In the last couple of weeks a story has begun to develop. The GOP candidates for President have all jumped on the '50% of Americans didn't pay taxes!' bandwagon. And they have been talking endlessly about how this isn't fair, that these people who didn't pay taxes are just free loading etc. In addition there have been rumblings that the House GOP will oppose continuing the tax cut on FICA that was enacted last year. This is a tax cut that is acting as a minor stimulus for low and middle income workers who have a little extra money in their pay checks.
On the flip side you have every major GOP candidate kissing the Pope's/Grover Norquist's ring with their pledges to oppose any raise in taxes. And they have stood steadfast in this philosophy in the face of public opinion, economic sense, and now many major businesses all pointing to and asking for increased revenue for the government.
So my question/statement is: what's to going to be GOP? Are you against all taxes, or just increases on taxes for the wealthy and major corporations? Because your stance right now seems to pretty much look like the later, the only people who should be paying low/no taxes is the wealthy and major corporations, while the poor and middle classes will be asked to foot more of the bill.
And before you get all bent out of shape with the bogus 50% number, that has already been disproved. Those people may not pay much or any Federal Income tax but they pay the majority of the bill for Social Security and Medicare, especially Social Security since there is a cap of roughly 100K that is taxed. And then even if you want to get all specific about those people not paying Federal income tax isn't the goal of the GOP to reduce taxes?
It all boils down to the fact that the GOP is the political party of the rich and major corporations. It does not represent the poor and middle classes, and it especially does not represent the unemployed. When the immediate, gut level response of the House GOP is to oppose any jobs plan that Obama is going to propose, even before seeing it, it is clear they do not really want unemployment to go down. Because their mistaken belief in the economic confidence fairy is just stupid and dangerous for the overall economy and the majority of Americans.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Must control appetite for #football, trying hard not to overdo it already
So here we are, 1 week into preseason, and already I sense that I could very easily plunge head first into the deep end of football viewing. I only watched a half of the Broncos game, and some of the game that was on last night, but the appetite is very strong. I am going have to be very careful here, and work hard to find other things to do so at worst the game is background noise to doing something lese like playing a game, or painting.
The thing is football is not like basketball or baseball for me, I really like to watch football. I will play basketball, and if a game is on and I have absolutely nothing else to do I will watch, but I won't change my schedule around for it. And baseball is baseball, just not all that fun to watch or even follow. But football, ah I could watch kids play football (and in fact have been known to do so). But in the interest of good family health and personal mental health I must control that addiction. All of the above does not mean I won't follow it, just trying to limit the screen time, reading about it every day on the Internet is not the same.
The thing is football is not like basketball or baseball for me, I really like to watch football. I will play basketball, and if a game is on and I have absolutely nothing else to do I will watch, but I won't change my schedule around for it. And baseball is baseball, just not all that fun to watch or even follow. But football, ah I could watch kids play football (and in fact have been known to do so). But in the interest of good family health and personal mental health I must control that addiction. All of the above does not mean I won't follow it, just trying to limit the screen time, reading about it every day on the Internet is not the same.
Friday, August 5, 2011
A chance to talk about my #NFL teams, welcome relief from politics
As I noted yesterday I am so glad to be arguing about the NFL for a change instead of politics! It is a welcome relief and diversion. Of course when I mentioned to Kim last night that preseason starts a week from yesterday she gave a snort of disgust and made a comment about should she change her schedule so she is working on Sundays. I guess I can't win all the time. And obviously that's my signal that I need to watch my football rationing right off the bat.
St. Louis Rams
I think this might be the season we see an end to the Same Old Sorry Ass Rams label for a while. I am pretty excited about this team. The defense looks to be even more improved over last year, with some added talent and the young talent getting a chance to keep improving. I was worried about the fact that the team didn't go out and get the big name receiver. But they kept getting talent, and then I remembered McDaniel's track record. Except for the years with Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall he has really made his reputation building great offenses with mostly unknown receivers, and turning good receivers into great ones (see Brandon Lloyd last year). So I think that with a potentially great QB in Bradford, and a resurrected running game the passing game will greatly improve from last year.
Denver Broncos
First of all I am a Broncos fan, so I want the team to do well, regardless of who is playing. So if Orton is the starter and we are doing well and winning games I will be happy. Second, I like Tebow the person as much as if not more than Tebow the player, so he doesn't have to be the starter for me to be a fan. Given those 2 points I think the Broncos are doing the right thing in letting the more experienced player get the reps with the first team, while everyone learns a very different system. I'm a lot more concerned about the defense than I am who is starting at QB. Because that has been the missing focus of this team for way way too long, going back to the early Shanahan years. So that is what I am looking at more than anything.
I think that Tebow will become an NFL QB at some point, he just may not be ready to step into a new system this year. He was probably hurt by the lockout more than anyone else on the team. That being said, I think we have seen Orton at his best, which can be very good, but there's a limit. And for some reason at his best he still cannot win games that often. While Tebow is the kind of talent that can win games seemingly on his own. It may not always be pretty or picture perfect, but he does win. But if the Broncos want some stability now, and also want Orton's trade value to increase or remain high, he needs to play while Timmy learns and develops. I think the team is doing the smart thing and thinking long term here. If they don't have to start Tebow, why force it?
Gosh it's so nice to talk about this instead of focusing on the doom and gloom of politics for a change. I know it's a diversion, but it's good to have diversions from time to time.
St. Louis Rams
I think this might be the season we see an end to the Same Old Sorry Ass Rams label for a while. I am pretty excited about this team. The defense looks to be even more improved over last year, with some added talent and the young talent getting a chance to keep improving. I was worried about the fact that the team didn't go out and get the big name receiver. But they kept getting talent, and then I remembered McDaniel's track record. Except for the years with Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall he has really made his reputation building great offenses with mostly unknown receivers, and turning good receivers into great ones (see Brandon Lloyd last year). So I think that with a potentially great QB in Bradford, and a resurrected running game the passing game will greatly improve from last year.
Denver Broncos
First of all I am a Broncos fan, so I want the team to do well, regardless of who is playing. So if Orton is the starter and we are doing well and winning games I will be happy. Second, I like Tebow the person as much as if not more than Tebow the player, so he doesn't have to be the starter for me to be a fan. Given those 2 points I think the Broncos are doing the right thing in letting the more experienced player get the reps with the first team, while everyone learns a very different system. I'm a lot more concerned about the defense than I am who is starting at QB. Because that has been the missing focus of this team for way way too long, going back to the early Shanahan years. So that is what I am looking at more than anything.
I think that Tebow will become an NFL QB at some point, he just may not be ready to step into a new system this year. He was probably hurt by the lockout more than anyone else on the team. That being said, I think we have seen Orton at his best, which can be very good, but there's a limit. And for some reason at his best he still cannot win games that often. While Tebow is the kind of talent that can win games seemingly on his own. It may not always be pretty or picture perfect, but he does win. But if the Broncos want some stability now, and also want Orton's trade value to increase or remain high, he needs to play while Timmy learns and develops. I think the team is doing the smart thing and thinking long term here. If they don't have to start Tebow, why force it?
Gosh it's so nice to talk about this instead of focusing on the doom and gloom of politics for a change. I know it's a diversion, but it's good to have diversions from time to time.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Hoping against hope the Sun rises in the West tomorrow
Which is my way of saying that I hope that the 90% of professional economists who state that a government austerity plan of cutting funding with no rise in revenue will hurt the economy are wrong. I don't want the economy to get worse, I want it to get better. But the facts and views of those economists, plus historical facts, all point the opposite direction.
Is this why I voted for Obama and supported him all this time? No, I wanted a transformative President, someone who would truly stand up for the voiceless people. But that is not what we got. Instead we got yet another corporate stooge. Oh his speeches argue differently, and some of the policies of his administration seem to point differently. But when you dig into them it becomes clear that these policies were not really 'liberal' policies, they are at best Centrist interpretations. The ACA, while good intentioned, is at its heart a serious give away to the health care insurance cartel. Financial Reform didn't go nearly far enough, and is already being gutted. The 'failed stimulus' was almost 50% tax cuts, and was no where near enough actual stimulus spending. All of these point towards an Adminsitration that doesn't really believe in 'Liberal' solutions, just wants to change things a little bit, tweak them. All of which is not the actions of the dreaded Socialist Obama that the GOP likes to point to.
The best case scenario I can envision, based on what we know to be economic facts and truths, is this: the economy does not improve, but doesn't get a lot worse. And that the President, and more importantly the Progressives in Congress and running for Congress can campaign with a strategy of pointing to 2 years of a GOP 'Austerity Now' program and say: 'you had your shot, and things got worse than they were the first 2 years of the Obama presidency.' And that the people get angry enough to toss out the do nothing Conservatives and corporate stooges, and elect people who who will truly do something to help the economy, to get the government to create the Demand it needs that the corporations are not providing. I'm not going to bet on that, but that's the best case scenario I can imagine.
Worst case scenario is the economy continues in a flat line, but the Main Stream Media and corporate money get the message across that this is all Obama's fault, and Democrats fault. And the GOP takes over. The scenario in that case would be even less government spending, and a dive into a Depression as corporations flee a dying economy and dysfunctional government. Plunging the country into a dystopian corporate owned nightmare.
Is this why I voted for Obama and supported him all this time? No, I wanted a transformative President, someone who would truly stand up for the voiceless people. But that is not what we got. Instead we got yet another corporate stooge. Oh his speeches argue differently, and some of the policies of his administration seem to point differently. But when you dig into them it becomes clear that these policies were not really 'liberal' policies, they are at best Centrist interpretations. The ACA, while good intentioned, is at its heart a serious give away to the health care insurance cartel. Financial Reform didn't go nearly far enough, and is already being gutted. The 'failed stimulus' was almost 50% tax cuts, and was no where near enough actual stimulus spending. All of these point towards an Adminsitration that doesn't really believe in 'Liberal' solutions, just wants to change things a little bit, tweak them. All of which is not the actions of the dreaded Socialist Obama that the GOP likes to point to.
The best case scenario I can envision, based on what we know to be economic facts and truths, is this: the economy does not improve, but doesn't get a lot worse. And that the President, and more importantly the Progressives in Congress and running for Congress can campaign with a strategy of pointing to 2 years of a GOP 'Austerity Now' program and say: 'you had your shot, and things got worse than they were the first 2 years of the Obama presidency.' And that the people get angry enough to toss out the do nothing Conservatives and corporate stooges, and elect people who who will truly do something to help the economy, to get the government to create the Demand it needs that the corporations are not providing. I'm not going to bet on that, but that's the best case scenario I can imagine.
Worst case scenario is the economy continues in a flat line, but the Main Stream Media and corporate money get the message across that this is all Obama's fault, and Democrats fault. And the GOP takes over. The scenario in that case would be even less government spending, and a dive into a Depression as corporations flee a dying economy and dysfunctional government. Plunging the country into a dystopian corporate owned nightmare.
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