Bad Deeds for 9-9-2010

 

How This Past Monday Became the Worst Labor Day in the Memory of Most Americans – Economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty examined tax returns from 1913 to 2008 and discovered an interesting pattern. In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in about 9 percent of the nation’s total income; by 2007, the top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income.

It’s no coincidence that the last time income was this concentrated was in 1928. I do not mean to suggest that such astonishing consolidations of income at the top directly cause sharp economic declines. The connection is more subtle.

The rich spend a much smaller proportion of their incomes than the rest of us. So when they get a disproportionate share of total income, the economy is robbed of the demand it needs to keep growing and creating jobs.

What’s more, the rich don’t necessarily invest their earnings and savings in the American economy; they send them anywhere around the globe where they’ll summon the highest returns — sometimes that’s here, but often it’s the Cayman Islands, China or elsewhere. The rich also put their money into assets most likely to attract other big investors (commodities, stocks, dot-coms or real estate), which can become wildly inflated as a result.

Here’s the point. Policies that generate more widely shared prosperity would lead to stronger and more sustainable economic growth — and that’s good for everyone.

 

Don’t Count on Rick Perry for Help, Don’t Even Expect Him to Return Your Calls – The mayor of Hidalgo, Texas, John David Franz, supported Rick Perry throughout most of his career. But, when Hidalgo needed Rick Perry, he wasn’t there to help. Mayor Franz tried repeatedly to get a meeting with Rick Perry about helping the city with its water problems, but Perry never answered. In contrast, Bill White reached out to Mayor Franz and the City of Hildalgo, and text is now supporting Bill White for governor.

 

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Says OK to Pollute in Some Creeks – In 2007, chicken company Pilgrim’s Pride discharged more than 1.5 million pounds of toxic pollution from its Mt. Pleasant processing facility into Tankersley Creek. The creek feeds into the Lake O’ the Pines, a popular swimming spot in northeast Texas that saw several beach closures this summer due to high bacteria levels. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has implemented new rules that would allow even more health-threatening bacteria into waterways where people aren’t likely to ingest the water. That means if people like to wade, but not swim in a creek, it can stay polluted.

 

America’s Crumbling Infrastructure Causes Delay in Space Shuttle Assembly – On Wednesday, a 24-inch water main broke near the 52-story space shuttle vertical assembly building, cutting off the water supply to the shuttle launch facility at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The shuttle Discovery was slated to move from its maintenance hangar so engineers could attach the shuttle to its external tank and twin solid rocket boosters. “The center is closed down – only open to essential personnel,” said Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel. The shuttle transfer was postponed to Thursday.

 

Contractor Providing Unqualified Interpreters to U.S. Troops in Afghanistan – More than one quarter of the translators working alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan failed language proficiency exams but were sent onto the battlefield anyway, according to a former employee of the company that holds contracts worth up to $1.4 billion to supply interpreters to the U.S. Army. “I determined that someone — and I didn’t know [who] at that time — was changing the grades from blanks or zeros to passing grades,” said Paul Funk, who used to oversee the screening of Afghan linguists for the Columbus, Ohio-based contractor, Mission Essential Personnel. “Many who failed were marked as being passed.”

“There are many cases where soldiers have gone out into the field and have spoken to elders [who] handed messages to the interpreter that a possible ambush three miles up the road would occur. The interpreter cannot read the message and they are attacked,” Funk said. “We’re talking about soldiers lives here.” U.S. Army officials confirmed they are investigating the company.

 

Last Week, Republicans and Pundits Were Shrieking, But Now … – Last week, Republicans and pundits were shrieking about the Gallup poll’s generic ballot being at minus 10 for Democrats. Now, the Gallup poll’s generic ballot is tied, but the Republicans and pundits are still shrieking as if nothing has changed. Time for us to get serious about educating the public. Make some calls and knock on some doors. Don’t believe their bull.

Last Week, Republicans and Pundits Were Shrieking, But Now … (part 2)

Last week, Republicans and pundits were shrieking about the trade deficit and jobs.

This week,

commerce department figures showed on Thursday that a surge in exports narrowed the US trade gap in July, raising hopes that economic output could accelerate in the second half of the year as global demand picked up. The trade deficit fell 14 per cent to $42.77bn, . It was the sharpest decline in 17 months and exceeded economists expectations, thanks to a jump in US exports.

Separately, government figures showed that new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, offering a rare bright spot for the labour market.

But the Republicans and pundits are still shrieking as if nothing has changed. Don’t believe their bull.

 

Focus on the Family Supports Bullying – The conservative evangelical parachurch organization, Focus on the Family, has launched an attack on the Safe Schools Improvement Act, which is designed to help prevent and respond to bullying in schools. This bill has widespread support from educators, administrators, civil rights organizations and the National PTA. The legislative bullying by Focus on the Family highlights the type of intolerance and ill-informed divisiveness that contributes to the harassment in schools that this legislation seeks to prevent.

 

Restoring Horror – The “official” scientific estimate claimed 87,000 people attended Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C. But, Beck said it was at least 500,000. After all, would you believe something that was scientific? Then, Michele Bachmann said that the rally couldn’t have been less than one million people, which means that she doesn’t believe Glenn Beck or science.

And the magically-multiplying number of people was just one of the miracles at the rally. Beck found Divine Providence in a flock of geese that flew in formation over the crowd. “I think it was God’s flyover,” Beck told his Fox News viewers the week following the event.

Now we know that Beck’s idea of restoring honor is to make stuff up.

 

Another Republican Role Model – Republican candidate for Stark County, Ohio, treasurer goes berserk during campaign speech.

Regards,

Jim