I don't think I am being paranoid or a doomsday observer. It seems everthing is going the wrong way at once.
Our Country, in 2 years under the Obama Regime, has spiraled out of control. We all know about the TARP, Stimulus, Son of Stimulus, Government Motors, etc. Even our President said there were things being done we don't know about, how comforting.
Social Security Recepts are getting hammered. The cost of living does not include energy and food, well what else matters ? Social Security recepts are going to shoulder the cuts more than most. Government employees wages are higher that ever, with many, many, making more that $ 100,00 per year. The class warfare is not between the rich and poor anymore, it is govt employees vs private sector. If history were to be studied, these type of circumstances existed before the rise of the Nazi's in Germany and before the revolution in Russia.
The searches, groping and other insults the flying public are going thru has a much more sinister purpose than just safety. The American public must become numb to government intrusion. Loss of freedom, "Present your Papers" is going to become accepted. Who are you going to complain to, the Government ? HA !
Top Down and Bottom Up strategies are being used in the internal remake of this nation. We are in Peril.
In the World, North Korea and South Korea are ready to go at it 50 years later, et al, China vs USA. But now thing are very different, we owe China MONEY. DO we dare upset the nation that holds our Mortgage ? Would you go to your Mortgage Banker and kick him in the Groin, Don't think so. The USA is impotent when it comes to any Chi-Com problems, believe me on this.
There is one hope, Belief and Trust in GOD and Jesus Christ. Pray, Pray Deeply for help. All the problems of this world are just that, of this World. It will all end one day soon, and I personally know I will not be here to endure the Tribulation, Praise be my Lord and Savior. Amen and Amen. Mitch Thurmer
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
THEY DON'T CARE, THEY ARE RICH !
A plan offered by the leaders of President Barack Obama’s commission to reduce the federal deficit might work. It just won’t happen.
The co-chairmen proposed a $3.8 trillion deficit-cutting plan yesterday that would trim Social Security and Medicare, reduce income-tax rates and eliminate tax breaks including the mortgage-interest deduction. It would reduce the annual deficit from $1.3 trillion this year to about $400 billion by 2015 and start reducing the $13.7 trillion national debt.
“Mathematically it apparently works,” said Stan Collender, a former Democratic House and Senate budget analyst and managing director of Qorvis Communications in Washington. “Politically, it is going to have a lot of trouble getting support from more than just the two co-chairs.”
The plan would raise the gas tax, slash defense spending and farm subsidies and bring down health-care costs by clamping down on medical malpractice suits. The Social Security retirement age would rise to 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075.
Its release created instant opposition from Democrats, some Republicans and groups such as the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Aerospace Industries Association.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the targeting of Social Security and Medicare “simply unacceptable,” and Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas expressed opposition to proposals to raise taxes.
Obama Reaction
Obama, in Seoul as part of a 10-day tour of Asia, said he had yet to read the plan and that critics should withhold their judgment until the final report. He urged congressional leaders to match rhetoric with action and join him in making difficult decisions about taxes and spending.
“So before anybody starts shooting down proposals, I think we need to listen, we need to gather up all the facts,” Obama said at a press conference with South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak. “If people are, in fact, concerned about spending, debt, deficits and the future of our country, then they’re going to need to be armed with the information about the kinds of choices that are going to be involved.”
Panel co-chairman Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, joked that he and co-chairman Alan Simpson, a Republican former Wyoming senator, would have to enter a “witness protection program.”
‘Harpooned Every Whale’
“We have harpooned every whale in the ocean and some of the minnows,” said Simpson. The plan, he said, is sure to be unpopular. He and Bowles said should the proposals should be viewed as a starting point for negotiations. The panel meets again next week to consider changes.
“Is America ready for an adult conversation on the deficit?” said Representative Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat. “It’s ‘put up or shut up’ time.”
None of the proposals would take effect next year to avoid disrupting the economic recovery. The savings would come between 2012 and 2020, cutting the deficit from the current 9 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product to about 2.2 percent in 2015, exceeding Obama’s goal of a reductions to 3 percent of GDP.
$8 Trillion
The government is projected to run $8 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years, which would push the national debt to more than $20 trillion. If the proposal were adopted without change, the government still would have deficits of $350 billion a year.
“It puts out there how big and real the problems are,” said Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn, a member of the committee.
Under one option, income-tax rates would be reduced to three levels: 8 percent, 14 percent and 23 percent. Now there are six tax levels ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent. The corporate income-tax rate would be cut to 26 percent from 35 percent.
The plan includes two less sweeping alternatives to ending all tax breaks, including one in which a pared back mortgage tax deduction would be retained. Under that proposal, homeowners could not take the break for second homes, mortgages worth more than $500,000 or home equity loans.
Wiping out all tax breaks, including the home mortgage- interest deduction, while lowering rates would cost taxpayers $100 billion a year. Members of the panel could decide to keep some of the breaks by offering offsetting cuts, Bowles said.
‘Not the Time’
John Courson, chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, said eliminating or reducing the mortgage deduction would drive down home values.
“Of all the times to do it, now is not the time,” he said in an interview.
Still, Michael Ettlinger, vice president for economic policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington, said the fact that the deduction disproportionately benefits wealthier homeowners might create political will to revise it.
Overall, yesterday’s proposal would raise taxes by $751 billion over 10 years, including a 15-cent increase in the gas tax that would be phased in starting in 2013. Farm subsidies would be cut by $3 billion a year.
The plan calls for discretionary spending to be cut by $1.4 trillion over 10 years, while mandatory spending -- including Social Security, Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor -- would be reduced by $733 billion.
John Rother, executive vice president for policy at the senior citizens’ group AARP, said his group would oppose the plan because it would be “dramatically lowering benefits over time” in Social Security and Medicare.
‘Drop Dead’
Bowles and Simpson “just told working Americans to ‘drop dead,’” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “The very people who want to slash Social Security and Medicare spent this week clamoring for more unpaid Bush tax cuts for millionaires.”
The plan spells out $100 billion in defense cuts, including freezing Defense Department salaries and noncombat military pay at 2011 levels for three years, cutting overseas bases by one- third and doubling proposed cuts in defense contracting.
The Aerospace Industries Association, the trade group for U.S. defense contractors, said it had “grave concerns” about proposals to reduce funds for purchasing, research and development. “We cannot abandon the security of future generations,” said the group, which represents Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., and Northrop Grumman Corp.
Bowles said about three-quarters of the savings would come from spending cuts, with the remainder from tax increases.
Freeze Federal Salaries
It would reduce congressional and White House budgets by 15 percent, freeze federal salaries for three years and cut the federal workforce by 10 percent. House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, who will become speaker in January, said before the plan’s release that he supported a freeze on federal hiring and government workers’ pay.
The proposal would also end government funding of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, begin charging fees to visitors to the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington, raise fees at national parks and merge the Department of Commerce with the Small Business Administration.
It would eliminate the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, whose budget Obama proposed more than doubling from 2008 levels. The plan said that “while school safety should be protected, violence and drug abuse are problems that occur far less on school grounds than elsewhere.”
Agreement Needed
The panel needs agreement from 14 of its 18 members before a plan can be sent for an up-or-down vote in Congress.
Dan Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State University, said the plan’s strength is its attack on many budget areas long considered untouchable. “You’re not really going to get fiscal sanity without goring everybody -- everybody has to sacrifice,” he said.
Orin Kramer, general partner of hedge fund Boston Provident Partners LP and a Democratic Party fund-raiser, said he doubts an agreement can be reached.
“The most central question that somebody should ask is: ‘What are the prospects for a grand bargain that will change the path of federal fiscal policy?’” Kramer said. “And the chances of that under current conditions are zero.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net; Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva@bloomberg.net
.Tweet (239)LinkedIn Share
Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .
Related Videos‹ Prev1 of 2Next › Play VideoU.S. Women's Water Polo Team Bares Al… Play VideoGates Says No to GE Engine, C-17 May 17 Play VideoGreenspan Says U.S. Playing `Dangero… Play VideoBarton Discusses Prospects for Republ… Related News
U.S. · Politics · Economy · Bonds · Law · Municipal Bonds .Sponsored Links
"FOREX.com – Learn the ABC’s of Currency Trading Sign Up for a Free $50,000 Practice Account Today!"More Stories
Viacom Profit Beats Estimates as `Jersey Shore' Bolsters MTV Updated 5 minutes ago .Bank of America Asks Court to Dismiss Homeowners' Racketeering Lawsuit Updated 12 minutes ago .Irish Bank Default Swaps Rise to Distress as Loan Losses Lift Bailout Cost Updated 21 minutes ago .Coal India Said to Consider Buying Its First U.S. Mine From Massey Energy Updated 42 minutes ago .More News »
Advertisement
The co-chairmen proposed a $3.8 trillion deficit-cutting plan yesterday that would trim Social Security and Medicare, reduce income-tax rates and eliminate tax breaks including the mortgage-interest deduction. It would reduce the annual deficit from $1.3 trillion this year to about $400 billion by 2015 and start reducing the $13.7 trillion national debt.
“Mathematically it apparently works,” said Stan Collender, a former Democratic House and Senate budget analyst and managing director of Qorvis Communications in Washington. “Politically, it is going to have a lot of trouble getting support from more than just the two co-chairs.”
The plan would raise the gas tax, slash defense spending and farm subsidies and bring down health-care costs by clamping down on medical malpractice suits. The Social Security retirement age would rise to 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075.
Its release created instant opposition from Democrats, some Republicans and groups such as the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Aerospace Industries Association.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the targeting of Social Security and Medicare “simply unacceptable,” and Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas expressed opposition to proposals to raise taxes.
Obama Reaction
Obama, in Seoul as part of a 10-day tour of Asia, said he had yet to read the plan and that critics should withhold their judgment until the final report. He urged congressional leaders to match rhetoric with action and join him in making difficult decisions about taxes and spending.
“So before anybody starts shooting down proposals, I think we need to listen, we need to gather up all the facts,” Obama said at a press conference with South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak. “If people are, in fact, concerned about spending, debt, deficits and the future of our country, then they’re going to need to be armed with the information about the kinds of choices that are going to be involved.”
Panel co-chairman Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, joked that he and co-chairman Alan Simpson, a Republican former Wyoming senator, would have to enter a “witness protection program.”
‘Harpooned Every Whale’
“We have harpooned every whale in the ocean and some of the minnows,” said Simpson. The plan, he said, is sure to be unpopular. He and Bowles said should the proposals should be viewed as a starting point for negotiations. The panel meets again next week to consider changes.
“Is America ready for an adult conversation on the deficit?” said Representative Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat. “It’s ‘put up or shut up’ time.”
None of the proposals would take effect next year to avoid disrupting the economic recovery. The savings would come between 2012 and 2020, cutting the deficit from the current 9 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product to about 2.2 percent in 2015, exceeding Obama’s goal of a reductions to 3 percent of GDP.
$8 Trillion
The government is projected to run $8 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years, which would push the national debt to more than $20 trillion. If the proposal were adopted without change, the government still would have deficits of $350 billion a year.
“It puts out there how big and real the problems are,” said Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn, a member of the committee.
Under one option, income-tax rates would be reduced to three levels: 8 percent, 14 percent and 23 percent. Now there are six tax levels ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent. The corporate income-tax rate would be cut to 26 percent from 35 percent.
The plan includes two less sweeping alternatives to ending all tax breaks, including one in which a pared back mortgage tax deduction would be retained. Under that proposal, homeowners could not take the break for second homes, mortgages worth more than $500,000 or home equity loans.
Wiping out all tax breaks, including the home mortgage- interest deduction, while lowering rates would cost taxpayers $100 billion a year. Members of the panel could decide to keep some of the breaks by offering offsetting cuts, Bowles said.
‘Not the Time’
John Courson, chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, said eliminating or reducing the mortgage deduction would drive down home values.
“Of all the times to do it, now is not the time,” he said in an interview.
Still, Michael Ettlinger, vice president for economic policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington, said the fact that the deduction disproportionately benefits wealthier homeowners might create political will to revise it.
Overall, yesterday’s proposal would raise taxes by $751 billion over 10 years, including a 15-cent increase in the gas tax that would be phased in starting in 2013. Farm subsidies would be cut by $3 billion a year.
The plan calls for discretionary spending to be cut by $1.4 trillion over 10 years, while mandatory spending -- including Social Security, Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor -- would be reduced by $733 billion.
John Rother, executive vice president for policy at the senior citizens’ group AARP, said his group would oppose the plan because it would be “dramatically lowering benefits over time” in Social Security and Medicare.
‘Drop Dead’
Bowles and Simpson “just told working Americans to ‘drop dead,’” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “The very people who want to slash Social Security and Medicare spent this week clamoring for more unpaid Bush tax cuts for millionaires.”
The plan spells out $100 billion in defense cuts, including freezing Defense Department salaries and noncombat military pay at 2011 levels for three years, cutting overseas bases by one- third and doubling proposed cuts in defense contracting.
The Aerospace Industries Association, the trade group for U.S. defense contractors, said it had “grave concerns” about proposals to reduce funds for purchasing, research and development. “We cannot abandon the security of future generations,” said the group, which represents Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., and Northrop Grumman Corp.
Bowles said about three-quarters of the savings would come from spending cuts, with the remainder from tax increases.
Freeze Federal Salaries
It would reduce congressional and White House budgets by 15 percent, freeze federal salaries for three years and cut the federal workforce by 10 percent. House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, who will become speaker in January, said before the plan’s release that he supported a freeze on federal hiring and government workers’ pay.
The proposal would also end government funding of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, begin charging fees to visitors to the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington, raise fees at national parks and merge the Department of Commerce with the Small Business Administration.
It would eliminate the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, whose budget Obama proposed more than doubling from 2008 levels. The plan said that “while school safety should be protected, violence and drug abuse are problems that occur far less on school grounds than elsewhere.”
Agreement Needed
The panel needs agreement from 14 of its 18 members before a plan can be sent for an up-or-down vote in Congress.
Dan Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State University, said the plan’s strength is its attack on many budget areas long considered untouchable. “You’re not really going to get fiscal sanity without goring everybody -- everybody has to sacrifice,” he said.
Orin Kramer, general partner of hedge fund Boston Provident Partners LP and a Democratic Party fund-raiser, said he doubts an agreement can be reached.
“The most central question that somebody should ask is: ‘What are the prospects for a grand bargain that will change the path of federal fiscal policy?’” Kramer said. “And the chances of that under current conditions are zero.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net; Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva@bloomberg.net
.Tweet (239)LinkedIn Share
Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .
Related Videos‹ Prev1 of 2Next › Play VideoU.S. Women's Water Polo Team Bares Al… Play VideoGates Says No to GE Engine, C-17 May 17 Play VideoGreenspan Says U.S. Playing `Dangero… Play VideoBarton Discusses Prospects for Republ… Related News
U.S. · Politics · Economy · Bonds · Law · Municipal Bonds .Sponsored Links
"FOREX.com – Learn the ABC’s of Currency Trading Sign Up for a Free $50,000 Practice Account Today!"More Stories
Viacom Profit Beats Estimates as `Jersey Shore' Bolsters MTV Updated 5 minutes ago .Bank of America Asks Court to Dismiss Homeowners' Racketeering Lawsuit Updated 12 minutes ago .Irish Bank Default Swaps Rise to Distress as Loan Losses Lift Bailout Cost Updated 21 minutes ago .Coal India Said to Consider Buying Its First U.S. Mine From Massey Energy Updated 42 minutes ago .More News »
Advertisement
Brazil's Lula Says World Headed For 'Bankruptcy'
Brazil's Lula Says World Headed For 'Bankruptcy' Unless Rich Nations Act
SEOUL (AFP)--Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday the world economy was headed for "bankruptcy" unless rich nations raise consumer demand rather than relying on exports to power recovery.
"If they don't consume, and they just bet on exports, the world will go into bankruptcy," he told reporters as leaders at the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations headed into a two-day summit in the South Korean capital.
SEOUL (AFP)--Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday the world economy was headed for "bankruptcy" unless rich nations raise consumer demand rather than relying on exports to power recovery.
"If they don't consume, and they just bet on exports, the world will go into bankruptcy," he told reporters as leaders at the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations headed into a two-day summit in the South Korean capital.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Adding a NEW NAME to my list of Suff
I have decided to give a name to what I have been trying to do !
Welcome To !
Signal Conservative Studies Institute
I guess that will give me a better way as an introduction sometime instead of that of a BLOGGER.
Thank You , Mitchell Thurmer, Director,SCSI
WOW
Welcome To !
Signal Conservative Studies Institute
I guess that will give me a better way as an introduction sometime instead of that of a BLOGGER.
Thank You , Mitchell Thurmer, Director,SCSI
WOW
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Would we have wished Hitler Happy Birthday ?
I have had this on my mind since it happened but was afraid my message would be lost in the Election comments.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley sent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( Iaminajihad ) a birthday greeting on the occasion of his 54th Birthday. He used the greeting as a chance to ask for the freedom of two American hikers who have been held since 2009. He sent this message by what I guess is the newest diplomatic channel, Twiter.
I look back through history and yes, British P.M. Chamberlain made some very bad mistakes in his handling of Hitler.He thought, as does our current administration, that if he was appeasing, Hitler would be nice.
A-jad, as I call him, has threatened to remove Israel from the map. He is thought to have Nuclear weapons. If we could have the true information from our government, I feel he already has them. He is currently awaiting the 12th Imam, who is said to defeat all the Muslim non believers. He has spoken to the United Nations and spoken of how the United States is the great Satan. Iran is known to be a State sponsor of Terrorism. Human Rights in Iran does not exist. Women are stoned in the streets, Barbarism is everywhere.
Yet, thru a Social Networking Internet Website, our frail and impotent Government is using this as a delivery system for a request to release American Citizens. Where is the backbone in this country ? Where is Roosevelt's speak softly and carry a big stick ?
Birthday Greetings ? Happy Birthday thru weapons released by a F-22 Raptor Fighter. Birthday Greetings to your Nuclear Sites via Cruise Missles and B-52 Bombers, if we still have any that work.
The day will come, with very deep regret, that what I have tried to communicate in this posting will be re-read with saddness. The time to act is now. Stop A-jad's steady march to being a full blown Nuclear Power, Now !
The sad reality is that I am sure, in the highest command of our armed forces, these leaders know what I say is true. They know the clock is ticking, they feel the sweat on their brows, nervously wiped away before a meeting with the
President. He does not nor will not accept the facts before him. He is more concerned with a 10 day junket thru the far east. This reads like a travel brochure, 10 days in historic India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.
Whre else could our Government spent $ 2,000,000,000.00, Yes 2 Billion Dollars. 35 Warships will travel with Obama, countless secutiry, every room at the luxurious TajMahal in India is booked (580).
And what do we do here, He would prefer we watch The View and other mind numbing entertainment, I will NOT ! Pay attention, we have one a battle for Conservatisim but we have a Very Far way to go.
More to Come.
Mitchell E. Thurmer
mthurmer4300@epbfi.com
Signal Mountain
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley sent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( Iaminajihad ) a birthday greeting on the occasion of his 54th Birthday. He used the greeting as a chance to ask for the freedom of two American hikers who have been held since 2009. He sent this message by what I guess is the newest diplomatic channel, Twiter.
I look back through history and yes, British P.M. Chamberlain made some very bad mistakes in his handling of Hitler.He thought, as does our current administration, that if he was appeasing, Hitler would be nice.
A-jad, as I call him, has threatened to remove Israel from the map. He is thought to have Nuclear weapons. If we could have the true information from our government, I feel he already has them. He is currently awaiting the 12th Imam, who is said to defeat all the Muslim non believers. He has spoken to the United Nations and spoken of how the United States is the great Satan. Iran is known to be a State sponsor of Terrorism. Human Rights in Iran does not exist. Women are stoned in the streets, Barbarism is everywhere.
Yet, thru a Social Networking Internet Website, our frail and impotent Government is using this as a delivery system for a request to release American Citizens. Where is the backbone in this country ? Where is Roosevelt's speak softly and carry a big stick ?
Birthday Greetings ? Happy Birthday thru weapons released by a F-22 Raptor Fighter. Birthday Greetings to your Nuclear Sites via Cruise Missles and B-52 Bombers, if we still have any that work.
The day will come, with very deep regret, that what I have tried to communicate in this posting will be re-read with saddness. The time to act is now. Stop A-jad's steady march to being a full blown Nuclear Power, Now !
The sad reality is that I am sure, in the highest command of our armed forces, these leaders know what I say is true. They know the clock is ticking, they feel the sweat on their brows, nervously wiped away before a meeting with the
President. He does not nor will not accept the facts before him. He is more concerned with a 10 day junket thru the far east. This reads like a travel brochure, 10 days in historic India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.
Whre else could our Government spent $ 2,000,000,000.00, Yes 2 Billion Dollars. 35 Warships will travel with Obama, countless secutiry, every room at the luxurious TajMahal in India is booked (580).
And what do we do here, He would prefer we watch The View and other mind numbing entertainment, I will NOT ! Pay attention, we have one a battle for Conservatisim but we have a Very Far way to go.
More to Come.
Mitchell E. Thurmer
mthurmer4300@epbfi.com
Signal Mountain
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)