Today's edition of quick hits:
* As much as his opponents in Congress want him to stay in D.C., President Obama took his State of the Union message on the road today, speaking in North Carolina.
* I guess Chuck Hagel is being filibustered after all: "Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday that he planned to hold a procedural vote on Friday at a to-be-determined time on Hagel's nomination. The vote isn't final confirmation on the nomination, but it could presage the former senator's chances at winning approval from his former colleagues."
* Lew's in better shape: "The Senate Finance Committee pummeled Treasury secretary nominee Jacob 'Jack' Lew with questions Wednesday, but the outgoing White House chief of staff kept his cool, and there was little reason to think his confirmation will be in jeopardy."
* It took less than half a day for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to reject the bipartisan proposal to raise the minimum wage. Greg Sargent has a good piece on this, and you can expect more on the subject on tonight's show.
* Speaking of State of the Union ideas, Jonathan Cohn has a helpful article on the complexities of President Obama's universal pre-kindergarten plan.
* A Wisconsin man named Bob Welch, who has claimed to speak on behalf of the National Rifle Association, said this week that gun rights will wait for the "Connecticut Effect" to fade away, and then push policymakers to loosen existing firearm limits.
* A CNN host asked the other day whether an asteroid may have "perhaps" been caused by global warming. I really don't know what to say about that.
* Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) decided two weeks ago not to run for the Senate again; he's instead going to spend more time with Roger Ailes' family.
* Here's a tip for Republican media personalities: if a 102-year-old woman goes to the trouble of waiting six hours in line to exercise her right to vote, try to resist the urge to mock her.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
A CNN host asked the other day whether an asteroid may have "perhaps" been caused by global warming. I really don't know what to say about that.
The Cretins' News Network strikes again. My wife once thought of working for CNN, but she couldn't pass the IQ test low enough.
Yes, global warming of the planet Krypton.
CNN really is going the way of Faux. No one need apply if they have ever passed a science class.
I forget,, who is it that's riding the dinosaur? Noah or Jesus? I just saw it on Fox just the other day....
Okay, this is what our government does so great:
So, the program...let's give out free cell phones and service without any verification of qualification process! Yeah, it will get us "free" votes.
Started under President Bush; cleaned up under President Obama. What's the complaint?
Lifeline was created in 1985 and expanded in 2008 during the Bush administration to include cell phone service.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act required the FCC to create the Universal Service Fund, a pool of money subsidized by small charges on phone bills and redistributed to low-income service programs, as well as programs that bring telecommunications services to rural areas and schools.
Sheesh robtroll! You sure are showing your extreme right wing slip and all! YIKES!
Note that I said this is what our GOVERNMENT is great a doing. I'm bipartisan in my criticism that nothing screws up as many things as the government. As Reagan said, the nine most terrifying words are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." With that said, there is definitely a role for government, but giving out free phones is not one of them.
My latter comment illustrates that perception is reality, if she wanted to support the current administration because she thinks she got a free phone from them, so be it.
Nice try at trying to pull that right wing freak flag in and all, but it won't work. YIKES!!
Donna, I was certain you would think this is good government. Heck, you may even have one of those phones. No worry.
Hey, robtroll, you are the one who exposed yourself to be the crazy right wing troll that you are. I had nothing to do with you letting that right wing freak flag out.
You are really mad at yourself, robtroll. Don't take it out on anyone else. It just makes you seem like an even bigger troll loser.
But hey, you can always console your wounded and exposed right wing troll ego of yours by bringing up the same subject that exposed you as a right wing tool in the first place!
Works every time!
YIKES!!!!
You know if you want to make some allegedly "bipartisan" comment about government waste you should probably pick something that continues to waste. A program being reformed, really not the best example.
It is when the reform comes years and years after it started, duh? That's the governments pattern. Reform, over and over and over again, nothing ever gets fixed. Can you say "immigration reform?"
YIKES!!
Still trying to defend that crazy right wing talking point!
Really, robtroll, it is time to give it up.
The point that it's being reformed at all makes it a less persuasive argument about government waste than an obviously wasteful program that no one is or has tried to reform. That would better example.
That enhanced stream online was pretty awesome, I hope you were catching that. And speaking enhanced streams and of the asparagus picture of renewable energy... http://www.wisegeek.com/why-does-asparagus-make-some-peoples-urine-smell-funny.htm
Boehner opposes raising the minimum wage.
I suppose a lot of citizens would oppose congressional pay raises also. Unfortunately, we can't vote on that but he can vote on us getting a raise or not.
Guess which group actually deserves the raise more...the public or the congress.
They don't even vote on it anymore. It's automatic COST OF LIVING raise every year. 3%, too. And they were so nice to give the old phartes a 1.7% cost of living increase this year.
This "Pre-K Plan" is absurd. The government run public education system wants earlier access to your children. This time while their still in pull ups and have all their baby teeth.Not to get a head start on the three "R"s. They want to propagandize and brainwash.Get them knighted as social justice crusaders before the Sponge Bob era of their life is over.
Remember that dance song from the early nineties from Snap, "I got the power", that's the end game here sweety.
You mean the public school system in effect during the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and into the current century? The public school system that educated the "Greatest Generation" that survived the Great Depression, fought WWII and participated in the greatest expansion of civil rights and economic well-being this country has ever seen?
That public school system?
What's the matter, sit on your fan the wrong way?
No, silly. That's not even the same critta as days gone by. The new "progressive" education that's out of control.It started in the eighties or maybe a wee bit prior in some blue states.
That answer your query?
Bless your heart child, but you should have stayed in school a bit longer than third grade, you don't even know the difference between their, there and they're. Until you learn basic grammar, don't bother trying to discourse on things you know nothing about. It may be ok in the south...but here in the rest of the world, we value education.
I think it would be a good idea for Rachel to talk about how increasing the minimum wage will lower unemployment.
Here is a chart of every minimum wage increase.
http://www.cch.com/press/news/2007/MinimumWageChart.pdf
Here is the a searchable database of the unemployment rate going all the way back to the 50's provided by google.
http://tinyurl.com/ahwflo6
If you look at what the unemployment rate was the month that the minimum wage has been increased each time in our history, and then compare what the unemployment rate was 12 months later, after that increase has had time to filter through the economy, what you find is the following:
Date of increase -- Initial unemployment rate -- Unemploy. 12 months later
Jan. 25, 1950 -- 6.5% -- 3.7% (a decrease)
Mar. 1, 1956 -- 4.2% -- 3.7% (a decrease)
Sep. 3, 1961 -- 6.7% -- 5.6% (a decrease)
Sep. 3, 1963 -- 5.5% -- 5,1% (a decrease)
Feb. 1, 1967 -- 3.8% -- 3.8% (no change)
Feb. 1, 1968 -- 3.8% -- 3.4% (a decrease)
May. 1, 1974 -- 5.1% -- 9.0% (an increase)
Jan. 1, 1975 -- 8.1% -- 7.9% (a decrease)
Jan. 1, 1976 -- 7.9% -- 7.5% (a decrease)
Jan. 1, 1978 -- 6.4% -- 5.9% (a decrease)
Jan. 1, 1979 -- 5.9% -- 6.3% (a decrease)
Jan. 1, 1980 -- 6.3% -- 7.5% (an increase)
Jan. 1, 1981 -- 7.5% -- 8.6% (an increase)
Apr. 1, 1990 -- 5.4% -- 6.7% (an increase)
Apr. 1, 1991 -- 6.7% -- 7.4% (an increase)
Oct. 1, 1996 -- 5.6% -- 5.1% (a decrease)
Sep. 1, 1997 -- 4.9% -- 4.5% (a decrease)
July 24, 2007 -- 4.9% -- 6.0% (an increase)
July 24, 2008 -- 6.0% -- 9.7% (an increase)
July 24, 2009 -- 9.7% -- 9.5% (a decrease)
So, in other words, in the 20 times the minimum wage has increased since 1950, unemployment increased 7 times, and decreased 12 times. And three of the times it increased one could make the case that the 70's oil embargoes had a bigger impact on the unemployment numbers.
So, historically, the minimum wage has been twice as likely to lower unemployment than increase it.
But here is where it gets really interesting. Here is a chart tracking the real value of the minimum wage, or what we could say is the purchasing power of the minimum wage.
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.jpg
Notice that it peaks between the late 60's and early 70's.
Now if we go back and look at what was happening with unemployment at this point, we'll see that unemployment reached the 2nd lowest level in all of the 20th century, with only a 3.4% unemployment rate.
Alva,
Nice post. Pity the part of the business community that screams about the minimum wage has chosen to ignore facts.
The truth is that most minimum wage workers are employed by big businesses, and that the total cost of each of these employees (i.e. the burdened overhead rate) is much higher than the minimum wage. This is due to the cost of providing the physical plant and supervision needed to run the business.
For example, a big box retailer that hires cashiers at minimum wage will not decrease the number of cashiers (and increase the length of lines for increasingly grumpy customers). They will pay the wage and cut back on compensation and profits for those higher up in the company.
Raising the minimum wage does not decrease employment so much as it forces a flatter compensation scheme within the company.
On the "bell curve", 25% of business operators want to get to a position of "no effort, no PERSONAL responsibility and ALL the benefits". Their heroes make up congress!
To Desiline Victor - Love is the life saver that gives back many times.
"Anything to add?"
Yes.....Six former journalists from Rupert Murdoch's News of the World , two of whom now work for the Sun, have been arrested by Scotland Yard officers investigating a new line of inquiry in relation to phone hacking.
The Metropolitan police said in a statement that it had identified a further suspected conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages by three men and three women that is alleged to have taken place between 2005 and 2006.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/13/phone-hacking-sun-staff-arrests
Of course Lew's confirmation won't be challenged since he's also got connections to the Cayman Islands:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100454907
It's a club. With a revolving door.
"Bipartisanship"
is nate silver going to rome to poll the new pope?
Nate isn't a pollster. He is a statistician who uses mere arithmetic to predict results of elections based on polling results from many different sources. That said, he is one of the people I miss the most once election season ends. At least MSNBC still gives us the sexy Ezra Klein (who needs his own show).
It's all a game; the media and the politicians (on both sides) are the players and we the public are the pieces on the board. Is there any honesty and truthfulness left in this world. From Fox to MSNBC it's all just for sensationalism and entertainment. No news source or politician can be trusted.
Regarding the Linamar visit today:
The trouble with trying to stimulate the manufacturing base is that most labor experts agree it will be an insignificant source of new jobs needed. (Story at the Atlantic [cities])
Disposable penises. I may never stop laughing.
Reid needs to be removed from his position as Senate Majority Leader.
The 33.5 million people who saw President Barack Obama's fifth State of the Union made it the smallest audience for the annual speech since Bill Clinton's last address in 2000.
The Nielsen ratings company said Wednesday it was down from the 37.8 million people who saw Obama's State of the Union last year. The 52.4 million people who watched his first address in 2009 were his largest audience.
Sixteen networks aired the speech Tuesday night. The 6.5 million people who saw it on NBC just barely gave the network bragging rights over CBS, which had 6.4 million viewers. Nielsen says ABC had 5.5 million viewers for the speech. It says 3.7 million people saw Obama on Fox News Channel, 3.6 million on CNN and 3 million on MSNBC.
The rest of us watched through our white house email sites!
what are the gop lawmakers going to do when the sequester kicks in, and a big number of their supporters get laig off. everyone realizes that when mr. bush started his wars, that the gop run house and senate got the vast majority of the 'defense jobs' located in their districts. thats why they whine and cry about cutting defense spending. once again that proves that the government can't create jobs. right! at least not in a dem. state. one other interesting point. the other day i saw a report from a nonprofit group that says this. we have 140 trillion, yes trillion, dollars worth of oil and natural gas on just federal lands in the u.s.a. i'm so tired of hearing the gop cry about our debt; hey heres an idea. lets sell off a small portion of the resourses and pay off the debt. of course the hurdle we would have to get over is the super connected oil companies and their pocket buddies the gop. no doubt it would become a complex issue. that is until the oil companies got their fingers into the pie. good bye money.one last thing. when you try to build a big, strong, long lasting building you don't put up the top first. you dig deep and put in the heaviest foundation first then from the bottom up, you build one good level after another until you get to the top.you put in a good set of stairs and a good elevator. most people will walk up the stairs and stop after a few floors. some will keep going until they get pretty high; they can enjoy the view. some walk straight to the elevator and go straight to the top. thats ok too. but everyone in the building feels better about being up in the air when they have a good base under them. the prez is right. we must rebuild our building from the bottom up, not from the top down!
Don't do business with China, Mexico, and India unless they raise their minimum wages.