Myth: Welfare gives mothers an economic incentive to have more children.
Fact: Studies have not found a correlation between size of welfare benefits and families.
Welfare gives mothers an economic incentive to have more children
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Social Security and the federal deficit (Part 1) | Economic Policy Institute
But didn’t Congress spend the money in the trust fund?
Yes, but it would have spent it anyway. Congress spent way more than what it borrowed from the trust fund, which holds roughly one-fifth of federal debt outstanding. There’s a global market for U.S. Treasury securities, which are especially popular during times of economic turmoil. So even if Social Security had no money in the trust fund or the trust fund were invested in other securities, this would have had little impact on the federal government’s borrowing costs or access to funds. In any case, Social Security has always invested the trust fund in U.S. Treasuries and is required by law to do so. So to make this seem like news, as Montgomery does (“the government has borrowed every cent”), is strange to say the least.
Does this mean there’s no connection between the federal deficit and Social Security?
Unfortunately, no. While Social Security has had little influence on Washington’s spendthrift ways, the converse isn’t true. Social Security benefits are on the chopping block as Congress suddenly finds deficit-cutting religion. In this sense, the retiree at an Occupy Palm Beach protest who waved a sign saying “my Social Security paid for these yachts” is on to something, though his verb tense may be off. But it’s probably better to avoid saying politicians looted Social Security because this implies there’s nothing in the piggy bank. The trust fund may be full of “IOUs,” but that’s just a pejorative way to describe government bonds. If they’re worthless, the real chumps are the hedge funds, investment banks, rich individuals and sovereign governments around the world that have ploughed money into Treasuries – and increased their demand in recent years.
Social Security and the federal deficit (Part 1) | Economic Policy Institute
Yes, but it would have spent it anyway. Congress spent way more than what it borrowed from the trust fund, which holds roughly one-fifth of federal debt outstanding. There’s a global market for U.S. Treasury securities, which are especially popular during times of economic turmoil. So even if Social Security had no money in the trust fund or the trust fund were invested in other securities, this would have had little impact on the federal government’s borrowing costs or access to funds. In any case, Social Security has always invested the trust fund in U.S. Treasuries and is required by law to do so. So to make this seem like news, as Montgomery does (“the government has borrowed every cent”), is strange to say the least.
Does this mean there’s no connection between the federal deficit and Social Security?
Unfortunately, no. While Social Security has had little influence on Washington’s spendthrift ways, the converse isn’t true. Social Security benefits are on the chopping block as Congress suddenly finds deficit-cutting religion. In this sense, the retiree at an Occupy Palm Beach protest who waved a sign saying “my Social Security paid for these yachts” is on to something, though his verb tense may be off. But it’s probably better to avoid saying politicians looted Social Security because this implies there’s nothing in the piggy bank. The trust fund may be full of “IOUs,” but that’s just a pejorative way to describe government bonds. If they’re worthless, the real chumps are the hedge funds, investment banks, rich individuals and sovereign governments around the world that have ploughed money into Treasuries – and increased their demand in recent years.
Social Security and the federal deficit (Part 1) | Economic Policy Institute
House Republicans Oppose Bill That Would Help Low-Income Moms Stay Home Like Ann Romney
House Republicans emphatically agree with Mitt Romney that stay-at-home moms work just as hard as anybody in the workforce. But when it comes to applying that standard to mothers on welfare, they draw the line.
House Republicans Oppose Bill That Would Help Low-Income Moms Stay Home Like Ann Romney
House Republicans Oppose Bill That Would Help Low-Income Moms Stay Home Like Ann Romney
Social Security and the federal deficit (Part 1) | Economic Policy Institute
To help the genuinely perplexed, here’s a primer on Social Security and the federal deficit (for a more in-depth discussion, go here). A follow-up blog post will look at the impact of the recession and explain the meaning of Social Security’s primary (or “cash-flow”) deficit.
Social Security and the federal deficit (Part 1) | Economic Policy Institute
Social Security and the federal deficit (Part 1) | Economic Policy Institute
Among GOP, anti-tax orthodoxy runs deep - The Washington Post
The rise of the anti-tax tea party movement in 2008 further hardened the party’s stance against taxes. How is the pledge enforced? Typically, Republican candidates sign the pledge to avoid attack in the primary. Once in office, violators might find that Norquist has contacted Republican voters in their state or district to inform them that their senator or representative is having “impure thoughts,” as he put it.
Among GOP, anti-tax orthodoxy runs deep - The Washington Post
Among GOP, anti-tax orthodoxy runs deep - The Washington Post
The Recovery Act: Evidence of success three years out | Economic Policy Institute
Now don’t get me wrong, ARRA wasn’t a cure-all (nor was it designed to be). The $831 billion 10-year cost of ARRA was smaller than the 2009 output gap and nowhere near the $3.0 trillion cumulative output gap since the start of the recession (which would be even bigger without ARRA). Unemployment remains unacceptably high, long after the official end of the recession. The economy needs 11 million more jobs to return to its pre-recession unemployment rate and the job seekers ratio has been higher for the last three years than it was at any point during the downturn of the early 2000s. Still, the stimulus prevented the situation from arguably being much worse than it otherwise would have been. Critics of the stimulus fail to recognize just how big of a hole ARRA was up against. As my colleague Josh Bivens explains in Failure by Design:
“The unemployment rate without the Recovery Act would have reached nearly 12%, not the 9% foreseen by the Obama administration. A good metaphor for this controversy is the temperature in a log cabin on a cold winter’s night. Say that the weather forecast is for the temperature to reach 30 degrees Fahrenheit. To stay warm, you decide to burn three logs in the fireplace. You do the math (and chemistry) and calculate that burning these three logs will generate enough heat to bring the inside of the cabin to 50 degrees, or 20 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature.
But the forecast is wrong—and instead temperatures plummet to 10 degrees outside and burning the logs only results in a cabin temperature of 30 degrees. Has log burning failed as a strategy to generate heat? Of course not. Has your estimate of the effectiveness of log burning been wildly wrong? Nope—it was exactly right—it added 20 degrees to the ambient temperature. The only lesson from this one is a simple one: since the weather turned out worse than expected, you need more logs.” http://www.epi.org/blog/recovery-act-evidence-success-three-year-anniversary/
Thursday, April 19, 2012
America's Greatest Presidents All Used Government to Increase Prosperity | Care2 Causes
History teaches us that the true story of America is one of enlightened leadership in the creative use of government to unleash the creative energies of the American people. History also reminds us that the free market, left unchecked, can bring the country to financial ruin. Mr. Romney refuses to acknowledge this. Instead, he claims that President Obama is wrong to focus so much of his attention on finding government-led solutions to our current problems. Meanwhile, he mocks him for even attempting to aspire to the greatness of a Lincoln, Roosevelt, or Johnson — the three of our presidents who, perhaps more than any others, understood that there are times when, as FDR put it, the American citizen, in seeking to rectify economic inequality and injustice, “could only appeal to the organized power of government.”
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/memo-to-romney-americas-greatest-presidents-all-used-government-to-increase-prosperity.html#ixzz1sVChCRaT
America's Greatest Presidents All Used Government to Increase Prosperity | Care2 Causes
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/memo-to-romney-americas-greatest-presidents-all-used-government-to-increase-prosperity.html#ixzz1sVChCRaT
America's Greatest Presidents All Used Government to Increase Prosperity | Care2 Causes
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer. - NYTimes.com
So a much greater share of income is now concentrated at the top of distribution, while each dollar there is taxed less than it once was. It’s true that raising taxes on the rich alone can’t come close to solving the long-term budget problem. The deficit is simply too big. But if taxes are not increased for the wealthy, the country will be left with two options.
It will have to raise taxes even more than it otherwise would on everybody else. Or it will have to find deep cuts in Medicare, Social Security, military spending and the other large (generally popular) federal programs.
All the attention being showered on “47 percent” is ultimately a distraction from that reality.
Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer. - NYTimes.com
It will have to raise taxes even more than it otherwise would on everybody else. Or it will have to find deep cuts in Medicare, Social Security, military spending and the other large (generally popular) federal programs.
All the attention being showered on “47 percent” is ultimately a distraction from that reality.
Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer. - NYTimes.com
Monday, April 16, 2012
Romney offers policy details at closed-door fundraiser
"I'm going to take a lot of departments in Washington, and agencies, and combine them. Some eliminate, but I'm probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go," Romney said. "Things like Housing and Urban Development, which my dad was head of, that might not be around later. But I'm not going to actually go through these one by one. What I can tell you is, we've got far too many bureaucrats. I will send a lot of what happens in Washington back to the states."
Asked about the fate of the Department of Education in a potential Romney administration, the former governor suggested it would also face a dramatic restructuring.
"The Department of Education: I will either consolidate with another agency, or perhaps make it a heck of a lot smaller. I'm not going to get rid of it entirely," Romney said, explaining that part of his reasoning behind preserving the agency was to maintain a federal role in pushing back against teachers' unions. Romney added that he learned in his 1994 campaign for Senate that proposing to eliminate the agency was politically volatile.
Romney offers policy details at closed-door fundraiser
Asked about the fate of the Department of Education in a potential Romney administration, the former governor suggested it would also face a dramatic restructuring.
"The Department of Education: I will either consolidate with another agency, or perhaps make it a heck of a lot smaller. I'm not going to get rid of it entirely," Romney said, explaining that part of his reasoning behind preserving the agency was to maintain a federal role in pushing back against teachers' unions. Romney added that he learned in his 1994 campaign for Senate that proposing to eliminate the agency was politically volatile.
Romney offers policy details at closed-door fundraiser
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Some conservative critics of federal social programs, including leading presidential candidates, are sounding an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather than work. A new CBPP analysis of budget and Census data, however, shows that more than 90 percent of the benefit dollars that entitlement and other mandatory programs[1] spend go to assist people who are elderly, seriously disabled, or members of working households — not to able-bodied, working-age Americans who choose not to work. (See Figure 1.) This figure has changed little in the past few years.
Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Chart Book: The Legacy of the Great Recession — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The United States went through its longest, and by most measures worst economic recession since the Great Depression between December 2007 and June 2009. This chartbook will document the course of the economy following that recession against the background of how deep a hole the recession created – and how much deeper that hole would have been without the financial stabilization and fiscal stimulus policies enacted in late 2008 and early 2009.
Chart Book: The Legacy of the Great Recession — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Chart Book: The Legacy of the Great Recession — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
New Tax Cuts in Ryan Budget Would Give Millionaires $265,000 on Top of Bush Tax Cuts — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
By combining large budget cuts (and tax increases) that disproportionately harm lower-income Americans with big tax cuts that disproportionately help those at the top of the income scale, the Ryan budget would significantly worsen inequality and increase poverty and hardship (and reduce opportunity as well, through deep cuts in programs such as Pell Grants to help low-income students afford college).
New Tax Cuts in Ryan Budget Would Give Millionaires $265,000 on Top of Bush Tax Cuts — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
New Tax Cuts in Ryan Budget Would Give Millionaires $265,000 on Top of Bush Tax Cuts — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Thursday, April 5, 2012
ALEC Corporations - SourceWatch
ALEC Corporations - SourceWatch
ALEC Corporations
ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) They fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. It might be right. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. Learn more at ALECexposed.org.
This article contains the names of for-profit corporations, law firms and governmental groups that are known to be, or have been, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) members or supporters. For corporate trade groups involved with ALEC, see the list here. For think tanks and other non-profit groups involved with ALEC, see the list here.
This is a partial list. You can add to it, if you cite your source.
 | Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws. |
ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) They fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. It might be right. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. Learn more at ALECexposed.org.
This article contains the names of for-profit corporations, law firms and governmental groups that are known to be, or have been, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) members or supporters. For corporate trade groups involved with ALEC, see the list here. For think tanks and other non-profit groups involved with ALEC, see the list here.
This is a partial list. You can add to it, if you cite your source.
The OLC "Torture Memos": Thoughts from a dissenter By Philip Zelikow | Shadow Government
The OLC "Torture Memos": Thoughts from a dissenter By Philip Zelikow | Shadow Government
At the time, in 2005, I circulated an opposing view of the legal reasoning. My bureaucratic position, as counselor to the secretary of state, didn't entitle me to offer a legal opinion. But I felt obliged to put an alternative view in front of my colleagues at other agencies, warning them that other lawyers (and judges) might find the OLC views unsustainable. My colleagues were entitled to ignore my views. They did more than that: The White House attempted to collect and destroy all copies of my memo. I expect that one or two are still at least in the State Department's archives
At the time, in 2005, I circulated an opposing view of the legal reasoning. My bureaucratic position, as counselor to the secretary of state, didn't entitle me to offer a legal opinion. But I felt obliged to put an alternative view in front of my colleagues at other agencies, warning them that other lawyers (and judges) might find the OLC views unsustainable. My colleagues were entitled to ignore my views. They did more than that: The White House attempted to collect and destroy all copies of my memo. I expect that one or two are still at least in the State Department's archives
Simon Johnson: Is There a Fiscal Crisis in the United States?
Simon Johnson: Is There a Fiscal Crisis in the United States? - NYTimes.com
But much more of the increase in the deficit was because of tax cuts under George W. Bush, Medicare Part D (which expanded coverage for prescription medicines) and – most of all – the financial crisis that brought down the economy and sharply reduced tax revenue starting in September 2008.
Our modern debt surge is much more about declining federal government revenue than it is about runaway spending. If you believe strongly that our fiscal issues are primarily about “runaway spending,” please read our book.
The smart approach is to begin the long and not-so-nice work of controlling deficits while allowing the economy to grow.
But much more of the increase in the deficit was because of tax cuts under George W. Bush, Medicare Part D (which expanded coverage for prescription medicines) and – most of all – the financial crisis that brought down the economy and sharply reduced tax revenue starting in September 2008.
Our modern debt surge is much more about declining federal government revenue than it is about runaway spending. If you believe strongly that our fiscal issues are primarily about “runaway spending,” please read our book.
The smart approach is to begin the long and not-so-nice work of controlling deficits while allowing the economy to grow.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Shadow Bailout: How Big Banks Bilk US Towns and Taxpayers | Common Dreams
The “toxic culture of greed” on Wall Street was highlighted again last week, when Greg Smith went public with his resignation from Goldman Sachs in a scathing oped published in the New York Times. In other recent eyebrow-raisers, LIBOR rates—the benchmark interest rates involved in interest rate swaps—were shown to be manipulated by the banks that would have to pay up; and the objectivity of the ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) was called into question, when a 50% haircut for creditors was not declared a “default” requiring counterparties to pay on credit default swaps on Greek sovereign debt.
The Shadow Bailout: How Big Banks Bilk US Towns and Taxpayers | Common Dreams
The Shadow Bailout: How Big Banks Bilk US Towns and Taxpayers | Common Dreams
Paranoia Strikes Deeper - NYTimes.com Gas Prices
And it’s a lie wrapped in an absurdity, because the president of the United States doesn’t control gasoline prices, or even have much influence over those prices. Oil prices are set in a world market, and America, which accounts for only about a tenth of world production, can’t move those prices much. Indeed, the recent rise in gas prices has taken place despite rising U.S. oil production and falling imports.
Paranoia Strikes Deeper - NYTimes.com
Paranoia Strikes Deeper - NYTimes.com
Friday, March 16, 2012
"A Woman's Voice" - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO - YouTube
Uploaded by BarbaraBoxer on Mar 13, 2012
I thank three Oscar-winning song writers -- Marvin Hamlisch and Alan & Marilyn Bergman -- for allowing me to play their moving song, "A Woman's Voice," with iconic images that speak to my heart and I hope to yours. It is so crucial to elect more women who will stand up for our rights and for the respect we deserve. Help us make history by electing the most women to the U.S. Senate ever: Get involved at http://www.WinWithWomen2012.com
(Make sure to look for the special guest cameo from Rush Limbaugh in this video!)
"A Woman's Voice" - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO - YouTube
I thank three Oscar-winning song writers -- Marvin Hamlisch and Alan & Marilyn Bergman -- for allowing me to play their moving song, "A Woman's Voice," with iconic images that speak to my heart and I hope to yours. It is so crucial to elect more women who will stand up for our rights and for the respect we deserve. Help us make history by electing the most women to the U.S. Senate ever: Get involved at http://www.WinWithWomen2012.com
(Make sure to look for the special guest cameo from Rush Limbaugh in this video!)
"A Woman's Voice" - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO - YouTube
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Rush Limbaugh Should Be Off American Forces Radio. Sign petition @VoteVets.org
Rush Limbaugh Should Be Off American Forces Radio. Sign petition @VoteVets.org: Rush Limbaugh Should Be Off American Forces Radio. Sign petition @VoteVets.org
FLASHBACK: Fox News On Gas Prices In 2008
Following GOP strategy, Fox News is again blaming the Obama administration for rising gasoline prices -- a claim that has been repeatedly debunked by energy analysts. But back in the summer of 2008, when the average U.S. gasoline price hit a record high of $4.11, Fox said that "no President has the power to increase or to lower gas prices."
In 2008, Fox's coverage occasionally even mirrored the facts: expanding domestic oil drilling willnotsignificantlylowerprices, and the only way to reduce our vulnerability to gas price spikes is to use less oil. Perhaps there was more room for reality-based coverage at Fox when there wasn't an incumbent president to defeat?
FLASHBACK: Fox News On Gas Prices In 2008
In 2008, Fox's coverage occasionally even mirrored the facts: expanding domestic oil drilling willnotsignificantlylowerprices, and the only way to reduce our vulnerability to gas price spikes is to use less oil. Perhaps there was more room for reality-based coverage at Fox when there wasn't an incumbent president to defeat?
FLASHBACK: Fox News On Gas Prices In 2008
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Dear Patricia Heaton, Your tweets to Miss Sandra Fluke - SusanThur - Open Salon
Attacking a young woman that is not a public figure but a private person concerned about Health Insurance Companies covering basic women’s healthcare is unacceptable. And that is the lesson learned in the Rush Limbaugh incident.
If private Americans are attacked, expressing their concerns to congress, we are on our way to lose much in our society and our Democracy. These unacceptable actions from a few put us all in danger.
Dear Patricia Heaton, Your tweets to Miss Sandra Fluke - SusanThur - Open Salon
If private Americans are attacked, expressing their concerns to congress, we are on our way to lose much in our society and our Democracy. These unacceptable actions from a few put us all in danger.
Dear Patricia Heaton, Your tweets to Miss Sandra Fluke - SusanThur - Open Salon
Monday, March 5, 2012
A Civil Right to Unionize - NYTimes.com
FROM the 1940s to the 1970s, organized labor helped build a middle-class democracy in the United States. The postwar period was as successful as it was because of unions, which helped enact progressive social legislation from the Civil Rights Act to Medicare. Since then, union representation of American workers has fallen, in tandem with the percentage of income going to the middle class. Broadly shared prosperity has been replaced by winner-take-all plutocracy.
A Civil Right to Unionize - NYTimes.com
A Civil Right to Unionize - NYTimes.com
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Conehead Romney
On Hardball Howard Fineman suggested that Mitt Romney reminds him of a Conehead.
Romney's movements are so mechanical. Much like a robot and yes, like a conehead. I noticed that too when I watched him speak at his rallies. Anyone else noticed this too? Poor guy, he is trying so hard to look like one of us. And of course he is not. Just like the coneheads from another planet trying to blend in on planet Earth.
(37) Susan Thur
Romney's movements are so mechanical. Much like a robot and yes, like a conehead. I noticed that too when I watched him speak at his rallies. Anyone else noticed this too? Poor guy, he is trying so hard to look like one of us. And of course he is not. Just like the coneheads from another planet trying to blend in on planet Earth.
(37) Susan Thur
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Climate change denial’s new offensive - Salon.com
It’s no secret where this denialism comes from: The fossil fuel industry pays for it. (Of the 16 authors of the Journal article, for instance, five had had ties to Exxon.)Writers from Ross Gelbspan to Naomi Oreskes have made this case with such overwhelming power that no one even really tries denying it any more. The open question is why the industry persists in denial in the face of an endless body of fact showing climate change is the greatest danger we’ve ever faced.
Climate change denial’s new offensive - Salon.com
Climate change denial’s new offensive - Salon.com
Nation's Largest Catholic University: We Offer 'A Prescription Contraceptive Benefit' | ThinkProgress
The largest Catholic university in the nation has admitted to providing contraception coverage as part of its health care benefit package, further undermining the GOP’s claims that Obama’s regulation requiring insurers and employers to offer reproductive health benefits represents and “unprecedented” war against religion. The rule — which exempts houses of worship and nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of faith from providing contraception coverage — mirrors existing requirements in six states.
Nation's Largest Catholic University: We Offer 'A Prescription Contraceptive Benefit' | ThinkProgress
Nation's Largest Catholic University: We Offer 'A Prescription Contraceptive Benefit' | ThinkProgress
Monday, February 6, 2012
WP: Fareed Zakaria-The world has changed, Mr. Romney
The world has changed, Mr. Romney
This is a new world, very different from the America-centric one we got used to over the last generation. Obama has succeeded in preserving and even enhancing U.S. influence in this world precisely because he has recognized these new forces at work. He has traveled to the emerging nations and spoken admiringly of their rise. He replaced the old Western club and made the Group of 20 the central decision-making forum for global economic affairs. By emphasizing multilateral organizations, alliance structures and international legitimacy, he got results. It was Chinese and Russian cooperation that produced tougher sanctions against Iran. It was the Arab League’s formal request last year that made Western intervention in Libya uncontroversial.
By and large, you have ridiculed this approach to foreign policy, arguing that you would instead expand the military, act unilaterally and talk unapologetically. That might appeal to Republican primary voters, but chest-thumping triumphalism won’t help you secure America’s interests or ideals in a world populated by powerful new players.
You can call this new century whatever you like, but it won’t change reality. After all, just because we call it the World Series doesn’t make it one.
WP: Fareed Zakaria
This is a new world, very different from the America-centric one we got used to over the last generation. Obama has succeeded in preserving and even enhancing U.S. influence in this world precisely because he has recognized these new forces at work. He has traveled to the emerging nations and spoken admiringly of their rise. He replaced the old Western club and made the Group of 20 the central decision-making forum for global economic affairs. By emphasizing multilateral organizations, alliance structures and international legitimacy, he got results. It was Chinese and Russian cooperation that produced tougher sanctions against Iran. It was the Arab League’s formal request last year that made Western intervention in Libya uncontroversial.
By and large, you have ridiculed this approach to foreign policy, arguing that you would instead expand the military, act unilaterally and talk unapologetically. That might appeal to Republican primary voters, but chest-thumping triumphalism won’t help you secure America’s interests or ideals in a world populated by powerful new players.
You can call this new century whatever you like, but it won’t change reality. After all, just because we call it the World Series doesn’t make it one.
WP: Fareed Zakaria
Monday, January 30, 2012
TIME: Fareed Zakaria The Case for Making It in the USA
In theory, I am deeply skeptical of government industrial policy. Government doesn’t know how to pick winners and losers, it will make mistakes, and the process will get politicized. All this is true. And yet when I look at China and South Korea and also Germany and Japan, I see governments playing a crucial role. They do make mistakes— their versions of Solyndra— but they seem to view them the way venture capitalists would. Their role is to seed many companies, only a few of which will succeed. Once these companies are identified, government helps them compete against big U.S. multi nationals. There used to be a joke about Marxist economists who would say of a deviation from pure communist economics: “It might work in practice, comrade, but it doesn’t work in theory.” That’s what industrial policy looks like these days. The theory doesn’t make sense, but it’s hard to argue with the result.
TIME: Fareed Zakaria
TIME: Fareed Zakaria
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Money Traps in U.S. Health Care - NYTimes.com
Why does an appendectomy in Germany cost roughly a quarter what it costs in the United States? Or an M.R.I. scan cost less than a third as much, on average, in Canada?
The Money Traps in U.S. Health Care - NYTimes.com
The Money Traps in U.S. Health Care - NYTimes.com
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Obama Memos: How Washington Remade the President : The New Yorker
In the past four decades, the two political parties have become more internally homogeneous and ideologically distant. In “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama wrote longingly about American politics in the mid-twentieth century, when both parties had liberal and conservative wings that allowed centrist coalitions to form. Today, almost all liberals are Democrats and almost all conservatives are Republicans. In Washington, the center has virtually vanished. According to the political scientists Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal, who have devised a widely used system to measure the ideology of members of Congress, when Obama took office there was no ideological overlap between the two parties. In the House, the most conservative Democrat, Bobby Bright, of Alabama, was farther to the left than the most liberal Republican, Joseph Cao, of Louisiana. The same was true in the Senate, where the most conservative Democrat, Ben Nelson, of Nebraska, was farther to the left than the most liberal Republican, Olympia Snowe, of Maine. According to Poole and Rosenthal’s data, both the House and the Senate are more polarized today than at any time since the eighteen-nineties.
The Obama Memos: How Washington Remade the President : The New Yorker
The Obama Memos: How Washington Remade the President : The New Yorker
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Opinion: Crazy never wins GOP sweepstakes - Joe Scarborough - POLITICO.com
Crazy never wins GOP sweepstakes
You heard right, my Upper West Side friend. Crazy. Never. Wins.
Despite the crop of nutty right-wing candidates that sprout up in GOP presidential fields every four years, despite the gasps and growls that regularly rise from Manhattan cocktail parties aimed at extremists who are hijacking the Republican Party (in ways that past GOP extremists would never have dreamed of hijacking the party), despite the cries from right-wing radio hosts predicting the rise of Ronald Reagan’s ghost and the nomination of an unelectable candidate, in the end this political chatter always proves to be sound and fury signifying nothing.
Opinion: Crazy never wins GOP sweepstakes - Joe Scarborough - POLITICO.com
You heard right, my Upper West Side friend. Crazy. Never. Wins.
Despite the crop of nutty right-wing candidates that sprout up in GOP presidential fields every four years, despite the gasps and growls that regularly rise from Manhattan cocktail parties aimed at extremists who are hijacking the Republican Party (in ways that past GOP extremists would never have dreamed of hijacking the party), despite the cries from right-wing radio hosts predicting the rise of Ronald Reagan’s ghost and the nomination of an unelectable candidate, in the end this political chatter always proves to be sound and fury signifying nothing.
Opinion: Crazy never wins GOP sweepstakes - Joe Scarborough - POLITICO.com
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Saturday, December 24, 2011
The Spirit of Christmas- My Take On It - SusanThur - Open Salon
“The Christmas Spirit”.
Yes, it happens every year; it can’t be escaped. The Christmas Spirit sneaks up and grabs our Scrooge sour disposition and takes us into that breathtaking transformational world of hope, promise, kindness, and charity.
It is the time of giving and receiving, a time for forgiving, and a time for consideration and compassion for others. This is the time to remember it is about love and good will and opening our hearts.
The Christmas Spirit is the enchanted world of possible dreams and promising visions. During the holidays we are brought back to a childlike state of wishful minds and the carefree faith of childhood, enfolded into optimistic innocence, simplistic warmth and untainted courage and strength.
The carefree confidence of childhood is where the goodness of the human spirit resides; it is the goodness of humanity.
The goodness of humanity will always be Love; it is the unique, everlasting phenomenon of life. We may not be able to touch it, smell it, or quite understand it, and we may even at many times be confused by it. But it is real, just as the Spirit of Christmas is real.
As we grow from childhood to adulthood, we leave behind the belief of Santa but the belief of love lives on. The Spirit of Christmas, that boundless sincerity of love, the giving of one’s self, is never outgrown and always lives within us. We just have to reach in, grab it and live it.
And if, somehow, the remembrance of the fundamental meaning of Christmas is overlooked, forgotten or fades, and sometimes even fought over. Do not fear all you Hum Buggers out there like me, for each year, we are renewed again.
The true meaning of Christmas will forever be a communal celebration of Love.
We do possess the knowledge to keep Christmas well.
For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Susan Thur
The Spirit of Christmas- My Take On It - SusanThur - Open Salon
Yes, it happens every year; it can’t be escaped. The Christmas Spirit sneaks up and grabs our Scrooge sour disposition and takes us into that breathtaking transformational world of hope, promise, kindness, and charity.
It is the time of giving and receiving, a time for forgiving, and a time for consideration and compassion for others. This is the time to remember it is about love and good will and opening our hearts.
The Christmas Spirit is the enchanted world of possible dreams and promising visions. During the holidays we are brought back to a childlike state of wishful minds and the carefree faith of childhood, enfolded into optimistic innocence, simplistic warmth and untainted courage and strength.
The carefree confidence of childhood is where the goodness of the human spirit resides; it is the goodness of humanity.
The goodness of humanity will always be Love; it is the unique, everlasting phenomenon of life. We may not be able to touch it, smell it, or quite understand it, and we may even at many times be confused by it. But it is real, just as the Spirit of Christmas is real.
As we grow from childhood to adulthood, we leave behind the belief of Santa but the belief of love lives on. The Spirit of Christmas, that boundless sincerity of love, the giving of one’s self, is never outgrown and always lives within us. We just have to reach in, grab it and live it.
And if, somehow, the remembrance of the fundamental meaning of Christmas is overlooked, forgotten or fades, and sometimes even fought over. Do not fear all you Hum Buggers out there like me, for each year, we are renewed again.
The true meaning of Christmas will forever be a communal celebration of Love.
We do possess the knowledge to keep Christmas well.
For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Susan Thur
The Spirit of Christmas- My Take On It - SusanThur - Open Salon
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes - Hallelujah!
That would be the provision of the law, called the medical loss ratio, that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers' premium dollars they collect - 85% for large group insurers - on actual medical care rather than overhead, marketing expenses and profit.
Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes - Hallelujah!
Bomb Buried in Obamacare Explodes - Hallelujah!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Forget Hope. Obama Has A New Strategy For 2012
The new theme: "everyone engages in fair play, everyone does their fair share, and everyone gets a fair shot."
In a word: Fairness.
Forget Hope. Obama Has A New Strategy For 2012
In a word: Fairness.
Forget Hope. Obama Has A New Strategy For 2012
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)