Saturday Open Thread [2.23.13]
Let’s give this thread some content, shall we?
The Nation magazine is the latest entity to take a good look at the fraud that is the Fix the Debt Campaign
Who does that elevating? Meet the Campaign to Fix the Debt, the billionaire-funded project that uses Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles as figureheads for a fearmongering campaign to convince Americans that the deficits the United States has run throughout its history have suddenly metastasized into “a cancer that will destroy this country from within.” It is the latest incarnation of Wall Street mogul Pete Peterson’s long campaign to get Congress and the White House to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while providing tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
I don’t agree with Mayor Bloomberg on much, but I’m definitely for this: Bloomberg’s Anti-NRA Message — And Money — Could Sway House Race In Chicago
Jon Chait takes a look at the futility and sheer dishonesty of the false equivalency argument. He specifically looks at this in the prism of the current sequester fights and finds that the fierce need of the false equivalency argument means that editorial boards like the Washington Post’s have to denounce even positions they’ve taken on issues as extreme ones.
Okay, the Democrats have proposed to replace the sequester with two policies named by the Post. One is cutting farm subsidies — a policy for which the Post has been (rightly) crusading for years. The other is a minimum tax on millionaires, called the Buffett Rule, which the Post has likewise endorsed, albeit while emphasizing that such a reform would not alone solve the entire long-term budget deficit. So the Post editorial argues that enacting these sound reforms to replace a damaging sequester is a bad idea because … some people want to use them “to pay for other planned reforms.”
And Gawker provides the Explainer of the Day: Kate Upton and Ryan Gosling Explain the Sequester. I have no idea who Kate Upton is. Anyway, it doesn’t look like I can live within Fair Use guidelines exerpting that explainer, so click over and take a look.
What interests you today?
Welcome to the openest of open threads. It brings to mind the blackness of Spinal Tap’s black album. How much more open could it be? None more.
It has been long debated, now it is proven. Company’s that are interested in real employee engagement, and respect the dignity of their employees are more successful than the shortsighted cousins.
Furthermore, if your 401k money is being invested in companies that do not rate highly as good places to work, your are doing it wrong.
Angry Teabaggers To March Around With Guns All Day Today, What Could Go Wrong?
Really? There needs to be another day of gun resistance. This one needs to feature groups of African Americans and Hispanics open carrying down , oh say, Main St in Newark. Bet there won’t be much in the way of respect for 2nd Amendment rights then.
So what do you think about this? Papal resignation linked to inquiry into ‘Vatican gay officials’
http://americablog.com/2013/02/list-of-127-corporations-who-want-to-fix-the-debt-by-fixing-your-retirement.html
Amazing how many corporation CEOs on the list depend upon retail sales. Will their profits fall since many of their customers will not be able to purchase their products? We get hurt because many of the companies are among the causes of the recession who walked away with big bonuses and no legal responsibility for the theft of our savings and investments. It is galling that they want the people they hurt most to pay for their greed.
Thanks to mergers, in many cases we do not have any alternatives for their products.
Once again, Celia tries to create news where there is little, in developing a strained explanation for Carper becoming a Senate committee chair, http://delawaregrapevine.com/2-13carper.asp,
but the really interesting nugget is buried near the end, as our senior senator proudly asserts his true colors:
Carper is presiding at the same committee where Roth did, except that its jurisdiction was expanded to homeland security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Carper says they wound up with the same committee because of their shared interest in government operations, namely ways to cut down on waste, fraud and spending and improve efficiency.
“Bill Roth was interested in what I’m interested in, which is getting the taxpayers’ their money’s worth,” Carper said.
Roth was a Republican through and through. The only thing different about Carper is hs party affiliation. Do we need him?
Strange numbers afoot in Appoquinimink….the district’s own financial advisory committee would not sign off on the proposed referendum, but administrators submitted it anyway. So much for accountability!
Why have citizen committees if they don’t listen to them, or don’t report out agreement or disagreement? Or do they report that out?
All I know is Colonial says their employee costs are 61% of their budget. Appo says their employee costs are 86% of the budget. Both are going to referendum. 61% seems like a reasonable piece of a budget. Is Appotruth wanting their referendum to support employees at 86%? I thought they don’t make any money below the bridge, but get nicer kids. Just tell me RC isn’t going to referendum again soon.
Support public education. Vote for the Appo referendum this Thursday.
Yes, support public education. But question the numbers when the financial advisory committee rejects the administration’s proposal. Your egotistical stamp of approval isn’t enough to overcome this, Jason.
If you believe in transparency, get the facts on what led to the finance committee’s rejection. Find out why the board stopped working through the list of possible cuts. Figure out who is behind re-opening Townsend Elementary at a whopping $1M, even though it is not actually needed for at least the next two or three years.
You worry me, J. I’m starting to think you diehard liberals aren’t really as intellectually curious as they portend. Restore my faith!
When the referendum comes back after this initial failure, I will cast my vote for a proposal that makes mathematical sense. We should be at the average of our county cousins, and should properly account for real enrollment growth.
We should also only be looking two years out, not four. If they can’t balance the books in two, we have big problems. We can explore the appropriate action or another referendum in 2015.
You crack me up jason. Where did I go wrong in neighboring you? Didn’t I always teach you to be a discerning liberal? There is nothing for the teachers, nothing for the students. How progressive is that? It’s business as usual, but postage went up. You is better than that. Don’t you want better than that?