District
Nein
 As
if you didn't guess, I saw District 9 this weekend and absolutely
LOVED it.
But there were a few things I didn't love, and here they
are in no particular order.
---------------
The budget deficit is HUGE, but what's the cause? The Right
is vehemently trying to dump the blame on Mr. Obama's shoulders
but David Leonhardt has a nice article breaking
down the sources of the growth
deficit. We'll start with a nice, tasty pie
chart:
What do we learn from this:
• The first category — the business cycle — accounts
for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing.
•
Second, Bush-era legislation, like his tax cuts and
the Medicare prescription drug benefit, [that] not only continue
to cost the government but have also increased interest payments
on the national debt.
•
Third, Obama’s main contribution to the deficit
is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq
war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000
[...] 20 percent of the swing.
•
Fourth, about 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill
that Mr. Obama signed in February.
•
Fifth, only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s
agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.
So there.
--------------
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, is waging a campaign against
health care reform. His opinion, in a column written for
the Wall Street Journal, is that if you eat his over-priced
food, you'll be fine.
Oh, and lay off the insurance companies. Their 500% increase
in profits over the past six years is juuuuust fine.
There is a Whole Foods store in my area but I'll be shopping
elsewhere for my tofurkey this year.
-------------
And finally, Comcast is dumping MSNBC from its basic cable
package. If you like Olbermann and Maddow you're going to
have to pony up an additional $200 a year.
You can find all the details of this story here, along with
the contact infoof those resposible at Comcast.
-----------
=Lefty=
|
