Saturday, October 31, 2015

New Budget Deal DOES cut Social Security (File and Suspend Rule)

The "File and Suspend" rule for Social Security ends in the new budget deal ... and that might be bad news for divorced women heading toward retirement.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Hillary Clinton: The lady doth protest too much, methinks

At the Washington Post they wrote: "The Republican presidential candidates are right. The media does suck. But not for the reasons the candidates complained about Wednesday night. We in the media suck because we have rewarded their rampant dishonesty and buffoonery with nonstop news coverage. Which, of course, has encouraged more dishonesty and buffoonery."

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Did you see the GOP debate last night?

The GOP debate last night had a few entertaining moments. But as expected, the moderators had the usual "gotcha" and contentious questions, rather than the more serious and substantive ones (just as the first Democratic debate).

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Steve Jobs Didn't Build That.

Via Naked Capitalism: What the Steve Jobs Movie Won’t Tell You About Apple’s Success (excerpts)

Does New Budget Lower the Social Security Cap?

Rather than expand Social Security (as Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and many others have advocated), the new budget deal is a "bipartisan compromise" to cut benefits for the disabled and lower the "cap" for high income earners (that, according to other media sources). And just like the TPP trade agreement, the new budget is also being negotiated behind closed doors.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Katy Perry: The top 1% supports the top 1%

No surprises here.

(Below) Katy Perry cloaked in patriotism for Hillary Clinton
Katy Perry wrapped in patriotism

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Last Week's Bernie News

Below are links dating back from yesterday and previously — and are not listed in any particular order.

Friday, October 23, 2015

U.S. Offshores Jobs to Reduce Poverty Overseas (Really?)

Just like Bill Gates' and Bill Clinton's foundations, CEOs of American-based multi-national corporations are offshoring jobs overseas to low-wage countries, not because it can generate much higher profits at the expense of American workers, but because of humanitarian reasons — to help others in this world of economic globalization.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Who said the U.S. should be like Denmark?

Senator Bernie Sanders never said so. He has been saying that we can borrow some of the better aspects of the Scandinavian/Nordic economic models in general — not just Denmark specifically or exactly — and that by doing so, America can improve on our own economic system of capitalism*.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Bernie Sanders playing bongos...

...to Ben Harper's song “Burn One Down”

Let's burn one from end to end
And pass it over to me my friend
Burn it long, we'll burn it slow
To light me up before I go

If you don't like my fire
then don't come around
Cause I'm gonna burn one down
Cause I'm gonna burn one down...

If you don't like my fire
Then don't come around
Cause I'm gonna burn one down
Cause I'm gonna burn one down

* The Brooklyn-born senator, who began his political career in Vermont in the early 1970s, said he tried marijuana twice, but didn’t like it. Sanders said the drug is probably not as harmful as alcohol and should be largely decriminalized.

Bernie Sanders tips waiters — but many don't tip at all.

As someone whose been in the hotel-restaurant-casino-bar industry for many years, to the best of my knowledge, 15% is still the standard/traditional tip for a party of 2 to 4 — and larger parties may have 18% added by the business. For a single person, a good tip might be 20% if the service is very good. Of course, that also depends on whether the total of the check is inflated by expensive bottles of wine or champagne — or a hefty bar tab.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Bernie Sanders is not Vladimir Lenin or Joseph Stalin

If anything, he's more like FDR. Whereas, Vladimir Lenin was a Russian communist revolutionary who served as the head of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; and Joseph Stalin (as a dictator) held the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Poll debates: Bernie won, no matter how you slice the cake

Senator Bernie Sanders founded (and once chaired) the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is often touted for her progressive values, is not listed among their members. Hillary Clinton (the self-proclaimed "moderate") is also claiming to be a "progressive".

Media Influence: CNN polled 425 voters to show Hillary leading Bernie

But how misleading is this?

CNN polled 425 people (registered Democrats and Democratic leaning voters) out of a pool of almost 44 million registered voters in their newest poll to draw the conclusion (or to make the case) that Democrats prefer Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders — when all other polls and focus groups show Bernie leading.

Noam Chomsky and Media Control

The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda — by Noam Chomsky

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Retirees get the Shaft, Federal Workers get a Raise

Congress blocked their own max SS threshold from rising: A zero COLA also freezes the amount of Social Security’s “taxable maximum,” or the maximum wage on which workers and their employers pay Social Security payroll taxes (currently $118,500). When average wages rise, the taxable maximum rises — except in years when there’s no COLA. The taxable maximum would be $122,700 next year if it were allowed to rise as it normally does. This quirk in the law will cost Social Security about $5 billion in revenue next year. (Members of Congress are paid $174,000 a year -- so ALREADY they aren't paying SS taxes on 100% of their wages.)

Friday, October 16, 2015

The Monopolies of Cable TV

Bloomberg (October 15, 2015) "There is little intelligent discussion about the costs of too much regulation on the one hand, and the excesses of capitalism on the other. That is a shame, because both sides of those issues create real economic frictions with substantial societal costs ... The U.S. does a poor job in regulating industries to which it grants monopoly or oligopoly status ... and a very poor job of managing competition and adopting the needed standards to improve market efficiency."

Consider the following chart:

Why the Media Lies about Bernie Sanders

Why has the corporate mainstream media waiting for Bernie Sanders to slip on banana peel, and lose the Democratic nomination? Why have they been lying about poll results? Why are they always pushing the "socialist" moniker the way Anderson Cooper did when he red-baited Bernie in the last debate? In one short sentence: Because, not only would Bernie raise their taxes if he could, but also because Bernie has always been strongly against the TPP trade agreement — something which the media giants support. So yes, the taking heads on TV will lie.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Anderson Cooper lets Hillary Clinton Dodge Social Security

There is a laundry list of major economical and social problems facing the nation today: e.g. stagnant wages (minimum wages, misclassifying workers as "independent contractors" and wage theft), unemployment (offshoring, guestworker visas, bad trade deals and labor unions), wealth inequality (the estate tax, stock buy-backs, CEO pay and stock options), the Social Security trust funds (old age and disability), healthcare (prescription drug prices and insurance premiums), the skewed tax code (capital gains, corporate tax rates, tax dodgers and offshore tax havens), government budgets (lost revenues, budget cuts, debts and deficits), mass incarceration-for-profit, government corruption (campaign finance reform, voter suppression laws and the revolving door), etc, etc, etc.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Pre-Debate Commentary (Hillary vs. Bernie)

Budweiser just agreed to buy Miller for $104 billion. Just think of all that spare cash, just laying around with nothing better to do than buy out a competitor and layoff workers in the process. Last year corporations spent $1 trillion in "mergers and acquisitions" and another $1 trillion in stock buy backs — all while dodging taxes, under-paying workers and hoarding cash in offshore banks.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Build the Keystone Pipeline AND Export Oil?

Not long ago, in defiance of our President (when Obama had threatened to veto the Keystone pipeline), the CEO of TransCanada simply said: "It will be built" — as though Americans or the President of the United States had no say in the matter.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Who can live on $556 a month?

$556 a month. That's about what a full-time minimum wage worker has left over after paying for rent (and that's even if they also qualify for food stamps).

Friday, October 9, 2015

Where are all the Purple Squirrels?

Human Resource managers have been looking for the perfect job candidate, and finding none.

14 Bernie Sanders Campaign Songs

* These are my favorite 14 Bernie songs so far (in no particular order) in various genres — from folk, bluegrass, rock, pop, punk, techno and hip-hop. I rated these on creativity, quality and uniqueness. All the videos below are at YouTube, where lyrics can also be found. If you have a link to others, please leave it in a comment. Thx.

Hillary Clinton and Wall Street Reform: Are the Bankers Laughing?

The former Secretary of State has a plan for reforming Wall Street, and it's posted on her website (Ha-ha-ha!!!)

U.S. Trade Deficit Fueled by Corporate Tax Dodgers

It's ludicrous that Congress allows American companies to manufacture products overseas, then import them to the U.S. to sell here (driving up our trade deficit) — and then not collect a tax.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Rich get more "Free Stuff" from Gov't than Poor

[* This post is Via Mark Thoma's blog: We all get free stuff from the government (slightly edited). Originally posted by Bryce Covert on October 8, 2015.]

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Hillary Clinton Flip-Flopper on TPP vs. Bernie Sanders

UPDATE /// (October 9th, 2015) How could Joe Biden run against Hillary (who only now opposes the TPP trade) and Bernie (who has always opposed the TPP trade deal) when Joe Biden's spokesperson just confirmed that Biden supports the bill and will help pass it on the Hill. The TPP trade deal is vehemently opposed by labor unions, whose support Biden would have to count on if he enters the race. But as a sitting Vice-President, it would be impossible for Biden to oppose the TPP because it is one of Obama’s top priorities. /// END UPDATE

Our Politicians: The Foxes Guarding the Hen House

[* Editor's note: This post also contains some good tid-bits from TooMuchonLine.Org]

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Ben Bernanke, China, TPP, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Obama, Labor Unions — and the Democratic Party Machine

(* Holy cow! That was a long title for this post!)

Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke says bankers should have went to Jail, but why is he ONLY JUST NOW saying this — especially after the statute of limitations has already expired for these bankers? The American people had been asking Obama's appointed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to take action for years.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Bernie Sanders Continues to draw Huge Crowds

...and all while still doing his job as a Vermont Senator and introducing new bills to Congress.

(* Click on all the images in this post to enlarge to 1,300 pixels wide).

CEO of Twitter paid a $0 Salary

Jack Dorsey, who has been the interim CEO of Twitter, will drop "interim" from the title and become the permanent CEO of Twitter.

The Huffington Post reports:

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Bernie Sanders Makes the Most Sense on Gun Control

Senator Bernie Sanders should NOT "evolve" on this issue — especially since he won't run for re-election as a Senator for Vermont (a rural State with lots of gun owners and hunters).

Friday, October 2, 2015

Obama's Connection to Heinz Ketchup

On February 13, 2015 BusinessInsider reported that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and the investment firm 3G Capital were buying ketchup maker Heinz for $28 billion. Secretary of State John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, the Heinz ketchup heiress, might make $671,520 from this deal...

Thursday, October 1, 2015

CEO of Amazon bashes Senator Bernie Sanders

Not personally, but through his newspaper...

From Dean Baker at the Center for Economic Policy and Research (on October 1, 2015) who writes:

New Scandal: How H-1B Visas Ship Jobs Overseas

[* Via the Economic Policy Institute (by Ron Hira on September 30, 2015): New Scandals Revealed by the New York Times: How the H-1B Visa is Used to Ship American Jobs Overseas]

Hillary Clinton's Nodding Strategy

Nodding Strategies for Your Next Meeting: How to appear thoughtful and engaged without saying a word (by Sarah Cooper)