Short finance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
I often get the feeling that Republicans are trying to short the United States. Something about their attitude that a nation is like a corporation. So it is in their interest to lower the overall value of the US so they can make a profit.
Of course, a nation is not a corporation, it does not have stock, it has people, and selling them short will quickly lower the value of the nation.
The “Rationing” Switcheroo – NYTimes.com.
I agree with Paul here. If the Medicare system determines what it will or will not pay for – the basic medical care coverage – there should be nothing to preclude a patient from using their own money to get advanced or alternative medical care.
The Declaration of Independence did not declare that we have the right to life, liberty, and the all expenses paid pursuit of happiness.
I saw an interesting interview with Senator Rand Paul by Jon Stewart last night, three parts. They were actually exchanging coherent ideas.
You don’t have the right to pollute your neighbor’s air, and the air is much cleaner than it was 30 years ago. (Only some of it is the Clean Air Act?) Things are a balancing act.
There is a difference between stupidity and over-regulation. Government has a role in regulation. Congress has a role in stupidity.
Corporations aren’t going to keep themselves clean; we the people need to have some oversight. That’s what Congress is for.
Do we work to monitor the stupidity in regulation or do we get rid of regulation altogether?
Rather than taking a sledgehammer to the government, let’s debate the extent that regulations should have. Let Congress do its job and rein in the Faceless Bureaucrats as needed. But it seems that congress doesn’t want to get involved with the details and they pass laws with vague wording that requires substantial interpretation. And if the interpretation is not politically correct, the politician has a fall back position.
I thought Paul’s example of Hazmat teams needed to clean up milk spills was a bit of hyperbole, especially since he tied it to Oil Spill clean up. Did a civil servant really tie the animal fat oil in milk to petroleum? Or is someone out there making fun of the faceless bureaucracy? Or is our milk supply really hazardous? (Where are those milk inspectors when you need them?)
Philip E. Agre
via What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?.
via Sidelights
Q: What is conservatism? A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism? A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
And it really annoys me that so many Americans seem to want to elevate the President to a King.
I was just thinking about Corporate Taxes, don’t ask me why.
US corporate profit performance.
I’ve heard that the USA has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, 35%. So I am looking at these 2008 figures and see that Corporate profits are $1,360.4 Billion and they paid $292.2 Billion. That works out to 21.5%, not 35%. I see from the 2008 federal budget that Corporate tax revenues come to $314.9 Billion. I don’t know why these numbers don’t agree, maybe different fiscal calendars, but the latter is still only 23%, not 35%.
If we really had a 35% tax rate we would be collecting $476 Billion instead of the paltry sum we are currently collecting. That would help pay for a few more months in Afghanistan.
I see that the US corporate tax rate is listed as between 0% and 35%, so we don’t actually have a flat one-rate-for-all-corporations tax. I guess the fun is in starting with 35% and seeing how quickly you can get it to 0%. Why don’t they make a flat 25% tax with no deductions and stop playing games? I would like for them to revise the corporate tax code such that any compensation paid to an executive in excess of the US presidents salary would be counted toward corporate profits and not an operating expense.
Just thinking about the ‘greatness’ of the American Presidents and how they might be ranked. Here is my top few, based on nothing but my impressions of which one’s are responsible for the positive view of our country today. They enhanced the original vision and made it better. A few went in the opposite direction. Most were just Chief Executives and did what they were supposed to do.
Best:
Worst
I am still undecided about Jackson. He either goes on the first list or the second. Leaning towards the first, but he really promoted an imperialistic America. I have the same problem with Teddy.
Why is Washington number 1? Because he walked away from it all after eight years. He limited the office of the President and became the role model for future generations.
Blog – House GOP Spending Cuts.
Our government is broke and House Republicans are working to rein in wasteful government spending. Below is an initial list of 148 programs that will be terminated saving our country $100 billion.
Republican Congressional Committed is posting a list of 148 programs that will save us $100 Billion. I am not particularly familiar with any of these programs – I think I have heard of a couple – but I did notice if 148 programs were going to save us $100B they would need to average about $675Million per program. I didn’t see that sort of average in a quick scan of the list, so I actually added up the savings of the 148 programs and came up with $14.3B.- average of $97M each. Now if these congress critters can’t even sum up their selected list of savings, what can we expect when they go after the big numbers? More lies and obfuscation? (They’re politicians, it’s a rhetorical question)
$14.3B isn’t even a spit in the wind of a $3.7T budget, $100B barely is. Come on guys, go where the money is – DoD.
There Is Still No Such Thing As Socialsecuritymedicareandmedicaid – NYTimes.com.
Krugman reiterates to need to keep Social Security budget discussions separate from Medicare, Medicaid and the other ‘entitlements’. They are very different flavors of programs.
What I see is the biggest problem with the healthcare programs is that we aren’t funding them with enough payroll tax. Why don’t we just bump up the Medicare payroll tax up to 10%-15% and make all Americans part of Medicare? from pre-birth to post-death?
Alternatively, we can just eliminate all government health-care programs – with a corresponding cut in the DoD budget. That should get our deficit down to 0 and maybe even start paying off the debt. Then we will have millions of elderly dying in the streets much sooner that expected and this will save Social Security as well.
I have been wondering what the “Other Mandatory Programs” are. It shows up in the federal budget under the “Mandatory Programs” section – its value somewhere between Social Security and Medicare. The 2012 budget allocates $598B for the other mandatory programs. But I googled for a while and found:
Other categories of mandatory spending:
Individually, each of these programs don’t amount to much, but combined they are very big (as this CBO presentation shows).
Please pay attention to what Congress is doing. Because most of what they are going to do is going to be bad for you. And the main reason for that is that you don’t speak out loudly enough for Congress to care. Don’t let the baby-boomers (that’s us) continue to suck out the good stuff of America. We will leave you the dried-out husk.
You have got to make Congress aware that you want a coherent policy that addresses the concerns 50 years down the road as well as the short-term issues. These guys are as bad or worse than a corporate board of directors. Short-term profits are paramount. If it doesn’t get them re-elected next time around it isn’t a concern. You have to make it a concern. You have got to use your voice now; reaffirm the basic principles of our country:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
otherwise you, my Posterity, will be in Tahrir Square demanding Justice, Tranquility and the Blessings of Liberty, but that will be after I am gone.
You get to decide if you will live in the Blade Runner world, or the world of Brazil. You have to speak up early, often, and never stop, or you will get the dregs we leave you.
On a more positive note, we may be out of Afghanistan by then.