i am a flag waver in the same sense that i am bible thumper. ordinarily i like to argue in case random homies read your crazy opinions, and i want to reassure them that you are wrong. with this one i dont need to. nobody really thinks of america as threatening or dangerous. america is unique in history as a peacekeeper. and i enjoy when people shit on and burn american flags and i want to beat up people who are patriotic. i am no american apologist, i am a realist.
Indeed. You disrespect both and follow neither. Your grasp of history is severely flawed. America is indeed unique and a shining star compared to others, but the notion that America is not dangerous is ridiculously egocentric and ignores the truth about how America's interactions with others is blatantly one-sided to America's interests. My ass. You are not a realist in any sense. Nor am I apologizing for America. I think it's great that we are dangerous and every country in the world fears what we may do because we are so powerful and so unpredictable. A realist realizes that you have to get your hands dirty to build ivory towers. A realist doesn't hide behind fairy tales that America is sparking clean, has never been ruthless and ambitious, and nobody fears and loathes us. America is noble, democratic, and fabulously efficient, but also dangerous, ruthless, and often reckless and every country in the world understands, appreciates, and fears this. You don't have to hide from it.
every nation, and every person, acts in their own interests 100% of the time. the US is unique in that it happens to realize that expanding an empire is not in its own interests. thats why east germany and west germany have had different histories. we are not unpredictable. we attack despots and leave democracies alone. we replace despots with democracies. a random nation, norway for example, does not fear the US. iran might. but that says more about those nations than it does the US. if i lived in iran i would pray that the US attacked. the US is so good that if you see American soldiers coming and killing your neighbors, you should rejoice.
A non-sequitor. Then why have we not attacked the repressive monarchy of Saudi Arabia? Iran actually has a democratically elected government and they are an enemy. Unpredictable. Why have we allowed repressive regimes in Cuba, Haiti and other new world countries, yet invaded and occupied Panama, Santo Domingo, Grenada and other new world countries for having oppressive regimes? Unpredictable. It fears US influence as do all of our close allies. We assimilate in other ways than by war. Norway is dependent on us from being attacked by continental neighbors and they fear American changes in the status quo. American cultural and economic influences is almost as pervasive as American political and military influences and they fear this as well. Our close allies fear being dragging into the next American misadventures. If you don't realize this then your knowledge has been far too insular to your philosophy. Almost like a religion. Your fantasies are not really very accurate. It didn't work that way in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia or any war in your lifetime. If you lived in Iran, you would have left and gone to live in New York on family wealth.
Back to the tax plan. Mark Cuban wrote a pretty good blog posting about his understanding of Romney's tax plan. I think it's spot on. This basically sums it up..... http://blogmaverick.com/2012/10/11/my-opinion-on-the-governor-romney-tax-plan/
Using that logic, Warren Buffett would be a good President.....and he thinks that the tax breaks for the wealthy should expire.
I hope that you were joking when you posted this, Mobius. Asking Mark Cuban what he thinks about Romney's tax plan is akin to asking a pedophile what he thinks of an entire troop of cub scouts in a communal shower. Seriously? Why don't we get Michael Moore to write an op-ed on how the President's tax plan is better. Further, the problem is that Cuban never even bothers to say why Romney's tax plan will work other than to say "because he is Mitt...."
Jesus Christ you should try reading what I posted instead of being a partisan hack. I said very clearly that I agreed with Mark Cuban's assessment of Mitt Romney's plan. Mark Cuban states clearly in the article that Romney doesn't have a distinct plan and his plan is that he will figure it out and is the best guy to figure it out. Then he goes on to state that he (Cuban) doesn't know if he(Romney) can figure it out or not and that's what this election is about. You have to either trust him or not trust him. This article should make you happy. It backs up the democrat theme that he has no plan because he doesn't. He basically is arguing that he's uniquely qualified to find a solution By the way, Cuban has said in his blog posting that he voted for Obama in 2008 and is undecided in 2012. You just assumed he was shilling for Romney and attacked both him and me. That's what's wrong with politics these days. People make up their mind before doing any research or trying to understand anyone's point of view And to rebut the last line of your statement, he doesn't say why it will work because he hasn't made up his mind and doesn't know who he's voting for. That point is very clear in the blog posting.
I call you out for agreeing with Mark Cuban's blog post and that makes me a partisan hack? Get real, Mobius. If that is so then it also makes every serious economist in the country a partisan hack also. Romney's tax plan math does not add up. Period. I am a realist and I don't fall for it when someone tells me that they will give me the details later. I am a business owner and if someone offered me a deal that required that I just "trust them" I would laugh and walk away without hesitation. Obama's tax plan will undoubtedly raise my taxes. I am not wild about paying higher taxes but I understand the consequences of believing voo-doo math because we've tried it that way and it doesn't work. Romney isn't telling us anything different than George W Bush told us in 2001 and 2003 and we all know how that turned out for us. Your statement, "You have to either trust him or not trust him," makes it sound as if you have assigned some messianic value to Romney, like we should have faith in Romney. Seriously?
He didn't take a position and neither did I. Everyone is trying to figure out a plan and this is one mans opinion of what the plan is. I'm really questioning whether you can read
