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You've ruptured his brain. He sounds like Alan Colmbs now

Let me guess... you actually LIKE Hannity and think he speaks the truth?

OK – back to my first suggestion; Stop wasting money on endless wars.
Don’t change thing one with the tax code. Just stop blowing trillions on these never ending police actions.

You agree with that HD?

I absolutely agree with it. The problem is our decade of war has cost between 2.3 and 2.7 trillion USD that are now part of our 14.5 trillion USD national debt.

When you stop the war you have to stop the war machine. Shrink the military, cut weapons programs, eliminate military equipment, reduce veterans benefits, lay off soldiers, etc. Otherwise the only difference with being in Iraq versus Topeka is combat pay, wear & tear, and logistics.

If we fired every single member of the US military and Dept of Defense and sold off all equipment such that the entire military budget was eliminated, the Federal budget still would not be balanced.

(...and then they would all draw unemployment!)

Hannity does matter. HD is wrong.

Harvey?

We should raise Brewha's taxes. He does not pay his fair share.

We could also go with colmbs, gore etc. it matters not. there is plenty of hate out there and a lot of money backing it.

I'm just pointing it out that it isn't that simple to just say "end the police actions". It is true that the USA has been in perpetual undeclared war for a very long time. You would have to go back to the 1980s to even find a little peace break. These undeclared wars have added a great amount to our budget deficits and overall debt but are not even close to being the sole offender for overspending.

Anyone serious about cutting government spending will need to start with the military and then move on to Social Security. When you're trying to find a trillion dollars by whacking a couple of 5 billion dollar subsidies, you're going to be at it for a long time.

The Democrats are not even slightly serious about cutting spending. Their current proposal is more tax, borrow & spend.

The Republicans are only marginally serious about cutting spending because they've left the military spending out of the conversation. There proposal is still basically borrow & spend but they can't admit it.

Maybe I an borrow money to spend on a meat grinder.......

Teedubya, box split?

Finally something constructive.

Law of averages, probably, but still. It does suggest that our patience is at least partially rewarded.

Sorry if I lost you on a tangent.
I must have refused to answer a simple question.

No, .....
Wait.

That was you.





And just for the record, the KKK didn't use the "life is unfair" mantra. They used hate.
And it's more than sad that you can't see the difference.

I did answer your questions, but apparently not simply enough. It is a hallmark of style thinking is it not, when one demands simple answers to complex questions.
Of course, to some the world is a simple place, painted in black and white with no shades of gray; simple and without ambiguity.



As for the sadness you feel, I can offer you this;

“Just to register emotion, jealousy - devotion,
And really feel the part.
I could stay young and chipper,
and I'd lock it with a zipper,
If I only had a heart.”

No need to thank me – it is complimentary.

The Greek Austerity Plan

(This was passed just to get more foreign loans and to get existing debt due date extensions)



TAXES

* Taxes will increase by 2.32bn euros this year, with additional taxes of 3.38bn euros in 2012, 152m euros in 2013 and 699m euros in 2014.
* A solidarity levy of between 1% and 5% of income will be levied on households to raise 1.38bn euros.
* The tax-free threshold for income tax will be lowered from 12,000 to 8,000 euros.
* There will be higher property taxes
* VAT rates are to rise: the 19% rate will increase to 23%, 11% becomes 13%, and 5.5% will increase to 6.5%.
* The VAT rate for restaurants and bars will rise to 23% from 13%.
* Luxury levies will be introduced on yachts, pools and cars.
* Some tax exemptions will be scrapped
* Excise taxes on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol will rise by one third.
* Special levies on profitable firms, high-value properties and people with high incomes will be introduced.

PUBLIC SECTOR CUTS

* The public sector wage bill will be cut by 770m euros in 2011, 600m euros in 2012, 448m euros in 2013, 300m euros in 2014 and 71m euros in 2015.
* Nominal public sector wages will be cut by 15%.
* Wages of employees of state-owned enterprises will be cut by 30% and there will be a cap on wages and bonuses.
* All temporary contracts for public sector workers will be terminated.
* Only one in 10 civil servants retiring this year will be replaced and only one in 5 in coming years.

SPENDING CUTS

* Defence spending will be cut by 200m euros in 2012, and by 333m euros each year from 2013 to 2015.
* Health spending will be cut by 310m euros this year and a further 1.81bn euros in 2012-2015, mainly by lowering regulated prices for drugs.
* Public investment will be cut by 850m euros this year.
* Subsidies for local government will be reduced.
* Education spending will be cut by closing or merging 1,976 schools.

CUTTING BENEFITS

* Social security will be cut by 1.09bn euros this year, 1.28bn euros in 2012, 1.03bn euros in 2013, 1.01bn euros in 2014 and 700m euros in 2015.
* There will be more means-testing and some benefits will be cut.
* The government hopes to collect more social security contributions by cracking down on evasion and undeclared work.
* The statutory retirement age will be raised to 65, 40 years of work will be needed for a full pension and benefits will be linked more closely to lifetime contributions.

PRIVATISATION

* The government aims to raise 50bn euros from privatisations by 2015, including:
* Selling stakes this year in the betting monopoly OPAP, the lender Hellenic Postbank, port operators Piraeus Port and Thessaloniki Port as well as Thessaloniki Water.
* It has agreed to sell 10% of Hellenic Telecom to Deutsche Telekom for about 400m euros.
* Next year, the government plans to sell stakes in Athens Water, refiner Hellenic Petroleum, electricity utility PPC, lender ATEbank as well as ports, airports, motorway concessions, state land and mining rights.
* It plans further sales to raise 7bn euros in 2013, 13bn euros in 2014 and 15bn euros in 2015.

Awesome!
Made me laugh. Thanks Brew.

Coy? No.
Now, you be carp.
On porous – just for the halibut.

Did you read #121 & 122?

Really good stuff there.

Austerity sucks! Now you can see why the Greeks are all pissed off. They get to have that austerity plan or go bankrupt and withdraw from the EU. Nice! One out of every five workers in Greece either work for the government or work for a government-owned company.


There are some key differences between Greece and the USA.

Greece is in trouble because they have already taxed the crap out of their people whereas the USA has room to inflict more pain. For example, we could solve our woes with something like a 10% VAT tax.

Nobody trusts Greece so the only loans they can get are at 16% interest. We still have creditors that trust the USA so we can get loans at 3%.

You know you're gold, you don't gotta worry none
Oasis child, born and so wild
Don't I know you better than the rest
All deception, all deception from you

Your love is stag in the white sand
Wilderness for miles, eyes so mild and wise
Don't I know you better than the rest
All deception, all deception from you

Any way you run, you run before us
Black and white horse arching among us

Your love is stag in the white sand
Oasis child born into a man
Don't I know you better than the rest
All deception, all deception from you

Wilderness for miles, eyes so mild and wise
Oasis child, born and so wild
Don't I know you better than the rest
All deception, all deception from you

Any way you run, you run before us
Black and white horse arching among us

IMO Fair Share would mean the elimination of all taxes and institute a singular National Sales Tax

That way if all you can afford is beanie weanies than you are taxed and if you can afford a Bugatti Veyron then you are taxed