Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Is Highest in Decades, Data Show

he gap between the wealthiest Americans and middle- and working-class Americans has more than tripled in the past three decades, according to a June 25 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

New data show that the gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest parts of the population in 2007 was the highest it's been in 80 years, while the share of income going to the middle one-fifth of Americans shrank to its lowest level ever.

Two Santa Clauses or How The Republican Party Has Conned America for Thirty Years

by Thom Hartmann

This weekend, House Republican leader John Boehner played out the role of Jude Wanniski on NBC's "Meet The Press."

Odds are you've never heard of Jude, but without him Reagan never would have become a "successful" president, Republicans never would have taken control of the House or Senate, Bill Clinton never would have been impeached, and neither George Bush would have been president.

FRAMING, GEORGE LAYKOFF

1. The Difference Between Framing and Messaging
2. Frame conflict
3. High-Level, Moral Frames Matter More
4. Most Framing is Unconscious
5. Framing is Long-term
6. Prototype Framing
7. Bi-conceptual Framing
8. Contested concepts
9. Political Messaging
10. Political messaging and bi-conceptual voters
11. Why Does Disaster Messaging Arise?
12. Why Conservatives Consistently Win Messaging Battles
13. Polling and The "Mainstream"
14. What's Wrong?
15. The "Center"
16. Do they form a "center?"
17. The Importance of Bi-conceptuals
18. Recommendation
19. Polling
20. How Conservatives Change Policies Without Winning Elections
21. Repetition over The Long Term
22. End A Bad Law: 287 g
23. The Point
    

• The Difference Between Framing and Messaging

Frames are the cognitive structures we think with. the more the circuits are used, the stronger they get. frames are not isolated. The better a new frame "fits" existing frames, the more effective it will be

• Frame conflict

The activation of one brain circuit may either activate or inhibit another.

• High-Level, Moral Frames Matter More

Higher-level frames, deeper in the system, have a disproportionate effect. the high-level frames are the moral systems that define what is "right"

• Most Framing is Unconscious

Frames are conceptual. They are elements of thought. Most thought is unconscious. Words activate frames.

• Framing is Long-term

the establishment of permanent (or long-term) high-level frames and systems is done by long-term careful political messaging, or education, controlling school textbook

• Prototype Framing

It is important, the establishment of prototypes: social stereotypes, prototypes(typical case, ideals, nightmares, salient exemplars). Stereotypes are used in automatic reasoning and decision-making.

Bi-conceptual Framing
Contested concepts
Political Messaging
Political messaging and bi-conceptual voters
Why Does Disaster Messaging Arise?
Why Conservatives Consistently Win Messaging Battles
Polling and The "Mainstream"
What's Wrong?
The "Center"
Do they form a "center?"
The Importance of Bi-conceptuals
Recommendation
Polling
How Conservatives Change Policies Without Winning Elections
Repetition over The Long Term
End A Bad Law: 287 g
The Point