The party’s Senate membership is made up of hateful people who lost whatever iota of human kindness they once had. Why else would they once again block a plan to extend (paid-for) unemployment benefits to the 1.7 million Americans (in many cases, their constituents!) who lost their benefits in December? Benefits lost at the time …
They reward the guys who lead the banks into calamity. Case in point, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase. This week, directors, gathered in a conference room at the bank’s Park Avenue headquarters overlooking a snow-covered Central Park, discussed what message their next decision on the bank chieftain’s compensation would send. The debate pitted a …
Continue reading ‘Things wrong with banks, item the 413th’ »
Headline: Report: Most members of Congress are millionaires Senators generally are better off than House members, with an average net worth of $2.7 million in the Senate compared with $896,000 in the House. No wonder they save their empathy for the 1% crowd. If I felt like being fair I’d point out that the story …
The miserable overpaid political “leaders” of this country have failed the people that employ them once again. This time they have concluded that 1.3 million of their fellow Americans are not deserving of any financial help in staying afloat while they look for work. Specifically, they refused to extend unemployment benefits to those people beyond …
A nice wealthy ($8M or so in his personal fortune) Congressman, Steve Pearce (R-NM), suggests that furloughed workers just go get short-term loans if they need cash for bills or living expenses. “If you are a furloughed government employee, we encourage you to reach out to your financial institution as soon as you worry you …
It’s unforgivable to make a mistake and break into the wrong house to try to recover some value from a place you’re foreclosing on. Can we all agree on that? Good. Now, class, take heed. It’s beyond unforgivable, it’s criminal (despite the cops closing the case with no charges filed) to refuse to compensate the …
Today the House Republicans passed legislation which drops food stamps and other nutrition programs from the farm bill altogether but maintains all manner of subsidies for big Ag producers. I wish I could say I’m surprised by this, but I’m not. Lawmakers voted 216 to 208 to make changes to federal agricultural policy and conservation …
Oh, just a spot of blackmail. Nothing out of the ordinary. . . . the retail giant is threatening to walk away from three planned sites if the DC City Council passes a “living wage” bill that would require all major employers to pay workers a minimum of $12.50 an hour. Walmart claims that the …
The farm bill hasn’t gone away, but it’s getting no easier to pass. Republicans can always shock me, it seems. How on earth do they even connect dots like this? . . . the biggest issue is the food stamp program, which is officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and makes up …
Kevin Drum has a blog post up which views the state of student loan debt with alarm and dismay, and I share his concern. He notes that it’s a generational thing, too: It’s also yet another fault line between young and old that’s not likely to turn out well. My generation got a cheap college …