tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post7754997052865903247..comments2024-03-25T17:38:55.490-07:00Comments on Dar Kush: Why I'm not gloatingSteven Barneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13630529492355131777noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-83511015208477951562010-03-25T08:37:36.876-07:002010-03-25T08:37:36.876-07:00I really worry
about the state of education in thi...I really worry<br />about the state of education in this country<br />given results like these:<br /><br />The whammy: 14 percent of Americans say President Barack Obama may be the anti-Christ. When split by political party, 24 percent of Republicans and 6 percent of Democrats viewed the nation's leader in this way. <br /><br /><br />The results come from a Harris Poll involving 2,320 adults who were surveyed online between March 1 and March 8 by Harris Interactive, a market research firm. <br /><br /><br />Here's the percentage breakdown of respondents' views of President Obama: <br /><br />38 percent say he wants to take away Americans' right to own guns. <br />32 percent say he is a Muslim. <br />29 percent think he wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government. <br />29 percent think he has done many things that are unconstitutional. <br />27 percent say he resents America's heritage. <br />27 percent say he does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do. <br />25 percent say he was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president. <br />25 percent say he is a domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitutions speaks of. <br />23 percent say he is a racist. <br />23 percent say he is anti-American. <br />23 percent say he wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers. <br />20 percent say he is doing many of the things that Hitler did.suzannehttp://suzannagig.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-60771987687109610962010-03-24T18:23:04.963-07:002010-03-24T18:23:04.963-07:00I will. My entire life, Democratic administrations...I will. My entire life, Democratic administrations have been more fiscally responsible than Republican administrations. Since before my birth the economy has outperformed during Dem administrations vs Republican administrations.<br /><br />Obama inherited a mess. He's already done something, with the health bill, that Republicans haven't done ever that I can recall: raise money to pay for it, rather than just -- to quote somebody or other -- borrowing from the Chinese.Daniel Keys Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12992599044462413412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-51935273227583728162010-03-24T14:01:48.780-07:002010-03-24T14:01:48.780-07:00Hey Dan,
You want to criticize Republicans for sp...Hey Dan,<br /><br />You want to criticize Republicans for spending like drunken sailors when they were in power, go ahead. I'm with you.<br /><br />That whole Part D entitlement was pretty irresponsible even if my Mother loves it.<br /><br />But to blame Republicans for blowing up and trashing the economy is just the type of rhetoric our host says he disfavors. There is plenty of blame to go around, and as much falls on Democrats as Republicans, though there were some Republicans who recognized that something was up at Fannie Mae while I can think of no Democrat who was so aware.<br /><br />But regardless, the Democrats got elected in 2006 with the promise of fiscal discipline. I think what Speaker Pelosi siad precisely was<br /><br /><i>Our New Direction is committed to “Pay As You Go” budgeting - no more defi cit spending.<br />We are committed to auditing the books and subjecting every facet of federal spending to tough budget discipline and accountability, forcing the Congress to choose a new direction<br />and the right priorities for all Americans.</i><br /><br />Now lots of people took them at their word especially since Republicans weren't doing much in this respect so letting them continue didn't seem right.<br /><br />But what we got was spending like drunken sailors on steriods. So now it's worse.<br /><br />And you can blame Republicans all you want for obstructing Health Care "reform" but remember this: they didn't have the votes to obstruct until the end.<br /><br />The real fight was between Democrats with fiscal discipline and those without.<br /><br />And you think the economy blew up in 2008? Just wait...Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15123761608738909200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-75848072674826577262010-03-24T13:23:35.079-07:002010-03-24T13:23:35.079-07:00Frank,
It's a good thing Republicans didn'...Frank,<br /><br />It's a good thing Republicans didn't inherit a balanced budget and blow it up and trash the economy and then hand it over to Obama with the expectation that he'd fix it ...<br /><br />... because that would be ironic.Daniel Keys Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12992599044462413412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-69712281646103159342010-03-24T10:23:46.915-07:002010-03-24T10:23:46.915-07:00"..the billions in new spending on "heal..."..the billions in new spending on "health care" will really be reducing the deficit."<br /><br />Rather like the billions in Public Assistance disbursed to injury and chronic illness suffers made indigent by no medical care diminishes the deficit?Ethiopian_Infidelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03332794812978904247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-33645872867447674712010-03-24T05:00:52.326-07:002010-03-24T05:00:52.326-07:00Enjoy your Victory and continue to believe that Te...Enjoy your Victory and continue to believe that Tea Party folk are "frantic, panicked ugliness" <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aYUeBnitz7nU" rel="nofollow">while</a><br /><br /><i>The bond market is saying that it’s safer to lend to Warren Buffett than Barack Obama.<br /><br />Two-year notes sold by the billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in February yield 3.5 basis points less than Treasuries of similar maturity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Procter & Gamble Co., Johnson & Johnson and Lowe’s Cos. debt also traded at lower yields in recent weeks, a situation former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. chief fixed-income strategist Jack Malvey calls an “exceedingly rare” event in the history of the bond market.<br /><br />The $2.59 trillion of Treasury Department sales since the start of 2009 have created a glut as the budget deficit swelled to a post-World War II-record 10 percent of the economy and raised concerns whether the U.S. deserves its AAA credit rating. The increased borrowing may also undermine the first-quarter rally in Treasuries as the economy improves....<br /><br />Moody’s Warning<br /><br />While Treasuries backed by the full faith and credit of the government typically yield less than corporate debt, the relationship has flipped as Moody’s Investors Service predicts the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K. America will use about 7 percent of taxes for debt payments in 2010 and almost 11 percent in 2013, moving “substantially” closer to losing its AAA rating, Moody’s said last week.<br /><br />“Those economies have been caught in a crisis while they are highly leveraged,” said Pierre Cailleteau, the managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London. “They have to make the required adjustment to stabilize markets without choking off growth.”<br /><br />Advanced economies face “acute” challenges in tackling high public debt, and unwinding existing stimulus measures will not come close to bringing deficits back to prudent levels, said John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.<br /><br />Unprecedented Spending<br /><br />All G7 countries, except Canada and Germany, will have debt-to-GDP ratios close to or exceeding 100 percent by 2014, Lipsky said in a speech yesterday at the China Development Forum in Beijing. Already this year, the average ratio in advanced economies is expected to reach the levels seen in 1950, after World War II, he said.<br /><br />Obama’s unprecedented spending and the Federal Reserve’s emergency measures to fix the financial system are boosting the economy and cutting the risk of corporate failures. Standard & Poor’s said the default rate will drop to 5 percent by year-end from 10.4 percent in February.<br /><br />Bonds sold by companies have returned 3.24 percent this year, including reinvested interest, compared with a 1.55 percent gain for Treasuries, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show. Returns exceeded government debt by a record 23 percentage points in 2009. </i><br /><br />But no worries, I'm sure this is all just "scare tactic" by people who are "terrified of the changes going on" which are really benign.<br /><br />And, of course, the billions in new spending on "health care" will really be reducing the deficit, so there's nothing to worry about there.Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15123761608738909200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-60539597431099280212010-03-23T23:13:39.147-07:002010-03-23T23:13:39.147-07:00"..nationalizing the entire biomedical indust..."..nationalizing the entire biomedical industry.."<br /><br />Obamacare even at its most extreme would hardly nationalize the entirety of the biomedical industry. Said industry furnishes the entire gamut of health-related products, from heart shunts to suntan lotion. I highly doubt that the feds are going to seize rights to Nair, Talcum Powder and the like. Further, the measure doesn't aim to seize private assets and production; it's scope is limited to managing and dispensing services vital to basic health. Even within its stated domain Obamacare will be sharply limited. Conservatives refuse to permit it to cover abortions, and Feds of all persuasions certainly won't permit tax dollars to finance vanity procedures like boob-jobs, dick pumps, face-lifts, Botox, etc., i.e. a huge section of the biomedical industry.Ethiopian_Infidelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03332794812978904247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-55152386128797842772010-03-23T11:38:04.880-07:002010-03-23T11:38:04.880-07:00Hell, "values" is a value neutral term. ...Hell, "values" is a value neutral term. Hitler and Stalin both had "values."Daniel Keys Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12992599044462413412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-53402722590690788112010-03-23T10:09:56.413-07:002010-03-23T10:09:56.413-07:00"... will you please listen to the real Socia...<i>"... will you please listen to the real Socialists and realize that they are very close to thinking Obama a traitor?"</i><br /><br />Kucinich doesn't think Obama is -- and you know why. This <i>is</i> the Left's agenda, being done by incrementalism and stealth.<br /><br />Politically, that makes Obama and Pelosi geniuses. But, geniuses at <i>what</i>, which will have <i>what</i> long-term consequences unintended by honest supporters of Obamacare such as yourself?<br /><br />I'll concede that they're political geniuses. The problem is, "political genius" is a value-neutral term -- it applies as much to a Stalin as an Abraham Lincoln.<br /><br />So, what will the consequences of all this political genius actually end up being? That's the question that we end up arguing about because, necessarily, the answers are guesswork. We're not living in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and there is no infallible Hari Seldon to predict this stuff; there's just a lot of different people with different mental models of how the world works, and what the consequences of nationalizing the entire biomedical industry (one-sixth the U.S. economy) will be for American economics, politics, scientific innovation, and liberty.<br /><br /><br />--Erich SchwarzAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-8475613969664827942010-03-23T09:52:17.164-07:002010-03-23T09:52:17.164-07:00One more slightly different argument against or at...One more slightly different argument against or at least dubiousness about reforming health care.<br /><br />I realize that a lot of the world has universal health care, and it seems to work better than the mess we've got in the US. (I call it a mess because I know enough Americans who are struggling to get care.)<br /><br />However, we have an extremely corrupt medical industry (I'm including insurance as well as the people directly doing medical care), and it's got a lot of influence. I consider it possible that we'll end up with an even worse mess.<br /><br />I also know three people (a libertarian, a centrist, and a conservative) who are on the financial edge, and are terrified they'll be pushed over it if they're required to pay for health insurance. I don't know if they're being reasonable about the requirement or not.Nancy Lebovitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07068537632391466902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339191.post-61299909324280149842010-03-23T09:16:07.949-07:002010-03-23T09:16:07.949-07:00that fear of the Baggers
has been
consciously and...that fear of the Baggers<br />has been <br />consciously and deliberately<br />fed by the "conservative" media<br />the "religious" Right<br />and by some of the GOP <br />politicians<br />there is<br />in my opinion<br />no reason to behave <br />like chicken little<br /><br />but that is primarily what we are hearing now<br />how the sky will fall<br />some year soon<br />and it will all be OBAMA's Fault<br /><br />I'm so sick of whining and complaing<br />especially of the irrational varietysuzannehttp://suzannagig.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com