Young Turks: Recreational pot causes long lines in CO .
The Horrors of Affordable Health Care for All:
- Ann Telnaes: Healthcare and freedom from religion.
- Kliff Notes: Obamacare dates to watch in 2014
- Chris Hayes: 9 Million Plus Served!
- Ed: ObamaCare marks a new era of security for Americans:
- Sam Seder: Debunking the right wing’s ObamaCare claims.
- Liberal Viewer: Really? Lie of the Year?
- Thom: Time to close the Red State doughnut hole:
Sam Seder: Did Chris Christie create massive traffic jams because of political feud?
Young Turks: Belief in evolution—Republicans versus Democrats.
Benghaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!1!!11!
- David Pakman: Investigation finds no al Qaeda link in Benghazi.
- Chris Hayes: The New York Times Exposes GOP Benghazi lies.
- Joy Reid: New York Times punches holes in GOP’s Benghazi lies.
Pap and Thom: Oil industry wants to privatize profits, socialize risks.
Zina Saunders: The animated life and times of Ronald Reagan.
Young Turks: Billionaire warns the Pope.
Invasion of Privacy, Florida Style:
- Young Turks: Drug testing for welfare recipients is ruled unconstitutional.
- Sharpton: Judge strikes down Florida Gov. Rick Scotts’s racist drug testing plan.
David Pakman: Scott Walker makes WI #1…in jobless claims.
WaPo: How unemployment benefits could make a comeback.
Sam Seder: Is David Brooks high?!?
Young Turks: Charlie Christ “evolves” on gay marriage.
New Year:
- Mark Fiore: Little Suzie Newsykins remembers to forget for the new year.
- Lee Camp: The Most Jaw-Dropping Underreported Stories Of 2013
- Alex Wagner: America’s most colorful political characters in 2013:
- Young Turks: Was 2013 a good year?
- Joy Reid: Will 2014 be the year for liberals?
- David Pakman: 5 worst FAUX News moments of 2013
- Sen. Sherrod Brown’s New Year Resolution.
- Sen. Joe Manchin’s New Year’s Resolution.
- Sen. Tim Kaine’s New Year’s Resolution.
- Sen. Tom Harkin’s New Year’s Resolution.
- One minute news: Fun new laws for 2014.
- Mental Floss: 38 Bizarre items dropped on New Years.
- Ed: Ted Cruz is the 2013 “Pretender of The Year”
- White House: West Wing Week year in review.
- Young Turks: Best stories of 2013.
Maddow: Epic Koch brothers smackdown (via Crooks and Liars).
Sam Seder: Democrats will win with minimum wage in 2014.
David Pakman: Same-sex couples breaking records in Utah.
Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.
One issue that may be coming out of the recent crude oil train accidents is something in the oil is causing the tank cars to explode. It could be the chemicals in the fracking process, but the oil companies consider those to be a trade secret.
Houston opened it’s second light rail line last month. This month, it’s the 10th anniversary of the first line.
http://www.progressiverailroad.....8211;38903
As you probably know by now, the Machinists caved to Boeing’s demands and the 777X will stay in Puget Sound.
What it cost: Boeing’s defined-benefit pension is history.
America’s employer-based pension system has been in slow collapse for decades. In recent years, the collapse accelerated as corporate raiders targeted companies’ pension assets and managements used bankruptcy courts to walk away from pension obligations — even as executive pay and perks soared. (Lee Raymond, former CEO of Exxon, got a $100 million retirement package.)
Workers can’t count on employers for anything anymore. Not for job security, steady employment, a rising standard of living, health care, or retirement. Bosses don’t believe in shared prosperity or give a damn about workers anymore.
So here are the choices facing America’s workers. Fend for yourself, as best you can, with 401(k)s and Social Security. Or look to government to take over the responsibility of providing for America’s retired workers through an expanded Social Security program or some kind of all-new national pension program.
Of course, conservatives are telling us America can’t afford the worker benefits we have, as puny as they are. That’s bullshit. America, today, is the richest country in the history of the universe. The people who have it just don’t want to spend any of it on the workers who create all of America’s wealth, that’s all. For no good reason; they’re just being selfish greedy bastards. We shouldn’t let that stop us.
There are important steps we must take as a nation. First, stop believing rightwing propaganda. Second, don’t vote for Republicans. Third, don’t allow Democrats, who are supposed to be our allies, cave in to outrageous GOP demands. Insist they grow a spine and kick Republican butt!
The system we have now badly sucks, but even if we’re stuck with it, you can make the system work in your favor. That’s what I’ve done. I don’t buy “stuff.” I buy stocks, because that’s where the money is.
My sister bought Boeing stock two years ago last week for $73.35 a share. Boeing closed today at $137.62 a share. Add the dividends she’s collected and she’s made an 88.6% return in 24 months. Boeing’s profits have exploded from $809 million in 2003 to $4.45 billion in 2013. This company can afford to pay for worker pensions if it wants to. It doesn’t want to. That money is going to execs and shareholders instead.
So the obvious thing to do is be a shareholder. Not necessarily in Boeing — I’m not recommending any specific stock here — but in profitable corporations in general. The system is taking from workers and giving to owners of capital, so the obvious solution is for workers to become capitalists. That’s what I did, and it’s working fine. What doesn’t work is working, and I don’t work anymore.
If you’re like most people, you waste a lot of money, and there’s plenty of non-essential spending you could eliminate or reduce. Then invest that money. Especially do this if you’re young, because reinvesting and compounding for 30 or 40 years turns a little money into a lot of money.
Pensions are dying out. Conservatives are attacking Social Security and Medicare. You’re on your own, it’s back to the Wild West days, when people didn’t worry about retiring because nobody lived past age 50. The capitalists have been robbing you for years. But you can beat them at their own game. You can rob them back. And that’s what we all have to do now.
What do you want to bet the Koch brothers don’t accept Rachel Maddow’s invitation to appear on her show to discuss their issues with her reporting of their political activities?
Maddow made a really interesting point: The Kochs don’t want to be associated with the causes they give money to.
Maybe the Kochs are afraid voters might decide they can afford to pay more taxes if they can spend millions on pushing laws to require drug testing of welfare recipients.
What we really need is a law requiring sanity testing of billionaires.
Yes, you are absolutely correct! Pensions ARE dying-out. That’s why it’s important to participate in an employer’s 401-k, particularly if the employer matches any contributions. IRA account are also something individuals need to consider. I am especially in favor of the Roth IRA, assuming a person qualifies for such an account. However, it’s important for workers in today’s world to realize that, more than ever, it’s becoming the responsibility for the INDIVIDUAL to plan for his or her retirement. As for turning over all retirement accounts to some new “Social Security on steroids,” I’d rather manage my own stuff without the government being involved. But if people would like to voluntarily participate in such a system, then, by all means, have at it. Personal choice is always a good thing.
The New Year’s Eve arson at the Neighbors Club could have been worse, if not for the quick action of an off-duty soldier.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/new....._partners5
SEATTLE — In the first few seconds after the fire roared up the back stairway of Neighbours nightclub in Seattle, US Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Bostick was one of a few New Year’s Eve revelers who reacted immediately.
“I’m embarrassed to say, my first move was to go after it with cups of water. Then I quickly realized, this fire is way bigger than that, he said.
In the next breath, the Army Intelligence veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan tours sharpens his tone, as if news of impending violence is to follow.
“You know, in 30 seconds, if that fire did what the arsonist intended, there’s no telling how many people could have died.”
While 750 people counted down to the new year, Bostick rushed to grab a fire extinguisher from behind the bar. He and Air Force member Mike Casey went to work putting out the gasoline-fueled fire.
@8 ” I’d rather manage my own stuff without the government being involved.”
You remind me of Joe Republican:
“Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
“All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
“Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
“Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
“Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
“Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.
“Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)
“He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
“He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, ‘We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.'”
http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/ind.....lican.html
@8 “Personal choice is always a good thing.”
No, some personal choices are egregiously bad, which is why we shouldn’t leave it up to individual choice to drive drunk, leave loaded guns where children can find them, refuse to have their children vaccinated, etc.
OK, feel free to have your pension and other retirement savings turned over to the Social Security Administration. I’ll keep what I have, thanks!
When it comes to personal choices, if you want to have someone oversee your life, go ahead. However, I choose to make my own personal choices without some religious zealot or government agent telling me what I can decide to do or not.
Pensions are dying. Pretending they are some how going to be save by government is wishful thinking.
Rather than complain, smart young people are taking advantage to 401-is and IRAs. Too bad we won’t be around in 40 years to see how well these smart kids did.
@12 “OK, feel free to have your pension and other retirement savings turned over to the Social Security Administration. I’ll keep what I have, thanks!”
I’m good with that. I’ve been receiving Social Security for several years now, and so far the government hasn’t missed or been late with a single payment. Go ahead and entrust yours to Wall Street or the banks, if you wish, but keep your hands off mine. And don’t ask me to bail you out in your old age if your private investments don’t work out.
@13 Pensions were a way to get around World War 2 wage and price controls by luring workers to war plants with non-salary benefits. The fact they’ve endured this long testifies to their popularity. A lot of people, it seems, wanted professional pension fund managers to invest their retirement funds for them.
Now let’s compare public pension management with private pension management.
Public pensions fall in two categories, Social Security, and pension plans for government workers. The latter subdivide into military and civilian. Let’s start with Social Security.
For over 75 years, Social Security has paid every penny of promised benefits on time. Compare that with corporate pension funds that have been raided by Leveraged Buy Out artists and then dumped on the government-run Pension Guaranty Corporation.
The military, federal government, states, counties, and cities have provided pensions to their workers that, generally speaking, are more generous than private-sector pensions (to help make up for the fact public-sector salaries are lower). No retired military member has ever failed to get his promised pension on time. Same with federal workers. For the most part, state, county, and city workers have reliably gotten their pensions, too. Compare that with corporate pensions that often disappear the moment a corporate raider shows up to strip a company of assets and jobs.
Public pensions beat private pensions hands down. I would much rather have the government run my pension fund than trust the private sector to do it. In fact, the private sector can’t be trusted with a box of cereal let alone anyone’s life savings. There’s just too many crooks in the private sector, and not enough government regulation of private pension funds.
So, go ahead with whatever retirement scheme you have in mind for yourself. I like my Social Security and state pension and veteran’s benefits, and I don’t lose sleep over whether I’ll continue receiving them. That allows me to invest my private savings in the stock market. I don’t trust Wall Street, but whatever happens to my private investments, I’ve got my government pensions so I know I’ll be taken care of.
You can have any private retirement scheme for yourself that you want. Just don’t make me join it.
It’s nothing short of hilarious to be lectured about pensions by a dolt who claims pension funds can’t make 8% a year in the stock market.
$84,000
@17 What the hell is it? A belt buckle?
I see Sucky Politics’ resident expert on constitutional law — Pudge — thinks mail ballots are unconstitutional. His reasoning is convoluted but seems to hinge on the idea that it’s easier to beat up a voter and force him to vote for your candidate on his way to the mailbox than to do it in a polling place (where there presumably would be witnesses and maybe some big beefy Republican operatives to protect Republican voters from Democratic thugs).
@ 18
Yeah.
Isn’t that something?
A goddamn $84,000 belt buckle. Thats not even top of their line, they make a similar model encrusted with diamonds and shit for another $30,000 over that.
Those “job” creators can dress themselves up in $200,000-$300,000 worth of shit when they go out on a friday night. There are fucking wristwatches that top half a million. A goddamn BELT can go a couple grand.
Thats the real reason why they don’t want to pay taxes. The whole job creation thing is just a fairy tale to blow smoke over the rubes while they pick their pockets. They really just want to have pretty bullshit like $84,000 belt buckles and $50,000,000 yachts while telling everyone else to pay their taxes for them. Because Soshulizzum!
@17
Nice piece of engineering and metalcraft. One could probably build one – reverse engineered – for a couple of hundred bucks, with the right machining know-how, doncha think?
Like this, deathfrogg…
@20 Aren’t these the same folks who are telling us we can’t afford pensions, health care, and unemployment benefits for the workers who create all this wealth?
@22 So, is that like a chastity belt, which you need a key to unlock?
Which reminds me of the old joke about King Arthur giving the key to Guinevere’s chastity belt to his most trusted knight, Lancelot, before setting off on a Crusade to the Holy Land, but Arthur wasn’t two miles from his castle when Lancelot came tearing up the road on his charger shouting, “Sire! Sire! You gave me the wrong key!”
Let’s just raise their taxes and pay off the national debt so we don’t have to listen to their whining about the national debt anymore.
From 15,
Jeez, Roger, you’re practically a ward of the state., financially.
If you think you’ve done so well, investing, what has been your average rate of return over the past 40 years? Nobody can expect 30% return year after year. That’s my point: no investor, Warren Buffet or Warren Beaty, can expect 30% a year. Why can’t you comprehend that?
For the record, my investing return over the pas 20 years has been between 8 and 9 percent. That period cover both good and bad markets, and, for planning purposes, is the rate of return I expect in the future.
People can crow about making 30% in a given year, but they can’t realistically expect that level every year.
Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Rand Paul, R – Ky., said Sunday, “I’m not opposed to unemployment insurance; I am opposed to having it without paying for it. I think it’s wrong to borrow money from China or simply to print up money for it, but I’m not against having unemployment insurance.” But he argued that long-term unemployment benefits create a disincentive to work. “We have to figure out how to create jobs and keep people from becoming long-term unemployed. That’s why I’ve promoted the economy freedom zones, which would dramatically lower taxes in areas where there is long-term unemployment.”
http://presspass.nbcnews.com/_.....cture?lite
Shorter version: Sen. Rand Paul is against borrowing from China to pay for unemployment benefits. He’s in favor of borrowing from China to give tax cuts to millionaires.
@26 “Jeez, Roger, you’re practically a ward of the state., financially.”
Toooo funny! That’s my money, idiot! State employees pay for their pensions with money taken from their paychecks. PERS just manages it for us. The fact my money is managed by honest public servants instead of crooked bankers doesn’t make me a “ward of the state”. Once again, you demonstrate you’re a complete moron.
@26 “If you think you’ve done so well, investing, what has been your average rate of return over the past 40 years? Nobody can expect 30% return year after year.”
I haven’t been investing 40 years, stupid, and never said I have. I answered this question a couple days ago, but apparently you missed that comment. I’ve averaged 14.4% a year over the last 30 years.
Actually it’s quite feasible to average better than 30% a year if you’re in a position to rig the game in your favor. That’s how hedge fund guys become billionaires. I’m not saying what they do is honorable, I’m only saying they do it.
@27 “For the record, my investing return over the pas 20 years has been between 8 and 9 percent.”
This from the guy who posted that professional pension fund managers can’t make 8% a year?
I’ve kept track of my year-end balances only since 10 years ago. I made over 30% twice during that time, 36% in 2004 and 73% in 2009. I’m not in a position to strip-and-flip companies, like Mittster does, so I don’t make 30% every year. I just flip individual stocks in small batches, and strip the mutual funds whose customers force them to buy high and sell low.
Southern football fans take school loyalty to another level.
http://extramustard.si.com/201.....d=ob_blogs
(Be sure you read the article under the video, so you know what’s going on.)
Liz Cheney Drops Senate Bid
Liz Cheney will announce tomorrow she’s ending her bungled primary challenge against Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WYO). Like her father, she’s a warmonger who favors using U.S. military muscle overseas to advance U.S. political and economic interests. She’s also a bigot who hates on her sister’s queerness.
Enzi, a Bremerton native, has represented Wyoming in the Senate since 1996. He has a conservative voting record. He avoided the Vietnam draft by serving in the Wyoming National Guard from 1967 to 1973.
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Ho hum. Does it make any difference which of these Republican chickenhawks represents Wyoming’s socialist ranchers in the Senate? They’re going to get their free reclamation water, cheap federal grazing permits, and crop subsidy checks regardless of who it is.
34)Alabama fans, nothing they do surprises me anymore. One Alabama fan poisoned some trees that were the center of Auburn University athletics.
How’s all that Al Gore global warming doin these days…..?