The Second Coming

[Woody]

When the Republicans return to power ... and that should be either this fall or the next election .... what will their 'second coming' be like? What will they do with their power? Will they have learned any lessons from the Obama disaster?

Let's hope so. And let's pray they cometh soon.

[lazarus]

The GOP will do what they always do borrow and spend as opposed to the Dems who tax and spend. Proof that the GOP has not yet learned is the spectacle of Cheney getting an ovation at CPAC.

[Woody]

I think that the Republicans will do a fine job. I am hoping for a Palin/Chaney ticket. With Palin's energy and Chaney's experience ... I think they would be a good mix.

[lazarus]

I am hoping for a Palin/Chaney ticket. With Palin's energy and Chaney's experience ... I think they would be a good mix.

That would be a great ticket, I agree.

[Gerr]

Quote:

That would be a great ticket, I agree.

First great joke to make me laugh today!!!

[Woody]

I wasn't joking. I honestly believe it would make a great ticket. Not one that would win perhaps. But still ... two great people who would serve our country with distinction.

[bonnie]

I wasn't joking. I honestly believe it would make a great ticket. Not one that would win perhaps. But still ... two great people who would serve our country with distinction.

Never happen. Cheney's health alone. If republicans that have eagerly spent money that they should have held the line on don't change,it will make little difference. If they win enough seats this year and do not change we are still in the mess we are in now.

To blame Bush is almost laughable in that Obama did not see a expensive liberal cause he did not embrace ,a bailout he did not endorse and vote for.His only reservation was it was not enough and now he will fix it.

He takes money from group A and spreads it around to group B and says he has stimulated the economy. Anyone that has ever balanced a checkbook knows the man is clueless or just plain dishonest

[Woody]

Well ... he promised "redistribution of wealth" and I think he's workin' hard at accomplishing that. :)

[phkrause]

When the Republicans return to power ... and that should be either this fall or the next election .... what will their 'second coming' be like? What will they do with their power? Will they have learned any lessons from the Obama disaster?

Let's hope so. And let's pray they cometh soon.

So my question is Woody, has the media dubed this as the second coming? or you? Or was it the republican party? A change of party wont do anything unless there is a real commitment to the American people. And not a continued commitment to greed and more greed.

Have you read a book by Rev. Jim Wallis called "Rediscovering Values On Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street". Heard a little bit of and interview and thought the book sounded very good. I'm gonna try and get it and read it and see what he has to say.

pk

[Gerr]

When the Republicans return to power ... and that should be either this fall or the next election .... what will their 'second coming' be like? What will they do with their power? Will they have learned any lessons from the Obama disaster?

Let's hope so. And let's pray they cometh soon.

What will their second coming be like? SAME OL', SAME OL'.

The rich will get their tax cuts and get richer, and the poor will get poorer and without affordable health insurance, and the middle class will get squeezed tighter, and the national debt will get ever bigger with their spend and reduce taxes strategy, but Roe vs. Wade might be terminated!!!

[bonnie]

Quote:

What will their second coming be like? SAME OL', SAME OL'.

The rich will get their tax cuts and get richer, and the poor will get poorer and without affordable health insurance, and the middle class will get squeezed tighter, and the national debt will get ever bigger with their spend and reduce taxes strategy, but Roe vs. Wade might be terminated!!!

Were it not for the rich the poor would not have acess to medical,housing,food stamps. The rich and those in middle or upper class brackets are the ones that supply that for them.

The rich are not the ones squeezing my middle class lifestyle. It is the "poor" that takes taxes I pay to live on.

Tell me again why someone that works hard,often times risking their own financial security providing employment and products should pay a higher rate than they are currently paying. How do those with more spendable income become responsible for those with less

The poor contribute little as a percentage.

Tax Year 2007

Percentiles Ranked by AGI

AGI Threshold on Percentiles

Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid

Top 1% pays $410,096 40.42 percentage

Top 5% pays $160,041 60.63 percentage

Top 10% pays $113,018 71.22percentage

Top 25% pays $66,532 86.59 percentage

Top 50% pays $32,879 97.11 percentage

Bottom 50% <$32,879 2.89 percentage

Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross Income

Source: Internal Revenue Service

[Gerr]

Maybe you should check how much the McCourts (owners of the Dodgers) contributed for housing the poort

or their medical care. They were reported in the LA Times to have had an income of over $100 MILLION

in 2008, but paid not a penny of income tax. I wonder how many multi-millionaires or billionaires who

either pay no income taxes or pay only a token amount.

[bonnie]

Maybe you should check how much the McCourts (owners of the Dodgers) contributed for housing the poort

or their medical care. They were reported in the LA Times to have had an income of over $100 MILLION

in 2008, but paid not a penny of income tax. I wonder how many multi-millionaires or billionaires who

either pay no income taxes or pay only a token amount.

You can find the exceptions to any situation if you look. Just a little side note,it was 108 million dollars from 2004-2009.Perfectly legal from the sounds of it. If so,it is his money and he has the right to decide what he may do with what he has.

If this was the norm the IRS would have much different figures.

I can find as many or more legal tax cheats on the public welfare dole.

If tax breaks are available in some situations it is not illegal to use them to the taxpayers full advantage. The taxpayer does not write the rules.

We had a working hobby farm for 17 years. We used that to reduce our tax burden every year.My husband was one of those "self employed rich"

With the existing rules it is very easy to structure your business to lessen taxes. We could claim a loss 3 out of five years. There was no specific dollar amount that had to be claimed as profit the remaining 2

I purchased bred and due livestock in mid to late Dec to have my expenses one year and offspring was then kept for 6 weeks and then sold giving me a profit the first of the following year.Many of the recent purchased adult livestock would be sold at a lower price. Giving me a year to again figure the amount I had to reduce income by. Again in mid Dec I would purchase more bred livestock and do the same.

Perfectly legal and withstood the scrutiny of a Total Compliance Audit that many self employed people get treated to.

No one is going to pay more taxes than they are required to.If most of the rich did as your example the welfare segment of our society would not be living as fairly comfortable as they do

[Ted Oplinger]

Agreed. Depends greatly on how the income was declared - corporation or personal. Vastly different tax laws between the two. It would also explain why Mr. McCourt would keep a small militia of tax lawyers and CPA's on retainer...

However, it would not be a far stretch to say that there are more rich on the political Left than on the political Right. The Class Envy card doesn't carry much credibility any more....to this poster.

[Gerr]

There's something gravely wrong with a tax code that allows a person $108 million of income and pays no income tax.

Class envy? No, thank you. Just outrage.

[bonnie]

Agreed. Depends greatly on how the income was declared - corporation or personal. Vastly different tax laws between the two. It would also explain why Mr. McCourt would keep a small militia of tax lawyers and CPA's on retainer...

However, it would not be a far stretch to say that there are more rich on the political Left than on the political Right. The Class Envy card doesn't carry much credibility any more....to this poster.

Statistically liberal's or the left are wealthier than conservatives or the right.

Taxpayer's do not write the tax law.I didn't write the tax law that allowed me to declare a loss by watching when I bought and sold

[Jeannieb43]

When the Republicans return to power ... and that should be either this fall or the next election .... what will their 'second coming' be like? What will they do with their power? Will they have learned any lessons from the Obama disaster?

Let's hope so. And let's pray they cometh soon.

I can't believe anybody would want those Republicans to become the majority in Congress again. They are spiteful in having NO positive plan for this country. Their whole platform is to bring down this administration; i.e., bring down the United States of America. It makes me ill.

[Guest]

Sounds like somebody has been listening only to liberal talking heads. (mainstream media) Nothing could be further from the truth. They absolutely do have a positive plan for this country. But the dems don't want to hear it. (they don't want anybody else to hear it either.) So they just keep repeating the lie. That conservatives don't have a plan.

Anyone who only looks to the mainstream for their news, will never truly know what is going on. The truth will never be found by people who really don't want to know what it is.

[bonnie]

Sounds like somebody has been listening only to liberal talking heads. (mainstream media) Nothing could be further from the truth. They absolutely do have a positive plan for this country. But the dems don't want to hear it. (they don't want anybody else to hear it either.) So they just keep repeating the lie. That conservatives don't have a plan.

Anyone who only looks to the mainstream for their news, will never truly know what is going on. The truth will never be found by people who really don't want to know what it is.

The fact remains the republicans cannot stop what the dem leadership wants. It is dems stopping dems from passing some of this garbage in to law

[lazarus]

Sounds like somebody has been listening only to liberal talking heads. (mainstream media) Nothing could be further from the truth. They absolutely do have a positive plan for this country.

How can we know that the GOP has no real positive agenda for America? Find out what were the 5 top domestic legislative achievements in the Bush years? Take a look. It's essentially the same leadership with no real positive ideas.

[Gerr]

Quote:

Statistically liberal's or the left are wealthier than conservatives or the right.

Taxpayer's do not write the tax law.I didn't write the tax law that allowed me to declare a loss by watching when I bought and sold

True enough, but the tax laws are enacted by politicians who are in the pockets of the high-paying lobbyists and the rich.

[Dr. Shane]

Find out what were the 5 top domestic legislative achievements in the Bush years? Take a look. It's essentially the same leadership with no real positive ideas.

The Democrats played the part of the obstructionists during the Bush years. Yes, indeed. The very same Democrats that now are crying boo-hoo-hoo about Republicans being obstructionists. What comes around goes around. Bush would have saved Social Security if the Democrats would have cooperated with him. Bush did in fact drive down non-defense spending and until the housing bubble burst, the deficit was getting smaller.

However I disagree that the same group of Republicans would be in power if elected. Denny Hastert, George Bush and Bill Frist all all gone. If the Republicans win control it will be an entire new group of Republicans who will be very energized and likely to accomplish a lot in a short period of time.

[bonnie]

Quote:

True enough, but the tax laws are enacted by politicians who are in the pockets of the high-paying lobbyists and the rich.

The wealthy pay a the greater share of the tax revenue in this country. The bottom 50% pays very little.

If all the tax laws were written for the rich to avoid paying taxes that would not be so. Tax write offs can be used by anyone that qualifies.

I would rather see no deductions and a lower tax.If someone making 30,000.00 a year and pays 15% and someone making 300,000.00 pays 15% the wealthy are still paying more while at the same time putting more dollars into the economy.

This constant war against those that make more rarely works.

Remember the luxury tax of boats and yachts? The rich simply bought out of country rather than the punishment of taxes here. It also put many blue collar workers out of work

[karl]

Quote:

True enough, but the tax laws are enacted by politicians who are in the pockets of the high-paying lobbyists and the rich.

The wealthy pay a the greater share of the tax revenue in this country. The bottom 50% pays very little.

It seems to make sense to the libs to punish those who do well and to reward those who do poorly. They call it "redistributing the wealth." It is, in actuality, theft. A direct violation of the ten commandments.

This is having baleful results.

I liken it to a fifth grade teacher taking points from Mary, who scored 100% on the test, and giving them to Billy, who didn't quite pass. Although Mary still gets an A and Billy is saved the shame of failing, on the next test what will happen? Mary will not try as hard to get 100% because even if she gets it, she doesn't get it. Billy will not try as hard because even if he doesn't pass, he passes.

The entire classroom is harmed by this short-sighted redistribution.

However, if Mary were to voluntarily choose to tutor Billy, both would benefit and the rest of the kids would be inspired to be producers (industrious) like Mary instead of redistributors (politicians) like the teacher in the illustration above.

[Dr. Shane]

The wealthy pay a the greater share of the tax revenue in this country. The bottom 50% pays very little.

This is a conservative talking point but it really isn't true.

The wealthy pay the greater share of income tax. If that was the only tax anyone ever paid, the statement would be true. However it is not.

Corporate income tax is paid for by the consumers of products and services provided by corporations. So everyone buying anything produced by a corporation is paying corporate income tax. Poor people buy food, cars, clothing, pencils, movies and many other such items produced by corporation.

Energy is taxed. Gasoline, electricity and natural gas are all taxed. Since poor people use energy they also pay this tax. Rich people may pay more but that is because would be because they are using more energy.

Telephone tax is paid for by everyone using telephones. The rich may use telephones more than the poor but probably not to any significant degree.

Sin tax is placed on alcohol and tobacco. Since poor people smoke and drink they also pay this tax. In fact, poor people may smoke and drink more than the rich do.

Local property tax is paid by everyone except the extreme poor living in government housing. This is paid either directly by property owners or indirectly by renters who pay rent which a portion of is used to pay the property tax.

State sales tax is paid for by everyone. The poor pay less because they consume less.

State lotteries balance out federal income tax. The rich pay the greater share of the federal income tax but the poor buy the greater share of lottery tickets. State lotteries are really a tax on the poor. The more money a person earns and the more education a person has, the less likely they are to purchase lottery tickets.

Social Security tax. The rich do not pay Social Security tax for anything they earn over $110,000/year. Everyone that earns less than that pays the same percentage. Social Security revenues make up a large portion of federal revenues and there is no lock-box. All federal revenues go into the same "pot". So while the rich pay more income tax, the poor and middle class are paying more Social Security tax when calculated as a percentage of their income.