Pat Oliphant by Pat Oliphant

Tags: EXTREME LEFTIST, ACTUALLY EXTREME CENTRIST CURMUDGEON, Globama, truth. Add Tags

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ernie said, 8 months ago

beautifully done. Our president is tackling the important issues and there are no quick fixes. I admire his courage and intellect and I hope for the good of us all that he succeeds.
etocme said, 8 months ago

The weight is truly on the shoulders of every tax payer….watch your wallets
danielsangeo said, 8 months ago

etocme: So, you can run the best country on Earth on the cheap?
cartwrights said, 8 months ago

etocme, you sound like the Republicans Oliphant is lampooning. Do you have any solutions, or like the rest of the GOP, do you “Got 0 Plans”?
Simon_Jester said, 8 months ago

We tried cutting taxes for 8 years etocme.

It didn’t work.
atfulcrum said, 8 months ago

As a nation we haven’t had to truly sacrifice for the common good since the days of the Depression. When we needed to be asked, we weren’t… instead we got the GOP panacaea of lowering taxes on everyone except those best equipped to pay it, supply-side jiggery-pokery, and (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) trickle-down non-economics.
mivins said, 8 months ago

Perfect.
wogmin said, 8 months ago

It appears to me, that Obama, is carrying a problem he helped create, since he was in the Senate, and helped pass legislation, that is causing our problems. And unless he is superman, he couldn’t read all of the 11,000+ pages of legislation he signed. I wonder what other hooks are in it, that will cause even bigger problems. You don’t sign a contract unless you have read it all the way through. He didn’t do that. So much for intellect.
WillBerry said, 8 months ago

Oliphsnt is neglecting to point out that Princess Pelosi and Rip-off Reid are preventing the Republicans from having ANY INPUT into legislation through improper and unconstitutional “legislative rules”. I THOUGHT we had a two (or more) party system, but that is not currently reality
lalas said, 8 months ago

WillBerry –
It’s always OK when the Rep’s do it… but otherwise it’s treason?
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/24/budget-reconciliation/
foxglove16 said, 8 months ago

It’s obvious to anyone with a grasp on reality that the Greedy Obstructionist Party wants to sabotage any recovery so they can then blame Obama for not fixing the problems we face.
foxglove16 said, 8 months ago

Also, Willberry, Obama was not in the senate to vote approval of deregulation of credit default swaps, or (the right wing’s favorite scapegoat) the equality in mortgage lending laws.
Dale Hopson said, 8 months ago

wogmin says: “It appears to me, that Obama, is carrying a problem he helped create”

Where was Obama when Reagan was president? DON”T blame Obama for the mess that has been snowballing for decades…
hungryraptor said, 8 months ago

Obama should be pictured riding piggy back on a China man who is carrying the world.
deadheadzan said, 8 months ago

Obama has important work to offset the financial mess he inherited from the Bush administration. Let’s see if the Repubs can think of the good of the citizens rather than the 15% (base) that they pander to.
danielsangeo said, 8 months ago

deadheadzan: And if no one believes you, point them to the quote by Bush:

“Some call you the elite. I call you my base.”
gator80 said, 8 months ago

Brainless partisan cartoon with absolutely no insight.
charliekane said, 8 months ago

Excuse me, how about that Chinese gentleman carrying the mountain of IOU’s Dubya gave ‘im?
dtroutma said, 8 months ago

And outside the frame, their corporate buds are riding on top of the load they built.
hungryraptor said, 8 months ago

charliekane…China told Obama, not Bush, to watch what he was doing because it would be a disaster and it has nothing to do with Bush but everything with the way Obama is going about it. Again a communist nation is telling the Obama administration how to be capitalist and thrive, not the Bush administration.
Corosive Frog said, 8 months ago

China may be the workshop of the world, but when something goes wrong internationally, the World looks up to POTUS because history has shown that (despite the mistakes, even those of the last eight years) america is not as nearly a bad master as other nations have been in their time.

The World looks up to america, really.
envoyram said, 8 months ago

trickle down economics=voodoo economics H. W. Bush
While he was running against Reagan for the nomination, Bush the elder called Reagan’s economic policies voodoo economics. Exactly what they were, they performed magic for the upper class economy and turned the rest of the country’s finances into zombies only able to exist, never able to really live, but not totally dead either.Until now when the magic has disappeared and virtually everybodies finances have or are dying(oh except for the ones at the top who CAN STILL AFFORD THE WITCH DOCTOR.)
hungryraptor said, 8 months ago

Never once did China or Russia have to warn Regan or Bush to stop going down an economic road because it would ruin OUR economy and deflate the value of OUR currency like they have done with Obama.
LLeRay said, 8 months ago

Well, I’m making this one a favorite.

I’d like to discuss Sino-American economic history some other time.
WillBerry looks like a sockpuppet, since he repeats the same ad hominem attacks against Reid and Pelosi other posters have used. He claims to be an independent, but his talking points definitely revolve around the Republican version of events, not reality.
BeanGo said, 8 months ago

boohooo I have to pay taxes :-(
cdward said, 8 months ago

lalas, thanks for the link. Very informative.
fennec said, 8 months ago

Lalas, me too, thanks for the link. That’s why I keep reading this site…you guys find really interesting stuff to pass on.
wogmin said, 8 months ago

Dale Hopsen asks about the Reagan years, and how he, supposedly was responsible for the mess we are in today. HELLO!! It was Jimmy Carter, and the Democrats, with their fillibuster proof congress, and senate, that started us on this path by enacting, environmental, and animal rights legislation which is destroying this nation today. If it wasn’t for Reagan, there would be no middle class. The Dems, have rewritten history, because they don’t want people knowing the truth.
wogmin said, 8 months ago

envoyram says:

trickle down economics=voodoo economics H. W. Bush
While he was running against Reagan for the nomination, Bush the elder called Reagan’s economic policies voodoo economics.

News flash, Bush was wrong.
Under Reagans, voodoo economics, is responsible for the largest gains in median income of the middle class, in history. Without these ‘voodoo economics’, there wouldn’t be a middle class.
charliekane said, 8 months ago

I guess Clinton was rewritin’ history by handin’ Dubya a budget surplus.

Steven Pearlstein’s assessment is instructive.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/03/AR2009030303321.html
attyush said, 8 months ago

charliekane says:

I guess Clinton was rewritin’ history by handin’ Dubya a budget surplus.

It’s a good thing that you are guessing. Otherwise your facts would have been suspect.
charliekane said, 8 months ago

^You read my article, I’ll read yours.
deadheadzan said, 8 months ago

A major problem was passage of the Gramm-Leach-Blilley law in 1999 which took away safeguards that had been in place since the New Deal. Senator Drogan spoke at the time that this could cause serious damage in the next 10 years. He was correct.
attyush said, 8 months ago

@charliekane:

Go to the following site.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Put start date as 1 Oct 1993 (Clinton’s first budget) and end date as 30 Sep 2001 (Clinton’s last budget) and check it out. There always has been a deficit (Incidentally, budget cycles run from Oct to Sep, so Obama’s first budget will be from Oct 09 to Sep 10).
attyush said, 8 months ago

For heaven’s sake don’t get me wrong. I am not defending the growth in federal debt under Bush years. I am trying to disprove the claim about Clinton Budget surplus.

If you choose to dig deep down in the treasury site (referenced in my previous post), you would find that in no year did the national debt go down, nor did Clinton leave President Bush with a surplus that Bush subsequently turned into a deficit. Yes, the deficit was almost eliminated in FY2000 (ending in September 2000 with a deficit of only $17.9 billion), but it never reached zero–let alone a positive surplus number. And Clinton’s last budget proposal for FY2001, which ended in September 2001, generated a $133.29 billion deficit. The growing deficits started in the year of the last Clinton budget, not in the first year of the Bush administration.

Keep in mind that President Bush took office in January 2001 and his first budget took effect October 1, 2001 for the year ending September 30, 2002 (FY2002). So the $133.29 billion deficit in the year ending September 2001 was Clinton’s. Granted, Bush supported a tax refund where taxpayers received checks in 2001. However, the total amount refunded to taxpayers was only $38 billion . So even if we assume that $38 billion of the FY2001 deficit was due to Bush’s tax refunds which were not part of Clinton’s last budget, that still means that Clinton’s last budget produced a deficit of 133.29 - 38 = $95.29 billion.

Clinton clearly did not achieve a surplus and he didn’t leave President Bush with a surplus.
charliekane said, 8 months ago

atty:
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/duringtheclintonadministrationwasthefederal.html

(When I try the link, I still have to ask for “Clinton Budget Surplus” in the search box.)
WillBerry said, 8 months ago

LLeRay : I am not a sock puppet, but whenever one party is in charge of BOTH the Congress and the White House, the US is in for terrible times - Look back over history and you’ll see what I mean. I am an Independent, and have been registered that way ever since NC, where I live, has allowed it (we actually get to vote in either party’s primary, but only one per election) - I am critical of Princess Pelosi and Rip-Off Harry for their PARTISAN actions, shutting down debate, trying to shut out anyone but the party insiders from having any input to legislation. If you read the two stimulus laws, the one under President Bush was rather straight forward, not to mention short (although still ridiculous); while the one forced down America’s throat by Pelosi-Reid runs 1,000+ pages across FIVE PDF files, and has so many references to other arcane (try the 1936 Rural Electrification Program law for instance), or hidden (placing the Bill identification numbers even when it was not passed into LAW with that language), that it took me the better part of a week, working ~10-12 hours per day on my computer to decipher MOST of it (some of the cited legislation is NOT available on on-line Government record)! Any pretense to clarity, transparency or open government went out the window on November 4, 2008.
WillBerry said, 8 months ago

wogmin says:

Dale Hopsen asks about the Reagan years, and how he, supposedly was responsible for the mess we are in today. HELLO!! It was Jimmy Carter, and the Democrats, with their fillibuster proof congress, and senate, that started us on this path by enacting, environmental, and animal rights legislation which is destroying this nation today. If it wasn’t for Reagan, there would be no middle class. The Dems, have rewritten history, because they don’t want people knowing the truth.

AMEN-AMEN-AMEN
And, with the November 4, 2008 election we have another inexperienced Democratic politician in the White House and a near (or, thanks to Princess Pelosi and Rip-off Harry Reid’s rules, effective) filibuster-proof Congress - Stagflation was a new term in the Carter years, which we may soon have to dust-off for use once again!
attyush said, 8 months ago

@charliekane:
I will double check the numbers.

However, by looking into historical numbers provided as part of the FY09 budget (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/hist.pdf), it seems that FY 1998 had a surplus of 69 Bn, FY 99 had a surplus of 128 Bn, FY 2000 had a surplus of 236 Bn and FY 01 had a surplus of 128 Bn (Pg # 23, actually 26).

However, if you move to Pg 128 (actual 131), you would see the Federal Debt for each of those years. The debt grew every single year. The debt grew from $5.3 Trillion in 1997 to $5.7 Trillion in 2001.

In theory it is possible to have a debt while maintaining surplus, but somehow the numbers that I see don’t add up. If there is a real surplus, how come we are increasing the debt each year? Doesn’t common sense say that debt will reduce (or atleast not increase) if there is a surplus?
HUMPHRIES said, 8 months ago

WilliB,should I use your logic ? An’t so cause I said so!
hungryraptor said, 8 months ago

Do you mean the CD gaffe of giving the wrong type of CDs that can’t be played in the UK

or..

The fact he gave CDs as a gift to a head of state instead of a thought out gift gaffe

or…

The “I’m too plum tired to even give a correct reception to a head of state” gaffe

or…

The returning of the gift the UK gave to us after 911 gaffe

or….

The Special Olympics gaffe

or…

Appointing tax cheats to his administration and having them drop out from embarrassment gaffe

or…
WillBerry said, 8 months ago

HUMPHRIES says:
“WilliB,should I use your logic ? An’t so cause I said so!”

Humphries, I would be glad to hear ANY constructive comment from you, using ANY logic, rather than useless insults!
charliekane said, 8 months ago

^Benchjockeys.
WillBerry said, 8 months ago

attyush : The problem is that you’re dealing with Politician’s Math. They can say whatever they want, but when you’re through voting the numbers will change to be something else entirely, like their promises (“Transparency” or “Bipartisan” sound familiar?)
Dale Hopson said, 8 months ago

wogmin says: “Dale Hopsen asks about the Reagan years, and how he, supposedly was responsible for the mess we are in today.”

Reagan tried to do what Thatcher had done with the banking system… which didn’t work and which is why the richest woman in the world ( Queen Elizabeth ) now pays taxes.
Credit on credit does NOT work!
HUMPHRIES said, 8 months ago

WillieB, my view point - your view point. We seem to be equally effective.
attyush said, 8 months ago

@concerned_human:

Not me. Not before I have a say in the budget too. I believe that the members of congress (republicans and democrats) are self-centered and self-serving. So unless I really see fiscal responsibility, I am not in favor of paying higher taxes.

By the way, for me this issue has nothing to do with patriotism. I hate being manipulated. I don’t get swayed by great speeches, photo sessions, media fawning over baby-kissing moments, and beautifully worded op-eds.

So if I see pointless waste of money, I am out. I did not like a lot of Bush’s policies, and judging by the first 60 days, doesn’t seem like I will be a Obama fan either. His budget shows a $2.2 Trillion savings out of which $1.6 Trillion is coming by way of “not maintaining troops in Iraq till 2019”. What? Even trigger happy Bush would have us out of Iraq by 2019. Does he and his staff really think that we are morons?

In a nutshell concerned_human, your question is wrong. I mean your question doesn’t make sense. Why would I pay more into the system that doesn’t know what to do with the money that is coming in now? I don’t increase my children’s pocket money because they wasted it. I try and teach them about fiscal responsibility.
Simon_Jester said, 8 months ago

It’s like this, Stew.

Whether you’re using the flag as a doormat or a pedestal, ( as do the neo-con ‘patriots’ ) you’re still smearing footprints all over it.

And I had no idea that most of the country is made up of folks who aren’t ‘Real Americans’.

( Unless you count sockpuppets…in which case the neo-cons DO have the majority. LOL! )

And who are you trying to kid with that “I pay more taxes than 95% of you pay?” BS?

I looked it up; to be in the top 5% tax bracket, you have to be making more than $3 Mil a year.

And since you were long ago outed as being a twentysomething, ( if that old ) I don’t think that bird is gonna fly.
Simon_Jester said, 8 months ago

If it’s not my business how much moolah you make Stew…why did you post that you were in the top 5% Tax Bracket in the first place.

And that’s the top FIVE percent Stew. That’s where you said you were…not the top 21% or top 14%.

And it’s not what that article you copied and pasted said.

( Personally, I think the reason a lot of the rightie folks here hate Obama’s tax plan so much is coz now Daddy won’t be buying ‘em a Porsche for their birthday. )
attyush said, 8 months ago

@Simon:

I take offense to your assertion. Personally I think you have never looked at a federal budget and matched up the numbers. Most likely you get your facts from political commentators who confirm your prejudices.