Comments on: Inside NYC's Tea Party Protest

[JLSerrano]

I have read a lot of comments for and against the "TEA Parties". The fact is, they, as all other protest rallies will become whatever the individual viewing them wants them to be. They are not black & white. They are all a shade of gray that you can't quite figure out.
The best part is, in our country, we have the right to protest when we feel there has been wrongdoing. All of us have the right to our own opinion and as long as it does not insight violence or infringe on another's rights, those rights will not be taken away.
For me personally, this is about the way our money is being spent. It's been at least 40 years in the making. Our Presidents have always taken the brunt of the blame for the way our tax dollars have been spent but the fact is that it takes the entire Congress to pass the budget each year as well as spending legislation.
I don't know anyone (literally) that thought giving the Sec. of the Treasury a blank check for $760+ Billion was a good idea. I also don't know anyone that thinks this latest stimulus bill was either well crafted or executed. There have been several plans presented by actual Economists that would have cost far less & benefited the people far more that were tossed out the window by our elected officials (mostly attorneys by the way).
Only 10 Reps & 5 Senators (please check my numbers, I may have miscounted) did not have earmarks in this bill. None have stated that they had read the entire 400+ pages before voting on it. Whichever side you find yourself on, surely you cannot think that this was a responsible thing to do with other people's money.
Why should we bail out big businesses that have clearly not been successfully managed? Why is it so important that GM for instance stay afloat? We have Ford which is in decent shape, Chrysler which is only slightly better than GM & lets not forget Saturn which is also an American company doing well. We also have several foreign car manufacturers that use more American labor & American supplies in their cars than the "Big 3". Many of the parts on our American branded vehicles come from Mexico. I owned a Honda in 1992 which was assembled in Tennessee with American labor and all the parts on the vehicle were manufactured in America except for the engine block. I am not endorsing foreign products over American products. I am merely making the point that some "foreign" products can be just as beneficial to our economy as "American" products.
Our economy is driven by spending. When people are afraid to spend because our government tells us that we are surely headed for an economic catastrophe of course the economy will suffer. I for one have not stopped spending. Each week after my paycheck comes in, it all goes right back out. I spend just like you do, food first, mortgage second then utilities & car payments. The rest is divided over gas to get to work, clothes for the kids who never stop growing & if there's anything left, maybe a trip to the dentist or a haircut.
The bottom line is that I live within my budget & our government and business should too. We shouldn't be selling our debt to China. They will surely demand payment at the most inopportune time. We should not be printing money without backing. It's truly worthless & we will face more problems if our currency fails.
Most of all, our government representatives are supposed to be reflecting our voice. I urge all of you to check and see if your representatives have been voting the way you want them to on the issues that matter to you. Know what they think & where they stand. It's their job to stand up for you. If they are not doing their job, fire them. If you didn't do your job wouldn't you be fired?

Get involved. Too many of us are stuck because neither party is perfect. There's got to be some middle ground where we can balance social and fiscal responsibility. If you find it first, let me know.

[lagunagal]

39percent,

Welcome to my world or can I be welcomed into yours.

I was getting whacked by the State (California) and I mean whacked with penalties for turning down immigrants with no papers. Then when we started to accept them by California Court Order, the INS came in and assessed lights out penalties on us.

I've had it and we have 17,000 employees who have no idea how precarious there jobs are teetering all by way of this Government and those who have never had to meet a payroll. They say ?we don?t care Ms. ________, pay us. What are you going to do, sue us? Pay us or we assess more penalties.

And now personally, we will be giving folks who have never paid taxes in their lives our returns? 45 more months folks, I have to survive 45 more months. That?s if the government allows me to keep my business..and this statement is not made in jest. I have a partner, customer and buyer who has the largest DC overseas than we have domestically. I can conclude a sale of my company in cash within 24 hours. That?s how serious I am.

[hungry1968-15]

Hungry still wants to argue with the Founders and what they said the Constitution means. it seems that Hungry thinks he knows the Constitution better than what they did, even though they wrote it.

Sad.
Posted by mortar29 at 10:06 AM : Apr 16, 2009





Common DJ - tell us all how congress DOES NOT have the ability to create administrative laws, or federal departments like the Departments of Education, Labor, Energy, the Air Force, Coast Guard, etc, etc.

Tell us all again how the only LEGAL and CONSTITUTIONAL departments that exist are the post office, the army, and the navy!!!!

LOL!!!!!

[steeepe]

In Houston, Texas there was a diverse group of over 5000 in the downtown "party". There were several more around town that were equally represented. Marginalizing the angst that people feel about the economic direction this country is headed doesn't eliminate it. The economics of envy have been proven historically to always end badly. I am one of those "rich" people that Obama and like minded people love to castigate. I stocked groceries at night to put myself through two engineering degrees without student loans or aid. While working a full time job, I started a business on the side. I spent my weekends and vacations working and building my business. My "little" business directly employed over 80 people last year. I think the truely unfair tax policy is that my earnings are confiscated by the government to be redistributed to people and causes I disagree with. BTW, my charitable giving exceeded Obamas with an income that was one third.
Posted by 39percent at 9:57 AM : Apr 16, 2009

Good for you. Now stop whining about your success. Nobody gets to choose what their taxes support. Legislators do that. You couldn't run a country by giving everybody the choice on what to spend their taxes. Everybody would vote to lower their taxes and there would be nothing for anything.

[julesarcher1]

I think the truely unfair tax policy is that my earnings are confiscated by the government to be redistributed to people and causes I disagree with.

Posted by 39percent at 9:57 AM : Apr 16, 2009


Hey, you have to take the bad with the good.

[omega39-2009]

?I think [President Obama] is doing a terrible job, and he?s weakening this nation,? Pam Griffin said. ?Shame on everybody who voted for him.?

She went on to describe President Bush as someone who did a ?great job? and whose spending was ?totally responsible.?


YIKES! Even in my early days of drug experimentation I couldn't have assembled such a wild hallucination.

[hungry1968-15]

What was really funny about the whole tea party silliness, is Fox News took this to be the "revolution of all revolutions"!!!

The other networks reported it to be what it really was - several small groups of people protesting taxes. Just like they've been doing EVERY YEAR for the past 20+ years.

[hungry1968-15]

One thing to remember --- Glenn Beck is a Mormon and so is the Mittster. Glenn Beck is typical of how they really think!!
Posted by endeaver-2009 at 9:59 AM : Apr 16, 2009





Now, now - those are the neo con's "rising stars" you're talking about!!!

LOL!!!

[truthseeker60]

Obviously the size of the tax protests took the government by surprise, and they are still continuing their pathetic attempt to transform the issue of excessive taxation and misappropriation of tax money into a partisan issue, to turn us against each other to save their own sorry butts.
What is amazing is the large number of useful idiots in the corporate media willing to play along!
We have to stop this back and forth bickering and focus our anger on the true culprits that have stolen our Country. "God Speed USA"

[marcodele]

Where was the tea party outrage when George Bush Jr. spent the Clinton surplus by promising checks for 300 or 600 dollars if he was elected?

Where was the tea party outrage when George Bush Jr. and Dick Cheney squandered billions of dollars looking for weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist?

Where was the tea party outrage when George Bush Jr. and the Republican majority gave Halliburton Iraq billion dollar bonuses at the same time they were being fined for billing fraud?

Where was the tea party outrage when George Bush Jr. and the Republican majority kept the costs of the Iraq and Afganistan wars a secret item not included in the U.S. budget?

Where was the tea party outrage when George Bush Jr. and the Republican majority kept borrowing money from China and mortgaging our children's futures?

The tea party outrage should be redirected: look in your mirrors. And thanks for the mountain of messes the current administration inherited from the same people now holding tea parties.