Feed the Rich, Starve the Poor

 

Lions and Chemicals and Iran, oh my!

700 different chemicals used to frack.  Yummy!

How many different things are made.

More ways to humiliate the poor.  Being poor is very expensive.  When will the rich millionaires in Congress realize that? Never?

Tom Cotton thinks a nice little war with Iran would only take a few days.  Kinda like what we did in Iraq.  Only better!

And for Caturday, a photographer lives to tell the tale about nearly being eaten:

Tuesday's Traumas

Fun with guns.

Dick Cheney.

The Koch machine.

What the poor must do every day.

Mary Poppin's creator was cantankerous and grumpy.  And didn't like Disney's take on her book. 

Failure and how to deal with it.

Republican's to do list.

One way to honor the children of Sandy Hook without bothering the community.

Exactly.

Poor poor babies.

U.S. millionaires say $7 million not enough to be rich

Why Wisconsin matters

From Chris Hayes' article:

The other problem is that our system is responsive only to voices at the top of the social pyramid—the bankers and businessmen who are raking in record bonuses and the professional upper middle class, which is recovering much faster than the nation as a whole. In a 2007 paper titled “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness in the United States,” Princeton political scientist Martin Gilens analyzed 2,000 survey questions from 1981 to 2002, looking for the relationship between public opinion and policy outcomes. He found that “when Americans with different income levels differ in their policy preferences, actual policy outcomes strongly reflect the preferences of the most affluent but bear little relationship to the preferences of poor or middle income Americans.”

There is only so much social distance a society can take. The social science literature shows that as social distance increases, trust declines and aberrant and predatory behavior increases. The basic mechanisms of representation erode, and the social fabric tears. “An imbalance between rich and poor,” Plutarch warned, “is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”

It’s against this backdrop of creeping dissolution that the word “union” takes on a renewed power. That’s why the struggles of the protesters in Wisconsin have resonated so profoundly. In banding together to oppose Republican Governor Scott Walker’s power grab, the students, teachers, cops, firefighters and neighbors have willed themselves to shrink the social distance those in power are cynically using to pit constituencies against one another. Walker exempted cops and firefighters from his bill’s radical limits on collective bargaining, but they joined the protests anyway. “An assault on one is an assault on all,” proclaimed Wisconsin Professional Firefighters Association president Mahlon Mitchell.

It’s in Wisconsin and across the Midwest that union members like Mitchell and his allies are showing us the antidote to the social distance that threatens the core of American democracy.

Stop the Republican War on Women

Redefining rape. Attacking the right to choose. Belitting victims of violence. The Republicans are on a rampage attacking women's health and rights this year. And if we don't speak up, they'll keep going. That's why we need to raise a ruckus, and get the word out about the GOP war on women.

Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP's War on Women

1) Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't yet. Shocker.

2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser." But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims."

3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)

4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.

8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress just voted for a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.

10) And if that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).

Sign the petition.

Hate, fear, and money

Operational words for Republicans:

Fear of tolerance: ACLU’s Holiday Message Labeled ‘Suspicious Activity’ By Tennessee Counter-Terrorism Officials

Fear of gays: Group Opposed To DADT Repeal To Fight On Against Shower Policy

Fear of the poor: GOP Turns To K Street Veterans To Help Unravel Health Care Law

If only those 'lucky duckies' had some 'skin in the game'

Love of money: Lobbyist In Charge Of ‘Trying To Kill’ Financial Reform Hired By GOP Chair To Oversee Financial Regulations

Just so you know

You are unemployed because you like it. So says Tom DeLay, and he should know!

"You know," Delay said, "there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.

Host Candy Crowley: Congressman, that's a hard sell, isn't it?

Delay: it's the truth.

No concept on what regular people go through, is there? Where did they get the concept that poor people are lazy, that bad things happen to bad people, that somehow being chosen by the people to serve in Congress is like being chosen by God to do whatever you want to because you are special and everybody else is not.... Is there something in the water in Washington D C that makes people go mad?

Is it power? Or lead?

World's largest gated community

Which holds only 14 percent of the world's population and creates 73 percent of the world's income. Neat graphic from this site.

Remember:

The world’s richest 1 billion people use 80% of the world’s resources. That means that the other five billion plus people use only 20% of the world’s resources.

How about we not feed you for a week

Until you find your brains and your heart?

Missouri lawmaker on child hunger: ‘Hunger can be a positive motivator.’

Fannie and Freddie found not guilty

WASHINGTON — As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail.

Commentators say that's what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They've specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie's and Freddie's financial problems.

Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren't true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

Try pointing the finger somewhere else, like at yourselves, guys. Blaming the victim is not going to work.

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor

he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. Proverbs 21:13 KJV



Georgie, what you did to everybody excepting your cronies and minions has finally come around to bite you in the ass.

When you talk about the economy, markets crash.

When you meet with world leaders at the G20, they are deliberately vague and uncommitted as they hold out for the next president.

When you speak, people realize they've gotten used to hearing complex sentence structures with multisyllabic words debating profoundly difficult situations spoken by a quick and intelligent mind. You can't leave the White House soon enough.

People can see clearly now you've gutted the Treasury for your glutinous corporate friends; you've shredded the Constitution you swore on the Bible to protect; you started a vanity war in which the blood of innocents is being shed. Whatever you've put your hand to, you've ruined.

And now we're going to be poor. Poor in a way that Americans have not experienced since 1929. Poor because you and your cronies really didn't give a shit about the people you had sworn to protect.

We'll survive this as we have with other market crashes, but the real person who's impoverished is you, George. You had the chance to be great. You had the chance to lead when we would have sacrificed and followed you without question. You had the chance to show what Americans can do in adversity and strife.

And you threw it away.

You are the really poor one, Mr. President.

But homelessness can be fun!

You don't have to worry about mowing lawns and stuff!:

One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.

You can take your family to live in discarded shipping containers!



Because of the Republican policies, 99% of us are the have-nots:

(CBS) There have always been "haves" and "have-nots" in the United States, but over the past three decades, the gap between them has gotten a lot wider, statistics from congressional numbers crunchers show.

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, income for the bottom half of American households rose six percent since 1979 but, through 2005, the income of the top one percent skyrocketed - by 228 percent.

Learning at the knee of the master

McBush sallies forth to find poor people and remind them they are poor because Obama isn't.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Sunday called Democratic rival Barack Obama insensitive to poor people and out of touch on economic issues.

The GOP nominee-in-waiting rapped his Democratic rival for opposing his idea to suspend the tax on fuel during the summer, a proposal that McCain believes will particularly help low-income people who usually have older cars that guzzle more gas.

Coral Gables? THIS Coral Gables? I don't think you'll find any poor people there, McCain.

Bush's Legacy: The poor

Via Skimple:

The Bush Legacy: America is 30 percent poorer. The dollar's purchasing power against 26 other currencies has plunged by more than 30 percent (WSJ):

On Thursday, the dollar sank to a new record low against the euro, deepening a six-year slide in which it has fallen more than 40% versus the European currency and more than 20% against a broader basket of currencies. In late trading in New York, one euro fetched about $1.52, just two days after it surged through the symbolically important level of $1.50. [...]

And that's not all:

Millions of the poor are getting poorer and the gap between rich and poor is widening. According to the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report 2003, “more than 50 nations grew poorer over the past decade”. A UNICEF study in 2000 said: "A new face of 'apartheid' seems to be spreading across the globe, as millions of people live in wretched conditions side-by-side with those who enjoy unprecedented prosperity."


Of all high-income nations, the United States has the most unequal distribution of income, with over 30 per cent of income in the hands of the richest 10 per cent and only 1.8 per cent going to the poorest 10 per cent.


In 2001 the average annual pay of US CEOs topped $11 million-some 350 times as much as the average US factory worker (who earned, on average $31,260).

Back in college, Georgie had his agenda clear:

In 1973, as the oil and energy crisis raged, Tsurumi led a discussion on whether government should assist retirees and other people on fixed incomes with heating costs. Bush, he recalled, "made this ridiculous statement and when I asked him to explain, he said, 'The government doesn't have to help poor people -- because they are lazy.' I said, 'Well, could you explain that assumption?' Not only could he not explain it, he started backtracking on it, saying, 'No, I didn't say that.'"

Hurtling towards the finish line

On October 11, 2007, Bush said:

"The deficit today is at 1.2 percent of GDP, which is lower than the average of the last 40 years. In other words, we have told the American people that by keeping taxes low we can grow the economy, and by working with Congress to set priorities we can be fiscally responsible and we can head toward balance," said President Bush in a statement to the press. "And that's exactly where we're headed."

Did you read that quote really carefully? Did you catch the 'non-action' words he always uses? He's 'telling the American people', 'can grow', 'set priorities, 'can be fiscally responsible', 'can head toward balance'. Nice, Georgie. You've covered your ass by telling us. So the incoming recession just can't be your fault, can it?

And if we're 'headed toward balance', doesn't that mean we are out of balance right now with your borrow and spend policies?

Well... The US economy can withstand much if we keep the consumer confidence high.....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Consumer confidence fell to an all-time low as worries about jobs, energy bills and home foreclosures darkened people's feelings about the country's economic health and their own financial well-being.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence tumbled to a mark of 56.3 in early January. That compares with a reading of 65.9 in December - and a benchmark of 100 - and was the worst since the index began in 2002.

"People are anxious because everything sounds pretty awful these days," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services Group.

Well, at least we had a good Christmas season?

Credit card usage and other data showed a disappointing shopping season for US retailers after consumer spending rose 3.6 percent over the holiday spending period, the slowest growth rate in four years, media reports said Wednesday.

The figure, calculated from Nov 23 to Dec 24, rose 6.6 percent in 2006 and 8.7 percent in 2005, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse data.

The report was cited by The New York Times and Washington Post in their online editions.

The US economy has been sluggish all year, and consumer confidence has been eroded by the crisis in the mortgage industry. Tens of thousands of homes have been repossessed by banks after high-risk borrowers could not keep up with interest rates that were jacked up after initial low rates.

The SpendingPulse report cited high fuel and food costs as also working against holiday spending. It was based on credit card purchases made by more than 300 million MasterCard holders and cash and cheque use, the reports said.

About 20 percent of annual revenues for the US retail industry depend on Christmas holiday shopping.

Ah. I'm sure Bernanke is right on this, and Bush is doing a heckovajob:

The White House is exploring a rescue plan, possibly including a tax cut, to aid the ailing economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, criticized for not doing enough, pledged on Thursday to keep lowering interest rates. They are expected to drop by as much as one-half of a percentage point when central bank policymakers meet later this month.

The public is giving President Bush low marks for his economic stewardship. His approval rating on the economy dipped slightly to 33 percent in January, from 36 percent in December, according to a separate Associated Press-Ipsos poll. His overall job-approval rating was 34 percent, compared with 36 percent last month.

Um, just an aside, but if you keep lowering interest rates, aren't you in danger of a liquidity trap?:

In monetary economics, a liquidity trap occurs when the economy is stagnant, the nominal interest rate is close or equal to zero, and the monetary authority is unable to stimulate the economy with traditional monetary policy tools. In this kind of situation, people do not expect high returns on physical or financial investments, so they keep assets in short-term cash bank accounts or hoards rather than making long-term investments. This makes the recession even more severe.

But I'm sure Bush is listening to his advisors:

The White House is more sanguine than several of the nation's most prominent economists, who have been urging the federal government in recent days to adopt a much more vigorous fiscal policy to head off the possibility of a damaging long-term recession.

Martin S. Feldstein, a Harvard economist who was an adviser to President Ronald Reagan, has said that he thinks there is a 50 percent chance of a recession next year and that Congress should pass a tax cut that would depend on how much the economy slows. Lawrence H. Summers, who was Treasury secretary in President Bill Clinton's administration, called this week for a temporary tax cut, longer-lasting unemployment insurance benefits and additional money for food stamps. Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has said that he thinks the considerable risk of a recession warrants making emergency aid available to homeowners at risk.

But in an interview this week, Bush's outgoing economic policy adviser, Allan Hubbard, said the White House does not see the need for such measures at the moment. "We just don't see any reason why the economy won't continue to expand," he said.

Well... at least everybody will share in whatever is coming at us:

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office show.

The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.

The total income of the top 1.1 million households was $1.8 trillion, or 18.1 percent of the total income of all Americans, up from 14.3 percent of all income in 2003. The total 2005 income of the 3 million individual Americans at the top was roughly equal to that of the bottom 166 million Americans, analysis of the report showed.

The report is the latest to document the growing concentration of income at the top, a trend that President George W. Bush said last January had been under way for more than 25 years.

Earlier reports, based on tax returns, showed that in 2005, the top 10 percent, top 1 percent and fractions of the top 1 percent enjoyed their greatest share of income since 1928 and 1929.

Apparently Bush thinks another Gilded Age is a good thing, but 1929? Didn't something interesting happen around that time?

Don't think Bush will be too happy about having a really painful recession tagged onto his legacy... But if the recession truly kicks in after January 20, 2009, it can't be Bush's fault, can it?
(crossposted at SteveAudio)

Bush's legacy of neglect

Is working so well, don't you think?

JACKSON, April 22 Cuts in welfare and poor medical care may be responsible for a sharp increase in infant deaths in Mississippi and neighboring states, doctors said.

"I don't think the rise is a fluke, and it's a disturbing trend, not only in Mississippi but throughout the Southeast," said Dr. Christina Glick, a neonatologist in Jackson, Miss. The trend reverses decades of progress in reducing infant deaths in southern states with large black populations and extensive poverty, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Contributing factors may include cuts in welfare and Medicaid, poor access to doctors and a growing epidemic of obesity among potential mothers, the Times said.

Mississippi's infant mortality rate rose from 9.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2004 to 11.4 per 1,000 births in 2005. The national average in 2003, the last year for which such information was compiled, was 6.9.

Smaller increases also occurred in 2005 in Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee. Louisiana and South Carolina saw increases in 2004 and have not yet reported for 2005.

The gap between the rich and poor grows wider

Which is obviously a good thing. Who wants those poor people looking in your windows?

Washington, DC (AHN) - A new report released on Saturday says the gap between rich and poor is growing even wider and the number of poor is at a 30-year high. An analysis of census data from 2005 found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in "deep to severe poverty."

The study found that although worker productivity has increased, job and wage growth has not.

"Severe poverty" was defined as a family of four with two children earning less than $9,903, and "deep poverty" was a family of four living with an income under $5,080.

McClatchy newspapers analyzed the Census data and found the number of poor Americans rose 26 percent from 2000 to 2005.

How CAN we sleep at night?

With New Orleans ruined and neglected? The Brits remind us:

(Via Vanity Press)