Poll on Unity

[Phatscotty]

That last sentence is something I could not agree more with. We have no reason to not negotiate a peace with the Taliban at this point, and plenty those bases around the world should be cut and some of the money saved be used toward fixing our broken education system.

But not everything involving tackling the deficit has to be a cut.

For example: privatizing Social Security. Obviously this would be an unpopular choice, even if it hemorrhages money right now. If Social Security were to be taken out of a full salary instead of on just the first $100-something thousand of a person's salary, Social Security would make a profit for the government.

We also have a $2.5 trillion trust fund in Social Security. If Social Security made a profit greater than it does, some of this already-set-aside-money could be used on lowering the deficit.

Legalizing marijuana would add to tax revenues. So would ending the meant-to-be-temporary Bush tax cuts for 2 percent of America.

side question. Are you from Greece?

[GreecePwns]

Born in Greece. Moved to the US at the age of 14.

[Phatscotty]

Born in Greece. Moved to the US at the age of 14.

only curious, but how in the loop are you at the current with what is going on in Greece economically?

[ViperOverLord]

He may not be uniting the country but he's doing a good job of separating the idiots from the rest.

Yea but don't be too hard on yourself for supporting Obama. No wait, go ahead and be hard on yourself and perhaps it'll help you to see the light.

[GreecePwns]

Born in Greece. Moved to the US at the age of 14.

only curious, but how in the loop are you at the current with what is going on in Greece economically?

The Greek economic crisis is not due to spending. It's due to corruption. I could really write a long-winded post, but this article sums up everything. A quarter of taxes owed simply aren't collected. The government wouldn't have a deficit problem if taxes were properly collected. And if you want proof that it's not just because of the amount of government control of the economy, the US fits right in with the correlation between corruption and debt.

Austerity measures where some public companies are 49% privatized isn't the solution, just a way to pass the blame away from their utter failure to properly govern a nation of just 10 million people. The EU bailout is just going to fund this corrupt Greek lifestyle. It's no wonder why there are twice as many Greeks in the US as there are in Greece.

EDIT: Seems that link doesn't show the full article. It did with the first result here.

[Phatscotty]

Born in Greece. Moved to the US at the age of 14.

only curious, but how in the loop are you at the current with what is going on in Greece economically?

The Greek economic crisis is not due to spending. It's due to corruption. I could really write a long-winded post, but this article sums up everything. A quarter of taxes owed simply aren't collected. The government wouldn't have a deficit problem if taxes were properly collected. And if you want proof that it's not just because of the amount of government control of the economy, the US fits right in with the correlation between corruption and debt.

Austerity measures where some public companies are 49% privatized isn't the solution, just a way to pass the blame away from their utter failure to properly govern a nation of just 10 million people. The EU bailout is just going to fund this corrupt Greek lifestyle. It's no wonder why there are twice as many Greeks in the US as there are in Greece.

EDIT: Seems that link doesn't show the full article. It did with the first result here.

I would agree with you that it's both, but not that it isn't "spending".

[GreecePwns]

Born in Greece. Moved to the US at the age of 14.

only curious, but how in the loop are you at the current with what is going on in Greece economically?

The Greek economic crisis is not due to spending. It's due to corruption. I could really write a long-winded post, but this article sums up everything. A quarter of taxes owed simply aren't collected. The government wouldn't have a deficit problem if taxes were properly collected. And if you want proof that it's not just because of the amount of government control of the economy, the US fits right in with the correlation between corruption and debt.

Austerity measures where some public companies are 49% privatized isn't the solution, just a way to pass the blame away from their utter failure to properly govern a nation of just 10 million people. The EU bailout is just going to fund this corrupt Greek lifestyle. It's no wonder why there are twice as many Greeks in the US as there are in Greece.

EDIT: Seems that link doesn't show the full article. It did with the first result here.

I would agree with you that it's both, but not that it isn't "spending".

That spending wouldn't be a problem at all if a quarter of taxes were actually collected. Even more so now that most public companies are now 49% privatized. To say spending is the problem in Greece is flat out blind.

[Phatscotty]

Born in Greece. Moved to the US at the age of 14.

only curious, but how in the loop are you at the current with what is going on in Greece economically?

The Greek economic crisis is not due to spending. It's due to corruption. I could really write a long-winded post, but this article sums up everything. A quarter of taxes owed simply aren't collected. The government wouldn't have a deficit problem if taxes were properly collected. And if you want proof that it's not just because of the amount of government control of the economy, the US fits right in with the correlation between corruption and debt.

Austerity measures where some public companies are 49% privatized isn't the solution, just a way to pass the blame away from their utter failure to properly govern a nation of just 10 million people. The EU bailout is just going to fund this corrupt Greek lifestyle. It's no wonder why there are twice as many Greeks in the US as there are in Greece.

EDIT: Seems that link doesn't show the full article. It did with the first result here.

I would agree with you that it's both, but not that it isn't "spending".

That spending wouldn't be a problem at all if a quarter of taxes were actually collected. Even more so now that most public companies are now 49% privatized. To say spending is the problem in Greece is flat out blind.

why arent a quarter of taxes collected?

[GreecePwns]

Because people get away with it. See the 4-4-2 part.

[Phatscotty]

Because people get away with it. See the 4-4-2 part.

So they want a bunch of public spending, but don't want to pay the taxes to fund it?

Is Greece just confused?

[GreecePwns]

Because people get away with it. See the 4-4-2 part.

So they want a bunch of public spending, but don't want to pay the taxes to fund it?

Is Greece just confused?

Anyone would if they knew they would get away with it. Greece is a society of corruption. It's not gonna change until people are jailed for life for doing this. But that won't change.

But before this I made a point that you did not answer yet.

[Phatscotty]

My overall point is simple. Cut the spending, and there would be no need to collect so much in taxes in the first place...

[Phatscotty]

A Newsweek Poll Shows Americans Still Divided Over Race

Once upon a time, millions of people seemed to believe that electing Barack Obama president would automatically improve race relations in America. Jason Wilhite, an African-American from Charleston, S.C., was one of them. “I did a jig around the house I was so happy,” Wilhite says. “I thought Americans really had made progress in how they viewed black people as a whole.” His assessment now? “Man, did I read that wrong.”

Wilhite isn’t alone. Nearly four years into the Age of Obama, many Americans are coming to the conclusion that choosing a black man as commander in chief has done little to speed up racial progress or soothe racial tensions. In fact, some even suspect that Obama’s presence in the Oval Office may be slowing us down—and pushing us farther apart.

A new Newsweek poll puts this remarkable shift in stark relief for the first time. Back in 2008, 52 percent of Americans told Pew Research Center that they expected race relations to get better as a result of Obama’s election; only 9 percent anticipated a decline. But today that 43-point gap has vanished. According to the Newsweek survey, only 32 percent of Americans now think that race relations have improved since the president’s inauguration; roughly the same number (30 percent) believe they have gotten worse. Factor in those who say nothing has changed and the result is staggering: nearly 60 percent of Americans are now convinced that race relations have either deteriorated or stagnated under Obama.

rest of article http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2 ... -race.html

[Baron Von PWN]

My overall point is simple. Cut the spending, and there would be no need to collect so much in taxes in the first place...

Not really. If you can get away with tax evasion you will evade taxes regardless of spending or tax levels.

[Lootifer]

A Newsweek Poll Shows Americans Still Divided Over Race

Once upon a time, millions of people seemed to believe that electing Barack Obama president would automatically improve race relations in America. Jason Wilhite, an African-American from Charleston, S.C., was one of them. “I did a jig around the house I was so happy,” Wilhite says. “I thought Americans really had made progress in how they viewed black people as a whole.” His assessment now? “Man, did I read that wrong.”

Wilhite isn’t alone. Nearly four years into the Age of Obama, many Americans are coming to the conclusion that choosing a black man as commander in chief has done little to speed up racial progress or soothe racial tensions. In fact, some even suspect that Obama’s presence in the Oval Office may be slowing us down—and pushing us farther apart.

A new Newsweek poll puts this remarkable shift in stark relief for the first time. Back in 2008, 52 percent of Americans told Pew Research Center that they expected race relations to get better as a result of Obama’s election; only 9 percent anticipated a decline. But today that 43-point gap has vanished. According to the Newsweek survey, only 32 percent of Americans now think that race relations have improved since the president’s inauguration; roughly the same number (30 percent) believe they have gotten worse. Factor in those who say nothing has changed and the result is staggering: nearly 60 percent of Americans are now convinced that race relations have either deteriorated or stagnated under Obama.

rest of article http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2 ... -race.html

No quite getting how a public opinion poll translates towards your [assumed on my part] argument here?

Care to expand on you reasoning?

[Baron Von PWN]

What the poll says is bad, therefore Obama's fault. If it was good, Republican congress (due to the leadership of tea party reps no doubt).

[Phatscotty]

What the poll says is bad, therefore Obama's fault. If it was good, Republican congress (due to the leadership of tea party reps no doubt).

It is what it is. Obama has to work with the Congress we sent him. If the country sent him a bunch of Tea Party reps, then that's democracy and that's exactly what we did.

Deal with it and stop complaining about it.

[kentington]

Dividing government and Us


More recent dividing middle class against the rich. Whether you agree with what he says or not doesn't matter. He is not unifying.

I don't think he has been very unifying.