Month: July 2011
Most Want No Change in Entitlement Programs
60%
Of Americans say “it is more important to keep Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are; only about half as many (32%) say it is more important to take steps to reduce the budget deficit,” according to a new Pew Research poll.
Iranian Prez Says Nuclear Bombs are for ‘Retarded People’
Bombs are for retarded people.
— Iranian President (and, for all purposes, dictator) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a speech today maintaining to the global community that Iran’s nuclear program has been strictly one of peace and asserting why his people don’t need nuclear weapons — ’cause they’re not retarded, duh.
Bush Raised Debt Ceiling Five Times – With Votes from GOP Leaders Boehner, Cantor and McConnell Every Time
As you listen to Republican rhetoric on raising the debt ceiling, keep these facts in mind about their record as stewards of the economy during the Bush years when they controlled the White House, Congress and the courts: They gave billions in tax breaks to wealthy Americans (which, the record shows, did not spur job growth), put two wars on the national credit card (it’s a pleasure doing business with you, Chinese commies!) and rammed through an unfunded Medicare benefit. Remember all that? Now read this excerpt from a report from Think Progress in April:
Bush increased the debt to $9.815 trillion by the end of his term, with plenty of help from the four Republicans currently holding Congressional leadership positions.
At the beginning of the Bush presidency, the United States debt limit was $5.95 trillion. Despite promises that he would pay off the debt in 10 years, Bush increased the debt to $9.815 trillion by the end of his term, with plenty of help from the four Republicans currently holding Congressional leadership positions: Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl. ThinkProgress compiled a breakdown of the five debt limit increases that took place during the Bush presidency and how the four Republican leaders voted:
June 2002: [Republican-controlled] Congress approves a $450 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $6.4 trillion. McConnell, Boehner, and Cantor vote “yea”, Kyl votes “nay.”
May 2003: [Republican-controlled] Congress approves a $900 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $7.384 trillion. All four approve.
November 2004: [Republican-controlled] Congress approves an $800 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.1 trillion. All four approve.
March 2006: [Republican-controlled] Congress approves a $781 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.965 trillion. All four approve.
September 2007: [Democratic-controlled] Congress approves an $850 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $9.815 trillion. All four approve.
Gulag Wisconsin: GOP Anti-Union Law Replaces Union Workers with Prisoners
Prison inmates have replaced union workers in Racine County, Wisconsin, thanks to the changes to the states collective bargaining laws that went into effect at the end of June.
The Journal Times reported prison inmates will now be able to do tasks such as landscaping, painting, and shoveling sidewalks in the winter that were previously performed by unionized employees.
Inmates are not required to do any work for the county, but can receive time off their sentence if they do. Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig said the use of prison labor would not result in any public works staff reductions.
“We’re gonna have them do landscaping at county buildings, have them pick up trash on the roads,” he told local Fox News 6. “So we can use some of the county personnel to do difficult tasks, such as putting in a parking lot at the park.”
Next up: Arrest people for joining unions and send them to prison where they will work for free.
Good Riddance, Expensive Space Shuttle
$1 billion
Cost of each space shuttle launch — 20 times as expensive as originally anticipated when the program was started 35 years ago. Oh, and the shuttle program was supposed to usher in an era of space tourism — memo to Richard Branson ….
Florida Lost Another 2,300 Jobs Last Month — Thanks, Gov. Scott!
2,345
Number of job cuts in Florida in June, according to an analysis by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That brought the year-to-date total to 13,066 jobs lost in the state since Gov. Rick Scott took office with his “run Florida like a business” game plan.
Reagan to Senate Leader on Debt Ceiling in 1983: Default Would Lead to ‘Incalculable Damage’
Today’s Republicans give lip service to Ronald Reagan as if he were the paragon of tea party conservatism, but they conveniently ignore his actual record, particularly the fact that, as president, he raised taxes at least seven times, including the largest corporate tax in history, and, as governor of California, one of his first acts was to raise state taxes by $1 billion, which is roughly $6.5 billion today.
No doubt these same Republicans will also ignore the fact that, in 1983, Pres. Reagan strongly advocated raising the debt ceiling when the United States was undergoing an economic crisis similar to the one facing the country today. Back then, in a letter [PDF]to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, R-Tenn., Reagan wrote:
Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the costs, the disruptions and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns.
The reason that Republicans, particularly the tea baggers, ignore Reagan’s actual record is because facts don’t matter, especially if the facts get in the way of their prime objective: doing whatever it takes, including blowing up the world’s financial markets, in order to ensure that Mitt Romney is the next president of the United States.
The text of Reagan’s letter to Baker, urging him to support the vote in Congress is transcribed in full below.
Losses and Profits
The unemployed don’t know how they’ll pay the rent
And wage-earners wonder where their paycheck just went.
While economic stagnation
Keeps a grip on the nation,
Corporations’ profits are up a tidy 88 percent!
