Tag: Progressives

Tax The Rich

The chant goes up…Tax the rich….Tax the rich…..somewhere there will be villagers with pitchforks waiting on the arrival of the “tax man”…..

Enough fanciful stuff……there is a movement taking to the airwaves a proposal for a 70% tax on the ultra-rich…..and by damn the idea has got a majority approval in the polls…..

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sparked a flood of hysterical and error-filled responses from the right when she suggested in a recent “60 Minutes” interview that America’s top marginal tax rate should be hiked to 70 percent to help pay for bold progressive programs, but a survey published on Tuesday found that the majority of Americans are on the freshman congresswoman’s side.

Conducted by The Hill in partnership with the market research firm HarrisX, the poll found that 59 percent of the U.S. public supports raising the marginal tax rate on the richest Americans to 70 percent. The poll also found a “surprising amount of support” for the proposal among Republicans, with 45 percent backing the idea along with 71 percent of Democrats.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/15/poll-shows-majority-

back-70-tax-rate-ultra-rich-ocasio-cortezs-radical-proposal

The media is not down with this proposal……however the economics of this are sound…looking at it without the bias of a political party……

Taxes impede economic growth and high taxes kill the economy, right?. This is the belief among many who criticize Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy to 70% or more. But what does the evidence really tell us?

Do high taxes really hurt the economy as much as they believe, and will lowering them have much of an impact on stimulating it? The economic literature is clear — tax breaks to encourage economic relocation or investment decisions are inefficient and wasteful. Hundreds of studies reach this conclusion. When businesses are surveyed regarding factors important to their investment decisions, taxes often come in behind proximity to markets, suppliers, and the quality of the labor force. These other factors occupy a larger percentage of a business’s budget than do taxes, and all of them are far more critical to long-term success than are taxes. Businesses occasionally admit this. Nearly 62 percent of those interviewed in a California study on hiring tax credits indicated that they had never or rarely affected their decision to employ individuals.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09/tax-the-rich-history-proves-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-may-be-correct/

I know this will not fly with the GOP for they think that tax cuts for the rich will solve all our economic problems…..wishful thinking….it has not done so in many decades and will not work now.

Time for the uber rich to start pulling their weight to society….they profit most from society then why can they not pay for their privilege?

Why Not?

As a matter of fact……the entire “progressive agenda” is fiscally  responsible….the agenda…..

  • We are currently planning to spend $45.2 trillion over the next decade on healthcare as a country.
  • A single payer Medicare for All system would cost $32.6 trillion over the next decade, saving us $13.2 trillion.
  • Freezing defense spending at 2017 levels would save us $780 billion over the next decade.
  • Reversing the Trump tax cuts would bring in an additional $1.9 trillion of revenue.
  • Reversing the Bush tax cuts would bring in an additional $3.3 trillion of revenue.
  • Closing three corporate tax loopholes (exclusion of rental income, capital gains, and deferral of controlled foreign corporations’ income) would bring in another $2.72 trillion of revenue.
  • If the entire “progressive agenda” is implemented, we would save $18.74 trillion over the next decade.

I approve of the agenda and will support it as long as too many changes are not included.

That is where it will not fly in DC….it is fiscally responsible…..the GOP has NO idea how to be fiscally responsible…..sounds good in sound bytes but the GOP just cannot find the on switch to fiscal responsibility.

The “Green New Deal”

This is why I dislike the Dems so much….the Progressives have come up with a plan for a “Green New Deal”………

We understand the problem ― we can’t allow temperatures to rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gives the world 12 years to make substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid severe climate effects later this century ― including in the United States. The urgency of the situation can’t be overstated.

We have momentum ― incoming Democrats, like Reps.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, are building support for an ambitious climate plan, and more than 15 members of Congress are calling for a select committee with a mandate to draft comprehensive legislation: a Green New Deal. We have the outline of a plan: We need a mass mobilization of people and resources, something not unlike the U.S. involvement in World War II or the Apollo moon missions ― but even bigger. We must transform our energy system, transportation, housing, agriculture and more.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/11/30/we-can-pay-green-new-deal

This is a great idea….the problem is that it is NOT a Dem idea…..this was first proposed 8 years ago by the Green Party USA…….

And if you like facts then read this fact……http://www.gp.org/green_new_deal

But at least I am not alone knowing where this “idea” came from……

This week progressives nationwide are talking about a Green New Deal and, while mainstream media is saying that insurgent Democrats came up with this, we beg to differ! We applaud the efforts of Democrats for finally adopting what the Global Greens began to work on in in 2006 while noting that the delay of 12 years is very significant when it comes to climate change.

The Green Party has been advocating for a massive jobs and public works program to transition our energy infrastructure rapidly over to renewable energy for more than a decade [1]. The project truly began with a Global Greens ‘Green New Deal Task Force’, first formulated in 2006. It was brought into American Green political campaigns by Howie Hawkins when he ran for governor in 2014 [2]. Next Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka highlighted it in their 2016 presidential campaign [3] while many more American Green candidates have run campaigns using it since that time.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/29/sorry-democrats-the-green-party-came-up-with-the-green-new-deal/

Time to give credit where credit is due….and bring in the people that thought this idea up as part of the team to pass this policy.

To be honest I do love all these grand plans…..knowing that they will probably go nowhere….but it does make good optics and slogans…that be bitchin’

The People’s Budget

First those tax cuts that the GOP shoved down the throat of Congress….well these do very little for a peon like me about $35 a month and did everything it was suppose to do…make the wealthy more so and explode the deficit (so much for all GOP crap about fiscal responsibility)…..

Well it was so successful for the wealthy that they are planning another round of help for the Fat Cats……

Despite the profound unpopularity of the Republican Party’s tax law, pushed through last December amid loud protests directed at President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers, party leaders on Tuesday unveiled framework for their “tax cuts 2.0” package—signaling that they are doubling down on their plans to benefit the rich at the expense of working Americans.

The framework, which House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) released, claims that it would permanently extend tax cuts for individuals that were set to expire in 2025, help families to save for college, and help small businesses create retirement plans for their workers.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/24/no-evidence-goptaxscam-has-benefited-most-americans-republicans-unveil-plan-double

A subject that gets little attention these days……poverty.  These days it seems the being poor makes one a criminal and most legislation rewards greed and wealth…..

In addition to padding the bottom lines of America’s largest corporations by cutting their taxes and eliminating scores of longstanding regulations, President Donald Trump is also protecting major companies’ profits by refusing to punish them for ripping off consumers and trampling federal rules that safeguard the planet.

That is the central conclusion of a new Public Citizen analysis out Wednesday, which finds that corporate America has largely been exempt from Trump’s so-called “law-and-order” agenda. Titled Corporate Impunity (pdf), the report shows that enforcement actions carried out by major government agencies declined drastically during Trump’s first year in the White House.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/25/poverty-criminalized-wealth-immunized-report-shows-corporate-crime-enforcement-has

I brought up this expansion of the deficit because that Progressive Caucus has released the “People’s Budget”…….

Offering an ambitious alternative to the House GOP’s “morally bankrupt” 2019 budget proposal—which demands over $5 trillion in cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and other life-saving programs—the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) on Tuesday unveiled a budget that calls for massive investments in infrastructure, healthcare, and education while proposing significant cuts to the completely “out-of-control” Pentagon budget.

Titled The People‘s Budget: A Progressive Path Forward (pdf), the CPC’s plan also calls for a ban on “any expansion of U.S. combat troops in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and many other countries,” demanding an immediate end to “the policy of funding endless wars.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/24/putting-common-good-over-billionaires-and-war-profiteers-house-progressives-unveil

This addresses the “Common Good” which any legislation should do…..

Now in reality this “Budget” will go nowhere….simply because it does little to benefit those that own the members of Congress.

Time For That “Change” Yet?

For decades we the people of this country have been drying for some political change…..and for decades we have had NO substantive change….some minor reform here and there….but change is still waiting top appear.

The GOP has chosen their course for the foreseeable future…..they are tying themselves to the coattails of Trump.  They see so much wrong with the way he is governing but they refuse to speak up…..that is unless they have decided not to run for re-election….then they are all mouth.

The Liberals are the ones that cannot seem to find a course and stick to it…..the party lost its soul when it tied itself to Clinton in the 90’s….his so-called “center-Left” politics….the people found that his policies were more conserv than liberal….but it was sold to the public as “progressive”.

Some have seen the damage that Clinton did to society….maybe not the economy and his Wall Street buddies…..but society as a whole suffered from his polices….even though he was out of offices when it occurred it was still his policies that collapse the party.

Now it is time for a change (this time let’s mean it!)……..

The once-proud political project known as “centrism” is collapsing around the globe, despite increasingly desperate attempts by billionaire backers to revive it.

The center-right’s implosion can be seen in the weakened state of Theresa May’s Conservatives in Great Britain, the recent setback for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, and the withering of the GOP’s Mitt Romney wing.

But what about the center-left, the “New Labour”/”New Democrat” phenomenon that once seemed to offer so much hope? Can it survive? More importantly, should it?

Source: The “Center-Left” Had Its Chance; It’s Time For Something New – LA Progressive

Apparently many are seeing this need…..a need for a new Democratic direction and a new message that the voter can get behind…..

The DNC needs to get on-board or the voter will move beyond…..change is still desired….but the voter is now looking for real change not the idle promises of those wanting desperately to hang onto power………

This will be something to watch if you are a political junkie…..will the DNC kick that damn can down that damn road again?

Closing Thought–10Apr17

These days I am not posting much on domestic situations…the world is getting close to the ignition stage and there is just too much happening for me to ignore….after all that is what I was trained to do…..ANALYZE.

But I will post from time to time on stuff that is out of my field…..

I have had several op-eds posted in Ace News Room….I try to “Press” them here so that others can read them that may not be regulars over at Ace.

It is no secret that I am a bit radical…in my younger days I was a hardcore radical…but I have mellowed a bit with age….but the concerns and desires are still there…..

First op-ed is a small look into my younger days of rebellion…..

“I Was A Teenage Socialist”…….

Personally, I think that is a capital idea for a title for an RKO feature film….right? (I knew I could get a movie reference in if I just tried)…but I am sure that if we let the major studios film it it would be along the lines of “Reefer Madness“.

Source: I Was a Teenage Socialist | Ace News Room

After the last election I saw what is needed in the US…a strong Left movement…and please do not say Dems….they are nothing more than a flip side of a Repub…..then I hit on an idea……

The voting is over and there is something that I wanted to share……I waited before posting this because I was a afraid that too much would be read into the subject……. By now …

Source: America Needs A Good Strong A.R.M. | Ace News Room

Back in 2010 I floated an idea along with a few others of a new Bull Moose Party……

Source: How About A “Bull Moose Party”? #1 – In Saner Thought

Source: How About A New “Bull Moose Party”? #2 – In Saner Thought

My point is that it is time for a real “progressive” party to arise in the US….but will it?

The day is finished for this puppy…but tomorrow is another day and I will be here writing and ranting…..as usual.  chuq

Why Progressives Love the New Cold War

First, there is NOTHING progressive about Democrats….so stop using the term to describe a bunch of center-left cowards. (And center left is being kind to them)

Second, NO true progressive would be in love with a war either hot or cold….

The Clinton campaign’s full-scale effort to turn this election into a referendum on Vladimir Putin is causing liberals like Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, and Glenn Greenwald, the energizing force behind The Intercept, much heartburn. Here is Ms. van den Heuvel wondering what the heck is going on: “How does new Cold War […]

Source: Why Progressives Love the New Cold War – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Democrats are nothing more than a neo-liberal……and neo-liberalism is a failed concept…..no matter how the Dems try to spin the thing they are nothing but war hawks and should be in bed with the GOP.

Will Progressives Crap On Clinton?

Since Hil has won the nomination she has had a full court press to get progressives, real progressive not some sad shade of one, to support her in her bid for the presidency.

She had even convinced Bernie, her opponent in the primaries, and Warren to sign on to her damn deception.

Us true progressives are not buying her crap….and now more troubling news about her lies and deceptions……

A steadydrip of hacked emails being released by WikiLeaks isn’t getting anywhere near the attention Donald Trump would like, but they could still cause plenty of trouble for Hillary Clinton, reports Politico. If the polls are right and Clinton wins the White House, she can expect to confront hostility from the left wing of her own party—a wing she would need to counter GOP opposition. That’s because the emails stolen from aide John Podesta’s account reveal that the Clinton camp has used words like “puritanical,” “pompous,” “radical,” and “freaks” to refer to its more liberal counterparts. Podesta himself, for example, calls Bernie Sanders a “doofus.” (In an interview with CNN, via Real Clear Politics, Podesta downplays it with a heat-of-the-moment defense.)

“We were already kind of suspicious of where Hillary’s instincts were, but now we see that she is who we thought she was,” a liberal operative tells Politico. “The honeymoon is going to be tight and small and maybe nonexistent.” In addition to Podesta, key advisers Jake Sullivan and Neera Tanden have made enemies with the progressive wing of the party because of the emails, which are expected to continue emerging through Election Day. If Clinton wins, expect the animosity to surface as liberal opposition to both personnel appointments and policy proposals. Meanwhile, the libertarian Reason blog highlights 10 revelations of the emails so far, including Tanden’s jokey reference to the Democratic base as the “Red Army.”

I have said before that the voter needs to know their candidate…..words are cheap….deception is their stock and trade……

Are you ready for this liar to take the White House?

But the next issue is…..will Bernie’s supporters come around and support Clinton?

If they do then they cannot call themselves “progressive”…….she is nothing more than an extension of the liberal policies that have put this nation in the shape it is now……

Me?  I am thinking Green!

Progressive, My Ass!

Let me open with……everyone STOP using the term “progressive” when you write or talk about Clinton or Sanders or Murphy or Warren….these people (I use the term loosely) are NOT progressive….they are nothing more than a Democrat with strong opinions (opinions do not equate into action)…..as f*cked up as they are.

I use to think that I could support some of these people like Sanders and Warren…I was mistaken……they are NOTHING more than the same cop out toads that the rest of the Democratic Party are…..

They are just as owned by the AIPAC bunch as the GOP bunch……it is common knowledge that I am not a supporter of Israel and its jack boot group called the IDF……I think that any debt that the US felt they owed the Jews is has been paid in full and now it is time for the country to stand on its own two legs or go down swinging….

The media has done an excellent job making Israel the victim in all the crap going on in the region….they are far from being a victim…..

My latest dislike of these so-called Progressives is a warning that they have issued to Obama……

The news that many progressive US senators as well as vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine signed on to an Israel lobby letter designed to limit President Obama’s actions against the Israeli occupation, now nearly 50 years old, has been widely reported, but the plain facts need to be stated.

Yesterday the Israel lobby group AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, flexed its muscle against President Obama and on the side of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu by posting a letter signed by 88 senators warning President Obama not to back any international measures that would pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied territories.

We urge you to… make it clear that you will veto any one sided UNSC [UN Security Council] resolution that may be offered in the coming months.

Source: Progressive senators Warren, Murphy, Markey, Booker, Reed sign AIPAC letter seeking to limit Obama’s actions

These people are bigger cowards than the GOP bunch

FUCK ISRAEL!  Time for us to keep our cash to be used where it is needed…..HERE!

If you consider yourself a progressive then may I suggest that you look elsewhere for representation.

Will Clinton Be Our Next President?

Not with my help!

The conventions are over and it is official we have our two candidates or so they want us to believe……but to answer my question….Damn!  I hope not…but then I am not so thrilled about our other choice (that is if you believe there are only two choices…I do not)…..

I cannot support Clinton for many reasons and I read an article by a Bernie supporter on why he cannot support Clinton……after reading I found that 6 of the reason were my reasons for why I do not support Clinton…..

Based on her foreign policy, Wall Street support and general judgement, this Bernie backer can’t back Hillary

1. The Iraq War. Sanders was on the right side of history. Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War, using the same intelligence reports as Clinton and Bush. He also foreshadowed the dire consequences of Iraq. In contrast, Hillary Clinton voted for Iraq and now calls her vote a “mistake.”

Source: I’m a Bernie Sanders voter who will not support Hillary Clinton: Here are 10 reasons why – Salon.com

There are a wide rift between true progressives and Clinton….she can try and spin it anyway she wants….she is NO progressive…..she is a war hawk….a neoliberal.  But why would thinking progressives not support Clinton?

The “lesser-of-evils” argument might not work for independent voters this year.

For those who hope for swift unity in the Democratic Party, there are reasons to believe it won’t happen if Hillary Clinton is the nominee.

While there are serious policy differences between Clinton and Bernie Sanders, a deeper fault line must be acknowledged between their supporters.

Certainly the two candidates remain far apart on issues that matter to progressives and independents — fracking, the TPP, tuition-free public colleges, universal single-payer healthcare, racist policing, militarism in the Middle East — to name just a few. Indeed, based on policy and political strategy, many independents and Democrats see Clinton as more like a traditional Republican. Many even see it as indicative of privilege if one supports Clinton over Sanders, given the current state of the economy and the environment. Many intelligent progressives see the two candidates as representing different social classes.

Source: The Deeper Reason Many Intelligent Progressives and Independents Will Not Support Hillary Clinton — Medium

Then there is all those young people that Sanders brought out to the streets…..the Millennials…..they will be looking for an alternative…..that is if they vote…..best thing Clinton can do is try to keep these people in the vague cloud and hope for the support she needs.

Dissing Progressives

The big news for the Dems has been the candidacy of Bernie Sanders…..his all out war with Clinton has given the progressives a voice….and especially with the upcoming convention……progressives will set the agenda….at least that was the propaganda put out to try and keep the Bernie supporters from jumping ship and supporting another candidate….other than Clinton……

The truth is the hardcore progressives were lied to….go figure….a Clinton lying…..I know how can this be?

Despite its claims to want to unify voters ahead of November’s election, the Democratic party appears to be pushing for an agenda that critics say ignores basic progressive policies, “staying true” to their Corporate donors above all else.

During a 9-hour meeting in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday, members of the DNC’s platform drafting committee voted down a number of measures proposed by Bernie Sanders surrogates that would have come out against the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), fracking, and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. At the same time, proposals to support a carbon tax, Single Payer healthcare, and a $15 minimum wage tied to inflation were also disregarded.

Source: Dissing Progressives, DNC Platform Backs Fracking, TPP, and Israeli Occupation | Informed Comment

Progressives looking for a fair and honest treatment by the Dem Party were just spit in the eye……

It is time for all true progressives and I mean progressives not these damn Dems hiding among progressives, to step up and move past the party and look for a candidate that will embrace change and progress……stop playing the DC dance…..

Hint:  Dr. Jill Stein