Here They Come, Folks

From Lala in comments, the first ten Senate bills of 2009. Stimulus package up first with an opportunity for "union empowerment" second. Amending bankruptcy laws and short-circuiting foreclosures third with Health care coming in fourth. Next up is helping Al Gore get to an environmental payday at the expense of business, then a re-focusing on Afghanistan from Iraq.

Number seven, college for everyone and eight is called giving government back to the people but it's mostly about doing away with Bush's so-called "midnight regulations." Number nine - immigration reform. And rounding out the first ten is tax reform. After all, someone has to pay for all of the above. More depth here.

S.1—American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

S.2—Middle Class Opportunity Act of 2009.

S.3—Homeowner Protection and Wall Street Accountability Act of 2009.

S.4—Comprehensive Health Reform Act of 2009.

S.5—Cleaner, Greener, and Smarter Act of 2009.

S.6.—Restoring America's Power Act of 2009.

S.7—Education Opportunity Act of 2009.

S.8—Returning Government to the American People Act.

S.9—Stronger Economy, Stronger Borders Act of 2009. 

S.10—Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009

Comments

[IslamoLlama]

So, I heard elections have consequences.

"-- After all, someone has to pay for all of the above. --"

Shorter Dan: Repeal the Bush Tax Cuts.

Hey! Nice to see you coming around. :)

[Lala]

Transparency -- hmm - delaying switch from analog because?

"Almost unanimously, Capitol Hill staff and industry sources this week expressed certainly that Obama would get his way, meaning the long-scheduled transition would be delayed. While Obama proposes this delay as a boon to consumers, it’s hard to ignore that it provides a huge profit opportunity to one of his donors who secretly helped him craft the policy.

http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/TimothyCarney/Obamas_secret_telecom_advisor_pushing_his_companys_interest_011609.html

[North Dallas Thirty]

Hardly.

You see, IslamoLlama, taxes only affect those who work and earn money.

In short, what you and your fellow Democrats want to do in all of these bills is to punish those who work and earn money so that you can give away freebies to those who don't want to work, but want to have the same lifestyle as those who do.

What you and yours haven't figured out is that, if work is punished and idleness is rewarded, people will choose idleness first.

[Anon]

I am most struck by the Orwellian jingoistic nature of the names of these bills...word have power, but whoever decided on 'restoring America's power act' should be taken to the woodshed.

[templar knight]

Oh, they figured it out, NDT, that's why half the country isn't working right now. The only thing they haven't figured out is how to make a failed system of rewarding laziness and slothfulness work for any length of time. But just this one time, forget the thousands of other times collectivism hasn't worked, it will work. Why? Because it will. It just will. Now shutup, and quit hurting my feelings. If you evil conservatives would quit obstructing everything, it would work.

[templar knight]

And I couldn't agree with you more, Anon. And the collusion of the media is sickening. It's as if every journalist in this country has lost their collective minds. Shameful.

[Lala]

You may as well save your money because pretty soon there won't be any place to spend it - watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCVArxw3vng

[Anon]

This is how liberals think, though, the idea that 'it will all work out' if they can only press the right levers, provide the right kind of breakfast, give the right speech, or prohibit the wrong speech. Their view of humanity is fundamentally flawed. This is why almost all of their policies fail and the only time their policies do work is when it involves communities that are educated and rich, because the educated and the rich can afford to do good for the sake of doing good. The reason why the U.S. and Europe are heads and shoulders above the rest of the world on something like the enviroment or animal rights isn't because we're better, but because we are rich enough to devote resources to saving prairie dogs and stamping out dog fighting.

I get such a bad feeling that all the Democrats are saying is 'jobs, jobs, jobs'...when it is clear they have no idea what they mean, except that it sounds good and it polls well.

[SacTownMan]

The plan is simple. Just like any good drug dealer would do. Get the lazy non-achievers like Harpo addicted to sucking off the govt. teet so that they can continue to hold power and press their socialist agenda.

Imagine what 12 million illegal aliens would do to help with their power grab.

The plan is to keep adding to the ranks of the lazy ass, non income tax paying losers to become govt. handout addicts. This will help ensure that they become the majority and impose new taxes and burdens on business and real working Americans to fund their habit!

Hell it ain't rocket science!

[Anon]

No, I think liberals are always genuinely surprised when their plans create the exact opposite of what they want....when they raise the capital gains tax and find out that it doesn't generate the $$ they expected because people will change their investment strategies, they'll be surprised...when all these billions of "stimulus" money go into a black hole of government incompetance and corruption, they'll be shocked, shocked...this is why the liberal turns everyone but the very rich into a victim...that is the only way to explain away their repeated policy failures...everyone is victim of something else that needs yet another gov. solution.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- In short, what you and your fellow Democrats want to do in all of these bills is to punish those who work and earn money so that you can give away freebies to those who don't want to work, but want to have the same lifestyle as those who do. --"

Oh no! Don't improve my highways and expand my alternative energy infrastructure.
Please don't burden us with expanded rights that all those non-workers in unions.
No! No! Don't lower my insurance premiums! Don't increase funding for disease prevention! Oh heavens, I am persecuted. No employed citizen suffers more when they fail to get salmonella poisoning or the flu.
Please don't take troops out of Iraq! That will be the biggest blow to the working man and woman of them all! And nothing says "freebie" like withdrawing the endless no-bid contracts to Bush buddies.
Don't send me to college! Please don't send me to college! Anything but that! I don't want an education, I just want to go straight into a lively career as a burger flipper at McDonald's.
And please please please don't overhaul the tax system. When wheeling and dealing on the stock market floor is considered "work" and sweating away in a blue collar job is considered "not work", it would be bitterly unfair to erase the 10% deficit between capital gains income earners and regular salary earners. Because if you're getting paid in stock options and equity and I'm getting paid in good old fashioned greenbacks, you MUST be working harder than me!

Boo hoo! Boo hoo!

[IslamoLlama]

"-- when they raise the capital gains tax and find out that it doesn't generate the $$ they expected because people will change their investment strategies, they'll be surprised...when all these billions of "stimulus" money go into a black hole of government incompetance and corruption, they'll be shocked, shocked...this is why the liberal turns everyone but the very rich into a victim...that is the only way to explain away their repeated policy failures...everyone is victim of something else that needs yet another gov. solution. --"

Quoth the victim.

Tell you what, we'll see how it plays out. If $9 billion in hard cash goes missing in a foreign country, if capital gains tax rate increases don't result in higher tax revenue, and if all the other policies "fail", you've got nothing to worry about. Obama will get swept out of office in 2012 and you'll get to sing "Hail to the Chief" again without choking on your own spit.

Of course, if Obama pulls a Clinton and presides over a massive economic turn around mirrored by foreign policy successes and high approval ratings at home, you'll owe me a coke. How'sat?

[Anon]

You are such a moron, hail to the chief? what chief? what are you talking about? I voted Democratic in every presidential election I've voted in except this one, but I will never again vote for a Democrat for any reason, at any level, I have seen the light and the corruption in the soul of the Democratic Party. It is possible, slimly so, that the GOP can save itself from the Bush years and come back strong, if not, I will be voting libertarian until I die.

I can virtually guarantee you that Obama is going to have more foreign policy success than Bush, but measuring Obama against Bush is pointless since he can't do worse than Bush unless he does preside over Great Depression II. I expect he will get a substantial honeymoon period of probably at least the first 2 years, I also expect that his short term propping up of the economy with dead end government jobs will generate a lot of votes and good will, but it won't save the country in the long term.

For the life of me I cannot understand the liberal desire to punish people for doing well.

Why should people who have saved their money, instead of SPENT it, and INVESTED their money, instead of WASTED it be penalized by a higher capital gains tax?? It makes no sense, it then is a disincentive to save your money and invest your money..but wait, that is exactly what Democratic policies always in reality support...irresponsibility at all levels. If you drop out of school, its okay, it wasn't your fault, we'll give you a good job anyway. If you fail at the job we gave you, that's okay too, it isn't your fault. If you mismanage your money, that's okay, we've got free housing, food stamps and more job training for you. If you commit a crime, that's not your fault either. Poverty made you do it. Or maybe racism.

But, god forbid, you go to college, get a good job, obey the law, and manage your finances properly. For that, the Democrats want to take as much of your money as possible and give it to the guy who didn't go to school, get a job, manage his money or save anything. Is it any wonder this society is falling apart?

[jharp]

I'm getting tired of hearing everyone's bullshit about capital gains being taxed a lower rate than a worker.

The capital gains are what they do for a living. Jackasses. Same as the guy who pours concrete.

The neocons might be be mortally wounded but the troglodytes still believe the neocon message. Don't you know, they have to pay a lower tax rate than everyone else or they won't give anyone a job.

Bullshit.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/tax/article1996735.ece

Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world, has criticised the US tax system for allowing him to pay a lower rate than his secretary and his cleaner.

Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser in New York for Senator Hillary Clinton, Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52 billion (£26 billion), said: “The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.”

Mr Buffett said that he was taxed at 17.7 per cent on the $46 million he made last year, without trying to avoid paying higher taxes, while his secretary, who earned $60,000, was taxed at 30 per cent.

[Anon]

I agree that is ridiculous, but the answer isn't to tax Buffet at 60%...how about we bring back the flat tax idea? Tax everyone at the same rate and forge this stupid idea of 'progressive taxation'..it would simplify the tax code, eliminate a lot of loopholes and would be equally fair to everyone...your income..however you get it...is taxed at exactly the same rate as everyone else's.

[mark l.]

2008 budget was 2.9 trillion.

If obama wants to increase that spending by 800+ billion, increasing the size of govt by 27% in one year, he is going to need more 'Acts'.

We have been hearing about the cost of the Iraq War, yet how consequential is it really when the new president will spend more in one year than the entire cost of six years of war?

I can think of no greater disconnect between govt and the people it serves, than if it proceeds in spending money it does not have, while the people it represents are not living under the same condition. Debt is not inherently evil, but assuming debt with no plans of repayment is one of the greatest political crimes our leaders can commit.

Imagine the elderly getting their grandchildren to cosign a credit card with them, and proceeding to spend without limit, under the assumption that when they die, the debt becomes irrelevant.

I don't think the gop is capable of producing another reagan, but the democrats are the ones who will put fiscal conservatism back on the map, creating the conditions for a return of a call for smaller govt. godspeed nancy, barry, and harry.

[jharp]

"I agree that is ridiculous,"

You are correct. It is ridiculous. Thank you for acknowledging that.

"but the answer isn't to tax Buffet at 60%"

Get friggin real. No one has proposed anything even close to that. And you are either stupid or being dishonest. A lot of folks believe the old rates of 20% or even 28% worked pretty well and were pretty fair. I don't know and am open to debate. 15% is absurd.

"how about we bring back the flat tax idea? "

A preposterous suggestion. Ain't gonna happen. Do you honestly believe that Warren Buffets $46 million should be taxed at the same rate as the janitors $25 thousand.

You are delusional.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"Oh no! Don't improve my highways and expand my alternative energy infrastructure."

LOL.....don't you remember the ethanol boondoggle, silly?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123008114168231965.html

And you know why alternative energy hasn't been expanded more? Because your leftist party and its enviro-whackos are blocking the building of transmission lines and towers.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901822110148233.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Your party has stalled and blocked highway improvements, infrastructure improvements, and alternative energy transmission lines for years. No one believes you've changed; you're just going to waste billions of dollars.

"Please don't burden us with expanded rights that all those non-workers in unions."

You mean the "right" for you and your fellow union supporters to steal their dues for your own personal consumption and retaliate against people who complain about your doing it?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-union5-2008sep05,0,7889525.story

Or your insistence that workers in unions should get paid even when they don't do their jobs, even though doing so costs the taxpayers?

"A group of union advocates and employees had a message Wednesday for City Council: "buddy-punching" of timecards is OK, and city employees recently disciplined for it were wronged.

About 60 people clad in their green union shirts, many city sanitation workers, told the council that buddy- punching was allowed by supervisors.

The city completed an investigation last week in which 18 employees were reprimanded, including two who were fired, for buddy-punching. That's when a supervisor punches the timecards of workers after they go home, giving them credit for time not worked."

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/145557

[North Dallas Thirty]

"And please please please don't overhaul the tax system."

LOL...of course, IslamoLlama fully endorses and supports for public office people who refuse to pay their taxes and who deliberately defraud the government.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/16/frankentaxes/

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/12/11/opinion/doc4940f6490bdc7421638554.txt

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/13/uh-oh-obama-treasury-nominee-had-undocumented-housekeeper/

Your party endorses and supports tax cheats. You put tax cheats in charge of writing and enforcing Federal tax law.

"No! No! Don't lower my insurance premiums! Don't increase funding for disease prevention!"

Silly person; didn't you see what your friends in Canada do to get cheaper health insurance? They deny care, deny treatment, put people on year-long waiting lists, eliminate private insurance so you're stuck with government care, curtail jury trials, cap malpractice damages, and get rid of lawyers' fees.

"Don't send me to college! Please don't send me to college!"

You mean, give you welfare checks instead of requiring you to earn it through scholarship and work, like the vast majority of people who go to college do it. Little IslamoLlama doesn't want to work; she just wants welfare to pay for everything for her so she and her D average can get a free ride and not have to flip burgers to pay for it.

[Anon]

Well, if Warren Buffet is only paying 17% on his billions, then I would think a flat tax of 25% would be a big improvement...

See, that is the problem with the tax code..rich people are ALWAYS going to pay less of a percentage than someone who just draws a wage because there are no loopholes for them to exploit, whereas someone like Buffet whose income comes from a multitude of sources has tons of loopholes.

So, in REALITY, a flat tax would be more fair than the system we have now where the woman who makes $60K pays a HIGHER percentage than a billionaire...but what you want is a perfect world where rich people just go 'okay, i'd love to double my tax burden' instead of using their money to find new ways to pay less taxes. A flat tax would avoid this altogether, so of course, it is too easy, too logical and too straightforward to ever have a chance.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"Mr Buffett said that he was taxed at 17.7 per cent on the $46 million he made last year, without trying to avoid paying higher taxes, while his secretary, who earned $60,000, was taxed at 30 per cent."

If he doesn't like it, he's free to write a check to the government for the difference. Bet he didn't. Typical of a Democrat; he whines about "inequity", but won't spend his own money to fix it.

Again, I propose a simple law: let everyone who votes Democrat pay 100% on all income over $100k, regardless of source, and the wealth be redistributed to those Democrat voters who don't make $100k without any strings attached. You just get a free $100k from the government, whether you work or not, and if you do work, everything you make over $100k is subject to government forfeiture.

That neatly isolates the Democrats on their own little financial island, and lets the rest of us go about running our businesses.

"Do you honestly believe that Warren Buffets $46 million should be taxed at the same rate as the janitors $25 thousand."

Yup.

For a very simple reason; with a 20% flat tax, Warren Buffett will pay $9.2 million dollars, and the janitor will pay $5,000.

In other words, Warren Buffett will contribute 1,840 times the amount the janitor does in taxes. I doubt he comes anywhere close to reaping 1,840 times the benefit.

The problem is that welfare addicts like jharp are fools who don't realize that the rich are actually the people who pay their salaries. Like typical parasites, they want to suck as much blood out of the host as possible, not realizing that, in the process, they'll kill it.

[jharp]

"Well, if Warren Buffet is only paying 17% on his billions, then I would think a flat tax of 25% would be a big improvement..."

Please. So I guess you favor raising taxes on the poor. Your theory is preposterous and no one takes it serious.

"rich people are ALWAYS going to pay less of a percentage than someone who just draws a wage because there are no loopholes for them to exploit"

What you call a loophole is more accurately described as the tax code. If you don't like it, be specific and try to change it using your brain. Not some stupidity about a flat tax.

As it is now your so called "loopholes" are firmly in place. And what doesn't fall into your "loopholes" gets taxed at 15%.

You're an idiot.

[Anon]

No, I'm a realist, and I know that rich people will always find ways to evade taxes, and if you make the tax code too onerous they will ultimately move out of the country and take their money elsewhere...the Brits found that out in the 70's and 80's.

I understand that Warren Buffet paying a smaller percentage of his income than his secretary is ridiculous, so I offer a very easy to implement solution that would INCREASE the percentage Buffet pays by almost double. Yet you call me an idiot.

An idiot is someone who continues to do the same thing...try to tax the rich at ever higher rates...and continues to fail...yet learns nothing.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"Please. So I guess you favor raising taxes on the poor."

Nice try, jharp, but remember this?

"A lot of folks believe the old rates of 20% or even 28% worked pretty well and were pretty fair. I don't know and am open to debate. 15% is absurd."

You think it's "absurd" to have a 15% rate, and instead want to raise the rate for those who are currently paying 15% to 20%.

Furthermore, your party is already raising taxes on the poor. Despite your party's previous screaming that taxing tobacco was "regressive", harmed the poor, and disproportionately affected minorities, Nancy Pelosi and her leftist Democrat cronies just doubled it -- to buy health insurance for rich white people who can already afford it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/03/01_regressive.html

http://northdallasthirty.blogspot.com/2007/08/bait-and-switch.html

Why do Democrats hate minorities and poor people?

[North Dallas Thirty]

What you call a loophole is more accurately described as the tax code. If you don't like it, be specific and try to change it using your brain.

Or more specifically, just don't pay it, like the Democrat Party politicians that jharp and his leftist ilk support.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/16/frankentaxes/

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/12/11/opinion/doc4940f6490bdc7421638554.txt

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/13/uh-oh-obama-treasury-nominee-had-undocumented-housekeeper/

Notice how jharp demands "the rich" pay their taxes, but he whines and squirms and says that Democrat Party members shouldn't have to pay their taxes.

[jharp]

"I offer a very easy to implement solution that would INCREASE the percentage Buffet pays by almost double. Yet you call me an idiot."

So to be so callous but it's the truth and the truth shall set you free.

It is NOT an easy to implement solution. And an idea that no one takes seriously.

And I don't get paid by "rich" people. Nothing could be further from the truth. I get paid by consumers. For some reason a certain group of troglodyte nitwits feel the only way they can survive is taxing the wealthiest Americans at a lower rate than everyone else.

It is a moronic, absurd, and idiotic idea and only an uneducated fool believes it. Mostly poor redneck republicans.

[Lala]

I love this - CORE may picket Robert Redford, says he hurts poor people

Group plans to protest Redford's environmental views at film festival
January 6th, 2009 @ 10:10pm
By John Hollenhorst

A national coalition is taking aim at one of Utah's best-known citizens, hoping to rain on Robert Redford's parade. They hope to stir up opposition to his stance on oil and gas drilling at his Sundance Film Festival.

The group leading the charge is the civil rights organization that organized Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous march on Washington. As they've drifted into environmental politics, critics have claimed the group is heavily subsidized by industry. Now the group is setting its sights on Redford.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

You've got some families in our country spending half their income on high energy prices, and that's an economic albatross around the neck of poor families that can't afford it. So, that's why we engaged in this fight," Innis explained.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5246896

[North Dallas Thirty]

"I understand that Warren Buffet paying a smaller percentage of his income than his secretary is ridiculous, so I offer a very easy to implement solution that would INCREASE the percentage Buffet pays by almost double. Yet you call me an idiot."

Not only that, Anon; remember what jharp said originally?

"Mr Buffett said that he was taxed at 17.7 per cent on the $46 million he made last year, without trying to avoid paying higher taxes, while his secretary, who earned $60,000, was taxed at 30 per cent."

You suggested a flat tax of 25%. Therefore, Buffett would have his taxes increased by 41%, while Buffett's secretary would have her taxes CUT by 20%.

Yet jharp insisted you wanted to RAISE taxes on the working class, even though the taxes Buffett's secretary would pay are REDUCED under your plan.

This shows you the Democrat Party mentality. It's a party of tax cheats who want to raise taxes on everyone else but have no intention of paying their own.

[North Dallas Thirty]

And I don't get paid by "rich" people. Nothing could be further from the truth. I get paid by consumers.

Mhm....try seeing how well you survive when you cut off those "rich" shippers and those "rich" air cargo companies, and instead try hauling things yourself in your own boat.

Also, you're not going to sell to any stores or any other businesses; you're only going to sell direct to consumers.

Like ET says, no wonder your business failed.

[Worst President Ever]

Aren't you supposed to be arguing the Wonders of Trickle Down Economics, how we absolutely MUST cut Taxes on the Rich and if we could only get rid of those DASTERDLY regulations the the Market coule dork its Magic?

Those Republican polices certainly worked wonders. It's the Democrats turn. Trouble is, where George Bush came into office with a budget surplus, Obama's got the biggest mess to clean up since FDR.

So in Real World Testing, Republican Economic policy blows.

[Anon]

I don't remember any Democrats complaining about the massive profits being made on Wall Street, do you? Does anybody?

I don't remember any Democrats complaining about the housing boom, in fact, I remember very clearly the Democrats screaming 'racism' at the very idea that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were out of control.

I don't remember any Democrats complaining about the ridiculously low prime interest rate, either, or second guessing Greenspan.

But, possibly I missed all of those Democratic pronouncements of all these economic occurances. What I do remember is that Democrats spent all their time protesting the Iraq War and the Bush tax cuts but had nothing to say about any of the underlying issues that have created this economic mess.

They really are not in a position to throw any stones here.

[Worst President Ever]

Bill Clinton leaves office and hands over a budget surplus to George Bush and the Republicans. Who promptly navigate the country into ever-growing deficits. Fiscal Conservatives, my f***** ass.

Yeah, more Dems should have stood up to the flim-flam economics Republicans were selling. But end-of-the-day, the reason we're in this mess is the belief that the market doesn't need to be regulated and government has no role to play. That's a core Republican idea, now painfully proved to be the BS it is.

[jharp]

For Fred the Birdbrain,

I noticed earlier you were having some trouble grasping the gist of the FISA court decision by your moronic claim that somehow the Bush administration had been vindicated by it. I believe it is spelled out so clearly here that even you can understand it.

http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2009/01/brazen-dishonesty-from-wall-street.html#links

You are welcome.

[Anon]

You mean guys like Robert Rubin, who came from Wall Street, guys like that who should have 'stood up' to the flim flam? LOL.

I wholeheartedly agree that no regulation=disaster, this has been born out a gazillion times in just about every industry that exists. Self regulation and 100% market driven economies will always, always result in boom/busts/greed/swindles. That's a given.

My point is less about the GOP having abandoned its ideas of fiscal reponsibility and more about the Democrats being EQUALLY culpable in the Wall Street meltdown, because nobody was pushing for more regulations of hedge funds or derivatives.

So, it isn't fair to blame the Republicans for something that the Democrats also ignored completely. Everyone was happy as long as the money was rolling.

It is an easy soundbyte now to come in and say 'oh it is all the Republicans fault' but that isn't quite true. I just like to keep people honest. Barney Frank is apparently not as smart he thinks he is.

I like to aportion blame fairly, Bush has a lot to answer for, but the sub prime crisis is the fault of everyone, Democrat and Republican alike.

[Worst President Ever]

Equally = Total, unadulterated BS. Deregulating everything is a Republican Ideal, not a Democratic one.

Glass-Steagall was repealed by Republicans, not Dems. Bush's tax cuts ended up being disastrous. And any attempt to actually regulate anything was beaten back by Republicans who've had majorities in one or both houses for most of the past 16 years. Republicans held all levers of government for most of Bush's reign - they did absolutely jack-sh** to stop any of this. And Greenspan - another Republican nominee who should have been kicked out on his ass by Dems - admitted he was fundamentally wrong about the markets.

Congressman Henry Waxman pushed him, responding, “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right; it was not working.” “Absolutely, precisely,” Greenspan said.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"But end-of-the-day, the reason we're in this mess is the belief that the market doesn't need to be regulated and government has no role to play."

You mean the belief pushed by your leftist Democrat Party?

"In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

And this one is the best:

"The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates."

But of course, the Democrat Party said no.

"Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''"

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Leftist Democrats demanded that loans be made to people with rotten credit and deliberately blocked any attempt to regulate or manage that risk. It's right there in black and white. The only reason the Democrats out there like yourself deny it is because your party leaders are liars and party supporters like yourself are too brainwashed to question their lies.

[jharp]

"My point is less about the GOP having abandoned its ideas of fiscal reponsibility and more about the Democrats being EQUALLY culpable in the Wall Street meltdown"

So even though it was republican ideals, goals, and policy, and the republicans were in charge it's equally the democrats fault because the didn't do enough to stop it.

Try that one at the office. Even though I'm the boss it was my underlings fault because they didn't do enough to stop me.

You are out of your mind.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"For a very simple reason; with a 20% flat tax, Warren Buffett will pay $9.2 million dollars, and the janitor will pay $5,000."

Because now the janitor pays NO taxes and may even be eligible to get your hard earned money. Does anyone really believe Buffett's secretary only makes 60k. Must not be very smart, this woman.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"Try that one at the office. Even though I'm the boss it was my underlings fault because they didn't do enough to stop me."

Hey! That's kinda like when Barney Frank said "sure we fucked up Freddie and Fannie....but teh republicans let us."

[North Dallas Thirty]

"So even though it was republican ideals, goals, and policy, and the republicans were in charge it's equally the democrats fault because the didn't do enough to stop it."

Actually, jharp, as I pointed out above, the Republicans proposed new regulations to cut down on risky mortgages and to force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to behave themselves, and the Democrat Party blocked them.

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/01/here-they-come-folks.html#comment-145362956

I know you and your fellow Democrats aren't capable of admitting your party's lies, but they're right there in black and white. You ought to consider how foolish it makes you look when you deny things that are so easily referenced.

[templar knight]

NDT, you're wasting your time. These liberals who post here know you're right, but they are propagandists and will keep posting the same crap over and over, just like the Nazis did. They learned this lesson from their friends and mentors in the collectivist regimes of old Europe, namely Germany and the Soviet Union.

They are true believers in the totalitarinism of the Bolsheviks and their predecessors Hegel and Marx. That is why one pretends to be a businessman, yet spends no time with his business, and why one claims to be a totally heterosexual conservative, yet is obviously a totally queer liberal. These people put on fronts, and travel from conservative blog to conservative blog sowing seeds of hatred and destruction. They seek to destroy this country, and remake it into a "socialist paradise."

[jharp]

Because now the janitor pays NO taxes and may even be eligible to get your hard earned money. Does anyone really believe Buffett's secretary only makes 60k. Must not be very smart, this woman.

Posted by: WAHOO WILLIE | Friday, January 16, 2009 at 11:15 PM

Willie,

You've always been reasonable but in this case you are out in left field.

"the janitor pays NO taxes"

Wrong.

"Does anyone really believe Buffett's secretary only makes 60k."

Yes. That is what a good paying secretary's job pays. Or why don't you just come out and call Warren Buffett a liar. The guy who just gave billions to charity. Yes billions.

[jharp]

"just like the Nazis did."

Yeah, right templar. Liberals are just like the Nazis.

"They seek to destroy this country"

And the liberals goals are to destroy this country? Funny man you are. Seems to me George Bush, his apologists, and the GOP tried their best to destroy our country but the liberals finally stopped them.

Praise the Lord.

[Chris]

Why didn't Buffett give billions to government?

[jharp]

Why didn't Buffett give billions to government?

Posted by: Chris | Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 12:27 AM

I have no idea. And just what are you getting at? In your twisted delusional right wing brain do you have a problem with him giving his money to charity while speaking his mind about tax reform?

Good Lord. What kind of morons inhabit our country?

[Chris]

Buffet pledged his money to the Gates Foundation because he has no intention of ever giving one dime of it to uncle sam. If you want to cite him as a source for progressive taxation you need to know more about the man. Some of his largest investments are insurance companies which generate huge fees selling annuities to help people avoid paying inheritance taxes. He has a vested interest in NOT seeing the death tax repealed. It's bad for (his) business. Now go ahead and call me ignorant. It's what you do. And your guy won, get over it.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Because, jharp, Buffett supports other people being forced to give their money to the government. He should be giving his.

But then again, the party of Democrats are hypocrites; as we know, they insist on raising taxes on others, but refuse to pay their taxes themselves.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/16/frankentaxes/

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/12/11/opinion/doc4940f6490bdc7421638554.txt

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/13/uh-oh-obama-treasury-nominee-had-undocumented-housekeeper/

And do you want to see your endorsement of that again, jharp? We can keep showing it. Over and over and over again. You support tax cheats. You've said tax cheats make "excellent" public servants.

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/01/um-what-waves-guys.html#comment-144708264

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"Good Lord. What kind of morons inhabit our country?"

Apparently ones who think Warren Buffett is a role model and that it's ok that he pays his secretary slave wages.

[Lala]

Attention everyone -

JHarp does not know what a Neocon is

(along with all the zillions of other things JHarp doesn't know)

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"the janitor pays NO taxes"

Wrong.

I wasn't aware anyone hovering around the poverty level paid taxes. I'll concede if LLama tells us different.

Everyone else should look at this years tax info...some deductions are gone, some "changed". Interestingly, teachers can no longer apply expenses to AGI as before.