The Republican Thread

[KipWellsFan]

So you are saying that Obama = Nixon? They seem to be the only 2 Presidents in recent times that have gone after private citizens, companies, etc the way they do. Even Clinton had more class than Obama shows when dealing with whoever is at the top of his 'enemies' list. The President is supposed to lead by example, not act like a spoiled bully.

 

No, Nixon was an anti-semitic arse.

 

And what private citizens? They're all major political players. And it's not like he's on a tirade against all these peeps. I've never actually heard him say more than a passing word about Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich.

 

I can't believe I'm even talking about this... Enemies list... wtf... Are you channeling Rove? Hardly the standard of respectability...

 

No wonder bipartisanship is absolutely impossible.

[EvilMonkey]

Presented without comment.(for now)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBzjLnO-e3o...player_embedded

[GoSox05]

Presented without comment.(for now)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBzjLnO-e3o...player_embedded

 

 

Groundbreaking journalism.

[southsider2k5]

Presented without comment.(for now)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBzjLnO-e3o...player_embedded

 

I prefer Jan's message

 

[southsider2k5]

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blume...-causes-malaise

 

Only the New York Times could burn through 2,500 words about Japan's economy and not use the word "stimulus." The Old Gray Lady's Martin Fackler did refer to Fed Chair Ben Bernanke's just-announced second attempt to "stimulate" economy, but dodged the central lesson: The government created the Japanese people's malaise, and our government, despite Japan's experience, seems determined to do the same to us.

 

The Times item is the first in a series, so I suppose Fackler may get around to it in subsequent reports, but it doesn't seem likely.

 

Here are some paragraphs from Fackler's report that show how intent he and the Times were on not getting to the real root causes of Japan's nearly two-decade malaise (bolds are mine):

 

Once Dynamic, Decline Leaves Japan Disheartened

 

 

 

Few nations in recent history have seen such a striking reversal of economic fortune as Japan. The original Asian success story, Japan rode one of the great speculative stock and property bubbles of all time in the 1980s to become the first Asian country to challenge the long dominance of the West.

 

 

 

But the bubbles popped in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Japan fell into a slow but relentless decline that neither enormous budget deficits nor a flood of easy money has reversed. For nearly a generation now, the nation has been trapped in low growth and a corrosive downward spiral of prices, known as deflation, in the process shriveling from an economic Godzilla to little more than an afterthought in the global economy.

 

 

 

... Even as the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, prepares a fresh round of unconventional measures to stimulate the economy, there are growing fears that the United States and many European economies could face a prolonged period of slow growth or even, in the worst case, deflation, something not seen on a sustained basis outside Japan since the Great Depression.

 

 

 

Many economists remain confident that the United States will avoid the stagnation of Japan, largely because of the greater responsiveness of the American political system and Americans’ greater tolerance for capitalism’s creative destruction. Japanese leaders at first denied the severity of their nation’s problems and then spent heavily on job-creating public works projects that only postponed painful but necessary structural changes, economists say.

 

 

 

“We’re not Japan,” said Robert E. Hall, a professor of economics at Stanford. “In America, the bet is still that we will somehow find ways to get people spending and investing again.”

 

 

 

Still, as political pressure builds to reduce federal spending and budget deficits, other economists are now warning of “Japanification” — of falling into the same deflationary trap of collapsed demand that occurs when consumers refuse to consume, corporations hold back on investments and banks sit on cash.

 

 

 

... Just as inflation scarred a generation of Americans, deflation has left a deep imprint on the Japanese, breeding generational tensions and a culture of pessimism, fatalism and reduced expectations. While Japan remains in many ways a prosperous society, it faces an increasingly grim situation, particularly outside the relative economic vibrancy of Tokyo, and its situation provides a possible glimpse into the future for the United States and Europe, should the most dire forecasts come to pass.

 

 

 

... And the future looks even bleaker, as Japan faces the world’s largest government debt — around 200 percent of gross domestic product — a shrinking population and rising rates of poverty and suicide.

 

 

 

But perhaps the most noticeable impact here has been Japan’s crisis of confidence. Just two decades ago, this was a vibrant nation filled with energy and ambition, proud to the point of arrogance and eager to create a new economic order in Asia based on the yen. Today, those high-flying ambitions have been shelved, replaced by weariness and fear of the future, and an almost stifling air of resignation. Japan seems to have pulled into a shell, content to accept its slow fade from the global stage.

 

The clear evidence is that the budget deficits and the easy money, instead of failing to prevent Japan's decline, have instead extended it.

 

The quoted Robert E. Hall can say, "We're not Japan" all he wants, and try to claim we're in better shape to absorb economic stress. But in some important ways, we're in worse shape. No one can credibly deny that the U.S., like Japan, "at first denied the severity of their nation’s problems and then spent heavily on job-creating public works projects that only postponed painful but necessary structural changes." But a lot of our spending also went to direct transfer payments with no future value, especially in the beginning, as the president himself has admitted that his core early-2009 contention that there were all kinds of shovel-ready projects just waiting to be funded was a load of rubbish.

 

Additionally, our savings rate is nowhere near Japan's, meaning that a shift to intense frugality might be have a more negative effect here than it did in Japan, where many people were always quite frugal.

 

The point at which our deficit hits 200% of GDP is not that far away, but because of our relatively low savings rate, America's point of malaise may be much lower than that. No, Martin Fackler didn't deal with that topic, although I suppose he might go there sometime during the rest of his series. But don't count on it.

 

 

Read more: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blume...e#ixzz12pDp4wNF

[EvilMonkey]

I prefer Jan's message

 

She would fit right in with the SEIU. When she loses her seat, she should go try for a union job.

[GoSox05]

She would fit right in with the SEIU. When she loses her seat, she should go try for a union job.

 

[southsider2k5]

She would fit right in with the SEIU. When she loses her seat, she should go try for a union job.

 

Honestly, she is nuts IMO. I actually got drug to an actual socialist labor convention in Chicago a few years back and she was the keynote speaker. It doesn't surprise me at all that she would back those kind of tactics.

[GoSox05]

What do you think she meant in that video?

[southsider2k5]

What do you think she meant in that video?

 

If it were anyone else I would have bought in that it wasn't what she meant. Actually having seen her speak, and having heard what she spoke about in regards to labor and what they are "owed", I have not a single problem believing that she was talking about intimidation.

[GoSox05]

If it were anyone else I would have bought in that it wasn't what she meant. Actually having seen her speak, and having heard what she spoke about in regards to labor and what they are "owed", I have not a single problem believing that she was talking about intimidation.

 

 

So you think she would send someone to your house from a union and make you go vote for someone they wanted?

[southsider2k5]

So you think she would send someone to your house from a union and make you go vote for someone they wanted?

 

I think she would encourage others to do it in the name of advancing her agenda, yes.

[southsider2k5]

I lol'd, I don't know if he really said it or not, but I saw someone post it on facebook, and thought it was worth repeating.

Direct Quote from Larry, the Cable Guy…

 

Even after the Super Bowl victory of the New Orleans Saints, I have noticed a large number of people implying with bad jokes that Cajuns aren't smart…

 

I would like to state for the record that I disagree with that assessment…

 

Anybody that would build a city 5 feet below sea level in a hurricane zone and fill it with Democrats is…a Genius!!!

[Cknolls]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13...ng-Muslims.html

 

 

 

Ridiculous!

[southsider2k5]

Now they are coming for your 401k and IRA's. These people scare me.

 

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39336

 

New Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions

by Connie Hair

10/08/2010

 

 

Democrats in the Senate on Thursday held a recess hearing covering a taxpayer bailout of union pensions and a plan to seize private 401(k) plans to more "fairly" distribute taxpayer-funded pensions to everyone.

 

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous "Guaranteed Retirement Account" (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci.

 

(You can find the blistering interview with Guilarducci by radio talk show host Mark Levin in 2007 at the link).

 

In a nutshell, under the GRA system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a "fair" pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions. This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending.

 

From written hearing testimony submitted by Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Vice President Ross Eisenbrey:

 

“We need a comprehensive solution that addresses interrelated problems. For example, a system that places most of the burden for retirement saving on individuals will always have to wrestle with the problem of pre-retirement loans and withdrawals (simply plugging these leaks will not work, because many workers would stop contributing to the system). A system that relies on tax incentives to promote individual retirement savings will necessarily tend to favor high-income workers who can afford to save more and who benefit the most from these tax breaks. Conversely, a truly universal system would need to shield low-income workers from out-of-pocket costs or wage cuts. EPI has published and advocated what we feel would be an excellent national supplemental retirement plan, the Guaranteed Retirement Account which was authored by Prof. Teresa Ghilarducci, Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. "

[Balta1701]

[southsider2k5]

 

Of course you would laugh. It all fits the same pattern of penalizing those who earn, for those who don't.

[Balta1701]

Of course you would laugh. It all fits the same pattern of penalizing those who earn, for those who don't.

I'm laughing because you think that'd actually happen. How many different "things that will never happen" can we put in 1 article? "The government is going to seize everyone's 401K. The government that can't pass jack squat is going to pass gigantic legislation that has never been written and they're going to do so within 2 months and in a lame duck session where the Dem majority has already shrunk."

[southsider2k5]

I'm laughing because you think that'd actually happen. How many different "things that will never happen" can we put in 1 article? "The government is going to seize everyone's 401K. The government that can't pass jack squat is going to pass gigantic legislation that has never been written and they're going to do so within 2 months and in a lame duck session where the Dem majority has already shrunk."

 

I'm laughing because the intent is there, and that doesn't seem to bother you at all. They are actively trying.

[Balta1701]

I'm laughing because the intent is there, and that doesn't seem to bother you at all. They are actively trying.

You and I have very different definitions of actively trying. Holding a hearing with an "expert" who advocates a certain position does not constitute actually writing legislation. Actually writing legislation does not constitute introducing it into the House. Bringing legislation before a committee does not constitute bringing it up before the full Senate/Full House. Bringing it up before the Full Senate/Full house does not constitute a full court press to pass something.

 

I'd say this effort is less far along than the effort to repeal the 14th amendment.

[southsider2k5]

You and I have very different definitions of actively trying. Holding a hearing with an "expert" who advocates a certain position does not constitute actually writing legislation. Actually writing legislation does not constitute introducing it into the House. Bringing legislation before a committee does not constitute bringing it up before the full Senate/Full House. Bringing it up before the Full Senate/Full house does not constitute a full court press to pass something.

 

I'd say this effort is less far along than the effort to repeal the 14th amendment.

 

This is ironic considering all of the scare stuff you post about people on the other side of the aisle.

[Balta1701]

This is ironic considering all of the scare stuff you post about people on the other side of the aisle.

I think it's interesting to note that the statement of Chairperson Harkin doesn't even endorse the position he's supposed to ram through during a lame duck session and calls for more hearings covering the full next year.

“It is time for our nation to face the retirement crisis head-on. That is why, as Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, I am making retirement security a priority. Over the coming year, I plan to hold a series of hearings examining the crisis in retirement security from a number of different angles, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on comprehensive reforms to help workers save for retirement and ensure that they have a source of retirement income that they cannot outlive.

 

“Fortunately, retirement issues have always been an area where we have been able to reach across the aisle and work together, and I hope that we can continue to that.

 

“Thanks to all of you for being here today to discuss this important issue.”

[NorthSideSox72]

I'm laughing because the intent is there, and that doesn't seem to bother you at all. They are actively trying.

You cannot really think they'd do this. There is zero chance of that happening, unless the US gov't goes bankrupt, which no one will allow to happen, including other countries.

 

[EvilMonkey]

Harry Reid, savior of the WORLD!!!!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SOoBOsZBU8...player_embedded

[Cknolls]

http://biggovernment.com/dbroes/2010/10/22...-hat-and-shirt/

 

 

 

God I love unions..