DAM -- Did you hear Thom's rant on Chris Christie as being the re-incarnation of Reagan?

wow I agree with Alice on something .I hate tax cheats

I think there should be a flat tax. everyone pays the same percentage. "fair share" as they say.

I had a Italian supplier of ours that was in town this week and I asked how much he payed for health care and he answered 9% of the gross wage. Everyone pays 9%. If you make $100,000 you pay $9,000 if you make $10,000 you pay $900.00. Keep in mind they also pay about 35% tax on average up to a max of 50%. This is all just payroll taxes.

So if you make $20,000 its less 9% ($1,800) = $18,200 - 25% = $13,200. Again just payroll tax.

At $45,000 less 9% ($4,050) = $40,950 - 35% = $26,617.00

$100,000 less 9% ($9,000) $91,000 - 45% = $50,050.00

Wealth distrubution at its finest

I was wondering is this about what it costs in America now. Before the ACA for the average working person at those numbers?

This is the chart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

Aliceinwonderland ~ Yes! I've heard the Elizabeth Warren bell rung all over the square. Randi Rhodes speculated on a race between Warren and Chris Christie. Now that would be fantastic. Even if Warren lost we would still stand to have a part human in the White House. However, I seriously doubt she would lose. That vote would be a no brainer.

Global, all I see is an incomprehensible, jumbled mess of numbers that say nothing to me. The "information" you provided does not match what I've heard from Thom Hartmann, or gotten from other trusted sources. I can't believe we rank higher than (for example) Germany or Sweden. In what way? At any rate, I'm underwhelmed. - AIW

There simply is no question and very little time to put this so called “Conservatism” in the rear view mirror, just as we did when similar circumstances confronted us some 84 years ago, when intelligent certainty occurred on Saturday March 4th 1933 with the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the second Bill of Rights he advocated in his address to Congress in 1944;

“We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

-The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;

-The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

-The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return, which will give him and his family a decent living;

-The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

-The right of every family to a decent home;

-The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

-The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

-The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.”

I guess we must have forgotten FDR’s words, or we weren’t listening very well, and sadly, still may not be.

It's time for all retail workers to protest slave wages. During the Christmas holidays most retail workers work like dogs....and most do so without a bonus. They work twice as hard but do not reap "anything" from it. The only way it will change is through an organized movement. Who is going to organize such a movement? The retail workers are too busy working, and no one else cares anything about them.

Sadly we are painfully aware of the problem. Members of the gainfully employed and middle management support the right becuase they feel they will be rewarded with well being. What their not cognizant of is that they are the next course of the menu. When push comes to shove the elite will cash in the upper middle class right wingers with no remorse. And so on and so on. It is a carniverous

game of survival of the wealthiest. I believe this is what boom and bust economy net result is. It requires a great deal of financial resource to control governments and livestock (people) As citizens

Americans need to strive for responsible sustainable eceonomic stability and opportunity. It means we must control what we purchase, and how we pay for what we purchase, and we must be very selective where and from whom we purchase. When you feed the beast you kill opportunity for the average americans. Corporations are not in the business of spending money on wages and benefits.

Consequently I believe we as citizens have the power if we could realize what cooperation and patriotic commitent can achieve . Once you realize greedy geezer imperialist capitalism is a job killer instead of a job creator we are in a position to fight back. Like any fight it will require self denial and guts to win.

however it will be a temporary victory at best. Vigilant resistance and political involvement will be necessary. When I worked inside a corporation it occured to me that I was selling my liberty to an independent government that was not a democracy and now these non democratic dictatorships enjoy citizens privilege.

Government is too big if it serves the comnmon people but not if it serves the elites. Government serving the common people would hamper their freedom. How? Because they wouldn't be enslaved by business elites with big government to protect them from abuse?

Government makes the common person MORE free. Like they told you in school, government, in a democracy, makes us ALL free - not just some of us. What democratic government hampers is not freedom but privilege. They speak in euphamism. They (right wing, fraudulent "libertarians" - some redundancy there) defend not freedom but privilege.

priv·i·lege (prv-lj, prvlj)n.

1. a. A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. See Synonyms at right.b. Such an advantage, immunity, or right held as a prerogative of status or rank, and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others. 2. The principle of granting and maintaining a special right or immunity. They believe not in democracy but economic royalism or, more aptly, feudalism, where an aristocracy is "free" to abuse the serfdom and peasantry.

Right on, Marc! Nobody can convince me these blogs are simply platforms for whining, or a social outlet for lonely, idle people with nothing better to do, or simply a waste of time. I've learned a lot from Thom, as well as from you and others on this blog. We help each other keep informed and up to snuff on the most important issues (like the TPP!).

It freaks me out how aggressively the plutocrats are pushing the TPP. I'm sending my letter to Obama this week without fail. Maybe I should modify it to send my congressional representatives as well. This is such a huge threat to our wellbeing and happiness, let alone our survival! I have nothing but contempt for politicians who endorse it; I think of them as snake oil salesmen, peddling toxic snake oil. It's getting harder & harder for me not to think of most politicians as "The Enemy"; know what I mean? It horrifies me that President Obama would give the TPP any consideration. I really feel betrayed by Obama.

Palindromedary said Elizabeth Warren might run for prez in 2016. That would be awesome. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat, with more enthusiasm & confidence than I ever had for Obama. - Aliceinwonderland

Dumb statement even for you Kend. That the U.S. standard of living is dropping like a stone is not controversial or controvertable. There are abundant numbers to back it up and none to contradict it.

We just wanna be Canadian, Kend ... or, better yet, German.