= new reply since forum marked as read
He may not know nothing, but, boy, can he talk!
Does that source publish anything on where each candidate ranks in their policies or histories?
Both Democratic candidates have visited Flint to learn from residents about the water crisis. Bernie Sanders called for the resignation of Gov. Rick Snyder, I believe on Jan. 16.
Economic Inequality is Much Worse Than Most Americans Believe
According to a recent study, most of us severely underestimate just how bad the gap between the rich and the rest of us have gotten.
BY DAVID SIROTA
In These Times, Oct. 3, 2014
EXCERPT...
Early in the 2014 election cycle, Democrats seemed poised to make economic inequality a central focus of their campaigns, following the high-profile election victories of economic populists like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
But as the Washington Post reported, internal Democratic Party polling “found that talking about income inequality does not register strongly with the American public and risks accusations of class warfare.” Recent polling from the Pew Research Center found while a large majority of Americans acknowledge the growing gap between rich and poor and see it as a problem, there is little public consensus on the cause of—or proper counter to—that trend.
That lack of consensus, coupled with a lack of understanding of the enormity of the pay gap, has complicated Democrats' efforts to make inequality a rallying point. In an interview with the Washington Post, Democratic pollster Geoff Garin said another obstacle is the belief that inequality has no concrete ramifications for voters' daily lives.
“It doesn’t have a personal immediacy and there are lot of other things that speak to income inequality that are much more immediate and much more tangible and much more real to people,” he told the newspaper.
CONTINUED...
http://inthesetimes.com/article/17217/economic_inequality_is_much_worse_than_most_americans_believe
I'll say income inequality has everything to do with what happened in Flint, Michigan.
metrics, but I don't find a scale just for that. Here's their issues page. Their info is set up to help people decide what they believe, since so many really have little idea ("Just keep your big-government hands off my Social Security!" 
https://www.crowdpac.com/issues
You can also see such things as their evaluations of people running for federal, state, and local offices in the various states.
A lot of good stuff won't copy, but here are the five most pro-Sanders zips codes in the country.
They have all swallowed hook line and sinker a redefinition of what constitutes right and left based on the incredibly rightwardly skewed political landscape of the United States.
I mean FFS, Sanders is just a guy advocating some increased regulation of a still pretty much free market capitalist economy and some expanded public sector involvement in a few key areas like education and health care. And he's pegged out at the far end of the left spectrum like he's a raving communist advocating that the state nationalize all means of production.
In the view of people who have not had those particular blinders applied the graph looks more like this:
left of Bernie. When they bother to find them and chart them, which is usually not. Some American analysts just toss the entire left wing, anarchists to...Jim Webb under one label and leave it at that. They're seemingly mainly just interested in the big mainstream group and don't have funding or inclination to differentiate. Maybe that's a change Bernie and you guys will have made already. It would help explain why they weren't asking the right questions.
Anyone remember this Political Happy Hour graph from 2014? Guessing political orientation by the beer and wine preferences. That's likelihood of voting on the vertical axis and liberal to conservative on the horizontal, obligingly colored blue to red. Of course, what's "in" with some groups will no doubt have changed. What I notice is that, as expected, we on the left are more adventurous and varied in what we drink.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, beers you might expect to find someone drinking while watching a football game — Miller Lite, Coors Light, basically anything that bills itself as a low-calorie beer — leans Republican. Rolling Rock, Milwaukee’s Best and Miller High Life, on the other hand, are hipster beers. They lean Democratic. So do microbrews (Boy, the stereotype jokes practically write themselves, don’t they?). Heavier beers like Miller Genuine Draft and Budweiser lean Democratic more than their lighter counterparts.
But beer drinkers are far less likely to show up to the polls than wine drinkers are. Oenophiles who prefer Cabernet Sauvignon are more likely to vote Republican, while Sauvignon blanc drinkers are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. And here’s another interesting distinction to draw: Those who drink brown liquors tend to vote Republican, but the type of whiskey one prefers says something about how likely one is to vote. Someone who enjoys a nice single-malt scotch is more likely to cast a ballot than someone who prefers Canadian whiskey, and Bourbon drinkers turn out with the least frequency.
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?
The peaceful exploration of space was the best thing to happen to jobs in history. At its peak, 400,000 Americans were employed in the Apollo Project.
Imagine if President Kennedy had lived, where the nation would be today? I believe, if we could figure out how to the moon and back, we could face any problem on earth and solve it -- from ending hunger, poverty and ignorance to creating a lasting peace.
Problems today's GOP considers intractable (see Poppy Bush inaugural "More will than Wallet" such as joblessness, poverty, crime, would be tackled, instead of ignored, like they've done with public education. And the treasures accumulated since would be used to make life better for everybody on earth instead of sitting in a secret Swiss bank account.
But, no. The conservatives killed the New Deal after LBJ and the Great Society. For the space program, it started with Nixon. Instead, they gave the store away to War Inc, who sank the national treasure into the "Money trumps peace" crowd.
Thank you for grokking, Dragonfli. We need Democratic Action to get out of the situation imposed by the richest and most powerful people the world has ever known, thank you Scalia.
Which is as stupid, if you want to talk about Democratic politics, as saying that "Money Is Speech" because when only those with money can be heard, it ain't Democracy.
Pruneface wanted to ban the Department of Education and classify ketchup as a vegetable. Hmm. Which is better?
Here's why Reagan and the gummint ever since has worked to piratize public education and destroy the parts they can't monetize:
Not just a cheapskate, but the scum of the earth, a guy happy to take food out of the mouths of hungry children, which is Satanic, let alone one of the most un-democratic people ever "elected" president.
Ketchup Is a Vegetable & Other Republican Myths - Remember Reagan
by H Scott Prosterman
Daily Kos, SUN FEB 06, 2011
Mainstream Republicans argue that the Tea Party is disgracing Reagan's legacy. But they're forgetting how Reagan created the template and blueprint for them.
Reagan was the first president to brazenly place foxes in charge of the henhouses at the Cabinet level. Reagan Attorneys General Edwin Meese and William French Smith viciously attacked the very civil rights and equal protection laws they were charged with upholding.
Reagan made a deal with the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in advance of the 1980 Election, in order to ensure that the American hostages would remain in captivity until after the election.
Under Reagan, the US went from being the world's largest creditor to being the largest debtor nation. Until Reagan, a balanced budget was a sacred cow of the Republican philosophy.
CONTINUED...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/06/941664/-Ketchup-Is-a-Vegetable-Other-Republican-Myths-Remember-Reagan#
They want to keep We the People the opposite of "Educated," which is "Ignorant" in order to get away with murder and all the rest. I gotta speak now before more people have to "hold their peace" from the grave.
From the guy who helped put Iceland's banksters behind bars for a looooong and cold time, William K. Black, who explains about a guy who had the Fed print-out dough for everyone from the Pentagon to Wall Street, except Flint and Detroit and people "like That":
by William K. Black
Oct. 28, 2010
I passed up the obvious title: "Heckuva Job Larry!" That was the moment of President Obama's appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that set all Americans cringing. Yes, he really said that Summers "did a heckuva job." The candidate that was gifted the opportunity to run against the legacy of one of the worst presidents in U.S. history has, as president, used Bush as his role model to continue many disastrous policies. It was strangely fitting that he would channel Bush's infamous praise ("Heckuva job Brownie"
for the FEMA chief who failed New Orleans so badly in the hurricane.
President Obama understandably wishes to focus attention on the economic disaster he inherited from President Bush. But Jon Stewart's question to him, which led to the president's gaffe, correctly asked about the message that Summers' appointment sent about the administration's commitment to fundamental change.
Summers had financial red ink on his hands at the time he was appointed. He was Rubin's chief minion in the successful effort to defeat effective financial regulation and supervision. (Yes, the effort was bipartisan and the Republican leadership shares in the guilt.) [font color="green"]Summers was not simply wrong, but also arrogant and brutal, in blocking effective regulation at the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Summers was made rich by Wall Street in one of those sordid consulting arrangements designed to buy influence and reward past and future favors.[/font color]
President Obama's appointment of Summers as his chief economic advisor made the administration's overall response to the crisis predictable. (Robert Kuttner gives a detailed explanation of the policies that Rubin's protégés championed in his new book, A Presidency in Peril.) The response would follow the disastrous Japanese model that has harmed their economy and damaged their integrity. The dominant characteristics can be summarized quickly: [font color="green"](1) the government would act for the benefit of the largest financial firms and their CEOs, even when they directed massive frauds, by (2) engineering a cover up of the banks' losses and the CEO's misconduct; (3) the administration would use the fictional reports generated to conduct the cover up to declare victory (due to their brilliance); and (4) the same strategy would impair the recovery.[/font color] (For more on the cover up, see here and here.)
CONTINUED w/links...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/no-mr-president-larry-sum_b_775307.html
William K. Black is a forensic economist who, as a government investigator, helped send many white collar criminals to prison during the S&L crisis. For some reason, the last two administrations have ignored his expertise and services.
Going along with the Wall Street-on-the-Potomac same old, same old isn't getting it done for me, either. These are the wealthiest times in human history. We should live in a country that reflects that.
Instead, the Jet Set sets records for good times and greed.
Wealth of richest 400 Americans surges to $2.29 trillion
By Andre Damon
World Socialist Web Site, 6 October 2014
The wealthiest 400 people in the United States had their combined net worth grow thirteen percent to $2.29 trillion this year, amidst a surging stock market and record corporate profits. The figures come from the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, compiled every year since 1982 by the American business magazine of the same name.
As Forbes noted last week, the net worth of these 400 individuals is “about the same as the gross domestic product of Brazil, a country of 200 million people.” The average net worth of the Forbes 400 hit $5.7 billion, up by $700 million over the past year.
The new figures of wealth in America were generally buried in the media. Neither the New York Times nor the Wall Street Journal published an article. Nor has it been a topic in political campaigns, one month before the midterm elections. Neither big-business party has an interest in calling attention to the extraordinary levels of social inequality in the US, with endless claims that there is no money for basic social services.
Last week marked the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which established the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, better known as the bank bailout. Since then, the wealth of the richest sections of society has soared while the annual income of the typical household has fallen by five percent.
SNIP...
[font color="green"]* Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the richest man in the US for 21 years in a row, had his wealth increase $9 billion in one year, to $81 billion. Gates’ wealth has increased by a staggering $31 billion in the past five years. To put this figure in perspective, since 2009 Gates’ wealth has increased by nearly 30 times the annual budget of the city of Detroit, currently in bankruptcy.[/font color]
CONTINUED...
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/06/forb-o06.html
So, while on paper these are the greatest boom times in history, most of the boom in terms of hard cash has landed in the pockets of Haves and the Have-Mores.
Personally, I believe Ms. Clinton is superior to any Republican. She may even be the smartest person in Washington. The thing is: I favor open-government, non-spying on citizens and allies, civil rights respecting, peace and prosperity for all, better days are ahead, we can all get it done if we all work together team, a Democratic team that runs on Democratic principles a nation of laws, not an Empire to enrich the few.
Sales of super-yachts rose 40% last year despite number of millionaires and ultra rich falling, according to wealth report
by Julia Kollewe
The Guardian, March 1, 2016
The global super rich continued to splash out on super-yachts and luxury goods last year, despite a decline in their overall wealth in the wake of financial market turmoil.
According to the latest wealth report from estate agents Knight Frank, published on Wednesday, sales of super-yachts – boats longer than 24 metres – soared 40% in 2015, with the rich roaring off to ever more far-flung destinations, such as the Antarctic and outposts in Asia, rather than their traditional ports of call in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
The number of ultra rich – people with $30m (£22m) or more in assets – fell 3% last year. There are now 187,500 with assets in excess of that benchmark, down from from 193,100 in 2014. This was the first decline since the financial crisis. Between them, they controlled $19.3tn in assets, down from $22tn the year before. This reflected the rollercoaster global stock markets, the slump in commodity prices and slowing economic growth in China and other countries.
The number of dollar millionaires around the globe also fell from 13.6 million in 2014 to 13.3 million last year. Together, they hold assets worth $66tn – more than the value of all global shares added together.
But the report believes that the decline in the number of millionaires is just a blip, and predicts that by 2025, there will be more than 18 million of them.
So-called investments of passion such as art, cars, stamps and jewellery remain popular among the super rich. Knight Frank’s art index rose by a muted 4% last year, but a number of records were set in the world’s auction houses.
Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger notched up a new record for a painting sold at auction after fetching more than $179m, while Reclining Nude by Amedeo Modigliani went under the hammer for $170m to a buyer from Shanghai.
CONTINUED...
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/02/global-super-rich-luxury-goods-yachts-wealth-report-knight-frank
I don't deny people their yachts, WillyT, but I do deny them my Essence.
Just kidding. Wish everybody could enjoy boating.
The post is detailing what is essentially the status quo. A status quo Clinton has provided no reason to believe she will act to seriously challenge.
Will she govern to the left of a Republican? Sure.
How *far* to the left? Well... those of us paying attention have a pretty good idea:
Thanks for posting that!! 
