Well, that’s pretty clear. Mr. Romney would like to see those of us who are not in the 1%, fend for ourselves. Disasters included.
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From the Rolling Stone interview, via TPM:
Have you ever read Ayn Rand?
[OBAMA] Sure.What do you think Paul Ryan's obsession with her work would mean if he were vice president?
[OBAMA] Well, you'd have to ask Paul Ryan what that means to him. Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we'd pick up. Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we're only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else, in which we're considering the entire project of developing ourselves as more important than our relationships to other people and making sure that everybody else has opportunity – that that's a pretty narrow vision. It's not one that, I think, describes what's best in America. Unfortunately, it does seem as if sometimes that vision of a "you're on your own" society has consumed a big chunk of the Republican Party.
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Thanks to a leaked video, we know that Mitt Romney divides the country into those who pay taxes and those who don't, the makers and the moochers.
There is one perhaps surprising group you can put in the latter category: the nation's banks. Sure, banks pay taxes, but they pay a lot less thanks to a giant and underappreciated distortion in our nation's tax code. Moreover, this tax code distortion makes the financial system and the economy more fragile, prone to bankruptcies and runs. Banks profit, and the economy teeters. Great bargain, huh?
Shades of Ayn Rand….
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“I think it is a bad thing is they let those cuts expire, we’re in the middle of a deep, deep recession … Now is not the time to increase taxes to the dwindling producers in our country when we have a president who is trying to give more money away to the moochers and welfare. We need people working, not sitting back receiving food stamps and unemployment. It’s laughable.”
Read John Amato’s post…
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“When a Randian1 is speaking of a priority for the poor and weak,
you know you have a world-class bullshitter.”
1 “Randian” as in a disciple of Ayn Rand.
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Share this video, tell your friends about it. It’s important.
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I want to, first of all, thank Angela for her introduction and sharing her story. I know her daughter is very proud of her -- I know her daughter is here today. So give her a big round of applause. (Applause.) I want to thank your president, Dr. Jerry-Sue Thornton. (Applause.) And I want to thank some members of Congress who made the trip today -- Representative Marcia Fudge, Representative Betty Sutton, and Representative Marcy Kaptur. (Applause.)
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“You’re obviously renowned, rightfully so I think, as being one of the most, you know, one of the best CEOs in the country for financial institutions. You missed this, it’s a blip on the radar screen.”
“How you managed JPMorgan is the business of your board of directors, your shareholders, but it does have consequences to those
of us who believe in the free-market system, its value, its merit. I have the sense and I hope it’s the case that it is a responsibility you understand. [Your] behavior really matters in our ability to be an advocate for a free-market that creates jobs and economic opportunity and allows Americans to pursue the American dream.”
“I really appreciate you voluntarily coming in to talk with us. It is important that we talk about things happening in the industry. It helps us as we look
forward and, hopefully, it will contribute to best practice scenarios in industry. I appreciate your emphasis on continuous quality improvement. We can hardly sit in judgment of your losing $2 billion. We lose twice that every day in Washington.”
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“I think he must watch Mad Men and think it's the evening news. He's just in a time warp.
You have a guy who wants to go back to the same policies that got us into this disaster. He wants to cut taxes for the very wealthy, cut Wall Street loose to write its own rules and he thinks that this somehow is going to produce broad prosperity for Americans. We've tested that. It's failed.”
That first line is damn near perfect.
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“Oil subsidies will continue thanks to the Senate Republicans and several conservadems[...]
But they’ll slash the hell out of social programs because it’s “fiscally responsible.” $4 billion in oil subsidies every year for companies earning record profits that could go towards reducing the budget or making sure people have healthcare. Good people.”
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“On so many fronts, there could be no person in this country we could nominate who would be any worse on taking on Barack Obama on the most important issue of the day, ObamaCare, than Gov. Romney. And it's the equivalent of malpractice to nominate someone who gives away the most important issue in this race.”
No ecoli conservatism happening in this race.
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“I think they [very wealthy people- the 1%] actually have an insufficient influence. Those who have enjoyed the benefits of our system more than ever now owe a duty to protect the system that has created the greatest nation on this planet. And so I hope that other individuals who have really enjoyed growing up in a country that believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- and economic freedom is part of the pursuit of happiness -- (I hope they realize) they have a duty now to step up and protect that.”
Right. It’s good for “the greatest nation on this planet” to become an oligarchy, where the greedy 1% decimates our jobs and investments in their struggle to keep more and more for themselves.
Griffin has donated $150,000 to Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC. He has also donated $560,000 to the Republican Governor’s Association, and in the past has donated thousands to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads, a pro-Republican group that has regularly been caught creating grossly inaccurate advertising.
The Tribune also reports that Griffin has donated $1.5 million to Americans For Prosperity, the shadowy front group operated by billionaires Charles and David Koch. Americans for Prosperity has funded much of the “tea party” movement.
In 2005, Griffin was a backer of credit derivatives — the complex financial instruments that helped to cause much of the economic crisis in 2008. He described derivatives as “an entirely new and vital way of spreading risk.” Billionaire investor Warren Buffet described these same tools as “financial weapons of mass destruction.”
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“If I’m going to use precious dollars to reduce taxes, I want to focus on where the people are hurting the most, and that’s the middle class. I’m not worried about rich people.”
And yet, Mitt Romney’s tax plan benefits millionaires to the tune of $150,000 each, and billionaires $500,000 each, while it takes dollars away from the poor, and especially from families with children. Romney’s tax plan gives little or no benefit to middle class households, and the implementation of the plan would cause the deficit to sky rocket, all so Mitt Romney can buy the favorable opinion, and thus the financial support, of his fellow one percenters. Think Progress:
The Tax Policy Center released an analysis today showing that, contrary to Romney’s rhetoric, the overwhelming majority of the benefits under the plan would go to the wealthy. In fact, compared to the policy in place today, Romney’s plan would give millionaires a $150,000 tax cut, while raising taxes on many low-income families:
A sizable number of low-income families would see their taxes go up. For instance, about 15 percent of those in the $10,000 to $20,000 income group would get an average tax cut of about $140, but 20 percent would get hit with an average tax increase of $1,000, mostly because Romney would bring back the less generous versions of those refundable credits.
About one-third of those in $40,000 to $50,000 group would get a tax cut that would average about $400, but about one-six would face a tax increase of nearly twice as much.
Almost every millionaire would get a tax cut averaging roughly $150,000. As a group, those making $1 million or more would receive nearly half the benefit of Romney’s tax plan.
Romney plan hits hardest those making less than $40,000, and primarily those households with children, as he would undo President Obama’s expansion of the child tax credit.
And Romney’s proposal only gets more lucrative for those at the very top of the income scale, giving those in the richest 0.1 percent an annual tax cut of nearly half a million dollars. In 2015 alone, the plan would add $600 billion to the deficit.
Sounds a lot like the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
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“They talk about income inequality. I’m for income inequality.”
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Some Liberals say that Ron Paul holds “progressive views”. I think not.
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“Absolutely, I’d vote against it. Get people to work.”
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“I would like to restore your right to drink raw milk anytime you like!”
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“I'm clearly the more conservative candidate, by any rational standard. And, and I had a 90% American Conservative Union standing for twenty years. I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply-side (trickle down) economics. I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress. I helped, uh, as Speaker of the House balance the federal budget for four straight years. Reform welfare as an entitlement. The first tax cuts in sixteen years. I mean…take whatever your list of what conservatism is, and I've done that stuff.”
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“I’ve been in Washington 35 years… and I’ve never seen a time when people have put their own personal political feelings over how we can get the economy moving.
The crowd that was elected the last time not only came here to do nothing, they also came to put down the president. And the way to put him down is not to give him any kind of opportunity to be successful.
Republicans made a decision right after the election [2010 midterms] —don’t give Obama any victories. The heck with putting people to work, because we can score points.”
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“The Republicans, inclusive of the tea party, have been orchestrating another economic decline knowing that it will damage the president’s re-election chances as well as the perceived efficacy of Democratic economic policies. Put another way, the Republicans are threatening your personal well-being in order to defeat the president, and they’ve just completed the latest successful attack in their economically bellicose strategy.”
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Doug Pratt, Communications Director of Michigan Education Association, in an email to the Michigan Messenger said adopting merit pay would be futile in attempting to increase student achievement, saying research shows no correlation between the two.
“Jeb’s ideas are designed to dismantle and privatize our system of public education,” Pratt said.
Bush also talked about how the role of teachers would change when Michigan moved toward a more technology and online based learning environment.
“It makes the teaching experience different, less focused on world class content and more focused on managing the learning experience that could be unique for each child,” said Bush. “That may sound like some weird notion but that’s how life works in America and across the world today and it could easily work in education with structural changes.”
But not everyone was convinced. Rep. Brown questioned Bush and Levesque about their success with college entrance exams, pointing out that, even after the Bush reforms in Florida, Michigan’s college bound students outperformed Florida students in the ACT. Michigan students, she said, average a score of 19 on the ACT, while Florida students averaged 16.
I agree with the statement that these governors are looking to privatize schools, i.e., sell them to the highest bidder, especially since Republicans have made it clear that they want to be done with public education.
~ Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Announces Takeover of Struggling Schools
~ Jeb Bush Involved in Michigan Education Reform
~ Roy S. Roberts New Emergency Manager for Detroit Public Schools is the Managing Director of Reliant Equity Investors
~ Republican Governor Rick Snyder Signs Draconian Bill in to Law
~ Republican Gov. Rick Snyder Begins Rape of Michigan to Benefit Wealthy
~ The Corporatization of Michigan
~ Corporations Behind Michigan’s Unconstitutional EFM Law
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“Little defaults, big defaults; default's a bad idea period and there should be no one who believes otherwise.
The idea that somehow it's a pro-growth strategy to raise interest rates on a permanent basis in the United States is just crazy. We need to grow at this point more than anything else.”
According to TPM, “Holtz-Eakin has supported the GOP's efforts to secure cuts in exchange for raising he debt ceiling, but made clear that at the end of the day it had to be raised. He cited numerous dangers from a default scenario, such as its effect on the bond market. He added that the market would not be easily reassured even after a brief default, likening it to wrecking one's house and then asking for a second mortgage on the property.”
Continue reading "Morning Quote: Defaulting on the National Debt" »
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Via Chez Pazienza
Any good war effort needs an effective PR strategy. A campaign to specify just who the enemy is, and why they should be defeated. How else do you rally support?
So when it comes to the Republican War on the working class, who do you think they turn to for help with messaging? Fox News..well, Fox Business Channel, actually, but close enough.
All this week, Fox is running segments named "Entitlement Nation: Makers vs Takers" . Take a look [Fox clips play].
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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is worried about upsetting our creditors and exorbitant interest rates. So, he’s pursuing a strategy likely to upset our creditors and cause exorbitant interest rates.
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Topeka — A legislator said Monday it might be a good idea to control illegal immigration the way the feral hog population has been controlled: with gunmen shooting from helicopters.
Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, said he was just joking, but that his comment did reflect frustration with the problem of illegal immigration.
Peck made his comment during a discussion by the House Appropriations Committee on state spending for controlling feral swine.
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Worse yet, this bill raises serious constitutional concerns. Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits any State from impairing a contract, which is exactly what this legislation does. As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law “which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them . . . . Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order.”
The takeover provision of the legislation – allowing the dissolution of locally elected bodies — implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity.
Further, the bill empowers this financial czar with the Governor’s approval to force a municipality into bankruptcy, a power that will surely be used to extract further concessions from hardworking public sector workers. And, by making the risk of bankruptcy a reality, the bill will make it more not less expensive for municipalities to obtain financing given this risk, which will make the financial circumstances of municipalities even worse.
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The science is driven by grant money. It’s all on the side for writing studies that global warming is happening. There’s nothing on the side that says I wish to write a paper that global warming is not an issue. Money has been flowing into the grant purse.
Typical formulaic GOP drone answer to global warming. I just have to wonder if Rep. Read considers the fact that the glaciers in Glacier National Park are expected to be completely gone by 2030 to be a boon for Montana’s tourism industry, since, you know, "global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate"….
As recently as 100 years ago, Montana's Glacier National Park had more than 150 glaciers throughout its more than one million acres.
In 2005 only 27 remained. Today the total is down to a just 25 and those that are left are mere remnants of their former frozen selves.
With warmer temperatures and changes to the water cycle, scientists predict Glacier National Park will be glacier-free by 2030.
Daniel Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ecologist who works at the national park believes that even those estimates are too conservative and says the park's namesakes will be gone about ten years ahead of their predicted demise.
"The glaciers have been around for the last seven thousand years," he told CNN, "and if we are going to lose them in the next 10 or 20 years that is a pretty radical shift."
The rapid melting of glaciers has led scientists to believe that mountains are more susceptible to global warming than the lowlands beneath them.
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Speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Paul announced his intention to do anything it takes to shield the privileged rich and corporate America. Asked if he would end the $830 billion, unpaid-for Bush tax cuts to the rich and return tax rates for the wealthiest bracket to Clinton-era levels, Paul snapped and said such a move would cause a “second great depression” and declared that “anybody who proposes such a policy really is, I think, unfit to be making decisions.”
Paul then clarified his delusional worldview by telling Blitzer that “there are no rich” and “there are no poor.” In Paul’s mind, even taxing yachts would somehow punish the working poor in Kentucky. “We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people,” concluded Rand:
PAUL: I would say that they must be in favor of a second American depression, because if you raise taxes to that consequence, that’s what will happen in this country. Raising taxes in the midst of a recession would be a disaster for our economy. And anybody who proposes such a policy really is, I think, unfit to be making decisions.BLITZER: What if they just raised taxes on the richest, those making more than 250,000 dollars a year?
PAUL: Well, the thing is, we’re all interconnected. There are no rich. There are no middle class. There are no poor. We all are interconnected in the economy. You remember a few years ago, when they tried to tax the yachts, that didn’t work. You know who lost their jobs? The people making the boats, the guys making 50,000 and 60,000 dollars a year lost their jobs. We all either work for rich people or we sell stuff to rich people. So just punishing rich people is as bad for the economy as punishing anyone. Let’s not punish anyone. Let’s keep taxes low and let’s cut spending.
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If you consider this hysterical/hyperbolic, you have only to wait to be proven wrong.
Barring a huge upset, Republicans will take control of at least one house of Congress next week. How worried should we be by that prospect?
Not very, say some pundits. After all, the last time Republicans controlled Congress while a Democrat lived in the White House was the period from the beginning of 1995 to the end of 2000. And people remember that era as a good time, a time of rapid job creation and responsible budgets. Can we hope for a similar experience now?
No, we can’t. This is going to be terrible. In fact, future historians will probably look back at the 2010 election as a catastrophe for America, one that condemned the nation to years of political chaos and economic weakness.
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From Think Progress [emphasis mine]:
GOP House candidate Jesse Kelly, who is running in Arizona’s 8th congressional district, championed this second vision a week ago at a campaign rally hosted by the Pima County Tea Party Patriots. During a question-and-answer period, a voter asked Kelly about the recent salmonella outbreak, which led to recall of more than half a billion eggs.
The voter asked if Kelly, if elected, would he help pass a law that would allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other government agencies to shut down companies that have too many safety violations, such as the companies that allowed millions of eggs that sickened people to be sold to the public. Kelly responded that he doesn’t “believe what we’re lacking right now is more regulations on companies,” complaining that “you could probably spit on the grass and get arrested by the federal government by now.” When the voter followed up by asking, “Who’s protecting us?” Kelly responded, “It’s our job to protect ourselves.” The exasperated voter asked once more, “Am I supposed to go to a chicken farmer and say I’d like you to close down because all of your birds are half dead?” Kelly once more answered, “There’s a new thing that comes along every day. But I know this: Every part of our economy that is regulated by the government doesn’t have fewer disasters, it has more”:
QUESTIONER: Given the salmonella outbreaks that we have seen every three weeks, with the chicken industry, with pesticides and what not that they put onto spinach in order to get the salmonella. We have rules and regulations. However there is no rule mandating that they be enforced. Is there some way when you’re in Congress that you’ll have a bill passed that says instead of having companies voluntarily change, mandate that they must change or give them the ability to shut ‘em down and that goes for mining companies or anyone who has hundreds of violations against ‘em.
KELLY: Here’s the thing with that point, that’s the first time I’ve ever had that question. Congratulations on being unique. First shot out of the box, no ma’am. I do not believe that what we’re lacking right now is a lack of regulations on business. [...] You could literally go spit on the grass and get arrested by the federal government if you wanted to right now. [...] More regulation, more federal control, giving Nancy Pelosi more power, is not the solution right now.
QUESTIONER: Who’s protecting us?
KELLY: That’s the thing, ma’am, it’s our job to protect ourselves. Because no one else is going to look out for your best interests except for you. [...]
QUESTIONER: Am I supposed to go to a chicken farmer and say I’d like you to close down because all of your birds are half dead?
KELLY: I’ve not heard a lot about that recently, obviously there’s a new thing that comes along every day. But I know this, every portion of our economy that is heavily regulated doesn’t have fewer disasters, it has more.
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