HughBeaumont

HughBeaumont's Journal

April 27, 2015

Explain This To Me Like I'm A Complete Idiot, Part 15: No Millennial Left Behind?

The question everyone in business should be asking: How does a debt-strapped millennial buy big ticket items, like homes, cars, insurance, tools, furniture, appliances, etc.???

My generation (X) was only semi-able to afford those things and still managed to survive with a threadbare nest egg at best . . . . mostly because even though our jobs were lower-income during college, they were at least able to buy us an education for the most part. Those days are long gone.

I mean, did the Ownership class not THINK about this before raising and raising and raising prices, crashing the economy (twice), exporting all the blue and white collar jobs to lower paying shores and, most importantly, arbitrarily stagnating the middle/working/poor wages (according to . . . . are you ready . . . . TEH FREE MARKETZ) so that pretty soon, only the upper middle class and above won't be priced out of everything?

"I believe the children are our future". Explain this to me like I'm a complete idiot . . . . HOW does this get repaired? Yeah, someone better figure out goddamned quickly how you un-bollocks this looming issue.

April 22, 2015

Joseph Stiglitz on CNBC . . . man, this is TAXING to watch.

A reasoned professor of economics from Columbia University is really, REALLY trying to hold his own regarding income inequality against two reasoned hosts and one supreme wingnut joker in Joe Kernen.

My GOD, just put Joe on Faux already and get it over with.

Professor Stiglitz is offering reasonable and long-term solutions to a complex and long-standing problem - we're not taxing the wealthy enough, there needs to be reasonable regulations and tax regimens for small businesses vs coroporations, interest rates, Fed/Government involvement, etc etc etc

And what is Wingnut Joe doing?

* Joe trots out a long anti-Obama quote from Mr. Trickle Down UBS Bastard Phil Gramm of all people, cited in the Murdoch Street Journal, of course.
* Joe is still trotting out the same discredited right-wing canards of "entitlements", "Highest coroprate tax rate in the world", "stifling regulations", "The middle class of the 50s-70s was an anomaly because the rest of the world couldn't compete like they can now (which means a few of them volunteered to be corporate slavestates to the likes of Neutron Jack Welch)" . . . .
* Joe is still offering false dilemmas of "You want an entire country on the government dole??"
* Joe is STILL blaming Obama Obama Obama Obama even after, what, 60 consecutive months of positive private sector job growth. Fucking TIREsome.

It's amazing, truly, how large of a laughingstock our Fourth Estate is. We cannot even have a serious discussion with a Nobel Laureate regarding long-term concerns without turning it into a over-partisan comedy act.

April 1, 2015

Dumb Letters To the PD Dept: "Dem Gurl Scowts Supptor Bebeh Killurs!"

OMFG. Is this serious? I mean, this sounds made up even by wingnut reactionary standards.

http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2015/03/girl_scouts_letter_to_the_edit.html

It's that time again when young ladies and their mothers can be seen almost everywhere offering their cookies to raise funds to further the work of the Girl Scouts of America. In the past I was always willing and happy to do so and was even happier to get my greedy mitts on a box or so of Thin Mints.

Imagine my horror when I learned just recently the Girl Scouts actively support Planned Parenthood which, of course, promotes abortion on demand. Upon further investigation I found the Girl Scouts hold up women like Nancy Pelosi and Gloria Steinem as role models to be emulated!

It goes without saying I will be boycotting Girl Scout cookies, now and in the future, and doing all in my power to work for the demise of the Girl Scouts of America. I know they do much good in teaching young women skills for adulthood, but that does not justify supporting abortion and other immoral programs, especially when there are other more moral groups to choose from.

I call on all people who cherish life to support the boycott of their cookies and the demise of the Girl Scouts. The alternative is raising young women who think it's OK to murder their children.

James C. Morgan,

Berea

Wow. JFW. Pick your battles, dude.

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Member since: Fri Aug 13, 2004, 03:12 PM
Number of posts: 24,461

About HughBeaumont

If anyone's wondering why I haven't been here much lately, it's because I feel no one is learning anything from 2016. Neoliberalism is a thing and it doesn't win elections in the 21st Century. People want a candidate that's going to take strong, non-waffling stands on human rights the rest of the world enjoys. Enough living in the goddamned Reagan 1980s. Enough taking solar panels off the roof. Enough introducing more rightwingedness into American economics. Enough medical bankruptcies. Enough governing by mythology. Enough science denial. Enough of spitting on women, children, veterans and the LGBTQI community. Enough kicking the can. ENOUGH. America needs to move past it's "everything has to be about making a buck" bullshit. I'd prefer a candidate not born during the FDR/Truman administrations. No offense, but you had your time . . . and you got us Trump. Plus, I can't take another one of these still-Capitalist Boomer codgers yap on about "bootstraps" when college now costs a mortgage, necessity costs have been outpacing wage growth for 20 years and automation promises to kill more jobs than it creates. I don't want to hear what is or isn't "politically achievable". Kick-the-Can economics was never asked "How is it going to be paid for?". Tax Cuts for the rich were never given a spending limit. Folly wars were never asked "Why is this necessary?". Corporate Pork by the billions was and is always approved. America's safety net needs to be greatly expanded and retirement age needs to be drastically lowered. This country throws out far too many people that still have a decade or two of prime contribution left. If life doesn't get fairer for you or I pretty goddamned quickly, we aren't going to have much of one.