Followers

Total Pageviews

Friday, February 15, 2013

Now I’m Beginning to Understand the Difference

 The Dumbphone

I finally got the republican message the other day when Chris Matthews was interviewing a representative of the Tea Party Express. Every question he asked her got a response, of “ we need to reduce our debt.” That in itself is not a bad goal but more importantly, it lays out the differences between liberals and conservatives.

Allow me to simplify the mindset of the ideological divide in our country. Republicans want a balanced budget and they want to remain revenue neutral throughout. For example, right now we spend about 25% of GDP and take in 15% of GDP(revenues), leaving a 10% budget deficit. Republicans don’t want more revenues for balance because they are upset with the 25% we currently spend. Their goal is to get spending to 18% of GDP, which will leaves no room for expanding or maintaining entitlements and social programs. That’s their smaller government approach which means they are in favor of tax reform if all the savings go toward lowering the debt. Once we get the savings, then they want to broaden the base and lower the corporate and individual rates. That is classis supply-side trickle- down economics that has never worked.

Democrats are not against a balanced budget but they don’t want a constitutional amendment that requires it. That would mean making equivalent cuts in social programs, every time FEMA went over their budget amount, in responding to a natural disaster. Democrats think that we have to continue investing in education, innovation and infrastructure to remain competitive. I don’t think anyone can disagree that we are behind in education, innovation and infrastructural repair.

Joe Scarborough is trying to turn everyone against the Nobel Prize winning Paul Krugman because he said that we don’t have to worry about the debt right now. Joe is obsessed with the debt (we will never pay it off in my lifetime) and he talks about it every day. Paul Krugman is obsessed with jobs and he thinks that worrying about the debt can be put off for now. Joe Scarborough thinks Congress can do two things at once and Paul Krugman disagrees with that.

There’s a lot of “blowing out someone’s candle to make theirs shine brighter” attitude from people who are demonizing those on welfare and it starts at the headquarters of the GOP. Republicans continue to spread the myth that democrats support a culture of government dependency. In fact, Marco Rubio, alluded to that in his rebuttal to the president’s SOTU the other night. The demographics have changed a lot from that of the 1980s Ronald Reagan era. This new generation is not anti- government and they see a positive role for an efficient government. Government doesn’t solve all our problems but that doesn’t mean it can’t solve any problems. For those of you who don’t need government, good for you and I applaud your success but not everyone has your good fortune.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, got his hat handed to him after he expected Mitch McConnell to keep up his end of the bargain of limiting the filibuster rule. The republican senators made history by blocking a president’s cabinet position nominee when the 60 vote threshold was not met. John McCain said on tape that he would not filibuster Chuck Hagel , thus allowing it to go to the floor for an up or down vote. He excuses his slide by saying that it was a temporary delaying tactic to get more information and that once recess is over(10 days), he and Lindsey Graham would vote to let the nomination come to the floor. At least John McCain is honest by saying that it’s about payback for Chuck Hagel saying that President Bush was the worst president in our lifetime (true) and the surge in Iraq was the worst foreign policy ever. Some senators like Lindsey Graham are holding the nomination as a hostage, to get more answers about Benghazi. I think the minority party is using all the delays, as a last stop effort to keep any of Obama’s agenda from getting a vote. They think they will gain enough seats in 2014 to be the majority in 2014.

There’s been a long tradition that freshmen senators were to be seen and not heard but Ted Cruz has broken that tradition, but he’s in good company because Rand Paul and Marco Rubio did the same thing but they didn’t get the coverage. Ted Cruz had the audacity to question the patriotism of a bronze star recipient, Chuck Hagel and everyday he is making a a complete ass of himself . Texas’s other senator is up for reelection in 2014, and he’s scared he will get primarried by someone to the right of him, so the joke around Washington is that Ted Cruz has two votes. Democrats are sticking with the tradition because their rising star, Senator Elizabeth Warren, is following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton by keeping a low profile. Well yesterday, Senator Warren put Wall Street and the federal regulators on notice with a simple question “have you ever taken a bank or Wall Street CEO to trial?”

The GOP is angry and frustrated because no one likes to be the minority party,so right now they are struggling with their identity,do they want to be a Tea Party or like like they were in the 1990s? It took the Democrats 12 years to get over their losing ways until Bill Clinton showed them the way with a little help from Ross Perot.

4 comments:

Mike said...

Last night Ezra Klein made a solid case for increasing the minimum wage.

He showed a chart where the top 1% captured 121% of the gains in the first two years of our recovery and wages started on a downward spiral.

He realizes the minimum wage will impact the small business more than it will the big corporations because the latter will either raise prices,cut back on payouts to their shareholders or start finding ways to use technology to replace workers....The fairer way would be to continue to take away the tax loopholes the top 1% have and come up with more tax credits for the middle class...We still to increase the federal minimum wage because that's just a path to the continuance of income inequality...Several states have a higher minimum wage than the federal one. Tying the minimum wage to the cost of living index is a point Obama and Romney agreed on.

Bottom line ,we know the corporations will not increase wages on their own,look at the stock market,corporate profits then ask if wages are rising accordingly.

I take you back to 1929 Great Depression where all the wealth was concentrated at the top..Fat cats do not consume enough to satisfy our consumer based economy.

Mike said...

And then Laura Vickers said "stewert I am not on foodstamps I work hard and so does my husband and I would love chocolate covered strawberries but I can not afford them because my taxes go to pay for these people to "enjoy the good life"

Really,how superficial,most anyone can put something back and pick some chocolate covered strawberries unless you are only left with pennies the day after payday...Those food stamps your tax money paid for didn't cost you any more than the $400 billion we pay for the the new F-35. You see,your payroll taxes go to pay ALL the acquired debt as well as those of those poor people you demonize. Food stamps is an allotted amount,so it's not as if the recipients can go back and get more because they didn't spend it wisely in your opinion.

Mike said...

Then Donna Pridgen writes " What about the folks out there working multiple jobs because they refuse to accept charity and doing good to scrape together their family's needs? Their kids don't get junk to put smiles on their faces...And you know that, how?

Wait,Donna two or three jobs because they refuse to accept charity!I could come up with a 5 or 6 reasons for that and none of them include welfare...I think they are trying to make ends meet for now but isn't there a problem with corporate profits out the roof,a very low minimum wage and income inequality?

Oh,I need a Facebook account to do my part to keep my fellow Victorians from catching a severe case of the dumb ass.

Mike said...

Who says we are in an economic downturn ?
Houston's Galleria Mall was shut down early because of overcrowding....That's a huge mall...Must be tax refunds.