Posts Made By: David Cotterell

Originally Posted by James Brown

This is a more defensible position rather than the wildly exaggerated "vanished" middle class you started with.  I think the data likely does show that the cost of housing, transportation, medical care and food have gone up faster than wages in the last 45 years.

There are a lot of reasons for this - inflation being a big one, with rampant consumerism thrown in. 

I understand that income equality is, in your opinion, the root cause of decreased middle class spending power.  Consider this however:  you have not answered whether you would have preferred that Jimmy Carter win in 1980 and continue with his tax policies.  You lived through the economic disaster that was Carter's presidency.  This is the reason Reagan won 46 states in '80 and a historic 49 states in '84.  Also, history shows that when the Democrats re-took the White House (Clinton, Obama, Biden) they did not revert to Carter's failed tax policies.  Indeed, these Democrats who were in the White House for about half of the time since Reagan more or less kept the Reagan tax policies in place.  Why?  In my opinion they knew that reasonable tax rates on high income earners supports economic growth, even though this was obviously not a talking point for them.

Carter was only president for 5 minutes...and he only continued what was going on before.  

The total top tax rate was >79% from 1936 to 1963 and 60% or higher from 1932 to 1981. citation

Were all those administrations, on both sides of the ball, incorrect in their tax policies? This period of time, especially from 1945 to 1980, was the era of the rise of the middle class in which we both grew up - parents one income yet able to own a home, car and put us through school.

Reagan did two tax cuts: (wiki) The first tax cut (Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981) among other things, cut the highest personal income tax rate from 70% to 50% and the lowest from 14% to 11% and decreased the highest capital gains tax rate from 28% to 20%.[1]

The second tax cut (Tax Reform Act of 1986) among other things, cut the highest personal income tax rate from 50% to 38.5% but decreasing to 28% in the following years[2] and increased the highest capital gains tax rate from 20% to 28%.[1]

And, as you note, there the rates have stayed ever since - the exact time period when the middle class started to leak spending power.
Is the economy 'booming' - yes.  Does the wealth from the boom make it to the middle class?  Not much.  The Uber wealthy KEEP THE MONEY.
Dave

Quitting AM Politics Forum is much harder than quitting cigarettes or heroin.

Dave

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Back to being the same obtuse moron you've always been. There's no practical difference here in "JD"s efforts to create" a story in order to attract media attention and making things up to do the same in much the same manner as both he and Trump are doing with their nutzoid stories about Haitians eating pets. These efforts are equally wrong and are having the same dangerous effect on the community of Springfield that now has to bring in state troopers to protect their schools...

Jeez, rod, you should know that "make up" is not the same as "create" which, of course, is nothing similar to "concoct" or even "fabricate" which in no way means the same as build conceive construct design devise forge form generate initiate invent spawn or start......

Dave

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Really? 

You're in the same boat as the resident communist, of not understanding what it means when he says he's creating a story by presenting facts so that the Leftist media will cover the stories rather than ignoring the reports and the situation in Springfield, OH?

Did you not watch his immediate explanation where he stated directly to the hostile interviewer Dana Bash?  

I guess I'll have to hold your little hand as well, and direct you to the video at the 10:45 mark, and his explanation of what he meant by saying create.

Here's what JD Vance stated, and he didn't use any words that are incorrect such as you just did by making the claim that he's concocting some sort of lies.

I guess you're not familiar with the English language and so then YOU become the one making up shit as you just did above?  

Inform me what he concocted or fabricated? 

Here's the fact, JD Vance reported on what his constituents said to him and told him that occurred.

I guess I'll have to treat you as well as a complete ignoramus?  So then, if a reporter writes a story, i.e. "creates" an article, and you don't agree with the source, then your reporter is lying?  

Go watch the video from 12:00 mark.  Maybe then you as well won't be confused like the resident communist is.  

OK  what verb would you use to describe the repeating of a story that a small number of your constituents told you without verifying the story first?
Dave

One drunk or mentally ill woman sitting on a sidewalk with a dead cat that she killed. Is that all that Vance had?  Even if she had been Haitian, that's ONE incident. Even if she had it with fava beans and a nice Chianti it is still only  ONE incident.   How does Vance get from that to tarring and feathering an entire ethnic group? "OMG those imma-grunts is gonna eat all our pets.  Let's deport them.."

Oh, wait, she wasn't Haitian anyway.  Never mind.  And she wasn't in Springfield.   

So NO incident.  

Except for the one woman who overheard her poolboy saying he had heard it from his cousin that there was a rumour from a truck driver  in Springfield who was at a BBQ where someone thought they saw a cat on the grill and a Haitian standing nearby.  Vance ran with this?????

Boggles the mind.

Dave

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Here I'll even help you, rather than letting you stay as confused and baffled as you are.

It will require you to actually listen to his words in their entirety, not just the truncated snippet that your leftist masters show you.

Here is what he said:  

"If I have to create stories so that the American Media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do.  I mean we're 'creating a story' meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it".

See, he told her that he had dozens of his constituents who reported to him of what was occurring with Haitian migrants in their community.  

Then he told her that the leftist media had ignored the situation of what was going on in Springfield.

In other words he was creating a story about what was happening there, i.e. Shining a flashlight on the communities problems when 20,000 unskilled Migrants are dumped on a community of 60,000 US Citizens.

So I'll ask again, where did he admit that he was lying to her? 

And I realize that you aren't the smartest person in the world but are you truly this incapable of comprehending an idea?  

Except nothing was happening in Springfield.  Nothing.  No Haitian eating a cat.  No cat on a barbeque.  Zilch.  Nada.

Just a third hand story from one person which was later recanted.

Dave

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

He never said Springfield, so why the focus on Springfield?  

He said he heard from his constituents.  His constituents are in the State since he's a Senator.

I'm guessing you don't get it because you're a foreigner, but the other sock puppet Democrat whom I was responding to, should have some semblance of a brain that can get it, but then again, here I go assuming that the left here is more than just empty skulls.  

My mistake.  

OK.  I'll try again:


Originally Posted by David Cotterell

Except nothing was happening in OHIO.  Nothing.  No Haitian eating a cat.  No cat on a barbeque.  Zilch.  Nada.

Just a third hand story from one person which was later recanted.

The point being, he pounced on a complete nothing burger and made it a national story to vilify one ethnic community......  

Dave

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I have to give you credit Dave, that was quite clever.    

Rich, we finally agree!!!  I AM clever!
DC

Trump has painted himself into a very tricky corner.  He says oodles of Nazi-esque and/or Hitler-like things - wanting to get the military to go after "enemies within", references to vermin that need to be eliminated, fear of the "poisoning of the blood" of this country by immigrants etc. etc.  There's lots more where those came from.

If he really means these he is pretty much a text book fascist.  If he just said them but didn't mean it then he's a liar.  

I fervently hope the American citizenry do the right thing next week by sending Trump to a resounding, unquestionable defeat.   

Dave

I should add as a citizen of the country that is by far the largest trading partner of the USA, if Trump wins and actually installs those tariffs it won't just be the American middle class he will be bludgeoning....

Dave