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Barack Obama

To quote President Barack Obama, February 2009

Submitted by Roanman on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 06:14

 

"We can not and will not sustain deficits like these without end.

Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we can not simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration or the next generation. 

We are paying the price for these deficits right now.

In 2008 alone we paid $250 billion in interest on our debt, that is more than three times what we spent on education that year, more than seven times what we spent on VA healthcare.

So if we confront this crisis without also confronting the deficits that helped cause it, we risk sinking into another crisis down the road as our interest payments rise, our obligations come due, confidence in our economy erodes and our children and grandchildren are unable to pursue their dreams because they are saddled with our debts. 

That's why today I am pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office. 

This will not be easy - it will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we have long neglected but i refuse to leave our children with a debt they can not repay.

And that means taking responsibility right now in this administration, for getting our spending under control."

 

 

He's better get off his boney butt and get it in gear if he expects to make this one ... that's the joke you see, he never expected to make this one.

 

 

You're so f%#*^*@ smart, what would you do?

Submitted by Roanman on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 15:44

 

I knew this one was inevitable.

Among the opinions that I freely share with anyone willing to listen is the notion that there is next to nothing that separates the two candidates presesently running for the office of President of the United States.  Furthermore, if you look at the practices of their respective administrations there is next to nothing that distinguishes the administration of Barack Obama from that of George W. Bush and indeed very little that distinguishes either Bush administration from Bill Clinton's discounting the spectacular opportunities for policy adventures afforded the latter Bush by virtue of the wildly more succesful attack on the World Trade Center that occurred on his watch.

This notion frustrates Republican/conservative types to no end as they consider themselves to be the only grownups in the room and as such the only possible responsible viewpoint on any issue you might care to name, while at the same time infuriating Democrat/liberal/progressive types to near apoplexy as they view themselves to be the best possible people imaginable by virtue of their tender hearts and pure intentions all the while loathing with the deepest passion imaginable anyone who has the temerity to oppose them on any issue.

So anyway, I was at the soccer game the other day watching the youngest Roanboy command the midfield, when I chanced upon one of my Republican/conservative type friends who visits us here from time to time and is exasperated with me for refusing to support Mitt Romney.

Finally completely frustrated, he said to me, "Youre so f&#$%@^ smart, what would you do?"

"I'm Emperor?"  I ask, delighted at the prospect.

Look of disgust.

"Ok, Ok"

Then I rattle it off in about 18 seconds.

1. Break up the media near monopolies.  Allow for ownership/investment of only one media outlet, be it newspaper, televison station or radio station per state.

2. Break up the banks.  Bring back Glass Steagall word for word at minimum.  Better yet, legally segregate retail banking from investment banking from propriatery trading from brokerage from insurance from fee based research.

3. Abolish the Federal Reserve Bank.

4. Disengage from all foreign entanglements including NATO and bring all of our troops home.  

5. Establish term limits of 3 terms for Congress and two for the Senate.

6. Establish term limits of 25 years for all public employees.  Some time in the private sector would do most of them a world of good.

7. End the "War on Drugs".  Legalize it, tax it, use the money you save for treatment.

8. Close the Department of Homeland Security. Hold parties at airports all over the country and beat the shit out of their equipment with sledge hammers.  Make transportation companies responsible for their customer's security.

9-a. Establish a flat tax of 10% on every dime of income over twenty thousand dollars, regardless of source, regardless of the form (benefits are income) from every entity, while removing deductions for mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable contributions ..... everything.  End FICA

9-b. Remove depreciation and depletion allowances from corporate tax returns along with interest deductions, allow business entities to expense capital purchases along with business expenses in the year they occur on a cash in cash out basis.  Treat debt for purposes of acquiring capital purchases as income.  Get it?  You can expense capital improvements in the year they are acquired to the extent they are unleveraged.

10. Hire the nastiest prick I can find with some prosecutorial experience to hold a public investigation of the attack on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001.  Give him every dime he asks for.  Hell, offer up a bonus for every conviction that results in a hanging ..... make it a big one.

"How's that just for starters?"  I asked, just as innocently as I am able.

He won't be back bothering me anytime soon.

 

No, that's not me in the picture although I used to look a lot like that ..... before the operation.

 

Alan Keyes has a question.

Submitted by Roanman on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 21:10

 

The way Mr. Keyes sees it, one bank owned, neocon pawn is as good/bad as another.

So he asks himself, "Do you take the demonstrably competent candidate who will be elected with the mantle of conservative legitimacy that allows him to proceed with the identical agenda as the liberal stumblebum who has yet to demonstrate much in the way of any real competence at anything beyond getting himself elected and seems far more interested in his golf game than in implementing anything that resembles real policy anyway?"

 That there is one helluva question if you ask us.

 

 

GM loses $49,000 per unit on the Chevy Volt. Gonna make it back on volume.

Submitted by Roanman on Mon, 09/10/2012 - 12:47

 

From Reuters.

Click anywhere below for the entire piece which also mentions layoffs in Hamtramck.

 

Insight: GM's Volt: The ugly math of low sales, high costs

General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line.

 

 

Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts.

Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.

And while the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold, GM is still years away from making money on the Volt, which will soon face new competitors from Ford, Honda and others.

GM's basic problem is that "the Volt is over-engineered and over-priced," said Dennis Virag, president of the Michigan-based Automotive Consulting Group.

And in a sign that there may be a wider market problem, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi have been struggling to sell their electric and hybrid vehicles, though Toyota's Prius models have been in increasing demand.

GM's quandary is how to increase sales volume so that it can spread its estimated $1.2-billion investment in the Volt over more vehicles while reducing manufacturing and component costs - which will be difficult to bring down until sales increase.

 

 

I'm thinking that the Indiana State Police Pension Fund wouldn't have been so stupid as to piss away a billion two hundred million on a car that costs $89,000 to build and stickers for $39,900.

Although, you never know.

 

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, political twins

Submitted by Roanman on Thu, 05/31/2012 - 17:50

 

I stand corrected.

I had been of the opinion that Mitt Romney is nothing more than George W. Bush all over again.

My bad.

Really, he's Barack Obama all over again.

Don't believe it?

Watch this.

 

 

 

The only word of difference between them is coal.

 

A JustThinking moment brought to you by your Uncle Roany ... and a video.

Submitted by Roanman on Fri, 05/04/2012 - 08:07

 

This type of production is popping up all over the internet.

Which is the fundemental reason the ownership of the federal government is trying and will continue to try to obtain final control over what you see on the internet.

Just as they have obtained control over what you see, hear and read on television, radio and newspapers.

The simple truth is that neither the Democrats or the Republicans have any interest in you, your dreams or your life, and both are blatantly contemptuous of your views concerning how they manage their country.

Wouldn't ya' just love to do something about that?

Well, you have come to the right place as we have your solution.

First of all, vote in every election for the rest of your life.

And then while voting in every election for the rest of your life, never, ever, under any set of circumstances, ever, vote for any incumbent, for any office, under any set of circumstances, never, ever, neverever ..... right down to dogcatcher.

Exceptions to this rule can and should be made on the occasion of TRUE LUV.

And you know how often that comes around ... once maybe twice in a lifetime.

Otherwise, just say no to incumbency.

The great conceit in American political life is that "our guys are better than their guys".

Good government will elude us until we are turning over damn near every political office in damn near every single election.

The more money a guy has for advertising, the less you want that guy representing you, because he doesn't.

The more lawn sign you see out there with some guy's name on it, the less you want that guy representing you, because he doesn't.

Even when it's your lawn.

I promise you he is representing the guy who bought the sign and not the guy cutting the grass.

Kill em all.

Figuratively speaking of course.

 

Reading on a cold Sunday evening.

Submitted by Roanman on Sun, 03/04/2012 - 17:41

 

CNN of all people provides a well done story on Dean Tofteland, ripped off farmer in the MF Global fraud and his pursuit of John Corzine and Dean's stolen $253,000.

 

 

Seems kind of simple when you put it that way.

 

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