Quotes of the Morning: Let Them Eat Cake
“When people across the world look at America's economy what they see is low inflation, low unemployment, and the fastest growth of any major industrialized nation. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the United States. There is one undisputed leader in the world in terms of economy, and that's the United States of America.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007
“A nine-figure fortune won’t get you much mention these days, at least not on these pages. This year, for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth of the nation’s wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion. “
-Forbes Magazine, September 21, 2007
“Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent. The 2006 profit topped the previous record of $36.13 billion which Exxon set in 2005.
Revenue at the world’s largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion that Exxon posted in 2005.”
-Associated Press, February 1, 2007
“The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ continues to widen.
A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.
The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, February 22, 2007
“Workplace health coverage costing more than $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual would be subject to income and payroll taxes. Families that buy their own policies, meanwhile, could deduct $15,000 from taxable income. Individuals could take off $7,500. It doesn't matter if the actual cost of the insurance is less. The idea is being sold as a way to help the 47 million uninsured Americans buy coverage. Not many are buying.
‘It's totally unclear as to how these benefits would be reprogrammed to help the uninsured,’ Fitzhugh Mullan, a former U.S. assistant surgeon general, said over the phone.
The uninsured are mostly the working poor, who don't earn enough to use tax deductions.”
-Seattle Times, January 31, 2007
“On the outskirts of Baton Rouge, La., nearly 800 FEMA trailers packed with families stretch into the distance, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports. It's a mud-soaked outpost where 17 long months after Hurricane Katrina, 2,000 lives feel very much like they've reached the end of the road.
A new, in-depth study obtained exclusively by CBS News illustrates the real mental health strain of living long-term in what some have called a permanent state of limbo. The most startling finding: the devastating impact on children.
The study, done by Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund, found as many as 10,000 displaced children across the Gulf are now suffering from clinically diagnosed depression — a 400 percent increase from before the storm.”
-CBS News, February 1, 2007
“There, she [Laura Bush] met with 15 students, taking time to talk with each table of three kids, third- through fifth-graders. She looked at pictures they'd drawn of where they went to be safe during Hurricane Katrina.
‘It takes a long time to deal with what you all have suffered through,’ Mrs. Bush said. ‘What we're seeing is that people can call upon their own resources. I think people are dealing with it.’
She gave the children a coloring book, some colors and a photograph of Miss Beazley Bush, the White House black schnauzer."
-Sun Herald (Mississippi), February 22, 2007
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 31, 2007
“A nine-figure fortune won’t get you much mention these days, at least not on these pages. This year, for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth of the nation’s wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion. “
-Forbes Magazine, September 21, 2007
“Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent. The 2006 profit topped the previous record of $36.13 billion which Exxon set in 2005.
Revenue at the world’s largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion that Exxon posted in 2005.”
-Associated Press, February 1, 2007
“The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ continues to widen.
A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.
The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, February 22, 2007
“Workplace health coverage costing more than $15,000 for a family or $7,500 for an individual would be subject to income and payroll taxes. Families that buy their own policies, meanwhile, could deduct $15,000 from taxable income. Individuals could take off $7,500. It doesn't matter if the actual cost of the insurance is less. The idea is being sold as a way to help the 47 million uninsured Americans buy coverage. Not many are buying.
‘It's totally unclear as to how these benefits would be reprogrammed to help the uninsured,’ Fitzhugh Mullan, a former U.S. assistant surgeon general, said over the phone.
The uninsured are mostly the working poor, who don't earn enough to use tax deductions.”
-Seattle Times, January 31, 2007
“On the outskirts of Baton Rouge, La., nearly 800 FEMA trailers packed with families stretch into the distance, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports. It's a mud-soaked outpost where 17 long months after Hurricane Katrina, 2,000 lives feel very much like they've reached the end of the road.
A new, in-depth study obtained exclusively by CBS News illustrates the real mental health strain of living long-term in what some have called a permanent state of limbo. The most startling finding: the devastating impact on children.
The study, done by Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund, found as many as 10,000 displaced children across the Gulf are now suffering from clinically diagnosed depression — a 400 percent increase from before the storm.”
-CBS News, February 1, 2007
“There, she [Laura Bush] met with 15 students, taking time to talk with each table of three kids, third- through fifth-graders. She looked at pictures they'd drawn of where they went to be safe during Hurricane Katrina.
‘It takes a long time to deal with what you all have suffered through,’ Mrs. Bush said. ‘What we're seeing is that people can call upon their own resources. I think people are dealing with it.’
She gave the children a coloring book, some colors and a photograph of Miss Beazley Bush, the White House black schnauzer."
-Sun Herald (Mississippi), February 22, 2007
posted by Pope Impious XXIII | 4:14 AM
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