*"A lot of people who get elected as delegates and alternates to the convention are people who have been paying their dues for years and years," said Stavros Mendros, a Paul delegate from Maine. "I think it's a big mistake for the RNC to make."*
It's probably a mistake to throw in with the folks who think that corporations are people... they're going to game the system even at their own convention. After all, it's only fair and righteous.
<i>Imagine the tax benefits for America if undocumented immigrants entered the country legally.</i>
Imagine if they *could* enter legally because we set up some of the sensible guest worker programs that have been talked about by everyone from GW Bush to Barack Obama.
*voters should have to have ID to have proper voting, or are we allowing felonies as well as illegals to vote*
It's called voter *registration* and we already do it.
Very interesting piece on Maddow the other night points to something that I've been saying about Voter ID for a while... *who* gets to judge if your ID is good enough? Poll workers? Poll watchers?
@brjohn9 Agreed. Great stuff in the Atlantic this weekend showing, in chart form, how Ryan wants to shrink government back to its 1950 share of GDP -- before we had Medicare.
And he does it all by raising the effective tax rates for the bottom 30% of Americans while nearly undoing the taxes of the wealthy altogether -- Romney's rate would have been down to 0.82% for 2010, because Ryan wants to lose capital gains completely.
It defies logic. It's utterly ideological... And sort of weird. If somebody told me Scientology was somehow behind this it would actually start to make **more** sense.
When you say "Medicare" would be indexed to inflation, aren't we actually talking about a voucher toward the purchase of private insurance?
Are we certain that these older folks are going to be able to buy insurance for the amount on the voucher, regardless of what it's indexed to?
I honestly don't know -- would the insurance company be able to change rates based on the insured person's history, health, etc.?
My reading is that this would essentially turn Medicare into a discount coupon for over-the-counter insurance, but maybe buried in the proposal is some requirement that the insurance company has to offer the insurance at a rate covered by the voucher? (Making it more of a Groupon? :)
Apparently "certified retirement community" is an economic development designation used in six states in the country, according to [TopRetirements.com][1]. Mississippi's system is proctored by [Hometown Mississippi Retirement][2], which looks to be under MDA.
So... nothing wrong with that, but it's not a comparison to other parts of the country, just an in-state program to promote retirement, probably for reasons similar to those you mention. (Hey, I could see retiring to Ocean Springs or a condo overlooking the Gulf. ;)
The Atlantic <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc…">crunched the numbers</a> and came up with this fun statistic for the Ryan Budget -- if it was in effect in 2010, which is the only full tax return of Romney's we have to go by, he would have paid *less than one percent* as an effective tax rate:
> In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.
What I keep failing to understand about all of these tax proposals is the desire to do away with capital gains taxes, where you could see some significant revenues raised to help balance the budget without unduly harming the working middle class in this country. Instead the plan is to cut capital gains taxes and close "loopholes" like the mortgage interest deduction? I'm not sure why anyone with an actual job and a house note would support this guy's plan?
Yup, this one is certainly interesting. Romney has certainly just excited the base -- of both parties. Ryan will probably be a fund-raising bonanza for both Romney ... and Obama. He might be able to deliver Wisconsin from the safe-Obama column, except that he's only marginally more popular than he is unpopular in Wisconsin.
But the fact that Romney needed to excite his base this late in the election -- and do so in a way that will likely alienate women, aging voters and working-class swing voters -- is bizarre. And it's interesting to consider the very strong possibility that his V.P. might easily overshadow his own candidacy. (Romney's people have reportedly already put out talking points saying that this doesn't mean Romney is fully embracing the Ryan budget. That, of course, forces the question of what other legitimate reason there would be for naming him.)
Bottom line -- the only other man in the known universe who has a "-Care" named after him just named John Galt as his vice president. It's hard to interpret that as anything other than a Hail Mary.
Not only that, but it's hilarious that the "base" of Romney's party is livid because a member of his staff was, um, *defending* his record as governor.
"What? She said something good about what he did has Governor? OMG. Get. Rid. Of. Her."
I say this so often that Donna is sick of hearing it, but I'm still amazed that someone thought it was a good idea for the GOP to nominate the only other guy in the world with "-Care" after his name.
tstauffer says...
*"A lot of people who get elected as delegates and alternates to the convention are people who have been paying their dues for years and years," said Stavros Mendros, a Paul delegate from Maine. "I think it's a big mistake for the RNC to make."*
It's probably a mistake to throw in with the folks who think that corporations are people... they're going to game the system even at their own convention. After all, it's only fair and righteous.
On Ron Paul Delegates Making Trouble in Tampa
Posted 28 August 2012, 1:41 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
<i>Imagine the tax benefits for America if undocumented immigrants entered the country legally.</i>
Imagine if they *could* enter legally because we set up some of the sensible guest worker programs that have been talked about by everyone from GW Bush to Barack Obama.
And ronk, maybe try facts?
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-f…
On Gov. Bryant Chimes in on Immigration
Posted 27 August 2012, 12:33 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
*voters should have to have ID to have proper voting, or are we allowing felonies as well as illegals to vote*
It's called voter *registration* and we already do it.
Very interesting piece on Maddow the other night points to something that I've been saying about Voter ID for a while... *who* gets to judge if your ID is good enough? Poll workers? Poll watchers?
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On NAACP: No Voter ID Expected for November Elections
Posted 27 August 2012, 10:29 a.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
Rep. Akin is now, among many (many, many) other things, the poster child for comprehensive sex education.
On Are Republicans really trying to redefine rape? Seriously?
Posted 19 August 2012, 8:04 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
@brjohn9 Agreed. Great stuff in the Atlantic this weekend showing, in chart form, how Ryan wants to shrink government back to its 1950 share of GDP -- before we had Medicare.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc…
And he does it all by raising the effective tax rates for the bottom 30% of Americans while nearly undoing the taxes of the wealthy altogether -- Romney's rate would have been down to 0.82% for 2010, because Ryan wants to lose capital gains completely.
It defies logic. It's utterly ideological... And sort of weird. If somebody told me Scientology was somehow behind this it would actually start to make **more** sense.
On Paul Ryan
Posted 13 August 2012, 4:09 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
When you say "Medicare" would be indexed to inflation, aren't we actually talking about a voucher toward the purchase of private insurance?
Are we certain that these older folks are going to be able to buy insurance for the amount on the voucher, regardless of what it's indexed to?
I honestly don't know -- would the insurance company be able to change rates based on the insured person's history, health, etc.?
My reading is that this would essentially turn Medicare into a discount coupon for over-the-counter insurance, but maybe buried in the proposal is some requirement that the insurance company has to offer the insurance at a rate covered by the voucher? (Making it more of a Groupon? :)
On Paul Ryan
Posted 13 August 2012, 3:42 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
Apparently "certified retirement community" is an economic development designation used in six states in the country, according to [TopRetirements.com][1]. Mississippi's system is proctored by [Hometown Mississippi Retirement][2], which looks to be under MDA.
So... nothing wrong with that, but it's not a comparison to other parts of the country, just an in-state program to promote retirement, probably for reasons similar to those you mention. (Hey, I could see retiring to Ocean Springs or a condo overlooking the Gulf. ;)
[1]: http://www.topretirements.com/communiti…
[2]: http://www.visitmississippi.org/hometow…
On Paul Ryan
Posted 13 August 2012, 2:18 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
The Atlantic <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc…">crunched the numbers</a> and came up with this fun statistic for the Ryan Budget -- if it was in effect in 2010, which is the only full tax return of Romney's we have to go by, he would have paid *less than one percent* as an effective tax rate:
> In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.
What I keep failing to understand about all of these tax proposals is the desire to do away with capital gains taxes, where you could see some significant revenues raised to help balance the budget without unduly harming the working middle class in this country. Instead the plan is to cut capital gains taxes and close "loopholes" like the mortgage interest deduction? I'm not sure why anyone with an actual job and a house note would support this guy's plan?
On Romney's Veep Pick, Rep. Paul Ryan, a 'Double-Edged Sword'
Posted 12 August 2012, 3:45 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
Yup, this one is certainly interesting. Romney has certainly just excited the base -- of both parties. Ryan will probably be a fund-raising bonanza for both Romney ... and Obama. He might be able to deliver Wisconsin from the safe-Obama column, except that he's only marginally more popular than he is unpopular in Wisconsin.
But the fact that Romney needed to excite his base this late in the election -- and do so in a way that will likely alienate women, aging voters and working-class swing voters -- is bizarre. And it's interesting to consider the very strong possibility that his V.P. might easily overshadow his own candidacy. (Romney's people have reportedly already put out talking points saying that this doesn't mean Romney is fully embracing the Ryan budget. That, of course, forces the question of what other legitimate reason there would be for naming him.)
Bottom line -- the only other man in the known universe who has a "-Care" named after him just named John Galt as his vice president. It's hard to interpret that as anything other than a Hail Mary.
On Romney's Veep Pick, Rep. Paul Ryan, a 'Double-Edged Sword'
Posted 11 August 2012, 1:46 p.m. Suggest removal
tstauffer says...
Not only that, but it's hilarious that the "base" of Romney's party is livid because a member of his staff was, um, *defending* his record as governor.
http://www.businessinsider.com/rush-lim…
"What? She said something good about what he did has Governor? OMG. Get. Rid. Of. Her."
I say this so often that Donna is sick of hearing it, but I'm still amazed that someone thought it was a good idea for the GOP to nominate the only other guy in the world with "-Care" after his name.
On Romney Accuses Obama of False Advertising, Leaves His Own Disputed Ads On the Air
Posted 9 August 2012, 4:23 p.m. Suggest removal