Republicans Have Taken the House!

[Reverend Rick]

If the economy tanks, it will be Obama's fault, right?

If you are tight on money, need every penny you make and take a 25 dollar a week cut in pay, do you continue to pay for your 100 dollar a month cable bill?

Now, if you lose your cable, does your whole household collapse?

You still have a roof over your head, water, electricity, food.

It will be the same for the Federal Government. They will have to make cuts. We will survive.

Let's quit blaming Bush or Obama and get America's financial house in order.

We owe this to our children and grandchildren.

You know, we all should take a good look at Haiti and how those poor folks live as we type away on our computers complaining about what the government will or will not do for us.

 

[Engyo]

Like I said, let's try it and see what happens.

I'll be waiting to see how the hyperpartisan media spins it, no matter how it actually works out.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Like I said, let's try it and see what happens.

I'll be waiting to see how the hyperpartisan media spins it, no matter how it actually works out.

The TEA party has released the hounds. There is no turning back.......

"The whole world will collapse"

 

[Engyo]

The TEA party has released the hounds. There is no turning back.......

"The whole world will collapse"

And if it does, I reserve the right to say I told you so..........

 

[Mercy Not Sacrifice]

That Obama spends more like a Republican than a Democrat?

So we agree that Obama would become, if the current trend were to continue, the first president since Ford to reverse the trend of Republican presidents increasing the debt-to-GDP ratio and Democratic presidents decreasing it?

 

[Magic Man]

I'm sorry, but that is a typical liberal elitist attitude. Republicans just need to be "corrected". Do you not see how condescending that really is?

I think you should try to throw some more names in there for fun. I mean, you only managed to include three with "liberal", "elite" and "condescending". I know you can do better than that.

You can consider it anything you want. The fact is the republicans don't like the healthcare bill because the other team is responsible for it. They need to denigrate it as much as possible to make the other side look as bad as possible, thereby making themselves look as good as possible. By doing this (and doing a good job of it) they mislead the population, and the population is only too ready to be misled. That's why so many have misconceptions about the healthcare bill, and that's why so many are against it. If the majority of people understood the bill, many more people would support it.

So, no, condescending doesn't even enter it. I don't think the republicans are stupid. I think they are purposely misleading people.

 

[Magic Man]

Not for long. The credit card is going to be cut in half. The Federal Government is going to have their funding cut dramatically.

By whom? Surely you're not implying the new crop of republicans that got voted in is going to stop the spending, right? Surely you're not naive enough to believe that republicans save money while democrats spend it, right?

 

[Magic Man]

If you are tight on money, need every penny you make and take a 25 dollar a week cut in pay, do you continue to pay for your 100 dollar a month cable bill?

Now, if you lose your cable, does your whole household collapse?

You still have a roof over your head, water, electricity, food.

It will be the same for the Federal Government. They will have to make cuts. We will survive.

Sure, just as long as you're not comparing health insurance to cable.

Let's quit blaming Bush or Obama and get America's financial house in order.

We owe this to our children and grandchildren.

You know, we all should take a good look at Haiti and how those poor folks live as we type away on our computers complaining about what the government will or will not do for us.

Are you saying we should try to be more like Haiti? Yes, a lot of people could use a reminder that all in all they have it pretty good. But that has nothing to do with what our government will and won't do for us. I don't want the government to do anything else for me specifically. I want the government to do stuff for our economy and debt, and for the people who really need help. I already realize what I have compared to third-world countries. I just don't want my country to end up in a third-world situation.

 

[Revoltingest]

I really think that "we" as a country have some hard choices ahead - and I don't mean about what $$ we cut from which programs.

We are going to need to come to some consensus about what the USA is, what kind of a country we want to be, and what it stands for and how we are going to move ahead in the world. I see huge disagreements about this, and the arguing over money and so forth are just symptoms of this underlying lack of consensus.

If we have lost the ability to achieve consensus on these questions, then I don't see much of a future for us as a nation.

I agree with you up until the part about consensus. If the 2 parties start acting in unison, that's when we often venture
into a morass of needless wars. I'm OK with the lack of a clear shared vision, so there's a lot to be said for gridlock.

 

[blackout]

Republicans Have Taken the House!

Well, where did they put it?!
It's a house for gawd's sake. you know?





I just... can't... help mySelf.....

 

[Reverend Rick]

By whom? Surely you're not implying the new crop of republicans that got voted in is going to stop the spending, right?

Yes, the is what I am implying. The Republicans have been given a second chance to do just that, cut spending. If they do not, I personally will stop voting Republican.

Surely you're not naive enough to believe that republicans save money while democrats spend it, right?

Past performance had better not mandate the future. We have to stop spending money we do not have. Can we agree on that?

 

[Magic Man]

Yes, the is what I am implying. The Republicans have been given a second chance to do just that, cut spending. If they do not, I personally will stop voting Republican.

I think you mean "eighth chance". I just fail to understand why you have any hope that republicans will cut spending at all. I mean, I'll say it's possible they'll cut some spending, but they'll raise other spending, and then they'll lower taxes or keep them lower on the upper class which will negate their spending cuts.

Past performance had better not mandate the future. We have to stop spending money we do not have. Can we agree on that?

The way I see it, it shouldn't be hard to cut spending at this point. We already did the healthcare reform and financial reform, along with bailouts and such to get the economy to at least stabilize a bit. At this point, we can reduce spending pretty easily. The problem I see arising is that they don't spend as much, but it's because they don't get very much done. But since the big spending is already done, the economy improves at least a bit, and then the republicans take all the credit. I see them pulling the old "See? I opened the jar. (Never mind the fact that you loosened it for me so that all I had to do was pop it off.)".

But yes, we agree that we should start spending only money that we have. That means cutting some spending like mainly military, and raising taxes on people who can pay more, along with cutting some inefficiencies and waste in some other places.

 

[Reverend Rick]

But yes, we agree that we should start spending only money that we have. That means cutting some spending like mainly military, and raising taxes on people who can pay more, along with cutting some inefficiencies and waste in some other places.

How long have we been in Afghanistan? 10 years now? It's time to come home, so we agree on the military expenses.

That was the easy pill for you to swallow. There will need to be cuts across the board that will not be so easy to digest as well.

More taxes on those who can afford it? Sure, but everyone will have to pony up to pay their fair share Matt, not just the rich if we want a balanced budget.

The choices are simple.

Do nothing and eventually we will be bankrupt and the poor will suffer the most as the government can do nothing for anyone any more. That is reality when the interest payment on the debt exceeds the GDP.

Raise taxes which hurts employment levels

Spend less which hurts the poor the most.

Or figure out a way to raise taxes modestly and reduce spending to those levels.

Everything has to be cut back and all taxes must be increased.

Shared sacrifice is the solution. Sure the rich will have to carry a bigger burden, but that does not relieve the rest of us from our obligation as well.

Use less and pay more, it's pretty simple really. American families have to do this all the time.

 

[Engyo]

How long have we been in Afghanistan? 10 years now? It's time to come home, so we agree on the military expenses.

That was the easy pill for you to swallow. There will need to be cuts across the board that will not be so easy to digest as well.

More taxes on those who can afford it? Sure, but everyone will have to pony up to pay their fair share Matt, not just the rich if we want a balanced budget.

The choices are simple.

Do nothing and eventually we will be bankrupt and the poor will suffer the most as the government can do nothing for anyone any more. That is reality when the interest payment on the debt exceeds the GDP.

Raise taxes which hurts employment levels

Spend less which hurts the poor the most.

Or figure out a way to raise taxes modestly and reduce spending to those levels.

Everything has to be cut back and all taxes must be increased.

Shared sacrifice is the solution. Sure the rich will have to carry a bigger burden, but that does not relieve the rest of us from our obligation as well.

Use less and pay more, it's pretty simple really. American families have to do this all the time.

Here I actually agree with you. I'm not sure the economy is in a situation which allows this without serious negative repercussions, but I agree we need to do it.

 

[Magic Man]

How long have we been in Afghanistan? 10 years now? It's time to come home, so we agree on the military expenses.

Yup, agreed there. But there's a lot more we could cut from the military, too.

That was the easy pill for you to swallow. There will need to be cuts across the board that will not be so easy to digest as well.

Like what?

More taxes on those who can afford it? Sure, but everyone will have to pony up to pay their fair share Matt, not just the rich if we want a balanced budget.

Yes, everyone will have to pony up to pay their fair share. Since the majority of people are already doing that, the problem mostly lies with the rich. Before you accuse me of hating them or whatever, I'm not saying it's their fault. So, yes, everyone need so pay their fair share, meaning the uber-rich need to have higher taxes.

The choices are simple.

Do nothing and eventually we will be bankrupt and the poor will suffer the most as the government can do nothing for anyone any more. That is reality when the interest payment on the debt exceeds the GDP.

Raise taxes which hurts employment levels

Spend less which hurts the poor the most.

Or figure out a way to raise taxes modestly and reduce spending to those levels.

Everything has to be cut back and all taxes must be increased.

Shared sacrifice is the solution. Sure the rich will have to carry a bigger burden, but that does not relieve the rest of us from our obligation as well.

Use less and pay more, it's pretty simple really. American families have to do this all the time.

Sorry, Rick, this isn't the solution. You don't increase the number of poor people to make the situation better. You help the poor and middle class to make the situation better. That means raising taxes so that everyone is paying their fair share, which right now means raising taxes on the uber-rich.

 

[Twig pentagram]

So, what will happen next?

I hope you're strapped in tight, because this is going to be a bumpy ride.