Bad Deeds for 3-18-2011

 

Republican Plan to Sharply Cut Federal Spending Will Destroy 700,000 Jobs Through 2012 -A report, by Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi says the Republican plan to sharply cut federal spending this year would destroy 700,000 jobs through 2012. It also predicts that the GOP package would reduce economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year, and by 0.2 percentage points in 2012 and that while cuts and tax increases are necessary to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems, cutting too deeply before the economy is in full expansion would add unnecessary risk.

 

Republican Tax Chairman Wants to Reduce Taxes for the Richest Americans – Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he hopes to cut the tax rate for the richest individuals and corporations to 25 percent. During George W. Bush, the top tax rate was reduced to 35%. Under Bill Clinton, when we had a budget surplus, it was 39.6%.

What effect will another tax reduction for the rich have on jobs? Let’s say you are the CEO of a business, and ask your sales manager if your business is going to sell more widgets in the coming quarter and he says no, because most people can’t afford to buy more widgets now. Would you say that because you (or the company) got a tax decrease, you are going to hire more workers, even though there is no additional work for them? Hint: If you do, the stockholders will fire you for mismanagement.

And, according to the Wall Street Journal, lowering taxes on the wealthiest Americans to 25 percent would cost $2 trillion over a decade. [More on ultra and mega rich.]

 

Republican Congressional Candidate Says Bus Blacks to Farms to Pick Crops – Congressional candidate Jack Davis said in a Republican Party endorsement meeting that Latino farmworkers should be deported and that inner-city African-Americans should be bused to farms to pick crops.

 

States Are Using Enron-Style Budgeting According to Bill Gates – During his recent presentation at the recent TED conference in Long Beach, California, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates accused state governments of creative accounting methods that would have made Enron executives blush. “The guys at Enron would never have done this, this is so blatant, so extreme,” he said. “Is anyone paying attention to what these guys do?”

Gates points out that sleight-of-hand funding techniques allow states to appear to have balanced budgets on paper, but in reality, money is being shifted about like the Queen of Hearts in a game of Three Card Monte.

States use tricks like borrowing funds from one-time proceeds or the sale of state property- something Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin is doing by selling state-owned power and water plants to private businesses. But these tactics produce only enough money for one budget year and leave the state with the same shortfall year after year. Gates plans to use the Gates’ Foundation website to expose state budget practices in his campaign to eliminate what he feels is fraud at the expense of the nation’s children.

 

Rush Limbaugh Mocks Japan, Jokes That ‘Gaia’ Struck Because They’re Environmentalists – Republican radio talk show kingpin Rush Limbaugh got a kick out of one caller today who suggested that since Japan is so environmentally friendly, maybe the Earth or “Gaia” reached out and slapped them for it.

Limbaugh seemed so amused by the theory that he ran with it, turning a warped tangent into some kind of sick joke, seemingly to mock the media and Japan amid an unprecedented disaster.

Regards,

Jim