How the sequester will affect you

Progressive States Network has posted links to White House and other state-by-state estimates of the impact of the sequester that starts on Friday.  The Washington Post has also posted information on how the sequester will impact teachers and schools, work-study jobs, military readiness, law enforcement, public health and other policy areas.  The impacts are broken down by state.

Check out the links below to see how the sequester will impact your state. 

As you do, keep in mind who is responsible.  It is not Obama and it is not the Democratic Party.  These cuts are occurring almost totally because a small number of Tea Party nuts in the House are gleefully trying to do as much damage to our country they can.  These nuts are not concerned about how the indiscriminate cuts that kick in Friday will affect millions of Americans.  However, they do have the financial backing of a few ultra-conservative billionaires and Fox News.  That’s enough to scare more reasonable members of the Republican Party, including Speaker John Boehner from behaving responsibly.  Understand that if Boehner had more guts and/or the Tea Party nuts had not been elected in gerrymandered safe districts, then Congress would have already passed deficit reduction legislation that would include a combination of revenue enhancement and targeted spending cuts.  It would be deficit reduction without the horrible pain many Americans will suffer.  The sequester is mean.  It is heartless.  It is wrong.  And, Republicans are responsible. 

Show the information from the sites below to your Republican friends.  Ask them how they can be a member of a party that would willing do this kind of harm to our country.  At long last, have they no shame.

Please visit the following sites to learn more:

http://www.progressivestates.org/news/blog

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/sequestration-state-impact/

Rush still dumb and WRONG Again

Rush was spotting off on his radio program today about the sequester.  As usual, he was blowing a lot of hot air, basically demonstrating that he had no idea what he was talking about.  Of course, Rush follows the basic rule-of-thumb of all blowhards.  If you say something loud enough, often enough and with enough conviction, most people will assume you know what you are talking about even when you don’t have a clue.

A lot of what Rush was saying about the sequester was just plain wrong, when it wasn’t both wrong and stupid.  One remark caught my attention.

According to Rush, Obama has full discretion concerning how to allocate the cuts once the sequester happens.  Of course that is DEFINITELY NOT TRUE.

The legislation says:  “"Except as otherwise provided, the same percentage sequestration shall apply to all programs, projects, and activities within a budget account (with programs, projects, and activities as delineated in the appropriation Act or accompanying report for the relevant fiscal year covering that account, or for accounts not included in appropriation Acts, as delineated in the most recently submitted President’s Budget)."  See: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/feb/21/barack-obama/barack-obama-says-sequestration-cuts-will-be-indis/

No, Rush.  It would be illegal for Obama to pick and choose what programs, projects and/or activities to cut.  The cuts have to be the same across-the-board.  That’s precisely why they are so stupid.

It is amazing how totally uninformed Rush Limbaugh is.  In this case, he apparently doesn’t even know what his good Republican friends are doing.  If so, he would have known that some Republicans have proposed giving Obama discretion over which programs to cut and which to fully fund precisely because Obama DOES NOT have the discretion Rush said he had.  See: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us/politics/obama-urges-congress-to-find-compromise-on-cuts.html?pagewanted=all

Now, of course, the Republicans who are proposing to give Obama more discretion over the cuts aren’t any more serious about that than they are about really addressing the largely imaginary deficit problem.  Can you imagine Republicans wanting to give the President MORE power over spending?  No, they just want to force the President to choose between things like funding education or providing food for the needy, etc.  Make him choose and then yell and scream about how awful his choices are.  Sneaky politics, but Obama isn’t buying. 

Rush—Dumb and wrong again as usual. 

What has REALLY happened to the deficit?

As you have heard from Republicans, the sequester is in place because we have a horrible deficit problem that MUST be addressed immediately or the nation will spiral into the pit of economic hell.  They say the deficit has exploded under Obama and is getting worse and worse every day due exclusively to his uncontrolled spending.

What you probably don’t know is that NONE of THAT IS TRUE.

The deficit ISN’T GROWING, it is SHRINKING.  In fact, Obama has nearly cut it in HALF.

That’s right.  The deficit problem is slowly disappearing as the economy improves.  If Congress doesn't do something totally stupid--like allowing the sequester to happened with huge across the board spending cuts--the economy will continue to improve and the deficit problem should slowly disappear. 

There is no need to panic unless you are a Republican.  What happens if the economy improves and the deficit disappears?  The Republicans lose and the country gains.

Check out the chart below or here: http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/05/16855478-deficit-projected-to-shrink-considerably?lite

Republican illogic—Once Again

As Ezra Pound says in a recent post, once again Republicans refuse to take YES for an answer.

Pound points out that Republicans have five major goals in the budget talks:

Cut the deficit,

Cut entitlement spending,

Protect defense spending,

Simplify the tax code, and

Lower tax rates.

Of course, Obama and the Democrats have agreed to do four of these things:

Cut the deficit,

Cut entitlement spending,

Protect defense spending, and

Simplify the tax code.

In short, Republicans can cut a deal and get just about everything they want, accept tax cuts.

Never the less, they are not willing to take the deal.  They would rather have the country suffer the consequences of the sequester.  It doesn’t make sense but then Republicans rarely ever make sense these days.  They haven’t since they were taken over by the Tea Party.

Then, maybe it is just that Republicans hate Obama so much they can’t think straight.

Read Pound’s post here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/25/i-dont-understand-the-republican-position-on-the-sequester/

How informed are you? Take the Quiz

Do you know more about the news than the average American?  Pew has an online quiz to test your knowledge of current events and ability to identify people and countries in the news.  Take the quiz here:  http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/

See if you can beat the Attack Democrat.  His score: 100%

Evidence: Republicans really do hate the poor

There is new evidence out that Republicans REALLY DO hate the poor. 

Pew Research recently asked Americans what programs they would cut to reduce the deficit.  As might be expected, when asked about specific cuts most Americans really don’t want to cut spending at all.  In fact, when asked about 19 specific areas to cut, a majority of Americans wanted to either maintain or INCREASE spending in 18 of the areas.  The only area where a near majority (49%) said DECREASE spending was on Aid to the World’s Needy.

The most interesting thing about the Pew survey is the difference between the two parties.  A majority of Democrats were AGAINST cutting spending in any of the 19 areas.  Republicans had a similar reluctance to cut spending in most areas, but not all.  Majorities or near majorities of Republicans said cut spending in three areas: 

Aid to the World’s Needy  70% of Republicans said DECREASE spending on things like food and medicine for poor people in other countries ,

Unemployment Insurance  56% of Republicans said DECREASE spending to help their fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and

Aid to the Needy in the U.S.  49% of Republicans said DECREASE spending to feed, clothe and house the poor, including poor American children.

Cutting spending on Health care came in fourth.  44% of Republicans said we should cut spending on health care, meaning of course to cut spending on providing access to health care for those who can’t afford it through programs like Medicaid.

Republicans like to talk a lot about being the “values party.”  It is clear from this survey that what Republicans DON’T value is helping people in need, including their fellow Americans.

Americans helping Americans is a tradition that has helped to make our country great.  Looks like it is a tradition Republicans want to discard.  It is little wonder that increasing numbers of Americans are looking at the Republican Party and not liking what they see.  What American would want to be associated with people who hate the poor?   

See the Pew survey results here: http://www.people-press.org/2013/02/22/as-sequester-deadline-looms-little-support-for-cutting-most-programs/

The impact of an extra 15 cents

Would you be willing to pay an additional 15 cents each time you shop at a retail store—a little less than $18 per year—in order to achieve the following benefits for American workers and our national economy?

Lift the family income of over 734,000 full-time retail workers and their families who are currently living in poverty to above the federal poverty line.

Increase the family income of an additional 769,191 full-time retail workers from just above the poverty line to 150 percent of the poverty line.

Increase the Gross Domestic Product between $11.8 and $15.2 billion over the next year.

Create 100,000 to 132,000 additional jobs.

Generate $4 to $5 billion in additional sales across the retail sector.

That’s the estimated impact on family income and our national economy of increasing the lowest wage paid a full-time, year-round worker at retail companies employing at least 1,000 workers from around $19,000 per year to $25,000 per year.

What do you say?  Are you willing to pay 15 cents more per shopping trip to help out your fellow Americans?

Read the analysis here:  http://www.demos.org/publication/retails-hidden-potential-how-raising-wages-would-benefit-workers-industry-and-overall-ec

Great video telling the truth about government—A must see—Please watch

The next time your Republican and Tea Party friends start spouting off about how we need a smaller government, show them this video and ask them which of these government accomplishments that have made so much of a difference in the lives of every American they wish the government HAD NOT done.  The video begins with a truth that FDR spoke but that too many Americans have forgotten:

Let us not be afraid to help each other—Let us never forget that GOVERNMENT IS OURSELVES AND NOT AN ALIEN POWER OVER US.

If you hate the U.S. government, you hate YOURSELF AND YOUR NEIGHBORS because we live my friends in a country in which the people rule.  We prove that every two years in what are called ELECTIONS.

WATCH THIS VIDEO HERE  http://www.nextnewdeal.net/video/what-do-we-get-out-government OR BELOW:

Obamacare leads to slower growth in health spending, further deficit reduction

The Congressional Budget Office reports that “from 2009 to 2011, total health spending grew at the lowest annual pace since the government started keeping records 52 years ago, a trend that seems to have continued last year.”  Also, Medicare spending in 2012 grew at the slowest rate since 2000.

That’s very good news because Medicare and Medicaid health spending is a major driver of the national deficit.  If this slower rate of growth in health spending continues, billions of dollars will be erased from the projected deficit taking pressure off impending spending cuts in domestic and defense programs and the need for substantial increases in revenue collections.

Changes in health care practices by doctors, hospitals and insurance companies are contributing to this slower growth of health spending.  I don’t find that at all surprising.  These changes are largely in response to Obamacare.  The entire health sector is being forced to live with the reality that it can no longer depend upon uncontrolled price increases and service expansion to generate profits.  It is another reason to celebrate the passage of Obamacare.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/us/politics/sharp-slowdown-in-us-health-care-costs.html?_r=1&

Workplace Practices are Failing American Families

See UPDATE at end of this post.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) has a new report out examining the role women play in the American workforce today and changes that have occurred in the American family.  The authors conclude that American businesses, government agencies at all levels, educational institutions and other social institutions are falling far short of meeting the needs of today’s American worker and American families.

Here are some of the key findings:

·         Half of all American workers today are women.  In fact, most American workers today have never known a workplace without women bosses and/or significant numbers of employees who are women.

·         Most mothers today work outside the home.

·         Two-thirds of mothers make a quarter or more of the family income.  Forty percent are either the sole wage earner or contribute as much or more to the family income than their spouse.

·         Two-thirds of low income women are the sole or primary breadwinner in their family.

·         The majority of American families have no one at home during the day to perform tasks women typically performed in the traditional American family—shopping, cooking, cleaning, caring for kids after school, etc.

In spite of these changes, the typical workplace today and other social institutions such as government agencies and schools have workplace and work/family practices that assume that all workers have a stay-at-home spouse or other relative who can deal with family needs and emergencies.

The authors of the CAP report note that workplace practices and government policies today are totally out of sync with the realities of American workers’ lives.

Schools still let children out in the afternoon long before the workday ends and close for three months during the summer—even though the majority of families with children are comprised of either a single working parent or a dual-earning couple.

Most workers—men and women—now have family responsibilities that they must negotiate with their spouses, family members, bosses, colleagues, and employees, as well as the institutions around them, such as the child care center or a doctor’s office that doesn’t have evening or weekend hours—even though so many people work all kinds of hours in our 24/7 economy. These responsibilities include not only caring for children but increasingly caring for an aging generation as well. Yet many workers have little power in negotiating their schedules with their employer, especially in nonunion settings.

The federal government has not updated its policies to aid families to reflect these new realities in the workplace and in the home. And the laws we do have on the books—the provision of unpaid, job-protected leave offered by the Family and Medical Leave Act and the prohibition against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act—don’t fully meet the needs of today’s workers, especially lower-income workers.

CAP outlines some of the things we need to be doing, most of which will require action at national, state and local level.  These include:

·         Institute predictable and flexible workplace schedules and family-friendly policies in every workplace.

·         Ensure that all American workers have access to paid family and medical leave.

·         Ensure that all American workers have access to earned sick time days.

·         Ensure that all American workers have access to affordable and quality child care and elder care.

·         Collect and analyze national data on the effectiveness of federal, state, and local public policies in supporting American workers and families.

It is time to start creating a new American workplace consistent with the way Americans really live their lives today.

Read more here about this important issue here:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2013/02/05/51720/our-working-nation-in-2013/

http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/OWNReport-INTRO.pdf

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UPDATE:  I should add that this whole issue is not new.  In 1995, Jimmie and I devoted a significant part of our book Beyond Workplace 2000 to the whole issue of work/family conflicts and the failure of American business to address the realities of the changing workforce.  It is sad that we are still talking about this issue and families are still struggling from lack of support nearly 20 years later.  If you want to read what we wrote then, you can still get Beyond Workplace 2000 from Amazon.  Go here:  http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Workplace-2000-Strategies-Corporation/dp/0452271959/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
 

 

Donald Trump offers proof he is NOT an orangutan

Donald Trump's lawyer has sent a letter to Bill Maher offering proof that the good Donald is not an orangutan.  I kid you not.  Watch Maher’s response—funny, very funny.

If you can’t see the video below, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=V4Nd0tABtzE