"our most productive citizens"

I have no words

Also from the article:

The specific problems, however, far outweigh the positives. First are the quite optimistic forecasts, despite the higher taxes and government micromanagement that will harm the economy. The budget projects a much shallower recession and stronger recovery than private forecasters or the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office are projecting. It implies a vast amount of additional spending and higher taxes, above and beyond even these record levels. For example, it calls for a down payment on universal health care, with the additional "resources" needed "TBD" (to be determined).

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't it only last fucking week that everyone was criticisizing the President for being too negative about everything?

"our most productive citizens"

How do they define "our most productive citizens"? As those that continue to create wealth strictly for themselves, hoarding it and moving it from one column to the other in order to gain more? As those that grow the speculative value of their large corporations and their boards at the expense of their customers and consumers?

Or those that work two jobs just keep their kids fed and their bills paid? Or those that bust their ass working 80 hours a week, salaried!, because the pace of the company they work for demands it? Or those that have lost their jobs, and they now see them as a drain on society because it "must have been their own fault".

Borkin: Fucker

>>>"our most productive citizens"

I have no words

Posted by: J M Ashby

I could think of a couple...

The WSJ has become a rag since Murdoch bought it. The new tactic is to pin this whole financial downfall on Obama.

Here's the WSJ op-ed from a few days ago.

Fascist Propaganda from the Wall Street Journal. I am shocked! SSDD.

>>It reduces defense spending to a level not sustained since the dangerous days before World War II

I uh... huh?

>>>To be fair, specific parts of the president's budget are admirable and deserve support: ...
recognizing the need for further financial rescue

Wow. So, spending guns are awesome, and giving money to the SWGILM is awesome, but money for anyone else is reckless, basically? Neat.

Oh and some dumbass named Morici on MSNBC just said the Dow was a good indicator of...everything in the country (uh no). And it keeps going down so that means the presidents policies are bad (uh...also no. And there's nothing else at all but the president's policies that the markets might be reacting to?)

Also, I officially ban the phrase "201K." I don't care what your 401k is worth, if you say it again, I will slap you in your mouth.

And ahh the marginal tax rate during the REAGAN YEARS was 20% HIGHER than what Obama proposes. The highest marginal tax rate in 1984 was 50%.

Is Ronnie now considered a communist to the Restructionist Party....

Taking a look at Boskin's compensation history during his time with ExxonMobil, it's no surprise that he so vehemently opposes such tax increase on himsel--err, the "rich".

Forgot to change the goddamn sockpuppet name. That's me saying it (the URL should give it away!)

Does Tom Fresca ride through the land distributing low-calorie grapefruit-flavored beverages to the people, or?

I'm no economist, but how does raising the Capital Gains Tax reduce incentives to work and save? Capital Gains have, as John Maynard Keynes put it in very specific economic terms, "fuck all" to do with working and saving.

When I worked for UUNET, back in the days when they'd throw money at you for simply showing up to work with your pants on, I paid a Clinton-flavored Royal Assload in Capital Gains and AMT on the incentive stock options they gave me for no other reason than to incent me to not jump ship and work for a company that would incent me even more. Seriously, one year I got a $20,000 pay raise and 10,000 ISOs just to keep me from going to a startup that was sucking off all our good engineers. So I can safely say I didn't sweat a single bead of Work Sweat for that funny money.

My point is this: Clinton could have raised the Capital Gains Tax to 50 fucking percent and rodgered me in the dirtchute for another 20% in AMT and I'd have been Fine and also Dandy with that, given that it was ALL FREE MONEY ANYWAY! I'd cash out $1,000 in ISOs just for a weekend on the town, fuck it, they'll give me more! The idea that raising these Rich Fuckhole Taxes will somehow keep them from producing something valuable is ludicrous, they have to produce more to keep making more of that delicious money they love so much.

Anyone that would be forced to work less, or produce less, or move their shit to China because of a 39.6% tax rate is an unpatriotic assweasel and should be hammered inside of Rush Limbaugh's colon.

Speaking of Rush Limabaghs and colons, it looks like Matthews has his head so far up the latter that he's going to spend tonight talking about the former. Again. White House vs Rush. Who started it? Who the fuck cares? Effing tweety. His show's not even on yet and he's pissing me off.

Kind of OT, but women are poised to surpass the number of men in the workforce for the first time in the History of the America™. Well done, ladies. Now how about russlin' me up a drink, sweetcheeks?

Oh, I'm very, very, afraid of our most productive citizens going Galt on us. You know, running off to some golf resort in a hidden canyon in Colorado. The trains will stop running, steel mills (what are those again?) will shut down, and the lights will go out in NYC. Scary.

So who do we believe with regards to the current state of the economy? The author of that WSJ OpEd piece is a notable professor from Stanford. Today Krugman published in the NYT, for the first time, a critical piece on the current administrations handling of the crisis.

WTF can I do about it anyway?

Yeah, Alan4s, makes you sort of teary-eyed and nostalgic for the days when a handful of Tycoons could just shut shit off, kick some 7 year-old mine workers in the ballsac, push an old lady down a flight of stairs and head for an End of the World Bunker on some lush island.

Ah, Capitalism.

Okay, I HAVE finally lost my mind...

I thought I made a comment, and I swear it was under this post...but, now it's either gone or I never made the comment in the first place. The latter scenario is more than a little scary.

OMG I never made the first comment, y'all. That's downright scary. Damn...

Ady..how are you doing today??

I thought I was alright, but I guess not. (Must be the medication). I have a bad disc and ice, heat and total rest (like that's even a possibility) are the doc's orders until I go back at the end of the week.

Thank you for asking. How are you, sweetie?