Bad Deeds for 7-30-2010

 

Republican Fiscal Policies Are a Bad Investment – According to Moody’s Analytics (hardly a left-wing group), for every dollar of government money spent on extending the Bush tax cuts, there’s only a 32-cent return on investment in terms of economic stimulus. Not a solid investment. How about cutting the corporate tax rate? Also a 32-cent return in economic stimulus. Capital gains tax cuts? 37-cents. And, lumped together, there’s your Republican plan for growing the economy. Dumb investments. Goldman Sachs would short these policies.

But what about the Democratic spending? For every dollar spent on unemployment benefits, there’s a $1.61 return in economic stimulus. Good investment! How about infrastructure spending? $1.57 return. Aid to the states? $1.41. Temporary increase in food stamps? $1.74. Even the Obama tax credits for the middle class, $288 billion of the Recovery Act, account for up to $1.30.

 

What Did the Republican Policies Get Us?

• 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1 percent of all Americans.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.

Oh, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that wages for the highest 20 percent of earners rose by nearly 300 percent since 1979, while wages for the bottom and middle 20 percent increased only by 41 percent — combined. Plotted on a graph, middle and working class wages have flatlined for 30 years.

By the way, the Republicans also recently voted against and defeated an amendment to strip Big Oil of its $35 billion in subsidies. Just thought I’d pass that along. Put another way, $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy? No problem. Deficit-shmeficit! And the Republicans want to give $35 billion to Big Oil in the form of corporate welfare during the worst oil spill in American history.

Do we have a clear picture in terms of who and what the Republicans care about? It surely isn’t fiscal discipline or the deficit. And it surely isn’t the middle class.

 

Republicans Block Routine Nominees at Unprecedented Rate – The Center for American Progress released a report this morning, and the results are both striking and irrefutable. Even district court nominees, whose confirmations used to be routine, are being blocked in record numbers, thanks to Republican tactics that have never even been tried in the Senate.

From the report: “Such tactics are completely unprecedented, and so are their results. Fewer than 43 percent of President Obama’s judicial nominees have so far been confirmed, while past presidents have enjoyed confirmation rates as high as 93 percent. And President Obama’s nominees have been confirmed at a much slower rate than those of his predecessor — nearly 87 percent of President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees were confirmed.”

 

John Boehner and His Republican Buddies Lie About Funding Abortions – Boehner lied about federal funding of abortions in a news release July 13. Then, Ohio’s eight Republican members of Congress kept up the chorus of lies. The Obama administration has clearly stated it won’t allow abortion to be covered under the new plans, save for cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. State officials in Pennsylvania and Ohio have insisted their new programs will comply with the federal ban. The high-risk plans in question are designed to cover older people with chronic health conditions rather than the healthy young women most likely to seek elective abortions. Politifact’s investigation finds Boehner’s statement to be False.

 

Republican Mike Pence Lies About Effects of Expiring Bush Tax Breaks on Small Business Owners – Mike Pence repeats the Republican lie that getting rid of the Bush tax cuts is going to raise taxes on small businesses. The truth is that only about 2% are impacted by the return to higher rates for incomes over $250,000.

 

Republican Rand Paul Likes Large-Scale Destruction – Republican Rand Paul believes mountaintop removal just needs a little rebranding. “I think they should name it something better,” he says. “Most people”, he continues, “would say the land is of enhanced value, because now you can build on it.”

I don’t know, this doesn’t look all that enhanced to me:

Big Coal wants to keep doing this, so their handiwork can spread throughout more of Appalachia like a malignant tumor.

Here’s a satellite photo of the Hobet Mine, WV, taken in 1984:

Here’s a satellite photo of the same area at the same scale, taken in 2009:

Hearing Rand Paul talk, is it any wonder that Big Coal is mobilizing to spend whatever it takes to get him into office?

 

Republicans Don’t Care If People Are Poisoned – During the Bush years, Republicans managed to legislate an exemption for fracking fluid into the Clean Water Act. Then, Republicans in Congress blocked the proposed FRAC Act, which wouldn’t even ban fracking fluid — it would simply require drilling companies to disclose what’s in the fluids they are pumping into the earth near critical groundwater supplies. And now, in perhaps the most extreme step yet, Republicans here in Colorado (a state with one of the biggest natural gas reserves in the world) are demanding the Environmental Protection Agency never regulate fracking, regardless of whether or not the agency discovers that fracking is poisoning people.

Regards,

Jim