I'm told questioning this is divisive. By people who work for the CEOs. https://t.co/iomDtZajzp
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) July 1, 2015
CEO pay has grown 90 times faster than typical worker pay since 1978. http://t.co/e73WugJvNC pic.twitter.com/gWIRWt4G9y
— Economic Policy Inst (@EconomicPolicy) July 1, 2015
Meanwhile, somebody leaked to Politico, presumably with malice aforethought:
… POLITICO has obtained a draft copy of TPP’s intellectual property chapter as it stood on May 11, at the start of the latest negotiating round in Guam. While U.S. trade officials would not confirm the authenticity of the document, they downplayed its importance, emphasizing that the terms of the deal are likely to change significantly as the talks enter their final stages. Those terms are still secret, but the public will get to see them once the twelve TPP nations reach a final agreement and President Obama seeks congressional approval.
Still, the draft chapter will provide ammunition for critics who have warned that TPP’s protections for pharmaceutical companies could dump trillions of dollars of additional health care costs on patients, businesses and governments around the Pacific Rim. The highly technical 90-page document, cluttered with objections from other TPP nations, shows that U.S. negotiators have fought aggressively and, at least until Guam, successfully on behalf of Big Pharma.
The draft text includes provisions that could make it extremely tough for generics to challenge brand-name pharmaceuticals abroad. Those provisions could also help block copycats from selling cheaper versions of the expensive cutting-edge drugs known as “biologics” inside the U.S., restricting treatment for American patients while jacking up Medicare and Medicaid costs for American taxpayers.
“There’s very little distance between what Pharma wants and what the U.S. is demanding,” said Rohat Malpini, director of policy for Doctors Without Borders…
Who are you gonna believe — those bleeding hearts at MSF, or the finest lobbyists money can buy?
***********
Apart from pricing tumbrils online, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Corner Stone
The leaked info, if accurate, is very fucking damning to the TPP, the WH and it’s Republican allies on this issue.
schrodinger's cat
Austerity cat returns, and it is a Greek tragedy.
Derelict
Remember: The White House has stated explicitly that the TPP must be kept secret because the American public would object to the agreement.
That this flies in the face of representative government is apparently lost on our Democratic president. But even so, the fact that Republicans are siding with him on this should give Obama pause. He should ask himself why, after six-and-a-half years in office, the only thing Republicans have agreed with him on is this piece of shit treaty.
srv
It was a mistake to not put the Library in Hawaii. Or maybe the Chinese would have given him one of the Spratlys.
And so the obamanations begin:
NotMax
Early buzz on the intellectual copyright sections is even more dismal.
Oh, and it’s tumbrels.
Villago Delenda Est
We are long overdue for giving about 90% of CEOs tumbrel rides.
cahuenga
Good grief look at the ramp-up during the Bubba administration.
Villago Delenda Est
@NotMax: I could have told you that! :P
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Just finished packing up my office. No need to panic on my behalf — my flooring is being replaced tomorrow, so I have to bug out to a substitute cube while it gets done.
Anne Laurie
@NotMax:
Opinions differ!
Omnes Omnibus
I am sort of surprised there hasn’t been a Cuba thread.
lamh36
Watching John Wick again. I really just can’t believe how much I like this movie…I mean I don’t really like bloody shoot ’em up movies, but damn if I don’t like this one.
Enough so that I”m watching it on some premium cable channel and I actually own it on BluRay…
And apparently there’s gonna be a sequel!
theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/john-wick-2-and-the-magic-of-the-surprise-sequel/39238…
KG
@lamh36: watched it for the first time the other day, while i’m a mark for that type of movie, i was still really surprised by how much i liked it.
mainmata
We’re going to see the widespread development of what economists call the “informal sector” or the black market as our dysfunctional economy staggers along. In this situation, as Big Pharma and other Vulture Capitalists overplay their hand the market will increasingly go underground as it does in developing countries. And the GOP and their Oligarchs want to turn the US into a Third World country. The disintegration of the formal economy is already happening to some extent and will only get worse. It will have bad effects as well as undermining Big Pharma’s market dominance. Vulture Capitalists don’t seem to understand that the world is beoming increasingly unstable for them because of their own behavior. Expect more instability.
KG
@Omnes Omnibus: my (Cuban) mother was not happy about it this morning, basically calling Obama a fool for doing it (she mentioned something about “reparations” and giving back Guantanamo – which the only thing I ever heard on those issues was that was Cuba’s starting position on negotiations). when i mentioned that the embargo and the lack of diplomatic relations hasn’t helped for over 50 years, it didn’t phase her at all. surprisingly though, not much chatter from my extended family on Facebook today.
lamh36
@KG: I’m never really been big on “shoot em up” movies at all.
It’s not my usual fare, but man the fight choreo and gun play choreo was beautifully carried off IMHO.
And I do love me some Keanu Reeves, so it was def worth a look. I suggested it to at least 2 other people and they both agreed it was better than they thought it would be. I’d attribute it to the stunt choreo and the not holds barred way they shot the aftermath of the fighting…ya know knuckles bruised, clean professional shots, and no excessive blood and exploding head, ala KIngsman (which I happened to like a lot)
lamh36
Hmmm…so the SC Fire Chief said the whole “lightning” as cause of the church fire is a “bogus” story…they just “aren’t sure yet” what the cause was.
And yet Gov Haley said so and media have been reporting it as fact when evidence is still being gathered.
Steve from Antioch
Open thread?
Leading proponent of gun control legislation in California pleads guilty to scheme to import “assault” weapons; sfgate.com/crime/article/Former-Sen-Leland-Yee-changes-plea-to-guilty-in-6360935.php
Steve from Antioch
@lamh36:
This time … they kill his cat.
Brachiator
@lamh36: Yep. I was surprised at how well the craziness of the premise played out. All of the mayhem uncoils over a small, but terrible act. I really enjoyed the alternate universe in which people like Wick live and operate. There are some parts of the last third of the movie that could have been played differently to good effect, but if there is a sequel coming, I say bring it on.
Pogonip
Go to file770.com and read Lord of the Rings as written by Dr. Seuss:
I will not take it [the Ring] here or there
I will not take it anywhere
I will not take it to Rivendell
Where Glorfindel and Elrond dwell…
Also don’t miss Rebecca as written by H.P. Lovecraft, in which Rebecca, realizing she’s starting to show the Innsmouth Look, goads her husband into shooting her.
Omnes Omnibus
@KG: Yeah, there are going to be groups of people for whom this will never be acceptable.
Brachiator
This leaked TPP stuff is interesting. Any reaction from representatives of other countries involved?
On the CEO pay chart, can we find the same info for other countries? And, as greedy as CEOs might be, cutting their salary would have no impact on employee wages. The chart definitely shows unfairness, but doesn’t suggest solutions.
KG
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve seen a few lines in the wingularity along the lines that it’s wrong because of human rights violations and the lack of democracy, etc… To which I wonder what about our relations with Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, Russia, and fifty other countries that don’t have shining records on these points that we still do business with.
lamh36
There may never be a President who engaged in social media and who could connect to younger pop culture after Obama’s gone.
look at the field for 2016 can you imagine the answer if asked this question?
Seriously though, what artist and or song do you think each current declaried candidate would probably be listening to right now?
POTUS had an #AskPOTUS twitter tag today and someone asked Obama what “what’s your favorite song at the moment:
Mike G
@lamh36:
Ask Repuke candidates this question and you’d most likely get some heavy-handed ideological answer like “Ballad of the Green Berets” or “America the Beautiful”.
Authoritarians think all art should serve the state, or in this case, further their campaign image and/or sales pitch.
I remember when Reagan was asked his favorite comedian, and he answered, “Yakov Smirnoff, because he makes fun of the Soviet Union.” Blech.
Baud
@efgoldman:
Oh wow. Congrats, guy. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy
PurpleGirl
@efgoldman: Congratulations! efgoldman. May you live long and prosper in retirement.
GregB
Fox News exclusive:
Obama to resume diplomatic relations with Hades and Mordor.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Best of luck in the next phase.
bluehill
@lamh36: Rand Paul seems, unbelievably, to be able to connect with some younger people even if he couldn’t have given nearly as cool of an answer.
Baud
@efgoldman:
I wish I could hang out here with you. I got a ways to go.
Karen in GA
Trying to teach Muppet to ring a bell when she wants to go outside, figuring that she may very well be housetrained and she just needs a way to tell us when she needs to go out. Right now she thinks it’s a fun game to get treats, but she’s not using it when she needs to — I found a puddle on the dining room floor this morning, which has me far more depressed than I should be.
She can go a few days without an accident — or maybe we can go a few days watching her closely enough and taking her out in time — but then once we think she (or we) have figured it out, she has an accident in the house and I wonder if it’ll ever stop.
I hate housetraining,
Karen in GA
@efgoldman: Congratulations!
Kropadope
@bluehill: Those young people are just too afraid to admit to being Republicans and haven’t figured out that, unlike daddy, Rand is an establishment tool.
Brachiator
@efgoldman: Congratulations for making it out alive. Hope you have grand plans for your retirement.
Tripod
@Brachiator:
Progressive taxation.
Grover needs to be told to pay his taxes and shut the fuck up about it.
Redshift
I’m still chuckling about Chris Christie, on the first day of his campaign speaking in support of Paul LePage, who may be impeached over a political vendetta. I wonder what that will remind people of?
And of course he defended LePage with bald-faced lies about the nature of the scandal (just like in his own scandals), claiming that LePage threatened a school that was going to hire one of his political enemies because “He wants education to be made for the benefit of kids — not for the benefit of anybody else.”
mai naem mobile
Anybody see this. Apparently the Texas AG may be facing a felony securities fraud indictment.
on.wfaa.com/1Iu7Byp
Felonius Monk
@efgoldman: Congrats. Welcome to the world of retired bliss.
lamh36
@bluehill:
young white people sure, young people of color…meh…
besides, I imagine Paul’s answer would depend totally on who he’s talking to or he’ll go with whoever is popular enough right now.
bluehill
@Kropadope: Ah yes, youth is wasted on the young. Hope they have wealthy parents.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
Congrats!
I wish I could leave the rat race although I semi- retired 2 yrs ago so I’m at least half way there. But I have probably 3-4 more years. Unless, if today was any indication, it kills me first.
Anne Laurie
@Karen in GA: Spayed female dogs sometimes have trouble “holding it” when they get the urge (just like postmenopausal humans). You might want to talk to your vet, see if it might be worth trying Proin or a related product.
(We had a retired show dog who got estrogen pills for this problem; they had to be compounded at a specialist pharmacy because she only weighed 6lbs. For years after her death at age 17, we got flyers from that pharmacy addressed to her, on ‘health solutions for women in their golden years…’ )
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Congrats.
Peale
@Kropadope: those young paul supporters already voted for Romney last election, so I’m not really worried about that “connects with da youth” thing.
lamh36
Joe Biden is a real good stand-up guy. and apparently has always been so…
Check out these series of tweets from a young man to VP. The young man’s last response may make you feel some kinda way if not emotional, then very verklempt!
First check out the letter at the linked tweet:
VP Biden’s response:
And finally the young man’s response to VP Biden, along with a pic of the young man and Beau Biden!
Gin & Tonic
Looks like Donald Trump’s “Miss USA” pageant is starting to give off the stink of failure. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.
Lord, I hope he stays near the top in the polls. I dislike popcorn, but may make an exception for this.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: I understand that for the price of a RI house these days you can probably afford a broom closet in DC. Or maybe an unheated storage shed.
Kropadope
@Peale: I know two Paul supporters. I’m pretty sure one voted for Obama both times and is now considering Bernie Sanders (don’t ask me*). The other voted for Gary Johnson in 2012 and has given pretty inconsistent answers about 08, but is now standing by “I wrote in Ron Paul.”
*Eh, never mind, I’ll venture a guess. This one has actually expressed some pretty far-gone socialist ideas in the past. So two possibilities:
Either relative lack of info about Rand beyond his phony opposition to DRONES!
Or if our government can’t be a socialist utopia, he doesn’t want one at all.
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman: Congratulations on your retirement; condolences on the “joys” of prepping a house for sale…
Ruckus
@Gin & Tonic:
Isn’t it pretty much anything he touches gives off that same odor?
Belafon
On this issue, I think there’s a good reason for this. A US company – probably with help from US schools – creates a product, and then knock offs get created in other countries. There should be some protection for this.
Gin & Tonic
@Ruckus: Dunno. Wonder what his next line will be called?
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: Congrads on your retirement. DC? I thought you were going to New Jersey to hunt down the asshole who called your daughter a loser.
Kropadope
@Gin & Tonic:
Have you tried kettle style? I’m not fond of most popcorn, but kettle corn is sweet and delicious.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@efgoldman: Good luck and congratulations
…aaaaand the pure-noise fireworks begin. When it comes to this holiday, I am Ebenezer Grinch.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kropadope:
Yes, but does it go with Gin & Tonic?
Kropadope
@BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t see why not, though I’m not personally fond of the taste of pine.
divF
@efgoldman:
Congratulations !
I’m still a constant five years from retirement (until recently, it was ten years).
BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: They started here 2 weeks ago; my Cocker Spaniel is not happy, hence neither am I.
Gin & Tonic
@Kropadope: These kinds of conversations:
— I don’t like to eat sheeps’ eyeballs
— You just haven’t had them prepared the right way
— …
Never come to a satisfactory conclusion for either party.
lamh36
I mean…
Black Keys tweeted:
Response from @POTUS:
twitter.com/POTUS/status/616441802023960576
Gin & Tonic
@Kropadope: Ahem. Juniper berries.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: Darn, man. Well, if it’s any help, happy retirement.
I remember working as a contractor at (major consumer audio goods company) and a guy who’d been with the company almost from the beginning was retiring. They had given him an official retirement party a few days before, but that afternoon was his official last day, and he stuck his head into my work area looking for people to say goodbye to. I could tell it meant a lot to him, but I hardly knew him and wouldn’t you know it there was nobody else around in the entire building that day for some crazy reason.
Geoff Emerick had a similar anecdote about his last day as an official Abbey Road employee. After making all these Grammy winning records and number 1 hits for EMI, on his last day he simply signed the log book and walked out without hardly anyone saying a word to him.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@efgoldman: Congratulations!
My dad joked after he had been retired a couple of years, “I need to get a part-time job now to have some free time.” :-)
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Scott.
Karen in GA
@Anne Laurie: Thanks for the tip — I’ll look into it. She has no problem holding it in her crate overnight, though, if that matters.
And she’s happily chewing a toy next to me now, and I wonder how anyone could possibly find anything about her the least bit frustrating. Of course.
Kropadope
@Gin & Tonic: Sorry, I guess my palate isn’t quite refined enough yet to tell the difference. Who knows? I could even grow a taste for the stuff eventually.
I’m always wicked happy when I add a new food that I didn’t like before to my repertoire. The most recent was raw onions. I used to only like onions cooked, preferably caramelized. Then I had them raw in a sandwich the other day and it was amazing. Although my favorite food conversion will always be shrimp, which remains the only arthropod I’ll put in my mouth.
lamh36
@efgoldman: Man…I’m only 38 years olf and yet, I too can picture my retirement day as having little fanfare. Just me leaving and screaming “dueces” and walking out da door.
lol
Congrats to you
Fair Economist
@Gin & Tonic: I clicked on that link and now I’m getting Men’s Fragrance ads all over my pages. Sometimes I hate the internet.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Texans, any comment?
via the LOLGOP twitter feed, Paxton is a big advocate of “religious liberty” and many other lovely positions I’m sure
divF
@Fair Economist:
Wait until your web browser comes with an olfactory plug-in.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: You mean how long before she tries, or how long it will take to do the deed?
lamh36
In case you don’t like twitter.
Here is a buzzfeed link to the story about VP Biden and the young man I linked to upthread.
Do yourself a favor and check it out. It should warm your heart.
Joe Biden Helped This Man Get Over His Stutter – Then Beau Biden Helped Him Realize His Dreams
Kropadope
@Fair Economist:
They’ve taken to sending me magazines , as far as I can tell mostly to get ads in my house. I actually appreciate this for the cologne ads, since I never bother to buy the stuff but occasionally want to smell pretty.
bluehill
@lamh36: Yes, great story. Thanks. Biden is a good guy – great man. Mind-boggling and frightening how he and Palin were once running for the same office.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Gore? Mondale? Even HW?
gf120581
@bluehill: Joe’s greatest accomplishment was arguably keeping a straight face while on the debate stage with her.
ruemara
It’s a draft. Jesus, this is ridiculous.
Not that surprised about the CEO pay. The mantra that greed is good is well entangled in society, particularly at the middle to 1% level. Problem is, everyone thinks they’re going to be a part of the 1%. Nah.
divF
@efgoldman:
You’re concerned that she married you for better and for worse, but not for lunch.
gf120581
@efgoldman: The Republicans in recent years have been really bad at picking VPs who could handle the top job. But then, that’s what you get for picking Veeps for political reasons and not for whether they can handle the job if something happens.
Joe you can tell was picked because he could be President if the need to came. Palin or Ryan? Hell no.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: It’s not her resolution I’m asking about. It’s a question of technique. Poison could easily take “most of August”.
Kropadope
@gf120581: It’s obviously a tenet of modern Republican thought that the bar for being qualified to be president is pretty low. Wonder how they got that idea…
Frankensteinbeck
The guy who I’ve been told was going to betray me over and over and over, and every time it turned out he had my back.
Maybe this time we’ll find the point where I think Obama is flat wrong in a horrible way, but until it happens, he’s earned a lot of my trust.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: My parents are still alive and frequently speaking to one another after 15 years of retirement. Luckily there house allows then to spend a lot of time apart, pursuing separate interests.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Especially if she wants it to hurt.
Kropadope
@Frankensteinbeck: Seconded
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Their house. Their. Their! Agh!
different-church-lady
@Frankensteinbeck: In the end it’s more like, “Who are you going to trust? The lobbyists, or the government, or the leakers with an agenda, or the incompetent journalists working for the newspapers, or the cable news talking heads, or a bunch of bloggers who have only a half-assed handle on what they’re talking about at best?”
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: If she uses the pool it shouldn’t take all month.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: Don’t worry, sometimes the fingers don’t keep up with the brain.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: I’d’a blamed wordpress
ETA: just watching the end of the Hayes show, and never having paid much attention to NY state politics, Andrew Cuomo looked weak and weaselly (ETA again) responding to questions about anonymously bad-mouthing deBlasio in the press
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: I don’t worry about most typos, but I really hate that one.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Damn it. That would have been best.
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: Almost all my typos are homophones.
bluehill
@ruemara: Was talking to someone the other day lamenting the outcome of the mid-term elections and how so many people still couldn’t see how the Republicans were conning them. They believed that that the tide was slowly turning and would start to accelerate as real tidal flows actually do. I imagine it more like a balloon being punctured; the resistance is greatest right before it pops. Once it goes, it goes. We saw that with SSM, the Confederate Flag and perhaps Trump’s rapidly collapsing empire. I’m hoping that we’ll see that with income inequality and gun control, but I think the resistance will get even stronger before giving way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: They fear gays?
Kropadope
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s fortunate that I know you’re kidding, otherwise I would despair over the state of the legal profession.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kropadope: Even though I was kidding, the despair is probably warranted.
KS in MA
@efgoldman:
Congratulations!!!
Villago Delenda Est
@mainmata: This is what those “quaint” guys like Glass, Stegall, TR, and FDR understood. That left to their own devices, capitalists would destroy themselves. They have to be watched, they have to be reined in, the “invisible hand” needs help in doing its job. They are unable to control their own bad impulses, so someone disinterested needs to do it for them. They are essentially three year olds in every respect. They need adult supervision.
Kropadope
@Villago Delenda Est: It’s more than that. Absent regulation, the incentive is to do the bad thing; not to be evil, but for cost effectiveness. Before long the honest brokers can’t compete.
joel hanes
@Baud:
Two years two months two days to go.
But whose counting ?
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
So preacheth Ann Lori.
:)
NotMax
@Kropeadope
But now your typos can be legally wed anyplace in America*!
*Possibly excepting American Samoa; that will have to work through the courts yet due to rulings categorizing natives there as nationals but not citizens unless one parent is already a citizen..
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: After my error earlier this evening, I just say that even the best mistype on occasion. OTOH, I don’t think I can drink away the shame; I may need to turn to a combo of cocaine, heroin, and LSD.
@NotMax: FWIW, I went there first.
xenos
@srv: the slippy slope is not slippery enough nor sloped enough to build a equal protection argument for polygamy.
Sure, if a state allow hetero-polygamy but not ss-polygamy, then you would have a point.
Basic analogical reasoning seems to be lacking among bitter revanchists.
Gian
@lamh36:
Carter said he listened to Led Zep, – it was back in the 70s
Mike in NC
@efgoldman: When my entire office at NUSC Newport got laid off in ’89, the company paid to relocate me to Rockville, MD. Got laid off again within 2-3 months, and landed a job across the river in Oakton, VA. Ugly commute. Got laid off again a year later and got a job in Springfield, VA where I met the woman I married in ’94. Never a dull moment. I retired a year ago and today got a call from a company in NoVA concerning my security clearance. Told them I was inactive and not interested in going back to the rat race.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36: His “brush it off” moment was brilliant.
Keith P.
Colbert…guest-hosting a cable access show…watch the whole thing.
different-church-lady
@Gian:
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Omnes Omnibus:
SKETCHY LEAKED DOCUMENTS!
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Steve from Antioch:
You didn’t read the article.
Kay
@Belafon:
But they’re not “USA” companies. They’re multinational companies.
That’s the whole globalization argument-large companies don’t have a nation they have one interest and it’s the company.
So the question then becomes who benefits from the patent protections not which nation, which group of people.
What’s good for pharma international may or may not be good for people in the US or people in Vietnam but the company isn’t a nation- the company has interests, not a nationality
Bill Murray
@Gin & Tonic: usually it turns into a game of what will the effendi swallow
Bill Murray
@Kay: further many nations have different ideas about innovation and who (and how much) different groups should benefit. trying to turn the whole world into the extremely crappy US system is a bad idea
The Lodger
@gf120581: I think the GOP strategy for a decade or two was to pick VP candidates who were scary as hell, just for insurance. Dispose of Nixon, get President Agnew. (Well, that worked until Agnew had to quit.) Get rid of Bush Sr? President Quayle. (I remember the “The Scream” poster, can’t link to it.) Bush Jr. was kind of his own Quayle, though.
Denali
@Keith P.
I actually didn’t know who Marshall Mathers is.
mclaren
@Corner Stone:
Too late, buckaroo. We’re fucked, it’s been fast-tracked, and it’s now a done deal.
There was a reason why the actual text of the TPP was kept top-secret, y’know…
I look forward to multinational corporations challenging U.S. laws against indentured servitude, harvesting of organs of people with unrepayable credit card debt, and so on. Fun times.
mclaren
@Bill Murray:
Unless you’re one of the billionaires who rules America. Then, life is good, and getting better every day.
“Ruling is convenient, but only for the ruler. The people must live to obey.” — psychopathic oyabun from 13 Assassins, 2011.
mclaren
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s what the rest of the Balloon Juice commentariat have been doing to purge the shame of reading your posts for years. Join the club.