| February 23rd, 2011, Michael Danielson  Let’s begin by pointing out that the Heritage Foundation already has a bone to pick with the supporters of the Tier 5 unemployment extension, seeing as their stated mission, according to , is “to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of ‘free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense’.” That said, SourceWatch also referrs to them as “one of the world’s most influential public policy research institutes”, so when the Heritage Foundation talks, you can be sure you’ll hear what they say repeated over and over again. On Tuesday, the Heritage Foundation released a study simply entitled Extended Unemployment Benefits, in which they attack the common liberal assertion that every $1 spent on unemployment benefits results in roughly $1.60 in GDP growth. → Read More February 22nd, 2011, Michael Danielson  It’s not often that we stop and wonder exactly why conservatives are so violently against ideas like the Tier 5 unemployment extension — but last December, a few unrelated studies were published that seem, together, to offer up a startling hypothesis: it’s in the brain. Two areas of the brain, the amygdala and the anterior cingulates, are pronouncedly different in liberals and conservatives, with predictable results. In a study published in December by the University College in London, scientists found that, across 90 students and 2 members of Parliament that were scanned, there was a near-universal correlation between conservatives and a large amygdala, and between liberals and a large anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Alone, that doesn’t tell us much, but in conjunction with several other relatively recent studies, a few reasonable (although decidedly unscientific) conclusions present themselves. → Read More February 22nd, 2011, Denis Blesford  “Reckless.” That is how some senior Democratic Senators described the threat made by Republicans to shut down the government amidst the boiling debate over the federal budget. On Saturday, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives successfully passed a proposal cutting spending by the federal government by as much as $61 billion through September. However, the House vote is unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, a Reuters report said. Democrats in the Senate are likely to endorse a more conservative proposal that cuts the federal budget compared to the measure pushed by the House. → Read More February 21st, 2011, Michael Danielson  This writer pointed out last week that Representative Barbara Lee (D, CA)’s bill to get more unemployment benefits out to the masses was no Tier 5 unemployment extension — and it turns out that that technical difference made quite a bit of difference in the way it allowed the GOP to get the bill blocked before it got off the ground. The bill, instead of creating Tier 5, simply adds 14 more weeks on to Tier 1 of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation act. Unfortunately, after is was read on the House floor last Thursday, it was blocked by a parliamentary rule invoked by Representative Denny Rehberg (R, MT). The rule specifically disallows amendments to appropriations bills that would change an existing law. → Read More February 18th, 2011, Michael Danielson  In the first two parts of this short series, we revealed that raising taxes doesn’t discourage economic growth on an individual level or on a country-wide level — now, it’s time to look at all of the good things, from the Tier 5 unemployment extension to an improved sense of patriotism and democracy, that come from having a high tax rate. Spending Money The obvious thing that a high tax rate does is give the government money to spend. Conservatives tend to believe that this is a bad thing, because they believe that the government will necessarily spend that money sticking its nose into our business and generally going all Big Brother on everyone. → Read More February 18th, 2011, Denis Blesford  In a statement made earlier this week, President Obama offered to discuss deficit-reduction measures with the Republicans even as he criticized the immediate spending cuts proposed by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Obama warned that the GOP was hindering the Pentagon’s capacity to “meet vital military requirements” and threatened to use his veto power to block any imminent spending cuts. The statement was issued only hours after the discussion on Republican spending cuts began in the House of Representatives. According to the statement, the proposed Republican effort to block spending would compromise vital government activities and investments that were necessary for continuation of the economic recovery and job creation. → Read More February 17th, 2011, Carlo Gabriel Simbajon  Democratic Congressmen James P. Moran (VA-08), Rick Larsen (WA-02) and John Dingell (MI-15) released separate statements denouncing a proposal by Republicans in the House of Representatives which calls for steep cuts in the federal government’s budget. Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1), which was introduced by the House Appropriations Committee, calls for the largest single reduction in discretionary spending in the history of the U.S. Congress. The proposal calls for funding the federal government for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year while at the same time introducing over $100 billion in spending cuts from the administration’s 2011 budget request. → Read More February 17th, 2011, Michael Danielson  In Part I of this short series on the relationship between the Tier 5 unemployment extension, the American economy, and the idea of raising taxes, we showed that raising taxes does not, in fact, tank the economy. It makes some people work harder and some people save less…and that’s about it. Now, we’re going to reveal a key unspoken element of the recent Bush tax cut debate: there’s no way to extend the middle class tax cuts without also extending tax cuts for the wealthy. The media, along with the politicians on Capitol Hill, certainly made it seem as though the debate were between extending the Bush tax cuts for everyone, or extending them just for the people who made less than some arbitrary amount of money. But that’s not how our tax system works. According to howstuffworks.com’s excellent summary: → Read More | Listen to Mike Colliss Interviews |
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