Open Thread: Spare the Lectures on Deficit Reduction

Of course, Gregg blatantly lied. (4.00 / 4)

 Sen. Sanders suggested googling to see if Gregg was right about not supporting ending the estate tax.

So I did.

It took about 3 seconds to come up with the fact that he:

Voted YES on raising the Death Tax exemption to $5M from $1M. (Feb 2008)
Voted YES on raising estate tax exemption to $5 million. (Mar 2007)
Voted YES on supporting permanence of estate tax cuts. (Aug 2006)
Voted YES on permanently repealing the `death tax`. (Jun 2006)

But that's not all. He also:

Voted NO on increasing tax rate for people earning over $1 million. (Mar 2008)
Voted YES on allowing AMT reduction without budget offset. (Mar 2008)  
Voted NO on $47B for military by repealing capital gains tax cut. (Feb 2006)
Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends. (Feb 2006)
Voted YES on extending the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. (Nov 2005)
Voted YES on $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years. (May 2003

What did Chairman Sununu say?  Oh, right, "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

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by: Michael Marsh @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 07:16:47 AM CST

If rich people don't have an inheritance with which to (0.00 / 0)

bribe their off-spring, how are they going to keep them under control?

If scholarships are readily available, there goes the value of the legacy.

It's a mistake to focus primarily on the recipients of gifts and ignore the motivation of the donor.  In German, gift = poison.  You know, like that apple with which the step-mother gifted snow white.

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by: hannah @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 16:34:38 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Galbraith Says Deficits Essential to Economic Security (4.00 / 2)

I love that James Galbraith referred to, not deficit hawks, but "deficit peacocks."
Judd.

To listen to the podcast go to burtcohen.com, under (oddly enough) podcasts.  

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 12:37:08 PM CST

That's a great phrase- "deficit peacocks." (0.00 / 0)

I'm gonna have to add it to my vocabulary.

The phrase applies to virtually the entire national GOP, with the exception perhaps of a Ron Paul.  

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by: Michael Marsh @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 15:03:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

He WAS good enough after all. (4.00 / 1)

Senator Al Franken, a former NBC employee, is fighting GE's proposed sale of NBC Universal to Comcast, which he sees as an unreasonable degree of media consolidation.  He's right, and should be applauded for taking this on.

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 14:27:42 PM CST

Fox on my browser (0.00 / 0)

I employ Comcast. Fox seems to be the default "news" source. If this merger kills that, I'm all for it.

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 15:11:48 PM CST

[ Parent ]

If a company that otherwise likes Fox comes to own NBC and MSNBC, (0.00 / 0)

I'm not for it.

Media consolidation in general is not good.

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 21:49:15 PM CST

[ Parent ]

What I'm waiting for is for someone to say, (0.00 / 0)

"It's OUR MONEY, dammit, and we're gonna do with it what we want."

The Federal Reserve being in charge of the money supply is the greatest scam in history.  As long as there was a stash of gold for the banksters to secrete, there wasn't much the Treasury could do about it.  But, that's all history.  We know that Wall Street created gobs of money and then lost it to crafty speculators.  Why should we let them continue doing that?

All of our governmental entities at all levels could be funded with revenue from a .05% tax--that's half a penny on the dollar--on all financial transactions.  That's less than Visa charges for its service and less than the Medicare administrative over-head.  But, the real point of these numbers is to show how bloated private sector management is.

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by: hannah @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 16:15:11 PM CST

37 MILLION people (4.00 / 1)

Just shocking.

More Americans are going hungry in hard times and are increasingly dependent on private charity, according to a new study by Feeding America, a national network of food banks. The study found that 37 million people - roughly one in eight Americans - had sought emergency food assistance from the network last year, a 46 percent increase from 2006.

(snip)

It is reassuring that so many Americans are eager to help their neighbors. But it is also clear that the government safety net is failing. The Feeding America study found that about 30 percent of those seeking help from their facilities also received food stamps. This bolsters what advocates for the poor have said for years, that the food stamp program isn't reaching everyone who is eligible. That must be fixed.

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by: JimC @ Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 22:11:39 PM CST

This is an embarrassment (4.00 / 1)

HuffPo: NH State Rep. Nancy Elliott, Anti-Gay Lawmaker, Describes Anal Sex During Public Hearing: 'Wriggling' Around 'In Excrement'

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 15:54:49 PM CST

Just A Few (0.00 / 0)

Observations...

Gotta love me some Bernie.  Why can't we get actual Democrats who'll fight in plain words like that?

Judd Gregg is himself a living monument to inheritance and legacy.  If we'd done what Teddy Roosevelt wanted to in the early part of the last century, he'd have had to compete and work for his wealth and power. Most likely, he'd be selling used cars today!

I have Road Runner, which gets its national news from Associated Press, which is just as bad as FAUX since they put a Karl Rove protege in charge of it.

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by: Ref @ Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 07:24:37 AM CST