Bits & Pieces
Ellroon notes that the Chinese dairies are apparently running low on countertops [melamine] and are now adding old shoes to increase the protein level in their watered down milk.
Maru notes that the House Republicans have some strange priorities, passing an unconstitutional bill of attainder to defund Planned Parenthood, and then demanding continuing Federal funding for teams in NASCAR.
The Miami Herald notes that States ignored warnings on unemployment insurance
WASHINGTON — State officials had plenty of warning. Over the past three decades, two national commissions and a series of government audits sounded alarms about the dwindling amount of money states were setting aside to pay unemployment insurance to laid-off workers.
“Trust Fund Reserves Inadequate,” federal auditors said in a 1988 report.
The Republicans have absolutely no ability to plan beyond the end of the current day. It is simple reality that you build up reserves when times are good, to cover the hard times. Does “saving for a rainy day” ring a bell. In the state of Florida the stupid unemployment insurance law raises premiums when the unemployment rate goes above 10%, rather than starting with a high rate to build up the fund, and then decreasing the rate if the problem escalates to provide some stimulus to businesses. They don’t want to save money, they want to waste it.
