On Wednesday President Barack Obama released the details of his proposed federal budget after Rep. Paul Ryan, Chair of the House Budget Committee, had released details of the Republican budget proposal, and I’d like to hear what you think about the very different proposals.
50 thoughts on “Topic of the Week: federal budget proposals”
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If the Path to Prosperity worked he should have applied it to the 1st District for all the time he has been in power. Racine and Janesville need jobs after all. And I got to tell you? Those places are in terrible shape. They make Green Bay look successful. And trust me, both NotaLib and I can tell you that Green Bay is a potential A+ student that gives all C’s.
Anyone with a brain can see that Paul Ryan’s plan is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Least to say, a huge problem with America right now is not the fact we’re in a deficit — it’s the fact we dropped in jobs from 2000.
Either way, these people in power are pathetic and everything for the Republicans have merely become a power grab to stay in power. I expect this country to get worse since it took too long for democrats, sensible old conservatives, libertarians, independents, and liberals to finally to gain a spine realizing what is going on. But hey! Conservatives are going to continue to blame the liberal media anyway even when it no longer exists and be eventually removing net neutrality, so we won’t even be able to talk here anymore.
Too little too late, I’m still going to help with the liberal movement but at this point I doubt it will be any good because we let it get to this point.
This is why I think we will lose.
I seen countries that have done this, I have seen Puerto Rico do this under the promise that they become a U.S. State at long last. So even if we do win local races if the person in charge decides a city (municipality) is struggling financially, they can delare it to be in a “state of emergency” and take it over. They can oust the elected officials (mayors, judges, county execs, etc.) and put someone of their choosing in control. Either way, wingnuts are going to love this power grab becaues even if the election was won fair – they those nasty liberals can be taken out finally.
Either way: Redistricting will be done in the Republicans favor in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin by a Republican Majority so don’t you conservatives worry. You won’t have to worry about us rebelling by any means. The only plus side I see to this is the last time those three states were redistricted they went into a Republican gerrymander–so they can’t do much more without losing certain districts completely that they have under their control.
The budget plan released by the Congressional Progressive Caucus deserves a lot more attention than it’s been getting.
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70§iontree=5,70
The CPC calls it ” The Peoples Budget ” primarily because it reflects the priorites of the American people. It proposes to eliminate the deficit by 2021 and to stabilize the national debt through implementation of a fair tax code, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, creating a public option for inclusion in the Affordable Care Act, and serious cuts to our extreme and bloated military spending.
Poll after poll shows that Americans support these priorities, as does the platform and resolutions of the DPW, and yet this budget gets almost no press coverage, and no acknowledgement from the democratic party leadership.
Wisconsin democrats should be getting behind the Peoples Budget, not Obama’s budget. We have to expand the parameters of the debate. We didn’t do that when it came to health insurance reform; we sat back and let Obama take care of everything, and we got screwed, frankly.
So compare the three budget proposals, and when you’re finished email the White House and tell Obama that you want him to at least read The Peoples Budget. Obama is an elected official, not a rock star, and the democratic party is a political party, not a fan club.
A budget plan that seems to reflect the priorites of a majority of the American people deserves to be read by the President of the United States.
But see, this is a sensible plan. The Americans would never go for that.
According to the Supreme Court, corporations are people also. Last time I checked, corporations write all the laws in this country. Any tax reform proposed would only affect the people who don’t have an army of accountants and lawyers on staff.
All we need to do is have the top 2% pay their fair share. Even if they drop the corporate tax rate to 25% they are still only paying 18%
A national ballot initiative would solve a lot of our problems. We need a 5th branch of government. Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Lobbyist and People. Currently, there are no checks and balances against the lobbyist branch of government.
When you look just at these highlights of teh Ryan plan there is no way this plan cannot be supported.
Extension of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 for all income levels. Reduction in the top income tax rates for individuals and corporations from 35 percent to 25 percent. In exchange, numerous tax breaks and loopholes would be scrapped.
Repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Overhaul of the Medicare system that provides health care for seniors. Individuals now 54 and younger would get a voucher-style federal payment to purchase coverage from private plans instead of the government making payments to health care providers for services to Medicare beneficiaries.
Overhaul of Medicaid, the health care system for the poor. Program would become a block grant to the states rather than a joint state-federal matching program. In addition, cuts would total $771 billion over 10 years.
Spending cuts of $5.8 trillion over 10 years relative to current levels.
Projects a federal deficit of $995 billion in the next budget year, which is $169 billion less than the projected deficit under Obama’s budget proposal in February.
Some $659 billion for defense and national security, $3 billion more than Obama requested.
No changes to Social Security.
Deep cuts in domestic programs such as food stamps and community development.
Dismantling of programs established in response to the 2008 financial crisis and the bailout.
Charlie Cook: “Ryan didn’t just push the envelope [regarding Medicare], he soaked it in gasoline and waved a match at it.”
I guess Ryan’s plan includes a guarantee the stock market will never crash again. Or wars will never happen again. Or terrorist attacks will never happen again.
So MANY unknowns in Ryan’s plan. Obama wants to use controlled demolitions to erase the debt. Ryan wants to use a wrecking ball with chainsaws attached to control the debt.
There is no way to stop a runaway train overnight. You have to slow it down. Slamming on the breaks will cause it to derail. But of course that’s what the republicans want. They want the economy to derail. If it derails then only the rich survive. Everyone else can pack sand. I mean really, if Bill Gates loses half his money he would still be able to buy anything he wants to. A middle class person losing half their money then they might as well pack it in.
When you look just at these highlights of teh Ryan plan there is no way this plan cannot be supported.
Extension of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 for all income levels. Reduction in the top income tax rates for individuals and corporations from 35 percent to 25 percent. In exchange, numerous tax breaks and loopholes would be scrapped.
Repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Overhaul of the Medicare system that provides health care for seniors. Individuals now 54 and younger would get a voucher-style federal payment to purchase coverage from private plans instead of the government making payments to health care providers for services to Medicare beneficiaries.
Overhaul of Medicaid, the health care system for the poor. Program would become a block grant to the states rather than a joint state-federal matching program. In addition, cuts would total $771 billion over 10 years.
Spending cuts of $5.8 trillion over 10 years relative to current levels.
Projects a federal deficit of $995 billion in the next budget year, which is $169 billion less than the projected deficit under Obama’s budget proposal in February.
Some $659 billion for defense and national security, $3 billion more than Obama requested.
No changes to Social Security.
Deep cuts in domestic programs such as food stamps and community development.
Dismantling of programs established in response to the 2008 financial crisis and the bailout.
I must ask you this then — what will happen to the people who have been paying into Medicare since they were teenagers — where will their money and their payment go if they’re around 50?
That’s a good point. I didn’t see in Ryan’s plan where refunds would be available.
Because the privitizing medicare for those under 55 is just brilliant. Cause at 54 having paid into the system since some were was 16 – that won’t bother them a a bit. Nope, they’ll just go save another couple hundred thousand in the next ten years to cover that cost.
don’t worry…the title loan store will give you twenty cents on the dollar for your Medicare voucher.
Charlie Cook: “Ryan didn’t just push the envelope [regarding Medicare], he soaked it in gasoline and waved a match at it.”
That isn’t “analysis”, Not[AThinker]. Your comment reads like an sixth-grader’s synopsis of a Paul Ryan press release regarding the components of the Ryan Plan.
By the way, little homey, just reciting those components and saying that “. . .there is no way that [the Ryan Plan] cannot be supported” doesn’t make the components any less onerous (I know it’s a “big” word, homeboy – JUST look it up if you don’t understand it).
Here’s something for you to chew on, buddy. Charlie Cook, not exactly one to coddle liberals, called the Ryan approach to Medicare political suicide.
The Ryan/Republican overreach of 2011 continues.
2012 is going to be a good year for liberals, little homey.
P.S. Next time, try to post an original thought, okay?
P.P.S. No need to post it more than once.
P.P.P.S. What’s not to like about the Ryan Plan? Everything, little homey.
“Extension of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 for all income levels”
If these had ever worked we wouldn’t be in this unemployment mess now.
“Individuals now 54 and younger would get a voucher-style federal payment to purchase coverage from private plans instead of the government making payments to health care providers for services to Medicare beneficiaries.”
The voucher system as proposed won’t even pay for private insurance at today’s levels. There was screaming and gnashing of teeth at the health care bill’s requirement that private insurance companies spend 80% of their revenues on actual health care. Depending on which CBO report you look at Medicare spends 2 – 6% of it’s revenue on health care. Far more efficient than private for profit insurers. And don’t give me the who wants a bureaucrat deciding on what health care you are going to get…I trust a for profit insurance bureaucrat in his corporate tower even less than one in the HHS basement in Washington.
I wouldn’t touch Social Security’s pay out system either…but simply remove the cap on FICA taxable income on the individual.
And for crying out loud cut the rest of the deficit out of the Pentagon budget. We spend more than the rest of the world combined on defense. It’s time they carried their own wood and from the way things are going in Libya, or mothering has left them impotent and incompetent.
Notalib forgot to point out that the Ryan budget takes the $4.3 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, etc. and gives that money right back to corporations and the wealthy.
That isn’t “analysis”, Not[AThinker]. Your comment reads like an sixth-grader’s synopsis of a Paul Ryan press release regarding the components of the Ryan Plan.
By the way, little homey, just reciting those components doesn’t make them any less onerous (I know it’s a “big” word – JUST look it up if you don’t understand it).
Here’s something for you to chew on, buddy. Pollster Charlie Cook, not exactly one to coddle liberals, called the Ryan approach to Medicare political suicide.
The Ryan/Republican overreach of 2011 continues.
2012 is going to be a good year for liberals, little homey.
P.S. Next time, try to post an original thought, okay?
P.P.S. No need to post it more than once.
P.P.P.S. What’s not to like about the Ryan Plan? Everything, little homey.
659 billion dollars for defense spending? Defense against what? 19 Saudi Arabian hijackers? Shoe bombers? Underpants bombers?
Deep cuts to food stamps and community development, but 659 billion for defense spending?
Destroy Medicare and Medicaid, but 659 billion dollars in defense spending?
God help us all.
We to stop spending on defense when we can blow up almost everything in the world and actually give it to the damn veterans. Either way, unless you actually reduce the cost of delivering health care, Ryan’s plan is just a tax increase for all, and a fairly regressive one at that.
While I’m not optimistic about it, I hope that one day Notalib will wake up and realize that people like him/her are just being used by the Koch brothers, as well as by Republicans like Paul Ryan who do the bidding of the new robber baron class epitomized by the Kochs.
Assuming that Notalib is a part of the middle class, a middle class that they have in their crosshairs, he’s definitely fighting the wrong fight.
IF only he could hear the Kochs laughing at him as they pull his strings and gleefully say, “Dance, puppet, dance”. . .
What amazes me is you have people like George Soros and groups like the Tides Foundation controlling the Democratic party with a far left agenda and you see no problem with that, but yet you go on and on about the Koch Brothers as if they have some type of special powers that everyone who is conservative bows to them. I am middle class I once voted all Democrat but when they took a hard left turn after the Clinton years they lost my vote. While you have this perception that Democratic party is for the middle class I see the truth that all they see the middle class for is a tax base to fund entitlement programs, programs for the most part that do not support middle class nor are successful. When I am more than just a paycheck to democrats let me know and I will once again consider them as a viable source for my middle class values, but I do not see that coming any time soon.
Even you matter to the Democrats, liberals, progressives of this country, Notalib. You’re just a pawn in the robber barons’ plan capture even more of this country’s wealth, while consigning people like you and me to lives unprotected from the ravages of poverty and old age. The fact that you can’t see clearly enough through the manipulative and progandistic smoke screen of theirs that hides that fact from you doesn’t for a second change the fact that the Democratic Party, liberals and progressives stand for the middle class every day.
From what I’ve seen of your writings, it is apparent that at some point you got caught up in an abstract rightwing ideological vacuum in which the left is eternally demonized, and in which you categorically reject any point of view offered, or position taken, by Democrats, liberals and/or progressives, and, like a glassy-eyed automoton, accept without question any position taken by the rightwing.
The robber barons like David and Charles Koch, who inherited all of their wealth, rather than earned it, are using you to work toward a society in which they and they wealthy friends grow wealthier, and people like you and me grow poorer, laughing all the way to the bank as you “carry their water” for them.
As I was saying I hope that you wake up one day soon. We’re actually on the same side. You just don’t know it yet.
Just out of curiosity, since you haven’t addressed my earlier comments about Ryan’s approach to Medicare, do you support his plan regarding same?
I suspect that you do. I also suspect that you were one of the people inexplicably yelling and screaming (“get your hands off my Medicare”/”you’re reducing Medicare benefits”) about the fact that the Affordable Care Act reduced the cost of Medicare by $500,000,000 per year by denying some undeserved financial perks to the health insurance industry that that industry had been getting for years under the previous way of doing business. With that in mind, I am waiting with baited breath for you to start yelling and screaming at Paul Ryan to “keep [his] hands off of [your] Medicare. Okay, not really, because, in all honesty, you seem to write what you write with rightwing blinders on. Conservative/Republican/rightwing, good. liberal/Democratic/progressive, bad. You gloss over the hypocrisy that often attends the positions that you adopt, or deflect by demonizing your political opponents, and it doesn’t seem to bother you.
In any event, my misguided wingnut brother, I sincerely hope that you come over from the darkside sometime soon.
Since you seem to accept the rightwing perspective by default
Well my friend the same can be said for you, you categorically reject any point of view offered, or position taken, by conservatives, and, like a glassy-eyed automoton, accept without question any position taken by the left wing extremist.
You make it sound like people with money are evil, I don’t look upon it that way. I know I am never going to be debt free, I know I will never live a life where I do not have to worry about retirement and old age, but does that mean I hate people who are successful, of course not. If the Koch Brothers were throwing their cash around for liberal causes would you still label them evil? I left the democrat side of the aisle because I was tired of working barely getting by when I was raising a family but yet the democrats wanted me to pay more and more out of my pocket. I was sick and tired of watching the abuse of the system and just because I worked and my wife worked we had to struggle to make ends meet while the entitlement people were never happy with what was handed to them. I have a gal at work who today was saying they have just been approved for $804 a month to help offset the cost of her husband having an autistic child. When I asked what it was for she said just to help with living expenses like if we have to take him to doctor appointments or therapy to help cover the cost of gas, or to help buy clothes etc. Tell you what my friend that is bullshit and I told her so. She also works fulltime and gets 15 to 20 hours a week in OT she takes home a good salary and she is still on Badger care and housing allowance. Her husband does not work because it would put them at risk to lose their entitlements, these are the very people that makes me a conservative, I have no sympathy for them and I do not understand why liberals feel so good about themselves when they are being used by people like her.
Notalib, ever heard of the story of “the blind men and the elephant”?
The problem with anecdotal evidence, Notalib, is that it can be used to support any point of view. The story about your co-worker is interesting, but not particularly instructive on a policy-making level. You truly need to step back, and take a look at the “elephant.” Clearly, in formulating your political perspective, you haven’t stepped back far enough, and it appears that your “field of vision” has been handicapped as a result.
That said, I’m still interested in hearing about your views on what Ryan’s plan does to Medicare, both substantively and with respect to its political consequences. In responding, please include your age, all right?
With respect to those political consequences, and as I’ve mentioned in other comments, even pollster Charlie Cook, no friend of liberals, characterized the Ryan Plan vis-a-vis Medicare as follows:
“{Ryan] isn’t just pushing the envelope. He has soaked it in gasoline, and is waving a match at it.”
As a matter of policy, the Ryan Plan in this regard is a disaster. Politically, the Republicans have shot themselves in the foot.
“…because I was tired of working barely getting by when I was raising a family but yet the democrats wanted me to pay more and more out of my pocket.”
And not matter what Gov. Walker or the Sen Fitzgerald or Rep. Fitzgerald have convinced you otherwise…is exactly how the public employees feel right now.
“She also works fulltime and gets 15 to 20 hours a week in OT she takes home a good salary…”
First…why aren’t you incensed that her employer isn’t providing her family with health care? If that were the case the rest of the story probably wouldn’t even be contemplated.
Second…yes we can all certainly find individuals gaming the system but many others need these support systems through no fault of their own. You just asked me to not vilify wealthy people because not all of them are contemptible…why don’t you respect those less fortunate than you or me the same way? Example speaks louder than words.
Ed the do provide a very good health care package she refused it because she would ‘prefer to have the state pay for her healthcare’ her words. Ed then fix the damn system. I have a girl I wrok with(lady) who buys the wisconsin debt cards from people for penny on the dollars because they get more then they use. She actually gets calls at work from people looking to sell so they can get some cash. I have a son and a daughter in law who both are in school have one child and could only get $44 dollars in assistance because besides school they both also worked jobs, my daughter in law two to help make ends meet, they have one son but because they were too successful in the states eyes they could only get $44. The current system is a joke and it rewards the lazy and the criminal and people who really need temporary assistance can just go to hell.
As I said before, my problem with the Koch Brothers isn’t the fact they’re right winged big money – they’re right winged big money who try to hide. George Soros doesn’t.
That being said, my problem isn’t even with the 1%. Because those are the doctors, the artists, the business owners, scientists, and so on. They’re important people and they often need that money, frankly the income taxes they receive are sometimes down right unfair all considering that they’re often spent trying to pay off things for the rest of their lives. My problem is not with the job makers in the 1% — my problem is with the welfare families at the 0.01% who don’t get taxed at all because they have a lower income than everyone else and abuse the political system at every opportunity so they can get special treatment.
We need to stop treating the rich and the obscenely wealthy like the same people because they aren’t. The 0.99% make majority of the jobs and services — these people at the 0.01%? Don’t do anything. The political cronies who work for the 0.01% on all sides try to paint these two different types of people as the samething. So in the end, the conservatives try to paint themselves as protectors of the jobs — but in reality? That’s not the case. They say lower taxes, but they end up putting taxes on the backs of local businesses trying to start up or the producers themselves like farmers.
I’m not against rich people – I often work with them and speak with them, I hear what they have to go through and that is why we need to fix our income tax system or even trash it entirely because it’s utterly broken because it relies purely on income when the wealth with the very top 1%?
I must ask you this: Why is it that countries with a these ‘entitlements’ – like the Nordic ones are actually pretty impressive economically and healthy at that? They found a balance of capitalism and socialism. A balance of human rights along side with making a profit – seeing not them as contradictions but a view by giving these people better treatment at work that they could be in better shape at their best.
Personally I’m thankful one parent stays at home – children need a lot of care and children with disorders often do need therapy whether you’re aware of it or not. They are especially hard to care in their early childhood years and need a lot of treatment that many people can’t pay for. This is not saying they’re stupid or even have a low IQ – it’s just they learn so differently that they need proper therapy. I for one am thankful they use their ‘entitlements’ to actually take care of their child where as I know many who simply don’t even bother raising them.
T the husband is not staying home to take care of the child he stays home because he does not want to work. She said she has been working on him for two years to apply for this funding when she found out about he was just to lazy to do it but finally he did. They didn’t apply for the money to help with is expenses, She told me they are looking at it as fun money, her husband spends all day playing video games, with her last paycheck he bought a complete set of pokeman cards for himself, she was pissed because it was all the money they had until payday. This is the problem with those who support this stuff they really don’t see the problems, they just think that everyone who applies for entitlement help do so because they really want to get help with their problem. I do believe most who do really do for that reason, but there are plenty or abuse of the system and that is what sours me on the whole system. My wife and I were foster parents for a number of years we eventually got out, because the system was so broken.
… As a fan of the video games, that really actually makes me want to punch him in the head. (And no, I am not on welfare buying video games. It’s just a hobby and paid with what money I have left over, even then though it’s usually older counsels therefore a lot less expensive.)
However do you really want to cut off the people who actually need it to get back on their feet because people abuse the system? My grandparents are very well aware of this but for ages they ‘lived’ off these entitlement because it was the only things they had to look forward to when they were being turned down for jobs because people would just get one look at them and decline them. In a sort of that they would do an interview over phone, they would finally meet up then suddenly – seeing what they were then they were given a half ass excuse each time. Can you blame me being a little pro-union and pro-entitlements when the only jobs that would even look at my grandparents especially when they were raising me and I was nothing but a burden on them with my various health problems.
They literally had to work into their 70s with jobs before they could properly retire – in the mid-2000s actually. I had to get small jobs around the area at a really young age in the late 1990s because we were that hard up – mostly due to me existing, after all – hello physical problems! So I had to go to a doctor. A lot. Still do. My grandparents are very well aware of the problems of loop holes and everything and often talk to me about this – we are liberal but we are also sensible. They often talk to me about the people who abuse it and how bothered they are by it because minority but they’re constantly used as examples. They want to find a way to step in and stop those people from doing it, but at the same time they don’t want a nanny state. Yet they do not want to remove that from people who need it and trust me – many people do. While I am not one of them, I do know friends who literally can’t get by without those things.
Here’s the problem with the privatizing everything – you’re under the assumption that these are going to be local small areas giving out these things. That’s not going to be the case at all. If we privatize everything in the government, guess what is going to happen? They will stop caring about the needs of the people and merely care about the profit. The quality will drop and you will receive less for a payment of more. It’s like if you privatized a jail – eventually people merely think of making a profit and they just begin giving you citations, arresting you for any little thing or keeping you in longer so that they can get more money. This is what happened in other countries that were foolish enough to do this, not to mention the quality of even those drop in terms of guards.
The Public Sector and the Private Sector must remain side by side – that is exactly why Japan’s system works.
Either way this plan does not work out, it just makes taxes on you and me? Higher and the 0.01% once again gets even more of a break. This is exactly why when Paul Ryan suggested this stupid plan over half a year ago, the GOP didn’t even want to touch it — because it does not work.
Either way, if it passes I expect a lot of people to be extremely angry all over the country. Especially the people who have been working all their lives.
Some knee-jerk liberal I am. . .
I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and and continue to support him until very late in his second term. . .
Then, having watched him usher in unfunded tax cuts, which not only never lived up to his promise that they would serve to create jobs, but actually resulted in eight consecutive years of job losses, having watched him take us into two unpaid wars under false pretenses, having watched him push the unfunded Medicare Part B through, and having seen him turn a budget surplus into an enormous deficit, I began to realize that the Republican approach to solving our nation’s problems was the wrong one.
And I began to realize that the redistribution of wealth to the wealthy and away from the middle class was not just a direct result of Republican policies, but the intended result. Given what ultimately/recently happened with the financial markets, I thank God that Bush’s attempt to privatize Social Security failed. That failure notwithstanding, it did serve to evidence in my mind that wealthy were attempting to subvert the middle class.
Once my “conservative” blinders, which were much like the blinders that you seem to wear presently, had been removed by circumstance, I realized that my mindless embrace of everything “conservative” had been misplaced, and I began to examine everything far more carefully.
Whatever you hear me “preach” now comes from that perspective, and from a thoughtful analysis of the issues, and of right and wrong.
Notalib, I pity you and your tunnel-vision. I’ve been where you are. I stayed there until I could no longer stomach it, until logic and reason compelled me to embrace a different outlook.
Disagree with me if you want on the issues, but don’t call me an ideologue, and certainly not one who follows anyone’s “party line”.
The wealthy elite of this country have been trying to retrict the expansion of and/or “gut” the middle class in this country for as long as our country’s history is long, and throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries, their Republican shills have been acting at their behest and on their behalf.
Do you remember the Republican cries of “socialism” and the “destruction of America” in the 1930s and 1940s in connection with Social Security echoed in similar cries with the advent of Medicare? Do you remember Ronald Reagan leading the charge against Medicare, with his battle cry that it would “lead to Armageddon” and the destruction of our way of life”?
We’re hearing those disingenuous and cynical Republican cries again, and we’re hearing them parroted by unwitting dupes like you, Notalib, all to the great amusement of people like the Koch brothers who want to take us back to an America where the less affluent old were expected to crawl off and die, rather than be provided proper medical care as they grew older, where workers could be worked to death because the law afforded them no protections, where woman were considered chattel, subject to the whims of men.
I do pity you, Notalib. My eyes were opened by reality. If only yours could be, as well.
Union members aren’t “thugs” as you so consistently refer to them, liberals/progressives/Democrats are not Dumbocrats, President Obama is not “Obummer”. They are simply people possessing a different understanding of the world than yours. Look, I’ll stop making pointed statements about you if you will stop perjoratively generalizing about your political opponents, and maybe start dealing with the “nuts and bolts” of the issues.
In the meantime, I do hope that you wake up from your rightwing partisan stupor, just as I once did back in 2008.
Good luck with everything.
So the sum total of your anecdotes over the past two days comes to this:
Badgercare is better than private health insurance…yet Rep Ryan wants to change Medicare to use only private health insurance…a bit counterintuitive don’t ya think?
I just did some quick math. I can’t see how Ryan’s plan can work UNLESS he raises the Medicare (VoucherCare) tax rate. If a person averages 50K in his lifetime before he goes on VoucherCare then currently, that person would pay about 40K in VoucherCare taxes over 55 years. Let’s say the guy or gal lives another 25 years past 55. A 8K yearly voucher would be 200K in 25 years.
How the heck can you get 200K worth of Vouchers when you only paid 40K? He has to raise TAXES to cover his plan. The only real way to fix health care is to fix how it is delivered. I mean really, what’s the point of building an 8000 dollar speed bump for a runaway train? Doctors charge thousands of dollars to remove a liver. Yet, organ thieves can do it with a butter knife and a tub full of ice.
Love it or hate it, we are 37th in the world when it comes to health care. We are 1st in the world when it comes to paying for health care. It doesn’t add up to me. It’s all about money and not saving lives.
The voucher program is only until the age of 54
apples and oranges. 192K and 200K might as well be a gazillion dollars K.
PS…its called VoucherCare.
…the voucher program will be in effect for those currently 54 and younger when they reach Medicare age. You’re gonna hate it when you’re 65, really!
Soooooo, little homey, do you think the voucher approach is a good one or not?
P.S. In the interests of full disclosure, I’m 58, and not in danger of losing the benefits of existing Medicare coverage. Just out of curiosity, how old are you?
love how you use that cute little phrase little homey wherever you post, its so original, just keep up with your George Soros talking points I imagine somewhere their is a far left audience that is impressed by you.
Okay, little homey. . .Glad you “love” my special little term of endearment for you. . .
P.S. What is “far left” about anything that I’ve had to say? If you deign to answer, be specific, a’ite, little homey?
P.P.S. I’ve seen a couple of pictures of George Soros on The O’Reilly Factor and The Glenn Beck Show. Other than knowing what he looks like, I really don’t know much about the guy. So HOW exactly does he get his “talking points” to me?
By the way, you still haven’t explained why you lied about “NEVER” trolling over at the Huffington Post.
As I indicated under the Kloppenburg vs. Prosser article regarding your denial that you EVER go to that website, the Huff Post is under a different impression. They think that you’ve posted 240 some-odd comments there.
Care to finally come clean about that here?
On April 7th, under the “Kloppenburg vs. Prosser” article, Notalib wrote, in pertinent part:
“The Huffington Post…OH please that is the last place I would ever go. I have never posted there and never will post there. There are two leftiwng sites I goto this one, I have come to respect Zach and a few of the others here even though we disagree on 99.9% and Caffientaed Politics [just for the record, the numerous spelling, syntax and grammar errors herein are entirely AmawingnutNotalib’s doing]. . .”
My response, at the time – Hey, little homey, you’d better let the Huffington Post know that you NEVER go there. For some reason, they think that you’ve been posting inarticulate rightwing screeds there since August of 2006 [see HuffPost Social News]. For the record, by their count, you’ve posted 241 comments in the three and a half years that you have been a “member” there. Parenthetically, but not surprisingly, and for anyone who’s interested, the Huff Post Social News entry for Notalib reflects that in those three and a half years of posting comments on the Huffington Post website, Notalib has acquired exactly ZERO friends/fans [*laughing*].
Notalib has also, not infrequently, made reference to articles that he has seen and/or commented on at the Huffington Post on various other websites, among them, http://www.greenbayphorum.com.
BUT, in his words, he would NEVER ever go to the Huffington Post. . .(*laughing*). . .Hoisted by your own petard, little homey. What a pathetic, little prevaricator you are. Why didn’t you just own up to doing what I said you’d been doing on the Huffington Post? I’ll tell you why, my inarticulate wingnut brother. It’s just part of the macho, kneejerk rightwing/wingnut DNA not to own up to it. Well, anyway, little homey, thanks for shooting yourself in the foot in front of everybody, and revealing that you have an integrity quotient of ZERO.
With respect to your further claim that you ONLY visit the two liberal websites mentioned in your comment, you might also want to talk to the other other “liberal” websites that think that you have been posting inarticulate rightwing drivel on them, including, but certainly not limited to http://www.whitenoiseinsanity.com (e.g. http://www.whitenoiseinsanity.com/2009/03/20/sarah-palin-was-shocked-to-hear-president-obamas-special-olympics-comment-comment-page-1/). For those of you who are interested, Notalib is a well-known TROLL at whitenoiseinsanity.com (see comment from “Grant in Texas” in this regard), and elsewhere, just as he is here.
Notalib, you sad, sad little wingnut troll. The people here are far too intelligent for the likes of you. You aren’t convincing anyone of anything here. You simply reinforce everyone’s existing sense of “the wingnut”, intellectually bereft, inarticulate and hardheaded.
ADDENDUM FROM APRIL 16TH: Come on, little homey, admit it. You’re a professional troll.
Professional troll? Who is the troll here, http://reddogreport.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/its-official-will-folks-endorses-nikki-haley-in-the-south-carolina-governors-race/
This is a progressive blog, little homey. Try and keep up. . .You’re. . .a. . .troll. . .here. . .
Stay focused, all right?
If I’ve got you doing “research” on me, I must have really gotten under your skin, huh? (*laughing*)
You’d be better served by just sticking to the issues, AND maybe giving them a little more thought before offering your shortsighted opinions.
Try to remember the old adage:
“Better to remain silent and be thought the fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
Love and kisses,
Zuma
I invite everyone to go to the link posted by Notalib where I had an interesting exchange with a conservative South Carolinean blogger named Brian O’Conner regarding the then upcoming South Carolina governor’s race, and about the significance of blogger Will Folks’ revelations about his affair with then candidate Nikki Haley.
For the record, the exchange there took place on June 20, 2010. If he had to reach THAT far back in order to evidence whatever untenable point that he was trying to make about me, while I have to give Notalib an “A” for effort, I have to give him an “F” for relevance and timeliness.
Speaking of grades/marks, Notalib, I’m curious, did you have a difficult time in school. Did you have a hard time in the public school system. Were you made to feel badly about yourself as a result? Is that why you don’t want your tax dollars to fund the indoctrination you feel occurs in the public school systems across the country?
By the way, Notalib, I note that you STILL explained why you felt that you had to lie about your extensive “trolling” over on the Huffington Post. much less why you lied about it in the first place. . .
For the record, little homey, being a regular visitor to the Huffington Post, I was eminently familiar with your “trolling portfolio” there LONG before I ever visited this website. Accordingly, seeing you here in the “role of troll” (no charge for the rhyme) came as no surprise to me.
Anyway, good luck to you. As I was saying, try sticking with the issues.
How about starting with Ryan’s dismantling of Medicare and the points that I made above regarding same?
Love and kisses,
Zuma
Yeah zuma I guess there is no way someone else using the moniker notalib, so everywhere you see that it must be me……
Notalib wrote:
“Yeah zuma I guess there is no way someone else using the moniker notalib, so everywhere you see that it must be me……”
Uh huh, Notalib. . .THAT’S your story, and you’re sticking to it. . .(*laughing*)
For the record, I’m the only “Zuma Bound” around. . .
Anyway, for anyone that’s interested, ALL these “different” Notalibs write in exactly the same way and with exactly the same point of view as the Notalib we have all come to know and love here.
BUT, as they say, Notalib, nice try.
Next time, maybe you should trying using your REAL name, huh?