The fall of the middle class during the Obama Administration

Kevin Drum explains the dissociation of unions from the middle class (snippet):

....The first is this: Income inequality has grown dramatically [6] since the mid-'70s—far more in the US [7] than in most advanced countries—and the gap is only partly related to college grads outperforming high-school grads. Rather, the bulk of our growing inequality has been a product of skyrocketing incomes among the richest 1 percent and—even more dramatically—among the top 0.1 percent. It has, in other words, been CEOs and Wall Street traders at the very tippy-top who are hoovering up vast sums of money from everyone, even those who by ordinary standards are pretty well off.

Second, American politicians don't care much about voters with moderate incomes. Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels studied [8] the voting behavior of US senators in the early '90s and discovered that they respond far more to the desires of high-income groups than to anyone else. By itself, that's not a surprise. He also found that Republicans don't respond at all to the desires of voters with modest incomes. Maybe that's not a surprise, either. But this should be: Bartels found that Democratic senators don't respond to the desires of these voters, either. At all.

It doesn't take a multivariate correlation to conclude that these two things are tightly related: If politicians care almost exclusively about the concerns of the rich, it makes sense that over the past decades they've enacted policies that have ended up benefiting the rich. And if you're not rich yourself, this is a problem. First and foremost, it's an economic problem because it's siphoned vast sums of money from the pockets of most Americans into those of the ultrawealthy. At the same time, relentless concentration of wealth and power among the rich is deeply corrosive in a democracy, and this makes it a profoundly political problem as well.

How did we get here? In the past, after all, liberal politicians did make it their business to advocate for the working and middle classes, and they worked that advocacy through the Democratic Party. But they largely stopped doing this in the '70s, leaving the interests of corporations and the wealthy nearly unopposed. The story of how this happened is the key to understanding why the Obama era lasted less than two years....

Read the entire article for an eye-opening analysis of our failing middle-class political system.

Bits and Pieces for the Week of February 20 - 26

I very rarely agree on capital punishment cases, but this is one. Border Vigilante Shawna Forde Sentenced to Death for Home Invasion. (7 of 6)

Self-organizing bookcase - a fun animation video (Mike)
The advantages of eliminating left turns. (Mike)
Wow. Wisconsin Governor Walker makes former California Governor Groperzenegger seem like a fair, professional and progressive politician. (Mike)
Dancing robots. Also, watch what happens around the 1:08 mark. (Mike)
Reader Joey Soto Jr. sent in this link about the Teabaggers'/Fox News' attempts to create a false story about Wisconsin protesters using doctors' notes to get off work and protest. (Mike)
Maybe we need to use cartoons to explain global climate change? (Mike)
As goes Wisconsin, so goes Indiana (Mike)

Inspired license plates for Arizona. 2) The Dry Hate State; 6) Bullets Before Transplants; 10) The Grand Canyon of Corruption; and my personal favorite: 11) States Rights Trump Civil Rights. (7 of 6)

Glad I switched back to a credit union last year. "The nation's largest banks are testing how much their customers are willing to pay for checking-account services that used to be free." (7 of 6)

Health Reform Explained

This is hilarious:

Oscar Talk with Mike Tyson & Leonard Maltin from Mike Tyson

Union is the measure

There's a word in the very first line of the Constitution of the United States that describes the instrument through which freedom is held. It's a term for people acting in concert to secure their liberty and hold those rights against any opponent. That word is union. From its founding, the story of this nation has been the story of union. It is the story of two centuries spent in building up the ability of ordinary citizens to treat with wealthy, powerful, politically connected entities. That story contains instances of tragedy. Thousands died in the struggle, many thousands more suffered poverty or were outcast from communities. But the story of union also contains far-reaching triumphs. Every paid vacation, every weekend, every overtime dollar, every protection from arbitrary dismissal and unfair treatment, everything that makes your working life tolerable, came because people stood together in union at risk to their own livelihoods and often their own lives. Some of those laws exist only because workers stood in union when not only corporations but their own government attacked them not just with guns, but with bombers. They paid the price. You reap the benefits. When we talk about "the greatest generation" that brought the nation through World War II and built America into a post-war powerhouse, we're speaking of a population where nearly a third of workers were union members. It's no coincidence that the peak period of growth and progress coincides with the peak period of union membership. When people act in union, there's nothing they can't accomplish. When people cannot join in union, when everyone must face the powerful alone, all rights are nothing more than words. Whether in a union of states and nations or a union of workers and citizens, only by working in concert can rights be wrested from oppressors and held against despots. That's why tyrants quake at the sound of union. That's why the right to act in union is the ability that the downtrodden most desire and authorities first attack. Union is the measure of freedom. The outlawing of independent unions is the clearest and most consistent marker of despotism around the world. When Gaddafi seized control of Libya in 1969, his first speech proclaimed the end of labor unions. No sooner had he secured control of Cuba than Fidel Castro banned the ability of unions to strike or to bargain over salary and benefits, saying such demands were detrimental to "the national economy." In Colombia today, right-wing militias work together with corporations to keep down costs and demands for decent working conditions in the most effective way they know–they execute union leaders. There's a good reason why governments and corporations alike show trepidation when people are able to organize. Union is effective. For all the pretty speeches and all the ham-handed threats, the signal that the Iron Curtain was finally rising didn't come in Berlin or Washington, D.C., it came in the shipyards of Gdańsk, when men dared to wave the flag of an independent union. Want to determine where governments are actually concerned about the rights of their people? You only have to look at how free people are to organize for a cause. Without that, no other rights matter. With it, all other rights will follow. The First Amendment to the Constitution enshrines a number of freedoms including religion, speech and the press, but this amendment should not be read as a random list of disconnected items. Everything in it directly depends on the liberties held out in the closing words: the ability of the people to peacefully assemble and to petition for redress. When the Constitution extends the right of assembly, it's not just giving us the right to gather together for no purpose. What's protected is the right to join together in common cause, and to seek as a group to move institutions that would not respond to individuals acting alone. The American dream—the dream that an average citizen can enjoy a decent life, raise a family, and hope for the future—was created in union, sustained by union, and is dependent on union. That dream stands on a knife edge. Already the forces that oppose union have torn away the hopes of many Americans. As union membership has fallen, decent pensions have disappeared. As union membership has fallen, health care costs have increased. As union membership has fallen, pay for workers has stagnated. As union membership has fallen corporate profits—and executive pay—have soared. The decline of union is the birthplace of inequity. At this moment, the same forces that have ripped union away from most workers are acting against those few who still share the ability to speak with a collective voice. They want to wreck this last bastion, burn it down, stomp it, bury it, extinguish it forever, so that they can sleep safe knowing their power will not be challenged. They want to erase the work of two centuries, turn the American dream into a subject for nostalgia, and make the Bill of Rights into a sheet of paper. That is what's on the line in Wisconsin. Nothing has changed since the time that first line of the Constitution was written. Union is not just a means to oppose tyranny, it is the only means. - Mark Sumner for Daily Kos

Bits and Pieces for the Week of February 13 - 19

Holy crap, Justin Bieber was shot! (Mike)
Don't walk back your statement one bit President Obama, it is completely true: "some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like an assault on unions." He added that "it's important not to vilify" public workers. (7 of 6)

Being the son of Arizona's most powerful state senator has its advantages. "(Joshua) Pearce has apparently been arrested multiple times for assault, DUI and probation violations." (7 of 6)

Go Wisconsin! (and I don't mean their football team) (Mike)
If you're a user of Chrome Browser, you might find these Chrome keyboard shortcuts VERY useful. (Mike)
The chemistry of falling in love (Mike)
Always double-check your spelling before sending text messages. (Mike)
Oh, South Dakota.... You're such a progressive State.... if it was the 16th century.
I rarely say this, but this person should not be allowed to live. (Mike)
A real cat burglar (Mike)

WTF? South Dakota Moves To Legalize Killing Abortion Providers. Right to lifers, those who love life and babies being born... want death for Doctors who provide an abortion. (7 of 6)

MSNBC ratings collapse after Olbermann leaves.

UPDATE: It's done. Mubarak leaves. Amazing; a relatively non-violent overthrow of a powerful dictator.

Lots happening right now in Egypt. It appears that Mubarak is in the process of resigning and that the Egyptian Army is taking over in "support" of the protest movement. The chief concern is what happens when the military takes control, i.e. will they continue to support the movement or install a military junta.

Bits and Pieces for the Week of February 6 - 12

Ouch, this really hurts... Virginia Senator, Jim Webb, will not seek reelection. Webb is not only a fighter for disabled Veterans, he is a solid Democrat in a vulnerable swing state. Who knows... maybe the lure of lobby money is too much to resist even for some of the toughest Democrats. (7 of 6)

A humorous view of the AOL-Huffington Post merger. (Mike)
Today's Middle Eastern turmoil, the worldwide food shortage, and Global Climate Change (Mike)
Who owns the Republican Party (Mike)
Flu vaccine breakthrough (Mike)

Talking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce... Obama says businesses must hire, invest to grow economy. Seriously Mr. President... these are the same people that are trying to destroy your presidency... if it doesn't reflect in their bottom line you will be ignored. (7 of 6)

Attacking the Reporters

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Case for Same Sex Parents

Bits and Pieces for the Week of January 30 - February 5

The continued browning of America. So instead of adapting to an open society... we will now watch the GOP continue the scare tactics, intimidation, and voter suppression so they can hang on to their last grasp of power. (7 of 6)

Former Minutemen member faces murder trial. Plain and simple this was a hate crime. But the state of Arizona refuses to call it that!(7 of 6)

Ayn Rand Railed Against Government Benefits, But Grabbed Social Security and Medicare When She Needed Them. (7 of 6)

The pitfalls of using your phone as a credit card. (Mike)
Mona Sosh is in the middle of Cairo's Tahrir Square. She's been interviewed on Aljazeera and MSNBC and continues to tweet everything that she is seeing. (Mike)
Catastrophic Weather Events Are Becoming the New Norm (Mike)
Best live news feed from Egypt. Also Live Blog. (Mike)
Very cool chase (even though it's a commercial). (Mike)
REPOST: Tired of killing yellow trees? Now you can opt out of receiving the Yellow Pages. (Mike)

No weather relief for Australia. It's supposed to be one of the strongest cyclones "...ever to hit Australia... It is expected to hit the coast on Wednesday evening, packing winds of nearly 300 km (186 miles) per hour... The storm is due to hit when the tide is high... hitting rural and mining areas still struggling to recover after months of devastating floods." (7 of 6)

Here it comes... U.S. sees Suez Canal closure as inconceivable. (7 of 6)

Please cut defense spending! The Big (Military) Taboo. "I’m a believer in a robust military, which is essential for backing up diplomacy.... we have a billionaire military and a pauper diplomacy. The U.S. military now has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has in its foreign service — and that’s preposterous." (7 of 6)

John Bolton, bu$h's recess appointed U.N. Ambassador, thinks Egypt's revolution is a great reason to bomb Iran. Will this guy ever give up his desire to bomb Iran? Time to clip that fucker's mustache! (7 of 6)

"Hundreds march outside Koch brothers' retreat... 25 are arrested for trespassing." It's a beginning. (7 of 6)