gang of six deficit plan

The Gang of Six plan seems to be the most likely solution to the August 2nd debt ceiling deadline. The plan doesn't seem much of a compromise to me. Yet it is very likely Obama will support it. A major tax cut would be given to the top tax bracket (from 35% to 23-29%), which, other than just after Reagan's presidency, is at it's lowest point since the great depression.

This just about sums it up:

Just about the only specific piece of the Gang of Six proposal, as explained well by Rep. Peter DeFazio above, is the move to chained CPI, a benefit cut for Social Security, veteran’s benefits and any program with a cost of living adjustment, along with a regressive tax cut.

Overall this plan will place most of the burden on the working class. It's about time we put the myth that these cuts help job creators to rest. Let's not forget the huge income inequality we have in this country.




In other news, the US claim that no civilians have been killed by drones in Pakistan is a lie. From a recent study:

Yet a detailed examination by the Bureau of 116 CIA ‘secret’ drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2010 has uncovered at least 10 individual attacks in which 45 or more civilians appear to have died.

Also an interesting read from Glenn Greenwald; the governments case for the anthrax attacks in 2001 is full of holes.

That Ivins lacked the means, ability and equipment to produce the sophisticated strain of anthrax used in the attacks -- especially to do so without detection and leaving ample traces -- has long been one of the many arguments as to why it is so unlikely that he was the culprit (or at least the sole culprit).

[...]

But, of course, in the U.S., the nation's most powerful political and financial factions -- especially those who control the National Security State -- are immune from meaningful scrutiny and investigation. As a result, President Obama -- in what I think is one his most indefensible acts -- actually threatened to veto the entire intelligence authorization bill if it included a proposed bipartisan amendment (passed by the House) that would have mandated an independent inquiry into the FBI's anthrax investigation.

On the lighter side of things, they now have fake Apple stores.