Comments on: It’s my money! http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/ News and views from Maryland's Eastern Shore since 2005, and home site of the Liberty Features syndicated columnist. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:33:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: The 41st Carnival of Maryland « ROTUS http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-95012 The 41st Carnival of Maryland « ROTUS Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:51:38 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-95012 [...] the 1st congressional district. Michael also presents his program for government spending and tax reform. He says that he hopes to live to see his 50 year plan come to fruition. Michael must be younger [...] [...] the 1st congressional district. Michael also presents his program for government spending and tax reform. He says that he hopes to live to see his 50 year plan come to fruition. Michael must be younger [...]

]]> By: Final Frontier http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-94922 Final Frontier Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:37:20 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-94922 Why did al Quaeda move to Iraq? Could it be possible that they moved there specifically because the U.S was there? It is pretty clearly documented that they came to Iraq after the U.S invasion. Like it or not, the U>S presence in the Middle East was viewed as an act of aggression by many Middle Easterners, and radicalized many who had not been radical before. The rantings of religious fanatics all seem a little more reasonable in the context of military strife. Proper diplomacy, backed up with strategic (not the mess we did) use of the military would have saved money, future turmoil, and most importantly, lives. Why did al Quaeda move to Iraq? Could it be possible that they moved there specifically because the U.S was there? It is pretty clearly documented that they came to Iraq after the U.S invasion. Like it or not, the U>S presence in the Middle East was viewed as an act of aggression by many Middle Easterners, and radicalized many who had not been radical before. The rantings of religious fanatics all seem a little more reasonable in the context of military strife. Proper diplomacy, backed up with strategic (not the mess we did) use of the military would have saved money, future turmoil, and most importantly, lives.

]]> By: tom taylor http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-94918 tom taylor Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:50:42 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-94918 dear final frontier... the cost of not getting involved in iraq would have meant more attacks on the homeland and how can you put a dollar amount on the fact that when you and your children go out, they would be endangered by the radicalism that is militant islam. the argument that afghanistan is the front on terror holds no water as the war to oust saddam shifted as al qaeda moved in to iraq... the cost of the global war on terror must be paid or we will be the only side paying through terror attacks on our own soil and the economic toll that would take... ask the airline industry after 911... view the world with reality as your eyeglass and not what the government can do for you and you alone. freedom is not free and a fair tax consumption tax allows anyone to boycott paying taxes by buying used. tom t dear final frontier… the cost of not getting involved in iraq would have meant more attacks on the homeland and how can you put a dollar amount on the fact that when you and your children go out, they would be endangered by the radicalism that is militant islam.

the argument that afghanistan is the front on terror holds no water as the war to oust saddam shifted as al qaeda moved in to iraq…

the cost of the global war on terror must be paid or we will be the only side paying through terror attacks on our own soil and the economic toll that would take… ask the airline industry after 911…

view the world with reality as your eyeglass and not what the government can do for you and you alone.

freedom is not free and a fair tax consumption tax allows anyone to boycott paying taxes by buying used.

tom t

]]> By: swampcritter2 http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-94895 swampcritter2 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:32:50 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-94895 Final Frontier, In 2001 the top 1% of taxpayers paid 33.9% of all individual income taxes. Since 1990 this groups tax share has grown faster than their income. Taxpayers in the top 50% by income pay virtually all income taxes. The share of taxes paid by the bottom 50% of taxpers will fall from 4.1% to 3.6% ubder thse Bush tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts have shifted a larger share of the individual income taxes paid to higher income taxpayers. This info comes from the U.S Gov't Treasury press release of April 2004. The Congressional Budget Office reports the same findings. Wealth envy is just a scam foisted on un-informed voters by the Democrat Party when they go out vote-pimping. Final Frontier, In 2001 the top 1% of taxpayers paid 33.9% of all individual income taxes. Since 1990 this groups tax share has grown faster than their income. Taxpayers in the top 50% by income pay virtually all income taxes. The share of taxes paid by the bottom 50% of taxpers will fall from 4.1% to 3.6% ubder thse Bush tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts have shifted a larger share of the individual income taxes paid to higher income taxpayers. This info comes from the U.S Gov’t Treasury press release of April 2004. The Congressional Budget Office reports the same findings. Wealth envy is just a scam foisted on un-informed voters by the Democrat Party when they go out vote-pimping.

]]> By: Final Frontier http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-94892 Final Frontier Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:18:12 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-94892 You didn't offend me with the pronoun, just wanted to clear it up. If you think that there will be free elections in Iraq in the near future, you are totally naive. They will be akin to the elections in Iran and Zimbabwe. If there are 150,000 soldiers in Iraq, and they make on average $2,500 a month, you do the math. Take their salaries out of the equation and we are still spending billions a month on a wasteful war. If they were home, we would still be paying their salaries and benefits, but would not be paying the other billions a month, and oh by the way, would not see the devastating deaths and injuries that have taken place due to a badly managed and poorly conceptualized war. I am not a total pacificist--I know there are times when fighting is the only answer. This was absolutely, without question, not one of those times. Last, but not least, why do you think that the Wall Street guy's labor should be valued at 500 times the labor of the janitor? Should it be 1,000 times? 10 times? What is a comfortable number for you? Where does compassion fit into the equation (yeah, I know, gov't should stay out of the compassion business, right? Unless it is you or your loved one who came down with a rare form of cancer that the insurance companies, ever compassionate, declare uncurable and therefore won't pay for your experimental care). I believe that gov't is of the people, by the people, and for the people--ALL of the people, and I profoundly believe the Republican party has forgotten that in the last 20 years. You didn’t offend me with the pronoun, just wanted to clear it up. If you think that there will be free elections in Iraq in the near future, you are totally naive. They will be akin to the elections in Iran and Zimbabwe. If there are 150,000 soldiers in Iraq, and they make on average $2,500 a month, you do the math. Take their salaries out of the equation and we are still spending billions a month on a wasteful war. If they were home, we would still be paying their salaries and benefits, but would not be paying the other billions a month, and oh by the way, would not see the devastating deaths and injuries that have taken place due to a badly managed and poorly conceptualized war. I am not a total pacificist–I know there are times when fighting is the only answer. This was absolutely, without question, not one of those times. Last, but not least, why do you think that the Wall Street guy’s labor should be valued at 500 times the labor of the janitor? Should it be 1,000 times? 10 times? What is a comfortable number for you? Where does compassion fit into the equation (yeah, I know, gov’t should stay out of the compassion business, right? Unless it is you or your loved one who came down with a rare form of cancer that the insurance companies, ever compassionate, declare uncurable and therefore won’t pay for your experimental care). I believe that gov’t is of the people, by the people, and for the people–ALL of the people, and I profoundly believe the Republican party has forgotten that in the last 20 years.

]]> By: Michael http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-94887 Michael Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:37:44 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-94887 Okay, madam Final Frontier. I'm pleased that you have cleared that portion of things up. You seem to equate working hard with physical labor. In my job, I don't do a lot of physical labor but my dad did in his and I decided early in life that I did not want to do something physically demanding for a living. So I made the proper choices to avoid having such a job. What you may or may not get is that the Wall Street guy may be working 80 hours a week to stay on top of his game because he or she could be the businessperson who employs people like the guy mowing the lawn, the woman scrubbing the toilet, or building his house. (I'm assuming Jim Perdue employs the person cutting the chicken.) Now, insofar as tax cuts go, is it truly fair that those who pay the largest percentage of taxes don't get the largest benefit when taxes are cut? If you follow the "from each according to their means, to each according to their needs" tenets of Marxism, at some point you'll find that Atlas will indeed shrug. I'm not going to begrudge someone who makes more than I do getting a larger tax break, but apparently you do and it's sad to see you having such a large dose of class envy. If there were taxation based on consumption, the Wall Street guy who has expensive tastes would pay a larger chunk of his salary while frugal people would be hit on a lesser scale. Now about the $10 billion in Iraq. You have a somewhat flawed analogy because much of that $10 billion a month goes to those who have volunteered to lay their life on the line and defend our nation. In return they get a large cornucopia of government benefits, which sometimes puts me in a conundrum because I do believe in smaller, less intrusive government but also support veterans. And given the fact that the government in Iraq can be tossed out of power at the ballot box (as opposed to Saddam Hussein ruling with an iron fist) I'd say we've improved things somewhat. The strategy as I see it was to surround Iran with two countries which were relatively friendly to our interests and I think it's worked out that way to some degree. Since there's been the discussion about pseudonyms in other local forums, why is it that you hide behind an assumed name? It wasn't obvious to me you were female, so I apologize for offending you if I have by thinking you weren't. Okay, madam Final Frontier. I’m pleased that you have cleared that portion of things up.

You seem to equate working hard with physical labor. In my job, I don’t do a lot of physical labor but my dad did in his and I decided early in life that I did not want to do something physically demanding for a living. So I made the proper choices to avoid having such a job. What you may or may not get is that the Wall Street guy may be working 80 hours a week to stay on top of his game because he or she could be the businessperson who employs people like the guy mowing the lawn, the woman scrubbing the toilet, or building his house. (I’m assuming Jim Perdue employs the person cutting the chicken.)

Now, insofar as tax cuts go, is it truly fair that those who pay the largest percentage of taxes don’t get the largest benefit when taxes are cut? If you follow the “from each according to their means, to each according to their needs” tenets of Marxism, at some point you’ll find that Atlas will indeed shrug. I’m not going to begrudge someone who makes more than I do getting a larger tax break, but apparently you do and it’s sad to see you having such a large dose of class envy. If there were taxation based on consumption, the Wall Street guy who has expensive tastes would pay a larger chunk of his salary while frugal people would be hit on a lesser scale.

Now about the $10 billion in Iraq. You have a somewhat flawed analogy because much of that $10 billion a month goes to those who have volunteered to lay their life on the line and defend our nation. In return they get a large cornucopia of government benefits, which sometimes puts me in a conundrum because I do believe in smaller, less intrusive government but also support veterans.

And given the fact that the government in Iraq can be tossed out of power at the ballot box (as opposed to Saddam Hussein ruling with an iron fist) I’d say we’ve improved things somewhat. The strategy as I see it was to surround Iran with two countries which were relatively friendly to our interests and I think it’s worked out that way to some degree.

Since there’s been the discussion about pseudonyms in other local forums, why is it that you hide behind an assumed name? It wasn’t obvious to me you were female, so I apologize for offending you if I have by thinking you weren’t.

]]> By: Final Frontier http://monoblogue.us/2008/08/27/its-my-money/comment-page-1/#comment-94882 Final Frontier Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:13:26 +0000 http://monoblogue.us/?p=1594#comment-94882 Explain to me which country in the Middle East is now more allied with us after the Iraq War than before? Iraq? You've got to be kidding. We blew our chance over there due to a stunning lack of diplomacy and a huge miscaluclation about the nature of the war in the first year. And it sure has done wonders for us with other Middle Eastern countries! McCain was adamantly against the Bush tax cuts (he voted against them repeatedly) until he realized that conservative voters were in favor of them. Flip, flop--isn't that the term you guys used about Kerry? Ahh . . . what else can I tackle this morning? $10 billion a month in Iraq. Billion with a "B." That would pay for a lot of medical care for Americans. Finally, I find it amazing that lower middle class whites continue to vote Republican. You state here that McCain wants to cut taxes for the guys who "earned" their giant salaries by working hard. Does the guy who works on Wall Street work harder than the guy mowing the lawns, building houses, the woman scrubbing toilets, cutting up chickens for Perdue? Don't they deserve tax cuts? Shouldn't they be able to afford health care for their kids? Shouldn't they be able to send their kids to college? I'm sure you'll say that the Wall Street guy is the one paying their salaries, but that is only part of the picture. The Wall Street guy takes his money from his tax cuts, puts it in an off-shore tax shelter, invests in a business that cuts costs by firing American workers and sending the jobs overseas, hires an expensive accountant to find even more tax loopholes to avoid paying his fair share, and then pats himself on the back for working so hard. I don't begrudge people their wealth, but I find it hard to believe that the Wall Street guy deserves more attention from our government than the working class poor. Thanks for letting me rant even though you disagree with me, and just so we can get the pronouns right, I'm a she! Explain to me which country in the Middle East is now more allied with us after the Iraq War than before? Iraq? You’ve got to be kidding. We blew our chance over there due to a stunning lack of diplomacy and a huge miscaluclation about the nature of the war in the first year. And it sure has done wonders for us with other Middle Eastern countries! McCain was adamantly against the Bush tax cuts (he voted against them repeatedly) until he realized that conservative voters were in favor of them. Flip, flop–isn’t that the term you guys used about Kerry? Ahh . . . what else can I tackle this morning? $10 billion a month in Iraq. Billion with a “B.” That would pay for a lot of medical care for Americans. Finally, I find it amazing that lower middle class whites continue to vote Republican. You state here that McCain wants to cut taxes for the guys who “earned” their giant salaries by working hard. Does the guy who works on Wall Street work harder than the guy mowing the lawns, building houses, the woman scrubbing toilets, cutting up chickens for Perdue? Don’t they deserve tax cuts? Shouldn’t they be able to afford health care for their kids? Shouldn’t they be able to send their kids to college? I’m sure you’ll say that the Wall Street guy is the one paying their salaries, but that is only part of the picture. The Wall Street guy takes his money from his tax cuts, puts it in an off-shore tax shelter, invests in a business that cuts costs by firing American workers and sending the jobs overseas, hires an expensive accountant to find even more tax loopholes to avoid paying his fair share, and then pats himself on the back for working so hard. I don’t begrudge people their wealth, but I find it hard to believe that the Wall Street guy deserves more attention from our government than the working class poor. Thanks for letting me rant even though you disagree with me, and just so we can get the pronouns right, I’m a she!

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