| Author | Message | ||
     Moxnix |
From a fellow traveler who wants to see the problem solved ASAP: Tea Partyers don't quite know what they think. Their reactions are emotion, not well thought out. Not always coherent or logical. There are the principled, old conservatives – people like Ron Paul, who are consistently against expanding the power of government and consistently in favor of reducing the cost of it. And there are the new conservatives, much of the religious right, and the neo-cons. Both groups say they are in favor of the same things – basically cutting big government down to size. But conservatives have to decide what this means. The obvious and fastest way to balance the federal budget is to renounce the imperial agenda. It costs about $1.2 trillion a year to maintain troops all over the globe, to run Homeland Security, participate in 3 wars...and all the other things that go into being an empire. Congress and the president could simply announce that they no longer believed the empire was a worthwhile project. Presto, the budget would be balanced. Problem solved. And I'm not talking about undermining national defense. I'm just talking about eliminating spending on things that actually make the nation less safe. That's what an empire does. By involving itself in everyone else's business, it makes enemies. | ||
| Mtjm2 |
Max , Why you gotta pick on the TEA PARTY ! There a SMALL group of people . I think your point should be focused on the people making the decisions. | ||
| Moxnix |
It's not the Tea Party, it's that they don't have a solution aside from what's on their signs. I am glad they are paying attention, but the solution to this pissing contest between houses of congress and the nasty man who was elected president has to be concise and final, not just "kicking the cliche down the road" and continuing to watch the wheels fall of the America in which I grew up. The way to fix the deficit is to fix the deficit. Ramping down our foreign activities cuts it rather quickly. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Article 1, Section 8 Tenth Amendment Fixes the problems AND it fits on a sign. THAT is the position of the TEA Party. Ron Paul is a wack job. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. | ||
| Mtjm2 |
How much does the new medical cradle grave care add to the problem . | ||
| Moxnix |
A lot. Hard to beat the give away to Wall Street with the bail out and tarp, but Obama Care guaranteed we'll have a Soviet health care system. I saw it, it was free if you bribed some one for a bed in the hospital, bribed the staff to help go to the loo, paid for medicine with Western money. I'm flying to Seattle for a week to look for a new place to live. Perhaps in British Columbia. | ||
| Hootowl |
How can we spend 1.2 trillion dollars a year on foreign wars if the DOD budget is only half that? | ||
| Xdigitalx |
reactions are emotion, not well thought out. Not always coherent or logical Are you sure your not talking about Obama or Nancy Pelosi or just Healthcare reform in general? | ||
| Moxnix |
That includes the Homeland Security budget for fighting the war on terror, and contractors. | ||
| Moxnix |
Reactions are emotion. Pelosi, Obama, et al, are stimulus response animals who crawled out of the liberal primordial soup. They are pure emotion. Never logical, never coherent. | ||
| Moxnix |
I'd be okay with raising the wage/income cap on FICA, from the $100 grand to $1 million until the deficit is knocked down. No new taxes? Sure, this isn't new. Since only wealthy people have money, consider it a surtax to protect the system that assures their wealth. Who ya' gonna' tax, the po' folks? Good luck. Fix the deficit or go banko. It's a choice. | ||
| Mtjm2 |
CSPAN this morning , DOD budget was to be revamped in 97 now projected to be 2017 ? This government is like the UAW . GM was spending 4500.00 out of every car sold to pay for the retirees . | ||
| Court |
>>>The way to fix the deficit is to fix the deficit. It seems so simple that it underscores the shameful group we've allowed into the cockpit. | ||
| Kenm123t |
Mox we could have reduced or Middle eastern involvement If we had not allowed the forced shut down and demonization of energy production. The major issue is a basic lack of understanding of overhead costs. Government jobs are overhead production by private enterprise create wealth. Government contracts to private companies are of mixed benefit unless the investment produces products and services that are sold to nongovernment customers. The major issue is defict spending Military spending is a Constitutional requirement Where is a judgement call Entitlements as much as they are loved are not. Waste such as teaching Chinese miners about Methane and building mosques all over the world needs to stop | ||
| Moxnix |
Raising the FICA cap would apply money to SSN and Medicare, solving the wringing of hands by widows and orphans who are being mau maued by the Democrats into thinking they will be cut off at the pockets by the evil GOP. There is enough money coming in during August to keep the Guv'mint afloat for that month, again in September for that month. I find it morally despicable for our congress and president to promise they will get to work mopping up the mess while professionally ignoring that the faucet is still flowing. | ||
| Moxnix |
We got meddling in the Libya quagmire as a spiff to out NATO allies, who get Libyan oil in Europe all the while Kadaffi won't sell to us. Let the EU fight for their $6 per gallon petro. To not be drilling here in the States is economic suicide. Who wants it? Well, we all know the answer to that one, our greens. They'll be the first to tip over and die from righteous indignation when the proverbial poop hits the econ fan. Survival of the fittest. | ||
| Buellinmke |
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| Moxnix |
The real question is whether we do something about the deficit spending....bringing our spending in line with our ability to spend...or whether the market forces us to do it. As Ayn Rand said, you can ignore the market. But you can't avoid the consequences of ignoring the market. Now, we're facing the consequences. No, I don't care that Ms. Rand eventually accepted Medicare in her later years. Nice cut and paste. However, Obama is the worst president in dealing with American prosperity. See what his former supporter Steve Wynn said over the weekend. Bush & Cheney were just in bed with the military industrial complex, big this, big that, Wall St. ad naseum. Obama just wants as many people as possible to be taught some sort of lesson he learned at the feet of Bill Ayres and Frank Davis. We have to suffer to fulfill his dream. Bush at least gave us a chance. Bush bad, Obama good. Mantra of those who will suffer the most. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
The obvious fastest way to cut the govtment is to get rid of the Czars, the over lapping over redundant and often inneffective apparatchick agencies and supporting staff, term limits for both houses, and a good old fashioned red pen line item through the budget. I suggest we start with NEA, NPR, 1% for 'peace' and all overseas aid to 'muslims' that does not include a warhead hello new fiscal independence. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
would love to see the source for that graph... because in 2009 that 'medical' reform '152 B' was to WRITE the bill, no actual reform occurred. (and I would argue that none has occurred since either) it is like the taxi passenger in Airplane that sits the entire movie in the loading zone with the meter running, going nowhere. | ||
| Moxnix |
City, I'm heading for a gathering of the clan in Mukilteo, sorry there's not enough time to drive the rental out to the peninsula to show my boy where I used to live, see the ocean, meet up with ya'll and have a chin wag about thrills, chills and killing fields which have tainted my ability to tolerate government lies and government damned lies. My son looked at some old photos, asked my what I was doing. I told him I was an agent provacateur, ran networks, took photos, operated radios, single-handedly saved the world. He still thinks I'm just another old moo who does the occasional big deal to keep him in video games. | ||
| Moxnix |
History shows us "how the system works." Every empire transforms its own expansion into self defense measures. Germany invaded the Sudetenland, and then Poland largely to secure its own frontiers. Japan marched down Southeast Asia to secure its lifeline of resources. Britain conquered half the world to protect its manufactures....and Napoleon invaded Russia to remove the threat on the East. The US didn't have any real enemies – after the Soviet Union folded up – until this whole terrorism thing. Now, we have our forces all over the Mideast and now North Africa, to protect the USA from terrorism. That's what they say. And here's the scary thing. In all the many examples of empires, none...not one...ever backed up. None ever renounced its imperial destiny. None ever thought better of it. Instead, they all went headlong, forward, until they finally got their butts kicked. Some people in the Tea Party...and even in the Republican Party...see what has happened. They understand how the nation has become addicted to cheap credit, cheap money, and to expensive imperial adventures. They are afraid that if they don't get control of it now, it will soon be too late. My hope for this nation is that they will be successful. I believe there is hope. I think that if we can make the link clear – between the imperial, big spending, big credit, big government project...and the coming bankruptcy of the nation...we might be able to turn the country around. Or, we can kick the can down the road, like the talking heads on the moronoscope keep repeating, and wind up a 2nd rate country in a bigger mess than anyone ever imagined. | ||
| Two_seasons |
This country hasn't been the same since Kennedy died. His death made us hide inside. Tell us your source for that char above, Bush vs Obama. There have been institutions hell bent on destroying our nation for the last 100+ years. In the last couple of years many have taken on a new life form. In the end, follow the money. That is where they who want to destroy our nation lie, literally, and we the people must ferret them out and dispatch with them. If the funding for all these hate-filled groups that are now racing towards the bottom dry up, then will then scurry back into their little holes and retool, slowly. We, the people, need to stop this madness and end the funding. We should expect and demand bold leadership, not the trading of insults and lies. We need leaders who will tell the truth. We, the people need to get involved again. We need to form a 10 million man march on DC and tell them we demand change. We need to then they have 2 years to do it. Then we need to follow up on our word and begin to remove the very institutions that are destroying our nation, our freedoms piecemeal. We need to ensure our states rights are restored. We need to begin, again, to govern ourselves from our states capitals, not from the one in DC. But all this is just cheap talk on the internet. We, the people, have to step back into the arena and fight for liberties and freedoms again. We know how to do it. Our Fathers taught us. Communism/Marxism doesn't work. It won't work in this country either. We need to restore back to what our Founding Fathers gave us. We need States rights restored. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The source of the chart is the NY Times. Unfortunately, that chart doesn't list any sources to fact check. I guess you are just supposed to take them at their word. | ||
| Aesquire |
The chart doesn't take into account the 130-160% increase in Federal spending with No budget the last 2 years.... Nor the costs of Obamacare, or the 2 new wars. ( the 2 new wars are pretty cheap compared to the 2 "old wars" that actually freed some people, unlike the civilian meatgrinder of Libya or the "when does a missile hit my 'hood?" of Yemen. ) Or the GM & Chrysler takeovers, the Cash for Clunkers program, ( thanks for buying my old minivan by the way, all you taxpayers ) or the price of the tiny amount of oil needed to be replaced in the Strategic Reserve from the publicity stunt by the Campaigner in Chief. In short, if it's the NYT, it's crap. Their reactions are emotion, not well thought out. Not always coherent or logical. That's true for some in ANY group. I'm not a tea partier. But anyone can see that "spend within your means" is more logical than "no cuts to the spending increased by record amounts ( illegally, with no budget passed in 2 years ) or your children DIE!" The first is a paraphrase of tea party types, the second, the President. ( paraphrase, but accurate ) If you want emotions..... unchecked by logic, but quite coherent, I'd suggest vids of the Public Service Union rallies in Wisconsin, the SEUI head speaking to Obama's core group, the CPUSA, or Nancy Pelosi irritated by questions about the Constitutionality of her actions. ( very coherent in the pursuit of power at any cost ) | ||
| Two_seasons |
Another thought. We the people need to get our States off the federal nipple. Our State leaders are unwilling to tell DC to get lost. Our programs, and the ones out of DC, are so intertwined that we lose our States rights. Our separate rights that are Constitutionally to our States legislators have the final say in almost all matters. And then there is the Judiciary. We have Federal judges that are appointed for life constantly putting injunctions in place to override what we the people at the State level have said we want, for OUR State. Whatever the issue today, at the State level, a Federal judge gets involved in the matter, time and again, and put a stay, a hold, over what we, the people, have decided at the State level. The Constitution was written by men who saw firsthand what happens when you loose local control. Our States were guaranteed their right to experiment with programs that we the people, in our State, want. 50 separate experiments! We the people control what rights and freedoms we want to keep, State by State. Wow---what a concept! As it stands right now, the Federal gov't has the last say in ALL matters that are reserved to the States. This is not Constitutional! Stand up. Let your State reps hear you. We need to restore our States rights again! | ||
| Whatever |
Tea Partiers wanted "less government"... well now they are going to get it... A WHOLE LOT LESS GOVERNMENT... as in a government shutdown... let's see how much dancing in the streets there is when they have caused a default... If this happens, and I do believe it will... what then ? Hope you like living in a vigilante society where there are massive lay-offs across the board in all sectors of public service (Fed, State and Local) because it is looking more likely with every passing minute. The problem is tying the political demands (such as continuation of Bush tax cuts for the uber-rich) of the Tea Republic to what has been in the past of ALL parties administrations... the normal daily functioning of the economy of the government. Hold onto your hats, it is about to get a whole lot worse... Remarkably absent from the discussion is Sarah Palin... where is she ? Hiding out in the wilds ? Will she take credit now for the "new success" of the functioning of the government ? | ||
| Whatever |
And +1 on Mox's comments... after we kicked a** in World War II, we decided that our 'manifest destiny' was to continue to expand into the FAR EAST... wrong move, and continued wrong move... from Vietnam all the way to Iraq... (barring a more concise and lean and mean operation to root out AQ wherever they are...) | ||
| Court |
>>>it is about to get a whole lot worse... That's inaccurate and suggests a lack of understanding of the economic dynamics at work. As one of the "uber rich" who paid 55% of my annual income in taxes last year . . be mindful I don't enjoy any of the tax deductions associated with owning a private jet . . I'm not quite certain how much more you would like me to pay. Please tell me the number. It is 60%? Is it 72%? The big o has yet, after 800+ days, to even offer up a budget. Yet in that same time period he's spent like a drunken sailor with nothing to show for it save some lame "gosh, just imagine if we hadn't spend those trillions". It never showed up in construction. It never showed up in the schools. And it damn sure did nothing to ebb the tide or rising unemployment. If you increased the taxes on us "uber rich" to a marginal rate of 95% . . as in I make $100, I keep $5 . . you do understand that the revenue generated wouldn't cover 1/100th of what the big O has INCREASED spending in the last year, right. There is one way, history shows us, to really generate revenue and that is to get some of those 42% of the folks who pay ZERO taxes working. I'd thought about starting another company. I owned one once, it grew, it thrived, I paid tons of taxes and paid lots of employees who paid lots of taxes and I bought (as in consumed) enough Ford trucks, cranes and so forth to grace the cover of a bunch of construction journals. I was a revenue producing fool. But . . I was motivated. Now I know how to start a business and I know how to make money. But . . in the present environment . . my goal (much like Stanley Druckenmiller) is to get what I can out of the system before I loose it and limit my exposure. I've done just that. When your revolution starts . . . send me a card. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Weak States rights, a poor economic performance, rife corruption, and a few overseas adventures with no clear exit/entrance strategy. .... Its what got us a civil war and Lincoln killed .... sorry to miss ya Mox. never did save the world, but I did have some interesting times listening, watching, observing and 'interviewing' a host of characters. if this thing goes Marxist Revolution 2016, I will surely say 'I told you so' |
