demnewswire:

Romney: The country doesn’t need more firefighters, police or teachers

The New York Times | By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

“Could Mitt Romney be any more disconnected from the concerns of middle-class Americans?” said R.T. Rybak, the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “To suggest that police, firefighters and teachers aren’t helping the American people and aren’t vital to our communities shows that he has no clue what’s going on in the real world.”

Mr. Rybak added: “Mitt Romney’s assertion that the American people don’t benefit from firemen, policemen and teachers is so detached from reality I did a double take – I had to check twice to be sure he had actually said it.”

“We knew Mitt Romney liked firing people, but we didn’t know that included firefighters and cops,” Mr. Schumer said. “Middle-class voters already distrust Mitt Romney for being out-of-touch and uncaring about regular folks. Bragging about wanting to give pink slips to first responders only cements that perception.”

Register to vote | Volunteer | Contribute

thedailywhat: Say What Now of the Day: President Obama is backpedaling furiously after his poorly chosen words at a news conference this morning caused a massive backlash: We’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months; over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine. Mitt Romney’s camp quickly seized on the slipup, calling it the “gift that keeps on giving”: People know what the president said is terribly out of touch. But they also know that his actions have been terribly out of touch. So what he is saying is shocking but it’s not anything that people haven’t felt. Ours is a reality-based campaign, and this is reality. Obama attempted to clarify his remarks this afternoon: ”It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That’s why I had a press conference.” [mediaite] Ouch.
View Separately

thedailywhat:

Say What Now of the Day: President Obama is backpedaling furiously after his poorly chosen words at a news conference this morning caused a massive backlash:

We’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months; over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine.

Mitt Romney’s camp quickly seized on the slipup, calling it the “gift that keeps on giving”:

People know what the president said is terribly out of touch. But they also know that his actions have been terribly out of touch. So what he is saying is shocking but it’s not anything that people haven’t felt.

Ours is a reality-based campaign, and this is reality.

Obama attempted to clarify his remarks this afternoon: ”It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That’s why I had a press conference.”

[mediaite]

Ouch.

arielnietzsche:

Raising Taxes on The Rich Doesn’t Hurt Growth

In an interview with WSJ’s Jon Hilsenrath, MIT professor Simon Johnson calls for higher income-tax rates as part of a “fiscally conservative” plan to shore up the U.S. budget in the long run. “We have lost track of the fact that deficits do in fact matter…,” he says.

Raising rates on the rich will not hurt economic growth.  That’s a lie.  

Two brilliant economists – Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez – write that we need to raise rates on the rich – the WSJ has the story:

According to our analysis of current tax rates and their elasticity, the revenue-maximizing top federal marginal income tax rate would be in or near the range of 50%-70% (taking into account that individuals face additional taxes from Medicare and state and local taxes). Thus we conclude that raising the top tax rate is very likely to result in revenue increases at least until we reach the 50% rate that held during the first Reagan administration, and possibly until the 70% rate of the 1970s. To reduce tax avoidance opportunities, tax rates on capital gains and dividends should increase along with the basic rate. Closing loopholes and stepping up enforcement would further limit tax avoidance and evasion.

But will raising top tax rates significantly lower economic growth? In the postwar U.S., higher top tax rates tend to go with higher economic growth—not lower. Indeed, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP annual growth per capita (to adjust for population growth) averaged 1.68% between 1980 and 2010 when top tax rates were relatively low, while growth averaged 2.23% between 1950 and 1980 when top tax rates were at or above 70%.

This chart shows a correlation between the cutting of the top marginal rates on the rich with an explosion of the deficit:

And even though you often hear the canard that America is a high tax country – that’s ridiculous.  Looking at EFFECTIVE rates (or your taxes minus deductions of which there are MANY) – the U.S. actually enjoys low tax rates:

Source: Economist

(via stfuconservatives)

Source: classwarfareexists.com

stfuconservatives: politicsplus: About Those Jobs Numbers For the last couple days, Republicans have been trying to spin the job numbers into negative propaganda against Obama, but as always, when we learn the rest of the story, we also realize just how full of Republicrap their talking points are.  The private sector under Obama has now replaced every private sector job that Bush and the Republicans destroyed during their regime.  Job weakness in the public sector is holding back the recovery, and we know who is behind that, don’t we?… (video) I will reblog that chart until the end of time.  -Joe
Pop-upView Separately

stfuconservatives:

politicsplus:

About Those Jobs Numbers

For the last couple days, Republicans have been trying to spin the job numbers into negative propaganda against Obama, but as always, when we learn the rest of the story, we also realize just how full of Republicrap their talking points are.  The private sector under Obama has now replaced every private sector job that Bush and the Republicans destroyed during their regime.  Job weakness in the public sector is holding back the recovery, and we know who is behind that, don’t we?… (video)

I will reblog that chart until the end of time. 

-Joe

(via stfuconservatives)

Source: politicsplus

And what Washington shouldn’t be doing is exploiting the challenges that young Americans face for political gain. And it shouldn’t be sticking small businesses with a health care law that’s…making it more difficult for them to hire workers.

John Boehner denouncing the exploitation of college students for political gain by exploiting college students for political gain.

-Joe

(via stfuconservatives)

Wait what? How would this be a problem for (most) young people when they can stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26?