Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, news, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Good Morning!
Monarch butterfly at Longwood Gardens. (Photo by joanneleon. October 1, 2012)
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
Bertrand Russell
~ Bertrand Russell
KING CREOSOTE - YOU'VE NO CLUE DO YOU
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News and Opinion
The Fiscal Cliff Is Not a Cliff
This recognition of reality really cuts the Gang of Eight off at the knees. There is no point of no return for the economy. In fact, while I don’t totally understand the Republican position for letting everything expire, the Democratic position, at least as it relates to the Bush-era tax cuts, makes perfect sense. Republicans will refuse to increase taxes under any circumstances. But if Democrats allow them to rise automatically, they can come back with a series of tax cuts and still raise overall revenue, making the tax system marginally more progressive. And indeed, you would have over a year to restore any tax rates without any disruption. The withholding would be higher in the short term, but that would bounce back with a larger refund the following April. Patching the alternative minimum tax for 2012 is an example of how this would work; right now that has not been patched for the entire year, but as long as it gets done by January, nobody will see any effect.
With Chuck Schumer blowing the whistle on the trap of Bowles-Simpson-type tax reform that lowers the rates and broadens the base, this gives the Gang of Eight even less to talk about.
This is an important concept to internalize. It’s a slope; there’s no big need to fear it, at least if it forces policymakers into an undesirable deal.
Map Compares High Inequality of U.S. Metro Areas to Countries
The Martin Prosperity Institute's Zara Matheson mapped data for 362 metros (based on an analysis by the institute's Charlotta Mellander). The team used country-level data from the CIA'sWorld Factbook and metro-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008-2010 American Community Survey. They relied upon the Gini coefficient as their measurement for inequality, which is a numerical rating on a scale from .00 (perfectly equal) to 1.00 (most unequal).
The Gini coefficient for the United States as a whole is .450, about the same as Iran and the Philippines. For comparison’s sake, the Gini coefficient for Sweden, the world’s most-equal country, is .230. Denmark’s is .248, Germany’s is .270 and Canada’s is .321. The most unequal countries in the world have Gini coefficients between .60 to roughly .70. Though none of America’s metros score that high, the picture is still not a pretty one. Most large metros (with over one million people) have inequality levels that are equal to or above the U.S. average.
Will the JPMorgan fraud lawsuit be the first of many on Wall Street? Phil Angelides, former chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, delves into the fraud lawsuit being brought against JPMorgan with "Viewpoint" host Eliot Spitzer. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has brought the case, which alleges that Bear Stearns — purchased by JPMorgan in 2008 — deceived investors when it sold them mortgage-backed securities it knew were defective.
Goldman Sachs ‘in bid to change’
Volcker rule Goldman Sachs is seeking changes to the Volcker rule, which keeps banks from speculative trades in their own accounts, to protect its merchant-banking unit, The Wall Street Journal reported. The rule, named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, was part of the sweeping reforms introduced in the wake of the 2008 recession and aimed at preventing another meltdown of the financial sector. It forbids banks from actively trading in their own accounts to boost profits, what is known as proprietary trade. Goldman is lobbying US regulators to allow its merchant-banking unit’s credit funds, which mostly concern pension funds and insurers, to be exempted from the rule, the Journal said, citing people briefed on the matter.
FBI destroyed part of Hunter S. Thompson’s file
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) admitted this week that portions of a detailed file on legendary outlaw journalist Hunter S. Thompson were destroyed during the Clinton administration.
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Argus Leader reporter Cody Winchester, the FBI explained that “records responsive” to the request were “destroyed on Feb. 1, 1994 and Sept. 1, 1998.” The FOIA request was ultimately answered by the National Archives, which released 58 pages of material pertaining to Thompson.
It’s not clear why the FBI destroyed information in Thompson’s file. Winchester also noted that there’s likely more in the archives which simply hasn’t been indexed yet and could be released later.
With hardly even a whimper from the so called progressive movement and the big, bad blogosphere (who would rather rant about Jack Welch and Big Bird and do oppo research and carry the water for the party that made this all go away for their precious telecoms).
Supreme Court Tosses Last Chance for Telecom Accountability for Warrantless Wiretapping
Yesterday, the Supreme Court shut the door on a legal odyssey that lasted over six years, when they refused to reopen a case attempting to hold private telecommunications companies accountable for their participation in the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program.
[...]
The warrantless wiretapping program basically dropped off the news pages after the passage of the FISA Amendments Act in 2008. But for those of you not around before then, this was a major cause of the progressive blogosphere. But it failed, as telecom immunity passed. EFF gallantly attempted to overturn the law and cancel its immunity for the telecoms, but to no avail. Basically, both political parties wanted the controversy to go away, and then it did.
Senator Opens Investigation of Data Brokers
On Wednesday, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, opened an extensive investigation of nine leading information brokers. Because Americans now conduct much of their daily business online, the senator said he was concerned that “an unprecedented amount” of personal, medical and financial information about people could be collected, mined and sold, to the potential detriment of consumers.
[ ... ]
Linda A. Woolley, the acting chief executive of the Direct Marketing Association, a trade group, called the senator’s investigation “a baseless fishing expedition.”
“I hope Senator Rockefeller understands what he’s tampering with,” she said in an e-mailed statement.
Blog Posts and Tweets of Interest
The Evening Blues - 10-10-12
Republicans to Schumer: You’re Ruining Everything!
Transgender Health Tales: One movie and two websites
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Bubble
Remember when progressive debate was about our values and not about a "progressive" candidate? Remember when progressive websites championed progressive values and didn't tell progressives to shut up about values so that "progressive" candidates can get elected?
Come to where the debate is not constrained by oaths of fealty to persons or parties.
Come to where the pie is served in a variety of flavors.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." ~ Noam Chomsky
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