No problem. Bring back the 91% top tax rate and we’ll call it even.

Dr. Warren is a wise white woman. So’s Ms. Maddow, for that matter. If only more people were listening to them.

I love Elizabeth Warren. And to think that Larry Summers tried to take her down. He probably thinks she should stick with things women are naturally suited for, such as doing the dishes.

I hate that son of a bitch.

It’s Dr. Maddow. :-)

The it should be called the Dr Rachel Maddow show. Plenty of people with doctorates don’t use the title.

Doh! I even knew that! More coffee….

Yeah, but since I was being professionally deferential to Dr. Warren, I should do the same for Dr. Maddow! Coffee’s coming…

Ten plus years ago Prof Warren was appearing on Dr Phil to help people straighten out their finances.

that’s Dr Raven :)

There’s a big brouhaha brewing in Tampa over WFLA’s airing of a blatantly anti-gay ad on the day of St Pete Pride last month.

Welcome to the United States of Goldman Sachs.

So everyone here this morning feels that the current top tax rate of 35% is appropriate? The REPUBLICAN President Dwight Eisenhower was perfectly confortable with the slightly higher number (91%).

That was then and this is now. Raising the income tax rate on wealthy will become necessary. It’s how Clinton turned the surplus. 91% is not necessary and as a straw man, probably does more harm than good because it is so extreme in today’s political environment.

I’d point out that the economy grew just fine in the 1950s (though interrupted by 2 major steel strikes and the Korean War) and 1960s when income taxes on the wealthy were much higher than now. But that fact would be useful only if Rs would agree to look at the evidence, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

Under the restored Eisenhower tax model, American’s could wear as badges of honor to represent the tax brackets they’re in. Those in the 91% bracket would be entitled to wear the gaudiest badges.

The American dream could be restructured as well, so everyone could aspire to wear the 91% badge.

And you would suggest what to get anywhere close to 91%? Unless you’ve got a workable plan to convince Congress you’re just blowin’ smoke.

From what I understand (and my significant other is a financial advisor), the Goldman Sachs stuff shouldn’t surprise anyone. They were always the risk-takers when it came to investments. They’ve continued to take the risks, even though they did receive bailout money. But keep in mind, of those institutions that received bail-out money, GS needed it the least.

Instead of jumping all over Goldman for their obvious success, we should be happy that they have turned themselves back into their previous model and have, in fact, re-paid the government. This is the kind of story we should WANT to hear about.

Raising the tax limits won’t change GS’s business model. They’ll just keep on keeping on. Somewhere, somehow, we have to make a decision over whether we want financial institutions to continue to flounder or whether we want them to show some sense of stability after the last couple of years.

If GS makes money the way they always did and shows a profit, we should leave them alone (like good free-marketers) to do what they want, as long as it’s legal.

I am in total agreement that, if they hadn’t yet paid their bailout money back, they shouldn’t be rewarding their execs with anything but pink slips. But GS is back doing what they do. I’m not quite sure why everyone is so unhappy. Seems there is no winning side in this debate.

But that fact would be useful only if Rs would agree to look at the evidence, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

eCAHN, you seem to have forgotten that the Rs are no longer calling the shots. Their opinion no longer counts. The restored 91% code needs to be SHOVED DOWN THEIR THROATS.

For real? You have a doctor’s degree?

With this Congress? Or maybe even the next one? Gimme a break. The Dems aren’t shoving anything down anybody’s throat except ours.

I think it is very dangerous to bail out risk takers when they lose. Should have left GS go under; would have been much better for the future of the economy (same growth, less risk). Nothing GS has done is helpful for the economy except that part constituting the small number of people who work there. And when considering the amount of the bailout, make sure to add in the $13 billion they got from the AIG bailout.

Surely you jest. You seem to think that the Ds are actually to the left of center rather than to the right of it.

and a GED

The Doctor is in…

Bee update (because I have to share).

Beekeeper came yesterday for first visit since I got the hive 3 weeks ago. Only saw one verroa mite on the foam board at the bottom of the hive, and he really had to search for it. Found the queen who was busily shoving all & sundry out of the way to lay her eggs. Honey is coming along fine but is low owing to huge rains in June and cool weather since. He put some “bee tea” at the hive to see if they need a boost. They prefer natural nectar if there’s enough available, so you can tell how well they’re doing by how quickly they take up the bee tea. As of this morning, very little is gone, so it looks like they’re finding enough good stuff in nature.

It’s nice to start a new venture on a high note, with no major problems to deal with it.

Cool. Haven’t seen my wild bees in a couple weeks.

Yep. I’ve read 2 books on bees so far. The third I own is more into the details on beekeeping which I’m not ready for yet. I’m still in the general reading mode.

Ghostof911 I take it you have no ambition of ever achieving an income high enough for the federal government to take 91% of your wages I take it. That is one big reason to keep the blockades to success low and the prize fruitful. The more people that strive to work hard enough to get there do create a lot of good in the world. Americans can not afford to lose that driving spirit. I also agree with Becca Goldman has always been a top player in their world. Warren Buffet made a $5 billion Dollar investment in them. he is not stupid he knew they are smart. The feds pretty much forced many banks to take money and some are pissed now cause the banks could pay it back so soon.

The “bee tea” sounds like some kind of Keynesian, pump-priming to me. Won’t it ultimately dilute the honey and result in a lot of useless drones feeding at the hive? :)

My neighbors would go absolutely ballistic if I kept bees. Had a hell of a fight with the city council just over keeping a few chickens for eggs. Not me but I know the chicken lady.

Ghost if you think higher taxes on the rich are so good and price controls work just really study those two aspects of the great depression. Global tariff set it off bad but FDR really deepened and prolonged it by his constantly changing tax policy and government involvement in private industry

Goldman-Sachs was gambling with my money. When they lost, I the taxpayer shoveled them more money to gamble with.Now they are winning again. And me, who loaned them the money,what did I gain? If I lose my ass, will Goldman-Sachs be there for me? Will my government be there for me? Judging by increasing unemployment rates, the inability to reel in health-care costs, and rip-off credit card companies I think not.

Christy’s upstairs…

Yeah, the Republicans got blamed for the depression but it was really the Democrats’ fault. Same thing with the current recession. Seems like that always happens. It ain’t fair.

As explained to me, the bees prefer natural nectar, so if there’s plenty of that, they’ll fly off to collect it and leave the bea tea, attached to the hive, alone. So it seems to do no harm and could do good.

Drones are males, and their only job is to fertilize a virgin queen should one become available. They hang out together at an altitude of 500 feet during the day, waiting for the rare opportunity to “perform.” If a virgin queen comes alone, she flies high & fast and the “fittest” drone gets the prize. The prize is to have his penis ripped off with the queen flying back to the hive with it dangling from her. The winning drone takes another 4 hours or so to die. All drones die before winter.

All the work in the hive is done by worker bees, who are all female. When they are young, the do nursing duty for the eggs, the larva, and of course the queeen. When they get a bit older, they become foragers.

In a hive of 40,000 bees, I think there are a couple thousand drones and the rest are workers, but I’m not sure I’ve got the proportions right.

Yes, and that’s the rub. At the moment, the visible anger is stoked by tea bagging, Rush et al. Except for those of us who have been fighting for health care, the masses are not really involved in any critique of the set-up.

Yet it is our money, and the burden to pay is falling increasingly on the workers who are most at risk of losing jobs, homes, and pensions/retirement funds.

I was teasing, but I can see you’re very interested and it sounds interesting and gratifying.

Sorry, my 36 was meant to respond. Additionally, I find their reproductive process interesting, but prefer ours, irrational and inefficcient though it may be.

the burden to pay is falling increasingly on the workers who are most at risk of losing jobs, homes, and pensions/retirement funds.

About whom GS couldn’t care less. People should have realized when Volcker was Fed chair that only the big financial institutions are worth consideration. Greenspan and Bernanke share(d) the same views.

A rotten apple spreads it’s fruits over many generations.

Goldman was more or less forced to take the money. Their balance sheet reflects that as does their ability to pay back the loan in full so quickly. I agree they should not have gotten any money, but to be mad at them is foolish, our elected representatives that made these decisions are the ones who did and continue to screw us over. They are not all that intelligent and I would say many don’t give a shit. They get their pay, which continues to increase during a “recession” not to mention the lavish benefits and retirement. Yes all on borrowed money, the American People’s money, where is the outrage at ever expanding government and lack of responsibility there. Companies and people can lobby all they want but these people must make the final decision and they continue to make shitty ones all the while passing the blame onto a shinking base of American Business’, could that be another reason they have no problem leaving this country because they are mercilessly bashed???

So, what kind of lavish praise and income increases will be necessary to get investment bankers to stay in this country? We may be able to funnel a greater portion of the nations wealth, real or borrowed, in that limited number of hands, but there are limits to praise and genuflecting we can stomach.

WWII, with deficit government spending and regulation on private enterprise to an extent which dwarfed New Deal programs, had something to do with the end of the Great Depression.

Many of the smartest ones

I really like Elizabeth Warren. She kind of reminds me of Paul Krugman; in both cases, they were hired due to their impeccable credentials, but dismayed their bosses by actually using that intelligence to assist and inform the American people.

Thanks Blue Texan for drawing attention to one of Obama’s best selections. Warren is terrific.

Seconded.

On 6/30, Maddow had about 37% of Sean Hannity’s total audience during her 9pm broadcast, and roughly 36% of viewers age 25-54 compared to Hannity. Her share of this coveted age group has dropped 55% since 4Q/08, in just 6 months. Why?

Apparently, 8 years of Bush’s alternate universe also infected TV viewing habits in general, and cable news and opinion in particular. Along with irredeemable crap like Big Brother, American Idol, Big Fat Losers, Desperate Houswives, CSI: Miami and so on and on, younger Americans have drifted so far to the right in their world view, especially since 9/11, that they now prefer to listen to, and perhaps agree with reactionary windbags like Hannity or Limbaugh, rather than the wonkish, often smug but rational commentary of someone like Maddow. Or maybe it’s just that younger viewers in the more sophisticated cities have left TV in droves for the internet, leaving guys like Hannity to pick up this cohort in the more politically right-wing enclaves of the south and west.

Whatever the real reasons, Maddow is essentially preaching to the choir, and it’s a smaller and smaller choir every month. She could end up on the broadcast equivalent of a milkbox in London’s Hyde Park, but she’d likely be cancelled before that happens. Despite the depth and complexity of the issues she intelligently confronts and the quality of the guests she invites on her program, her audience seems turned off by something. Her handlers at MSNBC ought to figure out what that is and fix it, before it becomes moot.