22 Comments

• Towngate | Jun 12, 2011, 06:05 AM EDT

  maloney; spot on!

• maloney | Jun 11, 2011, 10:29 PM EDT

  Towngate..no more bombs to make? What to do? What to do?

• Towngate | Jun 11, 2011, 09:51 AM EDT

  This goes to show what a wonderful country America could be if only it would 'cop on' to itself and break the habit stop spending money on cowardly bombing and bullying it's way around the world looking for a war it can honestly say it won! Get your Homeland sorted out first and stop interfering in the rest of the world. (Sadly the graph will have to account for loss of revenue in Arms Sales!)

• McNamara31 | Jun 07, 2011, 11:06 AM EDT

  rpmschevy.. The financial crash of 2008 was far greater than keeping up with the Jones; it was more like the Jones were the main ingredient in a speculation scam being orchestrated by financial intuitions. In the years before the crash the financial sector invested more than $5 billion in political influence in Washington with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the financial collapse. People and their mortgages were “used” to feed a speculation frenzy created by Wall St and the financial sector. The SEC changes of 2004 had by far the greatest impact allowing the banks to take on massive debt and creating the condition known as “too big to fail”. A great article that details the 12 steps of deregulation causing the collaspe: Wall Street Watch, $5 BILLION IN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BOUGHT WALL STREET FREEDOM FROM REGULATION

• McNamara31 | Jun 06, 2011, 09:13 AM EDT

  rpmschevy said:“ Yes the unfunded wars were wrong, but tell me "progressives" what are we to do when murders come onto OUR soil and kill 3000 of your co-Americans"……. Well what you don't do is invade (the other country) Iraq when “the person responsible was Bin Laden”. Since you brought it up, in the time directly after 911, Bush “chose” to send 130,000 troops to Iraq and only 6000 to Afghanistan where "the real murderer" Bin Laden was at the time (why?). Those troop levels in Afghanistan grew only to 20,000 in years 2003, 2004 and 2005.(why?) People who have studied the damage done by the Bush Administration voted for Obama based on facts not because we are "progessives" as the simpletons at Fox try to paint us. The facts are Bush did put two wars on the American credit card (debt) while at the same time giving tax cuts (more debt) and deregulated the SEC to take on more debt (this time massive debt) enabling the crash of 2008. And worst of all, Bush played at looking for Bin Laden when he told the country it was his “mission”. The troop levels tell the real story. No matter how many times you try to rewrite the story these facts will always get in your way!

• McNamara31 | Jun 05, 2011, 09:19 PM EDT

  sb "spot on"

• McNamara31 | Jun 05, 2011, 09:18 PM EDT

  jamthecat..Your points are 100% rispot on.The people you mentioned will only listen to sources that will reinforse their biases. Reality and truth have no bearing to them. Sad!

• Rebelforce | Jun 05, 2011, 08:15 PM EDT

  But if the American government doesn't spend Trillions of dollars on Wars to make the world safe for peace, freedom, democracy, justice, equality, the American way, blah blah blah.....who will?

• John5319 | Jun 04, 2011, 09:40 PM EDT

  Hey jamthecat .... Just "how do you pay off our national debt" with a Tax cut? Isn't that called robbing Peter to pay Paul? It is the WORKERS income, NOT that of government! So just how do you pay off something with "tax cuts", that is nothing more than the CONFISCATION of cash from the Individual (removing it from spendable income that fosters economic growth), that was printed by the governments PRIVATE BANK, The Federal Reserve System, in the first place? The Ponzi scheme behind the Fed is the problem, and the soak the rich "class warfare" of the Obama Marxism that IS his ideology and domestic economic plan. Capitalism allows individuals to become rich, Marxism doesn't unless you are part of that "ruling elite political class"! Bill Gates did it through his innovation, HIS work ethics, HIS "earning" of his piece of the American pie, HIS achievement of "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness"! The lies, manipulations, and deceit of Marxist redistribution is the hallmark of ... EVIL ! "For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of Evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12

• McNamara31 | Jun 04, 2011, 02:23 PM EDT

  Philaromancatho... The Ryan Plan will eliminate Medicare as we know while cutting the top tax bracket for the wealthy from 35% to 25%. How's that working for you? And your quote... "Many money manager's including Bush through Ryan warned of the impending crash but were dismissed" Bush actually deregulated previous SEC guidelines and allowed the banks to take on massive amounts debt from the previous 12 to 1 ratio in effect since 1929, up 40 to 1 during his term. If that regulation had not been changed by Bush, the massive debt could not have been accumulated, and the crash of 2008 would not have occurred. In addition to the two wars basically put on credit cards, the country was also losing 700,000 jobs a month at the end of Bush's term.

• PhlutiePhan | Jun 04, 2011, 11:14 AM EDT

  Here's what Henry Kissinger remarked on the "Charlie Rose Show" within the week. The Chinese have wondered how we could lower interest rates for housing which set off the housing crisis. We should have raised interest rates according to the Chinese. It was then remarked that we wanted everyone to have a house. Meanwhile, we destroyed the housing market. "Hell's road is paved with good intentions". A previous comment of "sub prime loans" would appear to be devastating. We now have a dichotomy of "mulch headed" liberal Democrats versus greedy and ruthless "Jimmy Stewart" Bankers who are largely Republican.

• Philaromancatho | Jun 04, 2011, 09:51 AM EDT

  Does ODoherty know anything about Obamacare? Apparently, not. It defunds Medicare by a half a trillion dollars, sets up a monopoly with a board intent on price fixing and limiting service based on age and cost, a.k.a. Institutionalized euthanasia. All of these practices are illegal in the USA. And unconstitutional. Ryan's plan actually gives those eventually eligible for Medicare the same options that government employees have for medical coverage. You do know that the Democratic congress exempted themselves,that is, all government employees from Obamacare? The debt was not good at the end of the Bush years because of the wars, approved by Congress but Obama has added 4 trillion dollars to it in 2 years. And Obama continues and has expanded the wars in the Middle East without Congressional approval under the War Powers Act. He says he does't have to! ????? The collapse can be laid at the feet of of Clinton's Community Reinvestment Act, Barney Frank's Banking Committee, Freddie and Fannie and their support of sub prime loans which eventually infected bank policy too. Many money manager's including Bush through Ryan warned of the impending crash but were dismissed by Frank and the Democrats in charge of congress. Tell the truth.

• mamaginnty | Jun 04, 2011, 08:32 AM EDT

  After reading this and the comments about America looks like my little country...Ireland is still better off than some....

• hancock | Jun 04, 2011, 12:22 AM EDT

  So should we repeal whole Bush tax cuts then?

• seamusmac | Jun 03, 2011, 08:05 PM EDT

  This is the way capitalism shifts the responsibility for the nations debt to the working class. The working class pays for the wealthy's tax cuts and for the wealthy's wars. This isn't about republicans and democrats, it's about wealth and workers.

• jamthecat | Jun 03, 2011, 06:42 PM EDT

  The problem is, the facts have this nasty liberal bias so the people who support the GOP have no interest in them. God, himself, could come down here and point out that everything on that chart is absolutely true and that Bush squandered a chance to pay off our debt in order to give his rich buddies super tax cuts...and they claim God is part of the conspiracy. Because all that matters is what they BELIEVE...and if they BELIEVE it, then there can be no facts to the contrary. Look at the silly...no, downright ludicrous arguments people like John5319 and FastEddy and Jacke47 are making. It's all so absurd and childish and self-destructive, it's diseased. But their "reality" is not the same as a normal sane person's, nor will it ever be.

• John5319 | Jun 03, 2011, 05:31 PM EDT

  Total BS lies & deceit. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, from where this graph comes from, is funded by the Democracy Alliance which is funded by global Socialist George Soros. The writer of this article KNOWS that, and is trying to deceive the ignorant who CHOOSE NOT TO connect the dots of manipulation. My last response was "censored out" with all the relevant facts, and Internet fact trails of Truth. I know what I'm dealing with do YOU ??

• FastEddy | Jun 03, 2011, 01:57 PM EDT

  Total BS ... Remember, Reagan's tax cuts reversed g'ment revenue trends to the positive in 1986. Next time you diss capitalism with fascist drivel re: "tax cuts", think about where those excessive tax revenues originate and stop pumping up the taxsuckers.

• hollabackgurl | Jun 03, 2011, 01:24 PM EDT

  The GOP likes to talk a big game about the need to give tax breaks to the rich to protect our economy. They pilfer the public purse to pay for it. The result: the rich get richer with no change in the status of the working poor. The saps pay for Wall Streets hangovers. Then they vote for politicians who will keep them paying.

• jacke47 | Jun 03, 2011, 12:43 PM EDT

  The proposed tax increase to the rich, so-called millionaires and billionaires, that the left wants to impose also includes those who earn $250K-small business owners who are the top employees in the US. Get real and state the facts-not colored pictures...

• seanfer7 | Jun 03, 2011, 11:53 AM EDT

  Well Ben Ledin sceared america and it went into a panick mode. Watching the borders while the banks mortgage and brokages robbed us blind. derivities held by AIG caused Paulson to bail out his boys. This cause eight million hard workers to lose their jobs while bankers country club around. The repubnates want to attack social sevices. Greed begates greed. America has seen it best days.

• pndirishandprou | Jun 03, 2011, 11:31 AM EDT

  Excellent chart. Republicans want us to believe that tax cuts for the rich are a good thing for the national budget. Most millionaires have a lower effective tax rate than average earners. Warren Buffet and other billionaires have a tax rate of under 20%. Republicans are fighting tooth and nail for billionaires to keep the myriad of tax loopholes available to them now. Goes to show on which side the GOP is on.