Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-05-25/friday-news-roundup-domestic
President Obama defended his campaign's attacks on presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, after Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker called the ads "nauseating." The U.S. housing market showed signs of strengthening as sales of both new and existing homes rose. Four Secret Service agents implicated in the Colombian prostitution scandal said they would fight their dismissals. Ron Elving of NPR, Susan Davis of USA Today and David Leonhardt of The New York Times join Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Ron Elving
Washington editor for NPR.
Susan Davis
chief congressional reporter, USA Today.
David Leonhardt
Washington bureau chief, The New York Times.
Related Video
David Leonhardt of The New York Times, Susan Davis of USA Today and Ron Elving of NPR discuss why investors are upset and suing Facebook and Morgan Stanley.
Comments
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This is exactly what people with any intelligence have been warning about. The party is over and we can't tax the rich our way out of this one. I am sure we will just borrow more because the middle class does not want to pay their "fair" share of the nanny state, but know the end of this madness is in sight. If the left loves European socialism so much why don't they propose the tax rates that the European middle class pay?
"Since the United States and European nations impose somewhat similar tax burdens on upper-income taxpayers, what accounts for higher tax collections in Europe? Simply stated, the Europeans collect a lot more from the middle class.'
https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/the-european-evidence-s...
May 22, 2012
The Congressional Budget Office report says that the economy would shrink by 1.3 percent in the first half of next year if the government is allowed to fall off this so-called "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1 — and that the higher tax rates and more than $100 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies are kept in place.
"CBO observes that simply extending all of our current tax and spending policies will produce unsustainable deficits and debt, which will also send the economy into decline,"
http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2012/05/22/cbo-warns-of-us-fallin...
May 22, 2012 study: Congressional Speech Drops Grade Level
"The average grade level of congressional speech is the equivalent of a high school sophomore, down nine-tenths of a grade level since 2005 but still significantly above the 8th and 9th grade levels that Americans speak at on average."
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/05/22/dumbing_down_of_congress_sunli...
The study on the grade level of the political conversation that takes place in this country directly relates to the inabilities of the typical voter to grasp concepts of debt and deficit. We would much rather talk about the "war on women, minorities, gays, middle class, 99%, evil corporations, citizens united, Koch brothers etc. etc."
Just look at the nonsense that's on the menu today for this show.
"Just look at the nonsense that's on the menu today for this show."
Including your posts.....
This is great. In the United States we work more, as a result of being expected to work more and longer hours for less pay and for the lack of security of jobs in the U.S. jobs pool. If our taxes were higher, we would lack the incentive to work longer hours, and at the same time would reap the benefit of having greater benefits! And yet the conservatives say that we need more freedom and liberty. We don’t want to be like those evil socialist countries in Europe. Oh yes, I want the freedom and liberty that consists of the ability to be worked harder…..give me more of that!
The study also points out that working more and longer hours has contributed to the divorce rate. Because of increased pressure to maintain a standard of living has caused women to obtain work experience in case they find themselves alone in the future.
This shows that conservative views of the economy are completely out of whack with what they want. They scream and moan about the rising divorce rates and yet decry the Europeans because of their lack of work ethic. Comon’ you can’t have it both ways. Less work would make everyone happier.
Damn those socialist! Damn them to hell….
http://voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/8007
“For 90 percent of American workers, incomes have stagnated or fallen for the past three decades, while they've ballooned at the top, and exploded at the very tippy-top: By 2008, the wealthiest 0.1 percent were making 6.4 times as much as they did in 1980 (adjusted for inflation). And just to further fuel your outrage, that 22 percent increase in profits? Most of it accrued to a single industry: finance.
In other words, all that extra work you've taken on—the late nights, the skipped lunch hours, the missed soccer games—paid off. For them.”
“We got to this point because of decades of political decisions. To name but three: turning over the financing of elections to wealthy interests; making it harder for unions to organize; deregulating Wall Street (and completely wimping out on reregulating it after the financiers nearly destroyed the global economy). And even after having watched these policies bring the global economy to its knees, Mitch McConnell & Co. say that any questioning of corporate power is tantamount to rolling out the tumbrels.”
But I’m speaking to deaf ears. Conservatives want you to work more for less. They are pleased with the pain and misery that it causes. And if you are willing to work harder for less.... you are as well.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speed-up-american-workers-lo...
In corporate news and the world of big business, corruption is larger and more pervasive than ever before. Capitalism is incapable of running in an ethical way, which is the reason why it is a flawed system incapable of working for the betterment of humanity. And yet the conservative defenders of the status quo maintain that we need less regulation….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/corruption-survey-idUSL5E8GME7...
And guess what? The SEC is underfunded and can’t get the job done. Exactly the way the Republicans want it….starve the beast.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/jpmorgan-hearing_n_1536596.html...
Finally if that were not enough, we’re about to go over the cliff. No responsible government only obstructionism at every turn.
http://cbo.gov/publication/43262
The Occupy fill in the blank ilk are not accomplishing their various goals. However, they do indeed wish to be rewarded for defecating on police cars, vandalism, and raping those unfortunate enough to be caught in the vicinity. POTUS Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, had a difficult time explaining why his boss is an advocate for these hooligans/anarchists.
http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2012/05/22/propaganda-minister-jay-car...
Maybe this is more to your liking? Maybe Obama can create a "war on big breasts" Maybe Obama could give her a call, if not I'm sure Bill Clinton is up for it.
N.J. woman says lingerie firm fired her because she was 'too hot'
Published: Tuesday, May 22, 2012,
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/nj_woman_says_she_was_fired_be....
Arkus Duntov wrote:
"If the left loves European socialism so much why don't they propose the tax rates that the European middle class pay?"
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Your domestic and foreign policy guru, Ron Paul, believes in Socialism in a Libertarian society.
"In a Student Town Hall on 9/25/09 sponsored by the Young Americans for Liberty, Ron Paul stresses that in a libertarian society, socialists would have the right to voluntarily live in their own socialist societies. Of course, any individual who chooses to do so must also have the right to opt OUT of living in a socialist society."
MarcusTullius, sounds OK to me. Ron Paul truly is a man ahead of the times, actually he represents the idea of the return to the libertarian principles that made our country great. If the "commune" floats your boat why not.
Arkus Duntov wrote:
"Ron Paul truly is a man ahead of the times.."
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Sure. Back in 2009, Journalist Jeffrey Shapiro asked RP if he were POTUS back in 1941, would he go to war with Germany after they declared war on the U.S., RP said, " 'I wouldn't send US troops to fight Nazis." RP doesn't even have lucid answers when he has the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.
I am not nor have I ever indicated that I am a Ron Paul spokesman. You have a tendency to take his comments out of context deliberately to suit YOUR needs. You need to get hold of Ron Paul and voice your opinions to him not me. It must be frustrating for many on the right that Ron Paul's libertarianism has worked it's way into modern conservatism. I will leave this topic with the words of the iconic conservative Ronald Reagan.
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals -- if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is".
In every speech Romney criticizes the President’s record. Why shouldn’t President Obama be able to do the same about Romney?
Arkus Duntov wrote:
"I am not nor have I ever indicated that I am a Ron Paul spokesman. You have a tendency to take his comments out of context deliberately to suit YOUR needs."
----------------------------------
Who said you were RP's spokesman? You are just another RP acolyte. You are a self-confessed Libertarian and RP is the pied piper of Libertarians.
I have not taken RP's opinion of the U.S. entering WWII out of context. His views on American foreign engagements, as well as his views of Israel, are well documented. If you do not agree with his opinions, say so. Do you agree with them?
Now you are quoting The Gipper as a supporter of libertarianism? I though you considered him the Devil incarnate for signing the 1986 Act that stated Machineguns which were manufactured prior to that date are regulated under the National Firearms Act, but those manufactured after the ban cannot be sold even to civilians who are already licensed to own machineguns.
equalizer wrote:
"In every speech Romney criticizes the President’s record. Why shouldn’t President Obama be able to do the same about Romney?"
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Who is stopping POTUS Obama from doing this? The lame stream media certainly supports the criticisms of Romney's tenure with Bain Capital, whether they are legitimate or not.
The E.U. has a banking problem,not a people problem.
No one is stopping the President but he is still having to defend running the ads. Romney was selected as the Republican candidate based on his business experience. Why shouldn't that business experience be examined?
Supporters of Romney believe his negative claims about President Obama whether they are legitimate or not. It works both ways.
@Arkus Duntov:
"The party is over and we can't tax the rich our way out of this one."
Only because influential rich of our time have bought our politicians to do their bidding. How convenient to forget that their rich grandparents paid up to 91% tax on their top tier of income without raising a stink and did their bit to help all classes share in our nation's prosperity.
I'm assuming that all of you whining about the deficit will be voting for President Obama this fall. Check out Dr. Stephen Bloch's site http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html. No matter how you slice it, most of the deficit was incurred on the watch of Republican presidents.
mancuroc wrote: "How convenient to forget that their rich grandparents paid up to 91% tax on their top tier of income without raising a stink and did their bit to help all classes share in our nation's prosperity."
I dispute that figure as in actual taxes paid! however even if we did tax the "rich" at that level it does not make a substantial difference in closing the gap between revenues and expenditures. If you bother to check out my first link you will see that there is no choice but to heavily tax the middle class to pay for all the desired social programs. Also notice it does not include the VAT. On top of that the revenues collected in Europe which are massive are still not enough as witnessed by the collapsing welfare system.
I will more than likely be voting and working for President Obama again even though I am extremely dissapointed in the lack of accountability in regard to the Wall Street debacle etc. Can your guest explain the Obama reelection teams decision to pick the motto "Forward" while spending so much time looking backwards on Romney's record.... but not so willing to really be totally forthright about the Obama administrations record these last three and a half years.
I am hoping the Obama administrations reelection team shoots out a chart of President Obama's To Do List: or check list with little check off boxes
1. Affordable Health Care Act...check
2. Lilly Ledbetter Act...check
3. Start
4. Out of Iraq (mostly) ...check
5. Stabilize the auto industry....check
6. Killed Osama Bin Laden...check
7. Consumer Protection Financial Bureau...check
8. Reduction of U.S. foreign oil use from 60% to 40%...check
KEEP ADDING...Quite an accomplished checked off list
The Republican position on taxes is extreme - given the Grover Norquist pledge, it could be called absolute, and therefore within a democratic form of polity, it falls outside the bounds of political reason.
One could make the argument that Romney is the perfect candidate to "lead" such an irrational thrust (made up largely of the wealthy corporate "persons"). He can be the etch-a-sketch who can be whatever the irrational, absolutist, undemocratic interests want him to be.
If this is true, could one not formulate an argument that the uncompromising Republican refusal to fund the Constitutionally-based government is both outside and subversive of US democracy, and Romney a placeholder for what is essentially a treasonous constituency?
So many right wing people and politicians equate the bogus attack on the wealthy as socialism. Too many accuse this president of that tact. Yet, then again, these people accused MLK and civil rights workers as socialists, too. It wears thin. Get a new tact. One thing I found out yesterday on PBS world news. The richest and I do mean richest people in China are members of the communists party. Not the aver worker, the communists. If you want to make it, in whatever you endeavor, build a company, open a school, manufacturing anything, you MUST become a communist party member. THESE are who Congress borrows from. Not the president. He pays no bills and authorizes no loans, just as he makes no laws. All in the Congressional ball park. As for polls. I am 63, black, a registered voter since 1970 at 21 which is over 42 yrs of proactive voting, I have never been polled on anything. I wonder why?
kathleen wrote: "I will more than likely be voting and working for President Obama again"
What a shock!
1. Affordable Health Care Act...check
will find out next month if were going the route of massively increased middle class taxes to pay for it.
2. Lilly Ledbetter Act...check
Won't help anything will only cause discrimination in hiring women.
3. Start
? (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) many think we got the short end of the stick on this and played right into the Russians hands. I don't know if anything real was accomplished.
4. Out of Iraq (mostly) ...check
Bushes time line.
5. Stabilize the auto industry....check
They still owe the tax payers around 30 billion and the same results perhaps better would have been achieved through bankruptsy, and it would have been legal!
6. Killed Osama Bin Laden...check
Any president would have done the same.
7. Consumer Protection Financial Bureau...check
Bad for the economy, and another duplicative agency to make up for the failure of existing agencies, a total waste.
8. Reduction of U.S. foreign oil use from 60% to 40%...check
Were in a period of slow economic activity, and gas prices have doubled since Obama took office.
The grandparents, etc., did pay that much. That is not a bogus figure. it really surprised me. It was on a program about the depression of 1929 and taxes paid and by whom. It also told of how Wall Street abused their power, how people bought and traded stock with no money to back it up or using the accounts of their bank patrons, the inflated housing boom, sound familiar? I like this 'this will assure that every body and corporation pays their fair share'. The 1986 Tax Act where President Ronald Reagan raised the capital gains tax to 30%. Isn't it amazing!! No one accused him of class warfare and he had to strong arm republicans to pass it. this AFTER he had cut taxes across the board at about 30% and the deficit started to soar. In fact, he started whittling away at his own tax cuts within 2 months after enacting them. He grew the deficit over 129%, mostly due to his tax cuts. I am a widow. My children are grown. I have no deductions or dependent, except me. I pay more % wise than a lot of wealther people and I do not begrudge their money. They will always pay more. 10% of $50K vs 10% of $5 million. Do the math.
The caller that was just put on the air made the point exactly correct -- Romney is all for dramatically increasing class sizes and dramatically decreasing teacher pay so long as it is for YOUR kids -- not HIS kids. This is the Republican position -- we should stop wasting money educating kids from average and poor families.
Gas prices NEVER doubled under President Obama. Tell that lie to someone else. They never reached as high as they did under G. W, Bush. I do not blame him. That came from an industry we gleefully subsidize and will raise gas prices whenever some one stubs their toe or lose a dollar at a casino and do not let Mount Everest lose some of her snow, the sky is fallin, henny Penny, raise the prices. They'll buy it and drink the kool-aid even if Jesus christ were president.
equalizer wrote:
"No one is stopping the President but he is still having to defend running the ads. Romney was selected as the Republican candidate based on his business experience. Why shouldn't that business experience be examined?
Supporters of Romney believe his negative claims about President Obama whether they are legitimate or not. It works both ways."
---------------------------------
Again, who is asking POTUS Obama to defend his ads? Not the lame stream media. They are Obama's re-election water carriers. What claims has Romney made about Obama's record that are false? How does it work both ways when the lame stream media puts a halo over Obama's head and presents Romney as Ebenezer Scrooge.
BTW: Did the lame stream media make a fuss over John Kerry's wealth? They actually celebrated JFK's family wealth that was built on bootlegging.
I work in the health insurance industry and have for over 25 yrs. i know what a procedure costs. I know what hospitals are losing to serve un covered walk-ins through the ER. If the average Er visit is $4k +, think of how much money they are losing treating 10 or more patients daily in all the hospitals. A lot of these people refused to pay for insurance and you have to pay. where is the difference. it will not raise anything. That lie won't float either. You pay a premium, as with Ford, US Steel and other self pay groups, determine the benefits, you choose your package and the premiums go into a pool, you know like house insurance or fire insurance, and the claims are paif from that. Me, I prefer to pay my own way as my whole family does. Most people moaning an groaning aginst Affordable Healthcare, don't have any and want some one else to foot the bill.
It's striking how angry so many of the callers are. I have to say that I share their anger because I'm sick of the govt., bi-partisan bickering and gridlock, military MIS-spending and MIS-allocation, financial/corporate corruption. Who's running this country? It's NOT us! Let's face it, American people are great, but it's govt STINKS and is running the nation into the ground. And I didn't even mention "black projects" and underground bases that are funded by the US taxpayers, funneled through military contractors and have no public accountability. (see: http://www.ufohighway.com for details).
The big problem: They can keep their flying triangles and laser weapons, but they could at least release technology to help the world out of it's energy crisis and blood letting over oil. Why do families need to lose their sons and daughters when the answer is in technology that the govt will not make public?? Astounding and very very sad.