Thursday, December 05, 2013 Published Weekday Mornings   To see the full version of today's cartoon, click on the preview graphic of the cartoon (below the Commentary) to be taken to the full version in your favorite web browser. Naked Inequality President Obama on Economic Inequality Obama makes it clear: Inequality is 'the defining issue of our time' After health law woes, Pres. Obama returns to his focus on middle class, poor, and inequality Ed Kilgore: Inequality Is Hardly a Distraction Pres. Obama: Income inequality threatens American Dream Jared Bernstein: More inequality means less mobility Timothy Noah: Income inequality is riskier than you think Obama pushes for minimum wage hike in economy remarks Six States Ahead of the Curve on a Higher Minimum Wage Gallup: Most Americans favor Raising Minimum Wage Richard Eskow: Minimum Wage Would Be $16 If It Kept Up With Inflation Daniel Gross: It's The Wages, Stupid Brad DeLong: Is Economic Growth Getting Harder? If So, Why - and What Can We Do About It? E.J. Dionne: Obama's bigger fight against national inequality Health Care Checkup Obama urges on young health care activists as HealthCare.gov enrollment grows Carrie Budoff Brown: Enrollment surges on HealthCare.gov More signed up for Obamacare in first two days of December than in all of October HealthCare.gov Traffic Is Way Up - And They're Reaching Out To Those Who Are Stuck Insurers warn of new potential problems with Obamacare enrollment surge Study confirms: States that reject Medicaid expansion lose money Jonathan Cohn: Healthcare.Gov Is Not Like Amazon.com. Should We Care? Ezra Klein: The GOP says Obamacare will cancel 80-100 million insurance plans. Nope. Greg Sargent: Democrats Make Their Bet - Repeal Of The ACA Is A loser Brian Beutler: How the turning tide of Healthcare.gov makes another government shutdown fight more likely Pope Awesome Pope Francis Assembling Experts To Protect Children From Sexually Abusive Priests Robert Scheer: What the Pope Got Right About Capitalism Budget Battles Rep. Paul Ryan and Rep. Patty Murray think they can raise revenues without raising taxes The Two-Year Budget Deal Paul Ryan And Patty Murray Are Close To Agreeing On Immigration: Reform Coming? Sen. Majority Leader Reid confident Congress will pass immigration bill, says Boehner will 'cave' Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) Goes On Epic Tirade In Defense Of Dreamers Ethics & The Media Martin Bashir Resigns From MSNBC Following Palin Comment For News Media, a Mostly Cautious Approach to Newtown Tapes Nations In Turmoil Plan to destroy Syria's chemical weapons forges ahead Bad Security Could Delay Syria Weapons Transfer Gunmen kill U.S. teacher in Libya's Benghazi Suicide attack rocks Yemen's defense ministry Iraqi police storm mall, end deadly siege Central African Republic: Dozens dead as UN votes for French peace force to head to region International News Stolen cobalt-60 found abandoned in Mexico Israeli-Palestinian talks making 'progress' Saudis expel 100,000 illegal Ethiopian immigrants Midwest Roundup Neb. State Treasurer Don Stenberg to run for re-election, not governor or Senate Frigid forecast calls for bitter wind chills across Nebraska & Iowa University of Iowa regents add cut for law school students to the tuition freeze Naked Inequality From time to time, when uncomfortable topics come up in professional or personal discussions, Americans often have a tendency to shy away. Many folks will simply clam up or try to change the subject, while others will try to mock the subject, effectively shaming others into changing the topic of conversation. As Greg Sargent noted of President Obama's historic speech on Wednesday, in the midst of a massive number of unprecedented political moves against him and his policies, this President has chosen to make yet another ambitious move - to push forward against the rising tide of economic inequality in the U.S. today. Not surprisingly, and as both Greg and Ed Kilgore of Washington Monthly pointed out, many of our colleagues in the media - especially those on the right - will simply write off President Obama's comments and intentions for action as another distraction from whatever easy, empty political firestorm they'd rather cover. As the President made abundantly clear on Wednesday, however, economic inequality in America is "the defining challenge of our time." The President addressed several key parts of that challenge, including stagnant incomes for lower- and middle-class Americans, and stagnant or even diminished economic mobility. The same "trickle-down ideology" that Pope Francis recently blasted as a proven failure, was also cited by President Obama as a key force that has caused America to stop investing in our infrastructure, weakened the power of American workers, and has crippled much of our educational system over the last thirty years. As President Obama nearly always does, he didn't simply state the problems at hand and note his opposition to them... To continue reading... click here. And now, for your Daily Felltoon preview for December 05, 2013 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) Jobs & The Economy U.S. GDP Growth Surges to 3.6% in Third Quarter U.S. Jobless Claims Plunge to 298k, as Layoffs Slow Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Drop to Two-Month Low Ryan Cooper: Will Congress stifle the recovery - again? Wall Street Watch Economic Growth Signs Pick Up As Fed Sees Stronger Growth Ahead Improving jobs picture will be key factor in Fed taper decision Report: Some big banks still violating the national mortgage settlement Corporations are ditching the suburbs for the cities Workers Strike Back Biggest-ever fast food strike today! Thousands walk out across 100 cities 12 Fast Facts About Thursday's Fast-Food Strike They're Not Lovin' It: Why Fast Food Workers Are Right to Go on Strike | More Welfare for Wall Street: One in Three Bank Tellers Need Public Asst. Companies That Pay High Tax Rates Create More Jobs Than Tax Evaders Research proves: Corporations should stop watching their workers The Fight To Vote Some Florida Election Supervisors Stunned By New Voter Restrictions Ari Berman: Ohio GOP Resurrects Voter Suppression Efforts The Spying Game Snowden docs show NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide Chart: How the NSA is tracking people right now Ethics & The Media Martin Bashir Resigns From MSNBC Following Palin Comment | For News Media, a Mostly Cautious Approach to Newtown Tapes Energy, Climate & Environment Large Companies Admit: They're Prepared to Pay Heavy Price on Carbon Tax U.S. drivers returning to the road as fuel prices fall | Neil Irwin: America's energy boom has been great for trade, not so great for jobs though. Plumer: What other surprises could climate change have in store for us? It's Your Cap News Toon for December 05, 2013 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) White House Update Vice President Biden Urges Restraint by China in Airspace Dispute | Could Pres. Obama Unilaterally Raise the Minimum Wage? On The Left Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Liberals Hit Back Against Attack From Think Tank Backed By Investment Bankers Lydia DePillis: Sen. Warren wants banks to disclose think tank donations. Shouldn't everybody? Kevin Drum: Liberals Should Still Be Pretty Pissed Off at Obama Over the ACA Website FUBAR On The Right Brian Beutler: The right's core dishonesty - How Obamacare became its own culture war FBI Executes Warrant, Takes Computers From Home Of Iowa GOPer Tied To Bachmann And Ron Paul Dana Milbank: Koch-backed ALEC group stands its racist ground We hope you enjoy "The Daily Felltoon" every business day. Thanks for continuing to be a member! Paul Fell Shawn "Smith" Peirce Paul Fell Cartoons, Inc.