Category Archives: The Economy

March 3, 2011 · 7:42 pm

ThinkProgress : Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs

Well, the truth is starting to both come out and sink in to the country as a whole…

Another article worth reading in its entirety and seeing the actual poll results…

For months, Republicans have relentlessly promoted the Tea Party-driven message that the government spends too much, and that social welfare programs should be first on the chopping block. “To not address entitlement programs, as is the case with the budget the president has put forward, would be an economic and moral failure,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declared.

But a comprehensive new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll suggests Republicans significantly overestimated the public’s eagerness to tackle the federal deficit by cutting programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As reflected in the growing “Main Street Movement,” the poll, released yesterday, found sizable majorities of Americans prefer steps like eliminating oil company subsidies, enacting a surtax on the income of millionaires, and rolling back the Bush cuts. Only 23 percent think it’s acceptable to, for example, make cuts to Medicare, while 81 percent favor instituting a millionaire’s surtax:

AND

Reacting to the results, one GOP pollster told NBC’s First Read that Republicans may have gravely miscalculated in their headlong rush slash spending, as demanded by the Tea Party. “It may be hard to understand why a person might jump off a cliff, unless you understand they’re being chased by a tiger. That tiger is the Tea Party,” he said.

MORE:   ThinkProgress » Blog Archive » Americans Overwhelmingly Support Millionaires Surtax To Tackle Deficit, Reject Cuts To Social Programs.

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March 3, 2011 · 7:40 pm

AMERICAblog News: NBC-WSJ poll: ‘Conservatives’ overwhelmingly support liberal policies

There was a time people were put into Mental Institutions for ignoring facts and reality, now they simply become Republicans and get elected to Congress…

More truth is coming out and awareness is starting to go up…

But the GOP continues to ignore the facts and what most Americans really want…

From AmericaBlog:

This recent Rachel Maddow Show segment is one of the best multi-media essays I’ve seen. Rich in thought, beautifully written, beautifully structured, perfectly presented.

The headline — A new NBC-WSJ Poll from 3/2/11, composed of 36% conservatives and only 24% liberals, found the following support levels:

81% – Taxing millionaires

68% – Eliminating Bush tax cuts

74% – Eliminating oil & gas subsidies

77% – Public union bargaining rights

Amazing data.

More:   AMERICAblog News: NBC-WSJ poll: ‘Conservatives’ overwhelmingly support liberal policies.

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March 3, 2011 · 9:20 am

The Hollow Cry of ‘Broke’ – NYTimes.com

Amen…

With most creative types being Democrats, you would think we could do a better job of getting this message out…

One of the reasons we fail is the Corporate-owned Media…

In this case, the New York Times is right (emphasis is mine):

A country with a deficit is not necessarily any more “broke” than a family with a mortgage or a college loan. And states have to balance their budgets. Though it may disappoint many conservatives, there will be no federal or state bankruptcies.

The federal deficit is too large for comfort, and most states are struggling to balance their books. Some of that is because of excessive spending, and much is because the recession has driven down tax revenues. But a substantial part was caused by deliberate decisions by state and federal lawmakers to drain government of resources by handing out huge tax cuts, mostly to the rich. As governments begin to stagger from the self-induced hemorrhaging, Republican politicians like Mr. Boehner and Mr. Walker cry poverty and use it as an excuse to break unions and kill programs they never liked in flush years.

via The Hollow Cry of ‘Broke’ – NYTimes.com.

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March 2, 2011 · 7:21 pm

Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Become Relevant Again (And Rescue the Nation While They’re At It)

Another great weekly column from Robert Reich at The Huffington Post:

Where are the Democrats? Shuffling their feet, looking at the floor. “Please oh please give us four weeks before you shut us down,” they ask. “No,” say the Republicans, “you’ll get only two.” “Well, alright then,” say the Democrats.

Here’s what Democrats should be saying:

Hike taxes on the super-rich. Reform the tax code to create more brackets at the top with higher rates for millionaires and billionaires. Absurdly, the top bracket is now set at $375,000 with a tax rate of 35 percent; the second-highest bracket, at 33 percent, starts at $172,000 for individuals. But the big money is way higher.

The source of income shouldn’t matter — salary, wages, capital gains, other unearned income — all should be treated the same. There’s no reason to reward speculators. (Don’t penalize true entrepreneurs, though. If they’re owners who have held their assets for at least twenty years, keep their capital gains low.)

And while you’re at it, raise the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes. And bring back the estate tax.

Do this and we can afford to do what we need to do as a nation. Do this and you prevent Republicans from setting the working middle class against itself. Do this and you restore some balance to a distribution of income and wealth that’s now dangerously out of whack.

Do this, Democrats, and you have a chance of being relevant again.

More:  Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Become Relevant Again (And Rescue the Nation While They’re At It).

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March 1, 2011 · 7:37 pm

ThinkProgress » House GOP Says ‘So Be It’ To Taxpayers, Votes Unanimously to Protect Big Oil Subsidies

Anyone still doubt the GOP- and most of Congress- is bought and paid for by special interests?

House Republicans voted in lockstep this afternoon to protect corporate welfare for Big Oil, even as they call for draconian cuts to programs that everyday Americans depend on each day.  As the House of Representatives moved toward approving a stopgap resolution to avert a government shutdown for another two weeks, Democrats offered a motion to recommit that would have stripped the five largest oil companies of taxpayer subsidies, saving tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds.  The motion failed on a vote of 176-249, with all Republicans voting against (approximately a dozen Democrats joined the GOP). A similar vote two weeks ago to recoup $53 billion in taxpayer funds from Big Oil was also voted down, largely along party lines. The former CEO of Shell Oil, John Hoffmeister, recently said Big Oil doesn’t need subsidies “in face of sustained high oil prices.”  From 2005 to 2009, the largest oil companies have made a combined $485 billion in profits.

via ThinkProgress » House GOP Says ‘So Be It’ To Taxpayers, Votes Unanimously to Protect Big Oil Subsidies.

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February 28, 2011 · 7:44 pm

New Budget Campaign Asks ‘What Would Jesus Cut?’ — CNN.com

I don’t agree with Jim Wallis on everything, but he’s doing some great work here….

A coalition of progressive Christian leaders has taken out a full-page ad that asks “What would Jesus cut?” in Monday’s edition of Politico, the opening salvo in what the leaders say will be a broader campaign to prevent cuts for the poor and international aid programs amid the budget battle raging in Washington.

“They’re talking about cutting bed nets for malaria and leaving every piece of military spending untouched,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, who leads the Christian group Sojourners, referring to Republican spending proposals for the rest of this year.

“Are we saying that every piece of military equipment is more important than bed nets, children’s health and nutrition for low-income families?” said Wallis, whose group paid for Monday’s ad. “If so they should be ashamed of themselves.”

The ad and the broader campaign are aimed mostly at a spending measure passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives that cuts $61 billion from current spending levels, including cuts to Head Start, the Women Infants and Children (WIC) program and international aid programs.

Senate Democrats consider those cuts draconian and won’t pass them.

The faith leaders behind the “What would Jesus cut” campaign are also lobbying the Obama administration to forego proposed cuts to programs like college grants and heating assistance to low-income Americans in the 2012 federal budget.

via New budget campaign asks ‘What would Jesus cut?’ – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs.

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February 28, 2011 · 7:41 pm

Eric Cantor Dismisses Report That GOP Plan Would Cause Job Loss

These people are criminally misguided, at best….

More likely, they don’t want an economic recovery in hopes it will make it easier to beat President Obama next year…

And they certainly don’t want more Public Employees…

Another possibility is that they are simply evil….

WASHINGTON — Two weeks after House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) dismissed a question about the possibility of the lower chamber’s spending bill killing government jobs with the words “so be it,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) offered similar sentiments.

The Republican plan to cut $61 billion from current spending levels would take a heavy toll on employment, destroying 700,000 jobs by 2012, according to an independent economic analysis by Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics. The study, released on Monday, predicted that the GOP bill would slow economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year.

In his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters, Cantor acknowledged that the Republican stopgap budget bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, might increase unemployment. But he argued that the government should not be creating jobs if that means creating greater deficits.

via Eric Cantor Dismisses Report That GOP Plan Would Cause Job Loss.

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February 28, 2011 · 7:36 pm

How to Build a Progressive Tea Party | The Nation

Great article from Johann Hari at “The Nation”

Imagine a parallel universe where the Great Crash of 2008 was followed by a Tea Party of a very different kind. Enraged citizens gather in every city, week after week—to demand the government finally regulate the behavior of corporations and the superrich, and force them to start paying taxes. The protesters shut down the shops and offices of the companies that have most aggressively ripped off the country. The swelling movement is made up of everyone from teenagers to pensioners. They surround branches of the banks that caused this crash and force them to close, with banners saying, You As people see their fellow citizens acting in self-defense, these tax-the-rich protests spread to even the most conservative parts of the country. It becomes the most-discussed subject on Twitter. Even right-wing media outlets, sensing a startling effect on the public mood, begin to praise the uprising, and dig up damning facts on the tax dodgers.

Instead of the fake populism of the Tea Party, there is a movement based on real populism. It shows that there is an alternative to making the poor and the middle class pay for a crisis caused by the rich. It shifts the national conversation. Instead of letting the government cut our services and increase our taxes, the people demand that it cut the endless and lavish aid for the rich and make them pay the massive sums they dodge in taxes.

This may sound like a fantasy—but it has all happened. The name of this parallel universe is Britain.

More:   How to Build a Progressive Tea Party | The Nation.

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February 28, 2011 · 7:30 pm

Daily Kos: WI-Gov: Buyer’s remorse for Scott Walker

People seem to be starting to wake up…

At least in Wisconsin…

From DailyKos:

I always love these sorts of “do-over” polls, and PPP has a particularly good one:

We’ll have our full poll on the Wisconsin conflict out tomorrow but here’s the most interesting finding: if voters in the state could do it over today they’d support defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett over Scott Walker by a 52-45 margin.

Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, of course lost to Walker, by a very similar spread, 52-47. Tom Jensen identifies two important shifts: First, respondents in union households (about a third of the sample) now prefer Barrett by a 64-33 margin, but when asked how they voted in 2008, only went to Barrett 54-40. You gotta wonder about that one-third of union household voters who still support Walker… but nonetheless, this is a big shift, and Walker is doing wonders when it comes to energizing our side.

 

MORE:   Daily Kos: WI-Gov: Buyer’s remorse for Scott Walker.

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February 26, 2011 · 9:10 pm

Does the U.S. Really Have a Fiscal Crisis? – NYTimes.com

Another excellent article on the economy and the deficit in the NY Times…

I wish the truth got as much publicity as the lies and misinformation campaigns….

The United States faces some serious medium-term fiscal issues, but by any standard measure it does not face an immediate fiscal crisis. Overly indebted countries typically have a hard time financing themselves when the world becomes riskier — yet turmoil in the Middle East is pushing down the interest rates on United States government debt. We are still seen as a safe haven.

Nonetheless, leading commentators and politicians repeat the line “we’re broke” and argue that there is no alternative to immediate spending cuts at the national and state level.

Which view is correct? And what does this tell us about where our political system is heading?

Our main fiscal issues are three (see my testimony to the Senate Budget Committee earlier this month).

Link to full article:   Does the U.S. Really Have a Fiscal Crisis? – NYTimes.com.

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