Your 2012 Republican presidential candidates

More oil BS

Gas prices rise and the GOP blames the Democratic president.  Here is why this is BS:

1.  Oil prices are rising primarily due to speculation in the oil futures market that currently reflects increased risk represented by Iran's threat to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

2.  Oil prices are set by the world market, not by a president.

3.  Newt and brain donor Palin blame Obama saying he needs to drill baby drill.  The US has 3% of the world's known oil reserves which is approximately 21 billion barrels of oil.  The US consumes approximately 20 million barrels per day.  If we drained all of our known reserves and used only our oil then we would be out of oil completely in less than 3 years....then where would we be with the middle east?  Think they may try to bend us over....hmm? 

 

4.  If we did drill baby drill and flood the market with our oil in order to lower the world price it would only last a few days or weeks before OPEC simply cut their production thereby causing the price to go back up again and we will have spent our own reserves.

5. Did you ever think it may be our strategy to use the oil from the rest of the world before we use our own?   I'm just saying.

FIX IT BRAINSTORM

This post is to be used to put forth out of the box ideas that can/will fix the economy.  It has been my experience that when teams are stuck with no clear correct way forward they engage in a team activity called brainstorming to fire up the creative juices.   Though I am a progressive I don't see the President's economic plans as adequate to address the entitlement mess we have in front of us.   However, the President's plan is light years better than ANY republican plan.  I guess the word ANY does not apply since all republican plans are the same i.e. cut taxes on the rich and eliminate all regulations.  Obama's plan racks another 10 trillion in debt in 10 years and the Ryan budget adds about 8 trillion in 10 years even with extreme cuts in medical benefits for the elderly and poor. 

I welcome you to post your thoughts and ideas in the comments section of this post.  To post a comment you need to click on the posting heading FIX IT BRAINSTORM (blue font) then type your thoughts and ideas in the comments box.

I'll get things started with my out of the box brainstorm idea to fix the economy.

IDEA - - - Capitalize the United States of America.

** Come  up with a value for everything owned by the USA....for example - all military assets (guns, missiles, tanks, bases, embassies, ships, aircraft carriers, aircraft), the interstate hi-way system, Hoover Dam, National Parks, Electrical grid backbone, Internet backbone, Government Buildings etc. etc. etc.  My WAG (wild ass guess) is the total value would be say.... 125 trillion dollars.

** Issue common shares (IPO) for say $10 per share

** Only US citizens and US companies can buy the shares

** Elect a board of directors that will pick officers - Chairman, Treasurer etc.

** Open bank accounts and deposit 18 trillion to pay off the existing debt

** Pay dividends

** Eliminate all taxes....yes all taxes

** Act as angel capitalists on new ventures creating earnings

** Subsidize industries that compete on the world market...the hell with China and the rest of the cheap labor markets.

That' it for now, more to come.

Ewwwww....something is burning down below

Newt getting ready for tonight's debate

DADDY........ IS THAT YOU DADDY???

Funding our Veteran's Health Care

Why is it that the GOP consistently tries to cut Veterans Administration budgets?   After all, it is usually the GOP chicken hawks that get us into unneeded wars in the first place.  Look at Iraq.  Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Richard Perl bullied dubya into war in Iraq by reminding him that they all felt his daddy was a pussy for not invading Iraq in the first Gulf war.  Cheney never served in the military....got himself 5 deferments.   Cheney and the other clowns were just interested in advancing their Neo Con ambitions to control the middle east with Cheney having the added incentive to make a boat load of money via Halliburton on no bid contracts.  Even a dummy like me could see there was no reason to go into Iraq.  I mean the nuclear inspectors were allowed back into the country and said there were no nukes and the claim of Saddam's affiliation with al-Qaida was absurd.  When I saw those planes flying into the Trade Centers I knew there was a powerful motivation behind such action.  The motivation was a deep religious belief that they were doing the right thing and would be rewarded with 72 virgins for ever for their trouble.   Look, Saddam had erected statues of himself and placed them on every street corner in Baghdad.  He saw himself as lord.  The last thing he wanted to do was to promote competition (Ala, Bin Laden) for the worship he believed he was getting from his subjects.  So, for these very weak and greedy reasons, the country lost thousands of heroes to death and life changing injury.   Now the most pathetic thing to observe is how the GOP chicken hawks want to squeeze pennies when it comes to supporting the needs of our wounded veterans and the voting GOP masses continue to say they honor the troops and continue voting for representatives that constantly vote against supporting the needs of the wounded troops.

Ricky

So, here's the deal Santorum is proposing:      

Get the government off the back of the citizens.  Let freedom ring and liberty flourish unless...

·         You are a woman who wishes to use contraceptives - Ricky says that contraceptives are bad and make it possible for women to engage in behaviors that are sinful.  Ricky's financial backer (don't care what the rat bastard's name is) suggested that women put an aspirin between her legs as a means of contraception.   Really Ricky?   Is it just possible that god fearing faithful loyal married good mother woman have been advised by their doctor that having additional children would put her life in danger.  Let's further suppose that she and her husband prefer not to use condoms.  I guess in your mind (Ricky) the woman (who could be very young in this example) should just quit having sex with her husband.  By the way Ricky, what is you and your rat bastard supporter's position on the little blue boner pill?

·         You are a grown responsible working tax paying adult family member who enjoys playing online poker.  Again, in this instance Ricky and the rest of the Pilgrims feel it is their duty to use the Government to outlaw such enjoyment for the masses.

·         You are gay and want to marry your life partner.  This is more than you should be allowed to do as it offends the sensibilities of Ricky and his Pilgrim brethren so they want to enact a constitutional amendment to outlaw your ability to marry.

·         You are a woman that has found herself in an unplanned pregnancy and wish to terminate the pregnancy early.  Ricky and the Pilgrims cannot allow this either.  Ricky says you must give birth and then go straight to hell if you are an unwed mother in need of assistance to support the child.  Ricky and the rest of his Pilgrim flock will continue to tell you and your child to go straight to hell if you ask for help in providing school meals so that your child has an equal chance to learn as those with full bellies.  Ricky and the Pilgrims value their greedy possessions more than showing kindness and generosity to your child.

·         You are poor and cannot afford health care.  Ricky says this is a good thing.  It is our perfect system of survival of the fittest so if you are unable to earn enough money to afford adequate health care then you and your baby can go straight to hell and I (Ricky and the Pilgrims) can continue to build our stairway to heaven on your immoral back and keep all of our greedy possessions.

I could go on but I'll stop here.  Again.  If you are not a very rich and powerful person, I do not understand why you would vote republican.  

Please stop

The republicans continue to protect the current low tax rates on millionaires claiming that they are job creators and raising their taxes will hurt the economy.  I am literally sickened when I hear them make this claim because there are plenty of lazy thinkers that will believe this load of crap and support their bogus positions.  Here is why raising taxes on job creators will not hurt the economy.

1. Most millionaires are not small business owners, in fact they are Corporate Officers e.g. Chairman, Presidents, Vice Presidents, General Counsel etc. or Lawyers, Hedge Fund Managers etc.  The only jobs these people create are for low paying maid, lawn care, pool care, chauffeur type jobs.

2. The money these millionaires do retain is not spent widely in the USA.  They may buy a new pre-owned mansion or yacht or private island but none of these purchases help the US economy.  The money is too concentrated and simply cannot be disbursed as it would be if it were in the hands of millions of people spending every dime on food and products.

3. They typically invest their money in gold or off-shore investments because developing nations are experiencing a faster growth rate and pay higher interest on bonds than the US.  Again, this does nothing to help the US economy.

4. Let's assume that we do raise taxes on some businesses....so what.  Remember, we are only talking about the PROFITS earned after all expenses (including employee) are deducted from revenue.  When businesses want or need to expand they typically borrow the money which today is the smartest move a business can make since interest rates are so low.  The investments they make are either expensed or depreciated as tax reductions and the interest paid on the loans is also expensed against revenue lowering the tax liability.  Raising taxes on business PROFITS has nothing to do with future investing or hiring.  I have never heard of a situation where a business decided to not hire and turn away business and revenues because they did not want to pay the tax.

5. Where have the jobs been, we have been and still are on the bush tax cuts.

If you are a blue collar republican, you need to rethink what is in your best interest.