Are Republicans lying or telling the truth about caring for income inequality?
Majority Report contributor Michael Brooks discusses Republicans relationship with income inequality.
The fact that income inequality has been rising since the 1980s says that it also rose under Barack Obama, as it did under his predecessors. According to the site Gawker, Obama stands out in this context for two reasons: one, he inherited the worst economic meltdown of any of the past five presidents, and two, he proposed more meaningful anti-inequality measures than any of them as well.
Obama’s most recent budget proposal, while not enough to satisfy the socialists among us, did propose measures aimed at remedying inequality, including higher taxes on the very rich and greater subsidies for the poor and middle class.
These measures were declared “dead on arrival” by Congress. Barack Obama, quite simply, is not able to implement even modest anti-inequality measures due to Republican opposition. Republican and Democrat alike understands this.
However, the fact that Republicans are responsible for blocking any attempt to remedy economic inequality does not stop prospective Republican presidential candidates from using the rise in inequality under Obama as an argument against Barack Obama’s administration. (Ramesh Ponnuru’s NYT op-ed yesterday gives a rundown of the some of the prime offenders.)
The political party most directly responsible for the rise of economic inequality and its continued growth is using the rise of economic inequality and its continued growth as proof that the other political party is not to be trusted.
According to The New York Times, “Republican governors across the nation are proposing tax increases — and backing off pledges to cut taxes — as they strike a decidedly un-Republican pose in the face of budget shortfalls…”
But who are they raising taxes on? And what kind of taxes do they plan to raise?
Majority Report
Uber is pioneering the “convenience economy” where instant gratification is the norm and is setting a precedent for other companies to follow.
Writer Leo Mirani has made the argument in Quartz that the on-demand economy is flawed since it’s actually built on income inequality.
Is this model merely a rerun of the oldest sort of business? Gabriel Mizrahi and Jackie Koppell look at arguments for and against Uber.
Video by The Lip TV.
Kyle Kulinski discusses income inequality and uses a pizza example.
One of two brothers who savagely beat a prostitute was sentenced to more than 23 years in prison Thursday in Grand Rapids, Michigan for an assault in late May.
Peter James Versluys will serve between 23 and 50 years for armed robbery and first-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury. Kent County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Leiber also slapped him with a 6- to 15-year term for savagely beating the victim after he and his twin brother had sex with her. The sentences will run concurrent.
During sentencing Thursday,Versluys said he had been drinking and was high on LSD during the attack.
His brother, Michael Versluys, opted to take his chances before a jury in October.
The 29-year-old twins had just finished a sexual engagement with the woman when Peter held her down and Michael pummeled her in the head with a club as she begged for her life, according to court testimony.
The assault ended with the brothers ripping off the woman’s pants trying to get money out of her pockets.
The May 26 assault left the victim disfigured; she suffered nine broken bones. Doctors used metal pins and screws to fuse her bones and pieced her scalp together with eight surgical staples. She was hospitalized several days in serious condition.
She was left to die in an abandoned home. She said she managed to walk out in a blanket and seek help at a nearby store.
Peter Versluys was on probation for passing bad checks in Ottawa County when the assault occurred.
Prison records show that he has six tattoos. A chest tattoo reads “kill ’em all.”
Here is a video about income inequality from the TYT Network. The host’s main point is that income at the top doesn’t “trickle down.”
OK, Fine. 