The Goat Pen

This is interesting. A denial would have shut it down. He didn't give a denial....

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GRASSLEY: Okay, moving on to another subject, the New York Times recently reported that the FBI had found a troubling email among the ones the Russians hacked from Democrat operatives. The email reportedly provided assurances that Attorney General Lynch would protect Secretary Clinton by making sure the FBI investigation “didn't go too far.”

How, and when, did you first learn of this document? Also, who sent it and who received it?

COMEY: That's not a question I can answer in this forum, Mr. Chairman, because it would call for a classified response. I have briefed leadership of the intelligence committees on that particular issue, but I can't talk about it here.

GRASSLEY: You can expect me to follow up with you on that point.

COMEY: Sure.

GRASSLEY: What steps did the FBI take to determine whether Attorney General Lynch had actually given assurances that the political fix was in no matter what? Did the FBI interview the person who wrote the email? If not, why not?

COMEY: I have to give you the same answer. I can't talk about that in an unclassified setting.

GRASSLEY: Okay, then you can expect me to follow up on that. I asked the FBI to provide this email to the committee before today's hearing. Why haven't you done so and will you provide it by the end of this week?

COMEY: Again, to react to that, I have to give a classified answer and I can't give it sitting here.

GRASSLEY: So that means you can give me the email?

COMEY: I'm not confirming there was an email, sir. I can't — the subject is classified and in an appropriate forum I'd be happy to brief you on it. But I can't do it in an open hearing.

Again, begins with the Reagan tax cuts.

Umm yeah... same thing.

In Amended Health Care Bill, GOP Doubles Down on Tax Cuts for Wealthy - Forbes.com

Because that's what it's all about, really.

eCat wrote:you're right - but the answer to why is government

Why does a house cost $160K when its made up of $35K worth of raw materials? Could it be because the government guaranteed loans and created a bubble when President Carter AND Clinton decided that everyone in America should be able to buy a home thru the Community Reinvestment Act.

Why does health care cost so much? Set aside Obama's ego driven huge fucking blunder and just look at Medicaid and Medicare - Government funded health care for the people that consume the largest percentage of health care in the nation. Medicare fraud alone is a $60 billion dollar industry. Government has driven the cost of medical care up because it writes the checks...not to mention lobbyist do things like convincing the government - the largest purchaser of drugs in the nation of which is the largest purchaser of drugs in the world to not negotiate directly with them for drug prices.

Why does education cost so much? We live in a world where schools are making record profits from sports revenue and yet kids are saddled with debt when they graduate from state and private schools. I bet you can guess my answer by now. Guaranteed Federally backed student loans and student direct loans which incidentally the government makes $6b in profit from while creating an education bubble for students to be in debt trying to pay for schools tuition their parents can't afford.

housing, health care, education - As a father, what is the biggest percentage of your paycheck going to?

So what do people do ? They want to vote a democrat into office because they'll create more social programs to help the people in need. Its a vicious circle that makes it worse on everyone. Government takes a $1 from one group and gives a $1 to another, and in the meantime raises the price on everything by $3

Think about that next time you dog the people who vote to politicians who promise to get government out of their lives. Its not just for the white supremacists that want to live in Idaho.

I will plagerize this

eCat wrote:This is interesting. A denial would have shut it down. He didn't give a denial....

------------------

GRASSLEY: Okay, moving on to another subject, the New York Times recently reported that the FBI had found a troubling email among the ones the Russians hacked from Democrat operatives. The email reportedly provided assurances that Attorney General Lynch would protect Secretary Clinton by making sure the FBI investigation “didn't go too far.”

How, and when, did you first learn of this document? Also, who sent it and who received it?

COMEY: That's not a question I can answer in this forum, Mr. Chairman, because it would call for a classified response. I have briefed leadership of the intelligence committees on that particular issue, but I can't talk about it here.

GRASSLEY: You can expect me to follow up with you on that point.

COMEY: Sure.

GRASSLEY: What steps did the FBI take to determine whether Attorney General Lynch had actually given assurances that the political fix was in no matter what? Did the FBI interview the person who wrote the email? If not, why not?

COMEY: I have to give you the same answer. I can't talk about that in an unclassified setting.

GRASSLEY: Okay, then you can expect me to follow up on that. I asked the FBI to provide this email to the committee before today's hearing. Why haven't you done so and will you provide it by the end of this week?

COMEY: Again, to react to that, I have to give a classified answer and I can't give it sitting here.

GRASSLEY: So that means you can give me the email?

COMEY: I'm not confirming there was an email, sir. I can't — the subject is classified and in an appropriate forum I'd be happy to brief you on it. But I can't do it in an open hearing.

Wow. The Dem's are convinced that this Russian thing would send Trump to jail. They may regret lifting that rock for everyone to look underneath.

Y tu, prof - unwilling to counter the notion that Ronnie Raygun stagnated wages in perpetuity and effectively killed the American middle class? I'll give anybody a free swing at it.. the last word if you will. The only rule is you have to mention the name Reagan (which was inexplicably MIA on all that other handwringing about economic woes and disparities).

But hey - THIS is some funny shit: Democrats Chant 'hey hey hey, goodbye' at House Republicans After They Pass Health Care Bill - MSN.com

Democrats mocked Republicans from the House floor Thursday after GOP representatives voted to pass the American Health Care Act by chanting "na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey hey hey, goodbye," at their counterparts

Professional. Clowns.

bluetick wrote:

Umm yeah... same thing.

If tax cuts caused inequality, how come inequality spiked from 1993-2000 when Clinton rates were 10% points higher than Reagan's?

Had it ever occurred to you that maybe the speed of technological advancements is the reason rather than tax cuts?

bluetick wrote:Y tu, prof - unwilling to counter the notion that Ronnie Raygun stagnated wages in perpetuity and effectively killed the American middle class? I'll give anybody a free swing at it.. the last word if you will. The only rule is you have to mention the name Reagan (which was inexplicably MIA on all that other handwringing about economic woes and disparities).

Here ya go:

::clear my throat::

I, Professor Tiger, being of sound mind (sort of) and body, hereby make the following statement:

"Trickle down" or "supply side" economics is hereby defined as the theory that tax rates should be lowered on all taxpayers. As a result, low income people will receive a small benefit from lowered tax rates while higher income people will receive greater benefits from lower tax rates.

According to trickle down economics theory, and the additional spending and reinvestment from lowered tax rates on higher income people will result in significant improvement in the economic status of lower wage earners because they will create goods and services to be purchased by higher income people who are induced into a spending spree by their tax windfalls.

Moreover, the reinvestment into economy by the higher income people will result in more jobs for lower income people. The decreased taxation will increase the amount of taxes collected by the federal government because the increased spending and reinvesting by higher income people will all be taxed, and will more than compensate for the loss in tax revenue from lowered tax rates on high earners (i.e. "The tax cuts will pay for themselves")

This trickle down economic theory was first put into practice by President Ronald Reagan. It resulted in massive, historic federal deficits and debt. It succeeded in increasing actual tax revenues to the federal treasury, but this new revenue was immediately spent by both parties; military spending by Republicans and social program spending by Republicans.

This pattern of deficit spending leading to mounting debt and deficit, all resulting from trickle down economics, continued for most of the years since it was started by President Reagan. The only exception was a brief period under President Clinton, who deviated from trickle down economics, and increased taxes on high income people somewhat. President Clinton was the last US president who balanced the US budget.

President George W Bush returned to trickle down economics. He lowered taxes on all earners, but the benefits of those tax cuts largely accrued to high income earners. As a result, the federal deficit and debt soared once again. The surge of debt and deficit was magnified by new social spending, and major outlays for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After 30 years of practice, trickle down economics has been an utter failure. It dramatically increased the deficit and debt, as did more increased spending and borrowing under President Obama. The tax windfall to high income people has not resulted in any discernable improvement in the economic status of lower income earners. While the wealth of high income earners has dramatically increased, the wages of middle income earners has been stagnant for 20 years. The gap between rich and poor has grown steadily. The rising tide has not lifted all boats, only the yachts.

And it all started under Ronald Reagan.

How's that, Tick?

what is considered low income across the United States

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/03/84 ... ge-county/

California just needs to raise their taxes more so there is more income equality.

The more they raise taxes, the more businesses will flee, which is good for the environment.

I don't think we have a choice but to say the explanation is in the realm of human neurosis, not politics. And make that pretty severe neurosis, almost psychosis. Something about Trump's character and appearance -- what he says and does or, more accurately, what they think he says and does, because they are completely incapable of seeing it with any clarity -- has set off multiple trip levers in the minds of a huge percentage of Americans, including the media, Hollywood, the academy, etc. This, however, says vastly more about them than it does about Trump.

One way to look at it is that the left, or what we call the left (liberal and progressives of various stripes), are actually by far the most conservative or rigid people in our culture in terms of personality. The slightest alteration in policy or change in the zeitgeist threatens them all out of proportion to reality and they act out, like these self-described anarchists (assuming they have even heard of Bakunin or Kropotkin) just did the other day in Portland, naming themselves, as did the increasingly pathetic and desperate Hillary Clinton herself just did today, "The Resistance." In what sane universe does calling yourself "The Resistance" to Donald Trump make sense when the original "Résistance" was to counter Hitler and the Nazis taking over France, and prevent them from sending people to concentration camps and doing away with the underground in firing squads? Is that what Trump is doing?




https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2017/05 ... sive-rage/

In what sane universe does calling yourself "The Resistance" to Donald Trump make sense when the original "Résistance" was to counter Hitler and the Nazis taking over France,

To the "Resistance," opposing Trump IS the equivalent of opposing Hitler, because to them, Trump IS Hitler. There is no difference.

bluetick wrote:

Umm yeah... same thing.

Just a wild guess here....but I'm thinking the whole Russia stole the election cant is running on empty.

Toemeesleather wrote:Just a wild guess here....but I'm thinking the whole Russia stole the election cant is running on empty.

Nothing of the sort. There was a discussion about the sorry state of wages and buying power that sorely needed some historical perspective.

Since you mentioned it, I saw an interview with the senior dem on the House Intelligence Committee last night and he seemed mighty pleased after his classified meeting with Comey yesterday. The witness list is growing steadily...apparently people have a story to tell, and they're willing to tell it.

Warren Buffet and Jamie Dimon say that we should expand the EITC and not increase minimum wage. They are wrong for 3 reasons:

(1) It makes inequality even worse by keeping wages low
(2) it makes the deficit worse.
(3) If you think about it, It's a government subsidy to businesses by suppressing the need for low wage workers to demand more.

If I were Trump, I would make a deal with business. We'll give you a lower tax rate to 20% in return for raising the minimum wage to $15.


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/warr ... 07164.html

In the wake out outrage by people over the house version of the American health care bill, I would just like to ask democrats where my $2500 In savings is. I am now owed approximately $10,000 by the ACA.