What do the two extremely consequential Supreme Court decisions this week have in common? In one decision we have a basic gutting of the most important section of the Civil Rights Act, and in the other we have the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act --- leaving many Americans scratching their heads. The decisions appear to be liberal in the striking down of DOMA, and conservative in strik ...
We can feel it ... can't you? Just as Ronald Reagan turned the country to the hard-right, Barack Obama is turning the country to the center-left. It just doesn't seem fast enough or far enough for many on the left ---and impatience abounds. But, it is happening, while Conservatives are floundering around in the past. What a pleasure to witness our nation moving into a new future of pragmatism ...
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are closely linked in the minds of both Conservatives and Liberals --- on both sides of "the pond." The two served as heads-of-state at the same time in the 80's, and together they transformed both nations by instituting radical free-market economic theories. As America observes the death of Margaret Thatcher and the predictable articles lauding her tenure, ...
Our nation's level of rising income inequality started in the 1980s with the GOP "theory" of Supply Side Economics --- otherwise known as "Trickle Down Economics." Their theory asserts that if taxpayers give the wealthy and corporations huge tax cuts and tax havens, that the bounty produced for the 1% will somehow "Trickle Down" to everyone else and that the entire nation will prosper. ...
RISING INCOME INEQUALITY It's easy to see that a massive wealth transfer began in America in the 1980s. The logical conclusion is that Reaganomics, a.k.a. Trickle Down Economics, has dramatically harmed our country. Eventually, the 1% will be forced to face the masses and explain just why it is fair for them to be raking in the overwhelming majority of the economic gains, while everyone ...
"First you win the argument, then you win the vote." So said Margaret Thatcher, the first woman Prime Minister of England. Eugene Robinson wrote a wonderful column this week in The Washington Post, comparing the transformational English leader Margaret Thatcher to our own Barack Obama. Mrs. Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 – 1990, when Ronald Reagan was President from 1981 – 1989, and th ...
The chart below compares the cost of healthcare among a group of modern, industrialized nations. It should be noted that each of these other countries have all residents covered for their healthcare, while the U.S. does not. This next chart compares government healthcare spending per capita in the United States and Canada. Clearly while the United States spends more on healthcare, Canad ...
How far can they fall? This once proud party can no longer effectively govern, their approval poll number is 26%, and they're seen by most of us as election manipulators and cheaters. And worst of all, what they mainly seem to do is whine and complain and portray themselves as "victims" when in fact --- they are the bullies. Tune into any Fox News program, radio talk-shows on the Right, or ...
We can't quite get our heads around the GOP thinking that there's any possible upside for their willingness to throw the country into default on our nation's debt, in exchange for slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid --- all very popular social programs. The leverage that they seem to think they have looks like a losing hand to play. Their miscalculations could be disastrous for ...
A mother bought guns, probably because she thought they would keep her safe. But, they did not --- those guns were the cause of her death in the hands of her troubled son. Those guns were also the cause of the deaths of 27 others, mostly children aged 5 to 10 years old. The horror of the massacre of 20 kindergarten children by a disturbed 20 year old is almost more than we can face. I've bee ...