Bernie Sanders went on MSNBC today, and laid the blame for the fiscal cliff right at the feet of John Boehner and his extremist House Republicans.
Here is the video:
Sanders said, “I think we have a reasonable chance to get a short term fix through the Senate. The problem that Boehner will have in the House is that his caucus is dominated by right wing extremists who are very hesitant, who do everything they can to prevent the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations from paying a nickel more in taxes. But I think if it goes to the House, and if the Democrats remain strong, and you get 20 or 30 Republicans, you can probably prevent the tax hike for ninety eight percent for the American people and the other dealing with the crisis of two million American workers losing their unemployment benefits and other short term issues. So I am cautiously optimistic we can get something through the Senate, we’ll see what Boehner can do with his right wing friends.”
Guest host TJ Holmes asked Sen. Sanders if this is all of Congress’ problem. Sen. Sanders answered with the facts, “Not quite so simple as that. The bottom line here, as I think most Americans know, the House is dominated by right wing extremists, and that’s Boehner’s challenge. These are folks who want to protect, despite a $16 trillion national debt, they want to make sure that the wealthiest people in this country don’t pay a nickel more in taxes, and at the same time they want to make massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That is the reality…So the issue is we have some right guys in the House who are adamant, in my view, about protecting the interests of the wealthy and cutting back on programs that our struggling middle class should not lose.”
Later Sanders swatted aside the idea that both parties are to blame for the fiscal cliff mess, “I’m not a Democrat. I’m an Independent, but here’s the point. I don’t think there’s an equivalence. People say shouldn’t the rich pay a little bit more in taxes and then shouldn’t we cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid? The answer is no! The wealthy are doing phenomenally well. Their taxes are down. The middle class is hurting. We have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income. It should not be a ‘balance’ on the middle class and the rich. The wealthy and large corporations are going to have to help us in a significant way deal with deficit reduction.”
Sen. Sanders knocked down the idea that any deficit reduction deal should involve a tax hike for the wealthy and cuts to programs that middle class and poor people need. The reason why the Republican ideas of shared sacrifice on the deficit should be rejected is that the benefit from the Bush tax cuts went largely to the rich, so it only fair for the wealthy take more of their tax burden back.
Sanders was correct about who is responsible for the latest drummed up fiscal crisis that the nation currently finds itself in. All of the blame should sit squarely on the shoulders of the Republican ideologues in the House who refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy by even a penny.
This isn’t a Senate problem, or a White House problem. It is a Boehner problem. Speaker Boehner can’t even get enough control over his caucus to get them to vote for his own legislation, much less anything that comes out of the Senate. When people talk about our government being broken, they are specifically referring to chaos in legislative process that is routinely being caused by House Republicans.
Sen. Sanders wasn’t having any of the mainstream media’s both sides do it false equivalency. Both sides don’t do it. As long as House Republican extremists continue to place protecting the rich ahead of governing congressional dysfunction will continue to paralyze this country.
The fiscal cliff may be the final act in the House Republican drama of dysfunction that the nation will bring the curtain down on in 2014.
PoliticusUSA
G+
Facebook
The Platzner Post
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Sen. Bernie Sanders is on “Fire”!!!
The Platzner Post Facebook, and Twitter https://www.facebook.com/ThePlatznerPost
loading...
sherrie heckendorn
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
If only our congress were filled with more like Sanders, we wouldn’t be seeing the problems we now have. He is correct that the last thing we should do now, is to cut any safety net programs or SS or Medicare. That would be all it takes to sink our struggling economy, which does seem the goal of the G
OP party
loading...
C.
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
I wonder how many senior citizens realize the republican party wants to hurt them.
loading...
djchefron
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Lets see.I can vote for the party that has opposed SS and Medicare since day 1 or I can vote for the black man whose party has protected SS and Medicare?I vote republican because I am not one of them welfare sucking moochers and the GOP looks like me.Any questions/
loading...
djchefron
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 9:51 am
51 Dislikes and counting.What part do you not understand?My nana is not rascist.Well lets take a snapshoy of Florida.A high rate of senoirs and jewish two groups that normalley vote democratic.After all the evidence that Ryan budget would destroy the safety net they went with Romney big.58% to 42%,I wonder why
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/features/2012/election_day_2012/florida_seniors_mitt_romney_is_winning_a_landslide_with_florida_s_oldest.html
In Ohio among voters 65 and older, Romney leads by 55 percent to 44 percent.
http://blog.aarp.org/2012/11/06/exit-polls-in-ohio-romney-carrying-seniors-so-far/
I guess it was that barn burner of a campaign Romney ran to run up numbers like that.
The dislikes I can care less about but I do care if people would point out where I am wrong so I can learn.Just pushing the dislike without commenting means you don’t like the message but you cannot come up with a rebuttal to prove your case.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 11:28 am
I had a problem understanding it. The first part gives an understanding of the differences between the two partys. The second part I took as sarcasm more then anything. I know that 52% of this country is not on welfare. Its the same manner of writing I use on huffington post or twitter sometimes.
Thats why I am one of the 3 up votes
loading...
djchefron
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Thank you
loading...
Aaron Scoggin
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
I think it’s probably because you referred to all people that need help as “welfare-sucking moochers”. Yes, there are people that just mooch off the system (I’d guess about 4-5% of the population), but the majority of people on the program legitimately need help. I hear Republicans whine about how bad the job market is, and then refer to those that can’t find a job as a lazy moocher. I know it’s hard for the rich to understand, but a safety net is necessary because there will always be people who have bad luck and fall through the cracks of society, no matter how hard they work.
loading...
djchefron
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Do you not get sarcasm?For the love of the flying spaghetti monster if people who have read any of my past posts knows where I stand.I think in the future I will start with a disclaimer [These are not the views of this poster he's just trying to be a smart ass]And failing at that I might add.
loading...
Harold P. Donle (Butch)
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 5:36 am
not enough.
loading...
F Michael Addams..
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Well…I’d say plenty…surely a majority…
loading...
Gail Anderson
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Oh I know all too well that the repukes want to hurt the elderly. we are the ones that have paid into this system all our lives and now that my husband is 71 and I am 68, they want to take away what we ALREADY paid for. This is OUR money, not their’s. We earned it and we paid into it for yrs and yrs. The repukes don’t give a dam about anyone or anything except themselves. They want every god dam dollar they can get their hands on. Hell they would sell their own mothrs for a buck. They ALL need to go. And all you repukes out there that voted for them, you need to REMEMBER THIS COME 2014 amd vote them the hell out of offfice.
loading...
C.
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
I wish more seniors would see this, so many seem to have blind allegiance to the repub party and don’t understand the party does not care about them.
In fact if more understood, Romney would have lost by way more.
My 90 yr old mother voted for the jerk, even after I showed her the video of Ryan ridiculing an elderly man at a town hall, saying he hoped the man had taken his BP med when he was being thrown the grown and arrested.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Are you kidding me? Do you ever even listen to what any Republican actually says…or do you just enjoy spreading falsehoods? No Republican has ever suggested taking away your social security.
Good grief Gail…you are either a total idiot or a just a downright liar.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
It seems you are incapable of communicating like a human. It also seems you dont pay attention. Why is the GOP demanding large cuts in SS when it doesnt contribute to the deficit? Why is it that conservatives want all entitlements gone?
You dont pay attention to what your congressmen are doing
loading...
Karen
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
The GOP only wants entitlements that help the poor gone. The ones that help the rich they are all for! You don’t see them asking for the billions that go to wealthy companies like the oil companies to be cut!
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Thats where GOP socialism comes in. Only they dont tell the little people its socialism for the rich. And Charlie loves paying for that rich peoples socialism
loading...
Jeff R
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Charlie – I do listen to what Republicans say, but I also watch what they actually do. What the do is what matters to me. They SAY they want to save Social Security and Medicare, but they constantly try to cripple and weaken it.
Taking Medicare for example they SAID they wanted to save it, but what they proposed doing was to turn it into a program that gave a small fixed amount of money to seniors with which they could attempt to purchase private insurance. But what private company would insure a bunch of sick old people? None. Certainly none at the vouchered amount. Yes, people with enough money can “supplement” the voucher with their own money, but THAT is not the Medicare program.
Which makes Republican assertions that they are trying to save Medicare at best a scam and more correctly a lie. Republicans were and are determined to destroy the the American System (aka American Dream), the Social Safety Net and the American Social Contract and replace it with different programs they will CALL Social Security and Medicare.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:45 am
Jeff…I’m sorry I missed your post. You sound like a reasonable fellow.
I don’t believe any Republican wants to cripple SS, and I think we do all agree that SS needs to be fixed so it can remain solvent. I thought Romney’s plan was very reasonable. I never heard a plan from Obama.
As for Medicare, that program is also facing insolvency. I don’t know if it pays at this point to re-hash some of Romney’s ideas….it’s water under the bridge….but “traditional” fee for service remained an option for seniors. Yes, he did want to make it more of a “premium support” system…but lower income seniors would receive more generous support to ensure that they can afford coverage while wealthier seniors would receive less support. There was a bit of controversy as to whether his plan would have cost more for our seniors, but I felt it was a good starting point that may have needed to get some bugs worked out. I have also not seen any plan from the Obama administration in regards to keeping this program from going bust either. Now …what is it?…about $750 billion that the Obama administration has taken out of medicare to help pay for Obamacare? Hmmm…I don’t see how that is going to help seniors….but alas…that’s what is going to happen.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:52 am
Well, well…it’s late. I bid you all a goodnight. Yes, we disagree but we should talk to each other more often. Enjoyed the chat…am I invited back? :-)
Or do you prefer that I not disturb the echo chamber?
loading...
Brian Pollard
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 4:08 am
Charlie; You claim to be an Independent, yet you actually BELIEVE the crap the GOP is feeding us? Listen; the last time we had a GOP president, within ONE YEAR he completely STRIPPED Social Security of its 7 TRILLION DOLLAR surplus, and yet you claim that the GOP doesn’t want to destroy Social Security. I’m having to collect my benefits before my regular time; I’m not quite 40, and I’m on Disability. I PAID for that, just like Gail and her husband. We didn’t pay into the Social Security program for some spoiled, soft-handed child of privilege like Dubya to blow it on whatever he wasted it on. Hey! I’ve got an idea; let’s hand Bush and his entire administration from when he was President a BILL for all the money they WASTED. Yeah, I know it’ll never happen. But pissing on Obama because ‘he didn’t fix everything when he was elected’ is retarded. Yes, for a time, he had a Democratic majority to work with in Congress. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a SUPERMAJORITY, and, because of that little factor, the GOP members of Congress made almost EVERYTHING an issue which required said supermajority. As a result, almost NOTHING was accomplished, and the GOP did their best to lay ALL the blame on Obama & the Dems, which is absolute bugger-all SHITE. Grow up, Charlie. If you’re gonna claim to be an Independent, at least learn to THINK for yourself, instead of parroting the GOP Delusion(tm). Things ARE getting better; even though it isn’t happening as quickly as we all would like, it’s still happening. I KNEW it would take a while, considering how BROKEN our country was after Dubya was done playing with it.
loading...
Alex
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Charlie, you watch to much Fox Entertainment, try CSPAN, CNN, OR MSNBC…………
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
ROMNEY: For the people who are already retired or 55 years of age and older, nothing changes. With Social Security–if you will, the 2.0 version for the next generations coming up– I’d lower the rate of inflation growth in the benefits received by higher-income recipients and keep the rate as it is now for lower income recipients.
REPUBLICANS DO NOT WANT ALL ENTITLEMENTS GONE… they want them reformed. Our country is broke…remember? 16 Trillion and counting.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Republicans DO want entitlements gone, it gets int he way of money for the rich.
Romney lied on every single thing he said concerning SS, medicare and Medicaid. He would have turned Medicare into a voucher system per Ryans plan. The day he said that crap in Florida was to get seniors to vote for him. That was it.
SS doesnt effect the deficits, the ones that didnt matter under Bush
loading...
Alex
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Social Security has nothing, ZERO to do with this country’s deficit! Good grief what is not to understand about this……………
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:13 pm
My response was for Gail and her nonsense about Republicans wanting to strip her of her SS checks. It is a blatant falsehood.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
No, its not a falsehood. You have no idea what the GOP house has been trying to negotiate do you?
Screw Romney, he couldnt tell the truth for 5 minutes in a row
loading...
TigerLily
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:31 am
Charlie..are you serious? as you watch your leaders do nothing for YOU their constituent, are you telling me you are all for them denying unemployment, denying women BC, denying Gays the right to marry, DENYING JOBS denying the very people they took jobs from and then calling them bums because they have to ask for welfare/food stamps? THEY SHIPPED YOUR JOBS OUT OF HERE! are you telling me that you don’t mind them taking your parents/grandparents medicaid and privitizing it so they can get ripped off but no medical care?.are you fricking serious? As they take FOOD STAMPS from starving children because to spare the rich? remember they’re suppoed to be the JOB CREATORS! where? when? what did they say in 2010 its about jobs! WHERE ARE THE JOBS THE SO CALLED RICH THEY ARE PROTECTING WERE SUPPOSED TO CREATE SINCE 2010??? its been about denying YOU & ME a job because they hate the black guy in the white house who is more educated and wiser than all of your little boy leaders put together. To think you support a bunch of so called leaders who are supposed to care about our country and its people and I watch them day in and day out fight like holy hell for the rich and corporations and you sit here and spread your lying BS they feed you as they destroy our country and are ready to go over the cliff to spare the rich so they don’t get a mere %raise in tax hikes..who the hell are you and what the heck and how the heck do you allow someone to use you like that? they dumb you down and make you suffer and you still justify the GOP …you people I will never understand. the RW constituency should be screaming at the top of their lungs at what their leaders …just look at what they are doing to ALL OF US INCLUDING YOU!!!! wtf?
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 4:01 am
Wow, TigerLily…just saw your post as I was heading out. There’s an awful lot there…and some things that are not factual….but I will have to pass on addressing it all right now. I’m tired. Friends?
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
We’re going to talk about lies? Benghazi anyone?
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
LOL Now when you run out of facts, you run to Benghazi with no proof anyone lied
Iraq war anyone?
loading...
Alex
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Charlie, you are delusional or just plan stupid, perhaps gullible.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:26 pm
And by the way,concerning Social Security… the measures that most budget analysts use and which many liberals themselves cite, Social Security’s worsening financial outlook negatively impacts the budget deficit and the debt. Why not focus on arguing about how to fix it?
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:29 pm
You fix SS by not borrowing form it and creating jobs. Another thing the GOP refuses to do
loading...
Dawn
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:54 pm
It does not need to be discussed. It was never broken. As I said if they kept their hands out of it it would have been fine. I,also want to add just because someone needs help does not make them mooches. Yes some do take advantage of the system but the majority need it. How many people have lost their jobs?!?!! I guess that is their fault? You need to wake up and look around you.
loading...
robyn ryan
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 12:00 am
Nonsense. SSAN is a trust, which has nothing to do with the deficit.
The failure to allow the SSAN cap to rise screws up the numbers the ‘greatest Generation’ came to when they counted noses.
They did good math, we allowed Congress to steal.
loading...
TigerLily
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:51 am
CHARLIE again thank the GOP for the SS going broke. When you take peoples jobs away because you need to destroy the guy in the WH so he can look bad and hope people WILL NOT VOTE HIM IN AGAIN, that much less goes into SS Medicare/Medicaid. All part of their bigger plan. The GOP want only two classes..and are almost there what with their work for hire and destroying the very unions that got you a fair salary and decent working conditions, sick leave, vaca etc. They want to take that away from you and me and pay us min wage no benefits. They want to protect only the rich and the Koch bros etc. Now, I pray to God you’re in the over the million income group of folks–but somehow I don’t think so..because if you don’t make at least $100,000 a year then I really fail to see how you can even remotely support or try to justify the GOP when they have done a absolultely nothing for you as a citizen and least of all their constituent. If they did..please tell me what they did for you SO FAR since Obama’s been in office. Tell me how nothing they have done has not impacted you or someone in your family. Tel me. Crickets…..
loading...
Aussiemike
Jan. 1st, 2013 at 2:13 pm
Charlie, you really need to watch and listen to Sen. Bernie Sanders when he talks about SS! To quote him ‘Social Security IS NOT BROKE!’
As for Romney, I remember advice given to me by my father, ‘Beware of Gypsies – they only want to take everything you have and sell you bad apples in return’.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:38 pm
I know exactly what the GOP is trying to negotiate…they’re trying to stop tax increases for EVERYONE…and yes, that includes those “wealthy” small business owners that shouldn’t be paying more in taxes. I would much rather them create jobs with that money instead of giving to the government TO WASTE…. and you know they will waste it, right?
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
No you dont. They are trying to ensure we cant pay our bills by not allowing new revenues.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Shiva…that new revenue of which you speak is but a mere spit int the ocean. It will fund our government for 8 days….yes…8 whole days. Uhh…wait….maybe 8 1/2 days. Our government has a spending problem…and it needs to be dealt with. That is what the GOP is attempting to get serious about.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:57 pm
No doubt it has a spending problem, but even more then that it has a jobs problem. The GOP is doign its best to ensure that the rich pay no taxes. At the same time their negotiations are only to take chidren, seniors, students programs away. No defense spending cuts that are out of control. There is no one solution. If the taxes pay 8 days then thats a start. The GOP also refuses to get rid of the loopholes for the very wealthy who pay no taxes like Romney did for the last 12-15 years. The GOP is intent on ensuring that the rich do NOT help pay. They ar eintent on leaving 80% of the wealth at the top and not making sure the middle class has the bulk of the buying power. THAT is the solution. The GOP fails
loading...
Kurt
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:39 am
@ charlie, I actually think I agree with you. The jobs data is misleading. So yes I agree, we SHOULD increase taxes on those “small business’s” making >$250k since we already know they havent created any jobs. Thanks for clearing this up for all of us that cant understand the complexities of the wealthy “job creators” and how their low tax rates havent helped anyone but them.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 4:41 am
Excellent…we’re making progress…the jobs data is misleading.
Now, businesses need some certainty Kurt, do you agree with that? They need to know what sort of liabilities they face before they can make any further investments in their business. I believe Obamacare has added a huge amount of uncertainty for them.
So if we just go ahead and tax them more now … what do you think those greeeeedy corporations are going to do? Do you think they are just going to swallow that cost? Nope…hey’re going to add that cost onto the product or service they provide and it will be you and me that end up paying higher prices. Or…the cost gets passed on to their employees in the form of a lower wage and less perks. Still want to go ahead and tax them?
loading...
Kurt
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 6:34 am
There is no way charlie’s an independent! He’s got that same “bob n weave” that the republicans use to avoid a question. At least he admits that those “job creators” havent created any jobs. Unfourtunately, he’s in the denial stage where he makes excuses as to WHY they havent. Just like the repubs, its all about the money. “We cant raise their taxes because we might have to pay more”. Who cares that the majority of walmart workers have to use food stamps while the CEO makes a ludicrous salary and bonuses. After all charlie needs his cheap goods at any cost.
loading...
TigerLily
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:53 am
you are clearly SO PAID FOR CHARLIE..
loading...
Brian Pollard
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 4:17 am
But, Charlie, if no one pays enough in taxes, the country won’t have enough money to operate… oh, wait! We’re already there! Thanks, GOP!
The simplest fact is that no matter how much the country cuts its spending, it STILL needs to bring in revenue for our country to remain viable. And the GOP, who claim to be the ‘small government’ people, have managed to BLOAT our spending in truly amazing ways, and yet they seem to think that ‘closing a few loopholes’ and ‘reforming entitlements’ will fix all of that. And they blame all of the ‘Takers’ for our nation’s woes. I call BS: Yes, there ARE some people on the public assistance rolls who are gaming the system. I hate them as much as the GOP does, because their existence makes it harder for people who TRULY need help to get help. This is the world our ‘friends’ in the GOP have created, and they hope all of us at the bottom CHOKE on it.
loading...
Sandra
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
One needs to inculude the ‘takers’ at the top also, which is where most of the revenue/taxes is lost. Rich people are claiming deductins for their toys ie boats, private planes, their many homes etc. which shouldn’t be allowed. Get rid of subsidies for oil companies, large argi business’ etc, these people are scamming the system. Raise the minimum wage, Walmart, Mcdonalds etc pay people wages they cannot live on so they have to apply for food stamps so Americans taxppayers are in effect supporting these corporations which are making millions/billions in revenue/profits while exploiting/abusing the tax loopholes at the same time. The whole system needs to be reformed. The rich and corporations should be paying a higher rate of taxes, they have benefited from Reagan’s trickle down bs for decades and it’s pay back time. The Republicans need to wake up and realise that Reagan’s policies are/were a colossal failure which has caused great harm to the country. They need new ideas.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:40 pm
No proof of lies regarding Benghazi? That’s funny.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
I must have missed your proof charlie. Sorry.
Iraq anyone>?
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
Let’s start with that cockamamey video story. Shiva…your government is lying to you. That ought to scare the bejebus out of all of us.
loading...
Kurt
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:47 am
Benghazi? Really charlie? You should turn off Faux news. Who the hell cares! You idiots act like Obama flew over there and killed them himself. Just keep focusing on this like Faux. Im sure this issue is relavent to our economy! Oh, thats right, you lunes what to throw billions more that we dont have into the military. Now it makes since.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Not borrow from SS? Ha! Tell that to our reps. mmmkay?
loading...
charlie
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Let me offer full disclosure…I am not a Republican. I am an Independent, always have been, always will be. I’m sorry, but I think alot of you dwell in a liberal echo chamber. The distortions that you all seem to believe regarding the actions and intentions of the GOP are a departure from facts.
We must all be continually vigilant in our search for the truth and we need to watch our representatives closely. I agree that the twisting of facts can occur from any of our elected officials from the right and the left. These are perilous times. Seek out the truth on your own and do not ever only listen to one side. Our country is worth the work we must do.
loading...
carmelia olaes
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
you com how me sunduin mo ako sa amen hindi alam talaga yon logar mo
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Hindi ko nauunawaan mo
loading...
Dawn
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Charlie, why should it be changed. That money is what they worked hard for! It does not contribute to the deficit, that is in account of it’s own. It was fine until the government took money from it. The complaint is really how do they put it back. Secondly the Republicans are for the wealthy you only need to look at their contributors!! Also I just wanted to add old Bernie is not a liar. He has been fact checked over and over and has not stated any falsehoods. I am an independent just as he is and often wished he ran the only problem is his age. Romney on the other hand has lied over and over just like in Florida. He constantly changed his stories to get votes period, which is why he lost.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 12:07 am
Dawn…Medicare and SS are going bankrupt….that is an indisputable fact, and no one in the GOP ever, ever, ever, suggested taking away Grandma’s check. If we don’t shore up Social Security, when we run out of the IOUs, when the program goes bankrupt, a 25 percent across-the-board benefit cut kicks in on current seniors in the middle of their retirement. The GOP ticket supported incrementally raising the eligibility age and lowering benefits for high-income recipients. Does that seem so terrible?
And Obama has just as many wealthy donors as Romney had. They’ve all got backers with big bucks.
Also, I have no idea if Bernie is a liar or not. Don’t listen to him much….but he should retire just like McCain. Time for some new blood.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:26 am
Obama does not have any many wealthy Donors. You need to look this fact up. Romney smoked Obama with the wealthy, Obama smoked Romney with the regular people.
You are just mouthing things you think people will buy into.
loading...
MarcoZarelli
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 10:27 am
Charlie, SS has IOU’s totaling more than a trillion dollars. Why? Because previous Congresses “borrowed” SS excess FICA taxes to reduce the deficit. Those IOU’s were issued by the treasury, with the full faith and credit of the US backing them. Ergo SS is not going broke. It will need some reforming but it is far from going broke as alarmist like you keep stating.
Medicare does have do e serious issues. However, reducing payments is not the only solution. A viable solution is means testing: the more you make/have the more you pat.
Bengahzi: have you ever been in battle? I have and I can tell you that the I flow if contradictory data can be stupefying. Confusion can reign. This is exactly what happened in Bengahzi. He’ll, even the CIA operatives didn’t have a grasp on the situation for several days according to friends of mine “in the know.” Were mistakes made. Absolutely. But that’s what happens when the bullets/grenades/rockets are flying.
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 12:28 am
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Okay…I don’t see a reply option on that post….
You are right Shiva…we have a jobs problem. And who is that we need to create those jobs? Small and large business owners who gross $250 grand or more and that is who Obama wants to tax. That money needs to stay in the hands of those businesses…not be given to the government. That money can then be invested within the business…which will create jobs.
And also, the GOP did offer to close tax loopholes and cap deductions, which would have raised the revenue Obama wanted….but they wanted some spending cuts in return and nothing was offered.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:28 am
Thats BS. The people Obama wants to tax used to pay over 60% tax, Obama is asking them to pay 4 more %.
The GOP offered to close UNSPECIFIED loopholes. WHich means none of them. Just like ROmneys tax plan he never had
loading...
Kurt
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 6:51 am
charlie, Apparently you are the only one that DOESNT know what that means; ITS A CLEAR AVOIDANCE TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES. You should take your own advise and stop getting your information from one source. Its very telling that you call the republicans lies,twisting the truth. But we should be outraged by Obamas Lies. Just like Faux, you happily throw unfounded accusations around like one of their sheep.
loading...
Thomas Crickenberger
Dec. 29th, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Good news and bad news folks. The good news is that people are finally starting to wake up to all this BS and the Tea Party is doomed to extinction in 2014. The bad news is that there’s a good chance they’ll cause us a lot of misery in the meantime.
loading...
Tj
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 12:47 am
I have read all the comments and there is truth in most of them I only recently start paying attention to all of this political crap and I can say it does scare me. You want cuts, start with all the benefits congressmen and senators get, how long would we keep our jobs if we did the things they do. They need to sit there butts there and do there job get rid of the dang lobbyists that control it all. We should fire them all and start fresh most of them are so dang old they probably don’t have a clue (like Romney)what the real world and most of people really want .lets get real people thing are bad and it don’t matter who the president is they are only going to get worse until they stop stealing from SS which is our money not there’s and fix the dang tax code .
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:24 am
It should scare you Tj…it would scare any thinking human being. Poverty is exploding and the number of people on food stamps has risen by 50% while Obama has been in office. The U.S. share of global GDP has fallen from 31.8 percent in 2001 to 21.6 percent in 2011. More good paying jobs are being shipped overseas with each passing day. Formerly great U.S. cities that were once the envy of the entire globe are now crime-infested hellholes. Small business owners all over America are declaring that Obamacare is going to force them to start replacing full-time workers with part-time workers during 2013. Median household income has declined for four consecutive years. Food banks all over America are reporting that more needy families than ever before are showing up to get food. Government debt continues to soar wildly out of control and at some point all of that debt is absolutely going to crush us.
Can’t we all agree to get real and face the truth?
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:31 am
Food stamps started skyrockting before Obama. You can drop the since Obama has been in office becuase all of that is the result of the Bush crash. Which we still feel.
Small business owners can get 50% of their healthcare costs covered by the govt. DOnt spill that BS.
More jobs are coming home then going away at this time. Fuck off charlie, your full of it
loading...
TigerLily
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:37 am
As you very well know ..BECAUSE of THE GOP NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE OR WILL BE DONE! The worst do-nothing congress since 1947 THANK YOU CHARLIE! These are your leaders that you’re so proud to lie for. But keep blaming Obama. HE WON! Thank God for the intelligent people in this world.
loading...
jojo
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:40 am
Charlie suggests to Shiva: “Do actual objective research and think for yourself.” Right after saying Bernie Sanders should retire even though he (Charlie) doesn’t read his comments and know nothing about him. I am stunned at the generosity offered to this two-bit talking sophist named Charlie in this thread. His points are superficial at best, adolescent in large part, and whenever he is trapped by irrefutable logic he turns to ideas as vapid as “Benghazi, anyone.” Please shove the elementary school ideologue off this soap box and let him go back to reading the large print version of whatever community newspaper he has been quoting.
loading...
Sandra
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Charlie is a teabagger claiming he’s an independent which is fooling noone. His ideas/opinions are coming to us all compliments of Red State/teabagge sites and FCUK Noise. Give it up Charlie, most of your posts/claims are bogus.
loading...
Mel Haun Sr
Jan. 1st, 2013 at 11:05 am
You mean the debt manly built up by Reagan and the Bush’s with the policies you want to return to. hmmmm
The Iraq / Afghanistan Wars that Bush never put on the budget and interest on the Bush / Reagan debt is almost a trillion a year, and that spending is going to go up as the interest rates are bound to go back up eventually. WE NEED revenue. 50% or more of our budget is going to the Military Industrial Complex and the results of our wars. The Veterans with needs is increasing as we speak, so the cost of conflicts may go down if we ever get out of the Mid East, but the cost of treating the veterans is bound to go up. We need revenue. Want to cut spending, start with supposed “defense spending” and end the so called Drug wars and we can close half the prisons in the long run. BTW Happy New Year all
loading...
KatzKids
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 1:41 am
The President doesn’t have to Charlie. You & the RW already are fools for believing all the GOPTP pap!
Independent? Yah sure. Call yourself anything you like, an ostrich can call himself a lion, doesn’t make it true and his head is still in the sand. LOL!
loading...
charlie
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Good afternoon all…I see a couple of my posts from last night have been removed. Do the moderators always decide which posts/opinions their readers are allowed to consider? Gee, it seems a little pointless to attempt a discussion when some of my views are going to be censored.
I did enjoy talking with all of you and had only thought it might be possible to discuss the problems we all face. Our country desperately needs to be set on a better course for the sake of future generations. If you don’t agree with my opinions, that’s fine…but always be willing to read, learn and most of all, be open to all ideas and consider all possibilities.
I wish you all well.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I do understand why you all think I’m really a Republican, as my confidence in the Obama administration has now become pretty non-existent. I just believe we all deserve so much better than what we are getting…
loading...
Hammond Eggs
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
SS is solvent, period. Congress needs to repay what it “borrowed” from SS. Medicare would no longer have any worries if we would simply open up Medicare to everyone as a health care option. Doing so would incorporate millions of younger healthier people and would alleviate any money problems the program currently has. As so many here have already said, Bengazi is merely a smoke screen being put forward by the “wrong wing” in a failed attempt to distract the public and ridicule the President. I genuinely cannot fathom why EVERYONE doesn’t see that the “wrong wing” is not now, and never has been about deficit reduction. They had their collective hair on fire when we bowed out of the disastrous Iraq War, they have opposed any attempt to reign in corporate welfare, and have staked their future on shielding the wealthy from paying their fair share by refusing to increase taxes on the wealthy by a mere 4%, to treat capital gains the same as earned income, and to increase the estate tax. I find it amazing and totally hilarious that during Republican administrations like those of Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II deficits didn’t matter, but NOW,even though President Obama has dramatically reduced the level of federal spending, the “wrong wing” continues to try and say that the world will come to an end if we don’t take away social safety net programs.
loading...
Anne
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Bernie Sanders is the ultimate voice of moral authority in the Senate. He is not afraid to tell it exactly like it is, or to utter blistering criticism of the Republicans which they have earned. We need more people like him in Congress, because it’s obvious that with all he has, he is not blinded to the urgent need for economic justice and in fact, fights vigorously for it.
loading...
labman57
Dec. 30th, 2012 at 3:56 pm
The Republican leadership created a Frankenstein’s Monster by embracing the ideologically extreme, self-righteous and self-serving, naive and irrational dogmatism of the tea party faction of the conservative movement.
Now that political monster is running amok — seeking to undermine all forms of negotiation and compromise with the Obama Administration while simultaneously proposing policies that would be wholly destructive to the nation’s economic recovery and the health and welfare of its people — and the GOP cannot decide whether to try to destroy the monster or become subservient to it.
loading...
phooeyrat
Dec. 31st, 2012 at 2:49 am
The “Solution”is to Have “Our-Govt.”EMPLOYEES” “Approve”and Fund Massive Public-Sector Tax-Payer “Approved” Federal-Programs Designed by “EXPERTS”in the fields of Transportation, Energy, Agriculture, Housing, Health-Care, Education and Natural Resources Protection, Science, Etc. To Improve and Update these areas in Our Country where Needed. This will create many New Good Tax-Paying Jobs for this Country’s Citizen’s and If Properly Managed Will put this country back on the path to a Better Future than the “Elite” that Control many of Our Elected Officials today have in mind for “US” CITIZENS. The Private Sector-Corporations Are Not the Solution to “OUR COUNTRY’S” Problems. HAVING GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO WILL “RESPECT” AND DO THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY OF THIS COUNTRY’S CITIZEN’S IS. In my opinion.
loading...
Blue N Texas
Jan. 1st, 2013 at 6:32 pm
Too bad the Dems cannot stand together and tell the Right Wing extremists to buz off. Follow us or resign.
Why can’t the Pres and Dems tell the Right Wing extremists to get in line and do what the American people want.
YOUR ONLY CHANCE IS TO VOTE THE RIGHT WING TERRORISTS OUT.
loading...
Bryon
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 10:05 pm
The Progressives of both parties have spent everything in the SS fund and then some. There has been a huge IOU in there for decades. America is completely broke. Voting Democrat will only make that worse.
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Jan. 2nd, 2013 at 10:26 pm
No America is not completely broke. Why do people keep saying that?
loading...