Look at the disability fraud in our country... healthy people collecting Social Security
years before they should.
This fraud and feeling of entitlement has grown out of control
this is ruining it for those who honestly need help.
Something has got to give and it should be the scammers and those who feel they are entitled
simply because the rich have more.
Entitled and they don't need to work or help our society at all, just drain it.
OK. that's a valid point. (although I wonder if this is another silly Chicken Little story like "voter fraud" where less than one case per election per year per state has ever been found.)
So... how does cutting off the entire program and the vast majority of people who are NOT scamming the system and then giving that money to a billionaire to put in his bank account solve that problem?
Social Security Disability is very difficult to qualify for. I don't think it's known to have any meaningful level of fraud, except random cases that probably show up on Fox News. There are people with "diseases" who qualify for it who ought to be able to work (someone in my family has "diabetes" and receives SS disability, which is ridiculous). But it's not fraud, just a weird definition of "disability."
Disability fraud is much more prevalent in things like union and public pension plans.
And, I am a retirement plans actuary, and no, Social Security is not going bankrupt. This is right wing scare talk. When they say the "money will run out" that simply means a percentage of benefits (say 75%) could be paid as opposed to all the benefits. The problem is far from insurmountable and could easily be solved by a bipartisan commission, if such a thing existed. I would suggest a slight reduction in the COLA (cost of living allowance) and an increase in the Wage Base (pain from both sides).
Medicare is a different kind of monster, but I don't think handing a voucher to an old lady and saying "Go find your own insurance Grandma" is the way to fix it.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I didn't know that Obamacare was being financed by $700B in cuts to Medicare.
Ryan proposes changes to Medicare ... Obama actually cuts $700B from Medicare ... :think: ... and this means ... :think: ... that ... :think: ... Ryan hates the poor and elderly! :wtf:
It's also much easier for someone with wealth to lose more wealth. Stocks, bonds, etc. have not done well recently. The average "rich person" is declining in terms of what they bring in, just like the poor.
Further, not only is there a trade-off (to growth) within the redistribution that you so highly covet. There's deadweight loss, and I'd say a lot of it involved. Government is inherently inefficient and wastes money.
Tie two and two together here. According to you, the rich are bad because they can invest in stocks and bonds, etc and that would make them make more money. I respond - they can also lose that money. Moreover, that money is used for something - what? Business activity including jobs. Poor need jobs. And even if the poor don't take that particular job, maybe a middle class person does. That middle class person's job becomes available - a poor person could get it. This gets at the economic tradeoff aspect.
i don't see how you can say government is inherently inefficient ... the US gov't is extremely inefficient but like we've argued in the past - i believe that is intentional ...
Those countries rank high on indices created to make "socialist" countries look good. I'm sure you disagree, but whatever. As has been argued in the past the HDI is heavily bias - "a country of immortals with infinite per-capita GDP would get a score of .666 (lower than South Africa and Tajikistan) if its population were illiterate and never went to school" ..."Scandinavia comes out on top according to the HDI because the HDI is basically a measure of how Scandinavian your country is."
soo ... you disagree and your proof is comng up with a country of immortals!? ...
so, how would you measure standard of life? ... i'm not sure any measure you can come up with that is gonna put america on top ... unless it's related to arms expenditure per capita ...
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
i don't see how you can say government is inherently inefficient ... the US gov't is extremely inefficient but like we've argued in the past - i believe that is intentional ...
You ever go to a post office? Or have you ever had to get your drivers license? Trust me - it's inefficient. I don't think it's intentional, I think it's they have no motive to continue to get customers. They are a monopoly of sorts. They can what they want.
You can believe what you want. I'll continue to say government is inefficient. Moreover, the larger a government gets, the more inefficient it becomes. Government doesn't have a goal like:
Maximize Profit....
It has no incentive to minimize costs and maximize revenues. Instead, if anything, it maximizes labor. It's not efficient. It just grows and grows and grows.... like a weed, with big leaves stealing light from what's beneath.
soo ... you disagree and your proof is comng up with a country of immortals!? ...
so, how would you measure standard of life? ... i'm not sure any measure you can come up with that is gonna put america on top ... unless it's related to arms expenditure per capita ...
There's no perfect statistic for this, but whether you like it or not, the most "used" statistic is GDP. Per Capita GDP is probably the best proxy we have. Everything else involves bias of some sort. The index you cited, most certainly does.
You ever go to a post office? Or have you ever had to get your drivers license? Trust me - it's inefficient. I don't think it's intentional, I think it's they have no motive to continue to get customers. They are a monopoly of sorts. They can what they want.
I know the stereotype of the DOT, but the last several times I had to update my driver license I was in and out in minutes.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
a perfect example of right-wing scare tactics. That article was written by guys from The Motley Fool. They're a company that convinced people with little or no economic understanding that they could make a fortune on the stock market. They're kinda "pump and dumpers," if I understand... people who make money by convincing you that you're going to be broke at 60 if you don't buy their expensive service where they suggest which stocks you should buy.
The user Johnny Abruzzo here actually works with it every day and made a post that sums it up... the scare tactics you've fallen for are made up.
You need to stop being so gullible.
And you clueless tag of "keep raising taxes on the working class to cover it anyways right?" just shows that you weren't and aren't paying attention. We've been talking about lowering the tax burden on the middle class and making the mage-rich pay their fair share.
You ever go to a post office? Or have you ever had to get your drivers license? Trust me - it's inefficient. I don't think it's intentional, I think it's they have no motive to continue to get customers. They are a monopoly of sorts. They can what they want.
You can believe what you want. I'll continue to say government is inefficient. Moreover, the larger a government gets, the more inefficient it becomes. Government doesn't have a goal like:
Maximize Profit....
It has no incentive to minimize costs and maximize revenues. Instead, if anything, it maximizes labor. It's not efficient. It just grows and grows and grows.... like a weed, with big leaves stealing light from what's beneath.
... why would the gov't have a goal of maximizing profits? ... that makes no sense ... sure, if you nationalize something like say oil or the rail system - maybe driving revenues is important but for the most part - gov't is supposed to deliver services efficiently ... again - i can see how you can look at the US gov't and say it's inefficient but you've got nothing to say that gov't is inherently inefficient ...
There's no perfect statistic for this, but whether you like it or not, the most "used" statistic is GDP. Per Capita GDP is probably the best proxy we have. Everything else involves bias of some sort. The index you cited, most certainly does.
GDP!?? ... well ... obviously, you know I wouldn't agree with that ... but even so ... looking at the gdp per capita statistics and you see similar countries at the top of the list ... look at all the countries ahead of the US ... all of scandinavia except iceland ...
GDP!?? ... well ... obviously, you know I wouldn't agree with that ... but even so ... looking at the gdp per capita statistics and you see similar countries at the top of the list ... look at all the countries ahead of the US ... all of scandinavia except iceland ...
GDP is just a stat to make Scandinavia look good, right? Along with bullshit like, um, life expectancy. :?
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila, PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I don't understand why a fixed tax rate for all can't be implemented. why penalize people for being successful?
I'd be fine with that.
At the moment, people who make $12,000 per year are paying a higher rate than Mitt Romney. And with the Paul Ryan plan, Mitt's taxes will go down to nearly nothing.
.
I'm curious the source for this charge given nearly 1/2 the population doesn't pay FEDERAL Taxes. Yes, there is payroll, state, excise, sales, etc. that most everyone pays.
i'm guessing because they are still recovering from the shambles of 2007 ... they deregulated the banking industry and they all failed ... if you go to the HDI scale ... they are ahead of the US when you factor in inequality ...
having just gotten back from iceland - the place is awesome ... everyone is friendly and smart ... yeah, there's only 300,000 people there and jobs are hard to find for some but everyone has food and access to education ... much easier when you aren't spending all that money bombing other countries ...
Both sides have gone to exclusively using scare tactics. The dems want to scare the elderly into thinking they will be left to die under republican government, the repubs want to scare the elderly that there won't be any money to pay for their care and they want to scare the tax payers that the $ is being wasted and they are paying in for a benefit they will never receive.
Well, that last point is probably very true for some of us.
a perfect example of right-wing scare tactics. That article was written by guys from The Motley Fool. They're a company that convinced people with little or no economic understanding that they could make a fortune on the stock market. They're kinda "pump and dumpers," if I understand... people who make money by convincing you that you're going to be broke at 60 if you don't buy their expensive service where they suggest which stocks you should buy.
The user Johnny Abruzzo here actually works with it every day and made a post that sums it up... the scare tactics you've fallen for are made up.
You need to stop being so gullible.
And you clueless tag of "keep raising taxes on the working class to cover it anyways right?" just shows that you weren't and aren't paying attention. We've been talking about lowering the tax burden on the middle class and making the mage-rich pay their fair share.
CBO projects that the DI trust fund will be exhausted in 2017 and that the OASI trust fund will be exhausted in 2040. Once a trust fund's balance has fallen to zero and current revenues are insufficient to cover the benefits that are specified in law, the corresponding program will be unable to pay full benefits without changes in law. The DI trust fund came close to exhaustion in 1994, but that outcome was prevented by legislation that redirected revenues from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund. In part because of that experience, it is a common analytical convention to consider the DI and OASI trust funds as combined. CBO projects that, if legislation to shift resources from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund was enacted, the combined OASDI trust funds would be exhausted in 2038.
projections are just that, projections...hardly super reliable...but I do think it needs reform if it is to stay a solvent program.
that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
a perfect example of right-wing scare tactics. That article was written by guys from The Motley Fool. They're a company that convinced people with little or no economic understanding that they could make a fortune on the stock market. They're kinda "pump and dumpers," if I understand... people who make money by convincing you that you're going to be broke at 60 if you don't buy their expensive service where they suggest which stocks you should buy.
The user Johnny Abruzzo here actually works with it every day and made a post that sums it up... the scare tactics you've fallen for are made up.
You need to stop being so gullible.
And you clueless tag of "keep raising taxes on the working class to cover it anyways right?" just shows that you weren't and aren't paying attention. We've been talking about lowering the tax burden on the middle class and making the mage-rich pay their fair share.
CBO projects that the DI trust fund will be exhausted in 2017 and that the OASI trust fund will be exhausted in 2040. Once a trust fund's balance has fallen to zero and current revenues are insufficient to cover the benefits that are specified in law, the corresponding program will be unable to pay full benefits without changes in law. The DI trust fund came close to exhaustion in 1994, but that outcome was prevented by legislation that redirected revenues from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund. In part because of that experience, it is a common analytical convention to consider the DI and OASI trust funds as combined. CBO projects that, if legislation to shift resources from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund was enacted, the combined OASDI trust funds would be exhausted in 2038.
projections are just that, projections...hardly super reliable...but I do think it needs reform if it is to stay a solvent program.
that means you hate old people and autistic children. you bastard
that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Does anyone really believe that a program enacted in 1935 will really serve the people of today? It seems to me that changes to these types of programs should occur, hell, should be mandated after a period of time. Instead we scare the bejesus out of people so they don;t want anything to change. All we do is increase the age when you can start receiving it.
Really, same could be said for everything. Why is it a given that military budget must continue to go up and up and up? People are so afraid of losing "theirs" that we never get efficient, we just add on to whatever the program of yesteryear we are talking about.
Both sides have gone to exclusively using scare tactics.
Yeah, I was actually thinking about. It's not really a "right" and "left" argument. What it IS is the financial sector... banks and the money launderers, the hedge funders, the stock brokers and pump-and-dumpers and the mega-rich who have managed to play both sides of the game.
The ones who still buy the big bag of bullshit that one day they're doing to strike it rich if they work hard enough want to speed up that process by making to poor poorer.
The ones who realize it's all just a game and want to just live with a modicum of happiness and peace who are told that they'll be tossed away once they're past their usefulness.
And meanwhile, the banks have conned people into buying houses they couldn't afford, encouraged them to rack up massive amounts of debt, bet against their own customers at every turn and we're so busy arguing about gay marriage and your sister's uterus and whose fault it is that you make $20,000 per year and owe $10,000 on your credit cards that you'll never pay off.
For all this talk of free handouts and people leeching off the system and paying nothing back i call bullshit. I'm the oldest of 8. When it was just my two sisters and myself my mother stayed at home with us and my dad got laid off from a Union job (yeah that shit is possible despite what republicans might have you believe). So we had nothing, my dad worked on a neighbors farm to keep paying off our mortgage and we went on welfare. He would bounce back and forth at the Union job, until the company decided to outsource its labor effectively destroying its local labor force. He eventually landed a non-union job 2 hours south in a more expensive area to live. By that point there were 6 kids and my 2 parents living in a 2 bedroom 1 bath rental, we were on WiC, got free and reduced lunches, (though my parents refused to stay on food stamps after he got his job my mom started daycare for teachers to make ends meet on the food front), and got reduction on tuition to college. Just to let you know how glorious this leaching felt, we would often wear hand-me-downs from other kids at our high school (or for my younger sibs from older sibs) so that everyone knew we were relatively poor. Did we let that hold us down? Fuck no. Did it really fucking suck not only knowing that other people had it much more comfortable but also that they knew we were poor? Yes.
Regardless, for the oldest 6, 4 of us went to community college, and went on to earn our 2 and 4 year degrees. The other two went straight to state school and graduated in 4 years. 3 of us have gone on to earn our Masters, and I have a PhD. None of this would have happened without those government handouts some of you are bitching about. Where would we be without it? I don't even want to know, but we are all able to provide things for our children that our parents (leaches to some of you here) couldn't provide to us financially - even though they tried their best. Did some people at the welfare and wic office take from the system and give nothing back? Probably, but the type of living someone in that situation is going through for "free" isn't some fucking paradise island. All I know is that without welfare I probably wouldn't be here and I'll be damed if I take that option away from another human being because it's not my problem to worry about.
Social Security Disability is very difficult to qualify for. I don't think it's known to have any meaningful level of fraud, except random cases that probably show up on Fox News. There are people with "diseases" who qualify for it who ought to be able to work (someone in my family has "diabetes" and receives SS disability, which is ridiculous). But it's not fraud, just a weird definition of "disability."
Disability fraud is much more prevalent in things like union and public pension plans.
And, I am a retirement plans actuary, and no, Social Security is not going bankrupt. This is right wing scare talk. When they say the "money will run out" that simply means a percentage of benefits (say 75%) could be paid as opposed to all the benefits. The problem is far from insurmountable and could easily be solved by a bipartisan commission, if such a thing existed. I would suggest a slight reduction in the COLA (cost of living allowance) and an increase in the Wage Base (pain from both sides).
Medicare is a different kind of monster, but I don't think handing a voucher to an old lady and saying "Go find your own insurance Grandma" is the way to fix it.
It's not as hard as you think... I know some people who have "qualified"
mostly due to mental illness issues. Can even be anxiety.
Did I say fail? I meant failing, sorry. In my opinion if Social Security can not maintain
a country full of those who need it and they must continue to raise taxes to sustain it
that is failing in my eyes.
I think Grandma might want to find her own insurance especially if that means
what doctor she can see.
i'm guessing because they are still recovering from the shambles of 2007 ... they deregulated the banking industry and they all failed ... if you go to the HDI scale ... they are ahead of the US when you factor in inequality ...
having just gotten back from iceland - the place is awesome ... everyone is friendly and smart ... yeah, there's only 300,000 people there and jobs are hard to find for some but everyone has food and access to education ... much easier when you aren't spending all that money bombing other countries ...
wait what was that? deregulating markets failed spectacularly and the president at the time resigned sighting his mistake in doing so? any of you randian's getting this?
having just gotten back from iceland - the place is awesome ...
At risk of derailing the thread, that is cool. I've started thinking about a vacation to Iceland...hopefully in 5-10 years.
I did a college project once where you have to pick a city and figure out an engineering project that would improve it. For whatever reason, I picked Reykjavic, Iceland. Pre-internet, it was very hard to find any info on Iceland other then they have volcanoes and special horses that have two extra gaits.
I figured the best project would be a giant ark that could take them somewhere warm to live.
I did a college project once where you have to pick a city and figure out an engineering project that would improve it. For whatever reason, I picked Reykjavic, Iceland. Pre-internet, it was very hard to find any info on Iceland other then they have volcanoes and special horses that have two extra gaits.
I figured the best project would be a giant ark that could take them somewhere warm to live.
college you say!? ... that sounds about right ...
it's actually not as cold as people think there ... the gulf stream moderates the climate ...
... why would the gov't have a goal of maximizing profits? ... that makes no sense ... sure, if you nationalize something like say oil or the rail system - maybe driving revenues is important but for the most part - gov't is supposed to deliver services efficiently ... again - i can see how you can look at the US gov't and say it's inefficient but you've got nothing to say that gov't is inherently inefficient ...
You aren't trying to understand the point, clearly.
Government is inherently inefficient. Name one "efficient" government? Just one.
I'm not saying government can't get things right on occasion. I'm also not saying government serves no purpose. What I am saying is they government tends to get stuck in the mud when they stretch, and government always tries to stretch if unconstrained. So, my main point is the larger the government gets, the more inefficient it becomes. I'd point to the terms bureaucracy, red-tape, etc.
GDP!?? ... well ... obviously, you know I wouldn't agree with that ... but even so ... looking at the gdp per capita statistics and you see similar countries at the top of the list ... look at all the countries ahead of the US ... all of scandinavia except iceland ...
Uh oh - here comes the "!??" nonsense again. Every time I read that I envision this guy slamming keys on his computer saying "oh really, eh...." all frustrated and whatnot. Might as well go all CAPS.
Well, I guess first we'd need to ensure we're looking at the correct numbers - which I don't think you are - you're probably looking at nominal. Most people would know you'd need to look at PPP. It's not perfect, but that's the only way to truly compare. If you do look at GDP per capita PPP - US is always in the top 10, regardless of who publishes the report. Smaller countries tend to dominate the top spots. These countries typically include - oil rich countries (Norway, Quatar, United Arab Emerits, Kuwait), tax havens (Luxembourg, Bermuda), and countries who lean free-market (Singapore, Hong Kong). But, US has the largest population by far of all the above. Yet, they're still in the top 10.
Not that I'm touting the US' horn. They used to be higher in these areas, and are falling fast.... as we move towards more big government.
wait what was that? deregulating markets failed spectacularly and the president at the time resigned sighting his mistake in doing so? any of you randian's getting this?
:roll:
it was probably just that simple.
that’s right! Can’t we all just get together and focus on our real enemies: monogamous gays and stem cells… - Ned Flanders
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Comments
Social Security Disability is very difficult to qualify for. I don't think it's known to have any meaningful level of fraud, except random cases that probably show up on Fox News. There are people with "diseases" who qualify for it who ought to be able to work (someone in my family has "diabetes" and receives SS disability, which is ridiculous). But it's not fraud, just a weird definition of "disability."
Disability fraud is much more prevalent in things like union and public pension plans.
And, I am a retirement plans actuary, and no, Social Security is not going bankrupt. This is right wing scare talk. When they say the "money will run out" that simply means a percentage of benefits (say 75%) could be paid as opposed to all the benefits. The problem is far from insurmountable and could easily be solved by a bipartisan commission, if such a thing existed. I would suggest a slight reduction in the COLA (cost of living allowance) and an increase in the Wage Base (pain from both sides).
Medicare is a different kind of monster, but I don't think handing a voucher to an old lady and saying "Go find your own insurance Grandma" is the way to fix it.
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Ryan proposes changes to Medicare ... Obama actually cuts $700B from Medicare ... :think: ... and this means ... :think: ... that ... :think: ... Ryan hates the poor and elderly! :wtf:
i don't see how you can say government is inherently inefficient ... the US gov't is extremely inefficient but like we've argued in the past - i believe that is intentional ...
soo ... you disagree and your proof is comng up with a country of immortals!? ...
so, how would you measure standard of life? ... i'm not sure any measure you can come up with that is gonna put america on top ... unless it's related to arms expenditure per capita ...
Hear hear.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/disapproving-michelle-obama-to-be-printed-on-all-f,10209/
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
You ever go to a post office? Or have you ever had to get your drivers license? Trust me - it's inefficient. I don't think it's intentional, I think it's they have no motive to continue to get customers. They are a monopoly of sorts. They can what they want.
You can believe what you want. I'll continue to say government is inefficient. Moreover, the larger a government gets, the more inefficient it becomes. Government doesn't have a goal like:
Maximize Profit....
It has no incentive to minimize costs and maximize revenues. Instead, if anything, it maximizes labor. It's not efficient. It just grows and grows and grows.... like a weed, with big leaves stealing light from what's beneath.
There's no perfect statistic for this, but whether you like it or not, the most "used" statistic is GDP. Per Capita GDP is probably the best proxy we have. Everything else involves bias of some sort. The index you cited, most certainly does.
<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28998869"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/28998869" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href=" - In the Fire (demo)</a> by <a href="
I know the stereotype of the DOT, but the last several times I had to update my driver license I was in and out in minutes.
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
a perfect example of right-wing scare tactics. That article was written by guys from The Motley Fool. They're a company that convinced people with little or no economic understanding that they could make a fortune on the stock market. They're kinda "pump and dumpers," if I understand... people who make money by convincing you that you're going to be broke at 60 if you don't buy their expensive service where they suggest which stocks you should buy.
The user Johnny Abruzzo here actually works with it every day and made a post that sums it up... the scare tactics you've fallen for are made up.
You need to stop being so gullible.
And you clueless tag of "keep raising taxes on the working class to cover it anyways right?" just shows that you weren't and aren't paying attention. We've been talking about lowering the tax burden on the middle class and making the mage-rich pay their fair share.
Please try to keep up.
GDP!?? ... well ... obviously, you know I wouldn't agree with that ... but even so ... looking at the gdp per capita statistics and you see similar countries at the top of the list ... look at all the countries ahead of the US ... all of scandinavia except iceland ...
GDP is just a stat to make Scandinavia look good, right?
Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
if only they would measure access to cheap, highly processed bad for you "food" ... U S A ...
I'm curious the source for this charge given nearly 1/2 the population doesn't pay FEDERAL Taxes. Yes, there is payroll, state, excise, sales, etc. that most everyone pays.
SHOW COUNT: (164) 1990's=3, 2000's=53, 2010/20's=108, US=118, CAN=15, Europe=20 ,New Zealand=4, Australia=5
Mexico=1, Colombia=1
i'm guessing because they are still recovering from the shambles of 2007 ... they deregulated the banking industry and they all failed ... if you go to the HDI scale ... they are ahead of the US when you factor in inequality ...
having just gotten back from iceland - the place is awesome ... everyone is friendly and smart ... yeah, there's only 300,000 people there and jobs are hard to find for some but everyone has food and access to education ... much easier when you aren't spending all that money bombing other countries ...
Both sides have gone to exclusively using scare tactics. The dems want to scare the elderly into thinking they will be left to die under republican government, the repubs want to scare the elderly that there won't be any money to pay for their care and they want to scare the tax payers that the $ is being wasted and they are paying in for a benefit they will never receive.
Well, that last point is probably very true for some of us.
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/41644
CBO projects that the DI trust fund will be exhausted in 2017 and that the OASI trust fund will be exhausted in 2040. Once a trust fund's balance has fallen to zero and current revenues are insufficient to cover the benefits that are specified in law, the corresponding program will be unable to pay full benefits without changes in law. The DI trust fund came close to exhaustion in 1994, but that outcome was prevented by legislation that redirected revenues from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund. In part because of that experience, it is a common analytical convention to consider the DI and OASI trust funds as combined. CBO projects that, if legislation to shift resources from the OASI trust fund to the DI trust fund was enacted, the combined OASDI trust funds would be exhausted in 2038.
projections are just that, projections...hardly super reliable...but I do think it needs reform if it is to stay a solvent program.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
At risk of derailing the thread, that is cool. I've started thinking about a vacation to Iceland...hopefully in 5-10 years.
Or just let people plan their own retirement...
that means you hate old people and autistic children. you bastard
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Does anyone really believe that a program enacted in 1935 will really serve the people of today? It seems to me that changes to these types of programs should occur, hell, should be mandated after a period of time. Instead we scare the bejesus out of people so they don;t want anything to change. All we do is increase the age when you can start receiving it.
Really, same could be said for everything. Why is it a given that military budget must continue to go up and up and up? People are so afraid of losing "theirs" that we never get efficient, we just add on to whatever the program of yesteryear we are talking about.
But what happens to them when they don't?
SHOW COUNT: (164) 1990's=3, 2000's=53, 2010/20's=108, US=118, CAN=15, Europe=20 ,New Zealand=4, Australia=5
Mexico=1, Colombia=1
We buy them iphones and cigarettes just like today!
i've already derailed it ... :oops:
let me know when you go and i will give you whatever info you may want ...
Yeah, I was actually thinking about. It's not really a "right" and "left" argument. What it IS is the financial sector... banks and the money launderers, the hedge funders, the stock brokers and pump-and-dumpers and the mega-rich who have managed to play both sides of the game.
The ones who still buy the big bag of bullshit that one day they're doing to strike it rich if they work hard enough want to speed up that process by making to poor poorer.
The ones who realize it's all just a game and want to just live with a modicum of happiness and peace who are told that they'll be tossed away once they're past their usefulness.
And meanwhile, the banks have conned people into buying houses they couldn't afford, encouraged them to rack up massive amounts of debt, bet against their own customers at every turn and we're so busy arguing about gay marriage and your sister's uterus and whose fault it is that you make $20,000 per year and owe $10,000 on your credit cards that you'll never pay off.
Regardless, for the oldest 6, 4 of us went to community college, and went on to earn our 2 and 4 year degrees. The other two went straight to state school and graduated in 4 years. 3 of us have gone on to earn our Masters, and I have a PhD. None of this would have happened without those government handouts some of you are bitching about. Where would we be without it? I don't even want to know, but we are all able to provide things for our children that our parents (leaches to some of you here) couldn't provide to us financially - even though they tried their best. Did some people at the welfare and wic office take from the system and give nothing back? Probably, but the type of living someone in that situation is going through for "free" isn't some fucking paradise island. All I know is that without welfare I probably wouldn't be here and I'll be damed if I take that option away from another human being because it's not my problem to worry about.
mostly due to mental illness issues. Can even be anxiety.
Did I say fail? I meant failing, sorry. In my opinion if Social Security can not maintain
a country full of those who need it and they must continue to raise taxes to sustain it
that is failing in my eyes.
I think Grandma might want to find her own insurance especially if that means
what doctor she can see.
I figured the best project would be a giant ark that could take them somewhere warm to live.
college you say!? ... that sounds about right ...
it's actually not as cold as people think there ... the gulf stream moderates the climate ...
You aren't trying to understand the point, clearly.
Government is inherently inefficient. Name one "efficient" government? Just one.
I'm not saying government can't get things right on occasion. I'm also not saying government serves no purpose. What I am saying is they government tends to get stuck in the mud when they stretch, and government always tries to stretch if unconstrained. So, my main point is the larger the government gets, the more inefficient it becomes. I'd point to the terms bureaucracy, red-tape, etc.
Uh oh - here comes the "!??" nonsense again. Every time I read that I envision this guy slamming keys on his computer saying "oh really, eh...." all frustrated and whatnot. Might as well go all CAPS.
Well, I guess first we'd need to ensure we're looking at the correct numbers - which I don't think you are - you're probably looking at nominal. Most people would know you'd need to look at PPP. It's not perfect, but that's the only way to truly compare. If you do look at GDP per capita PPP - US is always in the top 10, regardless of who publishes the report. Smaller countries tend to dominate the top spots. These countries typically include - oil rich countries (Norway, Quatar, United Arab Emerits, Kuwait), tax havens (Luxembourg, Bermuda), and countries who lean free-market (Singapore, Hong Kong). But, US has the largest population by far of all the above. Yet, they're still in the top 10.
Not that I'm touting the US' horn. They used to be higher in these areas, and are falling fast.... as we move towards more big government.
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:roll:
it was probably just that simple.
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan