Yes, it’s a Class War, so Let’s Fight! - Headlines 1/8/09

[Caro]

Politics and Media Headlines 1/8/09

Class Warfare (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
(F)rom Daily Kos…: “If the lines had continued to track closely together as they did prior to the 1970s, the MINIMUM WAGE would be more than $19 an hour. THE MINIMUM WAGE!!!...”… Also a major factor: The two-paycheck family obscured this wage deflation. After all, with both husband and wife working, it almost added up to one healthy paycheck! (As you can imagine, single moms like me had no trouble figuring it out.) I used to read years ago that Republicans actually liked the influx of women into the workplace for precisely this reason: It gave them cover for deflating wages. Nice work, guys!

Does Obama Want to Cut Social Security or Did the NYT Send Out a False Alarm? (by Dean Baker)
The headline of an NYT article tells readers that "Obama Promises Bid to Overhaul Retiree Spending." The first sentence warns that "overhauling Social Security and Medicare would be 'a central part' of his administration’s efforts to contain federal spending, signaling for the first time that he would wade into the thorny politics of entitlement programs."… (Obama’s) statement does not indicate any intention to cut Social Security. It does indicate a desire to address entitlement spending, which includes both Social Security and Medicare. Medicare costs are in turn being driven by the explosive growth in health care costs in the United States. President Obama's health care reform plan should contain health care costs and in that way restrict entitlement spending.
Yes, well, let’s HOPE that’s what Obama had in mind.—Caro

House Dems to vote on Obama-favored health plan (AP)
WASHINGTON - House Democrats plan to give President-elect Barack Obama an early victory on health care, specifically children's health care, next week.
But aren’t they asking us to vote RIGHT NOW on single payer health care? How could a bill be ready to vote on next week, if they plan to incorporate our votes?—Caro

Hypocrisy From the Party of Pork (by Joe Conason)
As the government contemplates spending very large sums of money, it is reassuring to know that somebody still worries about waste. Or it would be reassuring, if only that somebody were not Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, who promises that he and his fellow Republicans will "protect taxpayers against the rush to spend their money."… The Republicans' sudden reversion to the solemn frugality of their forebears would be amusing were it not so dangerous. Having established a record over the past decade or so as the wildest wastrels in the nation's history, they now present themselves as straight-laced accountants who simply cannot abide a misspent dime.

Obama Shouldn't Cave to the Right on Tax Cuts (by Marie Cocco)
Probably the least efficient way to stimulate the economy is with tax cuts, notably the impossibly inefficient break Obama wants to give businesses that create jobs or merely retain workers. There is no way to tell whether the company that "created" the job would have added a worker or kept one on the payroll.. In fact, much of the business-tax package Obama contemplates fails his own test of cutting business taxes "where it makes sense and is going to work." Tax breaks to individuals are dubious -- the rebate fiasco is Exhibit A. With the extra cash, a taxpayer could pay down a credit card balance, put the money in savings or purchase, say, a T-shirt that was made by cut-rate workers in Asia…

Obama promotes tax cuts not to enhance the economy but to elevate his political standing. During his campaign, he promised tax cuts for those he considers middle class -- which seemed back then to include everyone earning up to $250,000. There is also the matter of wanting a strong, bipartisan vote in favor of his plan. Republicans still cling to the discredited tax-cut dogma as the solution to every economic problem. That doesn't mean Democrats should.

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com