How fucking selfish. America is going bankrupt and all you want is your piece of Government cheese.

I say cut every program and balance the budget and get out of debt. We created this mess we need to fix this mess which means great sacrifice today so our children and grand children wont get shafted.

Why cant the left see what a predicament this country is in?

US Debt Clock link

@bobknight33 the debt issues now are actually a problem with revenues. Why are revenues an issue? Mostly because of the recession and high unemployment depressing incomes and spending, but also because Republicans are crazy about creating deficits with tax cuts.

In any case, the country isn't broke. It's going to have to make adjustments sometime in the next, oh, twenty years or so, but most of those adjustments will have to do with the problem of health care cost inflation, which has nothing to do with whether you've abolished the right for police officers and school teachers to unionize.

In any case, the unions in Wisconsin have already agreed to all the wage and benefit cuts Walker is asking for, they just aren't willing to entirely give up the right to ever negotiate for wages/benefits ever again.

With a per taxpayer debt of 128k The problems is not with revenues. Its with deficit spending. That is spending money we don't have. Under this current president the government has spend more in 2 years than Bush did in 8. That's alarming.

FY2010 Revenue was 2.2 Trillion and Spending was 3,5 Trillion. The current national debt is 14.2 Trillion.. The current debt per taxpayer is $128k. A 128K is dept is was over most taxpayers heads. That makes me feel pretty broke.
2010 spending link

With 60% of the budget just for Entitlements and the baby boomers just entering retirement. reform needs to be made sooner than later.

>> ^bobknight33:

How fucking selfish. America is going bankrupt and all you want is your piece of Government cheese.
I say cut every program and balance the budget and get out of debt. We created this mess we need to fix this mess which means great sacrifice today so our children and grand children wont get shafted.
Why cant the left see what a predicament this country is in?
US Debt Clock link


Actually bob, it's more like we just want our piece of the pie. We live in a country where my 2 month old son pays more money in taxes than Bank of America, and you're going crazy because public employees want the right to negotiate?

And how do you guys always forget that America started going bankrupt at the end of the Bush administration?

And NOW you're calling for blood...

You're right about one thing though: "A 128K is dept is was over most taxpayers heads." I can't argue with that.

Why do you think you deserve a piece of someone else pie? Make your own pie. Like you, I'm just trying to keep my pie for my family.

I agree that corporations are not paying any taxes and that is a damn shame.

I not sure that we started going bankrupt at the end of the Bush era. I believe its been building for a lot longer. I do agree that Bush did his fair share of damage on the budget.

I'm not calling for blood but having government employees unionized is just wrong. Sure they can do it but it is just fundamentally and morally wrong. One would want to serve the government not get at the expense of the average taxpayer.

>> ^Ryjkyj:

>> ^bobknight33:

Why do you think you deserve a piece of someone else pie? Make your own pie. Like you, I'm just trying to keep my pie for my family.
I agree that corporations are not paying any taxes and that is a damn shame.
I not sure that we started going bankrupt at the end of the Bush era. I believe its been building for a lot longer. I do agree that Bush did his fair share of damage on the budget.
I'm not calling for blood but having government employees unionized is just wrong. Sure they can do it but it is just fundamentally and morally wrong. One would want to serve the government not get at the expense of the average taxpayer.
>> ^Ryjkyj:



You got the first bit right... "one would want to serve the Government".. the next bit would be, "and be fairly compensated". That's all they are asking for. Why are you so bitter about this happening when, as you admit, the large corporation's aren't paying taxes and it could come from them - shouldn't you be out there protesting too?

>> ^bobknight33:

I agree that corporations are not paying any taxes and that is a damn shame.
>> ^Ryjkyj:



That's Not just "A Damn Shame" that's everything. That's taking the money from the Bottom 90% of America and transporting that wealth to the Top 1%. How is it that we don't understand that yet? The government is meant to be big because the Corporations want it to transfer the wealth from the poor to the rich. And any suggestion that we should keep some of that wealth we're destroying the country.

No mother fucker, you and your ignorance of basic economics of our current system is ruining this country. You're fighting for the top 1% who don't give a FUCK about you and your life. Fucking join the correct side of this fight or you will continue being bitter and stupid the rest of your pathetic life.

Yogi you really know how to let that Liberal love shine.


I thought I was kinda falling in love with your photo. That tight hot yellow sweater and all. But now I don't know.

Who is taking from the bottom 90%.? Could you explain?



>> ^Yogi:

>> ^bobknight33:
I agree that corporations are not paying any taxes and that is a damn shame.
>> ^Ryjkyj:


That's Not just "A Damn Shame" that's everything. That's taking the money from the Bottom 90% of America and transporting that wealth to the Top 1%. How is it that we don't understand that yet? The government is meant to be big because the Corporations want it to transfer the wealth from the poor to the rich. And any suggestion that we should keep some of that wealth we're destroying the country.
No mother fucker, you and your ignorance of basic economics of our current system is ruining this country. You're fighting for the top 1% who don't give a FUCK about you and your life. Fucking join the correct side of this fight or you will continue being bitter and stupid the rest of your pathetic life.

>> ^bobknight33:
We created this mess we need to fix this mess which means great sacrifice today so our children and grand children wont get shafted.

Have a think about whether that's actually true.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258

Federally, non-defense discretionary makes up 19% of your federal government expenditures. It comprises things like spending on education, science/technology, and infrastructure. All of these are highly relevant to the skills, innovativeness and capacity for the country's economy to support the next generations. Collectively these 3 aspects make up 8% of expenditure. Education is 3% of the pie. How finely do you have to slice this pie to extract any meaningful budget benefits? Meanwhile Social Security is about 20%, Medicare/aid is 21%, other safety net programs are 14%.

Now yes, we're talking about state spending where the proportion is generally much more substantial (around a quarter), but the point is simple. Politically, it's not about leaving a better quality of life for latter generations. It's about preventing meltdown while riling the least amount of constituent groups. And guess what? Future generations don't have a vote yet and teachers are a manageable target. Making modest reductions to Social Security, Medicare/aid and pensions would not be onerous when shared around and in making the current generation pay back for the excesses of the past few decades, would be the most fair. It's a vote killer though.

The fact is, gutting discretionary spending is the very definition of shafting the problem down the line. When the US economy several decades on is low tax, full of wealthy corporations but with a workforce significantly made up of overseas workers while the domestic workforce struggles in the doldrums of low dead-end service jobs, let me know what you think.

Also, how is government unionisation wrong? Why is it that a group of people can't come together to collectively negotiate, especially where their wages are generally standardised?

Don't get me wrong, from what I've heard there's a multitude of things wrong with the teacher's unions. Resistant to any change, particularly to differentiate talent, endemic bad teachers that are impossible to remove. Exorbitant costs at certain levels with average/below average results. Gutting collective bargaining with the obvious intention of gutting their pay while not addressing any of these issues is not the way to go about it. The focus needs to be on a shift to merit pay, more inter school competition, standardised tests which are actually standardised and not set at the whim of local officials.

>> ^bobknight33:

Why do you think you deserve a piece of someone else pie? Make your own pie. Like you, I'm just trying to keep my pie for my family.
I agree that corporations are not paying any taxes and that is a damn shame.
I not sure that we started going bankrupt at the end of the Bush era. I believe its been building for a lot longer. I do agree that Bush did his fair share of damage on the budget.
I'm not calling for blood but having government employees unionized is just wrong. Sure they can do it but it is just fundamentally and morally wrong. One would want to serve the government not get at the expense of the average taxpayer.
>> ^Ryjkyj:



I deserve a piece of America Bob, just like everybody else who pays for it. I hate to tell you this, but it's not just yours.

Voodoo is right. It's way more than just a "damn shame" that the largest corporations pay almost no taxes. Waaaaaaayyyyyyy. more.

I love that you can say that Bush did his fair share of damage and yet spout the same politics with what I assume is a straight face.

I'm not even sure what this means dude: "One would want to serve the government not get at the expense of the average taxpayer."