Mitt Romney 'Hang' Obama Gaffe?

A response to the Huffington Post article Mitt Romney's 'Hang' Obama gaffe.

Republicans create the situation and then try to pin it on Obama. If you want to know why families are being squeezed, look at the Republican's budget, look at the history of tax revenues (1/3 of tax revenues used to be from corporations), look at the capital gains tax, the estate tax, and the stagnation of low- and middle-class wages. Republicans want to get rid of Medicare, Social Security, EPA, the Consumer Protection Agency, the SEC, etc., etc., etc.

Minnesota Senate committee passes anti–gay marriage amendment

Republicans are all about deregulation and removing protections for consumers, the environment, the elderly, children, the disabled, and the poor and middle-class. They argue that regulations and restrictions are unfair burdens to businesses, and that the social responsibilities of individuals cannot or should not be legislated.

Meet the Press

This show seems to make the assumption that Social Security is just another entitlement which must be cut. Guess what? Cutting Social Security will do nothing for the debt (other than delaying still longer the accounting for past deficits). Social Security is self-funded (except for the idiotic payroll tax holiday). Maybe we should no longer use special U.S. Treasury Bonds, a version of bonds which are not counted when bought, but only when sold, to hold surpluses in the trust fund?

Budget Talks

Comment to Huffington Post article White House Deficit Talks Coming Apart At The Seams:

It would be much better if the White House does not start budget talks again with compromises. In December Obama gave away the store before talks began, then wondered why Republicans wanted more. And let's hope Democrats don't continue to buy into trickle-down voodoo Reaganomics and the rest of the GOP lies. The programs they are cutting did not create the national debt.

FDR's Second Bill of Rights

Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union:

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all--regardless of station, race, or creed.

Progressive World or the Alternative?

Don't like the vision announced by Obama? How about the kind of world we've had under Republicans? As Dean Baker says, how about "ten years of zero job growth, 25 million people unemployed, underemployed or out of the workforce altogether, declining real wages, millions of homeowners losing their homes, and tens of millions of homeowners underwater."

Reaction to President's Speech

Finally!!

From congress.org, a letter to Obama

This letter was sent to President Obama using congress.org, and was re-printed on their site. I think it deserves to be reprinted over and over.

Subject:
I do not like the bill that was sign to keep the gov. going makes my heart sad

To:
President Barack Obama

Where Is Our President?

The long version of a letter to the president.

The majority of Americans who work have income which is taxed at 25% or above. The wealthy send their money to work, and receive income in the form of capital gains and dividends; that income is taxed at 15%. Which should be considered more valuable, income from people doing actual work, or income from money which is doing the work? Conservatives think that if you have to work for a living, your income should be taxed at a much higher rate.

Letter to the President

The majority of Americans who work have income which is taxed at 25% or above. The wealthy send their money to work, and receive income in the form of capital gains and dividends; that income is taxed at 15%. Which should be considered more valuable, income from people doing actual work, or income from money which is doing the work? Conservatives think that if you have to work for a living, your income should be taxed at a much higher rate.

Social Security not an entitlement

Social Security does not contribute to the debt/deficit. Revenue to SocSec is from payroll taxes paid by working people, not from general revenues. Look at your paycheck. Your employer makes an equal contribution. Where do you think the 2.6 trillion in U.S. Treasury Bonds in the Social Security Trust Fund came from, and where do you think benefits are paid from?

The only reason SocSec deficits (more going out than comes in) look like they affect the national debt and deficit is because Congress chose not to count the Treasury Bonds SocSec buys until they are sold.