Fasten Your Seat Belts

Tom Friedman on a way we can tackle the deficit and make real progress toward getting free of Mideast oil...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/opinion/23friedman.html?_r=2&hp

Brave New World

Time for some truth about what's going on in Wisconsin.

This isn't just some math problem. This is a carefully
scripted plan, the first salvo in a nationwide campaign
to destroy public sector unions. Then when they're gone,
the GOP and Tea Party will go after the remaining private
sector unions. And then there won't be anybody left to
stand up against corporate rule.

This is exactly what Naomi Klein described in her book
"The Shock Doctrine". Conservatives have started
using "catastrophes" as cover for making radical changes
that would never be allowed to take place otherwise.

Want to invade Iraq? Scare everybody to death after 9-11.
Want to take away collective bargaining? Make public
unions the bad guy in a state where two thirds of the
corporations pay NOTHING.

Think I'm being paranoid? Wisconsin governor Scott
Walker's second largest campaign donation came from
the Koch Brothers.

Check out the interviews with the Tea Party folks
at the bottom of the article. Now they're starting say corporations shouldn't have to pay ANY taxes.
-------------------------------------------------
This is from today's Huffington Post:

Tea Party protesters who showed up in Madison on Saturday want to help Wisconsin dig out of its fiscal hole, but they don't think that corporations should have to chip in.

Gov. Scott Walker (R) has argued that his proposal to strip public employees of virtually all of their collective bargaining rights is necessary in order to deal with the state's tough economic situation.

"I'm just trying to balance my budget," Walker told The New York Times. "To those who say why didn't I negotiate on this? I don't have anything to negotiate with. We don't have anything to give. Like practically every other state in the country, we're broke. And it's time to pay up."

But there is a source of revenue the state isn't tapping that could likely be far more lucrative.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, two-thirds of corporations in the state pay no taxes, and the share of corporate tax revenue funding the state government has fallen by half since 1981.

Tea Party protesters have been pretty much completely absent from the protests in Madison all week long, but today they were out in force (although still vastly outnumbered by anti-Walker protesters). Many of them pointed out -- and even carried signs underscoring the point -- that they had jobs they couldn't walk away from during the week to come out and protest, as many teachers had done for the past few days.

The Huffington Post asked some of these Tea Partiers if they thought corporations should have to pay taxes in order to help the state financially. All were unaware that this was the case, but they nevertheless said unions were a bigger problem.

"Corporations shouldn't pay taxes at all. That's a terrible idea," said Jay from LaCrosse, who identified as a libertarian and said that businesses would just raise prices and relocate to China if they faced higher taxes.

"No, they pay their taxes. They pay their taxes," said John from Milwaukee, when The Huffington Post asked if it was fair that he was paying taxes and corporations weren't.

Virginia from Ogema said Democrats needed to stop blaming President Bush and corporations for all their problems.

The Ronald Reagan Reality Gap

During the GOP presidential primaries you will see
candidates praise Saint Ronald Reagan non-stop. This
article explains the gap between the mythic figure conservatives have created and the real governor and president.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-bunch/a-reagan-litmus-test-for_b_824370.html

Can This Happen Here?

Thanks to my buddy Tom Price for sending this article about
the struggle in England between regular people and companies that refuse to pay their fair share of taxes.

Kind of makes you stop and wonder why we extended the Bush
tax cuts for the wealthy BEFORE figuring out the budget cuts...

http://www.thenation.com/article/158282/how-build-progressive-tea-party

Look Who's Talking

Bought and Paid For

Clarence Thomas has no business judging the legalities
of health care reform.

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/02/clarence-thomas-health-care-reform-and-the-case-of-the-lobbyist-wife.php

Touchy Tea Party

Bill Maher on the difference between freedom and the
freedom never to be told anything you disagree with...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNB4AW0mmkA

American Companies, Foreign Employees

I've been thinking about this a lot...why are American companies
doing okay and not hiring Americans? More and more, their customers are in other countries...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/business-doesnt-need-amer_b_819337.html

The Great Super Bowl Conspiracy

I want to wish the Packers good luck on Sunday. Hopefully
they won't have to take on both Pittsburgh and the refs
like my Seahawks did a few years ago. I don't know if
a deal was made or maybe the league was mad a less popular
team like Seattle got into the SB but that had to be the
worst officiated game of any kind I've watched in my
53 years on the planet.

The Numbers Don't Lie

President Obama has been attacked savagely by the Right
the past two years for being "anti-business".

Did anybody happen to notice the DOW is up almost 4100
points since January 20th, 2009?

If John McCain was president right now do you think
the GOP and their attack dogs would consider a 4100
point comeback a failure? Would McCain be considered
hostile to business?