10/10 for trolling. You got me. Responded to my comment where I said, verbatim, "NO ONE IS SUGGESTING THIS," to ask for number-clarification. This put distance between my comment, and then you could accuse me of saying that I think we should do that. Mad props.

Or maybe you weren't trolling. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and very politely explain the discussion, assuming you just forgot.

QM said something silly and hyperbolic:

If the liberal dream of seizing all the wealth of the rich came true (minus, I'm sure, Hollywood weirdos) they'd loot about 250 billion, enough to fund our entire precious thugverment for 10-12 days.

At least get your math right, man. No one is suggesting this, but if you seized 100% of the top 1%'s income, you'd get around $1.2T more from them than now, and that would just about cover 2012's deficit.

And $250B would cover 24 days.

In short, LEARN TO MATH.

Edit: Oh, yeah, and if you took all of the top 1%'s wealth, (which is what *you* said), you'd get $16T, enough to pay off our national debt or fund the federal government for 4-5 years.

Where did you get your figures? I don't believe.

http://videosift.com/video/The-National-Debt-and-Deficit-Deconstructed-Tony-Robbins

Where did you get your figures? I don't believe.

http://videosift.com/video/The-National-Debt-and-Deficit-Deconstructed-Tony-Robbins

>> ^Boise_Lib:

I got to 1:48 where he said, "Liberals say tax the rich and that will do it."
Umm...I don't remember ANYONE saying that that is enough. It's not.
Cut military spending DRASTICALLY!! AND tax the rich and corporations.
To be fair @surfingyt doesn't say if he thinks this is true, he (she?) just posted a video.
@GenjiKilpatrick -- No, he hasn't stopped his "self-help" racket.
He's helping himself to a big ol' bag of PAC money.
Downvote.


I agree that cutting military spending is an area that does need to be addressed quite seriously, not sure what it is now, but last i heard it was more than 2 Trillion a year (correct me if wrong).
If the military is still contracting out to those $$companies that suck up the funding and do stupid wasteful stuff like buying/building new trucks instead of repairing few-month old trucks because they make a bigger profit, then that needs to stop immediately.. military's should not be privatized like that.

In saying that I also think it's unwise to take out all the government armed forces funding as a country still needs to defend itself for it's citizens security, especially if they've pissed off a bunch of other nations. But the extent of the funding the US engages in is well past an obsessive degree and needs to be pulled into line.

Large corporations being taxed at low rates and in a lot of cases not even being audited for tax evasion (as TYT mentioned recently) is disgusting when the poor get smashed by taxes and audits.

>> ^surfingyt:

Agreed. I liked the way he visualized the deficit and compared it against the calendar. One thing that caught my attention was he suggested bringing all the troops home, which I use daily as an example of useless spending, and that barely made a dent in the calendar. I (a he @Boise_Lib) posted for the discussion and possible votes (and downvotes).
>> ^Sepacore:
I understand the straw-man point and not disagreeing, will state that this is a completely unrealistic strategy imo and those that may talk up the general idea anywhere near the extreme Robbins was so as to make a point, i don't feel they've thought about it too much.
However, despite the level's of bs that's twisted into this, it did give me a bit of an idea of what effect doing 1 extreme (taxing) would have. Would very much like to see a comparative going the other way and focusing on cutting spending. The combination of both would give me a greater idea of what the situation actually is and what extremes would be advisable.
Regardless, upvote simply because the numbers were interestingly/entertainingly effective at keeping my attention, and although the numbers mostly seemed plausibly likely (even though some were simply unattainable) to my naive level of knowledge on this subject (haven't researched it, not planning to), some numbers are so drastically high, that the representation of them against the calendar left me stunned.
I'm left with the idea that taxing + cutting + appealing to the rich (yeah i know, don't get rich by giving your money away) is the only way forward.



Yeah, good topic imo for some open discussion about various thoughts on the overall subject of the Debt and Deficit. It's not an easy fix by any means, and I'm curious and would like to see some takes on the various ideas re difficult decisions that ultimately need to be made to chip away at such an unfathomable number.

1 expense i don't think should be cut is education as it's the foundation of improving infrastructure and advancing a country's capabilities, and NASA funding for much the same reason + I'm bias and love cosmology and the study of the universe.

(I like how Boise_Lib didn't actually downvote your video, just typed the word for reference to show disagreement to Robbins one-sided presentation)

Agreed. I liked the way he visualized the deficit and compared it against the calendar. One thing that caught my attention was he suggested bringing all the troops home, which I use daily as an example of useless spending, and that barely made a dent in the calendar. I (a he @Boise_Lib) posted for the discussion and possible votes (and downvotes).

>> ^Sepacore:

I understand the straw-man point and not disagreeing, will state that this is a completely unrealistic strategy imo and those that may talk up the general idea anywhere near the extreme Robbins was so as to make a point, i don't feel they've thought about it too much.
However, despite the level's of bs that's twisted into this, it did give me a bit of an idea of what effect doing 1 extreme (taxing) would have. Would very much like to see a comparative going the other way and focusing on cutting spending. The combination of both would give me a greater idea of what the situation actually is and what extremes would be advisable.
Regardless, upvote simply because the numbers were interestingly/entertainingly effective at keeping my attention, and although the numbers mostly seemed plausibly likely (even though some were simply unattainable) to my naive level of knowledge on this subject (haven't researched it, not planning to), some numbers are so drastically high, that the representation of them against the calendar left me stunned.
I'm left with the idea that taxing + cutting + appealing to the rich (yeah i know, don't get rich by giving your money away) is the only way forward.

I got about 1 minute in... she's your standard bullshit soothsayer who says they know the answers to everything and how to become a 'better you', much like Tony Robbins.

And yet I bet she's got plenty that's wrong in her life and her family.

I just can't get past her persona. Sorry.

Well, Christianity as it is practiced in America is extremely skewed..most of those evengelicals, the trinity broadcasting network, the lunatics known as the republican party..their brand of Christianity is a disgrace and a perversion. Things like the prosperity gospel should make any Christian sick to their stomach. Sadly a lot of people buy into it because living prudently, with a healthy dose of self-denial is not very popular in this gross materialism we are drowning in. I can understand why atheists cant stand these people..because I cant stand them either.

>> ^dag:
It's great of you to concede this SB.
Christianity in America is more like a personal empowerment and wealth creation seminar than a religion. Christ never said "the Lord helps those who help themselves" - though that's the primary tenant that most American Christians seem to follow. Maybe Tony Robbins is the second coming.
>> ^shinyblurry:
Sadly, he's right. I was fairly astonished that so many Christians didn't see anything wrong with celebrating someones death, Bin Laden or not. Though, what Bill Maher doesn't mention is that there was also a large number of Christians who did understand that was wrong and spoke out against it.
Many people do follow Christ in name only. The bible says they are only borrowing the name at a price. It's really no different however than anything else human beings do. That humans can mess up something good should be no surprise to anyone.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's great of you to concede this SB.

Christianity in America is more like a personal empowerment and wealth creation seminar than a religion. Christ never said "the Lord helps those who help themselves" - though that's the primary tenant that most American Christians seem to follow. Maybe Tony Robbins is the second coming.

>> ^shinyblurry:

Sadly, he's right. I was fairly astonished that so many Christians didn't see anything wrong with celebrating someones death, Bin Laden or not. Though, what Bill Maher doesn't mention is that there was also a large number of Christians who did understand that was wrong and spoke out against it.
Many people do follow Christ in name only. The bible says they are only borrowing the name at a price. It's really no different however than anything else human beings do. That humans can mess up something good should be no surprise to anyone.

No...my last one is the "Praying Mantis"
>> ^Drax:

Laura: I tend to cycle awkwardly between Tony Robbins, Hello Kitty, GPS, Loco, Exorcist, Potty Mouth & Frankenstein


Are there survivors?
(upvote for Enya)

The Tony Robbins got me. Ha!

Laura: I tend to cycle awkwardly between Tony Robbins, Hello Kitty, GPS, Loco, Exorcist, Potty Mouth & Frankenstein



Are there survivors?

(upvote for Enya)

Hilarious!
I tend to cycle awkwardly between Tony Robbins, Hello Kitty, GPS, Loco, Exorcist, Potty Mouth & Frankenstein

People don't change. Makeup was more important to women than food 6000 years ago.

Freud had some good insights as did the other guy, but neither IMO had an all-encompassing understanding of human nature and their psychobabble remains less effective and important than religion, tradition, both.

The companies don't get it right as much as the conspiracy theorists believe. There is no golden formula that works 90% of the time. If one could measure how many businesses fail today as a percentage versus in each of the past 6 decades, the assumption could be made that the fail rate was/is fairly constant.

choggie, it's OK to admit now that you're really Tony Robbins. I promise not to rip you a new one for the chapter about "food combining" in your bestseller Unlimited Power.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Rottenseed, I am a godless heathen- but I still agree with much of Christ's message. (or at least the message of those scribes who fabricated his quotes) Evangelical Christianity makes me angry because it's really a Tony Robbins self-help group. They believe that "the lord helps those who helps themselves" is in the bible and try to live by it - but then wrap themselves up in their pious, moral superiority.

The phrase is "bleeding-heart liberals"- a group that a majority of atheists and agnostics would identify themselves with. You don't hear "bleeding heart Christians" much these days- it seems to be all about building the next McMega Church™. (apologies to Mother Theresa, the Jesuits and other religious orders that have taken vows of self-service and poverty)

QM, I agree- Australia's track record for dealing with aborigines is abysmal - I'm definitely not trying to set up a "us against you" situation, but that you would frame it that way certainly gives a good example of the reactionary neo-con point-of-view. America, fuck yeah.

I agree that certain aspects of the self-help market are absolute BS, but as I can attest, it does work. I've been a long time advocate of Tony Robbins (or at least only his Personal Power II series, which is the only one of his seminars I've ever listened to). 5 years ago my life was a mess, I was overweight, I was a *severe* video game addict, I was breaking up with my girlfriend of 8 years, and I wasted my 20's not really doing anything constructive with my life.

Today, I'm on my way to getting my BA in Theater, I have a 4.0 GPA, I'm starting Improv classes, no longer addicted, I'm losing weight and I've got a great job. It may not work for everyone and everyone may not agree with it, but it works for me. You just have to be smart about it.