Hillbilly Report - Front Page

Rand Paul Wants You To Pick Up Apple's Tax Bill

RDemocrat — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:11:17 GMT

It is no big secret that Rand Paul wants to be President. In beginning his campaign one thing he wants to convince Americans of. He wants us to believe he is a different kind of Republican. He wants us to believe he is looking out for us and wants to protect us from the big old bad government. However, when one really looks at Rand Paul and what he believes one thing is clear. He is just as bad as any Republican and possibly worse. In the end there is really only only one group of people he is seeking to protect.
Like the Republican Party as a whole right now Rand Paul is desperately hoping to balance the budget on the backs of working Americans. He has publicly stated that he thinks we should work for less and like it. He and the party he works for are trying to take Social Security, Medicare and any program that helps folks left behind by trickle-down idiocy and throw them to the scrap heap of history. Just like the whole of the modern Republican Party he thinks those of us who actually work for a living are the problem.

Even more telling? Who Rand Paul defends and thinks is not a problem. Today while Apple's executives were in Washington to get an earful for refusing to pay their taxes and being a
Benedict Arnold Corporation what did Rand Paul do? He apologized to them that anyone would dare question there greed at a time when Americans living in poverty are being asked to sacrifice and Apple is pulling in billions of dollars in profit:

He complained that instead of celebrating the firm's success, senators were "dragging in" Apple executives and berating them.
"Apple has done more to enrich people's lives than politicians will ever do," said the Kentucky lawmaker, a favorite of the tea party. "To the Apple executives here I apologize for this theater of the absurd."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/D...

So just what is the Mad Doctor with the twisty curls defending? At a time when all Americans except those like Rand Paul are being asked to sacrifice, he is defending the indefensible:

Under US law, profits held by those subsidiaries would be taxed in Ireland, where the subsidiaries are incorporated. Under Irish law, the profits would be taxed in the US, the country from which the subsidiaries are controlled and where they hold board meetings.
So they weren't taxed at all. (If the money were repatriated to the US, it would then face corporate income taxes.)
Through this maneuver Apple withheld at least $76 billion in profits from taxation between 2009 and 2012, according to subcommittee investigators. In 2012 alone this cost Uncle Sam $12 billion in receipts, according to subcommittee figures. Two other Apple subsidiaries incorporated in Ireland pay taxes there.

So the question we should all pose to Rand Paul as he kisses Apple's ass for avoiding the payment of taxes on billions of dollars of profit? How in the hell is this looking out for us and "protecting" us from anything?

One thing is obvious. Rand Paul cares about nothing and has no values whatsoever. He is just a typical Republican that expects Apple to get a free pass and wants working Americans to pick up their tax bill.

The Minimum Wage and The Two Americas

RDemocrat — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:34:08 GMT

In the primary of 2004 and 2008 there was a reason I supported the Democrat I supported for President. Despite the eventual personal failings of the candidate the message of Two Americas put forward by John Edwards really resonated with me. Of course there is a good reason for that. That message has a lot of truth behind it. I do not really believe there is any doubt whatsoever that the economic policies of our government for the last thirty years have really only succeeded in doing one thing well. Creating Two Americas. One of the very few and very rich who really do get to live by a different set of rules and get preferential treatment. Another of all the rest of us who work harder and constantly find it harder to get by. Nobody is on our side.
Although John Edwards has relegated himself to the scrap heap of disgraced politicians that message should not die. That is why it encouraged me to see David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute using the term once again in his commentary on May 15th laying out the case for raising the minimum wage. The term is just as relevant now as it was when a leading candidate used it in two Democratic primaries for President:

There's a sense today that we, as a country, are dividing into two Americas. In one, corporate stockholders and owners of capital become increasingly wealthy as profits and dividends continue to rise. In the other, ordinary workers gain more education, work longer hours and improve their productivity, yet often struggle to make ends meet.

http://www.epi.org/publication...

This is especially relevant when you look at productivity as compared to wages:

We see this divergence in the economic data. Since the 1970s, productivity has risen dramatically, along with corporate profitability and pay for the highest earners. Yet middle- and low-wage workers' incomes have barely changed. In fact, for the lowest-paid workers, incomes have actually fallen - partially because of the erosion in value of the minimum wage.

http://www.epi.org/publication...

And for those of you who would argue that we cannot raise the minimum wage or prices will go up, we will lose jobs or feel that lower income Americans making more will end up costing or hurting you consider this. When we allow multi-billion dollar corporations to keep their workers in poverty it not only hurts the American economy but skyrockets the national debt we are all responsible for:

A minimum wage of $7.25 is not enough to live on. Full-time minimum-wage workers today earn about $15,000 a year. In 1968, they earned about $20,000 per year in today's dollars. While certainly not enough for a life of luxury, it is enough for a family of three to stay above the poverty line - which can't be said for today's minimum-wage workers.

In fact no matter what propaganda Conservatives and Corporate apologists will spew like gospel one thing is clear. Raising the minimum wage will help our country as a whole in a few different ways:

The multiple positive effects that would result from a higher minimum wage are clear: It would boost the earnings of working families hardest hit by the Great Recession, spur economic growth, and create about 140,000 net new jobs. In an economic climate in which wage increases for the most vulnerable workers are scarce, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 by July 1, 2015, is an opportunity that America's working families cannot afford to lose.

http://www.epi.org/publication...

While we are at it, we need to significantly deal with the tipped minimum wage also. It has been stagnate much longer than the real minimum wage and is now worth nothing at all:

Workers who rely on tips are subject to a special tipped worker minimum wage, which has remained frozen since 1991 at a meager $2.13 per hour. The result has been to drag down pay for tipped workers in many of our nation's fast-growing service industries, such as restaurants, hotels, nail salons, and car washes, where millions today spend their careers. When it was created by Congress, the tipped minimum wage provided tipped workers an economic cushion and brought their pay closer to a living wage-something our economy badly needs more of today.
A 2009 report by the National Employment Law Project finds that the stagnant minimum wage for tipped workers is a key factor behind falling living standards and growing economic insecurity for workers in tipped industries. Since the tipped worker minimum wage was frozen at $2.13 in 1991, its value has fallen by 36% in real terms. As a result, waitresses and waiters-the largest group of tipped workers-have three times the poverty rate of the workforce as a whole.

http://raisetheminimumwage.org...

While the recommendation for tipped workers is 70% of the minimum wage I have a better idea. Why not just do away with any sub minimum wage altogether? Why are all workers not entitled to the minimum wage? If you do your job well enough that costumers think you deserve extra why should that be used against your right to earn a fair wage?

The plain and simple fact of the matter is that there are indeed Two Americas. Anyone who does not believe this simply is not paying attention to facts:

During the first two years of the nation's economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data.
From 2009 to 2011, the mean wealth of the 8 million households in the more affluent group rose to an estimated $3,173,895 from an estimated $2,476,244, while the mean wealth of the 111 million households in the less affluent group fell to an estimated $133,817 from an estimated $139,896.
From the end of the recession in 2009 through 2011 (the last year for which Census Bureau wealth data are available), the 8 million households in the U.S. with a net worth above $836,033 saw their aggregate wealth rise by an estimated $5.6 trillion, while the 111 million households with a net worth at or below that level saw their aggregate wealth decline by an estimated $0.6 trillion.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org...

There is no question that most of America deserves a raise. Raising the minimum wage helps everyone and it is time that Americans shared in the prosperity. Everyone is feeling the pinch of working harder, being more productive and still not getting ahead. Another simple fact is that employers in this country can afford to pay more. The market has recovered and they are once again reaping huge profits on our labor. It is far past time our government quit catering to them and started working for us.

Even with a Democratic President we are seeing the widening of the gulf between the Two Americas and it is far past time we demand that they become one once again and a strong middle-class is built to fuel our economy.

On "Made Up Tales"

RDemocrat — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:06:45 GMT

The Republican Party knows no shame or humility. In their witch hunt to capitalize politically on an American tragedy they seem to have forgotten one thing. While four Americans tragically lost their lives in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 while Barack Obama was President, nearly three thousand lost their lives on American soil under a Republican President who had warning on Sept. 11, 2001.
Of course you never heard one Republican questioning the failures of George W. Bush on that one. In fact, you saw them rubber-stamp every failed solution from an incompetent administration to that attack, costing thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars of American treasure.

Now the House is on a witch hunt, desperately trying to avoid discussion on an agenda that will help all Americans recover and to create jobs. They want to investigate and scandalize the rest of Obama's administration and hope some of it sticks to Hillary Clinton instead of doing their jobs, helping America recover from the Great Recession their trickle-down policies caused.

So now today you have the master of shunning his responsibility and causing the American people to suffer, Mitch McConnell on the news calling for more Benghazi investigations. Of course this is the Mitch McConnell who publicly stated the goal of the Republican Party should be to defeat Obama, not create jobs for Americans.

Indeed, McConnell was whining today about "made up tales":

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday said the Obama administration had spun a "tale" about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi that helped them politically before the 2012 election.
"We know the administration kind of made up a tale here in order to make it seem like it wasn't a terrorist attack," said McConnell on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"It's very clear that it was inconvenient within six weeks of the election for the administration to, in effect, announce that it was a terrorist attack. I think that's worth examining. It is going to be examined," he vowed.
"The talking points clearly were not accurate and I think getting to the bottom of that is an important investigation," said McConnell in response to the question from the show's host David Gregory.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-...
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But wait just a minute. While McConnell is talking about "made up tales" why does he not speak upon the "tales" Republicans made up to keep this idiotic witch hunt going? You see, in order to spur their endless investigations, create a scandal and ignore the real problems that face real Americans McConnell's Republican Party have done what they do best. Made up their own version of events to validate their dis-proven version of the world and events within it:

CNN has obtained an e-mail sent by a top aide to President Barack Obama about White House reaction to the deadly attack last September 11 on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that apparently differs from how sources characterized it to two different media organizations.
The actual e-mail from then-Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes appears to show that whomever leaked it did so in a way that made it appear that the White House was primarily concerned with the State Department's desire to remove references and warnings about specific terrorist groups so as to not bring criticism to the department.
Whoever provided those accounts seemingly invented the notion that Rhodes wanted the concerns of the State Department specifically addressed. While Nuland, particularly, had expressed a desire to remove mentions of specific terrorist groups and CIA warnings about the increasingly dangerous assignment, Rhodes put no emphasis at all in his e-mail on the State Department's concerns.
So whoever leaked the inaccurate information earlier this month did so in a way that made it appear that the White House - specifically Rhodes - was more interested in the State Department's concerns, and more focused on the talking points, than the e-mail actually stated.

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2...

So the question is while we are doing all this investigating why are we not investigating who falsified emails to leak to the press to somehow validate this witch hunt? While mistakes were surely made do they really have to be criminal in nature? Was not one of those mistakes the Republican House insisting on slashing $300 million from the budget for protecting such embassies as the one in Benghazi?

Better yet, why does McConnell and the Republican Party he "leads" do this. Quit being bitter about losing elections and do their jobs. The American people elect all their leaders to do one thing. Solve problems. In case McConnell and the Republicans haven't noticed there are plenty of problems to solve.

But you see, their sorry asses are covered. They have won a reprieve from themselves and their ilk having to sacrifice anything to the economy they crashed and are balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, the most vulnerable and the working-class.

Now they are getting what they really want. A circus freak sideshow to try and make America forget that they are paying so folks like Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and the rest of the Republican Party and the selfish oligarchs they truly represent don't have too.

Indeed it all comes down to that. Not that Republicans care at all what happened in Benghazi. They just desperately hope that it will distract you as they continue to rape the working-class and the American economy and will somehow stick to Hillary Clinton and keep her out of the White House.

OUR Walmart's freedom ride

By BERRY CRAIG — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:24:26 GMT

James and Trina Vetato knew about the freedom riders from history books.

Next month, the Paducah, Ky., couple expects to join a civil rights movement-style protest by OUR Walmart, an employees group, against the world's largest retailer.

Walmart is known for paying its workers low wages, providing them few benefits and fiercely opposing unions.

Called the “Ride for Respect,” the demonstration at Walmart corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., will be modeled on civil rights volunteers who rode buses into the South in the 1960s to protest Jim Crow racial injustice, James Vetato said.

Busloads of OUR Walmart members will converge on Bentonville from across the country. They will be in town for the annual shareholders’ meeting, which is June 7.

Vetato said he expects 300 or more OUR Walmart members to begin arriving the week before the meeting. Most of the protestors -- including Trina Vetato -- will be on an unfair labor practice strike, her husband said.

The Vetatos are activists in Organization United for Respect at Walmart, or OUR Walmart for short.

"The protest will go on the whole week before the meeting,” he said. “We especially want to draw national attention to Walmart management's threats and retaliation against workers who speak up for better pay, more hours and respect on the job."

Vetato worked at his wife’s store in Paducah. He said when he stood up for his rights, “I was threatened and intimidated by management who made my life so miserable I finally quit."

OUR Walmart includes many current and past Walmart employees, Vetato said. "We'd have a lot more, but so many associates are afraid to join," he added.

Eighty percent of Walmart associates are paid so poorly they have to be on food stamps or other public assistance, Vetato said.

Our Walmart wants better pay, benefits and working conditions. “Like the freedom riders, we will be standing up for dignity and respect and justice and will be protesting peacefully.”

OUR Walmart was organized in June, 2011, when about 100 employees – James Vetato among them – went to Bentonville for the shareholders meeting and handed company executives a “Declaration of Respect.” The document includes calls for a $13 an hour minimum wage and full-time work for those who want it.

The declaration is on the OUR Walmart website at http://forrespect.org/our-walmart/about-us/.

OUR Walmart isn’t a union, but the United Food and Commercial Workers is helping the group, Vetato said.

"UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publicly commit to adhering to labor rights and standards," says a legal disclaimer on the UFCW's Making Change at Walmart website http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/. "UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees."

Some other unions are in OUR Walmart's corner, too. The Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing solidarity with the organization.

"We really appreciate that and what the UFCW is doing for us," Vetato said. "The UFCW helped us pass out leaflets at the Paducah store where my wife works and I used to work.”

Trina's husband was among several OUR Walmart members who gathered for five days at the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Ala., to plan the Bentonville protest.

With $469.2 billion in revenue and $16,999 billion in profits last year, Walmart is the number one Fortune 500 U.S. company. Mike Duke, Walmart chief executive officer, made $23,150,000 in 2012, according to PayScale, an online company that compiles salary, benefits and compensation information http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/03/ceo-pay-in-perspective-infographic.

Vetato scoffs at claims by Duke that the company pays "competitive wages." The median worker pay at Walmart is $22,400 or 1,034 times less than what Duke makes, according to PayScale.

Donations to OUR Walmart workers, many of whom will give up as much as a week's pay to be in Bentonville, Vetato said, can be made online at https://www.wepay.com/donations/changewalmart.

Republicans Seek to Avoid Sacrifice Again

RDemocrat — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:50:33 GMT

Republicans are determined to "fix" everything except what is really wrong with America. While trying yet again to repeal Obamacare and obsessing over every imagined scandal in the book they are refusing to pass a jobs bill to provide relief to working Americans. Worse yet is their obsession with the deficit and making anyone but themselves pay for it. Now, yet again they are chasing imagined problems and punishing the working class.
I guess they cannot stand to lose their talking point over there in Conservative fantasy land. However, sadly for Republicans the "crisis" is over:

The budget deals of the past two years and a recovering economy are rapidly mopping up the tide of red ink that swept over Washington after the 2007 recession.
After four years of budget deficits in excess of $1 trillion, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast Tuesday that this year's deficit will plummet to $642 billion, or 4 percent of the nation's total economic output.
That's $200 billion lower than the CBO forecast in February. Analysts attributed the sunnier outlook to higher-than-expected tax revenue and about $95 billion in higher payments from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are profiting from a recovering housing market.
The forecast puts the nation on track for its smallest deficit since 2008, before the recession hit in full force. And the CBO predicts that the gap between revenue and spending will continue to shrink through 2015, when it will fall to just over 2 percent of the economy - well within the bounds of what economists consider to be economically sustainable.

http://articles.washingtonpost...

This should make the Republicans happy should it not? Our deficit is shrinking as Americans have sacrificed and Republicans and their ilk have been able to dodge giving anything up themselves. How do they celebrate? Led by Kentuckian Hal Rogers they are socking it to working America yet again:

House Republicans late Thursday began circulating new spending targets for appropriations bills for the coming year with Labor, Education and Health and Human Services facing a nearly 20 percent reduction on top of the cuts already made in the March 1 sequestration order.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) appears to be backloading the larger reductions in order to salvage a few of the 12 annual bills this summer.
Discretionary spending for the departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services would be capped at $121.8 billion - or about $28 billion below the best available estimates for post-sequestration appropriations.

Of course, as always with Republicans some people are getting even more money:

Pentagon spending would rise to $512.5 billion, a roughly 6 percent increase over the reduced levels allowed under sequestration. But elsewhere, the landscape is bleak for most core domestic priorities for Democrats and the president.

And of course as always with Republicans what you will not hear one bit from them is how they plan on sacrificing themselves to the problems they caused. You will not hear one word about cutting corporate welfare or raising taxes on the wealthy. You will not see a jobs bill or minimum wage increase to help working Americans now that the debt crisis has abated.

In fact it is business as usual for Rogers and the Republicans. Punish those of us who work for a living, gut programs that help the most vulnerable in society and cut taxes further on themselves.

Is this the America we really want to pass on to our children? This Republican America only cares about one thing. Greed, and passing off the problems it causes to all those who never benefited from it.

The Colbert Report. Asparagusgate?

Hillbilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:49:58 GMT

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,Video Archive

Mitch McConnell's Chief Of Staff Josh Holmes Promotes Politico In Video. The Video!

Hillbilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:06:39 GMT

Oops!

Roll Call
A video posted on the Politico website featuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff has been taken down after the Kentucky Republican’s office objected to its placement on a page designed to solicit advertisers.

The good news is, we can still see the video of Mitch McConnell's chief of staff, Josh Holmes, promoting Politico here and here. The bad news is, senate ethics rules prohibit senators and their staff from making endorsements. Reckon Mitch McConnell will call the FBI to investigate this?

Mitch McConnell Swinging At Shadows? Kentucky's Own Don Quixote?

Hillbilly — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:32:33 GMT

It seems to me Kentucky Democrats have Senator Mitch McConnell right where they want him. He, Senator Mitch McConnell, attacks what he perceives to be ferocious evil Kentucky Democratic giants only to find out the ferocious evil Kentucky Democratic giants are just imaginary mirages.

Currently Senator Mitch McConnell is Whacking moles thinking they are ferocious evil Kentucky Democratic giants, when in fact he is playing the child's game of Whac-A-Mole. It's a sad tale and one has to wonder when and or if Senator Mitch McConnell will start attacking windmills thinking the windmills are ferocious evil Kentucky Democratic giants.

I kind of feel sorry for the guy and his knight errantry and I believe it would serve those thinking of running against him to wait until the last minute to announce their candidacy, thus leaving Senator Mitch McConnell with only shadows, moles and windmills to attack. Just sayin' be patient and let this play out. Who knows what might happen 6 months from now when a real Democratic giant announces. Senator Mitch McConnell might think they're a windmill.

Kentuckians for Strong Leadership Going Dark Photoshopping After Alison Lundergan Grimes?

Hillbilly — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:02:02 GMT

Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, they call themselves an independent political action committee. Really? Steven Law (Kentuckians for Strong Leadership board member) and Senator Mitch McConnell go way back. All the way back to 1990. Independent political action committee? I don't think so.

This group has already started with Alison Lundergan Grimes by putting what appears to be a photoshopped darkened image of Alison Lundergan Grimes on their site. Her complexion in the photo is actually darker than Barack Obama's. Why would they misrepresent Alison Lundergan Grimes in this way? This is what Alison Lundergan Grimes actually looks like. I know because I shot the photo!

Kentuckians for Strong Leadership image of Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Photo I shot of Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Kentucky.com
The PAC's board members are:

■ Steven Law, president of American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. He is a former Deputy Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush, chief of staff to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

■ Riggs Lewis, a partner in The Rotunda Group, a Kentucky-based government affairs firm. Lewis is an attorney and has been a Republican political consultant on numerous local, state and federal campaigns. He is a well-known business leader in Louisville.

■ Gail Russell, a partner with a Louisville law firm. Russell was formerly Kentucky's Republican National Committeewoman.

Is Elaine Chao's Silence On The Heritage Foundation's Immigration Report Racism Or Hypocrisy?

Hillbilly — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:24:01 GMT

Elaine Chao, a Chinese immigrant and employed by the Heritage Foundation, has remained silent about the Heritage Foundation special report on immigration entitled: "The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer."

We all know Elaine Chao can speak up when she feels it's necessary and can even call out racism and/or xenophobia, real or perceived, when it comes to her. However when it comes to her employer hiring someone like Jason Richwine to write a report on immigration she, Elaine Chao clams up and all we hear from her is crickets.

Elaine Chao doesn't have a problem with immigration, when it comes to her and her family. We've heard her story time and time again, but when it comes to other immigrants she seems content to keep her job at the Heritage Foundation rather speak up for immigrants of a nationality different than hers. Her silence speaks loudly.

Maybe Elaine Chao thinks she has a higher IQ than Hispanic immigrants and Hispanic immigrants aren't as deserving as her.

The Daily Beast
The Heritage Foundation is distancing itself from an author of its anti-immigration report, Jason Richwine, who says immigrants have lower IQs than ‘white natives.’ But its report backs him up, says Jamelle Bouie.

Some folks are calling the Heritage Foundation report racism and xenophobia. Are you listening Elaine?

The Hill
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas), the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the group’s study “ugly racism and xenophobia dressed up in economic hyperbole” after learning of the dissertation.

Elaine Chao is the wife of Senator Mitch McConnell and we all know Senator Mitch McConnell can speak up on racism and/or xenophobia when it comes to his wife. So how does Senator Mitch McConnell feel about the Heritage Foundation's report on immigration? Again all we hear is crickets. Senator Mitch McConnell's silence speaks volumes.

Elaine Chao works for the Heritage Foundation and the Heritage Foundation has associated itself with Jason Richwine. In my humble opinion Elaine Chao has a choice. Continue working for the Heritage Foundation or resign and call them out for what they are.

Politic 365
In a recently released video from an American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation analyst Jason Richwine asserts that Latinos, as well as Native Americans, and blacks have demonstrated that they are incapable of “assimilating” and adjusting their IQs to be on par with whites, Jews and Asians.
The video is here and his comments begin around minute 1:

Is Elaine Chao a racist? I don't think so, but if she doesn't call out the phony Heritage Foundation's report on immigration one could easily conclude she is a self serving hypocrite.

The 2.2 Million Republican Jobs Gap

RDemocrat — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:13:39 GMT

It has been no secret that the Republican Party led by Mitch McConnell has been trying their best to slow the recovery from the Great Recession and keep America from being able to get back to work. At first they were hoping this effort would limit President Obama to one term. Of course when Americans saw through this ruse and reelected the President Republicans were in no mood to work to get our country back on track. They have sought instead to punish Americans for giving President Obama a second term. Now, not only have they refused to pass a Jobs Bill, but have insisted on Austerity an idea that not only seeks to balance the budget on the backs of the very Americans who have given all the sacrifice but is costing our country over two million jobs in a time when Americans desperately need jobs.
In fact, with the Republican War on public workers and their war on everyone else with Austerity and sequestration the modern Republican Party is punishing America and keeping recovery from the recession they caused from ever really happening:

These numbers continue a pattern of steady growth in the labor market, but they also confirm that America's recovery from the Great Recession is still very much a work in progress. The public sector, especially, has been a drag on the economy in recent months. While the private sector has added roughly 2.2 million jobs over the past year, employment in state, local, and federal governments has declined by 89,000, including significant losses to teachers and emergency responders. In this challenging economic climate, there is growing concern about how sequestration-the across-the-board budget cuts to discretionary spending that took effect on March 1-may negatively impact the recovery even more. Indeed, forecasters at the Congressional Budget Office project that the sequestration could reduce overall GDP growth in the United States by 0.6 percentage point and cost the economy 750,000 jobs by the end of 2013.
The downward trend in public-sector employment, described in a Hamilton Project report last summer, has continued into the opening months of 2013. While the private sector has added jobs to the economy in every month since March 2010, a total increase of approximately 6.8 million jobs, the public sector has contracted. To put this in perspective, federal, state, and local governments added jobs in only twelve of the thirty-eight months since March 2010 and have lost more than 625,000 jobs over this period.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs...

Of course, all of this flies in the face of conventional wisdom. If Americans want to know why recovery is so slow they need only look at Republican policies which are idiocy in the current economic climate:

The ongoing recovery, which began when the Great Recession ended in June 2009, dramatically deviates from the usual pattern. In the forty-six months following the end of the five other recent recessions, government employment increased by an average of 1.7 million. During the current recovery, however, government employment has decreased by more than 500,000. Put together, the policy differences have led to 2.2 million fewer jobs today. Such a large contraction of the public-sector during a recovery is unprecedented in recent American economic history.

Now with sequestration they should be tipping their hand. They do not want Americans being put back to work. Their reasoning is simple. With three decades of trickle-down economics that have enriched themselves and their ilk quite simply their sorry asses are covered. They feel no pain whatsoever. What they hope is to make you feel so much pain that you will put them back in power and allow them to continue raping the working-class. That is why America is missing 2.2 million jobs:

Policymakers are currently faced with the unenviable task of simultaneously increasing employment and addressing America's long-term budget deficits, but-at a time when the rate of government employment is at a historic low-sequestration threatens to further slow the growth of the public sector and lengthen the time it will take to close America's jobs gap. Even when ignoring any indirect impacts, a typical policy response to the Great Recession would have led to a jobs gap that is 2.2 million jobs smaller than current gap of about 10.0 million and commensurately reduced the amount of time until the economy returns to full employment.

Which really brings about only one conclusion. The modern Republican Party simply hates their country and anyone within it that disagrees with their idiotic and narrow view of the world. They will continue to punish Americans until they get their way and if they do and are back in power do you know what will happen? They will re-institute trickle-down on a massive scale and punish America even more.

That is why it is the duty as Americans of every Democrat elected in Congress or the White House right now to do one thing. Do not compromise with the Mitch McConnells and John Boehners of the world but fight them tooth and nail for every policy and every inch of ground. Let the American people see you fighting against this greed and austerity and if nothing gets done let them decide who was to blame in 2014.

I believe America is ready to place the blame where it belongs. On the greed and uncaring idiocy of the modern Republican Party.

Put Citizens United In The Dumpster of Bad Ideas

RDemocrat — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:28:09 GMT

Sign the Petition here:

http://www.alfranken.com/index...