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Thom's blog
Does the powerful Paul Ryan feel empathy?
It's hard to fight poverty when you can't feel empathy. According to a report released earlier this year by the Center for Responsive Politics, for the first time in history, more than half the members of Congress are millionaires. Of the 534 members of the House and Senate, 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012. With all that money comes even more power for the already powerful members of Congress. And according to a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, all that power is literally going to their heads.
The study found that as people get more and more power, their brains actually change, affecting how sensitive they are towards others. In an op-ed published in The New York Times this weekend, the study's authors write that, "...the bad news is that the powerful are, by default and at a neurological level, simply not motivated to care."
Which, of course, is where Congressman Paul Ryan comes in. Ryan is one of the 268 millionaires in Congress. As of 2011, his projected wealth was around $4.9 million. Ryan is also one of the most powerful members of Congress. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that a man with as much wealth and power as Ryan would propose a poverty plan that does very little to fight poverty, misunderstands the root causes of poverty, and totally fails to empathize with the millions of Americans suffering through poverty.
In fact, the entire poverty plan that Ryan released last week is based on the Conservative and right-wing media myth that poor people have chosen to be poor, and therefore need to be motivated - with both carrots and sticks - to change their "in poverty" behavior. For example, part of Ryan's so-called anti-poverty plan requires low-income families to sign "a contract outlining specific and measurable benchmarks for success."
-Thom
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Daily Take: Does the powerful Paul Ryan feel empathy?
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Monday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: Isn't it time to abolish the death penalty once and for all?- Nadra Enzi, Project 21
Hour One: Running for Congress on climate change- Nancy Skinner, Candidate for Congress (D-MI, 11th District) / previously, syndicated radio & TV commentator
Hour Two: Why this Republican Mayor just walked 350 miles for medicaid expansion- Mayor Adam O'Neal, (R-Bellhaven, NC)
Hour Three: Submodalities and effecting bad memories - Cracking the Code Letter: " Letter to Peter Carr" by Thomas Jefferson, August 19, 1785. " Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks." Article: " Constitution of the United States" Article 1 section 8. " To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" |
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Do Republican policies ever really help the poor?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Conversations with Great Minds - The refugee crisis
Conversations with Great Minds P2 - Is immigration reform dead?
Big Picture Rumble - Boehner "opening the door" for impeachment?
Big Picture Rumble - Chicago struggles with climate change...
Or watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 7/25/14: Climate Change Is Crippling Chicago
Tonight's "Big Picture Rumble" discusses the devastating effect climate change is having on Chicago, Boehner's lawsuit against Obama moving forward and Actress Kristen Bell's Funny or Die video on minimum wage. In tonight's "Conversations with Great Minds" Thom discusses the refugee crisis on the southwest border with We Belong Together Campaign's Miriam Yeung, Jesuit Refugee Service USA's Mary Small and the NALACC's Oscar Chacon.
Caller: GOP Policies are Coming Back to Bite Mayor O'Neal
Just walked 350 miles for Medicaid Expansion..what's next?
Thom Hartmann on Science & Green News: July 28, 2014
Moral Mondays...Coming to DC on Monday 7/28
Cracking the Code: Use Their Language |
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