Category Archives: Economics

Alabama City Lets People Avoid Jail By Going To Church Instead

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In a ridiculous violation of the separation of Church and State, Bay Minette, Alabama is offering those guilty of misdemeanors the choice between jail and a year of church. Now, I know what many of my atheist readers are thinking–having to attend church once a week is a punishment worse than jail, but think more carefully about this and you realize the city is actually interested in converting people, not punishing them here. Read more . . . 

Why Does the South Execute More People?

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The regional disparity is striking. Since the Supreme Court lifted a ban on death sentences in 1976, 1,264 people have been executed in the U.S. And 921 of those executions — or 73 percent of the total — took place in 13 Southern states . . . 

But less discussed is the racial divide in how people view the death penalty. For example, underneath the polls showing widespread support is one of the most well-documented facts in death penalty research: that it enjoys much higher support among whites than other racial groups, especially African-Americans. Read more . . . 

Dominion Denial: Methinks Chuck Colson Doth Protest Too Much

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Do Religious Right zealots want to take “dominion” in America and govern according to their version of biblical law?

Of course they do. But all of a sudden, leaders of the movement say they don’t. Stung by a series of articles exposing the dominionist agenda, they are desperately trying to rebrand themselves as moderates . . .

I do think they want to tear down the wall of separation between church and state so they can fund religious schools and other ministries with taxpayer dollars, pervade public schools with their religious perspective, ban all abortions, deny basic civil rights to the LGBT community and festoon courthouses and other public buildings with the symbols of their faith . . .

Sorry, Chuck. We aren’t mischaracterizing your agenda. We’re exposing it. Read more . . . 

Widening Income Inequality Bad For Economic Growth: IMF Report

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The study out of the International Monetary Fund found that greater income equality positively correlates with stronger economic growth
. . . Indeed, greater levels of income equality corresponded more strongly to sustained economic growth than other economic factors, including lower debt levels, according to the report . . .

The United States Income inequality has grown in the United States over the past four decades and now more closely compares to the income distributions of Russia and Iran than many other developed economies
. . . Some economists have attributed stagnant wages for most Americans over the past four decades in part to growing inequality, as the rich have mostly benefitted from the country’s recent economic gains. Read more . . . 

God and Class Warfare

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Well, let’s be clear: There really is a class war going on and the upper class is winning . . . As former President Bill Clinton also pointed out this week, 90 percent of income gains in the last decade went to the top 10 percent, and 40 percent of the increased wealth went to the top 1 percent . . . Almost fifty million Americans are now in poverty — the largest rate in 50 years, including 22 percent of all our children — in this the richest country in the world . . . [T]he top 1 percent of the country controls 42 percent of the nation’s financial wealth — more than 90 percent of the rest of us — and the ratio of CEO pay to average workers salaries at 400-to-1 . . . 

God’s prophets say that nations will be judged by how they treat the poor and vulnerable — not by how much they lower tax rates for the wealthy
. . . In 2008, the wealthiest 400 Americans on average paid only 18 percent of their income in taxes . . . Growing income inequality actually hinders economic growth, and reducing economic inequality actually helps spur the economy[.] Read more . . . 

Thank You, Tony Bennett

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By Michael Moore

Thank God for Tony Bennett. He spoke the truth on Howard Stern and now the forces of hate are after him. He said that his fighting in World War II made him a pacifist. He said that perhaps had our behavior in the Persian Gulf been different, 9/11 might have been avoided. And he told Howard something George W. Bush told him privately at the Kennedy Center Honors: “I may have made a mistake (invading Iraq).” Here’s the interview on Stern. Thank you, Tony Bennett. Always a hero to me. See video and blog comments here . . . 

Timothy Dolan Issues Letter To Obama About Gay Marriage

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The nation’s top Catholic bishop issued a stern challenge to the Obama administration’s decision not to support a federal ban on [same-sex] marriage, and warned the president that his policies could “precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions . . . ” He also argued that traditional marriage is best for society, and that treating [same-sex] marriage as a civil right would lead to discrimination against believers and against church agencies that could not, for example, accommodate gay couples as adoptive parents . . . In especially strong language, it also argues that the administration treats millions of Americans who oppose [same-sex] marriage “as if they were bigots.”
Read more . . . 

NEWS FLASH: There is a reason why “the administration treats millions of Americans who oppose [same-sex] marriage ‘as if they were bigots, . . . ‘” because the millions of Americans who oppose [same-sex] marriage ARE BIGOTS!