Creating Real Wealth

With news today that the NYSE was up over 648 points for the week due to a rebound in manufacturing for the month of June, a Kaplan Daily op/ed by Phil Angelides, who chaired the commission on the financial market meltdown, is particularly relevant. It's a stunning takedown of all the Wall Street/ Rethuglican bullshit about the real causes of the economic crisis in 2008/09, why the true history matters today, and why prosperity is more than the stock market rising. In fact, as Angelides points out, "With tens of millions still unemployed, isn't it time to shift from an economy based on money making money to an economy based on creating jobs and genuine prosperity?"

Flip Flop Mitt -- At It Again

Nice come back from the DNC on Willard/ Flip Flop Mitt Romney's latest point/counterpoint with himself:

Americans Wise to Rethug Blame Game

According to a CBS News / New York Times poll, by a wide margin, Americans blame Dumbya and Wall Street for the economic problems we are facing today. When asked who is to blame for the current economic slump, 26% say Dumbya, and 25% say Wall Street. Only 8% hold the Obama Administration at fault.

Good for the American people, who are not fooled by Rethugs hoping to further sour the economy that they wrecked, in order to blame the President. After opposing every Obama economic recovery measure, the Rethugs have doubled-down on voters' amnesia. This poll says it's not working for them.

Buh Bye. . . And Get Professional Help

We'd be remiss if we didn't note the final Fux performance of lunatic ranter Glenn "Boo Hoo the Hoot" Beck yesterday. The barking mad, self-described "rodeo clown" has had a rough year, beginning when advertisers pulled their ads from his incendiary freakshow and ending when even the wingers at Fux couldn't justify his continued unhinged, weeping outbursts. He'll still be spewing his crazy nonsense on hate radio, but he'll never reach the larger audience of rubes that tune into Fux for their ration of wingut reality.

Buh bye, Boo Hoo, and use your new spare time to get psychiatric treatment.

Bonus: For a hilarious retrospective of the rodeo clown's work on Fux, here's Media Matters compilation.

To Catch a Hypocrite

Peek-a-boo! NBC's Chris Hansen takes time off from his "To Catch a Predator" ambush series to have a sexytime dinner and spend the night with someone other than his wife.

Now Who's The Dick?

Good to see that MSNBC has indefinitely suspended Village "journalist" Mark "Drudge Rules Our World" Halperin after he called President Obama a "dick" on the "Morning Joe" poo-fling this morning, much to the giggling surprise of "Joe Scar" and his TV wife, Mika the Model. Halperin, sweating shit balls, soon abjectly apologized, perhaps seeing a career-ending screw up in the making.

Sadly, the Beltway media clowns talk this way off camera and off the record; they believe that Washington is wired for Rethuglican rule, and temper their remarks accordingly. Their "news" sources are the corrupted, right-wing propagandists who engage in smearing and disinformation. Halperin let his guard down momentarily, and let us know what the royalty of our broken media think.

(photo: Feeling the pinch)

Quote of the Day

"The United States Supreme Court now sees its central task as comforting the already comfortable and afflicting those already afflicted. If you are a large corporation or a political candidate backed by lots of private money, be assured that the court’s conservative majority will be there for you, solicitous of your needs and ready to swat away those pesky little people who dare to contest your power." -- E. J. Dionne, who dismantles the right-wing majority's defense of the economic elites over the middle class.

About Time

President Obama's press conference yesterday was refreshing. For the first time in a long time, he directly and forcefully confronted the Rethuglican lie machine's position on the debt ceiling and budget. He repeatedly contrasted the Dem position of a balance of budget cuts and revenue increases / closing tax loopholes with the Rethug position of budget cuts only, using some vivid images of corporate jet loopholes and CEOs rolling in money. Referring to Rethugs having to speak to their constituents, Obama said:

“I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that, 'The tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that we’re not willing to come to the table.'”

We say let's make them justify protecting the wealthiest Americans, who are paying the lowest tax rate in decades, and big corporations, which are sitting on $2 trillion in cash while exporting jobs and collecting tax breaks. Enough with the kid gloves.

It's good to see Obama more in campaign mode than the above-the-fray peacemaker, simply because the Rethugs aren't looking for "peace" or "compromise" or "solutions." They're looking to defeat Obama in 2012, and if it takes bringing the economy to its knees, then they'll do it.

Tax Facts

The Rethuglicans have had tax reduction as their major mantra since the days of St. Ronnie of Hollywood. Their refusal to consider closing tax loopholes for corporations that are paying little or no taxes -- and still sending jobs overseas -- and raising taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans is blocking an agreement on the debt ceiling and budget.

Now, researchers at the Center for American Progress have shown that lower tax rates on the wealthy don't produce jobs at all. Indeed, job growth has been greater in the last 60 years when tax rates are higher than they are now (the lowest in 60 years), as this chart shows:



What lower taxes on the wealthy do lead to are bigger campaign contributions to the Rethugs (see Koch brothers, Harlan Crow, etc., etc.), which is what this is all about.

Mid-Week Song

Maybe it was the visit earlier this month to our old stomping grounds (ahh, Madison, Wisconsin, circa 1967), but we can't shake this sense that things aren't just quite... normal. Ready with the feedback... on one, two, three, four:

"The Michele Bachmann History Channel"

Rethugs Fought the Law - And the Law Won?

Two items today that bring hope that Rethuglican efforts to derail health care reform and the economic recovery may fail legal tests:

-- The Sixth Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, saying it was within Congress' power under the Commerce Clause to regulate health care, including the individual mandate. Once again, we fully expect the "mainstream media" to give this all the play it always reserves for right-wing legal victories...

-- Some Democratic senators are questioning whether a debt ceiling limit is even constitutional under the 14th Amendment. This could effectively take the gun out of the hands of the Rethuglican hostage-takers who are desperate to sabotage the Obama administration and the economic recovery.

Quote & Cartoon of the Day

"[Rethug Senate Minority Leader] McConnell’s first brush with radical truth-telling came in October 2010, when he told National Journal that 'the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.' McConnell quickly qualified his remarks, although he never quite apologized for them. Nor should he have. McConnell wasn’t articulating a radical new theory of politics. He was telling us how he and his party were already voting. Consider the dozens of elected Republicans who, at one time or another, supported an individual mandate for health-care reform, cap-and-trade for carbon emissions and tax cuts for stimulative purposes. Over the past three years, almost all of them have renounced their former views. Unless you understand McConnell’s argument, you can’t understand their actions." Ezra Klein, reaffirming the fact that the Rethugs will wreck the economy so that Obama gets the blame. Tom Toles' editorial cartoon in the Kaplan Daily strikes a similar note:



(BONUS: Check out Steve Benen's piece on how Rethugs define "compromise." Benen's description of Rethugs: "reckless thugs pretending to be a political party.")

Screen Shot of the Day -- Wide Angle Edition

"TILT!!!"

(NJ Rethug Gov. Chris "Twinkies Are Our Friends" Christie on the "Fox and Fiends" nitwit show - via "Bill D.", Wonkette)

Blagojevich Off To The Slammer

No big surprise that former Illinois Gov. Rod "Let's Make a Deal" Blagojevich was convicted by a jury on multiple counts of corruption stemming from his scheme to literally sell the U.S. Senate vacancy left by Barack Obama in 2008. The jury found him guilty on 17 of 20 counts, which could mean a long, long time in jail.

Now that bushy Blago is heading off to the slammer, we have to admit a certain melancholy at his imminent jailing. We'll miss his constant but obviously phony claims of innocence, and his loopy appearances on late night TV where he never seemed to mind being the butt of jokes. But who knows? Maybe there's a book or hair products endorsement in Blago's future.