(the will of the people... - promoted by poligirl)
WashingtonPost.com'sDaily Politics Discussion Perry Bacon Jr. - Washington Post National Political Reporter
Feb 25, 2009
Richmond: Every time Obama or Geithner speaks, the markets retreat. ...
But the bigger fear: he does have a philosophy. But it's a fairly Socialist philosophy that wouldn't go down well with the American people if he was overt about it.
Oregon, to my knowledge, is one of two states without a sales tax. For years a small group of Oregonians has suggested that we adopt some sort of consumption tax, and recently this has included Democrats like now Congressman Kurt Schrader, and State Senator Rick Metsger, and also Republicans like State Representative Scott Bruun and State Senator Frank Morse. They argue that Oregon needs a more stable tax base, because in of situations like that we have today, in which we went from one year having a big surplus and increasing the education budget to a record level, to the next year facing a budget deficit of possibly 2.2 billion dollars, a big chunk of the budget.
(on those pesky "entitlements" (right wing word...) - promoted by poligirl)
Barack Obama went there! -- Oh yes he did!
He's touching the "3rd Rail of politics" ... Entitlements Overhaul ...
Conservatives will no doubt have a field day with this Obama "Trial Balloon"
(and I would guess Progressives, had to do a double take, with they heard this, too)
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up 42 percent of the federal budget, providing a vital baseline of income and health security to millions of Americans. They are the symbols of government's social compact with its citizens. But a retiring baby boom generation and steady increases in health care costs are placing the programs on a potentially unsustainable course.
If Obama wants to curtail government spending by tampering with entitlements, he will be venturing into one of Washington's most vexing political problems. Depending on what he attempts to do and when he does it, it would test his political skills and potentially risk the political well-being of lawmakers from his own party.
...
One Obama economic official said the president-elect will confront rising entitlement costs first by attempting to control health care spending - the premier factor driving increases in Medicare and Medicaid. Health care was a significant campaign issue, especially during the Democratic Party primaries. Obama has proposed a $50 billion to $65 billion health care plan that would be paid by rolling back tax cuts for taxpayers who make more than $250,000 a year. He has put former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle in charge, giving him dual responsibility as secretary of health and human services and director of a new White House office on health reform.
(Braley was an Edwards guy and boy do we need a populist caucus! :D - promoted by poligirl)
Just a quick hit to let the Progressive Blue community know that Congressman Bruce Braley (D, IA-01) is forming a new Populist Caucus.
Matt Stoller has the Dear Colleague letter Braley is circulating. The Populist Caucus will focus on tax, wage, employment, health care, education, consumer protection and fair trade policies to benefit working families and the middle class.
This is one of those moments when I feel like I live in la-la land. It's possible that I am insane, stark-raving mad and delusional. Either that or there is a staggering moral obscenity underway in our country. We have plenty of money to fund what needs to be done--but our political leaders, on both sides of the aisle, seem unwilling to go where the money is: the rich. I know where Republicans stand on this issue. But, where in the hell is the Democratic Party?
While everyone was focusing on the fate of the bailout plan this week, the federal government's debt passed the $10 trillion mark with hardly anyone noticing. Of course, the bailout plan insures that this debt will climb even higher as there is specific language in the bailout plan authorizing the federal government to raise the debt limit and borrow up to $840 billion to fund the bailout.
Biden calls paying higher taxes a patriotic act WASHINGTON - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. The Republican campaign for president calls the tax increases their Democratic opponents propose "painful" instead of patriotic.
Under the economic plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, people earning more than $250,000 a year would pay more in taxes while those earning less - the vast majority of American taxpayers - would receive a tax cut.
"We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Noting that wealthier Americans would indeed pay more, Biden said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."
Nothing should surprise Progressives anymore. The last few decades have seen countless billions of dollars in Corporate Welfare. They have seen several Free Trade Deals that have allowed Corporations to outsource high-paying union jobs to third world countries where they can pay pennies on the dollar for labor. They have seen Corporations fight tooth-and-nail against fair wages and benefits for the American worker. Yes, Corporate America has had plenty of defenders in our government, and have achieved much at the expense of us all.
We continue to hear from the strains of Right Wing Hate Radio programming to the musings in conservative rags such as the Washington Times that the media has a Liberal Bias to the stories they cover.
The Neo-Con's whine and cry and complain that the New York Times (to a conservative, synonymous with George Soros' personal newspaper), CNN, The Washington Post, USA Today, BBC News, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and on and on, are nothing more than the mouthpieces of the dangerous liberal movement in our country! The Wingnut set decries these media outlets for only giving us one side, TEH LIBERAL SIDE, of any story.
We continue to roll on here in our quest to find the liberal bias in the so-called Liberal Media outlets. We've been to The Peoples Republic of CNN, we have viewed the writings in The George Soros New York Times and lastly we sailed across the great Atlantic divide to take on the DNC-BBC right there in jolly-old-England.
So far, ....nothing! Not unlike weapons of mass destrcution in Iraq, no liberal bias was found. How can that be?!?
Today we will go where NO KONSERVATIVE has gone before and have a look at the most hated of Liberal News Outlets, NPR (aka National Public Progressive Radio).
The wingers hate this news outlet more than any other, due to the fact that not only does some of THEIR tax money go into paying for NPR, but NPR to them is the one place on radio that everyone can access talk radio without having to listenen to Right Wing Hate Radio. It really pisses them off!
In their attempt to justify why the world's largest oil companies are making record profits - and why, personally, the CEO's of these companies are making record salaries - the executives in charge of the world's biggest oil companies came to Capitol Hill to spin, spin, spin the old yarn that this is all, exclusively, about supply and demand:
Malone's remarks were echoed by John Hofmeister, president of Shell.
"The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work," said Hofmeister. The market is squeezed by exporting nations managing demand for their own interest and other nations subsidizing prices to encourage economic growth, he said.
In addition, Hofmeister said access to resources in the United States has been limited for the past 30 years. "I agree, it's not a free market," he said.
No other than Eric Bolling of Fox News disagrees with this simplistic view of reality that is a poorly disguised political ploy to push for drilling in ANWAR:
