[MAGI]

Editorial from the NY Times:

"Will Your Money Last?

Published: February 5, 2006
Americans spent more than they made in 2005, sending the personal savings rate into negative territory for the first time since 1933.

Government and business should be alarmed. Many Americans do not seem to believe they are living beyond their means, as long as the value of their houses are rising. But spending freely while the house appreciates is not saving for the future. It is betting that boom-time gains will last indefinitely. They will not."


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/opinion/05sun1.html?th&emc=th

[MAGI]

and....the budget proposal.........complement of The Washington Post:
"2007 Budget Favors Defense.

Bush foreshadowed his intentions in the State of the Union speech, saying, "Every year of my presidency, we've reduced the growth of nonsecurity discretionary spending. . . . This year, my budget will cut it again."

Spending for the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Interior, in particular, will be flat or decreased."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020401179.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

[FDRfollower]

I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth;
better than banking, trade, or leases,
take a bank note and fold it up,
and then you will find your money increases.

This wonderful plan without danger or loss,
keeps your cash in your hands
where nothing can trouble it;
And if you fold it across,
Tis as plain as the light of day,
that you double it.

(anonymous)

My friend has fun reciting this, and was hoping that someone here would perhaps recognize the author, who he (thinks) is Edger A. Poe, but is not sure.

[MAGI]

You know The Iraq Invasion isn't included in "The Budget", so here's how it gets in.....................:

from :

progress@americanprogressaction.org


"IRAQ
The National Strategy For Disaster In Iraq

Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to request $65 billion in emergency security funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of the $369 billion the United States has spent already. This appearance came amidst deep dissatisfaction among the U.S. public over the war (only 30 percent approve of President Bush's handling of Iraq), increasing sectarian violence, and a troubling human rights situation. The testimony by Rice and Rumsfeld did little to reassure the American people that the administration is using taxpayers' money wisely, amounting to "more or less a recitation of the administration's standard formulations on Iraq," according to the New York Times. Rice and Rumsfeld's testimony yesterday ignored the U.S. responsibility for Iraq's current state of instability. The administration's post-invasion failure to properly train security forces, oversee detainee interrogations, and plan for reconstruction have left a situation of chaos and insecurity in Iraq. (American Progress has a plan to move forward.) "

[FDRfollower]

You know The Iraq Invasion isn't included in "The Budget", so here's how it gets in.....................:

And that's not all! :p The Fed has discontinued reporting M3. I guess it's not long before Ben Bernanke will be throwing money out of helicopters. :D Weimar hyperinflation anyone?

[Mr. Magoo]

"according to the New York Times. Rice and Rumsfeld's testimony yesterday ignored the U.S. responsibility for Iraq's current state of instability."

What a wonderful source of information the NY times is. Get real !!!! That sounds like a liberal newspaper's OPINION to me !!!! It carries ZERO credibility !!!!!!

[Jane of Arc]

And that's not all! :p The Fed has discontinued reporting M3. I guess it's not long before Ben Bernanke will be throwing money out of helicopters. :D Weimar hyperinflation anyone?This is serious.
The M3 announcement was made on November 10th, but no one really noticed until a few days later, and then on the 16th, the Russian and South African central banks made announcements about buying gold. Hmmm...

I'm buying gold. :thumbup:
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/history.gif?s=FOREX_XAUUSDO&t=l&w=15&a=50&v=d12

[MAGI]

US religious charities win $2.15bn in state grants

· White House increases awards to faith groups
· Concern that public funds used to gain converts

"Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday March 11, 2006
The Guardian


The Bush administration channelled $2.15bn (£1.25bn) to faith-based charities last year, advancing its mission to increase the share of government aid money given to religious organisations.
The figure, contained in a White House report unveiled on Thursday, does not account for all of the grants awarded by an administration determined to increase the involvement of churches and religious organisations in social services provision.

The revelation deepened concerns among aid professionals and civil liberty groups about the quality of services offered by some of the religious groups - especially at a time when funds for social programmes are being cut. There are also charges that the Bush administration is underwriting proselytising campaigns by the Christian right.


Article continues:"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1728616,00.html

[MAGI]

From:
progress@americanprogressaction.org :

BUDGET
A Blueprint For Fiscal Disaster

This week, the Senate is debating the 2007 budget resolution, a blueprint for how Congress plans to allocate $2.8 trillion in federal spending next year. The federal budget is a concrete embodiment of policy choices, a moral document that reflects the values and priorities of our nation. The budget that the Senate is currently debating runs counter to many of our nation's longest and deepest held beliefs; it prioritizes tax cuts for the rich and wasteful spending in the defense budget while shortchanging veterans benefits, education, health care, energy research, homeland security, housing for the elderly and disabled, and child care for working families. The Washington Post writes, "[I]t's time to pause and consider the unabashed recklessness of the Bush administration's fiscal policies and its unwillingness to alter its tax-cutting course to accommodate new budgetary realities." Indeed, while President Bush and his conservative allies claim their cuts to domestic programs are needed measures to assert fiscal discipline, the reality is that the Senate budget plan would actually increase the deficit over the next five years by $266 billion.

RIGHT WING REJECTS TEST OF FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: Recognizing that Congress needs to take action to address Bush's fiscal irresponsibility, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) offered an amendment to the budget resolution yesterday that would have imposed greater fiscal restraint. The right-wing rejected the so-called "pay-go" rules, requirements that tax cuts be offset by budget savings or revenue increases in order to prevent the deficit from growing even larger. "For those who say they are fiscally responsible, here is your chance," said Conrad. "You are going to be able to prove with one vote whether you are serious about doing something about these runaway debts and runaway deficits or whether it is all talk." One of those right-wingers who failed to meet the test was Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). The amendment failed by a 50-50 vote after Coburn, who claims he is willing to make the tough decisions to reform the way the government spends its money, switched his position from a pair of votes last fall. Conrad has pledged to re-introduce the "pay-go" amendment when the Senate votes to increase the debt limit later this week, and the right wing will have yet another chance to demonstrate whether it can back up its rhetoric with action.

STRIKING THE WRONG BALANCE: The right wing has announced its commitment to repeal the estate tax and make the Bush tax changes permanent. A repeal of the estate tax would cost nearly $1 trillion over the first 10 years of enactment. While a responsible reform could exempt about 99.5 percent of all estates from the tax and avoid the lion's share of costs, alleged "compromises" circulated by Senate Republicans would spend over 90 percent as much as repeal to help this tiny group of wealthy heirs. In all, once made permanent, the tax changes will eventually add over $400 billion to the debt and deliver over $100 billion to the richest one percent of tax payers each year. Bush is also proposing a $439.3 billion defense budget, and $67 billion in emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on top of that. Based on recommendations from American Progress Senior Fellow Larry Korb, progressive lawmakers identified $60 billion in military funding that goes to unnecessary Cold War-era programs that could be spent better elsewhere. To preserve his tax cuts for the rich and his costly defense programs, Bush is balancing the federal deficit on the backs of those who can least afford it. Some marginal spending measures that were recently rejected: $1.5 million for veteran's medical services, $2.8 billion for higher education funding, and $975 million for the widows and orphans of soldiers. Conservatives haven't been willing to march in complete lock-step with the Bush budget, however. Bush proposed cutting $7 billion from education and health care spending, hurting valuable programs that serve our nation's schoolchildren and cutting vital investments in public health, a move that Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) is now pushing to overturn. The Senate has turned back an administration effort to raise $800 million by imposing new fees on veterans for health care. Similarly, Bush proposed cutting $36 billion from Medicare, a move that was also rejected by the Senate. Reflecting on the impact of the budget spending priorities, Specter said, "We have done more than cut the fat. We have done more than cut through the muscle. We have done more than cut through to the bone. We have cut into the marrow. It is that serious."

DIGGING DEEPER INTO DEBT: Since Bush has been in office, the congressionally-set limit on the total national debt has risen from $5.95 trillion to the current ceiling of $8.184 trillion. "That is more than $28,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in the United States." By this week's end, Congress will likely pass a resolution to dig the hole even deeper, permitting the federal debt to "grow by $781 billion to avoid a disastrous government default." The measure would allow the debt to grow to almost $9 trillion, an increase of $3 trillion since Bush took office. Last year's budget deficit came to $319 billion, the third-largest deficit ever recorded. This year, the deficit is expected swell to $371 billion. Even Bush's newly-appointed Federal Reserve chief recognizes the unsustainable fiscal course that the president has led us down. "The prospective increase in the budget deficit will place at risk future living standards of our country," Ben Bernanke said yesterday. "I am quite concerned about the intermediate to long-term federal budget outlook."

[wimzkl]

Sixteen Tons

Some people say a man is made out of mud
A poor man's made out of muscle and blood
Muscle and blood, skin and bones...
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store.

When President Bush took office, the government was running budget surpluses. Ignoring warnings of reverting to deficits, Bush decided the surpluses belonged to the taxpayers and that tax cuts would stimulate the economy and there would be no deficits. He was half right as lower taxes encouraged greater consumer spending and the economy has improved with higher employment rates. He was terrible wrong about the deficits.

We have now had three tax cuts and are fighting two wars resulting in record deficits of $375 billion in 2003 (3.5% of our national income,) $412 billion in 2004 and $427 billion in 2005. Further deficits are expected through 2008 at a rate of about 2% of our national income. We are now over $8 trillion in total national debt which is almost $30,000 for each of us. For more than 50% of the households in the country, that equals about triple their total net worth.

All administrations over the last 53 years have added significantly to the nation’s debt. Eisenhower took office with the National Debt around $275 billion. Most of this debt had been incurred during the Civil War, the First World War, the Great Depression and World War II. At present the National Debt is almost $8 trillion more than that.

Our conservative Republican administrations have added $6,022 billion in the 33 years they occupied the White House, while our spendthrift liberal Democrats have added $1,955 billion in their 20 years. The Republicans share represents an average gain of 8.01% or $182.5 billion per year. Democratic administrations have added $80.5 billion average or about 4.64% per year. If you take Eisenhower’s $24 billion addition over eight years out of the above equation, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the two Bush’s have added almost $6 trillion to our national debt - representing a rate of $ 239.92 or 10.22% per year.

Our 2006 national budget of over $2.77 trillion will add almost another $400 billion to our National Debt. The interest this year alone on the debt will exceed $350 billion. That is almost 14% of the total budget by itself, almost 90% of this year’s deficit itself, and will come very close to exceeding the total of the national debt when Nixon was elected. Are the conservatives trying to conserve the rate of national debt increase?

It should seem evident that our conservative administrations have interests other than reducing the size of our government and balancing the budget. We are building a debt that our children will eventually have to pay. We should try to make sure that they pay on an “equality of sacrifice” basis since our budget deficits reflect the significant tax breaks given to those in the highest earning households and reflect the wasteful spending programs that benefit those in our highest earning households. Our budget deficits also reflect the deception of our conservative administrations when they claim allegiance to the conservative values of smaller and more efficient government. It is positive proof our conservative leaders are lying to all the voters of our great nation.

If historic additions to the national debt by the party in power are an indication of a party’s conservatism, then both parties are liberal and the Republicans are by far the most liberal.

[MAGI]

Big Oil steals from America...........YET AGAIN:

"Vague Law and Hard Lobbying Add Up to Billions for Big Oil "


By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: March 27, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 26 — It was after midnight and every lawmaker in the committee room wanted to go home, but there was still time to sweeten a deal encouraging oil and gas companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Giving Away $7 Billion in Royalties

As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas Rights (January 23, 2006)
Oil Giants Fell Behind on Fees (February 10, 2006)
U.S. Has Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies (February 14, 2006)
Lawmakers Plan an Effort to Reverse Royalty Relief (February 15, 2006)
Official Says Oil and Gas Giveaway Was Probably an Error (March 2, 2006)
Kerr-McGee Sues Over Royalty Fees (March 21, 2006) "There is no cost," declared Representative Joe L. Barton, a Texas Republican who was presiding over Congressional negotiations on the sprawling energy bill last July. An obscure provision on new drilling incentives was "so noncontroversial," he added, that senior House and Senate negotiators had not even discussed it.

Mr. Barton's claim had a long history. For more than a decade, lawmakers and administration officials, both Republicans and Democrats, have promised there would be no cost to taxpayers for a program allowing companies to avoid paying the government royalties on oil and gas produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf.

But last month, the Bush administration confirmed that it expected the government to waive about $7 billion in royalties over the next five years, even though the industry incentive was expressly conceived of for times when energy prices were low. And that number could quadruple to more than $28 billion if a lawsuit filed last week challenging one of the program's remaining restrictions proves successful.

"The big lie about this whole program is that it doesn't cost anything," said Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who tried to block its expansion last July. "Taxpayers are being asked to provide huge subsidies to oil companies to produce oil — it's like subsidizing a fish to swim."

How did a supposedly cost-free incentive become a multibillion-dollar break to an industry making record profits?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/business/27royalties.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1143435600&en=6fb24479a0dab90b&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

[FDRfollower]

Magi, on your post about the budget. Did you take into account the recent criminality by the administration? :twisted:

I'm not sure how widely this was reported, but it seems bad enough. The budget submitted by the House and Senate was modified by the administration before Bush signed it. That's about as unconstitutional as you can get.

As far as 'big oil' goes, it's not just a matter of record profits of the companies. We're talking about international cartels, connected to the international financial system, and the "profits" are the loot needed to prop up the ready-to-blow dirivitives market, of which all major banks are hooked on, like crack adicts.

Just picture a 300 pound flea on a 20 pound dog and you get the picture.

[MAGI]

FDRfollower, I'm 71 years young ;) and feel so frustrated by this blatant corruption and greed of corporate America and the lack of conscience of our lawmakers!

They care for NO ONE out of their circle. They care NOT for our planet!

My generation had the possibility to advance if a person had some intelligence, good health, and the willingness to put in the time to "get ahead". The jobs were here. The cost of higher education was in everyones reach if they were willing to work for it!

What is happening to the workingman now is sinfull! Corporate America has abandoned "the people". Some of us get it, and realize we are one step away from bankruptcy if we lose our job or health!

We worry for our children and grandchildren and the health of our planet!

Why don't the people realize this? WE HAVE THE NUMBERS TO MAKE A CHANGE, THEREFORE THE POWER, TO DIRECT OUR COURSE!

Will "The PEOPLE" get smart or does it take personal catastrophe to see the light?

The ONLY way is to vote out the Rethugs that put us is this terrible mess! Elect democrats, force campaign finance reform, and then nominate and elect PEOPLE who CARE for PEOPLE and OUR WORLD!

Will "The People" do it?
:confused:

[FDRfollower]

Will "The People" do it?

Magi, if I understand Percy Bysshe Shelly, I can see with this generation in power, no. I've included this part from Shelly's "In Defense of Poetry", because I can see a nation that has NO POETS. None. Read this and then read the whole essay at click (http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display/displayprose.cfm?prosenum=6), and in your heart, see if what I am saying is correct. And may I offend all the Baby Boomers.

§334 In spite of the lowthoughted envy which would undervalue contemporary merit, our own will be a memorable age in intellectual achievements, and we live among such philosophers and poets as surpass beyond comparison any who have appeared since the last national struggle for civil and religious liberty. §335 The most unfailing herald, companion and follower of the awakening of a great people to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution, is Poetry. §336 At such periods there is an accumulation of the power of communicating and receiving intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man and nature. §337 The persons in whom this power resides, may often as far as regards many portions of their nature have little apparent correspondence with that spirit of good of which they are the ministers. §338 But even whilst they deny and abjure, they are yet compelled to serve, the Power which is seated on the throne of their own soul. §339 It is impossible to read the compositions of the most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled with the electric life which burns within their words. §340 They measure the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive and all penetrating spirit, and they are themselves perhaps the most sincerely astonished at its manifestations, for it is less their spirit than the spirit of the age. §341 Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration, the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present, the words which express what they understand not, the trumpets which sing to battle and feel not what they inspire: the influence which is moved not, but moves. §342 Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World.

[MAGI]

OMG, I NEED a translator...................... :eek:
Will the writers and poets on this forum please discuss Percy Bysshe Shelly's essay "in Defense of Poetry" to enlighten me?

I HAD no hope of the baby boomer generation being unselfish but must say I'm seeing a change amongst those who are,have, or will be losing their well paid jobs, have frozen wages, less benefits, (esp. healthcare) and do NOT have the financial package they expected......... to retire and live as well as their parents' generation.

I'm hoping these very people see the necessity for CHANGE and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

Our RIGHTS lost!

I must say I trusted Pres. Clinton with his sell of FREE TRADE. It proved to be what Perot warned it would be; "that great sucking sound"............ Safeguards weren't put in place and American corporations set up offshore to avoid taxes as well as selling out U.S.employees every which way - for unheard of profits!

I believe his tax on the wealthy was the main reason he was hounded ALL those years, (Dems as well as repubs), even though they now say those years were fabulous for them as well as the rest of the populance!

I SO want him to explain, though, what he would now do to help middle America GET THEIR JOBS BACK! Nice of him to help the rest of the world AT OUR EXPENSE!

We have some great movies showing past and possible future errors .....not poetry per se........but life lessons.......... does that count some?

Still Hoping......................:thumbup:

[FDRfollower]

C'mon Magi, you don't need a translator, Shelly did write in English. ;) Abe Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr, typify what Shelly talks about, I think. The leadership to move people with the force of ideas, communicated in such a way, as to give birth to noble thoughts in minds who in normal times, store such away, like christmas ornaments in January.

I'm not sure life lessons are enough. Good old fashioned leadership is more important now.

[JamesP]

As much as I'd like to believe differently, I think we've moved beyond the point of "grass root" movements and change led by "we the people".

The aggregation of wealth at the top and a world shrunk by technology has made a new era of "control & domination" of the masses possible on a global scale.

The "dream of America" has faded thru corporate media consolidation, electronic voting machines and a society obsessed with safety & possessions.

And even as American's gain awareness of the nature of the beast, another "catastrophic event" is ever at the ready to render them fearful, hateful, pliable and pillage-able once again, ready to follow whatever "strong" leader their corporate-captors nominate to "protect" them.... by whatever means imagined or un-imagineable.

We can only hope they treat us "not too cruelly" and take solace that we got to experience something of "the dream", living during this period of transition. There's little we can do to preserve the remnants of our fading democracy as we watch it pass. Darkness is the dominant side of our nature after all.

[MAGI]

C'mon Guys..................:thumbup:

I'm sitting here with pros & cons flashing through my mind....thinking how we lost the media, then the thought of learning yesterday that Ted Turner chose not to be on the CNN "board" any longer because Time Warner has total control, popped in mind.

I wish he could be coaxed into setting up a totally NEW TV station. One where the likes of Donahue could speak once more. Television is THE medium "we the people" have become reliant upon for NEWS! I think Lou Dobbs is doing the best job at presenting current events on TV at this point in time. Who is your choice?

I have been a republican, a democrat, an independant, even took a little test a few years ago & learned I'm libertarian but...... also a humanitarian, so that premise is ......... unrealistic.

At this stage in the game, I want the TRUTH readily available for "We the people".

My parents sang long ago, "The rich get rich (er) and the poor get poorer".....got to bring that song back..........remember,...................... "we the people" were there before!

Ted, TED can you hear "We the people"? If EVER "WE" needed TRUTH, we need it NOW!

Got any connections, guys? :solution: