In a near legislative miracle, a tax bill extending the Bush tax cuts on the first quarter million dollars or so of income, without including another trillion dollar giveaway to the Koch cartels already taking advantage of every tax dodge and offshore loophole in the book. [Read more…]
The truth hurts: “Somebody like me makes hundreds or thousands of times as much as the average American … but I don’t buy hundreds or thousands of times as much stuff. I own three cars, not three thousand.” Full transcript below. [Read more…]
How much could a person usually haul in after a mere four months on the job followed by resignation in disgrace? How about … $56,000 a day, every day, including weekends and vacation days: [Read more…]
No one really believed the excuse WI Gov Scott Walker dredged up when trying to take away workers’ rights. But the wingnut band played on. Now a video has surfaced showing Walker briefing a billionaire contributor on his scheme to destroy workers’ rights, divide and conquer, starting with public sector unions for civil servants like teachers, firefighters, paramedics, and police. The clip comes at the worst possible time for Walker, he faces a statewide recall election in early June. Walker responded to the video today: [Read more…]
Several nations across the EU foolishly experimented with “austerity” and one name-brand casualty has paid with his political career. Others will almost certainly follow: [Read more…]
Trick question, easy answer: whenever Paul Ryan needs it to be. Back when Obama weakened the original Romneycare requirement so that it only covered birth control pills and not terminal pregnancies, it was a full-scale war on religion, over ruling the view of the Catholic Church, ZOMG, Jefferson wept! In a moment of unadulterated satire even Romney tried to jump on that bucking bronco before being thrown. But when a Republican capo pushes legislation against the core beliefs of the exact same church, that’s totaalllly different! [Read more…]
Most people know this, but there is a device in the Senate called a filibuster. It was made famous by Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but the way it works today is very different. If a 60 member super majority of the Senate does not vote for Cloture, the measure fails, end of story: [Read more…]
The details are murky — that’s always how it is with these clowns — but apparently a lot of money was being moved in and out of a Vatican account managed by JP Morgan and various European money centers, most of them in Germany. The pattern of brisk credits and transfers is reportedly similar to those that often draw the attention of money laundering investigators. The process is known affectionately by accountants as sweeping: [Read more…]
An analyst in the investment racket once told me “Things don’t usually move as fast as you think they will, but when they start moving they often keep going longer and further than you think they will.” The year was 1994, at the end of a long recession, and boy was he right. Hopefully, last week’s unemployment stats together with this one bode well too: [Read more…]
Who wouldn’t want to believe you could lay around all day eating cake and fried cheese and become a healthier, lean-mean muscular god? The idea is so seductive that, despite real world experience to the contrary, variations of it form the basis for weight loss and workout scams to this day. The economic equivalent is the claim that getting rid of annoying rules and cutting the taxes on billionaires leads to a healthier economy and prosperity for all. We know for a recent historical fact that that isn’t true, because we’ve been cutting taxes on billionaires and deregulating for decades and the economy went straight into the shitter. Finally, someone with a megaphone used it to point this out. [Read more…]