The enormous tax cuts for pretty much everyone. The only part that had potential is how he said he is going after companies foreign profits, however it only matters if the company is making those profits in a country that taxes corporate profits below 15 percent which most do all ready so it doesn't do anything. The tax cuts are too much at everyone level and loses trillions of dollars of tax revenue for the government. And his idea of "shutting down loopholes" won't make up for that deficit.

Well considering about 2 trillion of the government spending is on social programs and Healthcare I find it kind of important for the government be able to fund them. As well as things not getting quite as much funding like education but would probably get cut faster than our military spending.

Explain why national debt is a problem in the first place?

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 1:21:00 AM (view original):
could someone explain their  views +/- of trump/carson/fiorina/bush

I mean I guess Trump was semi bearable until his tax plan came out.

Honestly Bush is the next best imo, carson and fiorina seem completely lost and absolutely delusional.

I am def more democrat than republican, but Hillary is  just garbage honestly.  Sanders is interesting but would never win and some of his ideas I don't like a lot.

It sucks we have ~4/5 big candidates available to choose from to be president for a population of 300+ million.  I mean these are the 6 best we can come up with?  Shame

Trump has appeal because he has backbone, is not politically correct, and is not a puppet for special interest donors. He might be far right on ILLEGAL Immigration (and this is an important topic that affects our schools, healthcare, jobs, and welfare programs) but he is softer on issues like continuing planned parenthood funding, not touching social security and/or medicare. I think Trump greatest strength is understanding how trade agreements are affecting jobs. Just today... http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0S01I620151006 ... When we import more than we export we are sending jobs abroad. The Donalds biggest con imo.... How will he get congress to support him as President? He will need them and he doesn't have a lot of friends on either side of the aisle.

Carson is the most intellectual candidate out there. Super smart, well composed. Speaks softly but SEEMS to have some backbone (no track record to prove it). He's not a politician which many people like... Grew up poor with only a mother. Unlike Obama who dwells on black history, Carson believes in Black Opportunity. He is a proponent of strong education and job growth = success. I really like Carson for his intellect - he gathers all the facts before making decisions. His biggest con - Has he ever managed much of anything substantial? I don't think he has.

Fiorina - not a fan. Trump was right that she ran 2 companies into the ground. She lost to Barbara Boxer which says it all. Dems can just bring back the Boxer playbook... Fired 30,000 people, drove 2 companies into the ground, etc. She will lose a general election.

Bush - Just say NO to a third Bush term.

I think you should look more at Rubio. He is the best orater of the bunch, a Cuban American. Reasonable on Immigration. First Republican I know that comfortably said he will attend a gay wedding for a family member (loved one) because its the right thing to do, even though he opposes gay marriage. Seems to have his **** together on foreign policy. The con - not much experience only being a senator for 4 years.

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 10:23:00 AM (view original):
Well considering about 2 trillion of the government spending is on social programs and Healthcare I find it kind of important for the government be able to fund them. As well as things not getting quite as much funding like education but would probably get cut faster than our military spending.

Explain why national debt is a problem in the first place?

$1.011 trillion of federal spending is on government pensions.
$1.107 trillion of federal spending is on healthcare
$119.2 million of federal spending is on education (because this is funded at the state and local levels)
$851.8 million of fedaral spending is on defense (of which $180 million goes to veterans and $42 to foreign aid)
$393.2 million of federal spending is on welfare (including unemployment)
$283.0 million of federal spending is on interest payments



I think we need pension overhaul... And healthcare overhaul. The federal government should not be spending 50% of yours and my tax money on retirement plans for federal employees and national healthcare. Pensions need to be self funded for those still in the workforce and healthcare can start cutting its costs by reducing fraud (in 2014 the US government recovered $6 BILLION in fraud related lawsuits). $6 Billion is just scratching the surface.


I personally don't like the national debt because I'm aa less taxes, small government guy. The federal government should be doing 3 things - 1) national defense 2) uphold the law (not make the law) 3) central bank (fiscal policy). Everything else should be managed by the individual states.

I'll have to look more into Rubio as I don't really know much about him.

But I'm a little worried you think Carson seems reasonable, this is the same guy that says you can't believe in god and evolution at the same time since evolution is the Devils work? Yeh he's a great surgeon, but anything else his has said has no appeal to anyone except extreme hard core right wing christians. I'll give him a shot at winning the Republican nomination but there's no way he'd even come close to winning a general election even against corporate puppet Clinton due to his extreme religious statements.

Trump looked okay until his extreme immigration stance and horrible tax cuts, I loved his non pc attitude, but immigration is too extreme (I'm all for deporting illegals and increased border patrol but I don't think every Hispanic male is a rapist and we don't need a giant wall between us and Mexico. As well as his tax plan not actually being any good. I'll have to look up his stance on the tpp and other trade agendas but if he supports those then he clearly only cares about the interests of big business which to me is not a good understandment of trade.

Posted by moy23 on 10/6/2015 10:44:00 AM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 10:23:00 AM (view original):
Well considering about 2 trillion of the government spending is on social programs and Healthcare I find it kind of important for the government be able to fund them. As well as things not getting quite as much funding like education but would probably get cut faster than our military spending.

Explain why national debt is a problem in the first place?

$1.011 trillion of federal spending is on government pensions.
$1.107 trillion of federal spending is on healthcare
$119.2 million of federal spending is on education (because this is funded at the state and local levels)
$851.8 million of fedaral spending is on defense (of which $180 million goes to veterans and $42 to foreign aid)
$393.2 million of federal spending is on welfare (including unemployment)
$283.0 million of federal spending is on interest payments



I think we need pension overhaul... And healthcare overhaul. The federal government should not be spending 50% of yours and my tax money on retirement plans for federal employees and national healthcare. Pensions need to be self funded for those still in the workforce and healthcare can start cutting its costs by reducing fraud (in 2014 the US government recovered $6 BILLION in fraud related lawsuits). $6 Billion is just scratching the surface.


I personally don't like the national debt because I'm aa less taxes, small government guy. The federal government should be doing 3 things - 1) national defense 2) uphold the law (not make the law) 3) central bank (fiscal policy). Everything else should be managed by the individual states.

Ah we have some major differences at an theoritical core, I'm very left wing authoritarianism(yes it does exist) But it can't function realistically. Especially in America of all places

I do agree the federal spending on Healthcare and pensions in its current form is atrocious and both need a rehaul. Obama care is crap, I guess I'd say I'm for a single payer health care.

Off the top of my head I have no plan or idea on redoing pension funding and without looking into it right away I wouldn't say anything on it atm

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 10:45:00 AM (view original):
I'll have to look more into Rubio as I don't really know much about him.

But I'm a little worried you think Carson seems reasonable, this is the same guy that says you can't believe in god and evolution at the same time since evolution is the Devils work? Yeh he's a great surgeon, but anything else his has said has no appeal to anyone except extreme hard core right wing christians. I'll give him a shot at winning the Republican nomination but there's no way he'd even come close to winning a general election even against corporate puppet Clinton due to his extreme religious statements.

Trump looked okay until his extreme immigration stance and horrible tax cuts, I loved his non pc attitude, but immigration is too extreme (I'm all for deporting illegals and increased border patrol but I don't think every Hispanic male is a rapist and we don't need a giant wall between us and Mexico. As well as his tax plan not actually being any good. I'll have to look up his stance on the tpp and other trade agendas but if he supports those then he clearly only cares about the interests of big business which to me is not a good understandment of trade.

Carson's religious views don't really bother me.... Even though I am NOT at all a religious person. He's not going to overturn Roe v Wade. He's not going to be able to stop the gay marriage movement. Where he is strong is understanding how to move forward and look for opportunities rather than dwell on unfairness.... In particular the black community. I think he could do well uniting people where Obama failed... And let's face it, this country needs a lot less divisiveness. You should actually listen to him speak about real issues (I don't consider the media coverage of evolution a real issue) cause he offers up very tactical solutions... Especially to rebuilding depressed communities, education, and economic opportunities.


Trump is a mixed bag. You get some liberal ideas like continued social security, planned parenthood funding (and even spoke about single payer healthcare in the past) with some hard care right ideas like ILLEGAL Immigration and lower taxation. The appeal is the non-PC, the art of dealing, and the backbone this nation sorely needs. Unfortunately he's ****** off most Latinos in his wake. Then again, the media hasn't fairly represented Trump especially if you think trump intended EVERY Hispanic male is a rapist. As far as trade goes.... Without supporting the growth of big business how do you recommend we create more jobs in the USA, in particular high paying manufacturing jobs?

Posted by moy23 on 10/6/2015 11:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 10:45:00 AM (view original):
I'll have to look more into Rubio as I don't really know much about him.

But I'm a little worried you think Carson seems reasonable, this is the same guy that says you can't believe in god and evolution at the same time since evolution is the Devils work? Yeh he's a great surgeon, but anything else his has said has no appeal to anyone except extreme hard core right wing christians. I'll give him a shot at winning the Republican nomination but there's no way he'd even come close to winning a general election even against corporate puppet Clinton due to his extreme religious statements.

Trump looked okay until his extreme immigration stance and horrible tax cuts, I loved his non pc attitude, but immigration is too extreme (I'm all for deporting illegals and increased border patrol but I don't think every Hispanic male is a rapist and we don't need a giant wall between us and Mexico. As well as his tax plan not actually being any good. I'll have to look up his stance on the tpp and other trade agendas but if he supports those then he clearly only cares about the interests of big business which to me is not a good understandment of trade.

Carson's religious views don't really bother me.... Even though I am NOT at all a religious person. He's not going to overturn Roe v Wade. He's not going to be able to stop the gay marriage movement. Where he is strong is understanding how to move forward and look for opportunities rather than dwell on unfairness.... In particular the black community. I think he could do well uniting people where Obama failed... And let's face it, this country needs a lot less divisiveness. I actually don't think you've ever listened to him speak about real issues (I don't consider the media coverage of evolution a real issue) cause he offers up very tactical solutions... Especially to rebuilding depressed communities, education, and economic opportunities.


Trump is a mixed bag. You get some liberal ideas like continued social security, planned parenthood funding (and even spoke about single payer healthcare in the past) with some hard care right ideas like ILLEGAL Immigration and lower taxation. The appeal is the non-PC, the art of dealing, and the backbone this nation sorely needs. Unfortunately he's ****** off most Latinos in his wake. Then again, the media hasn't fairly represented Trump especially if you think trump intended EVERY Hispanic male is a rapist. As far as trade goes.... Without supporting the growth of big business how do you recommend we create more jobs in the USA, in particular high paying manufacturing jobs?

I guess my biggest political issues with Carson is the flat tax. Personally the flat tax to me is an absurdly stupid idea.  And yes one of my biggest negatives about him is his strong religious views and I think that is a concern especially with at least 1 supreme court seat most likely being appointed by the next president I would be wary of Carson's ability to make an informed decision on who he would put forth to the Senate giving the right wing a possible majority.

However I did just search Ben Carson political views and got to ontheissues(never read it before) and he does actually make some solid points, I like his stance on Education, healthcare(the HSA is interesting but would need to see more about it and doesn't look like it could work in the US compared to other systems), crime(minus drugs), and minimum wage(increase and index)  I still do not like his tax/budget idea's as well as his strongly held religious views which while I think he has some strong support for education I would be highly worried about the religious influence he would put there which would actually be my biggest concern about his religious beliefs)

Overall though the tax/budget ideas being my #1 issue I stand on I would lean on no, but I guess I can thank you for leading me to reading about him, he does seem a lot less crazy than just "religious freek", now I can considering him a religious freek with some actually solid ideas that could be contributed.

The TPP and all those trade deals don't actually help the working, but hurt Americans, all they do is benefit the multinational corporations and actually would make it easier to send jobs overseas to low wage countries, lowering US jobs especially manufacturing jobs and keep U.S. wages low.

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 11:57:00 AM (view original):

Posted by moy23 on 10/6/2015 11:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 10:45:00 AM (view original):
I'll have to look more into Rubio as I don't really know much about him.

But I'm a little worried you think Carson seems reasonable, this is the same guy that says you can't believe in god and evolution at the same time since evolution is the Devils work? Yeh he's a great surgeon, but anything else his has said has no appeal to anyone except extreme hard core right wing christians. I'll give him a shot at winning the Republican nomination but there's no way he'd even come close to winning a general election even against corporate puppet Clinton due to his extreme religious statements.

Trump looked okay until his extreme immigration stance and horrible tax cuts, I loved his non pc attitude, but immigration is too extreme (I'm all for deporting illegals and increased border patrol but I don't think every Hispanic male is a rapist and we don't need a giant wall between us and Mexico. As well as his tax plan not actually being any good. I'll have to look up his stance on the tpp and other trade agendas but if he supports those then he clearly only cares about the interests of big business which to me is not a good understandment of trade.

Carson's religious views don't really bother me.... Even though I am NOT at all a religious person. He's not going to overturn Roe v Wade. He's not going to be able to stop the gay marriage movement. Where he is strong is understanding how to move forward and look for opportunities rather than dwell on unfairness.... In particular the black community. I think he could do well uniting people where Obama failed... And let's face it, this country needs a lot less divisiveness. I actually don't think you've ever listened to him speak about real issues (I don't consider the media coverage of evolution a real issue) cause he offers up very tactical solutions... Especially to rebuilding depressed communities, education, and economic opportunities.


Trump is a mixed bag. You get some liberal ideas like continued social security, planned parenthood funding (and even spoke about single payer healthcare in the past) with some hard care right ideas like ILLEGAL Immigration and lower taxation. The appeal is the non-PC, the art of dealing, and the backbone this nation sorely needs. Unfortunately he's ****** off most Latinos in his wake. Then again, the media hasn't fairly represented Trump especially if you think trump intended EVERY Hispanic male is a rapist. As far as trade goes.... Without supporting the growth of big business how do you recommend we create more jobs in the USA, in particular high paying manufacturing jobs?

I guess my biggest political issues with Carson is the flat tax. Personally the flat tax to me is an absurdly stupid idea.  And yes one of my biggest negatives about him is his strong religious views and I think that is a concern especially with at least 1 supreme court seat most likely being appointed by the next president I would be wary of Carson's ability to make an informed decision on who he would put forth to the Senate giving the right wing a possible majority.

However I did just search Ben Carson political views and got to ontheissues(never read it before) and he does actually make some solid points, I like his stance on Education, healthcare(the HSA is interesting but would need to see more about it and doesn't look like it could work in the US compared to other systems), crime(minus drugs), and minimum wage(increase and index)  I still do not like his tax/budget idea's as well as his strongly held religious views which while I think he has some strong support for education I would be highly worried about the religious influence he would put there which would actually be my biggest concern about his religious beliefs)

Overall though the tax/budget ideas being my #1 issue I stand on I would lean on no, but I guess I can thank you for leading me to reading about him, he does seem a lot less crazy than just "religious freek", now I can considering him a religious freek with some actually solid ideas that could be contributed.

The TPP and all those trade deals don't actually help the working, but hurt Americans, all they do is benefit the multinational corporations and actually would make it easier to send jobs overseas to low wage countries, lowering US jobs especially manufacturing jobs and keep U.S. wages low.

You and I are in agreement - "now I can considering him a religious freek with some actually solid ideas that could be contributed."


And as for the TPP.... Here is Trump yesterday declaring war on 'Obamatrade' saying essentially the same thing you are:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/05/exclusive-donald-trump-declares-war-on-obamatrade-time-to-send-a-real-businessman-to-white-house-to-end-this/

“The only entities to benefit from this trade deal will be other countries, particularly China and Japan, and big corporations in America,” Trump tells Breitbart News.

Posted by moy23 on 10/6/2015 10:44:00 AM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 10/6/2015 10:23:00 AM (view original):
Well considering about 2 trillion of the government spending is on social programs and Healthcare I find it kind of important for the government be able to fund them. As well as things not getting quite as much funding like education but would probably get cut faster than our military spending.

Explain why national debt is a problem in the first place?

$1.011 trillion of federal spending is on government pensions.
$1.107 trillion of federal spending is on healthcare
$119.2 million of federal spending is on education (because this is funded at the state and local levels)
$851.8 million of fedaral spending is on defense (of which $180 million goes to veterans and $42 to foreign aid)
$393.2 million of federal spending is on welfare (including unemployment)
$283.0 million of federal spending is on interest payments



I think we need pension overhaul... And healthcare overhaul. The federal government should not be spending 50% of yours and my tax money on retirement plans for federal employees and national healthcare. Pensions need to be self funded for those still in the workforce and healthcare can start cutting its costs by reducing fraud (in 2014 the US government recovered $6 BILLION in fraud related lawsuits). $6 Billion is just scratching the surface.


I personally don't like the national debt because I'm aa less taxes, small government guy. The federal government should be doing 3 things - 1) national defense 2) uphold the law (not make the law) 3) central bank (fiscal policy). Everything else should be managed by the individual states.

I think you misunderstand.

The $1+ trillion you have labeled as government pensions is Social Security. Not retirement for federal employees. Federal employee retirement is grouped in with veterans retirement. In 2014, that was about $280 billion or 8% of the budget.

All of your "millions" should be "billions."

Social security 24%
Healthcare 24%
Defense 18%
Welfare (food stamps, EITC, housing, diability, utility assistance, etc.) 11%
Federal retirement (includes veterans health & retirement) 8%
Debt service 7%
Transportation & infrastructure 3%
Education 2%
Science and medical research 2%
non-security international 1%

And didn't you just argue that the government should raise taxes?

Posted by bad_luck on 10/6/2015 12:11:00 PM (view original):
And didn't you just argue that the government should raise taxes?

I did... I said if someone truly wants to do what needs to be done they'd have to increase taxes on everyone and reduce spending big time. Our spending programs continue to grow out of control and we know our tax revenues will not keep up in an economic downturn.

Do you see any candidates campaigning on that platform?

Posted by moy23 on 10/6/2015 12:15:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bad_luck on 10/6/2015 12:11:00 PM (view original):
And didn't you just argue that the government should raise taxes?

I did... I said if someone truly wants to do what needs to be done they'd have to increase taxes on everyone and reduce spending big time. Our spending programs continue to grow out of control and we know our tax revenues will not keep up in an economic downturn.

Do you see any candidates campaigning on that platform?

no major republican candidate is.

Clinton "says" she would but she's a shill who would say anything to gain public approval

O'Malley and Sanders are big on increasing taxes on the upper echelon, but I highly doubt the Dem's let anyone but Hillary get on the ballot.

Taxes would easily keep up in an economic downturn with higher progressive taxes since they barely feel the affects of a recession since they pin all the problems on the lower classes or get bailed out by the government.(as well as the upper class causing the last major recession)

Posted by moy23 on 10/6/2015 12:15:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bad_luck on 10/6/2015 12:11:00 PM (view original):
And didn't you just argue that the government should raise taxes?

I did... I said if someone truly wants to do what needs to be done they'd have to increase taxes on everyone and reduce spending big time. Our spending programs continue to grow out of control and we know our tax revenues will not keep up in an economic downturn.

Do you see any candidates campaigning on that platform?

Is spending out of control?

Or has the deficit been shrinking the last few years?