Feds Make $8 Billion Profit

So the Federal government bailed out Citigroup to the tune of 45 billion dollars. Citigroup is raising $20 Billion to pay back the loan portion of the bailout. But what about the 25 billion dollars in common stock that the (we) Federal government owns. Well, it turns out they are going to sell it for 33 billion dollars - an $8 billion profit.

That's socialism for you.

Who Are the Tea Partiers

A Quinnipiac University national poll released today gives us some idea. Although it's really no surprise.

Looking at voters who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement:

•74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;
•16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;
•5 percent are solidly independent;
•45 percent are men;
•55 percent are women;
•88 percent are white;
•77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;
•15 percent voted for President Barack Obama.

72% of tea baggers have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin.

So the Tea Party is basically made up of very conservative members of the Republican party (the base)who are upset that the Bush years did not turn out the way they hoped and are pissed now that Democrats hold the reins of power.

Google the Adirondacks!

Google the Adirondacks has a "mission to promote the greater tri-lakes region as the best location for the Google Fiber Experiment". Go there immediately and add your comments in support of Google choosing the Adirondacks for their fiber experiment.

While you're at it visit the Google the Adirondacks Facebook page and become a fan. Let's all lobby Google now!

Everyone Loves a Winner

Yesterday a sizeable number of people did not support the health care reform bill. Today, there is a whole new picture.

By 49%-40% those surveyed say it was "a good thing" rather than a bad one that Congress passed the bill. Half describe their reaction in positive terms, as "enthusiastic" or "pleased," while about four in 10 describe it in negative ways, as "disappointed" or "angry."

I'm willing to bet there are a significant number of people in that 49% who did not support the Bill yesterday. Then there are likely a significant number of people who have a lets wait and see attitude. Others who were "opposed" to the Bill were progressives who didn't think it went far enough. There is still a large group of people who bought into the lies and misconceptions about the Bill. Many of them will soon see that there are no death panels. In any case, some people just love being on the winning side and I expect support of the passage of HCR will continue to rise.

Stuff

You may not like the "progressive" politics, but "The Story of Stuff" does make you think.

Are Federal Taxes Too High?

Complaints about taxes are everywhere. But are Federal taxes too high? According to the Tax Policy Center only 4 countries had taxes lower than the USA in 2006: Japan, Korea, Turkey and Mexico. All taxes, collected in the USA, accounted for about 28% of GDP compared with 36% of OECD countries. Many countries in Europe exceed 40% of GDP in taxes. Those are the countries that provide lot's of services to their citizens. The difference seems to be in how taxes are levied. Personal income taxes comprise 36% of US tax revenues. Most other countries use a "consumption tax" as a source of federal revenue. Surprisingly, corporate taxes in the USA account for only 12% of tax revenue in the US, only 1% more than most members of the OECD.

Where Were the Republicans?

Richard Cohen, not one of my favorites, writes this:

Anger comes from fear. What was once a white Protestant nation is changing hue and religion. It is no accident that racial epithets were yelled at black lawmakers on Saturday in Washington and a kind of venom even gets exclaimed from the floor of the Congress: "You lie!" "Baby killer!" The protesters were protesting health-care legislation. But they feared they were losing their country.

I think this is right. The tea party is a perfect example of the above. They are mostly white, middle-aged to older individuals who are fearful of change. Our nation is changing and persons of a conservative bent take change poorly.

Social security was passed with 81 republican votes in the House and 16 votes in the Senate. Only 6 republican senators voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Medicare was supported by 13 republican senators. The health care reform act passed without the support of a single republican.

So what was different in that vote? The answer is pretty simple. There are no longer republicans in the GOP like those that voted for SS, or Civil Rights, or Medicare. Those were RINO (republicans in name only) republicans. The Republican party today is made up of fearmongers, doomsayers, and politicians who care more about getting re-elected than doing the right thing.

See the post immediately below. Republicans have decided that the way to regain control of government is to obstruct every Democratic proposal, then run a campaign on how Democrats were unable to pass any legislation. It may work in the short run. But remember, the nation is getting less white, less racist, less religious (albeit very slowly) and more tolerant.

Republicans only need to keep using current tactics to eventually destroy their party.

5 Year Blog Anniversary

I missed my own blog anniversary. First post, March 10, 2005.

The Republican Plan to Destroy President Obama

You can read the whole thing here, but this is what stands out:

The GOP game is as simple as it is hypocritical. First: Reject every Democratic proposal — including some of the exact same initiatives that Republicans championed under Bush — while branding the consensus-seeking Obama as a radical leftist. Second: Stoke populist fury over exploding deficits, even though they're the fallout of eight catastrophic years of Republican rule. (President Bush inherited a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion and left behind a forecasted deficit of $3 trillion.) Three: Promise to fix what's wrong with Washington — despite having waged an all-out war to make government appear as broken as possible.

Wait for the Senate reconciliation vote on health care reform. All of a sudden Republicans are going to start supporting ideas that Democrats want removed from the Senate version of the health care bill. Republicans now want to make sure those items in the bill they were complaining about last week.....remain in the bill. The whole idea, of course, is to keep those special handouts to Florida and Nebraska in the Bill, so they can continue to complain about them.

Disgusting.