Political News Bits of the Day

[Dardedar]

It's a favorite wank of wingers right now that the senate hasn't passed a budget. Here's why:

Why the Senate hasn't passed a budget
Feb 15th 2012

Republicans have relentlessly harangued the Senate's Democratic leadership for failing to pass a budget resolution. "1,000 days without a budget," was the title of a typical missive last month. On the weekend Jack Lew, who has just been named Barack Obama's chief of staff after serving as his budget director, defended the Senate by saying it couldn't pass a budget without 60 votes, i.e. without the cooperation of some Republicans. Republicans jumped on Mr Lew, pointing out that under Congress' budget procedure, a budget resolution cannot be filibustered and thus only needs a simple majority vote - typically 51 votes - to pass. Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post's fact checker, awarded Mr Lew four Pinocchios, the top score, for fibbing.

In fact, Mr Lew, while wrong on the narrow wording, is right on the substance. It is true that the Senate can pass a budget resolution with a simple majority vote. But for that budget resolution to take effect, it must have either the cooperation of the house, or at least 60 votes in the Senate. Only someone intimately familiar with Parliamentary procedure can explain this. Jim Horney of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is such a person...

See:

The Economist

[Dardedar]

Excellent resource on:

Myths And Facts About Oil And Gasoline

Media Matters

[Dardedar]

The Bush Ditch:

[Savonarola]

The Bush Ditch

I understand that there are lag effects, but considering the graph starts in Jan 09, all we see is what has happened under Obama. It would be just as easy to use this chart to show that Obama decimated public sector jobs early in his term. What are the data for the previous many years?

[Dardedar]

The Bush Ditch

I understand that there are lag effects, but considering the graph starts in Jan 09, all we see is what has happened under Obama.

Here's what I think. Unemployment is a lagging indicator, and this is a lagging indicator of that. The bikini chart, happening to bounce right as power turned over to Obama is of course, a fluke. That (probably) would have happened regardless (under McCain etc). Presidents have no such power to change something so quick. However, the mess that Bush initiated in the years preceding came to fruition in late 2008, resulting in the 750,000k monthly job loss at the very end of his term, and then the ditch above which was enjoyed the following year. Also, the full cratering of the stock market happened 30 days into Obama (Feb '09). I put that on Bush and the cascade he (largely, not entirely) created too.

[Dardedar]

See also: http://lezgetreal.com/2012/02/south-has ... e-gay-sex/

[David Franks]

Map of top 10 states searching for "Gay Sex" on Google in the past 12 months

A couple of points:
Apparently North Carolinians already know everything they need to know about gay sex.
They'd have better luck searching for it on Craigslist.

[Savonarola]

The bikini chart, happening to bounce right as power turned over to Obama is of course, a fluke.

I see your point, but remember that the first stimulus came at the end of Bush's term; this might partially explain that flukey timing.

However, the mess that Bush initiated in the years preceding came to fruition in late 2008, resulting in the 750,000k monthly job loss at the very end of his term, and then the ditch above which was enjoyed the following year.

This is why I'd like to see the data from before 2009 presented, otherwise the dumb masses will wrongly interpret the graph as an Obama ditch.

[Dardedar]

I'd like to see the data from before 2009 presented, otherwise the dumb masses will wrongly interpret the graph as an Obama ditch.

I'll see what I can find.

This is interesting. See how the dip come in at similar timing (after peak) for these recessions (this last one being much bigger).



LINK

I had a wanker the other day on intrade try to compare what Bush inherited from Clinton with what Obama inherited from Bush. I responded:

"The tech bust was a (eight month) business correction and a fart in a hurricane compared to Bush's Great Recession. The hit in GDP from the first was .3%. The hit in GDP from Bush's train wreck was 5.1%. That's only 17x greater." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_recessions

Also:





Those two from shadow stats, for what that's worth.

[David Franks]

From the Daily Kos:

Even the WSJ admits it now: Austerity has harmed the US economy

by rigcath | Fri May 11, 2012 at 09:31 AM PDT

"Something sinister must be happening over at Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (could it have to do with the ongoing criminal investigation in the UK?). Somehow they've allowed the truth of the past year's government spending cuts to be written in one of their official WSJ economic analysis blogs. Without layoffs in local governments (eg, teachers, firemen, police officers, and other vital public services), the unemployment rate would be a full percentage point lower than it is today, at 7.1%.

"There's also a handy chart:



More at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/11/1090779/-Even-the-WSJ-admits-it-now-Austerity-has-harmed-the-US-economy

[Dardedar]

Hmmm...

***
Inflation Expectations Are Falling; Run for Cover

"As the euro crisis has worsened, the dollar has been appreciating relative to the euro, dampening expectations for US inflation, which have anyway been receding after last year’s temporary supply-driven uptick, and after the ambiguous signals about monetary policy emanating from Chairman Bernanke and the FOMC. The correspondence between inflation expectations, as reflected in the breakeven spread between the 10-year fixed maturity Treasury note and 10-year fixed maturity TIPS, and the S&P 500 is strikingly evident in the chart below showing the relative movements in inflation expectations and the S&P 500 (both normalized to 1.0 at the start of 2012.

[Dardedar]

Nice unpack of...

The Conservative Fantasy History of Civil Rights

New York Magazine

[Dardedar]

Mitch McConnell is a lying sack of crap. Eight of his claims roasted to a crisp:

Myth McConnell

"Obama Made the Economy Worse"

"No Evidence Whatsoever That the Bush Tax Cuts Actually Diminished Revenue"

"Punishing Job Creators"

"We Look a Lot Like Greece Already"

Public Sector Layoffs Are a "Local" Problem

47 Million Uninsured Americans "Don't Go Without Health Care"

The Public Option "May Cost You Your Life"

Democrats Are "Sticking It to Seniors with Cuts to Medicare"

[Dardedar]

"Two of the Walmart heirs capture spots one and and three on Wealth-X’s list of the world’s richest women. Valued at $29.8 and $28.2 billion respectively, the two women are part of a family that’s worth the same amount as the bottom 30 percent of Americans, according to an analysis from a labor economist at the University of California-Berkeley."

LINK

[Dardedar]

Plumbing the depths of Masterson's stupidity. Wow:

***
Mike Masterson: Ignorant And Proud Of It

Posted on June 8, 2012
I had hardly completed my last post about Paul Greenberg‘s newest battle in his war on science when his hatchet man Mike Masterson (full title: opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette‘s Northwest edition) entered the competition for the silliest display of ignorance. Gene Lyons thankfully alerted me to Masterson’s May 27 column which was mostly about the primary election but ended in a curious, off-topic paragraph excerpted in full for its sheer absurdity:

DNA deliberating
For readers who value rational thought over dreams and wishes, a friend recently sent this: “Mike: All living things on earth – including microbes, grass, elephants, blue whales and humans – reproduce using DNA. Although the creatures differ widely, the code that controls many of their characteristics is very stable and has served to maintain the distinction between each of them through the ages.” So, he continues, if creatures evolve, their DNA must switch between kinds to make an entirely different DNA strain to support a new living thing altogether. “Is there any evidence anywhere to show that’s happened, according to DNA? I’m not aware of it, are you?” Anyone out there aware of DNA shape-shifting from an amoeba into an elephant or a person?

The rest here... Arkansas Media Watch

And note that the supposedly smart part of his comment was completely plagiarized.

My favorite Masterson quote: "(I) form opinions and positions then usually take action based on an endless supply of woefully shallow misinformation." --Mike Masterson, 12-11-11, in the Doughnuts column in his own words.

[Dardedar]

Senator Jon Kyl is a liar, again

"I note that in his response to today's Supreme Court ruling, President Obama called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. I also note that the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill I helped draft in 2007 was killed -- in part -- by then-Senator Obama."--Senator Jon Kyl

I guess it's a good thing Senator Kyl is retiring, because he seems to be losing it.

Senator Obama voted for the bill.

As you can see at that same link, Senator Kyl voted to filibuster the bill.

So, not only did Obama vote for the bill Kyl says Obama voted against, but Kyl voted against the bill he says he was for."

Source: http://supak.blogspot.com/

[Dardedar]

Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low

1) Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high. Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before.



2) Fewer Americans are working than at any time in the past three decades. One reason corporations are so profitable is that they don't employ as many Americans as they used to.

3) Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low. This is both cause and effect. One reason companies are so profitable is that they're paying employees less than they ever have as a share of GDP. And that, in turn, is one reason the economy is so weak: Those "wages" are other companies' revenue.



Business Insider

[L.Wood]

Exclusive: Dismissals at Alabama PTV linked to concerns over proposed broadcast of [Barton] videos from religious right

Two top managers at Alabama Public Television were fired from their jobs June 12 with no explanation of the cause for the immediate dismissals.

The Alabama Educational Television Commission came out of an executive session Tuesday afternoon and ordered veteran pubcaster Allan Pizzato and his deputy Pauline Howland to clean out their desks and leave APT’s headquarters in Birmingham.

“All I can say is that it was an irreconcilable difference in opinion of the future direction of the station,” Pizzato told Current. “I serve at the pleasure of the board. They want to take it in a different direction, and that’s up to them.”

Pizzato had served 12 years as executive director of APT, a statewide network governed by a board of seven political appointees.

Howland, deputy director and chief financial officer, described the firings in an interview with Current and said she was "baffled" by the dismissals. But she also recalled how Pizzato had asked staff in April for advice about a series of videos that AETC commissioners wanted APT to air.

The videos featured David Barton, an evangelical minister and conservative activist whose publications and media appearances promote his theories about the religious intentions of America’s founders. He frequently appears on political commentary programs hosted by conservative Glenn Beck.

The American Heritage Series, a 10-part DVD series offered by Barton’s Texas-based organization WallBuilders LLC, “presents America's forgotten history and heroes, emphasizing the moral, religious and constitutional foundation on which America was built.” Christian broadcast networks Cornerstone Television and Trinity Broadcasting Networks air the series, according to the website.

AETC Commissioner Rodney Herring, an Opelika-based chiropractor, had provided the series to APT for broadcast consideration. Herring joined the commission last year and was elected board secretary in January. As of late Wednesday evening, Herring did not return a voice message from Current.

rest of story here

[David Franks]

You'd Think $122 Million Would Buy You A Better Campaign Than This
.
.

.
.
http://www.upworthy.com/youd-think-122- ... this?c=bl3

[Dardedar]

Why Obamacare Is A Tax Cut For Millions Of Americans

"...there is no massive tax hike: few people will ever pay the penalty, and those who do will pay less than the amount of the payroll tax increase that Republicans nearly allowed to occur.
In addition, according to a report from Families USA, 28.6 million Americans, most of them middle-class, will receive tax cuts under the bill due to entering health care exchanges and receiving affordability credits:

We found that an estimated 28.6 million Americans will be eligible for the tax credits in 2014, and that the total value of the tax credits that year will be $110.1 billion. The new tax credits will provide much-needed assistance to insured individuals and families who struggle harder each year to pay rising premiums, as well as to uninsured individuals and families who need help purchasing coverage that otherwise would be completely out of reach financially. Most of the families who will be eligible for the tax credits will be employed, many for small businesses, and will have incomes between two and four times poverty (between $44,100 and $88,200 for a family of four based on 2010 poverty guidelines).

Thinkprogress