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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Stand up for something or fall for anything

Everybody is tired of politics but right now some important things are being decided by Congress and the President. Filibuster reform is one biggie but how they deal with what they call the fiscal cliff is another. They both matter. Americans who are tired of all this talk of politics need to pay attention again because lobbyists are. If they are all the elected representatives hear from, you can bet what happens won't be good for the middle class.

One of the issues is Social Security and whether it has to be cut in some way or up the age it can be received, which might seem fine to someone who sits for their job but not someone like my father who worked with his hands and body all his life. He was lucky to get to 62 and get a few years of retirement before he died at 70.

Get informed and make your voice heard. It matters and I don't care if we've had enough of it or not. We need to be heard now. Obama needs us to push him and be behind him.

This is good on Social Security for those who think it's part of the problem.



My blog for Saturday will be on bullying and bigotry.

18 comments:

janinsanfran said...

Yikes! We wrote our own versions of the same post. Back to the grind of afflicting the powerful ...

Rain Trueax said...

Everywhere I went today, I saw this being discussed. I think we 'get it' after what happened last election that we can't really give up paying attention or speaking out because a lot is at stake and for some it's their whole livelihood. It's beyond my understanding how the wealthy can be pushing Congress to cut what the old and poor get to protect what they don't need. Greed absolutely escapes me and why any political party would defend it even more so.

I heard them saying that if we increase taxes on the wealthiest, it will dampen the recovery. How? It's not like they have been such great job creators-- at least not here.

I'm in favor of letting the Bush tax cuts lapse and then deal with it and won't accept that we have to give the Republicans what they could not win in the election just because they care less about the country than the Dems. Dems have to stand up this time.

There is a saying I was told regarding relationships between lovers. The one who loves least has the control. In this case that is what the republicans in Congress are counting on to now win what they could not win in the election.

Hattie said...

Looks like changes in SS are off the table as far as the White House is concerned.

Rain Trueax said...

I saw that. I hope programs for the poor, disabled and weak will likewise not be hurt. It's just beyond me to understand how anybody begrudges another basic medical care and yet they do to keep their wealth. They obviously have no sense of empathy for anybody 'beneath' them.

Ingineer66 said...

I say let them go off the cliff. The Democrats want a tax increase, let them have it. Then when taxes go up 50% on the working poor plus the payroll tax increases and all the Pelosicare taxes hit, we will see how much the economy grows and how much the deficit goes down.

Here in California we raise taxes every year because we have a deficit. Now we have the highest sales tax and highest state income tax in the country. I am betting that it still will not be enough money because the Democrats have a super majority in both houses and the governor in Sacramento and are talking about tripling the car registration fees when they start the new legislative session. Companies keep leaving the state and the idiots in the Capital do not care.

Rain Trueax said...

Democrats want it to only be on the income you make over $250,000. Someone who made $250,000 would get no increase. You support a group of politicians who only care about the rich. Lotsa luck with that! I am all for going over the cliff though rather than letting the rich keep getting their lower rates. They care so much about you and me. When you figure that out, let me know!

Rain Trueax said...

Incidentally I just saw this morning that California is showing signs of a rebound. If that works will you be glad or sad? *s*

Ingineer66 said...

I will be very happy if California and / or the country gets a rebound. I know the housing market here is seeing some small growth. But there have been so many companies leave the State it will be difficult to rebound. In California in the past 25 years the number of medicaid recipients has gone up 7,000,000 but the number of people making over $250,000 has only gone up 150,000. That is not sustainable.

Rain Trueax said...

And all you can think to cause this is poor people are able to go to the doctor. Nothing about the CEO salaries going from what used to be 40x their workers to now 400x. You can't see that Bush tax cuts didn't help anybody? There is a lot of money that goes into corporate grants and aids, special benefits to avoid taxes, not counting those that moved lock stock and barrel to China where they can hire workers for $.50 an hour. Would you like to work for that? If we don't get a handle on this, it will be worse.

And if income taxes solved all the problems, how come Nevada, with no income tax, is doing poorly?

OldLady Of The Hills said...

GREAT VIDEO! Thanks for staying in there and reminding us the "fight" is not over!!!

Hattie said...

Ingineer: You don't have the highest sales tax. We have a value added tax in Hawaii on everything, including food, clothes and medicine.
I think higher gas prices would be splendid for Californians. They could pay as much for gas as we do in Hawaii! That might provide incentives for people to start driving sensibly and not throwing non-renewable resources around.
Maybe you would like paying $.47 a kwh for electricity, too! We don't pay it, though, since we have an all solar household.
With the amount of sunshine Californians get, why doesn't everyone have solar panels? They are coming down in price. Seems like a good thing to do!
But of course it's more fun to get angry at government.

Ingineer66 said...

Hattie when I was in Hawaii in March the gas there was cheaper on Oahu than here in California. I was shocked. We pay $.35 a kwh here. My brother in law in North Carolina pays $.08 a kwh because they have coal power and that is banned in Cali and with the new global warming law it is going up January 1.

Ingineer66 said...

Many houses are adding solar panels and they are trying to build solar farms out in the desert, but the environmentalists are fighting against those. The environmentalists in this state are against coal, oil, solar, wind and hydro power. I am not sure where they plan to charge their Prius at.

Rain Trueax said...

ingineer, where do you get your info on environmentalists? and do you care at all about clean air or not so much? I know nothing about what the environmentalists in your state are saying but I've never heard any speak against solar or wind. Many even like nuclear (me not so much). I'd love to see the links you are going by as you lump all environmentalists into a 'want to sit and do nothing' category.

Rain Trueax said...

and we get no complaints up here regarding our hydro although CA has wanted our power for a long time. They even put up lost of windmills at the mouth of the Gorge that send the power south.

Ingineer66 said...

The windmills kill birds. Most of them in the SF bay area have been shut off for years. They have been protesting the solar farms in the desert because of the tortoise and the democrat politicians had helped them block some of them. They also have stopped the building of power lines to carry the electricity from the windfarms to the cities.

Rain Trueax said...

The windmills in the Gorge are going all the time and a lot of other places. No objections that I've heard even though they sure aren't pretty. I also see them in a lot of small towns. You are out of date on their killing birds as the ones now move a little slower and don't do that so much. Even a glass window can kill a bird. I think you listen to a few extremists and label them all that. You want the label of a tea partier with their lack of knowledge about anything just because you can't get it that taxes are good to raise on the upper income levels and will do something about the deficit the tea party types (maybe you too if you want the label) seem clueless on that a lied into war was a bad reason for borrowing but infrastructure is a good one. You own your own home outright or paying it on time? Could you have what you have if you had to pay cash? Can tea partiers 'get' it that sometimes the government is needed and nobody else can do it? Right now the most rabid tea partiers want to secede. That takes real brains to want that, doesn't it! and yet you still claim their ideas.

As for the big solar farms, the most logical thing with solar is to have the panels near the needed source and not have to put out big power lines to carry it somewhere else. Want one of those big power lines through your backyard?

Ingineer66 said...

I know the new ones are easier on the birds.