No, Ann Romney doesn't know what it's like to work

Ok, so I was actually rolling my eyes when the 'cons latched onto Hillary Rosen's comment...out of context as usual for the 'cons, about Ann Romney never working a day in her life. Yes, I know that Ms. Rosen was speaking about what Mitt said, that he gets Ann to interpret what women are saying for him because he, umm...doesn't speak wimmentalk, but I'll let that slide for right now.
No, the right has had a field day and played the very old SAHM vs. working mom(cuz we don't deserve capitals in our stereotype) and how SAHM's are undervalued by the "liberals"...and, by the way, the republicons since they've always fought against putting a $ amount to what a housewife does, but cons are great at mouth service, just not actual praise/assistance.
So, from a real working mom(as is Hillary Rosen), the truth is that Ann Romney was born into privilege, married into privilege and the worst problem she's had, in regard to SAHM, is which home are they staying at this month? Don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I know anyone that owns 5 residences.
And that was the reason for Hillary Rosen's comment. Not trying to slam Ann Romney as a SAHM, but because she has absolutely no idea how the other 98% of us survive. Ann Romney has never had to decide between buying gas or dinner, paying the electric bill now, because we can live without a phone if that gets turned off. Telling her kids that its more special for mom to make them their birthday cake instead of getting a store bought one when the truth is mom can't afford the store bought cake. Those are the economics of a home that doesn't make $20 M annually...or even $20K sometimes.
And this comment of Mitt's(about Ann telling him what women want) was to hide the other very real fact of the republicon's war on contraception and women's rights. Let's rehash for a minute:
Regarding Mitt and not only his flip-floppiness, but his outright lies. Although Mitt came to the defense of his wife's "choice" and SAHM's all over the country, that isn't what he said in January. Now, its true, he was talking about icky nasty poor mothers, but considering more and more of us "middle class" moms became welfare recipients during the Bush recession, how does that play for truth? So, what Mitt actually means is that if you are filthy rich, you can make that choice, but otherwise, "Get to work, you lazy trollop!"? Hmmm....the "dignity of work" for poor mothers does not include taking care of their children. He also said, in his senate race against Ted Kennedy that we no longer have the luxury to have the choice of SAHM in many occasions because its a "new world". And then the Mitt Romney staff gaf on the press conference call about the Lily Ledbetter law and if the Mittster agreed with it....dead silence....and then the caribou barbie answer, "Will have to get back to ya on that." Really???
First, the republicons refuse to allow women to speak about contraception in the congress, then one of the republicon rabid dog, Rush, attacks a private citizen in a 9 hour attack, calling her a "whore", "slut", "prostitute", among other things...and what do the 'cons do? Well, Mitt said he wouldn't have chosen those words, but the right did not tell the rabid mutt to calm down, or that they thought it was wrong, nope....not a peep.
Then we have all of these bills, both in the states and in the federal congress. There have been over 100 bills just trying to limit abortion since the teabaggers "took over" the 'cons...and nary a one on jobs. There was the Blunt amendment to allow all businesses and health care providers to "opt out" of covering birth control, We have the states voting on laws to ensure to humiliate women if they want an abortion, to allow doctors to lie to their patients about procedures if the woman might want an abortion, or the emotional rape of having a metal rod stuck up her vagina for the "transvaginal probe sonogram" that is mandatory now is some states. And we have an overabundance of bills that want to limit birth control--not just to single women, but married ones also...and here I thought republican men liked sex...they've had more than their share of sex scandals...the right has been all over limiting the rights of women to reproductive rights, health care, job safety, pay equity, job equity. Hillary Rosen's comment was about economic inequality and the right's consistent war on women. 

The Friday alert from the National Alliance of Retired Americans: 

Wall Street Journal Gives Lay of the Land on Senior Vote in 2012

  The battle for seniors in 2012 is being fought in large part over Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) House Republican budget, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. The article states that Democrats can regain support from older voters who switched to the GOP in 2008 and 2010 by shedding light on the Republicans’ plans to revamp Medicare (http://on.wsj.com/HM4ulJ).
  “That ‘revamping’ would be drastic, because it would give seniors a small voucher, or coupon, to purchase coverage in an expensive, unfair private insurance market,” said Edward F. Coyle Executive Director of the Alliance.
   According to the Journal, Mitt Romney, the most likely candidate to be the Republican nominee for President, is proving to be a formidable competitor in this battle. Romney has drawn large shares of older voters during the primaries, and recent polls show him ahead of President Obama among seniors in swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Over the last decade, voters over age 65 have increasingly turned to the GOP - a stark contrast to the Democratic-leaning “Greatest Generation” that preceded them. In 2008, Mr. Obama improved on his party's 2004 showing among every age group, except seniors. An analysis by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People and the Press concluded that those over-65 are now “more conservative on social issues, angrier about the direction of the country and more uneasy about the growth of diversity in the U.S. than younger generations.”
   “We need to draw attention to the GOP plan to end Medicare as we know it. Conservatives broadly support doing that, but moderates and independents are wary of it,” said Mr. Coyle.

Wisconsin Alliance Welcomes Secretary Sebelius to Milwaukee Senior Center

    About 250 seniors turned out in Milwaukee on Wednesday for a discussion with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius. The Secretary was at the Washington Park Senior Center to draw attention to the provisions in health care reform that benefit the 49 million people - including 650,000 in Wisconsin - who are covered by Medicare. Wisconsin Alliance President Leon Burzynski facilitated a panel discussion on the Affordable Care Act at the event. According to HHS, 59,345 people in Wisconsin received a 50% discount on prescription drugs when they hit the doughnut hole last year, with savings averaging $639 a person, and a total savings of $37.9 million statewide.

White House Derides Health Care Study

    White House officials expressed disdain for a new study released by policy analyst Charles Blahous, who was a special assistant for economic policy in the George W. Bush administration. Blahous claims that the 2010 health care law will add $340 billion to the deficit. Jeanette Lambrew, President Obama’s deputy assistant for health policy, asserts that the claim fits old patterns of mischaracterizations about the Affordable Care Act and that official estimates show the health care law will ultimately reduce the deficit (http://bit.ly/HDkhpt).
   On Tuesday, presidential press secretary Jay Carney referred to Blahous’ report as “obviously a partisan analysis.” Carney pointed to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget indicating that the Affordable Care Act would reduce the deficit over the first 10 years and dramatically over the next 10 years.

Rep. Allen West Says That Dozens of his Democratic Colleagues are Communists   

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) warned constituents at a Tuesday town hall event that he's “heard” that 80 of his Democratic colleagues in the House are members of the Communist Party, the Palm Beach Post reported. There are currently 190 House Democrats.
“As a Representative from a state with such a large senior population, Rep. West should instead be focusing on strengthening Medicare and Social Security,” said Ruben Burks, Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “He has a zero lifetime voting record with the Alliance, and these ideological side shows are distracting him from what his constituents really need.”
A tea party favorite, Rep. West made news in 2011 by saying, “…I was the only black member of a white supremacist motorcycle gang.” (http://bit.ly/sU3KJg).

 Alliance Members Work to Save America’s Postal Service

    Alliance members turned out on Thursday to support the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which had put together events across the country in order to save America's Postal Service. NALC held the demonstrations outside of Senate offices in order to put pressure on each senator to oppose S. 1789, a Senate bill scheduled to be voted on as soon as next week. If S. 1789 were to become law, it would hurt retirees and the Postal Service by putting an end to six-day mail delivery in two years, while phasing out door-to-door mail delivery. Many retirees receive their needed prescriptions by mail, and these proposed changes would threaten their well-being. Alliance members also called their senators about the legislation on Thursday.

Facts are just evil Liberal icky things!

There are many times in these days of tea party (anti) reality or misinformation(in my world, that's called lies) that I just have to take a deep breath and shake my head...and this misinformation(or lies) has infected our nation. We all saw the teabaggers with their signs saying, "Keep your government off of my Medicare/Social Security!" and the more informed of us thought, "How stupid can a person be to not know that both of those programs are government programs", but this is where we've gotten ourselves to and its time to educate each other with facts, not talking points. 
Social security is broke, medicare is broke, rich people need larger tax cuts so they can make more jobs(12 years of tax cuts have lost jobs, not created them). We hear the fear mongering daily, but what is the truth? Facts seem to be, for the right, evil liberal icky things...Glad you asked:
I think a good place to start with facts would be Social Security:

Social Security Myth Buster from the Alliance for Retired Americans

Social security is driving up the federal deficit

Social security doesn't add to the federal budget, it is fully funded by us, American workers. It is funded directly by payroll contributions from workers and employers, not tax funds.

Social Security trust fund is just a bunch of worthless IOU's!

The US Treasury bonds owned by the trust fund are the same as any other Treasury obligation, they are just as real as the ones that George Bush, among other rich right wing individuals, corporations and other governments own. In fact, Treasury bonds are listed as assets in financial profiles by rich people, corporations and governments--why does the right call them worthless IOU's when the little people own them? OH....a lie....

Social Security is going broke!

There is $2.7 trillion in the trust fund and is projected to grow to $3.7 by 2022. It is not going broke, its NOT in the red. It is paying out more in benefits than it is collecting in contributions, but the interest Social Security makes off of the Treasury bonds(you know, those worthless IOU's) makes up the difference. Similar shortfalls have occurred over 15 times since the 60's and congress has made changes to the program over time, but it has not cut back on benefits, rather congress has always opted to change the salary cap. What's the salary cap? I you make less than $106,000 per year, you pay FICA tax on every dollar. If you make $1 million? You still only pay FICA tax on the first $106,000--that's the salary cap. The cap has been changed to reflect salary changes through out Social Security history. The republican led congress doesn't want to change the salary cap, it wants to cut benefits---another lie.

Everybody needs to sacrifice. Cut senior's COLA's!

The cost of living adjustments(COLA) helps keep retirees with inflation. The average retirement benefit is around $1100, that's not exhorbinant, specially considering how gas and food have sky-rocketed this last year. BUT there are proposals to cut the COLA by moving it to a chained CPI(formula used to calculate the COLA). According to Social Security Actuaries, this would mean an immediate benefit cut and this cut would compound over time. This CPI ignores the true needs of America's retirees and tries to balance the budget on our seniors!

People are living longer, so it makes sense to raise the retirement age

Yes, life expectancy seems to have gotten better, but the facts(there's that evil liberal icky thing again) show that the reason life expectancy has lengthened, its because infant, child mortality has improved as well as a significant decrease in women dying in childbirth(that's cuz of those evil liberal things like pre-natal/neo-natal care and programs such as WIC)...its not that we are living longer, its because babies aren't dying. Another FACT is that average retirees are living abut the same amount of time as they were in the 1930's; the retirement age has been moved to 67. Raising it higher would just push retirement completely out of reach for many Americans.

What about means testing? We could cut benefits for Millionaires

The majority of Social security beneficiaries are not millionaires, only about 2% of benefits go to individuals with earnings over $100,000. To actually get any savings from means testing, it would need to hit people with incomes around $40,000---the middle class.  Again, if you want to make it more equitable, scrap the cap(salary cap). 

Illegal Immigrants are ripping off Social Security!

Illegal immigrants are ineligible to receive benefits(since 1996). In fact(evil liberal icky thing) undocumented workers contribute about $7 billion annually in FICA taxes which they are not allowed to claim.

Social Security is a burden to our youth

The burdens that youth have are no jobs, stagnant wages, student loan debt and a shift from traditional pensions to 401(k) plans. If anything, our youth will rely much more on social security than we do! We need to talk to them about the benefits of Social Security for old and young alike(survivor benefits, SSI) instead of pushing for cuts to Social security.


So, there's a list of facts, not fear mongering sound bytes. We need to educate ourselves and our families and friends to truth, so we are armed for the next onslaught of attacks on benefits we have earned and should be proud to have earned, not shamed into allowing them to disappear...so the uber rich can pay less taxes.

President gets to sign a bill!!!! STOCK act

Today, President Obama signed into law the Stock Act. This act means that congress and their staff must now obey the same rules on insider trading as the rest of us do! Well, close to it, anyway.
Now, why is this a big deal? Because there was bi-partisan support for the bill! It got through the do nothing house and there wasn't a filibuster in the senate. It's like the republicans decided to govern instead of act like toddlers that need a nap after too much sugar(and are just yelling, "NONONONONO!")
The STOCK(Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act stops members of Congress, their families,  their staff and executive branch employees from using inside information they garner from their positions to trade stocks and securities and limits them from buying stock in initial public offerings to those that are also open to the general public.
But WAIT, there's more!
The STOCK Act updates the 1978 Ethics in Government Act and improves the transparency of personal financial disclosure statements. Some of the improvements include:

• By September, Congress is required to make personal financial disclosure reports filed by executive branch hi-level employees,  lawmakers, candidates and congressional employees on the web. 
• Starting in July, transactions previously reported annually must be reported within 45 days. Prior to this law, a stock purchase/sale might not be made public for up to 18 months, depending on when it was bought/sold.
• By the end of 9/13, information contained in personal financial disclosures will be made available as a downloadable database.

For more information, please check the fact sheet. It doesn't fix everything, but its a good start.
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Now, when are we gonna get that bill out of committee on the DISCLOSE Act and Citizen's United pimping?

Deadbeat Dad attacks Tammy Duckworth's Military Service

In an interview with Politico, deadbeat dad Joe Walsh attacked Tammy Duckworth this week by saying,  “She is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat. David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel just picked her up and dropped her into this district. What else has she(Ms. Duckworth) done? Female, wounded veteran...ehhh."
REALLY?!??!!? First of all, yep SHE's a VETERAN...one that lost her legs protecting your sorry ass Joe Walsh! She is a Purple Heart recipient, served as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in Iraq in 2004 and lost both legs and part of the use of her right arm...where were YOU, Mr. Walsh during the war???? Oh...yeah...hiding your money so you wouldn't have to pay child support.
What else has she done? She's been the head of the Veteran's administration in both Illinois and in the U.S., ran for congress and didn't even hide from paying bills, unlike you.
And why the "female" part of your answer??? Are you again dismissing women in general??? The quote wasn't "female wounded veteran", it was "female,(pause), wounded veteran" like she was wounded by breaking a nail or something.
And then his racist statements about Congressman Bobby Rush, "I hope  Congressman Rush will be as outraged with all of the black on black crime going on in the city of Chicago weekend after weekend." Well, obviously Mr. Walsh doesn't understand, but I'm sure Congressman Rush understands about black on black crime...and how black men(and women) are sentenced at a much higher rate than whites, how African Americans, while being less than 15% of the population are almost 50% of the prison population. While white "cocaine dealers" get treatment, black crack users get prison time....10 years prison time. I think Rep. Rush understands all too well. Its just sad that the male that has ran from his own responsibilities(like paying child support) wants to play holier than thou with others who have served their country...and lost part of their body and Joe Walsh just dismisses the losses that veterans have suffered. 

Illinois is NOT broke, but our Tax System is!

HUH??? But all the media says Illinois is one of the worst business states in the universe!!!! If ET had landed in Illinois, he'd still be stuck! Sure...don't ya just love the crap the right/rich/corporate/take you pick like to try to shove down our throats? Too often it works because sound bytes and snappy little phrases work much better for people who don't feel like they have the time or the knowledge to understand these things. Oh, and you know its MY fault Illinois isn't paying its bills...so, what are some facts? 

First: Illinois has the least amount of state employees per capita than any other state, yes, that means that even Mississippi cares more for their residents than we can. You can't lay off more employees, because many places are down to bare bones minimum to begin with. 

Second: Why make cuts???? Our tax system is antiquated and needs to be updated. We also need to get rid of a couple tax laws that either aren't needed any longer or are not needed in a time when we, the middle class, state employees and/or retirees, are expected to pay more while the corporations are paying less.

So, some facts about the tax system. In my last post, I spoke about the difference between our flat tax and a graduated income tax, like all of our neighbors have('cept Indiana):

• Iowa: 9 rates that start at 0.36% to 9% (rate is higher than Illinois at $12K-6.12%)
• Kentucky: 6 rates that range from 2.0% to 6% (rate higher than Illinois at $5000)
• Missouri: 10 rates from 1.5% to 6% ( rate is higher than Illinois at $9,000)
• Wisconsin: 5 rates starting at 4.6% to 7.75% (rate is higher than Illinois at $13,580 - 6.15%)
• Indiana: 3.4%--ok, they're lower, but...its Indiana(spoken like a true FIB).

OMG!!! LOOK--all of the states have rates that actually are higher than ours at the top end! How could that be??? You mean all those fine business/media types have been lying to us?!?!?!?? Sure seems that way.

Not only that, but all, including Indiana tax services as well as goods. In other words, they have broadened the sales tax base.  So, what services? Dining, marina fees, landscaping, dry cleaning are some that were in a bill a couple of years ago(that also included seniors being able to get a property tax rebate on income taxes-now its just a credit). And how do those state sales tax rates compare?

• Illinois:       6.25%          Indiana:   7%
• Kentucky: 6%                Michigan: 6% 
• Iowa:        6%                 Missouri:  4%

Illinois is not out of bounds on sales tax, in fact it looks like we're about the same place as everyone else. 

Another area that we could set up a tax is on financial transactions--sales of stocks, etc., not withdrawing $100 from your savings. Again, this is something that would be small, but effective in 2 ways: first, more revenue, second-more stability in the market and less fluctuation--think gas prices and how they've been manipulated in the last couple of months by speculators...same thing can happen statewide vs. nationwide.

So, now that I've begun to get Illinois out of the trash bin that others have built for her, I've got a couple more ideas...

Large businesses in my state get a much larger piece of the tax cut pie than small and medium sized businesses, specially in the area of the "Single Sales Factor"(I will try to explain this later in another post because its very, very, wonky), suffice to say that this bomb allowed Caterpillar to pay NO sales tax in Illinois, this costs us about $600 million annually! But there are 2 other cuts/credits that businesses receive that just don't seem very fair:  the Retailer's Discount on Sales Taxes and Accelerated Depreciation.

Accelerated depreciation is very easy to understand. Some businesses get to depreciate equipment (computers, cars, JETS) at a faster rate than other businesses--doesn't sound very fair to me.

The Retailers Discount goes sorta like this---I go to a store, buy $100 worth of clothing and pay the 6.25% state sales tax. The retailer then sends the $6.25 to the state at the end of the quarter/year, right? Nope. This  tax cut allows the retailer to keep some of the sales tax. It was established years ago when it was more difficult to figure out the taxes in a small window of time. My idea? To the State legislature...ummm, we have computers now, this problem is alleviated! Get rid of this giveaway NOW! 

Yes, Illinois needs to budget the balance, but there are many ways to balance that would be fair to the state employees, the retirees and to all of the people in Illinois, not just kow-towing to the Chamber of Commerce and the Chicago Civic Federation.

The state of the State of Illinois-it ain't broken

The Chamber of Commerce and the Chicago Civic Federation have been jumping up and down about how Illinois is broke and its all "my" fault, being a retired state employee who receives a pension that I put up to 9% of my salary into....naw, I don't have an issue with their lies....but anyways.....
First, nothing to do with finances directly, but Illinois received a "C" in public integrity, placing 10th in the nation...yep, there are 40 states that are worse than Illinois and that includes all the ones that surround us, imagine that. Yes, we've had our share of corrupt politicians, but ours actually end up in prison or at least indicted and out of public office.
So, back to the financial state of Illinois. I do agree that our tax system is broken, but not because its too much...its broken because its a "flat tax"--everyone alleges to be taxed at the same rate...not really. We have an antiquated tax system--flat tax, no taxes on service(unlike the surrounding states). We have not actually changed the tax structure since the 70's, partially because to change the flat tax, we need an amendment to our constitution, but we do need to do something.
So, how broke is Illinois? Not very. Illinois has the 5th largest economy in the United States...and has been for over a decade! Obviously, some people are doing all right in the Land of Lincoln. Much of this is in northern Illinois--Cook, Will and DuPage counties. So why do we have such a problem with paying our bills? Greed?
I do believe that part of the problem is greed, considering the disproportionate income/wealth inequality that has developed in this country in general, but in Illinois we also have a very unfair tax system, the one that so many right wing folks dream of--the flat tax. The idea is that everybody pays the same, and that's more fair than a progressive income tax.
So, why is a flat tax unfair? It seems to be fair, a guy making $10K pays the same as a guy making $10M, right? Wrong...
The less income you have, the more you pay in taxes, when all taxes are considered. The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability is a bi-partisan non-profit think tank that promotes fair, efficient and progressive tax, spending and economic policies--the definition on their website. This group has been instrumental in research on different ways to end the funding problems in Illinois and make it a better system for all Illinoisans, not just the top percentage.
In February of this year, the CBTA issued a report on why Illinois needs an overhaul of the tax system and why the flat tax is one of the most recessive ways of taxing. The first graph in this report shows the different taxes we all pay, Sales/excise, property and income. People making $18K or under spend 13.7% of their income on taxes...people making $500K and over? Only 5.3%! Now, if you're sitting there with the idea that, "well those poor folks should try harder...they're the burden"...if you make under $50K, you're still paying about 12% of your income on taxes. So how fair is it that we (middle class) should pay more than the wealthiest? I'm not talking about a percentage point or so, its almost 7% difference! This report also points out that the bottom 60%(making up to $58K annually) of working people in Illinois bring home less than they did in 1979! And our taxes really haven't changed much since the 70's.
Part of the reason that Income tax is such a big issue is that its the only one that can be controlled by our present situation. For example, I'm very lucky and I'm making $100K...all of a sudden, the company I'm working for closes up and all I can find is a job as a barista making $20K...with a progressive income tax(and to a point, the regressive income tax), the tax automatically adjusts. That doesn't happen with other types of taxes...I can't go to the gas station and tell them, "I can't pay that much right now cuz I lost my job"...best they may do is say, "Fill out an application, we're hiring", that is if they don't laugh me out of the door....
So, you're still cynical...."What about cutting spending? We all know that the government spends too much!" that might work somewhere else, but Illinois is 47th in the country when it comes to spending and we are 50th when it comes to state employment rolls(not the lowest in number, but as a ratio of state employees per capita). If we go along with some of the budget cuts that are running around, we are not only putting more people on unemployment, we are putting the clients in danger. Illinois does not act like a drunken sailor on Friday night, more like a spinster librarian on Sunday morning!
"What about all of those businesses that would move?" Hasn't happened yet. Remember when WI and IN scab governors put out ads and billboards about the great business climate in their states? In the last year, Illinois has gained 30K jobs, while both IN and WI have lost thousands of jobs....hmmm....but, then again, our tax structure does some other interesting perks than others for business, such as a retailers discount on sales taxes. Huh? This began years ago when it was difficult for retailers to figure out the exact amount to send to the state...we have computers now...I think we can stop this practice. I'll have more tomorrow-this has gotten reallllll long and I'm hoping you haven't fallen asleep.