Go After the Money

One of many tools to fight the Trump Administration and the Republican power grab is to go after those who contribute material support to such endeavors.  By "go after" I don't want to be misinterpreted: I do not condone any kind of illegal or threatening behavior.  However, boycotts, protesting, and starting uncomfortable conversations, are not only legal but necessary.

So how do we find out who has been contributing to the party of insecure white resentment?  It turns out, there is a very easy online tool http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/?name=campaign%20contributions

Using my own arbitrary judgment, I'm choosing donors who've contributed more than $500.  Who are these people in Montpelier?

JOHNSTON, DARCIE
MONTPELIER, VT 05602

TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, CONSULTANT, JOHNSTON CONSULTING INC.

$2,000 to Donald Trump

$295 to the Vermont Republican Federal Elections committee

HENEY, MARY M
MONTPELIER, VT 05602

W. J. HENEY & SON, INC.

$600 to the Vermont Republican Federal Elections committee

GRAYCK, DAVID
MONTPELIER, VT 05602

$500 to Tom Reed (R)

$1000 to Elise Stefanik (R)

$500 to Steven Wells (R)

$240  to John Faso (R)

SCOTT, PHILIP
MIDDLESEX, VT 05602

GOVERNOR

$500 to the Vermont Republican Federal Elections committee

LAMBERTON, WAYNE
MONTPELIER, VT 05602

LAMBERTON ELECTRIC

$2,500 to the Vermont Republican Federal Elections committee

What a D!ck

 

From the man who built his life sucking on the teat of government, who wants to cut social security but spent his formative years collecting survivor benefits, wants to continue his assault on people who work for a living.  Speaker of the House and Alfred E. Neuman look-alike Paul Ryan has voiced his opposition to the Obama Administration's expansion of overtime raising the cap from $23,660 to $47,476 for those who work more than 40 hours a week.

Dorf! Lessons in Self-Awareness

Jeffery Dorfman-Via Forbes

From time to time, a publication founded by a funny-faced multi-millionaire publishes something so tone-deaf and utterly detached from reality, that I feel a visceral need to subject the author to champagne-boarding until they admit supply-side economics is bunk.  The publication I speak of is none other than Forbes.  Today’s author is Jeffrey Dorfman P.H.D. and he explains to us why the student debt crisis is no biggie because people also owe auto loans.

The purported crisis of mounting student loan debt is one of the most overhyped problems of this young century. We were treated to thousands of news stories when student loan debt went above $1 trillion in total, more as it continued to rise, and a growing avalanche of stories designed to create sympathy for these poor indebted college graduates (and drop-outs). Yet, auto loan debt in the U.S. has now reached $1.1 trillion, up 30 percent from its pre-recession peak, without a similar mountain of press warning of the imminent catastrophe. This divergence in media coverage and analysis tells us much about how the student debt crisis is more manufactured than real.

Don’t worry everybody, even though these are two separate loans, for two separate purposes, with limited overlap, the comparison is still great.

The average college graduate who has any student loan debt graduates with between $25,000 and $30,000 in student loan debt. On a standard ten year repayment schedule, this means a monthly payment in the range of $280 to $330 per month. The average new car loan in the second quarter of 2015 averaged $28,500, was for five years, and carried a monthly payment of $483 month. Payments on student loans and auto loans both take up almost exactly the same percentage of income.

This argument is on shaky ground.  First, Dorfman is talking mean not median.  In both cases, the mean is likely driven higher by expensive outliers.  Second, I don’t think I know a recent college graduate, who can pay $483 a month for a car payment without major assistance from family.  Most recent college graduates that I’ve met are lucky if they can afford a 10-year-old Civic.  Third, there is not 100% overlap here.  I would speculate that someone buying a $20,000-30,000 car probably is, at least, employed full-time. Auto loans and student loans are also inherently different.  Auto loans can be forgiven in bankruptcy, cars can be repossessed, and the debt can be settled.  Student loans are not usually forgiven until full payment or death.  Furthermore, if they are also carrying $30,000 in student loans in a job that doesn’t even pay $12 an hour, they aren’t getting any new loan for much at all.