Usa Thread

[dean]

Three times the Republicans have shut down non essential government and all three times they have gotten full pay. Did anyone think that this time was going to be different? They certainly deserve their back pay but applying for unemployment benefits is too close to gaming the system for my tastes. It's like the border agents that think that they are entitled to claim padded overtime pay because an emergency fund sits there that is supposed to be used for overtime pay in urgent pursuit of smugglers, etc. Gaming the system also occurs in business but doesn't affect taxpayers except when a business has to be bailed out at taxpayer expense, like the financial sector in 2008. I'm happy that I only have 5-10 years before retirement and can put this "gaming" in my rear view mirror.

[Flashermac]

My father always argued that when a union went on strike, the union negotiators' pay should also be suspended. It would give them motivation to get the dispute settled as soon as they could.

[Flashermac]

At Berkeley, Krugman’s warning becomes reality

 

by Andrew O'Hehir

 

 

How long will it take us to understand that the entire neoliberal project – the puritanical mania for cutting taxes, cutting social services and cutting budget deficits that has dominated the Western world’s economy for more than 30 years – has been a disaster? And guess what, liberals: You don’t get to point the finger at Ronald Reagan, Maggie Thatcher and Milton Friedman and claim it was all their fault. The reformist center-left, whether it took the form of Bill Clinton and the “New Democrats,†Tony Blair and “New Labor†or the watered-down social-democratic parties of Europe, has enthusiastically rebranded itself as a servant of global capital. If you were genuinely surprised that the Obama administration loaded itself up with Wall Street insiders, or that it failed to punish anyone for the massive criminal scheme that resulted in the 2008 financial collapse, you haven’t been paying attention.

 

I make that point because it’s almost impossible to have a serious discussion about this country’s economic problems without getting trapped into partisan political bickering, which is almost irrelevant in this context. The activist Tea Party right (at least in its populist, non-elite form) and the activist Occupy left are essentially reacting to the same phenomenon – worsening inequality, and the long-term economic and psychic decay of the United States – but interpreting it in different ways. Working-class whites who feel an immense loss of relative privilege and social status are not wrong, for example – but it doesn’t have much to do with the Kenyan socialist Muslim in the White House, or his namby-pamby and admittedly screwed-up healthcare law. As Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz recently noted, census data reveals that men with high-school diplomas but without college degrees earn about 40 percent less today (in real terms) than they did in the 1970s. Obama didn’t do that; capitalism did.

 

Stiglitz concluded his essay on inequality – which argued that it was a political choice, rather than the inevitable result of macroeconomic forces – by writing that he saw us “entering a world divided not just between the haves and have-nots, but also between those countries that do nothing about it, and those that do. Some countries will be successful in creating shared prosperity — the only kind of prosperity that I believe is truly sustainable. Others will let inequality run amok.†Which kind of country do we live in?

 

That was the question that ran through my mind this week while I was watching Frederick Wiseman’s magisterial documentary “At Berkeley,†a portrait of America’s most prestigious public university as it wrestles with piecemeal privatization and the near-total abandonment of its historic mission.

 

 

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/09/at_berkeley_krugmans_warning_becomes_reality/

[cavanami]

No and Obama has keep that faucet of free money open, same-same Bush/Cheney

[unit731]

You had me interested in article until I ran across this quote.

With that, it becomes - bullsit !

 

 

At Berkeley, Krugman’s warning becomes reality

 

"but it doesn’t have much to do with the Kenyan socialist Muslim in the White House"

 

http://www.salon.com...ecomes_reality/

[Flashermac]

That line is called satire ...

[cavanami]

Meet One Of The Victims Of Obama’s “Economic Recoveryâ€

 

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/meet-one-of-the-victims-of-obamas-economic-recovery

 

Have you ever cried yourself to sleep because you had no idea how you were going to pay the bills even though you were working as hard as you possibly could? You are about to hear from a single mother that has been there. Her name is Yolanda Vestal and she is another victim of Obama’s “economic recoveryâ€. Yes, things have never been better for the top 0.01 percent of ultra-wealthy Americans that have got millions of dollars invested in the stock market. But for most of the rest of the country, things are very hard right now.

 

At this point, more than 102 million working age Americans do not have a job, and 40 percent of those that are actually working earn less than $20,000 a year in wages. If we actually are experiencing an “economic recoveryâ€, then why is the federal government spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on welfare? And that does not even include entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. We live in a nation where poverty is exploding and the middle class is shrinking with each passing day. But nothing is ever going to get fixed if we all stick our heads in the sand and pretend that everything is “just fineâ€.

What you are about to read is an open letter to Barack Obama that has gone absolutely viral on the Internet in recent days. It is a letter that a single mother named Yolanda Vestal posted on her Facebook page, and it has really struck a nerve because countless other young parents can clearly identify with what she is going through. The following is the text of her letter…

 

Dear President Obama,

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for all you have done and are doing. You see I am a single Mom located in the very small town of Palmer, Texas. I live in a small rental house with my two children. I drive an older car that I pray daily runs just a little longer. I work at a mediocre job bringing home a much lower paycheck than you or your wife could even imagine living on. I have a lot of concerns about the new “Obamacare†along with the taxes being forced on us Americans and debts you are adding to our country. I have a few questions for you Mr. President.

Have you ever struggled to pay your bills? I have.

Have you ever sat and watched your children eat and you eat what was left on their plates when they were done, because there wasn’t enough for you to eat to? I have.

Have you ever had to rob Peter to pay Paul, and it still not be enough? I have...

 

My questions could go on and on. I don’t believe you have a clue what Americans are actually going through and honestly, I don’t believe you care. Not everyone lives extravagantly. While your family takes expensive trips that cost more than most of us make in two-four years, there are so many of us that suffer. Yet, you are doing all you can to add to the suffering. I think you are a very selfish and cold hearted man, who does not care what is best for the people he was elected by (not by me) to represent, but more so out for the glory of your name attached to history. So thank you Mr. President, thank you for pushing those of us that are barely staying afloat completely under water and driving America into the ground. You have made your mark in history, as the absolute worst and most hated president of the United States. God have mercy on your soul!

Sincerely,

Yolanda Vestal

Average American

[Flashermac]

Bill Clinton: 'President Should Honor the Commitment' and Let People Keep Their Insurance Plans

 

 

Former President Bill Clinton said that President Obama should keep his pledge to allow people to keep their current health care plans, if they like them, under Obamacare:

 

"So I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got," said Clinton in a recent interview.

 

Clinton has, in general, been a strong supporter of Obamacare.

 

 

http://www.weeklysta...ans_766944.html

[unit731]

Whether a mistake, mis-statements, or obsuscation - the law states that people cannot be continued to be screwed by health insurance companies with sub-par coverage.

 

 

 

"Individual insurance plans with low premiums often lack basic benefits, such as prescription drug coverage, or carry high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. The Affordable Care Act requires all companies to offer more benefits, such as mental health care, and also bars companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions."

 

LINK

[cavanami]

Bill Clinton: 'President Should Honor the Commitment' and Let People Keep Their Insurance Plans

 

 

Former President Bill Clinton said that President Obama should keep his pledge to allow people to keep their current health care plans, if they like them, under Obamacare:

 

"So I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got," said Clinton in a recent interview.

 

Clinton has, in general, been a strong supporter of Obamacare.

 

 

http://www.weeklysta...ans_766944.html

 

...but now, Hillary has an eye on the next presidential election...