The Pew Research Center has released a survey examining the Public’s 2019 Priorities: Economy, Health Care, Education and Security All Near Top of List:
Improving the economy (70% top priority) remains among the public’s highest priorities, but its prominence has waned significantly in recent years. In 2011, following the Great Recession, 87% called it a top priority. And as public ratings of the employment situation have grown increasingly positive, 50% now say improving the job situation should be a top priority; in each of the previous 10 years, majorities cited jobs as a top priority, including 84% who said this in 2011 and 68% who said this as recently as 2017. [...]
One issue that’s not a major concern for the public: taking steps to reduce the budget deficit. Just 48% say reducing the deficit should be a top priority for the president and Congress this year. Concern over the budget deficit is much less widespread than it was during Barack Obama’s administration. In 2013, 72% of the public – including 81% of Republicans and 65% of Democrats – said reducing the deficit should be a top priority. [...]
By contrast, a majority of Democrats (71%) place the highest priority on dealing with the problems of poor and needy people, compared with 49% of Republicans.
When it comes to the environment, Democrats are 43 percentage points more likely than Republicans to say protecting the environment should be a top priority (74% vs. 31%) and 46 points more likely to call global climate change a top priority (67% vs. 21%).
HIGH IMPACT STORIES
QUOTATION
"People are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way, but are immobilized because they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological, economic, political, and spiritual values."
~~Grace Lee Boggs, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century (2011)
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
On this date at Daily Kos in 2012—Compare your income and tax rate to Mitt Romney:
Slate has produced a Romney income calculator that lets us find out how many hours or days it took Mitt Romney to match our incomes in 2010, and it is good fun to plug in different numbers to get multiple perspectives on just how ridiculously rich Romney is.
For instance, in 2010 it took Mitt Romney 10 hours and 40 minutes to earn the median individual income of $26,400. It took him 16 hours and nine minutes to earn the mean income of $39,959. It took him three days, eight hours, and 53 minutes to earn the $200,000 that by some measures puts you in the top 1 percent; or five days, 19 hours, and seven minutes to earn the $344,000 that puts you in the top 1 percent by another measure.
And don't forget, however much more money Romney makes than you, he also quite likely pays a lower tax rate. So make your next stop the DNC's Romney tax calculator, to compare your tax rate to Romney's and find out how different your taxes would be if you paid at the rate he does. (Not included in the calculation is the cost of all the accountants and lawyers he pays to help him avoid paying taxes.)
So, how long does it take Mitt Romney to make your income, and how much would you save on taxes if like him you only paid 13.9 percent?
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Roger Stone arrested! Shutdown starts shutting down airports. Mueller's grand jury may go unpaid. House wingnuts vote no on committing to staying in NATO. Inaugural committee has been hiding the slush. Kushner's fake security clearance probed.
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