Replies to post #4237 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Zeev Hed]

Hey, Mainhiker, this is the right place for political discussions even name calling (liberal, conservative, right and left wing, fascists and communist, you name it everything goes). As for mlsoft and for that matter our full administration, think they are very short sighted, they are not considering the long term ramifications of what they are doing, not just on the international political scene, but even on the domestic taxation scene.

That dividend exclusion in taxation is a catastrophe, long term. It will have long term negative impact on other tax free instruments (tax free to payees), will not create an incentive to have a better equity vs debt financial structure in corporate America) since interest on debt will still be deductible to corporations, but dividend paid will not).

That new dividend exclusion policy is a travesty as far as the retired and retiring population is concerned, since it shifts the tax burden on them. These people have their dividends paid into various IRA and 401-k accounts, and guess what, when these people take out their money from such accounts, including dividends paid, they will be the one paying taxes on those dividends. I have seen somewhere that almost 50% of all dividends paid by corporate America is into such accounts. I a sure that the current Republican crop of policy makers are simply stupid not seeing what are the long term repercussions of that taxation change. Why stupid rather than heartless, since I cannot believe they really think that the burden of taxation should be shifted to the retired and retiring population. They simply do not see it, thus they are stupid.

This administration is using "knee jerk" reaction to problem in lieu of healthy long term considerations and policies.

All this, and I am not even a liberal....

Zeev

[mlsoft]

mainehiker...

If you check, you will notice that both my post and your answer are on the "politics" thread, where they belong.

As for my "lack of common sense" comments, my point was that those who keep saying "we should treat the North Koreans the same as the Saddam since both problems involve the threat of weapons of mass destruction" exhibit an utter lack of common sense, and I stand by that statement without apology. To not be able to see that you must treat the adversary that already has nuclear weapons differently from the one that is trying to get them is either willful blindness or ignorance, in my opinion.

I referenced liberals in my post because I have only heard that argument come from liberal democrats - if the argument that North Korea and Iraq should be handled the same way came from some other sources as well, I continue to maintain it shows a lack of common sense. I must admit that their protestations are quite possibly rooted in a combination of politics and hypocrisy, since both willie and his secretary of state, Madeline Albright, advocated the same course of action against Iraq when in office. The difference is that they were good only for empty talk, not deeds.

One can argue different strategies for handling each situation and the current course of the administration is not the only way to handle the two (at least North Korea), but to equate them as being the same is another story altogether.

mlsoft

PS - "You harp on Common sense mlsoft...is that what you call conservatives stopping/delaying science"

I assume you refer to stem cell research, and if so, you should know that I have stated several times here that I do not share the administrations stance on that subject.

[sylvester80]

Don't worry. Nobody expects much from the fascist right wing religious conservatives. Just about 20-30 years backwards movement. After all it was them who put us here in the first place. The Reagans and Bushes who armed, funded and trained the Bin Ladens and Saddams with weapons including chemical and biological. The hypocrisy of the right wing religious conservatives reaches new heights almost in a daily basis... not much hope left for them these days...