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 Originally Posted by BananaStand
Cherry picking which things you want to point out doesn't make your point any stronger.
First of all, I'm not convinced that Obama didn't at least partly cause that economic down turn. We saw what the stock market did when Trump got elected. Why wouldn't you expect the inverse once it became clear that McCain had no chance?? And Trump inherited a leaky garbage bag full of foreign policy disasters. Our deficit spending would be lower if we didn't have to gear-up for military showdowns with rogue regimes in the middle east and the Korean peninsula.
Cherry picked figures. The same article you linked said that the growth target could be as low as $3 Billion, which would only require half as much growth. Furthermore, it's wholly retarded to look at the issue in a vacuum. Only a damned fool would imagine greedy politicians racking up national debt just to slash taxes and essentially give themselves raises. That's the kind of argument a 9 year old would make.
Think harder.
Is it maybe just maybe possible that some of these politicians support tax cuts as part of a multi-planked economic platform that also includes spending cuts? Have Trump and the Repubs not signaled that the next major legislative project is entitlement reform?? Maybe try getting your news from outside your liberal echo chamber.
So you're saying is that you only want freedom of speech to apply to those voices that fit your definition of "true", and anyone speaking something you deem to be "false bullshit" needs to be silenced? Do I have that right?
I don't even get what your point is here. We've already been over the numbers. Drugs are responsible for 5% of the prison population. If all you want is legal drugs, then "mass incarceration" is a hopelessly poor argument. If your problem is with mass incarceration itself, then what else would you make legal, and by how much would it reduce the prison population.
You "had to"? Sorry bud, I'd rather live in a country where I can walk down the street and see people who respect modesty. I don't have to risk getting a glance at your junk. And if that means I have to pay a little bit more in taxes to put a flasher in prison...so be it. Money well spent.
I mentioned nothing of pride. Nor do I see incarceration as a problem. I've managed to stay out of prison, and it wasn't that hard. I don't feel like government laws are stifling my behavior at all. If you do, it's because you're a psycho who can't control himself and probably should be locked up.
However, if I were to stipulate that it was a bonefide goal to reduce the prison population, I think the absolute LAST potential solution I would consider is legalizing drugs and prostitution.
Obama inherited that massive recession from Bush. Debating that basic fact is you living in a false reality. You've probably been brainwashed by far right media to not even be able to remember exactly when the recession started 10 years ago.
Our 3 worst Depressions/Recessions in the last 80 years all occurred under Republican Presidents, The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and The Savings and Loan's Crisis. Democratic Presidents have been known to create more jobs while in office.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...ts-top-republ/
"Since 1961 … our private economy has produced 66 million private-sector jobs. So what's the jobs score? Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 (million)." Democrats have created almost double the jobs of Republican Presidents between 1961-2012 at the time of that statement.
I think the main problem with your ideas, they sound good, you can definitely sell them to people, but they don't fuckin' work. I want ideas that work, I don't want ideas that don't work.
"We saw what the stock market did when Trump got elected. " I can't say for you, but my family became millionaires under Obama. When he took office, March of 09', the DOW was 6,800 points, when he left office it was around 19,000 points. increased the stock market by 150% in 8 years, I don't know how you can talk shit on him for that. I apologize if you missed out on that gravy train with biscuit wheels unlike my family.
Again, we're debating basic facts, that you act like you're entirely unaware of. You live in a false reality that doesn't exist in the real world.
Supply-Side Economics is really just Horse and Sparrow Theory 2.0. Horse and Sparrow theory, I could go over it, but the main goal of it was to give a fuck ton of money to already super wealthy robber barons of 1890's, and fuck over the working class.
"Is it maybe just maybe possible that some of these politicians support tax cuts as part of a multi-planked economic platform that also includes spending cuts?"
Where are the big spending cuts after the tax cuts? We just passed an omnibus spending bill that INCREASED federal spending, particularly on the military industrial complex. Right now the tax cuts are debt financed. There was no major spending cuts passed, to pay for the tax cuts.
"So you're saying is that you only want freedom of speech to apply to those voices that fit your definition of "true", and anyone speaking something you deem to be "false bullshit" needs to be silenced? " I'm saying that if you can not accept basic empirical facts, you should not belong in the conversation of setting public policy. Public policy, should be reality and fact based. Not "truthiness". Truthiness is the idea of believing in something because it "feels true" to you even if it's NOT true, you go with your gut not your brain, you act without considering the consequences.
GWB thought WMD's were in Iraq, because "it felt true". The problem was, it WASN'T true. That's a pretty big problem when considering to invade a foreign country, and is ultimately what lead to the largest foreign policy disaster since at minimum Vietnam. And I see a lot of my fellow Americans, don't live in reality, they believe in things because "it feels like it SHOULD be true" aka, "Feelz before realz".
"I don't even get what your point is here. We've already been over the numbers. Drugs are responsible for 5% of the prison population." You did not read my link.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/chapter/drug_prison
You're close. It's not "5%" though, it's closer to "50%" on the federal level, so you're off by about 900% on what percentage of adults are in prison over drug offenses on at minimum the federal level.
"Forty-seven percent (81,900) of sentenced federal prisoners on September 30, 2016 (the most recent date for which federal offense data are available) were serving time for a drug offense".
"More than half (56% or 6,300) of female federal prisoners were serving sentences for a drug offense"
State, you're closer, but it's still a 200%difference in discrepancy from your stated 5%.
"Among sentenced prisoners under the jurisdiction of state correctional authorities on December 31, 2015, 15% (197,200 prisoners) had been convicted of a drug offense as their most serious crime."
I'm sure also that arrests and jail time over simple possession charges in states such as Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have gone down a lot since they legalized it. You legalize a substance, and then people stop getting arrested over said substance. This should be common sense, but apparently it is not.
"You "had to"? Sorry bud, I'd rather live in a country where I can walk down the street and see people who respect modesty. I don't have to risk getting a glance at your junk. And if that means I have to pay a little bit more in taxes to put a flasher in prison...so be it. Money well spent."
For the victimless nonviolent crime of hiring a sex worker in America, the female cops do sting operations. And because you do the preliminary things required for sex, that can get you charged with lewd lascivious behavior even if it's entirely behind closed doors. Behind closed doors, where prostitution is heavily regulated and safe for both the prostitute, and the customer, you do not get charged with a sex crime in Amsterdam. It basically makes everyone better off, the customer, the sex worker, even society. They've found legalized prostitution has lead to lower rates of sexual assault, and rape. The prostitute and the customer are not better off when you send them to jail. Maybe you've never been to jail, I have but it was on a tour as part of the League of Women Voters. It's not a happy place.
If you want to make peoples live better, don't make peoples lives worse. Jail and prison should be a LAST resort, not a first resort.
A country without bordellos is like a house without bathrooms.- Marlen Dietrich
In regards to jail and incarceration, you would prefer to live in this man's country from Parks and Recreation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiyfwZVAzGw
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