The 2014 elections are on their way, so why not prep for it with this crash course in GOPese? NB: don’t blame the translator for the shitty translations; blame the shitty source language.
The Article: Wealthiest Americans Only Winners in Recovery, Pew Says by Frank Bass in Business Week.
The Text: The U.S. economy has recovered for households with net worth of $500,000 or more, a new study shows. The recession continues for almost everyone else.
Wealthy households boosted their net worth by 21.2 percent in the aftermath of the recession, according to the study released today by the Pew Research Center. The rest of America lost 4.9 percent of household wealth from 2009 to 2011.
Pew attributed the disparity to gains during that period in the stock and bond markets, benefiting affluent households, while the housing market’s decline hit others harder. The report underscores the nation’s growing income inequality, with the top 13 percent of households recovering their losses from the 18- month recession that ended in June 2009, and the rest of the country continuing to hemorrhage wealth.
Believe it or not, God isn’t more likely to answer your prayers just because you got an A in the class. Here’s Sam Harris on the area’s futility.
The contemporary–and incredibly controversial–comedian had seen a lot of life by the time he died at age 32. Once described as the most dangerous comedian in the world, Hicks’ subjects ranged from philosophy to politics to personal dilemmas. For your enjoyment and reflection, the best Bill Hicks quotes:
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If you enjoy the best Bill Hicks quotes, check out the best Jon Stewart quotes about America and the best Bill Moyers quotes!
The Article: The Southern State Fast Becoming Ayn Rand’s Vision of Paradise by Les Leopold in AlterNet.
The Text: If you’re worried about where America is heading, look no further than Tennessee. Its lush mountains and verdant rolling countryside belie a mean-spirited public policy that only makes sense if you believe deeply in the anti-collectivist, anti-altruist philosophy of Ayn Rand. It’s what you get when you combine hatred for government with disgust for poor people.
Tennessee starves what little government it has, ranking dead last in per capita tax revenue. To fund its minimalist public sector, it makes sure that low-income residents pay as much as possible through heavily regressive sales taxes, which rank 10th highest among all states as a percent of total tax revenues. (For more detailed data see here.)
As you would expect, this translates into hard times for its public school systems, which rank 48th in school revenues per student and 45th in teacher salaries. The failure to invest in education also corresponds with poverty: the state has the 40th worst poverty rate (15%) and the 13th highest state percentage of poor children (26%).
