World Politics

[patricknd]

I agree with with this. But there is also a difference between civil disobedience and taking a firearm to a political rally.

i agree completely

 

[redtreviso]

I agree with with this. But there is also a difference between civil disobedience and taking a firearm to a political rally.

When they take their firearm to the street in front of the voting booth those intimidated might feel the need to be heard in other (random)ways..

and then there is this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20094104-503544.html

 

[redtreviso]

and what is business as a whole's awful burden of a tax percentage averaged against this 2/3rds????? and they want what? or else?

""NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies and 68% of foreign corporations do not pay federal income taxes, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.

The study showed that 28% of foreign companies and 25% of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales paid no federal income taxes in 2005. Those companies totaled a combined $372 billion in sales for the largest foreign companies and $1.1 trillion in revenue for the biggest U.S. companies.
""

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/12/news/economy/corporate_taxes/

 

[rhubroma]

your point is that you respect and understand people who "protest". I do as well but I delineate lawful and unlawful. I won't take your history bait about how the guys burning down a cell phone store or raping a girl are really just channeling ghosts of patriots past .NFW. I am able to drive a truck, w and wo a rack. I would like those who use guns to be properly trained and motivated as I believe 99.9% of law enforcement officers qualify.

During times of extra ordinary circumstances like a riot I hope that the majority of citizens would not submit to your point of view and wander the streets for the sake of solidarity or curiosity but instead trust that the police are sincere when they ask you to stay home.

While you may be able to tie in social unrest with burning your neighbor's house or business to the ground I don't see the connection.
Because the odds are in your favor and that you and people like you can march in the streets and probably go home uninjured you find my point of view a little right of center. We are marking another anniversary of the Crown Hts riots. As times have changed so have the motivations of protesters. The LA riots were also called protests where Korean and Indian businesses were torched and destroyed. And the reason was again because of anger against the police and the court system.
I hardly find splashing some thugs insides along the pavement as needed but the stakes have changed greatly. As witnessed in London, audience is not needed on location as long as media outlets create GhettoStars out of a$$bags that are looting and showing rebellion.

The actions of those in London may find a place in popular culture as you have pointed out. I don't accept it

Your mistaken interpretation of what I thought and observed about these protests, tired as I am of endlessly repeating it - though evidently it demands to be said again - is that in some way I am guilty of "heroicizing" acts of violence and vandalism, because of a twisted and misguided romanticism that's no doubt affiliated with my political and social worldview. As well as in the spirit of past radical, revolutionary movements to disrupt a corrupt and thoroughly unjust system, which simply demands to be overthrown. If some innocence have to be sacrificed for the greater good, then the ends justify the means.

While this may be a rather convenient way to confirm your deeply imbued sense of certainty and purpose in life, which one often gets from people a "little right of center," I'm sorry to let you know that none of it is true.

For I too distinguish between legality and illegality, however, I do not simply take for granted that law enforcement and the state are always on the side of the former, nor that they always act in the collective interest. By contrast you blindly trust them, since, God knows, the alternative is anarchy or, worse, a tyranny of thugs and criminals roaming the streets assaulting any defenseless prey they encounter.

This is what the London protests amounted too, right? Thieves and thugs and vandals nothing else, while even if there were some comprehensible cause (for the social unrest, not the criminal behavior of some) lingering deep beneath the surface, the acts of violence rendered this completely obsolete and there is therefore no reason to critically and politically address it, or even consider it as perhaps indicative of something far more significant.

I would no more go about doing those criminal things than you would, but I harbor enough sense of doubt within, to realize that something has gone awry in this market driven world we live in. That there is a young and emerging generation that looks towards the future and sees a very bleak forecast. They are outraged at a political and business class which seems to have abandoned them to a life of endless serfdom, which they have no intention of passively accepting.

Their means were often brutal and their acts inanely barbaric and totally misplaced at other times. Yet I don't simply look at the brutality and barbarism, as you exclusively do, but rather ask myself: why are there so many cases cropping up like this among Europe's youth in this time of crisis of financial capitalism and the social democratic state?

And I realize that to try and merely denounce and repress it without seeking in the least bit to try to understand its root causes (leaving aside the violence for a moment), then I only ensure that further instances of the like, with potentially even more dramatic consequences, become an inevitability in the near future.

Much civil protest was certainly, at least initially, present in the beginning of the London demonstrations, before things wound up getting out of control. The out of control stuff does not deter me however from looking at the civil aspect and, therefore, analyzing, scrutinizing and thinking about what the ruling class should consider when trying to placate and give some promise to a generation that obviously feels they have been relegated to a life without a future.

 

[Anonymous]

and what is business as a whole's awful burden of a tax percentage averaged against this 2/3rds????? and they want what? or else?

""NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies and 68% of foreign corporations do not pay federal income taxes, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.

The study showed that 28% of foreign companies and 25% of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales paid no federal income taxes in 2005. Those companies totaled a combined $372 billion in sales for the largest foreign companies and $1.1 trillion in revenue for the biggest U.S. companies.
""

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/12/news/economy/corporate_taxes/

That doesn't tell much of a story. More propaganda really. It speaks nothing of action taken with tax policy in dealing with the economy post 9/11. It speaks nothing of Section 179 deduction and subsequent re-captures in future years. It speaks nothing of the growth in corporate taxable income either;

Overall total deductions rose from $21.6
trillion to $23.6 trillion, an increase of 9.1 percent.
Cost of goods sold, the largest component of total
deductions grew from $12.5 trillion to $13.8 trillion in
2005, an increase of 10.6 percent. Corporate pretax
profits, or net income (less deficit) rose for all
companies by 75.3 percent, from $1.1 trillion to $1.9
trillion (Figure B). Pre-tax profits increased from
$710.0 billion to $1.4 trillion or 94.4 percent when
excluding pass-through entities. Income subject to
tax (the tax base), grew during 2005 from $857.4
billion to $1.20 trillion, an increase of 40.1 percent.
Total income tax before credits increased from
$299.6 billion to $419.2 billion, an increase of 40.0
percent. Income tax increased 40.6 percent during
Tax Year 2005, from $296.2 billion to $416.3 billion.
Total income tax after credits, the amount paid to the
U.S. Government, increased by $87.7 billion from
$224.4 billion to $312.1 billion.
From the 5.7 million active corporations for Tax
Year 2005, approximately 3.7 million were passthrough
entities. These pass-through entities
include: regulated investment companies (RIC’s),
real estate investment trust (REIT’s) and S
corporations [1]. These entities pay little or no
Federal income tax at the corporate level. Instead,
they are required by law to pass any profits or losses
to their shareholders, where they are taxed at the
individual rate. Pretax profits of pass-through
entities, mirrored the increase seen by all
corporations rising 41.5 percent or $166.7 billion
during 2005

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/05coccr.pdf

But then some will tell you with a straight face that tax breaks do not generate addition income to the Treasury.

 

[redtreviso]

That doesn't tell much of a story. More propaganda really. It speaks nothing of action taken with tax policy in dealing with the economy post 9/11. It speaks nothing of Section 179 deduction and subsequent re-captures in future years. It speaks nothing of the growth in corporate taxable income either;



http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/05coccr.pdf

But then some will tell you with a straight face that tax breaks do not generate addition income to the Treasury.

It speaks nothing and you speak nothing of what is taxable but vaporizes into the tropical air and options packages.. Fighting for the sacrifice that is never made anyway. boohoo.. You are back to the murderer who enjoys the thrill of the legal jeopardy so making the punishment more severe makes him murder more.


""Bachmann on Face the Nation: Companies can't create jobs because of "Obamacare" and Dodd-Frank"" Where have I heard this before? almost verbatim?
Lipton??????????

btw

""PERRY: Listen, America’s gone a long way from the standpoint of civil rights and thank God we have. I mean we’ve gone from a country that made great strides in issues of civil rights. I think we all can be proud of that. And as we go forward, America needs to be about freedom. It needs to be about freedom from overtaxation, freedom from over-litigation, freedom from over-regulation. And Americans regardless of what their cultural or ethnic background is they need to know that they can come to America and you got a chance to have any dream come true because the economic climate is gonna be improved.
""

He's really not talking about you scotty. Overtaxed litigated and regulated.. Do you need this explained to you?? Better done early in the morning?

 

[Anonymous]

It speaks nothing and you speak nothing of what is taxable but vaporizes into the tropical air and options packages.. Fighting for the sacrifice that is never made anyway. boohoo.. You are back to the murderer who enjoys the thrill of the legal jeopardy so making the punishment more severe makes him murder more.

No, we're back to you taking selective information to fit your premise. The validity of your premise doesn't matter to you. You know what you know and that's all there is to it.

Fighting for the sacrifice that is never made anyway

If this were true all corporations would have paid zero taxes in 2005. That is false.

Income subject to
tax (the tax base), grew during 2005 from $857.4
billion to $1.20 trillion, an increase of 40.1 percent.
Total income tax before credits increased from
$299.6 billion to $419.2 billion, an increase of 40.0
percent. Income tax increased 40.6 percent during
Tax Year 2005, from $296.2 billion to $416.3 billion.
Total income tax after credits, the amount paid to the
U.S. Government, increased by $87.7 billion from
$224.4 billion to $312.1 billion.

Re-posted in case you missed it earlier.

 

[redtreviso]

No, we back to you taking selective information to fit your premise. The validity of your premise doesn't matter to you. You know what you know and that's all there is to it.



If this were true all corporations would have paid zero taxes in 2005. That is false.



Re-posted in case you missed it earlier.

Well...Wall Street will downgrade their stock if they don't get with the program like the other 2/3rds.. They just need 30% more lobbying power in Washington and the job will be complete..

 

[usedtobefast]

so here is my question.

where will We be in 2 years?

 

[redtreviso]

Oh Lookie.. Marathon OF HOUSTON back in the news.. After being instrumental in getting Bush and Cheney to embrace Gadaffi and welcome him back with open arms they are still trying to protect their turf.. Houston posters took exception last time I mentioned this.. I should have brought up UNOCAL,,or maybe I did..How much were the Houston hookers supplied to the Taliban anyway?

"""Marathon Oil MRO has held “preliminary discussions” with the Libya’s National Transitional Council, the umbrella group for the forces opposed to Moammar Gadhafi, according to company spokesman John Porretto.

Marathon has talked about the condition of facilities in eastern Libya’s oil fields, one of the first regions to fall under rebel control. The Houston firm aims to develop a “working plan to restore and enhance oil and gas production when the situation stabilizes,” Porretto said. “We are planning as if there will be some damage to our facilities as well as normal issues associated with disuse.”

Plenty of question remain about the nature of oil contacts to be awarded under an incoming government, but the wheels continue to turn in the general direction of new oil production in Libya. For Marathon Oil, which recently spun off its refining unit, Marathon Petroleum Corp. MPC, a Libya deal could present a path to grow its production as a stand-alone exploration and production firm.
"""

 

[Anonymous]

Well...Wall Street will downgrade their stock if they don't get with the program like the other 2/3rds.. They just need 30% more lobbying power in Washington and the job will be complete..

Well I can only assume you don't read what I post. And it makes sense really because facts seem to get in your way.

More Re-Posted material;

From the 5.7 million active corporations for Tax
Year 2005, approximately 3.7 million were passthrough
entities.

That is about 2/3rds.

These pass-through entities
include: regulated investment companies (RIC’s),
real estate investment trust (REIT’s) and S
corporations [1].

Mostly S-Corps. You can learn a little more about them here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_corporation

These entities pay little or no
Federal income tax at the corporate level. Instead,
they are required by law to pass any profits or losses
to their shareholders, where they are taxed at the
individual rate. Pretax profits of pass-through
entities, mirrored the increase seen by all
corporations rising 41.5 percent or $166.7 billion
during 2005

Which essentially makes an S-Corp a glorified Sole Proprietor.

But let's slam them for obeying Federal Law. If this economy ever recovers this will likely be the group that leads the way... so let's make sure we demonize them at any and every opportunity.

 

[Anonymous]

so here is my question.

where will We be in 2 years?

If you own a home in Cali it will be worth about 15% less in two years than it is today. Your health insurance will cost you 25-30% more than it does now. The cost of energy will be 15-20% higher, unemployment will still be above 8% and Obama will not be your President.

But, Stone will still be making their vertical series this year and next... so there will still be excellent beer.

 

[redtreviso]

Well I can only assume you don't read what I post. And it makes sense really because facts seem to get in your way.

More Re-Posted material;



That is about 2/3rds.



Mostly S-Corps. You can learn a little more about them here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_corporation



Which essentially makes an S-Corp a glorified Sole Proprietor.

But let's slam them for obeying Federal Law. If this economy ever recovers this will likely be the group that leads the way... so let's make sure we demonize them at any and every opportunity.

You're funny.. Now they aren't avoiding taxes at all..What profits? What taxes? Those share prices sure took a dive the 2nd week of April Eh????

 

[Anonymous]

You're funny.. Now they aren't avoiding taxes at all..What profits? What taxes? Those share prices sure took a dive the 2nd week of April Eh????

Explaining the tax code to you is pointless. It's all there. Get up to speed... or don't. Nobody cares what you or I think anyways.

 

[redtreviso]

ISSA REPUBLICAN SO CAL.. NO THE TWO PARTIES ARE NOT THE SAME..One is the head of the rotting fish.

""Revealed: Former Goldman Sachs VP Turned Issa Staffer Supervised Scheduling Of Elizabeth Warren Incident
By Lee Fang on Aug 23, 2011 at 7:00 pm

.................

According to e-mail correspondence obtained from Judicial Watch, Haller oversaw the scheduling of the Warren testimony. According to Flavio Cumpiano, a congressional liaison for the CFPB, Haller reportedly changed the time of the hearing at the last minute, then misled Warren staffers by promising to end the testimony by 2:15 pm that day. In the emails, Haller denies ever agreeing to 2:15. But, Haller had been informed that Warren could not go beyond 2:15:


– Monday May 23 8:43pm: Haller writes to Flavio Cumpiano, a congressional liaison for the CFPB, the night before the hearing to make “an late change to 1:00.” At 11:00pm, Cumpiano responds to figure out a better time.
– Tuesday May 24 morning: After Haller and Cumpiano go back and forth with e-mails about which time would be best, a phone conversation occurs between Haller and Adewale Adeyemo, chief of staff to the CFBP implementation team, and a schedule is set. At 10:11am, Cumpiano e-mails Haller: “Hi Peter. I understand from Wally -copied here- that you both spoke and she’ll testify from 1:15pm to 2:15pm. Thanks, Flavio.”
– Tuesday May 24 afternoon around 2:15pm: McHenry, with Haller sitting behind him, accuses Warren of trying to evading the committee by trying to leave at the agreed-upon time. When Warren noted that McHenry’s aides had agreed upon the schedule, McHenry elicited audible gasps in the room by declaring Warren a liar: “You’re making this up, Ms. Warren. This is not the case.”
– Tuesday May 24 2:32pm: As Warren leaves the hearing room, Haller fires off an e-mail to Cumpiano demanding that he “please confirm” that he did not “confirm the end time.” Later that afternoon, Cumpiano responds by reiterating that Haller had confirmed the 2:15pm end time, and had even told Adeyemo that he would inform McHenry of the schedule during the call.
""

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/23/301772/peter-haller-goldman-sachs-patrick-mchenry/

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

So here is my question.

Where will We be in 2 years?

Logic would indicate we will be heading in the same direction we are, regardless of who wins the election.

The recession for the bottom half of the country will continue. Very little if any meaningful change in the tax code. Wages will remain flat. Unemployment the same. Health care costs will increase, both private and public. The top 1% will continue to reap the majority of profits. Bank lending will remain stifled. Bankruptcies and foreclosures will continue about the same rate, perhaps slightly higher. Housing prices will remain flat. The wars will continue to one degree or another, as will our military presence across the globe, with perhaps a very slight decrease. Crime will slightly increase. Education will slightly decrease. Gas prices will remain high. Trade issues and deficits will very slightly increase. Most significant of all, campaign finance and lobbying rules will not change, and continue to have a huge impact on elections, and dictate the nuts and bolts of a lot of day to day Congressional bills (and state bills).

Very few true policy changes = very little change.

Anyone really disagree?

 

[ChrisE]

Logic would indicate we will be heading in the same direction we are, regardless of who wins the election.

The recession for the bottom half of the country will continue. Very little if any meaningful change in the tax code. Wages will remain flat. Unemployment the same. Health care costs will increase, both private and public. The top 1% will continue to reap the majority of profits. Bank lending will remain stifled. Bankruptcies and foreclosures will continue about the same rate, perhaps slightly higher. Housing prices will remain flat. The wars will continue to one degree or another, as will our military presence across the globe, with perhaps a very slight decrease. Crime will slightly increase. Education will slightly decrease. Gas prices will remain high. Trade issues and deficits will very slightly increase. Most significant of all, campaign finance and lobbying rules will not change, and continue to have a huge impact on elections, and dictate the nuts and bolts of a lot of day to day Congressional bills (and state bills).

Very few true policy changes = very little change.

Anyone really disagree?

No, but HJ and red will run and vote squat ****er dem cuz they are the lesser of two evils.

 

[redtreviso]

Logic would indicate we will be heading in the same direction we are, regardless of who wins the election.

The recession for the bottom half of the country will continue. Very little if any meaningful change in the tax code. Wages will remain flat. Unemployment the same. Health care costs will increase, both private and public. The top 1% will continue to reap the majority of profits. Bank lending will remain stifled. Bankruptcies and foreclosures will continue about the same rate, perhaps slightly higher. Housing prices will remain flat. The wars will continue to one degree or another, as will our military presence across the globe, with perhaps a very slight decrease. Crime will slightly increase. Education will slightly decrease. Gas prices will remain high. Trade issues and deficits will very slightly increase. Most significant of all, campaign finance and lobbying rules will not change, and continue to have a huge impact on elections, and dictate the nuts and bolts of a lot of day to day Congressional bills (and state bills).

Very few true policy changes = very little change.

Anyone really disagree?

So vote for an Armageddonist.. since it doesn't really matter...I'd rather be disappointed than have a guaranteed CF

 

[redtreviso]

Yet another crackpot... Donnie and Marie + bleach

 

[redtreviso]

Phil UBS Gramm (R) btw S is for switzerland scotty

""In 2008, Gramm, who was advising Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign (and was floated as McCain’s choice for Treasury Secretary) gained notoriety for saying that the country was “a nation of whiners” that was only in a “mental recession.”

But Gramm’s legacy goes much deeper than that. In 2001, he tucked the Commodity Futures Modernization Act into an unrelated, 11,000 page appropriations bill. That act ensured that the huge market in over-the-counter derivatives stayed unregulated, laying the groundwork for the 2008 financial crisis (and the implosions of AIG and Lehman Brothers). He also believes there should be no minimum wage and has derided the working poor by saying, “we’re the only nation in the world where all our poor people are fat.”

Perry was a student of Gramm’s at Texas A&M, and when Perry became governor “Gramm and his bank pushed a controversial proposal to allow the company to take out insurance polices on teachers and other workers, even though the workers themselves would not benefit.” If Gramm’s support is any indication, Perry’s zeal for financial deregulation will know no bounds.""

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/14/295535/gramm-endorses-perry/

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Yes, but if we pray hard enough Perry will lead us to the promised land.

I seriously think that a Perry-Ryan/Bachman/Santorum ticket has a 50% chance of beating Obama, no matter how radical or absurd anything comes out of Perry's mouth.

 

[Hugh Januss]

No, but HJ and red will run and vote squat ****er dem cuz they are the lesser of two evils.

As opposed to what voting for no one? Well I guess that will show them you mean business.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, but if we pray hard enough Perry will lead us to the promised land.

I seriously think that a Perry-Ryan/Bachman/Santorum ticket has a 50% chance of beating Obama, no matter how radical or absurd anything comes out of Perry's mouth.

I think Romney gets the nomination. Ryan and Rubio will stay put, imo, however Romey - Rubio beats Obama by at least 5 points in the general.

 

[redtreviso]

I think Romney gets the nomination. Ryan and Rubio will stay put, imo, however Romey - Rubio beats Obama by at least 5 points in the general.

Romney is not a Christian.. I heard them say on foxnews

 

[redtreviso]

"""Representative Jean Schmidt, Republican of Ohio, has been ordered by the House Ethics Committee to repay a Turkish-American group $500,000 for legal services it improperly paid for to help her pursue a defamation lawsuit and other legal proceedings against a Democratic opponent in the 2008 election." NY Times""

Help her build a House in Aruba maybe......................

Bonus question.. What (former)congressman was associated with the words "suitcases full of cash"?