Class Warfare Scorecard

[iris lily]

I am getting lots of enjoyment from this thread. Carry on! Entertain me. More Zimbabwe allusions, please.

[iris lily]

Not to be argumentative, but if you didn't label yourself and others, then engage in identity politics, you'd probably make a fine conservative.

alan, I've often thought that Jane needs only a small intervention to bring her to the side of right thinking. She makes me laugh and it too often follows that those who make me laugh are conservative.

[iris lily]

...I do have a libertarian streak....

Oh that's clear. We'll round up the van and pull you into it; the intervention should take only a few hours. You'll come out on the other side happier for it, I promise.

[JaneV2.0]

You may be on to something--I've been known to laugh at a conservative or two myself...

[pinkytoe]

 don't see how it logically follows that if the government isn't taking care of things, that things won't get done.

I guess we'll see how private industry and entrepreneurs take care of things in years to come as that is the direction things are going...one thing that comes to mind locally are toll roads. Private companies have very quickly constructed and managed new toll roads, very efficiently, I might add, and they are quickly taking over every existing highway to make it a toll. If you cannot pay to drive on the toll road, oh well. What will become of public highways?

[flowerseverywhere]

I always have to laugh just a bit, because the people who scream the loudest about why it's just fine that the richest are getting more and more of a share of the total income in this country, are pretty much always the ones who have the most and are determined to hang on to every cent.

This generalization is not the case with me. Firmly middle class, I can count on one hand the times I have eaten food not cooked from scratch this year, drive a 1999 honda, and buy my clothes at the thrift store. I just don't see most governments at any level spending my money wisely. I gladly pay my school, property, state, federal and sales tax because I haven't found any other country where I want to live and I know I have to pay my share. If taxes are raised across the board, with the wealthy being taxed the most, will it really help this country? Will our officials say, thanks, that's enough. We'll live within our means and not pass these massive overspending budgets on to the next generation. We'll make sure that the money we get doesn't go to our cronies but to the people who really need it. I don't have a high level of trust that will happen.

[LDAHL]

I keep hearing about how things have gotten so much worse "in the last thirty years"; I suppose to imply that Reagan caused us to fall from that state of economic grace we experienced in the seventies. My recollection is somewhat different, but with Mr. Obama's help, it looks like our memories will be refreshed.

[loosechickens]

have no time to keep beating the horse this morning....off to explore in the Chiracahua Mountains, but just had to add....

Iris Lily.....I find that it's conservatives that make ME laugh, too. Perhaps not in the same way, exactly, but we have something in common...... ;-)

have a good day, everybody....I'm sure you will have solved everthing by the time I get back.

[flowerseverywhere]

for anyone who might be interested the Government accountability office just released a 345 page document on ways to save money and become more efficient.

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-318SP


"For example, while the Department of Defense is making limited changes to the governance of its military health care system, broader restructuring could result in annual savings of up to $460 million. Similarly, we developed a range of options that could reduce federal revenue losses by up to $5.7 billion annually by addressing potentially duplicative policies designed to boost domestic ethanol production. Likewise, we identified a number of other opportunities for cost savings or enhanced revenues such as reducing improper federal payments totaling billions of dollars, or addressing the gap between taxes owed and paid, potentially involving billions of dollars. Collectively, these savings and revenues could result in tens of billions of dollars in annual savings, depending on the extent of actions taken."

[Aging Hippie]

Isn't there a point when one has enough though? Is there some virtue in acquiring more and more just because you can? I thought that was called greed....my Catholic upbringing imprinted on my brain that it is good to share.

The concept of "enough" is one of the cornerstones of simple living. Why would anyone need or want more than "enough"? And why is wealth considered to be infinite (except spiritually) in a finite world? Humans have overpopulated this world and we are running out of resources. Isn't the very basis of capitalism that the financial health of the "owners" will trickle down to equal reasonable financial health for all? Yet, that is not happening.