It is a sure bet that we will have a recession long before you attain sanity.

A typical lib response ... no analysis, no insight , not even any points to counter, but only a personal attack from a libbie hiding behind his mask ! Of course, you are from California, a state on the verge of bankruptcy that just raise its taxes to what ??....13.2 % ???

Did Obama make the remark I referenced or not ? Did he LIE then, or is he LYING now ?

.. how long before the recession returns again ?

Well Jim, according to this statement by you, Obama did not lie then or now.

Jim,

2 years ago unemployment was at 9.8% and now it is at 7.7%.

An increase on incomes above $200K/$250K (Below that dollar figure remains the same as today) will not hurt any recovery since we have 2 more years of continuous growth.

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000

You missed the entire point blackcatwhitecat, Did the recession ever truly leave ? Did we ever get back to a reasonable semblance of normal ?? Did the economy ever achieve a significant reduction in unemployment ... say down to 6% ? How about 7% ?

The answer is NO... and our economy is still quite fragile. If it didn't make sense then, how does it make sense now ? This is real close to Obama contradicting Obama.

Dennis, Our President has ALREADY raised taxes on incomes above the $200k/$250k levels through Obamacare.Read the bill to see what is in it.

Above those income levels, there is a 3.8% medicare surtax on "investment income" and investment income is defined broadly. There is another .9% on earned income for those same levels. Finally, ALL levels of taxpaying citizens can be hit by a variety of eliminated medical deductions.

Unemployment was at 7.8% when Obama took office.

Jim

You and the GOP/TEA POTTY are crazy

The real problem facing the federal budget is the unsustainable cost of entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If structural reforms aren’t made soon, the burden on future taxpayers will overwhelm any tax-and-spending deal reached now

http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/43-taxes-and-economy/1683-fiscal-gap-worse-than-fiscal-cliff

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What makes you morons ignore the MANDATE and the horrible way Bush left this economy? Yet you idiots want to continue the same path.

get some brain power

Jim,

Investment income! Isn’t that taxed at a lower rate of 13% like Romney?

We could raise taxes on the millionaires by 10 -15% and it will not cause them any harm, financially.

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio

Jim,

Investment income! Isn’t that taxed at a lower rate of 13% like Romney?

If Romney didn't fudge his 2011 tax rate, his rate would have been around 9%.

With 9%, Romney would have had a hard time convincing the voters of his "poverty." How do you explain to the Middle Class that you pay TOO MUCH in taxes and deserve a further cut if you pay less than the people you are preaching to AND while not willing to cut theirs?

how long before the recession returns again

what has the congress done? other than take 30 weeks off this year.

republicons in congress insist on budget cuts... another words austerity measures. Just ask England and Europe ...how that 2nd dip recession working out, because of those austerity measures they (Europe) made instead of investing in there economies.

So jim what has congress done to stimulate the economy other than created a environment of uncertainty, unrest and economic treason.

Oh' and don't say they pass a budget / stimulus bill that is stall in the senate. wall street deregulation are NOT A SOLUTION.

Let me see if I got this right. Bush cut taxes for his rich friends back in the late 90's cause he was an evil POS and was going to destroy the middle class. Those tax cuts are now expiring and now that is going to destroy the middle class. Either the tax cuts helped the middle class more than the rich, or the expiration of them will help the middle class more than the rich. Which is it, the cuts were bad, or the expiration of them is bad? I guess if you can warp your mind enough to accept the continuing lies of the Dummycrat in Chief then you can believe that both having, and no longer having, the tax cuts must both be bad. Cause the party told you so...

There is no secret that the economies of all the blue states suck because they are run by Dummycrats, and the economies of red states are strong and growing because they have conservative leadership. Obama-phone aint gonna get you a strong economy. (By the way that was a Bush program not Obama's. Just another in the long string of lies and misrepresentations by your local and national Dummycrats.) It takes an understanding of economics that the Dums just dont have. The last one, who wasn't too busy playing hide the cigar to effect policy, was Carter, and a return to his era of double digit inflation, unemployment pushing 20%, and gas lines miles long, is just what the country needs right now. I am sure you know best. Cause the party tells you so....

Dennis, Interest income on savings accounts is taxed as ordinary income ... same holds for most dividends you receive through a brokerage account like Merrill Lynch. Like I said, investment income is defined broadly. It can also include income from partnerships and LLC's.

Bay Lie, Unless you are Mitt Romney's personal accountant and have complete knowledge of his financial matters .... "projecting" what his final incremental rate might have been, is really a fraudulent comment.

If a wealthy person makes massive charitable contributions in a year, it will, indeed, lower his/her effective tax rate ... and that is not necessarily unfair or unreasonable under our existing tax code.

Bush cut taxes for his rich friends back in the late 90's cause he was an evil POS and was going to destroy the middle class

because jimbo, I'll dumb it down for you. Bush tax cuts for the top 1 - 2 % was / is one of the biggest reasons why we are in the hole! If you remember bush said his tax cuts for the top 1% is deficit neutral. NEVER WAS NEVER WILL BE. HISTORY HAS BEEN WRITTEN.

Jimbo, Bush wasn't president in the 90s. That was Clinton and we did NOT have tax cuts for the rich.

What caused the bulk of our debt problems is, according to former Vice President Dick Cheney, "Deficits don't matter". They started two wars and didn't pay for them. Had they sold bonds as in past wars or launched some program to have everybody pay a little more in taxes to pay for the war effort we wouldn't have had the problems we have today. You don't spend billions of dollars on wars and then have no way to repay the money. That's just plain stupid.

The money for Social Security and Medicare come from payroll deductions. Sort of like insurance where you pay for it until you need it and then it is there for you. The only affect on the budget it could have is when Congress raids SS to balance a budget or make things look better than they are. Repay SS what was robbed by Congress.

Overspending on secret projects and buying aircraft etc. the military doesn't even want is a good way to cut spending along with cutting the freebees to oil companies and big agra not to plant. (Entitlements alright, CORPORATE entitlements).

The Affordable Care Act does NOT raise anyone's taxes and will not take money away from someone else unless they are wanting a free ride on the rest of us even though they can afford insurance premiums. The only people who would pay extra are those who are so arrogant that although they can afford it, refuse to buy health insurance of any kind. ACA allows you to buy what you have been buying all along. If your employer supplies all or some of your insurance premium you are okay. If you are on Medicare or Medicade you are okay. If you have an income that is very low you are not affected by the so called tax from ACA. It's in there read it. Don't depend on radio hate mongers to tell you what it says.

Jim,

[there is a 3.8% medicare surtax on "investment income"]

How about a link to any source that actally proves which it is investment or interest or both.

I hate guns BUT I own them! I am aware that everyone on this page have tears in their eyes as I do. But if one just one person at any of these places that evil was done had a gun that there would be 300 million grateful people in this country. This is a very complicated situation we, "WE", have to face in OUR country and we will not find a solution by drawing lines in the sand!!! These are OUR children OUR friends and families. This is not a political debate. WE need to look at this as a problem and and find a unanimous solution. Let's think about it as a mathematical formula and find the answer TOGETHER, PLEASE for our CHILDREN"S sake. I really hugged my grandson today.....HARD....................PEACE TO ALL

So true Feisty.

These mass shootings have become the norm, unfortunately......and the inability of our elected officials to address the issue of these continued acts of mass murder shocks the conscious.

My thoughts and prayers are with the community of Newtown, CT!

Amen, Feisty----it puts all the fiscal cliff nonsense into perspective. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted by this latest tragedy and I wish that this would be the last story of its kind we ever have to hear.

and the inability of our elected officials to address the issue of these continued acts of mass murder shocks the conscious.

Chilled,

This is one time I have to disagree with our President. I too used to believe the day of the carnage was not the time to discuss our gun epidemic.

I am now under the thought process if not NOW????

WHEN???

Feisty, This is a senseless tragedy and I too have no stomach for politics. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families. I am at total loss for words.

This is one time I have to disagree with our President. I too used to believe the day of the carnage was not the time to discuss our gun epidemic.

As you so pointedly put it Feisty, If not now, then WHEN?

President Obama, how many more mass murders need to occur....Now is the time, to at least try to curb access to guns.......But of course, enter the NRA and the gun rights activists.....

OK activists......until it happens to you, your loved one, your child.........

Feisty, as usual, you cut to the heart of the matter. We are sick of politics today, and sick of gun-lobbyists protecting their industry's profits.

Fiesty,

I too am overwhelmed by this tragedy and believe it is definitely time to address gun control in this county.

Amy ...

We are sick of politics today, and sick of gun-lobbyists protecting their industry's profits.

Amen!

Feisty - I am stunned that this has - again - happened, and to such young children. The entire community has my prayers and sympathy as this will stay in their memories forever. It turns out it was the son of one of the teachers who did the shootings - killed his mother, too.

At what point do we begin to recognize mental illness soon enough to stop this kind of carnage? At what point do we make it okay for people to say they really need help - without demonizing them? At what point will acts like this not take place in this country?

I cannot fathom what these families will feel for the rest of their lives. How do they EVER send their children off to school without wondering if they will see them again?

My prayers for all involved.

The murderer, Ryan Lanza, methodically went to his Mothers' classroom (she was a kindergarten teacher at the school).....killed her then set his gun sights on the kindergarten children.

Mad dog is all I can think of concerning Lanza!

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

I've had enough politics for the week...

Instead I will send my thoughts to the victims & families of yet another horrendous tragedy in CT!

Makes me sick to my stomach that as a supposed "civilized" country, we allow these acts of senseless violence to continue...

I'm with you GF. When politics is discussed again it must be about the NRA. Now is the time.

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

I've had enough politics for the week...

Instead I will send my thoughts to the victims & families of yet another horrendous tragedy in CT!

Makes me sick to my stomach that as a supposed "civilized" country, we allow these acts of senseless violence to continue...

I'm with you GF. When politics is discussed again it must be about the NRA. Now is the time.

I am speechless right now. I can't even really think about this without thinking about my 2 little ones in school and choking up. No parent or child should ever have to deal with this. My true heartfelt thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this.

I'm going to hold my thoughts about that cowardly piece of human garbage that did this. If I say what's truly on my mind I will probably get a lifetime ban from Newsvine.

I'm going to give my kids an extra tight hug tonight.

The President will speak at 3:15 today. One way or another I expect the NRA will be angered.

There is no way to describe how this affects me as sit here with my two little grandchildren. A short while ago I picked up the oldest at his elementary school, with this tragic incident on my mind, I was rather taken aback to see a police cruiser parked out front, apparently there as a precaution and I don't live in CT.

We need to address the need for better gun control laws as the ones we have are not obviously doing the job. This has nothing to do with 2nd Amendment rights, but everything to do with citizens being reasonably safe as they live their everyday lives. Everyone has a right to that expectation.

Having recently lost a valued family member who died suddenly, not tragically, but nevertheless painful, my heart aches for the family members of the victims.

I really want to hear our President address this issue how best we can make our lives safer from deranged people with access to guns. We are all responsible to see that things change. We owe this more to future generations than arguing over the national debt, fiscal cliffs, debt ceilings etc.

Hug your babies a little tighter today... Just broken hearted...

President Obama is speaking now and it appears to me he is having a difficult time composing his grief.

Watch it won't belong before the RWNJs and FAUX NEW mock his display of emotions.

I'm glad our leader spoke of doing something about gun violence. This a fight worth fighting!!!!

How many children have to die before we, as a nation, decide that it is time to end the access to guns ?

Just watched the President give his statement...I only have 4 words in response:

Thank you Mr. President

That was an unbelievably heartfelt statement given by a fellow father of 2 beautiful children.

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

Instead I will send my thoughts to the victims & families of yet another horrendous tragedy in CT!

I am about 2 hrs away from Newtown and have been in the area many times. It is unimaginable that 18 families will not celebrate Christmas with their kids... I don't even know how to understand this. It is a sad, sad day for everyone.

I watched the President's statement without sound, because I'm at work. He looked exhausted and fed up with gun violence.

I had a post for this week
But Like Betty my heart suddenly just ain’t in it
In fact that sucker is damn near broke again
Kids damn it. What kind of sick individual shoots down Kids in cold blood
Words and solace cannot bring the dead back and are in fact on days like today hollow and meaningless
I am filled with rage and a feeling of impotence at a society that cannot even Protect it’s Children
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.
When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

Thank you for putting that on there, IR; y'all will excuse me if my form's a little off today. I'm not usually typing through a veil of tears.

My God, how many more?

How many dead children are enough?

I don't even have any kids of my own; just wasn't in God's plan for me, I suppose, and I'm mostly OK with that, but I've got a whole platoon of nieces and nephews and even a couple of grand-nephewn running around in various parts of the Union, and on their behalf, I'm heartbroken.

So one a you gun freaks, you bloodthirsty creeps, answer me now or forever hold your damned peace:

HOW MANY DEAD CHILDREN IS IT GONNA TAKE? HOW MANY MURDERED INNOCENTS ARE ENOUGH?

My lovely Canadian bride-to-be isn't here today; she left early this morning to drive up to Vancouver to visit her folks, and was planning to come back tomorrow.

She's a real cowgirl, is my J., and probably handier with a .30-'06 or a .223 than most of the self-styed frontiersmen we see on the wild streets of Seattle and Tacoma.

Come tomorrow, I already know she won't want to drive across that border, into this deranged Moloch of a society that sacrifices its youngest and most vulnerable members to satisfy the bloodlust and paranoia of some frustrated not-quite-men.

I won't blame her one Goddamned bit.

What a tragedy. We are seeing so much of this kind of stuff these days. When people are desperate they do desperate things. No work for months, maybe even years, from job creators who are sitting on there money or who have outsourced jobs are the ones who have been major contributors to the problem along with the govt. spending way too much on two unnecessary wars. As cities and counties lose funding because people who are unemployed or underemployed don't pay taxes or pay very little in taxes they don't have the funds to pay for police and fire fighters to protect us.

The solution to the problem is stop the nonsense in Congress and pass job creation bills. Even if the funding comes TEMPERARILY from the government as in infrastructure projects and other programs not unlike the WPA of the New Deal era. Once a government project takes off they can turn it over to private enterprise who uses part of their profit to pay back the government not unlike the bail out money given to banks and auto coumpanies of late. The people are working, paying taxes, private companies started, a small part of their profit or seed money goes to pay the government for the business and taxes are paid, not at a high rate, but small is better than none. We have a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Actually, from the early reports we're getting, it appears that this is another case just like Jared Loughner in Arizona and the accused James Holmes in Colorado; some sick misfit who had access to guns. If none of these three had had a weapon to hand, what do we suppose they would have done? Thrown pinecones? Called people ugly names?

How many twisted, sick bastards are there on America's streets right now thinking, "Boy, if I had my piece on me-" How many more people are going to go out 'strapped' tomorrow who never usually would?

Let's see Ted Nugent make this one make sense. I want that freakish, bloodthirsty sadist to step up to the mike and defend this.

Adler, your point is actually well taken. It was right after Clinton was elected that he signed the Omnibus Anti-crime Bill, which included the assault-style weapons ban (which according to the F.B.I. were utilized in something like .005 percent of all gun crimes- or maybe it was gun fatalities, I forget exactly). Point is, when Clinton was President, crime overall, and especially violent crime, went down a bunch- not so much because of a ban on assault rifles, but because guys in their twenties to thirties (like me, for example) all had f*****g JOBS back then. We were too tired from working all day to go out and shoot up the streets at night.

Yellowdog-Mark

When will we as Americans demand more stringent gun laws? When will we stop bowing down to the insidiously evil NRA? When will we stop confusing the 2nd amendment with the "gun nut's supposed" right to conceal and carry any gun/weapon into any environment?

When the media has the balls to stand up to NRA GOP/Tea Potty Nuts and the do nothing Congress support Obama instead of interpreting the 2nd Amendment to be something it's not. Would you believe the media whores over @ FAUX NEWS they are pushing NRA talking points?

I am sickened by the FAUX NEWS NRA propagandist. This is a time for sorrow and condolences. My heart goes out to the families and those beautiful little children. This shouldn't be!!!

The liberal alert just went off...you know the alert that goes off with foundationless statements. Rants and raves that the communists used all the time to take apart the constitutions in their countries. I'll bet you learned this from a Professor from a place of higher learning that burned his draft card or burned her bra during the Vietnam War, while wearing a Che shirt. How predictable these socialist are.

We need a voice of sanity- well, we are the voice of sanity, but what I meant was somebody to represent the American gun owner who is not paranoid , crazy, criminal, compensating for being shortchanged by biology, raging bigot who hates anybody no-white.

We need to hear from Skip Nicholson of Oklahoma City- he is one of us, a good-hearted man if we can judge by his posts here, and former law enforcement. He'll have something worthwhile to say about all this.

Come on, Skip; I know the gun creeps are lying low right now, but you're NOT in that class, you're a Real Man who just happens to keep a firearm or two- not 20 or 30- around the house, safely locked up if I know anything.

Pat Boston MA.

We as adults are letting our children down all across our nation. Our children. Our future. And more importantly, THEIR FUTURE.

And that's the truth.

Deal with it. NOW!

Pat,

No truer words can be spoken. At the rate this is going many will not be around in the future. Shame on the NRA for putting profit over human lives. GOP where are your family values?