Gee. I can’t tell if I’m supposed to be intimidated by your verbiage or dazzled by your high opinion of yourself. Just… can’t… decide…
Guess I’ll scratch my nuts instead.
Try Viagra. It’s cheaper than shooting your own son when he comes home at 3:00 am.
I’m sorry for your loss, Chronolicht. What a horrible thing to have happen. I understand your hatred of guns now, and your anger.
Good site. But I still can’t agree that Dubya is fascist.
He’s just a simple guy who owes way too much to the big corporations and such who got him “elected.”
He’s not QUITE as scary as Reagan, but he’s up there.
O.K. I heed Gaudere’s mild, tittering caveat.
Kudos to Sofa King’s input. The third world corollary to his point are the 24 hour petro-loans made by the World Bank and IMF to service the vig on previous loans.
Pardon the double post.
Were you awake during the presidential campaign? Bush proposed and heavily promoted the tax cut well before the Florida fiasco.
Oh, and BTW, the refund checks were first proposed by Democrats in Congress.
Sua
Well, here I am, a somewhat conservative guy, who agrees that this tax-cut plan is ill-advised; we’ve too much on our plate to start living it up.
One thing about rabid Republicans that drive me batty is that they often don’t see what an economic drag an uneducated, malnourished portion of society is on the rest. How many people might not be sitting in prison right now if they’d had a better education? If they’d had enough food to eat to maintain healthy growth and development to stay awake and alert in class? How many people might be on the work rolls, contributing tax dollars to their nation along with everyone else?
It’s easy to blame other people’s predicaments on laziness, stupidity, unwise decision making, etc., when not every job offers health insurance, not every accident is work related, and not everyone can afford the extra insurance premiums to get top-flight health and disability insurance.
Life blows sometimes, and we all know bad things can happen to good people, for no other reason than bad luck. A friendly safety net underneath society can turn bad luck into a mere unpleasant experience.
Like when unemployment came through for me in the early 90’s.
One thing about rabid liberals that drives me batty is their never-ending quest to try to devise a government program and agency to cover every conceivable aspect and contingency of existence. They cannot see that money doesn’t grow upon trees, and funding all of the programs and agencies they would like to see in existence would take ruinously high taxes, destroying the economy and forcing many manufacturers and businesses out of the country, hastening the cycle.
What really drives me ape-shit-bananas about both is they will all-too-willingly sacrifice some set of basic rights, depending upon their point-of-view.
Chronolicht: keep your mits off of my guns. I need them to shoot your son when he comes through my window at 3:00 A.M. because the Republicans slashed school funding and he’s an unemployable git.
Again and again I see posted opinions on how “the tax cut helps the wealthy”, “the wealthy are to blame fore the national debt” (How, I wonder?, etc.
Why shouldn’t the tax burden on the wealthy be eased? They pay, overwhemlingly so, more taxes than any oter group. They pay the most, so why shouldn’t they get a break? Are they evil fat male white fascist pigs because they’ve managed to accrue a great deal of money? I don’t see how its their responsibility to pay for the restof us.
Reducing their tax burden does not mean making the poor or middle class pay more. See, the problem is this, Social Security is eating up about half ufederal budget, defense about 20%, national debt takes anoter quarter, and everything else, including welfare and foriegn aid is comparativly miniscule.
Now, we certainly can’t afford to field a weak military, so the whippng boy is going to have to be Social Security. Its a bad idea that doesn’t work. All that would be needed is to stop collecting SS taxes from the newly employed, and simply phase out the whole deal.
I woulda started a pool to see how many posts it would take before someone invoked the ol’ “class envy” shibboleth, but it seems I got here too late. Dammit.
…And I’m with Ike! Big giant statues everywhere! Or big statuesque giants; I’m not picky.
Because they already receive more benefits than the rest of us.
Actually, it does: someone has to pay for the government handouts to the rich, if the rich do not, the middle class will.
I do not favor “soak the rich” schemes with tax rates of 95% such as drove so many wealthy folks out of Britain or even of 50%. However, the rich get more and they should pay more.
That wasn’t a “mild, tittering caveat”. That was an Official Warning from a Moderator.
**
The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT builds sidewalks? The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT keeps libraries open seven days a week?
Perhaps this explains your religious devotion to federal-government-as-panacea. You’re giving them credit for stuff they ain’t doin’.
And as for my “fleshy facist ass,” I hearby propose an ass dual. Pick a neutral female party on the SDMB, and we will send our respective ass photos for ultimate judgement.
(Hint: I play ice hockey seven months a year. You should have stuck to the beer gut.)
Thanks for the support, xeno and andros. But I have little difficulty tuning out the likes of Chronolicht, and his four or five apparent clones.
Mythos45, meet Chronolicht. Chronolicht, Mythos.
[…sitting back and waiting for the mutual annihilation explosion…]
Aw, shoot. Oh well, onwards:
Mythos: Now, we certainly can’t afford to field a weak military, so the whippng boy is going to have to be Social Security. Its a bad idea that doesn’t work.
B-, er, I mean, cite please? If you have some factual evidence that indicates that the non-wealthy elderly are worse off now than they were before Social Security was introduced, or that today’s non-wealthy retirees and disabled aren’t being helped by their SS benefits, I would be just fascinated to see it, and so would a lot of professional economists.
Sheesh, this is worse than the SS privatizers who flap around repeating the urban legend (largely disseminated by the investment industry who themselves stand to benefit immensely by having billions of public SS money pumped into the stock market) that diverting all or part of the SS funds into individual investment accounts is the way to improve the system. Most of those people don’t have a very clear grasp of the actual costs or risks that are really involved in such a change, but at least they retain some kind of a clue about the fact that any universal national social insurance plan will require a good deal of public funding. That’s too boring and unimaginative for Mythos, though: “Hey folks, I’ve got an idea! Let’s just declare the whole system a failure and stop funding it!” Yup, that’ll save us all some money, all right. Sorry about your eviction, Mom.
Milo: *Pick a neutral female party on the SDMB, and we will send our respective ass photos for ultimate judgement. *
I modestly nominate myself: Milo already knows that I’m not biased in favor of his beliefs, and I think I’ve made it fairly clear that whatever strange ideological camp Chronolicht is in, it’s not mine. So send those ass photos here for a careful and impartial judgement. (And to the winner, I will award this beautiful golden apple. Wait, aren’t we supposed to have a third contestant? ;))
Kimstu:
Not to mention the CEOs and their multi-million $$$ salaries, and their multi-million $$$ stock deals.
“What? Increases the gross 5% with our employee’s own money? Capital idea! Let’s get on this right away.”
And the Chronolicht .vs. Milo Doper Deathmatch? My money’s on Milo. A Republican hockey player? Versus a student at U.C. Berkley? Unless Chrono is secretly Chelsea Clinton, in which case some serious looking guys in sunglasses will just knee-cap Milo with S & W .40s.
Chrono said
Um, teh fact that the repubs respect the supreme court ruling would be evidence of their belief in DE-centralized power. They are not for dictators, tehy are for less socioeconomic control…
I am sorry but republican philosophy cannot accurately be called fascist. It is just one of those big scary words that liberals like to use. IT is a way of calling republicans “hitler” without really saying so.
But if you think that a loose fit of the definition is A-OK, then the dems are clearly mroe fscist: Nationalized medicine, state controlled energy, social welfare, redistribution of wealth, centralized power in teh federal gov’t…no dictator or racism, but a better fit than the GOP.
Kimstu, who will be reviewing your ass-photo to see if you are qulified to judge others? If no one has been chosen yet…Anyway, I’d rather hear your poetry than Mythos’ or Chrono’s dribbling anytime.
Sorry, I’m not being very GD-like, I’m outa here.
“That’s three times that you’ve said that the unemployed are lazy. I’m asking you again: how do you reconcile that view with the effect that the prime rate has upon unemployment?”
I honestly don’t know what the prime rate is. That, or I understand what it is but don’t associate it with the word “prime rate.”
“So first we’re “morons,” now we’re ‘damn liberals.’”
What would you prefer I call you, “the Knights of Unecessary Governmental Assistance Programs”?
"The fact that not quite half the population voted for the bloated, fat, white, fascist, male party in the last presidential election is a testament to the monumental and pandemic stupidity of the inhabitants of this country.
almost 99% of them voted for a bloated, fat, white, facist male party in the last presidential election."
What the hell is the problem with you two? Do you two have something against white people? I hate Gore as much as any, but I don’t fault him for being white. If I didn’t vote for someone just because they’re black, how would you feel? Probably very pissed, and I’d imagine you’d start bitching about me being a racist (and I love how no one did so with you, being that racism against whites is fine, but when it involves blacks, watch out!) And what do you have against fat people? Do the duties of the president require a healthy body? Does voting for a white, out of shape, male make me stupid? And hell, MrO, whom I recall called me a racist in another thread, agrees! I love it!
And I’m sorry that your dad got injured on the job like he did, and if all government assistance cases were similar to that, my political views would shift to the left, but how many people on welfare do you think have been in career ending injuries, or have any problems that should hinder their being able to work in any way whatsoever?
tomndebb - How do the wealthy recieve more benefits than the rest of us? In my mind they recieve less, being inelegible for food stamps, welfare, unemployment, Medicaid…
Reducing their tax burden does not mean making the poor or middle class pay more. I stand by my statement, but I should clarify. See, the key is reducing the overall budget. If you cut money from the budget by reducing spending (Good luck getting that done, I admit), you can then reduce the wealthy’s tax burden without changing that of the poor or middle class.
Kimstu - While I appreciate the mocking tone, allow me to explain my opinion. Social Security works in that it provides a bit of money to retired persons. However, when it was created in the 1930’s, (I will concede that there may have been a need for it at that time), it was easy to carry out because of the low population of senior citizens, several hundred taxpayers could support one SS recipient. (you almost certainly know this, already)
By 2030, seniors make up nearly 20% of the population. Whenever you have that large a segment of the populace leeching off the rest, you have a serious problem. I, for one, do not want myself and two other people supporting a given retiree, because that means I will be much less able to provide for my own family. I do not want this, obviously.
The needs of the many, it is said, outweigh the needs of the few. I trust you catch my drift.
BabaBooey, if you expect to be taken seriously on these boards, I suggest that you learn. Ineterest rates are highly relevant to the discussion of unemployment in America.
While you’re at it, look up NAIRU - the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate or Unemployment. Under this economic postulate, there must be some level of unemployment - that is, slack in the labor pool. If unemployment dips below this level, inflation will spiral out of control.
NAIRU is accepted by almost all economists, and the Federal Reserve applies it when setting interest rates. The debate among economists is what is the level of unemployment that is NAIRU.
After you learn, you may well maintain the same position you have now. That’s fine; so long as it is an informed opinion.
How 'bout “liberals”, “Democrats”, “statists”, etc. The idea is to discuss and learn. You have already acknowledged that you are ignorant of key concepts needed for an understanding of employment in America. If you would calm down and talk nicely, perhaps your ignorance will be fought. After all, that is the purpose of these boards.
Actually, racism by blacks and by whites are equally unacceptable.
If you voted for Bush, he is excellent shape for a man in his 50s.
And do you know the answer to that question yourself? If you don’t, go find out. The answer may change or reinforce your beliefs - I really don’t care. I only care that your beliefs have a rational basis. Otherwise, you’re just wasting bandwidth.
Sua