GM Food Labeling by Bernie Sanders Shot Down

What do Sherrod Brown, Al Franken, Carl Levin, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten GIllibrand and Elizabeth Warren all have in common?  They voted against an amendment sponsored by Bernie Sanders to allow states to require foods containing GMO ingredients to be labeled as such.  That is a stunning betrayal by these progressives and Bernie was pissed, decrying the corporate-controlled Senate.

I am frankly stunned at the votes, especially Warren.  In my view she has some explaining to do, as do all the Democrats who voted against it.  Jeff Merkley was a co-sponsor and both he and Ron Wyden voted for the amendment.

Middle Class under attack

Bernie Sanders has referred to the Pew Report on Income Inequality as a factor that must be addressed in the deficit reduction argument.  He observed that the Middle Class in the US is disappearing due to the lack of middle class jobs, thus depriving the bottom 93% of any of the economic progress made since 2008.  All of the progress has gone to the top 7% at the expense of everybody else.  He observed that the Walton family (WalMart founders) own more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans.  Tax policy that doesn't recognize that poverty is growing amidst a rising economy (and a much richer Walton Family) gives lie to the notion that a rising tide lifts all boats.  Spending reductions at the expense of the 93% will only make the problem worse.

Pier Carlo Padoan, Chief Economist and Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD says,

The situation is grave. According to current consolidation plans, most governments aim to improve the budget primarily via restraining spending. Social security transfers are planned to decline in cyclically-adjusted terms in about half of all OECD countries, while adjusted household income taxes will increase in most of these countries. The net redistributive effect of all measures combined is likely to be negative. This has to be avoided.

In other words, austerity at the expense of the 93% is class warfare and will result in increased poverty and resentment.

To clarify, Bernie Sanders and Pier Carlo Padoan did not mention Class Warfare directly, in fact they studiously tiptoe around the term, it is my conclusion and I believe it is recognized but unspoken on their part.

See my previous comment on the Pew Report.

Four years after Bailout, Banks are even bigger

After a lot of hot air from Congress and the administration on the subject of Too Big to Fail, Bernie Sanders and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) have submitted bills in the Senate and House mandating the breakup of financial institutions that can, by virtue of their size, cause a financial meltdown and also have a permanent get out of jail free card.

"The bill would require the Treasury Department within 90 days to determine what financial institutions meet the "too big to fail" label and enjoy implicit government support. Among those banks that must be included on the list are Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

Then, the government would have one year to break up those institutions so that "their failure would no longer cause a catastrophic effect on the United States or global economy without a taxpayer bailout." The bill does not detail exactly how the banks should be broken up.

The legislation marks the latest attempt by lawmakers to tackle the "too big to fail" issue, which has lingered on a topic of discussion years after the financial crisis and passage of Dodd-Frank. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as some regulators, have pointed out that massive banks still enjoy a discount when it comes to raising funds, an indication that financial markets believe those institutions enjoy implicit government backing that would become realized if the institutions faced collapse.".

Obama thinks Social Security needs a cut

Bernie Sanders has been roused to defend Social Security against cuts by President Obama.  Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, recalled that candidate Obama promised Americans in 2008 that he would not cut Social Security, but that was then I guess.

Obama will include it in his budget, to be unveiled April 10. Federal budgets are not like family budgets—they’re nonbinding spending road maps that serve chiefly as statements of political priorities and punching bags for political opponents. Even if Obama’s budget passes both the House and Senate (it won’t) and he signs it into law, it’s unlikely to have much impact on how Congress decides to spend federal dollars.
That’s not to say that it’s a wholly useless bit of theater. Washington has been at war over how best to reduce deficits and rein in the country’s galloping debt. The budget says, in effect, what Obama might be willing to do to achieve those goals, which in turn puts pressure on congressional Democrats to fall in line.
Obama’s support for that longstanding Republican wish-list item is not really a surprise. It’s been a part of each of his “grand bargain” offers to the GOP for cutting the deficit. White House press secretary Jay Carney had said in his April 1 daily briefing that the proposal “remains on the table.”

Bernie Sanders on Too Big To Jail

Bernie Sanders never rests, and now he is proposing we actually do something about the threats to our economy.  I hope he finally gets some support from the administration that seems more concerned with protecting the Too Big To Jail crowd.

Sanders said his bill would give Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew 90 days to make a list of commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds and insurance companies that he deems too big to fail. One year later, the Treasury Department would be required to break up those financial institutions identified by the secretary.
“If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist,” Sanders said.

Peter DeFazio Tax Proposal

Wall Street is unrepentant for wrecking our economy, but they may have to finally ante up some cash in taxes if the DeFazio bill proposing a Financial Transaction Tax (based on .03% on the value of stock trades) becomes law.  Based on the principle of taxing something you have too much of, it makes sense to tax the extreme short-term thinking that rules wall street.  A group of 1,000 economists from all the major countries in the G20 proposed just such a tax last year.

Saving Social Security

The two politicians I admire most, Bernie Sanders and Peter DeFazio have introduced legislation to extend the Social Security tax to rich people, who only pay the tax on the first $113,700 of income, they skate free of the tax on anything they make above that, thus the richest 1% pay a miniscule contribution to Social Security.  They don't contribute anything at all to Social Security or Medicare on Capital Gains income, yet another loophole for the rich.  Somehow, investment income is deemed to be privileged and not taxed the same as wages.  There has been discussion on remedying this, but the rich have hordes of lobbyists to prevent it.

"Only earned income (wages, self-employment income) is subject to social security and medicare tax. Passive and investment income (interest, dividends, capital gains, rents and royalties) are only subject to federal and state income tax."