Two Big Things Happen At GM – And Both Are Good Things

A Rare Success Story in the American Economy

When calmer, rational and intelligent news reporting takes over from the current slobs who write for the media they will marvel at the tremendous success the government had in its bailout and saving of the auto industry in general and GM in particular.  The government has just sold its last remaining shares of GM stock (the reputation of Mr. Obama as a closet socialist taking a big hit.  The loss on the entire deal was about $10 billion, which sounds like a lot but as a cost of saving an entire industry, just about nothing.

The company has done spectacularly well, primarily because the government let it be run without interference.

As CEO, Akerson presided over a stunning transformation. GM has gone from nearly disappearing to 15 consecutive quarters of profitability. It expects to sell more than 10 million cars this year. It offers an electric car, the Volt, with an onboard generator that cures “range anxiety.” The 2014 Impala has been picked byConsumer Reports as best car of the year. Yes, the Impala. China is now its biggest market.

And now GM has announced that a woman will be taking over as CEO of the company.

Just a day after the U.S. Treasury Department sold the last of its interest in General Motors (GM), Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson, in a surprise to many, has announced his retirement. And the board chose Mary Barra (whom Tim Higgins profiled for Bloomberg Businessweek in June) to run the company.

So what do we know about Ms. Barra?  Well without any investigation or even knowing she existed we can say that she is highly, highly qualified for the job.  Why can we say that?  Because she is a woman, and in order for a woman to rise to the top job in GM she would have to be far more capable than any man.  That’s the only way a woman would be considered, even in this day and age.

Republican Senator and 2016 Presidential Candidate Rand Paul Wants to Increase the Misery and Depredation for the Unemployed.

Are Conservatives Really This Mean? – Apparently So

The budget negotiations to set federal spending and avoid any more shutdowns for a while are completed and awaiting approval, and one of the issues was extension of unemployment benefits.  Here is the incredible statements of Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican Senator who is actually considered a serious Presidential contender.

Democratic attempts to extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million workers were a "disservice" to the unemployed, Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday.

"I support unemployment benefits for the 28 weeks they're paid for," the Kentucky Republican said on "Fox News Sunday." "If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers."

Wow, paying unemployment benefits to the long term unemployed, paying them money to put food on the table, pay the mortgage, make the car payments so they can drive to job interviews is doing them a disservice.

Rand Paul of course grew up in relative prosperity, his daddy had a great paying government job so no problems for Rand Paul.  But one can hope that after the 2016 election he will be unemployed.  And while he will not need unemployment benefits to keep the wolf from the door, maybe the experience will give him some small dose of compassion and sympathy.  We doubt it though, a man as cruel and mean as Rand Paul, a man who want to punish the unemployed rather than help them is probably immune to any attack of decency.

Just In – President Obama Shakes Hands With Cuban Leader Raul Castro and World Does Not End

Conservatives Aghast At Failure of Universe to Collapse

Whatever else can be said about the U. S. policy towards Cuba, there is one thing that everyone can agree upon.  It hasn’t worked.  The goal of U. S. policy towards this small, rather internationally insignificant island nation was to get rid of Fidel Castro and his brother.  This policy has been in place for about 50 years.  The result, the Castro’s still control the government of Cuba.

Obviously a different policy was needed decades ago, but politics prevented that form happening.  Any change in policy would have brought forth the “soft on communism” charge from politicians of both parties and both ideologies.  So nothing has changed in 50 years and the misery of the Cuban people has endured, along with the failed U. S. policy.

Of course people like John McCain, who is probably a member of a small minority that supports military action against Cuba (McCain supports military action against everyone) still support the old, failed policy.  So when Mr. Obama had the temerity to shake hands with current Cuban leader Raul Castro, this was the result.

McCain On Obama-Castro Handshake: 'Chamberlain Shook Hands With Hitler' 

Classy act John, real classy. 

The Opponents of the Agreement with Iran Exhibit Moral, Political and Intellectual Cowardice – Opposition Without Providing an Alternative

Incredibly, George Will Has the Correct Position

Let’s see, the purpose of economic sanctions against Iran was to get that nation to stop enriching uranium to the level necessary to build a nuclear weapon and to get them to the bargaining table.  Last month Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium to the level necessary to build a nuclear weapon and agreed to engage in further bargaining to reach a permanent solution.

Wow, no wonder politicians in both parties are aghast and horrified. 

Of course political points can be made by Democrats and Republicans alike in opposing the deal.  Democrats can show that they are not ‘softies’ and Republicans can continue to appease the base by being opposed to each and everything proposed by the Obama administration.  And because the media does not hold politicians accountable for their folly, these politicians can take the position of opposing the deal without offering the slightest alternative.

Really, what do they expect if sanctions are made more stringent?  Do they really think Iran will stop enriching uranium altogether, that such a position is even politically possible in Iran.  Some of course want war, some always want war particularly if the war can be fought by OPC, Other People’s Children. 

Incredibly, Washington Post columnist George Will, a man who is usually either wrong on an issue or incoherent, and sometimes both, has the right stance.  Quoting and supporting author Kenneth Pollack, he argues for containment of Iran, the same way the U. S. and its allies successfully contained the Soviet Union when it obtained nuclear capability.

The logic of nuclear deterrence has not yet failed in the 64 years since the world acquired its second nuclear power. This logic does not guarantee certainty, but, says Pollack, “the small residual doubt cannot be allowed to be determinative.” His basic point is: “Our choices are awful, but choose we must.” Containment is the least awful response to Iran’s coming nuclear capability.

The parallels to the Cold War and the issue of Iran are eerie.  In the 1950’s many people advocated that the U. S. engage in a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the Soviets, including British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, one of whose claims to fame was winning the Nobel Peace Prize (huh?)  Looking back, does anyone think that would have been the right moral, political and military policy?  Really, anyone?

Amsterdam Hires Alcoholics to Clean the City and Pays Them in Beer

Not Beer Money, Beer

Alcoholism is a serious disease, destroying the lives of those who have it and the lives of those associated with those who have it.  How to treat and deal with alcoholics is something that has puzzled civilizations ever since grapes were fermented.  The problem has still not been solved.

So it is with some interest that one learns that the city of Amsterdam (the Netherlands, not New York) has decided to hire alcoholics to clean the city and be paid in beer.  Not just a few beers, a lot of beer.

Jasper Juinen for The New York Times

A group of alcoholics in Amsterdam are given beer during breaks from their street-cleaning job.

The program, started last year by the Rainbow Foundation, a private but mostly government-funded organization that helps the homeless, drug addicts and alcoholics get back on their feet, is so popular that there is a long waiting list of chronic alcoholics eager to join the beer-fueled cleaning teams.

And here is how life is for one participant.

“You have to look sharp,” said Mr. Schiphorst, 60, a former construction worker.

His workday begins unfailingly at 9 a.m. — with two cans of beer, a down payment on a salary paid mostly in alcohol. He gets two more cans at lunch and then another can or, if all goes smoothly, two to round off a productive day.

Does this work?  Well anecdotal evidence is positive so far.

One of the project’s most enthusiastic supporters is Fatima Elatik, district mayor of eastern Amsterdam. As a practicing Muslim who wears a head scarf, Ms. Elatik personally disapproves of alcohol but says she believes that alcoholics “cannot be just ostracized” and told to shape up. It is better, she said, to give them something to do and restrict their drinking to a limited amount of beer with no hard alcohol.

Obviously this is controversial, and it is hard to work up a lot of enthusiasm for this solution.  But it is impossible to work up enthusiasm for the other solutions, because they seem to utterly fail with the exception of maybe AA.  So okay Amsterdam, let’s see what happens. 

Fighting Over the Farm Bill – Pigs Feeding at the Trough of Government Spending

Everyone – Just Part of the Greed for Federal Dollars

The Congress is trying to pass a new Farm Bill.  This is important, nutrition assistance is authorized in the Farm Bill and without that assistance millions of Americans will suffer.  But also a part of the Farm Bill is an enormous federal handout for agriculture, a handout that is no longer needed, desirable or even appropriate.

As the proposed legislation moves through the law making process, the competing interests are fighting among themselves for the billions in federal subsidies that conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans are all wanting to hand out.

The bad blood and distrust among farming interests are now exceptional. | AP Photo

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/farm-bill-intense-lobbying-agricultural-congress-100610.html#ixzz2mWCyd65x

As House-Senate talks resume Wednesday, the bad blood among rival commodity groups is becoming an embarrassment for farm bill advocates and a threat to getting legislation through Congress this winter.

Cotton and rice recently took a shot at corn and soybeans in a letter about proposed payment limits in both bills. Corn and beans went directly after House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) last week — threatening to kill the farm bill and seek a two-year extension that would run past his tenure as chairman.

What is also happening is a so called reform in the government’s support for agriculture.  The new program would heavily subsidize crop insurance, in effect guaranteeing the farming industry a profit at the expense of the tax payer.  Now federal support for agriculture is indeed warranted, IF THIS WERE 1935!  But today the agriculture industry is very stable, very profitable and has no more need for federal support than any other industry.

So why aren’t conservatives adamant in winding down the program?  Oh, they represent districts that benefit here, and if the choice is between being re-elected and standing up for principles, well we all know how that works out.

The Great Budget Crisis Ends (Probably) With a Whimper

A Terrible Deal – But About the Best That Could be Achieved

The appetite of the Republicans to shut down the government over the deficit and federal spending has been sated by their gorging on a shutdown in October.  And now they think, possibly erroneously of course, that they have a great issue in the software problems of ACA, so they don’t really need the deficit as a campaign issue.  The result, it looks like the two parties will reach an agreement on federal spending through the next two years.

House and Senate negotiators were putting the finishing touches Sunday on what would be the first successful budget accord since 2011, when the battle over a soaring national debtfirst paralyzed Washington.

The deal expected to be sealed this week on Capitol Hill would not significantly reduce the debt, now $17.3 trillion and rising. It would not close corporate tax loopholes or reform expensive health and retirement programs. It would not even fully replace sharp spending cuts known as the sequester, the negotiators’ primary target.

So what does this mean?  Well the best that can be said is that the drag of reduced government spending on the economy will not be too great, and the economy should continue to stumble towards a full recovery.  That recovery will have been much slower than it needed to be, thanks to Republicans blocking major stimulus and the Democrats designing an inadequate and ill defined stimulus.

Of course, Republicans may yet blow this, but right now it looks like a go.

The U. S. government – Not Quite as Bad As It Could Be - But  Awfully Close 

Gun Lobby Has Another Victory – 72 Year Old Alzheimer Sufferer Gunned Down

They Must Be High Fiving at the NRA

The argument for unlimited guns with no regulations is that people must be allowed to defend themselves.  Such was the case in Georgia where a gentleman with a Glock fired four shots at a 72 year old man suffering from dementia and gunned him down.

No one is sure how, in the frigid hours before dawn last Wednesday in this small north Georgia community near the Tennessee border, Mr. Westbrook ended up nearly three miles from home with a handful of other people’s mail, jiggling Joe Hendrix’s doorknob.

Mr. Hendrix, 34, stepped onto his porch with a Glock pistol in his hand and his fiancée inside on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. He fired four shots. One hit Mr. Westbrook in the chest.

And what is it that so frightened Mr. Hendrix that the had to shoot an unarmed elderly confused gentleman?

At least twice, Mr. Westbrook climbed onto the small porch, tried to open the door and rang the doorbell, Sheriff Wilson said. Dogs were barking. The police were called.

Yeah, that is surely enough cause to kill a man. And that will teach the elderly everywhere that they hv no right to suffer dementia and go wondering off threatening law abiding citizens by doing nothing threatening.   As for the gun lobby, surely they are ecstatic, it's what they believe should happen all the time.  Nobody should be able to go up on a stranger's porch and ring the doorbell without taking four shots from a Glock.

Obama Care Makes One Sick; Government Cooks the Books on Unemployment – Reporting the News as Right Wing Fantasy

Because That’s What Much of the Media Does

It turns out that honest reporting is pretty much passé these days.  Instead lazy and rather ignorant news organizations just play the ‘here’s what we think is the news, we didn’t bother to check’ card.  So in the spirit of that tradition here is the news of the day as it could be reported.

Labor Department Cheats on Unemployment

Statistics to Boost Obama

While the official report of unemployment released by the Labor Department has showed strong gains in the last three months, it turns out this is just a bogus set of numbers.  Career employees at Labor have deliberately concocted false numbers to help the popularity of President Obama.

In fact, the real numbers show that almost every American in the labor force was unemployed in November.

Mayo Clinic Finds People Are Getting Sick Because

Of Health Care Reform

While many health care professionals expect the full implementation of the ACA to result in healthier Americans, a secret report at the Mayo Clinic has determined that the health care act is a major carrier of disease.  Individuals and groups participating in Obama Care are all expected to contract horrible diseases and die.  A liberal conspiracy has managed to cover up these findings.

President Obama is Really an Iranian

A team of investigators has found that President Obama was actually born in Tehran and has been an Iranian citizen for most of his life.  The President apparently spread the false rumor that he was a Kenyan citizen in order to divert attention away from his true identity.  This explain the fact that he is a secret Muslim and is using the deal with Iran to allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and destroy Israel. 

Stock Market Plunges During Obama Term

Despite the fact that the Dow and S & P reached record levels recently, revised data on stock market prices actually shows that stock prices have fallen dramatically since Mr. Obama took office.  Corporate profits, while huge and growing have been much less than they would have been had George W. Bush remained in office.  Mitt Romney has said he knew this all along and did not use it during the campaign because he felt the left leaning media would have called him an idiot.

And in other headlines in right wing fantasy media world

Hilary Clinton Determined to Have Been a Witch in Salem

In a Previous Life – Was Burned at the Stake

Joe Biden Discovered to Have a Speech Impediment, Namely

His Brain (ok, maybe this is a true one)

Harry Reid, Democrats Continue to Hold False Belief that

Majority Rule is a Part of a Democracy

Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin Elected to the

Victims Hall of Fame (ok, that could also be true)

 Look for these and other stories in your favorite right wing publication or broadcast.

Airline Defense in Supreme Court Case – We Have No Requirement to be Fair and Reasonable

Another Case of Federal Regulatory Law Protecting the Regulated

The Supreme Court of the United States rarely has time to consider the appeals of death row inmates, appeals based on inadequate counsel, on prosecutorial misconduct, on the discovery of new evidence and the like.  After all, it’s not as if lives are at stake.

But the Supreme Court has found time to determine if Northwest Airlines, now a part of Delta, was legally remiss in kicking Rabbi Ginsburg out of its frequent flier program.  It seems their unhappiness with the Rabbi was this.

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg used to fly often enough on Northwest Airlines that he achieved Platinum Elite status, the highest level. But the airline revoked his membership in its frequent flier program in June 2008, saying he had abused it by making too many complaints and by booking himself on full flights in the hope of being bumped.

Now a reasonable person might question whether or not a person is able to book travel of full flights is not the fault of the airline, but anyone who has been exposed to air travel in the U. S. knows that the airlines take no responsibility for their booking systems anyway.  So the interesting part of the case is whether or not Rabbi Ginsberg’s claims have been pre-empted by Federal law.  The airline attorney says of course they have.

Paul D. Clement, a lawyer for the airline, said Rabbi Ginsberg “seeks to impose a duty of fair dealing and reasonableness” even though “the parties to the contract have essentially given one party absolute discretion.” That duty, he said, is a state policy pre-empted by the 1978 law.

Wow, the Rabbi seeks to require the airlines to deal fairly and reasonably.  What gall!  The amazing thing is not that the airlines do not think they have a duty of fair dealing and reasonableness, but that they are willing to admit that in court.  But of course having been granted virtual monopoly status over a vital service they can do anything they want to.  Any everyone expects the Supreme Court to ratify that right.

As for the rest of the population, everyone should take heed from the experiences of Rabbi Ginsberg.  No complaints people, you have no rights, you have nothing and if you don’t like it don’t fly. 

Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post Gets It Right on the Stock Market and the Economy

Are You Listening Wall Street?

Writing on economics in the Washington Post, Robert Samuelson (no relation to Paul) has a column that should be read by every single investor, and certainly by every single right wing capitalist that thinks basic economic policy that aspires to generate growth by increasing the income of the middle class is somehow a socialist/commie plot.

Mr. Samuelson documents the rise of the stock market during the tepid economic recovery,

At the end of November, reported Wilshire Associates, stocks were up nearly 30 percent for the year, representing a gain of about $4.8 trillion. From the market’s recent low in March 9, 2009, when the economy was in a tailspin, the increase has been 180 percent, or nearly $15 trillion. If you dislike this comparison, then measure the gain since the market’s pre-recession high on Oct. 9, 2007. The increase is 21.5 percent, or $4.2 trillion.

And he correctly diagnoses the driving force behind stock price increase, the huge growth in corporate profits.

Finally, growing profits explain much of the market’s increase. In theory, stock prices reflect present and future profits, and — despite a sluggish economy — corporate profits have increased impressively. By government figures, they’re up 39 percent from their 2006 pre-recession peak. Profit margins are near record levels, about 9.6 percent of corporate revenues, noted S&P’s Howard Silverblatt. Higher profits have kept a key stock market indicator — the price-earnings ratio — well within historical norms, found a study by theMcKinsey Global Institute, the consulting company’s research arm.

But his real contribution is this.

What’s clearer is that stocks and the “real economy” of jobs and production have become disconnected — and that this cannot continue indefinitely. There are practical limits to how much companies can improve profits without stronger economic growth and higher sales. If these don’t materialize, we may discover that the market is not a bubble but a blob that goes nowhere quickly.

That’s right, unless the economy grows the long term growth of the stock market will stop.  And unless growth is restored to low and middle income Americans, whose consumption drives investment and economic growth, the economy will not grow.  And unless policies are developed and implemented that stimulate the growth in income for those groups the very investors who think they can win by making low and middle income families losers will themselves be losers.  In short, policy to continue to skew the distribution of income towards the wealthy will be a lose-lose proposition.  

Get a Few Stitches, Get Charged Thousands of Dollars – When Will the U. S. Realize the Economics of Its Health Care System Are Broken

Well Somebody Has to Make an Obscene Profit

The problems with the U. S. health care system go far beyond the problems with Health Care Reform, which presumably will be fixed as soon as those in charge realize how big systems work.  The problems with the U. S. health care system is costs, not ACA.  And ACA will do little to reduce costs, because a fee for service system is built to increase costs, not reduce them.

So no one should be surprised when the New York Times found out that a simple visit to a hospital to get some stitches costs thousands of dollars.

Chelsea Manning in St. Clair, Mich., in November. She tripped and fell in the driveway of her home, and needed six stitches for which she was billed close to $3,000.Joshua Lott for The New York Times

On a quiet Saturday in May, nurses in blue scrubs quickly ushered the two patients into treatment rooms. The wounds were cleaned, numbed and mended in under an hour. “It was great — they had good DVDs, the staff couldn’t have been nicer,” said Emer Duffy, Orla’s mother.

Then the bills arrived. Ms. Singh’s three stitches cost $2,229.11. Orla’s forehead was sealed with a dab of skin glue for $1,696. “When I first saw the charge, I said, ‘What could possibly have cost that much?’ ” recalled Ms. Singh. “They billed for everything, every pill.”

Here is the gross, in every way, summary.

A day spent as an inpatient at an American hospital costs on average more than $4,000, five times the charge in many other developed countries, according to theInternational Federation of Health Plans, a global network of health insuranceindustries. The most expensive hospitals charge more than $12,500 a day. And at many of them, including California Pacific Medical Center, emergency rooms are profit centers. That is why one of the simplest and oldest medical procedures — closing a wound with a needle and thread — typically leads to bills of at least $1,500 and often much more.

The Republican solution, a market based pricing system where consumers buy based on price is, of course, ridiculous.  No parent is going to shop around for the best price while their child needs stitches, and even if they do they cannot get pricing information anyway.

At Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, Daniel Diaz, 29, a public relations executive, was billed $3,355.96 for five stitches on his finger after cutting himself while peeling an avocado. At a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., Arch Roberts Jr., 56, a former government employee, was charged more than $2,000 for three stitches after being bitten by a dog. At Mercy Hospital in Port Huron, Mich., Chelsea Manning, 22, a student, received bills for close to $3,000 for six stitches after she tripped running up a path. Insurers and patients negotiated lower prices, but those charges were a starting point.

That’s right the price is not even the price.  What is the price?  We don’t know.  Hospital keep that info confidential. 

None of this will change until the economics of the system change.  We economists know this, we just don’t know why the rest of the population doesn’t know this.  We do know that the medical profession knows this, which is why they will fight any change. 

Conservatives in Texas Question Adoption of Mathematics Book That Asserts 2 + 2 Equals 4

“That’s Liberal Nonsense” One Member of the Approval Board Said, "and Results in High School Students Engaging in Coed Calculus"

The state of Texas, or at least the politicians from the far right are determined to take the state 65 MPH down the road of ignorance.  And while the objections to teaching actual science are well documented,

Texas Education Board Flags Biology Textbook Over Evolution Concerns

 

The Texas Board of Education on Friday delayed final approval of a widely used biology textbook because of concerns raised by one reviewer that it presents evolution as fact rather than theory.

The monthslong textbook review process in Texas has been controversial because a number of people selected this year to evaluate publishers’ submissions do not accept evolution or climate change as scientific truth.

a fight against basic math is also taking place. 

In news that didn’t happen, recently the same folks who object to teaching science are using those same objections to prevent the adoption of math texts for elementary schools that include such things as the multiplication tables. 

“Show me a multiplication table in the Bible” proclaimed one of the members of the approval board appointed by Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry “and then I will vote to allow that book in our schools.  Multiplication tables are just another tool of the devil, who wants to direct our children away from the true religion and into the religion of arithmetic.  And everyone knows, once students are indoctrinated by arithmetic the next step is algebra.  And algebra leads to calculus.  No decent parents want their children engaging in calculus.”

The same group has also moved to ban both the metric system and the English system of measurements from the state. 

“Cubits were good enough for Noah and you don’t need no educatin beyond the 3^rd grade to unnnerstan that” a young woman was quoted as saying.

Feel Safe From Gun Violence While Getting on an Airplane? Think Again

Congress Fails to Bank Non-Detectable Guns Made from 3-D Printers

Memo to Al Qaeda  - Please Stop Laughing

A law than bans the manufacture of guns that cannot be detected by airport security systems seems uncontroversial.  In fact the only controversial thing about it is that it has a term limit, and must be renewed every now and then.  In the past this has not been an issue, even the gun lobby is somewhat afraid of getting on an airplane where other passengers have a bunch of guns.

In the past, renewing the Undetectable Firearms Act, as the law is known, has been a largely noncontroversial move. It first passed in 1988 and was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan; Congress has renewed it twice since.

But technology has changed.  It is now possible to make a gun with a 3D printer that can have its metal part removed, rendering the gun undetectable by airport security.  Reasonable people want to ban that.

Democrats in the Senate tried to renew it before the Thanksgiving recess with a simple one-year extension, hoping they could use the coming year to pass the 3-D printing provisions.

As the law is currently written, manufacturers of 3-D printed guns are only required to make their firearms detectable to security screeners in some way, usually by including some form of metal. But some designers have made that metal piece nonfunctional and easily removable.

Unreasonable people, that is the gun lobby, are aghast.

Opponents of expanding the current law argue that 3-D printed guns are expensive to make and unreliable to fire, and so not worth regulating.

But unlike the gun lobby, there are actually people who know what they are talking about here.

But law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, say the proliferation and improvement of 3-D printing technology, along with the falling cost of the machines that make it possible, have created a very real security threat. The bureau tested a 3-D printed gun that it assembled from designs downloaded online and found it capable of firing multiple metal .380-caliber bullets.

The terrorists and would be terrorists are not worried.  Republicans in the House have passed a renewal with no prohibitions against 3D printed guns.   And while the terrorists did not put out the following statement,

We the amalgamated union of airplane terrorists wish to congratulate and support the gun lobby for making it possible for us to get back into the airplane hijacking business.  Without their ignorance, stupidity and blind adherence to ideology in the face of public danger we would never again be able to do another September 11 type of attack.  Thanks gun lobby, we know whose side your are on.

it's what they are all thinking behind their giggles at American stupidity.

Remember How Republicans Say They Love the Troops – They Don’t

Well Certainly Not the Troops That Don’t Live Their Lives the Way Conservatives Say They Should Lead Their Lives

Look in any dictionary for a description of the word “hypocrisy” and the dominant illustration will be “conservatism”.  Case in point is the fact that Republican states are blocking marital benefits for National Guard troops.

Ben Sklar for The New York Times

Alicia Butler, left, with her spouse, Judith Chedville, and their daughter Jordan in Austin.

Yeah, go ahead and risk your life for us, we still hate you.

Texas is one of six states refusing to comply with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s order that gay spouses of National Guard members be given the same federal marriage benefits as heterosexual spouses. Mr. Hagel’s decree followed the Supreme Court’s ruling in June striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act that had prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

While a majority of states ban same-sex marriages, most are not fighting the new policy. But Pentagon officials say that in addition to Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia have balked. Each has cited a conflict with state laws or constitutions that do not recognize same-sex marriages. (A West Virginia official said, however, that the state intended to follow the directive.)

Of course the argument that state laws trump federal law has been fought and decided, see War, Civil.  See Constitution, American.

But nothing stands in the way of conservatism animosity for gay and lesbian couples, nothing, not even the fact that while these state governments will fight against benefits the members of their National Guard are entitled to, when the first sign of trouble and danger rears its head the National Guard will get the call.

Previews of Coming Attractions – Sales Taxes on All Those Internet Purchases

Sorry Folks, the Party is Over

For a number of years purchasers have enjoyed evading state and local sales taxes on purchases from Internet store like Amazon.  Yes, we all know that we are supposed to report the purchases and pay the tax on a state income tax return, and a few of us even select the default option and make some payment.  But most folks check the box that says no internet sales took place and hence say they owe no taxes.

The reason that some companies could avoid collecting sales taxes on internet sales was that the Supreme Court had ruled a company had to have some operations in the state in order to be forced to collect the tax.  If a company was truly out of state, no sales taxes were collected. 

It has been more than 20 years since the Supreme Court ruled in Quill v. North Dakotathat a state’s efforts to require tax collections from out-of-state companies violated the Constitution’s commerce clause. It said the necessary “substantial nexus” exists when the out-of-state retailer has a “physical presence” in the state.

But the Supreme Court has declined to review an Appeals Court decision that held that states could force an internet seller to collect the tax even if they had no physical presence in trhe state.   In effect the Court has agreed that the Internet is so pervasive that by simply selling on the Internet a company creates a presence in a state, and so the state can force the company to collect the tax.

This is sad for many people, but it is a fair ruling.  Brick and mortar companies are put at a disadvantage to Internet companies when those companies do not have to charge sales tax, and by not having that revenue state and local governments have to have higher taxes on the rest of the tax payers.  And no this is not a tax increase, just an effort to collect existing taxes.  Conservatives like to say the U. S. in turning into Greece.  Well one problem in Greece is tax evasion, so Conservatives ought to applaud this move in the United States.  But that would require consistency on the part of Conservatives, and everyone knows how they feel about that.

Congress is struggling to set a national standard to clarify things, something that most retailers want, including Amazon.  But since any action may smack of voting for a tax increase, conservatives will likely stop any action.  That will not stop collection of the taxes, it will just mean the country goes about it in a stumbling and bumbling manner.  And that is usually the result when conservative policies prevail.

In New York Conservative Republican Carl Paladino, 2010 Candidate for Governor, is Providing Comic Relief

Laugh a Minute Story From Buffalo

In 2010 the Republican Party in New York state went off the rails and nominated a Buffalo real estate developer to run against Andrew Cuomo for Governor.  Carl Paladino had no public office experience, and promptly ran a campaign that offended and alienated just about everyone.  But he was a conservative, a true conservative, the kind conservatives say they have to nominate to win elections.  Except in the case Mr. Paladino was obliterated.

Now Carl is thinking of running again, or maybe thinking of just being the funny guy in the race.  From the Buffalo News there is this.

Carl P. Paladino has a message for New York’s Republican Party: Find a candidate for governor next year who is well-known, well-financed and truly “Republican,” or he will run on the Conservative Party line himself.

If he were to run as a Conservative candidate for governor, his campaign could wreak havoc with the state GOP.

“We have to have that kind of candidate or I will take the Conservative line, bring the Conservative line to Row B, and waste an election,” Paladino told The Buffalo News last week after Tuesday’s elections and the unofficial kickoff of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s campaign for a second term.

Now the Republicans have about as much chance of beating Mr. Cuomo as health care reform has of being praised by Ted Cruz, so any run by Mr. Paladino is just plain laughable.  And maybe that is his goal.  For example there is this.

Those urging him to run on the Conservative line seek to stave off a “moderate” Republican from becoming the nominee, while establishing the Conservative Party and Paladino as the voices of conservatism in New York State.

Gosh, the Republicans nominated a true blue conservative in 2010, and this is how that turned out.

Since losing to Cuomo by 62.6 percent to 33.3 percent in 2010, Paladino has . . .

So naturally they would want to repeat the process in 2014.  And for more laughs there is this.

These efforts have not escaped the attention of state Conservative Chairman Michael R. Long of Brooklyn.

“Carl, after the last race was over, didn’t just pick up his marbles and go home,” Long said. “He ran for the School Board. 

Wow, he ran for School Board (and won, setting a bad educational system in Buffalo even further behind the curve).  Well at least that’s better than Sarah Palin who won’t even run for school board (earning a big thank you from students and parents everywhere)>

So Mr. Paladino may well extend to New York the role that conservatives will be playing in 2014, court jester.  Every party needs one.

Great Travel Writer Paul Theroux Turns Out to Be a Lousy Economist

Writing About How Aid to Africa is Destroying Africa

There are a number of really good authors who when they step outside of their field to write about politics and economics turn out to be not so good, well actually pretty bad, well to be accurate, pretty awful.  David Mamet, a wonderful playwright and movie director developed far right wing political views and supports far right wing economic policy.  And it turns out that Paul Theroux, writing in Barron’s, does not let his lack of information and expertise prevent him from rendering an opinion that the governmental and non-governmental aid to Africa is not only a failure, but counter productive.

Most of his article is an aggrandizement of Paul Theroux, recounting his own personal experiences in the African continent.  And utilizing only his own view he reaches this conclusion.

I can testify that Africa is much worse off than when I first went there 50 years ago to teach English: poorer, sicker, less educated, and more badly governed. It seems that much of the aid has made things worse.

Of course it would be nice to have the data, analysis and expert opinions to back up such a claim, but if one is a world famous author one apparently can dispense with such things and one’s own observations pass for total judgment. 

But the real problem here is that Mr. Theroux champions a far right wing hypothesis, that aid for low income individuals and countries just makes things worse, it make them ‘dependent’ and creates 'dependency'.

Now it is true that the governance in many African nations is terrible.  They are corrupt and ineffective, and the lack of strong institutions, both governmental and non-governmental in that area is the major cause for the lack of progress.  But there is one more thing that is absolutely true.

Throwing money at a problem will not guarantee success in solving the problem. But not dedicating resources to a problem guarantees that the problem will not be solved and that it will get worse.  And so conservative thinking, as illustrated by what Mr. Theroux passes off as reasoned analysis, is guaranteed to make low income people and nations worse off.  And their argument that helping is detrimental is just self serving justification for not acting, just as that same argument has been self serving justification for opposition to welfare and anti-poverty programs in developed nations.  The argument is pure greed, cloaked in the hypocrisy of a philosophy that says low income do not need the same programs that have aided the wealthy.

MSNBC Cans Alec Baldwin For Being an Offensive Human Being

Gosh, Nobody Saw that Coming –

Actually everybody except MSNBC Saw That Coming

Now His 12 Viewers Will Have to Find Something Else

Conservatives, Fuming That There Might Not Be a War with Iran, Have a Secret Plan

It’s Called OPC (No Not OPEC), OPC is Other People’s Children, Those Who Would Do the Dying in Another War in the Middle East

The fury that has accompanied the announcement of an interim agreement Iran is disappointing but not surprising.  First of all the agreement prevents, at least temporarily, any military action against Iran.  And it was negotiated by the hated Obama Administration, which is reason enough for Conservatives to rally against it. 

But Conservatives have absolutely no alternative plan, they have offered no other course of action and it turns out they have a secret plan of how the war against Iran would have been fought.  Here are some of the highlights, exclusively on this sight.

1. The draft would have to be re-instated to get the 500,000+ combat troops necessary.  The draft would of course have exemptions, like any man or woman whose net worth or whose parent’s net worth was greater than $200,000.

2. Those in the nation illegally would be offered the chance to sign up for combat, be placed in a privately run prison indefinitely or kicked out of the country.  After military service those who survived would then be given parts two and three of the choice, placement in a privately run prison indefinitely or kicked out of the country.

3. To pay for the war a special tax of $5,000 per person would be placed on each Medicaid recipient.  Because taxes on the wealthy, the job creators cannot be raised without endangering the economy, no person with an annual income greater than $250,000 would be asked to pay any part of the war, and the portion of their existing taxes that would ordinarily pay for national defense would be refunded.

4. In order to prevent any increase in government employment, Haliburton and any other firm whose executives contributed $100,000 or more to Karl Rove’s political operation would be awarded a minimum of $10 billion in government contracts.

5. Recognizing that Iran has oil, any peace agreement would involve U. S. control of Iranian oil.

6. In order to govern Iran the U. S. would exhume the late Shah and install him as supreme ruler.  The Shah was previously installed in Iran after the U. S. led an overthrow of the elected government in 1953, and that worked out very well.

So there it is, news found no where else, mainly because we made it up.  But it could happen.