CommentsDisplaying drajhil's 10 most recent comments.

• Gibbs: ‘Unconstitutional’ Ruling Will Have ‘No Practical Impact’ on ObamaCare

  December 15, 2010 at 1:21pm

  In reply to Rights of Man.

  Are you out of your mind? Have you experienced healthcare under our private insurance sytem: the arbitrary rate hikes, denial of payment, recision of coverage …? Do you seriously want to have insurance company bean counters call the shots in order to maximize corporate profits? if so, you’re either remarkably ignorant, abysmally stupid, or both!

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 9, 2010 at 3:19pm

  In reply to mikenleeds.

  I’m curious. What makes you think that tax cuts for the rich help to create jobs? What evidence do you have for this (other than being told it’s so by rich right wing talk show hosts?

  If tax cuts for the rich create jobs, why did the $700 billion Bush tax cuts of 2001/2003 – largest in U.S. history – produce such lackluster results?

  If rich people get tax breaks, what motive do they have to create jobs? They’re already loaded. Why would they take a chance creating a business or expanding one, when they can simply keep the tax return or invest it in safe securities (which is exactly what they do, by the way).

  Tax cuts do not, in and of themselves lead to job creation! As every economist and (successful) businessman knows, companies expand in response to current demand. They do not require tax cuts to do this. Furthermore, if they try to expand where there’s no unmet demand, they will lose whatever capital they invest in the attempt.

  The idea that tax cuts for the rich lead to job creation is a myth promulgated by the wealthy in order to accelerate the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class upward. If you make millions of dollars a year, then it’s a clever tactic. If you’re not among the upper 1%, then you’re a sucker to believe it!

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 9, 2010 at 2:52am

  In reply to SilentReader.

  Another popular right wing myth – you repeat it here – is that tax cuts stimulate job creation.
  They do not! If they did, then the Bush tax cuts – largest in our history – would have produced substantial job growth during eight years. Instead we got disastrous job losses.
  Still unconvinced? Okay, let’s use some elementary business economics.
  A factory makes widgets, employing 100 workers & providing a healthy profit after costs & wages.
  Can it expand? Yes, but only if there’s unmet demand for widgets. To do this needs only a short term capital infusion for plant expansion or additional workers. This can come from a tax cut, but also from a loan, or savings, or any other source. A well run business will grow to meet demand with or without tax cuts. Expansion beyond this point results in losses no matter how it’s done. As a result, most businesses take tax cuts as added profit & expand only when demand changes. Likewise, wealthy people put tax cut revenues into non-productive, high yield investments. In general, they aren’t “job creators” either!

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 9, 2010 at 2:34am

  In reply to Sgt.Crust.

  Disincentive? Of course, that pretentious jackass, Kyl, used the term and you felt obliged to copy it. Maybe, like Kyl, you imagine that getting less than $400/week on unemployment is such a princely sum, anyone would sit back in luxury on it, rather than resume working. The fact that there’s only one job opening for every five job applicants might have something to do with it too, but we can’t expect a mere Senator to know something relevant like that!

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 9, 2010 at 2:23am

  In reply to drajhil.

  Okay, Komponist, exactly what “empirical” evidence is there that tax cuts pay for themselves? When has that ever happened? I’ll save you the trouble. The answer is, “Never!” In the end, all you’ve got in support of your theory is “common sense” (Ha, ha!) & the assertions of right wing crackpots like Bill O’Reilly.

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 8, 2010 at 2:05am

  In reply to Societal Misfit.

  Someone wants to engage at last. Okay, Komponist, here goes.

  According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office between 1998 and 2005 2 out of 3 U.S. corporations paid no federal income tax.
  http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08957.pdf

  Forbes (not exactly a liberal source!) reported that General Electric generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but paid no tax. Instead it received a $1.1 billion credit.
  http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corporate-taxes_2.html

  The nominal rates for corporations are irrelevant, since they can use tax shelters & other maneuvers to avoid paying. You don’t have to believe me about the cheap labor. Try Lou Dobbs, another good conservative source.
  http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/CNN_Apple_Exporting_America_For_Cheap_Labor_Overseas/

  My “jab” at Exxon said nothing about the company’s return on the dollar. I merely described it accurately as the most profitable corporation in history, earning, for example, $1300/ second during 2007.
  http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exxon_earnings/

  Tax rates give virtually no information about the real effect of taxes on peoples’ lives. A family making $50,000/year and paying 10% tax will have after-tax income barely above poverty. A stock broker making $50 million and paying 10% will have $45 million left. Anyone who thinks these are equivalent taxation rates or that they’re in any way “fair” is an idiot!

  I have no problem with successful businesses, as long as they pay the freight. As I demonstrated above, major corporations operating in the U.S. do not! They take advantage of our society’s resources, make fabulous profits, and give little or nothing in return. If you did more than memorize Glenn Beck’s talking points, you’d understand this. As for your rhetorical question, we live in a nation where the richest 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90% of the population. Furthermore their control of political power is accelerating the rate at which they take wealth away from the poor and middle class. You may want to live your life as an economic serf, but I don’t! As for your “common sense”, it’s common all right, which helps to explain why the country’s spiralling down the drain.

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 6, 2010 at 4:52pm

  Oh, good grief! You take the prize, Rbanis!

  (1) Keeping a higher percentage of income means one must work less to satisfy ones desires or needs, so there’s really less incentive to work, not more!

  (2) George Soros generates income by speculating in money markets, which he can’t do, if he “conceals” his fortune in Caribbean banks, can he? Where’d you get your information that he does? Can you name a source? Or did you invent it, because you think it’s cool to demonize Soros? (Hint: it’s not cool; it’s dumb, when you simply make things up.)

  (3) Do you know the origin of the so-called “Laffer Curve”? Art Laffer scrawled it with a Sharpie pen on the back of a cocktail napkin in a Washington bar in 1974. He didn’t base it on data or any kind and it’s never been rigorously defended in any peer reviewed economic study. (Bet you can’t find one!) Conservatives just keep pulling it out of their butts, because they think it justifies lowering taxes in every conceivable circumstance. It’s a joke!
  I don’t know who Chuck Holmes is, but he’s bucking some heavyweight economists (conservative, as well as liberal) who understand that tax cuts do NOT increase revenues. For example there’s conservative Harvard University economics professor, Greg Mankiw, who was the Chairman of George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors from 2003-2005. Mankiw devoted an entire chapter of his recent economic textbook to refuting Laffer’s claim. Then there’s former Bush Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, who said: “Tax cuts do not totally pay for themselves.” Or Senior Bush Economist, Alan Viard: “Federal revenue is lower today than it would have been without the tax cuts. There’s really no dispute among economists about that.” And so on …

  And, if all that’s not good enough for you, there’s this: while testifying before Congress not long ago, former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan was asked whether tax cuts pay for themselves. “No,” said Greenspan bluntly, “They do not!”

  But listen, Rbanis, you just go on believing that they do, because there are millions of other deluded right wingers out there who’ll agree with you, no matter what the facts show.

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 6, 2010 at 2:17pm

  In reply to Societal Misfit.

  I don’t know how much of a “social misfit” you are, but you’re certainly naïve, if you buy into the Fair Tax scam, which is being pushed by the same bunch of wealthy corporatists who always stick their hands into our pockets. Behind the usual smokescreen of numbers, these people intend to get rid of progressive taxation, which would saddle the poor and middle class in America with even more of the tax burden. (Does anyone believe that the rich would promote a tax plan what would have them pay more?!)
  As for corporate taxes, two out of three American corporations currently pay NO income tax! Exxon Mobil, the most profitable corporation that ever existed, got a tax refund! Do you think that businesses move overseas to avoid taxes? The truth is they export jobs in order to minimize payroll (which constitutes around 80% of most business expense) and to avoid complying with environmental and safety regulations. Cutting their taxes would obviously do nothing to persuade them to move their factories and stores back to the U.S. What they really want is to force Americans to work for a dollar or two a day in dangerous, filthy conditions that trash the environment, because that’s the deal they have overseas.
  How come you don’t know this? Why do you believe such blatant and nonsensical lies instead? The facts are out there for anyone to find, yet you (apparently) sit there in your underwear each night, while Beck and Hannity and the other clowns at Faux News shovel horse manure into your heads. It’s crazy!

• Watch Sen. John Kyl Repeatedly ‘Correct’ Bob Schieffer on Tax ‘Cuts’

  December 6, 2010 at 1:14pm

  In reply to Lantern.

  Odd Jon is being disingenuous, as usual, and the right wing base is being gulled, also as usual. From the day they were passed through Reconciliation each of the Bush tax cuts was destined by law to sunset in ten years, so calling them “the norm” is flatly dishonest.
  It’s on a par with referring to people with incomes above $250,000 a year as “wage earners”! The number refers to taxable income, so the net earnings that Kyl wnats to call “wages” would have to be closer to $350,000 – or more than $150/hour! How many workers in the U.S. are paid “wages” of
  $150/ hour? It’s ridiculous double speak.
  Anyone who believes it is a complete moron.
  And Kyl is a shameless liar!

• Senate Passes Food Bill

  December 2, 2010 at 4:16am

  In reply to smack1953.

  Government? Give me a breatkWho caused the economy to melt down? Greedy, unregulated corporate bankers.
  Who shipped millions of jobs overseas in order to hire little brown people at slave wages and evade environmental responsibility? Multinational corporations.
  Who embezzled union pension funds, robbing tens of thousands of workers of their ability to retire with dignity? Thieving corporate executives.
  Who bribes politicians, buys elections, undermines our democracy? Rich corporate lobbyists.
  Is government innocent of wrongdoing? No! Are politicians honest and dedicated? No, indeed. But government is merely a tool that we can use or misuse. The real sources of evil are the power hungry bastards who scheme and conspire to transfer wealth from poor and middle class families to their own bank accounts. How else do think that 1% of the population gained control of half the entire country’s net worth? Now they’re consolidating their grip on the economy and on government, using poor dupes who can be convinced that government is the problem and that it must be weakened and wasted in order to restore our freedoms. In reality, government of, by, and for the people is the only weapon we have that’s powerful enough to protect us from total domination by radical right wing corporate plutocrats,. We need to wrest control of government back iinto our own hands and put it to work making our lives better, not destroy it. For then we’ll be truly helpless.