Romney Ryan...nuff said

It’s here — in Ryan’s views and policy judgments — we find the true ideologue. More than any other politician today, Paul Ryan exemplifies the social Darwinism at the core of today’s Republican Party: Reward the rich, penalize the poor, let everyone else fend for themselves. Dog eat dog.  
Robert Reich "The Ryan Choice"





For more on Paul Ryan's budget:  http://www.barackobama.com/romney/ryan/

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GOD, no!



Romney: 'Borrow Money From Your Parents'

It's the Economic Divide, Stupid!

In a recent editorial, Bill Moyers made a case for the un-level playing field people are on; the inequality of life in America and the lack of opportunity where once there was so much hope.

We’re talking what it takes to live a decent life. If you get sick without health coverage, inequality matters.  If you’re the only breadwinner and out of work, inequality matters.  If your local public library closes down and you can’t afford books on your own, inequality matters.  If budget cuts mean your child has to pay to play on the school basketball team, sing in the chorus or march in the band, inequality matters. If you lose your job as you’re about to retire, inequality matters.  If the financial system collapses and knocks the props from beneath your pension, inequality matters.

Neither one of us grew up wealthy, but we went to good public schools, played sandlot ball at a good public park, lived near a good public library, and  drove down  good public highways – all made possible by people we never met and would never know. There was an unwritten bargain among generations: we didn’t all get the same deal, but we did get civilization.

On Sunday March 3,  Moyers & Company aired the encore broadcast of Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer — And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class  with the authors.

Robert Reich had this to say in today's blog post;   

The challenge at the heart of the productivity revolution – and it is a revolution – is how to distribute the gains. So far, we’ve been failing miserably to meet that challenge.

The share of the gains going to everyone else in the form of wages and salaries has been shrinking. It’s now the smallest since the government began keeping track in 1947.

If the trend continues, inequality will become ever more extreme.

Pretty poignant stuff.

Who's Gonna Level the Playing Field?

I can't say it as well or as knowledgeably as Robert Reich.  After President Obama's Rose Garden press conference this morning, subject:  The Economy, Reich had this to say.

Trickle-down economics has been a cruel joke.

On the other hand — given projected budget deficits — if the rich don’t pay their fair share, the rest of us will have to bear more of a burden. And that burden inevitably will come in the form of either higher taxes or fewer public services.

If anyone’s declared class warfare it’s the people who inhabit the top rungs of big corporations and Wall Street (and who comprise a disproportionate number of America’s super rich). They’ve declared it on average workers.

The ratio of corporate profits to wages is higher than it’s been since before the Great Depression. And even as corporate salaries and perks keep rising, the median wage keeping dropping, and jobs continue to be shed.

You’ve got the chairman of Merck taking home $17.9 million last year. This year Merck announces plans to boot 13,000 workers. The CEO of Bank of America takes in $10 million, and the bank announces it’s firing 30,000 workers.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but the way I see it we’ve got a huge budget deficit and a giant jobs problem. And under these circumstances it seems to me people at the top who have never had it so good should sacrifice a bit more, so the rest of us don’t have to sacrifice quite as much.

Yeah.  Those salaries.  Those layoffs.  Those Congressmen who won't level the playing field.

Where the hell did THIS GUY go?

 

Economics 101: Why Is the Economy Failing?

As always, Robert Reich makes sense of our predicament in simple layman terms. Why can't the idiots in Congress?

Addicted to Reich

I'm addicted to Robert Reich.  I watch him when he's on TV; I recognize and listen to his voice on radio, I read his blog almost every day.  Why?  He makes sense.

Reich came to national prominence as President Clinton's Secretary of Labor.  His grasp of and ability to communicate issues is what I like best.  This week, he's talking about the American economy: where we've been, where we're headed & why.  Monday's post gave historical perspective to the economy. Simply put, Americans no longer receive adequate work compensation allowing them to maintain a growing middle class lifestyle. The figures he quotes are breath taking.  If you want a quick, clear overview of twentieth to twenty first century economics, read it.

Today's post follows the thread by linking yesterday's stock market plunge with the issues underlined in Monday's post.   The job market is not growing at anywhere near projected estimates for economic recovery.  May payroll estimates added 38,000 new jobs but we need, according to Reich, "125,000 new jobs per month just to tread water."

Robert Reich currently serves as Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley.
 

SSDD

Interesting headline from Robert Reich's blog today.

The Super Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Gets Poorer, and the Democrats Punt

The super-rich got even wealthier this year, and yet most of them are paying even fewer taxes to support the eduction, job training, and job creation of the rest of us...Only twice before in American history has so much been held by so few, and the gap between them and the great majority been a chasm — the late 1920s, and the era of the robber barons in the 1880s...And yet the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which conferred almost all their benefits on the rich, continue...Democrats have decided to delay voting on whether to extend them for the top 2 percent of Americans or for the bottom 98 percent until after the mid-term elections.

Sure hope this doesn't hurt the Dems in races where the Huff Post reports this morning:

Are the Democrats experiencing a rebound on the Pacific Coast? Three new surveys, two in California and one in Washington State, indicate small gains for Democratic since mid-August. More specifically, two new California polls confirm that Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer is maintaining a narrow lead over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina...The two new California polls also suggest a reversal of the previous trend favoring Republican Meg Whitman. The Field poll results released yesterday show Whitman tied with Democrat Jerry Brown (at 41% each), while SurveyUSA gives Brown a small but statistically insignificant advantage (46% to 43%). So while six surveys had shown Brown with nominal leads in August and early September, the five most recent polls show either a tie or a slight Brown edge...SurveyUSA also released new data this week in Washington confirming a similar rebound by Democratic Senator Patty Murray over Republican challenger Dino Rossi. The new automated poll gives Murray a two-point edge (50% to 48%)...Democrats also received encouraging news in Florida, where a new Mason-Dixon poll shows Democrat Alex Sink holding a six percentage point lead (47% to 40%) over Republican Rick Scott.

And then, there's The Daily Show POV. His take last night on the Republicans and their "brand new"(sic) Pledge to America.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Postcards From the Pledge
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Health Care Reform What Now?

Robert Reich wrote an interesting post Tuesday entitled The National Anthem--And Why We Need Health Care Reform So Desperately.  His title reference, "The National Anthem" refers to the big health care insurance company, Anthem.  They are his insurance company.  He lives in California.  They are my insurance company.  I live in New England.  They've just raised his premiums 39%.  They say have lost alot of policy holders due to the recession and therefore must spread their costs over a smaller pool.  Reich refutes this citing 4th quarter profits of their parent company, Wellpoint; tapping them as an aggressive opponent to health care reform, etc.  He states that consolidation among insurance companies is creating near monopolies but "insurers are exempt from the federal antitrust laws."

I did not know that.

His most compelling argument comes next and I believe it because I have heard other political observers observe the same thing:

"Obama says he’s open to any new ideas from Republicans for how to control health care costs and expand coverage. The problem is Republicans don’t want to play this game. They don’t care about controlling costs or expanding coverage. They care only about taking back the House and/or the Senate next November. And they believe a means toward attaining this goal is to prevent Obama from achieving a victory on health care."

Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Taken from Robert Reich's blog profile.

Audacity of Greed According to Robert Reich

Great post by Robert Reich on the insurance industry's opposition to a new consideration from the Senate Finance Committee, "...lowering penalties on younger and healthier people who don't buy insurance."  He goes on to say the insurers will increase costs for both older and less healthy insured in order to make up the loss.  His point?  The insurance companies are determined to get their monies no matter what.

Of course, we already know that.