Feminism

Inequality Created By GOP's "Trickle-Down" Economics

I have posted charts similar to this before, but it cannot be repeated too much. It shows the consequences of the failed Republican "Trickle-Down" economic policies. Note that from 1947 through 1979, the rise in productivity was pretty much matched by a rise in wages and compensation for American workers. That changed in 1980, when the Republicans gained enough political power to change the economic policies of the federal government.

They imposed a system that tilted the economic playing field to favor the rich (and the corporations). They told Americans that giving more to the rich would benefit everyone, because much of that extra money going to the rich would trickle down to everyone else in the country. But that didn't happen. They rich got richer, and everyone else got poorer (thanks to stagnant wages and rising inflation).

Note that since the GOP policy was instituted in 1980, productivity has continued to rise but wages and compensation have not. That's because the policy encouraged companies to keep most of the rising productivity instead of sharing it with workers (as had been the case before 1980).

The policy has been tragic for workers, and has created the largest gap in wealth and income (between the rich and the rest of us) since the 1920's. And that gap continues to grow larger with each passing year -- because the Republicans have had the power to block any Democratic attempts to return to economic rules that are fair for all Americans.

This is a powerful reason to vote the Republicans out of power in 2016.

NOTE -- The chart above is from currydemocrats.org.

Bad Choices ?

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

This Is Why Sanders Is Not Winning The Nomination

Bernie Sanders supporters would like for people to think that their candidate is the choice of the American people -- and the only reason he is not winning the Democratic nomination is because the system (the rules) are unfair. What they won't admit is that the rules are the same for both Democratic candidate, and neither has been treated unfairly in any way.

The chart above shows the real reason Sanders is losing. It is because millions more voters prefer someone else. In fact, Sanders finishes only third in votes cast this year for president -- behind both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He has gotten 3,167,708 fewer votes than Clinton, and 1,089,289 fewer votes than Trump.

About 21,102,510 Democrats have cast a vote in the Democratic primaries and caucuses. Hillary Clinton has gotten 57.5% of those votes, while Bernie Sanders has gotten only 42.5%. That's a 15 point percentage gap -- and in any election would be considered a blow-out.

Sanders is losing for only one legitimate reason -- more than 3 million more Democrats prefer Clinton to be their nominee.

Too Little, Too Late

Political Cartoon is by Rob Rogers in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Fair Rules Needed

Dangerous Creation

Dallas Cowboys Draft Picks In 2016 NFL Draft

As regular readers of this blog will probably know, I am a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. I have only missed seeing or hearing one Cowboys game since their inception in 1960. That was when I was having surgery to repair a gunshot wound in 2005 -- and even then, my first question when waking up was "Did the Cowboys win?" (they had not won that one).

So, I hope you'll bear with me as I part with politics for a minute to celebrate the Cowboy's draft picks for this year.

Here are those picks:

4th pick (round 1) -- Ezekiel Elliott, running back, Ohio State (6'0", 225 lbs)

34th pick (round 2) -- Jaylon Smith, linebacker, Notre Dame (6'3", 229 lbs)

67th pick (round 3) -- Maliek Collins, defensive tackle, Nebraska (6'2", 311 lbs)

101st pick (round 4) -- Charles Tapper, defensive end, Oklahoma (6'4", 260 lbs)

135th pick (round 4) -- Dak Prescott, quarterback, Mississippi State (6'2", 226 lbs)

189th pick (round 6) -- Anthony Brown, cornerback, Purdue (5'11", 192 lbs)

212th pick (round 6) -- Kavon Frazier, safety, Central Michigan (6'0", 217 lbs)

216th pick (round 6) -- Darius Jackson, running back, Eastern Michigan (6'0", 221 lbs)

217th pick (round 6) -- Rico Gathers, tight end, Baylor (6'8", 273 lbs)

I have no doubt that Ezekiel Elliott will make an immediate impact, especially running behind the great offensive line of the Cowboys. But this draft will be judged by the players taken after him.

Jaylon Smith was originally projected to be a top five pick in this draft, but then he hurt his knee. He is expected to recuperate fully, but probably will not play until the 2017 season. If he does return to the form he had in college, this this will be remembered as a great pick. He just won't be able to help the team this season.

For me, this draft will be judged as good or bad by how the next four players work out. Can Maliek Collins, Charles Tapper, and Anthony Brown help to improve the defense in the coming season? Will Dak Prescott turn out to be the team's future quarterback (as expected)? Nobody knows, but I hope they are all as good as I think they are. We'll find out when training camp opens in July.

Insulting Lucifer

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Indiana Democrats Seem To Prefer Clinton Over Sanders

The next state to vote in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination is Indiana. It has 83 delegates that will be allocated next Tuesday (May 3rd). Bernie Sanders is hoping to get back on the winning track in Indiana, but all the polls seem to show Hillary Clinton with a small lead in Indiana.

I think the best that Sanders could do is to split the Indiana delegates with Clinton -- and that wouldn't help him at all. He needs about 80% of those delegates to revive his campaign, and splitting the delegates would do nothing but get Clinton closer to the magic number of 2,383.

The chart above was made from polls listed in RealClearPolitics. They are:

WTHR / Howey Politics Poll (April 18-21) 479 likely voters (4.5 point moe)

Fox News Poll (April 18-21) 603 likely voters (4.0 point moe)

CBS News / YouGov Poll (April 20-22) 439 likely voters (8.2 point moe)

IPFW / Downs Center Poll (April 18-23) 400 likely voters (4.9 point moe)

American Research Group Poll (April 27-28) 400 likely voters (5.0 point moe)

Supporting Trump

Political Cartoon is by Tom Curry in the Big Bend Gazette.

It's Time For Sanders To Admit He Lost Fair And Square

(Caricature of Bernie Sanders is by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is as good as over -- and it's time for Bernie Sanders to stop with all the excuses and allegations of unfairness. The rules are fair, and they were followed. He wasn't a victim. He just lost because the majority of Democrats preferred Hillary Clinton to be their nominee.

Melissa McEwan says it best in her post at Blue Nation Review. She writes:

The latest talking point Bernie Sanders, his staff, and his surrogates have been peddling to try to explain why he’s lost, to try to claim the system is rigged, and to try to delegitimize Hillary Clinton’s victory, is that closed primaries are undemocratic—and that if Independent voters had been allowed to participate, he would have won.

Vox crunched the numbers and it turns out that, while Bernie’s fortunes would have been slightly better had Independents been able to participate in the small number of closed primaries so far, he “would have won 41 more delegates than he currently has. Clinton is currently leading Sanders by 293 delegates (without even counting the superdelegates).”

Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight compares the Republican Primary rules with the Democratic Primary rules, and finds that Hillary’s pledged delegate lead would triple under the GOP rules: “The Democrats’ delegate allocation rules are more ‘fair’ than the GOP’s rules in the sense that vote shares are translated into delegate shares more faithfully and uniformly… If the Democrats used Republican allocation, Clinton would have wrapped up the nomination long, long ago.”

Another talking point bites the dust.

Bernie’s campaign has run out of excuses. The Democratic primary system is not “rigged” in Hillary’s favor. There are no grand conspiracies.

The plain truth is that what happened is the most basic story in politics: Someone wins and someone loses.

Bernie often opens his speeches by recounting how his candidacy was a long shot. How he was the underdog, with very little national name recognition and lacking the powerhouse fundraising capacity of his opponent. He boasts about how they have surpassed all expectations.

All of these things are true. He has had extraordinary success, and congratulations to him for it.

But his ubiquitous tale of his longshot candidacy must now complete its arc with some honesty about how long odds often don’t pay out. It was an uphill battle, and he didn’t quite make it to the zenith.

There’s no shame in that. There is, however, shame in continuing to insist that he is losing for any other reason than because his campaign simply didn’t resonate with as many primary voters.

At this point, Bernie needs to stop making excuses and say these words: Hillary Clinton is beating us fair and square. It’s the right thing to do.

Untrustworthy

Political Cartoon is by Mike Stanfill at ragingpencils.com.

Holy Books ?