It’s time for some more Duke and Zink, mouths and all. On Today’s Agenda: the next Alien vs Predator movie will star Arizona and Tennesee as the monsters, Ann Romney struggles, she swears, nobody can afford college no more, plus other random stuff we feel like talking about!
Listen away! Feel free to leave a comment and spread the word if you are so inclined!
Here’s the episode (show notes are below):
Episode 7 — Download (MP3)
The World's Only Experts on Working-Class Women
Intro and the Key Elements (0:00 – 37:30)
- The Key Elements
- “George Zimmerman to be charged for shooting Trayvon Martin, according to reports” by Laura Clawson (Daily Kos)
- “Quien es mas malo: Tennessee vs. Arizona” by Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing)
- “Teen Pregnancies Highest in States With Abstinence-Only Policies” by Amanda Peterson Beadle (Think Progress)
- “U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity” by Guttmacher Institute
- “Mitt Romney: Mothers Should Be Required to Work Outside Home or Lose Benefits” by Ryan Grim (Huffington Post)
- “Ann Romney in Twitter Spat with Democrat Hilary Rosen” by Unknown (The Daily Beast)
- “Rep. Virginia Foxx On People With Student Loans: ’I Have Littler Tolerance’ For Them” by Scott Keyes (Think Progress)
- “Average undergraduate tuition and fees, etc.” by National Center for Education Statistics
- “Let’s talk a little bit about college tuition inflation” by Unknown (Guns and Bullets)
Your Zink Tablet for the Day (37:41 -43:04 )
- Shaun’s Beef: The White House Google+ Page (on the Buffet Rule)
The Funnies (43:05 – 49:17)
–Shaun: ”Nazi Party Registers Washington Lobbyist” by Unknown (Huffington Post)
–Jen: ”Michelle Bachmann Suddenly Pro-Choice?” by Evan Hurst (Truth Wins Out)
That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Hey Guys!
A couple of responses:
–The Buffett Rule. One of the main problems besides tax shelters, Jen, is the fact that dividend income/investment income is taxed at a much lower rate than wages are, and the wealthy, by and large, make the majority of their money that way.
–Tennessee versus Arizona. I give it to Tennessee, which should know better about Evolution. Scopes, anyone. Also, because it would piss Arizona Republicans off, I’d want them to be the Alien in the Alien vs Predator conflict.
–The Hilary Rosen thing is a matter of successful reframing by the Republicans. Here’s the thing. Rosen was making a statement about class, and the Republicans turned it into a statement about gender.
Why did Democrats freak out? Well, if you look at polls, the Obama campaign is winning Women over Men by a wide margin. In fact, if the Republicans had parity in that area, Willard Mitt Romney would be our next President. So the Democrats feel like they have to keep that gender advantage at all costs, or else.
Paul –
Thanks for bringing up the issue of the lower tax rate for the dividend/investment income! My bad for neglecting to mention that.. In my mind I was lumping all of that stuff into ‘tax shelter,’ because even if that type of thing doesn’t fall under the generally accepted definition of a tax shelter, the rates on them are so absurdly low in comparison to other income, that the money may as well be considered sheltered. It’s particularly concerning because of the fact that most people cannot claim the deductions that the top 5% of Americans can and do claim. The most sheltering middle class Americans get is retirement accounts, which most of us can’t even max out.
It’s desperately in need of fixing. I had hoped, hoped, hoped, that when Obama struck the deal with the GOP to extend the upper income tax breaks that he was also going to begin a larger campaign against deductions and loopholes and all the other things that allow those with higher incomes to pay such low rates. I’ve been disappointed thus far. Still crossing my fingers for a second term war against tax inequality.
As for the Rosen issue and the Democratic response – it was a weak move and they could have maintained the gender advantage by turning the issue around to attack the fact that the GOP only respects stay at home mothers when they have wealthy husbands could have been a good place to start.