You Know What's Wrong Around This Place?

The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

Newsflash dippy...This isn't England. Remember? We fought to get away from them...and rescued thier butts more than once. :eusa_whistle:
 
The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

Liar. All my brothers have served in that fucking desert.

Why does that make him a liar, CG? He was speaking of the rich and powerful's offspring serving in the military. Are your parents rich and powerful? (Either way I thank your brothers for their service.)

Remember the movie and baseball stars who left at the height of their successful careers to serve in WWII? I just don't think we see that kind of sacrifice today.
 
The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

Liar. All my brothers have served in that fucking desert.

Why does that make him a liar, CG? He was speaking of the rich and powerful's offspring serving in the military. Are your parents rich and powerful? (Either way I thank your brothers for their service.)

Remember the movie and baseball stars who left at the height of their successful careers to serve in WWII? I just don't think we see that kind of sacrifice today.

Right off the top I can think of only one. Pat Tilman could have earned millions as a pro athlete but chose to give it up in order to serve. Talk about irony...he was then killed by his own troops.
 
<SNIP>
Guess what we know about last year...2010....an average CEO in this country made about 550 times what an ordinary American worker earned.
<SNIP>

Source for this?

Newser) – Once again, it’s a good time to be a CEO in America. After shrinking during 2008 and 2009, executive pay is back on the rise, with many chief execs at major corporations making as much or more than they were before the recession hit. Last year, the median pay for CEOs at 200 major companies was a whopping $9.6 million, the New York Times reports. That’s a 12% increase from 2009. Profits are also up at American businesses—a full 29.2% in the fourth quarter, marking the fastest growth in more than 60 years. But there’s no trickle-down yet, as many of those CEOs are still not hiring. Click to see how much some CEOs are making—including one who scored a 1500% raise.
 
Liar. All my brothers have served in that fucking desert.

Why does that make him a liar, CG? He was speaking of the rich and powerful's offspring serving in the military. Are your parents rich and powerful? (Either way I thank your brothers for their service.)

Remember the movie and baseball stars who left at the height of their successful careers to serve in WWII? I just don't think we see that kind of sacrifice today.

Right off the top I can think of only one. Pat Tilman could have earned millions as a pro athlete but chose to give it up in order to serve. Talk about irony...he was then killed by his own troops.
 
The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

You are so correct and I have felt it as well....

That Hope and Change nonsense is a Complete and TOTAL Disaster.
We need to take back the WH and win some seats in the Senate and hold the house....

Thanks I feel much better now... :clap2:
 
They let you live here?

The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

In Great Britain the Royal family have lived off the backs of everyone else for centuries, and they still do, they do owe the country something.
 
All I have to say is that Obie reiterated in his last presser that we will leave Afghanistan with a stable Democracy when we leave.

All I have to ask, will Obie's daughters enlist when they come of age and we are still there 'winning hearts n' changing minds'?

Perhaps you should have directed your commentary to the Party of the First Part - you know the moron who thought invading Afghanistan was a good idea. Obviously he was sleeping off a drunk somewhere from 1979 to 1988. Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and spent 9 years trying to take over that part of world, Pinky. In 1988 they threw up their hands and left. The conflict has actually been referred to by historians as the Soviet Union's Vietnam War. And worthy of mention it is also a a fact that the Mujahideen was given "unofficial" support by the U.S. during that time. Now how do you imagine he missed that little item?

It is always best to know a little about the history of a subject if one is going to discuss it like they know what they're talking about.
 
If anyone is not happy living in this country...And you are not proud of this country until your husband gets elected President then I have no idea what to tell you.Maybe France or Italy or Greece is more to your liking.I will stay here and do my best to earn a living and vote in elections and try to help this country.
 
The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

I've more than quadrupled my wealth in the last 15 years. Even after getting my ass handed to me when real estate tanked. I guess by your definition, I'm not an "ordinary American".

I served in the military, my children didn't. Just as my mother didn't want me to join the service, I didn't want my children to join. I didn't listen to my mother, my children listened to me.
 
I've lived more years of my life in poverty than I have done so in "wealth'.

Yet my opinion has never changed regarding the wealthy and powerful. And that opinion has always been- and will always remain... who gives a fuck.

Yet, now that I've attained sufficient income and have accumulated the assets to assure a relatively comfortable life - people tell me "wow you must be rich".

So I say to them- I have a decent wife and four healthy kids... and that makes me the wealthiest motherfucker on earth.

Two tennets by which I live: "A friend's good fortune is a blessing" and "Every day is a journey- and the journey itself is home". Google that shit.

I'm sick and tired of bitching moaning hapless sad-sack have nots who covet and desire the fortunes of others.

Happiness is a choice.
 
That is about the most feeble thing I've ever heard. Tell it to the 46,000,000 which are at or below the poverty level. This is the only industrialized country in the world where over 500 companies make money off of sick people and we still rate 37th in the world in general health. According to your analysis blame it on those who happen to get sick.

What a ridiculous comment. I'm talking about the nature of our economic and business practices in our culture. I never said anything about people getting sick. And even if I had, your claim doesn't even make any sense.

I believe the word you are looking for is Capitalism. America's Capitalist Manifesto can be reduced to "what's in it for me?"; "how big is my cut?", and "as long as I get mine who gives a shit about the rest".
 
That is about the most feeble thing I've ever heard. Tell it to the 46,000,000 which are at or below the poverty level. This is the only industrialized country in the world where over 500 companies make money off of sick people and we still rate 37th in the world in general health. According to your analysis blame it on those who happen to get sick.

What a ridiculous comment. I'm talking about the nature of our economic and business practices in our culture. I never said anything about people getting sick. And even if I had, your claim doesn't even make any sense.

I believe the word you are looking for is Capitalism. America's Capitalist Manifesto can be reduced to "what's in it for me?"; "how big is my cut?", and "as long as I get mine who gives a shit about the rest".

Exactly!

When we were paying for the second world war the top tax bracket for earners of more than $300,000 per year was 91%. The excess above 300K was taxed at 91%. Right now the guy who hires two dozen plumbers pays at a rate less than the plumbers after his accountants get through massaging all the loopholes. Tax rates for the wealthy are lower than they've been in 50 years.

I have a friend who relocated to the MS gulf coast in 1971. He started a construction business. His annual sales and contracts have run $5-$10 million a year since about 1980. He once told me that if his total tax bill...including all forms of taxation exceeded 20% he would fire an accountant and hire another one. That same year I made less than $100,000 and I paid at a rate higher than that. Another consideration is payroll taxes, gasoline taxes, fees, state income taxes, sales taxes etc. The rich slough it off like it was nothing but to the poor it's just more of an impact to their already reduced ability to make ends meet and educate their young. The wealthy and corporations have control and have no intention of letting it go.

George W. Bush assumed an annual budget which was generating billions of surplus and the entire debt was scheduled to pay down by next year:

In 2000 the congress passed a bill to keep surpluses off budget so they could be used to buy back part of our debt. Fiscal years 1998, 1999 and 2000 used the excess revenues to buy back about $400 billion of debt and the course was set to completely pay down the national debt by 2012.

From congressional record:

Latest Title: Debt Reduction Reconciliation Act of 2000
Sponsor: Rep Fletcher, Ernie [KY-6] (introduced 6/8/2000) Cosponsors (24)
Related Bills: H.R.4866
Latest Major Action: 6/22/2000 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 626.
House Reports: 106-673 Part 1SUMMARY AS OF:
6/20/2000--Passed House amended. (There are 2 other summaries) Debt Reduction Reconciliation Act of 2000 - Establishes the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account in the Treasury. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to use amounts in the Account to pay at maturity, or redeem or buy before maturity, any Government obligation held by the public and included in the public debt. Provides that any obligation which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts from the Account shall be canceled and retired and prohibits its reissuance.
Provides that if the Congressional Budget Office estimates an on-budget surplus for FY 2000 in a report submitted to the congressional budget committees pursuant to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that exceeds the amount of the surplus for such fiscal year set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget for FY 2001 (H. Con. Res. 290, 106th Congress), then an amount equal to that excess is appropriated into the Account for FY 2000. Prohibits such appropriation from being considered as direct spending for purposes of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
Reduces the public debt limit by the amount appropriated into the Account.
Bars Account receipts and disbursements from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of : (1) the Federal budget as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.
Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the Account.

From 2000:

Largest unified surplus as a share of the economy since 1948. The 2000 surplus is projected to be 2.4 percent of GDP - the largest surplus as a share of the economy ("GDP") since 1948.

The third consecutive year with a surplus&#8212;for the first time in over 50 years. The estimated surplus of at least $230 billion follows a surplus of $124 billion in FY 1999 and $69 billion in FY 1998. The last time America had three surpluses in a row was over fifty years ago in 1947-49. The FY2000 surplus marks the eighth consecutive year of fiscal improvement for the first time in American history.


A Republican controlled congress used reconciliation to block Democratic opposition and cut taxes in 2001 and again in 2003 and for the first time in our history added debt to Communist Chinese banks to fund the cuts. Bush started two wars, one totally unnecessary and in two terms doubled the national debt from $5.7 to more than $11 trillion dollars. The rich in this country take money for granted and most of them make most of it from investments and wouldn't know what real work is...that's why they don't give a damn about the plight of the poor.
 
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They let you live here?

The wealthy and powerful have quadrupled their wealth in the last 15 years while ordinary Americans either remained stagnant or lost ground. They know they've got it made. Their offspring will never go to a shithole desert 10,000 miles away and fight and die in some made up war which was totally unnecessary.

In Great Britain the wealthy and powerful and even royalty believe they owe it to the country which made them wealthy and powerful to enter the military and serve a reasonable time.

As we speak Prince Harry is preparing to become proficient as an Apache Helicopter pilot as did his brother and his father, the Prince of Wales. When Harry's training is complete he will return to Afghanistan.

Something must change in this country. It ain't working.

In Great Britain the Royal family have lived off the backs of everyone else for centuries, and they still do, they do owe the country something.

Cammmmmp doesn't have any idea about the British Royal Family. Prince Harry, as the son of the Heir to the throne has no option other than to join the Military. That is what they do. All of them... all must do their time in the Military. Kudos to Harry that he could have gotten out of serving in Afghanistan and chose to go.

William, as the future King, does not have that option open to him. But respect to him also because he chose not to just do his time, but to live and work with his colleagues. He didn't have to do that.

I have more respect for the British Royal family because of William and Harry than their previous generation.
 
Actually, the real problem we face with our economics is that we the people have accepted and endorsed the kinds of every day business practices that have lead to today's massive wealth inequality. Maybe people should have started pushing harder a while back ago. But for too long we've agreed to work for comparatively lower wages so that our higher ups could make more money. We agreed to pay comparatively higher prices for goods and services that also helped fuel the mentalities that now exist.

If the public had been less willing to pay 1000% markups, more willing to go without various luxuries in the interest of promoting a business approach with which they were more inclined to agree on an ethical level, more willing to be educated and knowledgeable when making purchasing decisions, more willing to do their part as individuals to insist on better wages for their lower paying jobs, more willing to be more ethical when demanding higher wages for already higher paying jobs.....then we would not be where were are today.

In short, our economic problems are entirely cultural. Every American bears the blame, not a select few of the most wealthy or most poor.

Yes we have been well programmed to support issues that are against our best interests.
 
What a ridiculous comment. I'm talking about the nature of our economic and business practices in our culture. I never said anything about people getting sick. And even if I had, your claim doesn't even make any sense.

I believe the word you are looking for is Capitalism. America's Capitalist Manifesto can be reduced to "what's in it for me?"; "how big is my cut?", and "as long as I get mine who gives a shit about the rest".

Exactly!

When we were paying for the second world war the top tax bracket for earners of more than $300,000 per year was 91%. The excess above 300K was taxed at 91%. Right now the guy who hires two dozen plumbers pays at a rate less than the plumbers after his accountants get through massaging all the loopholes. Tax rates for the wealthy are lower than they've been in 50 years.

I have a friend who relocated to the MS gulf coast in 1971. He started a construction business. His annual sales and contracts have run $5-$10 million a year since about 1980. He once told me that if his total tax bill...including all forms of taxation exceeded 20% he would fire an accountant and hire another one. That same year I made less than $100,000 and I paid at a rate higher than that. Another consideration is payroll taxes, gasoline taxes, fees, state income taxes, sales taxes etc. The rich slough it off like it was nothing but to the poor it's just more of an impact to their already reduced ability to make ends meet and educate their young. The wealthy and corporations have control and have no intention of letting it go.

George W. Bush assumed an annual budget which was generating billions of surplus and the entire debt was scheduled to pay down by next year:

In 2000 the congress passed a bill to keep surpluses off budget so they could be used to buy back part of our debt. Fiscal years 1998, 1999 and 2000 used the excess revenues to buy back about $400 billion of debt and the course was set to completely pay down the national debt by 2012.

From congressional record:

Latest Title: Debt Reduction Reconciliation Act of 2000
Sponsor: Rep Fletcher, Ernie [KY-6] (introduced 6/8/2000) Cosponsors (24)
Related Bills: H.R.4866
Latest Major Action: 6/22/2000 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 626.
House Reports: 106-673 Part 1SUMMARY AS OF:
6/20/2000--Passed House amended. (There are 2 other summaries) Debt Reduction Reconciliation Act of 2000 - Establishes the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account in the Treasury. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to use amounts in the Account to pay at maturity, or redeem or buy before maturity, any Government obligation held by the public and included in the public debt. Provides that any obligation which is paid, redeemed, or bought with amounts from the Account shall be canceled and retired and prohibits its reissuance.
Provides that if the Congressional Budget Office estimates an on-budget surplus for FY 2000 in a report submitted to the congressional budget committees pursuant to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that exceeds the amount of the surplus for such fiscal year set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget for FY 2001 (H. Con. Res. 290, 106th Congress), then an amount equal to that excess is appropriated into the Account for FY 2000. Prohibits such appropriation from being considered as direct spending for purposes of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
Reduces the public debt limit by the amount appropriated into the Account.
Bars Account receipts and disbursements from being counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of : (1) the Federal budget as submitted by the President; (2) the congressional budget; or (3) the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.
Requires the Secretary to report to specified congressional committees on the Account.

From 2000:

Largest unified surplus as a share of the economy since 1948. The 2000 surplus is projected to be 2.4 percent of GDP - the largest surplus as a share of the economy ("GDP") since 1948.

The third consecutive year with a surplus—for the first time in over 50 years. The estimated surplus of at least $230 billion follows a surplus of $124 billion in FY 1999 and $69 billion in FY 1998. The last time America had three surpluses in a row was over fifty years ago in 1947-49. The FY2000 surplus marks the eighth consecutive year of fiscal improvement for the first time in American history.


A Republican controlled congress used reconciliation to block Democratic opposition and cut taxes in 2001 and again in 2003 and for the first time in our history added debt to Communist Chinese banks to fund the cuts. Bush started two wars, one totally unnecessary and in two terms doubled the national debt from $5.7 to more than $11 trillion dollars. The rich in this country take money for granted and most of them make most of it from investments and wouldn't know what real work is...that's why they don't give a damn about the plight of the poor.

A great deal of BS in that rant.

It is easy to see your confusion.
 

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