Everyone should read this entry!!
Tue, Sep 27 at 09:48 PM by Teddy Kennedy

Because that is EXACTLY how this went down. The CBO and the OBM both confirm that, with regard to the deficit, we exited 2007 EXACTLY where we entered in 2002. It went up in 2003, 2004, and halfway thru 2005. It came back towards the black in late 2005, went down again in 2006, and 2007 (to it’s previous level of 2002). ONLY upon the taking of both houses in 2007/2008 , did it TRIPLE under democrats control in both houses.
The shame of it is…They’ve TRIPLED their own TRIPLE since then.
This is an Obama/Pelosi/Reed problem of epic proportions.
It’s also too much fact for some people.

“I love all these blind Obama supporters/DNC supporters that use these forumns to still blame Republicans after democrats had full control of the White House and Congress for years”

Oh, me too. Denial is not a river in Egypt….
Here’s another business that had to let folks go. I went out to the parking lot and fired the first three “OBAMA” toting vehicles’ owners. I don’t think I gave them the CHNGE they were looking for.
Like the morons in NYC this week…they either are too stupid to figure out who was paying them (or they’ve never had a job)

my 2 cents: What specific taxes, fees and regulations are you referring to?

I’m not questioning the validity of your statement, but your details could provide a valuable feedback loop to the audience in hopes of enabling real change.

I’m sick of the GOP spewing propaganda on taxes.  Taxes are LOWER than they have EVER been yet they say taxes are too high?  Bush gave tax breaks to the wealthy 12 years ago and yet jobs tanked.  If lowering taxes even more helps, someone prove it to me!  The rich have had their chance and they got greedy and want more, more, more.

As for what has Obama done, for one thing he stopped the banks from charging exhorbitant interest rates on your credit cards, but I bet most people don’t know that cause they only listen to what Fox Nooz tells them, and Fox is run by the Koch Brothers, who just got caught selling petrochemical equipment to Iran despite a US ban!  When are you teaparty types gonna wake up and smell the bull pucky?

david, as a business owner, I would sat there are way too many regulations, fees and taxes on small buninesses. It would takes weeks to get forms filled out because you received different information from Loudoun and VA state. It was easy to see why so many give up and say it’s not worth it. And all the extra taxes and fees are a joke.

I run a small business, a laundry, and I’ve had to let go one person, so I’m +1 in the lost jobs category. But it was because my business is sagging because people are tightening their belts, and find spending money on outside laundry/drycleaning is something they can cut. So my business declines, and I have to fire someone. That is the economy effects related to jobs lost. Not excessive federal regulations or whatever this guys is talking about.

“Our nation can again be the most competitive in the world, but only if we allow American businesses and entrepreneurs to compete in the world market, rein in stifling, excessive regulations, make the tax code more fair and simple, and strengthen education and training.”

Did entrepreneurs you speak to actually complain about excessive regulations, unfair taxes and such?

I speak to many and they are focused on one thing, making their product awesome so they can get paying customers before running out of money.

It is really that simple.

I guess it looks better when you act like you care about small businesses instead of publically shilling for corporate money.

If you do care about small businesses, how about focusing your efforts for Startup Visa and Startup America programs?

They actually address impediments that prevent small businesses from accelerating and creating jobs.

Hey, have any of the GOP folks here addressed Jim Russell’s point—that cutting taxes in 2002 was followed up by a net DECREASE in private sector job creation?

Also, let’s distill the plan here.
1. Cut taxes. At the least, the GOP would need to show why cutting taxes from the Bush-era rates (which are failed miserably in creating) jobs is necessary. Maybe it is in this globalized economy, but when you have Chinese workers making $3 an hour, labor costs begin to make tax costs insignificant for lower-end manufacturing. But, this is something the GOP’s been calling for since 1994.

2. Offshore drilling. The GOP’s been calling for this for the past decade. Personally, I’m in favor of this as it would make the GOP shut up and force folks to realize the possibility of Peak Oil (*) but let’s get real. It’d be 5-7 years AT LEAST before any new energy sources/jobs came online.

3. Balanced Budget Amendment, line-item veto, and spending caps (will this include defense, social security, Medicare/aid?) are all standard Republican ideas, nothing new here. All this—1994 ideas, most of which are either undoable or will get slapped down by a court faster than a horny 16-year-old boy’s hands.

With that said, environmentalists and other groups who wish to see development restricted/slowed should be care—at some point, the West virginia mentality will take over, when folks decide that they can’t eat a pristine environment and would rather risk an increased chance of cancer, etc., 40 years down the line, as opposed to living on unemployment in the here and now. Granted, in a few years we reach 1970 levels, where folks get tired of burning rivers, flaming faucets, etc., but right now people gotta eat.

(*) Yeah, oil shale, tar sands, etc. Maybe. Why are the GOP and its adherents so attached to petroleum products, even to the point of believing in abiotic sources of petroleum? If, say, 20% of the proceeds were to go to grants and prize monies for alternative energy, I’m all for it—running the risk of course of Solyndra II. But let’s get real—Solyndra money is a fraction of how we subsidize the current energy industry.

“Tyler was eventually lucky enough to find work.”

Imagine that, the daughter of a wealthy, connected man finds a job.  Who wants to bet she doesn’t have trouble paying the rent or have one cent in loans?

This “plan” is a nebulous pile of junk.  It is embarrassing for America that a major party candidate for a Senate race puts this out as “his” and must apparently be proud of it.  I mean it might as well say nothing.  It looks like it was written by some clueless yokel, which is exactly how Allen tries to sell himself.  Mission accomplished I guess.

I am disappointed to the LTM publish this non-sense.  Allen can publish his rants elsewhere.  Doesn’t the LTM have the staff and resources to report other, more meaningful ‘news?’  Allen’s opinion is not news, but rather campaign rhetoric which we do not need.

There’s got to be some analysis (numbers based) online that correlates tax rate vs. income potential in the various developed countries around the world.  If anyone can point us there, please do.

The tax debate is a little more hazy than the “more” and “less” argument.  I believe that a lot of the arguments we have are spun from misinformation and calculated messaging.  I’m just saying that there aren’t just two sides to the equation.  We’re all hopefully smarter than that.

Sorry, I guess I haven’t had the lobotomy necessary to believe anyone who says they pay 10x as much in taxes now compared to 2001.

In addition, I have no party leaders because I detest all politicians. I pick and choose based on theirs views, not party. It’s unfortunate others vote only party lines and feel their party can do no wrong.

Educate yourself, Those are actual numbers, just like you’re paying more then in 2006 even if same tax rate. Also, never claimed I paid more taxes, like everyone else. I hide my money well. And like others in my line of work, I just charge the govt more.

TOTSOP - If you’re not talking about the tax rate, I’m not sure what you mean when you say you want a 20% tax break. Or that you pay MORE taxes.

Foreign Aid, by the way, accounts for 1% of the US budget. So cutting that in half would almost make no dent at all in the deficit.

Common Sense - If you’re upset about your property tax, you’ll have to reach out to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors that voted to increase the rate. Your state taxes are controlled by our current (Republican) governor. As for cell phone and cable, I’d suggest supporting regulation, but I doubt you’d be on board.

None of that has anything to do with George Allen I’m afraid.

I’ll push aside the fact “common sense” is lying.  I won’t get into all the nonsense in that post, but the federal gas tax hasn’t moved since 1993 and the VA tax hasn’t moved since the 80s. 

If Common sense is taxed to death, why don’t you move somewhere else that provides you the opportunity to increase your income like you claim you have?  Oh wait, all of those places have much higher taxes than the US.  I guess you are out of luck. 

My income has more than doubled since 2006, but my rate is about the same and much lower than it ever would be in the past.  What are you doing wrong?  Or are you just making more stuff up?  Don’t let data get in the way of your claims, your party’s leaders sure don’t let that bother them.

mosborn, never stated anything about tax rate.. You’re probably one of our corrupt politicians that like to show statistics and confuse the American people? I’d pay even less in federal tax if they’d fix the marriage penalty tax and AMT tax.

Why is it some pay no taxes on income? Why not lower the number of deductions allowed, say to 2 or 3. Why give tax credit to poor family planning? Do away with current system(and IRS) and go to a federal sales tax. Fair to everyone.

mosborn, Since my income has gone up, so has my taxes, property taxes, car taxes, state taxes…. Should I go on. Gas tax. Cell phone fee and taxes. Regular phone’s fee and taxes. Cable bill fee and taxes.
Go back and put your head in the sand. I pay at least 10 times more out of pocket to the govt then I did 10 years ago.
So, Yeah, my taxes have gone up.

“Instead of any more stupid stimulus ideas, how about giving every US law abiding taxpayer a 20% cut on their current taxes for 1 year. I’m tired of having to pay more taxes because of other peoples mistakes.”

Again, complaining about high tax rates (or even more laughably INCREASING tax rates) is easy to do. Unfortunately, it’s not even close to accurate.

Taxes, right now, are at their lowest in two decades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarginalIncomeTax.svg

More of the same old garbage from the GOP.  But hey, as long there are people who can’t do math or read data out there, they’ll get their votes.

George couldn’t even bother coming up with his own BS, he borrowed it all from the RNC’s Book of Fallacies.  None of their talking points are supported by one shred of historical evidence.

Go back to your ridiculous “cowboy” look George.  You, Rick Perry and GW Bush could be the political equivalent of the Three Stooges.  Break out the Red Man boys!

From an Independent, both parties are to blame. We give too much money away to other countries, a bloated govt, and corrupt politicians. First, we should cut aid outside the US by 50%, get rid of dept of Education(big waste), have congress, the senate and prez take a 30% pay cut(and cut their staff by 50%) since they got us in this mess to begin with. Instead of any more stupid stimulus ideas, how about giving every US law abiding taxpayer a 20% cut on their current taxes for 1 year. I’m tired of having to pay more taxes because of other peoples mistakes. Work together, use some common sense or get out of office.

I love all these blind Obama supporters/DNC supporters that use these forumns to still blame Republicans after democrats had full control of the White House and Congress for years.  At what point do they take any responsibility for making the situation worse(never mind, that is a rhetorical question as we know the answer is never). 
You could in theory blame Bush in 2009 but not the end of 2011,especially when his party controlled the house and senate before he was elected and during his first years.  The class warfare and help the rich argument or how the GOP won’t let Obama get anything done lost credibility trillions of dollars and millions of jobs ago. 
Just look at the facts of what was promised with the stimulus bill and debt and where we are now.  Of course, we know if you are another blindly loyal DNC robot, facts and figures are above you and rhetoric is the only argument you have left.

It’s impossible for me to take seriously any candidate that uses the term “Job Creators” in reference to the richest Americans. Despite popular GOP rhetoric…taxes are actually at historically low levels, particularly on the wealthy. The Bush tax cuts have been in place for a decade, and the economy has steadily worsened over the last ten year, while the country’s wealth disparity has increased.

It takes incredible gall to criticize a stimulus intended to help the middle class, while claiming that your rich campaign contributors need tax breaks instead. I continue to hope that your political base realizes that they are, in fact, middle class. And not the rich folks you so desperately coddle.

No one expects a stimulus plan to cure the economy.  It’s purpose is to nudge the economy in the right direction—so that folks can begin to see some good news—and hopefully gain a little confidence—and feel more comfortable spending…  More spending leads to more good news—further bolstering confidence thus leading to more spending—which may increase demand—and eventually hiring… and there you have it—an upward spiral for a change.

Unfortunately, the GOP has decided that they will do everything in their power to crush any hope.  No matter what the administration proposes—it’s immediately declared to be idiotic. 

Our current lack of confidence has much less to do with the president—and everything to do with the negative GOP obstructionist that are obsessed with sacrificing anything and everything with the sole purpose of removing the president.  They don’t care who gets hurt in the process…  They don’t care about the people.  They only care about their own political careers. They are the current problem.

Imagine what we could accomplish if we could only pull together and find common ground.  But—no—that’s not what they are interested in.

This country has faced worse problems—we can do better than this.

Try working together for a change.

Here is a civics lesson to help those who do understand.

Budgets do not come from the White House.  They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009 as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011.
In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office.  At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Barack Obama during this time?  He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.  Let’s remember what the deficits looked like during that period:
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending.  After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.
If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for
and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.

He kept Palin out of the white house.

I am looking for one good thing Obama has done to date, in his lifetime, for the good of the United States.

Can you enlighten me? No rhetoric please, just a factual statement.

The only job that George Allen wants to create is the one where he gets to be a Senator…so he can stop having to be so busy.  I’m pretty sure most of us remember what a do-nothing governor he was and how he was invisible as a Senator.  He became infatuated with the idea that an aw-shucks, empty suit from the South could be President after watching George W. Bush…so he spent his entire term trying to set that up.  Fortunately for Virginia (and the nation) that didn’t work out so well and he then couldn’t even get re-elected to the Senate.

Apparently, George Allen has no idea how job creation happens. We tried the tax cut stimulus in 2002. Private job creation shrank. We freed up the job creators and all they did was go on a spending spree. No thanks.

@Ted Kennedy

Should be noted that Obama’s lowest poll results (40% approval) are still higher than Clinton’s lowest poll result (37%) and Regan’s lowest poll result (35%) in their first 900 days in office.

@waya
Look at the polls on obama. His number are dropping faster than a prom dress at midnight.
I suggest a statue of him be built outside the GOP headquarters. He has helped the GOP more than any Republican could have in the past 3 years

2012….The End of an Error

Obama could find the cure for cancer and the GOP would sit on it, let it disappear, just to say Obama failed, even if it kills the rest of us.  These tactics are getting old.

Right now, intrade.com has the VA Senate Race at 50/50

We will cross that bridge when we get to it

Thanks George.  As long as you’re not living off my tax dollars, I’m happy.  Hope you got paid for this guest editorial.

I’d like to thank Mr Allen for writing this opinion piece. He has reminded me why I don’t want him anywhere near the Capital.

Agreed, Bush and Allen started to dig the hole, but Obama has done nothing to get us out of it or create a single job. Neither party is helping the people and to say otherwise just shows blind party loyalty.

Love It!  Bush presidency, Allen Republican senate, and the creating of a HUGH mess.  A hole so deep that we still having seen the depth, and, George Allen wants to go back to the senate, and do even more damage.  I hope not!  The old saying was, with firends like that who needs enemies.  Maybe we need to now say, Keep George Allen far, far away from the senate, since he is no friend of America.