WHY WE'RE PROGRESSIVES A friend recently shared an e-mail exchange he had with members of his extended family --- about the appropriate role of government in our lives. It began with his attempt to derail the spread of another one of those viral e-mails that disseminates misinformation. We were impressed with the quality and thoughtfulness of the conversation, and wanted to share with our rea ...
We first saw this fascinating graphic on The Rachael Maddow Show. She held it up and said, "Democratic candidates no longer have to run on offering themselves as a choice between themselves and their opponent. All they have to do now is hold up this graph and tell the voters that they have a choice between Democratic results and Republican results." The graph was prepared by Catherine Mulbran ...
***COLIN POWELL SAYS NEW YORK MOSQUE SHOULD GO FORWARD: Former Secretary of State in the George W. administration, Gen. Colin Powell, says he strongly supports a community center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. “If you believe in our system…then you can’t make a distinction between two, three, five, and ten blocks” away from the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks. On ABC’s The ...
HERE'S ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE PIE-CHARTS WE JUST LOVE! IT'S THE INCOME-INEQUALITY, STUPID. PONDER THIS: 64% of all the growth in income in the last 30 years has gone to the top 10%.
WHEN IDEALOGY MEETS REALITY
The President began to draw the differences between himself and his critics yesterday in a speech in Ohio --- and, he defined the differences in terms of a value system. Here's a brief example: "I ran for president because for much of the last decade, a very specific governing philosophy had reigned about how America should work: Cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires. Cut regu ...
CHECK-IT-OUT: Timothy Noah writes about The United States of Inequality in today's Slate. Great perspective and more FACTS to back up our previous post on Income Inequality, We especially like the final paragraph which explains so clearly how the 1%-ers are getting away with it. "Why don't Americans pay more attention to growing income disparity? One reason may be our enduring belief in soc ...
Even though the American economy kept growing, hourly wages flattened. The median male worker earns less today, adjusted for inflation, than he did 30 years ago.
***AP REPORTS CONSUMER CONFIDENCE TICKED UP SLIGHTLY IN AUGUST: The Consumer Confidence Index inched up from 51.0 in July, to 53.5 in August. Economists had expected 50.5, following two months of straight declines. A reading of 90 or above indicates confidence in a robust economy. The survey indicates that American people are still in a sour mood, and with the current unemployment conditions i ...
I know, I know --- "It's a vast right-wing conspiracy" is NOT going to gain a lot of traction. So, let's ditch the word "conspiracy" because it's a loaded one that's easy to caricature. And yet, there does appear to be a concerted effort to undermine and de-legitimize President Obama. According to Senator Russ Feingold, these efforts seemed to get underway right after the inauguration. The ...