Second quarter 2018 U.S. growth rate estimate, 3.7%

[Twilight Hue]

And all of it will go to the richest 1% of the population.

They do say you can follow the money trail and therein lies the answers.

 

[metis]

They do say you can follow the money trail and therein lies the answers.

Only for those whose deity is money and who may benefit from the tax cuts minus empathy for the many whom are going to be hurt. Wait until this fall when the medical-insurance companies put out their new rates for 2019, for example.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Wait until this fall when the medical-insurance companies put out their new rates for 2019, for example.

That's no surprise to anyone since that was announced and forewarned long before.

 

[metis]

That's no surprise to anyone since that was announced and forewarned long before.

Oh, I think there is likely going to be many a surprise for those when they see the changes likely to be made, enough so that it may have an influence on election day 2018. And then here's the issue of the probable raise in the prime.

We'll see.

 

[Shaul]

You've gotta be kidding, right? Tell us you were just joking, please.

I’m not joking, but I wish Obama had been. “Thanks for the $1,000,000,000 in debt, Obama. Not!

 

[Shaul]

False on both counts. First of all, in regards to Torah, this is what we see:

1. Not to reap the entire field (Lev. 19:9; Lev. 23:22) (negative) (CCI6).
2. To leave the unreaped corner of the field or orchard for the poor (Lev. 19:9) (affirmative) (CCI1).
3. Not to gather gleanings (the ears that have fallen to the ground while reaping) (Lev. 19:9) (negative) (CCI7).
4. To leave the gleanings for the poor (Lev. 19:9) (affirmative) (CCI2).
5. Not to gather ol'loth (the imperfect clusters) of the vineyard (Lev. 19:10) (negative) (CCI8).
6. To leave ol'loth (the imperfect clusters) of the vineyard for the poor (Lev. 19:10; Deut. 24:21) (affirmative) (CCI3).
7. Not to gather the peret (grapes) that have fallen to the ground (Lev. 19:10) (negative) (CCI9).
8. To leave peret (the single grapes) of the vineyard for the poor (Lev. 19:10) (affirmative) (CCI4).
9. Not to return to take a forgotten sheaf (Deut. 24:19) This applies to all fruit trees (Deut. 24:20) (negative) (CC10).
10. To leave the forgotten sheaves for the poor (Deut. 24:19-20) (affirmative) (CCI5).
11. Not to refrain from maintaining a poor man and giving him what he needs (Deut. 15:7) (CCN62). See Tzedakah: Charity.
12. To give charity according to one's means (Deut. 15:11) (CCA38). See Tzedakah: Charity.

Note that charity is only the last two items, and the irony is that even those are mandated but have no fixed amount. All others are mandated through Law, therefore are forms of taxation. The concept that eretz Israel depended on charity alone is simply bogus.

As far as the idea of reducing the government doesn't hurt the poor, depending on how that is done, can very much hurt the poor as well.

If one studies history, they would know that the ills of unbridled capitalism caused so many problems that no country in the world today uses it. And it's simply unethical by Torah standards to elevate any political/economic system above the people that these are supposed to serve, and Israel was the first known country in world history to mandate help for all in need, which also involved formulating various forms of taxation as I quoted above.

In our history, such mandates were so thorough that a common accusation against us was "Scratch a Jew and what you see is a socialist". The idea of leaving charity alone to help the poor is simply not in any way "Judaism".

Every single one of the scriptures you quoted are requirements for individuals, not the government. Just like I wrote. Thanks for the evidence I was right.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

You call it cheerleading, I call it simply publishing information that some might find useful.

 

[metis]

I’m not joking, but I wish Obama had been. “Thanks for the $1,000,000,000 in debt, Obama. Not!

Not only was he advised to do that by both Paulson and Bernanke, both conservative economists, but he couldn't get enough support from the Republicans in Congress to elevate the stimulus even higher as they recommended. Bernanke is considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on what's called "depression economics", and getting out of a recession/depression requires some steps that are counter-intuitive. And once the "freefall", as Stiglitz called it, stopped, then budget reductions were implemented.

So ya, you should thank Obama a lot!

Oh, and if your truly were authentic in being so worried about the deficit, then why in the world would you support Trump on his tax cuts, and why would you defy the Torah mandate to help the poor, not hurt them?

 

[metis]

Every single one of the scriptures you quoted are requirements for individuals, not the government. Just like I wrote. Thanks for the evidence I was right.

Absolutely false, so it become clear that you either didn't read it or you just are so unaware of what's actually in Torah on this. If something is mandated for a group, such as not harvesting the edges of one's farm property, that's no longer "individual". A mandate is a mandate, thus not charity, so your response is wrong-headed even if it were to supposedly apply just to "individuals". IOW, it's still a state-levied tax.

And the evidence for this is that many of these tax mandates were revised with the creation of the state of Israel so as to be paid in monetary forms since Israel became more urban, thus less rural.