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And Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) is out. Jeff Merkley Just Released the Best Presidential Announcement Video Yet (and He's Not Running)
Where are his tax returns? Or does he take a different path there, as well?Bernie has long been understood to be on his own path.
I agree it would be off the point but I have to say that one of the reasons I'm highly suspicious of Bernie Sanders is that I don't think he's so much a socialist as a left-wing populist, not unlike our Jeremy Corbyn and his Corbynista cult, who are one of the reasons the Labour Party are having such difficulties.
I've recently finished reading Corbynism: A Critical Approach, a left-wing analysis and critique of Corbyn and his policies, and the authors make some very persuasive points about how close Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon, and Jeremy Corbyn all seem to be in many points of their understanding (which the authors would say is oversimplified and unhistorical) both of capitalism and social relationships within capitalism and of nature and role of the nation state.
These, I would stress, are not simply academic criticisms. Portraying modern capitalist relationships simply as an innocent system that's been hijacked and forced to serve the interests of a corrupt and selfish "few" or "one percent" or elite of globalists and international capitalists , which simply needs to be brought under the control of the nation state, to work fairly on behalf of the many, or the 99%, or whatever, leads to very real and, I would say, potentially very undesirable political consequences.
I'm not sure I'd even call Sanders a populist. I think he is just plain old left of center. Calling himself "socialist" serves mainly to defang hard Right criticisms where "socialist" has become a synonym for any Democrat at all.
"Capitalism" is also used incorrectly here, so for example Fannie Mae, privatized prisons and de facto government supported health insurance companies are all called "capitalist" even though they're really examples of corporations making money off taxpayers and students.
These are the kinds of companies also considered by many to be corruption, so the complaints against corruption aren't actually complaints against normally regulated capitalism. This is the subject Warren has become famous for. Having the government take direct control of taxpayer money now going into corporations will be smeared as "socialism," as if taxpayers don't have the right to control our own money.
I don't think most American voters understand either the word "socialist" or "capitalist" in any accurate sense. They've just become polarized swear words.
I don't think we really have any kind of Marxist Left to speak of. Almost everyone in Congress, and any state governor, is left of center at most.
It's no excuse, but honestly... if I knew that I had a good shot at not winning, I wouldn't bother to release mine, either.Where are his tax returns? Or does he take a different path there, as well?
I'm sure Trump probably used that same logic, and, when he actually did win, decided he didn't need to.It's no excuse, but honestly... if I knew that I had a good shot at not winning, I wouldn't bother to release mine, either.
I suspect the reason he hasn't released them is his wife was a university president, making about twice what he did as a senator. Together they earned half a million a year, plus whatever other assets and incomes they have accumulated over the years. That puts them firmly out of the "common man" character he likes to project, and into the 1%'er bracket.It's no excuse, but honestly... if I knew that I had a good shot at not winning, I wouldn't bother to release mine, either.
Could someone please remind me again why it would be inappropriate to call Trump a fascist rube and wannabe dictator?
Because President Trump is not a rube and not a wannabe. He holds real power and has real influence. He is dangerous and should not be underestimated nor trivialized.Could someone please remind me again why it would be inappropriate to call Trump a fascist rube and wannabe dictator?
If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper-middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end - people like myself - should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it. - Warren BuffettThing is, I don't care how much money an older person has managed to save away or whatever, it more depends on what they DO. My mom is worth a good bit now, but she donated time and money to help others, and has a unique perspective on just what's wrong with this country; as she puts it, she thinks its wrong that having more money, mostly from investments, that she pays so much less in taxes than we do.
Yes, until people talked about it on here I did not even know he had not released them yet. The funny thing is everyone complains the elections get earlier every year then also complains when candidates do not have all their i's dotted and t's crossed well in advance.Thing is, I don't care how much money an older person has managed to save away or whatever, it more depends on what they DO. My mom is worth a good bit now, but she donated time and money to help others, and has a unique perspective on just what's wrong with this country; as she puts it, she thinks its wrong that having more money, mostly from investments, that she pays so much less in taxes than we do.
Umm, how does the president get to decide who gets to host debates?
Donald does not want to debate at all. At least not against anyone who knows stuff.
Apparently Hillary Clinton released her tax returns covering 2007 to 2014 in July 2015 (she'd already released 8 years' worth, I think, during her previous attempt to gain the Democratic nomination) and then released her tax returns for 2015 in August 2016.Of course, if Sanders has not released them he should and by about the same time as everyone else (whenever that is). If the reason is something like his wife's earnings or his age just attach a statement about that. After what donnie is pulling with not releasing them doing the same would be political suicide.