TDS

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

I can think of a million reason to get rid of paygo. Mainly that it’s a cudgel used in preventing passing any large legislation. I’m ok with it going away. I don’t believe the last tax cut was paid for so if one side doesn’t take Paygo seriously then neither should the other. Ah! Yes! The old, "they did it so why shouldn't we".

We shall see what legislation gets passed.

It's used for not passing prohibitively large legislation that can never be paid for. That's why it is a good idea.



That's how you get a debt that can't be paid and continually adding programs without cutting the wasteful ones. You end up with 30 trillion and debt and want to start down the road of a 93 trillion Green New Deal that will cost every American thousands of dollars in energy costs. And the really, really bad news, we'll have to borrow that money from China.



This is why the House will return to Republican control in 2022.

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

I’m more than willing to do so with you and Tiny.

Deal!


Let’s not take too big a step though as some others won’t wanna play nice.

Then I'll put them on ignore. I'm not the least bit interested in the back and forth name calling.

Shame on it?

Shame on what?

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

I can think of a million reason to get rid of paygo. Mainly that it’s a cudgel used in preventing passing any large legislation. I’m ok with it going away. I don’t believe the last tax cut was paid for so if one side doesn’t take Paygo seriously then neither should the other.

We shall see what legislation gets passed.

It's used for not passing prohibitively large legislation that can never be paid for. That's why it is a good idea.

That's how you get a debt that can't be paid by continually adding programs without cutting the wasteful ones. And yes ( per our new understanding ) both parties are responsible for this out of control debt but Democrats more so. You end up with 30 trillion and debt and want to start down the road of a 93 trillion Green New Deal that will cost every American thousands of dollars in energy costs. And the really, really bad news, we'll have to borrow that money from China.



This is why the House will return to Republican control in 2022.

[1blackman1]

Are both sides equally bad fiscally though. Since Reagan Dems have done significantly better at deficit reduction and economic growth I suspect that will continue with the current president.

[winn dixie]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

Are both sides equally bad fiscally though. Since Reagan Dems have done significantly better at deficit reduction and economic growth I suspect that will continue with the current president.

Getting a head of yourself? Trump is still your President!

[1blackman1]

Originally Posted by winn dixie

Getting a head of yourself? Trump is still your President!

You’re right as sad as that is. Biden will do better than Trump who has left us near economic calamity.

[Tiny]

Originally Posted by HedonistForever

Happy New Year Sir. Your opinions are always an interesting read even if I don't agree but I usually do. We should known in a few hours whether you opinion that Trump just might have screwed the Republican party with his antics. If Republicans don't vote because of his antics and Democrats gain the Senate, it will 100% be Trump's fault for discouraging Republicans and we are indeed screwed for at least the next 2 years.

Thanks Hedonist. The punters on PredictIt.org are now favoring Perdue, and the special election is a toss up. This is a marked improvement since the leak of the Trump/Raffensperger tape. I am no longer suicidal.

[Tiny]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

In a thread long ago I stated what policies I disagree with.

I would prefer a federal flat tax with a high standard deduction. Let’s say 20% with the standard deduction being 30k per wage earner. I’ve not done the math on it but I’m sure that keep folks outta poverty over taxes and eliminate the need did a tax industry. Similarly for companies though The numbers would be different.

I don’t believe abortion after week 14 or somewhere in there should be allowed except for health issues. Prior, it should be a woman’s choice. Incest would be the exception to those rules.

I’m a proponent of the death penalty. I just think we have a cumbersome process for administering it. Nonsensical for folks to be on death row for decades. We need an expedited appeals process so that they can be moved through to execution.

The govt shouldn’t be subsidizing any industry. Allow the market to prevail....

Interesting post Blackman. Actually I'd much rather live in your ideal of America than the one we have now, mostly because of the flat tax. Not only would I no longer feel like I was getting screwed, but that would free up weeks of time spent trying to cope with the complexity of the IRS's reporting requirements. I'd be a free man again, instead of a slave to the federal government.

I too agree strongly with your belief that government shouldn't subsidize industries and the market should prevail. Your proposal for abortion laws is good. It echoes mine, although I'd leave the decision to the states or even the localities, being a big believer in "the government closest to the people is best."

I'm actually to the left of you on the death penalty and defense/Russia/China.

I'd part company with you on student debt. This is like the debate over medical care. I believe you need to do something about the underlying problem, which is out of control tuition and medical costs. I'd favor using free markets to remedy this to the extent possible, and provide some kind of safety net to backstop that. And believe that can be done for less than what the government is spending now on higher education and Medicare/Medicaid/AFA. As to the current situation, I'd be less generous to the debtors than you are.

I don't believe Trump was guilty of much besides stupidity when it comes to Russia. Ukraine and the Raffensperger conversation this last weekend are much more problematic. I pretty much agree with your opinion of what Biden likely was up to in China -- very little.

Well, hopefully after January 20, the Republican Party will be rid of Trump, and hopefully the AOC wing of the Democratic Party will remain a minority. If that's the case I can happily continue to identify with the GOP, and I imagine that you'll be happy as a Democrat, although from your positions I imagine you may more likely be an Independent. And if that doesn't happen maybe we start a third party. Hedonist might just end up rolling with us, despite his protestations.

[1blackman1]

Originally Posted by HedonistForever

Shame on what?

Shake, autocorrect must've got me.

[Yssup Rider]

Na na na na
Na na na na

Hey Hey Hey

Get the FUCK OUTTA DC!



What time will tomorrow's shit show end and Trump's crime family takes to the mattresses?

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

Are both sides equally bad fiscally though.



That would be hard to argue at this point but I believe if Covid had never happened, the economic growth that was happening under Trump, the best economy in 50 years with the highest employment for minorities, would have continued.


Democrats are about to take us over a fiscal cliff. They are literally talking about spending tens of trillions of dollars on the hope that it will create enough Green jobs to pay for it all which in my opinion, is a pipe dream. Building cheaper solar panels and windmills than China is not going to be our savior. Trying to achieve "equity" while perhaps a noble goal, is also a pipe dream that will create more division than unity in my opinion. I sincerely hope I'm wrong but I don't believe I am.


Since Reagan Dems have done significantly better at deficit reduction and economic growth I suspect that will continue with the current president.

Dem's never had a left so radical as this one. I know you don't believe they will be a factor but I think it is as obvious as the nose on our face. Trying to insure equal outcomes instead of equal opportunity will be the death of our economy. I hope I'm wrong but that is what I see coming.

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by 1blackman1

You’re right as sad as that is. Biden will do better than Trump who has left us near economic calamity.

Maybe if one is to believe that Biden recommending that everybody wear a mask is going to solve this problem, it isn't. Trump did not bring Covid to our shores nor did it cause more damage because he didn't wear a mask and wasn't the cheerleader some people wanted him to be.


If one were to go back and look at all things Biden said he would do to fight Covid, they were the exact same things Trump was doing minus the cheer leading. And as I have correctly pointed out what feels like a hundred times, the Governors had more to do with the shape we are in than Trump and they, not President Biden will be responsible for how this ends. Joe Biden wouldn't have made a nickels worth of difference in where we are now and won't make a bit of difference how we get out of this. We are playing whack a mole with a virus and the cure may actually be worse than the disease when the history of this is written.


I see fewer jobs because tech. is fast over taking us and if we truly have to go to universal income to survive, we will never survive this. Personally, I see us on a decline that no President and neither party can get us out of. I'm not usually a pessimist but I'm fast becoming one. And I honestly believe that the Democrats will make everything worse with more rules and regulations and more spending in a time when spending becomes the problem, not the solution.

[Tiny]

Back on topic, Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump's Derangement is destroying the Republican Party.

He single handedly turned Georgia from a red state to a blue state.

He did everything he possibly could to make the incumbent Republican Senators in Georgia lose. Thus, he delivered the Senate to Chuck Schumer on a silver platter.

He criticized the Republican governor, lieutenant governor or Secretary of State of Georgia daily for not committing election fraud. And in an ironic twist he told the SOS he was committing a criminal offense by not coming up with enough votes to declare Trump the winner.

He invited Michael Flynn to the White House to discuss putting the USA under martial law.

He popularized bogus conspiracy theories to make his supporters falsely believe he was the victim of election fraud.

He pardoned his daughter's father-in-law for no other reason except he is his daughter's father-in-law. He couldn't wait to do that until after the Georgia run-offs.

He is trying to get his Vice President to overturn the results of the election.

He has persuaded 13 Senators and approximately 140 Representatives to refuse to accept the electoral results tomorrow.

You've seen the results. Perdue and Loeffler are getting their asses kicked. Perdue was solidly ahead on November 3. Loeffler also probably would have won if Trump weren't around. She was appointed to the Senate by the governor because he knew a moderate, female Republican would fare well against Democratic competition. Well, after Loeffler had to become a Trump sycophant so the BASTARD wouldn't stab her in the back, that went out the window.

If Trump sticks around, and continues to exile those who don't bow down and worship him, the Republican Party is toast. Trump only thinks about himself. He doesn't give a fuck about America or the Republican Party.

[eccieuser9500]

Originally Posted by Tiny

Back on topic, Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump's Derangement is destroying the Republican Party.

He single handedly turned Georgia from a red state to a blue state.

He did everything he possibly could to make the incumbent Republican Senators in Georgia lose. Thus, he delivered the Senate to Chuck Schumer on a silver platter.

He invited Michael Flynn to the White House to discuss putting the USA under martial law.

He popularized bogus conspiracy theories to make his supporters falsely believe he was the victim of election fraud.

He pardoned his daughter's father-in-law for no other reason except he is his daughter's father-in-law. He couldn't wait to do that until after the Georgia run-offs.

He is trying to get his Vice President to overturn the results of the election.

He has persuaded 13 Senators and approximately 140 Representatives to refuse to accept the electoral results tomorrow.

You've seen the results. Perdue and Loeffler are getting their asses kicked. Perdue was solidly ahead on November 3. Loeffler also probably would have won if Trump weren't around. She was appointed to the Senate by the governor because he knew a moderate, female Republican would fare well against Democratic competition. Well, after Loeffler had to become a Trump sycophant so the BASTARD wouldn't stab her in the back, that went out the window.

If Trump sticks around, and continues to exile those who don't bow down and worship him, the Republican Party is toast. Trump only thinks about himself. He doesn't give a fuck about America or the Republican Party.

{staff edit- CK-- image violation}


Maybe it's all this kid's fault. Not the Dump. Georgia's poor are just mad. The other half are proud.

Historian: Today’s Authoritarian Leaders Aren’t Fascists—But They Are Part of the Same Story

https://time.com/5908244/strongman-fascism-history/

What tends to be going on in the world when strongmen come to power?


Over and over, when there have been periods of substantial social progress—it could be gender equity, it could be secularization, it could be racial equity—[that creates] a climate of extreme anxiety, extreme anger in other people who don’t like this progress. These are all fears that were very active in the 1920s and the 1930s. This is when these strongmen figures find favor.

And they are able to ally with conservative elites, because that’s very, very important. They have to be brought into the mainstream by somebody. Even in a situation of a military coup, you still have these same dynamics, because the reason that the coup is accepted by conservative elites—and sometimes they know it’s coming—is for the same reasons of fear of change, fear of emancipation of the wrong people.

This might have to be the last time . . .

. . . I use this image.

[1blackman1]

Hope he keeps tearing up the Republicans. Trump can’t do enough harm to the Republican Party. I look forward to him destroying a couple more.