Crushing the Human Spirit Indeed!

Crushing the human spirit indeed.


A comment by a conservative at the Huffington Post a few weeks ago:

The thing the Dems need to work on is completely crushing the human spirit. Once they can make sure nobody thinks they have a chance to succeed, the more they will realize that they need to join the collective and surrender their individual­ity and creativity­.

Crushing the human spirit?  Does this poster even know what that means? 


What kind of things really crush the human spirit?  

Family Planning, Sex, and the Right-Wing

Disturbing and absurd logic from the right-wing.

Just when I think I know how destructive the right-wingers are and how absurd and twisted their thinking can be, I find something even more disturbing and absurd.

While researching the proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood and the effects of such defunding a couple of weeks ago, I came across the Family in America website.  A recent article, "Forty Years of Title X is Enough", discusses the negative effects of decades of family planning.  It seems that the overall birth rate in our country is going down, which "Family in America" freely admits. 

This might just reflect the fact that fewer women are having children they don't want and can't provide for financially or emotionally.  Now, most of us would find that a good thing, and a reason to make sure that safe and effective birth control continues to be available to women who want it, even poor women who can't afford such birth control without government assistance.

But no.

This group has a whole different slant on this:

Romney Ahead of Obama?

Is Romney Really Ahead of Obama?


Polls can be so misleading, and so can news articles and reports about a poll.


Just this morning in Huffington Post:


Mitt Romney in Striking Distance of Obama! 




Let's look at a few statements in this article:  

The Wealth Will Trickle Down!

I Told Them Not to Worry; the Wealth Will Trickle Down!

I don't know where this came from, but it is funny!  Gallows humor, I guess. Click on the picture for more detail....

45% of Households Pay No Taxes!

Updated 9/18/2012:  Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney speaks with derision and disdain about the "47%" who supposedly pay no taxes.  Commentary HERE.

Ezra Klein at Wonkblog itemizes those who don't pay income taxes HERE. 

A few weeks back I posted:  "47% of the People Pay No Taxes!".  Here's an update for Tax Day:

CNN ran an article this morning about the percentage of people who will pay no taxes in 2010.  Now, I'm assuming that CNN means that these 45% of households had no tax obligation, meaning that they didn't owe a dime for all of 2010, not that they paid earlier and don't owe anything now.  Also, many of the people who won't pay federal taxes will pay state and local taxes as well as FICA employment taxes, sales taxes, property taxes either through their mortgage or rent.

Some rich people also paid no taxes!

Keep Your Hands Off of My (Son's) Medicare!

Who Is Really Going to Trash Medicare?

Last year during the health care debate, the Republicans were able to convince many older people that the Dems were going to change or trash Medicare.  They had oldsters holding signs that said, "Keep Your Hands Off of My Medicare!".  

Well now, a year later, the Republicans are actually the guys proposing to dismantle Medicare, as laid out in Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan's latest budget.  I'm not surprised; are you?    

What Percentage of the Unemployed Get Benefits?

(Note:  Updates for May 2012 in progress at end of article.)

The percentage of the "official" unadjusted unemployed for March 2011 who were getting benefits as of the week of March 12, 2011:  62.37%.  (8,770,443 out of 14,060,000).


The percentage of the "unofficial" unemployed for March 2011 who were getting benefits as of the week of March 12, 2011 is much lower:  30.19%.  (8,770,443 out of 29,047,000).


The number of people receiving benefits in March is taken from the Department of Labor's Unemployment Weekly Claims Report which includes the week of March 12.  This is a non-seasonally adjusted figure.  I use the March 12th figure as this is the week on which the monthly unemployment figures are based.  


The "official" unemployment number is the non-seasonally adjusted number for the month of March 2011, also from the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) monthly situation report.   I explain my alternate unemployment figure of 29 million here, in another blog entry. 


A few comments on these numbers:


1.  Many people think that the unemployment rate only includes those who are getting benefits.  These figures should make it very clear that this isn't so.  Over one-third of the "official" unemployed (those who have looked for work in the past 4 weeks) are not getting benefits.  There is no connection between benefits and who is counted as unemployed.  (Explained here:  How the Unemployment Rate Is Calculated.) 


2.  It is highly unlikely that any new or re-entering workers are getting benefits.  In March 2011, there were 4,362,000 unemployed in these two categories (unadjusted).  Also, 657,000 said that they had quit their jobs vs. being laid off.   Most quitters do not qualify for unemployment benefits.  Therefore, the total of those entering, re-entering, or who quit their last jobs (but have looked for work in the past 4 weeks) is 5,019,000.


3.  That leaves 9,041,000 "officially" unemployed who have been laid off, most of whom probably qualify for benefits.  As only  8,770,443 people were getting benefits in mid-March, there are still at least 300,000 unemployed people who aren't getting benefits.  This is complicated by the fact that there are 8,737,000 part-time workers, some of whom are eligible for unemployment benefits depending on the state in which they live and how many hours they are working.


In summary:  There are hundreds of thousands, probably millions of people out there, who are unemployed because they were terminated, who are actively looking for work or who "want work", and who are not receiving any benefits.  The lowest number of people unemployed (because they were terminated), actively looking for work, and not receiving benefits is 300,000.  The highest number of people unemployed (because they were terminated), who "want work" and may or may not be actively looking for work, and who are not receiving benefits is somewhere around 6,521,000.    (That's 15,291,000 terminated minus  8,770,443 receiving benefits.).


As we watch the numbers of people receiving benefits go down every week, there is no obvious way of telling how many of these people are excluded from the numbers of those who are no longer receiving benefits because they have found employment and how many have exhausted all benefits (the much-maligned 99ers).  The number is somewhere between 300,000 and 6,521,000.  And, of those who have found employment, we know that 8,737,000 are working part-time because they can't get full-time work.  Those are still huge numbers!

Updates for May 2012 (in progress):

The percentage of the "official" unadjusted unemployed for March 2011 who were getting benefits as of the week of March 12, 2011:  62.37%.  (8,770,443 out of 14,060,000).

The percentage of the "unofficial" unemployed for March 2011 who were getting benefits as of the week of March 12, 2011 is much lower:  30.19%.  (8,770,443 out of 29,047,000).

The lowest number of people unemployed (because they were terminated), actively looking for work, and not receiving benefits is 300,000.  The highest number of people unemployed (because they were terminated), who "want work" and may or may not be actively looking for work, and who are not receiving benefits is somewhere around 6,521,000.    (That's 15,291,000 terminated minus  8,770,443 receiving benefits.).