Wednesday, May 02, 2018
Donald Trump Has Displayed His Cowardice To The Nation
We know that Donald Trump skipped the White House Correspondents' Dinner for the second year in a row. He knew that the main focus of all the jokes would be him and his administration, and he simply cannot stand to be criticized in any manner. After skipping the dinner, whined in numerous tweets about how unfair the jokes were to him and his aides.
But the jokes were no better or worse than in any past correspondents' dinner -- and in the past, the presidents have all attended, took the barbs good-naturedly, and returned some. It was not person, but fun. The only exception was the one year Reagan missed the dinner. But he had a great excuse, since he was in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds.
The sad fact is that Donald Trump is a coward. But it's not just jokes that he's afraid of. He's absolutely terrified of tough questions from journalists. Note the chart above. It shows the number of official solo press conferences held by each president in the first two years of their presidency.
Not every president enjoys those solo press conferences. For instance, George W. Bush had only 7 in the first two years, while his father had the most at 56 in the first two years. But all have recognized that the public deserves to know what's happening, and the best way to accomplish that is to meet with the press and answer their questions.
The exception among presidents is Donald Trump. Trump has only held 1 solo press conference. He evidently didn't like that experience, because he has not held a second. Instead, he tweets out lies using Twitter. The press can't ask him hard questions when he does that. And when they point out his Twitter mistakes and lies, he sends out Sarah Huckabee Sanders to repeat his lies and/or make excuses for them. She takes the heat from the press because her boss is too cowardly to do it.
The only time the press has any access to Trump is when he has a joint press conference with visiting dignitaries, and then the period for questions is very limited (and many times Trump won't answer questions not related to his visitor and what they discussed).
Donald Trump is a COWARD.
Now we learn that the special prosecutor has submitted a list of about 50 questions they would like for Trump to answer. His lawyers wrangled those questions of the the special prosecutor, and are still trying to negotiate letting him answer them in writing instead of appearing in person to be questioned.
That's quite different than his 2016 presidential opponent. She appeared before Congress and was questioned for 11 grueling hours. She never took the Fifth, she never hid behind her lawyers, she never lied, and she never demanded the questions be submitted in advance so she could prepare answers. Trump is far different. While Clinton showed honesty and courage, Trump shows cowardice.
Whichever side of the political spectrum we are on, we have had presidents that we disagree with. But we have now, for the first time, a coward living in our White House.
Myths And Reality About Low-Wage U.S. Workers
The chart above shows the minimum wage since 1968 in 2014 dollars. The minimum wage had its highest buying power in 1968, when it was equivalent to a 2014 wage of $10.75 an hour. In 2014, that wage was only $7.25 an hour -- and today its buying power is even less than $7.25 an hour in 2014 dollars.
That is far below a livable wage (which most put at about $15.00 an hour). The current minimum wage, and wages close to it, condemn millions of workers to live in poverty. These are not lazy people. They are people who work hard. They simply are paid a poverty wage by their employers.
Many of the families supported by these hard-working, but low-wage workers, must receive government benefits to eke out even a subsistence living level. That means the taxpayers are subsidizing the wages of those employers (many of whom, like Walmart, are making many billions in profit).
It is wrong for employers to pay a poverty wage, and expect taxpayers to subsidize their employees so they can make larger profits. All businesses should pay their workers a livable wage.
That won't happen as long as the Republicans remain in power. They refuse to raise the minimum wage at all -- let alone to a livable wage. And some of them would like to abolish the minimum wage, and let employers pay even less than current wage (which is a poverty wage). To justify their defense of greedy employers, the GOP tells several myths (LIES!) about low-wage workers.
Here, from Mary Babic at Oxfam, are the lies the GOP most often tells:
Myth #1: Most workers in low-wage jobs are young or starting out at the entry level.
If you define a “low” wage as under $15 per hour, you’re referring to almost half the workforce in the US.
Today 73 percent of workers earning under $15 per hour nationwide are older than 25. Overall, 58 million workers (44 percent) earn under $15 an hour; 42 million earn under $12 an hour. Many are parents of young children. Over 125 million people, including over 31.5 million children, live in households with at least one worker earning under $15 an hour. That’s more than 42 percent of the children in the US. Roughly one third of parents earning low wages are single parents.
While some workers may find ladders out of low-wage jobs, millions stay in these jobs for their working lives. For example, the median age of the more than 1.4 million home care aides in the US is 45; nearly half graduated high school and have had some college education; the majority work full-time. However, with a median wage of $10.25 an hour, 54 percent live near poverty. This is one of the fastest-growing occupations in the US, projected to increase by 26 percent in the next ten years.
For decades, US workers have faced wage stagnation and a federal minimum wage that has not budged since Congress last raised it in 2009 certainly has not helped. For seven years, it’s been stuck at $7.25 an hour: $290 a week, $15,000 a year. In that time, the cost of groceries has increased 25 percent; rent has increased over 50 percent.
Myth #2: Most employers provide workers with earned sick time after a certain tenure on the job.
Not only is this not true, in a cruel twist of fate, it has a disproportionate effect on those who can least afford it. In the private sector, well-paid workers are much more likely to enjoy paid sick leave than low-wage workers: 80 percent of high-wage workers have sick time vs. 15 percent of low-wage workers.
The US is unique among developed nations in not requiring employers to provide sick days. In fact, the law does not even protect workers from being fired if they miss work due to illness. In a recent Oxfam survey, one in seven low-wage women workers reported having lost a job as a result of taking a sick day.
This leaves low-wage workers gingerly walking a tightrope over a vertiginous drop, often holding hands with young children and aging parents, praying that no one will catch a cold, contract the flu, break a bone, or get a stomach bug. Any hitch, and they could all be falling toward economic catastrophe: days or weeks without pay can mean missing rent, skimping on groceries, turning off the heat.
Myth #3: The low-wage workforce cuts across all populations: race, gender, age
While this has an element of truth, the core reality is that women and people of color do more than their fair share of low-wage work.
The majority of low-wage workers are white, but black and Hispanic workers are far more likely to be in low-wage jobs. More than half (53 percent) of black workers and 60 percent of Hispanic workers earn under $15 an hour. In some states, the numbers are staggering: in North Carolina, three quarters of Hispanic workers earn under $15 an hour.
Despite women representing less than half of the workforce (49 percent), they are well over half (nearly 55 percent) of those earning under $12 an hour. Many low-wage occupations (childcare workers, cashiers) are dominated by women. Even in other occupations, however, women earn less per hour than do men.
Finally, black and Hispanic women earn the lowest median wages per hour of any group. Hispanic women earn slightly more than half of what white men earn, roughly 54 cents to the dollar; black women make 64 cents to the dollar.
Myth #4: Working longer and harder will pay off.
After years of hard work and long hours, some workers start the climb up the ladder to better jobs. They may become managers of the fast food franchise, or shift supervisors on the line in a plant. They may shift from hourly to salaried, and enjoy an increase in benefits and flexibility.
Or not. They may find they’re working longer hours and seeing their pay actually shrink per hour. Until the Obama administration recently raised the threshold for overtime pay, the cap had been stuck at $23,600 since 1975. Any salaried worker making more than that would not be compensated at “time and a half” for hours worked beyond 40 per week. This included about 92 percent of the salaried workforce – and clearly brought many more benefits to employers than modestly paid employees.
In May, the threshold was raised to $47,476, which impacts 12.5 million workers, especially women and people of color. Still, some in Congress are threatening to block implementation of the updated rule.
Myth #5: Most jobs pay a living wage.
Of the top ten occupations in the US in 2015, only two pay a median wage of over $15.25 an hour: registered nurses and secretaries. The top three are retail sales at $10.47, cashiers at $9.82, and food preparation and serving at $9.09.
Nationwide, more than 11 million people in these occupations alone (mostly women) scramble to sustain families on wages that often fall well below the official federal poverty guidelines.
Many of them find they simply cannot survive on these wages, and turn to government programs and private charities for help. A recent study from the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 41 million workers tap public assistance programssuch as food stamps, housing subsidies, and cash assistance. Overall, it mounts up to over $200 billion a year in taxpayer dollars.
Tuesday, May 01, 2018
A Significant Majority Wants Marijuana To Be Legalized
Our current Attorney General claims that marijuana is a dangerous gateway drug, and he wants the federal government to continue fighting it -- even in states that have legalized it in small amounts. And it looks like the Republican-dominated Congress agrees with him. There is no effort to repeal federal laws against marijuana, and even though a bill has been introduced by Sen. Schumer to keep the federal government from interfering with legal marijuana states, there doesn't seem to be enough support for it to pass.
This puts our federal government once more in opposition with the wishes of a significant majority of Americans. The American public wants marijuana legalized by a 30 point margin, says it is not a gateway drug by a 30 point margin, and would support a bill protecting states with legal marijuana by a 54 point margin.
Those are some pretty big numbers. It is time for our politicians to respect the wishes of the public. Marijuana is NOT a dangerous or gateway drug, and it should be legalized for personal use. Our current laws make criminals of too many honest and hard-working people, and they need to be changed. We should also be taking advantage of the taxes legal marijuana would bring, and the thousands of new jobs it would create.
There is simply no legitimate reason for not legalizing marijuana.
The charts above use information found in a recent Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between April 20th and 24th of a random national sample of 1,193 voters, with a 3.4 point margin of error.
Public Trusts Comey Far More Than It Trusts Trump
On May 9th of last year, Donald Trump fired James Comey, the FBI director. He did it because he thought it would stop the government investigation into his collusion with Russia to affect the 2016 presidential election. We know that because he admitted it to journalist Lester Holt, and to high-ranking Russian officials who visited him at the White House.
It didn't work though. A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate that collusion (and other possible crimes or impeachable actions). And there was significant blowback from the public over the firing, with many believing that it was just a naked attempt by Trump to obstruct justice.
Comey also fired back at Trump, exposing Trump's lies about their meetings in testimony before Congress and in a book he wrote. Trump has done his very best to counter that by smearing Comey at every opportunity. So, who does the American public believe? They both can't be telling the truth.
The folks at the Quinnipiac University Poll decided to find out. They questioned a random national sample of 1,193 voters between April 20th and 24th, and their survey has a 3.4 point margin of error.
It turns out that it's not even close. The public trusts Comey over Trump by a substantial 19 points. And when you look at the demographics, you find Comey trusted more by every group -- men by 4 points, women by 32 points, 18-34 year olds by 38 points, 35-49 year olds by 24 points, 50-64 year olds by 19 points, those 65 and over by 3 points, Whites by 9 points, Blacks by 72 points, and Hispanics by 25 points.
It turns out that the poll showed Comey was not well-liked by the public. Only 30% had a favorable opinion of him, while 41% had an unfavorable opinion. But in spite of that, they still trust him more than they trust Trump.
CEO's Are As Spineless As GOP Congress About Trump
Here's part of a post by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich:
Congressional Republicans would be more willing to stand up to Trump if their major financial backers – big business and Wall Street – had more backbone.
Ever since 1971, when the then future Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell urged corporations to mobilize politically, corporate money has flooded Washington – most of it into Republican coffers.
Today, big corporations and Wall Street essentially own the Republican Party. In the 2016 campaign cycle, they contributed $34 to candidates from both parties for every $1 donated by labor unions and all public interest organizations combined.
They donate far more to Republicans than do extremists like the Koch brothers, and have far more influence over the GOP than does the Tea Party.
Which means the CEOs of America’s largest firms have the power to constrain the most dangerous, divisive, and anti-democratic president ever to occupy the Oval Office.
So why don’t they? What explains their silence? . . .
One obvious explanation is found in the money rolling in from the GOP’s new tax law and Trump’s frenzy of deregulation. Profits have soared at JP Morgan and at other big banks and corporations. Compensation for Dimon and other CEOs has exploded.
Never underestimate the power of a fat compensation package to buy up scruples. From the perspective of Dimon and other CEOs, what’s not to like about Trump and the GOP?
It turns out, plenty. As the Republican Party moves toward Trump’s looniness – his xenophobia, isolationism, attacks on the press and on truth, conflicts of interest, anti-Muslim and racist provocations, climate-change denials, proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, dismantling of the Affordable Care Act, and evisceration of the constitutional divide between church and state – Jamie Dimon and his ilk could come out big losers.
Let them try to sustain corporate profits as America slides towards authoritarianism. Try to maintain comfortable lifestyles as America descends into angry populist tribalism. . . .
I’m old enough to recall a time when CEOs were thought of as “corporate statesman” with duties to the nation. As one prominent executive told Time Magazine in the 1950s, Americans “regard business management as a stewardship,” acting “for the benefit of all the people.”
CEOs of that era formed the Committee for Economic Development to champion such causes as universal pre-kindergarten and campaign-finance reform.
Today’s CEOs finance a larger part of our political system, yet they won’t take a stand to save it.
The socially-conscious Committee for Economic Development has withered, while the profit-obsessed Business Roundtable (and its louder cousin, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) have become dominant. . . .
If the leaders of American business remain silent about what Trump’s is doing to American democracy, they will be complicit in its demise.
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