Bush the apprentice

[bshl 0]

Clicky

Blue skies and happy landings!

[pajarito 0]

That's some nice fictitious, baseless, inflammatory, bullshit.

[Kennedy 0]

Remember, to a liberal, if a lie gets told often enough, it becomes truth.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[pajarito 0]

Liberal policy: Cater to the uneducated and impressionable masses. Hell, lying is almost expected within their ranks. It looks good on their resume.

[billvon 3,111]

I think it's cute how you right wingers congratulate yourselves on the latest bit of right wing slamming.

[pajarito 0]

Nice try on a hit Billvon but do you really think that's just a "right wing" thing?

[kaerock 1]

Wouldn't it be nice if it were that easy?
-Rory

You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

[billvon 3,111]

>but do you really think that's just a "right wing" thing?

Not at all! It's cute when the left wingers do it too. I see that on some political boards although I haven't seen it as much here.

[Kennedy 0]

You want some billionaire to have the power to "fire" an elected official?

I don't.

However, they might be gaining that power, thanks to McCain-Feingold. Do a search on "527"s. Can you say billionaires buying an election?

.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[benny 0]

Quote

Remember, to a liberal, if a lie gets told often enough, it becomes truth.

Like, if we just keep giving tax breaks to the ultra-rich, it will trickle down, right?

Never go to a DZ strip show.

[pajarito 0]

You just, almost verbatum, made his point. Parrot: "polly want a cracker".....AWWK!!!"

[benny 0]

Hmm, lets see, we meandered through the eighties under this lie and then in 1993 Clinton, under the advisement of Greenspan, decided that low marginal rates for the ultra-rich were not the bst priority so he raised taxes and we spent the next 7 years in a boom where everybody got richer... Now, we bring GWB in a they tell us the lie again... "Just give this money back to these rich people. They'll go spending crazy and hire you poor schmucks... trust us, we want what's good for you." Umm, so, jobless recovery, I think last week's initial unemployment claims were record setting. So, again, how did I prove his point?

Never go to a DZ strip show.

[bshl 0]

Whew! Considering the fact that I like political humor and thought the clip was amusing if you ignore the recruiting part, I certainly didn't expect all this! Yowza!

Blue skies and happy landings!

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

You want some billionaire to have the power to "fire" an elected official?

I don't.

However, they might be gaining that power, thanks to McCain-Feingold. Do a search on "527"s. Can you say billionaires buying an election?.

Or search on "George Soros"...

[pajarito 0]

With a much improved and improving economy, your argument won't hold up for you or Mr. Kerry.
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/april/0405_onemillion_jobs_created.shtml

Bush must have done something right to stimulate the economy. That's why, he's got to find something else to complain about. Like his anti-American stance on the war. He's at least consistent on that point, however. That's a plus. He was a war protester back then and he's still one now. Can't say that for much else that he claims to stand for. Where he stands depends soley on who he's bullshitting to at the time.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

I think last week's initial unemployment claims were record setting.

Bzzzt! Incorrect.

From the Dept. of Labor: Initial Unemployment Claims, 2004

[pajarito 0]

I can't open that one:
Subject: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Data - Report r539cy

Warning: Prepare fails (E [SQLSTATE=42 000 SQLCODE=-201]) in /web/htdocs/unemploy/wkclaims/report.asp on line 42

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Quote

Remember, to a liberal, if a lie gets told often enough, it becomes truth.

Like, if we just keep giving tax breaks to the ultra-rich, it will trickle down, right?

I'm not ultra-rich, made under $100K the last coule years and I got a tax cut. Your point is moot.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[billvon 3,111]

>I'm not ultra-rich, made under $100K the last coule years and I got
>a tax cut. Your point is moot.

If you're making $95K a year you are making more than double what the average american makes. Indeed, if you make just under $100K you are making more than 86% of the country, based on 2001 census numbers. Not ultra-rich, perhaps, but well above middle class. Your tax cut would argue towards a bias of tax cuts for the rich.

[pajarito 0]

It's not their money. It's mine. My wife & I worked our asses off to get to where we are (<$200,000). We lived below the poverty level putting ourselves through school (a lot of freakin school). I pay my share of taxes (especially now). I think I deserve a tax cut as well as anybody else.

[billvon 3,111]

>It's not their money. It's mine.

It belongs to you and not the soldiers giving their lives to protect you? It belongs to you and not the air traffic controller that keeps your 747 from colliding with anything? It belongs to you and not to the guy who installed the aqueducts that allow US cities to exist?

Not the case. You use those services; you will pay for them.

>My wife & I worked our asses off to get to where we are (<$200,000).

That's great! Now you get to support the country that helped you get there.

>I think I deserve a tax cut as well as anybody else.

Everyone pays to keep the government running. Want to trim your taxes? Reduce the size of government first, and be very explicit about what services you no longer want. (Water? ATC? Police? Schools?) Demanding a tax cut without cutting the size of the government is like getting a new credit card so you can charge your way out of debt.

[Gawain 0]

Quote

>I'm not ultra-rich, made under $100K the last coule years and I got
>a tax cut. Your point is moot.

If you're making $95K a year you are making more than double what the average american makes. Indeed, if you make just under $100K you are making more than 86% of the country, based on 2001 census numbers. Not ultra-rich, perhaps, but well above middle class. Your tax cut would argue towards a bias of tax cuts for the rich.

The point is still moot. Everyone received a cut in taxes. Even if only 1%, then my 1% is a larger sum than the mail clerk. It's a flat rate, it's fair. The 1% of Kobe Bryant in Newport Beach would be more than my 1%. I'm not going to get a job making a-bazillion $$ per year, and he's not going to play for a pay cut to my paltry salary (which right now is $0).

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[pajarito 0]

Quote

It belongs to you and not the soldiers giving their lives to protect you? It belongs to you and not the air traffic controller that keeps your 747 from colliding with anything? It belongs to you and not to the guy who installed the aqueducts that allow US cities to exist?

I served 17 years, including in 3 different combat zones, in the US Army. Done my part there too.

Quote

Not the case. You use those services; you will pay for them.

Didn't say I wanted to refuse to pay taxes. Not the same thing.

Quote

That's great! Now you get to support the country that helped you get there.

I said we worked our asses off for a very long time to get to where we are (like many other Americans). We didn't get much help. Not that I wouldn't have liked some. We're still paying huge amounts for it.

Quote

Everyone pays to keep the government running. Want to trim your taxes? Reduce the size of government first, and be very explicit about what services you no longer want. (Water? ATC? Police? Schools?) Demanding a tax cut without cutting the size of the government is like getting a new credit card so you can charge your way out of debt.

Again, I didn't say I wanted to refuse to pay taxes. That's not the point. If they're handing out tax cuts, My wife & I deserve one just as much as anyone else.

[billvon 3,111]

>Everyone received a cut in taxes. Even if only 1%, then my 1% is a
> larger sum than the mail clerk. It's a flat rate, it's fair. The 1% of
> Kobe Bryant in Newport Beach would be more than my 1%. I'm not
> going to get a job making a-bazillion $$ per year, and he's not
> going to play for a pay cut to my paltry salary (which right now is $0).

The rich received more of a tax cut (monetarily speaking) than the poor. Whether or not that is "fair" is a subjective question.

You have a lot of options for income tax computation:

-Per amount used. In some ways this is the most "fair." Those who use the most services get taxed the most. Since the poor often make heavy use of government assistance programs, they would get taxed the most heavily. This is impractical since we'd have to spend trillions on all the prisons we'd need to throw the poor into when they couldn't pay their taxes.

-Flat amount. Another "fair" way. Everyone pays the same amount; would be around $12k a year. Again the problem with the prisons though.

-Flat rate. Tax everyone 25% (or pick a number based on budget.) This is also "fair" because everyone pays a percentage of their income, and less people end up in prison.

-Progressive. Tax everyone on a sliding scale based on their income. The more inflection the curve has, the more "fair" it becomes if you define fair as taxing the people who can afford to pay more.

Right now we are between a flat rate and a progressive system. If I had my way we'd go to a pure progressive system with three numbers you plugged in - base, slope and inflection. Base is at the poverty line. If slope is zero we'd have a flat rate. If inflection is zero but slope is positive we'd have a pure progressive; if inflection was positive we'd have a system that taxed the rich more heavily. A negative inflection would put more burden on the middle class. Then rather than dicker over who gets what tax cut you just dicker over three numbers.

Of course, that involves math.

[billvon 3,111]

>Again, I didn't say I wanted to refuse to pay taxes. That's not the
> point. If they're handing out tax cuts, My wife & I deserve one just
> as much as anyone else.

No problem there, but "handing out tax cuts" is like writing checks when you have no money in your account. The key there is that you have to have money in the account _first._ Similarly, you have to reduce spending _first_ before you can have tax cuts. Sometimes that means cutting the military, or the schools, or ATC, or the police. That has to be decided before they "hand out" tax cuts to the deserving people (and everyone's deserving - just ask them.)