IN LAST WEEK’S COLUMN, I gave a description of what I see as the fundamental economic problem facing the United States: namely, the threat to the economy posed by capitalism run amok.
To review: The median wage has been dropping for five years, and even before that the median wage earner had been running in place for 30 years. It is even worse than that, however: Not only has the median wage not budged, but the earnings of the bottom 90 percent of the income scale have not kept pace with the growth of output per worker. Another way of saying that is: The vast majority of the American people are working vastly smarter and harder than they did three decades ago, but their value to the economy hasn’t been reflected in their earnings. At the same time, the profits of American companies have risen steadily, to the point that they are making more now than at any point in history.
The animating economic idea of the American right — that freeing capitalists to make as much money as they possibly can benefits everyone — has been shown by experience to be naïve, or perhaps even malign, nonsense (see the preceding paragraph). It has turned out that 30 years of “freeing capitalists to make as much money as possible” has resulted in obscenely enriched capitalists, and a stagnant-or-worse everyone else. As I’ve said before in this space, this is actually a structural flaw of capitalism. It tends to concentrate wealth, and thus power, in fewer and fewer hands at the top of the heap — as I pointed out in part one, there’s a reason it is called capitalism, and not laborism.
The options are: 1. Do nothing (result: a Dickensian nightmare for workers, and Ayn Rand wanly smiling her approval from Hades); 2. Completely overthrow capitalism (result: long, boring Brezhnev speeches from the 1970s and mile-long lines for toilet paper); or, something between these two extremes, the enactment of policies whose purpose is to correct the imbalances inherent to market economies.
I think it’s time to try something different. Instead of structuring things more or less exclusively in favor of capital, we need to tip the scales back in favor of, well, everyone else. This would not only benefit everyone else, but in the long run it actually makes capitalists themselves better off, because they get a smaller share of a much bigger and more quickly growing economy.
What would this mean, in terms of practical proposals?
Labor Policy: One way to increase the bargaining power of labor is to explicitly encourage, in every industry, unionization of the American labor force. It is worth remembering that organized labor fought for and won most of the things that most people now take for granted as features of a middle-class life: health and pension benefits, the 40-hour work week, the weekend, paid vacation and sick leave, disability insurance, and so on.
Congress passing the Employee Free Choice Act would be a huge lift to labor; they might also consider providing tax incentives and other enticements to companies that allow their non-management staff to organize.
Education Policy: As tax-supported free and low-cost public higher education has been cut and de-funded, student loan debt has skyrocketed, mostly to the benefit of capital in the form of the banks that own that debt.
In the 1950s, my mother went to UC-Berkeley to get her teaching credential. Cal was then, as it still is, one of the top universities in the country, but it cost her exactly nothing — and not because she had a scholarship or fee waiver, but because UC-Berkeley didn’t charge any money to the students who went there. No tuition, free books, no lab fees, and so on.
This was a result of an understanding back then that education benefits society as a whole, and as a social good it ought to paid for by society at large. This is just as true today as it was then — for example, suppose medical education were paid for by tax dollars, so that if you’ve got the smarts and drive to go to medical school and become a doctor, we as a society will pay for your education and training, since we will benefit from your skills when you’re done. You graduating without a six-figure student loan debt means you are more likely to choose the kind of medical practice that best suits your abilities and aptitudes, rather than the one that promises the biggest paychecks when your training is completed. Everyone wins.
Public Works and Infrastructure: To be blunt, the armature of our civilization — our roads, bridges, the passenger rail system, levees and canals, and so on — has been neglected to the point that bridges are literally falling into rivers and flood control engineers are trying not to think about the possible results of the next big storm. I think it’s long past time that we as a society did something about that.
We have an historic opportunity here to kill several birds with one stone: We have a large pool of idle labor, historically low interest rates (to the point that government can borrow money essentially for free), and a manifest need to repair and replace an enormous amount of infrastructure. So why not begin a multi-year plan to accomplish this important work, financed by borrowing plus higher taxes toward the top of the income ladder? After all, capital benefits hugely from having good roads and bridges on which to transport their goods, so it’s only fair that they pay a little more for that benefit.
For that matter, every one of my proposals would benefit capital, since it would result in a healthier economy. Better-paid labor means more demand for the goods the owners produce, as Henry Ford realized back in 1914 when he decided to pay his workers twice the going rate, figuring he could sell more cars if his workers could afford to buy them. A better-educated workforce is more productive than a poorly educated one.
Matt Talbot is a writer and poet, as well as an old Benicia hand. He works for a tech start-up in San Francisco.
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Henry Ford realized back in 1914 when he decided to pay his workers twice the going rate At the same time he did that he also cut the work day from 9 hours to 8 hours. The decision went counter to industry standards and set the trend for the rest of the automotive industry to soon follow.
Matt, your ideas are excellent and exactly what the country needs. Alas, we face a negative Christmas tree of trickle-up dreams from the mega-rich fraction of one-percent, the folks who live stratospheric lives above all human trouble save that posed by their own avarice. They want to tilt everything financial in their direction and keep it that way. It’s just plain fun and they rationalize how great it is for the country and world future.
They’re aware of risk that opponents may revolt, hence they work hard at creating police-state conditions for quick and total control of volatile situations They are almost there. If the Trans-Pacific travesty gets fast-tracked through Congress, or passed by any means whatsoever, we can say goodbye to democracy and meaningful representation. Corporatism will have won, and conditions for the working class will revert to Dickensian struggle amid squalor and hopelessness.
The Koch brothers, for instance, live so high & mighty they don’t need drugs but will insist on keeping criminalized the chance of anyone feeling good in the lower depths, for that lowers motivation to work for the bosses. Of course, the Kochs can have anything they want, in private, and that may be part of the problem.
Spot on in re the three subjects you cover. Omitted was tax policy. The wealthiest in this country pay far too little in taxes. The middle class pays far too much.
The political views of the top 1% are siumilar to the political views of the 99%. So I am not so sure it is a conservative view at the top. So stop blaming the Conservatives for the issues of the middleclass and low income earners. It may just as well fall on the Democrats more than on the Republicans. News the Liberals do not like.
Matt, I couldn’t agree with you more. I also believe that today’s innovators stand at the threshold of transforming our broken big government, mega corporations and bloated military.
B.L., I really doubt you have an accurate idea of how the 1% view things. The top 1% is composed of several fractions. The top 1% of the top 0.1% contains rather few liberals. Some are arch-conservatives a-la the Koch brothers who along with ALEC, etc, push all the backward stuff on the rest of us. Oh, yeah, Dennis, they throw a little money around for “good causes.” It’s propaganda-PR that helps them dream they’re good guys.
Welcome aboard.You are correct “Thank God for Obama”. You now know the problem and I am sure you want to get away from this totalitarian leader as much as the real clear thinking folks want to move away from him also. He has hurt the Democratic party to an extent that it will take years to unravel his scrambled up mess. But the Conservatives will do it even if Hillary is President. Remember she and Bill are no friend of President Obama. Even if she is President she is smart enough to help untangle this mess he has got this country into. Good luck Simon it is still not to late to join the winning team. The process is difficult but for you I am sure I can help your application move quickly to the excepted level. Love to have converts on the winning team. Welcome aboard.
Bobbie, I’d like you to describe clearly this mess Obama has made in you view of things. No vague generalities, no standard “talking points.” Just facts.
YOUR view of things, B. Livesay, not somebody on NewsMax or National Review. (Ugh-gh-hhh!)
Robert I could very easily describe the mess President Obama has got us in. The only problem is you and your crowd will ignore the facts. So what good would it do me. I do not want to chatter back and forth and be personally attacked. It is useless for me or any Conservative to describe the mess. I will let 2014 do the work for me.
He’s got nothing
Simon I do know this and apparently Simon, Reid and the President do not know it. All of you are using scare tactics on S/S checks. Simon they will continue to go out. The shut down is discretionary spending not mandatory spending. S/S is mandatory and is funded differently. So to all the Seniors that read these comments Simon, Reid and the President are wrong. Have no fear you will get your s./s check as you earned it and deserve it.
You are wrong. The checks and other important things will be held up and it will be entirely Republicans’ fault — all because they don’t want 30 million people to get health care.
Remember seniors, Republicans hated Social Security too — and even now would dismantle it if it weren’t so popular. Same goes for Medicare. So they cannot be trusted to have your best interests at heart — now or ever.
Simon: it will be entirely Republicans’ fault — all because they don’t want 30 million people to get health care.
I recall then candidate 0bama saying:
“If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law.
This was reiterated in his campaign literature:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/factsheet_healthcare.pdf Nearly 45 million Americans—including 9 million children—lack health insurance
What happened to the other 15 million? Do the Democrats not care about them?
How many of them are being denied health care because their republican governor is refusing Medicaid expansion? Don’t those republican governors care about their constituents?
How many of them are being denied health care because their republican governor is refusing Medicaid expansion
Please, do try to keep up. The 45 million figure was pre-election and pre 0bummerKare, 30 million is the number now used, one which was changed at some time in the past.
‘zero-bummer-kare’. Nope, no negative tactics there. The 45 million figure came before scotus gave governors the opportunity to screw their constituents by rejecting free (to the state) expansion of medicare.
“I will let 2014 do the work for me.”
Thanks, see you then.
Always glad to help Robert:
Well, he was not honest with us about Obamcare. Plus:
President Obama and his Administration have…
• Increased the deficit more than $4 trillion, causing the first-ever downgrade in the U.S. credit rating and for the first time raising serious questions about U.S. financial stability.
• Issued 106 new major rules that cost U.S. businesses $11 billion in implementation and more than $46 billion each year.
• Blocked Boeing’s new South Carolina factory from opening to assuage his union supporters.
• Raided a Gibson Guitar factory for violating an arcane India law even though India does not believe the law has been broken.
• Issued an “ambush” election rule allowing quick unionization and limiting an employer’s ability to present reasons for non-unionization.
• Restricted how companies hire unpaid interns, cutting the link between students and employers.
• Blocked the construction of the Keystone Pipeline that would have given jobs to thousands of American workers, further reducing the domestic oil supply and forcing our ally Canada to turn to China as a more willing partner.
• Cut authorization of permits restricting drilling in Gulf and slowed permitting of new oil drilling so our future oil supply will be restricted and gas prices will be higher.
• Mandated third party certification for all manufacturers participating in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, which has raised costs for manufacturers and created a disincentive for participation in the program.
• Funded Solyndra and other unworthy companies, wasting taxpayer money but also discouraging other privately funded companies from entering the market.
• Only moved on Bush free trade agreements and failed to enter one new free trade agreement, even while our competitors have entered many, making U.S. goods more expensive to export.
• Pushed for passage of card check legislation that would infringe upon the rights of workers and make the United States a less desirable place to open a business.
• Created a new rule requiring every employer to post notices on union “rights,” (found illegal by a federal court in April).
• Changed rules on unionization votes so the majority of employees no longer need to vote to unionize, allowing easier unionization.
• Disparaged the city of Las Vegas twice, which led to an immediate and dramatic fall-off in hotel room bookings and hospitality jobs.
• Proposed onerous restrictions on government officials attending trade shows, threatening vital cooperation between business and government to create jobs.
• Mandated that every hotel swimming pool have special access for the disabled, causing pools to close or hotels to add expensive add-ons, hurting the hotel industry and employment.
• Imposed a requirement that every employer with more than 49 employees provide health care insurance or pay a fine.
• Allowed the United States to become the highest corporate tax nation in the developed world.
• Required every children’s product to undergo expensive testing, threatening thousands of small businesses that make children’s products.
• Demonized businesses and one-percent income earners consistently as greedy.
• Increased the number of IRS audits of successful job creators while dramatically cutting audits of those reporting no income.
• Proposed regulating gas fireplaces in homes, threatening a large segment of the market despite no energy rationale.
• Failed to approve one new nuclear plant, increasing our energy dependence.
• Defended EPA “strong-arming” of property owners by threatening fines — March 2012 Supreme Court’s unanimously rejected EPA position.
• Ignored proposals of his own Bipartisan Deficit Commission and thus guaranteed further choking deficits and financial uncertainty.
• Imposed a 2.3 percent new excise tax on innovative medical devices.
• Imposed a new investment income “surtax” of 3.8 percent.
• Raised the Medicare Payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent.
• Required every individual to buy health insurance as part of his healthcare reform, which the Congressional Budget Office says will cost twice as much as the White House originally advertised.
• Proposed a seven percent hiring quota for “disabled” workers in every job category for government contractors, creating a new expensive burden to doing business with government.
• Expanded the definition of “disabled” to include people with diabetes and heart disease, among others, and specified new quotas for hiring under this definition.
• Opposed “repatriation” of U.S. corporate profits made overseas (and already taxed), thus encouraging U.S. companies to invest those profits in foreign enterprises.
• Proposed higher taxes for business-use airplanes, raising the cost of many U.S. operations.
• Sought to give the IRS the power to license all tax preparers, discouraging entrepreneurs by raising the cost to enter the market.
• Attacked the Supreme Court twice directly, undercutting confidence in the separation of powers.
• Raided California medical marijuana facilities, harming entrepreneurs and threatening medical treatments.
• Sought and signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform law with its hundreds of new rules and restrictions that impose billions in new costs on financial companies.
• Advocated for the “Buffett Rule,” which would discourage U.S. investment and barely dent the deficit.
• Expressed plans to raise the capital gains tax, which would discourage U.S. capital formation and drive investment overseas.
• Created new emissions standards for industrial boilers that may cost hundreds of thousands of U.S. businesses a total of $14.5 billion.
• Pursued his campaign pledge to adopt electronic medical records, at an estimated cost of as much as $100 billion. The plan is already costing jobs.
• Set new energy-use mandates for many products, discouraging innovation and consumer choice and raising product costs.
• Imposed new restrictions on the number of hours driven by truck drivers, costing more than $400 million with no proven additional safety benefit and raising the cost of goods shipped in the United States.
• Failed to confront drug company payoffs/rebates to doctors, thus raising the cost of health care.
• Negotiated secret trademark treaties that are so secret their effects are unknown.
• Failed to make government more transparent by restricting FOIA requests, according to the Washington Post, making review of government actions difficult.
• Neglected to do anything about providing guns to Mexico drug cartels, which resulted in the death of U.S. Border Patrol agents, causing worldwide doubt as to U.S. rule of law.
• Perpetuated the fraud of “green jobs” to sell and justify stimulus funds with little evidence to support the market for these jobs.
• Investigated leading U.S. companies, such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Intel and Qualcomm, which encouraged other countries to do the same.
“Increased the deficit more than $4 trillion, causing the first-ever downgrade in the U.S. credit rating and for the first time raising serious questions about U.S. financial stability.”
Ahhh…life inside the Faux bubble. Typical of the lies and distortions DDL consistently posts, including throughout this particular one. Bush explodes the deficit, and it’s suddenly Obama’s fault. Fact is, Obama has reduced the deficit by a greater amount than any President, ever. Again, let’s review the major causes of the deficit:
1) TWO unpaid for Bush wars
2) TWO unpaid for Bush tax cuts for the wealthy
3) Unpaid for Medicare Part D
Either DDL is either knowingly distorting the facts, or he is ignorant beyond comprehension. Take your pick.
Everything on this list is either a distortion, a falsehood or taken out of context — or something conservatives feel should be a self-evident evil, but which objective analysis has shown to be good. But if you’re going to misinform, overwhelm with the volume of your lies.
Something tells me wherever Dennis moved, it’s not a place with a lot to do.
Everything on Simon’s list is either a distortion, a falsehood or taken out of context — or something Leftist feel should be a self-evident evil. But if you’re going to misinform, overwhelm with the volume of your lies.
AND you lack originality. What a prize.
Typical of the lies and distortions DDL consistently posts. Fact is, Obama has reduced the deficit by a greater amount than any President, ever.
Completely uninformed non-intelligible trash. The “It’s all Bush’s fault” whine is old and wrong. So the deficit is run up to the highest levels in history, and then reduced by a large dollar amount (but small percentage) and then the 0bamaphants make false claims. Here are the numbers for 0bama:
Note this source used may be of questionable veracity as it is from: 0bama’s own White House. Gov. Table 1.1
Year Total deficit
2008 -458,553
2009 -1,412,688
2010 -1,294,373
2011 -1,299,593
2012 -1,086,963
2013 estimate -972,902
2014 estimate -744,189
2015 estimate -576,472
2016 estimate -528,385
2017 estimate -486,906
Yet more from the DDL distortion factory. Keep in mind, Bush kept the cost of the wars off the books, leading to the misleadingly low deficits prior to 2009. And, are you suggesting Obama owns the 2009 deficit? Only in the Faux bubble, which DDL can’t escape. DDL’s intellectual bankruptcy is stunning.
Whenever I make a mistake, I will own up to it. The referenced article explains the deficits and the debt of the 0bama years with the total debt being shown proportionally between the Bush policies and 0bama policies. The numbers are revealing, as I would fully from others :
‘90 percent of the current deficit is due to Bush policies
But you don’t own up to being a tool of misinformation who passes off debunked nonsense as fact. Which is why you are so poorly regarded among thinking readers of the Herald.
Which is why you are so poorly regarded among thinking readers of the Herald.
And this thread of comments represents exactly why your self appointed membership in that group should be immediately revoked.
Derpity derp derp — DDL
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/06/19892587-politifact-finds-its-pants-on-fire?lite
Rachel Maddow? MSNBC?
LOL.
That’s right.
Rachel Maddow is a journalist of impeccable diligence and integrity. She’s a Stanford grad and Rhodes Scholar. That you would laugh off her name (unsurprisingly, without any criticism of substance) while marching behind the drumbeat of the dimwits inside the Faux bubble is more than telling.
Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
13. Improved America’s Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent.
14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform.
16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies.
18. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
19. Began Asia “Pivot”: In 2011, reoriented American military and diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial, diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior.
20. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what’s been called Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
25. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court: Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America.
27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other.
28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009, which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion.
29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 30 percent reduction in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts. Because federal government is the country’s single biggest purchaser of goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy for years to come.
32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possessionfrom100 to1 to 18 to1.
33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare.
35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014.
38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011 cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 35 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans and/or if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her total earnings servicing student loans.
39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post.
42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families.
45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, among many other areas.
48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years past.
49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split in 2011.
50. Killed the F-22: In 2009, ended further purchases of Lockheed Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358 million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.
Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments: 1. Passed Health Care Reform:
I am sure Baghdad Bob would agree with an assessment such as that.
Knowing what we know now about this Bill and the devastating impact of Obama Care, only the most diehard partisan Dem would be proud of that ‘accomplishment’.
Thanks for confirming that Democrats could care less about how something is done, as long as it gets done their way.
You have no clue what you’re talking about. Obamacare will help millions and the country will be immeasurably improved by it, even you Dennis, and your children and their children. You’ve cast your lot with those relegated to the dustbin of history.
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” – C S Lewis
No one can say for certainty the checks will go out. You are wrong to say they definitely will. No government shutdowns are alike so Clinton is an inoperative example.
Simon how can you with certainty say the checks will be held up? You did say that they will be held up or does that translate to that they will be delayed and will go out.
How can you know they won’t? You don’t. Everyone is in danger if the government shuts down. It’s irresponsible of you to suggest otherwise.
The law suggest otherwise on s/s. I do believe Simon you even know that. I appreciate you backing off.
I appreciate you not defending so-called conservatives who would destroy the lives of the elderly, the military and the uninsured just because they hate our president. Thank you.
I have an idea Simon. I think you and I should have a sit down I think we are both reasonable and could have a good chat. Send your e-mail address to the editor and have hin forward it to me. I will not compromise you. I would like to know who I am chatting back and forth with. It could be very productive to meet one on one. Looking forward to your positive responce. Thanks Simon for considering this proposal.
I will consider it.
Thanks Simon.
In the meantime, I just received this email from our former Congressman, George Miller:
Dear Friend,
Have you ever wondered what would actually happen if Congress repealed the Affordable Care Act, the historic health law sometimes referred to as Obamacare?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, here’s what’s at stake for East Bay families if Republicans in Congress succeeded in their effort to repeal the law:
6.6 Million Young Adults Lose Coverage Through Parents’ Plans: 6.6 million young adults, including 3.1 million who were previously uninsured, would lose the option of staying on their parents’ health plans if the health care law were repealed.
129 Million Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Lose Security: Up to 129 million Americans, including 17 million children, would lose the security of knowing they cannot be denied coverage or charged more due to a pre-existing condition, like cancer or even asthma, starting in 2014.
34.1 Million People with Medicare Pay More for Preventative Care: 34.1 million seniors and people with disabilities would pay more for preventative care like mammograms and colonoscopies.
105 Million Americans Could Face Lifetime Limits on Health Insurance Again: Insurance companies would be allowed to return to their practice of lifetime dollar limits on your care.
Very interesting letter. He is talking about total Americans in most of those numbers. What he does not tell you are MIA folks, medicaid or in Calif. medical. The numbers in total seem large and scary to someone who may not understand healthcare. I was in the field and do understsand it. Those numbers are not new and can be very easily whittled down to true numbers. It is a very interesting letter. I assume there is more too it with some facts or resources for you to go to. Thanks.
How Testicular Cancer Convinced A Former Republican Staffer To Leave His Party:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/08/18/2485391/testicular-cancer-obamacare-murphy/
Now THAT is good reading
If Obamacare were as bad as you and the others in the Faux bubble suggest, they would let it be implemented as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Would greater political gain could the GOP get than from the failure of Obamacare? No…every potential roadblock is put up and the campaign of lies as to what it does continues…because the GOP’s worst fear is Obamacare will be successful…improving the lives of tens of millions…and reducing the deficit, to boot…and the GOP will be proven wrong yet again…just as was the case with their opposition to Social Security and Medicare.
Benician the Republicans have not stopped Obamacare from going forward. I think you will find that President Obama all by himself has done that job. It is not going as smoothly and as quickly as the Democrats say it would. So at this point there is no blame on the Republicans at all. It is the President all by himself.
“All by himself.” You sure do know all about fiction!
No, they haven’t stopped it. They’ve only voted 40 times in the House to repeal, threatened to shut down the government if it’s not defunded, and most GOP governors have taken the moronic stance not to accept the Medicaid expansion, though at initially no cost to their state, and virtually no cost in the future. But, no, they haven’t stopped it. They’ve only tried their damnedest.
They could have addressed many of their concerns — if they are real concerns, which is doubtful — if they’d worked with Dems and the White House to improve the law. But because they are so fearful of the pitchfork-and-torches crowd they’ve incited and don’t know how to contain, that’s no longer an option. Which means when they fail to repeal this law, they become the ones who opposed helping millions of families financially endure devastating illnesses. As I’ve said, wrong side of history — in the extreme.
if they’d worked with Dems and the White House
They tried:
Defenders of the process will point out that 161 Republican amendments were added to the bill. That would be 161 out of 721, not a strong record. The fact of the matter is this is a Democrat Bill! As I mentioned in a previous column the Democrats should have, sought a real compromise that would have garnered Republican support. Instead, a line was drawn and future election results will determine the impact of this action. — Dennis Lund Benicia Herald March 24, 2010
Offering amendments is the only way to work with the other side?
It is one way, and an example. Obama never seriously worked with those he consider to be his enemies.
One of those Amendments BTW, was a declaration that illegal immigrants would not be covered (except for emergency care), George Miller did not let that one get out of his committee. Why?
Hard to get compromise with the other side when the other side’s #1 legislative priority is to ensure the president serves only one term. Fact is, Obama tried very hard to get GOP involvement in the bill, but the 21st century Whigs said ‘no’. If he wanted a pure lefty bill we’d have seen a push for single payer or a public option, instead of the insurance-company-friendly bill we wound up with.
Hard to get compromise
You are right, compromise is hard, and likely above 0bama’s pay grade.
Who ever said this was supposed to be easy?
It takes two to tango. Obama was willing, the GOP wasn’t. You support a dope like Bush and you say compromise is above Obama’s pay grade? Just shows where your pay grade is.
WShat was the liner 0bama used at the early meeting after his election: ‘We won, you lost’
0bama is a condescending prick, who does not want to work with others and you should know it. If you don’t, you are not doing your homework. The New Yorker did an entire piece on this. It is worth reading for those who are actually interested in politics, beyond just being a hack who can only spew party line dogma, over and over and over…..
Now go ahead, I know you want to have the last word.
You spell Obama’s name with a zero in stead of ‘O’, and I’m using negative tactics? LOL. I called your comment what it was…asinine. When Obama was in the Senate many Republican Senators praised Obama for his ability to work across the aisle. Then, he became president, and on the night of his inauguration, that other side of the aisle agreed to do their best to make Obama a one-term president…thwarting his attempt to pass any meaningful legislation, even if it was legislation they supported in the past. If you were interested in politics, as opposed to being a lackey for a party whose agenda consists of preventing abortions and little else, you would recognize as much.
You spell Obama’s name with a zero in stead of ‘O’, and I’m using negative tactics?
The difference: My negative tactics are directed at public figures, such as 0bama, not at you (except on rare occasions), while yours are always directed at me. That is a distinction that does not matter to you or other Leftists.
You write a ‘column’ for our local newspaper. This makes you a public figure. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Gibson Guitar Company is a sad shadow of what it use to be. They needed a wake up call. Unfortunately they are still slumbering.
Gibson Guitar Raid: A Fox Case Study:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/09/13/gibson-guitar-raid-a-fox-case-study/181273
It would be more interesting, as well much shorter, to see a list on what 0bama has done to improve the country.
Why bandy with the factually challenged and the hopelessly racist? You’ll never admit publicly what you know in your heart: Obama has saved this country from ruin, and every day he’s president we become stronger.
They are a mirror of the 99%.
As in the exact opposite
Simon it does not make any sense for me to continue this chatter. I do know what I am talking about. I will just let the folks do their own research and come to their own conclusion. It is very clear.
Livesay, show support yourself, for saying you know what you’re talking about, even if it is only anecdotal.
Your talk always stays airy-fairy in clouds of self-assured certitude.
Simon if I am wrong please show me your reference to prove I am wrong. If I am wrong I am a big boy and can accept the facts. Thanks for helping me understand the shut down.
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/ted-cruzs-blatant-and-deliberate-lie-about-obamacare-gets-exposed/
http://www.nationalmemo.com/ted-cruz-is-lying-to-the-republican-base-and-they-love-it/
Simon thanks for the info. Just where does it say s/s checks will not be going out during a possible shut down.?
Seniors should be legitimately concerned that this GOP-precipitated shutdown will impact them directly, including by the suspension of their support payments. It would be irresponsible to suggest they should not be concerned.
Sorry Simon not irresponsible just telling it as it is. Scare tactics are not going to work. Reid, President Obama and folks like you are creating the concern that is not a concern. Pure fiction.
You’re the expert in fiction. I’m telling the truth — Republicans will sacrifice the livelihoods of millions, including S/S beneficiaries and the military, to stop millions of Americans from having the social safety net of a law that has passed Congress, been signed into law and deemed Constitutional by the highest court in the land. That’s the truth, and the only way it’s a scare tactic is because it should scare every thinking American.
I thought you didn’t want to talk about this. I don’t blame you.
Shutdowns are rare and unpredictable events. You cannot guarantee checks will go out because no one knows what will happen, what agencies will be affected, how long the shutdown will last. And again, this is a manufactured crisis, so its extent is impossible to gauge — but everyone who relies on government to any degree (all of us) can expect to be impacted.
No doubt there will be impact on everyone. But to say s/s checks will not go on as schedule is just false info. Go back and look at what the Clinton regime found out about s/s checks and the law. The checks did go out and will go out this time if it happens. I agree it is a manufactured crisis but at the same time there is no need to use scare tactics as Reid, President Obama and yourself have stated about s/s checks not going out. That again is wrong and if there is a shutdown these s/s checks will continue to go out. Yes I do agree if this occurs it will be felt by everyone but to use seniors as an example is way over the top and for sure A scare tactic. You and I both know there are extremes on both sides of political debate but some issues the politicians should be very careful about. Seniors and S/S is for sure a top priority.
It is unfortunate that so many Leftists reject outright any information which goes against the many myths established by them and their ardent supporters at MSNBC and other media outlets.
Example # 1:
Obama’s claim that ‘90 percent’ of the current deficit is due to Bush policies (Linked above)
The Washington Post gave that tall one 4 Pinocchio’s, in other words it is a lie. One promulgated by those who willingly ignore the facts. Quoting from the Washington Post:
But Obama’s policies also played a big role during his presidency. Using the CBO data for the years 2009-2011, here’s a very rough calculation of the contribution to the deficit. To keep things simple, we did not try to allocate interest expense, and we did not include categories of spending or taxes that were difficult to allocate.
Here are the numbers:
2009:
Economic/technical differences: $570 billion (46 percent)
Bush policies: $330 billion (27 percent)
Obama policies: $325 billion (27 percent)
2010:
Economic/technical: $815 billion (51 percent)
Bush: $225 billion (14 percent)
Obama: $565 billion (35 percent)
2011:
Economic/technical: $720 billion (46 percent)
Bush: $160 billion (10 percent)
Obama: $685 billion (44 percent)
The there is this summary of Obama’s lies:
Finally, Obama claims that “we have actually seen the federal government grow at a slower pace than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower.” We regret to say that the president is repeating a widely debunked column that appeared on MarketWatch earlier this year. We devoted three columns to the column’s faulty logic, and FactCheck.org and the Associated Press also said it was bunk. (PolitiFact said it was “half true.”)
So now you like the Washington Post? tomorrow you’ll be back to calling it part of the Obama-loving mainstream media. Can’t have it both ways.
It is unfortunate that so many rightists find the answer they’re looking for and then ignore all contrary evidence, forever.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/06/19892587-politifact-finds-its-pants-on-fire?lite
And this one dear DDL is for you:
http://m.imgur.com/QlAy7CY
So, Bush gets a pass on the economic impact of his recession, and no wars listed. Interesting. You can put the stimulus in Obama’s column, but the stimulus was made necessary by the Bush recession.