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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I know we're on the military now, but Krugman has been going on a bit about Romney's claim that the uninsured don't die from lack of coverage, and some physicians have chimed in
. You know, the people who actually treat our sick.
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Hell, having insurance isn't even always enough, because insurance doesn't always cover the stuff you need.
Like I'm having problems right now with my insurance only covering a third of the labs and none of the prescriptions.
edited 15th Oct '12 7:03:43 AM by DrunkGirlfriend
"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -DrunkscriblerianThere's a new Romney web ad going around claiming that a non-partisan study says that Obama's policies will raise taxes while Romney's wont.
The study was conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank well-known for its pro-business leanings.
They're doubling down on the outright lying.
Edit: The ad specifically talks about raising taxes on the middle class.
edited 15th Oct '12 8:12:45 AM by GlennMagusHarvey
Well, Obama should raise taxes, and if the Bush tax cuts expire, they will go up. This "taxes BAD" meme has become infectious. We need top marginal tax rates of 70% or more, not the pitiful 35% they are now, and we need to scrap the capital gains rate entirely.
edited 15th Oct '12 8:09:21 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Oh. Well, it is true that the Bush tax cuts will expire (for everyone) if Congress doesn't act soon. Since this is entirely in Congress' hands to do something about (in a lame duck session, no less), of course it makes sense to blame it on Obama.
edited 15th Oct '12 8:21:46 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"The 2012 spending was about $900 billon, of which about $300 billion went into upkeep and logistics, about $120 billion went into obtaining new equipment, about $70 billion went to R&D, and about $60 billion went to foreign aid. Apparently the rest mostly went to wages and benefits, although it is hard to pin down precise numbers.
<><This just kinda blew my mind, for some reason I didn't see it. (from the colbert report)
BLUE-TIE STEPHEN: He's promising a 20% tax cut for the top 1%.
RED-TIE STEPHEN: Ah, but he's also promising to close their tax loopholes, so they'll still pay the same amount.
BLUE-TIE STEPHEN: Then... why cut their taxes?
I mean, I know on an intellectual level that 90% of everything everyone says is bullshit, but wow, that is incredibly stupid and I feel stupid for not catching it.
Is using "Julian Assange is a Hillary butt plug" an acceptable signature quote?Congratulations, you win the "finally seeing through part of the BS" cookie.
Of course, it is not necessarily the case that all tax assessments and expenditures are equal. There is a significant overhead involved in tax loopholes, in the form of the legions of lawyers and accountants who get paid to decode all that crap and maximize the tax deductions for people and companies.
You could cut a huge quantity of purely parasitic jobs just by removing all that cruft and making the tax code a simple progressive one again.
edited 15th Oct '12 9:03:22 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"But we'd have a lot of government accountants being fired, too. They could report that as a bonus, since "government jobs aren't real jobs".
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"On a purely personal note, I am for using any means necessary within the bounds of international law to compel "tax haven" countries to cough up the people they are sheltering.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"^
True, and it's not just the Exiles themselves: it's the people that support them too. Those working in the shops, clean the houses etc...
Have enough of them, and they make money. On that subject: Flags of convenience
?
Romney lied (big surprise) about the fact he was bipartisan. In fact, he literally pulled a Palin and the left the state. And that wasn't when he had veto count was over 800.
http://www.politicususa.com/romneys-800-vetoes-governor-belie-claim-bipartisan.html
@Joesolo: The issue isn't their lower income tax rates per se, but the fact that they functionally shelter income earned by doing business in the United States. You should pay taxes at U.S. rates for income earned in the United States.
Now, I realize as I write this that it's far less clear cut than I'm making it sound, but I'm operating from the premise that renouncing your citizenship and changing residence to an island nation should not permit you to ignore U.S. taxes.
edited 15th Oct '12 11:27:42 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

@US Military Budget: Do we know what percentage of that is servicemen paychecks, retiree benefits, healthcare for families, housing for families, and R&R facilities for servicemembers and their families?
edited 15th Oct '12 7:25:43 AM by Completion