Today’s Qs for O’s WH – 11/23/2009

Spending on health care has to be brought under control. The US cannot afford to spend a trillion dollars PER YEAR more than the average first would nation with nothing to show for it (same life expectancy, or lower, even though we smoke less!).
Once health care is no longer wasting a trillion dollars a year from the economy, taxes have to go up. Across the board. No one likes taxes, but if you want to live in a first world nation you have to pay for it. And taxes now are at a completely unsustainable and historic low point. Even Reagan didn’t slash taxes this low on the wealthy or exclude as many people from the rolls entirely (although he started both trends).
But the chances of Obama coming out with this reality now? Not a chance. There are still too many idiots who live in a bubble of complete ignorance who think they are ‘over taxed’ (while paying the lowest total taxes in the first world and the lowest in the US for almost a century).

If the prescription drug coverage is such a budget buster, it is within this Congress’s power to cancel it, and within the President’s power to ask that be done.

The thrill is gone.
Can’t you feel it?
It’s all Obama’s baby now.
The economy, the war, the debt, terrotist attacks, the lousy health care bill.
He owns it all.

The GOP Congress has indeed become the best Congress money can buy! I do not think that many of us are really surprised by this but the question is “what do we do to overcome this long-time problem?”
Saturday night’s Senate Vote Just to have a debate on Healthcare, was a small victory for the “agents of change” (democrats) and reflects very poorly on the state of the Party of No & Fear that they would not even allow a debate on this issue to move forward — thereby belying the title of being the greatest deliberative body on earth!
It is noteworthy, that in the past, the Party of No & Fear, also fought against Social Security Reform and Medicare, and true to form or color, they are fighting against healthcare reform today! Yes, Social Security and Medicare are subject to abuse and fraud, but there is a reform in the healthcare bill to address this problem! Millions depend on Social Security and Medicare and they are glad that it is there. They want it improved upon not done away with.
The naysayers have even tried to Sabotage the reform by introducing a phony abortion debate (we all know Nancy Pelosi will never allow the choice of having an abortion or not to become obsolete) , the other phony womens’ issue (how time appropriate) introduced (I smell a rat) into the debate — is that of Mammograms and the fear that we are somehow on our way to healthcare rationing. Yet most of us are already aware that we are experiencing healtcare rationing every time someone is denied healthcare because of a Preconceived Condition or some other phony condition like they weigh too much, etc. The aforementioned debates are false and designed to produce fear, to immobilize and to paralyze the masses to do nothing. We must come to recognize that “Fear is the dark ones’ most powerful weapon against the light because the energy of fear not only forms a barrier between the consciousness and the soul, it refuels the darkness to keep it thriving.” [Matthews Messages].
We must also recognize that “as money has in the past ministered to personal and family need, so in the future it must minister to group and world need. The time has now come when money must be re-valued and its usefulness channelled into new directions. The voice of the people must prevail, but it must be a people educated in the true values, in the significance of a right culture, and in the need for right human relations. It is therefore essentially a question of right education and correct training in world citizenship – a thing that has not yet been undertaken.” [Money, The Medium of Loving Distribution, A Compilation from the books of Alice A Bailey ]
Thank God for the Agents of Change who try to make a difference in the lives of ordinary human beings, whose intentions and Duty are to uplift the conditions of the people and to serve the people…. They try to raise the minimum wage, they try to extend unemployment benefits, they try to make sure there is clean water and clean air, but its hard and there is always a fight from the best Congress money can buy, whose mission is to stall and to obstruct and to incite fear! And, at this time in our history, like so much else, Healthcare reform is Crying Out for Change. And, as Science teaches us to do nothing and to be static only leads to decay — only leads to death.

One thing for certain is sending money to fake congressional districts doesn’t do much nor does hiring workers to put facades on outhouses. The President has always talked of bubbles, yet we had cash for clunkers and still have tax credits for home buyers. It is not so much giving someone a few grand but what the few grand actually cost when it is borrowed and sent through one Government agency after the next is staggering.
My grandparents and parents always said that you cannot borow your way out of debt yet all the spending being done is with debt and the debt we are incurring is not being spent by the actual debtors (us) but by a bunch of bueracrats who as usual think they know better than us.

“No one likes taxes, but if you want to live in a first world nation you have to pay for it.”
Who hasn’t been paying for it?
“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 62% believe tax cuts are a better way to create jobs and fight unemployment.
“Only 21% believe that additional stimulus spending is a more effective tool. Earlier this year, as the first stimulus package was being debated in Congress, 62% of voters wanted the plan to have more tax cuts and less spending.
“Given a different choice today, 51% believe canceling the rest of the stimulus money would create more jobs while 32% say spending the money would be the better approach to job creation. These findings are consistent with earlier polling.
“Most Americans say that, generally speaking, increased government spending is bad for the economy. Earlier this year, before the unemployment rate had reached its current highs, 45% wanted to cancel the rest of the stimulus spending while just 36% disagreed.
“While voters believe that tax cuts and stopping spending is the path to job creation, the Political Class disagrees. (SURPRISE!)
“Sixty-nine percent (69%) of those in the Political Class say that spending the stimulus money would create more jobs than canceling the remaining stimulus spending.
“Fifty-five percent (55%) of the Political Class believes that new spending will create more jobs than tax cuts…”

ROFLMAO!
Rasmussen’s new made up metric, Political class versus everyday Americans.
I thought he had shelved it but I guess his paying audience of right wingers demanded its return.

ROFLMAO!
Rasmussen’s new made up metric, Political class versus everyday Americans.
Posted by: Ryan C | Nov 23, 2009 3:47:43 PM
At least he’s not fact-checking Saturday Night Live skits… ’cause that would be REALLY dumb.

Standard Chartered Plc, Aletti Gestielle SGR, HSBC Holdings Plc and Scotia Capital Inc. say the dollar will depreciate as much as 6.4 percent versus the euro. About $12 trillion of fiscal and monetary stimulus, the world’s lowest borrowing costs and a record $4 trillion of government bond sales between 2009 and 2010 will weigh on the currency, they said. So will the nation’s 10.2 percent unemployment rate and signs that the economic recovery may falter, they said.

Gibbs either just lies or he is clueless , but it is not helpful to anyone to let slide statements like “the downturn in the economy was due to the recession “.

Because deficits in government are no more advisable then having them at home so if you want a program, you have to pay for it.
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Unfortunately, if you don’t want a program, you still have to pay for it.
The problems come from people who want the programs and are promised that someone else will be paying for it.

Because deficits in government are no more advisable then having them at home so if you want a program, you have to pay for it.Posted by: Ryan C
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That’s the point Ryan……….I don’t want these “programs” that are inefficient and poorly run. Is there an opt out clause because right now I see our money being very poorly managed.

“If you would like a graphic example of the fiscal disconnect characterizing the liberal establishment currently running the country, the front page of today’s New York Times provides it. The lead story has a two-column head, “Federal Government Faces Balloon in Debt Payments.” The subhead alludes to the very real possibility that interest on the debt in ten years might exceed $700 billion, up from $202 billion this year.”
$700 billion in annual debt service. More money paying debt service every year than Bush spent in six years in Iraq. Where in the world does Obama–or anyone else–think that money will come from?

True. The Iraq War: $915 billion and counting…
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Yes, @Octavia, and that isn’t going to go away just because we start spending more money on other things.

As experts debate the potential speed of the US recovery, one figure looms large but is often overlooked: nearly 1 in 5 Americans is either out of work or under-employed.
According to the government’s broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994.

“tax cuts…programs that weren’t paid for.”
True liberal stupidity…you let the person who earned the money keep more of it by way of a tax cut and you get from the libs that it isn’t paid for…forget the fact that tax revue went up after the bush tax cuts…more money came in after the tax, then before the tax cut and the clueless libs scream and yell…why don’t you libs just voluntarily pay more in taxes and leave the rest of us alone….I have to justify keeping more of what I earn????liberal stupidity

But you could say that about all government financing.
I don’t want my tax payers supporting ______________! is a frequent refrain.
Posted by: Ryan C | Nov 23, 2009 4:21:46 PM
Which is why elected officials are SUPPOSED to listen to their constituents. They don’t. They live in a bubble in Washington.

“Spending on health care has to be brought under control.”
According to the Dean of the Harvard Medical School, the proposed legislation won’t.

See that was my point, we don’t get to pick and choose which programs we support.
We get to pick and choose our representatives.
Posted by: Ryan C | Nov 23, 2009 4:31:21 PM
The majority of whom SEEM to forget who sent them there once they get inside “The Bubble.” At that point, they are more concerned about staying there. Then we have to start all over again in the elections.
The problem is that they actually go to Washington. They should have to stay in their own district and watch C-Span like the rest of us! Then they can vote online! (/sarc – sort of)

That’s true too: The Iraq War:$915 billion and counting… and how much inefficiency, waste and war-profiteering was found again?
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I’m gong to ask again- how does this argument work, exactly?
The government already spent too much money we don’t have on something I didn’t want, so now it’s only right they spend more money we don’t have on something I do want. Is that it?

Tax Returns: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Bush Administration’s Record on Cutting Taxes
By Joel Friedman and Isaac Shapiro
_____________________________________
Written/revised: April 23, 2004
Anything new on that?

“I’m gong to ask again- how does this argument work, exactly?
The government already spent too much money we don’t have on something I didn’t want, so now it’s only right they spend more money we don’t have on something I do want. Is that it?”
The argument goes that the Republicans aren’t going to get away with blowing hundreds of billions of dollars on an ill-advised war while charging it on a Chinese credit card and then tell us there’s no more money for the social programs and reforms we’ve wanted for years. You can forget it. We’ll enact the programs anyway and you can help pay for both. That’ll learn ya.

Which is why elected officials are SUPPOSED to listen to their constituents.
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Well, its also why you hope your fellow constituents exercise some common sense.
Posted by: MayBee | Nov 23, 2009 5:03:45 PM
Good point. All the more reason to stay involved and vote. We all know what happens when the majority realize they can vote themselves entitlements.

“It doesn’t say “the RCP average.”
Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 23, 2009 4:58:04 PM”
Really?
“RCP average Obama approval among voters: 46.7%.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | Nov 23, 2009 4:10:16 PM”
Again why invoke RCP for an average he is creating?

This admin is a joke and so are those that still support it.

We’ll enact the programs anyway and you can help pay for both. That’ll learn ya.
Posted by: Skip
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The problem Skip is those folks who pay taxes for the programs you want, aren’t making the money they made in a good economy. Therefore the government isn’t getting the taxes they need to pay for your programs. When there are more takers then givers your idea doesn’t work. Get a job.

@Octavia
The problem is the credit card has hit its limit…sorry!

He has no plan. He’s never had a plan. He has “hope and change” and we now have despair and tyranny.

“The argument goes that the Republicans aren’t going to get away with blowing hundreds of billions of dollars on an ill-advised war while charging it on a Chinese credit card and then tell us there’s no more money for the social programs and reforms we’ve wanted for years. You can forget it. We’ll enact the programs anyway and you can help pay for both. That’ll learn ya.”
Bravo!
Posted by: Ryan C | Nov 23, 2009 5:22:46 PM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Republicans “blew” all that money on the war? Ya’ll better check again–that, unlike this health care garbage, was supported by nearly all of congress (dems included) and a majority of Americans.

One side complains – the other side does what they want to do anyway.
Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 23, 2009 5:50:36 PM
Oh yeah, unless they have some reason to compromise.

You can forget it. We’ll enact the programs anyway and you can help pay for both. That’ll learn ya.
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No, it will break us financially.
Bush left office with 21% approval partially because he spent too much. Republicans lost Congress partially because they spent too much.
Apparently, nobody is learning, but we will be paying.

Right on cue.
Posted by: @Octavia | Nov 23, 2009 5:56:09 PM
I try not to disappoint my “fans.”

Chinese credit card and then tell us there’s no more money for the social programs and reforms we’ve wanted for years. You can forget it. We’ll enact the programs anyway and you can help pay for both. That’ll learn ya.
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Bush left office with something like 21% approval, in part because he was labeled a big spender. The Democrats came into office promising fiscal responsibility.
“That’ll learn ya” is hardly what they’d promised.
Sadly, it appears nobody is learning anything.

Apparently, nobody is learning, but we will be paying.
Posted by: MayBee | Nov 23, 2009 5:55:56 PM
It’s ok if the cause is viewed as virtuous… liberals have been pushing the propaganda since FDR. They get to decide was is virtuous and what isn’t. And if you disagree, the buses arrive to dissuade you.

Oh yawn . .. the Republicans yap on about overspending by the Democrats – when their President just presided over the largest increase in the national debt every seen under a President’s term.
Same old nonsense and hypocrisy – same old tactic. You guys were pathetic in office, we’ll be digging out for centuries.

Jake
Must be frustrating to get a nonanswer to your question. The way he avoids a direct answer to your question is so obvious.
I would get tired real quick of having to go into a room, knowing that some idiot is going to stand at a podium, and give propaganda and ramble on.
Hold their feet to the fire Jake. Keep asking and if he doesn’t answer, ask again.

the Republicans yap on about overspending by the Democrats – when their President just presided over the largest increase in the national debt every seen under a President’s term.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Their” president? Oh no, we ain’t taking ‘em. He belongs to you.

There is one thing you never have to personally partake in if you disagree with it, and that is a tax cut.

Economist Robert J. Samuelson:
“Now comes the House-passed health-care “reform” bill that, amazingly, would extract more subsidies from the young. It mandates that health insurance premiums for older Americans be no more than twice the level of that for younger Americans. That’s much less than the actual health spending gap between young and old. Spending for those age 60 to 64 is four to five times greater than those 18 to 24. So, the young would overpay for insurance that — under the House bill — people must buy: Twenty- and thirtysomethings would subsidize premiums for fifty-and sixtysomethings. (Those 65 and over receive Medicare.)”

Good job,Tapper. We need more in the media to start asking tough questions.

That’s much less than the actual health spending gap between young and old. Spending for those age 60 to 64 is four to five times greater than those 18 to 24.
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That’s what insurance companies did – contracted insurance for the young, the healthy and the employed – and left the taxpayer to have to carry the burden of the aged, the sick and the damaged (vets).
The insurance companies skimmed off the cream and left the taxpayer with the rest.
Now that can be equalled out instead of the taxpayer carrying all the burden.

Cheap tactics – as usual.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 23, 2009 6:44:50 PM
“I have proposed an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to immediately jumpstart job creation…” -Barack Obama as reported by -ABC News, January 24, 2009
Epic fail.

Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 23, 2009 7:34:42 PM
You’re cherry picking information – just like your ‘honest’ Cheney
January 10, 2009
US president-elect Barack Obama sought to cool down expectations from his incoming administration Saturday, saying the most serious crisis since the Great Depression gripping the United States will probably get worse before the economy starts to improve.
But he expressed confidence Americans will overcome the current difficulties.
“Recovery won’t happen overnight, and it’s likely that things will get worse before they get better,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.
“But we have come through moments like this before … And I am confident that if we come together and summon that great American spirit once again, we will meet the challenges of our time and write the next great chapter in our American story.”
The comments came as new data released Friday showed US unemployment surged to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent as a deepening recession pushed employers to shed a massive 524,000 jobs in December, capping a yearly loss of 2.6 million.
Source: Raw Story
Obama has consistently said recovery would not be easy, nor a quick fix . . and that thinks might get worse before they get better.
The right wing cherry simply cherry picks to make it sound like Obama could wave a magic wand and magically fix the entire economy – not likely after the mess left by the previous administration.
Cheap tactics – as usual.

“The need for us to act is now. It’s never been more urgent,” President Obama said, warning that “Recovery won’t happen overnight, and it’s likely that, even with these measures, things will get worse before they get better.”

“the rest of the incompetents. Get ready for the majority to take over.”
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We had 8 years of Republican incompetence – please – people are not that stupid.

“I think it’s important, though, to recognize, if we keep adding to the debt, even in the — even in the midst of this recovery, at some point people could lose confidence in the way the U.S. — in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession.”
Obama gets a visit from Captain Obvious.
But since he is coached by Captain Oblivious nothing changes.
What we need is more debt!

Under the Bush administration the entire U.S. economy was driven to the edge of a precipice and over into complete freefall. . .
Will it EVER recover? That is really hard to say.
While Bush slept at the wheel, and buried the country in debt, the entire fabric began to unravel – the extensive overspending (of Bush and regular Americans). The gross consumer debt society. All of it driven so long and so hard on nothing it was in complete freefall off a cliff.
And the Republican right have the nerve to blame this on Obama . . .. you should be ashamed.

Obama approval, likely voters (Rasmussen): 46%.
Obama approval, registered voters (Quinnipiac): 48%.
Obama approval, registered voters (Fox News): 46%.
We’re talking Carter. We’re talking malaise.

RCP Average Approval Rating:
Obama Approval: 50.5%
Spread: +6.8
Reagan’s approval ratings fell BELOW 40% during his first term – and he was re-elected.

Under the Bush administration the entire U.S. economy was driven to the edge of a precipice and over into complete freefall. . . a COMPLETE FREEFALL disaster . ..
Will it EVER recover? That is really hard to say.
While Bush slept at the wheel, and buried the country in debt, the entire fabric began to unravel – the extensive overspending (of Bush and regular Americans). The gross consumer debt society. All of it driven so long and so hard on nothing it was in complete freefall off a cliff.
Anything being done since has been primarily trying to stave off a complete collapse into depression . . .
And the Republican right have the nerve to blame this on Obama . . .. you should be ashamed.

Reagan was fixing the economy not BANKRUPTING THE COUNTRY.
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Are you kidding? Ronald Reagan increased the national debt by over $1.6 TRILLION dollars WAY back in 1980 dollars.

Please you are going to Bush hate yourself and us into oblivion.
____________________________________
Under the Bush administration the entire U.S. economy was driven to the edge of a precipice and over into complete freefall. . . a COMPLETE FREEFALL disaster . ..
Will it EVER recover? That is really hard to say.
While Bush slept at the wheel, and buried the country in debt, the entire fabric began to unravel – the extensive overspending (of Bush and regular Americans). The gross consumer debt society. All of it driven so long and so hard on nothing it was in complete freefall off a cliff.
And the Republican right have the nerve to blame this on Obama . . .. you should be ashamed.
Anything being done since (by the current President) has been primarily trying to stave off a complete collapse into depression . . .