Beware Republicans bearing tax cuts. There were four consecutive surpluses under Bill Clinton according to the CBO. Republicans forced through the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001. We flipped immediately back into deficit mode that year and have run annual deficits every single year since. Party of fiscal responsibility. What a joke.
In one of these countries live members of what Temin calls the “FTE sector” (named for finance, technology, and electronics, the industries which largely support its growth). These are the 20 percent of Americans who enjoy college educations, have good jobs, and sleep soundly knowing that they have not only enough money to meet life’s challenges, but also social networks to bolster their success. They grow up with parents who read books to them, tutors to help with homework, and plenty of stimulating things to do and places to go. They travel in planes and drive new cars. The citizens of this country see economic growth all around them and exciting possibilities for the future. They make plans, influence policies, and count themselves as lucky to be Americans.
The FTE citizens rarely visit the country where the other 80 percent of Americans live: the low-wage sector. Here, the world of possibility is shrinking, often dramatically. People are burdened with debt and anxious about their insecure jobs if they have a job at all. Many of them are getting sicker and dying younger than they used to. They get around by crumbling public transport and cars they have trouble paying for. Family life is uncertain here; people often don’t partner for the long-term even when they have children. If they go to college, they finance it by going heavily into debt. They are not thinking about the future; they are focused on surviving the present. The world in which they reside is very different from the one they were taught to believe in. While members of the first country act, these people are acted upon.
@superposition…your explanation of the cultural and economic divide is spot on. That’s why I can no longer be a conservative, a political stance I abandoned years ago. The Americans who need help are my focus because they are caught up in a system in which they cannot win. My concern is not for me and my family. We are more than fine, just as you suggest. But it is my patriotic duty to help other Americans. If that means I pay higher taxes, then OK. And, for the record, I pay in federal taxes many multiples of the average US household income, and, while, as a serial entrepreneur, I have been close to bankruptcy in the past, consider myself lucky in the extreme.
Actually, Locke, Liberals believe that the government should provide certain services to the public, and those services should be funded by taxes. Taxes are not levied just for fun. They pay for the military, for highways and bridges, for schools, and so on. Of course there is probably money spent for stuff we don’t need. I would say the military budget is way out of control, and that’s where I would start to cut. But a general diatribe against taxes doesn’t show much thought.
The cultural divide described by Super has been well-documented by academics for quite a while. Just off the top of my head, I could recommend some good sources, “Our Kids” by Robert Putnam and “Strangers in Their Own Land” by Arlie Russell Hochschild. And there’s always “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. The information is there, but the recognition of that information does not seem to have sunk in, particularly to the “pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps” crowd.
The longer the GOP retains control of Congress, the easier it is to understand that the differences between the parties are confined mostly to social issues.
The only other substantive difference is how to tax and how to spend. Fiscal responsibility died in DC decades ago, and was willingly buried by grave diggers from both parties.
DonnyTwoScoops about 6 years ago
Beware Republicans bearing tax cuts. There were four consecutive surpluses under Bill Clinton according to the CBO. Republicans forced through the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001. We flipped immediately back into deficit mode that year and have run annual deficits every single year since. Party of fiscal responsibility. What a joke.
shakeswilly about 6 years ago
When the going gets tough the Tough get going and the republicans retire
superposition about 6 years ago
What hath Ryan wrought?
" … Two roads diverged
In one of these countries live members of what Temin calls the “FTE sector” (named for finance, technology, and electronics, the industries which largely support its growth). These are the 20 percent of Americans who enjoy college educations, have good jobs, and sleep soundly knowing that they have not only enough money to meet life’s challenges, but also social networks to bolster their success. They grow up with parents who read books to them, tutors to help with homework, and plenty of stimulating things to do and places to go. They travel in planes and drive new cars. The citizens of this country see economic growth all around them and exciting possibilities for the future. They make plans, influence policies, and count themselves as lucky to be Americans.
The FTE citizens rarely visit the country where the other 80 percent of Americans live: the low-wage sector. Here, the world of possibility is shrinking, often dramatically. People are burdened with debt and anxious about their insecure jobs if they have a job at all. Many of them are getting sicker and dying younger than they used to. They get around by crumbling public transport and cars they have trouble paying for. Family life is uncertain here; people often don’t partner for the long-term even when they have children. If they go to college, they finance it by going heavily into debt. They are not thinking about the future; they are focused on surviving the present. The world in which they reside is very different from the one they were taught to believe in. While members of the first country act, these people are acted upon.
…"
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/america-is-regressing-into-a-developing-nation-for-most-people
twclix about 6 years ago
@superposition…your explanation of the cultural and economic divide is spot on. That’s why I can no longer be a conservative, a political stance I abandoned years ago. The Americans who need help are my focus because they are caught up in a system in which they cannot win. My concern is not for me and my family. We are more than fine, just as you suggest. But it is my patriotic duty to help other Americans. If that means I pay higher taxes, then OK. And, for the record, I pay in federal taxes many multiples of the average US household income, and, while, as a serial entrepreneur, I have been close to bankruptcy in the past, consider myself lucky in the extreme.
lonecat about 6 years ago
Actually, Locke, Liberals believe that the government should provide certain services to the public, and those services should be funded by taxes. Taxes are not levied just for fun. They pay for the military, for highways and bridges, for schools, and so on. Of course there is probably money spent for stuff we don’t need. I would say the military budget is way out of control, and that’s where I would start to cut. But a general diatribe against taxes doesn’t show much thought.
Radish the wordsmith about 6 years ago
So many Republicans are quitting under Trump that the Dems might win without a vote.
braindead Premium Member about 6 years ago
I love it when Republicans claim Republican ‘beliefs’.
They don’t believe anything of the sort. They believe in serving their donors.
Period.
===
Lower taxes? Only for their richest donors. The rest is just a sop — to claim tax cuts for everybody.
When Reagan became governor of California, the first thing he did was to raise the sales tax by 25%! Two years later, there were income tax rebates.
.
Fiscal responsibility? Yeah. Ryan’s budget and tax cuts for the rich. And Bush sabotaging the surplus.
.
Government accountability? Yeah. In like Flint.
martens about 6 years ago
The cultural divide described by Super has been well-documented by academics for quite a while. Just off the top of my head, I could recommend some good sources, “Our Kids” by Robert Putnam and “Strangers in Their Own Land” by Arlie Russell Hochschild. And there’s always “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. The information is there, but the recognition of that information does not seem to have sunk in, particularly to the “pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps” crowd.
Andylit Premium Member about 6 years ago
The longer the GOP retains control of Congress, the easier it is to understand that the differences between the parties are confined mostly to social issues.
The only other substantive difference is how to tax and how to spend. Fiscal responsibility died in DC decades ago, and was willingly buried by grave diggers from both parties.
running down a dream about 6 years ago
another denizen of the DC swamp gone.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] about 6 years ago
“Retirement is not a Biblical concept.
That is a pagan concept.”
– Tea Party Christian “Historian” David Barton