F.A.S.T. Old CATO Study Says Welfare More Lucrative Than Work. Not Exactly True

Facts Are Stupid Things  9.3.15

I’m not a big Facebook guy. I understand it’s importance to comics and artists when it comes to letting folks know you’re working. I also understand some people just like to announce what they are having for dinner. One thing I know for sure is that Facebook is a horrible place to argue politics.

Case in point: A 1995 study updated in 2013, done at the always biased CATO Institute, which I saw posted today as if it were new news. That study purports to prove that welfare is a better gig than working in more than 30 of our united states.  I immediately got the whiff of suspicion and found a more sobering piece that describes the ways CATO took every possible welfare program and in theory assigned maximum income to all recipients.  In reality, according to this piece by Josh Barro at Business Insider, they didn’t allow for the fact that benefiting from one or several of the programs excludes recipients from benefiting from all the rest.

In short, CATO took liberty with their assumptions and then posted a finding they were looking for.  In so doing, they also helped to keep the public mis-informed in perpetuity and forever.

There’s A New Study That Says Welfare Pays Better Than Work — Here’s Why It’s Total Nonsense

Anecdotally, There are plenty of examples to be found of people abusing the system. But in the aggregate, for the vast majority, welfare is never a better gig than a good job.

As an aside: I think Donald Trump should help by using some of his billions to open a factory in Queens where he can get Americans off of welfare and back to work sewing his Donald J. Trump Collection of shirts and ties. These ties are great. They are fantastic. People are gonna love my ties.

And just because I’m old fashioned and believe in double sourcing as much as possible, here is a second blog I found written by Mike Dunford, who I do not know, but who seems to have done his homework.

No, Cato, Welfare Doesn’t Pay More Than Minimum Wage

Dunford concludes: “Cato’s statement that, “The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work,” is not just a lie in general, it’s a lie in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia.”

And here is the original 1995 masterpiece from CATO Institute:

Welfare Pays Better than Work,

http://www.cato.org/policy-report/novemberdecember-1995/welfare-pays-better-work

Hyp, Hyp, Hypocrisy: Christie Denies His Denial But Video Proves It

Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy  9.3.15

Click link below for full video

Click link below for full video

There is nothing better than a guy condescendingly telling a young woman she is misquoting him and then having the proof at hand.

Check out this story and video from EcoWatch as Christie is asked how he could have said human breathing contributes to global warning and then he gets all nasty denying it.  But the video in this case does not lie.

Watch Chris Christie Angrily Refute His Climate Denial

Annoy The Media: Obama a hypocrite in Alaska?

intellihub.com

intellihub.com

Annoy The Media  9.1.15

Since I am so quick to call Donald Trump a hypocrite, a friend has asked if I would apply the same moniker to Barack Obama because he’s in Alaska seeking support on climate change intiatives even as his administration has only just approved off shore drilling permits to Shell Oil.

Obama Is A Climate Hypocrite. His Trip To Alaska Proves It

When you look at the entire picture, the balance of his actions in six and a half years in office come down heavily on the side of long term reduction in greenhouse gases.  In particular, the extended EPA standards that will raise MPG on all vehicles by 2025 to 54 MPG.  These are two small examples and there are many more

Autos must average 54.5 mpg by 2025, new EPA standards say

White House to Toughen Fuel Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles
I actually believe the need to curb man’s effect on climate change — in practice — must also be balanced with the reality of where the economy and our national security needs stand.  While most of Obamas changes kick in years from now, they allow for transition less likely to shock the economy and undermine national security.  Those are real issues that must be balanced with the need to transition to clean energy and I believe when you get into the thick of it, the reality of the need to balance is going to appear as hypocrisy from time to time, but not when viewed in it’s full perspective. Alaske, after all is not the only place where the battle to slow climate change exists. I guess you win some and lose some but overall hope for a good winning percentage?

N.C. to fight Obama climate change plan that cuts carbon emissions

When A Trump calls for penalizing all corporations who take their manufacturing out of the country — even though that is the only way he manufactured his clothing line, there is no bigger picture there.  That is rhetoric simply for the sake of bombast.

When a 6.5 year sitting President visits Alaska to highlight the reality of the melt — even as he approved offshore drilling that is still important to the local economy — he has a greater record to refer back to, upon which to judge his overall actions.  Including the limits put on that drilling. Read about those here:

U.S. Will Allow Drilling for Oil in Arctic Ocean

In short, if you look at this through a narrow prism you find hypocrisy.  If you look at it in regard to his overall record on the issue, I think you see real action tempered by the responsibility to administrate inconvenient reality.  In this situation, those on the left see only what’s immediately in front of them with Alaska as the sole crucible.  But when you look at the bigger picture of the battles fought everywhere on this issue you get the sense this White House sees the much bigger picture.

 

Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy – Trump Outsources Jobs He Could Give To Americans, To China

trump-made-in-chinaHyp Hyp Hypocrisy – 8.28.15

Having already provided the facts dealing specifically with Donald Trump getting almost all of the details wrong in regard to Mondelez International in Chicago, this is a good time to address the underlying issue: the exporting of American manufacturing jobs to other countries.

As this is usually an issue of concern to Democrats running for office, it is nonetheless still legit.  The problem with Donald Trump raising this issue is simply this: he is as guilty of outsorucing as anyone.  Case in point: the Donald J. Trump Signature Collections which as you can see in the photo above…are made in China.  At least Mitt Romney had the decency to bury his hypocrisy deep within the venture capital firm that did his bidding.  Trump, as with everything else,  puts his name on it.

When it comes to concern about corporate outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs and Donald J. Trump: Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy.

 

F.A.S.T.: Take A Close Look At Trump’s Oreo Story? The Cookie Crumbles.

trumphat

Facts Are Stupid Things  – 8.28.15

Trump says he won’t eat Oreos anymore because Mondelez International, the multi-national conglomerate that bakes those cookies, is closing it’s plant in Chicago and moving it’s 600 jobs to Mexico.

Here’s the problem with Trump’s statement:  It’s just not entirely true and ignores a number of important facts.

Full disclosure: I have happily owned a few shares of Mondelez stock for a few years now.

In short, Mondelez has two baking facilities on the South Side of Chicago  that have been there since the late 1950s.  They are upgrading equipment and cutting the number of productions lines from 9 to 4. They tried to get $42 million in concessions from Chicago to keep the bakery there, because that is what they save if they move those 4 lines to a newer facility in Salinas, Mexico.
Even if they had kept the 4 production lines at that baking facility in Chicago, the upgrade in equipment was going to cost 300 jobs anyway.
Here’s another important fact. Illinois is their international HQ and they still employ a large number of people in all kinds of jobs.  Most importantly, where Trump is concerned, the initial news reports in May indicate that Oreos are not one of the products currently made at that baking facility

So now you deserve some supporting evidence:

In this SF Examiner story, you can read all of Trump’s categorical statements in the lead two paragraphs.
And then buried at the bottom, in italics, the following correction:

*Correction – According to Laurie M. Guzzinati Senior Director, Corporate & Government Affairs North America, Mondelēz Global LLC – Nabisco recently announced a significant investment in a Salinas, Mexico baking plant. The move affects 600 jobs at a bakery near Chicago, though Nabisco says that facility would remain open.

Read it here:
Trump says no more Oreo’s as Nabisco Moves business to Mexico

A second source supporting the same facts is this Sun Times piece:
Read this one:
Mondelez to cut 600 jobs in Chicago

For confirmation of the job cuts that were going to happen anyway, here’s a good one from when the story first ran:
Mondelez seeks job cuts, wants to vacate one of two South Side bakery buildings

And here is a piece from May to give even greater perspective:
Mondelez to cut Chicago jobs, send some work to Mexico

Important notes: Mondelez still employs roughly 13,000 people in the United States and more than 90, 000 more in countries all around the world.  40% of its sales originate in Europe.  Only 20% in the U.S..

So Mondelez didn’t shut down it’s entire plant and move it to Mexico as Trump said.  And according to the one report that offered details, Oreo’s aren’t even made in the baking facility that is being phased out. (That one is subject to further review)

So when it comes to the Donald Trump telling you that the people who make Oreos shut down their plant in Chicago and shipped all it’s jobs down to Mexico you now know that both “baking facilities” remain open, still providing jobs for Americans.  Furthermore, Illinois is Mondelez International’s global headquarters.

Not shutting the plant. Fact.
Not moving all jobs to Mexico. Fact.
Chicago Tribune report lists products baked at facility. Oreos not listed. Fact.
300 jobs were going to be eliminated even if second baking facility got the 4 modernized production lines.  Fact.
Mondelez is overwhelmingly a foreign based operation. Fact.
Illinois is Mondelez International global HQ. Fact.
13,000 still employed by Mondelez in U.S.  Fact.

Go FactEmToDeath.

 

Addendum: This just in : Don’t Worry Donald Trump, Oreo Cookies Will Still Be Made In The USA

Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy – Trump Says “We Must Treat Each Other With Respect”

Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy  8.23.15

Two days after the incident of two thugs who beat up a homeless man on the streets of Boston and gave credit to Trump being right and more than a day after his only comment was that it’s a shame but ” people who are following me are very passionate”  The President of Douche Land now says his supporters need to “treat others with respect.”

This from the same guy who declared to Megyn Kelly during the first GOP “debate” that he might no longer be nice to her because he didn’t like her question and followed up within a day by insinuating in a Tweet that she must have been on her period the day before. He’s also the guy who called Lyndsey Graham an idiot. Tweeted of Rand Paul “Truly weird Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky reminds me of a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain. He was terrible at DEBATE!: Said about John McCain, “I like people who aren’t captured” and invested time at a recent New Hampshire campaign stop asserting Jeb Bush is dumb, in a manner of ways.  That, my friends is leadership through example.

Clearly, when this clown declares it time to “treat others with respect” the rank and file are sure to fall right in line.

Donald Trump Just Stopped Being Funny

Donald Trump denounces violence after two supporters allegedly beat Mexican homeless man in Boston

All this from the rich guy who with all the conveniences money can buy, still can not carve out any time for either Political Correctness or to not be a total douche.

Say it with me gang: Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy.  Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy.  Hyp Hyp Hypocrisy

F.A.S.T. Defunct Iranian Parchin Facility Inspection Will Be Verified By IAEA

Facts Are Stupid Things  8.22.15

The Debate: An unconfirmed A.P. story told of an early draft of the nuclear agreement between Six Nations and Iran that according to the report would allow the Iranians to “self inspect” this facility.

 

The Skinny: Based on this unconfirmed report, the media-sphere is full of attacks asking how on earth we would make an agreement that allowed the Iranians to police their own nuclear facilities? The answer, according the the director of the IAEA is that no such condition exists.  It is also important to note that Parchin burned to the ground in 2014.  The exact circumstances surrounding it’s destruction are subject to debate. It is also important ot note that Parchin is not an currently active nuclear research site.

parchin

 

So What Happened?

Well, according to the IAEA big boss:

“I am disturbed by statements suggesting that the IAEA has given responsibility for nuclear inspections to Iran. Such statements misrepresent the way in which we will undertake this important verification work,” IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said in an unusually strongly worded statement on Thursday.

Full Text Here: IAEA says report Iran to inspect own military site is ‘misrepresentation’

While Iranians would be involved, as with other agreements the IAEA operates under, that agency would have means of verification. For more on that read here:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/1U.S. acknowledges likely Iranian role in nuclear site inspections

For a more in depth look at this issue, read this Max Fisher piece on Vox.com:

The AP’s controversial and badly flawed Iran inspections story, explained

In Short:
When it comes to the allegation that the six nation nuclear agreement allows the Iranians to self inspect their active nuclear research facilities, the stupid facts are: They do not.

On Iranian self inspection: you can now FactEmToDeath.

Annoy The Media: Maybe It’s Not Hillary’s Email We Should Be Talking About Right Now?

Annoy The Media  08.21.15

 

HackersPenetratePentagon
Does anyone think this country’s security will be determined by Hillary Clinton’s dishing on the British Prime Minister in 2010 email to her former Chief Of Staff?
I’d be a bit more concerned about stuff like this:

Hackers penetrated Pentagon email

Maybe the Pentagon should look into a secure private server?

Annoy The Media.
Think For Yourself.