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(Photo by joanneleon. October, 2012)
Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases and disruptive cuts in federal civilian programs and in the military. It was policy-making by hostage-taking, timed for the lame duck session, a contrived crisis, the plain idea now unfolding was to force a stampede.
-- James K. Galbraith
Cliffs of Insanity
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News and Opinion
The Big Lie About the "Entitlement State"
Advocates of single-payer (public) health insurance point out that such a system could 1) rein in pharmaceutical costs by using the government’s purchasing power to negotiate lower prices and 2) dramatically reduce administrative costs by eliminating the crazy quilt of different private-insurance billing systems. (See Gerald Friedman, Funding a National Single-Payer System, March/April 2012; Gerald Friedman, “Universal Health Care: Can We Afford Anything Less?” July/August 2011). Maybe David Brooks should start a clamor about that.
Two obvious ways to pay for growing transfer programs, from a public-finance standpoint, are: First, keep government revenue the same, but change its uses. For example, the United States could fight fewer wars, have a smaller military, and buy less military hardware. Or it could liberalize laws on recreational drug use, and reduce spending on police, courts, and prisons. It could use some of the savings to fund the Big Three and other social programs. Second, increase government revenue. Contrary to current mythology, the U.S. population is not being taxed to the very limits of its endurance. Of thirty high-income OECD countries, the United States ranks dead last in total tax revenue (for all levels of government) as a percentage of GDP, at less than 25%. The figure is 30% or more for 24 of the 30 countries, and over 40% for eight.
Brooks acts as if budget issues are one-sided: a matter only of how much a particular program or combination of programs costs. This one-sided view is especially evident in U.S. political discourse on deficits, which politicians and commentators often frame as a problem of excessive spending. A budget deficit, however, is the difference between expenditures and revenue—it is an inherently two-sided issue—so looking at the expenditures side alone doesn’t help us understand the causes of deficits or the possible policy responses.
Could the U.S. government just raise more revenue, as a percentage of GDP, to pay for transfers that have grown as a share of GDP? Well, somehow a couple of dozen other countries seem to manage. So probably yes.
How Chicago Became The Deadliest City In America
Gangs and budget cuts.
Things are pretty grim in Chicago following its deadliest summer in recent memory.
By Oct. 21, Chicago had recorded 435 murders, ahead of 339 in New York and 241 in Los Angeles. The Windy City has the highest murder rate of all Alpha world cities, according to NBC Chicago.
And while things are finally starting to slow down, the mood in the city definitely isn't great.
Why Investors And Voters Aren't More Furious About The Fiscal Cliff Sham
Debt limit is a term that creeps into the political lexicon every so often; it happens when America’s legal borrowing limit reaches its congressionally-set upper bound. Since the US nearly always runs an annual deficit, it has to confront congressionally-approved borrowing limits. Congress persistently acts in the worst interest of the country by using the debt limit as an excuse for brinksmanship confrontational politics.
The debt-limit debate is a charade. Everyone who understands it knows that. The US has been a borrower for nearly two centuries. It has never defaulted. But we do use this congressionally-introduced fiction to exacerbate political animosity. We are about to reach our debt limit again and witness another debt-authorization fight.
Fiscal cliff is another fiction. We do not need to have expiration dates on legislation, tax policy, or spending mechanisms. Congress designs them to mature immediately following a national election. Again, this is a charade created by the scoundrels that we elect to serve us in Washington. In fact, Democrats and Republicans agree on this one. They coalesce into a common threat to us by purposefully choosing termination dates that follow hard on the heels of elections. They exploit the short memory span of the distracted American electorate. Shame on us for having such short memories.
Now, we will witness both the debt-limit and fiscal-cliff debates; both charades are in play.
Unemployment Insurance Kept 2.3 Million Americans Out Of Poverty Last Year
America’s unemployment insurance program is not as robust as those in many industrialized nations, but the program that is speeding toward massive reductions if Congress doesn’t extend it before the end of the year still kept more than 2 million Americans out of poverty in 2011. According to the National Employment Law Project, which is calling on Congress to re-authorize the federal unemployment compensation program before the end of the year, unemployment insurance kept 2.3 million out of poverty, cutting the number of Americans who were entered the ranks of poverty last year in half:
What Capitalists Want for Christmas
A group of CEOs led by Macy’s Terry Lundgren calling itself the Fix the Debt coalition is hoping for a deficit-busting austerity budget this holiday season [...] Why? Because high unemployment “keeps their workers in check” [...]
The 1 percenters involved in Fix the Debt include Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; James Gorman, chairman, president and CEO, Morgan Stanley; Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO, General Electric Co.; Brian T. Moynihan, president and CEO, Bank of America Corp.; and Josh Bekenstein, managing director, Bain Capital.
Macy’s CEO to American People: Drop Dead
Lundgren and a coalition of other big-time CEOs are lobbying Congress to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits so that they can enjoy tax breaks. Obviously, Lundgren did not take Econ 101, which would have demonstrated to him that reaching into the pockets of people will leave them without enough dollars to buy your products. It’s very simple, Mr. Lundgren. Your job and your stores are supported by the spending power of the American consumer. Robbing that consumer by hacking away at hard-earned retirements and healthcare is not going to help your bottom line.
Jobs, not austerity, is the path to a healthier economy. Just ask Europe.
Lundgren and his band of reverse Robin Hoods, part of a campaign called Fix the Debt founded by "catfood commissioners" Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, have ganged up to influence post-election policy by spreading the myth that our main problem is long-term debt and deficits, rather than high unemployment. They actually like high unemployment, because it keeps their workers in check. They’re out holding town halls, trying to buy or rent members of Congress, and otherwise throwing their weight around.
Greek Suicide Rate Keeps Soaring
Suicides in Greece, which used to have the lowest rate in Europe, are rising rapidly and coincide with crushing austerity measures that have driven 20 percent of the population into poverty.
Spanish government struggles to respond to home eviction suicides
In less than a month, at least five people who were about to be forcefully evicted from their homes committed suicide. The issue is galvanizing opposition to austerity measures.
“I laugh at government numbers. Of the 400,000, at least 10 percent resulted in evictions of the main residence of distressed families,” says Mr. Ruiz, also one of Madrid’s top leaders. “And that will soon jump to at least 20 percent as they process the pending eviction proceedings.”
[...]
But since the crisis began when a huge construction boom burst in 2007, wealth destruction has been unparalleled. Spain’s proud welfare state and safety net is unraveling as the government trims spending while raising taxes amid the worst economic downturn anybody can remember.
The country now faces historic unemployment that tops 25 percent, soaring poverty levels, mass emigration, and little sign of a turnaround. Most analysts forecast further economic contraction in 2012 and 2013, and only discrete growth thereafter.
The suicides catalyzed a popular backlash against government austerity and its consequences: evictions, chronic unemployment, rising poverty, and erosion of the prized free healthcare and education. Spaniards cannot understand how their pain and taxes are bailing out the country’s banks, while citizens are being left without recourse or aid, in many cases forcing them to become homeless.
Stalemate in Brussels as EU fails to agree budget
Cameron claims victory over defence of UK’s €3.6bn rebate but is accused of blackmail
The European Union was in disarray tonight after its 27 leaders failed to reach agreement on a new €970bn budget at a two-day summit which collapsed amid acrimony.
David Cameron was accused of trying to “blackmail” other EU leaders but he was not the only stumbling block to a deal for 2014-20 and did not need to wield his veto. Crucially, there was no agreement between France, anxious to preserve farm subsidies, and Germany, which backed Britain’s call for deeper EU spending cuts along with the Netherlands and Sweden.
At a Brussels press conference, Mr Cameron fired another broadside at EU bodies after he failed to win cuts in the administration budget. “EU institutions simply have to adjust to the real world. Brussels continues to exist as if it is in a parallel universe,” he said. He complained that “not a single euro” of savings from the generous pay and perks of Brussels officials had been proposed, which was “insulting to European taxpayers.”
Timeline: How the World Found Out about Global Warming
(Reuters) - A U.N. conference in Qatar next week is the latest attempt to combat global warming after mounting evidence that human activity is disrupting the climate.
Here is a timeline of the road to action on global warming:
300 BC - Theophrastus, a student of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, documents that human activity can affect climate. He observes that drainage of marshes cools an area around Thessaly and that clearing of forests near Philippi warms the climate.
[...]
Staunch conservative to be new EU health commissioner
The European parliament voted to elect Tonio Borg as the European Union's new health commissioner on Wednesday, despite warnings from scientists and NGOs that his personal opinions would influence policy.
Borg, the foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Malta, will replace fellow Maltese John Dalli, who resigned after being linked to a Maltese businessman alleged to have sought money from the tobacco industry in return for influencing European tobacco legislation.
Borg is Catholic and is known for his conservative views on abortion, homosexuality and divorce. For example, he is a supporter of the Embryo Protection Act currently being debated in the Maltese parliament. If approved at the end of November, the bill will prevent experimentation on human embryos, ban egg and sperm donation, and prohibit the freezing of embryos for IVF procedures other than in a few special cases.
Scott WH Stenographer Shane.
Election Spurred a Move to Codify U.S. Drone Policy
Though publicly the administration presents a united front on the use of drones, behind the scenes there is longstanding tension. The Defense Department and the C.I.A. continue to press for greater latitude to carry out strikes; Justice Department and State Department officials, and the president’s counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, have argued for restraint, officials involved in the discussions say.
More broadly, the administration’s legal reasoning has not persuaded many other countries that the strikes are acceptable under international law. For years before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States routinely condemned targeted killings of suspected terrorists by Israel, and most countries still object to such measures.
But since the first targeted killing by the United States in 2002, two administrations have taken the position that the United States is at war with Al Qaeda and its allies and can legally defend itself by striking its enemies wherever they are found.
Partly because United Nations officials know that the United States is setting a legal and ethical precedent for other countries developing armed drones, the U.N. plans to open a unit in Geneva early next year to investigate American drone strikes.
Prosecution of Anonymous activists highlights war for Internet control
The US and allied governments exploit both law and cyber-attacks as a weapon to punish groups that challenge it
So this was a case where the US government - through affirmative steps and/or approving acquiescence to criminal, sophisticated cyber-attacks - all but destroyed the ability of an adversarial group [Wikileaks], convicted of no crime, to function on the internet. Who would possibly consider that power anything other than extremely disturbing? What possible political value can the internet serve, or journalism generally, if the US government, outside the confines of law, is empowered - as it did here - to cripple the operating abilities of any group which meaningfully challenges its policies and exposes its wrongdoing?
But what makes all of this even more significant is the vastly disparate treatment of those who launched far less sophisticated and damaging attacks at those corporations which complied with US demands and cut off all funding and other services to WikiLeaks. Acting in the name of Anonymous, a handful of activists targeted those companies with simple "denial of service" attacks, ones that impeded the operations of those corporate websites for a few hours.
[...]
The issue here is not whether Anonymous activists can be rightfully prosecuted: acts of civil disobedience, by definition, are violations of the law designed to protest or create a cost for injustices. The issue is how selectively these cyber-attack laws are enforced: massive cyber-attacks aimed at a group critical of US policy (WikiLeaks) were either perpetrated by the US government or retroactively sanctioned by it, while relatively trivial, largely symbolic attacks in defense of the group were punished with the harshest possible application of law enforcement resources and threats of criminal punishment.
Blog Posts and Tweets of Interest
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
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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