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CNN: Where are the Democrats' ideas? (Obviously, they should read DU!)

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grahamhgreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 01:13 AM
Original message
CNN: Where are the Democrats' ideas? (Obviously, they should read DU!)
Edited on Tue Aug-09-11 01:19 AM by grahamhgreen
"...The essence of the Democratic response, certainly from the White House, was that they disagreed on the size of the cuts that were needed. Obama also put up a half-hearted case for raising revenue on the wealthy, though he has done little over the last year to try to get that passed.

Indeed, in December, the last time Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, Obama agreed to extend President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

The irony is that liberals often have public opinion on their side. Yet Democrats are frequently scared to say what a majority of Americans think.

Polls show consistently that the public has favored raising taxes on the wealthy to help lower the deficit. Polls also show that voters like and expect many of the government services that Republicans have moved to cut. Jobs, not deficits, are the No. 1 concern. Polls have shown that the public was unhappy with the performance of the GOP during the debt ceiling crisis and they have negative views of the Tea Party...."

MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/08/zelizer.democrats.ideas/index.html


_________________________________________________

Well, here are just a few of the Dem's ideas, solutions actually, I've seen us suggested on DU:

- Re-Tax the Rich at the rates of the Greatest Generation
- End the wars
- prosecute banksters and Bush crime
- Don't cut, instead increase entitlement spending to stimulate economy
- Increase Chinese tariffs, end 'free' trade
- build wind-farms not nukes
- jobs programs rebuilding infrastructure
- pump money into public schools
- Medicare for all
- Stop seeking to compromise with unworkable ideas that are really scams
- etc

In short, Obama should replace his cabinet with Progressives, because we have the solutions that will work!
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 01:16 AM
Response to Original message
1. Alas we are not part of the elite
:-)

But it would be nice.
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Tx4obama Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 01:41 AM
Response to Original message
2. There are at least FOUR things on your list that Obama is trying to do.
So, I don't see what the purpose of using things that 'Obama wants done'
to use against him in a list of what should be done.

But lately up is down and down is up apparently. :crazy:

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jaysunb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 01:49 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. +1 n/t
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pansypoo53219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 02:09 AM
Response to Original message
4. not ideas. SOLUTIONS.
nt
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johnd83 Donating Member (190 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 02:38 AM
Response to Original message
5. Not on Fox News
Which all the major channels seem to just repeat these days.
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ProfessionalLeftist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 03:07 AM
Response to Original message
6. Would the corprat-owned media publicize Democrats 'ideas'? They don't and that
Edited on Tue Aug-09-11 03:08 AM by ProfessionalLeftist
is part of the problem. It's not that they don't exist. It's that the M$M won't broadcast or publicize them. Then they claim Dems "don't have any ideas". That's like gagging someone with a rag and duct tape and then bitching because they never talk to you.

Obama's half-ass, pretentious babble about wanting to 'raise revenues' is pablum for the peasants, all while he continues to repeat Obstinate Party talking points about how we need to slash "entitlements" (which is pure bullshit). So, what we get out of him is lies and bullshit. He never did anything about raising revenues and he never will because he doesn't WANT to. And that adds to the "Dems have no plan" argument.

The other problem is that he (and other Dems for that matter) have rarely if ever come out strongly for or against anything BEFORE serious negotiations begin in the chambers of government. Meaning: He. Won't. Lead. Except in all the wrong directions (AFTER the fact) and in directions which are OPPOSITE of where the American people want to go and where the American people (including hundreds of economists) know we NEED to go.

So we got lies, bullshit, and deaf ears.

So in my view, this crap about "Dems have no plan" is partially the idiot media's and partially Obama's and the Dems.

And let's not forget that even if Obama and Dems were waving plans around on the air every day, Obstinates would still claim "Dems have no plan".
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eilen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 05:10 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. Most of us don't really know what he believes in.
As he consistently takes both sides. I don't trust what he says in speeches anymore. Sorry. I don't even try to think about the elections coming up, it is just too depressing.
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Enthusiast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 05:18 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. I am mystified as to what
Obama will say on the campaign stump. What can he say?

I think he is going to do an LBJ close enough to the election that we will end up with Biden as a candidate.
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swilton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 09:56 AM
Response to Reply #6
11. I don't agree with the 'victimhood' notion that
lack of support/coverage by the MSM prevents the left from articulating a message.....The left can no longer blame lack of finances/lack of MSM support for its predicament.....Buying into this notion merely reinforces the control that corporate forces have over the left and the requisite MSM support is a myth perpetuated for that reason....There have been greater social transformations outside the US without MSM support - and to ignore this is another example of American exceptionalism/ again a 'talking point' that reinforces the status quo. The left has the following w/wo the MSM which provides it hope - It does have moral authority, it also has numbers over the corpratocracy and it also has innovation/capacity to think outside of the box which is where the real solutions will be found. If the left/ social transformation have to wait to get the MSM on board, it will be locked into the quicksand that it is in until hell freezes over.

As for the Democrats having any ideas - they don't have any ideas. Furthermore, if Obama were to articulate such ideas, no one would believe him per his Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde transformation between 2008 and the present. The only thing that Obama has to run on now is that the Republicons would be worse...that is why he is baggage for the Democratic Party and if they want to prevent a split, they should primary him.
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NorthCarolina Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 06:53 AM
Response to Original message
9. Those are Dem "Voter" ideas. Those ideas represent what many "elected" Dems work hard to prevent
on behalf of their Wall Street benefactors.
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Scuba Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 07:24 AM
Response to Original message
10. It's right here...
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swilton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 10:16 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. The link doesn't work -
perhaps it was taken down for its promulgation of blasphemy.
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grahamhgreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 10:42 AM
Response to Reply #12
13. Stangely, the link to the Peoples Budget is not working -
Here is the cached version, and here is what it says, if we could get the administration on board, we could have some real dialog:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oEdGuNxF4bsJ:cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm%3Fsectionid%3D70+Progressive+caucus+budget&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

The People’s Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness. The People’s Budget recognizes that in order to compete, our nation needs every American to be productive, and in order to be productive we need to raise our skills to meet modern needs.

Our Budget Eliminates the Deficit and Raises a $31 Billion Surplus In Ten Years
Our budget protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and responsibly eliminates the deficit by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession.

Our Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores America’s Competitiveness
• Trains teachers and restores schools; rebuilds roads and bridges and ensures that users help pay for them
• Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programs

Our Budget Creates a Fairer Tax System
• Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012
• Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students
• Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more
• Implements a progressive estate tax
• Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations
• Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchange

Our Budget Protects Health
• Enacts a health care public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies
• Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decade

Our Budget Safeguards Social Security for the Next 75 Years
• Eliminates the individual Social Security payroll cap to make sure upper income earners pay their fair share
• Increases benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side

Our Budget Brings Our Troops Home
• Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad
• Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programs

Our Budget’s Bottom Line
• Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion
• Spending cuts of $1.7 trillion
• Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion
• Public investment $1.7 trillion




Support for the People's Budget

Paul Krugman

“genuinely courageous”

“achieves this without dismantling the legacy of the New Deal”

Dean Baker

"if you want a serious effort to balance the budget, here it is."

Jeffrey Sachs

“A bolt of hope…humane, responsible, and most of all sensible”

The Economist

“Courageous”

“Mr Ryan's plan adds (by its own claims) $6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, but promises to balance the budget by sometime in the 2030s by cutting programmes for the poor and the elderly. The Progressive Caucus's plan would (by its own claims) balance the budget by 2021 by cutting defence spending and raising taxes, mainly on rich people.”

The New Republic

“In passing, Miller also draws attention something that's gotten far too little attention in this debate. The most fiscally responsible plan seems to be neither the Republicans' nor the president's. It's the Congressional Progressive Caucus plan…”

The Washington Post

"It’s much more courageous to propose taxes on the rich and powerful than spending cuts on the poor and disabled."

Rachel Maddow

“Balances the budget 20 years earlier than Paul Ryan even tries to”

The Guardian

“the most fiscally responsible in town… would balance the books by 2021“

The Nation

"the strongest rebuke...to the unconscionable 'Ryan Budget' for FY 2012."

Center for American Progress

"once again put requiring more sacrifice from the luckiest among us back on the table"

Economic Policy Institute

"National budget policy should adequately fund up-front job creation, invest in long-term economic growth, reform the tax code, and put the debt on a sustainable path while protecting the economic security of low-income Americans and growing the middle class. The proposal by the Congressional Progressive caucus achieves all of these goals."

The Washington Post

“The Congressional Progressive Caucus plan wins the fiscal responsibility derby thus far."

Rolling Stone

"This is more than a fantasy document. It's sound policy."

Forbes

"instead of gutting programs for the poor like Medicaid and Medicare, food stamps, and the new healthcare law, the People’s Budget focuses on cuts in defense. It also doesn’t scrap new financial regulations designed to at least partly stave off another massive financial collapse like the one that put us in this mess in the first place."
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swilton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 11:34 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. Thanks, yes I saw this
and voted on my preferred budget (Obama's, Boehner's, the Progressive Caucus) through the website for Veterans for Peace....

Want to vote on it?

Here's the link - results are to be delivered to the W/H..

https://federalbudgetpoll.questionpro.com/
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primavera Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-09-11 01:04 PM
Response to Original message
15. "Democrats are frequently scared to say what a majority of Americans think."
Ain't that the motherfuckin' truth!
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