The other and more compelling scandal

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Friday August 24, 2012 · 2:27 PM PDT

2012/08/24 · 14:27

Admittedly the news about Romney's taxes is going to make a lot of the apolitical and the barely convinced Romney supporters either stay home or pull a lever for Obama. It's not inconsequential.

But tax law is a bit esoteric. Delving into the fine details of the controversy is asking a lot of people that are undecided in this polarized political year. And all Mitt has to do to muddy things is find a contrary opinion - something that abounds in every tax matter.

There was a much simpler scandal that erupted today - though it hasn't been covered by ANY major US paper yet - maybe because of the fairly complicated Romney tax scandal story. A simple scandal is much more likely to hit a chord among the few less partisan, and less politically aware voters, however. This story might do more to sink Romney than the tax scandal and so far it's only covered in the UK media

SmithsLastWord

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Thursday November 04, 2010 · 10:53 AM PDT

2010/11/04 · 10:53

In explainig the collapse of the Democratic House the right wing press has been quick to jump on anacdotal evidence that health care votes did in individual Democrats. That's true. Voting against health care reform was obviously very damaging for Democrats. Unfortunately the anecdotal cases usualy cited would lead one to think the opposite. The telling number - Over 64% of Democrats voting against the final pasage of the Health reform - those listed here: were defeated. Voting against health care reform made you 2.5 times more likely to lose than the entire population of Democrats. Those 13% of Democrats voting against health reform accounted for 1/3 of democratic losses. The individual blue dogs fate under the fold.

SmithsLastWord

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Sunday October 31, 2010 · 6:48 AM PDT

2010/10/31 · 06:48

With one of four houses underwater and bankruptcy skyrocketing we may not get the chance to turn the economy around again while it's possible to get back to recent levls of prosperity in... our ...lifetimes. That may not be an optimistic assesment of the future - but Angle and Paul do not inspire me to optimism. Remember when the Republicans refused to pass a budget in the mid 1990's? Bad as they were those republicans seemed much more reasonable than todays misanthropic mob. And these economic waters are potentialy lethal to life as we have known it even without a wrecking Congress.

Still - there is reason to be hopeful. And we cannot afford to despair.

SmithsLastWord

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Thursday March 04, 2010 · 11:09 AM PST

2010/03/04 · 11:09

This will be short because I am franky stunned and can't make sense of this well yet but I didn't see the news elsewhere here. The Senate has rejected a payment to Social Security recipients like that pased the last two years. The payment stimulates the listless conumer sector and also helps vulnerable seniors. Even the compassion challenged Bush called for the first one.
The roll call has names I wouldn't have guessed on the nay side. This was a fatal carreer move for many of these dolts.

SmithsLastWord

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Wednesday February 17, 2010 · 6:11 PM PST

2010/02/17 · 18:11

It seems impossible that a state the size of Indiana could be lost to conservative misrule much longer. Just a couple of decads ago a great public servant lost to Dan Quayle there. Unfortunatley the principled Birch Bayh was not childless. That childs retirement is reason to celebrate.

SmithsLastWord

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Tuesday December 15, 2009 · 5:40 PM PST

2009/12/15 · 17:40

I will offer a way forward to blunt this dismal news. But the uncomforting fact remains that this will be the most dismal December in memory in a fundamental way.

Congress inability to free itself of the undemocratic filibuster methods of Conservatives seems likely to be the end of beneficial health reform. Why do we still allow the regressive elements to cling to the filibuster devise used first by violent southern bigots to prevent democracy and which continues to be used by Conservatives to stall this democracies best reforms? While disapointed over the passage of Obama's never written into law plans and most of the best of reform there is a much bigger pall over this Christmas.

This is a year a conservative caused slump killed Christmas and so killed much more of an economy badly in need of a new direction. Unlike the last time we were brought this low the seeds of our renewal are not in flower today.

SmithsLastWord

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Wednesday November 18, 2009 · 10:49 AM PST

2009/11/18 · 10:49

Suddenly Mr Obama's government is out of funds. Let us review where it went:

First we bailed out the banks.

Then we bailed out the car companies.

Then we bailed out the state governments and the real estate flippers with the first stimulus - which gave a massive tax subsidy to flippers and a large injection of desperately needed capital to states. What that stimulus did not do is provide a significant source of new federally subsidized jobs. At best it kept state governments from massive layoffs or previously planned project cutbacks.

Then we bailed out the car companies again with the massive car rebate bubble that at least did put some cars in driveways. a better bubble - but not more than a better bubble. The resultant increase in GNP was predictably temporary and thereby mostly illusory.

SmithsLastWord

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Friday November 13, 2009 · 8:25 AM PST

2009/11/13 · 08:25

One of five people in this country is bleeding over this sour economy according to the last U6 broaod unemployment figures. That level of depression doesn't ordinarily end by itself. In the 1980's a wonder called the PC ended such a depression. That magnitude of technological use created economic advance is very rare. There is no reason to think any private sector development will resolve this depression.

There is only one sure fire way to turn around this jobs miasma - a federal jobs policy to build neceassary for optimal private sector growth infrastructure.

If the private sector grows as much as it mights over the next 20 years it needs a lot of road work done to repair roads that literaly are crumbling away as evidenced by recent spectacular bridge collapses. Internet II would be a huge shot in the arm and create whole new industries while allowing cloud computing to massively lower the cost of buisness. Broadband over powerline would open all of rural America to what most of us had in the last millenia - unlimited broadband. Wind farms and hydrogen fueling plants are investments in ending the shipping of our money to ME terror sponsers. This all must be done. so what keeps us from solving so many problems in one fell swoop?

SmithsLastWord

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Tuesday November 03, 2009 · 8:08 PM PST

2009/11/03 · 20:08

A vast 89 percent in New Jersey and 85 percent in Virginia said they're worried about the direction of the nation's economy in the next year; 56 percent and 52 percent, respectively, said they're "very" worried about it.

Voters who expressed the highest levels of economic discontent heavily favored the Republican candidates in both states – underscoring the challenge Obama and his party may face in 2010 if economic attitudes don't improve. The analogy is to 1994, when nearly six in 10 voters said the economy was in bad shape, and they favored the out-of-power Republicans by 26 points, helping the GOP to a 52-seat gain and control of Congress for the first time in 42 years.

http://abcnews.go.com/...
There is only one way to save a Democratic Congress - stop trying to build better bubbles than the Republicans and start a full throated Keynsian response to this Bush Depression with a Federal Jobs program that will make workers secure while they create economy expanding infrastructure!

SmithsLastWord

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Thursday October 22, 2009 · 4:02 PM PDT

2009/10/22 · 16:02

We are at the Crossroads. Last chance out will be sometime next spring. Democrats may well be run over if they don't effectively move soon. Let me offer a compromise with the forces of inertia - with the fear that we might act too rashly in moving too fast or far.

SmithsLastWord

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Monday August 31, 2009 · 12:03 PM PDT

2009/08/31 · 12:03

It's the economy stupid!

Only Moose jawed Palin phreaks think the mindless paranoia about health reform has sunk it or Democrats. The public has favored this limited a health reform for decades and ordinarily the sort of death rattle passing for debate coming from conservatives wouldn't move them a whit.

What is eating away at Obama's poll numbers, the health issue's popularity and Democratic Congressional chances is the 35 MILLION Americans who vainly pounded a door for a job last month. In times these bad voters can turn predictably snarly. To an electorate this sour on prospects for a decent job market anytime in their lives the Party of No seems to a growing number to be a refreshing way to express outrage over this unfair universe!

SmithsLastWord

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Wednesday August 05, 2009 · 7:05 AM PDT

2009/08/05 · 07:05

We will likely find that unemployment is within an eyelash of 10% this morning.

This is intolerable.

It doesn't matter that things are not deteriorating as rapidly as they might to the unemployed or their families. This level of misery is unstable. This much jobless pain will end any government - with one exception. That one exception is when the public thinks the government is actively and constantly doing everything it can to end a jobless economy.

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