Paul Krugman writes in Hunger Games USA. Facts and figures at his column. To fully appreciate what just went down, listen to the rhetoric conservatives often use to justify eliminating safety-net programs. It goes something like this: “You’re personally free to help the poor. But the government has no right to take people’s money” — […]
Partnering with Visa, McDonalds’ Suggests a Budget for Employees which Ironically Shows in the End Just How Impossible It is to Get by on the Minimum Wage. The budget does not include gasoline, food, or heating expenses and incorporates $20/month for Healthcare Insurance. Besides skipping certain expenses and skimping on others; to meet the income […]
Via Truthout 21st centurty Glass Steagall Act You need to know this. Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to make banking boring again. Yesterday, the freshman senator introduced the 21st Century Glass Steagall Act, which would break up the big banks, and rebuild the wall between traditional banking and Wall Street gambling. In a statement, Senator Warren said, […]
The last few weeks oil prices have been moving higher and few analysts seem to understand the full story. If there is any commodity that trades at a one world price it is oil. So the recent weakness in West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) is very unusual and stems from temporary bottlenecks. Over the last […]
Stepping back from the specifics/justice questions of the Zimmerman-Martin case for a minute can we take a look at the logical takeaways? One consistent story of the last few years is the push by the NRA and allies to allow Open Carry everywhere. Whether that be bars, college campuses, National Forests, a D.C. that previously […]
Crooks and Liars Diane Sweet writes about the impact the Sequester is having on something I used to do when working part time at an assisted care and nuring home in Bensonville, Illinois while pursuing my first BA. “Meals on Wheels” would bring a meal a day to the elderly. Since some were apartment-bound with […]
States refusing to expand Medicaid to 133% of FPL has repercussions for those making less than 100% FPL. The PPACA was intended to setup State Exchanges where people could buy healthcare insurance and if they had an income beyond 133% FPL (Federal Poverty Level). Subsidies in the form of a tax credit would be given […]
Quelle Surprise, The White House Administration has decided to give “some” companies with >50 employees a one year extension in order to prepare and comply with the PPACA mandate. Given the amount of resistance the PPACA has received from the states in preparing for it and the House of Representatives, this delay should come as […]
If there is no mystery about the nature of the chief justice’s views, I remain baffled by their origin. Clearly, he doesn’t trust Congress; in describing conservative judges, that’s like observing that the sun rises in the east. But oddly for someone who earned his early stripes in the Justice Department and White House Counsel’s […]
Last Thursday (Jun. 27) I posted a piece here titled “Poetic Justice for Justice Alito. Maybe.”, that discussed the concerted and deeply successful effort begun in the mid-1980s by the Reagan-era appointees to the federal appellate bench and continuing unremittingly since then, to invite virulent abuse of litigants and lawyers by judges—the more overt and […]