Are we better off than we were 3 years ago? Damn right!

I had a giant "What the fuck?" response to a pathetic GOP talking point, done in both a Koch ad, and in a speech by a certain Koch whore.

First is the ad from Koch front group Americans for Prosperity, which invaded my Brewers broadcast last night, features 3 actors claiming they voted for Obama but that he hadn't delivered on making things better for the economy and the country. In fact, they say "Obama made it worse." And Koch front man Paul Ryan said the same line in Colorado this week.

When we take a look back four years ago, we had a very tough economy and without a doubt President Obama inherited a difficult situation. He’s the problem – he made it worse. We have seen a failure of leadership -- a failure of leadership -- to get the economy growing.

Yep, Purty Mouth Paulie implied that this country's economy is worse off than it was when Obama took over for Bush. Yes, he went there. Well, let's go to the numbers and see if he's got a point. And we're going to look for Summer 2009, which is after the "failed" stimulus was passed and after the banks had stabilized, so we get to see where we've been heading under the Obama policies, with the Bush years slowly fading away.

Given that we've had a number of economic headlines in the last few days, we also can use very up-to-date data to see hwere we stand. We'll start with consumer confidence, which just came out this morning.

Michigan consumer sentiment survey
Overall average, August 2009- 65.7
Overall average, August 2012- 73.6

Current conditions, Aug. 2009- 66.6
Current conditions, Aug. 2012- 87.6 (best since Jan. 2008)

Well, Americans certainly don't agree with Ryan's sentinment that things are worse than 3 years ago. But maybe they're just deluding themselves. Let's look at some other stats that just came out this week that measure the consumer- retail sales and housing.

Retail sales (last released Tuesday, Aug, 14)
July 2009- $340.600 million
July 2011- $387.932 million (+13.90% over 2 years)
July 2012- $403.929 million (+4.12% over 1 year, +18.59% over 3)

New Home permits (released Thurs, Aug. 16)
July 2009- 595,000
July 2012- 812,000 (most since Obama took office)

New housing starts
July 2009- 594,000
July 2012- 746,000

Looks a lot better off in 2012 to me. Well, let's try jobs. After all, the GOP's are always complaining about Obama's record on jobs. I'm sure they'll be proven correct here.

Ok, Ryan and the GOP are not correct. In fact, we're up more than 3 million total jobs in the last 36 months, and 3.68 million private sector jobs. And that slow-but-steady improvement also shows in the unemployment rate.

Unemployment rate, U.S.
Jul. 2009- 9.5% (UP 3.7% vs. 12 months prior)
Jul. 2012- 8.3% (DOWN 0.8% vs. 12 months prior)

These job numbers also illustrate how the stimulus and Obama/Dem policies worked to stop the bleeding caused by the disastrous Bush policies that Paul Ryan voted for.

Oh, I know! Paul Ryan being the Wall Street lackey he is, I bet it's that the socialist Obama screwed up Wall Street, and the market crashed because of this great redistribution of wealth.

S+P 500, 2009 vs. 2012
Aug. 17, 2009 close- 979.73
Aug. 17, 2012 close- 1418.06 (+44.74%)

Hmm, not so bad, actually. Oh, and today marked the end of a 6th straight week of gains, with the VIX "fear gauge" at its lowest level since 2007. So much for the "uncertainty" these lying sacks are constantly using as an excuse for why corporate America won't hire more.

Oh, I got it. Obama is a big spender and we'll spend decades paying back what we've had to borrow, which will be shown by rising interest rates. I mean, the 10-year yield has got to be spiking, given how we have to print even more money.

10-year yield U.S. Treasury Bond
Aug. 18, 2009- 3.53%
Aug. 18, 2012- 1.82% (DOWN 1.71%)

Oh. But at least there's the "spending like a drunken sailor" part, right?

The chart's courtesy of CBS Marketwatch's Rex Nutting, who adds

What people forget (or never knew) is that the first year of every presidential term starts with a budget approved by the previous administration and Congress. The president only begins to shape the budget in his second year. It takes time to develop a budget and steer it through Congress — especially in these days of congressional gridlock.

The 2009 fiscal year, which Republicans count as part of Obama’s legacy, began four months before Obama moved into the White House. The major spending decisions in the 2009 fiscal year were made by George W. Bush and the previous Congress.

And you know who signed off on TARP and most other Bush big-spending initiatives like Medicare Part D and the war in Iraq? Paul Ryan.

So when Paulie and his Koch puppet-masters claim that we are somehow worse off than we were 3 years ago, there's practically no evidence to support that as true. Ryan knows he has nothing if he's pressed on it, but like the con man he is, he's trying to pull one over on a public who doesn't have the day-to-day experience in following the economy. The cynicism of such a move is disgusting, and shows how little Republicans and the Kochs think of the average citizen. It also shows how empty trickle-down economics is at its core, because its proponents wouldn't have to lie about Obama's record (and their failed record) if it actually worked.

It's not been all candy and rainbows, but we are undoubtably better off at the end of Barack Obama's first term than we were at the start of it, and we are better positioned to continue in a good direction by staying oon our current path. So why the hell would any sensible person change gears now, especially when the change you'd make would GO BACK TO FAILURES OF THE PAST?

So don't, and don't fall for the Romney/Ryan con game.

4 graphs on why we can't go Back to a GOP future

As I've mentioned in the last day since lifetime grifter Paul Ryan was given the VP slot, expect the GOP to complain about the U.S. debt and try to claim that their policies will be the ones to restore a booming U.S. economy. There's one big problem with that claim- there's nothing in the last 30 years of reduced taxes on the rich and the corporate that bear this out.

On online article put all of these stats together about 2 weeks ago. You can go to Daily Kos to check it out if you want, as it's a combination of numerous studies and statstics from government agencies thrown together in one place.

First off, take a look at the $14 trillion national debt, and you'll see it has a whole lot less to do with Obama than it does Reagan/Bush (as usual, click on the graphs to make them bigger).

Add it up and you have:
$9.5 trillion GOP presidents since '80
$3.8 trillion Dem presidents since '80
$1.0 trillion before Reagan.

And notice that the smallest additions since 1980 was during the Clinton years, which were the only years in the group that had 39% top tax rates on the rich. Don't think that's not a coincidence.

The next chart will show the linkage between the lowering of taxes on the rich and corporate and more money moving upward to the rich and away from everyone else. Check out how the share of income going to the bottom 90% of earners was steady at around 65-70% for 40 years once World War II broke out, and going all the way to Reagan's election in 1980. And then watch how it drops.

That's right, by the time the Bush era ended, the top 10% were making about as much in income as the lower 90%. The only other time that happened? 1929, and I think we all know what happened then.

When you have an economy based 70% on consumption, and once you understand that rich people don't consume extra money as much as they hoard profits and send funds into legalized gambling like stocks and real estate speculation, you can see how hard it can be for an economy to have widely-felt growth. And how lowering taxes further on the rich (which Romney-Ryan want to do) will make it more likely for this destructive trend to accelerate, and another inequality-based crash to come.

Lastly, Romney's plan makes our deficit much worse than Obama's plans. Look at this chart, and see how Romney fails, partially due to weak revenues, and partially due to exploding spending on the military. Even the extra, economy-slowing budget cuts of the Ryan plan doesn't do as well as the policies under Obama, because Obama and Dems know that revenues matter when you discuss deficits.

And the last chart is a reprise from last week, as it shows that Obama has created more jobs and presided over more economic growth than Bush's first term.

If the trends of the last 2 years continue, Obama will be president in a time when nearly 5 million private sector jobs will have been added between the start of 2010 and the 2012 elections. It may not be the 20 million jobs created in Clinton's 8 years, but it's a whole lot more than I think a lot of us thought we'd be at this time in 2009, as we found out just how badly this country had been screwed over by the Dubya years (with Paul Ryan approving of every one of Dubya's budgets when the GOP ran Congress from 2001-2007).

Now that you see all of these charts, I got a simple question. Why in the world would we ever go back to the losing strategies of GOP presidents in the '80s, '90s and '00s for the '10s? But that's what the Republicans are running on. Good luck with that in the fact-based world, guys.

Paul Ryan and today's GOP- Pushing Koch beats solving problems

Still in bemusement over the pick of Paul Ryan as Republican Vice-President. But it goes along with what gets you ahead in the 21st Century Republican Party- look convincing while giving empty talking points and kissing the right backsides.

Look at Ryan's "career", as outlined by the Journal-Sentinel in one of their numerous fawning pieces over the guy-

Key positions: Chairman of the House Budget Committee; member House Ways and Means Committee.

Campaigns: Elected to U.S. House of Representatives seven times since 1998

Prior work: Aide to U.S. Sen. Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, 1992; staff assistant, Empower America, 1993-1995; legislative director for U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, 1995-1997; speechwriter for Jack Kemp vice-presidential campaign, 1996; consultant to Ryan Inc., 1998.

Education: Graduate of Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville; BA, economics and political science from Miami University in Ohio, 1992.

Notice what's missing? How about ANY private-sector job experience based in Wisconsin? Paul Ryan's spent every one of his 20 post-college years in D.C-based right-wing jobs, where spin and political gain matter more than results and data. But somehow he's regarded as an expert in economics and budgeting while constantly touting the virtues and efficiencies of the private sector. How the fuck does he know what works in the real world? He's never had to deal with the consequences of failed decisions and policies like real people in the working world do, and he's certainly never adjusted his thinking to reflect the disastrous effects of the Reagan/Bush years on the middle class and our industrial economy.

But see, that doesn't matter in today's GOP, it's all about how you look, how you stick to the team's line, and how many rubes you can trick into thinking you have the answers. Purty Mouth Paulie looks good on TV and can spread his BS with that Dubya-esque smirk while not hesitating to let a fact or counter argument get in the way. So in that insular world, it really doesn't make a difference that economists such as UW's Menzie Chinn show that Ryan's budget only balances if you assume that the federal government drops spending on everything else that's not Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security by 2/3rds. This would mean major cuts to roads, defense, food stamps, college assistance and research, aid to states, and pretty much anything else.

And if you follow Ryan's budget figures, it assumes our economy will strongly grow despite all of this assistance being cut and passed off to states and localities (making them raise taxes). This is because apparently things will be different from the last 30 years, where tax cuts haven't trickled down to the public, and the Reagan/Bush policies never grew the economy as strong and as evenly along wage classes as it did in the 1990s when tax rates on the rich were at their highest. This also assumes the U.S. is different than all the European countries who are in recession right now due to austerity measures, and ignores the reality of the last 18 months in America, where GOP-led government funding cuts have reduced GDP growth by more than 1%.

But people Paul Ryan don't care about the economy's effects on us (you know, the people whose taxes pay their salaries), he works as the front man for the corporate campaign contributors who only want extra profits and power, without regard of what happens to the rest of the country. For proof, check out who starts showing up as one of the biggest D.C. Congressional backers of Koch policy around 1:45 of this video (from the excellent movie "Koch Brothers Exposed".)



Remember Ryan's time at "Empower America" after Russ Feingold beat Bob Kasten in 1992? Empower America is now Freedom Works, headed up by Dick Armey with major Koch money, and a notorious Astroturf Tea Party group. In fact, Freedom Works is so Astroturf and D.C-led that local Tea Party groups in Oshkosh, Sheboygan, and Racine all distanced themselves from Freedom Works' "Tea Party Express" support of Mark Neumann in Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary.

Dick Armey's Tea Party Express being representative of Tea-bagging Wisconsinites is sort of like how Paul Ryan represents himself as some independent Midwest guy from Janesville when he's really an oligarchy PR man whose worked his entire adult life in Washington, isn't it?

Then again, the REAL GOP theme song in 2012 isn't some sappy country flag-waving anthem. No, it is this tune, which Trent Reznor wrote during the Bush era.



But when you're today's GOP, and you have the Faux News and D.C. propaganda echo chamber to give your garbage an uncritical airing, you can trick enough stupid, fearful and cynical people into following along. Unless we make lifetime grifters like Paul Ryan and the D.C. cocktail party-media that enables him have to confront the failed results of their beliefs and policies.

This is our job for the next 3 months, and the next several years as we continue to dig out from the messes caused by partnerships such as Koch/Ryan. And I have full confidence that we will succeed.

Paul Ryan? BWAHAHA!!!

If ever you needed proof of how far the GOP has descended into D.C. think tank bubble world- look no further than Romney's pick of Paul Ryan for VP. A lot of us in Wisconsin know what a clown this guy really is, and it'll be a lot of fun to see this guy's alleged credibility destroyed.

Don't believe me? Check out what President Obama said about Ryan's GOP budget plan, in a speech delivered the same day that and Romney were skirting Wisconsin election laws by handing out free subs at a Waukesha Subway.



I couldn't find the video from a couple of years ago where Ryan gave some hot-air "statement in a question" to Obama, and then Obama immediately destroyed it by showing that Ryan's plan to voucherize Medicare WOULD DO NOTHING to stop the rising cost of health care, and is merely an accounting exercise that would leave tens of millions of Americans with higher out-of-pocket costs, and would constrain both their own economy, and the U.S. economy at large. This is common sense, but Ryan's made a good living with his Koch-fronted grift, and so there's never been any incentive for him to stop trying to sell this fallacy.

This is true even in the rare case when he's softly challenged, like George Stephanopholous did a month ago after Obamacare was upheld. Watch how Paulie starts rambling around 1:30 in this link, and is unable to give any specifics on where the hole in his Medicare budget goes.

Couple of reactions to that video: 1. Leaving people at the metcy of insurance companies doesn't lead to rationing or a lowering of care quality, does it, Paulie? The difference being that government has to care about its constituents (that "we the people" thing) while insurance companies only care about making blood money off of us.
2. Lyin' Ryan is basically saying that cutting Medicare will leave for more in the future, but can't tell that truth, so he uses these Orwellian euphenisms to try to confuse the rubes who aren't smart enough to see through his bullshit.

Also, will our media remind Americans of Ryan's "budget", which was filled with asterisks and assumptions about the final product, with absolutely no idea how to get there? Paul Krugman has been taking this charlatan apart for the last few years, and here is a great example from last year of Krugman exposing Purty Mouth Paulie as fraudulent.

And even after the cracks in the House budget proposal became apparent, much of the commentariat clung to the view that whatever you might think of Ryan’s priorities, he really is serious and sincere.

But he isn’t.

Jon Cohn points out that the real question about the Ryan plan isn’t whether it reduces the deficit in the right way; it’s whether it reduces the deficit at all. And Cohn doesn’t even take on the giant magic asterisk on the tax part of the plan: Ryan claims that he will keep revenue at 19 percent of GDP despite large tax cuts, by closing loopholes — but has said nothing at all about which loopholes would be closed. The truth is that this is almost surely a deficit-increasing plan, not a deficit-reducing plan.

I mean, I could claim that I'm going to be a millionaire within 2 years by publishing the notes from this blog, because that's what American dreams are made of, but just saying so doesn't make it happen. And that's what flim-flammers like Paul Ryan are selling- a whole lot of fizz but absolutely nothing of substance other than false hope and failed trickle-down garbage.

It's why you gotta think in the West Wing today, this is the general reaction to R-money choosing Ryan.

And it sure isn't going to help the GOP carry Wisconsin this fall. I'll still take Obama -9.5 as the line on that one.

Time for a break...of Pondamonium!

I could give you my thoughts on the polls that came out today in Wisconsin (none of which is surprising, other than Tommy's alleged lead in the Milwaukee-centric Marquette poll), or how I think the Republicans are stalling on #Walkergate to try to make people forget about this governor's clear corruption. But I'm just not feeling it. Not this week.

Especially when I finally get to see these guys tomorrow. And not only is this my favorite song from them, it may well be fitting at the ol' Duck Pond tomorrow.



Yeah, we're all a lot older than we were in 1995, but that doesn't mean this still won't be awesome. It'll also be awesome if I see something like this as well- and given that the Lips shoved their performance back to the evening, I don't doubt that I might.



And then it's onto 1 day of work, and then a Great Taste weekend. Weather even looks like it could cooperate. I'll take it.

My thoughts on Oak Creek (Pt. 2)- the role of hate media and enabling politicians

But what leads someone to go after a Sikh? This is my last point, and where the real conversation has to take place. 9/11 happened over a decade ago, and Sikhs aren't even Muslim, but apparently this doesn't matter to the type of trailer trash that would attack these innocent people. Why do they decide to go after them? Probably because they're fed a steady diet of hate radio and hate TV that continues to portray brown-skinned people as a dangerous enemy. And politicians feed off of that hate to get support and their faces on TV.

Remember last month when Michelle (Batshit) Bachmann and 3 other GOP reps asked to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood and smeared State Department official Huma Abedin? And Mitt Romney refused to condemn Bachmann's statements last Friday, saying "I'm not going to tell other people what things to talk about." Why not Mittens? Do ya need the bigot vote that badly? Yes he does, and so do a lot of politicians, so they let the dog whistles continues, and I got a bad feeling they came in loud and clear to the guy who did the shooting in Oak Creek today.

A lot of Wisconsin radio stations make a lot of cash off of race-baiting and other types of hate. May I remind you of Mark Belling complaining about "wetbacks" voting or that a Congressional debate couldn't be held in (mostly black) north side Milwaukee because they'd be "intimidated" thinking they might be "shot in the head." How about Charles Sykes' false claims of inner-city voter fraud, or Vicki McKenna calling Madison fire fighters "filthy, rotten scoundrels." AM stations across Wisconsin feature 9 hours of this type of hate every day, where several different groups of "others" are denigrated with the intent of agitating the listeners and making them take action against these groups.

A frequent guest on all of these shows is Scott Walker, who used that radio-amplified resentment of public employees and "welfare-sucking minorities" to his advantgae in the recall election, along with playing on the fear of the NRA gun nuts. Today, he gave the following statement on the Oak Creek temple shooting.

"While the situation in Oak Creek continues to develop rapidly, we are working with the FBI and local law enforcement. I became aware of the situation late this morning and continue to receive updated briefings.

"Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, as we all struggle to comprehend the evil that begets this terrible violence.

"At the same time, we are filled with gratitude for our first responders, who show bravery and selflessness as they put aside their own safety to protect our neighbors and friends.

"Tonette and I ask everyone to join us in praying for the victims and their families, praying for the safety of our law enforcement and first responder professionals and praying for strength and healing for this entire community and our state."

It's a nice statement overall, fitting of a chief executive. However, I can't ignore the irony of Walker giving "gratitude" to first responders when he has made it tougher to fund these positions due to cuts in shared revenue and collective bargaining. I also note that Scotty "struggles to comprehend the evil that begets this terrible violence." REALLY? Walker and his WisGOP colleagues clearly gave a wink and a nod to Char-LIE and Icki and Belling and the rest of the hate brigade to denigrate anyone that dared to confront this administration lies and failed policies. He also says nothing to go against these programs' party lines of race-baiting and scapegoating, and instead is more than glad to give them interviews whenever he feels he needs to get his message out. You want me to believe that you'll do something to confront the evil that begets this violence, Governor? How about telling Icki and Char-LIE and Wagner and Belling and Bader to tone down the hate and the dog whistles, and don't go on their shows until they show that they have done so. Does anyone think Walker has the true strength to actually stand up to the people who give him the time to spread the propaganda he needs in order to have his failing administration stay afloat? Of course not.

This inability to stand up to the hate extends to the owners of the radio stations these cynical d-bag hosts are on. I called out the corporate acceptance of this degrading programming last March, and we need hammer these guys even more today.

Instead of working for more responsible programming and improving the discourse on the publically-owned airwaves, these corporates are laughing all the way to the bank at the rubes who drive up ratings because of their need for a scapegoat. And they never make their hosts pay a price for the destructive environment they cause with their seditious broadcasts.

THAT HAS TO END RIGHT NOW. We need to demand that Clear Channel, JournalComm, Midwest Communications, and other acceptors of hate to face the consequences if they do not shape up their product, and confront and expose any politician who chooses to scapegoat and race-bait their way into a November election.

As they said in Roadhouse, "Be nice, till it's time not to be nice." Well being nice hasn't stopped the destructive road this state and this country is on, so I think it's time not to be nice, and not to be tolerant of those who are hateful and intolerant. There aren't "both sides of the story" when it comes to this type of fear and negativity - and the media is every bit as complicit as the people performing the hateful acts. Make these degraders pay in the pocketbook, in the voting booth, and in the court of public opinion.

My thoughts on Oak Creek (Pt. 1)- the Good and the Guns"

When I heard the news about the POS who shot up the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek and killed at least 6 people today before he was taken out by the cops, my thoughts weren't sad. They were angry.

Now fortunately I've had a few hours to cool off, through drinks at the Union with my Dad, Grandmother and fiancee, and by heading over to Capitol with about 50-75 others to give our thoughts and show our support (a small gesture, to be sure, but it's a start). But now that I'm back home, it's time to look at this incident, and yes, I am going to GO THERE. Some may say it is too soon to look at action and point the finger at causes, but we do this all the time, and we never seem to keep the next horrific mass shooting and hate crime from happening. So we have to talk about it now.

The first point I'll make is a positive one. Great work by the Oak Creek police and first responders on the scene. It seems that they avoided further atrocities and a possible hostage standoff that would have made this awful situation so much worse. Maybe we should give a little more respect to public employees like these guys who lay it on the line in thankless situations like this all the time. Whatcha say, Guv? Are these guys "lazy thugs" there, Scotty, doing the job that they did on a Sunday morning?

I also appreciate the immediate classification of this as "domestic terrorism, because it is. BS'ing about it and claiming it's a random 6-person killing does not get to the heart of what this bastard has done, and why it was done, and truthfully calling it "terrorism," even when it's a middle-aged white guy doing it, allows us a better chance to get to root of the problem, and make it more likely it doesn't happen again.

Now, the bad stuff. This continues the awful pattern of America's easy availability of guns leading to disasters. We always have this talk come up whenever a Gabby Giffords incident happens or the guy in Colorado shoots up a theatre, but it never gets further than that, especially when the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby starts threatening politicians with a lack of support or major opposition if they dare to restrict who can get a gun. Well, NO MORE. We need to find out how this wack-a-doodle got his gun, and any other stuff that was stashed in his old place in Cudahy (as of now, the neighborhood is being evacuated).

I am tired of people saying that the 2nd Amendment means that anyone and their dog should be allowed to have a gun. With that right to bear arms comes great responsibility, and it's pretty evident that some people can't handle that responsibility. If someone has a history of mental illness or violence or instability, maybe they should be able to have a weapon of potential mass destruction? Is that a really hard compromise to make, gun-nuts? Look, if you want a gun in your house or other places, and you haven't broken laws and pass a basic competency test, then you can have all the freaking guns you want.

But God forbid that someone ask for one day of training before getting the right to carry. Attorney General J.B Van Hollen wanted to put a rule in requiring 4 hours of training as part of the state's Walker/WisGOP-approved concealed carry law. But then the gun lobby spoke up, and Wisconsin legislators caved to the NRA and company, throwing out the 4-hour requirement last November. Oh, and do you think I've forgotten pro-Walker commercials the NRA ran during the recall election? You know, like this one?



The necks better pray this guy didn't get his weapons mail-order or over-the-counter last week.

Another thing I am tired of is people claiming targeted mass shootings are isolated incidents. Just three days prior to the Oak Creek shooting, a man in Mlwaukee walked into his work supervisor's office, shot his boss, and then killed himself. You had the Aurora theatre shooting just last month, the Giffords shooting in January 2011, and others in the last 5 years including the Virginia Tech killings, a guy killing 13 in a Hmong community Center, and Major Hassan at Ford Hood. Note how a lot of these follow a pattern of "one guy, crowded room?" Let's stop thinking these things only "just happen" and blow them off, and let's start dealing with the violent society we have built. One where someone feels a gun is their only way to solve their problems, and get even with the world.

It also isn't the first time someone went after a Sikh. The head of the Sikh-American Defense and Education Fund noted several anti-Sikh crimes in America in the last 18 months, including 2 being murdered in California, death threats to a Virginia family, aggravated assaults, and vandalism to a temple. 92 members of U.S. Congress sent a note to the Department of Justice this April asking to collect information into crimes against American Sikhs, and it is noteworthy that the FBI is taking an active role in the investigation in the Oak Creek killings.

So that's the first round of thoughts I have- your #wiunion thug law enforcement are the heroes of this story, and something we should be proud of as Wisconsinites on this dark day. But the availability of guns must be discussed (and this has been a failure of both Obama and the Republicans), and this country needs to have an honest conversation that goes into our violent culture, and how we can truly make this a more perfect union. Because it sure doesn't feel like it right now, with a loud minority controlling an issue that seems to be out of step with those of us in the common sense and decency world.