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boggsman1
Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Obama does give good speech. He's at 53-55%, the market is en fuego! Go ahead crusty conservatives, be positive , it feels good. |
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coboardhead
Joined: 26 Oct 2009 Posts: 4303
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:02 am Post subject: |
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Isobars wrote
Quote: | coboardhead wrote:
No - Obama said freeze spending on domestic programs for 5 years to reduce the deficit $400B.
Over 10 years. That's $40B/yr. |
Yeah - really his proposal last night was a freeze in growth of government, not a cut in government spending. However, if the economy grows, it will represent a reduction in government relative to the GDP.
I really believe that the government can afford a 3% CUT in spending. Most of us in private business have seen our revenues drop during the recession and have learned to be more efficient.
Again, though, I have to say this needs to happen next year. With estimated total equity losses of $12 trillion? due to the financial crisis, a lot of folks are barely holding on. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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coboardhead wrote: | really his proposal last night was a freeze in growth of government, not a cut in government spending. However, if the economy grows, it will represent a reduction in government relative to the GDP.
I really believe that the government can afford a 3% CUT in spending. Most of us in private business have seen our revenues drop during the recession and have learned to be more efficient. |
“If the economy grows”? What did he suggest that would improve the economy?
In fact he repeated his insistence on redistribution of wealth, which he admitted repeatedly during his campaign hurts the economy. His “discretionary spending freeze” locks in a whopping 15% of our budget at the record high levels Bush and Obama/Pelosi created. How is that a good thing? Ditto his intent to freeze the government at its new record high; what’s good about that? How about shrinking government, as Bush so emptily promised to do? I’ve had and loved much greater freedom in my life than have most other Americans, and I am incensed at the greatly increased controls the modern Democratic Party envisions for us. I feel so sorry for younger people who want the freedoms I've had, because they're not going to have it.
“The government can afford a 3% cut in spending”? If we don’t cut it by ten times (a total WAG, but it makes my point) that amount, we’re screwed.
He doesn't want to even allow us the option of investing part of our SS in the market.
High speed rail? Where on this car-loving continent has that achieved one thing? Even on North American high-speed rail’s shining star -- the northeast seaboard -- only 28K of a population of 45M people use their high-speed rail. Even if these 28K walk to their high-speed rail terminals, that cuts traffic by only 0.06%, at a cost to taxpayers of many billions of dollars and counting. High speed rail is an asinine union 12-figure boondoggle in this country, its terminal locations are driven by politics, and it’s funded with money borrowed from China.
His "tort reform" you danced about addresses only "looking at" -- like he "looked at" increasing oil exploration and nuclear energy -- frivolous medical malpractice suits. It didn't even address frivolous suits across the board, let alone loser pays.
“100,000 new science teachers”? Great for the teachers’ union coffers, but how does that get kids into the sciences? NASA and the space race did that for my generation, but this guy has downgraded NASA’s primary mission to “Muslim outreach”. Similarly, what good is his promise to manufacture X million electric cars unless the public wants to buy them AND they actually conserve resources? Yet again, he demonstrates his dedication to an economy dictated top down by the government rather than bottom up by the market forces that have made our nation such a great place for innovation and freedom.
He promised last night to veto all bills with earmarks … just as he promised in 2008 over and over and over to absolutely no avail.
He promised … again … to insist that Iran and the ROK abandon nuclear weapons. What happened to his campaign promises to use any means necessary to STOP them from developing nuclear weapons? That kind of crap is why I refuse to listen to any political speeches real time; they’re all pure self-serving BS, so I TIVO them, blast through the rhetoric with my thumb, look only for things they claim as factual history and/or promises, and compare them to reality.
He barely mentioned Pelosicare by any name, probably because due to it, health care costs are already rising, premiums are rising, and millions of people are losing existing coverage. Do you really want 16,500 ex-IRS agents running your health care? As I type, the Chief Medicare Actuary has just testified to Congress that Pelosicare will probably NOT hold down costs and will NOT let everyone keep their present health insurance plans.
I hate to say it, but
I FRIGGING TOLD YOU SO. |
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mrgybe
Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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swchandler wrote: | At this point, I'm sure that it's quite clear that Social Security is a real hot button issue for me. |
I think you can rest easy...........I seriously doubt that any administration will reduce the entitlement of those who are already receiving SS or are close to doing so (other than possibly tweaking the inflation protection). Any change is much more likely to affect those who are ten years or more away from receiving benefits..........and would probably be accompanied by some incentive to contribute to tax efficient savings schemes. |
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boggsman1
Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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I dont even know how ISO gets out of bed in the morning......never seen a more bitter soul in all my 44 years. |
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keycocker
Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 3598
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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He is mad at things he says are going to happen |
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boggsman1
Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 9120 Location: at a computer
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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....and he is mad at things that wont happen, and dont currently happen. |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999 Posts: 17748 Location: Berkeley, California
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with Isobars on the issue of high speed rail--but not for the reasons he gave. I've seen it up pretty close in California, since I know some of the consultants and politicians, and its had a trail run in Southern California with boosterism for the then-called "bullet train." It is the classic idea of investment that the Democrats can't resist, and an area where they also live in a fact-free world. A number of very good critiques have been done by reputable libertarian transportation think tanks that can readily be found.
First, Iso is wrong that we will always live in a purely car world. Little po-dunk burgs like Richland, if they survive increasing energy costs, will rely on cars because public transit won't be cost-effective. If energy prices are high enough, it will affect the viability of small communities and the trends already clear in many will accelerate--they'll lose population.
The question is what is the appropriate response ahead of time. In the ridership studies that have been done for high speed rail, it ends up competing with air travel, not the car. At one time they were relying on increasing congestion in air travel corridors such as LAX/SFO to shift travel to rail. But congestion had disappeared even before the recession--traffic at Oakland fell by over 25% in response to increased prices. The recession increased that fallout, demonstrating that this category of travel is highly price elastic. Hello skype? Sometimes competition comes in new technologies. The feasibility studies for high speed rail made unreasonable assumptions about ridership, and then sold the package with promised carbon reduction benefits and big money contracts for designing and building facilities that deliver a lot of traditional Democrat jobs.
The critiques correctly point out that the densities that support high speed rail in Japan and Europe don't exist anywhaere in the United States except on small portions of the Eastern seaboard. Even the successful systems require subsidy for operation as well as construction. But the attraction to influence-peddling politicians is very clear--big consulting firms (think Bechtel, Parkers-Brinkerhof) contribute big money even if nothing is built.
The carbon reduction promises aren't delivered either. There are lots of emissions in construction, and while high speed rail performs much better than air travel when fully utilized, not at realistic ridership levels over the next 25-30 years. At that length of time out, all bets are off in terms of how urban form and employment centers have responded to higher energy prices. A very bad investment indeed. But, like many of these things that look good on the surface, a triumph of nostalgia over hard-edged analysis. Hmmm, I'm surprised conservatives don't support it for exactly that reason... |
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swchandler
Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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Cuts? I'd bet isobars would squawk big time if Obama advocated cutting the defense budget by 30%.
Hell, he'd be totally pissed if America didn't have a war going on somewhere on the planet, and our soldiers weren't dying for some questionable cause. Not surprisingly, he has been strongly advocating a case for bombing Iran. Would he care what that would cost America for decades? Sadly, I don't think so.
I think that this chicken hawk needs to be busted to a buck private and shipped off to Afghanistan for the rest of his life. Maybe that would begin to teach him a little bit of humility, and possibly give him a sense of appreciation for how good life is here in America. |
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coboardhead
Joined: 26 Oct 2009 Posts: 4303
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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It is true that because of the new health plan, some plans will not qualify. Our family plan was discontinued by our carrier. They put us in a new plan with better coverage that meets the health care plan and HSA. Higher deductible but the premiums are $500 less per month which would cover the deductible. I could not be happier that my previous plan was a casualty of the legislation! |
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