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- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -12/+49How many times do tax cuts have to fail before we stop advocating for them?
- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -8/+44Y'know how he could really get some jobs going in this economy? Legalize marijuana. It's really perfect, because if anyone wants to get high right now and forget their troubles, it's the middle class, and they'll be the ones growing the product. Not to mention freeing up about half the $60 billion drug war budget to go to the trillion dollar stimulus (and let's not forget the tax revenue from weed). It's a win-win situation.
- FlyingPhotog, on 01/31/2009, -10/+34Not surprising coming from Obama, a Chicago guy- but I work in the airline industry, where Labor Unions' contract demands have been driving companies into the ground. This does not excite me.
- sgerwel1985, on 01/31/2009, -23/+44From the LITTLE that i read it seems that Obama wants to empower the unions even more? Was it not the unions that crippled the US automotive industry? Was it not the unions that have employees building the roads and bridges that seem to every year require more and more repairs?
It seems that overall, stronger unions is counter-productive to the concept of strong education. - inactive, on 01/31/2009, -7/+26Middle class task force! WTF! Obama is such a demagogue!
- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -0/+18One thing about the weed movement, you guys are persistent. I am not anti-weed, But since I am not much of a smoker, I obviously dont have the same passionate enthusiasm as you all do. Therefor, I always get a good laugh, when no matter what the tragedy, you can always find someone explaining about how weed can fix the problem, and could have prevented it all-together. All jokes aside though... you guys are making progress. Keep fighting your fight.
- jtpinhead, on 01/31/2009, -14/+31Good thing we have the labor unions to fight the corporations.
Just look how they brought the auto companies to their knees.
\s - PopcornDave, on 01/31/2009, -7/+22Yes, but a weaker educated society is easier to manipulate.
- mcquitty, on 01/31/2009, -6/+19No, he is giving welfare to the poor and some tax breaks to the middle class. If you pay no taxes and yet get a rebate, it can't be called a tax cut. My wife's cousin gets more back each year than she puts in. Welfare.
- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -7/+20Sure, if you fix pot holes on my street.
- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -1/+12@jayll:
I personally don't smoke marijuana (gives me a headache afterward), but nearly half the US population over the age of 12 has, at some point, smoked it, yet we're spending time, effort, energy, and money arresting and prosecuting people for a habit which is not physically addictive, cannot lead to overdose, and may even have positive physiological benefits.
Besides, drunks are annoying. Potheads are chill. I'd rather people be high in public than drunk. - PacoLugi, on 01/31/2009, -12/+23More labor unions in a global economy? Good luck with that
- Anth0n, on 01/31/2009, -27/+38If you want to raise the standard of living for the middle class how about a tax cut?
- peter3118, on 01/31/2009, -2/+12Wrong: it was the US auto industries poor management and lack quality and innovation (compared to the Japanese, South Koreans, and European auto companies). Also, how do you explain the fact that unions in European countries (especially western European counties) are far stronger and the workers get far greater benefits then US union workers…but the European auto companies are NOT in danger of going out of business or in need of tax payer bailout—unlike their American counterparts?
- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -7/+17While I wouldn't go as far as to get rid of the entire concept of "union" we certainly have to reconsider how much good does it actually do for the worker and the economy. Unions are dragging down the entire American economy.
- MadEnvoy, on 01/31/2009, -0/+9I don't smoke at all, but I am pro legalization. The "war on drugs" is just a money maker for "the man". Marijuana is no where near as bad as alcohol yet it is demonized and used to line the pockets of corrupt g-men and hoods. Legalize and you have a cash crop that would outdo tobacco and cause less harm. Hemp has far more uses than you see in Cheece and Chong movies.
- FI5HERMAN, on 01/31/2009, -4/+13Level the playing field is a phrase I feel gets overused and has lost its impact & importance to-day !!!
- inactive, on 01/31/2009, -9/+18Obama is really bad at naming his initiatives. When I hear "task force" I laugh at this mental picture of Special Ops smashing thru my roof and going all Jack Bauer on me for being in the Middle Class, which clearly is NOT what this is. But I find that one funny.
However, not so funny, is the fact that many people know that we are getting a huge "stimulus" and have no idea how all this money is going to be used. In reality, the stimulus portion of the bill is so minute, with less than 100 Billion of it expected to be used within the next year, even though Obama says, repeatedly, "The only chance we have to turn this around is to get this passed and get this money into the economy as quickly as possible." However, this is a huge spending bill that is expected to be rolled out over the course of the next 10 years.
I'm still trying to figure out how over 300 million for STD education and training, and over 200 million to buy birth control for the people that are clearly too busy to work, but have plenty of time to ***** is going to stimulate anything other than genitalia.??
Had to add one more thing. I am glad this task force wants to give people a chance to "earn a piece of the pie" BUT as a capitalistic, free-market democracy, we have never been forced to earn a measly slice of the government pie We've always been able to go out and get as much of our own pie as we want. - SirCharge, on 01/31/2009, -16/+25Finally, a president the Hoffa family can get behind.
Because, as the US car companies have proven, the best way for American companies to compete is to have a strong union. - fuzzmeister, on 01/31/2009, -3/+12Obama wants to make sure that labor still has strong representation, but he also certainly knows that unions aren't always a good influence. If you look at his statements a few months back on how to fix the auto industry, he clearly talks about how the unions must make concessions to ensure the survival of the companies.
- RyFo18, on 01/31/2009, -4/+12He's got the task force...Now he just needs to teach people to ditch their gov't handouts and be willing to work. Good luck with that one.
- sgerwel1985, on 01/31/2009, -1/+9True. With that said, the only true way to counter-attack these "manipulations" (which i agree with the democrat party thrives on uneducated people as much as they do those who are unable to think on their own) is to make higher education more affordable. I am not talking about charity essentially, but some tuitions have skyrocketed so much that there are so many brilliant minds out there who are left out of higher education because of their financial standing.
- Foot56, on 01/31/2009, -2/+9Then again a Republican administration bought us a recession.
- haydukeqc, on 01/31/2009, -3/+10Management is mostly middle class too!
- jcaino, on 01/31/2009, -0/+7Nothing better after a workout than a good, dark beer and a doob.
- PacoLugi, on 01/31/2009, -0/+7what was middle class?
- PopcornDave, on 01/31/2009, -8/+15And apparently nobody realizes that union management is pretty much a corporation on to itself with the way it screws it's members. Sure they get them a few things here and there, but management never seems to have to worry about being laid off.
- cyclopssmiley, on 01/31/2009, -9/+15The funny thing is, that while doing a math modeling project, we found out that by increasing income taxes on every bracket, and making more brackets, one could basically jump start the economy.
Take for instance during the great depression, the richest tax bracket had a 90% income tax, which is preposterous, but... effective. - phrenzy, on 01/31/2009, -10/+16Cue the Randians pissing on this idea (but not offering any alternative solutions) and pining for the gilded age of robber barons.
- neoneddy, on 01/31/2009, -6/+11Question: If I pay no taxes, how can I receive a tax cut? See Bar Stool Economics.
- fupresti, on 01/31/2009, -3/+8Unions and willing to work for it don't seem to work well in the same sentence.
- boonesfarm, on 01/31/2009, -3/+8How can you still be cracking Palin jokes when Joe Biden is right there, under your nose?
Although, when it comes to unions, he'll remind you that he comes from 3 or 4 small "workin class' towns.
Don't let the fact that he has 0 years in the private sector discourage you. - jayselle, on 01/31/2009, -2/+7It was just a misunderstanding. They "forgot" to pay their taxes for several years in a row. Forgetting to pay income taxes for their servants had nothing to do with them actually being illegal aliens.
Do as I say and not as I do. - inactive, on 01/31/2009, -3/+7You want to see a scary video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3FJnPPfRw
This video shows how much more currency is in circulation than last October; it has increased by 70%, which means our money is worth a lot less than it was 6 months ago. We can't afford any of this stimulus bailout crap. - venom8599, on 01/31/2009, -7/+11Good, it's about time.
- bigtoes, on 01/31/2009, -1/+5This guy ran on supporting the working class . If Obama is serious he will renegotiate NAFTA & our unfair trade agreements with other countries before he concentrates on strengthening unions for the little amount of the pie we have now . Our trade agreements are destroying America more than unions . Hold him to his word !!!
- seltaeb4, on 01/31/2009, -0/+4Too Insane; DR
- mdmcgee, on 01/31/2009, -6/+10minoss : Way to fail at recognizing that we have been trying tax cuts and "tax rebates" for 8 damn years and it hasn't managed to fix anything. This problem didn't just creep up on us and suddenly we are close to a depression. It has been building for years and we have been pumping the economy with tax rebate checks and tax cuts for 8 years. What happened? The problem got worse and all the money went to China. Tax cuts won't fix the problem. The government needs to spend the money from the top down on American goods for it to do anything worthwhile.
Giving you another thousand so you can pay off the credit card or go buy a big screen from China will only help chinas economy.
Insanity : continuing to try the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. - fugazied, on 01/31/2009, -3/+7You obviously have no idea what socialism is. When the means of production is controlled by the government, that's when we are in a socialist state. Stop being a ***** moron and read a book or something.
- KDX200rider, on 01/31/2009, -4/+8A task force lead by Joey plugs? Oh now I feel better.....Will this task force visit any Home Depots?
- aceg1357, on 01/31/2009, -2/+6Call me provential but the fact Obama wants to actually supress information about labor laws doesn't strike me as a good thing. Workers have the right to leave a union and Obama wants to supress that information! I don't think anybody benefits from that unless you are unions or a politician getting big bucks from Unions. Looks like political payback for union money paid to Obama's campiagn from worker dues. I guess this is what he meant by "change". Supression of workers rights is "change" but not good change.
- mfc5200, on 01/31/2009, -2/+6There was ONE STUPID article on digg a few months back, and people treat it like it was the bible. Here I'm going to randomly pick three numbers with regard to market from the fortune 500 and see how much they paid in taxes.
Here we go: 10 billion dollar market capitalization, 50 billion, 100 billion. ready?
Google: 106 billion. Income before tax = 5,853.60 million. Taxes paid = 1630 million. Tax rate = 27%
Schlumberger: 48 billion. Income before tax = 6,852.45 Taxes paid = 1430 million. Tax rate = 20%
Western Union : 10 billion. Income before tax = 1,222.40 Taxes paid = 365 million Tax rate = 29%
So I just took a random numbers. and looked it up. Guess what? THEY ALL PAID TAXES. The report you cited, which was flawed as ***** because it cited ADR which aren't based in the US and pay taxes in their respective countries.
American companies pay taxes. I just proved it to you with random companies. In fact, they pay ALOT of taxes (billions as you just saw, 3 companies).
You want to compete with India and China? Well you better become more productive. Because in the long run, that is all you can do. The government is incapable of doing anything over the long run.
All they can do is make the conditions for enterprise here in the US stronger than it is there via good economic policies such as low tax rates, and easy/common sense laws. Besides that, its our job to get good educations, study hard, and work hard. - Foot56, on 01/31/2009, -4/+8a lot being his home state is 78% middle class. lol
- Troika37, on 01/26/2010, -0/+3You mean 'trying to TAKE every last cent,' right?
- jayselle, on 01/31/2009, -5/+8Nope, we need to raise taxes. It's obvious that our government knows best and can spend the money better than you can. What do you need that money for anyways? Let your government decide what to do with it. Perhaps they can give your money to someone less fortunate than you regardless of their work ethic and decisions they've made.
- infinitydl, on 01/31/2009, -2/+5Its isn't the "tax cuts that failed" After each tax cut, more money was brought in by the treasury because of "increased economic activity" Check the CBO and Treasury reports if you like! (this makes sense if you have a basic understanding of economics, when you tax something, the end result is to have less of it. Congress keeps spending even more then they are bringing in. (and BTW it is not "defense" sucking up all that money either, 2/3 of the budget are going to Medicare, Medicaid and SS) add in some pet projects, giveaways and patronage to groups that donated to your party) Also those tax rebates are a hoax, giving a "tax rebate" to folks who don't even earn enough to pay income taxes is just back door welfare (of course Pres Obama is open and honest about everything) something akin to 90% of all taxes are paid by the top 20% of earners, and 50% of all taxes are paid by the top 1%, yet all those folks at the bottom who pay no taxes (which is fine since they need their money) are getting rebates (which means they are getting MY MONEY which I need to feed my own family thanks, I don't work 60 hours a week to feed someone else's family.
- Swivelstick, on 02/01/2009, -0/+3So the current "financial crisis" was caused by the unions and all the union members now being fired due to this crisis are responsible for that?
- GotMoobs, on 01/31/2009, -1/+4LOL thats great, so the unions are part of the solution tell that to the UAW who keep squeezing GM and ford for everything til no one in UAW has a job.
Chains we can believe in. - inactive, on 01/31/2009, -2/+5@Matt: I know; Glen Beck blows, but look how in the last 6 months the money supply has increased by the same amount that it has since WWI. We are ***** and it's the "Federal" Reserve that is ***** us.
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
-Thomas Jefferson - zuiquan, on 01/31/2009, -8/+11He grew up middle class. Man, some people are just complete knuckleheads.
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