Posts filed under “Economy”
Obama’s Modest Proposals
This time last week, President Obama gave his State of the Union. It seems like a lot longer ago than that because the speech basically went unnoticed by the time the weekend came around. Reactions were mixed, but the chief criticism seems to be that the speech amounted to little more than several popular and [...]
“Science Fiction” on This Week
Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Austan Goolsbee was giving an entirely on-point commentary about Obama’s chances for reelection as a result of the economy. Then, he was about to be interrupted and decided to swing his ideological sword. “The one thing I’d say is, the argument that its all about the growth of government, the numbers [...]
Picking Apart The Romney Tax Returns
It was with much fanfare and anticipation that Mitt Romney released his federal tax records for 2010 and 2011 yesterday morning. To keep it brief, Romney made $21.7 million in 2010 and paid 13.9 percent ($3 million) of that to the federal government. It hardly has to be mentioned that a rate of 13.9 percent is far below [...]
Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan: Inequality At Its Finest
Mitt Romney hasn’t been too shy about making blatantly false accusations about President Obama’s economic policies throughout the duration of his primary campaign. His wild assertions reached a crescendo on Tuesday when he told supporters at a campaign stop in Iowa: “I think president Obama wants to make us a European style welfare state, where instead [...]
BP, Criminality, Accountability
It’s about time that BP get’s held accountable for the human toll of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion: U.S. prosecutors are preparing what would be the first criminal charges against BP Plc (BP/) staff after the worst U.S. oil spill last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. [...]
How Many House Republicans Does It Take To Screw Over The Light Bulb Industry?
The House GOP’s inclusion of a policy rider in the $1 trillion “omnibus” spending bill that prevents the Department of Energy from phasing out Incandescent light bulbs is not sitting well with the light bulb industry: Big companies like General Electric, Philips and Osram Sylvania spent big bucks preparing for the standards, and the industry [...]
The Top 10 Mic Checks Of 2011
One of the greatest inventions of political speech this year has been the repurposing of Occupy Wall Streets “Human Microphone” into a tactical means of heckling called the “Mic Check.” Using an entirely subjective algorithm based mainly on impact factor, potency, and the deer in the headlights reaction, we at 1115 have come up with the [...]
Serving The Interests Of An Imaginary Group
There’s nothing more indicative of obstructionism than when a political party protects the interests of a group that doesn’t exist. NPR had an excellent segment on Morning Edition today where the delved into the Republicans claims that the millionaire surtax provision in the Payroll Taxcut Extension would hamper the ability of small business owners to [...]
The GOP’s New Stance On Social Security
Remember when Rick Perry rocketed to the top of the polls in September and decried Social Security as a “Ponzi Scheme”? You might recall that a number of prominent conservative voices stepped up to support his claim. Even though many didn’t necessarily accept the characerization of Social Security as a “Ponzi Scheme,” many still spoke [...]
Depends on the definition of tax cuts, maybe?
Jon Kyl (7/11/2010): “You should never raise taxes in order to cut taxes. Surely congress has the authority and it would be right, if we decide we want to cut taxes to spur the economy, not to have to raise taxes in order to offset those costs. You do need to offset the cost of [...]