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Today's Republicans might view Ronald Reagan as a "wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior," and the late conservative icon's views on taxes might have disqualified him from the party's nomination in 2012, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.
Obama, defending his "Buffett Rule" call for higher taxes on the very rich, said in a speech that he was "not the first president to call for this idea that everybody has got to do their fair share." He went on to say:
Some years ago, one of my predecessors traveled across the country pushing for the same concept. He gave a speech where he talked about a letter he had received from a wealthy executive who paid lower tax rates than his secretary, and wanted to come to Washington and tell Congress why that was wrong. So this president gave another speech where he said it was "crazy"—that's a quote—that certain tax loopholes make it possible for multimillionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary. That wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior was Ronald Reagan.
He thought that, in America, the wealthiest should pay their fair share, and he said so. I know that position might disqualify him from the Republican primaries these days, but what Ronald Reagan was calling for then is the same thing that we're calling for now: a return to basic fairness and responsibility; everybody doing their part. And if it will help convince folks in Congress to make the right choice, we could call it the Reagan Rule instead of the Buffett Rule.
Yet Reagan also championed the very same "trickle-down" economics that Obama has roundly denounced—the idea that tax cuts for the wealthy lead to investment that generates growth and thereby jobs. Obama on Tuesday described this economic policy in harsh terms, saying its supporters "don't seem to understand how it is that America got built."
"In this country, prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few," he said. "Prosperity has always come from the bottom up, from a strong and growing middle class."
Obama lumped trickle-down economics among "old broken-down theories" that he blamed for the 2008 global economic meltdown.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Pakistan: Anyone in rule?
The Frontier Post
In targeted killings, at least eight people were done in brutally in Quetta and Turbat on Monday while for Karachi the people have now stopped keeping even a count of bloodletting, so inseparable has bloodshed become to the beleaguered port city�s daily life. But is there no one in rule here? Where are the provincial administrations, whose job it is constitutionally to secure the citizens� lives and properties? And where are federal hierarchs? Aren�t they required to intervene authoritatively when a provincial administration is just slumbering, shake it up out of its stupor and make it to act; and if it doesn�t, to send it packing and set about restoring law and order to its domain? Or, have both abdicated their constitutional duty to secure the citizens? Or, has life of the citizen become dirt cheap on this land that the criminal gun has been given such a free run to wreak havoc the way it likes?
Look to any direction, and every part of the country is in the sizzling lap of lawlessness and criminality. Nowhere the people�s lives are secure and safe. Everywhere they live in the dread of thugs, murderers, kidnappers, dacoits, highwaymen, rustlers and, above all, terrorists of all hues and brands. No place is safe. Quetta has become the favourite haunt of not just target killers. Along with Balochistan interior, it has turned into a hub of booming trade in kidnappings for ransom. And if Karachi is now in the tight grip of the organised crime of underworld, the Sindh interior is being overrun systematically by red-eyed dacoits and highwaymen. And while the urban Punjab is being blighted by street crimes of every description, in the rural Punjab having the field day are rustlers, dacoits and thieves. No immune either is Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, whose Peshawar metropolis long stands largely emptied of the well-off as much for fear of the criminal gun as of the terrorist bomb. The predicament of its interior could well be imagined.
To cut the sad story short, the citizens all over the land have been thrown before the criminals and terrorists to belabour and devour up. And both are having a jolly good time in their vile trade, with both the provincial administrations and the federal hierarchy alike looking on listlessly and, astoundingly, disinterestedly. The entire state security apparatus is visibly deployed on securing the lives of the federal and provincial hierarchs. They live in fortified mansions; they work in highly-secured zones and offices; they travel on multi-million-rupee, bullet-proof limousines amid layers after layers of security escorts; and for hours all roads and connecting side arteries are kept closed to general traffic to make for their safe travelling with no concern at all about the tremendous inconvenience this causes to the public. But does this country exist for these jokers or for the 180 million people who sweat on the farms and in the factories and other workplaces to produce the national wealth on which these clowns luxuriate so fabulously without giving even a shred of security to them in return of the compliment?
But would these johnnies spare a thought to know which way are they pushing the country with their contemptible disinterest in securing the land and ensuring the safety of its denizens? Aren�t they ashamed that for worse security conditions prevalent all over the country foreigners do not send even their sports teams to play matches here and our teams have to go to foreign lands to play matches, of which we are a host? Don�t they feel disgraced that for this very reason foreign entrepreneurs dread visiting our country and instead call their Pakistani partners and business associates to Dubai and other places for meetings and parleys? And don�t they feel concerned that for these dismal security conditions not just foreign prospective investors are shunning us like plague but even our own entrepreneurs are shifting to foreign pastures, though no lesser for the crippling energy crisis that the incumbent federal hierarchy and playful provincial subedars from one to all have done nothing to overcome?
Contemptuously enough, they all are throwing mounds of the taxpayer�s precious money on cheap pork barrel to build up their vote-banks. But of what would it be if the country gets caught up irretrievably in the chaos and anarchy it is inevitably heading to because of the worsening law and order conditions? Shouldn�t they instead be spending this dole on strengthening and training the law-enforcement agencies and refurbishing their arsenals and equipments so as to enable them to take on the criminals and terrorists effectively and triumphantly? Ironically enough, they are also launching even their teenaged their sons and daughters as their heirs and heiresses and their successors in time. But where would their darling babies be on a throne if this country drowns into the black hole it is adrift to so fast because of the free run of criminal guns and terrorist bombs all over the land? If nothing else, at least in their own interest and in the long-term interest of their anointed darling successors, they must get out of their hibernation and do something to return this besieged land to security, peace and stability. The portents otherwise are too dire and too sombre.
In targeted killings, at least eight people were done in brutally in Quetta and Turbat on Monday while for Karachi the people have now stopped keeping even a count of bloodletting, so inseparable has bloodshed become to the beleaguered port city�s daily life. But is there no one in rule here? Where are the provincial administrations, whose job it is constitutionally to secure the citizens� lives and properties? And where are federal hierarchs? Aren�t they required to intervene authoritatively when a provincial administration is just slumbering, shake it up out of its stupor and make it to act; and if it doesn�t, to send it packing and set about restoring law and order to its domain? Or, have both abdicated their constitutional duty to secure the citizens? Or, has life of the citizen become dirt cheap on this land that the criminal gun has been given such a free run to wreak havoc the way it likes?
Look to any direction, and every part of the country is in the sizzling lap of lawlessness and criminality. Nowhere the people�s lives are secure and safe. Everywhere they live in the dread of thugs, murderers, kidnappers, dacoits, highwaymen, rustlers and, above all, terrorists of all hues and brands. No place is safe. Quetta has become the favourite haunt of not just target killers. Along with Balochistan interior, it has turned into a hub of booming trade in kidnappings for ransom. And if Karachi is now in the tight grip of the organised crime of underworld, the Sindh interior is being overrun systematically by red-eyed dacoits and highwaymen. And while the urban Punjab is being blighted by street crimes of every description, in the rural Punjab having the field day are rustlers, dacoits and thieves. No immune either is Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, whose Peshawar metropolis long stands largely emptied of the well-off as much for fear of the criminal gun as of the terrorist bomb. The predicament of its interior could well be imagined.
To cut the sad story short, the citizens all over the land have been thrown before the criminals and terrorists to belabour and devour up. And both are having a jolly good time in their vile trade, with both the provincial administrations and the federal hierarchy alike looking on listlessly and, astoundingly, disinterestedly. The entire state security apparatus is visibly deployed on securing the lives of the federal and provincial hierarchs. They live in fortified mansions; they work in highly-secured zones and offices; they travel on multi-million-rupee, bullet-proof limousines amid layers after layers of security escorts; and for hours all roads and connecting side arteries are kept closed to general traffic to make for their safe travelling with no concern at all about the tremendous inconvenience this causes to the public. But does this country exist for these jokers or for the 180 million people who sweat on the farms and in the factories and other workplaces to produce the national wealth on which these clowns luxuriate so fabulously without giving even a shred of security to them in return of the compliment?
But would these johnnies spare a thought to know which way are they pushing the country with their contemptible disinterest in securing the land and ensuring the safety of its denizens? Aren�t they ashamed that for worse security conditions prevalent all over the country foreigners do not send even their sports teams to play matches here and our teams have to go to foreign lands to play matches, of which we are a host? Don�t they feel disgraced that for this very reason foreign entrepreneurs dread visiting our country and instead call their Pakistani partners and business associates to Dubai and other places for meetings and parleys? And don�t they feel concerned that for these dismal security conditions not just foreign prospective investors are shunning us like plague but even our own entrepreneurs are shifting to foreign pastures, though no lesser for the crippling energy crisis that the incumbent federal hierarchy and playful provincial subedars from one to all have done nothing to overcome?
Contemptuously enough, they all are throwing mounds of the taxpayer�s precious money on cheap pork barrel to build up their vote-banks. But of what would it be if the country gets caught up irretrievably in the chaos and anarchy it is inevitably heading to because of the worsening law and order conditions? Shouldn�t they instead be spending this dole on strengthening and training the law-enforcement agencies and refurbishing their arsenals and equipments so as to enable them to take on the criminals and terrorists effectively and triumphantly? Ironically enough, they are also launching even their teenaged their sons and daughters as their heirs and heiresses and their successors in time. But where would their darling babies be on a throne if this country drowns into the black hole it is adrift to so fast because of the free run of criminal guns and terrorist bombs all over the land? If nothing else, at least in their own interest and in the long-term interest of their anointed darling successors, they must get out of their hibernation and do something to return this besieged land to security, peace and stability. The portents otherwise are too dire and too sombre.
Tsunami watch lifted in most of Indian Ocean
http://www.thejakartapost.com
A tsunami watch around the Indian Ocean has been lifted hours after two powerful earthquakes hit off Indonesia's western coast.
The 8.6- and 8.2-magnitude earthquakes triggered panic Wednesday afternoon. Residents in coastal cities fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii lifted a tsunami watch for most areas of the Indian Ocean about four hours after the first quake. It was still in effect for Indonesia, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and the island territory of Diego Garcia.
A tsunami watch around the Indian Ocean has been lifted hours after two powerful earthquakes hit off Indonesia's western coast.
The 8.6- and 8.2-magnitude earthquakes triggered panic Wednesday afternoon. Residents in coastal cities fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii lifted a tsunami watch for most areas of the Indian Ocean about four hours after the first quake. It was still in effect for Indonesia, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and the island territory of Diego Garcia.
Massive quake triggers tsunami warning for 28 countries
The US Geological Survey said the quake was centered 33 kilometers beneath the ocean floor.
A tsunami watch was issued for countries across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday after a large earthquake hit waters off Indonesia, sending residents pouring from their homes in panic.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.7-magnitude quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 269 miles (434 kilometers) from Aceh s provincial capital.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
A tsunami watch means there is the potential for a tsunami, not that one is imminent.
Said, an official at Indonesia s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes by only one name, said a tsunami warning has been issued for cities all along the coast of Sumatra island.
The tremor was felt in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia s west coast shook for at least a minute.
People in Banda Aceh screamed "God is great!" as they jumped into cars and the backs of motorcycles, clogging streets as they fled to high ground.
Thailand s National Disaster Warning Center issued an evacuation order to residents in six provinces along the country s west coast, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-Nga.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh.
Indonesia issues new tsunami alert for aftershock
Indonesia has issued a fresh tsunami warning after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.
The first 8.6-magnitude quake off Aceh province, hours earlier, spawned a wave around 30 inches (80 centimeters) high but caused no serious damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the strong temblor that followed was centered 10 miles (16 kilometers) beneath the ocean around 380 miles (615 kilometers) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Harjadi, a local official who goes by only one name, said the new tsunami warning was for residents living along the western coast of the country.
It included Sumatra island and the Mentawai islands.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — A massive earthquake off Indonesia's western coast triggered a tsunami watch for countries across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, clogging streets with traffic as residents fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
Two hours after the quake hit, however, there was no sign of the feared wave. Damage also appeared to be minimal.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.6-magnitude quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 269 miles (434 kilometers) from Aceh province.
"It wasn't the strongest quake I've felt," said 22-year-old Tuti Rahmi, while trying to reach her brother by phone from Banda Aceh, people around her crying and screaming as they poured from their homes.
"But it seemed to last forever," she said, adding the ground shook for nearly four minutes.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
But hours later, the threat appeared to have passed.
Roger Musson, seismologist at the British geological survey who has studied Sumatra's fault lines, says the temblor was a strike-slip quake, not a thrust quake. In a strike slip quake, the earth moves horizontally rather than vertically and doesn't displace large volumes of water.
"When I first saw this was an 8.7 near Sumatra, I was fearing the worst," he said, noting one of the initial reported magnitudes for the quake. "But as soon as I discovered what type of earthquake it was, then I felt a lot better."
The tremor was felt in Malaysia, where it caused high-rise buildings to shake for about a minute, and in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and India.
There was chaos in the streets of Aceh, where memories of a 2004 tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province alone, are still raw.
Patients poured out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms. In some places, electricity was briefly cut.
Hours after the temblor, people were still standing outside their homes and offices, afraid to go back inside.
There were several strong aftershocks.
"I was in the shower on the fifth floor of my hotel," Timbang Pangaribuan told El Shinta radio from the city of Medan. "We all ran out. ... We're all standing outside now."
He said one guest was injured when he jumped from the window of his room.
Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center issued an evacuation order to residents in six provinces along the country's west coast, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-Nga.
India's Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for parts of the eastern Andaman and Nicobar islands. In Tamil Nadu in southern India, police cordoned off the beach and used loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.
Satheesh Shenoi, director of the Indian National Center for Ocean information Services, said the chance of a tsunami was diminishing.
"There are no indications of tsunami wave; the instruments are not showing any sea level change," he said.
The quake was felt in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where many people in the city's commercial Motijheel district left their offices and homes in panic and ran into the streets. No damage or causalities were reported.
In Male, the capital of the Maldives, buildings were evacuated.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, most of them in Aceh.