No matter where you stand politically, this fact is not subject to debate: when people have access to health care and medical services, they live longer, better and more productive lives. When it isn’t available or the cost is prohibitive, mortality rates are higher; people don’t live as long; and the quality of those lives, … Continue reading »
This morning, I received what looks like a robo-response email from Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in response to a letter I sent two days ago urging her to vote NO on SOPA and NO on PIPA. I appreciate the prompt reply from her staff (and the robot responder in her office), but unfortunately it appears … Continue reading »
This is a letter I sent to Senator Al Franken on 12 January 2012. I live in Minnesota, the state for which Franken is a senator. In 2008, I was a campaign activist for Al Franken’s senate campaign, operating volunteer call operations on behalf of his campaign and canvassing door-to-door to solicit votes on his … Continue reading »
“Republicans complaining about the households not paying enough who also want to cut taxes overall are asking the poor to subsidize a tax cut for the rich…” Here’s a fresh quote from the latest non-Romney front-runner in the GOP presidential race: “This dividing of America [between] 99-1,” Rick Santorum said this morning in New Hampshire, “It’s anybody that … Continue reading »
In the war of rhetoric that has developed in Washington as both sides blame each other for our economic mess, one argument has been repeated so often that many people now regard it as fact: ‘Rich people create the jobs.’ Specifically, entrepreneurs and investors, when incented by low taxes, build companies and create millions of … Continue reading »
One year at Princeton University: $37,000. One year at a New Jersey state prison: $44,000. Prison and college “are the two most divergent paths one can take in life,” Joseph Staten, an info-graphic researcher with Public Administration, says. Whereas one is a positive experience that increases lifetime earning potential, the other is a near dead end, which is why … Continue reading »
Following eight months of consumer testing, J.P. Morgan Chase [JPM] has decided that it won’t charge customers who use their debit cards to make purchases… J.P. Morgan joins U.S. Bancorp [USB], Citigroup Inc. [C], PNC Financial Services Group Inc. [PNC], KeyCorp [KEY] and other large banks that have said in recent days that they won’t … Continue reading »
Reporting from Perry, Iowa— Michele Bachmann was laying out a tough immigration policy recently when she veered off script to make a point that she said underscored the national security implications of a porous border. “Fifty-nine thousand this year came across the border, as was said in the introduction, from Yemen, from Syria. These are … Continue reading »
A T-Mobile customer in Florida was “shaking and crying” when she received a phone bill of more than $200,000 last month, largely because her younger brother didn’t turn off data roaming during a vacation in Canada. Celina Aarons has a T-Mobile family plan she shares with her five younger siblings, and usually pays around $175 … Continue reading »
First they charge up to $5.00 per transaction at the ATM machine… Now we can look forward to both monthly charges AND per swipe fees for the privilege of using a bank debit card while shopping. It’s time to start carrying cash again, consumers. Read the infuriating article in the New York Times… Related articles … Continue reading »
