The Glade 4.0

Courts would be an issue but they could remand the cases to state courts if necessary. The FBI and DOE shouldn't exist.

Have you read the Constitution Xeq?

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

That's a perfectly valid position. However, this is why we have a multiple elected officials, rather than one guy making the decisions. It makes such ideas nearly impossible to implement. That's a good thing.

Sure, I'm just replying to RD's article which showed why it isn't acceptable...well it actually is acceptable to some people and I wanted to point out why.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Do you agree that it's not acceptable to the vast majority of citizens? Because I think that's the intended audience for her article.

No idea. I guess we will see.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

From the article:



Like Arathain said, your position is entirely valid, Elm, and I respect the honesty of it. However, that's just not a position favored by most of the country.

From a purely practical standpoint, denying the increase to the debt limit is the only way the problems with the US system are going to get fixed. Nevermind that it's all based on partisan bullshit (rather than common sense on the part of the people denying the increase), and could easily happen exactly the same way with a republican president and a democratic congress, this is something that needs to be done.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Can you elaborate on what you mean, Taly? In particular:

• What are the problems with the US system?
• What would constitute a "fixed" system?
• How would refusing to raise the debt limit help achieve that?
• Why is that the only way?

Question: I disagree with raising the debt ceiling, and believe cuts must be made and spending controlled.

That said, what is it about this instance of raising of the debt ceiling that has everyone's panties in a bunch? This particular one? It appears this isn't exactly an uncommon occurrence:

When individuals get into debt issues, never does the financial adviser suggest getting into more debt as a way to climb out. That would be absurd.

The problem becomes that no one wants to make needed cuts (EVERYTHING IS NEEDED) and have their retarded voters vote for the guy that will promise the moon to win now and then let some future person pay for it. Eventually that won't work anymore.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Yes. My question is "What makes this, right now, 'eventually?'"

It has to do with the recent explosion of influence of the Tea Party, and the fact that we've increased our debt under 2.5 years of Obama as much as 8 years of Bush2.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

The shape of the graph converging on the y = 1/x family, specifically the region near the vertical asymptote.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

It looks more like exponential growth to me, which is common to most things involving finance.

Sure they do - consolidation loans, mortgage refinancings, home equity credit lines, etc. are all common suggestions for people to get their overall financial situations in order by better managing their monthly cash flow. The idea is generally to reduce expenses and pay your bills in a controlled, orderly manner as you gradually climb out of the hole. Heck, even bankruptcy is designed to be a gradual, orderly process.

On the other hand, "Just stop paying 40% of your bills and deal with whatever happens as a result," is genuinely not something a financial advisor would suggest.

I agree on the first half of your explanation, Kaffis, but I think the debt increase is basically irrelevant. If McCain had won in 2008, the debt would have gone up by roughly the same amount anyway, and Tea Party or no, the GOP in Congress wouldn't have complained any more than they did under Bush2. The timing and intensity of this are about politics, not policy. Any Republican who votes to raise the debt limit (or to increase taxes to reduce the deficit) while a Democrat is in the White House would be toast in the GOP primaries thanks to the Tea Party. That's basically all this comes down to.

I never meant to assign blame to Obama; I'm happy to concede that McCain would have been similar.

I disagree that the Tea Party would continue to be silent under McCain. Would they have gained as much traction without a blatantly socialist President to vilify? Perhaps not. But the dissatisfaction with our nation's fiscal policies has been decades in coming, IMO.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

No, but "cut 40% of luxury services and feel-good charity out of your budget; you can't afford them anymore" is. Including re-evaluating what is and is not luxury.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Studen loans as an investment in future earnings. Loans to prepare assets to sell to get out of debt.

That's where these arguments fail. I haven't heard anyone come up with 40% that we can cut overnight, that could reasonably be considered a luxury.

They explained this concept in Spaceballs.

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A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill

Found this on the MSNBC comments on the debt and thought it was worth repeating.

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A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill

As I see it:
1) Increased public awareness
2) The massive size of the current debt and the massive size of the increase
3) Spending reductions are never enacted without leverage, and this is some mighty good leverage




No ****? People don't want to give up things they feel they're entitled to? There's a reason they're called entitlements, the same reason why they needed to pass Obamacare "so we can see what 's in it".

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Except that we're not talking about entitlements.

When someone writes "government benefits", I see "entitlements". What are "government benefits" to you?

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko