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Rich of Jeff -- I thought I used your exact words. I obviously am missing your point. I guess I need some concrete examples. When you say democratic institutions, would you include moveon.org as an example? Would you say that labor unions are a democratic institution?
chuckle8, you've never addressed anything I've said or anything I've asked of you, and you're still practicing in the art of missing the point. I will admit to voting for Obama with guarded expectations in 2008, but by 2012, my vote for Obama was purely a vote of rejection of Romney. The Obama administration's record extends to 7 years now, and I'm happy your mastery of self-deception has given you a warm and fuzzy view of the Obama presidency; however, I have a much different opinion, but your equally masterful ability to assume what somebody else thinks and does makes it difficult to penetrate the delusion cocoon you've woven around your head.
I will not bother making an argument that Obama has been a Huge disappointment because you're obviously an Obama apologist.
Rich of Jeff ... It seems to me that getting people off their asses and voting is a lot more likely than getting people off their asses to form democratic institutions to put pressure on representative government. I thought voting was putting pressure on representative government.
The Obama budget should inspire voting because it shows what can happen if you vote for dems.
Anyone, who looks at what Obama did in the 72 days in which he and the dems had control of the government, should know they were voting for someone not against someone. If you are not aware of how much was accomplished here is my list from Thom and others:
1
Chrysler saved
2
GM Saved
3
AHCA passed (AKA Obamacare); (because of blue dogs like Max Baucus it was not a single player plan; to get Sen Baucus to sign it, Max's county got single payer.)
4
Middle class tax cut
5
Went from losing 750,000 per month to 30 straight months of job gains (in spite of Republican governors cutting 4.5 million jobs)
6
Education spending increased
7
Laws against hate crimes strengthened
8
CHIPS expanded (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
1
Chrysler Saved
9
Forced through Child Labor Laws
10
consumer protection agency formed
11
Credit card reform
12
Predatory lending to soldiers restricted
13
Troops paid for stop loss time
14
Torture stopped
15
VA spending increased
16
Women allowed to serve on subs
17
Equal pay for women
18
Nuclear arms reduction proposal
19
BP cleanup fund
20
EPA strengthened
21
FDA powers broadened
22
Healthcare for 9-11 responders funded (during Bush Term it was ignored)
23
DADT was repealed
24
Within 24 hours of his inauguration in 2009, he ordered that the financial statistics of the top 400 families should be treated like everyone else's; that is, they should not be a classified government document.
25
When the congress was adding Part D to Medicare (the prescription drug assist; I think it was in 2004) the democrats tried to pass an amendment to help fund it by a 1% income tax on incomes over 1 million.
26
In 2009-10 when Obama lost his filibuster proof senate, the senate had a record number of filibusters (380 or so); during LBJ's 6 year reign as senate majority leader there was one.
27
The bills that were filibustered would have helped our economy for both the long and short term. My favorites were the card check bill, the Disclose Act, stopping waivers for the Buy American Act of 1936 and the credits for bringing jobs back (no credits for tearing down factories to send jobs overseas.
28
Republicans supported the Reinhart-Rogoff Study used to push austerity throughout the world; The study was a total scam supported by Pete Peterson who wants all the social security money invested on wall street. It was easy to suck in democrats and the general public because too much debt being a bad thing makes intuitive sense.
chuckle8, Hmm. You must practice in the art-of-missing-the-point. I don't see where Obama's budget proposal, which Thom admits is dead on arrival, is going to inspire votes. Please explain how you come to this conclusion?
I don't believe I've written anything about people getting off their "asses and voting". I might be mistaken, but most of my rhetoric centers around people forming democratic institutions to put pressure on representative government. I do vote, but it has been a cynical practice of voting against instead of voting for a candidate.
I would flag as offensive but that doesn't quite fit. Flag as stupid is better.
Mark S -- Where is Ed Snowden or Anonymous when we need them? My request to them is to "get hacking".
Hepha -- How can you say Obama does not have testicles when looking at the results of the consumer protection act? I was worried he would get assassinated over that, in spite of the fact, it was kind of weak.
bobcox -- Only SCOTUS has the line item veto power. If you don't believe it, just ask them.
Penny R -- The straightforward solution is to vote democratic and pass card check.
SHFabian -- How in the world are you blaming dems for disability cuts? That is a totally a republican ploy to privatize social security. You must live in la-la land (AKA the other OEDC countries) where we have proportional representation.
oneworldpeace -- Greece was doing reasonably well before joining the Euro zone. No one paid taxes than either. I have been to Greece for vacations 9 times since 1995. I noticed in 2011, they were paying a lot more in taxes (VAT on every restaurant bill). They had to pay off those banksters that had screwed them over. So, while paying more taxes and cutting government services, the country is going down in flames.
Sorry! This is nothing more than a political BS play to legacy
Certainly not aimed at any kind of justice or postive result for his constituency
Obama just has no testicals
Eventhough he was voted in with overwhelming support
I guess he don't want to get assassinated like them who tried to wrest power from the banks and wealth owners
The past shows that those who confronted greed and power got killed
I wonder how and why?
kayaker -- When raygun cut the top tax rate something like 78% to 35%, they paid 2 or 3 times as much in taxes. This process tanked the US economy. We want those rich folks to invest in America. We need tax incentives to encourage them to do that. Another word for tax incentives is loopholes. There are so many bad loopholes it is hard to find good ones. Nancy Pelosi's attempted law to provide tax credits for keeping jobs in America was one such good loophole.
Wall St, like you, thought Obama was there shill. Funny thing happened. Ms Warren and Barry passed the weak consumer protection act, Wall St quit giving money (at least a whole lot less) to Obama in 2012.
Criminality, homelessness, domestic abuse, suicide, depression, bigotry, rascism, unemployment, underemployment, poverty in all form and manner including the most cruel forms, childhood and elderly....these are all by-products ubiquitous to the violent austerity imposed behind the scenes by the Fascists who control the Teapublican Party. The Oligarchs get the tax breaks, deregulation, free/slave trade, and we the vast majority end up the victims of a covert violent revolution that has been going on for over three decades.
The billionaires aren't burning us alive for the world to see, they're too sly for that.... but the end result is just as violent.... often a slower and more painful death for many. This is one-sided economic guerrilla warfare being facilitated by arbitrary power against a population of citizens who have no idea who the enemy is. The culprits hide behind Fox News lies and the Teapublican party.
Economic inequality as a result of massive concentration of wealth is violent!
We always cringe when we think about the violence associated with the French Revolution, but how curious the absence of thought regarding the initial violence that prompted the Revolution. Oligarchy, Aristocracy, Fascism, call it what you may, the violence associated with these forms of government is real. Violent conditions such as starvation, and widespread poverty, prompted French citizens in 1789 to finally stand up and and commit unspeakable acts of violence against unspeakable acts of violence already being inflicted upon them.
Watching children go hungry was the same horror in 1789 as it is now. Close to 50% of the children in our our unregulated capitalist country currently live in poverty or are members of low income families. One in five live in food insecure households. A brainwashed Teabagger will ask....why can't these kids lift themselves up by their bread bag covered shoes and get a job at Walmart?... thank you monoploy capitalism and Reagan trickle/keep us down! This economic violence .....in the richest country on the planet????
The Kochs are as numb to what they are doing as Louis and Marie were. Let's pray our inevitable revolution doesn't include the guillotine and can be achieved peacefully despite corpse media lies, and corpse ownership of voting machines.
Chicagotim -- I would be glad to tell you where you are wrong. You have not differentiated the expenditures between spending and investing. The stupid congress we have had since raygun is still getting a 60% return on their expenditures. Those results indicate they are doing a lot more investing than spending.
If that family ran up those credit card debts to help put their children through school, they also might get a return on that investment, and would not have to declare bankruptcy.
Rich of Jeff --Pointing out to the masses what could be done if they were get off their asses and vote democratic doesn't sound cynical at all. It sounds like the thing you were asking for the other day.
mathboy -- With our GDP skyrocketing in the last quarter and our deficit decreasing surely our national debt is decreasing.
As I see it the large game is to distract the American people from much more important issues, as well as to push the debate further to the conflict-ridden, fatalistic, and fearful "Right-hand" side of the political debate. Netanyahu has no reason to decline the invitation of Speaker Boehner since it gives him an unforeseen platform to sow more fear around "terrorism" and gain support for "defense" of Israel and her actions against these "terrorists".
The American people need to concentrate on the economy, the environment, and the record numbers of mass incarceration and the murders of the impoverished and people of color. Instead, we are presented with blatant, clownish racism, war mongering and "politics-as-usual" (all on steroids), to distract, waylay, and misdirect the debate.
If I read the question correctly, "no" is the answer. How else will the people with the most to gain from further bloody conflict and distraction from more pressing social survival issues (Boehner, Netanyahu, et al...) continue to muddy the waters?
If I read what I believe into the question, Netanyahu would decline the the invitation and Boehner would never have asked...
I don't think we need some 450 or so military bases overseas. I would close 90 % of these. I believe that military spending, if not necessary, is not-productive to the economy.
I believe that you can have as meany ways to balance a budget as you have CPS's. Simplify the budget by making Congressman's incomes dependent upon positive income flow into the treasury. If they don't have more income to the treasury from whatever source, they can't spend funds for meetings, salaries, etc. I believe that all resolutions for appropriations of funds to be expended should have means to provide those funds. I believe that some procedures, such as taxes to support Social Security, military salaries and Veteran's benefits and infrastructures should be index to the inflation rate so it doesn't have to be considered every two years for continuing activity. This which are "flow through", do not have to appear on the budget. These are things like the transportation trust fund, the Social Security system trust fund, etc. The President should have a "line item veto ability on all appropriations bills so that if Congress wishes to add more things, the entire bill doesn't have to be vetoed, just the line item.
Penny, I'm not so sure about that. I've read and heard that to the contrary, psychopathy is genetic. If my sources are correct, I see no reason why it wouldn't show up in DNA profiles. Beyond that, I think we're on the same page about the larger picture. I'd just like to add that these guys are as hooked on power & control as they are on wealth. Psychopaths thrive on winning; that's all they care about, and I believe that's as big a factor as the money.
Aliceinwonderland, you can't DNA test for greed. It's all about the bottom line, $. People are expendable---everywhere. They are a replenishable resource for the plutarchies. Feudal society was unchallenged until the black plague wiped out large portions of the labor force. The plutoarchies prefer there are multiple persons needing every job created. It keeps labor costs down and ensures populations for a most profitable industry - war. If young people can't secure employment in the private sector they must turn to the military. It's simple economics.
#7, you should do some research on the history of Greece politically and economically for the past couple of decades before drawing conclusions on how they got there.
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