The Commentariat -- Nov. 20, 2013
** Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is prepared to move forward with a vote that could severely limit the minority party's ability to filibuster presidential nominees, possibly as early as this week, Democratic officials said Tuesday. Exasperated with a Republican blockade of three of President Obama's nominees to an influential appeals court, Mr. Reid has been speaking individually with Democratic members to gauge the level of support for a change in filibuster rules. If he determines there is enough support, he could schedule a vote this week, an aide who has spoken with him directly said Tuesday." CW: I've already written to my Senator, Bill Nelson, who could be a fence-sitter, urging him to support filibuster reform. ...
... Greg Sargent: "Reid has concluded Senate Republicans have no plausible way of retreating from the position they've adopted in this latest Senate rules standoff, [a senior Democratic leadership] aide says. Republicans have argued that in pushing nominations, Obama is 'packing' the court, and have insisted that Obama is trying to tilt the court's ideological balance in a Democratic direction -- which is to say that the Republican objection isn't to the nominees Obama has chosen, but to the fact that he's trying to nominate anyone at all." ...
... Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Senate Democrats who were previously opposed to changing filibuster rules via the 'nuclear option' are so fed up with GOP obstruction of the president's nominees that they now say they want to go nuclear." ...
... David Atkins of Hullabaloo: "The nation, quite frankly, doesn't have time to wait out the next two years watching Republicans obstruct absolutely everything, then sit tight as a Republican president himself gets obstructed by Democrats until 2020. The cost of inaction is far, far too high." ...
... Charles Pierce: "It's time, Harry. Really, it is.... This business with the judges has long passed over the International Fk You Line.... This is mucking around with two of the three branches of the federal government in order to work your will in the third.... It is a blatant defiance of popular sovereignty, and the Republicans have grown so comfortable with it that they're not even trying very hard these days to concoct decent lies about why they're doing it."
Clusterfuck. Robert Pear of the New York Times: Henry Chao, "the chief digital architect for the federal health insurance marketplace, said Tuesday [in a House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing] that 30 percent to 40 percent of the [ACA software] project was still being built.... [HHS Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius said last month that the security of the federal website had been tested by the Mitre Corporation and that the company 'did not raise flags about going ahead' on Oct. 1. But Jason Providakes, a senior vice president at Mitre, said at the hearing on Tuesday: 'Mitre is not in charge of security for HealthCare.gov. We were not asked, nor did we perform end-to-end security testing.'" ...
... Philip Rucker & Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Tuesday sought to redirect some of the political blame for the botched rollout of the federal health insurance exchange to Republicans, characterizing GOP lawmakers as rooting for the law's failure. Addressing a gathering of business executives, Obama acknowledged that the health-care rollout 'has been rough, to say the least,' and he lamented the government's archaic information-technology procurement system." Video of the full session is here. The Wall Street Journal has a transcript here. ...
One of the problems we've had is one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure and -- and that makes, I think, the -- the kind of iterative process of fixing glitches as they come up and fine-tuning the law more challenging. -- President Obama, at yesterday's Wall Street Journal forum
... Katie Thomas, et al., of the New York Times: "Of the 13 states that have so far said they will allow consumers to renew canceled plans, all but four are led by Republican governors and have generally been opposed to the new health care law. Of the eight that have said they will not carry out the policy, six are in Democratic-led states, many of which have actively worked to put the law into effect and have argued that allowing such an extension could undermine its success. They include New York, which announced its decision on Tuesday, and Massachusetts. Many other states, including California and New Jersey, are still weighing their options." ...
... Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Maryland is wrestling with stubborn technological problems with its online insurance exchange, posting weak enrollment even as other states have signed up tens of thousands of consumers for plans under President Obama's new health-care law." ...
... Daniel Chang of the Miami Herald: In a "heavily-orchestrated" visit to Miami, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, "'Here in Florida, there are 3.5 million uninsured and eligible Floridians who stand to benefit from full implementation of the law.' ... By not expanding Medicaid, Sebelius said, about 1.9 million Floridians will go without some form of health coverage, including '318,000 of whom are right here in the Miami area.'" ...
... The Washington Post has a state-by-state breakdown of ACA enrollees for the period October 1 to November 2. ...
... Some Are More Equal than Others. "A Gold-Plated Insurance Exchange." Robert Pear of the New York Times: "While millions of Americans have been left to fend for themselves and go through the frustrating experience of trying to navigate the federal exchange, members of Congress and their aides have all sorts of assistance to help them sort through their options and enroll." ...
... Dana Milbank: "It was all I could do to keep my knees from knocking as I stood in an alcove in the Capitol basement, listening to Republican leaders describe all the terrible things that Obamacare has produced.... The Republicans’ scary-movie strategy ... is sabotage, plain and simple -- much like the refusal by red-state governors to participate in setting up the exchanges in the first place. But those sabotaging the new law should be careful what they wish for: Instead of killing the law, they are likely to make it more expensive to taxpayers." CW: I hate to tell you, Dana, but that's what they want to do. The more costly it is, the more easily they can justify repeal. ...
... Jonathan Capehart: One reason a majority of Americans say they oppose ObamaCare -- they don't understand it, & they don't understand the insurance market. And of course Republicans have done all they can to confuse people. CW: I'd add, and so have the media. ...
... Thanks, Brian Williams. Excellent reporting! What? Is David Gregory writing your copy?
Today's Munch Prize goes to Sarah Dutton, et al., of CBS "News": "President Obama's job approval rating has plunged to the lowest of his presidency, according to a new CBS News poll released Wednesday, and Americans' approval of the Affordable Care Act has dropped it's lowest since CBS News started polling on the law. Thirty-seven percent now approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president, down from 46 percent in October -- a nine point drop in just a month. Mr. Obama's disapproval rating is 57 percent -- the highest level for this president in CBS News Polls." ...
... "The Party of Zilch." Ron Fournier, longstanding reliable Democrat-basher, now of the National Journal: "The Republican Party stands for nothing. As Barack Obama threatens to fumble away his presidency along with the Democratic Party's reasons for existence -- championing an active, efficient government -- the GOP lurches into the leadership breach with ... zilch."
How to Nullify Roe v. Wade. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: " The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away an emergency application asking it to block a Texas law that requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. The decision was effectively 5 to 4 and split along ideological lines, though only seven justices noted their votes. The effect of the ruling, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote for the four dissenters, was to leave 24 counties in the Rio Grande Valley without abortion clinics. 'It may,' he added, 'substantially reduce access to safe abortions elsewhere in Texas.'"
Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post: "According to officials at the National Labor Relations Board, the agency's general counsel investigated and 'found merit' in workers' claims that Walmart 'unlawfully threatened' employees for taking part in walkouts surrounding last year's Black Friday shopping season. The agency said that Walmart intimidated, surveilled or punished workers in 14 different states, violating U.S. labor law. The agency also said that Walmart illegally threatened workers in statements made in two news broadcasts.... The general counsel's charge amounts to an allegation by a prosecutor -- not a ruling by the board. Such cases are often resolved before the board actually moves to prosecute a company." ...
... McScrooge. Adam Peck of Think Progress: "McDonald's McResource Line, a dedicated website run by the world's largest fast-food chain to provide its 1.8 million employees with financial and health-related tips, offers a full page of advice for 'Digging Out From Holiday Debt.' Among their helpful holiday tips: 'Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist could bring in some quick cash.' Elsewhere on the site, McDonald's encourages its employees to break apart food when they eat meals, as 'breaking food into pieces often results in eating less and still feeling full.' And if they are struggling to stock their shelves with food in the first place, the company offers assistance for workers applying for food stamps." ...
... Wait, Wait, Nancy. Paul Ryan is fighting for you.
... Oh, Shucks. Maybe Not. Kevin Drum on Paul Ryan's alleged anti-poverty initiative (WashPo story linked in yesterday's Commentariat) "... everything he's ever done -- everything -- boils down to a single sentence: reduce taxes on the rich and reduce spending on the poor. That's it. There's literally nothing else he's ever seriously proposed.... How is it that so many people seem so willing to pretend otherwise?" ...
Okay. Definitely Not. You cure poverty eye to eye, soul to soul. Spiritual redemption: That's what saves people. -- Paul Ryan
... Jonathan Chait: "Paul Ryan: Poor people need Jesus, not food stamps." Sorry, Nancy. Get back to your fry station. And pray.
Blow. Aaron Blake, et al., of the Washington Post: "Freshman Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) has been charged with possession of a controlled substance. According to court charging documents, on Oct. 29, Radel 'unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally possessed' a quantity of cocaine. The charges are as a result of a D.C. Superior Court Grand Jury indictment. Radel was charged Tuesday and will be arraigned Wednesday. In a statement, he said problems with alcohol led to an 'extremely irresponsible choice' and said he will seek treatment. CW: Ah, yes, the Rob Ford defense. That should work. Radel is my Congressman & a flaming winger who used to have a local Limbaugh-type radio show. I just got a letter from him today, which I promptly tossed in the recycling, without reading it. It was printed on card stock of the type Rydel might use to cut lines. ...
... Trey Has a Habit. Catalina Camia & Donna Leger of USA Today: A DEA official "said several federal agencies working as part of a task force arrested a dealer who told them one of his cocaine customers was a congressman. The dealer, working with federal agents, set up a buy on Oct. 29, and Radel ... purchased the cocaine...." ...
... John Bresnahan & Jake Sherman of Politico: "Radel has missed all four votes in the House this week." ...
... Also, one of Family Guy Trey's entrepreneurial efforts was to register sexually-charged Spanish-language Web addresses. "I, as a business guy, as an entrepreneur, have bought all sorts of domain names," Radel said. Yes, all sorts. Like "www.mamadita.com," slang for "little blow job."
Ben Protess & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: "JPMorgan Chase and the Justice Department finalized a $13 billion settlement on Tuesday, punctuating a long legal battle over the risky mortgage practices that became synonymous with the financial crisis." CW: This story has been updated since I linked it Tuesday evening. ...
... ** Joe Coscarelli of New York: "It's like Rob Ford meets Florida Man meets Rep. Peter Russo from House of Cards.... This, from an interview with Roll Coll, you couldn't make up if you tried: Q: What's your favorite vacation spot outside Florida? A: Cartagena, Colombia."
President Obama's handwritten tribute to President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Senate Race
Emily Schultheis of Politico: The National Republican Senatorial Committee came under fire Tuesday for tweeting a photo that superimposed Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes's head on the body of 'Obama Girl,' the model who starred in a series of 2007 music videos about her crush on President Obama.... NRSC spokeswoman Brook Hougesen called the tweet a mistake. 'We agree, it's extremely offensive. It was a mistake made by a junior staffer and disciplinary action has been taken,' she said." CW: Yeah, junior staffers do the darndest things. Sadly, the NRSC has absolutely no control over their sexist, tasteless antics.
Local News
Rene Stutzman & Jeff Weiner of the Orlando Sentinel: Admitted killer & acclaimed right-wing folk hero "George Zimmerman left the Seminole County jail this afternoon, the day after he was accused of pointing a gun at his girlfriend during a domestic dispute and arrested on domestic violence charges. Zimmerman's bail was set at $9,000 during today's hearing. News crews later spotted him as he walked out of the jail about 4:30 p.m.... The judge said he was setting the bond higher than normal because of the reported strangulation attempt. He also ordered Zimmerman to wear a satellite monitor, to give up and stay away from guns and ammunition and to stay away from his girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe."
Canadian News
Another typical day at the office for Toronto Mayor & prime minister hopeful Rob Ford:
News Ledes
;)
Caroline Kennedy arrives at the Japanese Imperial Palace. AFP/Getty Image.
Bloomberg News: "Caroline Kennedy was greeted by thousands of cheering Japanese as she passed through the streets of Tokyo to present her credentials to Emperor Akihito as the U.S.'s first female ambassador to Japan. Spectators, many of them elderly, lined the streets snapping photos of Kennedy, 55, as she passed in a century-old horse-drawn carriage."
New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that the United States and Afghanistan had completed a bilateral security agreement that will be submitted to a grand council of elders in Kabul the next day, but he stated emphatically that there had been no discussion of an American apology to President Hamid Karzai or to his nation as part of the deal."
Washington Post: "The [Virginia] state inspector general's office has opened an investigation into why the son of Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds was released from custody the day before he apparently stabbed his father and then shot himself to death." Three nearby hospitals said they had open beds available for Austin Deeds.
Washington Post: "Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), a freshman lawmaker from the New York City area, was attacked and robbed Tuesday evening in the Eastern Market area" of Washington, D.C.
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Reader Comments (33)
You sure live in a dicey neighborhood, Marie.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/11/19/rep-trey-radel-r-fla-charged-with-possession-of-controlled-substance/?hpid=z4
@Marie re your Congressman Trey Radel (and Rick Scott, and Allen West, and Marco Rubio, and, and, and so on...), I must paraphrase part of your comment back to me from two days ago: "We in the UPPER 47 sometimes have difficulty understanding Floridians..."
"Republicans have argued that in pushing nominations, Obama is 'packing' the court, and have insisted that Obama is trying to tilt the court’s ideological balance in a Democratic direction"
The GOP betrays its own agenda--and its modus operandi-- with each and every accusation it makes. Time for some rubber and glue, then we can get down to brass tacks. Why this tactic of theirs is so effective is a question for the ages. The opposition needs a much sharper pencil.
Re: Zimmerman. Yes, one in the chamber, and yes it is pointing at him regardless of his choice of targets--albeit in a very different way than he inflicted on innocent. He contracted for his own prison and the door slammed shut long ago. A serious lack of restraint. Imagine trying to live on without what he has already given up. Tick tick.
We can, he won't.
re Rob Ford:
Thank you, Marie, for the demonstration of the "rough and tumble" nature of politics.
and to Todd 2.0:
All institutions in our society are innately "coercive," including elite prep schools. No, I don't want to discuss this. Erving Goffman exhaustively described this "dehumanizing" effect more than 50 years ago. You could read his work "Asylums" for information.
@ Marie: Your Congresscritteer: Must have watched "House of Cards" (the Netflix version) and decided to emulate it. He'd better be careful about getting into a car with:the majority whip!
Re: Paul Ryan:: How anyone takes this dead-eyed creep as a VSP is beyond me. HE got government help, but anyone else is out of luck, and he's never had a serious job outside of government. Jesus must have given him special treatment.
V. I agree with your claim re: coercive institutions--holding back a little for what Marie might reference as "no absolutes." I do not hold elite schools harmless, not by a long shot. They are in many ways a world away from the ones we fight to redeem with public funding, that's all I intended to illustrate. When their graduates serve the public, we are increased. When their grads serve only themselves, well, so it goes. Thank you for the Goffman reference.
Congressman Ryan's offering: “You cure poverty eye to eye, soul to soul,” he said last week at the Heritage forum. “Spiritual redemption: That’s what saves people.”
Is that man insane? Really, he needs to have a talk with the Nuns On The Bus, who will tell him that lovingkindness and the Word of God* is necessary for the soul ... but the body needs stuff, and the scale of the general need of many bodies cannot be met by private charity ... one of the reasons we have government is to provide for the general welfare for those caught on the downside of economic circumstances.
If he is not somehow insane he is willfully pernicious.
*In some form. Even atheists seek spiritual meaning.
Just when we think there might be a breather in hurricanes, crack head legislators, horrid ACA stories, and Middle East turmoil we get, in one day, news of the bombing in Lebanon, a stabbing of Va. state sen. Creigh Deeds by his son who then shoots himself, Trey Radel (R.Fla) arrested on cocaine charges, and Zimmerman's crazed antics. But wait! there's more–––the husband of Katherine Harris––you remember her, the carefully coiffed she-devil who helped decide our fate during the Bush/Gore hanging chads debacle––committed suicide. One could make some snarky remarks about this and maybe someone will. I am going to refrain and let that news speak for itself. And isn't she, too, from Florida? I tell you, people, it's got to be the oranges.
@ MAG. Now hold on a minute. Just look at today's news. We Floridians have elected a governor & legislature who won't accept the Medicaid expansion, leavings tens of thousands of Floridians vulnerable; who pass & sign a gun law legalizing murder in numerous circumstances & refuse to change it. And I have a Congressman who, as Barbarossa cleverly points out, is playing the part of a drug-&-alcohol-addled Netflix character. (Will Eric Cantor murder Trey Radel? Will Cantor do it in Florida, citing the "stand your ground" law? Tune in to Netflix' new reality show "The Real Congressmen of Washington, D.C." to find out.) And you think there's something wrong with Florida?
Well, there's this. It's 70 degrees here, with an expected high of 84 today. I'm going for a swim. I do not own snow tires, snow shoes, skis or a snow shovel. How's the temp in Maine?
Marie
P.S. Before commenting, I hadn't seen the news that Anders Ebbeson, Katherine Harris's husband, has apparently killed himself. Like Pepe, I'm going to refrain from commenting on this.
@Barbarossa: Re: Paul (creepy eyes) Ryan. I don't think it was
Jesus who gave him special treatment. Could it be the Koch Bros
for his award winning participation in "Americans for Prosperity"?
Someone must be pulling his strings--who could be that uncaring
on his own? Oh, I forgot, he's a Republican.
Re: Playing the sunny postcard or hitting below the sunbelt. Weather does matter whether you believe it or not. Nice shot, CW; "Well, there's this. It's 70 degrees here, with an expected high of 84 today. I'm going for a swim. I do not own snow tires, snow shoes, skis or a snow shovel. How's the temp in Maine? "
Sure, clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right... But I got sunshine.... I'm with you; it's always sunny in Southern California. So, buckle up the muckle- luks and get shoveling blue noses; Whoops; Earthquake! Wildfire! Floods!
Where's bad god? He's out with Paul Ryan at Micky D's.
Where's good god? She's out changing the climate.
Someone will always claim to be god's tax collector. A noble reason to have government, with all its checks and supports, to protect us from such. And on a good day--them from themselves.
Mr. Ryan has clearly demonstrated that he has no aversion to eating his own feet. He is bound for his own stool. He already sports the cap.
His choice of masters may well be all up in the Kochs' jacuzzi.
Almost forgot to include this story. It appears that a Dr. Michael Rosebush (and what fun we could have with this name) a former conversion therapist––you know, the ones who will cure you of your gayness––who wrote a book about this with none other than the guy who was outed in an airport with his "Rent Boy"––can't recall his name–-has been employed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado ( a hop skip and a jump from the Focus on the Family headquarters) since 2011 as a Personalized Coach––one who councils all those nice young cadets how to become American's finest fly boys by getting rid of all that extra baggage like, oh, maybe being gay? Well, anyway, here's the story:
http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/air-force-academy-employs-focus-alum-and-conversion-therapy-champion/Content?oid=2791351
Comment removed. Not related to any topics covered here.
At least in the Sacramento market, we are being bombarded with a Walmart commercial that makes my butt work Mickey Mouses. Several people extoll the wonders and "opportunities" of working for Walmart including charitable contribution match, education benefits, health care "starting at $40 a month" and more promotions than you can imagine.
In a quick search, I found Walmart provides 15% of the tuition for online classes from American University. I wouldn't be surprised if they receive a kick back as most of these kind of Universities (cough cough) are money making horror shows. After the passage of ACA, Walmart deferred its part time help to Medicare. I'm pretty sure the "high deductible" on the offered plans would make my eyes cross. Walmart isn't forthcoming in the details. Can't imagine that on Walmart wages, that too many people are making charitable contributions.
But the ad spot makes you feel all warm, proud and patriotic that there is a company like Walmart who really cares about folks. Jeebus, can these people be any more loathsome as they exploit poor people for obscene profits? Probably.
@Akhilleus.
Appreciated your climbdown posted yesterday. Given too often to name-calling myself (my wife properly--in both senses of the word--takes me to task when I refer to "Teanuts"--I, too, explain the practice by citing my well-justified outrage, but as someone who is also sensitive to the violence--of all kinds, from war on take your pick, to the violence perpetrated daily on language and truth--practiced by the Right, I also take her criticism to heart.
But that evil voice--I hear it now-- deep inside me still admires the Swiftian slash of your verbal sword and suspect for most of us the virtue of restraint is more simply and honestly absence of talent.
Those who don't have it are never tempted. If you're not George Foreman, you don't have to control your punch.
How nice to see that McDonald's, who took in over $27 billion in revenue last year, is so concerned about the poors who work for them.
We'll set aside the fact that more than any entity in the entire world, McDonald's bears a huge responsibility for the epidemic of obesity, poor nutrition, and all the health problems that come along for the ride, especially among the have nots. First, let's check out these great ideas for making the holidays a happy, happy time for those grumbling poors.
It must be comforting for whoever cooked up ideas like cutting up your food to make it seem like a bigger meal to think that they've done a good thing for those wretched poor people who don't know any better. The problem is, cutting up a nice big beef tenderloin into many delicious bite-sized chunks is not quite the same as cutting up a frickin' hot dog for four kids.
And selling all those unnecessary belongings to make some extra holiday cash? Who came up with that idea? The same people who are outraged that poors have all those fancy "luxuries" like refrigerators and TV's and knives and forks? "Hey, mom. Let's see what this 20 year old chair with duct tape holding in the stuffing will get us on e-Bay." Seriously?
Some years ago I was volunteering for an organization that served low income groups. We did odd jobs that they couldn't afford or do themselves. One day I helped a family of four, a mom and three kids, move out of an apartment building that was being renovated for condos. They were moving to what can only be charitably described as a hovel. I had a pickup truck, and all their belongings, plus the kids and the mom fit into this truck. Everything they owned. Know where she worked?
McDonald's.
Yeah, baby. The life of Riley.
I doubt I could've fit a single big screen TV owned by any of the hundreds of McDonald's VP's into that truck.
Yessir, the fucking life of Riley.
The best step by step explanations of the ins and outs and the whys and wherefores of the ACA I have come across. Something like this would be mighty helpful to all those still dazed and confused and angry. And by the way, those that are having a devil of a time getting through on the internet can contact their state health care services and go in person to sign up---the ACA has what they call "Navigators" in each state–––well, maybe not Texas and Florida.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115661/obamacare-plan-cancellations-faq-about-what-do-next
Ken,
Thanks, man. Kind words.
It's good to take a step back every now and then and pull yourself away from the scrum and look around. The darkness has a way of corrupting reason and diluting good judgement. The term "fog of war" can apply also to the battle for the hearts and minds and soul of America. When faced every day with new scams and ever more virulent wickedness, the high road can seem like an impediment, the appeal of bushwhacking, going down a different, more dangerous path more expedient for the task at hand.
But the high road offers something no other path can: moral clarity. I think if we can hold tightly to the ideas of democracy and an appreciation of the value of a single human being, things the other side seeks to invert, to pervert, to degrade, it might at least allow us to get in a few of those George Foreman roundhouse punches.
Thanks for your message.
Life of Riley??????? Ak , I've always admired your saber wit , but that has to be the most dated phrase you have ever used. A youth in radio days will do that to you.
The blatant evidence if the slave like conditions visited upon the working poor by the Plutocratic retail sector in the US keeps growing. Food donation baskets for Wal-Mart employees, a company with $15.7 Billion in profits in 2013. The afore sited appeals to help Mc Donalds workers. There is no end to corporate greed.
Can't make enough money on Black Friday, so screw the peons, they have so little to be thankful for, they don't need a Thanksgiving day. We will get a head state on Black Friday. What we gonna call it Brown Thursday?
Comment removed. Trolling.
Roger,
Even though I remember the Bill Bendix Life of Riley TV show, the radio version is out of my reach. But not the generic expression, which, although perhaps not very au courant, is still recognized. Hey, you go it.
Anyway, right you are about the absurd treatment of employees by behemoths like Wal Mart and McDonald's.
If the Lords of the Universe running Mickey D's allowed an average of just an extra $50 a week extra to their 1.7 million slaves, er, I mean, employees (about $850 million), they would still enjoy far over $26 billion in revenues. Plenty of bonus money for all those VP's.
But, whoa....wait just a minute. An extra $50/wk? That would be an extra $2,600 a year. These slaves might start thinking that they're actually worth something. We can't have that. Besides. They might blow it all on luxuries like a washing machine or a CAR! Let me think about it. I have a long weekend in the Bahamas coming up. I'll sleep on it.
Oops, math was off on that last post.
Still, by giving employees an extra $2,600/yr would still allow Ronald to pull in over $23 Billion.
Not bad for cheeseburgers and fries.
In the Sacramento market, Walmart has been frequently running a spot designed to make you all warm and fuzzy with admiration for just how well they treat their employees. A number of people, who are supposed to be Walmart employees, extoll the wondrousness of working for Walmart: health care starting at $40 per month, education benefits, large numbers of promotions, matching charitable giving and "opportunity".
Can't find the health care plan, but Walmart dropped coverage for part timers in 2010 in favor of go-apply-for-Medicare. The education benefit is up to 15% of tuition at the stellar entity American University for online classes. Likely, its another of those obscenely high profiting, cesspools of ignorance. I bet Walmart gets a kickback. Charitable giving? On minimum wage? The only opportunity I can see is learning how to fill out forms for assistance.
On the scale of loathsome, I think the Waltons may even supersede the Kochs. They go directly to exploitation of the poor from manufacturing their goods to how employees are treated to low income customers who buy substandard products.
@Diane: The Waltons, among other obscenely wealthy plutocrats, apparently funded the "death tax" movement. They want to keep it all. No sharing with the likes of us. But, as Ak pointed out, we may land one of the George Foreman punches, so we need to keep fighting.
Where are the Andrew Carnegies today. Yes he got very rich using hard-nosed tactics. And his company made steel, not some arcane financial gimmick. He made a fortune and then gave it away. When I was a kid in a small northeastern Oregon town, the public library had his name over the entrance. Then there's Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon University, etc. Do you tink the Waltons will follow suit and become more generous? <sarcasm>
Diane,
Not only that, but Wal Mart evaporates local businesses; Mom and Pop stores, hardware stores, smaller grocery stores, clothing stores, sporting good stores, electronic stores, and with them go jobs. Sure, they hire a lot of people but they then pay them slave wages. Studies show (2008 Journal of Urban Ecomonics) that for every 100 people Wal Mart hires, 250 lose their jobs out in the surrounding communities. A net loss.
Earlier this year, a testicle cleaner for the Masters of the Universe whined, in a Forbes article referencing Wal Mart's special talent for putting people out of work, about complaints to this effect. The writer, one Tim Worstall, a self described world's expert on the rare earth metal scandium (which guarantees that his economic wisdom is top shelf, eh?), weighs in on technology and employment. His thesis, and likely that of many MOTU types, is that Wal Mart is nothing more than a highly efficient new technology that allows services to be provided cheaply and with less labor.
"Using less labour to perform one specific task frees up that labour to go and perform other tasks. This is good, this is progress."
So now that all those people who used to have jobs have been put out of work by the Walton's Efficient New Technology, what do those people do?
Worstall's suggestion?
"Find the cure for cancer, run childcare centres, staff the colleges where we all get our educations, nurse the sick and run the libraries and…." Well, pardon me all to hell, but did you really say "find the cure for cancer"? How about discovering a way of removing a ten pound, steel toed boot from your ass, douchebag?
Find the cure for cancer. Or, Mom and Pop, you can go to work for the local college. Maybe the president's job is open. Or maybe find a new use for scandium. Oh...you don't have those skills? So sorry. See ya.
But this is the mindset of people who don't actually come into contact with many people from the world of the 99% ers (or give a shit about them), except when they pick up their dry cleaning or yell at them as they check out their groceries. You can bet Mr. Find the Fucking Cure for Cancer doesn't shop at Wal Mart. He doesn't have to. This is the mindset of the Paul (Ask Jesus for help. I'm busy) Ryans and his infandous ilk.
I'm not advocating for a Luddite solution. Far from it. Technology is a great thing but it doesn't exist apart from the world of human beings, and casting what Wal Mart does simply as a wonderful new technology without giving a toss about what now for everyone else is not just blithe indifference, it's immoral. Of course, the Forbes article doesn't hide its lack of sympathy (empathy being impossible) for those who lose their livelihood so the Waltons can fight over a few more billions. The name of the article is "Of Course Wal Mart Destroys Jobs. That's the Point."
There have to be good answers for these problems. Wal Mart and Costco aren't going away. There will be more jobs lost to technological advances (I see it in my field all the time). But there needs to be some serious discussion about how we can retrain these people and find decent jobs for them at a wage level that will let them eat AND pay the rent. But when one of the only two real political parties is permanently welded to the concept that if people lose their jobs because of "progress", they can go do something else, the chances of serious solutions are worse than picking the Powerball number.
And suggesting these people go off and find the cure for cancer ain't what I'm hoping for.
Assholes.
PD,
In some states, the wingers, who want to help people get healthcare, over their dead bodies, have decided that navigators have to have PhD's in astrobiology. Or its equivalent. Or some shit like that. In any event, the idea is, always has been, and always will be, obstruct, obstruct, obstruct.
Points for creativity though. Just because you're an evil piece of shit doesn't mean you can't be a clever one as well.
Gather round sports fans. As of today (well yesterday afternoon), in the battleground state of Ohio, it's Forces of Reason 1, Wingnut Religious Kooks 0.
Well, not entirely Forces of Reason. More like Forces of Technicality.
So here's the deal. Crazoid religious nut who formerly taught "science" to 8th graders was booted a few years ago for undermining the subject he was paid to teach. He apparently taught from the science text books after which he closed the books, pronounced all science to be false, passed out literature about Adam and Eve's pet dinosaurs and how Darwin was a maniac liar, and praised Jesus. All well, and good you say, right? Reason enough to show this guy the door, right? Nope. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld his dismissal on the grounds that he kept religious icons plastered around his room and refused to take them down after being ordered to: the Ten Commandments, creationist bullshit, the whole shebang.
Oh, and there was that minor incident of him burning a cross into a student's arm with an electrical coil. Not sure what lesson plan that came from, but the kid's mom was not convinced.
So the good news is that this idiot is gone.
The bad news? The supremes had a chance to rule on whether or not religion can usurp the science curriculum. They upheld the lower court ruling on a technicality it appears. He was fired for insubordination, not intellectual inveigling.
The even worse news?
The vote was 4-3. Three justices thought that what this guy was up to was all hunky-dory.
Well, even a little George Foreman punch has to hurt.
So keep punching, sports fans.
Religion ain't science, and burning crosses into kids should be punishable with jail time.
This article is not locked: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/dec/05/can-obama-reverse-republican-surge/
My memory loss is setting in early and I can't remember if the "Global Slavery Index" recently published by the Walk Free Foundation found its way onto RC, but it's incredibly interesting to check out and fits well into today's thread of modern slavery. This report is the first official effort to closely examine the conditions of each country to attempt to decipher the approximate number of people living in slavery-like conditions. The ILO (International Labor Organization) has been compiling statistics for some time but never in such in-depth detail. So despite the controversies regarding their shaky definition of what's constitutes "modern slavery" today, they estimate the number to be around 30 million people worldwide.
http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/
While these people obviously find themselves in a multitude of desperate situations, it's interesting to contemplate how many of these people are directly or indirectly forced into this destitution as a result of multinational corporations' greed and intransigence. How many modern slaves does it take to build and sustain the wealth of America's 400 wealthiest families? But these are just faceless brown people happy for their 50 cents a day. Job creators I tell you!
While Wal-Mart and McDonalds workers likely don't make the list seeing as they have the liberty to walk off the job and search ailleurs if they please, convincing them to quarter their cholesterol-packed hot dogs so they can eat enough to drag their exhausted bodies back to work the next day surely seems to be setting the bar pretty damn low. Welcome to Corporate America, where another person's loss is Wall Street's gain. I'm surprised the Corps. don't take Congress' lead and declare ketchup a vegetable so they can have a well rounded meal with their shred of hot dog. A little pickle relish (that's a fruit right?) topped off on the stale bread and we've accomplished all food groups. Such generosity makes my heart burn.
Safari,
Thanks for that link and for your reminder of the evanescence of slave-like conditions where the media is concerned (and, sadly, the general public).
Jamie Dimon may not profit directly from the servitude of millions, but his yearly bonuses must certainly realize a plenitudinous increase from his corporation's support of economies that do.
And, as you rightly suggest, American workers indentured by corporations like McDonald's technically have the "right" to go elsewhere, which requires us to ask exactly where that might be. Going from McDonald's to Wal-Mart is no better than changing deck chairs on the Titanic.
Extirpation of slave-like conditions is not high on the agenda of most multi-national corporations.
Nor is it on the agenda of the Ryans, Cruzes, McConnells, Pauls, Boehners, Scalias, Robertses, or the ______________(fill in the name of your personal right-wing bête noire).
Christ in a black hat, there are so many of them. They increase by the hour.
ACA Texas style: http://www.texasobserver.org/a-galveston-med-student-describes-life-and-death-in-the-safety-net/
Depressing stuff: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-20/blame-rich-overeducated-elites-as-our-society-frays.html