3M, which invented the sticky-note, wanted to acquire rival Avery Dennison, another major producer of sticky-notes. But the Justice Department blocked the sale. Because nothing is a greater threat to the world economy than having a sticky-note monopoly.
Dear Wise and Benevolent Job Creators:
I don’t want to rush you into anything you’re not comfortable with. But I’d like to make a simple request.
As you know, the amount of total US income going to you, the exalted top 1% of earners, increased from 9% in 1970 to 23% in 2007. You also hold over 30% of all wealth. The next highest country is Germany, where the top 1% earn just 11% of the country’s total income. Not that it matters in the least, because Europe sucks.
Now, I’m not criticizing you. It’s fine and dandy for the rich to get richer. That’s capitalism. You earned every penny by the sweat of your brow, with no help from anybody anywhere.
However, we’ve been told that when the Job Creators have enough money, they’ll spend it, and the economy will magically flourish and the middle class will prosper once again. Flowers will bloom, birds will sing. The rising tide will float our proletarian boats alongside your yachts, though we promise to not get too close. It will be a wonderful thing–what we’ve been awaiting, expectantly, for over 30 years.
This is what trickle-down economics is about, which Ronald Reagan championed back in the 1980s. And we, of course, love Ronnie. Give the wealthy more money, and it’ll sprinkle back down over the peons–and we will be grateful for whatever drops we get.
But I’m wondering. We’ve been doing the trickle-UP thing for over 30 years, and with enormous success, through both Democratic and Republican administrations. In fact, it has accelerated under Obama; under George Bush, you nabbed a mere 65% of all US income growth; but in 2009-2010, a whopping 93% of income growth went into your pockets. So we’re trying real hard to help you out, knowing we’ll ultimately be helping ourselves.
While most of America stagnates, you Job Creators have grown enormously wealthy. We know, since you are not greedy or selfish persons, that it’s all in preparation for the day when you transfer your money back to America, and open the floodgates to benefit the dry and thirsty populace.
I’m just wondering, dearest Job Creators, when exactly the trickle-DOWN part starts. That’s what Ronnie promised us back in the 1980s, but I didn’t think it would take this long. And I must say, it’s getting brutal out here. You may not have noticed, but the middle class ain’t doing so well. I’m not sure how much longer people can hold on while you get your act together.
Like I said, I don’t want to rush you, oh cautious and merciful Job Creators. I realize you’re waiting for the right time, and perhaps want to first finish remodeling your newest vacation home.
My simple request is–give us a number. Are you, perhaps, shooting to first achieve 30% of total US income? Maybe 40%? Would you like to control, say, 50% of all wealth before taking the risk of investing it for the sake of the American economy?
You, Job Creators, are our long-expected Messiah. But if you could give us a number you want to reach first, then we could plan ahead. That would be much appreciated. In the meantime, we will continue to patiently await the blessings of trickle-down promised long, long ago.
Sometimes my big ol red Dodge Dakota looks SO small.
It really affects my sense of manhood. Make me feel inferior. How can I ever face the world again?
We’ve heard plenty about the horrors of the Canadian national healthcare system, but mostly from pundits with no actual experience with it. Now along comes an American woman, a self-described “die-hard conservative Republican,” who has lived in Canada since 2008 and has given birth there to three children. She writes about the ugly realities of healthcare in Canada, and what she has had to endure. Read it and cringe.
I really want to like Paul Ryan. He’s clearly a formidable candidate, extremely bright, a superb communicator, and at least moderately charismatic. I listened to his speech at the Republican National Convention last night. Sure, it was a biting, red-meat kind of speech, and I disagreed with his take on various things. But it seemed to me like a very good speech for the audience and the context–just what the Romney campaign needed.
But today, fact-checkers are having a heyday. It’s clear that Paul Ryan, at least in this speech, showed little regard for the truth. Many lies and distortions have been identified (ones I didn’t notice, as a typical viewer).
This disappoints me. Please don’t tell me that Obama and Biden are just as bad. I realize they tell lies, too, and I hope the fact-checkers are fully alert during their speeches at the Democratic convention.
But I’m always hopeful for a “different” kind of politician–the kind Obama presented himself to be in 2008, and which I believe he tried to be for at least the first year or two before giving it up in frustration. I hoped Ryan was different.
But, as has been shown in various outlets (even on FoxNews this morning), Ryan is just your normal lying politician. And that really does disappoint me. I was drawn somewhat to the Republican ticket. No more.
This Salon article gives a good rundown of the lies and distortions in Ryan’s speech. There are many good links off of that article, including this one about Ryan and the stimulus. Both the BBC and the Guardian in Britain highlighted the factual errors in Ryan’s speech. So did Slate. You would expected the Huffington Post to spotlight his lies, and maybe ABCNews, but even the Associated Press felt obligated to report on it. Then Glen Grunwald pumelled Ryan on the Swampland blog.
So, Congressman Ryan: congratulations on a speech that really rallied your base. And congratulations for turning me, once again, into a disillusioned and disappointed citizen, and for sacrificing your credibility in the process.
We know what the soldier means by the thumbs-up. But do we really know what those Iraqi kids mean? Are they secretly laughing inside?
In many countries, the “thumbs up” gesture is akin to the middle finger in America. One of those countries is Iraq. So picture this.
American troops, in their tanks and Humvees, are driving through an Iraqi city. From the street and windows and rooftops, Iraqis can be seen giving American troops a thumbs-up. The American troops smile at what they perceive to be a welcoming gesture, and they return the thumbs-up.
When actually, all both sides are doing is flipping each other off.
In the movie “Independence Day,” Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith, using a laptop, insert a virus into the alien mothership, disabling their communications system and saving the earth.
Question: What if the aliens had installed Norton Utilities? Did Jeff Goldblum think of that?
I recommend the cover article about Mitt Romney in the Sept 3 issue of Time magazine. I’m quite impressed by the business skills needed to run Bain Capital, and feel those skills would definitely be valuable in the White House. I’ve read a lot of this stuff before (in other “liberal” publications, so they obviously can’t be trusted), but hadn’t seen it put together quite so convincingly as in this issue of Time.
I was also fascinated that Romney, for ethical reasons, would not get involved with companies that dealt with tobacco, gambling…and guns. I applaude that. Attractive deals came along involving Colt and Winchester, but he wouldn’t have anything to do with gun companies.
Of course, Romney regularly entered into deals knowing full well he would be putting hundreds of people out of work, while personally reaping millions of dollars. But that’s just capitalism and has nothing to do with ethics…I guess.
In Uganda, a man stole a cell phone from a patient in a hospital isolation ward. The patient had the Ebola virus, and later died.
The thief later returned to the hospital…suffering from Ebola.
Is it okay to be amused by that?
Rick Warren with John McCain and Barack Obama in 2008.
I really enjoyed the forum Rick Warren conducted in 2008 with John McCain and Barack Obama. I found it to be very informative about both candidates. It was a laid-back conversation, rather than a format with reporters asking confrontational or gotcha questions.
Warren planned to hold another during this campaign season. Both candidates, according to Warren, wanted to do it. The networks wanted to do it, since the previous one brought high ratings.
But Warren has pulled the plug, and I salute him for his reasons. He explained:
“We created the civil forums to promote civility and personal respect between people with major differences. The forums are meant to be a place where people of goodwill can seriously disagree on significant issues without being disagreeable or resorting to personal attack and name-calling. But that is not the climate of today’s campaign. I’ve never seen more irresponsible personal attacks, mean-spirited slander, and flat-out dishonest attack ads, and I don’t expect that tone to change before the election.
“It would be hypocritical to pretend civility for one evening only to have the name-calling return the next day.”
It goes along with what Michael Scherer suggested in one of my posts last week: “In the end, there is only one thing that will force these candidates, their campaigns and supporters to hue a straighter line: Their own constituencies must object.”
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