• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PoliGAF 2012 Community Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.

Clevinger

Member
"ppppolls
Romney's net favorability with TX Republicans have improved 43 pts since January! Was 44/44, now 66/23"

Can't wait for the same thing to happen with independents and Obama's lead vanishing.
 

Zero Hero

Member
Is it easier to make ends meet? Is it easier to sell your home or buy a new one? Have you saved what you needed for retirement? Are you making more in your job? Do you have a better chance to get a better job? Do you pay less at the pump?

Yes for all but the last question. No thanks to the GOP for any of it except for the price of gas being as high as it is.

And you would have to be stupid to buy any of that bullshit.
 

Tim-E

Member
"ppppolls
Romney's net favorability with TX Republicans have improved 43 pts since January! Was 44/44, now 66/23"

Can't wait for the same thing to happen with independents and Obama's lead vanishing.

How can Obama's lead with vanishing when he isn't leading Texas?
 

RDreamer

Member
Mitt Romney's Shit Speech said:
I see an America with a growing middle class, with rising standards of living. I see children even more successful than their parents - some successful even beyond their wildest dreams – and others congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it.

asdkjfalksjdflkajfdLKJA AAAAGGHHHH! I swear I just want to punch any person that uses this stupid fucking phrase. Like, I get a physical, seething anger whenever some shitface republican talks about how people are attacking them for their achievements. No one's attacking you, you pieces of shit, but if you keep it up I swear to god I will.

Also, the middle class isn't growing, Mitt.
 
That line is good cable news fodder. It all depends on which way the economy is moving in the next 6 months.

I mean, that's the main thing that will determine the election outcome.

But, Romney talking about fairness does no good to him. If economy is improving and Romney brings fairness into the debate, he is toast.

Romney is officially starting his GE campaign today. Obama needs to kick it into gear too.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
So when you joining the Romney campaign PD?

It is always curious to see Hilary folks warp their original standards and philosophy to attack Obama. It made the Tea Party look like a High School Logic club. You basically couldn't slide a credit card between Hilary and Obama on policy and style, but when Obama got the nod the Hilary hystericals acted like it was Hitler Versus Santa. I remember that old Jewish lady (host) on Air America went fucking MENTAL and turned into a racist overnight after Obama won the primary. It was absolutely shocking and bizarre.
 
It is always curious to see Hilary folks warp their original standards and philosophy to attack Obama. It made the Tea Party look like a High School Logic club. You basically couldn't slide a credit card between Hilary and Obama on policy and style, but when Obama got the nod the Hilary hystericals acted like it was Hitler Versus Santa. I remember that old Jewish lady (host) on Air America went fucking MENTAL and turned into a racist overnight after Obama won the primary. It was absolutely shocking and bizarre.

aw i missed that, link?
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
I'm also confused by Phoenix Dark.

Is he trolling? Cause he doesn't simply try to tell gaffers to "stay cautious" about an Obama victory. He is full-on playing devil's advocate, even sounding like a GOP pundit half the time.

If it's not trolling and actually his opinions he is posting, it's quite sad to see how a person's political views and rationale can be so fickle that you can fall from one extreme end of the political spectrum into an another. "I'm disillusioned by Obama, therefore the other guy is good!"


This is the only thing I'll say about PD, because it's annoying how he manages to make himself the biggest subject of this thread...
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
I'm also confused by Phoenix Dark.

Is he trolling? Cause he doesn't simply try to tell gaffers to "stay cautious" about an Obama victory. He is full-on playing devil's advocate, even sounding like a GOP pundit half the time.

If it's not trolling and actually his opinions he is posting, it's quite sad to see how a person's political views and rationale can be so fickle that you can fall from one extreme end of the political spectrum into an another. "I'm disillusioned by Obama, therefore the other guy is good!"


This is the only thing I'll say about PD, because it's annoying how he manages to make himself the biggest subject of this thread...

My hatred of the Yankees allows me to say they are shit at playing baseball, even though they win a lot.
 
But, Romney talking about fairness does no good to him. If economy is improving and Romney brings fairness into the debate, he is toast.

Please bring it up, Mitt.

I want the guy paying 13.9% tax on $20 MILLION (and who wants to cut that by another 20%) to talk about 'fairness'. Please . . . bring it up.
 

Clevinger

Member
Please bring it up, Mitt.

I want the guy paying 13.9% tax on $20 MILLION (and who wants to cut that by another 20%) to talk about 'fairness'. Please . . . bring it up.

It might not be 13.9 when it actually comes out. I think Romney will be the first person in the history of America to ask his accountant to try and make him pay more taxes than he needs to.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
It might not be 13.9 when it actually comes out. I think Romney will be the first person in the history of America to ask his accountant to try and make him pay more taxes than he needs to.

Heard on radio the other day that one of the reasons McCain ignored him as a Veep candidate was his troubling tax records. Let's see how that rolls out.
 
Polls, polls everywhere!

http://www.nationaljournal.com/topl...s-april-23-2012-20120423#.T5aGj_XgVes.twitter

Obama beats Romney 47-39

Democrats win generic House ballot 46-43. 3 point margin is on the cusp of winning it back.

They also polled generic Senate ballot, which is weird considering there's not a senator up in every state, but Democrats lead 50-39 on that.

Troubling is that a plurality answered that government could get more done if Congress/White House control was split between the parties. What planet are these people living on
 

Particle Physicist

between a quark and a baryon

KingK

Member
Troubling is that a plurality answered that government could get more done if Congress/White House control was split between the parties. What planet are these people living on

There are tons of people like that, and the cause is that they
a.) don't pay attention and
b.) believe the logical fallacy that a compromise/middle ground is always the best route.
 
I'm also confused by Phoenix Dark.

Is he trolling? Cause he doesn't simply try to tell gaffers to "stay cautious" about an Obama victory. He is full-on playing devil's advocate, even sounding like a GOP pundit half the time.

If it's not trolling and actually his opinions he is posting, it's quite sad to see how a person's political views and rationale can be so fickle that you can fall from one extreme end of the political spectrum into an another. "I'm disillusioned by Obama, therefore the other guy is good!"


This is the only thing I'll say about PD, because it's annoying how he manages to make himself the biggest subject of this thread...
Hillary44 people are just insane. Worse than Paulites. So blinded by Obumba stealing Hillary's victory, they would rather cheer for an asshole who will destroy the progress of past 4 years than elect an usurper who stole Her Majesty Queen Hillary's rightful throne.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Hillary44 people are just insane. Worse than Paulites. So blinded by Obumba stealing Hillary's victory, they would rather cheer for an asshole who will destroy the progress of past 4 years than elect an usurper who stole Her Majesty Queen Hillary's rightful throne.

Funny thing is, every Obama person I knew at the time, including myself (actually, I wasn't even "Obama People" per se) thought that it didn't matter who got the nom. Either way we felt like we were going to get a great, strong, intelligent candidate to clean up the Bush mess and dong on McCain. And likewise, the Hilary folks I knew personally felt roughly the same way.

But the Hilaryis44 people went fucking nuts. I saw hysteria, racism, just sheer insanity. Was a real eye opener.
 
Looks like Romney is planning quite a barn burner speech tonight to set off the general election

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-its-still-about-economy-were-not-stupid

Great line!

He also plans on addressing fairness (in one of the weaker parts of the speech imo): http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-to-lay-out-fairness-agenda-in-primetime

Have you not been following Romney? He's said that line (and basically everything there) for about the last week
 
I'm also confused by Phoenix Dark.

Is he trolling? Cause he doesn't simply try to tell gaffers to "stay cautious" about an Obama victory. He is full-on playing devil's advocate, even sounding like a GOP pundit half the time.

If it's not trolling and actually his opinions he is posting, it's quite sad to see how a person's political views and rationale can be so fickle that you can fall from one extreme end of the political spectrum into an another. "I'm disillusioned by Obama, therefore the other guy is good!"


This is the only thing I'll say about PD, because it's annoying how he manages to make himself the biggest subject of this thread...
Just learn to appreciate him for what he is. The dude is a master of his craft, but on the downside you can never be too sure if he's being serious. Can somebody post that Obama personality complex he posted once? I'd love to see it again.
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
The WSJ had their token non-ultra right wing view point article today (thus meeting their quota for the rest of the year) about higher taxes on the rich not likely destroying the world economy:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303425504577353843997820160.html

As usual, the comments section is very revealing. 90% of the people disagreeing with the article's premise are dismissing it simply based on the fact that the columnists are egghead, latte-sipping, Academia dwelling perfessors who never worked in the "private sector" a day in their lives. A few people try to go into detail as to WHY they think the article's incorrect, but don't really providing much compelling arguments.
 

Chichikov

Member
Funny thing is, every Obama person I knew at the time, including myself (actually, I wasn't even "Obama People" per se) thought that it didn't matter who got the nom. Either way we felt like we were going to get a great, strong, intelligent candidate to clean up the Bush mess and dong on McCain. And likewise, the Hilary folks I knew personally felt roughly the same way.
I think you forget just how heated the primary was, even around these parts.
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Funny thing is, every Obama person I knew at the time, including myself (actually, I wasn't even "Obama People" per se) thought that it didn't matter who got the nom. Either way we felt like we were going to get a great, strong, intelligent candidate to clean up the Bush mess and dong on McCain. And likewise, the Hilary folks I knew personally felt roughly the same way.

But the Hilaryis44 people went fucking nuts. I saw hysteria, racism, just sheer insanity. Was a real eye opener.

So what you're saying is that, once again we have empirical evidence that Democrats are the TRUE racists?
 

Chumly

Member
The WSJ had their token non-ultra right wing view point article today (thus meeting their quota for the rest of the year) about higher taxes on the rich not likely destroying the world economy:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303425504577353843997820160.html

As usual, the comments section is very revealing. 90% of the people disagreeing with the article's premise are dismissing it simply based on the fact that the columnists are egghead, latte-sipping, Academia dwelling perfessors who never worked in the "private sector" a day in their lives. A few people try to go into detail as to WHY they think the article's incorrect, but don't really providing much compelling arguments.

I read a few of the arguments and its amazing what a brainwashed party conservatives have become.
 
The WSJ had their token non-ultra right wing view point article today (thus meeting their quota for the rest of the year) about higher taxes on the rich not likely destroying the world economy:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303425504577353843997820160.html

As usual, the comments section is very revealing. 90% of the people disagreeing with the article's premise are dismissing it simply based on the fact that the columnists are egghead, latte-sipping, Academia dwelling perfessors who never worked in the "private sector" a day in their lives. A few people try to go into detail as to WHY they think the article's incorrect, but don't really providing much compelling arguments.

Today's Planet Money had a good story on what needs to be done to REALLY cut the deficit if you are serious about the budget.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/24/151224338/were-headed-for-a-fiscal-cliff-should-we-jump

Basically . . . let all the Bush tax cuts expire, cut various deductions, cut spending, etc.
 
Two blue dogs down - Tim Holden (to attorney Matt Cartwright) and Jason Altmire (to fellow Rep. Mark Critz).

Critz isn't much better, but Cartwright should be able to hold down Holden's district (it's D+5ish now).
 

AlteredBeast

Fork 'em, Sparky!
Today's Planet Money had a good story on what needs to be done to REALLY cut the deficit if you are serious about the budget.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/24/151224338/were-headed-for-a-fiscal-cliff-should-we-jump

Basically . . . let all the Bush tax cuts expire, cut various deductions, cut spending, etc.

So everything that i have been saying for months. Shame that instead of sanity, you get ridiculous budgets from Paul Ryan and things that get zero votes like Obama's proposal.
 
Today's Planet Money had a good story on what needs to be done to REALLY cut the deficit if you are serious about the budget.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/24/151224338/were-headed-for-a-fiscal-cliff-should-we-jump

Basically . . . let all the Bush tax cuts expire, cut various deductions, cut spending, etc.

And watch the economy sink again, all to make two numbers match each other for no discernible reason. It's like a weird numerology cult. Like everybody has turned into the guy from the movie Pi.
 

zchen

Member
I've stopped taking any of PD's how Romney will win comments seriously and prefer to read them out in my mind with as much sarcastic tone as possible.
 

Miletius

Member
Today's Planet Money had a good story on what needs to be done to REALLY cut the deficit if you are serious about the budget.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/24/151224338/were-headed-for-a-fiscal-cliff-should-we-jump

Basically . . . let all the Bush tax cuts expire, cut various deductions, cut spending, etc.

He also mentions, however, that ultimately if Washington could solve problems like Health Care then a lot of this talk would be unneeded. He's appealing to our notion that Washington is too broken to do actual problem solving. In response Americans are supposed to accept Greek-like austerity measures.

He's probably just playing devil's advocate though, there's no way he could seriously think that raising taxes on the middle class in addition to everything else he mentions on the broadcast is a good idea. Some of it, sure.
 
Today's Planet Money had a good story on what needs to be done to REALLY cut the deficit if you are serious about the budget.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/24/151224338/were-headed-for-a-fiscal-cliff-should-we-jump

Basically . . . let all the Bush tax cuts expire, cut various deductions, cut spending, etc.

Just read the article itself, and it's terrible:

NPR said:
[Simon Johnson] argues that a tax hike is necessary to pay for Social Security and especially Medicare, which is projected to become significantly more expensive in the coming decade.

If you want to keep social insurance in place in a sustainable fashion, you need revenue. ... In the United States today, your main chance for getting revenue is don't extend the bush era tax cuts. Have an increase in taxes for people at the higher end, for sure, but also throughout the middle class.

This is just so wrong on so many levels, and, amazingly, not just from the realist perspective. In the first place, even if you wrongly believe, despite all common sense, that taxes "pay" for government spending, social insurance is still not "paid for" by "revenue" collected by income taxes, but from separate "revenue" collected by payroll taxes. Raising income taxes does not affect the "solvency" of social insurance unless and until Congress changes the law requiring that social security payments not exceed the amount of money the government taxes via the payroll tax. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will have no affect on that under current law.

In the real world, and exactly contrary to what Johnson said, if you want to keep social insurance in place in a sustainable fashion, you don't need revenue. The government can always meet its obligations to pay money, notwithstanding revenue. So if you want to keep social insurance in place, all that has to happen is that the Congress direct the government to pay for it. Period. If the government stops paying for it, that will have been a pure political choice, i.e., the execution of class warfare against America's middle class. And Democrats and Republicans will have done it together. In this era of plutocracy and corruption, who says that bipartisanship is dead?

MIT should be embarrassed.
 
Today's Planet Money had a good story on what needs to be done to REALLY cut the deficit if you are serious about the budget.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/24/151224338/were-headed-for-a-fiscal-cliff-should-we-jump

Basically . . . let all the Bush tax cuts expire, cut various deductions, cut spending, etc.
Just letting the Bush tax cuts expire and the cuts in the debt limit deal go through is probably going to do wonders for the deficit.

Of course, something like the Communistngressional Progressive Caucus' plan would be even better, but I doubt anything after the 2012 elections is going to look like that. It'd need a perfect storm.

(In theory, if Democrats still held control of the Senate while winning the House, they could pass a massive budget bill through reconciliation. I'm not that optimistic)
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Somebody at Dailykos made a good point today. If social security and medicare could go bankrupt, why can't the pentagon as well?
 

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
Somebody at Dailykos made a good point today. If social security and medicare could go bankrupt, why can't the pentagon as well?

its an argument I have made before. Why don't we have to "fund" conflicts? I imagine blowing up brown people in far away lands would be a lot less popular if it meant large tax increases during war time.
 
JIn the real world, and exactly contrary to what Johnson said, if you want to keep social insurance in place in a sustainable fashion, you don't need revenue. The government can always meet its obligations to pay money, notwithstanding revenue. So if you want to keep social insurance in place, all that has to happen is that the Congress direct the government to pay for it. Period. If the government stops paying for it, that will have been a pure political choice, i.e., the execution of class warfare against America's middle class. And Democrats and Republicans will have done it together. In this era of plutocracy and corruption, who says that bipartisanship is dead?

MIT should be embarrassed.

So you think the government should just print money? Is that what MMT is? Magic Money Theory? If you do that your currency will tank and you'll just have massive inflation. It is not like countries haven't tried that before. We've run that experiment. It doesn't work well.

People already think our currency is in trouble . . . you do that, it will be.
 
Maybe not. It will be interesting to see if there continues to be an anti-Romney vote. Maybe Newt will get a resurgence? maybe Ron Paul will bring in more than 10%. Maybe people will continue to vote for Santorum.

It will be very interesting to see the turn-out and what the total of Romney votes versus not-Romney votes is.

I have no idea what will happen.
Welp . . . that sucked. I was hoping for at least one state where the sum of the anti-Romney vote was more than the Romney vote. But nope. He got more than 50% in every contest.

He won. It is all over.
But Ron Paul as ALL the delegates.
 
So you think the government should just print money? Is that what MMT is? Magic Money Theory? If you do that your currency will tank and you'll just have massive inflation. It is not like countries haven't tried that before. We've run that experiment. It doesn't work well.

People already think our currency is in trouble . . . you do that, it will be.

I think he's arguing more along the lines of how much of a farce it is that social insurance is tied to payroll taxes, meanwhile when we go to war we just borrow.

Everyone talks about how SS will be broke in say 2033 or whatever it is now ignoring that we could simply print money to cover it, but even less so, borrow like we do right now to cover it.

Anyway, it's high time we get rid of FICA and just have an income tax. Then these things would stop being politicized to the extent they are. The money all goes into the general fund (or according to EV in a wastebin) together. Where it comes from means nothing.

If SS goes "broke" it's because our gov't doesn't want to fund it, period. It's not because it actually goes broke...
 
I listened to the Romney speech. Meh. Nice flag-waving and saying 'America' over & over. But no solid policy prescriptions. Well, I guess it wasn't the forum for that.
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
I listened to the Romney speech. Meh. Nice flag-waving and saying 'America' over & over. But no solid policy prescriptions. Well, I guess it wasn't the forum for that.

But think about all the grandparents that can't visit their kids cause Obama won't allow drilling in Yosemite. :(
 

eznark

Banned
I listened to the Romney speech. Meh. Nice flag-waving and saying 'America' over & over. But no solid policy prescriptions. Well, I guess it wasn't the forum for that.

It was a really good speech from a terrible candidate. But c'mon, a primary victory speech isn't the time for policy prescriptions, it's a time for soaring rhetoric and throwing out as many quotable one-liners as you can.
 
So you think the government should just print money? Is that what MMT is? Magic Money Theory? If you do that your currency will tank and you'll just have massive inflation. It is not like countries haven't tried that before. We've run that experiment. It doesn't work well.

People already think our currency is in trouble . . . you do that, it will be.

You do not understand the monetary system. You also do not understand what inflation is. You also do not understand how inflation is caused or how it is controlled. You also do not understand that the monetary system fundamentally changed in 1971 (the US voluntarily defaulted and created a new currency). It is also not true that "we've run that experiment." It is also not true that I think the government "should just print money." It is true that I think the US government can and should spend more money, and that it does not need to collect dollars from citizens to accomplish that.

We are not on the gold standard or any other convertibility standard, but your positions are based on the assumption that we are. In this way, you are much closer to Ron Paul than you might think. All of your policy analysis flows from a failure to grasp the implications of the switch in the monetary system that occurred in 1971. If you ever wondered why Libertarians sneer at fiat money, it is because it democraticizes money and places it fully within the control of the public (as opposed to pegged to some commodity over which they have no real collective control). Fiat money creates policy options that do not otherwise exist, including freedom from taxation for the purpose of raising revenue. (Taxation is necessary for other reasons, just not to finance the government's spending.)

For a (very) brief spell in 1945, the US had a fiat monetary system also. This was after the gold standard had broken down but before the Bretton Woods agreement that re-restablished currency convertibility and fixed exchange rates. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at that time (Beardsley Ruml) gave a speech to the American Bar Association during this period entitled "Taxes for Revenue are Obsolete." And in that speech, he said:

The necessity for a government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency is true for state and local governments, but it is not true for a national government. ...

Final freedom from the domestic money market exists for every sovereign national state where there exists an institution which functions in the manner of a modern central bank, and whose currency is not convertible into gold or into some other commodity.

The United States is a national state which has a central banking system, the Federal Reserve System, and whose currency, for domestic purposes, is not convertible into any commodity. It follows that our Federal Government has final freedom from the money market in meeting its financial requirements. Accordingly, the inevitable social and economic consequences of any and all taxes have now become the prime consideration in the imposition of taxes. In general, it may be said that since all taxes have consequences of a social and economic character, the government should look to these consequences in formulating its tax policy. All federal taxes must meet the test of public policy and practical effect. The public purpose which is served should never be obscured in a tax program under the mask of raising revenue.

http://www.constitution.org/tax/us-ic/cmt/ruml_obsolete.pdf

Let that sink in a bit in relation to the NPR article and what Simon Johnson was asserting. It may well be the case that spending more in aggregate on social security will result in a need to raise taxes (although I seriously doubt it), but that will not be because the government needs revenue. It will be because it is necessary to reduce aggregate demand and the prospect of inflation. From an MMT perspective, the need to raise taxes to reduce aggregate demand is a good thing, because it means the economy is full steam ahead.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom