Here is Governor Panderslander telling us why FEMA should be storm-shuttered and closed. Not just flip responsibility for emergency storm management to the states, Panderslander says, but privatize the whole shebang. How?
By introducing financial incentives to make storms simply go away. To bring down the cost of emergency preparedness by introducing competition between the Red Cross and the Blue Cross. To hedge against future storms by importing sandbaggers from China. Let them (meaning ‘us’) eat cake.
You may think Panderslander’s handlers could spin his remarks with more aplomb, i.e., more plausible deniability, by saying: “GOP debate points should never be taken seriously” or “The genius of Governor Panderslander is often misunderstood by mere mortals [defined as anyone earning less than $20 million per year]."
Nooo! As reported in the Huffington Post, here is what Panderslander’s handler actually said:
"Gov. [Panderslander] wants to ensure states, who are the first responders and are in the best position to aid impacted individuals and communities, have the resources and assistance they need to cope with natural disasters," the [Panderslander] official said.What does this statement mean, if anything? More bullshit chits from Mitt signifying nothing but designed to wow the pants off country bumpkins! Never mind. You can’t fix stupid, but you can …
Steal this graphic and pass it on:
For a detailed description of the governor's tax plan, click here.
Numbers don't matter, truth doesn't matter -- it's all about what tribe you're part of. They simply and in tribal or cult fashion reject anything that comes from outside the tribe, so the problems Republicans cause will always be seen as being caused by Democrats whether or not it means time has had to run backwards and effects precede cause.
ReplyDeleteI do remember my wealthy neighbors lining up to get free generators from FEMA and then complaining about how unresponsive the agency was. I remember Bush having a wild party while New Orleans drowned and of course everything needs to be privatized and make a profit. Profits are the sacrament for these Prophets of greed and all that makes money is good.
There's no argument that will get through to them. You might as well lecture a brain eating zombie about ethics.
God Damn Mitt Romney and the beast he rode in on.
Oh, and good to see your byline again
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but ... if I post it, will they come?
DeleteEventually, the Federal Government is going to have to reign it in, and stop spending more than it takes in. If you take an honest, hard look at this, you'll see that it will require severe reductions on entitlement programs, major cutbacks on grants to other countries, huge cutbacks on all government spending, and a gigantic increase in private sector jobs. Simple math tells you that you have to have 3 or 4 times as many private sector jobs as government agency jobs. The first pays for the second. The challenge is to get the GOP and Dems to work on this together. The only way to do that is to constantly call and write your Senators and Representatives and tell them how urgent it is for them to do these things. I think it would be a tremendous help if our representatives to government had to live within the same healthcare, social security, and pay-for-work standards that the folks they represent do.
ReplyDeleteSounds reasonable at first glance, but is it a simple argument or an argument made to look simple by ignoring all the factors? Is it simple math, or an attempt at selling more of the same problems we already bought? We were doing fine, you might remember, until the laughable Laffler scam "Debt doesn't matter if you cut taxes" doctrine was resumed under Bush and the boom and bust followed on the heels of the same old Republican deregulation and tax cut flim flam made infamous in the 1920's. Sure, Bush raised the debt more than anyone else has, and hired more government employees and expanded more agencies but it was failure to raise revenue that turned the spending into debt. It turned into debt because his wild tax cuts did what I said they would many years ago and didn't do what every Republican since Free Lunch Reagan said they would.
ReplyDeleteSorry, you don't get out of debt without paying your bills no matter how you acquired those bills -- or going bankrupt. And yes, 87% of Obama's reckless spending has been to pay off Bush's obligations, many of which had little to do with anything that needed to be done.
Slashing government spending across the board, if that's really what you're asking for and not mostly just killing programs that allow people to survive, is like most austerity programs: a prescription for collapse. It isn't going to increase the private spending, the demand for goods and services Capitalism needs. Austerity stifles Capitalism.
You also might read up on how insurance works before implying that private insurance is more efficient and cost effective for individuals and the nation as a whole. A very similar plan to the Romney/Obama plan seems to work well in other places like Switzerland and please don't argue that the Swiss are financially reckless or anything like Marxist.
But yes, we did spend way too much on those two ongoing wars, but the tax cuts offered by the "fiscally responsible" folks to make us think we could spend trillions upon trillions without raising the debt were the big crime. Allowing the sale of fraudulent securities and the reckless adventurism of financial institutions were the big crime and without talking about that and pretending we can simply save our way out of debt by promoting public poverty and disease smells a bit like sophistry or politics or both.
American business has to start hiring and producing and if you think government is going to accomplish this by putting more money in the hands of those whose money goes to Luxembourg and Leichtenstein and into hedge funds and mega-yachts, you're going to have to explain why those record low taxes of the last 12 years have done the opposite. Boom and bust, every time we're tried it.
No, you can't save your way out of this and somehow the public is going to have to cough up some money and stop thinking they were somehow eternally entitled to the lowest taxes ever.
There is no easy way and no way at all to get out of this in a hurry and there is no simple math that describes a complex world economy and I'm not simple enough to mistake such artificially simplified arguments for wisdom.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteMethinks you have been listening to Republican talking points without critically thinking about the veracity of their claims. I cannot improve on the Captain’s points, but I will offer these comments:
So-called entitlements are not entitlements but EARNED BENEFITS. Taxpayers contribute to Social Security and Medicare with every paycheck – month after month, year after year throughout their entire working lives. In this regard, Social Security and Medicare function as a kind of government-run annuity that ensures at least a minimum living standard for seniors who would otherwise sink into poverty … or worse. Are we or are we not a civilized country? If your answer is “civilized,” then don’t call these entitlements.
Anon, have you bothered to ask yourself why the GOP frames these social programs as “entitlements” and considers the plutocracy as “job creators?”
Perhaps you should look at wealth inequality as a driving component of economic boom and bust cycles. During the 1950s and 60s - the zenith of America's middle class - the income ratio between the highest and lowest paid earners was roughly 150 to 1. Today, that ratio is closer to 500 to 1, the same ratio that presaged the Great Depression. This is not a coincidence. A strong middle class drives the economy when middle class consumers have discretionary income to save, spend or invest. Tax cuts for the wealthy drain the middle class by concentrating wealth at the top. In fact, wealth inequality ratios above 350:1 usually end up wrecking the economy. This is not a socialist perspective; it is an empirical fact.
With regard to the 87% figure cited by the Captain, here is the breakdown:
ReplyDelete81.2% Increase in National Debt under Bush:
$5.871 Trillion in 2OO1
$10.640 Trillion in 2OO8
_______________
$4.769 Trillion Increase (81.2% Increase in National Debt)
44% Increase in National Debt Under Obama:
$10.569 Trillion Jan 31st 2OO9
$15.223 Trillion Jan 14th 2O12
________________
$_4.659 Trillion Increase (44.1% Increase in National Debt)
Increase Since 2001 = $15.223 - $5.871 = $9.532 Trillion
Bush's PERCENTAGE of increase $4.769 Trillion / $9.532 Trillion = 50%
Here is the BIG BUT:
$3.56 Trillion or 76% (3.56/4.659) of the increase represents Bush CARRY OVER COSTS:
$910 Billion = Interest on BUSH Debt 2009/2011
$360 Billion = BUSH Iraq War Spending 2009/2011
$319 Billion = BUSH TARP/Bailout Balance from 2008 (as of May 2010)
$419 Billion = Bush Recession Caused Drop in taxes
$190 Billion = Bush Medicare Drug Program 2009/2011
$211 Billion = Bush Medicare Part-D 2009/2011
$771 Billion = Bush Tax Cuts 2009/2011
$4.769 TRILLION from 8 BUSH YEARS
$3.560 TRILLION of Bush Carry Over Costs
$8.329 TRILLION - Due to BUSH
Bush's PERCENTAGE (Corrected) $8.329 Trillion / $9.532 Trillion = 87.4%
87.4% of National Debt Increase caused By Bush's Programs (2001 to 2012)
12.6% of Increase caused by Obama’s Programs.
Anon,
You still need to learn a thing or two.
You'll not hear a damned thing from Fox about those figures, only endless shit about "Obama's programs" and when you present them to the Foxed up public what most often happens is either a dance and chant like painted shamans around some jungle bonfire, chanting liberaliberaliberal.
ReplyDeleteor a vicious attack
ReplyDelete"The challenge is to get the GOP and Dems to work on this together. The only way to do that is to constantly call and write your Senators and Representatives ..."
ReplyDeleteFat chance when you are dealing with a Tea Party insurgency whose mottos are, "My way or the highway," and "Hold 'em hostage." Notwithstanding record filibustering, pandering, slandering, red meat bigotry and coded racism. The best way to end the political stalemate is just GET RID OF THEM before decent citizens are forced to take to the streets and revolt.
I don't know how decent I am, but I'm ready. How about "it's my way or the AK" for a slogan?
ReplyDelete