Politics
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Although the White House has warned of severe consequences if the bailout plan is not approved by Friday, lawmakers crafting the measure said their work may well stretch past that deadline.
The Bush administration is resisting changes to the measure being sought by Democratic leaders and many Republicans, including one that would grant the government authority to cut executive pay at firms that participate in the bailout and another that would guarantee that taxpayers share in the profits if those firms recover financially.
Meanwhile, rank-and-file lawmakers -- returning to Washington after a weekend in their districts -- voiced outrage that taxpayers were being asked to pay for the excesses of Wall Street and that Congress was being prodded to rubber-stamp the biggest federal intervention in the private market since the Great Depression. While Democratic leaders said they could embrace the bailout plan with certain modifications, a growing minority of lawmakers were starting to question the very premise of the Treasury Department's proposal.
- TheBlueOne0
This just in - according to Rush Limbaugh Obama is in fact NOT black, but rather an A-rab. So Kindly Uncle Rush's warning to all the brothers and sisters (raises righteous fist) that are listening is that this here a-rab Obama will not be dishing out all the goodies to all the kindly black folk as they be expectin', cause see, he ain't no real brother. So do the right thing and vote for McCain.
That's kinda what he was saying in a nutshell.
- When did Rush limbaugh start caring about the black people? Was it after the "Barack the Magic Negro" song?TheBlueOne
- is that a real song?matt31
- Yes. Rush aired it a few months back:
http://www.americabl…
TheBlueOne
- joeth0
Michael Moore's new movie, SLACKER UPRISING, is available online today for free:
- robotron3k0
For those who are missing the current Bank Crisis Hearing going on right now, I'll just give you a quick summary...
- TheBlueOne0
Stop the fucking train here.
"Asked during a telephone briefing for reporters today whether Bush was speaking with lawmakers, White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said the president is aware of their concerns but that Paulson is the salesman....Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough."
http://www.rollcall.com/news/285…
The PLAN WAS DRAWN UP OVER PREVIOUS MONTHS? WTF?
So this fucking disaster was, um, expected and planned for?? And when was the White House going to inform us this oncoming freight train of financial disaster?
Hey, I understand that their are all kinds of contingency plans sitting around gathering dust in all sorts of drawers and safes across Washington DC, but if you're telling me that this particular financial meltdown was forseen with the only fix on paper would be to pump a trillion bucks to corporate entities only after it all went to shit....come the fuck on...
- Naomi Klein is starting to make more and more sense every fucking hour...TheBlueOne
- This stinks like shit:
http://www.bloomberg…
TheBlueOne - She is right, its one catastrophe and "panic job" reaction after another.Mimio
- dude, this is what is known as CYA********
- CYA: The modus operandi of the Bush Administration for 8 yearsTheBlueOne
- Wouldn't this be a conflict of interest in terms of Paulsons involvement?? Man this is just baaaaaaaaad.tommyo
- robotron3k0
- no you fucking won't, it's not like you're on minimum wage and 2weeks paid vacation, you cunts, do what you have tomikotondria3
- tommyo0
haha got this email this morning:
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in
one of its releases.A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans Interesting number, what does it mean?
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D. C
HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,
Telephone Fede ral, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usag!
Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and
Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle Lic ense Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax, < /SPAN>
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids .
What happened?
Can you spell 'politicians!- What happened?
EMPIRE******** - What's the answer? universal sales tax?Mimio
- Less policy is the answer. Tighten the fucking controls on the inc's and lighten the control on us warm bodies.tommyo
- Our country didn't deficit spend and write "hot checks" and bonds to other national reserves either.Mimio
- the gov got cockyGeorgesII
- btw "presently" is misused in the sentence, it does mean "right now" it means" soon"********
- Get over the libertarian fallacy that the US had no debt...we've had one since inception...
TheBlueOne - http://en.wikipedia.…TheBlueOne
- *gauges own eyes outBattleAxe
- WE HAVE A DEBT?!?!?! Seriously?? I did not know this!! ... haha We just need to be responsible. 100% responsible.tommyo
- What happened?
- TheBlueOne0
Look tommyo, I appreciate your whole libertarian I'll sit out on the range and chew buffalo hide outlook, but really - you can't have a nation of 300,000,000 people, military outposts across every continent, be the center of global trade (and all the attendant benefits thereof), an national transportation infrastructure, etc. et. al. without some sort of "Big Government"..it's not just 'politicians, it's systemic. Sure I suppose we could disband the Union and go back to States Rights, or some sort of Regional Confederation but then American civilization goes.
The US Revolution and it's attending Constitution of 230 odd years back, brilliant bit of social logic that it is, still avoided a deep gaping hole in human politics - which is the social equality problem. The US didn't have to deal with it too much at the time - mostly being a population-sparse society of slightly entitled landholders (pissed off at the real land owners an ocean away) and freemen, and a whole bunch of slaves who had zero say in the matter in a land of virtually unlimited resources. Meanwhile, the French Revolution of only a few years later HAD to deal with the messiness of Social equality, being a citizenry of mainly agricultural poor in a country of limited resources. The US lucked out and has pretended ever since, especially on the conservative/libertarian side of the coin, that the US was some magical classless society that God sprinkled fairy dust on and it was by our Will and Belief in Liberty that kept Class Politics and Social Equality over in France and shit. Or Canada.
Sorry, after you solve the whole problem of Equality before the Law of all citizens, the Social Equality question is going to pop up, and you're going to have to deal with it. You can't dream it away like you're Ted Nugent and shit.
- And I say this with all due respect...TheBlueOne
- Why do you need social equality?moural
- It's an issue which will come up in any reasonably sized population.TheBlueOne
- It might come up, but that doesn't mean that it's necessary.moural
- are you 12, ?********
- monkeyshine0
Not sure if this has been posted before but a poll on PBS of all places shows 50% think Sarah Palin is qualified to be VP?
- PBS is run by republicans: that survey is rigged********
- did you mean 50 cent?BattleAxe
- PBS is run by republicans: that survey is rigged
- robotron3k0
this just in... the US Military is getting their ass handed to them in Afghanistan...
"This new analysis of the Afghan War shows that the US has failed to meet these goals in every respect. It shows that the US has failed to commit anything like the resources it committed to the war in Iraq. Year after year, the US has been slow to commit the resources required. It shows that the US failed to provide substantial funds early in the war, when nation building and stability operations might well have stopped the resurgence of the Taliban and growth of the insurgency, and then reacted to the growth of the threat with inadequate resources and funding of the US military, US aid and diplomacy, and Afghan force development efforts.
These basic resource problems are compounded by the failure to provide adequate numbers of US troops, the failure to provide the number of military trainers and mentors needed to create effective Afghan Army and police forces, and by the failure to provide the personnel needed to use aid funds quickly and effectively. In practice, the US not only has underfunded its military and civilian aid programs, it has not been able to spend the limited money it actually has budgeted because of severe shortages in qualified aid personnel.
The end result is a consistent US and NATO/ISAF inability to seize the initiative and defeat the insurgency. It is a legacy of underfunding that has progressively increased the length and total cost of the war in human lives, wounded, and dollars. "
- "ass handed to them" is a bit harsh. They certainly haven't met mission objectives thoughTheBlueOne
- What's wrong with that? the Russians got their ass handed to them too in Afghan...robotron3k
- russians got more than their asses handed to them..Mirpour
- well, the brits, the russians and maybe the US now seem to have lost their empires among the rocky crags of the afghan mountains..TheBlueOne
- mountains...TheBlueOne
- might well have stopped the resurgence of the Taliban and growth of the insurgency... that's a big if.********
- its a 15th c narco state with alot of peasants the US is not changing that only Indian TV soaps will.********
- ukit0
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/…
The more voters learn about the proposed $700 billion federal bailout plan for the U.S. economy, the more they don’t like it, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Monday night.
Now 44% oppose the taxpayer-backed plan, up seven points from 37% yesterday. Twenty-five percent (25%) support it now, versus 28% in the earlier poll. Thirty-five percent (35%) were undecided before; now 31% are (demographic crosstabs available for Premium Members).
While 35% think the bailout plan will help the economy, nearly as many (30%) say it will hurt, and 13% believe it will have no impact at all.
But, despite their concerns, 74% of voters also believe it is at least somewhat likely to be approved by Congress this week.
- acescence0
another McCain campaign fail...
"Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.
CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought."
- I hope she's not as afraid of foreign leaders as she is of the media.Mimio
- tommyo0
TBO,
All I'm asking for is less government involvement than what it is right now. I'm not supporting some idea of open lawlessness circa late 1800's on the fucking range and shit. It's gone too far. I'm not asking that the gov be disbanded and the constitution be rewritten...what I DO want is some fucking responsibility to be taken on by the people of this nation. Because right now ... we aren't. And If you don't think that our political system, by and large but not completely, is taking advantage of our complacency then I'd call you 'nuts' (with all due respect of course). I really don't see how social classes work into your argument or my ideology. So you're saying that big government secures a class structure? If you're saying that taxation keeps a class structure and levels the playing field ... If that's what you're saying than let me clarify a little bit ... I believe in taxes. I believe that society needs to help pay for the opportunities that we enjoy as a nation. I don't believe and never will believe that a government run a muck and spending way beyond their means on things that do not help secure the opportunities that validate our reason for the payment of taxes in the first place to be a government I'm proud to be represented by. IMO, and I believe you will disagree with me here, our government should be in the business of securing the stability of the country. That means that I think a government should focus their attention on making sure we have access to energy, that corporations act responsibly, that only the necessary laws are in place to keep people from infringing on others and that they establish foreign decent foreign relations. Period. They don't need to establish National Watermelon Month.
I'm not sitting here dreaming of some ridiculous anarchy society. I want my government to work for me in small doses, call me crazy.
- tommy - as u pointed out b4, we're really not that far apart...TheBlueOne
- this ain;t the proper forum for the type of discussion this would warrant..TheBlueOne
- ..if you're in NY we'll split a bottle of single malt and discuss...TheBlueOne
- well statedacescence
- Are you propositioning me for sex?tommyo
- hehe...I am actually going to be in NY on Fri...lets duel. I'll stock up on my buffalo jerky. Dickhead. :Ptommyo
- *grabs camera and heads for NYC to meet up w/tommyo and TBO :)sputnik2
- *grabs pasties as well, just in casesputnik2
- lol!tommyo
- "I'm not asking that the gov be disbanded and the constitution be rewritten" why notBattleAxe
- i keedBattleAxe
- TheBlueOne0
How do you think the difference of the internet changes this economic situation versus 1929? I mean all these websites urging people to call their congress people - who apparently have gotten a giant-gantic-nourmous amount of phone calls from John Q Public. Are the people being heard? And it's a bipartisan thing...my god it's a rare day in hell that I find myself in agreement with Paul Krugman and Newt Gingrich..but this bailout shit is total absolute bullshit...
- acescence0
the days of shuffling paper around are over, we need a strong productive economy. as it is, this whole fraudulent finance sector has way outgrown what our productive side can support. we should just bomb wall street.
- tommyo0
Another thing: If your aim is social equality then wouldn't it stand to reason that the more free we are, in general terms, then the less vertical our social structure has to be? i.e. If there were less laws and regulations and less overhead on life in general, then wouldn't that mean that 50% of this message board could be wasting their time on QBN while working for themselves rather than wasting their employers time? Or uh...sitting on a mountain range in Montana eating buffalo jerky or whatever.
- TheBlueOne0
Sweet Jesus, she has balls. Rep. Marcy Kaptur D-OH. Can we have a few more like her please.
"You have perpetrated the greatest financial crimes ever on this American Republic. You think you can get by with it because you are extraordinarily wealthy, and the largest contributors to both presidential and congressional campaigns in both major parties. America doesn't need to bail you out. It needs to secure real assets and property....Federal regional reserve banks should have a new job to help renegotiate mortgages. American people should get equity in any companies. Major job creation to rebuild our infrastructure. Regulate, we need a modern Glass-Steagall act. Refinancing must return a major share of profits to a new social security and medicare lockbox."
- the lockbox is back!!sputnik2
- it's all about the lockboxTheBlueOne
- hot damn!!!!!!!!!!! sizzle...robotron3k
- fuk yea!BattleAxe
- this bailout is total bullshit.tommyo
- that dame has moxie ! !BonSeff
- "disgorgement" - like a blood fat tick.monkeyshine
- BRAVO!!!!DCDesigns
- I designed her campaign materials forever ago! She's a good person.Josev
