Speaking of tax fairness, David Sirota has joined the Oregonian every week.
Kari Chisholm
Over the weekend, Carla wrote about Rep. Tina Kotek's op-ed about tax fairness - and Steve gave us a handy cheat-sheet with the facts and figures.
This morning, the Oregonian also published an editorial by syndicated columnist David Sirota. He's been in their pages before, but I'm told by David that the Oregonian has (finally!) picked up his column on a weekly basis. This is great news -- a rock-solid economic populist progressive in the pages of the O. (I first made this pitch over a year ago.)
Based in Denver (and previously, Helena, Montana), David's paying close attention to the West - and the way that economic populism plays here. And he's certainly been watching Oregon. In April 2007, he wrote that a progressive economic populist like Peter DeFazio would do well in the U.S. Senate race against Gordon Smith. And then, last fall, he wrote about Jeff Merkley's campaign - and the populist progressive "earthquake" that a victory would represent.
Here's a clip from David's item today:
The wealthiest 1 percent have never had it so good.According to government figures, 1-percenters' share of America's total income is the highest it's been since 1929, and their tax rates are the lowest they've faced in two decades. Through bonuses, many 1-percenters will profit from the $23 trillion in bailout largesse the Treasury Department now says could be headed to financial firms.
And, most of them benefit from IRS decisions to reduce millionaire audits and collect zero taxes from the majority of major corporations.
Big props to the Oregonian for giving us a weekly dose of David Sirota.
 |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
Jul 27, '09
I wish David Sirota spent half as much time attacking the right wing and the GOP as he does attacking the Obama administration. I think he is basically a third party advocate and wants Democrats to fail.
Jul 27, '09
I think he is very fair and it lends to his credibility.
3:27 p.m.
Jul 27, '09
I'm with Bill. I would rather have a column by Steve Novick. I find Steve's writing much punchier and fun to read with fewer polemics.
Jul 27, '09
The 1 percenters need to be taken down! That's one of the reasons I voted for Obama. We need to take these people down and taken them down hard. I'd like to see at least 80-90% of their wealth taken and distributed to the poor and especially the undocumented and negros.
Jul 27, '09
First, Vic, you're an asshole.
Now for Sirota, I just saw this Twitter feed:
davidsirota Just want to say what I've been saying for years: Max Baucus is not just a dumbshit and a fuckhead, he's a genuinely awful human being.
Now that's some funny shit. Wonder if the O will publish that?
Jul 27, '09
Nice move by the Oregonian, a few more and I'll consider re-subscribing.
Now, what about Mike Whitney?
7:21 a.m.
Jul 28, '09
Welcome, David Sirota! He’ll add some hard hitting populist diversity to the Oregonian’s op-ed page. I welcome his anti-corporate take on domestic politics. By all means, let’s make corporations serve the public interest through free markets and keep them from using our political system to tilt the rules in their favor, as opposed to the interests of workers and consumers. I even welcome his anti-free trade views, much as I disagree with them, as a means for sharper discussions. With 80% of global economic growth over the next few decades forecast to be in emerging global markets (think BRIC, as in Brazil, Russia, India and China) and China alone forecast to have an economy twice the size of the US economy in 2050, I’ll look forward to considering how David thinks the US can have a dynamic economy either without going after these markets or how he thinks we should pursue these markets.
There is, I think, an economic growth corollary to Willie Hutton’s famous response when asked why he robbed banks, "because that's where the money is.” For the US, if asked why foreign trade, the answers is “because that’s where the economic opportunities are.” I’ll look forward to David’s thoughts on how we do it.
<hr/>