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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Smith who wrote (140952)	7/16/2010 12:40:22 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Respond to of 542907

Paul, re: "So a politician can say anything and then do something else as long as they claim it was due to necessity?" What's the alternative? Would you have them obstinately clinging to promises that circumstances have made impractical, against the public interest, and just plain stupid? "Clinton did have a budget surplus but not before the House was turned over to Republicans. As you know, the Constitution requires every spending bill to originate in the House." And your point is what...that Clinton deserves no credit for refraining from taking tax monies and rewarding his wealthy friends with public spending and that only Republicans want to be fiscally responsible? Why not just recognize that it was a combination of sustained economic growth and a rare episode of spending restraint on behalf of the Congress and the President and leave it alone. "In addition, the budget in the Clinton/Gingrich years benefited from taxes on investment income from the stock market of the mid to late 1990s --- the telecom and internet bubble, which was a temporary artificial event." Yes, and the budget in the Bush/Republican Congress years benefitted from the tremendous boost to the economy caused by the artificial and unsustainable government supercharge of the housing and housing refinance market which pumped huge amounts of "found" money into the economy. The difference was that the Bush/Republican Congress alliance cut taxes, increased spending and increased borrowing in order to buy votes and reward their wealthy friends while they were in power. It was a grand ol party and we're now paying a steep price for that party. Let's face it, the people we've been electing are rarely our best, our brightest and our most ethical. Part of the reason for that is that this country is big and big money marketing plays such a large part in creating a staged persona for our candidates that we don't really get to know the real person behind the curtain. And, as you know, most voters are too apathetic and too gossip column tuned to do their homework so we often elect first rate soap opera personalities and second rate people. Bottom line; you can spend hours and hours searching the internet for real or imagined "facts" or opinions to buttress your belief that your guys are the good guys and you can persistently write posts critical of Democrats who are admired but you shouldn't delude yourself into believing that "your party" is morally or intellectually superior. It's not, your party has some of the biggest buffoons and hypocrites in the business. Ed

To: Paul Smith who wrote (140952)	7/16/2010 3:35:13 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542907

<<<Clinton did have a budget surplus but not before the House was turned over to Republicans. >>> Yea, sure. Republicans must have had control of the budget process in all those 8 years that produced a budget surplus and Democrats must have had control of the budget process during those 8 years under Bush. The Chief Executive Officer of our country does not have the authority to manage the budget and budget process. Tell me some more.

To: Paul Smith who wrote (140952)	7/18/2010 9:27:11 AM
From: Paul Smith	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542907

Broken Promise? Obama has stated very clearly that he does not want to raise taxes for people making under $250,000 a year. "Changing Tune, Administration Defends Insurance Mandate as a Tax WASHINGTON — When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government's "power to lay and collect taxes." And that power, they say, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce. nytimes.com