Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Celebrating May Day, all right
Yes, you can bet a lot of us are celebrating "May Day", May 1 today. But it's not just all about the flowers and Springtime.
This is the May Day we're celebrating:
36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union (even if you don't belong to one):
-Weekends
-All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
-Paid Vacation
-FMLA
-Sick Leave
-Social Security
-Minimum Wage
-Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
-8-Hour Work Day
-Overtime Pay
-Child Labor Laws
-Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
-40 Hour Work Week
-Worker’s Compensation (Worker’s Comp)
-Unemployment Insurance
-Pensions
-Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
-Employer Health Care Insurance
-Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
-Wrongful Termination Laws
-Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
-Whistleblower Protection Laws
-Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
-Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
-Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
-Sexual Harassment Laws
-Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
-Holiday Pay
-Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
-Privacy Rights
-Pregnancy and Parental Leave
-Military Leave
-The Right to Strike
-Public Education for Children
-Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
-Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States
Via AFL-CIO --> http://bit.ly/R6QxXd
New York Times' "Quote of the Day" from KC today
Check that out:
QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"It's hard on my psyche. There's no break. There's no time to breathe. I always have to think about the next step just to survive."
BOBBY BINGHAM, of Kansas City, Mo., who works three part-time jobs to make ends meet.
This after the Senate Republicans--including, of course, our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt--voted down an increase in the minimum wage yesterday:
The original quote, however, above, comes from this article:
Mr. Bingham's input to the article:
Bobby Bingham, 38, of Kansas City, Mo., works three part-time jobs seven days a week to make ends meet, but struggles to cover basic living expenses: his apartment, his car, his car insurance, gas and utilities. He is also heavily in debt, owing $30,000 in student loans and about $12,000 in credit-card debt with an annual interest rate of 17 percent.
“It’s hard on my psyche,” he said. “There’s no break. There’s no time to breathe. I always have to think about the next step just to survive. It’s not like I can look forward and plan, because I’m just trying to think about tomorrow.”
It would be nice if we could get back to having and supporting a strong middle class againl.
Wouldn't it?
"More Guns!", Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita Police say a toddler died after he was accidentally shot by his four-year-old brother.
Just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, 911 received a call about a shooting. The caller was extremely upset, and dispatchers were unable to get a location from the man. Moments later, two men showed up at Wesley Medical Center with a 1-year-old child who had been shot in the chest.
Officers learned the shooting happened in a bedroom of a home in the 1300 block of North Pennsylvania, near 13th Street and I-135.
Police say three children: a four-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl and a 19-month old boy, were in a bedroom when the oldest child opened a nightstand that contained a loaded 9mm handgun. Lt. Todd Ojile says the child didn't pick up the gun, but was able to pull the trigger.
The 19-month-old, Tomarion, was standing near the nightstand and was shot in the chest.
The 33-year-old father of the children and his 22-year-old brother were in the living room when the shooting happened. Both men took the child to the hospital, where he died about 45 minutes later.
Link to full story with video:
Police: Wichita toddler shot, killed by 4-year-old brother
And then there are the studies:
But this is America, after all.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Lots of bad news lately for America
It seems, of late, there is a great deal of reporting on the wealthy, even the very wealthy, ini our country.
And it's about time.
With their ability and proclivity to buy our representatives and their legislation and so, our laws and government, I think it important to know things like what they're doing, how our system got this way and, perhaps most importantly, how we can and do get out of this god-awful, so-corrupt way of not really running the country for the people and as we should.
Here's the first:
Matt Taibbi's New Book Is a Striking Study of How the Rich Are Never Punished for Their Crimes
'The Divide' is a riveting account of how the 1% get away with pretty much whatever they want
Matt Taibbi has been doing a fantastic job of reporting on Wall Street and the brokers and hedge fund managers and the like, who brought the nation's and world's economies to the brink of financial collapse in 2008. He continues that work, fortunately for us, here.
A second article, this from Bill Moyers:
A brief description:
The median pay for the top 100 highest-paid CEOs at America’s publicly traded companies was a handsome $13.9 million in 2013. That’s a 9 percent increase from the previous year, according to a new Equilar pay studyfor The New York Times.
These types of jumps in executive compensation may have more of an effect on our widening income inequality than previously thought. A new book that’s the talk of academia and the media, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, a 42-year-old who teaches at the Paris School of Economics, shows that two-thirds of America’s increase in income inequality over the past four decades is the result of steep raises given to the country’s highest earners.
This week, Bill talks with Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, about Piketty’s “magnificent” new book.
“What Piketty’s really done now is he said, ‘Even those of you who talk about the 1 percent, you don’t really get what’s going on.’ He’s telling us that we are on the road not just to a highly unequal society, but to a society of an oligarchy. A society of inherited wealth.”
Krugman adds: “We’re seeing inequalities that will be transferred across generations. We are becoming very much the kind of society we imagined we’re nothing like.
As always, good and important reporting from Mr. Moyers.
Third, this article, which tells us of the results of all this power grab, corruption, bribes and "campaign contributions" in America:
Some sad, likely surprising, if not frightening information:
The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction.
While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.
After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.
The numbers, based on surveys conducted over the past 35 years, offer some of the most detailed publicly available comparisons for different income groups in different countries over time. They suggest that most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality.
Although economic growth in the United States continues to be as strong as in many other countries, or stronger, a small percentage of American households is fully benefiting from it. Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpassed it since then. Median incomes in Western European countries still trail those in the United States, but the gap in several — including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden — is much smaller than it was a decade ago.
It goes on:
“The idea that the median American has so much more income than the middle class in all other parts of the world is not true these days,” said Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist who is not associated with LIS. “In 1960, we were massively richer than anyone else. In 1980, we were richer. In the 1990s, we were still richer.”
Finally, this last article, at least today, is this one, further describing America's current status:
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy
I think it's important we know who we are, what we are, how we spend our money, collectively, as a nation, as in our Defense Department, what form of government we have, who rules us and where the wealth of the nation is going.
It's going, largely, to the top "1%."
To the already-wealthy.
An electric car and the differences it can make for you
A friend of mine on Facebook wrote a bit yesterday about his Chevrolet Volt electric car. What he says was rather eye opening to me and I think it may well be to lots of Americans who may not be familiar with what's possible here:
When I first got my Chevy Volt at the end of 2013, Keith Reynolds asked if I could give a one month update. With how obviously it behaved differently in the cold than warmer temperatures, I decided to wait until I had more info on different conditions to give a review. I'd say after a 75 degree day I'm now due.
The first thing I should say is it is an absolute joy to drive. It's like a silent hovercraft with instant acceleration and good (not killer) cornering. And the low drive setting engine brakes really hard so I rarely touch the brake, and just absorb whatever speed I was doing back into battery storage as I slow into braking traffic or lights, or down hills. I can come to a stop just taking my foot off the accelerator even on a downhill upwards of 10%.
I've driven it a bit over 5500 miles in four months, just over half of it electric and the rest on long trips out to NY state (230 miles each way). In the depth of winter I was getting only about 32 miles on a 10+ kWh charge (which costs me around $1.20), and low 30s mpg on gas. Its biggest weakness is heating the inside without the engine running, so it was using gas partly for heat, partly for locomotion. Today I got over 49 miles on the same 10+ kWh charge. Around 40 mpg with the gas engine charging the battery, which drives the wheels. I've used almost 76 gallons of gas in almost 2600 miles on gas, and about 2960 on electricity from my outdoor outlet and free public parking charges, probably about $80-90 in electricity.
So under 7 cents a mile to drive, and way more fun than any car I've ever had or driven, stick shifts or not. I swore I would never drive an automatic, but this car has totally changed my thinking. I would never buy anything but an electric car again. It's effectively getting well over 120 mpg on days I drive under 50 miles locally, I can go wherever I want, and I look forward to zipping around in it every morning. Among the hadfull of best purchases I've ever made.
So think about it.
You save money.
You buy less gas. A LOT less.
You pollute less.
Those are two HUGE wins.
Wins for you. Wins for all of us.
Let's et this party started.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
SENATOR BLUNT FINALLY COMES THROUGH!!!
I could hardly believe my eyes. This was on the Senator Blunt's Facebook page yesterday:
Senators Blunt, Bennet Introduce Bill To Help Create Jobs, Improve Infrastructure
A Republican, our very own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, at that, teamed up with Colorado's Senator Michael Bennett to----hold your breath----propose a JOBS/INFRASTRUCTURE BILL in this Congress.
I nearly fainted when I saw it.
I've been harping on this for months, both here and on Facebook, on his page and elsewhere, trying to get him--or someone, anyone--to write, propose and pass such a bill.
The Americans need the jobs and have for years now, at least since 2008 when the financial collapse nearly took place. The nation needs the infrastructure work, as evidenced by two, count them, two bridges collapsing in the last couple years and finally, the economy needs the boost.
It couldn't be more obvious what was needed. Yet all this time, no one proposed such a bill.
I say again, our own I-70, from Illinois and St. Louis on the East, all the way through Columbia and over to Kansas City and Kansas on the West, the whole thing needs updating, widening and improving. The highway is downright dangerous to the point of, in too many places, dangerous and even lethal. Far too many people have been killed on that thoroughfare, all because it's outdated and highly traveled.
There's more good news, too:
The bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Dan Coats (Ind.), Lindsay Graham (S.C.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Angus King (Maine), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Mary Landrieu (La.), and Mark Warner (Va.). U.S. Representative John Delaney (Md.) introduced the companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, which has been cosponsored by 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans.
It has, of course, bipartisan support, everything. This, very likely, has every reason to pass, it seems. Of course, it should, badly as it's needed and for all these reasons.
Another great thing about all this is that, with this, we'll finally get something productive out of this Congress. Last year, out of their very short scheduled work year, it was one of the least productive sessions of that government body ever. I think this may have arisen from the fact that, first, it was needed so badly, in so many ways, and the representatives in Congress knew they had to be productive this year after all. They know Americans want to, at long last, get something out of this body, what with all we pay them.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
What in the world is going on with Republicans and the Right Wing?
In the last two days, I've been struck by the most amazing, dumbfounding, confusing, negative headlines in media and actions by groups of people in the Republican Party. Here's the first:
Oklahoma Governor Signs Minimum Wage Hike Ban
It seems the Republicans in Oklahoma--you know, the "small government" people--don't want the cities of the state to be able to legislate for themselves any higher minimum wage so the rocket scientists in the statehouse there created this legislation. Forget a "living wage", Oklahomans. You're screwed.
Here's the 2nd headline:
Forget working together. Forget being "American first." Forget cooperation. Forget colaboration. Forget compromise.
The only thing important, apparently, to too many Tea Party, Right Wing members and Republicans is to separate themselves from the rest of the country.
How is that smart?
How does that make any sense?
How is that progress?
Most importantly, how is that good for the nation?
What in the Sam Hill has gotten into these people?
I'd like to think, I'd like to give them credit that it's not just racism.
But it surely looks like it.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Further successes of "Obamacare"
To all the haters and non-believers out there, read 'em and weep (with thanks and a hat tip to The Huffington Post):
CBO: Obamacare Will Cost Less Than Projected
WASHINGTON -- The Congressional Budget Office has released updated estimates on the Affordable Care Act's impact on both the budget and the health insurance industry. The findings show that the president's signature health care law is actually growing cheaper to implement, costing the government $5 billion less in 2014 than was previously projected. The law also is projected to cover more individuals than previously believed, owing, in part, to some broader workforce trends.
Some of the highlights:
Twelve million more non-elderly people will have health insurance in 2014 than if Obamacare had not become law. CBO's projections on this crucial measure of the law's success are higher than recent surveys from the Rand Corp., which estimated a 9.3 million reduction, and from Gallup, which shows a 3.5 million decline.
For all of 2014, the CBO expects 6 million people to be covered by private health insurance policies purchased through the exchanges, fewer than the 7.5 million enrollment figure touted by the White House. That's mainly because the CBO expects people to cycle in and out of different types of coverage over the year -- perhaps by taking a new job and the health benefits that come with it -- and because some enrollees won't pay their first month's premium or will let their policies lapse during the year.
Even with those gains, a good chunk of the country will still lack coverage. The number of uninsured in 2014 will be 42 million people, according to the CBO. It will fall to 36 million in 2015 and 30 million in 2016 and 2017.
Most of them will remain uninsured because they will have declined coverage, the CBO said. Forty-five percent of them will have access to private insurance through the exchanges or an employer, while 20 percent will be eligible for Medicaid but will not sign up. In addition, 30 percent will be undocumented immigrants, who aren't permitted to use the health insurance exchanges or enroll in Medicaid, and 5 percent will be legal residents eligible for Medicaid but living in states that refused to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act.
Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program will grow by 7 million more beneficiaries in 2014 than if Obamacare weren't law, the CBO said. The law calls for an expansion of Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $15,300 for a single person, but 24 states declined to broaden the program this year. The number of enrollees will jump next year but eventually level off. The CBO projects that 11 million more people will sign up for Medicaid in 2015, and 12 million to 13 million per year between 2016 and 2024. The CBO does not estimate how many more people would have signed up for the programs this year had their states chosen to participate in the expansion.
The cost of the health care law is falling, according to the CBO. Between 2015 and 2024, the price tag of Obamacare will be $1.383 trillion, $104 billion lower than prior estimates. This is because of a combination of factors, including a reduction of $165 billion in the gross costs of coverage (the government will spend less on exchange subsidies) and fewer people and businesses paying penalties for either not purchasing coverage or not providing it to their workers.
So, the long and short of it is, as Vice President Joe Biden said at the signing, rather famously, "It's a pretty big f*cking deal."
Oh, and the two of them and the Democratic Party were all right on this thing, all along.
Just sayin'.
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