“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United TBTF ‘Banks’ of America, and to the Oligarchy for which it stands, one nation under Satan, divisible via wedge issues, with tyranny and justice for none (but the 0.1% give or take).”

Isn’t it time we re-worked these old-time standards to reflect the New Normal? Or should we keep playing along?

We’re paying for their lobbyists to work at cheating us. Buy small, buy local.

Good morning all,

Before we do Waterloo, err Iran , for more war profits for the greediest maybe we should reorder our priorities.

Time is short.

Good morning, pups. It’s Brooks and Krugman today. I don’t know if Bobo is drunk or on drugs. In “A New Social Agenda” he babbles that Rick Santorum’s ideas may need some massaging, but their roots offer an important seedbed for a new 21st-century philosophy of government. Bobo (and Santorum too, for that matter) should be hit with sticks, sewn into a leather sack with an angry weasel and thrown in the lake. Prof. Krugman, in “Bain, Barack and Jobs,” says Mitt Romney says that President Obama has been a job destroyer, while he was a job-creating businessman. But those claims border on dishonesty.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got banana pancakes today. Bobo has made me so cross this morning I’m going to stamp off to the kitchen and make another cup of tea. And maybe throw something against the wall… (And I do apologize to all weasels for my suggestion above.) Have a great day.

Thanks Marion. There is a good reason Bobo wants to return to feudalism, as he never quite could see why behaving in a civilized manner was good for society, after all, it never helped him. He’s still stupid.

Right! We really need to hit North Korea FIRST, then Pakistan, then Iran. Who the heck is doing strategic planning for America now, anyway?

Boxturtle (And Venezuela. We haven’t forgotten about you, Hugo!)

Rather than a weasel, may I suggest an electric eel?

Boxturtle (or for saltwater, perhaps a Humbolt squid?)

“Bain, Barack and Jobs,” says Mitt Romney says that President Obama has been a job destroyer, while he was a job-creating businessman. But those claims border on dishonesty.

Boarder on dishonesty ? Really ?

The difference between dishonesty and outright lying is weather or not you claim to be a politician ?

Marion thanks for going where few would venture day after day and extra credit when you try to discern what the hell bobo or the little putz mean in their baffling babble.

You want to kick North Korea when they’re down ?

Real men go where there’s oil for the Magnificent Mindless ‘Merican Murder Machine , are you listening Hugo ?

Any war of any sort is needed to drive up the price of gas so the Big Oil rulers can keep the public from spending their money on folderol like food and edumacation.

Hmm…good point. Canada isn’t on the list and they’ve got all that tar sand. A lot of NIMBY here in America about pipelines for that, but if it was America’s oil…

Boxturtle (But if we did conquer Canada, what do we do with Quebec?)

Europe begat the colonies.
The colonies’ wealth holders begat the United States.
The U.S. begat democracy (sort of…if you were wealthy).
Democracy begat a taxation system of it’s own (to pay for wars).
Taxation laws begat tax accountants.
Tax accountants begat tax lawyers.
Tax lawyers begat loopy lobbyists who
Begat loopholes for the heirs of the wealthy
Begotten by the begatters.
“tis’ time for evolution of begatting
To turn loopholes
Into nooses.

Deport the Quebecois.

C’mon, if it was that simple, Canada would have already done so!

Boxturtle (FOR SALE: Quebec. As is, make offer!!!)

They sent them to Louisiana. But missed a few.

My word. That explains a lot.

Boxturtle (FOR SALE: Quebec and Louisiana. No reasonable offer refused!!)

Be careful, without cajun cooking we’d have a really sad gulf.

BTW,
Happy Twelfth Day

also Fiesta de los Tres Rejes

and Epiphany

Do we still have the receipt? What is France’s return policy?

Will throw in 20,000,000 Red state brains, low mileage, only used on Sunday.

Stratocruiser (asserting the universal right of parentheticals)

(will BT flag this as abusive?)

She’s quoting Krugman about “bordering on” dishonest. Read the piece, it’s strong, simple and clearly portrays Mitt as “crossing the corder” on dishonesty; it’s just parsing the verbs that let him slide by. That and the otherwise blind, biased, and bought media.

Brooks, on the other hand, I won’t read. I’m not going to waste one of my precious free 20 NY Times articles on him.

A double paraenthical? I’m sure you’re violating a grammar rule somewhere with that.

Boxturtle (Grammar Nazi’s please take note!)

So you deny my assertion on technical grounds? Rather than face head on your co option of the ability to express afterthoughts and unrelated asides?

Stratocruiser (in this fight for the long haul) (also proudly defending our third Amendment rights, unlike BT)

I think posts like this are pretty misleading.

There certainly are all sorts of tax loopholes and questionable tax strategies that benefit particular industries, but presumably corporate tax payments were down during the years in question (2008-2010) partly because many of those companies had significant loss carryforwards relating to the financial crisis. If you have a loss of 100x in 2008 and net income of 50x in 2009 and 2010, your economic income is zero for all three years, so you don’t pay income tax. That’s a much less “evil” story, and the articles you point to don’t carve out how much of the phenomenon is attributable to losses.

In addition, there’s no consensus on who bears the burden of the corporate tax. It could be shareholders and management, sure, but it could also be effectively paid by consumers and labor. In addition, remember than pension/retirement plans own trillions of dollars in and a huge percentage of the outstanding US stock — to the extent that the corporate tax is ultimately borne by shareholders, it hits pension funds hard.

It’s not really just the deductions that help big business, it’s the TAX CREDITS. These enable corporations who pay NO taxes to actually get money back from the taxpayer. If the corporate tax rate is lowered, these tax credits will allow them to take even more corporate welfare from the government.

I think only low-income individuals get refundable tax credits in the US, but I could be missing something. What are the refundable corporate tax credits?

It has nothing to do with civility; it is the competition that most of the elite fear. As long as there is an accepted hierarchy, the elites performance is never questioned. Without that elitism, some unentitled person might show them up.

That’s for the most part why Ivy League schools exist; to give the otherwise unqualified rich kids an almost insurmountable advantage over those poor riffraff spawn. They put out a few scholarships to get the real talent actually needed to do the work, while the elite are in their meetings or on vacation from the businesses. It actually takes a small percentage of the executives to do the jobs they are all paid for.