Everybody take a deep breath and step back in time a little bit(now who is really running the country? while the huddled masses mow thier grass and return to thier little cells on those microlots)-Kevin
Will the govt ever work for us again? or is there to much of a disconnect?-Kevin
Will we ever get money out of the govt. to the extent that it is ? Unlimited funding has made such an impact on congressional elections, candidates come into office with a preset agenda that has less to do with the majority wishes nor what most benefits them.
I’m a bit unhappy because I know what govt is supposed to be-not a cushy,comfortable tenured r ride for the privileged.The original form of the founding fathers intent was pretty much eliminated in the mid 1800s-Kevin
I can’t wait for the R’s to be back in the WhiteHouse and majority in Congress. I’d like to see them implement everyone of their proposals. Can you imagine the outcome. :-))
Yes, @longprime, if history s a teacher, NO administration has ever cut their budget, but the Rs just reduce taxes and incur greater debt. As Dick Cheney once said, " the people don’t really care about the debt" and neither do the Rs. They just become concerned when they’re not in office. The only thing they will cut for sure is SS and Medicare.
Absolutely, @dagosa. I recall Rush Limbaugh babbling incessantly about how the debt was of no significance as long as the upper income tax rates were reduced so that the “hard working, successful entrepreneurs could increase their profits.” It’s a shame that so many, including our supposedly intelligent senators and representatives believed the BS.
Like I said, I can’t wait.
Either they cut the budget to match revenues or they match the revenues to match the budget. I kinda wish Romney won so that we could use his secret plan.
Me and a bunch of other fiscal conservatives have been concerned about the deficits and the debt for over 20 years and voted GOP or DFL depending on who soundled like they were also concerned. We had a great DFL rep quit in disgust at the dysfunction and lack of business knowledge in Congress. Now that SSI will be broke in two years, maybe some will have to take notice and get something done. Its just time to prioritize a little, forget about the social engineering for a while, and get some common sense before we all go under. I don’t don’t care which party it is-but thank heavens we have a little balance. 13000 new IRS agents indeed. Crazy.
@bing
Don’t forget, after Bush’s last fiscal year in office when the deficit was at it’s highest, it has dropped faster under non Rs then during any other administration in history. Clinton did the same thing with the debt he inherited from his previous R administrations. So fiscal onservatives should be voting for the administrations who have traditionally balanced or came closest to balancing the budget in recent history. It has not been the Rs and their budget ( Ryan plan) is so close to Bush / Reagan approach, you can expect the same results. Who says SS trust fund will be broke in two years. It’s a Fox talking point. It has accumulated a 2.7 trillion dollar surplus. Guess they forgot to mention that. Please Fox, explain how that works. Don’t vote for those who sounded like they interested in the debt, vote for those who actually had a plan that worked. You GROW your way out of debt, just like every business man knows. Smart investments, especially in your employees ( the public) always works better then cutting benefits. That canabilises your business over time as many corps found out during the Bush years.
Liberal administrations somehow manage to keep social programs alive while balancing budgets. Gee, how does that work ? Simple ! Social Welfare programs while helping the poor which conservatives couldn’t care less about, stimulate the eonomy and promote growth. Military spending does less so and debt spending while cutting taxes for the rich who move their savings over seas, does even less. Poor people don’t have tax evading Cayman Island accounts. They still pay payroll taxes and if a comprehensive immigration plan were enacted, which Rs have backslid on for years, billions of additional tax revenue would pour into our economy, locally and federally.
@dagosa Not Social Security but SSI, the disability fund. Too many takers and not enough makers. Not from Fox but from that conservative news source CNN.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/30/news/economy/disability-trust-fund/index.html
No DFLer has ever done anything wrong in your eyes. For myself though I’ve voted for Clinton, Nixon, Bush, Obummer, etc. looking for the best fit at the particular time. And yes, I have been disappointed when I get the same old same old.
You’re going to have to take the MSN rose colored glasses off some time and look at reality a little. So you take money from a person making $100K who would spend it, and give it to a so called poor person who will spend it. How does that do anything for the economy? It gets spent either way-just by a different person. Now what you really meant was that they are borrowing the money to give to the poor person or their friends so that they can spend it. I will agree that helps stimulate the economy in the short term but you have to pay for it at some point. We are at that point.
I’m gonna be driving in the center lanes.
@dogsa. You don’t always have to grow yourself out of debt like BC did along with GHW’s tax hike. You can pay off debts by inflating where the debt is fixed but dollars are variable, which Nixon did, GWB-where he lost control of taxing, the budget, and regulatory responsibility.
@Bing. If I had a ready $100K, I’d invest in Elon Musk companies, where I could either create money (I’m up 50% ROI) or destroy it and slow it’s (money) velocity. And if I was in the bottom 30%, I get rid of that 15yo Civ for a brandnew car, payoff the cards, put in thermal windows, and a heatpump. All that spending will recirculate in the economy at a high velocity.
@longprime Exactly. There are tons of ways to wisely invest in productivity like fixing those dang bridges that keep falling down (every fracture critical bridge should be replaced in five years), developing targeted educational programs for needed high paying occupations like conservative South Dakota is doing, developing the next generation of IT, and so on. Instead we throw the money away on kindergarten instead of CNC programs, hire 13000 IRS agents to check low income insurance eligibility, nit pick every growing industry with more regulations, and make sure the poor stay that way and beholding to their great benefactors.
@Bing
Can’t and won’t vouch for anyone’s wisdom in investing, even mine.
As for those dang falling bridges- If only the dispatcher, pilot car driver, and trucker could read a map, use a tape measure/scale, and read a sign, we wouldn’t have as many pot holes and cracked bridges.
Kinda of the opinion that you gotta frontload the filters to get an acceptable output at the narrow end.
We appreciate the help of the “system” when our kid was small. We also appreciated the programs that he got in HS. He does know how to use a CNC and a 3D printer. He does have one of those IT jobs. And when he gets audited by the IRS, we will know that he has “made it”. Learning starts at a very, very young age. What is needed isn’t new technology but the ability for kids to have access to that tech.
IDK about SD educational system. But if SD wants to keep kids that they trained in SD, then they had better pay more $$ and be less “conservative”.
Salient points all, but its time to step up to plate and be honest-I really respect the man I,m working for now,He will tell you its all about the money.Be honest Folks, a spade is a spade,a wheelbarrow isnt necessarily a J-11,this party garbage kills me,listening to Huckleby the other day (and I cringe at the thought) was agreeing with some of what he was saying-Kevin
@longprime
Moderate inflation is a natural and necessary growth factory to drop the debt a a percent of GDP. It’s the artificially low interest rates that are an indicator of our problems. It does not pay individuals nor businesses nor th country to pay off the debt while they are so low. Until the prime is in the area of. 5 %, and savings accounts for individuals and paying off the debt for our country can actually be worth something, our economy will not be strong. The indebtedness must be used for long term growth if we must, and we do, like infrastructure, which the Rs killed, research, which the Rs oppose by the govt., and welfare programs, which are pure stimulus. The Rs are opposed to everything that actually brings down the debt as they are be holding to short term business profits instead if reinvestments in our economy here. The actions by the Rs aren’t dumb, just selfish and greedy and lack compassion and wil drive us deeper in debt. They are fragmented and in total disarray except for their one goal, power. The country will suffer with a full power shift in their favor…and liberals will have to clean up the mess…again
The poor are looking for any port in a storm and SSI is one lucrative opportunity. Who can blame those in their 60s who have struggled to support themselves doing menial, often back breaking work at minimum wage with no benefits all their lives, from taking advantage of any opportunity available?
The problem might be that most people live their lives never having any knowledge of the desperate struggles in the lives of the poor. In this small rural town you can’t help but see it. Many choose to ignore it. Many choose to rationalize and blame the poor for their own predicament. Many begrudgingly agree to throw a few crumbs on the street for the poor to pick up. But honestly, the level of desperation is growing. It requires some effort to not see it here.
Blaming the poor is easy because they have no forum to answer back. Blaming the government is easy because their main reason for existence is to protect your personal rights to do so. It’s hard to place the blame where it really belongs and takes courage to do something about it.
I’m certainly not blaming the poor,it just seems that some people will always be poor,no matter what.Some by actions or inaction and some because they are not in the clique.
You would be amazed at the money you can generate and save by the simple fact that you have money-Kevin
"You would be amazed at the money you can generate and save by the simple fact that you have money"
Right…with money comes power and influence.
The kind of influence that a net worth of 700 million dollars (Paulson) and former head of Goldman Sachs gets you appointed to a govt. position (treasury) that allows you to hood wink the American taxpayer out of hundreds of billions of dollars on a three page promise with NO accountability, creating a deficit and reduction of welfare programs that could help millions…of honest taxpayers.
We are still paying for that free enterprise love affair that allows us to GIVE money to the wealthy and not the poor. The wealthy deserve the money, they are smarter. The poor have too much already I guess. Besides, we don’t give them a forum to lie from like we do the rich.