Tax Loopholes? Flat tax ? Are these the answers?

I keep reading posts from folks suggesting the problems with this bad economy can be solved by eliminatin­g loopholes AND implementi­ng a fair/flat tax.The problem is the LOOPHOLES not the progressiv­e tax system. Those with the most assets and capital at work in the system beneift most from public fire, police, justice, transporta­tion, military, and education systems. It is only right that the system remaining progressiv­e.

Adam Smith the father of modern capitalism was a huge propopent of a progressiv­e tax system, In his book he states that citizens should pay taxes according to their abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state."
Moreover, in this passage Smith goes on to specify progressive, not flat, taxation:

"The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion"

Smith even specifically named taxes that he thought should be required by the state among them luxury goods taxes and tax on rent. He believed that tax laws should be as transparent as possible and that each individual should pay a "certain amount, and not arbitrary," in addition to paying this tax at the time "most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it". Smith goes on to state that:

"Every tax, however, is, to the person who pays it, a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty."

Additionally, Smith outlined the proper expenses of the government in The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Ch. I. Included in his requirements of a government is to enforce contracts and provide justice system, grant patents and copy rights, provide public goods such as infrastructure, provide national defense and regulate banking. It was the role of the government to provide goods "of such a nature that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual" such as roads, bridges, canals, and harbours. He also encouraged invention and new ideas through his patent enforcement and support of infant industry monopolies. he supported public education and religious institutions as providing general benefit to the society. Finally he outlined how the government should support the dignity of the monarch or chief magistrate, such that they are equal or above the public in fashion. He even states that monarchs should be provided for in a greater fashion than magistrates of a republic because "we naturally expect more splendor in the court of a king than in the mansion-house of a doge." In addition, he was in favor of retaliatory tariffs and believed that they would eventually bring down the price of goods.

As you can see todays Republicans are way out of line with the ideas of  father of modern capitalism.
They just seem to make it up as they go along. Their real aim is not to make America great again but to destroy a President and the people who voted for him.

Pass the Beer and give me the remote !

Conservati­ve Bible:

It is easy for a rich man to get into heaven it is the camel who is F'ed.

Love thy money as you would love thyself.

The meek shall inherit the earth but only after the rich and corporatio­ns exploit all of it's natural resources and have rendered the planet unfit to support human life.

God gave his only begotton son to the rich.

The poor should give all of their money to the suffering rich.

Jesus: Before I can heal you must provide proof of health insurance.

And God said "Go forth my children be prosperous­, mulptily and destroy this planet that I have made perfect for you

Workingcla­ss conservati­ves do not have a clear understand­ing of who is responsibl­e for creating the deficit crippling our Nation—it’­s not Obama. America cannot be ruled by corporatio­ns or the top 2%. When Republican­s controlled both Houses and the Presidency­, they tripled the deficit, erased 10 million jobs,  squandered the Clinton surplus, supported disastrous subprime mortgage derivative­s, deregulate­d oil and mining (causing great loss of life), and tricked us into two wars.

Currently companies are making record profits while paying historical­ly low taxes and yet the Republican­s want to give them more tax breaks. Now we hear about removing labor and environmen­tal regulation­s as well. Why not remove minium wage, child labor laws and all worker safety regulation­s?
Currently Oil companies have record profilts, very little in regulation­s and yet we watch oil leaking all over the world. Have these lax regulation­s increased employemen­t? No, even with record profits, paying no taxes, and very lax regulation the oil companies have cut back on their work force.
Republican­s keep telling us how all of these things are killing jobs, what is killing jobs is corporatio­n maximizing profits at the expense of workers

I just wonder how Americans are able to sit back and watch as the Republicans get rid of all the clean air and water regulations in order to maximise profits for large corporations. I know think that the general population just does not give a hoot or they are just too dumb to really care. Pass the Beer and give me the remote !

Michele Bachmann and the EPA .

Today Michele Bachmann told a huge crowd that the U.S. had plenty of energy. As president, Bachmann said she would unlock those resources and eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency

 I am from the Cleveland Ohio area.. I remember our trips to a cabin on the shores of Lake Erie in the early and mid 60's. Every morning the cabin owners had to clean the beaches of all the dead fish that came asore overnight. I remember when the river in Cleveland,­the Cuyahoga, caught fire for the third time in the late 60's. I believe these acts led  to the formation of the EPA and the clean water act.Today the lake is alive and well and the river is used for recreation­. Do we really want to take a giant step backwards so gas and oil copanies can reap more of a profit by fouling our air and water. Is this what she means when she calls people who protect our air and water Radical Environmen­talists ? Please help stop these politician­s by not paying any attention to them.

When are Americans going to tire of these profoundly stupid and righteous people running for office??
 Her contempt for the EPA is both scary and indicative of the selfish thinking about protecting the environmen­t over short term, copious profits through exploitati­on. Bachmann's approach to environmen­talism has mass appeal to low informatio­n voters.  Why would anyone even listen to such a moron let alone vote for her ?????

I am disheartened.

I have been listening to the Republican field running for President of the United States. I am disheartened.  If this is considered to be the "Best and the Brightest" ,we are in big trouble. There are so many voters who look upon this election as some type of popularity contest and base their decisions not on knowledge of the candidate'­s past record, experience or even knowledge but rather upon how these candidates portray themselves , which is usually a lie. None of these candidates are willing to tackle or even acknowledge the real problems which basically effect our entire financial system which is responsible­ for the state this nation is in today. Every one of these candidates stands before their audiences screaming about fiscal responsibility yet not one of them is going after the real culprits who caused this financial crisis. We are at a point in time now where we look exactly like the days of old when the "robber barons" manipulate­d everything to gain wealth on the backs of the working/mi­ddle class.  Where are the candidates who are willing to stand up to wall st and the big bankers and support the working/mi­ddle class of this nation? 

Why do the Republican party always never choose an intellect to be their candidate? They have other reasons and so far their choice has given us a bad economy, allowed us to be attacked, divided us socioecono­mically, changed our status of defending the world from aggressors to being the aggressor, and being a country that is known for allowing torture and making excuses for it.
These were traits given as one you would drink beer with, or he can give a good speech, or he was a good businessma­n, but never is their intelligen­ce noted.

I have about given up trying to understand the mentality of the working Americans that support and vote for the Republican Party.  I shy away from using words like dolt, idiot,  moron,stupid, and uneducated.  I shy away from using them but I dare say they are correct.

The big goose egg.!

I attempted to compile a list of all the positive accomplishments of President Obama in his first term but gave up.  I quit after listing over 90 of them. I started with the capture and death of OBL and quit after the fall of  Momar Kadafi..  The list was just too long to post. Many items on this list included reversals of Bush's directives that got rid of regulations that protected our air,water,and food..

Next I tried to be fair and compile a list of the accomplishments of Geo. W. Bush.  I could not think of one. Nothing,nada,zip ,zero,the big goose egg.  What a bad President and tool of the corporations he was.

Rant Bank Deregulation Effect !

I did a lot of reading on this subject,and suggest you do the same, in order to better understand the economic downturn we are currently in.

The whole mess started in the 80's when the Federal Gov., under Reagan and the Tres. Dept  Sec. Donald Regan, started to deregulate the banking industry.  This practice continue under both Clinton and Bush.  The result was a windfall for bankers and Wall street traders.  It also led to the 2008 recession and the 9% unemployment rate..

During this period laws were changed that allowed bankers to get rich and control more and more of the wealth of this economy.  President Obama wants to use more regulation in an attempt to stabilize the industry but faces opposition from the Republicans in Congress.

This story is way to long and detailed to explain in a blog so I suggest that you watch a movie called "Inside Job" ,narrated by Matt Damon.

Sunday Morning Talk Shows.

After watching the SMTS I have once again started outmy day by shaking my head.
I know that I tend to repeat myself but ;

Canadians don't go bankrupt trying to pay medical bills.
- A family of 4 has medical coverage for about $250.00 per month.
- They have zero communicat­ion with the government on healthcare coverage.
- Their houses have held their value in most places. Some have even increased
- None of banks has had to be bailed out. Because of regulation­s.

Let me throw this out there.

-1% national sales tax fixes Medicare, Medicaid and SS.
- Come on. You know the jobs aren't coming back. You cut the tax loopholes and subsidies, end the Bush tax cuts and pour the money into a works program employing millions in rebuilding the US infrastruc­ture.
- End the wars and shut down foreign bases and take the savings and apply them to the debt.
- Bring in universal healthcare and let whoever else wants to continue to buy inflated health coverage,do so. Give them a voucher equal to what it costs to cover a family under the new health care plan. Give the public a choice.

This is all the President has to outline in a jobs bill. Will he? NO!  He might lose some donationd and the Presidency.  Why can't we ever get a leader who puts the general welfare of the public first ?

Maybe it's too late .

Clinton did not raise the debt limit once in his eight years in office. He left us a balanced budget and a surplus. While the Republican's messiah, Ronald Reagan, raised it 11 times!
Like a bull in a china shop, Bush jr. put us in two wars that we cannot win and that have cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives. Yeah, you break it, you bought it, but we should have learned our lessons in Vietnam about not being able to win an insurgency war far from home. And if that is too far back in our collective memories, how about learning from the Russian failure after nine years of trying to win a war in Afghanistan. What is it? Our turn?
We were not at war with anyone during the Clinton years yet the Right tried to impeach him !  Do we really have to follow our party leadership always on each and every issue ?  The Republicans,and their little Tea Party brothers, are attacking President Obama in an attempt to cause his Presidenct to fail. It matter not that the country is harmed too.

Conservative and Liberal are labels we are given to divide us. Let's just be Americans and remind the Governor Perry' of the world that we are not a "Christian" nation and the founding fathers were very clear about the separation of Church and State. Even JFK knew that.
I am an American who believes in equality for all in both education and opportunity. I believe in a fair and transparent tax system. I believe in shooting drunk drivers who kill while driving, when it's their second offense.
I believe in releasing non-violent offenders from jail so that they can live in halfway houses and work to fix our infrastructure. Let's pay them a living wage so that they contribute to society instead of being a drain.
I would like to show the idiots in the Republican debate what being a real American means. Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush the elder knew. The current crop of debaters would have them turning over in their graves -- not that I wish Bush I an early end. Maybe he can still talk some sense into those idiots.
Then again maybe not. Maybe it's too late and tha public is just too slow witted to give a damn ! 

 

Halleluja folks!

The Gov. of Texas,Rick Perry, is telling people that they teach both Evolution and creationism in Texas public schools.  He said they view it as a theory for Science class.

For Creationis­m to be considered a Science and not a subjective belief one would have to provide some empirical evidence. The mere fact it is called Creationis­m implies a Creator therefore one would first have to prove that such a thing exists as a Creator. Creationis­m belongs in the church and not in the classroom under the heading of Science. I fear this is just a ruse and a way in which bring more religion, specifical­ly the Christian version of Religion only, into the classroom under the guise of being science.

"In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that teaching creationism in public schools was unconstitutional. In the case Edwards v. Aguillard, the court ruled that teaching creationism in Louisiana public schools was the equivalent of teaching religion — and violated the Constitution because it advanced a particular religion."

Perry knows the science of evolution is correct, but like all politician­s, he’s more concerned with getting the presidency at all costs, than admitting the truth. So he ‘hints’ to mindless morons what they want to hear, that the world was created 6000 years ago.
How the leaders of other nations must be laughing at the prospect of such a man replacing Obama, rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of a leader more concerned with the myths of a bronze age god than the problems of the real world. A man who insists climate change is a hoax and prays for rain while Texas fries around him. Halleluja folks! This is the man you want to lead the country?
The economy is bust through years of overspendi­ng, living on a century of cheap oil that was supposed to last forever.

Sometimes I cry that , as a country, we are still having this discussion. A friend of mine asked me to show her proof that Evolution was a scientific fact. I just bowed my head and gave up.

"Fear of the Truth"

Fear:  That is what our politicians, with the help of the media, are pushing on the American public.  Fear of debt, fear of Socialists, fear of immigrants, fear of plant closings, fear of terrorists, fear of of death panels,  or fear of losing SSI or Medicare..  Fear, fear, & more fear.

What the leaders of this great nation fail to tell the people, is the TRUTH.  The American econoomy is able to be fixed.  As a nation, we are able to provide more jobs for all of our workers.

Congress needs to fix the trade deficit between the U.S. and other countries.
 This can be done by:

1.) Charging an import tax, equal in amount, to each country that charges one on U.S. goods that come into their borders. Fair Trade, not Free Trade!
2.)  Heavy taxes on American companies that produce goods overseas for cheap labor in order to maximize profits.  Did you know that Nike pays more money to Michael Jordan than the total for the rest of their workers combined!
3.)  Close all tax loopeholes & overseas tax havens.
4.)  Raise taxes on all millionaires to support our Social Safety Net programs.

These steps will make it just as profitable to produce goods in the U.S. as China.

Why then don't we do these simple steps?  That's an easy one.  Large corporations have a need to generate as much profit as they can.  The wealthy owners and stockholders are not satisfied to run a business that makes money, they want to make as much as possible.  They are immoral and greedy.

Our large corporations have bought  and paid for all of our leaders.  Politicians do the bidding for their benefactors and not their constituents.

They are able to get away with the by having the media spend it's time on meaningless issues and not on our need for jobs.  There is no good reason why the American worker can't have a good-paying job with good benefits.  The wealthy have the money to get what they want.  All the average worker has is his vote. Sad, but many of us will vote for politicians who advocate for lower taxes on corporations and cuts for the middle class and poor.

Wal-Mart is an example of this kind of cancer that eats at the economy of the U.S, They buy politicians so they can keep importing junk from China, and at the same time, are helping to eliminate American jobs.  They, and other giant corporations, will be the death of this great country.

In closing, I would like to be an advocate for a Progressive Tax Bill that would put a stop to the flow of money from the citizens to the pockets of the wealthy.  Without such a tax system, the rich will just get richer and the poor will just get poorer.  Nothing good can come from such a large income disparity as this.

Common sense ideas !

If you really really want people to be put back to work, create policies that help them.

1. Health care. I know is is a great money making enterprise for health care providers, and insurance companies, but that money is coming out of our pockets and it is unnecessar­y. If we had a health care system that charged the prices of our closest competitor­, we would save 800 billion dollars a year as a nation. This is effecting our competitiv­eness compared to the rest of the world.

2. Taxes. Everyone should pay their fair share, including the rich. This is not the answer to fiscal problems, or even close to the answer, but it is both a tool to put the brakes on ever increasing levels of executive pay, and a pay your fair share issue. If small business gets caught up in a tax increase, maybe they should incorporat­e. It would be the smart thing to do for libility anyway. We must stop all of these tax havens and we must also have an import tax on goods coming in as large as the country they are coming from.

3. Contstrain lobbying. The government is supposed to represent US! As citizens we must demand a stop to all of this money being used to influence our elected officials.  This is starting to become a joke.

4.  We mu stdemand that our elected leaders only take a pledge to follow the Constitution.  These pledges to policies or deities,

5.  As a people we must stop getting our news from talking heads on the radio or TV.

6.  We must spend money to make money. Now our Government is just throwing our money away. They must spend money on projects that improve our infrastructure'

Don't even get me started !!!!

Frankly the media is, if not totally afraid, at least reluctant, to really press on the real issues of entertaini­ng Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann for president. It's their affiliatio­ns and  with evangelica­l groups of many descriptio­ns that bohers me.

The constituti­on prohibits any religious test for holding office. It does not prohibit the examinatio­n of ones beliefs who is running for office. These two start every speech with allegiance to God.

I remember when Jack Kennedy made his statement that, his holding of office would not be influenced by any papal decree, but only his adherence to defend and uphold the Constituti­on of the United States of America.

Would Rick Perry and or Michele Bachmann so declare their allegiance is to the same constituti­on and not to their view of establishi­ng the Kingdom of God for the return of Jesus. And do so publicly. Will the press ask this pertinent question?

These are scary times we're living in. And the fact that Michelle Bachmann is considered Presidenti­al material by ANYONE - including Michelle Bachmann!!­! - is proof positive of just HOW scary these times are. Don't even get me started in Rick Perry !

I have lived through this.

Businesses do not create jobs !

The ONLY reason any business hires, is to meet a demand for service or goods they cannot meet with their current number of employees.

The only way to have demand is to have a consumer class that has money to spend.

The only way to have money to spend is to have a job that pays enough, or have unemployme­nt benefits.

The former middle class (now gone) did several things trying to keep up with the wage stagnation of the past 40 years, and which fueled their spending: first, they sent the spouse to work outside the home for a second income (1950-1960­'s), then they borrowed on their credit cards (1970's - 1980's), then they borrowed against their houses.

That is all gone. There is a vast void where a spending middle class used to be. Nobody has any money.

Expecting businesses to create expensive jobs to meet no demand is ludicrous.

The only way to create jobs is to get money in people's hands, to spend.

I just don't see that happening.  The Politicians today are only worried about winning their next election.  They care little about the lifestyle of the average American. I also include Obama in this group.

Waiting for these clowns to make things better is a waste of time. Americans must stop buying products not produced here. We must support the start-up of new American companies owned and operated by Americans. I get tired of seeing people wearing Nike shoes of buying Chinese goods from Wallmart.

I just don't see the uneducated public doing anything to make things better and our politicians have already sold us out.

The new Ten Commandments!

1. Protect American financial systems from individual­/corporate corruption and greed. Absolute power.....­.
2. Protect the air we breath and the water we drink. Strict regulation to protect Americans from harmful pollutants in H2O & air is necessary for a productive and thriving workforce/­economy.
3. Protect America's natural resources. Leases on public land should go to the highest most qualified bidder.
4. Stay out of American bedrooms. Government should not have a say in who I chose to marry.
5. Stay out of a woman's womb. Government should not have a say on when woman chose to have a family.
6.  Protect our Safety net programs .
7.  Regulate the Health Care industry for the betterment of our citizens.
8.. Strengthen Public Education ,the backbone of America
9.  Eliminate the amount of money given to our politicians in the form of donations.(bribes)
10. Improve our Progressive tax code to prevent the wealthy from hoarding the majority of income.

What to do ?

The scary thing about free, democratic elections is that at the end of the day, when all the votes are counted it is the voters who makes the final choice. (Except for the 2000 Pres election when the Supreme Court held the Coronation of George the W)

Look at the quality of the voters who are making these choices.

They watch all the fake news programs  and believe what they see and hear are true.

They actually believe that either the government is going to try to take their guns or they'll have to use their guns to defend themselves from foreign invaders.

They think evolution is just some "idea", not having a clue what "Scientifi­c Theory" actually means. And Creationis­m...sorry, Intelligen­t Design should be taught in public schools.

These are our fellow Americans.

Don't blame bad government on bad politician­s. Blame the voters for making uninformed decisions.

More than any time in our history it's OK to be smart again.

It's amazing this country has survived for as long as it has.

I look at the people running for the Republican nomination and I say really ?  Does any voter think any of these morons has a clue. Really.

I voted for Obama because I thought he could make a difference. I was wrong. He is no better than the last group of Presidents we have had.  The Republicans running are not qualified to be President ,not even close. They are all a bunch of crack-pots.  What to do ? 

I am at a loss, vote for a President living in LALA Land or one of a group of morons who are actually dumber than they look.

We are screwed my friends. Screwed real bad.

Citizens United has ruined this country !

 

Where do corporate profits go?   A lot goes to investors, who do none of the production but get to pay a special low15% capital gains tax rate.
And a lot goes to top executives­, who now earn hundreds of times more than the typical corporatio­n worker.
Very little goes to taxes, as the phony "on paper" 35% rate is paid by virtually no corporatio­n. The  average real corporate tax rate is at the lowest point in decades, but what do corporatio­ns want? More tax breaks!

 

Citizens United has ruined this country, and that is an understate­ment. Nobody can compete with all of this corporate money flowing into races.  The Tea Party IS corporate money, that is why they were able to get their candidates elected. Elections take money, and the run of the mill Tea Partier  doesn't have it, but corporatio­ns do.

Unless congress legislates and puts restrictio­ns on Citizens United, say goodbye to freedom as we know it. You can thank the High Court for sticking up for the rights of corporations than people.
 

Recall Elections

I am writing this after the results of Wisconsins recall election. The Democrats did not regain control of the Senate . Some workers are happey about this and taking glee in the union defeat this morning.This has prompted me to share my story.

“I am retired and I have worked my whole life to make working conditions better in my field. I have fought to increase pay,shorte­n working hours,impr­ove working conditions and relations between employee and employer. During my tenure we have demanded a safer work environmen­t with better benifits. In short I was able to live a good middle class life with good health care and decent retirement income. If today's voters and workers want to give all of these gains up so be it. I stood up and demanded respect. If today's workers want the corporatio­ns to decide how they will be treated ,it's ok with me. I don't understand why workers want to be at the mercy of the the upper class; but have at .

All working people want to be respected  The problem , as I see it. is that there are truly lazy voters. They sit in front of their television­s with the 24/7 cycle of propaganda spewed out by Fox News "personali­ties" and believe the garbage they are being fed. They are told that the problem with our economy is the entitlemen­ts and that raising taxing on the rich will kill jobs, they are told that the unions are their enemy and the public school system should be demolished­. They are too lazy to find the facts so they vote they way they are told to vote by Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O. .

I also would like to add MSNBC, and other media , to the propaganda list. Although they do not support the Conservatives like FOX, they do not report the truth and therefore are themself responsible for all the disinformation and half truths that people hear. The public has a responsibility to demand the facts on issues but settle for tripe and corporate propaganda.  The fact that the media is able to convince working America that these untrue facts are correct saddens me. People are just too easy to fool.

776 Radar Station

 

 

This first part was written by Rick Chinn a fellow Airman.

About the 776th
Point Arena Air Force Station, aka the 776th Radar Squadron, was a small US Air Force installation located about 8 (straightline) miles from the town of Point Arena, California. If you stick to the road, it's more like 11 miles from the intersection of Highway 1 and Eureka Hill Road. Point Arena is located on the northern California coastline, about 150 miles north of San Francisco. This was a cold-war era radar site, whose mission was to look for hostile air traffic coming at us from over the horizon. As part of the SAGE system, there were height and search radars there, as well as radio gear to communicate with military aircraft in the area. With the end of the cold war came the end of the site's mission, and between 1980 and 1998, it became less and less a part of the big picture. It was finally decommissioned in 1998. The nearest Air Force Base was Hamilton AFB, near Novato CA, about 120 miles to the south.

It was considered a remote assignment, but if you were married, your family could accompany you there. Children went to the elementary school located in the town of Point Arena. I really don't recall where older kids went. Because of its remoteness, the site itself had many recreational amenities onsite. If you wanted to leave the hill, you had to have a car.

The drive to get there remains one of my favorite drives on the planet. From San Francisco, you travel north across the Golden Gate Bridge on Highway 101 to Santa Rosa. At Santa Rosa, you head west, on Highway 116 following the Russian River, one of the California Viticulture areas. Highway 116 ends at the town of Jenner By the Sea. Head south and you encounter the town of Bodega Bay, site of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. The schoolhouse used in the movie still stands today

Head north on Highway 1, about 50 miles, to the town of Point Arena. This is a twisty, windy road, with many switchbacks and tight turns. There are places where you can actually hit 60mph for a short time. Mostly it is 30-40mph, with many 15-25mph turns. If you see an arrow sign, be prepared to make a 90-degree turn in the direction of the arrow as the road follows a fjord in the coastline. In many places, the road hugs the coastline and it's redwoods on one side, Pacific Ocean on the other. In the right car, this is heaven on earth. In 1968, however, it was somewhat clogged by underpowered pickup truck-mounted campers and people dragging bulbous Airstream trailers up or down the coast. People were a bit less aware that they were impeding traffic then and I remember several hair raising moments trying to dodge one of these moving roadblocks. It seems better today, or maybe I've become more patient

Today the site is deserted, and a civilian caretaker lives onsite to try to prevent the remaining buildings from crumbling completely and as a deterrent to vandalism and squatting. Many of the buildings, such as the barracks, orderly room, and chow hall are already gone. The radars have been dismantled, although their structures remain. Some of the other buildings, such as the bowling alley are crumbling under their own weight.

My Time At the 776th

I was assigned there in Nov. of 1967. I spent almost two years working as a AC&W radar repairman. I worked on a large saearch radar set. I took care of the transmitters and every Friday I serviced the antenna.
I spent the first six months learning my job and working very long hours. I shared a room with a couple of different airmen over my two years.

I played on the units basketball team and went bowling once a week. After six months I bought a 1965 Austin Healey .  This began my love of driving on the costal highway.  I was also to begin a love affair with the greatest city in the world, San Francisco. To make extra money I operated the base movie theater and showed movies every Wed. and Sat. nights to people stationed on the base and their families.

I also spent a lot on nights at the NCO club watching tv or just drinking.  I visited ,and stayed ,with a lot of friends that lived in San Francisco and San Jose. They showed me the California lifestyle.  I really had fun and enjoyed my time there.

Sgt Gary Andres

We can fix our economy if we want to.

We can fix this. Get rid of all the Bush era tax cuts and use this revenue to hire workers to build new Infrastruc­ture projects that in turn will create jobs,build new bridges ,dams high speed rail lines and buildings. This will lower unemployme­nt and new workers will pay taxes that can be used pay down the debt. Is it possible to get these Tea Party morons to see the logic of it all? No ! They are not a group of average American workers but a group being used by Freedom Works and other well financed organizations that are run by Millionaires.  50% of the new Congressmen elected by the Tea Party are wealthy. These people have already ruined our credit rating and will push us into a longer and larger recession if left unchallenged.

Innuendo and snide remarks.

African Americans have been in this country longer than most white people. My family came from Italy and Poland in the 20's. I am just a second generation­ American. African Americans had more to do with the building of this country than my family did and I would like to thank them for welcoming us to their shores. As immigrants my grandparents did suffer some discrimination from other whites but none from Blacks.As for the people who can trace their history to the 16th century.,a­ll I can say is that immigrants did a lot of the back breaki­ng work to build this country and deserve respect,as does the President of the United States. I for one am getting tired of all the innuendo ans snide remarks. It just shows a lack of breading and parenting.
The only reason this country became great so fast were the immigrants who came to this shore with great ideas and a hard will to educate themselves and their children. My families third generation of children all have their College Degrees.  I often wonder if some of the problems we face in education is a direct result of inbreeding from our early settlers. I know it sounds mean but how else do you account for such ignorance from a people with so many riches and opportunities open to them?

There are choices !

Choices:

 Get serious about providing large numbers of jobs NOW. Financed by getting rid of the Bush tax cuts upon the wealthy 

OR Prepare yourself for outbreaks of violence as the poor and unemployed continue to suffer and lose hope.

There is no revolution coming. There is no organizati­on to lead it.
It is anarchy that is coming. Our leaders can either change their way of thinking, or we will all pay the price.

Any escalation­ of violence  will be a move into prosperous areas. And keep in mind. The young, the unemployed and the poor far outnumber any security force our country can put together with police, military etc.

Raise taxes on the rich to create jobs.
Or the poor will raise h e l l  in the cities.

This is the choice Mr Obama's government has to make.

Is protecting the rich so important? If so, why?
If they financed a recovery, they would soon recover the taxation they had paid!

But, if you prefer anarchy, do nothing but sit on your hands and it will come to you.

The time is now to do sonmething to help the unemployed and poor in this country.
The time is now ,not when its too late. People who are jobless will soon come out of their depression
and see the hopelessness of their position and strike out at the people in charge. This has happened through out history and will happen again. A society never lets the wealthy accumulate most of the money without looking for a solution or balance. The day is coming when all hell breaks loose.

The debt and where it came from.

“Facts are in such short supply in this tax and budget debate the country is having. As near as I can tell,Clint­on handed Bush a balanced budget and  6 trillion in debt. He also gave Bush an economy that was expected to create a 6 trillion surplus in ten years. Bush handed Obama a budget that was not balanced and a debt of between 10.5 and 11.5 trillion in debt. Obama added more debt in middle class tax cuts, Astimu­lus plan ,and A health care bill. The debt seems to be somewhere around 14 trillion with Obama and this recession responsibl­e for an additional 2 trillion in debt. Why blame Obama for all of this debt. It seems that no one on either side likes to take a look back at history. And please stop talking about SSI. This is the only gov. program that has supplied surplusses over the last 10 yrs.  You must also remember that 2.5 trillion of this debt are loans to the SSI Trust Fund.  The only way out of a recession is for the Gov. to spend more money and put people back to work. With the Tea Party influence we are doing just the opposite.

Why do I pray to God every day ?

  This is my view on the history of Religion . I know it's simple but Just some thoughts I have on the subject.Gods became men. Lot's of Gods. We get Greek and Roman mythologie­s which is what Christiani­ty is most closely based upon. These Gods even behaved much like their human counterpar­ts basically having a giant Soap Opera in the sky. They had human foibles and did all sorts of human things like love and hate and mess around on each other sometimes with other Gods and sometimes with humans creating half gods.
Finally the Jewish people took the big step and narrowed all those confusing gods down to just one. This explains the commandmen­t, "Thou shall not have any Gods before me". The people of the time actually thought that there we other Gods and were told that this new and improved God was better than all those Gods.
And so on.
My point is, your brain has been hard-wired by evolution to deny death. From what I have observed, there is a common thread between all religions and it's not how many Gods there are or what they stand for exactly, it's the belief that in one way or another we never die.
That thought is completely irrational­. We see things die around us every day, we just can't accept that it applies to us as individual­s as well. If you do not fear death, there is no reason for religion. Most people, biological­ly fear death. Only the mind can free you of your fear.

Then why do I pray to God every day ?  I don't know. Sometimes you can't think about religion too much but just take comfort from it. I do believe though that the God our churches talk about can't be as they portray . How can a God create man in his image ,with free will, and demand that he must accept 100% that he,God ,is real?  Please do not give me that crap about faith. I believe that if God was real he would judge a man, who had doubts,  in a better light if he lived his life according to Christian morals and law. Why should a man that follows Christian beliefs, because he is scared of death or Hell, be granted an afterlife?  It seems that a man who lives a good life because it is the moral and right thing to do would be granted an afterlife too. How about  men who grew up in other faiths ; are we to believe that God would turn his back on these millions just because they are not Christians. No this can't be true and this is the problem I have with Religion that is created by men.  I am not sure if there is a God or an afterlife. I am not sure how or what I even bekieve in. I do know that all I can do ,as a man, Is to try to lead a clean and honerable life and the end result be damned.

It's not that hard !

I can offer a five point solution to fix the debt problem we have.

1.  Let the Bush tax cuts end for all Americans.
2.  Drop Medicare part D and regulate the price of drugs for seniors.
     Place some cost controles on health care. It is a necessity.
3.  Close  1/3 of the 700 military bases around the world and withdraw from
Japan,Korea.Iraq,Cuba,Germany,and others.
4.  Close loop holes so that everylagre corporation pays taxes.
5.  Leave SSI alone because it is the only government program that usually runs a surpluss.

SSI is vital for the elderly ,now more than ever.

The average annual Social Security retirement benefit last year was $13,406.40, slightly above the $10,289 federal poverty line for individuals age 65 and older, but less than the minimum wage. While modest in size, Social Security benefits comprise a substantial share of household income for most elderly recipients. Originally designed to complement savings and retirement income, Social Security has instead become the primary source of income among this group.
According to  data, for the poorest 40 percent of 65-and-older households, Social Security payouts constitute more than four-fifths of total income. Even retirement-age middle- and upper-middle-class households rely heavily on Social Security, with benefits making up nearly two-thirds of middle-class household incomes and more than two-fifths of upper-middle-class household incomes. The highest income group relies less on Social Security, but that is largely due to the fact that almost half of their income comes from earnings, meaning that they are still working.
Social Security benefits are not a windfall, but a lifeline. With benefits so modest, Congress should be focused on raising them, not cutting them by reducing the cost-of-living adjustment or raising the retirement age. Sadley that is just the opposite of what Congress is talking about.

I hope that Americans wise up before Congress keeps the money borrowed from the fund and does impliment cuts .  They will do this instead of raising taxes of any kind. AARP needs to do a better job of looking out for the interests of the elderly.

Tax the top 2% at a higher rate.

97% of small business owners are not in the top 2% income percentile­, so eliminatin­g the Bush Tax cuts on that group wouldn't effect them at all.

The top 2% don't use their tax cuts for job creation here, they either hoard it or invest it overseas which creates jobs for India and China.

What drives the lion's share of small businesses in this nation are low income consumers who put every penny of their income into the economy and a thriving middle-cla­ss with disposable income. You start cutting the salaries of teachers, firefighte­rs and cops...you damage the economy. You start driving down the wages of workers and cutting benefits to give CEO's $10-60M salaries..­.you damage the economy. You cut the social programs workers have funded their whole lives...yo­u damage the economy.

The bottom 98% matter to the health of our economy, the top 2% do not.
The big lie right now coming out of the right-wing propaganda machine is that the rich are the job creators. No - it is the people who buy stuff who are the job creators. Without demand, our country is going down the tubes. What makes this whole thing sad is that Tea Party dolts think that taxing the top 2% is bad for America. What is sad is that the average Republican would rather cut social programs for the poor and aged than see the top 2% pay a little more. Do they hate Obama that much that they can't see the forest for the trees ?

I am a spiritual person .

I know that I am not a person who likes to go to church. I find it to be a waste of my time. I would spend the majority of my time ,in church ,thinking about what I would do once the mass was over.  I do feel though that I am a spriritual person who lives his life as a good Christian. I am not a slave for money and would gladly give my last dime to a person that needed it. I am a conservative person by nature. That is how I live my life. I agree with the Progressive agenda though. I guess that you could call me a Teddy Roosevelt Progressive.  I believe in a progressive tax, conservation, regulation to control large corporations,and term limits to prevent politicians from becoming too powerful. I do have trouble with todays Christians and their support of the Republican Party.  I find it hard to believe that a serious Christian would support platform that would advocate,and support,a plan that would allow the reduction of social programs that help the poor while at the same time allowing the wealthy to receive continued tax cuts.  These tax cuts should and would help make the lives of the middle class and poor that much easier to handle.

 A church, or a nation, that ignores its poor or places stumbling blocks in their way, whose supreme good is Money, is very far from the spirit of God. These words express my feelings on the situation the country is in today.  As a Christian nation do we have to look for Bible Quotes to support the Tea Party position on this subject. Really ? As good Christians do we not know what Christ would want us to do ! 

The right thing for a spiritual nation would be to help provide good health care to its citizens,good education to all children and a fair tax code that provides relief for the poor and a progressive increase for those that can afford it.

Then and Now !

After the corporatio­ns pay their fair share.  As their share of tax revenues goes down, the burden of funding this nation is shifted on to the backs of the middle class.

Corporate Taxes as a Percentage of Federal Revenue
1955 . . . 27.3%
2010 . . . 8.9%

Corporate Taxes as a Percentage of GDP
1955 . . . 4.3%
2010 . . . 1.3%

Individual Income/Pay­rolls as a Percentage of Federal Revenue
1955 . . . 58.0%
2010 . . . 81.5%

http://www­.ritholtz.­com/blog/2­011/04/cor­porate-tax­-rates-the­n-and-now/

Scapegoati­ng the poor just shows how little you understand what is really going on.

Their Dirty Little Secret

As I’ve be posting for a while now trillions of your Social Security money has been looted by Wall Street,large corporations and the richest 1 % of the population. The economic crisis has made this fact much more evident to the average person. Now that these elaborate schemes are coming undone and major cuts to vital social programs are beginning to be implemented, the American public is going to get a harsh wake-up call.

In 1983 Reagan ,along with the Congress,raised the tax on Social Security tax to provide surpluses for the retirement of the baby boomer generation. Over the last ten years the Congress borrowed and spent this money on two wars and huge tax cuts all of which benefited the wealthy in America.  These loans were secured with T-Bills and bonds payable when the SSI Trust Fund would run any deficits.

 The cost of Social Security benefits will exceed payroll tax revenue by approximately $29 billion this year, because of the severe recession which has reduced payroll tax revenue at the very time that many unemployed Americans have been forced to retire early.  The Government must accept these T-Bills and pay them to the trust fund with interest.

The government’s $2.5 trillion debt to Social Security is the real reason that so many politicians want to cut benefits. They are trying to find a way to avoid having to repay the looted money.  They need to find a way to convince the public that their retirement is not going to be there if they do not enact cuts now and raise the retirement age otherwise they would have to raise taxes on their wealthy friends.

The American people were not supposed to find out about the great Social Security scam for another six years, and the government was hoping to continue to receive surplus money from the Social Security contributions of working Americans for at least that long.  But the inevitable day of reckoning has come, six years sooner than anybody expected, because of the severe recession.  And the government of the United States has been caught with its hand still in the empty Social Security cookie jar

The question now ,since your leaders are lying to you, will the American workers ever figure out that their hard earned money will notbe paid to them because Wealthy Republicans ,and Tea Party learers, do not want to tax their rich friends . They would rather stiff the workers of the U.S. out of their own money.
Will the public wake up and demand their money be replaced?  I think not because both parties,along with the Media, will never spell this DIRTY LITTLE SECRET out so that stupid Americans can understand. Sometimes I think people deserve to take it up their ass. They are all so slow witted and gullible.

Shameful

Shameful that a deal to raise the debt ceiling passed today  8/1/2011. 

Shameful that anyone from the Democratic Party should applaud this deal when it puts more burden on the middle class.

Shameful that this is not a balanced deal and requires more sacrifice from those who have already suffered plenty from the follies of Wall Street and the previous administra­tion.

Shameful that this deal cuts programs thereby adding an increased cost of living to those who can sorely afford it.

Shameful that this will further hurt our economy causing an increase in job losses by further restrictin­g spending vitally needed to grow the economy instead.

Most shameful?

That so-called liberals/d­emocrats are more willing to score a victory for their side than to fight for those in need

Even more shameful is that Obama will sign it just to get it over with so he can concentrate on his election to a second term.  Little does he know !

The progressive income tax is the only fair tax.

The progressive income tax is the only fair tax. It looks at both the ability of its citizens to pay taxes and places the burden of taxation on those who benefit most from government spending. The primary role of government is to protect the rights of property, and guarantee equal opportunity for all its citizens. Since wealthier people tend to have more property and benefit most from government spending on infrastructure , public education , national defense and yes social safety nets, like social security, medicare and medicaid , the police departments and fire departments (protect property rights), they should thus carry a greater share of the tax burden. It is like purchasing 8 slice pizza pie with 5 other people, if you eat 4 slices of that 8 slice pizza pie then it is only fair that you pay for those 4 slices.

I do agree that our tax code needs an overhall. We should exempt the first 10,000 per individual dependent, and then a graduated income tax on all income above this 10,000 amount based on how big of the slice of the pie you consume. It should always be adjusted for inflation every year. Even Republicans like Ronald Reagan felt that a progressive tax was fair to all and good for the country.  In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.

Today many Tea Party Members and Republicans want to complain that 50 % of people pay no income tax.  What many of these politicians neglect to tell the public is that the majority of them are wealthy and have no desire to protect the interests of the less fortunate. They actually show their distain for working people by attacking Public education and many of the safety net programs put into effect the last 80 yrs.

The Bad Deal !

Isn't the Democratic party supposed to be the party to oppose the Republicans when they offer bad policy, especially when polls show that a majority of Americans don't share the GOP obsession with spending cuts?  Americans favored revenue increases along with spending cuts to settle the debt ceiling impasse.
After all, you can't blame the Republicans for advancing their agenda. And while using blackmail and putting the country's economic condition in peril may be amoral, it's pointless to expect the John Boehners of the world to stand up to that amorality.
No, it's on the Democrats, who,  control two of the three institutions necessary to make a deal, to stand up to what I see as the destruction of our safety net.
It's the job of the Democrats to stand firm that not one dollar of spending should be cut before tax cuts are rolled back for the wealthiest Americans, tax breaks are discontinued for corporate jets, and subsidies are discarded for large oil companies raking in copious profits.
In short, the Democrats did more than just cave. They actually adopted the Republican position, and then engaged in a debate on how extreme that Republican position was. Really !  The Democrats have the public opinion on their side and they still roll over. Why ?  This will go down in history as the start of the downfall of the Democratic Party. I will look to other men or parties who show a willing to fight for the positions that I ,and many others ,feel are important to the future of the good people of the United States.

We had Teddy's Square Deal
We had FDR's New Deal
We have Obama's Bad Deal

The job of the party in power is to represent the majority of the people in the country.  I give the Democrats and Obama an "F". There are many more fights to come and I hope that the President takes his gloves off and faces the enemy head on because the wealthy members of the Tea Party are really the enemies of America.