Romney supports automatic increases in minimum wage tied to inflation, exploding winger heads

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 02, 2012 · 7:22 AM PST

2012/02/02 · 07:22

Romney has supported automatic minimum wage increases since 2002 when he ran for governor of Massachusetts. And for the first time in his political career, he's not backing away from his past.

From the Associated Press yesterday:

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney renewed his support Wednesday for automatic increases in the federal minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, a position sharply at odds with traditional GOP business allies, conservatives and the party's senior lawmakers.

http://www.masslive.com/...

This is going to explode right winger heads just as Romney seems to be clinching the nomination.

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday October 02, 2011 · 4:39 AM PDT

2011/10/02 · 04:39

Why is it that when 700 people are arrested in a protest in NYC, the New York Times is only reporting a tiny blurb about it in its City Room blog section? All last night, the Yankees game was given far greater attention on the NYT front page, while this news was stuck in a corner in the blog section. The pictures taken by the NYT also misleadingly portray a few dozen demonstrators being arrested with nothing even remotely suggesting the massive number of 700 being arrested. I expected that from the likes of Bloomberg (which has zero articles regarding the protest), but the New York Times?

Could you imagine if 700 peaceful protesters were arrested in Libya or London right now? The NYT would have had the headline front and centered right now. The hypocrisy is deafening. The message to the rest of the world is clearly: "do as I say, but not as I do"; "peaceful protest is democracy for you, but for the US it's civil disobedience."

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday August 05, 2011 · 5:33 PM PDT

2011/08/05 · 17:33

According to CNBC, S&P downgrades the US to AA+.

Link here:
http://www.cnbc.com/...

Worst part is this:

The outlook on the new U.S. credit rating is negative, S&P said in a statement, a sign that another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months.

Dow is going down another 5-10% Monday.

Subsidized Stafford loans for grad students ended in debt-ceiling deal

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 01, 2011 · 6:37 PM PDT

2011/08/01 · 18:37

Here's something that has been drown out in the debt-ceiling debate and has just passed the House in the debt-ceiling bill. Subsidized Stafford loans for grad students (up to $8500 a year) will end effectively in July 2012, for a savings of $18.1 billion over 10 years.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 would end giving interest subsidized loans to graduate or professional students excluding those students enrolled in teaching credential or certification programs required by the state, while unsubsidized loans are still available. The Act would also give Pell Grants $13 billion in mandatory funds over two years to make up for the funding gap, but would give $20 billion total to the Pell Grant program. The elimination of subsidized loans for graduate students will save approximately $18.1 billion over 10 years for all three plans.
The proposals to eliminate interest subsidized Stafford loans is not new, as both the College Board’s student aid panel and President Obama himself in his 2012 budget request proposed ending the subsidized interest on graduate student loans, though both would have used that saving to fund Pell Grants.

http://thinkprogress.org/...

http://thehill.com/...

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday December 12, 2010 · 1:40 PM PST

2010/12/12 · 13:40

Today's NYT article sounds eerily familiar to recent American grads.

“College essentially provided them with nothing,” said Zhang Ming, a political scientist and vocal critic of China’s education system. “For many young graduates, it’s all about survival. If there was ever an economic crisis, they could be a source of instability.”

In a kind of cruel reversal, China’s old migrant class — uneducated villagers who flocked to factory towns to make goods for export — are now in high demand, with spot labor shortages and tighter government oversight driving up blue-collar wages.

But the supply of those trained in accounting, finance and computer programming now seems limitless, and their value has plunged. Between 2003 and 2009, the average starting salary for migrant laborers grew by nearly 80 percent; during the same period, starting pay for college graduates stayed the same, although their wages actually decreased if inflation is taken into account.

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday December 01, 2010 · 5:44 PM PST

2010/12/01 · 17:44

Another case of the revolving door from the Obama administration.

From Bloomberg:

Citigroup Inc., recovering from its $45 billion bailout in 2008, is in advanced talks to hire former White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Orszag, 41, may take a job in the New York-based firm’s investment-banking division, the people said, declining to be identified because the discussions are private. An announcement may come as early as today, one of the people said.

Orszag...helped shape U.S. economic stimulus during the financial crisis and overhaul the health- care system. The youngest member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet, he spent 18 months as White House budget director, stepping down in July.

Poll

42 votes Show Results

Moral of the story?

42 votes Vote Now!

Moral of the story?

Hard work and honesty pays.

4 votes

Rub my back and I'll rub yours.

4 votes

Behind great wealth and success is a great crime.

18 votes

Womanizers always win.

0 votes

Fuck it all.

16 votes

Why don't we just let ALL the Bush tax cuts expire?

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 14, 2010 · 11:30 AM PST

2010/11/14 · 11:30

I'm sick of the thought that Obama might cave in to Republican demands of extending the Bush tax cuts for all. Of all the campaign promises Obama has broken, he strangely seems fixated on keeping his "no tax increases for 98% of Americans" spiel.

You know what? I will gladly pay $2000 more in taxes so that multimillionaires can be taxed at 36% and so that estate taxes can also revert back to Clinton rates.

In order for Obama to give us some crumbs, he's willing to let the robber barons loot even more of our national treasure. This sounds like a raw deal for all of us.

Flashback to 1982: What the Baby Boomers faced in their youth

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 02, 2010 · 1:50 PM PDT

2010/08/02 · 13:50

History repeats itself. Each generation tends to think that the circumstances affecting them are unique to it. Looking at the comforts that the Baby Boomers enjoy today, it's easy to forget what the Boomers had faced back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This New York Magazine article ("Downward Mobility") written back in 1982 could have essentially been written today about the current Millennial generation entering the workforce:

http://nymag.com/...

Here are excerpts from the article:

Worse, the cost of housing has soared... has made it impossible for most in the baby-boom generation to afford the houses they grew up in.

"The baby boom generation may never achieve the relative economic success of the generations immediately preceding it or following it."

There are, quite simply, too many people in the same cohort. An M.A., M.D., or M.B.A. means so much less now because there are so many more of them. In almost every occupation, the competition is up and the rate of promotion down for the baby-boom generation.

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 31, 2010 · 1:24 PM PDT

2010/03/31 · 13:24

For all the talk about the shrinking middle class in the US, it still pales to the predicament that young Chinese face in China today. Underneath the hype of China's GDP growth rates lies a housing bubble that outdoes even the US. Housing prices have climbed up 20-50% every year in Shanghai for the last decade, while wages stagnate at 3-5%.

The average take-home income in Shanghai for a college grad is just $6000 (40k yuan) a year, but home prices for Soviet-era projects go for at least $150,000 (1 million yuan) for a tiny studio. Mind you, these are uninsulated concrete slabs that make Chicago projects look luxurious.

Check out this news clip made by a friend:

guinea

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday February 12, 2010 · 10:24 PM PST

2010/02/12 · 22:24

From the New York Times today, China plans to finish 5,000 miles of high speed railways by 2012 at speeds of 215mph, faster than the fastest Japanese bullet trains, which go up to 185mph. New high speed lines are being opened monthly in China, while we are still bickering about our first high speed line, the 84-mile Tampa-Orlando line scheduled to be built by 2014. The Florida line will have a max speed of just 168mph.

China Railway-High Speed (CRH) line

Newer
Older

RSS

Romney supports automatic increases in minimum wage tied to inflation, exploding winger heads

What's up with the NYT coverage of the protests and arrests?

Breaking: S&P DOWNGRADES to AA+

Subsidized Stafford loans for grad students ended in debt-ceiling deal

No jobs for Chinese college grads either

Peter Orszag in talks to take Citigroup investment banking job

Why don't we just let ALL the Bush tax cuts expire?

Flashback to 1982: What the Baby Boomers faced in their youth

China's real estate bubble prices out young Chinese

China builds 5000 miles of high speed rail (215mph)