WHY WE NEED GENERAL CLARK AS PRESIDENT

“I understand, Lyndy. It really blows my mind that in your area, ya can hardly get by on 100,000. Kinda sad, eh? Who would've ever thought we would see that day where 100,000 would be "just gettin' ya by"......”

“Vermont has a fairly high state tax rate. But state taxes are very complex to analyze. I think that Howard Dean is an interesting candidate and I would rather see a financial conservative oppose Bush than some of the other candidates.”

“Yes ynami2. Those warnings are usually reserved for third world nations and banana republics. Financial markets have given us the benefit of the doubt because they assume we have the political maturity to make hard choices to reign in deficits, politics be damned. We are not immune to the sort of crisis’s that wreck smaller economies, we just have a little more wiggle room. We really do face the prospect of an extremely severe financial crisis if we continue on the path we are on. Call me Chicken Little if you like - I can handle it.

Populist tax cuts like the ones pushed through by Bush (even though they were heavily slanted to the super-rich) and, I feel, those proposed by General Clark are not in our long-term interest. They tend to make people feel richer than they really are and spend far more than they should. LyndyS friends are an example. Just imagine what things are like for people earning far less, LyndyS. I know there are good homes in your area available for under $600,000 – adults have to face tough choices and accept disappointments.

Here is a quote from N. Gregory Mankiw, now chairman of the Mr. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, in an article he co-authored in 1995, a time when the deficit was much smaller than today and headed downward: "We can only guess what level of debt will trigger a shift in investor confidence, and about the nature and severity of the effects. Despite the vagueness of fears about hard landings, these fears may be the most important reason for seeking to reduce budget deficits. If the main effects of deficits are moderate redistributions across generations and groups of people, perhaps they should not be a central concern of policymakers. But as countries increase their debt, they wander into unfamiliar territory in which hard landings may lurk. If policymakers are prudent, they will not take the chance of learning what hard landings in G-7 countries are really like." Source: http://www.kc.frb.org/PUBLICAT/SYMPOS/1995/pdf/s95manki.pdf”

“I have a friend who's husband lost his job in 9/11 NYC. The friend then got a catastrophic illness and racked up huge medical bills. They are just getting by, but they had been very frugal before all this and had saved up for a rainy day. But a newly married couple with combined $100,000 in my area would struggle to get started, so to speak because of how home prices have escalated. Renting a tiny house costs $2000 a month in a good school district. Add commuting costs, taxes, car payments, etc. and it is tight but doable. It just is different from areas with lower cost of living. Of course some areas have no jobs and therefore have their own set of problems. So you are right that you can't please everyone. But there must be a way to make things a bit more fair across the country, rather than setting income ceilings as if one size fits all.”

“I think Clark is the real deal.

I also think that the soaring national debt concerns people more than Bush realizes.

In 1992, I thought the ever increasing national debt was the single most important thing this country needed to address.

By 2000, I was no longer concerned.

By 2004, I think the increasing national debt is the single most important thing this country needs to address.

Hmmm, I wonder what happened in four years?”

“BUSH WACKED!”

“The only good thing about Clark is that he can handle a weapon.”

“The problem is LyndyS, by law the tax code has to be uniform across the United States. We get far less back from Washington than we send in because low population states have the same representation in the US Senate as highly populated states. That’s just a consequence of our system of government and not one I think we want to fiddle with. I just call for restraint.

The obscene $180 billion farm subsidy bill rammed through the Republican Congress last year is one example of the kind of deficit-be-damned political pandering going on these days. Transfer payments like that are so counterproductive because they pay people not to be productive, free market rhetoric aside.”

“No matter who you vote for, the government always gets elected.

Reps and Dems are both in a race to see who can spend my money the fastest, who can take my liberty with the most chest thumping, and who can turn this great land into a police state with the most flash and glare.

Thanks but no thanks, to either.

That is, and should probably be, the last \"political\" statement I make on a backpacking forum. Geesh, I hope so anyway.”

“Violin, you are right about the hard choices but I was trying to point out that people want to "tax the rich" but may include people who are not living rich due to cost of living, which I think would be unfair. My cousin lives in a not so nice apartment by my standards. I think that she was expecting to get a closer commute or a nicer neighborhood for the kind of money she was going to go into debt for.”

“I’ve heard arguments that our tax code is a relic of a different era when wage income was far more universal. There are a lot of people today living off of capital which can be sheltered through LLC’s and the like. Perhaps it is time to start a national debate on a wholesale revision of the tax code (and no I’m not talking a flat tax or national sales tax). The middle class is truly getting squeezed and the last three tax cuts have only made matters worse, once the long term impact of deficits are considered, despite what the hucksters told us.”

“… and yeah $100,000 annual salary is definitely ‘middle class’ around here.”

“DAMN! I'd be real happy (and live real large) iffin' I was bringing home 100,000. Maybe D-town ain't that bad after all.......



.......Did I just say that!?!?!”

“As a former CPA, I agree that the tax code needs a total overhaul. It is ridiculously complex. The tax cuts were also complex. Do they do this to make it impossible for the public to understand whether they actually got a good tax package from the politicians? The alternative minimum tax is my favorite example of tax code filth. It may bring in revenue, but mostly it brings in fines due to taxpayer confusion.”

“Farm subsidies don't actually benefit many small farmers these days anyway. I think the huge farm conglomerates, pesticide/herbicide manufacturers and farm state politicians are the real beneficiaries of our increased deficit burden.

But Democrats as a group don't offer much different in the way of integrity. The only way the deficit shrank was because of the fake "booming economy". If we actually had a president who tried to clean up the muck, the rest of the blood sucking politicians would finish him off.”

“You make a great argument for campaign finance reform, LyndyS. The pay-to-play system has corrupted politics from the municipal level on up.”

“But Clinton does deserve credit for the politically bold move of raising taxes. Republican control of Congress only limited spending growth slightly. The economic boom was 'real' for much of the 90's and was the result of sound policy and the maturation of IT. The rise in stock prices after corporate profits leveled off around 1998 was 'fake'.”

“Violin, why is raising taxes a "politically bold" move? Most Democrats raise taxes. It is expected. Heck I wouldn't mind paying more taxes if it actually would end up helping people or saving the environment instead benefiting cronies. The Democrats tax people to give money to cronies and the Republicans find other ways to give money to cronies. I'm not liking either method.”

“The Republicans borrow money to give to cronies.”

“And we all have to pay it back.”

“Among other things, Tom”

“Chili, we all have to pay it whether it is taxes or deficit.”

“Bold because it certainly isn't popular, but it was the fiscally responsible thing to do - it showed that we had the backbone to get deficits under control. As a result, international capital flowed into this country like never before and fueled the longest expansion in post war history. Have you noticed what is happening to the dollar lately? Yikes!”

“Deficit spending is like deferred maintenance.”

“My husband keeps telling me that the low dollar is a good thing for the economy. Makes our exports cheaper, la la la. I kind of find it frightening though. Macroeconomics is not my strong suit. Who wants to walk us through this one?”

“SO no one? Or is someone typing up a long dissertation?”

“Not me! Then again, it is lunch time in most of TT land.....”

“"Not me! Then again, it is lunch time in most of TT land....."

I'm heading out to the deck to cook lunch on my new stove. It's so pretty and wonderful I may just masterbate while I cook!”

“Don't aim at the food, Nig!”

“We're the only country in history that has owed debt in it's own currency. We're in uncharted waters here. Capital markets are very jumpy right now as evidenced by rising gold prices. Sure a falling dollar helps exports in the short run, but if the rest of the world's economies suffer as a result, they won't be able to buy from us. The danger with the twin trade and budget deficits is a loss of investor confidence and a halt of capital flows into our economy. We'd be in a liquidity crisis not unlike Asia in 1998 or Argentina more recently.”

“"Don't aim at the food, Nig!"

Hey! What an adult man and his concenting piece of cookwear find acceptable is no one's business but our's...well, and my neigbor's who can see over my fence...but THAT'S IT!”

“point well taken, Nigal!


But, what's in that secret sauce anyway?”

“Well that's why they call it SECRET sauce silly!”

“You should make sure you drink plenty of Pineapple juice before......uh....hand, Nigal. I've heard it makes the sauce a little sweeter...”

“Violin, please excuse my ignorance, but I don't understand the part about us owing debt in our own currency. This is new and other debtor nations don't do it?

I thought that countries have historically printed more money to fund deficits creating inflation. The US has a long history of doing that as well. Why is it uncharted waters?”

“Not that I am saying that what we do is right, it is stupid, but I am trying to understand what you wrote.”

“Lyndy, you're right. We do have to pay it back whether it is taxes or debt.

But of those tax dollars, more and more move away from beneficial programs to debt service with the spiraling debt.”

“Chili, the more we tax the middle class, the more people get tossed into the lower classes and need beneficial programs.”

“Actually I think that there is a huge economy that is off the books and paying little of its share of taxes and that might be a better place to focus on rather than increasing the tax burden of the middle class that is on the books. And I don't believe in reducing or deleting the capital gains tax.”

“LyndyS - This IMF report summarizes the dangers far better than I ever could: U.S. Fiscal Policies and Priorities for Long-Run Sustainability

The Bushies claim this is alarmism and they have a "plan" to cut the budget deficit in half in the next 5 years. This despite the fact that the bulk of the tax cuts don't kick in until later in the decade and the new Medicare prescription plan will be costing at least $100 billion per year by then...

Like they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results, and in this case, I sure hope it isn't!”

“The dollar has been the currency of international business for some time. To finance our twin deficits, we rely on the infusion of foreign capital - in dollars.

Japan by contrast owes all its foreign debt in dollars. If we devalue the dollar, they benifit because that debt and their imports just became cheaper.”

“Sorry to hijack your thread Q. If there's one thing more boring to most people than politics, its political economy.”

“Okay I waded through most of that and now have a headache. I am so glad that I am not a professional tax advisor at the moment. My reaction to all the sleight of hand was disgust. I am sure that accountants around the country are cleaning up on all this complexity but it is just wrong. Every deduction designed to stimulate the economy is causing ridiculous anomalies, like self employed neighbors driving hummers around. And all the taxcuts slam into a big "Undo" button in the 10th year unless that administration gets them extended.

P.S. the baby boom generation should not be relying on Social Security to fund their retirement. Everyone should be looking at it as a safety net for people who have had unfortunate events rather than being for all retirees. It had been heralded for twenty years that Social Security would go bankrupt before I got to age 65. Most people my age should be planning to take care of themselves. I know that my four grandparents never could have lived in their cozy little homes on the Social Security payments that they received. They had pensions and savings, and we should be planning to have savings as well.”

“We need Wesley Clark because Madonna says so.

From her website...
*******************
A letter From Madonna

I've never done this before. But life is about taking risks is it not?
I know that people seem to pay attention to everything I do. Big or Small. Ridiculous or Sublime. So I am hoping they pay attention to this:

I am supporting General Wesley Clark for President.

Not only as a "celebrity" but as an American citizen and as a mother. I want my children to grow up with the same opportunities that I had – to know and understand what's going on in the world and to travel that world safely and with pride.

Now I'm asking you to join me.

*****************
That's gotta we worth a vote.”

“"You should make sure you drink plenty of Pineapple juice before......uh....hand, Nigal. I've heard it makes the sauce a little sweeter..."

Ummmm, I feel really uncomfortable right now...



So no asparigus then?”

“So Violin, foreigners invest in our debt, in dollars, that are losing value. So their investment is losing value. So pretty soon they pull out and we are on our own and Uncle Sam has to jump up and cry "Be patriotic and buy US Treasury Bonds" And the American people stop snoring for a few minutes and look around, and then settle back to sleep again, with their fingers on the remote of their $3000 jumbo flatscreen TV made in Japan. Is that how it works?”

“Your a quick study, LyndyS.”

“I always was astonished that other countries would buy or sell dollars or euros in order to stablize the value. The effects of the dollar losing value is just not easy to grasp. I'm sure that Bush is more worried than he lets on. But then what politician lets on that he is worried about his policies.”

“I saw General Clark commenting on news shows during the early breakout of the Iraq invasion. I was not impressed.”

“I saw him commenting before, during and if I see him after I still won't be impressed. LOL!”