Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
EIGHT IRREFUTABLE FACTS YOU CAN USE AGAINST YOUR TEA PARTY-GOP FRIENDS DURING THE SHUTDOWN
Here are some simple facts that help explain what we're really looking at as we move through the government shutdown lunacy, and towards the debt ceiling nonsense. Regular readers will recognize several graphs from previous posts.
THE POOR ARE NOT BREAKING THE BANK (not even close):
Even with unemployment climbing after the 2008 market downturn unemployment insurance - or "social welfare" - has not taken a big bite out of our financial picture (there are no $168 per day welfare recipients). This is especially the case when we compare welfare spending to defense spending, as this graph from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank makes clear.
TAX-INCOME BASE TOO LOW:
The real fiscal problem we have is that our national income (i.e. tax income) has dropped to historic lows, especially when compared to how much the economy produces. We have to go back to the era of Dwight Eisenhower to find a period of years when taxes as a percentage of GDP were as low as they have been during the Obama administration.
TAX RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS:
Part of the reason that our tax base is too low is that tax rates in America have fallen precipitously since the 1980s. They are now at their lowest levels since right before the Great Depression, and at the end of the Bush I presidency.
SIZE OF FEDERAL WORKFORCE DECLINING:
In spite of what conservative pundits like to claim, the size of the federal workforce has declined. Simply put, as the second chart here shows, the ratio of federal workers compared to the size of our population has gone down under President Obama (and continue to decline).
NEW GOVERNMENT SPENDING STALLED:
Here's another fun fact that most Americans don't know about, or stubbornly refuse to acknowledge. New government spending under President Obama has effectively stalled, and is at a 50 year low. Put another way, the Obama spending binge never happened.
ANNUAL DEFICITS ARE GOING DOWN:
While President Obama's critics don't want to mention it, annual budget deficits are going down. The built in trillion dollar deficits left by President Bush may be a thing of the past (the CBO even reported that we had a surplus during the month of June):
ROOTS OF THE DEFICITS:
If new government spending is going down while the size of our federal workforce is falling then why are we still struggling with $600 billion budget deficits? This is an easy one. I've written on this numerous times (see here, here, and here). Simply put, we're still dealing with the after effects of the Bush years.
DEBT CEILING HYPOCRISY:
Last point point to ponder. The Republicans had no problem raising the debt ceiling (or voting for it) when President Bush was in office. Their support for funding our nation's obligations, which Congress voted to spend the money on, effectively ended when President Obama arrived at the White House in 2009.
There's more, but you get the point. When it comes to fiscal discipline, complaints about the poor, tax levels, new spending under President Obama, the size of the government, and the reasons for annual deficits and our national debt, the Republicans don't have a clue - or are flat out lying to America - about our economic situation, and what we can do about it.
- Mark
_______________________
THE POOR ARE NOT BREAKING THE BANK (not even close):
Even with unemployment climbing after the 2008 market downturn unemployment insurance - or "social welfare" - has not taken a big bite out of our financial picture (there are no $168 per day welfare recipients). This is especially the case when we compare welfare spending to defense spending, as this graph from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank makes clear.
TAX-INCOME BASE TOO LOW:
The real fiscal problem we have is that our national income (i.e. tax income) has dropped to historic lows, especially when compared to how much the economy produces. We have to go back to the era of Dwight Eisenhower to find a period of years when taxes as a percentage of GDP were as low as they have been during the Obama administration.
TAX RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS:
Part of the reason that our tax base is too low is that tax rates in America have fallen precipitously since the 1980s. They are now at their lowest levels since right before the Great Depression, and at the end of the Bush I presidency.
SIZE OF FEDERAL WORKFORCE DECLINING:
In spite of what conservative pundits like to claim, the size of the federal workforce has declined. Simply put, as the second chart here shows, the ratio of federal workers compared to the size of our population has gone down under President Obama (and continue to decline).
NEW GOVERNMENT SPENDING STALLED:
Here's another fun fact that most Americans don't know about, or stubbornly refuse to acknowledge. New government spending under President Obama has effectively stalled, and is at a 50 year low. Put another way, the Obama spending binge never happened.
ANNUAL DEFICITS ARE GOING DOWN:
While President Obama's critics don't want to mention it, annual budget deficits are going down. The built in trillion dollar deficits left by President Bush may be a thing of the past (the CBO even reported that we had a surplus during the month of June):
ROOTS OF THE DEFICITS:
If new government spending is going down while the size of our federal workforce is falling then why are we still struggling with $600 billion budget deficits? This is an easy one. I've written on this numerous times (see here, here, and here). Simply put, we're still dealing with the after effects of the Bush years.
Last point point to ponder. The Republicans had no problem raising the debt ceiling (or voting for it) when President Bush was in office. Their support for funding our nation's obligations, which Congress voted to spend the money on, effectively ended when President Obama arrived at the White House in 2009.
____________________________
There's more, but you get the point. When it comes to fiscal discipline, complaints about the poor, tax levels, new spending under President Obama, the size of the government, and the reasons for annual deficits and our national debt, the Republicans don't have a clue - or are flat out lying to America - about our economic situation, and what we can do about it.
- Mark
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
THE SHUTDOWN AND OBAMA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME
Want to know where the Tea Party and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) get their juice? Then we need to better understand how bad Obama Derangement Syndrome is in the conservative wing of America.
In a few words, it's pretty bad. Check it out.
* A 2013 poll of Louisiana Republicans shows that 29 percent of them believe that President Obama was responsible for the poor response to Hurricane Katrina, which happened in 2005 (44 percent were "not sure").
* In 2009 more than a third of Republicans believed President Obama was a Muslim.
* Proving that time is no cure for delusion, in 2012 at least 30 percent of Republicans and 34 percent of conservative Republicans (still) think President Obama is a Muslim.
* In 2013 at least 20 percent of Republicans believe that President Obama is the anti-Christ.
* Before the 2012 presidential primary elections more than half of GOP primary voters believed that President Obama was born abroad (which kind of makes sense because, you know, the anti-Christ couldn't be born in America).
There's more, but you get the point.
The same people who support the Tea Party, believe in death panels, and endorse the lunacy behind the government shutdown are seriously out of touch. This helps to explain why they think they have the authority and support to dictate policy to a sitting president who was re-elected touting his signature piece of legislation.
But what else should we expect from a group where over 60 percent of their followers still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003?
Oh, one last thing. When Americans are asked about the provisions of the Affordable Care Act - instead of being asked whether they support Obamacare - support for the program jumps to 88 percent.
- Mark
OBAMA'S PLAYING BY THE RULES AGAINST CONSTITUTIONAL "VANDALS"
Conservative pundit and blogger Andrew Sullivan has this to say about President Obama and the current government shutdown over Obamacare ...
I strongly recommend that you read Sullivan's post - "The Nullification Party" - because it might be the best piece that I've read on the shutdown mess. It's that good.
- Mark
Hat tip, Duane.
UPDATE: Related, from Mother Jones ... "President Obama Has Had enough."
I strongly recommend that you read Sullivan's post - "The Nullification Party" - because it might be the best piece that I've read on the shutdown mess. It's that good.
- Mark
Hat tip, Duane.
UPDATE: Related, from Mother Jones ... "President Obama Has Had enough."
Thursday, October 3, 2013
READING FOR THE WEEK (October 3, 2013)
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Some of the most crazy stuff coming out of the far right that they think is normal (The Daily Beast).
A day in the life of Edward Snowden, Russian asylum seeker and the information source for the greatest spying scandal since the Nixon years (Zero Hedge).
Return of the 19th century ... some interesting numbers (and perspective) on prisons and asylums in America (Daily Kos).
Government agencies exploiting technology to make privacy obsolete (Truthout).
OBAMACARE ROLL OUT
Roll out of 'historic' Obamacare in California is on track (San Jose Mercury News).
Short animated video explains Obamacare in just 2 minutes and 22 seconds (Wall Street Journal Live).
Beginning of the end for major health insurers ... How Obamacare will unleash innovation in insurance market, and expose the irrelevance of big firms (Center for Public Integrity).
Why Obamacare scares the hell out of the Republicans (NY Times).
Canadians don't understand Tea Party Chia Pet (he keeps on growing) Ted Cruz's health care battle (Washington Post).
SHUTDOWN STUFF
The reign of morons is here (Esquire).
Two facts that should be part of every "shutdown" story (The Atlantic).
Politicians raising money and filling coffers as fiscal shutdown rages (Center for Public Integrity).
The real story behind the shutdown ... 50 years of GOP race-baiting (Salon).
List of commercial data that won't be coming out because of the government shutdown (Financial Times).
- Mark
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
EXACTLY WHAT THE REPUBLICANS FEARED, PHASE I
This is exactly what the Republicans feared. Applications for Obamacare - a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act - were so overwhelming during yesterday's roll out that they literally swamped the system. With Reuters estimating over 10 million "unique" visitors on the first day of the Obamacare roll out, the GOP's line-in-the-sand government shutdown over Obamacare is looking like a fool's errand.
Whether Americans were visiting healthcare.gov or state sites like California's coveredca.com the reality is Phase I of what the Republicans feared is now complete. Simply put, people want access to affordable health care, and are not clamoring to have Obamacare shutdown.
Phase II of what the Republicans fear is just around the corner. It will come when the vast majority of Americans start recognizing the benefits that Obamacare has already brought to America. People will absolutely fall in love with the fact that pre-existing conditions won't disqualify you from coverage, that their kids can stay on their insurance plans until they're 26, that getting sick will not get you dropped from coverage, and that there will no longer be lifetime caps on insurance payouts, among other benefits.
Americans will especially enjoy rebates from insurance companies that don't spend at least 80 percent of what they take in from premiums on medical care.
Phase III will come when people realize that there are no death panels, that you're exempt from the law if you can't find a plan that costs less than 8 percent of your income, and that federal agents aren't going to knock on your door if you don't sign up.
Once America sees that much of what Obamacare opponents were saying about the program was built around deception (OK, a pack of lies) Republican fears over a political backlash should cause some serious soul searching within the party (then again, it might not). And, one can only hope, we will see a purging of the Tea Party from the Republican ranks.
At the end of the day, once Americans realize that their taxes aren't going up to fund Obamacare (it's paid for by reducing Medicare payouts to hospitals and insurers and new taxes on the medical-insurance industry and on investment income for people who make more than $200,000 per year) they will understand that all the hype was really just that, hype.
For a quick overview of how Obamacare affects the vast majority of Americans the Kaiser Family Foundation has put together this useful clip (here it is in Spanish) ...
If there is a Phase IV of what the Republicans fear it's going to be when Obamacare opponents realize that they were played for fools.
There's more, but you get the point. What the GOP has always feared about Obamacare is here.
- Mark
Phase II of what the Republicans fear is just around the corner. It will come when the vast majority of Americans start recognizing the benefits that Obamacare has already brought to America. People will absolutely fall in love with the fact that pre-existing conditions won't disqualify you from coverage, that their kids can stay on their insurance plans until they're 26, that getting sick will not get you dropped from coverage, and that there will no longer be lifetime caps on insurance payouts, among other benefits.
Americans will especially enjoy rebates from insurance companies that don't spend at least 80 percent of what they take in from premiums on medical care.
Phase III will come when people realize that there are no death panels, that you're exempt from the law if you can't find a plan that costs less than 8 percent of your income, and that federal agents aren't going to knock on your door if you don't sign up.
Once America sees that much of what Obamacare opponents were saying about the program was built around deception (OK, a pack of lies) Republican fears over a political backlash should cause some serious soul searching within the party (then again, it might not). And, one can only hope, we will see a purging of the Tea Party from the Republican ranks.
At the end of the day, once Americans realize that their taxes aren't going up to fund Obamacare (it's paid for by reducing Medicare payouts to hospitals and insurers and new taxes on the medical-insurance industry and on investment income for people who make more than $200,000 per year) they will understand that all the hype was really just that, hype.
For a quick overview of how Obamacare affects the vast majority of Americans the Kaiser Family Foundation has put together this useful clip (here it is in Spanish) ...
There's more, but you get the point. What the GOP has always feared about Obamacare is here.
- Mark
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY ...
Up and running in California ...
- Mark
UPDATE: It's official. The roll out of Obamacare in California is on track.
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