What we need to know about the Pakistani flooding

The thing about these Pakistani floods right now is that it's not just a matter of an area of the country getting one big rain, like we usually do, and that being the flood and mess and it's over. No, no, the thing is, this is from their monsoon season. They've gotten a great deal of rain and more is on its way. They're expecting at least two more big assaults from the sky, as far as the meteorologists can tell at present. Other things to know about their dire situation right now: --At least one case of cholera has been reported and they're concerned, of course, that this is just the beginning of an outbreak; --One-fifth of Pakistan is still under water after three weeks of devastating flooding; --as many as 6 million affected people have not yet received any relief; --about one in 10 Pakistanis — 20 million people altogether — have been affected by the flooding; --at least 1,500 people are feared dead; --approximately 2 million are homeless; --up to 3.5 million children are at risk for dysentery and other diseases caused by drinking dirty water; --the country's most populous province, Punjab, was also one of the worst-hit areas; --relief agencies and the government are still tallying damage to millions of acres of farms; --many villages have no health care at all. They're in a world of trouble and need everyone's help. This reinforces what I wrote yesterday about humankind not being able to afford "the sick luxury that is war" any longer. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100816/wl_yblog_upshot/one-fifth-of-pakistan-under-water-as-flooding-disaster-continues

Glee-based flash mob dance at The Legends Saturday

It was brief and it was even hot but a good time was had by all. Thanks to all those who put this on for us viewers.

We can no longer afford the sick luxury that is war

The fact is, with global climate change and what it’s doing to the world—drought, forest fires and losing at least 20% of their food crops all in Russia alone, the floods that have ravaged the people, cities and towns of Pakistan, the 100 square mile ice sheet that just broke off Greenland this week, along with the shrinking of both polar ice caps and the glaciers all over the planet, I think the point needs to be made and considered that humankind can no longer afford war or war machinery and the senseless killing of each other any longer. It seems evident that we need to, instead, use the helicopters and war materiel to, instead, feed, clothe, house and nurse one another and build infrastructure—roads, bridges, highways, streets, power plants, hospitals, etc. If you look at conditions around the world ni various countries from Iraq to, again, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, China, etc., it’s clear too many corners of the world and peoples of the world are in desperate condition. Heck, even look here in the US at what we need—we have too many homeless, underfed, undernourished, in need of health care and so on. So, yeah, the time has come and the time is now. We need to accept that we can afford war no longer. We need to come to this collective conclusion and start working together aound the world. Too many of us are already dying and it will surely only get worse, the longer we put it off. Links to additional posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_floods http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_russia_fires

Coming back to sanity?

There are two stories out today, telling of Senator John McCain backing off his call for the repeal of the 14th Amendment , thankfully, and a GOP candidate backing away from his original call for repeal of the 17th Amendment. Thank goodness. Could we all just calm down and back away from irrational, emotional absurdity and get back to a) accepting that we're all Americans--including not demonizing one another--b) agreeing that we need to define and prioritize our problems and issues and then c) discussing--again, calmly, unemotionally and rationally--what possible solutions we do have and that are available to us? Is it too much to ask? Can't we all just get along? Have a great weekend, y'all.

The day of abortions is nearly over

From the Associated Press and Yahoo! News earlier this evening: FDA OKs new, five-day emergency contraceptive By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Business Writer WASHINGTON – Federal health officials on Friday approved a new type of morning-after contraceptive that works longer than the current leading drug on the market. The pill ella from HRA Pharma reduces the chance of pregnancy up to five days after sex. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Friday as a prescription-only birth control option. The ruling clears the way for U.S. sales of the drug, which is already approved in Europe. Back to me: This should be nothing but good news to all of us out here in the world who don't want to see or hear about abortions out there in the world, for whatever reason. Right? But you watch--all the Catholics and holier-than-thou chuckleheads who don't want to lose their single-issue problem they can rail about and against will declare that this, too, is an abortion and will want it banned, young women's lives be damned. Seriously, they need to get over it just like they need to get over stem cell research. Science and technology have made stem cells now available from common, everyday, living cells from you and I, walking around on terra firma. Science and technology has also made these "morning after" pills like RU486 and now this "Plan B" pill so women can take them after having had sex, take the pill and avoid the situation of needing or wanting an abortion. And no, please don't say I'm advocating young people having indiscriminate sex. It's just that they're young, their hormones are raging and it's going to happen so wouldn't it be better that they have some way of protecting themselves and a possible child from an abortion? Wouldn't it? Of course it would. But I'm sure these single-issue abortion people won't agree with us. (Slapping forehead in disbelief and frustration). Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_on_bi_ge/us_birth_control_pill_fda

Let's lighten up for the weekend

"Little Skippy Silverspoon". I love that. Have a great weekend, y'all.

The answer? Nothing. We will learn nothing

From The Huffington Post today: NRA Instructor Shoots Student: What Can We Learn? When an NRA safety instructor accidentally shoots a student in one of his classes, is it a teachable moment about guns in America? I am referring to an incident reported in the Orlando Sentinel in which a person attending a National Rifle Association class for applicants for concealed carry licenses was shot when his instructor's gun accidentally discharged during the class. The bullet penetrated a table before hitting the victim, who fortunately recovered from his wound. I think it's safe to say that the NRA instructor in this case is unlikely to appear in future "I'm the NRA" promotional ads. Here we have an individual, who the NRA itself has decided is such an expert in safe gun handling that he can teach a class in it, nevertheless accidentally discharging his weapon in a public place and wounding an innocent person. If this can happen to the instructor, what can we expect from his students, who presumably will be carrying their concealed guns on the streets? Back to me: We will learn from this, as a nation, exactly what we learned from the Vietnam War--nothing. Again, nothing. Sorry, that's my take on it. I am sadly, frustratingly convinced that's what we'll get from this. Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-a-henigan/nra-instructor-shoots-stu_b_680349.html

Prediction on KCMO School District first day

Imagine you're a school district. (Bear with me). Now imagine you've closed about 1/2 of the school buildings in your district earlier in the year because you were 50 million dollars in debt and needed to. Further, imagine you have taken all the schoolchildren from those closed schools and put them in the remaining, open school buildings. Then, keep in mind you had a rough, busy Summer, trying to coordinate the school closings while also trying to figure out which teachers stay and which go while, at the same time, trying to figure out a new curriculum for the kids, and, finally, trying to make sure you at least keep the kid's scores where they are, if not higher. Okay, last thing you have to do (though this certainly wasn't really all you had to do this fateful Summer)--coordinate all the kids, all the schools and all the buses so all the right kids go to all the right, new, unfamiliar schools on the same first day--at least a few of which have school populations that have increased by a whopping 30% (from about 600 to 900+ kids, for example). Now tell me, what do YOU think is going to take place?

Really? Extending tax cuts for the wealthy with our debt?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Deductible Me
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

What about this makes any sense?

Quotes of the day--I think we're getting through to 'em

"Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?" asked Bill O'Reilly. "No, I don't," said Glenn Beck. "Will the gays come and get us?" Link to original post: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/38973

Republican support for the wealthy---but not those pesky unemployed working class folks

From The Washington Post: A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year -- and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation's millionaires, according to a congressional analysis released Wednesday. New data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation show that households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks under the GOP plan in 2011, for an average tax cut per household of about $100,000. Nice. Very nice. They railed against extending unemployment benefits for the longest time ostensibly for "adding to the the deficit" and it wasn't nearly this large an amount of money. And they don't get the hypocrisy or disconnect. How is anyone--but the wealthy--supporting these people? Link to original post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/11/AR2010081105864_pf.html

Russia's ugly situation

This is how serious it is: Russia fought a deadly battle Tuesday to prevent wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites as alarm mounted over the impact on health of a toxic smoke cloud shrouded over Moscow. The emergencies ministry said that over the last 24 hours, 247 new fires had appeared, more than the 239 that were extinguished, and 557 fires were still raging across the affected region. The heatwave has a huge impact on all areas of Russian society and economists warned Tuesday the record temperatures could have cost the country 15 billion dollars and undercut a modest economic revival. Worst hit has been the agriculture industry, which has seen 10 million hectares of land destroyed. Climate change, anyone? Link to original post: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/10-1

Action on the West Edge Project??

Holy cow, wouldn't that be great news? The Kansas City Star reports that "A federal bankruptcy judge has agreed to an Aug. 26 auction of the unfinished West Edge project, concluding an eight-month effort to market the forlorn development." For those of us who have lived (me, mostly, anyway) through the original construction and now, nearby, as it sits not even half-completed, this would be great news, indeed. It's sat empty through two winters and more. What a mess. And check this out: Debts totaling $120 million were listed when the project developer, Trilogy Development Co. LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2009. Trilogy was established by advertising mogul Bob Bernstein to build a 203,000-square-foot headquarters for Bernstein-Rein advertising and a 131-room boutique hotel at 48th Street and Belleview Avenue. The developer spent $100 million on the project before filing for bankruptcy with work about two-thirds complete. It will cost an estimated $40 million or more to complete the project. But wait--there's more: Major creditors include the primary lender, BB Syndication Services, a Wisconsin banking consortium, which lent $61.5 million; M&I Bank of Kansas City, which funded the $31.9 million tax-increment financing loan; and J.E. Dunn Construction Co., the general contractor, $13.87 million. CB Richard Ellis began actively marketing the property in January. Last spring, the real estate brokerage firm had identified a potential buyer, a “stalking horse” whose offer would have set the floor for other bidders, but a final deal couldn’t be completed. I think this means we--the citizens of KCMO are just about to "eat" $31.9 million in a TIF loan, but I'm not sure. Here's the big kicker: Several people familiar with the discussions said that offer was about $12 million. Looks like somebody's going to get themselves one heckuva bargain. Sorry 'bout that, Bob! Anyway, here's hoping someone buys the thing and gets the completion of it going. And as soon as possible. It is one big eyesore. Link to original post: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/11/2144283/judge-approves-auction-of-west.html

From The Star: "Murder's Big Month" page

I was clunking around at the Kansas City Star website just now and ran across a page I didn't know they had. It shows the people who were murdered in the metropolitan area, all on one page, and links to the original story in the paper that told about them and their deaths. I think it's quite a nice touch, on the Star's part. I also think it should get more coverage. I think we need to pay more attention, as a city, to who's killed and how and where, so we know what's going on and maybe so we can offer up solutions. But you're heard all this before from me here on this blog. Here's a sampling: Vincent McCollum His goal was to open a restaurant Erick S. Gandarilla Guardsman died here while his unit was in Kosovo Jarod Sesley His mom will move... once his killer is caught Darnell Cooper He forgave the killer of his daughter Derrick Blount Died after being shot for a second time this year Thomas Howard II He was preparing to buy a house to raise his boys Here's a thought--I'd love to know if the Mayors read this. (I seriously doubt it). I wonder if the City Council members do? Church and community leaders? Anybody give a damn about these people and our murder rate? Link to original post: Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/murdersbigmonth/#ixzz0wQGdDcjq

It could be worse--you could always be a KC Royals player this weekend

Ever think you have it bad? Of course you have. We all do it at times, right? Well, no matter how badly you have it right now (unless you're terminally ill or perpetually unemployed or something), you probably couldn't have it too much worse than if you were a Kansas City Royals baseball player right now. They lost last night and rolled up their 7th loss (of 9 games played) and this weekend, with their 47-67 record this year that "leaves them in a tie for last place in the American League Central division with Cleveland (according to The Kansas City Star) and, finally, they go up against the New York Yankees this weekend for a 3 game stretch. Anyone care to guess how that's going to go? Then again, you could be this guy: A Sugar Creek man suspected of several burglaries was arrested Wednesday after he tried to make a getaway on a riding lawnmower, authorities said today. Either way, it ain't good. Keep cool y'all. Links to original posts: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/11/2144412/offense-scuffles-again-as-royals.html http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/12/2145225/burglary-suspect-arrested-after.html

Glacier melt in our hot, hot Summer and what it might mean

Greenland Ice Sheet Faces 'Tipping Point in 10 Years' Scientists warn that temperature rise of between 2C and 7C would cause ice to melt, resulting in 23ft rise in sea level by Suzanne Goldenberg WASHINSTON - The entire ice mass of Greenland will disappear from the world map if temperatures rise by as little as 2C, with severe consequences for the rest of the world, a panel of scientists told Congress Tuesday. An enormous chunk of ice, roughly 97 square miles in size, has broken off the Petermann Glacier along the northwest coast of Greenland. Greenland shed its largest chunk of ice in nearly half a century last week, and faces an even grimmer future, according to Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University "Sometime in the next decade we may pass that tipping point which would put us warmer than temperatures that Greenland can survive," Alley told a briefing in Congress, adding that a rise in the range of 2C to 7C would mean the obliteration of Greenland's ice sheet. The fall-out would be felt thousands of miles away from the Arctic, unleashing a global sea level rise of 23ft (7 metres), Alley warned. Low-lying cities such as New Orleans would vanish. "What is going on in the Arctic now is the biggest and fastest thing that nature has ever done," he said. From a different article and source yesterday, too: Since 1970, temperatures have risen more than 4.5 degrees (2.5 degrees C) in much of the Arctic — much faster than the global average. In June the Arctic sea ice cover was at the lowest level for that month since records began in 1979, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Back to me: Two plus two is starting to look like four, folks. Link to original posts: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/11-1 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_sc/eu_ice_island

Terrific news out of Kansas City---and hope for humanity

`Cathy' comic strip ending after 34 years Now if we could just get Mort Walker to do the same. Here's hoping. Keep cool today, y'all.

Quote of the day--on climate change

An island of ice more than four times the size of Manhattan is drifting across the Arctic Ocean after breaking off from a glacier in Greenland. It's been a summer of near biblical climatic havoc across the planet, with wildfires, heat and smog in Russia and killer floods in Asia. But the moment the Petermann glacier cracked last week — creating the biggest Arctic ice island in half a century — may symbolize a warming world like no other. "It's so big that you can't prevent it from drifting. You can't stop it," said Jon-Ove Methlie Hagen, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo. Back to me: If you don't yet think anything is happening with climate change due to man's injection of CO2 in large quantities into the atmosphere, what is it going to take to convince you? Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_sc/eu_ice_island

Russia's disbelief in global warming? What about ours?

There is an article out right now at Time Magazine asking "Will Russia's Heat Wave End Its Global-Warming Doubts? It seems the people over there, too, apparently didn't believe there was any change coming about, in spite of the polar ice caps and the glaciers the world over, melting. So yeah, I have to ask, what with Russia's literally, historically unprecedented and ongoing heat wave over a good deal of the country, their drought (admittedly a possibly if not likely shorter-term indication, however problematic right now), the fires raging out of control, the ice sheet that just broke off Iceland this week that is larger than the island of Manhattan, the glaciers that have been shrinking for the past few decades at least and the ice caps that are doing the same, are people in the US, here at home, going to "wake up and smell the forest fires"? Are we going to collectively face facts and accept that how we all--worldwide--are living is unsustainable and that we have to do things about it? I doubt it. But I hope it. I hope we'll learn and all accept that we have to change. And soon. Link to additional posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_sc/eu_ice_island http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/11-1 http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/09-4

You think you could do better?

"...Obama's job 'would be almost unrecognizable to most of his predecessors — thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systematic corruption and disintegrating media' in Washington, D.C." --Todd Purdum, Vanity Fair Link to original post: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129090078

Quote of the day--warm enough for you?

If Russia's current heatwave being the worst in 1000 years and doubling the daily death rate in Moscow wasn't enough, check out this sweaty stat: According to Wunder Blog (via Mongabay), already this summer 17 nations have set or matched their all-time heat records. Not to mention an all-time hottest temperature for Pakistan, and possibly all of Asia. --From the Treehugger blog. At what point do we collectively believe in man-made climate change? Then, at what point do we all start doing something about it? Just asking. Link to original post: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/17-nations-beat-all-time-heat-records-this-year.php

News flash: The US has and keeps more people in prisons than China (but our government doesn't know it)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Michael Posner
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

From Common Dreams just now: On last night's Colbert Report, an amazing moment occurred when Stephen Colbert raised a major social issue that U.S. mainstream media assiduously ignore: the huge U.S. prison population. The issue quickly disappeared due to the apparent ignorance of Stephen's guest: Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, in charge of "Democracy, Human Rights and Labor." In a sometimes jokey interview, with Posner discussing China's various human rights abuses (including prisoners), Colbert tried to steer the conversation to human rights problems in our own country. COLBERT: We've actually got more people in prison than China does. POSNER: Well I'm not sure that's true. Colbert's assertion is indisputably true. Posner's denial is false. Does the State Department's man in charge of human rights not know the facts? According to statistics gathered by the authoritative International Centre for Prison Studies in London, the United States has by far the largest prison population in the world: almost 2.3 million people behind bars. China's prison population is second in the world: roughly 1.6 million. The United States is also number 1 in the world in its "prison population rate": 748 inmates per 100,000 citizens. Russia is 3rd. China is tied for 114th. This is a U.S. human rights problem of enormous proportions. Our bloated prison population has many causes: the "drug war," mandatory minimum sentencing, poverty, racism. And there are corporate profits to be made from "The Prison-Industrial Complex" -- as independent journalists like Eric Schlosser began documenting a dozen years ago. US' total population: 308 million; China's total population: 1.3 billion But we have more people in prison. Sure. That makes sense. Link to original post: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/05-4

No good news today?

A sampling of headlines today: --The Fed is worried about the economy; --Russian wildfires raise Chernobyl radiation fears; --Huge ice island could pose threat to oil, shipping; --Primary winners highlight political inexperience; --Greenland Ice Sheet Faces 'Tipping Point in 10 Years'; I wish going back to bed were an option. I wish that option could make this stuff go away. Think positive thoughts, people! Keep cool and have a great day, anyway.

The shape of local news

Watching the news last night, I was reminded of the somewhat new comedy show on Comedy Central, Tosh.0 (which I happen to love, by the way). If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. It's a show that takes video clips--mostly from YouTube--and covers them with commentary and a great deal of humor. Usually the vids speak rather loudly for themselves but there's still plenty to add. And, really, this is what too much of the local evening news--"at 5 and 10"--has become. Not the entire 20 minutes but too much of it, for sure. They're doing their best to be both relevant and up to date as well as "infotainment" so people will watch and they'll get their ratings and, finally, because having those reporters on staff is more expensive but man does it make the news weak and irrelevant. You used to be to turn on the news and know what's going on in your city and region. You used to be able to know what local politico and/or agency was doing what---but no more. They have videos of "man bites dog" or some such silly, trivial and/or unimportant local event. And you know what? It's not the TV station's fault. It's our fault. It's our fault for being lazy and wanting the infotainment and light, fluffy crap. It would be nice to blame the stations but we can't. They're putting out the cotton candy we seem to call demand and require, unfortunately. So that's the way it is, this Wednesday, August 12, 2010, and it ain't pretty. Walter Cronkite is no doubt spinning in his grave.

Politics in America: What works, what doesn't, and what we have to do

America no longer has a political system. In its place is a vaudeville of celebrity politics, bait-and-switch politics, spin politics. As citizens, we are lax and self-absorbed; our leaders prefer to keep things this way. --Michael Brenner, Senior Fellow, The Center for Transatlantic Relations. Proof positive, from recent headlines: Ousted GOP Congressman Bob Inglis: I Refused To Call Obama 'A Socialist' And I Lost And then this beauty: Colorado Senate, Governor's Races Have Become a Political Three-Ring Circus And I have news for you, folks--the only way it's going to change is if we all get up off our collective butts and demand good things for our country. Oh, and we have to work together, as Americans, and not just shout at each other, to get this done. Here's hoping. Link to original posts: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/americas-defunct-politica_b_675468.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/bob-inglis-i-refused-to-c_n_675580.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/colorado-senate-governors_n_675540.html http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/08/can-washington-be-fixed.html

Yeah, we definitely need more guns

From The Huffington Post today: 5-Year-Old Boy Accidentally Shot And Killed By Twin CHICAGO — The twin 5-year-old boys had just climbed out of the bathtub and into their pajamas the night before the first day of kindergarten when a relative's handgun they'd found went off. The bullet struck Jonathan Jackson in the stomach. Less than an hour later, after being rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, he was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. Monday. If you go to the link, you'll see he was a beautiful child. What a shame. And a waste. Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/5yearold-boy-accidentally_n_676869.html

Quote of the day---and you're still voting Republican?, Part III

Decline of the Middle Class as Metaphor for the Decline of America: 'Disproportionate' is the freighted word that shackles our society. Over the past few years some two-thirds of the gain in national income has gone to the top one percent of Americans. ...too much of our political system is bought and paid for. Too much of our political system is self serving, responsive to the wings of our two parties and indifferent to the day to day concerns of middle Americans in spite of the incessant lip service extended to them. Yes, there is limp Wall Street reform, but no clawback of the exigencies that drove the nation to the brink. Yes there is a stimulus program, but faltering shamelesly through lack of clear direction. Yes, there is an alternative energy program without clear mandates nor meaningful results as the transfer of billions to the oil providers continues unabated. Yes, there are our soldiers dying in fragmented nation states far away without a modicum of sacrifice being asked of the home front. Yes, there are moneyed interests both domestic and foreign who have access to those who govern, without limitation and a shameless Congress ready to do their bidding in spite of the promises made in Presidential campaigns to curtail their influence. Yes we have courts of law who, through judicial minutiae rather than pragmatic sense of national welfare have given these moneyed interests even greater influence by striking down financial restraints on the powerfully funded in election laws, that make the middle class even more disenfranchised. Yes, there is talk of restraining government spending while special interests with access to government and its earmarks are encumbering the nation into ever greater indebtedness. Yes, while Main Street and middle class Americans continue to lose jobs, the pay checks on Wall Street and corporate boardrooms continue in their unabated and inflated manner while middle class Americans are absorbing pay cuts or shortened work weeks if they have any jobs at all, while teachers, the backbone of the nations future, police and firemen are losing their employment. And so it goes, leaving the nation with a Frankenstein system whose core objective of governance has become self preservation of power and personal influence. This, while governing for the greater good of the nation has become a secondary and distant gerrymandered priority leaving the great body of the American electorate virtually without meaningful representation and forestalling and diminishing America's middle class' engagement with its government with every passing day. --Raymond J. Learsy, Scholar and author, "Over a Barrel: Breaking Oil's Grip on Our Future"

Quote of the day---and you're still voting Republican? redux

Beginning with the Reagan administration, and reaching its fullest realization during the presidency of George W. Bush, conservatives have systematically been acting to redistribute wealth from the middle class upward. The result has been the steady decay of the middle class, and it's all a result of conservative policies, specifically involving taxes and deregulation. --Mitchell Bard, Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/krugmans-takedown-of-ryan_b_674845.html

Quote of the day---and you're still voting Republican?

Notes From a Class Worrier Robert Reich, Nobel Prize-winning economist The decline of America's middle class can be charted directly. In the three decades after World War II, the median wage (smack in the middle) grew rapidly, right along with productivity gains. Even as late as 1980, the richest 1 percent of Americans received only about 9 percent of the nation's total income. But starting in the 1980s -- and increasingly since then -- the economy has made the rich far richer without doing squat for the vast middle. The median hourly wage has barely grown, if you take inflation into account. Indeed, it dropped in the last so-called "recovery" between 2001 and 2007. And health-care and pension benefits have declined; we've gone from defined-benefit pensions to do-it-yourself pensions, while health insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-payments have skyrocketed. Meanwhile, the rich have been getting a larger and larger portion of total income. From 9 percent in 1980, the top 1 percent's take has increased to 23.5 percent in 2007. CEOs who in the 1970s took home 40 percent of the compensation of average workers now rake in 350 times. Financiers who forty years ago made only modest fortunes today, even after the Great Recession they helped bring on, routinely earn seven and eight-figures. In 2009, when most of the nation's middle class was deep in recession, the 25 best-paid hedge-fund managers took in an average of $1 billion each. (Their marginal income tax, by the way, was barely over 17 percent, while the typical family paid a marginal tax far higher.) What happened? It wasn't just greed. It was also the systematic and ever cleverer manipulation of laws and rules by those able to pay lobbyists, legislators, lawyers, accountants to do their bidding. As income and wealth have risen to the top, so has the power to manipulate the system in order to acquire even more money and more influence. ...Our choice in the years ahead is either demagoguery that turns Americans further against one another and the rest of the world, or genuine reform that enlarges shared prosperity. It is the responsibility of all of us to fight the former and work toward the latter. Back to me: As if you didn't know it, our legislators are being bought and sold. But we're letting it happen. We let it happen by not pushing for campaign finance reform and not limiting our political campaigns as Britain does and, finally, by not putting the "Fairness Doctrine" back into our political discussions. In the meantime, NASCAR and NFL comes on soon. Pass me a beer. (Right?) Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/notes-from-a-class-worrie_b_676140.html

8 Surprising facts about the shrinking Middle Class in the US

--Income Inquality Is Soaring: In 2005, the bottom 20 percent of household earners had an average income of $10,655 while households in the top 20 percent made nearly 160,000 – a disparity of 1,500 percent, the highest gap ever recorded, Arianna notes in Third World America; --Cash-Strapped States Are Cutting Crucial Services: "According to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, at least twenty-nine states have made cuts to public health programs, twenty-four states have cut programs for the elderly and disabled, twenty-nine states have cut aid to K–12 education, and thirty-nine states have cut assistance to public colleges and universities. America’s states faced a cumulative budget gap of $166 billion for fiscal 2010. Total shortfalls through fiscal 2011 are estimated at $380 billion—and could be even higher depending on what happens to unemployment. These are massive numbers. But when you remember that we spent $182 billion to bail out AIG ($12.9 billion of which went straight to Goldman Sachs), you realize that this amount alone would be more than enough to close the 2010 budget gap in every state in the Union. Toss in the $45 billion we gave to now-making-a-profit Bank of America and the $45 billion we gave to now-making-a-profit Citigroup, and we would be well on the way to ensuring that no state’s vital services are cut through 2011." --Corporations are skipping out on taxes: "According to the White House, in 2004, the last year data on this was compiled, U.S. multinational corporations paid roughly $16 billion in taxes on $700 billion in foreign active earnings— putting their tax rate at around 2.3 percent. Know many middle-class Americans getting off that easy at tax time?" - Arianna Huffington, Third World America; --The Financial Services Sector Is Dominating Our Economy: "As MIT professor Simon Johnson recounted in the Atlantic, between 1973 and 1985, the financial industry’s share of domestic corporate profits topped out at 16 percent. In the 1990s, it spanned between 21 percent and 30 percent. Just before the financial crisis hit, it stood at 41 percent. The share of our economy devoted to making things of value is shrinking, while the share devoted to valuing made-up things (credit-swap derivatives, anyone?) is expanding. It’s the financialization of our economy." --Health care costs are bankrupting Americans: "The vast majority of people who file for bankruptcy are middle-class folks who can’t pay their bills because they’ve lost their jobs or been hit with high medical bills. In fact, a 2009 study by researchers at Harvard and Ohio University showed that health-care problems were the root cause of 62 percent of all personal bankruptcies in America in 2007. When the same researchers did this study across five states in 2001, health-care problems caused only 50 percent of bankruptcy filings. According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, America had 1.4 million personal bankruptcies in 2009, a 32 percent increase over the previous year. Put another way: Every thirty seconds, someone in this country files for bankruptcy in the wake of a serious illness."; --The Foreclosure Crisis Is Not Abating: “Barry Bosworth and Rosanna Smart of the Brookings Institution found that the catastrophic collapse of the 2008 sub-prime mortgage market resulted in the disappearance of $13 trillion in American household wealth between mid-2007 and March 2009... on average, U.S. households lost one quarter of their wealth in that period," cites Huffington. She continues, “We are facing nothing less than a national emergency: 2.8 million homes faced foreclosure in 2009, and an estimated 3 million more are expected to be foreclosed on in 2010. If there was ever a middle-class Katrina, this is it." --America's Education System Is In Crisis: America's educational system is failing: "Eight years ago, amid much fanfare, the D.C. establishment passed No Child Left Behind...but it turned out to be reform in name only," Arianna explains Third World America . "Despite a goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math, eight years later we are not even close. In Alabama, only 20 percent of eighth graders are proficient in math. In California, it’s just 23 percent. In New York, it’s 34 percent." --America's Infrastructure Is Crumbling: "In studying car crashes across the country, the Transportation Construction coalition determined that badly maintained or managed roads are responsible for $217 billion in car crashes annually – far more than headline-grabbing alcohol-related accidents ($130 billion) and speed-related pile-ups ($97 billion)", Arianna writes in Third World America. But Americans are paying an even higher price for our deteriorating roads. Of the 42,000 road fatalities each year, 53% are at least partially the result of poor road conditions. "We are currently spending $70 billion annually on improving our highways, but that’s nowhere near the $186 billion a year that is needed. It's a collision of need versus resources; for far too many of us, it can be fatal," she adds. It is the point of Arianna Huffington's book, Third World America, that some of us, here in the US, are, in fact, members of the "Third World", that is, in poverty equal to undeveloped countries. Did you think we were better than that? Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/8-surprising-facts-about_n_675545.html#s121657