February 2012
7 posts
Robert Reich: The GOP's Big Investors →
robertreich:
Have you heard of William Dore, Foster Friess, Sheldon Adelson, Harold Simmons, Peter Thiel, or Bruce Kovner? If not, let me introduce them to you. They’re running for the Republican nomination for president.
I know, I know. You think Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney are…
Robert Reich: Manufacturing Illusions →
robertreich:
Suddenly, manufacturing is back – at least on the election trail. But don’t be fooled. The real issue isn’t whether and how to get manufacturing back. It’s how to get good jobs and good wages back. They aren’t at all the same thing.
Republicans have suddnely become born-again champions of…
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Romney actually wants to help 'poor people,' and... →
How much more odious can the Republicans reactionaries get? The government helping the poor/unlucky, imagine! It’s amusing to see Limburger and the NYT wetting their collective pants over the very idea. Any hint of political moderation causes a meltdown amongst the reactionary ideologues. Too bad for them, but Romney is going to win the nomination simply because of the few vapors of...
Robert Reich: The Republican Myth of Obama's... →
robertreich:
One of the few things Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich agree on is that President Obama is turning America into “European-style welfare culture.”
In his standard stump speech Romney charges Obama with creating a nation of dependents. “Over the past three years Barack Obama has been replacing our…
January 2012
6 posts
Robert Reich: The State of Our Disunion: A... →
robertreich:
Who should have the primary strategic responsibility for making American workers globally competitive – the private sector or government? This will be a defining issue in the 2012 campaign.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama will make the case that government has a vital role. His…
Robert Reich: The Romney Tax Loophole →
robertreich:
After refusing for weeks to release his taxes, Mitt Romney now says he’ll do so — by tax day, April 15. But the real news is what Romney has now admitted about his taxes.
It’s not how much Romney earns. Everyone knows he’s comfortably in the top one-tenth of one percent.
It’s how much he pays of…
Robert Reich: Free Enterprise on Trial →
robertreich:
Mitt Romney is casting the 2012 campaign as “free enterprise on trial” – defining free enterprise as achieving success through “hard work and risking-taking.” Tea-Party favorite Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina says he’s supporting Romney because “we really need someone who understands how…
Robert Reich: The Youthful Magic of Ron Paul →
robertreich:
South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint, the darling of the Tea Party wing nuts of the GOP, is urging Republican candidates to listen to Ron Paul. “One of the things that’s hurt the so-called conservative alternative is saying negative things about Ron Paul,” DeMint told conservative radio…
Taxes + regulation = success in Vermont →
Here’s a really nice article about the Vermont success story. It turns out that high taxes and strong business regulations are a recipe for success. I doubt you heard that at the Republican caucuses this week. Act 250 regulations were a huge part of preserving the state’s quality of life. They discouraged the profiteers who would have monetized Vermont’s natural beauty while...
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Robert Reich: The Decline of the Public Good →
There’s a lot here, but one thing that he describes is the downward spiral of public institutions as the wealthy cut support of them. My experience is that as this man-made, institutional decline starts (be it schools, roads, Social Security and Medicare finances ..), these same wealthy people condemn the institution as misguided and unsound, *because* of the declines that they...
December 2011
14 posts
Robert Reich: My Political Prediction for 2012:... →
robertreich:
My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State — a position he’s apparently coveted for years. And Hillary Clinton, Vice President.
So the Democratic ticket for 2012 is Obama-Clinton.
Why…
Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Not Government's... →
robertreich:
The defining political issue of 2012 won’t be the government’s size. It will be who government is for.
Americans have never much liked government. After all, the nation was conceived in a revolution against government.
But the surge of cynicism now engulfing America isn’t about government’s…
Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011 →
RIP Mr. Hitchens
It’s hard to imagine a world without his voice in it.
Robert Reich: An Offer to the President →
robertreich:
Mr. President, we heard what you said last week in Kansas – about the dangers to our economy and democracy of the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top.
We agree. And many of us are prepared to work our hearts out to get you reelected – as long as you commit to doing what…
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Multi-billionaire takes a Republican lie outside... →
This lie is particularly galling to me because 1) I hear it all the time, 2) it’s an unpardonable lie, but mostly 3) it’s deliberately crafted to deceive people who know they’re hurting (no job) but don’t know how business or economies work. In other words, it’s designed to take advantage of the most vulnerable in order to benefit the least...
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The US nuclear industry wants to force out... →
The four Nuclear Regulatory Commission members who are apparently owned by the nuclear industry, want the pro-regulation chairman gone. And they’re trying underhanded approaches to make that happen. In their view it seems that we can’t have an NRC that promotes safety if doing so will hurt the nuclear industry’s profits. Profits, after all, are what matter, and I’m sure...
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GingrichCare and the "individual mandate" →
The referenced MoJo article quotes Newt as writing the following.
“In order to make coverage more accessible, Congress must do more, including passing legislation to: establish a national health insurance marketplace by giving individuals the freedom to shop for insurance plans across state lines; provide low-income families with $1,000 in direct contributions to a health...
Robert Reich: The Remarkable Political Stupidity... →
robertreich:
Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It should have welcomed new financial regulation as a means of restoring public trust. Instead, it’s busily shredding new regulations and making the public more distrustful than ever.
The Street’s biggest lobbying groups have just filed a lawsuit against the…
Robert Reich: The Most Important Economic Speech... →
robertreich:
The President’s speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas — where Teddy Roosevelt gave his “New Nationalism” speech in 1910 — is the most important economic speech of his presidency in terms of connecting the dots, laying out the reasons behind our economic and political crises, and asserting a…
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“Odd that R’s now demanding spending cuts for payroll tax cut, since...”
– Robert Reich (@RBReich) via Twitter
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Robert Reich: The Jobs Report: Don't Break Out the... →
robertreich:
In brief: The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey shows unemployment at 8.6 percent, and the payroll survey shows 120,000 new jobs in November (140,000 from the private sector, and a loss of 20,000 in the public sector). BLS also revised upward its job numbers for September and October.
What does it mean? We’re not out of the woods but we might be seeing some daylight.
Robert Reich: The Rebirth of Social Darwinism →
robertreich:
What kind of society, exactly, do modern Republicans want? I’ve been listening to Republican candidates in an effort to discern an overall philosophy, a broadly-shared vision, an ideal picture of America.
They say they want a smaller government but that can’t be it. Most seek a larger national…
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November 2011
7 posts
Pastors for porn →
“According to a Christianity Today survey, nearly 40 percent of Christian pastors are struggling with pornography. They seem especially vulnerable, due to their time alone, their legitimate use of computers and their fear of getting help because of the public nature of their jobs.”
Maybe they should just stop reading the bible with all of its snuff-porn. And rape. And incest....
Gingrich: bring back child labor →
In the eyes of Republicans, the 19t’h century was a time of economic and social glory. Scrooge was free to be Scrooge, there was no left-wing media to harass him. The average Jacob worked 16 hours a day down mill for subsistence pay, ideally in a company town where he could be enslaved by debt to the company. Better still: the engineered poverty of the workers could be leveraged so as to...
Police brutality and the Occupy movement →
A cautionary blog posting from Forbes. The author goes way too easy on the police though. Their reactions have been much more than “absurd”, they’ve been criminal. In this vid (see posting) the police at UC Davis are spraying pepper spray on completely passive, seated protesters, like you’d spray weed-killer on your sidewalk. There have to be a couple dozen civil rights...
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Robert Reich: The Corporate Pledge of Allegiance →
robertreich:
Despite what the Supreme Court and Mitt Romney say, corporations aren’t people. (I’ll believe they are when Georgia and Texas start executing them.)
The Court thinks corporations have First Amendment rights to spend as much as they want on politics, and Romney (and most of his fellow…
Occupied New York →
Halloween 2011 in Manhattan
October 2011
13 posts
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GOP wants more cuts to family-planning, health... →
Because you see, the Republicans aren’t concerned about budget deficits at all. What they’re interested in is creating (tax cuts for the wealthy) budget deficits, then using them as an excuse to attack those things that are anathema to their ideology. That includes the freedom of women to choose to become pregnant or not, and the freedom to abort a fetus if she decides that that is...
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Congress to spend $1.5M to defend unconstitutional... →
All the while Republicans are defunding Planned Parenthood and attempting to eviscerate other family-planning spending, they’re perfectly happy to spend big $ on defending a blatantly anti-gay law. The Justice Department won’t defend it so Congressional Republicans vote to defend it themselves with taxpayer money. These are the same Republicans whose teeth are endlessly gnashing...
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Texas Roadhouse Restaurants Accused Of Widespread... →
I’ve been told by a Teabagger Republican that employment discrimination is OK. This is because, in their rapturous, greed-exalting Teabag world, employers shouldn’t be told who to hire. Furthermore, according to their propagandistic delusions, the “free market” will magically cause competitors to spring up who DO hire these unfortunates. And if that gives those newcomers...
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The Mule Deer menace →
BOISE, Idaho — A woman was able to escape an attack by a mule deer after a passer-by and his daughter fought off the buck, grabbing the antlers and striking it with a hammer until it fled, state wildlife officials said.
Sue Panter was on a stroll near her home in rural southeastern Idaho when the buck attacked, raking her body with his antlers and goring her legs, officials said.
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Catholic Bishops Fight Against Reproductive... →
Republicans only want to transport this country back to the 19th century. Catholics want to transport it back to the 15th, when they were firmly in control of the “civilized” world.. Ladies, are you willing to say goodbye to contraceptives? To sex?
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New England is more welcoming than I remember. →
How Rich Are the Superrich? →
A huge share of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.
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Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret...
And a laundry list of other criminality.
http://bloom.bg/ncUbny
This is EXACTLY what Republicans and libertarians are talking about when they wail about regulations. When this kind of stuff, illegal sales to foreign governments, bribery of foreigners to secure contracts, , deadly environmental emissions and attempts at concealment of the same, conspiring to rig prices with competitors,...
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Is The War On Terror A Hoax? →