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Middle-Class Mothers Most Likely To Be Bankrupt
Tweet Share on Facebook December 21, 2009 Comment (4)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I've known for a long time that women make up the majority of low-wage and minimum wage workers. Women comprise two-thirds of the minimum wage labor pool. But I didn't know, until I read this piece by Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren that educated, middle-class women are most vulnerable to bankruptcy:
Bankruptcy exposes the economic vulnerability and insecurity of middle class women. The women in bankruptcy, like the men who file for bankruptcy, are a fairly representative cross-section of the American middle class. Their education levels are slightly higher than the population generally, with women in bankruptcy more likely to have attended college than their counterparts. Most are employed when they file.
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Data Shows that the Stimulus Package Was a Waste of Money
Tweet Share on Facebook December 19, 2009 Comment (155)By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
To put it kindly, the stimulus package that President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rushed through Congress at the beginning of his presidency has been a flop. It is not just that the $789 billion package has not had the effect the White House promised it would; it's that it may actually have been counterproductive, actually lengthening the recession by effectively taking money out of the private economy, where it could have been used to create jobs and for investment purposes. Instead it has been parceled out by the government, which has been unable to track where it has gone or what impact it has really had on job creation. And that has led to any number of fallacious statements by senior administration officials about jobs "created or saved."
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Catholic Bishops Weigh in Against Abortion Compromise in Health Reform Bill
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 Comment (30)By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Last-minute efforts to craft a compromise acceptable to Senate healthcare holdout Ben Nelson of Nebraska on the issue of abortion were dealt a blow late Friday when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops weighed in against it. Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas, and chairman of the conference's Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a statement that the proposed compromise being pushed by Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was insufficient to fix the problems in the healthcare legislation currently being debated in the U.S. Senate. The current bill, DiNardo said, would continue to be "morally unacceptable unless and until it complies with longstanding current laws on abortion funding such as the Hyde Amendment."
"Senator Casey's good-faith effort to allow individuals to 'opt out' of abortion coverage actually underscores how radically the underlying Senate bill would change abortion policy. Excluding elective abortions from overall health plans is not a privilege that individuals should have to seek as the exception to the norm. In all other federal health programs, excluding abortion coverage is the norm. And numerous opinion polls show that the great majority of Americans do not want abortion coverage," DiNardo said.
Casey's effort to improve the bill, the Catholic clergyman continued, "do not change the fundamental problem with the Senate bill: Despite repeated claims to the contrary, it does not comply with longstanding Hyde restrictions on federal funding of elective abortions and health plans that include them." DiNardo urged the Senate to include language in the bill that would block federal funds from going to elective abortions and promised continued opposition to the legislation until their concerns were addressed.
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Labor Strikes Are Proof Europe Doesn't Always Have It Right
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 Comment (4)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
American supporters of federally subsidized healthcare never cease to compare America's lack of same to European countries, most of which have nationalized healthcare systems. Well, here's one non-healthcare-related example where Europe has it wrong: The continent is riven by strikes driven by union workers angry at their leaders for not doing more to prevent a deep recession. The United States has not had a crippling strike since air traffic controllers walked out in the early 1980s and then-President Reagan fired them. I'm not a Reagan fan, but seems to me the United States and its economy are much better off without the devastating strikes that used to pull economic activity to a standstill.
Right now, according to an AFP article:
Europe's busiest commuter train line remained strike bound for an eighth day, tens of thousands of Greek workers staged a protest against government spending cuts while British Airways took court action against a damaging Christmas walkout.
Thousands of Spanish taxi drivers blocked main roads across central Madrid and other major cities to protest moves to deregulate their industry. The protest brought land traffic to Madrid's main Barajas airport to a virtual standstill…Hundreds of thousand of Paris commuters struggled to work in heavy snow as a strike on the main regional commuter lines crossing the French capital spread.
So, anyone, want to debate whether life for the average worker is better in Europe or in America? I'll stay here, thank you, except for occasional visits to gorge on European history and culture. In that way, I agree, Europe has it over us.
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Washington Post's Politically Correct 'Avatar' Review: Liberal Movie Critic Mush
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 Comment (211)What were they thinking? Further evidence of the decline of newspapers arrives with this morning's Washington Post, in which some doofus editor decided that film critic Ann Hornaday should tell us about the eagerly-awaited, gazillion-dollar science fiction spectacular Avatar in the same review in which she dissects the modest little period drama, The Young Victoria. We get not a review—of either movie—just a bunch of lame and left-wing middlebrow movie critic mush.
I like the Post's new Friday format, in which the opening of a big movie gets a ton of space and a nifty full-color graphic on the front page of the Style section. When I saw Avatar's space ships and monsters and catlike blue aliens splashed across the page, I was intrigued, and settled in with my morning coffee to read the review.
Silly me. Here is what I found:
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American Majority Mistrusts Copenhagen Climate Change Proposal
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 Comment (7)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I'm just back from the grocery store as a big winter storm is heading for Washington, D.C.—they're predicting a foot of snow, which is a lot for here—and of course I had to stock up on bread, milk, chocolate chip cookies and toilet paper, like half of town is doing this morning. As I was unloading the car and bringing in extra firewood, I listened to the reporting from the climate change summit in Copenhagen. (Or as the commentators have started calling it, Cope-en-HOG-en, just like PAHK-ee-ston, and Off-GHON-ee-ston—have you noticed lately? What's up with that? It reminds me of the mid-1980s when the news was from Nicaragua on the Sandinistas, and all the reporters got fake Spanish accents. Remember SNL did a spoof of it, featuring sports reporters interviewing Bob Costas but calling him Bob COE-stas? Hilarious.)
Anyway, it sounds like the summit is unraveling quickly, and there may not be any agreement at all. The administration and some on the left will be frustrated, but I bet a lot of Americans are just fine with it. Not that people aren't worried about the environment, it's just a question of what to do about it and at what cost. This morning's Washington Post has a new poll out that confirms this.
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The Danger Behind the Democratic Retirements
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 CommentBy Doug Heye, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
You can't beat somebody with nobody. It's as true in politics as it is in sports, especially for Democrats, whose growing ranks of "nobody" could cede political ground and lead to major Republican gains in the House of Representatives next year.
On Monday, Rep. Bart Gordon, a Democrat from Tennessee and chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology announced that he will not seek reelection. Gordon is the fourth House Democrat in the past three weeks to make such an announcement, joining Washington Rep. Brian Baird, Kansas Rep. Dennis Moore and Tennessee Rep. John Tanner in lame duck status.
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Health Reform's Dirty Little Secrets: Rationing and Arbitrary Medical Decisions
Tweet Share on Facebook December 17, 2009 Comment (22)By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
One of the few practicing physicians in the United States Senate, Dr. Tom Coburn should be considered something of an authority on the state of healthcare in America. In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, the Oklahoma Republican makes a persuasive case as to why the Obama-Reid-Pelosi approach to reform, so-called, deserves the fisheye. The dirty little secret of healthcare reform is that it is not at all about improving the quality of healthcare, as Coburn hints in his op-ed and as President Obama explained more directly to ABC's Charlie Gibson. The real objective of healthcare reform, the dirty little secret if you will, is to bring the cost of healthcare under control.
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Congress Moving to Increase the National Debt Shows Democrats Are Out of Touch
Tweet Share on Facebook December 17, 2009 Comment (29)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Senate passed a $447 billion omnibus spending bill over the weekend, one that increases federal spending at government agencies by some $48 billion, a 12 percent increase from 2009. According to the Wall Street Journal, "That increase—when inflation is negligible—is in addition to the $311 billion in stimulus already authorized or out the door for these programs. Adding this new stash means that federal agencies will have received a nearly 70% increase in the last two years."
That whopping 70 percent increase in spending on government programs also means that Congress will now have to vote to "raise the federal debt ceiling by at least $1.8 trillion," according to the Washington Post. Note the Post reports they'll raise the debt ceiling "BY" $1.8 trillion, not "TO" $1.8 trillion.
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How to Fix Sports: A BCS Playoff, the Designated Hitter, Overtime, and More
Tweet Share on Facebook December 17, 2009 Comment (4)By John A. Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The University of Virginia soccer team won the national title last weekend which, given the school's performance in football and basketball these days, was a welcome gift for the Wahoos and their long-suffering alumni, of which I am one.
The way that UVA beat Akron, however, leaves something to be desired. The game for the national championship ended in a 0-0 tie, and was decided by that worst of all inventions, a shoot-out. Even when my team wins, it has always bugged me that a national or world championship should be rewarded, after a masterfully played game, through such a fluky contrivance.
I have a better solution: Enlarge the soccer goals, and allow more substitutions, in a sudden-death overtime. I call it Super Sudden Death. With a bigger net to defend, and more fresh legs running around, the goalies will allow more scores and the games can be decided properly.
All our sports need tending to. Wisely, the baseball commissioner has appointed a special committee to fix what ails the national pastime. The BCS system is an obvious failure that the lords of collegiate football need to correct with proper playoffs. In the spirit of the season, here are my suggestions:
