CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND: Listen to The Polyphonic Spree’s new song, “You Don’t Know Me”
Thursday, February 28, 2013
It Gets Better.
With Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
ROLLING STONE: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Support Gay Awareness Campaign
ROLLING STONE: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Support Gay Awareness Campaign
CHARTS.
Words.
"...All the blather about whose idea the sequester was or whether more golf would help the process is just a sideshow. The core question is whether our political leaders have the courage to compromise their absolutist positions and agree on a long-term balanced approach that ends budget making by crisis and removes the dark cloud of uncertainty that hovers over our economy."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Breaking Down the Budget Mess
"...All the blather about whose idea the sequester was or whether more golf would help the process is just a sideshow. The core question is whether our political leaders have the courage to compromise their absolutist positions and agree on a long-term balanced approach that ends budget making by crisis and removes the dark cloud of uncertainty that hovers over our economy."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Breaking Down the Budget Mess
This Mess We're In.
A Moment of Clarity.
THE WASHINGTON POST: Ending the permanent crisis
SEE ALSO:
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The all-pain, no-gain 'sequester'
THE WASHINGTON POST: Ending the permanent crisis
SEE ALSO:
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The all-pain, no-gain 'sequester'
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
And anotha one...
Words.
"...I am a capitalist and a lifelong Republican. I believe that, in a meritocracy, some level of income inequality is both inevitable and desirable, as encouragement to those who contribute most to our economic prosperity. But I fear that government actions, not merit, have fueled these extremes in income distribution through taxpayer bailouts, central-bank-engineered financial asset bubbles and unjustified tax breaks that favor the rich.
This is not a situation that any freethinking Republican should accept. Skewing income toward the upper, upper class hurts our economy because the rich tend to sit on their money — unlike lower- and middle-income people, who spend a large share of their paychecks, and hence stimulate economic activity.
But more fundamentally, it cuts against everything our country and my party stand for. Government’s role should not be to rig the game in favor of “the haves” but to make sure “the have-nots” are given a fair shot."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Grand Old Parity
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Dependents of the State
GAWKER: How America’s Racial Wealth Gap Perpetuates Itself
"...I am a capitalist and a lifelong Republican. I believe that, in a meritocracy, some level of income inequality is both inevitable and desirable, as encouragement to those who contribute most to our economic prosperity. But I fear that government actions, not merit, have fueled these extremes in income distribution through taxpayer bailouts, central-bank-engineered financial asset bubbles and unjustified tax breaks that favor the rich.
This is not a situation that any freethinking Republican should accept. Skewing income toward the upper, upper class hurts our economy because the rich tend to sit on their money — unlike lower- and middle-income people, who spend a large share of their paychecks, and hence stimulate economic activity.
But more fundamentally, it cuts against everything our country and my party stand for. Government’s role should not be to rig the game in favor of “the haves” but to make sure “the have-nots” are given a fair shot."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Grand Old Parity
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Dependents of the State
GAWKER: How America’s Racial Wealth Gap Perpetuates Itself
WORDS.
"...The weird thing is that, politics aside, there is every reason to be optimistic about America’s future. The country’s financial markets are resilient; the housing slump finally seems to be ending; a new era of low-cost shale oil and gas is beginning and, as a result, the United States is becoming a competitive manufacturing economy again.
There’s one ruinously dysfunctional part of the American story, and that’s the breakdown of our political system. It’s time for an intervention, to take the keys away."
THE WASHINGTON POST: A political DUI
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Blaming the Victim
ROLLING STONE: Sequestration Cuts Crisis Makes Me Want to Strangle Both Sides
There’s one ruinously dysfunctional part of the American story, and that’s the breakdown of our political system. It’s time for an intervention, to take the keys away."
THE WASHINGTON POST: A political DUI
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Blaming the Victim
ROLLING STONE: Sequestration Cuts Crisis Makes Me Want to Strangle Both Sides
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Leaving on a Jet Plane.
A cover.
Starring My Morning Jacket.
STEREOGUM: My Morning Jacket – “Leaving On A Jet Plane” (John Denver Cover)
Monday, February 25, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
.jpg/300px-DuckTales_(Main_title).jpg)
STOP THE CLOCK.
A Moment of Clarity.
WORDS.
"The deficit that should concern us most right now has to do with time, not money. Money can be recouped. Time just disappears.
And time is what Washington is wasting on an utterly artificial crisis, driven not by economics but by ideology, partisan interest and an obsession over a word — “sequester” — that means nothing to most Americans.
Here is the most important thing about the battle raging in the capital over $85 billion in automatic spending cuts: Republicans are losing the argument but winning the time war.
The more time we spend on pointless disputes about budget cuts no one is expected to make soon, the less we spend trying to solve the problems that confront us today — and, God forbid, thinking about the future.
...The sequester game is a contest in which their side wins simply by running out the clock, no matter what the score is. Thus, Obama can’t just score points. He needs to figure out how to end this game so he can play the one he promised us when he said his reelection could “break the fever” in Washington. Alas, it has not broken yet."
THE WASHINGTON POST: Republicans run out the clock
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: A Game of Chicken
WORDS.
"The deficit that should concern us most right now has to do with time, not money. Money can be recouped. Time just disappears.
And time is what Washington is wasting on an utterly artificial crisis, driven not by economics but by ideology, partisan interest and an obsession over a word — “sequester” — that means nothing to most Americans.
Here is the most important thing about the battle raging in the capital over $85 billion in automatic spending cuts: Republicans are losing the argument but winning the time war.
The more time we spend on pointless disputes about budget cuts no one is expected to make soon, the less we spend trying to solve the problems that confront us today — and, God forbid, thinking about the future.
...The sequester game is a contest in which their side wins simply by running out the clock, no matter what the score is. Thus, Obama can’t just score points. He needs to figure out how to end this game so he can play the one he promised us when he said his reelection could “break the fever” in Washington. Alas, it has not broken yet."
THE WASHINGTON POST: Republicans run out the clock
SEE ALSO:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: A Game of Chicken
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
WORDS.
"...If you're in favor of comprehensive reform — as I am — you couldn't care less how it happens, as long as it happens. But there's real danger that fixing immigration in an inside-the-Beltway manner may worsen an even bigger problem: the growing disconnect between the public and politics.
The way immigration is being debated is exactly why so many Americans are so cynical about the political process. Civic do-gooders are constantly telling us how important it is to engage in our public institutions, to make our voices heard. We Americans want to believe that, but then we see major national policy made with little public input, and we rightly suspect that the political class ultimately works for the greater glory of the political class. Does it even matter if we get involved?
It should."
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Reform for people or for politics?
The way immigration is being debated is exactly why so many Americans are so cynical about the political process. Civic do-gooders are constantly telling us how important it is to engage in our public institutions, to make our voices heard. We Americans want to believe that, but then we see major national policy made with little public input, and we rightly suspect that the political class ultimately works for the greater glory of the political class. Does it even matter if we get involved?
It should."
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Reform for people or for politics?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)