Saturday, March 15, 2014

Can we please put an end to this bigoted GOP narrative?

There is a study, by the way, I'll get to in a minute. It is fascinating how politicians spin facts to serve their own politics and get away with it.

March 14, 2014 
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)(click here) has become the latest right-winger to blame black poverty on “culture” and character. Just as he got it backwards on families and poverty, Paul Ryan gets it twisted on poverty and black men.

Ryan went on William Bennett’s “Morning in America” radio show to promote his recent “survey” of anti-poverty programs, and to preview his legislative agenda to cutting funding and case loads for anti-poverty programs. Ryan cited the work of Charles Murray, a conservative social scientist and co-author of The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, who believes genetic differences make African-Americans less intelligent than whites and that, “a lot of poor people are born lazy.”

Ryan then launched into a dog-whistle politics take on poverty, using coded language about “inner-city culture” to blame poverty on lazy, immoral black people, without coming right out and saying so....

On August 30, 2013 there was an article in "Think Progress:"

Poverty Has Same Effect On The Brain As Constantly Pulling All Nighters (click here)

The article states:

One of the study’s authors, Harvard economist Sandhil Mullainathan, told the Washington Post, “Poverty is the equivalent of pulling an all-nighter. Picture yourself after an all-nighter. Being poor is like that every day.”

The day before, in August 29, 2013 this was stated in "The Washington Post:"

Poverty consumes (click here) so much mental energy that people struggling to make ends meet often have little brainpower left for anything else, leaving them more susceptible to bad decisions that can perpetuate their situation, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

“Past research has often blamed [poverty] on the personal failings of the poor. They don’t work hard enough; they’re not focused enough,” said University of British Columbia professor Jiaying Zhao, who co-authored the study as a Princeton University graduate student.

This is the full citation from "Science."

NLM Director’s Comments (click here) Transcript Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function: 11/12/2013

A pioneering set of studies, recently published in Science, are the first to suggest a strong association between income and cognitive capabilities.
Published together (and designed to be complimentary) the experimental and field-observation studies suggest for the first time that poverty (or low income) impedes the levels of cognitive function among adults. Cognitive function refers to memory, learning, and comprehension abilities.
In the authors’ U.S.-based experimental study, wealthier and lower income adults were asked to think about four scenarios which presented common financial challenges. In one scenario, participants were asked if they would get a loan, pay in full, or forego service when their automobile had continuing breakdowns. After thinking about how they might resolve the problems presented within the scenarios (that differed in their degree of complexity and consideration), participants took two unrelated, well-established cognitive assessment tests.
Overall, lower income persons scored significantly lower than higher income participants on all cognitive tests after exposure to the more complex scenarios. The two groups scored similarly after completing a financially less complicated challenge. 
In a second series of financial scenarios and challenges, the authors removed most mathematical calculations to offset math anxiety among the participants. However even in the second experimental condition, the authors found higher income persons scored significantly higher overall than lower income participants on the cognitive tests....

Recently I stated, has anyone completed a study on the propensity of poverty among pregnant teenage women. This study proves there is diminished POTENTIAL in poverty. What does that do to the children in impoverished households? The natural parents are the best people to raise their children. If the outcomes for these children can change we must change the circumstances of their parents. It is not an option. This is enforced inequality and an assault against our democracy and it's potential.

I don't want to hear anyone state there are Americans that simply cannot achieve and it is impossible to move them out of poverty to the Middle Class and beyond. I don't want to hear how a child's education is not worth it and a waste of money or resources of the nation. I don't want to hear how entire electorates languish in poverty, including those that are independent contractors in Louisiana to the petroleum industry. I don't want to hear how taxes inhibit the growth of our nation. 

How does the electorate of the USA define growth? By GDP alone? Education has it's own GDP and improvements to the impoverished a dividend necessary to actually create the opportunity to increase their financial status.

It is impossible to recover from an economic decline that enforces poverty in any country unless the investments are made. 

I want to hear politicians to take ownership of the problems of this country and how they are going to resolve them. 

We need to do better as a nation. (click here)

As with health care, the less worries those in poverty face, the more potential this country has for their best outcomes.  

Years of research on how to best issues payment in Medicare was destroyed by the GOP House.
by Julie Rovner
Bipartisan support (click here) dissolved this week for compromise legislation that would have fixed a longstanding problem with the way Medicare pays physicians. Though the bill passed the House of Representatives Friday, it now contains a provision almost certain to invite veto unless a Senate version can quickly nudge the ultimate bill back toward compromise....

...The bill is meant to with the payment formula. As is, that formula calls for deep cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, and has required regular intervention by Congress over the years to avert those cuts....

Once again the GOP is playing with the lives of our Seniors to serve their political ambitions.

...GOP leaders in the House decided to do that in a most controversial way: by inserting language that delays implementation of the penalties for the so-called of the Affordable Care Act....

So, the narrative to play with the AFA has changed again. Now, it is the delay of the fees rather than the delay of the insurance. You'll excuse me, but, how does that help reduce the federal responsibility in Medicare payments? It doesn't. It is just another spin for the state of play of the GOP. It is shameful.