Showdowns and Shutdowns: Madison To DC

georgephillip

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Dec 27, 2009
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While few of us doubt that government budgets are in deep trouble, there's a huge and growing divide over why.

Are these deficits the result of excessive spending by local, state and federal governments, or do they result from the plummeting revenues over the last two years of our Great Recession.

Robert Reich:

"They’re (public budgets) also in trouble because of tax giveaways to the rich.

"Before Wisconsin’s budget went bust, Governor Walker signed $117 million in corporate tax breaks. Wisconsin’s immediate budge shortfall is $137 million.

"That’s his pretext for socking it to Wisconsin’s public unions.

"Nationally, you remember, Republicans demanded and received an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. They’ve made it clear they’re intent on extending them for the next ten years, at a cost of $900 billion.

"They’ve also led the way on cutting the estate tax, and on protecting Wall Street private equity and hedge-fund managers whose earnings are taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent.

"And the last thing they’d tolerate is an increase in the top marginal tax rate on the super-rich."

Reich thinks electing Democrats changes the class war dynamic.

It doesn't.
 
Guess it don't take a whole lot of education to milk cows an' make cheese...
:lol:
Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.
In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.” The test also showed that the reading abilities of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders had not improved at all between 1998 and 2009 despite a significant inflation-adjusted increase in the amount of money Wisconsin public schools spent per pupil each year.

In 1998, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Wisconsin public school eighth graders scored an average of 266 out of 500 on the NAEP reading test. In 2009, Wisconsin public school eighth graders once again scored an average of 266 out of 500 on the NAEP reading test. Meanwhile, Wisconsin public schools increased their per pupil expenditures from $4,956 per pupil in 1998 to 10,791 per pupil in 2008. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator the $4,956 Wisconsin spent per pupil in 1998 dollars equaled $6,546 in 2008 dollars. That means that from 1998 to 2008, Wisconsin public schools increased their per pupil spending by $4,245 in real terms yet did not add a single point to the reading scores of their eighth graders and still could lift only one-third of their eighth graders to at least a “proficient” level in reading.

The $10,791 that Wisconsin spent per pupil in its public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal year 2008 was more than any other state in the Midwest. Neighboring Illinois spent $10,353 per student in 2008, Minnesota spent $10,048 per student; Iowa spent $9,520 per student. Among Midwest states, Nebraska was second to Wisconsin in per pupil spending in its public schools, spending $10,565 per student. Of these nearby states, only Minnesota did slightly better teaching reading to its public school students. In 2009, 39 percent of eighth graders in Minnesota public schools earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average eighth grade reading score in the state was 270 out of 500.

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parrot_in_a_hat-sm.jpg


It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...

RAAAAAAAK!


onenotesambassatb.gif
 
parrot_in_a_hat-sm.jpg


It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...

RAAAAAAAK!


onenotesambassatb.gif

finally a song i can play. we should drive the corporations and rich people out of america. death to gaddafi !!
 
While few of us doubt that government budgets are in deep trouble, there's a huge and growing divide over why.

Are these deficits the result of excessive spending by local, state and federal governments, or do they result from the plummeting revenues over the last two years of our Great Recession.

Robert Reich:

"They’re (public budgets) also in trouble because of tax giveaways to the rich.

"Before Wisconsin’s budget went bust, Governor Walker signed $117 million in corporate tax breaks. Wisconsin’s immediate budge shortfall is $137 million.

"That’s his pretext for socking it to Wisconsin’s public unions.

"Nationally, you remember, Republicans demanded and received an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. They’ve made it clear they’re intent on extending them for the next ten years, at a cost of $900 billion.

"They’ve also led the way on cutting the estate tax, and on protecting Wall Street private equity and hedge-fund managers whose earnings are taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent.

"And the last thing they’d tolerate is an increase in the top marginal tax rate on the super-rich."

Reich thinks electing Democrats changes the class war dynamic.

It doesn't.

demonRats have two solutions,, Tax the Rich Tax the corporations, they are not thinkers outside the boxers..
 
Even a short little fool like Reich should realize that corporations aren't hiring and they aren't expanding or investing their capital because they are intimidated by the socialist agenda and anti-corporate mentality of the government. Does any sane person think all money belongs to the government and they only let us keep it for a little while? That's what you are saying when you use words like "tax giveaways". Obama thought the Chamber of Commerce was a sinister political force. That's how out of touch he is. Why do you think Obama hired a communist and former leader of a looting and arson rampage to be on the "green jobs" board? There are no green jobs. Obama wanted a revolutionary as part of the administration. Thank God Republicans gained the majority in Congress or we would be on the way to the 3rd world with fools like Reich driving the train.
 
parrot_in_a_hat-sm.jpg


It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...

RAAAAAAAK!


onenotesambassatb.gif

It's really hard to argue such a solid collection of facts such as this.:lol:
 
It's all the fault of George BOOOOOOSH!...and and tax cuts for the rich!....and and Florida 2000!...and and Diebold!...and and Karl Rove!...and and Halliburton!......and and the grassy knoll!... and and Rupert Murdoch!...and and Fox News!... and and Dick Cheney running the Shadow Gubmint from the basement of Wal Mart!
 
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parrot_in_a_hat-sm.jpg


It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...

RAAAAAAAK!


onenotesambassatb.gif
Is that Charles or David beneath the goofy hat?

What part of $8 trillion housing bubble don't you cons get?

The part about who lost their jobs and houses?
 
That's you, Johnny One-note.

Tax cuts and the housing bubble are two completely unrelated issues.

Try again.
Tax cuts and housing bubbles work in tandem to concentrate wealth in the hands of the richest 1% of Americans.

They are part of the reason the richest 1% in this country possessed about 9% of national wealth in the late 1970s and currently hold over 20%.

Naturally this is all the fault of Wisconsin teachers.

Right?
 
Guess it don't take a whole lot of education to milk cows an' make cheese...
:lol:
Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.
In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.” The test also showed that the reading abilities of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders had not improved at all between 1998 and 2009 despite a significant inflation-adjusted increase in the amount of money Wisconsin public schools spent per pupil each year.

In 1998, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Wisconsin public school eighth graders scored an average of 266 out of 500 on the NAEP reading test. In 2009, Wisconsin public school eighth graders once again scored an average of 266 out of 500 on the NAEP reading test. Meanwhile, Wisconsin public schools increased their per pupil expenditures from $4,956 per pupil in 1998 to 10,791 per pupil in 2008. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator the $4,956 Wisconsin spent per pupil in 1998 dollars equaled $6,546 in 2008 dollars. That means that from 1998 to 2008, Wisconsin public schools increased their per pupil spending by $4,245 in real terms yet did not add a single point to the reading scores of their eighth graders and still could lift only one-third of their eighth graders to at least a “proficient” level in reading.

The $10,791 that Wisconsin spent per pupil in its public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal year 2008 was more than any other state in the Midwest. Neighboring Illinois spent $10,353 per student in 2008, Minnesota spent $10,048 per student; Iowa spent $9,520 per student. Among Midwest states, Nebraska was second to Wisconsin in per pupil spending in its public schools, spending $10,565 per student. Of these nearby states, only Minnesota did slightly better teaching reading to its public school students. In 2009, 39 percent of eighth graders in Minnesota public schools earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading, and the average eighth grade reading score in the state was 270 out of 500.

MORE
Without the Packers and the Badgers it sounds like kids in Wisconsin wouldn't do any reading at all. The low reading scores you cite aren't found in the mid-west only, and, apparently, it's not just a matter of throwing more money at the problem.

There's a sense in Madison and elsewhere of working-class families coming together to protect things like a social safety net, labor rights and education.

Obviously, that will be a harder row to hoe if one-third of the next generation isn't capable of reading at a proficient level.

Unions in general have a tendency to shield the incompetent and protect those who shouldn't hold their jobs; however, I'm not sure taking away their collective bargaining rights does anything to address those problems.

And the corporate campaign to shift the blame for our current recession from Wall Street to Main Street makes me hope the next major financial crash occurs in November of 2012.

And millions of American voters consider the possibility that neither Republicans NOR Democrats have any answers to capitalism's Paradox of Accumulation.
 
parrot_in_a_hat-sm.jpg


It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...

RAAAAAAAK!


onenotesambassatb.gif

finally a song i can play. we should drive the corporations and rich people out of america. death to gaddafi !!
Or stop borrowing from rich corporations and individuals and start taxing them.

"Yet if the Great Recession has leveled off before plunging into the depths of a second Great Depression, it has nonetheless left the U.S. and world economies in shambles.

"Official U.S. unemployment is over 9 percent, while real unemployment, taking into account all of those wanting jobs plus part-timers desiring full-time work, is close to twice that.

"Capacity utilization in industry in the United States is at its lowest level since the 1930s.

"Investment in new plant and equipment has faltered..."

Who do you hold accountable?

Public unions or Goldman Sachs?

Paradox of Accumulation
 
While few of us doubt that government budgets are in deep trouble, there's a huge and growing divide over why.

Are these deficits the result of excessive spending by local, state and federal governments, or do they result from the plummeting revenues over the last two years of our Great Recession.

Robert Reich:

"They’re (public budgets) also in trouble because of tax giveaways to the rich.

"Before Wisconsin’s budget went bust, Governor Walker signed $117 million in corporate tax breaks. Wisconsin’s immediate budge shortfall is $137 million.

"That’s his pretext for socking it to Wisconsin’s public unions.

"Nationally, you remember, Republicans demanded and received an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. They’ve made it clear they’re intent on extending them for the next ten years, at a cost of $900 billion.

"They’ve also led the way on cutting the estate tax, and on protecting Wall Street private equity and hedge-fund managers whose earnings are taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent.

"And the last thing they’d tolerate is an increase in the top marginal tax rate on the super-rich."

Reich thinks electing Democrats changes the class war dynamic.

It doesn't.

These fights boil down to 2 Groups of people.

1 Group understands the Debt Situation we are in, the Other side simply does not care and wants to keep their Cookies and treats.
 
parrot_in_a_hat-sm.jpg


It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...It's all the fault of tax cuts for the rich...

RAAAAAAAK!


onenotesambassatb.gif

finally a song i can play. we should drive the corporations and rich people out of america. death to gaddafi !!

I'm waiting for a song entitled "FOX LIES, FOX LIES!!!!"
 
Halliburton did this.
Call Henry

"Even the Pentagon's own team of auditors, who nailed Halliburton red-handed for bilking the government for $108.4 million in overcharges for only 'one task order' of its work in Iraq, found their report languishing in a kind of bureaucratic netherland for many months.

"The damning investigation by the Defense Contract Audit Agency was completed in early October of 2004 and shipped up the line to Pentagon's dark triumverate, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. And there it sat. The Pentagon's civilian leadership mothballed the explosive report for more than five months, until after the election, the inauguration, the State of the Union Address and the Defense Department budget request had all safely transpired.

"Even congress was denied a peak at the report's findings until mid-March 2005. The Pentagon rejected 12 separate requests from Congressman Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who has spearheaded the ad hoc congressional inquiry into Halliburton's contract abuse, seeking to examine the internal audits of Halliburton's $2.5 billion contract for fuel supplies and other services to the US military and occupation government in Iraq."

Capitalism's finest hour.
 
While few of us doubt that government budgets are in deep trouble, there's a huge and growing divide over why.

Are these deficits the result of excessive spending by local, state and federal governments, or do they result from the plummeting revenues over the last two years of our Great Recession.

Robert Reich:

"They’re (public budgets) also in trouble because of tax giveaways to the rich.

"Before Wisconsin’s budget went bust, Governor Walker signed $117 million in corporate tax breaks. Wisconsin’s immediate budge shortfall is $137 million.

"That’s his pretext for socking it to Wisconsin’s public unions.

"Nationally, you remember, Republicans demanded and received an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. They’ve made it clear they’re intent on extending them for the next ten years, at a cost of $900 billion.

"They’ve also led the way on cutting the estate tax, and on protecting Wall Street private equity and hedge-fund managers whose earnings are taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent.

"And the last thing they’d tolerate is an increase in the top marginal tax rate on the super-rich."

Reich thinks electing Democrats changes the class war dynamic.

It doesn't.

demonRats have two solutions,, Tax the Rich Tax the corporations, they are not thinkers outside the boxers..
Why is your first instinct to support those who have been increasing their share of national income and wealth over the last forty years by bribing elected Republicans and Democrats?

Do you have more in common with Wisconsin teachers or the Koch brothers?

Republicans would rather no one notice their campaign to shrink the pie even further with tax cuts for the rich in spite of the role the richest 1% played in creating our Great Recession.

Republicans (and most Democrats) would rather target teachers than the private equity managers and hedge fund honchos who helped inflate and then collapse an $8 trillion housing bubble.

Why do you endorse their greed?
 

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