Search Results for 'cU'

[Smitty]

Trickle down economics > Trickle up poverty.

[JoB]

Escondido..

haven’t you heard of trickle down economics?

we have been sold a bill of goods created by an actor who became president.. and stayed president in spite of Alzheimer…

the great American con job.

and in the meantime.. the wonderful people who brought you trickle down economics and busted your pension plans and speculated your retirement account away are going after your social security.

and they will get it too.

it’s time for middle America to wake up before we become the third world country that some foreign philanthropist sends relief money to.

god knows ours aren’t spending here.

[Escondido]

I would be perfectly happy to have the very rich pay less in tax if they indeed were creating jobs. The problem is that they are not. They are investing the money in the stock market, etc. Anyway, let’s get real- What percentage of their income goes to cover the basics? Basics such as: the very best food, the very best clothing, the very best transportation, the very best vacations! Just a small, small percentage compared to what the average man/woman spends of the same… but not of the very best quality… at all.

[c@lbob]

WorldCitizen,

As JoB pointed out, her assertion is from Congressional Budget Office Budget Outlook reports. Here’s a link to a graph of the data done by one of those liberal websites, one of the many that pay attention to reality, not wishful thinking:

http://www.angrybearblog.com/2006/05/responsibility-for-federal-budget.html?showComment=1277476257000

[WorldCitizen]

JoB:

Where did you get this info? If this is true, then it is probably one of the best arguments for staying away from the policies of the right wing faction of this country.

48% of our current deficit is due to tax cuts…

that’s right.. tax cuts.

another 35% is due to military and homeland security expenses…

only 10% is due to so called entitlement programs.

[Kevin]

We have Comcast phone and internet and have always had great customer service, for the 12+ years that we have been with them.

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We currently get around 15 – 16 Mbps consistently, with a potential for 20 Mbps once we exchange the existing modem with a newer model which they offer a free swap.

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As for reliability, we see the occasional outage but generally very reliable.

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They also provide much higher speeds if you want to pay more.

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[JoB]

escondido..

an hour very well spent.

for those who don’t have an hour…

from the blurb..

“Warren, a law professor at Harvard (The Fragile Middle Class) and her daughter Tyagi, a former McKinsey consultant, have joined forces here to argue here that the two-parent middle-class working family is on the brink of financial disaster. The number of families declaring bankruptcy or receiving a foreclosure against their house has shot up dramatically. Presenting carefully researched economic data to support their arguments, the authors contend that, contrary to popular myth, families aren’t in trouble because they’re squandering their second income on luxuries. On the contrary, both incomes are almost entirely committed to necessities, such as home and car payments, health insurance and children’s education costs. When an unforeseen event such as serious illness, job loss or divorce occurs, families have no discretionary income to fall back on. “

[JoB]

redblack..

the wealthy generate a lot more than 50% of income…

but pay only 50% of the tax on income.

funny how that works.

i would go look up the stats..

but i wore myself out gardening :)

that L curve is pretty cool…

but you need to zoom out several times to get the full effect.

[dobro]

Because of the way our system is set up, even tho ostensibly we can have many choices, realistically we have only two choices that can win the race and that’s Murray or Rossi.

Murray has a verifiable record of working positively for the state of WA and the seniority to get things done in the system we have. Rossi is a 2 time (soon to be 3 time) loser that speaks in Republic talking points and doesn’t even pretend to have a plan or vision for what he would do if elected. That, plus he’s a lying sack.

Just curious. Can any Rossi supporters point to any plan or idea he’s put forth that isn’t boilerplate Republic BS (tax cuts, smaller gov, deficit fearmongering, etc)?

[redblack]

smitty, the top 10% pay 50% of tax revenues because they have 50% of the nation’s income. probably more.

it’s that simple, and it’s not a vast left-wing conspiracy.

have you ever seen the L-curve? it puts income distribution into startling perspective.

[funkietoo]

In speaking with a friend that owns a small winery and is well connected with other small winery owners, he shared the following with me in a recent email:

Please don’t believe the current TV ads against Initiative 1100 featuring a small winemaker. I-1100 would be the best thing that ever happened to small wineries in Washington, legally speaking. If you do vote against it, please don’t do so because the wholesalers say it will hurt small wineries.

[redblack]

the city needs a serious review of comcast, their budget, and their business practices.

$65+/month for expanded basic (and no premium channels) is pretty stupid.

hopefully the mayor will find the cajones to stand up to comcast, the city council, and all of the lawyers and implement our own city-wide broadband, like he discussed when campaigning.

$65/month should pay for television and internet access, without bombarding all forms of media with advertising.

[redblack]

HSG: the whole reason we’re discussing a state income tax is because of I-1098, which only affects the top 3%. seems to me that it serves the interests of the anti-1098 camp to discuss this as if it affects everyone, to decry taxation in general, and to express distrust of politicians and government.

my $.02: the city of seattle, knowing how it is loathed by the rest of the state, should implement its own 1-2% income tax, as well as a 5-10% MVET.

we have infrastructure/maintenance projects here – even shovel-ready ones – that should not be held hostage to county, region, or state-wide initiatives.

let’s fund our own public transportation for a change and let the state and county worry about the roads.

[JoB]

from JanS’s link to the Stiglitz article…

“Mr Stiglitz said historical evidence showed that increased state spending helped economies emerge from recession. He added that the example of Ireland showed that austerity leads to declining output, rising unemployment and high bond spreads, instead of renewed investment.”

you can’t wage war, cut taxes on the wealthy and stimulate the economy at the same time…

the quickest way to build revenue is to create jobs… it’s that simple.

[JoB]

surprise surprise…

according to the federal budget office…

48% of our current deficit is due to tax cuts…

that’s right.. tax cuts.

another 35% is due to military and homeland security expenses…

only 10% is due to so called entitlement programs.

Guess what the republicans want to cut first?

[c@lbob]

I want to point out that when a top tax rate of 90% was in place, the best economic times of my life were occurring, certainly the best for me.

Now, that may be because, for most of those years, I was still living with my parents. However, my Electrician father made a good enough living to allow my mother to stay-at-home to work at home raising their three kids. They put them through college, too.

That scenario is such a distant memory, most people don’t realize that it was hardly noteworthy during the fifties and sixties.

Lowering the top tax rate has consistently served to hasten the ruin of this country, IMHO.

[JanS]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7987704/Austerity-cutbacks-are-an-economic-disaster-Nobel-Prize-winner-Joseph-Stiglitz-warns.html

simplistic article…interesting comment thread after…

[JoB]

Smitty…

if the top 10% pay 50% of the taxes under the Bush tax cuts…

what does that tell you about what they are making?

lets get real here.

1 out of 7 Americans now lives below the poverty level…

it is taking an average of 3 years to find work once unemployed

Many of those who do find employment take a position with a substantially reduced salary

a college degree.. even a masters or doctorate is no longer a guarantee of employment

You may be living above all of this Smitty…

but most of us are in the trenches and it isn’t looking good down here…

The rich are paying 50% of the taxes because they have transferred middle America’s wealth into their own pockets…

yes… i think it’s fair that they pay taxes on what they make.

i just don’t think they pay enough.

[Smitty]

Yeah, the top 10% paying 50% of the taxes is an extreme injustice! (sarcasm)

[JanS]

I, for one, have cut back on spending as much as I can. And so far, my taxes haven’t changed – they’re still too high. What I’m saying here is my reality. When you get down to it, what we really care about most of the time is our own expenses, etc, not our neighbors, or whoever across the country. It’s personal. There are a lot of people who only see as far as their own stuff…and if we cut back on that “stuff” even more, we’ll be living in the car that’s parked out back, that isn’t working at the moment – because we’ve cut back on our spending, so those little necessities are going by the wayside. Yeah…it’s personal. My austerity program is beyond help, JoB.;-) I’m not buyin’ what they’re tryin’ to sell me.

[waterworld]

Sweep and vacuum is all I’ve done so far. I haven’t mopped once. The guy who did the work recommended putting down a new coat of wax every so often, by which he meant every year or two. For us that’s easy, because there’s not much furniture or anything in the way.

[Duckitude]

Wow. DP, thanks! helpermonkey… I guess we are both stuck in the same rut… I promote, or at least let people know something they might want to know (you call it “self-promotion”), and you are stuck in the accusatory mode. A “wow” of another kind. JanS — probably ducky deprived childhood, that’s what Ducky Freud might say. Heehee…

[JoB]

HSG

“We” havent’ been pushing our problems into the future for decades…

the wealthy have been pushing our problems into the future through the largest transfer of personal wealth in our nation’s history…

the only question was how they were going to sell us our new austerity program:(

[DP]

You are an exceptional person, Duckitude. And that’s saying something, because this is West Seattle we’re talking about here . . .

What I meant about the memory was: What is your favorite memory from the Ducky Reserve? I know lots of people stop by and talk to you about it. Surely there must be a few interactions that stand out even among than the hundreds of happy memories you have. I’d like to hear about some of those.

Anyway, here’s an example of the influence you and the Duckies have had on me:

<anecdote>

A few years back, the peace group I belong to decided to do some counter-military recruiting at Chief Sealth High School, and my friend Karen and I volunteered to staff a table next to where the military recruiters were going to be.

Well, in the first place, I didn’t know what I was doing. In the second place, I’m scared of teenagers. So, as you can imagine, my confidence level was very high.

Fortunately, Karen knew of the good work Duckies have done for peace, and she helped us out considerably by bringing along a supply of Duckies to entertain the kids with on our first day at school.

“You’ve simply gotta have Duckies if you’re going to go up against the United States military,” she explained.

I have to say that I was skeptical, but I tried to humor her. “Bring all the Duckies you want,” I replied. “I’m sure they can stop a bullet just as well as we can.”

By the time we arrived at Sealth, the Marines were already there, glad-handing the crowd. Kids (even the anemic-looking ones) were getting down on the floor and “giving them 50” just to get their mitts on some trinket with “Marines” stamped on it.

Jeezus! I thought. What could we possibly do to match that?

I timidly set the Duckies out along with a stack of Peace Corps pamphlets. I must say the Duckies looked very self-assured in their rubber finery and stylish peace medallions. Still, I didn’t give them a hope in hell of saving our asses.

But wouldn’t you know it: at the first glimmerings of orange and yellow, the lunchroom traffic started veering wide around the military table and began flocking toward us. Tough-looking jocks with crew cuts were leading the way, saying things like: “So cool!” “Where’d you get the Duckies, dude?” “Can I have one?”

As the ultimate affirmation of our coolness, one of the kids even offered to do 100 push-ups in exchange for a Ducky. (Well, that’s a damned lie, actually, but for purposes of ‘continuity’ I’m keeping it in.)

I did have to turn down numerous offers of adoption, though. “Duckies need to stay in school,” I reminded the kids, “and as their legal guardian, I can’t even let them leave this table.”

</anecdote>

Anyway, that’s my personal favorite Ducky memory. —The part that’s not lies, that is.

I’m for Duckies, Duckitude, because they’re for peace—even when peace is the hardest thing in the world to be for.

And I’m for you, too, Duckitude.

‘Cuz you’re all about the Duckies.

[BBGuest]

Great information. Thank you! I thought about the radiant heating but think it would be cost prohibitive. I guess I could always put carpets on top if it is an issue.

By low maintenance… is that beyond vacuum and mop?