I think McConnell is more likely to relate to the other end of the horse.

Fitting, I suppose -- there's already a horse's ass in his bed...

That's my President!

You hit it right on the nail! I couldn't have said it better, kevofrombenenland. The right will stop at nothing to do the bidding of their real employers, Big Money, and if we cave in to their demands, it would be as if the election didn't happen. Obama has a mandate to go back to the Clinton Era tax rates which ended the deficit before good ol' Bubba put us in the red again with two Wars paid with a credit card and tax cuts for the wealthy. We can't afford to go back. And Obama has to start from a stronger position now. These Republicans are not interested in compromise, they want complete control.

Its not a fiscal cliff! Its a slope and we will recover quickly. Buy American!

Other than the short shrift given , "Of the people , by the people , for the people" , the party of no makes complete sense .

Complete like an egg , soft entrails , round brittle shell , and best appreciated cooked in a shockingly liberal list of those processes which lead to another mixed metaphor , the cooked goose .

kevo, may we copy your post and send it to our Cogress reps?

GFI -Kevo

"Buy American" doesn't mean much anymore, now that 45% of "American" manufacturing is foreign-owned and the profits do not stay here for reinvestment in the communities and the country.

The "Success" of this losers first term on Employment...means Republicans should give this failure .....free reign for the second term? Surely you jest.

His record on employment? The country was losing EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND JOBS A MONTH when he took office, and thanks to the stimulus and the auto rescue, within a few months we were gaining jobs. We would have gained them a lot faster if Republicans had given him "free reign" instead of blocking every jobs initiative that required legislation.

You're arguing that because your guy broke the economy so bad that our guy couldn't completely fix it in four years, that makes Obama a "failure"? Surely you jest. Fortunately, the American people saw through that one when you guys tried to argue it in the election.

Thanks Scotty for the further demonstration that "winger" is a synonym for "moron." I love how you guys are so stupid you don't know how stupid you are, so you go demonstrate it in public and then are amazed when people laugh at you for being an idiot.

Right except it is always the GOP and the wealthy who take every handout they can get then they ensure more handouts for themselves and nothing for the twits that vote for them. Meanwhile the low life twits that vote GOP are mislead into believing that they will get something for nothing then whine about democrats stopping them from getting free stuff because democrats only care about minorities that the Grumpy Old Perverts believe they are superior to so they are entitled to free stuff. Really if free stuff bothered them so much then they would either refuse free stuff or give the free stuff back, but they don't, they just whine that life aint fair.

Really? Govt spent a trillion dollars on 83 means-tested programs. The rich paid for that. The rich pay their share already, and part of yours too.

Did you pay income tax last year? Did you get a refund? Or are you a free loading whiner?

Sorry shooter I am not a republican supporter who always have their handout and whine when they don't get what they believe they are entitled to.

The deal being sought nets $1Trillion over 10 years; letting the Bush tax cuts expire nets$950 Billion over 10 years. So, do the math and you will see who has to bend. Hint; it isn't Obama.

Morning Shooter. So, I have an idea. Since you have such hatred for the government, paying taxes, freeloaders, etc., I've decided to present you with a one way ticket to Somalia.

There, you have no stupid government telling you how to live or what to do. No taxes either.

It's a right wing paradise. Dog eat dog, I have mine, go @!$%# yourselves if you don't have yours. You'd fit right in.

Hey Blankman can you specifically point out which programs were "means tested"? And for whom? Or are you just blowing that "hot air" that we're accustomed to hearing from the right?

Why does anyone even bother to waste time responding to this joker? I've enjoyed reading his posts ever since he showed up, but only for the amusement value, not that they have any validity. It's a chance to hear what Rush and Fox are saying without having to suffer the pain of doing so. It saves me hours I would never get back. If he ever does have a post that has a basis in the reality-based universe, then is the proper time to respond.

On a happier note, there is a guy in this neighborhood who is a far right wingnut, who for the past couple of years has plastered his lawn with lighted wingnut signs with such sentiments as "God Bless Tea Party America". After the election, all signs have finally come down. My suspicion is that reality has finally intruded on his world, and he's either embarrassed, depressed, or has killed himself.

Robert, Clinton rates for everyone gets you 238 billion in one year. 2.3 trillion+ over 10 years. That should make you very happy, yes?

Citizen, don't be juvenile. everyone understands the need for taxes, the question is about how much to take. Which reminds me, are you an income tax payer, or a freeloader?

Zero, see the CRS cite in the article http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/18/report-welfare-governments-single-largest-budget-item-in-fy-2011-at-approx-1-03-trillion/

It's just ironic that Shooter keeps using the whole "Are you an income tax payer or a freeloader" when most of the upper 2% of this country, in fact do not pay income taxes. Hell his party's nominee didn't pay income taxes because capital gains taxes are not the same as income taxes and are taxed at a lower rate. Shooter sometimes you really should think before you speak, seriously.

And if Clinton era tax rates for everyone means our economy is thriving, people are working than I'm all for them. Because the Bush Era tax rates has netted zero jobs and produced the worst economy since Hoover. The argument you propose is again short sighted.

Blankman - did you actually read with comprehension that article that you've linked too? See the 1st thru 3rd categories of "higher spending" went to healthcare, cash assistance (because you know we're in a recession), and food-stamps because again millions are unemployed and they need to get a little sustenance to keep them going.

But if you want to point to WELFARE let's start - the millions gifted to BIG OIL/COAL/PHARMA/Ag, or how about those "capital gains" you know like Mittens which allows him to pay lowered rates, or how about those mortgage deductions for 3 or 4 houses, or how about those loopholes that allowed for "off-shoring" American jobs, or how about the 11,000 corporations that pay NO taxes - are any of them "freeloaders" in your book? Most of these people and corporations are making money hand over fist - and they're still getting welfare? You must be one of those "freeloaders" you protest about....

Calvin,

It's just ironic that Shooter keeps using the whole "Are you an income tax payer or a freeloader" when most of the upper 2% of this country, in fact do not pay income taxes.

I know better. Let's see your documentation for this assertion.

Only to assist in breaking the symmetry between the tired old recipe of stout hearted nay sayers . I wonder what Annie Coulter would say to a prison stretch for voter fraud , a good time to catch up on her reading ?

Imagining dear old Mr Hannity allowing for ideas not rooted in hate , without a contemptuous sneer and a reply of snide .

Sweet dreams are made of this

Who are we to disagree

Travel outside Fox studios and the RNC

Some people think they have everything

Its plain who wants to use how American are used

Its plain they have no plans of reciprocity there

We see who means to abuse whom

By allowing thoughts of governing to mean abuse

Too bad the big bad gummint didn't spend more on your education. 'Cuz you can't spell and grammar is clearly not your strong point.

And you might want to re-take algebra to learn some logic.

LOL

why thank you i will take that into consideration (NOT)!

but you need to maybe just remove your head from your 4th point of contact.

as i know my problems and short comings ( and yes grammar and spelling are one of them) which i have never let slow me down on my endeavors in life and the pursuit of happiness..LOL

Were you one of the "Massachusians" doing the Tomahawk Chop for little Scotty Brown? How'd that one work out for you, moron?

Was I not paying attention when we repealed the "grammar and spelling lames are the desperate resorts of those who have no substantial response" rule?

Starting with a clearing house on all oil subsidies, since America isn't going to benefit from her own drilling.

But piss off Big Oil, would we see revenge price hikes though? Something tells me we would.

Thanks for the link!

These sites might be of interest to you.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/even-critics-of-safety-net-increasingly-depend-on-it.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/politics/campaign/04bush.html

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/where-do-the-47-percent-live/

You are correct - primaries too. "For all have sinned and fallen short..." Different Paul.

I wish it wasn't so, but you might want to consider the following. (emphasis mine)

America the Third-World Nation in Just 4 Easy Steps

By: Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks

New reports that Taiwanese transnational manufacturing corporation Foxconn may be opening up some plants in the United States indicate that our nation has now entered the terminal fourth stage of "third-worldization" or what may be better referred to simply as "recolonization."

In case you don't know, Foxconn is China's largest private employer and is responsible for making many of those parts that go into your Apple iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

While Steve Jobs may have been a visionary when it came to technological design, he wasn't a fan of labor unions - or American workers in general - so he outsourced most of his corporation's manufacturing to Foxconn, which was notorious for its low-wage labor.

Foxconn workers live in over-crowded dorms that are located on the factory grounds. They work 12-hour shifts, and are routinely exposed to dangerous working conditions. Recently, 137 Foxconn workers fell ill after they were forced to use toxic chemicals to clean iPads. And in the last five years, 17 Foxconn workers have committed suicide on the job. Nets have since been installed around the factory to catch workers jumping out of windows.

So why the heck would Foxconn look beyond their Libertarian paradise of no labor laws to come to the United States and employ a bunch of Americans?

To know the answer to that question, we have to understand the four steps the United States is currently racing through to become a third-world nation.

Step 1: Destroy Manufacturing

From 1791, when our nation's first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton created an 11-point plan for American manufacturers, all the way until just the last few decades, the United States protected its manufacturing base with high tariffs on imports and government support for domestic industries.

This "protectionist" approach to trade transformed the United States into the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods, which built and sustained an enormous middle class of Americans working in factories collecting high wages.

Then the forces of globalization crept in, extolling the virtues of a world economy free from national boundaries and protections for domestic manufacturing.

With Reagan's Revolution in the 1980's, Alexander Hamilton's 11-point plant was scrapped. Tariffs were ditched and then Bill Clinton moved into the White House in the 1990's and continued Reagan's trade policies and committed the United States to so-called Free Trade agreements like GATT, NAFTA, and the WTO, removing all the protections that had kept our domestic manufacturing industries safe from foreign corporate predators for two centuries.

In the 1992 Presidential debate, third-party candidate Ross Perot famously warned about a "giant sucking sound" of American jobs going south of the border to low-wage nations.

Perot was right, but no one in our government listened to him.

In the 1960's, one-in-three Americans worked in manufacturing, producing things of lasting wealth. Today, after jumping head first into one free trade agreement after another, only one-in-ten Americans works in manufacturing.

Over the last decade, 50,000 manufacturing plants in the United States have closed down and five million manufacturing jobs have been lost. They didn't disappear, they just moved away to low-wage factories like Foxconn, in foreign nations.

Before Reagan won the White House, the United States was the world's largest importer of raw goods and exporter of manufactured goods as well as the world's largest creditor. But today, we're the world's largest exporter of raw materials and importer of manufactured good. No surprise, we're also the world's largest debtor.

When manufacturing dies, the economy goes with it.

Step 2: Harvest the Middle Class

America's working class no longer builds TVs or computers or furniture on assembly lines; they now flip burgers at McDonalds and turn down the sheets at Holiday Inns. And those high-skilled workers who used to design the marvels of manufacturing now manufacture credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities on Wall Street.

In the 1950's when our economy still embraced Hamilton's 11-point plan, manufacturing used to account for a quarter of GDP, but today it accounts for around a tenth, replaced by the low-wage service sector and Wall Street. And this new economy can't support a middle class. A service sector can't create lasting wealth, nor can Wall Street.

Before NAFTA, the average American taxpayer earned an inflation-adjusted income of $33,400 a year. By 2008, that number dropped to just $33,000. Working Americans maxed out their credit cards and took out a second mortgage on their homes just to make ends meet. Eventually, even that wasn't enough to make ends meet.

On top of that, new financialized industries have risen up that specialize in harvesting even more wealth from the middle class. So-called private equity firms like Bain Capital execute a business model that depends on taking over American businesses, loading them with debt, laying off workers, and outsourcing labor to low-wage nations. Mitt Romney himself described Bain's strategy as "harvesting companies for a profit."

Even American factories that were more profitable than ever, like the Sensata plant in Freeport, Illinois, aren't safe from this outsourcing. Thanks to globalization, it's just a cheaper to employ labor in low-wage nations even if that means laying off 170 American workers and devastating an entire local economy.

Today upwards of fifty million Americans are living in poverty and depend on food stamps. The middle class devolved into the working class, which further devolved into the working poor class.

Local economies are collapsing, states are going bankrupt, and workers are being tenderized for colonization in the near future.

Step 3: Export American Wealth

There's a hefty price tag associated with transitioning from the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods to the world's largest importer of manufactured goods. That price comes in the form of trade deficits.

In 2011, the United States had a trade deficit of over a half-trillion dollars with the rest of the world. Essentially, $558 billion U.S. dollars is being pocketed every single year by developing nations that are now manufacturing the goods that used to be manufactured right here in the United States.

With their pockets overflowing with U.S. dollars, foreign investors begin buying up American industries. Every single second, more than $4,000 of American industry is being sold off to foreign investors.

In a virtuous economy like the United States used to run, wealth is recycled within the community. Revenue earned by the local grocery store is invested in the local bank, which then hands out loans to local businesses to hire local workers who collect paychecks to shop at the local grocery store and so on and so forth.

But when foreign investors are injected into the equation, increasingly larger chunks of wealth are not re-invested in the local economy, but are instead invested overseas in the developing world.

This is one reason why President Obama's stimulus package may not have had quite the bang for the buck as anticipated. When Americans use their extra dollars to buy a new LED television, or new clothes, or home improvements, there's a good chance that a lot of the profits are actually going to overseas investors, stimulating their economy instead of ours.

Step 4: Recolonize

With American workers desperate for any kind of opportunity to work, Foxconn and other foreign corporations now have access to a brand new pool of cheap labor.

We've seen other companies before Foxconn take advantage of these new low-wage American workers.

Ikea recently opened up a factory in Virginia, which just so happens to be a right-to-work for less state that's not hospitable to labor unions. In Sweden, where Ikea is based, workers earn at least $19 an hour and enjoy a minimum of 5 weeks paid vacation every year. Those are fairly high labor costs. So executives at Ikea have come to the United States, where they can pay workers just $8 an hour and give away just 12 days of vacation a year.

German auto manufacturer Volkswagen has also found an advantage in moving manufacturing back to the United States. They recently opened up a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee - another right-to-work for less state. Unlike in Germany, where all the workers at major manufacturing firms are unionized, collect high wages, have good benefits, can go on strike, and sit on the company board and have a say in decisions about the company's future, none of that exists in Chattanooga.

In Chattanooga, workers are not unionized and make just $14.50 an hour. It's pretty clear what's happening, we're becoming the world's latest cheap labor source.

Not only that, it's much cheaper to send goods to American consumers when you don't have to ship the goods from halfway around the world. Plus, with growing attention paid to the fact that nothing is made in America anymore besides bombs and warplanes, foreign corporations would be delighted to be able to stamp "Made in the USA" on the bottom of their products, even if they were made by low-wage Americans.

Which is why Foxconn might be considering coming over here, too. It's hard to imagine American workers having to endure the same working conditions that Chinese workers endure at Foxconn, where nets prevent workers from committing suicide.

But given the agenda of House Republicans, that tragic reality may not be so far-fetched. Generations of labor law that produced a minimum wage, a forty-hour workweek, workplace safety laws, and child labor laws are all under attack by Republicans in Congress. And if they succeed, then there is absolutely nothing protecting American workers from suffering the same fate as sweatshop workers overseas.

The reason why this fourth stage is terminal is because there are few treatment options available anymore. If the United States were to suddenly rethink its trade policies and enact tariffs again, they would have little impact since these foreign corporations have already implanted their manufacturing centers here in the United States. The profits would continue to go overseas rather than being circulated in the local economy.

Yes, in the end, we might get a lot of the jobs that were lost in Step One, but they won't be good-paying jobs at American-owned companies. They'll be low-wage jobs at foreign-owned companies, with all the profit created from those going out of the United States. At its core that's a form of colonization. Look up King Leopold's extractive economy in Congo for a reference.

The United States is rapidly un-developing in a way never before witnessed in the history of the world. And it would be a remarkable spectacle to behold, if it weren't so damn tragic to our fellow citizens.

Let your elected representatives know that Ross Perot was right, and it's time to end this so-called "free trade" insanity.

Sorry, there's nothing new in this. Those controlling companies/corporations have always sought to increase their power. What many people miss is that Hamilton's ideas, while great for building up a manufacturing base by keeping out cheaper impoprts, hurt the 80+% of the polulation not involved in manufacturing. Strangely, this is always omitted...

There is nothing inherently "wrong" with the idea of "free trade" as long as the countries involved are close enough in their economic/social development. When that's the situation, then the countries involved are simply making it easier for their respective citizenry to purchase items from other countries that also produce the same, or similar, items as their own country. It then becomes a mere matter of preference and/or cost, as shipping isn't free.

What has happened nowadays is that, when drawing up trade treaties or agreeing to trade pacts, the differences between those agreeing to the treaties/pacts are often solely in social/economic/ecological positions of the various signees rather than their industrial ability. That is what makes the difference and is why so many middle-class manufacturing jobs were out-sourced. And it should never have happened. If you want to blame anyone, I'd start with the Senators and Representatives in COngress - it's their job to construct these treaties/pacts so that, if those agreements don't work in favor of their constituents, at least they don't harm them.

Which explains why so many members of Congress want the Executive branch to handle these agreements...