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Swine

Rob Rogers
© Rob Rogers

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Figures Never Lie, but Liars Always Figure

As proof of the need for tax breaks for the rich, I keep hearing a statement bandied about that the biggest earners in the US are paying an increasing share of the nation’s income taxes. You can read it here in the Wall Street Journal, in an article by Bush’s former press secretary, Ari Fleischer.

Time magazine took a look at this statement, and made some interesting observations (complete with graphs!). It is true that the top 400 taxpayers in the US paid 1.2% of all income taxes in 2002, and just under 1.8% in 2006. But what does this statement really mean?

First, note that this increase occurred during the Bush administration, when taxes for the rich were being cut. So maybe that says that tax cuts for the rich don’t actually work. Note that back in 1992, the top 400 taxpayers paid around 1% of all income taxes, so by 2002 it had only gone up to 1.2%.

Second, note that we are talking about the “top 400 taxpayers” not the 400 people with the highest income. So this statement doesn’t say that the rich are paying more taxes, it says that the 400 people who were least successful at avoiding income taxes saw their share of all income taxes collected increase. I’m not sure of the reasons for that, but maybe the people who were successful at avoiding income taxes just got better at it.

Time then looks at a better statistic, the average tax rate for the top 400 taxpayers, and finds that the tax rate actually went down, from 23% in 2002 to 17% in 2006 — and it was 30% back in 1995. In other words, even if their tax burden went up, it was because their income went up by an even larger enough. And sure enough, the top 400 taxpayer’s share of the nation’s total income went from 0.52% in 1992 to 1.31% in 2006. So the reason their taxes (in absolute dollar terms) went up was because the amount of money they earned went up faster than other people!

In other words, the rich got richer (increasing their take of the national income 2.5 times), and even though their tax rate went down (almost cut in half) their income went up even faster so that they ended up paying slightly more in taxes. Note that this would be true even if we had a completely flat (not progressive) income tax.

Conclusion? If the old saw “Figures never lie, but liars always figure” is true, then Ari Fleischer must be a liar.

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Political Doublespeak is Alive and Well

It is nice to know that politicians are still adept at the art of doublespeak. The latest example of this is from Senator James Inhofe (R-OK):

There is no evidence more visible that the American people are already rebelling against the far-left agenda than Senator Arlen Specter switching parties to become a Democrat [sic]. He did this for one reason, and that is his advisers told him he couldn’t retain his Senate seat as a Republican. In other words, the same people who supported Senator Specter six years ago have soundly rejected him today.

I’m stunned.

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The Best Government Money Can Buy

Last week during an interview, Senator Dick Durbin admitted that the government is pretty much completely controlled by the banks:

And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.

I would agree with this, except that he left out the insurance industry. And I’m not just talking about the $180 billion we are pouring into insurance giant AIG with basically no oversight. I’m talking about the upcoming fight to reform health insurance in the US. Yes, this is the same industry that was able to completely quash any health insurance reform back during the Clinton administration. Even before this new fight has begun, the insurance industry has been able to define the terms of the discourse. Don’t believe me?

Consider that a majority of Americans favor what is called “single payer” health insurance, where the government pays for your health care, but doctors and hospitals remain private. This is the system used in countries like France, Canada, England, New Zealand, and … well pretty much everywhere. In fact, we have single payer health insurance here — it’s called Medicare, but it is limited to seniors.

And when polled, Americans favor single payer insurance by a large margin. In fact, less than a third of Americans think health insurance should be provided by for-profit insurance companies.

So you would think that everyone would be talking about single payer health insurance, but no. There is an eerie silence around single payer. The corporate-controlled media almost never mentions it, except to dismiss it as socialism. Most telling is that even Obama never mentions it. Instead, Obama is proposing government administrated health insurance to insure the people who can’t get insurance from private insurance companies. In fact, when Obama assembled his first health care forum, he didn’t even bother to invite anyone who favored single payer (although he invited plenty of private health insurance companies).

What is really ironic about all this is how twisted the public discourse on any health insurance reform has become. Consider Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska. Last Thursday, Nelson declared that he will oppose the creation of any government-run health insurance plan (maybe nobody mentioned to him that we already have a government-run health insurance plan called Medicare).

Nelson sides with opponents of health insurance reform, who say a government-run plan would undermine the nation’s existing system of employer-sponsored health insurance, because (and here’s the amazing part) private insurers could not compete with a government-run plan, which presumably wouldn’t have to spend money on activities such as marketing or developing networks of participating physicians and hospitals.

In other words, he is opposing health insurance reform, because it would save money. Nelson claims that eventually, the public plan would win out because its prices would be lower, or because their employers would stop offering insurance.

Speaking as someone who has run several companies, I would have loved to have not had to deal with health insurance. Even a small company has to spend lots of scarce resources (time and money) figuring out a health insurance plan. Then they have to pay a health insurance broker, who then has to deal with a health insurance company, who then deals with the actual doctors and hospitals who provide care. It is a crazy system. But Nelson thinks having companies provide health insurance is a good system. No thanks!

Nelson says that he is forming a coalition of politicians opposed to the creation of a public plan, saying that he does not believe that a majority of the Senate supports the idea, even though 73% of the public want the option of choosing a public insurance option.

In other words, the Senate is owned by the insurance companies. I guess it should be no surprise that Nelson received more than half a million dollars from the insurance industry in the last year alone, making insurance companies his biggest donor group (even more than lobbyists).

Sigh.

UPDATE: Here’s a photo of Dr. Margaret Flowers, along with seven other people, being arrested for attempting to testify in favor of single payer insurance. The Senate Finance Committee had barred any testimony from her group.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Hey, have you all started making your summer vacation plans? I’m not sure what to do this year. I’m stuck between a Somali pirate cruise or a trip to a Mexican pig farm.” – Jay Leno

“A beautiful day here in New York City, wasn’t it? But it was cold, so cold that I was wearing two swine flu masks.” – David Letterman

“But, hey, people are very worried about this swine flu epidemic, but the best course of action is prevention. Like, if you go to IHOP and you order the pigs in the blanket, and you notice they’re coughing, you don’t want to eat that.” – Jay Leno

“No, actually, that’s a fallacy, too. They said today you cannot get swine flu from eating pork, which, of course, raises the question, so what were these guys doing with the pig?” – Jay Leno

“How about that swine flu? The government is saying forget about nonessential air travel, an example of which would be flying Air Force One really low over New York City.” – David Letterman

“The economy is so bad that today, the White House flew a Southwest plane over the Statue of Liberty.” – Jay Leno

“There’s a new restaurant opening in Chicago called Felony Franks, which gives jobs to convicted felons. Yeah, isn’t that amazing? Yeah. Imagine that, you could get your meal served to you by a former Illinois governor.” – Jay Leno

“Senator Arlen Specter has a new reality show ? ‘I’m a Republican Get Me Out of Here!'” –Jay Leno

“Seventy-nine-year-old Arlen Specter is now switching to the Democratic Party, which is a big loss for Republicans. You know, when they lose that young blood, it hurts.” – Jay Leno

“Earlier tonight, President Barack Obama took an hour of TV time to address the American people, but the Fox network didn’t air it, choosing instead to run their regular program ‘Lie to Me,’ which, I believe, was the name of the Republican response, actually.” – Jay Leno

“The President held a press conference tonight in prime time. All the major networks carried it, except Fox. They ran the show ‘Lie to Me’ instead of the president. Fox is something — they killed President David Palmer off ’24,’ they put his brother, President Wayne Palmer, into a permanent coma, and now this. What does Fox have against black Presidents?” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Today was President Obama’s 100th day in office. Isn’t that amazing? Actually, when you think about it, George W. Bush was president for eight years, and he never came close to spending 100 days in the office. So, we’re way ahead.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama is celebrating his first 100 days in office. How about that? I don’t care whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, this guy has really had quite a lot to deal with. I mean, let’s take a look at the list — recession, two wars, swine flu, runaway Air Force One. Crazy.” – David Letterman

“Today marks 100 days of President Obama being in office, which is a big deal because 100 days is when his warranty runs out. We couldn’t return him now if we wanted to.” – Jimmy Kimmel

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Who Would Jesus Torture?

A new study says that white evangelicals are more likely to approve of torture than other religious groups. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to say that torture is acceptable.

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Honor or Off

Dwane Powell
© Dwane Powell

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Unbecoming a Senator

Jim Morin
© Jim Morin

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Late Night Political Humor

“As you know, a big holiday is coming next week here in Los Angeles and Mexico: Sicko de Mayo.” – Jay Leno

“Hi, I’m Jimmy. I’m the host of the show. Let’s make this quick. I have to get back into my quarantine bubble.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“See all those people on the news walking around wearing those surgical masks, huh? For the swine flu. Suddenly Michael Jackson is not so crazy, huh? Yeah! I think we owe Michael an apology.” – Jay Leno

“Well, the U.S. government is saying look out for the swine flu, which apparently comes from Mexico. Thank God we have an airtight border with that country. So, the U.S. is going to be fine.” – David Letterman

“To help contain the spread of the disease, the U.S. government is trying to discourage Mexicans from coming into the United States, which is pretty much what they have been doing for like the last 40 years. So that plan doesn’t work.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Give you an idea how bad it is with the swine flu, earlier today, the U.S. took down the wall between the United States and Mexico and replaced it with a giant sneeze guard.” – Jay Leno

“Anyone here have the swine flu? You know, they say the best way to steer clear of it is to avoid congregating in large groups. Obviously, that message did not get to any of you.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Remember the good old days when we thought the only bad pork was in the Federal budget?” – Jay Leno

“They traced the origin of the new strain of swine flu back to one little piggy who went to market when he should have stayed home.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“They say this outbreak of swine flu got its start in Mexico and then came up here. You know what Wal-Mart calls something that got its start in Mexico and came up here? Employees.” – Jay Leno

“They say this swine flu is pretty rough, if you happen to get it. In fact, on the news today, I heard a commentator say, ‘You wouldn’t wish this on your worst enemy.’ People always say that about something that’s really bad. But are you all hoping that Osama bin Laden or Bernard Madoff doesn’t get this?” – Jay Leno

“Well, another pilot has been taken off a plane for being drunk. This time it was an Air Canada pilot who was about to fly from London to Calgary. They took him off the plane before he could do something really stupid, you know, like fly low over Manhattan.” – Jay Leno

“Someone at the White House made a big mistake yesterday. They flew Air Force One right over the city of New York, which scared the hell out of a lot of people. Thousands of people panicked. Some of them even evacuated their office buildings, and it was all because they wanted to get a picture of the President’s plane next to the Statue of the Liberty. We have the first president ever who can use Facebook, but his staff does not know how to use Photoshop.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“This is, I mean, this is exciting. Air Force One was in New York City and apparently nobody knew. They didn’t make the call. Hello! Air Force One comes to New York City and wants to take some pictures. They send it right up and start buzzing New York City. I mean, isn’t this something you would expect from the Bush Administration?” – David Letterman

“President Obama is now saying that the flyover was a mistake. If you’re scoring at home, by the way, Obama still trails Bush in the mistake total by about 10,000. So we’re okay.” – David Letterman

“Did you see that, the 747 jet flying low over New York City? It caused a huge panic. Some government idiot thought it would be a good idea to buzz the city to get pictures of planes flying over the Statue of Liberty. But they didn’t warn anybody. What’s the government’s next big idea? ‘Hey, let’s send a guy in a pirate costume to Captain Richard Phillips’ house.'” – Jay Leno

“So, they fly Air Force One up here and take a photo of it at the Statue of Liberty. Next, the Bronx Zoo. Plane had its picture taken at the Bronx Zoo. After that, it went to Yankee Stadium and had its picture taken there. And guess what, ladies and gentlemen? It’s here tonight. How about a nice hand for Air Force One? It’s here.” – David Letterman

“Here’s something else I didn’t want to bring up but I have to. You folks in the balcony, be careful. You may be buzzed by Air Force One. So look out.” – David Letterman

“It’s a very bad day in America for people who swear, because, today, the Supreme Court said that the government can continue its crackdown on TV swearing. In fact, I can’t even say crackdown.” – Craig Ferguson

“By the way, tomorrow, I believe, marks 100 days for President Obama in office as the leader of the free world. Meanwhile, to give you an idea what else is going on, today, John McCain was waxing his Pontiac.” – David Letterman

“President Obama, if you take a look at it, has accomplished quite a lot in his first 100 days. By way of comparison, take a look at George W. Bush’s first 100 days in office. This is in his memoir. So, according to that, Bush spent 100 days in the Oval Office looking for the corner.” – David Letterman

“And I love this. At the Summit of the Americas, the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela all agreed that capitalism will destroy the planet. Then they all hopped in their private jets and returned to their huge palaces.” – Jay Leno

“And in a move that has stunned Washington, D.C., longtime Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter has switched parties. He is the first Republican senator to switch teams since Senator Larry Craig, I guess.” – Jay Leno

“Hey, did you hear about Arlen Specter, the senator? He left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. What?! It’s very odd, to switch teams like this. Who does he think he is, Lindsay Lohan?” – Craig Ferguson

“This really is big, because Specter’s move puts the Democrats within a hair’s breath of a unfilibusterable 60-seat Senate majority. So now it appears the Senate’s balance of power, in many respects, the future of our nation is in the hands of Al Franken. What a country!” – Jon Stewart

“Specter announced he’d become a Democrat and the Republicans are like, ‘Yeah, he’s been a Democrat for about 15 years.'” – Craig Ferguson

“Republican Senator Arlen Specter has contracted donkey flu. Folks, this disease is now officially out of control. Back in 2004, we thought we had it contained to the coasts and the cities, but then it mutated and tore through the country. Republicans tried to fight it off, but their white cells weren’t strong enough, although they were very, very white. Now, we should have seen this coming, folks. Specter was exhibiting the classic symptoms of donkey flu: mild fever, and being 21 points behind in Republican primary polls. I want to warn Maine Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to take every possible precaution. Donkey flu is highly contagious and virtually incurable.” – Stephen Colbert

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The Party of NO (but Just for You)

On Obama’s 100th day in office the House passed the budget with absolutely zero yes Republican votes, continuing their run as the party of NO.

In addition, John McCain boasted about voting against the confirmation of Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human services on Twitter:

voted against Sebelius – already moving toward socialized car companies, we don’t need socialized medicine!

What’s ironic about this is that one of the things that is killing the US auto industry is the cost of providing health benefits for their retirees. So if we had fixed our out-of-control and insanely expensive health insurance system, maybe the car companies wouldn’t have needed to get bailed out in the first place.

But what makes this even more ironic is McCain saying “WE don’t need socialized medicine”. McCain has been the beneficiary of this kind of health coverage all of his life. He was born, after all, in a military hospital (in Panama no less, but do any wing-nuts question his presidential qualifications?), grew up getting all his care on military bases, then switched to getting Congressional health care from the government. Gee, that “socialized medicine” must really be terrible!

I also need to point out the repeated false characterization of Obama’s health care proposal as “socialized medicine”. This is another case where the Republicans figure if they repeat something often enough, people will believe it. Nobody is proposing socializing doctors or hospitals. Obama isn’t even proposing a “single-payer government-run system” (like they have in Canada or England).

So when McCain says “WE” he really means is “I’ve got mine; the rest of you peasants can just rot.” Who needs a secretary of Health and Human services? I already get my free flu medicine from the government, who cares about you?

Incidentally, I’m very impressed that McCain is actually using Twitter. Welcome to the innertubes! And there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that his Twitter status is “still a loser”.

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Revenge of the Fist Bump

Gary Markstein
© Gary Markstein

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Heckuva Job!

On Monday, I wrote about how — despite the danger of a swine flu pandemic — Republicans were blocking the appointment of Kathleen Sibelius to head Health and Human Services because of her views on abortion (for example, she vetoed a bill that would have prevented abortion even when the mother’s life was in danger), and they also were bragging about how they had stripped money for flu pandemic prevention from the stimulus bill, calling it (ironically, since this is the swine flu) pork.

In that article, I made a passing reference to “heckuva job” Brownie, who famously bungled the response to hurricane Katrina. Never in a million years did I expect Michael Brown to pop his head up again. But who else but Fox would drag him out in order to have this “expert” (on how to screw up) attack the World Health Organization and Obama for their response to the swine flu outbreak.

His criticism? That Obama (and WHO) are recklessly overreacting. After all, Brown waited days after Louisiana had declared an emergency before even requesting federal personnel be sent to the gulf area. What is Obama trying to do, make him look bad? (In reality, Obama has said that the swine flu is obviously a cause for concern, “but it’s not a cause for alarm”.)

In return, Fox host Neil Cavuto said that Brown was a “sacrificial lamb” who was blamed for the Katrina problems.

What’s next on Fox? Dick Cheney as an expert on gun safety?

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Breaking Up

Mike Luckovich
© Mike Luckovich

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Republicans use Bush as a Weapon

This one really makes my head spin. The Republicans seem to have found those WMDs that they had been looking for so hard.

A few days ago, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter stunned everyone by switching parties (leading to puns such as the Politico headline “GOP is Specter of its old self“). The former moderate Republican claimed that his grand old party had moved too far to the right in a state where 200,000 voters have switched from Republican to Democrat in the past few years.

But here’s the crazy bit (MSNBC calls it a “doozy”). The National Republican Senatorial Committee has started running robo-calls in Pennsylvania trying to hurt Specter by (believe it or not) linking him to President Bush and to Republican positions. The call says it is to “help you welcome your newest Democrat Senator, Arlen Specter.”

ANNOUNCER: We wanted to make sure that we properly introduced him to you. Former President George W. Bush said this about Arlen Specter:

PRESIDENT BUSH: I’m here to say it as plainly as I can, Arlen Specter is the right man for the United States Senate. I can count on this man – see that’s important. He’s a firm ally when it matters most. I’m proud to tell you I think he’s earned another term as the United States Senator.

What’s next? Endorsements from Sarah Palin while turkeys are slaughtered in the background? Invitations to hunting trips from Dick Cheney?

The Republicans have even created a website for Arlen Specter showing videos of Specter being a Republican! Oh My! That’s sure to make him unpopular!

What’s even more bizarre is that many of the remaining few Republicans (now down to 22%) seem to be cheering his departure, and want to get rid of all surviving moderate Republicans, including John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, and even Lindsay Graham (they don’t seem to have a problem with Michelle Bachmann). As Specter puts it, “They don’t make any bones about their willingness to lose the general election if they can purify the party.”

Rush Limbaugh declared “Well, Specter, take McCain with you. … It’s ultimately good. You’re weeding out people who aren’t really Republican.” Yes, ideological purity is much more important than, say, actually listening to those pesky voters. And as a reader points out, ironically it was Limbaugh who encouraged Republicans to switch parties so they could vote in the Democratic primary — did he realize that many of them wouldn’t see any need to switch back?

My question is, was the robo-call sour grapes, or is the GOP just trying to dramatically demonstrate why Specter decided to leave them?

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Late Night Political Humor

Swine Flu - That's All Folks!“Great to be back. As you know, I was sick for two days last week. Had to go to the hospital after I ate a raw pig a friend brought back from Mexico.” – Jay Leno

“I wasn’t that sick, but some people are, because of this swine flu, which has knocked the torture stuff right off the front page. You notice that? So, it’s obvious who is spreading the swine flu. Dick Cheney.” – Jay Leno

“But you learn a lot about the system. You know, like, people say, ‘Oh, where do hospitals get the nerve to charge $10 for an aspirin?’ See, this is why President Obama wants to do something about healthcare in this country. See, under his plan, hospital aspirin only costs a dollar maximum. Of course, there would be a $9 tax on it.” – Jay Leno

“Well, it’s interesting. They call it swine flu because they think it originated either with pigs or an AIG executive.” – Jay Leno

“GM is phasing out Pontiac. You know what that means? Another $20 million bonus for the head of GM” – David Letterman

“I tell you, the economy is so bad, third graders in China are being forced to get second jobs.” – Jay Leno

“And the bad economy is hitting Nashville. Nashville’s in bad shape. You know Big and Rich? Now down and out.” – Jay Leno

“The economy is so bad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez asked President Obama to give him the book back. He needs the money.” – Jay Leno

“We’re getting close to President Obama’s first 100 days in office, and he has had to deal with a lot of trouble, including a global financial crisis, pirates, and swine flu. Plus, Obama’s got a live-in mother-in-law. I’m telling you, this guy cannot catch a break.” – David Letterman

“Oh, on Friday, President Obama was taken to a secure location in the White House after a single engine plane strayed over White House air space. As a precaution, they took the President to a place in the White House nobody even knew existed — Joe Biden’s office.” – Jay Leno

“Yes, Obama is marking 100 days as the leader of the free world. Meanwhile, John McCain was putting his Glenn Miller records in storage today.” – David Letterman

“I think this is a first for President Obama. This weekend he played golf. President Obama apparently, and at one point, and this happens, you know, you play golf, he got stuck really deep in a sand trap. Same thing happened to George Bush, and it’s called Iraq.” – David Letterman

“Next month in Canada, former President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton will have a debate. They’re gonna debate each other. The topic will be, ‘which is better, getting in bed with big oil or big women?” – Jay Leno

“Now, here’s the difference between President Obama and our previous Democratic president, President Clinton. President Obama enjoyed playing a round of golf. President Clinton just enjoyed playing around.” – David Letterman

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