[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I')'m pretty sure Bernie Sanders hasn't been bought by the corporations.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'Y')ou had your chance last election cycle to get more tax and spend Democrats. You blew it and you need to take your beating like a man and quit bitching about it.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'Y')ou had your chance last election cycle to get more tax and spend Democrats. You blew it and you need to take your beating like a man and quit bitching about it.

[Cid_Yama]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'G')eez, Plant, it ain't brain surgery, it was a deal: the 'pubs would vote to extend unemployment insurance benefits for working people only if the dems voted to extend the tax cuts on for the 1%.

[Pops]

I'm not saying the dems vote my way every time and I agree with everything they do, I'm saying that on balance the 'pubs vote for the haves and the dems for the have nots – no great revelation.

I am saying using the excuse: "they're all the same and I ain't going to vote, nya, nya, nya" like the dems did in WI is the same as voting for the other guy. If you think that doesn't have consequences, you aren't paying attention.

[Fishman]

In your dreams Cid.
Rasmussen poll 10% spread on most likely to vote, for the Gov. over the union.
The first two years of the Obama administration was "look, this guy is incompetent".
Second two years, Obama falls apart, and the progressives sink even further.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')How about I agree to pay 3X the taxes in exchange for making 4X as much money before taxes?

[Cid_Yama]

In YOUR dreams, fishface.

The world will be a very different place come 2012 when all the Republican lies come home to roost.

Especially the global warming denial. But also, outrageous food prices(Ethanol instead of food, speculation on food commodities), as crops fail worldwide, and low income Americans stop being able to afford to adaquately feed their families.

People's children going hungry is a great motivator, and like always, the Republicans will be on the wrong side of the issue, blocking assistance, and blocking restrictions on ethanol production and food speculation.

You can add that to the bold predictions thread.

[Oakley]

As energy quality declines and cost to acquire energy increases, the economic pie ultimately contracts. As an additional factor, the fraudulent Federal Reserve Bank is doing what it can to inflate the money supply, decreasing its value, with the consequence that food prices have increased, since the world food market is denominated in dollars. And yet other factors have been crop failures and diversion of corn from food to ethanol fuel, not to mention the relentlessly increasing world population.

Those suffering economically in Arabic countries blame the current government and demand new government. The Egyptians must be fools because they just replaced one thug with a group of other thugs. Mubarak was an air force general who took over and now the public is thrilled for the military to take over again? How can the military take over again when they have been in power since mid century? If economic suffering is driving these revolts, then there should be a long series of revolts as economic suffering intensifies over the coming decades.

In Wisconsin (and many other States) the economic contraction has put pressure on government, not allowing them to easily continue plundering the public through taxes in order to pass out largesse to those who manage to most effectively demand their take. Unions drive up wages and benefits above what the free market would otherwise allow. This is why teachers in Wisconsin enjoy salary and benefits packages that average $100,000, far above what comparable employees in private employment enjoy. It has nothing to do with results because for decades test scores of students have not increased, while the payouts to administrators and teachers have relentlessly increased faster than the general inflation rate simply because they have used union power to make demands.

The union of State employees is just another special interest group that is squealing like a stuck pig as the reality of economic contraction slaps them in the face. Since government employees are not as powerful a special interest group as the fascists corporate interest, they find themselves near the top of the list for cutbacks. I can't wait to see what happens when those dependent on Welfare, Social Security, and Medicare find themselves as the next sacrificial lambs.

All the shuffling of faces occupying the seats of power will have no effect, simply because government is impotent to overcome the reality of resource depletion and overpopulation. The left vs right arguments miss the point entirely.

[Lore]

While Wisconsin and now Ohio state employees attempt to save their collective bargaining rights, and at the same time taking an 8% cut in pay, the figures are now out that another 6.5 million people have dropped from the middle class last year to below the $50,000 mean household income level.

Wal-Mart, reports today, that same store sales have declined by 1.8%, which is down for the seventh quarter in a row. Telling me that their customer base is being impacted more severely then most economists expected. The Feds are well on their way to QE 3.0.

With the Arab world in revolt, commodities going through the roof and declining US incomes, I think it’s safe to predict that any economic recovery can be placed on hold.

[Fishman]

Correction Cid (kid bama)
The world will be a very different place come 2012 when all the Democrat failures have been laid bare

Especially the global warming denial( roflmo). But also, outrageous food prices(Ethanol instead of food urged on by Gore, speculation on food commodities but still being available here unlike the rest of the world), as crops fail worldwide, and the middle class get tired of paying Dems splurges and folks on the dole

Children's parents being unemployed is a strong motivator, and like always, the Dems have always on the wrong side of the issue, blocking assistance (spend money on everything in sight), and blocking restrictions on ethanol production(Gore)

You can add that to the bold predictions thread.
Here's some evidence http://www.redstate.com/lukematthews/20 ... ilent-shif

[Timo]

I'd be more than happy to abdicate any responsibility for our collective mess and give it all to the Republicans to figure out how to balance the budget and give jobs to everyone in America who wants one. By all means, let's have one party rule, just like China. Along with that, let's have the Republicans restrict the freedoms of certain Americans by the denial of rights all the rest of us enjoy in the name of God, of course. Let's also have them cut taxes on everybody, but especially the rich. Let's also have them gut public education and create a system of private schools, all mandating prayer, but only a Christian prayer. While we're at it, let's restrict women's reproductive rights, because female things really annoy some people, Let's also require the ownership of property for the right to vote, and make the dollar equal to the freedom of speech in the Constitution. All of this is common sense. Everyone has equal rights, unless they're different from me and "my kind" of people. It's pointless to care about everyone. Even Jesus didn't advocate caring for our neighbors. Republicans have all the answers, so let's just let them have total control while simultaneously preserving all the American freedoms given to us by the Founding Fathers. It's simple.

[eric_b]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Oakley', '
')All the shuffling of faces occupying the seats of power will have no effect, simply because government is impotent to overcome the reality of resource depletion and overpopulation. The left vs right arguments miss the point entirely.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eric_b', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Oakley', '
')All the shuffling of faces occupying the seats of power will have no effect, simply because government is impotent to overcome the reality of resource depletion and overpopulation. The left vs right arguments miss the point entirely.

[Livewire713]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Timo', 'I')'d be more than happy to abdicate any responsibility for our collective mess and give it all to the Republicans to figure out how to balance the budget and give jobs to everyone in America who wants one. By all means, let's have one party rule, just like China. Along with that, let's have the Republicans restrict the freedoms of certain Americans by the denial of rights all the rest of us enjoy in the name of God, of course. Let's also have them cut taxes on everybody, but especially the rich. Let's also have them gut public education and create a system of private schools, all mandating prayer, but only a Christian prayer. While we're at it, let's restrict women's reproductive rights, because female things really annoy some people, Let's also require the ownership of property for the right to vote, and make the dollar equal to the freedom of speech in the Constitution. All of this is common sense. Everyone has equal rights, unless they're different from me and "my kind" of people. It's pointless to care about everyone. Even Jesus didn't advocate caring for our neighbors. Republicans have all the answers, so let's just let them have total control while simultaneously preserving all the American freedoms given to us by the Founding Fathers. It's simple.

[Pops]

I have no idea how valid this is, lots of conflicting comments:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nly five states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal.

Those states and their ACT/SAT rankings are as follows:

South Carolina – 50th

North Carolina – 49th

Georgia – 48th

Texas – 47th

Virginia – 44th

If you are wondering, Wisconsin, with its collective bargaining for teachers, is ranked 2nd in the country.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog

[Lore]

It' also a bit telling that all those states reside in the South and are red.

[Plantagenet]

Don't be so gullible.

Wisconsin is indeed ranked #2 by SAT scores, but the rankings for the low scores are inaccurate.

Here are the actual scores and the actual ranking at the "low end" of the scale up as far as Virginia (which actually ranks above unionized blue state California, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Hawaii, Maine and the District of Columbia):


33 Virginia 68% 511 512 498 1522
34 California 49% 500 513 498 1511
35 West Virginia 18% 511 501 499 1511
36 New Jersey 76% 496 513 496 1506
37 Maryland 69% 500 502 495 1498
38 Rhode Island 66% 498 496 494 1489
39 North Carolina 63% 495 511 480 1487
40 Nevada 42% 501 505 479 1485
41 Indiana 63% 496 507 480 1484
42 Delaware 71% 495 498 484 1478
43 Pennsylvania 71% 493 501 483 1478
44 Florida 59% 497 498 480 1476
45 Texas 51% 486 506 475 1468
46 New York 85% 485 502 478 1466
47 Georgia 71% 490 491 479 1461
48 South Carolina 67% 486 496 470 1453
49 Hawaii 58% 479 502 469 1451
50 Maine 90% 468 467 455 1391
51 DC 79% 466 451 461 1379
All Students 46% 501 515 493 1509

When you look at the actual data, most of the worst school districts actually are unionized with the very worst---DC, Maine, and Hawaii---being unionized. states with the very worst SAT scores have unionized teachers

[nobodypanic]

from egypt:

[Oneaboveall]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '.')..we are going to have a lot more of this unless the leadership of this country is willing to come clean and ask for sacrifice by all parties (so far neither side has been able to do this).