Political Ruminations

Another Romney Tax Avoidance Scheme Revealed

Current TV’s Cenk Uygur on the “I dig it” tax avoidance scheme:

Bloody damn plutocrats.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney Hates the Unions

In yet another controversial quote from the secretly taped video (filmed at the Plutocrat fundraiser) that keeps on giving, Plutocrat in Chief Mitt Romney talked about how he’d like to fire masses of federal workers, and his anti-union sentiments:

“I wish we weren’t unionized so we could go a lot deeper than you’re actually allowed to go.”

I have a high degree of doubt that union contracts would stop him.

The AFL-CIO Blog chimed in, emphasis mine :

Romney teases his high-value, campaign cash-cow audience with this: “But we can find a way.” Maybe he would dust off his old Bain Capital playbook.

Here’s a question for Romney. If it weren’t for those darned union contracts, how many job safety or food inspectors, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers, Veterans Affairs doctors and nurses and other hardworking federal employees would you fire?

Morning Quote: Paul Begala

Former adviser to Bill Clinton, Paul Begala on what he calls the “plutocrat ticket”, or Romney-Ryan 2012, emphasis mine:

“In selecting Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has doubled-down on the one thing he has never flip-flopped on: economic elitism. Romney, born to wealth, has selected Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who was also born to wealth. As the former University of Oklahoma football coach, Barry Switzer, once said of someone else: both these guys were born on third and thought they hit a triple.

There's nothing wrong with inherited wealth. Lord knows great presidents from FDR to JFK came into their fortunes through the luck of birth. But there is something wrong with winners of the lineage lottery who want to hammer those who did not have the foresight to select wealthy sperm and egg.

Finally, we have peered into Mitt Romney's core. It is neither pro-choice nor pro-life; neither pro-NRA nor pro-gun control; neither pro-equality nor antigay. But it is pro-wealth and very anti–middle class. Mitt Romney has decided to go nuclear in the class war.”

Morning Quote: Bill Clinton on Wisconsin Recall Election

Tomorrow being one of the defining moments of our time, the Democratic bigwigs hit the state of Wisconsin last week, including former president, Bill Clinton:

“ I can just hear it now Wednesday, all those people poured all this money into Wisconsin. If you don’t show up and vote, they’ll say, ‘See, we’ve got it now. We’re finally going to break every union in America, we’re going to break every government in America, we’re going to stop worrying about the middle class. … We got our way now, we got it all. Divide and conquer works.’ ”

I'll definitely be watching Wisconsin tomorrow, because I know that this is not really about a state or even about that ass, Gov. Scott Walker (R), specifically, but rather about the plutocracy, as the 1 percent seeks to run the world their way, and the hell with the the lower classes. Where goes Wisconsin, goes the country.

Morning Quote: Al Gore

“Our democracy has been hacked. It no longer works, in the main, to serve the interests of our people.”

- Former vice president Al Gore on Monday at a digital festival, as quoted by CNN.

The 1 Percent Hide in Plain Sight

Apparently, fear of the masses has forced the 1 percent in NYC to give up their limos in favor of tricked out cargo vans, at a cost of $200,000-500,000+. The New York Times:

As the economy limps along and more attention is paid to the so-called 1 percent, some of the richest New Yorkers have taken to driving around in vehicles that ooze neither wealth nor privilege. But on the inside, the vans may be as lavishly decorated as the private railroad cars owned by turn-of-the-century industrialists.

When I say “tricked out”, I really mean freaking tricked out. And of course, chauffeur driven. 

“I have two big-screen televisions; I have a couch in the back that goes into a bed,” Mr. Kantor [investment banker] said. “I have four chairs that go back and massage you. It has a desk, a table and an intercom so you can have meetings in there if you want to.”

[...]The most popular model is made by Mercedes: a stripped-down, basic version of the van, the Sprinter, starts at $41,315; Mr. Kantor’s version, which Mercedes-Benz Manhattan arranged to have customized, is fitted with satellite television, a Wi-Fi network and flat-screen monitors, and sells for $189,000. Even that is not quite enough for some New Yorkers, who employ designers to install even pricier custom details that easily drive up the total cost to $500,000.

Via Boing Boing

VIDEO: The Koch Brothers Effort to Resegregate Our Schools

If you haven’t yet watched Part I [an overview] of  Robert Greenwald’s documentary film series, “The Koch Brothers Exposed”,  you should do that prior to watching Part II, which concerns our public education system.

Part II is about the Wake County school system (one of the largest school districts in the country) in North Carolina, where the Koch founded and funded ‘Americans for Prosperity’ funded a resegregation effort on the part of a group of parents in Wake County. Resegregation. In 2011 America.

Since the Koch brothers are very bullish on privatizing our schools, both I and apparently the films producer, Robert Greenwald, believe that this resegregation effort is just a stepping stone to privatization.

Watch Part II of  The Koch Brothers Exposed - Why do the Koch Brothers want to end public education?

From kochbrothersexposed.com:

The Facts

1. 1. After the November 2009 elections, the Wake County school board dismantled socio-economic diverse schools and began to implement a neighborhood schools plan that would resegregate schools.
2. 2. Resegregation in schools would be a disaster. It would turn back the clock fifty years with the creation of high poverty, racially isolated schools. The integration plan destroyed by Koch-supported board of education members was used as a model for high achieving, diverse schools throughout the country.
3. 3. This October 2011, Wake Country elections will decide if schools become resegregated. Koch-supported candidates are still pushing for neighborhood schools and to end diversity.
4. 4. The Koch brothers free market, libertarian ideology rests on privatization in society, especially the privatization of education.
5. 5. The Kochs founded Americans for Prosperity in 2004, and AFP indirectly poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Wake County school board elections and helped jeopardize the diversity policy.

---

RELATED POSTS:

- Koch Brothers Exposed, Part I
- Koch Brothers (page)

Why do Republicans Hate Poor People?

The GOP is balancing the federal budget on the backs of poor women, children, the elderly, and the homeless. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), horrified by the cuts to food assistance for the poor, called it “morally indefensible” in an interview with Think Progress (see below the video for the specific cuts):

“The agriculture appropriations bill that the Republicans are putting on the floor next week cuts food and nutrition programs by more than half a billion dollars. I think that’s morally indefensible. We shouldn’t be balancing the budget on the backs of the poor. Taking food from people can’t be justified. We have a big fight next week and I hope that people are outraged by the priorities of this new Congress. They’re all messed up.”

Watch:

The specific cuts as follows:

- The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program cut by $686 million. Affects 200,000-350,000 low-income mothers and young children.
- The Commodity Supplemental Food Program cut 22%. Affects at least 130,000 low income senior citizens.
- The Emergency Food Assistance Program cut by $51 million.
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cut by $2 billion.

We should all be outraged by the priorities of the 112th Congress.

VIDEO: Jon Stewart Takes on Corporate Tax Dodger GE

In for it are GE for its stellar record of paying zero dollars in U.S. taxes at the same time that they outsourced our jobs overseas, President Obama for appointing GEs CEO to head up the jobs panel, and NBC for its lack of coverage on GEs (NBCs parent company, along with Comcast) propensity for tax dodging.

Watch:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Trickery Shields His Tax Referendum From Voters

Unbelievable. Turning the state in to a dictatorship wasn’t enough, he had to pull this out of his CorporateBastard bag of tricks. Detroit Free Press:

LANSING -- One $100 bill could block voters from a chance to stop more than a billion dollars in higher taxes.

Whether you think it's a dirty trick or a smart move, a House bill to implement Gov. Rick Snyder's proposal to eliminate tax credits and exemptions contains a $100 appropriation -- enough to make the plan immune from a voter referendum.

The plan has incensed some Michiganders. On Tuesday, AARP is holding a rally at the Capitol for senior citizens angry about Snyder's plan to tax pensions and other retirement income while cutting business taxes.

In 2001, the state Supreme Court ruled that legislation with a state expenditure -- even just $1 -- can't be repealed by voters.

On Thursday, minority House Democrats assailed the move to block a potential repeal vote."I think there's a natural, built-in constituency that would sign that petition" to repeal tax changes, said Rep. Vicki Barnett, D-Farmington Hills.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley said the $100 appropriation in the 180-page bill is legitimate, and would be increased to cover the cost of implementing the new tax code.

So, what this means is that a petition drive to repeal the tax changes (you know, the changes where Snyder increases taxes on the poor and elderly, but NOT on the rich guys with the big businesses) won’t help where his budget is concerned.

Protests and a recall petition are it, unless someone goes after his entire scheme based on the unconstitutionality.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Now Has the Power to Suspend the Rights of the People

For the backstory, read here and here.

Michigan is in deep trouble. What makes me really angry is that people voted for this TrojanCorporateBastard, even though he told them that he would “run the state as a business”. What did they think that would look like? (in the next week or so, I’ll be doing a piece on Snyder’s campaign, including the financing-stay tuned) And, more critical now, why weren’t we paying attention?

PoliticusUSA has a piece on the implications for Michiganders [which includes moi]. Scary stuff.

While we were venting our outrage at shenanigans in Wisconsin politics, in fact while Republicans were planning last night’s attempted coup, the Michigan state legislature quietly passed a bill giving the Governor of Michigan martial control over the state.  Except instead of using actual military, the Governor is more likely to use private security. But make no mistake–rights would be suspended.

Here’s how it works:

The governor, on his own initiative, can declare an economic emergency in any town and appoint an administrator.  The administrator can be any person, including a corporate person.

The administrator has the power to do anything in the name of economic stability, including void contracts, void collective bargaining agreements, dissolve the town council, dissolve the school board, fire anyone including elected officials, hire private security, unincorporate the town, and sell off public property.

The people of the town have no say in this. They can neither demand nor turn away the administrator. That is because this provision is meant to be used against the people.

What might constitute an emergency in the Governor’s eyes?

A labor strike is the first thing that comes to mind.  Too many foreclosures.  Crime!  In short, anything he wants it to be–and with billionaire backers, any controversy can be created.

What might the administrator do in that emergency?

First, privatize everything. Fire public workers and take over all public functions–running schools, police and fire service, and so on.  Michigan just made this legal.

Second, imprison dissidents, shutter businesses, and seize property by eminent domain. This is not legal, but hey, that didn’t stop the Wisconsin Republicans.

In short, take over control and turn it into a corporate town.

We need to pay attention to Michigan because they are farther along the road to corporate statehood–to where the Republicans want to take all of us.

Privatization is going to happen first. And they aren't going to play around. They will go after towns en masse, with people unable to catch their breath long enough to fight back.

Chart of the Day: Income Inequality in the US of A

This just says it all, doesn’t it?! 90% of the income in the U.S. goes to…wait for it….0.01% percent of the people. 90% percent. And these are the people who benefitted from the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. If you wonder who the plutocrats are, the plutocrats who own our world, have a look.
Mother Jones:

A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

Gov. Scott Walker Punked By Koch Impersonator – Proves Himself to Be a Shill for the Oligarchs

Shades of Sarah Palin! 

This story has been confirmed by a reporter from WISC-TV with a statement from the governor’s office.

An excerpt from the conversation between Walker and the Koch impersonator:

   KOCH: You’re the first domino.

   WALKER WHORE: Yep. This is our moment.

   KOCH: Now what else could we do for you down there?

   WALKER WHORE: Well the biggest thing would be—and your guy on the ground is probably seeing this

END QUOTE FROM AUDIO

---

What a farce our government has become. “By” and “for the people” …..a promise that has become a joke.

Anyway, on to the story, from Mother Jones:

A New York-based alt-news editor says he got through to the embattled Wisconsin governor on the phone Tuesday by posing as right-wing financier David Koch...then had a far-ranging 20-minute conversation about the collective bargaining protests. According to the audio, Walker told him:

• That statehouse GOPers were plotting to hold Democratic senators' pay until they returned to vote on the controversial union-busting bill.

• That Walker was looking to nail Dems on ethics violations if they took meals or lodging from union supporters.

• That he'd take "Koch" up on this offer: "[O]nce you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."

Listen to the audio:

Koch Whore: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, part 2

Quote of the Day - @Shoq

Some of you reading this quote will think it’s hyperbolic. Let me assure you it isn’t. Wisconsin is just the first step in a well thought out plan by Republicans to destroy the Democratic Party by destroying the unions. Is this possible? Could this really happen? Yes, it could. Rachel Maddow explains how.

Shoq’s call to Democrats to fight:

No one was expecting this Battle of the Bulge for the Democratic party and our fading unions to come up in this way, or this suddenly. But here it is. And now, the big question is, will progressives finally fight hard, or just die quickly?  If you can't see what the GOP is doing with this issue, you simply don't get anything that's happened to  this tenation over the past 30 years in general, and certainly in the past five years since Fox News became the steering gear for the Republican Party's ship to nowhere. So just shut the [fck] up and get out of the way.

But if you do get it, then you realize that this can and should be a magic moment in our history. A moment where we can rise up and show this fetid teaparty army and their plutocratic puppet masters like David Koch and Sheldon Adelson that there is still a strong majority of sensible people in this country who know that a fair society is the only one that will ever survive long term.  And this generation of wrecking crew Republicans won't just delay that fair and just society. They will crush out any possibility of there ever being one. At least in this country.

And that would be a sad fail of unparalleled dimension. An easy win will have passed us right by due to our own apathetic lethargy and a mass delusion that all the horrible things happening to us were never quite as bad as they seemed. Our collective will to resist an obvious insurrection of selfishness will have failed to come alive at the very moment that it must, and the American experiment will probably die right here in the lab.

Not only can we win this fight, we must.

 

Morning Quote: Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow on the Wisconsin protests

If you break the public unions in Wisconsin you can break them everywhere.

And as Maddow points out in the video, the Democratic Party can not survive with out the unions. (thank you again, SCOTUS, for the Citizens United ruling).

The Realities of a Government Shutdown

Ed O’Keefe at The Washington Post, emphasis mine:

Budget disagreements between Bill Clinton and Republicans prompted these incidents in 1995 and 1996, as federal agencies halted operations and stopped paying workers. For more than 20 days, about 260,000 federal employees in the D.C. area stayed home, or reported for duty only to be sent packing hours later. Security guards roamed the halls forcing out workers who lingered, and some frustrated feds sought temporary jobs as bike messengers and servers at restaurants to pay holiday bills, according to Post reports from the time. Agencies retroactively paid workers once the doors reopened, but many government contractors - paid separately by private employers - earned nothing during the shutdown. And congressional Democrats proposed last week that Obama and lawmakers also should not be paid during a shutdown.

Obama also warned against suggestions of a shutdown. “This is not an abstraction,” he said at his news conference last week. “People don't get their Social Security checks. They don't get their veterans payments. Basic functions shut down. And it - that, also, would have an adverse effect on our economic recovery.”

Screw the Tea Party, and Republicans, along with any dumbstupid Democrats who sat out the 2010 vote because Obama hurt their feelings. The possible shutdown of the Federal government is just one of many incredibly bad results that will be the outcome of the 2010 midterm elections.

Privatization Really Does Suck

This is just unbelievable, and has me wondering why Floridians have not gotten out the pitchforks.Outsourcing to India in order to privatize state services? Christ. Ed Wallace:

This really struck home a week ago. ABC News did a story about Florida's privatizing its food stamp operations to J.P Morgan - which in turn contracted a call center in India to process the claims. Imagine that. Florida gives taxpayers' money to J.P. Morgan, which to make a greater profit uses that money to hire people in India, putting Floridians out of a job. Then out-of-work Floridians have to call India to get approved for food stamps. Now that's ironic.

Most surprising to me was J.P. Morgan's involvement in this......since when did the big financial firms begin dealing in this kind of thing?

Missouri Republicans Want to Roll Back Federal Child Labor Laws

Over the past thirty years, GOP has become the party of two classes of people – the ignorant, and the very wealthy. In the process, they have shredded Democratic achievements and reforms in their wake. Next up, federal child labor laws.

In January, Sen. Mike Lee [R-UT] claimed that federal child labor laws are unconstitutional.

Congress decided it wanted to prohibit [child labor], so it passed a law—no more child labor. The Supreme Court heard a challenge to that and the Supreme Court decided a case in 1918 called Hammer v. Dagenhardt. In that case, the Supreme Court acknowledged something very interesting — that, as reprehensible as child labor is, and as much as it ought to be abandoned — that’s something that has to be done by state legislators, not by Members of Congress. [...]

This may sound harsh, but it was designed to be that way. It was designed to be a little bit harsh. Not because we like harshness for the sake of harshness, but because we like a clean division of power, so that everybody understands whose job it is to regulate what.

Now, we got rid of child labor, notwithstanding this case. So the entire world did not implode as a result of that ruling.

Currently in Missouri, state Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) is pushing a bill which would remove many of the protections of federal child labor laws from the children of Missouri. From the bill’s official summary:

This act modifies the child labor laws. It eliminates the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed. It also repeals the requirement that a child ages fourteen or fifteen obtain a work certificate or work permit in order to be employed. Children under sixteen will also be allowed to work in any capacity in a motel, resort or hotel where sleeping accommodations are furnished. It also removes the authority of the director of the Division of Labor Standards to inspect employers who employ children and to require them to keep certain records for children they employ. It also repeals the presumption that the presence of a child in a workplace is evidence of employment.

So, the influence of the Koch brothers founded Tea Party rocks on to the detriment of all but the power mongers.

Morning Quote: President Obama

President Barack Obama walks through Lafayette Square with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling after addressing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Feb. 7, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

At times sounding very Kennedyesque, President Obama addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce yesterday, closing with this quote about the American middle class:

We can't go back to the kind of economy and culture that we saw in the years leading up to the recession, where growth and gains in productivity just didn't translate into rising incomes and opportunity for the middle class. That's not something necessarily we can legislate, but it's something that all of us have to take responsibility for thinking about. How do we make sure that everybody's got a stake in trade, everybody's got a stake in increasing exports, everybody's got a stake in rising productivity? Because ordinary folks end up seeing their standards of living rise as well. That's always been the American promise. That's what JFK meant when he said, "A rising tide lifts all boats." Too many boats have been left behind, stuck in the mud.

The Plight of the 99ers

A comment posted on Krugman’s blog, points to the really terrible plight of the 99ers.

Dare we start a dialog about the less-fortunate citizens being conveniently ignored by just about everyone: the 99ers? Millions of them, in fact. Their benefits started expiring last summer. How many are being added per day to the homeless population of Los Angeles (48,000 and counting as reported recently by the New York Times)?

Their plight is the result of trickle down hiring policy, the idea that if jobs are created, employers will fill the jobs with the unemployed. Of course, the opposite is the case, with recent experience being the latest mantra of the business world, effectively barring the 99ers from a livelihood. Never mind the previous education, the years or prior experience, their work ethic - good workers are turned into bad candidates by selection practices that seek to find fault and find reasons to blame at every step in the review process. Wrong keywords on the resume, resume written by a coach. Didn't follow up soon enough, called back too soon. They don't know how to network, but they bothered their contacts too much. Didn't have a polished enough look, wore a suit when the office was casual. All capital offenses that "justify" sending honest, good workers to tent city.

And to this I suppose we can expect Conservatives and their Corporate Masters to say “Bah, humbug!”

Obama Took Over the Internet

At least that’s what Conservatives are claiming. The truth is far less sexy.

The FCC enacted new regulations to protect you, the consumer, the average internet user, from discrimination by the telecom-cable companies.

The regulations prevent service providers from blocking rival services, or dividing traffic to sites in to slow and fast lanes, which would give priority to certain [large corporations] providers of web content. In other words, the regulations seek to ensure that you have equal access to all legal content on the web.

But, according to Conservatives, these regulations enacted in order to protect consumers, constitute a nationalization of the internet, or, or, worse…….

Please.

Steve Benen:

I suppose it's possible that these Republicans are just deeply confused, have absolutely no idea what net neutrality is, and are spewing nonsense just to rile up right-wing activists. It's also possible these Republicans know the truth, but are shamelessly lying as part of a larger campaign to scare unsuspecting conservatives about a "big government" bogeyman.

But it's worth appreciating the fact that the rhetoric from prominent GOP voices really is unhinged. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) insisted that "unelected, unaccountable Democrat [sic] FCC commissioners are taking over the Internet." Incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called the policy "another government takeover." Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) told a national television audience yesterday, "[W]e're starting to see the FCC say, 'You have to come to us to get permission to manage your own website.'"

The incoming chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), has even vowed extensive hearings, in the hopes of using "every resource available" to halt the new regulations.

This is a classic case of the Republican position having absolutely no relation to reality at any level. It's just crazy. These folks are either lying or ignorant -- those are the only two options. The irony is, the whole point of net neutrality is to protect consumers from the very restrictions Republicans are whining about. The far-right rhetoric isn't just wrong; it's the opposite of the truth.

Of course, the large checks from the telecom companies to the Republicans currently shrieking in defense of an internet with out equal access, probably have nothing to do with it. Right?

Morning Quote: Mitch McConnell is an Unmitigated Liar

Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell [R-KY], on the Senate floor, preaching the GOP gospel of lies. When reading, substitute the word “regulated” for the word “nationalized” in order to have a better understanding of McConnell’s lies and nonsense.

Today, the Obama administration, which has already nationalized health care, the auto industry, insurance companies, banks and student loans, will move forward with what could be the first step in controlling how Americans use the Internet by establishing federal regulations on its use.

Ya gotta hand it to them [GOP] . They are very good at defending their corporate bosses, albeit at the expense of the American people whom they are sworn to serve.

Compromise Version of the 9/11 Responders Health Care Bill Passes in the House and the Senate

The two obstructionists, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) agreed to a compromise which reduced the total compensation package to $4.3 billion, down from $6.2 billion. The “time span was also significantly limited to five years each for the health treatment program.”

“I’ll stand in the way of anything that doesn’t make sense and doesn’t spend our money wisely, so you know, it doesn’t matter what the issue is, we’re in such a hole, Jon, that we don’t have the luxury of not getting things right,” Coburn told ABC News today after announcing the deal.

Last night on CNBC, Coburn defended his obstruction of the bill and his insistence that it lavishes too much money on dying 9/11 first responders, saying “we’re spending four times as much money as we need to.” Coburn said that the actual cost of pre-deal bill would be $11 billion (he disputed the way the Congressional Budget Office scored it), and suggested that it was not paid for, saying, “we don’t have an extra $11 billion right now.” ....

Of course, the bill would not require an “extra” $11 billion. The bill is entirely paid for by offsets, some of which were changed at the GOP’s behest. As ThinkProgress has noted, these offsets — which at one point included a tax on foreign corporations — led the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to lobby against the measure. ...

The Senate passed a compromise version of the 9/11 first responders bill this afternoon. "The measure was passed on a voice vote with no one objecting after Democrats and Republican critics reached a compromise reducing the bill's cost from $6.2 billion to $4.2 billion." The House will vote on it later today.

I still feel pissed off that this did not pass with out Republican obstruction, in its original form, and with out making these responders fear for their futures. Taking care of these people who took care of us should have been something that we could all agree on.

Via Think Progress

Morning Quote: Rep. Spencer Bachus “Washington is there to serve the banks”

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who will be the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in the 112th Congress, to The Birmingham News:

In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks,

Well, that should fill his campaign coffers with Wall Street money.

Via Think Progress

RACHEL MADDOW: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is Urging Members to Outsource Jobs

The hypocrisy, the blatant anti-Americanism of the far Right Wing U.S. Chamber of Commerce is enough to make your blood boil. Watch it, and let the rage begin.

 

THINK PROGRESS: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a Far Right Lobbying Group

A far right lobbying group which accepts donations from foreign interests, which are then used to smear Democrats. From the always on target, Think Progress, emphasis mine:

Since the 70s, the Chamber has been a far right lobbying group, representing mostly multinational corporations like ExxonMobil and CitiGroup. Last year, nearly half of the U.S. Chamber’s entire budget came from large health insurance companies. As Think Progress reported, the Chamber also recently began a secretive effort to attract donors from foreign corporations, including the Bahrain Petroleum Company and the Bank of India.

Quote of the Day: Gingrich Says Let Rich People Decide How Big They Want Their Tax Cuts to Be

This would be funny if it weren’t so Godawful pathetic. Gingrich on Fox News Sunday, via Think Progress:

What Republicans ought to do is say to people who create jobs, how many years does the tax code need to be extended for you to make an investment decision? I mean, the goal’s not to have an annual extension of the current tax code, and then have every business in the country trapped saying, “I don’t know.  I want to make a 20 year investment in a factory.” … There is a number, but I would have the business leadership of the country describe the number.

Yeah, good idea, Newty. Fox in the henhouse, and all that. Yet…..Gingrich, in the same segment, suggests that unemployment be reframed as a worker training program.

No money for the unemployed, but Paris Hilton, et al, should be able to decide how much of a tax cut they want.

Watch:

 

Gingrich’s proposal, to cut off unemployment benefits while giving a massive windfall to the most fortunate, is a recipe for skyrocketing unemployment.  The economy grows by nearly two dollars for every dollar spent on unemployment benefits “because recipients typically spend all of their benefit payments quickly.” The money “ripples through the economy into supermarkets, gasoline stations, utilities, convenience stores.” Flush with the revenue provided by these new consumers, those businesses are then able to hire additional workers and diminish the ranks of the unemployed.

Full story on Think Progress.

Republicans Hold Expired Unemployment Benefits Hostage

Yesterday, Democrats introduced a proposal to extend unemployment benefits through 2011, at a cost of $56 million, without offsets. Republican, Scott Brown [R-MA] singlehandedly shut them down with a refusal to consider the proposal unless the cost is paid for. 2.5 million unemployed Americans are left with out needed aid just in time for the holidays.

After his objection, Brown offered his own proposal for a year-long extension as long as the Office of Management and Budget finds funds from already approved appropriations to pay for it. But Democrats turned down the plan because, as Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) noted, “we have to deal with the immediate crisis” and “the families that are struggling today.” This, of course, was the governing philosophy of both parties when they passed unemployment extension seven times under the Bush Administration. In fact, before yesterday, Congress went 40 years without allowing extended unemployment benefits to expire when the unemployment rate was above 7.2 percent. The unemployment rate today stands at 9.6 percent.

And yet, Scott Brown, along with his Republican cronies in Congress, want to give millionaires a gift by extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost of $830 billion with no offsets.

But, in a video released this morning, Brown defended his opposition, saying he “disagreed” that Congress should “pay for unemployment benefits” by “putting more debt on the credit card.” A curious position considering Brown is more than happy to slap the nation with a $830 billion bill in order to extend the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of wealthy Americans. In touting the GOP’s absurd logic, Brown and his GOP colleagues champion an extension that provides “virtually no economic stimulus,” while rebuking one that “contribute[s] powerfully to the economic growth that is vital for a healthy budget.”

Watch the faces of the unemployed.

This morning, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) called Brown’s vote against 60,000 Massachusetts workers “outrageous” and a “question of national character.” “We need Scott Brown to see and be worried about the people of the Commonwealth who are trying to get groceries on the table while they continue to look for work,” he said. But, according to his schedule, Brown is busy focusing on his Christmas-themed fundraisers this week.

Bastards.

Comcast Again Threatening Open Internet

From The New York Times, emphasis mine:

Level 3 Communications, an Internet networking company that recently signed a deal to deliver movies to Netflix customers, said Monday that Comcast has effectively set up a tollbooth around its broadband Internet network.

Comcast demanded a “recurring fee” from Level 3 “to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast’s customers who request such content,” Thomas Stortz, the chief legal officer for Level 3, said in a statement Monday afternoon, seemingly alluding to the Netflix service. The action “threatens the open Internet,” Mr. Stortz added

Morning Quote: Frank Rich on Tom DeLay Conviction and Wall Street

Oddly enough, the crime for which Tom DeLay was finally convicted last week, money laundering and conspiracy to launder money, well, that’s no longer a crime thanks to the SCOTUS ruling on Citizens United. Frank Rich on NYT:

It’s an industry that can buy politicians as easily as it does dwarfs, which is why government has tilted the playing field ever more in its direction for three decades. Now corporations of all kinds can buy more of Washington than before, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and to the rise of outside “nonprofit groups” that can legally front for those who prefer to donate anonymously. The money laundering at the base of Tom DeLay’s conviction by a Texas jury last week — his circumventing of the state’s post-Gilded Age law forbidding corporate campaign contributions directly to candidates — is now easily and legally doable at the national level.

Reagan Budget Director Blasts GOP Over Tax Cuts Fiscal Irresponsibility

The Republicans in Congress still have not backed down on extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of the wealthiest people in America.

Today on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, President Reagan’s former budget director and the architect of Reagan’s fiscal policy, David Stockman, took on the GOP over the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Stockman mercilessly battered them over their lack of fiscal responsibility. Stockman’s remarks as noted by Think Progress:

– We need “a higher tax burden on the upper income.”

– “After 1985, the Republican Party adopted the idea that tax cuts can solve the whole problem, and that therefore in the future, deficits didn’t matter and tax cuts would be the solution of first, second, and third resort.”

– The 2001 Bush tax cut “was totally not needed.”

– On claims that Reagan proved tax cuts lead to higher government revenues: “Reagan proved nothing of the kind and yet that became the mantra and it just led the Republican Party away from its traditional sound money, fiscal restraint.”

– Former Vice President Cheney “should have known better” than claim the Bush tax cuts would pay for themselves.

– “I’ll never forgive the Bush administration and Paulson for basically destroying the last vestige of fiscal responsibility that we had in the Republican Party. After that, I don’t know how we ever make the tough choices.”

 

RELATED POSTS:
~Quote of the Week: Fareed Zakaria on Republican Deficit Hawks and the Bush Tax Cuts
~3 Charts: Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy vs. Obama Tax Plan

Kentucky's Greedy Senator Elect, Rand Paul on Bush Tax Cuts For the Wealthy - "There are no poor people"

Last night in Kentucky, Rand Paul talked to Wolf Blitzer [video below]about the Bush tax cuts and why he wants to shield the ultra-wealthy and the mega corporations. Think Progress:

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.

Read the full article at Think Progress.

Hey, Kentucky, swell job in electing this Rand-style sociopath.

VIDEO: Who is Secretly Buying Our Elections?

Chilling. And as someone else said [can't remember exactly who], this election is for all of the marbles. VOTE.

 

8 False Tea Party-Republican Memes to Talk About Before You Go to the Polls

1. The Tea Party is a grass roots movement.

REALITY: The Tea Party is a rebranding effort by the Republican Party, led by the billionaire Koch Brothers and their organization, Americans for Prosperity. Read this report, and don't forget to look at this fabulous graphic, which is worth at least 10,000 words all by itself. The corporate takeover of our government is in process.

2. The stimulus was a failure.

REALITY: Not only was it not a failure, but a huge number of Republicans not only had their hands out to grab the money while the "failure" word came flying out of their mouths at regular intervals, 114 of them took credit for the same stimulus that they voted against. Additionally, the stimulus cost $787 billion, not $1.2 trillion, and created 3.3 million new jobs, and prevented an even deeper recession.

3. The President is a Muslim Kenyan Socialist who has never produced his birth certificate.

REALITY: The President is an American Christian centrist who produced his birth certificate for public display when this ridiculous meme first began during the 2008 election. Socialism requires a more left wing point of view, and this president is not even center left, much less far left.

4. Nowhere in the constitution does it state that there must be a separation between church and state.

REALITY: It is important to understand that this meme was not born out of ignorance, but out of a desire to intertwine religion and government, and thus the Far Right has re-interpreted the first two clauses in the First Amendment to be more to their liking. Constitutional scholars agree that these clauses denote the doctrine of the separation of church and state. Because our SCOTUS is Far Right, it is a dangerous meme.

5. The health care reform bill enacted by Democrats hurt Medicare and recipients of Medicare.

REALITY: Not only did it not harm the Medicare program, it actually strengthened it.

6. There is no difference between union funding of election ads and funding by secretive Super PACs.

REALITY: The difference between them is enormous. Union funding comes from the workers, the people who belong to the unions, and thus we know who is funding these ads. Secretive Super PACs, on the other hand, are funded by anyone, including in some cases foreign interests or multi-national companies, and no disclosure is required. There is also NO limit on donor contributions. Individuals funding union pacs are limited to specific, and low, dollar amounts, and there is disclosure.

These last two are from Dave Johnson, in his words.

7. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, and is "going broke".

REALITY: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8. President Obama tripled the deficit.
REALITY: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

Please re-blog this post, email it, and link to it. This stuff matters.

Links to Obama Administration / Democratic Party Accomplishments:

~ Rachel Maddow recounts what the Democrats accomplished in the past two years, and in the face of unrelenting opposition from the Republican Party. Maddow says that the Democrats, who controlled both Housees and the Presidency, were about policy, not politics.

~ Crowd-sourced on Twitter, a well sourced listing of the achievements of the Obama administration.

~ WTF has Obama done so far?.com

And finally, go VOTE!

Update: FEC Filing of Concerned TaxPayers of America

The group which garnered national attention when they intervened in the DeFazio race in Oregon, Concerned Taxpayers of America, consists of only two people/entities. From the Washington Post:

Daniel G. Schuster Inc., an Owings Mills, Md., concrete firm, gave two donations to the group totaling $300,000, new disclosure records show. New York hedge fund executive Robert Mercer gave the group $200,000.

And that's the extent of the financial support reported by Concerned Taxpayers, which says it was formed in September "to engage citizens from every walk of life and political affiliation" in the fight against "runaway spending."

The group's rapid creation - and its narrow funding base - illustrates how one or two wealthy donors can have a dramatic impact on political races, particularly in the wake of recent court rulings that have swept away many traditional spending limits. The situation also underscores how the precise motivations and goals of many independent groups can remain stubbornly opaque, even when disclosure is required.

The Concerned Taxpayers, which lists a Capitol Hill townhouse as its address, has spent $450,000 on television advertising targeting just two lawmakers: Reps. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Frank M. Kratovil Jr. (D-Md.).

Are these two donors acting as fronts? We may never know. We desperately need public financing of all elections.

US Chamber of Commerce Funded by Top Offshoring Companies

You would think that an entity that calls itself the “U.S. Chamber of Commerce” would care about jobs. American jobs. In America, of course.

You would be wrong [emphasis mine].

While it tells the American public it cares about American jobs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce actually works to send jobs overseas on behalf of its corporate members, which include some of Asia’s top offshoring companies. Its secretly-funded $75 million political ad campaign attacks the “anti-jobs record” of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alexi Giannoulias (D-IL), Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), and others.

As ThinkProgress previously noted, the Chamber has repeatedly sent out issue alerts attacking Democratic efforts to encourage businesses to hire locally rather than outsource to foreign counties. The Chamber has also bitterly fought Democrats for opposing unfettered free trade deals. The Chamber’s anti-American jobs agenda serves not only the profit-seeking of right-wing corporate executives in the United States, but also works to send jobs overseas to the following outsourcing companies, who are some of the dozens of foreign corporations that pay member dues to the Chamber of Commerce’s 501c(6) account, which is used to fund its political ads:

Could any group be less pro-American than one who sends our jobs overseas and penalizes those who work to keep jobs on our own soil? Not in my opinion.

Krugman: So the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo

Or, put another way, Fox Network has seized control of our political apparatus, and is using it to take this country to a very bad place. A scenario first predicted by those living in countries where Rupert Murdoch played his games prior to targeting us, such as the UK. Krugman:

A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you’re starring in “The Birth of a Nation,” but you’re actually just extras in a remake of “Citizen Kane.”

True, there have been some changes in the plot. In the original, Kane tried to buy high political office for himself. In the new version, he just puts politicians on his payroll.

I mean that literally. As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News.

Scary stuff. I will admit that it causes me to think about the regimes of other times. Krugman goes on to point out an undeniable truth about American conservatism. Emphasis mine.

Arguably, this shouldn’t be surprising. Modern American conservatism is, in large part, a movement shaped by billionaires and their bank accounts, and assured paychecks for the ideologically loyal are an important part of the system. Scientists willing to deny the existence of man-made climate change, economists willing to declare that tax cuts for the rich are essential to growth, strategic thinkers willing to provide rationales for wars of choice, lawyers willing to provide defenses of torture, all can count on support from a network of organizations that may seem independent on the surface but are largely financed by a handful of ultrawealthy families.

And what does speaking out against the malevolent network bring you if you are an employee? Ask David Frum.

As the Republican political analyst David Frum put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox” — literally, in the case of all those non-Mitt-Romney presidential hopefuls. It was days later, by the way, that Mr. Frum was fired by the American Enterprise Institute. Conservatives criticize Fox at their peril.

So the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo. What are the implications?

Disheartening, to say the least.

Quote of the Day: Citizen's United Wolves

Referring to the secretive groups with undisclosed donors funding the midterms, Eugene Robinson:

“The Republican grab for Congress is being funded by a pack of wolves masquerading as a herd of sheep.

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For all posts on the fallout from/aftermath of, the Citizen's United ruling, click here.

Update: Tracking the Aftermath of the Citizen’s United Ruling

With the Court back in session on Monday, the New York Times on the Robert’s Court and the kinds of cases it chooses. Emphasis mine.

The Supreme Court enjoys all but free rein in selecting which cases to review. From the end of one term in the summer until the start of the next, on the first Monday in October, the work of the court is to sift through thousands of petitions from parties that lost in one of the federal appeals courts or highest state courts and are eager for the justices to reverse their fate.

The kinds of petitioners favored say a lot about the court’s interests and biases. The Warren court, eager to champion individual rights, chose a large number of petitions from downtrodden people. The Rehnquist court, looking for opportunities to vindicate states’ rights, favored petitions from the states.

The Roberts court has championed corporations. The cases it has chosen for review this term suggest it will continue that trend. Of the 51 it has so far decided to hear, over 40 percent have a corporation on one side. The most far-reaching example of the Roberts court’s pro-business bias was Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. By a 5-to-4 vote, the conservative justices overturned a century of precedent to give corporations, along with labor unions, an unlimited right to spend money in politics.

A coalition headed by New York City Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio, seeks to convince corporations to voluntarily assist in mitigating the effects of the Citizen’s United ruling. Emphasis mine.

The Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending, spearheaded by New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio (D), aims to secure promises from major corporations to fully disclose any political spending and, ideally, to avoid spending corporate money directly on elections.

The effort marks the latest response to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling early this year in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allows corporations, unions and nonprofit groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. The ruling has helped fuel a record year for spending by outside interest groups, mostly in favor of Republicans, records show.

A special report by the Center for Public Integrity contains the most damning news regarding the fallout from the Citizen’s United ruling.

Last April, a group of a couple of dozen friends lunched and plotted. The group included Karl Rove, former Republican National Committee chairman, Ed Gillespie, Bill Miller, the political director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, former Sen. Norm Coleman, CEO of the American Action Network, and Steven Law, a former general counsel to the Chamber, and president of American Crossroads. Emphasis mine.

Altogether, the groups represented at the lunch -- and a few others some of whom have attended subsequent sessions -- plan to pour some $300 million into ads and get out the vote efforts to help scores of Republican Congressional candidates win in November, an effort that has been likened to a shadow GOP.

GOP allies have built a huge lead of almost five to one in ad spending compared to their Democratic counterparts, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. GOP-affiliated groups spent $24.8 million on Senate and House ads from Aug.1 to Sept. 20 while their Democratic rivals spent just $4.9 million in the same period, according to CMAG data.

According to Marcus Owens, a partner at Caplin & Drysdale, as well as a former IRS director of exempt organizations, there is too much money to regulate. Emphasis mine.

“The financial flows into this election cycle are beyond regulation and beyond the existing mechanisms of the Federal Election Commission and the IRS.

It would be worth your time to read the full report.

The amount of money flowing in to secretive groups with undisclosed donors made possible by the Citizen’s United ruling, is not only unprecedented, but is going to Republicans, and donors are  largely undisclosed. In fact, Democrats are being outspent 7:1

The $80 million spent so far by groups outside the Democratic and Republican parties dwarfs the $16 million spent at this point for the 2006 midterms. In that election, the vast majority of money – more than 90 percent – was disclosed along with donors’ identities. This year, that figure has fallen to less than half of the total, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post.

Startling stat from Res Publica:

Number of political organizations established since June to raise unlimited amounts of money to elect or defeat candidates: 33

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For all posts on the fallout from/aftermath of, the Citizen's United ruling, click here.

Citizens United Ruling Fallout: Concerned Taxpayers of America Intervenes in Oregon’s 4th District Race

Concerned Taxpayers of America [CTA], one of the new super pacs, is intervening in Oregon’s 4th District race by making large ad buys against the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Peter DeFazio.

The secretive Concerned Taxpayers of America (CTA) is out with a new $79,000 ad buy against Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), bringing its total spending in Oregon's 4th congressional district race to more than $165,000 -- four times what DeFazio's opponent has spent.

CTA is a right wing Pac, as is evident when you look at Arthur Robinson, the candidate they’re supporting against DeFazio, who is a libertarian, a global warming denier [it’s a hoax to enslave the American people!], is in favor of abolishing public education, and so forth, and so on.

DeFazio told The Huffington Post that he believes Robinson's outspoken advocacy on behalf of conservative causes is the reason CTA is going after him so aggressively. "This is a small group of individuals, unknown, undisclosed, with obviously very, very deep pockets who have decided to campaign just to attack me and help my opponent, who obviously supports their radical extreme right-wing libertarian agenda," he said. "He has run in the highest circles of the right-wing libertarian whack jobs for decades. He's well known, he's a prominent national speaker on the homeschooling movement, he wants to abolish public education, and he is their front person with an organization and a so-called petition against global climate change, and he himself has [said he has] definitively proven climate change theory and knows it's a hoax to enslave the American people. I mean, this sounds like stuff that wouldn't go anywhere, but with hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- of dollars behind it in a swing district like mine, you don't know where it will go."

Finally, I must again offer thanks for recent decisions by our right wing Supreme Court, defenders of the plutocracy, which made it possible for corporations and other entities to form these secretive super pacs, so that they may then spend unlimited amounts of money while only disclosing their donors to the Federal Election Commission, which may not matter much because they don’t have to disclose until October 18. Coincidentally, Oregon votes by mail, and this is about the same time that the Oregon ballots will be mailed out (the ballots are mailed between the 14th and 18th days prior to an election).

These groups must operate independently from political parties and campaigns, and while they must disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission, campaign finance advocates argue that they're able to largely operate in the shadows. "They're springing up like wildfire because they can take corporate money in huge amounts and while they have to file disclosure forms, the next time those reports are due isn't until the middle of October, so they're really able to spend money for a really critical part of the election season without having to disclose," said Lisa Gilbert, democracy advocate at U.S. PIRG [……]

Adding…I plan to check the FEC site for the donor disclosure list in October, and will post the names, as well as any background info I can find, here. Stay tuned…

UPDATE: Tuesday, October 19

As promised, an update.