maudlin27

Reply to Tax problems for Obama choices show problems with taxes in Politics JoeUser Forums

Numerous taxes are typically introduced (from my own experience) as a way of governments increasing taxes without generating a lot of negative attention - you don't often notice them (until you end up having to pay them). While there is justification for having several taxes to make sure you target the right areas (e.g. you may wish to have an inheritance tax to increase opportunity/prevent all the money just accumulating to a small group, or you may wish to tax particular goods which produce

Reply to Tax cuts - what the rich don't want you to hear in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] this money came from somewhere. It comes from, Either from taxes (from the people), printed (which devalues our currency), or borrowed (comes with a price tag of interest)...there is negative cash flow [/quote] Which is why if you didn't expect things to return to normal in the medium term this policy wouldn't be a good idea. However based on history, recessions are maybe a couple of years long, after which you will return to growth, and long term you can expect to see g

Reply to Tax cuts - what the rich don't want you to hear in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Can you (or anyone) show how the economy is 'better boosted' by increased consumption vs. investment? [/quote] Investment isn't going to directly create demand (or at least as much of it), instead it's main effect is to increase capacity and provide more of a longer term benefit. So if the economy was already near full capacity, you'd want to encourage investment since boosts to demand would just cause massive inflation (as there'd be no capacity in the short term to respond t

Tax cuts - what the rich don't want you to hear in Politics JoeUser Forums

It seems a lot of the time you have people supporting increased government spending arguing against people supporting tax cuts for the rich. However little attention is given to the 'third way' - tax cuts for the poor (and/or tax hikes on the rich). Firstly, the need for such actions: When an economy is in a recession, it has lots of unused capacity - just glancing at the unemployment rate will tell you as much, since it goes up during a recession. Since recessions are short term, if

Reply to Zero Support in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] How about he actually tries to get the Democratic leadership in congress to actually work WITH the republicans rather than thumbing their noses at them? [/quote] The tax cuts sounded like a measure to (in part) appease republicans, and some 'pork' projects were dropped from what I've heard.

Reply to Republicans stand their ground, good for them in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Pot, meet kettle [/quote] [quote] Sucks the have the shoe on the other foot doesn't it? For 8 years Democrats bitched about everything now you dare to criticize us from doing the same? Hypocrisy at its finest [/quote] Two wrgnos dno't mkae a rhigt (except in mathematics!). Hypocrisy shouldn't be excused by anothers hypocrisy, and just goes to show that politicians are often as bad as each other.

Reply to Republicans stand their ground, good for them in Politics JoeUser Forums

They supported the first bail out back when their support (or lack of it) could've made a real difference, and only stop supporting big government spending plans when their support wouldn't make a difference to the legislation anyway (but allows them to grab some headlines). Smacks more of playing politics than doing what they think's best to me, especially since it's far worse to reward a failing company with a bailout than to spend money to stimulate the economy. Better late than never, but

Reply to Bias II: Newsweek in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] You just aren't interested in disucssing a given topic but rather getting into some side discussion [/quote] Strange, I could've sworn the topic was that newsweek was biased (and not even just biased, but 'as far left as fox is right') despite claiming to be objective, and I was pointing out the flaws in some of the 'examples' you were giving to back up such claims (of their bias) - to me that's not a side discussion, that's the actual heart of the discussion. You suggested th

Reply to Bias II: Newsweek in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote who="Draginol" reply="5" id="2038522"]Maudlin: Whatever.[/quote] I see you've been working on making your arguments even more convincing!

Reply to Who Decides Where Our Money Should Go? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] LW and maudlin, since this is really gotten off course, let's stop making this about LW because it's getting really tired [/quote] When have I ever made it about LW? I prefer to keep things general rather than get tied down in the specifics of a particular individual. [quote] Plenty of Americans have never or effectively never contributed to the system yet benefit from it [/quote] But if you believe in the government offering a helping hand, having people who h

Reply to Bias II: Newsweek in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] I think it equally likely that Bush will be remembered for his response to the 9/11 Terrorist Attack by setting up a series of government agencies and programs that resulted in zero new attacks during his administration [/quote] I didn't realise attacks of the 9/11 proportion (or even just smaller ones) were such a common occurance! [quote] toppled a hostile regime in Iraq and replaced it with one friendly to the United States that was relatively painless to the United

Reply to Who Decides Where Our Money Should Go? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] She's not entitled to it. That doesn't mean I begrudge it. Please read what is written without extending what is written into something that is totally different from what was originally written [/quote] Saying you don't think someone should be entitled to the benefit (i.e. they shouldn't have any legal right to receive benefits from the state) is at face value contrary to saying you don't begrudge them receiving that benefit. It's certainly not "extending what is writte

Reply to Who Decides Where Our Money Should Go? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Maybe the people who simply inherit wealth should have more burden [/quote] But then you run into the issue that you're telling someone how they can spend their money! I'd agree there is a case for inheritance taxes, but they run contrary to the idea of allowing someone to spend their money as they wish, and so a balance needs to be struck between the two. [quote] I don't begrudge paying for your health care and disability [/quote] I thought that no-one should

Reply to 20 quick facts about the proposed stimulus package in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] something that is hardly going to "stimulate" the economy with all the fat in this [/quote] If you can't see how an ~$800bn spending package wouldn't have a stimulating effect on the economy you could really do with taking some basic economics lessons. The money wouldn't even need to be used that wisely to stimulate the economy there's so much there. Simply throwing it at a few random industries picked from the hat would stimulate it. Just so long as you're not stupid enough t

Reply to How Many Jobs Will Obama's Stimulus Create? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Government can't "create" jobs because it takes its money from those who are better at making jobs. So you always end up with a net loss of jobs when the government does something [/quote] The money's borrowed, i.e. the government is borrowing the money as opposed to taking it (at least, it's not taking it from anyone at the present), it then spends it on various things, creating demand. That demand causes the firms to hire more people to fill the jobs to meet with the increas

Reply to Who Decides Where Our Money Should Go? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] if you are receiving government money, you get disqualified if any of your money is spent on things that aren’t a “necessity”. If you have money to spend on cigarettes, concert tickets, new clothes (you can get perfectly good clothes at used clothing stores), etc., then you don’t “need” money from the government [/quote] A less optimal solution than the alternative (of just giving those people the money), because that money isn't then

Reply to How Many Jobs Will Obama's Stimulus Create? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] its good to see that you dont mind if countries like china have the US by the balls. Thats great. so when do you think china is gonna cash in that IOU from the US? [/quote] You don't seem to understand how trade works. Country A gives good X to country B. Country B gives country A good Y in return is a rough summation. Both countries benefit as a result, and restricting that trade wouldn't be in either country's economic interest. If China started to play political games with

Reply to 20 quick facts about the proposed stimulus package in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] The $825 billion package slated for a House vote later this week will exceed more than $1.1 trillion when adding in the interest ($300 plus billion) between 2009-2019 to pay for it [/quote] A pretty feeble point, especially given it was bush who presided over huge deficits that means the government needs to borrow lots more to fund a fiscal stimulus. No details given on whether inflation was factored in, if so wha

Reply to BIAS: Time Magazine in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] someone commented that the only way not to be in favor of slavery would be to abolish the income tax which is nonsense. Me paying for a public service (whether i use it or not) is a very big difference than having money taken from me to be given to someone else as a cash payment. [/quote] Yes, it would be nonsense, but only because redistribution isn't slavery. However if you believe it is, then you would have to abolish income tax to prevent being in favour of slavery

Reply to How Many Jobs Will Obama's Stimulus Create? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] we need more manufacturing jobs in the US and need to start making stuff in house... why is this soooo bad? [/quote] Because if other countries can do it more efficiently and trade with you, you end up worse off by trying to produce it yourself. [quote] nice new roads are great.... if only people can afford to drive on them. [/quote] Infrastructure such as roads will help boost trade and business, as well as being beneficial for the general population. They're

Reply to How Many Jobs Will Obama's Stimulus Create? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] what happens 3 years from now or so when the roads have all been paved over twice? what do you do then with these workers? [/quote] By then the economy should have recovered and so there would then be jobs available for those workers (although retraining etc. may be necessary in some cases depending on where there are skill shortages)

Reply to Islamic Terrorists – Coming to a Town Near You in Politics JoeUser Forums

Unless the US is miraculously able to avoid any 'home-grown' islamic terrorists, I don't see how putting detainees from guantamino into US jails will suddenly mean that you now have islamic terrorists 'coming to a town near you', since they'd already have been there (you'll just have a few more to add to their ranks). Anyway strange to hear someone effectively criticising people for the opposite of NIMBY - if anything those people should be praised for eschewing the traditional response of 'y

Reply to How Many Jobs Will Obama's Stimulus Create? in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote who="Island Dog" reply="5" id="2034425"] Millions Care to explain how? [/quote] Sure, but after Brad's explained how none will be created (since he posted first [e digicons];P[/e] ) !

Reply to BIAS: Time Magazine in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] Republicans against slavery in 1860. Still against slavery now. Democrats: favored slavery in 1860, still favor it today (I call working half my year for the government whether I like it or not slavery) [/quote] Both the republicans and democrats are in favor of keeping taxes. Hence if you say democrats favor slavery due to taxation (that effectively causes you to face a 50% tax rate), then the republicans must as well. Unless you're arguing something such as that 'forcing' pe

Reply to How Many Jobs Will Obama's Stimulus Create? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Millions