Article

2004-02-06 Home Front

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by someone 2004-02-06 3:36:51 AM|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 A pawn for rich bastards who almost bankrupted this country with his insane fiscal policies--the worst president in history

Posted by NotMike Moore 2004-2-6 3:39:43 AM|| 2004-2-6 3:39:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Of course he has someone paid for by the taxpayer to change his diapers how many people here have someone to take care of their parents if that happens to them?

Posted by NotMike Moore 2004-2-6 3:41:26 AM|| 2004-2-6 3:41:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Note to NMM's (Not Much of a Man)custodian. He's not taking his meds again.

Posted by GK 2004-2-6 4:00:11 AM|| 2004-2-6 4:00:11 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 GK--eat me

Posted by NotMike Moore 2004-2-6 4:08:55 AM|| 2004-2-6 4:08:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 He _might_ have "almost bankrupted" the US. He DEFINTELY bankrupted the Soviet Union. If I'm in a fight, and I end up gravely injured, but my rival ends up dead, that's STILL a win in MY book, Mikey. The Soviet Union is dead and buried, and having been one of the soldiers who would have died trying to hold them back on the front lines of Europe, I'm GLAD, I tell you, GLAD! HA! GLAD!

So, don't ask me to cry for the price, Mikey. I'm alive, and if that cost the US a few trillion dollars, too bad!

(I'm selfish, I am! Heh!)

Ed Becerra

Posted by Ed Becerra 2004-2-6 4:18:22 AM|| 2004-2-6 4:18:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 The sort of well reasoned rejoiner that I expected from you. Let us all pray that neither you, nor any member of your family, ever suffers from the ravages of alzheimers. Even you deserve more compassion than you give.

Posted by GK 2004-2-6 4:21:35 AM|| 2004-2-6 4:21:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 NMM; What a heartless, cruel, imamature liar you are. This is sure to convince undecideds of the rightness of your cause. You have no argument, just lies, baseless charges, and irrational bigotry.

Looking at the economy of the 90's, as well as most of the 80's, how can you even say these things with a straight face? Reagan's tax cuts did wonders for an economy mired in "malaise" under Carter. And Reagan is the one that brought down the Soviet Union.

But then, your kind always did root for the genocidal murderers, and all your talk of the "little people" was just horse manure you used to sucker folks into voting for your kind.

Posted by Ben 2004-2-6 5:15:55 AM|| 2004-2-6 5:15:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 NMM is suffering from severe jelousy. The greatest statesman and President of the last century was, of course Billy Boy, not to mention that he was also a craven bulbous nosed coward. The other greatest stateman and President of the last century was Jimmah, who is about to write a bio with the working title "How I won a Nobel Prize by felching commie dictators and giving them nuclear power plants for very nice pieces of paper saying they would not develop nukes, at least on my watch".

Deal with it NMM- Bush and Reagan will gain in stature as the decades pass, Carter and Clinton will slide into oblivion.

Posted by Craig 2004-2-6 6:50:11 AM|| 2004-2-6 6:50:11 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 NMM,what an ass!
I too believe Regean did great things,as mentioned,the fall of the Soviet Union.
However I hated his"Trickle Down"thereoy of economics,and that appears to be Bush's working model.I can understand the reasoning behind giving major tax cuts to the very well off and rich segments of our society spurs investment and growth.
But it seems to me that our economy would be better served with 10 people buy moderatly priced cars,instead 2 people buying Mercedes.Wouldn't it be better for the economy if instead of 1 family buying a $1 million beach house,15 faimilies bought 15 moderatly priced homes?
I do not know about the rest of you but I think Trickle Down economics suck.
I favor a Flat tax plan,everybody pays the same.

Posted by Raptor 2004-2-6 7:10:53 AM|| 2004-2-6 7:10:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Ronald Reagan was a great man. IMVHO the greatest American president of the 20th century.

He defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. And if he did this while suffering from a delibiltating disease, then that is all the more impressive.

And BTW I'm not an American.

Posted by phil_b 2004-2-6 7:31:07 AM|| 2004-2-6 7:31:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Happy birthday, Mr. Reagan! Defeated our biggest rival without firing a shot.

Raptor--I've always wanted a flat tax as well, but I do agree with the Trickle Down theory. When the wealthy are allowed to keep more of their money (after paying their fair share, which should be the same rate as everybody pays!), they have more to invest and spend creating more jobs. They're the ones to look to for employment, not the government!

Posted by Dar 2004-2-6 7:39:17 AM|| 2004-2-6 7:39:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 No words can express the great respect I have for this man. Happy Birthday Mr Reagan.

Posted by Charles 2004-2-6 8:10:50 AM|| 2004-2-6 8:10:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 Ronald Reagan is 93.

I firmly believe that when Ronald Reagan passes, a choir of angels will guide him to Heaven. I don't know the details of his sins. But I do know that hundreds of millions of people are free today, due to him. And millions of people are alive today due to him. I believe, without a shadow of doubt, that God will judge this man with those accomplishments in mind and find him worthy of Paradise.

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-2-6 8:24:52 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2004-2-6 8:24:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 Reagan's build up may have put the Soviet Union on the road to final destruction. However, Reagan's failure to confront Islamic terrorism in Lebanon and elsewhere led to the build up of that problem. You can't logically criticize Clinton's failure to confront Islamic terrorism without also noting Reagan's failure in this regard.

Posted by mhw 2004-2-6 8:25:46 AM|| 2004-2-6 8:25:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 'Trickle down' economics is basic economics. My main argument against those who are against the economic ideas of Reagan is: A poor man has never given me employment. The idea behind trickle down economics is not that wealthy folks will buy Mercedes Benz's ( they will whether they get a tax cut or not )but that, being smart folks who got (or stay) wealthy by being smart, they will want to make more wealth by investing, and making larger gains on their income.

Rich folks understand you can't get wealthier by buying luxury items. Folks who have been against this type of tax relief never seem to understand this basic tenet of economics.

Favorable tax policies will encourage this type of investment behavior, and it will help evenone, including (God help us) NMM.

This type of policy takes a long time to take effect but once it gets going it is very hard to bring it down.

Raptor, Keynesian economics have shown to work well as well and there can be no question that it helped many poor and moderate income people, but unfortunately, it has far shorter cycles than supply side economics. Ultimately, for a nation to build wealth, Keynesian economics are not the way to go.

Reagan and Bush have both shown the supply side economics are the best way and one that works well for everyone.

Happy Birthday Mr. President. I was against you politically during the 80s, but that was before my head popped out of my ass.

Posted by badanov 2004-2-6 8:34:35 AM|| [http://www.rkka.org] 2004-2-6 8:34:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 Ronnie was the goods. I've served w/guys who were on W.House duty when RR was in office. They loved that old man. He made a point of knowing their names and a bit about their families. Unlike Willie the huckster who couldn't even render a proper salute. Reagan is prolly the favorite pres of Marines. (Truman prolly being the most hated & Clinton the most laughed at). My $.02.

Posted by Jarhead 2004-2-6 8:47:12 AM|| 2004-2-6 8:47:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#17 NMM-
Ronald Reagan saved this country. If not from military attack, then from political domination. I will go to my grave believing that, and nothing will ever convince me otherwise.
Your comments are utterly cruel, heartless, and beyond contempt. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-2-6 9:12:17 AM|| 2004-2-6 9:12:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#18 badanov--I agree. One of the biggest fiascos of government trying to tax the rich more and thereby preserve the dignity of the working man was the luxury tax passed by Bush Sr. back in '90. By excessively taxing yachts over $100,000, among other luxury items, the government encouraged the wealthy to buy boats out of the country, thereby dropping the expected tax revenue from $31 million to $16 million, and costing the domestic boat manufacturing industry over 7,000 jobs. Did this prevent anyone with money from buying a yacht? No. It just screwed over the poor working stiffs here who built them.

Then about 9 years later we get Ted's son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy(D) from RI, proposing "The Boat Building Investment Act", which is a 20% tax CREDIT on American-made yachts over 50-ft. long. I don't think it passed, but it's another example of what "fairly" soaking the rich has accomplished.

Posted by Dar 2004-2-6 9:15:34 AM|| 2004-2-6 9:15:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#19 mhw, what a stupid comment.

Posted by AllahHateMe 2004-2-6 9:35:45 AM|| 2004-2-6 9:35:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#20 With Reagan it was the same deficit whining we're getting now. "Burdening our children's children" blah, blah. How many years passed before the SURPLUS arrived ? Long live the deficit, the only thing that caps spending.

Posted by eyeyeye 2004-2-6 9:39:50 AM|| 2004-2-6 9:39:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#21 My husband is a small bus owner, NMM - deals w/plastics. Care to read what the National Assoc. of Mnfrs said in December???

Manufacturing
A new report from the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Alliance (MAPI) found that much of the manufacturing sector's problems are not due to unfair actions by our trading partners, but are self-imposed. It notes that we have higher corporate taxes, higher pollution abatement costs, and higher tort liability costs than our key competitors. Overall manufacturing costs are 22.4 percent higher in the U.S. as a result of such self-imposed costs, reducing our competitiveness and contributing to the trade deficit.

In terms of tort liability, a new report from Tillinghast-Towers Perrin estimates this cost at $233 billion last year, up $27 billion from 2001. The report estimates tort costs at 2.33 percent of GDP, or $809 per person in the U.S. Of this amount, only 22 cents on the dollar goes to compensate victims for actual economic loss. The rest is for lawyers and additional payments for punitive damages and "pain and suffering.

----

If we (GASP) cust corp. taxes we become more competive. My (semi- rich depending on your definition)husband gets more bus and what happens? He has to hire more people, which in turn, gives the government higher revenues. - Check out what's happening in TN and other states, they're returning to the black.

Posted by Anonymous2U 2004-2-6 10:21:23 AM|| 2004-2-6 10:21:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#22 For a perspective on Regan, entertain in your mind where we would be today if the WOT had been on us before the Cold War was done. How would we have dealt with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait? Then add in the result of the Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Malasia using a nuclear cooperative to join the nuclear club in rapid succession.
Let's not forget that Africa is burning and Castro has subverted a number of coutries in South America

Posted by Super Hose 2004-2-6 10:24:16 AM|| 2004-2-6 10:24:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#23 I do not know much about the ins and outs of economics,heard the term Kensyian economics but have no idea what it is(guess I will have to do a goggle).
It just seems to me that more people would be put to work building 10 1,350 sq' homes than would be employed building 1 7,000 sq' home.
I would think it takes a whole lot more factory workers to build 10 $15,000 cars than it does to build 2 $40,000 luxury cars.
There are a lot of very smart,educated people here,could you explain to me why I am wrong in my reasoning?

Posted by Raptor 2004-2-6 10:25:26 AM|| 2004-2-6 10:25:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#24 We can actually pin islamism on Nixon (1973 assasination that Arathug should have been taken out for) or Carter, 1979. The marines should have stood their ground.

Posted by Anonymous2U 2004-2-6 10:30:13 AM|| 2004-2-6 10:30:13 AM|| Front Page Top

#25 "A pawn for rich bastards who almost bankrupted this country with his insane fiscal policies--the worst president in history"

Aw, NotMikey, I'm so sorry that the Soviets lost the cold war. Maybe you should MoveOn, though, eh?

Please explain Reagan's fiscal policies in your own words. That is, please try not to resort to a bumper sticker.

Posted by eLarson 2004-2-6 10:32:43 AM|| 2004-2-6 10:32:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#26 NMM:

I thought George W. Bush was the worst president in history. I mean, c'mon, he masterminded 9/11 with the Mossad to build that pipeline in Afghanistan, ran the Constitution through a paper shredder, assasinated Wellstone, invaded Iraq to steal its oil for Halliburton, Enron, and the International Zionist Conspiracy, sabotaged the Dean campaign by remote control with Diebold voting machines, exposed Janet Jackson's nipple ornament to distract the sheeple from his tax cuts, kicked his dog, cheated at solitare, and even dared to serve pork chops without applesauce, And besides that, he's a moron, right?

Me so confused.

Posted by Mike 2004-2-6 11:30:18 AM|| 2004-2-6 11:30:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#27 AllahHateMe, I beleive MHW is right to a certain extent on Beruit. I am a big far of RR, but pulling out seems a mistake in retrospect, but only in retrospect. The Beruit pull out only mattered because it was a first of a chain of pullouts and demostrations that America is casualty adverse.
Had we not pulled out of Somalia after the fire-fight in Moghedishu, the theory that the jihadis had about the US being soft would not have been reenforced. The bigger mistakes was the policy of dealing with terrorists judicially and responding to state sponsors in symbolic fashion only.
The Regan/Bush I responces to Libyian terrorism and to Iranian agression were quite effective and should have negated the pullout from Beruit.
Based on a recordings of RM Nixon describing phone calls he had with then Governor of California, Ronald Regan, I beleive that Ronnie pulled out because he didn't believe that the UN was an effective force for peace-keeping - can't fault him there. Had it been commonly understood in America that Hezboullah was an Iranian surrogate, I think that Reagans responce would have been more adequate - possibly the carpet bombing of Tehran.
As for flat taxes, I saw a CSPN broadcast of a dated AEI panel where someone in teh audience asked Newt Gingrich why the GOP had dropped the fight for a flat tax. Newt explained that while there was a general desire among Americans for flat taxes, only a small percentage were willing to support a flat tax if they, personally, would lose their tax credit for children.
Sounds like the answer should have been a push for educating the American public not waving the surrender flag. If Russia and Iraq prove that a flat tax is good for the economy, hopefully the US will look at it again down the road. I suggest after Ted Kennedy and most of his generation are experiencing an infinite happy hour in the great beyond.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-2-6 11:56:28 AM|| 2004-2-6 11:56:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#28 Happy Birthday Gipper!
Anonymous2u, is that the same small bus NMM rides to school?

Posted by Lil Dhimmi 2004-2-6 1:39:45 PM|| 2004-2-6 1:39:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#29 I would think it takes a whole lot more factory workers to build 10 $15,000 cars than it does to build 2 $40,000 luxury cars.

Not necessarily. Think about the engineering that goes into a $40,000 car versus a $15,000 car. There's a reason why it costs that much. All those unnecessary goodies employ people from other industries. Also, former communist Eastern Europe used to employ hundreds of people making a $500 car... but where did that get them?

"Burdening our children's children" blah, blah.
Ask the Japanese what they think about that. If you're buying a home that will be paid off by your great-grandchildren, you start thinking more about passing on your wealth rather than spending now to get the economy moving again, no matter how much of a tax cut you're given. Thankfully this doesn't apply to North America...yet.

Posted by Rafael 2004-2-6 1:42:54 PM|| 2004-2-6 1:42:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#30 Ah, it's The Gipper's B'day eh? No wonder NMM has appeared. A small-souled man, unable to bear the happiness of his betters, pissing into the punch bowl and crapping on the hors d'ouvres with so much hate, he doesn't realize how stupid he looks standing on the tables with his drawers down...

I helped run a Prison Ministry during the so-called Reagan recession, and we had NO PROBLEMS finding jobs for our converted and released prisoners: Liberals just stare at me blankly when I say that, and move on, totally unable to process it...

Posted by Ptah 2004-2-6 2:49:03 PM|| [http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2004-2-6 2:49:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#31 I helped run a Prison Ministry during the so-called Reagan recession
Writing that down in the big permanent record. We may have a closet do-gooder in our midst. :)

Posted by Shipman 2004-2-6 2:55:56 PM|| 2004-2-6 2:55:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#32 I helped run a Prison Ministry--God bless you, Ptah. Wonderful work!
As for the Gipper's birthday, I wish so much that he hadn't lost his "mind" to Alzheimer's: I think he would be so pleased and proud of GWB and so many of his policies and programs coming to fruition like SDI, the Patriot Missile program, the Adam Smithian "trickle down" economics and laissez-faire capitalism working yet again.
"Trickle-down" is proven Smithian capitalism. The fact that Bush 41 called it "voodoo economics" signalled the beginning of the end for him and thank God his son knows better!
Keynesian economics is nothing but virtually dressed up Socialism/Marxism--a command economy run by the state with lots of social welfare "benefits" built in for the "workers" all paid for with our taxes. Useless.
I agree that Reagan shouldn't have pulled us out of Beirut, but I'm sure he had his reasons.
I like to think that Muamar Quaddafi's recent "change-of-heart" was at least partly inspired by Ronaldus Magnus'es well-placed missiles!
It certainly kept him quiet for almost 20 years.
Happy Birthday, President Reagan I miss you.

Posted by Jennie Taliaferro 2004-2-6 4:31:48 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com] 2004-2-6 4:31:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#33 Great post on Reagan, Jennie. And congratulations for being selected the 10 of Hearts in the deck of dangerous blogger cards.

Posted by GK 2004-2-6 4:45:36 PM|| 2004-2-6 4:45:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#34 A lot of good info,folks.Much food for thought.

Should have sent the rest of the MEU,backed-up with the Sixth Fleet.With orders to hunt the terrorist down.Kill anybody(Christian Phlangests,Hezb,Hamas,etc) that tried to stand in thier way.
Arabs saw that as a sign of weakness,now we pay the price of appeasment.

Posted by Raptor 2004-2-6 5:31:45 PM|| 2004-2-6 5:31:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#35 Thanks, GK!
And Raptor, you're right, too--dunno why RR had the USA pull out of Beirut like that.
Looking back on it now, it certainly was a big heads up almost 20 years before 9/11 and we still have Hezbollah ahead of us to deal with.
President Reagan was a wise man and as such, maybe he had to "pick his battles" and the one he chose to fight was Soviet Communism.
Remember also that the Soviets were backing the Islamists back then, too, like Arafat who was then in Beirut.
Had the US made a major deployment to Beirut to answer for the bombing of the Marine barracks, we would have been facing down Soviet legions and not a rag-tag bunch of Hezbollah "guerrillas."

Posted by Jennie Taliaferro 2004-2-6 6:00:17 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com] 2004-2-6 6:00:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#36 RR had the Marines pull out of Beirut like that due to the uproar from the same people demanding we pull out of Iraq now, or demanding that we never went in. BTW, it's usually forgotten that the Marines were in Lebanon as peacekeepers, under a UN mandate. Did a lot of good, didn't it? The UN ball and chain had the same effect it had on GHWB in Gulf War I. It would have taken a Security Council resolution to kill large numbers of Bad Guys and the USSR would have vetoed it.

Two days after the Beirut bombing, while they still counting the bodies, Reagan ordered the (unilateral) invasion of Grenada.

Posted by Fred 2004-2-6 8:48:30 PM|| 2004-2-6 8:48:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#37 Happy birthday RR! :):):)

Posted by Korora 2004-2-6 10:27:28 PM|| [http://basementburrow.blogspot.com] 2004-2-6 10:27:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#38 "The marines should have stood their ground."

-uh, yeah, we did. That's why there's over 200 of them dead along w/some soldiers & sailors. Maybe you mean the Marine's should have been given common sense Rules of Engagement to use instead of the fucking non-sense the UN and US lawyers gave us. For instance, not letting a Marine have full clip of ammo in the mag well of his weapon or a condition 1 weapon for that matter while on guard duty. Or, how about not allowing every local Lebanese fuck-stick contractor on baord the base in Beruit w/out a thorough background check. I could go all day.

Posted by Jarhead 2004-2-6 10:43:13 PM|| 2004-2-6 10:43:13 PM|| Front Page Top

08:16 Raptor
00:50 Traveller
00:38 Lucky
00:10 Lucky
23:53 BH
23:30 Aris Katsaris
23:30 Sonnie
23:07 Jarhead
23:05 Garrison
23:01 Old Patriot
23:00 Jarhead
22:58 Jarhead
22:53 dataman1
22:46 Old Patriot
22:43 dataman1
22:43 Jarhead
22:34 Old Patriot
22:34 GK
22:32 Jarhead
22:32 Traveller
22:30 Old Patriot
22:29 Barbara Skolaut
22:27 Korora
22:25 B