And the unnecessary subprime mortgages they forced on black customers, even the ones with sterling credit. Rotten bastards!
Category: Corporate Statism
Comcastic!
There’s obviously something going on when the consumer simply can’t save money by moving to another provider:
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to quash nascent competition from online video, according to people familiar with the matter.
Justice Department officials have spoken to several online video providers, including Netflix Inc. and Hulu LLC, those people said. Investigators have also questioned Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and other cable companies about issues such as setting data caps, limits to the amount of data a subscriber can download each month, these people said.
Representatives of all those companies and the Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation.
Cable companies provide both television channels and high-speed Internet access for many consumers in the U.S. With broadband Internet, consumers can watch individual programs or channels through online video services like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, bypassing the cable company’s traditional bundles of channels.
Having invested billions of dollars building their networks, some pay-TV companies have shown little inclination to get out of the business of packaging television channels and become mere conduits for other companies’ data. Some major entertainment companies also have an interest in preserving the current model of television viewing because they want cable companies to take bundles of their channels, rather than just cherry-picking the most popular ones.
Trying to talk to Mikey Fitzpatrick
Is it just here, or is it standard that congress members will only talk to constituents at paid events now? Because Mike Fitzpatrick (R-8) always makes time for Big Pharma lobbyists:
LANGHORNE-In yet another event demonstrating the growing outrage among Americans who are tired of Congress serving wealthy donors instead of regular people, constituents protested Monday evening outside a Congressman Fitzpatrick fundraiser at Sandy’s Beef and Ale in Langhorne.
Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick has recently come under fire for introducing legislation that directly helps his donors. The group of protestors criticized Congressman Fitzpatrick for recently introducing legislation to lift the cap on reverse mortgage lending after attending a lavish fundraiser in Key Largo where he received thousands in campaign contributions from the mortgage lending industry. Congressman Fitzpatrick also made headlines for his attempts to change tariff laws for another of his donors, American Color Manufacturing.
The protesters called attention to Congressman Fitzpatrick’s gifts for his donors with signs saying, “Where’s our Pork” and “We Came Here for Beef and Ale, Not Pork and Earmarks.”
“I take issue with the ‘pay to play’ nature of what Congressman Fitzpatrick is doing. I think he should help all of his constituents and local businesses, not just the ones who can afford to give him big campaign donations,” said Anthony Valiante of Levittown. “I’m facing a huge amount of student debt and an uncertain job market. I want to know that my congressman is going to fight to make our economy better, even if I cannot afford to write him a big check.”
Constituent Ginny Hoffman of Levittown said it’s time that elected officials get their priorities straight and help people who actually need it. Hoffman attempted to ask Congressman Fitzpatrick about his recent legislation benefiting his donors.
“When I open the newspaper I see that he is giving out a lot of pork to his donors instead of helping middle class people. I tried to tell him to help us, the people that are losing our homes and our jobs, instead of his wealthy donors. But I was blocked by his staff before I could ask my question,” she said.
In addition to introducing earmarks and special legislation to help his donors, Congressman Fitzpatrick voted twice for the Republican Budget proposal also know as the Ryan Budget, which would give millionaires and corporations $3 trillion in tax breaks. Many of Congressman Fitzpatrick’s big donors like GE, Comcast, Verizon and Bank of America receive massive tax breaks or pay no federal income taxes at all due to loopholes made even larger by the Republican budget proposal.
Members of the 99% protested Rep. Fitzpatrick’s massive tax giveaways to the rich at a time when Congress is threatening severe cuts to everything from healthcare for seniors to affordable loans for college students. They plan to hold more demonstrations throughout the summer calling on Pennsylvania politicians to oppose policies that shortchange the 99% to benefit corporations and the super-wealthy.
Hoffman added, “While Congressman Fitzpatrick is doing special favors for mortgage lenders and corporations, the 99% are still waiting for their earmarks and pork.”
No problem here
Coke and caffeine junkie executive Katie Bayne:
Q: What do you drink daily?
A: I might have a mini Diet Coke while cooking breakfast for my family. After the kids leave for school, I go for a run and then have a Powerade Zero. At work I may have a Diet Coke in the morning and in the afternoon, Gold Peak Tea. In the middle of the afternoon, I may have an 8-ounce Coke. I’d rather have that than a candy bar or cookie for a pick-me-up.
Q: What do you say to those who believe that sugar — particularly in soft drinks — works on the brain like an addictive substance?
A: There is no scientific evidence.
Q: Critics say Coke is pushing sugary drinks in China and India and will cause obesity there just like here.
A: Every person in those countries is different and should be able to choose what’s right for them.
Pennsylvanians, bend over
Tom Corbett just loves giving taxpayer money to his buddies/donors in the energy industry:
The $1.65 billion tax deal the Corbett administration is negotiating with Shell Oil Co. to locate an ethane processing plant in western Pennsylvania is shaping up to be the biggest such state investment Pennsylvania history.
And now it appears, it’s just getting bigger.
Under the deal, taxpayers would foot the bill for hazardous materials clean up at the western Pennsylvania site, a cost that could easily soar into the tens of millions, according to a report by CapitolWire news service.
Corbett officials told legislative staff that on top of the $1.65 billion in tax credits over 25 years starting in 2017, and other sweeteners that come with a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zone, the state would be picking up the bill to clean up the waste from a zinc smelter site.
The Horsehead Corp. plant, which is still operating at its Beaver County facility, is a repeat violator of federal clean air and water laws, CapitolWire reports.
News of the deal surrounding the building of a so-called ethane cracker plant, that would convert byproduct of the natural gas industry to plastics, was first reported by CapitolWire on Monday. The plant is expected to create as many as 20,000 jobs, both at the plant and in related industries.
Sen. Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, wrote to Corbett asking for an explanation but so far have received none, he said.
Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) wrote his own letter today seeking to find out more specific information such as how much each job would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers and whether there is language in the agreement that would prohibit Shell from demanding more money down the road.
“At a certainly point how much are we payuing for every job?” said Leach today. “If it’s $300,000 per job why not just give people the money?”
George Jugovic, former western regional director of the DEP, now head of the environmental group PennFuture, told CapitolWire the site is a “wasteland.”
“There are so many environmental issues on that site: groundwater issues, surface water issues, waste disposal issues, discharge into the water issues,,” he said.
The state Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act requires that Horsehead pay first for the clean-up, Jugovic, adding that he thought legislation would be needed to change that mandate.
“I never heard of the state picking up the cost when there is a company that was still in business and left a site that needed clean-up,” Jugovic said.
Social Security
If you’re still not clear on what the Very Serious People are proposing to do, read this. It spells it out rather nicely. Then email it to all your friends.
‘Karmic debt’
A former Coke executive working on the side of healthy food:
The logic behind these moves has been repeated so often it is practically a mantra: The nation is in the throes of an obesity crisis and sodas account for an outsize share of the sugar pouring into American bellies.
Putman, 51, shares that view. But he is also driven by another motive: From 1997 to mid-2000, he was a top marketing executive at Coca-Cola.
“It took me 10 years to figure out that I have a large karmic debt to pay for the number of Cokes I sold across this country,” he said.
On Thursday, he came to settle it.
He wanted to give an inside account of what he contends has been a drive by Coca-Cola to replace not just its direct competitors but all beverages in the American diet — a campaign for what the company called “share of stomach.” He wanted to warn about the industry’s particular focus on young people and minorities.
But mostly he wanted to level the playing field.
“I’m not against soft drinks per se,” he began carefully. “What I am for is balance of power. And I think the power has shifted in the wrong direction. The resources, the scale, the intelligence, the strategy these companies use is intense.
“We need to take all that thinking . . . all that strategy and convert it — jujitsu it — to healthy products.”
Honestly, I don’t see why they can’t outlaw the sale of sodas to kids under 18. When my ex and I owned a neighborhood ice cream store, kids would come by on their way to school and buy big sodas – and a bag of barbecue potato chips. Nobody’s kids should eat like that.
AARP’s Social Security and Medicare poll
I noticed this over at Lambert’s place. My responses were similar to his.
Minimum wage
We already know that the minimum wage doesn’t pay enough to get a two-bedroom apartment in the vast majority of the country. Yet conservatives continue to push the same old lie: that raising the minimum wage causes unemployment. Now, a group of Democratic Congress members are trying to raise the issue. Does it have a snowball’s chance in hell? Nope. But they’re still going to have the discussion:
If today’s minimum wage workers earned the same as their counterparts in 1968, they would receive $10 per hour. That, unfortunately, is $2.75 more than the current federal minimum wage.This would be a serious problem at any time, but it’s particularly relevant now, as the awful economy has forced millions of workers into minimum-wage jobs. (And they’re the lucky ones).
To that end, Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. has introduced the “Catching Up To 1968 Act of 2012.” Within sixty days of being enacted, it would raise the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour, and beginning one year after that, would index it to the Consumer Price Index. For workers that rely on tips, the bill would mandate the cash wage to be 70 percent of the minimum wage and never less than $5.50 per hour.
“We’ve bailed out banks, we’ve bailed out corporations, we’ve bailed out Wall Street, we’ve tried to create sound fundamentals in the economy—now it’s time to bail out working people who work hard every day and they still only make $7.25,” Jackson said this morning at a news conference outside the US Capitol. “The only way to do that is to raise the minimum wage.”
Ralph Nader and Representatives Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers also attended the news conference—a roster of liberal stars if there ever was one. But it’s important to note that raising the minimum wage has often found bipartisan support. Rick Santorum, for example, wrote legislation to increase it, and until recently even Mitt Romney supported tying it to the CPI.
And with 30 million workers receiving minimum wage, it should certainly be a viable political issue. “These are not just liberal workers or progressive workers or conservative workers or libertarian workers,” said Nader. “This is a unifying issue in our country at a time when there are few declared unifying political issues.“
What is missing is a unified drive by elected members of Congress to provide the requisite courage to challenge the merciless oligarchy, which includes the big-box stores like Walmart and McDonalds, and compel them to adjust their pay.
Kucinich added that it was a tough sell inside the Beltway, but an easy sell outside of it. “We live in a bubble here in Washington, DC. This place is dripping with wealth. Wealth is just cascading into the capital to buy elections,” he said. “But when you get outside Washington, DC, and you get to the cities and the townships and the villages of America, there are people struggling to survive. There are people who can’t make it on $7.25 an hour if they even have a job.”
The federal minimum wage increased in 2007, from $5.15 an hour. There hasn’t been any evidence that it caused businesses to hire less workers, and in fact research has shown that an increase in the minimum wage doesn’t create an increase in unemployment.
Lawrence O’Donnell in denial
MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow seemed as disappointed as most rank-and-file Democrats when NBC analysts declared early Tuesday evening that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would survive the bid to recall him. However, another of the network’s prime-time hosts, the one who’s an Obamabot and a shameless spin doctor, announced at the top of his program that everything was just peachy. More here.