Short, but potent . . .

. . . here’s a short list of what is really wrong with our economy:

*An economy that concentrates wealth with the top 1%, perpetuated by false claims that the system fosters production and creates jobs

*An all-out attack on unions to destabilize them and drive down workers’ income and benefits

*A refusal to provide healthcare to all Americans through a single-payer healthcare system

*A disinterest in educating our children and a shift of the cost of an education onto students—over $1 trillion in college loan debt

*A refusal to acknowledge overwhelming environmental scientific data and to take the steps necessary to move to a green economy and oil independence

With such blatant disregard for the people’s interests, outraged Americans are questioning the corporate-controlled two-party system and have begun to look for an alternative.

(from The Justice Party - https://fundly.com/justiceparty)

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Dear Mr. Jozwiak. . .

". . . The PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) would give the Department of Justice (DoJ) authority to identify and take legal action against websites that market counterfeit or pirated goods.

Illegal downloading of movies, TV shows and music is a real problem that harms industries, kills jobs and hurts our economy.  We need strong copyright laws to protect the creative property of artists, and it is important that these laws be followed.  However, I share your concerns about this bill.  We need to make sure that the solution isn't worse than the problem.  Any efforts to strengthen the protection of copyrighted materials must be well planned, avoid unintended consequences, and must not stifle free speech or innovation Legislation as wide-ranging as this needs a more open and thorough review from all sides of the debate.  I am pleased that Senator Leahy — the author of the bill — has said he is open to changes to address this and other issues.  The current language in the bill needs to be improved before I could consider supporting its final passage. . . "
Senator Barbara Mikulski


Dear Mr. Jozwiak,
 ". . .SOPA is a hard hitting attempt to address the legitimate problem of illegal downloads of copyrighted work like movies, television shows and music.  I believe that artists and the companies that create content should be able to protect their information.  However, this legislation forces Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to be the policing authorities on the beat to find, hunt, and shut down illegal pirate websites or the service provider is held liable for the copyright infringement. ISPs will have to maintain a list of banned websites.  While SOPA would act as a filter for offending websites, as soon as these websites are shut down, similar copies are set up very quickly. ISPs and the Department of Justice will spend their time going after pirate websites that can be renamed and changed in an instant.  I do not believe this is the most efficient way to solve the problem of piracy.

As ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work closely on various cyber security issues.  Both the Sandia National Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security took the position that SOPA will hurt U.S. efforts to keep our networks secure and safe from serious cyber attacks. As it stands now, SOPA is a one sided firewall that would hinder our ability to go after the real offenders and threats to our networks, while simultaneously limiting innovation and free speech. I hope that all stake holders can sit down and develop a compromise solution that avoids these problems. . . "
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger
Member of Congress


(from IndieMusic News)

". . . Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

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Where have all the. . .

. . . job creators gone?
(sincerest apologies to Pete Seeger)

Under Bill Clinton, taxes on higher-income families were high compared to now, at 39.6 percent. Yet almost 23 million jobs were added vs. net job growth of 1.1 million during George W. Bush’s lower-tax years. In the 1950s, a Golden Age of growth, the top marginal tax rate was as high as 91 percent. There were many other economic forces at work in each of these periods, making direct comparisons difficult. Still, a professor at the University of Michigan says it disproves the idea tax increases are the kiss of death.


Where have all the job creators gone?
No more taxes
Where have all the job creators gone?
With that guarantee
Where have all the job creators gone?
Cause we don't see no new jobs
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Where have all the job creators gone?
Boehner says don't tax them
Where have all the job creators gone?
Norquist loves them so
Where have all the job creators gone?
Must be in Bermuda
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Where have all the job creators gone?
Funny nothing's happened
Where have all the job creators gone?
And the deficit grows still
Where have all the job creators gone?
All their pockets bulging
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?




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Top Stories

In your neighborhood right now. . .

. . . failed jobs bill; political posturing, hunger in Somalia, assassination plots, inaction in Congress, youth protesting Wall Street and the astronomically rich, debating dittoheads, domestic violence, bombings in Baghdad, hurricanes in Mexico, computer hacking, former European PMs going to jail, radical tax plan from a Republican, Tigers beating Texas. . .

How about a song?



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Come again. . .

. . . House Speaker John Boehner says, "This administration's insistence on raising taxes on job creators and its reluctance to take the steps necessary to strengthen our entitlement programs are the reasons the president and I were not able to reach an agreement previously, and it is evident today that these barriers remain."

So why the f*#k aren't Boehner's "job creators" creating jobs RIGHT NOW while there are no additional taxes imposed upon them??? WHY???

Sorry. These people just PISS ME OFF!!!!!




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That Obama. . .

. . . first he causes a recession and he gets us deep in debt. Then he won't make any jobs and NOW THIS. . .

from
msnbc.com news services
updated 9/9/2011 2:36:54 PM ET 2011-09-09

"Bank of America is considering cutting at least 10 percent of its work force as part of a massive restructuring, according to published reports.

The Wall Street Journal said that officials at the Charlotte, N.C., bank have discussed cutting 40,000 employees, or 14 percent of the bank’s 288,000 total staff. Bloomberg put the job cuts at about 10 percent. They each cited people that were not identified by name. . ."

The bank recently sold $5 billion of preferred stock to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and also agreed to sell half its stake in a Chinese bank. Bank of America is also trying to sell a large portion of its mortgage business, the newspaper said.

The Journal said that most of the job cuts are expected to be made on its consumer side. It got rid of 63 unprofitable branches between April and June and said it plans to close 750 of its nearly 6,000 locations in the next several years. . . "

. . . I'm sure republicans will eventually (if not already) regale their gullible constituency with tales of how the president caused the earthquake and brought on a hurricane in the same week before having the nerve to make it rain for 5 days straight in the eastern part of the country. [And I'm sure they won't mention the paychecks, perks, stock options and bonuses the B of A execs will take when this is over.]





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Three charts in an email. . .

. . . each one seeking happiness . . . well, I ain't no Sinatra, but. . .

From Three Charts to Email to Your Right-Wing Brother-In-Law
Monday 29 August 2011
by: Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed
http://www.truth-out.org/three-charts-email-your-right-wing-brother-law/1314626142

Couldn't reproduce the charts here (you can see them by copying-and-pasting the hyperlink above to your browser), but Dave Johnson advocates something in which I believe very strongly, FACTS!

The chart shows Bush increased spending 88%; Obama increased spending 7.2% and Johnson says says, "Government spending increased dramatically under Bush. It has not increased much under Obama. Note that this chart does not reflect any spending cuts resulting from deficit-cutting deals."

"Deficits
Bush-Obama Deficit Chart
Notes, this chart includes Clinton's last budget year ($128 billion surplus) for comparison." Bush, $1.4 trillion deficit. Obama, $1.2 trillion and headed downward.

"The Stimulus and Jobs
Bush-Obama-Jobs-Chart
In this chart, the RED lines on the left side -- the ones that keep doing DOWN -- show what happened to jobs under the policies of Bush and the Republicans. We were losing lots and lots of jobs every month, and it was getting worse and worse. The BLUE lines -- the ones that just go UP -- show what happened to jobs when the stimulus was in effect. We stopped losing jobs and started gaining jobs, and it was getting better and better. The leveling off on the right side of the chart shows what happened as the stimulus started to wind down: job creation leveled off at too low a level.

It looks a lot like the stimulus reversed what was going on before the stimulus.
Conclusion: THE STIMULUS WORKED BUT WAS NOT ENOUGH!

More False Things
These are just three of the false things that everyone "knows." Some others are (click through): Obama bailed out the banks, businesses will hire if they get tax cuts, health care reform cost $1 trillion, Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme or is "going broke", government spending "takes money out of the economy."

Why This Matters
These things really matter. We all want to fix the terrible problems the country has. But it is so important to know just what the problems are before you decide how to fix them. Otherwise the things you do to try to solve those problems might just make them worse. If you get tricked into thinking that Obama has made things worse and that we should go back to what we were doing before Obama -- tax cuts for the rich, giving giant corporations and Wall Street everything they want -- when those are the things that caused the problems in the first place, then we will be in real trouble."




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Our leaders. . .

. . . have squandered the economic recovery that was building before the debt-ceiling debacle.

By choosing to display their stubborn, partisan agenda instead of truly serving their constituency and contributing to the downgrading of long term U.S. Treasury bonds instead of making sincere efforts to balance the U.S. budget, our representatives in Congress have put the brakes on anything resembling an economic recovery and many analysts say this is the most serious issue of all.

A commentator on the news this morning said that the Feds need to reassure panicked investors. Duh, yes. And many thanks to the very same industry that provides that commentator a livelihood for the panic that occurred in the first place.

What are the real issues hindering our economy? I offer the following thought, albeit oversimplified and informed mainly by my gut, but still one about which I feel very strongly.

The word that comes to my mind is GREED. Listen to the business news and stock market reports when they say things like, 'gold has backed off of its high' or '3% growth, lower than expected. . . ' We, in and around Baltimore, Maryland depend upon a utilities provider called Constellation Energy who made revenues of $14.3 billion in 2010. Granted, these are 'revenues' not 'profits', but no matter how you slice it, it's big. The Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of this company earned a total Compensation of $6.02 million. That's enough to feed an entire country. And this while our rates for gas and electricity continue to rise.

Why can't profits grow at less than astronomical rates? Why can't we learn contentment and not always crave MORE!!?? Instead of generating MORE, MORE, MORE for investors and providing outrageous compensation packages to executives, why can't these businesses provide jobs and settle for stability or modest growth?

Are any of these people in Congress REALLY leaders?




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"Fair and Balanced"????

Steve Benen's
Political Animal
Blog Reported

There was a private White House party in honor of President Obama’s 50th birthday. Here’s how Politico described the event.

[Shortly after 5 p.m.], the party started with dinner in the Rose Garden, accompanied by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. Then the First Lady and his daughters presented POTUS with a cake, and everyone moved into the East Room for performances that included R&B singer Ledisi, and Herbie Hancock. Stevie Wonder came up at the end and sang a medley ending in “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours.” DJ Cassidy played Motown, hip hop, and ’70s and ’80s R&B.

Folks from the cabinet were there (Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Tim Geithner), as were members of Congress (Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz), Obama’s team (Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Valerie Jarrett), the private sector (UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf), and the entertainment industry (Jay-Z, Chris Rock, Charles Barkley, Tom Hanks). That’s by no means a comprehensive list, but these are some of the notable names in attendance.

And here’s how Fox Nation told its audience about the event.
“Obama’s Hip-Hop BBQ Didn’t Create Jobs.”

Mr. Benen was fascinated (as we all should be) "...by the claim that a birthday party “didn’t create jobs.” Maybe I should have run a post this morning that said, “John Boehner had breakfast this morning, didn’t create jobs.” Or maybe, “Eric Cantor watched some TV, didn’t create jobs.”"

Steve Benen is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly, joining the publication in August, 2008 as chief blogger for the Washington Monthly blog, Political Animal.



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An honest candidate. . .

. . . is an educated candidate, who desires to SERVE her/his constituency. . . so I conclude there's no need to worry about this candidate becoming president. IS THERE????

On Republican candidate Michele Bachmann, factcheck.org reported:

"Bachmann falsely claimed that she and her husband "have never gotten a penny" from a family farm that received federal subsidies. But she reported income from the farm in 2006, 2008 and 2009 — the most recent year available — on her congressional financial disclosure statements.

She claimed she had been "faithful" to her pledge not to request federal earmarks. But she requested $40 million in transportation earmarks in the 2009 fiscal year budget after taking the pledge, later claiming such projects should not be subjected to her promise. She withdrew her requests after the House Republicans took a party position in 2010 not to seek earmarks.

Bachmann wrongly blamed President Obama for increasing the number of federal transportation workers who earn more than $170,000 from one to 1,690 during the recession. At least two-thirds of those employees were receiving more than $170,000 before Obama took office.

She criticized the president for a 73 percent increase in government "limousines." But one department accounted for the increase, and it had a long-term plan, pre-dating Obama, to add armored vehicles. The term "limousine" includes armored vehicles and sedans, not just actual limos.

She claimed government money received by her husband's counseling clinics did not benefit the business, because the funds paid for employee training. It's true the clinics received $24,041 for training, but the business received thousands more in government funds, including money for treating crime victims.

The three-term congresswoman repeated — on two Sunday shows — the false claim that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the federal health care law will "cost the economy 800,000 jobs." The CBO never said that. It said there will be a "small" impact on jobs."




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