US Politics - The Nuclear Option goes pfft

[TerraPrime]

LoB:

The economy, such as it is, is a gnarly many-headed beast. I don't understand it. I think the economists only somewhat understands it. What's the worst that can happen to the U.S. economy? A collapse of important financial sectors that lead to a Great Depression-like decade?

If the contention is that we have limited amount of attention and energy to tackle one issue, but not both, then in making the decision to attempt to fix the economy, you're essentially asking the socially discriminated against groups, whose problems are being sidelines, to pay, in the coins of real suffering, for the economic well-being of the country.

How much is human dignity worth? Is it enough to pay for this would-be scenario should it occur? I

[awesome possum]

I wasn't being sarcastic. You opined that businesses would jump all over that proposal. I was pointing out that full-employment proposals are hardly a new idea, and that businesses tend to oppose them. Therefore, your assumption that business would jump all over this simply illustrates that you have no understanding of American business.

You're saying that businesses would oppose having free labor? Because last I checked, that shit would fly like hot cakes.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

You're saying that businesses would oppose having free labor? Because last I checked, that shit would fly like hot cakes.

Who would pay the taxes that would pay the wages for these supposedly free employees?

And with whom did you check, btw?

[Swordfish]

Who would pay the taxes that would pay the wages for these supposedly free employees? And with whom did you check, btw?

Not to mention training expenses, overhead costs, potential liability, insurance, etc....

Free labor indeed.

[Shryke]

However, a much longer list of economists say Cain’s plan would be a tax hike for the lower middle class and a tax windfall for the wealthy.

If you have a family of four with an income of just under $50,000, they could end up paying more under the Cain plan. Currently, they are taxed around $3,850 in income tax. Under Cain’s plan, they would be taxed at 9 percent or pay $4,500.

That’s $650 more.

Although the family would save almost $4,000 in Social Security taxes, it would have to give up the child tax credit worth the same amount. Furthermore, it would pay an additional national sales tax of 9 percent on everything purchased, including groceries and clothes, which totals about $2,000.

That means under the Cain plan that family could end up paying $2,725 more.

“It’s going to raise the price of just about everything by about 9 percent,” said former George W. Bush economic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett. “We know from experience and analysis that that tends to hurt people with low incomes.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/9-9-9-plan-would-almost-double-taxes-on-middle-class/

[The Progressive]

TIME Poll: Obama Still Ahead of GOP Rivals, Voters Side With Dems on Taxes

http://news.yahoo.com/time-poll-obama-still-ahead-gop-rivals-voters-081010901.html

Obama leads Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who sits atop the GOP presidential field, 46% to 43% among likely voters. The President has opened a double-digit lead over Perry, 50% to 38%, highlighting concerns percolating through the GOP that the Texas governor would face a steep uphill climb should he capture the nomination. Obama also boasts a 49% to 37% edge over businessman Herman Cain, whose strong Tea Party support has propelled him toward the top of Republican ranks in recent weeks. In each case, the President was buoyed by his performance among female voters. Women prefer Obama over Romney by eight percentage points (49% to 41%), by 17 points over Perry (53% to 36%) and by 21 points over Cain (53% to 32%).

Most voters see Obama as tough enough to shepherd the U.S. through this rough patch (50% to 44%), and empathetic (59% to 37%) to the concerns of Americans like themselves.

[Shryke]

Long before Cain was running for president and getting attention for his 999 plan, the residents of SimCity 4 -- which was released in 2003 -- were living under a system where the default tax rate was 9 percent for commercial taxes, 9 percent for industrial taxes and 9 percent for residential taxes. (That is, of course, if you didn't use the cheat codes to get unlimited money and avoid taxes altogether.)

There has been all sorts of speculation about where Cain came up with the idea for his catchy plan -- Unnamed economic advisers? A clever marketing promotion pulled from the pizza industry? -- but beyond a few hardcore gamers in the comments sections of blogs, few have looked to SimCity, the land where there's a "

."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/herman-cain-999-sim-city_n_1008952.html

[The Progressive]

I can't wait for Cain to win the GOP primary and then watch the Repubicans around here try to squirm around his lack of governing experience, lol.

[Shryke]

Cain doesn't seem interested in winning anything but a spot on Fox New's "Primetime Failed GOP candiate lineup".

As far as I've heard, he's got no groundgame going on little fundraising.

[Cuellar]

Lev, are you questioning Jesus' ability to run government (or his proxy)?

[alguien]

As someone who's donated money and worked on and off with Invisible Children, I'm pretty happy about this:

Obama orders U.S. troops to help chase down African 'army' leader

From the article:

President Barack Obama is sending about 100 U.S. troops to Africa to help hunt down the leaders of the notoriously violent Lord's Resistance Army.

"I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield," Obama said in letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Daniel Inouye, the president pro tempore of the Senate. Kony is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army.

...

He said the United States has backed regional military efforts since 2008 to go after the Lord's Resistance Army, but they have been unsuccessful. U.S. military personnel will advise regional forces working to target Kony and other senior leaders. The president said the troops will not engage Kony's forces "unless necessary for self-defense."

...

Our forces will provide information, advice, and assistance to select partner nation forces. Subject to the approval of each respective host nation, elements of these U.S. forces will deploy into Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The support provided by U.S. forces will enhance regional efforts against the LRA. "

I wish CNN would include the quantity of troops, 100, in their headline.

The LRA is a fucking evil organization, and I don't use that term 'evil' lightly. Pretty much the child soldier phenomena in Blood Diamond.

This is the type of smart international cooperation that I like to see take place. In fact, in one of the few times I wrote several letters for Invisible Children--including to Bush, Cheney, I only received a personal response from my Illinois Senator, a certain Barack Obama, who promised he would do everything in his power to stop the LRA.

So that's one promise I count as held.

[dalThor]

This just in:

Bachman wants to raise taxes.

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/bachmann-i-want-to-adopt-the-reagan-tax-plan-psstthose-taxes-were-higher.php?ref=fpblg

(I don't suppose somebody could clue me in on how to give a title to a link like we used to be able to do in the pop-up box? I did actually look through the help thread a while ago to find it.)

[TerraPrime]

This just in:

Bachman wants to raise taxes.

http://2012.talkingp...r.php?ref=fpblg

(I don't suppose somebody could clue me in on how to give a title to a link like we used to be able to do in the pop-up box? I did actually look through the help thread a while ago to find it.)

I just hardcode it. So, do

 [url=address]Text[/url]

[awesome possum]

Who would pay the taxes that would pay the wages for these supposedly free employees?

Ah, you don't understand how taxes work, much like most of the shit you regurgitate. That explains a lot.

All this talking about potential solutions has FLoW feeling uncomfortable. Now back to your regularly scheduled program, "Republicans rule, Democrats drool!"

In this episode, we find out why Barack Obama secretly longs to open a presidential address with, "Where all the white women at?!"

[Commodore]

CLASS Act portion of ACA, which was scored by the CBO as deficit reducing, has been abandoned by HHS because it is financially unsound.

The CLASS Act’s demise, while all but inevitable, is disturbing on a number of levels. It’s hard to think of a more fitting example of how the budget process in Washington has been completely corrupted. What kind of depraved accounting scheme lets Congress enact into law a program that literally cannot sustain itself from the get-go? A program that the CBO, in accordance with an absurdly flexible set of budgetary rules, scored as deficit-reducing! Not only that, but the 10-year’s worth of CLASS Act premiums accounted for nearly half ($70 billion out of $143 billion) of the overall “savings” in Obamacare. In fact, the law might well have never passed without them, as they were included to give the (false) appearance of fiscal sanity.

[Swordfish]

CLASS Act portion of ACA, which was scored by the CBO as deficit reducing, has been abandoned by HHS because it is financially unsound.

I am shocked... SHOCKED I tell you, to find out that there is gambling going on at this establishment......

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

I am shocked... SHOCKED I tell you, to find out that there is gambling going on at this establishment......

Gee, the estimates are that far off and the real costs haven't even begun.

Oh yeah, this looks like a winner.

[Atreides]

Matt Miller wrote an interesting opinion article in the Washington Post today about what he terms "the cult of defense spending". The gist was that due to a fear of being seen as weak on defense spending, politicians constantly try to one-up each other in increasing the defense budget, even as the US national infrastructure degrades. He mentions Romney's speech which criticizes Obama for terrible defense cuts, even though he's only raised the budget so far and proposing 5% cuts. He ends by saying that only a respected military leader could possibly have the ability to trim defense spending while not being seen and/or portrayed as weakening the US.

Quote from the article.

The price of this pinched debate is enormous. In Los Angeles, where I live, state budget cuts have left schools in poor neighborhoods with classes swelling to 45 students. I spoke to a teacher the other day who has one class with 53 kids in it! Los Angeles has cut the school year to 175 days to save money. The U.S. average is 180. Many countries whose children will compete with ours for jobs put in 200 to 220 days a year. Similar cutbacks are occurring in school districts across America.

What’s the matter with us? Does anyone really think bankrolling a military empire while letting schools decay is a recipe for success? Mitt’s casual $30 billion a year Pentagon boost could pay for a national initiative to recruit a new generation of top college graduates to teach in our toughest, high-poverty schools.

Where’s Ike when we need him? Only a person with unquestioned military credibility can buck the cult of ever-higher defense spending. Here’s Eisenhower in his famous farewell address: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

[Shryke]

CLASS Act portion of ACA, which was scored by the CBO as deficit reducing, has been abandoned by HHS because it is financially unsound.

Eh?

[Swift]

This is a really interesting article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/health-insurance-premiums-dissected/2011/10/14/gIQAVbnEkL_blog.html?wprss=ezra-klein

I didn't know that PPACA requires health insurance companies to to justify double-digit increases with a government filing. The author of the article examined some of the public filings and reported his results.