Planned jobs cuts surge 60 percent in July

@ Bobby – Not really the politicians fault. It’s Wall Street as they stripped Americans out of jobs that they sent over to China, India and now Brazil. What does being a Dem or Repub have to do with a CEO and BOD decision to increase their profits by hiring cheaper labor overseas? A politicians can not FORCE capitalists to hire American or even BUILD in America. It’s all about the almighty dollar. Welcome to the ugly, greedy side of CAPITALISM!

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WC, it has everything to do with the politicians. They are the ones who signed NAFTA and other global employment balancing bills that have made it incredibly lucrative to send out jobs elsewhere. It turns out that Ross Perot was a prophet.

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No one in his right mind would be investing more in a business as long as a Communist is in the White House and his buddies control the Senate. If you invest in your business and make any money, he will take it away from you. “It is a matter of fairness.”, or so he would have you think. It is really a matter of greed by government and class envy from the small minded people who put him in office. We have moved our investments off-shore and they will stay there until people who understand and respect our rights return to power.

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You forgot to mention that health care jobs were cut too.

This congress is fighting each other and trying to win “political” points more than trying to keep jobs. The stimulus package was too small to handle the massive scale of this recession. The debt ceiling is nothing compared to making more jobs available to the working and middle class. Hey CEOs, if there is no middle class no one can afford to but your product or service.

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This is not good at all. Just when we think we have reached bottom, another trap door opens. Creating jobs in this country should be of key priority, but it’s not. The middle class is threatened to extinction; older unemployed workers (45+) are having extreme difficulty finding work in a highly competitive environment; young people coming into the labor force aren’t smelling a bag of roses either. The pain continues and I’m afraid it will take many years for this country to correct itself economically.

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What we saw with the debt ceiling bill is basically a white elephant giving birth to a mouse. It curtails the obvious train wreck that is about to happen. Shades of Gomez Adams crashing two toy trains together. We’re on the brink of disaster here if nothing is done soon.

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Spot on Yellow. And you ain’t seen nothing yet; as long as we keep sending folks to Washington who think that government is the answer to all our problems then I’m afraid this is going to get much worse.

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“… have enjoyed relatively low job-cut levels, including pharmaceuticals…”

Is John Challenger retarded?

Pharmaceuticals cut 53,636 U.S. jobs last year, according to HIS OWN FIRM’S RESEARCH.

I wouldn’t call that “relatively low.”

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Obama and Reid still don’t get it! American businessmen are loathe to consider expansion when the Democrats are in power and pursuing policies that are blatantly anti-business. Repeal Obamacare, pay down the national debt, slash spending and watch the economy come roaring back. Right now, the Dems are just ignoring the obvious and proceeding with reckless abandon. Even a high school sophomore can understand the consequences of spending money with no conscience.

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With all the ungodliness in US society, it’s a wonder anyone is working. Too many things to list here as far as what is wrong, but if you’re not a believer, get ready for the roughest ride of your life. You don’t break every rule in the book and come out smelling like a rose. You can listen to the liberals and fail, or you can listen to the good book and prosper. That’s the equation…

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Business is so slow and advertising competition so fierce I could offer free legal services and still only get a trickle of cases. I’d lay myself off but I’m self-employed, i.e., I wake up unemployed every day.

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stop give away programs to buy votes. if you do not work you do not eat. hunger is a strong motivator. close the borders. these folks are killing our schools, or is that the purpose?

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Employers have always known they could downsize their staff and pile more work on the remaining employees. In these recession times they also know these remaining employees won’t dare quit. So, when you combine this with sending jobs overseas, we reach what is now the new normal in US employment. Don’t be supprised if this trend continues into the foreseeable future.

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Officially H-1B’s cannot job hop since they are indentured to their sponsoring company.

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Bush Jr added 72% to the debt, he said he had a plan going to cut the debt before we went into a near depression………..Obama has been fighting all up stream for 3 years.

The do nothing Republican’s have wanted this all along…….They want his failure and they don’t care who gets hurt.

After increasing the size of the government to the largest size ever, increasing the debt ceiling 7 times, starting (2) wars he didn’t win, keeping the war debt out of the over all debt, letting banks do what ever they want, the bailouts came for Corporate America, but everyday American’s got screwed.

Please understand, if you are NOT Rich, Republican’s want to screw you…… period…No new taxes for the wealthy.

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On a longer term basis, I don’t see how the U.S. can continue to compete. When you see school systems, such as in Elbert County going to four day weeks after having endured furloughs and other austerity measures; and you look at the high school drop out rate in the state; and the increasing debt burden of college students, if they can afford to go at all; where are our workers coming from who can compete in the changing world economy? My child (8th generation Georgian) decided to study in an Asian university and it was an eye opening experience at how far behind the U.S. education system has fallen. When one goes to museums there on a Sunday and it is packed with students studiously taking notes about the exhibits, it is refreshing, but also almost frightening at the same time. What are our U.S. students doing on a Sunday afternoon? Don’t blame China. Look at ourselves in the mirror.

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RGB – “over bearing regulations and societal resentment”

You forgot to include cheap labor en masse in your little tantrum. Since you seem so knowledgeable about what is driving American jobs away, perhaps you could enlighten the rest of as to how you would appease the Wal Mart crowd that loves $9.00 jeans, while paying a liveable wage to an American employee and still maintaining a profit margin for the shareholders? Since taxes can be written off, and regulations are typically ignored in this country, I’m going to have to assume that you have somehow, magically been able to compensate for the human factor.

I’ll anxiously await your insightful response.

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Wow what a statement………Well those of you who voted for this president, with a smugness and refusal to accept that he wasn’t prepared to be a president, are reaping what you sowed.

Please tell me Palin was ready………..if McCain one of the oldest guy ever running for President had a heart attack and died.

HA HA HA HA HA ……gosh that is Funny !

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dolores: do you now why companies like H1B candidates? they are usually more productive. less than 25% are hired into the tech field. most are brought here to do work you would never do. pick fruit and veggies and work at chicken plants. i own a restaurant and would love some HB1 employees since most of the ones i have are really dumb and careless.

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US Corporate tax levels are right in the middle of the developed world, but higher than third world countries. Many US corporations pay no income taxes (GE, for example), or shelter some taxes in overseas subsidiaries. One consumer goods company stopped manufacturing in the US years ago, then subsequently moved their corporate headquarters to Bermuda, yet they continue to sell their products here.

Regulations that require Intel (for example) to not release water containing heavy metals into the environment are necessary to prevent ecological disasters. Let’s get rid of unnecessary regulations, then put an import duty on goods manufactured in countries that have complete disregard for the environment, child labor, etc…or, better yet, make those imports illegal.

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Jimmy Carter and Ross Perot foresaw this years ago. Carter knew that continuing to allow our treasure and power to be exported for oil would eventually deplete our country and harm or destroy our way of life. He took steps to try to make us more independent of foreign resourses. That great GOP dumba$$, Reagan, made demoliishing these efforts his FIRST priority upon taking office. Ever wonder why? Take a look at his cabinet and who they worked for prior to coming to the government.

Ross Perot recognised that without constraints the capitalists in this country would move there factories to countries that make it easier to exploit the workers. Places without laws to protect the environment and with lax child labor laws. NAFTA was the worst thing that ever happened to this country and, in the long run, the world. We got a real bipartison screwing on that one. Capitalists have been waiting since the 1920’s to get this much power over the people again. The 20’s and before was when people worked 12 hours a day six days a week and when they could no longer work they starved just like they do in those countries where the factories moved. Want to go back to those times? It’s coming unless we use our minds and our votes to make changes to our government. Some call this protectionism, but I say we need some protection now.

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N-GA:
Why not put in the Fair Tax then corporations would have 0% tax rate and would not have to move their operations to Ireland, Bermuda, etc. and you wouldn’t have to get rid of our environmental requirements.

How much does it cost corporations in legal & financial advice to run their profits off shore? The Fair Tax would bring a majority of corporations home offices immediately to the USA. This would mean jobs for the community, better schools, etc.

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Here are a few corporate tax dodgers who profit from US sales, but moved their HQ’s to the islands:
http://www.focus.com/fyi/10-big-businesses-that-have-moved-abroad/

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N-GA:
Think about it, why did they move their HQ to the islands? Why not support the “Fair Tax” and bring the tax dodgers back to USA which will bring JOBS! Isn’t JOBS what the real issue is here in our country according to the left then support the “Fair Tax”.

Also, no tax loopholes with the “Fair Tax” so President Obama should love it so no private jet owners can benefit.

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This statement……The problem is ruling class politicians who want to expand the size of government at all costs, regardless of whether they have a R or D behind their name.

Gee we have the Republican’s lying about that don’t we…… they claim to be about small government, and wise spending…But really that has been a lie.

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@Logic – So far US corporations have taken their profits and paid huge salaries and bonuses to their executives….at multiples (CEO total pay divided by total pay of the lowest FTE) higher than any other country. I’m old enough to no longer believe in the “goodness” of corporations. Most of them will get rid of benefits, lay off employees, pollute the environment, and sell poorly engineered products until they implode!

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It’s not possible for these layoffs to occur. Remember, the tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy (ten years ago) made sure that those wealthy individuals would reinvest that money into their businesses and hire more people.

So this story has to be false. Just another liberal ploy.

There are no layoffs. It’s not happening. The tax cuts protected us from it, remember?

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There you go Mike…..all those Bush tax cuts really fueled our very Hot economy !

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You realize that the FAIR tax will be a tax increase to many…

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It amuses me how simple-minded people think that lowering taxes solves everything. You would think they knew something about running a business……NOT!

Businesses needs to control expenses AND increase revenues. American workers need more than a minimum wage, they need (and deserve) a “living” wage…something that allows them to pay rent/mortgage/utilities, pay for healthcare (including dental), feed themselves, have access to transportation, clothe themselves, put away something for retirement, etc.

Now if they want larger breasts, a cell phone, cable TV, or a BMW, then they have to work overtime or get a job on the side.

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No one mentions our declining abilities in math and science. We are close to the bottom in ranking in these two categories among industrialized countries. If i’m hiring tech personnel, wouldn’t i want the S.Korean (#1 in math) chinese (#1 in science), India(#3Math) and you are surprised companies would rather have the better educated person at a discount. We need a better education system if we are to compete in the next century. How about we all look in the mirror and ask “why don’t i have a job. what am i doing wrong?” how can you get better? stop complaining and start evolving.

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If corporations paid at least a “living” wage, there would be less need for government support programs. Those people would have more money to spend on……products from these same corporations. Even Henry Ford was able to see that he needed to build a car at a price point where even his own employees could afford one!

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Hanging on – “To dems and libs, does this make sense to you?”

Apparently the Republican party is immune to such things. I’m not a dem or a lib, but your lead in was completely partisan.

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It’s very simple folks……we can do just one thing and employment will rise astronomically. What’s that one thing, you say? REPEAL OBAMACARE. That’s why businesses aren’t hiring and obamarama knows it and he doesn’t care……he want’s more people dependent on the government dole so he’ll more than likely get their vote in November, 2012.

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Many of you are very socialistic. I’m very nervous for America. Many of you sound like canadians. perhaps it would be better if all you complainers moved north of the border or if you don’t like the cold, there is always Venezuela.

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Why is everyone so afraid to be FREE? I want to be free to suceed or fail not guaranteed not to fail.

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Right, Willydoit. Trickle down has worked so well…for the wealthy and the below subsistence wage earners in third world nations now doing jobs formerly held by Americans. I don’t blame corporate leaders for taking jobs overseas if it will increase their profits, but I do have a problem with an uneven playing field that pits American workers against people living in rags in doorless shacks and environmental criminals in China whose hobby seems to be intellectual property theft. Let’s not perpetuate the trickle down nonsense.

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Logic – “Last, the AMT attacks my faith, shelter & family Why do you want to PUNISH Americans who do the right thing in life and are successful?”

I don’t think either of us indicated that we wanted to punish anybody. To the contrary, I have merely pointed out that everything you described above will not make any difference at all without factoring in the cost of labor. As long as it’s cheaper somewhere else, that is where the jobs will go. As a business owner, you should know that your greatest expense is going to be the cost of labor. It is in fact your only controlable cost. If labor is costing you too much, you can A. eliminate it thereby shifting the burden to other employees, or B. You can seek labor elswhere that will perform the same function but at a substanitially lower rate.

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As a number of posters have stated, there are multiple reasons jobs have moved overseas. While it is convenient to blame it all on our tax structure and unions, a major reason jobs have shifted is simply the lower cost of labor overseas. I work for a major public company that is non-unionized and is very profitable. We have outsourced numerous jobs overseas primarily due to cheaper labor costs. While those on the right will be quick to blame the President, I would like to point out that in our case the outsourcing took place during the Bush years. If I follow the same logic, then I should blame Bush. The fact is the lower labor costs are accessible due to advances in technology and companies (union and non-union) are taking advantage to improve their profitability. That is capitalism and not the fault of either President. I am not giving Bush nor Obama a pass as each has their faults. But in this case, any President is limited in what they can do unless we want to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
Washington talks about jobs. Yet, look at the debacle with the FAA. How many people are going without pay? Yet, Congress and the Senate have left Washington for a 5 week recess. That includes the beloved Tea Party. As Lt. General Honore stated in an opinion piece yesterday, “our national elected leaders don’t share a common purpose. They have failed to live up to their oaths of office, to protect and defend the Constitution and the United States of America. Instead they strike partisan poses they hope will be remembered during their next campaigns.” That says it all for me!

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As to my points above (pay close attention Logic) this is an excerpt from an article talking about the repairs to the Oakland Bay Bridge damaged in the 89 earthquake.

“Pan Zhongwang, a 55-year-old steel polisher, is a typical Zhenhua worker. He arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 11 p.m., often working seven days a week. He lives in a company dorm and earns about $12 a day.
“It used to be $9 a day, now it’s $12,” he said Wednesday morning, while polishing one of the decks for the new Bay Bridge. “Everything is getting more expensive. They should raise our pay.”

Now, explain to me the advantages of the flat tax and deregulation and what your plan will be to motivate an American steel worker to accept the same wage as the gentleman quoted above. For reference, I have included the link to the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/global/26bridge.html?pagewanted=all

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Still no response to the question…..Does it make sense? Please answer….

To point/counterpoint does it make sense to you?…….

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Logic – I’ll share a little info w/you. In my best (or “worst”) year I paid over $1 million in FIT and more than $250K in Ga State Income tax. I didn’t like it, but I was grateful that I lived in a country where I could earn enough to have to pay so much.

If I had earned the same amount in 1958 when Eisenhower was President, I would have been in the 91% incremental tax bracket. We at the top are paying the lowest taxes in more than 60 years! If Bush hadn’t cut taxes, our deficit would be much less….if we didn’t have post-war occupations we would likely have no deficit.

The problem is wasteful spending AND insufficient revenue. We keep talking about living in the greatest, most prosperous country in history, yet the bottom wage earners struggle to get by. If we fix that problem, then they will have enough money to spend on the goods and services produced by our corporations!

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Peter:
I am not a Republican. I agree 100% with you. We would be farther along the road to recovery if Bush & Obama would have done nothing.

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When Obamacare was being debated– a provision of which levies a special excise tax on medical device companies (like Boston Scientific) and pharmac companes– people were warned that these billions of dollars in taxes would kill jobs.

A community organizer you wanted. A community organizer you got. You reap what you sow.

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@BUZZG, you do realize who runs China don’t you? Well, you did notice that US companies have been investing there in droves right? The Chinese government calls the shots over there and guess, what, they now own us, and the rest of the world, lock, stock and barrel. Do some research and you’ll see the this communist/socialist country has invested in just about every country on earth. We refuse to rebuild our infrastructure, and guess who’s providing the money and steel for those bridges being repaired in our country right now, China. China is now our “job creator”.

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When Obamacare goes into full force and businesses have to pay more in taxes you will see layoffs like this country has never seen.

Is that the “change” y’all wanted ?

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Comrade Obama has done more in 2.5 years than the Soviet Bloc could do in 40 years.

You will love your government healthcare.

Or else !

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Fiscal conservative-social liberal. Take care of your people FIRST and be sure you can pay for it.

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Fidel Castro – “Comrade Obama has done more in 2.5 years than the Soviet Bloc could do in 40 years.”

Wow, I was unaware that Obama had built up a nuclear arsenal, held East Germany at bay behind the Berlin wall and occupied Afghanistan for over a decade in such a short period of time. Who knew?

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More Taxes – are you familiar with who is actually paying taxes in this country? If I hear about my Fair Share again, I am going to vomit. People making over the exorbitant sum of $60k/year account for 87% of all taxes while 43% of the workforce pay no taxes at all. “millionaires and billionaires” would be included…however they would account for about .5% of people affected by his tax hike plan. The rest would be individuals making over $68k and families over $208k – that 100/250k went bye bye mainly because it doesn’t fit into the current tax bracketing and would require a total structural rewrite. Oh and did I mention that 1/3 of all US wages now come from the US Gov? That does NOT include federal employees or military pay. See for yourself: http://www.cnbc.com/id/41969508/

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I am all for Hope and Change!….I HOPE FOR CHANGE in the white house in our next election! For all you idiots who believed the crap coming from his mouth I hope you are happy. Was he the lesser of two evils? Yes maybe…but those 2 evils were elected as our only 2 choices to begin with. Why don’t the stupid voters wake up and do a little research about the person who is going to run this country before they go vote for someone next time!
In all seriousness, I work for a company who is headquartered here in Atlanta, domiciled in Bermuda for tax relief and outsources a large staff to India. Reducing the tax rate in the US means chump change at the end of the day in the corporate pockets. When you can hire 4 outsourced people to do the jobs that it takes 1 union worker to do here in the US (and a crappy job at that) who would want to hire that 1 crappy union worker here??? How about we abolish the unions and let them start having equal work standards to our counterparts if they want a job that bad?
Let’s bash the CEO’s of these companies all we want here but the ultimate “owners” of the company are the people who HE has to report to and these are the shareholders. I would bet my next paycheck that most if not everyone posting on this blog about “do this” or “do that” or “it’s their fault” or “it’s his fault” is invested in stocks or has a 401K invested in the stock market. Guess who the CEO is making the money for as the shareholder of the company??? YOU!!!! So how about you go tell your CEO of that company you are the shareholder of that you don’t care about the profits the company you own makes but you just want people hired in the US. Go tell the CEO that you the shareholder don’t care about how much money you pay in taxes as the owner of that company as long as it stays a US domiciled company. **cricket cricket** Yes I didn’t think so……

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It doesn’t take a Congressional investigation to figure out why jobs are leaving this country.

Is your employer in business to turn a profit or keep you employed?

Keep piling on those taxes and regulations Obama, Reid & Pelosi !

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Logic – ” My effective tax rate last year was 35% and our President who made 3 times my income had an effective tax rate of 27%. And you think the “Evil” rich is anyone who makes more then $250,000 – I guess your wrong.”

Was your “effective” tax rate was 35% or was that your marginal tax rate? What’s really wrong with this country is that we can have people who make over $250,000 and not know the difference between “your wrong” and “you’re wrong.”

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Blah, Blah – Over the past three years Coca-Cola outsourced most of its IT function to India. Now their old employees were not union members (might have been different if they had been). Literally hundreds of high-paying jobs…..GONE!

You can spin your complaints all you want, but informed people read right through your propaganda. Those corporate profits are generated by the rank-and-file employees. I have a bigger problem with a CEO earning 300 times more than the lowest paid FTE. I have a bigger problem with a company selling most of their products here in the US while the move offshore to avoid taxes….talk about being un-American! They must really hate this country while they exploit it for profit!

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Simeon you ain’t never lied! *applause*

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[...] & Co. …US Job Cuts Surge 60% In July On Month – Challenger ReportWall Street JournalPlanned jobs cuts surge 60 percent in JulyAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Colorado job layoff numbers dropped in JulyDenver Business [...]

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@point/counterpoint

My statement was directed toward dems and libs because they seem to want more from government by taking from others. The repubs are those that say the want limited government but don’t mean it. Yes, I blame them all. I’m interested in watching the status quo being challenged (tea party) and make note of those that fight to keep it, either liberals or so called conservatives. We can’t keep going on like this, society will have to change. We can not allow to accounting tricks and ever changing terminology by all politicians to continue. Thanks for responding.

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Drop out of school and buy a new BMW. Make health care a luxury good. Cut taxes for zillionaires who has their money parked in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Keep racist policies and mentalities that pit blacks against whites, whites against blacks and everybody against Latinos. Cut
Social Security and Medicare so Exxon~Mobil can have a tax deduction. Keep it up America! It looks like you want to revisit the Stone Age.

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Since I took office the unemployment is higher, gas prices are higher, groceries are higher, utilities are higher and your homes are worth even less than they were, and not only is Gitmo still operating but we still have troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya.

I promised change, and I’ve delivered !

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PETER: Who owns the the corporations that you despise? Answer – 401k Funds, Retirement funds of teachers, cops, firemen and the private sector. Which do you think “THEY” are in favor of – better returns for their retirement OR “spreading the wealth “ to those who have not planned and invested for their future.
CEO’s are rewarded for making their stockholders money – not running a jobs program like Atlanta city and Fulton county governments

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@Logic, Thanks for showing by your experiences, the fact that the wealthy DO pay less that most people in taxes.

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@26 YEAR I can smell the bigotry and racism leaking out of your snout. Put a rope on it.

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Barack Hussein Obama – “Since I took office the unemployment is higher, gas prices are higher, groceries are higher, utilities are higher and your homes are worth even less than they were, and not only is Gitmo still operating but we still have troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya.”

Guess I better adress these one at a time:

1. Want jobs to come back? Agreeto lower wages so that companies don’t have to go off shore for cheaper labor.

2. gas prices are gas prices. They rise and fall, get over it.

3. Groceries are tied to transportation which is tied to gas prices ( see above)

4. It’s over a hundred degrees in most parts of the country. Turn off the AC if you want cheaper utilities. The Pres doesn’t set the rates, your provider does. Shop around.

5. Lower home costs are good, because once you agree to your pay cut, they will be more affordable for you.

6. Iraq, and Afghanistan are carry overs, and no leader in the military thinks it’s a good idea to suddenly pack out your trash and leave. As for Libya, can you provide details as to the ground strength of our troops and how many divisions have been depolyed?

Personally I’m not a fan of Obama, but your rant was just asinine.

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You might not make it to 27yearsbusiness owner if you don’t humble yourself

smh

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Tell me Obama, how are the 60% that pay ZERO federal income taxes going to pay their fair share?

If only the 25% that pay 85% of all Federal Taxes coiulod vote, we’d all be better off.

Don’t pay Federal income taxes? You should have ZERO say. ZERO = No Voting rights.

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Also government policy are part of the problem including taxes on corporations, individuals and the effects of companies without borders or international corporations. The jobs will be created by small business so they need the tax breaks the most not corporations like GE which paid zero taxes “earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010, but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit.” By the way the CEO of GE is an advisor to Obama which is another problem this country has. An unqualified US President that doesn’t understand US capitalism and world affairs.

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PT worker, if you want a president that understands US capitalism and world affairs then Donald Trump is your guy. The problem is that we can go back and forth between democrat leadership and republican leadership. The outcome is the same because the one constant in the equation is the power of the lobbyist. They work both sides of the aisle.

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LoveofMoney: You CANNOT make the poor man rich by making the rich man poor. Your way only make everyone poorer except the politician It is a fact in communist /socialist countries since the French revolution. Name one communist country that does not have a POOR class.

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We have tried stimulus with literally trillions spent with no appreciable results except adding trillions to the debt. We don’t need redistribution of wealth, we need creation of wealth, and that only comes with jobs and sales. Government cannot, and will not, create jobs. It can, however, hinder job growth as it is now doing with over regulation and an anti-business environment. We need politicians who believe in capitalism not quasi-socialism, and we have precious few of those in D.C. today.

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nokiddingsherlock

Speaking for myself, if I don’t like the way things are in this country, and I don’t, I will not move to another one. I will stay here and try to improve things from within. Unlike you, I do not have a “cut and run” personality.

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Enter your comments here

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You guys need to listen to 26 year business owner…..Preach on brother. Look at Somalia righ now.

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When my son said his company was closing plants in the US and manufacturing abroad, I asked who would be buying his products in the US since umemployed people have little disposable income. Now one company isn’t that bad, but after many years we have chronic unemployment.
Wall Street is happy, they own Congress and are killing American enterprise and few understand.
The other extreme from what we have now would be a closed economy where we produce most of what we consume within our borders. I suggest that, while not perfect, would be far better than what we have now. Start with tariffs and the hell with what other countries say.

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mum, the combined population of China and India is 2.5 billion. The population of the US is 311 million. It’s going to take a while for the US to become an attractive market again particularly when you consider that the middle class in the US is shrinking. There is no amount of deregulation and tax cuts that will persuade US companies to walk away from those kinds of numbers. We have to use our intellectual capital to build products and services that are in demand in the 21st century. That would include anything in the “green” market.

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Alphare -”This has nothing to do with Dems/Reps.”

Or tax reduction or deregulation. Excellent analysis!

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This is what happens when you have a community organizer for a president making economic policy. Why people elected this no nothing clown is still a mystery.

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Whar kin I gitz one ov Obama’s gub’mint jobs?

I be tired of workin fo da man

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Amidst all the gobbledegook about taxes, take a look at the economy in times of high taxes. We had the greatest economic expansion in the world when we had sky high tax rates in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. What happened? Why did it work one time to tax the tar out of those with the most and tax corporations at extraordinary rates and still the economy grew for all – education expanded, companies grew, new industries were founded. The world was our oyster and we could eat it all up with whatever sauce we wanted. We never dreamed that a corporation would establish itself overseas to avoid taxes – we were the biggest, the best, the richest, the smartest, the …whatever else you could think of to brag about.

We have cut taxes again and again and gotten a short-term bump in employment but not a long term period of growth from the tax cuts. No, it was not and is not tax cuts that create a booming economy.
If tax cuts create jobs, where are they? I mean, the Bush tax cuts have been in effect for 10 years, so where are the jobs?

Since the early 1980’s what tax policy has done is reward corporations for sending jobs overseas because it did build profits – for the few. By 2007, the U.S. had the greatest concentration of income, net worth, and financial wealth since just before the Great Depression. The only industrialized country that surpasses the U.S. in wealth concentration is now Switzerland.

Look at just one measure. In the early-mid 1980’s about 50% of income went to the top 20% and 50% went to the bottom 80%. As of about 2006-2007, 60% of income went to the top 20% and 40% went to the bottom 80%. If you looked at that data year over year, you would see that it is a pretty steady, slow creep in more going to the top and less to the bottom. In other words, “trickle down” was a trickle up. The same is true for the concentration of net worth and financial wealth. Since the figures I found stopped before the Bush Great Recession, we may well have surpassed that point. With the economy tanked, unemployment at over 9%, and housing prices in most places steeply lower (a major component of net worth for the lower 80%), does anyone really believe that the lower 80% have not been disproportionately affected by all this?

Federal government revenue as a percent of GDP is the lowest it has been in 60 years, primarily because of the Bush tax cuts which gave a tax break to most of us, but primarily to the wealthy. At this point, with all the tax loopholes and tax favors, the effective income tax rate on the very wealthiest is 18%. That is because most of the income of the very wealthy is in categories that are taxed at 15%. Hedge fund managers who get tens of millions in bonuses pay a lower effective tax rate than their secretaries.

We do have a spending problem at the federal level but we also have a taxing problem. The so-called “fair tax” will attempt to tax more from people who have been slowly, over 30 years, been loosing a share of the income and wealth of this country. Isn’t there a sayng about getting blood from a turnip? Most of the blood – the income and wealth that is the source of taxes – is up in the hands of the top 20%, where it has been slowly accumulating. The turnips just don’t have much to give any more.

The CBO estimates that letting all current taxes that are scheduled to expire go ahead and expire will increase tax revenues by $5.6 trillion over the next 10 years. Even though I will be one of those hurt by it, at the middle class level, I think we need to let them expire. In addition we need to stop giving a $2 billion tax break to big oil, which earned $30 billion in profits in the last quarter. We need to stop the tax break for hedge fund managers. And we need to keep taxes on an inheritance. Only 0.6% of estates (that is six tenths of one percent) are taxable at the current rates. If those taxes are forgone, it would create another $1 trillion in reduced tax revenue. Think about that. The $1 trillion is not the value of the estates of those 0.6% of all estates, that very small number of estates – that is just the inheritance taxes on the estates, which are worth far, far more.

There is more clean-up to do of tax favors for specific groups, given with the idea they would create something better for society – but which, obviously, have not done so.

Businesses tell us they are waiting for an uptick in demand, in spending, to get a signal that they should hire more and invest more. The biggest spender, the federal government, is not going to do that because we are in a quagmire of debt already. Instead, we are going to cut federal spending, therefor increasing unemployment, deepening the recession, and delaying the time at which the economy can make a turn around.

There isn’t an answer here folks. I think we are heading for another dip. But, cutting taxes more is not the answer, changing to a “fair-tax” is not an answer. And cutting the social safety net programs is not an answer when we have been through a protracted period of slowly loosing ground and then the abrupt chop of this deep recession, that has financially devastated millions of families.

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The last time unemployment was this high was in 1993, at 7.0% The solution then was to increase taxes on the wealthiest 1.5% through the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act. Unemployment dropped to 4.0% by 2000.

In 2001 Bush signed the tax cuts into effect and the next year unemployment jumped to 5% and eventually rose to 7.2%

Anyone notice something?

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y’all need to stop bitchin and crying like a bunch of P*ssies and spend your time mastering capitalism.

Once you do this you will not be bewildered by the world you live in.

carry on.

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You don’t think this had anything to do with the unemployment numbers do you??

*Cash for Clunkers (jobs? what did this have to do with jobs?)
*Wall street bailout (jobs were not lost in the wall street sector as they were in manufacturing, construction, government contracts, etc.)
*Auto bail out — especially the ONE BILLION DOLLAR + LOSS ON CHRYSLER!
*….EVEN the Olympic Bid! (right cause the American auto industry just disappeared, you cant even get an american car and they didn’t open any new plants in america)
*Economy in general and jobs in particular (gotta blame Bush for giving Obama a 8.0% unemployment rate when he took office)
*Numerous foreign policy debacles, Yemen and Libya the most recent. (right..cause so many american companies want to do jobs in Yemen and Libya. Well GE got 3 huge contracts in Saudi Arabia)
*Failure to secure US borders (well how do you expect the illegals to get out of here if you put up a wall? sheesh you want them to go or not? BTW I hear you can get a job pickin crops if you want)
*Times Square bomber (right)
*GITMO (is that the Bush GITMO or Obama GITMO? did you want a job there?)
*Apology tours
*Obama CZARS (they got jobs didn’t they)
*Lack of effective action in the Gulf Spill, and failure to listen to the governors involved – Obama just seems to DITHER — could be why we are paying $4 a gallon gas now! (gas is $4 because of the BP disaster? It isn’t $4 now. The Federal Government had no control over that, that was the states and the companies which paid people for their losses. Again, I’m sure BP would have hired you to clean the beaches at $15-20 an hour)
* And how about that uncontrolled deficit GANG?? Obama appears to be totally void of any management skills! (How many times does the IMF and CBO have to tell us we are BROKE??) ((They told us we were broke in 2000. The Republican solution for 8 years-CUT revenues and SPEND more!)
* Blames others for his failures, and uses scare tactics for seniors and the military (its no scare tactic. Its the law. The social security ACT does not guarantee ANYONE of ANYTHING regardless of how much they pay into it. The 1960 Conservative Supreme Court decided that in the Nestor Case) (as to the military, you see the article this morning, the pentagon is scrambling doing budget disaster drills cause they know the free gravy train ride is over)
*Pubic Education on its rump while we fall further behind the developed countries – bends to unions. (do we have a union here in GA? Education is a state issue not a federal one. Learn your civics.)
*Four wars – two started without approval of Congress in last six months (Libya and Yemen) (WHo is fighting in Yemen and Libya? What troops do we have there? Or are you talking about the airstrikes that Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton did)
*The disastrous “Operation Fast and Furious” – DOJ selling assault rifles to drug cartel in Mexico (how did this effect jobs? Did YOU want to sell guns to the Mexicans?)
*Stock Market tanks in August 2011!!! (right one bad day on the 2nd day of the month ruins it for the other 28 days that hasn’t happened yet)
*.. and how do you like 9.2% announced unemployment – closer to 20% when we count those who have been dropped from the rolls!
*Manipulation of ICE agents to provide a backdoor to illegal aliens – as is being discussed on the Hill (as of June 28). (as I said, feel free to pick some cotton,someone will hire you.)
*NLRB DICTATING where businesses can move and operate (Ask Boeing!) (Obama has no control over what the NLRB does. Plus who protects the workers in the North West, what if Boeing decides after they move to Charleston to go to China?)
* He dumps oil from the US EMERGENCY RESERVE!! Why will he not allow the US to explore and drill our own?? We could once again become an exporter!(He dumped .01% of reserve. Big whoppin deal)
*Regulations strangling business — including small businesses — at ever turn (Ok, list them.)
* Jerking defeat from the jaws of VICTORY in Iraq and Afghanistan (I thought we won in Iraq? Are they still fighting?)
* And how about his leadership in the debt ceiling broohaha?? (actually the executive branch can not make policy on Congressional debt. Learn your separation of powers)
* And, his solution to everything concerning jobs is MORE GOVERNMENT! (Lockeed Martin gets 85% of its profit from the Federal Government, they are considered “Big Government” They just cut a bunch of NASA workers and look what happens, all the small businesses on the space coast are folding up shop.

Grandpa…take your socialist sponsored Vicadin, have a swig of something you paid for with your social security check and remember one thing….

If Bush and the Republicans had actually done what they promised us from 2000-2008(balance the budget, get rid of the debt) you wouldn’t have a Black President and Liberal Congress ruining your life, you would still have a Republican President and Congress…but even Bush screwed that up for you. It isn’t their fault they got elected.

I never laughed so hard in my life!

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While I see both sides of the debates but lets just think realistically…
Corporations have been enjoying NO TAX in the US for years… however we have seen jobs in the US decrease and sent outside to other countries… For some reason Republicans “believe” if we continue to keep the tax breaks the jobs will be created!!! Where is that at??? For YEARS big corporations enjoyed no taxes and for years jobs have been outsourced!!! Why is this sooo hard??? If they havent created jobs for years while the tax breaks why would they create them now!!! Let them pay their fair share and stop with the “what-ifs”!!!

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Reduce the size of government. Reward the successful.

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Jasmin, good point about tax breaks to corporations that send jobs overseas. Solution – tax breaks equivalent to the number of American workers.

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Forget democrat, republican… I don’t give a D@MN!!! JUST CREATE JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!

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Peter writes: “YUP Point/Counterpoint………. the family that owns Wal Mart is not rich off the backs of their employees are they?”

No Peter, they are rich because millions of people, maybe even you, shop in their stores. Would you rather those thousands of Walmart employees be unemployed?

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Large companies don’t care about the working force, only executives and their bottom line. They work the remaing workers extra hours or send the jobs to other countries. We need a flat tax system so that people and business would pay their fair share. Lots of large companies because of loopholes, never pay a dime. But you must remember, these companies employed hundreds of lobbyist to buy out politicians to get their way. This must be stopped!

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Atta boy! Thank goodness we passed that Stimulus Bill! Unemployment will NEVER go over 8%! Teehee—reckon all those “shovel-ready” jobs just weren’t “shovel ready”! HAHAHAHAHHA!!!

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Teehee-and I reckon that that tax cuts don’t create jobs neither! HAHAHAHAHHA

Unemployment when Bush left office: 7.6%
Today under The Community Organizer: 9.2%
(and AFTER The Stimulus Bill)

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“My job is being sent to the Philippines…”

Hmmm…wonder if the Corporate Tax Rate would have anything to do with that?

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I got a shovel, and I’m ready to work.

Obama, where’s the job you promised with the stimulus package?

America is waiting for your answer.

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Lisa….I feel for you and your other coworkers as I know others in your situation at your company losing out to the Philippines. I wish you luck in finding a new job somewhere and all those affected by your company’s choice. Maybe some of those well paid “best part time job” employee’s your company has should be thankful and stop moaning they actually have to work maybe 40 hours a month.

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The GOP wants government out of everything but our sex lives and religious beliefs. They have claimed for years that deregulation would boost competition; instead industries act in concert to raise prices and fares. They claim enormous tax cuts and incentives will “encourage” the creation of jobs in the U.S., without putting rules into place limiting corporations’ capabilities to move their finances offshore to avoid taxes or move jobs overseas. Junk economics! The countries like China, India and Brazil who are fast becoming the real economic super powers recognize what is necessary to make their economies successful and do it. Throwing around words like socialist or communist is unintelligent and shows how uninformed the vast majority of us bloggers are about what is really going on. Social support programs are in place because industry has screwed the American workers and voters since this country was founded. Let’s cut legislative salaries and benefits. Let’s cut staff. Let’s limit their terms and retirement and prohibit them for going through the revolving door into the industries they serve upon leaving elected office. If it didn’t pay off there wouldn’t be millions spent in PACS and in lobbying. None of the solutions are rocket science and they could be easily implemented. Except our elected representatives don’t want to take the right kinds of action. You really think Cantor or Boehner is any better than Obama or Reid? You didn’t give the Obama administration any time to correct the ills he inherited so how come the Republican Congress has been given a pass? No matter what, it all goes back to racism, no matter how much you tell yourself it’s not. Bush brought us into this mess and was never so disrespected. Nixon was hated and reviled and treated with respect because he was the president. Maybe if we were honest with ourselves we could demand our representatives be honest.

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I really don’t get all this garbage about Obama creating more government jobs and regulations and taxes. Where? Just name a real, specific one. Even the tenets of the healthcare bill haven’t been implemented. He has reached across the aisle for everything as his community organizing success led him to believe that our elected officials really wanted to work together for their country. Perhaps he has been naive to believe this. Maybe we should demand empirically authenticated data before screaming sound bites!

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Joe, I know. So obvious it’s a sleeper ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Thanks for your concurrence.

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Oh God please just start all over again…..maybe the human race will be better with the next try….

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Great thinking you idiot. time for another 250k bonus for you and your cronies. What part of the private sector do you feel that your worthless job is comparable to? A convience store worker comes to mind, though their skillsets include cash management, something you know nothing of.

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“..right-wing nut jobs …”

Ahhh, yes…one of my fellow Dems, showing his higher intellect.

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I just wander when these companies will realize that at the rate we are going with jobs overseas that no one over here will be able to buy from them because of unemployment??? Wander how there profits will look then….

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This comment sums up about where America is today……

If Bush and the Republicans had actually done what they promised us from 2000-2008(balance the budget, get rid of the debt) you wouldn’t have a Black President and Liberal Congress ruining your life, you would still have a Republican President and Congress…but even Bush screwed that up for you. It isn’t their fault they got elected.

YUP…..who wants the Fox running the hen house ?

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brion, “Wander how there profits will look then”, that’s the problem.

Companies nowadays make more and more money from offshores. Take the example of the company I work for. We used to make 90% of the money from the US 20 years ago, now only 40%.

GM makes more money from China than from US. Coca Cola, Caterpiller are going that way too. If you are the CEO of Coca Cola, you struggle hard in the US to compete with Pepsi to maintain your softdrink of 30% of the market share. Remember you struggle hard only to maintain, not gain. But if you go to China and India, and you can double your sales in 10 years without much competition. If you don’t go there, your status in the world ranking will shrink from No 1 to nobody in 20 years because of sheer population in China and India.

What would you do if you are the CEO of Coca Cola?

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“..republican/tea hole party or just plain dumb@$$es…”

Now there’s a fine example of superior intelligence.

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As many of you debate the Obama Vs Bush “who did what to this country”..it really isn’t going to matter..decades of overspending and lack of credit sanity is placing us within 5 years of being Greece…the debt continues to grow uncontrolled in this country..and the “deal” this week translates into a finger in a leaking dam.(everyone else, whether willing or unwilling has had to cut back in this economy..except our OWN government!…wish I could just raise my debt ceiling and print more,..I would get arrested!)..at this point I don’t care WHO got us into it..I care about getting ourselves OUT of it!

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The REAL REASON the economy is so messed up is because of 8 YEARS OF BUSH, JR.!!! That’s the problem. The budget was balanced when Clinton was President…then here comes Bush! And you wonder why I’m a former Republican….no need to!

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Former Republican @ 3:20pm:

Since Bush unbalanced the budget as you say and you are a “former Republican”, dare I ask are you a Democrat now?

Obama makes Bush look fiscally responsible.

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We are all victims of Bush/Obama economic policies.

I see martial law declared in 2015 following the total collapse of the American system of economics and governance. There will be rioting, violence and food shortages. The repercussions will be felt worldwide and there will be nothing that even the World Bank or United Nations can do.

Only Divine Intervention can intercede.

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The problem is too much federal,state,county,and city government Obama’s economy (obamanomics 101) destroy capitalist by over spending and bankrupting the government, and then blame someone else (professional liars = democrats) for the mest that your policies, laws, restricitions, and actions created. Dirty Harry Reid and ChuckU Schumer are aready bragging that they are going to raise taxes on EVERYBODY not just billionaires and millionaires. Personal and Corporate taxes are too high that’s one big reason that the USA is not competitive any longer.

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How about the 52% of American workers that pay ZERO income tax?

Everyone should be contributing !

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As a shareholder in a couple of the companies you named above Henry I’m all for downsizing if they can get the job done with fewer bodies.

The hard reality is that American businesses have figured how to do more with less. And women keep downloading babies like nothing’s changed.

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“…How about the 52% of American workers that pay ZERO income tax?..”

This is why Obama and Libs get elected. The moocher vote.

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REPUBLICANS LIES….NO NEW JOBS, MORE LAYOFFS, BUT THE TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH AND BIG BUSINESS CONTINUE. BOEHNER, MITCHELL AND THE REST OF THE REPUBICANS IN CONGRESS NEED TO TARRED AND FEATHERED.

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[...] – Challenger ReportWall Street JournalAHN | All Headline News -Bizjournals.com -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)all 170 news articles » Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook [...]

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@ Point/counter: Why should the $15K yearly worker serve up 80 hours a week when the CEO’s are only putting in about 20 while the other 20 is spent hobknobbing with the other rich at expensive, company paid 3 hour lunches at the Yacht Club or the Friday afternoons spent on the golf course under the guise of “team-buliding”. My ass.

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taxes on rich people need to be a lot higher—I’m tired of my government benefits getting reduced and rich people are paying low taxes. They should be paying 60-70% in taxes so other people can get enough money from the government to pay all their expenses. Obama needs to raise taxes now—the racist tea party needs to be outlawed.

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[...] less than 1%, according to GDP numbers released this week. Unemployment remains high, and an ugly report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas indicates a 60% surge in layoffs to put us at a 16-month high for job cuts in July. Stocks are [...]

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rich, greedy republicans from the tea party are destroying the working man by sending all these jobs overseas! The government needs to ban overseas imports for a few years and more unions are needed to protect wages and benefits of the working class. If there are enough unions, they can threaten strikes if needed to get the money and benefits they want! I’m tired of all this republican greed!

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