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Subscribe to RSSAs expected, Republicans are using this past week's symbolic vote to raise the debt ceiling -- without attached spending cuts -- against House Democrats who voted for the measure.
Here's a TV ad that the National Republican Congressional Committee is airing against Democratic Congressman Brad Miller of North Carolina, who won re-election last year with more than 55% of the vote. It is running for three weeks on cable in Miller's district.
"The American economy is still in trouble," the ad goes. "Drowning in government debt…owed to countries like China. The national debt is now 14 trillion dollars. And Congressman Brad Miller just voted for two trillion MORE debt….without any budget cuts."
The NRCC is also running targeted phone calls aimed at 10 other Democrats who voted for the measure.
*** UPDATE *** As it turns out, four of the targeted phone calls are aimed at Democrats who voted AGAINST the measure: Boswell (IA), Carnahan (MO), Cicilline (RI), and Critz (PA), so the NRCC is trying to have it both ways. The six targeted Democrats who voted FOR the measure: Garamendi (CA), Grijalva (AZ), Himes (CT), Holt (NJ), Lujan (NM), and Yarmuth (KY).
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I'm sick to death of symbolic votes! Congress needs to have a fire lit under their collective butts and get the work done they were elected to do. If we want to cut government jobs to reduce the deficit, let's start with theirs.
I like the talk of Chris Christie - "shared sacrifice". Now can we do this to the politicians in Washington?? Shared sacrifice - get rid of their government health care; get rid of their pensions for life.
And pay for your own darn way to your kid's baseball game.
The Ryan-Insurance Lobbyist plan to privatize Medicare to give additional tax breaks to the rich – Seriously? This is on the table, but increasing revenues by ending subsidies to Big Business, or ending tax evasion loopholes, or stopping speculators from manipulating oil prices, these things can't be on the table.
The lack of a platform and sincere, viable solutions is the underlying problem for Republicans, and why they are the Party of No, and why they must resort to blackmail over symbolic measures like the debt ceiling, and why their presidential candidates change their positions more often than they change their underwear.
And instead of the usual biotch session and personal attacks, let’s hear something positive from the right-wingers in these threads.
Positivity is not their strong suite. Notice that you never hear anything but doom and gloom from the right? They'd rather use scare tactics and lies instead of viable policies to get what they want.
Keep in mind it was 'Dick' who famously said; 'Deficits don't matter'!
Interpretation: That's if there's a Teapublican in the White House!
Get a Democrat in there and all hell breaks loose!
They go into full crisis mode and DEMAND that all of the debt & deficit THEY created must be balanced on the backs of the middle class!
Fun & Games alright...
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL..
Deficits don't matter'!..
............................................................
Cheney sad that Reagan proved deficits don't matter. That, obviously, is absurd.
The Republicans new found "born again" indignation against deficits ranks among the greatest - and most successful - political double-standards in recent memory.
Bush inherited a $5.6 trillion surplus which, over 8 years was turned into an almost $12 trillion deficit. Not good. Obama had added almost $3 trillion in his first 2 years. Also not good. Also remember that tax revenues were significantly reduced by the recession.
There needs to be a reduction in spending before we go broke bit, I agree, it does not need to be on the backs of the middle class. Cuts should be accompanied by revenue increases and the pain shared by all.
THEY created?? You act like all the Democrats just sat on the sidelines pouting that they didn't get a turn to play. Wake up... THEY includes Republicans AND Democrats. To think any other way is just plain illogical....
Herman Cain doesn't think Obama could run a pizza stand..... hmmm bet he won't be accused of being a racist at this site!
The whole country (except 'snarly' redhead with the bouffant hairpiece) already know Obama can't run the country.... unemployment up to 9.1% and climbing, another 200,000 families on food stamps.... please Obama stop what you're doing before it's too late!
China is pleased with Obama, but then they aren't exactly our friends.... are they?
Why can’t liberals find facts?
Answer: They aren’t looking for any.
I said it earlier & I'll say it again,
That is indeed bad serious news. On the other hand, the party of domestic terrorists are on record saying they'll do anything & everything they can to see this President fail...
Looks like their master plan is working!
Just listen to their cheerleaders rejoicing with delight this morning!
For some reason, I don't ever remember time in our history that people got EXCITED about unemployment numbers going UP OR forcing people onto food stamps!
It's a sick world we live in...
Feisty - do you recall a time in our history when the "other" political party was casually referred to as "domestic terrorists?"
Spanky. Personally I have heard members of the "other" party referred to as, baby killers, Nazis, socialists, anti American un American. the President accused of being soft on terrorists to name just a few
Spanky. Lets not forget that the republican heroine (Palin) of the day has compered President Obama to a domestic terrorist.
Groucho,
You are right about Cheney. He should have qualified it by saying - Sane deficits don't matter. Cheney probably never imagined anyone as clueless / inexperienced / unqualified as Obama would be elected President and would actually be allowed to spend these insane amounts of money.
People defecit spend every day buying a house, or a car. The problem comes when you have no have no plan, no budget and no restraint.
Obama has no plan, no budget and no restraint.
Bush never inherited a $5.6 billion surplus. Clinton's national debt increased ever year. Liberals present this myth solely through the smoke and mirrors manipulations of confusing public debt and intra-governmental holdings with national debt.
Regardless, Clinton's revenues were 19% of GDP while his spending was 19.6% of GDP - the best since WW II.
Clinton sacked the national health care and worked with the Republican House and Senate. If Obama would do the same, we would have a great recovery and turn around.
Too bad it won't happen.
BTW - Obama is spending 25% of GDP with revenue around 15% of GDP.
Compare that to Clinton and there is your problem.
Oh, and your $12 trillion deficit?
You mean debt?
Doesn't matter - that number is wrong anyway.
She stood there with that sh!t eating grin on her face clapping, when someone in the crowd shouted KILL HIM!
How about the first DUD being a member for years of the Alaskan Independence Party which advocates for AK to secede from the nation!
Pat and Feisty - all well and true, but all recent [very recent] history.
Feisty's issue is her perceived excitement over the unemployment numbers, and the general tone of the political debate.
My point is the HISTORY of the tone, i.e. it ain't getting better, and the Feisty's of the world are contributing to it. Feisty wants to contribute to it, fine, but don't at the same time bitch about it.
But, then again, I know she has no idea that she is doing it - that's how ingrained it is with her.
We know the GOP/Corporate goal is to create a mess of crises and chaos, allowing them to bypass and avoid the democratic process. All the better to dismantle regulation, eliminate taxation for the wealthy, and strip working people of their rights. The Republican Party spends its time and our $dollars creating uncertainty, ways to undercut ordinary people and leave them without legal recourse. Soon the only 'freedoms' in this equation will be corporate freedoms.
Every coupla weeks GOP has to get their fix of: "So sorry! No time to continue discussions! First we will say that there have been no discussions. Then we have no choice but to hold a gun to your heads and cut/rush through/get around the rules immediately. And remember Democrats, if you don't comply we will create another domestic-global fiscal disaster or shut the government down and it will be all your fault".
Republicans are desperate for Dems to paper over their giant Republican end-Medicare problem. On the deficit limit, cuts-or-else yesterday, Speaker Boehner said, "The President will have to give in."
Feisty,
About your nose bleed regarding the Republicans wanting Obama to fail ......
They wanted him to fail in implementing his policies and agenda.
If Obama had not passed healthcare, that his own CBO will cost 800,000 jobs and has crippled the recovery ........ If Obama had failed to pass FinRef which did nothing to correct the industry (look at the housing numbers - idiot) ....... If Obama had failed to pass stimulus which accomplished NOTHING .....If Obama had failed to destroy the energy industry and cause the price "to necessarily skyrocket" ....
We wouldn't be in the worst recovery since WW II. We would be much better off.
Too bad for the poor, the middle class, our children that didn't fail in his agenda.
"Domestic terrorist?"
What else would anyone expect from an angry, ignorant, ankle humping little Chihuahua.
Thanks for confirming the right wingers agenda IS to sit back & DO NOTHING, booby!
I knew sooner or later one of you morons would slip up and, admit that's the true intention.
Everything was humming right along until *gasp* Obama became President! lol
Did you really blame the skyrocketing cost of oil on him as well...? LMAO!!
Might want to think about taking a break there booby - you're slipping & starting to sound as irrational as your counter part JS1!
Hey, Spanker
Every time you bring your Font of Information , I become more certain that you seem to think you're corresponding with dimwits like yourself.
Ol' Spank ain't gonna like it, but where I live- gas is actually coming down again. Right at the begining of increased-driving season. Gotta hate that, doncha Spank. Maybe you can whine about the price of corn on the cob or something else.
For those who have short-term memories, or worse try to re-write history, here is a summary of what has transpired prior to and in the first two years under President Obama and the Dems:
"[Bush] presided over two terms of laissez-faire supply-side policies that yielded the weakest expansion in recent U.S. economic history, marked by tepid job growth, weak private investment, stagnant family incomes, and a host of other ills that mounting housing and financial bubbles helped partially obscure.
…since the changing of the guard in Washington in January 2009, conservatives in Congress have done everything they can to obstruct efforts to fix the economic mess left at the end of the Bush era.
It started with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act [stimulus], which conservative senators fought in general and then worked to weaken by stripping out more effective job-creating provisions in favor of less effective conservative priorities.
The House passed a sweeping financial reform bill on December 11, 2009; not one Republican voted for the bill. Senate conservatives' filibustered the bill in efforts to weaken reform, ultimately delaying a vote until May 20, 2010, more than five months after the House.
In May, the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 was introduced. Conservatives blocked the bill throughout the summer. All 41 Republicans voted to continue the filibuster in July, leaving the bill for after the August recess and forcing small businesses to go weeks more with the uncertainty over their financial futures.
One of the most troubling examples of conservative obstruction to economic recovery is their actions on unemployment insurance. Unemployment insurance is both good social policy and among the most sound, best countercyclical economic policies.
Conservatives then repeatedly filibustered attempts to reinstate the benefits, demanding that unemployment benefit extensions be paid for with commensurate budget cuts, and that the deficit-busting $830 billion Bush tax cuts for the richest two percent of Americans be extended but not paid for.
Republicans…unveiled a "Pledge to America," detailing their "new governing agenda." CAP analysis shows that putting the plan's proposals into place would cause the federal budget deficit and debt to grow much faster than they would under President Obama's budget. The deficit would be $200 billion larger in 2020 under "Pledge to America," and $1.5 trillion larger by 2030, while the federal debt would rise above 93 percent of GDP with interest payments surpassing $1 trillion a year.
The bottom line is that the pledge merely recycles the same failed Bush policies that caused the six years of jobless economic growth followed by the Great Recession and today's current malaise in the broader economy accompanied by lots of federal red ink—a relentless focus on tax cuts for the richest Americans."
Since that time, Republicans have failed to propose any legislation to create jobs or stimulate the economy -- until now, the GOP/TP finally presented a "jobs bill" that is all of 10 pages consisting mostly of graphics and large-font type. They are still trying to repeal financial reform (Dodd-Frank) to protect speculators on Wall Street who artificially raise the price of commodities like oil. And of course they are fighting to keep subsidies for Big Business, tax evasion loopholes, and additional tax breaks for the rich. Either Republicans hate America, or are very stupid, or both.
We need a WPA program to put Americans back to work. We need Medicare for all -- Medicare IS the answer to sky-rocking health care costs, because Medicare could and should be used to negotiate costs including pharmaceuticals. We must think about people and not just profits if we are to recover and remain a leader in the world.
Just increased $0.20, in one day, from yesterday, to today. It's back to its highs.
Corn on the cob, $0.17 an ear! Quite good too at least for this time of year. Maybe I should make it into ethanol.
Bob, the Republicans' stated intent was to make Obama fail. To make him a one-term President. Period. The man himself, not just policies or agenda. Look it up.
Feisty
Thanks for the JS1 compliment.
Still haven't contacted a Sylvan Learning Center to help you with reading comprehension, huh?
I'm sorry, that's not fair - they probably didn't think there was enough to work with and gave your money back.
Anyway, I never said they sat back and did nothing.(Childish attempt to change my words.)
I said why they wanted his policies and agenda to fail.
Sorry it went over your head.
Of course though .......anything higher than Obama's ankle is over your head.
BTW - Just so you will know ...... Gas pricing, supply, OE2 devaluing of the dollar, etc are all above that said height.
Just stay with his ankle where you feel safe.
$4 trillion in deficit spending in 2.5 years, and the Liberals complain because they weren't allowed to spend more.
Did you tell your kids TP? Did you tell them how much they'll owe when they start paying taxes tomorrow because of what you spent today? Did you also tell them you wanted them to owe even more?
Oh my Drive By!
Gas is coming down. You know that cause you see it with your own eyes, right. Proof positive that you libbies cannot see the Forest, just trees.
Sorry to break it to you - oil is going up. And you know where gas comes from? That's right.
Tell you what genius, how about you get back to us in 3 weeks. See if you can guess what gas will do in the interim.
"They wanted him to fail in implementing his policies and agenda." - Bob, wow, just wow.
The Affordable Care Act is only regulation of the health insurance industry, which to date wasn't even subjected to anti-trust laws. But even this small effort will help to control rising health care costs. We still need to do more to lower costs, like having non-profit hospitals and allowing pharmaceutical imports. Health care costs are and will be the largest drag on our economy. Per my post above (2.16), what we really need is Medicare for all. Medicare is NOT the cause of sky-rocking health care costs; it is an answer to it.
Finance reform to prevent "Too Big to Fail" and another economic meltdown should be a no-brainer for Republicans, but they refuse to cooperate on anything. Did you see the video of Eric Cantor speaking to speculators promising that the GOP/TP will do everything they can to block regulation? These speculators are the very folks on Wall Street who cause the price of oil to artificially sky-rocket. We know this because there is plenty of supply per demand. But you and your delusional posse try to blame the POTUS for market manipulations.
In regard to the stimulus (The Recovery Act), as posted above, Republicans stripped it down to such a point that it was not as effective as it could and should have been. Nonetheless, it DID work, and one of the reasons we are seeing the slowdown in the economy is because the stimulus is ending. Instead of paying out unemployment, we should start some kind of WPA program. Many Americans who are out of work gladly do work for assistance.
President Obama and the Dems aren't always as aggressive or as unified as progressives would like them to be. But saying they sat on the sidelines is a complete lie. Even by 2006, they had such a narrow majority they weren't able to do anything. Once again, look at my post above about the GOP obstructionism, most notably record-setting filibusters by Republicans requiring a super-majority of 60 votes on everything instead of a simple-majority of 51 votes.
JS1 - Thanks for finally reading my post. You and the GOP/TP can try to pull on America's heart strings with the old tired fear-mongering that we are hurting our children -- why don't you throw in some puppies while you're at it? Everyone is hurting, but like pro-lifers, only the unborn matters, and after that screw you.
As stated, stop trying to re-write history, and start taking "personal responsibility" for the complete lack of "exceptionalism" in the Republican Party. Obama/Biden - 2012!
Do you even understand what 'economic stimulus' means? Its purpose was to 'stimulate' the economy to create jobs, 'prime the pump' as it were to produce jobs in the private sector. You say it succeeded. So where are the jobs? It in fact has failed, it did not 'stimulate' the economy, it did not have the private sector produce jobs. $787 billion dollars, plus interest, gone.
But we got his huge debt. That's the only thing the 'Recovery Act' did manage to produce.
Yeah, you want your money, and you want it now. And you call the GOP greedy. What a joke.
JS1, you're already Full of Gas, please for the sake of Humanity, don't drink the Ethanol, Forst Read (Thanx Spanky for the new word)can't handle the Stench!
JS1, despite your condescending snark... The stimulus was mostly tax cuts, except this time it was for the middle class. There were very little funds allotted to things like infrastructure, which is too bad. Construction is what we usually depend on for economic recovery, and since the housing industry was decimated, infrastructure was the next best thing--not to mention that our infrastructure is aging and falling apart.
You talk about what our generation will leave for the next, but completely ignore what previous generations left us -- infrastructure that we aren't even maintaining, though we will need it to continue to compete in the global market and so will our children.
As for jobs, perhaps you have heard of the "bikini graph?" In this graph you can clearly see that jobs barely kept pace with population growth during Bush/Cheney, and then jobs plummeted at the end of their administration. That’s because most of the jobs created were in the housing industry, and now all those folks are out of work. After President Obama was elected, you can see jobs making a recovery. The problem is we are now digging ourselves out of such a deep ditch, who knows if we will ever return to the prosperity we once knew.
Yes, we have a huge debt, but it isn’t as much a crisis as the far-right would have us believe, and therefore not the highest priority—like JOBS and the revenue jobs would generate. And I'll assume you agree we need to end military occupation/nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan? It's bad enough the GOP/TP refuses to put defense spending on the table as well, but at least end the wars. Are Republicans greedy? I don't know, but I do know they are very misguided.
And not that it is any of your business, but I am single with no children so I don't enjoy tax write-offs like the $1,000 per child tax credit. I pay the highest tax rate, and still I believe in contributing to the education of other people's children and the general good. So I don't feel it is too much to ask of my fellow citizens to reciprocate by shoring-up trust funds (different from entitlements, which need to be reformed first, AFTER other measures to share in the sacrifice).
'Corn on the cob, $0.17 an ear! Quite good too at least for this time of year. Maybe I should make it into ethanol.'
I'll leave that up to you, Smiff. I'm sure you can turn it into gas of some sort.
But note: I DID say gas was down WHERE I LIVE. Not where you or Spankie live. (but I did call his anger about it correctly, didn't I?)
BTW, Smiff. Do the ethanol plants where YOU live make ethanol out of sweet corn, instead of 'dent', or 'field' corn? Cool. That must be where they get 'premium' from, huh?
"Did you tell your kids TP? Did you tell them how much they'll owe when they start paying taxes tomorrow because of what you spent today? Did you also tell them you wanted them to owe even more?"
Naw- the only thing we tell our kids is what a toilet of an environment the Republicans want them to live in so those Republicans can make mucho dinero for themselves in the here-and-now.
Sorry to hear about your environment Drive By. Maybe if you spent less time here and worked harder the man would give you a raise?
So how about it shall we wager as to the price of gas IN YOUR area in three weeks? Cause as you know just cause it's going up here and where JAS1 lives, it won't automatically go up in your area. Isn't that right big guy?
Good-un DBO. How's this:
"Did you tell your kids JS1? Did you tell them how much they'll owe when they start paying taxes tomorrow because of what you spent on an unnecessary war, unfunded prescription drug plan, and tax cuts for the rich? Did you also tell them you wanted them to owe even more for health care, and were throwing them under the buss by taking away trust funds?"
Spanky, have you heard the saying about the teapot calling the kettle black? I take it you have the day off.
It's a political ad. Does anyone think that the republicans were going to spend ad dollars explaining the consequences of failing to raise the debt ceiling in the ad? They want their party members elected and a half truth will always do the job.
Groucho - do you find that dems are not concerned about getting elected, and their ads tell the whole truth?
And seriously, there seems to be a few different possible outcomes to not raising the ceiling. Personally I absolutely do not want it raised. Pay debt first, everything else after. It's called living within your means. I do it. You do it. And for the sake of our kids, the government has to start doing it.
Why do we have to watch a Republican ad on First Read, on top of reading endless reporting on Palin/Pawlenty/Romney/Gingrich/Trump/Bachmann/Santorum? Every freakin' day, the Republicans are dominating the news with their message of doom and gloom, enabled by what Palin calls the "lamestream media." I think it strange all the pundits say Palin isn't a serious contender for the Republican primary, yet you give her plenty of publicity to spread the right-wing message.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Republican governors are at less than 40% approval rates in offices they won a short five months ago. The right-wing agenda, enacted with eerily simulanteous precision across the country goes unreported. I mean why is the Maine legislature enacting the same changes to environmental/labor/voting laws as states in the midwest? I know this is a political blog, not a news blog, but shouldn't First Read report on the issues as they are put into practice by the folks who won in 2010, just a little bit? Little tiny bit?
Why do we have to watch a Republican ad on First Read, on top of reading endless reporting on Palin/Pawlenty/Romney/Gingrich/Trump/Bachmann/Santorum?
___________________________________________
YEAH!!!!
Get with the program FR.
MSDNC should only be covering the stories that make lefty liberals look/feel good or make Reps look bad.
Here's the real world. 9%+ unemployment. Anemic GDP. $4+/gal gas. Trillion dollar deficits. Uncontrolled spending on entitlements. Massive debt at both the federal and state levels. Government officials from the president to the governors, from the Congress to the state houses are having for the first time to say that can't do it all, they can't meet the commitments they have promised, they just don't have the money to do it all. The citizens can either accept this argument and understand that their governments have over promised and over spent, or they can cry, stomp their feet and hold their breath because by God, they are entitled!
It won't be popular to tell the truth like the government leaders are now being forced to do, but it's a step that needs to be taken.
I'm not sure it's even a half truth, Groucho. Republicans ALREADY VOTED TO RAISE THE DEBT LIMIT when they passed the Ryan budget. Conservatives expressed their intention to increase the debt by $60T before the budget finally comes into balance in the 2060s.
What they're doing now is just duplicitous.
Aw, Amy so precious, you are almost seeming to get it.
Amy, there is a very good reason why this is Libbie lite-land. FR knows it cannot report on the actual issues - those are bad for the dems. So it has to focus on Palin, Bachmann and to a lesser extent Cain, Pawlenty and Mitt.
Buckle up dear, as things gets worse and the debt rises FR will have to address the real problem - government spending. And guess who is gonna take it in the grey cotton men's underwear?
Yeah, you know.
Hey John - where is Reid's budget? Why won't Obama revise his so it can at least get democratic support?
How do you characterize Reid's behavior in all of this?
What's the matter John, only the repubs duplicitous?
The right-wing agenda, as it is unfolding in state legislatures across this country, is to roll back environmental protections that were previously passed with bi-partisan support, making it more difficult for workers to unionize, making it more difficult for people to vote, giving tax cuts to large corporations and changing consumer protection laws to benefit the health insurance industry.
Can you say this isn't true? And Joanne, you have the nerve to ridicule the elderly for feeling "entitled" to healthcare in their declining years? Teapublicans fight to protect the millions of dollars in bonuses the already overpaid hedge fund executives are paid, but disparage Americans for feeling "entitled" to medical assistance? Republicans worship Big Money and want to protect the privleges on the wealthiest 1%, like they are their Gods. It's a screwy religion, in my book.
JoAnnaSmith1
"Here's the real world. 9%+ unemployment. Anemic GDP. $4+/gal gas. Trillion dollar deficits. Uncontrolled spending on entitlements. Massive debt at both the federal and state levels"
You know what the real problem is......a teabuplicant party that has no answer to these problems facing our dare nation. their solutions seen across the land are simply ridiculous.
1 kill medicare
2 keep bush tax cut
3 keep oil subsidies
4 keep fighting wars
5 end funding of Planned Parenthood
6 end all forms regulations (wall st.)
7 cut more taxes (25%)
8 end collective bargaining
9 stop funding education
10 in FL, doctor must read to you about abortions
hey, the list is endless. so, how does all the help us a nation?
JoAnn,
I agree there is,” Uncontrolled spending on entitlements.” However, these entitlements are going to the big boys that need them the least.
Amy.
First Read has Claimed to Set the News Agenda for all of Msnbc and Nbc The journalist here are Intellectually unable to Report on the Actual news that is happening in the World to them it is more Important to Attack Republicans at every Turn
They Fail To see their Agenda Setting Reporting is not only keeping MSNBC at the Bottom of the Barrel in TV ratings but is also starting to Piss off some of you FAR left liberals here on their Blog board..
Are you Listening Mark . Domenico. Chuck and Ali. you are starting to Piss off your Base here on the FR board..
Apparently President Obama hasn't gotten this memo.
Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/3/white-house-poor-jobs-numbers-bumps-road-recovery/
More spin, more deception, more lies. Obama somehow, at least in public, still thinks we're on the right track. He's too smart for that though, he knows he's led us down a dead end. But it's campagin season, Win The Future, Lead From Behind, and all that, so he can't admit mistakes or anything, not good for fund raising, so we get this continued bull from the WH/Obama telling us everything is just fine.
Amy I invite you to read a great article on SALON of all places posted on Tuesday.
Essentially it said that there is so much oil and natural gas that we will NEVER run out. So alternative energy is not need for it two biggest justification - 1. running out, and 2. national security.
THe article also discussed the downfall of nearly all of the claims about global warming. The science ain't there.
Again that SALON. Green is dead. Thank god.
Amy,
Why don't you just move to California, sound like a perfect place for you.
Spanky, can't find your article. Everything I read on Salon says just the opposite of what you claim.
You are making a lot of generalizations. Never, as in never running out, is pretty optimistic. Using fossil fuels is not only about running out or about national security or even about global warming. It is also about pollution, contamination, efficiency.
I don't want my tap water to ignite because of fracking. I don't want to breathe pollutants just so someone's inefficient car will run. I don't want to have streams and meadows contaminated just because some people don't believe in alternative sources of energy.
The downfall of NEARLY all claims about global warming? What about the other claims? The ones that might be right?
What's so bad about being green?
The Dumbazz Republicans broke everything and are now mad at President Obama because he didn't fix everything in a nano second.
And to add insult to injury, they told him in no uncertain terms that they would NOT HELP. In fact, they would root for him to fail! Remember Limbaugh called for his failure before the party lights went out at the Inaugural Ball.
Balls!
thetotas
Maine suited me just fine when we were known for the civility of our politicians and independent streak.
Since the 2010 elections, however, when Republicans took control of the legislature and the governor ship, we have seen upheaval, controversy, weekly scandals and a hijacking of policy by the far right-wing nuts. I cannot emphasize enough how much everything has changed, and not for the better (ironically, even Tea Party supporters don't like being governed by Tea Party politicians, I've seen.)
To hell with "shared sacrifice". The poor and middle class have done ALL the sacrificing up till now. Let's see how the rich, who have benefitted from their government windfalls, handle sacrificing for a while!
Soooo Speaker Boehner...this is how you plan on creating jobs? Symbolic votes????
Say Pat - how would you characterize the Senate's vote on Obama's budget? How about the House's vote on the debt ceiling?
Oh, and how exactly does the government create ANYTHING?
The WPA seemed to be a government creation.
Thanks for your time
I answered that one for you, Spanky, on the First Thoughts thread. If you're Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republican legislature, you just pass a bill that takes jobs out of the hands of public workers to put those same jobs in the hands of private sector road-builders who contribute to Republican politicians. And then you declare that this legislation is all about "creating jobs," even though the likely effect is sum-zero, and the cost will be even higher for taxpayers than it is right now.
In case you missed the link earlier, here it is again:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_8568281c-8d81-11e0-abcf-001cc4c03286.html
If ever there was "redistribution of wealth," I'd have to say this is it, Spanky. If ever there was feeding off the public "tit," as you like to say, I'd say it applies to these road construction companies, wouldn't you? And as the article shows, you don't have to be a liberal to think this is a REALLY bad idea.
Even traditional Republicans have started to see through these neo-con ideas, Spanky.
Why can't you?
SamNETN
The WPA seemed to be a government creation.
Republicans will first deny that WPA ever existed. Then they will deny that it had anything to do with ending the Great Depression, and that Roosevelt just got lucky when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Then they'll tell you that WPA was ineffective and cost too much, and that private-sector workers could have done the same thing much cheaper -- a concept that Wisconsin has set out to prove with its own public works programs. Then when that argument proves to be totally false, they'll just deny those facts as well and find another shiny object to point at.
Getting old, isn't it?
"Even traditional Republicans have started to see through these neo-con ideas, Spanky.
Why can't you?"
Because he's too busy asking everyone else questions on his clients' time, would be my guess.
Sorry AM, you lost me.
Government money comes from taxes. So what ever the government spends that money on or for, it's coming from the taxpayer. All the government does is choose.
It's like you say - a redistribution of wealth. Or perhaps the government should just employ all the unemployed. That'd be the trick, right?
Sorry to burst you bubble Drive By - my hourly clients only pay me for the time I work. As I have tried to explain to you, but which you apparently cannot grasp, there are many ways an attorney bills time and collect fees. But hey, I get it - not your bag, you get a nice paycheck. Salary or hourly? Either way, you need not worry your pretty little head about little old me.
Unlike you, who is here with us on your employer's dime.
But hey, we love you Drive By. And man, what a nice boss you must have.
Oh and hey, it is so much nicer of you to bag on me as opposed to earlier where you were making fun of a 10 year old girl. Way to realize the error of you ways my man.
-Spanky-
The WPA created jobs in an otherwise really bleak period. The results can still be seen, used, and appreciated in parks, towns, trails, & families all over the United States.
Is that redistribution? Yes it is.
Was that redistribution honorable, warranted, and effective? Yes it was.
AM- Your capitol was outstanding this past weekend. Low 60's, alive with people and although the Bratwurst Festival was a brand sponsored event I was not disappointed.
And on, and on with the "Scott Walker this" and "Scott Walker that" routine. Annie, you're an insignificant citizen of an insignificant state. Scott Walker is not the evil man you portray him to be that is dragging the entire country down. You're so focused on your hatred of anything that might bring government spending back in line and for making the country hospitable to businesses that you can't see the trees for the forest.
Walker is working with what he's got, a $3+ billion deficit he has to fill. The real problem is with the federal government and the general economy. It appears spending trillions we don't have hasn't exactly primed the pump of job creation. It might be time to switch gears and try something else, don't you think?
Yes, indeed, and in this case, the Republican legislature has "chosen" to take taxpayer money away from public sector workers, give the same taxpayer money to private sector workers, and then claim that it's "job creation." This is the height of hypocrisy for self-righteous people who claim public workers feed on the public trough. They're just creating a whole other class of employers and workers who are also feeding on that same trough, but somehow saying this is better, even though it will displace existing workers and cost the rest of us more money.
Disingenuous at best, and so are you if you say you don't understand it.
As for whether the government should just employ all the unemployed, I'd say that would work a lot better than tax cuts and private sector incentives seem to be doing. You already admit that tax cuts won't create any demand, and without demand, there won't be any jobs created. The only answer left seems to be, like SamNETN's post suggested, create the jobs -- and therefore the necessary demand to jumpstart the private sector economy -- directly, through a publics works program, if necessary.
This isn't a joke, Spanky. People are hurting, and heaven knows there's plenty of work to be done. Put people back to work, and pretty soon the rest will fix itself.
What I think is that you should cut the five-cent psychobabble, Lucy, and say something meaningful for a change. I see the trees just fine, despite the forest. If Walker is working on the deficit, the proposal that I mentioned is specifically NOT calculated to improve that picture. It's punitive toward public workers and a clear example of cronyism that will not create any jobs and will actually make the financial positions of local governments that much worse. If that's "something else," then it's doomed to fail. Don't YOU think?
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, although it's too bad that you might not have known there was an alternative, local product, brat fest that also did pretty well, from what I hear.
Well. There's always next year.
Are those the 'Shovel Ready' jobs Obama talked about?
Those are the SCOOP shovel ready jobs. The ones where all the knee-deep sh!t from the previous admin wound up.
"as opposed to earlier where you were making fun of a 10 year old girl."
OK, I know you are more literate that that. I posted that it was the parents, not the child that was being made fun of. Can't read today, or what?
Nice try. Ok I'll play along Drive By - which one of her parents in named Piper?
I actually thought you were better than that. My mistake, I mean you went for weeks calling me a woman, and gay.
You know DBO - sometimes I get the sense that this isn't all about fun for you, but that you take it personal. Seems like a character flaw. But in any event, too bad, so sad.
Damned dumb idiot- go back, read and re-read until you get it. IF the kid named herself, instead of the parents naming her, then yes- the barb would have been directed at the kid.
Your mistake, indeed. But- you ARE a lot like a woman named Palin, though. Ding a guy by calling him gay, and he's still bringing it up 5 months later. Sheesh.
Congress, please just do your job and stop playing games. You know you have to raise the debt ceiling just like you did multiple times under Bush. Do it and move on to working out a reasonable budget. Figuring out the budget priorities for this year and getting agreement on it is your real job. This grand-standing and name-calling is a waste of our time and money. Get to work.
This week On FOX News Republican Paul Ryan Said the Following
"Unless Democrat Acced to Republican "Demands" The Debt Ceiling Will Not Be Raised At All! It Won't Happen, I'm Serious About This!"
Wallstreet Journal, Republican Allen West said a "Short Term Default Would Be A Reasonable Alternative"
All Economist agree if the U.S. Defaults on our Credit History it will be Catastrophic Depression
Republicans are Playing with Fire Fast and Loose Holding or attempting to Hold everyone but the Rich Hostage to get what they want those Demands Include
Folks this list goes on and on
We just saw the Stock Market Tank, this has lot to do with the Republicans Threatening to Destroy this country if they don't get their way. The last time Republicans took the country over the cliff we had no warning. We do now.
Republicans said they will Default on the Credit of our country after all Paul Ryan said so and the entire Republican Party is Backing Paul Ryan and his Kill Medicare Plan that is the Center Peice of Republican Demands necessary to Raise the Debt Ceiling
Move your Money, don't loose your Retirement this time. Moody's gave warning yesterday that they will Lower our Credit Rating if the Republican Games Continue.
Believe them and Mr. President, let them have their way, we will make it and it's time to expose these folks, stop giving them cover, Let the Chips fall where they may
Americans don't like to be held hostage, that's no way to run a country especially on who's the Super Power, if you let these threats continue we will become a thrid world country anyway, so stand up Dems and the President and fight we will recover together.
American are not unreasonable, we want Fairness, Stop the Bush Tax Cuts, Stop Corporate Welfare giving our Tax Dollars to Corporations and Rich Farmers and a significant number of other companies, then and only then will we be willing to pitch in even pay a little more taxes to maintain what we have.
The Republicans Tea Party is such an embarrassment to the United States as far as playing games with the Debt Ceiling. The bigger embarrassment is that most people here in our country don’t understand the consequences if the ceiling is not raised.
So by your comment then are you saying that Senator Obama didn't understand the consquences back in 2006 when he voted against raising the debt ceiling?
Just curious...
Remember back then Bush was engaged in two wars that was not paid for, tax cuts that was not paid for, giving money away to the insurance companies. I think anyone would take a pause about the debt ceiling then. Republicans like to mention how Obama has a $14 trillion debt. How many years did it take for us to accumulate this debt?
Clinton left us with $5.7T A robust economy and a surplus.......Bush left us with $10.6T an economic disaster and the worst depression...Now we are at $14.3T because of bailouts and adding in the cost of the wars, tax cuts trying to get us out of a horrible depression.
Bush raised the debt ceiling 7 times in 8 years. Obama has raised it once even with a tanking economy. Now the Republicans are trying to use blackmail to try and stomp on the lower and middle class, while giving welfare to the rich.
If I did not love this country as much as I do , I would say "go ahead don't raise it, let us default and see what will happen to the wealthy". Of course they will suffer more than anyone. The middle class is used to tightening their belts and the poor always managed with little. How will the banks get bailed out now? Wall street will tank and the stocks will worth nothing. We will be the laughingstock of the world, thanks to Republicans. In their rush to cut and destroy, they would have cut the legs and thighs from under the US.
The President should refuse to sign anything but a clean bill, without blackmail.
So June...how do you reconcile the viewpoint that Senator Obama had about voting against raising the debt ceiling back in '06? I mean you are either for it or against it, right? So who is right? As for the "rich", if it was such a priority, then why when you had Democratic majorities in both houses and a Democratic president that meaninful tax reform not enacted? Instead they went on a bickering match within their own party and with Republicans to pass Health Care reform. And again, why just back a few months ago, did President Obama agree to extend the tax cuts??
A day without a cut and paste from June, Fl is like a day without orange juice. Thanks
Boehner Translation, "We've told the President we are holding the American People and the Country Hostage & Refuse to Raise the Debt Ceiling if he doesn't agree to Kill Medicare & we have Demonstrated Our Threat to the American People. I hope the President will Cave In Soon!
What Boehner actually said, "We told the President and I think we have Demonstrated to the American People that we are ready to deal with big challenges that face our country. I hope the President will join us soon.
The translation is what We the People actually heard!
By the way Republicans we have a Plan the President and the Democrats have a plan and it was signed into law in March of 2010, it's called the Affordable Care Act, and it's foundation is strengthening Medicare, that was one of the primary goals.
The CBO validated that the plan Saves Over $100 Billion over the next 10 years and and $1 Trillion over the next Decade.
The Plan does not Kill Medicare it Strengthens the program. The Program implemented significant Medicare Cost Savings
Just because the Republicans don't like the plan doesn't mean it does not exist and does not mean you can lie to the Voters and say the President and the Dems don't have a Plan they do and it's the LAW
Now we know you Republicans have not seen a law that you think you cannot ignore or Subvert or "Defund"
Since Republicans cried about how many pages were attached to the Act and Acknowledged that you didn't read it perhaps now would be a great time to get familiar with the plan. I can assure you although the Voters had an initial mixed reaction, however after the Paul Ryan Kill Medicare Plan, they have warmed up to the Affordable Care Act and after all it's the law.
June,
What kind of babble is this??
"The CBO validated that the plan Saves Over $100 Billion over the next 10 years and and $1 Trillion over the next Decade." And I'm supposed to be impressed or relieved that the Democrats know what's best for me??
Just a suggestion to all you surviving middle-class who still have 30-40% of your retirement savings ... NOW would be a good time to take about 50% of what you have and invest in GOLD & PLATINUM.
I honestly think the Repubs realize they are in a "can't lose any worse" situation. They all physically signed OFF on killing Medicare ... the nation now has their names ON FILE, and the Repubs now realize that was a major mistake. So, regardless of what they do between now and elections, it is very likely the Repubs will be voted OUT in 2012 ... that's why Repubs can't get anyone to really step up and take the lead on the Republican candidate ... so here's where our Repub Congress is at ... refuse to negotiate with Dems on revenue increases ... the US economy tanks ... and Yes, the Repubs will still get voted OUT, but they figure that damage will be done to the Democratic party as well ... its a "If we lose, everyone loses" attitude.
What they're NOT realizing is, when they do this, they are damaging the very BIG DOLLAR corporations & wealthy voters that put THEM in office ... Republicans will possibly go the way of the Wig Party, not to have an impact in government for 20+ years.