On the 2012 campaign trail, multimillionaire Republican Mitt Romney told a group of unemployed people, he's unemployed, too. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell has more in the Rewrite.
Rewriting Mitt's unemployment joke
-
Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:13 PM EDT
Leave a Comment:
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010
Are there any GOP economic policies that are NOT designed to ship American jobs abroad?
Budget deficits: Soaks up dollars sent abroad to import stuff while displacing investment in American factories.
Shifting the tax burden away from those who can afford to invest abroad towards those who would work here to make American labor less competitive.
Cutting health care to make American workers less able to work.
"Free trade": Well duh.
So yes, the GOP agenda is all jobs, just not here.
June 16, 2011
Maybe We Need to Take a Different Road
Approaching the one-year anniversary of his ill-fated "Recovery Summer" (June 17th), President Obama is spending this summer trying to convince the American people that 28 consecutive months of unemployment above 8 percent is just a "bump on the road to recovery." But American families realize that the so-called "bump" is actually a mountain of constraint put in place by failed Democrat policies and empty promises.
In 2009, the Obama administration promised that if the Democrats borrowed $1.16 trillion to "stimulate" the economy, the unemployment rate would not exceed 8 percent. Democrats then promised that the government takeover of healthcare would create 4 million jobs—400,000 jobs "almost immediately." Democrats even promised that "welfare" checks were a surefire way to juice the economy.
It does not take heavy econometric analysis to determine the net effect of these policies—they have failed. Economic growth was recently reported at an anemic rate of 1.8 percent for the first quarter. The unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent, the highest level since December 2010. The government takeover of health care is proving to be an unpopular job-destroyer. And there are approximately 45 million Americans receiving food stamps. In fact, there is no stronger indictment of "Obamanomics" than the millions of Americans still out of work or struggling to make ends meet two years into the current recovery.
So we must reverse course from Obama.
Okay, he's pushed the lowest taxes for many decades. Reverse ALL of the Bush/Obama tax cuts and return to Clinton tax levels. Better yet, just let them all expire next year.
Misery index hits new high
Feeling good about the economy?
Let's face it, probably not. The misery index – the sum of the unemployment and consumer price inflation rates – hit a 28-year high last month, notes Paul Dales of Capital Economics.
Headed higher?
At a recent 12.7, the misery index is at its highest level since 1983, when Ronald Reagan was president and the great bull markets in stocks and bonds were in their infancy. Yet as always, it's worth recalling that things can be (and have been) worse.
The 1983 peak was 14.1, which looks terrifyingly high now but at the time was the lowest reading in five years.
This is worth bearing in mind for those who drone on endlessly about "jobless stagflation." Yes, 9.1% joblessness and 3.6% inflation are both bad news. But hey, when Reagan beat Jimmy Carter in the November 1980 election, unemployment was 7.5% and inflation was, um, 12.7%, for a nifty misery score above 20.
That, fortunately, was the last time we reached that exalted level. It is certainly a stretch to say today's policymakers are nailing it, but it's equally hard to believe anyone can look at the data from the 1970s and claim what we have now is stagflation
ANOTHER OFFICIAL FAMILY VACATION FOR THE OBAMA FAMILY
First lady Michelle Obama's official visit to South Africa and Botswana next week will focus on engaging African youth and paying tribute to the cultural heritage and political struggles of both countries.
Her schedule includes a hearty mix of public events, visits with local consulate officials and tourism, and The Washington Post will be on the ground with her to provide you live coverage.
Obama will be accompanied by her daughters, Malia and Sasha, her mother, Marian Robinson, and her niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson, on the five-day goodwill tour that will take her from a meeting with former South African President Nelson Mandela's wife to a safari in a Botswana game resort.
"Oh no! People on vacation, how un-American! If we are to compete with China, surely we should all work 12 hours shifts for 30 cents per hour in dangerous conditions" says the person with stupid, intellectually-conservative ideas.
TobySauders that Bagger is on a vacation himself... of a sort. He has left the Fox Snooze discussion boards to regale us with his rote copying and pasting of talking points about Obama. Well, I imagine it would get a bit boring posting and reading one post as insane as the next one especially when they all copy and paste the same crap. I mean where is the fun in that right! Perhaps it is part of their Bagger indoctrination to proselytize to us in the hopes of recruiting one of us into their Bagger cult. I say we slam the door and pretend not be home.
Maybe you'll answer my question this time PW..Or not as usual...Which president set the record for most vacation days away from the white house? (499)
HA HA If pw can't find it from foxnews site to paste in it will not show up here. Ask a foxnews loyalist if they even know who David Vitter is & they say "never heard of him"
This is another example of the consistantly outstanding rewrite segments provided by Lawrence and The Last Word. Each segment is, in many ways, the highlight of the day's mental thearpy for the Progressive's soul. If not, then surely it is the clearest application of common sense to a key issue of the day. Whatever approach that the viewer wishes to take the rewrite, it is true journalism at its' best.
Thank you!
Dear Lawrence, Great Re-Write!
Thanks, 37 Ways
No bold-faced posts get read. None. Waste of time.
Great re-write.
Also loved the shot at Trump. Man Lawrence keeps nailing him even with just a sentence, talking about something else.
Get facts right people ! US economy HAS created jobs last many months. no Not enough as yet. Bush - GOP and their huge unfunded corp cuts eliminated jobs / sent them overseas with big fat tax cuts to boot. 2 1/2 yrs is NOT enough to UNDO 29 yrs of 1981 Reaganomics-Bush 1-2 Cheney crash - GOP Bush fat cat policies, con judges, Bush Hidden war debt, massive corp cuts, loopholes, OIL subsides, 2 long unpaid for wars- all dumped on Obama . GOP vowed to deny him a 2 nd term & cause Obama's Waterloo . That's just what GOP is doing with their daily lies, stalls, blocking & filibusters.
Taking office after Reagan era tax cuts and deregulation have been going for decades is bound to come with some baggage my bold typing, confused cousin.
Why is the GOP participating in american presidential elections? They should take part in chinese presidential elections, since they ship jobs to China and invest their non-taxed profits in China. The rest of US would be better off without them. They also should send their children to chinese private schols. The pollution in China would suit them too, since they do not believe in things like CO2 emissions and climate change.
Oh, but wait...what about healthcare? What kind of healthcare do the Chinese have? If it's universal, I don't want to hear it. Let me dream for a while...
Romney can easily blow it off like, "I care about them & humor helps"... the fact that being unemployed was at the butt of the joke does not register in that kind of perverted mind; he believes cult-mythology even more stupid than regular Christianity and with that kind of mental programming confusing the thought process, accusations of piss-ripping on suffering people simple will not be processed. It's fun to try wake people up though! Wooh! As they say, in falsetto.
The Republican created gloom and doom scenario has accomplished exactly what they hoped for. Obama as a failed President. His accomplishments such as the GM and Chrysler bailout that saved thousands of jobs and hundreds of small businesses in related and parts manufacturing are never mentioned. His attempts to regulate Wall Street was squashed by the GOP House, the oil subsidies are still around, thanks to the House defeat, and the insurance companies all waiting for Obama health care to fall on its face, so they can cash in on the windfall. All the time wasted on the Weiner story when governing was put aside, and the attention diverted away from Scharzenegger, Vitter, Ensign and Sanford scandals, that diverted public attention from the destruction the new repub governors and their attacks on the poor and working class of our country. Food programs cut for poor Women, Infants and Children,WIC, the destruction of unions and collective bargaining, laying off teachers, cops and fire fighters. Why doesn't the Republican leadership mention these disasters they have created. I hope the American voter is not that dumb to believe the crap the GOP is tossing around. Has Grover Norquist met his 'waterloo'?
Cheers to Mitt staying unemployed
Silly teabaggers never can quite get facts correct, Obama will be employed in 2012
bush took office in 2001-during his 8 years in office about 3 million jobs were created (over 8 years). compare that to his predecessor bill clinton who created 23 million jobs during his presidency. H. W. bush created 2.4 million jobs during the 4 years he was in office.
W. bush is the worst president in history, recent history at least. we will feel the affects of his poor judgement for years to come.
if the results were not so disastrous, i would say, "what a joke bush turned out to be". i wish we could all laugh at the deficit, the economy, the job loss.
So, why is anyone surprised about his poor taste. This is the same man that referred to the single adults in his stake as "Quitters and losers" Nice guy.
Let's all get out and vote and make sure Romney (or whatever Republican gets nominated) stays unemployed!
This is the guy who said no to bailing out the auto industry.
Clinton benifited from the Dot com boom.
Clinton benifited from the Dot com boom.
Would you be saying the same thing if GHW Bush had been re-elected?
Doubtful as ghwbush like the rest of them do not believe in science & tech
Why do humans gather together living in a group? Why not live alone with freedom to essentially conduct ones life as one pleases? Long ago tribes formed knowing survival for all residents became a better opportunity because diverse skills, shared labor, and social entertainment allowed all a better quality of life, but primarily due to the need to fight off aggressive other tribes. As with most societies, we Americans formed a union and established defined borders against all other countries and threats. By doing so we ratified a government structure enshrined in The Constitution, but why? Our country formed arguably the first modern ‘tribe’ without a single ruling chief, king, or dictator, but agreed to allow representatives, an executive (similar to a city manager), and a panel of judges to decide the legality of some decisions to rule our community, but again; why?
Someone once wrote, “Why do people with the least influence try to influence the most?” Although many Americans incorrectly believe our Government represents the ‘peoples will’, and its political direction is influenced by representatives duly elected to office, our basic human nature and American culture prevents such an idealistic belief becoming a reality not to mention also our prohibitive electoral system. Our Capitalist culture combined with human nature’s need to survive makes fair and balanced representations impossible because the strongest influences are made with money or the fear of one’s survival is at risk allowing only a few (rich with money or jobs) to influence Government the most—rather than the majority. Take these two greatest influences and combine them with the fact our elected officials only pledge loyalty to Government instead of their citizenry and you have our current political landscape that arguably began with President “Stonewall” Jackson’s policy, “To the spoils goes the victor.” This type of government is nothing new to political professionals, politicians, and some discerning citizens, but the ‘masses’ foolishly believed a change took place upon President Obama’s election. Granted this election of a non-white President raised hopes that citizens would be given more ‘benefits’, but the reaction from professionals embedded in such a powerful instrument as our Government dispelled any illusions as to who was truly in charge. Regardless—Democrat or Republicans—which Party controls this instrument, their true business is to perpetuate The United States of America government structure and conduct the work for those with the greatest influence—like lobbyists or media frenzy.
Let us go back to the original question of why. Why do we humans gather together to live in a community? Mostly for better survival tactics, but once that need is resolved we wish for such luxuries like betterment for our offspring and loved ones; better quality of life; evolve ourselves into intelligent beings; etc. eventually liking our friends and what we create ultimately developing a pride of humanity itself spreading over our planet. When a few members endanger this community we tend to expel or suppress them, but what happens when these few are our leaders; plus our Constitution protects their right to dominate? We must all admit that money influences our politicians, and given the fact only a few possess such funds to make impacts on Government leaders, how can the disillusioned majority make their influences felt? A large financial management company once wrote a report explaining to the richest that they essentially controlled enough money to influence our country’s direction, but the only factor that jeopardizes this dominance was the sheer numbers of poor humanity with possible mass revolts—as history repeatedly reenacts. Are we Americans at this crossroads in our history; are we ready to revolt? Revolution need not be violent as the word implies, but peaceful ones are well documented as reminded from Gandhi’s revolution; Philippine’s People Power; etc. A non-violent revolution could be as simple as an amendment to our Constitution as CNN suggested or voting as Candidate Obama admitted during his victory speech. From listening to pissed off Tea Party members; Republicans; Democrats; and us community members, it sounds like the common theme among this community; this community of proud Americans; this community of bankrupted, precious humanity wants a change. We elected an executive to make that change, but were our votes effective? The real question—who will influence our Government’s direction—is the correct one for us all living in this modern, high tech community; not jobs (extortion); not national debt (misdirection); or any other delaying tactic the real influences of our community wish us to focus our emotions—therefore let us focus with our intelligence. Change only comes with results; change to who controls the omnipotent entity, the United States Government—we the People or the few with real influence.
Everyone knows the saying, "If it is not broke, don't fix it." In this case, "If it's broke, fix the damn thing." sounds like a better saying. Are we able to fix our broken Government; can we re-define why our community who made these United States of America; do we have the courage to ignore our 'bosses', and even the playing field; can we vote for true change?