America: The Grim Truth
Mon, 08/09/2010 - 08:40 — Dave Culver- I am not writing this to scare you. I write this to you as a friend. If you are able to read and understand what I’ve written here, then you are a member of a small minority in the United States. You are a minority in a country that has no place for you.
- America Goes Dark
- We Are A Nation Of Sheep Being Led By Wild Dogs
Lance Freeman, Axis of Logic
Americans, I have some bad news for you: You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin.
If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.
I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.
I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.
Related:
The AIG Bailout Scandal
Mon, 08/09/2010 - 08:01 — Dave Culver
As Elizabeth Warren’s devastating Congressional report reveals, the Federal Reserve used taxpayer money to bail out the insurance giant, instead of forcing the major banks to clean up the mess they helped create. In so doing, the Fed may have set the system up for an even bigger fall in the future.
William Greider, The Nation
The government’s $182 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG should be seen as the Rosetta Stone for understanding the financial crisis and its costly aftermath. The story of American International Group explains the larger catastrophe not because this was the biggest corporate bailout in history but because AIG’s collapse and subsequent rescue involved nearly all the critical elements, including delusion and deception. These financial dealings are monstrously complicated, but this account focuses on something mere mortals can understand—moral confusion in high places, and the failure of governing institutions to fulfill their obligations to the public.
Three governmental investigative bodies have now pored through the AIG wreckage and turned up disturbing facts—the House Committee on Oversight and Reform; the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which will make its report at year’s end; and the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), which issued its report on AIG in June.
Brockton, MA: Pink slips for 430 teachers
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 15:51 — Dave Culver- If there's any question about the reasons for these massive cuts in education, read John Marion's report against the backdrop of Barack Obama's military budget for 2010 of nearly $1 Trillion. The monetary cost of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq this year will add $200-$250 million to the $1 trillion already spent on the wars in these two countries. If that isn't enough to explain why the education of children is being sacrificed by the United States government, one only has to refer to the taxpayer bailouts of the banks and corporations. - Les Blough, Editor, Axis of Logic
- Budget Woes Hit Nation's Schools Hard and Harder
John Marion, Axis of Logic
Heather Bastio, 16, carries a sign in support of striking teachers in Aliso Viejo, Calif. The majority of the district's teachers struck after the school board slashed their pay 10.1 percent last month (June, 2009). (Orange County Register)
Brockton Public Schools last Thursday (July 29) sent out pink slips to 430 teachers, more than a third of the school system’s 1,200 teaching staff. The drastic move is the result of a budget gap of $9.7 million for next year and is closely tied to projected cuts in local aid provided by the state of Massachusetts.
Tax the rich more. (They can take it.)
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 10:33 — Dave Culver
Dayton's campaign cry is really quite reasonable when you look at how state taxes have changed over the years.
Richard R. Miller, StarTribune | MN
Raise taxes on the rich. Is it a slogan from the past, a job-killing blunder, a plan destined for failure? The more former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton has persisted with this theme in his campaign for governor, the more I've wanted to learn why.
Last week (July 25-31) I read Dayton's tax plan, which led me to the Minnesota Department of Revenue's website and a document called the "Minnesota Tax Incidence Study." That study analyzes how much Minnesotans in various income groups pay in state and local taxes as a percentage of their total incomes. The study includes income, property, sales, gas, excise, liquor, cigarette, insurance and other taxes, and shows which groups are paying the bill for the state and local government services we get.
