Reagan: Want hope? Make a change
Obama is no Reagan
Michael Reagan
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution,” Visit his website at www.reagan.com, or email comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com
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Arizona Willie posted at 8:08 am on Sun, Aug 5, 2012.
Republicans want America to go bankrupt.
The American economy labors under a MASSIVE national debt created, for the most part, by the last Republican administration that started two unfunded wars and an unfunded Medicare Prescription Benefit.
The Republican administration didn't want to have a tax surcharge to pay for the wars so it borrowed the money.
Obama also borrowed money for the Stimulus plan trying to bring America out of the depression caused by the previous administration. So Democrats own a share of the national debt too.
But it is irrelevant who borrowed how much.
The fact is the countries economy is languishing under this tremendous debt.
One out of every three dollars the Federal government spends is borrowed.
How long could your family operate in that situation?
Not long and neither can our country.
Despite this massive debt caused by people not wanting to pay taxes, the Republicans continue to call for MORE TAX CUTS which only puts the country in a deeper and deeper hole.
You don't pay off debt by reducing your income.
Spending cuts == the war cry of the right == only reduce future spending. Maybe.
Congress will always find a place to spend any available funds.
Spending cuts CANNOT reduce the national debt.
Sometime -- somewhere -- someone is going to have to pay taxes to pay off this massive debt or the country will have to default on it's debts and declare bankruptcy.
If the Republicans continue to call for more tax cuts that means they want the country to go bankrupt.
Why?
So it gives them an excuse to abandon Social Security and Medicare. Both programs they opposed from day one.
AJW3 posted at 8:09 am on Sun, Aug 5, 2012.
Kudos to all the rich people that got their money fair and square from the ground up.....you are a rare breed. To the people that got rich from backstabbing, coniving, stealing and lying.......GFY. If everyone had to start at ground zero we would be hearing a lot of whining from the silver spoon crowd. If you got your riches with the big advantage of inheritance then hush up and pay you fair share in taxes.
Arizona Willie posted at 8:13 am on Sun, Aug 5, 2012.
If America is going to default on it's obligations --- the first place to default is on Income Tax Refunds.
The U.S. should not refund any excess Income Taxes paid in.
The U.S. should also renege on subsidies to industries.
Immediately stop all payments to the oil companies and factory farm corporations for a start. Any and all subsidy payments should stop immediately.
The government should, and probably will, default on obligations owed to citizens before it defaults on obligations to foreign countries.
downtownresident posted at 9:53 am on Sun, Aug 5, 2012.
Arizona Willie,
Sad fact is that as long as big business is allowed to run the country, the gap between rich and poor will continue to grow.
The neo-cons and teabaggers want to place the entire tax burden on the middle class.
Let them eat cake, they say.
chatmandu002 posted at 4:45 pm on Sun, Aug 5, 2012.
Micheal,
I will gladly hold Obama to his word. If things aren't better then let's make him a one term president. But of course the liberal/progressive democrats want Obama for another term, they haven't confiscated all the wealth yet. To republicans it's about the individual responsibility and freedom. To the democrats it's about big government and dependency.
openureyes posted at 12:27 pm on Mon, Aug 6, 2012.
Translation: I looked at some numbers from a poll they just started three years ago and it turns out people are still worried since the economy hasn't fully recovered in those three years. Of course, there are no similar poll numbers for any previous president for objective comparison so here's my slant.
Oh, and my dad was an actor, which is way better than being a community organizer.
Pathetic.
VofReason posted at 1:07 pm on Mon, Aug 6, 2012.
Yes Willie, all my communications from the Rebulican party say "We want America to go bankrupt". That kind of smart analysis certainly kicks off the desire to read more of your wise words. And of course spending cuts cannot cut debt. I mean everyone knows you need to spend more to cut your debt- right? I know this is simplistic, but think about your own financial situation- if you are in debt, the first place you look is cutting the things you are spending money on. And ironically tagged Openyoureyes- I think Actors (and the Head of the Actors Guild) rates a bit higher then someone who tells people that they didn't do anything to put themselves in their predicament and that the Government owes them
openureyes posted at 2:17 pm on Mon, Aug 6, 2012.
That's because you know little to nothing about what community organizers do, VofR.
onerebel posted at 6:18 pm on Mon, Aug 6, 2012.
If it's the Republican's that want the country to go bankrupt, why is it the Democrat's are the ones that want to take money out of the pockets of those that work, and give it to those that sit on their backside so they will vote Democrat? The reason this country continues its drift toward socialism and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have a concern for what is good for the country.
Lyn Nofziger
mnjcpa posted at 8:34 am on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
Really openureyes........please explain to me exactly what a community organizer does other than being excellent at creating the most divisive, hateful environment pitting Americans against Americans that I've known in my lifetime. Because if that is the skill set you're proud of you've got it in the Obama administration. He's the most pathetic form of a leader I've ever known and I'm sad for him because of the leadership opportunity he's blown.
openureyes posted at 10:43 am on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
Nope, they don't do that either, mnjcpa. Both you and VofR have known no community organizers, cared nothing about them until Obama was candidate for president, and have only what the press has fed you since that time on which to base your opinions. The sad thing is that you both should know full well that you don't have a good grasp on what they do and reserve judgment based on that fact, but you're so blinded by Obama-hate that you can't help commenting negatively on something about which you're almost completely ignorant.
There is no telling you exactly what a community organizer does because what they do depends on the needs of the community. Some may need to organize block watches or neighborhood beautification projects, while others may coordinate care for the elderly in the neighborhood. The list goes on, but let's be honest; you don't really want to know.
mnjcpa posted at 11:15 am on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
That's good to know openureyes, but I'm not a mindless drone that has to be told what to think. What I've observed is Obama is excellent at creating the most divisive, hateful environment pitting Americans against Americans that I've known in my lifetime. And if that's what a community organizer does, it ain't leadership in my world.
VofReason posted at 12:40 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
First and foremost, I do not hate President Obama, I just don't think he is a good Presdient and disagree with him on most important issues. Please review any post I have ever made and feel free to call me on it if I ever use terms like "he is a Nazi" or "he is stupid" like so many thinking liberals use to say about President Bush. This is another major difference between conservatives and liberals- occupiers and tea party. This is why the Tea Party is more like Uncle Joe and the Occupiers are more like Crazy Joe.
fae4now posted at 12:40 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
So let me get this right VofR-
if being President of the Actors UNION qualified Reagan to be the POTUS someone better tell Patty Duke, Ed Asner and Little House on the Prairie Melissa Gilbert, also past Presidents of SAG that they are qualified to be leaders of the free world!
Oh, and congratulations on your newly proclaimed PRO labor stance. I'd always hoped you would someday see the light. I'm happy to know that you and our PresIdent Obama now have something in common.
fae4now posted at 1:00 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
Ok, so onerebel thinks it's the Democrats who want to squeeze money from the worker to give to those who "sit on their backside".
Do you know who the fastest growing segment in America is today? It's not the rich, the poor, the middle class or even immigrants. It's the WORKING POOR. In other words the not-sitting-on-their-backsides people who are trying to survive.
So explain to me how it makes sense that an oil company can post record profits in the billions, receive more billions in government (taxpayer) subsidies and pay little or no taxes but the guy who works where their product is sold, a gas station, makes only poverty level wages. On a 40 hour week, eight dollars an hour will bring in less than 17k annually. So the WORKER qualifies for food stamps or other government assistance that YOU PAY FOR because his employer who, has mountains of cash, won't pay him a living wage.
Your anger at the government is misguided. Where is your outrage at the corporations who refuse to pay fairly?
mnjcpa posted at 1:11 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
That's a circular argument fae. Those businesses are accountable to their shareholders who demand a reasonable return on their investment. Those same investments that retirees live on.
We're in a global economy now - not an American economy Fae. And it makes literally zero sense to pay someone unrealistic pensions and salaries when it can be done well elsewhere cheaper. Imploding millions of illegals every year in to the economy doesn't help either when they benefit from the American system without paying anything for it.
openureyes posted at 1:19 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
mnjcpa, if you're going to blame the president for the divisiveness in the country then you're going to have to be willing to admit George W. Bush's contributions. Remember "you're either with us or against us," or how anyone who questioned the motives for invading Iraq was unpatriotic - hence, against us? He even had the press along for the ride for a while, until they finally caught a whiff of the manure the administration was shoveling. Then they all of a sudden became the contemptuous "liberal mainstream media." Divisive, yes?
Obama hasn't made it any better, which is a shame, but he certainly didn't create it. I'll bet you a dollar it's even worse under Obama's successor - be that 4 months or 4 years from now.
openureyes posted at 3:19 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
Ok, VofR, you don't hate Obama. I'm sorry. Let's call it Obama-disagreement, then. Now that we've got semantics out of the way, any comments on the actual point?
mnjcpa posted at 3:41 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
openureyes - every so often I enjoy watching the `I Have a Dream` speech by Martin Luther King. It's the most inspiring leadership video that anyone can learn from. I wanted that kind of impact from Obama and he promised that with `Hope & Change`. But Obama's time has been anything but inspirational, and I'm sorry for him that he blew such a magnificent opportunity to be the MLK of his generation. His leadership skills have nothing to do with Bush, even though you would like to blame everything but tonight's weather on the man. At some point, you need to take responsibilities for your decisions. The rhetoric from the left right now is nauseating and only shows me how desperate they really are.
openureyes posted at 6:20 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
I've blamed Bush for one thing, and even then only as a counterpoint to your irrationally blaming Obama for something that's been brewing for at least a decade. You can't really believe that his election pushed some sort of reset button on people's attitudes. And please, please tell me you don't believe the nauseating rhetoric is restricted to the left. You've heard about birthers, right? All the "he's a muslim and I know it" talk? Or how he's courting the illegal vote (as if illegal immigrants are that eager to draw attention to themselves)?
mnjcpa posted at 7:56 pm on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
I blame Obama for his failed policies and lack of leadership, not some unrelated issue that has nothing to do with turning an economy around. Reagan got it done within months of being elected.
openureyes posted at 10:45 am on Wed, Aug 8, 2012.
"Some unrelated issue that has nothing to do with turning an economy around," that you brought up - twice - and blamed on Obama, you mean?
Okay.
mnjcpa posted at 9:47 pm on Thu, Aug 9, 2012.
No your reference to birthers & Muslim. I care about leadership skills that can lead us out of this mess and Obama has proven he's failed & doesn't deserve more time to create an even bigger mess than were in. He's got o go.
SMMcMahon posted at 2:06 pm on Sat, Aug 18, 2012.
Old people aren't foolish. Most of them aren't all that healthy, either.
Everyone should realize that if Republicans repeal "Obamacare" and Romney/Ryan went ahead with the voucher system than about 90% of Medicare eligible folks would be totally SCR*W*D!
Try going out at age 70 to buy yourself some health insurance with your stinking voucher. So you've got high blood pressure, prostate cancer, osteoporosis or heart disease. Sorry, that's a pre-existing condition which WOULD have been covered under Obamacare, but no longer. We're sorry, but your medications won't be covered, either. And be happy because you didn't have to go before any death panel to arrive at this sorry state.
I think we have to live with a fact about the GOP. The party cannot ever tell people, even their supporters, at least the ones that aren't millionaires, what they will actually do if they have the chance. If they did, they would never elect another Republican to national office. They get away with it in some congressional districts - the ones gerrymandered to the point of idiocy. But, not with most Senate races and definitely not for President.
Consequently the GOP must lie, obfuscate and demonize the opponent to elect a President. We get lies about them wanting to preserve Medicare. They can't tell the truth - they want to eliminate it, they always have. They can't tell the truth about lowering taxes for the wealthy - it's not about creating jobs, it's about taking care of their big donors. They can't tell the truth about global warming - they know it's happening, they don't care because any action to save the planet would hurt profits. They can't tell the truth about spending - they are not against spending, they just want to spend on the military and their corporate sponsors. The can't tell the truth about the size of government - they don't want a small government, they want a government so big it can police every womb and ensure you only marry the "right" person.
To elect a President, Republicans have to lie because no one in their right mind would buy what they are actually selling.
And to the comment that their plan would only affect those under 55, well, I'm under 55 (just) and after paying into the plan for the past 35 years, I object, and my parents are not that selfish to not object on the effect on their children and grandchildren.