C. Robert Gibson at Occupy.com reminds us that, with Fed interest rates still near zero percent, we could be spending more money rebuilding our infrastructure. I maintain that the perfect tonic to right-wing squealing about Teh Deficit is to pay for infrastructure with a 91% tax bracket on millionaire income, just like in the old days, and though right-wingers will continue to squeal, they'll only be defending the super-rich when they do.
FAIR reminds us that when we hear "liberal" media pleas to DO SOMETHING!!!!! about Syrian refugees, they tend to forget (or, more precisely, "forget") that America is already "doing something" in Syria -- like funding Syrian rebels to the tune of $1 billion annually. And, of course, noting that we're already "doing something" in Syria opens us up to charges of doing the wrong or ineffective thing in Syria, which is a much more difficult thing to cover than the myth that we're doing nothing. Still, doing the difficult thing builds character.
PR Watch finds one of the world's largest temp agencies (Manpower, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and you can bet they heart Scott Walker and he hearts them back) agitating against President Obama's recent executive order requiring our government to take labor violations into account when awarding federal contracts. Specifically, PR Watch finds that a Manpower executive just so happens to sit on the board of a trade association advocating against the Obama order -- and Manpower has accumulated over $13 million in fines and settlements so far this millenium, while vacuuming up over $10 million in federal contracts just since 2013. Nope, nothing to see here.
And now, from the "actual frivolous lawsuits" file: two Montana state Senators sue to stop two Native American nations from taking over the Kerr Dam, because it could lead to terrorist attacks. No, really: because "the Turkish government and Turkish-American organizations have looked to establish business and cultural exchanges with Native Americans," and Turks are Muslim, there could be terrorists in there, and THE DAMN GOES BOOM! But please, right-wingers, tell me again how class-action lawsuits are inherently "frivolous."
Finally, I said I wasn't going to talk about Donald Trump anymore, but he's demonstrated enough staying power at the top of Republican Presidential polls even after saying all that racist and sexist crap that I feel compelled to weigh in. Mr. Trump's populism is certainly ironic (coming, as it does, from a billionaire), but it also appears unmediated -- that is, he sounds like he's talking off the top of his head. What consultant would have advised him to say, for example, that hedge-fund managers "get away with murder"? But this is a man who would never have gotten so rich back in the day when we taxed the rich hard and regulated markets for the common good, and his populism is all attitude. And I think his act is just the latest establishment Republican ploy to regain the Presidency -- sure, establishment Republicans sound like they hate him, but when have they ever told you the truth?
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