Obstruction

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Wine Is Catching Up With Beer In Popularity

These charts were made with information from a recent Gallup Poll (conducted between July 10th and 14th of 2,027 nationwide adults -- with a margin of error of 3 points).

This doesn't really have anything to do with politics. I just found it interesting, and a little bit surprising. It seems that wine is now nearly as popular as beer in the United States. Twenty years ago, there was a 20 point gap between the two (with beer at 47% and wine at 27%) Ten years ago, that gap had shrunk to 9 points (42% to 33%), and currently there is only an insignificant 1 point difference (36% to 35%). Meanwhile, the popularity of liquor has continued at about that same level over those twenty years.

I knew wine was increasing in popularity in this country, but I hadn't realized it was doing so at the expense of the popularity of beer. I doubt this is of earth-shaking importance (except to the beer companies), but it is interesting. Also interesting, but expected, is the wide gap between men and women over their preference. Men prefer beer to wine by 53% to 20%, while women prefer wine to beer by 52% to 20% -- nearly mirror images of each other.

Worried

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

Vonnegut's "Invocation"

“Oh Lord Most High, Creator of the Cosmos, Spinner of Galaxies, Soul of Electromagnetic Waves, Inhaler and Exhaler of Inconceivable Volumes of Vacuum, Spitter of Fire and Rock, Trifler with Millennia — what could we do for Thee that Thou couldst not do for Thyself one octillion times better? Nothing. What could we do or say that could possibly interest Thee? Nothing. Oh, Mankind, rejoice in the apathy of our Creator, for it makes us free and truthful and dignified at last. No longer can a fool point to a ridiculous accident of good luck and say, 'Somebody up there likes me.' And no longer can a tyrant say, 'God wants this or that to happen, and anyone who doesn't help this or that to happen is against God.' O Lord Most High, what a glorious weapon is Thy Apathy, for we have unsheathed it, have thrust and slashed mightily with it, and the claptrap that has so often enslaved us or driven us into the madhouse lies slain!"

(Image is from the Stefan Stenudd Blog.)

Women Deserve Equal Rights

7.4% Unemployment - The Lowest In Years

The Labor Department announced the official employment statistics for the month of July, and on the surface it looks like great news. The official unemployment rate has dropped to 7.4% -- that's 0.2% lower than the June rate, and the lowest rate since the economy blew up in the Bush recession.

But while it's good to see the official unemployment rate finally dip under 7.5%, I'm not at all sure it's something to be celebrated. That's because the number of new jobs created in July was only a fairly anemic 162,000 jobs -- barely enough to cover the number of new workers, and the lowest job creation number since May. That's not exactly indicative of a healthy economy (which would be creating well above 200,000 jobs a month), and in fact, economists recently announced the economy is only growing at an annualized rate of 1.7% (about half of the growth of a healthy economy).

So why did the unemployment rate fall last month. Both the size of the civilian workforce and the official count of the unemployed fell last month, and since that can't be accounted for by the small number of new jobs, it becomes obvious that many thousands more Americans gave up and stopped looking for work last month -- and that caused the unemployment rate to drop, since they are no longer being counted as unemployed by the government.

I'm sure the Republicans would like to blame our fumbling economy on President Obama, but the truth is that the GOP must take the lion's share of the blame. They have imposed a gridlock on Congress, and haven't allowed the president to even try to improve the economy. And they have taken money out of the economy with their drastic cuts -- which has depressed demand and slowed job creation. These GOP actions are lengthening the effects of the recession for most Americans.

Here is a demographic breakdown of official unemployment rates:
Adult men...............7.0%
Adult women...............6.5%
Teenagers...............23.7%
Whites...............6.6%
Blacks...............12.6%
Hispanics...............9.4%
Asians...............5.7%

And here are the relevant numbers for July:

Official size of the civilian workforce:

155,798,000

Official number of unemployed workers:

11,514,000

Official unemployment rate:

7.4%

Official count of workers marginally-attached to workforce, and are no longer counted as unemployed (because they haven't looked for work in the last 4 weeks) -- likely a big undercount:

2,414,000

Real number of unemployed workers (official unemployed + marginally-attached):

13,928,000

Real unemployment rate:

8.9%

Number working part-time because full-time work is not available:

8,245,000

Number of unemployed/underemployed workers (unemployed + marginally-attached + part-time):

22,173,000

Rate of unemployed/underemployed workers:

14.2%

And that is not all of the bad news. Most of the new jobs being created are low wage jobs. About 58% of the full-time jobs created in July were low wage jobs -- and this has been happening for many months now. With the stagnation of worker wages, this new replacing of good jobs with low wage jobs is causing the median worker wage in this country to drop -- and the middle class to shrink.

In addition to many of the new jobs being low wage, many of them are also part-time now. Businesses are replacing many of the full-time jobs lost in the recession with part-time workers (because they can pay low wages to part-time workers and deny them any benefits). These two trends put a pall on the new lower unemployment rate.

Grave Digger

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

Raising The Minimum Wage Makes Sense

The Republicans think poor people are lazy, and we're spending too much money on them. But the truth is that poor people want to work just as badly as anyone else does. Most of them are humiliated by having to ask for help. And just as true is the fact that most poor people already work -- at a full-time job or a couple of part-time jobs. They just don't get paid a livable wage (and anyone who thinks they can raise a family, or just support themselves, on the minimum wage has never had to try and do it.

Nobody who works hard should have to live in poverty, but millions of workers are doing just that -- and millions more are in serious danger of slipping into poverty. One of the easiest ways to fix this situation is to just raise the minimum wage. The graphic above states that raising the minimum wage would help 15 million workers. I think it would be even more, since those making a wage just above minimum wage would also have their wages raised -- and their would be upward pressure on all wages.

The Republicans will tell you that the minimum wage only affects teenagers. That is not true. The vast majority of minimum wage workers are not teenagers, and 60% of them are women (many of them single mothers. The GOP will also tell you that raising the minimum wage will hurt businesses and make them lay off workers. That's also not true. Many studies have shown that states with a much higher minimum wage than the federal wage of $7.25 an hour actually have healthier economies than the low-wage states, and no jobs were lost by raising the wage. A higher minimum wage will actually be good for businesses, because it will give the masses more money to spend, increasing demand for those products and services of both small and large businesses.

And while the Republicans want to keep the minimum wage at $7.25 (and many of them actually want to abolish it), the American people know better. Several polls have shown that the information in the top graphic is true -- about 4 out of 5 Americans want the minimum wage raised -- and they would support an even higher wage than the president has proposed. While the president has proposed a $9.00 an hour minimum wage, an overwhelming majority of Americans would support raising it to at least $10 an hour (which would just restore the buying power the minimum wage had in 1967).

As for spending too much to help the poor, if the Republicans really believed that they would be in favor of raising the minimum wage -- because that would take more people off of government roles than any other single thing that we could do.

As I said before, no one who works hard should have to live in poverty. That is a matter of economic justice. Labor and capital are equal partners in a free enterprise system, and both should be rewarded equitably for the part they play. The minimum wage should be raised as soon as possible, and it should be raised to at least $10 an hour. It just makes sense.

Peace Table

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

38% Of Americans Admit Trying Marijuana

The information is the chart above is from a recent Gallup Poll (conducted between July 10th and 14th of this year, of 2,027 nationwide adults -- with a margin of error of 3 points). It represents the number of people, both demographically and overall, who admit they have at least tried smoking marijuana.

It looks like a lot more people are willing to be honest about marijuana these days. Back in 1970, only about 4% of the population would admit they have tried marijuana. Today, that has risen to 38% of the population. I still think today's figures are a bit low.

We must remember that the poll is asking people if they have broken the law, because using marijuana is still illegal in most states -- and is still a prison offense in some. The poll said the answers would be held in confidentiality, but there are always going to be a number of people who don't trust that to be true, and will never admit to having broken the law in any way.

Perhaps they think it will affect their employment, or keep them from getting employment, or tarnish their reputation, or get them into trouble in some other way (especially if they still use the gentle herb). Whatever the reason, I think the number who admit using marijuana is lower than the number who have actually tried it. I would put the figure much closer to 50%.

But I'm just guessing. What do you think?

No Love

Political Cartoon is by Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Economy Is Always Better Under Democrats

I have posted this information before, but it bears repeating -- because it still hasn't sunk in to many in this country. The Republicans like to claim they are the party of fiscal responsibility and sound economics. That is not even close to being true. Over the last 50 years, our economy has done much better when a Democrat was in the White House. And don't forget, Democrat Bill Clinton left office with a budget surplus in place -- which Republican George Bush turned into a vast budget deficit. The Republicans may talk a good game, but the Democrats actually deliver on their economic promises.

Bloated Military Budget

Electoral Trouble For Senate Minority Leader

It is almost unthinkable that a politician holding the exalted position of party leader in the U.S. Senate, and who has been a fixture in the senate for some 28 years, might be in electoral trouble. But that seems to be the reality for Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who is running for re-election in the 2014 election.

Last year, Democrats were lamenting their poor chances of unseating McConnell, and many were of the opinion that they needed a famous name. Actress Ashley Judd was touted as a possible candidate, but decided against running. But it now looks like the Democrats chances were a lot better than they had thought.

It seems that the people of Kentucky are not happy with the job performance of McConnell. In an April poll, his approval rating was 36% and his disapproval was 54%. And it really hasn't improved much in the last few months (in spite of the fact that he is already running commercials). A July poll showed his approval at 40% and disapproval at 51%. Even some in his own party are not happy, and it now looks like he will have an opponent in next year's GOP primary.

But even if he survives the GOP primary, his troubles are not over. A new Public Policy Polling survey (done between July 19th and 21st of 1,210 Kentucky voters -- with a 2.8 point margin of error) has him running second to his likely Democratic opponent, Alison Grimes. Grimes only has a one point lead (45% to 44%), and that is within the poll's margin of error, but it shows that the small lead McConnell had enjoyed has now disappeared -- and at least for now, the race is a dead heat.

A previous Public Policy Polling survey (done between April 5th and 7th of 1,052 Kentucky voters -- with a 3 point margin of error) had shown McConnell with a 4 point lead (45% to 41%) over Grimes.

It's still a little more than 15 months until the 2014 election, and a lot could change between now and then. And it won't be easy to defeat a sitting senator serving as his party's leader. But it's amazing to think that Democrats might actually have a chance to flip that senate seat.