EvilMonkey

Carlos Q

Juan P

Gordon B

Juan P.

Some Dems apparently annoyed that Wall Street not panicking, making it easier for them to try and force Republicans to their viewpoint. Not enough fear mongering, i guess. http://www.cnbc.com/id/43943482

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 03:16 PM) . There's no Democrat anywhere who is going to just vote for large cuts to those programs without at least a description of what the cuts are. To quote Pelosi, 'You have to pass it to find out what's in it.' If it was good enough for Obamacare.....

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 12:33 PM) You're continuing to ignore that the vote to raise the debt ceiling has been fundamentally changed from a non-issue with some political posturing (see: Obama, 2006) to a drawn out fight that dominates our political discourse for months and brings us to the edge of eliminating a sizeable chunk of GDP overnight as one party holds the economy hostage until its crazy ransom demands are met. There's no symmetry here between the past 30 years of debt ceiling raises and the current one. Yeah, the party that keeps not voting on measures sent to it and promising to vote down bills before they even see them. Remember, Reid's way of the highway!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 10:24 AM) Of course, every time he endorses a deal, his endorsement immediately kills any chance of the House voting for it. Kinda like the Senate Dems saying they will vote against a bill that hasnt even reached them yet for them to read because it will come from the Republicans in the House? Yup.

QUOTE (FlySox87 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 10:18 PM) I see no reason for Naser Abdo to live to see 2012. So which is it. Are these guys full of s*** when they claim that their religion forbids them from killing other muslims, or does their religion really prevent them from doing so. if it really does, then I think it is time to revisit the rules allowing Muslims to serve. A soldier needs to be ready to go and serve where they are told, not to pick and choose the conflicts they act in.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 09:24 PM) I don't think Ozzie, for all of his big talk, has the stones to quit this job. He'll have to be fired, and I bet he'll go out kicking and screaming whenever he is. Remember when the Sox wouldn't sign him and he left for Baltimore? He batted .245 his last year with the Sox, went to the O's, had maybe 20 at bats and proclaimed that the infield there was 10 times better than the Sox infield at the time. And by proclaimed I mean said so with much profanity and broken english.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 07:24 PM) Just like the republicans support cuttig jobs, benefits, and voting rights for other people. And yet Obama's own Jobs Czar, whose own company paid no income taxes last year on massive profits, is closing a plant in Wisconsin and shipping the jobs and $2 billion of training and upgrades to China. Way to create jobs....for the Chinese. Or is this a dig at the Republicans in Wisconsin? Depends on how tight your tin foil hat is, I guess.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 03:44 PM) You're insisting that a minority position is really the majority position. Stop doing that. Read, please. I will say again, 25% ISN'T a majority but I wouldn't call it small.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 03:42 PM) And if you think the federal government needs to cut services, no one is stopping you from paying back the funds you get. What do I get from the feds? Anything specific for ME? School money is money I paid to them just for the priviledge of having it go to Washington so some can get skimmed off before it gets sent back to the states. Road money? I already paid those in gas taxes just so the feds can hold my state hostage to do certain things just to get our money back. TSA? I'll pay a few bucks extra to fly for private security. How about I cut what part of my taxes pay for the county hospitals, or the local housing authority. I don't use those. I'll just stop payign those parts, and pay extra for airline screening. To go off on a tangent, every department can cut. But everytime you tell them that, they b**** and moan, then try and cut the person(s) that will generate the most bad pub so they can say 'see? We NEED the money1". That's why when faced with budget shortfalls, Dems always threaten to layoff teachers, firefighters and police first, instead of some of the streets and san workers, general mainenance or personal staff.

I gotta stop engaging you guys in the afternoon, never enough time. More deliveries to make.....

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 03:37 PM) Ok. This tangent still has nothing to do with raising taxes=not centrist since an overwhelming majority of people are for raising taxes. That'd be like me saying cutting spending=not centrist since a small minority of people want no cuts at all. 25% is small? It isn't a majority, but I wouldn't call it small.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 03:36 PM) The idea that "Federal Income Tax" is having "Skin in the game" but "Medicare and Social Security taxes" are not is just lunacy. Hell, for the past 25 years the Social Security tax surplus has financed upper class federal income tax cuts. And for years the top 5% of taxpayers have subsidized the lower 50%. You know, if you feel like you are not paying enough in taxes, you are free to pay more. Nobody is stopping you.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 03:30 PM) Criticizing the various Dem plans still doesn't mean they're not centrist plans, or that raising taxes is not centrist. But regarding "who pays taxes," that'd be everyone. Dems have brought ONE plan up for vote, not sure what other 'plans' you speak of. They can TALK about anything, but until it comes up for a vote, it is just talk.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 03:30 PM) I'm genuinely impressed, it took less than 6 hours from a person posting the graph showing that a person with an income of $7000 a year still pays a 5% federal tax rate until a person repeated this blatant falsehood. I thought it would take weeks. By the time they get thru with refunds and tax credits, they pay nothing in federal income tax. and I know not of what graph you speak of, but I am sure you will point me in the right direction.

If the Dems propose a bill that has real actual spending cuts in it, somethgin that has some teeth and not smoke and mirrors, I will listen. Even if it has 'tax increases', even though you can bet your ass it won't be on just people earning over $250k. I would be more in favor if he also added a tax onthe poor, even if just $20 or something. No wonder a certain percentage favor tax increases when half the country has, to quote our President, 'no skin in the game'. Easy to take from others. Perhaps that poll should be done only of those that actually paid taxes. I wonder what that ratio would look like.....

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 02:34 PM) That still doesn't justify your "raise taxes=not centrist" objection. Sure it does, because most of those inthe raise it at all camp were in the little to 50-50 camp, and only if there are also real spending cuts to go along with it What the Dems currently have are not real spending cuts, they are merely promises not to spend more. Cuts to a proposed budget increase are not spending cuts, just a smaller increase. Troop reductions were happening regardless of this debt ceiling stuff. Any savings realized because of it can't be counted as a spending cut, because you weren't gonna spend it anyway.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 01:55 PM) http://beta.news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/p...-143421891.html http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/st...ns-favor-both-/ So make cuts then, not accounting gimmicks. 92% want cuts. Oh, and you know that the tax increases will not be limited to those making over $250k. If you believe they would be the only ones required to sacrifice, I have a bridge to sell you.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 12:11 PM) 100-12 is 88% favoring some sort of revenue increases. And the link is....................

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 11:44 AM) A majority of Americans polled want them raised. How is that not centrist? Show me the poll. If it was the one I saw, you could also say a majority of Americans want spending cut. I think it was 12% in favor of nothing but cuts, 10% in favor of nothing but tax increases and the rest ranging from small increases and massive cuts to large increase and minimal cuts. I certainly do not want mine raised. You don't have to cut them, but the government takes more than enough from me.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 26, 2011 -> 02:17 PM) I agree, especially because that's the price AFTER insurance. So that means the hospital charged even more than that $300+. AND, how does screwing over INSURANCE fix any of this? Medical billing is a clusterf*ck. Wife went to emergency room with severe stomach pain, stayed in emergency room several hours and then was admitted to hospital for a kidney stone the size of a jellybean. She WORKS for an insurance company, and the bills we got were a lot less than I thought they would be, but we have been getting bills for 2 weeks. Every single person that talked to her seems to have sent in a bill from $20 to $2000. How about some sort of consolidation or something? If they didn't have 50 different doctors and such all doing the same billing and so on, perhaps some savings could be had there. Then they wouldn't have to charge $40 for 2 aspirin.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 10:38 AM) The Cult That Is Destroying America Whoever wrote that is a complete moron. A centrist President? On what bizzaro planet? He wants to RAISE TAXES!!!! He has said as much repeatedly. And it is a lot easier for 6 Senators to change their mind and vote for the Republican bill than to have 50+ Reps change theirs. Until Reid finally got his mouth off Obama's ass, the Dems had not even OFFERED a plan. And the one they did has money not being spent as a cut? That's like saying 'but honey, yes I spent $200 million on these shoes, but they were on sale and I SAVED $400 million!'. Stop spending, period. You have a budget, make it work. You get no more.