First, let me proudly say I am a liberal and a Democrat.
Just as a quick aside, most of what we enjoy and take for granted today is because of liberal and/or Democratic Party policies or principals. We live in a "Liberal" democracy! Meaning the founders generally believed that we are all equals, with inalienable rights. The bill of rights in the constitution, is the most important part, and what allows us to have this conversation, and saves us from the tyranny of the rich.
Our country is in crisis because we have been sold this fantasy that free market capitalism is democracy, and that the purpose of our government is to grease the skids for the multi-national corporations and let them do as they please in the quest for profit and that the mythical free-hand of the market is going to police all of this and make life better for everyone like magic. Basically, as Gordon Gecko said in the movie Wall Street, “Greed is good.”
The purveyors of this non-sense have mainly been the conservative Republicans, though the Democratic Leadership Council (e.g. Bill Clinton, a Republican with a heart) also subscribe but to a lesser degree.
In 1980 the majority of Americans bought into trickle-down economics and elected Ronald Reagan as president. The result of these policies, that have basically dominated public policy for the last 28 years, has been the gutting of the federal tax base where the wealthiest among us pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes than does a family of 4 living on $40,000 a year. People like us received a pittance in the reduction of our taxes to the tune of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, while the wealthy received tens of thousands to millions.
The highest paid executive in 2007, James Simons, earned $1.7 billion trading stocks as a hedge fund manager. (A mere $817,300 an hour). And for this money he produced absolutely nothing for the economy. Yet he will pay at most pay 35% in taxes (assuming it is all short term profit) or as little as 15%, while my total tax rate is 35% and I make $65K a year. I would have to work over 26,000 years (20,000 years before recorded history) to earn that much money (without interest), yet I listen to people everyday who earn less then I complain about how unfair it is to tax the super-rich at a higher rate. If Mr. Simon were taxed at 99% (which I am not advocating but using for illustration), he would still have $17 million after tax. Poor guy!
So now we have a situation where the United States, that was the wealthiest nation in the world, the world’s largest creditor, the world’s largest manufacturing nation, with a mere $1 trillion dollars in debt when Reagan was elected, with good roads, affordable college tuition, and you could deduct your car and credit card interest, and the average American carried only 60% of their annual income in debt, to the largest debtor nation in the world, with crumbling infrastructure, our kids graduating from college with 10's of thousands of $'s in debt, and $9 trillion in national debt, the dollar is worth 2/3's of what it did when the strict constructionists on the Supreme Court put a retard in the White House, and all the good paying manufacturing jobs are in Mexico or China, real income for the average American has stagnated, the real estate market and banking industry are in meltdown and gas is $4 a gallon, (but no one is out of gas?), and the average American now carries 120% of their annual income in debt. Basically, Reaganomics and conservative politicians and businessmen have ruined our country. But they still have a shot at the White House in 08.
In short (ya, for this long winded tirade) the Republicans lied us into a war in Iraq, to destabilize the region, and allow their buddies to war profiteer in the billions, while killing over 4,000 of our sons and daughters and maiming tens of thousands more, and their economic policies are bankrupting our nation, they feed us a constant diet of fear from terrorists, yet 43% of the people recently polled are still going to vote Republican? WTF?
So if you believe these lies, 1) Liberals hate America, 2) Poor people are only poor because they are lazy, 3) Health Insurance companies don’t deny benefits but Government funded Universal Single Payer Health Insurance would, 4) Corporations, (who’s sole existence they say is to enhance stockholder value), care about the USA, creating good paying jobs here, or anything else except profit, 5) that if we could only drill for oil where ever Exxon/Mobil wants gas would still be a $1 a gallon, regardless of the fact they have 160 million acres of oil leases they have not bothered to develop yet, 6) Global Warming is a hoax and Environmentalist love rocks and hate people and progress, and 7) if we only cut taxes some more the economy would take off like the Roadrunner on acid, then you will probably believe this:
“Your FZ6 is really a big bong pipe, and if you slap your lips around the tail pipe with the engine running at 8,000 rpm’s, and inhale like Clinton didn’t, you will achieve Nirvana!”
I need a beer. I’m voting for Obama. And the Dolphins will win the Superbowl (not)! Or maybe I should smoke my FZ6 bong? I sure at this point you probably think I should!
Luv Ya’s, Peace, and ride safe.
Lewis
Just as a quick aside, most of what we enjoy and take for granted today is because of liberal and/or Democratic Party policies or principals. We live in a "Liberal" democracy! Meaning the founders generally believed that we are all equals, with inalienable rights. The bill of rights in the constitution, is the most important part, and what allows us to have this conversation, and saves us from the tyranny of the rich.
Our country is in crisis because we have been sold this fantasy that free market capitalism is democracy, and that the purpose of our government is to grease the skids for the multi-national corporations and let them do as they please in the quest for profit and that the mythical free-hand of the market is going to police all of this and make life better for everyone like magic. Basically, as Gordon Gecko said in the movie Wall Street, “Greed is good.”
The purveyors of this non-sense have mainly been the conservative Republicans, though the Democratic Leadership Council (e.g. Bill Clinton, a Republican with a heart) also subscribe but to a lesser degree.
In 1980 the majority of Americans bought into trickle-down economics and elected Ronald Reagan as president. The result of these policies, that have basically dominated public policy for the last 28 years, has been the gutting of the federal tax base where the wealthiest among us pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes than does a family of 4 living on $40,000 a year. People like us received a pittance in the reduction of our taxes to the tune of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, while the wealthy received tens of thousands to millions.
The highest paid executive in 2007, James Simons, earned $1.7 billion trading stocks as a hedge fund manager. (A mere $817,300 an hour). And for this money he produced absolutely nothing for the economy. Yet he will pay at most pay 35% in taxes (assuming it is all short term profit) or as little as 15%, while my total tax rate is 35% and I make $65K a year. I would have to work over 26,000 years (20,000 years before recorded history) to earn that much money (without interest), yet I listen to people everyday who earn less then I complain about how unfair it is to tax the super-rich at a higher rate. If Mr. Simon were taxed at 99% (which I am not advocating but using for illustration), he would still have $17 million after tax. Poor guy!
So now we have a situation where the United States, that was the wealthiest nation in the world, the world’s largest creditor, the world’s largest manufacturing nation, with a mere $1 trillion dollars in debt when Reagan was elected, with good roads, affordable college tuition, and you could deduct your car and credit card interest, and the average American carried only 60% of their annual income in debt, to the largest debtor nation in the world, with crumbling infrastructure, our kids graduating from college with 10's of thousands of $'s in debt, and $9 trillion in national debt, the dollar is worth 2/3's of what it did when the strict constructionists on the Supreme Court put a retard in the White House, and all the good paying manufacturing jobs are in Mexico or China, real income for the average American has stagnated, the real estate market and banking industry are in meltdown and gas is $4 a gallon, (but no one is out of gas?), and the average American now carries 120% of their annual income in debt. Basically, Reaganomics and conservative politicians and businessmen have ruined our country. But they still have a shot at the White House in 08.
In short (ya, for this long winded tirade) the Republicans lied us into a war in Iraq, to destabilize the region, and allow their buddies to war profiteer in the billions, while killing over 4,000 of our sons and daughters and maiming tens of thousands more, and their economic policies are bankrupting our nation, they feed us a constant diet of fear from terrorists, yet 43% of the people recently polled are still going to vote Republican? WTF?
So if you believe these lies, 1) Liberals hate America, 2) Poor people are only poor because they are lazy, 3) Health Insurance companies don’t deny benefits but Government funded Universal Single Payer Health Insurance would, 4) Corporations, (who’s sole existence they say is to enhance stockholder value), care about the USA, creating good paying jobs here, or anything else except profit, 5) that if we could only drill for oil where ever Exxon/Mobil wants gas would still be a $1 a gallon, regardless of the fact they have 160 million acres of oil leases they have not bothered to develop yet, 6) Global Warming is a hoax and Environmentalist love rocks and hate people and progress, and 7) if we only cut taxes some more the economy would take off like the Roadrunner on acid, then you will probably believe this:
“Your FZ6 is really a big bong pipe, and if you slap your lips around the tail pipe with the engine running at 8,000 rpm’s, and inhale like Clinton didn’t, you will achieve Nirvana!”
I need a beer. I’m voting for Obama. And the Dolphins will win the Superbowl (not)! Or maybe I should smoke my FZ6 bong? I sure at this point you probably think I should!
Luv Ya’s, Peace, and ride safe.
Lewis
