Presidential Election Aftermath: What Now / What Next?

Hillary's only advantage in debates is that she's a ruthless politician and she's got dirt on everyone. Her own agenda is downplayed by her attacking others' positions which works well in debates.

I still see Sanders as the far and away leader of that group though. America will vote for a woman president soon, but it won't be Clinton. She's terrifying.

Also, that representative from Baltimore was just crushed by Anderson towards the beginning of the debate.

 

Tell me again who is the party of old rich white people. Not a lot of disparity on that stage, 3 of whom I still don't know and probably never will.

Sanders and Clinton got so much more time than everyone else. Clearly set up in their favor.

The thing I liked is, they weren't fighting like the GOP, but again, it was staged so no real attacks. Put Hillary up against Fiorina and watch her squirm.

Out of the 5, I liked what Sanders had to say, but I don't agree with how he thinks we can get there. Think we'd be 30 trillion in debt after he left office.

Recap:
Sanders - everything should be free
Clinton - I agree with Sanders, but I want more things free and I'm a woman.
The other 3 - when do we get to talk? and yes, we agree with our good friend Hillary too.

 

I still haven't seen the debates. I want to watch it tonight.

I want to hear all the answers to "Black lives matter, or all lives matter?"

 

Lakerfan2 -- I agree about Sanders and Trump. Both are old rich men who are passed the point of being PC. They'll say what they want. And yes, Sanders can back it up and Trump can't.

And I don't like either.

 

Yes Yes and F*** YES!!!

 

Oh yeah, one thing that bothered me was they were asked the question and had all kinds of ideas about how to provide medical benefits to illegal aliens, but no one had a plan how to fix the VA and take care of Vets (21 of who are committing suicide every day). Sanders tried to say he was Chairman and had reform, yada yada yada. IT'S STILL BROKEN!

 

Exactly.

I don't know about the rest of them, but Sanders has outlined how we can afford all the programs he's proposing pretty clearly. It all involves reallocating funding from other areas of government, and getting the rich to actually pay their fair share of taxes.

 

In your opinion, what is fair share?

 

^^ I agree with what a lot of what you said. My question to Barns was twofold. 1. I really value his opinion and wonder if the number he deems fair is above or below the current rate they're paying. 2. I have never heard a politician say what "their fare share" is. They use terms such as "they can afford to pay a little more." "They" just paid 70% of all the taxes our government brought in, and they want more?

IMO, they are paying too much. We all are. The government can afford to stop wasting so much. When I was in the Air Force I saw rampant waste. "Spend it all or you don't get it next year."

When anyone is giving the government more than half their income, I say it's wrong. I don't care how much you earned or need. Taking more than half is criminal.

And what most people don't understand, those CEOs have knowledge and skills the average Joe doesn't. Everyone thinks they're Steve Jobs because they own an Apple phone. They have a work ethic and vision we don't. They worked 18 hour days to get to that point. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

And why does the Left attack a CEO that creates jobs, but has no problem with a Beyonce making $50 million a year or an actor putting out crap movies and raking in the $$$$.

 

Well first, let's start with them actually paying taxes, not letting them live here, make money here, and then hide there money off shore, nor letting them find loopholes to not pay.

Second, as you go up in income, taxes do and should go up as well. This needs to be more thoughtfully distributed because there's a certain amount of money needed to just live a descent life. No one should be working and not able to put food on the table and a roof over their kids head. This should be true whether employers want to raise the minimum wage or not. The poor shouldn't pay taxes IMO. You want more people paying taxes, create less poor in this country by providing living wages.

Third, and that being said, once you pass the point of having enough to live, your taxes should be based on a percentage of your income and financial holdings IMO. What's the percentage, I don't know.

Also, I'm not totally opposed to a flat tax, but I don't think it's the best rout because people don't always buy things. They can just save and keep money without buying anything, and so and they're earning, but not contributing to the economy.

 

Totally agree. Rich people do earn their money, but...

Mostly because Beyonce or that actor doesn't vote to give themselves a raise or huge bonus while their company is struggling and in the red.

 

Agree 100%. Get rid of the loopholes. I thought Obama was gonna do that. Maybe if he had a majority House and Senate. /sarcasm

While I agree the percentage does and can go up, I'm more in favor of a flat tax. The other side of that coin is, in regard to the poor not being able to take care of their families, people without skills to earn a decent living shouldn't be having kids. I'm not in favor of abortion (that's another discussion), but personal responsibility comes into play. Growing up, we were poor. My mother was a nurse, but was raising 3 kids on her own in SF. Didn't qualify for public assistance, but we didn't have extras and definitely went without a lot. I counsel poor families now. I go in their homes (homes, not apartments) and the parents don't work, but they have big TVs, cell phones, tons of BluRays, air conditioning, full fridges, etc. basically, a lot more "niceties" than I had growing up and I survived and my mom worked! The majority of the "poor" in this country have it WAY better than the rest of the world, so my level of sympathy only goes so far.

Most people making over $500K are paying more than half. I don't make that, but I have a problem with it. As I said, I think we all pay too much. How about the government stop wasting so much?

Gotta spend it eventually. And it's their choice. It's all of ours. Our goal is to support our families and take care of our own, in ways we choose. Not to support the government. So yes, I'm in favor of a flat tax.