Getting Down To Business

Democrats Are The Only Party That's Lowered The Deficit In The Last 50 Years

 

Republicans: The Real Hypocritical, Crybaby Snowflakes

Republicans Seek to Limit Governor’s Veto

Wisconsin Republicans Advance Lame-Duck Power Grab

McConnell Would Fill Potential Supreme Court Vacancy In 2020, Reversal Of 2016 Stance

Fox News’ Chris Wallace Hits GOP for Complaining About Investigations: Remember Benghazi?

Republicans who held 33 hearings on Benghazi complain that Cohen’s testimony was a waste of time

Republicans tried to turn a hearing about white nationalism into a venue to complain about attacks on conservatives

Abolishing the Electoral College Was a Republican Idea

The disgraceful kowtowing of the formerly anti-imperial Republicans

After Reagan and Trump, Republicans don't get to complain about liberal celebrities anymore

The Republicans Are Deficit Hypocrites. The Democrats Should Be, Too.

Republican Leaders Vow to Obstruct State Budget, Then Complain About Lack of Negotiations

Senate Republicans can’t explain why they keep blocking a resolution calling for the release of the Mueller report

To GOP, Obama’s immigration orders were ‘executive overreach.’ What is it when Trump does it?

We Wouldn’t Have Let Obama Get Away With This

Sparks fly on Fox News as liberal nails Republican hypocrisy on outside questioning of Barr: ‘Like they did with Kavanaugh?’

Steve Wynn Is a Shining Example of Republican Hypocrisy

Why are Republicans so cruel to the poor? Paul Ryan's profound hypocrisy stands for a deeper problem

Ocasio-Cortez rips ‘horrifying’ Republican hypocrisy on support for 9/11 survivors after Ilhan Omar controversy

The Republican hypocrisy over Ilhan Omar's comment

Republicans Aren't Just Hypocrites, They're Nihilists

More Republican Hypocrisy On Separation Of Powers

Minister Calls Out ‘Hypocrisy’ of Republican Lawmakers Toward Unborn During Wisc. Republican State Convention

The Appalling Hypocrisy Of The Republican Party Exposed In Three Simple Charts

Sunday Reading

What Happened To Wisconsin?
Final Walker Jobs Gap - Nearly 164,000 Jobs!
Corporate Tax Deals May Be Public, But What Happens Next Is Often Secret
Washington Post Says Republicans Oppose Debt
In Praise Of Budget Deficits
Milwaukee Does Have A Socialist Past, But Democrats Have Other Reasons To Show Wisconsin Some Love
Elizabeth Warren's War On Big Tech Puts Her Ahead As The Candidate To Take On Corporate Power
Microsoft Sues Foxconn And Says It Owes Royalty Payments Plus Interest
It's Time To Take Fox News's Destructive Role In America Seriously
America's Fox News Problem
12 States Spend Less On Schools Now Than Before The Recession

Sunday Reading: Republican Debt & Deficit Edition

Trump's Economic Adviser Downplays Concerns Over Exploding Federal Deficit
The deficit is a key concern for Republicans. Trump isn’t making it better.

Republicans' hypocrisy on the US deficit is stunning, even in Washington

Republicans Are Once Again Very, Very Concerned About Deficits

Why Don't Republicans Fret About the Debt Anymore?

Republicans Have Forgotten They Hate Deficits

Republicans Are Outraged About the Deficit They Caused

Republicans Promised to Cut the Deficit. It’s Only Getting Worse

The GOP Deficit Scam Will Never Die

GOP deliberately increased deficits through tax cuts in order to cut social programs

House Republicans Got Away With It—Again

Sunday Reading

Milwaukee's Front Door Is Open Again. Harbor District Leaves Its Machine Stop Past To History.
Milwaukee 53206: The Anatomy Of Concentrated Disadvantage In An Inner City Neighborhood, 2000-2017
It's Not Capitalism, It's Crony Capitalism
Bear Market For Stocks Already Underway, Recession Coming, Says Crescat Capital
Republicans Have Been Smearing Democrats As Socialists Since Way Before You Were Born
How America Loved To Stop Worrying And Love Deficits And Debt
How Police Violence Paves The Way To Authoritarianism
The New Way To Deregulate
Why Midsized Metro Areas Deserve Our Attention
Good Riddance To Rahm Emanuel
How To Sell Off A City

Weekend Reading

Born-Again Fiscal Hawks Turn Into Doves
The Economy Is Soaring, And Now So Is The Deficit.
GOP Abandoning The Free Market
Kimberly-Clark Proves Tax Giveaways Don't Stop Layoffs
Wisconsin's Public Sector Is Smaller Than Most States'
Jeff Bezos' Quest To Find America's Stupidest Mayor
Foxconn Package Cost Wisconsin Eight Times As Much Per Job As Similar 2017 State Jobs Deals
Let's See How Low The Unemployment Rate Can Go
How Progressives Can Criticize Trump’s $7 Trillion Deficit Without Preaching Austerity
Why American Workers Aren’t Getting A Raise: An Economic Detective Story

17 WTF Items From Donald Trump's Budget

'Morally Bankrupt' Budget: After $1.5 Trillion Gift to Rich, Trump Demands $1.7 Trillion in Safety Net Cuts

Buying Jobs Appears To Be The Scott Walker Job Creation Strategy

Looks like Scott Walker's jobs plan for Wisconsin is to merely bribe companies into staying and/or coming.

With another election right around the corner, alongside Walker's disgraceful record on jobs, he's going all-in with Wisconsin taxpayer money and buying all the jobs he can, at any cost.

He now wants to give Kimberly-Clark money to retain jobs in Wisconsin. Walker wants to work with the Legislature to approve an increase in the tax credits available for job retention from 7 percent in current law to 17 percent.

Seems Walker's plan is to run up the bill for Wisconsin taxpayers, under the guise of job creation, buying jobs for the State, just in time for his next campaign.

Republicans, Back In Power, Running Up The Tab, Again

The U.S. government is set to borrow nearly $1 trillion this year, an 84 percent jump from last year

The U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this fiscal year, according to a documents released Wednesday. It's the highest amount of borrowing in six years, and a big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year.

In a report this week, the CBO said tax receipts are going to be lower because of the new tax law.

Weekend Reading

For Democrats, Cleaning House Means Pelosi and Schumer Too
Surviving The Age of Trump
Did Trump Steal Wisconsin?
Why Oklahoma Can't Turn Off Its Earthquakes
Fracking Isn't Causing Oklahoma's Earthquakes - This Is
Do Markets Really Hate Uncertainty? Not At All
Why Are These Clowns Winning? Secrets of The Right-Wing Brain
Treat Start-Up Companies Like The Bucks
Walker's Lead Poisoned Politics
David Clarke The Demagogue
John Doe, Open Records Proves Harsdorf, Olsen Crooked, Unfit for Office
Wisconsin Corporations Won't Step Up To Improve State's Economy
Almost Two-Thirds of People In The Labor Force Do Not Have A College Degree
10 Facts About American Workers
How America Grew -- and Grew Unequal
Who Really Runs Your City?
Why I Left The Republican Party To Become A Democrat
Democratic Presidents are Better at Making Us Rich. Eight Reasons Why
Art of the Steal: This Is How Trump Lost $916M and Avoided Tax
Paying For Job Reductions: The Unreported Story of a Ballooning Tax Credit
The Deficit is Too Small, Not Too Big

Stop Cryin' In Yer Beer

I've heard varieties of the "Obama hasn't done anything" idea spouted about in the media, from friends, by co-workers, etc.

Now, I wanted a more liberal agenda pursued, but nonetheless, I'm not blind to the fact that Barack Obama has accomplished very, very big things.

Government is shrinking, deficits are declining, employment is improving, health care inflation is subsiding, infrastructure projects have been completed nationwide ...

For Further Enlightenment:

PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS DONE A LOT! A LIST OF 340 ACCOMPLISHMENTS SO FAR, WITH CITATIONS

Obama's top 10 accomplishments

Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments

History will be very kind

In Defense of Obama

Scott Walker’s Cowardice Should Disqualify Him

Scott Walker’s cowardice should disqualify him

As the world now knows, Giuliani, the former New York mayor, said at a dinner featuring Walker, the Wisconsin governor, that “I do not believe that the president loves America.” According to Politico, Giuliani said President Obama “wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up, through love of this country.” 

And Walker, just a few seats away, said . . . nothing...

At home in Wisconsin, Walker’s leadership has been conspicuously missing. His tax cuts have left the state with a $283 million deficit that needs to be covered by midyear and a deficit projected at $2 billion for the two years beginning in July. Bloomberg News reported this week that the state will delay $108 million in debt payments due in May — a move that will ultimately increase the amount Wisconsin has to pay.

Wisconsin's $2.2 Billion Deficit

State faces $2.2 billion deficit heading into 2015-17 budget cycle

So surprising this article surfaces just after the election. All we've heard over the past few months is how Wisconsin has been moving forward and Scott Walker had saved the Wisconsin economy.

Somehow, in the past few weeks, the media has discovered billions in deficits. How convenient for Scott Walker.

It was actually estimated at $1.8 billion back in September. Nary a peep was heard from the media (or the Democrats, for that matter) questioning Walker about this during the campaign.

Can anyone (other than the MacIver Institute or the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute) name something positive Scott Walker has done for Wisconsin during his time in office?

Americans Voters Defy Reason

[source]

Many of us Canadians are confused by the U.S. midterm elections. 

Consider, right now in America, corporate profits are at record highs, the country's adding 200,000 jobs per month, unemployment is below 6%, U.S. gross national product growth is the best of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. 

The dollar is at its strongest levels in years, the stock market is near record highs, gasoline prices are falling, there's no inflation, interest rates are the lowest in 30 years, U.S. oil imports are declining, U.S. oil production is rapidly increasing, the deficit is rapidly declining, and the wealthy are still making astonishing amounts of money. America is leading the world once again and respected internationally — in sharp contrast to the Bush years. Obama brought soldiers home from Iraq and killed Osama bin Laden. 

So, Americans vote for the party that got you into the mess that Obama just dug you out of? This defies reason. 

When you are done with Obama, could you send him our way? 

Richard Brunt
Victoria, British Columbia

Oh! Big Surprise

Top wage earners get biggest benefit from Gov. Scott Walker's tax cuts

"People shouldn't be misled to think there's much in it for the bottom two-fifths of Wisconsin," Peacock said of Walker's latest plan. 

Reschovsky said the proposed property tax cut would be of some help overall to renters, since it would help to hold down rent increases. But it would also help state companies with Wisconsin parcels and well-to-do families with vacation homes, not just elderly homeowners struggling to pay their annual tax bills.

Top 5% of Wisconsin Residents Get 18% of Tax Cuts Proposed by the Governor

We’re primarily concerned that Governor Walker’s plan ignores holes in the current budget, and creates a deeper hole in the next one – boosting the structural deficit in 2013-15 to $825 million.

That said, many people have asked us about the distribution of the proposed tax cuts, and we asked the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) to crunch the numbers for us. The ITEP analysis — which focused just on the two major changes in the Governor’s plan — found that the top 5% of Wisconsinites, who made $161,000 or more in 2013, will get 18% of the tax cuts. By contrast, the bottom 40% get just 15% of the benefit.

Krugman Smacking Down Stupidity (Again)

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

Everybody Knows

Paul Krugman states

"It’s hard to turn on your TV or read an editorial page these days without encountering someone declaring, with an air of great seriousness, that excessive spending and the resulting budget deficit is our biggest problem. Such declarations are rarely accompanied by any argument about why we should believe this; it’s supposed to be part of what everyone knows.

This is, however, a case in which what everyone knows just ain’t so...

It’s true that right now we have a large federal budget deficit. But that deficit is mainly the result of a depressed economy — and you’re actually supposed to run deficits in a depressed economy to help support overall demand. The deficit will come down as the economy recovers: Revenue will rise while some categories of spending, such as unemployment benefits, will fall. Indeed, that’s already happening."

Right now, our policy concern should not be deficits. This austerity push is actually slowing the economy. We should be concerned with spending [infrastructure] and getting people back to work.

Deficit Facts

"When President Obama took office in 2009 the deficit was already running at close to a record-setting pace. At the end of that fiscal year, it was $1.4 trillion. That’s “trillion” with a “T”. Ouch. Fiscal 2012 ended on Sept. 30. The final figures aren’t yet in, but at the moment the Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit will be ... (drum roll) $1.1 trillion. So smaller. Not doubled at all," reported Peter Grier.  Did Obama Really Double The Deficit?

"It's worth noting, then, that as of today, the U.S. federal budget deficit has shrunk -- a lot. Obama inherited a deficit of nearly $1.3 trillion from Bush/Cheney the moment he took the oath of office. This year, however, according to the official data published by the Treasury Department, the deficit was $1.089 trillion," explained Steve Benen.  U.S. Budget Deficit Shrinks

The Truth About Social Security (And Alan Simpson)

Gangs Of Marauding Seniors