White privilege. great post!

leoburg wrote:"Hey look at the good side, the people are soon to own a huge bank. That's one of my dreams."

My dream isn't to own a bank, I just want a friend who owns a bank.....

McCain’s Social Security Privatization: Bad Idea When Bush Proposed It, Bad Idea Now

Oct 1, 2008

The events of the last two weeks have illustrated the volatility of America’s financial markets. Today, the Dow closed below where it was on George W. Bush’s first day in office.

And yet, John McCain still supports a Bush-style Social Security privatization plan that would encourage Americans to risk their retirement benefits on the stock market.

Social Security provides the majority of income for most seniors and is a vital insurance system for disabled workers and dependent spouses. Income provided by Social Security keeps 13 million seniors from living in poverty.

McCain’s proposal, which would allow workers to divert their social security payments into private accounts, is risky, expensive, a financial boon to Wall Street, and would undermine, not shore up, the long-term solvency of Social Security.

This is a debate that’s been had before. When Bush proposed a similar plan in 2005, analysts were able to assess its impact and debunk its myths. Here’s what they concluded:

Private accounts are risky: BUSH AND MCCAIN tout the potential for higher returns as a reason to shift Social Security payments into the stock market. But an analysis by Robert Shiller of Yale University of a standard “lifetime” personal account, as envisioned by Bush and McCain, show they actually lose money one-third of the time. Furthermore, projections of rosy growth used to justify personal accounts stand in stark contrast to the projections of slower growth that indicate there may be an eventual shortfall in Social Security.

What McCain won’t tell you: The cost of closing the long-term shortfall in Social Security is less than the cost of extending Bush’s tax breaks for the richest 1% of Americans, as John McCain has proposed.

But McCain seems less interested in saving Social Security than gambling it away.

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/ ... -bad-idea/

leoburg you are a Marxist

Leo is a what? HOLY CRAP! (why didn't somebody tell me?) He used to be such a good boy? what do we do? There has to be a book! Let's see here (thumbing through the pages)...it says here Marxism is Heresy!!! F'n Hell, well, what do you do with a heretic?....thumbin' through the pages and burnin' up some brain cells....

I KNOW, LET'S BURN LEO!

Well, they say Palin did ok and didn't lose in the debate. It's clear to me that Biden won.
Palin did not have much in the way of the moose in the headlights moments that I may have expected, except perhaps getting the commanding general's name in Afghanastan wrong.
She did however lack substance, and as well as they must have tried to prepare her, she seemed far more the cheerleader than the quarterback. (No gender bias intended). When the subjects got tough, she tried to change the subject. And when Biden was equating McCain to all the failed Bush policies that McCain has been a large enough part off, Palin kept saying not to look back. Biden had the perfect response with his "past is prolouge" line.
So, on Substance, nearly a shutout for Biden. As far as cheerleading and indentifing problems and goals without seemingly knowing causes or solutions, Palin held her own.
So, my final review is:

Biden the clear winner by showing real understanding of problems as well as cause and effect as well as solutions, and articulating all of that well.

Palin, parrotting the party line rhetoric with a reasonable performance. And performance is the correct word, as in playacting, not as in getting a job done.

Did you see the clip when they were just coming out and she said to him, "May I call you Joe?" I don;t know if she knew the sound picked that up, but it struck me this morning that she set him up for the 'don't tell me so, Joe' line. He just has so much more substance, she is a joke.

leo we were just kidding! we wouldn't really light you on fire!

Hey, don't be dissin' Sarah-
she's got God on her side!
I'm guessing my comment on this video
may be, um, misplaced,
so I'll post it and the clip
for, I hope, your entertainment.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Yexjyf4Qs

Comment by Shas
"How reassuring to know that Almighty God
loves Sarah enough to not only tell her His plans
("Build another oil pipeline, Sarah!"
"Build a $ 400 Million bridge to Nowhere, Sarah"
"Kill Iraqis, Sarah"),
He even arranges for her husband to win a snowmobile race!
I can't think of a more impressive qualification
for controlling the world's largest war machine than that!
Far more important than knowing about
those boring Supreme Court decisions.
Go, Sarah!"

Well, you are the Shas, thanks fpr pointing that out.
.

It wasn't too many years ago that I may have read the same book on Marx someone said Lennon read too. No where did I read Marx called for a violent revolution; just that things would explode.-if not for Unions they may have.

Politics Explained

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, 'What is Politics?'

Dad says, 'Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny--we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother--we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.'

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, 'Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.'

The father says, 'Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.'

The little boy replies, 'The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored, and the Future is in deep shit.

[quote="Shas"]I think that's an excellent question.

Ceashel said something like unseemly behaviour
would give the good people a black eye
which would work against them at the polls
(sorry, Ceashel, I'm too fagged to look it up).

I don't know the answer.
I truly do not.
I hope an "anti-'60s tactics today" thinker will help me see that side.

Ceashel's definition of politics seems pretty good although it's a few degrees off. My take would be something like this:

Politics Explained

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, 'What is Politics?'

Dad says, 'Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. Your uncle is the multi-national Corporations. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny--we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother--we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense.'

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his uncle in bed with his mother. Then he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, 'Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.'

The father says, 'Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.'

The little boy replies, 'The President is screwing the Working Class while the Corporations are raping the Government. The People are being ignored, and the Future is in deep shit.