It's Halftime in Amercia...

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I do not really believe either party will stop the spending. They both are just doing what there constituants want,the nation wants the benifits we just need to realize we have to pay for them.
As for the republicans cut revenue and increase expenditures well it has not worked all that well now either,

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One of the greatest quotes I've ever read, "You can not distribute more wealth than you create." -Hazlitt
 
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As for his housing program, my understanding is that it's simply a program to allow homeowners with current mortgages to reduce the interest rate on their mortgage. I agree, it does prop up the housing market. Will it really reinflate the bubble (and is this what Obama wants), or simply allow the bubble to settle more slowly? Only time will tell.
is full of flaws, but it's better than the alternative of letting markets do whatever they will.

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I do not really believe either party will stop the spending. They both are just doing what there constituants want,the nation wants the benifits we just need to realize we have to pay for them.

Agree completely. Both parties and those that back them have lead us off a cliff.
 
This is a role for our STATE govt. as well. I like that you point out roads or bridges and not huge govt. agenncies like the Dept. of Education or even the FDA.

There is absolutely a role for the Federal govt in the USA; however, it should be about 1/10th the actual size it is today based on strict interpretation of the constitution.

Blade, we just have radically different ideas on what the federal government should do. For me, an interstate highway system that specifically links many states up is a no-brainer for federal government. It's practically the definition of regulation of interstate commerce.


Where did you get this chart from? I have a really hard time believing that 25-year-olds as a cohort use 75 cents of every dollar they pay into Medicare.

Regarding your copious postings on tax policy, I think we pretty much agree. Things will have to change.


I have to deviate from my usual agreement with Blade here. I'm pretty far off on the libertarian scale, I admit it. I'm totally OK with the dirty little secret of liberty ("you're on your own") ... and it doesn't really bother me that some people squander the advantage an American birth gives them and wind up failures in life.

But there are some non-Constitutionally-mandated things I want our government to do.

I totally favor 100% federally funded comprehensive limitless healthcare for everyone under the age of 18. There's no reason for the richest most powerful country on earth to have kids without medical care, no matter how stupid or screwed up their parents are.

I favor social security and medicare for old people, subject to some rational limits (maybe no free CABG at age 87), because I don't want to live in a country where old people eat cat food or fight over the park bench closest to the steam pipe.

Welfare and programs like WIC have a place too.

Free public education (no "voucher" system), strong defense (albeit one of a less expeditionary flavor), extensive and well-maintained infrastructure, a solid and rational strategy for environmental protection and resource exploitation ...

... but here's the thing:

My most basic belief here (and I think Blade's too though I don't presume to speak for him) is that reducing government spending and debt MUST trump all, and Real Soon Now - because if you do the math, the day is coming when that debt will make it impossible to provide both the minimalist Constitution-directed federal services as well as the optional niceties most of us want to see from a wealthy, free, and civilized nation.

pgg, you asked me earlier if I thought we could grow our way out of our debt. I was listening to the radio recently and heard that the US trade deficit rose again last year.

But what I didn't realize until then was that American manufacturing actually isn't in that bad a shape. The trade deficit was $558B, but that was on exports of $2.1T. Not good, but better than the impression we generally get about US manufacturing. We're still the #1 or #2 manufacturer in the world, closely vying with China. Exports are at their highest level ever, and in the past decade we've increased factory production by about 1/3. We manufacture more stuff than Germany, France, India, and Brazil combined. The sector is getting hit hard jobs-wise because American factories continually increase how much each individual worker can produce in a shift.

So, no, I don't think we can grow our way out of the debt. I think we need some of the bipartisan reform that Blade has posted about. But, I don't think there's an inevitable lost decade ahead of the US.
 
The previous post shows the standard GOP position. They believe if you hold the line on spending then GDP growth will catch up. I don't buy it. We have too many committments/entitlements, what Obama calls the social promise, to hold the line on spending.

The Bowles-Simpson or Gang of Six plasn to reduce the the deficit addresses both revenue and spending cuts (remember we aren't cutting just reducing the rate of increase).
 
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Obama doesn't care that soaking the rich only goes so far. A Revised Tax code works much better if a solution to our problem is his real goal. However, Obama has an agenda that has little to do with practical solutions to real problems.
 
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Ask yourself why exactly won't Obama get behind and support a much better plan than his own.
Could it be that soak the rich matters much more than sound fiscal policy?
 
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This is deeply flawed. Tax cuts aren't government programs. Typical democrat point of view to think that your money is rightly the government's and you should be thankful they let you keep some of it. It's not their G-D money in the first place, so the child tax credit, lifetime learning credit, and mortgage deduction examples are BS.
Public schools aren't handouts either unless you're poor. Our property taxes are far far more than the expenditures on our kids, if the public schools are even good enough to enrol our kids in.
Also, Federal student loans drive up the cost of college more than they save many of us in interest.
The mortgage deduction also drives up the price of housing to the benefit of the old homeowner and detriment of the young renter.
And the employer health insurance deduction ultimately lowers your income, it doesn't make insurance cheaper, it makes it more expensive.
You need to learn that the government is not entitled to your money. Tax cuts are not gifts fron the governement. It should be the government's job to justify the use of OUR money, not our job to beg the government to allow us to keep some small share of the fruits of our labor.
 
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Let's examine the bold faced lies of Obama and the left, who try to justify tax increases on "the rich" on a daily basis:

First, Obama quotes the dollars earned by the top 1% of income earners to prove that "the rich" are making too much and being taxed too little. That's sleight of hand.
The president is lumping billionaires with yachts and private planes into the same boat with small business owners like myself. Within that top 1% are a few billionaire titans like Warren Buffett, hedge fund managers who earn $500 million per year, Wall Street tycoons who earn $100 million per year just in stock options, all mixed in with small business owners like me.
How can you use billion dollar stock gains, or $100 million hedge fund incomes, or $20 million Wall Street bonuses, to justify raising taxes on a small businessman who makes $250,000 to $500,000 per year by working 16 hours a day?
By courageously risking their own money, small business owners create over 70% of the new jobs in the U.S. economy.
President Obama is comparing these individuals to billionaires who share the same tax bracket. Mr. Obama claims that everyone in the top 1% tax bracket is making too much, and paying too little in taxes.
The president is playing a bait and switch shell game. Some might even go so far as to call that kind of manipulation tax fraud.

Second, Mr. Obama claims tax rates are currently among the lowest in history. Once again the president is purposely omitting the full picture.
Separate from federal income tax rates, U.S. taxpayers now pay the highest FICA and Medicare tax rates ever; the highest state, local and property taxes ever; the highest sales taxes ever; and the second highest business income taxes in the industrialized world.
Add it all up, and small business owners like myself are overburdened like never before in history. So we are clearly being deceived. Again, some might call that tax fraud.

Third, Obama is comparing apples to oranges when he compares tax rates. Rates are lower today than in the past because many valuable tax deductions were eliminated. And we now face caps, phase-outs, and the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax.
Therefore quoting higher rates is a distortion of the truth. A tax rate of 70% from decades ago might actually be lower than today's rates once you include these factors.
As Ronald Reagan would say, "There you go misrepresenting, again, President Obama."
Fourth, Obama constantly reports that tax rates were once much higher. Another distortion.
It is true that FDR raised the top rate in 1935 to 79%. But what Mr. Obama and his team doesn't tell us is that it only applied to someone making the equivalent of $76,000,000 per year.
Only one man in the entire United States of America paid a penny at that rate in 1935: John D. Rockefeller.
Mr. Obama wants much higher taxes for millions of small business owners making $250,000 and above


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/13/mr-obama-dont-have-tax-problem-have-spending-problem/#ixzz1mHMAxVcv
 
Brought to you by the good folks of the Obama and Bush White House and Congress.

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I like it. He covers everything including Fido. If this is the standard then I am severely underprepared.

http://codgerville.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/achieving-true-independence-part-ii/

I have to say, even as a guy who like guns, the more a "survivalist" talks about them the less seriously I take him. I've got to wonder how many running gun battles this guy thinks he's going to survive :rolleyes: if his minimum supply is 10,000 rounds per gun.

I hoard ammo because I like to shoot it and it pissed me off when all the stores were sold out in 2008-2009 and I couldn't go make noise at the range. I have cases and cases and cases of it now (+ reloading components) because I never want to hear a Wal-Mart clerk tell me "six box limit, sir" and "we haven't seen any .380 for a year now" ever again ... :)
 
I have to say, even as a guy who like guns, the more a "survivalist" talks about them the less seriously I take him. I've got to wonder how many running gun battles this guy thinks he's going to survive :rolleyes: if his minimum supply is 10,000 rounds per gun.

I hoard ammo because I like to shoot it and it pissed me off when all the stores were sold out in 2008-2009 and I couldn't go make noise at the range. I have cases and cases and cases of it now (+ reloading components) because I never want to hear a Wal-Mart clerk tell me "six box limit, sir" and "we haven't seen any .380 for a year now" ever again ... :)

If you're preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, on the other hand.... Though they'd have to be the slow-moving zombies, not the 28 Days Later style zombies.
 
lol. Nice blog.

I imagine some over weight, 50+, HS grad who was a run-of-the-mill enlisted guy in his prime. The rest of his life never worked out so he dreams of this situation where he might have a shot to be relevent. The only way for him to make his place in the world is for it to come crashing down to his level; rather than him rising up and developing a marketable skill.

Pretty much every survivalist I've meet.

Blogger - make your way to retirement (if you're not on disability already)- just a little further. Get that SS / medicare . We'll take care of you.


I like it. He covers everything including Fido. If this is the standard then I am severely underprepared.

http://codgerville.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/achieving-true-independence-part-ii/
 

Your graphs clearly show that Obama din't bring any change to govt. and there is ltttle hope he will do anytghing other than tax and spend.

Obama's current budget is a joke and even most Democrats won't be supporting it.
Obama is the worst President since Jimmy Carter and IMHO, even worse than he was.
 
Your graphs clearly show that Obama din't bring any change to govt. and there is ltttle hope he will do anytghing other than tax and spend.

Obama's current budget is a joke and even most Democrats won't be supporting it.
Obama is the worst President since Jimmy Carter and IMHO, even worse than he was.

You're not so good with graphs huh?
 
Massive Tax Hikes on the upper middle class. Massive. Plus, Huge increase in non defense related spending. Obama is a socialist whose goal is a massive govt at the expense of the upper middle class.
Those are the FACTS as he as rejected his own Deficit commission recommendations to lower rates and broaden the tax base.

Obama must be defeated in 2012.
 

This shows that Obama's proposal puts us back in the same range as through the 80's and your Hero Reagan's administration. I assume you are addressing the peak spending in 2009, but you need to realize that the bush administration is responsible for the 2009 budget meaning nearly all of that spike.
 
Massive Tax Hikes on the upper middle class. Massive. Plus, Huge increase in non defense related spending. Obama is a socialist whose goal is a massive govt at the expense of the upper middle class.
Those are the FACTS as he as rejected his own Deficit commission recommendations to lower rates and broaden the tax base.

Obama must be defeated in 2012.

The top rate of 35% will rise to 39.6%...thatsHUGE !?!?!
AppropsTable.jpg
 
The top rate of 35% will rise to 39.6%...thatsHUGE !?!?!
AppropsTable.jpg



Let me tell you a story of why tax rates greater than 30% make people really think about whether or not it's worth to make more money. My wife recently decided to stay at home. She was making good money but when we really looked at the cold numbers it wasn't worth it to her or us as a family for her to work. Let me break the numbers down....

She was makin about 75k a year now take out 35% (our tax bracket) for federal, about another 4k for state, another 6k for FICA/Medicare and you get what's left about 39k. There is also disability that would come out but I don't know the real numbers for this but even without it we are close to us barely seeing half her check. So 39k comes out to about 3250 dollars a month. We have three young kids, now factor in full time child care, which we had to pay for even though she was part time because that just the way it is and we were ending up with a positive cash flow of about 500 bucks. Would 500 dollars a month be worth it to you to get up and leave your kids with someone else on the days that you work? It wasn't to us. We pulled the kids out of daycare and ate the 500 shortfall.

So thats about 37000 bucks that I can save in taxes this year. This is at 35%. Think about 39. Now you can say that the effective tax rate is much less but for us but it isn't, I make what I make and that puts every dollar she makes in the 35% tax bracket. You may also say that it not fair to include the 7% in FICA because that's money that comes back, but that would be naive. I doubt that I will ever see the 6k that I put into FICA every year. Neither will you.
 

Your graph ends two years ago. Do you have a version that is current?

No? Maybe there's a reason that graph doesn't have data from the last 24 months.

I'm not here to defend Bush. He was a tool. But a chart so badly out of date is not as useful or meaningful as you seem to think it is.
 
The top rate of 35% will rise to 39.6%...thatsHUGE !?!?!
AppropsTable.jpg

The top rate will be 39,6 percent plus 3.8 percent Medicare tax on all other earnings; in addition, investment income like dividends, capital gains,etc will go up.

The real effective tax rate for earned income over $200K is much more than 39.6. Obama uses smoke and mirrors to rob the upper middle class blind.

Ask yourself why the socialist Obama rejected the Bowles-Simpson commission recommendations for a lower tax rate and broader base. Why would the liberal Obama reject his own deficit commission and conduct this class warfare?

Answer: it isn't about "fairness" as much as it is about income redistribution.
 
This shows that Obama's proposal puts us back in the same range as through the 80's and your Hero Reagan's administration. I assume you are addressing the peak spending in 2009, but you need to realize that the bush administration is responsible for the 2009 budget meaning nearly all of that spike.


Obama was hired for hope and change. We got neither. People want real solutions to our problems and not more of the same blame game. Obama's economic policies will mean less revenue for the govt compared to Bowles Simpson, slower economic growth and more regulations. All this leads to a less free and prosperous America.
 
Obama was hired for hope and change. We got neither. People want real solutions to our problems and not more of the same blame game. Obama's economic policies will mean less revenue for the govt compared to Bowles Simpson, slower economic growth and more regulations. All this leads to a less free and prosperous America.

“For the fourth year in a row our federal budget deficit will exceed $1 trillion, and President Obama is offering us a budget plan that will continue digging us deeper into this debt hole. This budget contains a massive tax increase, and President Obama’s policies of more debt and taxes will make the jobs crisis facing the nation much worse than the employment crisis we are facing.


Ron Paul
 
The top rate will be 39,6 percent plus 3.8 percent Medicare tax on all other earnings; in addition, investment income like dividends, capital gains,etc will go up.

The real effective tax rate for earned income over $200K is much more than 39.6. Obama uses smoke and mirrors to rob the upper middle class blind.

Ask yourself why the socialist Obama rejected the Bowles-Simpson commission recommendations for a lower tax rate and broader base. Why would the liberal Obama reject his own deficit commission and conduct this class warfare?

Answer: it isn't about "fairness" as much as it is about income redistribution.

1.Notice the military cuts while considering the push by the Right to act on Iran and Syria.and 2. Those social Security 'savings' are from raising the retirement age.

http://crfb.org/sites/default/files/Analyzing_the_Presidents_New_Budget_Framework.pdf

Simpsonbowlesvsbho.jpg
 

Neat, here's another chart.

unemp.jpg


There was a superficially encouraging jobs report last quarter ... but after you de-massage the seasonal adjustment and other fuzzy manipulation, it was less encouraging.

The simple truth is that even the official unemployment numbers have worsened, and that data (like the official inflation data) is heavily manipulated to put a more positive spin on reality.

I don't agree that the economy has made any meaningful recovery. There has been some progress in some areas, but ALL of the fundamental problems and weaknesses that got it all started in 2008 are still there, and some are much much worse.


There are two, and only two, plausible paths through this debt crisis. Default, and devaluation/inflation (also technically default). Austerity measures and rational tax reform would be more desirable, but I don't consider that option plausible, since the only candidate who wants to go that way (Paul) has no chance of winning this election.

Obama's not an evil guy, plotting to engineer the destruction of the middle class. I just think his ideas are wrong, counterproductive, and destined to fail approximately as spectacularly as the modern Republican party's ideas. Domestically, he's done a poor job thus far, though I have to give credit for the way he's managed most foreign policy. He certainly hasn't boned things up to the degree Bush did, though I guess he's still got time with Iran.

I have almost no confidence that Romney will provide economic decisions different ENOUGH than Obama's to make a difference. But I'll vote for him anyway, mainly because I get nauseous thinking about a couple more Kagans and Sotomayors on the Supreme Court. And that matters, too.

The thought that frothy-fecal-mixture might actually get the GOP nomination has me almost as nauseous, but I'll cross that rationalization bridge if it comes up. Obama vs Santorum, oh god, there's a **** sandwich worse than Obama vs McCain/Palin.
 
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1.Notice the military cuts while considering the push by the Right to act on Iran and Syria.

I agree, we've got no business engaging in military action in Iran. We can live with a nuclear Iran; their real leaders are rational.

Syria ... I don't see it as our problem or our responsibility, but there's a non-dismissible moral argument for intervention there.

2. Those social Security 'savings' are from raising the retirement age.

Why the quotes around savings?

Raising the retirement age is entirely reasonable, and it would save money.
 
Let me tell you a story of why tax rates greater than 30% make people really think about whether or not it's worth to make more money. My wife recently decided to stay at home. She was making good money but when we really looked at the cold numbers it wasn't worth it to her or us as a family for her to work. Let me break the numbers down....

She was makin about 75k a year now take out 35% (our tax bracket) for federal, about another 4k for state, another 6k for FICA/Medicare and you get what's left about 39k. There is also disability that would come out but I don't know the real numbers for this but even without it we are close to us barely seeing half her check. So 39k comes out to about 3250 dollars a month. We have three young kids, now factor in full time child care, which we had to pay for even though she was part time because that just the way it is and we were ending up with a positive cash flow of about 500 bucks. Would 500 dollars a month be worth it to you to get up and leave your kids with someone else on the days that you work? It wasn't to us. We pulled the kids out of daycare and ate the 500 shortfall.

So thats about 37000 bucks that I can save in taxes this year. This is at 35%. Think about 39. Now you can say that the effective tax rate is much less but for us but it isn't, I make what I make and that puts every dollar she makes in the 35% tax bracket. You may also say that it not fair to include the 7% in FICA because that's money that comes back, but that would be naive. I doubt that I will ever see the 6k that I put into FICA every year. Neither will you.

I very much understand your point, but I think it's sort of deceptive what your doing by lumping your incomes and making it seem like all the taxes are coming out of "her" share.

At $75,000/ year and filing as married-separately instead of jointly she would be in the 25% bracket and have an effective federal tax rate of 19%. Depending on the state, weekly take home pay of $1020-$1050, so when all things considered she would pay ~28%-29% only keeping ~$53,000. This is without any deductions or considering the child tax credit you get x 3.
 
I agree, we've got no business engaging in military action in Iran. We can live with a nuclear Iran; their real leaders are rational.

Syria ... I don't see it as our problem or our responsibility, but there's a non-dismissible moral argument for intervention there.



Why the quotes around savings?

Raising the retirement age is entirely reasonable, and it would save money.

I don't know if your being sarcastic about Iran and my ""s were just to draw attention to that the savings was just from preventing people from getting on the roles.
 
There was a superficially encouraging jobs report last quarter ... but after you de-massage the seasonal adjustment and other fuzzy manipulation, it was less encouraging.

The simple truth is that even the official unemployment numbers have worsened, and that data (like the official inflation data) is heavily manipulated to put a more positive spin on reality.

I don't agree that the economy has made any meaningful recovery. There has been some progress in some areas, but ALL of the fundamental problems and weaknesses that got it all started in 2008 are still there, and some are much much worse.


There are two, and only two, plausible paths through this debt crisis. Default, and devaluation/inflation (also technically default). Austerity measures and rational tax reform would be more desirable, but I don't consider that option plausible, since the only candidate who wants to go that way (Paul) has no chance of winning this election.

Obama's not an evil guy, plotting to engineer the destruction of the middle class. I just think his ideas are wrong, counterproductive, and destined to fail approximately as spectacularly as the modern Republican party's ideas. Domestically, he's done a poor job thus far, though I have to give credit for the way he's managed most foreign policy. He certainly hasn't boned things up to the degree Bush did, though I guess he's still got time with Iran.

I have almost no confidence that Romney will provide economic decisions different ENOUGH than Obama's to make a difference. But I'll vote for him anyway, mainly because I get nauseous thinking about a couple more Kagans and Sotomayors on the Supreme Court. And that matters, too.

The thought that frothy-fecal-mixture might actually get the GOP nomination has me almost as nauseous, but I'll cross that rationalization bridge if it comes up. Obama vs Santorum, oh god, there's a **** sandwich worse than Obama vs McCain/Palin.

It seems that the Republican's miss the irony in the idea the only way to pay off our debt is to lower taxes. You can't effectively do both at the same time even with drastic spending cuts. I am for cutting spending to an extent. The best thing about these past couple years is that many people are starting to pay attention and have a real conversation about what role we want government to fill.

The influence of big money on politicians on both sides and their near-constant campaigning and fund raising, there is no more compromise and no more real solutions. The Democrats role has being the party advocating growing and using government to try and solve problems, the Repubs role is to make the Dems justify when or if it's right or necessary. I just miss the actually fiscal conservative republicans of the 90's that are as responsible for the "clinton surplus" as the dotcom bubble. The real issue is that they do not practice what they preach anymore.

On most money issues, I'm fairly conservative. On social issues I'm liberal on some, libertarian on others. I could back Ron Paul if he would drop the gold standard ramblings, defining life at conception and too many other social issues that he will not so I cannot. The only thing I like about Santorum was his description of Romney as a perfectly lubricated weather vane. Both for its accuracy and that hearing Santorum say lubricated in any context is hilarious. I don;t think that Romney should be underestimated, he did win as a Mormon-Republican in freakin' Massachusetts. With that said, Obama is going to win another term because this lack of unity in the GOP means lower turnout and an increase chance of a third party candidate.

Just as I think Bush gets blamed for things well beyond his understanding and control, Obama gets to much blame and too much credit on many things. To think that ANY president can single-handedly fix or destroy the economy is preposterous.
 
I don't know if your being sarcastic about Iran and my ""s were just to draw attention to that the savings was just from preventing people from getting on the roles.

I'm not being sarcastic. Israel can take care of itself. We lived with the USSR and 10s of thousands of nuclear warheads for decades. Amadinnerjacket is a nut, but he doesn't have any real power, and the guys who wield actual power have done so for many many years, suggesting that they like it and wouldn't want to risk their comfy spots with any WMD use shenanigans. Another round of M.A.D. is better than military action vs Iran.
 
I very much understand your point, but I think it's sort of deceptive what your doing by lumping your incomes and making it seem like all the taxes are coming out of "her" share.

At $75,000/ year and filing as married-separately instead of jointly she would be in the 25% bracket and have an effective federal tax rate of 19%. Depending on the state, weekly take home pay of $1020-$1050, so when all things considered she would pay ~28%-29% only keeping ~$53,000. This is without any deductions or considering the child tax credit you get x 3.


Believe me I explored this option with my tax attorney and accountant and we would have paid more in that scenario. I am not being deceptive. I make enough to put everything that she makes in the 35% bracket. By the way if you are married and file separately I don't think you can claim the child credit and lots of other credits. It's typical of progressives to take what is a real world scenario like this and say "well you know the effective tax rate that you really pay blah,blah,blah.....". By the way, combined our effective federal tax rate was around 31% Now you may say well there you go 31% isn't so bad. But then you look at FICA, and unemployment, and state taxes and the bill keeps going up and up. So yeah, thats about 37k lost in revenue because it wasn't worth it to us for her to work. I doubt that we are an isolated case. Raising taxes does not in the long run raise tax revenue. A system in which half of all Americans pay no taxes cannot last.
 
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