Zimmy,

I see it all the time, people state that the governement is a bunch of pawns for big business, its all corrupt, yet, we have TONS of laws and oversight which dont allow companies to dontate large sums of money to politicans. things are so freaking regulated AND you have both lib and conservatives looking to hang each other at a moments notice....so why no corruption lawsuits? Why no big watergate like scandals?

Why ? Cause its the age old fight against "the man". Victims (ie, liberals) view big business as evil. I guess they dont get it that its evil big business that heats their homes, that its evil big business that provides the coffee for their non-fat lattes and more impirtantly its evil big pharmaceutical companies that developed aids vaccines. I recently read an interesting item - all the celebrity aids events, the massive aids quilts and all the aids benefit marches didnt save the life of one aids patient........big, evil pharmceutical companies did. Imagine that?

Im tired of being raped for taxes, tired of being told I dont pay enough. You havent been out here (political forum) long and I've shared this info before - my wife came to this country dirt poor, english second language, lived in the MOST expensive city in America. Her Dad died a year after they got here. Her and her 2 brothers worked day jobs and put themselves through college. All 3 of them are extremely successful. Why? THEY WORKED! They're not WHITE! How come the MAN didnt slap them down? How come evil big business didnt take her life savings away? Hmm?
I think its the mentaility of teh tea party will save this country. But dont worry, libs are doing everything they can to paint it as racist and dumb. Keep taxing me more and more and yet the people who pay the most taxes no longer have a majority vote and of course the needy will vote to tax me more. You want this for your country??

I'll challenge you ZIMMY, lets divide the country. I'll take all the evil big business and all the tea party people. You take all the libs and the hollywood set. You'll have riots and starvation in a few weeks. I'll have a succesful, booming economy and will then hire your people to come work for me.

So then it is ok that huge loopholes and tax breaks to co. that pay their ceos 10's of millions a year, but if 1/2 a penny of your's goes to NPR that is bad.
I don't want big business getting breaks to heat my home. If people payed the true costs, they would turn their heat down and make their homes more efficient. I don't want MY tax dollars going so someone can afford the oil to keep their house at 70 degrees all winter all while the oil co. pulls in a few billion a quarter. I have no problem with assistance that goes to heat homes for the poor. I buy gas at $3.50 a gallon and drive vehicles that get 30 mpg. My tax dollars go to make fuel cheaper for people so the mom can drive her 2 kids around in a suburban @ 14mpg. Even though the family income is $500,000, she gets that same subsidized gas.

Again, all these issues are really complex.
Also, based on policies, Reagan would be a democrat today, not tea party. :)

oh boy :confused:

[QUOTE=zimmy;843176]So then it is ok that huge loopholes and tax breaks to co. that pay their ceos 10's of millions a year, but if 1/2QUOTE]

whhhhaaaa - why are companies sending work overseas?
whhhhaaaa - why are they trying to shut down the unions?

obvioulsy you know that the US corporate tax is one of the highest in the world, right?

and you know those CEOs get paid to make their shareholders money, right? And you know that if they could get someone as good and experienced for less, they would, right? This is not closed door scheme, all public companies have open books and records, you can see their financial statements.
See, you're blaming "the man" the invisible huge corporate head screwing you. Funny no one, not one singe person complained about evil wall st when Ebay was selliing for $400 a share and we were in tthe middle of the tech boom? When everyones 401 K tripled? Hmm, but when the chips fall its the fat cat executives that caused it. The victim mentality.

I did not complain about being a victim. You complained about being a victim to taxes "Im tired of being raped for taxes, tired of being told I dont pay enough." I just pointed out where taxes actually go. The us corporate taxes are not evenly distributed. There are loopholes and subsidies everywhere. There are many examples that show that a large % of corporations in the 35% tax bracket actually pay between 5%-10%. Again it isn't straight forward that business is getting killed because the tax rate is 35%. It is a simplification of the reality of what they pay.

You are putting words in my mouth. I am not blaming "the man" for screwing me. I think are country is f'ing great and I have the best life in the world. It is the TEA PARTY that is crying the sky is falling. I am just pointing out the disconnect between the tax cry, where tax money goes, and where I see the bad parts of spending. I think the tax rate today is reasonable, although I believe the evidence that if the highest income tax rates were at levels before JWB, the deficit would be lower, which would stimulate confidence in the economy. I think the tax code should be simplified, but along with that the corporate loopholes have to go too. The way things are now, we are by far the best country in the world and have been for 400 years. I am not the one holding the signs on the corner complaining about the man.

:confused:

It's just my opinion, Bryan. I don't like any of my tax $'s paying for a radio or television station I don't listen to or watch. If I was a big fan of say NPR or PBS I would gladly donate during one of their pledge drives.

And thats a perfectly valid opinion.

I was asking how many of the people spititng rhetoric know the facts. thats all.

You'll see NPR continue on w/ less or no federal funding in the future.

This thread has gotten way off track..
Locally, what are the choices? WPRO? 920? leaning well right, or WRNI leaning left...
show me the unbaised news source, I'd like to listen to it.

I thought the irony of all this was obvious but everyone is missing it. A NPR top exec spewing hatred to Americans (sorry tea party and repubs are americans like it or not) while meeting with a foreign entity that has terrorist ties. All the while under an umbrella that NPR is an unbiased news source. But fired Juan William for making a statemetn that every person with common sense agrees with. Oh well. They showed their true colors. Its funny the left only loves intellectuals when they agree with them. Lots of intellectuals at the WSJ too.
An NPR will soldier on with no fed funding but with much less credibility that will eventually erode their funding.
Bry - the unbiased news source? Listen to both sides, look around you and form your own opinion.

I've noticed that the non-anti-intellectuals really struggle with things like facts and reality....but they are pretty solid with the usual talking points:uhuh:

What? You exclude everything prior to ratifying the constitution? Sure it's not the same independent government, but the foundations were still great.

Actually, maybe they will be like fox and be huge. Lack of credibility certainly seems to help there. Heck hannity and Crazy Glen even got there own shows there. Lack credibility and lack of bias haven't hurt them. Same with Rush.

Funny, I thought the exact same thing about the anti-intellectuals.

def-
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence (thought and reason) and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.

anti-intellectuals, then would be the antithesis.

So, it will become the fox news of the left :D


Thats what I try and do with everything, not just politics

Best advise of all, along with John's advise to pull the lever for the best person.

I like my opinions best :love:

what you are doing is mixing news with opinion. Those shows you reference are opinion shows. Just like Matthews and Oberman.
I would argue NPR, and I am a listener, has many opinion shows. They dont express an opinion directly, they only give one side of the story.

unbelieveable

Has anyone ever saw an editorial on Channel 4, 5 or 7 that wasn't way liberal left??????

Just asking...............

I know the shows I referenced in the hannity comment are opinion shows, I was just saying that NPR losing 10% of it's budget if federal grants go away doesn't mean they can't be successful, as fox is with it's opinion shows. NPR and public radio have a huge majority of shows that are opinion shows. National Public Radio does not mean it is government radio, by any means. Although I think there are alot of people who believe that. The name may be NPR, but like thousands of other entities, they get government grants that help fund the programming. Really, Car Talk, Prairie Home, and wait, wait don't tell me are what I care about anyway. If I want news, I watch Colbert :rotf2:

this much is obvious

You too smart for satire? Please contradict on of my points in more than 4 words and I can respond. Posting "unbelieveable" (sic) to my statement that the country has been the greatest for 400 years, without backing up what your beef with that is does not allow for any discussion. Maybe it makes you feel smart? I got no problem with the country being the greatest since the settlement at Jamestown in 1607. That is when the country was forming. You want to be technical go ahead, but back yourself up.

You want to argue whether corporations actually pay 35% tax rate, go ahead but back it up.
Actually say something, then

Jamestown was a British colony. As far as "great"they basically starved and barely made an existence. The 13 colonies would have never survived without the support of the British crown and British $.
Even the declaration of independence did not form our country, We were 13 independent colonies until the states ratified the US Constitution.

As far as tax rates, see attached. Realize this is only fed tax, not state and not employment tax. I bet that bumps the rate up to over 50%.

The Tax Foundation - Corporate Income Tax Rates Around the World

Then you don't believe that the principles that brought people here are the basis of our country and the roots of our country lead back to Jamestown, I can't argue with that. Technically, the country started when the constitution was ratified, yes. Alot of work and hardship lead up to that point. i think the hardship, sacrifices, and progress prior to the ratification of the constitution count.

The website doesn't really add anything new to the conversation. It does not show actual percentage paid by a particular corporation after tax exemptions and deductions. For example, just because a person's federal tax rate is 28%, that doesn't mean they pay 28% straight up. That number is affected by child tax credits, mortgage deductions, college interest deductions etc. 28% is the starting point. Take 10 people and they all end up at a different %. For corportations 35% (39 in the data on the website) is the start. Many corporations have been found to pay as low as 5-10% for fed, not 35% even though they are in that bracket. That is why it isn't clear cut what the 35% (39) tax rate means in real numbers. That is why those websites are not really useful. Add state and local rates and it gets more confusing, especially since there are exemptions and deductions on every level.

Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes - Bloomberg

this gives a very basic overview of what is really happening.

what brought people here was $.
Furs, sugar, tobacco, slaves. Principles had nothing to do with it.You need to learn your history.

Ok, discredit the origins of our country. You said it, not me. Also, your coverage of history is pretty narrow with that statement.

This is from your link. I believe the last sentence sums it up.

"The lesson? Statutory average tax rates often differ substantially from effective rates. Even within countries, companies commonly face widely disparate effective tax rates based on location, industry, income—and whether lawmakers view them as worthy of special preferences or deserving of penalties."

ok genius, your time for "facts". you tell me what principles brought people to Jamestown. please educate me.

Your discrediting the history of this country by not knowing it! Strike another victory for public schools !(sorry i was private school kid)

The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors who hoped to profit from the venture. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and converting the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion.


An guess what you know those Pilgrims searching for religious freedom that came to MA? Well.....
the Congregation obtained a land patent from the London Virginia Company, allowing them to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River. They then sought financing through the Merchant Adventurers, a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts.[7]

oh the horror! To think without big business you'd be scuffling around London town saying "can you spare a six pence govnah?"

Learn your history kid. No one spends a dime unless there is a dollar in return. You do know the revolutionary war was about taxes, dont you?

dude, it was the search for gold. The tobacco and fur trade came after they got here. You ignore the entire protestant movement, the pilgrims, the puritans, the quakers, the pennsylvania dutch who came here for freedom of religion. Yes people came because of the other resources, but Virginia co. came for gold.That is what I meant by your narrow focus. The pilgrims got sponsored, but they came here because of James