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Thursday, June 14, 2012 | 2 a.m.
I would like to commend O.T. Neal for his honesty about greed in his recent letter, “‘Greedy’ people can do good work.” There is nothing wrong with being greedy; it is their given right if they so choose.
What is wrong is when rich people are not only greedy, but also they lack ethics or compassion. Instead of paying their fair share of taxes to the country that allowed the free enterprise so they could accumulate their wealth, some people put their money in banks in the Cayman Islands and Europe. There are also rich people who hire illegal immigrants so they do not have to pay the minimum wage and Social Security. Then there are those who also want to eliminate food stamps for the poor and Medicare for the sick.
I am sorry that Mitt Romney appears to be Neal’s idol.
The real greed here is the government needing to have more of your money to spend in wasteful special interests.
---------
george says "What is wrong is when rich people are not only greedy, but also they lack ethics....Instead of paying their fair share of taxes to the country that allowed the free enterprise..."
In December of 2010 Obama, Reid and Pelosi passed and set the current "fair share" tax rates saying increases would slow the economy
Apparently George does not like the tax rates that Obama signed into law
So George attackes individuals making over $200 k for not volunteering to pay more taxes
------)
Well George is going to get his wish because Obama and Reid are refusing to address the automatic tax increase on the poor and middle class Jan 2013.
The $500 billion annually in automatic taxes that Obama already has going into place 1/1/2013 includes:
- lowest income tax rate jumps from 10% to 15%
- highest income tax rate jumps from 35% to 39.6%
- capital investment gains go from 15% to 20%
- the child tax credit is being reduced
- 15% dividends tax changed to be regular income up to 39.6%
- pay roll taxes up 2.9%
- new 3.8 % investment surtax including on real estate
- inheritance taxes exemption is reduced from $5 million to $1 million.
------)
The Harry Reid Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reported that the Obama January 1, 2013, $500 billion tax increase will shrink the economy 1.3 % tanking it into a recession. CBO also estimate that unemployment rises to 9.2%
The real greed here is the government needing to have more of your money to spend in wasteful special interests
The top 10% of wage earners pay 71% of all federal income taxes. What would you have them pay George, 90%? 100%?
Obama'a class warfare tax plan that already failed to pass congress would have only brought in an additional $4 billion in tax revenue which would reduce our deficit this year from $1.3 trillion to $1.296 trillion which is a drop in a very large bucket.
George, face the facts, Obama is exploiting top wage earners for the selfish purpose of getting re-elected, not to solve our nation's deficit & debt problems. Liberals added a slew of entitlements that our country is finding out we can't pay for and that is why you and other liberals are playing the "distraction game" away from our nearly $16 trillion dollar debt and $1.3 trillion dollar deficit to the false premise that we can afford our entitlements if we just get top wage earners to pay more taxes. Looking at the polls George it appears the distraction game is not working, why? Because moderate and independent voters are thinkers and are drawing their own conclusions based on facts, not false premises aimed at distracting voters.
"greed"...
by definition...
is wrong...
merriam webster defines "greed" as follows...
"a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed"...
what about that definition is good...
not one thing...
so to all those losers out there that defend greed...
grow up...
you are nothing more than selfish children...
some pretending to be far more wealthy and important than you actually are...
and all of you...
are screwing our children...
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!
Something tells me George doesn't pay his "fair share" either.
I have a question for the letter writer, the President and Warren Buffett. Who detremines "fair" share? The people who reap the rewards of their labors or the people who don't?
CarmineD
One great thing about America is that we have laws.
The letter writer is another Leftist who thinks he should be able to decide what someone else does with their own property. It is not up to any "do-gooding" misguided liberals to decide what someone legally does with their own money. That's part of the "Liberty" aspect of America's traditional values. Have you noticed how the left is compelled to dictatate that others always do what "feels good" to the liberal, irrespective of the rule of law.
Future, Carmine D, rusty 57, and Carmine D.
Why don't you adolescent, adoring supporters of the so-called republicans post the cold, hard facts for all of your fellow Nevadans to see?
Why is it that Y'all post mis-information that you get from your miserable failure masters 24/7 every day.
Who pays you to post misinformation?
Is it the Heritage Foundation?, CATO, NPRI,Koch Brothers?, Heartland Institute?,Castle Rock Foundation?, Coors Foundation?, Bradley Foundation?, Club for Growth?, SPN?, American Majority?, Sam Adams Alliance? or is it the Bivings Group?
Show some originality, post your own researched and proven information.
I agree with the letter writer, although I believe his definition of "greed" is closer to what most of us would term "ambition", and that is an integral part of success. The poster birdiedreamin has correctly pointed out that the dictionary definition of "greed" is totally negative.
We Canadians tend to view taxes as the necessary cost of a just society, so we are much less driven to move our assets out of our country in order to avoid or reduce the amount of taxes we pay. The insidious ways that so many large corporations have devised to eliminate the taxes they pay in America is disgusting, but your politicians have tweaked your laws to permit this injustice to occur.
Although taxes are necessary, it would still be nice if our leaders didn't waste the money so flagrantly and overspend so viciously. We really are stealing from our children and grandchildren by perpetuating such enormous debt.
Just like the Borg said on Star Trek, resistance is futile. Taxes will have to be raised and entitlement, military and other programs will have to be downsized. Arguing otherwise is foolhardy.
Donald Desaulniers (FromBellevilleCanada)
Ethics problems? How can we tell? The media spins things way to the left so that we cannot believe much of anything reported. There is so much emphasis and time given to minor and irrelevant "issues" that they don't bother covering things that matter--like why Congress has time for endless hearings but no time to budget.
Carmine said:
"I have a question for the letter writer, the President and Warren Buffett. Who detremines "fair" share? The people who reap the rewards of their labors or the people who don't?"
Well, I would think if a firm has 500 employees and 10 owners, laws should be changed that allow those 510 to decide what is fair. Employee ownership should be a norm rather than an oddity. Everyone would benefit. If one loses their job wrongly, there would be 510 owners to fix it. If a guy screwed up, he would be fired for cause by the same 510 people. There is a way to fix America. We just need more balance.
The problem is the workers aren't reaping the rewards of their labor. They are getting the least amount possible.
And the middle class is being asked to foot the bill for those who are the "have nots" because the uber rich is heading for Swiss bank accounts and China. Anyone but their neighbors.
Roslenda, Ethics can be defined as doing the right thing for the right reason.
You have an ethics problem by posting misinformation to try and gain sympathy for the miserable failure so-called republicans.
Good for you, Jeff. Now put your money where your mouth is and risk it by opening a business, then letting the employees have an "equal" say in running it whether they have the experience, skill, knowledge or background to do so. Obviously, you have never done so or you wouldn't advocate such a silly idea. Ever hear the old saying, Jeff: "Too many cooks spoil the broth?" "Greed" is in the eye of the beholder. I never met anyone who complained they were being overpaid for whatever it was they did and probably never will. But I've met many who were envious of others success and wanted to share in it regardless of the fact that they contributed little or next to nothing. Talk about "greed!"
385,000 Americans lost their job last week and Obama's answer is an envy tax on Job creators.
That is 20 million people are being laid off this year and Obama's answer is an envy tax on Job creators.
The envy tax is estimated to bring in at best $30 billion a year while unemployment benefits are costing $80 billion a year. Why not just get jobs for people in the private sector and save billion in benefit cost
Birdiedreamin and Vidi
Thank you both for your comments. You make a difference each and every day.
Thank you!!!!!!!
You do not become what this Society holds as successful, unless you are unethical. This is the truth most of the ethical people at the bottom do not understand. There is massive projection blindness amongst the public.
The higher one goes the more corrupt it gets. To climb one has to throw any sense of ethics out the window pretty quickly. Shedding these sort of moral boat anchors is essential if one wants to escape from ordinary. The last thing you want to be is honest, truthful, loyal, hardworking, or a fiend. All of those qualities are toxic to succeeding in this totally rotten system which exists.
Do not be fooled by appearances and assurances otherwise. The truth is they are ALL corrupt. It should be absolutely no surprise to anyone that so and so is found to have done this or that. No surprise at all. Don't believe me? look at Tiger Woods if this is somehow not making much sense. Again, they are ALL not what they appear to be.
Greed is unethical. Greed is a quality to be avoided because ultimately it is not sustainable and will KILL you. It runs counter to one's base motivation, survival. The problem is we live in a sick system where up is down and down is up.
The real job creators are American middle class workers. Corporatists are liars, calling themselves "job creators". The corporatists have been freezing wages and firing American workers for decades, eliminating American jobs, building factories and hiring workers overseas. Now the corporatists are firing public workers. They've created more unemployment, not jobs. They've got what they want: plutocracy and usury, a decimated middle class, the unemployed and low-wage workers indebted to the corporatists for goods, services and education. The monster is eating its own tail.
The USA had it's longest running increases in yearly GDP under traditional Republicans and Democrats, when Union membership was at it's highest, when incomes were increasing for all income groups, when the tax rates on the very rich were 70%, and when we had a large manufacturing base that was the envy of the world.
That all stopped when Reagan took office and began the great rollback by rewarding the rich and very rich by taking from the middle and lower economic classes. That was continued under Bush Sr., and under covert president cheney and his puppet "duh" bush jr. that helped destroy the economy with their narrow minded ideologies of totally unregulated capitalism and a free ride for the top 10%.
The damage they have done will take decades to repair, but it seems that the present so-called republicans would love to see America as ashes, rather than help fix the problems they created.
No amount of money, or anything else, could ever get me to intentionally post misinformation. Early on in my career, others tried. I didn't and never would cave. As an accountant/auditor, with a degree in Business and Economics, the one trait I possess that separates me from most all other vocations is my integrity. Lose that and nothing else matters. Least of all money.
CarmineD
BTW, I'm always suspicious of one who accuses others, that they don't know, of being shills. Many many times in my life, the accuser is the guilty one.
CarmineD
Speaking about Obama - Stephen says "You do not become what this Society holds as successful, unless you are unethical. This is the truth most of the ethical people at the bottom do not understand.
The higher one goes the more corrupt it gets. To climb one has to throw any sense of ethics out the window pretty quickly.
Vidi sounds like he misses the Jimmy Carter economy. Good luck with that.
CarmineD,
If you have a Business and Economics background then tell us what the following applies to:
TFC, AVC, MC=MR
NPV.
Tell us how to do an adjusting entry and a reversing entry.
What does a balance sheet consist of?
RefNV - "Obama'a class warfare tax plan that already failed to pass congress"
Future - "385,000 Americans lost their job last week and Obama's answer is an envy tax on Job creators."
If you care to remember, apparently not, it was GW Bush who initiated this so-called "class warfare" under the guise that tax cuts would create jobs, which we all know was bogus.
If these people you support were so damned patriotic, why do they suck money out of the American economy to invest in offshore accounts and investments? The dollar rules their world and they care not what happens to American citizens in general. Taxes involved in this ridiculous argument is a whopping 4%, you have got to be kidding! A number of Republicans are now saying there is a need to raise taxes.
By supporting those on the far right and their radical idepology, you people fail to realize you will lose too. The proverbial snake will bite you in the arse as well. The middle class has steadily lost income for a 35 year period and almost 50% of this country is at or near poverty levels. All due to extreme policies removing what were once safty mechanisms such as Glass Steagall. "Too Big to Fail" became "Even Bigger to Fail" with six banks controlling 67% of our economy. I can't understand why some of you ignore these facts or don't really give a damn.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/11/news/eco...
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The average American family's net worth dropped almost 40% between 2007 and 2010, according to a triennial study released Monday by the Federal Reserve.
The stunning drop in median net worth -- from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010 -- indicates that the recession wiped away 18 years of savings and investment by families.
If you really want to know look on the net. All the acronyms you asked about are available with elaborate explanations. As are details about what adjusting and reversing entries are in accounting and presentation of balance sheets. The very first formula that accounting 101 teaches is Assets-Liabilities = Capital. That in short is the balance sheet.
Any more questions?
CarmineD
FYI for those interested:
From any Introductory Microeconomics Book:
Average Total Cost (ATC) = Total Cost / Q (Output is quantity produced or 'Q')
Average Variable Cost (AVC) = Total Variable Cost / QAverage Fixed Cost (AFC) = ATC - AVC
Total Cost (TC) = (AVC + AFC) X Output (Which is Q)
Total Variable Cost (TVC) = AVC X Output
Total Fixed Cost (TFC) = TC - TVC
Marginal Cost (MC) = Change in Total Costs / Change in Output
Marginal Product (MP) = Change in Total Product / Change in Variable Factor
Marginal Revenue (MR) = Change in Total Revenue / Change in Q
Average Product (AP) = TP / Variable Factor
Total Revenue (TR) = Price X Quantity
Average Revenue (AR) = TR / Output
Total Product (TP) = AP X Variable Factor
Economic Profit = TR - TC > 0
A Loss = TR - TC < 0
Break Even Point = AR = ATC
Profit Maximizing Condition = MR = MC
Explicit Costs = Payments to non-owners of the firm for the resources they supply.
CarmineD
BTW, the real accounting knowledge doesn't come from knowing what adjusting, reversing, and closing entries are. It's knowing HOW to do them correctly.
CarmineD
PS: HOW to do them [accounting entries] correctly, varies on a case by case basis depending on the financials.
CarmineD
BTW NPV is relevant to financial statement analysis and investing. I have some experience here too: Net Present Value.
CarmineD
CarmineD, Why didn't you answer the questions I posed at 12:17 from your memory.
Your reply started at 1:03, and you were quoting from a book.
Let's see if you can answer this one from memory-
If RR>cost of K, what do you do?
Without having all the facts and circumstances:
I would say whenever the relative risk [RR] is greater than the cost of K, where K is a constant cost, the best way for an investor to double his/her money is to fold it once and put it in his/her pocket.
When you get to my age, memorizing minutia to answer questions like yours, as evidence of my expertise, is as useful as carrying around a hardcopy telephone directory all day.
CarmineD
CarmineD,
You're wrong! K is the cost of capital--the cost of borrowing.
BTW, in the context of my answer "K" is the cost of capital.
Which in reality is never constant. But in theory to answer your question I assumed it to be.
CarmineD
Our posts passed in space.
CarmineD
You didn't ask what K is? You asked what I would do if elative Risk [RR] was greater than the cost of capital. I answered correctly. Nothing.
CarmineD
"Your reply started at 1:03, and you were quoting from a book."
No. The acronyms I cut and pasted from the net, as I told you to do. The commentary answers on accounting entries and balance sheet, as well as the question you posed about relative risk to K were from memory. Albeit decades old.
Keep in mind, young lad, that I worked for over 30 years in government service where acronyms were pervasive. Although some say I am smart, even I can't store and recall a lifetime of academic and work abbreviations at the tip of my tongue/mind for the asking. I can't even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.
CarmineD
On second thought I recall. I didn't have breakfast yesterday. I had a huge lunch instead and, knowing I was, I skipped breakfast. Something I don't often do except when I plan for a big mid day meal.
CarmineD
There are 2 trillion dollars sitting on the sidelines while we blab about job creators and socialism and all the rest of the irrelevant nonsense addressed on this blog. Here's the deal: "job creators" is a euphemism that is about as relevant as the planet Kolob. When I came up, jobs were just a part of life, you went out and got one. You settled down, raised a family, sent the kids to college and life went on. Those days are OVER. Today's paradigm is this: if you have a job, you better hang on to it. A college education costs tens of thousands of dollars and results in your kids moving back in with you because they can't find a job, much less pay off their student loans. The military looks good as a career choice, because they're always hiring (I should know as a 20 year military man COERCED INTO THE PROFESSION BY THE VIET NAM WAR). The economic situation facing this country will not be solved by the "job creators", as they don't exist except in the fevered minds of political ideologues, mostly on the GOP side. A more vapid mindless phrase has never before been coined, and yet people still buy into it. Yes, there are jobs to be had, but it will take more than political rhetoric to make it happen on a nationwide basis. John Boehner loves to wisecrack about "where are the jobs?". I would suggest he look in the mirror and ask "what have I done to create jobs since 2010?".....sound of crickets.
Ref,
How much of the top 10% of the population's wealth is in income versus other wealth vehicles?
Lind, Good post, very good!
Re VidiVeritas. Thank you.
Schaffer,
How many calories do the top 10% of wealth earners consume? OR, how many cubic meters of air do the top 10% of wealth earners consume?...jeeessshhh...my questions are just as relevant and important as your "How much of the top 10% of the population's wealth is in income versus other wealth vehicles?"
BECAUSE neither answer makes any difference to any of us...get it, Schaffer?
Who the f**k cares? Just stop this madness of debating the inane and unimportant...so much useless energy spent...
Purgatory
"385,000 Americans lost their job last week and Obama's answer is an envy tax on Job creators."
This is a scam.
Wanna hear how this scam works? The GOP gets elected promising to cut government spending. They eliminate spending, shedding state/local/federal jobs in the process. This increase in unemployment is a direct result of GOP policies at the state, local and federal level.
Then, they get on stage and blame unemployment numbers on President Obama. And Future buys into the scam.
How many of those jobs were lost due to the GOP platform being adopted in state after state, Future? How many of those were teachers or nurses? The policies of your political party are directly to blame for increased unemployment, yet you blame the President.
Washington Post: "The unemployment rate would be far lower if it hadn't been for those cuts: If there were as many people working in government as there were in December 2008, the unemployment rate in April would have been 7.1%, not 8.1%. "
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/05/0...
We're not buying your scam.
eedgewise, The WSJ is owned by Jackboot Rupert Murdoch who runs a political sabotage and propaganda empire, not news.
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
C.D, RR stands for Rate of Return. If your Rate of Return is greater than the cost of capital (K), you go for it.
Mr. Traeger, Obama has called for aid for local and state governments to prevent layoffs. The GOP blocks that aid, then blames Obama for the layoffs.
Those of us with a brain see right through your scam.
edgewise,
Since you are one "of us with a brain," the following question should be simple for you.
Obama's call for aid "for local and state governments to prevent layoffs" comes from where and is paid for by whom?
Thanks in advance for your timely answer.
Regards,
Purgatory
RR stands for both relative risk and rate of return depending on the context. Just as K stands for many things among which are cost of capital and constant. Acronyms usually do. One of the reasons it's non-sensical to use acronyms as a test of knowledge without proper context. And the reason I prefaced my answer with definitions of RR and K as Relative Risk and constant to explain my answer.
CarmineD
"If your Rate of Return is greater than the cost of capital (K), you go for it."
Not true in all cases. It depends on whether the investment has a fixed rate of return or variable. And it presumes all other factors for investments are equal. And that presumption rarely if ever holds true in the real world of investing.
CarmineD
Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that greed is an unethical trait.
Oftentimes to avoid the confusion between rate of return and relative risk using RR, the acronym ROR is used for rate of return.
CarmineD
Re Carmine. Right now the rate of return is zip.
"Purgatory:" You have a very short memory. Obama's call for additional aid was coupled with offsets and revoking the Bush tax cuts on those making more than $1 million, annually.
Then, the GOP denies the aid, ensuring layoffs, while simultaneously attacking Obama for the layoffs.
This has been their game plan for years. Mitch McConnell: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
Didn't want to help middle class families, or improve the quality of education or the environment. In his words: "the single most important thing" was to see Obama fail.
You elected them, you should know this.
dukeofdeath - "Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that greed is an unethical trait."
Thank you, I was about to post the same.
Gordon Gekko, "Greed is good."
Gordon Gekko, "The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullsh*t. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I've still got a lot to teach you."
Purgatory - "Obama's call for aid "for local and state governments to prevent layoffs" comes from where and is paid for by whom?"
How about military spending? When Obama suggested budget cuts in wasteful military spending, the GOP/Tea Party blew their corks, even though Obama's track record on the war on terror is far superior than Bush the Lesser.
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
edgewise, very factual post at 5:33.
The NV citizens will appreciate the truths and not the lies put out by the sycophant wingnut bloggers that support the miserable failure republicans.
These sycophant wingnut bloggers are traitors to their family, their community, their co-workers, their community, their state, and
We the People's" country.
"Re Carmine. Right now the rate of return is zip."
Thanks to the Fed.
CarmineD
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
"carmen; you're losing it,pal. yesterday jeff put you in your place and now vidi."
My place is well above them and you. There is no losing that position by me or you and them gaining it. Never.
CarmineD
CD, just type in "defense mechanisms/wikipedia" and learn something about yourself.
Defense mechanisms are for those who lack self-esteem to prop them up. Never use them. I'm happy with standing tall on my own merits.
CarmineD
edgewise, Branco, et al,
...weirdos...all of you...you haven't yet chosen to understand that there is not an ounce of difference between Obama and Romney...nor is there an ounce of difference between entrenched Republicans and entrenched Democrats...they, coupled with your help are destroying the future of our Country...
I wish I could follow my own advice and simply realize that those who refuse to use logic and reason need not be dealt with...
I would if you weren't screwing up the world I live in and the world my children live in...
Regards
Purgatory
p.s. Carmine, I forgot to include you in the list above...you and yours, on the far right, are just as vitriolic and just as incapable of understanding what the political class is doing to us all...
The difference between risk and uncertainty is risk can be measured. Uncertainty can't.
"Risk
Often defined as the standard deviation of the return on total investment. Degree of uncertainty of return on an asset. In context of asset pricing theory. The uncertainty associated with any investment. That is, risk is the possibility that the actual return on an investment will be different from its expected return. A vitally important concept in finance is the idea that an investment that carries a higher risk has the potential of a higher return. For example, a zero-risk investment, such as a U.S. Treasury security, has a low rate of return, while a stock in a start-up has the potential to make an investor very wealthy, but also the potential to lose one's entire investment. Certain types of risk are easier to quantify than others. To the extent that risk is quantifiable, it is generally calculated as the standard deviation on an investment's average return."
Economics is more than micro and macro level. As your question was framed in microeconomics. It's also about price theory. As my answer was framed.
Oftentimes, the limitation in understanding the correctness of an answer is based on the limitations of the knowledge and understanding of the questioner.
CarmineD
Purgatory, One has to vote for the lesser of two evils until a third viable party comes along.
Progressives built this country and they may pick up steam.
CD, I think you are afraid to know thyself because you think you are so weak.
Your ego has left your organism behind and you are lost. Back up and renew your relationship. You might be surprised and more mature.
"p.s. Carmine, I forgot to include you in the list above.."
Thank you for remembering me. I'm glad you take notice of me. Sorry I don't of you.
CarmineD
"You might be surprised and more mature."
At my age nothing surprises me and maturity has provided me the way to wisdom.
Someday maybe you too. But alas not yet lad.
CarmineD
BTW whatever you call yourself, I forget your nom de plume, I'm an Independent.
Perhaps you missed that little detail.
CarmineD
CD,You certainly change your stripes a lot and you seem to have many in your rucksack.
How many different professions have you stated you worked in?
Jerry Fink said:
"Good for you, Jeff. Now put your money where your mouth is and risk it by opening a business, then letting the employees have an "equal" say in running it whether they have the experience, skill, knowledge or background to do so"
The TEAbagger said:
"The above statement is exactly what you would expect from a Democrat/liberal/socialist. Some kind of bizarre off-shoot of a "Cuban Peoples Socialist Republic."
I Say:
Hey, You guys want to take a whack at public schools, pensions, unions, etc. and we are letting you know that if that is all on the table so is corporate law.
If a guy has a great idea, like a singer/songwriter -- he or she can do it primarily by themselves -- now -- with digital distribution. But with you guys doin away with the safety nets -- we will chip away at your monopoly and dictator mindset.
Corporations need the "death penalty" re-instituted. You want to ship the cream of the crop jobs overseas? -- No more.
Time for corporate reform for the future of America.
Vidi and Gary Lind:
Great job keeping the 3 Dollar bill busy!!!
He has posted 25 of the 75 posts so far in this thread and he hasn't told you he and God are both republicans.
Good work. Maybe tomorrow you can quiz him on why the government is currently, actively, picking winners and losers in the economy. That's the whole idea behind Too-Big-To-Fail. What's more, they've picked the working people of America to be the losers, even though we may not have made any bets at the gambling table. The TBTF banks have bought off the politicians of both parties to force the taxpayers to bail them out when their looting of the public goes to extremes.
Ask him if he thinks this is a democracy or a free market. Then inform him it's a kleptocracy and a plutocracy, and its unsustainable.
For extra credit you can see if he knows who said this in 2006: "It would be an exaggeration to say that there's no inflation threat at all. I can think of ways in which inflation could become a problem. But it's much easier to think of ways in which the Federal Reserve, wrongly focused on the phantom menace of a new wage-price spiral, could be slow to respond to bigger threats, like a rapidly deflating housing bubble""
George.....
Greed and lack of ethics are the hallmarks of the
republican party.
Starting with the crook, Richard M. Nixon, to
every republican president following him.
Republicans lie and can't stop lying.
Republican greed stole our jobs, health care,
good wages and our retirements.
Republican lack of ethics stole elections from
Americans.
Bush vrs. Gore.
And that theft destroyed our entire economy.
NO MORE REPUBLICANS!
FOUR MORE YEARS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!
If the top 10% of wage earners pay 71% of taxes, it fits the picture that the statistics show.
While real wages have have practically be flat for the last 30 years, productivity and profits have increased dramatically.
Income inequality is the reason for the 10% paying a higher % of taxes.
If real wages had kept up the growth pace with profits, perhaps more than 10% of the taxpayers would be paying, which would take the burden off of the poor 10%er's.
Since WWI the higher bracket tax rate has been elevated every time there was war or other financial crisis. Why we are now thinking that these tax increases are bad, in light of 2 wars and an economic crisis, is beyond my comprehension.
Past tax increases did not hurt the country, rather spurred new growth.
Before the 70's the growth in real wages gave people money to buy products businesses created. They didn't need to make up the disparity with credit card debt. Credit took the place of flat wages.
History tells the reality and the solutions, no matter who is President. I think we should rectify the real wage disparity and raise the taxes on the highest income bracket, just as has been done by both Republican and Democratic Presidents.
It makes no sense to create more poverty by maintaining practically flat wages, and reduce the taxes of the top 10%, while supporting the war machine and giving a free hand to the banks and investment firms to gamble with high risk endeavors using both their money and the money of bank depositors.
After the country recovered the tax rate decreased.
It make no sense to me to keep the real wages low, while giving tax breaks to companies so they can create off shore businesses and jobs in other countries.
It makes no sense to me to ignore the decaying infrastructure that makes it impossible for business to function in this country.
It makes no sense to me to defund our educational system and reduce substantially our ability to compete, to kill the ability of Americans to be capable of the scientific, mathematics, and technical skills that
can compete on a global level.
I see class warfare from a different perspective. It is the so called "elite" who are creating the abyss between the haves, have little, and have nots, with the haves growing smaller and the increasing have little and have nots having even less.
Income inequality is a real problem. Who drives that? People need to think about how they have been able to seemingly maintain or progress by changing jobs, taking on more work, longer work hours, and using credit cards to make up the growing difference.
The negligence of Americans is making us a second or third world country, as if we were a herd of cattle heading for the cliff. Both parties are to blame for contributing to our dilemma. They no longer work for the people, they work for business, banks, investment firms interests.
"How many different professions have you stated you worked in?"
Is this question a test too?
If so lad, my answer is many started and many finished. That's what happens when you are old and wise. Keep at it. There's hope for all of us.
CarmineD
25 of 75, Jeffery your math is good too bad that's all.
See what happens when an old man receives tests from a young lad. Experience always wins. Youth peters out.
CarmineD
God is republican, Jesus is a democrat, and the Holy Spirit is an independent and the love that holds them toegther.
CarmineD
Businesses that expand and new businesses provide 90% of the jobs required to keep pace with new entrants into the workforce. Historically, our GDP growth rate post-WW II has been 3.23% per year and we require a 3.2% GDP growth rate yearly just to supply jobs for new entrants into our workforce. If our GDP growth rate dips then we start failing to supply enough jobs to 18 year olds and college grads. Our current GDP growth rate is around 2% which is not enough to supply jobs to new workforce entrants. We need to return to a business environment that promotes business investing and entrepreneurship. Liberals propose a larger government which kills the incentive for businesses to expand and new businesses start-ups. With the anti-business Obama in office, the share of our population working has dropped from 59.6% to 58.5%. Comparing previous recession recoveries, the average share of our population working has been between 60% to 61% at this stage of recovery. Today, we have 17% fewer tax filers and the top wage earners earn 34% less compared to 2008. Liberals recommend higher wages, not jobs for the 12 to 14 million jobless Americans. Since 1948, the US GDP annual growth rate averaged 3.23% compared to Europe's .39%. Why the difference? Higher tax rates and higher legacy costs(healthcare fees and other benefit-related costs for its current employees and retired pensioners) hinders Europe's economic growth. Essentially, liberals are recommending policies that does not promote business expansion, new business start-ups and job creation sufficient enough to get our 12 to 14 million jobless Americans working again and sufficient enough to create jobs for new entrants into the workforce. Americans three top concerns are jobs, the economy and debt/deficit spending and apparently Obama and liberals plan to do nothing to ease American's top concerns.
as soon as Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, Jeff Immelt, (Obama's friends) start paying their fair share then MAYBE the president can talk about people paying more in taxes. He is such a lair and a fake.
It doesn't take an economist with fancy figures to look at the local construction industry and see reality.
Little money, no buying new homes, construction businesses and suppliers have to close, more jobs lost, less income to buy homes, foreclosures being bought by foreign purchasers, which doesn't help the current construction industry, only the mortgage holders.
As more businesses fail because products are not bought due to lack of money, you have a round robin of failure.
Small business needs customers to survive, so a balanced system of good wages supports small business. It has nothing to do with conservative or liberal, just common sense.
We need balance not a teeter totter!
The anti-business Obama doesn't grasp the important role private investment plays in economic growth and neither do Occupiers and Unions. Enclosed is a graph showing the correlation between private investment and unemployment(third graph on page). This third graph shows that higher private investment leads to lower unemployment and, conversely, lower private investment leads to higher unemployment. A President should understand economics, business and the important role private investment plays in growing our economy. A President with pro-growth business policies will spur private investment, create jobs and grow our economy again. The anti-business Obama, unions and Occupiers do not understand private investment and the role it plays in creating jobs and expanding our economy. With 17% fewer tax filers compared to 2008 and with 12 to 14 million jobless Americans it is easy to see the need to grow the economic pie, not create larger pieces of the pie for those who remain employed.
http://johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com/201...
"Starting with the crook, Richard M. Nixon, to
every republican president following him." Teamster
Ironically President Obama likes to compare himself to republicans like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Eisenhower.
However WRT Nixon and President Obama, I'm hearing and seeing comparisons of both. Specifically with the DOJ and Eric Holder and Nixon's Justice department. Not a good thing politically for team Obama.
I would not be surprised, if the calls for Holder, who I like and is a loyal soldier to Obama, to resign doesn't reach such a crescendo that he goes.
I'm not saying he should or deserves to. What I'm saying, and I want to be very clear, is that the perception that Obama is protecting Holder is hurting Obama's reelection chances. And when that happens, a loyal soldier has no choice but to throw himself on the sword.
CarmineD
Well if Obama and company could do something other than lip service about jobs: 7 million illegals in non-agricultural jobs and now they want to give x million younger illegals WORK PERMITS??? 14 million Americans face long-term unemployment, destitution, homelessness but we focus on illegals? At least ICE will know where they are in January when we round them up and ship them out.
"Our country is dominated by large corporations. Their lobbyists and their PAC contributions shape how Congress spends large chunks of the federal operating budget to enrich the giant military-industrial complex and expand corporate welfare programs. These same corporate pleaders oppose an inflation-adjusted minimum wage. In fact, corporate lobbies have tied the hands of presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to Barack Obama.
"To blame Mr. Obama so completely for the state of the economy is more than Mr. Romney trying to drape amnesia on the public about the role of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. It is to assume Mr. Obama has the power to control the Federal Reserve and the stubborn, corporate indentured members of Congress who constitute most members of Mr. Romney's party.
"Blocking the repairing of America's public works has been the priority of John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell -- the Republican leaders. Mr. Obama's failure is not to take them head on for these community upgrades all over the country.
"Mr. Romney wants Mr. Obama to cut spending. Yet he accuses Mr. Obama of under-funding the bloated, massive military budget. Mr. Romney, moreover, never spotlights the hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate subsidies, handouts, giveaways and outrageous tax loopholes to Mr. Romney's campaign paymasters.
"The former "private equity" capitalist touts his experience in creating jobs as the reason for voters to choose him. Read "The Buyout of America" by Josh Kosman to really understand how these corporate strip miners arrange leveraged buyouts, load their acquisitions with large debt, drain off their borrowed dividends, lay off workers and often bury firms in bankruptcies after they have been sucked dry.
"Stage Stores, Damon Corporation, Ampad, GS Technologies, Dade Behring, DDi and KB Toys all filed for bankruptcy after being acquired by Mr. Romney's Bain Capital."
Romney's Campaign of Inanity, by Ralph Nader
Published on Thursday, June 14, 2012 by Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06...
Secrets and Lies -- New York Times Reporters Give Mitt a Free Pass
http://www.nytexaminer.com/2012/03/secre...
I can't blame the Republicans or the Democrats for the shape our country is in. I can place the responsibility on the the people, like myself, who voted these greedy millionaires into office.
Isn't profit an important consideration for private investment?
I know negative profit is good for mergers and acquisitions.
However, after all the investing, mergers and acquisitions, you are still left with selling products and services to make a profit.
If you can't sell or sell less, profits suffer, you can't hire or expand? Back to mergers and acquisitions. Back to sacking employees.
It sounds like a page from the food chain theory, with the worker's being what Marine privates in boot camp are called, "whale....", the lowest thing in the ocean, and the first to go.
Maybe in the long term, the only security the American worker will have in the future is in business cooperatives, owned and operated by the employees.
It certainly needs to be looked at closely and seriously considered.
Let corporations deal their own game. Workers need to take control of their own lives and investment, outside of the current system.
One of the best examples of that is Mondragon. It isn't a dream, it is a successful reality.
TEAbagger:
You missed the point of my postings, that is the deceitful parasite, M. Romney. If you are so with the program, you should change your own moniker, not mine. The TEA party has been absorbed into the GOP blob.
Suzy......
Your comments are right on the mark.
Keep up the good work.
Carmine......
Eric Holder is doing a fine job and President
Obama will have no problem in being re-elected.
And the current crop of heartless republicans
wouldn't qualify to clean the shoes of Lincoln,
Roosevelt or Eisenhower.
TEA......
Bain ruined too many American lives.
We Democratic commenters aren't taking anything
off the table of republican greed.
The damage you republicans caused our middle
class will not be forgotten in November.
COME ON NOVEMBER!!!
Purgatory and Ref failed to answer my question about how much of the wealth of the top 10% comes from income versus other sources because on some level they know how dishonest the propaganda is they are either believing or pushing. Now the rest of the readers can view this graph and begin to understand how fundamentally dishonest conservatives argument are:
http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts...
The top 1% have over 50% of the stock market. This is not classified as income...get it?
The author wrote: "There is nothing wrong with being greedy..."
Definition of GREED from Merriam Webster:
A selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.
Another name for it is avarice, which is considered one of the seven deadly evils, poisons, sins, and vices by various traditions.
It is often linked to other deadly things contrary to good or virtues.
From a Christian perspective, it is contrary to moral ethics.
It predates Christianity, and extends across various philosophies and religious traditions.
So, the blanket statement about nothing being wrong with greed applies to an individual without moral ethics to many people.
If you want to speak of various ethical philosophies without the term "greed", go ahead.
Most understand the true meaning of greed and use it appropriately.
Thanks for posting that graph, Mark!