The social rot of Greece and the politics of dependence

Chauncey probably thinks it was a Michigan militia that fire-bombed the Greek bank, but I suspect associates of Bill Ayers.

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Kyle,

nice work again. I would give you a pulitzer, but if it’s been watered down so much Cynthia can get one I’m not sure I would want it. Maybe we should just go for a Nobel Peace Prize Your more deserving than Obama.

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From AOL:
(May 7) — The Obama administration argued last year, for instance, that the stimulus bill was needed to keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent. More than a year later, the jobs report released today puts national unemployment just a whisker below 10 percent.

The health care bill provides an even clearer example. Those who followed the health care debate closely will recall, for instance, that many of us said businesses would drop coverage and pay fines rather than comply with extensive new mandates.

Well, this week it was reported that some of the nation’s biggest employers — such as AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar and Deere — have been seriously considering cutting employee health care and paying the lower-cost penalties instead. This not only undercuts the claim Democrats made that employers wouldn’t drop employees, it undercuts one of the president’s most oft-repeated vows — namely, that “if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.”

This is just one of the arguments we heard from the administration that’s turned out to be as hollow as a CT scanner. Another was the claim that the health care bill would “slow the growth of health care costs for families, businesses and government,” as the president put it in one of his most high-profile speeches on the topic. Here’s the reality: An analysis last month by Richard S. Foster, Medicare’s chief actuary, found that this bill will actually increase costs, and that national spending on health care alone could go up by $311 billion.

Want another?

The president and Democrats in Congress said time and again that their health care bill would strengthen Medicare. Yet the administration’s own experts now say it could drive nearly one in six hospitals into debt and threaten access to care for seniors on Medicare. Proponents said the bill wouldn’t raise taxes. Yet now the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ own bipartisan scorekeeper on legislation, says middle-class taxpayers will pay billions more in taxes as a result of this bill. Millions more will get hit with a fine for choosing not to buy government-approved insurance.

mmm, mmm, mmm Barack the LIAR Obama, BEND OVER, HERE COMES THE CHANGE!

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Kyle for a Pulitzer!! You have got to be kidding. Even if Cynthia did “cheapen” the award, Kyle for a Pulitzer!! Why don’t we just go all the way and give it to Sarah!! Man, what are you thinking??

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Pulitzer? Consider the source. A nomination coming from someone who doesn’t know the difference between your and you’re? Talk about “cheapening”.

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Kyle, great article, but there are significant differences between Greece and the U.S., most notably the depth and quality of the U.S. economy. Yes, we have shipped jobs everywhere, but we still make stuff, produce stuff, and our people work. Greece is bankrupt because it produces nothing.

Do we need a change in direction? Yes, and it will happen. All the doom and gloomers need to look back about 40 years to a time when this country really was on the skids. Inflation of 15 percent or more; price controls (yes, the government told retailers how much a loaf of bread should cost) instituted by a Republican president; riots in the streets (was this a race war? Many believe it was); rising debt and a housing/real estate industry that had collapsed.

Today’s nation is different, but the challenges are far more manageable. We are increasing debt too fast, and we need to stop, but unlike Greece, we have a dynamic, working economy.

Now all we need is a hard working, smart, realistic conservative president to make a slight course correction…

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As goes Greece, so goes the world… No wait, make that Rome…. or is it the United States? …. never mind.

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I get more depressed every time I read a column like this and then the replies. I hate to say it, because I sound like a reject from the 60’s, but why can’t we all just get along? I am a true political independent. Neither of the two major parties have workable solutions. The Dems push forward unsustainable social programs, and the GOP screams bloody murder, but funds those same programs while they’re in power because no party has enough political support from the electorate to tell the truth and still get elected or re-elected.

The truth is that we (the government) needs to both cut costs and raise revenue. About two thirds of the Federal budget is made up of entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, and other social welfare programs) and the defense budget. I don’t think anyone can make an argument for cutting defense at a time like this, so that leaves us with the social programs. I don’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or a card carrying (do they have cards yet?) member of the Tea Party, you’re not going to get a majority of the people to voluntarily vote to cut their own government handouts. The country is made up of too many people like the guy who shouted “keep your government hands off my Medicare!”

We need to make a decision as a country to be more fiscally responsible. Fiscal responsibility requires sometimes choosing not to buy what you can’t afford, but, as has been proven over the past couple of years, we as a people do not like being told we can’t have stuff we want.

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So Greece is going to cut spending and raise taxes. Sounds simple. So simple we in the US should give the idea a shot.

You know if the government brings in $1.00 and spends $1.25, eventually the “you know what” will hit the fan. This is what Greece has been doing. And this is what the US has been doing since 1981.

But the problem Greece has and the problem the US has is that you now have a generation raised on the idea that the voters have the right to raid the treasury in the form of tax cuts. And if the voters had cut spending when they cut taxes we would have a small manageable problem.
But spending did not get cut, did it? Spending was increased at the same moment taxes were cut. And that spending was at a greater rate than the tax cuts. The idea is that you can have your cake and eat it too.

So we have the average US citizen believing he is “entitled” to low taxes, high cost government services, all to be paid for my some “magic economic formula” that says if you keep taxes low enough eventually the public treasury will be bursting at the seams with money.

And after 30 years of this “magic economic formula” we now have a public debt of $0.00 and enjoy a surplus of $12.9 trillion dollars in the treasury!

Oh, darn! I got the numbers backward didn’t I?

Oh well, so much for “magic economic formulas”. How do you say bankrupt in Greek?

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Where are the deficit hawks when it comes to making war? We spend 3 Trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan and not one peep about burdening our offspring.

In the same way that crime can be managed, not eliminated, folks who fanatically believe in their mission will eventually succeed. See Eric Rudolph, Mark Burton, etc.

Spending a huge amount of our budget on defense is like a home-owner spending a third of their budget on guns and security, but not having food on the table.

Empires are never overthrown from outside forces. It is always destroyed from within.

The die is cast. 47% of Americans do not pay INCOME TAX. They do pay Social Security, Medicare and State Sales Tax. Once 51% of Americans do not pay INCOME TAX, and they vote, they will vote to RAISE the Income tax on those who DO pay it.

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What happened? Did Greece use the George W Bush plan?

You know, the one the lets you increase spending, increase deficits and pay for it all with tax cuts!

Maybe Greece needs some more tax cuts. Tax cuts fix everything.

Tax cuts!!!

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More fear tactics from the Right. You admit that Greece is an extreme case, but not until nearly the end of the article. If Republicans had constructive alternatives to the serious issues facing our country, I would listen. But they don’t. That’s why the Republican Party is gradually becoming irrelevant.

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Change is here alright! Obama, democrats, progressives, socialist and liberals are changing us into just another third world slum! If we do nothing , we must do these things!

1)- DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS AND THEIR ILLEGAL BRATS
2)- STOP PENALIZING THE MAJORITY IN FAVOR OF MINORITIES
3)- STOP EXPANSION OF ALL GOVERNMENTS AND INFACT REDUCE THEM NOW
4)- LEGALLY FORCE GOVERNMENTS TO STAY WITHIN THE MANDATED AUTHORITY
GRANTED TO THEM BY THE CONSTITUTION
5)- STOP ALLOWING CHANGES TO THE INTENT AND MEANING OF THE CONSTITUTION
INCLUDING FREE SPEECH, GUN OWNERSHIP, FREEDOM OF, NOT FROM
RELIGION, LIMIT GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTIES, FORCE
THE FED’L GOVERNMENT TO ABIDE BY THE CONSTITUTION AND
ESPECIALLY THE 10TH AMENDMENT
6)- REVERSE HEALTH GRAB FIASCO
7)- DEFINE THE MEANING OF SO CALLED CIVIL RIGHTS-WHAT A FIASCO THAT IS
8)- GET THE GOVERNMENT OFF THE BACKS OF, AND OUT OF THE LIVES OF, THOSE
WHO ARE THE PRODUCERS IN THE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

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Is there a reason why my previous post was Censored or deleted?

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Zeke @ 10:45

You lose all credibility with the way you started the cracked-out tea party rant…put down the pipe and articulate based on some real solutions to complex problems and stop homogenizing our complex national issues with the Beck/Palin talking points

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The fundamental problem with our two-party political system is that we treat politics as if it’s a spectator sport where sides must be chosen and the other side is completely wrong.

Sadly, this represents the majority of registered voters.

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Ya gotta love the title “Social rot of Greece…” Kinda lets ya know it’s going to be a one sided article…but then again, this is an “opinion” page.

I keep hearing Brother Bill’s comment that “47% of Americans do not pay INCOME TAX.” I sure would like to see a breakdown of those statistics someday. How many of them are wealthy and have good tax men working for them and good deductions and out of the country tax havens? How many are the millions that are over 65 and retired and on limited income, Social Security or whatever? Somehow I doubt that they are all welfare “queens” driving around in their Caddies buying their lottery tickets (as is sometimes, although not this time, inferred).

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The social rot of the USA occurred when so-called Christian conservatives supported cowboy capitalism with the pre-imptive war of choice over oil and oedipus hubris, leading to the slaughtering of hundreds of thousand civilian innocents, so Kyle, sit in your ivory tower with your pious neocons and throw conservative rocks at socialist glass houses….God bless America and forgive her for her sins….

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What a treble waste of good glass.

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Kyle, the “socialist”, “liberal” name-calling seems to cloud your thinking and pollute your writings.

Greece’s problems have nothing to do with socialism or capitalism. Greece has always been a corrupt, irresponsible, and ungovernable country. It’s part of the heritage: an unfortunate cross of Balkan and Mediterranean.

You disparage “European socialists”. The prosperous countries of northern and western Europe are social democracies, not socialist states. They provide citizens with social services similar to our Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment compensation programs, and various healthcare plans. But, they do it more efficiently and effectively, and show better results. World-wide evaluations of “quality of life” rank these countries and Canada at the top of the list, ahead of the USA. World-wide evaluations of freedom of enterprise and international competitiveness rank these countries at the top, along with the USA.

In theory, a socialist state is one in which property and the means of production are owned by the “people”, i. e. the government. This is a discredited notion that is clung to only by two countries: North Korea and Cuba. (The Chinese government gives lip service to the theory while overseeing the world champion of free enterprise.)

Kyle, when you use “socialism” as a term of disparagement you’re just beating a dead horse. There are no modern socialists. There are, however, many people, even some Americans, who think that an important function of government is to “promote the general welfare”. That’s even in our Constitution!

Now there’s something of substance that can be discussed and debated.

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Most western European countries have extensive deep traditional bases of extreme leftists and anarchists the likes of which America has rarely if ever witnessed on our soil, not to mention the inherently socialist leaning societies and governments. Often these groups become very violent; this is nothing new, many of these agitators are stirred up by professionals and academics who wait patiently to exploit opportunities like this. They have right-wing extreme groups, too, no mistake, but this leftist anarchist stuff is endemic.

This is why conservatives and many independents are so concerned about the transformation in our own national politics. Few Georgians want Georgia to become let California, let alone Greece or France or the UK or (on and on). Make no mistake, the leftists and anarchists would not hesitate one bit to rip this country to shreds and create an opportunity for them to step in and grab power. Americans must remain ever vigilant against people and policies moving us ever closer to tyranny, increment by increment.

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Gerald West 12:30 You said:

“You disparage ‘European Socialists’. The prosperous countries of northern and western Europe are social democracies, not socialistic states.”

Well, Gerald, let us nitpick your high minded estate.

Whether a swan or a duck, if it walks like a socialist, talks like a socialist, we might say it is socialistic fowl no matter what.

As to the prosperous countries of Europe, I think they are shaking in their shoes. The next thing to go will be some of the expensive socialistic endeavors.

In other words, debt will kill expensive socialism or the country that expands it.. If you do not have the money, you cannot support socialism. no matter what name you call it.

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Federal Spending Grew More Than Eight Times Faster Than Median Income

When federal spending grows faster than people’s paychecks, the government’s burden on taxpayers becomes greater. Over the past few decades, middle-income Americans’ earnings have risen 29 percent, while spending has increased 242 percent.

Entitlement Debt Dwarfs Other Spending, Including Bailouts

The nation cannot afford the Medicare and Social Security benefits that have been promised to future retirees. These long-term unfunded obligations dwarf spending on other expensive government programs, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the 2009 economic stimulus bill, and vastly outweigh the entire national debt.

Net Interest Spending Will Quadruple over the Next Decade

As the national debt grows, interest payments will consume more and more of the federal budget. Under the President’s budget, the national debt would nearly double and real net interest costs would quadruple over the next decade.

http://www.heritage.org/BudgetChartBook/contents

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THE stupid COMMENTS BY THE IGNORANT LIBERAL…SOCIALISTS CLASS IS MIND-BOGGLING..GO BACK TO SLEEP LIBERALS..

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Why is it only the minorities riot in this country? Like the Hispanics when a few American kids wore flag shirts to school? Like the Hispanics over the Arizona law, which is no more draconian that the federal (except they assume the state law may be enforced). It is about time for the taxpayer to riot before we are like Greece.

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Dusty, we have reached the “firebomb” stage (see: Joe Stack. see: Tim McVeigh. see: eco-terrorists burning new subdivisions and SUVs). we’re just a larger country (larger economy), so the “fire-bombings” are rarely the lead story on the 6:00 news. You need to let go of the Fox News talking points; “Obama wants to enact the European Socialist model…” He wants to enact a “model” that is left-heavy, but we need to worry about the USA and not what’s happening in Greece.

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On Saturday, one of the pundits on Bloomberg gave a synopsis of the Greece financial downfall, in his opinion. He certainly asked a valid question when he stated,”Why is the Greek financial dilemma having such an impact on the US stock-market? To put their default vs. GDP into perspective, the annual GDP of Greece is equal to that of Philadelphia, PA or Boston, MA. So, why is it so much of an impact on the US economy?” Well, experts, why is it? Why are we spending so much time analyzing the Greek economy when we need to revamp our own?

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Expanding the trough: (oik, oik)

How do socialist deal with the runaway costs of entitlements: Create another entitlement of course.

How do socialist deal with the financial crisis: Create another government regulatory agency to aid the other failed regulatory agencies meant to prevent the financial crisis.

Isn’t the crony capitalism of socialism a wonderful thing?

Wonder why the Greeks are rioting in over in paradise?

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

~ Ben Franklin

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“Sooner or later, you find out that, no matter how rich your nation, and no matter how clever the people running it, there isn’t enough money in the world to buy what you can’t pay for.”

Words that carry little weight from somebody who supports Republican borrow-and-spenders to occupy the White House and lead the Congress.

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Something-for-Nothing-ists sums-up socialism very well.

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MHS: Socialism may or may not be Something-for-Nothing-ism from the macroeconomic perspective. The question is whether society pays for what it gets?

Certainly from a microeconomic perspective in almost any system there will be some who are net receivers of benefits and others who are net providers. That is not the measure of what is socialism.

Net providers of benefits in America DO receive something of value. First among them may be domestic tranquility. Is a pacified underclass not a requirement of a peaceful capitalist system? I think that it is. The cost of this tranquility is really just another example of how in a capitalist society one must spend money to make money.

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I say cut the military budget in half, we spend more than the next top ten combined for defense.

If America would stop trying to spread its brand of white supremacy democracy around the world, most people would not want to attack us and no need to spend so much.

No one likes a bully and the U.S. is a bully thinking they can tell everyone how to run their country all the while stealing assets from those countries and working to destabilize them

Amerikkka, the great White Satan

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Spending on the entitlements as a percentage of GDP is 9.9%. While spending on National Defense as a percentage of GDP is only 4.9%. Obama’s budget will reduce National Defense spending as a percentage of GDP to 3.5%

Defense Spending Has Declined While Entitlement Spending Has Increased

Spending on national defense, a core constitutional function, has declined significantly over time, despite wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, spending on the three major entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—has more than tripled and is rapidly crowding out other programs.

http://www.heritage.org/BudgetChartBook/defense-entitlement-spending

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NJ Govt.Chris Christie said, “One state retiree, 49 yrs. old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 towards his retirement pension & health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life & nearly $500,000 for health care benefits–a total of $3.8 M on a $120,000 investment. Is that fair? A retired teacher paid $62,000 toward her pension & nothing, yes, nothing for full family medical, dental & vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 M in pension benefits & another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime. Is it ‘fair’ for all of us & our children to have to pay for this excess?”

Our cities are broke & asking for bailouts from our states.
Our states are broke & asking for bailouts from the fed. govt.
States whose residents & leadership were prudent are bailing out (with their tax dollars) states whose residents & leadership were reckless.
The fed. govt. is broke & owes $13 T plus $106.6T in unfunded liabilities & continues to spend $ it does not have, for junk, prints money & borrows money from China & from the futures of our unborn children & grandchildren.

All the Progressives/Socialists/Marxists have to say is that the Tea Party participants are racists.

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Linda,

Amen to your 3:58, but not to worry. Pay as you go is now the law of the land, and Obama’s deficit commission will rescue us from our excesses. We are in good hands.

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Curiously, in a supposed anti-incumbent year, most of the departing are not retiring but seeking higher office. We may recycle more than we replace. The bad news is that a frustrating 114 seats still have but one contestant. Two of them aren’t even incumbents, meaning they will affect state policy without being vetted by voters. And I have to think that we’d be better off if many had run instead for the Legislature — and cut down on the number running unopposed. Georgia’s problems are numerous. They aren’t going away. There’s too much stale thinking at the Capitol, on both sides of the aisle. New voices would be welcome.

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It is not so much what the President’s “deficit commission” will do as much as it will be how willing the Congress is to accept what the commission says must be done to bring federal government spending under control. That is the making of another blog topic suffice it to say.

On another topic: The supreme court justice selection of Elena Kagan was a wise choice, by far a better candidate and future justice than President Obama’s the last choice.

PS. No More, the worthless individuals in this country who cry “war of choice over oil” have no credibility and worse even less any “moral standing”, when these same worthless individuals decry any attempts of drilling for and using our own oil resources to transition from a foreign oil dependency in leading to an eventual transition to cleaner renewable sources of energy. Anyone who says Spill Baby, Spill has no moral right to cry “war of choice over oil” when it is they, YES THEY, who are most responsible for having made that immoral choice for all of us.

Drill Here, Drill Now; Drill Baby, Drill!

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And probably not enough money to reverse this…

http://turbo.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2009/10/chastity-bono-chaz-bono.jpg

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Splavistic,

Clinton only balanced the budjet with Newt and company holding a gun in his back.

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Stinkin EuroTrash.

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Yes, I agree, Kyle. There is an old adage, “you can’t have guns and butter”. You need to pay for one or the other. Also you shouldn’t cut taxes when waging war, much less two wars, with the pie in the sky notion that another’s oil will pay for the whole thing. Also a nation can’t keep funding “earmarks” (buying votes) forever as if the money grows on trees. Oh, my, as I write this I see the US of A (Republicans and Democrats) written all over it. I guess this leads to the other old adage, those who don’t read (or can’t comprehend) history are doomed to repeat it.

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Correction. Whose assumptions were more realistic?

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I wouldn’t look to Greece as a model of socialism, if there is such a thing. Of course I wouldn’t look to the U.S. in the last couple of years as a model of how “perfect” capitalism is. What has happened in Greece is most definitely a failed attempt at some idea of socialism but it certainly is not what international socialism aspires to. Elected officials in Greece are as corrupt as any and if we dug deeper in our own government I am sure we would find corruption aplenty. Greece’s difficulties seem to be a lack of unity and consistency. Lots of accommodations for businesses to escape their share of taxes, a strong underground economy that evades taxes, political appointments that create a bloated government, an economy that is simply not robust enought to support spending. Socialism does and can work where it is democratic and responsible. Look to socialist leaning societies of northern Europe for more successful implementation. Greece’s failures cannot be used to say that socialism won’t work just as our own failure cannot be used to say that capitalism won’t work. It isn’t that simple. If you are really interested in what socialism is really all about see:

http://socialistinternational.org/viewArticle.cfm?ArticleID=31

I am sure that in the U.S. we don’t want the kind of capitalism we have had in recent years. We want something better. The socialist world is not different.

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For Joan1’s benefit:

“Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman’s presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found…

Federal, state and local taxes — including income, property, sales and other taxes — consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8.% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010.”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2010-05-10-taxes_N.htm

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It’s highly unlikely that joan1 pays 50 percent of her income in taxes. That’s the same figure that all Fox News addicts claim to pay because, well, they believe everything they hear on Fox News.

She’d have to be in the top income tax bracket to come anywhere close to that figure, and if she were, her back would not be “breaking from this load”, as she claims. To the contrary, she’d be doing quite well.

With regard to others being subsidized from her work, I assume she’s talking about agricultural subsidies, bloated military spending, nuclear subsidies, and investment tax breaks that increase the burden on those who make most of their income through employment.

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My point is that her situation, as described above, is one of make believe.

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Net Neutrality is government control, regulation and censorship of the internet. Oppose it with everything you can do. If you value your right to speak, read and communicate then call your Congressman and Senators. Call the White House. Call the FCC.

Tell them NO ! Hell No !!!

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My Name says it all. They are identical.

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Incidentally Kyle, I gotta say that I’m disappointed that you would condone joan1’s ignorance. She dug in deeper by limiting the 50 percent figure to income/payroll taxes — something she didn’t do in her original post.

As you are well aware, or should be, the top income tax bracket for households is 35 percent (2009). Of course, assuming that only the standard deduction is applied (a generous assumption), households in this tax bracket would have an effective income tax rate that is somewhat lower. In addition, households in this tax bracket have income well in excess of the cap on social security taxes, thereby significantly reducing the effective rate on the self-employment tax.

50 percent? As I said. Impossible. You know better.

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WOW.

The AJC continually day after day pursues a culture of Race baiting, class warfare and irresponsible reporting ( if it can be called that). I will not allow myself to think that there are actually people out in Atlanta who harbor such ill will towards each other and even more so to the least of these among us. Call it socialism redistribution of wealth whatever, most good southern folks call it compassion.

I choose to believe that there is a system of bloggers employed by the AJC to write these horrible comments in an effort to get more activity on their site i.e. increase the number of clicks and amount of time spent on ajc.com. So please take these comments with a grain of salt Atlanta, GA is not full of class hating, racist, Corporate KKK members as the current discussion ( and almost every discussion on ajc.com) would have you believe.

I also know enough about life, Georgia and Atlanta to believe some of these comments are true and that is scary. Growing up in south GA I encountered racism / classism at an early age. Ironically enough the KKK and hate mongers stayed away from the minorities. They knew who we were we knew who they were, we knew what they were capable of and they knew what we were capable of. And my family was middle class, 2 – parent household, as were many of my friends, (don’t believe the stats about black men not being there a lot of the are were and will be in the future.) We (african American community in SE GA) were outnumbered by “poor” whites. But in Atlanta everyone acts like they harbor no ill will but get online and let the hatred fly. Some of these comments are eligible for prosecution under the hate crime statue!

A lot of things are wrong in this world, country, state but one thing that will not fix it is business as usually. Be it modern day slavery of black men with corrupt laws and enforcement coupled with slave labor ridden private controlled for profit prison systems. Or the vilianization of the Mexican immigration after we destabilize their country and in actuality stole their land from them at the same time “American” were stealing slaves from african, india and china. Business as usual from the same politician sometimes in the same family with the same mindset, that has not worked in three centuries. We have to have a positive outlook on life and how we approach the problems we face no matter what they are, for a time is coming when we will have to make an account. To our maker, to our family to our fellow man to ourself.

In His service!

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Viva la revolution to Derek the Communist. Che Gavarra, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez are such great role models.

No wonder you whine and complain so much. Obviously, you can’t make it on your own merits so someone else owes you.

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My grandson is in a 75% tax bracket since he will be required to pay back trillions of dollars in stimulus, health care, bailouts, 2-year unemployment extensions, mortgages, cars, caulk, etc. & he’s not even born yet.

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It is my firm conviction that if the State supressed capitalism by violence, it will be caught in the coils of violence itself, and will fail to develop non-violence at any time. The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence.

I look upon an increase of the power of the State with the greatest fear, because although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality, which lies at the root of all progress. We know of so many cases where men have adopted trusteeship, but none where the State has really lived for the poor.

“Love thy neighbor as thyself” is no counsel of perfection. The capitalist is as much a neighbor of the laborer as the latter is a neighbor of the former, and one has to seek and win the willing co- operation of the other. Nor does the principle mean that we should accept exploitation lying down. Our internal strength will render all exploitation impossible.

It can be easily demonstrated that destruction of the capitalist must mean destruction in the end of the worker and as no human being is so bad as to be beyond redemption, no human being is so perfect as to warrant his destroying him whom he wrongly considers to be wholly evil.

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Funny stuff Dusty…….

Dusty

May 8th, 2010
11:36 am

Well, THANK YOU, Kyle. This is one great sensible commentary. If only our government would listen to the voice of reason. But I fear they are deaf to any moderate voice. The reduction of debt by stringent sensible means does not seem to appeal to Democrats. It obviously does not appeal to Greeks.

Bush is the ONLY American President to Cut taxes, and start a WAR…..

Please do not ever say Republican’s are Fiscally responsible, unless you cross your fingers, or pray to God about your lies.

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Hey Peter, you are the funny stuff. Compare the costs of entitlements.

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Hey Michael H. Smith…..so what did a 3 trillion dollar war do to help the average American ? 3 Trillion dollars…….you compare the costs.

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Budget Office Clarifies Health Care Costs Update

Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis listing at least $115 billion in spending under President Barack Obama’s health care law that was not fully accounted for at the time Congress passed the legislation.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10630665

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Yes….. the unfunded SS debt, is money stolen from the account by past Presidents…….American’s are mandated to pay that money in, and personally I have paid in over 200K…..will I see most of that money ?

Please do not ever state the Republican’s are Fiscally responsible……. So what was the War for ?

Answer…. so oil companies can get at the Iraq Oil, since they were not able to bid on the oil when Saddam was in power.

So why did Bush cut taxes and start a war…answer because he was not fiscally responsible.

What did his dad say…..”Read my lips I will not raise taxes.” Then he did…….

Why did Cheney’s office write cost plus contracts ? Because he didn’t mind Bilking American’s.

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According to costofwar.com, the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq have cost us almost a trillion dollars. The cost of both wars for 15 years total as of 2/09 when the economic stimulus bill was passed was equal to the cost of the stimulus bill. It seems to me that the legislators that voted for the single most expensive piece of legislation passed in the history of our country, probably in the entire world, could have at least read it.

As long as we’re buying oil from the Middle East, we’re actually paying for both sides of the war. Does that make common sense?

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What is wrong with this country is exemplified by the 4th Congressional district race here. The Dems have Hank Johnson and Vernon Jones running, and the Repubs have a couple of guys (names unknown to me). But it doesn’t matter who the Repubs run, the Dems will win because they are black and this is Dekalb. And both the candidates are either idiots or crooks. Go figure how our government got so bad.

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Great article Kyle: I know, it is exhausting arguing with Democrats…

Thanks for actually presenting facts, unlike Democrats who just blatantly lie and spew “talking points.” One poster on here mentioned how the US has murdered “hundreds of thousands” of innocent civilians…were they referring to World War 2? No, they were actually talking about Iraj and Afghanistan….Of course, civilian casualties are far, far, far less than than…but again, forget those silly little facts

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Peter tell us how you think Iraq has anything to do with government dependency and out of control government spending on entitlements.

Thank you.

PS. Oh and be sure to vote @ YouCut http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

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no.. No. NO!

Derivatives are necessary for growth. The market cannot betray itself. The market does not play dice with hedge bets. The markets provided the global economy that has been dealing with the bailouts. The markets have already discounted the corruption and the incompetence. Human nature is built into the market cycle. Have faith.

That the trillions of dollars in derivatives is a human construct doesn’t mean that it’s not real. Time is a human construct, yet try being late for a job interview, and see how you fare.

The global market is going to reveal even more bizarre financial anomalies that are as organic as the exotic particles we find in nature as we look ever-larger (and smaller) into the universe.

So why don’t you all just go scratch your lottery tickets and howl at the moon, and leave the complicated issues about our economy to the cool people like moi?

morons

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Kyle: “Sooner or later, you find out that, no matter how rich your nation, and no matter how clever the people running it, there isn’t enough money in the world to buy what you can’t pay for.”

Actually, it looks like Krugman read Kyle’s post (or posts by others distributing right-wing talking points) –

“‘We demand more than we’re willing to pay for,’ is the usual line. Yet that line is deeply misleading.

First of all, who is this ‘we’ of whom people speak? Bear in mind that the drive to cut taxes largely benefited a small minority of Americans: 39 percent of the benefits of making the Bush tax cuts permanent would go to the richest 1 percent of the population.

And bear in mind, also, that taxes have lagged behind spending partly thanks to a deliberate political strategy, that of ’starve the beast’: conservatives have deliberately deprived the government of revenue in an attempt to force the spending cuts they now insist are necessary…

…we should ignore those who pretend to be concerned with fiscal responsibility, but whose real goal is to dismantle the welfare state [e.g., Social security and Medicare]— and are trying to use crises elsewhere to frighten us into giving them what they want. ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/opinion/14krugman.html?ref=opinion

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Another example of Republican thrift…..

Gov. Perry’s temporary digs costs Texas big bucks

By JAY ROOT, Associated Press Writer Jay Root, Associated Press Writer – Mon May 17, 5:35 am ET
AUSTIN, Texas – With the state facing a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent almost $600,000 in public money during the past two years to live in a sprawling rental home in the hills above the capital, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

It costs more than $10,000 a month in rent, utilities and upkeep to house Perry in a five-bedroom, seven-bath mansion that has pecan-wood floors, a gourmet kitchen and three dining rooms. Perry has also spent $130,000 in campaign donations to throw parties, buy food and drink, and pay for cable TV and a host of other services since he moved in, the records show.

The public spending on Perry’s rental comes as the state grapples with a budget shortfall forecast to reach at least $11 billion over the next two years. Perry has asked state agencies to cut their budgets by 5 percent and the Republican House speaker has begun to consider furloughs and shortened workweeks for state employees.

The Great Republican lie is all about us…..

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