Thomas MacNeill: Thankful for clueless

Troutguy 1 year, 7 months ago

Perhaps that anger you speak of that is being directed at that party you speak of is because they had a large hand in the problems we face today. Over $6 trillion in deficit spending during 8 years under a President from that party you speak of. Two unfunded, unending wars from that same time period, with the same President from that same party you speak of. And now that same party is fighting tooth and nail against any regulation of Wall Street and the banks. Those same firms who played a big part in our financial mess. Those same firms who wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for a bailout by us, the taxpayer. Maybe, just maybe, this could be why some of the anger coming out of the protests is directed towards this party you speak of.

Marie Matta 1 year, 7 months ago

Mr MacNeill, you write "OUR opposition" and "WE should be thankful". Who are "we"? Who do you represent? And what would YOU or the group you represent do to address this "debacle"? Don't be so presumptuous as to assume that the readers of your letter share your point of view or count themselves among the "WE" you refer to!

The left, Paul Krugman and the current administration whom you write about in such pejorative, yet very UNspecific terms, are not MY opposition. How do you think they are "lightweights"? Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winner in Economics. Who are the intellectual "heavyweights" on YOUR side?

rhys jones 1 year, 7 months ago

This intellectual lightweight flounders at Economics 101, barely gets algebra, and fails to see how the left side will ever equal the right. If the taxpayer bails out business -- and the Chinese bail out the taxpayer -- who bails out the Chinese? Think they'll be happy with $1 a month for the foreseeable eternity? Would they settle for Yosemite? Or will your grandkids still be paying them back?

Scott Wedel 1 year, 7 months ago

You may not like Krugman's ideas, but at least he has ideas. He thinks the economic solution will come from government stimulus.

And there are others that think the solution will come from dismantling Social Security and taxing the poor.

Real problem is that almost no one is admitting the severity of the problem. As a country we allowed real estate and financing to be too much of the economy which has crashed and that is going to be gone for a long time. It is not a little bump in the road, but the road being washed out.

And if high tech is supposed to be a solution then we make it too hard from the companies to bring desired employees into the US and it is too easy for the companies to set up overseas offices. And we certainly do not do enough to educate homegrown talented kids to supply US businesses.

rhys jones 1 year, 7 months ago

Real estate was over-inflated anyway, fueled by decades of speculation and easy money, in dire need of adjustment, which is not over yet.

I'm not even going to bang my Fed drum again, just going to say, we as a country have done little to encourage domestic productivity and innovation, and much to promote and export it elsewhere. My own private opinion why is the ongoing effort at globalization, as borders dissolve, and we all eventually become members of the World Bank or one of its affiliates, tattooed with our account number for ease of reference and ultimate trackability. But this is down the road a ways, and possibly the paranoid imaginings of a raving lunatic -- but maybe not, too.

heboprotagonist 1 year, 7 months ago

I applaud the Pilot for attempting to include more actual letters to the editor instead of the wire service opinion pieces. I encouraged them to do just that when I filled out the survey earlier this year. Now, I'm reconsidering.

I don't mind when this sort of attitude is displayed in the comments section. However, did we really need to waste space in the paper with these sorts of schoolyard insults and poorly constructed syntax?

If this is the best Routt county has to offer w/r/t "letters to the editor" then perhaps we should stick with Krugman and Goldberg. (But please no more Coulter, ever) They have the training and experience to write opinion pieces that I might not always agree with, but at the very least they are thoughtful and well crafted. The above features an unnecessarily long sentence coupled with the very clumsy use of a semicolon. As well as the aforementioned vague position and juvenile insults.

I'm a little embarrassed for Mr. MacNeill's former English instructors.

sledneck 1 year, 7 months ago

If his point was: "You can't screw up this bad by accident; you need in-depth advice from nitwits like Krugman to screw a country up this bad and if the inept morons at the top had had people even "smarter" than the likes of Krugman they could have decimated America a decade earlier"... , then I agree.

Paul Krugman, with John Maynard Keynes' help, couldn't fix a burnt out lightbulb, much less give coherent economic policy advice. Keynesian economics of the past decades is exactly why we are in this current mess.

I doubt most of the left-leaning commentors above have the basic economic education to realize it, but even when they blame right-wing leaders for the mess (and rightly so) they are STILL indicting Keynesian philosophy; something Krugman endorses whole-heartedly.

And when all that's left is to criticise the grammer of an economic observation rather than refute it with economic principles then, well...

seeuski 1 year, 7 months ago

Are these people actually talking about the Paul Krugman who was an Enron consultant, who was paid $50 large, that's $50,000 dollars, by Enron and then touted how great Enron was just before they crashed and took a large chunk out of the economy? And then he tried to switch gears and connect Enron to Bush, that Krugman? Yea, you folks might pull the wool over each other but the vast majority of the public who have awoken can't be taken to those cleaners anymore. http://michellemalkin.com/2011/10/10/former-enron-adviser-paul-krugman-joins-progs-war-on-plutocrats/

The hypocrisy of the left knows no bounds!

seeuski 1 year, 7 months ago

Anyone want to talk about how great this transparent POTUS has been doing? Solyndra? Fast and furious? Anyone? I told you so before the 08 election that we were going to have a Jimmy Carter on steroids and we got worse. What will be left by 2012 is anyone's guess, maybe another golf outing or a trip to Spain will clear things up.

Marie Matta 1 year, 7 months ago

Continuing on from my point above, all those of you on the right have done is name-call, belittle and rant at the left, but just as I said before: where are YOUR intellectual giants? Where are YOUR solutions? You accuse the left of hypocrisy, but what about the right which keeps pushing the American values and patriotism card, yet demonstrates divisiveness, a total lack of compassion and a willingness to throw the country away in the name of furthering their own agenda for power.

Marie Matta 1 year, 7 months ago

By the way, heboprotagonist, I agree with you that the Pilot should not publish poorly written letters just to include local opinion.

the_Lizard 1 year, 7 months ago

mcminsteamboat, come on, you are kidding...right? Never heard of William Buckley, Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, Paul Ryan, Krauthammer, any of the conservative Supreme Court Justices, to name a few. Solutions? You've never heard of the Ryan plan either? There is a wide wide world of information which can be easily obtained with a couple "o" clicks on your computer. That's what I'm going to recommend. (I do not mind if you run a check on my spellling/grammer/syntax, if it helps)

jimmmmmm 1 year, 7 months ago

Seeuski's back! Cherry picking anything she can to try to blame Obama for our current problems.

"The Energy Department’s loan-guarantee program, enacted in 2005 with bipartisan support, has backed nearly $38 billion in loans for 40 projects around the country. Solyndra represents just 1.3 percent of that portfolio — and, as yet, it’s the only loan that has soured. Other solar beneficiaries, such as SunPower and First Solar, are still going strong. Meanwhile, just a small fraction of loan guarantees go toward solar. The program’s biggest bet to date is an $8.33 billion loan guarantee for a nuclear plant down in Georgia. Improper political influence in the process is disturbing, but, at least so far, Solyndra appears an exception, not a rule."

Wow, 1.3% of all the gov't backed loans. Good argument there. It reminds me of all the time you wasted with Obama's birth cert.

It should also be noted that the loan process began under the Bush administration, but who really cares other than Fox and Seeuski.

Political games are fun.

jimmmmmm 1 year, 7 months ago

Here's a youtube video I found interesting. Fox didn't air this.

New York Observer: Exclusive "Occupy Wall Street" Unaired Fox Footage by mavgirl69

jimmmmmm 1 year, 7 months ago

Paul Ryan? Ha!

Talk about wearing blinders. What is it about Paul Ryan's plan that is such a great idea? Tax cuts for the rich? Less regulations?

How'd that work out for you the last go 'round? What were the Bush tax cuts called?
Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001. How'd that help our economy Lizard? Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Recociliation Act of 2003. Oh that was a good name too-how'd that one work out.

Blinders for the right wing.

sledneck 1 year, 7 months ago

Jimmmmmmm, that link was funny. The fox guy was more incoherent than most of the protesters... funny. The right wing media makes itself look stupid when it dismisses all these folks just because a few are nuts. When it comes to bank bailouts and crony capitalism they have a damn good point. However, people on the left also must recognize the difference between capitalism, which I favor, and CRONY capitalism, which is what we have been doing.

Marie, If you can't see the intellectual giants it is for the same reason that a bank robber can't find a cop. To Lizards' list I would respectfully remove some of the politicians like Ryan, with whom I am not impressed, and I would instead offer you Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises who were no fans of the endless wars, Walter Williams, Fredrich Hayek and Fredrich Bastiat who's 17th century work "The Law" should be mandatory for everyone to enter a voting booth, Henry Hazlitt and Carl Menger, just to name a few more. I also just finished a great book by David Mamet called "The Secret Knowledge" which might be an eye opener for you since he was a huge leftist. These men, many of whom were anything but far right, were or are towering intellects who had or have more brains in their little toe than Krugmans entire family tree. Why don't you pick up one of their books (Sowell's "Basic Economics" might be a good start) and stop assuming that people like Krugman know anything about basic economics? Are you afraid you might learn what you don't want to know?

seeuski 1 year, 7 months ago

Jimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbo, are you really going to try and blow off Solyndra by blaming Bush? Really? Pay attention to the facts Son, you will see that blaming Bush won't fly on this one. And what that guy in the video was describing is exactly your political positions, Social Justice/Socialism over free market Capitalism. We are at war and it will get ugly for sure. The USA I was born in was not a Fascist state, but as sledneck mentioned above, crony Capitalism, which Obama is fully invested in with Solyndra and the Unions along with GE and GM, is the enemy of free market Capitalism and the tool of Marxists and Progressives by which power is maintained over the people, even you Son. Here is a video of who we are really seeing at these Anarchist rallies, the MSM media, including FOX News, won't show the true picture.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/exposed-written-by-an-anarchist-anti-capitalism-group-occupy-wall-street-journal-full-color-free-newspaper-is-funded-by-george-soros-the-tides-foundation-code-pink-and-michael-moore/

Maybe some new music will lighten your mood, Hank Jr. style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iRReH...

seeuski 1 year, 7 months ago

And the Bush tax cuts were done to stimulate the economy after 9/11 and the Clinton recession he inherited. The unemployment rate during those times remained low, around 5%. Obama has done the opposite to stimulate the economy, tax/spend and run up our debt and the unemployment rate stands near 20%. 9.1% if you ignore those that can't get unemployment insurance or who have given up. The Conservative agenda is a free market, small government and people first agenda while the Progressives are about killing off free market Capitalism and replacing it with Socialism and a big government ruling class. They want to be able to pick and choose the winners in the doling out of benefits and who gets the shaft? their foes. That is why over the centuries millions of people have been murdered under these types of regimes. I don't know why so many useful idiots want to lose their freedoms in this way. And I know the Anarchist minded Progressives hate their perceived foes enough to enjoy their demise, they say it, they show it, they praise it. I don't need to reproduce the Rosanne Barr off with their heads speech or the effigies of Sarah Palin hanging on the side of a lefty loons house in Hollywood, or the kill George Bush movies, or the millions of signs at these rallies etc, etc. Historical records prove it. Not one arrest at the thousands of Tea Party rallies, hundreds of arrests at one Anarchist rally pretty much sums it up.

Brian Kotowski 1 year, 7 months ago

The top 1% of earners account for 20% of all American income, but shoulder 39% of the federal income tax burden. The top 10% pay 70% of all federal income tax. The bottom 80% account for 20% of federal income tax. 46% of Americans pay 0 - ZERO - federal income tax. I've never understood how that's not "progressive" enough for the "progressives" among us.

Before the Bush tax cuts, the top 1% paid 37%. After the Bush tax cuts, it went to 39%. Before, the top 5% paid 56% of all income tax revenue. After, it's 60%. In 1980 when the top rate was 70%, the top 1% paid 19% of income taxes. After the top rate was slashed to 35%, that percentage more than doubled.

When Big Bro gets out of the private sector's way and allows it more $ and resources to invest, jobs & wealth are created. As people - and, yes, corporations - move into higher tax brackets, the aggregate tax collected goes up.

Where are all those shovel-ready jobs to be generated by your $2.8 trillion spending spree, Mr. President? What ever happened to the "400,000 jobs [to be created] almost immediately" by the passage of Obamacare, Speaker Pelosi?

If the left was truly interested in funneling revenues into the treasury, it would stop insisting that tax policy is a zero-sum proposition, and consider the dynamic impact of freeing up capital for use by the job creators. But it's not about revenue. It's about political power, and class warfare is their most convenient - and increasingly transparent - tactic.

Troutguy 1 year, 7 months ago

Let's look at the overall picture of the Bush Administration employment numbers rather that cherry pick numbers from certain years. Unemplyment went from 4.2% in January 2001 to 7.8% in January 2009. An increase of 3.6%. Now that's success!! (The "real" unemployment number was at 16.4% in Jan 2009)

And it is true that you learn new things every day. Tax and spend liberals? Ha! The GOP are the true spenders (unfortunately they cut taxes to pay for their programs). Here's a sample of increases in Govt. debt since 1977: Carter -3.3% Reagan +11.3% (term 1) Reagan +9.3% (term 2) GW Bush +13%
Clinton -0.7% (term 1) Clinton -9.0% (term 2) Bush +7.1% (term 1) Bush +20.7% (term 2) Obama +9% (thru 2010) Obama's spending spree was to keep the financial crisis from becoming the next Great Depresssion. What's the GOP's reason for running up debt? Facts are the facts. The numbers don't lie. And I know the Ogliarch minded Conservatives hate their perceived foes enough to enjoy their demise, they say it, they show it, and they praise it........yada yada yada. Goes both ways. Always cracks me up when one side claims purity. Nobody from the right ever hung an effagy of Obama. Nobody at any GOteaParty rally ever holds up hateful signs. Oh, the hypocracy gets thick around here. Oh and by the way, there have been arrests at GOteaParty rallies. Check facts much? http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/15/20110415Phoenix-tea-party-rally-arrests-abrk.html

http://the44diaries.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/strange-scene-10-arrested-as-tea-partiers-heckle-police/

Scott Wedel 1 year, 7 months ago

Sep, Nice examples on how statistics can be misleading.

The reason percentage of the total being paid by the wealthy increased from 37% to 39% after the Bush tax cuts is not because they started paying more, but because others were paying less.

When people in the top 1% make 30 times more than others then it is hardly surprising they are also paying a lot more.

This is not class warfare as much as it is simple economics. To get money then you have to go where the money is. Studies pretty consistently show that after you count up all sales tax, excise tax and so on that the lowest income people end up paying among the highest percentage of their income in taxes. High income people typically spent much lower percentage of their income on items with sales tax and don't buy that much more gas (excise taxes) and so overall don't pay such a high percentage of their income in taxes.

To give Bush credit when he took a surplus and turned it into huge deficits and then failed to step in and deal with rampant real estate speculation (more than half of mortgages became 5% or less down) defies commonsense.

Brian Kotowski 1 year, 7 months ago

Scott W:

I'm baffled that you find the stats cited to be "misleading." They accurately reflect who pays what percentage of federal income tax. And I give W all the credit in the world - not a complimentary assessment - for the deficits he racked up. Many tea partiers (like me) will tell you the movement experienced its first nascent stirrings when W signed off on the asinine TARP bailout.

For the record, Clinton never posted a surplus for Bush to inherit. He came close in FY2000, with a deficit of 'only' $17.9 billion, but it never reached zero; and forget about that number ever being in the black - an observation not intended to excuse W's profligate spending. What's really galling is how BHO makes W look like Ebeneezer Scrooge.

I wonder how large our deficit needs to be before the left regards it to be unsustainable?

seeuski 1 year, 7 months ago

They will never concede because their goal is the total end to free market Capitalism and the debt and deficit are of no consequence in that goal. They are of the new Global Governance World order. This fight is for our Sovereignty and our continuation as a free nation with the rights of the people to liberty and equal justice, not social justice. Did the Cold War actually end or did it just become stealth and in our face? I have seen evidence of the latter. And for me, responding to the continuation of the blame Bush excuses is just a part of their Alinsky playbook. Distraction.

seeuski 1 year, 7 months ago

And for anyone interested, Obama spoke to a Union audience today and said he would go around Congress with his new stimulus(Obama campaign finance)bill. How long will the people sit and let this POTUS break laws before they demand action? IMPEACH!

sledneck 1 year, 7 months ago

"Fair share" will never mean a damn thing as long as half of the people pay zero.

They are protected by the same military as the rich. They have as many kids in schools as the rich. They use the same roads, bridges, librarys, police, fire and other services as the rich. Probably even more so on a per capita basis.

Fair share???????? If there is even one person alive on this planet whose fair share is nearly 50% then there is NOBODY alive on this planet whose fair share is zero.

Brian Kotowski 1 year, 7 months ago

Owing to America's commitment to winning the Cold War, our NATO allies never really had to choose between guns & butter. We funded the collective defense, and enabled many of those countries to engage in the same kind of socialism BHO & Co want us to choke on here. And look where those nations find themselves: Greece, Portugal, Spain, England, Ireland, Italy... they're all collapsing under the weight of decades of Keynesian largesse, as those governments finally run out of other people's money to confiscate.

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