| StockFetcher Forums · General Discussion · POLITICS GOES HERE | << 1 ... 57 58 59 60 61 ... 76 >>Post Follow-up |
| Mactheriverrat 3,172 posts msg #104980 - Ignore Mactheriverrat |
2/14/2012 7:17:14 PM Nothing is going to change ROME is dead |
| Redbird 5 posts msg #104981 - Ignore Redbird |
2/14/2012 8:33:16 PM A New Declaration of Independence: 10 Ideas for Taking America Back from the 1% The weight of the 1 Percent has become intolerable. How can we take our country back? Here's a fresh draft. October 31, 2011 1. Debt relief Total household debt in America is $13.3 trillion — 114 percent of after-tax income. That millions of working Americans owe every penny they make to hugely profitable financial institutions is absurd and grotesque. We demand immediate relief for the 99 Percent, particularly the poor and young students and college graduates. The Debt Jubilee is an ancient idea, and an attractive one in an era of growing economic feudalism, as the poor increasingly devote all their labor to repaying the rich. It is not in the national interest to force the impoverished to become wage slaves to pay off insurmountable debts owned to payday lenders and hugely profitable bankers. Every other rich nation on earth heavily subsidizes higher education. We force mere kids to mortgage their futures, then ensure that the debt follows them the rest of their lives, regardless of their living circumstances. Student loan debt hurts not just the graduate but everyone else in society, too: The cost of healthcare would surely decrease, and the availability of primary care for disadvantaged populations increase, if new doctors were not regularly graduating school $200,000 in the red. And real and widespread relief for homeowners in crisis is urgent. Even millions of homeowners who “did everything right” find themselves underwater, or illegally foreclosed upon by banks running roughshod over the rights of homeowners by robo-signing fraudulent foreclosure documents by the thousands. Banks servicing mortgages are (rightfully) more worried about getting sued by the owners of securities made up of Americans’ debt than they are about getting in any sort of trouble for bullying or illegally seizing the homes of regular people. Everyone should get a shot at a renegotiation of their mortgage, at fair rates, and with support from the government. 2. A substantial jobs program Most American cities are filled with beautiful old buildings and monuments and parks dating back to the recovery programs of the New Deal, as well as increasingly decrepit bridges and roads and structures that have been neglected by the last couple of decades of shrinking infrastructure investment. A real, direct jobs program, done in the WPA style, would rebuild our cities and towns in addition to putting thousands of people back to work. 3. A healthcare public option Medicare is probably the single most popular government program in the country, which is no surprise, because government-subsidized healthcare tends to be the most popular government program in every nation that has implemented it. If a true single-payer system would be too disruptive, we can put the building blocks in place by giving people a public option. Expanding the pool of Medicare recipients to include healthy younger people paying into it would instantly improve the program’s fiscal outlook. Nationalizing the underfunded Medicaid system would instantly reduce the deplorable inequity of our healthcare system, too. If this new Medicare could negotiate drug prices — like the Veterans Administration, our wonderful, totally socialized healthcare program for one group of Americans — it would save even more. (Hey, why not combine the proposal with debt relief for young doctors?) 4. Reregulate Wall Street Taking the “unsophisticated” broad view, it seems painfully obvious that Wall Street deregulation undid the stabilizing effects of 1930s-era Wall Street regulation. We’re on a boom-and-bust cycle, and a shrinking number of growing megabanks now regularly threaten the entire world economy. It’s hard to imagine that we wouldn’t be better off with a worldwide network of small, independent credit unions than massive financial institutions daily innovating new and more arcane methods of shifting vast sums of imaginary capital around, but in lieu of smashing the banks with brickbats why not just reinstate the rules that effectively limited their behavior for 40 years or so? Bring back Glass-Steagall. Pass the Volcker rule, too. Ban banks from trading derivatives. Limit their behavior and tax their earnings. 5. End the Global War on Terror and rein in the defense budget Brown University estimates that our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have cost 236,000 lives and $4 trillion. Millions more people are displaced refugees. If 10 years of war have weakened al-Qaida, we should draw down. If it hasn’t, we should seriously rethink our tactics. Regardless, there’s no way the world’s sole remaining superpower can justify spending more than every other country on Earth combined on its military. There’s no coherent reason why the Pentagon’s budget should be rising inexorably every year, while the rest of the country grows shabbier and poorer. Spending more on defense now than we did at the height of the Cold War is insane. The billions spent yearly to rain death on faceless strangers thousands of miles away should be the first program on the chopping block if we’re serious about tackling the deficit. That money could better be put to use both here at home and abroad. USAID and the State Department could surely do more to defeat those Who Hate Us For Our Freedom with that money than the Defense Department has so far managed to. 6. Repeal the Patriot Act Speaking of expensive wastes of resources that are also in direct violation of the nation’s founding principles, let’s dismantle the expansive domestic surveillance state, hurriedly established at a panicky period of national crisis and then enshrined as permanent without a word of serious debate. The extra-constitutional “delayed-notice search warrants” given to law enforcement by the Patriot Act have been used far more for fighting the war on drugs than the war on terror, which is to be expected from a law that was essentially a massive laundry list of tools and privileges that prosecutors and FBI agents had wanted for years that had thus far been denied to them by pesky constitutional checks on their powers. The government even has its own secret legal readings of the act, allowing it to do secret things we can know nothing about. The government now has vast powers to track and spy on us for whatever reasons it chooses, and both parties are mostly fine with that. When the NSA was found to be engaging in illegal domestic wiretapping and data mining, Congress responded by granting them more domestic wiretapping and data mining powers. As we’ve moved further from those panicky days that birthed the Patriot Act, the law and its associated unaccountable domestic surveillance state have, perversely, become more normalized. Those in favor of limited government should be the most alarmed at this. 7. Tackle climate change We may be rapidly approaching the catastrophic point of no return when it comes to preventing major, devastating climate change. To keep warming below “dangerous levels,” one recent study says, we’d need to “reverse the rise in emissions immediately and follow through with steep reductions through the century.” Immediately — like now. Frustratingly, even half-measures have found no support in Congress, where the industries doing the polluting have far more clout than mere scientists or human beings who’ll be alive in a future period of mass extinctions, hunger, flooding and drought. At the very least — and this is literally the very least the government should be doing right now to combat climate change — a price should be put on carbon emissions, either in the form of a direct tax or as part of a cap-and-trade scheme. This is a policy so self-evidently beneficial to the vast majority of mankind — it taxes a bad thing, so that corporations do less of the bad thing, while also giving the government revenue to spend on good things — that cap-and-trade’s defeat in Congress says just about all there is to say about the corrupting power of industry money on the government process. 8. Stop locking everyone up for everything and end the drug war The American incarceration rate dwarfs that of our closest competitor, Russia, at 743 per 100,000 residents. A full quarter of the world’s prison inmates are American prison inmates. One in 100 American adults arebehind bars. These staggering numbers have been repeated over and over again for years by activists, reporters, academics and even the very rarecourageous politician, but the prison system just keeps growing, and growing, and growing. The problem is that there is no political will to do anything about it. In fact, locking people up tends to be a popular campaign platform. In some locales, felons are both denied voting rights and also counted as residents of their prisons for the purposes of congressional apportionment, causing a perverse incentive to lock up more inmates. Tens of thousands of inmates are in long-term solitary confinement, which is essentially torture by another name. As violent crime rates have fallen, the prison population has continued to grow, because of longer terms and mandatory sentencing and denial of parole. The U.S. holds its prisoners longer than any other nation in the world, and because rehabilitation comes a distant second to punishment in our prisons, recidivism is common. (It doesn’t help that, across the nation, ex-felons can’t qualify for welfare or subsidized housing or find work.) We’re actively creating a massive, mostly black and Hispanic underclass of permanent prisoners and future prisoners. America desperately needs more juvenile diversion programs and well-funded rehabilitation and education programs for those currently in the system. A major contributor to our mass incarceration state is the “War on Drugs,” which after years of waging we’ve yet to win. Full legalization of marijuana would lead to many fewer people being jailed for victimless crimes and immediately destroy a critical income stream for gangs and increasingly violent drug cartels. Legalizing marijuana would also give states and cities a desperately needed infusion of tax revenue. (Legalization or decriminalization of other drugs would be similarly beneficial, but a good deal more controversial.) Those who commit nonviolent drug offenses should never be sent to prisons for years. Those currently in prison for nonviolent drug offenses should be freed and rehabilitated into society. 9. Full equality for the queer community Gay marriage is a no-brainer — rights granted to a majority are being denied to a minority based on arguments founded solely on bigotry — and should be recognized nationwide. Let’s not forget, too, that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans are denied other rights, including, in most states, protection from workplace discrimination and housing discrimination. I suspect lots of Americans don’t even know the LGBT community lacks those basic protections, and that is itself an outrage. 10. Fix the tax system There are a million ways the tax code could be made fairer, simpler and more progressive, and most of those ways are opposed by powerful entrenched interests. But it is an inescapable fact that for most of the 20th century, federal income tax rates were very high on the wealthy — very, very high, in fact — and most of that period also happened to be a time of widespread prosperity for rich and middle-class Americans alike. The experiment in slashing taxes on the rich seems to have failed everyone but the rich. The system as it currently stands forces states to fund essential services with the most regressive taxes possible, mainly sales taxes, in order not to scare businesses elsewhere. The current system allows hugely profitable transnational corporations to get away without paying anything, to make killings “overseas” while operating at imaginary losses domestically. Warren Buffett, as we all know, is paying less than his secretary. So let’s create a millionaire’s tax bracket, and a financial transactions tax. Let’s close the carried interest tax loophole and raise the estate tax and taxes on capital gains. Let’s get the highest marginal tax rate back up to, at the least, Reagan-era levels. Let’s stop all being held hostage, as a nation, to the fanatical anti-tax doctrine of the 1 Percent. |
| Redbird 5 posts msg #104982 - Ignore Redbird |
2/15/2012 12:16:20 AM Republicanism in the United States Republicanism is the political values system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution. It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, supports activist government to promote the common good, rejects inherited political power, expects citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption. American republicanism was founded and first practiced by the Founding Fathers in the 18th century. This system was based on early Roman, Renaissance and English models and ideas. It formed the basis for the American Revolution and the consequential Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Constitution (1787), as well as the Gettysburg Address. Republicanism is not the same as democracy, for republicanism asserts that people have unalienable rights that cannot be voted away by a majority of voters. Alexis de Tocqueville warned about the "tyranny of the majority" in a democracy, and advocates of the rights of minorities have warned that the courts needed to protect those rights by reversing efforts by voters to terminate the rights of an unpopular minority. The term "Republicanism" is derived from the term "republic", but the two words have different meanings, and people sometimes confuse them. A "republic" is a form of government (one without a hereditary ruling class) while "republicanism" is a political ideology that can appear in republics or monarchies. Two major parties were explicitly named after the idea—the Republican party of Thomas Jefferson (founded in 1793, and often called the "Democratic-Republican Party" by political scientists), and the current Republican party (founded in 1854). |
| Mactheriverrat 3,172 posts msg #104984 - Ignore Mactheriverrat |
2/15/2012 7:15:05 AM |
| kahern1014 13 posts msg #104985 - Ignore kahern1014 |
2/15/2012 8:55:01 AM The first two full fiscal years of the Obama presidency have seen unprecedented decreases in deficits: more in two years, after adjusting for inflation, than in Truman's eight years, and twice as much as in Clinton's eight years. The first seven years of the G.W. Bush presidency increased the deficit by almost twice as much as the 32 years from JFK through G.H.W.Bush combined, and somewhat more than the 24 years from Harding through FDR combined (in inflation-adjusted dollars). http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/deficits.html#2009 |
| TheRumpledOne 6,529 posts msg #104986 - Ignore TheRumpledOne |
2/15/2012 10:31:24 AM IN MY INBOX: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WE have heard this and now it is confirmed to be the truth. Pls. forward on. This is for all Americans to see and think about!!!!! Diane Sawyer reporting on U.S. bridge projects going to the Chinese...NOT Americans. The bridges are right here in the U.S. and yet Obama has approved for Chinese contractors to come in and do the work. What about jobs for Americans??? Watch this video. It doesn't take long to view. This one should be tough for the supporters of the current regime to swallow....AND it comes from ABC NEWS...no Snopes or Wikileaks on this one!! U.S.A. Bridges and Roads Being Built by Chinese Firms Shocking to say the least! This video is a jaw-dropper that will make you sick. (It was also shocking that ABC was actually reporting this story.) The lead-in with Obama promising jobs in the U.S. by improving our infrastructure is so typical of all his promises! Our tax dollars are at work - for CHINA!!! I pray all the unemployed see this and cast their votes accordingly in 2012! http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-bridges-roads-built-chinese-firms-14594513?tab=9482930?ion=1206853&playlist=14594944 |
| olathegolf 119 posts msg #104990 - Ignore olathegolf |
2/15/2012 12:59:53 PM In my Inbox: The Government Wants to Steal Your 401k By Teeka Tiwari - Creator: ETF Master Trader 4.3 Trillion dollars sits in our nation's 401k Retirement Plans. It’s too big a temptation for the Federal government to ignore, and we may be on the verge of a full scale attack against our citizens' privately held wealth. I'll get to the details of that in a moment. For the benefit of our foreign readers, a 401k is a retirement plan. The advantage of a 401k is that all money put into it can be taken as a tax deduction against your income. So, in effect, the government subsidizes a good portion of your retirement savings. This is one of the greatest gifts the Federal government has ever given us, because our money is allowed to compound completely tax free! Now it's not all gravy -- you can't touch this money until you are 59 1/2, and when you start pulling money out you are taxed at ordinary income levels. This is regardless of whether your gains came from long term capital gains or dividend income. At this time, ordinary income rates are, generally speaking (depending upon your tax bracket), higher than capital gains rates and dividend income rates. So the government gets their money in the end, which is why these are considered tax deferred plans, not tax free plans. The advantage for the saver to contributing to a 401k is that contributions are tax deductible, meaning they get to grow their money for decades without the relentless performance drag of having to pay capital gains and dividend income tax each year. This means that the government is providing you with an ongoing interest free loan for the life of your 401k. This "loan" allows you to compound more money... faster... for free. You are using other peoples' money (OPM) -- in this case the government's money -- to boost your gains. For years this has been a phenomenal wealth creation tool for everyday Americans, but this great gift could be under serious threat. The Unions Want Your Money The unions have a problem: They have massive pension obligations that are woefully under funded. Some reports indicate that their pension funds are only 62% funded, with total shortfalls approaching $165 billion. Their approach is to convince the government to take custody of ALL 401k assets and effectively nationalize them into a government guaranteed annuity that will pay about 3%. That's a rate that will guarantee that you lose money after inflation. One of the largest contributors to the Obama cause is the Services Employees International Union (SEIU). They are the "face" organization behind this plan to centralize America's savings into "Guaranteed Retirement Accounts" (GRA's). Now, guess where those 4 trillion 401k dollars will end up being invested? The recipient of all this largesse will be US treasuries. This is a triple win for the Obama administration, the Federal government, and the unions: The unions get to bail out their under funded pension funds by delivering guaranteed returns which, as measly as they are, are better than zero returns. The democrats get to return the favor back to the unions for their long term support. And the Federal government gets to use our money to help fund the federal deficit. The sales pitch being used is that this should be done to save Americans from the "emotional ups and downs" of the stock market! How galling is that? But even if this nationalization effort fails to pass, savers are still being assaulted by the Obama administration. Let me explain... In the most recent budget, the President is proposing restricting the amount of money investors can put into 401k's! The President's administration apparently feels that the best way forward is to PUNISH SAVERS! Not only that, but we also saw that the President wants to boost dividend taxes from the current 15% to a whopping 40%! The actual top bracket with the inclusion of the Obama Care tax will be 43.5%. Oh, but don't worry, because this is just for those evil blood suckers making $250k a year. Let me tell you something, depending upon where you live, $250k is not a lot of money. Even if you live in a low cost area of the country, $250k does not make you one of the glittering rich. You might not be rich right now, but it is every American's right to strive to become rich if they so desire. That's a big part of the American dream -- work hard, build a business, live beneath your means and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It is precisely that striving for personal greatness that makes our entire country great. Why should the entire nation be held to the standards of people who can't make good decisions for themselves? It is not only wrong, but it is destructive to our way of life. We are a people that firmly believe in the right to determine the direction of our own lives. We don't need a bunch of narrow minded Washington pukes telling us what's good for us. It is not unimaginable that this legislation will pass, because crazier things have happened in our country's history. For instance, back in 1933 under Executive Order 6102, all privately held gold was confiscated by the US government. You were compelled to sell your gold to the Federal Reserve for $20 an ounce under penalty of 10 years in prison. The Federal Reserve then promptly sold the bulk of the gold for $35 an ounce to the Europeans while pocketing the difference. What's to say that they won't do the same thing with our 401ks? |
| johnpaulca 12,036 posts msg #104994 - Ignore johnpaulca |
2/16/2012 8:21:44 AM |
| TheRumpledOne 6,529 posts msg #104998 - Ignore TheRumpledOne modified |
2/16/2012 10:10:26 AM Time To Tame the Federal Beast |
| johnpaulca 12,036 posts msg #105144 - Ignore johnpaulca |
2/27/2012 9:15:41 AM |
| StockFetcher Forums · General Discussion · POLITICS GOES HERE | << 1 ... 57 58 59 60 61 ... 76 >>Post Follow-up |
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