Patriotic Duty to Pay Higher Taxes?

[Woody]

Yes. According to Obama's side kick ... Joe Biden ...

It is your patriotic duty to pay Higher Taxes.

Yep ... those Demos are after your pocketbook.

[Dr. Shane]

Does this mean poor people will get to be patriots too?

[carolaa]

That's no worse than saying a person is patriotic only if he or she supports the occupation in Iraq.

[Woody]

Who ever said that?

[Dr. Shane]

That's no worse than saying a person is patriotic only if he or she supports the occupation in Iraq.

Perhaps. I think questioning a person's patriotism based on their lack of support for Iraq is wrong. A person that evades paying taxes is not a patriot. However saying that someone who opposes increasing taxes is not a patriot is wrong.

[Bravus]

MM-hmm. So where did you *think* the well over 200 billion that the government has already committed to bailouts, and the 300-700 billion more that they're now talking about, were going to come from?

[jasd]

In between the World Wars Germany retired her debt by inflating her monies to the point of oblivion.

We should have done likewise while the entire world based their currencies upon the number of dollar$ held.

Should we have done so, we would have effectively taxed the entire globe to our benefit: that would have included stockpiling strategic metals, other raw materials, and such.

We should then have been a Fourth Reich, an ocean removed.

How much the world would have been blessed to have had the Americans dominating with its usual 'tender touch'. [/kidding, sorta]

[fccool]

Jasd,

How would you like not being able to buy a pack of gum with your entire life savings?

[Dr. Shane]

MM-hmm. So where did you *think* the well over 200 billion that the government has already committed to bailouts, and the 300-700 billion more that they're now talking about, were going to come from?

It sounds like the US government is going into the banking and insurance industry. Christopher Dodd, the Senate Banking Chairman, said this morning on Good Morning America that he hoped the taxpayers wouldn't have to pay anything.

[Bravus]

Hard to imagine how that could happen. The already known losses are in the hundreds of billions, but the really scary bit is that no-one really knows how large they will eventually be. A trillion is not out of the question.

Ironic, isn't it - it's the Republicans who are essentially nationalising huge banks and insurance companies: the exact reverse of privatisation.

[Jeannieb43]

Ironic, isn't it - it's the Republicans who are essentially nationalising huge banks and insurance companies: the exact reverse of privatisation.

And you mentioned Gibbon. The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. How appropriate!

Our good old USA "Empire" has risen -- now under GWB it's falling. Fast.

(But haven't we been warned about this? ...that our money would be worthless in the last days?)

[Dr. Shane]

Actually I think it is the Federal Reserve that is really calling the shots. That gets lost in a lot of partisan bickering. The Federal Reserve has more control over the economy in general than any of the politicians do. And I rarely ever see the Federal Reserve criticized except by the Libertarian folks.

[carolaa]

Actually I think it is the Federal Reserve that is really calling the shots. That gets lost in a lot of partisan bickering. The Federal Reserve has more control over the economy in general than any of the politicians do. And I rarely ever see the Federal Reserve criticized except by the Libertarian folks.

Yes, I think you are totally right about that. But I also think the deregulation policies have contributed quite a bit.

[Woody]

Just heard that the bail out will only cost each American $8,500.00 . This would seem to be a bargain. And the Democrats will get their wish to raise taxes.

[Dr. Shane]

I also think the deregulation policies have contributed quite a bit.

Which deregulation policies? The Community Reinvestment Act had a lot to do with it.

[Neil D]

Just heard that the bail out will only cost each American $8,500.00 . This would seem to be a bargain. And the Democrats will get their wish to raise taxes.

And it's happening on the Republican watch...again!

It isn't democrates that are wanting the taxes raised, but it is the Republicans....for thier misdeeds...

[Woody]

If you check on it Neil ... it is the Demos and Obama in particular that has the financial and personal support of the main players in this failure. Some of them actually work for the Obama campaign.

[Neil D]

where are u getting this info?

[Woody]

FOX NEWS. Fair and Balanced.

[Woody]

Obama had the most donations given to him than anyother senator. He also had their big shot .... head the search committee to find his VP.

[Dr. Shane]

This is not happening on a "Republican" watch for goodness sake. This is not a partisan issue. Blame for this rests as much on the Democrat controlled Congress and the Republican President as it does on the Federal Reserve. They are all guilty for mistakes that led to this and... we have to hope and pray that those same guilty ones can get us out of it.

[Bravus]

Nope, sorry, I'm gonna call 'spin'. Who controlled the Congress in 2001-2004? That's when all the deregulation that caused this mess occurred.

[Neil D]

Obama had the most donations given to him than anyother senator. He also had their big shot .... head the search committee to find his VP.

Well, YEah! Most of that money came from middle class americans in the form of $25 to $250. He's not in with the lobbiests nor the big companys...he's being supported by middle class citizens... And that's a lot of donors...."most donations given to him" needs to be reread to 'most small donations given to a senator'.

[Bravus]

Blaming the Reinvestment Act is also spin. The subprime mortgages - mortgages given to people who would otherwise not be able to afford them - are a part of this, but that act was about the poor, and it is not mortgages that were given to the poor that caused the problem. It was largely mortgages on million dollar homes that were never going to be affordable.

And beyond that, the real key to the problem is the exotic financial instruments that 'securitized' those dodgy mortgages, bundled them up and sold them as investments with much, much lower risk profiles than they really had.

That's the step that is causing the banks to fold, because they invested in that kind of debt, made huge returns but were then exposed to the huge and unplanned risk. It's also why insurance companies like AIG are folding, because they insured the risks.

The housing slump and foreclosures would have slowed the economy, but it was the financial mess and the lack of proper prudential oversight that caused it to be as extreme as it has. And that's all been about deregulation of the financial markets, done by the Bush administration.

And McCain has gone on the record as saying he is 'fundamentally a deregulator'.

[Neil D]

Quote:

And McCain has gone on the record as saying he is 'fundamentally a deregulator'.

McCain- A Bush advocate.....

If you want to know about the CCD among bees, deregulation has caused/threaten our food supply due to the deregulation of pesticides. Subleathal levels are getting into the nectar, and causing the bees to become disorientated when the nectar is concentrated into honey [along with the pesticide]. Did you know that when the bee leave a perfectly good honey supply behind, NO BEE PESTS will touch the honey...

That means the honey is contaminated....and some of that honey is getting to your children...lethal levels of honey...All caused by "deregulation"....Our EPA is failing to do it's job....

PS CCD really became a problem in 2002 and 2003...a year after Bush et al de-regulated the EPA.

And McCain is going to do more of the same...