On 10/21/10, dick <rhomp2002@earthlink.net> wrote:
> This posting is so full of lies it is hard to know where to begin. The
> truth is not in him tells us all we need to know about the Bob Cesa.
> If this is what you truly believe then yu are a true fool.
>
> On 10/21/2010 10:30 AM, Tommy News wrote:
>> The Republican Swindle About 'Obamacare and Stimulus'
>>
>> -by Bob Cesa
>>
>> If you happen to be a swing voter who's considering the Republican
>> slate next month, you're being tricked. That's not to say you're an
>> idiot, but the Republicans are doing an excellent job masking over
>> what they really stand for, and millions of Americans seem to be
>> falling for it.
>>
>> The Republican strategy for this midterm election is simple: Treat
>> voters like easily manipulated hoopleheads. The GOP and its various
>> apparatchiks are spending untold millions of dollars, much of it from
>> anonymous donors and, perhaps, even some illegal foreign donors, in
>> order to play out this nationwide swindle. They're investing heavily
>> on the wager that Americans are so kerfuffled by the slow-growth (but
>> growth nevertheless) economy that they're willing to buy any line of
>> nonsense as an alternative solution.
>>
>> Regarding that nonsense, just about every GOP solution and every GOP
>> idea reveals either a hilariously obvious contradiction or an utterly
>> transparent hypocrisy. Say nothing of unchecked awfulness like
>> Southern Strategy race-baiting or bald-faced lies. But it doesn't seem
>> to matter much because they've buried most of it under heaping piles
>> of inchoate outrage and fear. Just like always. It's not unlike the
>> 2000s all over again. They're engaging in the same bumper sticker
>> sloganeering and myopic agitprop, but with updated content for 2010.
>>
>> If you've seen any of the Republican TV spots this cycle, you're
>> probably familiar with the focus-group-tested duet of fear: "Obamacare
>> and Stimulus." For example, that infamous John Raese commercial
>> featuring two not-West-Virginian West Virginians in full "hicky"
>> regalia discussing why they're voting Republican. Among the reasons:
>> "Obamacare and Stimulus." No specific reasons why those items are
>> evil, they're just two scary things the hicky guys are pissed about.
>>
>> And why aren't there any specific gripes cited along with those two
>> items? Because the actual gripes are ridiculous.
>>
>> Let's start with "Obamacare," then hit "Stimulus" presently.
>>
>> The Republicans are trying to tell us that the health-care-reform bill
>> is a hugely expensive trespass against freedom and liberty. This
>> obviously refers to the price tag and the individual mandate. What
>> they don't mention is that "Obamacare" will actually achieve several
>> very significant goals.
>>
>> 1) The health-care-reform bill will help working and middle class
>> Americans to afford quality health insurance via hundreds of billions
>> of dollars in subsidies. For example, families of four earning $54,000
>> will see their insurance premiums reduced by around $10,000 per year.
>> That's a lot. Who in their right mind would turn down a government
>> check for $10,000? Every year. That's a full semester of state
>> university tuition, among other things.
>>
>> 2) Contrary to the "Obama-is-spending-too-much" meme, the bill does
>> not increase the deficit. According to the nonpartisan CBO, the bill
>> cuts the deficit by $130 billion over ten years. Put another way, all
>> that scaremongering about the cost of the bill is just that:
>> scaremongering. The bill pays for itself and then some.
>>
>> 3) There are no enforcement mechanisms for the super-duper terrifying
>> individual mandate. If you choose not to buy insurance when the
>> mandate takes effect in 2014, and are consequently fined $695, there
>> is no means of actually enforcing the payment of that penalty. No
>> liens, levies, no jail, no Obamacare Goons swooping into your house
>> like America-hating Kenyan ninjas. Nothing will happen to you.
>> Nothing. So, you know, chill out about the mandate.
>>
>> The question about "Obamacare," then, is very simply: Why are the
>> Republicans against reducing the deficit by $130 billion, and why are
>> they against more accessible and affordable healthcare? I have no
>> idea, other than they're taking the childish opposite position of what
>> was passed (despite the deficit reduction and subsidies for the middle
>> class, etc.). Oh, and they call it "Obamacare," which is spooky and
>> one letter away from being "Osamacare." Scary, but entirely without
>> substance.
>>
>> Oh, and speaking of the deficit, the Republicans are lying to voters
>> about the Democratic handling of the deficit as well. It turns out the
>> Democrats and the Obama administration cut the deficit this year. Cut
>> it. The 2009 Bush-approved budget was $1.416 trillion and the 2010
>> Obama-approved budget was $122 billion less. Meanwhile, the
>> Republicans are admitting to increasing the deficit by $4 trillion by
>> making the Bush tax cuts permanent. And they won't say what they plan
>> to cut from the budget in order to pay for it. Once again, we're back
>> in the early Bush years with so-called fiscal conservatives engaged in
>> big, irresponsible spending without any way to make up the shortfall.
>>
>> Actually, the only spending cuts that appear to be on the table are
>> the Social Security checks, the Medicare reimbursements and the
>> veteran's benefits that will stop when the Republicans gleefully shut
>> down the government. (Any senior citizen who votes Republican is
>> voting for their Social Security and Medicare checks to stop --
>> indefinitely. Just thought I'd mention that.)
>>
>> Circling back, it's important to repeat: President Obama and the
>> congressional Democrats cut the deficit. Fact: The first Obama budget
>> was billions less than the final Bush budget. And, in the process,
>> President Obama's policies have pushed the DJIA from 6,000 to 11,000;
>> his policies have turned Bush-era job losses into job creation; and
>> pulled the nation from the brink of another Great Depression.
>>
>> Again, why are the Republicans against all of this?
>>
>> By the same token, why are they against the stimulus? They really
>> won't say other than to screech about how expensive it was. But,
>> before we go further, read the paragraph about the deficit again. The
>> Democrats cut the deficit. And then factor into the mix that $288
>> billion out of the $800 billion cost of the recovery act was composed
>> entirely of tax cuts. Tax cuts! As a matter of history and taken as a
>> lump sum, this was the largest American middle class tax cut ever. So
>> it's not a stretch to suggest that the Republicans are suddenly
>> against the largest middle-class tax cut in American history.
>>
>> Despite the attempt to turn a derivation of the positive word
>> "stimulate" into a negative, there's very little about the stimulus
>> that actually sucked, other than the fact that it wasn't big enough.
>> Beyond that, Republican voters need to ask themselves if the tax cuts
>> were bad -- or maybe was it the new roads and infrastructure that
>> helped to create jobs, or was it the money that was spent to keep the
>> states out of bankruptcy and police, teachers and firemen from losing
>> their jobs? What's awful about any of that?
>>
>> Then they need to ask themselves why Republican politicians like Rep.
>> Pete Sessions (R-TX), along with dozens of other Republicans, actually
>> petitioned and received from the Obama administration millions in
>> stimulus dollars? Some of them even posing with giant novelty stimulus
>> checks and literally campaigning on the wads of money they received
>> from the stimulus. Pete Sessions, in fact, wrote to Secretary Ray
>> LaHood and emphasized that the funds would literally "stimulate the
>> economy" in his district. Naturally, Sessions turned around and
>> campaigned against the stimulus. He thinks you won't notice.
>>
>> Elsewhere, Newt Gingrich and others are trying to deceive voters by
>> insisting that it's "liberal math" for an investment to earn a return
>> -- for, say, a one dollar investment to grow into $1.74. Since when do
>> Republicans believe that wise investments are "liberal math?"
>> Specifically, Newt was talking about government spending on food
>> stamps as a means of stimulating the economy. Based on simple math,
>> one dollar in government money spent on food stamps creates $1.74 in
>> economic stimulus, according to Moody's. Why? Because food stamps help
>> Americans to buy things. Whereas the Bush tax cuts, for example, are a
>> poor investment, only earning 32 cents for every dollar spent. Why?
>> Because rich people tend to save their tax cuts rather than pumping
>> that money into the marketplace.
>>
>> Back to our refrain: Why are the Republicans against smart investing?
>>
>> Yeah, Obamacare and the Stimulus. Destroying America from within, right?
>>
>> It's worth noting here that this same Republican deception runs across
>> other issues as well. Republicans are suggesting they'll protect
>> individual liberty, while shrinking government small enough to fit
>> into your bedroom or your uterus. Or they're running on the
>> Constitution, while also having their hired thugs handcuff and detain
>> a reporter in a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. Hell, some
>> Republicans are running for U.S. Senate while opposing the 17th
>> Amendment that established popular elections of senators. Wrap your
>> head around that one.
>>
>> Sure, there are still many things the Democrats have yet to unravel
>> after 30 years of Reaganomics. But, despite their obvious faults,
>> they're moving in that direction. And they're being as honest as
>> politicians can be with their intentions. The Republicans, meanwhile,
>> are running on some sort of Mobius Loop of backwards logic and flimsy,
>> if not totally destructive, policy positions.
>>
>> With less than two weeks to go, the sooner voters wise up to this
>> Republican flimflam, the better off we'll all be.
>>
>> More:
>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-republican-swindle-ab_b_770692.html
>>
>
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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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