That said was it necessary? That’s always open for debate in any conflict, anywhere, by any two groups of people.

Look what happened to the people of central America vs the Spanish. They were virtually wiped out due to a lack of ability to defend themselves.

With major attacks on our country in play via terrorism the US no longer had the luxury to ignore threats that were far away.

If the Europeans were not so 2 faced and spineless, and frankly cause most of the problems in the Mideast with colonialism, perhaps the US would have had more help and could have forced a non military outcome. But with France and Russia trading with Iraq ignoring sanctions we had few other good options. A rogue dictator in that region bent on war is not entirely an idle threat to the US.

As unpopular as the war was and as imperfectly as the post war occupation went, I’m not sure it was such a terrible idea.

That said, yes it did cost a lot and bloated our debt.

I get your praise for Obama and I don’t deny him credit for Bin Laden, and for saving GM. If he wasn’t so hostile to free enterprise and deny people credit for their hard work and claim all businesses owe the government, and foment class warfare, I could appreciate his accomplishments more.

The Democratic party is not bereft of good ideas or people, it just lacks a sense of responsibility on how to pay for it, and any concern over bankrupting future Americans with wild spending sprees.

Why should people not even born yet have to pay the credit card bills for what we chose to do today? Where’s the justice in that? Where’s the compassion, and where is the sense of honor and decency?

I guess the question would be, why

You ask why not. I say they pay taxes for income made here and their employees who work here pay income taxes here. In both cases the company and employees enjoy government services here such as roads fire police etc.

Money made by selling in say Australia uses Australian roads, police fire etc. No compelling reason that a portion of sales there should belong to the US goverent as there was not a 35% or even 15% use of US services.

So what’s your reason why they should pay.

The government (including state governments) should spend more wisely. Yes.

The citizens of this country should receive some reasonable amount of tax on an American corporation’s overseas earnings. Why not?

The only question in my mind is should it be 35% (knowing that the profit was already taxed at some amount by the country in which it was earned. In my mind 35% is outrageous.

Obama hasn’t lived up to my expectations, but he saved the American automotive sector (which at the time I thought was pointless — I was wrong, Obama was right). Through stimulus spending and other policies Obama also prevented a full-scale economic meltdown (which in the fall of 2008 seemed like it would take us all down). So he didn’t get a chance to do a lot, but we’re so much better off today than we were 4 years ago.

I still feel dirty.

Obama hardly cleaned up any mess, he only added to it and has taken his socialist war on the rich and on prosperity to new heights, illegally ending welfare reform, claiming that all successful businesses and people owe their success to the government.

Bush was hardly my favorite president but Obama is an utter disaster.

And, no I’m not ecstatic about Romney but I will vote for him. Sadly most elections are about choosing the least objectionable candidate.

The sanctimonious closing barb ‘educate yourself’ implies that the author is better read than the person he is castigating. Obviously he reads only those publications that support and reinforce his views and dismisses those that don’t agree with his assessment of the world.

It would indeed be a surprise if he reads HuffPo.

But after that we were hit by 9/11 and a threatened economic collapse. Some of Bush’s questionable policy came from that. Had we had a true fiscal conservative in office it may have been better, hard to say for sure.

As you say, everything is a compromise. I’ll go with that. I do not think either Democrats or Republicans have a monopoly of good (or bad) ideas.

We agree that having a stable, secure, long term sustainable budget matters.

I’d just like to see some of the vast amount of waste cut down before sucking more money out of the economy into the black hole of government before raising taxes.

Better HOPE the Dem’s don’t take what little CHANGE you have left in your pockets once they are done with the wealthy.

BTW – it seems unfair that Apple is the only company in America that makes use of these overseas tax breaks. Shame on them.

Second be careful lumping me in with some category of people I share some liberal, some conservative, some whacky and all manners of views depending on the topic.

I voted for Bush Jr but did not like all his policies. I did not like Medicare perscription without a plan to make Medicare solvent. He was hardly a conservative on fiscal policy.

I’m not saying that the Republican party is a very good steward of sound fiscal conservative policy either. Neither party seems to respect the hard work people go through to supply them with piles of cash.

I also do not think the foreign tax issue is the single most important tax issue, nor is corporate taxes.

I’m not even theoretically against taxes, I’m just against funding a reckless and wasteful, irresponsible and greedy ungrateful bunch of thugs in Washington.

Show me some responsible management, show me some gratitude, show me that you can use money wisely and efficiently. Show me my tax dollars are not being stupidly pissed away, then well talk about raising taxes.

I’m not absolving Republicans of this either. If they are better it’s only by a slight margin.

This issue is about the future of a great country I love. I was born here, raised here and live here. I have been to many countries and love many other parts of the world but the US is my home. I want it to be strong and thrive and prosper. I want my great grand children to inherit a strong, vibrant and wonderful country full of opportunity.

I do not trust people like Obama who do not love or respect the greatness of this country and want to tear it down and claim that all greatness comes from Washington.

Have you been to the DMV? Been audited by the IRS? Greatness in this country all comes from Washington?

No, like Microsoft, Washington is where great ideas and people go to lose their soul and die slowly from the inside.

Taxes are a necessary evil, but I do not trust the federal government, either party, to responsibly use money it has and until and unless they can prove otherwise I’d rather see that money stay with corporations and individuals.

I do value opinions that I disagree with when intelligently presented. I learn more from them than reading what I already agree with.

I do love many of your posts whether or not I agree with them you are at least someone who thinks before he posts.

The U.S. must balance its budget. That is, spending must not exceed revenue over the long term. Federal revenue comes primarily from taxes with some fees and duties mixed in. In aggregate, that revenue needs to cover expenses, whether it comes from corporations or individuals, or some combination of the two.

The problem is, some folks want to burn the candle on both ends – tax cut and spend. Doesn’t work and never will. The current poor financial situation in the U.S. is due in large part to a failed tax cut and spend experiment under the Bush administration.

Tax rates on capital gains have already been drastically reduced. Now you want to reduce tax rates on the corporations producing those capital gains, too. In other words, don’t tax businesses or their owners, despite the fact that both of them utilize public resources and infrastructure. So where does that leave us? Raise income taxes on the individual? There is not likely to solve the problem.

Honestly, you have yet to offer a real solution to our current crisis. Being against everything from the “left” is not a solution, it is a mental disorder. There is no way that so many people can be so wrong in every way as you seem to believe. Life is a compromise – try it.

If these taxes are so terrible, why were they not eliminated during the Bush administration rather than just issuing a one-time tax holiday? To paraphrase F10T12, Bush had a Republican super-majority for *four years* and we are now wasting much time and effort to deal with this loose end that he did not see fit to address.

I would be fine with reducing this tax as part of an overall tax code reform. But we need to balance the budget by some intelligent combination of spending reductions and tax revenues. No more tax cuts until spending is reduced!

I don’t remember agreeing with most of your political views, which is fine, but have something to add beyond pure snark.

I’m very tired of people looking for every possible way to squeeze more money out of corporations or the evil dastardly rich in order to shovel more money into the federal government. Our national government needs to prove they deserve even the vast amount of money they already receive by demonstrating respect for the current money. Show fiscal restraint, balance the budget and show how the debt is going to be repaid. Spend less on crap.

Only, and I mean only after this is done should we even discuss raising more money for the federal government.

As it is now its like handing cash to a drunken sailor as he walks into a whore house. The idea of any form of fiscal sanity is completely lost in Washington and accountability is a word they can neither pronounce nor spell.

Or did you mean something else?

It’s very convenient that everyone who advocates for abortion “choice” are all very conveniently out of the womb and alive.

Unlike the silent voices of the millions of unborn babies murdered every year because they were inconvenient.

The typical Lib response unless they attack you personally a la Alinsky.

Just a thought.

You would have surprised me if you had provided a link to a more moderate, or god forbid, a liberal minded publication.

As such your tactic of only backing up your views with like minded authors while simultaneously telling us to ‘educate’ ourselves to the broader views (ie. your view) is stunning.

But you are right, he was there at the right time……after Carter.

Where do you think the root of today’s problem is? Bush pissed away years of prosperity and balanced budgets. He spent like a drunken sailor, and didn’t think it was a problem.

Obama has spent his first term doing his best to clean up the mess of the Bush decade.

Diplomacy (and he did a great job at that — wish the Republicans remembered how to do that).

Military out-spending (with massive debt implications — and yes, admittedly with the support of Congress).

Being there at the right time.

Educate yourself:
Socialistic France’s proposed tax hikes of 75% spark exodus of wealthy.

TAXES ON CORPORATIONS ARE JUST HIDDEN TAXES ON THE CONSUMER.

Corporations have a fiduciary duty (legally) to maximize their profits, within the law. If a corporation is taxed, the corporation either adds that tax to the price of its products, or makes a smaller profit (thereby reducing the value of the stock, a cost to the investors – namely you and me).

I’m not saying that “taxes on corporations are evil.” I’m saying that they permit government to indirectly tax you and me, and in an amount that we can never really be sure of.

Want to know how to reduce taxes? Require a balanced budget, and tax ONLY individuals. Once people see what they’re really paying in taxes, you can bet there’d be changes.

Sir, I bow to your awesome use of selective facts to silence debate.

Everyone having the right to vote does not mean everyone has the ability to think.

Oops.

Oh, and Reagan had a Democratic congress, but his landslide victory allowed him to push some of his sweeping tax reforms through, and allowed the country to prosper, after suffering a democratic president and congress under Jimmy Carter.

Also, a lot of Republicans are socialist too, there is no purely conservative economic party in the US, sadly.

The only jobs it will provide are short term government jobs that will go away once the money runs out. And we will end up with another failed stimulus.

And he couldn’t even get single-payer through with all of those misguided Dems hanging on his every word (this was back when the dopes of the world believed he could walk on water) because he failed to do anything but sit back and let others (incompetents like Pelosi and Reid) do the work for him because that’s what his life consists of: Doing nothing. Voting present. Being named president of the Harvard Law Review without publishing anything of his own. Being handed affirmative action all along the way and then hating the country that made him into the empty suit that he is.

Maybe he realizes that he’s an empty suit and that’s why he hates America?