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The Morning Flap: December 28, 2012
House GOP Speaker Boehner and President Obama will meet on the Fiscal Cliff this afternoon
These are my links for December 27th through December 28th:
- What Happens After the Cliff – So now what?
- Speaker John Boehner notified House Republicans yesterday that not only should they return to Washington by Sunday, but they should also be prepared to stay in town all of next week. That means nothing will happen in either chamber of Congress until Boehner is reelected Speaker on January 3rd. In all likelihood, House Republicans will then also immediately pass the exact same legislation they passed this summer, extending all the current tax rates and redirecting the scheduled defense cuts into more domestic spending cuts. They will then ask Obama and Reid to craft their own bill addressing these problems in the Senate.In other words, nothing will have changed. We will be right back where we are today, waiting for Obama and Reid to act.Democrats will have a slightly more liberal Senate to work with next year, but it is not at all clear how many more votes for Obama’s preferred outcome he will have gained. If anything the Senate will have less moderates (in both parties) meaning Obama’s chances for a “grand bargain” will have shrunk, not grown.
And while it is likely House Republicans will agree to some type of tax cut in the new year, if anything their opposition to undoing the domestic side of the spending sequestration, let alone agreeing to increase in spending, will rise. “People who have contacted me are asking me to stand firm on what really matters, which is the spending side of the equation,” Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., told Politico.
Obama may have won reelection in 2012 by a four point, 51 percent to 47 percent, margin. But 51 percent of that very same electorate told exit pollsters that, “Government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals.” Meanwhile only 43 percent said, “Government should do more to solve problems.” That is hardly a mandate for Obama’s ambitious second term agenda.
- Health Reform: The ObamaCare Political Storms are Far From Over – The actual course of events after January 1, 2014 is likely to be stormy and filled with developments investigative reporters will enthusiastically describe and ACA opponents will point to with relish. There is every prospect that during the years 2014 and 2015 the political storms will be as furious as they were when a committed president and Democratic Congressional leadership gave life to the long-delayed dream of national health reform. Those who said that the presidential election would settle the fate of heath reform will be proven mostly right. But it will become clear that they had the date wrong: the key election will turn out to have been not 2012, but 2016.
- No charges in Countrywide VIP loans probe – onner and Sanchez noted that the full 10-member Ethics Committee unanimously determined “after lengthy and careful consideration that it does not appear that there is any specific credible evidence of actual violations that remain within the jurisdiction of the Committee.”More than a half-dozen current and former lawmakers, including retiring Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), obtained mortgages through the Countrywide VIP program. In some cases they saved thousands of dollars compared with what they would have paid if the transaction were handled differently, according to a report released in July by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Other lawmakers who received Countrwide VIP loans include former Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), as well as Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) and former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.).Dodd and Conrad were cleared of any wrongdoing by the Senate Ethics Committee in 2009.
All of the lawmakers said they were not aware of their inclusion in a VIP program, and denied seeking preferential treatment for the mortgages. Such an action would violate congressional ethics rules and potentially federal laws.
- As Swing Districts Dwindle, Can a Divided House Stand? – In 1992, there were 103 members of the House of Representatives elected from what might be called swing districts: those in which the margin in the presidential race was within five percentage points of the national result. But based on an analysis of this year’s presidential returns, I estimate that there are only 35 such Congressional districts remaining, barely a third of the total 20 years ago.Instead, the number of landslide districts — those in which the presidential vote margin deviated by at least 20 percentage points from the national result — has roughly doubled. In 1992, there were 123 such districts (65 of them strongly Democratic and 58 strongly Republican). Today, there are 242 of them (of these, 117 favor Democrats and 125 Republicans).So why is compromise so hard in the House? Some commentators, especially liberals, attribute it to what they say is the irrationality of Republican members of Congress.But the answer could be this instead: individual members of Congress are responding fairly rationally to their incentives. Most members of the House now come from hyperpartisan districts where they face essentially no threat of losing their seat to the other party. Instead, primary challenges, especially for Republicans, may be the more serious risk.
In the chart below, I’ve grouped the country’s Congressional districts into seven categories based on the results of presidential voting there from 1992 through 2012:
- The logic of House GOP intransigence – In the staunchly conservative districts that most House Republicans inhabit, playing ball with President Barack Obama on taxes and the debt means tempting a primary opponent in the next election. The threat of a challenge from the left that might come from digging in, on the other hand, is almost nonexistent for most members.As a matter of pure political self-interest, the post-election debate within the GOP about how to broaden the party’s appeal and avoid another Romney-esque debacle in four years is irrelevant in this quarter of GOP politics. For the overwhelming majority of House Republicans, the largely white, resolutely conservative electorate that Mitt Romney relied on — excessively, as it turned out — is all they need to ensure reelection.
- Why they want to go over the cliff – Washington’s Democratic and Republican power brokers have sent the message to the nation that going over the fiscal cliff is a worst-case scenario. But they’re not acting that way, not at all.Instead, many of them have calculated that it’s better to go over the cliff — at least temporarily — than swallow a raw deal.
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-12-27 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-12-27
- Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-12-27 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-12-27 #tcot
- My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-12-27 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-12-27
- Scott Brown: Obama Sent Fiscal Cliff Proposal – Business Insider – RT @businessinsider: Scott Brown: Obama Has Sent Senate Republicans A Fiscal Cliff Proposal
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: December 27, 2012 – The Morning Drill: December 27, 2012
- The Morning Flap: December 27, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: December 27, 2012 #tcot
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The Morning Flap: March 14, 2012
These are my links for March 13th through March 14th:
- Santorum wins Ala., Miss.; Romney takes Hawaii – A resurgent Rick Santorum swept primaries in Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday night, upending the race for the Republican presidential nomination yet again and nudging Newt Gingrich toward the sidelines.
Mitt Romney finished third in both states, but he salvaged a win in the Hawaii caucuses and won the support of all nine delegates at GOP caucuses in American Samoa.
“We did it again,” Santorum told cheering supporters in Lafayette, La. He added, “Now is the time for conservatives to pull together” in an effort to defeat Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who still is the faraway leader in the delegate competition to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama in the fall.
- Santorum-Gingrich Ticket Floated By Gingrich Adviser – A senior adviser to Newt Gingrich told The Huffington Post Tuesday night the campaign likes the idea of Rick Santorum and Gingrich running on the same ticket for the presidency and vice presidency.
“Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum would make a powerful team against Barack Obama,” the adviser said on the condition that his name not be used. “They have the capability to deny Gov. Romney the nomination.”
The proposal comes after rumors of a Gingrich alliance with Texas Gov. Rick Perry surfaced earlier this week. It does not come off as a sign of confidence. Rather, it is an indication that the Gingrich campaign senses their candidate’s position in the race slipping after the former House speaker’s losses to Santorum in Mississippi and Alabama on Tuesday night.
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/location_rookie?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the Location Rookie sticker on @GetGlue!
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/americas_newsroom?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Blogging away… @GetGlue @americanewsroom
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/daily_rundown?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Making more coffee @GetGlue @dailyrundown
- Day By Day March 14, 2012 – My Kung Fu is Strong | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day March 14, 2012 – My Kung Fu is Strong
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/night_owl?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the Night Owl sticker on @GetGlue!
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/morning_joe?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Second coffee time @GetGlue #morningjoe
- Losing, Newt sets new goal: Keep Mitt from 1,144 – With losses in Alabama and Mississippi, Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign has changed. In the past, the campaign was about winning, or trying to win, or at least claiming to be trying to win. Now, it’s about keeping Mitt Romney from winning.
Gingrich no longer says he can capture the 1,144 delegates required to wrap up the Republican nomination. Instead, he now speaks frankly about a new plan: Keep Romney from getting to 1,144 by the end of the GOP primary season in June, and then start what Gingrich calls a “conversation” about who should be the Republican nominee. That conversation, the plan goes, would lead to a brokered GOP convention at which Gingrich would emerge as the eventual nominee.
- McKeon sees big shortfalls in DoD budget – McKeon sees big shortfalls in DoD budget
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-14 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-14
- Favorite Son Santorum Thumps Romney – Quinnipiac – Pennsylvania Republicans are going for favorite son Rick Santorum big time, giving the former U.S. Senator a 36 – 22 percent lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Keystone State’s presidential primary, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has 12 percent, with 8 percent for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
In a head-to-head matchup, Santorum tops Romney 52 – 32 percent among Republican voters, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.
If Santorum gets to November, he gets 44 percent of Pennsylvania voters, to 45 percent for President Barack Obama – too close to call. In other possible November matchups:
President Obama tops Romney 46 – 40 percent; Obama beats Gingrich 50 – 37 percent; The president leads Paul 45 – 40 percent.
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/topics/p/coffee?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Starbucks while watching LA News and Weather @GetGlue #Coffee
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/assistant_editor?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the Assistant Editor sticker on @GetGlue!
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-14 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-03-14
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/Fullosseousflap/stickers/droider?s=ts&ref=Fullosseousflap) – I unlocked the Droider sticker on @GetGlue!
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/ncis_los_angeles?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – It is a repeat but I am reading too. @GetGlue @NCISLA_CBS
- 3 Ways Google Social Search Should Change Your Marketing – Since the introduction of Google+, Google has been redefining how it can provide more relevant search results.
Recently Google introduced Search, Plus Your World, something I’ll call Google social search.
This new enhancement has made it essential to have a Google+ profile and/or Google+ business page.
Why? Google is highlighting Google+ content in search results.
This article will share three tips you need to know to benefit from Google social search.
By the way, if you haven’t already done so, create a Google+ page for your business. Fill out all the sections with images and top focus keywords you want to rank for in search.
Once the page is created, engage with people and other businesses, share great content and post publicly every day.
- Flap’s California Blog Readers: Please Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the Los Angeles Marathon » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog Readers: Please Support @Flap – Gregory Flap Cole in the Los Angeles Marathon
- Encyclopedia Britannica to stop printing books – After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica will cease production of its iconic multi-volume book sets.
Britannica usually prints a new set of the tomes every two years, but 2010’s 32-volume set will be its last. Instead, the company will focus solely on its digital encyclopedia and education tools.
The news is sure to sadden champions of the printed word, but Britannica president Jorge Cauz said the move is a natural part of his company’s evolution.
“Everyone will want to call this the end of an era, and I understand that,” Cauz says. “But there’s no sad moment for us. I think outsiders are more nostalgic about the books than I am.”
- CBO boosts its Obamacare Medicaid cost estimate – I’ve already noted in a separate post that new Congressional Budget Office projections show President Obama’s health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over 10 years, rather than the $940 billion originally advertised. But there are lots of other moving parts in the CBO’s updated estimates that are worth deeper elaboration.
The big picture takeaway is that due mostly to weaker economic projections, the CBO now projects that more people will be obtaining insurance through Medicaid than it estimated a year ago at a greater cost to the government, but fewer people will be getting insurance through their employers or the health care law’s new subsidized insurance exchanges. Overall spending will be higher than estimated a year ago, but increased revenue from penalties and taxes will more than offset this. Also interesting: CBO now expects two million fewer people to be covered as a result of the health care law than previously projected.
- LA Times Profiles Jon Fleischman’s Flash Report; Fleischman Admits to Being a Monkey – In our recent appearance on KOC together, I had to correct a Fleischman claim that TARP was a program begin by President Obama. Fleischman was also unaware that Americans pay a lower percentage of taxes today as a part of their incomes than they did during the 1950s (its a documented fact) and that the effectiev corporate tax rate is basically 12 percent, the lowest its been in 40 years. But as far as Jon’s concerned, keep taking a meat clever to taxes is the only way to go.
Oh way, and he compares himself to a woman and a monkey; from the story:
“I’m not only Jane Goodall, who’s looking at the monkeys, I actually am one of the monkeys,” Fleischman said in an interview at his Newport Beach office. “The monkeys will talk to another monkey before they will talk to a reporter.”
Are baboons apes or monkeys?
- Race Day Tracking : LA Marathon – Los Angeles Marathon race day tracking now available here: Twitter, Facebook, E-mail or Text
- Capitol Alert: New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos – Capitol Alert: New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos
- Capitol Alert: New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos – Capitol Alert: New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos
- Michael Reagan to Aid in California Initiative to Change California to a Part-Time Legislature » Flap’s California Blog – Michael Reagan to Aid in California Initiative to Change California to a Part-Time Legislature
- Least Is Best: A Guide To Minimalist Running Shoes – Least Is Best: A Guide To Minimalist Running Shoes
- Capitol Alert: New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos – New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos
- New report finds low college attendance by California Latinos – While California’s Latino population is growing, and is likely to become the state’s largest ethnic group within a few years, only a tiny percentage of Latinos are seeking and receiving college educations, according to a new data compilation by the Campaign for College Opportunity.
The Los Angeles-based organization says in a new report that while 57 percent of Latino students graduated from high school in 2009 – markedly lower graduation rates than those for white or Asian American students – just 16 percent graduated with the course requirements for the state’s four-year colleges, and just 8 percent enrolled in one of those colleges.
The bottom line, the organization says, is that just 7 percent of California’s Latinos 25 years or older have baccalaureate degrees, while 30 percent of all Californians have at least bachelor’s degrees.
- President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Romney’s Lead Decreases – Republicans Want Santorum and Gingrich in the Race | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Romney’s Lead Decreases – Republicans Want Santorum and Gingrich in the Race
- CA-26: Julia Brownley Supported by Pro-Abortion EMILY’s List | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-26: Julia Brownley Supported by Pro-Abortion EMILY’s List
- AD-38: Democrat Edward Headington Offers Republicans in California Assembly Race a Challenge » Flap’s California Blog – AD-38: Democrat Edward Headington Offers Republicans in California Assembly Race a Challenge
- Poll Watch: United States Economic Confidence the Best in Four Years | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: United States Economic Confidence the Best in Four Years
- Flap’s California Morning Collection: March 13, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: March 13, 2012
- The Morning Flap: March 13, 2012 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: Mach 13, 2012
- Santorum wins Ala., Miss.; Romney takes Hawaii – A resurgent Rick Santorum swept primaries in Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday night, upending the race for the Republican presidential nomination yet again and nudging Newt Gingrich toward the sidelines.
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The Morning Flap: January 26, 2012
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and President Obama yesterday
These are my links for January 25th through January 26th:
- Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China – In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.
However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.
Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.
More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning. - Thou Shalt Not Write Bad Things About Obama – Drudge has a story about Obama getting off of Air Force One in Arizona, greeting Republican governor Jan Brewer, and immediately giving her a piece of his mind. Evidently our president did not appreciate something Brewer wrote about him. According to the pool report, they had a testy exchange from which the president walked away as Brewer was still speaking.
Sound familiar? Bobby Jindal got the same treatment when Obama came to visit Louisiana and the governor met him on the tarmac
- Geithner Says Obama Won’t Ask Him to Lead Treasury if He Wins Re-Election – Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the last remaining member of the Obama administration’s original economic team, said he doesn’t expect the president to ask him to stay in office if re-elected.
“He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.”
Geithner, 50, has led President Barack Obama’s efforts to pull the U.S. economy out of the worst recession since World War II. Before joining the administration in 2009, Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, playing a key role in the U.S. government’s bailouts of banks including Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC), and automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.
- President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Mitt Romney Has Jumped Back in Front of Newt Gingrich | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Mitt Romney Has Jumped Back in Front of Newt Gingrich
- As Obama demands rich Americans pay more in taxes, the IRS reveals 36 Obama aides are far behind in their taxes – How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their “fair share” of taxes.
Because how unfair — indeed, un-American — it is for an office worker like, say, Warren Buffet’s secretary to dutifully pay her taxes, while some well-to-do people with better educations and higher incomes end up paying a much smaller tax rate.
Or, worse, skipping their taxes altogether.
A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama’s executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven’t paid any share, let alone their fair share.
Previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama’s White House staff is, with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year. That’s up seven workers and nearly $4 million from the Bush administration’s last year.
Nearly one-third of Obama’s aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each.
The IRS’ 2010 delinquent tax revelations come as part of a required annual agency report on federal employees’ tax compliance. Turns out, an awful lot of folks being paid by taxpayers are not paying their own income taxes.
- Leak to media about House Ethics probes ignites chatter on source, motives – A leak to the media that identified three Republicans who are being investigated by the House Ethics Committee has lawmakers and staffers wondering who the source is, and his or her motive.
There are many theories on who, over a four-day period, forked over the names of GOP Reps. Pete Sessions (Texas), Buck McKeon (Calif.) and Elton Gallegly (Calif.) to media outlets in reference to an ongoing investigation into VIP loans given to lawmakers by Countrywide.
The leaks stunned the three legislators, who have all denied accepting special rates on the loans in exchange for political favors.
Some are pointing the finger at House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for releasing the publicly sensitive information, though his office is pushing back at that notion.
- Post-State of the Union Analysis – Post-State of the Union Analysis Where Americans stand on 16 issues Pres. Obama raised in the State of the Union
- Flap’s California Morning Collection: January 26, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: January 26, 2012
- How Patrick Swayze died: Why we should care – When I finished my book on famous patients, the most common question I received was “Are the stories of sick celebrities really relevant to other patients?” My answer was that yes, with some caveats, these experiences are well-worth knowing.
The same can be said for the story of Patrick Swayze’s terminal pancreatic cancer, which has now been told by his widow, actress Lisa Niemi Swayze, in a new book, “Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss and Moving Forward.” Patrick Swayze, a dancer and actor best known for his roles in the films “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost,” was diagnosed in January 2008 and died of the disease in September 2009 at the age of 57. He was originally told he would live only a few months.
First, the caveats. Like most celebrities, Swayze had the means, as his wife says, to “think outside the box.” He enrolled in a clinical trial at Stanford University, traveling regularly to Palo Alto from Los Angeles for experimental chemotherapy. Swayze also was a VIP patient, getting first-class attention from top doctors and hospital staffs. Most patients experience greater hurdles.
Nor should pancreatic cancer patients who read “Worth Fighting For” assume that they, like Swazey, can beat the odds and survive longer if they take the same medications that he did. Every case of pancreatic cancer, like all cancers, is different.
- Many Patients Continue to Smoke Even After Being Diagnosed With Cancer | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Many Patients Continue to Smoke Even After Being Diagnosed With Cancer
- Florida’s Rubio a star, but an unlikely VP pick
| Reuters – Florida’s Rubio a star, but an unlikely VP pick - Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: January 26, 2012 – The Morning Drill: January 26, 2012
- Day By Day January 26, 2012 – Da Damonator | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day by Day January 26, 2012 – Da Damonator
- The Buffett Ruse – WSJ.com – Remember the moment in 2008 when Charlie Gibson of ABC News asked Senator Barack Obama why he would support raising the capital gains tax even though “revenues from the tax increased” when the rate fell? Mr. Obama’s famous reply: “I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.” Well, we were warned.
Here we are four years later, and President Obama on Tuesday night linked the term “fair” to U.S. tax and economic policy seven times. The U.S. economy is still hobbling out of recession, real family incomes are falling and 14 million Americans are unemployed, but Mr. Obama declared that his top priority is not to reform the tax code to promote growth and job creation. His overriding goal is redistributing income.
Mr. Obama endorsed the political ruse he calls the Buffett rule, which asserts as a matter of moral principle that millionaires should not pay a lower tax rate than middle-class wage earners. Specifically, Mr. Obama is proposing that anyone earning more than $1 million pay at least 30% of that income to Uncle Barack.
The White House says that if a millionaire household’s effective tax rate falls below 30%, it would have to pay a surcharge—in essence a new Super Alternative Minimum Tax—to bring the tax liability to 30%. For those facing this new Super AMT, all deductions and exemptions would be eliminated except for charity.
- Review & Outlook: The Buffett Ruse – WSJ.com – The Buffett Ruse Obama’s ploy means the highest capital gains tax rate since 1978 #tcot
- Obama’s 30% millionaire tax – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs – Obama’s 30% millionaire tax –
- Drudge, conservative media criticize Newt Gingrich – Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen – POLITICO.com – SIREN — The Newt bomb: Conservative media leaders see possible Gingrich win in FL; blast him to avoid “disaster”
- Digital download tax: O’Malley proposes digital downloads be subject to state sales tax – baltimoresun.com – Beyond Amazon taxes: @GovernorOMalley is considering a tax on iTunes and app downloads:
- Untitled (http://www.memeorandum.com/120126/p7#a120126p7) – Times-Union/Insider Advantage poll: Romney 40, Gingrich 32 (Matt Dixon / Florida Times Union)
- Times-Union/Insider Advantage poll: Romney 40, Gingrich 32 | jacksonville.com – Times-Union/Insider Advantage poll: Romney 40, Gingrich 32 (Matt Dixon / Florida Times Union)
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-26 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-26
- Dick Armey: Daniels could still run – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs – RT @Students4Mitch: Dick Armey: Daniels could still run –
- When Gingrich Tried, and Failed, to Intimidate Tom Coburn – By Jim Geraghty – The Campaign Spot – National Review Online – When Gingrich Tried, and Failed, to Intimidate Tom Coburn
- (404) http://t.co/T – RT @fivethirtyeight: We’ve got Romney back ahead in our FL forecast and gaining quickly. Newt needs a big debate tomorrow. …
- The Christian Science Monitor – CSMonitor.com – Why Jerry Brown is standing firm on shaky California high-speed rail plan –
- Why Jerry Brown is standing firm on shaky California high-speed rail plan – CSMonitor.com – Why Jerry Brown is standing firm on shaky California high-speed rail plan
- Brewer, Obama exchange tense words over book, immigration at airport – Oh My! | Brewer, Obama exchange tense words over book, immigration at airport – #tcot
- The Page by Mark Halperin | Gen Elex Match-Ups, Sunshine State Edition – President 2012 Poll Watch: Romney 47% Vs. Obama 42% and Obama 49% Vs. Gingrich 40% Jan 22-24 Florida Likely Voters
- Warren Buffett’s Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year – Forbes – RICH | Warren Buffett’s Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
- Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair – Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair
- Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair – Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair
- Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair – Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair
- Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair – Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair
- Poll: Romney Regains Momentum in Florida – Steven Shepard – NationalJournal.com – RT @HotlineSteve: New CNN/Time/ORC Fla. poll: Romney 36, Gingrich 34. But Romney regained the momentum most recently:
- Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair – RT @gallupnews: Americans Divided on Whether U.S. Economic System Is Unfair…
- CA-26: California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro Endorses Tony Strickland for Congress | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – CA-26: California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro Endorses Tony Strickland for Congress
- For Smokers Seeing Arterial Plaque Makes No Difference on Whether They Quit Smoking | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – For Smokers Seeing Arterial Plaque Makes No Difference on Whether They Quit Smoking
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: California Dental Association Supporting Dental Mid-Level Providers? – California Dental Association Supporting Dental Mid-Level Providers?
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: January 25, 2012 – The Morning Drill: January 25, 2012
- Scott Walker leads in Wisconsin recall poll – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is ahead in his likely recall election even as his campaign raises — and spends — millions of dollars in expectation of a tough race later this year.
According to a new Marquette Law School poll the governor leads Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a likely candidate, 50 percent to 44 percent. He leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, the only declared Democratic candidate, 49 percent to 42 percent margin, former Rep. David Obey 49 percent to 43 percent and state Sen. Tim Cullen 50 percent to 40 percent.
Democrats started targeting Walker last year, when he spearheaded controversial legislation limiting collective bargaining for public employees. Under Wisconsin law, Walker was not eligible for a recall election until January of this year.
- President 2012: Pelosi Folds – No New Dirt on Gingrich | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Pelosi Folds – No New Dirt on Gingrich
- Flap’s California Morning Collection: January 25, 2012 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: January 25, 2012
- Gingrich says Pelosi is living in a fantasy world – The Hill’s Video – Gingrich says Pelosi is living in a fantasy world
- Rubio scolds Gingrich camp, says ad bashing ‘anti-immigrant’ Romney is ‘inaccurate, inflammatory’ | Naked Politics – Rubio scolds Gingrich camp, says ad bashing ‘anti-immigrant’ Romney is ‘inaccurate, inflammatory’
- 33% of GOP Voters Say It Would Be Good If New Candidate Entered Presidential Race – Rasmussen Reports™ – 33% of GOP Voters Say It Would Be Good If New Candidate Entered Presidential Race
- Senior Runners Improve Marathon Performance | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – Senior Runners Improve Marathon Performance
- The Morning Flap: January 25, 2012 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: January 25, 2012
- Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China – In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.