Re: State of the Union Address Look, I like Americans. As a European I am ever thankful that the US came in WW2 otherwise we'd all speak German (or Russian) now. My point is that I do not get how a country blessed by such a wealth of resources and potential in its people chooses to grind its people into the dust for the sake of a 5% of ultra rich who don't know if they should buy a third 150 meters yacht or a 3rd house in Martha's Vineyard. The greatest revolution the American people could ever have is to educate its children and look at the data. The actual numbers of how their society is run and by whom. "Metrics are the best defence against bad ideas. Especially our own bad ideas."
Re: State of the Union Address Mass education is indeed what got America ahead in the first place. That, and are business like minds (and efficient if a bit underhanded production practices of the early industrial era). French is a much prettier language than German or Russian. I should see Taken 3. Though I felt it might be milking the franchise dry. That said, Liam Neeson is always a pleasure.
Re: State of the Union Address @Crowfeeder, you seem to harbor some guilt. The best way to defeat that is to help someone. On the individual level. We all have that ability, although not a responsibility. It will improve the negative feelings you have about who you are, and where you are from. Try to do so with no expectation. You never know. You can safe lives with words. Change people's perceptions by actions of kindness. As a individual sometimes it is hard to feel you can make a impact. Yet you can. We all can. It doesn't take bold sweeping changes on you/we are. Just subtle hints of concern and humanity. The world suffers. It can eat at the more socially conscience of us, but you can still make difference. One person, and on day at a time. IMO.
Re: State of the Union Address PS I liked Taken 3 I also saw it in one of those D-BOX seats at Cineplex ... jury still out on that one
Re: State of the Union Address @Hydra I spend most of my life trying to help people. If I have the ability to, I also have the responsibility to. My personal self esteem however is unrelated to that. Do I have guilt because of America? No. Do I want to change it for the better? Yes. Do I focus on its negatives? Yes. I want to look the ugly truths in the eye. The good parts are already doing good, no need to over emphasize them.
Re: State of the Union Address They're clueless. Most of them have no idea who Saul Alinsky was or what he stood for. The hilarious thing is most of them don't even know that Mitt Romney's father, Republican George Romney, actually was a big fan of Alinsky and even endorsed his policies. They love to use buzz words like "Marxist" but don't really know what it means. They think it's anything that involves wealth redistribution and/or government. They're oblivious to the fact the policies of the party they support also redistributes wealth, but from the middle class to the 1%. I can't think of a single thing the GOP has been right about economically in the last 30 years. The poorest parts of the country are deeply conservative areas. They're constantly conned into voting against their own economic interests by a party that manipulates them with fear. Yet they're always spouting off about "Marxist propaganda". Go figure.
Re: State of the Union Address Things I agreed with: -Minimum wages need to increase -Higher education should be subsidized to create workers for higher paying jobs -Child care for working women should be a priority -Outsourcing should be lessened -The environment should be a national priority Things I didn't like: -All the rhetoric about how great America is that lasted 30 minutes Onto the Republican Response: What I disliked: -That woman talked so slow! -You spent 20 years in the military? How did that prepare you for politics? -keystone XL pipeline would be bad for the environment, not good -people shouldn't be expected to just work extra hard and deal with being poor... That's communism -Skipped over the details, used no reasoning What I liked: -She found common ground with people
Re: State of the Union Address Also the part where Obama talked about fear in America was something I agreed with. -Everyone so fearful about terrorists. -Fearful that they need to carry a gun everywhere -Fearful that the government wants to take over the people All this is pretty much the fear mongering that is what creates the libertarian political platform. Libertarianism is just as extreme and bad as socialism.
Re: State of the Union Address I do not approve of a single bill these wanna be emperor illegaly passes. All obama has done is screwed every person from rich to poor and now he wants to increase more taxes this year? How is that helping the poor?
Re: State of the Union Address Libertarians don't really like to vote Republican. They do so because the Libertarian party itself can't win elections.
Re: State of the Union Address Minimum wage in this country is the entry point for high school / college kids or unskilled/untrained workers starting at a company. Here in the US, only 25% of US workers are on minimum wage. In europe, some countries has 50% of the population on minimum wage with no hope of getting raises at all. When people that worked for 10 years to earn their 45-60K middle class salary stop getting pay raises, expect the middle class to uprise against these crooked overlords and repeal any Obama wage laws.
Re: State of the Union Address You're an idiot. When Obama took over after eight years of Bush and six years of Republican control of Congress, the economy was a freaking disaster. Six years later more jobs have been created under Obama than under both Bush Presidents combined. The stock market has set new records. Corporations have record profits. All that AND the deficit has been cut by 70%. No other major economy on the planet has had a better recovery than we have. Yet you idiots still whine that everything has been a failure. And you don't even freaking understand the tax proposal. Obama wants to raise taxes one the 1%. He wants to use the tax increase on them to PAY for tax CUTS on the middle class. You know, those people the GOP says they care so much about but haven't done zip for in 30 years.
Re: State of the Union Address Here's how it helps the poor. "Obama is set to propose Tuesday a $500 tax credit for married couples who each hold jobs; the intention, officials say, is to help alleviate the costs of child care and commuting that lead some spouses -- usually women -- to determine it makes more financial sense to stop working. He'll also spell out ways to simplify the way taxpayers apply for education and child care credits, including increasing the top child care credit to $3,000. The total cost for the new provisions: $235 billion...To pay for the changes, the administration is proposing about $320 billion in new revenue over the next decade. Obama wants to wring more taxes from investment income -- capital gains and dividends -- which are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary earnings. Since wealthy Americans are more likely to derive income from investments, they'd bear the overwhelming weight of a higher rate on that type of profit. The tax rate for capital gains now stands at 20% for the highest-earning Americans. Officials said Saturday that Obama will call for that rate to increase to 28% for those taxpayers. He will ask lawmakers to close a loophole allowing capital gains on inherited funds to go untaxed -- a so-called "trust fund" loophole the White House says allows billions of dollars in capital gains to go untapped by the government every year... Obama also plans to all for a new fee on large financial institutions which administration officials estimated would bring in $110 billion; Camp's plan called for an excise tax on large banks." http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/17/politics/ ... ion-taxes/ Working people get a break. Billionaires pay a little more. By the way, 28% was same capital gains rate that Reagan approved, so no, it's not going to destroy the economy.
Re: State of the Union Address Pretty sure the UK saw a better recovery so far, by around 1.1% if I remember rightly. I don't really see how people can argue with what he's trying to do tbh. It will make you an even better country
Re: State of the Union Address your a bigger idiot how does adding 8tril more to our debt any better? Oh yea your a demorat moron who believes everything demorats say
Re: State of the Union Address Black dragon is one of them freeloaders who feels that he is owed by the rich, dream on the rich take it out on us the poor who are employeed by them. Im no where near middle class and yet have to buy some stupid insurance that i cannot pay but hey your good with it since your probably one of them welfare leeches.