This week brought a slew of April Fools' jokes from our media brethren. Hulu remade its page to look like it was 1996 -- ancient history in Internet terms. Google introduced "Gmail motion," a tool that allows users to send emails by using their body. YouTube offered the top 5 viral videos of 1911. And we had a little fun of our own. There were also a number of stories that felt like April Fools' jokes but, unfortunately, were all too real. There was Donald Trump doubling down on Birther-ism, releasing his birth certificate and calling for the president to release his; pastor/kook Terry Jones finally burning a Quran and igniting violent protests in Afghanistan that led to the killing of a dozen people, including seven UN workers. And there was our nation's capital -- a town full of true April fools -- still obsessed with spending cuts in the midst of a recession.
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Ethan Casey: Terry Jones' America is a Dangerous Place to Be
Start cutting THERE before you start taking money away from people who have no choice but to spend it.
With a $14 trillion debt and a $1.6 trillion deficit, the budget needs to be cut by at least 25% or about $1 trillion this year alone. Let's get real. We cannot continue to spend money that has not yet been earned by children who have not yet been born.
$414billion of US taxpayers’ money (Income Tax) was spent on interest payments during the last fiscal year. That was with yields kept historically and artificially low by the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank.
Global investors are increasingly wondering what happens when the money printing stops and those interest payments on the money we borrow goes up.
It is against this backdrop that the Obama administration and Republicans in the House of Representatives are now arguing over miniscule $30billion in spending cuts.
What every American should ask: Why do we borrow our medium of exchange (money) from the Federal Reserve Bank and pay them interest, when we can print and control our own money interest free?
$30 Billion cut? Why not start with a $414 Billion cut.
House Bill HR6550 addresses this very issue.
Bob Workman
That's WASN'T a joke?
As for Social Security, it is not in dire straits currently, in spite of all the GOP spin! If we remove the cap on the amount of income that is subject to the social security tax, we could actually lower the rate of the payroll tax and still fund it for decades even with baby boomer retirements. The Wall Street hedgefund managers, and the Robber barons should start paying the social security tax just like the secretaries and janitors who work for these people!
People argue "solar is too expensive". The only reason they are right is because the renewable energy market is made up of a bunch of little steps, each with its profiteers...
Whereas the oil companies quite literally do it all, even to the retail outlet!
If our leaders were for real about clean energy, this obvious flaw would be addressed at the expense of other less important things such as nation building...