Summations Only

And of course those kids mixed and poured and formed the concrete sidewalk to allow pedestrians to reach their stand ...Plus the US government (and state governments etc) create and maintain the environment where the US economy thrives.Kids in Siria are not out on sidewalks selling lemonade.In fact the US government is the biggest investor in any US business because we/they invest trillions annually to create and maintain the economic environment that makes business possible in the US.Without the US government there would be no US economy.Enjoy

Hi foreveryoung, sorry to disagree. Last time I looked at the facts it was big business capitalists that were forming the regulations - you got any evidence of marxists (a) in government or (b) making regulations? Which is, of course just your opinion, not the conclusion of any economic study.What you think you want is a government with no regulations ... I call that anarchist. Again, last time I looked it was big money banks that were closing down small businesses and foreclosing on the properties and assets.So again you need to provide evidence of government actually killing small business.I am one, and I see many avenues of help from the government. Which is, of course just your opinion, not the conclusion of any economic study.The #1 cause of poverty is not having a working\living wage, something that the government has been trying to do something about, while big business has been trying to make it even worse. You mean the TARP money that went to big bankers pockets and did not create a single job, and instead allowed them to close more jobs down and foreclose on more homes and small businesses? Then I agree -- that plus the big tax give away have had the worst effect on low and middle incomes than any other government policy.But again this was big corporation big money running the show, not your fantasy "marxists" Curiously, that actually improves the economy -- you need to have buyers to have an economy. Funny thing is that when people buy stuff that means that someone else's job is being paid for. ... and a peaceful environment maintained by police, fire departments, and yes, even the military that ensures we are not at war within the US ...Yes that would be trillions of dollars invested into all the small, medium, large and huge businesses operating within the US economy. Which is, of course just your opinion, not the conclusion of any economic study. But there isn't NO productivity, is there. People certainly are buying things every day and those things don't appear magically in stores, nor are they magically acquired without salespeople and delivery people and productive people.Funny thing is, not everyone needs to be productive in an economy for it to thrive. For many years it was common for one member of a family to work, while others stayed at home and consumed. This was enabled by having a (relatively) decent wage for work done.The economy is improved by the movement of money, and that means consumption as well as production. If production does not meet demand then there is opportunity for production to expand.Shipping jobs overseas (done by big business capitalists, not "marxists") result in loss of jobs here.So I would love to see some evidence to support your assertions, but I don't think I will get it: republicans generally do not work with facts and evidence.Enjoy.

Hi foreveryoung One of the first reactions to cognitive dissonance - where people are presented with evidence that contradicts their belief - is to attack the messenger and issue a stream of ad hominem statements. underline addedThis is actually but the tip of the iceberg on how cognitive dissonance affects peoples behavior and reactions to contradictory information.

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Attacking the Person
(argumentum ad hominem):

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Definition:

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The person presenting an argument is attacked instead of the argument itself. This takes many forms. For example, the person's character, nationality or religion may be attacked. ...

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There are three major forms of Attacking the Person:

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1. ad hominem (abusive): instead of attacking an assertion, the argument attacks the person who made the assertion.

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...

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The only way to end cognitive dissonance is to pursue the truth without bias and discarding a priori beliefs that are not supported by evidence.Good Luck

Hi foreveryoung Curiously your replies say otherwise. You are wrapped up in a bitter emotional response mode rather than an open, seeking, and unbiased one.To ignore evidence that counters beliefs is to ignore reality, and that is neither being unbiased nor open minded.Enjoy

Hi all, It's not just the infrastructure, it is also the broad cultural\social atmosphere that is protected by the military and what is allowed by regulations governing the interactions with other nations.Those girls would not have had the same experience building a lemonade stand in Syria for instance.The US government provides and protects an ecology in which business can thrive. Without the US government there would be no US economy.This is a massive annual investment in business, and the US government deserves a dividend or a fair share of the resulting profits just as much as any investor does (including workers).also see
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - Season 27 - TV Series | Comedy Central US
and
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - Season 27 - TV Series | Comedy Central USEnjoyEdited by RAZD, : daily show links

Hi Dr Adequate Not quite, as apparently that is what makes him muslim, and that is what makes him a ninja 5th column tyrantLOL

Hi Buz The farce is strong in this one ...Buz this is flat out delusional, and it is sad that you need made up garbage to characterize people. Which, curiously, is not worse than a single barrel, if accurately aimed ...... but I agree that they are very similar, that Ryan does not bring anything to the fight that is new, so he is just an under-slung second barrel. He will only please those that would vote for Mitt anyway, and may actually alienate some. So the campaigns now begin in earnest. Paul Ryan: Obama's Dream Opponent:

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It’s hard to escape the impression that conservatives view Ryan as a consolation prize for the fact that their best chance for rolling back the welfare state resides in the former Massachusetts governor who gave Democrats the bluebrint for Obamacare. But Ryan would be a terrible choice, and if you aren’t ensconsed in the conservative movement, it’s easy to see why: Ryan’s planlow taxes on the rich and higher defense spending, funded by sharp cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and most social programsis wildly unpopular with the public.

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Flip-flop Romney and pretend economics Ryan ... the GOP really is getting desperate.Enjoy

Hi Percy So who do you want to pick the next supreme court justice?Do you think Ciitizen's United "a corporation is a person" should be overturned or do you want the ads to become even more negative?EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .

Hi anglagard, Not gonna happen as would need an amendment to the constitution.What would be better -- imho -- would be to go to representational division of representatives AND no release of results UNTIL the electoral college.That way the western states would feel disenfranchised AND if a state (say Florida?) had a questionable result they could run a second election rather than have a circus.Enjoy.

Hi Dr Adequate, And go from one extreme to the other disregarding how their state votes?To me the EC is a great opportunity to delay announcing results in each state -- in case there needs to be a revote, to count all the absentee votes, and to allow western states to feel they have something to vote for -- by having the state results report state by state at the EC, with big media circus etc etcEnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .Edited by RAZD, : ..Edited by RAZD, : ...

Hi Dr Adequate, no it's A way to do it, which is rather extreme imho. It could end up with a red state voting blue or vice versa.I would prefer representational division of the EC votes.Enjoy.

Hi NoNukes Correct and that is the way it was envisaged by the founding fathers, before the development of parties.Remember that originally the person with the most EC votes became president and the person with the next most votes became vice president. There were no primaries, so there could be several candidates on the ballots, not all of them listed in every state. The founding fathers envisaged an EC that made a decision in more of a parliamentarian fashion.Enjoy

A Risky Rationale Behind Romney's Choice of Ryan - The New York Times

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When is it rational to take a big risk?

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When the status quo isn’t proceeding in a way that you feel is favorable. When you have less to lose. When you need pardon the clich, but it’s appropriate here a game change.

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When a prudent candidate like Mitt Romney picks someone like Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate, it suggests that he felt he held a losing position against President Obama. The theme that Mr. Romney’s campaign has emphasized for months and months that the president has failed as an economic leader may have persuaded 47 or 48 or 49 percent of voters to back him, he seems to have concluded. But not 50.1 percent of them, and not enough for Mr. Romney to secure 270 electoral votes.

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That reading may be correct. National polls tell different stories about the state of the race but most have Mr. Obama ahead. Polls of swing states have been a bit more consistent. In states like Ohio, Mr. Obama’s lead has been small but it has been steady and stubborn.

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AND he likely has just lost the state of Florida.It should also be a good year for democrat candidates across the board to now run against the "rAYN" budget and to save Medicare ...Enjoy

Hi Buz Both are rich, neither has had a real working class job. Romney is NOT clean on Bains, and has refuse to show his income tax returns for the years he was there -- you would be screaming conspiracy if this was a democrat.Ryan is there to distract the media with other issues and take the heat off Romney. Evangelicals I've known consider both cults. I grew up in Michigan, it is in the midwest, Wisconsin is also the midwest and they share a common border: not much geographical\social diversity there. You hope, if they can look past what Ryan wants to do to school loans. Which is neither here nor there if it's not telling the truth. His "budget" id a fantasy full of falsehoods and misrepresentations. Probably a good thing then that there is no mainstream liberal media. Being able to stonewall instead of give an honest reply is not a virtue in my book. Which is not saying much.The ones he will take social security from? The ones he will take medicare from? And neither is stellar. Perhaps he will know that a Muslim country will have Muslim leaders and where the capital of Israel is ...EnjoyEdited by RAZD, : .

Obama will win because(1) Romney is a flipper flop that represents the 1% ultra-rich and he doesn't have a clue how most people live.(2) Ryan is an ultra conservative (thinks in vitro fertilization is immoral and he wants to outlaw it) and his "budget" is based on fantasy novels by a hypocrite.(3) The "failure" of Obama to create jobs is due completely to the GOP congress stonewalling on every job bill, even ones they had previously supported.(4) The bush tax breaks for billionaires (so call "job creators") has been shown to be a failed paradigm that hasn't produced either jobs or economic prosperity in the 12+ years we've had it (note that if they actually created jobs then Obama would not have to be sending all those GOP stalled job bills to congress and the economic collapse would not have happened).and then we come to "the speech" ... here's the transcript:PICKET:(VIDEO) Obama - 'If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen' - Washington Times

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"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -⁽¹⁾- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)

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If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -⁽²⁾- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

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The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires."

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(emphasis added)
⁽¹⁾note that at this point he pauses and turns, changes gears ...
⁽²⁾... and at this point he pauses and turns again, breaking the link in the dialogue again.Curiously, when people say "the point is ... " they usually then state what the point is.You did not build that business completely on your own, you had help, you built it on the shoulders of others, you used things that others built, you used ideas that others had. You added to the whole system.For example the girls and the lemonade stand ...... take that stand and move it to the middle of a desert ...... take that stand and move it to the middle of a war zone ...... take that stand and move it to the middle of the ocean ...... and make it work with NO outside help. Good luck with that.Clearly context is critical, but we can also realize that people sometimes make unfortunate choices in wording. For instance, if he had said ...: ... there would not be such a kerfuffle ...All this shows is how desperate Romney is, and how much he is relying on the gullibility the average american to swallow Faux Noise Inc and not bother with the truth.Enjoy.Edited by RAZD, : 2