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StumbleLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Crisis we’re in requires we move past casting blame
Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010 | 2:02 a.m.
Regarding James Joseph Beery’s Saturday letter to the editor, headlined “Inflammatory issues obscure what’s important,” about the “smoke screens” being presented to the public, including the controversy about the mosque near ground zero:
He is right, yet has not reached the full conclusion. We are in an economic crisis, no doubt, yet looking for someone to blame is just another “smoke screen.”
What is needed are plans to alleviate this crisis, from President Barack Obama, from the GOP, from both of them together working across party lines to help us right now instead of this immature politicking of blame and deflection.
We deserve no less. A lot of people are going to have to face up to a greater level of responsibility and accountability in the near future. And this should include our elected representatives of all views.
Discussion: 2 comments so far…
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Someone needs to explain this to Obama who seems to be stuck in "Blame Bush" mode.
Tony Scott says "What is needed are plans to alleviate this crisis."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The plan should be to eliminate the "Unusual Uncertainty" to create a hiring environment.
The Plan is Listen to Bill Clinton "It the economy stupid."
Then Plan is Listen to Obama's Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke who said we have "Unusual Uncertainty"
"Unusual Uncertainty" is:
- raising taxes $2.5 Trillion January 1, 2011,
- higher cap and trade energy cost with EPA greenhouse gas orders coming in 2011,
- higher health insurance premium costs (CA regulators just approved 13%) and a loss of $500 billion in the Medicaid system,
- Refusing to close our borders, protect the border citizens, use e-verify, or send illegals back to their country
- higher cost for borrowing for a car and capital formation for a business,
- Bashing and denigrating small businesses
- more jobs going overseas where costs are lower
- no end to the housing crisis with 10% of the owners missing payment and 21% of homes underwater
- more regulations but still billions of rotten eggs on the market,
- exploding unsustainable deficit at $1.3 Trillion every year in office,
- exploding unsustainable debt at $13.0 Trillion,
- and an ever increasing sluggish and inept centralized government.
In the grand scheme of things, petty arguments over the Ground Zero mosque pale by comparison to the big picture.
In virtually every situation, we're being manipulated into blaming one another. That's the smoke screen designed to hide the underlying issue.
The manipulator-in-chief is masterful at dividing his People. In situations large and small... everything from the Cambridge police acted stupidly, to fat cat businessmen need to be cut down to size, to Bush got us into this mess, financial, economic or natural disasters (like Katrina)"my predecessor" did it.
Why are we being manipulated this way? Who knows. The initial presidential pronouncement said, we will fundamentally change Americs, And afterward, we should pick up a Socialist mop and help to clean up the mess.
The blame game got us to a point where another 20% of the economy is now under full federal government control and more than half the population relies solely on the federal government for our very livelihood. Impressive accomplishments for fundamental change...and all done in 18 short months. Imagine 6 more years of change...it will be more than we hoped for.
The Small Ball Small Business Bailout Help is a Misdirection Plan
The latest Obama $30.0 billion Stimulus package 20 months after the bottom to the recession will not do any better than original $856 billion and any of the 8 or 9 "Emergency" $30 billion packages/plans since then.
The newest one promises to get $30 billion into the hands of small business at the same time they are looking at a $30 billion dollar tax increase January 1, 2011. Are you CONFUSED?
Further the vast majority of the bailout would go to banks to loan to small business to expand. The Federal government has been trying that for 20 months and it has not worked. And with the new regulations and strings attached few will be able to benefit.
Obama fails to recognize that most small business must live on their cash flow and hence are driven closely by sale and profit margin. They finance materials and labor cost with revolving credit cards and usually expand by taking equity out of their home and paying it back. Bank loans are hard to get because of high risk and come with high interest rate and usually result in bankruptcy in the current environment.
20 months into the recovery this $30 billion will work no better that the rest of the squandered trillion dollar stimulus.
There is a very interest article by David Rosenberg in today's Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper (www.theglobeandmail.com). He is of the opinion that what America is going through now is a true depression. He notes that there are no bread lines like in the dirty 1930's. However, he also notes that today's bread lines are actually "in the mail", since unemployment benefits have been so greatly extended in America that those people on a fruitless long term search for another job are eating only because of the continuing unemployment cheques.
Solutions:
A lot "more" federal funding NOW to create jobs and increase purchasing power.
Increaes Taxes on the top two Percent
a continued Program of public investment in physical and social infrastructure.
A real public option on health insurance to restrain medical inflation,which is the prime driver of federal deficits in the long run
a defense of social security as a key source of income for the elderly
Small business code words for the top 2%. If anybody is making money the mergers and aquisition boys swope down and buy them out and lay everyone off. No ones making money but the superrich.
It will get a lot worse before it gets any better. The main job of this administration is to get re-elected. I'm not talking about this coming election, the election of 2012. The President still has over 700 billion of the stimulus money left to spend, He will begin to spend that in early 2012 in order to give us the idea that he is turning things around. How he will do it is unknown as of yet. Why is he clinging to that money? Timing, he wants to wait until the time is right.
Taxing the top 2 percent won't feed the bulldog. It will be the bottom 90 percent of the country that will pay for any turn around. As usual.
hookershaky
If anyone believes that social security is a key source of income for the elderly should be ready to discuss recipes for dog food and how to construct alternate shelter..like cardboard shacks..
hookershaky
Print money to increase spending..creates more jobs in China and Mexico..
Talk about smoke screens, here's the biggest conspiracy on the face of the planet - which is NOT heating up due to humans:
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view...
THIS WHOLE GLOBAL WARMING THING IS A HOAX!!!!!
And the tree-hugging Dems want to tax the living daylights out of us so Al Gore can sell carbon credits...
TALK ABOUT CORRUPT!!!!
Back in the early seventies, these people were talking about an Ice Age...how stupid can they be?
Nov. 2 - Capitalists and Parents back in charge!
hookershaky
Your post @7:02 about the merger and acquisition boys is right. They do swoop in, buy it and lay everyone off.
The market and currency manipulators are in the same category.
That is the part of the economy that needs to be regulated and taxed...
I believe there is only $300 Billion of the stimulus money left, but I could be mistaken.
Hookershaky, your ignornce is staggering. Drive down Sahara or Flamingo or Trpoicana. Almost EVERY business in any of those strip malls or small buildings is owned by a person who is going to be targeted by the OBAMA TAX INCREASE (OTI)!
That means a pet grooming shop or Subway Sandwich shop owner is going to have his/her taxes raised because of the OTI.
EVERY business on those streets are in danger of laying off people. Obama and the Dems say that the OTI will negatively effect only 2-3% of the people paying the tax. That means if there are one thousand such businesses on those streets that 20-30 of them will be laying off people or going out of business.
Gee, isn't that great - to paraphrase the words of our great Senator Harry Reid "Only 2,000 people lost their jobs, that's good!"
And that's what YOUR supporting, Hookershaky.
THINK for once!
I'll give you a great example. THere is a shuttered business on the corner of Buffalo and Sahara called the "Big Inning". THey had great food at reasonable prices and the bar was pretty much full every night with people playing slots.
One night we were in the place and the waitress told us that it was the last night. Why? we asked. The owner decided that it was too much effort to run the place to make $40K a year after fees, costs and taxes. So he decided to shutter the place.
80 people out of work!
How many businesses will suffer the same fate after the OBAMA TAX INCREASE?
That's what you Dems want!
More people at the unemployment office dependent on the Dems to seize money and hand out checks.
That's right, increase your voting block by getting people to lose their job!
Brilliant!
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The principle of pimp and whore
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;
The pimps have been outed .... they are the Koch brothers, billionaires, and Rupert Murdoch - funders of the hate we hear daily from Oil Spill Sarah, Beck, Newt, Armey and Angle and they are paid covertly I think, by the think tanks, institutes, associations and lobbyists who are paid by them to spew out the hate and distortion and attacks on Social Security and Health Care Reform and proclaiming they hope Obama fails ... Jane Mayer did a great piece on these fools in the
Aug. 30 issue of The New Yorker magazine - a must read for anyone who opposes the double standard platform of the Tolibone Party of No
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Our country is being incinerated by these fools ..... Michele Bachmann and Comrad Angle and the robotic group of followers all spewing out the identical words .... isn't it startling how this has come out? A revelation.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Don't Cry For Me Arizona ( just stop using drugs )
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/6713...
I stand corrected. There is "only" around 350 billion left. They say it's all spoken for. All but a few billion. Well, then this is really a revolting development. WTF happened to all the money? I haven't seen a kopek of it. What a fargin joke that thing was.
I think we should save our Pet Grooming shops first. We should all start patronizing those places. Maybe get your haircut. Or your gland squeezed. C'mon folks, lets all chip in and help out.
Tony, If the Dems/Libs/Progressives don't blame Bush, then they'll have to accept blame for their agenda and their idyllic push to fiscal Armageddon.
Which is something they can't accept or refuse to take the blame for.
btw, where are the lapdogs for Obama, it's almost eight o'clock and they haven't chimed in.
Now you did it. They'll be up soon enough. Right now they're spooning in the last of the MSNBC oatmeal.
Wall street is deserting Pres. Obama.
Can Main street be far behind?
GetaLife, those lapdogs get to sleep in!
Government agencies don't open their doors until nine or ten o'clock. Just enough time for these guys to fire up their bongs and smoke a little "Food Stamps for Weed" before they shuffle down to the various agency and put in their day's work filing the appropriate paperwork to keep the free cash flowing.....
Wake up, Little Miss Loco, American Hater, LastThroes, Gmag, et al.
And especially YOU, Vidi!
The banks and not Obama are holding on to the bailout Money. They'll buy whoevers in office ! They should have kicked over some cash to we wage slaves. They could force the banks to write down their real estate losses and change the price and terms without onerous fees. The banks should take some of the losses not the poor on unemployment taking them all. Did the poor invent the credit default swap did they lobby for the "free market" ?
The man said it's all gone. No stimuli left. Was it good for you?
@gogowhitesox said "The owner decided that it was too much effort to run the place to make $40K a year after fees, costs and taxes."
If the owner was only making $40k a year, then he wouldn't be affected by Obama's plan to let the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest 2% expire. Right? That plan only affects households making over $250k.
Business owners making enough to be affected are unlikely to close the business because they pay a 2-3 percent more in taxes.
We're talking about maybe 3% of taxpayers being affected (750,000 people out of the total taxpayers in this country). Here's an interesting and balanced article: http://www.americanchronicle.com/article...
Well, bg, you've made a BIG assumption. That would be the assumption that the property was the ONLY business he ran plus you didn't include any outside income.
Say you owned four Subway shops and three made you $75K a year and the last $25K. What are you going to do because of the OBAMA TAX INCREASE? Close the shop making $25K because it isn't worth the time and efort.
That is EXACTLY what is going to happen!
hookershaky:
Who's going to feed us after the top 2% are taxed out of all their money?
Where's the government going to get the money to keep give me food stamps? welfare checks?
Bad Assumption, Part two. THis also comes into play.
A business owner is making $200K per year. He can increase his profits to $250K per year by buying some new equipment and hiring more people. But now he determines that if he does buy that equipment and hire those people - AND HE MAKES THE MONEY - he will be taxed an additional $12,500 (5% over the entire $250K).
And what if he lays out the money and things don't go as planned and his income stays the same?
THe risk isn't worth the reward and this business owner will end up doing NOTHING.
Great for the economy, isn't it!
You Dems are sure sharp!
chicago : have your butler wipe the drool from your face !
jank the same place that the top 2% got the TARP bailout !
Yes, gogowhitesox, I made that assumption based upon the limited data you supplied. Assuming the fact pattern you just laid out, I wouldn't close the $25k shop. Assuming I paid 2% more taxes on my $250k income, that's still only $5k so keeping that $25k shop open still nets me $20k more than I'd have without it.
People don't generally turn down money just because it costs them more in taxes or fees if they net more than the increase in costs.
If you read the article I linked to in my first post, you'll see that the form of business (corp., LLC, etc.) has an impact so I'd certainly look at the form of my business. I'd also work on getting that $25k up to the $75k of my other stores.
So the way you rich want it is Bailouts for us , Poverty for the rest of us ? The Government is only there as a nanny for the rich only ?
Okay, gogowhitesox, let's look at your second fact pattern. I'm not sure where you got the 5% number. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire makes tax rates go back to the Clinton rates which are 2-3% higher for the top income brackets. That only changes the number but doesn't affect the result. If your taxes go up because you change brackets, the last time I checked, you only pay more on the additional income over the lower bracket. Using $201k as the break (just so it's over the $200k you posited), our hypothetical business owner now pays the additional 2-3 or 5% on the $49k (250-201) so the number is much lower than your $12.5k (max $2500).
So, yes, it's possible for the investment by the business owner to not work out. Ninety-five percent of businesses fail in the first 5 years. Lots of investment with no return.
Suppose the business owner makes more than $250k due to the investment? As you suggested, if he doesn't think the risk is worth the reward and does nothing, he's still where he was. Making $200k and open for business. I don't see how that's bad for the economy. It doesn't ADD to the economy but it doesn't hurt it. Not all businesses can expand all the time. When Harrah's bought Caesar's, thousands lost their jobs. But the stock went up.
Top earners go fro 35% to 39.6% - almost a five percent increase. That's what is in store for those "Rich" people!
The real point is that the possibility of return DECREASES with the tax increase and the amount of risk INCREASES proportionally.
THat's a bad combination.
Also, the rate of return on the capital invested goes down. Would it be better to take the capital expenditure and buy non-taxable bonds instead or municipal bonds? Probably.
THese tax increases are putting a lot of options into play. You say that generally people don't turn down making money because of fees or taxes. If you are spending 25% of your time to make 10% of your income, you might decide to close that store and concentrate on the others and raise their productivity. That would make your life easier and allow you to reduce your overhead.
Of course, that could cost people their jobs - and that is what this tax increase is going to do.
Alan Simpson is a typical silver spoon, all his wealth is inherited. Never worked a day in his life. Big rich guy in a small state. Why has Obama given this guy a venue to spew his attacks on the last vestiges of the middle class ?
bg, what is REALLY interesting in corporate America is who has the power. Most people think it's the CEO or CFO. Wrong.
It's the Institutional Investor (II) who controls huge blocks of the company stock. For example, CALPERS for example, has huge chunks of oil companies and a direct pipeline to the CEO's office.
If the price of the stock begins to tumble, these II's get on the phone and demand that the CEO lay-off people and get the cost structure down so the profitability goes up and the stock follows suit.
In many cases, you have II's representing union based pension funds calling CEO's and demanding that the CEO fire union employees to get the stock price up. Typically, the CEO won't take calls from VP's of production or plant bosses, but they hop when a big II calls!
That aspect of business is rarely talked about - but it happens every day!
bg
It is the risk. If my business is making X and I increase it to X10 ...but the government takes X5..I cannot easily back down to X... I have capital invested and debt incurred..and that Tax X5 the government takes is not "asset" I can borrow against or budget differently.
That Tax X5 is money lost, capital lost, credit lost and no benefit..
BTW, gogowhitesox, who said I was a Democrat? For all you know, I own 4 Subway restaurants and pay a lot of taxes. The Bush tax cuts were sure nice to have but for every dollar I got, we have to pay China and Japan $1.10 or so (I'm not looking up the Treasury rates.) That's idiotic. IMHO, we need to increase tax COLLECTIONS and cut spending and pay down the debt. Under Reagan and both Bushes, taxes were cut and the debt went up. Under Clinton, taxes went up and the debt went down. Under Obama, we've got a really bad economy that started before he was elected.
I'm withholding judgment on Obama for now. I give the Democrats credit for trying something, however wrong I think it is. The Republicans stated goal is to make Obama fail so they vote NO to everything. We pay them $175k a year to do nothing. They're really helping the United States. Lovely.
Got cold cuts to slice!
baffell us with the bs please !
bg
If you had a diner..You had $100 in the till. You pay $90 for expenses and you have $10 profit..
Now someone walks in and demands $9 out of the till. Does it matter whether the person who feels so entitled has a gun or a government issue fountain pen?
So you have $1 left..and the stove breaks down. The repairs cost $10. You have to borrow to pay for it..and the lender will count your income as $1
That $9 looted by gangster or guv'mnt is gone..it is money lost, capital lost, credit lost and no benefit
Taxing the top 2% would decrease the wealthy's ability to lobby against laws that are in the interest of the Nation as a whole. It's not just a matter of accounting it's a matter of justice.
ggws, aka the bloviator, writes:
"Talk about smoke screens, here's the biggest conspiracy on the face of the planet - which is NOT heating up due to humans: THIS WHOLE GLOBAL WARMING THING IS A HOAX!!!!!"
Sorry, the paper got that wrong. Read a reputable one. The inquiry found that
"However, it did not call into question the main findings behind the 2007 report, and said that overall its assessment process of the rate of, and risks from, climate chance had "been a success and served society well"."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environ...
And from the New York Times:
"Although there is widespread scientific consensus that human activity is heating the planet, critics used the mistakes -- which emerged at the same time as the unauthorized release of hundreds of e-mails from a climate research center in Britain -- to question all the science involved. The e-mails opened prominent climate scientists to charges that they had manipulated some data. Numerous investigations have largely cleared the scientists.
The review committee, which did not evaluate the scientific conclusions made by the United Nations panel, said the way the panel went about its work was "successful over all."
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/aug...
AP
gbigs writes:
"Even if you dont buy that Subprime at Fannie killed the econ, the Obama/Dem congress has utterly failed to deal with the econ. and virtually everything else."
Sure, gibigs, whatever you say:
http://www.bsu.edu/ibb/us/gdp00.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-...
And of course, Bush's last two quarters:
http://useconomy.about.com/b/2009/02/27/...
AP
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
---------------------------
As reported in the WSJ 8-28-10, IRS numbers show in 2003 people making over $200K paid $313 billion in income taxes and in 2007 they paid $610 billion.
So lowering the tax rate increased revenue from the rich 94% in 4 years.
Other then being punitive why would Democrats want to raise the tax rate January 1st 2011.
The result was that during 2008 America still produced the tax revenue that the Bill Clinton CBO forecast in 1998.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
hookershaky:
It is a matter of accounting. I understand now that you are talking about liberation theology. You believe that justice is served when the top 2% are taxed into poverty to pay for the poor.
So the top 2% become the poor..what do we do then?
After you eat the seed corn..what then?
Sharing power with the self dealers would be a disaster ! Don't believe the hysteric obfuscators at top of the financial heirarchy. Punitive ? - thats over the top like the invasion of Poland . Not raising the minimum wage in 15 years now thats punitive.
hooker shakey:
After you take all of top 2% of trust fund earners ( Kerry,Gore, and market/currency manipulators.. Soros's) money what do you plan to do then?
O...wait..those guys are not going to allow you to tax and regulate them..
Wonder why that is?
@gbigs said "To top it off? Obama spent a million bucks redecorating the oval office to give a speech to take credit for Iraq."
According to Christwire.org, "Barack Obama is now spending $2.4 BILLION American taxpayer dollars to redecorate the oval office." http://christwire.org/2010/08/white-hous...
"The makeover was not done at taxpayer expense; the White House said the costs were covered by the White House Historical Association, a nonprofit group, through a contribution from the committee that paid for Mr. Obama's inauguration. The White House is not saying how much the redesign cost, except to say that it was ''in line with'' what Mr. Obama's two most recent predecessors spent." http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/...
"The White House declined to reveal the overall cost of the new look, but a statement said it was "in line with the amount spent by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush on the redesigns of their Oval Office. The statement said funds would come from Obama's inaugural committee and the nonprofit White House Historical Association." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_oval_offic... (from AP)
You need to find a new news source.
Try this source: http://www.theonion.com/
Mr bg thanks, typical republicans penny smart dollar foolish !!
gbigs writes:
"REID SAID THE WAR WAS LOST"
Yep, the Iraq War was a great "sucess":
Cost: about three trillion dollars
U.S. lives lost: 4,300+
Wounded: 30,000+
U.S. troops suffering from ptss: 200,000+
weapons of mass destruction captured: 0
Impact on Iran: the destablization of Iraq greatly increased Iran's influence.
Is the Middle East safer today than before the invasion? No
Hmmmm. What a great success.
A few more "successes" like that and we will be finished.
AP
Iraq war . . . we LOST 4,416 American lives (and counting) . . . what exactly did we "win"?
Obama was correct from the very beginning. Iraq was a needless, stupid INVASION. It was never a war.
From a veteran, so save the guilt trip.
Once Sen. Reid is reelected the secret plan to round up all teabaggers and have them placed in concentration camps can begin.
Warning to all Teabaggers:
Black helicopters piloted by either Christian-hating Muslims or illegal immigrant Latinos will be coming to get you on November 3rd. Baggers posting on this board will be apprehended first and fully reeducated in the standard utopian socialist worldviews.
Lady gogo, Rev bgigs, JanK, etc., you've all been warned. Now go hide under the bed and try not to wet your pants.
gbigs writes:
"Obama has the bloodiest month in Afghan war history in July."
Gosh, who made the decision to invade Afghanistan, gbigs?
Following in the footsteps of the Soviets and Brits, who had their ass** kicked by the Afghanis.
Was his name Bush?
And how did Bush do in Afghanistan?
Answer: he began losing the war almost as soon as he went in.
As Powell warned Bush before he went in, "you break it, you own it."
Bush is long gone, but we still "own" the mess in Afghanistan. To the tune of 6 billion a month.
Just to jog your memory, gbigs, which does not appear to work that well:
June 2004 (CNN.com: "Bush: Afghanistan is a Big Victory Over Terrorism")
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/15/karzai/...
Oct 2006 (Newsweek: "The Rise of Jihadistan")
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14975282/site/ne...
Nov 2007 (The Guardian: "Afghanistan Falling Into the Hands of Taliban")
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov...
Dec 2008 (Newsweek: "Winning in Afghanistan")
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/12/30/winni...
AP
"Obama was correct from the very beginning. Iraq was a needless, stupid INVASION. It was never a war."
***********
His vote against the surge, along with Harry, would've guarenteed defeat.
@gbigs
www.ritholz.com
Barry Ritholz is a fund manager who is offering $100,000 to anyone who can LOGICALLY explain how Fannie/Freddie caused the Subprime meltdown. You state on these blogs DAILY that this is in fact the case. Why not go explain this to Mr. Ritholz, and collect your check? Seems more lucrative than posting on The Sun blogs all day. Or, are you getting paid for that as well?
We need big solutions to big problems.
I don't know if BHO can fix the problem.
I do know that more tax breaks for the rich and more lay-offs for Federal, State and County workers are not the answer.
We need big solutions. The GOP has no idea how to govern.
The GOP has the theory that small government is the solution to everything.
This is why our governmental agencies have been underfunded. Just look at Katrina.
These hateful, stupid Fascists will ruin America for the vast majority of Americans.
The Electorate is aware, and the GOP is through.
anyone wanting to keep things the way they are is not interested in anything Paul Krugman has to say .
Continual War and depression and no middle class thats the way Gbigs wants it. You want a Dystopia like the iron heel and 1984 you got it ....thanks "blood sacrifice".
@gbigs
Ignoring my post at 11:07 AM?
tico writes to gbigs:
"Ignoring my post at 11:07 AM?"
gbigs doesn't believe in evolution. Because he can't find it in his bible.
That should tell you where gbigs is coming from, in terms of rationality and evidence.
gbigs has use for neither.
He
Tico, I'm offering $100,000 to anyone who can logically explain how the Bush policies caused the recession that we are in.
As with Mr. Ritholz, I will be the arbiter as to whether you made your point or not. And I won't ask you to sign up and be a client to evaluate your pap when you post it. For those of you NOT in the investment business, this is a marketing ploy to raise money...
And for the person who posted the "Onion" as a source, you may be unaware of the fact that the "Onion" is a satirical magazine and nothing in it is factual.
And, finally, some stats from the New York Times that were delivered on MSNBC this morning:
Iraq has the twelth fastest growing economy in the world and only 19% of Iraqi's want a religious government.
That means, liberals, that Iraq may become our best friend in the region and a long time trading partner and ally. Somewhat like Germany at the end of World War II. And how many troops died in World War II or World War I when the invasion of Europe really had nothing to do with us? I believe Wilson ran on the slogan "He kept us out of the War" and the second world war was called "Mr. Roosevelt's War".
Please be consistent and apply the same standard, please!
Save it welcher !!!!
D-Day Casualties:
U.S. Killed - 1465
U.S. Wounded - 5200
That's in ONE DAY.
I guess all you liberals would have been on the transports saying "Come Back, Germany never threatened to invade the U.S.!!!"
And now you liberals would rather NOT use force and watch the crazy loon Ahmadenijad have a nuclear weapon cache.
THat stupid policy is going to get MILLIONS killed if they drop a bomb on Israel. But, then again, those are just a bunch of "Heebs", right American Hater, LastThroes, Tico, Hookershaky, et al.
When someone threatens you with WMD's you take them at their word they got 'em and you take them out if you can.
That's just what Bush did - and Obama doesn't have the guts to do. And it will cost someone on this planet dearly...
Think about it.
If the far-right flat earthers don't believe in evolution despite the mountains of evidence that all but proves it, how can they be expected to see the validity of global warming no matter how much scientific proof is presented?
They have eyes but cannot see because they don't they want to.
This speech tonight is going to be similar to Harry Truman taking credit for developing the first H-Bomb!
Will Obama do the honorable thing and give credit where credit is due - to the previous administration - or pander to his left-wing bleaters who called our lead officer "General Betray Us"?
And when will Harry Reid come out and say the Afghanistan War is "Lost"?
Can't tell, Harry is too afraid to face the citizens of this state let alone show his face to talk about serious issues....
LastThroes,
Your 12:06 post starts with these words:
Think about it.
No reason to read the rest in that I don't believe a salient thought has ever entered your head....
Every Day, 24/7, All of the radical extremist so-called republicans in Congress, their candidates running for office, Fox Fraudcasting--Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, Savage, Limbaugh, Ingraham, other un-news sources, Hate radio, and the lying boot licking propagandist wingnut bloggers tell lies, even preposterous lies, and repeat them over and over in an attempt to brainwash the American citizens.
Where do they get their propaganda techniques from? They have adopted the Nazi propaganda techniques of Herr Hitler and Herr Goebbels.
Those techniques are:
1. Name Calling
2. Glittering Generalities
3. Transfer
4. Testimonial
5. Plain Folks
6. Card Stacking
&. Band Wagon
To view these techniques, just type into your search bar: "Propaganda techniques of German Fascism" and the "Institute for propaganda analysis."
If you want a comparison on Fascism in Germany under Hitler and his Nazi's and Fascism under bush/cheney, just go to: http://www.fascismusa.com,
www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.html,
www.ourfuture.org,
www.alternet.org/tags/fascism/...
Conservative Republican, David Klinghoffer, former National Review Editor: "The Right is losing it's way...Now, under the influence of the 'Potty mouthed' Andrew Breitbart, the right is more interested in trashing the left than in defending the best values of civilization. Now observe the rule of the crazy cons."
Republican Representative Bob Inglis responding to Fox Fraudcasting--Beck, Limbaugh, and the Tea Party wing: "When we start just delivering rhetoric and misinformation...We're failing the conservative movement, we're failing the country."
Chris Matthews responding to those "birthers" that constantly propagate the lies about President Obama not being born in the USA:
"It is aimed to disabling his administration politically/ And are the people who are doing this, perpetrating it day after day by false statements, innuendo, and professed doubts, in fact the worst kind of citizen. '
"Are they, no matter how much they claim to be patriotic, really the most Un-American of people...?"
"The Tricks of Fox's Trade"
1. Rhetorical questions
2. Creating Reality by repeated slogans
3. Conclusory lies delivered with certainty
4. Highlight out-of-context aberrations and ignore truthful or factual data
5. McCarthyism and Causation
6. When in doubt, race bait,
www.observer.com/2010/opinions/how-fox-n.....
As a fellow Nevada citizen, you can take the knowledge from above and defeat the Fascists in Nevada and their Fascist propaganda.
Do you want a better quality life for you and yours? Fight back with the truth and your intelligence. That is what Fascists hate most--intelligence and truth.
The Fascists know that truth will destroy them and their demagogues.
ggws, the great bloviator, writes:
"When someone threatens you with WMD's you take them at their word they got 'em and you take them out if you can."
Gosh, I wasn't aware that Saddam had threated the U.S. or anyone else with wmds.
He didn't. Nor did he have any.
We spent three trillion dollars and 4,400 American lives to find out that Bush didn't have a clue but the UN inspectors did. The UN inspectors said that Iraq had no nukes or other wmds. They were right.
North Korea--developed nuclear bombs during Bush's watch. Should we invade there?
Israel--developed nuclear weapons and the U.S. said nothing. Pretended that it didn't. Shouldn't we have invaded?
Iran: doesn't have nukes.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWBT01...
So we don't invade Israel, which secretly created nuclear weapons--but we should invade Iran now, which doesn't even have one?
Right. Makes total sense.
AP
I am having FUN today...I have been reading all the left wing snitts who have managed to unearth "theologians" and "religious authorities" to pontificate in learned tones about "Glenn Beck's Religious Revival."
My My, look at all the annointed Protestant Popes presuming to correct and take umbrage with another man's simple faith..
I thought it was a secular rally to honor the military. Is the mere mention of God a sign of singular religious intent?
.
ggws writes:
"That means, liberals, that Iraq may become our best friend in the region and a long time trading partner and ally."
Gosh, I could have sworn that we invaded to get those hidden wmds.
You mean we invaded just to create a "long-time trading partner?"
Funny how the rationale for invasion keeps on shifting.
By the way, I wonder how the 100,000 to 600,000 dead Iraqis feel about your new rationale?
Did you ask them before you killed them about whether or not they wanted to die to become our new "trading partner?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/world/...
AP
Has anyone besides me noticed that there is an observable pattern over the course of about 48 hours in the comments of some who post here?
Is it possible that someone who should be taking meds on a daily basis is saving money by taking them every other day?
If you are someone who is doing this, please speak with your doctor and investigate the possibility of cutting the pills in half and taking a half dose daily instead.
Adding to American Patriot's posts, After the first Gulf War when Saddam Hussein was thoroughly defeated and his military weakened considerably, he attacked the Shiites in the South. The USA established a no fly zone in the south and later on in the North when Saddam Hussein began attacking the Kurds.
The International Atomic Energy Agency scoured Irag looking for weapons of mass destruction but never found any.
Saddam Hussein was fully contained because of the no-fly zones, and his military was in no shape to attempt any attack against any neighboring countries.
The real reason to attack Iraq was to let bush's criminal oil cronies steal Iraq's oil and open the door for the war profiteers. They did that for their criminal business cronies.
When Iraq was invaded in March 2003, General Garner had a plan to quickly reconstitute the Iraqi government, but he was fired before he could do anything and Paul Bremer, Kissinger's boy, was put in charge of the Coalition Provisional Authority and began to royally screw things up. He empowered the Shiites, who are friendly to Iran and to Hezbollah. He disenfranchised the Sunni, and other groups, excepting the Kurds.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq was totally unnecessary. Saddam Hussein could have been removed very easily by the CIA, or other friendly intelligence agencies.
The war mongering, war profiteers would not have made any money if Saddam Hussein had just been removed.
Simple faith in the allmighty dollar ! cheap lazy Republicans
boftx : glad to see your back on your medication !
gbigs writes:
"The enemy is inside the gate"
Actually, I think the enemy has invaded your noggin.
I think you should get it checked out, gbigs.
You seem to be wildly reposting the same old propaganda everywhere you can find a spot to put it.
Are you ok, fella?
AP
Why don't republicans just elect a rock or a door knob to the elective offices,we wouldn't have to listen to the snewty rich people they vote for !
gibs writes:
"Follow the bouncing ball. The dems did subprime, and the credit market meltdown brought down the house."
You can make a cool $100,000 if you can prove your assertion, gbigs, and you already know that. The offer still stands--as does the analysis of what really happened. Not surprisingly, the realty does not mesh with your ideology, but then neither does evolution:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/05/rew...
AP
gbigs writes:
"You are a prove text jockey, who has the mistaken notiong that your tripe is "actually" read by anyone"
Gosh, can you send me the stats on that?
You can just send me the rough data you've collected.
Don't have any?
Hmmm--I guess you're using the same methodology you use to back up your other opinions.
Which is: why bother with facts at all? When it's so easy just to post ungrounded opinions?
Just like your opinion that evolution is a hoax, gbigs....
That one is about as solid as they come.
AP
Well, American Hater, I guess we shouldn't have invaded Germany in World War II. Were we trying to make them an ally when we went in? Nope. Did they treaten to invade the U.S.? Nope.
But in we went. Good to see that American Hater thinks Roosevelt was a war hawk who had no right invading Europe.
And what is really amazing is the stupidity of a statement like this:
By the way, I wonder how the 100,000 to 600,000 dead Iraqis feel about your new rationale?
Really, American Hater, you can't get this pinned down to less than a mere half million casualties? I guess it depends on which ultra-left-wing propaganda machine you are reading.
Just another example of the ridiculous nature of the delusional rants of the left....
If Iraq DOES become a pro-democracy and pro-US ally in the mid-east this will have been one of the great accompishments of the post WWII era.
Did Saddam have WMD's? Who knows, the UN inspectors were shuffled around by Saddam and then booted out. Are they in the Bakaa Valley as some suspect? Don't know. What I do know is that Saddam on numerous occasions threatened the U.S. and the world with total destruction and had a history of using military force (Kuwait, Iran, Kurds, etc.).
And the Democratic caucus voted to endorse the invasion if Bush decided to go in. And they saw the EXACT same intelligence Bush used in making their decision. Now, of course, you may get a complete NUT like Vidi to allege that Bush altered Natinal Security reports - but even the most strident left-wing lunatic would agree that to do so would be an act of treason and it didn't happen. Period.
So stop your revisionist history and let the historians sort this out in twenty years and make an assessment. You are not qualified to do so.
And watch on November 2 as the voters of this country decide to boot out the liberal lunatic element that has been in power for nineteen months too long.
64 days until:
Capitalists and Parents back in charge!
One idea I really liked was shot down by the GOP.
Can not remember which Politician it was. Might have been Ron Paul.
Use stimulus money to let anyone 60 yrs. or over retire with full Social Security benefits during a 6 month period.
It would free up a lot of jobs they are holding.
Make many jobs available to unemployed workers.
Get those people off the unemployment payroll.
Turn the unemployed into tax payers again.
Prevent more people from going bankrupt.
Help people make their house payments and save their homes.
Increase consumer spending.
Fastest way to put the unemployed back to work.
Good idea anything that takes predators from the top of hierarchies is always good for a democracy !
The sooner we get rid of those who prey upon the poor and uneducated by offering them bread and circuses the better off we'll be.
Did you hear?
Barack Obama won the war in Iraq!
He supported the surge and the American forces were successful because of the leadership of the Mad Hatter Barack Obama! Never heard of that guy Bush.....
Another example of the American People knowing better and seeing right through the Mad Hatter's self-indulgent belief that he is the smartest guy on the planet. The con man's ability to fool anybody but the most maladroit segments of society - that would be you Little Miss Loco, LastTHroes, Vidi, Gmag and American Hater - has completely disappeared.
Thanks, Dems, you're making it VERY, VERY Easy!
the circus' and certainly the bread appears to have been redistributed upward with inheritance tax cuts and the TARP Bailout ! Are we not spared the circus with the demise of Bush/Cheney ?
gogowhitesox - Did you hear? Barack Obama won the war in Iraq!
No I did not hear it. I heard Obama at Fort Bliss giving our military men,women and their families all the praise for the good job they have done in Iraq. Watch the video of the speech at Fort Bliss and come back and look at the sick GOP post of gogowhitesox.
This excellent post by VidiVeritas @ 1:14 deserves a second look.
_______
"Every Day, 24/7, All of the radical extremist so-called republicans in Congress, their candidates running for office, Fox Fraudcasting--Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, Savage, Limbaugh, Ingraham, other un-news sources, Hate radio, and the lying boot licking propagandist wingnut bloggers tell lies, even preposterous lies, and repeat them over and over in an attempt to brainwash the American citizens.
Where do they get their propaganda techniques from? They have adopted the Nazi propaganda techniques of Herr Hitler and Herr Goebbels.
Those techniques are:
1. Name Calling
2. Glittering Generalities
3. Transfer
4. Testimonial
5. Plain Folks
6. Card Stacking
&. Band Wagon
To view these techniques, just type into your search bar: "Propaganda techniques of German Fascism" and the "Institute for propaganda analysis."
If you want a comparison on Fascism in Germany under Hitler and his Nazi's and Fascism under bush/cheney, just go to: http://www.fascismusa.com,
www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.html,
www.ourfuture.org,
www.alternet.org/tags/fascism/...
Conservative Republican, David Klinghoffer, former National Review Editor: "The Right is losing it's way...Now, under the influence of the 'Potty mouthed' Andrew Breitbart, the right is more interested in trashing the left than in defending the best values of civilization. Now observe the rule of the crazy cons."
Republican Representative Bob Inglis responding to Fox Fraudcasting--Beck, Limbaugh, and the Tea Party wing: "When we start just delivering rhetoric and misinformation...We're failing the conservative movement, we're failing the country."
Chris Matthews responding to those "birthers" that constantly propagate the lies about President Obama not being born in the USA:
"It is aimed to disabling his administration politically/ And are the people who are doing this, perpetrating it day after day by false statements, innuendo, and professed doubts, in fact the worst kind of citizen. '
"Are they, no matter how much they claim to be patriotic, really the most Un-American of people...?"
"The Tricks of Fox's Trade"
1. Rhetorical questions
2. Creating Reality by repeated slogans
3. Conclusory lies delivered with certainty
4. Highlight out-of-context aberrations and ignore truthful or factual data
5. McCarthyism and Causation
6. When in doubt, race bait,
www.observer.com/2010/opinions/how-fox-n........
As a fellow Nevada citizen, you can take the knowledge from above and defeat the Fascists in Nevada and their Fascist propaganda.
Do you want a better quality life for you and yours? Fight back with the truth and your intelligence. That is what Fascists hate most--intelligence and truth.
The Fascists know that truth will destroy them and their demagogues."
LastThroes, Thanks for the re-post. If you want, send the post to anybody and everybody. The American people have a right to know they are being hoodwinked by those that have adopted Fascism.
Watch the little speech given by the Mad Hatter tonight from the newly recarpeted Oval Office. It seems that the Mad Hatter actually DID support the surge AFTER he denounced it three years ago.
Guess he must have been hanging out with John Kerry while they wrote the speech.
edspit, put down the Kool Aid and join the rest of us in the land of the thinking. You will find it very tedious in the "Land of Nod" which is inhabited by the posters who post the drivel supplied to them by the DNC and don't have the ability of cognitive thought.
LastThroes, nobody read it the first time....
A cacophony of bullcrap and the usual trick of the left:
"Let's do it ourselves and say they did!"
THe left is the master organization of casting everyone as an extremist and trying to deflect the argument away from the reality of the current administration's INCOMPETENCE!
And the American People know it....
And will reflect that knowledge on Nov 2 when:
Capitalists and Parents back in charge!
You're welcome Vidi, good work.
Lady gogo STFU
Ooh, how the blatant propagandists for the radical extremist un-traditional republicans and their minions hate the truth,
Ooh, how they try to deny the truth about their miserable past.
Ooh, how they try to revise history by putting a lying sugar coated veneer over that miserable failure history.
The citizens of Nevada are entitled to know what the truth is, and they have the right to know that the radical extremist un-tradional republicans and their despicable minions have adopted Fascist propaganda and are attempting to brainwash them by telling lies, even preposterous lies and repeating them over and over.
Conservative republican Representative Bob Inglis:
"When we start just delivering rhetoric and misinformation...we're failing the conservative movement, we're failing the country."
Conservative republican, David Klinghoffer, former National Review Editor: "The right is losing it's way. Now, under the influence of 'potty mouthed' Andrew Breitbart, the right is more concerned with trashing the left than defending the best values of civilization. Now observe the rule of the crazy cons."
LastThroes,
Seems like you're a little upset. Too bad you can't understand that there are millions of people out there who have figured out that the Mad Hatter Barack Obama is a con man.
Those millins of people are sick and tired of Government intruding into almost every aspect of their personal lives.
And those millions of people have come to realize that they stupidly gave over control of THEIR government to mopes who think like you.
It's OVER, little whiner!
63 days from now you will see:
Capitalists and Parents back in charge!
And little children like you will be in the corner sucking your thumb and wondering how it all happened!
Thanks for the primer on Fascism ,vidi and last throes. It's sad to say them Bushs are pretty evil. What demon seed. Jeb : talk about enemy of the people and for generations. People that voted for them ought to question whether they have good judgement.
OBAMA : The KKK members(Republicans) ain't going to let you in their country club so cut them lose.
ggws, aka "the great bloviator" continues with his bloviations:
"Well, American Hater, I guess we shouldn't have invaded Germany in World War II. Were we trying to make them an ally when we went in? Nope. Did they treaten to invade the U.S.? Nope."
You're pretty desperate to concoct a new rationale for invading Iraq, aren't you--other than the one offered to us at the time--that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
It wasn't. As the UN inspectors informed Bush at the time.
Meanwhile, are you really trying to compare Japan attacking the U.S. at Pearl Harbor with its combined navy and air force and Hitler immediately declaring war on us with the U.S. invading Iraq--which did none of the above?
You guys are incredible. And desperate to cover up one of Bush's biggest f***ups.
Let's see--he killed between 100,000 and 600,000 Iraqis in the process, increased the power of Iran, and trained a whole legion of Al Qaeda who quickly went to Iraq to practice fighting us.
Great going. And here you still are cheerleading the effort.
Perhaps you should read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/opinio...
AP
The bloviator writes:
"Really, American Hater, you can't get this pinned down to less than a mere half million casualties? I guess it depends on which ultra-left-wing propaganda machine you are reading."
What an idiot.
From Fairness and Accuracy in Media:
"If Americans are to make informed judgments not only about the invasion of Iraq and whether the occupation should continue, but also about future wars our government may wish to start, then we need to have good information about the war's impact on Iraqis.
But the major U.S. press rarely considers a most basic measure of that impact: how many Iraqis have been killed. When they do mention the toll, they consistently ignore or malign two major statistical studies, the first conducted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and published in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet (10/11/06), and the other released by the British polling firm Opinion Research Business (9/07). Both indicate that over a million Iraqis have now been killed. Yet an Associated Press poll in February (2/24/07) that asked Americans how many Iraqis have died received a median response of less than 10,000."
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3321
AP
These crazy, lunatic, greedy, nut-job
teabaggers don't care about our economy, they
just want their power back so they can steal
our Social Security from us.
Keep greedy republican thieves
OUT OF POWER.
The problem is they are pretty much checkmated. They avoid growth because growth causes DEFLATION. In a time with massive Deflation the last thing they want is to encourage more of it. Course the problem is you simply cannot stop progress as much as they try.