N2Sman's Comments (46)

“Nothing has changed. He was the same then as now.”

“Fanned and faved!”

“(conclusion)
And with more jobs becoming 33 hour no-benefits "underemployment", things can NEVER improve in this country.

Never mind cost of education and pertinent equipment skyrocketing too -- maybe that and the other factors above are why Americans are losing interest..­. especially with the "return on investment" - hey, that's not just for balance sheets, you know.

Now I might just agree that the 90% tax rate in 1950 was too high. But today's tax rates for the wealthiest, especially after every bit of government subsidy, bail out, tax cheat, whittling down wages... is 8% really too high?

http://www.jrlc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=158
(hard cold proof, which was obtained from sources they readily provide)

Pretty low for the top as it is, before all the other subsidies, "havens", bailout money, and the rest.

By, of, and for the wealthy corporation. An oligarchy. We are not a democracy. We are a facade of one.

(and, lastly, I am not against capitalism. But what is going on is corporatism. BIG difference­.)”

“Well, if a CEO makes 500~900x what their employees earn, and continuing to drive down workers' wages just so the CEO's can go up, isn't it rather obvious at some point the deck of cards will fall?

For decades, cost of living has eclipsed wages (with wages dropping), and credit cards made it easier too - paying things in installments (with interest rates that even the ancient Romans would despise; they capped theirs at 10%. The Muslims dropped the notion of interest, claiming it was against God, since ALL is owned by God and we just use it (paraphrased from Wikipedia). )

Even the Christian Bible has far worse things to say about sneaky and greedy creditors than it does debtors... yet the politicians bought and paid for by the creditors somehow claim we're a Christian nation... yeah, right... If that's true, I am 20 feet tall, say "ho ho ho", and peddle green tomatoes.

I used to believe that people could spend wastefully. That may still be true, but I don't put as much weight into that anymore. Not when looking at the WHOLE picture.

It's also hard to get a job when you're deemed "overqualified" because they have a degree higher than "high school diploma". (Extinct are the days when such a diploma landed a good paying job when you got good grades... now it's a bachelor's degree for wages that are great for 1979 standards.­.. but are next to impossible to live on in 2009.)

(continues)”

“COLA=Cost Of Living Adjustment, tied to the inflation index.
Guess what, if the inflation index goes negative, there is no COLA.
sorry, pretty please doesn't cut it, only following the law does.”

“Or... after seeing something that WORKS in blue states, the 'red' states will vote the buggers out.”

“When all the people migrate out of the state, who will be left to pay the taxes that pay the republidiots salaries? They need the people there to support the state. If they leave, the state will collapse. Maybe it's really a democratic plan for the future. There will be no red states to survive. Actually, not a bad plan i'd say.”

“No, there won't be any such thing. Only 15% of the people are uninsured, and half of those voluntarily. There will be no rebellion. The vast majority don't care about the crisis in visceral terms. The only thing that will get them up off their couches is if they have to pay out of their pockets for the uninsured. Then watch them grab their pitchforks and torches.

Your "WE" is a tiny percentage of the American people.

This is capitalism. If you need help, find a charity. Otherwise, get out of the way and let the strong and responsible make their way for a better country.

That's the American way. Real Americans don't need government. Only commie sissy libs need a nanny.”

“Can you name a time in recorded history when things like Wars, Genocide, Hatred , Disparities of Wealth wasn't actually occurring all across the known world? Was there some "Age" that I haven't heard of referred to as the " Long Lasting Peace, No Person Is Enslaved, Different Peoples And Nations Held No Grudges Or Religious Based Prejudices, No One Went Hungry, Everyone Had Plenty Of Money The Rich Didn't Get Richer Age"?”

“Oh they are dying alright.

Their white male numbers are being replaced by a changing population.

And that changing population is demanding their voices be heard - as they should.”

“Like the Russians did? I hear that worked really well.....”

“They would figure out a way to lose billions. And who better to help them than NASA.”

“Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.”

“Find me a single investor willing to sink millions into moon mining, and I'll be a very rich man very quickly. There's lots of bridges I could sell someone that stupid. Can you even begin to imagine the price of a ton of iron, or even gold or anything else, mined on the Moon? Just to get three humans into space presently costs 600,000 pounds of high-energy propellant. Even if cheaper ways are found, the cost of space travel will always be prohibitive. And I'm not even going into the global warming part of burning such enormous amounts of energy to lift things into space.

The moon race was and is about prestige. Nothing else, absolutely nothing, can carry such a price tag.”

“Unfortunately, I agree with you. The game *is* rigged, which means we can't always win by playing fair. Politics really isn't pretty, and when something good is accomplished, we don't always want to know how it was done.

That said, I think the Big Pharma deal was inspired. It will save the US money in the short run, and it took a major opposition player out of the healthcare reform fight, thus making reform *possible* (which wasn't a given before the deal).

Bottom line, the system *is* unfair, but until we clean it up (if ever), we still need to win battles. Hence, the need to understand how the game is actually played.”

“funny how the right is so enamored with china, a communist dictatorship, Hu Jintao is currnetly #6 on the state depts "worst dicators" list, they support hostile regimes in Iran and N Korea, practice religious persecution and forced abortion.

but of course greed and self interest trumps principle on the right I guess.”

“A "peaceful, en masse revolution" is entirely possible. It's called voting the bastards out.

No, you can't turn the Queen Mary on a dime. Democracy is messy and slow. Checks and balances slow change. They also protect us from rash shoot-from-the-hip style government (like we see with the 'proposition' system in California).

But when enough people want change enough, and in the same direction, changre really happens.

The New Deal era brought profound changes to our country. Many of us think these were good changes, though some didn't.

The Reagan revolution started in motion the undoing of many of the New Deal changes. Why? Well, enough people wanted to try something else, so that's what we did.

If you don't like the results, get out there and promote the changes we need.

Democracy is slow, but it works. But you have to get out there and make it work, so go for it!”

“Yeah, it has worked so terribly for the last 250 years. Allowing differing opinions from free men to surface, and having the electorate decide who's right is so passe'.

What we really need is a suspension of civil liberties, a strong central leader, and an extremely active police force-then we can really get things done! Is that what you are saying?

Russia, China.....­...that your model of "getting things done"?”

“Hey friend, check out this PAC called the PCCC
http://boldprogressives.org

Read the mission statement and examine their work, if you like it sign up for the mailing list.
Please get involved we need as many strong progressives we can get.”