@20 “What all the GOP pundits fail to realize is that carbon credits can be bought by environmentalists, too.” Environmentalists have money? Really? Name one group that is capitalized at 10% of any local electrical utility. And after they make such an “investment” they are going to shelve it? My, my.

@39 “Higher taxes are historically correlated with greater job growth, increased consumer spending, and reduced government deficits. We are nowhere near the downslope of the Laffer curve by any historical reference.” Name even one economy where the first sentence is true. I can name a half dozen where it’s false including the beloved JFK when he tried it. Regarding the second sentence–funny Arthur Laffer thinks we are there. What historical reference point are you using????????

@39 “Jon’s a great comedian, and actually a better news source than a lot of the talking heads on TV. ” If you are getting your news from the TV –meaning any channel — you are seriously unedikated.

There’s this little place (well, a continent, actually) called Europe. There is no GOP there. Yet, miraculously, they find themselves in an even worse position than the US. Under your worldview, that should not be possible, yet there it is, facts once again getting in the way of your ideology.

Despite your protestations, physical labor is more taxing than your jet setting.

So I guess in your moral universe, “caveman” is the most noble job. After all, it was so physically taxing that most of them lived to the ripe old age of about 15. That, of course, was if you survived childbirth, which many didn’t.

Your whole view of the world is so incredibly backward, it could only have been developed under the comforting protection of the very people you claim to find affronting. One only wishes that there was some insignificant corner of the world in which your childish fantasies could be played out once and for all, like Guam or something similar.

That’s a fringe position held by very few – mostly people who have a personal stake in it. Your own assessment of how hard you work is worth squat. But you can comfort yourself with your bank balance.

And your position is not based on a “personal stake”? The money taken out of my wallet will benefit you. How is that not a “personal stake” on your behalf?

I also love how you claim to have insight into how hard everyone works. I’d love to see your objective data and how you determined whose jobs are the hardest and whose are the most overpaid. Underlying all of your commentary is a romanticization of physical labor that typically comes from those who’ve done little of it. I guess in your world, it’s been all downhill since the inventions of things like the wheel and the pulley. After all, those provide leverage and make physical labor a little less “taxing”. In fact, you probably think Archimedes entire life was wasted. I mean, all he did was think stuff up, so he wasn’t really working that hard.

Wow. You really are an idiot. Wrong on both counts. What else can you deduce from analyzing your own bias?

You have no concept of how the real world operates. You’re making an assumption that a common laborer works harder than a white collar worker.

I’m familiar with both roles, having worked as a ‘common laborer’ as well as a white collar worker. I am quite familiar with how the real world operates. Despite your protestations, physical labor is more taxing than your jet setting.

Typical liberal bias. Untrue as most liberal claims are. I make more money than you that’s fairly obvious and I’m positive I work harder than you do.

You probably do make more money than me if you are opposed to a tax increase on the top 3% of earners. That’s a fringe position held by very few – mostly people who have a personal stake in it. Your own assessment of how hard you work is worth squat. But you can comfort yourself with your bank balance.

It has been twice in less than one hundred years that Republicans have persisted in cutting taxes and inflating markets precipitously, causing the dangerous economic cycles referred to as depressions in the USA. Sound policies were replaced under GOP auspices with loose regulations that made possible a repeat of the mistakes made by the GOP in the 1920′s.

The real theft is the bankrupting of the people’s government for the enrichment of the ownership class. Stealing from the poor and needy to give tax breaks to the rich is not the proper course of action for a moral nation. If Obama does not take the country far enough to the left, his successor will.

Peace.

DS

As far as I can tell your argument is “People who make more than me do things that I don’t understand so we should tax them extra, because my job is the hardest job ever and I’m OK with paying more taxes, so they should be too, gosh darn it!”. In other words, you don’t have the inklings of the beginnings of an argument to refute. It’s just idiotic statement piled upon idiotic statement.

Get a job David. That’ll cure what ails you (ignorance in case you aren’t “intelligent” enough to figure it out for yourself.)

You do a great job of demonstrating why the liberal Congress headed by a liberal President has absolutely no concept of how to turn around the economy. Just like liberals to throw good money after bad.

Oh, please. I nailed your stupid mantra-spouting perfectly. It’s just that you’re so eminently mockable. I used to be you, before I grew up. When I mock you, I mock my younger, ignorant self as well.

Funny, but I’ve never used the term “Gaia” on this site, or the greeting “Duuude”, nor referred to anyone as my “bro”. So what exactly did you nail? Oh, yes – mocking yourself. Well done. Thanks for saving me the trouble.

@41. AThinkingPerson:

In your estimation someone that makes over $300,000 a year doesn’t work “hard”? In the working-in-a-coal-mine sense no.

That would be you agreeing with my point. Congratulations.

Just for the record, international travel, creative writing and attending conferences are things that most people do for fun. If you are getting paid $300,000 a year for such activities, pardon me if I don’t think of your work as “hard”. You are clearly being more than adequately rewarded for the effort expended. The difference between a 35% and 42% tax bracket won’t wreck your life.

@42. venividivici:

I’m thinking that most folks taking home $300,000 a year have little concept of what it means to do the hard work that makes their lives so comfortable. Most Americans don’t earn that much in 5 years. Many won’t earn that much in 10 years, despite plenty of hard work. You keep asserting that I’m an idiot – but only because you can’t refute my arguments. If you want to test your intelligence against mine, you will fail. But keep trying – you do a great job demonstrating how poorly the average GOP supporter understands the world.

Peace.

DS

AThinkingPerson,

David S is probably thinking of how hard Michelle Obama had to work for her $300K, in which case he’s got a point. Overall, though, he’s just an idiot, as someone pointed out earlier. His only excuse is if he’s under 23 years old.