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historywriter ~ I couldn't agree more with that. However, I have to think that Mitt's big downfall was his honesty. Coming out and saying, "I don't care about poor people...," or "We need to leave the banks alone and let them foreclose on people." Mitt had the one advantage of not beating around the bush, and telling us bedtime stories about how we would all live happily ever after on candy mountain. Sometimes I can't help but wonder what would be better--or worse--a lying gifted orator, or an honest scoundrel. The court is still out on that one. I suppose I should just relax and see what happens. After all, either I will deeply regret my criticism of The Obama Administration or I will deeply regret voting for the man. Either way, deep regret is on the horizon so I might as well say my peace while the sun shines.
Bravo for Thom and our Country. Finally, a story that points our Nation in the right direction. Now we can raise some much needed tax revenue and encourage domestic investment that could generate domestic revenue. Hopefully, trade reform is just around the corner. If so, we might just be receiving the treatment that will stop the fatal hemorrhaging of our nation's lifeblood. I'll definitely drink to that.
Cheers!
Rather than try to get rid of each tax haven one at a time Congress can end this with a comprehensive bill that prohibits Americans and American Corporations and Corporations the do business here to keep their income here and taxable. If they close the Caymans they will just move somewhere else and the cat and mouse game begins all over. There are plenty of small countries that would gladly take the money.
Anyone who furthers the cause of peace deserves the Nobel Prize not prison.
But Thom, the Republicans said I could get rich too if I work hard and go shopping at the mall.! I'm going to want to stash my millions somewhere too! I like the Caribbean- can't they make an exception?
threw us all a bone huh? not much meat on it though. tell ya what? i'll believe it when i see it. say, hmm when i pull the IRS tax revenues report say in 2015-16? if i see not just a sizable increase but a monster increase in revenues then i will be convinced. but until then? likely just more bullshit to appease us working stiffs laying the golden egz they stash in the caymens! funny how so much wealth is generated on the back of so many and how very little has trickled down. oh, which brings me to AMerican exceptionalism and what that clown said the other day about those who work the hardest "will" reep the rewards? i wanted to call into the radio show and say' uh, sorry pal it's more like those who exploit those working the hardest are the ones who reep the wealth!" I'm still waiting Mr! been working hard all my life trying to rise above....hm, funny, America...
Since this law can only be used against foreign banks and financial institutions that have connections to the U.S. financial system, the wealthy will just move their money to places that have no connections to the U.S. financial system. And what about converting their wealth to other forms such as gold, or diamonds, or platinum, or other precious metals or gems? That would be harder for the U.S. government to track, especially if blackmarkets are involved. All this law will do is drive the wealthy deeper underground and into more creative methods of hiding their wealth.
Neither answer allowed is correct or justifiable.
I think of Mitt Romney frequently. As much as I deplore much of what is going on today, I think how godawful it would be under Mitt.
About damn time - and I can only HOPE that Mitt is caught up in this. But, somehow that weasel will get out of this somehow - mark my words. The biggest abusers will not suffer - just the lower level thiefs who have hidden their funds will pay the price.
The unappreciated cancer in our economic system is the current disconnect between money and productivity. When the rich can make money on paper transactions and the rest of us make less and less on actual wealth production, the monetary system WILL collapse. It's as though carving Adam Smith's proverbial ax handle no longer produces wealth but selling someone a picture of the handle reaps a great deal of cash.
Odd, when I think of Mitt Romney I wonder what the response would have been if he was elected President and unilateraly decided to postpone some of the Obamacare imlpementation without the advise and consent of Congress.....
chuckle8 ~ I agree that debt and investment can be wonderful things--within reason. One major factor is that one has to have some source of income that can pay off the debt. If not separate income than at least a profitable enough investment to generate the revenue to cover the debt. When income is sacrificed and debt incurred merely to replace the income thus further increasing debt all you are doing is investing somebody elses money for them. They own the investment--not you--and when they decide to stop subsidising your income they sell the investment off to pay your debt. In the end you lose and have nothing except a tarnished reputation, no money, and no credit. There is nothing good about the current strategy. It will not work. Without raising revenue any plan that increases only debt is folly. We have words for people who try to live on perpetually borrowing money. We call them bums and freeloaders. We can't cut our way to prosperity. We can't borrow our way to prosperity. And certainly we can't borrow our way out of debt. We have to restore our revenue generating system or we are finished as a country.
Sorry to here of your loss Thom.
Keep up the great work, I,am sure your efforts for humanity will one day be recognised .I know they are now and people are waking up ! The time of the single Master is over only collectively can we change our planet so life becomes prime value and in doing this the divine becomes realised.
My thoughts are with you keep writing those amazing books .
Stephen mills
Edinburgh ,Scotland
DanneMarc -- The debt can be much bigger than it is now and recover. The cherries that were not picked by Reinhart and Rogoff show that countries with twice our debt did very well over the long run. Remember even the IMF said austerity does not work, but only after they tried it over and over. The thing that nobody is discussing is the investment factor. I have a story to tell about Dr. Chuck (me) and Dr. Jerry which shows that debt is a wonderful thing.
Thom pretty much nailed this one, as usual! I'm gonna just spend some quiet time with each and every one of my different monotheistic devotions in order to know for certain that I've offered my deepest and most sincere gratitude to each divine influence which may have helped us mere mortals manifest this great moment for us all to bask in! And if this news flash happens to be bad news for you, then I'd just suggest you go bask in one of your yachts' jaccuzis and thank the heavens for any one of your millions of other blessings.
That may be the way the law works, but the laws in this country are not always constitutional and all laws should take our constitutional rights in mind when they are created. Same with our justice system. The constitution says equal rights for all, yet that is glaringly not the case these days when the criminals who have money walk free and are allowed to continue to rape and pillage our system and it's people without consequences. Many of our laws today are designed to protect the wealthy and the corporations while punishing the victims of those same people. Somehow I don't find this very endearing or American. I am loathe to say that this country is no longer the home of the free by any stretch of the imagination.
RichardSRussell ~ Bravo! You hit the nail on the head. Deficit and Debt are not the same thing; and, that is what the media wants us to think. Add to that the fact that our debt has become so extreme that our deficit is created largely by paying the interest alone on the debt. Doing that alone will never pay off the debt. Also, having any deficit is a condition where the debt will never be paid. You will always have to incur more debt just to pay off the deficit. There are two many greedy hands in the cookie jar who don't care about anything other than themselves. (Debt Originating Deadbeats--aka The DOD) We need to do to our Military what Godzilla did to Bambi. We need to take taxation and regulation back to the Theodore Roosevelt era. We need to shut the door permanently on free trade. Selfishness, irresponsibility, and greed got us into this mess. We need to get a grip on the special private for profit interests in this country and prioritize our common economic national interests in the name of National Security. Time's a wasting people, and the debt keeps growing. Politicians who stand in our way need to be treated like the National criminals and enemys of our country that they are. Patting them on the back for doing nothing more than representing a particular Political Party does more harm than the inaction of the politician. Reducing the deficit means nothing more than running up the debt at a slightly lower rate. Like I said before, if you Doctor says he slowed the bleeding but can't stop it, that means you are still going to die--it's just going to take a little longer. We need to start paying down the debt and the interest without a deficit or we are going to be doomed to defaulting. Forever debt = Forever Slavery. Defaulting on the Debt = Foreclosing on our Country. Serious business. Thanks for pointing that out!
Grateful Dead Lyrics ~ "Throwing Stones"
Songwriters: OWEN, MARK ANTHONY / MCDONALD, MILTON / DONALD, HOWARD PAUL / ORANGE, JASON THOMAS / BARLOW, GARYPicture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
Dizzy with eternity.
Paint it with a skin of sky, brush in some clouds and sea
Call it home for you and me.
A peaceful place or so it looks from space
A closer look reveals the human race.
Full of hope, full of grace, is the human face.
But afraid, we may our home to waste.
Theres a fear down here we cant forget hasnt got a name just yet
Always awake, always around singing ashes to ashes all fall down.
Now watch as the ball revolves and the nighttime calls
And again the hunt begins and again the bloodwind calls
By and by again, the morning sun will rise
But the darkness never goes from some mens eyes.
It strolls the sidewalks and it rolls the streets
Stalking turf, dividing up meat.
Nightmare spook, piece of heat, you and me, you and me.
Click, flashblade in ghetto night. rudies looking for a fight.
Rat cat alley roll them bones. need that cash to feed that jones
And the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down.
Commissars and pin-striped bosses role the dice
Any way they fall guess who gets to pay the price.
Money green or proletarian gray, selling guns instead of food today.
So the kids they dance, they shake their bones
While the politicians throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down.
Heartless powers try to tell us what to think
If the spirits sleeping, then the flesh is ink.
Historys page, it is thusly carved in stone
The futures here, we are it, we are on our own.
If the game is lost then were all the same
No one left to place or take the blame.
We will leave this place an empty stone
Or this shinning ball of blue we can call our home
So the kids they dance, they shake their bones
While the politicians are throwing stones
Singing ashes, ashes all fall down.
Shipping powders back and forth
Singing black goes south while white comes north
And the whole world full of petty wars
Singing I got mine and you got yours.
And the current fashions set the pace.
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
And the radical he rant and rage, singing someone got to turn the page
And the rich man in his summer home,
Singing just leave well enough alone
But his pants are down, his covers blown
And the politicians are throwing stones
So the kids they dance they shake their bones
Cause its all too clear were on our own
Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
Its dizzying, the possibilities. ashes, ashes all fall down.
David Abbot ~ You make good sense as always! Channel away!! After all, it is the very least we can expect you to do in this circumstance.
As Jerry Falwell once said--That's 'Fall Well' friends (as in fallen angel)--"Let's kill them all in the name of the Lord and let God sort them out."
We give total credit to the Mark Twain Report for all of this info!! However, throwing anonymous water balloons at anyone is still encouraged.
The Twain Report
All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive Today
14-2-2013
It has come to the attention of the Twain Report that the republicans got that post office-crippling bill into law by sneaking it in as a "rider" on other legislation. You know what a rider is, it's when, for instance, congress is considering very important legislation, such as an extremely patriotic bill that would change the name "french fries," into "freedom fries," and of course a bill like that is so important that everyone in congress will vote for it. And of course such an important piece of legislation is so important that it has to be at least 968,000 pages long. Which means that only the lobbyists who wrote the bill ever read it, so when, five minutes before the bill comes up for a vote, some sneaky little republican adds a rider that says, "From now on, up is down, and everyone has to prove their patriotism by wearing a melted cheese sandwich on their head on alternate tuesdays," of course only the person who put the rider there, knows that it's there.
So, comes the day after the vote- which happens to be an alternate tuesday- and the congressional police are going around arresting everyone who isn't wearing a melted cheese sandwich on their heads. And that sneaky little republican says, "Hey, you voted for the bill, what are you complaining about?"
But the thing is, I know this one congressman (or is it a congresswoman? I'm not telling.) And just before congress votes on any legislation that the republicans want passed, he (or she) is going to insert a rider that cancels the republicans' bill. And he- or she- is going to start inserting riders that make it legal, for instance, to throw water balloons at republicans from the congressional gallery, as long as the water balloons are purchased from the congressional gift shop.
Is this sneaky? No more so than anything else that congress does. And more importantly, is it a great idea? Of course it is, I channeled it from Mark Twain himself!
I ask- in all fairness- that anyone who uses this material gives credit to the Twain Report. I would do the same if I used your material.
Deficit ≠ Debt
Let's put this in terms that normal people can understand. Let's say that, in 2012, you made $40,000 and spent $50,000. That's a $10,000 deficit. Then, in 2013, you got a raise and made $45,000 but spent at the same level as before, $50,000. You've cut your deficit in half — that is, your annual deficit. But you've increased your debt by 50%, from $10,000 to $15,000.
This illustrates the erroneous nature of your assertion that "No matter how you calculate it, the numbers show that the Republicans' ominous warnings about deficits are nothing more than fear mongering and excuses to slash social spending."
BTW, I agree that Republican alarmism is unwarranted, but you don't succeed in pointing that out with bad math or sloppy accounting.
DAnne, that is the best think you ever wrote. Bang on.
"Our deficit is shrinking...!?!!" ~ That's like your Doctor saying, "We can't stop the bleeding; but we slowed it down a bit. You'll live a little longer than we thought you would. Isn't that great news?"
Here the Republicans make a little more sense than Thom or the Democrats. Any deficit is very bad. No serious attempts to do something about it is very bad. Cutting the social safety net as a solution is like putting a Band aid on an chain saw wound. We need serious reform and less rhetoric. There is no need to cut social programs. Social programs had nothing to do with causing this problem. Two illegal unnecessary wars and bailouts to the banks caused it. Deregulation coupled with privitization caused it. Free trade and ridiculous tax cuts to the wealthy caused it. Rewarding and encouraging Corporations to outsource American Jobs caused it. Obscene raises in the pay of CEO's and executives combined with stagnant wages of the middle class caused it. Wall street criminals, their lobbyists and puppet politicians who changed law to make crime legal caused it. Tax loopholes and offshore tax havens for Corporations and ridiculously wealthy individuals caused it. A bought and paid for Corporate media propaganda machine caused it. An opulent and useless military, homeland security, spy industry, "intelligence" industry, and prison complex caused it. Corporate welfare caused it. A for profit health and medical industry caused it. And a bunch of bought an paid for Corporate political shills without a soul or conscience caused it. Now the Democratic rhetoric and nonsense spewed by Thom and the Corporate media try to do temporary damage control and slight of hand. Don't buy it. We need serious major reform. Nothing that is happening is good!!
Treating the symptoms and not the causes is what is creating this economic fiasco. Not pointing this out to the people is just as culpable in this problem as the perpetrators themselves. It's high time We the People stand up to this media circus and call it what it is--a part of the problem. Until people--that includes YOU THOM--who have a microphone stand up for the truth the bigger this hole is going to become. Are We the People ever going to recover; or , are we going to hemorrhage to death? You be the judge!
Sorry, I should have said Federal taxes. Am I wrong at 53%. During he election everyone was stating that number. When you look at all the retired people living off a Government pension, unemployed living off the Government, welfare, etc i don't think I am that far off.
Doesn't that massive amount of debt scare anyone down there? Here in Canada it is about $16,000 per person compared to $53,000 in the US. I am a old fart, I won't be the one paying it down, it's the 20 something's that will have to pay the piper.