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One of the things that ticks me off about the one sided war in Iraq is the non-stop “No Bid” contract awards. With those awarded contracts comes a lot of corruption and waste. The waste is called double billing, triple billing or just plain outright billing without doing a damn thing. The money that pays for all of this abuse and neglect is our tax dollars. Wouldn’t you think that all of them pesky Conservative Republican’s would want to clean this mess up right away? That isn’t even close to the facts of the matter. Looking the other way is the mantra of the Bush 2 dynasty.

What it takes to clean this mess up and prosecute the bastards stealing all of our children’s future is to put people in the Congress that will aggressively go after anyone that steals from the American people. One of the most feared terms of any company that does business with any state or federal agency is called Disbarment. If any company is found guilty of thievery then they face disbarment. Over at Down With Tyranny they have this great piece on Alan Grayson that will go after war profiteers in the next Congress.

There’s probably no one who knows more about war profiteers in Iraq– outside of Cheney and the folks at Halliburton and KBR– than Alan Grayson, an attorney prosecuting numerous war profiteering cases. We came across him because he is running for Congress against corrupt Republican rubber stamp Ric Keller in central Florida’s 8th CD (Orlando area). Next weekend Alan will be our guest at Blue America sessions at Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars. But I called him today and asked him this tough question– the one about Republican voters. Do these Americans actually support this kind of behavior?Before we take a look at what Alan told me take a look at this CBS News clip I found on his website:

“I think that the Republicans, from top to bottom, are genuinely trying to change America into Amerika with a ‘k.’ They want America to be a place where ordinary workers cannot organize, where everybody tries to undercut everybody else in the labor market, and where the people in charge are the people who can best tap into war profiteering profits… These people want to change America and change it to make it something that Eisenhower warned us about half a century ago. They want everything in America to be under the control– and in the teeth– of the military-industrial complex.“When I talk to Republicans in general these days, they’re very unhappy about the war. The problem is, they’re unhappy about the war because they don’t like to lose– and that’s just the wrong way of looking at it. They have become willing participants in a war that at this point is approaching imperialism. If they read in newspapers everyday that we were winning the war, they would be just as happy with the war as the characters in Orwell’s 1984 are happy with their endless war against some unnamed enemy that they can never clearly understand the purpose of. Republican voters have, in effect, collaborated in this effort despite their misgivings about the war and the primary reason why they’re not happy right now isn’t because the war is wrong or unjustifiable but because we’re not not winning.” - Down With Tyranny

Over the last two terms of President Bush we have witnessed our nation being hijacked by so called leaders of the people that were stuffing their friends pockets with millions of dollars. Washington has become the city to steal money from our nations treasury and that is simply wrong. One Congressional seat in Florida may not seem big news but it is.

Alan Grayson isn’t running to bring the bacon home and fatten his own wallet. His progressive liberal thoughts are what conservatives used to be in the Barry Goldwater days. Changing our government and the practices of corruption, bribes and outright lies to the people can change from one voice on Capitol Hill and it just might start with Alan Grayson. One squeaky wheel just might get the oil special interest out of politics.

Good luck to you Mr. Grayson on your up and coming election.

Interesting reads on what Alan Grayson is all about…

Vanity Fair

Rolling Stone

CBS News

And of course Alan Grayson Campaign site…

You be the judge and the voter and decide if this guy deserves to go to Washington and kick some ass! If you care to contribute to the campaign by all means do so. Click on Act Blue to vote with your wallet.

On Friday 1/25 Crooks and Liars will have an exclusive interview with Alan Grayson so feel free to check that out when it comes on the site.

Papamoka

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk 

Feel free to link to this post or borrow it…

Several weeks ago, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that employers could prohibit members of labor unions from using the company e-mail system for anything union-related.

This story barely made a blip on the news radar, since most people aren’t members of a labor union or planning to join one. This ruling only applies to those blue-collar shlubs who work with their hands. Who cares about them?

But now — uh oh! It seems this NLRB ruling might be expanded; it could be used against ALL employees. Some legal experts are saying that if an employer forbids use of company e-mail for labor unions, they’ll also have to forbid ALL non-work-related e-mails on company computers. You know, discrimination laws and all that. And now tens of millions of office workers are simultaneously thinking “Oh my God, this affects ME!”

Or to paraphrase that famous German quote: “When they came for the janitors I did nothing because I have a desk and a fancy job title…then when they came for me…”

As the name indicates, the National Labor Relations Board at one time actually defended workers against unfair labor practices. But that was then. Like every other agency in the Bush Administration, the NLRB is now stacked from top to bottom with incompetent cronies who hate everything the agency stands for.

In the same way that FEMA “helps” people whose homes have been devastated by a hurricane, the National Labor Relations Board “defends” workers who are being trampled by a powercrazed boss.

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, said:

“The Bush labor board has consistently demonstrated hostility toward workers who want to unite for a voice in the workplace, so this latest brand of discrimination unfortunately comes as no surprise. We need a labor board that truly has an interest in the needs of working people, not one eager to assist those corporate interests bent on trying to intimidate or censor workers who want to form a union to improve their jobs and the services they provide. This ruling is another sad example of how the deck is stacked against workers in America.”

Some managers are using the tired argument that since they own the computer equipment, they can restrict how it’s used. Riiight. They also own the bathrooms, the cafeteria and vending machines and all of the chairs and desks. Oh, and the parking lot. They could have a field day.

While on a recent road trip Hillary Clinton is talking about the economy and now is the time to talk about the economy and how we all got into this horrible mess. The near future is not as positive as some people would like to think and a clear path through it is needed. With the latest reports coming in from all of the world stock exchanges, the “Maybe Recession” is a world wide concern when you are talking about the United States of America. World economics is the key to saving not only our own economy but the worlds.

One of the key factors to the U.S. economy is the middle class and the shear numbers of them with disposable income. The facts are simple and the middle class in America has been downsized and locked out of the “Bush” economy from benefits too salary increases. In that same time period the cost of living in America has gone through the roof. One large contributor to that lockout was the executive release of responsibility in corporate America. In the world of business it should be called a signing statement, similar to the thoughts of our current President and the Constitution. Downsizing and outsourcing of entire manufacturing plants out of the country not to be competitive but to ensure the yearly top executives bonuses are protected and of course adjusted for inflation.

In some circles it could be argued that NAFTA and every other acronym for free trade helped to boost the economy in America but they never really stipulated if it was South America or North of the border of America? In reality, free trade literally meant a migration of American middle class jobs out of America and that is yet just one more source of the downfall of our economy. When our government supports the rights of other nations citizens for good jobs at good wages you better look at your last days of employment because that is the first tax break for corporate America to send your job over the border. Key phrases for shutting a factory or manufacturing plant here in the states is “Stock Holder Value”. Largest benefactors to stock holder value are CEO’s and top executives with stock options.

Senator Clinton in her race for the White House spoke about where she thinks we as a nation need to be and it is hard to argue with her thoughts when you look at the numbers realistically. Over at the New York Times they have this interview with Senator Clinton…

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration.In one of her most extensive interviews about how she would approach the economy, Mrs. Clinton laid out a view of economic policy that differed in some ways from that of her husband, Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton campaigned on his centrist views, and as president, he championed deficit reduction and trade agreements.

Reflecting what her aides said were very different conditions today, Mrs. Clinton put her emphasis on issues like inequality and the role of institutions like government, rather than market forces, in addressing them.

She said that economic excesses — including executive-pay packages she characterized as often “offensive” and “wrong” and a tax code that had become “so far out of whack” in favoring the wealthy — were holding down middle-class living standards.

Interviewed between campaign appearances in Los Angeles on Thursday, she said those problems were also keeping the United States economy from growing as quickly as it could.

“If you go back and look at our history, we were most successful when we had that balance between an effective, vigorous government and a dynamic, appropriately regulated market,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And we have systematically diminished the role and the responsibility of our government, and we have watched our market become imbalanced.”

She added: “I want to get back to the appropriate balance of power between government and the market.” - New York Times

Senator Clinton is obviously correct in stating that the markets from housing to Wall Street’s power brokers are out of control and need government oversight more now than ever. If our nation is to survive the current recession then restraints and intervention needs to come from our government. If it does not then the Robber Barron’s of days long gone will run the economy and the nation into the ground and ride out the destruction on the billions earned prior. And you can bet your last Rockefeller shiny new dime that they will pull their investments out of the stock market long before it crashes and outsource it to safer shores.

Salaries of record for one year to think about from Too Much…

$118.9 million for Leslie Blodgett, CEO of Bare Escentuals, who cashed out over 5 million option shares in her cosmetics company for a $117.6 million personal profit.$415.5 million for Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray Irani. To reach this total, the Times added to Irani’s $52.1 million in pay, as calculated by Equilar, the $270.1 million Irani cleared from cashing out stock options and the $93.3 million he withdrew from his deferred stock plan. Irani still holds another $124 million in deferred pay.

$647 million for Apple CEO Steve Jobs

$127 million for UnitedHealth CEO William McGuire

$32.6 million for Todd Nelson, CEO of the Apollo Group, a profit-making collection of higher education institutions

$131 million for Robert Nardelli, the Home Depot CEO forced out in January

$97 million for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis

$1.5 billion for James Simons, Renaissance Technologies

$39.1 million for Ford CEO Alan Mulally, a sum that includes an $18.5-million bonus for leaving Boeing to join Ford. Ford had six executives in the industry’s top 15, despite record 2006 losses of $12.6 billion.

Some people would say that each one of these people earned their pay and in some cases I might not argue with you. In most cases though it is a race to the top of the heap and they never look back at all the folks they stepped on to get those annual salaries and mega stock options. That is not part of the horizon they are looking at when they cash out, sell out or move on to another corporate position to repeat the process all over again. Once there they never forget the politics that kept them there either with donations that max out. Atilla the Hun would have been very comfortable in corporate America but he would have owned it all.

Hillary Clinton is talking the talk and I would not be surprised if she became President that she would look at corporate politics with an evil eye but she will not hesitate to cash those campaign checks coming in till that day comes. She isn’t alone in the cashing of those check and that my friends scares me.

If your interested in seeing whom is giving political donations to whom and how much then I highly recommend NewsMeat. It’s a great search engine for political thoughts and seeing who is maxing out to their favorite candidates.

Papamoka

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk…

Popular vote aside, Obama won Nevada by one delegate to the Democrat convention. Popular vote aside, the message of Obama and hope lives on in Nevada. Hillary will get all the headlines but the truth of the matter is that the real decision of the voters is based on the delegates to the convention so Hillary Clinton’s win is not really a win. Somebody call Bill Clinton and tell him that he is about to get slapped upside the head again by the wife.

The Tsunami wave of Obama is coming to fruition all across America and it can not be stopped. His message is clear and his points are not about looking at the past but at the future of America and the outlying folks in Nevada voted for a new future in our nation. That future is full of hope and of brighter days to come that are not filled with isolationist ideology and war mongering. Out in suburbs of the big cities of Nevada they saw the difference and voted for change. Out in the suburbs is the key words there. Regular people, not millionaires, not people even making a hundred thousand dollars a year. Obama has the heart beat of the people at the bottom of the economy that always look to hope and that is someone running for President that believes that we can be saved from the plight that is corporate America’s intolerance of us. Nevada voted for hope and in that message Obama won Nevada at the convention with more delegates than Hillary Clinton.

Over at the Washington Post they have this breakdown of the Nevada election results…

Clinton and Romney Win in Nevada
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com staff writer

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Sen. Barack Obama in the popular vote in the Nevada Democratic caucuses today, while former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney prevailed earlier in the Nevada Republican caucuses.

With 97 percent of the vote counted, Clinton led with 51 percent to 45 percent for Obama (Ill.). Former senator John Edwards trailed far behind with four percent. However, although Clinton captured the popular vote, Obama edged her out for delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12, according to an Associated Presss analysis.

“I guess this is how the West was won,” Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. The popular victory was her second straight, coming after an upset win in the New Hampshire primary.

The disparity between the raw vote total and the delegate apportionment is centered on the fact that Obama beat Clinton in the state’s sparsely-populated northern reaches and more rural areas — a statewide showing that left him with a narrow delegate victory if not a popular majority.

“We came from over 25 points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. -Washington Post

Some people wonder if America is ready for an African American President and I wonder if we are ready for another eight years of another Clinton disgrace series of real legislation subdued by controversy from the first Clinton Presidency revisited. When the Clinton’s claim in deceptive words to be the first African American President I shudder at the disgrace that they propose on African Amrican’s. As a white man I can not see through the eyes of any African American and I can not say that racism is dead in America because it is not. Racism is born out of misunderstanding and hate passed down from generation to generation. Even in New England where the bluest of blue states are it is ignorance rather than knowledge that prevails. If you were blind and listened to the messages of all of the candidates not knowing if one is Black or the other is a Woman you would see the true difference.

A good friend of mine is slowly going blind, my heart felt prayers are with him and his family every single night. I beg God above that he would have his vision back because he is not of the opinion that America should be divided racially but united simply as Americans. And yet in his heart and soul I know him as a friend that would give his vision and life if he could erase the ignorance that is race relations between all people that are the melting pot of America. His heart is genuine and his soul pure of thought.

I would give my own life to find hope in America and I am not living the life of any African American, and I am not going blind.

Vision is sometimes found in the heart and not your eyes. Hope is never in the form of a question, it is a matter of belief. That is the question you need to ask when you cast your vote in the primaries.

Papamoka

The “economic stimulus” plan being hammered out by Bush, Bernanke, and the Democrat controlled Congress is a farce and a scam, and a slap in the face of every American citizen-except maybe the top 1%. Worse, once passed, it will add another $145 billion debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren so that people can get a one time cash infusion of $500 - $800 a piece.

Hey, I’d like to have some extra greenbacks in my wallet too, but at what cost? At to what real benefit? And why are those people most likely to really feel some benefit from the money excluded completely from the plan?

Let’s look at the cost-$145 billion. Last time I checked we were running a deficit budget, so where is this money going to come from? The government wants to send every taxpayer a check for up to $800. That’s not a tax credit that would just decrease this years tax receipts, that’s cash out of the treasury, cash that isn’t there to spend. How will the government finance this? More borrowing from our foreign friends? The answer is simple- future generations of Americans- our children and their children- will bear the burden of this ultimately futile give-away. The government will get the money from somewhere-hell, they may just print some more currency and inject it into the system (which of course would make the dollar worth even less, making the “stimulus” part of the plan null and void at the gate)-and our progeny will have to pay. It’s just another play now, pay never kind of scheme that politicians love to pull out, because everyone feels good today and they get to say they did something helpful. The ‘pay never’ part means that they (the politicians) and the benefactors (today’s taxpayers) will be dead long before the debt borrowed for the “stimulus” is paid off.

To recap so far- THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T HAVE $145 BILLION TO GIVE YOU. DO YOU REALLY WANT THEM TO SHACKLE YOUR KIDS’ FUTURE EARNINGS SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE AN EXTRA $800 RIGHT NOW? DON’T YOU LOVE YOUR KIDS???

Secondly, who really benefits from this “stimulus” package anyway? Well, ostensibly, every taxpayer will get a check from the government. Then there are tax breaks for businesses, so they can

“make major investments in their enterprises this year. Giving them an incentive to invest now will encourage business owners to expand their operations, create new jobs, and inject new energy into our economy in the process. ” -Bush, 1-18-08

The Democrats want an extension on unemployment benefits too. So far, both parties are embracing the worst element of the plan, the cash give-away. They are using the tax breaks for businesses and the social program extensions as bargaining chips so that each side can claim they did more. So at first glance, it seems that the beneficiaries of the “stimulus” plan would be Americans who pay taxes, maybe businesses, and maybe the unemployed somehow. While this may look good- after all every one benefits, right?-it is really just smoke and mirrors. The whole point of an economic stimulus plan is to stimulate the economy, but we don’t need stimulus. We need reform. The game of borrowing, shifting, bribing, and pandeirng is what got us to where we are- well, that and a bunch of spend-thrift dunces running the show-and this plan seeks to solve the problem using the same tried and failed strategies. “Give ‘em a bunch of cash and they’ll forget how bad things are for a bit,” seems to be the political strategy of the day.

So who are the real benefactors of this “stimulus” plan? Well, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke gives it all away.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke entered the stimulus debate Thursday, appearing before the House Budget Committee to endorse the idea of putting money — as soon as possible — into the hands of those who would spend it quickly and boost the flagging economy.

Especially important is making sure a plan can put cash into the hands of poor people and the middle class, who are most likely to spend it right away, he said, though the Fed chairman added that research shows affluent people also spend some of their rebates. -AP

Gee Ben, why don’t you just have the government send all that money directly to the business community and cut the middle man out altogether? I mean, how can $800 really help anyone, except for the Chinese who make all the crap that they hope you will buy at Wal-Mart, or the oil barons and shieks if we use the money as the president contends, “to help meet their monthly bills, cover higher costs at the gas pump, or pay for other basic necessities.” Sure you could rush out and spend the cash on things you don’t need, or you could pay off a bill, maybe two, or maybe your $800 will help cover the overdue mortgage for one more month, thus forestalling the foreclosure man for another day. But beyond that first month, what kind of stimulus benefit does this really create? None at all. And if you believe that it will you should have your head examined. You’ve fallen for more of Bush’s fuzzy math.

Recap so far-THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T HAVE THE MONEY TO GIVE AWAY. IF YOU LIKE THIS PLAN, YOU DON’T LOVE YOUR KIDS. $800 WON’T MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF MOST PEOPLE ANYWAY-AT BEST IT WILL PAY OFF SOME CREDITOR OR END UP IN THE WAL-MART SAVINGS ACCOUNT. IF YOU THINK THIS PLAN WILL HELP OUR ECONOMY MUST BE A POLITICIAN.

Finally, since these “economic stimuli” are all aimed at taxpayers, the working poor and others at the lowest rungs of economic society get no “stimulus” at all, and these are the folks whose lives would most greatly be impacted by a cash infusion. $800 could rent a warm room, or maybe get a little extra food into the kids’ bellies for a change. It could provide comfort for a short time to someone who really needed it. But, nah, those people, many who are employed full time at several part-time minimum wage jobs and thus have no federal income tax bill don’t need help, right? They don’t pay taxes anyhow, right?

Final recap- THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T HAVE $145 BILLION TO BEGIN WITH. YOUR KIDS MEAN LESS TO YOU THAN A NEW FLATSCREEN TV. THE $800 IS REALLY JUST A BRIBE TO YOU AND A GIFT TO BUSINESSES WHO ALREADY HAVE ALL THE MONEY. YOU LOVE POLITICIANS WHO WILL SELL YOUR CHILDREN INTO BONDAGE. STIMULUS IS THE BIGGEST WORD GEORGE BUSH KNOWS. ANYONE WHO LIKES THIS PLAN HATES THE POOR AS MUCH AS THEY HATE THEIR OWN KIDS.

So there you are happy campers. The economic “stimulus” plan that promises to keep things as they are, that is, in the shadows and out of control. A plan that does nothing to address the reasons why our economy is a shambles and does nothing to change the status quo. It is less than a band-aid on a machete wound. It is pandering to the public. And it a a complete bipartisan failure. I’ll leave with a few quotes…

“What he believes is that we’ve got to do something that is robust. It’s going to be temporary and get money into the economy quickly,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday on CBS’s “The Early Show.” “It’s going to be focused on consumers, individuals, families — putting money in their pocket. And it’s going to be focused on giving businesses the incentive to hire people, to create jobs.”

Government must “spend the money, invest the resources, give the tax relief in a way that again injects demand into the economy, puts it in the hands of those who need it most and into the middle class … so that we can create jobs.” -Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives

“Putting money into the hands of households and firms that would spend it in the near term” is a priority. -Ben Bernanke, Chariman of the Federal Reserve

Here’s $800 bucks. Go create a job for someone this week-someone in China that is.

“By passing an effective growth package quickly, we can provide a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy.” George W. Bush, President of the U.S.A.

Fundamentally strong economy? Healthy? Shot in the arm? Can anyone say “delusional?”

All this will come to pass though, and the underlying problems will be papered over like yesterdays fish. And the hole will get bigger my friends, the hole will get bigger. Without fundamental reform and political restraint there will be no economic reform, only more economic tomfoolery. Without individual restraint and without a solid employment base, there will be no economic growth for the vast majority of Americans.

Enjoy your rebate, brought to you by Fuzzy Math Incorporated.

(cross posted at Common Sense)

As I sat and listened to the Idiot-in-Chief, I wondered if he actually believed what he said or just hopes to hell that we believe it.

He wants the tax cuts for the top one percent to be made permanent, but the ones he is outlining for the rest of America should only be a one-time deal.

Of course the following part really jacked my jaw: Folks at the extreme bottom of the economic rung shouldn’t get squat..because that is considered welfare.

Fark you Frat boy.

Here it is, what the Jackass-in-Chief wants and what lies and half-truths he spewed. Some lowlights:

The economic team reports that our economy has a solid foundation, but that there are areas of real concern. Our economy is still creating jobs, though at a reduced pace. Consumer spending is still growing, but the housing market is declining. Business investment and exports are still rising, but the cost of imported oil has increased.-Ok, the December report on how American’s spent their money showed it was in the toilet, the worst since 1991. The New York Times stated: Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a bulwark against recession over the last year even as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to slow sharply at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy.

Sorry Bush, but your full of bat guano on that first point right out of the box. The way the government fixes it’s statistics on job growth have been crap for years. Too many variables that should be included in that statistic aren’t.

Wages are stagnant and good paying jobs disappear while the income of the top one percent of Americans that don’t actually work for a living and that love their stocks and hedge funds has continued to grow. To say we are growing and jobs are being created might be true..but what is the average wage of those ‘new’ jobs? The NYT article linked above shows how the lifestyles of average American’s has changed drastically:

One consequence is an upending of the traditional pattern, in which middle-aged children take in an elderly parent. As $15-an-hour factory jobs are replaced by $7- or $8-an-hour retail jobs, more men in their 30s and 40s are moving in with their parents or grandparents, said Cheryl Thiessen, the director of Jackson/Vinton Community Action, which runs medical, fuel and other aid programs in Jackson and Vinton Counties.

The Economic Policy Institute, EPI tells you and shows you graphs and charts on how wages have suffered for the working part of America:

With the release of today’s consumer price index for December—up 0.3% for the month and 4.1% for 2007—we can now examine how real hourly and weekly earnings did over the course of last year (comparing this December to last December).

As shown in Figure 1, both hourly and weekly earnings fell in 2007, a sharp reversal from the gains in 2006. After growing by about 2% in 2006, both hourly and weekly earnings fell, after adjusting for inflation, by about 1% last year.

More from The Shrub’s speechifying:Passing a new growth package is our most pressing economic priority. When that is done, Congress must turn to the most important economic priority for our country, and that’s making sure the tax relief that is now in place is not taken away. A source of uncertainty in our economy is that this tax relief is set to expire at the end of 2010. Unless Congress acts, the American people will face massive tax increases in less than three years. The marriage penalty will make a comeback; the child tax credit will be cut in half; the death tax will come back to life; and tax rates will go up on regular income, capital gains, and dividends. -Notice that he really wants to keep those on top of the foodchain safe, but not anyone else. God forbid their taxes go back up in the form of capital gains, dividends and the estate tax.

For the 99% of American’s that actually work for a living, their income isn’t growing like the income for the wealthy at the top of the economic food chain. From the latest data that is complete:

From 2003 to 2004, the average incomes of the bottom 99 percent of households grew by less than 3 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In contrast, the average incomes of the top one percent of households experienced a jump of more than 18 percent, after adjusting for inflation. (Census data show that real median income fell between 2003 and 2004. Average income is pulled up by gains at the top of the income spectrum; much of the 2.3 percent rise among the bottom 99 percent seems to largely reflects gains by households in the top decile of the income spectrum. In contrast, trends in median income capture the experience of households in the middle of the income spectrum.)

The top one percent of households (those with annual incomes above about $315,000 in 2004) garnered 53 percent of the income gains in 2004.(emphasis mine)

Sadly the reality is..it’s worse than that. The CBPP explained that the enormous gains at the top of the income foodchain caused a rise of income as a whole. But average income dropped between 2003 and 2004, and has not risen appreciably since then. In short, while the top one percent get richer, the middle class is shrinking, as economist Paul Krugman pointed out in a speech earlier this year:

By the time World War II was over, we had become the middle-class society that the baby boomers in this audience grew up in. We had become a much more equal society. That high degree of equality began to go away — depending on exactly which numbers you look at — during the late 70’s, maybe a little earlier than that. And at this point we’re basically back to pre-tax and transfer to the levels of inequality that we had in 1929.

What happened in 1929? The Stock Market crashed and burned.

The final blurb from our Frat Boy in the White House: In a vibrant economy, markets rise and decline. We cannot change that fundamental dynamic. As a matter of fact, eliminating risk altogether would also eliminate the innovation and productivity that drives the creation of jobs and wealth in America. Yet there are also times when swift and temporary actions can help ensure that inevitable market adjustments do not undermine the health of the broader economy. This is such a moment.

I don’t really want to call our Decider-in-Chief a delusional moron or better yet a lying sack of crap, but if that shoe fits… you hold him down and I will stick it on his foot, while I put the other one where the sun doesn’t shine, otherwise known as his behind.

George W. Bush is already known for having more contempt for the environment than any previous president. He makes Ronald Reagan look like a starry-eyed hippie gazing at a redwood forest. It’s probably redundant to even talk about his latest assaults on wildlife. It’s like saying David Duke is a racist, or Grover Norquist hates people who work for a living.

But every time you think Bush couldn’t possibly do anything else to the environment — couldn’t possibly become any more of a douchebag — he does.

Bush has singlehandedly overturned a federal court ruling. I didn’t know he was a judge. Did you? A federal court had ruled that the U.S. Navy has to follow certain precautions so that their high-power sonar equipment doesn’t damage marine life. Bush said Nuh Uh.

We’re fighting a War on Tur; we don’t have time to get all touchy-feely about whales and porpoises. An al Qaeda submarine might sneak past the U.S. Navy and stage another 9/11 attack. Uh, that word again was: 9/11.

Also, Bush’s Interior Department has abandoned efforts to save the few remaining Jaguars in southern New Mexico and Arizona. If any of these areas near the U.S.-Mexican border were designated as critical habitat for Jaguars, it might jeopardize our brand spankin’ new border fence. And we need that border fence. We’ve got hordes of dark-skinned savages pouring into our country from Mexico and you’re getting all maudlin over a few Jaguars?

We have 367 more days of this asshole stenching up the White House. (Or if you’re in the military, that’s 366 and a wakeup.) Whoever takes his place has to be an improvement.

Good question. Here’s an article that can unpack the answer for you:

An intriguing new study suggests the answer is not so clear-cut. Although it’s impossible to calculate the pain that terrorist attacks inflict on victims and society, when statisticians look at cold numbers, they have variously estimated the chances of the average person dying in America at the hands of international terrorists to be comparable to the risk of dying from eating peanuts, being struck by an asteroid or drowning in a toilet.

But worrying about terrorism could be taking a toll on the hearts of millions of Americans. The evidence, published last week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, comes from researchers who began tracking the health of a representative sample of more than 2,700 Americans before September 2001. After the attacks of Sept. 11, the scientists monitored people’s fears of terrorism over the next several years and found that the most fearful people were three to five times more likely than the rest to receive diagnoses of new cardiovascular ailments.

Could it be that all of the W, Rove and Co fear mongering to push their War Machine forward has done more damage to the People of America than Al Queda could have done or dreamed of? I think the answer to that is a “You bethcya.” How do we hold the President accountable for that?

While all the politicians including the Hack in Chief of the United States are finally noticing that the economy is in a free fall the latest news everywhere is not enlightening on how to fix it. While one political party is calling for more tax cuts for the middle and upper classes the other is presenting tax cuts for the middle and lower classes. Stimulus tax cuts they call them. In a realistic world they would be called one layer of gauze tape to stop the bleeding of a lost limb.

Our nation is being bled dry not by outside influences but by our own behaviors as a nation. Rather than facing our worst fears we point out who is to blame and then head on over to Walmart or any other super store to save a few dollars on our household needs. It may not be fair to single out Walmart alone simply because every store you go into for any product your family needs and it has become increasingly harder to find products that are actually “Made in the U.S.A.”. Which should also mean made here and not just packaged here. All of the manufacturing jobs that used to make that tooth brush or that nail clipper or toaster are gone. Walmart is hiring part time workers though so you can make minimum wage being a greeter or cashier.

There is an enormous difference between a manufacturing wage and a retail wage. Huge difference! Our nations middle class economy is based in the manufacturing sector and when that is sold out to Wall Street and jobs shipped overseas, it tends to have a negative effect on local economies all across America.

Free markets without controls and rules are dangerous as ignored by the former majority political party and the latest reporting of the mega banks writing off hundreds of billions in foreclosed mortgages is outrageous. Without clearly written government rules, the industry of home lending is imploding on itself with bad loans for people that could not afford them to begin with and it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Greed will do that in a pyramid scheme when you leave the next guy holding the bad loan bag.

“We’re facing a recession in the economy,” Clinton told a predominantly black church outside of Los Angeles. “I know it’s already arrived.” - New York Times

“We don’t know whether we are already in a technical definition of a recession, but what I know from traveling all across the country is families have been struggling for a long time — even prior to the sub-prime lending crisis,” Obama said in San Francisco. - New York Times

John Edwards… We have to strengthen and grow the middle class, which is struggling mightily in this country today. And one of the reasons that we’ve lost jobs, we’re having trouble creating jobs, we’re having trouble growing & strengthening the middle class is because corporate power and greed have literally taken over the government. - On the Issues.org

Instead of a “Stimulus Tax Cut” lets look at the highest affect of the economy and largest creator of the American recession. Oil prices. Everything in your personal life is bound to the price of oil even if you are a new born child. All of the food on your table has a transportation cost to get it to the market and then to your refrigerator. I won’t even start on plastic products which are all oil based. You are not alone when you think that three bags of groceries should not cost fifty dollars when it was twenty less than six years ago. Transportation cost are passed on to the consumer in every industry product on the open market except the ones coming from China? They may now call it Black China as an accounting term rather than a political one. Government supports in China make the products the cheapest in the world and the cheapest on the shelf here in America.

Instead of a tax cut, we should urge our government leaders to propose a Legal Aid for America. awyers with a free will to go get them attitude with a government badge. How many of the best legal minds in America would sign up for a commission basis result of prosecuting market manipulation in the oil markets from any sector. We could call it the Green Beret’s of the Justice Department and just the site of any single one of them in the lobby of any Wall Street firm or Big Oil companies front office would set off the sprinklers in the CEO’s pants. Prices at the pump would drop and so would the preposterous ten and twenty billion dollar quarterly profits reported by the largest of oil companies. Not to mention the hundred million dollar bonuses for the top of the top on Wall Street every single year.

We need strong leaders and a strong legal arm of the government that is not beholding to the President no matter who it is. Our economy is being sucked down the drain because the friends of this current President are at the end of the money pipeline with his time left in office.

It was rather ironic that recently the most powerful man in the free world was forced to beg and kiss the ring of the King of Saudi Arabia to open the spigots to relieve the world oil supply needs after being rebuked by the King’s Oil Minister. Now that tells you who is really running the world doesn’t it.

Then of course there is the bleeding of our treasury to fight a war that has no end in the Middle East. Our nation is sending so much money into this endless pit that it has become an addiction of pride rather than an admission of the truth. Can’t fix it, won’t ever be fixed, and the people that live there don’t want it fixed. And yet the American people are screwed by the King of America and the King of Saudi Arabia.

I know that I personally thank our President in my own special way every time I fill up my tank. How about you? Do you feel no longer like an American and just another money chip on the political poker game table? If you do then voting now is more important than ever.

Papamoka

Feel free to link to or steal this post…

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk

Please don’t think for a minute that I am a large conspiracy enthusiast but something really smelled funny about the Democrat primary Results in New Hampshire. I have many friends in the Granite State and they were all going for the “Babe Magnet” Kucinich. If you have ever seen his wife Elizabeth Kucinich, then you would understand our New England flannel wearing appreciation of any beautiful woman not wearing Long John’s under the flannels at this time of year.There is no way Kucinich only received less than two percent of the vote. I’m thinking that his wife alone received more votes than that!

N.H. Primary Democratic Re-Count Under Way

CONCORD, N.H. (WBZ) ― Secretary of State William Gardner says his office is ready for Wednesday’s re-count of New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary.

Democrat Dennis Kucinich has paid $27,000 to Gardner’s office to start the re-count. Election officials tell WBZ-TV that the recount could take up to a month.

Kucinich, who received less than 2 percent of the vote, says he is suspicious of the results, although he doesn’t expect a re-count to change his vote count much. Kucinich alluded to online reports alleging disparities around the state between hand-counted ballots, which tended to favor Sen. Barack Obama, and machine-counted ones that tended to favor Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also noted the difference between pre-election polls, which indicated Obama would win, and Clinton’s triumph by a 39 percent to 37 percent margin. - WBZ TV

I might not have had the right thoughts on this one but I’m thinking Dennis Kucinich doesn’t trust Hillary’s win because she was never spotted wearing of the checkered flannel’s. On the local news they are expecting the hand count to change the results for Kucinich but there is the possibility that the anti flannel wearing grass roots vote was hijacked. Some people are talking about masked militants wearing Hillary for Pres’ buttons forcing them at the polls to cover up before they voted. I’m sure that the extra set of mittens that they were forced to wear into the voting booth could have manipulated the vote. It’s not easy voting with one set of mittens on and two is definitely vote tampering.

Props to Congressman Kucinich on this recount for unselfish reasons. Now that is integrity.

Bumper Sticker Alert!

“Monica Lewinsky‘s X-Boyfriend’s Wife for President” I was laughing my butt off when I got this one in an email today. I wish I knew the original author so I could thank them for this one.

Papamoka

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk