Daily Archives: June 2, 2014


What Warren And Piketty Missed

I was afraid that Warren and Piketty would miss the point that taxes are not needed to fund federal government spending.  My fear was realized when Elizabeth Warren talked about her bill to ease student loans by allowing the borrowers to refinance their government student loans at the lower interest rates that new government student loans are charging.

She pointed out that even on a small segment of the population’s loans the government was getting $60billion dollars a year in interest payments on those loans.  She then said that the money that would be forgone by lowering the interest would have to be made up in some other part of the  budget. She recommended raising revenue by closing loopholes  for the rich and powerful as a way to make up for the loss in revenue on the student loans.

Whether you believe in Modern Monetary Theory’s explanation of why raising taxes is not needed to fund new spending, the fact remains that the Fed created trillions of dollars out of thin air to bail out the banks.  Why can’t the Fed do the same thing to bail out the students, graduates, and their parents and grandparents who signed up to back these loans?  The total student loan debt at the moment is only $1.2trillion.

When I talked about the money created to bail out the banks, I said trillions.  That was not a typo.  I did not mean billions.  Same goes for the total student debt.

If the Fed can do it for the banks without causing any inflation, doesn’t that sound to you like proof that the Fed could do it for students?

Closing the tax loopholes for the very wealthy is a laudable and necessary thing to do for the health of our society, but it is not needed as a way to fund student bailouts.


Do Domestic Violence Restraining Orders Ever Really Work?

While watching a news story last night, the question came up, “How come all news stories about restraining orders are about ones that are violated?  Does that prove that restraining orders are useless?”

Besides the obvious answer that it’s not news if the restraining order is obeyed and no one is bothered again, I decided to find out if the effectiveness of restraining orders has been studied.

In a quick Google search, I found a large number of hits.  Here are two.

Do Domestic Violence Restraining Orders Ever Really Work?

But just how effective are restraining orders in these highly-emotional, always-volatile situations, where a piece of official-looking paper is supposed to serve as a figurative bulletproof shield?  Studies on the efficacy of TROs vary widely, with one suggesting they are effective in keeping victims safe about 85 percent of the time, while another report suggests a less optimistic 15 percent success rate. So let us split the difference and say that restraining orders work about half the time and the other half, they don’t. Why or why not?

This is an article by someone involved in the field.  There article has a lot of speculation on why the outcomes are the way they are.

I also found Practical Implications of Current Domestic Violence Research: For Law Enforcement, Prosecutors and Judges.

Chapter 7. Judicial Responses
Section 11 — Do protective orders work?

The research has not been able to answer this question definitively, mainly because it is not ethically permissible to randomly grant or deny protective orders to compare results. Furthermore, these orders may “work” at different levels.
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Implications for Judges

Victims should be encouraged to take out protective orders and retain them but should also be advised that the orders do not deter all abusers and may be more effective when accompanied by criminal prosecution of the abuser. (Research basis: Numerous studies indicating consistent victim satisfaction with orders, complemented by studies that have consistently found that orders do not appear to significantly increase the risk of reabuse and may deter some abusers.)

This one is just one section of one chapter.  There is a lot more to be learned about the subject from this source.

The upshot is that the topic is the subject of much research.  Laws are not passed completely blindly with no tracking of the results of the law.


TONIGHT: Watch Elizabeth Warren & Thomas Piketty talk inequality in America

Here is the email that I received from MoveOn.org about participating in the conversation.

——– Original Message ——–

Subject: TONIGHT: Watch Elizabeth Warren & Thomas Piketty talk inequality in America
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 06:07:38 -0700
From: Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn.org Political Action <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>


Dear Steven,

Thanks for RSVP’ing for tonight’s one-of-a-kind online conversation between Senator Elizabeth Warren and Professor Thomas Piketty, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

Here’s everything you’ll need to watch and participate in tonight’s conversation:

What: Senator Elizabeth Warren and economist Thomas Piketty in conversation

When: TONIGHT, Monday, June 2, at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 CT/6:30 MT/5:30 PT)

How to join: A few minutes before 8:30 p.m. ET, visit this webpage to get ready for the broadcast to begin:

http://pol.moveon.org/warrenpiketty/watch.html?id=96589-7776955-w11pe3x&t=1



If you’re on Twitter, you can tweet using the hashtag #WarrenPiketty to join the conversation online.

More than 10,000 people have already signed up to participate in tonight’s debut broadcast moderated by The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim and featuring questions from MoveOn members. Can you help spread the word even further by inviting your friends and family to join the conversation?

Click here to invite your friends on Facebook.

Click here to invite your friends on Twitter.

Or forward this email to your friends and family.


Senator Warren and Professor Piketty are
two of the leading voices on economic inequality. The more people who join this conversation, the better equipped we’ll be to fight for an economy that works for everyone, not just the 1%.

See you online tonight!

Thanks for all you do.

Ilya, Justin, Maria, Manny, and the rest of the team

P.S. In the online broadcast, you’ll see Sen. Warren and Prof. Piketty respond to questions submitted by MoveOn members—like this question from Diane W. of Gulfport, FL: “How will the costs of climate change interplay with economic inequality?” They answered a question from Lars F. of Marietta, GA about what it would take for the 1% to pay their fair share of taxes, and from Robert B. of Portland, OR about alleviating the burden of student debt. Tune in tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET to watch the whole conversation: http://pol.moveon.org/warrenpiketty/watch.html?id=96589-7776955-w11pe3x&t=4

Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.


PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.