from what's necessary:<blockquote>Even though $26.5 million of securities have been sold, the project needs to sell at least $55 million in total to avoid triggering a redemption of all the bonds, Ken Ham, the nonprofit's president, said in an e-mail to supporters yesterday. Without the proceeds, construction funding will fall short, he said.</blockquote>This bond offering is in addition to other forms of financial incentives provided by the city and state:<blockquote>The state also agreed to an $11 million interchange upgrade at the KY-36 Williamstown exit off I-75; about $200,000 has been spent on design so far, according to Transportation Department officials.
The city of Williamstown agreed to give the project a property tax discount of 75 percent over the next 30 years, and the Grant County Industrial Development Authority gave them almost $200,000 to keep the project located there, along with 100 acres of reduced-price land.</blockquote><a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140104/NEWS01/301040068/Noah-s-Ark-biblical-theme-park-project-risks-collapsing-without-more-bond-buyers">The project's founder and AiG president is apparently in panic mode</a></a>.<blockquote>"We still need those Ark supporters who weren't able to purchase the Ark bonds at closing to prayerfully consider participating in a secondary bond delivery at the level they had indicated to us," Ham said. "Will you please step out in faith with us?" [...]
"The associated complications and struggles have been beyond our control," said Ham, who cited impediments such as atheists registering for the offering and disrupting it. "I urge you to please prayerfully consider the options and help us get this bond offering completed."</blockquote>There <em>is</em> time for someone to come in and purchase those unrated bonds offered by the small town of Williamstown and its taxpayers to allow the Ark Encounter theme park to be built. It's not unimaginable that some wealthy interests with a Christian predisposition will take on this debt at the last minute as a demonstration of devotion. There is such a thing as <em>faith</em>.
There's also such a thing as a sucker being born every minute.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-31923573194962340902013-12-11T09:49:00.002-05:002013-12-11T10:01:15.223-05:00An Increase to the Minimum Wage is InevitableTypical answers as to <em>why</em> we should increase the minimum wage include boosting the economy and reducing the overall poverty level. Raising the minimum wage <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/-/rtmw/uploads/Memo-Public-Support-Raising-Minimum-Wage.pdf?nocdn=1">is even popular with a majority of Americans</a>, regardless of political affiliation. Those reasons <em>should</em> be enough justification to make it happen...
<p>
...But they aren't enough, are they? Despite some victories <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/minimum-wage-victories-build-momentum-2014-8C11545198">here</a> and <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/15-minimum-wage-measure-survives-2D11718787">there</a>, we see slow or <em>no</em> change because there are certain interests who, <a href="http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/why-we-should-not-raise-the-minimum-wage/">for fiscal and/or ideological reasons</a>, will never accept evidence contradicting what they think they already know. They will not believe that paying people a livable wage is a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/opinion/krugman-raise-that-wage.html">good thing for everyone</a> and <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/26/590571/top-three-myths-conservatives-use-to-oppose-increasing-the-minimum-wage/">does not impact employment or the economy</a> in a greatly negative manner.
<p>
Combine that with the reality of our political system; too divided and dysfunctional, unable to do anything that's considered controversial, even if said controversy is mostly imagined or fabricated to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/07/immigration-reform-is-dead-for-the-year-top-gop-reformer-says/">push back against</a> <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-09-18/opinion/ct-oped-0919-milbank-20130919_1_gun-control-president-barack-obama-monday-morning">necessary and good changes</a> in policy....and we don't have a single shared source of truth in our media who either can or is willing to judge the veracity of an argument and no mutually-respected leaders who can give the nation the 'come to Jesus' talk we need in order to get our collective head on straight.
<p>
That's all a recipe for minor or <em>no</em> action and a means to preserve the status quo just a little while longer so the quarterly earnings report is positive and executive management can make their bonuses larger and stock more valuable before cashing out. Such inaction satisfies the small-c conservative impulse to both preserve wealth and hinder change until reality's ticking clock dictates otherwise.
<p>
So, given that tendency toward inertia, what makes an increase to the minimum wage <em>inevitable</em>?
<p>
I'll explain below the fold.
<p>
I think that there are two answers to that question.
<p>
The ugly answer is that a minimum wage increase acts as a short-term pallative* for the economically disadvantaged. An easing of pain, but not a cure. In order to maintain control over a non-affluent underclass who has grown increasingly frustrated with their economic circumstances, bones will inevitably be thrown...and a raise in the minimum wage to $9 or $10 an hour is, ultimately, a small bone to throw. It's small because the also-inevitable-and-subsequent price increases can be blamed on said raising of the minimum wage. It weakens other calls to action regarding economic fairness and reinforces class distinctions (and disunity) already in place.
<p>
We've all seen the right's reactions to the Affordable Care Act; it's considered crazy to discuss expanding Medicare or Social Security and Obamacare is just a handout to 'the 47% of takers' that are a drag on society. Ugly, dismissive sentiments about what is the lesser of the available options for necessary change. Better to make a mild concession and then throw distractions around than risk a wider, unified revolution in thought and deed that changes the way Americans do business and affects personal and corporate profitability. The bank bailout or the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act can be viewed along similar lines.
<p>
<em>Just enough</em> gets done to placate the general public and get things limping along again before continuing business as usual. The granting of these sort of mild concessions to prevent disruption to the economic or social status quo isn't a new concept, mind you. <a href="http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnvil3.html">It's as American as apple pie</a>: <blockquote>Those upper classes, to rule, needed to make concessions to the middle class, without damage to their own wealth or power, at the expense of slaves, Indians, and poor whites. This bought loyalty. And to bind that loyalty with something more powerful even than material advantage, the ruling group found, in the 1760s and 1770s, a wonderfully useful device. That device was the language of liberty and equality, which could unite just enough whites to fight a Revolution against England, without ending either slavery or inequality.</blockquote>Simply put, a raise to the minimum wage is inevitable because it is an effective tool for manipulating the public. Raising the minimum wage alone* isn't enough to fix poverty in America, even if it will ease the pain for a while.
<p>
The not-ugly reason is that we are being slowly driven towards making a serious change in our approach to economic fairness. As income disparity rises and economic security shrinks for most Americans, it serves as a <a href="http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/3721.pdf">driver of change</a>. That ticking clock becomes louder and more insistent. More inevitable.
<p>
There are historical precedents for this type of movement-style change. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_history_of_the_United_States"> labor</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_States">suffrage</a> movements of the first part of the previous century and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Movement">push for civil rights</a> in the middle part where radical - for their time - changes resulted from widespread demonstrations of public unrest...only with those sustained movements, doing the minimum was no longer possible and there was no bone small enough to throw. The downside is that these progressive gains were sometimes centuries in the making. You can even argue that the unrest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_movement_in_the_United_States">occurring <em>now</em></a> is <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1205/Fast-food-strike-Workers-in-100-cities-push-for-15-hourly-wages-video">a continuation</a> of the workers' strikes of the 1930's. The subjects of that unrest, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/chicago-detroit-pensions-might-be-cut">economic fairness</a> and civil rights, are not much different today. Movement-style change is usually a very <em>long</em> effort that can experience multiple setbacks .
<p>
Call it the '<a href="http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/15/arc-of-universe/#note-4794-1">Arc of the Moral Universe</a>' argument. The day will come, justice is inevitable, don't give up.
<p>
So keep pushing for that minimum wage increase. Make it inevitable <em>sooner</em>...but don't accept that as the end goal, only as one of the many things we need to do to <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/1120-assessing-a-healthy-economy-with-gross-national-happiness">change how we define</a> what makes our national economy healthy and inclusive of all citizens.
<p>
<em>* To me, the only argument that counters raising <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/obama-support-minimum-wage-inequality-speech">the minimum wage</a> is that any increase will be likely absorbed into the generally rising cost of things by the time it's adopted, much like easier credit contributed to the housing bubble and <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815">federal subsidization contributes to the high cost of education</a>. Note that this is not an argument against raising the minimum wage generally, only against raising the minimum wage </em>without<em> other, greater reforms.</em>
<p>
<em>An idea would be to have a cost-of-living-indexed minimum wage </em>and <em> a revision of business tax regulations to increase taxation on employees paid the minimum with declining rates for paying more than the minimum. The rate decline would be the inverse of the amount paid the employee...as wages go up, the amount in tax goes down. The justification for the increase in taxation would be that low-pay employees lean more heavily on public services funded by public monies, so employers unwilling to pay livable wages should be contributing more to the public coffers.</em>
<p>
<em>And no, I haven't worked out the detail on this. I can see a move to fewer, higher-paid employees which would have the undesirable effect of increasing unemployment...but there are ways to deal with that as well. As I'm saying, this would be just once piece of an larger effort.</em>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-43767307111140520312013-07-23T10:37:00.001-04:002013-07-23T10:37:25.946-04:00The other Detroit pension fraudAnswering a question asked elsewhere. <br />
<br />
<i><a class="fyre-mention fyre-mention-livefyre" data-lf-handle="" data-lf-provider="livefyre" href="http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/23/morning-must-reads-july-23/" rel="nofollow">@<span>gysgt213</span></a><span> </span> > Just how generous are Detroit's pensions? </i><br />
<br />
It's
not the amount that's at issue (except in the minds of right-wingers);
Pension benefits overall are middle-of-the-road, income-wise. Pensions -
deferred compensation, really - are not the issue. <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2013/investment-advisor-to-the-detroit-pension-funds-pleads-guilty-to-conspiring-with-former-city-treasurer-jeffrey-beasley-to-pay-him-bribes">Mismanagement of the funds</a> is an issue. <a href="http://billjohnsondetroit.com/blog_detail.php?id=371">Corporate welfare is an issue</a>. Not paying into the funds is an issue. Bad investments are an issue. <br />
<br />
Yet, somehow, it's the retired librarian's fault.<br />
<br />
What's
making this all legit in the eyes of the news media? Manipulation of
numbers. By one actuarial interpretation, Detroit's pension funds are <a href="http://www.pionline.com/article/20121001/PRINTSUB/310019973">funded at levels consistent with public plans nationwide</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Among the top 100 that <i>Pensions & Investments</i> tracks, the
average funding ratio dropped slightly during the fiscal year, to 73.64%
from 74.29%. The median funding ratio, while higher than the average at
74.59%, also slid 204 basis points from fiscal 2010."</blockquote>
<br />
The Detroit pension plans' <a href="http://www.pionline.com/article/20130614/DAILYREG/130619909">independent assessment shows</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The funded status of the General Retirement System was 83%, while that
of the police and fire fund was 100%, according to June 30, 2011,
independent valuations." </blockquote>
<br />
while another method of accounting has:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Recalculations based on “more reasonable assumptions” substantially
lowered the funded status of the General Retirement System to 65%, and
the police and fire system to 78%, according to Mr. Orr's creditor plan."<br />
<br />
So there's not even agreement on how to correctly <i>value </i>the
pensions' funding and liability. I would argue that the numbers Orr is
working with are more short-term in nature, placing greater weight in
the fiscal years affected by the Great Recession. If you assume a
10-year window starting from 2011,<br />
<br />
"The median 10-year annualized return was 5.6% among plans that disclosed investment performance over the period. "</blockquote>
<br />
over 30 years,<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...funds have been able to achieve returns in excess of a 7% to 8% expected rate of return. <br />
<br />
The
Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service reveals that public pension
funds with a total market value greater than $5 billion in assets had a
median total return of 10.29% in the 30-year period ended June 30, 2012."</blockquote>
<br />
I'm not saying there is no crisis...only that the causes of the crisis is not what's getting play in the news media.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-91788251508800284002012-06-18T10:08:00.000-04:002012-06-27T08:43:33.776-04:00Out of touch<u><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mitt-romney-really-liked-sandwich-computer-wawa-231304740.html">And in 1992, it was Bush The Elder that was amazed* by a grocery store scanner</a></u>.<br />
<br />
(<u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#History">Sure enough</a></u>, touch screens were developed - in part, and very early on - with government dollars)<br />
<br />
(*'amazed may have been a wee bit of media exaggeration)grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-11482197633220563792012-06-14T12:11:00.000-04:002012-06-14T12:16:19.364-04:00Fun with something The National Review editor wrote<a href="http://swampland.time.com/2012/06/13/the-private-sector-isnt-fine-enough/#disqus_thread" target="_blank">Context here.</a> <br />
<br />
I get too busy to pay attention to this site for a few weeks and they start bringing in the right-wing B-team brain trust? Lowry's argument amounts to saying, 'Obama BAD' and parroting the current, flawed talking points.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>All that stands between us and a robust economic recovery, in his view, is yet more deficit spending on more government workers and more public-works projects.</i><br />
<br />
This is false. Lowry is lying.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>That still leaves us 4.6 million private-sector jobs shy of the number the economy boasted in January 2008.</i> <br />
<br />
I see what you did there; on the surface, that appears shocking; but when you fairly present the context, it changes a bit. The bulk of the job losses occurred in Bush's last year, we were on the edge of a housing-driven financial bubble, and businesses were in the midst of a global off-shoring boom which hasn't abated.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Clearly, one man’s “fine” is another man’s “anemic.”</i><br />
<br />
And one man's "anemic" is another man's "what the hell did you think was going to happen when businesses don't have the demand to justify hiring, much less having laws that favor 'made in America' goods and services?"
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>State and local workers perform important functions. Never before, though, have they been considered engines of short-term economic growth.</i><br />
<br />
Bullsh*t. You can point to something like the <u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps">Civilian Conservation Corps</a></u> as an example of a popular program that served that purpose (among others).
If anything, Obama is to the right of New Deal-era policy because some of the stimulus money went to private sector contractors to do infrastructure work instead of public-sector persons.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Teachers aren’t entrepreneurs. Cops and firefighters don’t hire people.</i><br />
<br />
Again, <i>demand for goods and services</i> hire people. What your public sector employees do - along with things like food stamp programs, unemployment - is provide a 'consumer of last resort' that acts as a backstop when the private sector isn't employing or as is more the case now, not paying the wages they did at the height of the bubble.<br />
<br />
This is elementary economics that you would expect an <i>editor</i> to understand.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Lacking the discipline of the market, the public sector is woefully inefficient.</i><br />
<br />
a) The is no such thing as market discipline, there's only market <i>darwinism</i>. If Lowry had experience outside of the rarefied air of <i>The National Review</i>, he'd understand that. If he <i>does</i> understand that, then he's being a partisan hack.<br />
<br />
b) The private sector is driven by maximizing their profit by fulfilling a need while the public sector fulfills needs that cannot or should not be profit driven.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>In the decade prior to 2008, states and localities added public-sector workers at a double-digit clip. This wasn’t sustainable.</i><br />
<br />
And why was it not? Recession, tax cut fever, and unfunded pension obligations compounded by a stock market crash...primarily caused by the same policies being pushed in Lowry's magazine.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>With federal support receding, states and localities can’t–and shouldn’t–keep workers they can’t afford.</i><br />
<br />
When you believe that government is the problem, that's a natural conclusion to make. It's the wrong conclusion, however.
I'm less worried about the size of government than whether or not it is an <i>efficient</i> one that fulfills the needs of its citizens. Given that, there are services (and people providing those services) that we need to have, even if it means raising revenues through taxes.<br />
<br />
<i>As a “timely, targeted, and temporary” measure, the stimulus was never supposed to subsidize elevated levels of public-sector workers in perpetuity.</i><br />
<br />
And it was never meant to. It was meant to place the government in the position of being the consumer of last resort, and <i>the stimulus worked</i> although it should have been larger and less allocated towards cutting taxes.<br />
<br />
<i>...the president’s administration has been hyperactive and ineffectual, a fatal combination, and all he can offer is more of the same. He is stuck on stimulus.</i><br />
<br />
Again, <i>the stimulus worked</i>. Tax cuts, de-regulation, and trickle-down economics has not and is what put us in this mess to begin with...and what's funny is that Lowry doesn't even bother mentioning it because he knows that it does not work.<br />
<br />
What's even more funny is that the policy - like that delusional bad joke of a Ryan plan - being pushed on the Right would create jobs and build demand more slowly than the undersized stimulus package did.
Lowry mentions no proven, workable solutions. He's just doubling down on the Stupid.
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>They are the Keynesian equivalent of the Communist sympathizers who used to insist that socialism never failed, it just had never really been tried.</i><br />
<br />
And Lowry is the Austrian School equivalent of Capitalist sympathizers who insist that the free market never failed, it just had never really been tried.
Thing is that it has, and that's why we (used to) place Business subordinate to Government.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-4978645937379127612012-03-26T13:42:00.003-04:002012-03-26T13:45:00.208-04:00So, why *aren't* minors allowed to stand their ground?<a href="http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/23/obama-speaks-out-on-trayvon-martin-a-personal-appeal-with-political-risk/#disqus_thread#ixzz1qFIR1uaT">Context here</a>. Right-winger in italics.<br />
<br />
<i>You have to be licensed to carry a gun. He was a child.</i><br />
<br />
So, arguing the right wing cases for gun possession and Dodge City laws, why shouldn't a minor be allowed to carry a weapon in order to defend himself?<br />
<br />
You can't argue that 'it's against the law', as laws are written, re-written, and amended all the time. All you're doing is making a circular argument; "minors can't carry guns to defend themselves because it's against the law, and the law says that minors can't carry a gun because they are minors."<br />
<br />
The argument that you are avoiding is the why behind under-majority age possession of firearms: it's the idea that a minor doesn't have the life experience/sound judgment necessary to use a weapon responsibly. However, if you admit that, you have to examine the facts around this Martin case and also state that his shooter - an adult - also did not possess the sound judgment necessary to use his weapon responsibly.<br />
<br />
Which says a lot about these 'Dodge City' laws in that people in general aren't sophisticated enough gun owners to make these sort of life and death decisions. If anything, Martin-as-a-minor displayed better judgment when he ran away than Zimmerman when he pursued against the advisement of the 911 operator, started an altercation, and shot a kid.<br />
<br />
<i>That fact a liberal would advocate a minor carry a fire arm...</i><br />
<br />
No, you're wrong again. What I'm saying is that it's a special hypocrisy on the part of right wingers such as yourself to push for legislation that enables the commission of incidents such as the Martin shooting, and that Trayvon Martin has as much of a right - even more of a need - to defending himself as George Zimmerman does.<br />
<br />
If you would argue differently, you would have to admit that there was no reason that either Martin or Zimmerman should be making the kind of life and death decisions that these laws allow them to do...and that it's a bad law based on a unrealistic, flawed right-wing idea about how un-civilized society can actually be.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-22544447990120048122011-09-09T08:39:00.000-04:002011-09-09T08:39:19.232-04:00Setting a bar that shouldn't be setA line in <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2011/09/08/obama-unveils-a-new-jobs-plan-and-a-sharper-message/">an Adam Sorenson post over at <i>Time </i>magazine's "Swampland" blog</a> got me thinking:<blockquote>But Obama needs to ignite a fire under the recovery (or his base) to get re-elected.</blockquote>Nope. <br />
<br />
Obama can't let this be about whether or not we are officially into a recovery or not...it's a high bar to have to clear (similar to predicting what the future unemployment rate will be) and there's small chance that more than a few of last night's proposals will make it past the House anyway.<br />
<br />
He <i>needs </i>to run against the people who don't want an American economic recovery to happen on his watch.<br />
<br />
He <i>needs </i>needs to run against the people who don't want their fellow Americans to have jobs that earn a living wage or that don't want to pay for modernization or education or clean air and water or other things that a first-class country should value having and actually pay to <i>have</i>.<br />
<br />
Run that campaign - and actually try to pass that agenda - and Obama will fire up more than just his base.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-11356962791798370932011-08-26T16:05:00.000-04:002011-08-26T16:05:05.000-04:00Points of Interest 08/26/2011<b>Reads</b>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/rick-perry-texas-life-insurance-scheme_n_935666.html">They got some big vultures down in Texas</a>.<blockquote>...the Perry administration wanted to help Wall Street investors gamble on how long retired Texas teachers would live.Perry was promising the state big money in exchange for helping Swiss banking giant UBS set up a business of teacher death speculation. </blockquote><br />
"<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/what-is-debt-%E2%80%93-an-interview-with-economic-anthropologist-david-graeber.html">What is Debt? – An Interview with Economic Anthropologist David Graeber</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110825/ipcc-unfccc-climate-change-house-republicans-budget-appropriations-state-department?page=5">The laws of physics don’t take any notice of what is going in Congress. They're not subject to repeal or amendment.</a>"<blockquote>While Granger’s committee was slicing funding for international climate projects, Mack was trying to make even deeper cuts. The Florida representative tried to zero out the entire $1.3 billion the president requested for international climate efforts in the 2012 budget. But because his committee didn’t have jurisdiction over the entire amount, he settled for chopping $650 million in funding that his committee does control.</blockquote><br />
"<a href="http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201108/s3303222.htm">What it means is that about one out of five civil conflicts since 1950 were in some way influenced by El Nino.</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/us-usa-poverty-foodstamps-idUSTRE77L45Z20110822">It's a good thing that the government helps, but if employers paid enough and gave enough hours, then we wouldn't need to be on food stamps.</a>" <br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-morality-of-the-other-side-in-the-class-war">When we think about the trade-offs between inflation and unemployment it is important to remember...</a>" <blockquote>...that the tens of millions of people who are unemployed or underemployed today did not do anything wrong. It was people like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke who messed up. And of course other actors in national policy debates, who were too obsessed with budget deficits to notice an $8 trillion housing bubble did not help either.</blockquote><br />
“<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/25/304204/cantor-earthquake/">There is an appropriate federal role in incidents like this,” Cantor said.</a>" <blockquote>That role? The bare minimum. According to Cantor, Congress’s traditional practice of providing disaster relief without strings attached — a policy its followed for years — is going way beyond the call of duty. If Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) asks for federal aid, Cantor insists that the relief be offset elsewhere in the federal budget.</blockquote><br />
"<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/southerland_struggling_to_get031800.php">...members of Congress have got to start realizing that complaining about a $174,000 annual salary...</a>" <blockquote>...sounds ridiculous to the vast majority of Americans. Southerland went on to complain about all “the hours” that he works, but this tone-deaf whining hardly makes the complaints any better — he’s a member of Congress who is well compensated for his long hours. He knew that when he sought that job, and instead of whining, Southerland should thank his constituents for the privilege.</blockquote><br />
"<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/how-chase-ruined-lives-of-people-who-paid-off-their-mortgages.html">How Chase Ruined Lives of People Who Paid Off Their Mortgages</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/independents-finally-getting-fed">It's no surprise that liberal Democrats increasingly want Obama to fight back against Republicans...</a>" <blockquote>...but that's not the real story here. The biggest shifts in attitude have come from the center. Take a look at the circled parts of the table: the entire middle of the political spectrum — liberal Republicans, independents, and conservative Democrats — is speaking pretty loudly here. They want Obama to fight back harder against the shouters in the tea party wing of the GOP.</blockquote><br />
<b>Watch</b>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.eschatonblog.com/2011/08/at-town-hall.html">Just a wee bit uncomfortable answering the questions</a>.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s0w-eY-B6ew" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
Politics aside, <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/bben-stein-destroys-bill-oreillys-idea-">Bill O'Reilly is about the worst interviewer/host on the teevee</a>.<br />
<br />
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="+id+" width="400" height="336" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://embed.crooksandliars.com/v/MjE1OTMtNDkxMDE?color=C93033" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://embed.crooksandliars.com/v/MjE1OTMtNDkxMDE?color=C93033" quality="high" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="336" allowfullscreen="true" name="clembedMjE1OTMtNDkxMDE" align="middle" quality="high" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-23644296560852104392011-08-25T15:53:00.000-04:002011-08-25T15:53:29.109-04:00Points of Interest 08/25/2011<b>Reads</b>: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/08/world-of-super-pacs.html">Who's really funding these 'SuperPACs'</a>?<blockquote>According to research by the Center for Responsive Politics, all liberal super PACs have raised a combined $7.61 million during the first half of 2011 -- with more than 80 percent of their money coming from 23 donors. [...]<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, conservative super PACs have collected $17.61 million so far -- with more than 80 percent of their money coming from 35 donors. </blockquote><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html">An alternate perspective on the collapse of Gaddafi's regime</a>.<blockquote>A veteran of the wars of the former Yugoslavia, he had been hired by the Gaddafi regime to help fight the rebels and, later, NATO. "Discipline was bad, and they were too stupid to learn anything. But things were O.K. until the air strikes commenced. The other side was equally bad, if not worse. [Muammar] Gaddafi would have smashed the rebels had the West not intervened."</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/when_schools_are_forced_to_rel031763.php">You know, nothing says '21st century global superpower' like schools turning to sheep because they can’t afford lawnmowers.</a>"*<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/did-the-stimulus-work-a-review-of-the-nine-best-studies-on-the-subject/2011/08/16/gIQAThbibJ_blog.html?wprss=ezra-klein">Did the stimulus work? A review of the nine best studies on the subject</a>"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/business/corn-and-soybean-prices-rise-after-usda-report.html?_r=1">I guess it's a good thing I'm on a diet</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/08/24/661336/fantasy-fed-options/">WCBD? (What Could Bernake Do?) Fourteen alternatives to another round of quantitative easing</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/stimulus_through_a_mass_refina031786.php">There are apparently other ideas under consideration...</a><blockquote>...but the refinancing approach, the details of which still need to be worked out, would have the biggest bang for the buck: homeowners, many of whom are currently under water, would stand to save $85 billion. They’d still have a mortgage payment to make, but they’d find it easier to afford and would have more money to spend on other things.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.emptywheel.net/2011/08/24/the-timing-of-the-schneiderman-attack/">Now what do you suppose it means that BoA’s surrogates have gotten so angry and panicked and...</a>" <blockquote>...well, dickish, as Schneiderman continues to insist on actually looking at BoA’s books before making a settlement with them? And do you really think it’s a coinkydink that increasing numbers of Wall Street vultures are raising doubts about what’s in those books at precisely the time Obama’s surrogates are increasing pressure on Schneiderman to drop the legal efforts to do so?</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Did-Fracking-Cause-the-Vir-by-Dr-Stuart-Jeanne-B-110823-993.html">Braxton County West Virginia (160 miles from Mineral) has experienced a rash of freak earthquakes...</a>" <blockquote>...(eight in 2010) since fracking operations started there several years ago. According to geologists fracking also caused an outbreak of thousands of minor earthquakes in Arkansas (as many as two dozen in a single day). It's also linked to freak earthquakes in Texas, western New York, Oklahoma and Blackpool, England (which had never recorded an earthquake before).</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/obama-goes-all-out-for-dirty-banker-deal-20110824">This is all about protecting the banks from future enforcement actions on both the civil and criminal sides.</a>" <blockquote>The plan is to provide year-after-year, repeat-offending banks like Bank of America with cost certainty, so that they know exactly how much they’ll have to pay in fines (trust me, it will end up being a tiny fraction of what they made off the fraudulent practices) and will also get to know for sure that there are no more criminal investigations in the pipeline. </blockquote><br />
<br />
*now, it's not a bad idea for environmental reasons, but I agree with the larger point that Americans are not doing right when it comes to emphasizing (and paying for) education.<br />
grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-34519899360523135392011-08-24T11:11:00.001-04:002011-08-24T14:07:00.634-04:00Points of Interest 08/24/2011<b>Reads</b>:<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/22/religion-politics-america_n_933395.html">American Politics More Religious Than American Voters</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904279004576524660236401644.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_6">New-student enrollments have plunged—in some cases by more than 45%—in recent months</a>..."<blockquote>...reflecting two factors: Companies have pulled back on aggressive recruiting practices amid criticism over their high student-loan default rates. And many would-be students are questioning the potential pay-off for degrees that can cost considerably more than what's available at local community colleges.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/president-obama-blames-darkness-on-sunset">It is likely that President Obama blames the recession for the rise in the deficit because it happens to be true.</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/michelle-rhee-still-dodging-elephant-room-w">More importantly, why are Democrats still lining up behind Rhee?</a>"<blockquote>She could possibly be one of the most divisive forces in the Democratic party today. Between her cozy relationships with the ultra-right wing "reformers," and her push to bust unions, it makes no sense at all.</blockquote><a href="http://www.k12newsnetwork.com/2011/07/educator-and-activist-marion-brady-education-reform-wrong-diagnosis-so-wrong-cure/">The Rhee post also contains a link to a comment by education activist Marion Brady, which is well worth a link of its own</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/08/pipeline-protesters-keystone-xl-tar-sands">What is this Keystone XL pipeline all about, anyway</a>?<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/weigel/2011/08/24/the_krugman_google_saga_or_why_fact_checking_is_important.html">The Krugman Google+ Saga: Or, Why Fact-Checking is Important</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/ny-bumped-from-50-state-foreclosure-committee/2011/08/22/gIQAG636ZJ_story.html">Inherent in Schneiderman’s warnings was an implication that officials negotiating the current deal are willing to give away too much...</a>"<blockquote>...a suggestion that those involved in the talks describe as inaccurate and infuriating. Several people familiar with the talks said those at the negotiating table have never considered granting banks immunity from claims related to the securitization process, nor have they sought to prevent Schneiderman and others from pursuing broader investigations into other issues, such as securitization, fair housing claims and criminal fraud.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/chart-of-the-morning-the-cost-of-raising-medicares-eligibility-age/2011/08/23/gIQABlm8aJ_blog.html">Raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67 from 65 would cost states and private payers about twice as much as it would save the federal government.</a>"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/08/24/302664/ron-pauls-strange-freedom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20matthewyglesias%20%28Matthew%20Yglesias%29">Ron Paul forgets that media focus isn't always a <i>good</i> thing.</a><br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/despite-rick-perry-consensus-on-climate-change-keeps-strengthening/2011/08/23/gIQAMT3UZJ_blog.html">Still, it’s worth adding one overlooked point to all this fact-checking.</a>"<blockquote>It’s not just that Perry’s wrong. In many ways, the field of climate science is moving in precisely the opposite direction that he’s suggesting.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/08/michael-mann-cleared-again/244051/">First, because a serious scientist has been vilified, without basis, mainly because his work bears on current politics.</a>"<blockquote>"Oh, never mind" clearance from charges rarely gets as much publicity as the original charges themselves. The fact that every scientific body examining Mann's behavior has exonerated him deserves publicity and emphasis. </blockquote>"<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/23/bachmann_gas_prices/index.html">Michele Bachmann, as president of the United States, could keep her promise of lowering the price of gasoline. What voters must ask themselves is: 'What will that cost me?'</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://http://www.thenation.com/blog/162929/feingolds-next-campaign-pushing-dc-democrats-oppose-cuts-and-corporate-giveaways">Anyone who thought former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold was quitting politics with his announcement that he would not run for office in 2012...</a>" <blockquote>...missed the point of the Wisconsin Democrat's decision. Feingold was not abandoning the fight for progressive values, he was signaling his determination to carry that fight forward as a citizen activist who promises to be a thorn in the side of the political elites of both parties.</blockquote>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-63198983884448835382011-08-23T14:07:00.003-04:002011-08-23T14:13:51.724-04:00Points of Interest 08/23/2011<b>Reads</b>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/08/19/of-the-tea-party-by-the-tea-party-for-the-tea-party/">Kings in everymans clothing</a>.<br />
<blockquote>It’s not hard to guess what these people see in Tea Party politics. Here is a movement united around an unfailing support of tax cuts for people like them, at a time in which poll after poll (23 polls, by one count) reveals the American electorate to be united by unprecedentedly broad-based support for doing the opposite. But there also more specific interests at play: the wealthier freshmen generally made their livelihoods in one of three economic sectors—health care/insurance, real estate and energy—whose profit margins not too long ago appeared particularly vulnerable to Obama’s policy goals.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.worldcrunch.com/shell-hoping-its-north-sea-spill-will-just-disappear/3614">With its handling of an ongoing spill in the North Sea...</a>"<br />
<blockquote>...it would seem oil multinational Shell has not absorbed the lesson of BP’s 2010 catastrophe. Small compared to last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill, the Shell leak is nevertheless the worst for the North Sea in over a decade.</blockquote><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/22/msnbc_sunday/index.html">A news channel should have enough allotted in the budget for news coverage. dontcha think</a>?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/on-obama-administration-pressures-of-ny-ags-office/">Mike Konczal over at <i>Rortybomb</i> has a good wrap-up of the whole Administration versus AG battle over mortgage fraud investigations</a>.<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/top-ten-myths-about-the-libya-war.html">Top Ten Myths About the Libyan War</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/fulfilling_a_promise_on_immigr031727.php">This is, to put it mildly, a heartening development, for which President Obama and his team deserve a lot of credit.</a>"<br />
<blockquote>Deportations will continue for those who commit felonies and those considered security threats, but DHS and the Justice Department will review existing cases and will “halt deportations of longtime residents with clean police records who came here illegally when they were children, or are close family of military service members, or are parents or spouses of American citizens.”</blockquote>"<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/22/301253/rick-perry-compares-civil-rights-movement-to-gop-fight-for-lower-corporate-taxes/">(Tax)Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are (tax)free at last!</a>"<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/why-is-bank-of-americas-stock-cratering-yet-again-its-the-extend-and-pretend-endgame.html">The point is that there is objectively a lot not to like about Bank of America.</a>"<blockquote>And now that investors have decided to start thinking critically, as opposed to blindly accepting bank equity as the faith-based paper that it is, one shouldn’t be surprised that they are getting cold feet. And the fact that the authorities have undermined the limited value of bank balance sheets via allowing all sorts of rosy accounting treatments is a self inflicted wound.</blockquote>"<a href="http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=5c3160f6-e9fa-41af-a63c-9895a793fbfc">But apparently President Obama feels that these people need to make greater sacrifices.</a>"<blockquote>For an average retiree who can expect to get benefits for 20 years, President Obama's plan would cut their lifetime Social Security benefits by roughly 3 percent. By comparison, his much feared tax increases on the rich would reduce the after-tax income of someone earning $300,000 a year by just 0.5 percent. In this case, a beneficiary who will be mostly dependent on their Social Security income in retirement will take about six times as large a hit relative to their income under President Obama's plan to cut Social Security than a couple earning $300,000 would from his plan to raise their taxes.<br />
<br />
This cut to Social Security seems especially inappropriate since the near retirees who would feel the full impact of this cut have just seen most of their wealth destroyed by the collapse of the housing bubble and the plunge in the stock market. The typical near retiree (ages 55-64) has just $170,000 in net wealth, including the equity in their home.<br />
<br />
This means that if they used every last penny in their 401(k) and other savings, they would have just about enough money to pay off the mortgage on a typical home. This would leave them 100 percent dependent on Social Security for their income. And of course, half of near retirees have less than this amount, meaning that they will not even be able to pay off the mortgage on a typical home.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-23/tea-party-gas-tax-fix-is-bad-economics-worse-history-ron-klain.html">A delay of just 10 days in renewing the tax would mean the permanent loss of $1 billion in highway funding...</a>"<br />
<blockquote>...(and layoffs for thousands of workers). Longer delays would measurably increase the national unemployment rate. [...]<br />
<br />
Incredibly, the system of highway financing championed by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower six decades ago is a target for today’s Tea Party-influenced Republicans. </blockquote>"<a href="http://www.worldcrunch.com/economics-nobel-prize-winners-agree-us-europe-sliding-lost-decade/3627">Edmund Phelps, a Colombia University professor who won the prize in 2006 for his theory on growth...</a>" <br />
<blockquote>...says that during the past decades the West has lived above its means and in so doing has already consumed part of its future. That means that the United States, but also Europe now face a long period of stagnation.<br />
<br />
Phelps says the West has to pay for the mistakes of the past, but if it can get back on track rapidly, recovery can start that much faster and the mistakes will take less of a toll. He considers the political system to be the greatest problem. In the United States, political parties are busy putting spokes in each others’ wheels, while leaders in Europe have managed to create a system of perverted incentives with banks and insurers having to hold government bonds and governments exceeding agreed-on debt ceilings. Phelps says politicians need to show both more courage and a greater sense of responsibility, facing the fact that they are going to have to be the bearers of bad news -- such as tax hikes -- to their citizens.</blockquote>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-33110993984545687282011-08-22T11:33:00.000-04:002011-08-22T11:33:47.364-04:00Points of Interest 08/22/2011<b>Reads</b>:<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-21/wall-street-aristocracy-got-1-2-trillion-in-fed-s-secret-loans.html">Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression...</a>" <blockquote>...included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS), got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress. </blockquote>“<a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/162617/hiroshima-fukushima-japan-declare-wide-area-uninhabitable-due-radiation">One may ask how it is possible that Japan, after its experience with the atomic bombings...</a>"<blockquote>...could allow itself to draw so heavily on the same nuclear technology for the manufacture of about a third of its energy. There was resistance, much of it from Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors. But there was also a pattern of denial, cover-up and cozy bureaucratic collusion between industry and government, the last especially notorious in Japan but by no means limited to that country.</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/162886/verizon-workers-and-unions-end-strike">At a time of harsh austerity, high unemployment and a recession that never ended for most people, workers on the picket line at Verizon pointed to the company’s flagrant greed and union-busting.</a>" <blockquote>While it made $10 billion in profits last year and paid its top five executives $258 million over the last four years, Verizon hasn’t paid a dime in federal income taxes in two years. In fact, it received a $1.3 billion federal tax rebate for 2010.<br />
<br />
Despite its success, the company has cried poverty and is seeking big concessions from workers, including massive cuts to health benefits, pensions, job security protections and sick days. Striking workers had the advantage of wide public support—including solidarity pickets far beyond the East Coast—as they highlighted these facts about Verizon’s hypocrisy and anti-worker attacks. Having ended the strike prematurely, however, many workers feel union leaders have squandered that crucial advantage.</blockquote><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/21/posner_nar_dominionism/index.html">Considering things like this, I'm entirely comfortable questioning the impact a candidate's religious beliefs has on their approach to governance.</a><br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/opinion/corporate-interests-threaten-childrens-welfare.html?_r=1&ref=opinion">A clash between these two newly created legal entities — children and corporations — was, perhaps, inevitable.</a>"<blockquote>Century-of-the-child reformers sought to resolve conflicts in favor of children. But over the last 30 years there has been a dramatic reversal: corporate interests now prevail. Deregulation, privatization, weak enforcement of existing regulations and legal and political resistance to new regulations have eroded our ability, as a society, to protect children. </blockquote>"<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/19/franken.rating.reform/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9">The Big Three are well aware that their fates rest, in part, on the outcome of this SEC study, due out next year."</a> <blockquote>And the S&P's recent downgrade may well have been the industry's shot across the bow, an attempt to intimidate SEC regulators. It appears that the rating agencies have essentially gone from being recipients of bribery to the perpetrators of extortion.<br />
<br />
When the Big Three's house of cards finally collapsed, the rest of America paid the price. Until we rein in the corruption of the credit rating agency industry, we are just asking for it to happen all over again.</blockquote>“<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/us/politics/21donate.html?_r=1&hp">Texas politics does have this amazing pay-to-play culture...</a>”<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/128162928.html">If you're a moderate Republican in West Bend, you're a liberal...</a>"<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Watch</b>:<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/19/300026/caught-on-tape-bank-of-americas-director-of-public-policy-tells-rick-perry-well-help-you-out/">“Bank of America. We’ll help you out...”</a><br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1F0RQLFybtw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<a href="http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/39054_Video-_Todd_Palin_Admits_Sarah_Bailed_As_Governor_to_Make_Money">Only about the Benjamins</a>.<br />
<br />
<object width="420" height="245" id="msnbc4d3b90" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=44210468&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc4d3b90" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=44210468&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 420px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">news about the economy</a></p>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-37588147568291816202011-07-01T14:01:00.000-04:002011-07-01T14:01:34.330-04:00Points of Interest 07/01/2011Plenty to carry us through the weekend...<br />
<br />
First, <a href="http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c1fd7f9b-abd8-4e7a-a370-1867881259d8">sign the petition</a>. Over 90,000 other people have to this point. #SharedSacrifice<br />
<br />
<b>Read</b>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/06/29/what-obama-fights-for-giving-9-55-billion-to-north-korea-to-spend-on-nukes/">US trade agreements may lead to filling North Korean coffers</a>...<blockquote>"But let’s do the math here. The US government estimates that the North Koreans are 5 years and $200 million away from having nuclear capacity. I understand why KORUS would benefit the mega corporations that use the Chamber of Commerce as their front, the ones that hope to profiteer off of “slave labor” in Kaesong. But how exactly is it good for the American people to allow North Korea access to US markets? I just don’t see the upside to offshoring jobs, increasing the trade deficit and writing a check to North Korea to spend on nukes."</blockquote>...Not to <a href="http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/free_trade_agreement_with_korea_will_cost_u.s._jobs/">mention the billions in trade deficits thousands of jobs lost</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/opinion/01fri1.html?_r=1">"The court cannot maintain its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law when justices behave like politicians."</a><blockquote>"The justices must address doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves accountable to the code of conduct. That would make their rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, as a result, convincing as law."</blockquote><a href="http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/07/what-if-you-held-class-war-and-no-one-showed">"But despite the fact that this is all recent history, it's treated like some kind of dreamscape."</a><blockquote>"No one talks about it. Republicans pretend it never happened. Fox News insists that what we need is an even bigger dose of the medicine we got in the aughts, and this is, inexplicably, treated seriously by the rest of the press corps instead of being laughed at."</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_07/romney_makes_it_worse_with_obv030618.php">"Even for Romney, who’s flip-flopped more often and on more issues than any American politician in a generation..."</a><blockquote>"...this is ridiculous. He’s argued repeatedly that Obama made the economy worse, and when asked to defend the bogus claim, says he never made the argument in the first place."</blockquote><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/07/01/259195/heritage-foundation-refusing-to-admit-it-made-a-mistake-on-tax-preference-for-corporate-jets/">And speaking of those who refuse to admit when they were wrong</a>...<blockquote>"What’s remarkable, however, is that with the error pointed out, Heritage is digging in its heels and acting snide at those of us who are trying to point out the truth."</blockquote><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/jpmorgan-scores-victory-for-repeat-offenders-jonathan-weil.html">"So what would be the penalty for disobeying that order? Nothing, it turns out."</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/30/british-government-plan-play-down-fukushima">"They are too close to industry, concealing problems, rather than revealing and dealing with them."</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-millionaires-and-billionaires-buying-land-in-africa-2011-6?op=1#ixzz1Qpzs5hIS">"The lease deals are arranged between seemingly corrupt African leaders..."</a><blockquote>"...reportedly without disclosing the details to the members of the communities that will be displaced because of the land development, and investors such as hedge fund managers."<br />
</blockquote><a href="http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70">A sensible 2012 budget that eliminates the deficit in 10 years.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/extreme-weather-link-can-no-longer-be-ignored-2305181.html">"However, a growing number of climate scientists are now prepared to adopt a far more aggressive posture..."</a><blockquote>"...arguing that the climate has already changed enough for it to be affecting the probability of an extreme weather event, whether it is an intense hurricane, a major flood or a devasating drought."</blockquote><a href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/climate-news/2010-was-joint-warmest-year-on-record-climate-report/22417.html">2010: The warmest year on record</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2080404,00.html">The 2050 Census</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Watch</b>:<br />
<br />
"Requiem for a Rodeo Clown."<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iYg-OJXapYQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
For fun, because this was what I grew up with in a pre-CGI world.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U9kmjW73-v4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-59741427585220752012011-06-30T15:56:00.001-04:002011-06-30T15:57:51.731-04:00Points of Interest 06/30/2011<b>Reads:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/29/nuke_aspen/index.html">The Village takes a vacation</a>.<blockquote>"The best thing the organizers could do to solve America's most pressing problems would probably be to encase the city of Aspen in an impenetrable dome on the last day of the festival, trapping all participants and attendees inside, forever."</blockquote><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/29/lyons_limbaugh/index.html">Our debate, growing more stupid by the day</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/06/29/sb-5-referendum-coalition-to-deliver-more-than-a-million-signatures.html?sid=101">Needed 231,000, got nearly 1.3 million</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/katrina-and-the-waves-join-tom-pettys-fight-against-michele-bachmann-20110629">Bachmann: Cease and desist, pert deux</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/republicans-reject-the-republican-offer-on-deficit-cutting-mix-or-democrats-propose-the-aei-plan-on-tax-increases-vs-spending-cuts/">"So once again, just like in the government shutdown debate..."</a><blockquote>"...Obama and the Democrats are fighting to get what the Republicans and the right-wing economic think tanks originally proposed they should do, and the GOP just keeps walking the goalposts to the right. If this comes down to the constitutional option, I hope everyone remembers that the Democrats have actually proposed doing exactly what the Republicans and the right-wing economists originally asked for."</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-supreme-courts-continuing-defense-of-the-powerful/2011/06/29/AGUO8MrH_story.html">"Not since the Gilded Age has a Supreme Court been so determined to strengthen the hand of corporations and the wealthy."</a><br />
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<a href="http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/06/business-of-america-is-war_29.html">A well-oiled War Machine</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-trash-talking-presser/2011/06/29/AGglA6qH_story.html?hpid=z3">I like Campaign Obama better then Pragmatic Governance Obama</a>.<br />
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Highlighed on Lawrence O'Donnell's <a href="http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/29/6977742-rewriting-concept-of-real-america"><i>Last Word</i> feature last night</a>, this <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/article_b477e0fb-aab4-5d8e-90fe-c42826da31dd.html">editorial from middle America</a> is on point regarding today's GOP. <blockquote>"It's sad to see what has happened to the Party of Lincoln, and for that matter, the party of lesser mortals like George H.W. Bush of Texas, Bob Dole of Kansas and Jack Danforth of Missouri. No one ever would mistake them for liberals, but they were statesmen who put country before party.<br />
<br />
Today we have the spectacle of smart, patriotic men and women putting their brains and integrity on ice to please a party dominated by anti-intellectual social Darwinists and the plutocrats who finance and mislead them."</blockquote><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/58021.html#ixzz1QlHuPfwP">“These risks,” the IMF said, “would also have significant global repercussions, given the central role of U.S. Treasury bonds in world financial markets.”</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/29/chris_christie_democrats/index.html">Chris Christie's 'successes' in New Jersey might be a lesson on how the pursuit of political power can make a party blind to the bigger picture</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/what_matters_and_what_doesnt_a030605.php">"Halperin’s choice of words pales in comparison..."</a><blockquote>"...to the fact that he’s offended by the president’s mild rebuke of political recklessness the likes of which American hasn’t seen in generations."</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/senate-votes-to-streamline-confirmation-process/2011/06/29/AGMw47qH_blog.html?hpid=z5">(Legitimately) slacking off, Senate bipartisanship edition</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/how_health_care_rulings_are_co030597.php">"In every instance, conservative rulings received more coverage, longer articles, and better placement."</a>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-19962386406445183682011-06-29T13:11:00.002-04:002011-06-29T13:13:06.261-04:00Points of Interest 06/29/2011<a href="http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c1fd7f9b-abd8-4e7a-a370-1867881259d8">If you haven't already, sign it.</a> At this time, over 73,000 others have. #sharedsacrifice<br />
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<b>Reads</b>:<br />
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/union-busting-tactics_n_886203.html">"It's cheaper to fire a couple of workers then let a union vote succeed."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-usa-shell-companies-idUSTRE75R20Z20110628">"Somalia has slightly higher standards than Wyoming and Nevada."</a><br />
<blockquote>"A corporation is a legal person created by state statute that can be used as a fall guy, a servant, a good friend or a decoy," the company's website boasts. "A person you control... yet cannot be held accountable for its actions. Imagine the possibilities!"</blockquote><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/28/jon-huntsman-sr-role-in-jon-huntsman-jr-s-political-career.html">Most fathers love their sons and will do anything for them.</a><br />
<blockquote>"Interviews with a number of sources close to the Huntsmans reveal a powerful, ambitious father who has played a significant role in his son’s political rise at every turn—leaning on contacts, calling in favors, and, in several cases, lashing out at those he feels have slighted Jon Jr."</blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/global/26bridge.html?_r=1">Once upon a time, <i>we</i> did work like this</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201106270016">"And then there's the talk and opinion shows which no one ever pretends are news and factual."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-29/new-jersey-s-christie-loses-support-for-second-term-over-budget-slashing.html">"More than half of New Jersey residents say they wouldn’t back Governor Chris Christie for a second term..."</a><br />
<blockquote>"...disapproving of his choices on a range of policy and personal issues, from killing a commuter tunnel to using a state-police helicopter to attend his son’s baseball game."</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/no_recess_for_you030578.php">Simple: No Congressional recess, no recess appointments. Result: More obstructionism.</a><br />
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For your reading pleasure, I give you the Quadruple Bachmann:<ul><li><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/tom-petty-reportedly-issuing-cease-and-desist-letter-to-bachmann/">Cease and desist, <i>American Girl</i></a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/understanding-bachmanns-view-founders-opposed-slavery">Where better to get fake history than from a fake historian</a>?</li>
<li><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/michele_bachmann/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2011/06/28/bachmann_gets_medicaid_subsidies">Both lying and demonstrating hypocrisy in one single statement</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/the_minimum_wage_in_the_crossh030569.php">"Michele Bachmann, for example, has argued that eliminating the minimum wage would eliminate unemployment entirely."</a></li>
</ul><br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/when_the_gop_meets_a_tax_cut_i030576.php">Yeah, me too.</a><blockquote>"Republicans are actively opposed to any ideas, even their own, that might help give the economy a boost. They are, however, equally enthused in support of ideas that are likely to hold the economy back.<br />
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I wonder why that is."</blockquote><b>Pictures</b>:<br />
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<a href="http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20110629_1.htm">Some things are fail no matter where you are from</a>, and they must be mocked. (<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/28/chinese-government-p.html">via</a>)grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-14751556950410019992011-06-28T13:23:00.001-04:002011-06-28T13:24:42.745-04:00Points of Interest 6/28/2011<a href="http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c1fd7f9b-abd8-4e7a-a370-1867881259d8">Sign it, already</a>. #sharedsacrifice<br />
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<b>Reads</b>:<br />
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<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57887.html">Almost a regular Joe</a>.<br />
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"<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/28/lind_globalization/index.html">The debate between shrill free traders and strident protectionists has become utterly irrelevant.</a>"<br />
<blockquote>"In-market production or national champions? This is the kind of debate we should be having -- not the tired old debate between academic free traders and nostalgic protectionists. It is certain that transnational production, in some form, is here to stay -- and it is just as certain that nation-states, democratic or otherwise, will use their power to shape the pattern of transitional production by global corporations to advance their own domestic and foreign policy goals, at the expense of the free market, if necessary."</blockquote><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/debt-limit-stakes/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto">"A line has to be drawn somewhere; it should have been drawn last fall; but to concede now would effectively mean the end of the presidency."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/the_crusade_against_planned_pa030545.php">"Indeed, in Texas’ case..."</a> <br />
<blockquote>"...Republicans have dominated state government for years, and never felt the need to cut off Planned Parenthood. The preventive health care organization hasn’t changed; its mission hasn’t changed; and its menu of health services hasn’t changed. The only thing that has changed is the radicalism of Republican Party."</blockquote><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendell-potter/nonprofit-insurers-are-de_b_885029.html">"That's why they don't want state insurance commissioners having any more regulatory authority than they currently do, which is really precious little."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/27/us-supreme-court-rape">"In fact, access to justice – like access to elected office, let alone a pundit's perch – is becoming a perk just for the rich and powerful."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/06/27/american_corporate_exceptionalism">"America's unique hatred of finance reform."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/24/BUHP1K2FGD.DTL">"A lot of sunlight hits tall office buildings, only to go to waste."</a><br />
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<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/27/255010/chart-states-cut-most-spending-jobs/">"Relative to national economic trends</a>, states that increased spending enjoyed on average:<ul><li>0.2 percentage point decrease in the unemployment rate</li>
<li>1.4 percent increase in private employment</li>
<li>0.5 percent real economic growth since the start of the recession</li>
</ul>In contrast, states that cut spending saw on average<br />
<ul><li>1 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate</li>
<li>2.1 percent loss of private employment</li>
<li>2.9 percent real economic contraction relative to the national economic trend"</li>
</ul><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/06/marginal_tax_employment_charticle.html">"In fact, they are just as wrong about this as they are about the relationship between marginal tax rates and overall economic growth."</a><blockquote>"In the past 60 years, job growth has actually been greater in years when the top income tax rate was much higher than it is now."</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/evil_vs_disgusting030560.php#more">"...the congressional GOP has decided it’s against their own ideas about helping the economy, which necessarily raises some awkward questions about their motivations."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/mitt-romney-again-repeats-debunked-claim-that-obama-made-recession-worse/2011/03/03/AGY3FunH_blog.html">"Again, what we’re seeing here are the limits of fact-checking..."</a> <blockquote>"...something we rediscover every cycle. Candidates, party committees and outside groups make false claims. Media fact-checkers go to work and debunk the claims. The candidates and groups go right on making them anyway. Reporters stop pointing out that they’re false."</blockquote>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-18678118179505187012011-06-27T15:33:00.000-04:002011-06-27T15:33:06.811-04:00Points of interest 06/27/2011Of prime note - we celebrated grape_wifey's birthday over the weekend. Happy birthday, honey. I love both you and the fact that you'll always be younger than me.<br />
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<b>Reads:</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/diabetes-becoming-alarmingly-common-worldwide-new-study-finds/2011/06/24/AGMkaFlH_story.html?tid=wp_ipad">"Nearly 10 percent of the world’s adults have diabetes, and the prevalence of the disease is rising rapidly."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Is-Pa-gas-boom-not-all-its-fracked-up-to-be.html">"It really feels like the only job category showing growth in America right now is the "scams" category."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/161658/29-miners-and-masseys-coal-crimes">“You know, it’s bad enough trying to find 29 people..."</a><blockquote>"...you don’t need to have 40 more to look for…They just had a major explosion. They could’ve killed every one of us … We were expendable that night, that’s my opinion … they didn’t care what they did with us.”</blockquote><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/27/254520/christie-public-media-communism/">"[NJ Governor Chris Christie] appears to be fine with cutting back on education..."</a><blockquote>"...and social spending out of supposed concerns for cost and is willing to deride public media as a relic of the Soviet Union, but does not seem to have the same qualms about subsidizing a giant corporate mall."</blockquote><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/27/energy_future/index.html">"A 30-year war for energy preeminence?</a>"<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/romney_couldnt_find_an_unemplo030500.php">God, I'm tired of political ads that flat-out lie</a>.<blockquote>A month later, fully employed, King appeared in a Romney ad, blaming the president for the fact that “no one is going to hire” him and he “can’t get a job.” He even told Facebook friends, the day after the filming, “Off to work for the day.”</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-nancy-pelosis-drive-to-win-the-house-majority-back-for-democrats/2011/06/23/AG6gSemH_story.html">"Inside Nancy Pelosi’s drive to win the House majority back for Democrats."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jul/14/busts-keep-getting-bigger-why/?pagination=false">"But we could also be talking about 1991..."</a> <blockquote>"...when the consequences of vast, loan-financed overbuilding of commercial real estate in the 1980s came home to roost, helping to cause the collapse of the junk-bond market and putting many banks—Citibank, in particular—at risk."</blockquote><a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2011/06/25/too-big-to-fail-or-too-big-to-change/">"Has 'too big to fail' transformed into 'too big to challenge?'"</a><br />
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<a href="http://gawker.com/5815920/bachmann-compares-self-to-gay-rapist-clown-serial-killer">"Flake," idiot, lunatic, right-wing extremist...and now "Gay Rapist Clown Serial Killer.</a>"<br />
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<a href="http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/2284/will-higher-taxes-tank-economy">"Economists have known for many years that many tax cuts are nothing more than spending by another name."</a><blockquote>"They call such things “tax expenditures” and there are about $1 trillion worth in the tax code. Getting rid of many of them would have exactly the same economic benefits as reducing on-budget subsidies. Nevertheless, Republicans oppose eliminating tax expenditures unless other taxes are cut because any net tax increase would depress growth. The historical evidence, however, does not necessarily support this view."</blockquote><br />
<b>Pictures:</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/actual-news-headlines-vs-fox-news-headlines">Actual news headlines versus Fox News headlines</a>.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-79393326081735082212011-06-24T13:20:00.005-04:002011-06-27T16:19:07.019-04:00Points of Interest 6/24/2011Lots of stuff to carry us through the weekend....<br />
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Reads:<br />
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"<a href="http://worldcrunch.com/china-s-once-mighty-garment-industry-starting-unravel/3324">The secretary-general of the Apparel Industry of Shenzhen, Shen Yongfang, said..</a>."<blockquote>"...the region’s garment export industry used to sell more than 100 billion dollars worth of goods per year. Now, at the best, it can generate just a few billion."</blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/us/24flood.html">Record flood season continues</a>. (<a href="http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2079486_2287185,00.html">with pictures</a>)<br />
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<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/06/23/252651/would-shimon-peres-apply-his-critique-of-foreign-aid-to-americas-largest-aid-recipient/">Irony, Israeli edition</a>.<blockquote>Shimon Peres is a skeptic about foreign aid: "Giving is problematic. We take money from poor people in rich countries and give it to rich people in poor countries. Aid sometimes creates corruption."</blockquote><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201106230012">They're hoping that if they push that meme hard enough, it will take hold</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/24/252981/exclusive-murphy-thomas/">As "fruitless" as going after Clarence Thomas may be, there still might be some good that comes out of doing it</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110621/ap_on_re_us/us_planned_parenthood_indiana">Meet the real-world effects of denying Planned Parenthood the Medicaid funds necessary to treat low-income residents of Indiana</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/explaining_penny_wise_pound_fo030458.php">Senator Rand Paul (R-Dumbass) and his latest dumbassery</a>. (with video, just forward to the 2:55 mark)<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wYgVglm2xFY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/06/24/because-theres-been-a-yawning-clown-gap-in-the-gop-field-since-trump-and-palin-took-a-pass/">And here I thought there wasn't any more room in the GOP primary clown car</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://worldcrunch.com/corruption-china-how-public-officials-took-120-billion-and-ran/3355">Singin' | go on | take the money and run</a><blockquote>A report by China’s central bank found that thousands of Chinese government officials have smuggled billions out of the country and fled, mainly to the U.S., highlights "the corruption within a corrupt system".</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/kansas_gop_learns_to_stop_worr030478.php">"Government red tape" and "burdensome regulations" are bad, at least up until they can be used to promote a right-wing agenda</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/demos-on-credit-reporting-and-employment-surveillance-inequalities-and-the-labor-market/">Credit reporting system found flawed and subject to "mission creep": credit information being used for purposes other than lending</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/124468318.html">"He put $9 million of his own money into the campaign, and then he has the company pay him back shortly after the election..." </a><br />
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<br />
Watch:<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fUuV7DiZUQ4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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The fun part of this is that the kids were just as enthusiastic about being in a limousine as they were to meet the President.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-17012633189528033562011-06-23T13:21:00.001-04:002011-06-27T16:21:02.083-04:00Points of Interest 6/23/2011Reads:<br />
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<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/climate-of-denial-20110622">"The conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power has attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false."</a><br />
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<a href="http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/06/22/university.minnesota.engineering.researchers.discover.source.generating.green.electricity">"It's also the ultimate 'green' way to create electricity because it uses waste heat to create electricity with no carbon dioxide."<br />
</a><br />
<a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2078121,00.html">I hear slave labor is <i>really</i> cheap. Why don't businesses use that</a>?<br />
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<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/06/22/251116/dick-gephardt-comes-out-against-ipab-despite-past-support-for-similar-measure/">Money can buy you a more agreeable Dick</a>.<blockquote>But there’s one other problem with his critique. As a long-time proponent of controlling health care costs, Gephardt has supported greater government intervention in the health sector and in 1994 proposed empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish “target rates of growth” for health costs that included the private sector (thus going further than the IPAB).</blockquote><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151398/thousands_of_visionary_nurses_confront_wall_street_and_advocate_for_their_patients_in_rollicking_wall_street_rally_/?page=1">"Nurses are calling for a change in priorities because they have seen enough and want to stop the bleeding now."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/michele-bachmanns-holy-war-20110622?page=1">"She's trying to look like June Cleaver...</a>"<blockquote>...but she actually looks like the T2 skeleton posing for a passport photo. You will want to laugh, but don't, because the secret of Bachmann's success is that every time you laugh at her, she gets stronger.</blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/opinion/23coates.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">"Indeed, choosing a leader of the free world from the ranks of those who sport a self-serving incuriosity is a habit, like crash landings and cock-fights, best cultivated in strict moderation."</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/23/palin_bus_back/index.html">On the road again. Maybe. Not to Sudan. Also. Too.</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bank-slumlord-20110505,0,3922962.story?page=1">Banksters <i>and</i> slumlords</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjune11/growth-fantasy6-11.html">"Once a household or nation is burdened with stupendous debt loads and stagnating earnings, 'growing your way out of debt' is impossible."</a>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-91737096053102645402011-06-22T12:37:00.000-04:002011-06-22T12:37:38.362-04:00Points of Interest 06/22/2011Reads:<br />
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<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/republican-lynch-mob-looking-awfully-hard-to-find-rope-with-which-to-hang-elizabeth-warren.html">"My first choice is a strong consumer agency. My second choice is no agency at all and plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor."</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.rollcall.com/issues/56_141/bachmann-plays-with-house-money-206599-1.html">Bachmann and other GOPers may be using taxpayer money to support Tea Party activities</a>.<blockquote>The money came from the Members' taxpayer-funded office accounts, despite House rules prohibiting the use of these funds for political activities. Bachmann's office insists the expense was a proper use of official funds.</blockquote><a href='http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2078840,00.html'>Whistling past the submerged graveyard</a>.<blockquote>According to the authors, we are "at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history." It's not just about overfishing or marine pollution or even climate change. It's all of those destructive factors working cumulatively and occurring much more rapidly than scientists had expected.</blockquote><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/21/tea_party_911_pins_profits/index.html">9/11, for fun and profit</a>.<blockquote>And Grassfire Nation is a company -- not a political action committee devoted to promoting conservative causes or candidates. It is a division of an Iowa company, Grassroots Action, which calls itself "the leader in building custom conservative action networks for organizations seeking to expand their impact through the Internet" and in getting "results that reach your bottom line." </blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/bill-gross-deficit-reduction-can--and-should--wait/2011/05/19/AG85ZqeH_blog.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews">"But in an unusual mid-month note to his investors..."</a><blockquote>...Gross hammered the “anti-Keynesians” in both parties who believe “that fiscal conservatism equates to job growth.” The truth, he says, is just the opposite. “Fiscal balance alone will not likely produce 20 million jobs over the next decade. The move towards it, in fact, if implemented too quickly, could stultify economic growth.”<br />
</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/when_politifact_falls_short_of030422.php">Politifact's fact-checking rates a "false."</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/cbo-well-only-have-giant-deficits-if-congress-wants-giant-deficits/2011/05/19/AG3w7pfH_blog.html">"CBO: We’ll only have giant deficits if Congress wants giant deficits."</a><blockquote>If Congress passes laws extending the Bush tax cuts without offsetting the cost, repealing the Affordable Care Act and its cost controls and protecting doctors from Medicare cuts without making up the savings elsewhere — the “alternative fiscal scenario” — the national debt will be totally out of control...</blockquote><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151370/5_wikileaks_revelations_exposing_the_rapidly_growing_corporatism_dominating_american_diplomacy_abroad">Any clue why this isn't a bigger story</a>?<blockquote>Many of the WikiLeaks US embassy cables reveal the naked intervention by our ambassadorial staff in the business of foreign countries on behalf of US corporations. From mining companies in Peru to pharmaceutical companies in Ecuador, one WikiLeaks embassy cable after the next illuminates a pattern of US diplomats shilling for corporate interests abroad in the most underhanded and sleazy ways imaginable.</blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/business/economy/22leonhardt.html?_r=1">We need to legislate with the deficit we had in mind, not the deficit we wish we had.</a><blockquote>To put it in budgetary terms, the deficit we imagine comes largely from discretionary spending. The one we have comes partly from discretionary spending but mostly from everything else: tax rates, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/killing_the_economic_developme030420.php">Senate kills job-creating bill</a>.<blockquote>But let’s be clear about what transpired yesterday: Republicans who’ve praised the Economic Development Administration for years voted in lock step to kill a measure that would have created jobs. They did so in part because they wanted to waste time on a bunch of irrelevant amendments and Harry Reid didn’t want to let them.</blockquote><br />
Watch:<br />
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<a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/161592/koch-brothers-echo-chamber">How to build and utilize an echo chamber</a>.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WFymBUsoNWY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
Consider:<br />
<br />
If universal health care is good enough for soldiers, veterans, <a href="http://www.good.is/post/desperate-times-man-robs-bank-to-get-healthcare-in-jail/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+good%2Flbvp+%28GOOD+Main+RSS+Feed%29">and <i>prisoners</i></a>, then why isn't it good enough for other Americans?grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-72818122718531550562011-06-21T13:55:00.003-04:002011-06-21T13:58:08.396-04:00Points of InterestReads:<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_06/off_to_an_awkward_start030401.php">Rocky start for Huntsman campaign.</a><br />
<blockquote>“So far today, Huntsman campaign has gotten his name, phone number & address wrong. That’s a rough day in <i>first grade</i>.”</blockquote><a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/apnewsbreak-gingrich-campaign-finance-983277.html">Rocky start for Gingrich campaign continues.</a><br />
<blockquote>"People familiar with Gingrich's campaign spending say his fundraising has been weak since he launched his bid and that he has racked up large travel bills. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk openly about campaign inner workings."</blockquote>"<a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/julyaugust_2011/features/friends_like_these030379.php">With Friends Like These</a>"<br />
<blockquote>"But we already know how many in the New Democrat coalition feel about an independent board to help reduce Medicare costs: during health care reform, several signed letters opposing its formation." </blockquote><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2011/06/sea-level-rise-linked-climate-change/1">Oceanfront property.</a><br />
<blockquote>"The sea-level is now rising faster along the U.S. Atlantic coast than at any time in the past 2,100 years, and this surge is linked to increasing global temperatures, an international research team reports."</blockquote><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/06/marginal_tax_charticle.html">"The Myth of the Lower Marginal Tax Rates"</a><br />
<blockquote>"Altogether, in years when the top marginal rate was lower than 39.6 percent—the top rate during the 1990s—annual real growth averaged 2.1 percent. In years when the rate was 39.6 percent or higher, real growth averaged 3.8 percent. The pattern is the same regardless of threshold. Take 50 percent, for example. Growth in years when the tax rate was less than 50 percent averaged 2.7 percent. In years with tax rates at or more than 50 percent, growth was 3.7 percent."</blockquote><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/19/248151/clarence-thomas-resign/">Clarence Thomas, meet Abe Fortas.</a><br />
<blockquote>"If this sounds familiar, it’s because America has seen this movie before. Indeed, the Thomas scandal is little more than a remake of the forty year-old gifting scandal that brought down Justice Abe Fortas. Like Thomas, Fortas liked to associate with wealthy individuals with potential business before his Court. And like Thomas, Fortas took inappropriate gifts from his wealthy benefactors."</blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-states-are-rigging-the-2012-election/2011/06/19/AGCdB3bH_print.html">"How states are rigging the 2012 election"</a><br />
<blockquote>"These statutes are not neutral. Their greatest impact will be to reduce turnout among African Americans, Latinos and the young. It is no accident that these groups were key to Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 — or that the laws in question are being enacted in states where Republicans control state governments."</blockquote><br />
Watch:<br />
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What's wrong with the US recovery, in a little over two minutes.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JTzMqm2TwgE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-40554508228017182822011-03-08T12:07:00.003-05:002011-03-08T12:55:24.547-05:00The radicalization of the U.S. Muslim<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/us/08gabriel.html" linkindex="33">So, when right-wingers do stuff like this</a>...<br />
<blockquote>Ms. Gabriel is only one voice in a growing circuit that includes counter-Islam speakers like Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Walid Shoebat. What distinguishes Ms. Gabriel from her counterparts is that she has built a national grass-roots organization in the last three years that has already engaged in dozens of battles over the place of Islam in the United States. ACT! for America claims 155,000 members in 500 chapters across the country. To build her organization, Ms. Gabriel has enlisted Mr. Rodgers, who had worked behind the scenes for the Christian Coalition’s leaders, Ralph Reed and the television evangelist Pat Robertson. (Ms. Gabriel herself was once an anchor for Mr. Robertson’s Christian television network in the Middle East). </blockquote>(and <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/04/orange_county_protest_reaction/index.html" linkindex="34">this</a> and <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/07/alabama_sharia_ban/index.html" linkindex="35">this</a>)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2287029/pagenum/all/#p2" linkindex="36">...and the detainment of </a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/us/politics/08muslim.html?_r=3&ref=politics" linkindex="37">American citizens who are Muslim</a><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2287029/pagenum/all/#p2" linkindex="38"> without charge is excused by the courts</a>...<br />
<blockquote>Gelernt tries to close by painting a picture of a statute "that had enormous consequences." As he reminds us, ACLU-ishly: " People were held—half the people were held more than 30 days, even though the statutory presumption is 10 days. Many people were held for months. They were arrested at gunpoint. They were not immunized. Half the people were not called to testify. It went on in cities all over the country. People being held under horrendous conditions for long periods of time, interrogated about their own activities."</blockquote> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/us/politics/08muslim.html?_r=3&ref=politics" linkindex="39">...and go on witch hunts targeting </a><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2287029/pagenum/all/#p2" linkindex="40">U.S. Muslims</a>...<br />
<blockquote>Representative Peter T. King Republican of New York, said he would rely on Muslims to make his case that American Muslim leaders have failed to cooperate with law enforcement officials in the effort to disrupt terrorist plots — a claim that was rebutted in recent reports by counterterrorism experts and in a forum on Capitol Hill on Monday. </blockquote>...do you think all that makes an American Muslim <i>more </i>or <i>less </i>willing to become part of whatever is considered 'mainstream America'? How likely is it that a person for who is singled out for investigation, demonized, and ignored by a system that doesn't work for them to be satisfied with their status?<br />
<br />
The right wing in America is doing far, far more to promote Al-Qaeda's recruitment efforts in the US than Al-Qaeda could ever hope to do on their own.grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-36452010769009286582011-03-08T11:25:00.000-05:002011-03-08T11:25:44.767-05:00Points of InterestReads:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/mar/07/john-ensign-plans-news-conference-discuss-politica/" linkindex="96">John</a> and <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/05/john_edwards_case/index.html" linkindex="97">John</a>.<br />
<br />
Ensign and Edwards, respectively. The former bows out to avoid an ugly campaign while the latter gets ready for Federal court.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/03/brown_thanks_co.html" linkindex="98">Zen campaigning with Senator Scott Brown and David Koch.</a><br />
<blockquote>In public appearances, the senator says that he's not interested in politicking right now, that there will be time for it in 2012 — his re-election year.<br />
<br />
Yet in the video, Brown tells Koch he's politicking right now.</blockquote><a href="http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/2167/republicans-blowing-chance-real-budget-change" linkindex="99">Overpromised and unable to deliver.</a><br />
<blockquote>In retrospect, I think Republicans will see that they had one bite at the apple to enact significant budget cuts – and that they blew it.</blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/business/08debit.html" linkindex="100">Lobbying over debit card fees intensifies</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://archive.truthout.org/if-it-sounds-too-good-what-you-need-know-dont-about-privatizing-infrastructure68185" linkindex="101">What can happen when you privatize infrastructure</a>. (<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/" linkindex="102">via</a>)<br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USTRE7202ZS20110301" linkindex="103">2011 Nobel Peace Prize nominees announced</a>. <br />
<br />
Watch: <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oXysH9LAEG0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220818818505758922.post-67341526791916628962011-02-11T10:35:00.003-05:002011-02-11T10:36:48.785-05:00Dear God<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/grape_crush">My Twitter feed</a> alerted me to <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/t-word.html">this post from Digby</a>:<br />
<blockquote>Grayson tried to do that and used the "T" word, which is out of bounds because apparently Americans can never be compared to anything evil, whether historical or contemporary, even if the analogy is extremely apt. He got hammered not only for being imprecise in his ad but for taking on his opponents fringe religious views at all. I'm sure it was noted by other politicians and it will be a cold day in hell before anyone does it again. And that's too bad because Grayson was right. Webster is a member of a fringe, patriarchal cult that is as far out of the Christian mainstream as the Taliban is outside the mainstream of Islam...</blockquote>It also includes a link to <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/4094/%E2%80%9Ctaliban_dan%E2%80%99s%E2%80%9D_teacher:_inside_bill_gothard%E2%80%99s_authoritarian_subculture/">this disturbing profile</a> of right-wing evangelist Bill Gothard. Both are worth the read*.<br />
<br />
What amazes me is that there are people who possess the strength to break free from these closed worlds. How hard must it be to leave a lifetime of belief and your closest friends and family who remain believers? It's a wonder that it happens at all.<br />
<br />
(*on the same subject, I'd like to point you towards <a href="http://grapemusing.blogspot.com/2011/02/points-of-interest_10.html">yesterday's POI</a>, which includes a link to <i>The New Yorker's</i> <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all">profile of Paul Haggis, a former Scientologist</a>)grape_crushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369558773299974517noreply@blogger.com0