US Politics Mega-thread - Page 885

On February 19 2014 14:20 Jormundr wrote:
http://rare.us/story/is-the-left-forgetting-how-evil-communism-was/
Which lead to the wonderful new term 'NeoCom'
Which lead to
http://gulagbound.com/

Which lead to
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/14/party-mad-todays-republicans-yesterdays-fascists.html

Which leads to my question:
Why has the political discourse in this country shifted so drastically from debate to propaganda, from skepticism to cynicism?

On February 19 2014 17:01 Velr wrote:
You can also just put on Fox News (not that the other "news"channels are much better) or watch Attack-Ads and realise that something has gone really wrong in the last ~20 years...

President Barack Obama maintains there’s “not even a smidgen of corruption” in the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tea party and conservative groups, that it was just the result of “bone-headed decisions” by low-level IRS technocrats.

But testimony at a congressional hearing last week raised red flags about IRS abuse of conservatives that should trouble Americans no matter what their political leanings.

When the IRS revelations broke, Obama promised a full investigation. Yet Cleta Mitchell, an attorney for a number of tea party and conservative groups targeted by the IRS, testified, “None of my clients have received a single contact from the FBI, the DOJ [Department of Justice] or any other investigator regarding the IRS scandal.”

She detailed for a House oversight subcommittee several areas worthy of criminal investigation into the taxman’s singling out conservative groups for special scrutiny and intrusive questioning regarding their nonprofit tax status.

In 2012, then IRS commissioner Doug Shulman told Congress there had been no targeting of tea party groups even though we now know it had been going on since 2009. “The last time I checked, lying to Congress is a felony,” Mitchell said.

Confidential donor information about several conservative groups, including the National Organization for Marriage, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Republican Governors Public Policy Council, were leaked to their political foes or the public. “That is a crime,” she noted.

And Mitchell pointed to the elephant in the room in the IRS controversy: former IRS executive Lois Lerner invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before the same subcommittee. “She apparently knows of criminal acts involved in this scandal.”

The Internal Revenue Service is used to being universally disliked every April 15. But this year, the widespread denunciations have started early, and for good reason.

In November, the agency issued proposed new rules that are supposed to keep social welfare organizations from abusing their legal privileges by engaging in excessive electioneering. The effort came in response to complaints from Democrats about a 2012 surge in political spending by such tax-exempt groups, by the conservative Koch brothers and others to influence elections.

The IRS wants to curb such efforts, and it doesn't display much concern about the likely effect on free speech. But groups that engage in political advocacy, including the nonpartisan kind, are genuinely alarmed.

The groups affected are called "social welfare" groups, and they have always been allowed to spread their views about public policy. To remain tax exempt, though, they are supposed to spend more than half their funds on social welfare activities, which do not include politics. The trick is distinguishing campaigning from other political activities. And it's a trick the IRS clearly has yet to master.

Household Borrowing Rises Most in Six Years in NY Fed Report

Consumer debt in the U.S. rose last quarter by the most in more than six years as Americans borrowed to buy homes and cars and to pay for education, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Household debt increased 2.1 percent, or $241 billion, to $11.52 trillion, the biggest gain since the third quarter of 2007, the report showed. The level of debt last quarter was $180 billion higher than a year earlier.

“After a long period of deleveraging, households are borrowing again,” Wilbert van der Klaauw, senior vice president and economist at the New York Fed, said in a statement.

...

On February 20 2014 00:13 aksfjh wrote:

Source

Interesting reversal of the trend. I'm curious if this is a sign of increasing demand (and better future outlook on the economy) or a sign that wages continue to slip below their expected levels (forcing more debt on consumers). I guess the growth over the next year will be a huge indicator of which way it's going. I usually lean towards the latter, but I've been wrong in the past, so here is a useful experiment.

Student Loans and Credit Cards
• Outstanding student loan balances reported on credit reports increased to $1.08 trillion (+$53 billion) as of
December 31, 2013, representing a $114 billion increase for 2013.
• About 11.5% of student loan balances are 90+ days delinquent or in default.
• Balances on credit cards accounts increased by $11 billion.
• The 90+ day delinquency rate on credit card balances increased slightly to 9.5%.

On February 20 2014 01:31 Roe wrote:
People still think that IRS story was a scandal?

On February 20 2014 01:59 Roswell wrote:

So you're saying that there was an = amount of unapproved or targeted groups from the liberal side? Where do you get those numbers?

conservative nonprofits spent more than $263 million during the 2012 campaign, while liberal counterparts spent close to $35 million.

On February 20 2014 02:14 TrickyGilligan wrote:


False equivalency, you're assuming there was an equal amount of these non-profit groups on both sides, which simply isn't true.



And Danglars, where do you find these articles? Social welfare groups have "always" been allowed to be political? Perhaps, but Citizen's United was in 2010 and that's what's led to these issues. Their "free speech" is being infringed upon? No, they can say whatever they want. They just have to pay taxes like everyone else if they're primarily a political group.

On February 20 2014 02:23 farvacola wrote:
He just did. Did you not understand his point?

On February 20 2014 02:38 Roswell wrote:

Yes because stating zero numbers or any actual proof really proves his point. If there was a 10 to 1 ratio of liberal submissions compared to conservative and he showed that, then that makes his case.

On February 20 2014 01:59 Roswell wrote:

So you're saying that there was an = amount of unapproved or targeted groups from the liberal side? Where do you get those numbers?

On February 20 2014 02:46 Acrofales wrote:

He just did? $263million to $35million. Granted, it's only an 8 to 1 ratio of conservative to liberal submissions, but it's in the ballpark.

On February 20 2014 02:46 Acrofales wrote:

He just did? $263million to $35million. Granted, it's only an 8 to 1 ratio of conservative to liberal submissions, but it's in the ballpark.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — For months leading up to the 2012 presidential election, Jimmy LaSalvia, a self-described fiscal conservative, sought a meeting with GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

LaSalvia gave money, spoke on national television to praise Romney’s agenda and even showed up in New Hampshire offering to wave signs, walk precincts —anything to help the former Massachusetts governor win the White House. But LaSalvia, who as founder of GOPride was a self-appointed Republican ambassador to the gay community, felt rebuffed and ignored.

Last month LaSalvia bolted from the GOP, repudiating his former party as “out of touch” with most Americans and beyond hope. “Why waste my time to help these folks, when it’s just too late?” he said to Al Jazeera. “What we see are Republicans demonizing certain groups, whether it’s gay people, immigrants or Muslims. Anybody who’s ever felt different understands what that’s like.”

The defection was the latest sign that the Republican Party has a tough road ahead to rehabilitate its image among many segments of the population — blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans, women and the young — that may feel alienated by the party’s hard-line approach to hot-button social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage and on some key policy debates, like immigration.

For all the hand-wringing over its inability in 2012 to win key demographic groups, the GOP doesn’t have much time to win converts before the 2016 presidential election. In an election postmortem released a year ago, the party acknowledged that it was “increasingly marginalizing itself” and launched a national rebranding campaign as part of its Growth and Opportunity Project.

“Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country. When someone rolls their eyes at us, they are not likely to open their ears to us,” the report said.

There was no doubt that black voters would overwhelmingly support President Barack Obama in his re-election bid — and they did, 93 percent to 6 percent — but the GOP thought it could better compete for Latinos and Asian-Americans as well as for the female and youth votes. But they were wrong.