Recently in Politics Category

And it's a bi-partisan effort:"Both Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee, signaled that they're preparing budgets that would seek cuts to government spending in order to address the deficit.Conrad said he'd look to the recommendations by President Obama's fiscal commission as a "starting point," and then look to craft a budget that improves on those proposals."I have...

Just one small segment of Sen. Bernie Sanders' marathon speech on the floor of the Senate yesterday, dealing with the class war and the winners and losers in that war:<br />"...in the year 2007, the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income. The top 1 percent earned 23.5 percent of all income-more than the entire bottom 50 percent.""From 1980-2005, 80% of all income went to...

Forgive me while I take a momentary detour into Never-Never Land. Reality is too damn depressing."My fellow Americans, Our country stands at the crossroads. We have 15 million of our fellow citizens out of work and an equal or greater number who are working part-time because that's all that is available. Our economy is facing crushing financial deficits, and we are in the midst of fighting two foreign wars. We can do the easy and...

The latest on "The Deal":President Obama at Tuesday's press conference: [I]t's a big, diverse country, and people have a lot of complicated positions, it means that in order to get stuff done we're gonna compromise...This country was founded on compromise."Yesterday: "Vice President Biden told House Democrats on Wednesday that the tax agreement the White House struck with Republicans was essentially final, forcing the divided caucus to decide whether to press its fight for changes in...

I've been in Tokyo, Japan this week for business meetings, so have spent a couple of days walking the city and riding in the back of cabs from place to place.  In my spare time, I've be absorbing as much as I can of Tokyo, walking back streets of shops and trying to experience Japanese culture and cuisine as much as I can.  As I've become comfortable in this city, I've also become painfully aware...

Winners and losers in yesterday's episode of "Let's Make A Deal":Big winner (surprise, surprise): The wealthy. The Bush tax rates, with 52.5% of the benefit going to the top 5% of taxpayers, remain in effect for at least the next two years. Just as an aside, these are the same rates which cost about $2.5 trillion, all of it borrowed. What happened to the deficit monster? Hmmm. The capital gains and dividends taxes stay low...

It's official, and Obama has bowed to President McConnell  and extended ALL of the Bush tax cuts for two years in exchange for an extension of unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut to encourage hiring. For a second, put away the outrage.  I would like to suggest that the President has something else in mind long-term. The tax cuts will now expire on December 31, 2012.  If the world hasn't ended already, this will give the...

Why is this man smiling?You would be smiling too if you'd just been named de facto President of the United States:"White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders began exploring whether they would have the votes for such a package. A day after the Senate rejected President Obama's preferred [yeah,right] tax...

The old Mammoth Cave:The new Mammoth Cave:"White House negotiators and congressional Republicans have the outlines of a deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and federal unemployment benefits, which would end a partisan stalemate on Capitol Hill. Under the prospective deal, all the Bush tax cuts would be extended for two years and unemployment benefits would be extended for one, according to congressional sources."  But the extension of unemployment benefits comes with a caveat:"Senior Senate...

This quote by Virginia Senator Jim Webb referenced in Frank Rich's op-ed yesterday entitled, "Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy" says all we need to know about our broken, corrupt, two-party system:"Webb has pushed for a onetime windfall profits tax on Wall Street's record bonuses. He talks about the "unusual circumstances of the bailout," that the bonuses wouldn't be there without the bailout."I couldn't even get a vote," Webb says. "And it wasn't because...