Rich writes: "The breathless and phony countdown to the fiscal cliff - What if they can't agree? What if we fall off? Can America possibly survive? - is media hype, a desperate effort to drum up a drama to keep viewers and readers tuned in now that the election is over."
Columnist Frank Rich. (photo: NYT)
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Oh, I know; "It'll drive up the cost of everything!" Really? Ever hear about, I don't know, what's that old saying again? SUPPLY AND DEMAND?
Yes; Supplies could become limited, and demand will drive up cost, but recession drives the demand back down again and with that, the costs.
I believe that a "reset" is coming in the world economy. That will drive EVERYTHING down, including American wages. But then what? We are more competitive with other countries? Then what? MORE American employment follows? Who wins in this scenario? Looks to me like the average American wins, no matter what his bank account looks like.
Of course, property owners will take another bath but, have you noticed who's buying up the homes? The BANKS are :-)
Yep; it's a cliff alright and THEY ARE scared.
We are on the side of liberty, what side are you on?
Play ball.
If by "folding" you mean, get their way completely about cuts to Medicare, then I agree completely.
The only reason we keep hearing that this is about the 2% tax increase on the top 2% is that everyone wants political cover for their real agenda - to gut Medicare. It's already pretty obviously on the table. The media won't think any sacrifice is enough either. I heard Andrea Mitchell tell one of Obama's employees something to the effect of, "come-on, you have to give more than that! You know that won't be enough to end this!", in response to the suggestion that they can save Medicare costs by finding inefficiencies rather than gutting the program. That's MSNBC: the TV "voice of the left".
The AARP is not exactly liberal (or even close), but it seems to be pretty vocally opposed to this kind of "grand bargain" thumb up the electorate. Will anybody listen?
I find it deeply disturbing that Medicare will have to be sacrificed just to squeeze a measely two percent out of billionaires.
-cutting the War Department drastically
-cutting the Phony "Security" industry drastically
-raising capital gains taxes
-getting rid of loopholes for mega global corporations
-raising taxes on the rich by a hell of a lot more than 2 lousy percent.
Funny, I recall it was obama and his deluded supporters who tried to forbid those ideas before the election because they are all part of the Green Party platform....
And stop aiding the half rich in the name of helping the middle class. Eisenhower taxes on all whose net worth is over $50,000
To give some examples: a slice of pizza was 15 cents in 1960, it is now more than $2.25; OJ was 25 cents a quart, it is now more than $1.10 for the same quantity. As Yogi Berra is claimed to have said: a nickel isn't worth a dime anymore!
-cutting the Phony "Security" industry drastically
IQuoting Billy Bob:
The Ron Paul division of the Tea Party wanted the first two before they were sacked. Lets defend them,
http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/22-22/14673-election-victory-use-it-or-lose-it-push-congress-to-vote-a-policy-change-this-lame-duck-session#comment-253090
Or — TAXING the hell out of all corporations that outsource jobs, and hoard profits in offshore accts. in Bermuda and the CAYMAN ISLANDS.
In other words NO MORE CORPORATE WELFARE!!!
These are not job creators - i.e. Koch type.
Most job creators are behind Obama's plan
Don't forget the "media" gives you part of the story - so you'll listen to their programs so they can make $$ on commercials
The Rich that are soo despised on these pages are the successful job creators the wealth is an effect of their success.
Since 2001 the rich have grown richer and richer and jobs have grown fewer and fewer.
Most wealth comes from investment in the secondary securities market, which does nothing to help businesses and most certainly creates no jobs -- except for stock brokers.
is A lie intended to sway a people who could not be swayed in the last election
Cry Wolf, GOP boys. You'll find that you are wasting your breath and my precious time.
They won. They got what they voted for. And you are going to pay for it.
You are now in freeefall. Look down. See those rocks coming up fast at you?
Everyone *should* have seen it coming
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It is not Obama's fault that even though he promised transparency there are still some people who are still unable to see through him.
...
on July 27 [2011]...
At a press conference held by members of the House Out of Poverty Caucus Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich), the second most senior member of the U.S. House, was pointed in his criticism of the White House regarding jobs and cuts to Social Security the President put on the table last week.
“We’ve got to educate the American people at the same time we educate the President of the United States. The Republicans, Speaker Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal. The President of the United States called for that,” Conyers, who has served in the House since 1965, said. “My response to him is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this,” Conyers said strongly.
...
It Is Not Obama's Fault, July 31, 2011
http://antemedius.com/content/it-not-obamas-fault
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There *were" other options. There *was* the option to vote for good rather than vote for lesser or greater evil, but that's history now.
The people who voted for this are going to try now to pretend they didn't get what they voted for, but their protestations will be empty words.
They got what they wanted.
The rocks are on their way up fast now...
Bailing out that banks only works for the Banks -- rewarding stupidity at every one elses expense.
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson democratically elected President of the terrorist state of IceLand
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/olafur-ragnur-grimsson-iceland-2012-4#ixzz2E2acRFr3
Obama laid out an astoundingly ambitious second-term agenda in an interview published Wednesday...
"It will probably be messy. It won't be pleasant," Obama told the Des Moines Register's publisher and its editor by telephone. The daily made the exchange public after the White House dropped its insistence that it be off-the-record.
...
"I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I've been offering to the Republicans for a very long time...
"We can easily meet—'easily' is the wrong word—we can credibly meet the target that the Bowles-Simpson Commission established of $4 trillion in deficit reduction, and even more in the out-years...
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-vows-debt-cutting-grand-bargain-immigration-reform-142348400--election.html
Almost all systems were prepared for the change of century, including my home computers.
No last-minute heroics were required of the technical experts.
They've both convinced themselves that the people they work for have adopted them into the club.
Boy are they going to be in for a shock when they find out that the club considers them to be just "the help" and find they've driven away the rest of the people, who could have helped them.
It's going to get very ugly being a politician in the next few years. Self inflicted rock and a hard place ugly.
They're going to be like tightrope walkers with no safety net. And very shocked looks on their pathetic faces while they demand "support" and try to tell people the "other guy" is scary...
There is no magic debt number that collapses the US economy.
If US taxpayers and their government--no longer wish to bailout Wall Street gamblers--and save many billions of dollars --might I suggest FDR's Glass-Steagall- -and our orderly Chapter 11 bankruptcy process over massacring entitlements--t he disabled and elderly-- to satisfy Wall Street's gambling debts.
I wish President Obama agreed with me--not in rhetoric--but in practice.
The date of currency collapse is an unknon, the financial shock of embargoes and boycotts clearly would make such a possibility far sooner.
Businesses just like to pay off pirates unless things get out of hand. It is piracy for the US to fine European banks for laundering the US embargo of Cuba. When it come to Iran, whether this is also true is in dispute. Since not only no Gold but no real thousands of stacks of $20s, as soon as the same money is argued both in a Dutch Bank and in US hands at the same time, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Euro would be an unknown..
Without the blockade the Cuba would want something for taking care of the American disabled, and the US would offer passes for Cubans to receive intensive care in the US, and the world as it should be with different systems and values in different places.
And although the Mexican government doesn't have accurate figures, probably not for Mexican civilians either. With few exceptions, the victims are almost certainly all connected with the drug cartels.
The big personal beef we have with the U.S. government is that we have paid into Medicare and continue to pay premiums, but Medicare will not reimburse us for medical care outside of the United States.
It's the greedy rich crying to their Republican puppets to do a McCarthy like Red scare and it's people like the Tea Party idiots that are buying it. I say lets take the jump and see what happens.
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