Another increase in the size of government

[LnGrrrR]

I saw a segment about that on tv. it's been long enough for us to know what is working and what isn't. there is always too much crap when it involves the pentagon or dod. I say we cut the af's budget. take away their comfy chairs. give them folding chairs. hows that sound lngrrrr

Folding chairs is a bit extreme, considering I'm probably getting paid about half to 1/3 what I could make on the outside... you're lucky I'm a patriot!

Besides, the Air Force budget has already been slashed in some areas... remember all that brouhaha about the F22s?

My shop's running a network of 10K+ users with roughly 7 people... if my shop gets any more funding/manning cut people will be using dixie cups on strings.

[Ignignokt]

You act like the decision to spend was done in a vacuum. Why do you think we had to spend? We were in a recession that was caused by the previous Republican administration. The decision to spend was a good one in order to stop the bleeding. Since then the economy has grown.

WE don't need to expand medicare under obamacare nor do we need capn trade, or civilian service expansion.

[Ignignokt]

And beachwood, don't be a dumbass. Bush did not repeal Glass Steagal, nor started the concept of artificial low interest rates, nor increased the power of Fannie and Freddie as weill as start fractional reserve lending.

Your own argument thumps you well.

[Ignignokt]

We also didn't have to bail out AIG nor GM. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

[RandomGuy]

If the "free market protects itself" how do you explain monopolies?

It's no longer free.

This is when regulation do need to control prices. That's for a commerce clause thread.

So what you were saying is that you were wrong when you stated, "the free market will protect itself."

What you meant was "the free market can protect itself, but sometimes needs regulators to step in when something unfair happens".

Thanks for clearing that up.

[boutons_deux]

WC's ivory tower theoretical free market-itis is incurable.

Every businessman's wet dream is to have a monopoly or near-monopoly to be abused, like Bill Gates, or health insurance, or VISA/Mastercard. And they will destroy, defeat, buy, buy off, buy+close compe ors whenever they can to approach monopoly power.

WC's "conservative" free-market exists only in his head.

[beachwood]

We also didn't have to bail out AIG nor GM. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

Bush bankrupted the country with his massive tax cuts for the rich and two unpaid for wars. To defend his presidency is an exercise in futility, but go ahead. He nearly doubled the national debt by the time he left office.

I love how Bush was a two term president, but nothing is his fault according the right wing extremists who followed him off a cliff. What the was he doing in office for 8 years? I guess he's just a victim of cir stances.

Put your huntin' rifle back on the gun rack, take off your neocon glasses and walk into the real world.

[CosmicCowboy]

Bush bankrupted the country with his massive tax cuts for the rich and two unpaid for wars. To defend his presidency is an exercise in futility, but go ahead. He nearly doubled the national debt by the time he left office.

I love how Bush was a two term president, but nothing is his fault according the right wing extremists who followed him off a cliff. What the was he doing in office for 8 years? I guess he's just a victim of cir stances.

Put your huntin' rifle back on the gun rack, take off your neocon glasses and walk into the real world.

Hey deadwood...you realize the Democrats in the house/senate are about to extend the tax cuts don't you? They are falling like dominos.

[beachwood]

Hey deadwood...you realize the Democrats in the house/senate are about to extend the tax cuts don't you? They are falling like dominos.

Is that all you got? You're bringing some weak sauce.

Obama is proposing to let the tax cuts for the top two brackets expire, but extend the cuts for the middle class. Which sounds good to me.

[CosmicCowboy]

Is that all you got? You're bringing some weak sauce.

Obama is proposing to let the tax cuts for the top two brackets expire, but extend the cuts for the middle class. Which sounds good to me.

Try to keep up, deadwood.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...862552246.html

Two more Senate Democrats called for extending tax cuts for all earners—including those with the highest incomes—in what appears to be a breakdown of the party's consensus on the how to handle the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) said in an interview Wednesday that Congress shouldn't allow taxes on the wealthy to rise until the economy is on a sounder footing.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) said through a spokesman that he also supported extending all the expiring tax cuts for now, adding that he wanted to offset the impact on federal deficits as much as possible.

They are the second and third Senate Democrats to come out publicly in recent days in favor of extending all the tax breaks for the time being. Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) made similar comments last week.

"As a general rule, you don't want to be cutting spending or raising taxes in the midst of a downturn," Mr. Conrad said. "We know that very soon we've got to pivot and focus on the deficit. But it probably is too soon to cut spending or raise taxes."

The comments from the senators represent a departure from what appeared to be an emerging unified Democratic stance on the Bush tax cuts, which held that those for the wealthiest Americans should be allowed to expire.

President Barack Obama and most Democrats want to extend only the breaks benefiting taxpayers who make $250,000 or less.

Allowing breaks for higher earners to expire would push the top individual tax rate to 39.6% from 35%, and would raise rates on capital gains and dividends, too.

The breaks enacted in 2001 and 2003, which affect taxpayers of all income levels, expire at the end of this year.

Republicans and many business groups favor extending all the breaks, contending that increasing tax rates will hit small businesses hard. With U.S. employment still weak, some centrist Democrats are agreeing, prompted to change their stance by the still-ugly economic picture.

In addition to Messrs. Conrad, Nelson and Bayh, at least half a dozen House Democrats also have come out publicly in favor of postponing tax increases for higher earners.

"We're not creating jobs, and raising taxes now would not be a great idea," Rep. Michael McMahon, a New York Democrat, said this week.

Democrats can't afford to lose many of their own members on the issue. At a minimum, the internal party debate increases the odds that Democrats won't tackle the question of extending the tax cuts until after the November election.

Further delays will expose Democrats to Republican charges that they want to allow all the tax cuts to expire, which the Democrats deny. It is possible that any extension would be only temporary.

Rep. Sander Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Wednesday that no decisions had been made on when to take up the tax cuts in the House, but he said the Senate "needs to act first."

Republicans are hoping the expiring Bush tax cuts become a bigger issue in the August recess, when lawmakers go home to talk with cons uents. Already, House Republicans have begun pointing to the "ticking tax bomb" that will go off at year's end absent congressional action.

The GOP, for its part, runs some risks pushing for an extension of all the tax cuts, given the nation's sharpening focus on the budget deficit.

A one-year extension would cost at least $115 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans have been pushing Congress to pay for any new spending to avoid increasing the deficit, but they argue tax cuts shouldn't be paid for.

[boutons_deux]

Geithner has flip-flopped and is now promoting Warren for CFPA.

[beachwood]

Try to keep up, deadwood.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...862552246.html

Two more Senate Democrats called for extending tax cuts for all earners—including those with the highest incomes—in what appears to be a breakdown of the party's consensus on the how to handle the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) said in an interview Wednesday that Congress shouldn't allow taxes on the wealthy to rise until the economy is on a sounder footing.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) said through a spokesman that he also supported extending all the expiring tax cuts for now, adding that he wanted to offset the impact on federal deficits as much as possible.

They are the second and third Senate Democrats to come out publicly in recent days in favor of extending all the tax breaks for the time being. Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) made similar comments last week.

"As a general rule, you don't want to be cutting spending or raising taxes in the midst of a downturn," Mr. Conrad said. "We know that very soon we've got to pivot and focus on the deficit. But it probably is too soon to cut spending or raise taxes."

The comments from the senators represent a departure from what appeared to be an emerging unified Democratic stance on the Bush tax cuts, which held that those for the wealthiest Americans should be allowed to expire.

President Barack Obama and most Democrats want to extend only the breaks benefiting taxpayers who make $250,000 or less.

Allowing breaks for higher earners to expire would push the top individual tax rate to 39.6% from 35%, and would raise rates on capital gains and dividends, too.

The breaks enacted in 2001 and 2003, which affect taxpayers of all income levels, expire at the end of this year.

Republicans and many business groups favor extending all the breaks, contending that increasing tax rates will hit small businesses hard. With U.S. employment still weak, some centrist Democrats are agreeing, prompted to change their stance by the still-ugly economic picture.

In addition to Messrs. Conrad, Nelson and Bayh, at least half a dozen House Democrats also have come out publicly in favor of postponing tax increases for higher earners.

"We're not creating jobs, and raising taxes now would not be a great idea," Rep. Michael McMahon, a New York Democrat, said this week.

Democrats can't afford to lose many of their own members on the issue. At a minimum, the internal party debate increases the odds that Democrats won't tackle the question of extending the tax cuts until after the November election.

Further delays will expose Democrats to Republican charges that they want to allow all the tax cuts to expire, which the Democrats deny. It is possible that any extension would be only temporary.

Rep. Sander Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Wednesday that no decisions had been made on when to take up the tax cuts in the House, but he said the Senate "needs to act first."

Republicans are hoping the expiring Bush tax cuts become a bigger issue in the August recess, when lawmakers go home to talk with cons uents. Already, House Republicans have begun pointing to the "ticking tax bomb" that will go off at year's end absent congressional action.

The GOP, for its part, runs some risks pushing for an extension of all the tax cuts, given the nation's sharpening focus on the budget deficit.

A one-year extension would cost at least $115 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans have been pushing Congress to pay for any new spending to avoid increasing the deficit, but they argue tax cuts shouldn't be paid for.

I already read the article. Try again. I hope Obama gets his way on this one. I don't think it would be unreasonable to let the tax cuts expire on the top income brackets while extending for the middle class. Just as long as these tax cuts are paid for, then I'm good with it.

But your argument doesn't refute the claim that Bush bankrupted the country by increasing spending and having the tax cuts.

You're just pointing fingers, which is what right wingers do because nothing is their fault. Point and accuse is your ideology and you guys are good at it.

[CosmicCowboy]

*yawn*

[spursncowboys]

Folding chairs is a bit extreme, considering I'm probably getting paid about half to 1/3 what I could make on the outside... you're lucky I'm a patriot!

Besides, the Air Force budget has already been slashed in some areas... remember all that brouhaha about the F22s?

My shop's running a network of 10K+ users with roughly 7 people... if my shop gets any more funding/manning cut people will be using dixie cups on strings.

if you think you got it bad you don't want to see the ridiculousness the army works with. and yall can both sit back and have a good laugh at the flying pidgeon system the marines use.
Seriously with all the secret budgets being thrown into the air force's budget, tht would probably be the first place to start the cuts. i think we need to rebuild our military with all the lessons learned from the past ten years but there is ALOT of waste that drives me crazy. from the budgets, to civilians who are absolutely worthless and work half days while getting paid salary. Instead though it is looking like barry is just going to cut down on the personel.

[LnGrrrR]

if you think you got it bad you don't want to see the ridiculousness the army works with. and yall can both sit back and have a good laugh at the flying pidgeon system the marines use.
Seriously with all the secret budgets being thrown into the air force's budget, tht would probably be the first place to start the cuts. i think we need to rebuild our military with all the lessons learned from the past ten years but there is ALOT of waste that drives me crazy. from the budgets, to civilians who are absolutely worthless and work half days while getting paid salary. Instead though it is looking like barry is just going to cut down on the personel.

There's a reason I'm not in the Army. I want to have a decent job when I get out, after all. Besides, in a few years, the Air Force will probably have the most invested in cyberspace infrastructure of all our sister services. Sure the Marines, Army and Navy will have deployed comm guys like TDCICAP, but I think the AF is going to be the 'techie' guys defending the networks, for the most part.

The one thing that bugs me most about some civvies is their 9 to 5 at ude. Makes it tough to complete the mission.

[TDMVPDPOY]

lol govt

maybe he should start with the incentives and bonuses these politicians and public workers get, maybe they should be on the same salary as ppl working in the same jobs in the private sector...

wtf do these rich ass clowns from their private businesses outside of politics still have access to govt pension when they are fully loaded and dont require that money from govt? im talkin about clowns who serve a few years in politics only...

[Winehole23]

Geithner has flip-flopped and is now promoting Warren for CFPA.

That's not what i heard. Link, please?

[boutons_deux]

"That's not what i heard"

NPR, my drive time, had an audio of him effusing about what a perfect, intelligent, forward-thinking candidate she is. Quite amazing from his initial trashing.

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...sumer-agency/1