US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

Typical Obama will try to be bipartisan and will balance any request on rich people taxes with lots of ugliness that Republicans want and call it a compromise

Obama really, really needs to forcefully sell some sort of tax hike on the rich. As in "we MUST do this as a country, their tax rate is lowest it's been since 1931, etc." No one likes rich people, and he can always frame it as raising taxes on them so that they won't be raised for everyone else. Plus, with, like, 100 people holding all the money, it really wouldn't affect that many people. Again, perfect set-up is: "these hyper-wealthy types are *preventing* you from becoming rich like *them*!" Then he can pass out Obama 2012 torches.

also the "american people" the gop always blather about really really really want tax hikes on the rich

But there was a letter in the Washington Post saying that taxes should NOT be hiked on the rich because they are "the producers". Take that you middle-class and poor scum leaching off the hard work of those in the highest bracket!

Jerry Brown is laying down the law on this in California and apparently has a bunch of republicans swayed (unfortunately not the ones in state congress, but local leaders, republican sherrifs and DAs who can see exactly what the budget cuts are going to do to their offices and ability to get any work done). Maybe Obama needs to take some lessons from Moonbeam on how to stop equivocating and compromising and start being a pragmatist.

Progressive Caucus co-chairs Raúl M. Grijalva and Keith Ellison sent a memo to House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen April 6

I would imagine House Republicans filter Keith Ellison's memos straight to the spam folder, though.

Is Maryland Democrat Van Hollen (ranking Dem on the House Budget Committee) allowed to let them go to the House Republicans

I would imagine House Republicans filter Keith Ellison's memos straight to the spam folder, though.
reason to vote next november

My brother-in-law is infuriatingly opposed to any tax increases on rich people. I don't know if he thinks he's going to be one of those rich people someday, or if there's going to be some sort of stealthy attempt to sneak the increases onto lower and lower incomes. I send him a lot of FB messages along the lines of "you are being used as a dupe and a human shield for a club that will NEVER have you as a member."

He made it clear that it's a more moral stance to let an old poor person starve or freeze to death than to force a rich person to lift a finger to help.

he's in the 20% minority. dems need to start pounding that fact home

not to be a big pisser or anything, but taxes on rich people alone aren't going to fix the hole entirely. the bush tax cuts are huge, but the biggest chuck of them went to middle class. and with medicare D, the old.

if we're going to go back to pre-bush levels, let alone pre-reagan, then yeah people like WmC's brother will be paying more. a lot of people will!

well yeah obviously it needs to be a mix of tax raises and spending cuts, but it kind of feels like they've already done a lot of the cuts now, so maybe it's time to do a little of the other thing.

Unfortunately there's no enthusiasm for reforming the tax code, let alone returning it to FDR levels.

There's enthusiasism from Republicans and Blue-Dog Dems for lowering rates and making them even more unprogressive

Members of my family are all sympathetic to the "corporations have to go to Ireland because of the high US rate" argument, despite the fact that GE and others all benefit from lots of loopholes and deductions here and never pay that high corporate rate they complain about.

Budgetary things that are scheduled "two years from now" never seem to happen.

like, i know the statutory corporate rate in the US is on the high side (~39%), BUT isn't the effective rate, once you figure in incentives and loopholes and write offs somewhere around 27%?? why isn't the "liberal media" pointing this out EVERY FUCKING TIME this bullshit comes up??

bcz they are all owned by giant conglomerates?

If you look at "high unemployment" as a desirable state in which the bargaining power of both the employed and the job-seeking is reduced to essentially zero, a state in which individuals and labor unions accept ever-more-disadvantageous wages and working conditions just in order to have a job; in which, in particular, workers desperate not to be fired increase hours worked and output even though their compensation is shrinking; in which profitability increases in part on the backs of those "productivity" gains . . . well, shit, it all makes a lot of sense. When nice liberals wonder why Barack Obama and the Democrats and the Republicans and Everybody are enacting policies to "harm the labor market," I would answer that they are enacting policies to harm the labor market.

http://whoisioz.blogspot.com/2011/04/surfing-to-serfdom.html

Isn't that straight from Marx? Like, why there always has to be an unemployed subclass?

pretty much

Via John Cole, the story of IKEAs Danville, VA manufacturing plant:

When home furnishing giant Ikea selected this fraying blue-collar city to build its first U.S. factory, residents couldn’t believe their good fortune.
Beloved by consumers worldwide for its stylish and affordable furniture, the Swedish firm had also constructed a reputation as a good employer and solid corporate citizen. State and local officials offered $12 million in incentives. Residents thrilled at the prospect of a respected foreign company bringing jobs to this former textile region after watching so many flee overseas.

But three years after the massive facility opened here, excitement has waned. Ikea is the target of racial discrimination complaints, a heated union-organizing battle and turnover from disgruntled employees.

Workers complain of eliminated raises, a frenzied pace and mandatory overtime. Several said it’s common to find out on Friday evening that they’ll have to pull a weekend shift, with disciplinary action for those who can’t or don’t show up.

Kylette Duncan, among the plant’s first hires, quit after six months to take a lower-paying retail job. “I need money as bad as anybody, but I also need a life,” said Duncan, 52. She recalled having to cancel medical appointments for her ailing husband because she had to work overtime at the last minute.

Some of the Virginia plant’s 335 workers are trying to form a union. The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said a majority of eligible employees had signed cards expressing interest.

In response, the factory — part of Ikea’s manufacturing subsidiary, Swedwood — hired the law firm Jackson Lewis, which has made its reputation keeping unions out of companies. Workers said Swedwood officials required employees to attend meetings at which management discouraged union membership.

Plant officials didn’t return calls and declined to meet with a Times reporter who visited the Virginia facility. Swedwood spokeswoman Ingrid Steen in Sweden called the situation in Danville “sad” but said she could not discuss the complaints of specific employees. She said she had heard “rumors” about anti-union meetings at the plant but added that “this wouldn’t be anything that would be approved by the group management in Sweden.”

The dust-up has garnered little attention in the U.S. But it’s front-page news in Sweden, where much of the labor force is unionized and Ikea is a cherished institution. Per-Olaf Sjoo, the head of the Swedish union in Swedwood factories, said he was baffled by the friction in Danville. Ikea’s code of conduct, known as IWAY, guarantees workers the right to organize and stipulates that all overtime be voluntary.

“Ikea is a very strong brand and they lean on some kind of good Swedishness in their business profile. That becomes a complication when they act like they do in the United States,” said Sjoo. “For us, it’s a huge problem.”

Laborers in Swedwood plants in Sweden produce bookcases and tables similar to those manufactured in Danville. The big difference is that the Europeans enjoy a minimum wage of about $19 an hour and a government-mandated five weeks of paid vacation. Full-time employees in Danville start at $8 an hour with 12 vacation days — eight of them on dates determined by the company.

What’s more, as many as one-third of the workers at the Danville plant have been drawn from local temporary-staffing agencies. These workers receive even lower wages and no benefits, employees said.

THis pisses me off more than anything:Some of the Virginia plant’s 335 workers are trying to form a union. The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said a majority of eligible employees had signed cards expressing interest.

In response, the factory — part of Ikea’s manufacturing subsidiary, Swedwood — hired the law firm Jackson Lewis, which has made its reputation keeping unions out of companies. Workers said Swedwood officials required employees to attend meetings at which management discouraged union membership.

If the feckless Democrats had taken a stand on card check this wouldn't be a fucking issue. And COMPULSORY anti-union meetings? In 2011?

x-post

mediamatters.org points out (and others do as well), based on a GAO report, that the effective US corporate tax rate is around 25% but noone seems to want to google that at 60 Minutes or in the media.

http://mediamatters.org/research/201004260006

Reagan's boy David Stockman, among others, scoffs at Ryan's budget.

On this score, Doug Holtz-Eakin -- a former McCain and George W. Bush economic adviser -- told Huffington Post Ryan's plan is "implausibly optimistic."

The libertarian economist Tyler Cowen wrote up a point-by-point critique of the plan. His principle objections are that the plan doesn't do anything to control health care costs, and cutting Medicaid is neither good policy, nor urgent. Indeed, he notes, "Medicaid should be one of the last parts of the health care budget to cut." Emphasis in the original.

However, Cowen also argues that, by proposing $6 trillion in spending cuts, the main impact of the GOP plan will be to shift the center of the fiscal debate in Washington dramatically to the right. This is already happening.

The question will probably come down to whether lawmakers and the Obama administration have the stomach for a public fight over how to cut popular entitlement programs with unemployment high, and old voters on guard against any major benefits changes.

"It's kind of a pitiful commentary on our state of fiscal malgovernance when you consider the two leaders that we have that are trying to face down this issue," Stockman said. "One of them is so ready to compromise that he folds faster than a lawnchair (that's Obama). And the other is ready to sob at the drop of a hat."

I've only had a couple "corporate" jobs (ie. working for a large corporation - not white collar jobs LOL), but the training in all of them included something about how unions are bad and if you try to unionize you will be fired. I'm pretty sure all the big-box retailers have similar training and policies re: unions.

Yeah my first job was for Walmart and on day one orientation was full of that. Telling you that if anyone mentions unions or anything to let your supervisor know. I'm sure its protected under the first amendment rights of the corporation.

That Ikea story is remarkable.

If I were working poor in America, I wouldn't be waiting for American elites to take care of me. They need to organize themselves: neither the Dems nor the GOP have any collective interest in the conditions of those workers.

Law Professors and legal scholars including Laurence Tribe condemn treatment of accused Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning by Obama Admin. and criticize Obama

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/10/bradley-manning-legal-scholars-letter

well, gabbnebism still reigns supreme among Barry's advisors.

we'll be through this shit again wr2 the debt ceiling in a few months -- what/who will Barry throw overboard then?!?

debt ceiling fight promises to be extra-infuriating because obama could totally play chicken with boehner and win

the paul/bachmann crew have their apocalyptic goldbug fantasies, but the rentier lords who fund the GOP have absolutely zero interest in seeing the USG go into default

clicked eisbaer's link, title in tab was "president obama adopts centrist approach", genuinely assumed onion

I think the center as defined by the MSM is now somewhere beyond Jupiter

My *library* uses the Jackson Lewis law firm as well, which is fucked up.

at the risk of sounding pompous: the one thing i vowed never to do w/ my law degree is to use it to bust labor unions. not only b/c i find it morally repugnant, but b/c i could never look certain of my family members straight in the eyes again.

Obama's staff never informed House Dems of his plans for the Wed. speech. Not only doesn't the WH care about the liberal base, they don't even care about the Dems on Capitol Hill:

When the White House announced on the Sunday talk shows that President Obama would be giving a major speech on the deficit—responding to Rep. Paul Ryan's drastic 2012 budget proposal—it came as news to more than just the viewership of Meet the Press. House Democrats were taken aback by the announcement that Obama would be making a big move to address the deficit this week, according to a House Democratic aide.

Many Congressional Democrats found out about Obama's surprise speech by watching the Sunday shows, as top Obama aide David Plouffe made the rounds to note that the president would lay out a plan for long-term deficit reduction this week. "Plouffe's announcement yesterday morning did leave us scrambling, that's something we're working on right now," the House aide said on Monday.

House Democrats had already been preparing to release their own 2012 budget, under the leadership of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the budget committee. The House Dems' budget plan had been in the works for weeks, as Van Hollen had been meeting with every major caucus in his party to craft an alternative to the Republicans' plan

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/04/obama-deficit-speech-surprise-house-democrats#

Will Rogers' famous unorganized party

President Adopts a Measured Course to Recapture the Middle

ahh, election season must be coming up *makes drinky-drinky motion*

dailykos has a number of posts on the ludicrous supreme court vote in Wisconsin last week

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/07/964645/-Kathy-Nickolaus-in-Waukesha-forgot-to-saveReally

and this post from the much-quoted 'democrat' who oversaw and confirmed that the vote numbers that Nickolaus had forgotten to save in Microsoft Access on her personal computer:

The reason I offer this explanation is that, with the enormous amount of attention this has received over the weekend, many people are offering my statements at the press conference that “the numbers jibed” as validation they are correct and I can vouch for their accuracy. As I told Kathy when I was called into the room , I am 80 years old and I dont understand anything about computers. I don’t know where the numbers Kathy was showing me ultimately came from, but they seemed to add up.

http://www.orchidforchange.com/parties/waukeshadems.com/ht/display/ArticleDetails/i/1343504

/and this post from the much-quoted 'democrat' who oversaw and confirmed that the vote numbers that Nickolaus had forgotten to save in Microsoft Access on her personal computer added up

In WI, a recount at state-expense is triggered if an election is within .5% if the candidate requests it, and we have a fully verifiable paper trail to audit election results. That means in this election with approximately 740k for Kloppenburg and 739k for Prosser, the vote gets recounted at state-expense if the election is within ~7400 votes.

http://www.recallscottwalker.com/2011/04/why-prosser-needed-exactly-7500-votes/

Not usually a conspiracy theorist, but that magic 7500 number is such a suspicious coincidence that I wouldn't discount shenanigans.

such an infuriating experience to watch Voice Of America TV here in Peru, I saw some hideous woman from "Concerned Women For America" parrot every bit of right wing nonsense that's been mentioned in this thread so far. Then the Democratic "opposition" completely failed to call her on any of her ridiculous lies (such as, I kid you not, "education spending is at an all time high").

This country is doomed.

"education spending is at an all time high"

Hmmm. Well, if you only count spending in terms of unconstant dollars, unadjusted for inflation, and leave out any consideration of per capita spending to account for a growing population, and if you lump in college tuitions, technical schools, commercial driving programs, along with Headstart, preschools and K-12, then she might be able to make this claim stick.

Of course, a lot of that "education spending" is out of pocket private spending, not government spending, but I doubt the far right is that picky about their facts.

From the Department of Shared Sacrifice:

ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. will receive at least $56 million in state assistance to keep its headquarters in Northeast Ohio

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/04/diebold_to_build_100_million_w.html

^Aren't those the same fucktards that made the electronic voting machines that didn't register the correct votes and left no paper trail?

So the Washington Post says Obama is going to endorse some combination of the majority plan from his bipartisan deficit commission(Right-wing Simpson plus corporate blue-dog Dem Bowles) and the Gang of 6 (right-wingers plus moderate and blu-dog Dems) Senate group. Alas, the plan that suggested cutting defense spending and raising taxes is not being considered. I wish there was a way for the House or Senate Progressive Dem caucus to push other ideas and to get some attention from the White House and the media on this.

Let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the pathetically disappointing

yes, how dare you expect a Democratic administration to be not-Republican.

i dont really understand at allllllll why obama is getting involved in dumbshit fights over the deficit, not even on a political gamesmanship level