Wednesday, November 30, 2011
U.S. Collects Third-Lowest Tax Revenue In Developed World
U.S. Collects Third-Lowest Tax Revenue In Developed World: pDespite Republicans’ constant protestations that the U.S. has “a spending problem, not a tax problem,” the U.S. actually collects the third-lowest amount of tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to the OECD’s latest data, “Mexico (18.7% in 2010) and Chile (20.9%) have the lowest tax-to-GDP [...]/p
Study: States That Legalize Medical Marijuana Reduce Traffic Fatalities
Study: States That Legalize Medical Marijuana Reduce Traffic Fatalities: pOpponents of marijuana legalization often suggest that legalization would lead to an increased number of vehicle accidents. However, a new study from the Institute for the Study of Labor finds that states that legalized medical marijuana have seen a decline in traffic fatalities, the “leading cause of death for Americans age 35 and under.” According [...]/p
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Oxfam: Extreme Weather Has Helped Push Tens of Millions into “Hunger and Poverty” in “Grim Foretaste” of Warmed World
Oxfam: Extreme Weather Has Helped Push Tens of Millions into “Hunger and Poverty” in “Grim Foretaste” of Warmed World: pClimate Change Endangers Food Security Worldwide “Extreme weather like the droughts in Russia, China and Brazil and the flooding in Pakistan and Australia [in 2010] have contributed to a level of food price volatility we haven’t seen since the oil crisisof 40 years ago. Unfortunately, this could be just a taste of things to come [...]/p
Another Day, Another Unconstitutional Proposal From Newt Gingrich — This Time On Immigration
Another Day, Another Unconstitutional Proposal From Newt Gingrich — This Time On Immigration: pFew candidates in modern American history have shown deeper contempt for the Constitution than GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich. He began his campaign with an appeal to tentherism — the radical belief that most of the last 100 years violates the Constitution. Gingrich believes that he can simply ignore court decisions that he disagrees with, [...]/p
GOP Willing To Raise Payroll Taxes On 113 Million Households To Spare 345,000 Millionaires From Tiny Surtax
GOP Willing To Raise Payroll Taxes On 113 Million Households To Spare 345,000 Millionaires From Tiny Surtax: pSenate Democrats yesterday introduced legislation — as they’ve been promising to — that would extend a soon-to-expire payroll tax cut, and pay for it by implementing a surtax on income above $1 million. Republicans, of course, are opposing the plan, reviving their false claims that taxing the very wealthiest Americans will hit small businesses and [...]/p
Monday, November 28, 2011
College Students Across Florida Rally Against Gov. Rick Scott’s ‘Relentless Attack On Higher Education’
College Students Across Florida Rally Against Gov. Rick Scott’s ‘Relentless Attack On Higher Education’: pThroughout this week, Florida college students will hold rallies to protest Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) hostility to higher education and proposed tuition hikes: Across the state this week students at seven college campuses will gather to protest what they call a “relentless attack on higher education” by Gov. Rick Scott. Scott has been a vocal [...]/p
Mastermind of $850,000 Smear Campaign Against Occupy Wall Street Co-Hosting Mitt Romney Fundraiser
Mastermind of $850,000 Smear Campaign Against Occupy Wall Street Co-Hosting Mitt Romney Fundraiser: pTwo weeks ago, a leaked secret memo written by a Republican lobbying firm, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, outlined an $850,000 plan for the American Bankers Association (ABA) to combat the growing resonance of the Occupy Wall Street movement’s message — that we need an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest 1 Percent. (The [...]/p
GOP Sen. Kyl Pushes Raising Payroll Taxes On Middle Class But Refuses To Raise Taxes On Millionaires
GOP Sen. Kyl Pushes Raising Payroll Taxes On Middle Class But Refuses To Raise Taxes On Millionaires: pIn a clear display of misplaced priorities, congressional fiscal super committee member Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) entirely dismissed the idea of extending the payroll tax cut for middle class families yesterday, even though failure to do so “would reduce GDP growth by 0.5 percent and cost the economy 400,000 jobs.” “The payroll tax holiday has [...]/p
Affordable Care Act Lowering Prescription Drug Costs For Seniors
Affordable Care Act Lowering Prescription Drug Costs For Seniors: pSeniors — the demographic most skeptical about health care reform — are already benefiting from provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the Associate Press’ Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar reports, as the law gradually closes the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D. The coverage gap is the result of a political compromise in the Medicare Modernization Act of [...]/p
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Hunger In America, By The Numbers
Hunger In America, By The Numbers: pLast year, 17.2 million households in the United States were food insecure, the highest level on record, as the Great Recession continued to wreak havoc on families across the country. Of those 17.2 million households, 3.9 million included children. On Thanksgiving Day, here’s a look at hunger in America, as millions of Americans struggle to [...]/p
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
United States Still Number 1 … In Health Care Spending
United States Still Number 1 … In Health Care Spending: pA new Health at a Glance 2011 report finds — to nobody’s great surprise — that the United States is leading the world in health care costs, spending some $7,960 per person in 2009 or 2.5 times the average of the 34 other countries studied: The report attributes the difference to higher than average prices [...]/p
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Former AIG CEO Sues Claiming Taxpayers Need To Pony Up $25 Billion More
Former AIG CEO Sues Claiming Taxpayers Need To Pony Up $25 Billion More: pFor many years, insurance behemoth AIG was so poorly managed that the American taxpayer eventually had to invest nearly $70 billion in the incompetently run company to prevent its collapse from taking the entire U.S. economy along with it (much of this money has since been repaid). Former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg, however, thinks that [...]/p
Monday, November 21, 2011
With 50 Million Americans In Poverty, David Vitter Proposes Gutting Food Stamp Program
With 50 Million Americans In Poverty, David Vitter Proposes Gutting Food Stamp Program: pA record number of Americans have fallen into poverty since the financial crisis sparked a deep recession in 2008, but that hasn’t stopped House and Senate Republicans from targeting the poor on their crusade to slash federal spending. In September, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) declared that “the poor are getting richer even faster” than [...]/p
Bank Lobbying On Track To Reach Record High This Year
Bank Lobbying On Track To Reach Record High This Year: pAs the Occupy Wall Street protests have highlighted the outsize influence financial institutions wield in politics, banks’ spending on lobbying is on track to reach an all-time high this year. Lobbying expenditures by the five biggest spenders among commercial banks are up 12 percent so far this year compared to 2010, according to an analysis [...]/p
Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street
Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street: pThis weekend, the MSNBC show Up! With Chris Hayes broke a stunning story about how Washington lobbyists are scrambling to undermine the protesters on Wall Street and across the country. Hayes’ report, which can be viewed here, details how the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford (CLGC) compiled a secret plan to [...]/p
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Gingrich: Secularism Is Responsible For ‘All The Problems We Have’
Gingrich: Secularism Is Responsible For ‘All The Problems We Have’: pNewt Gingrich said that America’s problem are the result of the country’s growing secularism, telling the FAMiLY Leader’s Thanksgiving Family Forum, “A country that has been now since 1963 relentlessly in the courts driving God out of public life shouldn’t be surprised at all the problems we have. Because we’ve in fact attempted to create [...]/p
Idiot
Idiot
Rep. Paul Ryan Votes Against Balanced Budget Amendment Because It Doesn’t Ruin The Constitution Enough
Rep. Paul Ryan Votes Against Balanced Budget Amendment Because It Doesn’t Ruin The Constitution Enough: pEarlier this afternoon, just 261 members of the House voted in favor of a balanced budget amendment — far fewer that the two-thirds majority necessary for the amendment to move forward. One somewhat surprising “no” vote was House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan is the House GOP’s chief Chicken Little on the deficit — [...]/p
Police Attack Peaceful UC Davis Students With Pepper Spray
Police Attack Peaceful UC Davis Students With Pepper Spray: pYesterday, a group of students at the University of California Davis staged a sit-in to protect their occupation encampment and demand the release of those who had already been arrested. Police dressed in riot gear approached the peaceful group of students and began attacking them with peppy spray, forcing them to cover their faces. Many [...]/p
Thursday, November 17, 2011
CHART: Median Income For Young Adult Males Has Dropped 10 Percent Since 1980
CHART: Median Income For Young Adult Males Has Dropped 10 Percent Since 1980: pThe unemployment rate for teens and young adults under age 24 is a staggering 16.7 percent, and recent polls have shown that young adults are pessimistic about their financial future. Today, Demos released a chart showing even more bad news for young adult males. According to this chart, the median annual income for young adult [...]/p
Report: Health Reform Could Save Families $2,161 Annually By 2020
Report: Health Reform Could Save Families $2,161 Annually By 2020: pHealth insurance premiums for employer-sponsored coverage increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010 and will “rise 72 percent by 2020, to nearly $24,000″ if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund concludes. Over the last seven years, premiums outpaced income growth in every state, as employees contributed an [...]/p
Fox Nation: ‘God Bless Income Disparity’
Fox Nation: ‘God Bless Income Disparity’: pPolls show that Americans are increasingly concerned with growing income inequality in the country, but conservative news outlets and think tanks are pushing back with their own reports praising the widening gap between the rich and everyone else. The Heritage Foundation, for instance, argued on their blog that “economic inequality is not necessarily an injustice, [...]/p
The Balanced Budget Amendment Isn’t Just A Terrible Idea, It’s A Terrible Idea For Conservatives
The Balanced Budget Amendment Isn’t Just A Terrible Idea, It’s A Terrible Idea For Conservatives: pLater today, the House is expected to begin debate on a balanced budget amendment, with most of the amendment’s supporters hoping that it will impose sweeping and permanent austerity upon the United States. As ThinkProgress reported, if this amendment actually succeeded in balancing the budget entirely through spending cuts, it would “throw about 15 million [...]/p
Not Just Freddie Mac: Newt Gingrich’s Long History Of Influence Peddling For His Corporate Clients
Not Just Freddie Mac: Newt Gingrich’s Long History Of Influence Peddling For His Corporate Clients: pCaught flatfooted in the CNBC debate when a moderator asked about his past work for Freddie Mac, Newt Gingrich has since twisted and turned, making up every excuse under the sun to obscure his post-politician career as a K Street operator. Despite the revelation that he was paid at least $1.6 million by the troubled [...]/p
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Competitiveness In A Currency Union
Competitiveness In A Currency Union: pIs it reasonable to expect German taxpayers to make a potentially unlimited commitment to fiscal transfers to Spain and Italy? Maybe not. Certainly it sounds unappealing. Certainly Americans have no appetite for making that kind of commitment to the population of Mexico, even though the U.S. and Mexico share very close relationships across a variety [...]/p
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
POLL: 99 Percent Message Nearly Twice As Popular As Tea Party GOP Message
POLL: 99 Percent Message Nearly Twice As Popular As Tea Party GOP Message: pA new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll out last night found that a whopping 60 percent of Americans strongly agree with the basic sentiment of the 99 Percent Movement, as expressed in the statement below: The current economic structure of the country is out of balance and favors a very small proportion of the rich over the [...]/p
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
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