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Sunday, May 27, 2012 | 2 a.m.
A new book by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein misses the bigger issue when it places blame on the Republicans for gridlock in Congress. Yes, the Republicans have used the filibuster to hold up legislation and nominations and the filibuster rules should be changed.
However, anyone who looks fairly at how long Congress has known about but taken no action regarding the impending financial issues with Social Security and Medicare, our deficit spending issues, our mounting debt, our broken income tax system, our unresolved immigration issues, the waste in government programs, both defense and domestic, knows that this gigantic and long-standing inaction is not the result of a single party.
Our problems are acute and the solutions will be painful and highly unpopular. This is the reason we see so much gridlock. Our representatives, on all sides, are scared to death to tell the following truths:
• Most of the issues we face as a nation are the result of this and previous Congresses not doing a good job.
• There is no way to address these issues without pain for Americans.
• Tax increases on all Americans and reduced government spending in many areas must be part of any solution.
Michael,
You stated "Tax increases on all Americans and reduced government spending in many areas must be part of any solution".
Can you clarify two things. When you state "tax increases", do you mean increasing "tax rates" or do you mean increasing "tax revenue"? Lastly, would you put your plan in to "increase taxes" immediately or wait until the economy improves? TY
Crisis is opportunity.
We kicked the can from time immemorial right on up to this cliff without weighing the mass of how our indecision really mattered. These crises can no longer be ignored as we are forced to look up and reconsider the long view of our beloved country, our blessings by birthright in our place and time, and our obligations to do the difficult right things and avoid the easy wrong ones.
Although Michael may well be accurate in implying the likelihood of imminent pain, I suggest to you the opposite view. Our difficulties stem not from dialogue or discussion, but from distancing and contention.
Our crises are convoluted constructs crafted to appease warring parties, each with an agenda. I am reminded of the joke about the guy with a cheap suit. The guy commented to the tailor that the shoulders were too small so the tailor said "Well, just unbutton the button." Then the unhappy buyer pointed out the left side is not the same width as the right side. The tailor came back "Then just hunch your left side forward and nobody'll notice." The bummed buyer then said the lapel is longer on the right than the left. The sloppy tailor retorted "Then just raise your right shoulder up while you hunch your left shoulder forward and leave the cool suit unbuttoned, and you'll really enjoy how you look!"
What our country lacks is not the ability to tailor; what we lack is the will. These crises Michael lists as entitlements such as SS Medicare, Education along with massive defense spending, cumbersome tax code that not even Warren Buffet finds in any way appropriate for our times, failing immigration etc are all the creation of left foot kicking a ways and right foot kicking a ways with total disregard for how the dang suit fits.
If you'll pardon my mixed metaphor of clothing and cans, please accept where I am suggesting we go - to the round table, the one with no sides.
Unless we can see how this history of tug-of-war places our republic in peril from pushing agendas, then the concentration of wealth and disintegration of the welfare of this great nation will come full circle.
The politics of intransigence takes us to this cliff where we find ourselves. Only the respect for the nation and for possibilities we have denied each other can replace the perspective we need to coalesce around a considerate path where inclusion and honor drive decisions going forward.
On this Memorial Day weekend as we recall the sacrifice of lives in crisis, let us move forward in the respect for integrity and compassion our current world demands, or else continue to choose to lose our fortunes from more selfish acts of despicable vainglory.
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Look what happen without debate and some gridlock
- Democrats passed the squandering payola Stimulus to pay back the Union Bosses
- Democrats passed the freedom ripping Obamacare entitlement that will keep on costing you for ever
- Democrats passed Dodd-Frank and the big banks got bigger while loans to small businesses have dryed up
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There's are 2 kinds of austerity, Mr. Casler. Government and private sector. One is cutting gov't spending and downsizing government. The other is increasing taxes and regs on the citizens and businesses, so big government can continue to grow bigger and spend more taxpayers' money.
Some of our politicians want and the EU's have imposed austerity measures on the private sector while keeping government the same size or growing bigger. That's Keynesian economics. Higher taxes more business regs. It doesn't work. EU countries are proof and the US is following the same silly path.
Let's cut/reform gov't spending, downsize government employees and benefits, and THEN talk about tax increases if necessary. Not the other way around.
Carmine A. DiFazio
It is fitting this weekemd for us to remember and honor those who have made the supreme sacrifice for our country. If our politics reflected that willingness to sacrifice we would be well on our way to solving our problems.
The wealthy alone can't solve our revenue problem because there are too few of them. The middle class can't solve our spending problem alone beacause too many are affected. We will all experience pain in the process of solving this problem. We will all have to put our country ahead of our money or we will all end up with neither.
Re Freeman,
Too large a portion of the American public depends on government at this point for them to agree to massive cuts in government spending. That's just a fact. I'd be ok with a re-write of the income tax code to hopefully generate more revenue. If that's not enough and I suspect it won't be, then I favor across the board tax increases. I'd hope the economy had improved some before the tax increases were implemented.
For a long time now, it's been obvious that Americans are unwilling to be taxed at a rate necessary to fund being a global superpower and running many very large progressive domestic programs.
Instead of dealing with the problem, we allowed our government to borrow and print the money required that didn't come in through taxes.
I think the only way we are ever going to decide how big a superpower we can afford to be and how many social programs we can afford to fund is to stop printing and borrowing, and tax ourselves enough to pay for everything. Then we could decide what exactly it is we are willing to pay to be and to do.
Michael
"We will all have to put our country ahead of our money or we will all end up with neither."
Let me remind you what Warren Buffett recently said when he was asked why he didn't write a larger income tax check to Uncle Sam to apply to the deficit. He said he trusts his own judgment and choice of charities more than the government.
Who are we to argue with the second wealthiest if not the first most wealthy Democrat and Obama supporter in the USA.
Carmine A. DiFazio
Carmine,
We don't live in a dictatorship and in this democracy that approach isn't going to fly. Think about how many Americans are going to lose their jobs and how many will lose government assistance if we just cut government spending. It's millions, Carmine. These people are not going to support cutting their own throats. We've already passed the tipping point where so many Americans are dependent on government, the support for what you and many Tea Partier's want simply isn't there.
I'm not one who thinks we don't need to cut spending but logic tells me in this instance, trying to cut without raising taxes too simply won't fly.
Michael
Dennis,
The 'one trick pony' idea on either side just isn't going to work. More taxes on everyone? Yes! Real spending cuts in social programs, military spending, etc? Yes! We must do it all.
Michael
If we could simply integrate the possibilities available in several rapidly advancing fields of magnificent potentials, this imminent pain would be easier to tolerate.
Our remarkable improvement in alternative energy and home performance possibilities is just one. As availability of photovoltaics (PV) has increased in efficiency and dropped in price, the ascendance of solar efficacy approaches the cost of the cheapest fossil -- coal. Coal burning at less than 30% efficiency and running through lines with an additional loss of 20% efficiency is a throwback along with the 1950s style central plants compared to distributed solar on roof-tops providing the same juice at nearly identical rates. Today PV is $1.21 a watt making solar competitive with coal at 6 cents a kwh. The long-term savings in energy alone are staggering.
With Liquid Metal Batteries (LMB) stepping up as a storage medium for hot nights in Vegas or rainy days in Seattle, the intermittency issues are resolving.
Throw into the picture the additional jobs in improving home performance so these upgrades are riding fresh horses rather than the wasteful vestiges of the past and our people are working and improving our long- term financial and environmental health. There is the word -- health. By eliminating the CO2 burden along with impacts of dirty air, our long- term picture takes on a healthier glow, contrasted with the rapid rise in China's health issues associated with their insistence on 'energy at any price' tactic of bringing online a coal plant per week and simultaneously wrecking the air quality of the people now coming down with a near epidemic of lung-related health problems from the pollution from short-sighted installations.
Crisis is opportunity. Our failure to resist partisan battles has brought us to the table. It's time to take seriously these considered opinions about moving forward, rather than succumbing to age-old divisions.
Health care is like alternative energy options. Our ACA is, by most accounts, a weak start, but it's a start. Going back to a stalemate where insurance lobbies and medical groups held all the cards is bound to undermine our citizenry and eviscerate our economy.
Corporate funds, locked offshore by international companies, trickle back here mostly in the form of advertising for political races -- the legacy of Citizens United that allows them to purchase representation in legislation by buying ballots while lobbyists write their legislation for which their bought legislators will vote to further erode the economy and concentrate more power into fewer hands.
We the people will continue to lose as left leg and right leg kick the can. AS Jim Weber says, "We will all have to put our country ahead of our money or we will all end up with neither."
Our country's wellness has been a grand illusion for the sake of politicians seeking office and favors for a very long, long time. Kicking the political can down the road has been practiced for years, leading our country into disease and being too crippled to function properly. Writer Michael Casler remarked, "...that this gigantic and long-standing inaction is not the result of a single party." ALL our elected leaders and complacent citizenry are responsible for decades of political posturing and personal agendas. Gridlock is where we are now, and there is no sign of change without the removal of partisan influences.
Commenter Joe Lamy presented this analogy, "please accept where I am suggesting we go - to the round table, the one with no sides.
Unless we can see how this history of tug-of-war places our republic in peril from pushing agendas, then the concentration of wealth and disintegration of the welfare of this great nation will come full circle."
It seems fitting, as we honor those who sacrificed for the good of ALL in not only our country, but also for the sake of world peace, this Memorial Day weekend, we should be diligent in removing the barriers that keep our country from being great, and being fully functional. Let us honor and appreciate our servicemen, servicewomen, and those citizens who supported our national cause each and every day with being good stewards of a land that they fought and worked tirelessly to defend.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
The concurrent article about works of Richard Leakey and other scientists evaporates the resistance to scientific proof, and it this core of wisdom and intellectual courage that is emblematic of the powers our country owns in spades.
The future need not be viewed as a certain pain to be tolerated. Quite the opposite. With our remarkably diverse talents and the coalescing power available through the communication devices we are using this second, our opportunities for a renaissance of cultural progress seems as imminent as death and taxes.
Online learning is making giant leaps forward, medical research is opening avenues never dreamed possible, and home comfort, entrepreneurship and world travel are commonplace. Kings and queens throughout history would trade their kingdoms for we have at our fingertips today. Trust in tomorrow.
http://www.examiner.com/article/building...
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-gree...
Envisioning the future as a painful place to go or a sentence to be served is a false and filthy rendition, a mirage of misery to disappear the closer we get to our combined potential. Our nation owns an abundance of possibilities and a wealth of opportunity, but the true strength rests in our willingness to try and fail and learn enough to come back flush and victorious.
Pity the competition when looking at us, swarthy, bright and resourceful.
The future is what we shall make of our gifts, you and I together.
Party of No obstructionism and gridlock has one purpose -- to stop President Obama from pulling our economy out of the ditch.
For the GOP it would be like deja vu all over again -- a Democratic president elected who successfully repairs a Category-5 financial meltdown left behind by his republican predecessor.
Our parents and grandparents saw this horror flick during the '20s and '30s and were scarred to such an extent that they banished Hoover conservatives to the political wilderness for decades as punishment.
'Herbert Hoover, the Sequel' is not a picture Boehner, Cantor and McConnell want to star in. Hence the wall-to-wall gridlock.
Dippy says "the GOP and teabaggers dont want to increase taxes"
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Dippy get real the republicans want tax reform which will increase the tax revenue
And Dippy you know that
Why lie about
Get real
-----)
The Congressional Budget Office analysis shows that over $1 trillion of tax avoidance breaks are given out each year by the Federal Government.
So when people complain that the government is not getting enough revenue it is due to the tax breaks for the wealth not the tax rates. Today's rate were adequate to fund the government in the past - now with the $1 trillion tax avoidance breaks for the wealth they can not met revenue.
Tax avoidance breaks are for the sole purpose of Federal Government social engineering AND crony capitalism. The Federal Government is directing what people do with a 76,000 page tax code by emphasizing their objectives with a tax avoidance break.
The objective is to force businesses decisions based on tax avoidance rather then the best business needs.
72,000 pages of Tax avoidance breaks take many forms of individual and business credits, deductions, exemptions, income exclusion, multi-tiered rates, waivers, shelters, clawbacks, loopholes, swaps and exchanges, charities, excused penalties, stretch outs and carried forwards, family trust and see-through trusts, forgiveness, subsidies, incentives, grants, loans, stamps, bailouts, carveouts, and when it does not exist get a private-letter ruling
These tax avoidance breaks are for the sole purpose of rewarding political contributors and picking winners and losers
" the GOP and teabaggers dont want to increase taxes and would prefer to see the bush tax cuts extended until the end of this century."
Dipstick- CBO predicts a Recession in 2013 unless Congress acts on fiscal issues which includes the Bush tax cuts:
"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Tuesday that unless lawmakers act to prevent scheduled tax increases and spending cuts at the end of the year, a recession will likely result in early 2013.
Early next year income taxes are set to go up when the Bush-era tax rates expire. Automatic spending cuts totaling roughly $109 billion triggered by last August's debt-ceiling deal are set to hit. Meanwhile, payments to physicians under Medicare will be slashed.
CBO projects that these and other elements of the so-called "fiscal cliff" will cause the economy to contract as demand dries up.
It projected in a Tuesday report that the gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by 1.3 percent in the first half of 2013 before growing 2.3 percent later in the year. Annualized, GDP would grow just 0.5 percent in 2013.
"Given the pattern of past recessions as identified by the National Bureau of Economic Research, such a contraction in output in the first half of 2013 would probably be judged to be a recession," the report states.
A recession is technically defined as two economic quarters of negative economic growth.
This is the first time CBO has forecast a recession resulting from the fiscal cliff. In January it saw 1.1 percent GDP growth in 2013 if policies are not dealt with."
Dip, the Bush tax cut plan originally passed by Republicans benefited more lower and middle income wage earners including single mothers and the elderly than the rich. Dip, are you willing to rescind the following tax cuts?
* 46 million married couples received an average tax cut of $1,716.
* 34 million families with children received from an average tax cut of $1,473.
* 6 million single women with children received an average tax cut of $541.
* 13 million elderly taxpayers received an average tax cut of $1,384.
* 23 million small business owners received tax cuts averaging $2,042.
* 3 million moderate-income families saw their income tax burden eliminated entirely.
Also, the Bush tax cuts brought in more tax revenue, not less.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/bu...
As mentioned by someone else, if we did the zero-based budget thing the liberals would have more trouble getting so much UNentitlement spending year after year. Michael, could you find a way to explain to RefNV that the Bush tax cuts and other legislation has astronomically increased the hand-outs to those who claim minimal employment. They can actually pretend to have worked a month at minimum wage and get thousands in unearned refunds by claiming such things as earned income credit, additional earned income credit, child credit, child care credits which are based on claiming lots of kids as dependents--even while collecting welfare.
"Also, the Bush tax cuts brought in more tax revenue, not less."
Complete Faux News induced BS.
And the linked article says nothing of the sort.
But it does have this excellent quote from Sen. Reid, majority leader:
"The American people want a balanced approach to fiscal policy that combines smart spending cuts with revenue measures that ask millionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share," Reid wrote. "Yet a strict adherence to Tea Party ideology among Republicans in both the House and the Senate has so far put that balanced, common-sense solution out of reach."
"Also, the Bush tax cuts brought in more tax revenue, not less."
Complete Faux News induced BS.
And the linked article says nothing of the sort.
But it does have this excellent quote from Sen. Reid, majority leader:
"The American people want a balanced approach to fiscal policy that combines smart spending cuts with revenue measures that ask millionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share," Reid wrote. "Yet a strict adherence to Tea Party ideology among Republicans in both the House and the Senate has so far put that balanced, common-sense solution out of reach."
Carmine and others: We can't do the "and then." We must take multiple steps in every direction that improves things. We can't wait until government hums along functioning perfecting at minimal cost. We must CUT spending, cut PROGRAMS NOW. The constitution delineates the ESSENTIAL functions of the federal government. Everything else is for the people with some help from local governments, including states. It's a very broad interpretation that our national defense includes funding social welfare and "defense" training in every rat-hole fourth-world population. We don't live in that idealized world that would enable us to take care of every person born anywhere. (And then there is the Maltesian concept of if you save one now, you get a couple hundred more that can't feed themselves.) I just saw Simpson and Bowles on the tube and they say they are just "doing the math." Hey MC weren't we just talking about that? The math of tax increases (or cuts) and spending reform proposals just doesn't work unless we get SERIOUS quickly. And then it may take generations--for any reasonable estimates of economic recovery.
There is no easy fix.
"Also, the Bush tax cuts brought in more tax revenue, not less." Complete Faux News induced BS.
LastThroes- Here is the tax revenue by year following the 2001 recession(in billions):
2003- $2,134
2004- $2,188
2005- $2,417
2006- $2,609
2007- $2,709
2008- $2,569
The previous highest tax revenue amount collect was in 2000 which was $2,593 prior to the recession.
LastThroes, you just don't like the facts because it doesn't jive with your liberal rhetoric. LOL
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports...
Linking to the Heritage Foundation to make a valid point is like getting drug abuse prevention or marital advise from Ruse Limbauh.
RefNV: Is there an internet source for how much tax revenue is given out by credit type--"earned" income credit, for example?
Ref: I scrolled down a lot at your heritage cite and found the anti-poverty. Noted that Child Tax Credits has surged more than TWO THOUSAND PERCENT.
I agree, we should reduce the growth rate of government spending and increase tax revenue. I do not agree with austerity option #3 which is implementing tax rate increases and cutting government spending simultaneously as it takes money from the economy at both ends which would likely lead to recession.
Debate #1 is deciding whether or not we should reduce the growth rate of government spending. Debate #2 is how should we raise tax revenue, by raising tax rates on everyone or by growing our economy and creating jobs? We have 17% fewer tax filers now compared to 2008 and the top wage earners earn 34% less compared to 2008 which is a large reason why we are collecting only 14.5% tax revenue to GDP compared to 18% historically. We need to grow our economy and right now the pace of economic growth does not even keep pace with new entrants coming into the workforce. Historically, from 1948 until 2012, the United States GDP Annual Growth Rate averaged 3.23% compared to Europe's .39%. Europe's entitlement programs and business legacy costs(healthcare fees and other benefit-related costs for its current employees and retired pensioners) has hindered Europe's economic growth. Our economy requires an annual GDP growth rate of 3.2% just to supply jobs for new entrants into the workforce. The higher our entitlement costs the more it will choke off economic and job growth required to supply jobs to Americans.
Finally, we need a 50 state citizen's panel to review current ancillary spending programs that originated from earmarks to see whether or not the programs are effective, need altering, need abolishing and replaced or abolished and the funds redirected towards a better use for the state.
"Carmine,
We don't live in a dictatorship and in this democracy that approach isn't going to fly."
My point exactly. It has to fly or our democracy goes down the tubes just like the EU countries. Greece will be the first to bail out and start printing money willy nilly to finace its huge and growing debt. Then Spain and Italy. And the EU, save England and Germany, will be all but over and done. US too if we do the same: Keynesian economics. Doesn't work. Never did and never will.
Carmine A. DiFazio
Additional revenue has to come from a national sales tax. The nation needs to tap into the $600 trillion worth of future consumption in the next 40 years. The income tax system needs to go. Tax avoidance is a national pastime. Do you really think the millions of unemployed people are not generating income from someplace? Working under the table, drug sales, prostitution, cheating on taxes all deprive the government of massive amounts of money and fill people's pockets. While working narcotics for the Santa Monica Police Department we found people generating thousands of dollars a day in illicit income.
Recently a woman submitted a letter to the paper complaining about the new law requiring Amazon.com to collect sales tax. It's nice that she let the world know she was a tax cheat. The state already has a use tax. Items purchased outside of Nevada that are used in Nevada are taxable and she should be sending money to the state for these items.
This country experienced very high growth rates when we were young and their was very little international competition. Another words before China, India, Latin America became strong competitors. High growth rates are impossible to sustain today. In the post-World War II era we had several years in which GDP was 7% to 14%. If you exclude the super high growth years a couple of percent a year is all we would've gotten.
We need drastic cuts in medical. Our medical bills are going to consume $150 trillion over the next few decades. Reports have come out recently indicate medical could be 50% of GDP within the next 20 years. That's money people won't be able to spend on cars, trucks, cameras, furniture, houses etc. This is particularly problematic for this country being our entire economy is consumption driven. You can't have a nation where people do nothing more than eat, sleep and pay medical bills. Even the military is having the put off new weapons development because of the $100 billion a year in medical costs they are facing. This is up from $16 billion a year 10 years ago.
Gerry: We can cut medical costs without cutting medical care. We sometimes pay more for the insurance than what the benefits cost. We don't need all the "medical" we're getting. Needless procedures that disable us--endless prostrate surgeries leaving elderly men incontinent as they die from other things. Endless prescription drugs, 12 seems to be the national average, for seniors. One drug for a pain that's gone away. Seven more drugs to counter the side effects of drug one. Recurring doctor visits for one kid's acne--so the doctor can see the results of his word. Scandinavians (all of Europe) pay less for medical care and are healthier and live longer.
I'm in a health plan that converted, like the State employees plan, to "consumer driven." It's basically a catastrophic insurance and covers preventive care. You pay your own way for treatment of illnesses unless and until it exceeds your annual out-of-pocket limit. There are a few things with co-pays--like halfsies on most dental work. Don't know about my plan but the State system seems to have cut annual costs by tens of millions.
Anyhow, the point is SS and Medicare can be fixed with some modest changes. If Congress would get something done to take SOME of the uncertainty out of the business-decision process.....
Medicaid is not funded and has replaced and expanded on charity, church and non-profit assistance to indigent Americans. Medicaid is paying Billions for people who NEVER worked--the former welfare moms who've aged out of having more kids. The alcoholics who didn't hold a job to qualify for SS and can't get SSDI, disability. So why does Congress do absolutely nothing relevant?
Republicans three trick ponies: 1) tax cuts 2) deregulation 3) globaloney
"Republicans three trick ponies: 1) tax cuts 2) deregulation 3) globaloney"
Sounds like the Obama 2008-2012 record.
Carmine A. DiFazio
One relatively minor savings opportunity presents itself in the numbers of PTSD and TBI claims stemming from wars of choice by the previous administration...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47583746/ns/...
I know it's not a big deal like the millions of Americans out of work or the GDP, but over 400,000 blown up vets are actually making claims of the VA for some help in reassembling the fragmented lives shattered asunder from IEDs and other issues in FW in Iraq and Affie, where we need not have spent so much blood or even money for that matter except of course georgie needed to save face and of course get re-elected.
As an aside perhaps establishing an IQ test for elected office might prevent such disasters in the future. Something like that may seem simnple, but compared to the gridlock ensuing from the elephant antagonism for current administration undoing the wrecked world economies, the strained relationships and the walking wounded, our insistence on logic and language skill might have prevented needless loss. "Is the children learning?"...need we say more?
Just for the record, Lamy's potshot at Bush is a big lie. Lamy ties a false motive for sending troops to Iraq. Lamy's nothing but an anti-war opportunist waiting for a soldier to fall before giving us his anti-war comments. The Iraq resolution was passed in congress on a bi-partisan vote. House= 215 Republicans & 82 Democrats and Senate =48 Republicans and 29 Democrats. In any military engagement we expect anti-war zealots to come out of hiding and Lamy was showed what he's made of today. Lamy's preferred response to over 3,000 killed on 911? Nothing. Just clean-up New York and wait for the next attack on US soil.
Yet another liberal wanting to re-write history for political gain.
720,000 vets seeking claims of our VA is not a potshot.
Reffie is nothing more than a rich kid blaming "Obamunist" (his word) policies for the exploded world we live in as a result of the dismal incompetence that leads to gridlock, to economic disparity and unending false attribution of serious failures we inherited.
When i met with an Al Quaida guy before Bush was elected, he WROTE DOWN 9/11 on a blue post it note and told me that if Bush is elected, watch out.
Re, you can impute all you want. The facts are clear: the wars of choice are laid @ w's feet, the 800,000 a month job loss @ w's feet, the hubris and boastful ugly American persona, arising but not far from w's little feet in a "Bring It ON!" woof ticket that inspired 9/11.
It's not surprising that you would choose to attack me for presenting the message in context of the gridlock ensuing from such a failure. There's plenty of mess to last several terms, huh??
Here we have yet another example of strawman logic by Re Freeman: baseless acusations, imputed ignorance and projection to another... "Lamy's preferred response to over 3,000 killed on 911? Nothing. Just clean-up New York and wait for the next attack on US soil.
Yet another liberal wanting to re-write history for political gain."
How'd those steaks turn out on your Memorial Day picnic at the country club Re? Good?
Dip,
Here are many democrats in the 1990's and during the early 2000's acknowledging the weapons in Iraq were a threat. Ignore the support for the Iraq resolution all you want but facts are facts.
Here is the link Dip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwqh4wQPo...
Lamy,
You don't have to defend your preferred response to the 911 attack to just clean-up New York and wait for the next attack on US soil.We get it.
Tell us again about the 12- 14 million Americans out of work Re.
Tell us how bad unions are because they enable workers to address workplace issues.
Quote some GDP numbers for us.
Tell us that our current revenue stream from taxation is only 14% of GDP and we really ought be at 18 or 19%.
Don't bother with corporate profits offshore. Don't bother with unfunded wars simultaneous with huge tax breaks. Don't even mention lax regulation and elephants only in DOJ.
Go bash teachers and cooks and cleaning crews for organizing. Go bash away at those who even suggest that our "Is the children learning?, Bring it ON, Mission Accomplished" hero may have been the absolute worst president whose legacy still lies in VA hospitals looking for help, for restoration of decency and will be needing our help the rest of their shattered lives.
And try to pretend there's no relationship between hawkish dilettante behavior and war wounded. Go ahead big Re, make your case for the wisdom of wars of choice.
Lamy,
If we were to use a conservative figure of $50 per month for union dues from each US union member, it would support 265,447 workers' jobs. The question is, why aren't unions doing the right thing by supporting jobs with their union dues in a recession like ours? Unions should stop being greedy and use that money to support workers.
Freeman, talk about greedy, Re.
Obviously your background is extensive, and your appreciation of the benefits of greed obscures recognition of decency, practicality and humanity.
Unions are your cash cow through co-dependence. You have profited individually in your lifelong usury of their failures for personal gain.
Not saying this is a perfect world, but honest to God Re, you're no different from a mortgage loan officer making bank by selling no money down, interest only ARMs to unqualified buyers and bemoaning lax regulatory climates., huh, Re Freeman??
Re, if unions disappeared tomorrow, you'd be out of luck.
You're the dentist who invests in donut shops and ice cream trucks, candy machines in schools and peppermint stick Christmas cards.
Re Freeman has been posting his erudite comments on this forum for 365 days, more than 5 per day. he has identified himself as a teacher basher, an anti-organized labor zealot and a resident of the East coastal area where he lives and sits to post his comments regularly.
His stated interest in Las Vegas is as a place to bash unions for personal profit. He makes his living busting them up as a consultant to eliminating good jobs and finding starved out replacements to do the work once held by union members. His investment in Las Vegas or in Nevada is temporary and his gains are selfish.
None of this makes him a bad guy or whatever. It's just who he is, what he does and why he does it - for personal profit...just so you know. And there's nothing wrong with working as a consultant. I do it too. My field is in energy efficiency in homes, retrofitting and upgrading with health and safety, comfort and durability in mind. I train folks and companies in how to perform energy audits, do deep energy retrofits and install solar options to make the bills go away.
The gridlock in our country would go away if we could agree on the better path, the one that benefit us all, not just the few. Consultants have a role to play in our social improvement, and I am doing the best I can to cast the light of understanding during my few moments of free time toward that end.
I personally hold strong convictions that too much power rests in too few hands, that dispersing power and empowering people to make their own way instead of being led along a primrose path will heal our country from the inside. I've never seen much value in bashing.
I always believed in benevolence and have worked hard gaining skill and understanding to pass on in better places and better people. i hope no one took offense at my attitude towsrds Re or W. I like people and find goodness everywhere, but sometimes I get a little pissy. I'm sorry.
I'm old and and tired and I wrecked my knee yesterday, and have it in an immobilizer awaiting surgery. Doc gave me pills for the pain, but if ya ever get old and love what you do, you'll understand how it hurts not to be able to go and do when you've gone and done all your life. This aging thing ain't all golden years and rockin chairs. It sucks to get lamed. G'night.
Good luck with your surgery Lamy. At 63, your still young enough to heal up well.
For the record, I live in LV but still have a home east of here.
The bottom line is people have a choice as to whether to work for or not to work for a union organization. If you don't like paying union dues don't work for a union shop.
I belonged to a union for decades and felt I got very good representation for the few thousand dollars I gave them through the years.
Fox news spends a great deal of time bashing unions. The commentators that are bashing the unions all belong to either Sag or Aftra. the workers that work on the shows also belonged to unions. They don't want you to belong to a union but they have no problem belonging to unions themselves. The height of hypocrisy.
Michael Casler.......
Your republican party has already caused Americans
TOO MUCH PAIN.
Average Americans and the poor can't take any more
pain.
Millionaires can pay more in taxes, they can
handle it without any pain.
And Social Security and Medicare cuts only hurt
the low income and the poor.
Don't even think about it.
NO MORE PAIN!
RefNV.....
You union bashing, greedy republicans are the
ones who destroyed our middle class.
Stop lying about unions, you know nothing about
unions.
Our union dues are not a problem for us or you.
They support American workers and keep our unions
strong.
Our average union familys need our benefits and
our great health care.
STOP THE UNION BASHING!!!
Talk about hypocrisy. Here's a guy who makes a living smashing up jobs that pay a living wage in order to feather his own nest by replacing those living wage jobs with under-performers so he can profit from the concentration of wealth!
And here he pretends first to offer faint goodwill with luck and then practices medicine without a license offering advice that 63 is young and so recovery will come easy when neither his background nor understanding of the issue or the patient in question could in the wildest stretch be considered appropriate to the situation!
And then he does this in the language of a drop out equating the adjectival 'your' with the contracted 'you are' - the 'you're' as another repeat of 'your (sic) young enough!' and this guy boasts of having attended PRIVATE school as he bashes teachers
Not only is his reference to luck a cheap shot, but his assumptions that my youth at 63 and the ease of recovery from surgery at ANY age imply a total misunderstanding of the gravity of the situation and approach the absurd, but then his demonstrated language skill is reflective of juvenile delinquents taking cheap shots...Has decency so devolved that this kind of disregard for one's fellow man, for health, for respect of life, for medical expertise and for simple language skill so evaporated that this kind of crap is even uttered in polite company??
Has the success of Re's union bashing job so entitled him to play doctor, chief goodwill ambassador of luck in surgery, slanderous imputation of youth of 63 and creator of substandard language acceptance through parlance?? At 40 something, this rich kid knows nothing of medicine, knows nothing of recovery times, nothing of surgery, nothing of decency and can't even handle his first language. What a commentary on union bashers. Re. You managed to give even THEM a bad name! Haven't you now, Re?
The gridlock remains a function of vested interests from both parties, as Michael points out. The solution, however, truly need not be viewed as a painful experience.
Yes the success of the country may well be viewed as painful to the elephants whose dismal record has left our economy in shambles following the remarkably positive growth during Clinton's tenure, so by contrast any gains that may cast less than positive light on the myriad failures of the Bush fiasco and may appear painful to them as the shame related to their sham of leadership, but in realistic terms, the growth potentials we could share with a reasoned approach to stimulating growth need not be laden with steep hikes in taxes or massive reductions in spending.
By simply advantaging technological improvements, incorporating long-term growth models and uplifting the quality of our culture, our country could maximize our position in the world as a destination, a beacon and an economic powerhouse.
These improvements in educational endeavors, implementation of renewable energy resourcing technologies, revised city planning, adequate and equitable taxation without ham-stringing growth and a peace dividend available from modifying defense visions could alter the attitudes significantly, especially when a practical implementation of ACA has been revisited to enable our health care to reach more of our people with less largesse for paper handlers.
Greece may be the best lesson of the last few years - that austerity doesn't work when the economy simply has no means of growing in a static business environment.
Our base is diversity, our strength is technological know-how and our track record, up until the Bush years anyway, has been one of cooperation and egalitarian advancement through development, rather than recessionary taxation and elimination of safety nets, generations in the making.
In spite of the face of grim reductions that Casler paints on our future, I for, one remain optimistic about growth and world leadership to re-establish a harmony much needed to lift us up where we belong. We have the tools and the temperament, and absent the naysayers, we have the political will.
Teamster. There are not enough "rich people" to fund all the giveaways to those who refuse to work. I'm not talking about those who can't find work. If the middle class wasn't the next-best option to fund all the programs--as in we didn't have all the unneeded programs--the middle class would not be expected to pay for so much. Instead of COLA's, we'd be finding ways to trim the fat so workers could keep more of their income--cut taxes for the middle class by ending unearned refunds. Enable the feds to stop fraudulent refunds. And stop refundable credits--another name for welfare.
Joe Lamy....GREAT COMMENTS.
I take my union hat off to you, Joe.
You are the man.
These greedy republicans don't care about average
workers and never will.
LIVE BETTER/WORK UNION!
Roberta.....
So you're an expert on rich people?
Sorry, rich people need to pay more taxes.
YES, they can afford it and still be rich.
A message to all of you "union bashers" out there...
Unions are not the problem. Less that 15% of the total work force belongs to a union. A quick look back at the history of this country clearly points out that our present middle class came about due to the growth and work of unions..
Much of our current mess has been cause by the loss of 10-12 million good paying jobs off shore. "Union bashers" will tell you that the unions drove those jobs off-shore. Nothing is further from the truth...
Unfortunately, most of those lost jobs are never returning home.
Also, American corporations, along with the rich, pay far less in taxes than they should. Matter of fact, American corporations haven't had it this good since the Eisenhower years.
Greed, greed and more greed has become the "watch word" of the day. The demise of unions in this country is leading to the demise of the middle class. Once our middle class is gone, our democratic form of government will also disappear!
The coming election in November may well be the most important election that we have had in this country since the 1932 election that saw FDR take office.
An argument can be made that the future of our democratic-republic is in the balance....
What the GOP is offering is not a democracy. They want to replace our present system with a "winner take all" approach that gives special powers and privileges to the wealthiest ...
Economics 201: Jobs go to places where business can operate best. Our corporate tax structure encourages jobs to move overseas. Every dime in taxes that a business pays is added to the price of the products--and when we add so much on, American goods don't well. American businesses go bust. Chinese businesses flourish.
Sorry Roberta but you're cherry-picking information and trying to convince people that the corporations are making too little in profit when that's simply NOT the case.
Also, many of America's corporations pay very little, if any, taxes. GE, which is the largest corporation in the world, paid NO TAXES 2 years ago! Probably the same is true for this past year...
We have 10-12 million Americans out of work or working at jobs that pay very little & yet the corporations are sitting on trillions of dollars which they refuse to invest in new jobs....
What is wrong with that picture?
China is making out like a "tall dog" mainly because American corporations have taken many of their jobs to that country. Throw in the "favorite trade status" that we have given China and its not hard to see why we're in the mess that we're in....
Of course, look at the two wars that George W Bush got us involved in (and could not afford) & one starts to understand why we're in debt up to our ears....
Multi-national corporations have piled up significant offshore profits. These piles of dough seldom make it to our shores, and when they do, they usually arrive as investments in what Citizens United claimed as fair game, the purchasing of voting booths and the staking of claim to the ballot boxes here in America via the media, the paid posters and the talk show-artisans all of whose collective contribution is the brainwashing of the masses to capture a greater concentration of power in fewer and fewer pockets.
As El_Lobo inquires..."What is wrong with that picture?"
We are contributing to continued enslavement of Chinese laborers making $3 an hour at best. We are advancing the Communist agenda. We are depriving billions of decency, freedom and development of potential. Overseas.
In this country we are disenfranchising our masses and playing to the feathered nests of multi-millionaires and billionaires while beggaring our neighbors, eroding family values and discouraging potentials within middle class citizens.
Trickle-down economics benefits multi-nationals and has been successful at making jobs...OVERSEAS. It has buttressed the economies...of China, India and Indonesia as it wiped out trillions in equity here, turned upside down the home-ownership markets and dumped hundred of thousands of families on the curb.
The gridlock has TEA-party roots and 1%-ers on a pedestal while the rest of us walk the plank.
Sure would be nice to get a flat tax.
or a blend of flat for income and VAT for stuff along with shrinking the property tax accordingly, or if you're a squeeze-box fan, accordionly.
This way we could dance and prance and pay for what we get instead of spending 8 months finding ways to cheat our neighbors.
Joe Lamy....
Great post! Its a shame that few people on this board will actually read & then think about what you said....
Yep, we have the "best government that money can buy!" George Orwell knew what he was talking about...
But even George would be surprised at how fast & how massive the demise of democracy has been and continues to be....
Joe/El Lobo,
Unions have amassed billions to buy democratic office holders so they will, in turn, give union members lavish pension and wages. You would be blind not to see this happening in North Las Vegas and dozens of cities in California as well. This is what's bankrupting cities and local governments, not businesses.
RefNV......
Corporations, the rich & special interests groups have amassed/spent billions to buy Republican office holders so they will, in turn, give those same corporations, those same rich and those same special interests groups tax breaks, government contracts, & what ever else they desire...
I'm shocked that you can't/won't see that....
El Lobo- It's the union pensions and inflated wages that are bankrupting cities & local governments, not businesses. Sorry bud but facts are facts.
Sorry RefNV, but I don't agree. Tax revenues are down all the way around and cities & states simply aren't taking in the amount of revenue that they need to pay their bills.
Also, poor management by elected officials have contributed to the problem. States such as Illinois have made poor choices when it comes to money management & the governor & state legislature of Illinois has not budgeted well for the last 15-20 years.
The last two Illinois governors are in jail. One is a Republican & the other is a Democrat!
Many other states have followed Illinois' example. The budget deficits that many states are facing isn't something that was caused by public sector unions.......it goes much deeper than that!
Of course, the rich aren't paying their fair share. Corporations are living high on the hog due to the lowest tax rate since the Eisenhower years. There's trillions of dollars out there held in place by big banks and corporations and despite the trillions held in reserve, that money is not being used to create jobs...
The loss of some 10-12 million good paying jobs over the last 10+ years has been a major factor in our current situation.
Only a very small portion of America's work force belongs to a union....approximately 13%. The problem goes much deeper than union membership!
Look at Flint. Michigan......the city of Flint has filed for bankruptcy. They have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The situation in Flint had little to do with unions.
Truth be told, both ReF and El_Lobo are partly right. Unions prevailed in many contract negotiations to insist on union involvement. And it's also true that union might has deposited democrats and some republicans into offices where their control of things fiscal resulted in quid pro quo rewards.
And El_Lobo is absolutely spot on in assessing the impact of multi-nationals nabbing pages from union play books and duplicating the same actions but on a global scale.
Gridlock is the product of this management-by-manipulation.
Elephants and donkeys are equally to blame for playing the same game - buying mouthpieces and currying favors.
And if you think things will change overnight, then have I got a bridge for you!?
Altering this playing field will undo American history going back beyond...'to the victor belong the spoils'...Class warfare is what we are marching toward, and class warfare is what we shall experience.
The current situation is a fluttering flag. Wait until the gale, the hurricane and the tidal wave hit.
Good one Joe.
Thanks Darthfrodo.
Along these lines and with Bob Dylan's medal in mind, I wrote a Joem for Nancy and Star and El_Lobo and Gogo and reF and Mark S and boftx and The Next Opinion and Tanker and ShannonK and you and some others...
I don't want to just read my Joetry.
What I want is to pleasure your senses, to connect the content of my muses with the character of your soul, to resonate with the joy inside you behind your shy curtain or hiding in your childhood bushes or beneath the anxiety from a minute or a lifetime of shrouded human foibles.
I want to romp with you in the moonlight of your gentle psyche, to cool in the fragrant breeze in the garden of your delight and to watch with you the aligning of the planets and to feel the splattering drops in the cloud bursts of your eyes.
I implore my tongue and my tone and my words to beam you up and over and launch the waves of wonder washing your beach-bound body in the spray of the sea of joy, to lap your toes with frothy foam and cool your ankles, calves and thighs, to engulf your gasping torso and float you away if just for one brief peek into how you and I are lovers of the same universe, sharers of the same air and heirs to the same shared measured breath of life too short to waste in the face of so wavy our wide ocean and so starry our dark sky, so glorious our circling planet and so hungry our beating hearts to join.