Forum Post: Robots and Robber Barons

Duchebags working overtime, jackoffs never taking time off.

We Voted, they lost, but it's just the beginning! The Cons are frantic.

Our government is corrupt. We need to fix it. We have a plan. We need your help. The American Anti-Corruption Act.

Randi Rhodes

Monday, December 10, 2012

Last week, Michigan Republicans jammed through legislation making Michigan a “right to work” state. If you’re not familiar with “Right to Work” acts, they basically give workers the right to work for less. President Obama may have saved the jobs of Michigan autoworkers, but Michigan Republicans just found a way to make those jobs worth a lot less. The law includes a provision intended to make it harder to overturn it with a ballot referendum. At least Republicans learned something from Wisconsin and Ohio—if you you’re going to screw people, make sure they stay screwed.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/07/1300981/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-michigan-gops-right-to-work-assault-on-workers/

There’s a new movement to get money out of politics. Take a look at what they’re proposing... before money finds out about this. It’s called the American Anti-Corruption Act. The Act closes the revolving door between Congress and K Street. That’s not even an accurate metaphor anymore—the door has been completely removed. As it stands now, Congressmen who leave office can take high paying jobs with organizations whose purpose is to influence Congress—a process we call “Jim DeMint-ing.” The Act also aims to stop the influence of secret money on elections. This Act is essentially trying to unite the citizens... to fight Citizens United.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uDAnLnMWFY

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/roundtable-ii-week-politics-17918553?tab=9482930&section=1206874&playlist=17919121

GOP Congressman Bob Corker says that Republicans should agree to raising taxes on the rich... because later they can use the debt ceiling to slash Social Security and Medicare. So they’ll agree to one common sense idea, if we consent to one absolutely crazy idea. Corker said the debt ceiling limit gives Republicans “leverage.” Yes, if by “leverage” you mean “the ability to hold the American people hostage.”

Even if we go over the fiscal cliff and taxes on the middle class go up in January, there is a way that Obama can protect the middle class from the tax hike. That’s where we’re at—we need lifeboats to save us from Republicans. Even if the tax rates go up, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has the power to decide how much is actually withheld from paychecks. So just because Congress lets us go over the cliff, that doesn’t mean we have to fall. We would end up like the Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons when he goes over the cliff—we’ll be suspended in midair. The problem with that—and with the paycheck withholding fix—is that it only works for a little while.

Read more: http://www.randirhodes.com/main.html#ixzz2EkeiKEu0

http://www.randirhodes.com/pages/homework.html?feed=364336&article=10629546

Robots and Robber Barons

By PAUL KRUGMAN

The American economy is still, by most measures, deeply depressed. But corporate profits are at a record high. How is that possible? It’s simple: profits have surged as a share of national income, while wages and other labor compensation are down. The pie isn’t growing the way it Wait — are we really back to talking about capital versus labor? Isn’t that an old-fashioned, almost Marxist sort of discussion, out of date in our modern information economy? Well, that’s what many people thought; for the past generation discussions of inequality have focused overwhelmingly not on capital versus labor but on distributional issues between workers, either on the gap between more- and less-educated workers or on the soaring incomes of a handful of superstars in finance and other fields. But that may be yesterday’s story.

More specifically, while it’s true that the finance guys are still making out like bandits — in part because, as we now know, some of them actually are bandits — the wage gap between workers with a college education and those without, which grew a lot in the 1980s and early 1990s, hasn’t changed much since then. Indeed, recent college graduates had stagnant incomes even before the financial crisis struck. Increasingly, profits have been rising at the expense of workers in general, including workers with the skills that were supposed to lead to success in today’s economy.

Why is this happening? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/opinion/krugman-robots-and-robber-barons.html?_r=0

Unite with us to end government corruption.

Across the United States of America, citizens are disappointed in their government.

While the nation grapples with historical debt, a recession, energy dependence, inflation , terrorism, and wars we cannot afford, our politicians are asleep at the wheel.

The system is broken. Our government has been corrupted by money. We need Congress to solve the nation’s problems, instead our politicians are out raising money for re-election. The country is run by lobbyists - fighting on behalf of big oil, pharmaceuticals, military contractors, labor unions, trial lawyers, insurance companies, food corporations, and on and on. We may never get rid of lobbyists and big financial donors. But we all agree: citizens should come first.

Our government is corrupt. We need to fix it. We have a plan. We need your help.

http://act.unitedrepublic.org/event/cosponsor/6863