Saturday Satire: Dumb Debaters Edition

Rick Perry
''I will tell you: It's three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone: Commerce, Education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see. ... OK. So Commerce, Education and the — ... The third agency of government I would — I would do away with the Education, the ... Commerce and — let's see — I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops.'' —Rick Perry, experiencing an epic onstage meltdown during a GOP debate, forgetting his plan to abolish the Department of Energy (Watch video)

Herman Cain
"They [China] have indicated that they're trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat.'' —Herman Cain, unaware that China has had nuclear weapons since 1964

Michele Bachmann
"Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too." —Michele Bachmann, getting her John Waynes mixed up during an interview after launching her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, where she grew up. The beloved movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, three hours away. The John Wayne that Waterloo was home to is John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer.

  New Ice Cream Flavor From Herman Cain

Introducing Herman Cain's HarassMint Chocolate Chip with Fondled Fudge Chunks and Assaulted Peanuts. (via BuzzFeed)

Copyright © 2011 Creators Syndicate

Copyright © 2011 Universal Press Syndicate

Copyright © 2011 Universal Press Syndicate

Jay Leno: "As you know by now, a fourth woman has come forward and accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment. This woman gave the details, pretty graphic. She said that Herman Cain tried to put his hand up her. So now when Cain says he is reaching out to the American people, you know what he’s reaching for."

  "At the press conference earlier tonight, Herman Cain said he doesn't remember the woman, he doesn’t recognize her name or her face…her ass he kind of remembers…"
  "Earlier today Herman Cain rejected calls that he should withdraw from the race. He said, 'It ain't gonna happen!' That’s what he said. Ironically, that's what women say to him when he'd put his hand up their skirt."

Technorati Tags: Republicans,Debates,Rick Perry,Herman Cain,Jay Leno,Michele Bachmann,Current Events,An American Gothic,Politics,Political Humor

Extreme Poverty At Highest Levels In America

The Daily Mail:

About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the U.S. population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 per cent or less of the official poverty level.

Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four.

That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent.

Bloomberg:

At least 2.2 million more Americans, a 33 percent jump since 2000, live in neighborhoods where the poverty rate is 40 percent or higher, according to a study released today by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

19 Statistics about the poor. The wealthiest country ( ? ) on earth does not take very good care of its citizens.       

Alternet:

#1 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of "very poor" rose in 300 out of the 360 largest metropolitan areas during 2010.

#2 Last year, 2.6 million more Americans descended into poverty.  That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.

#3 It isn't just the ranks of the "very poor" that are rising.  The number of those just considered to be "poor" is rapidly increasing as well.  Back in the year 2000, 11.3% of all Americans were living in poverty.  Today, 15.1% of all Americans are living in poverty.

#4 The poverty rate for children living in the United States increased to 22% in 2010.

#5 There are 314 counties in the United States where at least 30% of the children are facing food insecurity.

#6 In Washington D.C., the "child food insecurity rate" is 32.3%.

#7 More than 20 million U.S. children rely on school meal programs to keep from going hungry.

#8 One out of every six elderly Americans now lives below the federal poverty line.

#9 Today, there are over 45 million Americans on food stamps.

#10 According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly 15 percent of all Americans are now on food stamps.

#11 In 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.

#12 The number of Americans on food stamps has increased 74% since 2007.

#13 We are told that the economy is recovering, but the number of Americans on food stamps has grown by another 8 percent over the past year.

#14 Right now, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#15 It is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps at some point in their lives before they reach the age of 18.

#16 More than 50 million Americans are now on Medicaid.  Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.  Today, approximately one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.

#17 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one government anti-poverty program.

#18 The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006.

#19 It is estimated that up to half a million children may currently be homeless in the United States.

Technorati Tags: United States,Poverty,U.S. Census Bureau,Brookings Institution,SNAP,Unemployment,Medicaid,Food Stamps,99%,1%,Current Events,An American Gothic

 

Koch’s Eat The Dirt In Ohio Issue 2

 Ohio Gov. Kasich admits that, on Issue 2, 'the people have spoken clearly'

by Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor

Wed Nov 09, 2011

The fight to defeat Ohio's Issue 2 was one more look at what a determined mobilization of the 99 percent can look like. And holy crap, what a victory it led to: with 99 percent of votes reporting, the margin is 61-39. ModernEsquire notes that turnout was barely lower than in 2010, when Ohio was voting for both a governor and a senator, and just a handful of counties voted to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers—many counties that would be red in a partisan election voted no.

Today, we get to see a chastened Gov. John Kasich—but not quite chastened enough:

At a news conference Tuesday night, Mr. Kasich congratulated the winners and said he would assess the situation before proposing any new legislation. “It’s time to pause,” he said. “The people have spoken clearly.”

When asked about the people’s message, Mr. Kasich said, “They might have said it was too much too soon.”

Dude. Your polling is hilariously bad (PDF); just 33 percent of voters approve of you, and if they could do 2010 over, you'd lose big. In an off-off-year election, the vote against your signature measure was bigger than the vote for you in your own election year. The one voters wish they could do over. Maybe you're still lingering in the bargaining stage of grief? If so, get over it. The voters of your state didn't say that taking collective bargaining rights from workers was "too much too soon." They said it was unacceptable, now or in the future.

Hopefully, the force with which Ohio voters jammed Issue 2 back down Kasich's throat will be enough to make not just him but Republican governors and legislators in a few other states take pause.

Originally posted to Daily Kos Labor on Wed Nov 09, 2011

Also republished by Daily Kos.

Technorati Tags: Issue 2,Labor,Unions,John Kasich,Ohio,Koch,Republicans,1%,99%,Occupy Wall Street,Current Events,An American Gothic

Taxpayers Getting Shafted By Bank Of America?

   On Tuesday:

BoA Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On Taxpayers, Super Committee Looks Away. Seize BoA Now.

by Ralph Lopez     Tue Nov 08, 2011     Original Article

It's real money, especially since "Bank of America Deathwatch" financial pundits have multiplied on the web and it has become a bit of a geek guessing game.  When will BoA finally tank?  And when it tanks, the question becomes, who will walk away with all their money, and who will be left holding the bag?  The deal just snuck through with the Federal Reserve's, and implicitly, Congress's approval insures Wall Street casino gambler's debts by moving them into accounts meant for penny-pinching grandmas. 

Citing Bloomberg, financial commentator Avery Goodman tells us:

Even if we net out the notional value of the derivatives involved, down to the net potential obligation, the amount is so large that the United States could not hope to pay it off without a major dollar devaluation, if a major contingency actually occurred and a large part of the derivatives were triggered.

A bailout for one company's most irresponsible investors triggering a major dollar devaluation?  This is the kind of thing that starts revolutions. 

Goodman reports:

Bank of America (BAC) has shifted about $22 trillion worth of derivative obligations from Merrill Lynch and the BAC holding company to the FDIC insured retail deposit division. Along with this information came the revelation that the FDIC insured unit was already stuffed with $53 trillion worth of these potentially toxic obligations, making a total of $75 trillion.

Without going too far into bewildering financial jargon, it's like this: Your wildest son is asking you to co-sign for a debt.  If he can't make his payments, you are on the hook.  How much is the debt?  He doesn't know.  Just sign on the dotted line.

Meanwhile the "super committee" is looking for a trillion or so dollars in hits to everything, including Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, to keep the budget from going any more out of whack.  It's urgent, they say, for us to stop spending like drunken sailors.  But at the same time they just whipped out a pen and signed for junior, crossing their fingers that something won't happen which is almost inevitable.

Where did I stumble across this news item?  Sure as heck not on MSM, which is focused on the smoke grenade of BoAs recent $400 million fee case settlement.  $400 million fits into $72 trillion almost 2 million times.  Now which is the bigger story?

I stumbled across it posted by an outraged Occupy Wall Street-type on one of their Facebooks.  You don't need to read Karl Marx to become an Occupy Wall Streeter.  The American financial pages will do it.

It is unlikely the taxpayer's hit will be as much as $72 trillion.  Again, no one knows.  But it will be a chunk of money.

BusinessWeek writers Phil Mattingly and Bob Ivry point out that Dodd-Frank is not strong enough to prevent the BoA move:

Separating complex transactions from FDIC-insured savings has been a cornerstone of U.S. regulation for decades, including Dodd-Frank, the regulatory overhaul enacted last year. Bank of America’s transfer prompted some lawmakers to push for stronger rules than were included in that sweeping law.  Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who supported legislation to separate trading operations from commercial banking, said the transaction is a “perfect example why we should break up too-big-to-fail financial behemoths.”

Representative Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat who pushed to require splitting commercial and investment banking, said “What Bank of America is doing is perfectly legal -- and that’s the problem.”

Hinchey is among more than 40 House lawmakers who have signed on to a bill that would reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that enforced separation of depository institutions from investment operations.  Most are Democrats, but that leaves roughly 180 House Democrats who have not signed onto the bill, and at the moment have no intention to.  Not to mention the "super committee" eyeing your Social Security.  Nor Obama.

A commenter in a Columbia Journalism Review piece on the Bloomberg reportage says:

The government should not be on the hook for the bets of an investment bank which is impossible when you allow a deposit and investment bank to merge.

The re-instatement of Glass_Steagall, which prevents bankers from going to Vegas with grandma's money, is consistently on lists of reforms being being debated by OWS.

Glass-Steagall began to be dismantled under Ronald Reagan, with Bill Clinton finishing the job for Wall Street in 1999.  When Bill Clinton signed the law, Progressive Historian notes:

it symbolized the ending of the twentieth century Democratic Party that had created the New Deal. Although the 1999 law did not repeal all of the banking Act of 1933, retaining the FDIC, it did once again allow banks to enter the securities business...

The repeal of one of the most important pieces of legislation in this nation's history came about as a result of another Clinton "triangulation,"...

The transaction is against the Federal Reserve's own regulations, but as Avery Goodman points out, Congress has given ultimate power to the Federal Reserve to ignore its own enabling Act legislation.  The pertinent passage of the enabling legislation reads:

The Board may, at its discretion, by regulation or order exempt transactions or relationships from the requirements of this section if it finds such exemptions to be in the public interest

Dave Johnson writing for Truthout.org summarizes the absurdity well:

This situation of crony government protecting the connected rich while people are in the streets demanding change is more and more reminiscent of Egypt under Mubarak.... Currently in Washington Congress' elite "super committee" represents the 1%, looking at ways to take more money out of the economy, discussing cutting Social Security at a time when many people have lost their pensions and savings. They are discussing cutting Medicare and other health services at a time when more and more people are in need. They are discussing cuts and cuts and cuts, when working people are falling behind and behind and behind.

But the actual causes of the deficits that have Congress so concerned are ignored. Reagan and the Bushes cut taxes on the rich and increased military spending, and the deficits and resulting debt soared. It is right there in front of our faces. But even with such "concern" about deficits the tax cuts for the rich continue and the huge increases in military spending are left alone. Instead Congress discusses austerity - making the 99% pay for the benefits and bailouts for the 1%.

Now why are those protesters out there again?   Simple.  The ones whose interviews the MSM does not air read the financial pages.   At the same time many politicians, including Obama, give plenty of lip service about busting up banks which are "too big to fail."  But unless someone does something soon, BoA is a done deal.  As always, never listen to what politicians say.  Watch what they do.  A couple of currency devaluations, and we're in Greece.

It is something when financial geeks in conservative business pages are calling for the government to seize Bank of America now, before it brings just America down with it.  That's when you know we are all in this together.

White House contact page

Congress contact page (including the "super committee")

Distribution of wealth in America: one percent own one-third of all assets:

Technorati Tags: Bank Of America,BoA,Wall Street,Derivatives,Congress,Current Events,An American Gothic,Occupy Wall Street

Don’t Let Obama Take A Koch Check

by RobertGreenwald       Sun Nov 06, 2011

Tens of thousands of Americans and citizens around the world have rightfully spoken out about the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a roughly 2,000 mile long development that would carve up six states and enrich the 1% even more.

Few personify the wealthiest 1% more than Charles and David Koch, who're among the largest financial beneficiaries of dirty tar sands oil. The Keystone XL pipeline would hurt America and make the Koch brothers richer. In other words, it would give the Koch brothers more billions of dollars to buy American democracy and bend it to their whims.

This doesn't have to be the case. The State Department and White House can veto the pipeline's permits because it crosses an international border with Canada.

The pressure's on. The State Department was rightfully exposed for shoddy oversight. Leaders in Congress continue fighting to further investigate the Koch brothers' involvement, and just recently, President Obama said he would personally approve or deny the Keystone XL pipeline.

It's the biggest environmental issue from now until next year. Will President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chose American safety or will they hand the Koch brothers billions more in profit that they'll politically use against them?

The world's top scientists agree that the tar sands is virtually game-over for the climate. More than that, why would this administration lend a lifeline to its wealthiest adversaries?

As Jamie Henn, one of the partners for today's rally outside the White House, wrote:

President Obama can deny the permit, right now, and shut down this flow of cash to the Kochs. In doing so, he'll show that our national interest isn't always determined by the 1%, in this case a few big oil companies and the Koch Brothers, but by the 99% of us who have to pay the price for their greed.

Let' s not forget that the pipeline would raise the price of gasoline in the Midwest and jeopardize one of our nation's most strategic and vital aquifers.

The Keystone XL oil pipeline is emblematic of a lot that we've learned about the Koch brothers since our Koch Brothers Exposed campaign began earlier this year. Whenever possible, the brothers try operating in the shadows and attacking the truth so they can get richer in secret.

We must continue holding them accountable. And we must pressure our leaders to make sure they don't enrich two of the biggest threats to American democracy.

Technorati Tags: Brave New Foundation,Charles Koch,David Koch,Hillary Clinton,Barack Obama,Koch Industries,Robert Greenwald,Current Events,An American Gothic,Keystone XL

Voter Fraud, Republican Style

From John Nichols on Monday, November 7, 2011 by The Nation

Block the Vote: Ohio GOP Bars Early Voting to Suppress Pro-Labor Turnout

TOLEDO — When Mitt Romney’s dad was a candidate for president back in the 1960s, Republicans competed on the strength of their personalities and ideas.

It was the same when Newt Gingrich was an up-and-coming Republican leader in the 1980s and the early 1990s.

But no more?

Republicans have a new strategy for competing in tight elections.

They cheat.

In Ohio this fall, the party faces a serious challenge. Republican Governor John Kasich, a GOP “star” for the better part of three decades, has staked his political fortunes on an attempt to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees while undermining the ability of their unions to function.

The move has proven to be massively unpopular. More than 1.3 million Ohioans signed petitions that forced a referendum on whether to implement the anti-labor law. Polls show that Ohioans are ready to do just that when they weigh in on referendum Issue 2.

But Ohio’s Republican secretary of state is trying to make it a whole lot harder for Ohioans to cast those votes.

On Friday, across Ohio, county boards of elections shut down early voting for next Tuesday’s election. They did so on orders from Secretary of State Jon Husted. A Republican stalwart,

Husted served as the party’s legislative point man (rising to the rank of Ohio House Speaker), co-chaired GOP campaigns (including that of 2008 presidential candidate John McCain) and has been closely tied to national conservative groups working on issues such as school choice and privatization. While serving in the legislature, Husted was allied with the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, which has been promoting Voter ID laws and other rule changes designed to suppress turnout.

Husted claimed a hastily passed and deliberately vague new state law, which took effect just last week, prohibits early voting in the three days before the election. That’s a dramatic change from traditional practice in Ohio, where early voting on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before high-profile elections has been allowed for years—and has permitted tens of thousands of citizens to participate in the process.

The law in question, Ohio House Bill 224, was written primarily to deal with military ballots. Yet, Husted is interpreting it as a bar on early voting. State Representative Kathleen Clyde, a Democrat who represents Kent, says Hustad is essentially creating his own rules.

“When you take out major chunks” of the legislation, as Husted has, explains Clyde, “the bill is now unreadable and incomprehensible.”

But the confusion has worked for Husted and the GOP. County election officials have, at his behest, shut down early voting across Ohio.

That’s caused protests across Ohio. In Toledo, crowds showed up outside the offices of the Lucas County Board of Elections, which had scheduled business hours for Saturday and Sunday but canceled them to comply with Husted’s order.

“It’s un-American and undemocratic to close the polls the weekend before the vote,” said the Rev. Willie Perryman, pastor of Toledo’s Jerusalem Baptist Church. “The real reason is they want to suppress the vote.”

“For me, the voting booth is the one place where the rich man and the poor man stand as equals,” Larry Friedman, the president of a Toledo cleaning firm who showed up to protest the closing down of early voting.company, explained to reporters.

There was no question that qualified voters wanted to cast their ballots early—either because they would be away on election day or because they wanted to avoid lines. Newspapers, radio and television stations across the state reported on voters who came to local elections offices Saturday and Sunday, only to find doors that have historically been open on the eve of a major election to be locked.

In the last off-year election, 2009, the Toledo area saw 1,814 early votes, Lucas County Elections Board executive director Ben Roberts told the Toledo Blade.

In 2010, the number rose to 5,551.

This year, before Husted shut down the early voting, 5,602 ballots had been cast. Perryman and others who were protesting believe that thousands more would have been cast Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

So why erect a barrier to thousands of voters in one county, and to tens of thousands or more statewide?

As with moves made by Republican governors and legislators not just in Ohio but across the country to develop overly strict Voter ID laws, to limit same-day registration and to cut back on early voting, the point is to depress turnout, especially in working-class communities such as Toledo.

The barriers don’t just make it harder to vote; they reduce enthusiasm in communities that are trying to increase turnout.

“As you get closer to [election day] the excitement grows and therefore we’re going to miss the moment with the early vote,” explained the Rev. Cedric Brock of the Mount Nebo Church in Toledo, who told local reporters that the shuttering of the polls over the weekend was “un-American” and “un-democratic.” “Ohio being the battleground state for the country for the 2012 Presidential race, we feel this is a tag to slow that momentum down,” said Rev. Block.

The pastor’s point is well taken.

Opposition to Governor Kasich’s anti-labor law appears to be so intense that turnout will be strong Tuesday—and if polls are correct, the governor will be dealt a setback by the people.

But allowing assaults on democracy in an off-year election is a dangerous game. It sets a precedent for the presidential election year, when the gaming of the system could well tip the balance in battleground states.

© 2011 The Nation

John Nichols is Washington correspondent for The Nation and associate editor of The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. His most recent book is The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition. A co-founder of the media reform organization Free Press, Nichols is co-author with Robert W. McChesney of The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again and Tragedy & Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy. Nichols' other books include: Dick: The Man Who is President and The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism.

    Republished from Common Dreams

Technorati Tags: Ohio,Elections,Early Voting,Voter Suppression,John Kasich,Republicans,Ohio House Bill 224,Current Events,An American Gothic,Politics

Mitt Romney’s Conservative Christian Economic Plan: Favors The 1% Across The Board

  Millionaires, especially Christian Conservatives,making up the economic plans for the United States is one of the reasons that they should not be charged with doing the task as they make plans to help themselves keep more of their money while the remainder of us pay for their indulgences. Face it folks, the wealthy are not going to do anything that helps the 99% if it might cost them a few dollars.

Romney Economic Plan: Of The 1%, By The 1%, For The 1%

Nov 4, 2011 | By ThinkProgress War Room

A Plan Fit For a Billionaire (Or Two)

This afternoon, Mitt Romney delivered a fiscal policy speech at a “Defending the American Dream” conference sponsored by the Koch Brothers’ front group, Americans for Prosperity. See below and you’ll understand why David Koch himself was in the front clapping for millionaire Mitt Romney.

Romney’s Plan — The Lowlights

    $6.6 TRILLION in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations
    $6.5 TRILLION added to the deficit
    Cuts to Social Security
    The end of Medicare as we know it
    Cuts to Medicaid more draconian those in the House GOP budget plan
    Repeals the Affordable Care Act — eliminating health care coverage for 32 MILLION Americans
   

Specifically outlines cuts in funding for:
        Planned Parenthood and Title X women’s health programs
        Amtrak
        NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
        National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities
        Foreign aid
    Repeals the New Deal-era law that ensures government contractors pay their workers a fair wage
    Throws more than 400,000 federal employees out of work
    Increases defense spending

Fun Fact

Romney’s plan to completely eliminate the estate tax would mean an $8.7 BILLION windfall for each of the billionaire Koch Brothers.

Ask The Experts

Here’s what Center for American Progress Action Fund experts had to say about Romney’s plan:

Michael Ettlinger, vice president for Economic Policy:

    “The plan that Governor Romney announced today….is a plan that is of the top 1 percent, by the top 1 percent, for the top 1 percent.”

    “Romney called reducing the deficit a moral imperative. Given that Romney’s plan adds trillions to the deficit, it would appear to be morally bankrupt.”

Michael Linden, director of Tax & Budget Policy:

    “For a speech that was billed as a plan to reduce the deficit, Romney’s numbers sure do add a lot to the national debt and deficits.”

    “The cuts that [Romney] does outline are very damaging to the middle class and senior citizens.”

Heather Boushey, senior economist:

    “We’ve seen this movie before. Quite frankly it won’t create any jobs.”

    “This is going to do nothing to help not only the 99 percent, but the 9 percent of folks who remain out of work today.”

IN ONE SENTENCE: Mitt Romney may claim his plan defends the American Dream, but it would be nothing but a nightmare for the 99 percent.

This material [Romney Economic Plan: Of The 1%, By The 1%, For The 1%] was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund" http://www.americanprogressaction.org/

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney,Economic Plan,1%,Tax Cuts,The Wealthy,Social Security,Medicare,Medicaid,Planned Parenthood,Deficits,Politics,Current Events,An American Gothic,2012 Elections

Michele Bachmann’s Conservative Christian Idea

  Bachman, Perry, Cain, and the remainder of the pool of fools seeking the 2012 GOP nomination to run against President Obama have to be the type of  “ Christians “ which Ghandi was thinking of when he made the statement that  "i like your Christ, but not your Christians. they are not very Christ like."

   Bachmann’s latest tax idea for the poor:

Bachmann Would Eliminate Tax Credit That Kept Three Million Children Out Of Poverty Last Year

By Pat Garofalo on Nov 3, 2011

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who is campaigning for the 2012 GOP presidential nod, has already made it quite clear that she intends to raise taxes on the poorest Americans if elected. Today, she rolled out a new plan to hike taxes on those at the bottom of the income scale: eliminating the Earned Income Tax Credit.

In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, Bachmann said she would “do away with the EITC,” and force someone who made only $3 to pay taxes on it:

This would be through the income tax system because the problem is, and this is where I deviate from Reagan, he instituted the Earned Income Tax Credit, it’s known as the EITC, and that effectively took many many Americans out of even having to pay any tax liability at all. I would do away with the EITC and if a person has $3 in income they would be subject to something. Obviously, no one has $3 in income. But they would have to pay something through that system.

The EITC is a tax credit for those at the lowest end of the income scale, going to families with children that make less than $36,000 per year (though the income level can vary depending on year and number of dependents). Individuals making less than $18,000 annually can also qualify for a small credit.

President Reagan called the EITC “the best antipoverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.” According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “research indicates that families mostly use the EITC to pay for necessities, repair homes, maintain vehicles that are needed to commute to work, and in some cases, obtain additional education or training to boost their employability and earning power.” And in recent years, the EITC has been essential in lifting families out of poverty:

The EITC reduces poverty by supplementing the earnings of workers with low wages and low earnings. There has been broad bipartisan agreement that a two-parent family with two children with a full-time, minimum-wage worker should not have to raise its children in poverty. At the federal minimum wage’s current level, such a family can move above the poverty line for an average family of four only if it receives the EITC as well as SNAP (food stamp) benefits.

In each of the last two years, the EITC kept 3 million children out of poverty. But Bachmann would eliminate it in order to tax those who make the least amount of money. At the same time, she has said that she is “open to” eliminating the corporate income tax

    Just what part of help those less fortunate and needy do these “ Conservative Christians “ and their followers not understand? I hate to say it to these jerk-offs, but, I seriously believe that Jesus would have nothing to do with this group of frauds.

"This material [Bachmann Would Eliminate Tax Credit That Kept Three Million Children Out Of Poverty Last Year] was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund" americanprogressaction.org

Technorati Tags: Michele Bachmann,EITC,Taxes,Income Tax,Earner Income Credit,Ronald Reagan,Poverty,Current Events,An American Gothic