Comment

Comment by Grinning Cat on November 5, 2012 at 10:43am

Thanks, Joan, for a "must-read" article!

Nonpartisan Tax Report Withdrawn After G.O.P. Protest

Some noteworthy bits from the NYTimes piece: (ellipses and emphases mine)

“When their math doesn’t add up, Republicans claim that their vague version of economic growth will somehow magically make up the difference. And when that is refuted, they’re left with nothing more to lean on than charges of bias against nonpartisan experts,” said Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Jared Bernstein, a former economist for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ... said the analysis did examine policy time lags and controlled for several outside factors, including monetary policy.

“This sounds to me like a complete political hit job and another example of people who don’t like the results and try to use backdoor ways to suppress them,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and frankly, it makes me worried.”

A copy of the withdrawn report is available at the NYTimes' link. Its summary states:

... the reduction in the top tax rates have had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth. However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 3, 2012 at 8:48am

Nonpartisan Tax Report Withdrawn After G.O.P. Protest

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Research Service has withdrawn an economic report that found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth, a central tenet of conservative economic theory, after Senate Republicans raised concerns about the paper’s findings and wording.

Enlarge This Image

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, center, and other Republicans raised concerns with an economic report that questions a central tenet of conservative economic theory.

The decision, made in late September against the advice of the agency’s economic team leadership, drew almost no notice at the time. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, cited the study a week and a half after it was withdrawn in a speech on tax policy at the National Press Club.

But it could actually draw new attention to the report, which questions the premise that lowering the top marginal tax rate stimulates economic growth and job creation.

“This has hues of a banana republic,” Mr. Schumer said. “They didn’t like a report, and instead of rebutting it, they had them take it down.”

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 3, 2012 at 3:27am

@Guitarzeroh Freethinker, yes, "religion and politics = bs", and I would add economics. They all exist as constructs fabricated out of the minds of human beings/male mostly, and signify power over, domination, exploitation, manipulation and reflect greed to feed egos. I don't like any of them for those reasons, but like a miller to a flame, they attract me. 

Comment by Secular Forces 2013 on November 3, 2012 at 1:05am

funny but not really.. 'religion' .. politics.. = bs..
neither can hold up to modern day standards of knowledge.. and I don't mean corporate lackey stuff.. .   .? megh. i voted! : )
many places in the world you cant.

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 2, 2012 at 8:37pm

Jill Stein Endorsements

Dorli Rainey 2012 Endorses Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for POTUS

Dorli Rainey 2011 the face of the Occupy protests after it went viral on the Internet. Covered in pepper spray, the 84-year-old woman looks both shaken and determined as she walks through the crowd at the Occupy Seattle protests, November 2011. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 2, 2012 at 2:37pm

This nation needs a serious overhaul to its economic and political processes. Austerity is not the answer to what is happening and what needs to happen. The ones who caused the economic collapse have not been held accountable for their crimes, even if you claim no crimes have been committed. You signed away privacy rights and thus taking farther down the road to benefit the oligarchs. Furthermore, you enabled a “Foreclosure Crisis that is actually the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.  It has been planned by insiders for decades, and NO insiders have been prosecuted.”

http://hofj.org/default.asp.pg-CrisisCrusade

 

Obama to sign indefinite detention bill into law.

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/obama_to_sign_indefinite_detention_...

 

Obama “embraced deficit hawkery.”

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/barack-obama-the-great-decei... 

 

Obama authorized killing Ben Laden

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/quotes/ownwords.asp

 

Obama authorized drone attacks on Afghanistan & Pakistan ... “193 drone strikes in Pakistan since 2009”.

http://www.cjr.org/feature/covering_obamas_secret_war.php?page=all

 

Obama authorized support for Syrian rebels to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/report-president-ob...

 

Obama enables USA to become a “surveillance state, with not only government agencies but private data miners watching and recording our lives.”

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12209-the-dirty-dozen-the-top-12-...

I did not vote for you because I don't think your principles stand up to scrutiny. Clearly you are a nice man, wonderful husband and father and great model for young people coming up. You are just plain wrong in your economic philosophy. 

Joan Denoo

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 1, 2012 at 6:09pm

I am pessimistic in the short run about our political life in the USA and on the Earth; Working with civil rights groups such as with blacks, Native Americans and women, I recognize how far we have come but how far we have to go on all these fronts. Now we have the added struggle to protect the environment and fight against a renewal of a class society. I am only becoming acutely aware of GLBT human rights issues. 
Many of the people I love most dearly have not a clue what these issues are all about and the most common things I hear from loved ones are: "don't be so negative", or "look on the positive side", or "get over it and get on with your life". 

The Roman Catholic church and the far right Protestant churchs seem to be joining together to make a powerful coalition to put religious dogma into our civic affairs and that can only mean trouble for GLBT and blacks and atheists and women and the poor. Fascist rule doesn't have to happen. Hitler didn't have to happen, nor did Mussolini.

Giving money in the amounts you and I can give is just throwing money down a deep hole in the ground. We can't match the millions pouring in from those who have vast amounts of unearned income. Using money on robocalls doesn't seem like a good investment to me; I don't answer my phone these days and let the answering machine pick up whatever comes in. I can stay in touch with people via internet better anyway. 

Equality and compassion are my two main issues; they aren't going to happen, yet. There are not enough people in real pain, yet. Perhaps such things will not come in our generation. 

So, where does that leave you and me and others who care about the things we care about? One thing I know for sure, an individual can't make powerful changes alone, even as I realize the really great changes in human enterprise has come about because of some leader that is able to inspire and motivate others toward a common goal. People like Margaret Sanger, Eleanor Roosevelt, Aung San Suu Kyi, Rosa Parks, and Sally Ride.

Comment by Joan Denoo on October 31, 2012 at 6:32pm

A woman can't get pregnant, by cartoonist Dave Horsey 

Comment by Joan Denoo on October 31, 2012 at 6:27pm

Romney's Halloween by Cartoonist Dave Horsey 

Comment by Joan Denoo on October 31, 2012 at 6:04pm

Cartoonist Dave Horsey, http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/

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