Friday, December 17, 2004
A long, cold Wynter
From Matt Yglesias:
Mr. Bush chimed in a moment later. "One of my visions of personal savings accounts is that Sandy* will be able to pass her account on to [her daughter] Wynter as part of Wynter's capacity to retire as well."
Now if Sandy happens to die before retirement, this is quite true. But if Sandy makes it to retirement age, she's going to be faced with a problem under the Social Security abolition system. Let's say the market continues to grow nicely between now and then (in which case there would have been no need to change anything in the first place) so Sandy has a decent-sized nest egg. The problem is that Sandy doesn't know how long she's going to live, and if she lives a long time (as people increasingly do nowadays) may wind up outliving her investment. Under the current system, that's not a big problem -- she would have been guaranteed Social Security benefits proportional to the wages she used to earn for the rest of her life.
Abolition advocates say Sandy can solve this problem by buying an annuity from an insurance company. This is a sort of reverse life insurance that lets you hedge against longevity by converting your lump sum of savings into a guaranteed monthly benefit (just like today's Social Security). But if Sandy does this she won't have anything to pass on to Wynter after all, though Wynter will spend her working life paying taxes to repay the $2 trillion (plus interest) that Bush borrowed in order to finance the transition. Another major problem with the annuity proposal is that even if the market does perform well over the long run (it has in the past -- I should emphasize again that if it does in the future Social Security doesn't need any fixing), if Sandy happens to retire during a down year (and these happen pretty frequently, even in the context of long-term growth) then she'll be stuck with lower monthly benefits for the rest of her life.
*Turns out "Sandy" wasn't just some regular person off the street...
The exchange was an example of how Mr. Bush promotes his agenda with testimonials from "regular folks," in the words of Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, who introduced Ms. Jaques.
But Ms. Jaques is not any random single mother. She is the Iowa state director of a conservative advocacy group, FreedomWorks, whose founders are Jack F. Kemp, the former vice-presidential nominee, and Dick Armey, the former House Republican leader.
Ms. Jaques also spent much of the past two years as a spokeswoman in Iowa for a group called For Our Grandchildren, which is mounting a nationwide campaign for private savings accounts.
You can't believe anything these people say or do.
posted by chris at 4:36 PM
Turn Your Back On Bush
On inauguration day, we will gather as citizens for the public events of the day and join the rest of the crowd. At a given signal, we will turn our backs. Until the moment we turn around, there will be nothing to distinguish us. By leaving our signs and buttons at home, we will avoid all of the obstacles that Bush and his supporters have used to keep anyone who disagrees with him out of sight.
One of the things that makes Turn Your Back on Bush a unique action is that we won't know who is participating until the moment it begins. This is a nonviolent, silent, and non-responsive action. We expect that our actions will cause some supporters of President Bush to confront us. In order to make this action as effective as possible, we will publish action guidelines and expect those people participating in the action to remain silent, refrain from escalating, and above all, keep this protest non-violent.
Website here. Almost makes me want to go to the inauguration. Almost.
posted by chris at 2:30 PM
Helping out their chemical company friends
The Bush administration announced new rules Thursday to allow U.S. farmers who grow tomatoes, strawberries and other crops to continue using methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting pesticide that had been scheduled to be phased out worldwide next year.
The United States was among a dozen nations that won continued "critical use" exemptions from the phase-out at negotiations in Prague, Czech Republic last month. International negotiators granted the United States request to continue using the popular killer of insects and weeds at a rate of 37 percent, or 5,550 tons, of the 15,000 tons used in 1991.
Story.
posted by chris at 2:27 PM
Cause killing is more fun than preserving
The Defense Department, which has won congressional exemptions from environmental laws in the last two years, now wants to change an internal policy that commits the department to sound environmental practices.
Since President Bush took office, the Pentagon has won exemptions from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act and seeks exemption from the Clean Air Act and two toxic waste laws.
A draft of the proposal, which would replace a 1996 directive, eliminates the Pentagon's vow to "display environmental security leadership within DOD activities worldwide." It stresses, instead, the "national defense mission."
The new proposal replaces a list of concrete responsibilities with vague guidance to the military about how to prevent pollution and guarantee compliance with federal and international laws.
-clip-
Since President Bush took office, the Pentagon has won exemptions from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act and seeks exemption from the Clean Air Act and two toxic waste laws.
And what's their reasoning for eliminating this policy? What else? National defense. Keep playing the 9/11 card boys, you're bound to run out soon.
posted by chris at 2:22 PM
------------------
Thursday, December 16, 2004
How Bush sees the US
PRESIDENT BUSH: Tommy [Thompson] was commenting on the fact that we're a large company -- country, with all kinds of avenues where somebody can inflict harm. And we're doing everything we can to protect the American people.
Like his other companies, Bush is running this one into the ground as well.
posted by chris at 3:54 PM
The revolving door
Retiring Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who stepped down earlier this year as chairman of the House committee that regulates the pharmaceutical industry, will become the new president and CEO of the drug industry's top lobbying group.
Tauzin will begin work Jan. 3 heading the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a powerful trade group that marshaled an army of lobbyists last year to successfully support a bill overhauling Medicare and establishing the first prescription drug benefit for seniors. Tauzin was a co-sponsor, and President Bush signed the bill into law a year ago.
Story.
posted by chris at 2:56 PM
------------------
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Don't these guys have accountants?
The Bush administration plans to ask for between $80 billion and $100 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, rather than the $70 billion to $75 billion the White House privately told members of Congress before the election, according to Pentagon and White House officials.
Administration officials said yesterday they have not concluded how much money they will request in a "supplemental" spending package that is scheduled to go to Congress in January.
...But some analysts and government officials said the request is expected to run as high as $100 billion, bringing the total cost of operations in Iraq alone to well over $200 billion since the March 2003 invasion.
Story.
posted by chris at 3:31 PM
Playing the victim card
FOX News is aggressively hyping several small controversies involving public holiday displays that don't explicitly mention Christmas in order to depict a widespread and sinister "attack on Christmas" by "secular progressives." Led by hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, FOX News anchors have returned continually to several minor stories whose theme is the purported marginalization or persecution of Christians.
I'm sorry, but didn't the moral value people just "take their country back" with the election of George Bush and other fine conservatives to Congress? Yet now they're tying to make it seem like "liberals" want to eliminate Christmas and the moral values folk are just helpless in the face of this "liberal onslaught." Unbelievable.
And the most ridiculous part is the complaints about department stores using "Happy Holidays" signs instead of "Merry Christmas" ones. Department stores hawking their wares under the guise of the holiday season have nothing whatsoever to do with the True Meaning of Christmas. So these groups that are calling for boycotts are essentially tyring to preserve the commercialization of Christmas. Which is just a peculiar way of trying to protect the "reason for the season."
posted by chris at 2:20 PM
Fair's fair
If they want to put warning labels on science books, World O' Crap suggests labels on other books as well.
You've heard about those stickers which the Cobb Country school officials had placed in science textbooks which read, "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.”
Well, I think that consideration should be given to placing warning stickers on Bibles which say, "This book contains religious material. Religious teachings are matters of faith, not facts, and some of this material is metaphorical and otherwise not to be taken literally. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered. If you are mentally ill, please do not do anything to your children after reading this material without first consulting a doctor or mental health professional."
Here's why.
posted by chris at 2:10 PM
------------------
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Strictly business
Air cargo companies allegedly tied to reputed Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout have received millions of dollars in federal funds from U.S. contractors in Iraq, even though the Bush administration has worked for three years to rein in his enterprises.
Planes linked to Bout's shadowy network continued to fly into Iraq, according to government records and interviews with officials, despite the Treasury Department freezing his assets in July and placing him on a blacklist for allegedly violating international arms sanctions.
Largely under the auspices of the Pentagon, U.S. agencies including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Air Force, and the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq until last summer, have allowed their private contractors to do business with the Bout network.
More.
posted by chris at 5:16 PM
Jumping on the hybrid bandwagon
General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG are throwing their combined weight behind a new hybrid technology for cars and trucks, setting the stage for what had been a niche product to spread to the mainstream for American consumers.
The greater demand for hybrids, the more these large companies will start producing their own versions. It's all about the money for the companies, but it works out for the rest of us too.
posted by chris at 1:42 PM
Bush monkey
A portrait of President Bush using monkeys to form his image led to the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and anguished protests on Monday over freedom of expression.
Story.
posted by chris at 1:32 PM
------------------
Monday, December 13, 2004
Calling up grandpa
Dr. John Caulfield thought it had to be a mistake when the Army asked him to return to active duty. After all, he's 70 years old and had already retired - twice. He left the Army in 1980 and private practice two years ago.
-clip-
Today, Caulfield, a colonel from Satellite Beach, Fla., is an example of how the continuing demands of keeping ground troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are forcing the military to go to extraordinary measures to keep its ranks filled. He's attending to patients - U.S. troops, Afghan soldiers and civilians - at the Army's 325th Field Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan.
He is one of about 100 over the age of 60 known to be serving. The Department of Defense couldn't provide exact figures.
Story.
posted by chris at 5:18 PM
Won't somebody please think about the children?
More than half the world's children are suffering extreme effects of poverty, war and HIV/Aids, denying them a healthy and safe childhood, according to a report published today.
The Unicef annual report on The State of the World's Children found more than 1 billion children were growing up hungry and unhealthy, schools had become targets for warring parties, and whole villages were being killed off by Aids.
And don't think this is just about those poor starving kids in Africa that Sally Struthers pimps out.
The agency said poverty was not confined to developing countries, with the proportion of children living in low-income households in 11 of 15 industrialised nations rising in the past decade. More than 10 million child deaths were recorded in 2003, with an estimated 29,158 children under five dying from mostly preventable deaths every day.
posted by chris at 3:11 PM
Cause who cares about protected species when we've got another cookie-cutter housing development to build?
The Bush administration said Friday it will allow developers to complete construction and other projects even after belated discoveries that the work could endanger protected species.
The new rules from the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service restore a Clinton-era initiative known as "no surprises." It will let federal agencies give blanket assurances to home builders, timber and mining companies and other developers that they won't have unforeseen requirements to protect rare species once a project has begun.
I'm sure even thinking about building something techincally counts as starting a project.
posted by chris at 3:09 PM
More social securty cuts planned
President Bush, who has promised that his plan to allow private investment accounts in Social Security would give workers a ''better rate of return," is seriously mulling a companion effort that could cut future promised retirement benefits for millions of workers by 6 percent, even when potential gains from private accounts are included, analysts said.
While Bush is weeks away from unveiling his plan, two senior White House officials said in interviews that the president is looking at a dramatic overhaul of Social Security that would go much further than allowing private accounts because the system is rapidly going bankrupt.
Story.
posted by chris at 3:04 PM
The Ministry of Misinformation
The Pentagon is engaged in bitter, high-level debate over how far it can and should go in managing or manipulating information to influence opinion abroad, senior Defense Department civilians and military officers say.
Such missions, if approved, could take the deceptive techniques endorsed for use on the battlefield to confuse an adversary and adopt them for covert propaganda campaigns aimed at neutral and even allied nations.
Critics of the proposals say such deceptive missions could shatter the Pentagon's credibility, leaving the American public and a world audience skeptical of anything the Defense Department and military say - a repeat of the credibility gap that roiled America during the Vietnam War.
Such missions, if approved, could take the deceptive techniques endorsed for use on the battlefield to confuse an adversary and adopt them for covert propaganda campaigns aimed at neutral and even allied nations.
The efforts under consideration risk blurring the traditional lines between public affairs programs in the Pentagon and military branches - whose charters call for giving truthful information to the media and the public - and the world of combat information campaigns or psychological operations.
More.
posted by chris at 2:16 PM
Rain, rain, go away, little Georgie wants to play
The first flight test in nearly two years of a planned U.S. missile-defense shield has been scrapped two days in a row this week because of bad weather, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Strong rain squalls over the Kwajalein atoll launch site in the central Pacific caused the latest postponement, Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said shortly after the decision to scrap the test. A new attempt might be made later in the day, he said.
The Pentagon had not previously publicized the test.
An exercise deemed successful may set the stage for President Bush to declare the system on alert to shoot down a warhead that could be fired by a potential foe like North Korea.
But only if it's not raining.
(via Tom.)
posted by chris at 1:43 PM
------------------
|
