U.S. Politics

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prasen9
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

If it were such that I was a resident of the great state of New York, I would certainly give serious consideration to voting for this guy ;) http://www.jimmymcmillan.org/ He is a serious candidate and apparently was in the gubernatorial debate. Check out some of his answers there: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.co ... ?ref=fpblg
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

Today is voting day in the U.S. But, I would like to bring your attention to one Mr. Hariprasad Vemuru, a true hero (at least of mine). Here is the story:
http://www.teluguone.com/news/2010/10/2 ... s-award-2/ The Indian government responded by putting him in jail. Despicable. Read this: http://kammasworld.blogspot.com/2010/10 ... -wins.html or this: http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20101022/86 ... s-a_1.html

No electronic voting machine without a paper trail is tamper-proof and completely secure.
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

Nice job President Obama. You ignore the Latinos and their immigration needs, they ignore you. You ignore the gays, they ignore you. You ignore the environmentalists by letting opportunity pass after the BP debacle, they ignore you. You increase the Defense budget, you lose anti-war Democrats. Without the enthusiasm gap, this election would have been close. I hope he realizes that without the immigration-Democrats, the environmental-Democrats, the anti-war democrats, and the other Democrats, he is going to lose. McConnell realized that by obstructing (and burning the country) they could win. He was shown to be a shrewd politician.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... says-a-lot
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Re: Politics

Post by jayakris »

CNN had a big debunk-the-myth story last night about the totally bogus news of $200Mil/day cost of Obama's visit that Rush Limbaugh, FOX, Michelle Machmann etc totally bought -- from who else, but Press Trust of India!!!! ... I saw that PTI report in Indian newspapers and immediately knew that the whole thing was utterly ridiculous. About 34 warships getting ready to protect the president etc. Well, the Republican media, for whom no anti-Obama talk can ever be a lie, so willingly bought the news from PTI which quoted an "unnamed Maharashtra government man close to the preparations" of the visit to Mumbai ..

The Republican mouthpieces, never known for their deep analytical thinking abilities, did not notice that this was more money than spent in Afghaistan for the war every day!

Of course, we know how utterly unreliable Indian press is, and we have the radar to know that almost EVERY unnamed source in India is not to be believed (unlike in the US press, where they have some standards on using unnamed sources).

Now, would PTI post a retraction? I suspect not. It is possible that somebody said Rs 200 million (20 crores) a day, which is closer to the truth, though the real cost could be 50% more.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/05/ ... tml?hpt=C1

Jay
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

The Republicans make stuff up, so it is no surprise. That is why even though I may agree to some of their policy positions, I absolutely detest them. Obama's political team used to make rapid response of these falsities spread by the Swift Boaters. He should pay more attention to these falsehoods. Stories like the death panels, etc., made the healthcare bill go from having positive to negative sentiment. He should have PR/lie swat teams if he wants to come back for another term.
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Re: Politics

Post by jayakris »

Speaking of Republicans -- here is something from CNN -- I spent a gazillion dollars and still lost
That shows some obscene amount of their own money spent by some candidate. I am not sure if they picked all the big spenders of their own money, but the 7 they show are all Republicans... It is unbelieveable that there are people who have spent money like $142 Million (Meg Whitman right here in CA).. There is one who spent $100 per vote she got (Linda McMahon, for senator from connecticut) and still didn't win it after spending $46M.

Jay
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Re: Politics

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jayakris wrote:Man, your total disdain for Obama comes through loudly every time. Anyway, what would you have liked him to do or Afghanistan? I take his latest initiative as nothing but "getting the hell out of there" in about 2 to 3 year period.... Jay
Latest: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/09/1 ... -away.html Not surprising. The man is a feeble, meek politician despite all his loud words about change. It took a Nancy Pelosi to get the healthcare bill through finally. He does not do anything against the wishes of the military-industrial establishment. Maybe such softies are the best you can get from the left with this political system that is bought over by the right. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. The only way to make Obama to grow a spine is to have a strong challenge to him in the Democratic primary. However, that is also a sure way to give the war-mongering right a victory in the general election, if history is any guide. Seems like lose-lose. I dream of a president who is a true fiscal conservative, a social liberal, and environmentally centre-left. Perhaps will not happen in my lifetime.
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Re: Politics

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Isn't it puzzling that Obama still does not recognize that he will not win a re-election unless he gets back to doing things that energizes the democratic base? When will he start doing something on that, and just take on the republicans who will grill him with their talk-radio hold on the red part of the country. He is not going to win any of those votes whetever he does, because (sorry for saying this) - basically they will not vote for an African American. It is not any of their votes that put him in the white house - and he should know that.

On the other hand, disappointing as it is, I am OK if they don't stick to the deadline, as long as the money spent in AFG is significantly less and tapers off till 2014 or whenever they leave from there. Most of the troops will hopefully come back soon.

He just has to take on some issues and show the guys who went out to vote in 2008 that they must come out to vote again in 2012. May be you are right that some ultra-liberal candidate needs to take him to task and force his hands.

Of course, none of this matters if the unemployment rate somehow magically falls to 5 or 6% by 2012 summer. Obama will win. A lot of jobs will need to be created for that though.

Jay
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

That is right. The next election will also be decided by the economy. Maybe Obama recognizes that and will put all his efforts on that or calling out the Republican obstructionism on things related to the economy. Maybe that is why he does not want a parallel fight with the military. Let us see.
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Re: Politics

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Kamala Harris, whose mother is of Tamil origin and father is Jamaican and a professor of Economics at Stanford, became elected as the Attorney General of California. Imho, the first Indian-American. After the wins of Jindal and Nikki Randhawa Haley as governor, this is the most high-profile Indian-American politician. It is good to see Indian-Americans slowly but surely get into politics.
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Re: Politics

Post by jayakris »

prasen,

Any comments on the latest capitulation from Obama today with the "deal on extending the tax cuts"? .. Looks like you were right from the beginning that he will not chnge anything much, while I gave Obama some half year to a year more of time. He has pretty much lost ALL democrats today, I think. Is there anyway he can recover from this? What kind of deathwish is this president on? .. It is amazing to see the absolute grilling he is getting from his biggest supporter Keith Olberman .. I don't think even George W Bush ever got the kind of incredible grilling Obama got from Olberman today.

I am not even sure if this was unwillingness to fight. It didn't even seem like THAT difficult a fight to fight to stick it to republicans and make THEM pay for the damage. Instead he took this own, willingly. I have to think that he probably even believes that tax cuts for the rich was also absolutely needed, despite the additional borrowings USA has to make. I don't know enough economics to say strongly that it has to be done now to stimulate the eocnomy and job-creation somehow. I don't know. Politically, it makes no sense.

Jay
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Re: Politics

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Jay, remember that I am an independent. Hence, my thoughts are not in line with the liberal left although I agree with them wrt the environment etc. On tax and spend, I must admit I do not understand economics as much to be riled or placated. And, you were right that Obama is not a full progressive.

On this deal, what I dislike most is the way it was done. Wrt the end-result, I am agnostic. The Republicans held the tax cuts for the middle class hostage and Obama capitulated. I was aghast that the Republicans could spin the fight as the Democrats and Obama creating a tax hike for everyone when the Republicans were voting against the tax cuts. Did you see the media report that the Republicans were voting to hike taxes for everyone? Or holding the country at ransom to get tax breaks for their rich friends? That should have been the truth. Obama and the democrats are novices at playing the PR game. McConnell is the master politican and negotiator in all of this. I will not get Obama to negotiate when I buy my next car but I am ready to pay McConnell to be on my side :-) The problem is in any negotiation you should be ready to bluff and say that okay if you do not pass tax cuts for the middle-class, then we will go to the electorate to say that you have increased your taxes. You go on a PR offensive and it would be slam dunk, imho. But, the more you allow people to take hostage, the more you enable them. Even if you do not want it, you should start negotiating from the far left and then end up at the sensible middle.

The proposal to allow the Bush tax cuts to continue for all income below $250k is actually cutting taxes for *all* Americans, not 98% but 100% wrt what it would otherwise be without the bill being passed. Why is this then framed as a middle-class tax cut? Why did Obama and the democrats not spin this as a tax cut for all Americans? Even multi-millionaires would pay less taxes if the House bill passed the senate than they would otherwise. Did you know that? I assume that you are a highly informed person and you know that. But, by and large, the masses do not know. It was a major PR failure.

If I were Obama, I would hold a vote every month to make the tax cuts on all income under $250k for all Americans permanent. And I would bring this vote every month to show the American people that I want tax cuts for all and the Republicans have to either vote for it or show the American public, who their actual bosses are.

Now, onto the economic side of things. I think that during a recession, it is not a good idea to raise taxes. So, I think that a two year extension of status quo is not that bad. I would rather that Obama try to build a coalition of the center to make the tax code more efficient along the lines of what the Simpson-Bowles commission did. I would like low marginal tax rates coupled with some form of Pigouvian taxes (sin taxes on gasolene, tobacco, alcohol), land value taxes, low estate taxes, value-added taxes. All of this should be done to keep them as low as possible except the Pigouvian taxes, I suppose. Well even in that case, you have to be careful in taxing gasolene. Given the deficit, I think that we are looking at a significant restructuring of the tax and spend scheme in the next four years anyway. Of course, people like PKB, Arjun, etc. possibly understand much more about the economy and so they can comment better about what should be the right tax structure. Anyway, a temporary status quo for two years does not rile me that much as the way Obama caved does.

I am actually for restructuring social security and stopping waste on defense and social services. So, my responses are not always aligned with the hard left. Notice that the Republicans did not really care for the deficit that much but they really care about the rich. I do not care that much about the rich but about the economy as a whole.

Politically, it does make sense. Obama did not do the PR and messaging work. The Republicans caught him on this. So, now, he is faced with two choices. Let the tax cuts expire and then the economy goes more into the dumps. The Republicans do not care about that because the majority of the blame with go to Obama and the Democrats. Then, the Republicans come to power. They rightly called the bluff that Obama cannot let the tax cuts expire. The Republicans were ready to let the country to go to the dumps if it meant that their party would gain power. Obama is faced with a hard choice. Disappoint his base versus damage the economy. He knows he can get his base back but he knows that the economy, if it goes down for a few months, cannot be righted that easily. So, he made his choice. I hope he learns the lesson and utilizes the power of the bully-pulpit more effectively in the future.

All this, of course, is my armchair-critiquing. Who knows what exactly goes on inside the chambers at Washington!

Among one things I do not support in the deal is this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/0 ... 93572.html Seems like the Republicans got a better deal.
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

I guess this whole thread is off-topic for the forum but I hope the other members do not mind my bloviating on the web confined to one website.

The politics of this tax cut drama is intriguing. Senator Bennet thinks that this is All Rigged. Larry Summers warns of a disaster if the tax cuts expire on Jan 1st. Now, Pelosi and the Democrats in the House say no-deal! Obama took them for granted. Note that the House will be under GOP control in Jan and a new bunch of senators will join in. Generally, the Democrats make a lot of noise and then cave. Is this part of that? Or are they going to hold on and want concessions? It seems the estate tax giveaway is the sticking point for them. I thought that the estate tax was "unfair" but then I guess so is every tax. And, the farmers, etc. have exceptions so that farms passing along generations are not taxed. After reading the wikipedia articles, it seems to me that the estate tax is not that bad an idea. So I would not mind it going up as the Democrats want.

Leading economists came out to say that currently another stimulus package would be more beneficial than these tax cuts. But, that will not pass the Congress. So, this is Obama's stealth stimulus package.

Given whatever has happened, I would like the tax cuts to pass. But, I would not mind if the estate tax and the high income tax cuts and the other deals that Obama put in go. That is, I want the basic/simple tax cut for all income under $250k and maybe the business investment depreciation writeoff provision to be the bill. But, as with any bill, you have to put up with garbage to get things passed, I suppose.

--pm

[Full Disclaimer: I have received funds from the first stimulus package. So, count me biased in whatever way you can think.]
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

It seems Jay you are right about the Afghanistan withdrawal. No doubt after the estate tax giveaway that the liberal left does not like, Obama needs to do something to get the liberal voters back. So, he cannot betray them again wrt Afghanistan. However, how much of the withdrawal will be token and how much real will need to be seen. Obama, no doubt, wants out of Afg. But, how much he will take on the defense-industrial complex and what sops he will throw at them (more money for the missile-defence program?) etc. is yet to be seen. White House says withdrawal on timetable set previously.
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Re: Politics

Post by prasen9 »

I hope they get to the bottom of this one and order a full investigation as the opposition wants. 2G Scam Make the conversation public while redacting genuine business secrets.
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