Your Political Compass

The religious right, the tea party, the conservatives, the libertarians - whatever we are calling them these days - have moved the country so far to the right, that the old right now appears to be the left. Think Obama is a liberal? A careful examination of his policies places him as an authoritarian right-winger. I can't disagree - he's done lots of stuff I'm not happy with.

You can click on this image to view it larger.

Who does Congress really represent?

If you don't have much money, forget you.

Growth in health care spending

Note that the chart shows the GROWTH in Medicare and health spending each year. The huge drop after part D was introduced does not mean spending didn't remain high, it just means that the INCREASES didn't continue to occur. As an aside, remember when Republicans introduced and passed the drug rider for Medicare, Part D, under President Bush, they never offered a way to pay for it - they just put it on the tab, adding to the deficit they are now crying over.

Rating the GOP

I don't think they're doing very well...

U.S is becoming a corporatocracy

The power of our corporations is becoming so pervasive that we are becoming a nation, of, by and for big business. Nowhere was this more evident when the big gun lobby won the day in the Senate, defeating background checks for gun control despite overwhelming support of the people.

Speaking of the deficit

I've said it before, I'll say it again - Republicans talk big about the deficit and the debt, yet within the last 50 years, they are the party that has run up the national debt and it is Democrats who have to clean up their mess. Even now, as the GOP rants and raves about cutting spending, Obama has been doing their dirty work for them.  Trust me - allow them back into power and they will run up the deficit again - it's what they do - "untax and spend."

Just more proof of Obama's deficit reduction.

Low wage jobs mean higher payouts for welfare programs

Great - you can hire these folks for a song, but you'll pay for it in government debt and taxes.

It'a all about priorities

It's all giggles and shits until someone shits and giggles. Or, as North Dakota says it, it's all guns and babies until it's your family member that gets shot or your daughter carrying an unwanted baby. You only hurt the ones you love.

Congress - and they just don't care...

What did I hear once? Everybody (well maybe there a few fools left) hates everyone in Congress except for the person from their own district. Otherwise, why aren't they all voted out of office?

Corporate taxes

Conservatives love to blow smoke up your ass about how high corporate taxes are in the US, but what they don't tell you is that the special tax breaks we allow corporations, and the opportunities we give them to hide profits overseas, keeps their effective tax rates near zero.  These huge companies thrive on our nation - we are near the top of the board on consumer spending - but they don't contribute to the cost of keeping our nation up and running. It's time we end these tax breaks and ask them each to contribute something to the well-being of the U.S.

Where gun violence is most prevalent

Understanding the impact of a "chained CPI"

Majority favor Obamacare

Click on the image to biggify.

I guess somebody doesn't understand mathematics

Chart - prayer vs. actually doing something

From Acerbic Politics

Republican Health Care Plan - Chart

Paying No Income Tax

This is interesting...

From Acerbic Politics

This graph leaves more questions than the ones it answers. Is this trend due to an increase in the number of poor families? Is it because of Bush's tax cuts? Is it because of huge loopholes for the wealthy (we've all heard about the corporations and millionaires who pay no taxes.)

The one thing that it does prove is that it shows us another of the reasons the government is running a deficit. If we want to balance the budget, folks have to pay taxes.

We Don' Need No Stinkin' Stimuls

From Acerbic Politics

Is This Right?

I lost track of the source of this chart (and I find a lot of stuff loose on the Usenet so I may never have had the source), but it is probably accurate. However, my limited knowledge of the economics of the bailout tells me that these figures for the economic crisis include monies not actually spent, but guarantees given by the Federal Reserve System to failing banks and financial institutions.

The "Wall Street Bailout" figures also, most-likely, do not include anticipated returns from loans that the government has made.

My final comment: Although the chart does not indicate the basis used for all of the monetary amounts, one would have to assume that any organization sophisticated enough to put this together also used constant dollar amounts, thus accounting for inflation.

Political Images: Posters, Bumperstickers, etc.