Year: 2014
The Rich are Lying to Us
When the Heritage Foundation tells us that the top 10 percent of filers are cruelly burdened, because they pay 68 percent of income taxes, it’s hoping that you won’t notice that word “income” — other taxes, such as the payroll tax, are far less progressive. But it’s also hoping you don’t know that the top 10 percent receive almost half of all income and own 75 percent of the nation’s wealth, which makes their burden seem a lot less disproportionate.
— Paul Krugman, Nobel-winning economist, in a column in the New York Times called, “Our Invisible Rich.” Krugman says Americans’ ideas about the 1% are based on 1960s notions of wealth, and woefully inaccurate today.
Kerrey: Webb Would Have an ‘Uphill Fight’ Against Clinton for Dem Nomination
It would be an uphill fight, almost like climbing a wall. He would be running against someone who simultaneously has two television shows based on her. She is a political figure with such remarkable strength ahead of the campaign, unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.
— Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE), quoted by the Washington Post, on the possibility of former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Boehner Says Ground Troops Will Be Needed to Defeat ISIS
At some point somebody’s boots have to be on the ground.
— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by Business Insider, on ISIS.
Kansas State Government Is in the Sex Products Business
$163,986
Amount the Kansas state government hopes to recoup with the auctioning of thousands of sex toys seized by the revenue department for nonpayment of income, withholding and sales taxes, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Items include the Pipedream Fantasy Love Swing, books, DVDs, sex and drinking games, sexually oriented equipment, the Glass Pleasure Wand, lingerie and the Cyberskin Foot Stroker.
Nearly a Quarter-Million Voters in Virginia Lack Proper Voter ID
200,000
Registered voters in Virginia may lack the proper identification needed to cast a ballot in the November midterm elections, the Washington Post reports.
Obama Leads Recent Presidents in Giving Interviews
818
Number of interviews President Obama has given news media since taking office, according to the New York Times. According to data running through July, his total dwarfs that of former President George W. Bush (297), Bill Clinton (230) and Ronald Reagan (392) at the same point in their presidencies.
The World Does Not Share the Belief That the Rich Always Deserve Their Wealth
The rich in America agree on one thing: They deserve their wealth. Recent research cited by Carol Graham of the Brookings Institute shows that unlike both the rich and poor in Latin America, in the United States the Mitt Romneys of the world believe they built that, all alone.
Even before a video exposed Mitt’s attitude toward what he termed the 47 percent who would never vote for him because they want their government assistance, wife Ann described in her speech before the 2012 GOP convention her skewed idea of how poor they were in their early days, after they spent their honeymoon in Hawaii and lived only investment income from stocks while attending the private Brigham Young University.
The Romneys are, unfortunately, typical of their cohort. This attitude is unfortunate because by being mistaken, it makes it harder to deal with America’s growing income inequality problem, which is transforming us, as often noted, into two countries.
