OP ED-"Little Timmy Wants to Know Why Nobody Likes Airplanes Anymore?

[flyboy0681]

I've got one, actually, two. The TSA and Homeland Security?

 

 

Not Medicare Part D?

[AndyFromCB]

John,

 

Help us along. Single national conservative idea that turned out of be right? Anyone, anyone? It's apparently a unicorn...

[flyboy0681]

John,

 

Help us along. Single national conservative idea that turned out of be right? Anyone, anyone? It's apparently a unicorn...

 

 

I think I have one, although based upon responses that I got a few pages ago, I may be walking on eggshells here.

 

By all accounts, the Republican sponsored Welfare Reform Act of 1996 has achieved its goals. Well done GOP, well done.

 

 

I found this on the subject:

 

Work and earnings rose….

• The employment of single mothers increased by 15 percent from 1996 through 2000, and even after the recession it is still higher than before welfare reform. (Source: Congressional Research Service estimates based on Census Bureau data)
• According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ latest report on the TANF program, "earnings in female-headed families remained higher in 2009 than in 1996 despite various shifts in the economic climate since TANF's enactment." (Source: Department of Health and Human Services)

…while welfare dependence and poverty has fallen.

• Since it replaced the New Deal-era Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program in 1996, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has been successful at cutting welfare dependence as caseloads have declined by 57 percent through December 2011. (Source:Department of Health and Human Services)
• Child poverty in female-headed households fell dramatically after welfare reform and is still down by more than 15 percent below the level in the early 1990s. (Source: Census Bureau)

[AndyFromCB]

 

I think I have one, although based upon responses that I got a few pages ago, I may be walking on eggshells here.

 

By all accounts, the Republican sponsored Welfare Reform Act of 1996 has achieved its goals. Well done GOP, well done.

 

 

I found this on the subject:

 

Work and earnings rose….

• The employment of single mothers increased by 15 percent from 1996 through 2000, and even after the recession it is still higher than before welfare reform. (Source: Congressional Research Service estimates based on Census Bureau data)
• According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ latest report on the TANF program, "earnings in female-headed families remained higher in 2009 than in 1996 despite various shifts in the economic climate since TANF's enactment." (Source: Department of Health and Human Services)

…while welfare dependence and poverty has fallen.

• Since it replaced the New Deal-era Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program in 1996, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has been successful at cutting welfare dependence as caseloads have declined by 57 percent through December 2011. (Source:Department of Health and Human Services)
• Child poverty in female-headed households fell dramatically after welfare reform and is still down by more than 15 percent below the level in the early 1990s. (Source: Census Bureau)

 

 

Cool, we found one. Let's keep on digging.

[flyboy0681]

Cool, we found one. Let's keep on digging.

 

 

That's all I can come up with, and that one took a lot of work.

[John Pleisse]

Republican Policy is famously simple, which is why it frustrates liberals. You view American success through the prism of public policy and omit our very foundations of success. You view fairness and political purpose only through a shit stream of law, after law, after law, topped off with a pile of government regulation and endless taxation. In affect, you measure the opposite party by your own ideals. Relaxed taxation and regulation have fostered our greatest economic expansions in history. Like all good things, they aren't forever and we return to earth. This is popular fodder for democratic antagonism. The recession of 1991, the crash 2008, etc. But often ignored in these arguments, are the decade long runs of success we enjoyed in between, due in large part to sound physical policy. But to indulge you:

 

Reagan Tax Act of 1981 (you remember 17% interest rates in 1978, right)?

SS Amendment of 1985

Balanced Budget Act of 1985

1996 Fed Welfare Reform Act

Bush Tax Cuts 2001

 

Republican Success

 

Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964 (you were short a few dems...mostly southern)

First woman appointed to the Supreme Court

First African American to head The Joint Chiefs

The First African American Secretary of State

The First Hispanic Attorney General

 

The demise of our middle class was a confluence of two major historical events. NAFTA, which forever changed the place and purpose of the American worker and manufacturing sector. It did everything it was not supposed to do. Ruined auto making (Ford notwithstanding), unions and forever changed the future of trade barriers. Second, was the advent of the computer microchip. This was the last nail in the coffin of the American working class, leading the way to manufacturing automation, quality control and complex automation systems.

 

Popular consensus is Bill Clinton had it right. He did because the Republican controlled Congress rivaled his very popularity. He advanced anti-trust litigation against Microsoft. Clinton was the luckiest man alive........an entire country of wealth and an IRS tripping and falling over revenue from hundreds of thousands of the new rich, the "Dot-Com millionaires". Clinton only presided over balanced coffers, he wasn't the cause. He tried his darnedest to mess it up. 

 

Bush..... Please challenge me and I'll retort. I am tired and haven't had dinner yet.

[flyboy0681]

Since you already stated balance the budget...

Tax Reform 

Term Limits

Repeal ObamaCare

 

I don't think we will see tax reform (the flat tax type) in our lifetime, although I'm certainly in favor of it.

 

Term limits would require a constitutional amendment. 

 

As more and more American's become insured, I think it will be very difficult to repeal it. They may chip away at it, but I tend to think it's here to stay. More than likely congress will start to refine it. Medicare has little resemblance to the program that started in 1966.

[scottfromiowa]

Republican Policy is famously simple, which is why it frustrates liberals. You view American success through the prism of public policy and omit our very foundations of success. You view fairness and political purpose only through a shit stream of law, after law, after law, topped off with a pile of government regulation and endless taxation. In affect, you measure the opposite party by your own ideals. Relaxed taxation and regulation have fostered our greatest economic expansions in history. Like all good things, they aren't forever and we return to earth. This is popular fodder for democratic antagonism. The recession of 1991, the crash 2008, etc. But often ignored in these arguments, are the decade long runs of success we enjoyed in between, due in large part to sound physical policy. But to indulge you:

 

Reagan Tax Act of 1981 (you remember 17% interest rates in 1978, right)?

SS Amendment of 1985

Balanced Budget Act of 1985

1996 Fed Welfare Reform Act

Bush Tax Cuts 2001

 

Republican Success

 

Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964 (you were short a few dems...mostly southern)

First woman appointed to the Supreme Court

First African American to head The Joint Chiefs

The First African American Secretary of State

The First Hispanic Attorney General

 

The demise of our middle class was a confluence of two major historical events. NAFTA, which forever changed the place and purpose of the American worker and manufacturing sector. It did everything it was not supposed to do. Ruined auto making (Ford notwithstanding), unions and forever changed the future of trade barriers. Second, was the advent of the computer microchip. This was the last nail in the coffin of the American working class, leading the way to manufacturing automation, quality control and complex automation systems.

 

Popular consensus is Bill Clinton had it right. He did because the Republican controlled Congress rivaled his very popularity. He advanced anti-trust litigation against Microsoft. Clinton was the luckiest man alive........and entire country of wealth and an IRS tripping and falling over revenue from hundreds of thousands of the new rich, the "Dot-Com millionaires". Clinton only presided over balanced coffers, he wasn't the cause. He tried his darnedest to mess it up. 

 

Bush..... Please challenge me and I'll retort. I am tired nd haven't had dinner yet.

I just see ZERO need to defend the Republican party and conservatism. I believe this country is great when the government gets out of the way and lets business create jobs and wealth. Conservatives have been maligned by government...as they should be...because they don't want government leadership. They want LESS government. LESS "PROGRAMS". LESS Taxation. LESS regulation.

Greed of unions and union members killed US manufacturing. NAFTA and China and free trade just allowed US Corporations to reject Assembl-line workers making six figures for the awesome capablity of using an air gun and a welder...Honda, VW, BMW etc. have shown that quality automobiles can be made by American's in America.

@#$% Government Motors. I wish they would have gone bankrupt.

[AndyFromCB]

Thanks, seriously, that's what I wanted to understand...

[AndyFromCB]

Since you already stated balance the budget...

Tax Reform

Term Limits

Repeal ObamaCare

 

What do you mean by tax reform.

[alex]

Flat tax, I think...

[AndyFromCB]

Scott/John,

 

Also, what do we do with the 49 million people on food stamps and other programs currently? Many of them work full time but obviously, at minimum wage, are not able to fully make ends meet. $8 an hour is 320 a week, before any taxes or health insurance deductions. I've blown more on a single bar tab. Shit I've blown more on a single dinner than some of these people make in a month. This is not bragging, this is demonstrating disparity in income. Or do we do nothing and let chips fall where they may...

[carusoam]

Automation is your enemy...?

Automated controls in American manufacturing have eliminated 100 jobs on a single manufacturing line...

The computers integrate the machinery, nobody stands to watch them. Raw materials are loaded automatically, finished product is loaded onto pallets by a machine called a palletizer...

Barcodes are printed on labels so boxes can leave the manufacturing floor and get sent to a warehouse where more machines set things up for trucking...

Plastics manufacturing was split in half. Half went to Mexico, the other half went to China. This is because it is more expensive to manufacture in the USA. We have government programs that protect our workforce (OSHA). Another one that protects the air and our water (EPA).

Ever seen a guy with his hand stuck in a grinding machine, up to his elbow? Or an arm rolled up into a slitter rewinder? OSHA couldn't get there fast enough to save these guy's bacon. My European friend was missing a finger from getting it caught in the pinch-point of a three roll stack...? Guess Europe has the same challenges we have. It is less costly to keep people's parts out of the machines. Proof that Europe has lawyers too.

Ever seen a community be eliminated when a factory gets shut down? Drive through Manville, NJ, the home of Johns Manville corporation. Who forced them to close down? Why?

I don't need any gory videos as a reminder how precious life is.

Work in American manufacturing, if it is so great...

Wait a minute.... What are you guys doing for work...?

Let's keep working together...

Best regards,

-a-

[scottfromiowa]

MFG I work with have a starting wage. If you show up, do your job, learn, are motivated you get opportunity to advance and make more money. You get what you give. Small towns in Iowa have nice homes and lower costs to lead a good life. Like my family, wives staying home is not happening if you want some toys and a bigger house. It is not uncommon to see family businesses. I was at a small machine shop today. Two brothers and a son of the owner represented over 50% of the workforce. They are doing O.K. in a small rural Iowa town.

[jetdriven]

Americans cannot compete with Chinese who make <500$ a month, including overtime.

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-labor-watch-apple-iphone-workers-2013-7

[scottfromiowa]

Good for Joni getting opportunity next Tuesday to give the GOP response at state of union.

[carusoam]

Balance the budget. We are not at war. We should be all over this one...

Our European friends that you listed above pay a higher percentage of their income to taxes than we do.

Which did you want?

- Higher taxes?

- the goofy system we have here?

Are you really worried about Social Security, when you have more powerful devices like...

- retirement plans

- 401Ks

- 503Bs

These are on top of SS....

Yes, you earned them all!

Those terrible banks you listed are for sale on Wall Street. Your retirement plan may own shares of these monsters.

The wealthier you get the more of these type of things you own...

What is the cost of a few Obama phones?

I get it you don't want to pay the taxes on your cell phone bill.

You have an airplane, at least a half an airplane and a really expensive cool car...

You are going to look a bit mean if you focus your anger towards people that have so little that they want an Obama phone.

You guys work so hard at your real jobs I find it hard to believe you have enough time to research and worry about these topics.

Best regards,

-a-

[flyboy0681]

Such great responses tonight.

 

I'm pretty much behind Scott when he said greed of unions killed manufacturing, but at the same time think the workers that built the country during the first five to six decades of the last century deserved a square deal. However, things started to unravel (I think) in the late 70's and the wheels started coming off in the 80's, leading us down the primrose path we are now on. And where did this crap come from of making 70% of your highest earning years come as the basis for your retirement pay? Whatever happened to defined benefit pensions where you knew your numbers decades in advance?

 

Andy made a good point when he asked how American's making $8 an hour can't make ends meet without food stamps. I posed essentially the same question to my dad yesterday and he had the same answer - and then some. Boy did I get a mouthful. He also brought up an article that appeared to that shows that people at the bottom that do have jobs (the working poor) pay disproportionately more in taxes than any other group when state income and sales taxes are factored in.  

 

Caruso is spot on in his assessment of where the jobs went: automation. Auto companies started their investment and switchover in the mid 80's and they never looked back. I mentioned a few pages ago that the chickens are coming home to roost in China in terms of their environmental problems, and they are problems of gigantic proportions. We had the foresight to tackle these issues forty years ago (credit here goes to Nixon) and the last time I looked, the Hudson River was very clear and you can see forever from the top of the Empire State Building. Growing up there in the late 60's I can say with great conviction that it wasn't always that way. Some regulation is necessary but unfortunately often comes at a high cost. Hopefully the results are worth it. As far as work conditions at Foxconn in China are concerned, no wonder workers were jumping out of the windows of their dorm to the pavement below, until they constructed safety nets that is. Not sure we would want that here.

[John Pleisse]

Scott/John,

 

Also, what do we do with the 49 million people on food stamps and other programs currently? Many of them work full time but obviously, at minimum wage, are not able to fully make ends meet. $8 an hour is 320 a week, before any taxes or health insurance deductions. I've blown more on a single bar tab. Shit I've blown more on a single dinner than some of these people make in a month. This is not bragging, this is demonstrating disparity in income. Or do we do nothing and let chips fall where they may...

 

 

Well it wasn't 49 million before 2008. What bugs me about what's going on now is, basically....in a nut shell, our Treasury buys and sells large bonds interests on Wall Street. The money goes to and from the Fed and the large fund managers and completely bypasses the American people. That bar tab Andy? We're all gonna have to pay it (metaphor...we as a nation when the debt needs to be paid). Liberal scholars say we are good....all the way up to 35 trillion. I am not so sure.

[carusoam]

How is our debt clock running lately?

I saw it a couple of months ago, it appeared to be going backwards, declining...

Do you guys have a reference for this? Is it really decreasing?

Best regards,

-a-

[AndyFromCB]

Well it wasn't 49 million before 2008. What bugs me about what's going on now is, basically....in a nut shell, our Treasury buys and sells large bonds interests on Wall Street. The money goes to and from the Fed and the large fund managers and completely bypasses the American people. That bar tab Andy? We're all gonna have to pay it (metaphor...we as a nation when the debt needs to be paid). Liberal scholars say we are good....all the way up to 35 trillion. I am not so sure.

 

 

If I understood what's happening there at the treasury, I'd be typing this from my Gulfstream. We have a structural debt problem, on national, state and local level. Now that we're all being serious and it's no longer food stamps for all and let's totally get rid of the EPA, I am more than willing to admit that. What to do about, well, that's for another post. I do know if we hit deflation, we're in deep shit. Much deeper shit than inflation. I'm tired and I want to go fly tomorrow morning. I'll let little Timmy rest for a few days. 

 

Good night and good morning to you all.

[kmyfm20s]

If I understood what's happening there at the treasury, I'd be typing this from my Gulfstream. We have a structural debt problem, on national, state and local level. Now that we're all being serious and it's no longer food stamps for all and let's totally get rid of the EPA, I am more than willing to admit that. What to do about, well, that's for another post. I do know if we hit deflation, we're in deep shit. Much deeper shit than inflation. I'm tired and I want to go fly tomorrow morning. I'll let little Timmy rest for a few days. 

 

Good night and good morning to you all.

Congratulations on your 1000 post tonight!

[John Pleisse]

@#$% Government Motors. I wish they would have gone bankrupt.

 

 

Well if they had, they would still be here....bigger than ever. There ain't much difference between a bail out or bankruptcy. They both are an escape. The difference with the GM bail out was, it saved the thousands of jobs of cascading vendors and subcontractors that supported GM. Bankruptcy would have also created austerity measures the UAW would have had to conform to. So the bail out saved voting interests in the entire Great Lakes rim. Obama a bad dude four doing it? Sure. But what's good for the goose. Republicans did it with Chrysler. Point being, these were union buy outs and protections, not the best way to save an auto maker. Remember those dumb Chevy Volt commercials from 2009 and that doofy 30-something LA type guy (a real tool) saying...."Hey...I love my Volt!! It's just a cooooool car". Whatever.

[John Pleisse]

Automation is your enemy...?

Automated controls in American manufacturing have eliminated 100 jobs on a single manufacturing line...

The computers integrate the machinery, nobody stands to watch them. Raw materials are loaded automatically, finished product is loaded onto pallets by a machine called a palletizer...

Barcodes are printed on labels so boxes can leave the manufacturing floor and get sent to a warehouse where more machines set things up for trucking...

Plastics manufacturing was split in half. Half went to Mexico, the other half went to China. This is because it is more expensive to manufacture in the USA. We have government programs that protect our workforce (OSHA). Another one that protects the air and our water (EPA).

Ever seen a guy with his hand stuck in a grinding machine, up to his elbow? Or an arm rolled up into a slitter rewinder? OSHA couldn't get there fast enough to save these guy's bacon. My European friend was missing a finger from getting it caught in the pinch-point of a three roll stack...? Guess Europe has the same challenges we have. It is less costly to keep people's parts out of the machines. Proof that Europe has lawyers too.

Ever seen a community be eliminated when a factory gets shut down? Drive through Manville, NJ, the home of Johns Manville corporation. Who forced them to close down? Why?

I don't need any gory videos as a reminder how precious life is.

Work in American manufacturing, if it is so great...

Wait a minute.... What are you guys doing for work...?

Let's keep working together...

Best regards,

-a-

 

 

The website won't let me hit the "Like" bottom any more, so here ya go. I have different theories on European social democracies, but I'll let that notion morph into another discussion at another time.

[carusoam]

John,

Didn't the huge bond flow come to an end?

They called it QE3. It was the third quantitative easing program since 2008.

The bad banks have paid billions in fines and have returned more money back to the government coffers...

The Federal Reserve started "tapering" it down last year at a rate of $10 Billion per month or so...

This program had the benefits of keeping the economy in a slow growth period, while getting the unemployment rate down below 6 percent. The side benefit goes to anyone that can get a loan for large things that they want to buy...low interest rates... Lower than the one Mom and Dad had when they bought their house in the 60s.

I think the kids are going to need an MBA in finance to get a better understanding of this situation...

My Dad still complains that he would prefer the old days with 10+ % interest rate for his savings account. I think he left out the effects of inflation... Saving has become a full time money magenent job...

We need to understand a huge amount of information to take care of our families. I don't think our government is going to be able to help everybody at the level that this thread's participants desire.

Adding to this, retirement age has been extended. We are going to be older when the SS payments can be collected...

Fortunately, we are expected to live incredibly longer than our parents...

Many people have stopped smoking, a popular source of cancer and heart-attacks.

Simple cancers have been cured. A lethal cancer like Breast Cancer can be cured if it is found in a timely manner.

Ever lose somebody to these cancers?

Ever see the young kids in Europe still smoking? Less and less over time, but still more than the U.S....

Asian cultures still smoke like the word hasn't gotten out yet...not even using filtered cigarettes...

What will it cost to provide health care for everyone, especially when the smart people live longer?

Smart people with retirement plans and insurance live longer than Obama phone toting cigarette smokers...

If you own Phillip Morris stock, you have earned capital gains at the cost of the smokers.

Make money, and help kill off the uninformed...

How fair is that?

The U.S. is slow to catch up to these things. Educating kids in grammar school in the 70s, then filters, then ads on TV, then graphic labels on the box. Nobody standing out to say 'stop selling cigarettes'. It is their right to smoke these lethal addictive devices...

What a country!

Work hard.

Try to be as smart as you can.

Try to help your neighbor.

Imagine, somebody might help you, without ever knowing you.

Best regards,

-a-