In Ireland, As Here, Ordinary Folks Suffer For Sins Of The Rich

LONDON - Desperate to seal a deal for an international bailout, the government in Ireland on Wednesday unveiled a painful, four-year plan for $20 billion in spending cuts and new taxes that would slash unemployment benefits and cut welfare payments for the already hard-hit Irish public.

The move came as the near-bankrupt government scrambled to show negotiators from the International Monetary Fund and European Union that it can cut spending and raise more revenue to meet the conditions of a $115 billion rescue package.

Washington Post

Slashing unemployment benefits and cutting welfare payments for ordinary (non-wealthy) folks: the universal "cure" for economies devastated by banking policies that benefit the wealthy.

The Hugh Jidette Scam

Yep, it's just another attempt to separate hard working Americans from their Social Security benefits... while benefitting wealthy folks who don't need Social Security.

I knew it sounded too good to be true.

Governing elites in Washington and Wall Street have devised a fiendishly clever "grand bargain" they want President Obama to embrace in the name of "fiscal responsibility." The government, they argue, having spent billions on bailing out the banks, can recover its costs by looting the Social Security system. They are also targeting Medicare and Medicaid. The pitch sounds preposterous to millions of ordinary working people anxious about their economic security and worried about their retirement years. But an impressive armada is lined up to push the idea--Washington's leading think tanks, the prestige media, tax-exempt foundations, skillful propagandists posing as economic experts and a self-righteous billionaire spending his fortune to save the nation from the elderly.

William Grieder

And who is that self-righteous billionaire? None other than Peter J. Peterson, who presided over the tax hikes on American workers which occurred in the Ronald Reagan Administration. Now he is the rich guy funding the insidiously humorous Hugh Jidett For President campaign currently haunting the airways.

Message To The Tee Partay

Message to the Tea Party ---
What took you so long to get angry?

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court
stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy
company officials to dictate Energy policy and
push us to invade Iraq .

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA
operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a
country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 800
billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more
money from foreign sources than the previous
42 Presidents combined.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars
in cash just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we
were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade
and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million
American jobs out of the country.

You didn't get mad when the government was
illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion
dollars in combined budget and current account
deficits.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible
conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city,
New Orleans, drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave people who
had more money than they could spend, the
filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in taxbreaks.

You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of
job creations in several decades.

You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US citizens
lost their lives because they had no health insurance.

You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and
regulations from the Bush Administration
caused US citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in
investments, retirement, and home values.

No . . . You finally got mad when a black man was
elected President and decided that people in
America deserved the right to see a doctor if
they are sick.

Illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses
by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make
the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster
since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping
fellow Americans who are sick ... Hell No!!

Thanks, eloheh! I had to steal this'un!

Ireland's Economic Woes Prove Conservative Economics FAIL

Just a year after the conservative Heritage Foundation praised Ireland as having a wonderful conservative economic system, that system has crashed and burned!

It seems that Ireland was nuthin' more than a tax haven for American bidnesses to 'wash' profits and avoid American taxes. That set up benefitted Ireland not one bit. Also, Ireland attempted to fix it's faltering economy with the sort of austerity measures that make Republican hearts go all aflutter. These two factors screwed the Irish economy and taxpayers.

More at www.alternet.com

Tee Partay's Next Target: Sustainable Development

Now that the Tea Party has landed on our planet and in our country, like some kind of alien advanced strike force in preparation for a takeover, they are beginning to look around to see how they might rearrange things to better suit their peculiar perspective. We'd be wise to carefully observe these folks, in an effort to understand how they think, or even, where they are coming from, since we've been told that they represent the future of America.

One member of a Virginia-based subgroup called the Virginia Campaign for Liberty, Donna Holt took aim at the UN's Agenda 21, an initiative which started in 1992. She told an assembled group of supporters this past summer that the Agenda, "...outlines, in detail, the UN's vision for a completely managed society, dictating the process to be used for industry, agriculture, housing development, and especially education. It's an all-encompassing plan to rule from an all-powerful central government." She went on to explain to an absolutely horrified audience that the name for this policy is "Sustainable Development" and that it seeks to abolish private property and prepare children for global citizenship, ultimately aiming to reduce the population.

What Agenda 21, which is also known as the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development is really is a set of international sustainability guidelines. It's difficult to know which of the Declaration's twenty-seven principles these newcomers find so threatening. Perhaps it is #1 which states that, "Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature." Or the one that says, "The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations." Hard to find anything wrong with that, either. Perhaps it's the one that says, "States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem." I admit that it is difficult to see the inherent evil here.

Huffington Post

Here's an example of change I voted for!

General Motors has not only emerged from near extinction, but it is making a profit and American taxpayers will receive billions of $$ as a result.

Just a short time ago, Republicans were raving that saving 80,000 jobs was 'socialist' and a takeover of private industry. This is yet another situation where I have to ask myself, why do cheap labor conservatives hate American workers so much? We've made those stinkers filthy rich!

Nevertheless, General Motor's success happened because Obama realized that saving American jobs is not 'socialist'.

Hay, folks, here's the 'change' you just voted for! Enjoy!

Unemployment Extension Defeated In House
WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a measure that would have reauthorized extended unemployment insurance for another three months, leaving no clear path forward to prevent the benefits from lapsing as scheduled on Nov. 30.

Without a reauthorization, the Labor Department estimates that two million long-term unemployed will prematurely stop receiving benefits before the end of the year.

"I think it's a sad moment," said Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) after the vote. "It appalls me that the Republicans keep pitching and pitching and pitching the tax cuts for the rich and won't join in a bill to help people keep their homes and not have to live in their cars."

Republicans Push To Defund NPR
WASHINGTON -- The Republican campaign to take away all federal funding from National Public Radio (NPR) was over before it began, with GOP lawmakers' procedural trick to force a vote on the issue failing on Thursday. It was the first GOP-ordered House vote since the election.

The proposal to defund NPR was the latest winning item on the Republicans' gimmicky YouCut site, which allows the public to pick the cuts they would like to see receive an up-or-down vote on the House floor. In order to get these votes, they try to make a procedural vote on an unrelated piece of legislation the vote on the YouCut item.

Rick Perry Willing To Send US Troops Into Mexico To Fight Drug War
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, soon to be the leader of the Republican Governors Association, continued his argument Thursday that the federal government needed to halt their intervention in the private sector and refocus their energy toward securing the border -- even if that means sending U.S. troops into Mexico.

While pushing his small government economic message on issues such as the auto industry and social security during an interview with MSNBC, Perry seemed to express a willingness to massively increase the U.S. military's involvement in foreign affairs by deploying American forces across the southern border to fight in the Mexican drug war.

Leo Berman, Texas State Legislator, Introduces 'Birther' Bill
Texas State Representative Leo Berman (R) furthered his campaign against President Obama Tuesday, a man that he has before characterized as "God's punishment on us," by introducing a bill that would require future presidential and vice-presidential candidates to produce "the original birth certificate indicating that the person is a natural-born United States citizen" to the Texas secretary of state.

Berman told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that the bill, House Bill 295, is a compulsory step to take in order to correct an alleged gap in the law that allowed Barack Obama, who he believes could be foreign-born, to run for president.

"This bill is necessary because we have a president whom the American people don't know whether he was born in Kenya or some other place," Berman told the Avalanche-Journal. "If you are running for president or vice president, you've got to show here in Texas that you were born in the United States and the birth certificate is your proof."

TEE PARTAY VS. REPUBLICANS, PT. ONE

Boehner’s Home State Tea Party Slams His Secret Plot To Kill The Congressional Ethics Office

GOP to jobless: Drop dead

Only two weeks after the midterm election, it seems clear that the 2012 campaign has begun. For too many Republicans, the aim is to politicize policy, trash the institutions of government and intimidate anyone who might disagree with their radical ideology.

There's no better proof of that than the so-called debate over extending the Bush tax cuts on incomes above $250,000. Unable to defend more tax cuts for the rich, Republicans like to pretend that their real concern is for job creation, citing the fact that about half of all business profits now flow through partnerships and small corporations that are taxed at personal rates.

But look more closely at the argument and it turns out to be "largely bogus," according to Eric Toder, a former Treasury and IRS official who now works at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Very few of those businesses earn more than $250,000 in profit, and those that do tend to be very successful hedge funds and law firms that are flush with cash and unlikely to be dissuaded from hiring extra employees or make new investments because of a 4 percentage-point change in the marginal tax. Because most hiring and investment can be done with pre-tax dollars, Toder said, the tax rate is largely irrelevant to those decisions.

More:
~Steven Pearlstein

Texas Stupid

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7298118.html

Farm Subsidies Highlight The Hypocrisy Of Anti-Spending Politicians

WASHINGTON — Many Republicans who swept rural Democrats from office are now confronting the reality of a promise to reduce spending: Should it cover the farm subsidies that have brought money and jobs to their districts – and directly benefited some GOP lawmakers or their families?

At least 13 Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee lost on Nov. 2, and most of then helped steer generous farm support back home. Many of their replacements avoided the issue of farm payments during the campaign as they focused on broader themes of lowering federal spending and changing Washington.

They'll have to face it soon enough. Congress is expected to begin work on the next five-year farm bill before the 2012 election.

Find out who...

Neo-Nazis Rally For Arizona Immigration Law

A Neo-Nazi march held in favor of Arizona's SB-1070 immigration law in Phoenix over the weekend was disrupted by equal rights activists in what quickly devolved into a mob scene.

Members of the National Socialist Movement were heavily outnumbered by protesters who confronted the Neo-Nazi parade on its way to the federal courthouse. Police arrived in riot gear to separate the two factions, a move that was followed by multiple injuries and the arrests of two protesters who threw rocks at officers.

Nick Wing

Yet again, the right attacks Obama for honoring veterans

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but the right wing has managed to find a way to attack President Obama for speaking at a military base on Veterans Day. The Drudge Report is hyping Charles Hurt's New York Post column, in which Hurt accuses Obama of being "AWOL on Vets Day." How was Obama AWOL, you ask? Well, because he celebrated the holiday at a U.S. military base in South Korea, rather than in the good ol' USA. You see, in Hurt's world, servicemen and women serving overseas apparently don't deserve the same respect as those stationed in the U.S.

Hurt wrote that Obama is "halfway around the world instead of being here in the United States to celebrate the sacrifices American soldiers, sailors and airmen have made around the world to keep the real, still-burning flame of freedom alive." While he acknowledged that "Obama honored our veterans from afar by laying a wreath during a ceremony at an Army base in South Korea last night," he nonetheless immediately attacked him for it, writing, "That is a distance from here matched only by the chasm that has opened up between him and the voters who elected him two years ago. This aloofness of his really is becoming a problem."

In fact, Obama did more that just "lay a wreath" -- he gave a speech honoring the troops and veterans on Veterans Day. He spoke of "honor[ing] every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States of America;" "salut[ing] fallen heroes, and keep[ing] in our prayers those who are still in harm's way -- like the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan;" and "recall[ing] acts of uncommon bravery and selflessness." But, no matter. He wasn't in the U.S. when he gave this speech.

Of course, this isn't the first time the right has attacked Obama for the location in which chooses to honor troops. Earlier this year, the right went apocalyptic because Obama planned to attend a Memorial Day ceremony at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, rather than visiting Arlington National Cemetery. Never mind that previous presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. all attended Memorial Day ceremonies in places other than Arlington. Because it was Obama who did it, the action was a "slap in the face to our veterans."

These people are shameless.

Julie Millican

Obama And Republican Cooperation?

It’s often darkest just before it’s … pitch black. But other times a dim ray of something resembling light can break through. With the voters sending a strong message that they want action on jobs, our new post-shellacking period could be a bit shinier than expected. Call it Pollyannaish, but Barack Obama, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell might actually get some things done together on the economy—pro-growth Eisenhower Republican initiatives acceptable to both parties and pleasing to voters hungry for signs of cooperation. Whether or not these put many Americans to work, they’re worth a try. There could be a political upside: in the ’90s, both Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich saw their approval ratings rise when they worked together on deficit reduction and welfare reform. Even super-partisans have to deliver when they hold power.

At first glance it looks as if Obama’s extended hand has been met once again by a clenched fist from Republicans. Just as there was no honeymoon after the Obama inauguration in January 2009, the GOP wasted no time last week on post-election bipartisan niceties. On the day after Obama’s conciliatory news conference, Speaker-in-waiting Boehner said the president was still in “some denial” about the election, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell only slightly qualified his now-famous pre-election insistence that “the single most important thing we want to achieve” is defeating the president in 2012.

McConnell’s latest brushback pitch was mostly a simple acknowledgment that Obama still holds the veto pen. What the owlish Kentuckian now calls the “health-care spending bill” can be tweaked but not repealed without a new president in 2013. If they harp on it too much, Republicans risk seeming as distracted from job one as Obama did this year.

So if much of Obama’s ambitious agenda (a cap-and-trade system, comprehensive immigration reform) is dead for now, so are GOP hopes for pushing through its wish list. Leaving job growth to the Federal Reserve won’t be enough. The parties will have to compromise or go to the voters in 2012 with shared blame for a weak economy, at which point anti-incumbent independents will likely unleash their wrath again.

It’s possible that Republicans are so bent on taking the White House that they will miscalculate (and thereby harm their chances) by refusing to cooperate on moderate ideas for job creation. “They’ve repeatedly opposed things they previously favored,” says Jim Manley of Harry Reid’s staff, referring to the GOP’s abandoning support for a deficit commission and tax cuts for small business after learning that Obama favored them.

But that was when being the Party of No (or “Hell, No!” as Boehner put it) carried fewer risks. With even Karl Rove saying the GOP is “on probation,” a better bet is that negotiations will commence on a few specific policy ideas. When McConnell joked to CNN last week that he’s talking so much to the president that he’s on Obama’s speed dial, it was clear that process has already begun.

~Jonathan Alter in Newsweek

What We Learned From Wikileaks

Julian Assange, the nomadic cyber rebel who leads WikiLeaks, was not himself a cog in the machine, but he was of like mind with Manning in regard to individual responsibility. Before he got into the business of disclosing the dirty secrets of governments and corporations, he reflected in an essay, "Every time we witness an act that we feel to be unjust and do not act we become a party to injustice," adding, "Those who are repeatedly passive in the face of injustice soon find their character corroded into servility." In his own way, he, too, acted. In July WikiLeaks released more than 70,000 secret documents pertaining to the war in Afghanistan, and then came the documentary tsunami from Iraq, which may have, in Assange's words, "constituted the most comprehensive and detailed account of any war ever to have entered the public record."

Assange is not in prison—on the contrary, this tall, white-haired, disciplined, well-spoken and somehow unearthly information guerrilla shows up regularly on television, where he performs with a kind of high-minded, cool scrappiness. But his organization has been cloudily but menacingly designated a "threat to the U.S. Army" in a classified Army document (also published by WikiLeaks), and he is a man on the run, moving from nation to nation in search of safety from possible legal jeopardy. (Assange is under investigation for sexual misconduct in Sweden but has denied all accusations.)

Among the flood of Afghan war documents there happens to be a report on one more instance of a man who, finding himself threatened with participation in the evil-doing of a malignant system, opted to withdraw. In Balkh province, a little more than a year ago, the report disclosed, Afghan police officers were beating and otherwise abusing civilians for their lack of cooperation. The police commander then sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl. When a civilian protested, the report stated, "The district commander ordered his bodyguard to open fire on the AC [Afghan civilian]. The bodyguard refused, at which time the district commander shot [the bodyguard] in front of the AC." At the time these documents came out, the official reaction to them, echoed widely in the media, was that they disclosed "nothing new." But let us pause to absorb this story. A police officer, unwilling, at the risk of his own life, to be a murderer, is himself murdered by his superior. He gives his life to spare the other person, possibly a stranger. It is the highest sacrifice that can be made.

The man's identity is unrecorded. His story is met with a yawn. But perhaps one day, when there is peace in Afghanistan, a monument will be erected in his honor there and schoolchildren will be taught his name. Perhaps here in the United States, when the country has found its moral bearings again, there will be recognition of the integrity and bravery of Bradley Manning and Julian Assange. For now, the war- and torture-system rolls on, and it's all found to be "nothing new."

~TheNation.com

Gay (supporter) For A Day

Cindy McCain has apparently sharply reversed course on her position on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the span of just several days. Having blasted the policy that bars gays from openly serving in the military on Wednesday, the wife of Senator McCain now says she supports her husband's stance on the issue.

On November 10, Cindy McCain appeared in an ad for the NOH8 campaign, an organization formed as a response to California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state. In the video, McCain says that "our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future." Later, she adds that "they can't serve our country openly."

On Friday, however, Cindy McCain clarified her stance, tweeting that she supports her husband's position on DADT. "I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be a part of it. But I stand by my husband's stance on DADT."

~HuffingtonPost.com

Jobs: What Obama Should Say

On November 2nd, Democrats were "shellacked" because they didn't have a coherent message about the jobs crisis. Whereas Republicans said, "Lower taxes and fewer regulations create jobs," Dems equivocated, "Let's not go back to the Bush era." To prevent another Democratic disaster in 2012, President Obama must develop a forceful jobs narrative.

If the Democrats are going to win back the populist wing of their Party, the President has to develop a forceful jobs narrative. Eight steps are involved:

1. It can't be defensive. Whether the 2009 stimulus was good or bad, it's ancient political history. The President needs to reset the political dialogue by stating: The number US problem is the lack of good jobs. That's my top priority.

2. Obama has to be passionate. One of the problems with the Kroft interview was that the President appeared cerebral. If jobs are truly his number one priority, he has to convey that he cares about the subject.

3. Obama is at his best when he speaks from a solid values base. He needs to kickoff his jobs initiative by stating the obvious: Every American who wants to work should be able to find a decent job.

4. The President should be careful about going into wonk mode. Nonetheless he should talk about a handful of specific ways to create good jobs: a public-private partnership to jumpstart employment, one that could involve accelerated depreciations schedules and the like.

5. Obama should deplore outsourcing and call for penalties on US corporations that outsource jobs.

6. He should indicate that he is willing to renegotiate trade agreements to protect American jobs.

7. Of course, the President should reach out to Republicans, ask them for their concrete suggestions about creating jobs. However, he should warn them that since this is the nation's number one priority, Americans will not accept delay or obstruction on this critical topic.

8. Finally, Obama has to explicitly state that if necessary government must be the employer of last resort. He should take a forceful stand for a massive effort to upgrade America's infrastructure.

Barack Obama needs to focus on America's jobs problem. He needs to make it his number one priority and let everyone in the country know that.

~ Bob Burnett

Obama, One and Done?

Is Obama the wrong leader at the wrong time? I think that Democrats have to make this a serious consideration, so here are two rationales that are struggling against each other:

Rationale #1-- America is going through a tough transition. Wall Street caused a worldwide recession, and in their anger, the rest of the world refused to share the pain. Instead, they told the U.S. to bear the burden, and we are. German, France, and China have recovered better and faster on their own, while we are weighed down by the same sagging housing market that triggered the meltdown. Obama cannot be blamed for this. It's a storm any President would buckle under. Even Roosevelt saw the Depression enter a double dip in 1937, despite all his best efforts. We don't have another Roosevelt today because the country is too divided. The public speaks out of two sides of its mouth. People cry for Washington to do something to help them, yet time after time they elect the most divisive candidates pledging to get the government off their backs. Obama believes that he gave the right medicine, but the patient rebelled and refused to swallow it. Nobody could do any better. Therefore keeping him as President, because of his vision of a better future, based on the campaign of 2008, still represents our best hope.

Rationale #2 -- Obama inspired us in 2008, but he buckled once he got into office. The Republicans ran roughshod over him, and instead of fighting back, he remained aloof and out of touch. The serious reforms that Obama promised in health care and the financial sector never materialized. He caved on the public option. He caved on punishing Wall Street and bringing them under strict regulations. Each piece of legislation that he calls a compromise is actually a defeat. Now that the tide has turned and the right wing is stronger than ever, Obama has been discredited. He is the same man he always was, but that's the problem. We need a warrior, not a negotiator. Divisiveness is incurable. The economy is horrible. Leaders can't escape paying the price for their failures, and we need to stop pretending that Obama has hidden potential waiting to be unleashed. He needs to step down and turn to what he is best at: inspiring the rest of the world. That's what got him the Nobel Peace Prize, so let him move on to the role he was born to fill.

I cannot choose between these two scenarios, because both rationales can be made to look persuasive. Maybe Hilary Clinton, aided by Bill's incredible political skills, can take the Republicans to the mat the way her husband decisively defeated Newt Gingrich and put an end to the Republican dominance of 1994. Or maybe it's foolish to think that history ever repeats itself. Obama is holding his finger in the dike, and just as he averted having the recession spiral into a depression, he is holding back the darkness of full-blown reactionary rule as represented by Sarah Palin's gleeful brand of know-nothing bigotry.

Since so many of us are confused, there are two things we need in order to move forward. The first is for the White House to realize that both rationales are in play. Taking the stand that the doctor gave the right medicine but the patient wouldn't swallow it just doesn't wash anymore. Second, Obama needs to do what it takes to wipe out rationale #2, because what defeats a sitting President isn't a crisis but a sense of paralysis. Jimmy Carter's one term brought about more productive legislation than anyone realizes, unfortunately his achievements are overshadowed by his paralysis over the Iran hostage crisis.

Obama can't afford to let the same image overshadow his achievements, and his enormous potential. We need a fix-it president, but far more we need a President who can erase an image of weakness. Images have a way of turning into reality, and right now, the two are beginning to merge quite dangerously.

~Deepak Chopra

The First Betrayal of the Tay Partay

As I Predicted elsewhere, a politician supported by the Tee Party has betrayed them.

The idiotic Rand Paul proclaimed his support during the campaign for the Tee Party platform of NO EARMARKS.

Now that he's elected, Rand sez "bring 'em on!!!"

Just wait 'til Tee Partay favorites destroy their Medicare and social security.

Mebby then the Tee Partayers will come to their senses?

The Effect of Fear

How Obama Enables Rush

We live in a mendocracy.

As in: rule by liars.

Political scientists are going crazy crunching the numbers to uncover the skeleton key to understanding the Republican victory last Tuesday.

But the only number that matters is the one demonstrating that by a two-to-one margin likely voters thought their taxes had gone up, when, for almost all of them, they had actually gone down. Republican politicians, and conservative commentators, told them Barack Obama was a tax-mad lunatic. They lied. The mainstream media did not do their job and correct them. The White House was too polite—"civil," just like Obama promised—to say much. So people believed the lie. From this all else follows.

The Daily Beast

Tax System Favors Wealth Over Work

Tea Partiers rage against taxes and say they’re too high. Wrong, says billionaire Warren Buffett: on the rich, they’re too low.

The tax code holds the answer to this standoff, and the code backs Buffett. Taxes may be the bane of the Tea Party, but they’re a relative boon for the wealthy. Let’s look at some of the ways America’s tax system keeps Warren Buffett’s fortune in Warren Buffet’s hands.

The major vehicle is George W. Bush’s 15 percent levy on long-term capital gains - the lowest since FDR’s first term - and on corporate dividends. The top 1 percent of US households owns nearly 40 percent of all privately held stock, from which the dividends flow. Similarly, the super-rich get more than half their income from capital gains, as documented by tax expert David Cay Johnston in his book “Perfectly Legal.” In the meantime, for the working middle-class, the tax rate on wages is 25 percent.

Taxing income from wealth at little more than half the rate of income from work: it’s the perfect recipe to make sure that Warren Buffett (and all the Buffett wannabes) pay effective tax rates far below what their incomes suggest.

Gerald Scorse

Eric Cantor Opposes Compromise On Extending Bush Tax Cuts

Cantor sez any government shut down will be Obama's fault:

WASHINGTON -- Just as Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has attempted to lower expectations in recent days by saying that Republicans can't really accomplish anything unless President Obama is voted out of office in 2012, so too did Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) set the stage on Sunday by declaring that any lack of progress in Congress -- including a possible government shutdown -- will be Obama's fault.

Cantor also made clear that if there's going to be any compromise, it's going to have to come from Obama, who has said he is willing to work with Republicans. Cantor, however, said that Republicans will work with Obama only if he agrees with them 100 percent.

Cantor sez Obama must work with Republicans on earmarks, which will definitely be a problem:

Earmarks may prove tricky for the GOP caucus though, because it's not clear that there is a unified Republican position. McConnell and Boehner have both said that they're in favor of an earmark moratorium -- a temporary suspension -- but have refused to go all-out in support of a permanent ban. "You can eliminate every congressional earmark and you would save no money," admitted McConnell in a speech last week at the conservative Heritage Foundation, essentially saying that one of the top ideas touted by Republicans to cut the deficit won't have much of an effect. When asked about a ban by Wallace on Sunday, Cantor simply replied that a moratorium was "essentially a suspension for the entire Congress."

Amanda Terkel

Tea Party Favorites Rand Paul & Jim DeMint Struggle To Name Specific Budget Cuts

WASHINGTON -- Signaling how difficult it will be for the Republican Party to live up to its campaign promises of cutting spending while preserving the Bush tax cuts and not cutting benefits for seniors, Tea Party favorites Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen.-elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.) struggled on Sunday to actually name any specific cuts they plan on making.

On ABC's "This Week," Christiane Amanpour repeatedly pressed Paul to move beyond "slogans and platitudes" to "direct information" on how the Republican Party will balance the budget and cut the deficit.

Paul immediately reiterated that he was going to push for a balanced budget amendment and said that cuts needed to come from across the board -- including defense spending. Whenever Amanpour asked whether a specific program -- such as Medicare, Social Security and health care -- would be cut, Paul simply kept reiterating that he was going to be looking "across the board." He was unable, however, to actually name anything significant that would be on the chopping block.

Ditto for Jim DeMint. I see wild political times ahead!

HuffPo

The OOMPA LOOMPA Party takes over the HOUSE

The Politics of Lies

American politics has always been a knockout knuckle-busting adventure. But now we see the enshrinement of an age-old human foible in modern politics. Outright fibbing, prevaricating, lying. And it seems to be an effective political strategery. Examples will follow.

Enjoy this blog.

Or cry.