Free Republic

One more thing to check. How much do they spend on lobbying to raise taxes. A local to me charity does a great job supporting the elderly but they are always leading the charge for a tax levy to support various senior citizen projects.

“There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it. There shouldn’t be a presumption that every American worker is a star performer. There are people who just can’t get it, can’t do it, don’t want to do it. And so you can’t obviously discuss that publicly.” Marco Rubio.

Nothing wrong with that statement.

Too bad he said it in the context of immigration.

How many times must it be repeated...You can have open borders or you can have welfare but you cannot have both.

I vote no welfare for anybody whether legal or not. This country was built by people who either worked or starved.

Why is she laughing? We already have random stops for alcohol and DNA. Trips plans? No, because Obamassiah is going to make it too expensive to drive....unles your a member o the elite in which case you will have all sorts of credits.

Works for ditch>stream>creek>river>ocean. EPA has (was Army Corp of Engineers)jurisdiction over your yard.

Paying to download one of her songs right now. Anyone else?

He is discussing the concept of “need” and uses immigration and wages as an example. Is there a labor shortage or are wages too low? Employer’s in any endeavor will tell you that wages are already too high so more workers are needed. Worker’s will tell you wages are too low and less workers are needed.

Immigration is just one way of increasing the worker pool and putting downward pressure on wages. To increase wages by reducing the pool of workers put restrictions on who may work such as minimum age, minimum wage, unions, licensing, affirmative action, and education requirements.

Immigration just happens to be about the only thing liberals will allow that increase the pool of workers.

I have not confused SS with welfare because SS is welfare. As you have clearly stated, SS is the forcible taking from person to give to another which makes it a income transfer scheme or welfare.

You can talk all you want about how people need it and we need to help those in need and how some day it will be there for me but in the end someone with a gun will force me to support you.

You take a grim view of America and seem to believe that the only way for the old and infirmed to survive is via government action.

You are right that most Americans will help those in need but the leap from that sentiment to justifying SS is a huge one. But given that it is true, why then do we need forced income redistribution? Why not let family help family, neighbor help neighbor, friend help..., etc.?

You are advocating for forced redistribution of income from one person to another. I am helping no one with my SS taxes. It is the US Government who is helping people. I have no control over it and no one is thanking me for it. The recipients of this largess will vote to take vote to take ever more which is why working and taxpaying Americans resent the HELL out of this program.

You have justified SS in your mind by viewing it as some benign social insurance program. It is not benign because it takes about 15% of people’s income. That means I spend every 39 days per year in forced labor on behalf of someone else’s. It is not insurance because there is no guarantee of future payments. The next generation could end if they have the political power.

There are no unfunded liabilities because THERE ARE NO LIABILITIES.

The government has no legally binding contractual obligation to pay out a single dime. SS is simply a politcal scheme that takes from one person and gives it to another.

Maybe you are being sarcastic but in case your are not...

You did not “contribute” and you will not “take out”.

You were taxed and you will receive.

You were taxed to pay others and now others will be taxed to pay you. It is a straight up income transfer scheme no more no less.

You throw down an interesting juxtaposition. I never thought about it like that before. Thanks to you I am now sympathetic to draft dodgers.

Houston seems to appreciate, more than most cities, two of my most cherished values.

Leave me alone and let me keep what is mine.

Nope. They law has a provision for common ownership to prevent what you mention. Next step is to require the employee to report all the places he works and if it is 30 or more then require all of his various employers to cover him.

You haven’t seen the French fry robot at D’s? The only human interaction is loading fries into a hopper and then filling the cartons.

Do we know if he visits this this forum? I ask because he posted on American Thinker not FR.

“Actually, the percentage of total U.S. Treasury debt that China owns has declined significantly in recent years. Did you read the article?”

We have screwed up our economy so bad that the Chinese do not want our debt and the Mexicans will not come here for work. So now we just print money and give it to the Mexicans for free.

And we think China is a threat?

Well said.

I will expand. All the US must do to be the preeminent power for decades to come is to allow its citizens to be free. Elsewhere it was posted that they have central planning by scientist, engineers,..etc. and we have central planning by lawyers. True enough but that only makes the case against central planning not having better central planners.

Everyone who wants tariffs, industrial policies, manufacturing subsidies, export controls, etc. is helping our bureaucrats engage in central planning.

Let us free our energy producers, lets unshackle our manufacturer’s, let us allow our people to be properly educated, let us quit taxing income and wealth into oblivion, and then let us worry about the flyspeck that would be Communist China.

“Assuming businesses will hire you...”

Start your own business. Be self employed. Develop skills that people will pay for.

Thanks, sfl.

Work till you die. It is immoral for capable people not to work.

Typical FR responses were everyone will debate the relative merits of who is deserving or not of a space. Many responses make the point the system is not administered correctly and have suggestions for improvements.

How about this? Get rid of handicapped spaces. How did we cope prior to their advent? They are simply another government enforced spoils system that further erodes private property rights and degrades the spirit of individual acts of charity. Will those of you handicapped or with handicapped loved ones vote for politicians who give you the best spots?

I remember my parents lecturing me to never take the close in spots at stores or church so that old and crippled people could use them. Government enforced charity (an oxymoron if ever there was one) has again displaced private charity will causing hatred and resentment.

So the union represent the bakery? I thought unions represented workers. They should cut to chase and start representing “Twinkie”. Then no matter were Twinkies are made they will be union Twinkies. Heck, the Twinkies could pay dues to the union and bypass the whole union drive, pension, and benefits.

Part of the unions problems are the liberal arts degreed idiots that they hire as administrators. They employ fuzzy logic and language such as representing a bakery and it becomes easy to bypass them (when government does not intervene).

Our governments may be at loggerheads and Putin may be a thug but when our progressive government is done with the freedom loving people in this country we may be envious of Russia.

The only point of having a union is to get more than you can get without a union. Health benefits were the last big thing that some unions had above most other ordinary workers.

But then, some union bosses cut deals limiting health benefits so as to get companies to agree to the forced extraction of dues.

Either way Obamacare weakens unions just like a host of other government programs and agencies. But union leaders care more about their socialist agenda than their workers.

7 of 9. The Borg are not guilty.

The Russians are still far from a model republic but sometimes I find myself agreeing with Putin more than my own government. He made a comment awhile back when asked about raising taxes and said that it would be unfair for everyone not to pay the same rate of 15%.

Yes corruption is rampant and it is dangerous to criticize the government if you have power but I believe the Russians have the correct stance on radical muzslimes which are an existential threat to western civilization.

I think someday in the next 20 years we will look at Russia like we are starting to look at Canada especially when you consider our relative but disparate paths.

So because some industry get protection we should protect all of them? These laws are not to protect us from slave wages. If that's the case then all we need to do is keep raising the bar on wages we allow other countries to charge, like an international minimum wage law, until we are are rich. The way to wealth is to spend more for imports.

News flash, import restrictions are to enrich producers and manufacturers. In case you have any doubts look at sugar, steel, rubber, and agriculture.

Who is you “we” in “...we develop...”? I do not wish to develop any oil infrastructure. I will leave that to those who wish to own those companies in that industry. Venezuela, Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, and China all invest and control their oil companies and protect them. Maybe that is the model you are looking for?

So you are also in favor of a cap on prices? Who gets to decide what the floor is? Sounds like the same scheme as “not farming”. In the 80’s this same government to which you wish to give further control was paying to permanently plug oil wells.

In order to assure oil company profits I should have my money taken away from me by force?

Every industry has an excuse as to why it needs protection.

Why would I want to pay even more taxes on oil? You could make your same argument for every other industry in the US.

How about a solution that involves FREEDOM instead of further slavery? Like drill here/drill now, pipelines, coal, and nuclear? The US has more carbon based energy on tap then any country on earth.

So yeah, let’s tax ourselves to disguise the corruptness and incompetence of our own government.

I just left FL and only saw 300 lb snails driving Crown Vics and mobility scooters.

Freudian slip....
asses = assess

Pleading “nolo contendere” does not necessarily get you out of the points. You plead “no contest” which means the judge gets to decide your guilt or innocence after which he asses the punishment as he sees fit. Other’s results with this plea could vary.

I doubt that this occurred on a highway meeting the definition in the law you just cited.

How smart is China? They take their trade surplus and buy US Treasuries. Occassionally they buy hard assets like this. But the bottom line is the only thing a US dollar is good for is to buy something from the US.

We wont save our money and make our investments. We spend and borrow to spend and let someone else make the investments. So if we are to have oil, gas, factories, and infrastructure someone has to provide the capital.

At least China likes oil, gas, and omigosh...coal.

Far from it. Read what Putin has said about taxes. Russia, even under Putin, is becoming more open and free. But yet Putin is still willing to stand firm against Islam. He has repeatedly refused all encouragement to raise taxes.

You can have all the democfracy you want but in the end your only as free as your tax burden. By that measure I am about 50% free. I spend half of my life in forced service to my countrymen.

They are not like us. They have had their guns confiscated, their land collectivized and their people starved to death by the millions, their churches closed, their children indoctrinated, and their wealth and income stolen. They have no desire to go back to revisit that.

We are not like them because our government wishes us to experience the above.

The average Russians I know remind me of what this country was like before we became a worker's paradise.

You guys have it wrong. I think she is angry because she was mislead into having the abortion...carrying the baby would threaten her life. It also seems she is suing in pursuit of vengeance of those who tried to take her baby. She seems very disgusted with abortion and the clinic. She should sue and every women who has had an abortion should sue. Even though she has to sue because her baby wasn't aborted the lawsuit is useful in the defense of life and could possibly help close an abortion mill. Every pregnant women who reads about this will have another reason to not kill her baby.

“...our buck...”

You mean Soros’, Obama’s, Bernacke’s, and the Dem Party’s buck? The dishonest currency that is defaulting by about 3% a year? The currency that will have to debased at least another 80% to pay for all the promises that have been made?

You can have it...and soon by the wheelbarrows full.

Austrialia wont be the last to switch. Do not blame our allies when they refused to be ripped off.

Social Security was a transfer the wealth Ponzi scheme from day one. It is a tax which the government takes from you and gives to someone else. You are not owed a single penny and never have been. The money has not be stolen or misused. The system has and continues to work just as it was intended which is: causing it recipients to become dependents of the US Federal Government.

Social Security = Welfare.

“...we need to bring back US jobs...”

Who is “we”? You could start a company tomorrow and create some jobs but will you? Do you have any idea what it takes to create a job in this country? If you did you would not be quite so glib.

counts = count

When seconds counts the paramedics are just minutes away.

This young man’s threat to his well being could not be eliminated with a gun but it is the same principle. You must be prepared to take care of you and yours at any moment and not be dependent upon the government.

“Who is going to end up paying for and supporting those 300k+ babies each year?”

You seem to being having a hard time getting an answer to this question so I will help you out. Answere is: The same people who pay for all of the babies currently alive.

Can I help you with any other questions?

I am not a fan of TSA but the ones I have encountered have been honest so far. I left a nice watch at one checkpoint and retrieved it 3 weeks later. I have been paged on 3 seperate occasions to retrieve items I left.

Yeah I am that forgetful but taking 5:15 am flights can cause that.

I failed to recover a very special watch from LGA but I had forgotten that I had forgot it. By the time I remebered were I left it 2 months had passed. I swear I bought it back on an Ebay auction.

I have asthma and have nearly died twice from attacks and second hand smoke especially in an open setting does not scare me in the least. It does bother me in an enclosed area but then I am free to avoid it.

BTW I am ardent supporter of people and business deciding for themselves how to handle smoking.

“...deathly allergic...”

I call BS. Google it and try to find one instance of it happening. Maybe a few hysterical people dies from a panic attack caused by cigarette smoke.

“Dineen most recently served as CEO of LS9, a renewable fuel and chemical company in South San Francisco”

That is all I need to know. Renewable=Subsidy.

Forbe’s magazine calls it the “rags to riches to rags in 3 generations” phenomenon. We will see if the young woman can avoid it.

67 years out of 77 is advanced when you consider that 77 is an average. Sorry but you can reasonably expect to die between the ages of 67 and 87. Some will make it to or a little past 87 just as some wont make it to or much past 67.

Look at this way: 67 / 77= 87%. At 67 you are on average 87% of the way to dead. That sounds advanced to me.

Spot on. I left BOS yesterday at 9:50 am. I wanted to stay and witness this snowmageddon but I had to be in FL on Sunday. I have traveled in the NE for 25 years on business. These people have become wussified no doubt. 25 years ago this storm would have been a big deal but everyone would have been putting on chains, getting back up power and heat sources ready, and checking on their other emergency supplies, and making sure there was plenty to drink. They bragged about never closing things down.

Back then when I bailed on a trip to beat a storm they made fun of me. Now they insist I leave before it hits.

It is a blog. But it is worth reading.

I would gues this guy was a middle of the road, we should do something, type of person. But now the anti-gun lunatics showed their colors and he probably has no use for them.