Sounds like a positive, common sense agenda. By DAVID ESPO The Associated Press Friday, October 6, 2006; 1:58 AM WASHINGTON -- Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule. As in the first 100 hours the House meets after Democrats _ in her fondest wish _ win control in the Nov. 7 midterm elections and Pelosi takes the gavel as the first Madam Speaker in history. Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation." Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients. Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday. All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority. To do that, she said, Bush-era tax cuts would have to be rolled back for those above "a certain level." She mentioned annual incomes of $250,000 or $300,000 a year and higher, and said tax rates for those individuals might revert to those of the Clinton era. Details will have to be worked out, she emphasized. "We believe in the marketplace," Pelosi said of Democrats, then drew a contrast with Republicans. "They have only rewarded wealth, not work." "We must share the benefits of our wealth" beyond the privileged few, she added. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600056_pf.html
So they want to raise taxes to discourage investment and punish the most productive members of society?
Yeah, so in other words, she wants to raise taxes and follow the same old tired, try to solve everything from Washington, D.C. approach. I sure do hope those Dems get the majority, they'll be like, SO much better!
If they didn't have my vote before, they got it with this... "Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. " With over 100K in debt when I finish law school this is incredibly important to me. They need to be shouting this plan from the rooftops.
What do you mean by productive? You do understand that the majority of the richest people in the U.S. got that way by inheritance and connections and not by hard work right? You do understand that the richest people will still have plenty of money to invest even if their taxes go up. That is part of being rich.
Did you even read this before you posted it? This is almost completely nonresponsive to the situation at issue. Are you in the right thread?
This idiocy is why I can rarely vote Democratic, even when I am thoroughly disgusted with Republican leadership. Democrats always fall back on the ridiculous punish the rich strategy to energize unsophisticated voters. This idiocy has always been shown to hurt the economy and most importantly hurt the poorest the most, as the first thing that the rich cut is the jobs of the people they employ. http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stanley-millionaire.html This just isn't true. 80% of America's millionaires are first-generation millionaires. That upward mobility is always what has made America great.
The strange (and in some cases wonderful) thing about America is that the poor feel so much guilt about being poor that even some of the poorest vote for economic plans that are economic suicide for their class. They, in many cases, want the rich to keep getting richer because they have this feeling that one day they too will find their rightful place in the top 1/10th of 1 percent....but as long as there is a Cribs or Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous they will continue eating dirt, against that chance that one day they will live in the lap of luxury. So yeah...I mean if you think that recinding tax cuts to the uber rich is gonna prevent em from investing more money into the economy (as they ALWAYS do instead of just passing it on to thier useless decendents). Then by all means wave the flag and go to church and vote Republican. If you think the kid behind the counter at Mickey D's isn't worth a living wage, and that Bill Gates and Donald Trump are somehow better than most people. By all means keep voting Rep.... Look how great its been for the country lately!!
What idiocy are you talking about? Do you think it's been a good idea to cut taxes during a war for the first time in our nation's history? Do you think it is a bad idea to "pay as you go," instead of running record deficits? Obviously, you aren't a conservative. Punish the rich?? How would they be punished? They have had more largess thrown at them than they ever dreamed possible by this Administration and Republican Congress, despite the record deficits and the fact that we are fighting a war. Are you "rich?" Do you even have a six figure income? Would you be affected by a few percent increase in the taxes on the highest brackets? Or are you like those deluded souls of the South, who fought and died, in many cases, in the mistaken belief that someday, in a future made up of their imagination, they would be able to afford to own slaves. Why are you carrying the water for the rich? It looks like you are. I'll ask you the same question I asked big texxx and Trader_J several times before they left, and never recieved an answer... are you willing to sacrifice to pay for this war? Are you willing to pay higher taxes to fund the war? I am. I'm in a bracket that would likely get higher taxes from a Democratic Congress that could override a Bush veto. I'm willing to pay higher taxes during a war. Are you? As for the minimum wage, why are you against raising it? Do you know how many years it's been since it was last raised, and how inflation has eaten away at the pitiful amount the minimum wage is now? I think the rise mentioned by Pelosi is too low, but it's a start. Are you against the absurd restrictions on stem cell research? Do you know anyone who might benefit from the host of diseases scientists think could possibly be cured from increased research? I do. When you get to be my age, sadly, you come to know far too many people with those kinds of health problems. With all due respect, do you really think about this stuff, or do you get your talking points from Rush? It sounds like the latter. Free your mind. Keep D&D Civil.
That is true. The millionaires aren't the nations richest people. I guess it just depends on where we draw the line of richest. I'm sorry for not being more clear. I meant the top 1-5% maybe. I am happy about the millionaires that are first generation rich. But one can be a millionaire and have taxes affect how much they invest. One who is a millionaire 100 times over will have enough to invest anyway.
Our taxes were too high to begin with. The ridiculous spending by this administration is why I'm completely fed up by the Republicans (more specifically Bush) in power now. So, yes, it is perfectly okay to cut taxes during a time of a war, but it should have been followed by a reduction in government beaurocracy, not an insane increase in it. The supply-side economics (which sound ridiculous) have definitely worked in the short-term. I do not currently have a six-figure income, but I would like to, and am working towards that point. I am in a tax bracket that would likely be hit by any increase in taxes. I save every bit that I can, I'm working on an advanced degree, and I work in a field whose salary is increase at a relatively fast pace. I know plenty of people who make more than the $250,000 that Mrs. Pelosi sees as worth punishing. All of them are small business owners whose first priority with their money is growing their business. These businesses are the backbone of our economy. I would not necessarily be against a minimum wage increase, but I also don't think it's necessary. I work in an industry where anyone who wants to (and is reasonably healthy and can pass a drug test) can walk up and make 2.5-3 times the minimum wage. (No skills or education required whatsoever.) We can't fill all of these jobs. I don't have much sympathy for anyone who complains about minimum wage. You know as well as I do that the majority of minimum wage workers are teenage kids and second incomes in a family. A minimum wage increase will do little positive or negative for the country. My grandfather died of Parkinson's disease and if stem-cell research could find a cure for that, I would definitely be for it. But there is no one restricting stem-cell research at all. The federal government funding of stem-cell research has been restricted. I am pretty ambivalent about this. The capitalist in me says that if this were really the most promising field of research, researchers would have all the private funding that they could handle. I don't know the medical research field well enough to assure that this is true. So I should say that I don't have a fully-formed opinion about this issue. Yes, if I thought it would be necessary, I would be willing to pay higher taxes during a time of war. But I would want to know that the government has done its best to reduce it's own largess before doing so. I personally can't stand Rush Limbaugh.
Where's a real plan for Katrina recovery? Special health care legislation for all the people who worked Ground Zero after the Bush Admin intentionally lied about the air quality would also be nice.
i wish they'd tell us that they'd scrap the new bankruptcy code.... but they were bought and sold on that issue, too, unfortunately. i'll vote democrat...but i don't have hope much will change. i've been disappointed too many times before. check that. i've been disappointed EVERY time before.
It's interesting that they want to get rid of the speical interest groups AFTER they win the election. If they had any integrity, they would cut ties to investors before they started campaigning, if they were going to act like they wouldn't be influenced by special interest money. Raising the minimum wage is moving in the wrong direction, they should be getting rid of the minimum wage. People need to realize that you don't have to accept a job if you are not willing to work for what they are offering to pay. Minimum wage should be the absolute least amount someone will take to do whatever it is you need them to do. If I want to bag groceries for a dollar an hour, that should be up to me. The store shouldn't have to pay someone $7.50 and hour if I am willing to do it for less. This plan dovetails nicely with granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. Raising taxes on the rich is a bad idea. The rich own companies, and companies set prices. If they suddenly take a billion dollar hit, do the Dems think they are just gonna say, "Oh well, it was good while it lasted."? That isn't how it works. Once their costs go up, they will raise prices to compensate. The bad part of that is, if the taxes get lowered again later, the prices aren't going to come back down. The rich (as defined by the Peloski tax hike plan)are the ones providing jobs, goods, and services. Since the Dems always think raising taxes is such a good idea, just give people an option on their tax forms that they can pay at the current rate, or at the rate the Dems want them to pay at. All of the Dems are free to choose the higher option. I don't think many of them will. I think Massechusets has such an option on their state income taxes, which got a lot of pub during the '04 elctions because Kerry elected to go with the lower rate. How many people who were horrified at the Chinese prisoner organ farming story have no problem with "broaden"ing the types of stem cell research that is funded by the people? I guess when you have no problem killing babies it doesn't really matter if you are killing them for their stem cells. The one thing I could get behind with Pelosi is enacting the recommendations of the 9/11 commision. Unfortunately for whoever the Dems are running (McNerney IIRC) in my district, that just isn't enough.
YEs, that would be a great way to lose every single election ever. But anyway if we are comparing special interests, one party was just enmeshed in the Abramoff bribery scandal and one was not. THerefore I'm pretty sure they maintain the edge in integrity. Thanks for this lecture, but people like you need to realize that purely unregulated markets are not magic and do not always lead to the optimal outcome, despite what the graph says. It's really bizarre that you've bought the line so much that working class folks like yourself are always arguing against your best interests. THis is about the most simplistic bit of macroeconomic analysis I have ever read and is too amateurish even for me, a rank amateur. Go and read some Stiglitz, or something. LOL, the taxes we're talking about here, the ones on the super rich like the estate tax etc, that super rich people like Bil Gates and Warren BUffet are in favor of will never affect you, or sadly and more importantly, me. Hey, speaking of this idea, given your unique penchant for arguing one thing and then practicing another - why don't you apply this priniciple to your campaign against minimum wage? Why don't you call your employer up and tell him that you are opting out of the minimum wage on principle and that he can pay you whatever you want? I know that you really hate the idea of returning taxes to the level of they were at during the largest economic expanision in history, in the face massive long term deficits, but sometimes the adults have to make hard decisions. We can't have super-expensive wars that you favor and tax cuts. Sorry. Uh, hello, you just endorsed the chinese approach to labor market and wage protections, but when it comes to bundles of cells.....woohooo stupidmoniker pulls out all the stops. ........wow you sound like such a moderate. I guess the dems will have to run congress without your support should they be successful.
Do you really think that having a million dollars now makes you one of the richest americans? LOL, not even close. Sure, due to the real estate bubble, there are a lot more paper millionaires in the US, but the reality is that social mobility has been decreasing dramatically over the last few years, thanks to things like the elimination of the estate tax which locks up capital and power in the same ever-shrinking goroup.
In 2000, prior to the Bush cuts, we paid the lowest aggregate taxes of any industrialized country, had among the very highest expenses (a vast portion of it, aside from infrastructure costs, is having a huge, expensive military) and as a consequence run massive deficits. Too high? Compared to what? In the real world, things cost money.
I love how some of you misunderstand what real economic conservatives want. We don't want taxes lowered and spending increased. We want BOTH decreased. If this were put out by a Republican, the response would be, "that'll never happen." Why not the same reaction. I can't wait until these guys win so some of you can stop with the "Democrats are so much better at everything in life" argument. They're just as slimy. In fact, having met all the candidates for governor in person, the most slimy of the sad bunch is the Democrat, Chris Bell.
