Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Amazing how Obama can talk about the supposed need to balance federal revenue and spending out of one side of his mouth and then throw out new $300 billion programs out the other side of his mouth. Maybe he's just not good at math?

He has a philosophy (shared by the majority of economists) that some kinds of spending revive the economy and lead to greater employment, profits, and revenue, thus balancing the budget.

It's not bad math and it's not speaking out of both sides of his mouth. You just don't agree with the philosophy, which is fine, but don't mis-portray it.

 

[unofan]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

There are a couple of significant differences between Social Security and a Bernie Madoff type Ponzi scheme. First, SS is legal. And second, whereas a Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme depended upon convincing investors to put there money in, SS is forced participation via FICA taxes.

By that logic, the entire world economy throughout human history has been nothing but one giant Ponzi scheme. Which, I suppose if you are Rick Perry, you might actually believe that.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

How about we just let the Bush tax cuts expire, uncap the payroll tax, and then if there's a deficit left over end the wars?

If after we've done all of those things we still have a deficit, then means-test Social Security and Medicare.

Balanced.

You can't do that. Raising taxes on job creators is wrong.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

According to POTUS, Boehner is scrambling to get Republicans to attend the Joint Session speech tonight because the f-tard element in his party is trying to demagogue by boycotting it. That makes them look real adult.

From a security POV it's probably best they aren't coming. Who knows what idiotic antics they might do?

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

You can't do that. Raising taxes on job creators is wrong.

I hear it's theft.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

According to POTUS, Boehner is scrambling to get Republicans to attend the Joint Session speech tonight because the f-tard element in his party is trying to demagogue by boycotting it. That makes them look real adult.

From a security POV it's probably best they aren't coming. Who knows what idiotic antics they might do?

I think it would be awesome if they all didn't show up. Boehner should just shut up and leave well enough alone.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Good read. (Republicans can just cross themselves or mutter about tehsocialism...)

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

And another good read. (This is less polemical and more analytical and should be somewhat more tolerable to Republicans in disagreement, at least those not completely blinded by ODS).

Two particularly interesting passages (actually the most partisan of the piece):

I find much of the criticism overblown. Partly that's because I have yet to hear an account of what he should have done by his conservative critics. They seem to suggest he should have passed no stimulus, bailed out no banks or auto-companies, and let the economy heal itself over time. It's an interesting thesis, I suppose, if you can wipe your memory banks of 2008/2009. At the time, there was a sense of total emergency as the entire global financial system looked as if it could go under. It didn't. Nor did the US economy enter a very frightening downward spiral. To dismiss Obama's stabilization of a plane headed toward crashing seems terribly unfair to me.

But let's say Rick Perry had been president: no stimulus, no auto bailout, no payroll tax cut, no extension of unemployment benefits. Does anyone think that unemployment would be lower today than it is? Surely it would have been much much worse, even if you take a dim view of the content of the 2009 - 2010 stimulus. Does anyone think that any president, Democrat or Republican, would have risked a second Great Depression when offered ways to mitigate it?

and

And one thing I have long observed about Obama is his willingness to stay on the ropes longer than seems wise or possible. That's the pattern, obscured by his meteoric political success. But then, time after time, he has often managed to pull out of it with a speech that returns the country to reality, an argument that is very hard to counter, and a set of proposals that are often commonsensical. Recall his healthcare address after the Tea Party revolt in the summer of 2009. Recall where it led: passage of national universal health insurance.

This time, it's much harder. The deeper economic forces are bleak for any incumbent anywhere in the West; the rubric of change ends when you have been in office for almost three years. The lack of a strong recovery has understandably unnerved people. But I believe Americans are a fair bunch and will give him a hearing (they still like him a lot, despite the approval ratings slide). What he needs to do is not just offer proposals that would be suicidal for the GOP to oppose, but to give us a narrative of where we've come and where we are going. He has one - and put the right way, it's compelling.

This, after all, is a president who has ended the war in Iraq, killed Osama bin Laden, passed universal health insurance, rescued Detroit, stabilized an economy in free-fall, dispatched Qaddafi, deftly presided over a democratic transformation in the Middle East, and guided the political system toward a far more honest assessment of our fiscal crisis. He has quite a story to tell. He just needs the audacity to tell it.

We'll see. The opposition is of course pre-programmed to call the moon the sun and night day, even if they didn't have such a peculiarly pathological fear and hatred of this president they would have to anyway since its the beginning of the election cycle. And Blind Obama Lovers (if there are any anymore) will of course strew flowers in his path. But for the rest of the country -- "betrayed" liberals and concerned moderates -- this is politically a vital speech. Not to mention the fact that the whole world faces real economic problems and what the president of the world's only superpower thinks we should do about it is pretty important, too.

 

[joecct]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

We'll see. The opposition is of course pre-programmed to call the moon the sun and night day, even if they didn't have such a peculiarly pathological fear and hatred of this president they would have to anyway since its the beginning of the election cycle. And Blind Bush Lovers (if there are any anymore) will of course strew flowers in his path. But for the rest of the country -- "betrayed" conservatives and concerned moderates -- this is politically a vital speech. Not to mention the fact that the whole world faces real economic problems and what the president of the world's only superpower thinks we should do about it is pretty important, too.

Just turning the clock back a few years.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

He has a philosophy (shared by the majority of economists) that some kinds of spending revive the economy and lead to greater employment, profits, and revenue, thus balancing the budget.

It's not bad math and it's not speaking out of both sides of his mouth. You just don't agree with the philosophy, which is fine, but don't mis-portray it.

I'm not misportraying it. He talks one week about tightening the federal government's belt and all, then the next week he talk about spending huge additional amounts of money. It's a fundamental inconsistency. It's almost like his doppelganger shows up and talks and sometimes he shows up and talks. Where is his $300 billion going to come from? We all know it won't be $300 billion of cuts somewhere else. It'll be speeding up the printing presses at the Treasury a bit more so he can spend more money we don't have to spend. It's a very simple concept, but I can understand that some will avoid it for political reasons.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Just turning the clock back a few years.

I see what you did there...

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

I'm not misportraying it. He talks one week about tightening the federal government's belt and all, then the next week he talk about spending huge additional amounts of money. It's a fundamental inconsistency. It's almost like his doppelganger shows up and talks and sometimes he shows up and talks. Where is his $300 billion going to come from? We all know it won't be $300 billion of cuts somewhere else. It'll be speeding up the printing presses at the Treasury a bit more so he can spend more money we don't have to spend. It's a very simple concept, but I can understand that some will avoid it for political reasons.

LOL. I'll grant you one thing, Bob. You prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Republican spin machine is in perfect working condition.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

I'm not misportraying it. He talks one week about tightening the federal government's belt and all, then the next week he talk about spending huge additional amounts of money. It's a fundamental inconsistency. It's almost like his doppelganger shows up and talks and sometimes he shows up and talks. Where is his $300 billion going to come from? We all know it won't be $300 billion of cuts somewhere else. It'll be speeding up the printing presses at the Treasury a bit more so he can spend more money we don't have to spend. It's a very simple concept, but I can understand that some will avoid it for political reasons.

Oh, so you agree with the following?

"Republicans talk about decreasing the deficit and then all they talk about is tax cuts, which widen the deficit. It's a very simple concept, but I can understand that some will avoid it for political reasons."

Oh, yeah, and thanks for that little accusation of obfuscation at the end. Stay classy.

BTW, in your world where Obama and the Dems have a dark master plan, what exactly is motivating them when they talk about stimulus, since it isn't economic philosophy? I can see the conspiracy theory about why Republicans want to cut the top marginal rate -- it's direct cui bono. But I don't understand why you think Obama wants to bankrupt the nation. Is he a Kenyan Muslin fifth column after all? Does he hate us for our freedom? Perhaps it's his troubling anti-colonial mindset?

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Oh, so you agree with the following?

"Republicans talk about decreasing the deficit and then all they talk about is tax cuts, which widen the budget. It's a very simple concept, but I can understand that some will avoid it for political reasons."

That statement assumes that the money that the government steals from the taxpayer is the governments money. It isn't, it's the taxpayers money. That's why my proposal below (blowing the safety net up using whatever means necessary) is the only plan that WILL EVER balance the budget.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Oh, so you agree with the following?

"Republicans talk about decreasing the deficit and then all they talk about is tax cuts, which widen the budget. It's a very simple concept, but I can understand that some will avoid it for political reasons."

Oh, yeah, and thanks for that little accusation of obfuscation at the end. Stay classy.

BTW, in your world where Obama and the Dems have a dark master plan, what exactly is motivating them when they talk about stimulus, since it isn't economic philosophy? I can see the conspiracy theory about why Republicans want to cut the top marginal rate -- it's direct cui bono. But I don't understand why you think Obama wants to bankrupt the nation. Is he a Kenyan Muslin fifth column after all? Does he hate us for our freedom?

You really haven't been paying attention in recent years, where I've said part of the deal for getting a balanced budget is higher taxes? I've said that many times. You missed them all?

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

You really haven't been paying attention in recent years, where I've said part of the deal for getting a balanced budget is higher taxes? I've said that many times. You missed them all?

I guess I missed them all.

So who are you backing for president?

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

I guess I missed them all.

So who are you backing for president?

I'm undecided.

 

[pirate]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Sure it would fix it.

1. Checks stop going out.
2. Money keeps coming in.

Balanced.

Do the same thing with Medicare/Medicaid.

If we're really sick of taking care of people and want them to be independent than kick them out the nest. Done. It's pretty obvious to me that no one wants to pay taxes so its time to balance the budget and then eliminate the programs altogether that require taxes.

Simple.

Annual medicare fraud: $60 billion.

Every year.

That is Bernie Madoff, every single year.

I don't know SS fraud, maybe another $20 billion?

Not saying it could be zero, but we could knock $50 billion out of the equation without denying services to any qualified person. (every year)

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

That statement assumes that the money that the government steals from the taxpayer is the governments money. It isn't, it's the taxpayers money. That's why my proposal below (blowing the safety net up using whatever means necessary) is the only plan that WILL EVER balance the budget.

It's not the taxpayers' money, actually, it's wealth created by big business. The rest of us are just parasites. That's why the moral thing is to increase executive compensation while undoing economic regulations. It's the only way to be fair.

William Graham Sumner was wrong when he answered his question in the pamphlet "What Do the Social Classes Owe Each Other?" with "nothing." We owe our betters everything. Without them, we wouldn't exist. It's why they're wealthy, you see... there is no luck or misfortune, but only superiority and inferiority.

See? (Oops, wrong message. Where on earth could those people have gotten that idea?)

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Annual medicare fraud: $60 billion.

Every year.

That is Bernie Madoff, every single year.

I don't know SS fraud, maybe another $20 billion?

Not saying it could be zero, but we could knock $50 billion out of the equation without denying services to any qualified person.

You can't defraud what doesn't exist. Besides that, you have to hire public sector employees or privatize law enforcement to track down the criminals. We don't have the funds to do that.

So, kill it. Problem solved.