On immigration, I find it insane that our current policy is to severely limit skilled/professional legal immigration and giving a token effort towards stopping illegal immigration. I say totally open up for skilled/professional immigration and start a registered worker visa program for what is now illegal immigration. This program would require for example, an unskilled Mexican day laborer that wanted to cross the border, to register with some government agency when crosses the border. A background check could be performed to determine whether he was gang affiliated or whatever. Once he checks out, he is issued a temp worker visa and some official ID. Now, he can find work legally (or illegally if he so chooses), we know who he is and that he exists inside our border and he is less likly to be exploited by a dishonest employer since he can bring a grievance to the authorities without fear of deportation. This is also true for reporting crimes to the police. All he has to do is periodically check in to said agency to be renewed. After completing set # of periods successfully (6 years maybe?) he then has the opportunity to apply for an accelerated path to US citizenship. I he wanted to. This would also applied for the illegals that are already here. It just means they start over with no credit for how long they have lived here.

I think this is a much better idea than the idiotic rhetoric we hear from both sides today.

7/24/2011 2:00:46 PM

I assume these temp visas would allow them to bring their kids as well?

7/24/2011 2:04:45 PM

Same rules that apply for Family immigration visas That currently in place. But, if the worker fails to meet the requirements of renewal, the entire family looses status unless the wife is also in the worker bisa program. Also, Anchor baby rules do would not aplly during the process. When completed successfully the worker and his/her dependant minors are granted citizenship.

7/24/2011 3:09:01 PM

A good article on why raising taxes wont fix the deficit problem. From someone much smarter than everyone posting on this board, especially the OP

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/11/glenn-hubbard-why-raising-taxes-wont-work/?iid=HP_River

7/24/2011 3:29:42 PM

It doesn't matter how smart he is its an ideology. Of course the people who orchestrated the current tax cuts don't think raising taxes is good.

7/24/2011 3:49:27 PM

He's definitely for lower taxes. What he actually says with regard to our current situation:

Quote :

"That doesn't mean that taxes can't or shouldn't be part of the solution."

Despite what the article implies, no one has suggested that higher taxes be the only solution.

[Edited on July 24, 2011 at 4:17 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2011 4:16:41 PM

Take all the loop holes and exemptions out of the tax code and make people and companies pay the actual tax rate they are slotted for. If that is done then we could probably lower all the rates and still raise revenue. I'd be okay if I lost my mortgage interest exemption if I knew that everyone that made the salary I make paid the same taxes as I do and the rates came down a touch.

7/24/2011 5:40:40 PM

We have lower taxes than we did under Bush. Taxes have been going down for the last 10 years. The economy has also been going down for the last 10 years.

^6 versus half-a-dozen.

Economic growth raises revenue. ????? raises economic growth. Try anything and everything to raise economic growth. Abandon what doesn't work. Don't limit what you try based on ideology -- all economic theories are junk social science (redundant) masquerading as science.

7/24/2011 6:49:41 PM

Quote :

""

Actually, that's attributable to the GOP's implementation of their policies when they took power in January 2010.

7/24/2011 7:30:59 PM

^I wasn't aware that any GOP policies have passed through the Senate or Obama? Please tell me what specific GOP polies would be causing the trend in the chart. Must be some instantaneous policies. Wow, really fast acting.

^^Totally False. Where were you living the past decade? The economy slipped a bit and was flat after 9/11 then boomed until late 2007, hit bottom in late 2009 and is creeping along to the present. In no way can you say the economy was down the past decade.



Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

[Edited on July 24, 2011 at 7:36 PM. Reason : arrows]

7/24/2011 7:33:38 PM

That's a graph of fake economic statistics. Housing prices definitely boomed as did other prices -- hence nominal graphs that are positive. But GDP released by the government, nominal and real, is rigged to be as positive as possible.

Things that actually matter to people such as real income was flat or down and cost of living was up. Has productivity grown enough in the past 10 years to allow us to consume more with the same percentage of our income? Pick any time bounds you want in the last 10 years, and people were not better off over that time period.

People were able to buy more in the last decade because of credit growth, but I wouldn't chalk that up as a great win for the economy.

7/24/2011 8:23:19 PM

You guys call it obamacare but obamacare never actually passed. Healthcare reform watered down by gop policies is what passed.

7/24/2011 9:13:41 PM

Quote :

"riiiiiiiiiight. Obama jacking up spending like there was no tomorrow, leading up to the crisis, will have NOTHING to do with it. riiiiiiiiiight. Both sides are to blame, as both sides are at the table"

It's up to Congress to raise the debt ceiling, not President Obama. The GOP will be held responsible in 2012 for wrecking our credit rating and crashing the economy.

7/25/2011 12:41:29 PM

i love your understanding of politics.

7/25/2011 1:07:32 PM

Republicans didn't have a problem raising the debt ceiling until there was a nigger in the White House.

7/25/2011 1:16:01 PM

haha, i cant believe you of all people just said that.

are you going to kill yourself in 2012 if he loses?

7/25/2011 1:16:42 PM

GDP gains aren't what you want to look at in a vacuum. Distribution matters.

[Edited on July 25, 2011 at 1:20 PM. Reason : .]

7/25/2011 1:20:00 PM

Quote :

"Republicans didn't have a problem raising the debt ceiling until there was a nigger in the White House."

C'mon pryderi. Both sides are trying to use this debt as a political tool, doesn't matter who is in the WH.

7/25/2011 3:05:14 PM

I like this pryderi kid. He's crazier than me. Crazier than I. Crazier than I am? I'm really terrible at grammar.

7/25/2011 3:17:01 PM

I'm with pryderi on this one. Republicans will be held responsible in 2012 for fucking up the economy.

7/25/2011 10:56:09 PM

Nah the republican wave has just begun. Obama won because young people came out to vote for the first black president. There is nothing that can catch their interest enough to come out again. The people who care about politics are the people who hate gays and don't want their riches taxed. They will be out in full force after all the muslim talk and gay marriage.

7/25/2011 11:32:33 PM

Quote :

"Your statement clearly implied lewisje is a constitutional scholar."

no. no it didn't. This is a thread about Obama. Who is a Constitutional Law Professor. dumbass.

Quote :

"raise the SS age to where it should be adjusted for average lifespan"

or phase it out, because it's a god damned ponzi scheme and ponzi schemes, by their very nature, are unsustainable.

Quote :

"Just penalize them for headquartering outside the US"

How? You do realize that doing this would just make companies stop doing business in the US altogether, right? jesus, that's as simple of a concept as it gets.

Quote :

"Republicans will be held responsible in 2012 for fucking up the economy."

Yeah. Creating huge uncertainty in an already fragile market by creating new and massive regulations and business requirements via healthcare is totally the 'pubs fault. Jacking up spending by a trillion and wanting to keep it there is totally the 'pub fault. yep.

7/26/2011 1:45:30 AM

AS long as there are Americans willing to buy stuff then there will be companies to step into the void the greedy companies left behind. We are the biggest consumers in the world and any company to not do business here would be missing out.

7/26/2011 1:50:21 AM

Quote :

"AS long as there are Americans willing to buy stuff then there will be companies to step into the void the greedy companies left behind. We are the biggest consumers in the world and any company to not do business here would be missing out."

Gotta have money coming in to consume things

7/26/2011 2:08:58 AM

yeah because large companies that have to evade taxes to make money are the only component of the american economy

7/26/2011 2:26:02 AM

I'm sorry, what? I'm talking about normal people. People need money in order to buy things.

7/26/2011 2:36:58 AM

You seem to be insinuating that there will be no jobs if the greedy companies leave.

7/26/2011 2:52:25 AM

Quote :

"Actually, that's attributable to the GOP's implementation of their policies when they took power in January 2010."

The election was November 2010, so they took power of the House in January 2011.

7/26/2011 8:08:18 AM

Quote :

"You seem to be insinuating that there will be no jobs if the greedy companies leave."

No, I'm saying that jobless people don't buy much

7/26/2011 10:55:14 AM

85% of the nation has a job though.

7/26/2011 10:59:08 AM

^^^ hahaha. i can't believe pryderi tried that bullshit. hahaha

7/31/2011 7:09:33 PM

Quote :

"A good article on why raising taxes wont fix the deficit problem. From someone much smarter than everyone posting on this board, especially the OP http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/11/glenn-hubbard-why-raising-taxes-wont-work/?iid=HP_River"

pffft. really?

Quote :

" Glenn Hubbard served as President George W. Bush's top economic adviser "

I win.

8/1/2011 11:23:17 AM

^ Wait, you who thought the "GOP...took power in January 2010."?

8/1/2011 11:26:36 AM

Quote :

""

Ok. Let's repeal "Obamacare" and instead put together another stimulus package to get this economy going again.

Quote :

"^ Wait, you who thought the "GOP...took power in January 2010."?"

I was wrong about the date, but am still smarter than Glenn Hubbard.

[Edited on August 1, 2011 at 11:31 AM. Reason : ...]

8/1/2011 11:29:08 AM

Quote :

"put together another stimulus package to get this economy going again."

Yet more tax breaks for the wealthy. If you want to reduce revenue, you should do it by lowering tax rates.

8/1/2011 11:44:41 AM

^^ Only the Heritage Foundation would have the balls to imply cause to that graph. Could anything be more misleading? As soon as the healthcare changes are made we start to lose jobs. Yeah right. Maybe there are other factors ...

The economy isn't doing that bad, it's only doing bad for American workers ... stock market is up, business are making money, over seas. Business does not give a damn about American workers, only as consumers. Big business doesn't even need them as consumers anymore, now that they've built up the middle class over seas.

Finally, at the end of the Carter administration there were projected surpluses for the foreseeable future. Eight years later the economy is tanked ... Obama is the best thing that ever happened to the GOP ... someone to blame everything on. For a description about how the Republicans screwed the pooch, I submit the following article:

http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/72-72/6819-how-republicans-screwed-the-pooch

8/1/2011 9:34:43 PM

^^^
Hey kids. Look at this phenomenon that naturally has an asymptotic curve. Let's arbitrarily divide it into two sections.

OMFG. THE FIRST SECTION HAS A GREATER SLOPE THAN THE SECOND SECTION.

8/1/2011 9:47:24 PM

Quote :

"Only the Heritage Foundation would have the balls to imply cause to that graph. Could anything be more misleading? As soon as the healthcare changes are made we start to lose jobs. Yeah right."

I know, to think Americans read the news and respond in any way to what they read there. But, from the evidence, it seems the scare campaign of the right wing media worked: Americans were sufficiently dissuaded by what they read about the healthcare passage that it showed up in the statistics. Almost suggests business people actually read all the wallstreet journals that get delivered everyday. If we lived in a police state, then the government could have shut down the media, then business people wouldn't have responded negatively, harming the nation's economy.

8/1/2011 11:50:53 PM

Quote :

"Ok. Let's repeal "Obamacare" and instead put together another stimulus package to get this economy going again."

because the first one so clearly worked. let's try it again!

Quote :

"Finally, at the end of the Carter administration there were projected surpluses for the foreseeable future."

I'm going to assume you meant Clinton and still rolly-eye at you. If you honestly thought Clinton surpluses would say, then I feel bad for you son.

Quote :

"Obama is the best thing that ever happened to the GOP ... someone to blame everything on."

And isn't it funny that the Democrats are blaming everything on Bush? I'm sure that will go over your head. But, at some point, real leadership steps up and actually starts fixing things instead of blaming the last guy.

8/2/2011 2:34:54 PM

Quote :

"because the first one so clearly worked. let's try it again!"

The first one was put together contrary to recommendations by experts who understand stimulus

8/2/2011 2:37:32 PM

so we can clearly expect the next one to be done better, right? given that basically the same people are in power, right?

8/2/2011 2:52:00 PM

Quote :

"because the first one so clearly worked. let's try it again!"

IT DID! Lonesnark proved it with his fancy Heritage chart.

8/2/2011 3:11:09 PM

Mission accomplished! Obama will be swinging from the tree in no time! Congratulations
KKK-baggers!

8/2/2011 9:26:55 PM

^^ If I recall, the stimulus was passed in January 2009, but there is no such thing as a shovel ready project, so most of the stimulus was spent in 2010. The fancy chart (which was not directed at the stimulus) would suggest the stimulus did not help.

8/2/2011 10:16:23 PM

8/2/2011 10:50:48 PM

Even I can make a graph...

8/2/2011 11:21:31 PM

Quote :

"OFFICE OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEADER"

8/3/2011 12:09:22 AM

Quote :

"IT DID! Lonesnark proved it with his fancy Heritage chart. "

Yep, it worked so well that it kept us from having the dreaded 8% unemployment!!!

8/3/2011 1:47:39 AM

Haha eman said 85% of the nation has a job.

Without even looking up that stat I can tell you its closer to 58% , big difference

8/3/2011 7:34:55 AM

Quote :

""We have Saddam Hussein," declared billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, apparently referring to President Barack Obama as he welcomed hundreds of wealthy guests to the latest of the secret fundraising and strategy seminars he and his brother host twice a year. The 2012 elections, he warned, will be "the mother of all wars.""

http://bit.ly/oguZLQ

9/6/2011 8:50:00 PM