January 2012
Midwest Economic Recovery Great News For Obama
“From northern Michigan’s iron mines to Pennsylvania’s natural-gas fields, the industrial heartland of America is humming with jobs again as a region once left for dead recovers faster than the rest of the U.S.,” Bloomberg reports. “The turnaround may shape this year’s race for the White House as President Barack Obama seeks to reverse Republican gains in the...
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The Affordable Care Act Triumph
Much of the Affordable Care Act won’t take effect until 2014 — assuming it survives until then — but several provisions that have already been implemented are having a positive impact.
The health care law (1) is combating fraud and abuse, which in turns saves Americans quite a bit of money; (2) has brought coverage to 2.5 million young adults; (3) is delivering major savings to...
“Obama could cut taxes, expand the War on Terror, preside over a 50% stock market...”
– Instaputz, on GOP hyper-partisanship.
Senate Votes To Stop Congressional Insider Trading
New York Times:
“In an effort to regain public trust, the Senate voted Monday to take up a bill that would prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks and other securities on the basis of confidential information they receive as lawmakers. The vote was 93 to 2.
This was in Obama’s SOTU. Pretty quick turnaround.
“Newt Gingrich threatened Monday to skip any debate as the Republican nominee...”
– INSTAPUTZ: So much for Gingrich kicking Obama’s ass in the debates. (via robot-heart-politics)
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“Apple overwhelmingly purchases components from Asian suppliers that are criminal...”
– Prof. William Black:
Apple creates a criminogenic environment in its supplier selection process that leads it to, pervasively, hire criminal suppliers. Honest manufacturers cannot compete with firms that force their workers to work more than the maximum 60 hour work week and fraudulently refuse to...
The GOP On Self-Destruct Mode
John Batchelor:
“The traditional rationalization about intraparty smears is that it’s too early to dismiss the GOP’s chances; that it’s healthy for the party to battle with mud-flinging; that all this will be forgiven in the heat of August when the party embraces the man who would be king. However, the recklessness of Gingrich’s assault on Romney as Long John...
“For as long as I’ve been in politics, 14 years, journalists call me and ask if...”
– That’s Kenneth Goldstein, president of Kantar Media CMAG, which tracks content and targeting of political advertising, commenting on this year’s GOP primaries. As John Avlon notes, “A staggering 92 percent of the political ads run in Florida over the last week of the campaign have been negative.”...
“These (GOP) debates… they have jumped the shark. Because last night — I swear to...”
– BILL MAHER, Real Time (via inothernews)
Shhhhhhh: Romneycare Is Working
It’s too bad former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doesn’t want to talk about his state’s health care reform legislation on the campaign trail. If he did, he’d have a pretty good story to tell.
The reform plan, which President Obama used as a model for the national reform, lifted the number of insured residents in the Bay State from 86.6 percent in 2006 to 94.2 percent in 2010, according to...
“The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the...”
– Juan Williams, not backing down from the question he posed to Newt Gingrich.
“What a pathetic situation to be running for the President of the United States...”
– Newt Gingrich, quoted by NBC News, criticizing GOP rival Mitt Romney.
Newt, you made this happen. You shaped the GOP. Karma, is indeed, a bitch.
Democrats Take Lead in Congressional Ballot
For the first time in about two-and-a-half years, a national Rasmussen survey finds Democrats leading Republicans in the generic congressional ballot, 41% to 40%.
Rasmussen tilts very Right. Nate Silver says that their results usually skew about 5% in favor of the Republican/GOP position. So this would mean that the actual numbers are 44/38, or something in that range.
Debt Was Romney's Best Friend
A “curious reality of this year’s election: … the same party that loves to inveigh against the dangers of excessive borrowing is now likely to nominate for President a man whose entire career, and entire fortune, was built on debt.
Leveraged-buyout firms like Bain Capital, which Mitt Romney ran between 1984 and 1999, routinely borrow massive sums in order to make their...
The Real Winner of the GOP Primaries?
Paul Begala:
“If his predecessor cursed Obama by handing him a depression and two wars, the Good Lord has blessed him with the weakest field of opponents in memory. I stand by my early assessment: when I look at the economy, I think Obama can’t win, but when I look at the Republicans, I think he can’t lose. The economy is starting to get better; the Republicans ...
Newt Gingrich has been outspent on the Florida... →
Through Friday, the Romney campaign and the super PAC Restore Our Future had spent a combined $15,340,000, the source said. Gingrich’s campaign and the super PAC Winning Our Future spent a comparatively paltry $3,390,000.
That’s just the differential in paid-media spending, so it doesn’t include Romney’s edge in field operations, mail, et cetera. And Romney’s advantage isn’t likely to go...
After Tuesday it will be mathematically too late... →
These are the lot the GOP are stuck with.
“Vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal. Vote Newt. Keep this vetting process going, keep...”
– Sarah Palin, quoted by National Review.
Annoy a liberal? Every vote for Newt is music to my ears. How does primary voting for the person who is going to be crushed by Obama annoy me?
Her real message is: Vote for Newt, I don’t like the favorite, Mitt. The GOP candidates are ALL lousy.
How To Generate A Good Idea →
When it comes to getting work done Sartre was right, hell is other people. So was Picasso, who said that, “without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” And then there’s Steve Wosniak, who in his memoir explained that, “most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me … they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists… And artists work best alone …. I’m going to give you some...
ialsobakecookies asked: Who would be the worst choice: Romney, Gingrich, Perry, or Santorum?
How Vulture Capitalist And Private-Equity Screw...
The real reason that we should be concerned about private equity’s expanding power lies in the way these firms have become increasingly adept at using financial gimmicks to line their pockets, deriving enormous wealth not from management or investing skills but, rather, from the way the U.S. tax system works. Indeed, for an industry that’s often held up as an exemplar of free-market...
How Wall Street Knowingly Created The Crisis
The always-interesting Francis Fukuyama has a great interview on the financial crisis. Money quote:
What I thought was most interesting about Michael Lewis’s book, “The Big Short,” was that there is, to this day, a view about the whole pathology of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) – these highly complex, packaged mortgage securities – as well as the credit default ...
How Rich is Mitt Romney?
Associated Press: “Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you’re in Romney territory. He would be among the richest presidents in American history if elected — probably in the top four.”
Somehow the richest, “I inherited my wealth”, most out-of-touch newfound, radical Republican...
Krugman: Mitch Daniels 'Lied about Jobs and jobs'
In his SOTU rebuttal, Gov. Mitch Daniels [R-IN] pushed the Republican fantasy of the the heroic entrepreneur, the John Galt:
For Mr. Daniels tried to wrap his party in the mantle of the late Steve Jobs, whom he portrayed as a great job creator — which is one thing that Jobs definitely wasn’t. And if we ask why Apple has created so few American jobs, we get an insight into what is wrong with...
Obama Pushes For Lower Tuitions
kileyrae:
“President Obama is announcing Friday morning a new proposal to limit federal student loans for students going to schools not making an effort to curb costs. There will be more details when he speaks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
If enacted, the pool for Perkins loans would increase from $1 billion to $8 billion, increasing the number of participating schools from 1,700 to...
“Whoever wins the Republican primary is going to be a standard bearer for a...”
– President Obama, signaling an aggressive tack for his early re-election campaign.
#two_terms
“I hope not.”
– Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), when asked by CBS News whether he thought Newt Gingrich had a chance to be president.
Romney Converted His Father-in-Law After He Died
Gawker: “Two readers have sent us confirmation that Edward Davies, Mitt Romney’s militantly atheist father-in-law, was indeed posthumously converted to Mormonism by his family, despite the fact that when he was alive he regarded all religions as ‘hogwash.’”
Context via catholic.com:
“You might be surprised to learn that the Mormon church has teams of...
“When the conservative financier Charles Koch sent out invitations for a...”
– Advocacy Group Says Justices May Have Conflict in Campaign Finance Cases
That headline is a perfect example of the media’s bullshit “he said, she said” reporting. There is no “may” about that conflict of interest; Scalia and Thomas should have recused themselves. Period.
(via ryking)
roboticemoticon asked: Reminder that banks are bigger, more "profitable" and more insolvent than ever and that Obama did nothing to rein in banks. He gave them bigger bailouts.Did the US reimpose Glass-Steagall? Because as of RIGHT NOW banks can still partake in all the risky behaviour they like.
diggingonexistence asked: I know this sounds pretty ignorant, but can you please explain the full spectrum of Obama care? I think it sounds like it has good intentions, but I don't understand why people hate on it.
“So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I’m reminded that...”
– President Obama, 2012 State of the Union.
GOP Response: “Yeh, but….party comes before country. We need to use the debt Republicans created with Bush against Obama so we can get right back to the failed policies that crushed the economy before our voters realize the identity politics we...
“We used to say “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.”...”
– David Frum, “When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality?” New York Magazine
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“Capitalism, in its current form, no longer fits the world around us. We have...”
– Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum; i.e., Davos.
WatchDavid Frum Slams Fox For Creating “Alternative Knowledge System”.