Flatblade

TwinCities.com

Health bill passes first test in Senate; debate to begin after ...

Weren't you listening? Almost every liberal candidate, including Obama, included reforming health care in his/her standard boilerplate campaign speech. Crafting a bill that is both effective and popular is a tough assignment. Everyone wants the goodies without the pain. In reality, some will win and some will lose. That is the nature of politics.  (17 hrs ago | post #99)

TwinCities.com

Health bill passes first test in Senate; debate to begin after ...

The economy is roughly in the same shape as it was for Ronald Reagan in 1981-2. Predictions were widespread that Reagan would never be re-elected. The economy rebounded in the next 2 years and Reagan won 49 states. It is far too early to predict what will happen in 2012.  (17 hrs ago | post #97)

TwinCities.com

Health bill passes first test in Senate; debate to begin after ...

Who made this estimate? The RNC? The Heritage Foundation? C'mon, get real.  (17 hrs ago | post #96)

TwinCities.com

Health bill passes first test in Senate; debate to begin after ...

Seriously, both politicial parties are being run from the extreme. Both sides have found it to be a successful tactic to oppose everything the other side offers and poison the well for open discourse. Read "Free Republic" or "Red State" or the "Huffington Report" or "Daily Kos" and see what they think of moderates. The Senate Republicans have only two or three moderates left in their caucus. Democrats have probably a half dozen. See what kos says about the three L's--Liebermann, Landrieu, and Lincoln. I'm pretty sure it isn't kind. I was not a fan of George W, but I'm sure he wasn't trying to ruin the country. The same is true for Obama, and he has had less than one-eighth the time that Bush had.  (Yesterday | post #74)

TwinCities.com

Health bill passes first test in Senate; debate to begin after ...

Reagan had a majority in the Senate for six of his eight years and had a vaunted "ideological majority" in the House for most of his two terms. Deficits exploded during the Reagan admin every bit as much as they have for any Democratic president.  (Yesterday | post #73)

TwinCities.com

Health bill passes first test in Senate; debate to begin after ...

I agree, but most of the corruption is legalized corruption. Lobbyists, campaign contributions, and legislative privileges. Beyond that, our country is hurting financially because no one, Democrats or Republican really faces the fiscal issues head on. Every administration increases spending and some try to increase spending and cut taxes (Reagan and GW Bush) at the same time. The result is predictable--large r and larger deficits and larger and larger "elephants in the room" (infrastructure, the whole entitlement package) left waiting for much-needed reform.  (Yesterday | post #64)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

Thank you for stunning comeback. Again, I know about the Postal Service and it is not run by the government. Your comments have been directed at the president and the federal government is not the primary funding source for education, states fund well over 75% of education, so if they are failures, they are not federal failures. Medicare and Social Security have been huge successes for years. Government administration is not the problem. The programs have both outlived their original purpose and "shelf life" and need to be modified. Show me one senior citizen that wants to see Medicare scrapped. Health care has been and continues to be a very difficult political problem (ask Bill and Hillary Clinton), but there is consensus that we can't continue down the road with exploding costs, wildly unequal treatment alternatives, and a significant portion of the country uninsured. Obama's plan is neither socialized medicine nor single payer. It does inject the federal government in health care. The hard left liberals at the Mayo Clinic, the AMA, and AARP have endorsed the bulk of the plan. I believe the AMA and AARP supported the House bill.  (Friday Nov 20 | post #442)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

1) USPS is not run by the government. 2) Medicare is 9X over budget. Show me the numbers please. One reason that Medicare is over budget is because of exploding health care costs. Another reason is because people are living longer and having expensive surgeries and treatments in their 70s and 80s or even later. 3) Schools are run by the states, at least in my experience. 4) Social Security is another program that is a victim of its own success. It is not broke, it is just that the government has "borrowed " their assets for many, many years. Something does need to be done with social security because more and more people are reaching the age to draw benefits and there hasn't been a corresponding increase in the number of people paying in to support those drawing out.  (Friday Nov 20 | post #427)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

Most reasonable people (including most econonomists) put job losses on the previous administration if an administration is to be blamed, although I am pretty sure that if job losses continue into the new year, Obama will get the blame, and probably should.  (Friday Nov 20 | post #425)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

No, it is not. Since the Postmaster General was removed from the Cabinet in 1970, the Postal Service was reorganized into a non-profit public corporation. It was mandated by Congress to run itself, but with certain strings attached. The administration of the Postal Service is no longer political. A Board of Governors fills PMG vacancies and the only money received from the government is for "revenue forgone" which is unprofitable services mandated by Congress.  (Friday Nov 20 | post #424)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

Do you know anything about the Postal Service? I certainly do. They aren't run by the government and haven't been since 1970. You base your argument on a false premise.  (Thursday Nov 19 | post #414)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

And this is all a product of the last 10 months? Yes, people are struggling and it is disproportiately the middle and lower class that suffers. However, the recession started in 2004 or 2005. Unemployment is a lagging indicator when it comes to recovery. I fully believe that if Obama had done nothing the unemployment rate would be just as high or higher than it is now. What is going to bring about economic growth? Tough call, but the fact is that for the last 10 years, job growth has lagged far behind other measures of economic growth.  (Thursday Nov 19 | post #364)

TwinCities.com

Limbaugh: Obama wants to take big chunk of economy

How many fully capable people are we supporting? How does this compare with the 70's or the 80's or the 90's? Angry conservatives continue to throw out stuff like this as if the wealthiest 10% support all of the poor. From my understanding, this is almost totally untrue. I do know that the share of taxes that the wealthiest 5% pay now is far lower than in the 70s and 80s. I also believe fewer (a lower percentage) are on welfare now than in the Reagan era.  (Thursday Nov 19 | post #363)

TwinCities.com

Powers: Twins tell clueless Gomez to run past third, keep going...

They sent JJ packing to AAA for exactly twenty days so that he wouldn't be eligible to be a free agent after the '09 season. Yes, the lousy season was justification, but if the club were in the pennant race, they never would have sent him down.  (Thursday Nov 12 | post #97)

TwinCities.com

Minnesota Twins acquire J.J. Hardy from Brewers for Carlos Gomez

No one, other than fans with short attention spans, have suggested that Hardy change positions. The Twins have needed a shortstop since they traded Bartlett. They now have one.  (Sunday Nov 8 | post #75)