Off Topic

Matty,

I really like you, but for goodness sakes try to keep me from laughing myself into an hysterical fit...and this comment is truly hilarious....

--- we haven't had a federal budget in three (3) years...as in one, two, three.............YEARS! Three years. Does anyone remember that budget?

We don't have a federal budget anymore because the debt and deficit (2 distinct accounting issues, which I hope you understand) under this administration is so large no one can live long enough to count that high (by the US Treasury's own admission our debt is NOW $15.6 TRILLION...up from $5.7 Trillion when Bush took office and $9.1 Trillion when Obama took office )

Anytime you want to debate this issue, feel free...another soda can crush job is coming your way if you try, but go ahead and get crushed.

--- Yes Matty...my Irish naive lad, the US Constitution requires a federal budget...read it sometime. Black and white.

All comedy aside, we are in a financial mess, .... I am sure you will agree.

Obama should simply go back to UC as an adjunct professor and fade off into the vapor of history...along with Bush.

Go ahead and vote for the hope and change candidate again. Because then your the problem because you voted for that hope and change. Instead of blaming the Prez. why don't you blame congress because they can't get anything done. Yes I'm Republican and I won't vote for Obama!

In my post here, I don't make any argument to support Obama. I simply wrote a post stating that Romney can't keep his own house straight.

La6yard -

I agree with most of your post. But if I had foreign income, I'd know about it. And if I had $1.5 million in foreign tax credits, I would know about. And a candidate for President is ignorant about these facts, he has to be clueless.

I agree with you here on this specific issue....

--- skipping out is inexcusable.

What he should have done was point out in responding that 30-40% of the SP500 company earnings are generated from overseas...i.e. CAT, Apple, GM and Ford in China

--- "we live in a global economy...face reality, whether we like it or not"

Heck, PIMCO, state and municipal pension funds, corporate pension funds, etc. are awash in junk European and 3rd world bonds.

This is the Hegelian dialectic at its finest.
Hasn't anyone heard what's really going on.
Romney is the ringer.
He is being catapulted into the top challenger position by the globalists to ensure a 2nd term for the current puppet.
It has now come out that Ron Paul won Iowa, he won Nevada, he won Maine.
In the end, it's gonna come out that he won a few more.
Some of you Americans actually allowed the media to manipulate you when they said that Ron Paul didn't stand a chance.
Others actually did the only sane thing and actually voted for Ron Paul.
But when the exit polls weren't matching up with reality, few people actually spoke out.
The election rigging was pulled off without incident.
Not a peep.
Regarding this insane comment about Bush's tax cuts.
The supreme court has ruled on this several times before the more thorough 1933 takeover of america.
Since 1933, the supr. court doesn't even bother dealing with the inc tax.
A persons wages are an equal trade for labor.
The fed gov is not entitled to a persons wages.
The gov used to be run on trade and earnings, not nickel and diming individual workers.
That is when the economy ran like a well oiled machine.
In your constitution, the treasury is supposed to be in charge of the printing of constitutional money and it's supposed to be backed by gold and/or silver. That was a system put in place to keep the money system honest.
In 1913, during Christmas recess the fed res act was secretly passed.
Soon after that, the fed inc tax was instituted.
You people on this board need to know your own true history.
The fed res is not your gov, they are over your gov and enslaving you and you are enjoying your slavery and having false debates about if the gov is entitled to 40% or 50% of peoples wages. Not even asking the question if the gov is entitled to any of it. Not even realizing that the derivatives are not your debt.
What are the bailouts?
The people giving money to the banks because the banks made bad bets in derivatives and other scams.
The people don't get that money back.
In fact, they are on the hook for the interest.
The taxpayers give the money to the banks plus compounding interest.
So trillions have to be printed and they further suffer inflation and then hyperinflation.
You guys are debating a false left-right paradigm debate.
Romney and Obama are on the same team and you aren't on that team.
They are both robbing you and you have no idea how this horse race actually works.
The globalists own both horses and whoever gets in is gonna sell you out.
They view you all as morons and until you wake up and stand up for yourselves, you'll continue to get robbed.
There is a good reason why people don't understand what is going on.
You went to schools and universities that taught you wrong.
The robber barrons took over education and rewrote everything and taught you how to be collectivists and engineered your thinking or lack there of.

Lafortune,

I believe Obama and Romney have the same vested interests....with some different twists here and there...

--- and for that matter Clinton or Bush had the same interests as well.

It's just that Obama seems totally incompetent when it comes to getting anything done to reduce this economic mess we are in...

--- and this Republican Congress isn't enough of an excuse...Clinton and Gingrich managed to work things out.

The primary reason that the deficit has increased since January 2009 is the existence of the Great Recession. As a result of a lack of regulation of the financial markets various calamities including the fall of Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. occurred. They did not close due to tax cuts. As a result of the recession, demand has slackened. Exacerbating this is the large reduction in employment at the state and local level. This includes teachers and first responders, i.e., police and firemen. Due to unemployment and a lack of demand, tax revenues are not at a level that at which would otherwise be.

Spending government money, which seems to be anathema to so many, has actually increased demand. Whether the federal government spends or a private business spends, there are products purchased and jobs sustained and created.

It seems odd to me that people think that the deficit would be lower if the government had not applied stimulus. If one looks at the European model of austerity and compares it to the US program, one can see that cutting spending has made things far worse throughout the Eurozone than it is here. While the United States has obtained a modest level of recovery, Europe is headed into or is in another recession.

As for the comment regarding the lack of a budget, does anyone believe that a budget could be worked out in the current environment? It is sad that we have gone so far that the idea of bipartisanship expressed by a recently nominated senatorial candidate is that the other side should bend to his parties' will. It is the sense that the other side lacks legitimacy that is the menace to getting things accomplished like passing a budget. Moreover, the agreement to which the two parties agreed last year to require substantial and painful cuts in both social spending and defense is falling apart. It is falling apart because legislators are not willing to compromise While the Grand Bargain was a foolish idea at the start, it was an agreement. If the Congress is going to move forward, they will need to honor their commitments and move forward, as opposed to re-trading a deal that was already made.

Dillon,

1) The deficit has doubled in less than 4 years....we are talking $Trillions here...
--- with very little economic growth.

You might want to acquaint yourself with the current GDP #s and labor force participation rates to understand what has happened.

The PEW Report (which use the CBO numbers by the way)...
--- calculates that Federal spending increased the deficit by 41%...compared to 27% from tax cuts.

2) The reason I gave the example of Clinton and Gingrich working things out is to refute ...
--- the concept that the current environment is somehow "unique" in its contentiousness.

It isn't unique...NOT even close to being unique.

Your argument is simply erroneous....in the context of recent US Presidents...who somehow managed to...
--- get budgets done even when they were working with congresses which had a majority from the opposite party.

It is therefore totally unacceptable to let three years pass without a Federal Budget...
--- and his last effort was so dismal that no (NO) democrat in the US House voted for it....none...zip...nada.

May I remind you that the deficit was created by the Bush Administration (Cheney, the real president, until the end of Bush's second term). The Bush Administration inherited a surplus budget from President Clinton, but used 9/11 to start a completely unnecessary war. Bush/Cheney did nothing to raise revenue for the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, and the prescription drug benefit for Medicare. All of this cost huge amounts of money, and not a penny was raised to offset the cost. Don't blame Obama for this huge mess. The deficit we face today was created by the Republican Party, and they are hell-bent on placing the cost of this deficit on hard-working middle class U.S. citizens. If it wasn't for Obama, we would be in an even worse mess. The economy is turning around slowly which was predicted by every economist unless the government engaged in creating jobs through much spending in the short-term to get the economy moving. Obama has tried to do this, but Republicans have been obstructionist because they represent the most racist people among us. If Obama had been more free to use much more stimulus spending, the unemployment rate would be even lower than it is now. Yes, 11% unemployment was the result of the Bush administration. It has gone steadily, but slowly (because of Republican obstructionism) downward. The economy is coming back slowly, just like ND football. Look in the mirror, buster. You and your Republican friends are the ones that handle the federal budget irresponsibly. Stop blaming Democrats who are constantly the ones who have to right the ship since the days of FDR.

Kool-aid drinkers such as yourself are responsible for this dilemma. You would lead us to believe that the Democrats are the saviors of the economy and that the current administration has done everything in its power to cut the deficit. What planet are you inhabiting? Your rhetoric is nothing more than a Biden sound bite and it appears your capacity for the comprehension of fundamental economics is roughly the same. Cast your next vote for Obama and we'll visit in four years if the Chinese haven't completely gutted the country. Take a look at the stock market and the unemployment figures today and ask yourself: Has Obama made good on one single promise he made?

By the way, I do acknowledge the Bush administration's part in all of this. He was anything but a fiscal conservative. However, your party's proposal of excessively taxing the rich has been proven counterproductive throughout history. Such a strategy will inevitably further increase the rate of unemployment. Where are all the jobs Obama promised?

Finally, the recent news of the continued excesses of JP Morgan-Chase add a lot to your stimulus argument, no?