COUNTDOWN to SHUTDOWN
"Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle."-Franklin D. Roosevelt
The government shutdown might happen this Friday - and let me emphasize the word "might". It's quite clear that the assholes who act as spokesmen for the "party of Abraham Lincoln" haven't yet made up their minds whether or not a shutdown will benefit them politically. It didn't in 1994, but they seem to think that it might work this time around. Back in '94 there was little publicity involving what was about to happen. Seventeen years later they're not being as clumsy. They're out there on the talk show circuit in droves this morning, bracing the public for the storm on the horizon, chanting their silly mantra:
"How can the Democrats allow this to happen?"
We'll know soon enough if the propaganda has the desired effect. My guess is that, like in '94, this is going to blow up in their clueless faces. I certainly hope so. Watching the utter implosion of the Republican party is an absolute joy that is difficult to put into words. I can barely contain myself.
I hate to be seen as a cheerleader for the Democrats, I really do. I often feel like I'm in a restaurant and the waiter is asking me, "Would you like a nice cool glass of donkey piss to wash down that juicy plate of elephant shit you've ordered, sir?" Our choices these days are sparse - no question about it. But when everything has been sliced and diced, I feel that am left with no choice but to side with the Dems. The alternatives are too depressing too even think about. "Stick with Tweedle-dee", I tell myself, "Tweedle-dum is brain-damaged." He's also a bit of a pervert.
Or think of it this way:
"Hmm....Which record shall I put on the ol' turntable - "Go Away, Little Girl" by Donny Osmond, or "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies?"
The choice is very easy, but hardly satisfying - While "Sugar Sugar" may rock - barely - it's not going to send me into the clouds. Unfortunately, those are the kind of choices we're faced with these days.
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Most peculiar, Mama!
-John Lennon
At least the Democrats - some of them - still understand the truism that we're never going to get our "fiscal house in order" until the people and corporations who have more money that they know what to do with are taxed at the rate they should be. The economy will never recover as long as the tax burden is placed on the back of the poor and middle classes. And please, don't shoot back at me that tired old myth that the poor do not pay taxes. Everyone pays taxes. Remember that the next time you pay $4.31 for a $3.99 pint of Nicolai Vodka.
FUN FACT:
I paid more in taxes last year than General Electric. You did, too.
And th
en there's that nasty subject of defense spending. Do you want to know why I love Bernie Sanders? Because he seems to be the only human being in Washington with the guts to say (or the sense to say) the unspeakable truth that no one else has the courage to say: We spend way-too-much of our national treasure on weapons of mass destruction. You know! Those things we took out Saddam Hussein for possessing that he never even possessed? If our representatives only had the foresight to understand this, a lot of the problems that plague the body politic would vanish. Not only that, we could reinvest in our infrastructure - and that would translate into jobs - lots and lots of them. It would also mean a long overdue renaissance for the middle class. But that's never going to happen. The chances are pretty good that your congressman or woman is bought and paid for by the military industrial complex.Instead, the conservatives of both parties would rather privatize Medicare and Social Security. Instead of investing in our badly neglected infrastructure, they want tax breaks for the obscenely wealthy. Good luck, America.
The Republicans are telling us that they wish to "restore fiscal sanity in Washington". The only problem is that their proposals are beyond insane. The lunatics have not only taken over the asylum, they're writing the fucking prescriptions. Line up for your medications, boys and girls!
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED READING:
This excellent article by Robert Reich was posted this morning on that horribly subversive, commie-loving website AlterNet:
Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich, ASAP!
Just one of many reasons why I love this site!
posted by Tom Degan @ 8:39 AM
161 comments
161 Comments:
You really should read a couple books on economics.
A couple questions to help me understand your arguments:
Do americans have property rights?
Do any limits exist on the amount of assets the government can extract from private individuals/sector?
Do tax rates have any effect on economic activity and, if so, at what level of taxation does GDP and revenue decline.
Can the US borrow into infinity (tap out Chinese then quanitiative ease like Zimbabwe)?
Thoughtful responses to these questions will help me understand why republicans are crazy.
If you think AlterNet has any answer other that societal breakdown and redistribution, you are in the delta 9 club.
Attached is a link with a picture of the template of out future currency.
http://lee.org/blog/2009/04/09/100-trillion-dollars/
I did a little more surfing this morning. You may be correct.
From the look on this kids face, money printing must bring happiness.
What we need is some printing from Timmy and the Ben Bernaink.
http://zimnational.com/news/business/zimbabwean-trillion-dollar-campaign-rescue
The government wasn't the only shut down in 1994. Remember the baseball strike? The Expos were poised to start a dynasty, SD's Tony Gwynn was also poised to hit .400.
Then a war between billionaires and millionaires erupted and the fans got boned. They forgave neither.
You upset the order of things, the people may or may not forgive but they certainly won't forget.
The Democrats sure like to spend. When will they progress to coming up with a budget?
Whenever the Dems gain control they spend like teenagers with their first credit card. Then Mom and Dad have to take the card away!
Yeah. Because they paid negative taxes.
They received millions back in credit for a policy that was passed by their paid-off-politicians to "stimulate the econony."
I'm stimulated. How about you?
Thanks, Tom.
S
"I paid more in taxes last year then General Electric"
{citation needed}
From what I've read, they got a tax refund. I got a tax refund, too, and with a modicum of planning get one every year. I get tax rebates, too (for being awesome, mostly). I still paid more than I got back. Save your ire for the fact that, while they're quite profitable, they're still going after employee pensions and healthcare plans
"We spend far-too-much of our national treasure on weapons of war."
Don't think of it as burning off the future to make fighters that get confused when they fly over cities. Think of it as the only Stimulus that both parties will accept.
Feel better now? No? Oh.
"The chances are pretty good that your congressman or woman is bought and paid for by the military industrial complex."
Now you're just being riduculous. They're subsidized by Big Defense. They're bought and paid for by Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce. Obviously.
Paul Ryan "The Democrats sure like to spend. When will they progress to coming up with a budget?"
1. The GOP said "No!", then, being Democrats, they couldn't agree even among themselves enough to ponder about think about talking about planning to make a budget. This leads to the present day...
2. The House makes the budget. The GOP controls the House. Now you get to see just how badly they're willing to screw over the poor and the elderly to balance the budget. Just kidding. Now you get to see just how badly they're willing to screw over the poor and the elderly to pay for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. Their Path to Prosperity doesn't include you.
"Whenever the Dems gain control they spend like teenagers with their first credit card. Then Mom and Dad have to take the card away!"
GOP: The ironic spokemen for responsibility.
Quit complaining about GE. They probably use the tax savings to keep a losing operation like MSNBC on the air. All other liberal media outlets are going bust without government support. It's government support for liberal media one way or the other.
So in regard to the US tax rates and why we need to fight this tea party notion that the government is somehow unconstitutionally stealing from us: Living in San Diego and with a beach shack in Baja, I routinely cross the international boundary. The contrast within those 10 miles is astounding.
Neighborhoods with no sewer system, dead dogs (sometimes horses!) left to rot on the road side (my record count is 28 dogs between TJ and Rosarito), kids with no education (the ones next door don't go to school),6 guys riding in the open bed of a mini truck on the way to a $20/day hard labor job,it goes on, because they put the absolute minimum into the infrastructure of society.
But you know what? No sales tax! A large proportion of the population pay no taxes at all. And the main showcase drag in Tijuana has less landscaping than the business park I work in. And I admit that there is a great sense of freedom in some of that...I can build anything onto my house with no permits, and there is no tax on that good cheap tequila.
We pay our taxes so that we can all have a high quality of life. Without guys shooting smack on the side of the road (I see it every time just past the border). Where the cops don't extort 60 bucks from me just for driving by because their salaries are so low.
So tell me again why the wealthy could pay over 50% tax rate last century, but now, with even greater wealth, a 15% rate is tyrannical?
Bisham, your state is bankrupt and will look like Mexico soon. Keep raising taxes.
Oh, and even that liberal bastion called Texas has a deficit too.
I'm totally distracted. All I can think right now is that I kind of want to hear Sugar, Sugar by the Archies again.
Is that wrong?
Tom, you posted...
"Our choices these days are sparse - no question about it. But when everything has been sliced and diced, I feel that am left with no choice but to side with the [Democrats]."
Tom, in actuality, there is no choice. As Gore Vidal wrote back in 1977, and which has degenerated to even greater depths since:
"There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently...and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties."
Now, more than thirty years later, the Democratic Party doesn't even make the "small adjustments". Both parties now suckle from the teat of their corporate benefactors more than ever. The citizens are not even considered, really, because the corporatist policies will always be promoted no matter which party governs.
I side with neither. Both the GOP and the Democratic Party are virulent diseases, each playing their respective parts toward sickening and killing the democratic processes of this country. They're only mutations of a more sinister pathological condition borne of the corporate state. Democracy is dead. It doesn't exist any longer. Only the remnants exist, as window-dressing alone, and we're now struggling to keep our balance on the slippery slope toward full-blown corporate fascism.
@ anonymous:
CA is bankrupt? But have you driven around? All the gazillion dollar homes on the hills? Huge tracts of 800K McMansions? Check out the boat harbors...one summer I was on a project that took me into every harbor from Ventura to the Mex border...thousands upon thousands of those "holes in the water that you throw money into" all paying $600/month minimum. It was overwhelming. The state isn't "bankrupt" (whatever that actually means) because tax rates are too low, but exactly the opposite.
JG
Time for you to change your name.
Democracy is dead.
How about Nietzsche's Guardian.
Bisham,
You are 100 percent correct. California should sieze all assets of those rich people that have been paid for with after tax dollars and pay down its debt. Then the rest of Amercia will not need to bail out you silly liberal asses.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-california-debt-clock.html
Take what Modusoperandi says with a grain of salt. He is not an American citizen but Canadian.
He has no "skin in the game".
"Bisham,
You are 100 percent correct. California should sieze all assets of those rich people that have been paid for with after tax dollars and pay down its debt. Then the rest of Amercia will not need to bail out you silly liberal asses."
No, boltok.
What we ask is for the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes and for our politicians to cease running the state into deficits by handing out tax break after tax break for corporations that don't pay any taxes whatsoever. Your Lenin/Stalin-era fantasies are rather amusing.
The wealthy are content to turn this state, and every other state into a Mexican kleptocracy. It's a lot easier for them to deal with corruption than it is to deal with law and order, as rich people can simply bribe their way through corrupt officials and corrupt systems, allowing them to get just about anything their hearts desire. They love the Mexican system, and they wish America could adopt it as it's own.
But hey, at least you won't have to pay taxes. Just remember to bribe the friendly yet underpaid cop on the way out, lest he simply shoot you and loot your corpse in broad daylight.
mack/bisham
in the liberal states, these are the general taxes
7-15% on first 100k to social security with no deductions depending on employment status.
Then up to 35% tax on income less (property tax and mortgage interest, the big deductions)
Then the above is subject to alternative minimum tax.
Then, 9 to 10% state in california, higher in new york city.
Then property taxes.
Then sales taxes on everything you buy.
Then when you die, they want to chop up what's left.
And dont give me the Warren buffet analogy, because he designed his whole life to avoid taxes. He is the biggest liberal hypocrite of them all.
You people are just jealous that anyone has anything left after the brutality above.
1/2 this country pays no taxes.
RE: "Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich, ASAP!"
Define what is rich.
Anonymous "Take what Modusoperandi says with a grain of salt. He is not an American citizen but Canadian. He has no 'skin in the game'."
Obviously. Because the facts change once you cross over the border.
boltok "1/2 this country pays no taxes."
100% of boltok repeats things I've already explained.
"Bisham, your state is bankrupt and will look like Mexico soon. Keep raising taxes."
Actually, you can keep lowering taxes in order to hang onto the dicks of your corporate masters and watch as these same people pay ZERO taxes and garner concession after concession from a populace desperate to keep them around.
Take a look at the unemployment numbers. Corporations now know they can "do more with less" -- fire their "excess" workforce and assign the remainder with double the workload at a much lower cost. You don't have to pay them much, either. Just remind them that if they ask for too much, they'll end up on the street just like their fired comrades.
"Take what Modusoperandi says with a grain of salt. He is not an American citizen but Canadian.
He has no "skin in the game"."
Isn't Canada lurching towards the current American-style corporatist ideal? I believe it is, courtesy of Stephen Harper and Co. If they could get rid of the nationalized healthcare system and replace it with a for-profit HMO-driven system, they would have yesterday.
Catharine....
It's okay. Like "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family, it ain't a bad little tune in hindsight.
This one's for you:
SUGAR SUGAR, Ah, Honey Honey!
Welcome aboard, Bisham. I like the cut of your jib! Keep 'em coming!
All the best,
Tom Degan
Well as Leona Helmsley so famously said "Only little people pay taxes". It is really ironic that the Republicans still want to cut taxes when 50% of the American people pay no taxes and large corporations (GE and others) pay none and the over all tax rate is lower than it as been for decades. Can you imagine the screaming from the wealthy if we were to go to the rates of several decade back when they were taxed at 51%?
Mack Lyons "Isn't Canada lurching towards the current American-style corporatist ideal?"
One of the advantages of fairly consistently coalition government is that it's tough to govern entirely by ideology, since, to pass something, they have to get people who aren't from their party to agree (and being too combative or absolutist or, more commonly, corrupt, leads to a "no confidence" vote and an election).
charles moore "It is really ironic that the Republicans still want to cut taxes when 50% of the American people pay no taxes."
47% pay no income tax (look at the average family income for the bottom 90%. Now imagine what average of roughly the bottom half of that is. That is why the bottom 47% pay no income tax). They still pay taxes.
I just wanted to say I love you too Tom Degan!
Lets be honest, if MO's Canada invaded the US, we would be the first to surrender!
Just like the UAW destroyed the US Car business,
the Teacher's Union is destroying the US educational system and sucking America dry!
The auto unions did not destroy the American auto industry. If you would be kind enough to do a bit of research on the matter, you will find that in Germany and Japan their auto unions are actually superior to their counterparts in the USA.
The American auto industry destroyed itself due to an abysmal lack of foresight and perfectly shitty automobiles.
As far as the Teacher's Union is concerned, the reason that the education system in America is in such dismal shape is because our government is not investing in education. Don't blame the teachers for the failings of politicians - and the people foolish enough to keep sending them back to Washington.
Cheers!
Tom Degan
RE: "Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich, ASAP!"
Define what is rich.
Still waiting for an answer from you Tom.
"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."
"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power."
youtube.com/watch?v=3Ku4QNedzAo
Modusoperandi, this link is for you.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ku4QNedzAo
I am a fag.
just got finished having sex with my unicorn pillow pet while waching sara palin on Fox News.
It was wierd because I had just finished waching my dog hump the same pillow pet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32EZgesi7b4
2012
Anonymous "Modusoperandi, this link is for you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ku4QNedzAo"
Obviously that's what the Middle East and North Africa need. Tolerance for heterogeneity, rights for minorities, equality under the Law, and the like. They've got quite a ways to go (and we're only a century or three away from it ourselves*)
[Pretend] Mary Mayhem "GE ha ha, The Democrats love GE, GE pays no taxes because of the Democrats"
Obviously. Even when the president was a Republican and when the GOP held both houses and, effectively, the USSC, it was the Democrats. They're that powerful. Who knew that mush like Harry Reid was so strong?
* Except for all the times we failed. Your mileage may vary.
MM
Tom is white because his mom didn't go to planned parenthood. Given his pasty skin color, the odds were in his favor.
GE is a major contributor to the Democrats and owns Obama. Everyone knows that.
Huffington Post
Wisconsin Judges Election, Kloppenberg/Prosser headed to a recount, a virtual tie.
There goes all the liberal talking points that the people overwhelmingly backed up the Unions.
What a joke Democrats are: with their comrades in arms because they hate America and Christianity, the Mulsims.
What a joke, Liberals criticize Fox er Faux News, when Time magazine and MSLSD came together for this great episode:
"GHOSH: The thing to keep in mind that's very important here is that the Koran to Muslims, it is not, it is not the same as the Bible to Christians.
The Bible is a book written by men. It is acknowledged by Christians that it is written by men. It's the story of Jesus.
TODD: Yes."
Hard Ball
You have to read the conversation between the two, Latest Moonbat Liberal Insanity
And MSLSD with their Joke Broadcaster, Cenk Uighar, Rachel Maddow and gone Keith Olberman.
Do as I say, not as I do:
Claire McCaskill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/can-claire-mccaskill-weather-her-plane-problem/2011/03/21/ABejuuBB_blog.html
TSVP -
A- Judges are supposed to be partisan.
B- Yes I know. All of our talking points are gone. I mean, the people of Wisconsin were able to gather how many more signatures than the 15,000 they needed to recall the first Senator in less than half the time allotted?
Yeah.
TSVP - Your little article goes on to say
Of course, Ghosh is wholly incorrect that Christians see the Bible as just some storybook "written by men." After all, the Bible is thought of as "the word of God" by millions of Christians across the world as it has been throughout time. Ghosh's claim that everyone just accepts the Bible as something "written by men" and easily dismissible or somehow less sacred to Christians on that basis is simply erroneous. It is also extremely offensive.
more coming...
Tsvp - continued:
Now, certainly Christians agree that the Bible was "written by men" but there is no assumption that it is somehow less for it. After all Christians feel that these mere men were inspired directly by God. Just as the Koran is assumed to be the direct word of the Muslim's god, Christians also believe that the Bible is the Word of God.
In fact, it is easier to make the historical case that the Bible was written by people who knew Jesus while the claim that the Koran was written by anyone that knew the Prophet Mohammad is nearly impossible to substantiate. Parts of the Bible have been determined as having been written within the life times of people that would have known Jesus personally. On the other hand, there is no proof that the Koran was written any time closer than 100 years after Mohammad's death, long after anyone that might have known him would have been dead.
Can Claire McCaskill weather her plane problem?
By Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake Washington Post
"Sen. Claire McCaskill’s admission that she owes nearly $300,000 in back taxes on a plane she co-owned with her husband is the latest in a series of revelations regarding the aircraft that have complicated the Missouri Democrat’s already-difficult path to reelection in 2012.
The tax revelations come roughly a week after McCaskill acknowledged using the plane for both official travel and purely political business while charging taxpayers for the flights."
Uh oh for this "do as i say, not as i do" super liberal! She must have hung around Charlie Rangel too much!
Thoughts:
Government Shutdown = Oxymoron
Fund Wars by allocation. IE: Libyan Incursion – Accountants Statement: We deem the vague objective can be accomplished as follows so we will provide monies for:
15 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles
95 US Assorted air strikes
24 man hours of Logistical Support
After these resources are depleted the War shall be considered Defunded.
Have Congress pay for their Medical Insurance Premiums for one year.
Ask each Elected Rep the price of a gallon of gas; those who get it wrong are fined $10,000.
Don’t allow Congresspersons to pay any personal bills whilst the Government is shut down.
Modify/cut the pensions of all of Congress as they approach retirement for the reason of cost cutting.
TSVDP "GE is a major contributor to the Democrats and owns Obama. Everyone knows that."
Ahhh. This explains why they had such a hard time with the previous administration. Damn Obama and his Family Time Machine!
"What a joke Democrats are: with their comrades in arms because they hate America and Christianity, the Mulsims."
{citation needed}
"You have to read the conversation between the two, Latest Moonbat Liberal Insanity"
Moonbattery.com? You can't be serious. "OMG! MRS OBAMA IS FORCING OUR KIDS NOT TO BE FAT! REBEL FOR FREEDOM!"
RE: "Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich, ASAP!"
Define what is rich.
Well, when they were proposing to end the bush tax cuts on incomes over 250K, and I did the math on an income of 350K, the increased tax payout would have been less than 10K. And as a friend who grew up in fabulous Del Mar noted....'it would mean they might have to go with the lower model BMW for their 16 year old'.
OH, and I liked YUMMY YUMMY more than SUGAR SUGAR, but both were solid.
JG,
do you know Muslims face Mecca and pray five times a day? Each of those prayers includes a passage called "al-fatiha." The five prayers combined repeat this passage a total of 17 times. Thus, every Muslim, from earliest childhood to the grave, repeats these words 17 times per day. The passage goes like this: "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate: Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate, the Master of the Day of Doom. Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succour. Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou art wrathful, nor of those who are astray."
Ask any five year old Arabic Muslim, who are these people who have been led astray, whose path the Muslims condemn 17 times per day? They are the Christians. Who are the people whom every Muslim acknowledges 17 times per day to be the objects of Allah's wrath? They are the Jews.
These are not radical views. This is mainstream Islam. This is the view of 100% of Muslims, repeated by the faithful a minimum of 17 times per day: that Allah has condemned the path of the Christian as wrongful, and that the Jew is the target of a divinely just anger: i.e., an anger to which all Muslims should aspire.
This kind of rote indoctrination, from cradle to grave, necessarily warps its practitioners. We must acknowledge at least this much: that the Arab Muslim, and many non-Arab Muslims, is *not* just another regular Joe like you and me.
bisham
Why dont you get a 2nd job, earn an extra 10k, and send it to the government? Or a first job if you don't have one of those.
Tom Degan,
You don't know how grateful I am that Barack Obama's presidency has been such a genuine catastrophe. LOL on the Hope and Change. I will not go down as America's worst president!
Rosaylnn is amazed at how many times a day I spontaneously do triple sommersaults as good as our US gymnastics team, just like a dog jumps for joy!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous - Please come up with original thoughts and stop stealing other people's words without giving them credit. If you feel the urgent need to copy someone else's info and paste it on here, you could at least try to make it look legit by paraphrasing. I guess that's hard for kleptomaniacs to do.
stolen voices, buried treasures
Mary Mayhem,
since most of you liberals think it is OK to burn the American flag, what is your view of the Pastor in Florida burning the kookran?
Anonymous (or, possibly, really Browns44), you said...
JG, do you know Muslims face Mecca and pray five times a day?
I know they face toward Mecca and pray several times a day. I can't recall, nor do I care, how many times they do daily.
After reciting the English interpretation of the prayer, you then said...
"...who are these people who have been led astray, whose path the Muslims condemn 17 times per day? They are the Christians. Who are the people whom every Muslim acknowledges 17 times per day to be the objects of Allah's wrath? They are the Jews."
I've been told, countless times during my lifetime, that I will burn in Hell because I haven't been "saved"; that until I accepted Jesus in my life, I'd never go to "Heaven", along with other similarly archaic, antiquated, and fantastically irrational ideas. In my mind, this is similar to what you claim followers of Islam believe. Both faiths believe theirs is the only true faith, and refusing to follow the one true faith will result in eternal damnation. So, really, what's the difference?
...and you continued...
These are not radical views. This is mainstream Islam. This is the view of 100% of Muslims, repeated by the faithful a minimum of 17 times per day: that Allah has condemned the path of the Christian as wrongful..."
See my answer above. It's the same arrogance and attitude of superiority that only my religion is right; only my religion allows access to "Heaven". Evangelical Christians are as radical and insane in the practice of their religion as you claim all Muslims are of theirs. Once again, I ask you, what's the difference?
...and you continued...
This kind of rote indoctrination, from cradle to grave, necessarily warps its practitioners.
Like similar rote indoctrination of young Christians, from cradle to grave, warps its practitioners?
And then you finished, by having the audacity to say...
We must acknowledge at least this much: that the Arab Muslim, and many non-Arab Muslims, is *not* just another regular Joe like you and me.
Well, first, I don't have to acknowledge anything. But you can believe what you want. It's a free country (well, it used to be). Secondly, please don't lump me in as being a "regular Joe" with you, because, frankly, I find your views to be unreasonable and illogical at best.
Bisham
Since Tom doesn't have the spine to answer my question I'll give you credit for doing so.
If I understand you correctly you define some one as rich who makes over $250,000 a year. Is that correct?
"Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich, ASAP!"
Define what is rich.
JG,
what is your view of the Pastor in Florida burning the kookran?
does he have a right to express his freedom of expression that way?
250K is a very good starting point for defining rich, although that is very contry-specific (probably only in America would that be not-rich) and size of family specific. But yeah, 100K- not rich but really comfortable. 500K is definately rich. Not Richie or Scrooge McDuck swimming pool full of money rich, but you can buy anything...just not the ultimate of everything. Which is the American Dream, right?
I got the 8 mm zirconium, but I would have been much happier with the 12mm.
Bobby Titcomb
HONOLULU -- The Honolulu Police Department confirmed that a close friend of President Barack Obama was arrested Monday in connection with a prostitution sting case.
Police arrested Bobby Titcomb, 49, a Punahou School classmate of Obama, at 9:40 p.m. in downtown Honolulu at the corner of Pohukaina and South streets. He was released after posting $500 bail, police said.
Police arrested four men in connection with a reverse prostitution sting involving a fake online escort website, sources said.
The offense is considered a misdemeanor. Titcomb's initial court appearance is scheduled May 2.
Titcomb usually spends the holidays with the president and his family when they spend time in Hawaii. He has been seen playing golf and attending picnics with the president.
The first family attended a barbecue at Ticomb's Waialua home in December.
Just saying...........
hey bisham,
shouldn't there be equal justice in how much food we all eat? and if that is tru what should we do about Michael Moore? i can't picture him ever eating less and droppin the pounds lol. even jurassicpork wishes he could sell his books like that capitalist pig Moore can and laugh all the way to the bank!
short funny about Ted Nugent with a bad case of baaaaaaaaaaaaaaarack obama toxic gas!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtj6X7QXiY
Anonymous - You dumb prick, Michael Moore HAS lost weight!!! Like 70 lbs+
At least we know who he is. You are too ashamed to ID yourself. I'm guessing you're at least, what...275-300 lbs and about what...5'9?
Anonymous - You dumb prick, Michael Moore HAS lost weight!!! Like 70 lbs+
At least we know who he is. You are too ashamed to ID yourself so I'm guessing you're at least, what...275-300 lbs and about what...5'9?
Ok, so Bisham you define "rich" as anyone making $500,000 or more a year, correct? Making that $500,000 anyway, hourly, contract, stocks, etc.
Right?
So, how much of their money would you have the federal government tax away from them. Should this amount be before or after state and local income taxes have been paid?
mary mayhen,
i can't believe you infered my weight and height! you are good at inferring other people like jg!
it looks like you didn't marry your husband for his looks lol!
i'm sorry but michael moore still looks like a big hog to me! should i be PC in the future and say i beleive he is still girth challenged?
Anonymous, you stupidly asked...
"So, how much of their money would you have the federal government tax away from them. Should this amount be before or after state and local income taxes have been paid?"
70% -- at least -- on each dollar earned over $250K.
Anonymous,
You've never seen my husband; His picture is not posted anywhere. He doesn't even have a face book page.
Please google "infer". Learn how to spell and use it properly. Thank-you.
Anonymous "...since most of you liberals think it is OK to burn the American flag, what is your view of the Pastor in Florida burning the kookran?"
&
Anonymous (maybe Browns44) "what is your view of the Pastor in Florida burning the kookran? does he have a right to express his freedom of expression that way?"
It's "...a legitimate if disrespectful form of protest..."
The First Amendment exists precisely to protect unpopular speech. That's what it's for. There's no need to protect popular speech.
Anonymous "Bobby Titcomb...HONOLULU -- The Honolulu Police Department confirmed that a close friend of President Barack Obama was arrested Monday in connection with a prostitution sting case...Just saying..........."
Just saying what? That Obama is responsible for the actions of everyone he knows?
You do know that you've probably known a murderer, thief or rapist, right?
Just saying...........
Anonymous "short funny about Ted Nugent with a bad case of baaaaaaaaaaaaaaarack obama toxic gas!"
Sure. Ted Nugent. That.
Tangentially, compare and contrast Nugent's stance that America should generally run around the world killing those who disagree with it and the story of him shitting his pants at the recruiting office to avoid going to 'Nam.
I read/listen/view a fair amount of liberal press (but I totally skip MSNBC). If someone were to ask me my thoughts, I would probably share two.
First, in terms of what is worth reading or viewing, the New Yorker is the only liberal publication with a good analytical background, and at times will change my views. You know their bias, but well thought and well written.
Second, it is my view of liberals in general. I use to thing that Dems were about getting an extra 5 grand for union members and handouts to certain parts of their base. But it far worse than that. There is NO limit to their appetite and they will destroy whatever they can. I recommend everyone spend time on TD's favorite webpage, AlterNet, if you want to understand the base liberals.
These people are not about making the pie bigger and then taking as big a chunk of taxes possible. I am still trying to understand their motives. The recent comments have been interesting. My inclination is that the base of the liberal population is pursuing willful financial suicide because they are jealous of anyone with more wealth (doesn’t matter if its 50k or 50m). So mathematically the limit on who they despise will have a lower limit of greater than or equal to 0. They don't care about solvency or the actual economy. In the end, they also hope a true governmental bankruptcy will destroy capitalistic institutions. I.e., those evil corporations that Nietzsche's Guardian doesn't like.
The less sophisticated liberal are jealous that someone has a boat and they do not. Ergo, it is ok to amass unpayable debt if they many get some miniscule governmental service and it harms that bastard with the boat.
In perspective, I remain optimistic in the face of these fascists because they are only around 20+/- percent of the population.
They are also stupid and will destroy themselves. They are playing a game with budget thinking Obama will play it like Clinton. Wrong. They had a responsibility to pass a budget last October, when they had congress and oval office they did not. This country is not that stupid, they will pay in 2012.
They also think they are enlightened when the embrace Sharia and the like. These liberal puppeteers will become the puppets. They could not handle two years of power.
MM
I don’t know which Anon you were referencing, but I will plagiarize.
bisham
Why don’t you get a 2nd job, earn an extra 10k, and send it to the government? Or a first job if you don't have one of those.
"70% -- at least -- on each dollar earned over $250K."
Why on dollars earned? This then let's people like Nancy Pelosi keep their wealth accumulated. It should be then on all wealth.
Kick out the jams, MC5!
So, are corporations “persons” or not? When it comes to representation, you don’t want them to be. When it comes to taxes, you want to tax the hell out of their income as if they are. Something about “no taxation without representation” comes to mind.
boltok, you never cease to amaze me with your ignorant stupidity. The purpose of raising taxes on the " rich " is to provide society with the resources needed to fulfill the only legitimate purpose of government...to protect and care for those who for whatever reason are unable to protect and care for themselves. Because SO MUCH of WE THE PEOPLES' tax dollars are diverted to the military industrial complex to fill the coffers of the rich assholes who bought the government and have control over all three branches, there is nothing left for needed social services. If you don't want to raise taxes on the " rich " let's cut the military budget to .00025 % of what it currently is. That will free up the necessary money and still leave PLENTY for a sufficiently strong military whose purpose will be to protect us from invasion and not for imperialistic conquests. Why the folks FORTUNATE enough to have so much more than they will ever need don't want to contribute their share fair to society would be puzzling to me except that I know the answer......you are all greedy, unethical pigs who think you are better or more worthy than the folks not born with a silver spoon sticking out of their asses. GUESS WHAT ?? You folks are no better than anyone else so get over it and contribute your fair share. Or get the fuck out of Amerika and go exploit the disadvantaged somewhere else, like China or India. Thank you !!
JG said
"Anonymous, you stupidly asked...
"So, how much of their money would you have the federal government tax away from them. Should this amount be before or after state and local income taxes have been paid?"
70% -- at least -- on each dollar earned over $250K"
Explain why you believe this is a stupid question if you answered it?
Ellis D., Esq. said...
"Why the folks FORTUNATE enough to have so much more than they will ever need don't want to contribute their share fair to society would be puzzling to me except that I know the answer......you are all greedy, unethical pigs who think you are better or more worthy than the folks not born with a silver spoon sticking out of their asses."
So you beleive it is the job of government to force, through taxation, a contribution to society from the fortunate? Define what level of income you feel is fortunate.
So far it has been defined as yearly income earned of $100,000, $250,000, $350,000 and $500,000.
Do you have an amount?
Well if the fortunate folks had the compassion to voluntarily contribute a portion of their wealth to assist those in need the government wouldn't have to " force " the contribution through taxation. But since the fortunate assholes have no interest in even creating jobs here in Amerika and use their wealth and power to destroy Amerika by outsourcing jobs and " insourcing " cheap labor I don't see how charity will be in their mindset. Being that my family is able to exist on about 100k a yr. gross household income I think that anyone making over $250,000 a yr. should be able to part with at least HALF of that. See you don't need McMansions, fancy cars and big boats. If you can still afford all that fun stuff AFTER you contribute your fair share then great, have a blast !! But pony up some of that wealth for those who desperately need it. You'll have plenty left to leave to your fortunate sons and daughters. See, greed is not good....greed SUCKS !!!!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ATTENTION:
FROM THIS MOMENT ON, ANYONE MAKING RACIST COMMENTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED.
SINCERELY,
TOM DEGAN
TD
Clarence Thomas will be pleased.
Ellis
Calling you a moron would be a insult to those who have been born without a high, but yet quantifiable, IQ.
Answer some of the questions at the top of the comment section. You probably learned something related to economics in law school besides the economic value of following ambulances and other vehicles with flashing lights.
Of a 4 Trillion Federal Budget; where do you think the 4 trillion comes from? And where does it go?
Beside interest on mountains of debt, it is spent on :
Military – 975billion (what country has ever survived without military supremacy, Europe survives because of us) How many take pay checks out of this amount?
Healthcare – 900 billion
Pension – 820 billion
Welfare – 400 billion
There is a difference between those that cannot take care of themselves and those that don’t take care of themselves because they are shiftless losers. The later are well represented on this site.
Fortunate? Did everyone with any money have a winning lottery ticket. Did any of them work/study and remain disciplined over extended periods of time to have what they have. And if they did, why should a group of jackasses like yourself have license to spend it for them???
Why don’t you go to one of your nirvanas. How about France?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVwGIeD9i3I
Thank you, Tom.
I saw that JFK link. He mentioned "the billions of dollars that this tax cut will place in the hands of the businessman and the consumer."
Kennedy's tax cut was across the board. the burden was not placed on the shoulders of the middle class.
Also he referred to "the right time for a tax cut". Would I be presumptuous enough to assume that the late president believed that there was a wrong time as well?
Cheers!
Tom Degan
TD,
A suggestion, increase the censorship. Ellis is using expletives again, and I don't like that kind of language. Or not.
Yeah boltok...hippies like to curse so FUCK YOU !!!!! :-)
Boltok, you said...
"They don't care about solvency or the actual economy. In the end, they also hope a true governmental bankruptcy will destroy capitalistic institutions."
Actually, Boltok, you have it all backwards (as usual); the Left believes, and rightfully so, that "capitalistic institutions" (which is a misnomer, if there ever was one -- let's call them by what they really are: monopolies and oligopolies) will bankrupt the government (which is really, after all, what's really happening in America today). The trillions to save the investment and banking institutions ("too big to fail", my ass), coupled with tax avoidance (by all multinationals) and the unending pouring of trillions of dollars into the military-industrial complex (as Ellis already pointed out) is breaking the back of the economy. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. So, you see, the Left definitely wants a solvent government, but with one large caveat: It shouldn't be borne and carried on the backs of We the People, when it wasn't We the People who got us into this terrible predicament.
If you can't see this, you're either blind or you stand to profit handsomely from the system as it now exists because you're affiliated with either or all. If that's the case, you're insincere and possibly...no, undoubtedly, also a liar.
By the way, Boltok, I've always wanted to ask you this but it always slipped my mind: Is English a second language for you?
JG
What are you talking about? Read the above. Taken to logical limits, these people want to tax anyone and anything that has a dollar left after taxes.
People of moderate means have a relatively lite tax burden.
I finished reading a couple books on Ben Franklin. He did not believe in socialism, but a government that provided services that could not be provided individually. Corporations are bankrupting government? It is the other way around. The gov't is spending away the future income streams of private sector by the implied promise of taxing to repay debt.
What do you think of Walmart? Do you realize that by some estimates, Walmart has lowered inflation in the USA by over one percent. Interest rates are risk premiums over inflation. So that is the equivalent of lower the us government and state and private interest expenses over 1%. In addition people without a lot of money can afford to buy more. Everyone's credit card, auto loan and mortgage has an interest rate one pct lower because of walmart. Is that a benefit?
How about Exxon and the like? You can fill your tank at a price of less than bottled water.
I construct sentences and paragraphs and punctuate to my audience.
Jefferson's Guardian is beneath contempt. He likes to look at his Muslim friends with their rear ends up in the air.
Broadbrushing Bigot is JG but what do we expect: "I've been told, countless times during my lifetime, that I will burn in Hell because I haven't been "saved"; that until I accepted Jesus in my life, I'd never go to "Heaven", along with other similarly archaic, antiquated, and fantastically irrational ideas. In my mind, this is similar to what you claim followers of Islam believe. Both faiths believe theirs is the only true faith, and refusing to follow the one true faith will result in eternal damnation. So, really, what's the difference? "
Not everyone believes that way as certain as all Atheistst think the same way.
Do as I say, not as I do:
TOM DASCHLE
Come on Tom (Daschle, not Degan), pay up for Medicare!
From Wikipedia:
Daschle reportedly did not declare this service on his annual tax forms as required by law. A spokeswoman for Daschle said that he "simply and probably naively" considered the use of the car and driver "a generous offer" from Hindery, "a longtime friend". Daschle told the Senate Finance Committee that in June 2008—just as he was letting the press know he would like to be HHS secretary in an Obama administration -- that "something made him think that the car service might be taxable" and he began seeking to remedy the situation.
Daschle reportedly also did not pay taxes on an additional $83,333 that he earned as a consultant to InterMedia Partners in 2007; this was discovered by Senator Daschle's accountant in December 2008. According to ABC News, Daschle also took tax deductions for $14,963 in donations that he made between 2005 and 2007 to charitable organizations that did not meet the requirements for being tax deductible.
The former Senator paid the three years of owed taxes and interest—an amount totaling $140,167—in January 2009,but still reportedly owed "Medicare taxes equal to 2.9 percent" of the value of the car service he received, amounting to "thousands of dollars in additional unpaid taxes".
JG also did NOT answer from what I saw, why don't we just take 70% of accumulated wealth over $250,000? Why stop at every dollar earned over $250,000.
Thoughts:
Rich defined – An income of 1 million a year or more.
Folks adopt a lifestyle that is in proportion to their disposable income. The expenditures and debt incurred by “The Rich” is probably mathematically proportionate to those in lower income strata. The difference is the cost of basic goods and services as a percentage of net income. To someone netting $25,000 per year a new car costing $25,000 is 100% of their net annual income whereas the same car to a person netting 1 million dollars is .025% of their net income.
Most Americans can be compared to worker Bees. They are honest hard working folks who are NOT endowed with Entrepreneurial characteristics. Is a hard working person employed as a janitor and earning $30,000 annually to be looked at in an unfavorable light because they are not Alpha driven to Capitalist standards/definition? The average American worker is shackled by the cost of life’s necessities; food, clothing, shelter, healthcare etc. This perspective needs to be considered. Level the costs of the necessities and the disparity and animosity will go away as people will be able to “live within their means.”
Jefferson Garbage should not lump a religion that has been committing all kinds of atrocities, reportedly a 1000 over the weekend and bombings to kill over a hundred innocent Muslims in the last week in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Christian religion. As if Jefferson's Garbage is some great theologian with obscure websites to prove his/her warped thinking.
Please, just ignore the name calling.
Right on Gypsy Bob !! That is exactly why a resource based economy would benefit more people. Workers in Amerika are underpaid PERIOD. They don't have enough disposable income to pay for the insanely high cost of living that capitalism breeds. If giving workers more means employers pocket less well that's just too bad. People should be motivated by PRIDE not GREED. How about having pride in sharing the income generated by the workers with those workers ?? All you idiots take pride in is having a bigger boat or better looking call girls than the next rich asshole. See everyone could be " rich " if people would learn the value of sharing wealth instead of hording it !!
Oh and Christians have never killed anyone ?? Who are you kidding ??
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mao Tse Tung murder 80 million Chinese, Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin all atheists, satanists or leftists. Biggest murderers of mankind.
Ellis Sleaze, when did Christians last kill 1000 people in a massacre as in Ivory Coast this weekend. You are beneath contempt, the usual Christian bashing. The usual acceptable bigotry by haters of Christianity with their Muslim Suckups, the Left wing.
Maybe if you Christians practiced what you preach you wouldn't be so deservingly hated !!! Don't pretend you are all innocent good hearted people. We know the truth !!
TD
Delete Ellis. He is posting racist comments against Christians. As if profanity was not enough.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for their's is the kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
for their's is the kingdom of Heaven.
From the Sermon on the Mount
WORKING THE SYSTEM
Wow, she must have been really good at her job.
At the top right hand corner of page 17 of the New York Post, January 24, 2009, was a column entitled, "Replacing Michelle" in the National Review, The Week.
Here it is as it appeared:
"Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama: The University of Chicago Medical center hired her in 2002 to run 'programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting'."
In 2005 the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317,000 - nearly twice what her husband made as a Senator.
Her husband, Barak Obama, had just become a U.S. Senator. He requested a $1 million "Earmark" for the UC Medical Center. Way to network, Michelle!
Now that Mrs. Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that be, if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000?
Let me add that Michelle's position was a part-time, 20-hours-a-week job.
To JG and all the liberals here: How did this bit of "quid pro quo" (scratch my back - I'll scratch yours) corruption escape the sharp reporters that dug through Sarah Palin's garbage and kindergarten files?
Recession is when your neighbor loses his job.
Depression is when you lose your job.
Recovery is when Obama loses his job!
Good words for everyone, Jesus. Too bad your contemptuous followers have failed to live by them. (Pssss...I think you know who I mean...)
p.s. Jesus, please perform one last miracle, and make them go away... ;-)
Listen, there are extremists in every religion. Can't you just admit that and give it a rest?
MC5...that's the name of the new strain of virus that causes excruciating abdominal pain and uncontrollable diarrhea, isn't it?
Hey, MC5, did you get a day-pass from Bellevue today? ;-)
I'm not bashing anyone. If you folks want to believe in a God that doesn't exist go right ahead. I suppose you believe in the tooth fairy too ?? I'm able to act ethically and compassionately without the crutch of organized religion. You folks can't even do that WITH all your bullshit in place !! You are all phonies...PERIOD !!
Did you say "rest", Tom? So you knew he lived at Bellevue?
I don't care if someone wants to worship Jesus, Republican Jesus, Joseph Smith, the flying spaghetti monster, Raptor Jesus, Gaia whatever...As long as they keep it out of my government and keep their beliefs from my child.
No religion should be singled out. It's not the religion that forces them to hate, its the evil fundamentalist people that prey upon blindly religious people that cause evil. These people are comparable to Manson, Jones, Koresh, Bin Laden and the sick FLDS "prophets." They pray upon the ultra pious to get them to do their bidding. None of these cons believe in Jesus, God or whatever, but they wouldn't think twice about exploiting that belief in others. They all had an agenda that could only be satisfied through the exploitation of other people's devoutness. They are too cowardly to strike by themselves. Do you think David Koresh would have gone into a University and tried to gather people for his cult? NO! He knew to prey on desperation, misguidedness, hopelessness; All of the people that were trying to "find" something spiritual. The problem is fundamentalism spreads like a disease when you believe in a nirvana-like afterlife. You think that doing something horrible in the name of your maker is a ticket to nirvana. You have nothing to lose, because you don't think you are really going to cease to exist. That is truly scary. An appreciation for your one and only life is so much more peaceful.
Have you ever stopped to think, "Hey maybe these people that do bad things are just bad people?"
Or maybe they are under the influence of bad people. That has NOTHING to do with their religion. It has everything to do with the turbulence an instability with the region they live in. Who's fault is that instability? If you don't believe the US is at least somewhat responsible, then you aren't paying attention. Imagine if the US suddenly became unstable like the Middle East and the Arab nations were to blame. Do you not think their would be little Charlie Mansons out there preying on Christian Churches to live out their sick agenda? It's already happened here with stability, so...
Watch Syriana for the perfect Manson-like pseudo-Muslim that talked those poor Pakistani kids into the suicide bombing.
God exists, people are cured of maladies, Satan exists. No one needs the warped hate of huffington posters, you think you have more credibility? no.
"Warped hatred"???
Have you had the chance to read some of your postings lately?
I think we all need to take a breather here.
[LOL] Tom, this is great!
Welcome to the wonderful shrinking world of insanity cloaked in religious belief.
MC5, get a grip. You'll see Jesus soon enough. Until then, don't worry about Satan crawling under your bed at night. It's not him, it's only the boogieman.
Question: Which God is the one that blesses America?
Gypsy Bob.....I'd imagine it's the God who looks like the late George Burns ??
Sure are an Ark Load of God's to choose from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deities
Well some folks think Eric Clapton is God but I myself give the nod to Jeff Mattson :-)
I've always been partial to the Beat Generation's: Daddy O, Junior & The Spook...
MC5 "http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/ivory-coast-barack-hussein-obama-demands-christian-president-step-down-so-muslim-challenger-can-take-over/"
This is terrible! Obama (and everybody) demands that the guy who lost the election step down! Why, oh why won't he defend democracy?!
Way down Yonder in the Bayou country of dear ol' Luzianne
ModusOperandi: "This is terrible! Obama (and everybody) demands that the guy who lost the election step down! Why, oh why won't he defend democracy?!"
This is terrible, because Gbagbo is the Certified Winner of the Election.
http://blogs.cbn.com/globallane/archive/2011/01/04/why-gbagbo-refuses-to-go.aspx
An interview: Henry Kissinger & NY Tms's Sam Tanenhaus (sp?) couple days ago: last question, how are the Repubs doing? -- Kissinger said, (diplomatically, of course) he didn't think they were going in the right direction -- something like that...check it out, if you have not seen.
(and I don't mean to "bash," I AM a Republican; but in recent years, it's like, the line Jack Nicholson speaks in "As Good As It Gets" where he answers the door & tells the guy, "Don't try to sell 'crazy' here -- we're all stocked up."
Anonymous "This is terrible, because Gbagbo is the Certified Winner of the Election."
This is terrible, as I doubt winning on technicalities (like "cancelling" the "results in seven northern regions") will convince anyone.
Hey everybody, good news in Wisconsin!
Thursday, April 7, 2011 5:11 PM
Waukesha County canvass nets Prosser more than 7,500 votes
The Waukesha County canvass netted Justice David Prosser more than 7,500 votes over JoAnne Kloppenburg, swinging the vote total dramatically in his direction.
The clerk's office called a 5:30 p.m. news conference to discuss the results. Ahead of the news conference, it handed out a sheet that showed new vote totals for the Supreme Court candidates without explaining the changes.
HOWDY, UNCLE EARL!
"At least the Democrats..."
At least the Democrats gave us single payer heathcare. Oh wait...
At least the Democrats gave us Wall St reform. Oh wait...
At least the Democrats gave us clean energy legislation. Oh wait...
At least the Democrats ended the wars. Oh wait...
At least the Democrats talk a good game. Yes they can.
At least the Democrats pretend to be on the left of the political spectrum. Yes they do.
So, Ellis has decided that the rich don’t need McMansions, fancy cars or boats. I guess he’ll break the bad news to the building contractors, the realtors, the auto manufacturers, car dealers, boat manufacturers & dealers? And, I guess Ellis is going to provide the jobs that would be lost?
FUN FACT: Libs are enamored of the high marginal tax rates of the 50’s and 60’s. If they do a modicum of research (and apply a bit of critical thinking) to what the inflation-adjusted trigger income level for these high tax rates were, they’d find them to be north of $1 million. Not, $250,000, as seems to be the target number in view today.
ANOTHER FUN FACT: The decline in corporate tax (and it has declined) has been roughly offset by the increase in Social Security taxes, which is paid by corporations. So, no, Tom, you did not, in fact, pay more in taxes that GE I don’t imagine. And, the US corporate tax rate is average to high compared with the rest of the world, depending on how you look at it. But, it could not be characterized an unusually low.
YET ANOTHER: The total US tax as % of GDP is higher today that it was between 1950 and 1960 when we had the glorious 70-90% marginal tax rates.
So Harley you think McMansions, fancy cars and big boats serve some useful social purpose ?? How so ?? Oh that's right they provide the class division and inequality necessary to perpetuate the capitalist myth that if left to their own devices folks will lazily lay around and do nothing all day. Gotta make them chase that carrot !! What an inefficient use of resources !! I can see how a system like that will eventually collapse and leave society in chaotic ruin. And guess what ?? You righties will be just as screwed as the lefties when the shit hits the fan. Have a nice day !!
Ellis,
Just when did God resign make put you in charge?
You are crazy!
"fancy cars and big boats serve some useful social purpose ?? How so ?? Oh that's right they provide the class division and inequality necessary to perpetuate the capitalist myth that if left to their own devices folks will lazily lay around and do nothing all day. Gotta make them chase that carrot !! What an inefficient use of resources !! I can see how a system like that will eventually collapse and leave society in chaotic ruin. And guess what ?? You righties will be just as screwed as the lefties when the shit hits the fan. Have a nice day !!'
Well God has been doing such a shitty job he decided to let someone with common sense take over. We'll see who is crazy when society collapses and Amerika is officially a Third World Banana Republic. The crazy people are the ones who think our system works and is sustainable. " If you plant ice you're gonna harvest wind "-Robert Hunter
God is in charge? I thought it was the corporations. But I guess the dumbass GOP feels they are one in the same. The omnipotence of republicunts never ceases to amaze me.
Wild eyed crazy Mary has spoken, drama queen of the blogosphere!
I bet Ellis lives in a dirt hole in the remotes of some state park, but engaged in enough horticulture to get an interent connections (or maybe he goes to a public library and stinks up the place). Read his comments. He is angry about guys with good looking girlfriends on boats. Pissed that people have nice houses and cars. Your listening to the ramblings of man of supreme jealousy.
So which boltok are you shithead ?? Yeah right I'm jealous of the poor clueless souls who think life is all about how many unnecessary material possessions and how much excessive wealth they can accumulate before they die. Actually I pity those misguided folks who are so blind they don't even know they were brainwashed. So you rats out there keep racing. Just try not to fuck everything up for the rest ( majority ) of us because the way things are now that is exactly what is happening. A loud ignorant minority backed by dirty corporate money is hijacking the future of our country. Wake up folks the top of the hourglass is running out of sand. Awake and arise and show those unethical bastards we are on to their sick game. Get up stand up stand up for your rights !!!!
Ha Ha! The Demo Beggars lost in Wisconsin,
The people know what trash the Unions are!
"Power to the People, Power to the People"
Boltok said nothing wrong. That was me. Don't get mad at boltok.
Boltok is a genius thinker. Or at least has it together.
I give up on becoming a liberal. To do so would require me to suspend reality. Ellis is to blame for my failure.
no one gives a shit Browns.
Good point Mary. I'm getting ready to take the Browns to the super bowl
Liberals make cogent arguments every so often:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/04/08/maher_islam_only_religion_that_kills_you_when_you_disagree_with_them.html
I am so happy the government is still open. It would have really sucked if they were closed today. What would I have done?
Boltok, you sarcastically said...
I am so happy the government is still open. It would have really sucked if they were closed today. What would I have done?
Well, what city do you live in...or closest to? I'll let you know.
Sarcasm??? Me???
So boltok....are you saying if the government shut down you wouldn't be on the clock monitoring The Rant ?? So you're a GOVERNMENT paid troll ?? We thought you were a GOP paid troll !! Wow !! That's impressive !!
Good point, Ellis. It's evident our friend Boltok is a paid troll. Until now, I never gave it a thought that he may be on the government's payroll in lieu of that of the Republican Party (or any of their agents or sympathizers, or even its enabling wing, the Democratic Party). I think you hit the nail on the head!
Interesting.
Boltok, what did you plan to do when you were furloughed? ;-)
As usual, a good synopsis from the ole' professor of what really is happening, courtesy of The Great Enabler.
JG and Ellis,
You are correct. I am part of the effort to achieve net neutrality.
But, as you know, there are many Catch-22s in life. If I was given free time by the government shut down, I was going to visit the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art.
JG, you build on your new found momentum and give thought to other things as well.
BTW Ellis, who is we? Are there a group of idiots that share the moniker Ellis ESQ?
JG
The government has given me some time off this weekend for good behavior, so I was almost done policing idiots online. But then, I happened to click on the link that you provided.
Do you actually think Robert Reich is worth listening to? The only way I would voluntarily watch him if he was part of a midget throwing contest. I'd love to see him stuck to a velco wall by that nappy beard.
No boltok....there is only one Ellis ( Harley don't bother to say " Thank God " ) but many who have similar beliefs and social philosophy. I'm not paid to post here. I do it to stir up the shit in the pot so at least people can realize it is shit. Capitalism works for capitalists....the people in control and able to manipulate all aspects of the economy and autonomy of society. When they do so in such a ruthless, greedy and unethical manner as we are seeing now, it's time to band together and put a stop to it !! Or suffer the consequences of continued apathy !!
I wish to quote a Mr. Bruce L. Hardgraves, USN Retired, of Worland, Wyoming, who self describes himself as a "Former Drunken Sailor" who wishes to correct the record with his posted opinion in the Northern Wyoming Daily News, April 2, 2010 where he states in a letter to the editor that:
"I object and take exception to every one saying that Obama and Congress are spending money like a drunken sailor. As a former drunken sailor, I always quit (spending money) when I ran out of money."
When Obama and the republican and democratic members of the US congress run out of money, they just borrow more money from the countries that create wealth, and then spend that money to buy more votes and friends in the USA, like a drunk sailor buys drinks for his new best friends in a bar.
Ellis D,
It seems to me that you are a backwards thinking person with regard to capitalism improving the standard of living of people in the US and the world. I bet if we could go back in time to when capitalists came up with the idea of the refrigerator, you would be against it since many people in the union that delivered ice on a weekly basis to the masses lost their jobs due to the refrigerator's invention.
I have heard some people like Ellis D say that one of the problems with the USA today is that people are greedy. I believe that people were always greedy in the past. When were people not greedy? What is the definition of greed?
I do not consider you working hard and producing things of value and selling them to others outside of your family in order to enrich your family and accumulate wealth for your family as being greedy!
I do not consider that if you start a business and hire some people to assist you to help make these things and then make yourself more US dollars defines you as being greedy.
I do not believe that I am greedy when I do not share the "fruits of my Labor" with others who might not have worked as hard as I did, and especially if they spent their assets on expensive food, drink, new cars, big houses, vacations, concerts, entertainment, women, and recreational drugs when I saved my money.
I believe that greed without evil is a wonderful motivator for individuals to produce wealth for themselves and their family.
I believe that economic greed without evil, immoral or illegal activity is acceptable and should be encouraged.
I believe that most all of the technical advances in the lifestyles of human beings throughout history have been caused mostly by the greed of the creators of these scientific and economic advances that benefited most all human beings.
Ellis, I truly don't think you represent a typical "lefty" position on free markets. I think most lefties lean a little socialist. I think of you as a Marxist/Leninist with a bit of Utopian mixed in - at least if I understand you correctly.
Google "JFK and taxes" if you want a reasonable take from the left.
That's all great dude...so fork over your fair share of taxes from the profits made by all your efforts, get it ??
Liberals nowadays have lost the plot. When I was in college, we listened to Guthrie, Seeger, Kingston Trio, all of them.
Pete Seeger
Ellis said, "so fork over your fair share of taxes from the profits made by all your efforts, get it ??"
What is a "fair share"?
A fair share is utilitarian in nature. Compare the impact the taking of income will be on the tax debtor to that debtor's reasonable standard of living and then determine what is fair to expect as a contribution to participate in society. I think under that standard there is plenty more for a lot of rich folks to fork over !!
Ellis,said "A fair share is utilitarian in nature. Compare the impact the taking of income will be on the tax debtor to that debtor's reasonable standard of living and then determine what is fair to expect as a contribution to participate in society. I think under that standard there is plenty more for a lot of rich folks to fork over !!"
Too subjective! What level of income makes a person rich and what should their federal taxes be after state and local taxes are paid?
Boltok, you ambiguously mentioned...
"JG, you build on your new found momentum and give thought to other things as well."
Please...enlighten me with your thoughts.
gerald4, referring to your "I believe" and "I do not consider" theses directed toward Ellis, I thought I'd share my own comments and thoughts before moving on.
Unfortunately, it's the assumption of most (all?) conservatives and others on the Right, that the Left is against the "free market", outright, and rails against capitalism in favor of other "isms". This is not the case with the vast majority of us on the Left.
Instead, it's the monopolistic and oligopolistic nature of capitalism that we see as intrinsically dangerous to our democratic processes in this country, and now spreading around the world due to globalization. It's the greed associated with the continued predatory nature of multinational corporations; certainly not that of small domestic corporations and companies attempting to eke out a living in this increasingly big business dominated environment. Small business people like yourself are certainly disadvantaged, that's a fact, due to the dominating nature of multinational influence (i.e. money and lobbying ability).
Please understand the difference. It's a huge difference, and it's a meaningful difference.
jg said:
"Instead, it's the monopolistic and oligopolistic nature of capitalism that we see as intrinsically dangerous to our democratic processes in this country, and now spreading around the world due to globalization. It's the greed associated with the continued predatory nature of multinational corporations"
where is your outrage about GE not paying any federal taxes in 2010? is it because they are a "green company" that you and Obama approve? if Haliburton had not paid any taxes we would not have heard the end of it from you socialists/marxists. Obama and Immelt are in love just like Mussolini was with his favorite CEOs!
"where is your outrage about GE not paying any federal taxes in 2010?"
You have just proven how ignorant you are by posting that remark. You have proven that you comment on this site without so much as a clue to the content you are commenting on.
Had you even bothered to read the piece, you would have noticed that I did in fact voice outrage over the fact that I paid more to the federal government in taxes last year than did General Electric.
And who says GE is "green"? Oh, yeah. GE says that. You've also proven how jaw-droppingly gullible you are. No wonder you post anonymously. I'd be embarrassed too.
Sincerely,
Tom Degan
tom, you got so upset about my comment to JG. maybe you are jg. go have some irish whiskey, read some noam chomsky or michael more and relax.
I'll do that. In fact I plan on tying one on this evening (vodka). And when I do, I'll still have the sense to know that it is spelled "Michael M.O.O.R.E."
Anonymous...
You're definitely...let's see, how to I phrase this so it's politically correct?
You're, undoubtedly, mentally challenged.
How's that?
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