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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.
Scratch a leftist, find a fascist.People who earn less than $250,000 a year and vote for the Republican party on a national level should be in mental institutions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Claim? It's the truth. Big companies used to share profits with the government and their employees. Since the late 1990's they've been taking away pensions, outsourcing 25 year employees to companies which offer no benefits, increasing the number of work hours and automating processes and laying off.
In the late 40's and 50's a corporate executive earned about 5-10 times what a carpenter earned. By the 70's that factor had increased to about 50 times as much. Guess what we know about last year...2010. Yes sport's fans an average CEO in this country made about 550 times what an ordinary American worker earned. They also load up the boards of directors with a bunch who will agree to anything and fix it so that if the company fails they'll still make out like a bandit.
It ain't working.
You wouldn't know 'truth' if it introduced itself with a fucking business card.
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.
Prove that one goddam part of it is BS.
The confused in this country are the bible thumpers who believe some invisible man in the sky is directing their lives. People who earn less than $250,000 a year and vote for the Republican party on a national level should be in mental institutions.
By the way...I've gottcher rant a schwangin
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".
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".
Spoken like a born employee (or welfare drone).
Anyone who's actually worked his ass off and made something of himself can tell you that capitalism is defined by, "What do people want that I can provide at a profit to me?" And why the hell SHOULDN'T they make a profit? If they don't, they won't be able to provide what people want any more. Duhhh.
Class Warfare only leads to hateful division. Many Americans serve in our voluntary Military and they're from all walks of life. Some are very educated and some are not. Some are wealthy and some are not.
Class Warfare only leads to hateful division. Many Americans serve in our voluntary Military and they're from all walks of life. Some are very educated and some are not. Some are wealthy and some are not.
I don't think you have seen our military. Either that, or you're trying to use exceptional cases to make a case of allegedly (and factually untrue) common diversity.
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.
What a sorry justification for envy and covetousness! I am one of those people you hate for "having too much". That was not always the case. I grew up on the farm and learned the value of honest hard work. I joined the army after high school, served two years, then went to college. When Vietnam cranked up, my obligation was over. I could have stayed home; instead I accepted a commission, and led an infantry unit in Vietnam. For that, I and my fellow vets were demonized by the Left; cursed and spat on. I battled that and PTSD, but instead of sitting there with my hand out and bitching, and whining, I went to work; I used the leadership and the discipline I had learned to succeed, and to save and invest, and yes, I made money. Today, I am retired and well-off; no one gave it to me, and I didn't steal it from others. I EARNED IT! That is what real leaders do; they work, and lead, while others just bitch and complain about how "unfair" it all is!
Today, the whining Left still hates me. In their eyes, how dare I be successful! The same party that once damned and despised me for serving, now wants to demonize me and those like me for letting others do their fighting and bleeding for them. What arrant hogwash! Your post, is yet another transparent attempt to perpetuate that same falsehood-it is an insult, and not just a lie, but a damned lie! Well, I have come to expect no better, from those who waved a VC flag in my face, and their spiritual and ideological progeny. Speaking of service, how many of you whiners on the Left ever served your country, much less fought for her? Speak up; I can't hear you!
Your hippie progenitors wished me nothing but ill; they wanted me consigned to the gutter; now here you are angry because that didn't happen, and i'm one of the hated "one percent". I paid my installment of the bill for YOUR freedom, in full, and if you cannot or will not use that freedom and opportunity to support yourselves and your friends, without trying to get government to steal it for you, you get ZERO sympathy from me, you covetous pack of liars, ingrates and hypocrites! I no longer care what you eat, or even IF you eat! I'll be generous though; here's your handout: a can of greasy cold spam of indeterminate age, some soggy crackers, and a pack of coffee that tastes like turpentine, mixed with rainwater, with a side of paddy mud, and some slimy paddy water to wash it down with. Dig in; if it was good enough for me, it is damn well good enough for your little band of "dispossessed" spoiled brats and losers!
Class Warfare only leads to hateful division. Many Americans serve in our voluntary Military and they're from all walks of life. Some are very educated and some are not. Some are wealthy and some are not.
I don't think you have seen our military. Either that, or you're trying to use exceptional cases to make a case of allegedly (and factually untrue) common diversity.
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.
Prove that one goddam part of it is BS.
The confused in this country are the bible thumpers who believe some invisible man in the sky is directing their lives. People who earn less than $250,000 a year and vote for the Republican party on a national level should be in mental institutions.
By the way...I've gottcher rant a schwangin
Class Warfare only leads to hateful division. Many Americans serve in our voluntary Military and they're from all walks of life. Some are very educated and some are not. Some are wealthy and some are not.
I don't think you have seen our military. Either that, or you're trying to use exceptional cases to make a case of allegedly (and factually untrue) common diversity.
I don't think YOU'VE seen our military, or didn't think about it if you did. They DO contain people from all walks of life. Are there more lower-class than upper-class? Yes, but that's because the lower classes make up a larger proportion of our population in general. Duuuhh. There are also more white people than black people, for the same reason.
The DoD, with the help of the US Census Bureau, tracks what they call "representativeness" in order to aid recruiting efforts. As such, they have a very clear idea of the demographics of our military.
About 1/4 of military personnel are racial minorities, making 3/4 of them white. About 18% are black, as opposed to approximately 12% of the total population.
93% have either a high school diploma or GED and above, which is definitely NOT the case with non-military in the same age groups.
The average age of active-duty military is 28, with the majority actually falling between 22-30, rather than the picture many like to present of a bunch of kids just out of high school. In fact, in all branches except the Marines, the 18-21 group is outnumbered by the 31-40 group.
Only 11% of the military comes from the lowest quintile of income. Conversely, 25% come from the wealthiest quintile.
"A chalk outline is being drawn around common sense in this country, and most Americans can't even identify the victim" - Dennis Miller
You Know What's Wrong Around This Place?
I don't think YOU'VE seen our military, or didn't think about it if you did. They DO contain people from all walks of life. Are there more lower-class than upper-class? Yes, but that's because the lower classes make up a larger proportion of our population in general. Duuuhh. There are also more white people than black people, for the same reason.
The DoD, with the help of the US Census Bureau, tracks what they call "representativeness" in order to aid recruiting efforts. As such, they have a very clear idea of the demographics of our military.
About 1/4 of military personnel are racial minorities, making 3/4 of them white. About 18% are black, as opposed to approximately 12% of the total population.
93% have either a high school diploma or GED and above, which is definitely NOT the case with non-military in the same age groups.
The average age of active-duty military is 28, with the majority actually falling between 22-30, rather than the picture many like to present of a bunch of kids just out of high school. In fact, in all branches except the Marines, the 18-21 group is outnumbered by the 31-40 group.
Only 11% of the military comes from the lowest quintile of income. Conversely, 25% come from the wealthiest quintile.
