Sunday, December 20, 2015

The laughable new budget

Per the new speaker, Paul Boehner.

“We played the cards that were dealt the best we can.” Ryan also cited the halt to an export ban on crude oil as a victory for the GOP. One can only ask in astonishment: “You were dealt a hand? Who was dealing the hand? Are not Republicans running the House?” With all due respect to the Speaker, he is making it sound like he and his GOP colleagues are Martians who just landed in a new world and are stuck with the mess they discovered. Not to put too fine a point on this but — hello? — Ryan and the GOP were in charge in the first place! They elected John Boehner Speaker of the House. They dealt the cards. And suddenly now they are mystified at the cards they dealt themselves?
Help me here.

Boehner reprehensible at best replaced by his brother as much as it changes it stays the same. 

But Dem's do not rejoice as your no better as in 2006 you chanted give us the power to stop the GOP's excessive spending.  Done and then the spendfest began.  It continues today with a new partisan entitlement program which insure more people and provides little improvement.  Is it worth 1/4th of all government spending? 

The right complains and does nothing.  The left complains and does the same.  Neither party is worthy of our votes as the government like a virus continues to grow unabated consuming the host.



12 comments:

  1. Since Paul grew his beard he looks just like an elder statesman.

    Ryan, who leaped the first major hurdle of his Speakership when Congress passed the government-spending bill on Friday, said he had minimal say over what was included in the $1.1 trillion omnibus.

    “I don’t like the process, but it is the process I inherited,” he said of budget deliberations. “Everybody knows that I walked into the Speakership seven weeks ago with this process already in place, with its cake already baked.”

    Despite his dissatisfaction with many components of the legislation, he said conservatives could claim some victories.

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    1. A great excuse wasn't it.

      It's their fault not mine.

      And as leader of the House he either underestimates his power or is like Hilly a liar.

      I go for liar.

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  2. In fairness, I don't think it is exactly the same thing. One party is at least willing to pay for what it spends, and the other is not. This does not make spending virtuous, but I will go back to my usual spiel, if there is no consequence, IE there will never be a tax increase, then there will never be a serious discussion on what spending we should keep or cut. When Newt was king, there were cuts to welfare, but it was not just a redistribution of spending wherein hated social crap was cut in favor of deficit adding tax cuts. If raising taxes is never on the table, I don't believe we will ever see meaningful cuts in spending.

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    1. In all fairness Max, the left has not balanced a budget just like the right has not balanced a budget.

      Blame Bush for the latest 8 trillion if you like but both parties got us here and neither is willing to repair the damage they have done with over committing and under taxing. That under taxing goes across the board. The much vaunted years of the 90% tax on the wealth also taxed the less fortunate far more than they pay today which is zero in many cases. Everyone should have skin in the game no matter how little.

      I believe Obama cheered the omnibus bill as the right thing to do. He is your party.

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    2. No, they haven't put a balanced budget out, but neither have they shut down government nor refused to vote for bills that brought cuts to things they support. 90% taxation is not something we should shoot for, then again, we didn't run deficits like we do now. I don't think those are unrelated things.

      The poor will always have it shitty, it's not the role of government to fix that. During those high taxation periods, however, our wealth inequality was not so massive. The poor today don't escape taxation out of some sense of benevolence, they don't pay them because even if they are working, they don't make enough to pay federal income tax. As I have said before, we have had an unstated tax on the poor via the FED and inflation. To say the poor don't pay any tax is technically but not functionally true.

      Over committing and under taxing is accurate.

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    3. What is missing in this conversation of course is: what is the real constitutional roll of the national government. Most of what we are talking about here is things that actually have no basis for discussion. The subjects of social security, while fairly well historically settled, were enacted in a way not much different than this presidents handling of immigration.

      Except for stacking the courts to extract the decision you desire or standing on a mountain of precedents, most of the appropriation by the national government fall well outside the words ‘ enumerated powers’ and frankly, the word compromise has no meaning. The willingness to shut down the government over this principle is no different than one party insisting that all American citizens of Mexican decent be interned.

      The money comes from ‘the people’… not the government and one parties support for extra constitutional ‘projects’ is no basis for forcing the population to pay for it. This is where we seem to have created a distortion in the word democracy. Just because a bunch of minority groups get together to support each other regardless the issue is not a basis for democratic decision making and I can guarantee that. were the coalitions that bring the democrats together required to vote on issues in isolation, most of the lefts agenda would fail.

      When we talk about compromise or the lack thereof… we must first have an issue on which compromise is even on the table. An example of course is this continuing discussion of compromise over our very sovereignty… as if it were something that can be compromised on… either we are or we are not.

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  3. they don't pay them because even if they are working, they don't make enough to pay federal income tax.

    If that's the case why aren't they excluded for state income taxes?
    How about state sales taxes?
    How about local property taxes or school taxes.

    Why is it they can exclude people from paying Federal income tax when the benefit for the proceeds of Federal Taxes? There in lies the problem today, not everyone has skin in the game so it's easy for some to demand more of other while receiving a pass.

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  4. Lou I was once in the situation of not having to taxes because I didn't make enough money and had a family to support. I think that probably by his comments Max may have been there also. It wasn't fun lou doing without because we didn't have a lot of money. Now some people will be more then happy in that situation but very few of those who are are happy. They want more. they don't stay poor so that they don't have to pay taxes. There are a plethora of reasons people can't make what they need to have enough for their families and pay taxes. Some are self inflicted some are just matters of circumstance. How do we sort it all out and help those who truly need it while inspiring those who can to get the training, the education, the relocation or whatever it is they need to get off the public dole. And who is going to do this work to sort it all out? The government is the best we have to do this type of thing. Unfortunately it is cumbersome it is bureaucracy, it is extremely time consuming and it does cost money. Louman this is the whole point that I try to make and Max as well, it isn't easy to help those who honestly need it without those who abuse the system. I think the government does the best it can. I don't think that the government encourages laziness and relief as much as you think they do.
    The wealthy should pay more as an individual percentage. Yes I realize at their greatly reduced 10-15% they still kick in a great deal but it always goes back to why the rich have an effective tax rate of low teens while the middle class pays about 20-25 % of their incomes to taxes because the loopholes and deductions are not fairly available to everyone. I think it is hideous that working income is taxed more then income that is basically given to someone through dividends and capital gains. That is one of the biggest travesties in our free market system.

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  5. You know Rick, when I joined the Air Force, I made nothing. Got married and made nothing and still paid taxes. I lived in a place with a living room bedroom combo, laid in bed to watch TV, 12" black and white, a small bath and small kitchen that fit a table and 2 chairs. Staples, mac and cheese, hot dogs, spaghetti, etc. survived and still paid Federal Income Taxes.
    In civilian life I had an apartment, car payment, struggled to make ends meet, sometimes they did not but I still paid Federal income taxes.

    Americans do not know what poor is. Your being an apologist for the new American way where everyone should get a trophy.

    Until everyone has skin in the game, nothing changes.

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  6. There wasn't earned income credits etc back then that is the difference. That usually gives back whatever these people owe. Now I do admit that American poor is middle class anywhere else. But we have high standards as a nation, it is part of what makes us exceptional so yes Lou we have poor by our standards. Now don't start touting air conditioners gaming systems and TV's. My daughter who is married to a Hispanic is "poor". They have a lot of these "Luxuries because we have bought it for them or gave them our old stuff. Doesn't mean that they aren't poor. We prop them up as do other parents and families in this country. Is it right or is it wrong? I don't know but we can't stand to see her do without. So we make sure her and her children don't. If that makes me a bad person/parent, well that is only in your mind not mine. Many parents and grandparents do the same thing.

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    1. The point is Rick, people didn't have a lot, they didn't demand mommy government take care of them and did it themselves. They didn't get a EITC as a trophy. People did what they needed to do to survive WITHOUT government.

      There is a difference between family helping family and government interference in Americans lives trying to make everyone equal.

      I applaud your efforts to help your family. Many of us do the same and it is commendable. It's what America was built on not the handout from government.

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    2. Nobody I know "demands" the government to take care of them. Little overboard there aren't you.

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