[QUOTE=Doppelganger]While I'm on the soapbox – anybody got a raise lately? No? Well Congress just got one. [/QUOTE]Actually, Congress voted back in March to not take a pay raise in 2010.
Printable View
[QUOTE=Doppelganger]While I'm on the soapbox – anybody got a raise lately? No? Well Congress just got one. [/QUOTE]Actually, Congress voted back in March to not take a pay raise in 2010.
[QUOTE=Wild Walleye]You call 2 million additional people covered by this plan at a cost of more than $1 trillion, significant improvement over the existing system? If so, I take back my above comment that you seem like a smart guy, you are a lemming.[/QUOTE]Per the CBO December 19 2009 letter:
"... the number of nonelderly people who are uninsured would be reduced by about 31 million..." (page 8)
"... would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period..." (page 2)
The letter is available on their website cbo.gov for all who care to read it. Unless all you want to do is indulge in conspiracy theories...
[QUOTE=Esten]Per the CBO December 19 2009 letter:
". The number of nonelderly people who are uninsured would be reduced by about 31 million." (page 8)
". Would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period." (page 2)
The letter is available on their website cbo. Gov for all who care to read it. Unless all you want to do is indulge in conspiracy theories.[/QUOTE]Esten, are you really just Ricardo in drag? Don't you know the wrath that will be inflicted upon you by posting your "communist, liberal" mantras on this thread. By the very nature of this board, it's obvious that they aren't God fearing, but don't let that fool you. They are frothing at the right-wing mouth as much as the most devoted Tea Bagger.
If we are in an economic recovery, however anemic, I will be the first to congratulate President Obama. Job well done.
However, there is a frightening possibility we are headed for a zombie economy much like Japan has experienced for the past 20 plus years.
A zombie economy is an economy in which the government intereferes with the private sector to such an extent that the private sector becomes the walking dead - much like the public sector always is.
In Japan the government spent 20 years propping up banks and businesses which should have been allowed to fail. Even today the japanese governemnt is giving Japan Air Lines almost a trillion dollar loan to continue their failed operation.
The downside of this intervention is that Japan now has a public debt which is 2 times GNP and still has a zombie economy.
It is time to put government back in its cage and allow the markets to dictate economic growth. Of course, Ricardo probably thinks that a zombie economy is a good thing. Barnie Franks taught Ricardo that.
The irony of all this is that government put us in this mess by dictating ridiculous regulations which allowed, even forced lending institutions to make loans to people who were not creditworthy.
Government puts us in this economic mess and if that wasn't enough, it looks as though government is bound and determined to keep us in this economic mess.
Barny should join his buddy Dodd and retire, then he can start bending over the former pages again and stop screwing with the economy!
[QUOTE=Esten]Per the CBO December 19 2009 letter:
"The number of nonelderly people who are uninsured would be reduced by about 31 million." (page 8)
"Would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period." (page 2)
The letter is available on their website cbo.gov for all who care to read it. Unless all you want to do is indulge in conspiracy theories.[/QUOTE]The CBO is known for never being wrong. That said, some guy named Douglas Elmendorf (aka CBO Director) wrote a letter to some other guy named Baucus back in October including this gem "the mechanism governing Medicare's payments to physicians has frequently been modified (either through legislation or administrative action) to avoid reductions in those payments. The long-term budgetary impact could be quite different if those provisions were ultimately changed and or not fully implemented."
Translation, the $200 billion in "savings" in the Senate plan, to be generated by cuts in payments to physicians is bunk. Everyone knows that these cuts face strong bipartisan opposition in Congress and that the democrats plan is to fix this later so that they can keep the phantom $200B in "savings" in this bill. That means they say that they are going to cut it and therefore call it savings now, but they don't plan to actually go through with the cuts it in the future.
Try that next time your Madahos. Round up a couple of the dancers for a monger sandwich and promise them US$1000 each. After having several hours of fun then reconsider the wisdom of those earlier promises which, while they seemed like a good idea at the time, they look unrealistic under current circumstances and offer them AR$100 for the deuce. Please post about how that works out for you (once you get out of the hospital)
Then this Elmendorf guy writes to this other guy Reid on Dec. 20th "Correcting that error has no impact on the estimated effects of the legislation during the 2010–2019 period. However, the correction reduces the degree to which the legislation would lower federal deficits in the decade after 2019."
Translation, "while we have swallowed everything you have given us, we would like to point out that while our estimates for 2010-2019 are pie-in-the-sky, I smoked a big fat Bob-Marley joint before I did the post-2019 analysis."
The CBO conveniently leaves out the huge increases (related to PPACA) in taxes premiums, fines and direct costs to individuals (sorry, you can't have that test unless you pay cash) Further, I don't see this Elmendorf guy figuring in all of the payoffs that Ried used to get this through such as the $300 million Louisiana Purchase or Ben Nelson's deal for Nebraska (the medicare portion of his vote sale is $45MM) I am pretty sure that all 60 votes were bought and paid for with our money, as Reid said, if all of the senators didn't get their fair share of pork, then they aren't doing their jobs.
I guess this is settled then.
Somebody remember to turn out the lights.
Copied from one of my other forums:
[quote]A History Lesson.
For those that don't know about history. Here is a condensed version:
Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters / gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:
1. Liberals, and.
2. Conservatives.
Once beer was discovered, it required grain, and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.
Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.
Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.
Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberal s are symbolized by the jackass.
Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added) but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, pharmacists, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.
Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.
Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above.
A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.
And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self.[/quote]
Thanks JAX. I've already forwarded around the world. Expecially my pointy headed liberal friends in Alexandria.
Buddy of mine sent me something very similar some time ago. I still am laughing having been reintroduced to the truth.
It was apropos that I was drinking a US-made beer, after consuming rare beef, as I read it. Made me want to grab my gun and go harvest some vittles.
What really made me laugh was reflecting on a conversation I had earlier today. I was explaining to a liberal, that immediately upon harvesting a moose, one needs to pack the body cavity with ice or snow to help cool the meat to prevent spoilage. I am not sure what I enjoyed more, offending his sensibility with the concept of delivering a 180 grain.300 win mag projectile to the life pump of a moose or grossing him out with the concept of slicing open the carcass's body cavity (nads to sternum) and emptying out its contents.
Keep the lights on Walleye, we have another 7 years to go.
Thanks for the joke Jackson. I laughed hard! Another great example of what conservatives have to offer. ROTFLMAO!!
[QUOTE=Wild Walleye]Buddy of mine sent me something very similar some time ago. I still am laughing having been reintroduced to the truth.
It was apropos that I was drinking a US-made beer, after consuming rare beef, as I read it. Made me want to grab my gun and go harvest some vittles.
What really made me laugh was reflecting on a conversation I had earlier today. I was explaining to a liberal, that immediately upon harvesting a moose, one needs to pack the body cavity with ice or snow to help cool the meat to prevent spoilage. I am not sure what I enjoyed more, offending his sensibility with the concept of delivering a 180 grain.300 win mag projectile to the life pump of a moose or grossing him out with the concept of slicing open the carcass's body cavity (nads to sternum) and emptying out its contents.[/QUOTE]Hey, could you be Dick Cheney. Just don't shoot your friend and host by mistake!
Being an avid hunter myself and hailing from the great state of Texas I can assume from your Dick Cheney comment you have never hunted quail in Texas. FYI the other hunter Cheney accidently injured was both a liberal and an attorney from Austin (one of the few bastions of liberals in our great state) who refused to comment on the situation beyond the accident was his fault for getting out formation, did not sue his friend Dick Cheney and was more upset with the media than the accident. This has got to say something for the bond among hunters. But this is one of those things – if I have to explain it to you, you just won't understand.
[QUOTE=Doppelganger]Being an avid hunter myself and hailing from the great state of Texas I can assume from your Dick Cheney comment you have never hunted quail in Texas. FYI the other hunter Cheney accidently injured was both a liberal and an attorney from Austin (one of the few bastions of liberals in our great state) who refused to comment on the situation beyond the accident was his fault for getting out formation, did not sue his friend Dick Cheney and was more upset with the media than the accident. This has got to say something for the bond among hunters. But this is one of those things – if I have to explain it to you, you just won't understand.[/QUOTE]You are correct, I am not a hunter or a liberal. I know accidents can happen. But the tone of of the post evoke the image of Dick Cheney and his way of speaking through the side of his mouth, almost a sneer at the rest of the world. All I know is that if not for the fact that his daughter is gay, he would be glad to shoot them all. All right, since your post, I am now projecting the image of Teddy Roosevelt with his leg on a lion in one of his big game safaris.