Dialogue With A Friend

In a pure-hearted effort to be encouraging, a friend shared with me some thoughts as follows:

Someone Greater

There’s a battle happening all around us—a battle for your heart, your mind, and your soul. A battle that’s not only physical, but also spiritual. A battle with literal enemies who impact the seen and unseen world.

John wrote:

“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”
1 John 4:4 NLT

Yes, we are in a real battle.
Yes, we have a real enemy.
Yes, the kingdom of darkness is constantly fighting against the kingdom of light.

But for those who are trusting in the finished work of Christ, greater is the One living inside of us than the one who is living in this world.

We have a real Savior.
This story isn’t close to over.
The kingdom of darkness will never prevail against the kingdom of light.

Our enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. To pervert, manipulate, and confuse, distract, divide, and disable.

But God is greater than the doubts that clutter your mind, the enemies that frustrate your plans, the heart-wrenching and even soul-crushing situation that’s currently consuming your thoughts.

You can fight from a place of victory because the battle has already been won.

Jesus has already conquered death. And now, while we wait for others to come to salvation and for God to bring all things to completion under Christ’s authority, we can fight with a confident hope.

There’s a battle happening all around us—a battle for your heart, for your mind, for your soul. But greater is the One living inside of you than the one who is living in this world.

The gesture was appreciated, and accepted in the milieu in which it was given. After all, that’s what friends do: They love one another, encourage, and help one another as an expression of that love.

None of that message was alien to me, and there have been seemingly countless times in which I have heard, or read such a message, using those exact terms, phrases, and expressions.

And, as friends do, a response was crafted as follows:

Have you ever heard of the now-defunct comic strip by Walt Kelly called Pogo? It was syndicated from 1948-75, set in Georgia’s portion of the Okefenokee Swamp, and was primarily political satire, but included comedic social commentary, as well.

If not, don’t worry; I’m about to succinctly describe one frame.

The protagonist, a possum, for whom the strip was named, makes a remark saying.

Research: Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine MORE EFFECTIVE Than Estimated

Scientists and researchers have released their findings of the effectiveness of Modern’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Initial scientific estimates were that the vaccine would have an effectiveness of 68.5%. But after the lengthy process of laboratory analysis of large groups of participants, scientists found that the vaccine is 96.1% effective after both doses have been given. And, only about one-half of one percent of the recipients had any serious side effects – a phenomenally low rate.

The long-awaited results of an immunity effectiveness study of Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine have been released.

And, there’s GREAT NEWS!

In part, laboratory test findings of  30,415 individuals who participated in the study from July 27, 2020 to October 23, 2020, have shown that the Vaccine is

MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED!

Sneak Preview

The paper entitled “Immune Correlates Analysis of the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Trial” – on the preprint server (a “sneak preview” before being officially published in a scientific journal) – may be found here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.09.21261290v1

Pertinent excerpts in red from the paper follow. 

Effectiveness First Estimated At 94%

Background — In the Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) trial, estimated mRNA-1273 vaccine efficacy against coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was 94%. SARS-CoV-2 antibody measurements were assessed as correlates of COVID-19 risk and as correlates of protection.

How do we identify correlates of protection?

• “Correlates of protection are generally identified by comparing the immune response of those protected by the vaccine and so called ‘breakthrough cases’, where clinical disease manifests despite prior vaccination. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the numerous vaccines developed have proven very effective with low incidences of breakthrough cases making the identification of potential correlates of protection a slow process. As a result, comparisons with previously published data relating to both natural infection and vaccine studies have been drawn.”

Blood Levels Checked 3 Times

Methods — Through case-cohort sampling, participants were selected for measurement of four serum antibody markers at Day 1 (first dose), Day 29 (second dose), and Day 57: IgG binding antibodies (bAbs) to Spike, bAbs to Spike receptor-binding domain (RBD), and 50% and 80% inhibitory dilution pseudovirus neutralizing antibody titers calibrated to the WHO International Standard (cID50 and cID80). Participants with no evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. Cox regression assessed in vaccine recipients the association of each Day 29 or 57 serologic marker with COVID-19 through 126 or 100 days of follow-up, respectively, adjusting for risk factors.

Neutralizing Antibody Levels Highly Predictive Of Immune Protection

• Vaccine 96.1% Effective
• Vaccine EXTREMELY Safe — under ½ of 1% had serious side effects

Results — Day 57 Spike IgG, RBD IgG, cID50, and cID80 neutralization levels were each inversely correlated with risk of COVID-19: hazard ratios 0.66 (95% CI 0.50, 0.88; p=0.005); 0.57 (0.40, 0.82; p=0.002); 0.41 (0.26, 0.65; p<0.001); 0.35 (0.20, 0.60; p<0.001) per 10-fold increase in marker level, respectively, multiplicity adjusted P-values 0.003-0.010. Results were similar for Day 29 markers (multiplicity adjusted P-values <0.001-0.003). For vaccine recipients with Day 57 reciprocal cID50 neutralization titers that were undetectable (<2.42), 100, or 1000, respectively, cumulative incidence of COVID-19 through 100 days post Day 57 was 0.030 (0.010, 0.093), 0.0056 (0.0039, 0.0080), and 0.0023 (0.0013, 0.0036). For vaccine recipients at these titer levels, respectively, vaccine efficacy was 50.8% (−51.2, 83.0%), 90.7% (86.7, 93.6%), and 96.1% (94.0, 97.8%). Causal mediation analysis estimated that the proportion of vaccine efficacy mediated through Day 29 cID50 titer was 68.5% (58.5, 78.4%).

 

See also:

Antibody Levels Help Predict Immunity After A COVID Shot 

: Shots – Health News 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/23/1029827996/new-evidence-points-to-antibodies-as-a-reliable-indicator-of-vaccine-protection

 

Terms to help understanding:

• cID – Culture Infective Dose, the amount of an infective agent which will produce infection in 50% of the cultures

• CI – Confidence Interval, statistical term indicating a range of values, and the probability at which a certain value will be found in that range

• IgG – Immunoglobulin G, also known as antibodies, a protein component of blood & body fluids, produced by immune response cells called plasma cells, is a defensive response to bacteria, viruses and exposure to other harmful antigens to prevent infection; is the most common type of antibody; IgA (15%), IgD, IgE, IgG (70-80%), and IgM are the types; each one has a different role; IgM responds first, increases, then gives way to IgG; IgA is found in tears, saliva, gastric secretions, breast milk, protects mucosal areas, including sinuses & lungs; IgD role not completely understood, not typically measured; IgE associated w allergies, allergic diseases, parasitic infections. The body has a “catalog” of IgG antibodies that can be rapidly reproduced whenever it’s exposed to the same antigen.

• mRNA-1273 – scientific “shorthand” for Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

• titer – a lab test measuring the concentration of any particular substance, such as antibodies, in a given volume of fluid (blood); used to determine immunity

• inverse correlation – a mathematical relationship between two things, in which when one is high, the other is low, and vice versa

• efficacy – the ability to produce desired results, as “effectiveness,” i.e., does it work?

• hazard ratio – the chance of an event occurring in the treatment, or control, group of a study

• immune correlates – a shortened form of “immune correlates of protection,” refers to immunity, asks the question “has immunity been obtained?” and is determined by a measurable immune response to a vaccine, statistically proven to protect against a particular disease

• serologic marker – refers to serum, the non-cellular component of blood, which includes antigens, antibodies, etc.; a measurement of findings associated with disease, or treatment

• SARS-CoV-2 – Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome COronaVirus 2, the scientific name of the pathogenic (disease causing) virus that causes COVID-19

• Cox regression – statistical term named for prominent British statistician Sir David Cox (b.1924), for a predictive model which determines the time is takes for a specific event to happen

• causal mediation analysis – mathematical test determining: 1.) Total effect of X on Y; 2.) Relationship between X and M; 3.) Relationship between M and Y, controlling for X, and; 4.) Determining if M is a full, or partial mediator. Mediation is the process through which an exposure causes disease.

Analysis: Trump’s Georgia Phone Call Word Count

When analyzing language, we’re told that the number of times that a word is mentioned often indicates its importance. Samuel Johnson expressed it this way in Rambler #2 (March 24, 1750) by writing that, “Men more frequently require to be reminded, than informed.”

It should also be borne in mind that sometimes, when making a request, or even in casual conversation, per se, language is sometimes “coded,” meaning that one word stands for, and substitutes for another idea, or thought. Consider the 2004 book “I Heard You Paint Houses”: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran & the Inside Story of The Mafia, The Teamsters & the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa” which became a motion picture entitled “The Irishman,” directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Romano, among others.

The sentence “I heard you paint houses” was euphemistic (coded) language meaning to murder someone, that the person speaking the sentence was inquiring with the listener if the listener was a “hit man,” or murderer for hire, and obliquely, that the speaker wanted someone killed.

Trump’s beverage of choice is Diet Coke. It doesn’t seem to be working.

So, in the same way, when Trump speaks, he only barely hides his intentions. At least that’s the case in this example, though there are others, such as Trump’s now-infamous call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for which Trump was indicted (impeached), when he said in part,

“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. … The other thing, There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me.” 

While the following list is neither the entire, nor complete list, it is a listing of the words that are germane to the topic of the phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State as it pertains to the November General Election in which Trump lost to Biden in that state, for which Trump sought illegal relief from the Secretary of State.

Trump and his hirelings have

Who Votes? Who Says They Do And Don’t? Are They Trump Voters?

The mythical Trump voter, the ones who don’t regularly show up to vote at elections, are often cited as the ones who helped put Trump over the top in the 2016 General Election.

Also sometimes also called “secret,” “hidden” or “shy” Trump voters,” they’re often identified demographically as being White, largely middle-to-lower class, with only a high school education, or less.

Before the November 2016 General Election, in March that same year, the Pew Research Center did some investigation on such a matter – the occasional voters, sometimes also known as those individuals who say they voted, but didn’t – long before it was “a thing.” Here’s what they found: “16% of those who say they “definitely voted” in the 2014 midterm election have no record of voting in commercially available national voter files.”

Their work was definitely cut out for them, because as they acknowledged, “while the presence of a record of voting almost certainly means that a person voted, the absence of a record doesn’t necessarily mean they did not.” In other words, a person could be registered to vote, but for one reason or another, they may not have exercised their right to vote, or, a record of their participation in the election is not available. In election parlance, that’s called a voting mismatch – the uncertainty of knowing whether someone registered to vote did, or did not vote.

“Respondents who say they turned out to vote in a particular election is often far greater than the proportion of the population who turned out according to official turnout tallies,” and “one-size-does-not-fit-all when it comes to the best way to validate registration and turnout across U.S. states.”

There are numerous reasons why

I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World) – A Timeless Classic

I don’t always think about politics.

Sometimes, I think about music.

Or, more accurately, I sing, or hum a few lines of a song which melody happens to pop in my head.

This morning, it was Donald Fagen’s – of Steely Dan renown – tune known as “What A Beautiful World,” which is properly titled as “I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World).”

Released as a single on his first solo album “The Nightfly” which was certified Gold, and then Platinum by the RIAA based upon sales volume in 1982, and 2001 respectively, the single never reached above 8th position on Billboard’s U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, while on Canada’s RPM Contemporary Adult chart, it topped out at number 2, both in the 1982-83 time frame.

The tune and melody of the song is its most powerful attribute, while the rhythm and bouncing dotted-eighth syncopation is

Second Democratic Debate, Night 2 Analysis

2nd Democratic Debate, Night 2 – Detroit, MI

Analysis

As was earlier mentioned on The Week website, CNN wasted viewers’ time by taking very nearly 30 minutes before the first question was asked, which was in stark contrast to NBC News’ first question within 60 seconds. And then, after an elaborate opening, they went directly to a commercial break, which was followed by candidates’ opening remarks.

CNN pitted the candidates against each other by baiting. The lead question was directed at Senator Harris which attacked Biden and her M4A (Medicare for All) plan.

The candidates’ positions, for the greatest part, were quite similar, and CNN’s efforts were to attack the presumptive leader, which in that night was Biden.

There were 117 so-called “questions” (opportunities for verbal exchange) lobbed by CNN at the 10 candidates, the first 10 of those 117 are:

1.) Senator Harris, this week you released a new health care plan which would preserve private insurance and take 10 years to phase in. Vice President Biden’s campaign calls your plan, quote, “a have-it-every-which-way approach” and says it’s just part of a confusing pattern of equivocating about your health care stance. What do you say to that?

2.) Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator Harris. Vice President Biden, your response.

3.) Your response, Senator Harris?

4.) Senator Harris, thank you. Vice President Biden, your response?

5.) Thank you, Senator Harris. Mayor de Blasio, let’s bring you in here. What’s your response?

6.) Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Vice President Biden, you just heard Mayor de Blasio. He said in the past that Democrats who wanted to keep the private insurance industry are defending a health care system that is not working. What’s your response?

7.) Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Senator Gillibrand, you support Medicare for All. How do you feel about Senator Harris continuing to call her health proposal Medicare for All, when it includes a far more significant role for private insurance than the bill you co-sponsored?

8.) Thank you, Senator Gillibrand. Senator Harris, your response?

9.) Thank you, Senator Harris. Vice President Biden, your response?

10.) Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you. Senator Booker, let me bring you in here. You say you support Medicare for All. You also say you are not going to pull private health insurance from more than 150 million Americans in exchange for a government plan, but that’s what Medicare for All would do. How do you square that?

Within those opening questions/exchanges, former Vice President Biden was mentioned by CNN 12 times, either by surname, by title, or combination of the two. The runner-up was

2019 Democratic Debate: Night 1

The clear leaders for the first night were Massachusetts United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, and New Jersey United States Senator Cory Booker.

Here’s some analysis.

Historically, Senators have been better poised to win the White House than Representatives, with 16 having become POTUS, while 18 Governors have become POTUS.

The United States Senate website writes this about Senators:
“To date, 16 senators have also served as president of the United States. Three Senators, Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House.”

That’s 16/45, or 35.5%, of all POTUSes who were ever a Senator. And 3/16, or 18.75%, were elected as POTUS directly from the Senate.

The House of Representatives website states this about Representatives who later became POTUS:
“Since 1789, 19 Members of the House have served as President of the United States. Four Members — John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Gerald Ford — were never elected to the Presidency, having succeeded a President who died or resigned. Only Gerald Ford was never successfully elected as either President or Vice President, though he served in both positions.”

For the House, that’s 19/45, or 42.2% who later became POTUS. However, only 1 – James Garfield – ever went directly from the House to the White House, and that’s 1/45, or 2.2%.

Since 1901, the

Trump: Who Voted For, And Supports Him?

Formerly titled, “With Trump WYSIWYG: Who Voted For, And Supports Him?”

African leopard, Panthera pardus pardus, near Lake Panic, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 31 December 2013
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), Derek Keats, https://www.flickr.com/photos/93242958@N00/19448654130M

One either loves, or loathes, Donald Trump.

One does not simply “tolerate” him.

He is a divisive political figure.

He is starkly contrasted to former POTUS George W. Bush, who in a May 6, 1999 interview with David Horowitz of Salon magazine, famously said, “I’m a uniter, not a divider.”

Trump is a divider, not a uniter.

For Trump, e pluribus unum means nothing, even though we are the United States of America.

And for those who voted for him thinking he’d change, that he was merely spouting hollow campaign rhetoric, they might as well have asked a leopard to change it’s spots.

With Trump, WYSIWYG.

Specifically, I mean to refer to him in his executive Presidential capacity.

And yet, strangely enough, he has coalesced support from diverse, divergent sub-groups within, and without the GOP. The importance of that feat cannot, and should not be underestimated, glossed over, or minimized, because understanding it is key to political success, especially for

American Poverty: Where is it, and what does it look like? Is it even what we think it is?

You’ve likely seen a meme floating around referencing how America’s Most Poverty Stricken counties voted Republican.

Yes?

I decided to research the matter to see:
1.) If it was true, and;
2.) Exactly what else I’d find.

While my analysis isn’t fully complete, there are already some early fascinating findings.

Breaking down Poverty into two categories – Per Capita Income (PCI) and Median Household Income (MHI) – has shown “the usual suspects,” but exposed some not-so-usual ones, as well.

For example, we often hear that West Virginia is a very High Poverty state, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Data from the United States Census Bureau (USCB) backs up those claims… yet only to a limited extent.

But, “pockets” of poverty may exist in an otherwise not-so-poor state (and they do), and a state may have a high number of

Thinking about @POTUS @realDonaldTrump? Me too.

Recently, President Trump was criticized – and sued in Federal Court – over one of his first Executive Orders in the first days of his office.

More specifically, it was his Executive Order No. 13767, signed January 25, 2017, and published January 30, 2017, entitled as “BORDER SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IMPROVEMENTS” which has caused a justifiable stir.
–––

Search the historical record of Executive Orders:
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/disposition.html

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Some are all up in arms, again, justifiably so, not merely because of the mass confusion which it has created. In essence, what many have complained about is that many Permanent Resident Aliens (so-called “Green Card” holders) would have been denied re-entry into our United States for a period of 90 days if they were a citizen of, or have visited one of 7 so-called “nations of concern”: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

It should be remembered, however, that the so-called 7 “nations of concern” first began during the Obama administration.

In December 2015, President Obama signed H.R.158, the

Analysis: Alabama Unemployment Higher Than Stated

Alabama Governor Bentley claims he, and his policies – whatever they are (he has none… just look for your self) – have been responsible for declining Alabama Unemployment. Fact is, he’s blowing smoke.

Alabama Governor Bentley claims he, and his policies – whatever they are (he has none… just look for your self) – have been responsible for declining Alabama Unemployment. Fact is, he’s blowing smoke.

Alabama’s Republican Governor Robert Bentley, MD has crowed about “success” in lowering Alabama unemployment during the past 4 years of his term.

However, to be certain, a random statistical examination of the state’s Unemployment rate shows that it is very likely, AT LEAST two points higher than reported.  Here’s how.

Unemployment is calculated as a simple average. Take the number of people working, added into the number of people NOT working, AND who WANT to work, divided by the people who are available to work, gives the unemployment rate.

Here’s how the Bureau of  Labor Statistics defines the parameters of the equation:

What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?

The basic concepts involved in identifying the employed and unemployed are quite simple:
• People with jobs are employed.
• People who are jobless, looking for a job, and available for work are unemployed.
• The labor force is made up of the employed and the unemployed.
• People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.

Simply put, the formula is:

Unemployment Rate =	Unemployed
	Employed + Unemployed

 

However, if you’ve had a college course in Statistics – and most folks in Alabama have not (it’s part of maintaining the policy of “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command”) – then you’d understand that a random sample of the set would show essentially the same results.

And face it… most folks in Alabama DO NOT HAVE A COLLEGE EDUCATION. In fact, according to the Alabama Department of Education, Alabama’s High School Drop Out rate is 28%. Page 2, Frame 2 of the linked document shows the 2010-2011 TOTAL Graduation Rate as 72%.

Face it… ALABAMA IS

Analysis – Examining the Record: Is Alabama Governor Bentley a “Jobs Creator” or a Drag on the State Economy?

When campaigning for the office of Alabama’s Governor, Robert Bentley – a retired dermatologist physician who at the time was an elected representative from Tuscaloosa County – promised if elected governor that, “I will forgo a salary as state representative for the rest of my term and will not accept a salary as Governor until Alabama reaches full employment.”
ref: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/robert_bentley_extends_no-sala.html

When pressed on the matter, he later defined “full employment” as having state unemployment somewhere around 5%. It is a promise to which, as of the date of this entry – 12 April 2014 – he has kept. In other words, Alabama has NOT reached “full employment,” and he has not been paid a salary. He has, however, been compensated for out-of-pocket expenses (the governor’s office has a budget, so why would he personally have any such expenses for work in an official capacity?), though he has received – as legislator, a legally-mandated $1.00 per month salary. Since his election to the governorship, he has not received a salary.

Let’s examine Governor Bentley‘s employment record.

During Governor Robert Bentley’s watch, International Paper – the large paper mill formerly known as Champion Paper, in Courtland, and the largest employer in Lawrence County – closed and cost the area economy & state 1100 jobs. Those jobs were

Global Educational Attainment, 1950-2010

Educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010

Robert Barro, Jong-Wha Lee, 18 May 2010

Empirical investigations of the role of human capital require accurate measures across countries and over time. This column describes a new dataset on educational attainment for 146 countries at 5-year intervals from 1950 to 2010. The new data, freely available online, use more information and better methodology than existing datasets. Among the many new results is that the rate of return to an additional year of schooling on output is quite high – ranging from 5% to 12%.

It is widely accepted that human capital, particularly attained through education, is crucial to economic progress. An increase in the number of well-educated people implies a higher level of labour productivity and a greater ability to absorb advanced technology from developed countries (Acemoglu 2009). Empirical investigations of the role of human capital require accurate and internationally-comparable measures of human capital across countries and over time.

Our earlier studies (1993, 1996, and 2001) constructed measures of educational attainment of the adult population for a broad group of countries. This column introduces a new data set (available at barrolee.com) providing improved estimates for 146 countries at 5-year intervals from 1950 to 2010. The data are

Alabama residents overcharged for electricity by Alabama Power

Despite cheaper production costs, Alabama Power bills higher than Georgia Power

By Ben Raines | braines@al.com
January 20, 2013 at 6:11 AM, updated January 20, 2013 at 8:41 AM

Though it costs less to produce power in Alabama, the state’s residents and businesses pay more for electricity than customers in neighboring Georgia.

The price difference is substantial, according to an AL.com analysis of the annual reports of Alabama Power and Georgia Power, sister companies owned by Southern Co.

Between 2006 and 2011, Alabama Power produced the electricity sold to residential and commercial customers for $1.1 billion less than Georgia Power would have spent to make the same amount of electricity.

But despite that savings, Alabama Power charged its residential and commercial customers $1.5 billion more for electricity than Georgia Power would have charged during the six-year period.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	Grand total
Difference in Alabama’s higher rates versus Georgia Power rates for commercial and residential	$181 million	$279 million	$330 million	$316 million	$377 million	$33 million	$1,517,725,500

Alabama Power executives said that it was

Big Business Profit Model Harms Long Term Profitability

Perhaps the most telling rationale, or motivation for the course upon which corporations have set is explained in this statement by ANDREW SMITHERS: Yes, the current way in which managements are rewarded is perverse from an economic viewpoint. Adam Smith pointed out that some characteristics of human beings such as greed, which are often unpleasant at a personal level, can nonetheless bring social benefits. But this is not necessarily the case under current remuneration systems; greed is increasingly the cause of harm rather than help to the economy.

The long and short of it, is greed. And in that paragraph is the solitary mention of the word or practice.

Philosophically, this time, this period in our nation’s history – and in the history of the world, and in the greater, long term picture of humanity – is yet another prime example, and case in point illustrating why and how the selfishness of greed is unsustainable and genuinely evil.

—

Capital Wins, Labor Loses, But Andrew Smithers Says It Can’t Go On

MAKING SENSE — December 26, 2012 at 4:48 PM EDT

BY: PAUL SOLMAN

Warehouse manager at operations desk on computer. Photo courtesy of John McBride & Company Inc.

Paul Solman: Jon Shayne is not just the world’s No. 1 econo-crooner, belting out economics tunes of his own invention under the stage name Merle Hazard at his own website and for the PBS NewsHour audience on inflation, on the Greek debt crisis, on the euro crisis in general, on too-big-to-fail banks, and most recently, on the fiscal cliff.

No, Shayne/Hazard is no one-trick pony. He is also a noted money manager, recently highlighted by Forbes magazine for his perspicacity in stock-picking. Wrote Forbes: “If you follow the stock market, Jon Shayne is worth a good, long listen. Especially now.”

Having listened to Jon plenty over the past few years, I agree, especially with his emphasis on the increasing share of national income commanded by the owners of capital, in contrast to labor. This angle is the focus of Forbes’ story as well.

So I asked Jon to elaborate for the Making Sen$e audience. He has done so by interviewing the person who inspired his thoughts on the subject, British economist Andrew Smithers, who formerly ran the asset management business of S.G. Warburg, and now

Necessary but Not Sufficient: Why Taxing the Wealthy Can’t Fix the Deficit

NOW OR NEVER | SEPTEMBER 2012

By David Brown, Gabe Horwitz, and David Kendall

In this paper we shatter the myth that taxes on the wealthy can come close to solving our long-term budget problem. We readily acknowledge that raising taxes on top earners is necessary, but it is not sufficient to solve the looming fiscal crisis. And we make clear that if entitlements are left on autopilot, burdensome middle class tax hikes become inevitable.

Even a 50% tax rate on the wealthy can’t fix the deficit.
This is the first in a pair of papers that demonstrate that purely ideological fixes will not sufficiently address our fiscal issues. Our other report, Death by a Thousand Cuts: Why Spending Cuts Alone Won’t Fix the Deficit, proves that a cuts-only strategy cannot solve our budget woes without severely compromising our safety, security, and economic growth. Together, these papers make the case that a big and balanced fiscal package is the preferred way to avoid the fiscal cliff, prevent deficits from exploding in the future, and allow our economy to grow.

To stabilize the debt and create a positive economic climate for U.S. growth, most mainstream economists agree that annual deficits must be reduced to 3% of GDP. The question is: how do we get there?

In order to demonstrate that taxes alone cannot solve our budget woes, we explore three budget scenarios, all of which rely solely on

How Governor Bentley & Alabama’s GOP dominated state legislature raped their “constituency”

Allow me to be more explicitly succinct: Governor Bentley and the GOP led legislature are lying sons-of-bitches who ought to burn in Hades for how they’ve raped and lied to the people of the state of Alabama.

I have only one thing for them: Utter Contempt.

—

The $437 Million Hustle

Published: Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 9:07 AM
Updated: Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 9:12 AM
By George Talbot

Bridget Stafford of Montgomery casts her vote on Amendment 1 at Vaughn Park Church of Christ in Montgomery, Ala., Sept. 18, 2012. (Julie Bennett | al.com)

In honor of the constitutional amendment approved by Alabama voters on Sept. 18, we here at the South Alabama Political Animals Club would like to introduce a new award.

Let’s call it the Karl Rove – James Carville Political Slickum Trophy. The inaugural winners? Gov. Robert Bentley, House Speaker Mike Hubbard and Senate President Del Marsh, who pulled off a political hustle as sharp as anything outside of a Chicago pool hall.

The Republican leaders were in a jam, and got Democratic voters to bail them out. Impossible, you say?

The numbers don’t lie. The amendment, which allows the state to tap into the Alabama Trust Fund to pay for government operating expenses, won by big margins in Democratic precincts, and was soundly rejected in the state’s more conservative corners.

Voters in deeply Republican Baldwin, Cullman, Madison and Shelby counties, for instance, shot down the measure by nearly 2 to 1. But the GOP proposal reaped a bounty of support from Democratic voters in Mobile, Jefferson and Montgomery counties.

The margins were even greater in the Black Belt, Alabama’s last Democratic stronghold, where the amendment rode a wave of “yes” votes in Greene, Perry and Wilcox counties. In Dallas County, it got eight “yes” votes for every one “no.”

How’d that happen?

Supporters of the proposal, organized as the Keep Alabama Working political action committee, raised big money from groups that would have taken a budget hit if the measure had failed – chiefly nursing homes and hospitals.

Much of that money was raised and spent by