The 2012 State of the Union Address

Democrats party of corporate tax cuts?

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Boehner looks like he's sitting on a questionable fart/wet situation
 
Ok seriously, wtf.
Hold down tuition or lose your federal funding at public colleges. So, we love our teachers but we don't want tuition to cover the costs of giving them a raise?
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A law to allow immigrants to earn citizenship? Don't we kind of have that already?

Steve Jobs = small business?

Ok fuck it, if you didn't think this was Bush III before, can we all agree on that now?
 
[quote name='nasum']Ok seriously, wtf.
Hold down tuition or lose your federal funding at public colleges. So, we love our teachers but we don't want tuition to cover the costs of that new ten million dollar sports stadium and lobster dinners for the board of directors[/QUOTE]

Fixed to apply to the colleges I'm familiar with :D
 
[quote name='nasum']Ok seriously, wtf.
Hold down tuition or lose your federal funding at public colleges. So, we love our teachers but we don't want tuition to cover the costs of giving them a raise?
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that policy idea was BS. Especially when coming after talking about putting onus on states to quit slashing higher education budgets. Those budget cuts are the main reason for tuition hikes in recent years. In my state, all the major public universities now get less than half their funding from the state--and are thus technically publicly assisted universities rather than public universities.

I can assure you the tuition hikes we had here aren't going to faculty, given that we're in our 5th straight year of a pay freeze with no raises (and had two years of pay cuts in the form of furlough days). The only way to bump your salary here is to go on the job market, get a better offer somewhere else, and see if your dean will raise your salary to try to keep you. And more often than not people are just taking the other offer rather than even bothering with trying to get a match here, so it's a really stupid system when it comes to trying to attract and keep the best teachers and scholars.


The only part of the speech I really liked was Obama really throwing the gauntlet down on needing to raise taxes on the rich, tax everyone at the same rates etc. He did a good job of making that point by clearly putting himself in the wealthy category (where he clearly is) and stating that when people say they want to raise his taxes it's not envy or class warfare, but simple acknowledgement that he can afford to shoulder that burden while those in the middle class cannot.

If anything good comes out of this election cycle, hopefully it's having a loud and public debate about the ever expand gap between the rich and the poor in this country and all the unfair and biased policies that exist to keep propagating that gap. Far too many in the middle and lower class are ignorant of this due to rampant manipulation and keep supporting policies and politicians that harm them and make it harder for each subsequent generation of their children to achieve any upward mobility.


Edit: I thought the bit about Washington being broken, and not being able to blame people for being cynical about the government was well delivered as well.

As a whole, there was lots of points I didn't like in the address but, politically, it was a good speech in terms of kick starting his campaign and throwing down the gauntlet to Romney/Gingrich on several issues.
 
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[quote name='Knoell']http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/fact-check-the-richtheir-secretaries-and-taxes/

I'll just drop this here.[/QUOTE]
There's a sleight of hand there. Can you spot it Knoell?

edit: I'll just spell it out.
Those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent.
...
But the top 400 tax filers represent a tiny sliver – just .00028 percent of all filers. The vast majority of those earning over $1 million a year pay at a higher rate, which is why the average tax rate for this group, according to the Tax Foundation, is 29.1 percent of taxable income. And, yes, this number includes income taxes, payroll taxes and capital gains taxes.
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Wow! It includes payroll taxes, which takes a huge chunk out of the lowest earners asses! Oh wait, Obama passed a payroll tax cut over the screaming of Republicans that averaged about $3k per family. So a family making $75k had their total tax liability lowered by 4%. So that ~15% would in any other year be ~19%.

I'm sure that was an honest oversight. Then let's add the lulz:
The key numbers: this year those earning over $1 million will pay, on average, 29.1 percent on federal taxes.
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$10 million a year paid 22 percent.
$1 million to $10 million paid 25 percent.
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That's a pretty epic math fail, except we both know he intentionally left out the deductions until the very end to make his case stronger throughout. So what we really have is:

$50-75k - ~19%
$1m - ~25%
$10m - ~22%

"Fact check." lulz.
 
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...6448/2012/01/24/gIQAIwz3OQ_video.html?hpid=z1

Link to a video of the full speech for any who missed it and still want to watch.

And for the lazy, here are the key points from his speech:

President Obama pushed for existing and new initiatives during his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

(CNN) -- Here are key initiatives from President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night:

• Implementation of a minimum tax for multinational companies, which would fund additional tax breaks for companies that create jobs in or move them to the United States. Even bigger breaks for high-tech companies, and financing help for manufacturers locating in economically hard-hit areas.

• The creation of a China task force to monitor trade violations. Aggressive inspections to intercept "counterfeit or unsafe goods" from foreign countries.

• Support for partnerships between companies and community colleges to train workers for new careers, all coordinated through a single government program.

• Rewards for effective schools, coupled with encouragement to follow their own curricula and methods. State laws that require students to stay in school until graduation or age 18. Extend college tuition tax credit and double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years.

• Beefed-up border protection, combined with a law to create a path for undocumented immigrant students to become legal U.S. citizens.

• Tax relief for small businesses that are raising wages and creating good jobs. Regulation reform for small businesses.

• Opening of offshore gas and oil fields to exploration and production. Support for domestic natural gas production, with regulations on chemicals used in the extraction process. Passage of clean energy tax credits and an end to subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. Development of enough clean energy on public land to power 3 million homes. Help for manufacturers to reduce energy waste in factories.

• Reduction of red tape that delays or halts infrastructure construction projects, funded by money no longer being spent on wars.

• Support for a mortgage refinancing program for all "responsible" homeowners, funded by "a small fee" on large financial institutions.

• Establishment of a financial crimes unit of investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect investors, and a second unit to investigate abusive lending practices and institutional gambling on risky mortgages.

• Implementation of cost-saving reforms to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

• Reform of the tax code that includes the so-called Buffett rule, a minimum 30% tax rate for individuals whose income exceeds $1 million. No tax increases for anyone earning less than $250,000.

• A ban on "insider training" by members of Congress, and limits on elected officials' investments in companies they regulate. Lobby reform. Simple majority vote within 90 days on judicial and public service nominations.

• A request for authority to streamline the federal executive branch.

• Continuing international pressure on Iran to scrap its nuclear weapons program.

• Maintainance of a strong military while cutting the budget by nearly $500 billion. Legislation to protect against cyber-terrorism.

• Passage of tax credits for companies that hire veterans. Creation of a Veterans Jobs Corps to help cities hire former military personnel.
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Obama also announced that the next Congress will come with a hard drive built in AND support for other operating systems, and will increase the friend list limit to 150.
 
You know, I completely feel that that those who can't afford mortgages shouldn't be given them, and in the housing metldown I did sometimes think, "How many of these people got mortgages, knowing they couldn't afford them?".

But at the same time, when you consider just how long we've had the smoke of the "American dream" of home ownership blown up our collective asses, I don't really blame anyone for jumping on the slim chance of owning a home. Is it responsible? No, not really. It wasn't responsible of the banks to hand out the mortages like candy either though.
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']You made at least one payment in the last 4 years on your mortgage.[/QUOTE]

well I've done that, can I have my $3k now please?
 
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