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  1. sothsegger

    DeSantis now dictating school curriculums from the capital of Florida

    Such a policy could have blowback
  2. sothsegger

    Joe Biden's campaign strategy of Shutting Up seems to be working

    That's over half a billion a year! In 40 years or so the heir will be cleaned out!
  3. sothsegger

    Holy Social Security

    It's a raid infofar as it's money being used for something it wasn't intended for. That money was intended for the baby boom retirement; instead, it was used to pay for defense, which in turn allowed for lower taxes on the rich.
  4. sothsegger

    Holy Social Security

    Whenever the income exceeded the outgo, the $$ was borrowed/reallocated to pay for what income taxes are supposed to pay for.
  5. sothsegger

    Holy Social Security

    Ok. Strictly speaking, you're correct. "Borrowed" ot "reallocated" are probably better words; and the money has all been accounted for. However, instead of restoring the money to preserve benefits, republicans want to cut benefits.
  6. sothsegger

    Holy Social Security

    You're wrong. The right has "tapped" it just as much as the left. In fact, the "tap dance" you speak of began with Reagan in 1983 when he and Greenspan raised the payroll tax to pre-fund the baby boomer retirement, a move which created the surplus of which Reagan was the first to raid. Study...
  7. sothsegger

    Holy Social Security

    The key phrase is "part of the tax." As it is, SS is underfunded, such that diverting any $ away from it toward a private structure weakens it.
  8. sothsegger

    Holy Social Security

    But partial privatization weakens the system for those who are collecting, or near collecting, benefits under the old system. And they both vote and outnumber the rest of you.
  9. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    You tax and spend some more to fund better education. And during that education these future "people in charge" are required to study Plato to learn the role that philosophy and ethics play in their public service careers. I agree there's a problem; but I don't agree with trashing the whole...
  10. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    There is if you're talking about social security.
  11. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    What about successful government programs in other countries like Norway, which has a much smaller African population than the U.S.? The world has shown that government programs can work if particular societies value them.
  12. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    isn't that at least partly because the right has a basic philisophical aversion to these programs and uses its political muscle to thwart their success?
  13. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    but taxes provide a way for us to fund things collectively which would be more burdensome if we did it as individuals. it's like the difference between owning a house where you maintain it yourself, or owning a condominium where you pay an association fee, which is analagous to a tax.
  14. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    taking money from middle and working class taxpayers to give to the rich is also wrong; which is what happened to the social security trust fund. all the money was borrowed so the rich could have lower taxes. and now they don't want to pay it back!
  15. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    the program didn't work because it was dismantled by the right.
  16. sothsegger

    LBJ's Great Society to eliminate poverty and racial injustice-> Why didnt it work?

    Why didn't work? Because inflation of the late 60s and 70s derailed it. And then Reagan took advantage of the economic crisis and reversed it.
  17. sothsegger

    Death Be Not Proud

    :(
  18. sothsegger

    With 5% of the world's population, Americans now possess ~1/2 of the world's guns

    watch out! "clinically depressed" doesn't mean prone to violence.
  19. sothsegger

    With 5% of the world's population, Americans now possess ~1/2 of the world's guns

    i hope you are not suggesting censorship of violence in films, language, or media. i, for one, don't feel that media violence causes actual violence. rather, something else is causing both media and actual violence. violence on film and tv is at least a creative way to process the violent energy...
  20. sothsegger

    End Social Security

    beware of means testing: if social security becomes an insurance/welfare program where you only get it if you need it, then why should someone who makes under the cap pay a greater percentage than someone who makes over the cap? to make it a welfare/insurance program without making the middle...
  21. sothsegger

    End Social Security

    it made the streets a lot less unpleasant to walk in.
  22. sothsegger

    End Social Security

    then you don't understand ponzi schemes.
  23. sothsegger

    End Social Security

    watch out! any benefit cut that disregards the money owed to the social security trust fund is equivalent to a retroactive tax increase, which would fall most heavily on middle and working class earners, who, because their income was below the payroll cap, paid the greater percentage of their...
  24. sothsegger

    End Social Security

    social security is not a ponzi scheme. but it is a pay-as-you-go system. the difference is that a ponzi scheme is a pay-as-you-go system disguised as an investment program that promises high returns. ponzi schemes are deceptive. not true with social security, nothing deceptive about ss.
  25. sothsegger

    End Social Security

    i guess you never lived in a world where there were lots of homeless old people dying in the streets. that's what the world was like before social security. not a pretty sight, even for the young.
  26. sothsegger

    Struggling economy adds paltry 80k jobs in June

    yeah, but what kind jobs? low pay, no benefits!
  27. sothsegger

    Your Naked Feet

    knock yourself out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/8925906@N02/6323622793/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8925906@N02/6323551457/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8925906@N02/6323551277/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8925906@N02/6324080172/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8925906@N02/6323551113/...
  28. sothsegger

    Obama's cat food commsion tells us to slash middleclass goodies

    semi-fact: i heard congress is obliged to give an up or down vote on these proposals if 14 out of the 18 commissioners agree. more-than-semi-fact: the cuts to SS also include reduction of benefits for existing retirees. any cuts to benefits ignores the trust fund, and is therefore equivalent...
  29. sothsegger

    Barney Frank confronts constituent re: Nazi healthcare

    public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public option:thumbsup:public...
  30. sothsegger

    ross perot explains why we're screwed

    shame on you for badmouthing your elders!
  31. sothsegger

    Depression and Inflation on Horizon

    this latest rally may prove to be short term as were the last couple
  32. sothsegger

    Oil & Gas thread:12-17-08 OPEC & non-members agree to largest reduction in history 7 percent

    I used to be an Exxon shareholder. Aren't the existing ones still "oil company supporters?"
  33. sothsegger

    Opus cartoon was not printed out of fear of offending muslims

    ------------------- It's politically acceptable because Christianity is the dominant religion of western civilization. The others are a minority. As such, religions other than the dominant one are the underdog. It's not okay to bash the underdog. However, this is all merely a collective...
  34. sothsegger

    It's confirmed....Bush is intentionally running the US into the ground

    The only argument against homosexuality is a purely religious one and a highly sectarian one at that. To a non-bible-ist, all arguments against homosexuality are simply irrelevant.
  35. sothsegger

    It's confirmed....Bush is intentionally running the US into the ground

    Aren't there any links between heterosexuality and sexual abuse/trauma/family dysfunction? Also, not a single study you point to has been peer reviewed.
  36. sothsegger

    It's confirmed....Bush is intentionally running the US into the ground

    Sir, because of vaginal dryness my girlfriend uses ky jelly. Is our sex unnatural?
  37. sothsegger

    It's confirmed....Bush is intentionally running the US into the ground

    You still haven't substaniated the claim that homosexuality is unnatural or immoral.
  38. sothsegger

    how can people still support don't ask don't tell?

    Some kid facing the draft sometime hence will rue our ever having allowed gays to serve. It used to be one of the ways you could get out serving--by making 'em think you're gay. Listen to Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant.
  39. sothsegger

    It's confirmed....Bush is intentionally running the US into the ground

    Well Sir, Kindly explain your reason for thinking homosexuality is unnatural? And why is it immoral?