The blogosphere (the left part of it anyway) came into existence in reaction to the lead-up to the war in Iraq because the government was flagrantly lying to us and the media was not only not calling them on it (McClatchy excepted) but was actually helping the government lie to us. The little community of people who make up the elite media that covers the capital actually thought invading Iraq was a good idea, so why not help convince the American people that it was morally defensible and urgently needed?
The beauty of blogging is that makes it impossible to control the message. That’s why the Bush administration freaked out about Juan Cole and sicced the CIA on him.
The more good bloggers we have the better off we’ll be, whether it’s for holding the government accountable for its actions and statements, or whether it’s for fighting back against the mighty right-wing media wurlitzer.
I hope I do my part. But I can only do this with your generous support. It took longer than I expected to get the new server up and running, so I didn’t ask for any contributions last month. The new server went on line this morning and it’s already made me a lot happier. Pages open right up, and I can edit my articles again without having to make an appointment. You made that possible with your generous donations in April and May, and I very much hope you enjoy the site’s improvement. It’s easy to write diaries now, and I hope we see more of them as a result.
The new server does come with a price tag however. It costs $149/month versus the $99 I was paying. My coffers have taking quite a hit lately, so please consider making a contribution to the site this month.
Thank you for reading and supporting Booman Tribune.
I am glad to be able to support you efforts in some small financial way. Thanks for all your hard work. Enjoyed this site for a number of years now. Always look forward to posts and comments alike. There has always been quite the mix here and it has been a learning experience being able to hang out, watch and listen.
Thanks again, Martin!
thanks. How are you experiencing the server? Big difference? Small?
There is a noticeable difference to me on the speed. Much quicker than what I was accustomed to. I think ya’ done good!!
very cool.
Yep, definitely much faster! Good work.
I’ll toss you some cash mid-July. Promise. End of the month is tough because I have to pay rent out of this paycheck.
Very much improved – nice and thanks!
I sent a small donation earlier. If I sent a dollar for every time your good-sense analysis talked me back off a ledge, it would be a lot more.
Thanks. It’s good to know I can be of some use.
I’ll throw a few dollars into the pot. This site brings reasonable arguments to the table. Situation sucks these days. That asshole Rick Scott is going to force me to piss into a cup next year. Yeah, there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans.
thanks. Yeah, Florida. I don’t know you can take it.
Formerly form Jersey. I guess the heat has melted my brain.
Boo…keep up the good work.
Try to be more kind to the evil “millionaires and billionaires and corporate Jet users”.
We must have a past life together…I love your work, even though you believe Obama’s caricature of people like me!
God Bless!
Hey, man, I don’t care if you make a million or a billion bucks doing honest productive work or even mindless entertainment. But these rich fucks who are refusing to pay any taxes to clean up the complete devastation their greed and incompetence created? They should have every cent they own confiscated, including their clothes, and the should be whipped in a public square. That’s what should happen to those people. I don’t even know what to do with the politicians who do their bidding. Exile, perhaps.
Boo…you’re a smart guy. Although there are clearly some ignomious exceptions, surely, you must realize that the vast majority of “rich” people pay their fair share of taxes. The top 1 percent of earners take in 22 percent of all income, yet pay 40 percent of all income taxes collected by the government.
Regarding the mess we are in, wasn’t the housing asset bubble the single largest cause of this mess? In my view, Government (who pushed greater home ownership), banks (who were more than happy to realize profits from the government’s initiative), and, yes, the poor HOMEOWNERS (who lied on applications to obtain homes that they could not afford) are ALL culpable. Don’t blame the evil rich.
I’m very fortunate, and could only have gone from near poverty to my current position because of what I unequivocally believe is the greatest country in history. Consequently, I am more than happy to pay a higher percentage of taxes than lower income people because I receive a larger benefit than those folks. But there has to be a balance–when nearly half of the income someone earns is taken in income, payroll, capital gains, property, and sales tax, the system is no longer fair.
I respect Progressives because, ostensibly, one of their primary values is caring for the less fortunate. But we need the evil rich people to produce the wealth to help the needy–I don’t understand why the Obamas of the world see them as the problem, rather than the solution. Obama’s plan to eliminate the income tax deduction for charitable contributions is very telling. It’s not about helping the poor, its about power and control. Obama and his cronies want as many people dependent on government as possible in order to secure Carville’s “permanent majority”–evil rich people giving to charity threatens the hegemony of the Federal Government.
Anyway…keep up the good fight. I promised myself I wouldn’t post any more so as to not upset the pond–but sometimes I just cannot help myself!
you know what?
I flipped two homes during the boom and that’s the only reason I could afford to be a poor blogger.
But I wasn’t trying to make money that way, it just happened because of other people’s greed and insanity.
In retrospect, I wish I had lied about my income and gotten a really big house with a pool and three-car garage and silly heating/cooling bills. I could have lived it up for a couple of years and then sold for $300,000 more than I paid for it. I was a fool not to do it.
The problem was that we created all kinds of perverse incentives for people. There’s nothing wrong with making it easier for people to own a home, but you have to freaking verify that they can pay for it and that they understand what they’re getting into. The government is to blame for not regulating the mortgage market from top to bottom.
In absolute dollars, rich people are paying less in taxes than at anytime since before World War Two. We are starving the government of this country and one party wants to drown it in a bathtub.
As for Obama, I think he’s a great man, a steady, thoughtful president. Without question, he’s the most decent and best president of my lifetime. But he’s not an enemy of rich people, nor is he unfriendly with banksters. The financial industry should hang a framed picture of him and kiss it every night before they go to bed, because McCain would have destroyed everything.
Same goes for Detroit and the auto industry.
Boo…Federal Government spending as a percentage of GDP is now 25%, compared to an historical average of 18%, and is at its highest level since World War 2–how is that “starving the government”?
I want your honest opinion–from a MORAL perspective, considering all forms of taxation, what is the highest percentage of income that someone should pay in taxes? 50? 70? 100? When does it end?
When someone works and produces wealth, then someone else forcibly takes the money from them to dispose of as they see fit–isn’t that slavery?
When the reward for riding in the wagon is greater than the reward for pulling the wagon, then no one will be left to pull.
Greece is our future is we don’t strike the proper balance between Progressive values of protecting the weakest members of society with Tea Party values of limited government and individual responsibility.
.
Reading percentages is kind of tricky, the underlying GDP numbers and expenditures tells the real story. Between 1960 and 2000, the GDP grew a tenfold. In the years of economic growth, one needs to ask did the US waste its wealth … Cold War, Vietnam and the Bush years. Putting a man on the moon and the cost of research and development somehow gave the US a return in technological advantage over the Soviet Union and China. The past decade has seen US company investments in India and a downturn in Silicon Valley. How does Russia, China and the Persian Gulf states spend or invest their wealth?
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."“How does Russia, China and the Persian Gulf states spend or invest their wealth?”
Your premise is that the wealth of Russia, China and the Persian Gulf is the property of the governments of those states.
NO! NO! NO!
All wealth is created by INDIVIDUALS, NOT GOVERNMENTS! The individuals who create the wealth should be primarily responsible to “spend and invest” that wealth.
Health care costs are indisputably the single biggest problem facing this country. Government equals lack of competition equals higher prices. Paul Ryan’s plan fixes this by introducing competition to the health care market, but the only contribution Progressives have to the debate is running commercials showing a Senior Citizen being pushed off a cliff.
Pathetic.
gave what I could, BooMan.
Happy to contribute, you produce consistently well reasoned arguments that do shed light. Thanks for your effort.
We have cold hearted bastards running the world economy and it makes me wonder:
“How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?” Dylan
Earnings season starts for the stock market this week, watch what the guidance going forward indicates.
Thanks for continuing to write things well worth reading, and not just reposts of stuff seen elsewhere. I have enormous respect for you, BooMan. You keep me thoughtfully informed, emphasis on the word thoughtfully. BTW, I threw a few bucks in the pot.