Hoop’s right. You’ll get a much nicer mow-job AND a little workout to boot!

Eating $5 worth of tacos will give you gas too!

Gas rose .07cents in one week up to $3.70 in Vancouver,WA. Just sickening. Now I don’t need to eat tacos to achieve greatness.

rich: i agree with you on a few points here.

yes, it is obama’s fault – for not even mentioning how wall street speculation is driving the cost of fuel and food in this country, and for parroting the oil industry’s lame excuses for high fuel costs.

the world currently has an oil surplus that is (i think) 18% above the surpluses of the last 5 years that supposedly drove prices down. because of speculation, the oil market is operating outside of the laws of supply and demand.

but it’s still the case that energy saved through better conservation efforts could offset any potential gains from new drilling – in ANWR, for example – and it would generally reduce demand once speculation is reined in.

and thank you for admitting that tax revenues need to increase in addition to cutting government waste. we probably disagree on whose golden calf is fattest, but hearing a conservative make that admission is a good start for non-partisan agreement.

HMCRich

our government not only heavily subsidizes the oil industry right now.. it has historically done so.

if you want the government out of the energy business you should be lobbying your elected representatives to end all tax breaks and subsidies for American oil producers…

including requiring them to pick up the tab for their environmental impact.

The only answer in the short term really is conservation. Implementing new technologies into our everyday lives takes time. We can insist on better controls to help mitigate the impacts of our excess, but the reality is we have an entrenched system and it takes time to correct. Use less, waste less…where it’s possible.

TDe: i’d be happier if they simply paid their fair share of taxes.

if they can’t do that much, we should cancel their leases, nationalize our oil supply, and make them buy it from us, just like they do OPEC.

and alaska.

redblack…

now there’s an idea any red blooded capitalist ought to be able to get behind:)

don’t think of it as working for the government. think of it as working for the collective good of your community, state, and country. with half of the population at or below the poverty line, with hiring frozen and high unemployment, government is trying to play a vital role in keeping folks off of the street and the lights on, but their resources for doing so are under constant attack from scissor-happy tea bagger budget cuts.

besides, no one’s talking about raising your taxes.

jan schakowsky’s (probably DOA) bill targets people who have income and/or assets of $1 million or more – which is about 8.4 million people – and would tax income above that at (i think) 49%. just think about that for a minute: you still have $1 million in income that’s taxed at the “bush rate.” a million! can you even imagine having an income of $650,000 after taxes?

and please don’t try to tell me that “that really isn’t a lot of money.” because it sure as hell is to the bottom 90%.

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20110316/FREE/110319948

(notice the article doesn’t compare how fast the ranks of the poor are swelling.)

you know, i get tired of brick walls talking back to me. go figure.

yes, corporate tax rates are high. like you said, we need to make offshoring of assets illegal – and close loopholes that, for example, allow bank of america to write off enough losses to effectively pay no taxes. corporate tax rates may be high, but corporate taxes only make up 9% of budget revenue. meanwhile, they’re enjoying record profits.

82% of budget revenue comes from income and FICA taxes. that’s aaall you and me, buddy boy. millionaires are only taxed for FICA on the first $106,000 of income. no, they probably won’t need social security. but their country sure as hell does.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/U.S._Federal_Receipts_-_FY_2007.png

and yes, rich, corporations do employ people, but not very many. 80% of jobs in this country are provided by small businesses – people like you and me. they wouldn’t be affected by the schakowsky tax rates, either.

taxed too much to be competitive? honky, please. (yes, i am white, so i’m allowed to use the h-word.) they’re making a killing, even with the highest corporate tax rates in the world.

so i really have to take issue with your statement about “working for the government.” corporations and the top 5% or so act like they don’t have to be a part of this country when its people are in trouble. it’s time they started paying more taxes to help pay down the debt that they benefited from – and that they wouldn’t have benefited from without our government’s help.

do the top 5% have a different set of morals – and less patriotism – than the rest of us?

Who wants to be the wealthiest person in Somalia?

It really is the Ultimate Libertarian Paradise; no laws, no rules, no regulations. The renaissance they are currently experiencing is because they have NO central government, NO system of enforcement, the only ones setting the rules are the strongest and best armed. PARADISE!!! NO taxes, NO government; PARADISE!!!

When do you leave?

What, you want them to fail? What good would that do? If pension and 401k funds are tied to those, maybe it would be good for you not to hope they fail. And most have to make a profit to survive, unlike our government which is borrowing 40% everyday.

Tomorrow I am going to close down Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft. That won’t hurt the local economy. Big or small, they affect us. Sheesh.

Redblack, yes I know small business employs about 80% of the workers. But I do not hate any business, I just dislike some of the more unethical ones, big and small. And that is where I do want government to help to a point.

But, if any of you think we should pay more taxes then by all means, go ahead and donate your hard earned money to the government.

I will attempt to say AGAIN … The current taxation system federally needs to change. Everyone should pay their share. Close the loopholes. Is that so hard to understand?

So DawsonCT, Who cares about being in their club? I don’t. Also, Why did congress close loopholes for Kennedy and reneged on cutting spending during the Reagan years? Supply side has limits. Bush and his Republican cronies forgot that too and deservedly were voted out.

Then Reid Pelosi and our own Patty Murray thought the purse strings should be ripped open to every cause. Irresponsible spending, but now, during a recession, the government, still run mostly by Democrats (the elected positions), want to raise the debt ceiling, spend money for a very flawed future Health Insurance system and most are not even serious about the ever expanding debt. And both party’s, except the conservatives, won’t hardly speak about the entitlement programs. Blaming Wall Street for the problems, but bailing them out and not putting in place hardly any policies to regulate the industry that contributed to the problems.

Don’t overspend. Balance budgets. Be responsible. Business and Government. They can somewhat work together. But someone has to learn to say NO.

No DawsonCT, I don’t believe in Anarchy. I don’t believe in Utopia either. I would rather move to Belize. Francis Ford Coppola likes it there.