– Not really Only in Seattle, so much as one building designed around bicyclists.
– What Pierce County Prop 1’s loss means for transit.
– Does Donald Trump realize he’s a joke?
– The Deep South is more pro-Obama than 4 years ago (also, I can’t figure out Upstate NY. I was talking to Darryl about it yesterday, and he hadn’t seen the map but thought it might be a reaction to Sandy. Maybe, but CT and Downstate changed in the other direction).
– I have to be pretty far out of town earlier in the day, but I’m going to try to make it to the Balloon Juice meetup in Seattle on Saturday.
I love it. Trump complaining that the Republicans lost because they were racist. Says the man who exploited and single-handedly revived the notion that because the President is black, he can’t be a “real” American.
On the failure of Pierce Transit Prop.1, I agree that alternative funding needs to be found, perhaps looking into splitting the Pierce Transit district, allowing Tacoma to go it’s own way, or perhaps do what Seattle has had to do in the past. Fund out of the Bridging the Gap measure, more Metro service within the city.
Some discussions recently about moves to put John Kerry on the ballot. It seems that one of the reason why wingnuts on the right are fighting so hard against Rice is that they really hope that Kerry gets the nod, thereby opening up a Senate seat for Brown to try to win back a seat.
It seems like a bit of convoluted reasoning to be a legitimate consipiracy theory. But on general purposes I think Democratic members of the House and Senate should be discouraged from running in 2016, because we need to build our majorities there instead of re-fighting for old seats. But that leaves only the governors and former governors to run, does it not?
Santorum is trying to stop ratification of a UN Treaty on Disability Rights, with the usual right wing complaints about it being an assault on American Values and Freedom. The treaty actually mirrors in many ways, our Americans with Disabilities Act. Sen. Mike Lee(R-UT) claims to have enough senators(and you need 67 to ratify a treaty) to block it. All because of the usual UN Conspiracy Theories.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_n.....sabilities
I know some of conservatives and Libertarians have not got over the ADA, even though complying with it created a whole industry(jobs to go with it) as a result. The ADA passed in 1990, one mandate of it, that public transit operators be compliant, took effect in 1997, and a result of it, the Low Floor Bus as an alternative to the time consuming wheelchair lift(instead of a flip-up ramp) on a high-floor bus, took the industry by storm. Except for Over the Road buses(Greyhound-type, although commuter operators like Sound Transit and New Jersey Transit use them too),most if not all bus builders in the US and Canada have pulled high-floor offerings from their catalogs, and as the last ones built come due for replacement, they are beginning to disappear from major transit operator fleets.
Up in Vancouver, B.C, Sam Sullivan, a former Mayor, is a Quadrapolegic, and he said one thing he loved about doing trips to other countries, like for sister city visits, was visiting their City Halls and seeing how accessible they were. More than a few times the fellow mayor had to come out and meet him, as he could not get in.
3) I think it was on NOW With Alex Wagner this morning, that some are suggesting that the reason the GOP are going after Rice so hard, is they want Kerry as SOS, so they could have another special election to keep Scott Brown in the Senate. The talk already is that he could face a tougher fight than he did in 2010, against potentially Governor Duval Patrick, or Rep. Joseph Kennedy III(D-MASS). The latter would be an irony. Brown was elected to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat.
@1 He’s upset because the Kenyan communist with a forged birth certificate and terrorist pals wouldn’t take his $5 million.
Btw, I’m making $2,000 in the stock market this morning. I’m sure glad the socialist won!
@3&5.
Rachel Maddow discussed the idea that the republicans are doing their best to destroy Rice on the off chance that with her gone, Kerry might be chosen for a position and open up that seat for a possible repub win. Lots of if and could be but right now, they are scrambling for anything.
@7,
Well, you’re paying short term income taxes on the gain if it’s less than a one-year holding period. It’s nice to be a day trader, but the price of success can be expensive!
Just think, rodent, you’ll get to pay even higher taxes in just a few weeks on your gains! I know you’ll be happy about that!
No wonder why hasidic jews are so anti-gay marriage, they like the little girls.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....05083.html
So far, it looks like the big Republican money is going to push for Jeb Bush to run for president in 2016. He’s got Karl Rove and his brother’s other advisors. Besides, he has a hispanic wife and speaks fluent Spanish! His conversion to Catholicism shouldn’t be a problem for the Evangelical Republicans after they backed the mormon Romney.
Of course, if Hillary Clinton runs for President, that leaves the prospect of a Clinton/Bush contest.
I think this is an idea we need to cut off at the knees before it reaches full flower. We don’t need another Bush in the White House, or anywhere close to it.
By the way, it looks like Obama and Romney are going to have a private lunch together at the White House tomorrow (Thursday). It would be fun to be a fly on that wall. “Mitt, I just wanted to let you see all that you will be missing for the next four years!”.
A friend of mine who worked in management at Metro spoke a couple years ago about one of the head honchos at Pierce Transit whose inept, overly ambitious planning set the stage for what’s happening now down south of us. After said person set the wheels in motion for that, he left there and….came to work for Metro Transit. At that point, my friend decided it was time to retire.
16.3 Trillion and counting! Counting at about 4 Billion a day in new debt! Interest rates, CD Rates, Muni bonds (we won’t go there unless you are stupid enough to ever buy a 30 year at 3.0%)
WTF are you people smoking! I just have to ask!
Yes Roger, You made $2000 in the stock Market this morning. Reminds me of the Casino go’r that only tells you about their winnings.
All you did today was make up for losses you have been seeing in the last few months.
Tell me about your stable earnings, CD’s, Bank interest, Muni interest. I’d love to hear that whopper!
Rabbits aren’t rodents; trolls are.
@14
Thank you.
I’ve made the same point repeatedly, but trolls, besides being rodents, are unteachable as well.
Rodents are actually smart and occasionally quite personable (rats make great pets) – trolls are more like mosquitos, or cholera.
@15 – yes, rats, the quadrapeds at least, make glorious companions.
Here, totally irrelevant, is an excerpted comment from a thread on LGM, that caused explosive ejection of my morning (in Philippines) beverage, followed by a serious mirth attack:
@9 I use tax-sheltered retirement accounts for flipping stocks and hold dividend stocks in a taxable portfolio. Because I’m in the 15% bracket, the tax rate on my taxable long-term capital gains and qualified dividends is zero. Of course, I’ll have to pay ordinary tax rates on withdrawals from the tax-sheltered accounts, but I can avoid that tax by dropping dead at age 70.
@9 It’s quite possible I’ll have to start paying taxes on my non-sheltered dividend income next year, but why shouldn’t I? Why should I get a free ride, when wage earners don’t? It’ll be worth paying some taxes on my unearned income just to see the “carried interest” scam get the axe.
@12 I hope they’ll talk about what America’s leading capitalist said today:
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein described President Barack Obama’s plan for Washington to reach an agreement on the “fiscal cliff” as detailed and “very credible.” However, he cautioned that marginal income tax rates may have to rise to seal a deal. … He added that the marginal income tax rate may have to rise in order to reach a deal.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/50000436
In other words, Republicans are full of shit, and if they don’t start getting reasonable pretty soon we’re going over the cliff, and they’ll be to blame.
LOL @ “the cliff”…we went over the cliff 20 years ago…
The President is looking to hear from people about how the expiration of the middle class tax cut on January 1st would affect them.
Let him and the Republican House know.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/my2k.....iddleclass
@20 Mathematically Challenged Wingnut,
20 years ago it was 1992. What happened that leads you to believe “we went over the cliff” in 1992?
Right now, Portland is taking delivery of some of the first modern streetcars built by a US company. Back when the US was still building them, we were building a model that stood the test of time, provided nobody converted the system to buses, the PCC Streetcar. In San Francisco, they just put the last of 11 they bought and restored from Newark(when Light Rail Vehicles replaced them on the Newark City Subway) into service. When New Jersey Public Service(the private forerunner of the public New Jersey Transit) used these to replace older streetcars, they were already used, with just a few years of service on them, from Minneapolis/St. Paul Twin Cities Rapid Transit.
http://www.streetcar.org/blog/.....ws+Blog%29
13) They also have had some problems this year, that may have put them in trouble even more. There was the fire awhile back at the maintenance facility that damaged the CNG-fueling facility. They were driving buses up to Sea-Tac airport to fuel up, while also using Diesel Buses on loan from Sound Transit. The ATU did agree to concessions on the contract, because I was reading PT’s informational literature on the measure, answering that question about why not just get the unions to give back.
Gimme, Gimmie more of Rupert’s fraud views from the Horseshit News Network!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....05430.html
@20 More like 30 years ago, under Raygun’s Voodoo-Nomics, but that’s a nitpicky detail.
@22 See correction @26.
Gimme, Gimme more of the “Weasel fights back” claiming his wife will knock Lord of the GOP Grover Norquist’s head off!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....06228.html
@25 That whole network is complete and total horseshit. During the 2004 recounts, I found myself standing five feet away from a Fox News anchor as she went live and spewed the wingnut script,
and I sooo wanted to hop behind her and give her bunny ears, but of course you can’t do that on national teevee, so I just stood there wrinkling my nose and putting on my best poker snout.
29)
Any of the parent company’s UK Division troubles going to affect FoxNews? I hear some of his top former execs are under indictment.
20 years ago….30 years ago….who cares – the point being(because apparently you fail to see the obvious) is that we went over it long long ago.
get it yet, dipshit? or do you need me to ram it down your throat?
and who was running congress back then?
you seem easy to blame obama’s ills on a Republican congress, but apparently forget who was running congress back in the 80’s….
@31. Mathematically Challenged Wingnut,
What I “get” is that you are stupid. Have you gotten that yet?
And re “do you need me to ram it down your throat?“, you name the time and place, asshole, and give it a go.
Republicans seem obsessed with that particular image – it’s all over (un)SP, for example – whenever they don’t like something, or feel like threatening someone else, out it’s trotted.
I think it’s repressed male homosexuality and the deep deep and utterly ashamed desire for something rammed down their collective throats, the thicker the better.
Really, just come out of the closet already.
@32 Blame Reagan’s economic policies on Democrats. How cute!
projecting much?
State with highest % of people using food stamps: Oregon – 18.9%
State with lowest % of people using food stamps:
Wyoming – 5.9%
just the facts ma’am, just the facts…
Gimmie @ 32: Did you miss the meeting of the RWBA (Right-Wing Bloggers Association)? Last I heard, they were still trying to figure out how to proceed now that nobody’s paying them. It must suck to have your dime-per-post payments cut off so quickly, like the staff of Romney’s campaign who found their credit cards cancelled before they could catch a ride back to their hotel rooms.
Oh, and I remember the 1980-81 campaign rather well. The Democrates retained a slight control over Congress, but a number of blue-dog Democrats were threatened with being targeted for defeat in the 1982 Congressional elections unless they went along with the Republicans on the Reagan tax cuts. Then after voting with the Republicans, the Republicans targeted them for defeat anyway.
@37
Here are some more facts.
These are from 2011 numbers, and Mississippi seems to have Oregon beat, at 20.6% v. 20%.
What was your point, anyway? I assume it was that Wyoming is overwhelmingly Republican, while Oregon is…what? Very blue in some areas, and quite Republican in others? Next time try not to make ‘points’ with outliers, ‘kay?
If you look at the map I posted, it’s very much like every other map of social safety net use, that is, it’s overwhelmingly overrepresented in the South, with a few notable outliers, like Maine and Michigan.
It look very similar to net tax transfers from the Federal Govt, or the rates of spousal abuse or teen pregnancy. Social ills follow poverty, dumbass.
Unfortunately, like an opportunistic infection of a weakened host, one strain of fear-based, hate-based Republican voting occurs in poor (mainly) Southern older white folk – it’s another social ill that exploits poverty and ignorance. Signs are hopeful, however, that that particular plague may be running its course and dying out.
Not at all, dumbass – you’re the one threatening to ram things down peoples’ throats, or complaining about something being ‘rammed down’ yours – it’s almost completely a right-wing phraseology.
Really, just come out of the closet – we’ll all be happier.
Funny that ‘gimmme’ man is harping about ramming things down various throats…while traveling this weekend I had occasion to use a bathroom in the Denver airport. As I looked down at my feet – narrow stance – it crossed my mind that…wouldn’t it have been nice if Larry Craig, and all the other virulent closeted self-loathing homophobes grasping at power and ruining peoples’ lives could just have had the freedom and courage and societal acceptance to have a nice man to go home to at night, crawl into bed with, do what they like with? To have the freedom and support to live their lives honestly and authentically without the caustic hate and utterly destructive denial that turned them into…something…trolling public bathrooms for sex and in their public lives destroying the people like them who had the courage and integrity to tell the truth?
Imaging if their lives – their intellect and passion and commitment – had been turned to something constructive, rather than twisted into just one more Republican prude, telling you whom to hate?
Eh, gimme?
@38
Rhpiss, what the hell are you babbling about now? More nutty conspiracy stuff? I can’t tell as all your incoherant ramblings sound the same…
@40
Still projecting there, Capn Hate?
@39
I was referncing 2012 numbers….
Not sure what larry craig or gay bathroom sex has to do with food stamps, but in your brain I’m sure you will make some scientify connection….
@39
I merely posted facts, with no political commentary…but see how Capn Hate goes off the deep end….hell, you would think he was commenting on an HA Bible(aka hate christians) thread.
As puddy says, “pavlov calls it”……..lol
@42-45
Weak, weak tea. ‘Gimme’ man reduced to quoting puddl. The pathetic is strong in this one.
Rob Nabors [the White House negotiator], has been saying: ‘This is what we want on revenues on the down payment. What’s you guys’ ask on the entitlement side?’ And they keep looking back at us and saying: ‘We want you to come up with that and pitch us.’ That’s not going to happen.”
http://dyn.politico.com/prints.....AB1A39B56D
Republicans won’t commit to anything they want to cut for entitlements. They know cutting entitlements would hurt them, so they won’t say a thing.
If their ideas are so strong, so right, why are they afraid to tell the American people what they are?
@46
“Weak weak tea”…..referencing your sex life again?
@48. GimmeGimmeGimme, I am in such awe of your wit and repartee. You are a shining example of the intellect of the Conservative movement.
Looks like Christmas may come early for Roger Rabbit this year, thanks to Republican intransigence-as-usual. Cheap stocks!
LOL! Must be those right wing counties in OR..
oh yeah it is!
http://www.oregonlive.com/poli.....r_are.html
It goes on..
Gee according to the asshat mentality I thought only people in “child abuse” cities like Portland used Food Stamps..
Those freeloading right wingers!
@51 Simply one more example of rural red county socialism. Here’s another:
“[F]arm income in the United States … is heavily subsidized…. In addition to direct farm subsidies and price floors, US taxpayers also pay for 62 percent of crop insurance premiums – on policies that typically guarantee 75 to 85 percent of a farmer’s revenue. Subsidies also cover the costs of private insurance companies, including those based overseas, to write the coverage for farmers. If insurers suffer a loss, the government will backstop the losses, much as a big reinsurance company assumes the risks of individual insurers. This is an important aspect of the agriculture market …. Subsidies and price floors guarantee a large percentage of agricultural income each year.”
http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....#038;ifp=0
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This article is pitching Deere stock to investors, on the basis that it’s a good investment because government guarantees the income of farmers. Capitalism at its finest!
Best guide to food stamp usage by county is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/interac.....tamps.html
Here at home:
King County: 9 percent
Pierce: 13 percent
Yakima: 24 percent
Spokane: 16 percent..
Sure are a lot of freeloaders in asshat land.
@51 Grants Pass, next to Medford, defunded the entire county library system and the county police.
@54 Defunding police services is no problem; everyone living there has a shotgun.
@53
So you are calling all those hispanics in yakima, bend and medford a bunch of freeloaders? All three areas are heavy agricultural with a large hispanic population……
Wow, that sounds very RAZITS of you……
56 – Are you saying only black, asian and caucasian workers process food for your asshat table?
Sounds very STOOPID of you but that goes with being an asshat.
Here’s a conversation between the asshat troll and an asshat in Grants Pass Oregon in line at the Fred Meyer..
asshat troll: Damn it sure is great to be here in rural Oregon where men are men, sheep are frightened and there’s not any limp-wristed Seattle types around.
Grant Pass guy: LOL! That’s funny.. Hold on a sec while I pay for this with my SNAP card..
Funny how none of haters mentions wyoming….pretty rural place me thinks…..
Also funny how the usual frothers drop off the deep end on the subject, when I made no political or otherwise commentary on the original post….funny how stating a simple fact gets people al defensive and stuff…
Here is another fact: 2 + 2 = 4…….let’s see the frothy response to that little diddy…..4…3…2..1……
@57
Nope, I didn’t say that…lol…
Nice try…why you hating on hispanics? You called them freeloaders, not me.
Its an economically hurting area, hopefully things improve.
@53 – wow all that Southern poverty must be because no unions represent anyone down there. All the Red States seem to be the poorest and most free loaders. Get rid of Texas. Let it succed along with the Southern Confederate states – good riddance.
57 – I didn’t say anything about hispanics either..
Why are you hating on people who work pretty damn hard to put cheap food on your asshat table?
Wyoming? 1) one of the lowest population state 2) one of the lowest unemployment rate (5.4 percent) states due to the extraction industries
What does that equal?
LOW eligibility for food stamps..
Another asshat idiocy blown out of the water…
LOL! We all know about your “well documented” remarks about Latinos..
Didn’t have to.. Only answered one non-sequitur from an asshat with another.
And last I looked those counties voted heavy Republican or had many asshats living there.
Funny how none of haters mentions wyoming….
What’s there not to love?
1) One of the lowest population states.. (the world could use fewer asshats)
2) One of the lowest unemployment states (5.4 percent) due to the extraction industries
Equals lower eligibility for food stamps.
If Oregon had a 5.4 percent unemployment rate instead of 8.7 percent they wouldn’t be anywhere near the top in food stamp usage too.
You’re done now..
Yakima county has a 45% latino population as of 2011…..
Dunno why you are hating on rural hispanics…..
Like I said, hopefully things improve over there…and everywhere.
@58
Wow…that’s some real SNL quality comedy there…
Damn this spam filter keeps eating my comment about Wyoming..
One more try:
Wyoming has an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.
If Oregon had that instead of 8.7 percent it wouldn’t be anywhere near the top in food stamp usage.
Are you now saying that Yakima is a huge Dem supporting county?
Heh, hardly:
Romney 54.5 percent
McKenna 58.06 percent
The “fiscal cliff” is looking like Boener is trying to maneuver Obama into a situation where Obama is the one who identifies and proposes specific cuts. Then they will run against the Democrates in 2014 by claiming it was the Republicans, not the Democrats, who cut the social service programs.
A lot like “Gimmie” trying to blame the Democrats in Congress for St. Reagan’s voodoo economics and tripling of the national debt almost overnight.
“lol” I’m not.
You’re the one who says racist things about hispanics.
It’s uh. “well documented”…
@66
I said nothing about dem or republican……I mentioned a demographic fact.
Keep flailing…
@67
So congress didn’t approve or write any budgets in the 1980’s?
Wow, how did they get out of that?
Shorter ylb: yakima county hispanics are freeloaders.
Wow…just….wow.
Uh duh… It’s been that way for at least a generation..
Less than 250,000 people live in the whole county. How can things improve if people don’t seem to want to go there to do stuff?
It can’t be for lack of Republicans.
70 – shorter asshat.. I hate hispanics.. I love Republican counties that use lots of food stamps.
Pierce county has a very heavy military population…ylb thinks they are freeloaders too…
Damn spam filter
That’s better…
Let’s try Wyoming again..
1) Wyoming has a 5.4 percent unemployment rate due to oil, gas and other mining..
2) Wyoming has one of the lowest populations of any state.. 569,000..
Seattle has more people.
All that equals LOW usage of SNAP..
If Oregon had Wyoming’s rate instead an 8.7 percent rate – they wouldn’t be anywhere near the top.
That bit of stupid blown out of the water..
As for the rest of the anti-hispanic stupid drooled by this moronic asshat – oh, those day gone past:
.those southern states also have a high percentage of african american population…. ..could it be that YLB is racist? it sure sounds like it.
Asshat “strawman”… the stupid… it burns..
damn filter!
I cannot speak for Medford, but in Grants Pass it was common knowledge about how the area has almost no minorities and attribute that to the klan encouraging them to leave during the first of the 20th century. I take no pride in that factoid.
Grants Pass is an old folks retirement magnet, and they are classic conservatives unwilling to spend a penny on anything that doesn’t directly benefit them.
Conversely: yakima county doesn’t pay living wages.
Medford Oregon
http://www.infoplease.com/us/c.....n/medford/
White persons, percent, 2000 (a) 90.0%
Jackson County, Oregon (contains Medford)
White persons, percent, 2011 (a) 93.0%
http://quickfacts.census.gov/q.....41029.html
Gimmie, oh yeah. ALL those Hispanics of Medford.
Heh. No grasshopper.. Nothing against military service people aside from those with asshat politics..
I was saying Pierce has a very heavy asshat population.. Maybe not enough to matter but quite heavy in contrast to any asshats in King County.
# 75: Wasn’t Grant’s Pass part of the northern California county’s attempts in the early 1940’s to secceed from their exitsting states and form a new state? In N. California, they felt that they were being ignored in Sacramento, with lots of state money going elsewhere. It was all supposed to happen on Dec. 7, 1941 – but events on that day overcame such local issues.
@79 I don’t know but it wouldn’t surprise me. In the 70s Grants Pass was where the survivalists moved to before they continued on to Idaho.
@73
Sounds like wyoming has a good economy…maybe they got their shit figured out….those damn rural people.
@76
How would you know? With all(and there is a lot) of public and subsidized housing in king county, one could make the same statement
@78
Ahhh..so only military people who think nutty progressive like you are ok….fuck the restof them.
Yep, you really support military families, don’t you…
LOL! Stupid.. No Wyoming has shit in the ground that a lot of people want.. Still more people live in Seattle than the WHOLE freaking state of Wyoming.
Same as Texas.. At one time anyway. Making a bit of a comeback with fracking. Why are you living here then idiot? Make a beeline like Jerry the Clown and disappear..
No one here will miss you..
lol.. “strawman” I appreciate their sacrifice even despite some of their politics.. You won’t hear about cuts in VA health care or any other kind of benefit from me..
Unlike a lot of right wing asshats in Congress.
shorter asshat: I hate hispanics.. I excuse rural/suburban counties that vote the asshat way using more food stamps per capita than King County.
@56 “So you are calling all those hispanics in yakima, bend and medford a bunch of freeloaders?”
No, we’re calling their employers freeloaders. Workers need shelter, food, clothing, and medical care even if employers pay below-sustenance wages. A minimum-wage worker gets about 50% of his needs from government programs. That’s effectively a subsidy to low-wage employers. A guy making $500,000 a year by owning a string of fast-food franchises is prospering at the expense of taxpayers. The latest trick of this bunch is to avoid the modest Obamacare tax by reducing workers’ hours to part-time, which will make their workers even more department on the government for basic survival. Shame on these rich freeloaders!
That’s a HUGE point.. A lot of people in this country couldn’t make ends meet for example without EITC.. EITC is in effect a wage subsidy that was expanded greatly under “good old” Ronnie Raygun in his 1986 tax “reform”..
It was expanded again and again under either a Republican president or a right wing Congress.
Why? To keep the minimum wage low for right wing employers.. And of course it didn’t hurt if low wage workers spent every dime of those subsidies at places like Wal-Mart who are anti-worker and support right wing policies at every step.
The stock market edged higher today on improving GDP data despite the “fiscal cliff” talks hitting stall speed.
Let’s review what’s going on with the “fiscal cliff.”
Republicans continue to insist on cutting Granny’s social security and medicare so the rich can keep their special tax privileges and the military can keep buying $1 billion airplanes. They’re complaining about Obama “campaigning” for his approach to the deficit problem, which is raising tax revenues from their 60-year low (as a percentage of GDP) on those who can afford it, making sensible cuts to military spending, and a reasonable amount of cuts to entitlements. Apparently GOPers realize they can’t compete in an honest debate about this issue. It’s not clear they realize yet their party and position was decisivily rejected by America’s voters just three weeks ago.
Since World War 2, federal revenues have averaged about 18% – 20% of GDP. They’re currently 15%. Top tax rates have fallen from 90% in Eisenhower’s time to 35% today. Corporate taxes, as a percentage of total federal revenues, also have dropped to historic lows — below 9% of revenue collections.
Republicans adamantly oppose raising the top rates or making corporations pay more (even though many big corporations pay zero taxes). In fact, if they had the electoral majorities needed to get their way, they would give the rich even more tax cuts and eliminate corporate taxes altogether, to the point where wage earners would carry the nation’s entire tax burden.
The Republican position is plainly unreasonable. In addition, it’s based on a false premise. They claim sparing the rich from paying taxes creates jobs. It demonstrably doesn’t, and this argument also is refuted by virtually every objective study that’s been done.
Obama’s position on taxes is manifestly fair. It consists of extending the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250k and reverting to the Clinton-era top-two tax rates, which are far below historic norms. The rich, whose incomes continue to explode upward even as the middle class wallows in a recession caused by the reckless behavior of Wall Street’s financial barons, can afford to pay more. And they should pay more.
The GOP’s position on spending cuts, with its focus on entitlements, is equally unreasonable. They don’t want to pay taxes, but they expect us to spend even more on our bloated military. There’s absolutely no justification for cutting social security or medicare, because those programs are financed by payroll taxes paid by workers, and taking money out of those programs to pay for military spending is a raid on workers’ retirement savings.
I don’t deny the need for entitlement cuts — neither does Obama — but they ought to be made in a rational and justifiable manner. Congress and the administration should be cautious in making cuts to Medicaid, because that’s mostly children’s health you’re talking about there. The logical target for entitlement cuts is Bush’s unfunded prescription drug program. Yes, Medicare-eligible rabbits like me benefit from it, but I never paid taxes for it, so it’s a freebie, a gift, financed with money borrowed from China. Given those circumstances, I’m willing to give it up. The benefits I get from this program technically make me a freeloader, but I never asked for these benefits, I don’t expect them, and I’m not asking taxpayers — rich or otherwise — to continue paying for them.
Bottom line is, a “fiscal cliff” deal that makes sense is one that lets the top-bracket Bush tax cuts expire and payroll tax “holiday” expire, streamlines Medicare by eliminating waste and improving efficiencies, scales back or eliminates the unfunded Medicare prescription drug program, and cuts back a meaningful portion of the 80% growth in the military budget since 2000. It’s ridiculous that Republicans would oppose this to the point of pushing the U.S. back into recession just to preserve undeserved special tax privileges for the rich that don’t create jobs.
@88 Thirty years of Republican corruption have turned America into a welfare state for the rich. Obama should lean on the GOP as hard as he has to, to get a reasonable deal. If the GOPers insist on throwing the economy under the bus to preserve their special privileges, Obama shouldn’t blink, he should let them suffer the consequences in coming elections.
Former Walker aide pleads guilty to embezzlement charge in John Doe
Surprise! Another Republican embezzling crook!
I dont hate hispanics….I dislike lazy people no matter what color they are…like you and deathfrogg for instance.
if I leave, then who is gonna pair you and deathfroggs “fair share” of taxes?
@85
lol…nice backtracking there.
“throw that bitch in reverse and floor it!”
@81 “Sounds like wyoming has a good economy”
Yeah, 25% of their economy is mining and drilling … mostly on public lands … and much of the rest is government-subsidized farming and ranching. The remainder is out-of-state tourism. In other words, there’s virtually nothing there that isn’t supported by outsiders. Does that answer your question?
One of the more cynical post-election partisan maneuvers is the campaign of character assassination the GOP is waging against U.N. ambassador Susan Rice. Their motive? They want John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton at State, because that would vacate Kerry’s senate seat and give the GOPers a chance to reinstall defeated GOP placeholder Scott Brown in the Senate.
Send the whaaaaaambulance!
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_.....ng-on?lite
Republicans? Will we ever be rid of them?
Guess not. It’s why gerrymandering was invented.
96 – I was really surprised how wealthy Susan Rice is..
Could she be wealthier than Cindy McCain?
Hmmmm. Looks like the answer to that is no…
Susan Rice’s net worth is about 40 million.
More evidence that fracking gas comes at a high environmental and health cost.
“In the midst of the domestic energy boom, livestock on farms near oil- and gas-drilling operations nationwide have been quietly falling sick and dying. While scientists have yet to isolate cause and effect, many suspect chemicals used in drilling and hydrofracking (or ‘fracking’) operations are poisoning animals through the air, water or soil.”
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com.....gions?lite
Republicans want to cut entitlements but refuse to say how.
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com.....osals?lite
@99 Not even close.
Cindy McCain’s wealth is relevant how?
oh wait, its just more jealousy from the usual suspects…lol
@103 “Cindy McCain’s wealth is relevant how?”
It might have something to do with the question #99 asked, dumbass.
@104
Ya, I saw post #99
so once again, Mr fucktard, I ask the question: what relevance is Cindy McCains wealth??
I mean, besides the jealousy you all possess.
“Rabbits aren’t rodents; trolls are.”
Tell that to the farmers in Australia who were damn near wiped out by fucking rabbits in the last century.
@9 It’s quite possible I’ll have to start paying taxes on my non-sheltered dividend income next year, but why shouldn’t I? Why should I get a free ride, when wage earners don’t?
Well, aren’t you just the lambie-pie for the fucking IRS! The only fair tax is a flat rate tax. When are you progressives gonna give up on wealth re-distribution?
@106,
Remember, trolls are mythical creatures from Scandinavian legends. They have nothing to do with rodents.
What cranky old man (and wife-dumping for a younger, richer model gigolo) is so hell bent on rejecting Susan Rice as Secretary of State?
Yaawwwn.. Why do I spell out such things for idiots?
LOL!! Sure you don’t.. Sure….
LOL! Sure you don’t… Sure…
Why hate DF? He’s back in school trying to better his situation..
Oh I get it. DF would rather take the opportunity to study full-time than cut metal part-time at poverty wages.
@105 The guy asked a question and I answered it. Is that too complicated for you to understand? Apparently so.
Neither of us need nor want your coin stupid..
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. If I got a dollar (or 5 or 10 or 20 or 100 or 1000) bill from you..
I’d wipe my ass with it and flush it.
@106 “Tell that to the farmers in Australia who were damn near wiped out by fucking rabbits in the last century.”
When did prolificacy start redefining species? Or is this just a guy who doesn’t believe in science taking license?
I’ve said it before, but I’ll said it again, there’s nowhere near as much economically recoverable shale gas as promoters want their investors (and you) to believe.
http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....nzi-scheme
http://www.rollingstone.com/po.....m-20120301
As one who practiced in Benton county (and deputy coroner there) for many years, I can tell you that the Hispanics there are poor, underpaid slaves of conservative assholes (Hogue Cellars, anyone?, mistreated and exploited by sewer vermin like you.
It informs much of my opinion of parasites of your ilk, who pompously arrogate some fantasy of moral superiority.
You come here to create a self-satisfying smokescreen to mask your guilt. As if you HAD a soul.
Decent people see through the smoke, little Mr. Dreg.
Haven’t detected the distinctive odor of Puddy lately, are you another emerging personality of HIS???
Wayne Hogue should be dead by now, or I’d think you were he.
114 – No Chad, this prick is the asshat troll. An absolute bottom of the barrel troll – even lower than Puddystupid.
He does nothing but repeat the same old wrong-headed braindead opinions month-in month-out..
He called this blog and comment threads – a “dead” place. He’s still here.
He said he doubted he would stick around here even for last Nov 6 – he’s still here.
Throwing the same old shit hoping it sticks. He’ll be here as long as he keeps the faith alive in his shallow insipid views.
Puddyfool by contrast was so overcome with the horrible brain-wasting disease called Obama Derangement Syndrome that he logged an average of 23 comments a day here during Obama’s first year in office..
The sad fool went all-in on the ODS mentality and came up totally empty!
He was left with the dregs of the trumped up Faux Snooze controversy over the Benghazi attacks and now that that’s fizzling – he’s nowhere to be seen.
If he bothers to come back we’ll just remind him of what an ass and a tool he made of himself.
tell that to the IRS…..
dude is just lazy. period.
115 – LOL! I’d GLADLY pay any owed taxes to the IRS for the privileges of wiping my ass with your miserable cash and flushing it.
Btw, donors are responsible for paying the gift tax but who in their right mind would expect a fraction of a penny from the likes of you much less 13 large?
When are you progressives gonna give up on wealth re-distribution?
When ‘conservatives’ do. Pretty goddammnned straighforward, I’d say.
@120 That’s it in a nutshell.
I would add one more thing. As long as we live under a capitalist system — and I’m not saying we shouldn’t — it’s perfectly fair to tax the capitalist system in order to mitigate the human misery caused by the recessions and depressions, business cycles, financial meltdowns, unemployment, below-subsistence wages, etc. that the capitalist system inevitably inflicts on society. At the most basic level, those who get rich by cheating workers out of their hard-earned wages (e.g., think Wal-Mart) should pay taxes to help pay for those workers’ food stamps.