Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I do understand about waste, but we have to sit down and do a line item analysis to find out real sources of waste and mismanagement. It's funny how people just assume there is waste without knowing what, or where it is, but they also don't want new taxes, and fully funded extravagances, like fireworks shows. Really, I think some jobs might make people happier than colorful, exploding shells.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I think if an engaging figure came along and took very firm, public positions on any of a number of issues...avoided a negative campaign against his/her opponent...and answered questions without ducking them...I think that person, regardless of party...would win an election walking away.<< I would hope so. But I just don't know anymore. I think things have gotten so partisan and mean-spirited, people put party (tea or otherwise) ahead of what's best for the country. Look at how Hannity has this loon Christine O'Donell on his show, and only his show. He tosses pre-arranged softballs to her and for a large swath of the nation, they see nothing wrong with it at all. The press and politicians should have an adversarial relationship. Instead, more and more they'll limit themselves to "friendly" interviews and that's it. And people seem to fall for it.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Because the press is more business/entertainment...driven by ratings...than it is news reporting. The problems with today's society aren't going to be solved in a Disney chat room, of that I'm certain. But I'm just trying to suggest that the "divide" isn't as divided as they would have us believe and it is going to take a visionary leader, likely without an R or D attached, to prove it.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>The problems with today's society aren't going to be solved in a Disney chat room<< How dare you. >>I'm just trying to suggest that the "divide" isn't as divided as they would have us believe<< I do hope that's the case. I used to believe it very strongly but lately, not so much.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Does one exist out there? I sure hope so. I was hoping that Obama would be some of that, despite his inexperience. So far, I'm not seeing as much revolutionary change as promised. I don't think we've seen a truly visionary leader for generations. I would truly love for one to emerge and do what's best for our country despite current politics and the media. I suppose I'm pessimistic though, by nature...
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I'm optimistic. I think the tide will shift. FYI...head over to CNN and see what President Obama thinks about small business tax breaks.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I think if an engaging figure came along and took very firm, public positions on any of a number of issues...avoided a negative campaign against his/her opponent...and answered questions without ducking them...I think that person, regardless of party...would win an election walking away.<< Wrong. <a href="http://www.frumforum.com/in-gop-civil-war-my-guy-lost" target="_blank">http://www.frumforum.com/in-go...guy-lost</a>
Originally Posted By DAR I don't want to sound like the witches on this one but as long as pleasing the corporations, lobbyists and special interests are the primary objective of all candidates from all parties we're never going to see any real change in Washington. And I don't see it from the tea party either, it's just another pig but instead of wearing a red and blue dress it's got an indigo one on.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <FYI...head over to CNN and see what President Obama thinks about small business tax breaks.> From the link: "To qualify for the tax break, a small business needs to be a C corporation - sorry, LLCs and S-corps - with assets of less than $50 million." In other words, these breaks are going to ACTUAL small businesses (or at least small and moderately small), rather than the big businesses that the GOP cynically LABELED "small."
Originally Posted By Dabob2 At this point in time, so am I. For but actual small businesses, not zillionaires who are sole owners and thus according to the GOP are "small businesses."
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I do understand about waste, but we have to sit down and do a line item analysis to find out real sources of waste and mismanagement. It's funny how people just assume there is waste without knowing what, or where it is, but they also don't want new taxes, and fully funded extravagances, like fireworks shows.<< We have a few ballot measures here in the Centennial state that if passed would cut state and municipal budgets by 1/3. What is amazaing is that half the electorate supports these bills. It doesn't help to ask questions like: How will school districts cope with such a budget cut? How will we keep the roads paved and safe to drive on? How will we fund state universities, parks, police, fire departments, libraries and other public services that we take for granted? The universal answer is "by cutting waste". Of course when challenged to identify waste they can't document it, but they insist that its so massive that it should be easy to cut. What is especially amazing is that even though the chamber of commerce, elected GOP office holders and local business leaders are on record saying that these cuts will be crippling for the state, polls still show 50% of voters support the cuts, even though Colorado is already one of the lowest taxed states in the US. Simply amazing.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>polls still show 50% of voters support the cuts<< One of these days some state is going to end up actually doing this - either voluntarily or by bankruptcy. Then we'll see if the rest of the country learns from the object lesson.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***I don't want to sound like the witches on this one but as long as pleasing the corporations, lobbyists and special interests are the primary objective of all candidates from all parties we're never going to see any real change in Washington*** Jesus, DAR...70% of the time you contribute "normally", 20% of the time you come out with some of the most off-the-wall, bizarre positions which you defend tooth and nail. And then there's this other 10% of the time where you post the most absolutely spot-on, right on the money, perfect comments like this one. Are you sure there aren't three of YOU posting on LP!?
Originally Posted By andyll <<In other words, these breaks are going to ACTUAL small businesses (or at least small and moderately small), rather than the big businesses that the GOP cynically LABELED "small." >> Hate to tell you but s-corps and llc are not really small. They just have to have a limited number of owners. A lot of the wealthy run their incomes throught these types of corps because it is taxed at a lower rate.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Cutting waste" is the most overused empty, meaningless phrase in politics. NO ONE knows what the hell they're talking about when they say it. It's just a popular thing to say like "I like bacon!" or "I'm all for sunshine!" or "kittens are cute"! I work in local government, too. Sure, there's "waste". We buy piss poor copy machines to "save" money for example, copy machines that aren't commercial grade, meant for excessive amounts of copying. These machines break down because they're overused, so we buy more. Had we purchased the right one in the first place, which would have cost 50% more than the original wrong, we wouldn't have spent the money twice. But we bought the cheaper one the first time because well, it was cheaper and the tax payers like that. We have "waste" going to an "imaging" process allegedly designed to save money on paper. We're supposed to be able to look up documents on a database instead. Except, our work doesn't always call for us to be anchored to one place where we can access that database, so we have to reprint all the imaged documents in order to have access to all we need at a remote location. But we went to imaging because the taxpayers liked the idea of less paper. Multiply that by infinity and there's the real government "waste".
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<In other words, these breaks are going to ACTUAL small businesses (or at least small and moderately small), rather than the big businesses that the GOP cynically LABELED "small." >> <Hate to tell you but s-corps and llc are not really small. They just have to have a limited number of owners. A lot of the wealthy run their incomes throught these types of corps because it is taxed at a lower rate.> Yes, I know. That was the whole point of the Olbermann piece I linked to. The difference between this bill and the one the GOP favored can be found in the last seven words, which perhaps you missed: "To qualify for the tax break, a small business needs to be a C corporation - sorry, LLCs and S-corps - with assets of less than $50 million.""
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Americans are stupidly fickle.<< I just read that 60% of Americans disapprove of how the administration is handling the economy. They don't know if their own taxes went up or down, let alone anything about the actual challenges facing the government. But by golly, they don't like it! Don't like the administration's approach? Just fine, but how about an idea of your own that goes beyond "Well shucks, gov'mint's just too big." In another poll, people were asked if they thought taxes should go up or spending should be reduced to rein in the deficit. Shockingly, the almost-universal answer was "reduce spending." When asked what should have spending cut, the answer was, "Nothing." When the people are that stupid (and they vote) there isn't much more to say.
Originally Posted By DAR <<"Well shucks, gov'mint's just too big.">> It could stand to lose a few pounds.
