How to Fix the Phony Budget Crisis

[georgephillip]

Can you say Norway?

How about Wealth Tax??

"Times are tough. Someone has to pay. Why not start with those who can most afford it?...

"In Norway, for example, you pay one percent of your net worth in addition to income tax.

"What if we imposed a Norwegian-style wealth tax on the top one percent of U.S. households?

"We’re not talking upper middle class here: the poorest among them is worth a mere $8.3 million.

"This top one percent owns 35 percent of all wealth in the United States.

“'Such a wealth tax…would raise $191.1 billion each year (one percent of $19.1 trillion), a significant attack on the deficit,' Leon Friedman writes in The Nation. 'If we extended the tax to the top 5 percent, we could raise $338.5 billion a year (one percent of 62 percent of $54.6 trillion).'”

Tell the rich to pay up or pack up.

Sounds like a good idea, but the Republicans won't allow you to touch the rich. I mean, the whined and cried until the Wealthy were give a tax cut.

The Republicans form a Praetorian Guard around the rich; however, both parties depend on the richest 1% of Americans to fund their election campaigns.

I don't think any solution like a wealth tax would have the slightest chance of success without FLUSHING hundreds of incumbents of both parties from the US Congress.

It's possible the democratic fires sweeping the Middle East will find a counterpart here. Young people are among the leaders of the revolution in Egypt, Tunisia and Iran. If the 40% to 50% of young US voters who don't usually see anything worth voting for should decide to vote AGAINST all Republicans AND Democrats in November of 2012, the world will Change.

 

[georgephillip]

Can you say Norway?

How about Wealth Tax??

"Times are tough. Someone has to pay. Why not start with those who can most afford it?...

"In Norway, for example, you pay one percent of your net worth in addition to income tax.

"What if we imposed a Norwegian-style wealth tax on the top one percent of U.S. households?

"We’re not talking upper middle class here: the poorest among them is worth a mere $8.3 million.

"This top one percent owns 35 percent of all wealth in the United States.

“'Such a wealth tax…would raise $191.1 billion each year (one percent of $19.1 trillion), a significant attack on the deficit,' Leon Friedman writes in The Nation. 'If we extended the tax to the top 5 percent, we could raise $338.5 billion a year (one percent of 62 percent of $54.6 trillion).'”

Tell the rich to pay up or pack up.

Sounds like a good idea, but the Republicans won't allow you to touch the rich. I mean, the whined and cried until the Wealthy were give a tax cut.

No, the Wealthy will not allow you to touch them. They have the money to spend on the candidates of both parties who will protect them.

That is why groups like the Tea Party that cross wealth lines or tap into the power of deep populist sentiment who scare them and threaten to uproot their protections.

Groups like the Tea Party want less taxation and lower deficits without explaining how that is possible unless you stop big business from manipulating foreign jurisdictions against US tax laws and allowing trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street to occur without any sales tax.

Do you think Charles and David and Barry find that funny?

Do you?

 

[Immanuel]

Sounds like a good idea, but the Republicans won't allow you to touch the rich. I mean, the whined and cried until the Wealthy were give a tax cut.

No, the Wealthy will not allow you to touch them. They have the money to spend on the candidates of both parties who will protect them.

That is why groups like the Tea Party that cross wealth lines or tap into the power of deep populist sentiment who scare them and threaten to uproot their protections.

Groups like the Tea Party want less taxation and lower deficits without explaining how that is possible unless you stop big business from manipulating foreign jurisdictions against US tax laws and allowing trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street to occur without any sales tax.

Do you think Charles and David and Barry find that funny?

Do you?

My understanding is that the Tea Party wants less spending.

Face it, we are not going to get out of this crisis until Congress recognizes the fact that they cannot spend more money than they take in period!

Immie

 

[georgephillip]

fAiL s0n......this kind of thinking only resonates in the far reaches of the internet. Fringe thinking FTL..................

Morons on the left still havent hit the re-set button. I have to post this map up at least 3 or 4 times a week................

Hellllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Less than 41% of eligible voters are represented by your map, and, THANK YOU, OBAMA, most of the no-shows would likely have voted blue.

Nothing will change the economic fundamentals of this country by "choosing" between Republican OR Democrat. (red or blue)

Which is why the Rasmussen polls are always so consistently balls accurate, by the way...............

Well.........we're certianly going to see s0n...........The House will not go back to blue before 2020 due to Rust Belt redistricting. The purse strings will be in the hands of the color red.

And thank God for Disney philosophers on this board like PhillipGeorge. Without them, this board would suck........

Do you really believe it matters to Wall Street if red hands or blue control the purse strings?

How about the richest two percent of taxpayers?

You know, those who have seen their share of returns to wealth nearly double in the last generation?

What did red (or blue) hands do to oppose a nearly $13 trillion swap of private debt for public debt that made the aforementioned "lucky two percent" twice as rich ?

Do you expect red hands to rise in support of applying a sales tax on trillions of dollars of Wall Street speculation? Or is it more likely red and blue hands will do everything possible to ensure any extra sales tax falls on necessities purchased by those who bailed out the speculators?

Do you understand ALL governments socialize cost and privatize profit, and ALL Republicans AND Democrats serve the richest 2% of US voters FIRST?

Do you want to be an ignorant tool when you die?

Obama's Greatest Betrayal

 

[georgephillip]

No, the Wealthy will not allow you to touch them. They have the money to spend on the candidates of both parties who will protect them.

That is why groups like the Tea Party that cross wealth lines or tap into the power of deep populist sentiment who scare them and threaten to uproot their protections.

Groups like the Tea Party want less taxation and lower deficits without explaining how that is possible unless you stop big business from manipulating foreign jurisdictions against US tax laws and allowing trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street to occur without any sales tax.

Do you think Charles and David and Barry find that funny?

Do you?

My understanding is that the Tea Party wants less spending.

Face it, we are not going to get out of this crisis until Congress recognizes the fact that they cannot spend more money than they take in period!

Immie

Do you think those who fund the Tea Party want less spending?

Do the Koch brothers (or Barry) want to cut the hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, for example? Or the billion$ of handouts, subsidies and giveaways in our military/security complex?

The Pentagon could easily be the most profligate/corrupt institution within the US Government.

Finally, I think you're confusing family finances with US Treasury/ Federal Reserve/World's reserve currency cartel.

You and I can't print money. Government can. At times like this when the private sector is incapable of supplying enough demand (jobs) to fuel our economy, who else but government can?

 

[Immanuel]

Groups like the Tea Party want less taxation and lower deficits without explaining how that is possible unless you stop big business from manipulating foreign jurisdictions against US tax laws and allowing trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street to occur without any sales tax.

Do you think Charles and David and Barry find that funny?

Do you?

My understanding is that the Tea Party wants less spending.

Face it, we are not going to get out of this crisis until Congress recognizes the fact that they cannot spend more money than they take in period!

Immie

Do you think those who fund the Tea Party want less spending?

Do the Koch brothers (or Barry) want to cut the hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, for example? Or the billion$ of handouts, subsidies and giveaways in our military/security complex?

The Pentagon could easily be the most profligate/corrupt institution within the US Government.

Finally, I think you're confusing family finances with US Treasury/ Federal Reserve/World's reserve currency cartel.

You and I can't print money. Government can. At times like this when the private sector is incapable of supplying enough demand (jobs) to fuel our economy, who else but government can?

No, not really since the Tea Party is really nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party... well, wait, I do think those who are common everyday citizens of the "Tea Party" want less spending. It is their Republican leaders that don't want to cut spending any more than the Democrats do.

Printing money leads to inflation. Printing too much money leads to hyper-inflation and economic collapse. That is not somewhere we want to go.

Immie

 

[Zander]

Or we could just cut spending......go figure.

 

[The T]

Less than 41% of eligible voters are represented by your map, and, THANK YOU, OBAMA, most of the no-shows would likely have voted blue.

Nothing will change the economic fundamentals of this country by "choosing" between Republican OR Democrat. (red or blue)

Which is why the Rasmussen polls are always so consistently balls accurate, by the way...............

Well.........we're certianly going to see s0n...........The House will not go back to blue before 2020 due to Rust Belt redistricting. The purse strings will be in the hands of the color red.

And thank God for Disney philosophers on this board like PhillipGeorge. Without them, this board would suck........

Do you really believe it matters to Wall Street if red hands or blue control the purse strings?

How about the richest two percent of taxpayers?

You know, those who have seen their share of returns to wealth nearly double in the last generation?

What did red (or blue) hands do to oppose a nearly $13 trillion swap of private debt for public debt that made the aforementioned "lucky two percent" twice as rich ?

Do you expect red hands to rise in support of applying a sales tax on trillions of dollars of Wall Street speculation? Or is it more likely red and blue hands will do everything possible to ensure any extra sales tax falls on necessities purchased by those who bailed out the speculators?

Do you understand ALL governments socialize cost and privatize profit, and ALL Republicans AND Democrats serve the richest 2% of US voters FIRST?

Do you want to be an ignorant tool when you die?

Obama's Greatest Betrayal

It matters if the TEA PARTY has the reins

 

[georgephillip]

Can you say Norway?

How about Wealth Tax??

"Times are tough. Someone has to pay. Why not start with those who can most afford it?...

"In Norway, for example, you pay one percent of your net worth in addition to income tax.

"What if we imposed a Norwegian-style wealth tax on the top one percent of U.S. households?

"We’re not talking upper middle class here: the poorest among them is worth a mere $8.3 million.

"This top one percent owns 35 percent of all wealth in the United States.

“'Such a wealth tax…would raise $191.1 billion each year (one percent of $19.1 trillion), a significant attack on the deficit,' Leon Friedman writes in The Nation. 'If we extended the tax to the top 5 percent, we could raise $338.5 billion a year (one percent of 62 percent of $54.6 trillion).'”

Tell the rich to pay up or pack up.

How about the fact that the upper 1-2 % of wealthy Americans already pay most of the tax burden in this country....

How bout the fact that a good portion of the 99 ers will not even make an attempt to look for work as long as they can stay home and collect benefits....

How about the government stop spending money foolishly like on Stimulus programs that don't do much stimulating?....

They currently pay most of the collected income tax in the country every year; however, you might want to consider how much the richest of the rich have gained in income over the last 45 years and compare that to how their tax rate has declined over the same time period.

David Kay Johnston:

"In 2006 families worked on average about 900 more hours than families did in the 1960s and early 1970s. That is a roughly 45 percent increase in hours worked... For many, the reality is that two jobs produce the same or a smaller after-tax income than just one job did three and four decades ago. ...

During the 45 years starting in 1961, payroll taxes have gone from a minor levy to almost a sixth of wages for the bottom 90 percent of American households. This $760 in income tax savings that the average taxpayer enjoyed in 2006 was taken back, and more, by the increased tax rates for Social Security and Medicare.

"Those rates rose from 3 percent withheld from pay in 1961 to 7.65 percent in 2006. Not all income is from wages, of course, but those higher payroll taxes wiped out the seeming reduction in the income tax and more. ...

"And at the top? Now, that’s a different story. The average income for the top 400 taxpayers rose over the 45 years from $13.7 million to $263.3 million.

"That is 19.3 times more.

"The income tax bill went up too, but only 7.8 times as much because tax rates plunged.

"Income tax rates at the top fell 60 percent, three times the percentage rate drop for the vast majority.

"And at the top, the savings were not offset by higher payroll taxes, which are insignificant to top taxpayers. ..."

You won't get any argument from me about government spending foolishly. I'm thinking we start with an audit of the Pentagon...

 

[georgephillip]

Or we could just cut spending......go figure.

And shrink ourselves out of Wall Street's Great Recession?

 

[georgephillip]

Which is why the Rasmussen polls are always so consistently balls accurate, by the way...............

Well.........we're certianly going to see s0n...........The House will not go back to blue before 2020 due to Rust Belt redistricting. The purse strings will be in the hands of the color red.

And thank God for Disney philosophers on this board like PhillipGeorge. Without them, this board would suck........

Do you really believe it matters to Wall Street if red hands or blue control the purse strings?

How about the richest two percent of taxpayers?

You know, those who have seen their share of returns to wealth nearly double in the last generation?

What did red (or blue) hands do to oppose a nearly $13 trillion swap of private debt for public debt that made the aforementioned "lucky two percent" twice as rich ?

Do you expect red hands to rise in support of applying a sales tax on trillions of dollars of Wall Street speculation? Or is it more likely red and blue hands will do everything possible to ensure any extra sales tax falls on necessities purchased by those who bailed out the speculators?

Do you understand ALL governments socialize cost and privatize profit, and ALL Republicans AND Democrats serve the richest 2% of US voters FIRST?

Do you want to be an ignorant tool when you die?

Obama's Greatest Betrayal

It matters if the TEA PARTY has the reins

Charles or David?

 

[georgephillip]

My understanding is that the Tea Party wants less spending.

Face it, we are not going to get out of this crisis until Congress recognizes the fact that they cannot spend more money than they take in period!

Immie

Do you think those who fund the Tea Party want less spending?

Do the Koch brothers (or Barry) want to cut the hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, for example? Or the billion$ of handouts, subsidies and giveaways in our military/security complex?

The Pentagon could easily be the most profligate/corrupt institution within the US Government.

Finally, I think you're confusing family finances with US Treasury/ Federal Reserve/World's reserve currency cartel.

You and I can't print money. Government can. At times like this when the private sector is incapable of supplying enough demand (jobs) to fuel our economy, who else but government can?

No, not really since the Tea Party is really nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party... well, wait, I do think those who are common everyday citizens of the "Tea Party" want less spending. It is their Republican leaders that don't want to cut spending any more than the Democrats do.

Printing money leads to inflation. Printing too much money leads to hyper-inflation and economic collapse. That is not somewhere we want to go.

Immie

Hyperinflation could turn every $10 bill in this country into a $5 in a very short period of time.

I'm not sure how well that works out in a country with 200,000,000 private guns.

Governments sometimes find high rates of inflation useful in paying down national debt. If that should happen here and hyperinflation results, 2011 might look like the good 'ol days by comparison.(for those of us still alive)

 

[Big Fitz]

Sounds like a good idea, but the Republicans won't allow you to touch the rich. I mean, the whined and cried until the Wealthy were give a tax cut.

No, the Wealthy will not allow you to touch them. They have the money to spend on the candidates of both parties who will protect them.

That is why groups like the Tea Party that cross wealth lines or tap into the power of deep populist sentiment who scare them and threaten to uproot their protections.

Groups like the Tea Party want less taxation and lower deficits without explaining how that is possible unless you stop big business from manipulating foreign jurisdictions against US tax laws and allowing trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street to occur without any sales tax.

Do you think Charles and David and Barry find that funny?

Do you?

Immie said it best.

Cut government spending and size. That is what tea partiers want first and foremost. After that, taxes can be reduced once the tab has been paid, and government can be KEPT small. Charity is not the pervue of government which the left has long since forgotten.

Hyperinflation could turn every $10 bill in this country into a $5 in a very short period of time.

I'm not sure how well that works out in a country with 200,000,000 private guns.

Governments sometimes find high rates of inflation useful in paying down national debt. If that should happen here and hyperinflation results, 2011 might look like the good 'ol days by comparison.(for those of us still alive)

Hyperinflation halving value? no no no... Try a dollar fifty buying a loaf of bread costing twenty. THAT is hyperinflation. That is what is coming thanks to the devaluing of the dollar by the fed and this fucking stupid administration in an effort to hide the financial mess they're creating by overspending.

What the hell does gun ownership have to do with any of this?

 

[Immanuel]

Do you think those who fund the Tea Party want less spending?

Do the Koch brothers (or Barry) want to cut the hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, for example? Or the billion$ of handouts, subsidies and giveaways in our military/security complex?

The Pentagon could easily be the most profligate/corrupt institution within the US Government.

Finally, I think you're confusing family finances with US Treasury/ Federal Reserve/World's reserve currency cartel.

You and I can't print money. Government can. At times like this when the private sector is incapable of supplying enough demand (jobs) to fuel our economy, who else but government can?

No, not really since the Tea Party is really nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party... well, wait, I do think those who are common everyday citizens of the "Tea Party" want less spending. It is their Republican leaders that don't want to cut spending any more than the Democrats do.

Printing money leads to inflation. Printing too much money leads to hyper-inflation and economic collapse. That is not somewhere we want to go.

Immie

Hyperinflation could turn every $10 bill in this country into a $5 in a very short period of time.

I'm not sure how well that works out in a country with 200,000,000 private guns.

Governments sometimes find high rates of inflation useful in paying down national debt. If that should happen here and hyperinflation results, 2011 might look like the good 'ol days by comparison.(for those of us still alive)

Oh come on now, 200,000,000 private guns? So, America is to become the next Egypt at the blessing of the liberals? Really?

Immie

 

[georgephillip]

No, the Wealthy will not allow you to touch them. They have the money to spend on the candidates of both parties who will protect them.

That is why groups like the Tea Party that cross wealth lines or tap into the power of deep populist sentiment who scare them and threaten to uproot their protections.

Groups like the Tea Party want less taxation and lower deficits without explaining how that is possible unless you stop big business from manipulating foreign jurisdictions against US tax laws and allowing trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street to occur without any sales tax.

Do you think Charles and David and Barry find that funny?

Do you?

Immie said it best.

Cut government spending and size. That is what tea partiers want first and foremost. After that, taxes can be reduced once the tab has been paid, and government can be KEPT small. Charity is not the pervue of government which the left has long since forgotten.

Hyperinflation could turn every $10 bill in this country into a $5 in a very short period of time.

I'm not sure how well that works out in a country with 200,000,000 private guns.

Governments sometimes find high rates of inflation useful in paying down national debt. If that should happen here and hyperinflation results, 2011 might look like the good 'ol days by comparison.(for those of us still alive)

Hyperinflation halving value? no no no... Try a dollar fifty buying a loaf of bread costing twenty. THAT is hyperinflation. That is what is coming thanks to the devaluing of the dollar by the fed and this fucking stupid administration in an effort to hide the financial mess they're creating by overspending.

What the hell does gun ownership have to do with any of this?

Gun ownership could play a huge factor when hundreds of millions of Americans are no longer able to purchase food and shelter, or do you think that can't happen here?

Hyperinflation is not something I'm endorsing. Can you say the same for Mitch McConnell when he makes the statement, "Our first priority is to make sure Obama is a one-term president?" FWIW, I think he's right about Obama and wrong to politicize deficits he and his party played a huge role in creating.

Remember Dick Cheney's brush off of Paul O'Neil, "Deficits don't matter. Reagan proved that."

"That is the real reason Republicans are born-again fiscal fundamentalists: deficits are the only thing that might actually turn the economy around and that is exactly what the Republicans (and Democrats) are so intent on avoiding."

Neither Republicans nor Democrats have any intention of cutting Pentagon spending significantly. Neither party is interested in cutting corporate agriculture's welfare "entitlements." Both parties are highly concerned with ensuring the richest Americans continue to prosper at the expense of the majority of taxpayers.

Finally, I suspect what you call "charity" I would label "equality."

What we should be doing on this board is laying down some metrics (as Rummy would say) defining exactly how bad economic conditions in this country would have to be in the Fall of 2012 before most of us would blame REPUBLICANS and DEMOCRATS and VOTE accordingly?

 

[georgephillip]

No, not really since the Tea Party is really nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party... well, wait, I do think those who are common everyday citizens of the "Tea Party" want less spending. It is their Republican leaders that don't want to cut spending any more than the Democrats do.

Printing money leads to inflation. Printing too much money leads to hyper-inflation and economic collapse. That is not somewhere we want to go.

Immie

Hyperinflation could turn every $10 bill in this country into a $5 in a very short period of time.

I'm not sure how well that works out in a country with 200,000,000 private guns.

Governments sometimes find high rates of inflation useful in paying down national debt. If that should happen here and hyperinflation results, 2011 might look like the good 'ol days by comparison.(for those of us still alive)

Oh come on now, 200,000,000 private guns? So, America is to become the next Egypt at the blessing of the liberals? Really?

Immie

Ask Mubarak:

"In the most potentially significant action, about 6,000 workers at five service companies owned by the Suez Canal Authority — a major component of the Egyptian economy — began a sit-in on Tuesday night.

"There was no immediate suggestion of disruptions to shipping in the canal, a vital international waterway leading from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. But Egyptian officials said that total traffic declined by 1.6 percent in January, though it was up significantly from last year.

"More than 2,000 textile workers and others in Suez demonstrated as well, Al Ahram reported, while in Luxor thousands hurt by the collapse of the tourist industry marched to demand government benefits. There was no immediate independent corroboration of the reports.

"At one factory in the textile town of Mahalla, more than striking 1,500 workers blocked roads, continuing a long-running dispute with the owner.

"And more than 2,000 workers from the Sigma pharmaceutical company in the city of Quesna went on strike while some 5,000 unemployed youth stormed a government building in Aswan, demanding the dismissal of the governor."

If a critical mass of unemployed US workers, young and old, ever discover the rich have been waging class war against their families for generations, they won't need blessings from liberals or conservatives.

And some of them will probably bring their guns into US streets and squares and government buildings.

 

[editec]

Oh those poor por billionaires.

They're so put upon, aren't they?

Honest to God if you folks here who are defending this gilded age are not actually getting paid to post this tripe, or you are not yourselves of the Manor born, then you sincerely have my sympathy for being such dupes.

WHAT CLASS makes the decisions about how much money our government spends?

Welfare mothers or Billionaires?

If the government is pissing away money, it's the BILLIONAIRE CLASS that are the people telling their tools in office to do so.

G-Zues, we cannot make the reality that we are going through another GUILDED AGE any simplier than that for yas.

 

[Big Fitz]

Finally, I suspect what you call "charity" I would label "equality."

And we get to the essence of it.

Equality as defined by????

Charity: Giving someone a gift from their own free will. Government by definition cannot do charity for they have nothing of their own except what they take from the governed.

Then you get the fun of WHO decides what is equal. Who deserves what.

See, this is then the failing of all collectivist ideology. Someone other than the individual decides for them what they deserve. Someone else says when you need, how you need, and what you need.

The problem with 'laying down metrics' is that everyone involved in policy is trying to cover up their responsibility in it. That is why a third party needs to set the 'metrics' and expose the responsible parties AND offer unbiased solutions.

 

[georgephillip]

Oh those poor por billionaires.

They're so put upon, aren't they?

Honest to God if you folks here who are defending this gilded age are not actually getting paid to post this tripe, or you are not yourselves of the Manor born, then you sincerely have my sympathy for being such dupes.

WHAT CLASS makes the decisions about how much money our government spends?

Welfare mothers or Billionaires?

If the government is pissing away money, it's the BILLIONAIRE CLASS that are the people telling their tools in office to do so.

G-Zues, we cannot make the reality that we are going through another GUILDED AGE any simplier than that for yas.

Obviously Wisconsin teachers are responsible for EVERY SINGLE DECISION government makes.

I'm really disappointed that you and those like you would blame Charles and David and Wall Street for a housing bubble which was obviously a consequence of greedy public unions attempting to expand the reach of government!

I hope you come to your senses before every last billionaire in this country decides to leave and take all their money (Real Estate?) with them.

Greed-heads of the world, UNITE!
TOO MUCH is NEVER enough.

 

[boedicca]

Anyone who thinks the budget crisis in the U.S. is phony is likely the kind of idiot who thinks he still has money in his checking account because he has some blank checks.

Just sayin'.