Mike...are you okay? It sounds like you're ready to blow a gasket or something. You raise "shrill" to a whole new level. Get a grip, man. It's politics. It ain't the end of the world. Wow.

It may not be the end of the world, but under a 4 year administration under the One, it will cost me $8K a year minimum in additional taxes or $32K over 4 years. That to me is a big deal. Why the F**K should I give this knucklehead $32K of my hard earned money? to be fair? for his bogus welfare programs? Puh-lease. I don't know about you, but to me that's a lot of dough and I'll be damned if I'm just going to give it away to Pelosi, the One, and their gang of shmucks and yentas.

Obama isn't a complete moron. I never liked the idea but this almost sounds like the Negative Income Tax proposed by Milton Friedman. Granted, Friedman was all for it if we also abolished all other welfare programs but still that is technically where the idea comes from. Charles Murray does a good job explaining this in his book "In Our Hands". Again the idea is to give the "underclass" cash INSTEAD of welfare...not welfare AND cash. Unfortunately efforts such as these allows BS artists like Obama to propose a "hybrid" plan that combines "conservative" ideas with leftism. He's just looking for an excuse to spend our money

Do you think "Antunez" - the Cuban former political prisoner mentioned in an earlier article - is a dope? After all, he's a lib.

Anyhow, one of his biggest failures will be the oil windfall tax. This failed in the early 80s and it will fail again. It's difficult and costly to adminster and at the end of the day, will not generate the money he thinks it will. Besides, what happens when oil gets cheaper and oil companies start losing money - will he give some of it back?

His tax plan is misguided. It has to be a fair tax plan in if he's gonna raise taxes, do it for everyone. That's fairness.

Rick is a fucking idiot, living off the government dole, so no doubt he'd love to see a huge expansion in the federal government.

Cardinal, the problem with trading that type of tax system for the existing welfare state is that it will never happen. It would always be a compromise. The welfare programs might be cut back temporarily (not dissolved) creating the illusion of a trade off but over time they would grow again and it would be like losing ground in a tug of war.

gumercindo, when Antunez is referred to as a liberal democrat by Jay Nordlinger he's talking about it in the context of a totalitarian dictatorship. There's a huge difference between being a liberal democrat in Cuba and being a liberal Democrat in America. I have no problem with classic liberalism. I have a huge problem with the socialistic nanny state liberalism of the current crop of Democrat politicians.

Obama has made it clear that he basically doesn't even CARE what effect his tax hikes would have on tax revenue. That's pure insanity.

Tax hikes, especially significant ones, rarely if ever increase tax revenues. But at least with somebody who believes that tax hikes WILL bring in more money, you can see the logic, however faulty, of what they're trying to do -- raise revenues for this or that program or cause.

But what can you say to someone who would hike taxes even though he knows they likely won't raise revenues? Do you just want to upset the chess table, Obama? If one tire on your car goes flat, do you deflate the other three so the first tire doesn't feel bad?

You bring up a very intelligent and rational point here, Gomez. All government workers should be hard core Republicans, that way, by voting for "less government," they would eventually vote themselves right out onto the street. Brilliant. I never really considered that logic.

Dickface, you just made my point for me. Shitheads like you sit around and surf the net all day on the taxpayer's dime and of course you vote for your self-interest rather than the interests of people who pay your salary. Nobody is going to vote their job out of existence, especially those who are sponging off of the rest of us. I thought that that was obvious. Apparently you just realized it.

Oh, and fuckhead, I love how you refer to everyone by their last name but are such a pussy that you won't reveal yours. Big fucking tall lanky pussy.

Henry - I totally agree it would never work and this is why I never liked the idea because it is easy for leftists to hijack this idea and tack it on to the welfare state. It's the same reason I abhor the idea of a consumption tax to replace the income tax. A month after they make the swap they would bring back the income tax to supplement revenue. Too bad, their good ideas but they would never work.

I have a quibble - I don't like slamming Dems with the term liberal. Thomas Jefferson was a liberal, John Locke was a liberal as was Hayek, Mises and even Carlos Alberto Montaner. Those people are statists, socialists and leftists. They don't like the liberal label so I want to take it back.

oops, meant to say "they're good ideas."

Mockery, Gomez. Look it up, bro.

Taxpayer's dime? My, I don't know what you're talking about.

It's Adjective Day, I see! You say tall, lanky, I say short, pudgy, and I add one: size 46 waist. After skipping lunch, of course.

Your turn, Gomez. Go for it!

Oh really Rick? You the anonymous holier than thou blogging douchebag isn't afraid of being outed anymore? Then why the spasm when Bob Norman cryptically referred to your employer, which we all know (now, thanks to you) is a government entity?

I may be fat, but short is definitely not a characteristic of mine. I'm 6'2". I understand you are taller but I'm sure I could your old ass if I had to.

Like I said before shouldn't you be off molesting collies or something?

You bring up a very intelligent and rational point here, Gomez. All government workers should be hard core Republicans, that way, by voting for "less government," they would eventually vote themselves right out onto the street.

Several strange implications arise from this comment:

a) That said government workers can't get jobs in the private sector (in many, possibly most, cases, you're probably right) and would thus be doomed to starve.

b) That the federal government's primary function is to provide make-work thumb-twiddling jobs for said workers precisely because they can't get work elsewhere. (Or at least create the illusion that they can't work elsewhere so they remain dependent for job security on statist politicians who will expand government the most.)

c) Therefore all government workers should be Democrats or they're being disloyal.

As you might say, I never really considered that logic.

I have to say something here about Gov't workers. I started off in the private sector and over the past 5 years have found myself in Gov't employment. Friends questioned whether my Republican values would remain intact once I came in contact with the system.

In a sense they are right I am no longer for limiting government's size and scope...no I want to get rid of the entire F*&^ing thing. Those of you in the private sector think you have a clue about how little some people do or are worth in Gov't work - trust me you are giving them a lot more credit than they deserve. If 1/3 of my co-workers would disappear tomorrow I would venture to say that productivity would increase. There is a guy making 90G a year who checks out Rotten Tomatoes updates all day.

Yo, Gomez...I don't think you heard me. I have no idea what you're talking about. Is that clear enough?

And for someone who is blogging as "Joedilocks" on a parody website, you don't really have the standing to be pointing fingers at anonymous bloggers similar to the ones that blog at babalu, now do you?

You also don't have the nuts to threaten me on the internet, or maybe you do and were just too hysterical to put in a key word to complete that threat and open yourself up to...well...whatever.

Dude, really man. Do you walk around your house with this temper?

Damn.

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Zhangliqun:

It wasn't meant to be logical. It was mocking Gomez's idiotic claim that government workers vote Democrat because they would "love to see a huge expansion in the federal government."

By making the equally outrageous claim that they should vote Republican to save their jobs I was mocking Gomez's logic, if you want to call it that.

Of course, Gomez is too dim to grasp and digest all this before exploding with his profanities.

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