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PoliGAF 2013 |OT1| Never mind, Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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MSNBC would work perfectly for a (non-explicit) Real Time type show imo; I'd change The Cycle by getting rid of Toure, make SE Cupp the lead, and go from there. Especially with so many young congressmen and senators in the 113th congress, it would be an interesting way to give members of both sides a semi casual, semi serious outlet other than the Daily Show/Colbert/Real Time.



He used to post a lot on various gaming irc channels. Dude was a huge Ntard and I remember trolling him for defending the Gamecube early on lol. I wonder if there's a way to dig up some of that stuff, he was a hardcore Nintendo fanboy

lulz I searched this on google to verify and found this post by him on the American Prospect:

cPgbA.png
 

izakq

Member
Kevin Drum's mojo piece on lead is excellent.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline?page=1

Strongly recommended. Classic low hanging policy fruit here. Argues 10-1 return on investment to additional abatement programs.

Pretty interesting stuff there.

It reminds me of watching Freakonomics. In it, it had a piece that talks about the decrease of crime rates overall in the US, just like in the article. The one theory that was thought of that might of contribute to it was legalized abortions. I can't link to youtube at work, but search for it.
 

ido

Member
I am completely confused at why the GOP thinks lowering the deficit is what we should be concerned with right now, when millions of people are out of work. How exactly does lowering the deficit(losing even more jobs) help anyone at all?

And if they do not really believe lowering the deficit will actually help anything, why is that their position?

"Fiscal responsibility" is such a fucking stupid idea.

I also do not understand why the debt ceiling being raised is even an issue. Why wouldn't we raise the ceiling? Why would we choose to starve in a warehouse full of food?
 

pigeon

Banned
Couldn't they just print a lot of high-demonination notes in that case? I thought that the Trillions Dollar Coin idea was merely an illustrative example.

No, the government is enjoined from printing most types of money without a whole debt-production rigamarole. There's a specific loophole in a commemorative coin bill that allows the trillion-dollar platinum coin.
 
Decent jobs numbers but they underscore that we haven't done anything to help the economy, outside of not outright kill it by jumping off the fiscal cliff permanently or defaulting (at least so far). GDP is estimated to lower due to the payroll tax decline, which makes me wonder what Obama's economic team is thinking. Nobody talked about the payroll tax, no journalist has asked the administration about it apparently...does the White House have something planned? If not, it's hard to see any stimulus occurring this year, outside of perhaps the Keystone pipeline being started.

Outside of immigration and the debt deiling, what meaningful legislation will be debated that impacts jobs? It seems like we're just going to throw the economy into the deep end and expect it to swim. The winter/early spring will be fine but we'll get another slow, wasted summer.
 
I am completely confused at why the GOP thinks lowering the deficit is what we should be concerned with right now, when millions of people are out of work. How exactly does lowering the deficit(losing even more jobs) help anyone at all?

And if they do not really believe lowering the deficit will actually help anything, why is that their position?

"Fiscal responsibility" is such a fucking stupid idea.

I also do not understand why the debt ceiling being raised is even an issue. Why wouldn't we raise the ceiling? Why would we choose to starve in a warehouse full of food?

In the Republican version of the world, there are plenty of jobs! It's only because of the handouts that create a disincentive to work.
 

RDreamer

Member
I am completely confused at why the GOP thinks lowering the deficit is what we should be concerned with right now, when millions of people are out of work. How exactly does lowering the deficit(losing even more jobs) help anyone at all?

And if they do not really believe lowering the deficit will actually help anything, why is that their position?

They don't believe in lowering the deficit. They don't give a shit about the deficit. They believe in taking away social welfare programs, though, because those go against their ideology. They'll gladly blow up the deficit for tax cuts, because those go with their ideology. It's an ideology based argument. Don't let anyone fool you. Only the actual crazies think austerity works.

The 'unsustainable' thing to them is taxes. Our debt is sustainable just fine, but if we buy into the ideology that all taxes must always go down forever and ever no matter the circumstances, then yes things are unsustainable. When they cry about the future of these programs they're just acknowledging that proper economic stewardship encompassing these programs would require that we sometimes raise taxes. This is anathema to their ideology.

Even Romney on the campaign trail didn't want to actually cut spending and bring things in right now. I remember a specific interview where he said straight up that would cause another recession. You have to read between the lines on these things. They're using the deficit and debt to scare people into believing their ideology. To an extend the Democrats are doing it, too, but I think that's a bit more of a response to the Republicans.


If not, it's hard to see any stimulus occurring this year, outside of perhaps the Keystone pipeline being started.

I guess rebuilding the east coast after Sandy could count?
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
A few pages back, I know...

god every time my tv is on and I hear fucking Al Sharpton come on MSNBC, it feels like my TV caught a deadly virus or some shit. I just want to fucking vaccinate my TV from his fucking dumb shit

Sharpton is horrible on a prompter, but I don't mind him too much. At least when he has conservatives on. Maybe I'm a bad person, but I tend to love the shows where the interviewer does a good job of skewering a right winger. That's why I like Matthews and Bashir. Lawrence and Sharpton used to do that too but for some reason only have libruls on their shows nowadays.

Anyways, the worst show on MSNBC is The Cycle, despite the fact that it has Steve Kornacki (who I like) and my waifu.
 
Changed CPI? But that's not a cut, that's a reduction in the increase.

A reduction in an increase is a cut. It's a reduction in the value of benefits recipients will receive.

I'm confused here by what you mean. Are you saying unemployment shouldn't be lower than 8%?

Yeah, should be "just" below. I was using the same language as the person to whom I was responding, but that wound up being confusing in my own post.
 
OK, Clinton was exaggerating. But LBJ did not give a fuck.
LBJ was majority leader of the senate, personally knew most senators, and didn't negotiate as much as he dominated by will. It was a different time than now, and you can't really make direct comparisons. Today presidents can't simply threaten to cut off pork in someone's district or bribe with promotions as Lincoln did.

I'm sure Obama's unwillingness to "play the game" of backslapping, party hosting leader plays a role in all this (if Obama had lost he would have been shat on from high mountains to the press), but ultimately it's harder to control congress now than it has ever been. Also he is dealing with arguably the worst congress since the civil rights era. It's not a cake walk
 

codhand

Member
A reduction in an increase is a cut.

:-/

A huge surge in gasoline prices in 2008 led to a whopping 5.8 percent cost of living adjustment for Social Security recipients in January 2009. But gasoline prices tumbled again and when the price index stayed below the 2008 high in the third quarters of 2009 and 2010, no COLA was paid last year or this.

Had the chained CPI been in use in 2007 and 2008, the 2009 COLA would have been much smaller--4.6 percent instead of the actual 5.8 percent. Part of the difference is that the chained CPI—unlike other versions of the index—is revised twice as more information becomes available about how consumers changed their purchases in response to some prices rising faster than others.

In short, Obama’s proposal is something that liberal Democrats are likely to oppose. Meanwhile, many Republicans say they will have no part of any deal that raises taxes.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Colum...hanges-Will-Hurt-You.aspx#X4HRgbdfou9lzFEK.99
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I am completely confused at why the GOP thinks lowering the deficit is what we should be concerned with right now, when millions of people are out of work. How exactly does lowering the deficit(losing even more jobs) help anyone at all?

And if they do not really believe lowering the deficit will actually help anything, why is that their position?

"Fiscal responsibility" is such a fucking stupid idea.

I also do not understand why the debt ceiling being raised is even an issue. Why wouldn't we raise the ceiling? Why would we choose to starve in a warehouse full of food?

The thought process always links back to "this is how a household would do their finances". And also "the states can't have yearly deficits, so why should the federal government?"
 
Full speed ahead there. Choo choo.
Vermont is the first state in the nation to move toward a health care delivery system in which health care is a right and not a privilege, costs are contained, and insurance coverage is divorced from employment – allowing small businesses to create more jobs and opportunities for their employees. Like all Americans, Vermonters are facing skyrocketing health care costs that are unsustainable for taxpayers and businesses. Vermont’s single payer system will reward providers for positive outcomes, eliminate the overwhelming paperwork and red tape of insurance, and contain costs that are out of control.

As we move toward this new outcomes-based system, we will maintain what we are doing well. Vermont leads the nation for providing children’s health, seeing significant decreases in children without insurance, child and teen deaths and teens who abuse drugs or alcohol, for example. We rank third for overall child well-being, with a reduction in the number of children in single-parent households and teen births, as well as improvements in reading proficiency and high school students graduating on time.
 
Fuck that. Obama needs to come out and say precisely what they're doing. Tell the American people "Look, the Republicans want to cut your social security and medicare, but they want me to be the one to name it, so that I look bad instead of them. I'm not going to let them hide behind me. If they're going to spend all this time hooting and hollering for cuts, then they should be prepared to tell me exactly what they want to cut."

Change that to 53% of the people in America and I will agree with you. Fully 47% of Americans in the United States (the same number who voted for Romney) will still SOLELY blame Obama for cutting social security and medicare even if you point out that it was a price he had to pay. See: payroll tax expiration. Apparently, the Republicans wanted to preserve it (according to facebook/non-gaf forum feeds) despite all evidence to the contrary.
 

Plumbob

Member
that is the wayyyy liberal way to phrase how the fiscal cliff compromise went down. Would I have loved for obama to soak the rich for everything they had? Sure, but imo the deal is still a good one. Cenk going go fuck himself.

We also got an extension of the PTC for wind energy.
 

ido

Member
I would love if someone proposed putting Reagan's face on it. The internal war between wanting Reagan honored but being part of Obama's march toward socialism, etc. would be delicious.

This is the greatest idea ever, except Jesus needs to be on the back of the coin, riding on a bald eagle.
 

RDreamer

Member
This is the greatest idea ever, except Jesus needs to be on the back of the coin, riding on a bald eagle.

Reagan and Jesus, both armed with AR-15s riding on the back of a tearful bald eagle with the two towers in the background. I'd say that'd be worth a trillion dollars. Do it, Obama!
 

ido

Member
Well if it was then nobody knew about it. He should propose this in the SOTU and sell it as an Obama tax cut this time. And then lol when Republicans try and hold the proposal hostage for whatever stupid reason they come up with.

Someone smarter than me, quick, what could possibly be bad about this idea? It sounds great to me.
 

RDreamer

Member
Well if it was then nobody knew about it. He should propose this in the SOTU and sell it as an Obama tax cut this time. And then lol when Republicans try and hold the proposal hostage for whatever stupid reason they come up with.

I'd agree his messaging on that particular thing was pretty craptacular, apparently.
 

RDreamer

Member
What's this bullshit on foxnews.com claiming the fiscal cliff deal adds $329 billion to the deficit?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/04/truth-about-obama-tax-fake-out/

I remember reading something explaining why articles like this are bs but I can't find it...

It adds to the deficit because when the plan was put into place all of the tax rates were raised. All of the tax cuts were gone after the new year. This plan lowers taxes for most people, and thus adds to the deficit.

Of course Fox news isn't going to admit specifically to their reader-base that tax cuts add to the deficit and that's why. They'll just use the big scary deficit number and tell people that it's a problem and this contributes.
 
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