Bondi's driving force. Then more notes on current events.

Capitalism is failing us. Then more notes on current events.

News and opinion - Climate change, Russia, and more

Making decisions for America

If we're going to try to curtail spending in the U.S., setting priorities seems important. Where do YOUR values lie?

Republicans say one thing, but mean another unfathomable thing only they can understand.

DJIA at an all time high.

Who's recovering from the economic collapse of 2008? The same people who caused it.

You really ain't shit...

The Economic Elephant in the Room

Our corporations are selling us out. But you knew that.

From Crooks and Liars
(Read more by following the link)

Multinational companies based in the U.S. boosted their global work forces in 2011 almost entirely by hiring workers overseas, underscoring the slow growth in the U.S. job market.

... The paltry hiring at home reflects where multinational companies are focusing their attention. Stronger economic growth in overseas markets in Asia and Latin America is driving their expansion, reinforcing their shift toward cheaper labor or closer access to customers.

The U.S. parents of multinational firms account for about one-fifth of total private U.S. employment. Since 1999, employment by U.S. multinationals is down by 1.1 million inside the U.S., while it is up by 3.8 million overseas.

And the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

From The Political Carnival

(You can read more by following the link)
 
In one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression, the billionaire Koch brothers who habitually rail against government's unfair burden on the wealthy, have almost doubled their net worth to a combined $64 billion [...]

    During that same time period, some of the bleakest economic news has been reported for the rest of America. Just yesterday, the Pew Research Center released a study showing that between 2009 to 2011 the richest 7 percent of Americans increased their wealth by 28 percent while the remaining 93 percent of households lost 4 percent of their net worth. The study analyzed Census Bureau data for the period.

Child poverty rate in the U.S.

From Daily Kos (click on the link to read more)

U.S. is second-worst of 35 developed nations when it comes to child poverty


Paul Ryan thinks the second-highest child poverty in the developed world and sequestration are a great start, but there's more to be done.

The United States ranks 34 out of 35 on a UNICEF measure of relative child poverty in developed nations. To be clear, that's 34 out of 35 in the bad way - second highest level, doing better than only Romania with more than 20 percent of children living in a household with an income below half the median.

    But the picture looks even worse when you examine just how far below the relative poverty line these children tend to fall. The UNICEF report looks at something it calls the "child poverty gap," which measures how far the average poor child falls below the relative poverty line. It does this by measuring the gap between the relative poverty line and the average income of poor families.

    Alarmingly, the United States also scores second-to-last on this measurement, with the average poor child living in a home that makes 36 percent less than the relative poverty line.

The austerity nut

But isn't it amazing that the austerity thing doesn't apply to stuff THEY like?

Logic that works well...

Recapping the CPAC message

Just in case you'd forgotten how illogical the GOP actually is...

Bernie Sanders on Too Big To Fail

Republicans - Keystone cops of the modern era...

Five Ugly Extremes of Inequality in America

from CAROLINA NATURALLY by nacktman
By Paul Buchheit

Click on this link to read the original - which contains additional information.





 The Contrasts Will Drop Your Chin to the Floor

Any of the ten richest Americans could pay a year's rent for all of America's homeless with their 2012 income.

The first step is to learn the facts, and then to get angry and to ask ourselves, as progressives and caring human beings, what we can do about the relentless transfer of wealth to a small group of well-positioned Americans.

1. $2.13 per hour vs. $3,000,000.00 per hour
Each of the Koch brothers saw his investments grow by  $6 billion in one year, which is three million dollars per hour based on a 40-hour 'work' week. They used some of the money to try to  kill renewable energy standards around the country.

2. A single top income could buy housing for every homeless person in the U.S.
On a winter day in 2012  over 633,000 people were homeless in the United States. Based on an annual single room occupancy  (SRO) cost of $558 per month, any ONE of the  ten richest Americans would have enough with his 2012 income to pay for a room for every homeless person in the U.S.  for the entire year.

3. The poorest 47% of Americans have no wealth
In 1983 the poorest  47% of America had $15,000 per family,  2.5 percent of the nation's wealth.
In 2009 the poorest  47% of America owned  ZERO PERCENT of the nation's wealth (their debt exceeded their assets).

4. The U.S. is nearly the most wealth-unequal country in the entire world
Out of 141 countries, the U.S. has the 4th-highest degree of  wealth inequality in the world, trailing only Russia, Ukraine, and Lebanon.

5. A can of soup for a black or Hispanic woman, a mansion and yacht for the businessman
That's literally true. For every one dollar of assets owned by a  single black or Hispanic woman, a member of the Forbes 400 has over  forty million dollars.

What to do?
End the  capital gains giveaway, which benefits the wealthy almost exclusively.

Institute a  Financial Speculation Tax, both to raise needed funds from a currently untaxed subsidy on stock purchases, and to reduce the risk of the irresponsible trading that nearly brought down the economy.

Perhaps above all, we progressives have to choose one strategy and pursue it in a cohesive, unrelenting attack on greed. Only this will heal the ugly gash of inequality that has split our country in two.

Government spending is on the decline.

Congressman Valadao's Radical Budget: Robin Hood in Reverse

Our inadeqate TV news networks

Once again we find that our ambassadors of "information" are hurting the nation. The damage from the sequestration is just beginning to be felt, but the coverage of the damage being done is negligent.