Israel September 16, 2011March 25, 2017 SNOLLYGOSTERS This slide show from the new book, Slinging Mud, is actually a little tame – the slides on Bush 43 and Obama seem only barely related to either man. But the Lincoln and Roosevelt slides remind us that even presidents now generally considered “great” are not always portrayed that way at the time. “Ignoramus Abe,” and all that. “ATTACK WATCH” Speaking of which, attackwatch has recently launched to push back when the President is unfairly attacked. You can sign up for rapid-response emails and/or drill down on specific topics. Like Israel. A major reason we lost the special election to fill Congressman Anthony Weiner’s seat in Brooklyn Tuesday – a heavily orthodox Jewish district last in Republican hands nearly a century ago – was that the voters had been urged, by Ed Koch and others, “to send a message to the President” to be more supportive of Israel. Except that the truth is the President has been terrific on Israel. (And he was born in America, and he doesn’t pal around with terrorists, and Al Gore never said he invented the Internet, and Iraq did not attack us on 9/11, and the Clintons didn’t murder Vince Foster, and “by far the vast majority” of President Bush’s tax cuts did not go to people “at the bottom end of the economic ladder” it went to people at the top.) Having a site like this site could be helpful. GOLD George E.: “On TV and radio I run across a good number of commercials by companies wanting to help protect me from the coming economic collapse by offering to sell gold (or silver, or other precious metals) in exchange for my soon-to-be worthless money. However, if these companies truly believe that an economic Armageddon is about to occur, why are they so eager to sell their gold at this time?” ☞ It’s not THEIR gold. They buy as much as they need in the open market to meet the demand they generate from the ads, taking a profit on each ounce. Similarly, supermarket owners are not selling THEIR food (or they would starve to death). They are buying extra food and selling it for more than they paid. The gold I reluctantly hold (as a hedge, hoping things go well and my gold fares poorly) I hold not in the form of the actual metal but as electronic entries on a brokerage statement – GLD. That won’t do much good in the event total chaos returns us to a candle-lit barter society. For that I have a solar flashlight and cases of tuna. VVUS UPDATE Guru: “They announced that the FDA said it could refile Qnexa as an obesity treatment for men and for women not of child-bearing age (i.e. post menopausal). The FDA also said they would convene an advisory panel meeting in 1Q 2012. Separately, VVUS is awaiting the results of a large retrospective study to see if one of the two ingredients in Qnexa (topiramate) causes an increase in fetal abnormalities. So far, several large studies show that, statistically, it does not. The VVUS study will be the largest. If it turns out that the VVUS study shows topiramate DOES cause fetal abnormalities, then VVUS had planned to file Qnexa for use in men and post-menopausal women, so today’s announcement accelerates this Plan B. I would expect approval for that more limited market to send the shares to 12 or higher. Analysts at Leerink Swann Research have a target, as you see, of 11-13, in line with my estimate. But if they got approval for pre-menopausal women as well, the prospects could be significantly better.” ☞ I’m holding mine, with money I can truly afford to lose.
YOUR Local Bridge September 15, 2011March 25, 2017 BRIDGES More than 150,000 of our bridges need work. Story here. Are the ones you drive across safe? Click here to find out. (And here to see the breakdown by state.) A PLAN TO RENEW OUR INFRASTRUCTURE Thanks to Stephen Pizzo for those links. And for this one to a 2008 Popular Mechanics plan for upgrading our infrastructure across the board –the power grid, levees, bridges, and the rest. To someone who understands no mechanics (me), the illustrations are fascinating and inspiring. We should do this stuff! And, yes, public works – done by private companies – are paid for with tax money. So instead of building a 240-foot yacht, if you make $100 million a year, you might only get to build a 160-foot yacht (think what you’ll save on fuel and how many more marinas you’ll be able to slip into) – but you would also be helping to finance the renewal of the country that made your income possible in the first place. Of course, it’s not just yacht-owners who will need to chip in. Once the recession ends – perhaps even before – almost all of us blessed with six-, let alone seven-figure, incomes will likely face somewhat higher taxes to help fund America’s resurgence. Compared to the sacrifices our grandparents and their grandparents made, of course, it’s nothing. And compared with the hardships faced daily by those getting by on $20,000 or $40,000 a year, it’s also nothing. But it will still pinch. The trick will be to find ways to be happy anyway. Surely, some people were happy from 1940 to 1986 when the top federal bracket ranged from 90% to 50%. No? And those poor bastards didn’t have the nearly-free astonishments that we’ll still have even if our taxes do go back up to Clinton levels. For starters, we’ll still have virtually unlimited, virtually free, virtually instant entertainment right in our shirt packet. How can that not be fun? The massive investment we should make in infrastructure will put construction workers back to work and get the economy moving again. HOW THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT WOULD AFFECT YOUR STATE Click here. We need to pass this right away.
Patriots Pay Taxes September 14, 2011March 25, 2017 3rd ESTIMATED QUARTERLY TAX DUE The “greatest generation” paid a top rate of 90% in federal income tax (36% on long-term capital gains). Most people, not being rich, paid nowhere near that top rate, of course, and no one is suggesting anything like that rate today – nor should they. But we had World War II to fight back then, and then to pay off over the ensuing 35 years as we got our war debt back down to a reasonable levels. Which reasonable level Reagan, Bush, and Bush blew back out of the water with massive tax giveaways mostly to the wealthy. Enjoy the patriotic feeling it’s still possible to have when you pay your estimated tax tomorrow. America is a wonderful country; the obsession some rich people have with not paying taxes is certainly misguided (it’s destroying their country) and arguably selfish or even shameful. I do not myself argue that it’s shameful because I think those folks have persuaded themselves it’s good economics – that they are the job creators, etc. It’s only truly shameful if they realize how selfish they’re being. Though – deep down – can they really not? Can one of my Republican classmates who threw himself a multi-million dollar birthday party really believe his talents are so extraordinary that, when he makes $500 million, it’s because he “created so much value?” Steve Jobs has created tremendous value. But this guy? He makes deals, some of which work out, some of which don’t. Or what about the folks who take huge risks trading financial futures with other people’s money. How have they “created enormous value” when their bets turn out right? Why do so many of them feel they are the ones with the raw deal, having to pay a chunk of their seven-, eight-, or nine-figure incomes in taxes, when their nannies and hedge-trimmers and cleaning ladies pay little or no income tax? Anyway, don’t forget to mail in your third quarterly 2011 estimated income tax tomorrow if you’ve had appreciable income on which tax has not been withheld. THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT Here’s the bill, summarized for easy digestion. It will be a badly needed boost.
Pep September 13, 2011March 25, 2017 If you’re an early bird, or even a normal bird, you may have missed the updates yesterday, so here it is again: SHOULD MATH BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS? I assume this clip from the Miss America try-outs is a spoof. How can it not be? It’s hysterical. I love the girl from Vermont the most. But a quick search on Snopes turned up only this related item (wherein the Alabama legislature supposedly passes a law to round Pi down from 3.1415 to “3” to be more in line with Biblical teachings). In case it’s not a spoof, please don’t tell me – I would have to kill myself. [UPDATE: Peter Kronenberg: “It IS a spoof – on a real video where they asked Miss America contestants if they thought evolution should be taught in schools. The point being that it would be ridiculous to ask if we should teach math in schools, as if some people don’t believe in math.”] [Update: Chuck McLean: “Here is the earliest version I can find, from 2005: A good bit different.” And not attributed to John Cleese. So perhaps stolen from him? And then tweaked over the years, by him or some who couldn’t resist a little enhancement as they passed it on?] PEP TALK “By the way,” Chuck continues, “I should thank you for the little pep talks you have been giving us. I went into quite a snit fit around the time of the debt ceiling debacle and determined that I was through with Obama and maybe even politics. You talked me off the ledge, and I am now ready to do whatever I can to help the President get re-elected.” I stoop to posting this (self-congratulation not being among Dale Carnegie’s top ten methods) first to suggest this as a model others might relate to – Chuck is safely back in off the ledge, climb back in with him! – and second to suggest that if you start giving friends pep talks, you might well be rewarded with notes like this, too. Not to mention the crucial help that your doing so will be to the outcome 419 days from now, on which SO much hangs in the balance. I say again: can you imagine how much better off our country and the world would likely have been if a few of the 97,488 Nader voters in Florida had seen the bigger picture, had been true idealists, and had voted for Gore? And, for that matter, inspired those of like mind in swing states to do likewise? ITMN Guru: “They are launching in Germany on Sep 15. The price is fully paid by the government. Nothing to the patient. The price is slightly above what analysts have been estimating (so they will raise price target today), though within the range of other drugs for similar diseases. Should be no issue with reimbursement. Other launches will occur this year and next year. Company will have big presence at European respiratory conference Sep 24. In a neutral market – which of course we may not have – ITMN should go higher. Price target is 45-55 over the next year.”
Jobs September 12, 2011March 25, 2017 SHOULD MATH BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS? I assume this clip from the Miss America try-outs is a spoof. How can it not be? It’s hysterical. I love the girl from Vermont the most. But a quick search on Snopes turned up only this related item (wherein the Alabama legislature supposedly passes a law to round Pi down from 3.1415 to “3” to be more in line with Biblical teachings). In case it’s not a spoof, please don’t tell me – I would have to kill myself. [UPDATE: Peter Kronenberg: “It IS a spoof – on a real video where they asked Miss America contestants if they thought evolution should be taught in schools. The point being that it would be ridiculous to ask if we should teach math in schools, as if some people don’t believe in math.”] POLITICALLY INCORRECT . . . . . . and a possible copyright violation. But if you’re of no particular ethnic background or not easily offended; and if you’re not going to tell John Cleese this has been flying around the Internet; and since – touch wood – yesterday went off uneventfully and at least for now we can laugh nervously . . . well . . . here: ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2011 EUROPE BY JOHN CLEESE The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability. The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada. The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.” The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.” Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels . The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy. Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be all right, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the Barbie this weekend!” and “The Barbie is canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level. — John Cleese – British writer, actor and tall person JOBS I like to think everyone in America watched or read the President’s “American Jobs Act” address to the joint session of Congress. Here are the video and transcript of the speech he made the next day, in Richmond.
The Speech – And the Opposition September 9, 2011March 25, 2017 THE SPEECH Hope restored. Read it here or, better still, watch. THE OPPOSITION If you didn’t have time Wednesday, I urge you to read this now . . . the story of a long-time, high-ranking REPUBLICAN Congressional staffer, who levels a devastating indictment: Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult. MY FRIEND PATTY HAS WRITTEN A NEW LITTLE NOVEL And they made a charming little movie to promote it. Three minutes. STARTING A NEW BUSINESS – II And now WickedStart is the subject of a New York Times follow-up. (Reminder: I have a sliver of this. But since it’s free, and the Times seems to think it’s useful, I don’t feel too guilty plugging it.) ARE YOU THESE TWO THINGS? 1. A fantasy football or fantasy baseball enthusiast? 2. Rich? (Rich-ish?) Just in case you are, could you Me-Mail me? DVAX / TTNP UPDATE Guru: “It’s amazing how much better mousetraps DVAX (and TTNP) really are. Market just doesn’t care. The market WILL care when TTNP is sold (highly probable, though no guarantee) and when DVAX is launched (next year). DVAX has data to be released September 17 at the ICAAC meeting and then in October, highly likely that the CDC will recommend universal hep B vaccine for diabetics and DVAX is the hands down winner over the existing vaccine. Not in any way equivocal. This vaccine truly is the better mousetrap!” EMIS UPDATE Guru: “They are presenting data on osteoarthritis trial September 17. Title of talk suggests they saw significant improvement in pain and function and increase in cartilage. Provides support for osteoporosis trial. That trial’s last patient was done in late June or early July. Thus it is likely Novartis has at least a preliminary idea of the results. I’m hearing the official final data will be out in November. Always a lot of uncertainty in biotech but I remain positive.” DNDN UPDATE Guru: “DNDN had a conference call today. August sales were $22 million up from $19 million in July. Average reimbursement time is 30 days. One doc was reimbursed in 8 days. Issue is not price or patients with the right diagnosis: it is only reimbursement. As soon as each doc sees he is getting timely reimbursement he has lots of patients to put on. They have reduced head count by 25 percent. They are break-even at $500 million a year and they have enough cash to get there. Bottom line: worst is behind them stock is going up.”
Two Types of Idealists Which Are You? September 8, 2011March 25, 2017 3 GUITARS AND A TRACTOR PLAY ‘SWEET GEORGIA BROWN’ Where else do you get stuff like this? (Thanks, Stewart.) TRACTOR TRAILER FUN These eight photos are too terrific not to ogle. (Thanks, Murray.) IDEALISTS I’ve been engaging in an email thread with some very thoughtful high-end environmental activists/funders. They are rightly distressed over the peril to our planet (a concern Gore totally got that Bush ignored), and rightly distressed over compromises we’re having to make (be they to spare jobs at a time of economic crisis or to bridge the gap until negawatts and alternative energy can replace noxious energy sources). One of them was so discouraged he concluded a list of grievances by saying “I may not even vote for the first time in a dozen elections.” I so respect where he was coming from, I wrote back, but – not vote? I so disagreed with his assessment. “Here is a piece from Sunday’s Times” (I continued) “that concludes: ‘Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds.’” My own view is that the TRUE idealist is the one who does what he or she has to to advance his or her ideals (perhaps call him or her the “practical idealist”) whereas the TRAGIC idealist is tremendously well motivated but, by refusing to make the hard choices and accept the distasteful compromises, may actually set his or her cause back horribly. That’s what Nader did. By ignoring all his friends and advisors – who begged him to tell voters in Texas and Massachusetts to vote for him but swing state voters to vote for Gore – he dealt the world an (unintentional!) blow of truly disastrous proportions. If that’s idealism, I want no part of it. Those who, out of idealism, will stay home next year, or who this year fail to throw their full energy and resources into trying to register and turn out the huge vote needed to hold the White House and Senate, take back the House, and avoid losing the Court for the rest of our lives – they are Karl Rove’s dream idealists. People used to accuse President Clinton of having “no moral compass” – I saw that all the time. I spectacularly disagreed with that. Rather, I liked the metaphor (not original with me) of a sailor who knew EXACTLY where he wanted to go, wanted desperately to make the world better, but who, facing headwinds, had to tack to get there. And while President Clinton didn’t get everything we all wanted, he sure moved the ball down the field. (And continues to with his Clinton Global Initiative.) President Obama is the same way. Take an issue I know very well – LGBT rights. Not remotely as important as the habitability of the planet, but illustrative of what I’m trying to say. To this day, quite a few of the most passionate LGBT activists consider Obama’s performance in this area to have been disappointing. But here is a to-me-breathtaking list of 66 things he’s done that McCain never would have done and Perry or whoever will try to undo. Whatever led the Natural Resources Defense Council to proclaim that the Obama Administration did “more in its first few months to protect our air, water and communities than we’ve seen in the last decade” should count for something. The doubled CAFE standard recently negotiated should count for something. The ozone standards that will be imposed in 2013 if we reelect him but that will not if we don’t should count for something. And on and on. Not to mention taxing the affluent to provide affordable health care to 30 million uninsured of whom an estimated 45,000 die each year for lack of coverage . . . or the more stringent tobacco regulation . . . or eliminating the co-pay on birth control and lifting Bush’s “global gag order” (given the impact of population on the environment). SURE it’s upsetting we didn’t get the public option – let alone a sensible single-payer system – but why not channel our frustration where it belongs: the Republicans who wouldn’t allow it? I am emphatically NOT saying anyone is wrong forcefully to advocate for the environment. It’s obvious that nothing is more important. Nor is anyone wrong loudly to lament the compromises. We need to sound the alarm! But at the same time, the practical idealist – the true idealist – will join me in contributing everything she or he can in terms of energy and enthusiasm and resources to see that the Bush / Koch / Scalia / Exxon / Rove / Perry / Romney / Ryan / Limbaugh / Bachmann / Palin team are not given control of the White House, Congress, and – most durably, should Ruth Bader Ginsburg retire – the already-largely-corporate-captured Supreme Court. Tomorrow: Letter From a Marine to the President
Listen to a Highly Placed Long-Time Republican Staffer September 7, 2011March 25, 2017 He is Mike Lofgren and he titles his piece, “Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult.” In part: . . . The [Republican] Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy. It was this cast of characters and the pernicious ideas they represent that impelled me to end a nearly 30-year career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill. A couple of months ago, I retired; but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages. The debt ceiling extension is not the only example of this sort of political terrorism. Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel – how prudent is that? – in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization. Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care. . . . It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult . . . As Hannah Arendt observed, a disciplined minority of totalitarians can use the instruments of democratic government to undermine democracy itself. . . . There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters’ confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that “they are all crooks,” and that “government is no good,” further leading them to think, “a plague on both your houses” and “the parties are like two kids in a school yard.” This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s – a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn (“Government is the problem,” declared Ronald Reagan in 1980). . . . [T]he pundit’s ironic deprecation falls like the rain on the just and unjust alike, on those who precipitated the needless [debt ceiling] crisis and those who despaired of it. He seems oblivious that one side – or a sizable faction of one side – has deliberately attempted to damage the reputation of Congress to achieve its political objectives. This constant drizzle of “there the two parties go again!” stories out of the news bureaus, combined with the hazy confusion of low-information voters, means that the long-term Republican strategy of undermining confidence in our democratic institutions has reaped electoral dividends. The United States has nearly the lowest voter participation among Western democracies; this, again, is a consequence of the decline of trust in government institutions – if government is a racket and both parties are the same, why vote? And if the uninvolved middle declines to vote, it increases the electoral clout of a minority that is constantly being whipped into a lather by three hours daily of Rush Limbaugh or Fox News. There were only 44 million Republican voters in the 2010 mid-term elections, but they effectively canceled the political results of the election of President Obama by 69 million voters. . . . If you think Paul Ryan and his Ayn Rand-worshipping colleagues aren’t after your Social Security and Medicare, I am here to disabuse you of your naiveté. They will move heaven and earth to force through tax cuts that will so starve the government of revenue that they will be “forced” to make “hard choices” – and that doesn’t mean repealing those very same tax cuts, it means cutting the benefits for which you worked. . . . ☞ There’s much more, including some excellent criticism of Democratic messaging. It’s worth reading the whole thing. WHAT THE LEFT DOESN’T UNDERSTAND ABOUT OBAMA And, as a taste of columns to come – yes, we’re just getting started – there’s this from Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. It is addressed to my many wonderful friends who direct their frustration and anger at the President when it is in fact the other side that has stretched the political canvas on which he must paint. . . . The most common hallmark of the left’s magical thinking is a failure to recognize that Congress is a separate, coequal branch of government consisting of members whose goals may differ from the president’s. Congressional Republicans pursued a strategy of denying Obama support for any major element of his agenda, on the correct assumption that this would make it less popular and help the party win the 2010 elections. Only for roughly four months during Obama’s term did Democrats have the 60 Senate votes they needed to overcome a filibuster. Moreover, Republican opposition has proved immune even to persistent and successful attempts by Obama to mobilize public opinion. Americans overwhelmingly favor deficit reduction that includes both spending and taxes and favor higher taxes on the rich in particular. Obama even made a series of crusading speeches on this theme. The result? Nada. That kind of analysis, however, just feels wrong to liberals, who remember Bush steamrolling his agenda through Congress with no such complaints about obstructionism. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald recently invoked “the panoply of domestic legislation — including Bush tax cuts, No Child Left Behind and the Medicare Part D prescription drug entitlement — that Bush pushed through Congress in his first term.” Yes, Bush passed his tax cuts — by using a method called reconciliation, which can avoid a filibuster but can be used only on budget issues. On No Child Left Behind and Medicare, he cut deals expanding government, which the right-wing equivalents of Greenwald denounced as a massive sellout. Bush did have one episode where he tried to force through a major domestic reform against a Senate filibuster: his crusade to privatize Social Security. Just as liberals urge Obama to do today, Bush barnstormed the country, pounding his message and pressuring Democrats, whom he cast as obstructionists. The result? Nada, beyond the collapse of Bush’s popularity. Perhaps the oddest feature of the liberal indictment of Obama is its conclusion that Obama should have focused all his political capital on economic recovery. “He could likely have passed many small follow-up stimulative laws in 2009,” Jon Walker of the popular blog Firedoglake wrote last month. “Instead, he pivoted away from the economic crisis because he wrongly ignored those who warned the crisis was going to get worse.” It’s worth recalling that several weeks before Obama proposed an $800 billion stimulus, House Democrats had floated a $500 billion stimulus. (Oddly, this never resulted in liberals portraying Nancy Pelosi as a congenitally timid right-wing enabler.) At the time, Obama’s $800 billion stimulus was seen by Congress, pundits and business leaders — that is to say, just about everybody who mattered — as mind-bogglingly large. News reports invariably described it as “huge,” “massive” or other terms suggesting it was unrealistically large, even kind of pornographic. The favored cliché used to describe the reaction in Congress was “sticker shock.” . . . . . . Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds. ☞ More on this theme to follow. And tomorrow: TRACTOR TRAILOR FUN.
The First Day of School And Matt Damon's Mom September 6, 2011March 25, 2017 School’s back in session, and these two items are related: INCOME INEQUALITY From 1976-2007, average real (inflation adjusted) income reportedly grew at 4.4% for those in the top 1% compared with 0.6% for the bottom 99%. The top 1% captured 58% of all the income growth ( rising to 65% from 2002-2007). If you are concerned that the top 1% failed to capture 100% of the income growth (or 150% or 200%, which they could have done if the bottom 99% had seen their income fall) – these are the job creators, after all, and it’s important to us that they do well – never fear! We slashed their taxes along the way, so that, after-tax, they did even better. And that, my friends, is why unemployment is today so low: because we’ve given the job creators unprecedented incentive to create jobs.* *You will recall that no jobs were created in the Fifties and Sixties and Seventies when tax rates were high. No businesses were started. Not Apple, not Intel, not FedEx, not Wal-Mart or Microsoft, Humana, Oracle, Nike, Gap, Southwest Airlines or McDonald’s. With taxes high, there was simply no incentive. Would you try to make a fortune if you knew you’d have to pay taxes on it? I rest my case. UNACCEPTABLE TEACHERS And speaking of income inequality, here’s a rant by a public school administrator who I suspect works rather hard at his job, and deserves a listen. Or just read it here: by John Kuhn Let me speak for all public school educators when I say unequivocally: We will. We say send us your poor, send us your homeless, the children of your afflicted and addicted. Send us your kids who don’t speak English. Send us your special-needs children, we will not turn them away. But I tell you today, public school teacher, you will fail to take the shattered children of poverty and turn them into the polished products of the private schools. You will be unacceptable, public school teacher. And I say that is your badge of honor. I stand before you today bearing proudly the label of unacceptable because I educate the children they will not educate. Day after day I take children broken by the poverty our leaders are afraid to confront and I glue their pieces back together. And at the end of my life you can say those children were better for passing through my sphere of influence. I am unacceptable and proud of it. The poorest Americans need equity, but our nation offers them accountability instead. They need bread, but we give them a stone. We address the soft bigotry of low expectations so that we may ignore the hard racism of inequity. Standardized tests are a poor substitute for justice. So I say to [Education Secretary] Arne Duncan and President Obama, go ahead and label me. I will march headlong into the teeth of your horrific blame machine and I will teach these kids. You give me my scarlet letter and I will wear it proudly, because I will never cull the children who need education the most so that my precious scores will rise. I will not race to the top. I will stop like the Good Samaritan and lift hurting children out of the dirt. Let me lose your race, because I’m not in this for the accolades. I’m not in it for the money. I’m in it because it’s right. I am in it because the children of Perrin, Texas need somebody like me in their lives. Our achievement gap is an opportunity gap. Our education problem is a poverty problem. Test scores don’t scream bad teaching. They scream about our nation’s systematic neglect of children who live in the wrong zip codes. Listen to me, Arne Duncan: It’s poverty, stupid. And that’s not an excuse, that’s not an excuse, it’s a diagnosis. We must as a nation stop assuaging the symptoms and start treating the disease. Let me ask you a simple question: Where is adequate yearly progress for the politician? Will we have 100 percent employment by 2014? Will all the children have decent health care and roofs over their heads by their deadline? But wait. They don’t have a deadline. They aren’t racing anywhere, are they? When will our leaders ensure that every American community offers children libraries and little leagues instead of drugs and delinquency? Lawmakers sent you into congressional districts that are rife with poverty, rife with crime, drug abuse and poor health care, but lawmakers will never take on the label of “legislatively unacceptable” because they do not share the courage of a common school teacher. I say let us label our lawmakers like they label teachers. Let us have a hard look at their data. Let us have merit pay in Congress. Congressmen, politicians, if you want children that are lush, stop firing the gardeners and start paying the water bill. Politicians, your fingerprints are on these children. What have you done to help them pass their tests? President Obama, why don’t you come and join me in a crucible of accountability. We have talked enough about the speck in our teachers’ eyes, let’s talk about the plank in yours. ☞ And by the way? While I claim no expertise here, my own sense is that this is not either/or. Clearly, in many places, it’s been too hard to fire bad teachers, institute best practices, or streamline administrative bloat. That’s why I support Democrats for Education Reform and Harlem Success Academy; why I cheer for Race to the Top and my friend Steve Brill’s Class Warfare. But as is clear from the speech above, and this illuminating review of Steve’s book, there is very much another side to the story. And in my view, both are right: we absolutely need to encourage excellence, competition, and innovation. But we also need to recognize that most public school teachers – including most unionized public school teachers – are entirely deserving of our respect and appreciation. And that we’d better think hard about the income inequality cited above if we truly want a better outcome. (One more thing on this topic, in case you haven’t seen it? Matt Damon’s wonderful clip, with his Mom.)
Have a Great Weekend! September 2, 2011March 25, 2017 START YOUR OWN BUSINESS If you’re thinking of starting a small business, or recently have, check out yesterday’s New York Times profile of my pal Bryan and his free Wicked Start web site. (Full disclosure: I’m a shareholder.) It’s really hard to start a successful business. But Wicked Start could help. COOL SHOES Not cheap, I grant you, but here’s a cool gift for someone – or yourself – made in America and ecofriendly. Want blue laces with red uppers and green heels? My left sneaker says VOTE and my right sneaker says DEMOCRAT. WE THE PEOPLE This soon-to-launch White House innovation will provide a new way to petition the federal government to take action. If your petition attracts enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response. Truly a great idea. Have a great long weekend! Oh! And one more thing: HATE TAXES? 102 THINGS NOT TO DO I was told this was written by a woman named Joan Kyle. “It speaks volumes. If you like this, pass it along and give her credit.” (Or maybe it was written – here – by Stephen Foster? Whoever wrote it, it makes a point.) So, you’re a Republican who hates taxes? Well, since you do not like taxes or government, please kindly do the following. 1. Do not use Medicare. 2. Do not use Social Security 3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars. 4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster. 5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt. 6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home. 7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home. 8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge. 9. Do not use public restrooms. 10. Do not send your kids to public schools. 11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors. 12. Do not live in areas with clean air. 13. Do not drink clean water. 14. Do not visit National Parks. 15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments. 16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines. 17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds. 18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks. 19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts. 20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry. 21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job. 22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children. 23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason. 24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court. 25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants. 26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars. 27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes. 28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA. 29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service. 30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service. 31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems. 32. Do not apply for federal housing. 33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military. 34. Do not swim in clean rivers. 35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts. 36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster. 37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion. 38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone. 39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them. 40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat. 41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business. 42. Do not apply to win a government contract. 43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies. 44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency. 45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured. 46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care. 47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college. 48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits. 49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy. 50. Do not live in homes that are built to code. 51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars. 52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc… 53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars. 54. Do not use public libraries. 55. Do not use the US Postal Service. 56. Do not visit the National Archives. 57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries. 58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government. 59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured. 60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado. 61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm. 62. Do not take walks in National Forests. 63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company. 64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions. 65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars. 66. Do not use Medicaid. 67. Do not use WIC. 68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam. 69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority. 70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break. 71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea. 72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in. 73. Do not visit historic landmarks. 74. Do not visit fisheries. 75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List. 76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work. 77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land. 78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations. 79. Do not use public transportation. 80. Do not drink water from public water fountains. 81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws. 82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles. 83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets. 84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards. 85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation. 86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States. 87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something. 88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments. 89. Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators. 90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS. 91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government. 92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher. 93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state. 94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury. 95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents. 96. Do not attend a state university. 97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state. 98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems. 99. Do not complain when diseases and viruse; that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC, reach your house. 100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits. 101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, electionday officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes. 102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.