Nah, it doesn’t have to be that way. You just need power to be eroded from the rich, and I figure it’ll happen eventually considering the divide is growing. You can’t continually piss on the lower classes and get away with it. History’s shown us that.
Thanks, Maz. You just gave my entire opinion on trickle-down economics (aka the dumbest form of economics ever created).
Yay for needing a government elected by the informed populace instead of the average stiff who doesnt know a candidate from his asshole and votes almost solely based on propaganda commercials.
No, it was a tax increase for most people. Sure, lots of people got those $400 and $600 rebates. So what? Sales taxes have gone up (for instance, in the town I’m from, it used to be that some things were taxed at 3% and some at 7%, and now everything is at 8%), school taxes have gone up, property taxes have gone up, budgets are being slashed everywhere, college tuition is going up at a large rate, while financial aid is going down, and so forth. Hell, New York State is even trying to implement a new retroactive sales tax for shit bought over the Internet, just because it’s running out of sources of revenue. Every single one of these things affects the middle and working classes inordinately more than the very rich, and a very big reason for why those things are happening is because the federal government squandered billions of dollars on this so-called “tax cut,” half of which went to the richest 1% of the country, which otherwise could have been used to help the states. In the long run, all of that vastly outweighs a one-time payment of $600 or even $1000.
We have to create over 150,000 jobs just to keep up with the growth in the working-age population.
A few remarks on the unbelievably idiotic swill quoted in the initial post:
- The United States only declared war on Germany after Germany declared war on the United States. By the way, Congress declared war, not FDR.
- American troops were drawn into the Korean War only after they were attacked.
- Clinton not only understood the threat of terrorism, but devoted resources to stopping terrorist attacks within the United States, e.g. the 2000 bomb plots. By contrast, John Ashcroft rejected counterterrorism funds in order to go after drug users, and the Bush administration ignored the Clinton administration’s Hart-Rudman report that warned about the threat of terrorism.
- The “terrorist who killed his own people” was only there in the first place due to years of support from the Reagan administration, which sold him the same chemical weapons that he allegedly used to kill “his own people.” By the way, we’ve killed just as many of his people as he had by now.
- If Bush “crippled al-Qaeda,” then why the fuck has the administration been warning everyone just last week about the likelihood of an al-Qaeda attack on American soil?
- We still haven’t “taken” Iraq even after 400 days, which is why we ended up leaving Fallujah after asking one of Saddam Hussein’s former generals to please come and make a truce with the rebels.
Crippled al-Qaida.
And yet they’ve enjoyed a massive increase of members and support?
You can’t stop terrorism by dropping bombs. You have to find the cause and work at that.
Because it was so stupid, I’m going to repeat that Germany declared war on us first in WWII. It happened after we declared war on Japan for bombing Pearl Harbor. Whoever made this list needs to go back to 8th grade American History.
Liberated two countries - Afghanistan didn’t attack us, and neither did Iraq. Their governments may have supported terrorism, but since they didn’t directly attack us, we can just ignore that by this type of logic.
Crippled al-Quida - How do we know this? Taking out some of the leaders doesn’t cripple an organization that is organized to operate in small, independent groups.
Captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. - I assume this is refering to Saddam. I guess we’re not counting all those shots that missed because they weren’t fired on the exact day we captured him. You know, like the time we fired a couple of missiles into the building where we thought he was hiding?
The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but…
It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the
Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51 day operation. - I don’t know anything about the Branch Davidian compound, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t involve helping rebuild a country after it was over, and how can we define when the war in Iraq ended if we’re still fighting insurgents?
We’ve been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records. - I don’t care about chemical weapons, but Hillary aparently did FIND the Rose Law Firm billing records.
It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick. - What kind of argument is this? The United States military defeating soldiers who virtually didn’t fight faster than someone made a phone call tells us what?
Where are the intelligent arguments?
All of these rich people you’re talking about aren’t going to make the economy any better, because they’re too busy funding the parties of their favorite politicians to realize that tax cuts aren’t going to work.
The Branch Davidian compoud was a very sensitive case. If they had just stormed the compound, everyone in there would be dead. Reno did a better job than Ashcroft will ever be able to muster.
I can’t imagine Ralph Nader has very many billionares behind him at all, considering he always comes in dead last in the elections he runs in, and the fact that he’s a third party candidate doesn’t help much at all.
::dekar!:: I think I’ll just reply to the original post, even though I am talking about the whole discussion that followed.
On the subject of our nations current state of political affairs. I pose a simple question for you all. Which is the worse fate: to be a resident in a nation where political power is defined by wealth, and money is controlled by a small elite group that has little moral obligation to the commoners, or to be a resident in a nation where all political power is held by one man and his minions, who maintain structure and authority through brutal force, or to be a resident in a country where your own so called “president” is promoting the genocidal cival war which daily brings bombshells into your village?
Now I am NOT supporting Bush. To be brutally honest I think that he was elected in one of the most corrupt fashions this nation has seen in a good while. Though the count may have ultimately gone in his favor, I feel that his brothers decision was shameful and un-American. And I feel that his presidency since election has been one of corruption in the business world, ignorance in the cultural advancement of our nation, and downright imperial in reference to the Middle-East. But despite the Patriot Act and other atrocities against our free-willed way of life, Bush is only a passing threat to our nation. In time (hopefully short) he will be gone from his office, and we will have a new “most hated man in America.”
The point is this: our country is one of the more free economic powers in the world. Now, as to whether or not comfortable living and freedom are worth the price we pay, that is for each man to decide. I personally feel that our comfort is in a sense the price we pay, as we look out at the less fortunate nations of the world and are forced to reckon with the misery that can exist. Though there are other countries I would rather call home (Cuba for one), I can certainly say that I am glad that we are more stable than Bosnia, and more free than Iraq.
And as for why I chose those countries as examples, it is part of the American way to only learn about nations with which we are in conflict. Few people are educated about Uganda and the strife there, or the struggles that still rage in South America. There are countless examples of nations worse off than us, so please, before we all go spouting our disdain with government corruption, let us at least appreciate our capacity to freely speak against our politicians, and our freedom to attempt (albeit most likely in vain) to effect changes.
That being said, I would like to share that I met an honest politician once…
… :ah-ha!: once.
Thanks for sticking with me on that one. :boring:
Yeah, Nader’s campaign has less than $1 million dollars total right now.
Opposition to Bush, on such measures as the draconian “Patriot Act,” largely stems from exactly this appreciation.
Does Bosnia or Iraq have a five trillion dollar debt? Each nation has its problem, and ours is a completely corrupt Presidential administration. You’re obviously unaware that a lot of AMERICANS have poor living conditions. Have you forgotten how many people have lost jobs up to this point because of the poor state of the economy? What the hell do you think THEY’RE doing? Not everybody in this nation has luxurious living space. “For each man to decide”? People don’t DECIDE if they want to be rich or poor.
Your “most hated man in America” bit is BS. You’re implying that the President of the U.S. is always hated. There was a flood of sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11 took place. Bush has just made countless enemies with his idiotic decisions. People didn’t hate Clinton; he was developing a good reputation with the rest of the world with his role as a mediator in global disputes. People hate Bush because he’s a warmongering fool.
President Bush has …
liberated two countries,
To liberate a country, that country has to be occupied first. By another country.
crushed the Taliban…
To be honest, if he didn’t do it, someone else would have. I mean, tell me it sent a shiver up your spine to see pictures of people holding up yellow ID cards saying they were Jewish Muslims ( I think?).
…put nuclear inspectors in Libya,
Iran and North Korea
Only by using Iraq as an example of what would happen if they didn’t.
As for the chemical weapons part, I love that Saturday Night Live bit:
A UN Weapons Inspector knocks on the door of a house and a Republican Guard opens the door and sticks his head out; obscuring the inside of the house with the door.
The weapons inspector says, " Are there any chemical weapons in the house?"
The guard looks around furtively, thinks a bit, then answers carefully and clearly, “No.”
The inspector asks “Are you sure?”.
The guard thinks for a second, then answers carefully and clearly, “Yes.”
The inspector apologizes, “Well, thank you for being so cooperative and sorry for disturbing your evening.”
“Bush has just made countless enemies with his idiotic decisions. People didn’t hate Clinton; he was developing a good reputation with the rest of the world with his role as a mediator in global disputes. People hate Bush because he’s a warmongering fool.”
Wanna elaborate on the idiotic decisions? Oh yea omega clinton was real great, mabey if you wanna screw over the cia!!! And geese look what clintons “great reputation” got us, oh yea thats right 4 planes used as bombs, and dont even begin to try and say that 9/11 was because of bush cause then you will just look foolish. Look what else happend under clinton, oh yea thats right 200+ die in embassy bombings in africa and what does clinton do about it? JACK SHIT!!! Kind of ironic also that you call bush a “warmongering fool” when you have stated that you support the removal of saddam hussien. Oh like we hadnt already gave him a fucking ultimatum!!!
…I just find it fitting that someone who calls themselves “BushWins2004” acts like an AOL-fied O’Reilly. …And spells “geez” and “geese.”
That is all.
I’m not being biased (or moreso, I’m not bringing my bias into the conversation), all I said was that trickle down economics didn’t work. That’s a proven fact.
Um aol sucks, I just tend to be more relaxed on spelling on the net.
Yeah, you and every other fuckwad who can’t be bothered to type 2 extra letters on occasion.
Calm down dude. Its spelling on a freaking internet message board.
I am calm. I can be quite calm and still call people fuckwads. 