Election Issues

[loserbob 11]

Heres what bothers me about dems. The headlines in all the papers make it look like Obama has no spine, over the no-trade agreement. What would Bush have done in this siutuation, actually let me rephrase that, what would Cheney have done? He would have used leverage by threatening to pull our troops out of S. Korea(probably the only real deterent against the north). If you think its wrong to do it to "friends", its the way you get things done, we need to look out for our own interests first! What did they do when gas prices were at or over $4.00 a gall., they threatened to drill and OPEC always seemed to lower the price a little. All Im saying is stop trying to be everyones friend, do what you need to do to improve our economy.

My next issue is I never hear anybody talk about the energy industry being the real cause of the economy(and the two wars). If gas wasnt $3.00 a gall. everything else would be cheaper. I dont believe that the oil spiked because China uses so much oil. The spike in oil was sudden not gradual. China didnt just start using alot more oil overnight, think about it. Im a plumber, plastic and copper prices fluctuate from day to day. I heard China was buying more copper, I heard Chilean Copper miners went on strike, I heard oil prices raised the price of plastic pipe, I heard one pipe supplier went out of business in turn limiting supply, but the company who told me that still used the same named pipe from the same supplier as always!

If you want to improve the economy pull out of the wars and cut energy costs. People dont have the money to spend that they used to because they have to pay $3-4.00 a gallon for gas. They have to pay higher everything because of oil. In turn utilities cost more than ever and these are costs we have to pay. Then you have everyone else joining in, health insurance for instance, they use the excuse of "Obama Care" bullshit, the prices are going up because they know when the Obamacare kicks in they wont be able to raise the prices(as much), at least I hope thats the case. Besides I paid my own healthcare for years and the prices went up rediculously high before Obama was even a thought to be pres. So I dont buy the "Obamacare" excuse!

Only the vrich can still drive big cars and own big homes. Again, the middle class have to work longer and harder than ever before. It used to piss me off when I was young and I would hear people say "Japan works longer hours per day than any other country" I was to young to know what that really meant but it still bothered me in some way like it was a knock against our country. Now I would love nothing more than to be able to say Japan works longer hours tha any other country!

I guess my point is(even though Im all over the place here)We're(the mid class)getting screwed in every way in this country and we've even lost our say in the matters that affect us most! If I hear a rep say "dont tax the rich, they're the ones who create jobs" I think Ill lose it. Maybe they should take credit for the economy, they aint creating jobs so tax them.

You really gotta see the O'reilley interview on "Real Time with Bill Maher", it was great!(Im not checking my spelling or punctuation, Im on my laptop and it seems like everytime I type long posts I lose them before I post)

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Loserbob - as usual the republicans want to cut spending and the deficit on the backs of the middle class who did not create this economic mess and deficit. It was created by:

1) Corporate greed - the wall street abuses and the fact that corporations don't pay (their fair share of) taxes.

2) The housing crisis that resulted from #1

3) Two unfunded wars - still being paid for - still borrowing money for

4) Medicare part D - unfunded and still being paid for

5) The two tax cuts for the rich THAT DIDN'T PRODUCE ONE JOB and will cost $70 billion a year to extend (these tax cuts reduced revenue just when we needed it the most)

Now they want to balance the budget, cut spending and reduce the deficit by cutting social programs and tax deductions for the middle class.

Screw that! Tell Wall Street to start coughing up what it owes the American people. Make them pay. Where was that in the plan the deficit commission put forth????

[loserbob 11]

Hey Patty, Airiscus has been gone for awhile its your turn again!

[loserbob 11]

I think Obama will be in trouble in 2012 for the simple fact that the hispanics are probably peoed that he didnt get anything done with imigration. I hope Im wrong.

Get ready for colored posts I just figured it out!

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I think Obama will be in trouble in 2012 for the simple fact that the hispanics are probably peoed that he didnt get anything done with imigration. I hope Im wrong.

Get ready for colored posts I just figured it out!

With 2 years of republican control in congress, he can blame it on the republicans, which will be the truth.

[ariscus99 1]

Hey Patty, Airiscus has been gone for awhile its your turn again!

You're pathetic.

[ariscus99 1]

Here are 12 ways to shrink the deficit:

1. Cut the defense budget....by 20-30%.

2. Pull out 100% of our troops from all "areas of conflict".

3. Institute a flat tax and cut the IRS staff in half.

4. Overhaul every social welfare program, implement more stringent requirements and include a lifetime cap for the amount of $'s a person/family can receive.

5. Raid businesses and fine the hell out of them if they employ illegal immigrants.

6. Mass deportation of illegal immigrants, paid for by the corporate fines.

7. Hire more legal immigrants to build a wall. Patrol the construction with the troops you brought back from #1.

8. Take every underperforming school and turn them over to for-profit educational companies, set a budget, set learning goals, and let the best companies win.

9. Decriminalize marijuana and tax the hell out of it.

10. End the "war" on drugs.

11. Let other countries kill each other, and just stay the heck out of the way. Use that money towards building up our infrastructure.

12. Instead of using expensive unions for gov't contracts, implement gov't works projects and provide a fair wage and training for people wanting to work.

13. Bring in a consulting firm to audit every gov't agency. Let them cut the fat and run each agency like a business....and not like a fat kid in a candy store. Have a goal to cut at least 15%-20% of every agency budget.

[ariscus99 1]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a surprise move Wednesday, the co-chairmen of President Obama's fiscal commission publicly released their preliminary proposals to curb growth in U.S. debt.

The report recommends spending cuts beginning in 2012, as well as tax reform and other ways to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade.

The draft report -- which represents ideas offered for consideration of the 18-member panel -- would:

Set targets for revenue and spending: The report caps taxes at 21% of gross domestic product. It would limit federal spending initially to 22% of the economy and eventually to 21%.

Rein in spending: The proposal makes $200 billion in domestic and defense spending cuts in 2015.

Reform tax code: The report would lower income tax rates and simplify the tax code. It would also abolish the Alternative Minimum Tax and and reduce tax breaks.

Change Social Security: The report aims to make Social Security solvent over 75 years through a number of measures, including a less generous annual cost-of-living adjustment for benefits, and a very slow rise in the retirement age (from 67 to 68 by 2050; rising to 69 by 2075).

The panel will vote on the recommendations by Dec. 1, the date of the commission's last public meeting.

"America cannot be great if we go broke. Our economy will not grow and our country will not be able to compete without a plan to get this crushing debt burden off our back," wrote the panel's co-chairmen, Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff under President Clinton, and Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator from Wyoming.

Most observers and commission members -- including 12 sitting lawmakers -- have been pessimistic that the panel will be able to generate the 14 of 18 votes needed to make any official recommendation to Congress, which would put it up for a vote.

The commission met Wednesday morning to discuss the co-chairmen's proposal. Initial public reaction from members ranged from guardedly positive to negative.

"This is not the conclusion of the commission's work. This is the beginning," said Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota, who nevertheless commended Bowles and Simpson for putting together a "serious proposal."

Fellow commission member Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee who co-authored a bipartisan tax reform proposal cited in the draft, characterized the report as an "aggressive and comprehensive plan ... I look forward to reviewing it in depth and hopefully improving on it."

Other members were more blunt.

"This is not the way to do it," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat from Illinois.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, says he has "significant concerns" with the proposal and "can't support it now."

Meanwhile, Maya MacGuineas, who runs the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, called the report "remarkable."

"In a period when there has been little good news on the deficit and debt front, this is truly a most encouraging sign."

[Cleo's Mom 257]

xxonMobil paid no federal income tax in 2009. (Updated)

Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS:

Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi.

No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas

.

Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein notes that, despite benefiting from corporate welfare in the U.S., Exxon complains about paying high taxes, claiming that it threatens energy innovation research. Pat Garofalo at the Wonk Room notes that big corporations’ tax shelter practices similar to Exxon’s shift a $100 billion annual tax burden onto U.S. taxpayers. In fact, in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that “two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.”

I noticed missing from the deficit panel's recommendations was anything to address this.

Heaven help us if we ask corporate America and Wall Street to pay their fair share to America.

Instead, keep hitting the middle class and the poor to make up for corporate welfare in this country. They don't have expensive lobbyists to champion for them.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Here are 12 ways to shrink the deficit:

1. Cut the defense budget....by 20-30%. I agree.

2. Pull out 100% of our troops from all "areas of conflict". I agree.

3. Institute a flat tax and cut the IRS staff in half. I disagree. A flat taxes hits the poor and middle class disproportionately. Say you do a 20% flat tax. Taking 20% from a millionaire still leaves them with a lot. 20% from someone making $50,000 leaves them with $40,000 - a huge hit.

4. Overhaul every social welfare program, implement more stringent requirements and include a lifetime cap for the amount of $'s a person/family can receive. I disagree. Social welfare isn't the problem. Corporate welfare is.

5. Raid businesses and fine the hell out of them if they employ illegal immigrants. I agree.

6. Mass deportation of illegal immigrants, paid for by the corporate fines. I prefer a path to citizenship if they have been here working, paying taxes and providing for their family,

7. Hire more legal immigrants to build a wall. Patrol the construction with the troops you brought back from #1. This is a possibility.

8. Take every underperforming school and turn them over to for-profit educational companies, set a budget, set learning goals, and let the best companies win.I don't support using my tax dollars for for-profit schools and taking the decision making away from parents and local school boards. There should be no profit for education. It should be free and accessible to all children.

9. Decriminalize marijuana and tax the hell out of it. I don't like adding any more drugs to the legal list. I support its use for medicinal purposes, though.

10. End the "war" on drugs. Not yet. It needs to be reviewed and improved.

11. Let other countries kill each other, and just stay the heck out of the way. Use that money towards building up our infrastructure. I agree, as long as they're not a threat to us.

12. Instead of using expensive unions for gov't contracts, implement gov't works projects and provide a fair wage and training for people wanting to work. I support unions. They helped create the middle class in this country. But I like the idea of a government works project. That would help lower the unemployment rate but the public would never go for it.

13. Bring in a consulting firm to audit every gov't agency. Let them cut the fat and run each agency like a business....and not like a fat kid in a candy store. Have a goal to cut at least 15%-20% of every agency budget.

Obama has already directed them to cut their budgets but I can't recall the %.

And I would add to this list:

1) All corporations pay a flat tax of 25%. No exceptions, unless they stop sending jobs overseas. They could get a reduction for creating jobs in America. But penalized if they send the jobs overseas.

Edited November 14, 2010 by Cleo's Mom

[Cleo's Mom 257]

NY Times interactive puzzle - let's you fix the budget:

Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Palin PWND! Red States are FREELOADERS who depend on HANDOUTS

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by MinistryOfTruth [Subscribe]

Mon Nov 15, 2010 at 09:07:25 AM PST

From Sunday's New York Daily News comes a brilliant expose on the truth, that Red States are freeloaders who depend on handouts to survive. It turns out that the real welfare queens are Republican governed states who would be up shit's creek without blue states like NY, NJ and CA to bail them out.

Remember to throw these FACTS in the faces of the Republicans you meet, and while we are at it, if you get the chance ask Sarah Palin "How's that subsidy, welfare-y thing workin out for ya?"

More below the fold

• MinistryOfTruth's diary :: ::
  
• 
  

Crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com

Definitely read the whole article, but these are the best parts . . .

Alaska gets $1.84 in federal spending for every dollar it pays in federal taxes. We in New York get just 79 cents on the dollar.

Which means we subsidize Alaska even as it enjoys a $2 billion-plus budget surplus.

Even as New York faces a huge deficit that will require ever more painful cuts.

~snip~

Maybe there will be more reality shows featuring other big names in the Tea Party who call for cuts in government spending even as their home states are subsidized by the rest of us.

There could be Sen. Jim DeMint's South Carolina, which gets $1.35 on the dollar.

There could also be Sen.-elect Rand Paul's Kentucky, which rakes in $1.51.

Compare those states to two that are in financial crisis and suffer an even worse balance of payments than we do in New York.

California receives only 78 cents on the dollar.

And New Jersey gets just 61 cents, though it does have a hit reality show.

~snip~

So, how's that subsidy, welfare-y thing working out for ya, Sarah?

NY Daily News

dailykos

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Let's say that the compromise on the tax cuts is moving the cut off from $250,000 to one million.

For the cost of this to extend the tax cuts to those who make up to one million you could:

GIVE $1000 CHECKS TO EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER.

Now, if the democrats and Obama were smart, this is the message they would sell.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

More staggering republican hypocrisy:

Anti-ObamaCare GOPer Demands His Gov't Healthcare

Mon Nov 15, 2010 at 09:15:29 PM PST

Wow. There's just no bounds to the Republican talent for breath-taking hypocrisy:

Maryland physician Andy Harris ® just soundly defeated Frank Kratovil, one of the most endangered Democrats on Capitol Hill going into the November election. And he did it in large part by railing against 'Obamacare' and pledging to repeal Health Care Reform. But when he showed on Capitol Hill today for an orientation for incoming members of Congress and their staffs, he had a different question: Where's my government health care?

...Harris created a stir at the orientation meeting by demanding to know why he had to wait a month after he was sworn in in January for his government-subsidized health care to kick in. After responding in a huff, he even asked if there was some way he could buy into the government care in advance, seemingly thinking there might be a government program similar to the so-called 'public option' championed by progressive Democrats in 2009.

He was apparently upset that he'd have to endure an entire 28 days without health care coverage.

Here's a quote from him during the campaign:

the answer to the ever-rising cost of insurance is not the expansion of government-run or government-mandated insurance but, instead, common-sense market based solutions that ensure decisions are made by patients and their doctors.

dailykos

[ariscus99 1]

Yeah uh, he's an employee doing a job, and one of the benefits of that job, along with a salary and retirement is healthcare. What he is asking for is no different then if he had asked when the first pay check comes in, this is blown so far out of proportion by the psychotic left winged liberal media it's really sad. And the fact that you can't see that says a lot about your liberal bias and blind faith of all things left.

Edited November 16, 2010 by ariscus99