It's not "class warfare," it's Christianity

Part of the way we got here is by Christian conservatives ignoring a lot of what the Bible says on wealth and poverty, and being highly selective in what they call “biblical.” In all these reference to the “Bible,” the self-styled Christian capitalists don’t ever seem to recall that in the Book of Acts, the early disciples “shared all things in common.” As I wrote for On Faith, the early church is Glenn Beck’s worst nightmare because it was socialist.

This is what the Bible actually says about the economic practices of Jesus’ followers: “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common… There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.” Acts 4:32-35.

Amen and amen.

Republican Can't Afford New Taxes

Watch the video, and then I’ll break down the numbers.

John Fleming’s Subway and UPS franchises bring in about 6.3 million a year. Net income is $600,000, a rough profit of 10%. Great, awesome.

Here’s the good part, he has to “feed his family,” and $400,000 is left over. So if you do the math, he pays himself $200,000. The national median for household incomes in the U.S. is $44,389. So this guy is paying himself about 5x the national average.

He defends all this because he’s a “job creator.” Ok. So what. There’s still no excuse for the corporate pigs controlling Congress.

Update: He’s also paying his employees an awesome amount of money.

The TSA protects! It saves lives! It ships oxycodone!

Can we get rid of this worthless institution now?

Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

Every American should read this. The public outcry should be epic.

The Terrorists Win.

What you should have learned Senior year.

The Oatmeal imparts his wisdom once again.

"Trickle-down economics" is wrong

Look back over the last hundred years and you’ll see the pattern. During periods when the very rich took home a much smaller proportion of total income — as in the Great Prosperity between 1947 and 1977 — the nation as a whole grew faster and median wages surged. We created a virtuous cycle in which an ever growing middle class had the ability to consume more goods and services, which created more and better jobs, thereby stoking demand. The rising tide did in fact lift all boats.

During periods when the very rich took home a larger proportion — as between 1918 and 1933, and in the Great Regression from 1981 to the present day — growth slowed, median wages stagnated and we suffered giant downturns. It’s no mere coincidence that over the last century the top earners’ share of the nation’s total income peaked in 1928 and 2007 — the two years just preceding the biggest downturns.

The data opposes the trickle-down idea. We need to lift the middle class by any means necessary. Check out the infographic that accompanies this article.

TSA Security Theater

The video is spot on.