REPUBLICAN POSITIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION Minimum Wage ~ Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, and many other prominent Republicans, believe that the minimum wage law is unconstitutional. This understanding of the Constitution is a throw-back to almost 100 years ago --- pre-New Deal. Whites Only-Lunch Counters ~ Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) claimed on The Rachael Maddow Show on MSNBC that the ...
Though we’re not among the top 400 income-earners in our country, we are willing to pay more in taxes to ensure that our nation survives this current economic disaster. We agree with V.P. Joe Biden when he said in 2008 that it is patriotic to pay taxes. It is past time for the very, very wealthy to pay their fair share to help our country get out of this debt that unfettered capitalism has cre ...
Germany announced on May 30th that it will shut down its nine nuclear power stations by 2022 --- in a major policy change that follows the recent nuclear accidents in Japan. Germany’s action reminds us that the U.S. has no energy policy. Or industrial policy. Or climate change policy for that matter. And while our country continues its gridlock on many issues, Germany is already awash in sol ...
Think Progress compiles the data: "Tax rates on the richest Americans have plunged in recent years, and millionaires today pay tax rates that are 25 percent lower than they were in 1995. Meanwhile, income inequality is the worst it’s been since the 1920s, with the top 1 percent of Americans taking home 25 percent of the country’s total income. Just the richest 400 Americans hold more wealth than t ...
GOP's PAUL RYAN READY TO RAISE REVENUE? Following the recent S&P downgrade, Republican budget-hawk Paul Ryan has indicated on Fox News that he would consider raising revenues as part of a deficit reduction plan. The deal he said he could support is eerily similar to the one that his party walked away from in the Boehner/Obama negotiations just weeks ago --- which sparked the S&P downgr ...
OBAMA STIMULUS IS ONLY 7% OF FEDERAL DEBT! It’s past time for us to explode right-wing economic myths: “raising taxes is ‘job killing’; we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem; tax-cuts pay for themselves by bringing in more tax money to the government.” Our best path to clarity is for President Obama to use his bully pulpit even more vigorously. The poll numbers flipped on approv ...
PROGRESSIVES TAKE HEART: WE CAN ELIMINATE THE BUSH TAX CUTS! At the end of April we wrote in a post, DEFICIT SOLVED, that 75% of the federal deficit could be eliminated by simply letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire (including the middle class tax cuts) at the end of 2012 — as the legislation originally intended. That idea seems even more relevant today as we wrangle with GOP obstinacy and ref ...
Hey, Wall Street … YOU wanted the divided government that we all know leads to STALEMATE government, so as Sister Sarah would say ... "how’s that gridlocky thingy workin’ out for ya?" Wall Street didn't like the modest new financial regulations signed into law by President Obama, so they supported Republicans in the 2010 Congressional elections. Their problem now seems to be that many of ...
Republicans think they own the White House. When they lose a presidential election to a Democrat they go psychotic. Their behavior becomes irrational and they repeatedly put their own political interest over good governance. And, oddly, it sometimes pays off in elections. Their selfish and childish behavior backfired when they impeached President Clinton (after years of accusations that the Cli ...
We're growing more and more disappointed with some in our own camp. Barack Obama is the most liberal president this country has had since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and all some on the left can do is complain, complain, complain. "Wahh, wahh, wahh ... we're going to act like Republicans and insist on having everything our own way!" Well, that's not how the grown-ups conduct themselves. Looks ...