Charts of the day: Another look at how America's middle class is disappearing into higher income households

Charts of the day: Another look at how America's middle class is disappearing into higher income households - AEI | Carpe Diem Blog » AEIdeas:

"Here’s another look in the two charts above showing how America’s lower-income and middle-income households have declined as a share of all US households between 1967 and 2014, while the share of high-income households keeps increasing.

1. The top chart shows the three income groups:
a) low-income households with income of $35,000 and below (in 2014 dollars), whose share of US households declined from by five percentage points from 38.7% in 1967 to 33.7% (in 2014 dollars), b) middle-income households with income between $35,000 and $100,000 (in 2014 dollars), whose share of all households declined by 11.6 percentage points from 53.2% to 41.6% between 1967 and 2014, and
c) high-income households with income of $100,000 and above (in 2014 dollars) whose share increased by a factor of more than three times (and by 16.6 percentage points), from 8.1% in 1967 to 24.7% in 2014."
Read on!

Lunch video-----MARK LEVIN: I’M SORRY, I CAN’T PUT UP WITH THIS CRAP!

MARK LEVIN: I’M SORRY, I CAN’T PUT UP WITH THIS CRAP! » The Right Scoop 
Mark Levin opened his radio show with a brilliant monologue today responding to Obama’s crocodile tears today, pointing out Obama’s own actions that expose just how phony and insincere he really is when he puts on a crying show for the entire country over gun deaths.
And the media just absolutely lets him get away with it.
Listen:
Mark Levin on Obama crododile tears

3:32 / 8:05

HD

Noon-toon

Not Just Gun Control: Sen. Jeff Sessions Warns That the ‘President Has Announced Another Brazen, Illegal Executive Action’ | TheBlaze.com

Not Just Gun Control: Sen. Jeff Sessions Warns That the ‘President Has Announced Another Brazen, Illegal Executive Action’ | TheBlaze.com:

"Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is calling on Congress to “act with urgency” to halt President Barack Obama’s latest executive action on immigration.

According to Sessions, who serves as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, Obama has “announced another brazen, illegal executive action” that would allow for hundreds of thousands of additional foreign workers to be licensed to replace American workers at lower pay. On Monday, Sessions said that “Congress must act with urgency to stop” Obama’s 181-page order which he introduced on New Year’s Eve."

Video: German women report string of sexual assaults by 'Arab and North African men'

Video: German women report string of sexual assaults by 'Arab and North African men' - Telegraph
"Mayor of Cologne to investigate "outrageous" series of New Year's Eve attacks on women by large gangs of men “of Arab or North African appearance”
Police in Germany are investigating an alarming series of sexual assaults on women trying to celebrate the New Year by large groups of single men “of Arab or North African appearance”.
Authorities in the city of Cologne are to hold a crisis meeting on Tuesday after police described a group of some 1,000 men who took over the area around the main station on New Year’s Eve.
Women were robbed, groped, and had their underwear torn from their bodies, while couples had fireworks thrown at them.
Police have received 90 criminal complaints, around a quarter of them for sexual assault, including one case of rape.
Police in Hamburg say there was a series of similar incidents in the city’s Reeperbahn red-light area. Witnesses described groups of five to 15 men of who “hunted” women in the streets..."

Obama's "smart diplomacy"-----North Korea Claims It Just Detonated a Hydrogen Bomb For the First Tim

North Korea Claims It Just Detonated a Hydrogen Bomb For the First Time - Hit & Run : Reason.com
"Reports of unusual seismic activity near a nuclear test site in North Korea tonight led many to speculate that the country had conducted another nuclear test.
Later in the evening, the country appeared to confirm those suspicions, claiming that it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time, according to the Associated Press.
This doesn't mean that North Korea has actually detonated a real hydrogen bomb, however, and experts are already suggesting that it's unlikely the country has done what it claims.
At least one U.S. official has already told ABC News that the U.S. does not believe North Korea has developed hydrogen bomb tech yet.
North Korea has been a nuclear power for almost a decade now, exploding its first nuclear weapons in 2006, and it last conducted a nuclear test in 2013.
But a hydrogen bomb would represent a step up from the less-powerful nuclear technology it had relied on previously.
The quake generated by the explosion registered about 5.1 in magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and the blast appears to have been centered about 20 miles away from a facility where North Korea conducted three previous nuclear tests, according to The Washington Post..."

Volkswagen faces billions in penalties as U.S. sues for environment violations

Volkswagen faces billions in penalties as U.S. sues for environment violations | Reuters
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday filed a civil lawsuit against Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act by installing illegal devices to impair emission control systems in nearly 600,000 vehicles.
The allegations against Volkswagen, along with its Audi and Porsche units, carry penalties that could cost the automaker billions of dollars, a senior Justice Department official said.
VW could face fines in theory exceeding $90 billion – or as much as $37,500 per vehicle per violation of the law, based on the complaint.
In September, government regulators initially said VW could face fines in excess of $18 billion.
"The United States will pursue all appropriate remedies against Volkswagen to redress the violations of our nation's clean air laws," said Assistant Attorney General John Cruden, head of the departments environment and natural resources division.
...The civil lawsuit does not preclude the Justice Department from pursuing criminal charges against Volkswagen, said the Justice Department official..."

Millions choose IRS fines as more affordable than health coverage | The Seattle Times

Millions choose IRS fines as more affordable than health coverage | The Seattle Times:

"Two years after the Affordable Care Act began requiring most Americans to have health insurance, 10.5 million who are eligible to buy coverage through the law’s new insurance exchanges were still uninsured in the fall, according to the Obama administration."

If you need a reason to vote for Cruz, here it is!-----A Profile In Courage In Iowa: Cruz Won't Bow To Ethanol Lobby

A Profile In Courage In Iowa: Cruz Won't Bow To Ethanol Lobby - Investors.com:
"Politics: Ethanol has long been the dead man's pass of presidential politics:
No one makes it through Iowa without paying homage to the corn-based fuel now a $5 billion state industry.
But this year may be different.
Ted Cruz is leading the Republican polls in the Hawkeye State despite his opposition to the federal mandate requiring gasoline to be blended with 10% ethanol.
He considers the mandate to be a form of corporate welfare — which it is.
The Agriculture Department program that requires the blending is known as E10.
The industry is now lobbying for a 15% mandate, or E15.
At that level, ethanol could seriously damage car engines while raising costs at the gas pump.
Recent studies have also questioned whether there's any environmental benefit to ethanol, and even many green groups oppose forcing people to put corn in their tank.
The original rationale for ethanol mandates and subsidies was it was good for the environment.
Under the program, the ethanol industry received as much as $6 billion-per-year through an Ethanol Excise Tax Credit.
That was eliminated a few years ago but the blending mandate lives on.
Worse, Obama wants to renew ethanol taxpayer subsidies to reduce climate change.
Iowa produces nearly 30% of the nation's ethanol. 
So it's no surprise that the Renewable Fuels Association is running ads warning voters that Cruz is bad for Iowa farmers, and why pro-ethanol critics will trail him in an RV as he begins a six-day bus tour of the state this week.
As on other issues, Cruz's position on ethanol contrasts with other politicians too willing to throw their free-market principles out the window when their buses pull into Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.
The only other candidate with the courage to question the wisdom of ethanol mandates is Rand Paul. Donald Trump, who supports the corn mandate, has played the ethanol card against Cruz to score political points.
On the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, class warriors who love to rail against big business and special favors, support the ethanol lobby.
Who knows if Cruz will hold on his lead and capture the Iowa caucuses?
But if he does, it could be a turning point in political pandering.
Could it lead, for example, to candidates taking on sugar subsidies when they get to Florida in March? (Are you listening, Marco Rubio?)
If Cruz becomes the first Republican in more than a quarter-century to win the Iowa caucuses without supporting ethanol, it'll be a win for telling voters the truth.
And it's about time."

History for January 6

History for January 6 - On-This-Day.com
Joan of Arc 1412, Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier 1745, Jedediah Smith 1799 


Carl Sandburg 1878, Danny Thomas 1912, John Z. DeLorean 1925 


1759 - George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married. 


1838 - Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time. 


1941 - Richard Widmark made his debut on radio in "The Home of the Brave." 


1942 - The first commercial around-the-world airline flight took place. Pan American Airlines was the company that made history with the feat. 


1945 - The Battle of the Bulge ended with 130,000 German and 77,000 Allied casualties. 


1952 - "Peanuts" debuted in Sunday papers across the United States. 


1975 - ABC-TV debuted "A.M. America." 


1994 - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding's ex-husband. 

Ted Cruz: Supreme Court Will Dismantle Second Amendment if Hillary Clinton Is Elected President | TheBlaze.com

Ted Cruz: Supreme Court Will Dismantle Second Amendment if Hillary Clinton Is Elected President | TheBlaze.com:

"WINTERSET, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Monday warned voters that their Second Amendment rights are in jeopardy if they elect Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton this November.

“If Hillary Clinton is elected president, the Supreme Court will rule that no individual American has any individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever,” the Texas senator said. “And the government can make it a felony for you to own a firearm and protect your family.”

AG LORETTA LYNCH CLARIFIES OBAMA GUN RULE

Instapundit » Blog Archive » AG LORETTA LYNCH CLARIFIES OBAMA GUN RULE. SUMMARY:
AG LORETTA LYNCH CLARIFIES OBAMA GUN RULE. SUMMARY: 

“I suspect President Obama is hoping for ignorant crap like this from the media to make it look like he’s really doing something.”

What actually happened: 

• “This has always been the law if you have a Federal Firearms License, and it’s always been illegal to be selling guns for “livelihood or profit” without first obtaining an FFL. 
• The new EOs change nothing in that regard. 

But we do have some guidance from the Attorney General that indicates the Administration may indeed try to prosecute marginal cases it previously would not have. . . . 

• So this is not to be part of any rule change, but merely a policy decision to prosecute ‘gun dealers, hobbyists and collectors,’ under the ‘new guidance.’ 

Rather than change the rule, they will use the current vague rule to send ‘hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.’ 

• Though, in this case, it’s not mere harassment, but an intent to imprison. 

They know if they don’t put the dampers on the growing gun culture, their dream of destroying the Second Amendment will never be realized.”

Brazil Heads for Worst Recession Since 1901, Economists Forecast

Brazil Heads for Worst Recession Since 1901, Economists Forecast - Bloomberg Business:
"Brazil’s economy will contract more than previously forecast and is heading for the deepest recession since at least 1901 as economic activity and confidence sink amid a political crisis, a survey of analysts showed.
Latin America’s largest economy will shrink 2.95 percent this year, according to the weekly central bank poll of about 100 economists, versus a prior estimate of a 2.81 percent contraction. Analysts lowered their 2016 growth forecast for 13 straight weeks and estimate the economy contracted 3.71 percent last year.
Brazil’s policy makers are struggling to control the fastest inflation in 12 years without further hamstringing a weak economy.
Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa, who took the job in December, has faced renewed pressure to moderate austerity proposals aimed at bolstering public accounts and avoiding further credit downgrades.
Impeachment proceedings and an expanding corruption scandal have also been hindering approval of economic policies in Congress.

Mizzou Administrator: First Amendment Isn’t a ‘Free Pass to Go Round Saying Hateful Things’ | TheBlaze.com

Mizzou Administrator: First Amendment Isn’t a ‘Free Pass to Go Round Saying Hateful Things’ | TheBlaze.com:

"The Economist reported:

Yet the First Amendment does not give people a free pass to go round saying hateful things, points out Mr. Henson. To help students and faculty realise this, Mizzou has developed a new guide to ‘inclusive terminology’ which ensures a healthy level of respect for all minority groups. It includes terms such as ‘adultism’ (prejudice against the young), ‘minoritised’ (when under-represented groups are made to feel inferior) and intersextionality (obscure)."


TODAY'S YOUTH WAS RAISED IN BUBBLE WRAP!

Obamacare Tightens Yoke on Small Business

Obamacare Tightens Yoke on Small Business | The American Spectator
One of the worst of Obamacare’s ill-conceived provisions went quietly into effect on January 1.
The employer mandate, previously inflicted only on businesses with 100 or more employees, will now be imposed on those with as few as 50.
This mandate will prevent countless small employers from hiring workers they would otherwise have hired and incentivize many others to replace full-time employees with part-timers.
It is such an obvious job killer that the Obama administration delayed enforcement until after the 2014 midterms, the liberal Urban Institute has called for its repeal, and it has even been obliquely criticized by Hillary Clinton.
The employer mandate requires all businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to provide health coverage to at least 95 percent of these employees as well as any dependents they may have under age 26 — or pay crippling fines.
But not all small employers can afford to offer insurance.
Those which lack the resources to do so will avoid the mandate by assuring that the number of full-time workers they employ remains below 50.
And, because Obamacare has arbitrarily redefined “full-time” to mean 30 or more hours per week, the employer mandate effectively caps both the number of workers many businesses can hire and how many hours they will work...."

Excellent read! It's ALL about ethanol-----How Cruz Wins New Hampshire, and the Nomination

Articles: How Cruz Wins New Hampshire, and the Nomination:
"Ted Cruz thinks he's going to win Iowa, and will compete for the nomination with whichever of the establishment candidates wins New Hampshire.
But he's selling himself short.
He should also win New Hampshire, allowing him to wrap up the nomination on March 1st.
For if he wins Iowa, he will have defeated the ethanol lobby.
And beating Big Corn on its home turf is what can propel him to a win in New Hampshire.
People in New Hampshire hate ethanol. 
Ethanol is corrosive, it destroys engines. 
If ethanol-laced gasoline is more than a couple months old, it can't be used in high performance small engines.
It is hydroscopic, attracting water, another problem with performance.
A lot of guys have a personal problem with ethanol.
Go to any tavern in New Hampshire and you'll hear an earful.
There's nothing worse than getting all rigged out with your chain saw, ready to rip, and your saw won't start.
Your ports and jets have been clogged by residue released by the ethanol in your fuel, a solvent.
So you haul your saw down to the mechanic, cursing ethanol the whole way.
Ethanol is despised and resented.
In 2014 the New Hampshire House overwhelmingly passed HB 1220, which would have reduced the ethanol in New Hampshire gasoline.
It was a futile gesture, but a sign of the anger people feel toward this junk.
Ethanol is different than almost any other government boondoggle, in that everyday Americans have to put up with it on a daily basis.
Some government handouts, such as those to Rubio's favorite,
Big Sugar, are easy to ignore.
You pay an extra nickel when you buy a bag of sugar -- big deal.
But a whole lot of people, working class people, actually hate ethanol, in ways that coastal elites don't understand.
And it is especially resented by New Hampshirites because it is a symbol of Iowan perfidy.
New Hampshire voters have never asked for special treatment from the presidential candidates who compete there.
There's no maple syrup support program.
But as soon as Iowa butted in on New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary in 1976, the political elites of Iowa came up with the ethanol boondoggle, and demanded that presidential candidates support it.  
This doesn't sit well in New Hampshire.
Because it's more, of course, than just ethanol.
It's craven politicians seeking the White House, in the first state they compete in, whoring for the votes of a special interest that the rest of the country is forced to put up with. 
It's corporate welfare in general. 
It's the poster child of the Washington cabal, which is so intensely despised. It's what's wrong with the Republican Party, and the country..."

Lunch video-----Donald Trump TV AD Campaign AD Commercial 2016 ✔

Noon-toon

Obama Declares Executive Actions on Gun Control Are ‘Well Within My Legal Authorities’ | TheBlaze.com

Obama Declares Executive Actions on Gun Control Are ‘Well Within My Legal Authorities’ | TheBlaze.com:

 "President Barack Obama asserted that the executive actions on gun control to be announced this week are legally in his authority and will have popular support.

“The good news is that these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authorities and the executive branch but they are also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in,” Obama said Monday from the Oval Office."

Read 'em!-----Here Are 18 Books You Should Read in 2016

Here Are 18 Books You Should Read in 2016

Escape From Chicago

Escape From Chicago | Frontpage Mag
Chicago is on fire.
It’s America’s mass shooting capital. 
Its deadliest neighborhoods are gang territories prowled by thousands of killers with some of the highest murder rates in the world.
So far, 442 people have been shot and killed in Chicago this year. 2,540 were shot and wounded. 2,982 were shot. 
Fewer Americans died fighting Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War than in a year in Chicago.
On Christmas Day, two people were killed and 10 wounded. 
Chicago has tens of thousands of gang members and someone usually gets shot every 3 hours.
Or at least beaten up.
On Sunday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s African-American Deputy Chief of Staff was assaulted at a prayer vigil for a police shooting by an attacker shouting anti-Semitic slurs. 
Rapper King Louie, who coined “Chiraq” was released from the hospital after being shot seven times.
He blamed the devil. 
"The devil's working overtime. 
That's what's going on in Chicago."
But in Chiraq, the devil is a Democrat. 
Chicago Democrats are closely entangled with its 68,000 gang members who deliver the votes and the money. 
There are more gang members in Chicago than people of English ancestry. 
That makes them a powerful voting bloc. 
And Democrats bow to their wishes.
A Latin Kings member described how the vote organizing worked. 
“Every chapter had to vote for that guy… That was a direct order. That means you can’t say no.” 
Under the Dems, that’s Chicago democracy.
Chicago Democrats ritualistically demand gun control, but carefully avoid cracking down on their own political base. 
Obama calls for “common sense solutions” after every shooting, but like a good Chicago Democrat he voted against a 1999 bill to try anyone carrying out a shooting in school as an adult. Under Obama, 
Federal gun-crime prosecutions in Chicago have became as rare as honest Chicago Democrats..."

Obama's "smart diplomacy" leading to WW3?-----Mideast tensions soar as Saudi Arabia rallies countries to cut ties with Iran

Mideast tensions soar as Saudi Arabia rallies countries to cut ties with Iran - The Washington Post: "BEIRUT — The Middle East slid dangerously closer to regional conflict Monday after Saudi Arabia rallied its Sunni allies to sever diplomatic ties with Iran, prompting alarmed appeals for restraint from powers across the globe.
Bahrain and Sudan joined Saudi Arabia in cutting off relations with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, a key Iranian trading partner, recalled its ambassador from Tehran, as the fallout from the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia on Saturday heightened sectarian tensions across the Middle East.
The Obama administration, caught in the middle by its quest for a closer relationship with Iran and its long-standing alliance with Saudi Arabia, said it hoped Tehran and Riyadh would dial back the hostile rhetoric that has fueled the worst crisis between the regional rivals in decades.
“We’re urging all sides to show some restraint and to not further inflame tensions that are on quite vivid display in the region,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington.
China, the European Union and Russia also called on Tehran and Riyadh to take steps to settle their differences peacefully, with Russia, an emerging center of gravity in the region, offering to mediate between them, according to Russian news agencies."

ALERT: Obama Slaps Military in the Face, Uses Air Force Base For INFURIATING Purpose

ALERT: Obama Slaps Military in the Face, Uses Air Force Base For INFURIATING Purpose:

"One of the biggest challenges of the illegal immigration crisis is how to handle the thousands of children who stream across the southern border each month.

The Obama administration’s Department of Homeland Security has been securing locations to temporarily house unaccompanied alien children, and its idea is to house them at military bases across the country."