Acerbic Politics: Some articles worth a look-see

Suicide is up. Opioid deaths are up. Economic inequality is up. And it's not a coincidence.

New report shows just how badly Trump and his "EPA" have already poisoned our environment

20 quick points to remember next time a loved one, neighbor, drinking buddy or co-worker tries to make you fear the "illegals”

JOHN FUGELSANG·TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019

Here are a 20 quick points to remember the next time a loved one, neighbor, drinking buddy or co-worker tries to make you fear the "illegals."

1. If US politiicians really wanted undocumented immigration to end, they'd start locking up the Americans who hire them.
The demand for undocumented labor would swiftly end. They never talk about that. There's a giant "Help Wanted" sign at our border and it's not coming down.

2. The majority of undocumented immigrants are people who overstay their visas, not illegal border crossings. Politicians don't talk about this.

3. Undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than US-born citizens. Legal immigrants also commit crimes at lower rates than US-born citizens.

4. Undocumented immigrants pay state, local & sales taxes. Over 11 billion in 2016.
How undocumented immigrants pay taxes, explained
They also pay billions into Social Security and Medicare.
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/13/17229018/undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes
(And when legal immigrants arrive here as adults, we don't have to pay for their education & they can start paying into our Social Security system.)

5. President Ronald Reagan supported Amnesty (his word) and argued that open borders allow them return home when they're done working here.
A Reagan Legacy: Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants
As the nation's attention turns back to the fractured debate over immigration, it might be helpful to remember that in 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128303672

6. "Illegals" is a racist, dehumanizing, other-izing term. It's un-Christian and hypocritical - if you drive 56 in a 55 zone, aren't you an 'illegal' too?
If you disagree, count how many other types of lawbreakers FOX News calls "illegals."

7. Trump is an illegal. $25 million for education fraud alone. And I don't really need to say this, but more to come.

8. Politicians don't try to punish people who give jobs to undocumented workers (driving down supply of jobs) bc fear of Central American & Mexican immigrants & asylum seekers gets massive votes & campaign donations. It's a racket.

9. From slavery to Chinese railroad workers to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to today's overseas sweatshops, exploited labor by marginalized peoples has always propped up the US economy.
Without 'illegals' you'd pay $40 for a salad.
And I know, salads don't apply to Trump.

10. Trump hires undocumented workers. Going back to the 80s w/undocumented polish construction workers.
The same people who exploit undocumented labor also exploit fear of the undocumented. You're being suckered by very rich hypocrites.

11. No national Democratic politicians have called for any legislation or policies that could ever lead to "Open Borders."
This is important. Any politician or media figure who uses the term "open borders" is lying.
The Bible calls that "bearing false witness."

12. They are never going to build a wall across thousands of miles of desert, rivers and forests, private and commercial property - while forcing Americans to give up their land under eminent domain law.
Wall fans are arguing for big govt to seize private American property.

13. The wall will not stop undocumented immigration. Ladders and shovels are things that will still exist.
As will America's giant "Help Wanted" sign.

14. People who support stealing migrant children are legally still allowed to call themselves Christian. They are not.

15. America has crumbling roads, bridges, a deliberately underfunded public school system, neglected infrastructure and an underfunded VA.
A guy who's hired undocumented workers wants $5billion to keep undocumented workers from coming here for work. It's all a scam.

16. Trump promised his supporters that Mexico would pay for the wall.
He promised you, #MAGA. Many times. Now he literally wants you to pay for his own broken promise.
(And the majority of 2016 voters rejected it, 74 million total (HR & 3rd parties) vs. DT's 62 million)

17. The majority of Americans still oppose the wall. They know it's expensive, bigoted, stupid and won't work. The majority of Americans don't hate America.

18. Undocumented immigration has dropped to a 12-year low. There is no 'crisis' and you have been lied to:
Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. drop to lowest level in 12 years
The number of undocumented immigrants from Mexico continued to decline, while more came from Central America, according to the Pew Research Center
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/undocumented-immigrants-in-united-states-drop-lowest-in-12-years-2018-11-28/

19. Trump did not pay federal taxes for years and committed tax fraud to avoid paying the taxes that you paid, which he now seeks to misuse.
Donald Trump Acknowledges Not Paying Federal Income Taxes for Years. The admission of using a loss to avoid future taxes came in response to a question at Sunday’s debate with Hillary Clinton.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html
Seriously, we need to see Donald Trump’s tax returns
Congress could produce them with a simple committee vote, but Republicans are covering for Trump.
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/3/17932216/donald-trumps-tax-returns

20. Fear of "illegals" is a scam designed to get alarmed FOX news viewers to vote for an agenda centered on more tax cuts for very rich people, who don't need more tax cuts.
Bonus #21. If you don't like our drug war refugees from Central American drug war violence seeking asylum in America then stop supporting the drug war.
Bonus #22. It's Jesus' birthday so here's his take. From Matthew 25, which modern RW evangelicals seriously need to read:
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,"

This is why diamonds aren’t rare or valuable

Read more...
http://vt.co/lifestyle/diamonds-arent-rare-valuable

Air Force veteran Reality Winner is serving 5 years for blowing the whistle on Russian election interference, while Trump's Russia-dealing cronies are going free

Guess Who Is Likely To Profit If Trump Gets His Border Wall? RUSSIAN Steel

Read more...
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/12/guess-who-likely-profit-if-trump-gets-his

robertreich

Watch Your Wallets

The problem with the Fed hiking rates now is that Trump has already stressed the paychecks of most Americans. The rate hike will make matters worse.

Most Americans are still living in the shadow of the Great Recession that started in December 2007 and officially ended in June 2009. More Americans have jobs, but their pay has barely risen when adjusted for inflation.

Many are worse off due to the escalating costs of housing, healthcare, and education. And the value of whatever assets they own is less than in 2007.

Trump has added to their burden by undermining the Affordable Care Act, rolling back overtime pay, hobbling labor organizing, reducing taxes on corporations and the wealthy but not on most workers, allowing states to cut Medicaid, and imposing tariffs that increase the prices of many goods.

All of which suggests we’re careening toward the same sort of crash we had in 2008, and possibly as bad as 1929.

Clear away the financial rubble from those two former crashes and you’d see they both followed upon widening imbalances between the capacity of most people to buy, and what they as workers could produce.

Each of these imbalances finally tipped the economy over.

The same imbalance has been growing again. The richest 1 percent of Americans now takes home about 20 percent of total income, and owns over 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. These are close to the peaks of 1928 and 2007.

The underlying problem isn’t that Americans have been living beyond their means. It’s that their means haven’t been keeping up with the growing economy. Most gains have gone to the top.

But the rich only spend a small fraction of what they earn. The economy depends on the spending of middle and working class families.

By the first quarter of this year, household debt was at a record high of $13.2 trillion. Almost 80 percent of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck.

The last time household debt was nearly this high was just before the Great Recession. Between 1983 and 2007, household debt soared while most economic gains went to the top.

If the majority of households had taken home a larger share of national income, they wouldn’t have needed to go so deeply into debt.

Similarly, between 1913 and 1928, the ratio of personal debt to the total national economy nearly doubled.

After the 1929 crash, the government invented new ways to boost the wages of most Americans – Social Security, unemployment insurance, overtime pay, a minimum wage, the requirement that employers bargain with labor unions, and, finally, a full-employment program called World War II.

By contrast, after the 2007 crash the government bailed out the banks and pumped enough money into the economy to contain the slide. But apart from the Affordable Care Act, nothing was done to address the underlying problem of stagnant wages.

Without wage growth, most American workers can’t continue to buy. They’re in the same sort of debt trap that preceded the 2008 and 1929 crashes. Auto and home sales already are declining.

The Fed’s rate hike will only worsen this.

Ten years after the start of the Great Recession, it’s important to understand that the root of the collapse wasn’t a banking crisis. It was the growing imbalance between consumer spending and total output – brought on by stagnant wages and widening inequality.

That imbalance is back. Watch your wallets.

Source
http://robertreich.tumblr.com/post/181255307360

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Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Some articles worth a look-see