Reality therapy can be harsh for those with repressed memory
I know I’m not supposed to do this.
Modern economic history is now said to begin on Jan. 20, 2009, the day that Barack Obama took the oath of office as president, and nothing that occurred prior to that date is supposed to be mentioned in polite company. In fact, anybody who dares to look back more than 18 months is deemed guilty of “dredging up the past,” which has become a thought crime of the highest order.
Well, to hell with that.
From The Washington Post, Jan. 2, 2010:
“There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well.
Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999 — and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009. The Aughts were the first decade of falling median incomes since figures were first compiled in the 1960s.
And the net worth of American households — the value of their houses, retirement funds and other assets minus debts — has also declined when adjusted for inflation, compared with sharp gains in every previous decade since data were initially collected in the 1950s.”
I know that’s quite a shock to many of you. Bringing back such deeply repressed memories can be very, very traumatic. But I want you to gather yourself because we’re now at the important part. Try to remember: What was the primary economic strategy during that decade that we are now supposed to block from our memory banks and pretend never happened?
Two words, seven letters. The first word begins with T…
Who said “tax cuts?” Very good. I see it’s all coming back to you now.
And what is the GOP’s primary economic strategy for the next decade, their sole prescription for restoring lost jobs, income, hope and opportunity (all of which began disappearing Jan. 20, 2009)?
That’s right, more tax cuts. As John Boehner told us the other day, “We’ve seen over the last 30 years that lower marginal tax rates have led to a growing economy, more employment and more people paying taxes.”
Is that really what we’ve seen, class?
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437 comments Add your comment
Lord Help Us
July 28th, 2010
11:12 am
Scout, ‘No, your just not going to take up all of my time this morning.’
Translation: I have no ideas that are not easily debunked…
Seriously dude, ‘we MUST cut spending’ is a great bumper-sticker platitude. But, to be taken seriously, it needs to be accompanied with substance. Therein lies my issue with politicians (and their minions) that emphatically state these platitudes without any substance.
Do you have any substance, or are you all platitude?
Hootinanny Yum Yum
July 28th, 2010
11:13 am
Jay,
How about some commentary on the SEC claiming that sweeping new financial regulations laws exempt the SEC from public disclosure under the FOIA.
Transparency?
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:13 am
Dave R – “Saul, because there is no LEADERSHIP at the top.”
wait-wait-wait … so, you’re saying that the President should MAKE companies hire???
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:14 am
otay…gotta edit some stuff here in my studio dungeon … i’ll try to keep up with ya’s all if i can…
Disgusted
July 28th, 2010
11:14 am
one just needs to swear off taking ANY Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid… simple…right?
. . . but . . . but I really like that $3,100 that showed up on my checking account statement this morning. A few more years and I’ll have almost all that $190,000 in Social Security taxes withdrawn from my paychecks over 42 years returned to me.
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:15 am
Nah USinUK…he should “threaten them” to do so… they like that “control” kinda stuff (if you know what I mean).
Lord Help Us
July 28th, 2010
11:15 am
BOB, ‘Is Jeremiah Wright ideologically conservative,moderate or liberal?’
Is Jeremiah Wright posting here today?
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:15 am
Saul – “Just remember to fill his Gin and Vodka stash with water to the little line he made on them ”
dangit, now he’ll know what we’re up to!
he was just kidding, Jay … we would never touch the good stuff …
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:16 am
Saul
Thanks for that link…!
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
11:18 am
““Just remember to fill his Gin and Vodka stash with water to the little line he made on them ””
I actually remember doing that. Sad.
Looking under couches……now!
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:19 am
USinUK, there is nothing like the taste of large lima beans cooked with salt pork as a soup. Yum! My mom fed it to us as “Depression food” because that was all they could afford when she was growing up.
The extra fiber cleans you right out, too! Almost as good as that stuff they give you before a colonoscopy!
stands for decibels
July 28th, 2010
11:19 am
I don’t think most people are foolish enough to think the gang of flat-earthers who were spirited into the White House in 2001 were good stewards of the economy.
only peripherally related, but see also:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/141557/Democrats-Maintain-Advantage-Generic-Ballot.aspx
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:21 am
Dave – “Almost as good as that stuff they give you before a colonoscopy!”
stands for decibels
July 28th, 2010
11:21 am
If you’re wondering why Scout was asking about the Scouts:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_07/024918.php
On his radio show, Glenn Beck also went after the president over the Boy Scouts’ event, which suggests we may be hearing more about this from the usual suspects.
There’s an obvious response here — this isn’t a snub. The president will address the Boy Scouts’ jamboree via a taped message, and he already showed his appreciation for the group by hosting an Oval Office gathering just two weeks ago.
But if we’re going to talk about politics and scouts, it’s worth remembering that Beck and his cohorts are barking up the wrong ideological tree here. Did you ever notice the right’s hostility towards the Girl Scouts?
A few years ago, James Dobson’s Focus on the Family encouraged Christian fundamentalists to steer clear of the Girl Scouts because it made use of the word “God” in its oath optional. Another religious right group complained about the Girl Scouts’ emphasis on “empowerment,” which Robert Knight argued would “steer” girls “into collective action for liberal causes, such as environmentalism.”
There was also the hatchet job Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote for National Review, which claimed, among other things, that that the Girl Scouts are under the sway of radical feminists and lesbians. “There are currently 2.7 million Girl Scouts in the U.S.,” Lopez said. “That’s a lot of liberal feminists to look forward to.”
And the right wants to complain about Obama sending a pre-recorded message to the Boy Scouts? This is evidence of some kind of scout animosity? Please.
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:22 am
“so, you’re saying that the President should MAKE companies hire???”
UsinUK, really . . .
No, but a little bit of leadership and speaking about American exceptionalism wouldn’t hurt they guy every now and again, would it?
And maybe pull back on the regulatory nightmare as well.
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:23 am
SAUL
I found that Reagan cheese series of comments somewhat amusing. I was eating commodity cheese when he was still putting Bonzo to bed at the local movie house! But I CAN remember when he was talking about handing it out…probably the only time I was ever in favor of a Reagan proposal!
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:24 am
“And maybe pull back on the regulatory nightmare as well.”
You’ll have to get Congress on board with that one, first.
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:24 am
“And maybe pull back on the regulatory nightmare as well.”
hehe…yeah..that all started with Obama…..
Curious Observer
July 28th, 2010
11:24 am
““Just remember to fill his Gin and Vodka stash with water to the little line he made on them ””
Reminds me of a sad little story about an alcoholic former brother-in-law—his wife finally wised up and divorced him. After losing his house because of financial negliglence, he moved in with a brother for a while, finally leaving after three months. When his brother held a party and brought out all the bottles in the liquor cabinet, he discovered that the guy had drunk all the booze and carefully refilled each bottle with appropriately dyed water.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:24 am
Dave – yes, really! according to the right, the gummint should stay the hell out of “the market” (which can do no wrong) … so, what kind of “leadership” can he offer that would be acceptable / not qualify as “socialism/fascism/nazism/communism/any other -ism du jour”
Democrats are dumb
July 28th, 2010
11:24 am
I think y’ll are just mad because your stimulus and pretty much all your policies have failed miserably so your still looking to blame Bush. Wah…it’s not our fault you suck.
Russ555
July 28th, 2010
11:25 am
If taxes are too low, they should be raised to increase tax revenues, if taxes are too high, they should be lowered to enable the economy to grow.
Taxes should be at the optimum level.
Today, taxes are not too high, cutting would only decrease revenue and increase the deficit. Taxes on the upper bracket are too low today, and should be raised next year to increase tax revenue and decrease the deficit.
Scout
July 28th, 2010
11:26 am
stands for decibels:
Hey, you get another super liberal merit badge for that !!
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:26 am
I’d suggest a great website by Rep. Paul Ryan (one of the brighter members of Congress from either party on the economy, taxes and deficits) and his Roadmap for America plan.
I know it doesn’t have many pictures for some of you posters out there, but maybe some of you others can explain it to TaxPayer and Midori when they come up with their inevitable questions.
http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/Plan/
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:27 am
Dave
I’m with USinUK on lima beans (the dried ones, that is)…Mama thought they were wonderful and, well, they did go a long way in feeding nine younguns…end of the month fare…
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:28 am
sfd – and Reagan also “snubbed” the Boy Scouts at a Jamboree
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:28 am
dB – 11:21 – interesting post – I’ve never really paid attention to what the right has had to say about GSA … but, criminey, if KJL is agin’ ‘em, they MUST be doing something right!
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:30 am
Josef… I only remember reading about it back then and seeing them talk about it on the news (pre-cable news)…never got to taste it i “thought”…BUTnow looking back… I can pretty much bet that since I was in HS and college in the 80’s…I’m pretty sure that I DID in fact eat some…if not MUCH. Nothing like pouring some kinda yellow cheese-like-product on your burger (which was in fact grey) while in the lunch line if you opted for a Cheeezeburger instead of a hamburger.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:30 am
jo nix – end of the month fare = tuna casserole with noodles and peas (also did double-duty during lent)
stands for decibels
July 28th, 2010
11:31 am
and Reagan also “snubbed” the Boy Scouts at a Jamboree
IOKIYAR. See also: Bowing to foreigners.
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:31 am
Dave R.
“(one of the brighter members of Congress from either party on the economy, taxes and deficits)”
So go ahead and SHOW just WHAT he has done in his past for the economy, taxes and deficits. Name the bills he drafted and laws passed because of what he’s done).
TANKS!
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:33 am
Dave – I gave the link a very quick skim, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of “there there” – he talks a lot about reviewing / projecting but doesn’t talk about what needs to be done to either cut or restructure.
A private sector employee
July 28th, 2010
11:33 am
Actually, Jay, there was plenty of job creation from 200-2006. When the DEMOCRATS took over Congress, job creation took a nose dive. If you want to look back to blame someone, look at job creation and Congressional party control… which is AT LEAST as valid as blaming the president. Yeah, reality therapy can be a real bitch, can’t it Jay?
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
11:35 am
“end of the month fare = tuna casserole with noodles and peas ”
I just threw up in my mouth a little. Now, full blown shivers.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:35 am
“Reagan also “snubbed” the Boy Scouts at a Jamboree”
he also skipped Arlington on memorial day, but as you say … IOKIYAR
getalife
July 28th, 2010
11:35 am
They are called butter beans.
One of my favorites.
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:35 am
sfd – yep, I’ve seen that site before, but it’s always funny!
HDB
July 28th, 2010
11:36 am
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:10 am
“And HDB, I’ve always been consistent about the need to raise taxes to balance this budget and get rid of the deficit, but like many I want to see the cuts FIRST, just to see that someone in Washington is addressing the real issue first and is serious about it.”
Dave…my question has always been this: Why didn’t the nation finance its WAR EFFORT with a tax increase? Name me a moment in American history that we didn’t finance wars witha tax increase save now!! That’s the first cause of the problem. Second: the government HAD to spend money to start getting the nation out of the recession; it was the ONLY economic engine capable of doing so until private sector decides to step up!
Government was also the catalyst of changes in the health care system; such changes could make health care less expensive for corporations…and could positively affect hiring; note this from the Washington TIMES (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/26/maryland-reports-health-care-savings/):
Md. could save $829M under health care reform
By Brian Witte ASSOCIATED PRESS – Associated Press
10:52 a.m., Monday, July 26, 2010
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland could save about $829 million on health care costs between fiscal year 2011 and 2020 because of federal health care reform, according to a model the state released Monday.
The savings, however, last only until the end of the decade, when the federal law shifts a greater share of financial responsibility for Medicaid expansion to the states.
The projections are in an interim report by Maryland’s Health Care Reform Coordinating Council, which Gov. Martin O’Malley created in March to study how the federal health care reform law will affect the state.
While the report emphasizes that current and future projections are fluid, it cautions that the state must stay committed to reducing overall health care costs. That’s because Maryland is projected to spend $46 million more in fiscal year 2020 as a result of health care reform than it would without it.
Private industry could affect change as rapidly as the government!!
Scout July 28th, 2010
11:07 am
HDB: Fair Tax !
Read that one, too…that won’t work either! The prebate isn’t high enough to negate a 35% tax increase on the middle class…..but a 22% cut on the wealthy (over $5M). The fair tax does nothing but shift the tax burden DOWNWARD!! If the nation would return to the Clinton-era tax rates, close tax loopholes, freeze spending for two years and raise taxes 7%….we could get out of this economic hole!!
retired early
July 28th, 2010
11:37 am
AMVT
If I could say it any better, I would.
My father always said, ” no one ever went bankrupt under estimating the average intelligence of most people.
Apparently, there are a hell of a lot of these bloggers making over $250,000 a year!!!
Who would have guessed?
One more thing. When we take a look around our neighborhood. There are those like myself who
live across the road from the riverfront properties: then those who live on the $450,000 (Just the lot cost) lots.
The vast majority of those people are self employed.i.e. owners of small bs. Unlike business owners, wage earners have no way to write off expenses.
So, their earnings are fully taxed.
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:37 am
USinUK, leadership takes many forms. During the Great Depression, FDR used something as simple as a fireside chat to address the nation and exude confidence. No apology tour from that man. Eisenhower led by example. JFK, too. I have my problems with GWB, but I have great admiration for how he handled the days and months following 9/11. He showed a rare streak of leadership during that time, possibly the only good thing he did in 8 years.
You didn’t hear the blame game coming out of their mouths during the hard times. They also had people in their Cabinets who knew what it was like to work in the private sector. This President’s circle of advisers totals just 7% of their work experience in the private sector. You can’t govern what you don’t understand. That is why they are failing at nearly everything they touch, with more failures to come as their policies take effect in a few years.
Leadership isn’t trying to please the dumb masses. That is American Idol thinking. But that’s what we’ve got sitting in the Oval Office until 2012 at least.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:37 am
getalife – call ‘em whatever you want – they still make me gag.
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:38 am
“he also skipped Arlington on memorial day, but as you say … IOKIYAR”
yeah…but Reagan had that right…since he was born here in the US and not in Kenya.
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:39 am
SAUL
Oh, no, it wasn’t at all that cheeze product…it was the real deal and was produced to use in cooking…
USinUK
Tuna casserole is another one…I was so glad to get away from that! The mere thought of it today trips the gag reflex…
“If you get hungry enough, you’ll eat it and be thankful you’ve got it…” Well, Scarlet, with G-d as my witness, I haven’t been that hungry again! ”
Normal
July 28th, 2010
11:40 am
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:08 am
Josef,
Public school lunch’s…I remember them well…black eyed pea sanwiches, yummy.
Actually that was my first stab at organized crime. Down in Hinesville you had to buy a little stamp sized ticket for one lunch for $0.25.
Every Monday in homeroom, I had to get a head count of how many people wanted them and how many per kid. I hated the job at first. I noticed that a few kids never bought them and later I noticed that they would sit alone outside the lunch room. Asking around, I found out they weren’t eating because their parents weren’t able to afford it.
I had discovered earlier that the Principal’s Secretary never really counted how many tickets you said you had and I was selling extras for a dime a piece for “RC Cola and a Moon Pie” money with my best friend. Life was fun and I felt like John Dillenger…then my Robin Hood complex set in and I started rationalizing I was stealing from the rich (down with the establishment!) and giving to the poor. The poor kids got a lunch on the house. Nearly got me busted though when a teacher noticed the poor kids were eating. Their parents swore they were buying them and saved my little arse(short version). By the beginning of the next year, the Secretary wasn’t counting again and life was again good. Robin was back! Yeah, I think I must have been a Liberal even then…
Left wing management
July 28th, 2010
11:40 am
John Boehner is not quite a living, breathing obscenity. But he’s close. He and his Kentucky compadre in the Senate are apologists for a vampire-like plague, a runaway financial capitalism that is just capitalism plain and simple.
HDB
July 28th, 2010
11:41 am
Dave R. July 28th, 2010
11:26 am
Remember, Ryan’s proposal was so draconian that the REPUBLICANS did’t even agree with it!! ( I have read it!)…..
Only the top 1% would get a break under Ryan’s proposal! So much of the tax burden would be placed on those who wouldn’t have the discretionary income to compensate for the increased taxes!!
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
11:41 am
private sector dude,
“When the DEMOCRATS took over Congress, job creation took a nose dive.”
In case you missed it earlier — can you please name one piece of legislation that caused this so called nose dive?
No?
Kthx for playing. Back to your Hannity quotes again.
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
11:42 am
“black eyed pea sanwiches, yummy.”
What the hell? Geez, you old people had it rough.
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:42 am
HDB, my solution would have been to not have any war effort in the first place. But then, I look ahead to the long-term issues before deciding on a course of action. That being said, you CUT some other program first, then only raise taxes if you can’t pay for it.
USinUK, don’t skim that site. It is not designed for skimming (which is why many Americans on both sides don’t get it).
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:42 am
Dave – fireside chats weren’t the ONLY thing that FDR did – it was a small part of how he turned the country around during the depression. in fact, if he didn’t do everything else, I don’t know that the people would have listened to him.
“apology tour” and “blame game”
cliche much? show me one time when Obama actually APOLOGIZED – one quote where he said that the US was wrong and oh, how sorry he is.
as for apportioning blame – that would carry a lot more weight if we didn’t hear 8 years of Bush blaming Clinton for everything tha went wrong.
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:43 am
getalife and USinUK
Yeah, they’re CALLED butterbeans, but them big, ole dried up white thangs ain’t in the same category with those tender, fresh, purple ones…now those are butterbeans..
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
11:43 am
NORMAL! I didn’t read the rest of your story – I had to comment on the sandwiches!
You’re the man!!!
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:43 am
There is possibly nothing worse on this earth to eat than warm tuna fish.
In any iteration.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:44 am
Saul – “since he was born here in the US and not in Kenya”
they relocated Chicago to Africa? damn, I leave the country for a couple of years and you guys go and lose one of our better cities … I can’t trust you people with anything nice …
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
11:45 am
Dave R.
“There is possibly nothing worse on this earth to eat than warm tuna fish.”
I’m thinking carrot raisin salad, but that is certainly it’s equal.
Jason T
July 28th, 2010
11:45 am
Jay, exactly where has raising tax rates worked? Please explain.
Being the good Liberal that you are….are you also in the mold of Tax Cheats Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, Charlie Rangel….
No wonder they raise taxes, THEY don’t pay them.
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:45 am
“they relocated Chicago to Africa?”
Chicago? It’s much worse that losing that city…they lost us Honolulu!
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:46 am
jo nix – 11:39 – I’ll see your tuna casserole comment and raise you with an ANYthing made with “cream of mushroom/chicken/celery” soup …
dave – warm canned tuna … hot grilled tuna steaks are pretty darned yummy!
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:47 am
“carrot raisin salad”
ohmygod – a Southern staple.
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:47 am
“There is possibly nothing worse on this earth to eat than warm tuna fish.”
I used to think that too, AND I was always taught you never eat cheese with fish…until someone turned me on to macaroni and cheese, with tuna fish. Now I’m hooked!
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:48 am
HDB, the people who have the money are the only ones who can create the jobs! When will you guys ever learn that fact?
The poor can’t create a single, solitary job. Neither can the middle class.
USinUK, of course he did more than just speak, but instilling confidence is the FIRST thing you have to do. How well do you think our armed forces would fight if every time before they went into battle they heard, “Well we’re gonna get our butts kicked today . . . “.
professional skeptic
July 28th, 2010
11:48 am
Balance Our Budget
July 28th, 2010
9:35 am
What is it with liberals and their desire to give the government more of their money?Do they think the government can spend it more wisely then they can?
Well, as a matter of fact, yes. I’m an accountant. I cannot build roads, maintain national parks, run a justice system, ensure public safetly, educate everyone, regulate businesses so that they don’t sell me poisonous food, etc. etc. etc. all on my own, with just my paycheck.
But, my contribution, in the form of taxes, along with the contributions from the rest of our citizenry… GOLLY GEE just look at all we can build and accomplish together.
Sadly, too many people on the right want all the benefits I listed above, but don’t believe they have to pay anything for it. They want tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, and somehow think all these things will simply materialize for them– mostly via borrowing from future generations — and, as a cherry on top, reap the benefits from the mind-boggling expenditures related to a couple of endless wars.
Borrow borrow borrow, spend spend spend. And tax thee, not me. And each individual build his own roads and fund his own court system because each individual can do it SO much better than the government can…
/eyeroll
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:49 am
“The poor can’t create a single, solitary job. Neither can the middle class”
Actually…they’re the only ones who CAN. And they do it by buying goods and services. No buyers, no hiring.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:49 am
dave – “if every time before they went into battle they heard, “Well we’re gonna get our butts kicked today . . . “.”
Big D
July 28th, 2010
11:50 am
Josef,
In the country we call them “October Beans”… and they are special.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:50 am
Doggone – Mac’n Cheese with a little salsa stirred in … yummmmmm
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:51 am
“Mac’n Cheese with a little salsa stirred in ”
That I can not appreciate. I have NO palate for Mexican type foods. In fact, I can’t even EAT foods that are at all “hot” from spices. Heck, as I get older I can’t even eat BELL peppers any more!
professional skeptic
July 28th, 2010
11:51 am
Actually…they’re the only ones who CAN. And they do it by buying goods and services. No buyers, no hiring.
Bingo. Nail on the head.
Rockerbabe
July 28th, 2010
11:51 am
Most of the 95% of working people have not seen appreciable increases in our income over the last ten years. In the Atlanta healthcare industry, often times, if any raises are given, they are stingy, measley merit raises; no cost of living raises have been given in over fifteen years for most of us. Bonsas are generally only given to the top management; for what, I don’t know.
In some years, this overworked healthcare professional made less money from her “raise” due to the large increases in the cost of medical insurance premiums and out-of-pocket copays. So many employees are afraid of loosing our jobs and management knows it! Too many illegals in this country; too many are willing to work for less than the prevailing wage rates for any given job. Too many non-healthcare jobs are being exported. Just who do they think is going to purchase all of these goods and services with shrinking take home pay?
No Jay, the “growth” in income that Boehner speaks of, refers to HIS growth in Congressional salaries. Over the last ten years or so, Congress has given itself anywhere from 5-8% raises. That rarely happens for the average working person. And the top 5% of wage or salary earners, often get more than 10% increases years; I doubt they do that much more work than the rest of us! The old trickle down theory only trickes so far and that is far enough to help the rest of us.
Tax breaks, most of which goes to the wealthy does not increase the demand side of our economic system. There is only so much even the wealthy can purchase and what improvement they experience, is invested in securities, not general goods and services. If you want to increase growth, ie demand, then the tax breaks need to go to the 95% of us who will actually spend the money on the things we need, but have been doing without.
Republican hyperbole is at play here. As the old saying goes “don’t tell me any facts, my mind is already made up”, hence all the “NO” responses to anything President Obama and the Dems do in the effort to resolve our country’s problems.
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:52 am
Oh, by the way, the commodities were a gift from FDR
Norm–
You would have like my 6th grade teacher…She was from one of those old aristocratic Suth-un families rich enough to buy G-d. Those lunch tickets were color coded at our school…white for those who paid full price and purple for those who were on welfare. Miz A paid for their lunches full price “I am not going to have those children stigmatized in the lunch line. That’s just not right and that’s all there is to it.” She also bought their school supplies, Christmas gifts for the names they drew, clothes and all that kind of stuff, winter coats, shoes…
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:53 am
“show me one time when Obama actually APOLOGIZED – one quote where he said that the US was wrong and oh, how sorry he is.”
Here are the words he used (from the WSJ), and they are close enough for me (and many others):
“Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America “has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive” toward Europe. In Prague, he said America has “a moral responsibility to act” on arms control because only the U.S. had “used a nuclear weapon.” In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by “just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy” — as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not “pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors” because we “failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas.”
Sorry, but when you get to be President, you don’t talk down your own country (especially on foreign soil), and you don’t go on “The View”.
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:53 am
Obama (from his acceptance speech to run for President):
“America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices.”
He said it from the beginning… but those of our friends on the right don’t want to hear how he ALWAYS said that it won’t be easy…
also from his acceptance speech :
“Now — now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American.”
Same promise EVERY recent president made…yet HE followed through…
more:
“Now, many of these plans will cost money”
and finally:
“America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices. And Democrats, as well as Republicans, will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past, for part of what has been lost these past eight years can’t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose, and that’s what we have to restore.”
Obama ALWAYS said it would be “hard”… yet those of our friends on the right never listened to his speeches…they only listened to “sound bites” edited by Fox, Rush, etc…
Yet still the best offered from the right is to cast “blame” on Obama who has been trying to fix all he inherited… worst economy since the Great Depression.
AS if McCain and Palin could have done a better job… just by choosing HER out of ALL republicans in our nation to be VP…he “failed” the second he made that choice. For those who believe that SHE was in fact the BEST choice out of ALL republicans in our nation as a VP…there’s your problem.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:53 am
Doggone – no spices? no mexican? no indian? no thai? aw, man – if I could lend you some of my constitution, I would – spicey food rocks my world! (not blow-the-top-of-your-head-off spicey, but slightly edgy spicey)
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:55 am
Dave – and nowhere in there did he say “I’m sorry”. Acknowledging our past – particularly our missteps in S. America – isn’t the same as apologizing.
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:55 am
“Actually…they’re the only ones who CAN. And they do it by buying goods and services. No buyers, no hiring.”
Gee, Doggone, soon you’ll be admitting that only the end consumer pays all corporate taxes! We’ll make a convert of you yet!
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:56 am
“if I could lend you some of my constitution, I would”
I appreciate the thought. Nope, none of that. But I’ve always looked on my distaste for them the same as my distate for alcoholic beverages…as a way to keep me alive. I am the world’s CHEAPEST drunk, and I’ve no doubt if I actually like the stuff I’d be long gone. But as it is, it ALL tastes like rubbing alcohol to me!
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
11:56 am
“Acknowledging our past – particularly our missteps in S. America – isn’t the same as apologizing.”
Uh, yes, it is.
HDB
July 28th, 2010
11:56 am
Dave R. July 28th, 2010
11:37 am
“You didn’t hear the blame game coming out of their mouths during the hard times”…..
Not just the HARD times…but ALL times! The nation blamed Nixon; Cater blamed NIxon; Reagan blamed Carter; Clinton blamed Bush; Bush blamed Clinton; Obama blamed BUsh…..so the saga continues!!
“Leadership is trying to SCARE the dumb masses. ”
There…fixed your statement!! That’s all this division politics is! Republicans scare the masses against anyone of color and Democrats;Republicans play class warfare to scare the have-nots into giving more to the haves; Democrats scare the masses against Republicans because the RRepublicans are NOT looking at the populace at large…just the haves!!
If this nation had effective leadership, those that have-not and those that have could find common ground…but it pays more to keep us at each others’ throats!!
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:56 am
“The poor can’t create a single, solitary job. Neither can the middle class”
Actually…they’re the only ones who CAN. And they do it by buying goods and services. No buyers, no hiring.
In ANY moment in our nation’s modern history when the economy has been strong…it’s actually when the MIDDLE CLASS has been strong. The “spending power” lies in a strong and confident middle class. Bush created a bigger divide…more added to the rich and more added to the poverty level…both of those groups can only rise or fall from the “middle”….
Jason T
July 28th, 2010
11:57 am
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:53 am
….AS if McCain and Palin could have done a better job… just by choosing HER out of ALL republicans in our nation to be VP…he “failed” the second he made that choice.
And I suppose you believe that Joe Biden just dazzles with his brilliance, hmmm???
Doggone/GA
July 28th, 2010
11:57 am
“Gee, Doggone, soon you’ll be admitting that only the end consumer pays all corporate taxes!”
I’ve been saying that all along. Bottom line, the ONLY people who actually pay taxes are the retail consumers. Always.
np
July 28th, 2010
11:57 am
Globalization (embraced by Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2) means multi-national corporations have shipped U.S. jobs to Mexico, India, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, etc.) It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the jobs are sent elsewhere, we don’t have jobs. Duh. And since we don’t have jobs, we don’t have spending $$$. And the stock market is just a Ponzi scheme in which we who have jobs are all forced to participate in (401k’s, etc.) Since there are few or no alternatives now for investment, everyone is sending their hard earned savings to Wall Street. Stock prices go up because everyone is buying stock, not because the stocks have intrinsic or lasting value. Wall Street has made sure that all of our savings are channeled into their pockets. The only real industries we have left in the U.S. are war production and fossil fuel production. We should be leading the world in solar technology, solar hot water heating, battery technology, fuel cells and advanced catalysts, EV’s, maglevs, high speed rail, etc. but we are held hostage by the robber barons and Wall Street. China is now leading the rest of the world in energy efficient, non-polluting technologies, while we allow flat earth types to deep-six any type of progress. Obama and Chu are trying their best to make us competitive and forward thinking, but the entrenched energy interests and Wall Street have a vested interest in the U.S. remaining a fossil fuel dependent, war-mongering third world oligarchy.
Disgusted
July 28th, 2010
11:57 am
Plummeting cigarette sales cut California tax revenues—Headline
Well, I guess stupid is as stupid does. Nothing like increasing the tax on cigarettes to stop smoking and then complaining that tax revenues are declining. But I’ll bet California doesn’t have a law against chasing somebody down and planting a chip in his head.
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:58 am
Carrot and raisin salad is another one…bleeeach…right up there with lime green jello-fruit c*cktail mold…they gotta be on the table for the get-together, but that don’t mean you gotta eat it!
Okay, it’s the Paula Dean Justin Wilson in me. but I confess to the cream of mushroom soup…not the cream of chicken or cream of celery, though…
professional skeptic
July 28th, 2010
11:59 am
Only the end consumer pays all corporate taxes, utilities expense, rent, postage, copy paper, payroll, maintenance expense, lobbying expense, gargantuan executive salaries, executive retreats to resort locations…
And this is remarkable, how?
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
11:59 am
Jason: “And I suppose you believe that Joe Biden just dazzles with his brilliance, hmmm???”
Actually yes I do…and compared to Palin? Are you kidding?????? Hmmmmm????
Jimmy62
July 28th, 2010
12:00 pm
Until the collapse of the last couple of years, there was tremendous job creation during the Bush era. And the reasons for that collapse are very debateable, but to put Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac and the root of the mortgage stuff that caused all this on Bush’s shoulders is pretty disingenious, considering he tried to reign in Fannie and Freddie, and was defeated by the Democrats. Oh, and that the actual collapse happened well after the Democrats took Congress. To call tax cuts the culprit shows that both you and Paul Krugman are pretty foolish, and deliberately ignoring a lot of other things in order to blame Bush. It’s also said that after 8 years of blaming Bush for everything, you can’t move on and look for the real problems, like a culture that rewards failure and punishes success, that saves you when you screw up, and steals from you when you are responsible.
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
12:01 pm
Josef: “Carrot and raisin salad is another one…bleeeach…right up there with lime green jello-fruit c*cktail mold…they gotta be on the table for the get-together, but that don’t mean you gotta eat it!”
You do know what jello is don’t you? 9I know you do)….I don’t think most kids would eat it if you told them what it is…I mean pour an equal amount of sugar on ANYTHING and it will taste sweet.
Normal
July 28th, 2010
12:01 pm
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
11:46 am
You have never had my Chicken Brocolli casserole. Rice “browned” in butter and garlic, then cooked as usual, small bag of frozen brocolli,
one can of cream of chicken soup, two boneless chicken breasts, grilled and chopped, all mixed in a 1.5 quart baking dish, sea salted and white peppered to taste, top smothered with Mozzarella cheese. baked at 375 until cheese is melted and slightly golden at the edges. YUMMY!!!
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
12:01 pm
Dave – “Uh, yes, it is.”
no. it really isn’t.
someone catches you shoplifting and you admit it – is that the same as saying that you are sorry for it? no. the catholic church acknowledging that it covered up years of pedophilia amongst its priests – only recently have they apologized for it, despite acknowledging it a few years ago.
USinUK
July 28th, 2010
12:02 pm
(and, even then, they only apologized to Ireland – nowhere else)
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
12:02 pm
“the people who have the money are the only ones who can create the jobs! When will you guys ever learn that fact?”
Actually that’s not true – if there is no one to buy their stuff, then they have no jobs.
And whoever wrote that the poor people do not create jobs – that’s not true either. They buy goods and services just like anyone else (which creates jobs).
Saul Good
July 28th, 2010
12:02 pm
Jimmy…see my post from an hour or two ago… (with the link I provided)
Tell me again just how Bush didn’t push for ZERO down home loans for 103% of a homes appraised value. Yeah…that was HIM…his speech…his words… tell me again how that was the “dems” fault.
jewcowboy
July 28th, 2010
12:03 pm
Bosch,
“What the hell? Geez, you old people had it rough.”
http://www.theslot.com/kraftdinner.html
Once "Recent" Reader
July 28th, 2010
12:03 pm
Bud Wiser . . .. .well I’ll cut Bush some slack on his early years with that “No Job Growth” stat. TBut before you kill the current admin over Job Losses . . ..please look back at when this little snowball began rolling down the hill around 2006/2007. That is when the job losses began in full effect. I believe the worst of them were around late 2008 and early (Jan, Feb, March) 2009. Now of course you can put the blame of those massive jobs losses on a President in office for 2 months over the Admin that had been in place for 8 years . . .that came in with a record Surplus and decimated it terribly. So there must have been some early job creation for Pres. Bush as the last two years of his realm were a total nightmare on the job front – of course climaxing the summer of 2008 through winter of 2009. Like the current Admin or not, that job loss snowball STOPPED rolling, and no matter how much smaller than we would all like . . .there have been consisten job increases for most of Pres Obama’s current term.
Bosch
July 28th, 2010
12:03 pm
USinUK,
“ohmygod – a Southern staple.”
A very BAD Southern staple – kind of like pickled pigs feet — I mean, damn, how desperate do you have to be to eat that?
Normal
July 28th, 2010
12:04 pm
josef nix
July 28th, 2010
11:52 am
Josef,
She IS my definition of an educator, for sure!
Dave R.
July 28th, 2010
12:05 pm
“I’ve been saying that all along. Bottom line, the ONLY people who actually pay taxes are the retail consumers. Always.”
And yet you don’t support the FairTax. Go figure.
Once "Recent" Reader
July 28th, 2010
12:05 pm
Addendum: I meant the worst of the job losses were from sping/summer 2008 through end rest of year and up to March 2009 . . . .not through winter of 2009 which would include end of 2009.
Jason T
July 28th, 2010
12:07 pm
Just for you Saul, and there’s plenty more:
. “Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.” –Joe Biden
4. “A man I’m proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States — Barack America!” –Joe Biden, at his first campaign rally with Barack Obama (Watch video clip)
3. “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.” -Joe Biden, apparently unaware that FDR wasn’t president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and that only experimental TV sets were in use at that time
2. “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.” –Joe Biden, speaking at a town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire
1. “Stand up, Chuck, let ‘em see ya.” –Joe Biden, to Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, who is in a wheelchair, Columbia, Missouri, Sept. 12, 2008
When it comes to “foot in mouth”, Palin is no match for this buffoon. Care to compare? Hmmmmm???