Tag Archives: paul ryan’s budget

Average income increase for 90% of us over the past 40 years: a whopping $59.00

Posted on by

Average income rose just $59 from 1966 to 2011 for the bottom 90 percent once those incomes were adjusted for inflation… the top 10 percent fared much better, according to a new study of tax data from David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner: In 2011 the average AGI of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.

[...] The biggest driver in that disparity, Cay Johnston wrote, was not that the rich were working harder, “but the shift of income from labor to capital and changes in federal income, gift, and estate tax rules.” Indeed, the estate tax has been eased over recent decades and federal income taxes have become more favorable to the wealthy thanks to breaks for investment income. A recent study, in fact, found that the capital gains tax cut, which benefits the wealthy but does virtually nothing for everyone else, was “by far” the biggest driver in the growth of American income inequality.

Other important facts: 

(via ThinkProgress)

The rise in wealth inequality? It’s permanent: “the advantaged [are] becoming permanently better-off, while the disadvantaged becoming permanently worse-off.” [...] If we were seeing a lot of transient inequality, that would mean the households at the bottom in any given year still have a good shot at improving their lifetime earnings. The fact that the inequality is of the permanent sort shuts the window on that optimistic interpretation: The earners at the bottom are stuck at the bottom, and their lifetime earnings are about as low as one would think. (via Ezra Klein)

With this ever-increasing, permanent inequality, now decades in the making, what’s most important to Republicans? 95% of the GOP-led House voting in favor of Paul Ryan’s Class Warfare Budget:

  • Recent analyses have shown that [Ryan's] budget plan’s tax reforms, which lower top tax rates to 25 percent, would give millionaires at least $200,000 in tax cuts. At the same time, it would slash the social safety net, targeting poverty programs for two-thirds of its cuts. (via Travis Waldron)
  • Ryan’s budget would end Medicare, cut taxes by over $5 trillion, take health care benefits away from millions of Americans, make “massive” cuts to in programs for low-income and vulnerable Americans, and relies on smoke and mirrors to balance the budget within a decade… It’s designed to satisfy folks who believe the wealthy are over-burdened by taxes and struggling families have too much access to affordable health care. (via Steve Benen)

Unfortunately the non-wealthy, low-info Republican base voters — who have been personally harmed by income inequality just like everyone else — have been successfully programmed to chase the regularly-scheduled and completely manufactured social outrages dangled before them (usually involving guns, God, and gays), instead of paying attention to what their party is actually doing with tax laws and budgets.

TGIF morning’s 4 sort of interesting things

Posted on by

1) BYE  SANTORUM

Here’s a slip you’d NEVER make unless you’re thinking the word, or unless you use the word a lot in private conversations…

WATCH VIDEO below:

…

2) YOUR 2012 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: MITT ROMNEY

Because why should the wealthy have to pay the same rates as the rest of us? Romney Campaign Gripes About The ‘Tax Problem’ Created By Romney’s $100 Million IRA — Wall Street Journal the “tax problem” created by Romney’s massive $100 million retirement account: In any case, swelling the IRA to the size Mr. Romney’s reached has “created a tax problem” for the former Massachusetts governor, said a Romney campaign official. Tax-law changes since Mr. Romney’s Bain tenure mean that long-term capital gains in regular accounts now are taxed at 15%. But IRA gains are taxed at ordinary-income rates upon withdrawal, which for Mr. Romney, under current law, would be 35%. “Who wants to have $100 million in an IRA?” said the campaign official. || NOTE: Romney’s own tax plan would alleviate his “problem” by implementing a 20 percent reduction in the top income tax rate. Even before he rolled out the second version of his tax plan, which took his absurd tax cuts for the rich even further, Romney’s tax plan would have cut his own taxes nearly in half.

Exclusive: Paul Ryan Will Endorse Romney — Ryan is appearing on the show of top Wisconsin talk radio host, Charlie Sykes, Friday morning, and Republicans speculated after BuzzFeed reported the endorsement Thursday night that the formal announcement could come Friday morning. The move is also timed to end the Republican contest, coming after another major conservative leader, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, backed Romney. It badly undercuts Santorum’s case that he can rally a conservative opposition to the moderate frontrunner, and is likely to further squeeze the money and political support Santorum has sought to command. The apparent cost of Ryan’s endorsement was Romney’s backing earlier this month for Ryan’s 2013 budget plan, which would cut the top marginal tax rate while reducing spending on Medicare and Medicaid, and shifting the federal health program for the elderly to a private voucher system.

…

Romney endorsements – FEEL the excitement! — Florida Senator Marco Rubio endorsed Mitt Romney for president yesterday, but you wouldn’t know it if you were listening to him today wherein he said this: “There are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish had run for president — but they didn’t… I think Mitt Romney would be a fine president, and he’d be way better than the guy who’s there right now.” That’s quite a non-endorsement endorsement. “I wish someone else would have run, but they didn’t, so I guess I’m stuck endorsing this guy.” || NOTE: in case anyone dreams that Marco Rubio is proof that the GOP loves, loves, loves (!) Hispanics / Latinos, and Rubio’ll bring those voters into the ‘big’ tent, never forget what the rightwing base-nuts actually THINK about Hispanics / Latinos: Breitbart.com: If You’re Hispanic, You’re Definitely Not ‘White’

3) REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEA IN THE 21ST CENTURY

GOP Thwarts Repeal Of Big Oil Subsidies — Even though the major oil companies are turning in world record quarterly profits, today the GOP members of the Senate thwarted a bill to repeal their massive multi-billion dollar tax subsidies. Senate Republicans, including Scott Brown of Massachusetts, today foiled President Obama’s plan to strip $24 billion in tax subsidies from the country’s largest oil companies, potentially fueling an election-year issue among voters disgruntled by escalating gas prices. The 51-47 vote was mostly along party lines. Most Democrats, including Senator John Kerry, voted in favor of eliminating the subsidies but fell far short of the 60 votes needed to withstand a filibuster. […] It’s a win-win for the GOP. They get to pocket millions in Super PAC campaign dough via Big Oil donations AND they get to scream about the high price of gasoline. UPDATE: Think Progress points out: “The 47 senators voting against the bill have received $23,582,500 in career contributions from oil and gas.”

“Republicans could have easily taken the stand of defending the Stand Your Ground laws. They could have said they welcomed an investigation and believed that the investigation would show the truth. But they didn’t do that. Instead, the went after the victim and portrayed him as someone who probably had it coming. This is all we need to know about Republicans and how they approach matters of race. When given an opportunity, they didn’t hesitate for a second to smear a dead kid.” — A comment on the article How The Right Deals With A Problem Like Trayvon Martin [image: liberalsarecool]

Missouri Republicans Embrace Birtherism, Pass Bill Requiring Proof Of Citizenship — HB 1046 was introduced by state Rep. Lyle Rowland (R). He explained why he felt the bill was necessary to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Rowland, a Republican from Cedarcreek, said he sponsored the bill because he doesn’t think there is enough vetting in the current process, which primarily relies on political parties to verify whether candidates meet all requirements. “This would just provide us with the verifying evidence,” Rowland said. Rowland and other Republicans deny that the bill is in response to charges that President Obama is not a citizen, but state Democrats are unconvinced, calling the timing questionable. “There is a large amount of people out there who don’t think our president if a U.S. citizen,” said Rep. Jacob Hummel (D).

4) APOCALYPTIC POTENTIAL (VOTE!)

Ezra Klein: Forecast: Republicans to take Senate in 2012 — Alan Abramowitz projects Republicans will keep the House and win back the Senate in 2012. More on his model here. If Obama is reelected, I’m not sure how much this matters: As Republicans are likely to control the House either way, anything that passes will require their agreement whether or not they also control the Senate. The real takeaway is that if Mitt Romney wins, he’s very likely to have a Republican House and a Republican Senate. And you can make major changes to the tax code, not to mention Medicare and Medicaid, through the 51-vote budget reconciliation process. || NOTE: IMAGINE THIS DEBACLE PASSING AS LAW:

  • House Republicans Pass Paul Ryan’s Radical Budget – The House of Representatives today passed the radical Republican 2013 budget, authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), by a vote of 228-191. The budget would gut the social safety net, but give so much in tax cuts to the rich and corporations that it would still increase the national debt. 10 Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting no.

Thursday morning’s 4 slightly interesting things

Posted on by

1) FOOT IN MOUTH ROMNEY

Romney Laughingly Recalls Father’s Layoffs — From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: At the outset of the call, Romney said he has some connections to Wisconsin. “One of most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors … They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Romney. “And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin. Now later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.” Romney said he recalled a parade in which the school band marching with his father’s campaign only knew the Wisconsin fight song, not the Michigan song. “So every time they would start playing ‘On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin,’ my dad’s political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop, because they didn’t want people in Michigan to be reminded that my dad had moved production to Wisconsin,” said Romney, laughing.

White House to Romney: Cold War over — White House spokesman Josh Earnest rejected accusations by Romney, the Republican Party frontrunnner to challenge the Democratic president, that Obama had nothing to show for his overtures to repair relations with Russia. “You don’t have to be a foreign policy expert to know that the Cold War ended 20 years ago and that the greatest threat that the president has been fighting on behalf of the American people is the threat posed by al-Qaeda. The irony is that Russia, particularly in the cases of North Korea and Iran, (has) worked very well with the international community to isolate those two regimes and to seek a diplomatic solution to hold those two regimes accountable for living up to their international obligations,” Earnest said.

2) HEAD UP ASS SANTORUM

Santorum tells young man not to use pink bowling ball ‘on camera’ – Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Wednesday told a young man not to use a pink ball at a bowling alley in Wisconsin. “You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera,” he said, according to Reuters reporter Sam Youngman. “Friends don’t let friends use pink balls,” he added. Santorum was bowling with the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse College Republicans. Wisconsin holds its presidential primary next Tuesday.

3) THE GOP’S NEW CLASS WARFARE SCHEME (SAME AS THE OLD SCHEME)

Cantor Proposal for 20 Percent Business Tax Deduction Would Provide Windfall for Wealthy, Not Create Jobs — Though billed as a measure to create jobs by aiding small businesses, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) proposal for a 20 percent tax deduction in 2012 for businesses with fewer than 500 employees would benefit many high-income taxpayers — including many affluent doctors, lawyers, and stockbrokers — while failing to generate the promised economic benefits. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that nearly half — 49 percent — of the $46 billion tax cut that the measure would provide would go to people with incomes over $1 million a year. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) rated this general approach as one of the least cost-effective ways that policymakers were considering to encourage growth or create jobs in a weak economy. For one thing, the tax benefits would flow disproportionately to high-income people who would spend a relatively small share of their additional income; thus, CBO estimated that the deduction would generate just 0 to 20 cents in economic growth for every dollar in budgetary cost. For another, firms would receive this tax break whether they hired new workers or not; thus, CBO estimated that in 2012 it would create one job or fewer per $1 million of budgetary cost.

The House Republican Budget Would Eliminate Pell Grants For More Than One Million Students — More than 1 million students would lose Pell grants entirely over the next 10 years under Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, according to an analysis that the national reform organization Education Trust provided to The Huffington Post. And by the looks of it, the Ryan budget, which is slated to hit the House floor this week, would hit the poorest kids hardest. [...] The budget would cut Pell grant eligibility for students who attend classes on a less-than-halftime schedule — which usually means low-income students who need to work their way through college. And it gets worse. Sixty percent of students who receive Pell grants also take out loans — twice the rate for college students overall — so they might be doubly hit by the Ryan cuts: In addition to receiving less Pell money, they would have to start paying interest on their loans while still in school.

4) TRAYVON MARTIN MURDER

Funeral director saw no signs of fight on Trayvon’s hands – “As for his hands and knuckles, I didn’t see any evidence he had been fighting anybody,” Kurtz said. Citing police sources, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Zimmerman told investigators Martin punched him and slammed his head into the ground repeatedly before he fired the shot that killed the unarmed 17-year-old. He claimed he shot Martin in self-defense, and he has not been charged in the case at this point. While Kurtz is not a forensics expert, the funeral director said he has handled the bodies of many homicide victims in his career. This case in particular affected him as he learned more about what happened to Trayvon Martin and how the case was handled. “I think the police investigation was the most unprofessional one I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” Kurtz said.

Surveillance video shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman  – The video shows Zimmerman arriving at the Sanford Police Department in a police cruiser. […] The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was covered in grass, and was bleeding from the back of the head and nose. Zimmerman’s lawyer has also said that his nose was broken in the incident. But the surveillance video shows no blood or bruises on him. It is unclear whether the medical attention Zimmerman reportedly received would have stopped him from bleeding. The lead homicide investigator on the Trayvon Martin case recommended George Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter, but was denied. Chris Serino, the Sanford investigator, filed an affidavit on the night of crime saying he was unconvinced of Zimmerman’s account. However, the state attorney’s office told Serino not to press charges against Zimmerman because there wasn’t enough evidence against him. WATCH VIDEO:

Trayvon Martin: The 5 Key Unanswered Questions — While media coverage of the case has been intense, there are several key questions that have yet to be answered about the case. Here are five of the most important: 1. What was the purported “conflict” that required the initial prosecutor to step down? 2. Why did the prosecutor ignore the recommendations of the lead homicide investigator? 3. Why did then-Police Chief Bill Lee make public statements directly contradicting the official recommendations of the police department? 4. Who leaked Trayvon Martin’s school records? 5. Why was Trayvon Martin’s body tagged as a John Doe? Special prosecutor Angela Corey has promised to release additional information about the case once she makes a decision about whether to charge Zimmerman, something that could happen at any time.

Trayvon Martin Case: Department of Justice to investigate entire Sanford police – He said that so many people complained at Monday night’s city commission meeting about Sanford officers, the city asked the Department of Justice to step in. “I am now in the process of talking with the Department of Justice and instituting a mechanism whereby citizens that have concerns or complaints about the Sanford Police Department can have their concerns heard and investigated by an independent agency,” Bonaparte said. WFTV found the investigations could pave the way for a long relationship with federal officials. After complaints surfaced in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, the Department of Justice found a pattern of civil rights abuse. Then, it completely took over the departments and entered into “consent decrees” to improve them. The Department of Justice took over the department in LA for eight years and in Pittsburgh for four.

Monday morning’s 6 slightly interesting things

Posted on by

1) PRESIDENT OBAMA

Republicans are desperate to kill health care reform – stop them

…

Obama campaign manager calls Romney ‘Godfather’ of healthcare: “‘Mitt Romney is the godfather of our health care plan,’ Plouffe said on NBC’s Meet the Press. ‘If he is president, remarkably he is running away from that past, and he says he is going to try to throw all this away. We’re going to have a big fight about health care again.’” [Politico]

2) AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

This morning begins three days of arguments in the most significant Supreme Court case in decades. The central question: Will the Affordable Care Act stand?

Solicitor General warns of ‘grave’ consequences if Supreme Court overturns health reform – Q:) What is at stake in this hearing? A:) If the Supreme Court struck this down, I think that it wouldn’t just be about health care. It would be the Supreme Court saying: ‘Look, we’ve got the power to really take decisions, move them off of the table of the American people, even in a democracy. And so it could imperil a number of reforms in the New Deal that are designed to help people against big corporations and against, indeed, big governments. The challengers are saying that this law is unconstitutional, which means even if 95 percent of Americans want this law, they can’t have it. And that’s a really profound thing for an unelected court to say. Q:) What are the possible outcomes? A:) The two main outcomes that one can predict — the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate as unconstitutional because it’s unprecedented or it upholds it and says it is part of Congress power over commerce and over taxation. The latter is far more likely because it is such a grave thing for unelected judges to take a decision of such a magnitude for American people. I expect the Supreme Court’s ruling at the end of its current term, June 30. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone else was surprised in this case, and the court didn’t reach a standard 5-to-4 judgment with the five Republican justices — those nominated by Republican presidents on one side, and the four nominated by Democratic presidents on the other.

Tea Party to rally against health care law: “‘We want our freedom back,’ former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain told hundreds of ralliers standing in the rain in Upper Senate Park, a few hundred yards from the steps of the Supreme Court. … The rally largely marks the big return to Washington for the Tea Party, a loose organization of grassroots groups that helped conservative Republicans take over the House in the 2010 wave election.” [Fox News]

3) RICK TANTORUM

Rick Santorum Swears At New York Times Reporter - Jeff Zeleny earned the curse for asking Santorum what he meant by saying that Mitt Romney is the “worst Republican” to face Obama. Here’s a look at some other times Santorum’s temper got the best of him, often at the press.

…

Santorum campaign denies equating ‘sworn enemy’ Ahmadenijad with Obama – The ad calls Iran a “sworn American enemy” and then briefly switches between images of Ahmadinejad and Obama. But campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley said it was “ridiculous” to think that the ad equated the two men. “He’s the president of the United States, Ahmadenijad is the president of our sworn enemy,” he told Politico. “I’m don’t know that it was ‘interspersing,’ I’m confused by that. Obviously I’m not trying to say anything about Obama and Ahamdenijad.” John Brabender, who made the video, also denied that it equated Ahmadenijad with Obama. Watch…

“Pretend It’s Obama” – So says an unseen woman as Rick Santorum displays his masculinity by shooting a menacing paper silhouette. Also unseen: millions of cheering teabaggers.

…

4) ROMNEY – feel the excitement!

Paul Ryan Would ‘Consider’ Romney-Ryan Ticket - Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday asked Ryan if he would accept the VP slot if the Republican presidential nominee wanted him to be on the ticket to help sell the GOP’s controversial new budget that slashes government spending. “It’s not a bridge that I’ve even come close to crossing,” Ryan explained. “It’s a decision that somebody else makes and a long time from now. … I can’t answer that question because I haven’t given enough thought to that.” “But you’re leaving the door open,” Wallace noted. “You’re saying, ‘If I were asked, I would have to consider it.’” “I would have to consider it,” Ryan agreed. “But it’s not something I’m even thinking about right now because I think our job in Congress is pretty important.”

Mitt Romney Introduces Erick Erickson To The Individual Mandate – Red State’s Erick Erickson has been a relentless Mitt Romney critic. In this 2006 interview with Erickson for the Red State podcast Romney introduces him to the individual mandate. It was all down hill after this interview.

…

Plouffe: Romney the ‘godfather’ of Obama health reforms – “Most of the law doesn’t take effect until 2012,” Plouffe explained. “We’ve hand hundreds of millions of dollars of propaganda spent against it. Now, you are seeing parts of the law come into effect. Kids between 21 and 26, over 21 million of them, now have health insurance. They can stay on their parents plan because of the health care reform law. You’ve got over 5 million seniors now getting $600, roughly, for prescription drug assistance. Women are treated equally as men in our system. There are free preventive care like mammograms and cancer screenings.” “So, we just have to tell the story of this,” he continued. “One thing I’m confident of is by the end of the decade, we’re going to be very glad the Republicans termed this Obamacare. Because when the reality of health care is in place, it’s going to be nothing like the kind of fear mongering that was done.” Plouffe added that the White House was “confident” that the Supreme Court would uphold the law.

6) REPUBLICANLAND

Doctors doubt favoritism in Cheney transplant – CHICAGO (AP) — Doctors say it is unlikely that former Vice President Dick Cheney got special treatment when he was given a new heart that thousands of younger people also were in line to receive. After spending nearly two years on a waiting list, Cheney received a transplant Saturday. The 71-year-old underwent surgery at the same Virginia hospital where doctors implanted a small heart pump that has kept him alive the past few years. Cheney was recovering Sunday at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. He had severe congestive heart failure and had suffered five heart attacks over the past 25 years.

imageYou might remember when Ross Douthat in 2008 wrote about watching Sarah Palin winking on tv and described that experience  as “starbursts ricocheting around the living rooms of America” (and, one assumes, his pants and the carpet)? Well, it’s happening for him again: Ross Douthat wants to bear Tebow’s little Christian babies – “O ye of little faith. Did you think that the Lord God of Hosts, having raised Tebow up as a Gideon of the gridiron, would pass up the opportunity to put his faithful servant to the test? Did you think that the angelic screenwriters responsible for scripting last year’s succession of Tebow-related improbabilities had nodded off after the Broncos were dispatched in the A.F.C. playoffs? …No, this was where the Tebow story was always destined to end up. Denver was his Galilee; New York will be the Roman Colosseum. Or to be pop cultural rather than scriptural: Denver was District 12 in Suzanne Collins’s Panem, and the Meadowlands will be the Hunger Games arena.”

Sunday morning’s 5 not completely interesting things

Posted on by

1) PRESIDENT OBAMA / DEMOCRATS

VIA FORBES (!): 218 reasons to vote for President Barack Obama this November

Team Obama embraces ‘Obamacare’ label – Back in October, the president told an audience, “They call it Obamacare. I do care, that’s right. The question is, why don’t you care?” […] Much of the Affordable Care Act won’t take effect until 2014 — assuming it survives until then — but several provisions that have already been implemented are having a positive impact. The health care law (1) is combating fraud and abuse, which in turns saves Americans quite a bit of money; (2) has brought coverage to 2.5 million young adults; (3) is delivering major savings to seniors on prescription drugs; (4) is giving a boost to small businesses through ACA tax credits; (5) has slowed the growth of Medicare spending; (6) has provided new treatment options for cancer patients; and (7) has offered new coverage protections conditions. These are tangible, real-world benefits, making a meaningful difference in people’s lives.

This pretty much explains it all: 

2) SANITORIUM – proving crazy has a fan base too

AMONG THE FEW MOSTLY WHITE EVANGELICALS WHO TURNED OUT TO VOTE: Rick Santorum wins Louisiana Primary - Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Primary Saturday evening, keeping his campaign with an argument to continue going on in the GOP presidential race against frontrunner Mitt Romney. The large victory in Louisiana was expected for Santorum, who led all polls throughout the run up to Saturday’s vote. The race was called with just a handful of precincts reporting. However, the dynamics of the race still heavily favor Romney, who will come in second ahead of Newt Gingrich. Rep. Ron Paul (R) will finish in last place.

The Caucus is saying – and rightly so, that this is a two-man race, and that Gingrich and Paul are simply wasting their money at this point. But Santorum is still basically pissing in the wind, too. The next race is Wisconsin, where Romney is up 13 points in the last poll. Santorum’s only hope in Wisconsin is that this Etch-A-Sketch thing lingers a while, and that his efforts to defend Governor Scott Walker in the recall election will make an impression on Wisconsin Republicans. Even then, after Wisconsin, the primaries will turn largely to the Northeast, where Romney dominates. I expect the Republican establishment to start pushing hard on Santorum to get out after Wisconsin unless he can turn this convincing Louisiana win into something a little more sustainable…

3) ROMNEY – feel the excitement!

Romney should READ Paul Ryan’s budget plan (OR QUIT LYING) - Mitt Romney said the plan introduced by House Budget Committee chairman Ryan (R-Janesville) “does not balance the budget on the backs of the poor and the elderly … It instead preserves Medicare and preserves Social Security.” […] While giving a massive tax break to the wealthy, the Ryan budget plan Romney is so fond of slashes funding for Medicaid, food stamps, and other for low-income programs, nearly all of which Ryan’s plan would eliminate over the next couple of decades. If this doesn’t “balance the budget on the backs of the poor,” for crying out loud, what exactly would such a budget plan look like? As for “preserving” Medicare, the Ryan plan that Romney supports would turn Medicare into a voucher program, scrapping the guaranteed benefit altogether; weaken Medicare solvency; and bring back the Medicare Part D prescription drug “donut-hole.” [IMAGE: silas216]

4) SCIENCE

Skipping Spring and Going Straight to Summer – The United States and parts of Canada have come out of winter to find a lingering ridge of high pressure inducing summer-like conditions. The map above shows surface temperature anomalies during March 13-19 compared to averages for those dates over the last 10 years. More than 1,054 locations set new daily high temperatures records and 627 saw new record lows.

Safety fear aboard space station as debris passes nearby – Crew members aboard the International Space Station temporarily scrambled into spacecraft capable of returning them to Earth early as remnants of a discarded Russian satellite passed nearby, the latest episode spotlighting the growing amount of space debris encircling the planet. The crew – three Russians, two Americans and a Dutch astronaut – climbed into the two spacecraft as the debris passed within about nine miles of the space station, at 2:38 a.m. Eastern time. Soon afterward, NASA officials allowed the astronauts to return to the station. […] Saturday’s episode underscored a recent report by the National Research Council warning that the increasing amount of space debris is threatening to interfere with the space station and working satellites. The nonprofit group warned that the growing amount of debris is threatening to make low-Earth orbit unusable because of the potential for collisions.

Europe’s ATV space freighter launches – The robotic truck is heading to the International Space Station (ISS) with new supplies of food, water, air, and fuel. It is also carrying experiments and spares for the high-flying astronaut outpost. The ship’s Ariane 5 carrier rocket left the ground at 04:34 GMT, with the flight to orbit taking 63 minutes. At 20 tonnes, the ATV is the biggest ship servicing the station now that the US shuttles have been retired. The Ariane placed the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) at an altitude of about 260km. The freighter will use its own thrusters to climb a further 130km to the ISS over the course of the next few days. “This is the start of a long journey; there will be other critical phases, especially the rendezvous [with the ISS] that will take place during the night of the 28th and 29th, Paris time,” said European Space Agency (Esa) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain.

5) MISC

Dick Cheney recovering at hospital after heart transplant — Cheney, 71, who served as vice president in the George W. Bush administration, has had a long history of heart trouble and has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months. [...] More than 3,100 Americans currently are on the national waiting list for a heart transplant. Just over 2,300 heart transplants were performed last year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. And 330 people died while waiting. According to UNOS, 332 people over age 65 received a heart transplant last year. The majority of transplants occur in 50- to 64-year-olds.

RAPEY VODKA: Social media blunder of the week: Belvedere Vodka apparently thinks that rape jokes are a good advertising strategy. Unfortunately for them, the twitterverse disagreed, forcing Belvedere into a half-hearted apology. Too little, too late. I won’t touch their product again.

U.S. has more rigs operating than the rest of the world combined, domestic production highest in 8 years

Posted on by

“I guess there’s some empty spots where we’re not drilling. We’re not at the National Mall. We’re not drilling at your house.” — President Obama

Facts and reality do not support blaming the President for rising gas prices (or blaming any president for that matter). And facts especially don’t support the Republican chant of “Drill, Baby, Drill” as some kind of solution to our domestic price at the pump.

AP Fact Check: In 36 Years Of Data, Not A Shred Of Evidence That Drilling Reduces Gas Prices

The Associated Press reports that an analysis of 36 years of Energy Information Administration data shows “no statistical correlation” between domestic oil production and gas prices.

AP writes:

U.S. oil production is back to the same level it was in March 2003, when gas cost $2.10 per gallon when adjusted for inflation. But that’s not what prices are now.

That’s because oil is a global commodity and U.S. production has only a tiny influence on supply. Factors far beyond the control of a nation or a president dictate the price of gasoline.

Domestic oil production is at its highest level in eight years. According to the AP, if drilling dictated gas prices, they should already be at the $2 Republicans promise. However, gas prices fluctuate based on a variety of factors, including speculation and tensions in the Middle East. 

There’s one simple reason that Republicans are fighting so hard for more domestic oil production, while attempting to pawn it off to the public as something that could lower gas prices: more profit for Big Oil, which in turn means more campaign contributions for themselves.

Rather than focus on actual solutions to rising gas prices, Republican committee members advocated for more drilling, a policy which would increase big oil profits but does not decrease gas prices. 

[...] So why are Republicans continuing to advocate for more drilling as a panacea to high gas prices?  Perhaps because 88 percent of all political contributions from oil and gas companies go to Republicans.  The Natural Resources Committee itself takes an astounding amount of campaign money from oil and gas, as seen in this chart that ThinkProgress put together in November 2011.

[...] Additionally, the facts show that under the Obama administration, we are drilling more in America than everywhere else in the world combined.  As of March 16th, there were 1,984 rotary rigs operating in the U.S., while only 1,721 in the rest of the world.  The number of oil drilling rigs in the U.S. hit a record in February, and have quadrupled over the last three years.

The Republicans even have Big Oil covered in their 2013 Budget proposal:

Yet it appears that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2013 budget resolution would retain a decade’s worth of oil tax breaks worth $40 billion. And his budget would cut billions of dollars from investments to develop alternative fuels and clean energy technologies that would serve as substitutes for oil and help protect middle-class families from volatile energy prices as well as create jobs. In short, the Ryan budget compounds the cost of high oil and gasoline prices on the middle class.

But, unsurprisingly, what’s Fox “News” telling it’s viewers?

No, we’re not surprised.
via: ThinkProgress