j_b

The supermajority rule is unconstitutional, and it wasn't voted with a 2/3 majority, which makes it de facto bunk.

JUst wait for the grim reality of budget cuts to take effect to see the fastest swing in public opinion, and then you'll suddenly remember about the tyranny of the majority. Odd how you suddenly find redeeming qualities in "we the people .." when it's convenient. Opportunist.

Politicians and conservatives live in an alternative math universe where spending alone make up the budget equation. Revenues are cratering before our very eyes and budget cuts is all they have to offer even though it is sure to compound revenue deficit.

LOL Good one, Feck is joining the spfray?

so many straw men, so little time ..

Being worried or not has nothing to do with limits to growth: [video:youtube]RIqCdxW-KNY

Using the handy work of your outsourcing policies to claim they were necessary is still bad form.

Nope, but it has never been the Anthropocene before. Human societies have become geophysical forces capable of changing the earth environment. Among fossil resources that we depend a lot on and the shortage of which would threaten a hard landing for human societies are water, oil, soils, .. Shortages and escalating prices would not allow many communities to adjust quickly enough without much hardship ensuing. Not that you would care as long as your market ideology rules. Anyway you'd be certain to invoke the ensuing ruin as motivation to further pursue the race to the bottom as you are accustomed to doing.

especially since "allowing prices to coordinate supply and demand" has worked out so well for the Gulf economy.

JayB loves to gratuitously claim that working toward the race to the bottom is the only way to avoid the effects of the race to the bottom.

retarded analogy if I ever saw one. The result of denialism, I suspect.

as if lowered corporate tax rates had provided any benefits to Michigan. Quit smoking the rug, will you? Tax Revenues Plummet in 2010 Thursday 03 March 2011 by: David Cay Johnston We take you now to the official data for important news. Federal tax revenues in 2010 were much smaller than in 2000. Total individual income tax receipts fell 30 percent in real terms. Because the population kept growing, income taxes per capita plummeted. Individual income taxes came to just $2,900 per capita in 2010, down 36 percent from more than $4,500 in 2000. Total income taxes and income taxes per capita declined even though the economy grew 16 percent overall and 6 percent per capita from 2000 through 2010. Corporate income tax receipts fell 27 percent and declined 34 percent per capita, even though profits boomed, rising 60 percent. Payroll taxes increased slightly overall, but slipped per capita because the nation's population grew five times faster than the number of people with any work. The average wage also declined slightly. You read it here first.Lowered tax rates did not result in increased tax revenues as promised by politician after pundit after professional economist. And even though this harsh truth has been obvious from the official data for some time, the same politicians and pundits keep prevaricating No matter how many times advocates of lower tax rates said it, tax rate cuts did not pay for themselves, did not spur economic growth, did not increase jobs, and did not make America better off. http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EL2Y8?OpenDocument

right, because urban sprawl, lack of rail infrastrcuture, intensive agriculture, etc ... will allow us to turn on a dime when demand and conflict drive the price of oil through the roof (way before we even approach exhaustiung the resource btw)

Stop Bombing Libya by Marjorie Cohn [..] It is only when peaceful means have been tried and proved inadequate that the Security Council can authorize action under Chapter VII of the Charter. That action includes boycotts, embargoes, severance of diplomatic relations, and even blockades or operations by air, sea or land. The “responsibility to protect” norm grew out of frustration with the failure to take action to prevent the genocide in Rwanda, where a few hundred troops could have saved myriad lives. But the norm was not implemented to stop Israel from bombing Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009, which resulted in a loss of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Nor is it being used to stop the killing of civilians by the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is also hypocrisy inherent in the U.S. bombing of Libya to enforce international law. The Obama administration has thumbed its nose at its international obligations by refusing to investigate officials of the Bush administration for war crimes for its torture regime. Both the Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions compel Member States to bring people to justice who violate their commands. The United States is ostensibly bombing Libya for humanitarian reasons. But Obama refuses to condemn the repression and government killings of protestors in Bahrain using U.S.-made tanks and weaponry because that is where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed. And Yemen, a close U.S. ally, kills and wounds protestors while Obama watches silently. Regime change is not authorized by the resolution. Yet U.S. bombers targeted the Qaddafi compound and Obama said at a news conference in Santiago that it is “U.S. policy that Qaddafi needs to go.” The resolution specifically forbids a “foreign occupation force.” But it is unlikely that the United States, France and Britain will bomb Libya and leave. Don’t be surprised to hear there are Western forces on the ground in Libya to “train” or “assist” the rebels there. Defense Secretary Robert Gates pegged it when he said that a “no-fly zone” over Libya would be an “act of war.” Although the Arab League reportedly favored a no-fly zone, Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, said that “what is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone.” He added, “What we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians.” He plans to call a new meeting of the league to reconsider its support for a no-fly zone. The military action in Libya sets a dangerous precedent of attacking countries where the leadership does not favor the pro-U.S. or pro-European Union countries. What will prevent the United States from stage-managing some protests, magnifying them in the corporate media as mass actions, and then bombing or attacking Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, or North Korea? During the Bush administration, Washington leveled baseless allegations to justify an illegal invasion of Iraq. [..] Marjorie Cohn, a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and past President of the National Lawyers Guild, is the deputy secretary general for external communications of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurist http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/22

[video:youtube]GaoLU6zKaws

odd how we hear a lot more about anti-war Libertarians today than during the run-up to the Iraq war ... I wonder where they were at the time.

What happened to the anti-war movement? Like for most every major issue, the will of the people has been denied by corporatist elites via every single undemocratic trickery in the book (propaganda, election theft, campaign lies, etc ..) and people have moved on to other grave matters following the fiasco created by Laissez Faire zealots. JayB is apparently proud of all of it as he again seems to take immense pleasure in showing how popular will has been defeated.

Michigan’s GOP Gov. Slashes Corporate Tax Rate by 86 Percent, Hikes Taxes for Working Poor As the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found, the practical upshot of Snyder’s tax increases is to place even more of a burden on Michigan’s poorest residents, who will see a bigger hike than those at the upper end of the income scale

Fray: a scuffle, a brawl.

March Madness for Corporate Tax Dodgers Top seeds in the Tax Haven Tourney: banks and power companies by Paul Buchheit The small companies and public didn't have a chance in the early rounds. Now it's down to a few formidable corporate teams, the Cheat 16: - General Electric made $10.3 billion in 2009, but received a $1.1 billion tax rebate. - Forbes said about Bank of America in 2010: "How did they not pay any taxes on $4.4 billion in income?" - Oil giant Exxon made a $45 billion profit in 2009, but paid no taxes in the United States. - Citigroup had 4 quarters of billion-dollar profits in 2010, but paid no taxes. - Wells Fargo made $12 billion but purchased Wachovia Bank to claim a $19 billion tax credit. - Hewlett Packard's U.S. income tax rate was 4.3% in 2008 and 2.3% in 2009. - Verizon's 10.5% tax rate, according to Forbes, is due to its partnership with Vodafone, the primary target in UK Uncut's protests against tax evaders. - Chevron's tax rate was 1% in 2008. - Boeing, which just won a $30 billion contract to build 179 airborne tankers, got $124 million back from the taxpayers in 2010. - Over the past 5 years Amazon made $3.5 billion and paid taxes at the rate of 4.3%. - Carnival Cruise Lines paid 1% in taxes on its $11.5 billion profit over the past 5 years. - Koch Industries is not publicly traded, so their antics are kept private. But they benefit from taxpayer subsidies in ranching and logging. - In 2008 CorporateWatch said Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp paid "astoundingly low taxes" because of tax havens. - Google "cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years by shifting its money around foreign countries. - Merck, the second-largest drugmaker in the U.S., last year brought more than $9 billion from abroad without paying any U.S. tax. - Pfizer, the largest drugmaker in the U.S., erased $10 billion in taxes with an "accounting treatment." All the above has been documented by US Uncut Chicago members on PayUpNow.org . Who's projected for the Final Frauding Four? Best Defense: Google uses a game plan called a "Double Irish Defense," which moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. Best Offense: GE's 2010 SEC 10-K tax filing boldly states: "At December 31, 2010, $94 billion of earnings have been indefinitely reinvested outside the United States...we do not intend to repatriate these earnings.." Most Steals: Citigroup: 427 tax haven subsidiaries Best Trash talk: A General Electric spokeswoman: “G.E. pays many other taxes including payroll taxes on the wages of our employees, property taxes, sales and use and value added taxes." Most game-ending bailouts: Bank of America received $45 Billion in tax payer bailout funds in 2008 and 2009. In 2009 the company earned a pretax income of $4.4 billion, but claimed a $1.9 Billion tax benefit from the government. Teams with the most reserves: General Electric: $77 billion Google: $24 billion That's 2 companies holding $101 billion that could be invested in jobs. Tax Haven Tourney Champion? GE is the Duke of Tax Avoidance. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/21

Joe Biden compares Republicans to ...

Excellent. Was Feck waving his pole after he fell while crossing the chunks?

Lots of little town that need the toll. It's equivalent to the burgers of the middle age stringing a chain across the road/river to exact a tax.

"if you've got a kid that's extravagant, you can lecture him all you want to about his extravagance. Or you can cut his allowance and achieve the same end much quicker." R. Reagan

Starve the beast