Boxer's seat. Many it's a choice between worse and worser.
Two Senators to really watch their floor speeches are Byron Dorgan and Bernie Sanders. They don't mince words either, although they give a lot of statistics and facts, also with sardonic wit.
I mean Grayson did this one almost as a "in your face and that's too bad" speech and after the Senate finance committee farce, kind of can't blame him.
Peter Defazio literally said, loudly, "that's bullshit!" on the House floor when the original bail out via Hank Paulson and Bernanke was voted on.
I mean considering the state of health care in this country, I think they should have way more Reps. plain coming out and saying "you're killing people" but to the health insurance lobbyists themselves and....any Sen./Rep. who votes for them.
Ego defenses, false consciousness, working class authoritarianism, all come to mind as we see these giants lose, say, the cost of a new game room in their house in the Hamptons. Gates lost $7B, my mom's IRA lost $100K. Who do you think I worry most about?
Frank T.
Can we get this guy to run for US Senate? The current Florida senate race is full of special interest money. Grayson at least holds the Fed's feet to the fire and demands information Uncle Ben is reluctant to provide.
Frank T.
I note that you mention cars which were still made in American to compare to cars outsourced.
But yeah, repairs is the reason so many went to Toyota and Honda.
I had a S-10, vortec V6 4.3L from 1990 which you can run into the ground (GM), then they went and put plastic parts in the manifold gasket. @&*)! One of the last ones made in the U.S.
My experience (indirect) is that they're not different than GMs (repairs, more repairs, more repairs) and certainly the Lemon Aide car guide has either had an axe to grind with Saturn - or many users have lots of problems with these.
I'm eagerly awaiting the Mitsubishi iCar for my family. Our belching black beast (Ford Escort Wagoon - failing transmission at 102,000 mi, impossible to find sensor failures, insulation falling off wires) is going and we really really REALLY miss our 1991 Chevy Sprint (almost no repairs in 14 years, sold it with the original tires and battery and it was still getting >50mpg in the summer). There is supposed to be an iCar event in Vancouver next month - hopefully heralding the sale of a radical econobox which will make a splash like the Swift/Sprint/Metro did about 20 years ago. The only new car I'll buy will have a sub 1L engine and if it's a hybrid it better be sub 250cc for the IC engine - no freekin' high powered road rocket GM Volt.
Although I am rapidly approaching the state of those guys who are found dead in their houses amid stack after stack after stack of floor to ceiling books, I'm looking forward to reading yours, Mr. Judson.
I find the fascination with the super rich, as well as celebrity, as if that affects most people's lives, bizarre.
It's like idol worship or something and headlines like the above try to mask what Judson's post is all about, that is income inequality is a very serious issue for this country, the economy and Democracy itself.
is it's too partisan but then again, on health care as far as I can tell, they are just trying to block it, not do anything that could actually work....
but I love it....I mean is there anything more obvious that health care in terms of corporate lobbyists running the show and killing bills?
(Although I do blame some Democrats on the entire illegal immigrant issue, if they had just passed those amendments it wouldn't have become so large and 83% of all Americans don't want to foot the bill for people just border jumping...obvious answer is to stop people from border hopping in the first place but ya know, that really mucked up the Dem position frankly, there are a few others they did which they should have just fixed to get everybody covered and kill the insurance company strangle hold, i.e. eye off the ball as usual).
Although I would claim this is also many Democrats plan as well. But too good and he's getting a bunch of crap over this which is pretty ridiculous considering all of the floor speeches about the government going to kill old people. If they can say that, he can say this:
and then gets even better, Republicans demanded an apology, so he gave 'em one. ;) (of course this can be also said of some Democrats)
I am researching how corporations' lobbying costs are treated under the tax code. Generally, they are not tax deductible but something tells me there is a loophole somewhere.
I'd even pay into their system at their cost rates per person. Now *that* would be one hell of a good trade deal. ;)
You know that entire BS about wait times? I made an appointment with a specialist. The wait time is 6 months out! That's 4 months longer than Canada.
Trying to find a primary care Doctor....gee wiz, they are not accepting new patients. Others ask to run a credit check on you and I discovered many refuse to deal with anyone at all on Medicaid (esp) as well as Medicare!
(I'm not on either, I have regular good old fashioned insurance, this is just the wait times for that).
I'll add to that policies which give U.S. workers a preferred status in all U.S. jobs.
A flat out ban on offshore outsourcing of Federal and State contracts, esp. in services. (does it make sense to ship taxdollars offshore when government spending in part Stimulates it's own economy? Things like social services, food stamps...does it make sense to employ people over seas to manage unemployed Americans and Americans desperate for food....whereas if they had a job they would not be?)
Systems to manipulate national tax policies by multinational corporations. this includes stashing profits offshore to avoid corporate taxes, incorporation in tax havens, like the Cayman Islands, negotiation huge tax breaks which are never delivered on (ex. IBM gets huge state and federal tax breaks on the promise of job creation....when in fact they fire Americans, import workers and offshore outsource jobs as fast as they can, all of of those tax breaks should be revoked).
Deal with China's currency manipulation and extensive tariff schedule. Lobby to have China removed from emerging economy status.
Restructure corporate governance to align with the national interest.
Review all trade agreements and create a long term national economic trade strategy. (i.e. right now we're losers, analyze all agreements to make the U.S. a winner, pure and simple).
I don't know about you but watching that Farce called health care reform in the Senate has me quite depressed that any damn thing at all in terms of reforms, financial reforms, etc. can be passed.
I don't see why we don't just give the corporate lobbyists those Congressional seats, they own them anyway.
How about displaced workers get to enroll in Canadian health care system? F*ck it! How about a trade agreement that allows all of us to get Canadian health care?
Politics leads to policies that exacerbate the inequality.
I would advocate:
1) Income tax reform - make the system more progressive.
2) Better strategy for global engagement - means enforcing the trade agreements that we have and making sure we are not at disadvantage in future ones.
3) National manufacturing strategy/policy that examines future markets
4) Tuition free first two-years of college or trade school. More investment in community colleges and trade schools.
5) Strengthen peoples' right to organize into unions.
I don't know if you read this one, (Thomas Frank), it's politics vs. economics per say, but he goes through trying to answer the question of why so many vote against their own economic interests and endorse views that go against their own economic interests.
Quite a bit on the political angle of income inequality.
I can see some of this, because people do not trust the government to not give their money away to corporate interests, special interests....so the answer is to let the government have as little of their money as possible...
I mean case in point is health care. Both parties are blocking practical solutions simply because the health insurance lobby, big pharma owns them. So, when you've got that kind of government...well, just try to get them as little of your own money as possible.
This is a great post, I'm now dying to read your book for this is one my main personal hunts....I believe that the U.S. economy became #1 simply because of a strong middle class, social mobility and a more level income distribution (without removing financial incentives to be an entrepreneur, business owner and so on).
Today, it seems the only time wages/income are mentioned is in conjunction with "corporate cost reduction" and/or "productivity". Even there, productivity there seems to be some massive denial on labor arbitrage, erroneously attributing the absurd gains to "technological advances".
We have other skews in government methods. I am thinking of how they count foreign guest workers in the unemployment stats to artificially deflate the unemployment rate per occupation and they also don't count the # of people, per occupation, who were forced out of it. i.e. take a job at Wal-mart, you're a Wal-mart worker instead of a Chemistry PhD who can't get a job.
Completely agree with your point about the growth of inequality in the US and the historical claim that things will bounce back to the way they were before the recession. What kind of reform are you advocating for? There is undeniably inequality with economic effects but the real dangers of having extreme concentrations of unshared wealth seem to be more political than economic.
A report by Essential Information and The Consumer Education Foundation that shows that in 2007 there were 3,000 registered lobbyists in D.C. - that is 5 lobbyists to 1 congressional member. And $1.725 billion in political contributions from 1998-2008.
This is what wealth brings and financial oligarchy will use this wealth to protect their interests. The rest of us don't have such a benefit.
Boxer's seat. Many it's a choice between worse and worser.
Two Senators to really watch their floor speeches are Byron Dorgan and Bernie Sanders. They don't mince words either, although they give a lot of statistics and facts, also with sardonic wit.
I mean Grayson did this one almost as a "in your face and that's too bad" speech and after the Senate finance committee farce, kind of can't blame him.
Peter Defazio literally said, loudly, "that's bullshit!" on the House floor when the original bail out via Hank Paulson and Bernanke was voted on.
I mean considering the state of health care in this country, I think they should have way more Reps. plain coming out and saying "you're killing people" but to the health insurance lobbyists themselves and....any Sen./Rep. who votes for them.
Ego defenses, false consciousness, working class authoritarianism, all come to mind as we see these giants lose, say, the cost of a new game room in their house in the Hamptons. Gates lost $7B, my mom's IRA lost $100K. Who do you think I worry most about?
Frank T.
Can we get this guy to run for US Senate? The current Florida senate race is full of special interest money. Grayson at least holds the Fed's feet to the fire and demands information Uncle Ben is reluctant to provide.
Frank T.
I note that you mention cars which were still made in American to compare to cars outsourced.
But yeah, repairs is the reason so many went to Toyota and Honda.
I had a S-10, vortec V6 4.3L from 1990 which you can run into the ground (GM), then they went and put plastic parts in the manifold gasket. @&*)! One of the last ones made in the U.S.
My experience (indirect) is that they're not different than GMs (repairs, more repairs, more repairs) and certainly the Lemon Aide car guide has either had an axe to grind with Saturn - or many users have lots of problems with these.
I'm eagerly awaiting the Mitsubishi iCar for my family. Our belching black beast (Ford Escort Wagoon - failing transmission at 102,000 mi, impossible to find sensor failures, insulation falling off wires) is going and we really really REALLY miss our 1991 Chevy Sprint (almost no repairs in 14 years, sold it with the original tires and battery and it was still getting >50mpg in the summer). There is supposed to be an iCar event in Vancouver next month - hopefully heralding the sale of a radical econobox which will make a splash like the Swift/Sprint/Metro did about 20 years ago. The only new car I'll buy will have a sub 1L engine and if it's a hybrid it better be sub 250cc for the IC engine - no freekin' high powered road rocket GM Volt.
Although I am rapidly approaching the state of those guys who are found dead in their houses amid stack after stack after stack of floor to ceiling books, I'm looking forward to reading yours, Mr. Judson.
Some of these headlines and what is pushed up in the MSM "messaging" disgusts me.
Rich Get Poorer, Buffet loses $10B, Gates loses $7B.
I find the fascination with the super rich, as well as celebrity, as if that affects most people's lives, bizarre.
It's like idol worship or something and headlines like the above try to mask what Judson's post is all about, that is income inequality is a very serious issue for this country, the economy and Democracy itself.
is it's too partisan but then again, on health care as far as I can tell, they are just trying to block it, not do anything that could actually work....
but I love it....I mean is there anything more obvious that health care in terms of corporate lobbyists running the show and killing bills?
(Although I do blame some Democrats on the entire illegal immigrant issue, if they had just passed those amendments it wouldn't have become so large and 83% of all Americans don't want to foot the bill for people just border jumping...obvious answer is to stop people from border hopping in the first place but ya know, that really mucked up the Dem position frankly, there are a few others they did which they should have just fixed to get everybody covered and kill the insurance company strangle hold, i.e. eye off the ball as usual).
You posted before just before me. So I withdraw my apology.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
For injecting politics into website. But I have to say:
Have at Congressman Alan Grayson: Don't apologize to anyone for saying the truth. Maybe, all wimpy-ass Dems should take note.
Grayson Not Backing Down
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
Although I would claim this is also many Democrats plan as well. But too good and he's getting a bunch of crap over this which is pretty ridiculous considering all of the floor speeches about the government going to kill old people. If they can say that, he can say this:
and then gets even better, Republicans demanded an apology, so he gave 'em one. ;) (of course this can be also said of some Democrats)
internal memo the Committee written by Kolchinsky, and the committee said it wanted to have a Moody’s representative on the panel.
I am reviewing the transcripts of the meeting.
Here is a Bloomberg article regarding the today's hearing.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
I am researching how corporations' lobbying costs are treated under the tax code. Generally, they are not tax deductible but something tells me there is a loophole somewhere.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
I'd even pay into their system at their cost rates per person. Now *that* would be one hell of a good trade deal. ;)
You know that entire BS about wait times? I made an appointment with a specialist. The wait time is 6 months out! That's 4 months longer than Canada.
Trying to find a primary care Doctor....gee wiz, they are not accepting new patients. Others ask to run a credit check on you and I discovered many refuse to deal with anyone at all on Medicaid (esp) as well as Medicare!
(I'm not on either, I have regular good old fashioned insurance, this is just the wait times for that).
I'll add to that policies which give U.S. workers a preferred status in all U.S. jobs.
A flat out ban on offshore outsourcing of Federal and State contracts, esp. in services. (does it make sense to ship taxdollars offshore when government spending in part Stimulates it's own economy? Things like social services, food stamps...does it make sense to employ people over seas to manage unemployed Americans and Americans desperate for food....whereas if they had a job they would not be?)
Systems to manipulate national tax policies by multinational corporations. this includes stashing profits offshore to avoid corporate taxes, incorporation in tax havens, like the Cayman Islands, negotiation huge tax breaks which are never delivered on (ex. IBM gets huge state and federal tax breaks on the promise of job creation....when in fact they fire Americans, import workers and offshore outsource jobs as fast as they can, all of of those tax breaks should be revoked).
Deal with China's currency manipulation and extensive tariff schedule. Lobby to have China removed from emerging economy status.
Restructure corporate governance to align with the national interest.
Review all trade agreements and create a long term national economic trade strategy. (i.e. right now we're losers, analyze all agreements to make the U.S. a winner, pure and simple).
I don't know about you but watching that Farce called health care reform in the Senate has me quite depressed that any damn thing at all in terms of reforms, financial reforms, etc. can be passed.
I don't see why we don't just give the corporate lobbyists those Congressional seats, they own them anyway.
How about displaced workers get to enroll in Canadian health care system? F*ck it! How about a trade agreement that allows all of us to get Canadian health care?
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
Politics leads to policies that exacerbate the inequality.
I would advocate:
1) Income tax reform - make the system more progressive.
2) Better strategy for global engagement - means enforcing the trade agreements that we have and making sure we are not at disadvantage in future ones.
3) National manufacturing strategy/policy that examines future markets
4) Tuition free first two-years of college or trade school. More investment in community colleges and trade schools.
5) Strengthen peoples' right to organize into unions.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
I don't know if you read this one, (Thomas Frank), it's politics vs. economics per say, but he goes through trying to answer the question of why so many vote against their own economic interests and endorse views that go against their own economic interests.
Quite a bit on the political angle of income inequality.
I can see some of this, because people do not trust the government to not give their money away to corporate interests, special interests....so the answer is to let the government have as little of their money as possible...
I mean case in point is health care. Both parties are blocking practical solutions simply because the health insurance lobby, big pharma owns them. So, when you've got that kind of government...well, just try to get them as little of your own money as possible.
This is a great post, I'm now dying to read your book for this is one my main personal hunts....I believe that the U.S. economy became #1 simply because of a strong middle class, social mobility and a more level income distribution (without removing financial incentives to be an entrepreneur, business owner and so on).
Today, it seems the only time wages/income are mentioned is in conjunction with "corporate cost reduction" and/or "productivity". Even there, productivity there seems to be some massive denial on labor arbitrage, erroneously attributing the absurd gains to "technological advances".
We have other skews in government methods. I am thinking of how they count foreign guest workers in the unemployment stats to artificially deflate the unemployment rate per occupation and they also don't count the # of people, per occupation, who were forced out of it. i.e. take a job at Wal-mart, you're a Wal-mart worker instead of a Chemistry PhD who can't get a job.
Productivity, phantom GDP is another.
Completely agree with your point about the growth of inequality in the US and the historical claim that things will bounce back to the way they were before the recession. What kind of reform are you advocating for? There is undeniably inequality with economic effects but the real dangers of having extreme concentrations of unshared wealth seem to be more political than economic.
A report by Essential Information and The Consumer Education Foundation that shows that in 2007 there were 3,000 registered lobbyists in D.C. - that is 5 lobbyists to 1 congressional member. And $1.725 billion in political contributions from 1998-2008.
This is what wealth brings and financial oligarchy will use this wealth to protect their interests. The rest of us don't have such a benefit.
Report: Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
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