Undernews: July 8, 2011

Social security cuts & the death of the Democratic Party

Jane Hamsher, Fire Dog Lake - From the moment he took the White House, the President has wanted to cut Social Security benefits. David Brooks reported that three administration officials called him to say Obama “is extremely committed to entitlement reform and is plotting politically feasible ways to reduce Social Security as well as health spending in March of 2009. You can only live in denial for so long and still lay claim to being tethered to reality.

And if you think it’s only the President, and the progressives in Congress will oppose him, we’ll have to disagree about that too. Nancy Pelosi can always come up with the votes she needs to pass whatever the White House wants, and she’ll do it again this time. It’s her only chance to ever be Speaker again. If the Democrats somehow manage to retake control of the House, she needs Obama’s support. She’ll shake her fist and say things like any health care bill “without a strong public option will not pass the House” and then turn around and force her caucus to walk the plank.

What we’re watching is the death of the Democratic Party. Or, at least the Democratic Party as most of us have known it. The one that has taken its identity in the modern era from FDR and the New Deal, from Keynesianism and the social safety net. Despite any of its other shortcomings (and they are myriad), the Democratic Party has stood as a symbol for commitment to these principles. As recently as 2006, Democrats retook the House in a surprise wave election because the public feared that George Bush would destroy Social Security, and they trusted the Democrats over Republicans to secure it. Just like George Bush, Obama now wants to “save” Social Security”¦.by giving those who want to burn it to the ground the the very thing they’ve wanted for decades.

Any member of any party who participates in this effort does not deserve, and should not get, the support of anyone who values Social Security and cares about its preservation. The amount of damage that the Democrats under Obama have been able to do has been immeasurable, by virtue of the fact that they are less awful that George Bush. But where George Bush failed, Obama will probably succeed.

Max Richtman, National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare - Social Security is a self-financed program paid for by Americans throughout their working lives. It has kept millions from poverty for more than 75 years and has absolutely nothing to do with the federal deficit. President Obama has promised Social Security benefits for current retirees would not be at risk and that he would not ‘slash’ benefits for future generations. However, that’s exactly what will happen if the COLA formula is changed as has been reported. The chained CPI is nothing more than a backdoor benefit cut Washington hopes Americans won’t notice or understand. Having weathered two years of no COLAs, Washington now wants to tell seniors that ‘nothing’ is too much.” AddThis Print This Post

Paul Krugman, NY Times - It’s getting harder and harder to trust Mr. Obama’s motives in the budget fight, given the way his economic rhetoric has veered to the right. In fact, if all you did was listen to his speeches, you might conclude that he basically shares the G.O.P.’s diagnosis of what ails our economy and what should be done to fix it. And maybe that’s not a false impression; maybe it’s the simple truth.

One striking example of this rightward shift came in last weekend’s presidential address, in which Mr. Obama had this to say about the economics of the budget: “Government has to start living within its means, just like families do. We have to cut the spending we can’t afford so we can put the economy on sounder footing, and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.”

That’s three of the right’s favorite economic fallacies in just two sentences. No, the government shouldn’t budget the way families do; on the contrary, trying to balance the budget in times of economic distress is a recipe for deepening the slump. Spending cuts right now wouldn’t “put the economy on sounder footing.” They would reduce growth and raise unemployment. And last but not least, businesses aren’t holding back because they lack confidence in government policies; they’re holding back because they don’t have enough customers ¬ a problem that would be made worse, not better, by short-term spending cuts. . .

Watching Mr. Obama and listening to his recent statements, it’s hard not to get the impression that he is now turning for advice to people who really believe that the deficit, not unemployment, is the top issue facing America right now, and who also believe that the great bulk of deficit reduction should come from spending cuts. It’s worth noting that even Republicans weren’t suggesting cuts to Social Security; this is something Mr. Obama and those he listens to apparently want for its own sake.

Glenn Greenwald, Salon - Obama knows full well that he can slash Medicare, Medicaid and even Social Security -- just like he could sign an extension of Bush tax cuts, escalate multiple wars, and embrace the Bush/Cheney Terrorism template recently known in Democratic circles as "shredding the Constitution" -- and have most Democrats and progressives continue to support him anyway. Unconditional support ensures political impotence, and rightly so. He's attending to the constituencies that matter: mostly, Wall Street tycoons who funded his 2008 campaign and whom he hopes will fund his re-election bid, and independents whose support is in question. And he's doing that both because it's in his perceived interest and because, to the extent he believes in anything, those are the constituencies with which he feels most comfortable.

Pocket paradigms
Part of my love of the craft of journalism has been the simple joy of possessing the license to go wherever curiosity leads, to consider no place in the planet alien to my inquiry, to use words as a child uses little plastic blocks. Part of it has been the pleasure of deliberately learning more about something than any reasonable person would want to know.. - Sam Smith

Black unemployment still over 16%

Redding News Review - Black unemployment continued to hover at a near record high of 16.2 percent, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The rate is near the highest rate recorded for blacks during President Obama's tenure, according to department. The highest rate, since Obama took office, was 16.5 percent in March and April of 2010.

The black unemployment rate for June was 16.2 percent, the same as the May rate. The May rate was up from April's 16.1 percent, which was the largest increase since November's 16 percent.

On Thursday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus assailed Obama for his handling of the rising black unemployment rate.

Top Obama advisor claims voters won't worry about unemployment

John Aravosis, America Blog -“The average American does not view the economy through the prism of GDP or unemployment rates or even monthly jobs numbers,” [David] Plouffe said, according to Bloomberg. “People won’t vote based on the unemployment rate, they’re going to vote based on: ‘How do I feel about my own situation? Do I believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family?’ ”

The article goes on to invoke the mythical "confidence fairy" who will magically create jobs once businesses have "confidence" that the deficit is under control. Because, you know, that's how I make my hiring decisions - not based on how much money I have, and how consumer demand looks in the future, but rather, based on how the President is doing with the deficit negotiations.

Not to mention, it's difficult to "believe the president makes decisions based on me and my family" when his top adviser is claiming that unemployment, which very much has affected me and my family, doesn't matter.

I suspect Plouffe is playing the same card that top Obama advisers played to convince the President not to support a real stimulus. The economy is going to get better soon, the argument went at the time, so no need for a stimulus the size of which Krugman, Stiglitz and Obama's own economics adviser said we needed. They're hoping the same failed argument works on unemployment. Or perhaps Plouffe reflects a different thinking inside the White House, that voters actually care about the deficit and will reward the President for reaching a "historic" deal to garotte Social Security and Medicare, just like George Bush wanted, even though far too many of their family members are still unemployed or underemployed.

Yes, can't feed the kids, can't pay the mortgage, but thank God the long-term deficit will be under control in 2024.

Word

Everything has been said but not everyone has said it yet. -- Mo Udall

House GOP prefers funding military bands over feeding the hungry

Politics USA - House Republicans have rejected a proposal to cut $120 million from the military band budget in order to feed low income American women, children, and senior citizens.

House Republicans have stripped an appropriation from the Defense Authorization bill proposed by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) that would have taken $120 million away from the military band budget and used the money to feed low income Americans.

One of the programs that Republicans plan to cut is the Commodity Supplemental Food Program which provides food assistance to 500,000-600,000 Americans. Almost all of the participants (96%) are senior citizens. The WIC program is also on the chopping block. Republicans are trying to slash $833 million from a program that feeds low income pregnant women, new moms, babies, and children under 5. If House Republicans get their way, 325,000-475,000 mothers, infants, and children will be denied food in 2012.

Facebook pulls simple ad of Christian progressives

Daily Kos - A group called "The Christian Left" is trying to bring Christians together on Facebook to do what they're supposed to do: support progressive causes and candidates and fight for human rights, including those of LGBT people.

This is the ad they ran:

Are you a Christian? Are you a Liberal or a Progressive too? Do you feel alone in the 'Conservative Christian' world? Join us.

Facebook pulled the ad due to "negative user feedback."

Posted by TPR at 7/07/2011 1 comments

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The deficit crisis in brief

Jim Walis, Sojourners - The United States has the best credit rating in the world, for now. For years the safest investment in the world has been buying U.S. debt. But there is a legal limit on how much we can borrow, and we are about to max out. What’s driving our deficits? If you look at the drivers of the budget deficit from 2009 to 2019, you’ll see that there is a sharp increase from recovery measures for a few years. But by 2019, more than half of the deficit will be from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the tax cuts enacted under President Bush and extended under President Obama.

What had been a routine procedure is now center stage. Unless you were paying very close attention, you probably didn’t hear about the seven times the debt ceiling was raised under President Bush and 17 times under President Reagan. But don’t think using the debt ceiling as a partisan tool is anything new. These votes often fall along partisan lines, and President [then Senator] Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling under President Bush.

Yes, a default would be disastrous. None of the main characters is even considering it. It could set off a row of economic dominoes that could result in more than 600,000 jobs lost, a lot more debt than we have right now, and at a significantly higher interest rate. President Reagan put it like this: “Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinksmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar.” Not raising the federal debt limit isn't like cutting up your credit card. It's like cutting up your credit card bill. We have a long-term spending problem, but that doesn't mean we can stick our heads in the sand. And the most serious economists, from both parties, say that spending cuts alone cannot solve our deficit problem. Part of the solution has to be increasing revenues. Tax revenues are the lowest they have been in recent history. In 1980, federal revenue was around 19 percent of the GDP; in 1990 it was a little over 18 percent; in 2000 it was over 20 percent; and in 2010 it was just over 14 percent of GDP. Taxes, especially on the wealthy, are relatively low (historically and internationally) and need to be raised.

This play would be amusing to watch if it was just on a stage. Instead, these decisions will have real-world consequences. Should we end farm subsidy checks to millionaires in Manhattan, or baby formula rebates for new mothers? Should we end mortgage deductions for second homes, or house the homeless? Should we end a military tank program that no longer has use, or stop providing malaria bed nets for children?

The actors who are center-stage right now would have the audience believe that it is all much more complicated than that. The directors behind the scenes would like us to stay out of the way of the plot and leave it to them. But as a Christian, I can’t sit quietly by while the audience of the poor watch silently and suffer.

Scott Walker replaces union members with prison slaves

Think Progress - While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it’s helping a different group in Wisconsinites ¬ inmates. Prisoners are now taking up jobs that used to be held by unionized workers in some parts of the state.

As the Madison Capital Times reports, “Besides losing their right to negotiate over the percentage of their paycheck that will go toward health care and retirement, unions also lost the ability to claim work as a ‘union-only’ job, opening the door for private workers and evidently even inmates to step in and take their place.” Inmates are not paid for their work, but may receive time off of their sentences.

The law went into effect last week, and Racine County is already using inmates to do landscaping, painting, and another basic maintenance around the county that was previously done by county workers. The union had successfully sued to stop the country from using prison labor for these jobs last year, but with Walker’s new law, they have no recourse. Watch a report from Fox6 in Green Bay:

Pocket paradigms

Why do all moral values have to go into families and TV? Can't we save a few for public policy and budgets? - Sam Smith

Word

Drawing on my fine command of the English language I said nothing. -- Robert Benchley

Police stage 40,000 paramilitary raids a year

Rania Khalek, Alternet - Paramilitary raids that mirror the tactics of US soldiers in combat are not uncommon in America. According to an investigation carried out by the Huffington Post's Radley Balko, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement over the last 30 years, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units for routine police work. In fact, the most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

Some 40,000 of these raids take place every year, and are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. And as demonstrated by the case of Aiyana Mo'nay Stanley-Jones, these raids have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries. . .

Treasury trying to figure out what to do if GOP crashes budget

Reuters - A small team of Treasury officials is discussing options to stave off default if Congress fails to raise the country's borrowing limit by an August 2 deadline, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Senior officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have repeatedly said there are no contingency plans if lawmakers do not give the U.S. government the authority to borrow more money.

But behind the scenes, top Treasury officials have been exploring ways to prevent a financial meltdown that would be triggered if the government were unable to pay its bills on time, sources told Reuters.

Treasury has studied the following issues:

- Whether the administration can delay payments to try to manage cash flows after August 2

- If the U.S. Constitution allows President Barack Obama to ignore Congress and the government to continue to issue debt

- Whether a 1985 finding by a government watchdog gives the government legal authority to prioritize payments.

The Treasury team has also spoken to the Federal Reserve about how the central bank -- specifically the New York Federal Reserve Bank -- would operate as Treasury's broker in the markets if a deal to raise the United States' $14.3 trillion borrowing cap is not reached on time.

The U.S. government currently borrows about $125 billion each month. The Obama administration wants Congress to raise the limit by more than $2 trillion to meet the country's borrowing needs through the 2012 presidential election.

New trends in diversity

Chicago Sun Times - Johnson Publishing Co., publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, said JPMorgan Chase’s Special Investments Group will become an investor in the company, the first outside investor at the family-owned business.

The investment “positions Johnson Publishing for continued growth,” by “providing financial resources to take our iconic Ebony and Jet magazines to the next level and accelerate our growth strategy for Fashion Fair Cosmetics,” Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of the company and daughter of its founder, said in a statement.

The minority investment was described as “substantial,” but Rice maintains a majority stake in the Chicago-based company.

War and debt

Sam Smith

The fantasy parading as serious negotiations over the nation’s debt collapses on the recognition of one fact: our absurdly expensive wars are not even on the table.

A Brown University study finds that the figure just for our post 9/11 misbegotten escapades approaches $4 trillion. That’s about 25% of our whole national debt accrued in just one decade of badly distorted policies. Add in the Bush tax cuts and you have an explanation for one-third of our total fiscal deficiency.

Given the hawkish inclinations of our media, with even MSNBC owned by GE, this is not something you’re about to hear much about, so instead it’ll have to be paid for out of things like food stamps and Social Security.

Further, enabling the denial is a myth that wars are good for the economy. This is only true, however, if you engage in one or two factor analysis.

David Henderson looked at World War II from an economic – not moral - perspective and made some important points:

[][] Imagine that somehow the United States had avoided entering World War II. . . Millions of cars would have been produced; people would have been able to travel much more widely; and there would have been no rationing of meat, tires, nylons, eggs, butter, and sugar. In short, by the standard measures of prosperity, Americans would have been much more prosperous. . .

Much of the capital and labor would have been producing cars and trucks for the domestic economy. In fact, the assembly lines in Detroit, which had churned out 3.6 million cars in 1941, were retooled to produce the vehicles of war. By 1942, auto production was down to under 1 million. For the years 1943 to 1945, auto production was so low that Wikipedia does not even report it. During the period from late 1942 to the 1945, in other words, almost the whole of U.S. participation in the war, production of civilian cars was essentially shut down.. .

Consider fuel. Because the government wanted to buy fuel at an artificially low price, it imposed price controls on gasoline and put itself first in line. Then it issued ration cards to Americans, dramatically reducing the amount that normal Americans could buy at the controlled prices. . . Even railroad seats were rationed, writes Brinkley, with priority given to military personnel. [][]

There’s another cost that hardly ever gets discussed: war typically has little or no spin off benefit. A good economy creates new economies. For example, if you build a rail line to a town that hasn’t had one, you not only have the benefit of the public works project but all the good that line does for the town’s economy and the economic opportunities it opens up for its residents.

But if the same amount of money is spent in Afghanistan on roads, tanks and Humvees the spin off benefit will be essentially non-existent. War creates economies with a greatly reduced lifespan and greatly reduced benefits.

Another way to look at this is to consider what happens after wars are over.

Roughly two thirds of all deficit eduction in the past century occurred following World War I and World War II.
Jermie D. Cullip described what happened after World War II:

[][] From 1950 to 1959, the total number of females employed increased by 18%. The standard of living during the fifties also steadily rose. Most people expected to own a car and a house, and believed that life for their children would be even better. . . The number of college students doubled. Getting a college education was no longer for the rich or elite
Over the decade the housing supply increased 27 percent . . . Growth in the economy also led to increasing popularity of other financial intermediaries. . .

Over the decade, GNP per capita almost doubled and the public welfare reacted accordingly as the cost of living index rose by just 1 percent and unemployment dropped to 4.1 percent. [][]

Much as World War Ii may have aided Roosevelt close out the Depression, it was the end of the war that created the boom.

The other one third of the past century’s deficit reduction occurred during the Clinton administration, but as Dean Baker perceptively noted in 2003:

“The Clinton boom was built on three unsustainable bubbles. One of them, the stock bubble, has already burst. The other two bubbles¬the dollar bubble and the housing bubble¬are still with us.”

In part, and in no small part, we are paying for Clinton’s boom today.

There are lots of moral grounds on which to oppose war, especially those as mindless and futile as those Iraq and Afghanistan. But we shouldn’t lose sight of another fact: wars are a gigantic waste of money, they damage the economy, and they undermine its growth. The failure of our leaders of both parties to give this more than passing notice is a sign of total incompetence or of total indenture to the military machine. In either case, they are wrecking the country about which they pretentiously claim such patriotism.

Pocket Paradigms

The most misleading myth about the Middle East is that an end to violence is a necessary precondition to peace negotiations. An end to violence should rather be one the goals of peace negotiations. Killings emphasize the need for such talks rather than serving as justification for avoiding them.. - Sam Smith

Word

By ringing small changes on the words leg-of-mutton and turnip, (changes so gradual as to escape detection,) I could 'demonstrate' that a turnip was, is, and of right ought to be, a leg-of-mutton -- Edgar Alan Poe

Covert cuts in Social Security being plotted

TPM – In recent weeks, congressional aides, strategists, and advocates have been floating, or warning of, a stealth change to the Social Security benefit structure that has quietly been placed on the negotiating table.

The proposal wouldn't just impact Social Security benefits. It would also shave off yearly increases in federal pension payouts, and result in somewhat higher tax revenues. But the ratio would be skewed toward benefit cuts by a factor of about 2-to-1 and would represent a financial hit to even the poorest retirees unless they were exempted.

The idea is to change the way Cost of Living Adjustments are calculated across the federal government. Currently, the COLAs for tax brackets, pensions, and Social Security are tied to different measures of the Consumer Price Index. Because spending habits change when living costs increase, some experts think these measures are too generous, and want to change all of the COLAs to a different, smaller measure of inflation: the so-called "chained-CPI."

On the tax side, this would likely draw more revenue: Tax brackets would rise more slowly than incomes, so people would get kicked into higher brackets more quickly and, voila, more income subject to taxation.

But on the benefits side, this means money out of people's pockets, even current retirees and pensioners. Responding to a letter of concern from House Democrats' top Social Security guy the program's chief actuary explained that moving to "chained-CPI" would constitute an immediate 0.3 percent benefit cut. That may sound small, but the effects would compound, and "[a]dditional annual COLAs thereafter would accumulate to larger total reductions in expected scheduled benefit levels of about 3.7 percent, 6.5 percent, and 9.2 percent for retirees at ages 75, 85, and 95, respectively."

In a recent brief, the National Women's Law Center, which opposes reducing the Social Security COLA, turned similar numbers from an earlier SSA memo into a handy chart.

More marijuana dispensaries in Denver than Starbucks

The Daily - There are now more medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver than there are Starbucks. Glossy guidebooks list nearly 300 locations where Colorado’s 125,000 residents who have been prescribed medical marijuana can get their “medicine.” Many offer a free joint to new customers, allowing them to sample exotic strains like Jah Kush, Golden Goat and Romulan Cotton Candy. Local smokers even have a professional critic to help them navigate the gauntlet of bongs, pipes and vaporizers, or make that essential choice between Super Silver Haze and Purple Passion.

Atlanta: No child left unscammed

Christian Science Monitor - Award-winning gains by Atlanta students were based on widespread cheating by 178 named teachers and principals, said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. His office released a report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that names 178 teachers and principals – 82 of whom confessed – in what's likely the biggest cheating scandal in US history.

This appears to be the largest of dozens of major cheating scandals, unearthed across the country. The allegations point an ongoing problem for US education, which has developed an ever-increasing dependence on standardized tests.

The report on the Atlanta Public Schools, released Tuesday, indicates a "widespread" conspiracy by teachers, principals and administrators to fix answers on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, punish whistle-blowers, and hide improprieties.It "confirms our worst fears," says Mayor Kasim Reed. "There is no doubt that systemic cheating occurred on a widespread basis in the school system." The news is “absolutely devastating," said Brenda Muhammad, chairwoman of the Atlanta school board. "It’s our children. You just don’t cheat children.”

Just a few more things. . .

Serious drought in southwest . . .

Black unemployment still over 16%

Left-right coalitions against the wars...

There, I fixed it. . .

Sustain yourself
All about community shared agriculture

Headline of the day
Maryland trooper kills emu on the lam

Technological hazard of the day
Smitty777, Slashdot: FitBit is a wearable device created to track calorie usage based on activities. Unfortunately for some users, one of those is sexual activities. The information gained from the device is uploaded to the users online web account, which is searchable by Google. . It's just a matter of time before a line gets crossed and a relationship gets ruined by trying to post the largest Fitbit numbers for the evening.

Phoenix hit by massive dust storm.. .

Romney raises more than all opponents combined. . .

Obama trying to jail whistleblowing NY Times reporter

Why do people text in the theater?. . .

Best scientific presentation of the week. . .

IMPROBABLE RESEARCH

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