Monday Reads
Posted: January 27, 2014 Filed under: income inequality, morning reads 102 Comments
Good Morning!
This morning I thought I’d focus on income inequality, upward mobility, and our whining one percenters who just can’t get enough, in preparation for the State of the Union address tomorrow. I’m not sure if you saw this one about a poor persecuted Silicon Valley billionaire who feels that America treats the rich like the NAZIs treated Jewish people, but I think you should.
A billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist has been condemned for “ghastly and disgraceful” comments after he compared criticism of America’s rich to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
Tom Perkins, 66, wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal, which was published, in which he likened the Occupy movement to Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom of Nov 9-10, 1938.
In his letter titled “Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?” Mr Perkins said: “Writing from the epicentre of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘one per cent’, namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one per cent, namely the rich.
“From the Occupy movement to the demonisation of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one per cent.”
Mr Perkins cited the antipathy in San Francisco towards luxury “Google buses” that carry technology workers to their well paid jobs, and growing anger over rising house prices caused by wealthy buyers employed by internet companies.
“This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking,” he wrote.
“Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent ‘progressive’ radicalism unthinkable now?”
During Kristallnacht, translated as the Night of Broken Glass, Jewish shops were smashed, hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, 91 Jews were murdered and 30,000 arrested, with most of them sent to concentration camps.
If that doesn’t leave you speechless, nothing will.
Robert Reich is among the policy wonks who wonders what’s happened to this country, Most of us can’t figure out why more people aren’t taking to the streets to demand things change.
People ask me all the time why we don’t have a revolution in America, or at least a major wave of reform similar to that of the Progressive Era or the New Deal or the Great Society.
Middle incomes are sinking, the ranks of the poor are swelling, almost all the economic gains are going to the top, and big money is corrupting our democracy. So why isn’t there more of a ruckus?
The answer is complex, but three reasons stand out.
First, the working class is paralyzed with fear it will lose the jobs and wages it already has.
In earlier decades, the working class fomented reform. The labor movement led the charge for a minimum wage, 40-hour workweek, unemployment insurance, and Social Security.
No longer. Working people don’t dare. The share of working-age Americans holding jobs is now lower than at any time in the last three decades and 76 percent of them are living paycheck to paycheck.
No one has any job security. The last thing they want to do is make a fuss and risk losing the little they have.
Besides, their major means of organizing and protecting themselves — labor unions — have been decimated. Four decades ago more than a third of private-sector workers were unionized. Now, fewer than 7 percent belong to a union.
Second, students don’t dare rock the boat.
In prior decades students were a major force for social change. They played an active role in the Civil Rights movement, the Free Speech movement, and against the Vietnam War.
But today’s students don’t want to make a ruckus. They’re laden with debt. Since 1999, student debt has increased more than 500 percent, yet the average starting salary for graduates has dropped 10 percent, adjusted for inflation. Student debts can’t be cancelled in bankruptcy. A default brings penalties and ruins a credit rating.
To make matters worse, the job market for new graduates remains lousy. Which is why record numbers are still living at home.
Reformers and revolutionaries don’t look forward to living with mom and dad or worrying about credit ratings and job recommendations.
Third and finally, the American public has become so cynical about government that many no longer think reform is possible.
When asked if they believe government will do the right thing most of the time, fewer than 20 percent of Americans agree. Fifty years ago, when that question was first asked on standard surveys, more than 75 percent agreed.
One of the most outrageous lies told by the wealthy is how they pay all the taxes. This is only true of Federal Income taxes that are designed to be progressive. Most state and local taxes are not progressive and they impact poor, working class, and middle income people. The very wealthy also have a huge amount of their income exempt from social security withholding.
The federal personal income tax only made up 28% of all U.S. government tax collections in 2012. Federal, state and local governments collected $4 trillion in taxes last year; just $1.1 trillion of that was federal personal income tax.
And people with low incomes who don’t pay federal personal income tax do pay lots of those other taxes: payroll tax, state income tax, sales tax, property tax, excise taxes, and more. They pay other taxes indirectly: Workers bear the burden of employer-paid payroll taxes and part of the burden of corporate income taxes.
Here’s a chart I made earlier this year showing the distribution of the tax burden when you add all the taxes together. Earners in the top 1% pay about 43% of their incomes in tax. People in the middle quintile pay 25%. The poorest fifth pays 13%.
Business Insider, data from Tax Policy Center and Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Rich people do pay a lot more taxes than poor people, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of income. But the rich are not paying all the taxes. And looking just at the federal personal income tax and trying to draw conclusions about who pays “taxes” will lead you to wrong answers.
You’ll notice that a lot of this discussion comes from economists or business journalists. Here’s an article from HBR that says that “We Can’t Afford to Leave Inequality to the Economists”.
But the aforementioned Emanuel Saez, together with Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics, has for the past decade-plus been using income tax records to compile a rich account of what’s been going on up there in the top 1%. You’re probably familiar with the basic outlines, but it’s worth throwing out a few numbers from their most recent update:
- From 1993 to 2013, incomes of the bottom 99% of taxpayers in the U.S. grew 6.6%, adjusted for inflation. The incomes of the top 1% grew 86.1%.
- The top 0.1% of U.S. taxpayers claimed 11.33% of overall income in 2012, up from 2.65% in 1978. The top 0.01% got 5.47%, up from 0.86% in 1978.
- The average income of the top 0.01% was 859 times that of the bottom 90% in 2012. In 1973 the top-0.01%-to-bottom-90% ratio was just under 80.
Something really dramatic is going on up there in the top 5%, the top 1%, the top 0.01%. But while economists know some things about the impact of increasing overall income inequality, they still don’t know all that much about what this 1% stuff means. In their new paper, Chetty, Hendren, Kline, Saez, and Turner write that their finding of steady intergenerational income mobility “may be surprising in light of the well-known negative correlation between inequality and mobility across countries.” A possible explanation, they continue, is that
[M]uch of the increase in inequality has been driven by the extreme upper tail … [and] there is little or no correlation between mobility and extreme upper tail inequality — as measured e.g. by top 1% income shares — both across countries and across areas within the U.S. Instead, the correlation between inequality and mobility is driven primarily by “middle class” inequality.
That’s the thing about this rise in “extreme upper tail inequality” — most pronounced in the U.S. but by now a clearly global phenomenon. It is one of the most dramatic economic developments of the past quarter century. And it seems like it might be bad thing. But conclusive economic evidence for its badness is hard to find.
Yes, there are theories: All that wealth sloshing around in the top 1% leads to more bubbles and crashes. Extreme wealth corrupts the political process. Income inequality may be slowing overall economic growth. And, as my colleague Walter Frick put it in an email when I brought this up, “given the diminishing marginal utility of income, it’s hugely wasteful for the super rich to have so much income.”
I happen to believe there’s some truth to all four of those. But there are also lots of counterarguments and some counterevidence, and big economic studies like the new one by Chetty & Co. don’t seem to be doing much to resolve the debate.
Which leads me to another theory: I think we’re eventually going to have to figure out what if anything to do about exploding high-end incomes without clear guidance from the economists.
It will be interesting to see how the President approaches these problems in the SOTU address. 
Obama has called inequality in America the “defining issue of our time.” And although you may hear the words “opportunity” and “mobility” more than “inequality” in his speech, the intent is the same.
“The address will include a ‘healthy dose’ of the income inequality message the White House has focused on in recent weeks, according to one senior administration official familiar with the text,” The Hill newspaper reports.
“The president, who has yet to add to the big legislative accomplishments of his first term, will call for raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour and extending federal unemployment benefits that expired last month,” according to this report. “He will also discuss energy and college affordability, two other issues that relate to the economic mobility message that is a major White House theme ahead of this year’s midterm elections.”
Of course, it’s easy to talk about these things. It’s not so easy to get any thing through the Congress these days. Let’s take this idiot at Forbes for example who argues that Wealth Inequality is a sure sign of the success of an economy and country. You have to read this to believe it. This ass is a gold bug so be assured, this is insane.
When income and wealth inequality are growing, unease in our lives is shrinking. Republicans, as the alleged Party of entrepreneurial capitalism, should understand this well, and stop acting as though success is something to politicize. Wealth inequality is one of the surest signs of economic advancement. It’s time for today’s Republicans to act like adults, and embrace the very inequality that has improved the lives of so many.
Oxfam released a study that shows the problem is really worldwide.
Oxfam calculated that almost half the world’s wealth – $110trn – is owned by just 1 per cent of its population. It said that 70 per cent of people live in countries where the gap between the rich and poor has widened in the last 30 years.
“This massive concentration of economic resources in the hands of fewer people presents a significant threat to inclusive political and economic systems,” the charity said. “People are increasingly separated by economic and political power, inevitably heightening social tensions and increasing the risk of societal breakdown.”
Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam’s executive director, who will attend Davos, described the gulf between sectors of society as staggering. “We cannot hope to win the fight against poverty without tackling inequality. Widening inequality is creating a vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight over crumbs from the top table,” she said.
Oxfam is calling on the business chiefs gathering at Davos to promise to support progressive taxation and not dodge their own taxes, refrain from using their wealth to seek political favours and demand that companies they own or control pay a living wage. In a report last week the forum warned that income disparity leading to social unrest could have a significant impact on the world economy over the next 12 months.
There was a “lost” generation of young people coming of age who lacked jobs and the skills for work, the report said. This could easily boil over into protests over inequality and corruption. Jennifer Blanke, the forum’s chief economist, said: “Disgruntlement can lead to the dissolution of the fabric of society, especially if young people feel they don’t have a future. This is something that affects everybody.”
President Barack Obama will travel to Prince George’s County Maryland; Pittsburgh; Milwaukee; and Nashville in the next week to talk about proposals outlined in Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
In an email to supporters Saturday, senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Obama will lay out “a set of real, concrete, practical proposals to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, and empower all who hope to join it.”
Obama opens his sixth year with some of the worst job approval ratings since he took office and with a bitterly divided Congress already turning much of its focus to the November election.
The White House will use the high-profile speech to try anew for momentum for the president’s agenda – and perhaps his legacy – as he declares 2014 a “year of action” with or without congressional support.
Tens of millions are expected to watch the 9 p.m. EST address, which Obama will deliver from the U.S. Capitol.
Obama is expected to make the widening income gap between rich and poor a centerpiece of his speech, calling on lawmakers to restore jobless benefits for 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans, expand preschool initiatives and boost the federal minimum wage.
After he returns to Washington, he will outline new efforts to help the long-term unemployed, the White House says.
“The core idea is as American as they come: If you work hard and play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to succeed,'” Pfeiffer wrote. “Your ability to get ahead should be based on your hard work and ambition and who you want to be, not just the raw circumstance of who you are when you’re born.”
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
NW Luna
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Here’s what I don’t understand: how is it that lowering the minimum wage helps the economy?
If I can’t afford to purchase a hamburg at McDonald’s, buy a new car, or replace an aging appliance because my income barely covers everyday expenses, why are these “titans” of industry fighting so hard to impose this on the rest of us?
You would think they would be “championing” the consumer spending rather then strangle their ability to “buy, buy, buy”. Fewer customers leads to fewer profits no matter how you slice that pie.
And without healthcare benefits, people will be forced to pay out of pocket which will be almost impossible to maintain a decent standard of living thus making us even poorer in the long run and sickly as well.
I just don’t get the reasoning behind some of these issues that without a few extra dollars in my pocket I will no longer be able to afford the cost of a movie ticket let alone a new coat.
Baffling to say the least.
Good questions. I guess they think the rich will buy enough to make up for the rest of us. But why that makes sense to Walmart, Target, etc. I do not know.
Well, Walmart and target sell inferior goods and necessities. They thrive on low income earners. same with MacDonald’s. Rich people don’t go there. They make their profits by cost cutting to get their margin. However, the limitations of that model are beginning to show which is why they are beginning to not only buy inventory abroad but also diversify consumer sales abroad. They also thrive in places where they are the only viable store for miles. Stores like JC Penney and Sears that sell to middle and working class and tend to be higher quality are the ones going under. The luxury stores have never done better business even through the last recession.
My point exactly.
Yes. I have a friend who worked in a high-end cabinetmakers shop during the previous recession. Not much was happening in the low-end and mid-range woodworking shops — but the wealthy were still ordering new stuff for their homes and offices.
From what I’ve read, an increase in the minimum wage is a sure-fire way to stimulate the economy because, as you said, people earning the federal minimum wage need that money and they need to spend it now. The last thing the Koch-suckers want is to stimulate the economy especially during the Obama administration. They don’t care that it’s bad for the country, as long as it makes Obama look unsuccessful.
No matter how it’s done, unemployment or just send everyone a check, getting money into the hands of those who will spend it stimulates the economy like crazy. That’s even more true if the money is spent at local businesses and locally circulated.
You’re also right that the GOP has sabotaged the economy and will run against Obama on that bad economy. I only hope most people see through it by now.
When 85 individual billionaires hold more wealth than half the population of the earth there are only two words to describe our current social/economic condition, TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. The WSJ is able to print the absurd ramblings of Mr. Perkin’s because they are in league with and in service to all of the Mr. Perkin’s of the world.
And as evidenced by the writings of Perkin’s, and by the ramblings of some of the right-wing crazies, the nerves of those on the top of the pyramid are beginning to fray. They’re reaching for straws as ordinary people begin to push back against the decades long indoctrination and propaganda that attempted to convince us that the “rich” are somehow “more special” than everyone else. The “royal bloodline” theory, used for so many centuries as the reason to elevate mere humans to super human, super rich, super powerful status was, for a while, replaced with the, “Royal Capitalist” theory. That theory says ” they work harder and are more talented than the lower economic classes” therefore “they are entitled to as much as they want, even if what they want is everything” . WE DO NOT ACCEPT THAT because:
1.) It’s a LIE
2.) It’s immoral, unconscionable and unacceptable for so few to control almost everything, while so many have so little. No DECENT human being could or would live in an ivory tower built on greed.
31 of the 85 richest people in the world are U.S. citizens. 15 are in the top 25. Gates is #2, Buffett #4 the Walton’s and Koch’s are in the top 25. Don’t it make you proud to be an Amerikan? 🙂
Perkins should be forced to read 5 books about Kristallnacht and Hitler’s rise to power. And none of them can have been “written” by Bill O’Reilly!
He should be sent to a CIA black site, starved, and forced to listen to loud music 24/7.
Perkins should be mocked and pointed to and laughed at until the day he dies. Taking the asshat seriously is what he desires. His ridiculous about the harassment of ex-wife Danielle Steel’s hideous fucking hedge is simply nuts.
Reading on the economy just makes me damn mad. I’ll be here tomorrow night.
Heard that Hillary was in New Orleans to address the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Hope she responds to some questions……………I know they have some on Monica.
I heard Mika said that Bill Clinton got off with ease, and that the question of Monica was a fair one. Rand’s wife Kelly got started on this, and Rand took to heart. Maybe she’d like to talk about Mark Foley, who was pursuing underage boy pages in the white house. Monica was of age, she wasn’t 15 years old. She got her 15 minutes of fame in a blue dress. The real sexual predator was Mark Foley, and yet the republicans don’t find that offensive. Rand Paul did say he was concerned about the boys, because women were out competing them (using college and law school as examples). You think maybe me might address his own party, you know the family values party, with people like NEWT Ginrich.
On the day (6 Jan 1994) Bill Clinton buried his mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley, the good boy Newt was out having a field day bashing Bill in the media. Les we forget, at that same time he was slamming another women while his wife laid dying from cancer in a hospital. Oh, but hey, Rand and the Christian nation wants you to know God forgave him, and he’s going to heaven.
According to them, Bill Clinton is going to rot in hell, and so will Hillary because she stayed married to him.
All those republican puritans, including the pig Ken Starr are going to heaven because of Monica. What about Nevada’s Rep. John Ensign, who was having an affair while married, and his parents paid $100,000 to shut her up. Not to mention, family values man, Bill Young, who had an affair and abandoned his family, and the Christian nation cheered him on. Don’t let me forget, Larry Craig, who was tap dancing in airport stall, and he didn’t car what age the guy in stall was. The boys went after the FBI, trying t prove that they were covering up for Bill. They could never prove that, but they did a hell of job tarnishing the agency. All these holier than thou republicans, the bastards need to back the fuck up.
Les we forget, USS Cole was attacked, and the republicans, wouldn’t say a thing, except Monica, Monica, Monica. They never have been able to deal with a crisis yet, and when they keep distracting people Monica, they will lose. By the way, we didn’t lose our homes to foreclosures, we didn’t lose jobs, we could get on an airplay with ease, and we had surplus, we didn’t have a mass killing in schools, in malls every week. Not like now. We worked all our lives and built our home, only to lose it last year, fucking 37 years, and Wells Fargo said I let it go. I had to remind them for the record about my husband end stage renal failure, and my stroke, and tumor, and the ton of hospital cost we had/have to pay.
There is a battle going on, the republicans are out to make a war against woman’s body, meanwhile they want to score points not just in their own party, but with the religious whackjobs
They are a bunch of hypocrites, and Rand is a racist pig. I hope they keep up the Monica meme – they will once again lose..
Rand Paul is vile. He’s an opportunist, not at all smart, and basically is just humping every republican meme to his own advantage without any remorse.
You pegged Rand exactly right, Riding his daddy’s coattails, dry-humping any meme that he thinks might work. Pathetic, weak, stupid, plagiarist.
I think crazy uncle Liberty has some there there even though it’s fucked up neoconfederate there. Rand is just a vapid opportunist.
Fannie, I know you must be devastated. I can’t imagine being in your situation with all of those things working against you at once. It’s remarkable that you’ve held up so well. You’re a strong woman and I hope you’re able to find a place to live that brings your soul comfort and peace.
Thanks Mouse – there are lots of things you don’t plan on, and that certainly wasn’t one of them. A home is what you make it I don’t care what color the walls are. Saying that I have experienced some depression, and some sleepless nights, but we have developed a lot of attachments now to our grandchildren. They seem to give us strength, and enlarge our view of the world through their little eyes. And we seem to impact them in ways that create loving and comfortable memories. I know that I am not alone, and we I need help from others I ask.
I still have the fight in me to change this debate on women and human rights. You all make me feel better here, where the sky is blue, and all of us can regard. I wouldn’t want to be in another building………..you’re the best.
{{{{{Fannie}}}}} You are one of a kind.
You’re a fine sister friend…………………..I met to say in the last sentence “all of us can relate”.
Fannie, thinking gentle hugs to you.
Fannie. You’re remarkable. I send you all the best and warmest thoughts. I’m with ya sister!!!
The Rs can yammer about Monica as much as they want; it won’t work. What exactly was it that they didn’t like about the Clinton presidency — the peace or the prosperity?
The Monica talk is really a bit of veiled Hillary Hate. Rand thinks we’re so stupid we won’t notice!!!! Rand can #backthefuckup
Fannie, I think it’s a struggle for most of us these days. I’ve hit that age where women are just supposed to shrivel up and die, I think. I just thank my lucky stars every time I can make the bills for the month and I never dreamed I’d be back in this position again. Just know you are loved and valued. That’s really what keeps us all going when life just falls apart around us.
It is Dak – it’s becoming a full time occupation worrying about how to care for yourself and your family in this country. I am not going to give up on our dreams, and not buying into that is the way it is – we know what can be, we have faith in ourselves. Regardless of our age, we can’t give up, if we do then the real message is one of telling youth that we don’t have room for them in this Country. We hear the young people yelling out for a chance to find a new way of living, because they don’t see a reason for living. We need to find answers for them. Rand the Lying Plastic Man, can take his pile of garbage to another dumping ground, we know the truth of women’s history, he doesn’t. He doesn’t care, it’s not about who we are to him, but how much do you have, that can help this man lead the pack of wolves.
Thanks Dak, you huddle up and catch some heat when that cold blast hits New Orleans. You really are a special friend to us all.
Mayor of Sochi says of L/G’s “We do not have them in our city,””. I suppose that depends on what the meaning of “have” is. LOL!!!!! I just love it when “THEY” don’t see “US”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/27/sochi-mayor-no-gay-people_n_4673232.html
You’re not safe any where from gun nuts …
Man Shoots New Neighbors He Thought Were Stealing From His Property
http://gawker.com/man-shoots-new-neighbors-he-thought-were-stealing-from-1509601587
The minimum wage is set to rise in Britain. And Conservatives are all for it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-minimum-wage-is-set-to-rise-in-britain-and-conservatives-are-all-for-it/2014/01/26/b944832e-8531-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html?hpid=z4
Shows that “conservatives” there are “liberals” here. I keep thinking that war of independence from Britain didn’t work out so well for most of us.
Paul, the Clintons, and the ‘war on women’
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/paul-the-clintons-and-the-war-women
Fox News panel features four men (and zero women) discussing the ‘war on women.’ pic.twitter.com/B0SaKqyELd
Robert Reich posits the reasons he thinks people aren’t marching with torches and pitchforks and I agree with him but I think he missed one. It’s a notion that has been percolating in my head for a while and now it’s crystallized with some info I read about my suburb. I live in an upper-middle class suburb. I don’t know what constitutes “upper middle” anymore, but suffice it to say that most of the families that live here have six figure incomes, so I think of that as upper-middle. A recent article published that identified my suburb as one of the top 10 “best” noted that despite high income levels, less than 40% of the residents have at least a 4 year college education. Less than 40%!!! I was shocked to read that given the standard of living around here. In truth, most of my neighbors own small businesses, and by “small businesses” I don’t mean “job creators”. most of them are sole proprietorships. That’s when it hit me. These are people who are living way beyond their accomplishments. Most of them don’t have degrees, many of them are single-income/one stay at home parent, families, and most of them are as dumb as the guy who compares income inequality complaints to Kristallnacht. I shit you not, my next door neighbor blares Rush Limbaugh outside while he does chores.
These people don’t care about the top 1 percent or the top .1 percent. They don’t want to give up what they have.
That seems right to me. My son lives in a very swank neighborhood in one of the expensive suburbs north of Dallas. Most of the people who live there are either salesmen or small business owners. They probably would make no Kristallnacht comparisons but definitely want to keep what they have.
It saddens and frustrates me that this has happened to our society. We punish those who go to college, crippling them with massive debt, while we glorify small businesses, giving them tax breaks, subsidizing them by providing their employees with food stamps and medicaid, and the vast majority of them are barely high school graduates. Something took a wrong turn somewhere in our values system.
You got that right. One other item, l get the sense that a lot of my son’s neighbors are 2nd generation small business owners, so it’s Daddy’s money in a lot of cases.
Bingo, Ralph!
The truth is we live in a caste system where not a whole lot separates the upper middle class, from the middle class and the middle class from the poor. Trying to maintain a “certain” lifestyle has in itself become a cause that people waste their lives on. It’s basically an illusion because the majority of us spend our entire lives just one illness, one accident, one disaster away from total ruin. The conversation shouldn’t be about maintaining a “certain” lifestyle for just ourselves, it should be about a living wage for everyone, decent housing for all people, nutritious food for all of us, good education for anyone who aspires to it, good healthcare because that’s a moral prerogative, decent childcare because that is a social and moral necessity, and the security that one can live their life without fearing that the next bad break, the next shoe that drops, the next natural disaster is going to destroy their life and their family. If we can do that everything changes for the better. So says this bleeding heart!!!
P.S. That good education shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg either. I have a high achieving daughter, who’s dumped a small fortune into her education. She has two Masters a DNP and an outstanding career, but she will be 60 yrs old, (if all goes as planned and don’t we know how that works?) before she can put that debt to rest. A sad, sad commentary about our system of education.
Best investment I ever made was paying for my kid’s education so they didn’t wind up with debt starting out. I was always most grateful for the opportunity to do it.
That was a great thing you did for your children, ralph. I wish I had been financially able to help her. All I could do was offer moral support and some free child care from time to time. I divorced her dad when she was 6, her brother 4, her sister 3. He went AWOL immediately after we divorced, he didn’t show up again until all 3 of my/our children were grown. No child support, no contact, no help whatsoever. When the phrase “deadbeat dad” was coined in the 60’s, he could have posed for the poster.
Sorry to hear that Mouse. When my wife and I split the kids were old enough to decide where they wanted to live and they chose to stay with me. If they hadn’t support would have been the very least I could have done. I’ll never understand deadbeat dads.
That philosophy has served me well thus far. I never worried about prestige or keeping up with the Jones.
Too bad you’re not the type to shoot your neighbor! /s You must have to wear earplugs then.
Probably tossing a few cow patties over into his yard while thinking “bullshit” would send the desired message.
tpm: Poll: Americans Aren’t As Worried About Reducing The Federal Deficit
Improvement but the percentage is still idiotically high though.
We’re supposed to get between 2 to 4 inches of snow the next day or so … this is akin to hell freezing over.
OMG!!! Is the anti-Christ landing in NOLA too? 🙂 When is the last time y’all had snow?
I can’t remember … there was once since Xmas 2004 but don’t even remember the year…
I think we have a wintry mix scheduled for tomorrow morning. Hell is freezing over.
It’s because you guys angered god by picking on those rich people living in the French Quarter and forcing them to listen to live jazz. lol!
The ice trolls of the Viking hell (which was a very cold place) must be invading Hades!
Seems like it. Temp here has dropped from 47 to 40 in the last couple of hours.
And TEH GAY got married at the Grammy’s. Oh, the terror of it all.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/27/the-gaymmys-conservatives-go-nuts-after-grammy-awards-features-34-gay-weddings/
Cause it’s the “Same Love”
This guy doesn’t fly the “friendly skies”.
This Has Got to Be the Unluckiest/Badassest Fighter Pilot Ever
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/state-legislators-sponsored-abortion-restriction-2014
Louisiana is trying to close all 5 of its clinics via “emergency” TRAP laws, and it’s all happening under the radar: http://abortioneers.blogspot.com/2014/01/louisiana-is-about-to-close-its.html …
They will never quit trying to close everything down. Never!
Don’t miss this–the latest “top secret” slides leaked by snowden and published by NBC.
Click to access snowden_youtube_nbc_document.pdf
It’s real. I checked at the link in my previous comment. Another one:
Oh, and have you heard the NSA *could* spy on your smartphone apps like Angry Birds? (Except they don’t do it in the US. period.) This *could* be used to find out where certain targets are at the time. But there’s no evidence offered that it has been done. Jeeze, a bunch of power-point slides and we’re supposed to freak out?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/nsa-gchq-smartphone-app-angry-birds-personal-data
For this, Snowden destroyed billions of dollars worth of espionage methods and set the NSA back by decades. To tell us Microsoft and Apple are competing with each other.
Oh no, Apple and Microsoft are in competition? I’m flabbergasted.
The kitty & pup slide is cute, but it illustrates the individual animal’s response to temperature, not their temperament. A few degrees colder and that cat would be curled up too.
Or maybe it illustrates a catnip-stoned cat and an abstaining dog.
After taking a cursory look at the rest of the slides, I’m outraged — that my government is spending money on this shit. What a lame presentation.
It’s some powerpoint slides for a meeting. I’m sure those slides were intended to be humorous.
If you’re upset about a little money spent on printing a few powerpoint slides, just wait till you see how much it costs to recover from what Snowden has done, not only to NSA but also the State Department.
Not only that, the odds are greatly increased that we’ll have another large terrorist attack. Not to mention the war between Indonesia and Australia that Snowden may have started. We’d have to help with that too.
Yes, I knew those were PP slides. PP seems to make presentations stupid, or maybe I’ve sat thru too many long-winded management-speak presentations as I think “get to the point already!”And sure, when I do presentations I’ll throw in a cartoon or two.
I meant that all this undiscerning sweep-up of huge quantities of data is likely not buying us safety. The NSA isn’t stopping what it’s been doing all along. Terrorist attacks are unfortunately inevitable. We’d do better investing more in human intelligence, and in dramatically beefing up our public-health and disaster-response systems.
We do invest in human intelligence, and Snowden’s actions have endangered agents in the field and anyone who has interacted with them. The power point slides are’t intelligence. Why did Snowden even steal them? Because he had no clue what he was doing.
I can’t believe how stupid it is to think that’s anything of importance. I’m sure it will spawn ragegasms throughout the dudebro community.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/27/ross-douthat-once-again-tries-to-convince-women-love-is-a-pipe-dream-best-abandoned/
That’s working out so well. Bwahahaha!
LOL! Why don’t they just get Miss Manners to come in and give them a talk on basic courtesy?
Lipstick on pigs!!!
Has Beata posted here lately or has anyone heard from her?
Haven’t heard from her…….hoping all is well with her, and worried about her Mother.
same here
No, I’ve been wondering the same thing.
I hope she checks in soon. I’m concerned for her well being.
I miss her, and her selection of Van Morrison music.
Chinese restaurant owner told to pull down two gigantic 50ft naked Buddhas from establishment’s roof
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2542713/Chinese-restaurant-owner-told-pull-two-gigantic-50ft-naked-Buddhas-establishment-s-roof.html#ixzz2rdzFqGp4
Gosh, they’re cute … they’re more like naked santas
I think they’re adorable.
Battle of the brands: A newspaper war in New Orleans | USA Today http://ow.ly/t0FMs
http://gawker.com/bible-thumping-bumpkins-make-buddhists-life-hell-at-la-1510067222?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Sabine Parish runs into Jefferson County on the Texas side of the border. The town of Vidor there was/is supposedly the last organized outpost of the KKK in the state. They probably just changed their name.
Our KKK is in Monroe where the duck dicks live. A pack of them settled there from Mississippi when Jackson was flooded with the FBI in the 1960s.
Rural Jefferson County is probably chock full of duck dick type characters.
On another note, if my local weather forecast is right, NOLA looks like it will get more cold and snow/ice than we will this time. Keep warm and cozy!
I went to the wine store to ensure that!
Glad you stocked up, Dak!
BB, you got a shout out from Bob Cesca in this post. 😉
http://thedailybanter.com/2014/01/the-name-of-an-nsa-agent-exposed-in-poorly-redacted-snowden-document/
I know! I was going to save it for the morning post, but I’m glad you noticed.
Post it in the morning anyway. It’s a good story.
I will.
YAY BB!!!
Here’s Marsha Blackburn’s letter to Obama: Come visit Tenn.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/blackburn-reflects-thriving-economy
When things seem worst for Tenn. here she is lying about the economy, they have the worst unemployment rates in the Country.
Her and Rand need to stick it
For the weather curious…
I feel sooooo sorry for you guys. It was 46 degrees here today. Tomorrow, back to the teens. What a strange winter!
Pete Seeger has died.
I was just going to do a front page on that
Good. What a loss. His wife just died about a year ago.