fogw, what’s your professional background, general field only? You may opt not to answer, of course.

Entelechy on March 5, 2008 at 5:18 PM

Systems Engineering, Broadband Telecommunications

It’s a recurring dilemma, isn’t it my friend?

fogw on March 5, 2008 at 2:44 PM

Only education could fix it, but it’s in the hands of the liberal unions, and the liberals in general. No hope.

fogw, what’s your professional background, general field only? You may opt not to answer, of course.

Before the economic slowdown/recession started federal revenue was at an all time high and the percentage of GNP taken by takes rose after the Bush tax cuts.

“Lower Taxes” is just code for let’s stick our kids with the bill for our excessive spending.

Republicans used to want to leave our kids a better America.

Shame on us.

Channel zzzzzzeeeeeeeee!

Ample reservoir, though.

Entelechy on March 5, 2008 at 2:19 PM

It’s a recurring dilemma, isn’t it my friend?

Look out for the NARwal!

Not to be too nasty, but all of you who voted the Dems into power in 2006-welcome to the reality you helped create. Jerks.

Doug

Correct. If only we had removed all restraint from the Republicans who had raised discretionary spending more than Democrats; then we’d have fiscal responsibility…

Wait, that doesn’t make any sense…

Heritage.org, from 2006:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/tst021606a.cfm

“Non-defense discretionary spending has grown twice as fast under President Bush as under President Clinton.”

Yep, I fear what the Democrats will do. They raised spending nearly half as fast as Republicans… ooooh, scary.

But we’re jerks… are we jerks because we don’t want spending that increases twice this fast? There wasn’t another choice. Dems with X increase, or Repubs with X * 2 increase. Why is picking the Dems being “jerks”?

Or did you want really really high spending?

Have I missed anything?

Sounds like they want to trade the “Shining City on a Hill” for a “Cold, Dark Snakepit in a Cave”.

They aren’t fooling anyone but the fools.

fogw on March 5, 2008 at 11:47 AM

Ample reservoir, though.

Of course, some beknighted fools assume that they will not be the ones taking it in the neck when the next tax bill comes due.

The spending would push the federal deficit to more than $350 billion in fiscal 2009, but Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said the blueprint would erase the deficit within four years, producing a $160 billion surplus in 2013.

To get there, however, Democrats assume all of President Bush’s first-term tax cuts would expire on schedule in 2010, bringing in billions in revenue. But if the most popular tax measures were extended, as the two Democratic presidential candidates have promised, the surplus would all but evaporate, Conrad said.

A five year plan that the communist Chinese would be proud of.

If education for Americans is so important they should then be adamant about stopping immigration and shutting down the NEA. When companies can’t import someone else’s subsidized education or cheap tech., they’ll start subsidizing the education for the workers they need here.

NoDonkey on March 5, 2008 at 11:28 AM

Try living in Hawaii

How the heck do I unquote????? Help please.

Blight on March 5, 2008 at 12:02 PM

Thats expensive chocolate.

Exit question: Didn’t the Republicans do the same thing when they were in the majority?

WayWard Fundamentalist Christian on March 5, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Well, yes. And the Democrats still hate them. The irony is that Bush has implemented as much if not more liberal programs that Bill Clinton, and liberals still hate G.W.

Difference is that while G.W. Bush is dismantling the global political establishment, Bill Clinton was content with simply dismantling the U.S. political establishment.

Kinda scary, if you think about it.

Well, yeah, that’s what you get with people in Washington DC.

Exit question: Didn’t the Republicans do the same thing when they were in the majority?

WayWard Fundamentalist Christian on March 5, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Uh…kind of. But those here and on the left who play both sides on the spending debacle use the GOP’s pigginess to equate the two parties. You can’t.

Yes, we need to gut the Senate of GOP pigs and elect budget hawks. But there is still zero comparison between the left and right on money.

Ahem. Let’s see if we have this straight. While Democrats running for President offer tax cuts to the “middle class”, their counterparts in Congress assume that they won’t get put into place while crafting the next budget. That certainly sends a mixed message, somewhat along the lines of Barack Obama’s NAFTA Dance.

Nice, Ed. Who says Obama hasn’t been in the Senate long enough to learn anything?

“The next time you hear a politician use the word “billion” in a casual
manner, think about whether you want the “politicians” spending YOUR tax
money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency
did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its
releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our
government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let’s take a look at New
Orleans It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for
$250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it
mean?

A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man,
woman, child), you each get $516,528.

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets
$1,329,787.

C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D.C. … HELLO!!! … Are all your calculators broken??”

Yikes

Exit question: Didn’t the Republicans do the same thing when they were in the majority?

Clinton’s last federal budget – 2001 = $1.9 trillion

Bush’s last federal budget – 2009 = $3.0 trillion

A 57% increase.

I doubt the Dems will do any worse.

Passing our debt on to our children isn’t really fiscal responsibility…it won’t kill the current generation to actually pay for their government services.

alphie on March 5, 2008 at 11:34 AM

Well, yeah, they can do a lot worse if they try to do it with additional taxes on taxpayers rather than increased tax revenue generated through capital freed up by reduced taxes. There is a world of difference.

Paging David Walker… oh that’s right, he’s left the building.