what was the best time in American history?

[patriot66]

The best time in American history was when Nadine Bettinger, the hot red head who lived upstairs from me in my apartment building came down one night after I had just finished the second shift at work. I had just gotten out of the shower and put my PJ's on when there was a knock on the door. Nadine was there wearing a trench coat (it was spring time with the usual cold wet weather) and was all dolled up. She told me that she had just been stood up for a date and new I was up and wanted to come talk and have a beer. So I invited her in. Then I offered to take her coat, as gentleman should. I assisted her in taking her coat off and all she was wearing was a black satin bustier with garter belt silk stockings and a pair of heels.

That was the best day in America ever.....well at least for me it was!

Ah! love hot red heads, married one

 

[Cancel 2020.1]

The whole cult of "tweak" just seems really dangerous right now.

We're a country that is facing some very large problems - because of carelessness, poor planning & poor management. If $16 trillion in debt doesn't scream "incompetence" to you, nothing will.

We need an overhaul, a new way of doing things. I'm so tired of hearing that all we need to do on something like SS is "tweak" it. When someone says tweak, all I hear is "punt".

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

The whole cult of "tweak" just seems really dangerous right now.

We're a country that is facing some very large problems - because of carelessness, poor planning & poor management. If $16 trillion in debt doesn't scream "incompetence" to you, nothing will.

We need an overhaul, a new way of doing things. I'm so tired of hearing that all we need to do on something like SS is "tweak" it. When someone says tweak, all I hear is "punt".

If you read this post in David Broder's voice, and replace "tweak' with "twerking", it's hilarious.

But still stupid.

 

[Cancel 2020.1]

If you read this post in David Broder's voice, and replace "tweak' with "twerking", it's hilarious.

But still stupid.

If you post barely-witty rejoinders constantly that contain no substance or factual information whatsoever, you're also sure to get props from Rune or desh once in awhile.

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

If you post barely-witty rejoinders constantly that contain no substance or factual information whatsoever, you're also sure to get props from Rune or desh once in awhile.

Just because your posts are overwrought doesn't mean they're factual Onceler. You haven't posted any facts here, don't kid a kidder!

 

[Jarod]

A white man just murdered a black man in cold blood and got away with it. We have an exploding national debt and massive economic inequality. And you think this is the best time in our country's history?

The killing of Trayvon Martin was news because it was a big deal, not so very long ago it would not have even made the paper.

The national debt will correct itself, it always does.

The economic inequality is an issue, but I think we have more opportunity now than ever to have the basic essentials of life and anything more than the basic essentials is just fluff.

 

[tekkychick]

The whole cult of "tweak" just seems really dangerous right now.

We're a country that is facing some very large problems - because of carelessness, poor planning & poor management. If $16 trillion in debt doesn't scream "incompetence" to you, nothing will.

We need an overhaul, a new way of doing things. I'm so tired of hearing that all we need to do on something like SS is "tweak" it. When someone says tweak, all I hear is "punt".

It depends on the issue. With Soc Security - tweak.

With health care provisioning -we need an overhaul to a single payer system, but couldn't get that, so we'll keep tweaking the ACA

With drug laws/prisons - overhaul

Schools - mostly tweaking, but quite frankly I think our current problems are caused by decades of tweaking in the past...

Debt - More complicated. It's a long-term problem, not a short-term. In the short-term, austerity - i.e. a focused program to reduce debt at the expense of everything else - is a very very bad idea; it kills the economy which means - well, more debt. We know why we have the debt problem right now: two wars, expansion of medicare drug coverage and tax cuts paid for by, basically, credit card. The increase in debt is slowing; we will, over time, if we don't do anything stupid, continue to reduce the amount of debt. Of course, if we go to war again without increasing taxes to pay for it or if we cut taxes injudiciously or do something else stupid - we'll increase the debt.

Medicare, Social security - the "debt bogeyman" is being used to get rid of these programs -NOT BECAUSE WE CAN'T AFFORD THEM. But because conservatives don't like them.

 

[Rune]

So, what exactly is your point?

Are you pleased about a situation that the Fed is creating, that will allow billionaires to thrive & the rest of America to suffer?

Of course I am not pleased. It is the moronic results of Reaganism on steriods as carried out by the neocons with the help of Bush Idiot and Cheney.

I couldn't possibly be more displeased, don't understand why you don't understand and don't understand why Simplefreak continues to defend the process as well as the conspiritors.

 

[Liberty]

It depends on the issue. With Soc Security - tweak.

With health care provisioning -we need an overhaul to a single payer system, but couldn't get that, so we'll keep tweaking the ACA

With drug laws/prisons - overhaul

Schools - mostly tweaking, but quite frankly I think our current problems are caused by decades of tweaking in the past...

Debt - More complicated. It's a long-term problem, not a short-term. In the short-term, austerity - i.e. a focused program to reduce debt at the expense of everything else - is a very very bad idea; it kills the economy which means - well, more debt. We know why we have the debt problem right now: two wars, expansion of medicare drug coverage and tax cuts paid for by, basically, credit card. The increase in debt is slowing; we will, over time, if we don't do anything stupid, continue to reduce the amount of debt. Of course, if we go to war again without increasing taxes to pay for it or if we cut taxes injudiciously or do something else stupid - we'll increase the debt.

Medicare, Social security - the "debt bogeyman" is being used to get rid of these programs -NOT BECAUSE WE CAN'T AFFORD THEM. But because conservatives don't like them.

What exactly is a single payer system?

 

[Jarod]

Like I said, you are daydreaming if you think we have unprecedented freedom right now.

Stop and frisk has been ruled unlawful, yet not stopped. I could go on and on for pages and days but you wouldn't see it if you believe what you posted so it is pointless.

Just take a look back, just a few short years ago gays were being murdered in the streets for being gay, they could not openly serve in the military, possession of a joint would likely send you away for years. Women could not even hope to become a CEO. A black man had never been president. If you wanted to know the composition of soil on the moon, you had to drive to the library to look it up. If you wanted medical treatment you had to trust a Doctor to educate you on your options. My older brother went to segregated High School.

Yes, we are more free now than ever. We are wealthier now than ever. We as a whole are better nourished now than ever. We smoke less now than ever. We are healthier now more than ever. OUr life expectancy is higher at birth now than ever. AIDS is curable. Most cancer is curable.

If your daughter wants to grow up to be president of the United States, nobody In there right mind is going to tell her that its a silly dream.

 

[Jarod]

The dismissal of the debt as any kind of concern is pretty alarming.

The thing is, no one knows for sure what it means. There are guys who have been spot on w/ everything financial for decades who see a market correction of anywhere from 50-90% coming (90%!), because of the debt & what Bernanke is doing. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are those who say it's no worry at all, and doesn't mean anything.

The certainty on either end bothers me. We've never seen this level of debt; we've never had the Fed do anything like what they're doing by pumping money into the economy at this level. The only thing we are certain of is that this is something that is out of control, and that no one really understands.

And if you're worried about Social Security, there is MUCH more of a danger to it empircally by skyrocketing debt than by people using the debt as an excuse to gut it. SS is on its last legs right now.

Funny, one could have posted the EXACT same post in 1988.

 

[Jarod]

1) Yes, the first year was to shore up the financial crisis.
2) Yes, the first year the costs of the wars was due to Bush
3) You think there was some magical cost to the tax cuts that occurred in 2010?
4) Do you understand the difference between deficit and debt? When you raise deficit spending by 3 fold and keep it there for four years, you don't get to claim victory because you reduce it by 40%... you are still far above the worst levels under Bush.

Part of the problem is the fact that taxes are currently lower than they have ever been in modern American history.

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

And what did the CBO forecast about the debt? Do you want me to post it?

yes, post it.

 

[Bonestorm]

The whole cult of "tweak" just seems really dangerous right now.

We're a country that is facing some very large problems - because of carelessness, poor planning & poor management. If $16 trillion in debt doesn't scream "incompetence" to you, nothing will.

We need an overhaul, a new way of doing things. I'm so tired of hearing that all we need to do on something like SS is "tweak" it. When someone says tweak, all I hear is "punt".

There is no reasonable way to look at the composition of long term spending and come to the conclusion that we need to do something to majorly overhaul Social Security. There just isn't. Social Security spending is stable for the foreseeable future. Here's a picture for the visual learners out there:

Social Security spending is depicted on the bottom there. It barely rises. Not the sort of thing that requires major changes.

 

[Jarod]

1980's great President, great economy, great military, great music, movies, graduated 1984, met my wife 1988 DJ'd from 86 to early 90's

And the largest debt ever, at the time.

 

[Cancel 2020.1]

"CBO estimates that in fiscal year 2012, spending for Social Security totaled $773 billion, equal to about 5 percent of gross domestic product and one-fifth of federal spending. As more members of the baby-boom generation retire and the U.S. population grows older in the coming decades, Social Security outlays are projected to grow more rapidly than the economy and more rapidly than the program’s dedicated tax revenues.

Over the next 10 years, outlays will exceed dedicated tax revenues by about 10 percent, on average. That gap will grow larger in the 2020s, and by 2030, Social Security outlays will be about 6 percent of gross domestic product and will exceed dedicated tax revenues by about 20 percent. As a result, under current law, resources available to the Social Security program will become insufficient to pay full benefits in about 20 years, CBO projects."

Right around the time I would normally retire. For anyone keeping score.

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

And the largest debt ever, at the time.

which can be said about every President since Ike

 

[tekkychick]

What exactly is a single payer system?

Medicare for all, what most western civilized countries have.

Instead of having to go to individual insurance companies, and wrestle with their administrative crap, health care for all citizens financed, like soc sec/medicare/unemployment insurance, from paychecks.

 

[Jarod]

which can be said about every President since Ike

Exactly, but who increased it the most, save Obama?

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

There is no reasonable way to look at the composition of long term spending and come to the conclusion that we need to do something to majorly overhaul Social Security. There just isn't. Social Security spending is stable for the foreseeable future. Here's a picture for the visual learners out there:

Social Security spending is depicted on the bottom there. It barely rises. Not the sort of thing that requires major changes.

Can you read the chart to me? Thanks for the other stuff though! I am already at work memorizing it, I should be able to parrot it by tomorrow!