[jimmydean]

Just an observation perhaps if these “alleged” (the gal at :36 and the smokin' brunette at :41 is the exception) hot chicks of wall street protest would not have job stoppers tattoos all over their body not use their face as a pin cushion dump the multiple ear piercings/holes ditch the george clinton rainbow hair color not smell like sweaty feet, patchouli and skunk weed then perhaps they too could join the rest of us at #occupyyourjob

Any of them could (and many that look like that do) work in my office. But my company hires based on skill and ability, not fashion sense or personal style. Although having some personality helps with the culture here.

Maybe things are different in Texas. And by different, I mean teh suck.

 

[mandown]

Tax rates around the world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Go pick your country.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Speaking of TEAbaggers:

One of the juicier nuggets in TIME’s wide-ranging new poll is that voters are embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement as they sour on the Tea Party. Twice as many respondents (54%) have a favorable impression of the eclectic band massing in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park than of the conservative movement that has, after two years, become a staple of the American political scene.

A closer look at the poll’s cross-tabs provides a fuller picture of the movement’s diverse support. Occupy Wall Street enjoys majority backing among men (57%) and women (51%), young (60% of respondents 18 to 34) and old (51%). Self-identified Democrats, unsurprisingly, comprise the left-leaning movement’s largest bloc, with 66% professing support. But more than half of independents (55%) harbor favorable views of the protesters, as do a third of Republicans.

As the movement has snowballed, it has become — as the Tea Party did — the subject of sneers from opponents bent on undermining its objectives and minimizing its influence. Like the Tea Party, it benefits in its incipient stages by venting a broad array of common frustrations. Many of these are vague enough that even Republicans can co-sign them. Of the respondents in TIME’s poll familiar with the protests, 86% — including 77% of Republicans — agree with the movement’s contention that Wall Street and its proxies in Washington exert too much influence over the political process. More than 70%, and 65% of Republicans, think the financial chieftains responsible for dragging the U.S. economy to the brink of implosion in the fall of 2008 should be prosecuted. Other questions reveal a sharper split along partisan lines but nonetheless reveal the strength of economic populism. Nearly 80% of respondents (96% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans) think the class chasm between rich and poor has grown too large, and 68%, including 40% of Republicans, say the affluent should pay more taxes.

There are warning signs embedded in the good news too. Not the least of these is the Tea Party’s own waning influence. That grassroots movement also grew from the seeds of economic frustration, generalized rage at Washington’s policies and a virulent strain of populism. Over time, those broadly popular sentiments calcified into a hard-line movement that regards political cooperation as grounds for a primary challenge. TIME’s poll provides a snapshot of a movement that no longer boasts the broad support it once enjoyed. Just 34% say the Tea Party has had a positive impact on U.S. politics, including just 35% of independents. Only 11% of respondents familiar with the movement call themselves members. It’s easy to trace the Tea Party’s withering support to its obstinacy; 89% of those surveyed argue that it’s better for politicians to find common ground than to be hidebound to fixed principles.

To avoid the same fate as it matures, Occupy Wall Street will have to do a better job than the Tea Party of negotiating that tightrope between principle and pragmatism. The swelling movement will have to clarify its goals, contend with Establishment forces seeking to co-opt its enthusiasm and confront the reality of a gridlocked Congress. The Tea Party backlash came only after it made that gridlock worse. For Occupy Wall Street, channeling early momentum into staying power won’t be easy, and both sides know it: 56% of respondents, including 51% of Democrats and 53% of the 18-to-34 demographic that forms the movement’s backbone, say it will ultimately have little impact on U.S. politics. The protesters’ challenge is to prove them wrong.

 

[skibunny24]

This outta raise some blood pressures for the 99%...

Bottom Line - Wal-Mart rolls back health care benefits, NYT reports

Wal-Mart rolls back health care benefits, NYT reports

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer and the nation's largest private employer, is slashing health benefits for part-time workers and raising premiums for many of its full-time staff, The New York Times reported Friday.

The newspaper said Wal-Mart announced to its workers this week that new part-time employees who work less than 24 hours per week on average would not be eligible for any of the company's health insurance plans. New employees who work 24 to 33 hours per week would not be allowed to add a spouse to their coverage, either, although children would still be covered.

The company cited rising health care costs, which have forced it to alter its insurance plans, the newspaper said. It said Wal-Mart noted that the change was not the result of the new federal health care law.

“Over the last few years, we’ve all seen our health care rates increase and it’s probably not a surprise that this year will be no different,” Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter told The New York Times. “We made the difficult decision to raise rates that will affect our associates’ medical costs. The decisions made were not easy, but they strike a balance between managing costs and providing quality care and coverage.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wal-Mart defines a full time employee as anyone who works more than 34 hours, The Associated Press reported. The news agency added that Wal-Mart employees who smoke will see their premiums rise too.
.

 

[dante]

The scariest thing is that the economic turmoil of the 20s/early 30s brought both left-wing (socialist) policies as well as right-wing (fascist) policies to the world. The same Depression that gave rise to The New Deal also gave us Hitler...

That's a sobering thought for all of us.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Only pussies complain about fairness in life. Get over it, cupcake.

Do you see me and other conservatives out protesting on wall street wanting more from the wealthy? no however you will see me and other conservatives out protesting wanting less government, less taxes and better fiscal responsibility.

The money I earn is mine not the governments to distribute to anyone else. What is unfair is punishing the producers, hardest workers and the most successful in our society by confiscating their money and distributing it to those that refuse to be held accountable for their actions, lack personal responsibility and continue to make bad life choices.

That is what is unfair.

 

[TheMontashu]

Do you see me and other conservatives out protesting on wall street wanting more from the wealthy? no however you will see me and other conservatives out protesting wanting less government, less taxes and better fiscal responsibility.

The money I earn is mine not the governments to distribute to anyone else. What is unfair is punishing the producers, hardest workers and the most successful in our society by confiscating their money and distributing it to those that refuse to be held accountable for their actions, lack personal responsibility and continue to make bad life choices.

That is what is unfair.

And here is the logical disconnect. The last republican you guys picked increased the government size more than any other president ever. As well as the increases in spending. I might be willing to consider what you have to say if the right solution wasn't blatant fiscal retardedness we barrow everything


Oh, and DUMBASS, those "job creators" haven't been creating jobs here. Thanks to the bush tax cuts, they use those intensives and ship the jobs overseas.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Oh, and DUMBASS, those "job creators" haven't been creating jobs here. Thanks to the bush tax cuts, they use those intensives and ship the jobs overseas.

so your answer is to tax em' more!!!

yeah...that will bring those jobs back over here lickity split.

 

[jonKranked]

The money I earn is mine not the governments to distribute to anyone else. What is unfair is punishing the producers, hardest workers and the most successful in our society by confiscating their money and distributing it to those that refuse to be held accountable for their actions, lack personal responsibility and continue to make bad life choices.

That is what is unfair.

CEO's and boards of executives do the exact same thing, do you think that is unfair?

 

[jimmydean]

so your answer is to tax em' more!!!

yeah...that will bring those jobs back over here lickity split.

So they should continue to get tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas rather than creating jobs here? Because they will have a change of heart and create jobs since we pointed it out to them, right?

 

[jimmydean]

The money I earn is mine not the governments to distribute to anyone else. What is unfair is punishing the producers, hardest workers and the most successful in our society by confiscating their money and distributing it to those that refuse to be held accountable for their actions, lack personal responsibility and continue to make bad life choices.

That is what is unfair.

What about the money GFF and other vets get for putting their ass on the line? You can't pitch in a little more in taxes to make sure he gets paid?

I know I can.

 

[TheMontashu]

so your answer is to tax em' more!!!

yeah...that will bring those jobs back over here lickity split.

Yes actually, let me see if you can get this concept through your head. We tax the **** out of goods and services produces bye companies over seas, and we tax the **** out of things coming from foreign companies. Then instead of giving tax breaks for shipping jobs over seas (like your brilliant republicans did) we give tax breaks for bringing jobs BACK, and creating jobs domestically. It's called protectionism, the rest of the world does it, and so should we.

 

[Hello Kitty]

What about the money GFF and other vets get for putting their ass on the line?

Call me crazy but I and many others believe that ANY veteran that joins our armed services and puts their asses on the line should pay ZERO income taxes for the rest of their lives PERIOD. I’ve got no issue with our vets getting all the services they need be it housing assistance or medical care that’s just common sense.

Why not scrap all the useless government agencies such as dept. of education, urban development, health and human services, endowment for the arts etc..etc..etc… just think of how many billions could be saved.

 

[jimmydean]

Why not scrap all the useless government agencies such as dept. of education, urban development, health and human services, endowment for the arts etc..etc..etc… just think of how many billions could be saved.

And had we not hired Halliburton to run things in our war zones, we could have saved the same without cutting any services. But the VP needed to pad his pockets, so the rest of us can suck it.

<edit> But I'm sure you would still rather kill off any sort of culture or public art project because having culture is a waste of time, money, and energy. Right?

 

[Hello Kitty]

Yes actually, let me see if you can get this concept through your head. We tax the **** out of goods and services produces bye companies over seas, and we tax the **** out of things coming from foreign companies.

Donald Trump said that exact same thing when he was kicking around the idea about running for president and I agree.

Tax incentives work at bringing business into areas of low employment a lot of poor Texas counties and cities offer great deals on land and taxes for industry to move in Bastrop county (where they had those fires) is a shining example and many smaller communities offer Wal-Mart sales tax breaks to have them move into the community to employ the citizens.

however reality is once they are gone off shore what carrot (less regulation) will you need to get the business back? and do we really have that many skilled manufacturing labor workforce available?

 

[Hello Kitty]

And had we not hired Halliburton to run things in our war zones, we could have saved the same without cutting any services.

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I&#8217;ll not hold my breath for your answer.

 

[TheMontashu]

And had we not hired Halliburton to run things in our war zones, we could have saved the same without cutting any services. But the VP needed to pad his pockets, so the rest of us can suck it.

oh oh oh!!!! I can join in

Lets see, no bid contracts too, don't forget those. AND a trillion dollar bailout

 

[TheMontashu]

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I&#8217;ll not hold my breath for your answer.

the government. Yes there is some waste, but there is no inflated multi million dollar CEOs to pay

 

[jimmydean]

Tax incentives work at bringing business into areas of low employment a lot of poor Texas counties and cities offer great deals on land and taxes for industry to move in Bastrop county (where they had those fires) is a shining example and many smaller communities offer Wal-Mart sales tax breaks to have them move into the community to employ the citizens.

I would be interested in a study of those areas showing jobs lost due to WalMart vs jobs created. I know when I lived in Woodburn, WalMart caused many long standing local businesses to close and the town as a whole has suffered.

 

[Hello Kitty]

<edit> But I'm sure you would still rather kill off any sort of culture or public art project because having culture is a waste of time, money, and energy. Right?

Do we really need our tax dollars funding the national endowment for the arts for morons that submerge a crucifix in a jar of urine?

What can be considered art is subjective I&#8217;d rather not subsidize any of it at the expense of other vital programs.

 

[stoney]

Call me crazy but I and many others believe that ANY veteran that joins our armed services and puts their asses on the line should pay ZERO income taxes for the rest of their lives PERIOD. I&#8217;ve got no issue with our vets getting all the services they need be it housing assistance or medical care that&#8217;s just common sense.

That might be the first smart thing you have said yet.

Why not scrap all the useless government agencies such as dept. of education, urban development, health and human services, endowment for the arts etc..etc..etc&#8230; just think of how many billions could be saved.

Education? Where did you go to school from K-12? You already said that you went to a state college. All of these are funded by the Dept of Ed.

H&H services? Would you prefer to have a delusional sociopath running loose on the streets, or placed in a mental hospital, protecting the general public from him?

Endowment for the arts? Arts and music are proven to help with expanded education of children which leads to a more educated populace. A more educated populace leads to more high income technical jobs in the country. That leads to higher incomes and more money staying in the country, which benefits everybody.

Oh, and we were just fine until Congress decided to open SS to use it as a debit card. that was when it went to hell because our SS debt went vertical. If I remember correctly, it was a Republican Congress under Clinton. That means that everybody is at fault.

 

[TheMontashu]

however reality is once they are gone off shore what carrot (less regulation) will you need to get the business back? and do we really have that many skilled manufacturing labor workforce available?

Alright I get it now, you're basically illiterate.

As I said, HUGE import tax, and HUGE taxes labor/ income for goods produced over seas. Instantly make it more expensive to produce over seas, then we cut taxes for domestic production and bye some magic force, because it now costs more to make junk in china than good stuff here, jobs start appearing out of no where.

See, under your "**** education" plan, we don't have a skilled work force. But if we do this novel concept of funding our schools and teaching our kids, there are plenty of educated and educatable unemployed in this country.

 

[stoney]

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I&#8217;ll not hold my breath for your answer.

The US govt did it just fine right up until the first Gulf war, when it was outsourced to Haliburton and the like. Please don't tell us that you think the US was not providing services more efficiently than any company during every war prior.

Also, if you have to pay someone, for profit, to do a service, then you can always do it more efficiently yourself if you have the knowledge. You can't honestly say that the govt doesn't have the means to train people to do what Haliburton does more efficiently.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Why not scrap all the useless government agencies such as dept. of education, urban development, health and human services, endowment for the arts etc..etc..etc&#8230; just think of how many billions could be saved.

The Taliban see what you did there.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I&#8217;ll not hold my breath for your answer.

Any of them?

But I guess we'll never know since they got wink-wink-nudge-nudge backdoor no bid contracts. Randian capatalism at its best no?

 

[jimmydean]

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I&#8217;ll not hold my breath for your answer.

And they did such a stellar job, too. That's like saying "Who would provide Americans healthy food if it wasn't for McDonald's?" No bid contracts are not the best way to find a provider of selected services. Or maybe they just do things different in Texas.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

Do we really need our tax dollars funding the national endowment for the arts for morons that submerge a crucifix in a jar of urine?

What can be considered art is subjective I&#8217;d rather not subsidize any of it at the expense of other vital programs.

Ahh..., "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano. I was in Art School during that time. I had hoped that debate would have died with Jesse Helmes.

I find in paradoxically intriguing that mouth breathers like yourself can blather away about their vast music collection yet hold the visual arts in great disdain.



And I would like to personally thank you for your tax dollars. I received a grant that was in part funded by the NEA.

Again, fvck off !

 

[JohnE]

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I’ll not hold my breath for your answer.

I take it you never experienced the "services" provided by Helliburton or KBR. No, I guarantee it.

 

[JohnE]

Do we really need our tax dollars funding the national endowment for the arts for morons that submerge a crucifix in a jar of urine?

What can be considered art is subjective I&#8217;d rather not subsidize any of it at the expense of other vital programs.

Its called freedom, snotface. This coming from the guy who wants to dump other "worthless" government departments. I bet you would love to subsidize art that you and your ilk approve of. Leni Reiffenstahl type stuff...

 

[jonKranked]

 

[Beef Supreme]

Please provide the name of ANY company that could do what Halliburton could do and services they provided over in Iraq and Afghanistan better and cheaper.

I’ll not hold my breath for your answer.

You are exposing yourself as a right wing sycophant. You have zero credibility here.

 

[Silver]

Ahh..., "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano. I was in Art School during that time. I had hoped that debate would have died with Jesse Helmes.

I've long thought that Piss Christ was hauntingly beautiful. The visual is much more stunning than the written description.

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

I've long thought that Piss Christ was hauntingly beautiful. The visual is much more stunning than the written description.

Yeah, that was pretty much the whole point of that series by Serrano. But I am sure that Hello Kitty is aware that Andres Serrano is a devout Catholic who produced a series of visually stunning photographs of religious artifacts. The title is what got all the attention. He never intended for it to be an insult to Christians, quite the opposite in fact.

 

[jonKranked]

i'll just leave this right here...

What the NYPD Really Thinks of Occupy Wall Street | Mother Jones

 

[mandown]

I heard he was trying to do a whole bodily fluid Christ project. The poop christ was too hard to see. And the spit and jizz ones took too long to fill the jar.

 

[stoney]

I wonder what will happen when rank and file start drawing the line. At some point, individual officers will not cross a line that has been drawn.

 

[Silver]

I was in a Subway in Perth last week and I got my sammich and asked for a small coke. I got handed this bucket and said I wanted a small coke, she said "that is a small", I half filled it and it was plenty. The idea of portion control is equated with a lack of value for money. I put on 2 kilograms as soon as the plane lands.

I was born the year Star Wars came out. I seem to remember that the biggest coke you could get when I was a kid was the 16 oz cup. That's ****ing kiddie size now. In 20 years, my cupholders are going to have to be made by Thule and require a hitch...

 

[syadasti]

yup. my sleeve hasn't had any impact whatsoever on my job prospects. It's an easy fix - BAM long sleeve shirt.

 

[mandown]

Funny that publishing often selects the cover that presents an image of what readers might associate with the contents. Exclusive of the raw materials, I often select a book to read based on the cover and the title, though reserve judgement of the book as a whole until i get a few pages deep.

 

[$tinkle]

You are exposing yourself as a right wing sycophant. You have zero credibility here.

You are exposing yourself as a left wing sycophant. You have an 825 credit rating here.

Give it a generation. If businesses want the accent to be gone, the accent will be gone.

not as long as they choose to identify themselves as indians first. w/ over a billion in number, why is it there's no significant number of titans of industry like anywhere else in the western world? most of the indians i work with have to be told *exactly where to put the spoon* -- no room for imagination or initiative. ironically enough, we may have the brits to thank for that.

He was on their payroll, did you bother to read the article?

i read the part where he was a volunteer. how exactly is that reflected on the payroll?