TERRIBLE GOP TAX PLAN
By Common Dreams Staff (11-21-17)
(This article is licensed under Creative Commons.)
Americans for Tax Fairness warns that the bill gives most of the tax cuts to the richest 1%, makes 82 million middle-class families pay more in taxes, and endangers funding for public services.
Amid mounting efforts to block the Republican Party’s latest attempts to cut taxes for the nation’s corporations and wealthiest families, a new report out Tuesday details 13 “terrible things” about the most recent GOP tax bill put forth in the U.S. Senate.
The analysis by ...
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
A special part of the holidays is being home, being in a safe place with loved ones. We have the choice as to where we will spend our holidays.
But what about the 22.5 million refugees across the globe? They have no choice. Millions of people are leaving their homes because of war, armed conflict, violence and other factors that force them to leave. They cannot safely return to their homes and they are not safe on their journey to find safety.
Ninety percent of the world’s refugees are being hosted by only 10 countries, and many of these countries do not have ...
Guns in Our Communities 2017
Once again a mass shorting is in the news. In California an angry white man shot up a small rural community apparently over employment and domestic problems. Last week in Texas, an angry white man killed 26 in a small rural church apparently because of a dispute with his mother-in-law. Before that in Las Vegas an angry, rich white man killed 59 and wounded 527 for no apparent reason at all. And the list goes on and on and on....
The common denominator in all these tragedies is the easy availability of guns, specifically military style weapons with high capacity magazi...
WILL WISCONSIN SACRIFICE ITS SOUL EVEN MORE?
“My plan is for the working people”. He told journalist. “No, I don’t benefit”, and further added, I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.” Do you really believe the lies, lies, lies of the president?
Number 1 thing to remember is that he gets so called intelligence briefings and reports in little bits and pieces. Tillerson called him an expletive moron and former general Mc Masters stated recently he has “a 12 second attention span of a kindergartner and is an idiot.” No one ever takes him to task on policy, because he doesn’t read ...
PENSIONS MATTER FOR FIREFIGHTERS
Public employees across the country are under siege. Retirement security -- from firefighters to police officers to teachers, public employees rely on their pensions to provide a secure retirement. Here in Wisconsin, we are not immune to those attacks. State Senator Stroebel has proposed legislation that is completely unnecessary and irresponsible.
The Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) is well-funded, well-managed, and serves as a model for the rest of the country. At 100% funded, the fund provides public pensioners with an average of $23,430 per year from WRS. While ...
IT IS TIME FOR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE
Under single payer, you get a health care card and you can go to any doctor or hospital in the United States. The doctors are not employees of the government. The hospitals remain in private hands. You get to choose your doctor and hospital.
Right now in the United States, the private health insurance companies ration care. If you don’t have health insurance, you don’t get health care. More than 30 million Americans currently lack health insurance. There are some problems in the Canadian system, but most of what you hear about long lines is health ...
EVENTS FOR DECEMBER
SATURDAY DEC. 2
5th Annual Hunger and Homeless Summit sponsored by Rep. Duffy. Open to the public 9-12:30 at the Expo Center in Cedar Creek.
Register at Duffy.house.gov for a seat.
MONDAY, DEC. 4
History Speaks. Professor Jeff Leigh of UWMC will speak on “Putin and Russia”
7 p.m.
Edgar High School, 203 E. Birch, Edgar
Free and open to the public.
TUESDAY, DEC. 5
Drinking Liberally It is our third anniversary.
5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Malarkey’s Pub 408 Third Street, Wausau
Phone 715-819-3663
THURSDAY, DEC. 7
Women for Women
6:...
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Back when … well, whenever, things were better. Right? People loved each other more, spent more time with family. Life was simpler.
Exactly when was that?
Was it the 1950s, Back when the U. S. and Russia detonated nuclear weapons above ground, when milk tested positive for radiation? When school kids routinely practiced scuttling under their desks in case of a nuclear attack?
When everyone smoked cigarettes?
When women had to find a back alley abortionist to end an unwanted pregnancy and the only means of birth control were condoms and diaphragms? (Okay, ...
SPEED AND ACCURACY LEAVE THE PUBLIC OUT IN THE COLD
In the past eleven years, I wrote 64 times about the problems of speed and secrecy in the legislative process. However, I never saw a calendar as broad and deep in controversy as the most recent one before the State Senate.
For weeks, we heard that the Senate would vote a hodge-podge of highly controversial bills. “Horrid,” one staffer called the expected Senate Calendar. None of us, including the public, knew what bills would come up for a vote.
The cloak of secrecy raised a bit on Friday when we received the tentative list of bills. But even the day before the ...
Mining Jobs Mirage
Last time I wrote about repealing Wisconsin's mining “prove it” law. I made reference to studies that show mining does not improve local economies. Here I provide the documentation for those assertions.
Mining, like any business activity, can temporarily increase employment and thus help the local economy. But many studies say most mining does not build SUSTAINED PROSPERTY for local communities. Not by itself. This should be apparent if you think about it.
Appalachia, with an economy dominated by coal mines, is famous for generational poverty. Many mining regions ...
