Is This A System Worth Preserving?

Daily Kos

  By swellsman   on Sat Oct 15, 2011

It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.

                            --W. Somerset Maugham

One thing that the Occupy Movement has done magnificently is draw attention to the fact that the vast, vast majority of Americans have been ill-served by the top-oriented, trickle-down economic and political policies to which our country has pledged its allegiance for the past 30 years.  And no group within OWS has done that more eloquently, more movingly, than We Are the 99%.

If you click on that link and go to their tumblr you’ll read testimonial after testimonial from average people who have been left scrambling to fend for themselves as a result of these policies.  Testimonials from people who discovered when the final debt bubble burst that, in 21st century America, working hard and playing by the rules is no longer enough to ensure one’s survival.  Forget about the aphorism that says “a society’s greatness is measured by how it treats the least of its members,” these people are coming to grips with the fact that America’s top-oriented, trickle-down approach often doesn’t set a place at the table for even average Americans.

I suppose that the apologists for the current system recognize how compelling these stories are because one of them, Erick son of Erick, recently started a competing tumblr: We Are the 53%.  Its name derives from the fact that, in America, only 53 percent of the population earns even the minimum amount necessary to subject them to federal income taxes.  So these people are what passes for the lucky ones in today’s America.

The site itself contains testimonials from people describing how hard they’ve personally had to work, sometimes describing how poor they still are, and yet how little sympathy they have for anybody with the temerity to point out that 21st century America is a grossly unfair place in which to live.

Many of these testimonials are truly maddening – not in a These people make me so angry I can’t see straight kind of a way, but in an I can’t understand why you are fighting to preserve a system that clearly doesn’t care about you kind of way.

Some things should just be obvious.  Both We Are the 53% and We are the 99% define themselves in reference to the American population as a whole – so, pretty clearly, nearly everybody who is a member of the 53% is also and at the same time a member of the 99%.  The math alone means there’s almost perfect overlap between the two groups.

But, of course, this isn’t about math.  It’s about competing views of one’s place in society, of one’s obligation to society, and of society’s obligation to its members.

If one photo/testimonial has become the face of the We Are the 53% tumblr, it must be this one:

For anyone having a hard time reading this rather truculent looking young man’s statement, he describes himself as a former Marine who now works two jobs, doesn’t have health insurance, had to work 60 – 70 hours a week for 8 years to pay for college, and hasn’t had four consecutive days off in four years.  Sounds pretty horrible.  Yet he closes with this sentiment:  “But I don’t blame Wall Street.  Suck it up you whiners.  I am the 53%.  God Bless the USA!”

(You just know this guy has blared Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA all his life and not once has he ever actually listened to the lyrics.)

Staring at that photo just produces such cognitive dissonance in me that I almost don’t know where to begin.  But to start with, let me say that I do understand this man’s pride in what he has accomplished and had to overcome to get to where he is today.  Working the equivalent of 2 full-time jobs, for 8 years, to put oneself through college is beyond admirable and kudos to him for managing that.

But what I don’t understand is why it seems never to have occurred to him that he shouldn’t have had to do that.  Is getting a college degree in the United States really supposed to be so difficult?  Is an America in which someone has to work as hard as this young man did for 8 years in order to get that degree – which is rapidly becoming a requirement for employment in all but the more menial jobs – the type of society to which we should aspire?

And consider the circumstances in which this young man actually finds himself now; what has all that hard work and his service to his country as a Marine earned him?  Today he still has to work two jobs, is unable to take any vacation time, and doesn’t have health insurance.  After all that work and service he is absolutely slaving away and still is only one serious illness, one physical accident, one stroke of bad luck from complete and utter bankruptcy.

Is this, in fact, the way American society is supposed to work in the 21st century?  For all this young man already has contributed to our economy and to our country . . . is his reward supposed to be nothing more than a life spent working like a dog and hoping against hope that his luck holds out?  Or the luck of his wife, or of his children?

Is this a system worth preserving?

* * *

Some years ago I met and had a fairly long conversation with another young Marine, who had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.  (I'm from a Marine Corps family, and my hometown is a Marine Corps town.)  At the time, America’s bloody Iraq misadventure already had been recognized for the gross debacle it was, but Bush II was still in office and nobody seemed to have a plan for extricating the United States from that catastrophe in a way that wouldn’t make it obvious just how badly the Dauphin had screwed up to begin with.

As I’ve mentioned before, policy makers generally find it easier to keep pursuing disastrous policies than to admit that they made a mistake in the first place.  This is the sunk cost phenomenon in which “policy makers tend to favor uncertain success over certain loss.  As long as the project is neither completed nor stopped, the dilemma will keep presenting itself.”

And this often results in some serious heartbreak.  That young Marine I met and spoke with years ago knew that Iraq was a failed experiment and he knew that it was almost certain he would be sent back there within less than a year for another tour of duty, but he didn’t know – he couldn’t know – if he’d ever make it back home that next time.

Of course, it’s not just policy makers who are subject to the sunk cost dilemma – everybody has to deal with it from time to time, and I’m staring at the face of the man in the picture above and I wonder if that is what he is doing.

Maybe the reason he seems so determined to preserve a system that clearly just does not care whether he lives or dies is because he’s spent years really believing all the people who told him the game is fair, and now if he acknowledges the game is actually rigged then he’ll also have to acknowledge that he’s been played for a fool.  Maybe, having worked and sweated as hard and as honorably as he has, he can’t bear to think that all of that work may have been for nothing, a down payment on a promise that almost certainly will never be kept.

Or maybe, like so many other people, he just can’t distinguish between needless sacrifice and noble sacrifice.  Maybe he confuses suffering with value.

Do you remember this exchange, from back when Bush the Lesser was traveling the country and trying to gin up support for his plan to abolish social security?

  Ms. Mornin:      Okay, I’m a divorced, single [57 year-old] mother with three grown, adult children.  I have one child, Robbie, who is
mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.

Pres. Bush:      Fantastic.  First of all, you’ve got the hardest job in America,being a single

mom . . . .

Ms. Mornin:      I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

Pres. Bush:      You work three jobs?

Ms. Mornin:      Three jobs, yes.

Pres. Bush:      Uniquely American, isn’t it?  I mean, that is fantastic that   you’re doing that.  (Applause.)  Get any sleep?  (Laughter.)

Ms. Mornin:      Not much.  Not much.

It is hard to conceive of someone more clearly missing the point here than did President Junior.  Ms. Mornin’s toiling away at three jobs to support herself and her handicapped son is admirable to be sure . . . but it’s not fantastic.  It’s not ‘fantastic’ that in 21st century America this woman has to work as hard as she does and go without sufficient sleep because that is the only way she can earn enough money to support herself and her handicapped son.

But that Ms. Mornin is in fact living a terrible life completely escaped Bush’s notice.  So far as he was concerned – this son of a president, this Ivy League legacy, this man whose fortune and career was handed to him every step of the way by people desperate to curry favor with his daddy – this woman’s life was no more relatable or real to him than a Lifetime Channel Made-For-TV Inspirational Movie . . . but it was just as entertaining.

So maybe that is what the young man in the picture is thinking.  Maybe he fancies that the degree to which his life has worth is measured by the degree to which he has to suffer.  Maybe his martyrdom on a broken system is what proves to him that his life is meaningful.  Maybe believing that the system ultimately is fair is what permits him to view his time spent on this planet as a period of noble sacrifice, and not one of pointless waste.

In the end I can’t know, will never know.  But I’d be willing to bet that, if this young man’s sacrifices never pay off, if he continues to get shafted year after year after year by a system that at best dismisses him and at worst despises him because he is not already one of the blessed few . . . his attitude will eventually change.  A lifetime of toil, disappointment and suffering ultimately will render him – as it renders almost everybody – petty and vindictive, just as Maugham suggests.

And that won’t be good for him, and it won’t be good for anybody else.

Originally posted at Casa Cognito.

Originally posted to swellsman on Sat Oct 15, 2011

Also republished by Occupy Wall Street and Community Spotlight.

 

Technorati Tags: Occupy Wall Street,#OWS,Class Warfare,We Are The 53%,We Are The 99%,Wages,ODK Veteran,Current Events,An American Gothic

What Is #OWS Upset About? Maybe Something Along The Lines Of This…

ALEC Politicians Spin Special "Interest" Bill to Protect Corporate Wrongdoers as "Job Creation"

            Published on Saturday, October 15, 2011 by PR Watch

by Lisa Graves

For years, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has been itching to protect big corporations from high interest rates charged in cases where corporations have killed or injured Americans. Now, Wisconsin politicians serving on key ALEC task forces are pushing a bill embracing this idea as part of ALEC alumnus Scott Walker's latest effort to force the ALEC agenda into law based on claims that doing so will help "job creators."

Citizens Pay 12% but Companies that Injure or Kill Pay 4.25%

The bill, introduced by Wisconsin State Senator Rich Zipperer of Pewaukee and Representative Paul Farrow, also of Pewaukee, would reduce the interest rate on court-ordered payments for Wisconsin residents who have convinced a jury and a judge that a corporation injured them, killed their loved ones, or violated consumer protections guaranteed by law. Under current law, in almost all types of civil lawsuits, Wisconsin requires the losing party to pay 12% interest on the judgment, until the amount owed is paid in full or unless overturned on appeal.

But ALEC politicians Zipperer and Farrow want to slash the interest rate charged (to about 4.25%) -- but only in cases involving personal injury and consumer claims. By definition these are cases in which virtually the only time there will be a financial judgment is when a Wisconsin resident proves in court that the defendant company violated his or her rights. But when a corporation, such as a bank or leasing company, sues a citizen and wins, the Wisconsin citizen still has to pay interest at 12% until the bill is paid in full.

How does this aid job creation?

"Lowering the price of breaking the law doesn't target job creation or economic development," says Laura Dresser an economist from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. To put it less academically, "the only jobs it creates are for undertakers," said Democratic Rep. Brett Hulsey at a press conference about the so-called job creation bill package. To call legislation that rewards adjudicated corporate wrongdoers "job creation" is simply spin.

Anti-Consumer Bill Echoes ALEC "Model"

The Zipperer-Farrow bill serves very special interests with their own special interest rate. It looks like ALEC's Pewaukee Posse -- a former estate lawyer and a current home inspector -- has taken a page from ALEC's "Prejudgment and Post-Judgment Act." That so-called "model" bill, which the Center for Media and Democracy exposed this summer through our ALECexposed.org project, would reduce the interest charged to corporations that kill or maim Americans.

This ALEC wish list item is a piece of the ALEC corporations' so-called "tort reform" agenda, an unabashed effort to tilt the scales of justice in favor of corporations in nearly every imaginable way. But Zipperer and Farrow have one-upped ALEC by adding consumer cases into the mix, on top of the cases involving Americans who have lost their lives or livelihood to corporate neglect, malfeasance, or greed. The Pewaukee Posse also tweaked the interest rate calculation of ALEC from using the Treasury bill rate to the prime rate plus one percent. These are differences without distinction -- both slash the interest rate paid by corporations that kill or maim. The Zipperer-Farrow bill is the ALEC bill on steroids by sweeping in all consumer cases in the state as well.

Pewaukee Posse Pushes ALEC Agenda in State

It should come as no surprise that Zipperer sits on the ALEC Civil Justice Task Force. "Civil justice," in this case, is an Orwellian term for giving corporations whose products or policies happen to ruin people's lives more "justice" in the judicial system than corporations get under longstanding rules that protect people done wrong by corporate greed or negligence. The "private sector" head of that task force is none other than the so-called "King of Tort Reform," Victor Schwarz, who has long advanced the interests of tobacco and asbestos companies that for decades deep-sixed scientific proof that their products were literally killing Americans.

Zipperer is also one of the politicians who asked Wisconsin taxpayers to pay the $50 bucks a year ALEC charges for politicians to be members. And he's received financial compensation of over $1000 from ALEC for at least one trip, likely to an ALEC gathering known for schmoozing with corporate lobbyists -- lobbyists interested in legislation just like the one Zipperer and Farrow introduced. Like Zipperer, Farrow is no ordinary member of ALEC. He was chosen to sit on its Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force alongside lobbyists from AT&T and other companies that have been sued for policies and practices that take advantage of consumers.

Pfizer Lobbyist One of ALEC's Corporate Co-Chairs for Wisconsin

This is not the only bill being spun as job creation that has ALEC DNA and that would adversely affect injured Wisconsin residents. Another ALEC bill sponsored by Zipperer would limit the rights of Wisconsin residents to recover any damages in strict liability cases (the primary legal basis for cases involving injurious products) if they are injured by prescription or over-the-counter drugs. Like the special interest rate bill, the drug bill goes even further than the ALEC model -- adding in medical devices and barring lawsuits for drugs approved by the FDA, not just barring punitive damages for regulated drugs, ALEC policy since 1995.

Perhaps, it should come as no surprise that the latest corporate co-chair of ALEC assigned to the state of Wisconsin is none other than Pfizer through its lobbyist Bryon Wornson. The list of drugs Pfizer has gotten through the inadequate FDA review process only to recall them later is long. Last year, an intravenous drug it distributed was recalled because it "might kill" hospital patients. That's just the tip of the iceberg on unsafe products produced and recalled over the years by Pfizer, and Pfizer is just one of the many transnational corporations whose drugs or devices got through the FDA's process only to end up killing or causing life-threatening harm to American consumers.

"This proposal does nothing to help employ the people of Wisconsin and everything to help big-time, special interest drug company CEOs," says Phil Neuenfeldt of the state's AFL-CIO, speaking of the drug and device bill.

The interest rate bill and the drug and device bill are part of a package being considered under Governor Walker's "Special Session on Job Creation," but so far it's hard to spot the bills that actually focus on creating jobs.

Very Special Interest Bill Just One of the Posse's ALEC Echoes

The Pewaukee Posse has proven to be such eager sponsers of legislation with ALEC DNA that perhaps they will get gold stars, or "scholarships," from ALEC's new state co-chair Robyn Vos to attend coming ALEC conventions/vacations along with invitation-only parties hosted by global corps. Vos and his predecessor as ALEC state co-chair, Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald, have been charged under ALEC by-laws with a "duty" to get ALEC bills introduced in their home states. ALEC's politician co-chairs also are tasked with distributing the largess raised by state corporate co-chairs, like Pfizer, from corporate coffers to fund trips for loyal legislators.

Zipperer has put his name and effort behind: SB-1, which echoes several ALEC provisions to limit the rights of Pewaukee residents and other citizens of Wisconsin killed or injured by corporations, including negligent nursing homes (signed into law by ALEC alum Walker); AB-7, the so-called "Voter ID" bill that may block tens of thousands of students and others from voting in 2012, and which includes provisions consistent with ALEC's model bill (made law by Walker); SB-10, a tax give-away that benefits Wall Street speculators, similar to ALEC's "capital gains tax elimination act"; and AB-94, which expands taxpayer subsidies for private schools, echoing ALEC's privatization agenda in its "parental choice" bills.

Farrow has also pushed bills echoing the ALEC voter suppression agenda, capital gains, and school privatization efforts, and has introduced even more ALEC-like bills than his Pewaukee brother, including bills limiting the use of transportation taxes and embracing the NRA's shoot first bill known as the "Castle Doctrine," which shares core concepts with a parallel ALEC bill urged by the NRA, the former ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force Co-Chair.

These lists do not include all of the other bills similar to the cookie cutter legislation flowing out of the ALEC bill factory that the Pewaukee Posse voted for or that ALEC Alum Scott Walker signed into law this year.

But their latest foray into advancing the corporate wish list, through their very special interest bill, goes even further than ALEC has dared by targeting not just Wisconsinites physically injured by corporations but also consumers statewide.

                © 2011 Center for Media & Democracy

Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy, the publisher of PRWatch.org, SourceWatch.org, and BanksterUSA.org. She formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, as Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the U.S. Courts.

Technorati Tags: ALEC,Pewaukee Posse,Scott Walker,Zipperer-Farrow Bill,Corporations,The Congress,Current Events,Politics,An American Gothic,Pfizer,ATT,Tort Reform

Fox News Poll Results Won’t Be Lead Story On Fox…

  …. anytime soon as the polling results show that many people view the  Occupy Wall Street protest as representing their own views.  Fox can’t get their desired polling results slanted to their viewpoint without Republicans or their offspring ( Tea Party ) being the majority in the crowd.

    From carver:

The Brad Blog reported that Fox News conducted a poll  on how the public views the #OWS protests; however, the results are not likely to be a lead story on Fox anytime soon.
The question asked was ,
“Do Occupy Wall Street protest represent your views on the economy?”
.
..Results below

--------------------------
Do Occupy Wall Street protest represent your views on the economy? [183,148 total responses]
- Maybe. I am not even sure what they want----- [2.8%  4694 votes]
- No. They have no idea how jobs are created or how a free enterprise system works. -----[28.63%  52025 votes}
- Yes.  These folks are right about corporate greed and what's happening to the little guy. ----[67.98%   123509 votes]
- Other (post comment) ---- [.8%  1460 votes ]
67.98% you say..... 67.98%.....oops! 

Roger, we have to bury that nasty little nugget of information because its...uh...unbalanced.

Originally posted to carver on Tue Oct 11, 2011

Also republished by Class Warfare Newsletter: The Plutocracy & WallStreet VS the Working Class and Occupy Wall Street.

 

Technorati Tags: #OWS,Occupy Wall Street,Fox News,Polling,The Economy,Current Events,An American Gothic

#OWS: What Is This?

  I read many overseas news websites just to see what other countries have to say about the events going on in America, and many times their viewpoints/thoughts are much different and more informed than those of the reporters living in America.

  However, the Occupy Wall Street protests seem to be confounding the foreign news outlets just as they are American outlets. The only difference is that the American, corporate-run outlets ( Fox News, CNN,etc. ) make the attempt purposefully to degrade/downplay the #OWS protest while saying that the movement hates the wealthy, capitalism, and on and on. The powers that be do not like this movement because they are afraid that Americans will actually begin to see the huge banks and brokerage companies for the frauds/thief's that they are.

   A few foreign news reporters are even comparing the #OWS protesters with the ill-fated, corporate backed Tea Party going as far as saying that they have many similarities. It has been suggested the the #OWS may be  the Democrats Tea Party.

   

Le Monde, France                 Watching America
Is the Anti-Wall Street Movement
the Democrats’ Tea Party?

By Charlotte Chabas
Translated By Michelle De Saintfuscien
7 October 2011

Edited by Andrew Schmidt

France - Le Monde - Original Article (French)
As the movement of outraged anti-Wall Street protesters gains momentum, the American press is asking more and more questions about the political implications of this spontaneous mobilization. Just a few months ahead of the presidential election, the White House has sent a strong signal to the protesters. At a press conference, Barack Obama considered that these protests — that he has "seen on television" — express "the frustrations that the American people feel." A statement which proves that the movement has emerged from the "media blackout" denounced by journalist Keith Olbermann, known for his pro-Democratic positions.
Although the Obama camp seems to be gradually taking stock of this mobilization, the influence of these militants is a cause of embarrassment for Democrats. When asked about the similarities between the anti-Wall Streeters and the tea party movement, the president preferred to dodge the question. But his vice-president, Joe Biden, was less reserved, declaring that the two movements "have a lot in common," according to the Los Angeles Times. United by a common rejection of the political system, a certain mass spontaneity and their decentralized organization, the two movements could play a major role in the upcoming election.
Since its emergence in 2009, the tea party has proven to be an important ally for the Republicans, notably contributing to their victory in the 2010 congressional elections. But now, the movement is "pulling GOP presidential candidates to the right in a way that may prove problematic in next year's general election," notes the Los Angeles Times. The movement was therefore a "mixed blessing," which could well repeat itself on the Democratic side this time.
"Double-Edged" Exploitation
"Beleaguered liberals [...] may, unexpectedly, be witnessing the redefinition of a coming election year that was supposed to be all about an ‘enthusiasm gap’ for Democrats against charged-up Republicans," according to the Los Angeles Times' analysis. Quoting a liberal strategist, the daily declares that "you don't have to be a genius to see that you can overlay what is going on with Occupy Wall Street to energize and mobilize a Democratic base." This exploitation of the movement is in keeping with the dual role adopted by Obama lately, both learned and "populist," according to the journalists from Politico.
But many Democratic Party members prefer to remain silent on this growing street movement, "wary of embracing a protest movement whose aims and goals are unclear," notes the Wall Street Journal. The party could indeed lose "moderate, middle-class swing voters, as well as wealthy Democratic Wall Street donors," by too openly supporting the "more radical" protesters, states the daily. Comparing the Obama camp's policy to a "populist puzzle," the Wall Street Journal notes that the Democratic Party is "seeking to tap [the movement's] energy without opening the party to charges of class warfare."
The "Irresponsibility" of the Democrats
The Republicans for their part are trying to exploit the "radical" side of the protests to rally the moderates to their cause. Fox News, known for its right-wing positions, gives voice to Peter King, Republican representative for New York's 3rd district, who highlights the "irresponsibility" of Obama's statements. "[The protesters] should be denounced; they're breaking the law; they're serving no real purpose at all. And for the president or anyone else to give them any credence or credibility is also irresponsible," thundered the representative.
Some Republicans who expressed more nuanced opinions are trying to attract the anti-Wall Street protesters to their camp. In this respect, a spokesman for Republican primary candidate Rick Perry explains in the Wall Street Journal, "we understand the frustration with the Obama economy, but the protests don’t make sense or help create jobs."
What Futures for the Movement?
While the American media were slow to take interest in the movement, they are now asking questions about its future. "The protests have slowly grown in size and attention over more than two weeks, with the president's acknowledgment at a news conference a sign they might be jelling into a political movement," highlights the Chicago Tribune.
But the movement's future remains unpredictable, according to all the American papers. The anti-Wall Street movement remains an obscure movement that will struggle to find its place in today's American political landscape. Especially since the mobilization is not without contradiction. In this respect, the Christian Science Monitor notes ironically that the anti-Wall Street demonstrators "boo CEOs, but mourn Steve Jobs," the founder of Apple who died last Wednesday. On social network Twitter — the movement's main tool — the protesters' official account declared "much of Occupy Wall Street and the tech community respect you & will miss you." Later, under the movement's dedicated keyword, a protester even wrote, "RIP to a creative genius who helped make ALL these movements possible."

Technorati Tags: #OWS,Occupy Wall Street,Tea Party,Democrats,Republicans,Wall Street,Barack Obama,2012 Election,Steve Jobs,Current Events,An American Gothic

 

Friday Funnies: Occupy This

    While Wall Street is being occupied:

 

 

 

 

David Letterman: "You know who's also joining the Wall Street protesters? Kanye West. That's a real good idea -- a guy with diamonds in his teeth protesting greed."

"The economy's so bad, I was in Central Park today. I saw pigeons feeding old people. To save money we had to fire two writers, so this joke I'm in the middle of right now has no punch line."

They're saying President Obama doesn't have any friends. The problem is that he can't get Congress to approve one."

Conan O'Brien: "At the last Republican debate, the candidates were seated according to how they've been doing in the polls. So Jon Huntsman was seated next to Tim Pawlenty at a Denny's across the street."

Craig Ferguson: "Police were using pepper spray on the Wall Street protesters. That's scary. What if they're spraying them with condiments so the rich people can enjoy eating them?"

The protests are getting pretty rowdy. This morning, they overturned Donald Trump's hair and set it on fire

Technorati Tags: #OWS,Political.Humor,Late Night Talk,David Letterman,Conan O'Brian,Jokes,Current Events,An American Gothic

Herman Cain: A Wannabe President Wants T o Raise your Taxes…

  as is the usual Republican way in order to pay for even more tax breaks for the wealthy.

   ABC News says that Cain’s 999 plan would up the taxes on the middles class and the poor. That should come as no surprise to anyone.

ABC News DESTROYS Cain's 999 plan Shows it doubles taxes on Middle Class

by Lefty Coaster      Wed Oct 12, 2011

Overshadowing the quibbles from the Right this new ABC analysis of Cain's ultra regressive 999 tax plan, broadcast  on the Network News tonight should sink Herman Cain's Presidential campaign more quickly than just about anything I can think of.

9-9-9 Plan Would Almost Double Taxes on Middle Class

By Ben Forer
Oct 12, 2011 6:19pm

Cain developed the plan with the help of a little known accountant from Cleveland named Rich Lowrie.

However, a much longer list of economists say Cain’s plan would be a tax hike for the lower middle class and a tax windfall for the wealthy.

If you have a family of four with an income of just under $50,000, they would pay more under the Cain plan. Currently, they are taxed at just less than 7 percent and pay $3,400 in income tax. Under Cain’s plan, they would be taxed at 9 percent or pay $4,500.

That’s $1,100 more.

Although the family would save almost $4,000 in Social Security taxes, it would have to give up the child tax credit of $4,000. Furthermore, it would pay an additional national sales tax of 9 percent on everything purchased, including groceries and clothes, which totals about $2,000.

That means under the Cain plan that family would be almost doubling its taxes, going from $3,400 to $6,500.

Well not quite double but a hefty 9i% increase in taxes for a typical Middle Class family under Cain's 999 tax plan.

So if the Middle Class is a big loser under Cain's 999 tax plan who would the big winners be? Wealthy Elites that's who. Duh!

The poor would be made to pay more under Cain's 999 tax plan too to pay for his huge tax cuts on huge incomes.

Cain's 9-9-9 plan: Good for the rich, bad for the poor

The changes in income taxes would turn away from the progressive tax policy that's shaped U.S. policy for a century, based on the principle that the wealthier people are, the more they can afford to pay in taxes to the society that's enriched them.

"The plan could be expected to raise substantial amounts of revenue, but does so largely by skewing downwards the distribution of tax burdens," said a new analysis of the Cain plan this week by Edward D. Kleinbard, a professor of tax law at the University of Southern California. He's also a former chief of staff at the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzes all tax legislation for Congress. "The 9-9-9 Plan would materially raise the tax burden on many low- and middle-income taxpayers."

Others agree.

"It's regressive, relative to what we have now," said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a joint effort of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, center-left policy-research centers. "It would raise taxes for people at the bottom and lower taxes at the top end."

Essentially Cain's proposition to voters is just a more radical version of the entire Republican Party's efforts to keep taxes on the wealthy low by making everybody else pay more.

Technorati Tags: Herman Cain,ABC News,999,Republicans,Current Events,An American Gothic

#OWS Driving Conservatives Crazier

 

Occupy Wall Street roundup, Day 25

By Hunter for Daily Kos      Tue Oct 11, 2011

 

Pay to the order of John Paulson (@elliottjustin/twitpic)

Reactions from conservatives and the financial sector are picking up, perhaps because they realize this thing isn't just going away on its own. Significantly, much of the reaction falls into the "delusional, possibly insane" category, which perhaps speaks to a wee bit of panic in the upper echelons. Or maybe they've just lost the ability to come up with any responses to anything that aren't delusional and/or insane.

Among the Occupy-related events, punditry, and other things-of-note for today:

• Today Occupy Wall Street protestors marched to the homes of some of New York City's wealthiest people leaving giant "checks" made out for $5 billion, the amount of state money that will be lost when New York's "millionaire's tax" expires at the end of the year. The targets were Rupert Murdoch, David Koch, hedge fund manager John Paulson, and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Wait, Murdoch and Koch live in New York City—an ultraliberal den of high taxes so very oppressive to the wealthy that even conservative stalwart Rush Limbaugh turned tail and ran, rather than pay his share? I don't know if I'm impressed by their apparent courage in the face of such rampant liberalism, or just surprised that they're rich enough to live literally anywhere on the planet, and yet they still chose New York. Huh.
• John Paulson, meanwhile, says, "Instead of vilifying our most successful businesses, we should be supporting them and encouraging them to remain in New York City and continue to grow." (Note: John Paulson is not related to ex-Treasury Secretary-slash-ex-Goldman-Sachs-CEO Hank Paulson. Also note the giddy praise of the reporter in that piece, relating how some wealthy financial speculators are finally saying "what many are thinking." Sheesh.)
• The situation in Boston continues to be among the most tense, nationally. Last night, over 100 protestors were arrested. A first-hand account can be found here. Boston Mayor Tom Menino exclaimed, "I will not tolerate civil disobedience in the city of Boston," which sounds like satire until you realize he was serious. I guess we just don't like tea parties like we used to?
• Eric Cantor continues to be confused about the protests. While no longer quite willing to call the protestors a "mob," he still doesn't like them. You see, the tea partiers were protesting the government, but Occupy Wall Street is "pitting one part of our country against another":

  “The ire from the tea party’s standpoint is at Washington,” Cantor said. “It is about the government and its policies, and how that affects this country.”

  “Do you not see the government as representing the people?” [Politico's David Rogers] asked.

  “Sure, it’s of the people,” Cantor responded. “But we’re in an elected position and trying to lead, to solve problems. I don’t believe that our role is to inflame a division between different parts and sectors of American society.”

  If it doesn't make sense to you, just remember that Eric Cantor has made a political career out of making no sense at all on issues of taxes, economics, government and public opinion.

• Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, says the protests are a plot against the Jews. Wait, what? Aside from being nonsensical (see: Cantor), I think it also means he's stealing Glenn Beck's only remaining schtick ... so I eagerly await that lawsuit.
• Conservative fundraiser and consultant Nathan Wurtzel, on the other-other-hand, keeps it classy:

  

• It turns out conservative mostly-ex-wunderkind James O'Keefe, who is on probation and lives with his parents, was indeed in Liberty Plaza yesterday in order to edit together a film about (I think?) how those crazy hippies in the park are really just all money-hungry or something. A rather lackluster effort; I'm not sure what about that made O'Keefe think it was worth the possible probation violation.
• Rounding out crackpot conservative reactions to Occupy Wall Street day: my God, David Brooks is an idiot. Still, if you had told me that Brooks would write a column linking the Occupy Wall Street protests to the need for a third party that would pursue all of his great conservative ideas like cutting corporate taxes, etc., I never would have believed you. No, I would have said: it's just too stupid. Dean Baker responds here.
• A Ben & Jerry's flavor coming soon? Nope, not quite. Just photoshop. Good name, though.

Technorati Tags: #OWS,Occupy Wall Street,Conservatives,Wall Street,Current Events,An American Gothic

Herman Cain: Typical Republican Hypocrite

   it seems that the Teabagger Party still does not quite understand that the voting records of all of our elected officials can easily be looked up on the Internet, or they just simply have memory lapses when it comes to their darling critters running for the highest office.

   The Tea Party dislikes the TARP ( bailouts ) idea, but they love one of the candidates who supported it. Their current darling is one Herman Cain, asshat from Florida. He supported Bush’s TARP, as did Romney and Perry, and they are all three of them trying to get their followers to not remember that.

Jed Lewison          Fri Oct 07, 2011

Here's the story tea party Republicans like to tell: infuriated with the TARP bank bailouts (passed in 2008 during the Bush administration), tea partiers decided to take control of their party from establishment politicians and replace them with true conservative outsiders. You know, guys like Herman Cain.

The only problem is that back in 2008, guys like Herman Cain were the exact same establishment figures telling Republicans why they should support the bailouts.

Here's Cain in October, 2008:

Far from Nationalization, Purchase of Bank Stocks Is a Win-Win for Taxpayers

Earth to taxpayers! Owning stocks in banks is not nationalization of the banking industry. It’s trying to solve a problem.

The unprecedented financial crisis has caused the Treasury of the United States to take unprecedented measures to help solve the problem of frozen credit and cash flow for U.S. businesses.

Now Cain tries to spin his support by saying that it's the implementation that he didn't like, not the program, and that he warned people it could go wrong. But this is what he said back then:

These actions by the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank and the actions by the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are all intended to help solve an unprecedented financial crisis. Unlike steps taken prior to and during the Great Depression, these actions have a high probability of success.

In order for these collective actions to work, the media needs to calm its crisis rhetoric, and Congress needs to just shut up with its political rhetoric.

Now don’t tell Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, but if this works, and I believe it will, the Bush Administration will have gotten this one right.

And he still makes the case that bailouts were a good idea—just that they were expected incorrectly.

Of course, it's not like today's Republican primary voters have any great options if they don't want to be complete hypocrites on their "fundamental opposition" to the TARP bailouts. Mitt Romney was a big supporter, and even though Rick Perry didn't specifically mention the word bailouts, he did urge Congress to pass an economic rescue package at the same time that it was voting on TARP. At the time, everybody took his words to be an endorsement of TARP, and he didn't push back until long after they became unpopular.

So that leaves Republicans with either Michele Bachmann or Ron Paul—if they want to be consistent. Or they can listen to what Herman Cain told them to do in 2008, and just shut up.

Originally posted to The Jed Report on Fri Oct 07, 2011

Also republished by Daily Kos.

Technorati Tags: Herman Cain,Tea Party,2012 Election,Politics,Current Events

The 99 Percent Do Not Protest Wealth

The Jobs agenda

Dante Atkins for Daily Kos   Sun Oct 09, 2011

What started in Zucotti Park is spreading across America. The playing field of the American economy has gotten so slanted toward the wealthiest among us, the rules so biased in their favor, that with no organizational assistance from a national propaganda network and no funding from shadowy billionaires and their front groups, self-organized demonstrators are peaceably assembling in the thousands and tens of thousands. From Wall Street in New York to Spring Street in Los Angeles, activists among the self-styled 99 percent have decided that living off the trickle-down of the plutocrats and corporate CEOs who crashed the economy, and not only came out clean on the other side, but more likely enriched themselves significantly in the process.

    Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a major corporate CEO passed away.

  Earlier this year, the corporation he managed had the largest market capitalization of any company on the planet. Given the shares he held not only in this corporation but also in several others with which he was affiliated, this man was undoubtedly among the wealthiest one percent of Americans. But far from being reviled for his wealth, power, influence and status as the executive of a massive company at a time when it is highly unpopular, Steve Jobs was nearly universally admired. The sudden announcement of his death, though not entirely unexpected given his recent abdication of his role at Apple, inspired profound sadness among legions of fans and monopolized news network coverage.

The Republican politicians who serve Wall Street and have dedicated themselves to protecting the interests of America's most fortunate have declared that the Occupy Wall Street movement is the enemy, that the participants in the protests sweeping the nation are a mob of anti-capitalists who are jealous that they can't have what rich people can have and want to take by force what they cannot afford to buy—presumably, as Herman Cain might say, because they didn't work hard enough. But if that were the case, why was a figure like Steve Jobs so revered, while the CEOs and hedge fund managers of Wall Street are so reviled? If the left is so interested in punishing success, as so many Republicans claim, why are the supposed anti-capitalists not celebrating the death of the head of the second largest publicly traded company in the world?

Unlike so many of my friends, associates and fellow bloggers, I am not a fan of Apple products. I have a seldom-used iPod Classic. My iTunes library barely exceeds two gigabytes. I have never had an iPhone, nor a Macbook of any kind. An iPad might be in the cards simply owing to the "coolness factor," should I ever be blessed with a combination of an indulgent mood and a confounding excess of spare cash. In fact, my fondest memory of Apple comes from the games I played on the Apple IIe my family had when I was very young. But despite using the products of his company's chief competitors, I have always had an enormous respect for Steve Jobs.

By all accounts, Jobs was not motivated primarily by financial success. He was motivated, rather, by a desire to do something unique, something completely different, to change the way people lived and interacted with each other through technology. To be innovative, to constantly push the cutting edge. Clearly, he succeeded. And along the way—from inventing the personal computer to launching the iPad 2—he created not just a successful product line, but a series of devices that changed the way millions and millions of people work, live and play. And whether in respecting his life or mourning his death, very few will resent Steve Jobs the billions he earned for the value he provided to so many.

The main ire of the occupiers of Wall Street is not directed simply toward people who are wealthy. Rather, it is directed at the financial sector: a series of institutions whose ostensible purpose is to provide the liquidity that greases the wheels of the American economic engine. But instead of fulfilling their mission to help their customers make money, the financial sector has decided to engage in corrupt, fraudulent and abusive practices to extract an ever-increasing profit from the credit they provide, and use those ill-gotten gains to garner legislation and tax rates that favor their agenda and methodology. Not only is the financial sector not providing quality products for the profit they extract; there are doing the exact opposite. They turn people out of their homes illegally through forged documentation like Bank of America, or shortsell the same low-quality investments they sold to their clients to make a shameful profit at both ends of the deal.

That wasn't Steve Jobs' agenda, nor is it the agenda of any other innovator whose desire is to create value that improves people's lives. The legions in New York and across the country do not protest wealth; they do not hate success. Rather, they object to those who extract value through predation rather than contribute value through innovation and creativity.

Technorati Tags: Occupy Wall Street,Steve Jobs,Wall Street,Current Events,99 Percenters,Economy,Bank Of America

The House Kissing Christian ( ? ) Ass…

… once again in order to get their votes in 2012. This is nothing new as every time a presidential election rolls around, the Republicans suddenly get the urge to attempt to place abortion restrictions on the books in order to fire up their base in order to get them to the polls. 2012 election is no exception, only this time around the GOP has an added reason to attack abortion.  John Boehner and Eric Cantor haven’t been able to create any kind of jobs bill that would help the American unemployed worker get back to work. Oh wait, they do have one idea! More tax cuts for the corporations who pay zero or very little in taxes in the first place. This will create jobs! Yep, just like it did under Bush.

   The American people ( sane ones ) have finally caught on to this lie from hell so the Republican Party has to change course while making sure that Obama and his brood of Democrats cannot get a jobs bill passed in the House. Anything to make sure that Obama is a one-term President. Obama does not need any of that help as he’s doing fine all by himself.

  Abortion! That’s the ticket which always work for the GOP and their Conservative Christian (?) base. Boehner and the boys will pass some stupid bill restricting some abortion rights and then they will brag about it all over Fox News and the rest of the “ lame-stream “ media. Most of the so-called “ Christians “ will rejoice over the passage and they will go to bed at night thinking that those Republicans are a swell group of Christians. They will not remember that those swell Christians do this every four years, and when they do win the White House, or the House, or the Senate majority, they quickly forget to actually do something of consequence. Won’t be any different this time.

   Have you been watching the television as of late? Every candidate on the Republican side has become a super-Christian lately. Rick Perry I think almost believes that he’s on par with Billy Graham, and so do Perry’s followers.

   Perry, Romney, Cain, and most of the rest of the field are about as  Christian as Satan is, and if you look closely at their ideas for America you see that they are nothing near “ Christian.”

Technorati Tags: Rick Perry,Eric Cantor,John Boehner,Abortion Rights,ConservativecChristians,2012 Election,Mitt Romney,Current Events,Politics,An American Gothic

Blue States Support Red States

   Nothing new as anyone who keeps track of this kind of stuff already knows that those states reported as red states receive more money from the federal government than do those states reported as blue states. it should also come as no surprise that the blue states spend more on education and healthcare and that the education spending has resulted in higher test scores than the red states receive. Would you be surprised to learn that many of those red states are southern states?

Blue States to the Rescue. Again.

by Avenging Angel     Mon Oct 10, 2011

In their never-ending attempts to prevent upper-income tax increases at all costs, Republicans have bemoaned the mythical impacts on small business owners and supposed "job creators."  But in pointing out that the Democrats' proposed millionaires' tax to fund the American Jobs Act would disproportionately hit the gilded-class in Blue State America, the right-wing's latest gambit only serves to make liberals' case for them.  As it turns out, for years blue state taxpayers have been willingly funding the education, health care and so much else for their red state brethren.

While Republicans have stonewalled the progress of President Obama's jobs program and the debt super committee's workover modest increases in tax rates for the wealthy, Tucker Carlson's reliably Republican Daily Caller offered a novel argument in carrying the conservatives' water:

The millionaire tax being pushed by Senate Democrats this week would hit taxpayers in Democrat-dominated states almost twice as hard as those in Republican-dominated states, according to an analysis by The Daily Caller...

For example, the 5.6 percent tax on million-dollar earners will hit 0.7 percent of taxpayers in New York, 1.2 percent of taxpayers in Connecticut and 0.4 percent of taxpayers in Colorado, according to an Oct. 6 report by the left-of-center group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

On average, 2.9 percent of taxpayers in the 18 states that elect two Democratic senators would be forced to pay the millionaire's surtax if it becomes law.

In contrast, only 1.7 percent of people in the 15 states that send two Republicans to the Senate would pay the surtax.

Of course, red state socialism - that is, the one way flow of federal tax dollars from Democratic-voting states to Republican ones - has been a feature of American politics for years.

As a 2007 analysis (above) of federal spending per tax dollar received by state shows, the reddest states generally reaped the most green. Eight of the top 10 beneficiaries of federal largesse voted for John McCain for President. Unsurprisingly, all 10 states at the bottom of the list - those whose outflow of tax revenue is funding programs elsewhere in the country - all voted for Barack Obama in 2008.  As Paul Rosenberg demonstrated, net beneficiary states similarly voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

The numbers for Sarah Palin's Alaska are particularly telling. While then-Governor Palin declared she would reject $288 million (31%) of the $931 million in stimulus funds allocated for schools, energy assistance and social services, her state led the nation in earmark dollars received per capita in the last omnibus spending bill during her tenure. (Alaskans got almost $210 per person in earmarks, while Californians got $16 and New Yorkers $13 in comparison.) Overall, Alaska ranked third in the federal gravy train, taking in $1.84 from Washington for each dollar sent there. Which makes Palin's parting words to her state ("We can resist enslavement to big central government that crushes hope and opportunity. Be wary of accepting government largesse; it doesn't come free. And often, accepting it takes away everything that is free") all the more comical.

The red state gravy train is especially full when it comes to federal education spending.

During the battles over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's union-busting earlier this year, conservative commentators tried in vain to claim that "blue state education [is] the shame of the nation" and "the very best public high schools in the country are heavily concentrated in red states."  Sadly for the purveyors of right-wing propaganda, the bigger picture of American public education isn't a pretty one for their side. As the numbers show, reading comprehension, graduate rates, ACT scores and state education funding are generally lowest where Republicans poll best.

The data showed that Wisconsin schoolchildren out-read the kids in states where Republicans poll best and public workers have the fewest collective bargaining rights.  Those know-nothing red states also happen to be where the federal government most heavily subsidizes the local education systems.

The numbers - and the electoral map - tell the tale. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Wisconsin does in fact spend more per student than some of its Midwestern neighbors even as its pupils score less well. But with 34% of its eighth graders students at or above the target reading proficiency, Wisconsin far outperforms the Republicans' solid south (and the national average of 30%). Only Kentucky, which receives substantially more money from DC can match Wisconsin's scores. Florida and Texas? Not so much.

Just as telling (as the table above reveals), the woefully inadequate per student spending levels are propped up only by generous federal spending provided by blue state tax payers. Meanwhile, the bluest of states in the Northeast spend more and get what they pay for. In Connecticut, 43% of eighth graders are at or above reading proficiency. The Nutmeg state spends $14,610 per pupil per year. New Hampshire (39%, $11,951), Vermont (40%, $14,421) New Jersey (42%, $17,620), Pennsylvania (40%, $11,741) and Massachusetts (42%, $13,667) pay the price for better educational outcomes.

A similar dynamic is at work when it comes to health care, too.  Blue state Americans help pay red staters' doctors' bills.

It should be noted for starters that health care is worst in precisely those states where Republicans poll best.  Findings from the UnitedHealth Group project "America's Health Rankings" last year revealed that Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Hawaii topped the overall health rankings. (It should be noted that Hawaii has offered a near-universal health care system for years while the insurance mandate in Massachusetts has helped reduce the ranks of the uninsured to only 3%.) Eight of the top 10 and 12 of the top 15 states voted for Barack Obama in 2008. In contrast, the McCain/Palin ticket swept nine of the 10 worst performers, most of which are in the Republicans' solid south.

Those results echoed the Commonwealth Fund's 2009 state health care scorecard, which similarly found that health care is worst in those reddest of red states, especially in the South.  There, too, Mississippi led the Republican south in providing dismal health care. Again, while nine of the top 10 performing states voted for Barack Obama in 2008, four of the bottom five (including Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana) and 14 of the last 20 backed John McCain. (That at least is an improvement from the 2007 data, in which all 10 cellar dwellers had voted for George W. Bush three years earlier.)  Rick Perry's Texas, which leads the nation in the percentage of uninsured residents, scored a dismal 46th.

As it turns out, these data are as ironic as they are tragic. After all, most of the 26 attorneys general suing to stop the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama come primarily from the same Republican states whose residents are so badly in need of health care reform. And, as the Washington Post explained in "A Red State Booster Shot" two years ago, it would be blue state taxpayers footing the bill:

Health-care reform may be overdue in a country with 45 million uninsured and soaring medical costs, but it will also represent a substantial wealth transfer from the North and the East to the South and the West. The Northeast and the Midwest have much higher rates of coverage than the rest of the country, led by Massachusetts, where all but 3 percent of residents are insured. The disproportionate share of uninsured is in the South and the West, the result of employment patterns, weak unions and stingy state governments. Texas leads the way, with a quarter of its population uninsured; it would be at the top even without its many illegal immigrants.

If you have any doubt that it will be blue staters underwriting red state health care, keep in mind that they already do.

Currently, the $300 billion Medicaid program serves roughly 60 million Americans. On average, the federal government picks up 57% of the tab, with poorer states like Mississippi and Alabama getting 75% of the funding from Washington. Averaging 21.8% of states' spending, Medicaid is now the largest budget item for most. Medicaid not only pays for a third of nursing home care in the United States; it covers a third of all childbirths. (In Texas, the figure is one-half.) As with Medicare, Medicaid provides insurance for substantially less than private insurers (27% less for children, 20% for adults.)

For their part, Republicans have tried to whitewash that reality by pretending, as Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour did, that "We have people pull up at the pharmacy window in a BMW and say they can't afford their co-payment."  And by calling both for Medicaid gutted and to be turned into block grant program and for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, GOP leaders like Barbour and Paul Ryan would guarantee that millions of Americans would go without health care.  Especially in Republican states.

Nevertheless, Republican propagandists will try to frighten Americans about the onerous impact of upper-income tax increases like the millionaire surcharge.  (They will also fret about "America's vanishing millionaires," yet another thoroughly debunked conservative talking point.)  They forget that despite his promise to raise their taxes, affluent voters supported Barack Obama for President in 2008.  More importantly, blue state residents have shown for decades that they will provide the funding and resources for the education, health care and anti-poverty programs their generally less fortunate red state neighbors badly need - and deserve.

That's part of what being an American is - or at least should be - about.

* Crossposted at Perrspectives *

Originally posted to Avenging Angel on Mon Oct 10, 2011

Also republished by Community Spotlight.

Technorati Tags: Haley Barbour,American Jobs Act,Republican States,Democrat States,Barack Obama,Education,Millionaires Tax,Healthcare,Medicaid,Paul Ryan,Taxes,Current Events,Politics

Tampa to Enact Panhandling Ban…

    …. and I say that it is about damned time as the massive amount of panhandling has gotten out of control in that town.

   It seems as if these people hang out at most every major traffic intersection in the city, especially on the north side, which is pretty much the “ transient “ hangout area.

   North Nebraska Avenue and Fowler Avenue has at least one panhandler at each divider every day of the week. A few of them hold up their “ I’m hungry “ or “ Need a job “ signs from sunup to sundown, and, at the end of the day they go home to their mobile homes right down the street. Most do have a job; drinking 4-packs of beer all day long in between their sign holding stints.

   They have become a nascence to the motorist who pass by these places on a daily basis, and Tampa is finally doing something to slow this activity down without banning it outright.

   The Tampa City Council passed an ordinance banning panhandling for 6 days out of the week ( Mon-Sat. ) but it is allowed on Sundays, so far. The ordinance passed by a vote of 6-1 on October 6,2011 and is set to go into effect on November 1, 2011 after the final vote on October 20,2011, and it is signed off on by the mayor ( Bob Buckhorn ) who approves of this ban. Good for him.

The ordinance will ban most roadside panhandling 6 days per week, but, newspaper sales would be allowed every day. Charity drives and panhandling would be allowed on Sundays,  but the 10 most crash-prone intersection in Tampa will be off-limits to everyone at any time.

  I have nothing against most of the panhandlers as I do know quite a few of them.Unfortunately, those are the ones who give panhandling a bad name as they are the drunks/crack-heads who blow the cash given to them by the motorist trying to help them out. Hey drivers, you aren’t helping them! You are enabling them!

   Did you know that every time one of these people is arrested for an open-container violation, which you helped support, it cost the taxpayer somewhere in the area of $87 and change for every day that they are locked up for only 1 $1.07 can of beer? It is usually a 5-day minimum stay in the county hotel. On top of that, the jail system charges each resident $25 per day for their visit,and how much of that $25 do you suppose they actually collect from a drunk who has been arrested? I’d say next to nothing based on what I have heard from the drinkers themselves.

   A 6 day a week ban on begging is a good start, but the work needs to begin on getting rid of them totally, particularly those who claim to be homeless but actually have places to live in.

    Did I mention that many of the same also get a monthly check from the government in the form of S.S.I. or either S.S.D.?

Technorati Tags: Tampa,Florida,Panhandlers,Panhandling Ban,Bob Buckhorn,Current Events,St.Pete Times

GOP To Create Abortion Bill Because They Have NO Jobs Bill

  You have to love those Republican House critters! Instead of debating the American Jobs Act, or even voting on it, they would rather face that toughest of issues which is of virtually no concern to most Americans at the present time. That issue is restricting abortion. The Republicans cannot come up with their own jobs bill because they have no ideas on job creation, other than more tax cuts, that the American public would like, so they’ll concentrate on something that will please their hard-core ( Christian ) supporters instead.

    These clowns are once again ignoring the wishes of the vast majority of Americans who list jobs and the economy as their top priority. They will not vote on the American Jobs Act for one reason only, that being that it is an Obama administration idea. They must not let Obama get any credit for job creation as that might help with his re-election, no matter how much they fuck the economy up.

Jed Lewison has an even closer look at all of the absurdity in the Republicans House.

Instead of jobs bill, restricting abortion rises to top of House Republican agenda

Fri Oct 07, 2011                                             Original

Even though poll after poll lists jobs and the economy as the top priority of most Americans, House Republicans can't find the time to even bother to vote on the American Jobs Act. Instead, they're going to spend next week focusing on the divisive social issue of abortion:

House Republicans next week plan to pass legislation that would close what they say are loopholes that allow last year's healthcare law to be used to provide federal support for abortions.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the House would consider H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act, on Thursday. The bill, offered by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) so that federal funds would be prohibited from being used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage for abortion services.

Here's an idea for Republicans: why don't they just go ahead and pass the jobs bill before sucking up to their socially conservative base? Then they can spend however much time they want cuddling with their wingnut friends. But first, do something for the American public.

p.s. The health care reform law signed by President Obama doesn't cover abortion services, but the one signed by Mitt Romney for does cover abortion services. I wonder when Rick Perry is going to figure that out. It's pretty astonishing that he hasn't jumped on it already.

Originally posted to The Jed Report on Fri Oct 07, 2011

Also republished by Daily Kos.

 

Technorati Tags: Abortion,Eric Cantor,House Republicans,Jobs,Current Events,Politics

Friday Funnies: GOP Edition

  What a week for news of those Republican’s who are not running for the coveted presidential nomination. Sarah Palin decided that she will not seek the nomination even after a strong showing of support from everyone in her family. I would surmise that she also probably wasn’t raking in to much cash from her “ send me money, and I’ll tell you “ website. Maybe now she’ll go back to Alaska and kill off some other small town budget.

   New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also decided that the run for the White House wasn’t worth his time either after he found out that there really was no McDonalds in the oval office… or a Dunkin Doughnuts… or a…

Jay Leno: "Sarah Palin announced she’s not running. Finally, a Palin who pulls out before it’s too late."

"They say Chris Christie decided not to get into the presidential race because he has no shot at winning. That’s not stopping President Obama though."

Jimmy Kimmel: "Sarah Palin will not run for president, which is good news for Palin-haters, but bad news for the moose population."

"Are you telling me that driving around the country in a bus with a giant picture of her face next to the Constitution was just a giant publicity stunt? I find that hard to believe."

David Letterman: "Chris Christie would have been the first American President visible from space. The Marine Band would have played 'Hail to the Chef.' If he'd run, the Republicans would have had to choose between him and Rick Perry. One's morbidly obese, and the other is morally obtuse."

Stephen Colbert: "Big changes in the Republican field. It's a 10-way tie for Not Romney."

David Letterman's "Top Ten Reasons Chris Christie Is Not Running for President"

10. As always, he's following his gut
9. Wants to spend more time with pie
8. There isn't a Quiznos within five miles of the White House
7. Afraid of going up against the Newt Gingrich juggernaut
6. Doesn't own a tie without a mustard stain
5. He was advised against it by his closest confidante, Duncan Hines
4. Constitution requires every candidate to be able to see their feet
3. Can't understand response because of chewing
2. Hank Williams, Jr. just compared him to Stalin
1. He was born in Kenya

Technorati Tags: Politics,Political Humor,Sarah Palin,Chris Christie,Jay Leno,David Letterman,Late Night Talk,Current Events,2012 Election