jobsanger

Morality Doesn't Require Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:07:00 +0000

BBC Poll Rating Of 16 Countries & E.U.

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:06:00 +0000

Those who believe in American "exceptionalism" (the idea that the United States is by far the best country in the world) are not going to like the results of the newest BBC Country Ratings Poll. The BBC does this poll each year, interviewing over 26,000 people about whether they hold a negative or positive view of 16 countries and the European Union. To be fair, the respondents living in a particular country are excluded when figuring the average percentages for each country.

As you can see from the graphic above, the United States finished in the middle of the pack -- with 6 countries and the European Union having both a higher positive rating and a lower negative rating. The U.S. was viewed positively by 45% of respondents and negatively by 34% of respondents. Last year those numbers for the U.S. was 47% positive and 33% negative (which means the U.S. has dropped a bit in the estimation of those living in other countries). Note that less than half of those living in other countries have a positive view of the U.S.

This year Germany was rated the most popular country (with a 59% positive rating and 15% negative rating). Last year Japan was the most popular country, but this year they dropped 7 points from their positive rating and added 6 points to their negative rating -- dropping them down to fourth in the rating poll. Iran was the least popular country (with a 15% positive rating and a 59% negative rating -- exactly the opposite of Germany's numbers). Iran was also the least popular last year.

Solution ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

Conservative Numbers Are Dropping

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:04:00 +0000

Here is some good news. It looks like fewer people are willing to identify themselves as conservatives than back in 2010. Back then, at least 51% of the public identified themselves as conservative on economic issues (issues such as taxes, budget deficit, national debt, etc.). That has dropped to about 41% currently. Could it be because Americans are uncomfortable aligning themselves with congressional Republicans (who claim to be conservatives) on issues like lower taxes for the rich & corporations, no jobs programs, no raising of minimum wage, and cutting Social Security & Medicare benefits. Both the moderates and the liberals have split the identifications lost by conservatives (with each increasing by 4 points).

And fewer people are also willing to be identified as conservative on social issues (such as same-sex marriage, equal rights, choice, immigration reform, etc.). In 2010, about 39% of the population identified themselves as social conservatives. That has now dropped to 35%. Interestingly enough, those identifying as social moderates has also dropped, from 36% to 32%. While people may still be reluctant to identify themselves as economic liberals (only 19%), that does not apply to social issues. Those willing to be identified as social liberals has jumped from 22% in 2010 to about 30% in 2013.

This is a very hopeful trend. It looks like the congressional Republicans with their policies of austerity in economics, and anti-women's rights, anti LGBT rights, and anti minority rights socially, are driving voters away. And with another year to go before the campaigns start for the 2014 elections, these numbers could get even better -- and spell a bad election for Republicans.

The figures are from a recent Gallup Poll (conducted May 2nd through 7th of a random nationwide sample of 1,535 adults -- with a margin of error of 3 points).

The iPatsy

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:03:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Most Southerners Want Medicaid Expansion

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:02:00 +0000

Republican governors in the South have been delaying or denying an expansion of Medicaid in their states. This expansion would give health insurance coverage to millions who do not have it right now. And they want us to think this is the wish of most people in their states. That's just not true.

The chart above was taken from a survey done in 5 Southern States in March and April of this year by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. It shows that significant majorities in all those states want Medicaid to be expanded in their states -- and those majorities cut across all age lines and racial lines. Only one group (conservatives) don't show a majority in favor of Medicaid expansion -- and they are pretty evenly split on the issue.

The position of these Republican governors may please their teabagger base, but it is not the wish of the majority of voters in their states.

Tee-Shirts

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:01:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Dan Wasserman in the Boston Globe.

Apologies

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:00:00 +0000

I can understand how these good folks feel. Living in Texas, I feel the same way at lot of the time.

After all, we have given the world Ted Cruz (the new Joe McCarthy), inveterate liar John Cornyn, Rick Perry (who thinks the rich shouldn't have to pay taxes and the poor don't deserve medical care), Louie Gohmert and Steve Stockman (who make Michele Bachman look nearly sane), a state Republican Party that wants to ban the teaching of thinking skills in schools, and a State School Board that wants to screw up schoolbooks around the nation.

I used to hope Texas would enter the 21st Century, but now I would be satisfied if we could just make it into the 20th Century (something the Republicans seem determined to prevent).

Truth In GOP Bumper Stickers

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:07:00 +0000

Corporate Profits Up, Taxes Down - No Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:06:00 +0000

The Republicans have been telling us for years that the secret to a healthy economy is to enhance corporate profits and lower corporate taxes (the trickle-down theory). They said the corporations would then take that extra money and invest it -- creating millions of new jobs. To say that hasn't worked out is an understatement. It has been an abject failure.

As the chart above shows, corporate profits (as a percentage of GDP) are higher than they have ever been. The chart shows those profits since 1947, and they have never been higher. That same chart shows the corporate taxes paid (also as a percentage of GDP), and if you'll note, those taxes are as low as they've ever been since 1947. This brings up the question -- where are all the great new good-paying jobs that high corporate profits and low corporate taxes were supposed to bring?

The fact is that the corporations are not re-investing all that new money the trickle-down policy has funneled into their coffers, and not creating any new jobs to end the recession that's still affecting Main Street (although Wall Street left the recession behind long ago). In fact, the corporations are just sitting on that money -- a record amount of money totaling more than $1.73 trillion.

Why aren't the corporations creating jobs with that new money? Because jobs are not created by lowering taxes. The only thing that creates new jobs is increased demand for goods/services. When demand increases, businesses (both corporations and small businesses) will hire the workers necessary to meet that increased demand. But without any increased demand, it simply doesn't make sense to hire new workers -- because businesses already have enough workers to meet current demand.

Obviously, we need to increase demand if we want significant job creation. Corporations will happily spend some of the trillions they are sitting on to create new jobs to meet new demand, because that will increase their profits. But the Republican austerity (such as the sequester cuts) does not help create demand. It decreases demand (hurting job creation) because it takes money out of the economy, and means that the mass of Americans has less money to spend.

In short, the Republicans have been lying to us -- and too many Americans fell for their lies. Taxes have nothing at all to do with job creation (whether high or low taxes), and it never has. The only things "trickle-down" has accomplished is to fatten corporate banks accounts (and those of rich investors), stagnate worker wages, vastly increase the wealth and income gap between the rich and the rest of America (1% versus 99%), outsource millions of good jobs, and kick off a recession that cost millions of additional jobs. It has been a disaster.

But the Republicans don't care about the disastrous results their policies have had on most Americans. They only care about Wall Street, the giant corporations, and other rich Americans -- and those are the only people their policies have helped. It's time to get rid of enough congressional Republicans to allow the country to return to a sane economic policy -- a policy that takes into account what is good for the 99%.

Tax Dodgers

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News.

House Wants To Ream Student Borrowers

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:04:00 +0000

Once again, the House Republicans have shown that they simply do not care for Americans trying to better themselves and work their way out of the hole the GOP's trickle-down policies have put them in. They are quick to create new government giveaways for the rich and the corporations, but continue to throw roadblocks in the way for hurting Americans.

This time it's concerning college students -- those students who do not have the money to pay out-of-hand for college, so must borrow the money to get an education. It is already a travesty that a college education has been priced out of the range of even middle class students (and way out of the range of poor students, for whom it could be their path out of poverty). These students must borrow the money to get that education, because our government is too cheap to provide it for them (as is done in many other developed countries).

Those other countries know that providing for a student to get a good education is just good economic sense -- because those students, after graduation, will make far more money and pay far more in taxes than they would have done without that education (and that extra tax money would be far more than the amount spent on their education). Sadly, our elected officials cannot look past their political ideology to see this truth.

On July 1, student loan rates were set to rise from 3.4% (a rate already too high) to a staggering 6.8%. This doubling of the interest rate would do nothing but make it harder for graduates to repay those loans, and stunt their efforts to get ahead and create a good life for themselves and their families. But that ridiculous rise in student interest rates was not good enough for the congressional Republicans. They want them to pay even more.

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives has now passed a bill that would raise interest rates for loans to undergraduates to 8.5%, and loans to graduate students to 10.5%. Speaker Boehner praised the Republican bill saying it "will make paying for college easier and fairer for students". The man is either a liar or a complete and utter idiot (or both). How does raising the interest rates that students will have to pay upon graduation make anything "easier and fairer"?

The only good thing in this whole mess is that President Obama has threatened to veto the unfair student loan bill if it makes it to his desk. I hope he has the political courage to follow through on that promise. Students are having a hard enough time paying for their education. They certainly don't need the government to make it any harder.

Shelters (Allowed & Not Allowed)

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:03:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by John Darkow in the Columbia Daily Tribune.

IRS Is The Least Respected Federal Agency

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:02:00 +0000

The folks over at the Gallup Poll just surveyed Americans on what they thought of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It will probably come as no surprise that it is not a popular agency, but then I doubt that any agency with the mission of making sure that citizens and organizations follow the tax laws of this nation (and pay the taxes they owe). Even though most of us recognize the importance of taxes in funding the important functions of government -- it can probably safely be said that no one actually enjoys pays taxes.

The poll (conducted on May 20th and 21st of a nationwide sample of 1,016 adults -- with a 4 point margin of error) shows that the popularity of the agency is very low right now. Only 27% of the public thinks the agency is doing an excellent/good job, while a whopping 71% think the IRS is doing only a fair/poor job (29% say only fair and 42% say poor). This is a significant drop from prior surveys. In 2003, 44% of the public thought the agency was doing an excellent/good job -- and in 2009, about 40% thought they were doing an excellent/good job. That's a drop of 13% since 2009.

But, as the chart above shows, this is not necessarily the result of the recent tea bagger "scandal". Note that the popularity of the agency began to drop sharply in 2009 -- and is much more likely the result of anti-IRS propaganda put out by the teabaggers and other right-wingers since the election of President Obama (many of whom had no problem with the agency as long as this country had a white Republican president). In fact, as the chart below shows, the IRS is actually gained a bit in respectability among Democrats and Independents from 1997 to 2013 -- it is only among Republicans that the belief the agency is doing right has dropped.

The survey also showed the IRS is the least popular of the big federal agencies. Here is what the public thinks about the nine large federal agencies that get a lot of news coverage. The first number is the percentage that thinks the agency does an excellent/good job, and the number in parentheses is the percentage that thinks the agency does only a fair/poor job:

Center for Disease Control (CDC)...............60% (35%)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)...............55% (39%)
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)...............42% (42%)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)...............40% (48%)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...............45% (53%)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)...............46% (51%)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...............41% (54%)
Federal Reserve Board...............33% (55%)
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)...............27% (71%)

Jackpot ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:01:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Nick Anderson in the Houston Chronicle.

Gerrymandering

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Fri, 24 May 2013 05:00:00 +0000

These pie charts show the effectiveness of gerrymandering. The Democrats got the most votes in the House races in 2012 (combined vote), but the Republicans maintained a firm grip on control of the House of Representatives. This happened because the Republicans were able to control many state legislatures back in 2010, and were able to redistrict by drawing district lines that were very favorable to them.

Class War

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:07:00 +0000

GOP Is Not Winning Any New Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:06:00 +0000

As you know, the Republican Party did very poorly in the 2012 election. They lost a huge majority of women, young voters, the LGBT community, and all minority voting groups. The national leaders of the party were stunned, and tried to come up with some ways they could reach out to at least some of these groups -- especially minority voters and young voters. They wanted to moderate some of their issue positions to do this.

Unfortunately for them, most of the party's base (now controlled by teabaggers and fundamentalists) don't want to do that. They want the party to move even further to the right, and many in Congress are following the wishes of the base -- not their party leaders. These congressional Republicans think they can appeal to more voters by sticking with their radical positions -- and instead, trying to smear the Democrats. And that is why they've been screaming loudly about White House "scandals" the last few weeks.

The question now is whether this attempt to smear Democrats (and the president) is working or not. A new CNN/ORC Poll would tend to indicate that it is not working. If anything, the Republicans are losing support -- not gaining support. The poll was done on May 17th and 18th of 923 adult Americans, and has a margin of error of 3 points. Here are the poll numbers:

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORABLE OR UNFAVORABLE OPINION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?
favorable...............35%
unfavorable...............59%

Here is the demographic breakdown (with the percentage shown being those with a favorable opinion):

Men...............36%
Women...............35%

Whites...............43%
Non-whites...............18%

18 to 34...............27%
35 to 49...............41%
50 to 64...............33%
65 & over...............45%

Under $50k...............31%
Over $50k...............38%

No college...............33%
Attended college...............37%

Liberal...............16%
Moderate...............26%
Conservative...............56%

Northeast...............31%
Midwest...............28%
South...............45%
West...............34%

Urban...............27%
Suburban...............40%
Rural...............45%

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORABLE OR UNFAVORABLE OPINION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY?
favorable...............52%
unfavorable...............43%

Demographic breakdown of those with a favorable opinion:

Men...............45%
Women...............59%

Whites...............43%
Non-whites...............75%

18 to 34...............57%
35 to 49...............50%
50 to 64...............54%
65 & over...............46%

Under $50k...............62%
Over $50k...............46%

No college...............56%
Attended college...............50%

Liberal...............73%
Moderate...............63%
Conservative...............30%

Northeast...............63%
Midwest...............56%
South...............47%
West...............45%

Urban...............61%
Suburban...............42%
Rural...............54%

These are some pretty terrible numbers for the Republicans. The only group that has a more favorable opinion of Republicans than Democrats are conservatives, which is no surprise. A few groups were either tied or within the margin of error -- whites, over 65, and suburban voters. ALL other groups showed a significant preference for the Democrats over the Republicans. The GOP still has a little more than a year to turn these numbers around. If they don't, they could receive a real spanking from the voters in 2014.

Different ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Christopher Weyant in The Hill.

Race Is Still A Serious Issue For U.S. & GOP

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:04:00 +0000

Half a decade ago when President Obama was elected president of this country, there were many who said the United States was finally entering it's "post-racial" phase. We now know that was just wishful thinking. All the election of the first African-American president really did was to bring the racists back out from under the rocks where they were hiding, and give them the impetus to become a very vocal minority. It made it very clear that racist problems and attitudes are still very much alive in this country.

The Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College (in Clinton, New York) did a very interesting survey, which showed that racial attitudes (i.e., racial resentment) played a big part in the 2012 election (even bigger than in the 2008 election). The post-election part of the survey was done between November 7th and December 9th of 2012, and the results were released on May 21, 2013. They questioned 837 voters, and the poll had a margin of error of 3.4 points.

After studying the results of their survey, they have concluded that racial resentment played a big part in the last election. Before questioning the voters on how they voted, the respondents were first asked several questions -- questions which gauged their level of racial resentment (racism). The chart on top shows the results. Voters in the approximately one/third that had the least racial resentment voted overwhelmingly (nearly 100%), while voters with moderate racial resentment voted for Obama at a much lower level (slightly over 40%), and voters with the most racial resentment voted for the president at a very low level (slightly above 10%).

Now this doesn't mean that everyone who voted for Mitt Romney is a racist, but it does show that a large number of them are racist. Republicans are quick to deny that they are a racist party, and undoubtably there are many who are not racist in that party. But I submit that the racists have taken over the party in many states, and now compose the bulk of the party's base. That is why the party's policies are anti-minority and anti-immigrant -- and why immigration reform is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. When President Johnson passed the civil rights laws in the 1960's, it angered the racists in this country. They fled to the Republican Party in droves, and Republican leaders (especially in the South where the GOP was very weak) accepted these racist voters with open arms. I don't think the Republican leaders at that time meant for the party to become one that trumpeted racist values. I believe they thought they could use those millions of racist voters to seize power, and then put them in the background between elections.

But it didn't work out that way. The millions of new racist voters were numerous enough to take over the party in the South, and through the teabagger movement have also taken over the party in many other states. Now the party is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they disavow their anti-minority and anti-immigrant positions, they could lose a huge chunk of their base voters, probably to a third party. That third party wouldn't be big enough to gain much power, but it would be plenty big enough to devastate the Republican Party.

Frankly, I can't bring myself to feel sorry for the Republicans. As the old saying goes -- If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas. They happily lay down with the racist dogs, and now they have been infested with the racist policies that come with that. And there is no easy cure for that infestation.

----------------------------------------

The same survey also examined "birtherism" -- the idea that President Obama was not born in the United States (even though all evidence shows clearly that he was born in Hawaii). Sadly the survey showed that the belief in "birtherism" has not subsided. It is just as strong as it was before the president released the "long form" of his birth certificate years ago. The poll also showed (not surprisingly) that the same racial resentment that reared its ugly head in the 2012 election, is also a primary factor in whether a person is a birther. This is clearly shown in the chart below. Note that the more racial resentment a person has, the more likely it is that they will be a birther.

Congratulations ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:03:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Why Are Federal Execs Getting Bonuses ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:02:00 +0000

(Image was found at website Slate.com.)

As you must know by now, the "sequester" budget cuts are kicking in. These forced federal budget cuts affect every government agency -- and it will result in not only a cut in services for the Americans who depend on those agencies, but also will result in furloughs for many federal workers (which equals a pay cut). Well, nearly all federal workers.

There is a class of federal employee that is immune to these cuts, and actually will be getting huge bonuses for their job performance. They are the Senior Executive Service. These employees, comprising about 1% of federal workers, are the top executives (except those appointed agency heads) of government agencies. Last year, these government executives received 6300 cash bonuses that totaled about $78 million dollars (for an average bonus of about $12,381 each).

These are not low-paid workers either. Their salaries are far more than most government workers get -- ranging from $119,000 to $179,000 a year (more than two to three times the median wage of workers in the United States). There are those who say the bonuses are necessary, to keep these "best and brightest" from leaving to find better jobs in the private sector (the same argument used to overpay corporate CEOs). I disagree. These people are being paid far more than most Americans, and if they want to leave those jobs we should let them. There are many competent people who would be happy to do those jobs in their place.

I don't have any problem with those bonuses in good economic times, but these are not good economic times. If other government agency workers are getting furloughed (pay cuts), the least these executives could do is to forgo those bonuses. The sequester cuts should be felt across the board, and no one working for the government should be immune -- and it should be understood that no one gets a bonus. It's bad enough that those in Congress didn't get pay cuts due to the sequester (or at least voluntarily give a portion of their salaries back), but at least they aren't getting bonuses.

And Republicans can't blame these scheduled bonuses on President Obama. These bonuses are given because Congress, back in 1978, dictated they should be given. But in the face of the new Republican-imposed austerity, the bonuses should be discontinued (at least for now).

Fortunately, there are some in Congress who agree. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), along with Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), is introducing a bill to stop the bonuses from being given for as long as the sequester is in effect. McCaskill said, "The idea that some of the highest paid federal government employees could be getting bonuses while others are being furloughed is outrageous."

I agree with McCaskill. It is outrageous, and it should not happen.

Minimum Wage

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:01:00 +0000

Political Cartoon is by Mike Konopacki at Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons.

Today's GOP Makes Reagan Look Liberal

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:00:00 +0000

If there was any question that today's Republican Party is an extremist organization, this should settle that for you. Today's GOP just killed a background check bill for those who want to buy a gun (a check that has already been declared to be constitutional), and wouldn't even consider banning assault weapons. Reagan, who the right-wingers still hold as a hero, did just the opposite --being willing to save American lives by supporting and signing reasonable gun laws and restriction.

And it wasn't just on guns that the current party differs with Reagan. Reagan thought the rich should pay a larger percentage of their income than the middle class in taxes (calling it "fair"). And he did not hesitate to raise taxes when it was needed by the government -- or run a deficit when government spending was needed.

I'm not saying that Reagan was a liberal. He most certainly was not. But he was not so hung up on ideology that he refused to do what the country needed economically, and he did not hate those who disagreed with him so much that he could not compromise. Today's GOP may still say they idolize Reagan, but the truth is that they have left him (and other true conservatives) far behind in their race to far-right-wing fringe extremism.

Today's GOP no longer cares about what is good for this country (and its citizens) -- only about what they think Wall Street and the giant corporations want (so those entities will continue to fund their re-election campaigns). They are now the party of greed and self-interest.

Facts

noreply@blogger.com (Ted McLaughlin) — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:03:00 +0000