posted on March 13, 2009 06:26:37 AM newThis crisis was years in the making, and it will take time to solve."
I think this says it all, this was not going to be fixed in 100 days. It would be crazy to think it would be. Therefore, while he has lost popularity, according to the polls, I think this administration is entirely too young to make final judgments. Bush had 8 years to make his mark and it ended up being a negative one. 100 days, really.
posted on March 13, 2009 08:38:16 AM new
The president has squandered a chance to be "different". It is patronage as usual, porkbarrel as usual. Whether it is ethically "challenged" appointees, mini-disasters in foreign policy, or profligate spending at the worst possible time, this administration may be headed for a new all time record. Pelosi even just side stepped stopping automatic Congressional raises.
You ain't seen nothin' yet.
[ edited by desquirrel on Mar 13, 2009 08:38 AM ]
posted on March 13, 2009 03:05:29 PM new
Squirrel, for God's sake.
You said: Today's [slogan] is "We must get through the difficult period"
Is it a slogan or just a statement of truth? Not everything is a slogan. And it sounds like you're using "slogan" as a dirty word.
It's been less than two months. Give it a rest.
_____________________
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who ***dared to dissent*** from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, ***may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."*** --Eisenhower
posted on March 14, 2009 08:57:58 AM new
"Slogan" simply means an attempt to keep the idiots calm with words as everything goes into freefall, nevermind reversal. Kind of like: "How bout that $10 mil bonus?", while Congress gets raises and the TRILLIONS fly by.
Got anybody active in charities???? They tell you about Obama's plan for charities???
Don't worry about the 2 months. You ain't seen nothing yet. Judging from the newspaper editorials the euphoria seems over.
posted on March 14, 2009 02:01:15 PM new
Will Obama's Plan Hurt Charities?
March 05, 2009 03:00 PM ET | Kimberly Palmer | Permanent Link | Print
When President Obama announced his proposal to reduce the amount that taxpayers can deduct for charitable donations (for those earning over $250,000 a year, the deduction rate would go from 33 or 35 percent to 28 percent), charities protested that they would suffer from decreased giving.
But a new survey conducted for Bank of America
by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University finds that most donors won't let that kind of change stop them from being generous. Even if they received zero deductions -- and Obama's proposal would only reduce the deduction rate -- 52 percent of wealthy households said their contributions would not change. Only one in ten said that their contributions would "dramatically decrease" if they were able to take no deductions.
As for potential increases to the estate tax, the survey against found that most wealthy people -- 54 percent - -would not change their donations if their estates were not taxed. In other words, it seems that most people do not base much of their giving decisions on their tax liabilities.
But charities still have plenty to worry about. Giving typically declines during recessions as corporate and individual donors tighten their belts. Wealthy donors, which were the focus of this survey, are responsible for 65 to 70 percent of all individual giving, so their choices can have a big impact. The survey found that donors often stop giving to organizations because they no longer feel connected to it, they decided to support other causes, or they felt they were being asked for money too often.
A charity intent on raising more money might want to encourage wealthy donors to volunteer their time, as well. The survey found that those who volunteered time tended to give more money. Those who volunteered between one and 50 hours gave an average of $45,318, while those who volunteered over 200 hours gave an average of $132,315.
I really hope that most who give - give from their hearts and because they see a need, not because they want a tax break. Honestly, you pointing this out...shows the true you, squirrel. Do you give to charities and do you volunteer? I do both with my heart, time and money.
[ edited by deichen on Mar 14, 2009 02:01 PM ]
posted on March 14, 2009 02:31:25 PM new
The fact that charities must exist is reflective of an unjust society. Medical care for the sick and handicapped and financial aid for those who are living in poverty should not be left to the whims of charity. Too many people fall through the cracks without receiving any aid whatsoever.
posted on March 14, 2009 03:00:13 PM new
And Squirrel writes, "Slogan" simply means an attempt to keep the idiots calm with words as everything goes into freefall, nevermind reversal. Kind of like: "How bout that $10 mil bonus?", while Congress gets raises and the TRILLIONS fly by."
That describes the Bush technique, Desquirrel, as he stated here....
“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating "things" over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
posted on March 16, 2009 08:27:06 AM new
You haven't talked to people who do major charitable work. The problem is not the decrease in revenue per se. In tough times charities take it in the neck also. Obama is cutting the percentage deduction for contributions significantly. People with large incomes give the max they can to charities to the point where it lowers their tax payment. They also error on the side of charity if they can, rather than give it to the gov.
So when the charities started screaming, Obama came up with a plan where they will create a "fund" for charities. The problem? Instead of you giving to the charity of YOUR choice, the government will give to the charity of Obama's cronies' choices, besides the "hands in many pockets" bureaucracy. So the American Heart Assoc. gets less and Columbia gets a 20mil grant for "Muslim studies" (just a prediction).
Hey today's paper has an AP story about Obama changing strategies in light of those Economists "opinions" and Wall St plummeting every time he says something. Now it looks like you won't have Timmy badmouthing American industry and they're going to pump money into helping the credit crunch on small businesses.
posted on March 16, 2009 09:05:50 AM new
Let America be America Again
by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free." )
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!
