Portside

REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day

October 13, 2013

'In addition to all the people who are unemployed or

underemployed, the weakness of the labor market

has made it impossible for most workers to be able

to achieve real wage gains. As a result the benefits of

the growth we have seen in the United States and

other wealthy countries have gone overwhelmingly

to the richest 1 percent of the population.

'This story is not only devastating for the current

generation of workers; it is also having a devastating

impact on their children. There are millions of

children having impaired childhoods because their

unemployed parent(s) cannot properly care for

them...'

Economist Dean Baker

Beat the Press

Center for Economic and Policy Research

October 10, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

Koch Boys

Randall Enos

 

MONDAY

Quote of the Day

'So you have this neighbor who has been making

your life hell. First he tied you up with a spurious

lawsuit; you're both suffering from huge legal bills.

Then he threatened bodily harm to your family.

Now, however, he says he's willing to compromise:

He'll call off the lawsuit, which is to his advantage

as well as yours. But in return you must give him

your car. Oh, and he'll stop threatening your family

- but only for a week, after which the threats will

resume.

'Not much of an offer, is it? But here's the kicker:

Your neighbor's relatives, who have been egging him

on, are furious that he didn't also demand that you

kill your dog.

'And now you understand the current state of

budget negotiations.'

Economist Paul Krugman

New York Times

October 14, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

What They Really Mean

David Horsey

Los Angeles Times

 

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day

'Scorn for bureaucracy and government is a long-

standing American tradition. But perhaps this

shutdown will help people realize that we have a

huge stake in an effective and efficient government.

We should show far more respect for those we

employ with our tax dollars. They are like all

workers. They struggle to support their families.

They go to work every day. Many live paycheck to

paycheck, while laboring to put aside a little money

to pay for their children's education. Few can afford

to work without pay and none should be forced to

do so.

'Shutting down the government and punishing the

people who work for us should be unacceptable to

all those who care about this country.'

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Chicago Sun-Times

October 14, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

Exceptional

Tony Auth

 

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day

'American inequality began its upswing 30 years

ago, along with tax decreases for the rich and the

easing of regulations on the financial sector. That's

no coincidence. It has worsened as we have under-

invested in our infrastructure, education and health

care systems, and social safety nets. Rising

inequality reinforces itself by corroding our political

system and our democratic governance.

'And Europe seems all too eager to follow America's

bad example. The embrace of austerity, from Britain

to Germany, is leading to high unemployment,

falling wages and increasing inequality. Officials like

Angela Merkel, the newly re-elected German

chancellor, and Mario Draghi, president of the

European Central Bank, argue that Europe's

problems are a result of a bloated welfare spending.

But that line of thinking has only taken Europe into

recession (and even depression). That things may

have bottomed out - that the recession may be

"officially" over - is little comfort to the 27 million

out of a job in the E.U. On both sides of the Atlantic,

the austerity fanatics say, march on: these are the

bitter pills that we need to take to achieve

prosperity. But prosperity for whom?'

Economist Joseph Stiglitz

New York Times

October 13, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

Compromisers

Jen Sorenson

 

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day

'Because the deal only includes minor concessions,

the Beltway consensus is that it represents a

resounding defeat for Republicans, who

"surrendered" their original demands to defund or

delay Obamacare. In the skirmish of opinion polls,

that may be true, for now. But in the war of ideas,

the Senate deal is but a stalemate, one made almost

entirely on conservative terms. The GOP now goes

into budget talks with sequestration as the new

baseline, primed to demand longer-term cuts in

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. And they

still hold the gun of a US default to the nation's

head in the next debt ceiling showdown.

'Surrender? Any more "victories" like this and

Democrats will end up paying tribute into the GOP's

coffers.'

Editorial

The Nation

October 16, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

Haunted House

Mark Ulriksen

The New Yorker

 

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day

'The vision of the tea party is clear. This economy is

doing well. If most Americans are not doing well, it

is because they are lazy malcontents. Corporate

profits are soaring, Wall Street is all smiles, the rich

are getting richer so those who aren't on one of

those trains have only themselves to blame. We just

need to continue on the path we are on: smaller and

smaller government. We had an election in 2012

when Mitt Romney got to deliver that vision-and he

lost.

'President Obama must return to leading. There

needs to be a clear vision of where America is

headed. There has to be clear acknowledgement that

this path is failing us. His speech on Thursday did

not do that. Cutting people off from food-as the tea

party-led House did with its cuts to the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that

also would cut more than 200,000 children from

reduced price school lunches-in service to helping

shrink the government to make the world safer for

corporate profits and tax-free lives for the rich is not

measuring America's success by our children's well-

being. Threatening the future of Social Security and

Medicaid benefits for our children who currently

have the lowest level of employment of any

American generation, in jobs that pay poorly and

provide no retirement benefits, in the name of

smaller government and lower taxes for the rich is

not a vision of a society that measures its success

based on the well-being of its children. Continuing

to fight against funding for teachers to replace the

hundreds of thousands lost to our children's

classrooms, overcrowding their classrooms and

cutting our investment in our children's education

so the government can be smaller and the rich

richer is not creating a society focused on the well-

being of our children. Letting our infrastructure

collapse, so our children will be faced with even

higher bills to fix our roads, update our water and

sewer systems and keep our ports operable, so the

rich can pay fewer taxes, is not putting the welfare

of our children first.'

William E. Spriggs

AFL-CIO Now

blog

October 18, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

Back to Normal

Joe Heller

Cagle

 

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day

'The United States cannot turn a blind eye to

attacks on civil liberties, human rights and the

democratic process in Honduras," Rep. Johnson

said. "The right to elect the next president in a free

and fair election process must be guaranteed to

Hondurans. Violence, repression and anti-

democratic actions have no place in Honduras or

anywhere in the region. These actions do not serve

Hondurans, and do not serve our country's best

interest. It is for this reason that I have joined my

colleagues in urging Secretary Kerry to communicate

this message to the Honduran government, and to

do everything within his power to support a fair, free

and transparent elections process in November.'

Rep. Hank Johnson , announcing he

was joining Reps. Nike Honda and

Raul M. Grijalva in a letter to Secretary

of State John Kerry urging the U.S. State

Department to monitor the potential militarization of

the electoral process ahead of Honduras' Nov. 24

presidential vote.

Press Release

October 16, 2013

 

Toon of the Day

Party Stars

Pat Bagley