ariscus99

I thought I would clear this up before you twist into something it's not. By "them" I mean the people who got the "too good to be true" deals. Not the everyday Joe, who bought a reasonably priced home, that subsequently lost value, it sucks for them, and I feel bad, but that is why you save money for the hard times. As those who lived through the '20's knew, frugality is king, living within your means is a necessity, not some neat idea. But the people who went and bought an $800k house on a $60k salary, because they thought it would go up in value 30% and they could flip it and sell it for more. They were greedy, and they make up a huge number of these foreclosure's. Also the people who took out huge second mortgages to buy cars and big screen tv's, they were greedy and are now reaping what they have sewn.

This is what I mean by you not believing in PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY. OMG are you serious. It's the banks fault? Responsible people make budget's for their household and know what they can and cannot afford. People's greed, the average American's greed. They wanted what was to good to be true, and guess what? It was. No rational RESPONSIBLE person who's household income is 70K a year thinks that they can afford a 1 million dollar home. Yeah the banks were greedy when they gave them the loans, but Fannie May and Freddie Mack were holding the banks hostage during all this, all but forcing them to give out loans to people who couldn't afford it. The banks were no more greedy then were the people trying to buy the homes. I have no pity for them. I knew what I could AFFORD, in good times or bad, and thats what I purchased. And I imagine the first home you bought was also one you knew you could afford. And you didn't buy it thinking, well if I get laid off and my husband gets laid off the government will carry the house for us for awhile, it's their responsibility. This is why the left is delusional, the expectation of entitlements is sickening and crippling our nation.

Great article, though it's just the tip of the iceburg:

For the record I'm not saying people need to go to the extremes that my family did. I'm only offering the solutions that we used in order to stay off of government assistance, and to do our part.

Thats a cute list, and it proves....? Rupert Murdoch is diversified? No one tunes into The National Rugby Association for their news. But here in the US the MAINSTREAM MEDIA, i.e. what most people watch and what is most readily available, would be, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, HNN, MSNBC, CNBC. Of those, fox is the most right. The rest are decisively left wing or at a minimum left leaning. Talk radio is dominated by the right, I will concede that. Newsprint however is overwhelmingly dominated by the left, as are most weekly magazines, Time, Newsweek, etc.

Did you really say that the right wing media dominates? You can't really think that.

Come on, you're the resident fact checker, you should know better than this CM...I'm a little dissapointed with you; From JSOnline Union lobbying power is great, however, obviously, the people of WI didn't want what the unions were backing. I've said this before but I'll do it again for you, this is what the people of WI want, the majority of the residents of WI want this to happen, the union folks are not a majority, just because they have more people showing up at a rally means nothing, the average person is WORKING while all this is going on. But if this wasn't the will of the people of WI, then Walker, who PROMISED throughout his campaign to make this his first order of business wouldn't have been elected.

Here's Geithner saying SSwill be giving out more than it takes in by 2016 and will be broke by 2037. But I imagine a few columnists now more than the treasury secretary. Also the other link I posted about it was from the social security committee, but they also probably now less than a few columnists do.

Thats funny, exactly what krugman(left wing hack) is saying that the greedy billionaires and the evil Kock brothers do(hiring dozens of lobbyist) is exactly what the unions do. So it's okay for a union to do it, but not for a different group of people with money? You again have avoided the fact that what these cowardly democrats are doing is ludicrous. If Gov. Walker really wanted to rule with an Iron fist he could very easily do so, and it could be a brilliant political move. He could stage a press conference and simply say "Since the democrats are unwillingly to allow a vote on these new measures, we will go forth with what they are trying to protect, and will therefore effective immediately layoff the 6000 workers who would have been protected by this bill." The backlash against the democrats would be wonderful for republicans. Of course the layoff's could be temporary, because it would almost certainly bring the dems running, but the damage would be done, and would likely cripple the democrats in WI. I think it would great. And there are rumors starting to circulate that he might do just that. Time will tell. As for the tax cuts Walker is pushing, he's doing so to BRING business TO WI. Businesses like lower taxes, thats why so many are leaving CA.

Hardly a dent? If we taxed everything at 20% we would collect right around $3T, which almost covers the bloated budget we have now. Make a few key cuts to say the IRS as they would no longer be needed because the tax code could be about 3 lines. And if the lower class wants to save more money you just don't spend, grow a garden, raise a pig and slaughter it, thats what my family had to do when I was a kid. My parents would pick vegetables from the dump, you can take brusslesprouts and peel away a few layers and there's good food there, same with lettuce. If you have the desire and the willingness to work hard and sacrifice I strongly believe you can make it. There are just far to few people in this country with that desire. You could essentially live almost tax free if you were careful.

#1 and #3 on your list would be solved with a flat tax, that would benefit most everyone else at the same time. Your SS payroll tax on 100% of wages, would you change the name of that to the robin hood tax, since you seem to think that the rich should pay into it but should be the only group limited on what they can collect. The rich are savvy, thats how they get that way, if they pay into it on the millions they make every year, when they come of age, you better believe they will collect that money back, whether they "need it" or not. Another reason raising taxes isn't going to work is because, it's not what the people want. Remember your old mantra of how the dems are in control because people want what the dems want? Well the republicans are coming back into control because, guess what, the people want what the republicans want, lower taxes, less social programs etc.

I'm saying the guy sounds like a crackpot conspiracy theorist, and you seem to have faith in him or you wouldn't be posting his drivel. So my bet is that the Koch brother's wont end up doing all the things his article claims, such as buying all the power plants in WI for penny's on the dollar. Yes the unions did all that, and now we have those things, and unions no longer fight for that stuff, they fight for money, they have become as greedy as the wall street fat cats you hate so much. And again, this bill doesn't hider the unions from doing any of the things you listed, what it does is stop them from negotiating for higher pensions and benefits, and since the unions this will affect have a great pension and great benefits and still pay much much less than their private industry counterparts for it, I think what is proposed makes great sense. It's foresight, unions have been greedy in the past and there is no sign of it stopping. forum wont let me insert a link so here's this. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/22/ethics-lesson-wisconsin-doctors-writing-fake-sick-notes/ Also on the union front, it seems some WI doctors are about to wish they had some union representation as the WI medical board is investigating them now for the phony sick notes they wrote, and are saying that this is on par with writing unnecessary or fraudulent prescriptions, which could result in the revocation of there medical licenses. Which would be a fitting lesson to the rest of those out there who think they should commit fraud for these people. Corporate America is sitting on their $2T in assets because they are afraid of what the democrats are going to try to do with taxes. Instability has always made people hoard. This is no different, they see no reason to invest their money because there is so much instability and that scares them, so the logical thing to do is sit on the money and take the sure thing(interest payments on the money or whatever investment they have). They were demonized for taking risk's and now that they aren't taking risk's and they're being demonized again, they can't win. Speaking of hypocrisy, you keep avoiding the hypocrisy of the left with the coverage of what the cowardly democrats are pulling in WI. You know as well as anyone if the republicans had pulled a stunt like this the left would be in an uproar, the media would have had a field day with it. And all the left(including you) can do is divert attention anywhere else.

As I've said several times, I'm all for cutting the DOD budget. However, any realistic cut is merely a drop in the bucket. Sure we can and should, shut down all of our bases in other countries, bring home as many troops as possible, but again, this is all a drop in the bucket when we're looking at close to a $1T budget short fall. A flat tax would take care of most of these problems, but our spending is still out of control Social Security in unsustainable according to the Social Security Board of Trustee's, the systematic phase out of social security as described above or in some similar way WILL get us back on track. No logical person wants to get rid of SS right now, cold turkey, most everyone knows too many people rely on it know, thats why you start to phase it out, pick an age, and go from there, raise the eligibility age for those within the age category so they don't collect as long and we can get back to a sustainable level. Times are tuff, cuts must be made. Again I know it's George W.'s fault, bad bad boy, shame on you. Now what?

Wow, this patience john guy is a crack pot huh? He wants arabic to be a mandated class in texas schools ? He sounds like the left's version of glenn beck, left wing psycho conspiracy theorist, does that about sum him up? I read number of his articles, and wow. Do you want to put a wager on this claim CM? Say, no posting in R&R's for 3months?

Great game, I was glad to see the Cheeseheads win!!!

Who's your pick for superbowl XLV? I'd love to see the Jet's and the Packers, I played against Aaron Rodgers in high school and with him one year in college, so since my Buccaneers are out of it my #2 team is the Packers, and I'd love to see them get the win. More realistically I see the Patriots and the Falcons with the Patriots taking it. What do you all say?

It is about the democrats being cowardly and refusing to do the job they were elected and are paid to do. Sure there is more going on, there always is, but this is big, this has never happened before. They fled the state, what would have been said and done in the mainstream media had republicans tried this stunt(that's all it is)? There is fraud and corruption running rampant in WI right now, and it's on the dem side. These doctors who showed up the other day to sign bogus sick notes for the "teachers" who are there for the children, what a crock, they are there because they don't want to have to pay more and are scared of losing their strangle hold over the government, thats what unions have, a stranglehold. The proposed bill does not, I repeat, DOES NOT, remove all of their collective bargaining rights, it limits the rights of fringe benefits, including pensions and healthcare, they can still bargain for safety measures(HA what a joke, unions have become greed machines looking out for the #1 which is MONEY MONEY MONEY), and even increase in salary. They aren't threatening yet to make the state a right to work state(which IMO would be great), though there are 22 in the US and they seem to be the states that businesses are flocking too right now(mind you, I'm in a public employee union as is my wife, but if either of us had the choice we wouldn't be). This (the dems fleeing the state) is a huge story, and everyone knows it, and the left along with the MSM is doing their best to downplay it, but it's not working. Rachel Maddow was caught in a nice little lie earlier today, along with Brian Williams while trying to downplay this. It was good of Fox News to call them out on it. Again, just the backlash republicans got for voting no, was infinitely worse than what these cowards are getting for running away and not doing there jobs. Back to the sick notes now, a physician friend of mine who lives in WI said that there is an uproar amongst doctors in the state to have these doctors who wrote bogus sick notes sanctioned and investigated for fraud, and according to him it might be happening within the week, the WI medical licensing board isn't to pleased apparently. It was nice of these teachers who are doing this "for the children" to leave the children out of school for a week while they illegal go on strike. I'm sure the parents had a good time finding day care and paying for all those extra expenses, thanks again teachers. According to CM the reason for these budget shortfalls is greedy corporate wall street and surprise surprise, George W. So lets just say your right. Bad wall street, bad Georgy, shame on you. Okay now that that is done, how do you fix the problem, the finger pointing is great, seriously I mean bravo, you pointed the finger, now fix the damn problem. Should George W. be paying these unfunded pensions from his pocket? Or should they be funded by wall street? Should they take a cut in profits and send all the state the hundreds of billions of dollars they are short with unfunded pensions? I'm curious what your fix is here. We're in the problem, we can't just point a finger at and hope the money comes back because blame has been placed. There needs to be solutions, and right now the Governor of WI has a solution, that looks like it will work, and there are a handful of other states that will be hopping on this wagon very soon. Governor Walker ran his campaign on the promise of doing EXACTLY what he doing now, and the people of WI elected him. He told them in no uncertain terms when he got elected he would do what he is doing now, and apparently that was the people's will, so why should these democrats not carry it out. I'm pretty sure I've seen CM post multiple times saying that since the dems were in control when healthcare was voted on it was the will of the people and that republicans needed to sit back and take it. Well the shoe is on the other foot CM why aren't the dems sitting there and taking it like they preached, it's obviously the will of the people of WI.

The only way we're going to get out of this financial debacle ie. being 14trillion in debt, and the budget shortfall that is close to 1t this year, is a systematic phase out of social security and medicare/caid. A HUGE overwhelming amount of our budget goes to social programs that we cannot afford anymore, there are simply too many people in this country and too many people not working and living off of the government to sustain all the entitlements. DOD is a great place to cut spending but it's miniscule in comparison. You would have to shut down the DOD for it to really make a big difference in the budget, and that is not an option. The phase out does not me a cold turkey stoppage of payments for ss and mc, it means what it sounds like, a phase out: anyone on it now stays on, then we slowly raise the age to qualify higher, and we pick a date at which to stop. Say if you were born on or before Jan 1 1975, you will be allowed to collect, anyone born after is not, they need to start thinking about how they will provide for themselves. Take responsibility for their own futures. If we did this today, they would be people 36 and younger which would give a minimum of about 30 years before retirement age, which gives ample time to prepare. Also anyone born after the cutoff date no longer needs to pay into either program which will free up their money to invest how they see fit. It will require that dirty little devil the democrats hate, personal accountability and responsibility, but it is doable, and would put us in the black almost overnight.

I agree with you here for sure. Support of public employee unions has only gone down since this started, and the public support of the democrats from WI has also tanked this week over this. They don't seem to see what they're doing, and that they are not only hurting themselves but they are hurting lots of working class folks who they are supposed to be protecting.

Sorry I must have missed the story where the republicans pulled a stunt that STOPPED a vote from happening, maybe you can send me a link to the story about it? Voting no against something is quite different, at least they have the balls to show up and vote, even if they knew they'd be beat as was the case with obamacare. I don't remember many republican's fleeing the capitol so they wouldn't be made to vote, but again, maybe they did and I just missed the story. However, thats not really what is being discussed here, it's about these particular lawmakers being cowards and running from a problem, remember your Saturday morning cartoons when they told you that's not the answer, guess what, it still isn't. I've talked to a few people I know who live in WI, and they are dumbfounded and more than anything, MAD, these people are elected to serve them, and are paid well to do so, and they are running away from their job. How would it go over if a house caught fire in my district and instead of responding to the fire we drove the engine's the other way so we wouldn't have to deal with it? Or if I were a teacher and decided to call in sick and my students didn't get to learn for a week, oh wait, that's what the teachers in WI are doing, "for the children." Nothing helps children like teachers striking because they're going to have to contribute more to their retirement and health benefits. Sad. I'm sure every Charter School in the nation is licking their chops to get into WI and start taking students away from the public schools, and good for them.

Did the mods close this forum down or something?

Bike's are awesome, but you gotta respect em. My bike will do about 105 in 2nd gear. On several occasions I've brought the front end up at well over 100, with a little clutch action, can power wheelie(just crank on the throttle and bring the front up) up to about 85 in 2nd and just over 100 in 3rd. I have a lot of friends that ride gsxr 1000's, r1's and cbr 1000rr's and not one of them can power wheelie over about 80, and that's pushing it.

I ride an '08 suzuki bking, it's got a 186 hp at the rear wheel. It's basically a naked, slightly upright hayabusa, it's scary fast, and a ton of fun. I've had in the past 2 300zx's, one was a 90 n/a and the other a 91 TT that put 406 to the rear wheels, it was a lot of fun, but I got too many tickets. Now it's just my bike and my Nissan Titan.