dkf
dkf's JournalIs Obama a Socialist?
This is far from a new phenomenon — the use of "socialist" as a political epithet in the U.S. dates to pre-Civil War days when abolitionist newspaper editor Horace Greeley was branded a socialist by some pro-slavery adversaries. In the 20th century, many elements of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal — including Social Security — were denounced as socialist. So was Medicare when it was created in the 1960s.
But to many historians and political scientists — and to actual socialists as well — the persistent claim that Obama is a socialist lacks credence.
He's widely seen as a pragmatist within the Democratic Party mainstream who's had ample success raising campaign funds from wealthy Wall Street capitalists. Even some of his strongest critics acknowledge that his administration hasn't sought one of the classic forms of socialism — government control of the nation's means of production.
Terence Ball, a political scientist at Arizona State University, said "socialist' has gained currency as an anti-Obama slur because "the `L' word (liberal) has lost it shock value."
"I grow weary of Obama and the Democrats being called socialist," said Ball, who has written about ideologies. "If you talk to any real socialist, they disown them very, very quickly."
http://m.cnbc.com/us_news/47678760
Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally
The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.
A U.S. household's median income is $49,445, the Census reports.
The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.
The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government's books
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-18/federal-deficit-accounting/55179748/1
Pressure Builds on Merkel as Spain Calls for Effort to Aid Banks
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ratcheted up pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to back new ideas for a resolution of the debt crisis as he urged European leaders to bolster efforts to protect banks.
With markets bracing for further deterioration in Spain's finance sector and a possible Greek departure from the 17-member euro area, Rajoy on June 2 added his voice to calls for a more robust "banking union" in Europe, lending his support for a centralized system to re-capitalize lenders. On the same day, Merkel toughened her opposition to euro-area debt sharing, telling members of her party in Berlin that "under no circumstances" would she agree to German-backed euro bonds.
"We need to do whatever we can to convince Germany to show leadership and preserve the European Union as the fantastic object that it used to be," billionaire investor George Soros said in June 2 remarks in Trento, Italy. "The future of Europe depends on it."
As euro-area unemployment reached its highest level on record, manufacturing output contracted for a 10th straight month in May and the currency plunged close to a two-year low against the U.S. dollar, leaders continued to wrangle over the details of support for the currency bloc. President Barack Obama meanwhile laid the blame for sluggish U.S. employment at the feet of euro-area leaders, saying they haven't done enough to resolve the crisis, now in its third year.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/06/04/bloomberg_articlesM51V2V6JIJUO01-M532H.DTL#ixzz1wpK0Fwq9
AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age as High as 80 After Crisis
American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe’s debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase.
“Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old,” Benmosche, who turned 68 last week, said during a weekend interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia. “That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth.”
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-03/aig-chief-sees-retirement-age-as-high-as-80-after-crisis.html
Louisiana's bold bid to privatize schools
(Reuters) - Louisiana is embarking on the nation's boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.
Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.
The following year, students of any income will be eligible for mini-vouchers that they can use to pay a range of private-sector vendors for classes and apprenticeships not offered in traditional public schools. The money can go to industry trade groups, businesses, online schools and tutors, among others.
Every time a student receives a voucher of either type, his local public school will lose a chunk of state funding.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8501G020120601?irpc=932
Bill Clinton criticizes Obama's Bain attacks, praises Romney's ‘sterling business career'
Former President Bill Clinton suggested in a television interview Thursday that he believes President Obama's re-election campaign should stop trashing Mitt Romney's work in the private equity industry.
In an interview with CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight," Clinton, a top Obama surrogate who is set to raise cash with the president next week, directly contradicted Democrats who have attacked Romney's business record, suggesting it does qualify him for president.
"I think he had a good business career," Clinton told guest host Harvey Weinstein, a movie mogul who is one of Obama's top fundraisers. "There's no question that in terms of getting up and going to the office and, you know, basically performing the essential functions of the office, the man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold."
Adding that he has "friends" in the private equity business," Clinton suggested it was dangerous for Democrats to go after Romney's record at Bain Capital—adding that in private equity, "like everything else you try, you don't always succeed" in saving companies or making them more productive.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/bill-clinton-criticizes-obamas-bain-attacks-praises-romneys/story?id=16474493#.T8jeqWt5mSM
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