Posts Tagged ‘poverty
07
Nov
11
afternoon all
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TPM: President Obama and the Democrats have succeeded at convincing voters that Republicans are trying to delay economic recovery, according to a series of recent polls.
The new data suggests that about half the country, including a majority of self-identified independents, believe that congressional Republicans are using their political power to thwart Obama’s efforts to reduce unemployment, presenting Democrats an opportunity to make this argument more explicitly as the 2012 campaign moves forward – to undercut Republicans’ claims that Obama and the Dems bear full responsibility for the economy, and to make their pattern of obstruction a real liability for them.
More here
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WH: …. On Monday morning, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a new report based on the Census Bureau’s new data which found that provisions passed as part of the Recovery Act directly lifted nearly 7 million Americans out of poverty in 2010 and reduced poverty for 32 million more. This is on top of 6 million people lifted out of poverty by these policies in 2009. And these numbers are conservative estimates that do not reflect the indirect benefits from the jobs created through these policies.
In contrast to this approach, Republicans in Congress opposed all of these measures and passed a budget that would both cut back on many of these programs and also convert them into block grants, which would prevent them from automatically expanding in hard times. Had we followed that path, many more Americans would be in poverty today.
More here
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Steve Benen: The new national Gallup poll shows where the race for the Republican presidential nomination currently stands.
1. Mitt Romney: 21% (up one point from October)
1. Herman Cain: 21% (up three points)
3. Newt Gingrich: 12% (up five points)
4. Rick Perry: 11% (down four points)
5. Ron Paul: 8% (no change)
6. Michele Bachmann: 3% (down two points)
7. Rick Santorum: 2% (down one point)
8. Jon Huntsman: 1% (down one point)
The development that will get the headlines, obviously, is the fact that Cain has caught up to Romney at the national level, and Gingrich’s recent bump that’s pushed Perry to fourth place.
But what I still find remarkable is Romney’s inability to put some distance between himself and the rest of the Republican field … He’s running against misfits, clowns, and con men, and Romney’s still stuck at 21%.
More here
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Reuters: President Barack Obama’s fortunes are improving slightly, although he would face a tough struggle for re-election next year if Mitt Romney were the Republican nominee, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Friday.
Forty-nine percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, up from 47 percent in an October poll.
More here
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President Obama meets with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the White House, November 7
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Steve Benen: …. I’m not in a position to evaluate the merit of the claims against Cain. I would note, however, that (a) the number of accusers matters; (b) it seems unlikely all four are part of a coordinated, 15-year campaign organized by the media, liberals, racists, the D.C. establishment, and Rick Perry.
More here
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President Obama visits a wounded warrior for a Purple Heart presentation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 10. (Pete Souza)
17
Oct
11
wrap-up
Original video here
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Pool report from Boone: POTUS stopped in this picturesque college town that is home to Appalachian State University…. he worked his way through the Mast General Store …. its major selling point appeared to be tubs of candy, and the sales clerk helped guide POTUS through the confectionery paradise.
As he made his way toward the press, Peter Nicholas of the LA Times said to him: “You won’t find this in the White House garden, Mr. President.”
“On Halloween, the First Lady doesn’t mind,” he replied, smiling, as he filled a bucket with maple nut clusters, macaroons, and York peppermint patties.
Rounding the corner, POTUS saw another long candy counter and said, “It just goes on forever.”
After putting more sweets in his bucket, he petted a little black dog that looked like a miniature version of Bo. “Bo says hi,” he said to the dog’s owner.
As cameras flashed, a group of girls mugged behind POTUS, prompting him to ask, “are you guys making rabbit ears behind me?”
Then it was time to heft a baby – in this case one-year-old Mason Wainwright….
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West Wilkes High School in Millers Creek, North Carolina – original video here
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OffTheCharts: We previously described the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as one of the “most effective pieces of anti-poverty legislation in decades,” saying its temporary expansion of the safety net kept 4.5 million people out of poverty in 2009. Actually, the impact was greater than we thought.
We now know that, when one follows recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on how to measure poverty more comprehensively, seven of ARRA’s provisions kept more than 6 million Americans above the NAS poverty line – that is, out of poverty – in 2009.
Full post here
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Maddow Blog: Tina McGrevy writes from Springfield, Ohio: “My husband, a former Republican and voter of John McCain, stands next to the sign he placed in our front lawn. During our 15 years of marriage, our votes have just cancelled each other out. Thank you Gov. John Kasich for finally bringing us together, politically. We brought our early ballots to the Election Board on Charlie’s birthday as he will be out of state on Election Day. They were identical.”
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Steve Benen: For folks below a certain age, Robert Bork’s name is probably only vaguely familiar. Ronald Reagan nominated the right-wing jurist to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987, launching one of the fiercest and most important nomination fights in generations. Bork, by the way, lost that fight – the Senate concluded his ideology was simply too extreme for the high court.
That was the correct call. Bork had, after all, endorsed Jim Crow-era poll taxes, condemned portions of the Civil Rights Act banning discrimination in public accommodations, and argued against extending the equal protection of the 14th Amendment to women, among other things.
A quarter-century later, it’s not news that Bork is still an extremist … the salience here comes with appreciating what Bork is currently up to …. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney chose Bork to serve as the co-chair of his “Judicial Advisory Committee.”
Full post here
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That photo:
Jonathan Capehart: 1 percent poster child: Romney photo Bain of his existence
From the “It was a good idea at the time” file comes this photo from the Boston Globe of Mitt Romney during his Bain Capital days. Look at all that cash Romney and the fellas are flashing…..
Folks are demonstrating all over the country – the world, now – under the “Occupy Wall Street” banner. They are protesting the excesses of corporations and the yawning economic divide, among a slew of other things. They might be out of work, burdened with debt or fearful that playing by the rules no longer means anything. The 99 percent are enraged by the 1 percent – and this photo is emblematic of why.
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Wednesday:
10:30: Delivers remarks at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia. The President will be joined by First Lady Michelle Obama. As part of her Joining Forces initiative, the First Lady will announce a major private sector commitment to hire veterans and military spouses.
2:40: The President speaks to fire fighters at Fire Station 9 North Chesterfield, VA
Also on Wednesday, the First Lady and Dr Jill Biden travel to Game One of the World Series in St. Louis, Missouri where they will promote Joining Forces and MLB’s Welcome Back Veterans program. Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden will join representatives from MLB and the St. Louis Cardinals in hosting a military families appreciation event at the St. Louis Veterans Center.
7:45: Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden will participate in a special pre-game ceremony with veterans and military families at Busch Stadium. Game One of the World Series will be broadcast live on FOX starting at 7:30.
Prior to the game, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden will answer questions on the Joining Forces initiative submitted by MLB fans through Facebook and Twitter. People around the country can submit questions for Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden through MLB’s Facebook page or on Twitter with the hashtag #AskMichelle.
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Five from today:
You have to worry about the enthusiasm gap.
19
Sep
11
the texas ‘miracle’
CNN: Texas Governor Rick Perry likes to brag that his state is an economic powerhouse. But don’t tell that to the nearly one in five Texans who are living below the poverty line.
…. Texas ranks 6th in terms of people living in poverty. Some 18.4% of Texans were impoverished in 2010, up from 17.3% a year earlier, according to Census Bureau data released this week. The national average is 15.1%.
And being poor in Texas isn’t easy. The state has one of the lowest rates of spending on its citizens per capita and the highest share of those lacking health insurance….
…. Some 550,000 Texan workers last year were paid at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25, more than double the number making those wages in 2008 … for someone working full-time, that’s just over $15,000 a year before taxes, which is under the poverty line for a single parent with two children.
Some 9.5% of Texas’ hourly workforce are minimum-wage workers, the highest percentage in the nation – a dubious title it shares with Mississippi.
For residents living in poverty, the state doesn’t offer many services or even make federally-funded benefits easily accessible ..…. Experts chalk up the minimal services and take-up rates to Texas’ anti-welfare attitude. In the Lone Star State, you are expected to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. “The Texas mentality is you don’t ask for help,” Ferguson said…..
More here
Texas Governor Rick Perry prays during “The Response,” an event billed as a call to prayer for a nation in crisis, at Reliant stadium in Houston August 6
BurntOrangeReport: The biggest gathering in Houston yesterday should tell America all it needs to know about Rick Perry. I’m not talking about the estimated 30,000 individuals who visited Reliant Stadium yesterday for The Response, a event endorsed by religious extremists and known hate-mongers.
I’m talking about the 100,000 Texans who waited in line for free school supplies, immunizations, fresh produce, and school uniforms….
While our three-term governor was busy self-promoting to evangelical Christians in preparation to announce his bid for President, the actual people he governs were attempting to mitigate the damage he’s done to regular working Texas families just trying to get by. While Perry’s faithful lined up to break their fast with hot dogs and nachos, his constituents stood in the 90+ degree heat for bags of fruit and vegetables.
… Where are the gasping media reports of over 100,000 Texans waiting in the hot sun for school supplies and food? Where are the statistics about how Texas has some of the highest rates nationally of poverty and food insecurity in all of the breathless coverage of Rick Perry’s ‘Texas Miracle’? Where was the caravan of reporters from news outlets across America, interviewing the victims, rather than the worshipers, of the Perry administration? I suppose it’s nice that The Response had an almost four-fold increase in turnout for a day of prayer over the expected 8,000, but it’s horrifying that a charitable event for families of Texas schoolchildren should also see such a tremendous increase in turnout.
After all, needy families are about as common in Texas as failed missives to the Almighty are at Reliant Stadium.
Am I crazy and naive to wish that those 30,000 in attendance at Reliant had spent their time yesterday actually clothing the poor, feeding the hungry, or visiting the sick, rather than just praying for the free market to fix it for them?
Because while Rick Perry was ministering to the flock at the football stadium, it sure looks like a whole lot more of the “least of these brothers and sisters” were waiting in line for school supplies yesterday, not waiting in line to sway and pray…..
Full post here
Thank you Kasai
26
Jul
11
‘class warfare’
CBPP: House Speaker John Boehner’s new budget proposal would require deep cuts in the years immediately ahead in Social Security and Medicare benefits for current retirees, the repeal of health reform’s coverage expansions, or wholesale evisceration of basic assistance programs for vulnerable Americans.
The plan is, thus, tantamount to a form of “class warfare.” If enacted, it could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history.
This may sound hyperbolic, but it is not. The mathematics are inexorable:
See link for details
…. the Boehner plan would force policymakers to choose among cutting the incomes and health benefits of ordinary retirees, repealing the guts of health reform and leaving an estimated 34 million more Americans uninsured, and savaging the safety net for the poor. It would do so even as it shielded all tax breaks, including the many lucrative tax breaks for the wealthiest and most powerful individuals and corporations.
President Obama has said that, while we must reduce looming deficits, we must take a balanced approach. The Boehner proposal badly fails this test of basic decency….
See full article here
Thanks SouthernGirl and Bob
09
Jan
11
