Debt Deal Winners: Wall Street
In his budget proposal earlier this year, Obama recommended taxing the profit share of private equity managers, venture capitalists and other Wall Street high-rollers at the ordinary personal income tax rate, instead of at the smaller capital gains rate. No such deal was struck under the current bill, so these mega-rich traders won’t spend a penny reducing the deficit—again, unless Boehner undergoes a religious experience and appoints pro-tax, anti-Wall Street Republicans to the super-committee. (He’d have to spend a long time looking first).
Debt Deal Winners: Oil Tycoons
Obama repeatedly demanded that oil and gas companies lose their tax breaks, since they are raking in record profits and enjoy many deductions and subsidies in the tax code. “If we choose to keep a tax break for oil and gas companies that are making hundreds of millions of dollars, that means we’ve got to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship (and) that means we’ve got to stop funding grants for medical research,” Obama said in June. Since those tax breaks were preserved, in hindsight that soundbite was more of a prediction than a warning.
Debt Deal Winners: The Rich
Up until very recently, Obama and most Democrats were demanding that wealthy Americans pony up for some deficit reduction. The demands were admittedly narrow, and focused on itemized deductions on people who owned private jets or multiple homes—but both groups are exempted from sacrifice under the current deal.
Credit: AP Images
Losers from the Debt Deal: Veterans
Almost half of the first round of cuts will come from “security spending,” which includes the Pentagon budget but also the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and, notably, veterans benefits and compensation. More than 2.2 million veterans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, many of whom have been seriously injured and require extensive care. The Disabled Veterans of America already has said it is “anxious” to see how these spending cuts are assembled.
Losers from the Debt Deal: Students
Graduate students would be the hardest hit, as the bill proposes an elimination of the interest subsidy on federal student loans for “almost all” of them. This means that beginning July 1, 2012, grad students will be responsible for the interest on their loans while in school and during any subsequent deferment period.
Credit: AP Images
pantslessprogressive:
Muslim Americans are more likely to reject violence than other major religious groups in the United States, according to the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center.
See the full results here. Read the report here.
(2,482 respondents from Gallup surveys conducted in 2010)
(via squeetothegee-deactivated201111)
Congratulations to MSNBC’s newest host, our Washington Editor Chris Hayes!
6 Ways the Media Represents Female Athletes: Competence
In a straightforward representation of a sportswoman’s athletic competence, the athlete is portrayed in uniform, on court and in action. In Kane’s research, this mode of representation was the most likely to increase fans’ interest in women’s sports.
Abby Wambach of the US scores against Brazil’s goalkeeper Andreia Suntaque and defender Daiane Menezes Rodrigues during the Women’s World Cup quarter-final in Dresden, July 10, 2011
Credit: Reuters Pictures
“Far from piquing interest in female sports, hyper-sexualized media images actually serve to suppress interest in—and respect for—women’s sports.”
— Mary Jo Kane explains her latest research on women’s sports and sexuality in our special Sport Issue.
