Faylon, I miss the good old days of the 90% top tax bracket. The rich were still rich, and what you call transfer of wealth, gave us a a middle class society, good highways, education(G.I.bill), among other infrastructures that we can no longer afford to maintain.
Many are craving....the same old tune!

The transfer of wealth causes dependence and laziness. What gave America its strength was capitalism. Without free enterprise there would be nothing to tax. As a doctor, Faylon paid more in taxes per year than the gross income of most people in Redding . It is his 12 years of college and his private business that paid your bills. Maybe some of you should aspire to be Faylon. instead of wanting a handout.

"The rich were still rich, and what you call transfer of wealth, gave us a a middle class society"

We've always had a middle class.

And it wasn't established
by taking money from those who have succeeded and giving it to those who haven't succeeded beyond their needs.

People who've made their own way in this country are not the enemy and are not responsible for taking care of those who look for a handout first and foremost.

-vince carlton

You are right on the money about Herger.
But don't forget, more Democrats voted for the bailout package than did Republicans, and more Republicans voted against the bailout than did Democrats.
Also, both Obama, and McCain supported the bailout.
Both parties are complicit in the ripoff, not just the GOP guys.

"But don't forget, more Democrats voted for the bailout package than did Republicans,"

But it was pushed for by a Republican president. You know, the guy with the power of the veto?

-faylon brunemeier

You speak the truth.
~~~
Obama is all about socialism/wealth re-distribution, and government involvement in everything under the sun.
Most of those who support him know this about him, and that is exactly why they support him.
~~~
It's a shame that more people do not understand the proper constitutional role of the Federal Government these days.
~~~
But it's not surprising since the majority of the people are educated in government schools, and the majority of the people are exposed daily to government propaganda through the news media.

Little did you know that socialism would come from the guy you voted for twice.

Where've you been lately Russ?
You must remember, capitalism is a double edge sword. What giveth can also taketh. Capitalism alone did not build this country. A fair tax policy combined with capitalism is the formula. We are now witnessing what too little tax and too much capitalism bring about.

That's right Carlton,,
Wally's gleaned enough, it's time for North State representation instead!

Elect Jeff Morris to represent the North State in Congress!
jeffmorrisforcongress.com

oh pleeese! its a two party corrupt system with one brain. they should all be fired. our troops should come home, all of them. mccain wants a 100 year war and obama wants to reposition them elsewhere and not bring them home. so wheres the change we keep hearing about? all i hear is lip service, talking heads, and empty promises.

We have NOT always had a middle class. Having a middle class is not normal and has been the exception rather than the rule throughout history and without a middle class you cannot have a functioning democracy. It will be the few with grotesque wealth and then the serfs.

Only a government can make a middle class and that's what happened when FDR came into office after the Republican Great Depression. FDR was called a socialist too, but his actions brought to America an era of prosperity and greatness the world had never seen. Other countries looked up to us and tried to emulate us. Now they ridicule us. He invested in our infrastructure and education and the middle class burgeoned. It was our greatest time.

Reagan began to dismantle the New Deal and now we are experiencing the painful results of that ideology of trickle-down economics. Give to the rich and let the crumbs satisfy the peons and con the peons into believing they are somehow honorable for accepting this situation.

Now you've got Bush practicing socialism because he knows there is no other way out of this mess. Obama will be another FDR. McCain, if elected, Herbert Hoover.

"We've always had a middle class."

The middle class as we know it, began after WW2 with the introduction of higher tax brackets that paid to get the country out of the Great Depression and pay for WW2.

As the east coast elits watch their equity go way I wonder who they will vote for this election...the messiah who wants to up their taxes???...

Who are you? Most everyone is losing huge chunks of their life savings, not just east coast elitists. Maybe even your next door neighbor. Jeez.

Helloooo... Faylon M. Brunemeier...Why all the concern about Obama lowering taxes for the middle class? There will soon be no middle class...The neocons are working on that as we speak..

We are headed for a world of of extreme wealth and extreme poverty...so guess which group the middle class will join? Unless you are extremely wealthy right now ...you may find yourself picking lettuce in a field somewhere one day soon! Wow that sounds like fun!

Why do you think that all the markets are crashing around the world?..There is a tranfer of wealth taking place...Times are changing...and it has nothing to do with Obama or McCain...better worry about the little dictator who still resides in the White House...He isn't going anywhere anytime soon...

This is all about the "New World Order" and has nothing to do with ANY ELECTION...In fact there may be no election! Tax increases should be the least of our concerns...

group of seven finance ministers and central bankers are meeting today in washington. no details given to the general public. hmm right before the g8 summit. whats the worst that can happen? glad to see you back. was beginning to feel like the silent minority on this site. been losing my cool lately with some of these people. now where did i put my tin foil hat

LOL...actually I think we are wasting our finger exercises here...I've been beating the drums for a long time now.. and nobody is listening..

Yes ...there are meetings with the "world bank" under way...This is a world problem, and it all fits very nicely with the PNAC agenda and the" New world Order"...The timing could not be more obvious...People are losing everything they have..

The timing of troops being brought home in the event of civil unrest is questionable. All the police depts have been put on alert..etc. in the event of another attack or rioting...Too many connected dots to be a coincidence..

The election is keeping all our little minds too busy to think!

Many are so worried about their stocks...and various investments that everything else takes a back seat..to the prospect of finiancial ruin...Or the possibility of losing their homes..is the only thing they can think about right now...

We are all in this mess together...rich, poor and in between...and nobody is watching...the back door...it is wide open...

correction...as I understand it.. the meetings with the "world bank" will be soon! They are not meeting right now...unless that has changed from yesterday..I haven't read anything about it today..as yet..

"No, it was pushed by a liberal treasury secretary"

No, dummy. Excerpts from his recent speeches:

"Congress must act," Bush demanded in brief comments at the White House.

***

"With the situation becoming more precarious by the day, not passing a bill would cost Americans much more later. Our entire economy is in danger.”

***

"The Senate's going to take this bill up tonight, I'm hopeful they'll pass it, and then the House will have a chance to vote on it Friday morning," he said. "The bill's different, it's been improved, and I'm confident it'll pass."

***

"It's very important for us to pass this piece of legislation so as to stabilize the situation, so that it doesn't get worse and then our fellow citizens lose wealth and work," Bush said.

***

"It's very important for members to take this bill very seriously," said the president

***

"It's important to get credit flowing again so that small businesses in our communities will be able to finance their operations, so that local municipalities are able to get the money they need to take care of the needs of local citizens, so that states are able to meet their needs," he said.

"Clearly, he means to transfer wealth from those who earned it to those who did not."

Not to worry Faylon. The way the stock market is going, there won't be any wealth left to redistribute anyway.

For anyone who doubts that this is a planned government takeover.. read this! From the New York Times:

"Treasury Department May Take Ownership Stake in Banks"

"Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets,
the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership
stakes in many United States banks to try to restore
confidence in the financial system, according to government
officials.

Treasury officials say the just-passed $700 billion bailout
bill gives them the authority to inject cash directly into
banks that request it. Such a move would quickly strengthen
banks' balance sheets and, officials hope, persuade them to
resume lending. In return, the law gives the Treasury the
right to take ownership positions in banks, including healthy
ones."

Think about this...we were stripped of our Constitutional rights vis a vis the Patriot Act after 9/11. They used fear to keep us quiet...Now we are distracted by the fear for our economy...They are stripping us again...this time it is a takeover of our financial system...

With no access to money..no credit...no cushion...and no rights under the Constitution because they were forfeited...after 9/11 and all the power was transferred to the executive branch of our government..we are in a bad situation..

Congress can't stop them... even if they wanted to do it! They stupidly handed over all their power and gave Bush a blank check..Many in Congress are neocons and working toward this transition of global power...

The neocons are not all Republicans by the way...I suspect that Feinstein, Pelosi and Lieberman and other Democrats are neocons as well. That is why they sign everything Bush hands them...Nancy has been his right arm since she became Speaker... Feinstein and Lieberman never say no to Bush on anything...

Something to think about????...I am going to lunch...be back later..

I guess it's a good time to bring Brad Sherman (R) into this descussion.
An Interesting twist indeed! A twist of the knife, i mean.
/www.opencongress.org/person/blogs/400371_brad_sherman

The Democrats had enough votes to pass the first bill without any Republican votes.

Since Bush was calling for Congress to pass it, there was no veto threat.

But when it failed by only 23 votes Democrats blamed Republicans.

Nobody in the MSM made an issue that 99 Democrats voted against it, including 12 members of Barney Franks' own committee.

All the media is doing now is affirming their bias.

Geeze... what happened to everyone? They must be out looking for a high rise ?? I think it is safe to assume that we are out of luck here...since we have no buildings high enough to make a statement or an impact (literally speaking)!

Sorry... couldn't resist that one! This is serious business and I shouldn't be flippant!

Wouldn't you just love to know what kind of threat they used to get the Patriot Act passed??...I mean aside from the perfectly timed Anthrax letters?

That letter scared Daschle into complete silence for years...and the rest of Congress couldn't wait to sign on the dotted line..without even reading it! That was the day we lost America...

It must have been a good threat..because the martial law threat would not have worked back then...

There have *always* been some people at the bottom, in the middle and at the top of the economic ladder.

But there was never class warefare until 1964 when LBJ, a Democrat oil man, and figured out that the Democrats could buy Liberal voters and have the Conservatives pay for them.

Witness the concoction of the "War on Poverty" whereby those who work hard and succeed are forced to give more of their hard earned incomes to politicians
to buy votes from minorities in exchange for their loyalty.

That was the reason for the War on Poverty- make the rich the enemy and minorities victims.

LBJ is the Father of the entitlement programs, as opposed to JFK who was more concerned that people should be able to keep more of their own money and put their country first.

Obama's politics shadow LBJ's.

More for those who don't by taking from those who do.

If the decision is whether to have Peter pay Paul, you'll always have Paul's support.

Read msn story titled Obama: Mccain trying to divide the country. Parties war over voter fraud and intimidation. How more transparent can it get?

The only purpose for identifying the “middle class”, the “poor” and the “wealthy” is to establish the terms that Liberals use in their class warfare.

But income classes aren't static.

People usually start out in life in the lower income class, and as they age their incomes should increase as their education and experience carry them higher economically.

As their incomes increase, they enter and pass thru the middle class into the upper income classes.

If they don't, it's because they haven't taken advantage of the opportunities we have in this country.

What healthy, able bodied Americans sit on their arse waiting for someone to feed them? (Besides the “entitled”?)

You probably know people who fit both those descriptions. I know I do, and I don’t feel sorry for those who aren’t motivated to make their own way, and I refuse to support legislation that accommodates their decisions or to support political candidates who pander to them.

A good number of people who don't improve their economic standing simply aren't motivated to do more for themselves.

And you Liberals think it's not "fair" that some people don't have what you *think* they should have so you call for legislation to even things up.

Well, both the housing boom and bust are the result of Liberals making things even.

Government legislation forced Banks to make predatory style loans available so those who couldn’t afford to make payments through course of the loan could get a loan.

Now the “greedy” banks are accused of forcing predatory lending tactics on an unaware public in order to take advantage of them.

As a result, the Democrats have the election issues they need. The “wealthy” are responsible for causing problems for the “poor”, and because the Democrats promise to make everything “fair”, those who are not motivated to take responsibility for their own bad decisions have a friend in Democrats who promise to “get even” by raising taxes on the “wealthy”.

So things are evened up. Congratulations!

But how much longer will the “wealthy” tolerate it?

The conservatives were more than happy to pay minorities for their loyalty, as long as they were willing to become cannon fodder in our war against communism, and support of the military industrial complex. The war on poverty and the war against communism was a joint venture until Nixon decided to pull the plug on the Viet Nam/communism thingy, after his trip to China.
After that the war on poverty became troublesome, and finally, when it was no longer of any value to conservatives, it was just referred to as another tax sucking, liberal entitlement.
The war on poverty had nothing to do with the greedy just wanting to keep everything for themselves.

With the new world order.. we don't have to worry about those pesky freeloaders do we? They will no longer be living off our hard earned dollars?

We will all be reduced to lettuce pickers...unless we belong to the billionaires club...

It is doubtful that we have many billionaires in this area...however should you be one of the few...you may not have anything to worry about...However... I am guessing that we will see you working in the fields..just like everyone else...

One good thing...there will be no Party division to deal with...only a class division..and no griping about higher taxes...See... there are indeed advantages to poverty...

Let it be known..there is only one thing that money can't buy..and that is..poverty!

I was being sarcastic...So do you think the people who lost so much will vote for the guy who wants to up the capital gains tax and take more of your savings (when you sell)...Most of the voters are very naive so I think they will...I took most of my assets out of the stock market about three months ago so I am safe....If Obama wins a lot of people will sell their stocks to avoid his higher taxes...I would.

My question for both candidates is...why did they vote for the bailout?

Were they too under threat of martial law? If they were..and agreed out of fear..then why would we need either candidate to represent and lead us?

We need leaders that will stand up to threats and not fold and cave in..

Just like the FISA Bill..they caved in on that as well...so the government can continue spying on private citizens..

The FISA Bill also lets Bush off the hook retroactively for all his illegal surveilance activities...

It doesn't sound like "we the people" have anyone representing our best interests right now!

I think both Obama and McCain have some answering to do about their complicity in this mess..

why do we even bother? may as well sit back and enjoy the show. let them figure it out. they always shoot the messengers anyways.

Faylon

"to each according to his need, from each according to his ability."

No, do you have a copyright on it?

The rhytees said the same things about Clinton's economic plans in the early 90s.

Even if our questions are not valid..or our concerns are not justified..we as Americans have a responsibility to question our leadership..How else do we remain free?

History tells us that people who put all their trust in a leader or in their government are foolish and will live to rue that blind faith. It is our duty to protect ourselves from corruption and abuse of power..If we don't do it..who will?

The people of Germany should be a great example for the world...They trusted..they silently gave up their rights, and believed that Hitler was a great guy and was only taking away their rights for their own protection.

Does that sound familiar??? Hitler was protecting them.. (not from terrorists) from Communists! How foolish and blind the Germans were to have done that..

The usurping of their rights occurred very slowly.. and they were not aware of the danger..until it was too late to do anything about it.

If we don't learn from history..then we are doomed to repeat those mistakes. Being vigilant and asking questions is our duty as free Americans. It is the only way that we will remain free.

We have already lost a great deal of our protections under The Bill Of Rights and the Constitution..since 9/11..and I fear that we are on the brink of losing all of our rights and our freedom..People are not paying attention!

Like you said..it is attackting the messenger that they find most important..By doing that..and calling our concerns conspiritorial or based on paranoia..it keeps them from thinking about those "dark bad things" that might interfere with their daily lives..

After all..we were fortunate enough to be born into freedom..and how could that possibly change???

Sorry...please excuse the typos...I am too lazy to clean them up..right now..

For those who think that we do not have a growing problem...I suggest that you read this.

If this article does not get your attention ...nothing will...We are in for some very tough times..better wake up..

http://www.alternet.org/rights/101958/thousands_of_troops_are_deployed_on_u.s._streets_ready_to_carry_out_%22crowd_control%22/?page=entire

Obamas followers reminds me of the Nazi youth movements...naive people looking for false hopes from one man...sort of like a messiah.

Well I don't know about Nazi's...but I do know that many of his supporters are obsessed with him. Some are voting for him for all the wrong reasons..

Other Obama devotees are abusive to anyone who isn't supportive of him..Racism is always the accusation when there is any criticism of Obama..I think that is very unfortunate..that anyone would stoop to that level..That is why I call it Obama mania...

Obama is just a man and not a super human and he certainly does not have all the answers and solutions for our current mess..But of the two choices I think he is the only hope we have for any kind of turn around. We know McCain will continue down the same road we are on..and it is a dead end!

There are radicals on McCains side as well..I got physically ill watching those ignorant people at his rallies this week...

Palin gets them riled up with anti American drival and the idiots come crawling out of the crowd waving their flags and calling Obama an Arab..Ignorance is running rampant..in this campaign.

It reminds me of all the ignorant morons after 9/11...who couldn't find the middle east on a map...(if their life depended on it) screaming for blood, and stomping on Dixie Chick CD's because one of them..said she was ashamed that Bush was from Texas..

Mild stuff IMO...I am ashamed that he calls himself an American PERIOD..after the horrible things he has done to our country...and to innocent people in Iraq..

The crazed Dixie Chick haters even made death threats toward them..stopped their music from being played on radio stations...made threats against their children..and their families as well...

There are sick ignorant people on both sides..out there..and they will be voting! That is scary to me..

By the way the real "Nazi's" are the ones who are in control of our government right now... hermie!