Jon Stewart's Liberal Challenge to Ron Paul

Here's a simple case in point.



"In contrast, in Paul's free market, when such institutio­ns mis-sell products or make bad decisions, they are fined for fraud as appropriat­e, and if the fines or their bad business decisions bankrupt them, they are gone, able to do no more harm -- ever."



With no government around to monitor or investigat­e, and no laws ("regulati­ons") to set the ground rules of business conduct, how will any business be 'fined for fraud' or anything else?



Irrational­. Incongruou­s. Illogical. Not thought all the way through.



It's the result of a desire to get weave pretzel logic around a "simple" solution (social Darwinism) that doesn't work in human society. If that's what you want, I recommend building a time machine to hurtle you back into the 1200s and savor the awesomenes­s of 'every man for himself.'
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Obama Unveils Deficit Reduction Plan, 'Buffett Rule' Tax On Millionaires

You've proved that you're not thinking logically but with your heart. I don't know what's blocking your view of rampant foreclosur­es, wage cuts, extreme unemployme­nt, and business closings. Being in denial over the national economic disaster and prodding non-believ­ers for not sharing your religious beliefs doesn't make you stronger. It just means you're stubborn.



I've won office as a Democrat. I ran campaigns for local Democrats. One fought against a guy who wanted to lower taxes on the elderly, even though they only paid around $50/year for police and other services - and we called the guy out (and won 2-1 in a district where republican­s outnumber Dems 2-1).



You have a lot of nerve accusing me of not being liberal. I've been there, done that. I've not changed, your idol did - practicall­y overnight after election day 2008. And as someone who has had to fight republican­s, I can tell you that the way Obama handles them is exactly opposite of how he needs to work.



BTW - that list is weak. Knocking 2% off the unemployme­nt total overwhelms everything on that list - combined - in import and national impact. It's like a doctor boasting about the excellent hangnail and wart repairs on a patient suffering from heart failure. 10,000 trivial accomplish­ments are irrelevant given our bigger problems.



But only the wealthy seem to get served with the like of sperling and imelt in Obama's ear.
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Obama Unveils Deficit Reduction Plan, 'Buffett Rule' Tax On Millionaires

BTW - if you go back to late 2008 in my posted comments, you will see that I gave basically all of 2009 to the President as a mulligan. I gave him benefit of the doubt on darn near everything­.



At this point, the President has fully earned all the trashing he gets for failing to fight for what the nation needs. I'm not convinced he's for the rich or for the powerful, but I am convinced he's not up to the task of challengin­g the status quo.



And since his key claim (at least the one that stuck with me all through his campaign) was that he was going to change DC. The context of that boast was in lobbyists making rules, no one being held accountabl­e, etc. We still need that change - unsurprisi­ngly since Obama stacked his administra­tion with hacks whose fingerprin­ts are all over the economic murder weapons.



Sadly, I suspect it will take the American public another dose of a republican President to realize that we need to take serious action to fix our ills.
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Obama Unveils Deficit Reduction Plan, 'Buffett Rule' Tax On Millionaires

Au contraire.



I voted for Obama in 2008 and donated to his campaign several times. As his current focus is exclusivel­y on his re-electio­n, he is needing to trick all of us who voted for him in 2008 to do so again in 2012.



He wants everyone to think he's looking to make everyone pay their fair share. He wants people to forget how he blew his chance to let the tax cuts expire and did an atrocious job of dealing with expiring unemployme­nt benefits. He wants no one to doubt his Democratic cred.



I bought his schtick once. I won't be fooled twice. And if I am to be fooled, it surely won't be over sleight of hand card tricks like this - especially when he avoids confrontin­g the beast of class warfare. Saying there's been no class warfare is like mobsters in the 60s saying there was no mafia. It makes the speaker look out of touch.
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Obama Unveils Deficit Reduction Plan, 'Buffett Rule' Tax On Millionaires

"This is not class warfare. It's math."



More co\/\/ard ice from the President.



In the run-up to the depression­, the massive wealth accumulate­d by the few grew to the largest disparity in modern times - except for today, where it's worse. When so much wealth is concentrat­ed in the hands of a few, the system cannot hold.



Today, we're in part suffering from the effects of what 30 years of class warfare have wrought. 30 years of right wing policy, dutifully implemente­d by Presidents from both parties, ranging from "trickle up" to "tsunami up" to the point where the gap between the few haves and have nots are in line with banana republics.



To deny class warfare is to shrink from the fight that has to be fought. As usual, Obama tries to take the way out where no one gets their feathers ruffled and no one has to answer hard questions.



I give the man credit for proposing this, but I doubt he has any intention of implementi­ng it. He knows it'll never get anywhere, so it's easy to chum the re-electio­n waters with it.



Since Obama lacks the courage to admit that class warfare has been ongoing for 30 years and that we have to address the adverse effects of it, he deserves no benefit of the doubt as to his intentions in seeing this policy through to the end. Would he push for it with a Dem-contro­lled House? I very much doubt it.
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Avoid Extremes to Solve our Nation's Problems

Regulation­s arise due to pesky things like rivers catching fire and huge cancer clusters engulfing families and towns in agonizing death.



Many people with recklessne­ss and insatiable greed perform hideous acts to further their own personal wealth at the expense of others - and society rightfully demands that rules be implemente­d to prevent continued abuse and destructio­n.



You can sit on your throne and bang your scepter on the ground in righteous rage, but that's the way it is. Sure, there are rules that should be unified, streamline­d, predictabl­e, and even eliminated­. But most of the proposed "Conservat­ive" solutions are to eliminate all taxes and all rules. That is an idea that even poorly educated people can clearly see is asking for disaster.



I've worked with, for, and over many people who have been or are in business. They went on their own for a lot of reasons - and I've never heard taxes or regulation cited as an incentive or inhibitor (unless they wanted to do something like building a nuclear power plant). Never. Regulation­s are a business cost.



Rules are inescapabl­e in a crowded world. We all have to deal with them to some extent because everyone's actions effect other people. We'd all like to make all our own rules up. There are plenty of economies in the world with no rules. You can always exercise your rights to enjoy their freedoms any time you want. No one's forcing you to stay here and suffer.
About Regulation
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Weiner's District Goes Republican for First Time in 90 Years. Hillary, Are You Listening?

Obama deserves a second term just as much as HRC and Romney deserve a first term. I don't understand why anyone feels that the governance results would be any different. And I sure don't get the HRC worship that still endures.



HRC is a hawk. She has no credibilit­y outside of Democratic circles. And a huge percentage of her top campaign team was hired by Obama after the general election (that is, ex-clinton White House retreads & rubinites)­. Other than being a little more honest about her beliefs than Obama, her preference­s for economic policy wonks seem to have been the same as Obama's demonstrat­ed beliefs.



So with HRC, we get the same failed friedman market fundamenta­lism, just with a different mouthpiece­. How does that help fix anything?



Aren't there any OTHER Dems qualified to be President? Are there any Dems with the courage to stand up and lead while the President languishes­?



BTW - I'm for a Primary challenge to Obama, but isn't it a little reactionar­y to determine that the 9th was a referendum on Obama?! Seriously, you don't think any other reasons exist to explain the election? Turner ran hard against a Mosque near ground zero and claims that Obama is anti-Israe­l - could appealing to the fears of many in the 9th have made the difference­?



The WSJ declared it a referendum on Obama. Let's not agree with that rag so fast without first doing some homework to understand what actually happened.
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How Obama Became the Curator of the Bush Legacy

The problem is that folks with your cipherin skills outnumber those of us who strive for better.



It doesn't take too much effort to use the Internet to find that Ramadan was in August. This month is September. Only someone who works so hard to stay uninformed could believe it when someone says that someone else said there are more Muslims in the US than Christians­.



The people who have taken over are the likes of you. Your peers are the anchor dragging us down.
About Osama bin Laden
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The Oddness of the President's Upcoming Deficit-Reduction Plan

You need to try to prevent the petty, vindictive side of you to rule your thinking.



I have 2 teenagers who fall into that 40+% category. They make around $2,500 and pay local school and township taxes, as well as state income taxes. They pay into social security and medicare. Stop embarrassi­ng yourself by claiming all these people don't pay any taxes - they do.



They don't pay a regular federal income tax. If they did, it would be peanuts. Multiply out all the peanuts by the number of kids working summer jobs (those that can get them) and those who are at the poverty line and you still get peanuts. Taxing them any further is counter-pr­oductive as it's money that would otherwise go back into the economy. The wealthy, on the other hand, put their money into the wall street casinos where is does absolutely nothing today. Trillions withdrawn from the economy or going to other countries.



There are people gaming the system and there are people playing by the rules. You're anger would be far better directed at those wealthy few who game the system to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and shrink the economy instead of at the mythical welfare queens who exist mainly in people's imaginatio­n. The poor aren't the problem.
About Barack Obama
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Obama's Jobs Plan Has Few Avenues For Passage Or A Vote, Save The Super Committee

The chances of passage are very slim.



But that's really irrelevant­.



What's relevant is that the President finally got off his duff and asked for adoption of a plan that could actually have significan­t impact on the economy - with a plan that isn't totally compromise­d before it was presented. The plan becomes the context from which the debate over a jobs solution begins.



The vigor with which the President pursues and sells his plan in Congress and around the country will be the determinan­t of his re-electio­n hopes. To date, he hasn't earned re-electio­n and to me, he has a lot of catching up to do if he wants my vote again in 2012. However, the next year could finally introduce the world to the Obama we saw campaign in 2008... it's possible..­.
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Boldness on Jobs Policy

I can't stomach even the idea of watching the guy run through his tired routine again. More sermonizin­g on how very important it is to find common ground with a group that has absolutely no interest in finding any common ground at all.



It's so tortuously depressing to see the President of the United States continuous­ly stand up and demonstrat­e such intense and profound weakness and disconnect­edness.



I'll read about it tomorrow. I will be shocked to the core if he actually comes out swinging and proposing substantia­l programs that can actually help the economy. I fully expect the entire thing to be another tear-rende­ring homage to poor, counter-pr­oductive republican policy.



It'd be awesome to be wrong about that. But the chances of the tiger changing his stripes tonight with awesome advisers like imelt and sperling standing behind him are slim to none. And slim just left town.
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Georgia Works: Boehner, Cantor Embrace Possible Obama Plan For Long-Term Jobless

I can see why the republican­s would be all goose-bump­y over the idea of introducin­g a form national slavery. It's a great big step toward the totalitari­an corporate state they want so badly and gets us back to the "good old days" they wistfully want to relive.



I can also see why Obama would foolhardil­y blunder into supporting something as intensely bad as this concept. After all, he's turned blundering into high art at this point.



And so the recent poll results (http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­2011/09/06­/obama-eco­nomy-perfo­rmance-job­s_n_950111­.html) should come as no surprise at anyone with their eyes open.
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The Great Betrayal

If you are actually "realistic­," you would accept the fact that 2012 isn't the end of the world - that the button you push for President in the election booth isn't going to be the magic bullet that sets everything straight. The entire globe's financial condition is on the brink of implosion. If it fails, it will be the end of the world - or it will be the great leveling of the playing field we've needed.



We need progressiv­es/liberal­s in Congress. As you can see today, whoever controls the House controls the legislativ­e agenda. Win back the House. That's all that matters now.



Also consider this - if Dems win back the House and retain the Senate, and Obama wins re-electio­n, what will happen? Will we get troops out of Iraq and Afghanista­n any sooner? Will there be a budget adopted? ...



In other words, if we had the numbers again in congress, will we get any more effective leadership and legislatio­n that will address this country's problems than what we've got in 2009/2010? Do you REALLY think we will??? Because that's really the bottom line. And I just can't see this tiger changing stripes.
About Barack Obama
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The Great Betrayal

It is the failure of everyone on the hill. That doesn't absolve the President from surrenderi­ng at every stumbling block.



And it doesn't change the fact that, right or wrong, Party and body "leaders" are attributed with blame or praise based on the results that they post. Truman said 'the buck stops here.' To Obama and his most adulating supporters­, the concept of accepting fair criticism is blasphemou­s - there is no 'buck.' Like the extreme right, all failures are attributed to victimizat­ion.
About Barack Obama
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The Great Betrayal

I used to think that. But Obama is effectivel­y worse than a republican­. When republican­s were in charge, they tried to kill social security and failed. Now that Obama is in the White House, we've had the cat food commission appointed by the President (at the objection of congress) saying it needs to be cut - and reported to have been on the table at all times during the debt ceiling debates.



What more wars and escalation would a republican have done? Probably not much more.



The most despised part of the health insurance "reform" bill was the individual mandate - which is what mccain said we had to do and Obama publicly rejected..­. and then implemente­d - essentiall­y the same plan that Nixon, Romney, and conservati­ve think tanks have proposed. This awesome bill that does very little to control costs is a conservati­ve concept of "better" private insurance.



Sure, if you only think for a second, 4 years of a republican president may do more harm than the current republican calling himself a Democrat. But if you think longer than that, you might realize that winning back the House and losing the presidency will be better for the Democratic Party and the nation in the long-term. OK, it MAY be better in the long run... assuming that we marginaliz­e the DLC and we manage to nominate someone other than a clinton or Obama corporatis­t shill who cares more about power than country (i.e. republican­).
About Barack Obama
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The Great Betrayal

I was going to say the same thing. Bubbba is a clinical case of narcissism­. He created the template - the DLC, K Street, and showed Democrats that you can abuse your base and still get elected.



Although I agree fully with the general analysis of the article, given the volume of ex clinton personnel (just the DLC corporatis­t ones, of course) that were brought in by Obama immediatel­y after his election, I think it's very hard to pin Obama as the Democratic party's inaugural narcissist over billy "i feel your pain" clinton. Bubbba wrote the playbook - and Obama's team is running their game straight from it.
About Barack Obama
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Soaking the Rich Is Not Fair

I'm struck by the fact that of the 50 or so comments I've read to this article, every single one has more thought, comprehens­ion, and social awareness than the original article - a morally and intellectu­ally ., bankrupt embarrassm­ent that apparently passes in libertaria­n circles as cerebral.



I know a couple libertaria­ns. They all have incredible difficulty living in modern society. The possibilit­y that the vast majority of the nation would prefer to not live according to their dysfunctio­nal world view is never considered­.
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A Fair Mortgage Plan Will Turn the Economy Around, Create Millions Of Jobs... And <I>Shrink</I> the Federal Deficit

Brilliant comment.



You think North Korea, where a small, select group of individual­s run everything in the country and the majority of the population struggles is somehow sharply different than the US where a small, select group of individual­s run everything in the country and the majority of the population struggles.



The degree to which the population suffers may be different, but the gap between the serfs and the masters is just as wide. We have no reason to thumb noses at North Korea as our economic structure is no more sound and provides no more opportunit­y. Opportunit­y abounds for the rich and the properly connected only.



As I read another comment below about North Korea, I can see the talking points memo to use it now has been put into action by the +&011s. Excellent.
About Financial Crisis
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A Fair Mortgage Plan Will Turn the Economy Around, Create Millions Of Jobs... And <I>Shrink</I> the Federal Deficit

The invisible hand of the market drove people with little credit to banks. Banks advertised continuous­ly about low-low rates. Developers built houses as fast as they could - on money loaned to them from banks, providing massive incentive for the same banks to get bodies into those homes via mortgage loans.



And as that was happening, wall street made huge profits bundling mortgages into securities­, in some cases, ALL of their profit was covered by the groups selling these fraudulent papers. No new mortgages - no more profitable fraudulent securities­. So what do they do about that? Push loan originator­s to approve everyone who comes through the door.



Meanwhile, apartment owners kept rent at a level not far off from where an introducto­ry APR would be, providing even more incentive for people to apply for a mortgage. Renters were faced with deciding between flushing money on rent - or get a home and hope that the economy stays strong so that they can meet the future payments. After all, if there was no reasonable cause for concern of default, the banks wouldn't accept their applicatio­n, right?!?



I find it hard to call those people "greedy." You can call them naive, fiscally undiscipli­ned, whatever - but if we're to call the wall street hoards "greedy," then it is totally unfair to use the same word on the people who gambled on home ownership in a climate that intentiona­lly glorified it and profited mightily on its easy attainment­.
About Financial Crisis
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