[jeffkrol]

worth a look see..............

5 biggest threats to the middle class - Salon.com

Some Alternative Targets: Panic, Poison, Plowing, Postage, Prison

What is the incentive for private companies to deal with tragedies like Hurricane Sandy? The Pacific Standard aptly stated that “the free market doesn’t want to be in the flood business.”

What is the incentive for private companies to keep the poisons out of our drinking water? Without sufficient government regulations the Clean Water Act was violated a half-million times in one year.

What is the incentive for private companies to plow the county roads? Or to reduce the number of prisoners in profit-seeking prisons? Or to allow you to send a birthday card for just 45 cents? Or to simply treat its customers with respect rather than as a source of profit?

The “invisible hand” of the free market is unable, or unwilling, to satisfy the needs of society in all these areas. For that it is worthy of our contempt.

[Nesster]

The problem with the middle class is that the individuals do not take enough responsibility for their own success. Had they done the right things - education, training, social skills, chosen a growth business, acted entrepreneurial - they would not be middle class any longer. There is no reason why anyone legally in America can't be wealthy and a part of the maker/giver class.

The 5 real threats to the middle class:
Antiquated thinking about the job market
Laziness
Lack of direction and motivation
Victim thinking
Obama

[jeffkrol]

The problem with the middle class is that the individuals do not take enough responsibility for their own success. Had they done the right things - education, training, social skills, chosen a growth business, acted entrepreneurial - they would not be middle class any longer. There is no reason why anyone legally in America can't be wealthy and a part of the maker/giver class.

The 5 real threats to the middle class:
Antiquated thinking about the job market
Laziness
Lack of direction and motivation
Victim thinking
Obama

I love your sense of humor............

A National Journal poll from early this month read respondents a list of programs and asked them how much should be cut from each from “a lot” to “not at all.” Here were the numbers who said “not at all” for each program: Social Security (77 percent), Medicare (79 percent), food stamps and housing vouchers (49 percent), and Medicaid (63 percent).

One place Republicans do have the edge is on defense spending. It’s narrow and varies depending on the question, but more Americans oppose cutting the military than those who favor it.

How about issues beyond the fiscal cliff? On energy and climate change, 65 percent favor “Imposing mandatory controls on carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases,” and 69 percent support “spending more government money on developing solar and wind power” (of Solyndra fame), according to a Gallup poll from earlier this year. Just 34 percent say the government should prioritize on expanded oil and gas production.

On hot button social issues, 57 percent support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and 51 percent support marriage equality for gays and lesibans, according to a Washington Post poll. There’s also strong support for the DREAM Act, which Mitt Romney vowed to veto on the campaign trail, and even Republicans support Sen. Marco Rubio’s watered down version.

And on guns, an issue which Lewis said Republicans have already “won,” 57 percent of Americans support banning semi-automatic assault weapons, 60 percent support banning the sale or possession of high-capacity magazines, and a narrow plurality said there should be “major restrictions” on gun ownership, as opposed to “minor” ones, according to a CNN poll from August. These were all policies that Republicans said would be non-starters when they were introduced following the shooting Aurora, Colorado this year. A Washington Post poll from July asked Americans if they favor stronger or weak gun control legislation in general and found the answer to be 51-47 percent in favor of stricter rules.

This list is hardly comprehensive, but it should give conservatives pause before assuming that new window dressing and better field operations alone will solve their problems. Many of these core policies are simply unpopular with the American people and they shouldn’t deny if they hope to win again.

Are Republicans just bad at politics? - Salon.com

The article is a typesetters nightmare but oh well..............

[Nesster]

Many of these core policies are simply unpopular with the American people and they shouldn’t deny if they hope to win again.

That's unwarranted centrist optimism. It hasn't stopped them before and there's no reason to stop them next time. As long as the wedge issues and culture hot buttons keep on coming, few voters actually look at the policies.

[jeffkrol]

That's unwarranted centrist optimism. It hasn't stopped them before and there's no reason to stop them next time. As long as the wedge issues and culture hot buttons keep on coming, few voters actually look at the policies.

I suppose you are right.........

I can't imagine what this country would look like if the liberals had no opposition. The last four years gives us some idea, though. We would be sure to see a plethora of new initiatives that strive to diminish our most basic rights as defined in The Bill of Rights. I am sure the Second Amendment would be infringed, free speech would be hampered by a bunch of "politically correct" restrictions, police state policies and surveillance would continue to rise, we may see some indefinite detention as described in the NDAA as resistance to these oppressive policies is realized, and I am sure the most yoking of all things coming from governement... debt will continue to rise. What is lost in the acceptance of medicority, is liberty. The House and the Senate may see some changes, but hopefully a single dictatorial voice does not rise from the changes. I just cannot imagine the perpetual introduction of unsustainable and social collective junk like obamacare, being unleashed on the country. I guess it can only go so far. Debt will collapse it before too long. May the House continue in its representation of the people, and keep the power of government in check.

Boehner's Biggest Threat - Robert Costa - National Review Online

As reported on Maddowblog:

"We're not going to raise the debt ceiling," Senator Lindsey Graham says. In other words, according to him Republicans intend to hurt Americans on purpose. They will, quite deliberately, hold the global economy and the full faith and credit of the United States hostage -- again -- until the president agrees to take benefits away from senior citizens. Why this isn't a shocking national scandal is an ongoing mystery."

That a major American political party would deliberately put the American economy----and the world economy---at risk in order to score political points is appalling.
To make matters worse, few, if any, Republicans admit that the Debt Ceiling is concerned only with debt already incurred----and raising it only says that the US will pay its debts and never default.
From 1917 until 2011, raising the debt ceiling was considered---quite correctly---to be a minor bookkeeping procedure.
Never in its history had raising the debt ceiling become a political tooI used to extort the Executive Branch----until the GOP used it to put the full faith and credit of the United States at risk, and got our credit rating downgraded as a result.

Why anyone would support any of this behavior from Republicans is beyond comprehension.

[jeffkrol]

That's unwarranted centrist optimism. It hasn't stopped them before and there's no reason to stop them next time. As long as the wedge issues and culture hot buttons keep on coming, few voters actually look at the policies.

5 stages of recovery...........

But before they turn completely to 2014, Crossroads is still diagnosing last month’s results. The group digested a series of 2012 memos mixed brutal analysis with some self-reassurance. In the first category, pollster Glen Bolger bluntly warned in top paragraph of his memo that the GOP is in danger of becoming a party that can only win in non-presidential years when the composition of the electorate doesn’t reflect the country. Pointing to Republican’s difficulties with Hispanics, Bolger, who is partners with Mitt Romney’s 2012 pollster, wrote: "the Republican Party is in danger of becoming the 'Win In Off Years Only Party' unless we make a full-throated improvement with Hispanic voters. And, we have to admit it is us, not them."

he 5 stages of grief:

1. NUMBNESS & DENIAL-
The first reaction to a loss, numbness or shock can help cushion the blow and can help you get through the initial mourning rituals with the family and the funeral. This stage can last a few hours, days, or even a few weeks.

2. YEARNING & ANGER-
The numbness wears off, and the painful realization of the loss hits full-force; you will yearn deeply for your lost loved one. You may be angry and have regrets of things left unsaid or dreams never realized.

3. EMOTIONAL DESPAIR, SADNESS & WITHDRAWAL-
The storm of intense emotions of the second stage gives way to a period of heavy sadness, silence and withdrawal from family and friends.

4. REORGANIZATION-
Reorganization and the beginning of positive emotions- Over time, the sadness stage will start to lessen, and you will begin to see a lightening of your emotions. You will start to perceive your life in a more positive light, although bouts of grief and sadness will persist, probably for the rest of your life.

5. LETTING GO & MOVING ON-
The final phase of this model is to let go of your need for the lost loved one and to move on with your life. Sadness will lessen greatly, and new interests will gradually occupy your thoughts more and more, crowding out the misery and desolation. The final stage is when you "pull your life back together".

or recovery:
1. Handling the Impact of the Illness
Being overwhelmed and confused by the illness.
2. Feeling Like Life is Limited
Believing life will never be the same.
3. Realizing and Believing Change is Possible
Questioning the disabling power of the illness and believing life can be different.
4. Commitment to Change
Exploring possibilities and challenging the disabling power of the illness.
5. Actions for Change
Moving beyond the disabling power of the illness.
At this stage, people turn words into actions by taking steps toward their goals. For some people, this may mean seeking full-time, part-time or volunteer work, for others it may mean changing a living situation or working in mental health advocacy.

either one fits............

[Medium FormatPro]

I'd have to try to fit education in that top five somewhere.

Look at how many americans at age 30 or below are not independent. Most people when they graduate high school go one of four routes; military, back to school for more, trivial entry level jobs, or trade type jobs. For the ones that go to the average four year school; the typical bill comes out to well over 70k in student loans. So that once someone ends school those bills follow the graduated student forever until they are paid off.

Most students wrongly believe that they can get out of most student debt via bankruptcy - which is quite incorrect. For most it would follow them through bankruptcy and then meet them on the other side.

Given that over one half of america goes to a four year school - and then most of them get stuck with that much of a bill. Imagine the numbers of people right out of college who cannot even afford a new car - of any kind. Naturally also a mortgage or even a decent rent bill.

This student loan debt has already well surpassed all of american credit card debt - in entirity.

[wildman]

biggest threats to the middle class

The 1 percent on top of them and the 50 percent below them?

[Parallax]

Though the 5 items listed in the article may be threats, they are far from the top 5. These are my picks:

5. Corporate tax law/loopholes. (Think GE - No tax on 4 billion dollar profit a while back)
4. SCOTUS (Ruled dollar limits on bribes to politicians is not constitutional (see #3), but requiring people to purchase specific goods or services is.
3. Lobbyists (Oil primarily, but several others as well)
2. U.S. House of Representatives
1. U.S. Seneate

[Medium FormatPro]

3. Lobbyists (Oil primarily, but several others as well)

Lobbying in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interestingly enough the energy lobbies as a whole (while also sharing the same category with another group) barely makes the top five. Unfortunately those are also the "official government figures version". The reality is quite different.

Most professional politicians (after their first reelection) mae considerably more (officially) from lobbyists in one year than they could ever make in lifetime salary.

[Parallax]

Interestingly enough the energy lobbies as a whole .................... barely makes the top five.

Actually, I can believe that it may be true. It's possible that they have the politicians so deep in their pockets that they don't need to do much lobbying.