Political Venom: 2010

"Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely), most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points), the economy is getting worse (26 points), most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points), the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points), their own income taxes have gone up (14 points), the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points), when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points) and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points). The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it--though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.

There were cases with some other news sources as well. Daily consumers of MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) were higher (34 points and 25 points respectively) in believing that it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates. Daily watchers of network TV news broadcasts were 12 points higher in believing that TARP was signed into law by President Obama, and 11 points higher in believing that most Republicans oppose TARP."

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Fox News media bias strikes again

Fox News emailed its journalists with orders to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question":

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012150004

News should report scientific conclusions, not political conclusions.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Catholic Bank Scandal

As if pedophile priests weren't bad enough:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_vatican_god_s_bankers

Americans aren't as poor as they may think

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111493/are-americans-as-poor-as-they-feel?mod=family-love_money

Although home prices haven't gone up that much. Not really a great investment.

Stand With Bernie

Worth letting others know:

---------

On Friday, Bernie Sanders became a national hero when he took to the floor of the Senate and spoke against the deal to extend the Bush tax breaks for the rich for almost 9 hours.
Bernie's old-fashioned filibuster continued a growing backlash against this millionaire tax bailout. And he asked just one thing before he stopped—that we all call our senators on Monday, which is when the Senate is expected to vote on the deal. So we're joining forces to do just that.
We're calling it a "Phone-In Filibuster" to stop the millionaire tax bailout. Just as Bernie took over the Senate with his one-man protest for the ages, we'll keep it going with a non-stop flood of phone calls on Monday.
But to pull it off, we need a steady stream of calls all day long. So we're asking you to sign up today and let us know about what time you plan to call North Carolina's Senator Kay Hagan. We'll shoot you a quick reminder tomorrow when the time comes to pick up the phone. Click here to sign up:
http://pol.moveon.org/phone_in_filibuster?id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=3
As President Obama said, the middle class is being held hostage by the Republicans, and for ransom they're demanding a massive tax break for the rich.¹
Sadly, President Obama agreed to pay that ransom by extending the Bush tax breaks for the top 2% of earners, lowering the estate tax from its previous level, and cutting the payroll tax for one year, which would undermine the key source of revenue for Social Security. The deal would also continue unemployment insurance for 13 months and extend other tax cuts supported by both Democrats and Republicans.²
But the richest Americans are likely to reap the lion's share of the benefit from this deal—and economists agree that tax breaks for the top 2% are the least effective for creating jobs.³
And not only is this terrible economic policy—it sets an awful precedent. You see, if you reward hostage-takers, it only encourages them to take more hostages.
That's why House Democrats rejected the deal last week. Now it's up to us to demand that our voices be heard—just like Bernie Sanders did. You can help by signing up today for Monday's Phone-In Filibuster. Click here to sign up:
http://pol.moveon.org/phone_in_filibuster?id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=4
Thanks for all you do.
–Nita, Robin, Steven, Ilyse, and the rest of the team
P.S. Can you also forward this email to five friends today? The more people involved in the Phone-In Filibuster, the stronger the message to Washington.
Source:
1. "President Obama: Tax Cuts for Wealthy Are Republicans' 'Holy Grail,'" ABC News, December 7, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205455&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=5
2. "Deal Struck on Tax Package," The Wall Street Journal, December 7, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205416&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=6
3. "Will Obama really end tax cuts for rich in 2012?" The Washington Post, December 10, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205475&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=7
"Rich Americans Save Tax Cuts Instead of Spending, Moody's Says," Bloomberg, September 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=90354&id=25460-3668589-OJb98Yx&t=8

Friday, December 10, 2010

US Education Falls to Just Average

A highly educated society is the number one thing that will make or break a nation...and we've dropped from #1 to a dismal #17 in science compared with the rest of the world:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101207/ts_alt_afp/educationusoecd

Upping our scores to Finland's level (not even the highest) could generate $103 trillion (with a T!) over the lifetime of one generation.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Health Care

News Bias...Again....

Fox News caught telling its news reporters (NOT just its opinion polemicists) to use the term "government option" instead of "public option" to deliberately slant viewers against the public option (which they also admit half of Americans support):

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012090003

Orwellian doublespeak at its finest....

Monday, December 6, 2010

North Korea's Nukes...Obama's Fault?

Fox News once again edits video to falsely imply the Obama Administration is at fault instead of the Bush Administration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vixfKqFbcUw

(View the linked original video and transcript to see the hard evidence.)

Report on Climate Change

More congressional testimony on climate change:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_82BUshM8 (evidence the climate is changing)

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2m9SNzxJJA (addressing conservative claims the climate is not caused by humans)

U.N. Against Freedom of Speech?

The U.N. passed a truly stupid resolution to protect religion from defamation:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/un_takes_stand_against_freedom_of_speech_religion.php

WTF? We don't give people who claim to have been probed by aliens special protection against defamation. Why should religion be treated any differently?

Deficit Reduction

Two good Time articles on dealing with the deficit:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2031957,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2031958,00.html

Noah's Ark Theme Park

Alas, Kentucky sucker-punches itself back down the intellectual ladder:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/us/06ark.html?_r=1&hpw

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Scientific Perspective of Political Polarization in America

An interesting study on the political polarization in America today:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/political-polarization-democrat-republican-101101.html

The differences are rooted in morality and genetics, interestingly enough.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Stimulus Provided Large Jobs Boost, Says CBO Report

For those who think the stimulus wasn't effective:

http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/stimulus-provided-large-jobs-boost-cbo-report-concludes/19732820

India's Growing Pains

A lesson on balancing government and private investment to avoid imbalanced development of infrastructure:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2030900,00.html

Highest Corporate Profits on Record

Last quarter's corporate profits were the highest on record, and the middle class and poor have gained nothing over the past few decades (adjusting for inflation). Can someone tell me again what's the argument for NOT letting the tax cuts for the richest 2% expire?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Corporate-Profits-Were-the-nytimes-3994329548.html?x=0

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Millionaires Who Want Tax Cuts to Expire

In order to restore fiscal health to the US, dozens of millionaires are requesting an end to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20101119/ts_yblog_theticket/millionaires-to-obama-tax-us

From their website:

Between 1979 and 2007, incomes for the wealthiest 1% of Americans rose by 281%
During the Great Depression, millionaires had a top marginal rate of 68%
In 1963, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 91%
In 1976, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 70%
Today, millionaires have a top marginal tax rate of 35%
Reducing the income tax on top earners is one of the most inefficient ways to grow the economy according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office
44% of Congress people are millionaires
The tax cuts were never meant to be permanent
Letting tax cuts for the top 2% expire as schedule would pay down the debt by $700 billion over the next 10 years

Friday, November 19, 2010

California and the Green Revolution

Here's an article by Arnold Schwartzenegger on how California is doing in the Green Revolution:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-arnold-schwarzenegger/a-year-after-copenhagen-c_b_785686.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=111910&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily+Brief

Top 5 Social Security Myths

From moveon.org:

Social Security is under attack and we need to fight back against the lies.

Have you heard that Social Security is going bankrupt? Driving up the deficit? In crisis?

Well none of that is true. These are all myths that opponents of Social Security have been spreading to scare people into accepting benefit cuts this fall. But the myths are taking hold—so we have to fight back with the facts.

So we've put together a list of the top five myths about Social Security, along with the real story. Can you check out the list and then share it with your friends, family, and coworkers?

Share the list by going to http://pol.moveon.org/ssmyths?id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=1 If you're on Facebook, share it by clicking here. If you're on Twitter, tweet it here.

Top 5 Social Security Myths

Myth #1: Social Security is going broke.

Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever.¹ After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers' retirement decades ago.² Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.

Myth #2: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.

Reality: This is a red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than they did 70 years ago.³ What's more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly—since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half.⁴ But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.

Myth #3: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.

Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.⁵ Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income.⁶ But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.

Myth #4: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs

Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn't full of IOUs, it's full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.⁷ The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market—which would have been disastrous—but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.

Myth #5: Social Security adds to the deficit

Reality: It's not just wrong—it's impossible! By law, Social Security's funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can't add one penny to the deficit.⁸

Defeating these myths is the first step to stopping Social Security cuts. Can you share this list now?

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Duncan, Daniel, Kat, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=4

2. "The Straight Facts on Social Security," Economic Opportunity Institute, September 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89704&id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=5

3. "Social Security and the Age of Retirement," Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89705&id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=6

4. "More on raising the retirement age," Washington Post, July 8, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89706&id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=7

5. "Social Security is sustainable," Economic and Policy Institute, May 27, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89707&id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=8

6. "Maximum wage contribution and the amount for a credit in 2010," Social Security Administration, April 23, 2010
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240

7. "Trust Fund FAQs," Social Security Administration, February 18, 2010
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html

8."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22140-540687-eKliZnx&t=9

Raised Taxes, Growing Economy

Unfortunately for supply-siders, history has proven them wrong again and again. During almost three decades spanning 1951 to 1980, when America's top marginal tax rate was between 70 and 92 percent, the nation's average annual growth was 3.7 percent. But between 1983 and start of the Great Recession, when the top rate was far lower -- ranging between 35 and 39 percent -- the economy grew an average of just 3 percent per year. Supply-siders are fond of claiming that Ronald Reagan's 1981 cuts caused the 1980s economic boom. In fact, that boom followed Reagan's 1982 tax increase. The 1990s boom likewise was not the result of a tax cut; it came in the wake of Bill Clinton's 1993 tax increase.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-we-really-shouldnt-ke_b_667816.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=080310&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry

Republicans and Climate Change

Over half of all Republicans still don't accept that climate change is happening:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101117/sc_yblog_thelookout/poll-most-republicans-dont-believe-in-climate-change

Ack! Think about the implications of this kind of thinking....

The US has dropped from #1 to #13 in education (only 38% of 12th graders are proficient in reading and only 26% are proficient in math: http://abcnews.go.com/US/nations-report-card-shows-american-students-struggle-reading/story?id=12186446), and we're rapidly losing our edge in science (China is massively increasing R&D spending in science and technology: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/10/26/research-development-spending-china.html). But science and technology are what made this country great, and they're the MOST important endeavor to develop for a planet that needs to support billions of people with diminishing resources, growing pollution problems, and to pull the majority of humanity out of poverty and significantly raise standards of living. No other option can accomplish this. None. Yet we spend less than half what we should on developing new technologies, and the source of our scientists--our educational facilities--are falling rapidly behind.

The largest group of anti-science people in the US today are Republicans (largely made up of religious conservatives: http://www.gallup.com/poll/118937/republican-base-heavily-white-conservative-religious.aspx), and they were just elected to take over the House of Representatives. Whereas 57% of Democrats accept the science for evolution--a pathetic number, certainly--more than TWO THIRDS of all Republicans reject evolution (http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm) and, as you can see by the first link above, over half reject the notion of climate change. Even the Republican replacement for the House Science Committee is a climate change skeptic (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45279.html), and the Republican Energy Committee chairman candidate insists humans can't destroy the planet...because the Bible says so (http://www.juancole.com/2010/11/energy-committee-chairman-candidate-says-god-promised-no-more-catastrophic-climate-change-after-noah.html). This despite the overwhelming consensus by climate scientists worldwide confirming human-caused climate change (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/climate/scientists-say-global-warming-is-undeniable-20100816-12701.html).

This is the result of falling education standards in this country: ignorant people electing ignorant representatives to make ignorant policy. Our education system has problems and needs help, but cutting funding would only make things worse. Yet that's exactly what the new Republican House appears prepared to do, along with abolishing the Education Department (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/9/new-house-majority-might-hit-education/). Talk about penny wise, pound foolish.

You can't fix a crumbling building by digging at its foundations.