The lead NY Times article begins, "The rancorous debate in Washington over whether to raise the federal debt ceiling is alarming many of the nation’s governors from both parties, who fear that whatever the outcome, much-needed money will almost certainly be drained from their states." Duh.
The problem is that we are stuck in a place we have never been: a superpower grounded by the myths of American exceptionalism. At the very moment we most need wisdom from our politics, what is thrown at us by large corporations funding political campaigns is the lowest common denominator. Their ultimate aim: to keep Americans passive consumers. What is our purpose?
In Miami, we retreat into family enclaves. Tribes and tribal politics. Here, these are default mechanisms of an undeveloped city. What passed to the nation, from the Great Depression in the 1930s, as the social fabric and common good never quite materialized here. Now, it is being further hacked to pieces by the further myths of free market fundamentalism: that the public interest is better served by self-interest (greed) than regulation or government policies. Through the prism of the conservation movement (that ought to be a conservative bedrock principle), the past decades have been a 40 Year War on the Environment. We have literally designed government to fail, in order to protect polluting industries. Big Sugar is Exhibit A, with the attachment of the constitutional amendment Floridians passed in 1996 by state-wide majority that the Florida legislature, dominated by Republicans, never enacted. Exhibit B, changes to the Everglades Forever Act promoted by Big Sugar and Jeb Bush in 2003, judged by a federal court to be illegal in 2008, that still remain unaddressed. Two small examples (with billion dollar impacts) how misdirection dominates the political landscape.
We are seeing how other examples work out, right now, with the head-long rush to cut deficits without raising revenues or accountability brought to the thieves and crooks who caused the national crisis. That crisis, in Florida, manifests as the massive, crushing effects of a real estate nightmare unleashed by industry that claimed-- all the way to the cliff-- it was providing "what the market wants".
Paul Krugman, Nobel economist and NY Times columnist, is virtually alone decrying the abysmal consequences for our economy that-- in my view, forget statistics-- never recovered from the horrendous consequences of serial asset bubbles: first in internet stock and then in housing.
Jim Kunstler, a fellow skeptic, coined our crisis, "The Long Emergency". I agree. Under the cover of confusion, GOP majorities in Tallahassee and Washington are taking a hatchet to the safety net in order to protect trillion dollar fiefdoms. In this long, hot summer that is becoming clearer and clearer except where it counts: voters.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
William E. Fisher Running for U.S. Senate. By Geniusofdespair
STRONG BORDERS - I’m in favor of strong borders, to stop the mass invasion of illegal individuals, who cross into America every day. If you want to be part of our American family you can apply through proper channels. Crossing over our borders is no different then breaking into someone’s home! It is illegal and needs to be stopped now, not later.
CHRISTIAN VALUE - Despite what the President thinks, we are a nation who appreciates the Christian values used by the framers of our Constitution.
THE TEA PARTY - I support the Tea Party because those folks that turns out to these meetings are in the most part good GOD fearing Americans. Americans with good conservative values who fear that the America they grew up in and help build is now being dismantled piece by piece. We drove to Atlanta to be part of that Tea Party. We were very proud to be a part of it.
THE ENVIRONMENT - We need to protect our environment however I do not believe we need to destroy our economy to do so. We here(sic) about global warming day after day on the liberal media machine, and how its man’s fault. I find it funny that the media does not cover other natural environmental causes like the more then two hundred volcanoes on the oceans floor.
One thing I wish these candidates would do: Get proof-readers!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Who Gave Big to the Accountability Project Against Mayor Gimenez. By Geniusofdespair
Keith Donner's Accountability Project did attack ads to help 2 candidates (by attacking their opponents) who subsequently lost: Gonzalo Sanabria and Julio Robaina from Hialeah. Carlos Gimenez was the target of some brutal ads by this Accountability group. Most of the money going into this PAC were from other up-State PACs but here are some of the locals that gave money to the Accountability Project, I hope they don't need any favors from Carlos Gimenez:
• Shoma Homes head Masoud Shojaee gave $7,000.
• Carlos Duart and Victor Benitez's company Damir gave $5,000 and their Better Leasing gave $5,000.
• Jorge Arrizurieta gave $1,500
• Julio Santoyo gave $10,000 & $5,000 (also see below)
• Latino Amusement of Dade, Inc. (Selvia Perez) gave $2,500
• DP Real Estate Holdings (DEFUNCT since 2008) Demetrio Perez, Jr. gave $300 and $1,000 (this would be an illegal donation as the Corporation doesn't exist)
• Abreu & Sons - Jesus Abreu gave $600
• Dagmar Del Rosal gave $1,000
• New Horizon Construction - Rogelio Espinosa gave $1,000
• United Faculty of Miami-Dade gave $500
• J.S. Of South Florida, LLC - Mgr. Julio Santoyo gave $8,000 ($3,000 & $5,000)
• Fernando Fraiz-Trapote gave $1,000
• Sean Posner gave $500
• Malibu Lodging Investments, LLC - Judah and Sam Burstyn Mgrs. gave $500
• OAC Group - Carmen & Orlando Cordoves gave $1,000
Remember attack ads are also used to disgust voters and keep them home. The people who are targeted to get them end up hating both candidates and stay home. Low turnout, in this case, was suppose to help Robaina. Didn't work.
• Shoma Homes head Masoud Shojaee gave $7,000.
• Carlos Duart and Victor Benitez's company Damir gave $5,000 and their Better Leasing gave $5,000.
• Jorge Arrizurieta gave $1,500
• Julio Santoyo gave $10,000 & $5,000 (also see below)
• Latino Amusement of Dade, Inc. (Selvia Perez) gave $2,500
• DP Real Estate Holdings (DEFUNCT since 2008) Demetrio Perez, Jr. gave $300 and $1,000 (this would be an illegal donation as the Corporation doesn't exist)
• Abreu & Sons - Jesus Abreu gave $600
• Dagmar Del Rosal gave $1,000
• New Horizon Construction - Rogelio Espinosa gave $1,000
• United Faculty of Miami-Dade gave $500
• J.S. Of South Florida, LLC - Mgr. Julio Santoyo gave $8,000 ($3,000 & $5,000)
• Fernando Fraiz-Trapote gave $1,000
• Sean Posner gave $500
• Malibu Lodging Investments, LLC - Judah and Sam Burstyn Mgrs. gave $500
• OAC Group - Carmen & Orlando Cordoves gave $1,000
Remember attack ads are also used to disgust voters and keep them home. The people who are targeted to get them end up hating both candidates and stay home. Low turnout, in this case, was suppose to help Robaina. Didn't work.
Particle Board Democracy: Florida's GOP and Its Shameful Conduct ... by gimleteye
We have reached the nadir of the dumbing down of American politics. The path was cleared by ideologues: and why should the devastation not be delivered by the conservative right holding the Book of Ezekiel to their American flag lapels? I am half-tempted to go along with the Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party and let August 2nd come and go: just like Y2K right? (On Jan 1, 2000 it was imagined that computers would all shut down or short circuit because of they had not been programmed to accept the new millenium date. If you don't know what happens on August 2nd, you can stop reading right here.)
Republican brainiacs believe they can pin "this budget thing" on President Obama and the Democrats, but I expect if there is no resolution to the budget and debt ceiling crisis, there will be a stock market crash of at least 20 percent right off the bat. No one thought home values could be worth only half of what they were, five years ago. Let the GOP masterminds explain how it wasn't their fault our savings are worth only half of what they were.
That the Republican Party turned into a party of unrecognizable extremists didn't happen overnight. For those who thought Grover Norquist was just trying to shrink the size of government, look at the consequences of the decapitations that are working themselves out in slow motion. Norquist is simply an anarchist. Let's return for a minute to Florida's GOP wrecking crew in Congress.
If you were too focused on Texas' GOP initiative to save the incandescent light bulb, or the electric utilities' decision to abandon investment in reducing man-made chemicals that are causing global warming (because of regulatory uncertainty due to Republicans efforts to kill all environmental regulations), then you might have missed the Florida GOP delegations' most recent tactic in the Holy War against the US EPA: to gut the Clean Water Act as revenge for the EPA trying to clean up Florida's filthy waters where the state refuses (thank you, Governor Barely Legal Rick Scott).
The GOP is ginned up by campaign contributors from polluting industries like Florida's Associated Industries and its Jack-Ass-In-Chief Barney Bishop. "US EPA's proposed nutrient criteria rules will impose 'crushing burden' on families, economy" is dated July 9, 2011. It is a piece of the 40 Year War Against the Environment that provides the foundation for Florida's future: a haven for polluters.
Yesterday, a week after Associated Industries' kick-off-- followed up by a full scale lobbying press by Big Sugar in the halls of Congress-- the House passed The Dirty Water Bill sponsored by Florida REp. John Mica. Sierra Club wrote of the measure (supported, naturally by the Republican delegation from coal-polluting West Virginia); "H.R. 2018 guts the Clean Water Act, severely limits the federal government’s ability to protect waterways, and seeks to return the country to an era of inconsistent and ineffective state water safety standards without a federal safety net. Representatives also voted against an amendment that would have ensured continued protection of municipal drinking water sources."
H.R. 2018 would "prevent the Environmental Protection Agency, without state concurrence, from taking action to revise outdated state water quality standards, making it easier for companies to dump their waste and garbage into lakes and rivers." Like Big Sugar, frantically trying to fend off paying for its pollution of Florida and the Everglades.
It is sickening and disgusting: the GOP Congress is using the budget crisis-- otherwise consuming all the bandwidth of political energy-- to insert the will of big polluters and Republican campaign contributors. Call it "Particle Board Democracy" to the benefit of the Koch brothers (billionaires like the Fanjuls) whose profits derive, among other sources, from the manufacturing of formaldehyde; the binder in chip board. That's what we have come to: sacrificing democracy for the rights of Big Sugar and particle board makers. It is simply the case that the key Republican issue is protecting polluters; just look at the states where the GOP leadership comes from. The co-signer of H.R. 2018: West Virginia. Mitch McConnell, opponent of campaign finance reform and Senate minority leader, Kentucky. Big Coal, Big Sugar, then there are the Kochs.
The EPA recently-- after more than a decade of "study"-- declared formaldehyde to be a carcinogen, sending the Koch's into a tizzy of giving to Tea Party and other reactionary, revenge-seekers. Take a look at the U.S. EPA spending relative to other monthly costs of the federal government: the subject of so much spent energy by the Florida GOP delegation in the context of the budget crisis.
The monthly obligations of the federal government, all-in, are approximately $307 billion. You have to ask the question, if the best the GOP Congress and Florida's extremist Republicans in Congress can find to do is beat up on the EPA, whose budget represents .3 percent of monthly federal obligations, WTF is going on? We know what is going on: the House of Representatives and its Florida GOP delegation is marching through our democracy like General Sherman through Georgia. In 2012 voters will have a chance to redress these shameful ploys by Republicans. But God help us, for the next two weeks.
Republican brainiacs believe they can pin "this budget thing" on President Obama and the Democrats, but I expect if there is no resolution to the budget and debt ceiling crisis, there will be a stock market crash of at least 20 percent right off the bat. No one thought home values could be worth only half of what they were, five years ago. Let the GOP masterminds explain how it wasn't their fault our savings are worth only half of what they were.
That the Republican Party turned into a party of unrecognizable extremists didn't happen overnight. For those who thought Grover Norquist was just trying to shrink the size of government, look at the consequences of the decapitations that are working themselves out in slow motion. Norquist is simply an anarchist. Let's return for a minute to Florida's GOP wrecking crew in Congress.
If you were too focused on Texas' GOP initiative to save the incandescent light bulb, or the electric utilities' decision to abandon investment in reducing man-made chemicals that are causing global warming (because of regulatory uncertainty due to Republicans efforts to kill all environmental regulations), then you might have missed the Florida GOP delegations' most recent tactic in the Holy War against the US EPA: to gut the Clean Water Act as revenge for the EPA trying to clean up Florida's filthy waters where the state refuses (thank you, Governor Barely Legal Rick Scott).
The GOP is ginned up by campaign contributors from polluting industries like Florida's Associated Industries and its Jack-Ass-In-Chief Barney Bishop. "US EPA's proposed nutrient criteria rules will impose 'crushing burden' on families, economy" is dated July 9, 2011. It is a piece of the 40 Year War Against the Environment that provides the foundation for Florida's future: a haven for polluters.
Yesterday, a week after Associated Industries' kick-off-- followed up by a full scale lobbying press by Big Sugar in the halls of Congress-- the House passed The Dirty Water Bill sponsored by Florida REp. John Mica. Sierra Club wrote of the measure (supported, naturally by the Republican delegation from coal-polluting West Virginia); "H.R. 2018 guts the Clean Water Act, severely limits the federal government’s ability to protect waterways, and seeks to return the country to an era of inconsistent and ineffective state water safety standards without a federal safety net. Representatives also voted against an amendment that would have ensured continued protection of municipal drinking water sources."
H.R. 2018 would "prevent the Environmental Protection Agency, without state concurrence, from taking action to revise outdated state water quality standards, making it easier for companies to dump their waste and garbage into lakes and rivers." Like Big Sugar, frantically trying to fend off paying for its pollution of Florida and the Everglades.
It is sickening and disgusting: the GOP Congress is using the budget crisis-- otherwise consuming all the bandwidth of political energy-- to insert the will of big polluters and Republican campaign contributors. Call it "Particle Board Democracy" to the benefit of the Koch brothers (billionaires like the Fanjuls) whose profits derive, among other sources, from the manufacturing of formaldehyde; the binder in chip board. That's what we have come to: sacrificing democracy for the rights of Big Sugar and particle board makers. It is simply the case that the key Republican issue is protecting polluters; just look at the states where the GOP leadership comes from. The co-signer of H.R. 2018: West Virginia. Mitch McConnell, opponent of campaign finance reform and Senate minority leader, Kentucky. Big Coal, Big Sugar, then there are the Kochs.
The EPA recently-- after more than a decade of "study"-- declared formaldehyde to be a carcinogen, sending the Koch's into a tizzy of giving to Tea Party and other reactionary, revenge-seekers. Take a look at the U.S. EPA spending relative to other monthly costs of the federal government: the subject of so much spent energy by the Florida GOP delegation in the context of the budget crisis.
Don't Discount Paul Chehade who is Running for U.S. President. By Geniusofdespair
I always like to look at the lesser known candidates to see what they are saying, to get a beat on the 'real people' candidates. Here is Paul Chehade's views on 2 issues that I found on his website:
Death Penalty: "I believe it should be abolished. The death penalty is unjust - if you’re rich you get away and if you’re poor you’re more likely to be convicted and killed."
Animal Rights: "The animals worked “with us” and “for” us “even worse than slaves”… since “our creation”. They provided us with love, loyalty and friendship… they will even give their lives for us humans. No tractors? … Bulls were there, No milk?... Cows are still there, Feeling lonely and spiritual?.. Cats are there for you… definitely by your side... Your friends...
Very often animals are considered “a thing”… no rules, no rights, no mercy.
There is nowhere in the constitution of our Nation that states that we should provide “animals” the right to life, the right to a descent(sic) environment to live in, the right to survive!
“Owners” should have the right to defend their friends (pets) if someone abuses them… it is a HUMAN RIGHT! Because it affects HUMAN feelings, HUMAN emotions, HUMAN hearts. Animals should have the right to have “rights” and so do you. They suffer, they feel and they need our help… GOD BLESS AMERICA"
Paul, you almost had some support until you opposed a woman's right to choose. You were good on civil liberties, stem cell research, assault weapons and the environment (however a little kooky on animal rights). I will have to keep looking. But thanks for running!
Paul Chehade is running as an Independent and he is from Miami.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Commissioner Dennis Moss Defends DERM to Commissioner Bell. By Geniusofdespair
Link to video.
County Commissioner Dennis Moss gives Lynda Bell an important history lesson.
Dennis Moss says: "The thing we can't do is throw DERM under the bus on this issue. That is my concern." (That is at 1:40 on my counter or 7:21 on the County Counter.)
Moss discounts the people claiming they are being mistreated in the 8 1/2 square mile area. He says the courts over the years have been siding with DERM -- i.e. Miss Fernandez who owns property out there went to Court but she signed a consent agreement because the Courts didn't agree with her, Moss said they sided with DERM.
Lynda Bell in her one-woman Jihad against DERM is trying to form a wetlands advisory task force to over-see the Department of Environmental Resources Management, DERM.
Laura Reynolds of Tropic Audubon Society is disturbed by the attacks on DERM. Here is what she says:
In Miami-Dade County, the Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) has recently come under fire, with citizens, media and politicians criticizing DERM for presumably applying heavy-handed enforcement of local environmental regulations.
The truth is that DERM provides critical services that protect our environment and our economy. Most central to its mission is the protection of the resources that make Miami-Dade such an attractive place to live and do business. Protection of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the natural landscapes we enjoy are tasks that often require telling someone they must comply with the regulations in place. Modifying a project or development to protect the environment is not an inconvenience or unwarranted expense, it is an essential part of making sure our resources will be sustainable, available, and enjoyable for generations to come. These are shared resources that no one individual or business has an intrinsic right to pollute or destroy.
Hit read more...
Murdoch scandal leaks into Fox News ... by gimleteye
"The art of our necessities is strange, And can make vile things precious." King Lear, III, ii
Observers of the Murdoch empire and our own right-wing King Lear (yes, you have to read Shakespeare for reference—sorry) have been wondering if the scandal rocking Great Britain could spread to the American empire including the not-fair-and-balanced Fox News that has single-handedly presided over the dumbing down of US politics.
In Great Britain, illegal spying and surveillance of private citizens and public officials authorized by Murdoch lieutenants are stiffening the spine of a political establishment that quaked and quavered before his influence for decades. All is quiet on the Western Front. That would be the area of Field Marshall Roger Ailes, Murdoch's top officer at Fox News in the United States. Fox is the US wing of the Murdoch empire and a much bigger contributor to the profit machine of News Corp. that the shuttered Murdoch newspaper, "News of the World".
There is no direct connection between the turmoil through the phone hacking scandal and subsequent closure of the 168 year old paper at the center of the scandal, however it is impossible to miss the cultural connection between the US empire and the unfolding scandal in Murdoch's Great Britain.
Murdoch has had a greater impact on politics during his ascendancy than any other individual, including presidents, kings, and premiers. His success is based on a finely honed practice extracting profit from the mixture of blood lust, breasts, and human weakness by using droplets of fiction as the catalyst. It is the connection between the separate realms of the media empire and ties directly into Fox News, where goading audience fear and anxiety under the cover of “legitimate” journalism has turned television news largely into an acid bath.
It is not a surprise that executives who populate the Murdoch empire must always temper warm-and-cuddly with a laser-like focus on business profits. But what emerges as a surprise is the emperor without clothes: Rupert Murdoch’s appetite for blood lust in business led his inner circle to activities that are despicable. Whether the same could occur in the United States, through the Roger Ailes/Fox connections, is an unanswered question.
With the "Talk of the World" scandal, millions of Fox News audiences are seeing the wizard for the first time; not so much a business titan as an obsessed billionaire who goaded his top lieutenants in his own Kingdom of Oz. Low brow print newspapers are somewhat different in Great Britain than the United States.
Fox Broadcasting in the United States is the TV equivalent of "Talk of the World" but filtered through American cultural preferences. The erupting scandal shows journalism is not what motivates Murdoch; his traffic is finding human foibles, adding purience and a dose of fiction so friction and heat can generate profit. For all these reasons I have been a long-time enthusiast of the viral campaign to "Turn Off Fox: Bad for News and Bad for America". There is nothing mystical about Murdoch's talent for assessing the character of his audiences. It is a legend how Murdoch directly reached down through layers of management to insert “American Idol” into the Fox lineup. The world will be altered when Murdoch exits, stage left, but in the meantime the empire is less durable than yesterday.
Observers of the Murdoch empire and our own right-wing King Lear (yes, you have to read Shakespeare for reference—sorry) have been wondering if the scandal rocking Great Britain could spread to the American empire including the not-fair-and-balanced Fox News that has single-handedly presided over the dumbing down of US politics.
In Great Britain, illegal spying and surveillance of private citizens and public officials authorized by Murdoch lieutenants are stiffening the spine of a political establishment that quaked and quavered before his influence for decades. All is quiet on the Western Front. That would be the area of Field Marshall Roger Ailes, Murdoch's top officer at Fox News in the United States. Fox is the US wing of the Murdoch empire and a much bigger contributor to the profit machine of News Corp. that the shuttered Murdoch newspaper, "News of the World".
There is no direct connection between the turmoil through the phone hacking scandal and subsequent closure of the 168 year old paper at the center of the scandal, however it is impossible to miss the cultural connection between the US empire and the unfolding scandal in Murdoch's Great Britain.
Murdoch has had a greater impact on politics during his ascendancy than any other individual, including presidents, kings, and premiers. His success is based on a finely honed practice extracting profit from the mixture of blood lust, breasts, and human weakness by using droplets of fiction as the catalyst. It is the connection between the separate realms of the media empire and ties directly into Fox News, where goading audience fear and anxiety under the cover of “legitimate” journalism has turned television news largely into an acid bath.
It is not a surprise that executives who populate the Murdoch empire must always temper warm-and-cuddly with a laser-like focus on business profits. But what emerges as a surprise is the emperor without clothes: Rupert Murdoch’s appetite for blood lust in business led his inner circle to activities that are despicable. Whether the same could occur in the United States, through the Roger Ailes/Fox connections, is an unanswered question.
With the "Talk of the World" scandal, millions of Fox News audiences are seeing the wizard for the first time; not so much a business titan as an obsessed billionaire who goaded his top lieutenants in his own Kingdom of Oz. Low brow print newspapers are somewhat different in Great Britain than the United States.
Fox Broadcasting in the United States is the TV equivalent of "Talk of the World" but filtered through American cultural preferences. The erupting scandal shows journalism is not what motivates Murdoch; his traffic is finding human foibles, adding purience and a dose of fiction so friction and heat can generate profit. For all these reasons I have been a long-time enthusiast of the viral campaign to "Turn Off Fox: Bad for News and Bad for America". There is nothing mystical about Murdoch's talent for assessing the character of his audiences. It is a legend how Murdoch directly reached down through layers of management to insert “American Idol” into the Fox lineup. The world will be altered when Murdoch exits, stage left, but in the meantime the empire is less durable than yesterday.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Proposed County Budget is Out. By Geniusofdespair
Mayor Gimenez is banking on $135,000,000 in Employee Concessions, Service and Revenue Adjustments of $163,000,000 and an FRS rate adjustment of $111,000,000. Those three add up to $409,000,000 and wollah! We have a balanced budget!
Quick look: 3 positions gone from Ethics and Public Trust. Positions in Elections, Inspector General and Human Resources seem stable. Sustainability is losing 1 of 6 positions. Recreation & Culture is hit hard. Public Service is going from 506 to 344 positions and Support Services from 68 to 46. I think that is the library but what do I know about reading budgets. Go look for yourself to see if you still have a job.
Bruno Barreiro the Big Loser Today. By Geniusofdespair
Bruno Barreiro put on the agenda that Cities could opt out of the County sign ordinance. Well he was the only one who supported the dumb idea. It died in Committee - County Infrastructure and Land Use. Maybe the announcement that Norman Braman didn't support the change put the fear of God in some County Commissioners (members of this Committee: Audrey M. Edmonson Chair; Barbara J. Jordan Vice Chair; Commissioners Bruno A. Barreiro, Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Jean Monestime, and Rebeca Sosa).
On a Sugar High: could welfare payments to Florida's billionaire sugar barons end in 2012? by gimleteye
Every time the Farm Bill comes up in Congress as it will next year, I wonder-- will the billionaire sugar polluters finally lose their protected status by US government farm policy? Never happens. The only ones who get shafted are American consumers. A study just arrived from the liberal, left-leaning American Enterprise Institute, "American Boondogle: Fixing the 2012 Farm Bill". Did I say, "liberal left-leaning"? I meant, conservative free market.
Irrespective, the forms of corporate welfare in the Farm Bill that make sugar billionaires wealthier are an egregious form of political corruption providing the foundation for Florida's future: more pollution, more lobbyists, more destruction of Florida's quality of life and Everglades.
Now the AEI economists chime in: "In the end... there is little evidence that the majority of programs in the Farm Bill address actual market failures or lead to improved societal welfare. Rather, farm program benefits are best viewed as rents that result from effective lobbying efforts that are intended to benefit a politically powerful and relatively well-off segment of the US economy." Snap!
"Simply put, there are no persuasive arguments for income inequity, market failure, or excessive risk to justify farm subsidies. Moreover, the farm programs that do transfer incomes to farmers provide benefits roughly in proportion to production and inevitably subsidize larger and more successful commercial farms. These programs are simply unrelated to any antipoverty goals: they pay more to farms that are bigger and wealthier and they are intended to do so." To the Fanjul billionaires, that is just so harsh! (Calling, Joe Klock!)
Big Sugar gets all heated up, when critics call the farm program, "subsidies". Oh Sugar Rants And Raves. Here is what AEI says: "... direct payments have accounted for the largest share of subsidies paid to farmers under the 2008 legislation. Direct payments are essentially income transfers or gifts made on the basis of historical acreage and yields (“base”), and they do not require that any specific crop be produced— or that farmers engage in any agricultural enterprise, for that matter—as long as the land is maintained in “good agricultural use." Gifts! OMG. But then, AEI expands: "The sugar program does not transfer money from taxpayers to sugar producers. It does raise US sugar prices well above world prices in most years, typically increasing domestic prices paid for sugar by almost 100 percent. In a typical year, the sugar program increases sugar expenditures by domestic consumers by about $2.4 billion and generates about $1.4 billion in extra income for sugar producers."
The sugar program does not transfer money from taxpayers to sugar producers. Let me clarify: it transfers democracy from taxpayers and voters to sugar producers. What surprises is how little of those excess millions it takes to buy the Florida Legislature. Maybe it is all those freebie junkets to the Dominican Republic.
"The program achieves these transfers through import quotas that are binding when world prices fall below the support price. In 2010 and 2011, world sugar prices were well above support levels for the first time in about thirty years, and so impacts of the sugar program have recently been negligible. In most years, however, the sugar program benefits the relatively wealthy few at the expense of almost all consumers. As the figures quoted above indicate, the sugar program is an expensive way to transfer income— wasting $1 billion to transfer $1.4 billion. That is, the program costs about $0.66 for every $1 received by cane or beet farmers, or sugar processors. The sugar program has depressed world sugar prices, lowering incomes for some of the world’s poorest farmers who raise cane sugar in tropical climates. Given that current world sugar prices are well above the price-support level and the industry is especially healthy, this would be an ideal time to end the program." And, AEI might have added: now that the industry is especially healthy and has polluted the Everglades Agricultural Area and public lands of irreplaceable value, this would be an ideal time to end the program.
I have some advice for the sugar billionaires: find some liberal, left-leaning foundation to counter the American Enterprise Institute. Or, you could always hire a Tea Party rent-a-crowd to sit on the AEI doorstep.
Irrespective, the forms of corporate welfare in the Farm Bill that make sugar billionaires wealthier are an egregious form of political corruption providing the foundation for Florida's future: more pollution, more lobbyists, more destruction of Florida's quality of life and Everglades.
Now the AEI economists chime in: "In the end... there is little evidence that the majority of programs in the Farm Bill address actual market failures or lead to improved societal welfare. Rather, farm program benefits are best viewed as rents that result from effective lobbying efforts that are intended to benefit a politically powerful and relatively well-off segment of the US economy." Snap!
"Simply put, there are no persuasive arguments for income inequity, market failure, or excessive risk to justify farm subsidies. Moreover, the farm programs that do transfer incomes to farmers provide benefits roughly in proportion to production and inevitably subsidize larger and more successful commercial farms. These programs are simply unrelated to any antipoverty goals: they pay more to farms that are bigger and wealthier and they are intended to do so." To the Fanjul billionaires, that is just so harsh! (Calling, Joe Klock!)
Big Sugar gets all heated up, when critics call the farm program, "subsidies". Oh Sugar Rants And Raves. Here is what AEI says: "... direct payments have accounted for the largest share of subsidies paid to farmers under the 2008 legislation. Direct payments are essentially income transfers or gifts made on the basis of historical acreage and yields (“base”), and they do not require that any specific crop be produced— or that farmers engage in any agricultural enterprise, for that matter—as long as the land is maintained in “good agricultural use." Gifts! OMG. But then, AEI expands: "The sugar program does not transfer money from taxpayers to sugar producers. It does raise US sugar prices well above world prices in most years, typically increasing domestic prices paid for sugar by almost 100 percent. In a typical year, the sugar program increases sugar expenditures by domestic consumers by about $2.4 billion and generates about $1.4 billion in extra income for sugar producers."
The sugar program does not transfer money from taxpayers to sugar producers. Let me clarify: it transfers democracy from taxpayers and voters to sugar producers. What surprises is how little of those excess millions it takes to buy the Florida Legislature. Maybe it is all those freebie junkets to the Dominican Republic.
"The program achieves these transfers through import quotas that are binding when world prices fall below the support price. In 2010 and 2011, world sugar prices were well above support levels for the first time in about thirty years, and so impacts of the sugar program have recently been negligible. In most years, however, the sugar program benefits the relatively wealthy few at the expense of almost all consumers. As the figures quoted above indicate, the sugar program is an expensive way to transfer income— wasting $1 billion to transfer $1.4 billion. That is, the program costs about $0.66 for every $1 received by cane or beet farmers, or sugar processors. The sugar program has depressed world sugar prices, lowering incomes for some of the world’s poorest farmers who raise cane sugar in tropical climates. Given that current world sugar prices are well above the price-support level and the industry is especially healthy, this would be an ideal time to end the program." And, AEI might have added: now that the industry is especially healthy and has polluted the Everglades Agricultural Area and public lands of irreplaceable value, this would be an ideal time to end the program.
I have some advice for the sugar billionaires: find some liberal, left-leaning foundation to counter the American Enterprise Institute. Or, you could always hire a Tea Party rent-a-crowd to sit on the AEI doorstep.
The Article in The Miami Herald That Sent Chills Down My Spine. By Geniusofdespair
Yes, Jackie Bueno Sousa's column was a shocker because I agreed with her for once. She has a good plan for water consumption hogs: Hit them good where it counts, in their pocketbooks. But that is not the article that floored me.
And, then there was a column by Michael Putney who wonders why Governor Rick Scott canceled an interview. He thinks maybe he might have been too direct in his questions -- Rick Scott's office said some of the questions were insulting. Here are two of them:
"Are you clueless when it comes to accepting money from Washington?" And,
"Why do you think that in almost every sphere of endeavor the private sector is better than government? I can’t think of a governor in Florida history who has had so little regard for the institution he heads."
Yep, that was a bit harsh, it is a very funny column. But no, Putney didn't alarm me.
The news that really got me today was the story about the woman in California who cut off her husband's penis. Actually the removal of it didn't bother me so much, not after the 1993 Lorena Bobbitt story. It was that this woman dumped the penis in the garbage disposal and turned it on, that really got to me. My mind replayed the sound of the crunching as I read. I thought to myself, did it sound like an over-large chicken neck mashing up? Or, maybe it was more like the screeching and chopping an ear of corn would produce. Doesn't matter, I hear it all. I am still replaying the melange of sounds and now also visualizing the remains. Woof! When I hear a garbage disposal doing its job I will wince...FOREVER! Thanks lady. Still getting chills writing about it.
And, then there was a column by Michael Putney who wonders why Governor Rick Scott canceled an interview. He thinks maybe he might have been too direct in his questions -- Rick Scott's office said some of the questions were insulting. Here are two of them:
"Are you clueless when it comes to accepting money from Washington?" And,
"Why do you think that in almost every sphere of endeavor the private sector is better than government? I can’t think of a governor in Florida history who has had so little regard for the institution he heads."
Yep, that was a bit harsh, it is a very funny column. But no, Putney didn't alarm me.
The news that really got me today was the story about the woman in California who cut off her husband's penis. Actually the removal of it didn't bother me so much, not after the 1993 Lorena Bobbitt story. It was that this woman dumped the penis in the garbage disposal and turned it on, that really got to me. My mind replayed the sound of the crunching as I read. I thought to myself, did it sound like an over-large chicken neck mashing up? Or, maybe it was more like the screeching and chopping an ear of corn would produce. Doesn't matter, I hear it all. I am still replaying the melange of sounds and now also visualizing the remains. Woof! When I hear a garbage disposal doing its job I will wince...FOREVER! Thanks lady. Still getting chills writing about it.
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