Bush On Taxes

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & DeficitLeave a Comment

Treasury Secretary John Snow, 4/15/05: President George Bush shares your desire to make paying taxes simpler. Fort Wayne News Sentinel, 8/16/04: Bush, despite his professed desire for simplicity, has not exactly acted that way. During his term in office, there have been 227 tax-code changes that added 10,000 pages to the monstrosity known as the tax code.

United States Government Debunks Bush

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

Even as Bush is going out trying to sell gullible midwesterners about how grrrrreat it would be if Social Security were nothing but private accounts, the United States government’s social security website clearly indicates how ill-advised Bush’s scheme is: Q: I think I could do better if you let me invest the Social Security I pay into an Individual Retirement … Read More

Hillary Bitchslaps Alan

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & DeficitLeave a Comment

Via Kos: Interesting exchange on the Senate floor yesterday. Alan Greenspan and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton clashed briefly Tuesday over rosy surplus forecasts the Federal Reserve chairman relied on to support President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts, estimates that turned out to be considerably off the mark. "It turns out that we were all wrong," Greenspan conceded at a Senate hearing. … Read More

You Go, Seniors!

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

The good news is that Bush’s social security privitization scheme hasn’t worked.  The better news is why it hasn’t worked.  Jon Chait explains: The main reason is that the public is not quite as selfish as the conservatives thought. The privatizers’ weakest assumption turned out to be their belief that the elderly would support privatization if they knew they wouldn’t … Read More

Support The Troops

Ken AshfordCorporate Greed, IraqLeave a Comment

From The Left Coaster: Did his duty – then lost his job Michael Warren, a native of Port Jefferson, L.I., is suing International Business Machines Corp. for firing him because since 9/11 he’s been called up too often by the Army Reserves. And IBM has HOW MANY Pentagon contracts?

Worthless IOUs

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

From The American Street: Next time you hear some trained Bush monkey echo Bush talking points and claim that the Social Security trustfund is stocked with nothing but a bunch of worthless “IOU’s,” pull out a $20 bill like this one: A worthless IOU. Explain to them that if the United States Bonds and Treasury Bills that make up the … Read More

Old Folks

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

Yglesius gives George Will the heel of his boot on social security: George Will, like many other conservatives, is positively irate that old people won’t get behind the president’s plan even though the president has promised not to cut their benefits. In response, it’s worth noting first and foremost that senior citizens may have concerns about this subject other than … Read More

I’m a Racist

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

… because I oppose Bush’s privatization of social security idea.  Well, that’s what the President says.  Pretty amazing.  Here’s what he said yesterday: And so there are guidelines as to what you can invest in. I was being somewhat facetious on the lottery — but really not. There’s a proper risk reward, a portfolio that will allow you as a … Read More

The Bankruptcy Bill

Ken AshfordCongress, Corporate GreedLeave a Comment

Let’s start with a story ripped from today’s headlines: In Cleveland, for example, a municipal court judge tossed out a case that Discover Bank brought against one of its cardholders after closely examining the woman’s credit card bill. According to court papers, Ruth M. Owens, a 53-year-old disabled woman, paid the company $3,492 over six years on a $1,963 debt … Read More

America is #1?

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & Deficit, Foreign AffairsLeave a Comment

I hate to burst the bubble of America’s rah-rah-nothing-wrong-here types, but this country needs improvement.  From the Minneapolis-St. Paul News come this list of where America really ranks: The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004). The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, … Read More

If It Walks Like a Lame Duck…

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

From the Washington Post: The Senate’s top Republican [Bill Frist] said yesterday that President Bush’s bid to restructure Social Security may have to wait until next year and might not involve the individual accounts the White House has been pushing hard. …."In terms of whether it will be a week, a month, six months or a year, as to when … Read More

Bush’s Social Security Reform Is Dying

Ken AshfordSocial SecurityLeave a Comment

And badly.  It seems the more he talks about "fixing" Social Security, the less convincing he is.  Some leader.  Some mandate. And who is telling us that Bush is actually losing support on Social Security, the more he talks about it? Our friends at Gallup: Only one in three Americans approve of President Bush’s handling of Social Security, his lowest … Read More

From the Producers of “The Swift Boat Veterans for *cough* Truth *cough*”…

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Sex/Morality/Family Values, Social Security1 Comment

… comes the latest in surreal conservative propaganda. And it is a doosy. AARP: Anti-military. Pro Gay. Therefore, we should privatize social security. This is a copy of the the ad being run by USANext, the conservative alternative to AARP (when you click the actual ad, you are taken to USANext‘s home page). There’s no article or argument as to … Read More

Rose Colored Glasses Beyond Belief

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Social SecurityLeave a Comment

This is a true exchange. It happened in Omaha last Friday, when Bush was taking his dog-and-pony show on the road: THE PRESIDENT: Good. Okay, Mary, tell us about yourself. MS. MORNIN: Okay, I’m a divorced, single mother with three grown, adult children. I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters. THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. … Read More