Weekend Open Thread

31
  by: Colorado Pols Sat June 9, 2012 at 3:03 PM MDT

“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.”

–John Adams


Full story: Weekend Open Thread

31 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat June 9, 2012 at 4:04 PM MDT

    She takes you up higher and higher. Simply amazing. (She was also told by the Spanish government to lose because they can’t afford to host next year.)

  2. Libertad says:
    Sat June 9, 2012 at 4:13 PM MDT

    In disturbing news from JeffCo, the school district has been “forced” to seek a tax hike on all residents. After years of Democratic Party and Government Union Boss inspired reforms schools have been left with automaticly rising costs that are putting pressure on district budgets and impacting dollars intended for students.

    District officials point to three common cost drivers that are affecting districts – higher pension contributions, rising utility and fuel costs and increased health insurance premiums. District contributions to the Public Employees’ Retirement Associations are continually increasing.

    Rising government pension requirements —- Why have Democrats failed to provide Colorado local governments pension reforms that would bring in line government pensions with those of union and non union private sector workers?

    Rising fuel and electric costs —- gas prices have doubled of more under Obama, but that’s not all. Amy Stephens, Democrats, and a former PUC commissioner conspired to increase the cost of electricity by 20-40% …. property taxes, JeffCo Schools, and Colorado families just can’t keep up with these excessive basic costs increases.

    Increased health insurance premiums —- Amycare and Obamacare have failed to deliver any substantial options to JeffCo schools, other governments or individuals. Where are the cost savings? Where are the free market options? Why do we see annual and massive costs hikes from health insurance companies? Sure that 26 year old kid with the university degree who doesn’t have a job can stay on her parents insurance, but the 40-60% unemployment rate faced by young Americans is another story in itself.

    Will Gov Hickenlooper, The GOP and Democrat legislative leaders take the summer of 2012 to map out substantial changes needed by local governments to enable budget flexibility?

    Will these leaders ask for the Scott Walker play book with any intention of cracking it open for basic insights on responsible and accountable government reforms?

  3. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat June 9, 2012 at 4:52 PM MDT

    From Richard Posner – a conservative critique of the problems we face:

    The institutional structure of the United States is under stress. We might be in dangerous economic straits if the dollar were not the principal international reserve currency and the eurozone in deep fiscal trouble. We have a huge public debt, dangerously neglected infrastructure, a greatly overextended system of criminal punishment, a seeming inability to come to grips with grave environmental problems such as global warming, a very costly but inadequate educational system, unsound immigration policies, an embarrassing obesity epidemic, an excessively costly health care system, a possible rise in structural unemployment, fiscal crises in state and local governments, a screwed-up tax system, a dysfunctional patent system, and growing economic inequality that may soon create serious social tensions. Our capitalist system needs a lot of work to achieve proper capitalist goals.

  4. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat June 9, 2012 at 6:36 PM MDT

    The deadline to file as a candidate has passed and no primary or general election challenger. Wow, that was a close campaign :)

  5. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Sat June 9, 2012 at 10:57 PM MDT

    Paul Krugman: If You Don’t Know Someone Suffering Financially, You Must Be A Romney

    “None of this has to be happening. We didn’t have a plague of locusts, we were not hit by a tsunami, there wasn’t some act of God that created this terrible situation. It was acts of man.”

    …

    “Solving this depression is not fundamentally an economic problem, it’s a political problem.”

  7. Sir RobinSir Robin says:
    Sun June 10, 2012 at 3:23 PM MDT

    Inspired satire or astute political insight?

    Transcript:

    “Why are you guys so anti-dictators? Imagine if America was a dictatorship. You could let 1 percent of the people have all the nation’s wealth. You could help your rich friends get richer by cutting their taxes and bailing them out when they gamble and lose. You could ignore the needs of the poor for health care and education. Your media would appear free, but would secretly be controlled by one person and his family. You could wiretap phones. You could torture foreign prisoners. You could have rigged elections. You could lie about why you go to war. You could fill your prisons with one particular racial group and no one would complain. You could use the media to scare the people into supporting policies that are against their interests.”

    My question: Why doesn’t the Right see these self evident truths?

  8. PitaPita says:
    Sun June 10, 2012 at 4:44 PM MDT

    Pace blasts Tipton for pro-spending vote

    Today, Democratic congressional candidate Sal Pace blasted Third District incumbent Republican Scott Tipton for voting against a 10 percent cut in the congressional franking budget, which pays for communications conducted with constituents by sitting members of Congress.

    http://coloradoindependent.com…

    Even the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel surprised with the headline:

    Pace: Tipton blew chance to trim fat

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news… (subscription required).

    Two ways Tippy proved once again that the Congressman only votes to cut spending when it doesn’t take any skin off his hide.

  9. SSG_Dan says:
    Sun June 10, 2012 at 7:58 PM MDT

    Seen this in the headlines, the subject of President debates, or even a profile on 60 Minutes?

    NOPE.

    Suicides Outpacing War Deaths for Troops

    The suicide rate among the nation’s active-duty military personnel has spiked this year, eclipsing the number of troops dying in battle and on pace to set a record annual high since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago, the Pentagon said Friday.

    Suicides have increased even as the United States military has withdrawn from Iraq and stepped up efforts to provide mental health, drug and alcohol, and financial counseling services.

    The military said Friday that there had been 154 suicides among active-duty troops through Thursday, a rate of nearly one each day this year. The figures were first reported this week by The Associated Press.

    That number represents an 18 percent increase over the 130 active-duty military suicides for the same period in 2011. There were 123 suicides from January to early June in 2010, and 133 during that period in 2009, the Pentagon said.

    By contrast, there were 124 American military fatalities in Afghanistan as of June 1 this year, according to the Pentagon.

    Suicide rates of military personnel and combat veterans have risen sharply since 2005, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan intensified. Recently, the Pentagon established a Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06…

    Ho hum nothing to see here – late Friday press release with no one to talk about.

    One active duty member kills themselves every day…on top of the 18 veterans that kill themselves every day.

    THIS is the cost of war, everyone. Fuck paying for goddamn oil companies bottom line, tax cuts for millionaires or anything else the idiots in Congress can’t agree on.

    This nation sent these men and women to war. This nation needs to take care of them!

  10. BlueCat says:
    Sun June 10, 2012 at 8:13 PM MDT

    “It’s baffling that in the face of all evidence to the contrary, this President still believes that spending money we don’t have to inflate the government is the answer to America’s economic problems. The economy would respond much more favorably to providing the tax certainty Americans deserve by extending all the tax rates and assuring employers they do not have to budget for the largest tax increase in American history next year. The Obama Economy is even slower now than when we extended the rates in 2010 (my emphasis)– raising taxes on job creators in this slow economy is simply not the elixir for his failed policies.”

    In his own words, McConnell implies that his proposed policy solution — tax cuts — have done little to spur the economy in the two years since their extension. His simple solution: More tax cuts.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    So, according to McConnell, Obama’s gaffe (leaving aside what he should have said for the moment) is ridiculous because GOP tax cuts for the wealthiest, still in place, have so obviously left the economy still sucking. Dems couldn’t agree more. Except for the solution he offers: Keep digging.

    PS (have to consolidate comments)

    Love you, JBlue, but will be really happy when flashing images no longer assault my visual cortex every time I check the site.

  11. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Mon June 11, 2012 at 7:50 AM MDT

    Hidden Data in The Spanish Economic Crisis

    All the economic indicators used to describe the “Spanish crisis” and provide rationales for bailing out spain or to predict how bad the “coming collapse” will be don’t take the informal economy into account. It also makes it difficult to understand the needs of the Spanish people, what the GDP really is, how dependent they really are on social programs and what Spain’s real ability is to service it’s debt.

  12. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Mon June 11, 2012 at 7:53 AM MDT

    The Macroeconomics of Chinese kleptocracy

    All because the inflation rate is dropping. Maybe they can stop it dropping. The Chinese establishment has a vested interest in getting the inflation rate up in China. Because if they don’t all hell will break loose.

    Unless the Chinese can get the inflation rate up expect a revolution.

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