hellofromwarsaw
Rookie
- Banned
- #81
Screwing with Medicare and SS in order to save the rich 4% will do for you morons!
From the Australian-(whose min.wage is $15- ya feggin' corporate tools)...
Here in the lucky country we face a hung parliament with all of its uncertainties, long-running debates about carbon tax and refugees, and yet we are still governable. Here the system still works: in the US it is broken and defies repair and maintenance.
For those wondering what has gone so wrong in the US, try some of these worries on for size. First, the gun culture. It does not seem to matter how many mini-massacres occur, how many out and out nutters get their hands on multiple weapons, Americans clearly regard the right to bear arms as far more important than the right of the totally innocent not to be shot.
If you are in America, don't go down to the woods today, you may be in for a big surprise. There you'll find tens of thousands of ordinary citizens, armed to the teeth with automatic and semi-automatic machine guns, rifles and pistols, dressed in combat fatigues and training to become the sort of warriors who can repel an invading force. But not just any invading force not the yellow peril or the evil Russian reds: no, they drill to repel their own government. These militias are many, their members mad and their purpose truly scary.
Then there is a new phenomenon: the Tea Party. Loosely tied to the Republicans, they are America's new cargo cultists. You don't need a PhD in economics to know that you can't eliminate a $US14 trillion deficit by spending cuts alone. They oppose tax increases of any kind, even if they apply only to the richest individuals or corporations.
Obama used a couple of examples in his address to the nation this week that pretty well show how illogical is this new force really is. Apparently they won't allow tax breaks on corporate jets to be reduced or abolished and they won't agree to legislation that would make it impossible for hedge fund managers to pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. It just beggars belief.
What is even worse is that this lunatic rump seems to have mainstream Republicans either mesmerised or bluffed. This week they rolled House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner. His plan for spending cuts just wasn't tough enough for the Tea Party. They have demanded tougher spending cuts and Boehner has bent to their will. He is producing yet another plan to appease them and yet another plan for Obama to veto.
That America is even having this debate is remarkable in itself. The debt ceiling has been raised hundreds of times without any objection. Ronald Reagan and the two George Bushes did it regularly without any fun and games from the legislature. What's more, raising the debt ceiling is not about curbing future spending, it is merely necessary to pay for expenditure already approved.
Even a few weeks ago virtually every economist or business commentator fearlessly predicted that it would all be sorted out well before the deadline was reached. Those predictions are now looking very shaky indeed. Even if a five-minutes to midnight compromise is reached it may not be enough to save America's triple-A rating.
Such a thing has really never before been contemplated and nobody really knows what the flow-on effects will be for the rest of the world. Australia won't escape those consequences. In a world where economic activity is stalled, this will be another huge blow for consumer confidence. Too many people are rightly frightened of a second global financial crisis. (There are those who think of course that the first GFC never ended and that we are now suffering because the bad debts of the banks simply became extra noughts on the sovereign debts of world governments.)
This is all being played out with an eye on the presidential and congressional elections to be held in November next year. I sincerely hope that there are enough Americans who are sane enough, smart enough and active enough to vote Obama back into power. I hope they reject the Tea Party Luddites for all our sakes. I hope they remember that it was the Republican president George W. Bush who started two incredibly expensive wars at the same time as announcing big tax cuts for the rich. Of course they say you live in hope and die in despair.
Finally, there are two great ironies. If you remember the movie 55 Days at Peking you will get the first. Remember how Charlton Heston and David Niven held off the yellow hordes besieging them until international forces crushed the Boxer rebellion? Ponder the fact that China now holds more than $US1 trillion of US debt.
Even worse, after 50 years of rivalry, after too many billions to count, American astronauts will now have to hitch a ride on a Russian craft to get into space. How the mighty have fallen.
Graham Richardson is political commentator for the Seven Network and hosts Richo on Sky News at 8pm on Wednesdays.
From the Australian-(whose min.wage is $15- ya feggin' corporate tools)...
Here in the lucky country we face a hung parliament with all of its uncertainties, long-running debates about carbon tax and refugees, and yet we are still governable. Here the system still works: in the US it is broken and defies repair and maintenance.
For those wondering what has gone so wrong in the US, try some of these worries on for size. First, the gun culture. It does not seem to matter how many mini-massacres occur, how many out and out nutters get their hands on multiple weapons, Americans clearly regard the right to bear arms as far more important than the right of the totally innocent not to be shot.
If you are in America, don't go down to the woods today, you may be in for a big surprise. There you'll find tens of thousands of ordinary citizens, armed to the teeth with automatic and semi-automatic machine guns, rifles and pistols, dressed in combat fatigues and training to become the sort of warriors who can repel an invading force. But not just any invading force not the yellow peril or the evil Russian reds: no, they drill to repel their own government. These militias are many, their members mad and their purpose truly scary.
Then there is a new phenomenon: the Tea Party. Loosely tied to the Republicans, they are America's new cargo cultists. You don't need a PhD in economics to know that you can't eliminate a $US14 trillion deficit by spending cuts alone. They oppose tax increases of any kind, even if they apply only to the richest individuals or corporations.
Obama used a couple of examples in his address to the nation this week that pretty well show how illogical is this new force really is. Apparently they won't allow tax breaks on corporate jets to be reduced or abolished and they won't agree to legislation that would make it impossible for hedge fund managers to pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. It just beggars belief.
What is even worse is that this lunatic rump seems to have mainstream Republicans either mesmerised or bluffed. This week they rolled House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner. His plan for spending cuts just wasn't tough enough for the Tea Party. They have demanded tougher spending cuts and Boehner has bent to their will. He is producing yet another plan to appease them and yet another plan for Obama to veto.
That America is even having this debate is remarkable in itself. The debt ceiling has been raised hundreds of times without any objection. Ronald Reagan and the two George Bushes did it regularly without any fun and games from the legislature. What's more, raising the debt ceiling is not about curbing future spending, it is merely necessary to pay for expenditure already approved.
Even a few weeks ago virtually every economist or business commentator fearlessly predicted that it would all be sorted out well before the deadline was reached. Those predictions are now looking very shaky indeed. Even if a five-minutes to midnight compromise is reached it may not be enough to save America's triple-A rating.
Such a thing has really never before been contemplated and nobody really knows what the flow-on effects will be for the rest of the world. Australia won't escape those consequences. In a world where economic activity is stalled, this will be another huge blow for consumer confidence. Too many people are rightly frightened of a second global financial crisis. (There are those who think of course that the first GFC never ended and that we are now suffering because the bad debts of the banks simply became extra noughts on the sovereign debts of world governments.)
This is all being played out with an eye on the presidential and congressional elections to be held in November next year. I sincerely hope that there are enough Americans who are sane enough, smart enough and active enough to vote Obama back into power. I hope they reject the Tea Party Luddites for all our sakes. I hope they remember that it was the Republican president George W. Bush who started two incredibly expensive wars at the same time as announcing big tax cuts for the rich. Of course they say you live in hope and die in despair.
Finally, there are two great ironies. If you remember the movie 55 Days at Peking you will get the first. Remember how Charlton Heston and David Niven held off the yellow hordes besieging them until international forces crushed the Boxer rebellion? Ponder the fact that China now holds more than $US1 trillion of US debt.
Even worse, after 50 years of rivalry, after too many billions to count, American astronauts will now have to hitch a ride on a Russian craft to get into space. How the mighty have fallen.
Graham Richardson is political commentator for the Seven Network and hosts Richo on Sky News at 8pm on Wednesdays.
