Krugman: Panic of the Plutocrats

The New York Times OpEd by Paul Krugman:

It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.

And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called “economic royalists,” not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.

Consider first how Republican politicians have portrayed the modest-sized if growing demonstrations, which have involved some confrontations with the police — confrontations that seem to have involved a lot of police overreaction — but nothing one could call a riot. And there has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in the summer of 2009.

Nonetheless, Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, has denounced “mobs” and “the pitting of Americans against Americans.”

Read the full story: The New York Times

U.S. Incomes Declined During The Last 10 Years

The U.S. economy may technically be in a recovery, but it likely doesn’t feel that way for many Americans when grabbing for their wallets. Median annual household income has fallen more during the recovery than it did during the recession, according to a new study from former Census Bureau officials Gordon Green and John Code.

Between December 2007 and June 2009, when the U.S. economy was in recession, incomes declined 3.2 percent. While during the recovery between June 2009 and June 2011 incomes fell 6.7 percent, the study found. (click on the chart to enlarge)

The lack of income growth may explain why for most Americans the recovery still feels like a recession. Eight in 10 Americans believe the recession is an ongoing problem, according to a recent Gallup poll.

And workers don't anticipate things will pick up any time soon. Nine out of 10 Americans said they don't expect to get a raise that will be enough to compensate for the rising costs of essentials like food a fuel, according an American Pulse survey released in June.

Slow job growth is likely also exacerbating the feelings of recession and weighing on household incomes. U.S. employers added 103,000 jobs in September, too few jobs drive the unemployment rate below 9.1 percent and barely enough to keep pace with population growth, the Department of Labor reported last week. Those Americans that are employed are continuing to get squeezed by their employers with wage stagnation and benefit cuts, while profits per employee went up for the second year in a row in 2010, according to financial analysis company Sageworks.

While American workers find them selves under increasing pressure, American corporate profits are surging again in 2011 as corporations horde those profits in bank accounts. Corporations were sitting on $2.2 trillion in cash at the end of June, and that number has grown during the last quarter.

If giving tax cuts to corporations and the ultra-wealthy is the most stimulative approach to boosting jobs and wages, as Republicans claim in rejecting Pres. Obama's Jobs Plan, then the economy should already be racing, given the trillions of dollars in tax cuts President Bush and Republicans handed during the eight years of Pres. Bush's administration. Right? Wrong!

If the U.S. continues its sluggish jobs growth pace it could drive incomes even lower. Americans who are jobless for more than 99 weeks lose any unemployment benefits driving their incomes to zero and weighing on the national average, according to 24/7 Wall Street.

The recession’s and the recovery’s drag on income growth has put some Americans in a worse position than they were decades ago. The median income for U.S. males was worse in 2010 than in 1968 on an inflation-adjust basis.

In some states the recession and the recovery only exacerbated a decline in incomes that’s been taking place for longer. The median household income in Wisconsin plunged 14.5 percent between 1999 and 2010, The Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reported.

The super rich have grabbed the bulk of the past three decades' income gains.

Texas State Climatologist: Texas Drought Could Last Until 2020

Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon thinks Texans should get use to hot dry Texas summers. He says these hot dry conditions could last another five years, or even extend to 2020.

Parts of Texas may get some nice thunderstorms this early October weekend, but the state witnessed a September that continued the trend of above-normal temperatures with exceptional drought conditions during 2011. The daily maximum temperatures were above average across the state by two or more degrees. Every major station but Amarillo, Galveston, and Port Arthur reached 100+ °F at some point during September.

As of the Oct 4th U.S. Drought Monitor, 100% of Texas was suffering under some form of drought conditions, and over 85% of the state was designated as D4 (Exceptional Drought), the worst possible scenario. Indeed, the big story for September was the continuation of the devastating drought. A majority of the state observed only a fraction of their percent averages for rainfall, with Abilene and Austin below 10%.

Texas SOS Responds To US DOJ On Voter Photo ID Law Clearance

The back and forth between the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) Civil Rights Division's voting rights section, the Texas Secretary of State's (TXSOS) office, the Texas Democratic Party and various organizations opposed to the legislation continued this week over the strict voting photo identification law signed by Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry last May.

Did Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Just Trigger The Nuclear Option?

The Republicans instituted the permanent filibuster when Obama took office, and that was the end of that. No more legislation, ever, on anything unless you have 60 votes in the Senate.

That's not the way it is suppose to work. But the Republicans decided to implement a permanent filibuster of everything, and to forever change the way the Senate works, and essentially make the body permanently dysfunctional. (see: How Can Only 40 Senate Republicans Stall Senate? And, How Senate Democrats Can Out Maneuver The Republicans.)

Tonight, perhaps, Senator Reid changed that -- The Hill:

Fellow Texas Bloggers To Speak At TDWCC Annual Dinner

Fellow Texas bloggers Eileen Smith and Rachel Farris, who write their respective blogs, "In the Pink" and "Mean Rachel" from Austin, Texas, will be featured speakers at the Texas Democratic Women of Collin County's 5th annual fund raiser dinner on Sunday, October 23 at the Southfork Ranch in Parker, Tx.

Eileen Smith is the editor of the long-running satirical political blog In the Pink Texas, which has won three “Best of Austin” awards from the Austin Chronicle. She’s currently a columnist at the Texas Observer, where she covered the most recent session of the Legislature and now writes a weekly wrap-up of Governor Rick Perry’s road to the White House called “Perryland.” She was the first-ever editor of Texas Monthly’s award-winning website, TexasMonthly.com, and she blogged the 2008 presidential campaign on “Poll Dancing.” Eileen has a Master’s in Journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University. Originally from Virginia, she has lived in Austin for over ten years. You can follow her on Twitter at @EileenDSmith.

Native Texan and Democratic activist Rachel Farris (@MeanRachel) writes MeanRachel.com, a progressive blog that follows politics, the legislature and how they both are affected by social media. She covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention with The Texas Observer team and has spoken about social media and communications at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, Texas State University’s “Mass Communications Week,” and St. Edward’s University. She also writes for The Huffington Post and AlterNet.org, and currently serves on the board of Texas Democratic Women.

This should be an interesting evening of discussion on “Framing the Issues” using social media communication channels on the Internet. In additional to the speakers and dinner, the evening includes a cash bar, silent auction and musical entertainment.

Read more...

Amy Lawrence Announces For Collin Co. Chair Of The Democratic Party

Amy Lawrence announced at the September meeting of the Texas Democratic Women of Collin County (TDWCC) early last week, her intention to file as a candidate for the County Chair of the Democratic Party of Collin County (DPCC) on the March 2012 Democratic primary ballot. Lawrence followed up on that announcement with a press release late last week.

In comments explaining why she decided to run for the office of Democratic County Chair, Lawrence said:

“I grew up in west Texas, but my husband and I have settled in Collin County to raise our children. I am committed to making sure this is a community we can be proud of – one where all members of our community have the opportunity to thrive.”

“Sadly, the past two years are prime examples of what can happen to a community when only one party has been in power for a generation with few viable alternatives on the ballot – we have seen our Republican representatives slash our state budgets, threatening the quality of our children’s public schools; threatening the critical safety net of Medicaid healthcare services with severe consequences for our parents and children in need; threatening the public safety of our communities by cutting law and fire department funding; and disenfranchising segments of our population, including the elderly and veterans, by creating onerous requirements on their basic right to vote. The only way we will be able to hold our elected officials accountable is by creating a strong, vibrant, and vocal Democratic Party in Collin County that can offer an alternative vision for our local communities."

"As County Chair, my focus will be on integrating the Democratic Party into the community and being vocal on issues that affect local residents, linking up with other Democratic organizations to maximize our reach and effectiveness, broadening and diversifying our base of Democratic voters and activists, and finally growing local candidates with a long-term vision for the county.”

Democrats Launch Campaign To Counter Alleged GOP Voter Suppression

As this blog posted on Monday, a new Brennan Center for Justice study (PDF) finds that a string of election laws passed in Texas and 12 other states -- and proposed in 21 more states -- since the 2008 presidential election could block up to five million voters from polling places in 2012.

ABC Poll: Obama Surges Ahead Of GOP In Trust On Jobs

Who could have imagined that by taking a spirited fight to the American people, as he did with his speeches in Dallas on Tuesday, the President could jump his approval rating? From ABC News:

Barack Obama has jumped to a 15-point lead over the Republicans in Congress in trust to handle job creation, a sign the beleaguered president’s $450 billion jobs package has hit its mark in public opinion. Fifty-two percent support the plan – and most say it just might work.

Overall approval of the U.S. Congress, meanwhile, has dropped to its lowest in polls back to the mid-1970s. And of the eight in 10 Americans who are dissatisfied with the way the country’s political system is working, more blame the Republicans in Washington than the president.

A month ago, Americans divided evenly, 40-40 percent, on whom they trusted more to handle job creation, Obama or the congressional Republicans. Now, after his jobs proposal and ongoing promotion of his plan, it’s 49-34 percent, Obama’s first significant advantage over the GOP on jobs in ABC/Post polling since early 2010.

The president’s also maintained a large advantage over the Republicans in Congress in being seen as more concerned with the interests of middle-class Americans, now 52-32 percent. And the GOP, by a vast 70-17 percent, is seen as being more concerned than Obama with protecting the interests of the wealthy, a sentiment on which Obama has capitalized with his proposed millionaires’ tax.

It's all not all good news, however. Obama's approval remains near is his all time lows in the poll. Still, this is the first sign that his numbers may be turning around. And it's because he's been consistent on his "progressive" message, fighting back against the Republican's conservative vision for America. And it's working.

What You Need To Know About The Top 1%

Income inequality in the U.S. is higher than at any other time since the Great Depression, and the U.S. is currently more unequal than countries like the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. Though Republicans dismiss concerns over the gap as “class warfare,” the ever-increasing level of disparity has tangible consequences, leading to poor work performance and a greater gap in life expectancy.

And now, according to a new Finance & Development study, income inequality also “kills economic growth.” Looking at how to sustain economic growth, the research found that “making an economy’s income distribution 10 percent more equitable prolongs its typical growth spell by 50 percent.”

Mother Jones’ Josh Harkinson noted that this lesson is nothing new, pointing to Depression-era Federal Reserve Chairman Marriner Eccles, who “blamed the Great Crash on the nation’s wealth gap.”

More on this topic in another Jobsanger post that's worth taking the time to read:

Are you one of those people who thinks "wealth redistribution" is a dirty term, and something we should never do in this country? If so, then you don't understand much about economics in the United States (and elsewhere). The truth is that wealth redistribution is going on all the time in every country, and that includes the United States.

The problem with the wealth redistribution that is happening now in the U.S. is that the wealth is being redistributed from the vast majority of Americans to the richest Americans -- especially the top 1%. This has created a wealth and income inequality not seen in this country since the 1920s -- before the Great Depression. And that vast equality was the major cause of both the Great Depression and our current Great Recession.

Here are some facts you need to know about the richest 1% of Americans:

Read the full Jobsanger post...

Outrageous

From the Texas panhandle Jobsanger blog

Political Strategy Notes For Oct 5th 2011

The Democratic Strategist

At HuffPo Pollster, Mark Blumenthal's post "Obama's Approval Rating Is Underwater, But Don't Try To Predict 2012 Yet," notes that, despite lowered approval ratings, President Obama lead GOP frontrunners Romney and Perry. Although approval ratings are slightly better predictors of election results than trial heats, "none of these polling numbers can predict the winner of the presidency a year or more before the election," as Blumenthal points out.

Obama Paid Another Visit To Texas Today

For the second time this year, President Barack Obama paid a visit to Texas. Obama attended a fundraiser in Dallas before heading to Mesquite for a 2:55 p.m. speech at Eastfield College. President Obama got a warm reception at his campaign stops at both the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, Texas and again at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas.

-- Obama's concluding remarks at Eastfield College --
Dallas, the next election is 13 months away. I need you all to lift your voice -- not just here in Dallas, but anyone watching, anyone listening, everybody following online. I need you to call and tweet and fax and visit and email your congressperson...

At both stops the President pitched his American Jobs Act legislation to crowds of enthusiastic supporters.

Obama used unusually blunt language to rebut critics who say he's engaged in class warfare quoting Ronald Reagan's argument from 26 years ago that tax loopholes for the rich were unfair.

“Last time I checked, Republicans all thought Reagan made some sense,” he said at his Mesquite stop: Now, when I point this out, some of the Republicans in Congress say, ‘oh you’re engaging in class warfare.’ Let me tell you something. Years ago, one great American had a different view. I’m going to get the quote, just so you know I’m not making this up. A great American said that he thought it was ‘crazy’ that certain tax loopholes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary. Alright. You know who this guy was? It wasn’t a Democrat. It wasn’t some crazy socialist. It was Ronald Reagan. It was Ronald Reagan. Last time I checked, Republicans all thought Reagan made some sense. So next time you hear one of those Republicans in Congress accusing you of class warfare, you just tell them I’m with Ronald Reagan. I agree with Ronald Reagan that it’s crazy that a bus driver pays a higher tax rate than some millionaire because of a loophole in the tax code. And by the way, I don’t mind being called a warrior for the working class. You guys need someone working for you.

Organized Climate Change Denial To Block Green Programs,Top Scholars Conclude

Riley E. Dunlap, a sociology professor at Oklahoma State, and Aaron M. McCright of Michigan State call it the “climate change denial machine” in their book chapter, “Organized Climate Change Denial,” for the new Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society.

Key Components of Climate Change Denial Machine page 147 of Organized Climate Change Denial

In a note, the authors explain:

The actions of those who consistently seek to deny the seriousness of climate change make the terms “denial” and “denier” more accurate than “skepticism” and “skeptic,” particularly since all scientists tend to be skeptics.

Some try to downplay the central role of the denial machine in U.S. politics, but the fact is that what the deniers have accomplished in this country is unique in the world, going far beyond the spread of disinformation. They have allowed fossil fuel interests to “capture” almost an entire political party (see National Journal: “The GOP is stampeding toward an absolutist rejection of climate science that appears unmatched among major political parties around the globe, even conservative ones”).

Here is the conclusion of the study:

GOP Presidential Candidates Support Constitutional Amendments Outlawing Common Forms Of Birth Control

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) told Fox News host Mike Huckabee this weekend that he would support an amendment to his state’s constitution to define life as beginning at conception:

HUCKABEE: Would you have supported a constitutional amendment that would have established definition of life beginning of life at conception?

ROMNEY: Absolutely.

Constitutional amendment give legal rights to fertilized eggs go much farther than merely outlawing abortions. As ThinkProgress’ Marie Diamond noted, they could also have the effect of outlawing common forms of birth control, since contraceptives like the pill and IUDs can prevent fertilized egg from implanting in a woman’s uterus. Personhood amendments consider these types of birth control a form of abortion, and could potentially even treat them the same as homicide. If these amendments make terminating pregnancy a criminal act, they would also deter doctors from saving the lives of women with abnormal pregnancies because any doctor performing an abortion could risk prosecution.

Some of the Republican presidential field’s more radical candidates like Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich have already voiced support for giving legal rights to unborn children, but it’s surprising coming from Romney considering that he was staunchly pro-choice for much of his political career.

New Voting Laws Could Keep 5 Million Voters From The Polls In 2012

Strict voting laws in states across the country could affect up to five million voters from traditionally Democratic demographics in 2012, according to a new report (PDF) by the Brennan Center. That's a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.

In 2011, Texas and 17 other state legislatures across the country debated a requirement to have voters show one of a very limited selection of government issued photo identification to polling place officials to qualify to vote. The motivation for this legislative discussion is the widely distributed conservative allegation that Democratic voters commonly commit in-person voting impersonation fraud to qualify to vote.

Van Jones Calls For Progressive Push Back Against Tea Party

Van Jones, president of the progressive organization Rebuild the Dream, joins The Last Word to discuss what Washington should be doing about jobs. Jones calls the US' deficit problem "phony" and made up.

Van Jones

"Hold on to your hats, we're going to have an October offensive to take back the American dream and rescue America's middle class," Jones told MSNBC's "The Last Word."

Jones is talking about the Take Back the American Dream conference, organized by the Campaign for America's Future with support from Rebuild the Dream, will be happening on October 3 - 5 in Washington, DC. Find out more and register online.

Jones was President Obama's "green jobs czar" until he resigned in fall of 2009.

Transcript below:

CNN Poll: Tea Party Unfavorability Up 27 Points Since January 2010

The Tea Party movement has had some PR problems since the almost-default of the summertime debt fight.

TPM has reported on the increasingly negative view of the conservative movement Americans have taken, and on Tuesday there was more bad news: CNN polling, which has tracked the Tea Party’s popularity since January 2010, shows that a majority of Americans now views it unfavorably.

The poll shows that only 28 percent of Americans do view the Tea Party favorably, versus a full 53 percent who don’t. The poll shows that less than twenty percent don’t have an opinion of Tea Partiers, which is the lowest yet — an issue on polling the movement has been that many Americans simply didn’t know enough about it. That has clearly changed since the beginning of last year.

In January 2010, the Tea Party was actually viewed favorabilty by a plurality in the CNN poll, with 33 having a positive view against 26 percent. That unfavorable number continued to grow through out the midterm elections of 2010 (in which a number Tea Party endorsed candidates won) and started to really climb during the period which the Tea Party contingent in Congress has had an effect on policy. Throughout 2011 their unfavorability has been in the high forties and now the fifties.

CNN is not the only organization to find that the Tea Party brand is suffering. A recent AP poll found a similar trend, although the CNN survey showed unfavorability within the same time period to be higher.

The news comes as GOP presidential candidates are trying to vie for the conservative base of the Republican Party, which contains the Tea Party advocates, while still maintaing their viability within a general election. But the more unpopular the Tea Party becomes, the larger the gulf between the primary audience and the general election electorate becomes.

The Tea Party, Right-Wing Media and the Dog That Didn't Bark

Gallup: The Continuing Democratic Voter Enthusiam Gap

by Jeff Parker @ Florida Today

Democrats and independents who always vote Democratic, otherwise known as the Democratic base, are not enthusiastic about the upcoming Presidential election year according to a new Gallup poll.

When the Democratic base voters and activists are enthusiastic about an election Democrats usually win that election.

In the 2008 election about 80% of the Democratic base was very enthusiastic about the election. Obama and Democratic congressional candidates won big at the polls that year.

In contrast, the Democratic base, disappointed by the failure of elected Democrats to stand up to Republican and defend progressive values as strongly as Republicans defend conservative values, polled an enthusiasm level of only 60 percent. The 2010 enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans allowed Teapublican candidates to win control of the U.S. House, as well as many state legislatures and governors' mansions.

According to the new Gallup poll, the gap between the Democrats’ level of enthusiasm compared to the Republicans’ level of enthusiasm is the largest it has been in a decade. A large enthusiasm gap is a bad thing in any political environment, but it’s especially problematic for the Obama campaign, which depended on high enthusiasm to get large turnout numbers from infrequent voters groups, such as young adults in 2008.

After the 2010 Democratic wipeout there was some hope among Democrats that the 2012 Congressional elections wouldn’t be as bad because having Obama on the ballot would inspire his 2008 surge voters to come out again. At this point though, it looks as if Obama’s ability to increase base enthusiasm or turnout is limited.

Poll: Republicans in Congress Help The “Haves” More Than The “Have Nots”

Almost half of all respondents to a new Washington Post poll say Republicans in Congress are doing more to help the “haves” than “have nots,” with fewer than a third saying the GOP treats both sides equally. A tiny 7 percent say Republican lawmakers are helping the have-nots. For contrast, a plurality say President Obama treats society’s “haves” and “have-nots” about equally.

Washington Post:

Nearly half of all Americans say President Obama treats society’s “haves” and “have-nots” about equally, perhaps blunting Republican criticism that he is engaged in “class warfare.” Still, nearly three in 10 see the president as overly favoring the “have-nots,” according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll. Half as many see the president as favoring the “haves.”

Public opinion about Republicans is a bit harsher: almost half say Republicans in Congress are doing more to help the haves, with fewer -- under a third -- saying the GOP treats both sides of the divide about equally.

Yet, despite worsening economic conditions -- and a growing gap between rich and poor -- fewer than half of all Americans, 45 percent, see society as fundamentally divided between haves and have-nots. A slim 52 percent majority say it is not, though that number has dropped significantly since the early days of the Obama administration.

When asked to classify themselves, 48 percent of poll respondents identify among the haves and 34 percent among the have-nots. Current opinions on these questions are close to their long term trends.

Nearly three-quarters of African Americans say society is divided, compared with 40 percent of whites. And more than half of African Americans identify as being among the have-nots. Most whites identify as being among the haves.

Republicans are more apt than others to see Obama helping the have-nots. About four in 10 see this happening, with 16 percent seeing him helping the haves and 31 percent treating both equally. A 46 percent plurality of independents see Obama helping both.

Judgment about the Republicans in Congress is more clear cut, with 47 percent overall seeing them helping the haves; a slender 7 percent the have-nots. That’s very similar to views of former presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan in Pew and Gallup polls.

More than seven in 10 Democrats say Republicans are biased toward the haves. But 60 percent of Republicans say their own party is treating each group about equally. More independents, 46 percent, say the GOP is preferring the haves, while 34 percent say they treat haves and have-nots equally.

Read the full poll results.

Boston Globe: A Deep Health Care Divide In Texas

This Boston Globe story speaks volumes. The average percentage of uninsured working adults in this country is 22%, the average for Massachusetts is 7% and the average for Texas is 32%. For children ages 18 and under, 10% on average are uninsured in the U.S., compared to 17% for Texas and just 3.5% for Massachusetts.

So Texas has 10% more uninsured adults and 7% more uninsured kids than the national average. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has 15% fewer uninsured adults and 6.5% fewer uninsured kids than the national average. But in conservative world up is down and black is white -- Rick Perry brags about healthcare in Texas while Romney can't run fast enough away from the good he did in this regard as MA's governor.

Boston Globe: "Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country - 24.6 percent - and the number of uninsured that has grown by 35 percent during Governor Rick Perry’s 11-year tenure....

And what is the price Texas pays for so many without insurance? A host of health problems, researchers have found. Overall health care quality for Texas is poorer than in every other state, especially when it comes to preventive, acute, and chronic care, as well as care for diabetes, heart, and respiratory diseases, according to the 2010 report of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality....

Texas ranks third to last in the country for the percentage of adults with a regular source of medical care, according to Commonwealth Fund data on state health system performance....

In a state where 16.8 percent of children are uninsured, more than all but one other state, only half of Texas children have a medical provider who knows them and coordinates their care. More than a third of them have not received recommended medical and preventive care within the year, and immunization rates are low as well. Texas also ranks last in the country in the percent of children who receive needed mental health care....

Doctors recount horror stories of uninsured patients who die of treatable diseases because families delay seeking medical help or must endure long waits for appointments with specialists."

Some Texas miracle....

GOP Trickle Down Tax Cuts Have Never Helped American Families

15 million Americans are unemployed and 10 million more underemployed.

We see the rich getting richer while everyone else is working harder for less money and going more into debt.

Let's figure out where our jobs and wages went and, most importantly, how to get them back.

Our largest multinational corporations are hording a record treasure of several trillions of dollars in cash rather than investing that money in America and the richest 1% of Americans are sitting on yet more unused wealth.

The Federal Reserve reports corporate cash balances alone grew to $2.05 trillion in September 2011 on a quarter over quarter cash reserve growth rate of nearly 5 percent. Neither the cash rich corporations or the richest 1% of Americans are not putting their decades worth of tax cuts to work to create jobs for Americans.

Doling out yet more tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans and our largest multinational corporations will not induce them to use their already huge treasure trove of cash to create new jobs or move the jobs they have already off shored back to the U.S.We hear talk of trillions over here and billions over there, of government shutdowns, of cutting 100... no 61... no 38 billion dollars from Social Security, Medicare, FEMA disaster recovery, road and bridge maintenance, so our bridges stop falling down. What the heck? If you're like me, you might be thinking -- "Wait, I might actually like that stuff..."

There is a truly courageous alternative — the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Budget proposal, which represents what the American people really want. The Congressional Progressive Caucus has proposed a budget that balances the budget in just ten years without cutting Social Security and Medicare.

The Progressive plan repeals the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, which saves three trillion dollars. Second, the plan cuts corporate taxpayer handouts to pharmaceutical, insurance and petrochemical industries and adds a new income tax bracket for billionaires. That raises at least an additional three trillion dollars. In the next decade the plan also cuts defense spending by about $1.8 trillion. The Progressive plan also lifts the Social Security payroll cap of $106,800 per year (2011) so that wealthy individuals who take home millions and billions of dollars in earnings every year can pay their fair percentage share of Social Security support, too.

The Progressive plan not only protects and strengthens Social Security and Medicare for decades to come, it puts America back to work through infrastructure and high tech investments.

President Obama is now calling for millionaires, billionaires and billion dollar multinational corporations to pay their fair share of taxes as part of a debt reduction package, In response, Republicans are not only defending the tax cuts they gave to the wealthy over the past decade and more, they are calling for yet more tax cuts for the rich.

The wealth are the job creators, Republicans argue, and the "trickle down" tax cut economic growth will be hampered if the rich are required to pay their fair share to maintain America's roads and bridges.

Americans are starting to understand the truth of the about graph and graph at right; the trillions of dollars of tax cuts Pres. G.W. Bush and Republican controlled congresses gave to millionaires, billionaires and billion dollar multinational corporations in the last decade has never trickled down to every day working man and woman.
In the first public polling available on the so-called "Buffett Rule" specifically -- the proposal to raise taxes on millionaires advocated by billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- Daily Kos/SEIU's weekly "State of the Nation" survey asked the following:

Q: Do you support or oppose ensuring that people who make over a million dollars a year pay the same percentage of taxes or more on their total income as those who make less than a million dollars a year?
Support: 73
Oppose: 16
Not sure: 11

The answer even wasn't close. 73 percent of all Americans, including Republicans, supported the idea, versus 16 percent who did not, and 11 percent who were unsure. Every demographic sub-group favors the idea. Republicans back it 66-17 -- Even self-identified tea partiers, the weakest supporters, are at 52-29.
In recent polling, voters have shown a willingness to include raising taxes within a plan to address the deificit, and especially on those Americans making $250,000 or more. A recent Pew survey showed 66 percent support for that idea, and 63 percent in a poll from CBS News and the New York Times. The President himself has seemingly grasped on to that sentiment, going on the road promoting his jobs and debt reduction plans with populist rhetoric. It's also further evidence that Obama is distancing himself from the ongoing squabbling of Congress, embracing more popular proposals and taking them directly to voters.
Charts from ConnectTheDotsUSA.com

Related: 

• A Severely Conservative Or A Progressive Budget 

L'Shanah Tovah - May You Have A Good Year!

Rosh HaShanah (ראש השנה) is the Jewish New Year. It falls once a year during the month of Tishrei and occurs ten days before Yom Kippur. For 2011, Rosh HaShanah begins at sunset September 28, 2011 and ends at nightfall on September 30, 2011. Together, Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are known as the Yamim Nora’im, which means the Days of Awe in Hebrew, or more commonly, the High Holy Days.

Rosh HaShanah literally means “Head of the Year” in Hebrew. It falls in the month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. The reason for this is because the Hebrew calendar begins with the month of Nissan (when it's believed the Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt) but the month of Tishrei is believed to be the month in which God created the world. Hence, another way to think about Rosh HaShanah is as the birthday of the world.

Rosh HaShanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei. Jewish tradition teaches that during the High Holy Days God decides who will live and who will die during the coming year. As a result, during Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (and in the days leading up to them) Jews embark upon the serious task of examining their lives and repenting for any wrongs they have committed during the previous year. This process of repentance is called teshuvah. Jews are encouraged to make amends with anyone they have wronged and to make plans for improving during the coming year. In this way, Rosh HaShanah is all about making peace in the community and striving to be a better person.

Even though the theme of Rosh HaShanah is life and death, it is a holiday filled with hope for the New Year. Jews believe that God is compassionate and just, and that God will accept their prayers for forgiveness.

Happy New Year!

Challenge To Texas Voter Registrar Rules And Process

Last week Voting for America (Project Vote) sent a letter to the State of Texas, alleging that various parts of the state's voter registration rules and process violate the National Voter Registration Act.

The challenged areas include the geographical restrictions on where Texas voter registrars may operate, the lack of standards for training voter registrars, the lack of guidance about when an application is considered incomplete, and the requirement that green cards be returned in person within five days.

Project Vote (or Voting for America, Inc.) is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) that promotes voting in historically underrepresented communities, working to ensure that our constituencies can register, vote, and cast ballots that count. The organization was incorporated in 1994 as 'Voting for America,' and officially became 'Project Vote/Voting for America' in 1997. Project Vote is unrelated to Project VOTE!, for which President Obama worked in 1992.

Project Vote has been tied by the right wing messaging network to one of the right's favorite, and now defunct, punching bags, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN). A sizable number of Republicans -- 25 percent -- still think ACORN (and by association, Project Vote) is plotting to steal the election for Obama in 2012.

The Voting for America letter to TX SOS Hope Andrade says,

Water Development Board Report Says Texas "Will Not Have Enough"

The Texas Water Development Board has published a draft of its five year 2012 water report for the state. The 295-page plan published last week in the midst of the worst-ever single-year drought Texas has ever experienced, is a sobering read.

This year just set the record for most Federal Emergency Management Agency declared disasters declared in the U.S. And we’ve still got 3 months to go. Most of those disasters are associated with record-shattering extreme weather events matching events climate scientists predict will occur as heat-trapping gases are pumped into the atmosphere fueling global warming and long term climate change.

Chart of Annual Federally Declared Disasters
h/t Tamino for the FEMA chart. FEMA’s data is here.

It is clear that the trendline of major disasters in this country is upward and likely will continue upward for the foreseeable future. And these disasters aren’t merely increasingly in number, but in ferocity.

For Texas the ongoing disaster of increasing ferocity will be that "In serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, and its businesses, and its agricultural enterprises," according to the Texas Water Development Board's report.

According to Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas will break another record for the driest 12-month period on record by the end of September. He said the drought has cost Texas $5.2 billion in agricultural losses alone, with at least another billion from drought-related wildfires, and the NCDC says this is already Texas' most costly drought in recorded history.

The Texas Water Development Board's report says that if Texas does not plan ahead, a drought as bad as that of the 1950s could cost Texans $116 billion a year by 2060, the report says, and cause the potential loss of more than one million jobs. Building new reservoirs and wastewater treatment plants and other water infrastructure is projected to cost $53 billion.

The report offered a number of recommendations to the Legislature. Texas lawmakers, it said, should get moving on three reservoir sites (Turkey Peak Reservoir, Millers Creek Reservoir Augmentation, and Coryell County Reservoir). Lawmakers should also make it easier to site other reservoirs, and to transfer surface water between different areas. They should require public water utilities to audit their water losses annually rather than every five years.

Whatever Happened To The American Left?

NYTimes: The left must realize that when progressives achieved success in the past, whether at organizing unions or fighting for equal rights, they seldom bet their future on politicians. They fashioned their own institutions — unions, women’s groups, community and immigrant centers and a witty, anti-authoritarian press — in which they spoke up for themselves and for the interests of wage-earning Americans.

Today, such institutions are either absent or reeling. With unions embattled and on the decline, working people of all races lack a sturdy vehicle to articulate and fight for the vision of a more egalitarian society. Liberal universities, Web sites and non-governmental organizations cater mostly to a professional middle class and are more skillful at promoting social causes like legalizing same-sex marriage and protecting the environment than demanding millions of new jobs that pay a living wage.

A reconnection with ordinary Americans is vital not just to defeating conservatives in 2012 and in elections to come. Without it, the left will remain unable to state clearly and passionately what a better country would look like and what it will take to get there. To paraphrase the labor martyr Joe Hill, the left should stop mourning its recent past and start organizing to change the future.
Read the full story @ The NYTimes

Associated Press May Day celebration in Union Square, New York City, 1934.

Obama Draws More Confidence Than GOP Leaders On Deficit

A new Pew Center report finds that most support raising taxes on high incomes to reduce the deficit and that the public's confidence in congressional leaders, particularly Republican leaders in Congress, has plummeted as the nation prepares for another round of deficit reduction debates. Just 35% say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in Republican leaders in Congress to do the right thing when it comes to dealing with the federal budget deficit, down from 47% in May. Fully 62% say they have little or no confidence in the Republican leaders on this issue.

Public confidence in Barack Obama on the budget deficit, by comparison, has remained largely unchanged.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 22-25 among 1,000 adults finds that 52% express at least a fair amount of confidence in Obama to do the right thing when it comes to dealing with the deficit, virtually unchanged from 55% earlier in the year.

Public trust in Democratic congressional leaders has also suffered - 43% say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in Democratic leaders, down from 51% four months ago.

The survey also finds continued public support for raising the tax rate on high incomes as a way to reduce the federal budget deficit and the size of the national debt.

Read the full report to see comparisons of opinion among Republicans, Democrats and independents, as well as the views of Americans on specific proposals for reducing the nation's debt.

Texas Gov Deverting Public School Funds To Big Oil Tax Refunds

APNewsBreak: Texas Refineries May Get Back $135M

Three commissioners appointed by Gov. Rick Perry may grant some of the nation's largest refineries a tax refund of more than $135 million — money Texas' cash-strapped schools and other local governments have been counting on to help pay teachers and provide other public services. Full AP Story

On June 28, 2011 Gov. Perry signed a $172 billion budget passed by the super Republican majority Texas House and Senate. The budget signed by Gov. Perry cuts $15 billion from the level of spending last authorized in the 2009-11 state budget. The largest individual cut was to public education, which lost over $4 billion over the biennium. While public education received the deepest cuts, other agencies that saw their budgets reduced, too. Other agencies cut included public universities and community colleges (with the two largest universities in the state losing $100 million in funding) and state health and welfare programs, which saw Medicaid and food stamp funds slashed by up to $2 billion. [Full story on Texas debt growth and budget cuts]

The American Petroleum Institute argues that giving oil companies government handouts will create jobs. However, a new report by the House Natural Resources Democratic Staff finds that the major oil companies have actually shed employees while reaping record profits. From 2005 to 2010, Exxon, BP, Chevron, and Shell dumped 11,200 U.S. employees while raking in $546 billion in profits.

2011’s Off the Charts Weather and Climate Stats

Climate Central: This year is shaping up to be one of the most extreme — if not the most extreme — years in the United States since instrument records began in the late 19th century. Consider a few statistics from just this past June through August to get a better picture of what's been taking place.

Keep in mind that many studies show that certain types of extreme events, such as heavy rainfall events and heat waves, are already becoming more frequent and intense as the climate warms in response to human emissions of greenhouse gases. However, none of these events listed below have been the subject of detailed climate change attribution studies yet, since those take several months to complete, so it would be premature to speculate how big of a role climate change played in their development and evolution.

Map showing the number of days with temperatures above 100 degrees F during summer 2011. Credit: NOAA/NCDC.

• This summer was the second-warmest on record in the United States, and the eighth-warmest globally.
  
• Of the Lower-48 states, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana had their hottest summers on record. Two states — Texas and Oklahoma — had average temperatures that were so high, they broke all-time summer heat records for any state in the country. In Texas, the average statewide temperature for the summer was a whopping 86.8°F. Both Texas and Oklahoma eclipsed a benchmark set during the Dust Bowl, when a multiyear drought and a series of withering heat waves transformed the Central states into an arid landscape, driving a mass migration westward.
• During the summer of 2011, every state in the Lower-48 except North Dakota and Vermont experienced at least one day with a temperature exceeding 100°F.
• As of today, nearly 88 percent of Texas is locked in the grips of "exceptional drought" conditions, which is the most severe category on the U.S. Drought Monitor. In order to climb out of the deep rainfall deficit, parts of Texas and Oklahoma would need nearly two feet of rainfall, yet new climate outlooks for the next several months show drier than average conditions are likely to continue through the winter.
• According to Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, it is likely that Texas will soon break a record for the driest 12-month period on record, unless there is widespread heavy rain during the second half of September. He said the drought has cost Texas $5.2 billion in agricultural losses alone, with at least another billion from drought-related wildfires, and the NCDC says this is already Texas' most costly drought in recorded history.

Entitlement, My Foot, I Paid Cash For My Social Security Insurance!!!!

By Rob Tornoe - You can find more of his work here.

Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled a percentage of your income before taxes. If you averaged only 30K over your 49 year working life, that’s close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you’d have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you would receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years, and that’s with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you’d have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

Entitlement, my foot, I paid cash for my Social Security insurance!!!!

Just because congress invested $2.67 trillion of our Social Security Trust Fund in T-Bills, which is counted as 19 percent of our federal debt, doesn't make my Social Security payment benefit some kind of charity or handout!! (The TRUTH About Who Really Owns All Of America's Debt)

Congressional benefits include free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my retirement entitlements !!!!!!

Republicans call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives, and now, when it’s time for us to collect our paid up insurance benefit, Republicans demonize it as an "entitlement" because they want to privatize it to Wall Street to cut the massive debt they created with tax cuts for the rich. "Starving the Government Beast" through tax cuts is a fiscal-political strategy adopted by American conservatives in the 1970's to create or increase existing budget deficits via tax cuts to force future cuts and eventual privatization of Medicare, Social Security, Public Education and every other public government service. [Starving The Beast]

Cartoon by Jen Sorensen with hat tip to the Jobanger blog