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TheStarshipMaxima NCC - 1701 Since: Jun, 2009
NCC - 1701
#41251: Nov 19th 2012 at 4:48:46 PM

Real liberals are like Yoda because most of us are three foot tall intellectuals who happen to be very green.

Master Yoda: (holding up a dollar bill) Life is not this crude paper!

Also

Luke Skywalker - I'm looking for a great banker.

Yoda: Ah, but banks make not one great.

It was an honor
Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#41252: Nov 19th 2012 at 4:49:59 PM

@Hilarity: American liberals are more like sane/good people trying work in the Empire, thinking they can change the system internally. Palpatines death would be equal to a complete super-majority of them in both Houses and the Supreme Court, along with one becoming the President.

@Euo: Actually, Ork society is fairly leftist in economic terms, since their teeth acts as currency, and if some Ork somehow managed to have too much teeth the others would beet him up and take his teeth for themselves. It's fairly egalitarian, in a way.

You know, politics would be awesome if every politician was an Ork. It'd be... beautiful.

edited 19th Nov '12 4:52:04 PM by Ekuran

DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#41253: Nov 19th 2012 at 4:51:33 PM

Well, we did used to have all sorts of awesome brawls in the senate. Got my tentacles tingling, it did.

Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#41254: Nov 19th 2012 at 4:54:05 PM

I think Taiwan has had some awesome free-for-all fights in their parliament.

Edit: Yep.

edited 19th Nov '12 4:55:16 PM by Ekuran

TheStarshipMaxima NCC - 1701 Since: Jun, 2009
NCC - 1701
#41255: Nov 19th 2012 at 4:54:24 PM

Darth Gingrich: Are you threatening me Master Jedi?

Mace Obama: In the name of the Senate, you are under arrest.

Darth Gingrich: I AM THE SENATE!

Mace Obama: (beat) Bitch, please.

It was an honor
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#41257: Nov 19th 2012 at 4:56:48 PM

I love Paul Krugman. When he disses your economics, he doesn't pull any punches. The only way this could be more damning is if he called for Paul Ryan to preface all his policy statements with, "I'm not a smart person, but I play one in Congress."

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
TheStarshipMaxima NCC - 1701 Since: Jun, 2009
NCC - 1701
#41258: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:00:06 PM

Damn, that's just irresponsible. We all know the correct way to settle political differences.

Madden 2012. Playoff mode. No do-overs.

Edit: Some funny irony for you Potatoes. Mitt Romney's pop, George was a Rockefeller Republican.

edited 19th Nov '12 5:07:02 PM by TheStarshipMaxima

It was an honor
LooseCannon The Groose Is Loose from Everywhere and Nowhere Since: Jun, 2012
The Groose Is Loose
#41259: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:05:32 PM

I thought it was Final Destination. No items. Fox only.

Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me.
Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#41260: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:06:22 PM

I would love Paul Krugman if his economic views were actually presented anywhere.

Seriously, the dude has to put a giant goddamn spotlight on the fact that debt is bullshit to all of the US. Far too many people people think the public debt actually matters, and besides this site, I almost never hear of this in any other form of news/media.

BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#41261: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:06:49 PM

Settling politics by sports games isn't right. Instead, you should base all your decisions on sports. Or I don't know if you should, but some countries actually do.

For instance, Spain won Germany in the Final of the European Championship in 2008. (I'm talking about football, obviously.) Since then, Germany has treated Spain like shit.

Spain won Germany again in the World Cup in 2010, and consequently, Germany started treating Spain even worse.

In the Euros this year, Spain never played against Germany; but that's because Germany was defeated by Italy. Guess who's going to get pillaged now... Especially as Italy also beat England.

You might think that Germany is going to forgive Spain for their games in 2008 and 2010. Unfortunately, though, on the way to winning the Championship (again,) Spain beat France this year. So they're in for at least two more years of forced austerity.

Germany won Greece, so Greece should have it easy for the next two years.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#41262: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:07:17 PM

Edit: Some funny irony for you Potatoes. Mitt Romney's pop, George was a Rockefeller Republican.
0_0 That's what depresses me about Mitt. His father was also the one who started the unofficial policy of releasing your fucking tax returns.

Also, god. Ryan. Ugh. What will it take for him to be discredited as a CENTRIST SRS POLICY WONK GOD.

TheStarshipMaxima NCC - 1701 Since: Jun, 2009
NCC - 1701
#41263: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:08:56 PM

Seriously, the dude has to put a giant goddamn spotlight on the fact that debt is bullshit to all of the US. Far too many people people think the public debt actually matters, and besides this site, I almost never hear of this in any other form of news/media.

I'd really like to hear an explanation for why rampant government spending is a good thing other than "Paul Krugman said so." I'm not trying to be snarky, I'd actually like to hear the thinking behind his lack of concern with public debt.

I thought it was Final Destination. No items. Fox only.

Good one. [lol]

edited 19th Nov '12 5:11:44 PM by TheStarshipMaxima

It was an honor
DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#41264: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:11:54 PM

In short, he doesn't think necessarily rampant government spending is a great thing, but he thinks the only way our GDP is going to recover, and we're going to have to stable economy is through government spending, and then, if our economy is good, they'll help us reduce our debt faster.

Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#41265: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:18:17 PM

Also, the moderate amount of inflation that comes from a sensible amount of spending is good, since it devalues the debt in the long run to the point that it becomes meaningless as the economy grows, in addition to the positive economic affects of that spending in the first place.

TheStarshipMaxima NCC - 1701 Since: Jun, 2009
NCC - 1701
#41266: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:18:47 PM

Ah, a bit of spending to keep the money flowing. I can rock with that.

It was an honor
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#41267: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:22:58 PM

The gist is debts are much easier to handle when the economy is healthy or in a boom.

Also Japan has a way higher Debt than us and they're do so so okay. Fears of us becoming Greece are unlikely because we control our own currency.

edited 19th Nov '12 5:24:00 PM by PotatoesRock

ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#41268: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:23:34 PM

Maxima, you keep saying that nobody wants to cut programs, but the problem is that's what it seems like all politicians want to do, both democrats and republicans?

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#41269: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:23:47 PM

There are a few other reasons why a certain amount of debt is good-for instance, if the US government owes bondholders money, the bondholders suddenly have an interest in seeing the US government not go broke-but the bottom line has little to do with debt and deficits, and more to do with whether the government is adequately picking up the slack that the private market isn't.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#41270: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:28:14 PM

Influential GOP group releases, pulls shockingly sensible copyright memo.

The memo points out that copyright law, which (according to the Constitution) is supposed to encourage the advancement of art and science, is instead being used to force the government to enforce policies that enrich copyright holders. It then goes on the suggest broad copyright reform (including reducing copyright terms, lowering the maximum allowed statuary damages for infringement, expanding fair use, and implementing penalties for false copyright claims).

It was rescinded in less than a day, a spokesman for the group citing "several different perspectives among our members", but another source claims that pressure from content industry lobbyists contributed to the repudiation.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#41271: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:31:54 PM

Honestly, if the GOP was to support fair copyright reform rules that I approved of, that would make me vote Republican, assuming they didn't nominate someone like Santorum.

deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#41272: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:34:00 PM

[up][up][up] Precisely. This has been around since Alexander Fucking Hamilton, aka one of the founding fathers.

Also, I have discovered that, if you think too much about political theory, you have to use n-dimensional hypercubes to visualize it.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#41273: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:35:29 PM

[up][up]Even if they did other stuff that would wreck the economy?

thatguythere47 Since: Jul, 2010
#41274: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:36:22 PM

-sort of off-topic- I was trying to remember a certain incident from...I think the '10 budget? The house republicans tabled a hilariously terrible bill and the democrats abstained from voting on it thereby forcing them to agree with a plan that would essentially destroy the economy. They then voted against their own bill. Am I remembering a real incident or am I going nuts?

Is using "Julian Assange is a Hillary butt plug" an acceptable signature quote?
Ekuran Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#41275: Nov 19th 2012 at 5:36:23 PM

Also also, when people don't pay their taxes (like the rich assholes in the US), you'll end up like Greece, which had an entire cultural meme of avoiding taxes while spending far too much in comparison to their revenue, ultimately leading to hyper-inflation and the terrible state their in right now that could have been avoided if the EU had an actual central government like the US that could control it's own currency, which could then bailout Greece, but no, the EU had to half-ass the Euro and ended up with the bullshit they have now.

In short, you need high taxes and a healthy amount of spending in welfare, education, R&D, etc., if you want to have a successful economy.


Seriously EU, why do you fail so hard in this specific circumstance when you have the best economy/some of the best economic models in the world? It's sad man, and now you've given our right-wing nutjobs bullshit to spew whenever our left-wing politicians try to save our economy.

Not cool, man, not cool.

@Tomu: I'm betting you still wouldn't vote GOP, considering their backwards-ass social views.

edited 19th Nov '12 5:38:46 PM by Ekuran


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