The light-blue chunks of deficit are mostly the Bush tax cuts.
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) had this to say last night about her new campaign for Senate:
We're in an epic struggle. This is really, in my mind and many others, about the survival of the middle class. This is about when we look at issues like reducing our debt -- and that's certainly something we must do -- it's about demanding shared sacrifice, not just letting the people who have had the privilege of climbing the ladder of success stand by the wayside.
That's straight-up economic populism from a progressive politician, but as you can see in the chart below, she's talking about something very real for voters in Wisconsin and a lot of other states. Here, for comparison, is the New York Times report on President Obama's new stimulus plan, which would avoid a tax hike for all Americans that's set to roll in on January 1:
Republican leaders have said they might support the payroll tax cut's extension if its cost is offset by equal spending cuts, a condition they did not apply for extending the Bush-era tax cuts on high incomes.
At some point, the rank unfairness of preserving tax cuts for the wealthy at any cost (see the chart above) while being willing to raise taxes on ordinary families stops being politics and starts being news. We may be getting closer to that point. (Bonus read: Republicans in storm states balk at tying disaster relief to spending cuts. More bonus: Who's falling out of the middle class.)
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It was clear that this was news long ago, the media just chooses not to call their handlers out on it.
It will never be news on foxnews, so Republican voters will never know it's happening.
until it's too late
Unfortunately, it's already to late for some students.
This really is the problem - that the only place from which a lot of conservative folks get their news is heavily biased sources like FoxNews. They're not aware of a lot of the wrongdoings of the far-right because their source isn't covering them.
I've been giving this a lot of thought lately. FOXNews and the Murdochian Empire in general are the obvious iceberg in the conservative propaganda ocean but I think there's something else going on that's even more insidious. The entire 24/7 all-media-all-the-time infotainment sphere consumes the latest, loudest and most flashy details on the least important events and issues...because it has to put something on the air. All that stimulation shuts our brains down. We start to think in soundbytes and slogans; commercial jingles and shorthand talking points - as if they're something real and factual - when they've actually turned off our thought processes. So, I don't just blame FOX for this...CNN started it and the blogosphere follows merrily along, rehashing the pablum and layering it into more and more hardened concrete by the time we need to actually vote. This can't be right.
Carolinalady... I believe you are correct. There is now so much "noise" that one cannot hear anything important.
We have become so polarized we cannot even agree on a "fact".
If Foxnews says "the sky is blue", I would tend to want verification. If MSNBC says the same thing, some folks would call it an outright lie without hesitation.
Yes, ocalafla, I believe your example is perfectly illustrative of exactly the point I tried to make. And if you refer to the primary source - the science of how light refracts through atmosphere to make the sky appear blue to our eyes - the FOXNews watcher will derail the discussion onto some kind of tangent about how scientists can't really be trusted because of the (now debunked - but that's a whole other arguement) climate change email scandal. It goes on endlessly like that; like talking to 3-year-olds, up past their bedtimes.
Would it be possible to get a similar chart that shows how much each state actually pays per student? Maybe two, one that shows before these cuts and one that shows after?
Here is the latest per pupil spending chart that I could find: http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/08f33pub.pdf it is from 2008.
Check out what Ann Coulter said on FOX news this morning regarding Kindergarten teachers in the private sector. HA!
I refuse to give Fox News any search hits to find this out. Why not just tell us what she said, @Keith?
Why would anyone care what Ann Coulter had to say anywhere? Just curious... she never uses logic, reason, facts... but she is really good at the technique of complaining about rudeness and name calling and doing both in the same sentence.
It would be interesting to look into the ratio of the number of administrators to teachers. The administrators typically make more money than teachers. I am sure the good teachers become administrators to get a bigger paycheck but then we lose good teachers. If we could pay a few top administrators, who make policy decisions, and then put teachers pay the next highest level, we might hang onto more good teachers. Add more non-policy making administrators at lower paid than teachers. I believe that is why less money goes to teachers and into instructional materials.
need more administrators like the one in Fresno Calif. given up his pay for one that is a 1000 dollars less then a entry level teacher.
Good Job.
People have been saying this exact thing for 20 years or more. Better pay for teachers, smaller class sizes, etc. "more money" is the constant call to "improve education."
And we've spent more.
The census bureau maintains reports on public education spending (that's where I got these numbers). In 1992: Local, state and federal expenditures on public education (K-12) totaled $263.3 Billion. In 2009, it was $604.9 Billion. Adjusting for inflation, $263.3B (91 dollars), is $402.6B in 2009 dollars. In constant dollars, that roughly a 34% increase in total spending on elementary and secondary education.
That's a broad scope, national level number, so obviously conclusions can't be drawn for individual districts, but it points to the fact that as a nation we HAVE BEEN investing in education. We have been increasing funding to try and improve our education system. Instead the result has been the exact opposite.
The United States, by almost any measure, has gone down from the "top 5" countries since 1991. We are spending more, yet public education is getting worse.
Something isn't working, and I am not convinced it's about how much money we spend.
could have something to do with the fact that we're still teaching children to work in a 1920's era factory by giving them standardized tests and teaching them to follow rules and shut up and sit down, as opposed to teaching them anything that has any meaning.
no child left behind took a step back in teaching, now educators are forced to teach kids how to take tests, or they lose their funding, and their jobs. extremely counter productive.
@Betty Butterly
There are relatively few administrators within the schools compared to teachers and they are paid more because they usually have to obtain their masters or have extensive experience in the field.Cutting back on PAs will do nothing but hurt the schools organizational structure.
We're spending more on education, these standardized tests cost big bucks to license them for use from the private corporations that came up with them.
Whatever we spend on education, we spend more on incarceration. When you look at what states spend on education vs. incarceration, you see a trend. States that spend less on education spend more on incarceration. The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. If we had the largest population, this might be understandable, but we don't, so it's not.
We haven't seen anything yet. It's going to get a lot worse! It's been unfair for a number of years now, so I'm just waiting for the middle class to take a REAL STAND! The rich don't want that, but it's coming. They insult the working class people of this country every time they give us a paycheck. No cost of living increases, but the price of everything keeps going up. That's just a spit in the face. The only job you can get around where I live pays minimum wage, You can forget about full time employment. Nobody wants to give any benefits. Now how can a middle class family afford medical care, and the cost of supporting a household on that kind of pay. Please!!! It's not been fair for a long time, at all!
Unfortunately, I think it will be too late before the middle class wakes up.
As usual we are going to sit on our ass and let this crap pile up on us until a war breaks out to distract us from the mess that we let ourselves be munipulated into... THE REPUBLICANS in this country are homeland Terrorist and should be voted out at all cost...
Nice name calling there BGL. What do you mean by "at all costs", I thought Repubs where the big meanies that used that sort of rhetoric.
LOL at you!!
meanies/wienies seems to fit well. the sensitive right.
I love Tammy and have always been disappointed that I didn't live in her district so I couldn't vote for her. I'm sure she'll be the Democratic candidate for Senate, and she certainly will have my vote! I see how these tax cuts are directly impacting our small school. We have a district superintendent who also is the Special Education director, an art teacher who also teaches Technology and Careers, a guidance counselor who teaches Language Arts, the aides are only allowed to work 24 hours a week so they don't qualify for all of the benefits, and bus routes have been eliminated. We are lucky to have an Education Foundation that raises funds during the year for any "extras". With all of this, our little rural school still won a Wisconsin School of Recognition Award the last two years. At some point, I sincerely hope that people open their eyes and see what giving tax breaks to the rich is accomplishing---the death of the middle class.
what did Ann Coulter say on FOX this mrning about Kinder teachers? or a link to it please?
Coulter: Hoffa Represents "Useless" Workers Like "Kindergarten Teachers" Instead Of "Men Who Have Actual Jobs"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201109070008
And she was challenged on the point strongly by Gretchen Carlson.
Rob
if that is true then great job,, now all she has to do is continue to challenging all of the people at or comes on to FSHP entertainment news.
It is true...watch the video link above. And as far as challenging all of the people, that's true on both sides. Look at the President unwilling to condemn the "war" language used by Union leader Hoffa. The President won't even say that it probably was a poor choice of words.
This was done on national TV before the President's address and yet not too long ago he and others were all over Palin for "targeting" political offices on an obscure PAC website very few people ever saw.
I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong...just that this happens on BOTH sides. Heck, I thought Hoffa's comments were okay just like using cross hair symbols to represent a target was okay. Might there be a better less controversial way of communicating these thoughts, yep, you betcha'!
At least Fox gets people with contrasting views. MSNBC can only muster people with the same views. No news. Just preaching to the choir.
The American economy has been demolished by anti-growth policies coming from Republican lawmakers in the states and congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill. The country cannot recover and grow with a wave of massive spending cuts mandated by Washington and by the new crop of Tea Party radicals running the show in the states. Americans need jobs, they need government spending. austerity has killed our economy.
http://www.sunstateactivist.org
If the republicans are so sure that Obama will make a big mistake then why fight him at every turn...Why don't they let him make a big mistake?....Unless this has to do with something else.....
Yeah, let him make a big mistake and really mess things up, sure smart move. He's already sinking his self, have you seen his ratings? Let's not have him take us all with him.
Ann Coulter, in essence, called kindergarten teachers, and in fact, all teachers useless government employees. By inference she thinks all government employees are useless, and that everything should be privatized. This woman makes me want to throw something at the TV everytime she opens her mouth.
That is the reaction she is trying to get.
Part of the right-wing's strategy has been to do away with the prestige traditionally enjoyed by "public professionals". People such as teachers, nurses, administrators, and even firefighters. These people often have advanced degrees, yet work in the public sector. By lowering the respect given to these positions, they can expect lower and lower pay. Lower pay, leading to lower results, leading to lower outcomes, leading to the "dumbing down" of the electorate. Ignorant folks are easier to lead. And, of course, much, much, cheaper.
Too bad Ann Coulter doesn't do something useful like teaching instead of letting the garbage pour out of her mouth every time she speaks.
She's helping create refuse removal jobs for real men - putting money where her mouth is, so to speak.
@JT1962, why would you want to inflict Coulter on students? Imagining being forced to see her daily in the front of a classroom makes my skin crawl.
I'm going to start referring to Republicans as Terrorists. I think that fits.
So much for toning down the rhetoric.
Teahadists and Palinistas, not so scary.
I just find name calling something kids do in grade school. Just silly and worthless. What is the point, seriously??
Skip, I soooo strong agree. I can strongly disagree with someone without name calling or slurs. It weakens the argument no matter which side it is on.
Oh yeah? She's a poopy-head. So there. Top that.
It's not really name-calling, I honestly believe they're destroying the country. talking to these sociopaths in a logical manner is not useful, it's like talking to and trying to have a meaningful conversation with a parrot. "obamacare is bad, obamacare is bad..." "union thugs, union thugs..." they just regurgitate hate speech and don't care about facts. Look at global warming for christ's sake. 98% of scientists KNOW it's happening, but noooooo. it's a myth in their little world.
These cuts to education and other programs are just the first round of many more to come. When the Senate super committee is done, there are bound to be more cuts. Even if the super committee fails to agree on cuts, the automatic cuts will kick in and that leaves the government having to pick and choose what gets cut. The only bright spot in all of this is that small school districts across the nation are going to be hit the hardest. Government spending cuts in those districts are going to force the issue of tax increases or ending programs such as special ed, sports, etc. The voters in these districts tend to be Republican and they will reap what they sow. It is up to the Dems in these areas to draw the dotted line for voters between the cuts in government to cuts in those programs. In some states like Illinois, it will force the closing of schools in rural districts and consolidation of school districts. That means some children are going to face long bus rides to new schools.
What Ann Coulter forgets is that teachers are professionals - with a college degree and usually a master's degree! She should volunteer in a school & see how things really work.
Do you really want to inflict Coulter on school children? Shame on you.
We all complain that we don't like what is happening but we don't do anything about it. Everyone on both sides doesn't like what is happening but everyone is feeling hopeless and helpless. Who has the solutions? Lets get them into office.
That's the challenge.
Today in the news is a regulation that would allow Gibson guitar to import a fully assembled guitar neck (sort of speak) but not the individual components for them to be assembled here in the US.
I don't care if this is Obama, Bush, Clinton, or Reagan...this type of regulation does not make sense!
The rich and powerful keep us divided(race, gender & sexual orientation) while they get richer and congress doles out the crumbs to us. I urge every caring person to get involved. Write letters to the editor of your local paper. Hell, show up and become disruptive like the teabaggers.
Referring to?
The way the tax the wealthy argument is framed may not be the best way of going at it. I've heard Obama say routinely "The wealthy need to pay there fair share" and others like it. While this statement is true, wealthy people already feel that they are paying their fair share and this phrase just causes a knee jerk, me against him kind of mentality.Those kind of statements just cause heels to be dug into the sand. "What he doesn't feel I'm paying my fair share, I paid 500k in taxes last year ,screw him", "Why is he making me feel that I'm doing something wrong/immoral or just getting free lunch, I work hard, screw him". If talking points and speeches catered to the wealthy peoples egos and "generosity" it would be much more effective getting rich people to bite the bullet and sacrifice for the good of the country. make em feel like their white knight coming to save the princess and save the nation. The Obama administration needs to read Dale Carnegies book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Does this make sense or only to me?
70%+ top tax rates are not unreasonable, 70%+ top tax rates are not unusual, in fact they were Necessary to forging our Middle Class economy from 1936 to when in 1980 the top tax rates were cut and our middle class decline began.
In fact, to sustain a prosperous Middle Class Economy and World Class infrastructure we need sustained Government spending.
After World War II America had debt 120% of GDP and raised the top tax rate to 90% from 1942 to 1960, then 70% from 1960 to 1980.
During that time of top tax rates above 70% America had the Greatest Middle Class and Infrastructure Prosperity in history.
The Greatest Generation didn't fall for the Republican Austerity Lies, neither should we.
The Bush Tax cuts (400 billion a year) and the interest on the resulting Republican debt (200 billion a year) together could pay for Medicare.
Medicare isn't the problem. Medicare is National Defense in today's modern world. Medicare is a Life Saver for Millions!
Republican economics are the problem!
The Reagan Top Rate tax cuts (70% to now 35%) = 4 trillion over 10 years, 12 trillion over 30 years while the Middle Class declined and our prison population increased 6 fold costing 2.4 trillion for counter-productive drug wars.
Republicans don't hate Big Government, Republicans hate Good Government!
You are right and history supports your assertion.
Plutarch: "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics."
And a Democrat House, Democrat Senate, and Democrat President extended the Bush tax cuts...I think calling them Bush tax cuts has lost its meaning.
RobDon, yes Obama extended the tax cuts, it was either that or let thousands of families will no job in sight to starve, lose their housing etc,etc. He was put in a position to either sign or make the ecomomy much worse than it already was/is. The states could not have handled the extra costs for the starving and homeless. You can bet the republicans banked on the outcome and would blame the extention on the democrats and Obama. They are the Bush tax cuts no amount of spin will change the facts.
It is not spin to say that a Democrat House, Senate, and President extended them...
@Tamlea - Where in America are people starving? If someone is starving in this country they are really working hard to do so.
no eric the teapubliecants are working to do this!!
and its not that hard just fall behind a little and you can be the next soup kitchen attended.
and yes we have plenty of staving people!!! a good majority of the old can be classified as this, along with children!!!
Will that fit on a bumper sticker? How about an airplane banner? Can it be tatooed on my forehead?
HOW DO WE GET PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THIS TRUTH?!!
An entire segment of our society have been convinced to vote against their own best interests.
@RobDon. That's priceless. Hold the middle class hostage, then blame them for paying the ransom. Check your facts on those tax cuts. POTUS wanted to extend the rates for the middle class. Repub. filibustered, refused to allow any lower rates to be extended, unless the upper crust got to keep their lower rates as well.
@Eric Yes people are starving in America, eating foods with little or no nutrition because good food is unaffordable to those barely scaping by. Many more rely on food banks, soup kitchens and school breakfast/ lunches because if a parent only makes min wage, if they can find a job, as prices continue to rise a bill of groceries are beyond the pay scale. So yes the richest country has starving families.
Ocalafla, I've checked the facts. If you know of the bill before the Senate that would have extended the cuts only for the middle class that the Republicans filibustered please tell me.
My guess, is you'll say, "Oh, there never was a bill because the Republicans would have filibustered it so Democrats never proposed it."
Then why was there no bill in the House to rescind the Bush tax cut for those making over 250,000?
My last guess, you'll offer no specifics on this, only broad general assumptions. Please prove me wrong.
it boils down to people in congress with anti-american ideas took hostages (the people of the USA).
so as a leader for the better part of the good, caved into them!!!!
see no assumptions, just open eyed truth.
Truth is based on fact. If there are no facts supporting the truth, its opinion, assumption, conjecture, but not truth.
Answer the questions I asked if Ocalafla's assertion is true. Again, my guess is you'll site nothing specific.
so you are saying the anti-Americans did not take America hostage?
and LOL those are FACTs backed by truths.
Pilotshark, thanks for making my prediction true. You provide no specifics just a general statement with no specific facts.
First, I have not commented on anyone taking America hostage, so I don't know what that allegation is about.
Second, my only point (if you'll read my post) was that calling the tax cuts only "Bush's" leaves out that a Democrat Congress and Democrat President proposed no bill to rescind these taxes, quite the opposite, they voted to extend them.
They choose NOT to even to try and do anything before the Nov 2010 elections because they were afraid they would be voted out of office (many lost anyway). When they returned, they still did not present a bill to rescind the tax cuts for anyone.
If they did propose a bill to rescind the "Bush" tax cuts, please tell me what bill and when? You can't. These are the facts...you can't make up your own. LOL all you want.
Very well said. You are exactly correct.
Ah @RobDon, how soon we forget. No bill to "rescind" the Bush tax cuts was needed. Without any Congressional action, they were going to expire by law on December 31, 2010. The negotiations on what tax cuts would be extended took place largely outside of the Congressional chambers. Nevertheless, the positions of both sides were widely reported in the media, as was the fact that republicans were not interested in compromise. Republicans signed a pledge vowing to block all legislation until Congress extended the Bush tax cuts. Republicans procedurally blocked an extension to unemployment benefits until they had their way with the Bush tax cuts extension negotiations. Republicans (with the help of a few DINOs) indeed filibustered Democratic proposals:
and
It's time to "storm the Bastille" so to speak!!!!
When told that his economic policies would cost jobs Speaker Boehner said, "So be it."
Reminds me of when Marie Antoinnette was told that the poor had no bread to eat, she replied, "Let them eat cake."
Both showed a remarkable disconnect from the needs of their country. Ms Antionette later received a remarkable discon'kneck'ed at the hands of her countrymen.
Hell NO,, So Be It!!! I DO NOT WANT TO EAT NO MORE CAKE!!!!!!!!!
Out of OFFICE with THEM!!!!!!!!!!! instead of off with there heads!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL at you!!!!!!!! — I put in extra [!] for you PS.
WE gave Dems the boot last November and got another one coming for the PotUS in 2012. His ratings couldn't crawl under a pregnant ant.
eric,
you ever hear the song by frank Zappa dancing fool?
your side is the part>> the beat goes on and the teapubliecants are so wrong!!!
oh i could explain about the poll numbers but i know i would be wasting time. until you take off your blinders or remove your head from your fourth point of contact. i hope that`s not to sensitive for you.
LOL
@Eric!, if we are mentioning ratings, do not forget that Congress' ratings are even below President Obama's ratings. Congress is currently losing the popularity contest.
They may have the money and power but we do have the numbers. I see a day of bloody revolution coming to this country if the very rich continue to think they are the only ones who know how things should be done in this country. We are not really that far from Lybia and the other countries run by wealthy despots. However if the middle class does not stand up and put responsible people in government we are doomed.
Here is what frustrates me the most: in an attempt to exchange ideas and facts on all these various political and economic topics with friends and acquaintances who are far more conservative than I am, inevitably when I show them figures and charts (like in this article) that would persuade one to see that not all Republican policies are wise or beneficial, they often reply, "I just don't buy it." As if I or the source are pulling the numbers out of a hat. Perhaps these people refuse to believe in gravity as well. I understand the power and need for rhetoric to advance one's position but at what point will the insufferable talking points be drowned out by facts?
The only way those facts will change a mind is by the same method that the talking points did.
Sheer repetition. Think of it as training a child. Calm and steady. Patience.
Rich. I posted something along these lines earlier. Although not as elegantly.
At what point did a fact become something open to debate? How do we bridge the gap between different political positions if we can't even get both sides to agree on a fact. At this point, if one said 2+2=4, one's audience would want to know if the information came from Fox or MSNBC.
No matter how good your sources are when Conservatives are confronted with statistics, studies, or research they just reject all those saying that the sources are biased. In fact I think that even if God comes down to earth and show up to them and tell them anything that challenges their ideas they wont believe him. It is a waste of time to try to make understand a conservative, no matter how good your sources are, they will always say that our sources come from a bunch of biased liberal media.
appreciate seeing info offered so clearly like this. hopefully some good will come out this
"Frills" such as music and art have long since disappeared from most public school curricula. One NYC suburban school district cut social studies this year.
While the public education system in the USA gets less, private school tuition skyrockets and there are still long waiting lists to get in. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576395812038878314.html) My dad commented about half a century ago that the public schools were getting dumbed down because it's easier to manipulate an uneducated populace. Guess it's working.