And the myths keep coming...

The latest greatest right wing talking-lie is that the Obama administration does not care about our troops.

We could start by asking, "who has worked the hardest in the past dozen years to get them OUT of harms way and bring them home?" And "who has actually funded them with decent equipment to do their jobs." But maybe thats too esoteric.

Instead, here are just a few counter data points on legislation the democratic administration has already passed or is working to pass...

http://www.militaryfamiliesunited.org/releases/mfurelease_012411.html

http://www.goldstarmoms.com/News/Legislation/Legislation.htm

If you ask me, the Republican party and their right wing mouth-pieces owe military families a sincere and heartfelt apology for taking those brave volunteers' grief and hardship and trying to turn it into a political football for their own advantage.

And they owe the American public an apology for the constant stream of manipulative lies they have been telling for about a dozen years now.

As a bumper sticker I recently saw said,"If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention."

The Right's New Myth

During the GWB administration, Carl Rove crafted a network of coordinated and centrally controlled right-wing mouth-pieces that is still alive and well today.

Thus, its no accident that the right's latest attempt to deflect attention from the a fact that the rich are continuing to grab more and more of the american pie hit all over the country at the same time.

Just one example: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-half-of-US-households-apf-1105567323.html?x=0&.v=1

The implication that somehow, the poor are taking advantage of the rich is absurd and unconscionable.

I'd like all people and corporations with a gross income this year over $100,000 who would like to trade situations with a family whose income was under $30,000 so they can pay no income tax to please form a line to the left... (Never mind that GE, with a gross income of $19bn last year paid no income tax, either.)

Who are the rich and do they need tax breaks?

In today's america, 1% of the population owns 42% of the wealth. What does that really mean? Well, lets look at some numbers.

There are 311,167,353 Americans today. So 1% of that is 3,111,673 Americans.

At the end of 2010, Americans owned $56.8 trillion in wealth. A trillion is one million million, 42% of that is 23.4 trillion. So if 3 million Americans owned 23.4 trillion dollars of wealth, thats an average of about 8 million a piece. Not bad huh?

So what does that leave for the rest of us? About 33 trillion. For about 308 million Americans. That averages out to about 0.1 million, or 100 thousand dollars.

8 million v. 100 thousand.

Who do YOU think we should tax?? I'll give you a hint... letting those with the most money, those who are getting the most benefit from our society NOT pay taxes is a *great* way to "go broke."

Government through Anarchy

I remember a time back when all the right wingers were shouting "No negotiating with terrorists."

Well, today they want us to negotiate with terrorists.. and they *are* the terrorists.

The republican party has apparently decided that politics through brinkmanship is the way to their ends. First they held the country hostage to a governmental shutdown, and now they are doing it again with a vote they have never opposed in the past but, if not taken now, will cause the immediate financial collapse of the government.

"These increases to the limit are a yearly occurrence. In fact, many of the Republicans who railed against this bill voted to raise the debt limit by more than $6.4 trillion under President Bush. "

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1499-Senate-Votes-To-Raise-Federal-Debt-Limit

Is it really good politics to try to appease someone just because he is sitting in a room full of gasoline and playing with matches?

Or maybe they aren't actually in the room with us at all. The *true* constituency of the republican party has a lot less to lose by a US financial meltdown then you might think. The richest Americans have been quietly taking their money *out* of our system and investing it in others:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/your-money/20wealth.html

Supposedly-American multi-national corporations keep most of their wealth outside the US to avoid US taxes. (See my previous blog on GE paying no taxes. of $14B in revenue last year, $9B of that never saw US shores.)

SO, maybe its not so crazy for them to threaten financial anarchy when all it will really harm are you and me.

But last time I read the document they like to wave in the air more then actually read (the constitution) this wasn't how we were supposed to be governed-- by threat of anarchy.

I'm Changing my name to General Electric

Back in the 80s, after Chrysler got a huge government hand out to help it stay in business, Tom Paxton wrote the song "I'm changing my name to Chrysler..."

Well, think you are taxxed too much? Then change your name to General Electric.

The marching myth of the neo-right right now is "we need to reduce taxes to encourage employment."

That would be a good trick, since GE who had a $14B year in 2010 paid NO corporate income tax.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/16/news/companies/ge_7000_tax_returns/

Exactly how much lower the $0 is necessary to work this miracle?

Maybe if we actually started taxing our richest individuals and corporations, we wouldn't be so "broke" after all...

Debunking American Myths

I love it when someone shows that a point of common wisdom is total nonsense. In this case, its a bit of common wisdom I've had my own doubts about for a long time... that low taxes and correspondingly low social services are somehow good for small business.

Thats utter bollocks, as INCs recent study of entrepreneurialism in Norway clearly shows.

Norway has some of the highest taxes in the world AND the highest % of entrepreneurs in its population. Why? Because, with all their human needs taken care of by a strongly socialist government, people with an idea have the freedom to explore it without fear of them or their dependents ending up penniless on the street.

Doesn't that make simple, obvious sense, now that you think about it? Not only that but those who are paying the most in taxes are by and large happy to pay them because they see what they are paying for on a daily basis.

More information on the study can be found here...

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.html

High in the clouds

So... is the world really as stupid as marketers think it is?

I don't believe so. I hope thats not a fatal error. \

An associate recently showed me a press release from a company that was totally devoid of content and asked me what I thought. I asked him "what is it?" He answered "Cloud service for Unity." At which point I simply told him he hadn't answered the question. What does it do? Why do i care? He wasnt able to answer those questions.

And then there is onlive. You can join gamefly or gametap for $8.00 a month OR you can join OnLive and get access to less content thats delivered in poorer quality for $10.00 a month. But Onlive is "in the cloud"! Lets all go "oooooh" together shall we?

Honestly, this cloud nonsense reminds me nothing more then an episode I saw of MSTK3000 where Crow is into EXTREME philately (stamp collecting) because, as he put it, "everything is better when its EXTREEEEEMEEE!"

Apparently todays marketers think you will think everything is better if its "in the cloud."

The question is... do you?