The Republican Nomination For President: The Race For The Race For The White House

@JPB,

We kind of have to accept some of the guilt, because we elected our representatives to our government, and they failed big time in taking care of business. We knew about this underfunded mandate several decades ago, but all our government did was kick the can further ahead to now when our economy has been suffering for 4-5 years.

We now have a situation where the conservatives want to cut costs without increasing taxes, and the liberals want to maintain the social benefits for everybody without funding it. Obama kicked the can further down the road by cutting social security taxes, because he couldn't get the conservatives to make any agreements on how to tackle the unemployed citizen's benefits and not increase taxes.

This stalemate is going to destroy this country sooner or later. All levels of government are now cutting spending - our infrastructure, education, and our police and firefighters while we continue to fight wars and defend other countries that continues to eat away at our treasure and economy.

When our elected officials can't fix the problem, we're all doomed.

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@roger,

roger wrote:

Never tried to calculate it, but if there's supposed to be a guilt trip in there, keep in mind that we were forced into the system.

Actually, I think the Ryan/Wyden proposal wouldn't affect you or any current Medicare recipients. That's one way it differs, I think, from Ryan's first Medicare revamping plan, although you might be provided an option to switch if you found that the new system was more to your liking.

Hope you're feeling better - I always get flu symptoms from the shot, too.

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@Irishk,

Gingrich apparently hates the Constitution:

Gingrich: Capitol Police Could Arrest ‘Radical’ Judges

Quote:

Newt Gingrich on Sunday hammered at the nation’s judiciary system, saying that if a court’s decision was out of step with American popular opinion, it should be ignored.

There’s “no reason the American people need to tolerate a judge that out of touch with American culture,” Gingrich said on CBS’ Face the Nation, referring to a case where a judge ruled that explicit references to religion were barred from a high school graduation ceremony. And Gingrich recently has said judges should have to explain some of their decisions before Congress.

Host Bob Schieffer asked Gingrich how he planned to enforce that. Would you call in the Capitol Police to apprehend a federal judge, he asked.

“If you had to,” Gingrich said. “Or you’d instruct the Justice Department to send the U.S. Marshall in.”

...

I did Nazi that coming.

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@DrewDad,

Those are the conservatives who have a shot at becoming our president; frightening prospect, isn't it? These are the same people who claim they're for less government. Go figure.

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re Gingrich on judges he thinks are out of touch with American culture:

I think presidential candidates who are out of touch with American culture should be tried before a full panel of the Supreme Court and if found to in fact be out of touch should be barred from running, and the Capitol Police should arrest them if they continue campaigning. We should start with Gingrich himself, who has repeatedly taken positions at odds with the majority of Americans, from abortion to taxes to same-sex marriage. The next person to examine for out-of-stepness would of course be Willard Romney.

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@JPB,

Sorry for the abrupt reaction, JPB. I should have paid more attention to who I was responding to, and less to my own instant reaction.

I'm really doing more of a slow burn over the payroll taxes affecting Social Security than Medicare, even though the latter has costs increasing at much more than a straight like. I mean, for years we have read predictions of when the bottom line turns negative, so what's the obvious answer? Why cut the revenues, of course.

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@roger,

Cutting revenue is also feeding the recession, in my view.

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@Irishk,

That's my understanding, too, Irish. They like to call it being Grandfathered in. My general impression is that that amounts to a divide and conquer scheme. If they don't get resistance from the 55+ group, they've eliminated a really large part of the opposition.

My first inclination is to raise, not lower the payroll tax. Second choice would be to raise the monthly premium on Part B. Cutting compensation is not, in my opinion, an option at all. There are few enough doctors accepting Medicare as is.

Probably time to stop diverting John's thread, anyway.

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@roger,

I agree; taxes shouldn't be reduced when it exacerbates the funding for the plans. Our government is short-sighted when it comes to managing their fiduciary responsibilities. They do the exact opposite of what's in the best interest for this country. Why do we keep re-electing these bums into office?

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@roger,

roger wrote:

Probably time to stop diverting John's thread, anyway.

Agree.

(Your second choice is interesting to me, though. I wouldn't be against it as long as it wasn't applied straight across the board).

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The House GOP seems set to reject the 2-month Payroll tax compromise passed by the Senate this weekend, in large part because - and this is their stated reason - it would 'give a political victory to Obama.'

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

The desire to not give Obama a "political victory" is not something I have seen in specific reference to this issue. But we have heard it mentioned before.
I must admit that I have some problems with the reduced SS payroll tax on employees. I can reluctantly live with it if it spurs consumer spending. The notion of a two month extension is bad.
Boehner is going to end up with a lot of egg on his face if can't deliver on the deal he negotiated with Senate leader and which he thought he had support in the House.
I was amused by his comment that Congress needs to avoid kicking the can down the road. Gee! Don't the Dems and Repubs do that all the time?

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@realjohnboy,

"All the time" is right! That's the reason why nothing about taxes, immigration, social security, Medicare, and over-spending on defense never gets done. It doesn't matter which party seems to be in control in Washington DC.

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Two new polls came out last night on the Iowa caucus which is now just 2 weeks away. One was by PPP, which tends to have a Dem bias. The other is from Insider Advantage. I don't know them. Both polls were of Likely Voters.
They came up with very similar results, so I averaged them together.
Paul: 24%; Romney: 19%; Gingrich: 14%; Perry: 13%; Bachmann: 10%

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@realjohnboy,

It's just Iowans playing hard to get in the traditional manner.

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@realjohnboy,

realjohnboy wrote:

Two new polls came out last night on the Iowa caucus which is now just 2 weeks away. One was by PPP, which tends to have a Dem bias. The other is from Insider Advantage. I don't know them. Both polls were of Likely Voters.
They came up with very similar results, so I averaged them together.
Paul: 24%; Romney: 19%; Gingrich: 14%; Perry: 13%; Bachmann: 10%

If Paul wins Iowa, it makes no never mind.

If Gingrich finished below Romney it is a very big deal.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

I agree. Paul's spike is just the latest "not Romney, nor anyone else who we've already deemed unworthy/unelectable" They don't want Romney and they can't find anyone else who measures up to the narrow world-view of an Iowa Republican caucus goer.

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@JPB,

And Paul has worked hard for many years to establish an effective organization in Iowa. Outside of that politically iconoclastic state, the iconclastic Paul wave falls apart.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

I can understand Paul's popularity. He's stayed true to his focus forever. I don't think he's any more electable than Bachman/Cain/Santorum/Perry/Gingrich, but I understand why he appeals to the Iowan Republican voter.

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@JPB,

JPB wrote:

I can understand Paul's popularity. He's stayed true to his focus forever. I don't think he's any more electable than Bachman/Cain/Santorum/Perry/Gingrich, but I understand why he appeals to the Iowan Republican voter.

HOW can u consider anyone who has said that a nuclear armed Iran is OK????

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The Republican Nomination For President: The Race For The Race For The White House

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