(And there are links to some 45 other media clips from the past week in politics at Hominid Views.)
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Biden “Biden: ‘Last Admin Had a Ponzi Scheme’
Ha Ha 13.5 Trillion dollar Debt (1.4 Trillion deficit), Bankrupt Social Security System, Bankrupt Medicare, Add Socialized Medicine
‘This admin has a massive Ponzi Scheme’
Ha Ha Ha Ha
George W. Bush took over the Whitehouse in January 2001. The Republicans had a slight majority in the House and Senate. None the less the unemployment rate was 4.2%. The average monthly unemployment rate stayed between 4.2% and 4.5% until Sept 11, 2001. It climbed to a high of 6.2% for the remainder of 2001. From January 2002 through December the average monthly unemployment rate fluctuated between 6.0% and 4.4%. For the remainder of Republican control of Congress (Up to Dec 2006) the rate stayed between 4.4% and 5.0%. The average for December 2006 was 4.4%. In January 2007 the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. From January 2007 until Dec 2007 the average monthly unemployment rate went from 4.4% to 5.5%. January 2008 to December 2008 it went from 5.5% to 7.4%. So with Bush and the Republicans in control the average montly unemployment rate varied between 4.2% and 6.1% (6.1% for the 9 months following 9/11/2001). In Jan 2009 Obama took over the Whitehouse with a super majority in the House and Senate. During the last 20 months the unemployment rate went from 7.4% to over 10% never improving in 2010 to better than 9.5%. With the Democrats in control of the Congress from Jan 2007 until now the Democrats have taken the unemplyment rate from 4.4% to 10%. The worst was starting with Obama in 2009 until now. For some reason I can’t understand why the Democrats continue to lie and blame Bush. You can check these numbers by going to Yahoo search and keying in US average Monthly Unemployment rates. I want everyone who is sick of the Democrats lies to go there, research it yourself and post the truth along with me.
@2 Chuck 08/21/2010 at 7:15 am,
I want you to travel to Kauai and research for yourself whether roosters make the sun rise.
When your research is complete, please post the truth.
3.
How about giving us your version of the truth.
I’d also know what your budget looks like this year, and could you run your own home budget spending double your earnings. And for how long.
@4 ld 08/21/2010 at 7:27 am,
Pity you don’t get the joke.
If you want teh TRUTH, join a cult.
If you think that the budget of a household is comparable to the fiscal policy of the world’s largest economy, get an education.
If you want teh TRUTH, join a cult.
But I do not want to join the democrat cult…
@6 Chuck 08/21/2010 at 7:46 am,
I didn’t ask you to join a cult. I asked you to go to Kauai.
Ever been to Kauai? If you have, you know it’s a great place. If not, you really should go.
As long as you want to be mentally lazy, the beaches of Kauai are a much more appropriate place to be lazy than commenting with your post hoc ergo propter hoc garbage here.
@4 ld 08/21/2010 at 7:27 am,
If you’d like to compare budgets and budgetary experience for the purpose of understanding how a political party would manage the nation’s finances, what does this tell you?
Re 5
Mike, much of the trouble we are in now is due to what you say.
Dot com crash? Well, you folks don’t understand. Tech companies don’t work on the same business principles as a motor company or one that makes washing machines. Yeah, that worked well.
And any working stiff on the street can tell you what an educated moron of a economist can’t. Spending money you don’t have is never a good idea. Spending 41 cents on the dollar in money you don’t have is a recipe for disaster.
9 continued
Having said that I’m not an economist, thank God. I prefer sanity and common sense to pipe dreams and theories than don’t work in the real world. Conrad wrote about how all the beautiful theories of women would fall apart on some uncomfortable fact men have been living with for generations, if tried. Substitute ‘women’ for either economist or liberal, and ‘men’ for conservative and he nailed it.
As for whether Obama started in the hole, he certainly did. Bush bank bailouts and the wars in Iraq and Afganistan were run on deficits. Only one of these was defensible, unfortunately for me as a conservative.
@9 lostinaseaofblue on 08/21/2010 at 8:12 am,
(allegedly of the construction business) said:
“And any working stiff on the street can tell you what an educated moron of a economist can’t. Spending money you don’t have is never a good idea.”
So, just to be clear. It is never a good idea to borrow money to: buy a house, do a remodel, buy property to expand a business, buy an excavator, buy a crane, ….
Has it ever occurred to you that educated people usually earn more than uneducated people because the cost of uneducated stupidity is so high?
@10 on 08/21/2010 at 8:21 am, lostinaseaofblue, a person whose world view of economic theory comes from Ayn Rand’s horrifically written drivel said:
“Having said that I’m not an economist, thank God. I prefer sanity and common sense to pipe dreams and theories than don’t work in the real world.“
Do the math, look at Greece.
Mike,
I hope you’re being obtuse, as the option is that you’re the one lacking in education.
Private sector accounting and public sector are two different animals. I buy a property, to take your example, on certain premises. First, I believe that with improvements (a new structure, a remodel, whatever) the costs of the property, financing and improvements will be paid for with a profit by the sale of the property. If I’m wrong I lose money, and hopefully learn lessons for the next time. I accept he financing costs as part of the cost of doing business, and I accept the risks associated with it. But I backstop this with the bank. The bank won’t lend money unless they’re pretty sure they can get it back on the terms set.
Private sector? Borrow money from my kids and grandkids (at some point) so that someone can sit on unemployment for two freaking years! Two years! Threaten the future of my kids and grandkids so that people who buy a home they can’t afford don’t suffer from that choice. Or that people who have children they can’t afford can have those kids paid for by someone else. Basically to ensure that no-one ever suffers the consequences of poor choices, but that good choices are always financially punished by the government.
Want a new WPA? Actually I’m okay with that. The freeways and other infrastructure in this country are in bad shape. You won’t find a cheaper time to build or repair them for a while. Men and women are working, not sitting ont their asses on my dime. This is comparable to buying a crane etc.
Want to encourage people to suck forever on the government teat at my expense? No, thanks very much. This is throwing money down an ever expanding rathole.
Re 12
Do yourself a favor. Don’t presume that anyone with whom you disagree is stupid or uneducated.
And don’t presume to know what books in my library have been influential to me.
It makes you look stupid.
@13 ls on 08/21/2010 at 8:38 am:
Have you looked at Greece?
Or maybe you’ve just read what the Austerians say about Greece?
I should have said that the cost of educated stupidity was too high. Just look at our president and all the well meaning intellectuals who support him.
If a mechanic makes a mistake, my car is in the shop for a day or two extra. If a carpenter makes a mistake the project costs more and goes on a little longer.
Obama is mistaken in nearly every aspect of his worldview. He can bankrupt this country and cost it generations to recover.
@17 lostinaseaofblue on 08/21/2010 at 8:49 am:
I should have said…
Been said before to you, but “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
Re 12
One last thing, then I’ve got dogs to take to Marymoor.
Ayn Rand was a terrible writer. Her politics were taken to an extreme which made them laughable. But the basic points were sound. Businesses, not governments, drive economies. Business owners, not workers, create employment. Governments should leave business alone absent criminal behavior. Workers should have no say whatever in how such businesses are run, except to quit if they dislike it so much.
Liberals have put the cart before the horse to make the horse feel better. What’s funny is that they can’t figure out why they aren’t moving.
Re 18
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
Every sentence you’ve written this morning, I’ve been thinking ‘some phrase at the back of my mind describes this guy.’ Thanks for reminding me what it is.
Have a nice day.
@19 lostinaseaofblue on 08/21/2010 at 8:56 am,
“Ayn Rand was a terrible writer.”
Agreed, but her drivel runs circles around your meandering, disjointed crap.
Be sure to shake your fist in rage against imposed poop scooping requirements at that guberment built and maintained dog park.
My wife is looking for her car keys, so time for one quick question-
I’m stupid, uneducated, disjointed in your estimation. Nothing I say makes any sense, according to you.
Care to actually contest any one point I’ve made, or are you shaking your fist in rage at a perspective with which you disagree just as a reflex?
@22 lostinaseaofblue on 08/21/2010 at 9:09 am,
“Care to actually contest any one point I’ve made, or are you shaking your fist in rage at a perspective with which you disagree just as a reflex?”
Where should the millions of Americans who (according to you) “sit on unemployment for two freaking years! Two years!” go to find jobs?
You’ve been asked this before on this board when you’ve ranted about it. Where is your answer?
“Where should the millions of Americans who (according to you) “sit on unemployment for two freaking years! Two years!” go to find jobs?”
The answer is the same as before. I don’t know, and it isn’t my problem. My problem is take care of my family and my bills. Their problem is to do likewise.
Nor is it the problem of government. National and local security, interstate regulation, treaty powers with the world, and a few other functions are all that the federal government can Constitutionally perform. Nowhere is there a duty to provide housing, food, or employment security to citizens. Nowhere is there a duty to create a safety net for those too foolish to provide one of their own.
And while nowhere is there a duty to blame people who would prefer to work and earn a living but cannot, with sitting on unemployment as if they want to, you find time to make that your problem, trumpet that their problem is not yours.
And you have the gall to think this selfish uninformed crap you continually spew is worth the time of others to consider.
There is a duty to promote the general welfare.
One approach that has been favored by the right is to shrink the government down to the size where one can drown it in a bathtub.
The other is the path of social insurance like Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and Unemployment insurance. Public education and support of scientific research/r&d also serve the same ends.
One approach is a radical minority view and another has been proven overwhelming popular time and time again.
Re 25
Shorter version-
I can’t answer the argument. So I’ll see if I can distract him with a personal attack to hide the fact that I don’t actually know any good reasons to support my postition.
Now, my wife finally found her keys, and life is too short to waste on ignorant people like you.
Re 26
Ah yes. The elastic clause, which liberals take to mean, the Constitution means whatever the hell we want it to.
Try again.
@27 lostinaseaofblue on 08/21/2010 at 9:54 am:
“I can’t answer the argument. So I’ll see if I can distract him with a personal attack to hide the fact that I don’t actually know any good reasons to support my postition.”
Well, you got the context (and some simple spelling) wrong, but yeah that is your standard RandRoid WINGNUT approach. :-D
@28: It’s not elastic, you fucking ignorant fool, it’s a general responsibility of governing under our constitution. It’s why it’s in the fucking preamble, dipshit!
And is prefacing purpose of powers enumerated for Congress in Article I, Section 8:
Same shit, different day: you continue your mealy mouthed glibertarian excuses for selfishness and greed.
BTW: you also continue to be a fucking liar. You say you’re leaving and never do.
lost @ 9
You’ve never borrowed money?
I borrowed money to buy my house. We call that a “mortgage”.
Businesses borrow money all the time. We call that “investing”.
Governments borrow money all the time. To make useful things like schools, roads, and fire stations.
Those moron economists have explained, convincingly, that bad things happen when people and businesses can’t borrow money.
The same applies to government.
You know, lost, this is really, really basic stuff you’re spewing about. And you’re 100% utterly completely unforgivably dead wrong. It’s just silly. You’re trying way too hard to remain ignorant. Probably for cheap partisan points.
Please ease up.
lost previously
Nice.
So now people who don’t measure up to your standards are lazy or stupid. They don’t deserve the right to vote.
—
In your list of government responsibilities, above, you omitted the administration of our elections and courts. So tell me, lost, are you with Mr Cynical in thinking only people who can pay get to vote (aka a poll tax)?
Chuckles @ 2
Strawman argument for the win.
Democratic lies? Who’s lying about the unemployment rate?
Are you trying to argue, poorly, that the current high unemployment rate is all Obama’s fault?
Well, that’s just silly. The truth is that everything started to go down hill when Nixon took us off the gold standard. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.
You can sure tell school is out, when all the little trolls show up and spew their juvenile, immature crap. For example: “it is not my problem that there are five people looking for every one available job. I got mine and you can’t get yours.” And since you can’t, you won’t; and if you won’t, then you can’t do all the citizeny like stuff because that is my way or the highway.
Re 30
Umm. The phrase you italicised is called the elastic clause.
And the revolutionaries who wrote it hardly had the cradle to grave nanny state in mind when they did. In fact, Franklin wrote that we should make poverty uncomfortable to drive people out of it.
I’m neither greedy nor selfish. But if I were it would be my perogative to be so. It is simply not the proper role of a decent government to force citizens to charity.
Re 31
I anwered most of this in post 14. Borrowing within ones means? Fine. Borrowing on the hope of a devalued dollar swindling your creditors out of some of their investment? This is fraud. Borrowing on the next 30 or 60 years to pay the bills of the moment? This is simply stupid.
You might look at the history of mortgages and home ownership. 100 years ago borrowing money for a home was nearly unheard of for the middle class. Supply and demand meant that prices were lower for homes, and more people owned them. Those that did own them had them securely, not at the whim of luck or the terms of the mortgage contract they refused to read or understand.
re 32
Answer the question about when you would enforce deadlines for ballots and we can talk. There must be a cut-off for valid ballots or 2 years after an election the sitting officeholder can be removed on the basis of late ballots.
Otherwise you keep telling me what I am proposing without a scintilla of evidence to support it. I never suggested either poll taxes or literacy tests.
Want to know what I support by way of government activity? Read the Constitution. Anything not in it is outside of the realm of legitimate government activity. Pretty easy, huh?
re 33
I thought Obama promised that if we spent a trillion dollars we didn’t have unemployment would stabalize at 8%. The proof of his poor policies is in the soup we are in now.
Re 34
I can disagree with your politics and credit you with good intentions. The trouble is that good intentions and good policy aren’t always linked even approximately. In the case of liberals they are 180 degrees apart.
proud leftist, was just thinking about you. i think at one time you said you were upper middle class, white christian. i’m wondering if you have any sons. there’s a commercial. i think its for target stores. when i first saw it, i thought it was for donations to third world schools. all the kids were female, latino looking. then i saw it was for back to school shopping. i guess white males dont need education anymore. my condolences to your offspring proud leftitst, they need not apply.
Bush has to be the smartest president to ever live! He was so smart the democrats think he is still president!
You freaks keep talking about this situation like it’s all the president’s fault. When we point out that it wasn’t, you whine and call us Bush blamers, ignoring the fact how you started this out with falsely blaming it all on Obama. The proper retort to this is, “Fuck off, asswipe”, thus putting an end to a ridiculous conversation.
Lost sez, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” Wingnuttia in a fucking nutshell.
You assholes blamed Clinton’s dick for every fucking thing that went wrong for seven years. You then starting blaming Obama before he even took office. You’ve never taken fucking responsibility for a goddamned thing. You wingnuts can go fuck yourselves.
pieceofshit @ 36
My son will graduate from a fine liberal arts college next year. I had the funds (barely) to pay for his education. I am lucky that I was able to do so. This country needs to do a far better job of educating our youth. We are falling behind because assholes like you think that public education is some socialist plot. I was able to pay for my child’s college education. Most people can’t. That is why the government needs to step in and ensure a college education for every young person who might be eligible. If the government does not do so, we will soon become a Third World nation.
lost @ 35
You’re missing the point. These 7,400+ voters tried to follow the rules. They made a mistake. But don’t know it.
(I don’t think KCE tells people when their ballot hasn’t been counted. I’ll ask them.)
Quote #1
Quote #2:
Quote #3:
Well. It’s hard to debate someone who can’t agree with themselves. So here’s what I propose: You figure out what your position is. Then we’ll talk.
Until then…
We already provide non-English ballots (Chinese in King County and for the blind).
Instructions can be confusing. (I design user interfaces and write manuals. It’s wicked hard to get right).
Bonus Wrong
Very easy. And immature.
The US Constitution does not enumerate the right to vote.
So, by your way of thinking, we shouldn’t have elections?
lost @ 35
Sorry for my confusion. You previously said never.
Where we probably agree:
The merits of borrowing should be evaluated on a case by case basis.
Take care of the young, sick, weak, and infirm. Everyone else has to pull their weight.
Two points about those bankers lending:
The people making the loans didn’t shoulder the risks.
Irresponsible banks should be liquidated too.
re 41 and 42
There is no contradiction.
The first quote was partly tongue in cheek. Clearly neither you nor an election official can decide whether someone should vote or not on the a subjective basis.
King County should have one ballot printed in English, and one in Braille. A blind person has no choice, but anyone else voting in this country should be doing so in English.
In any case both are presumably reading the ballot. That is all I meant by an ipso facto literacy test.
Sorry, I’ve NEVER found the instructions on a ballot confusing. This isn’t an SAT. This isn’t the entry exams for a post doctorate. It’s a ballot for Gods sake.
If we aren’t to go by the Constitution to determine government activity why not simply eradicate the thing and have done with it. You on the left presume it to mean whatever the passion of the moment demands. Those on the far right take it to mean the same, with different passions. That’s why the thing is there, to set up a standard by which to ascertain government activities legitimacy.
Elections rights and sdminstration were reserved to the states, not the federal government. Nevertheless, voting is mentioned several times, again to establish minimum standards states will adhere to. There a number of good websites that present the Constitution as a document without interpretation in which you can easily find this.
As for borrowing-
I think you’re right on what we probably agree on. And I agree and have written here, that banks who made poor decisions should be no more immmune from the risks of them than the borrower.
lost @ 43
You don’t get to have it both ways.
Either the US Constitutional is whole, complete, without error. Or some governmental functions were left to the states to figure out.
There is no bias free interpretation. Of anything. Including the US Constitution. I already know that your interpretation will likely be wrong. Who’s to say who’s more correct, you or me?
No set of rules can account for all circumstances. Cite Godel’s theorem. I used to design games. There’s always a way to break a game. Then you rely on human judgement.
No set of rules can be so clear that everyone will agree on the meaning. It’s infuriating. But there it is. You and I can both read something very straightforward, like instructions from IKEA. Whereas I’ll be obviously be correct, and have the assembled desk to prove it, you’ll (again) be wrong, arguing with me. And I’ll be sitting there looking at you wondering if you have rocks for brains. (Much as you imagine people how make mistakes on their ballots.)
We still have people who oppose evolution, anthropocentric climate change, and equal rights for all humans. Who can guess why. But these patently obvious objective truths are debated endlessly. Take any self evident truth and there will be some ignorant troglodyte that will vehemently disagree. (Read anything that Mr Cynical posts for a handy example.)
The authors of the US Constitution created a living document. Which is why it permits amendment.
Which is why we have the court. They knew it was flawed. They compromised on intractable issues, deferring the some issues for another time (e.g. Civil War).
Whereas you imagine the authors had some kind omniscience, making the perfect constitution, without error, without need for modification. You’ve equated, knowingly or not, our Constitution to Abraham’s Ten Commandments, as dictated by God herself.
I’m glad that your world is simple, your keen grasp on right and wrong. I envy your certainty. Alas, no amount of posturing and moralizing will persuade me that any of this stuff is easy.
RE 44
We seem to be talking at cross purposes.
Of course the Constitutution is whole and complete as a governing document. No law which stands at odds with it can stand at all on either federal or state levels. But it’s not infallible. So, as you say, we have courts, legislators and the Amendment process.
And no, there is no bias free human interpretation. Of anything. So we have courts in order to eliminate civil disorder over those interpretations. And we have legislators to fashion laws in the interests of the majority. And we have elections where we can retain or remove those legislators if we disagree with their actions.
Of course the states have a lot of leeway. All rights and duties not granted the federal government are to be retained by the several states and the citizens of them. Sorry, this isn’t an exact quote, but it makes the point.
Since I’m a finish carpenter by training, I think I might actually do a bit better on that Ikea desk. But I would patiently help you figure out their oddly written instructions, if you wish.
Finally, yes the Constitution is a living document. But change was supposed to be slow and arduous so that it reflected real and enduring external environmental changes and the need for government to adapt to them. It was never intended to reflect the passions and fads of the moment.
you’re a fool proud leftist. just take a look at tv commercials with kids. see any white males lately? your son is being phased out.
Nice
Fox analyst slams Republicans for forgetting their ‘oath to uphold the Constitution.’
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/.....-gop-14th/
What do these guys and Maxipad have in common? They’re all heterosexuals!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....90960.html
@48
gman, the proud product of being raised by two daddies…..
because being fucked up really is something to pass on to your children.
little mouse @49, you told a funny. Too bad your tiny mouse sized dick is even funnier. I bet the women get a good laugh when you whip out your ol’ 10 mm.