Back in 72, shortly after when Sarge Shriver agreed to undertake the thankless job (not his first) of being the replacement bottom half of the worst landslide losing ticket of the 20th century (and becoming the centerpiece of a nasty National Lampoon parody for his troubles) he was campaigning in Youngstown, Ohio, the buckle of the Rust Belt, with
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Waiting for the Chickens to Home to Roost
|It's hard, under the circumstances, to work up the motivation to write about the same things I've written about over and over, going back to a time when it wasn't too late to do something about it. Is it then technically impossible to avoid a repeat of the 1970s for public services, with higher taxes and the needy not being cared for (then senior citizen bag ladies abandoned by those younger, now younger people raped by the same people who are now older)? It is worse than being technically impossible. It is technically possible — with a decade of blood, toil and shared sacrifice — but politically impossible with Generation Greed still in change and fully vested under the deals they have made with themselves.
This city was almost destroyed in the 1970s, but the debts and pensions were paid. Taxes were paid in exchange for nothing. The infrastructure fell apart. Multiple generations of NYC children were not educated. How many members of the state legislature lost their jobs? Well, this time the destruction will be state wide, and in lots of other states too, so you may not be able to flee to the suburbs and leave and smoking ruin behind. Perhaps the folks elsewhere in New York will figure out a way to throw the bastards out without putting the other bastards in.
Olberman is done, signs off the air
|First Keith Olberman was dropped from Sunday Night Football, and now has signed off of MSNBC at the end of his contract.
The Other N-Word
|"They say it's a government takeover of health care – a big lie, just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually people believe it. Like blood libel. That's the same kind of thing.
Miracle. Kidnapped baby 23 years ago-Alive and Well. Carlina White, Christopher Dansby & Shane Walker
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The Gateway (Sweet Home Alabama–Neil Young Was Right Edititon)
|Just when you think the Mayor may have been chastened by his recent run of luck, he proves he didn't assimilate the lesson that the problem wasn't the accumulation of precipitation, but rather the uncleaned accumulations of arrogance and cluelessness.
Quid Pro Cuomo? (Revised)
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As I think I've already made clear, I've little problem with the spending (more accurately “cutting”) side of the Governor's agenda.
We don't have the money, and last year's elections make clear there is no mandate (and probably the opposite) for any tax increases. Though the economy is a great part of our revenue shortfalls, there are also structural problems with the way our state does its business.
The crisis will be a great opportunity to address a few of them.
The Gateway (Three Day Weekend Wrap Edition)
|Let us not forget that when Dr. King began his career, America was in many of its component parts a de jure apartheid state. By the time King died, though his work was not complete (and is not yet now) America was no longer so.
How Are Businesses Like People?
|The New York Times is reporting that the majority of states did not save up enough money in the good times to pay unemployment benefits in recession, and have borrowed $billions from the federal government. One reason is that businesses successfully lobbied for lower unemployment taxes. "Right now, 30 states owe money to the federal government for their unemployment programs. Many of them tried to keep their unemployment taxes low in recent decades as states have competed with one another to lure companies and jobs. Now, although unemployment taxes are low by historic standards, the states face the strong possibility that they will have to take action at the worst possible time, raising taxes on employers at a time of low hiring, and cutting benefits when they are most needed."
If you outsource everything to China right now, your business would have benefited from those lower taxes in the past and won't be around to pay that money back. But if you start a new business today you'll get socked with the higher taxes to offset what was not paid in the past. This is just one example of what is happening, and will be happening.