Board index › Topical Discussion › Politics, Philosophy, and Religion

Income Inequality in America

Page 5 of 12 [ 185 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ... 12  Next

Previous topic | Next topic

Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,939
Location:      

13 Mar 2013, 9:59 am

GGPViper wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Excellent derail of thread, folks! From "Income Inequality in America" to "Obama Bashing"! Well done! :lol:
Well, the US president currently earns approx. $ 520,000 a year. I bet that's more than the average WP member annual income. In other words, Obama is part of the 1 percent! Bash away!

It beats the snot out of being a member of Romney's 47% of Americans who don't matter!



ruveyn
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Age: 88
Gender: Male
Posts: 31,502
Location: New Jersey

13 Mar 2013, 10:03 am

lotuspuppy wrote:
ScrewyWabbit wrote:
Actually, what's been going on is freebies going to the not-so-needy. Who's paying for it is every other tax payer.

American society has an odd situation where we privatize reward and socialize risk for businesses. We do it to some extant with bankruptcy laws and the like, and that is generally seen as acceptable. Corporate bailouts are certainly a bridge too far, though.

t.


The privatization of profit the the socialization of loss is the main reason why the American economy is broken. It is a blatant sin against what is Right and Proper. Governments should not be doing that. It leads to the ruin of the nation.

ruveyn



mercifullyfree
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 21 Dec 2012
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Posts: 362
Location: internet

13 Mar 2013, 11:17 am

Get ready for a bubble rerun. LINK - No Money? No Worries. Home Lenders Ease Rules.

Someone can make a bundle trading these bad loans around.... again.



Mummy_of_Peanut
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Feb 2011
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,564
Location: Bonnie Scotland

13 Mar 2013, 11:18 am

It would be nice to say that I'm shocked at this, but I'm not.
http://www.care2.com/news/member/901507364/3542749


_________________
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley


marshall
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,752
Location: Turkey

13 Mar 2013, 12:58 pm

Raptor wrote:
Dox47 wrote:
Raptor wrote:
Sigh.......
Let's face it; to the left every war is needless and every penny spent on national defense is a penny wasted when it could have gone toward free rubbers and Obamaphones or whatever other social waste you all can dream up....


Au contraire, the US left seems very enthusiastic about wars started and pursued by Obama, even endorsing policies far beyond those of the hated W that drove them into the streets in protest. Extra-judicial murder? A-Okay cause that Obama fellow is just so nice and trustworthy, he'd never abuse a power like that, certainly not like those nasty old Republicans would... :roll:


Come to think of it I guess you're right about that. When W left office and the Obaminator took over all that whining and crying about that terrible, terrible unjust and illegal war in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially Iraq, sort of petered out quite a bit.
Guess it all just depends on what side of the bread ones butter is on....


The main difference is Obama at least claims to be in the process of withdrawing from those two conflicts rather than threatening to start new wars. Also, the fact that most conservatives have your mindset is a good reason to be less trusting when they are in power. I also find it odd that there were no conservatives whining and crying about "the deficit" when Bushie was spending like a drunken sailor on wars and handing out medicare "entitlements" that turned out to be handouts to Big Pharma.



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,939
Location:      

13 Mar 2013, 1:09 pm

ruveyn wrote:
The privatization of profit the the socialization of loss is the main reason why the American economy is broken...

This is also the business model for medical insurance - profits go to the shareholders, while the cost of your medical bills (a loss to the shareholders) is socialized across all policy holders.

Do away with this business model, and the insurance industry would collapse.



Raptor
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Mar 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,997
Location: Southeast U.S.A.

13 Mar 2013, 10:06 pm

marshall wrote:
I also find it odd that there were no conservatives whining and crying about "the deficit" when Bushie was spending like a drunken sailor on wars and handing out medicare "entitlements" that turned out to be handouts to Big Pharma.


Yeah, like Obama isn't pissing money away.
:roll: :roll:


_________________
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
- Thomas Jefferson


Kraichgauer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 49,241
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.

13 Mar 2013, 10:16 pm

Raptor wrote:
marshall wrote:
I also find it odd that there were no conservatives whining and crying about "the deficit" when Bushie was spending like a drunken sailor on wars and handing out medicare "entitlements" that turned out to be handouts to Big Pharma.


Yeah, like Obama isn't pissing money away.
:roll: :roll:


If he is, I doubt it's of the magnitude of W's waste.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,939
Location:      

13 Mar 2013, 10:20 pm

Income inequality in America ... it always comes down to a pissing contest between political parties, while they ignore the people who have lost their homes, their health, and their families to poverty.

I know! Let's form another congressional committee to study why poor people are poor!

Yes ... I'd say only a few million dollars per week needs to be spent on the project ...

:roll:



marshall
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,752
Location: Turkey

13 Mar 2013, 10:54 pm

lotuspuppy wrote:
ScrewyWabbit wrote:
Actually, what's been going on is freebies going to the not-so-needy. Who's paying for it is every other tax payer.

American society has an odd situation where we privatize reward and socialize risk for businesses. We do it to some extant with bankruptcy laws and the like, and that is generally seen as acceptable. Corporate bailouts are certainly a bridge too far, though.

I personally feel U.S. regulators should have let AIG fail, and Congress should not have passed TARP. It would result in a global depression, to be sure, but also a cleansing of world economy. It would have also laid the foundations for a sustainable, long lasting recovery, just as the Great Depression laid the framework for sixty years of relative prosperity. Many of the causes of this current trouble are still there, and will probably wreck mischief again in this business cycle or the next.


Yea. Let the CEO's declare bankruptcy, fire everyone in their company, and take off with their self-administered $80,000,000 bonuses. Then they can retreat to their cushy 10 acre town house and live off their secret foreign bank accounts while watching the rest of the world working class starve.

This faith that "The Market" has some kind of magical cleansing power that simply rights itself and resets everything back to normal is dangerous folly. The whole problem is all of society DEPENDS on these people's money. They own us all. This society depends on CONSUMPTION, but since nobody in the private sector wants to actually pay people enough to account for this consumption they must make people go into debt Every single one of us. They make money off of people going into debt, and that's how the "create" the necessary jobs to keep the proles from starving in the streets.

Pretty soon they will start claiming they own all the worlds governments as well, since they will make it so everyone else is too poor and bankrupt to afford to pay taxes. Without political intervention the system as it stands will fail and we will enter a new dark age. It will be like Easter Island all over again, only this time the whole world will go to hell.



Dox47
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,670
Location: Seattle-ish

14 Mar 2013, 3:44 am

Kraichgauer wrote:
I hardly think Barack Obama or America could be blamed for the eruption of violence and deaths in those places.


Did I say Obama caused violence and death to erupt? Don't put words in my mouth please.

Kraichgauer wrote:
And thousands of people being killed by the Obama administration overseas? I'm sorry, but I need to see evidence that drone strikes have killed that many non-combatants.


http://www.propublica.org/article/every ... ne-strikes
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/world/asi ... ne-strikes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan

There are a lot more out there, but since Obama hasn't been particularly forthcoming about the drone program, except when it suits him politically, it's very hard to peg an exact number.

Just out of curiosity, what would be an acceptable number for you? How many dead kids are you prepared to live with?

Kraichgauer wrote:
And by the way, American lives are important. An American life isn't anymore important than any other, but as those are our countrymen, we're more likely to be aware of the loss.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer


You seem to be contradicting yourself a bit there; either every life is equally valuable or it isn't.


_________________
Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer.

- Rick Sanchez


Dox47
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,670
Location: Seattle-ish

14 Mar 2013, 3:46 am

Fnord wrote:
Excellent derail of thread, folks! From "Income Inequality in America" to "Obama Bashing"!

Well done!

:lol:


*Ahem*

I'm not so much bashing Obama as I am his partisan praetorian, who can't let any unflattering words against the man go unchallenged, no matter how right or true they may be.


_________________
Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer.

- Rick Sanchez


Dox47
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,670
Location: Seattle-ish

14 Mar 2013, 3:58 am

marshall wrote:
The main difference is Obama at least claims to be in the process of withdrawing from those two conflicts rather than threatening to start new wars.


Bold is mine. So you're flat out admitting that the major difference is what Obama is saying rather than anything he's doing? Cause if that's actually what you meant, it's kind of refreshing, though I continue to be puzzled by the lefts fixation with what leaders say as opposed to what they do.

marshall wrote:
Also, the fact that most conservatives have your mindset is a good reason to be less trusting when they are in power.


So it's different when you do it? Of course you do realize that a Republican will be elected president and have all these new powers that Obama carved out for him to play with, right? Let's entrust Herman Cain with the power to assassinate anyone he deems a threat without oversight or accountability! "I want to kill nine people in nine countries in nine minutes!" Thanks progressives!

marshall wrote:
I also find it odd that there were no conservatives whining and crying about "the deficit" when Bushie was spending like a drunken sailor on wars and handing out medicare "entitlements" that turned out to be handouts to Big Pharma.


So conservatives are hypocrites too; what's your point? I would argue that getting loose with the checkbook when you're normally a tightwad is a *bit* different than suddenly developing a taste for extralegal killing when your party is the one pulling the trigger, but I don't think I really need to.


_________________
Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer.

- Rick Sanchez


Kraichgauer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 49,241
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.

14 Mar 2013, 5:39 am

Dox47 wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
I hardly think Barack Obama or America could be blamed for the eruption of violence and deaths in those places.


Did I say Obama caused violence and death to erupt? Don't put words in my mouth please.

Kraichgauer wrote:
And thousands of people being killed by the Obama administration overseas? I'm sorry, but I need to see evidence that drone strikes have killed that many non-combatants.


http://www.propublica.org/article/every ... ne-strikes
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/world/asi ... ne-strikes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan

There are a lot more out there, but since Obama hasn't been particularly forthcoming about the drone program, except when it suits him politically, it's very hard to peg an exact number.

Just out of curiosity, what would be an acceptable number for you? How many dead kids are you prepared to live with?

Kraichgauer wrote:
And by the way, American lives are important. An American life isn't anymore important than any other, but as those are our countrymen, we're more likely to be aware of the loss.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer


You seem to be contradicting yourself a bit there; either every life is equally valuable or it isn't.


I apologize, but it seemed implied from your post that Obama was responsible for the outbreak of violence and death there.
As for the number of drone kills - I have no idea how many there have been, but I'd be amazed if the number rose into the thousands.
Regarding the deaths of children and other non-combatants - yes, I am sorry for the loss of innocent life. But the fact remains, even more lives of American troops would be lost if Obama were to send in the U.S. armed forces like Bush was want to do. And no, that's not making the lives of Americans anymore precious than those of foreigners; rather it's a matter of saving American lives that would otherwise be put at risk were if not for drones doing the job.
And I'll be happy to point out, during Bush's wars, plenty of civilian casualties occurred by bombings by American fighters. Did you speak out against that?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 60,939
Location:      

14 Mar 2013, 9:19 am

Dox47 wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Excellent derail of thread, folks! From "Income Inequality in America" to "Obama Bashing"! Well done!
*Ahem* I'm not so much bashing Obama as I am his partisan praetorian, who can't let any unflattering words against the man go unchallenged, no matter how right or true they may be.

While you and your friends are arguing over who's fault it is, the poor are getting poorer.



lotuspuppy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 995
Location: On a journey to the center of the mind

14 Mar 2013, 10:05 am

Fnord wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
The privatization of profit the the socialization of loss is the main reason why the American economy is broken...

This is also the business model for medical insurance - profits go to the shareholders, while the cost of your medical bills (a loss to the shareholders) is socialized across all policy holders.

Do away with this business model, and the insurance industry would collapse.

If I may ask, are you generalizing this assumption to say you feel there should have been bailouts of what regulators call "systemically significant companies"?