True confessions: I hate tax day. I will leave it at that. (I know the IRS monitors these blogs.) Having said that, I will never be mistaken for Wesley Snipes. I have no problem with paying my fair share of taxes. I love the roads that I drive on and all the other benefits I reap from the federal government while my tax dollars go to work. So there. All you teabagger protesters can kiss my ass. If you really want impress me and make a sacrifice for something you believe in, give up your social security checks when it's time to retire. And, when Father Time grabs you and you start getting sick, pay out of your own damn pockets for whatever medical care you will need.
And while we are on the teabaggers, let me take a little time to praise his O ness: Just a couple of years ago ago this country's economic foundation was on the verge of a collapse. The Dow was tanking, unemployment was rising, and the big D was on every one's lips. (Brother can you spare a mortgage payment?) Now let's be honest wingnuts, we are over a year into the age of Obama and things ain't looking so bad. The Dow is up over 11,000 points, unemployment is holding steady. (Didn't the wingnuts predict that unemployment would be at 12% by now?) And even though home values are way below what they were during the peak of the housing bubble, the bleeding seems to have stopped in the housing market.
On the international front I see O doing some good things as well: (His feud with my home country not withstanding.) He is trying his best to rein in the nukes ,and even though I am still not down with the war in Afghanistan, he seems to be doing a great job with the war on terror where Pakistan is concerned. There has been no major terrorist attack on A-merry-can soil (knock on wood), and he is reaching out to world leaders in a meaningful way to increase our -moral-standing in the world.
Do I have some issues with the guy? Sure I do. But if I am going to be totally honest, so far he has been better than the frat boy at playing leader of the free world. (Oh field, you are just saying that because he is black like you. If he was a white republican you would be all over him.) Nope, if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore.
101 comments:
Excellent post,Field.
WASHINGTON – President Obama on Thursday ordered his health secretary to issue new rules aimed at granting hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners, and making it easier for gays and lesbians to make medical decisions on behalf of their partners.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/us/politics/16webhosp.html?hp
this is a good thing he did today.
I too filed my taxes and was one of the 95% who GOT A TAX CUT this year. This fact, yes repeat after me tea nuts, it is a fact that 95% of Americans got tax cuts. In FACT, the middle class paid the lowest amount of taxes they have paid in 50 years. Fact, not opinion... numbers do not lie. Fact.
I agree with ya Field... and another thing he did was to announce a justice department investigation into Massey Coal's practices. Get em Holder!
Great post Field, especially the part about any other President's bust being on Mount Rushmore.
Obama does have his faults, (bailing out these crooked bankers), but overall I believe he has done exceptional. He stayed the course on health care.
Although I know that many have issues with the health reform bill, I for one can honestly say that this bill will be the best thing for our country.
And I should know. I work for one of these crooked a$$ insurance companies.
"Nope, if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore. "
Right and decades from now let's see how many of these teabaggers try to say things turned out right in this country b/c of the conservatives. Since they seem to blame Obama for a war he didn't start and an economy he didn't sink.
A lot of good, some bad -- which is the best you expect from any president. I don't see the big bitch fest wingnuts get into about taxes. Do you like running water, the internet, electricity and paved roads? Then man up and pay your fair share.
maria said...
"WASHINGTON – President Obama on Thursday ordered his health secretary to issue new rules aimed at granting hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners, and making it easier for gays and lesbians blaah blah blah.
this is a good thing he did today."
This is a next-to-useless thing he did today. Typical of Obama , he makes a symbolic gesture to solve a problem that doesn't exist anymore. And morons like Maria clap their hands.
LAInconsequential said...
"...I don't see the big bitch fest wingnuts get into about taxes. Do you like running water, the internet, electricity and paved roads? Then man up and pay your fair share."
I like paved roads, but my internet, electricity, and running water all come from private industries. Are you that dumb, that you think Obama makes your gasoline and puts bread on your table too?
"Nope, if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore. "
If he were a white republican, he'd be in jail now. If this country wakes up in time, that's where Obama will wind up. The only guy who should be happy is Jimmy Carter, because now he's not the worst president ever anymore.
Bryan said...
"Although I know that many have issues with the health reform bill, I for one can honestly say that this bill will be the best thing for our country.
And I should know. I work for one of these crooked a$$ insurance companies."
Not for long, dumbass. At least you'll have "free" healthcare. Maybe you can get one of them gubmint jobs. We'll just raise taxes on the evil insurance companies to pay for it. Oh snap, there won't be any insurance companies! Doh!
This is special for you, Field.
You missed it the other day in the comments section where I posted it OT on your Apr 13th blog.
Aloha from Makaii
p.s. I'm glad that run is still on for this year! Thanks to Jody's Law Firm.
From Associated Press
April 14, 2010 6:20 PM EDT
ST. LOUIS (AP) — It's time that mustached Americans got in on the stimulus money. At least that's the proposal being pushed by tax policy professor John Yeutter and the St. Louis-based American Mustache Institute. The tongue-in-cheek group dubs itself "the world's only facial hair advocacy and research organization."
On the eve of the deadline to file income tax returns, the professor and the AMI are pushing for a $250 annual tax incentive for people with mustaches. The funds would be used for mustache grooming supplies.
Jody said...
...it is a fact that 95% of Americans got tax cuts. In FACT, the middle class paid the lowest amount of taxes they have paid in 50 years. Fact, not opinion... numbers do not lie. Fact.
Do you breathe when you try to think, Jody? As the federal tax code has not changed, any tax "cut" you got this year is courtesy of G.W. Bush. Also, the reason the middle class paid less taxes this year is that they made less money!
But the hardest thing to believe about your post is that you are employed. Especially at a level where you would have to pay taxes.
My husband works twelve hour days sometimes and only gets to take home sixty eight percent of his income on paper due to taxes. And LAC if my taxes were going towards maintenance of our roads and infrastructure, I might feel happy. But please do look at a pie chart of how federal monies are spent. The majority of income that the government gets from us goes towards military spending, increasing our debt overall. Here is one example. I grant you that the source is somewhat biased but the percentages are compelling. I feel like a stooge for warmongers every time I see my husband's check.
BTW stimulus checks are taxable income. We had back taxes in 2009 so they applied our stimulus check to them. We STILL had to claim them as income. Same for tax returns. That really sucks. I hate our tax structure. It is blatantly unfair and coddles people who make less money. I think a flat tax of 15% for every American makes more sense. That way we all get fleeced proportionally the same! Our graduated tax system makes no sense.
Well I guess I should be happy for all those who are receiving nice big refunds because they worked 6 months out of the year. Giving birth to lots of potential street pirates, or having lots of children for your brother while living in a trailer does have it's rewards, I guess.
(Oh field, you are just saying that because he is black like you. If he was a white republican you would be all over him.) Nope, if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore.
-------------------------
Yep, if it ain't white it ain't right. And assnons 4,5,6,7,8,9,10..Shut the fuck up and if it gets like what your spewing then I'll see you on the soup line too - robbing your ass. Give it a rest man.
So what issues do real thinking people have with Obama? None it seems.
I just watched "Wall Street" with Charlie Sheen and his Dad, the story line was exactly no different than what has happened in the last 20 years.Who is to blame for what is going on today? Obama was elected by the same system that elected Raygun.
Anonymous said...
LAInconsequential said...
"...I don't see the big bitch fest wingnuts get into about taxes. Do you like running water, the internet, electricity and paved roads? Then man up and pay your fair share."
I like paved roads, but my internet, electricity, and running water all come from private industries. Are you that dumb, that you think Obama makes your gasoline and puts bread on your table too?
Actually, genius, power plants are often owned by the private hands but the national electricity grid is owned by the Fed. And oh, most municipalities run basic utilities. You think private companies run your sewers too.
MR, I don't like how taxes are distributed either but there are two things about that. We can use the political process to change our priorities. Also, relative to our income, most Americans get a lot for virtually nothing.
I'd say we really need to pay slightly more in taxes. I'd argue if we a) actively engaged in politics (not voting for some guy every 4 years or running silly rallies, but getting involved at the local and federal level) and b) we actually, as a nation, realize that you can run a functioning state without taxes we could solve a lot of our problems.
Also, because we don't employ a more progressive tax system (i.e. stick to rich people like every other industrial nation) we'd have a lot more money.
As a CA resident, are you are aware that oil companies don't pay extraction taxes to the state? California is the only state that doesn't tax oil companies for extraction.
Hell, even Sarah Palin charged excise taxes to oil and gas companies (part of the reason that everyone doesn't bolt from AK is because every resident gets a 2000 check from the state derived from oil extraction taxes).
Field,
That is one angry and persistent anonymous troll(s) that you have attracted. What cracker did you piss off?
I'm sure that others have pointed out that his/her electricity is delivered over a grid built by the gubmint (and is in need of an upgrade, but that is another matter), s/he drinks water delivered by a public works system and s/he uses an internet that was developed by DARPA (another gubmint program). Oh, the oppression of having to pay taxes.
You really can't make this sort of thing up, because if it were fiction it would be labeled as too far fetched to be real. As I predicted, the GOP and Faux News are starting to distance themselves from these loonies, as the will be kryptonite at the polls for any politician who embrace them.
Field,
Check it out, an interesting and timely article at Dissent Magazine:
The Myth of Tax Freedom Day
This is worth a read and, if I am correct, should prompt your Anonymous friend to throw an amusing hissy fit.
@ FN:
BRAVO!!! It's about time you got mad and told them to kiss your azz!!
Then this:
"...if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore."
oops! There it is! :)
Peace.
~agape2010~
LAC California makes up for that deficiency with not taxing extraction with screwing citizens in other ways.
Did you see the link I provided above about how tax dollars are spent?
In all honesty, I don't have any ethical or moral problem with paying taxes PROVIDED they go to infrastructure and safety nets. However, as I linked above this is hardly the case.
California is rated to have some of the worst roads precisely BECAUSE tax dollars aren't spent on the roads as they are on other priorities, like the huge bureaucracy's human resources.
I don't feel like we should pay more taxes. That is ridiculous. When you work your ass off and can at MOST take home 68% of your income, that is a serious disincentive.
I always thought tax cheats and rich people who could afford fiduciary trust attorneys were playing the system. But in truth the system is playing the middle class.
Poor people don't have to pay taxes at all. And rich people don't because they GAME the system.
That puts a disproportionate tax burden on the middle class.
What is wrong with the idea of a flat tax? No loopholes. Everybody pays their fair share. THAT is a FAIR proposition!
flat taxers are so stupid.
Poor people don't have to pay taxes at all.
WRONG.
i'll speak slowly and use short words so you can understand, grasshopper.
1. income tax /=/ the only form of taxation. you've heard of "sales tax" and VAT and state taxes, right? the average person (who makes far less than even a mere 100K) spends 60% of every dollar on regional, local, special, VAT, transactional, in addition to federal income tax related taxation. capital gains have meaning in the right wing for a reason, yo.
2. large corporations and the very wealthy pay almost not taxes, in a real and meaningful sense.
3. which is worth more? 10 people paying a penny in taxes, or 10 large corporations paying a dollar in taxes? when both can afford it, and not really "feel" the impact?
4. meh. i gotta run. my personal "tax" is taking care of my older family relatives, because we don't have USP in this country. pray, for you may be here too someday.
Correction, many poor people do not have to pay income tax. That is not fair. Everyone who makes income should have to pay taxes. That makes everyone proportionally responsible for upholding safety nets etc. If a flat tax burden is too high for a household, let them do volunteer work in their community in exchange.
No need to insult me. I already said that rich people know how to game the system so that the burden of all these taxes falls on middle class people. But how does that make flat taxes stupid?
So poor people pay 60% of their income for basic necessities. We own our own home but pay out more than than 60% of my husband's take home income for basic necessities. No credit cards, no cable, no microwave; very simple living, just mortgage, utilities, FOOD and transportation costs. So technically we are poor. YET we still are on the hook for a shitload of taxes each year.
That is in inequitable system.
I was going to respond to by Anon. teabag friend, but you all did a pretty good job of slapping him/her down. Thanks for that link Gregory.
I always love when those two Cali folks, M Rigmaiden and LACoincidental go at it, I learn so much. :)
LOL@ Makaii, I don't think my accountant got me that stache deduction. :)
MRigmaden... if you want to go by proportional responsibility, then the poor, proportionally pay the most taxes... every time they purchase a taxable item, no savings, no home ownership to deduct a mortgage, no deductable for assets and interests... and the ones that pay the most, proportionally, are undocumented workers. They pay income taxes, social security, etc and get nothing back.... check this website for the numbers: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Filled Negro:
I have little respect for your integrity and those of others who PURPORT to be focused upon the permanent interests of the Black community.
I have moved beyond the back and forth battles between Democrats and Republicans and instead to something more substantive.
This would be having a PERMANENT REFERENCE by which to JUDGE anyone who claims to be moving the ball and evaluate the EFFICACY of this entity.
The primary indictment against you and others is indeed your INTEGRITY. That which you were grieving about is now a point where you CELEBRATE.
You see Filled Negro I don't look at BARACK OBAMA alone. I look at the MACHINE that he is atop of that is also in control over EVERY SINGLE BLACK COMMUNITY in America. How do you proclaim an ECONOMIC RECOVERY when the Black unemployment rate rose from 15.8% to 16.5%? Negro PLEASE.
This is why you have little integrity. You are "Sold Out To Obama and Progressivism".
*Social security checks - you mean the money that I have been PAYING IN for decades? Do you ever get that periodic statement of payments from the SSI? I know how much I have paid in. FEAR NOT FILLED NEGRO. Upon INSOLVENCY of the fund in a few decades EVERYONE will have to trim their expectations of their check.
* And, when Father Time grabs you and you start getting sick, pay out of your own damn pockets for whatever medical care you will need. - Again Medicare? ALREADY PAYING FOR IT!!!!
Why is it that your words above are seen as EXPOSING HYPOCRISY yet when an evil Right Winger says words in kind to "The Least Of These" people like Mellaneous and Granny call them HATERS?
I got it. Your HATRED is said toward HATERS so that means that you are doing "SECOND HAND HATRED" and thus it is not as HATEFUL despite what it sounds like. Thanks for clearing that up.
* Praise O'ness? Just a couple of years ago ago this country's economic foundation was on the verge of a collapse.
Filled Negro - PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAS CHANGED? USA Today: http://withintheblackcommunity.blogspot.com/2010/04/growing-us-deficits-and-debts-imperil.html
As I said before NO INTEGRITY.
The Dow was tanking, unemployment was rising, and the big D was on every one's lips.
Wait - I thought before that the DOW did not indicate the state of affairs for MAIN STREET? UNEMPLOYMENT IS STILL RISING FOR THE NEGRO!!!!!
Has North Philly ever really left its DEPRESSION Filled Negro?
Now let's be honest wingnuts, we are over a year into the age of Obama and things ain't looking so bad. The Dow is up over 11,000 points, unemployment is holding steady.
Indeed BANK PROFITS HAVE RETURNED. Many have repaid their TARP FUNDS.
http://www.financialstability.gov/latest/tg_04022010.html
BUT WAIT FILLED NEGRO!!!!!
I just read that:
* Consumer Credit card defaults are RISING
* Foreclosures are RISING
WHERE IS YOUR INTEGRITY Filled Negro?
I assure you that many of your IDEOLOGICAL BIGOTS who WANT OBAMA TO SUCCEED more than they want INDIVIDUALS in the economy to prosper will NOT HAVE CHALLENGED YOU ON ANY OF YOUR PROPAGANDA.
I challenge all of you: DEVELOP A TRANSPARENT MODEL FOR EVALUATION that you hold everyone TO.
Stop being a CHEERLEADER. It makes you a SELLOUT.
[quote]This fact, yes repeat after me tea nuts, it is a fact that 95% of Americans got tax cuts. In FACT, the middle class paid the lowest amount of taxes they have paid in 50 years. Fact, not opinion... numbers do not lie. Fact.[/quote]
Jody:
Why do you consider your own selfish interests at a time when the FEDERAL DEFICIT was:
* $1,400 BILLION last year
and slated for
* $1,540 BILLION this year.
Jody - READ THE USA TODAY link that I posted above
THIS YEAR'S MONEY SHORTFALL is larger than the ENTIRE US BUDGET SPENDING for the year 1995!!!!!!!!
Jody - WE ARE IN THE HOLE MORE THIS YEAR than what the Feds spent in 1995.
Do you see that with you and Filled Negro - because of your bigotry you are able to hunt down GOOD NEWS because you are motivated to do so.
* A person while DROWNING says - "Oh I am about to die but isn't this WATER SUCH A LOVELY SHADE OF BLUE. Thank you for these environmental laws. It used to be polluted"
* A person being devoured by an anaconda snake who has her by the ankles - "I wish someone would beat this snake off of me. Though I am in pain I do happen to notice that this snake is such a lovely shade of green. I wish I had my camera to post its picture on my MySpace page where I document my vacation."
What you NEED TO BE ASKING Jody is beyond the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT which has unsustainable DEFICITS.....what about the STATES, CITIES AND COUNTIES where these people live?
The "Bitter Black Coffee Movement" members in Dekalb County GA who last year DEMANDED property tax cuts and thus drained MILLIONS from the SCHOOLS are now HIGHLY PISSED and protesting over the planned CLOSURE OF 4 schools NOW with a possibility of 12.
Jody - at some point one's BIAS is seen in their ability to FOCUS on that which they seek to PRAISE rather than their ability to open their eyes to the FULL picture that is in front of them.
Do you suffer from near sightedness or farsightedness?
Constructive Feedback said...
I challenge all of you: DEVELOP A TRANSPARENT MODEL FOR EVALUATION that you hold everyone TO.
-----
No one on this blog owes you a model for a damn thing. You Silly Sammy!
[quote] I for one can honestly say that this bill will be the best thing for our country.[/quote]
Brian:
Do you note the lack of empirical evidence in your post?
As an employee of the insurance companies are you most happy that "the HAND THAT FEEDS YOU" will receive billions MORE streaming into their accounts payable funds because of government mandates?
OR are you happy that THEY - the Dracula of the left now have their FANGS FILED DOWN and their hours of attack REGULATED?
Bryan - If your job as an evil insurance agent was to RATION money for health care because the DEMAND for care EXCEEDED the resources - and in a health care system that is $4,000 BILLION per year your industry was attacked for its PROFITS despite them being only $16 billion per year - DO YOU SEE THAT ALL OF THESE LIES AND PROPAGANDA are going to come to a head now that the left has WON?
Bryan DO YOU REALLY THINK that all of this penned up demand for HEALTH CARE SERVICES are now magically going to be accommodated - YOU GOING TO THE HOSPITAL TO HAVE ALL OF YOUR NEEDS SATISFIED because of this new legislation?
The most frustrating part about debating with some of you is your ability to BASTARDIZE ECONOMIC TRUTH.
This bill merely SHUFFLED FINANCIAL RESOURCES. It mandated that more people must be covered and GAVE THESE FIRMS MORE MONEY, the GOVERNMENT adding about $100 B more per year. If you think for one minute that in due time those who have a "Demand Side Economy" consciousness where they want to be SERVICED as an ENTITLEMENT RIGHT are going to have their demands fully met by this bill - you have no consciousness of history.
In 1965 when Medicare was passed the estimate that they made about spending for the year 2000 was 8 TIMES SMALLER than what was actually spent when 2000 came.
Today with massive budget deficits and DEBT AND underfunded Pensions & Social Security - the days of FUNNY MONEY are coming to a close.
I see this health care bill as THE LAST LABOR CONTRACT SIGNED WITH GENERAL MOTORS.
There was jubilation by organized labor that they had "WON". The truth of ENDURANCE their victory was seen a few years later when their benefactor WENT BANKRUPT.
[quote]No one on this blog owes you a model for a damn thing. You Silly Sammy!
[/quote]
Myma:
The sad thing about it all - IT IS NOT FOR "ME" that you would develop such a MODEL.
You see Myma -
You know how EXPERIENCE tells you:
* Not to walk down that DARK ALLEY because it looks like the other one in which you were MUGGED?
* Not to assume that a brother who brings you roses at 11pm at night is going to respect you in the morning?
* Not to believe that the letter which says "I am a Nigerian Prince" and I need for you to send me $1000 so I can pay FedEx to send you the bars of gold that I am sending out of my country?
Well Myma - EXPERIENCE applied in the form of a MODEL of the real world assists those who have the CONSCIOUSNESS and INTENT to focus on their own PERMANENT INTERESTS rather than supporting the interests of some EXTERNAL ENTITY - to be able to make better decisions about what they are doing.
Fear not Myma - in every mass movement that you can think of there has been
* A portion of people who were strongly FOR IT because they had NOTHING TO LOSE but their present OPPRESSION and all to GAIN in their FREEDOM and SELF-DETERMINATION
* A portion of people who were AGAINST IT because they feared their loss of PRESENT POSITION as provided by the present regime
* And a sizable portion of people who WERE ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL - unconcerned about WHO "WON" - as long as their new masters KEEP FEEDING THEM each and every day.
Which one of these are YOU?
CF the Clown sez
"You see Filled Negro I don't look at BARACK OBAMA alone. I look at the MACHINE that he is atop of that is also in control over EVERY SINGLE BLACK COMMUNITY in America. How do you proclaim an ECONOMIC RECOVERY when the Black unemployment rate rose from 15.8% to 16.5%? Negro PLEASE."
Actually Black unemployment in February was down 0.7 percent from January's recession high of 16.5 percent. It's still 15.8 percent, which is 7.1 percent higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. Since the recession began in December 2007, the Black unemployment rate has gone up 7.8 percent, nearly doubling in two short years.
The last time Black unemployment was as high as 16.5 percent was July, 1984 when it stood at 16.7 percent. Believe it or not, it took until December 1994, for Black unemployment to drop below 10percent..
But I bet CF never indicted Massas Reagan and Bush Sr.
No siree.
All the trends are showing a slow recovery from the recession the Repubs saddled us with yet CF and the other wingnuts are trying to blame Obama for creating the mess.
Un-freakin-believable.
[quote]But I bet CF never indicted Massas Reagan and Bush Sr.[/quote]
White BowieSteve:
Can I let you in on a secret?
I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE PRESIDENT IS THE PRIMARY FORCE IN EMPLOYMENT. In fact in the face of rising unemployment and the government being forced to "DO SOMETHING" - they only will result in MORE DEFICIT SPENDING and more CENTRALIZED POWER in Washington DC.
WhiteBowieSteve: Did you watch "Gangland" the other night? They featured the city of TRENTON NJ. This once industrial city has the message on its bridge "What Trenton MAKES, The World Takes" (consumes).
I realize that you and other BIGOTS are seeking "Ideological Supremacy" over any particular interest that you have in improving the lot of "The Least Of These". Thus with the POLITICAL victory having been won in Trenton and Camden and so many other cities like them you are not predisposed to go back and LOOK at the real world impact of your POLICIES.
With the various HILLS having been won around the nation - you now stand atop the NATIONAL MOUNTAIN, seeking to implement that which FAILED LOCALLY upon the entire nation.
WhiteBowieSteve:
These CITIES were incorporated because they were largely SELF-SUFFICIENT. The people within figured that they could make a better life for themselves with a CITY CHARTER. This document from the state gave them the franchise to COLLECT TAXES LOCALLY to fund the CIVIC SERVICES that the people demanded.
Unfortunately today - despite having a FAVORABLE POLITICAL MACHINE to you IN POWER - these places are hollowed out shells of themselves. Whereas an INSOLVENT corporation is dissolved, an INSOLVENT local government allows their elected officials to retain power. They instead turn to the STATE or the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT for funds. They retain their seats and are now charged with DISTRIBUTING these funds that WERE NOT MADE INSIDE OF THE POLITICAL BOUNDARY to all who are hungry.
Since THEY are seen at the ribbon cutting ceremony - the people make the mental association that THESE LEADERS hath brought them BENEFIT.
NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH WhiteBowieSteve.
If the test of the EFFECTIVENESS of a MACHINE is its ability to ORDER THE HUMAN RESOURCES so that they are the primary support beams for the STANDARD OF LIVING at which they LIVE then PROGRESSIVE-FUNDAMENTALISM HAS FAILED MISERABLY!!!!!
* They control the schools - but have NOT produced the skilled practitioners that the area needs
* They control the CULTURE - but have failed to bring forth a prevailing level of CONSCIOUSNESS that would have the masses to work productively
* They control the ECONOMIC POLICIES - yet, more than ever, require funds from external sources.
WHITEBOWIESTEVE - Why did you take over these places?
Why do you suffer so little REBUKE for what you have done?
[quote]
All the trends are showing a slow recovery from the recession the Repubs saddled us with yet CF and the other wingnuts are trying to blame Obama for creating the mess.[/quote]
WhiteBowieSteve:
Lets take a tour of the places who have had a RECESSION for several decades so that we can establish WHO brought this upon their backs.
It is your HATE-FILLED ideology which fails to develop COMPETENCY in these masses which is to blame. You instead provide MAINTENANCE and FEEDING in exchange for VOTES. This shows your CONTEMPT for them as EQUAL HUMAN BEINGS
CF
"I realize that you and other BIGOTS are seeking "Ideological Supremacy" over any particular interest that you have in improving the lot of "The Least Of These". Thus with the POLITICAL victory having been won in Trenton and Camden and so many other cities like them you are not predisposed to go back and LOOK at the real world impact of your POLICIES."
So are you actually saying that it was African-American political leadership and policies which drove out businesses and caused the cities to decline???
Is that what you're saying?
LACoincidental said...
"the national electricity grid is owned by the Fed."
No, it is not. All electrical distribution lines in the U.S. are owned by private companies.
"Also, because we don't employ a more progressive tax system (i.e. stick to rich people like every other industrial nation) we'd have a lot more money."
What? The top 20% of earners (the "rich")pay 85% of federal income taxes. the bottom 47% pays zero. that's not progressive enough for you?
I'm feeling pretty good about our President, for the first time in ten years. I knew he was a remarkably intelligent man. I'm just thrilled that he can get things done too.
"No, it is not. All electrical distribution lines in the U.S. are owned by private companies."
No you stupid hick, the actual poles the current travels on is gov't owned.
what bothers me most about taxes? not that 100 days of work goes to taxes but that 50 of those days go to the military industrial complex
I agree about paying one's fair share of taxes, particularly if they are used to pay for infrastructure and programs that ultimately help others. My biggest beef is the percent that ends up going to people who oversee &/or manage the programs rather than to the programs themselves. There is too much top-heaviness in govt and alot of the waste goes to bureaucrazy (hey, I misspelled it but a new word for you!) Bureaucrats are usually all about justifying their existence rather than getting things done.
Anyway, it's true about the right wing, conservative screamers who don't want to pay taxes, don't want "social" services yet would never dream of paying for their own health care after 65 or giving up their social security.
[quote]50 of those days go to the military industrial complex[/quote]
What you NEED TO look at is how much of those MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX contracts Kneegrows like BET Uncut and others vie for.
The US Military is one of the CONSTITUTIONALLY ENUMERATED responsibilities of the Federal Government.
The RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE was something that was fabricated along the way.
The day that the fruit from America's global imperialistic supremacy are no longer able to be SHIPPED HOME TO AMERICA because Pirates upon the high seas now control the world's waterway THEN you will appreciate the projection of US military power throughout the world.
Today it is merely an abstract notion that you don't have to deal with because your words have no material impact upon the cocoon you live within.
[quote]So are you actually saying that it was African-American political leadership and policies which drove out businesses and caused the cities to decline???[/quote]
WhiteBowieSteve:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "African-American Political IDEOLOGY". These are merely LAMPBLACK LEFTIST policies - painted in black face.
What you seek to protect by enshrining them in RACIAL cover has the chilling effect of undercutting the interests of our people who actually live within these policy domains.
NO IT WAS NOT "BLACK LEADERSHIP" that did this. Instead it was leadership, regardless of the race, which ASSAULTED the system that once made the landmasses in question PRODUCTIVE.
Been poor..asking me to pay taxes on a yearly income of $400 in the US tells me one has no clew. And when I was working at a fast-food joint...my income was still nothing. And, I was not alone. Many co-workers made even less. So, pretending that I had spare change for tax is your fantasy, not my Reality. If you made enough to pay tax...count your blessing and quit whining.
Mold
[quote]Anyway, it's true about the right wing, conservative screamers who don't want to pay taxes, don't want "social" services yet would never dream of paying for their own health care after 65 or giving up their social security.[/quote]
CaliforniaGirl:
I have been observing patterns of behavior with regard to people who seek to PROTECT their resources/private property versus people who seek to NATIONALIZE the concept under the guise of "sharing".
If you look at the various points resource contention throughout the nation you typically see people seeking to INCORPORATE into their own city so that what they now pay to the county in taxes yet receive crappy service in return can be aggregated closer to home. This move also requires that they have a measure of self-sufficiency in order to retain this living standard.
So think about it CaliGirl - what if you who are noting the hypocrisy of the EVIL RIGHT WING in regards to Social Security, Medicare and nationalized health care were to move beyond pointing out their hypocrisy and instead allowed them to LIVE IN THEIR OWN BED?
Instead of forcing them to pay into a national resource pool that they don't wish to "share" with those "other people" that they hate - you instead allow them to LIVE IN THE BED THAT THEY MADE?
Make Social Security and Medicare OPTIONAL in participation. Those evil, greedy people who opted out throughout their lives ALSO GET SHUT OUT OF THE BENEFIT in the back end.
What do you say CaliGirl? Why not call their bluff?
What is stopping anyone from setting up a NON-GOVERNMENT resource pool by which they collect money from the WILLING participants in their "Calling Circle" and dole out these benefits to those who put in capital?
[quote]If you made enough to pay tax...count your blessing and quit whining.[/quote]
Mold:
How perverted of you.
There are people living in Haiti and Chad who make money in line with what you have mentioned. The realities of the PLACE WHERE THEY LIVE have them living at a STANDARD OF LIVING that is more in line with their $400 per year of productivity.
Shouldn't YOU be telling these people who live IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST (The USA) who DON'T SUFFER the same consequences as do the Haitian and the Chadian to COUNT THEIR BLESSINGS?
Instead you seem to be among the crowd telling them about their SOCIAL JUSTICE RIGHTS to vote themselves the proceeds from another man's WALLET.
Jody poor people don't have to pay income tax and all that value added stuff you guys are talking about affects ALL OF US. Not just poor people. I don't understand why people are opposed to flat taxes. Mathematically that is the fairest way to go. It doesn't make any sense at all that my husband takes home 68% of his check, then takes 50% of that to fork over for a mortgage where the BANK owns the house until it is paid. Then after that, utilities, food and other living expenses. We are living hand to mouth. Our percentages actually look comparable to a poor persons. Yet we aren't seen as poor although the majority of our income goes to living expenses. We don't live in a mcmansion either.
Our tax system is irrational, immoral and unfair. If all people are created equally then all people who earn a lick of money ought to put their share into the bowl.
I chanced upon the streets of San Francisco many years ago and while I was there, many of the homeless indigent population are paid general assistance and they have shelter via county programmes or residential hotels.
These people can actually afford to hang around all day, panhandle and then eat a nice dinner later that night.
I know that we should look out for each other as humans, but from many of these comments, it doesn't seem like you guys are aware of how unbalanced the system is or how poor people game the system. We know that rich people game the system all the time. But so do poor people. They are able to use many social services that they aren't paying into...which leaves a bigger deficit for the bowl later on...No I stand by what I say.
Value added tax applies to any American given the inflated cost of goods and services.
MR -- most economists (who are honest and not selling a libertarian pipe dream) will tell you that 'flat tax' is inherently unfair to the poor as they take a bigger hit in terms of real dollars. If my kid brother and I both paid 15% of weekly income in taxes it would utterly unfair -- as I make over 1500 a week and he barely makes 350 a week in a shoe store stock room.
If you're worth 1 million dollars, 20% of your income wouldn't affect your lifestyle much -- as you have $800K to spend anyway you like. However, 20% out of a $100 paycheck is a lot of money.
Jesus illustrates this point at the temple in the story of the women with two mites (about 8 cents) and wealthy rabbis paying their tithes. He makes the point that, to a wealthy noble, 10% was nothing. But to the widow, here 8 cents represented almost all she had -- she was making a sacrifice.
Also, as others have pointed out, most rich people barely pay any income tax because most of their income, capital gains, is virtually untaxable. And even when they are taxed, these guys build shelters all over the world (see UBS Scandal)
Again, the real issue on tax day is that the rich are making off like bandits and the rest of us are fighting over scraps.
M. Rigmaiden wrote:
"These people can actually afford to hang around all day, panhandle and then eat a nice dinner later that night."
You left out that their chauffeured Cadillac picks them up in time for a spa treatment before dinner.
MR, are you channeling Ronnie Reagan?
field said:
"the bleeding seems to have stopped in the housing market."
If you read this link, it's still looking pretty bloody to me. Downright gory...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
CF
"NO IT WAS NOT "BLACK LEADERSHIP" that did this. Instead it was leadership, regardless of the race, which ASSAULTED the system that once made the landmasses in question PRODUCTIVE."
What a smokin pile of shit.
If that was the case then why didn't the auto or steel industry just move into a conservative Republican area which would be business friendly (supposedly)?????
No Greg, I'm serious. Many of those indigents panhandle and do crack all day. I used to hang out with them! This is first hand experience! I knew a guy named Jimmy who spent his time getting high off of general assistance money and panhandling for his lifes necessities. He had a lawfirm give him a collection EVERY WEEK! No lie.
People KNOW how to get over and sorry you don't see that.
LAC 20% is 20% screw all this talk about impact. If someone is poor you know for a fact they get damner free healthcare, free food and can sometimes even get free lodging. So what is wrong with them paying a fair proportion like everyone else?
20% is 20%. I don't care how you slice it. But again you believe in institutions and I really don't put much trust in them.
It boggles the mind how given how a country that talks of equality can have such a bassackwards attitude when it comes to implementing fairness.
If Jimmy and my other crackhead friends were made to take responsibility for their behavior, they'd pay taxes too OR be forced to volunteer in their communities.
Instead though, he is able to continue getting money for not doing anything at all but getting stoned. And apparently you all support that.
This isn't a lie.
MR, your confusing personal experience with the reality for most poor people --
Almost all poor people work and work more hours and harder than many of the wealthy trust fund babies and lobbyist who spout that flat tax BS.
And 20% isn't just 20%, that's a false paradigm when measure against real dollars.
And the 'free healthcare' you exclaim as a great deal is sure shot better than the libertarian, pre-Panther/Catholic worker alternative -- people dying needless and being dumped on skid row because they couldn't foot a bill.
If anything, your friend Jimmy needs comprehensive drug treatment and reaclimation programs -- which works. Think about how much tax money you'd save on a 15K rehab clinic and job training center over a 40K stint in prison.
Why not argue to spend more tax money on getting crackheads off the white horse or to deter folks from drugs instead more helicopters for Latin American dictators and prison cells for potheads?
Again, taxes isn't the issue, its that Americans are apathetic in what happens with their tax money.
MR, here are two columns on why the "47% pay no federal income taxes" headlines are a bit misleading.
Look closer at tax stat
Who doesn't pay taxes
Actually the example of 20% and the disparate impact that LAC cited was EXACTLY the concept of declining marginal utility of money which underlies free market economics.
If a household makes $20K, virtually all of their money will be spent on necessities.
If a household makes $200K, they will have just about all necessities met and some nice extras.
If a household makes $4 million, ALL necessities are met and they can also get just about any extras they want.
So 20% of income is NOT valued the same by those homes.
To put it another way, if you won $100K in a lottery tomorrow that would be enough to do some but not all of what you might wish to do. So you'd do the things which are most critical. If you won $100 million, you could probably do EVERYTHING you ever wanted to do and the things at the bottom of the list would not be as important to you as the things at the top. There's not a lot of difference between $99 million and $100 million. Declining marginal utility is not a left wing concept. It's based on how people behave.
That's why (among other reasons) that we have a progressive income tax system.
But poor people do pay other taxes, many of which are regressive-payroll taxes and sales taxes, just to name a few.
It's better to be rich than to be poor and progressive taxes don't change that.
Anonymous @9:27 said "All electrical grids in the US are owned by private companies."
You mean like the ones owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, Seattle City Light, the Bonneville Power Authority, the state of Nebraska, and numerous other public entities, both large and small? Do some reading before you shoot off your mouth -- the electrical grid in the US is a mix of both public and private, with the "private" including co-ops created under the federal Rural Electrification program.
And not-so-constructive feedback really needs to get a life.
I still disagree with you guys and I'm not confusing personal experiences either. I gave some to you for anecdotes. Look, poor people get free food 1. Foodstamps.
Poor people get close to free medical care 2. Medicare, Medical, Medicaid
3.Poor people have access to sliding scale services such as psychiatry and even naturopathic medicine but middle class people usually don't qualify for the sliding scales. So we have to pay full price for everything.
4.Poor people can even get WIC so they don't have to pay for baby formula or cereal.
5.Our system is unfair.
6.Rich people game it and so do poor people.
7.Your examples of a person who makes one hundred dollars versus a millionaire are ridiculous.Especially when my concerns are about the disproportionate amount of taxes hoisted on the shoulders of the middle class.
8.I have loved ones who are able to game the system.
9.It pisses me off because essentially my husband works his ass of for virtually nothing.
10.We will never agree on this issue.
4.
M Rig:
"No Greg, I'm serious. Many of those indigents panhandle and do crack all day. I used to hang out with them! This is first hand experience! I knew a guy named Jimmy who spent his time getting high off of general assistance money and panhandling for his lifes necessities. He had a lawfirm give him a collection EVERY WEEK! No lie.
People KNOW how to get over and sorry you don't see that."
MR let me say that I hear and understand your frustration but you know that deep down that the reality of homelessness is much larger and deeper than a few panhandlers who happen to get over.
The truth is that most folks who are homeless have made some bad choices. But (and I have known homeless folks, hell I'm a paycheck away) most homeless would trade places with you in a minute.
A lot of these folks you are right are drug addicts and a lot have mental health issues which ironically they can't get help for, some have fallen on hard times financially.
Some homeless folks are working everyday while trying to provide for kids.
Please MR don't do this! The generalities are not true. You were talking earlier about the tax system being unfair. Its just as unfair to kick folks when they are down! Its disengenous and a bit heartless.
If you strapped Jimmy to a polygraph and asked him would he like to get cleaned up and work a job that could support himself with or continue doing crack and give up his dignity and beg for what he needs, I think he would choose the former.
BTW, I fully supported drug court which gives drug addicts time in rehab instead of jail. There was a big push for this in San Francisco a few years ago when I worked at UCSF.
Taxes are the problem because my tax money and yours goes to support many people who are complacent and are just living as they can. Nobody has put their asses to the fire so they just take money from the dole. That is wrong.
Mellaneous you are misreading my comments. I am not vilifying poor people at all. I am saying that there is a segment of the poor population that games the system just as rich people are able to do.
I say what I mean and feel. I am not being disingenuous. People who work hard and end up homeless are in another category than the people to which I was referring. Usually people who end up homeless due to job loss and so forth don't stay homeless for very long because they are motivated to better their lot.
This economy has kicked a lot of people's asses, mine included. So don't twist my words!
The gaming that rich people do to avoid paying taxes pisses me off too.
Like I said this is why I believe in a flat tax. Proportionally everyone pays the same. I won't veer from that position either.
We simply disagree.
BTW it is a lie to say that homeless drug addicts cannot get help for mental issues. They get FREE PSYCHIATRIC CARE and MEDICAL CARE. There are many, many programmes at a local level at least in San Francisco that cater to homeless people.
They are often able to access better services than lower middle class people who don't quite meet the criteria for social services.
LAC ditto man and Amen!
LAC said:
"If anything, your friend Jimmy needs comprehensive drug treatment and reaclimation programs -- which works. Think about how much tax money you'd save on a 15K rehab clinic and job training center over a 40K stint in prison.
Why not argue to spend more tax money on getting crackheads off the white horse or to deter folks from drugs instead more helicopters for Latin American dictators and prison cells for potheads?"
My thoughts exactly. One of the oldest (and getting old) habits of middle class folks is to pick on the poor and the disadvantaged.
I really believe that you have to want for others what you want for yourself.
Jesus said "love your neighbor as yourself."
The Judaic theologian/philosopher Martin Buber put it another way he said. "Love your neighbor, he/she is like you."
MR, would you rather be poor?
Ancedotes don't really matter for much. Unless you think that poor people are MORE devious and criminally minded than rich people for every lazy poor person refusing to work for his bread, there is a rich person hiding income or refusing to abide by work safety rules or dumping pollutants into the river. Who's costing society more?
I would have no problem with extending the income tax down to include everyone if you would also agree to extend the payroll taxes up to include everyone and to ensure that capital gains don't get unequal treatment from earned income.
I think unless one really is RICH then most people feel financially stretched at some point in their lives. But we have a choice. You fret about the mortgage that you pay but you made the choice to buy the home, yes? I don't get why you are comparing that situation to a person who may lack the skills and resources you have and may not be able to even qualify for a mortgage or purchase a home.
MR -
Also realize that we are Californians, we live in alternate universe of social services. In most of the South and midwest, Social services are all but non-existent.
Believe me, if your friend Jimmy were in South Carolina, he'd probably be locked in the state pen with no treatment whatsoever and at the mercy of hardened criminals. You wouldn't want to be working class or unemployed in Misissippi or Alabama.
MR said:
"BTW it is a lie to say that homeless drug addicts cannot get help for mental issues. They get FREE PSYCHIATRIC CARE and MEDICAL CARE."
Sister MR that simply is not true of all 50 states. Cali has some more progressive policies.
Minnesota has some of the most progressive in the country and even they don't have near enough treatment centers to accomodate the need. And the mentally ill don't all get the help they need because too often the system tries to criminalize them.
And try getting help for a drug problem in Miami you will get put on a waiting list which of course doesn't work for a real addict who is battling the temptation of the habit.
I try getting help if you are down and out in the Gulf states esp. Mississippi.
And I am not talking about what I think, I have worked with the homeless population and advocated for them and poor folks in a few states. I too have personal experience.
I could tell you some stories that would break your heart. Being poor and down and out in America is really not a game or card or a political football to be tossed casually around. These are real people with real pain, real hurt, real problems. Because those of us who have it "going on" don't understand why someone won't; get their act together, or why someone is in the place they are in, clearly does not make us better, which is what is implied(whether one means to or not) when we pick on the down and out. And it does not put us in the position to judge, because if only for the grace of God go I/you.
You sound like a right wing ideologue with this line of reasoning. It really doesn't seem to become you, especially in light of the things that you have said that you and your family have suffered.
Where is your empathy your compassion sister?
MR I disagree even with the idea that we disagree. You are whether intended or not villifying the poor. You may not mean to but you should read your own comments.
You have been steadily making and building a case. And LAC told you right you can't compare poor peoples problems to the rich the ruling class use of the system to rob and steal and even kill for profit.
Its an apples and oranges argument,YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT COMPARE THE LOOTING, STEALING ROBBING OF DIGNITY, WAGES, RESOURCES OF ENTIRE COUNTRIES AND EVEN MURDER FOR PROFIT, TO THE FEW CRUMBS THAT ARE AFFORDED POOR PEOPLE, which is untrue simple as that.
There does seem to be some fruit involved in your complaining however, SOUR APPLES.
There are no two sides to this debate. The poor are poor because there is a rich ruling class who have ripped the poor and others off in very significant ways!
And villifying the guy stealing a candy bar while someone rolls off with the entire store is a favorite trick of the masters, the ruling class.
MR,
It sounds as though you need a better tax accountant. That might improve your disposition.
M. Rigmaiden: I hate our tax structure. It is blatantly unfair and coddles people who make less money.
Oh cry me a freaking river. Try being single without children and see how much taxes you pay.
Your hubby gets four deductions right off the bat (himself, head of household, you and your son). I only get one deduction (myself). Your hubby gets money back from the government for two personal choices that he made ( he married you and had a son. Unless your husband is claiming all four deductions throughout the year he should be getting a nice chunk of change from Uncle Same.
Of the multitude of tax day pieces out there, this is by far the best. I have sent it far and wide, and hope it lives in infamy. Bravo; you speak for more than you may know...
Roderick we have gotten absolutely nothing back for the past few years. This year we actually have a return but it goes to the back taxes from previous years.
The year my husband got laid off, he got a retirement distribution and elected to pay taxes on it. The accountants did not take out the taxes per his request and we got stuck with a massive tax bill at the end of the year. Even though my husband got laid off. Even though we had to take from reitirement to pay bills.
And before we had our son, we got screwed every year.
I also disagree that married people should get tax breaks. It is unfair. I feel you on this. Frankly if a married couple files as a unit, proportionally they ought to pay the same percentage of taxes that everyone else has to pay. That is FAIRNESS!
I think people should get tax credits when they care for children and animals because children and animals require a lot of expenses and cannot care for themselves.
As to your comments Mellaneous, you've just chosen to read my statements as vilifying the poor. You cannot deny that poor people get food stamps, general assistance monies and help with housing as well. The middle class people are the ones worse off. Rich people know about the structural flaws in the tax code and have professionals hook them up. Usually middle class people cannot afford fiduciary trust attorneys.
I feel that everyone needs to pay their FAIR share. A set flat amount. Corporations pay a flat 10-15% of their PROFITS in taxes, same for small businesses, people who are couples or individuals. That can be slightly modified if people are raising kids and or animals...but not much!
BTW why or how could you possibly be against a flat tax? And if someone cannot pay the tax, mandatory volunteering in the community?
How could you be against something like that? Your opposition merely seems to be that I'm villifying the poor. But what is the opposition to the notion?
Whew! CF either needs a day job or another hobby....jeeze!
Slavery in America continues to pay HUGE benefits for the descendants of former slave owners. GW Bush's tenure left this coutry in the middle of an almost inescapable economic vortex swirling downward towards the next DEPRESSION. The majority of white voters looked at the field of Presidental replacements, McCain versus Obama and then held their noses and picked the guy to give them the best chance of avoiding the looming catasrophe, Barack Obama. (Their thoughts while voting, "Tough that he's black but you have to play the cards you're dealt.")
Afetr the second swearing-in, Obama adheres to the old "Performance evaluation for Negroes", namely you have to be 200% better than a white person", so he hits the ground running faster than Willie Best in the old Charlie Chan movies. (and he ain't stopped yet!) Today, after over a year of Obama hustling, this colossal old ship called the U.S. of A, creaking and groaning under her "Captain's resolute steady steering is finally starting to turn away from the deaded financial abyss. Most of the GROANING is coming from the members of the Republican Party who have been petulant and sucking their thumbs ever since they lost the majority in Congress (less lobbyist money for political losers.) On the other hand, all of the CREAKING noise is coming from members of the "Tea/Pea Party" because they thought that they would never see the day in America when a NEGRO would be President of "THEIR" America.
(Remember the middle aged white woman at a town hall meeting who sobbed into the TV camera, "I just want my country back!" Bet she's a Tea/Pea member today.)
So here is my observation, the only man on the scene in the midst of a potential depression was an American Negro man who gets the title of President NOT because he had the votes and the right racial pedigree so he therefore deserved the title, rather he got the votes and HE HAD TO HAVE THE TITLE IN ORDER TO GET THE JOB DONE!
In the event Barack Obama suceeds in implementing and shaping America for the global world of the 21st century according to his vision, and even receives a victorious second term as President, he will obtain little credit in the archives of a future America.
However, the passage of the Health Care Reform bill guarantees that Barack Obama will not be committed to the dust bin of American history. What I am saying is that he will not be celebrated for his tremendous contribution to America. But wait... isn't that what the perfect slave does for his master, i.e., perform the necessary miracles and once accomplished, he vanishes quietly from sight and memory....
MR said:
"BTW why or how could you possibly be against a flat tax? And if someone cannot pay the tax, mandatory volunteering in the community?
How could you be against something like that? Your opposition merely seems to be that I'm villifying the poor. But what is the opposition to the notion?"
MR I think a flat tax would be a good idea in a fair or just society. Under the present system it would not work.
The ruling rich would build in loop holes through their legislative branch and then promptly use them.
The poor would have little left since the poor tax is already incredibly high.
And in our racist,sexist society you really don't want these folks deciding who has to do community service and what kind.
It might work in a mixed and planned economy, but never in the midst of this mess.
And this is what I think LAC was trying to relate to you earlier. While it seems that poor people get breaks that middle class folks get you have to be really, really poor to qualify.
And I can honestly tell you I have never met anyone who was overjoyed about being poor and their so-called benies they get because they are poor.
MR if you are really this disastisfied then do what other dissatisfied folks have done, protest and advocate changing the system.
Since it (the system)obviously doesn't work!
Mrigmaiaden... How about this... how about we stop fighting over the scraps of the poor, working and middle class and focus our energies on the few wealthy that OWN most of the wealth. Then, once they are paying THEIR FAIR SHARE... I will join you in looking at the rest.
So few of us know, see, or interact with the "rich". So, we tend to not have the day to day experience of being outraged by their behaviors.. There are so many more poor.... We fight among ourselves and leave the rich alone We need to stop that.
What Jody said....
[quote]that 'flat tax' is inherently unfair to the poor as they take a bigger hit in terms of real dollars.[/quote]
LAC:
You are a disgusting thinking individual (like Jody but I'll get to her next).
Why is it that you automatically jump to the INFERIORITY of the POOR? Instead why don't you notate to them that as EQUAL ADULT HUMAN BEINGS they have the RESPONSIBILITY to maximize their PRODUCTIVITY so that the STATE can CONFISCATE more of their income for the betterment of ALL?
INSTEAD you content yourself in carving out a place for the Permanent "Least Of These" to dwell. They have managed to make wages that are INFERIOR to the standard of living that they desire to live at and thus seek an INVERSE tax upon them where the GOVERNMENT PAYS THEM a stipend so they can live at a level that YOU HAVE CHOSEN that no EQUAL HUMAN BEING shall fall below - EVEN IF their own actions have them to cascade downward.
Why not create a policy of "GOVERNMENT OWNED INDENTURED SERVANTS"? At least you could extract the productivity out of these people and not get into the nasty issue of ownership of humans by PRIVATE individuals.
[quote]how about we stop fighting over the scraps of the poor, working and middle class and focus our energies on the few wealthy that OWN most of the wealth. Then, once they are paying THEIR FAIR SHARE... I will join you in looking at the rest.
So few of us know, see, or interact with the "rich". So, we tend to not have the day to day experience of being outraged by their behaviors.. There are so many more poor.... We fight among ourselves and leave the rich alone We need to stop that.[/quote]
Jody the THING THAT YOU LIKELY FEAR THE MOST is if the RICH were to LEAVE YOU ALL ALONE.
Worse yet - the worst possible thing that "The Rich" could do to screw you Jody is to collectively convert their MASSIVE WEALTH into the form of GOLD. They then assemble 6 massive BLOCKS OF GOLD and put them into the center of:
* New York City
* Chicago
* Los Angeles
* Miami
* Houston
* Boston
They announce that they are LEAVING THIS COUNTRY and SHUTTING DOWN ALL OF THEIR EVIL CORPORATIONS, entertainment acts and banks. YOU HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THEIR MONEY IN THE FORM OF GOLD.
Jody - the BLOODSHED that is unleashed at the sight of HUNDREDS OF THOUSAND of "Perpetual Strugglers" seeking to obtain control over the GOLD BLOCK in their town would be worse than anything ever seen in a modern day war.
The thing that YOU don't seem to understand per your RESENTMENT BASED IDEOLOGY is that "WEALTH IS GENERATED ONE PENNY AT A TIME". It is not CONFISCATED via any grand scheme that you can think of.
More of the world poor live with POTENTIAL wealth residing right under their feet. They don't have the market systems or technology necessary to RECOGNIZE the financial benefit of their treasures. They are attuned to your message of "Mau Mauism" it seems.
MR wrote:
"You cannot deny that poor people get food stamps, general assistance monies and help with housing as well. The middle class people are the ones worse off. Rich people know about the structural flaws in the tax code and have professionals hook them up."
I doubt that I will change your mind, as you seem fixated on the flat tax and seem resistant to the argument that 10% means more to those at the bottom than those at the top.
However, I will leave you with a few thoughts, more for your for your consideration rather than your response.
If the "poor" have such an easy life, as you described it, then why are you and your husband working? Just quit and enjoy all the "free" stuff. Maybe being "poor" and living it up on food stamps isn't such a good deal after all.
Also, you don't need to be "rich" to afford a decent tax accountant. If you are consistently "screwed" then it is possible that doing your own taxes is false economy. I don't know your circumstances, nor do I want to know them, but that is just food for thought.
[quote]Slavery in America continues to pay HUGE benefits for the descendants of former slave owners. GW Bush's tenure left this coutry in the middle of an almost inescapable economic vortex swirling downward towards the next DEPRESSION[/quote]
Anon - You know 5 GRAMS OF CRACK WILL GET YOU 25?
Why do you keep focusing on the descendants of SLAVERY - whom you would have a hard time distinguishing from those who came over after the fact?
YOU NEED TO focus upon the results of the first wave of VICTORIES in your PERPETUAL STRUGGLE.
Despite the fact that FAVORABLE PEOPLE now are educating your children.......they are little better prepared to work as "professional service agents" for your community than they were 40 years ago.
IF BUSH left this nation in a "Depression" please tell me what the machine that have controlled:
* Detroit
* Milwaukee
* Buffalo
* Rochester
* Trenton
* Camden
* Newark
* Baltimore
* Philly
* St Louis
* Cleveland
did as they handed over the reigns to the next generation to clean up?
All I want to know if if you smelled the stick before you grabbed it to make sure you had the right end of it.
Anon 6:03 pm, "you had me at hello." :)
Having a tax accountant is common sense IMHO.
"In the event Barack Obama succeeds in implementing and shaping America for the global world of the 21st century according to his vision, and even receives a victorious second term as President, he will obtain little credit in the archives of a future America."
If in no other area of policy intervention, President Obama will go down in history as the ONE president who had the guts to turn NASA around, and set a course for space exploration and science that will pay dividends for generations.
If you have children, please expose then to the NASA website, SpaceX, and this picture of our President touring the launch pad of the upcoming Falcon 9 rocket launch.
Also, here is a report by Buzz Aldrin on yesterday's Kennedy Space Center speech by President Obama.
He did the right thing, the real visionary thing, and you should tell your kids about it.
Saying that Obama 'is doing a great job with the war on terror where Pakistan is concerned' is like saying 'Nixon did a great job with the war on communism where Cambodia was concerned'. Obama's drone war in Pakistan is possibly the most shameful aspect of his term so far (the failure to close guantanimo is a close second place). Not only is it illegal according to international law but it has killed thousands of innocent civilians, including many children.
Field, I have a lot of respect for you, but supporting the murder of civilians is some repugnant shit.
Best. Tax Return. EVER.
THANKS, Mister President. Saved our ASSES this year. What with the Cash for Clunkers and my being back in college and the kidlet and the first however much of my husband's unemployment being untaxed and so on and so forth, we got a fucking HUGE tax return this year. And I mean fucking HUUUUUGE.
And since we are being priced out of Los Angeles, we really, REALLY needed it, so we could pay for the moving expenses and the first and last months on a rental in Traverse City, Michigan, where we're moving...
So, I say again -- THANK YOU, Mister President. You fucking ROCK when it comes to this particular issue. I've had many a complaint (civil liberties and such, the health care bill not having a public option, blah dee blah blah blah -- same ol' same ol' when it comes to my Democratic President never being liberal enough for me -- not that I'll ever throw my Democratic President under the bus like SOME fucking liberals I know... ahem, firedoglake ahem)... but when it comes to the TAXES issue?
TEABAGGAH, please.
p.s. TFN, Does that phrase not ROCK?
"Teabaggah, PLEASE."
I could just die.
Anti-government extremism: "Social Programs = Slavery" And the sad thing is they found a Black man to say this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoyWWOkapcE&feature=player_embedded#!
Bellim
The economic ignorance evidenced on this site is astounding. You deserve your affirmative-action president.
Maryscott OConnor:
Maybe you should use some of that money to purchase this past week's USATODAY review of the massive federal deficit:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-04-12-deficit_N.htm
I miss the days when Joe Biden said "PAYING taxes is patriotic" and progressives believed him.
[quote]Anti-government extremism: "Social Programs = Slavery" And the sad thing is they found a Black man to say this! [/quote]
Bellim:
Do you thing that Entitlement programs that allow people to live at a living standard that is far higher than that which the aggregate productive actions of their community would otherwise afford them to translate into ORGANIC CONSCIOUSNESS instead?
Can you think of any particular COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT points of culture that is inculcated as a result of these programs that you speak of?
I'm no expert on these programs, CF. But I figure anything that helps people to SURVIVE is good, and slavery should never be compared to something so mundane.
-bellim
"The economic ignorance evidenced on this site is astounding. You deserve your affirmative-action president."
That's funny, my broker doesn't think so. And if this what affrimative action brings us maybe it should be mandatory for damn near every industry in A-merry-ca. Let's start with Wall Street, shall we?
Sup Maryscott? I miss "My Left Wing". :(
"I'm no expert on these programs, CF. But I figure anything that helps people to SURVIVE is good, and slavery should never be compared to something so mundane."
Bellim, you must be new to this board. CF wishes he was a slave again.
Congrats Field!!! Finally somethin we can agree on...
I love payin 6 figures in taxes...just means your really well off...and someones gotta pay for those prisons, I mean, illegitimate babies, I mean, prisons full of grown up illegitimate babies...
But don't you think a 35% top rate is enough?? If not, what SHOULD it be, and no fair answerin if your not in the top bracket....
Frank
PS "Frean-nicks" back in the ATL this weekend, ya oughta come down...
Frank
and Ummm don't know how to say this without gettin taken the wrong way...but you've got some influence with the President(Peace be upon Him) so here it goes...
I think the President(Peace be upon Him) has Lung Cancer. His voice is a little hoarser, his collar a little looser, and I know he had a physical not long ago, but I bet he didn't even get a Chest X-ray, much less the contrasted MRI you need to pick up the big C at a curable stage...
and I hope I'm wrong, cause nobody wants that re-tard Biden around anything with sharp edges...
Frank
Frank, you and I hanging in the Atl? Hmmmm, I see a reality series there somewhere. :)
As for the big C. I think his O ness will be fine. It's Spring, maybe the guys allergies have been acting up.
Reality Series??? I live in a freakin Reality Series...:)
I mean where else in America can you live in a 1/2 million dollar house and still have to drive 3 miles to see a Business Sign in English???
Some mornings I could swear I'm in Seoul Korea...
That bein said, at least we don't have no stray dog/cat problem in the Northeast Atlanta Suburbs...
and I was serious about the Lung Cancer...I'll take the President(Peace be upon Him) over that Mongoloid Biden any day of the week and Sunday...
Frank
Frank,
From ~1930 through 1970 the top tax bracket never dipped below 51%, in 1960 any earnings over $X00k (this number I'm not sure of) was 91%.
Until Reagan did his little trickle down trick and lowered the top tax rate, we had a strong middle class, great infrastructure, and prosperity.
Now, with the top tax rate at 35% we have mega mega rich, and mostly NOT middle class.
I'm no economist, but I know what we have vs what we had.
FWIW
Caveat:
JFK reduced this top rate from 91% to 75% from '63 to '68, and this really kicked the economy into high gear.
I'm not for punitive taxation, but our country has historically relied on the top earners for a large part of government funding.
Just read CF's response on flat taxes. Damn, CF, you have got to be one of the stupidest Negroes I've ever talked to on the 'net. Did you just argue that people deserve to be poor? What kind of Ayn Rand bull is that?
Unbelievable. Please get out of your mother's basement and join the res of us in the rational world.
Gregory, to be honest with you if I knew then what I know now I might be living a poor lifestyle. That is to say, if I knew that a thirty year fixed mortgages were a sham, we would not have bought our house on a loan at all...we would have saved up for a few years and paid cash. So that we could actually own our property. NOw, we don't own shit, nor does anyone who pays a mortgage.
All of this is a sham. It bothers me that all of you could be so supportive of such oppressive institutions. BTW we do use an accountant. An accountant cannot help you when mistakes are made by your 401K administrator nor can it get the IRS off your back. Just like Tomothy Geitner had to pay his back taxes even though his accountants had made mistakes in the past.
The accountant saved us far more money than Turbo Tax could have done!
Nevertheless, you guys are deluded!
I thought Drackman was in prison? Or, is that just a joke around here?
Hell, six figures is a pack of cigs in the shower, in the pokey.
But, Rush Limpdog hasn't moved, and Sarah keeps blathering....I know the President is no Saviour, but he keeps trying to make the lives of many...
Better.
Yowza Field...
We miss you, too.
I see you have your share of trolls around here.
I'm taking another African American history class this semester -- strongly considering minoring in it.
You should see the kids' faces when I walk into class... A 42 year old practically reflective/translucent bleeding heart liberal who's forgotten more African American history than most of them know...
Jesus -- one of them actually tried defending Little Black Sambo last week. Half of these kids are actually buying this bullshit about "socialism." I wanna tear out my hair. (Oh, and my professor is younger than I am. And gorgeous. She is also a mite frustrated with "kids today.")
Anyhoo. Yeah. Love the Katie Washington post.
Constructive Feedback:
Thank you for your advice, but I consider USA Today's "journalistic standards" slightly below those of my 10 year old son's 4th grade class book reports. I'd have to consider anyone reading USA TODAY for his economic education as beneath contempt.
I'll stick with The Economist, thanks, and when it comes to the massive federal deficit, virtually every credible economic mind -- and that includes almost everyone associated with The Economist, the GOLD STANDARD when it comes to economic journalism -- agrees that the deficit has to be put on the back burner while we deal with the more pressing problem of the economic stimulus needed to keep us out of the dire cataclysm eight years of neocon bullshit brought upon us by the Republicans.
As for my much needed tax return and whether I should have paid taxes this year: I DID pay taxes. I paid Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes and a shitload of consumption taxes.
Thanks for your concern.
Post a Comment