Month: September 2012

The Confidence Fairy is a vengeful harridan

by digby

Krugman points out in his column today that Mitt Romney declared himself to be the confidence fairy in his Boca remarks, saying that he really didn’t need to have an economic program, his election would be enough to lift all those boats without breaking a sweat. The declaration is as daft as it sounds, and Krugman dispatches it with his usual alacrity.

But within the column is this, which seems particularly relevant this morning:

It’s true that some studies suggest a secondary role for uncertainty in depressing the economy — and conservatives have seized on these studies, claiming vindication. But if you actually look at the measures of uncertainty involved, they’ve been driven not by fear of Mr. Obama but by events like the euro crisis and the standoff over the debt ceiling. (O.K., I guess you could argue that electing Mr. Romney might encourage businesses by promising an end to Republican economic sabotage.)

You should also know that efforts to base policy on speculations about business psychology have a track record — and it’s not a good one.

Back in 2010, as European nations began implementing savage austerity programs to placate bond markets, it was common for policy makers to deny that these programs would have a depressing effect. “The idea that austerity measures could trigger stagnation is incorrect,” insisted Jean-Claude Trichet, then the president of the European Central Bank. Why? Because these measures would “increase the confidence of households, firms and investors.”

At the time I ridiculed such claims as belief in the “confidence fairy.” And sure enough, austerity programs actually led to Depression-level economic downturns across much of Europe.

None of that has changed the ongoing belief in austerity among our ruling class, however. They are, apparently, completely faith based at this point, unshakable in their belief in their Fairy Goddess. Here’s Atrios:

If I actually believed that this was simply a story about evil plutocrats stealing from the rest of us I’d at least have a bit of respect. Oddly I don’t actually believe that. Sure there are evil plutocrats stealing from the rest of us, ones who know what they’re doing, but I also think that a lot of the people who rule us are just idiots.

Recession-hit Spaniards will this week be told to swallow yet more austerity as the government prepares a fresh round of reforms and another budget filled with spending cuts and tax increases that will allow it to seek a bailout from eurozone partners.

Pension freezes are also expected to form part of a raft measures to prepare the way for the European Central Bank (ECB) to give Spain support to control borrowing costs that will eat up a large chunk of next year’s budget.

Apparently the Confidence Fairy has a huge appetite for human sacrifice.

Mort Zuckerman read from the Austerian Book of Common Prayer on The McLaughlin Group this past week-end:

According to Austerian dogma, the US is exactly like Europe we just haven’t gotten there yet. So we must follow the European example and create as much suffering as possible as far as the eye can see to right the ship. (It’s the same illogic as the one that says in order to fix a projected shortfall in Social Security a couple of decades from now we need to lock in that shortfall today.)

Zuckerman isn’t even saying that the Confidence Fairy needs to be shown that we are serious about our debt so she will unleash her market power for the good of everyone. He’s pretty much admitting that she’s a vengeful Goddess who is punishing the lazy parasites for their piggish ways. She promises a dystopian hellscape in the future even for the deserving few unless we ensure that these parasites will continue to suffer now and in the future.

The confidence fairy is a monster.

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Foxconn riots pointing a way forward

by David Atkins

Workers at the now infamous Foxconn manufacturing plant in China, its reputation sullied for abuse and mistreatment of the workers who make overpriced electronic devices for export, are rioting:

Foxconn Technology, a major supplier to some of the world’s electronics giants, including Apple, said that it had closed one of its large Chinese plants early Monday after police were called in to break up a fight among factory employees.

The company said several people were hospitalized and detained by the police after the disturbance, which occurred late Sunday, escalated into a riot…

Disturbances at factories have become increasingly common in China, rights groups say, as laborers have begun to demand higher pay and better conditions.

Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman for the China Labor Bulletin, a nonprofit advocacy group in Hong Kong seeking collective bargaining and other protections for workers in mainland China, said workers in China had become increasingly emboldened.

“They’re more willing to stand up for their rights, to stand up to injustice,” he said.

The same Taiyuan factory was the site of a brief strike during a pay dispute last March, Hong Kong media reported then.

These sorts of events will hopefully become more common across the globe in protest against the ongoing predation of capital against increasingly defenseless labor.

American labor should stand alongside their brothers and sisters in China, in part by demanding that companies that manufacture goods in China adhere to minimum protections for workers’ rights wherever their goods are manufactured. Rather than fear the Chinese worker, American labor should embrace her.

Better wages and labor conditions for Chinese workers may mean higher prices for the latest unnecessary iPhone “upgrade” as Apple protects its unholy profit margins rather than charge a fair price for its legally unique rounded corners. But they also mean more and better jobs domestically for American workers, a better rounded Chinese economy, a reduction in the U.S. trade deficit with China, and a greater respect globally for the contribution of labor in an arbitraged world economy.

The future of labor doesn’t lie in shrinking back toward protectionism within nation-states. It lies in globalizing the labor movement. It’s not a new idea, after all: some famous German said that same thing in a pithy way a long time ago. The new model, however, has to learn from the failures of the old models on both sides of the Cold War, and embrace a real respect for democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, environmental protection, innovation, and a newfound respect for wages over assets.

What’s he hiding down below?

by digby

Obama may had Obama Girl but Romney has the Romney Boys:

I’m going to go smoke a cigarette now. And I haven’t done that in a couple of decades…

From Full Frontal Freedom

Is voting a civil right?

by digby

The respected political analyst Ann Coulter said on ABC’s This Week that civil rights are only for blacks:

“I think what — the way liberals have treated blacks like children and many of their policies have been harmful to blacks, at least they got the beneficiary group right… There is the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws. We don’t owe the homeless. We don’t owe feminists. We don’t owe women who are desirous of having abortions, but that’s — or — or gays who want to get married to one another. That’s what civil rights has become for much of the left… I think civil rights are for blacks… What have we done to the immigrants? We owe black people something. We have a legacy of slavery. Immigrants haven’t even been in this country.”

I must say that I’m fairly shocked she believes that we owe black people something. I’m can’t imagine what she thinks that is considering her views on “welfare queens” and “quotas”, but it’s interesting that she says it anyway.

But I wonder if she thinks blacks and Hispanics have a right to vote? I’m guessing no.

Anyway, here’s the latest news on that, which makes me think that this highly respected Sunday Morning political analyst might have an ax to grind:

The combined effects of voter roll purges, demands for proof of citizenship and photo identification requirements in several states may hinder at least 10 million Hispanic citizens who seek to vote this fall, civil rights advocates warn in a new report.

Hispanic voters are considered pivotal to the presidential election this November, and are being heavily courted by both Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. If they turn out in large numbers, Hispanics could sway the outcome in several swing states.

In an analysis based on government data, civil rights group The Advancement Project identified legal barriers that could deter voter registration and participation among eligible Hispanics. In some of those states, the group’s researchers said, the number of voter-eligible Latino citizens potentially blocked by those barriers exceeds the margin of victory in the 2008 election.

“Like African Americans, Latinos have experienced decreased access and correspondingly lower levels of voter registration and participation than non-Hispanic whites,” said the report, which was being released Monday.

Not that there’s anything new about this, mind you:

In the 1964 presidential elections, a young political operative named Bill guarded a largely African-American polling place in South Phoenix, Arizona like a bull mastiff. Bill was a legal whiz who knew the ins and outs of voting law and insisted that every obscure provision be applied, no matter what. He even made those who spoke accented English interpret parts of the constitution to prove that they understood it. The lines were long, people fought, got tired or had to go to work, and many of them left without voting. It was a notorious episode long remembered in Phoenix political circles.

It turned out that it was part of a Republican Party strategy known as “Operation Eagle Eye”, and “Bill” was future Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. He was confronted with his intimidation tactics in his confirmation hearings years later, and characterised his behaviour as simple arbitration of polling place disputes. In doing so, he set a standard for GOP dishonesty and obfuscation surrounding voting rights that continues to this day.

They just cheat. Always have.

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Elizabeth Warren’s balanced approach

by digby

If this is what Democrats define as a “balanced approach” I’m all for it:

Nice catch from the PCCC!

I’m pretty sure that definition is not the working definition in Washington at the moment, but a few progressive wins in November could change that up, Warren being among the most important.

If you like to reward her with a couple of bucks for defining this “balanced approach” in an progressive way, you can do that here.

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Things I did not know (Part 5,985,876)

by digby

Now we know why the skinflint rich hate Obamacare:

Most Americans pay more in payroll taxes – which finance Social Security and Medicare – than they do in income taxes. The rich are different.

Mitt and Ann Romney paid virtually no payroll taxes in 2011, because nearly all their income came from investments on which payroll tax was not owed.

For most taxpayers, the 2.9 percent Medicare tax levied on wage income will be the same next year as it was in 2011. But starting in 2013, high-income taxpayers will pay more – and in the Romneys’ case – much more.

Married taxpayers with income over $250,000 will pay a 3.8 percent Medicare tax rate on income over that amount, and all income will be covered, including the capital gains that make up most of the Romneys’ income.

If their 2013 income were unchanged from this year, their Medicare tax bill would exceed $500,000.

That tax was passed as part of the health care bill enacted by Congress and signed by President Obama in 2010 – a law known as “Obamacare.” Mr. Romney has pledged to seek repeal of that law.

Let’s lift the cap on social security too,while we’re at it. After all, if a man is so rich that he he can earn many millions while running for president — so many millions that he was able to “over-contribute” as a PR stunt, then he can easily afford to put more money into the safety net. In fact, he won’t even feel it.

Oh, and also. This seems to be a good time to clear up the confusion about Rafalca the dressage horse. Like may others, I erroneously said the other day that the Romney’s got a $77,000 deduction for the horse. That’s wrong. As this thorough Forbes piece spells out, they haven’t actually gotten it yet. It’s a deferred deduction. This deferral is very complicated. I don’t think it will be something you’ll find on Turbo Tax as an option to pay for your quilting hobby, but wealthy people like the Romney’s have high paid tax lawyers to do that for them.

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The charter con and who it’s hurting

by digby

A frightening new report on school segregation was released this week:

This report shows that segregation has increased seriously across the country for Latino students, who are attending more intensely segregated and impoverished schools than they have for generations. The segregation increases have been the most dramatic in the West. The typical Latino student in the region attends a school where less than a quarter of their classmates are white; nearly two-thirds are other Latinos; and two-thirds are poor. California, New York and Texas, all states that have been profoundly altered by immigration trends over the last half-century, are among the most segregated states for Latino students along multiple dimensions.

In spite of declining residential segregation for black families and large-scale movement to the suburbs in most parts of the country, school segregation remains very high for black students. It is also double segregation by both race and poverty. Nationwide, the typical black student is now in a school where almost two out of every three classmates (64%) are low-income, nearly double the level in schools of the typical white or Asian student (37% and 39%, respectively). New York, Illinois, and Michigan consistently top the list of the most segregated states for black students. Among the states with significant black enrollments, blacks are least likely to attend intensely segregated schools in Washington, Nebraska, and Kansas.

This finding is significant, I think, considering the recent issues in Wisconsin and Chicago:

The Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration, has taken no significant action to increase school integration or to help stabilize diverse schools as racial change occurs in urban and suburban housing markets and schools. Small positive steps in civil rights enforcement have been undermined by the Obama Administration’s strong pressure on states to expand charter schools – the most segregated sector of schools for black students. Though segregation is powerfully related to many dimensions of unequal education, neither candidate has discussed it in the current presidential race.

And people wondered why all those parents in Chicago supported the union. If anyone knows that separate but equal is bad for kids it’s them.

Meanwhile, Rahm is busily hitting up his hedge fund and school voucher advocate pals to help him spin his humiliation. From Chicago education blogger Mike Klonsky:

I turned on the TV this morning to see the new ad with Rahm doing damage control. He’s claiming he won the contract battle that led to the 7-day teachers strike by getting his longer school day in place along with evaluating teachers based on student standardized test scores. The ads are being paid for by DFER hedge-funders and school voucher advocates, Whitney Tilson and Ravenel Boykin Curry IV…

Newstips Curtis Black has a great column, “Strike Notes”, in which he quotes veteran Chicago political analyst Don Rose:

“The bottom line,” he argues at the Chicago Daily Observer, “is that Emanuel is out of the running as a presidential or vice-presidential candidate in 2016.” Maybe you can run without labor support, but running against active labor opposition is something else.

Black writes:

Mayor Emanuel has his own public relations conundrum at this point, and it’s not just a matter of rhetoric: he (and the business leaders and newspapers) are claiming that in order to pay for the new contract, they’re going to have to close down schools. In the meantime they’re planning to open up 60 new charter schools. In fact, this year’s budget has an additional $76 million for charters, which cost the district well over $500 million a year.

“We’re kind of confused about that,” said Wendy Katten of the Raise Your Hand Coalition. “If they’re claiming they have 130,000 unfilled seats in the district, why are they opening 60 new schools? That’s crazy. That’s just absurd.”

How to make the case? Always ready to help, the Tribune offers this line of argument:: charter schools are the best tool for busting the teachers union. Bruce Rauner, private equity mogul and major charter sponsor, chimes in that the goal is “separating teachers from the union.”

When it looks like a union busting duck and talks like a union busting duck … well, you know.

I bring you alleged Democrat Ed Rendell:

“It’s an important issue because Rahm Emanuel is showing again, that Democrats can stand up to unions when their demands are unreasonable.”

With friends like Ed, it’s possible that Rahm may have reached the end of his political career. We live in hope.

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Helping Americans In Need Is The American Way

by tristero

I am very proud that my hard-earned tax dollars helped pay for this woman’s welfare and to help other Americans who have fallen on hard times. They are my friends, my neighbors, and my fellow citizens.

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Romney’s economic advisor “triples down” on elitist whining

by digby

Check out this interview on Up with Chris with Romney’s economic advisor Emil Henry. With friends like these …

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ann Coulter was less thin skinned on This Week this morning. So, Romney’s economic advisors are elitist pricks too. Surprise! Pity the billionaires, indeed. Nobody understands the poor babies… I can’t help but wonder if these people really believe this tripe they are selling. If they do, their wealth is pure luck because their reasoning and analytical skills are virtually nil. Here’s your antidote: Chris Hayes

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Update: Now if Ann Romney were more like this, I think Mitt might have a chance:

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Far to the right of Reagan

by David Atkins

As harmful as Ronald Reagan was to this country, not even he wanted to let millionaires pay a lower share of taxes than everyone else:

Mitt Romney, supposed “moderate”, is far to right of Ronald Reagan on this and many other things.

By the way, it would be totally fine for journalists to point that out, too, rather than just partisans. That’s supposed to be their job.

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