Convention

[We need Tom Tupa]

Barring an unforeseen shock to the economy or an unpredictable war, Obama is going to win in November. Might suit Romney voters better to return to arguing about legislation. Republicans will control the House and have somewhere around 50 votes in the Senate. That's plenty of power to swing around. What's the plan?

[heckofajobbrownie]

You've come to the wrong place for ideas on governing, my friend. 'Tis not what motivates this clan.

[heckofajobbrownie]

How about drastically simplifying the tax code without using it as a pretext to fulfill a Randian fantasy? I'd be for that.

 

We'll work it out between the two of us, Tupe. I'll trade you a carbon tax for reduced corporate rates. Starting offer.

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Barring an unforeseen shock to the economy or an unpredictable war, Obama is going to win in November. Might suit Romney voters better to return to arguing about legislation. Republicans will control the House and have somewhere around 50 votes in the Senate. That's plenty of power to swing around. What's the plan?

 

I don't know about that.

[We need Tom Tupa]

I don't know about that.

Nick Silver gives Obama a greater than 90% chance of winning if the election was held today. Intrade is the betting market with the lowest odds for Obama, and it has him near 70%. What's going to change things drastically between now and November, Romney's vague references to better government?

[We need Tom Tupa]

How about drastically simplifying the tax code without using it as a pretext to fulfill a Randian fantasy? I'd be for that.

 

We'll work it out between the two of us, Tupe. I'll trade you a carbon tax for reduced corporate rates. Starting offer.

I'm not from coal country, so unfortunately I dont have the keys to a carbon tax. How about carried interest tax and means-testing of Medicare and SS for people making over $200k? In exchange, I'll take lower corporate tax rates. I'll also trade you a cap on the mortgage interest deduction for lower marginal rates as far across the board as we can afford to extend them with the extra money.

[heckofajobbrownie]

Mortgage interest deduction cap, yes. If you'll talk carbon tax. Carried interest tax is a no brainer. We can get that anyway.

 

Scotch?

[calfoxwc]

Heckbunker is a farging hack.

 

But he feels better about it when he calls other people the same thing.

 

That's his m.o. since at least the Shep Obamao worship days.

[Westside Steve]

So after 4 years of Axelrod speeches and the Dem convention that's the phrase that bothers you?

 

That's David Axelrod's job! Same with people who speak at conventions. You're neither, so why are you going full Hannity?

 

"the Democrats main position is f*** the rich!"

 

You fucking hack. Hahaha.

 

Shucks, I'm blushing.

 

Just a hobby old pal.

Real hacks, like Obama, Axelrod and uh, well anyway they get paid for it.

WSS

[Westside Steve]

Barring an unforeseen shock to the economy or an unpredictable war, Obama is going to win in November. Might suit Romney voters better to return to arguing about legislation. Republicans will control the House and have somewhere around 50 votes in the Senate. That's plenty of power to swing around. What's the plan?

First of all war would probably help the incumbent.

Second the bad economy doesn't really affect his core so that's not a problem either.

 

But let's say there are gains in the Senate.

I Don't see that as a given since if he wins he'll draw more Democrat voters.

So if you are a Republican you want to hold fire until the midterms.

If the country bounces back on some sort of bubble, great.

Personally I have no guess what that may be.

But most likely things will continue to flounder and there should be a big gains in the House and Senate then.

 

I do get the sense that most of the punish the rich garbage is just that.

I would imagine that among his advisors are people smart enough to know it's just campaign rhetoric and wouldn't work in practice. So I don't really worry about that too much.

 

But I see and economic cliff on the horizon, just not positive as to how steep.

 

And as far as the cliff goes I'm disappointed that neither side is going to have a big enough majority to do anything about that anytime soon.

WSS

[heckofajobbrownie]

I don't get how you keep saying that the bad economy doesn't affect his core supporters while saying that most of the people who vote for him are lower income and middle class people. These are the people most affected by the bad economy.

 

Maybe, just maybe, they've come to a few of these conclusions that you never seem to be able to take into account:

 

1) Obama is not solely at fault, or even mostly at fault, for our current economic situation.

2) Obama, more than Romney, understands and represents my interests

3) The economy is not the only issue we vote on.

[The Cysko Kid]

I don't get how you keep saying that the bad economy doesn't affect his core supporters while saying that most of the people who vote for him are lower income and middle class people. These are the people most affected by the bad economy.

 

Maybe, just maybe, they've come to a few of these conclusions that you never seem to be able to take into account:

 

1) Obama is not solely at fault, or even mostly at fault, for our current economic situation.

2) Obama, more than Romney, understands and represents my interests

3) The economy is not the only issue we vote on.

 

 

I disagree that lower income people are most affected by the bad economy. If you're already taking the bus what do you care about the price of gas? If youre getting food stamps what do you care what milk costs? If the bill collectors are already coming after you what's a few more?

[heckofajobbrownie]

So you're saying being so poor you're on food stamps and you don't own a car and you have credit agencies coming after you is ...cushy? Good times? I don't know, Cysko. Sounds pretty bleak to me.

 

The job losses from this recession have overwhelmingly hit lower and middle income people, especially those without college educations. Take a look at this table from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma is 12.0. If you graduated high school, it's 8.8.

 

If you graduated college it's 4.1%. Essentially, there's no recession for people who went to college. Those are Americans on the higher ends of the income scale. And this is part of a structural shift in our economy. Basically, if you don't have marketable skills, we can automate your job and eliminate it, or find someone overseas to do it cheaper and ship the end product here on a boat.

 

That's what the government has to figure out: what do we do with all of these Americans that are no longer needed in the economy? It's a big question with a very complicated answer.

[The Cysko Kid]

So you're saying being so poor you're on food stamps and you don't own a car and you have credit agencies coming after you is ...cushy? Good times? I don't know, Cysko. Sounds pretty bleak to me.

 

The job losses from this recession have overwhelmingly hit lower and middle income people, especially those without college educations. Take a look at this table from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma is 12.0. If you graduated high school, it's 8.8.

 

If you graduated college it's 4.1%. Essentially, there's no recession for people who went to college. Those are Americans on the higher ends of the income scale. And this is part of a structural shift in our economy. Basically, if you don't have marketable skills, we can automate your job and eliminate it, or find someone overseas to do it cheaper and ship the end product here on a boat.

 

That's what the government has to figure out: what do we do with all of these Americans that are no longer needed in the economy? It's a big question with a very complicated answer.

 

I'm not saying its cushy but if you go to cmha nobody's trying real hard to change their situations. If you're poor enough that you're apathetic about life and you're eating the gov't cheese what do you care about job losses? They're not working there anyway...and they're Obama voters one and all.