The Gender Pay Gap

June 17th, 2012

Via The Center for American Progress

"In 2010 the median full-time working man took home $47,715 in earnings, while the median full-time working woman made only $36,931—77.4 percent of that amount, or $10,784 less."

Here's what an American woman could do with that money.

Quote Of The Day

June 2nd, 2012

"I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process."

-- President Benjamin Harrison

The War On The Poor, cont...

Dec 9th, 2011

Earlier this week, the NYTimes noted another way the government might just stick it to the most vulnerable next year:

"The draft version of the Section 8 Savings Act released earlier this year by the majority staff of the House Financial Services Committeeincludes several excellent proposals that would cut administrative costs for public housing authorities, allowing them to more efficiently manage the programs that subsidize rents for more than three million of the country’s poorest families. But one damaging provision that crept into the draft would undo all of that good.

The provision would allow housing programs to raise rents on nearly 700,000 of the households that receive federal rent assistance, most by a minimum of $300 a year, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington. This would be a severe and unjustifiable burden for these extremely poor families, the majority of whom subsist on less than $3,000 per year. The report argues that higher rents would force some poor families to divert resources from basic needs like food, clothing and medicine. Others would be unable to cover the new costs forcing them to double up with relatives, move into shelters or into the streets."

Add this to the increasingly likely expiration of current payroll tax rates and a probable failure to extend UI benefits and what we have is the makings of something much worse than a mere double dip recession.

Good News... Again

Aug 20th, 2011

The ratings for some of the most dishonest right wing propagandists continue to show evidence of freefall. I noted last month what is arguably the under-reported story of the year, that Fox News' ratings are in a devastating decline. It gets better. A lot better.


From Business Insider:

"The just-released Arbitron report reveals that a lot less people are listening to right-wing talk radio.

With a lull in ratings since November, Rush Limbaugh had a 3.0 share of listeners for his radio time slot, which is a 33% slide from October and from last April, reports Crain's Business.

Meanwhile, The Sean Hannity Show was reported to be down 28% from its peak numbers in the fall."

This does beg a few questions. Where is the shake-up? You know? Where is the evidence that they have been approached by management and are attempting to retool their programs for better market share?

There is none. And, you shouldn't expect any. That is because these are not pundits. They are craven corporatist activists whose masters are willing to lose money so that they might keep dis-informing the public.

Are you ready to fight for the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine yet?

"Birthers" are out, "Deathers" are in...

May 2nd, 2011

I write this reluctantly. That is because it is more painfully stupid than anything I have encountered in my adult life.

It took less than 24 hours after the announcement of the decade for the crap to get deeper. Yes, there is a crazy beyond the "birthers." They are already called the "deathers." 

They believe that President Barack Obama is clever enough to get every active member of CENTCOM and JSOC to participate in a vast conspiracy to fake a military operation resulting in the death of Osama Bin Laden but not clever enough to have perpetrated it prior to the 2010 election.

Pardon the interwebphemism, but FACEPALM.