There have been dozens of comments about Donna Brazile, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders in the past several hours. This discussion must end, as it distracts us from the real events happening right now in real time that threaten our country and the world and the future of education, which is the purpose of this blog.
Meanwhile, we as a society have a President and a Congress intent on passing a tax bill that will harm most people (except the 1% and corporations), turn the 529 College Savings Plan into K-12 vouchers, and kill the $250 tax credit that teachers take for buying school supplies out of their own pocket. And that’s the least of it. It will also cap deductions of state and local taxes, which will reduce revenues for public schools.
Our president has said publicly that he wishes he could control both the FBI and the Justice Department.
He has threatened to unleash nuclear war on North Korea, which would lead to attacks on South Korea, Japan, and possibly us as well.
Rumors abound that he will fire Robert Mueller to shut down the investigation of his campaign’s possible collusion with Putin and the Kremlin.
Carry on your claims and counterclaims about the 2016 election elsewhere. All such comments will go into moderation as soon as I see them and may never be posted. It is my blog and I say enough is enough. The only person helped by the prolongation of this discussion is Trump.
Right now, please focus on the Tuesday elections, especially in Virginia and New Jersey.
In Virginia, Republican Ed Gillespie has resorted to racist attacks on Ralph Northam.
Please look to saving what we can and building for the future, not wallowing in events that we can argue about endlessly, without any resolution.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Cheers! Too many book deals and not enough focused organizing.
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No more. Comments section closed to rehashing the election.
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Yes, live in the present to protect the future. Learn from the past. Protect the basic values of democracy such as respect for the civil rights of every citizen, a free and sound public education, a secure right to vote, freedom of speech and of the press.
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What a relief! Thank you, Diane.
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I second this!
Enough!
Education is where the focus must remain.
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Yes. I fervently pray that Northam and Murphy and de Blasio win. And win big.
And I hope that we don’t just focus on Trump, but on how the Republican Party is systematically working to disenfranchise voters in states all over this country. It has to stop and be called out.
And finally, does anyone have any opinion on the NY State Constitutional Convention issue? Seems like a con by right wingers but open to hearing other views.
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This was just posted on the official WH email. Of course tRump is in favor of it. He will reap billions in tax savings. Lowering taxes for billionaires and corporations is going to spur a 3% job growth. Look at how well Kansas is doing when taxes were continuously cut.
It’s amazing how a failed state (Kansas) is forgotten when tax breaks for the wealthy is the end all for solving problems the economy is facing.
………………………
“IT’S TAX CUTS, IT’S TAX REFORM… WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TREMENDOUS NUMBERS OF JOBS POURING IN.”
– President Donald J. Trump
This is the tax-cut plan America needs…New York Post
House Republicans just released a tax-cut plan that meets the nation’s needs — and in a less bitterly partisan world would win major Democratic support.
It offers the relief for business and the middle class needed to get the economy roaring, while arguably increasing the progressivity of the individual tax code….
Washington’s hostility to business (in the tax code and otherwise) explains why the nation never saw a single Obama year with 3 percent growth or more, a first for any modern president. Ending that punitive approach is the only way to get a serious boom…
http://nyp.st/2iXzOtb
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I second that emotion!
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Amen!
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Hey, i very much like your blog – but any chance you can change the text so it’s black not grey – always (for me) a bit hard to read.
Again, thanks, and good on you.
Some guy.
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Graham,
I have no control over text color. It is black on my screen.
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Thank goodness I won’t have to talk about the failure of the democrats to make sure education is a major issue any more. My apologies for past transgressions.
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Joe,
The moratorium is about the rehashing of the elections of 2016. We will continue to discuss the horrible policies of the Democratic Party that sacrificed public schools to campaign contributors, the disaster of NCLB and its evil twin RTTT
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Thank you for this important clarification, Diane. You’re terrific.
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Thank you! I just wish our president and his supporters would do the same.
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Right on!
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I saw this post right after spending considerable time writing a thoughtful and informative post to the now closed post. The amount of comments that were made (not including the ones that will never appear, like mine) show that there are still issues that need to be addressed in this country about what the Democratic Party stands for and who it represents. The fact that it is not changing its ways but is continuing on a downward spiral which in the last nine years has lost the White House, the House and Senate, almost 2/3s governorships (almost enough to have a constitutional convention and rewrite the constitution under the direction of the Koch brothers) and state legislatures should be cause for continued discussion not dismissal of the very real issues still raging. People aren’t going to vote, or give money, if they don’t like the candidates or what they represent.
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I enjoyed reading the rehash.
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Kim,
I agree. But the rehashing of the 2016 election produced dozens of repetitive comments that led nowhere.
This is an education Blog.
Today there were some very important posts about AltSchoool, about the University of a Washington, and other topics that were completely overshadowed by recriminations about Hillary or Bernie. Move on. Discuss the Democratic Party and its future.
Right now I would say that both parties are in desperate trouble. The Republicans have become completely subservient to an authoritarian moron. The Democrats have no leaders under the age of 70,and those who aspire to lead are compromised by deals with financiers or tech titans.
Plenty to be said but for now please stop with the reruns of 2016. The only beneficiary is the Big Orange Moron.
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Excellent idea!
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I was fortunate to see Nina Turner speak yesterday, and her advice was to reform and unite, and in that order. The DNC needs to reform and we all need to unite in order to defeat the treasonous neonazi woman haters that currently hold elected office. Things can not continue to operate in the current model or we’ll be in for eight years of this.
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After 8 years of neofascism, the clock will be turned back about 100 years or more, with labor unions illegal, strikes banned, public schools in ruins.
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Es lo que les dije con mi commentario muy tarde en la discusión.
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America First!! None of this ferringer talk!
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Not fair it took a lot for me to go back to 1970 to translate that . Did you you say something wrong . (LOL)
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You wouldn’t be up for running for POTUS, would you? (I’m joking. Mostly.). I feel like you are one of the only sane voices in educational discourse, who talks about children and not just about test scores. And you have a reasonable ego, which isn’t based on what you can do for you, but what you can do for others.
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Diane,
The following should add some smiles when looking at the economy and labor statistics since January.
The unemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 4.1 percent in October, and
the number of unemployed persons decreased by 281,000 to 6.5 million. Since January, the
unemployment rate has declined by 0.7 percentage point, and the number of unemployed
persons has decreased by 1.1 million. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult women (3.6 percent) and
Whites (3.5 percent) declined in October. The jobless rates for adult men (3.8 percent),
teenagers (13.7 percent), Blacks (7.5 percent), Asians (3.1 percent), and Hispanics
(4.8 percent) showed little change.
In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was
little changed at 1.6 million and accounted for 24.8 percent of the unemployed. (See
table A-12.)
The labor force participation rate decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 62.7 percent in
October but has shown little movement on net over the past 12 months. The employment-
population ratio declined by 0.2 percentage point over the month to 60.2 percent, after
increasing by 0.3 percentage point in September. The employment-population ratio is up
by 0.5 percentage point over the year.
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to
as involuntary part-time workers) declined by 369,000 to 4.8 million in October. These
individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time
because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time
jobs. Over the past 12 months, the number of involuntary part-time workers has decreased
by 1.1 million.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 261,000 in October, after changing little
in September (+18,000). Employment in food services and drinking places increased sharply
over the month, mostly offsetting a decline in September that largely reflected the impact
of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. In October, employment also increased in professional and
business services, manufacturing, and health care.
Employment in food services and drinking places rose sharply in October (+89,000),
following a decrease of 98,000 in September when many workers were off payrolls due to
the hurricanes.
Professional and business services added 50,000 jobs in October, about in line with its
average monthly gain over the prior 12 months.
Manufacturing employment rose by 24,000 in October, with job gains in computer and
electronic products (+5,000) and chemicals (+4,000). Employment in fabricated metals
continued to trend up (+4,000). Manufacturing has added 156,000 jobs since a recent
employment low in November 2016.
Health care added 22,000 jobs in October. Employment in ambulatory health care services
continued to trend up over the month (+16,000). Health care has added an average of
24,000 jobs per month thus far in 2017, compared with an average gain of 32,000 per
month in 2016.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $26.53,
were little changed in October (-1 cent), after rising by 12 cents in September.
Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 63 cents, or
2.4 percent.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised up from
+169,000 to +208,000, and the change for September was revised up from -33,000
to +18,000. With these revisions, employment was 90,000 higher than previously
reported.
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Jscheidell,
Trump is still a Moron.
Trump is still Putin’s puppet.
Trump has surrounded himself with rightwing fanatics who want to roll back civil rights and destroy their own agencies.
Nothing you can say will change the fact that this greedy, stupid, sexually rapacious, vulgar man is unfit for the presidency.
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Thank you JS! Thanks to you, I now see the light!
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What’s your point, dude?
If it’s that Obama cleaned up the mess left by Bush, you might be on to something.
If it’s that Trump is somehow responsible for the economic turn-around, then you should go back on the meds.
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I will never say _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ again . So the election is over . But politics is the process that decides how economic benefits are distributed As that education is a part of access to and in itself an economic benefit, it can not be avoided ,as Joe said . Everyday I wake up trying to forget 2016. This Orange talking ass and his phobic sidekick, as well as the rest of the right wing creep show interfere with it .
Did anything happen in 2016 LOL
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Joel, et al
If you have a 401 you should be happy from the right wing creep show and the guy you so lovingly call “Orange talking ass’ compared to the last 8 years of economic growth. Ill add some more GOOD news
Jan 23, 2017, 3:06 pm EDT
10 Companies That Are Bringing Jobs Back to America
U.S. companies are responding to Trump with a series of American job announcements
By BRAD MOON, InvestorPlace Contributor http://bit.ly/2jKcJGt
Over the past several decades, the U.S. has lost millions of high paying manufacturing jobs — 5 million since 2000 alone. Bringing jobs back to America became a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s election campaign, resulting in several high-profile announcements of new U.S. jobs.
President Donald Trump started the trend with Carrier, and we’ve put together a list of 10 companies that are bringing jobs back to America.
There are many factors at play that have contributed to the manufacturing decline. Globalization has seen American companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) outsource virtually all of its manufacturing to Chinese factories. The North America Free Trade agreement (NAFTA), which went into effect in 1994, led to auto makers moving production of some vehicles and components to Mexico or Canada. And the recession that began in 2007 resulted in additional cost cutting by companies, including layoffs and plant closures.
We may have reached a turning point. Regardless of whether President Trump and his economic policies are having an effect or not, the fact is many companies are hiring more American workers.
Here are 10 companies that are bringing jobs back to America.
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Bayer (BAYRY)
According to the Wall Street Journal, representatives from German chemical giant Bayer AG (ADR) (OTCMKTS:BAYRY) met with President-Elect Donald Trump last week.
On the table was Bayer’s planned takeover of Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON).
After the meeting, Bayer representatives announced that as part of their purchase of Monsanto, they were committing to keeping Monsanto’s 9,000 U.S. jobs in the country, plus adding 3,000 new high-tech jobs for American workers.
The promises don’t stop there. In addition, Bayer says it will direct half of a planned $16 billion in agricultural research spending over the next six years to the U.S.
Amazon (AMZN)
put out a press release on Jan. 12 announcing it will be embarking on an ambitious hiring spree.
According to Amazon, it will be creating 100,000 new jobs for American workers over the next 18 months.
More importantly, these are not part-time or casual positions. Amazon says its hiring spree will add 100,000 full-time U.S. jobs, with full benefits. Positions will range from entry-level jobs at Amazon’s fulfillment centers to engineers and software developers, and they will be located all across the country.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) had been planning to build a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico.
Instead, the company announced it was cancelling the Mexican car factory and added that it would invest $700 million to expand its Flat Rock Michigan factory. The money will go toward manufacturing high-tech electric, hybrid and autonomous cars and adds 700 U.S. jobs.
President Trump had singled out the planned new Mexican plant for criticism prior to the election, but Ford says the decision to kill it was based primarily on declining demand for the smaller automobiles that the plant would be produced.
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: IBM (IBM)
One of the most widely recognized names in the technology industry plans on reversing course, hiring a huge number of U.S. workers after years of outsourcing jobs overseas.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) has spent years transitioning its business away from PCs and into IT services. Along the way, it has jettisoned thousands of U.S. workers in favor of hiring support staff based in countries where labor is cheap, such as India.
In May 2016 the company announced another round of U.S. layoffs, described by employees as “massive.”
But by the end of the year IBM’s strategy had changed, in dramatic fashion.
In December, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty announced her company had plans to invest $1 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, and that it will be filling 25,000 new U.S-based positions.
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Walmart (WMT)
The company previously announced a $6.8 billion capital investment plan back in October, but this week — in the spirit of President Donald Trump’s calls to create U.S. jobs — Walmart put out a press release outlining details as part of its “2017 goals for American job growth and community investment.”
Look for Walmart to hire 10,000 new retail employees. In addition, the company estimates that the construction or remodeling of stores, distribution centers and other facilities will support a further 24,000 construction-related jobs.
Top 10 Stocks for 2018
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Sprint (S)
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Sprint (S)
Source: Mike Mozart via Flickr
Sprint Corp (NYSE:S) has been rather vague about the details of its plans, but the company insists that it will be responsible for 5,000 new U.S. jobs.
Sprint made the initial announcement in December. It confirmed that the 5,000 new positions were in addition to 5,000 hires it had announced in April — that earlier deal included the opening of new stores plus a fleet of vehicles for delivering smartphones to customers.
It’s possible that some of these 5,000 positions will work for contractors instead of directly for Sprint, but whoever ultimately signs their paychecks, they will be American workers.
Top 10 Stocks for 2018
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Lockheed Martin (LMT)
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Lockheed Martin (LMT)
Source: Praveer Sharma via Flickr
Count Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) among the companies committing to hiring more American workers.
The CEO of the aerospace and defense contractor met with President Donald Trump last week. After the meeting, Lockheed Martin announced that besides lowering the cost of the F-35 fighter jet, the company will hire an additional 1,800 workers at the Texas plant where the airplane is built.
In addition to the direct hires, Lockheed Martin pointed out the ripple effect that it expects will create “thousands and thousands” of supply chain jobs across the U.S.
Top 10 Stocks for 2018
COMPARE BROKERS
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Hyundai (HYMLF)
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Hyundai (HYMLF)
Source: Nacho via Flickr (Modified)
Yet another auto manufacturer is planning to hire more American workers in the near future, but this one’s a foreign company: Hyundai Motor Co (OTCMKTS:HYMLF).
The South Korean auto maker announced it will boost its spending in the U.S. by 50% over planned levels, spending $3.1 billion over the next five years.
That money will go to retooling Hyundai’s existing U.S. factories and research into high-tech systems such as autonomous vehicles. Hyundai said it is also considering building a new factory specifically to build premium vehicles for the U.S. market.
The company didn’t give specific number for job creation, but with that kind of expenditure — and the possibility of a new factory — it’s definitely going to be more jobs for American workers.
Top 10 Stocks for 2018
COMPARE BROKERS
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: General Motors (GM)
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: General Motors (GM)
Source: William Oliver via Flickr (Modified)
General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) put out a press release touting planned and past investments in its U.S. operations, including an additional $1 billion to spent on manufacturing this year.
GM says the $1 billion will be spent on “multiple new vehicle, advanced technology and component projects” and will result in 1,500 new or retained jobs.
450 of those will move from Mexico to Michigan when GM “insures” pickup and SUV axle production.
Making a point of past investments, GM says it has spent over $21 billion on its U.S. operations since 2009, including $2.9 billion in 2016. Those moves it says have resulted in over 25,000 new U.S. jobs in the past four years — including 6,000 in manufacturing.
There were some stumbling blocks recently — for instance, GM announced the layoffs of over 1,200, people at a Lordstown, Ohio, plant. But GM says ongoing insourcing of its IT needs, engineering streamlining and growth in its financial services division will pay off in an additional 5,000 new U.S. hires over the next several years.
Top 10 Stocks for 2018
COMPARE BROKERS
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Carrier (UTX)
10 Companies That are Bringing Jobs Back to America: Carrier (UTX)
Source: Daniel Åhs Karlsson via Wikipedia (Modified)
Finally, the company that President Donald Trump used as the starting point for his push to begin bringing jobs back to America: Carrier.
A division of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), Carrier announced in February 2016 that it was shuttering a furnace and heating equipment plant in Indianapolis, sending its 1,400 jobs to Mexico. Then campaigning to be the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump seized on the move as being a classic example of free trade agreements costing American workers their jobs.
The situation made even bigger headlines at the end of November when President Trump announced he had reached a deal with Carrier to keep 1,000 of those jobs in Indianapolis.
That’s not quite the same as hiring, but the deal did bring 1,000 jobs back to America and kickstarted a high-profile movement among companies — like Ford and Walmart — that are anxious to be seen as part of the growing movement to create U.S. jobs.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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jschedidell: “President Donald Trump started the trend with Carrier, and we’ve put together a list of 10 companies that are bringing jobs back to America.”
Carrier got a $7 million tax break and originally saved around 700 jobs. After the robotic were installed around 300-400 jobs were kept. What a great dealt that is for the tax payers of Indiana. Our roads are crumbling, schools are underfunded, the air is terribly polluted, many are suffering from opioid abuse, some libraries have closed and now we should rejoice at this big a tax break. It gave Trump a great photo op and some media time to brag. Not much else was accomplished.
If this is an example of the great work that Dump does to bring back jobs, help us all.
…………………………..
Carrier getting $7M in tax breaks from Indiana to keep jobs…The Hill
The company that owns Carrier will receive $7 million worth of tax breaks over 10 years from Indiana to keep 1,000 jobs in the state, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/308276-report-indiana-gives-7-million-in-tax-breaks-to-keep-carrier-jobs
……………………..
Carrier says it will spend millions automating Indiana plant, plans to lay off workers Trump ‘saved’
As part of the deal President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence struck with Carrier, the company has promised to make a $16 million investment in its Indianapolis facility — an investment management plans to use on developing technology that will allow them to replace human workers with robots.
https://thinkprogress.org/carrier-automation-trump-deal-more-layoffs-db2554f46297/
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My god, enough with the cutting and pasting of stuff someone else wrote.
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jscheidell
So at exactly 8:28 AM on Friday morning I tuned from MSNBC, known as the snowflake station. . To CNBC know as the right wing shills who could not see a housing bubble of biblical proportions . Just in time to hear them predicting anywhere between 320,000 and 440,000 jobs for December . 440 was Larry Dumb A$$ Kudlow . Now there was of course to be “a bounce from reconstruction from the 2 Hurricanes” . PR is not counted.
To my great surprise they were all wrong (AGAIN). I then posted this to several Facebook pages
“Joel Herman
November 3 at 9:26am ·
2016: 237, 225, 153, 43, 297, 291 ,176, 249, 124,
2017: 232, 50, 207, 145, 210, 138,208, 18, 261
Numbers don’t lie . It is the “bigliest ” Jobs report ever. Except that if you add the top row and compare to the bottom row . January removed from each . Obama 1Million 795 Thousand
Trump 1 million 469 thousand . Gee Obama created 325 thousand more jobs than the shit bag . ”
So jscheidell
Other than the fact that the labor force shrank by 775,000 workers . Known as the employment of population ratio .EOP . No they did not all retire . Other than wages were stagnant. We are doing just fine. Well not quite troll boy .
The Donald created so far this year an average of 165,444 jobs a month .
“205,300 jobs need to be created every month just to keep up with population” Business insider .
. .Of course the Markets expecting another screwing of the American people with massive tax giveaways to corporations and the wealthy are a little “frothy” (that was Greenspan) . Me I suspect they are being a little bit “Irrationally exuberant” (That was not Greenspan . It was Robert Schiller ,you can ask Greenspan )
No doubt the American people those with paper assets, will use those “animal spirits” to borrow against those assets and the economy will pickup a bit . Till the markets come tumbling down . Because a growing economy that is not built on the foundation of real income growth for workers is not really growing. Family incomes have been in decline while hours worked have increased, since RAYGUN.
I do not need to copy and paste from BLS . I am not on Diane’s blog because of pedagogy . I am here because “IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID” and education’s role in it.
He is still the “biglyest ” Orange talking ass.
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Okay, you made it clear.
Take the meds…..
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thank goodness the “sensible” souls of the democrat party saved them from Ellison…..this was in the New yorker early in 2017……”there is no guarantee that the Democrats will make a strong comeback in the midterm elections of 2018 and the Presidential race in 2020—the real, albeit less glamorous, job of the D.N.C. in the years to come.
Ellison gained an advantage in the race by announcing his candidacy early, in November, but he has faced several obstacles in the months since: recurring questions about his more radical past; a palpable if rarely articulated uneasiness about his faith; and, perhaps most perplexing, the shadow of Bernie Sanders, whose support accounts for both the initial strength of Ellison’s run and the intensity of the opposition that has gathered against him.
Is that inspiring?
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Joe, you skirted to the edge. Stop it.
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Ok. I thought I was staying in 2017….I am less sure about Ellison on charters—he seems to have changed his mind in some ways. Still, better late than not at all.
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“Rehashing Hash”
The thing about rehashing:
It’s always just a hash
And efforts at refash’ning
‘Twill never show panache
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Will never show panache
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Agree with Diane and SDP
My mom’s corned beef hash is great reheated,
But elections best left not retweeted,
Reheated, or rehashed, but just left cold.
The world if Gore had not been defeated,
Warring in Iraq not been repeated,
NCLB not left schools depleted,
Duncan and DeVos never been seated…
Could’a, would’a, should’a — It just gets old.
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I just ordered Chris Matthews’ new biography of Robert Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy seemed to have been transformed by his brother’s tragic death. He was especially sensitive to issues of race in this country. I have sometimes wondered what would have changed if he had lived and been elected.
But as LCT says, could’a, would’a, should’a.
As humans, it is hard not to try to imagine a different past. But it doesn’t change. It is what it is.
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The world if Hubert Humphrey hadn’t been defeated! Third Party candidate George Wallace got 13% of the vote. Nixon got 43.4% to Humphrey’s 42.7%.
Would the US have universal Medicare, free college, and look a lot more like England now?
Could’a, would’a, should’a….
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“🌽 🐝 f Hash”
My 🐝 f is with election
And never with the hash
When heated, it’s perfection
But former’s for the trash
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No more talk about the 2016 election also means no more posts about the Russian meddling that you seem so fond of posting regularly, right?
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I agree!!!!
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I agree!!!!
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I agree 100%! We have BIGGER fish to FRY!
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Good call
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Far too succinct. Show off!
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Thank you!
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I hereby call an end to the rehashing of the Big Bang on this blog and everywhere else in the universe.
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SDP,
The discussion about the election will never end. I won’t let it consume the Blog and crowd out the purpose of the Blog.
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Nor will the discussion of the Big Bang end.
Enuff I say!
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Speaking of Big Bangs –
When the news of Franco’s death spread across Madrid, people began hearing what they feared were gunshots, but they soon realized it was the sound of corks popping from bottles of Spanish Cava, which had been stored in refrigerators in anticipation of the moment.
I put mine in the fridge on last Sunday, Intictmas Eve. 🍾
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Technically, I think that would be a “Big Pop”
So carry on.
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Dmitri, my Russian control agent, has asked me to point out that discussions of the 2016 presidential campaign, specifically in reference to the behavior of the Clinton-Obama-Neoliberal wing of the party, are quite relevant to current and prospective politics, the future of the Democratic Party, and the crisis we find ourselves in.
Ignoring/suppressing it, especially since, as Brazile’s memoir demonstrates, there are severe internal conflicts and contradictions in the Party that must be thrashed out, helps no one, except the looters who now control the country.
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Michael, you can discuss it as much as you want, but the conversation and the vitriol were submerging the Blog, and it was time to call a halt. Discuss it on other blogs.
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So be it, Diane, it’s your house.
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Diane,
Does your request regarding the vitriol include the avoidance by some who spend an inordinate amount of time name calling?
Just asking
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Yes, it does. I try to tone down vitriol but I can’t censor every comment. The best I can do is to block certain curse words and occasionally put people in moderation so I can review their comments before posting.
Jscheidell, if you encounter vitriol, it is because your insistence that climate change is a hoax is so offensive to science and common sense that it turns up the heat. Also, your affection and high regard for the lying buffoon who is president gets people angry. Including me.
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Diane,
In reply to your note
“if you encounter vitriol, it is because your insistence that climate change is a hoax is so offensive to science and common sense that it turns up the heat. Also, your affection and high regard for the lying buffoon who is president gets people angry. Including me.”
I feel sorry for those in this world that cannot handle difference of opinions/facts on the subjects – If peoples’ opinions and comments are upsetting then think why and consider the idea – if its wrong, hateful or immoral – then discard – debate the heck out of those who hold it rather than pounding them with school yard name calling – but if the comment is true and right then ask how you might deal with it –
I came here for the ed blog comments – I remember a while back you noted that you were deciding if the political end of comments were going to continue – you let it roll on – yes, I am not one who is a “bobble head” – I comment when I feel it is necessary.No, not to change one’s mind – only you or the individual can do that.
I’ve been called a few adjectives, but I enjoy those names – there was one recently “troll boy” – one could take offense to that “boy” as a racial put down –
Do we have to watch out for those neighbors who would tackle us while mowing our yards? No wonder we have to have security – even when we play ball…now we can’t go to church, or walk/ride a bike down a street – just because someone gets angry over differences of belief and opinions –
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Is this true?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-sanders-sits-out-a-tight-race-in-virginia-after-his-candidate-falls-short
If so, I just don’t understand how the progressive movement is being led by someone who has sees so little value in public education that he doesn’t realize that Virginia is one of the very last states left where the “ed reformers” have not taken over the entire state and they have a good chance of doing so in this election.
How do we get progressive leaders to place any REAL value in public education?
It is fine to give up on the Dems if you self-identify as a progressive and think the Dems are corrupt. But if the progressives have also abandoned public education as something to care about or work to support, then we have utterly failed to get our message across.
The forces that support public education — and I include myself — are obviously doing something terribly wrong and misguided. Even the progressives have decided that our concerns just aren’t very important.
I understand why some co-opted Dems have abandoned public education.
But I do not understand why the leaders of the progressive movement have also done so.
Maybe someone can explain it to me,
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Joel,
The info was cut and pasted so that you would avoid accusing me of conjuring up “fake” info – and getting it from FOX – so if you have a problem – go dive into the Bureau of Labor Statistics – Your TV choices might be your problem.
I bet they didn’t tell you about the $46% bracket….
There is a hidden 46% tax bracket for some Americans — 46%. It’s a rate of 46% on a limited amount of income – stemming from a provision intended to help the government recover some of the benefits that lower-income taxpayers enjoy. So this new rate of 46% is there to help the government pay for tax cuts for everybody else. So the rich, in addition to not getting any tax relief — unless you want to say the death tax kicking in four years from now is tax relief. The rich are not getting a rate reduction, and in fact are having a rate increase on a portion of their income that equals a 46% tax rate, all to pay for the tax cuts elsewhere in the bill!
Another point regarding the Repubs tax bill – although they are touting new bracket percentages – those who fear the rich are getting some major deal might want to take a closer look – the top1% – On the first $90,000 you earn, the tax rate’s 12%. The next tax bracket is 25%. And that is up to $260,000 a year. So if you make $250,000, you’ll be taxed at 12% on the first $90,000 and then 25% on the remaining amount getting you to 260.
The next bracket is 35%. There currently is a 35% bracket now. But in the new 35% bracket all income up to $1 million between $260,000 and one million will be taxed at 35%. So here’s the progression. If you make, let’s say, a million dollars. Use the number. The first $90,000 of it taxed at 12%. The next $150,000 would be taxed at 25%. And then from $261,000 up to one million will be taxed at 35%. These rates replace 35, 33, 28, 25, 15, and 10. The rates now are 12, 25, and 35. The 39.6% rate will remain, and that rate is for all income over $1 million.
Also – another twist in anguish for the Blues – Taxpayers in seven high-tax states deduct 7.6% of their income in state and local taxes. For taxpayers in other states, the percent of income deducted averages around 4.2%. Unfairness. Why should all of these big blue Democrat taxpayers get a bigger break because they pay more taxes in those states they live in? They elected people that have done that to them.
MORE GOOD NEWS – to the unemployed and those looking for a job don’t care if the company gets a carrot for coming back – they can begin taking care of themselves and families.
Americans will always remember the 44th president: People forced to live on food stamp soared 32% under his watch. In 2009, when he took office, there were 33.5 million people on food stamp benefits; in October 2016, just a few months before he left office, that number had skyrocketed to 44.2 million — a jump of 10.7 million people. Go look at the Supplemental food program for the charts.
The cost of the program to taxpayers rose from $50.3 billion to $66.6 billion. As the unemployment rate dropped (mainly due to Obama officials reducing the number of people considered in the “work force”), millions were forced onto food stamps.
New statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show nearly1.5 million Americans have gotten off the food stamp rolls since President Trump took office in January 2017. That’s a 3.5% drop in less than a year.
They’ve been streaming off the rolls every month.
January to February – 408,956
February to March – 95,152
March to April – 521,295
April to May- 176,527
May to June – 178,648
June to July – 236,417
See the full stats here.
By Zeke Miller and Matt O’Brien | AP November 2
WASHINGTON — A $100 billion semiconductor company based in Singapore will legally relocate its home address to the United States, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.
Broadcom Limited, which manufactures communications chips around the world, said it would relocate its legal address to Delaware once shareholders approve the move, bringing $20 billion in annual revenue back to the U.S. The move will allow Broadcom to avoid a cumbersome federal review process.
The Oval Office announcement was tied to the release of congressional Republicans’ tax reform proposal, which would drastically reduce corporate rates and makes it easier for companies to deduct foreign taxes.
The company credits the GOP plan with making it easier to do business in the U.S. “America is once again the best place to lead a business with a global footprint,” Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said.
That “hope and change” has been replaced by four simple words: “Make America Great Again.”
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And to think the Big Moron accomplished all this without passing a single significant piece of legislation.
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Diane
And when he does can u imagine but i will acknowledge that the 96 cut level for 1 percenters is a possible block since they would be paying more thus investing less
Dems have to stop saying they are getting a major break regarding tax rates
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Explain how well seniors will do under this new ‘tax reform”. Billions will be cut from Medicaid and Medicare and deductions for medical expenses will not be allowed.
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Carol,
The budget – There are no cuts. There might be some genuine cuts at the National Endowment for the Arts, and there might be some serious cuts over at the EPA, but in general there aren’t any real cuts.
There are major reductions in spending, no question about that. But the cuts are nevertheless reductions in the rate of growth.
They are not below-the-line cuts.
Medicare withering on the vine – a Pelosi prop, everybody’s out there promoting single payer and they’re claiming Medicare is withering. Nothing is withering away on the vine. That’s the problem.
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I pray that Democrats take control of the House in 2018 and put a halt to all of the billions in cuts that Trump has proposed.
Not even the GOP House could stomach Trump’s draconian budget cuts.
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New Tax Reform Bill Could Slash Medicare Funds …. Here’s How
By Joan Biddle – November 6, 201704843
On Thursday the House Ways & Means committee released the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) to simplify the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The bill was introduced by Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX), and supported by President Donald Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Paul Ryan’s press release on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act can be found here.
Here are a few things the bill would do:
End the medical expense deduction and other popular tax deductions
Lower mortgage tax breaks
Rewrite income tax brackets
Cut corporate taxes
What about Medicare?
But there’s one more thing the bill could do that would hurt Medicare beneficiaries: it could cut $28 billion from Medicare next year. This is due to a little-known law called “statutory PAYGO.” According to Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post, the law says that “if all the bills passed by the end of the current calendar year have the net effect of increasing deficits, then automatic, immediate, offsetting cuts to certain non-discretionary spending programs –including Medicare—go into effect.” Other non-discretionary programs that could be cut are student loans and farm subsidies.
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And here’s some more I’d like for you to explain. It comes from AFT.
………
We knew the Republican tax plan would be bad, but we didn’t know it would be this bad. Trump and the GOP leadership are making teachers, cops and firefighters—and other union members—pay for the tax giveaways to the rich.
Here are a couple examples of how:
Educators spend thousands out of their own pockets every year on supplies for their classrooms—things like dry erase markers, crayons, tissues, books, and even food and clothing for students who come to school hungry or without a winter coat. A 2013 study found that 99.5 percent of public school educators spent, on average, $945 per year out of their own pockets, and that amount has only increased in a time of underfunding of public education and budget cuts on every level.
This is why the federal tax code has allowed educators to deduct unreimbursed classroom spending up to $250. But the House of Representatives tax plan would eliminate this deduction and use those savings to help reduce corporate taxes by 15 percent.
And the Republicans’ plan doesn’t just target the teacher tax deduction. To give huge tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations, the House proposal also would take away working families’ ability to deduct the costs of higher education and union dues. These are deductions that middle-class families and educators depend on to get by.
Then there’s the elimination of the generations-old state and local tax deduction. This will hurt every community that uses tax dollars to invest in essential services like schools, firefighters, police and sanitation. Several courageous Republican members of Congress are with us on this, but their leadership is not. We cannot let Trump and the GOP leadership reward their wealthy friends and corporations with tax cuts at the expense of educators, first responders and union members—it’s bad for our schools, bad for our communities and bad for a majority of Americans.
In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President
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Carol,
The biggest problem taxpayers confront is the idea that we have to pay for a lot of programs – spending doesn’t seem to be cut – but rather increases…
Yes, we will hear screamers, squealers, squawkers all over the place. That’s why I feel there will be changes. And the Senate is going to work.
My limited understanding on the Blue States – Calif, NJ< NY< Mass, possibly Conn, that have high state taxes, I wonder why the people in those states keep electing the Dems – Where is it written that government cannot get smaller? Where is it written that every year government must spend more?
Of particular concern in New Jersey are proposals to put a cap of $10,000 on the property taxes that can be deducted at the federal level; to eliminate the deduction for state and local income taxes; and to restrict the mortgage interest deduction to loans of $500,000 or less.
You have to be quite wealthy if your home is over 500,000. Another example of the wealthy not getting the usual Dem claim that they are getting a break. People in Florida, people in Texas, people in Kentucky, don’t get this tax break because they don’t pay state and local taxes, so we don’t have a deduction for those anyway.
But why should high-taxed states like New York and California get this break? What that means is, people not getting that deduction are going to pay more in taxes and the governments in those states are going to be collecting less revenue. That might make it incumbent on people that run these blue states to start cutting taxes rather than relying on federal deductibility in order to help them skate by.
Seven high-tax states receive more than 50% of the value of the deduction on federal income tax returns for state and local taxes. They are California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Connecticut, and they are all Democrat blue states. These states get more than half of the value of the deduction.
Why should people around the country be subsidizing rich blue states and big blue state governments? We shouldn’t be! You want to live in a high tax state, pay the freight, or consider getting to gather at rallies , voice your concerns on taxes raised and/or vote the Dems out of office for someone more conservative who is not always digging into your backpacker or pocketbook or manures – what ever.
The changes to deductions would raise more than $1 trillion in additional revenue over 10 years, to help offset the $2 trillion cost of lowering tax rates and doubling the standard deduction.
Nationwide, about one-fifth of all taxpayers claim the state and local tax deduction, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, but the proportion is much higher in New Jersey, where more than one-third claim the deduction, with an average of about $11,000 a year. In value terms, two states — California and New York — account for nearly one-third of the total claimed nationwide.
The House Ways and Means Committee will begin considering and amending the bill on Monday, with the goal of passing it out to the House floor by the end of the week. The Senate is expected to introduce its own version of the bill in a few days.
As a former educator, as well as my wife, the 250 dollar deduction was nice but didn’t cover anywhere near the expense. My thought on the issue of the cut – at some point funding schools appropriately and ensuring sufficient supplies are available needs to be addressed and DO SOMETHING.
I believe with the numbers on the rates the Randi W – should work the numbers again on the rates and brackets – one other interesting little factoid. The Washington Post has come out and has excoriated the Democrats for mischaracterizing this.
Washington Post fact-checker. “In their haste to condemn the GOP tax plan, Democrats have spread far and wide the false claim that families making less than $86,100 on average will face a hefty tax hike. Actually, it’s the opposite.” Maybe Randi got some of her info here?
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In GOP plan, taxes go down for most Americans, but wealthy get the biggest cut from The Washington Post
…The middle of the middle — those making $48,000 to $86,000 — would get an average tax cut of $700 next year, according to TPC. Meanwhile, taxpayers in the top 1 percent (those making more than $730,000) would receive an average cut of $37,000 next year, and the top 0.01 percent (those making more than $3.44 million) would see their after-tax incomes rise by an average of $179,000 in 2018….
According to TPC, the middle class would get a 1.2 percent boost to their after-tax income, while taxpayers in the top 1 percent would get a 2.5 percent boost.
“The largest cuts in terms of dollars and as a percentage of after-tax income would accrue to the higher-income households,” TPC wrote…
The bottom 40 percent would get almost no benefit.
http://wapo.st/2izHhuq?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.8aa2430e56a0
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Carol,
According to POLITICO and other sources : the top 1% won’t see the cut you mentioned
The GOP’s hidden 46% tax bracket
If you’re rich enough, some of your income is taxed at a rate unseen since the ‘80s.
By DANNY VINIK 11/02/2017 06:07 PM EDT
“House Republicans claim the tax plan they introduced Thursday keeps the top individual rate unchanged at 39.6 percent—the level at which it’s been capped for much of the past quarter-century. But a little-noticed provision effectively creates a new band in which income is taxed at over 45 percent.
Thanks to a quirky proposed surcharge, Americans who earn more than $1 million in taxable income would trigger an extra 6 percent tax on the next $200,000 they earn—a complicated change that effectively creates a new, unannounced tax bracket of 45.6 percent.
The new rate stems from a provision in the bill intended to help the government recover, from the very wealthy, some of the benefits that lower-income taxpayers enjoy. Under the House GOP plan, all individuals—no matter whether they earn $35,000, $150,000 or $10 million—would pay the lowest rate, 12 percent, on their first $45,000 in taxable income. That’s a normal feature of current American tax law. But in the new plan, House Republicans want to claw back some of that benefit for individuals who earn more than $1 million, or couples earning more than $1.2 million.
Here’s how it would work: After the first $1 million in taxable income, the government would impose a 6 percent surcharge on every dollar earned, until it made up for the tax benefits that the rich receive from the low tax rate on that first $45,000. That surcharge remains until the government has clawed back the full $12,420, which would occur at about $1.2 million in taxable income. At that point, the surcharge disappears and the top tax rate drops back to 39.6 percent. This type of tax is sometimes called a “bubble tax,” because the marginal tax rate effectively bubbles up for a brief period before falling back to a lower level.
According to POLITICO’s calculation, the surcharge could raise more than $50 billion over a decade—money that will help the GOP meet the $1.5 trillion in increased deficits that their budget allows for and required to balance out tax cuts elsewhere. Balancing out those costs means that the bill can pass through budget reconciliation, and Senate Democrats can’t filibuster the bill.
Whom would it affect? According to the Internal Revenue Service, 438,000 tax filers had more than $1 million in taxable income in 2015, most of whom also make more than $1.2 million—meaning they’d pay the full additional $12,420 in bubble tax.”
To check the state you reside in and how the tax rates and brackets affect you Federal Income Tax Brackets 2017 – Tax-Brackets.org
https://www.tax-brackets.org/federaltaxtable – 59k – Cached – Similar pages
This page has the latest Federal brackets and tax rates, plus a Federal income tax … As a result, almost 46% of Americans owe no income tax today after …
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I favor the Eisenhower tax rate for the top 1%: 91%.
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Diane,
Although the Eisenhower rate given was 91% in checking the records few if any paid that rate and the actual rate was about the same as it is today for them 39%
Typical Dem call – that they don’t pay their fair share – although no one defines what fair share is.
Class devision
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The wealthiest paid 91%.
Are you a billionaire?
Why do you worry about taxes that billionaires pay?
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Diane,
There a good article by Misses that debunks the 90% tax rate myth. The highest tax rate, 90%, only applied to those earning over $3,425,766 (when adjusted for inflation), which was pretty much no one:
In 1958, out of 45.6 million tax filers, only about 10,000 reported incomes subject to the 81% rate or above. This means only .02% of filers had any income taxed at the 81% rate, let alone the 91% rate! (note: the 81% bracket was from $140,000-$400,000)
Reliable data concerning what top income earners actually paid in taxes during the 50’s is hard to come by, but ironically, Thomas Piketty (who is best known as the French economist promoting progressive tax rates) compiled data estimating tax rates in 1960, when the top rate was still 91%. According to his data, the top .01% of income earners paid an effective 31% income tax rate in 1960, compared with a rate of 25% in 2004. While slightly higher, it’s fairly similar considering the huge variation in marginal rates (91% vs 36%). Piketty does claim the rich were more affected by corporate tax rates in the 50’s, as shown on the chart, but the Manhattan Institute has a good rebuttal to that finding in this paper.
Billionaire = I wish – but little more accuracy on the issue
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I would settle for 81% tax rate for the Koch Brothers, the DeVos family, Bill Gates, etc,. But I prefer 91% for billionaires.
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They certainly could easily afford paying 81%. If we had a Congress and president who were interested in Making America Great again, those who are that wealthy would be paying that rate.
It is nonsense to keep taking away from those who are barely making it. I mean cutting Medicare and Medicaid, privatizing Social Security, cutting funding for public schools, taking away the $250 deduction that teachers get for purchasing supplies for their rooms, taking away medical deductions that will impact seniors when most of them are barely surviving, etc., etc., etc.
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Diane,
Sticking to education for a moment – an article from Washington Examiner and student loan issue with tax cuts:
The minute Republican congressional leaders dropped the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last Thursday, the predictable, fright-inducing response rang out from the mountain tops.
The Fairness Project, a liberal outfit, proclaimed in an email: “House Republicans just unveiled their tax overhaul plan, and as expected, it’s full of dangerous reforms that will ONLY benefit the extremely wealthy.” Among the list of several items that will come “at the cost of the hardest-working, lowest-paid” was that it will make “paying back student loans next to impossible.”
Don’t fret over the student loan deduction – millennials will be much better off under tax reform
by Jimmy Sengenberger | Nov 8, 2017, 12:01 AM
They seem to be referencing the TCJA’s provision rescinding the student loan interest deduction. They might also be concerned that the bill declines to restore the recently-expired Tuition and Fees Deduction and eliminates the Lifetime Learning Credit and Hope Scholarship Credit. However, the TCJA does maintain – and even expands – the American Opportunity Tax Credit. Generally-speaking, these are steps in the right direction that will benefit, not harm, Americans of all stripes.
Consider the tax credits and the Tuition and Fees Deduction. First, having multiple tax benefits to choose from is unnecessarily complex and burdensome. Tax deductions and tax credits themselves are inherently costly – that’s why the IRS calls them “tax expenditures” – and are of little to no economic benefit, and they muddy the waters of the tax code.
Since filers can only claim one of these tax benefits, they must compute their income, school expenses and potential tax savings for each to ascertain which offers the greater return. By essentially narrowing the benefits down to one tax credit, the system becomes simpler and more sensible.
Second, the intention of each of these tax benefits was, and remains, to help make it easier for lower-income people to afford college. Unfortunately, it has not been serving this end in the real world. A 2007 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed the behavior of these types of credits. They found that such credits didn’t make it more likely that a student would go to college, but that they primarily helped those who were already likely to attend college. Tuition tax credits offer tax savings only if a student goes to college, which increases demand and boosts college prices. This undermines the very premise behind the tax credit.
Given these factors, it makes the most sense to eliminate all higher education tax incentives altogether, but unfortunately the TCJA does not do this. Instead, Republicans propose to keep and expand the AOTC. The AOTC, which is a refundable tax credit, lets students receive up to $2,500 back if they spend $4,000 on tuition and fees—or as much as $1,000 in a refund—for no more than four years of enrollment in a degree or certificate program. The TCJA extends the credit for a fifth year, wherein a qualifying student could get $1,250, or up to a $500 refund. Though not ideal, consolidating the tax benefits into one credit is at least a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, concerns over the effects of eliminating the student loan interest deduction are massively overblown. Under current law, borrowers working to pay off their student loans can deduct only up to $2,500 in interest paid on those loans. This means that the maximum a graduate can subtract from his or her tax liability thanks to this deduction works out to $625. The average savings is just $202, according to an American Enterprise Institute analysis.
Millennials constitute the majority of student loan borrowers today. According to ValuePenguin, those in their 20s or 30s account for almost 65 percent of all student loan debt in 2017, yet make an average salary of less than $40,000 per year. In other words, most millennials are paying a low marginal rate and aren’t likely benefiting much from the deduction anyway. Meanwhile, chances are strong that they are taking the standard deduction, as 69 percent of taxpayers do, and will therefore gain much more from the doubling of the standard deduction under the tax reform plan than they will lose from the disappearance of this tiny deduction.
Either way, the idea that the TCJA will make “paying back student loans next to impossible” is preposterous. Most people who find themselves paying back student loans at present will be much better off if tax reform passes.
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