Same as it ever was in DC

gmart74 said:

lol they are so useless

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Bama Reb said:

And their days in power are so numbered..

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Bama Reb said:

I think what we need to do is to start now in a grassroots effort to completely replace the Republican Party.

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selmaborntidefan said:

Reb,

This has been going on since 1912, when Teddy Roosevelt deep-sixed Taft with the Bull Moose Party. Every decade we're told there's a new party going to replace the Republicans. It hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it ever will. It's far too difficult nowadays with all the money necessary. Nobody has the time to spend a decade losing elections and millions of dollars in a Pyrrhic victory at best. The Civil War plus Reconstruction made the GOP a formidable party and opposition.

The GOP was dead after LBJ smashed Goldwater; not even close. They were dead due to Watergate - nope. They were dead due to the Perot voters - nope. And gay marriage was supposedly going to kill it, too (apparently, nobody ever pays attention to the fact young voters have ALWAYS migrated liberal, which nowadays and the past 60 years is the Democrats. The sole exception? The 1988 election with so many Reaganites). But gay marriage is going to be the law of the land and the GOP will simply drop it and press on.


The problem is that when there's only two alternatives, it ensures the survival of BOTH the incumbents AND the opposition. If Ross Perot cannot finance a viable third-party, how is it ever going to succeed?

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BamaFlum said:

Who are the young republicans in office that could be trusted?

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Gr8hope said:

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selmaborntidefan said:

Reb,

This has been going on since 1912, when Teddy Roosevelt deep-sixed Taft with the Bull Moose Party. Every decade we're told there's a new party going to replace the Republicans. It hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it ever will. It's far too difficult nowadays with all the money necessary. Nobody has the time to spend a decade losing elections and millions of dollars in a Pyrrhic victory at best. The Civil War plus Reconstruction made the GOP a formidable party and opposition.

The GOP was dead after LBJ smashed Goldwater; not even close. They were dead due to Watergate - nope. They were dead due to the Perot voters - nope. And gay marriage was supposedly going to kill it, too (apparently, nobody ever pays attention to the fact young voters have ALWAYS migrated liberal, which nowadays and the past 60 years is the Democrats. The sole exception? The 1988 election with so many Reaganites). But gay marriage is going to be the law of the land and the GOP will simply drop it and press on.


The problem is that when there's only two alternatives, it ensures the survival of BOTH the incumbents AND the opposition. If Ross Perot cannot finance a viable third-party, how is it ever going to succeed?

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The Guardian said:

Congress has passed, and President Obama has said he would sign, a budget bill that allows banks to use your savings when they make giant financial bets called derivatives. Again.

And because those savings are insured by the federal government, you, the taxpayer, would be on the hook if those bets go south. Again.

This isn’t arcane financial stuff we can ignore. These are the exact financial mechanisms that led to the global crisis just six (short!) years ago. The Dodd-Frank reform law that was passed in the wake of that crisis forbade this from ever happening.

Charlie Chaplin said that nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles. I’d add that nothing is permanent in this wicked world except banks getting whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of the risk to their own customers. Regardless of the risk to the rest of us.

In addition to all that, this so-called compromise also contains a provision that would wreak havoc on the pensions of more than 10 million American workers, who likely have no idea this is coming.

Pension plans were promises to employees that they could count on a certain income in retirement. Unlike the 401k that most of us are familiar with, where we have to rely on our own savings and our own strategies for investing that money, pensions were a guaranteed payout.

That’s why pensions don’t really exist anymore: because they’re expensive, and if a company doesn’t plan correctly, it’s easy to run out of money. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, or PBGC, has to take over the plans from employers who go bankrupt or bust or simply can’t make the payments.

That has happened over and over again, and workers with those pensions have found their benefits cut in half or even more.
Now there’s a real pension crisis. The PBGC itself is now in something of a hole, and warned recently that it doesn’t have the reserves to pay even the reduced amount of the income that was promised to millions of workers.

And a proposal in this same budget bill would allow some pension plans to cut current benefits to employees who are retired – if those plans can show that they’ll otherwise run out of money in the next 10-20 years. The proposal applies to multi-employer pension plans, which cover a diverse cross-section of blue-collar workers such as truck drivers and people in construction.

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chanson78 said:

More about the spending bill.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/16/budget-sets-stage-for-next-meltdown

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Tidewater said:

This is one issue on which I agree with Elizabeth Warren. I have no problem with a bank engaging in risky lending and realizing big benefits when they work out (as long as the lenders are aware that their factors are engaging in risky lending). I just don't want banks to use the Federal coffers when things do not go well.
In my view, "too big to fail" means simply "too big."

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twofbyc said:

And I will say it again: selma, you and some others may think it can't happen - but it's going to. It's already happened in Tallahassee and it's just getting started. The "two party system", as we know it today, has just reached its zenith; it's all downhill from here.
Represent.us IS going to take back our elections, city by city, state by state until we take back our national elections. This is not a conservative/liberal issue; this is simply about taking corruption (and money) out of politics. It's already started, and it's growing, and it will continue to do so.
And, TW, once the money is out of politics, wall street is on their own - as they should be. Sounds like a win/win to me.

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Tidewater said:

I hope you are right.
I don't have any animus against Wall Street. They fulfill a useful societal function getting capital to companies or individuals with bright up-and-coming ideas for new products and services.
If I gamble that pork bellies are going to go up and invest accordingly, I get to pocket the profits when I guess correctly. When they go down, I can't turn to the taxpayers and say, "I'm ruined! Bail me out!" I don't get to socialize the debt if I get things wrong.
Companies might assess risk differently if they know they are ruined if they accept great risk and it turns out badly. They might be more circumspect.

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Displaced Bama Fan said:

The spending bill included a $1,000 month stipend for congress members' car payments. Damn, that must be nice.

http://www.examiner.com/article/spe...00-subsidy-for-congress-to-pay-for-their-cars

So in addition to their salaries, add an extra $12,000 plus that sweet pension they get. BamainBoston, any words of wisdom, before I rake the GOP completely over the coals?

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Bama Reb said:

You mean you haven't yet? They're all in a tizzy hoping Jeb Bush throws his liberal hat into the ring. My God, that man is about as RINO as it gets.
I've watched as the Republican Party has betrayed it's own voter base in favor of the elite liberal financiers and to heck with those who put them there in the first place. I've had it with them.
I just haven't decided yet whether to pin my hopes on a Tea Party candidate or jump headlong onto the Libertarian bandwagon.

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Bama Reb said:

You mean you haven't yet? They're all in a tizzy hoping Jeb Bush throws his liberal hat into the ring. My God, that man is about as RINO as it gets.
I've watched as the Republican Party has betrayed it's own voter base in favor of the elite liberal financiers and to heck with those who put them there in the first place. I've had it with them.
I just haven't decided yet whether to pin my hopes on a Tea Party candidate or jump headlong onto the Libertarian bandwagon.

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Bamaro said:

Hang in there waiting for a real right winger. Hilary approves this message.

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