Thom's blog

The Buffett rule will get a vote in the Senate today...

– but it likely won’t be able to overcome a unified Republican filibuster. President Obama’s proposal would force millionaires and billionaires like Warren Buffet and Mitt Romney to pay at least the same tax rate as working Americans. Currently – America’s super rich take advantage of loopholes created by the Bush tax cuts – and pay far lower rates than even a lot of middle class Americans.

Making the rich pay their fa

Giant Transnational Corporate Tax Dodgers are eating our towns

Small businesses are screwed. Giant transnational corporate tax dodgers are costing small businesses thousands of dollars. Not only have 26 major American corporations used tax loopholes to avoid paying any federal taxes over the last four years, but roughly $60 billion in revenue is lost every single year thanks to corporations stashing cash in offshore bank accounts. And guess where that money has to be recouped from – worki

The increase of autism in the US is linked to high-fructose corn syrup

Americans are screwed by the food we eat. On the heels of a report by the Center for Disease Control showing a drastic 78% increase in cases of autism in America since 2002 – a new study suggests that the food we eat might be responsible. The peer-reviewed journal, Clinical Epigenetics, links increased autism cases to the widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup in the American diet.

As the study’s co-author Dr.

The banksters are at it again – screwing over the poor

As banks have once again returned to making pre-recession profits – thanks mostly to their taxpayer bailout – they’re once again preying on the poor with subprime lending. A new report by Experian shows that credit cards lender handed out 1.1 million new credit cards to people with damaged credit in December of last year. That’s 12% jump from just one year ago.

The banks prefer those with low credit because they can jack up i

What are the Rules of Engagement on the streets of America?

Had George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on a battlefield in Iraq – he would have been punished. But on the streets of Florida – Zimmerman walks free. The organization VoteVets.org points out today that Florida’s Stand Your Ground law gives more leeway to shooters on the streets of America than our armed forces have to deal with hostile insurgents in Iraq.

According to the Rules of Engagement

Funding for job retraining for Americans is 1/2 of what it used to be...

As nearly 13 million Americans look for a job – federal funding to retrain Americans workers and prepare them for the jobs of the 21st century are drying up. Funding for job-training programs across the country is down 18% from 2006 – even though there are six million more unemployed Americans today. Funding for counseling for the unemployed – like resume guidance and job interview coaching – is down 13%. In fact – fu

Is the boycott of all companies that give money to ALEC working?

Corporate donors to the Koch brothers-funded right-wing think thank known as the American Legislative Exchange Council – or ALEC – are dropping like flies. On Thursday – Kraft became the third major corporation to part ways with ALEC – joining Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

ALEC sponsors were put on notice this week, when the organization Color for Change called for a boycott of all companies that give money to ALEC. The group is

The banksters and technocrats, pushing austerity in Greece, now have blood on their hands

On Wednesday – a 77-year-old retired pharmacist walked up to the Greek Parliament building and shot himself in the head to protest the crippling austerity measures that are ripping apart that nation. The man – whose name has not been released – left behind a note reading, “I have no other way to react apart from finding a dignified end before I start sifting through garbage for food.”

His suicide prompted thousands of Greeks t

The minimum wage is not a living wage

Minimum wage workers are screwed. While Republicans in Congress want to drop or throw away the federal minimum wage – new data shows that the minimum wage in America is woefully inadequate. The current minimum wage is pegged at $7.25 – but given the price increase of pretty much everything over the last few decades – from healthcare to housing to education – that $7.25 doesn’t get you very far.

In fact – today’s minimum

Not only are the long-term unemployed screwed out of the American Dream – they’re also dying younger

The New York Times is reporting on a new study showing that the long-term unemployed (those out of work more than six months) are twice as likely to die within a year of unemployment as are those who are employed. Even 20 years after getting back to work – those Americans who experienced long-term unemployment in their younger years still have a 15% greater chance of dying early.

According to the study – a worker who lost thei

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