2 Years After Occupy Cincinnati, Enquirer Puts Income Inequality on Front Page

January 31, 2014 at 2:54 pm

Still think that Occupy Cincinnati didn’t have an impact?

income_inequality_02

Now that you know 85 people own more than half the world, here’s what to do about it

January 22, 2014 at 10:51 pm

The media has done a great job covering the 85 people who own more than half the world statistic from the Oxfam report entitled: Working for the Few: Political Capture and Economic Inequality. Media examples herehere, and here.

What I didn’t realize until I read the report was that it has an excellent set of recommendations on how to improve the situation.

Since they’re excellent, the mainstream media seems to have ignored them, and I don’t think Oxfam would mind, here is their series of recommendations.

oxfam-working-for-the-few

What Freedom (Industries) Looks Like

January 17, 2014 at 10:54 am

Go to  2237 Pennsylvania Avenue, Charleston, WV on Google Maps.

freedom_industries_03

It’s right across the street from Freedom Industries. Switch to street view and you can see Freedom.

The Case for a Working Capitalism

January 8, 2014 at 4:46 pm

I stumbled on the following quote from economist Ha-Joon Chang over the holidays:

Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are—a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told.

Chang’s quote reminds us of the initial promise of supply-side economics, that a rising tide would lift all boats, and the subsequent failure to deliver.

capitalism_01

It also made me think about one of the most powerful conservative frames: redistribution of wealth.

Chang turns the tables on the typical conservative argument and he gave me an idea how to take things a step further.

Justin Jeffre on Supportive Housing

December 19, 2013 at 7:33 pm

As part of a recent discussion on the Green Party forum about the Alaska Project, Justin Jeffre responded with a particularly well-framed argument in favor of supportive housing.

justin-jeffre

I thought this might be helpful if anyone is calling or writing city council (or anyone else for that matter) in support of the project. It seems particularly relevant in light of resident testimony yesterday claiming that the project would be a “haven” for drug dealers.

City Council Watch: Budget and Finance Committee 12.16.13

December 16, 2013 at 4:22 pm

Two major issues were discussed in this morning’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting:

  1. Funding for energy saving capital improvements
  2. Funding for the MLK interchange.

The committee also took up the motion to move the city manager communication director under the office of the mayor.

city-council-honeywell

Interviews with Famous People #26: Matteo Brunetta, Director of “The Highest Cost”

December 10, 2013 at 10:07 am

Matteo Brunetta is an Italian-born documentary film maker who lives in New York City.

His film The Highest Cost looks at the fight of two 9/11 first responders against cancer developed from months of working at Ground Zero.

The Highest Cost TRAILER from Matteo Brunetta on Vimeo.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of speaking with him.

Because I’m tired of explaining a conservative health care law to conservatives

December 6, 2013 at 11:30 am

If you haven’t noticed yet, the conservative wedge issue for 2014 is going to be health care.

Democratic Senators like Mary Landrieu have noticed.

mary-landrieu-sm

They simply don’t appear to have much of a strategy to date: 1) apologize for the horrible website, 2) focus on the economy, and 3) keep explaining to conservatives why a conservative solution is not such a bad thing.

If we can’t do better, well before November, expect to lose the Senate.

How Democrats Could Lose Ohio in 2014: Stop the Cincy Streetcar from Being “Crancelled”!

November 28, 2013 at 10:05 am

We’ve got a Bridge to Nowhere situation here in Southern Ohio. Only it’s being perpetrated on us by a “Democrat,” recently elected Mayor of Cincinnati John Cranley.

crancel_bumper_sticker_sm

Purple is the New Red: Campaign Signs from SW Ohio

November 4, 2013 at 3:15 pm

I noticed something about the campaign yard signs as I was walking our dog the other night in our quiet neighborhood of Cheviot, Ohio.

None of them were red. This may not seem odd until you realize that Cheviot is in the heart of a district which Republican Steve Chabot won by 70,000 votes in 2012.

There was no way all the candidates here could be Democrats. Could they? What was going on?

 photo goedl-kinney_zpsd3d4ade3.jpg

My curiosity led me to the following informal survey of campaign signs in Southern Ohio.