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 Politics | Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices

From: bentway 3/3/2012 1:48:45 PM    of 796379   Worst Liars and Cheaters: Rich People AND THEY'LL CUT YOU OFF IN TRAFFIC, FOR THAT MATTER By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff newser.com  Posted Feb 28, 2012 10:42 AM CST (NEWSER) – You might think that people who are comparatively well off would be less likely to lie and cheat to make a buck, but you'd be wrong. A series of experiments from UC Berkeley doctoral student Paul Piff found that time and again upper-class people were willing to do shady things for even the smallest rewards, MSNBC reports. In one test, participants were told to play an online dice game, recording their own scores. Upper-income people were much more likely to exaggerate their results. The prize they were after? Extra entries in a drawing for a $50 gift card. "It was fairly remarkable," Piff says. "You wouldn't think that people reporting incomes of $150,000 per year would be so motivated to win this." In another survey, wealthy participants proved much more likely to lie to a hypothetical job applicant to get him to accept lower wages. Piff came up with the tests after a series of traffic studies in which he observed that people in expensive cars were less courteous drivers. Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices | Political Discussion ForumsShare Recommend | Keep | Reply | Mark as Last Read | Read Replies (2)

To: steve harris who wrote (646750) 3/3/2012 2:17:08 PM From: joseffy 1 Recommendation   of 796379   Holder Wants Race Preferences and Benefits . . . Forever March 2, 2012 | J. Christian Adams pjmedia.com  Eric Holder has gone all-in supporting race-based hiring preferences and race-based benefits. Given that the majority of Americans despise this rot, surely the presidential candidates will pounce. In a little noticed interview at the “World Leaders Forum,” Holder makes statements that should be the subject of a direct mail piece in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia: Holder expressed support for affirmative action, saying that he “can’t actually imagine a time in which the need for more diversity would ever cease.” “Affirmative action has been an issue since segregation practices,” Holder said. “The question is not when does it end, but when does it begin. … When do people of color truly get the benefits to which they are entitled?” Let me repeat: When do people of color truly get the benefits to which they are entitled?Again, the benefits to which they are entitled. Ponder a moment the layers of rubbish in this philosophy. Some are surprised by Holder’s brazenness. I am not. As I like to say, I wrote a bestseller about Holder’s racialist DOJ. Nothing surprises me anymore. The only surprise is the dumbfounded, stuck, GOP response — which would be none. If the GOP nominee does not make this a presidential campaign issue because he is afraid to talk about such unpleasantries, then shame on him. In tough economic times, the last thing middle America wants to hear is the attorney general grousing about people of color getting benefits because of their color. The Obama administration obviously exercises no restraint on racial issues, or perhaps has the courage of their convictions. What price is paid for this racial radicalism? None. Instead, we have a whole assortment of Republicans, inside the government (oh and I could name so many names), afraid to pound Obama for this. Let’s hope they come out of their shells and fight. Obama has paid no price for this rotted, unfair, and un-American employment philosophy, and continued GOP silence will preserve this peace. Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices | Political Discussion ForumsShare Recommend | Keep | Reply | Mark as Last Read

To: PROLIFE who wrote (646734) 3/3/2012 2:19:58 PM From: tejek 1 Recommendation   of 796379   They hate the 'safety net' but they use it. LINDSTROM, minn. — Ki Gulbranson owns a logo apparel shop, deals in jewelry on the side and referees youth soccer games. He makes about $39,000 a year and wants you to know that he does not need any help from the federal government. He says that too many Americans lean on taxpayers rather than living within their means. He supports politicians who promise to cut government spending. In 2010, he printed T-shirts for the Tea Party campaign of a neighbor, Chip Cravaack, who ousted this region's long-serving Democratic congressman. Yet this year, as in each of the past three years, Gulbranson, 57, is counting on a payment of several thousand dollars from the federal government, a subsidy for working families called SOMETIMES A SOURCE OF ANGER: Brian Qualley says some of his tattoo customers in Harris, Minn., pay with money from disability checks. Americans are divided on how to address the rising costs of a wide variety of safety net programs. the earned income tax credit. He has signed up his three school-age children to eat free breakfast and lunch at federal expense. And Medicare paid for his mother, 88, to have hip surgery twice. There is little poverty here in Chisago County, northeast of Minneapolis, where cheap housing for commuters is gradually replacing farmland. But Gulbranson and many other residents who describe themselves as self-sufficient members of the U.S. middle class and as opponents of government largess are drawing more deeply on that government with each passing year. Dozens of benefits programs provided an average of $6,583 for each man, woman and child in the county in 2009, a 69 percent increase from 2000 after adjusting for inflation. In Chisago, and across the nation, the government now provides almost $1 in benefits for every $4 in other income. Shifting distribution Older people get most of the benefits, primarily through Social Security and Medicare, but aid for the rest of the population has increased about as quickly through programs for the disabled, the unemployed, veterans and children. The government safety net was created to keep Americans from abject poverty, but the poorest SOMETIMES A LIFESAVER: Barbara Sullivan lives on Social Security and relied on Medicare to pay for an operation. More middle-class families are landing in the government safety net that was created to keep Americans from abject poverty. (Photos by Jenn Ackerman, The New York Times) households no longer receive a majority of government benefits. A secondary mission has gradually become primary: maintaining the middle class from childhood through retirement. The share of benefits flowing to the least affluent households, the bottom fifth, has declined from 54 percent in 1979 to 36 percent in 2007, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis published last year. The problem by now is familiar to most. Politicians have expanded the safety net without a commensurate increase in revenues, a primary reason for the government's annual deficits and mushrooming debt. In 2000, federal and state governments spent about 37 cents on the safety net from every dollar they collected in revenue, according to a New York Times analysis. A decade later, after one Medicare expansion, two recessions and three rounds of tax cuts, spending on the safety net consumed nearly 66 cents of every dollar of revenue. The recent recession increased dependence on government, and stronger economic growth would reduce demand for programs like unemployment benefits. But the long-term trend is clear. Over the next 25 years, as the population ages and medical costs climb, the budget office projects that benefits programs will grow faster than any other part of government, driving the federal debt to dangerous heights. A nation divided Americans are divided about the way forward. Seventy percent of respondents to a recent New York Times poll said the government should raise taxes. Fifty-six percent supported cuts in Medicare and Social Security. Forty-four percent favored both. Bob Kopka and his wife often drive to the American Legion hall in North Branch on Thursday nights, joining the crowd gathered in the basement bar for the weekly meat raffle. Almost everyone present relies on the government to pay for their medical care. Kopka, 74, has had three heart procedures in recent years. His wife recently had surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. Without Medicare, Kopka said, the couple could not have paid for the treatments. "No. Never," he said. "She would have to go blind." And him? "I'd die." Spending on medical benefits will account for a larger share of the projected increase in the federal budget over the next decade than any other kind of spending except interest payments on the federal debt. Some of the fiercest advocates for spending cuts have drawn public benefits. Many have family members who rely on the government. They often cite that personal experience as the reason they want to cut government spending. Barbara Nelson, 61, has little patience for people who say they will not need government help. She considers herself lucky she has not, and obligated to provide for those who do. "Catastrophes happen in life," she said, sitting in a coffee shop in Taylors Falls. "To be so arrogant that you think it won't happen to you, that somehow you're going to be one of the special ones, I disagree with that." $6,583: Average provided to each man, woman and child in Chisago County Minnesota in 2009 through dozens of benefits programs 66 cents: Share of each dollar in federal revenue that went to safety net programs in 2010 Copyright 2012 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. Read more: Growing assistance for middle class strains the safety net - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19946366#ixzz1o5DB5nBx Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices | Political Discussion ForumsShare Recommend | Keep | Reply | Mark as Last Read