politicaljuice916

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Social networking nukes the fridge: Sam Biddle gives the project a thumbs down: Unless I need spare dollars to feed the worst heroin addiction mankind has ever known, or am conducting a social experiment to see how many times I...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/andrewsullivan/rApM/~3/K05DmczlJ_c/rent-a-loo.html

Alvin Green John Mccain

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

What the polls say about free trade

Treasury Secretary Geithner negotiates trade deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak 11/11/10 (Jim Young/Reuters)

Both parties are free trade parties. The uniformity about the cost and benefits of free trade are heavily tilted towards the idea that free trade is a "net benefit" to the economy and America generally. Economists of both liberal and conservative bent have praised America's free trade regime, although global trade Nobel laureate Paul Krugman notably says free trade is mostly a wash. Politically, however, the policy of free trade has become increasingly unpopular. Support for free trade policies decline during economic downturns, but that fact makes them no less politically sensitive.

The polls on the matter indicate recent slippage in support for free trade. From an NBC poll conducted last November:

"In general, do you think that free trade between the United States and foreign countries has helped the United States, has hurt the United States, or has not made much of a difference either way?"
Helped - 23%

Hurt - 47%

Not much difference - 23%

Unsure - 7%

A robust plurality believe that free trade has hurt the country, while a paltry 23% agree with the reigning consensus in both parties.

Here is another poll from CNN, conducted around the same time:

"What do you think foreign trade means for America? Do you see foreign trade more as an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports or a threat to the economy from foreign imports?"
Opportunity- 41%

Threat- 50%

Both- 3%

Neither- 3%

Unsure- 3%

Here's an NBC poll conducted last September that illustrated the public's perception of free trade's effect on jobs:

"From what you know, do you think that free trade agreements between the United States and other countries help to create more jobs in the U.S., or do you think they cost the U.S. jobs?"
Create more jobs- 18%

Cost jobs- 69%

Depends- 2%

Unsure- 11%

Both parties appear to be on the wrong side of the public. There is a large block of the population that feels that free trade hurts the country and an even strong majority that feels it costs jobs. With the small number of Americans who are actually supportive of free trade being so small, it is rather interesting mystery as to how both parties have seem to come to a consensus in favor of it.

It is a funny thing too because both parties also frequently talk out of their faces about how much they cannot stand to "see our jobs shipped overseas." For Democrats, the argument is generally framed as a matter of tax policy. They say that we should give tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and I agree. However, there is little evidence that ending those breaks will end the offshoring of jobs. Republicans say place the blame on unions and regulations. They say that union wages and the regulatory regime place too many onerous burdens on business, forcing them to seek refuge offshore. But this argument also seems hollow since unionization in America has declined sharply over the last 10 years. Furthermore, years of lax regulation under the Bush Administration did nothing to stop jobs from moving overseas, and neither policy had any effect on reducing America's substantial trade deficit.

It is extremely difficult to find a single policy that both parties agree support, the American public thinks is bad, and that politicians of both parties decry the effects of. Free trade is, when considered against other policies of the government, bizarre.

Perhaps this is just another issue where the influence of multinational corporate executives hold more sway over our politicians than we do. But if Democrats could begin to speak out in ways that draw a contrast with Republicans on the matter of free trade, it is quite possible Democrats could reap political benefits. It is difficult to find an issue so ripe with opportunity to get on the right side of public opinion.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/70iMQBI3W2k/-What-the-polls-say-about-free-trade

Michelle Obama Sarah Palin

Whither Michele Bachmann?

In today?s newspaper, we dedicated our column to examining why Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has struggled to build momentum off of her victory in last month?s Ames Straw Poll.

We write:

Read full article >>

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=b89b7e9fceb77018c24f14399f8272ad

Hillary Clinton Roosevelts

Regulators Seeking To Block AT&T's T-Mobile USA Purchase

AT&T's deal to buy T-Mobile USA isn't dead, antitrust experts say, despite the Obama administration's surprise move Wednesday to block the acquisition because of anti-competitive concerns. The Department of Justice sued to block AT&T's (T) $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom, saying the acquisition would "remove a significant competitive force" from the U.S. wireless market. In mounting a court challenge, AT&T will

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetTechnologyRss/~3/EhTKY1vocBU/Article.aspx

George W. Bush Rush Limbaugh

Monday, September 5, 2011

Australian PM would face electoral wipeout: survey

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/05/australian-pm-would-face-_n_949579.html

Alvin Green John Mccain

Midday open thread

I hope you are all enjoying this extended Labor Day weekend! Say, you did know that the only reason we have weekends at all is because of the labor movement? Not that I'll be doing any labor this weekend because this thread is about to board a plane to Hawai'i. To the links!

Not good news:
A longtime Democratic campaign treasurer who has worked for dozens of state, federal and local politicians in California has been arrested on suspicion of mail fraud, officials said Saturday.
Kinde Durkee, who heads Durkee & Associates in Burbank, was arrested Friday afternoon by the FBI on a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek. No further details were available.

Durkee isn't just any treasurer. In addition to doing campaign treasury services for Senator Feinstein and other federal officials. Durkee's firm handles the accounts for a boatload of Democratic County Committees and clubs across California. How much disruption this could cause is open to question.
Everyone should remember that Rick Perry has worked very hard to ensure that Texas executes innocent people.
Kevin Drum writing at Mother Jones makes an excellent point:
Here's what gets me. Perry's views are getting denounced by all the usual lefty suspects but not much by anyone else. And the reason for this is something very odd: In modern America, conservatives are largely given a pass for saying crazy things. They're just not taken seriously, in a boys-will-be-boys kind of way. It's almost like everyone accepts this kind of stuff as a kind of religious liturgy, repeated regularly with no real meaning behind it. They're just the words you use to prove to the base that you're really one of them.
Why is this? I'm not quite sure what the left-wing equivalent of this would be, but it would be something along the lines of Hillary Clinton writing a book that proposed repealing the 2nd Amendment and adding one that banned hate speech; limiting defense spending to 2 percent of GDP; raising the top marginal tax rate back to 90 percent on millionaires and 100 percent on anything above, say, $10 million; instituting British-style national health care; and spending half a trillion dollars on new programs for universal preschool, two-year paid leaves for new parents, and an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. But in real life, Dennis Kucinich wouldn't support a platform like this, let alone a front-runner for the presidential nomination. And if one did, he or she would be instantly tarred as an insane nutball and would never see the business end of a TV camera again.

But when Republicans say the mirror image of stuff like this, it just gets a shrug. Sure, Perry apparently wants to roll things back to about 1900 or so. But hey?it's just a way of firing up the troops. Nothing to be taken seriously.

But why not?
Thinking about law school? You'd better be dedicated:
Post-graduate employment rates are at their lowest levels in 15 years. The typical student leaves school nearly $100,000 in debt. And after several years of recession-driven enrollment gains, applications to law schools nationwide are down nearly 10 percent this year.
The sobering statistics have prompted plenty of soul-searching in the legal academy, with calls for schools to provide more accurate job-placement data as well as efforts by some law schools to admit fewer students to avoid dumping a glut of newly minted J.D.s onto an unforgiving job market.
The Rebuild the Dream movement generated over 400 protests during the month of August. Not that you'd know, because unless it's ten people at a rally labeled "tea party" then media won't cover it.