Just a note, there has always been a overall deficit... There is a BUDGET SURPLUS for the last few years of the Clinton administration but the government still owned money it just was reducing it.
Just a note, there has always been a overall deficit... There is a BUDGET SURPLUS for the last few years of the Clinton administration but the government still owned money it just was reducing it.
What you call "overall deficit" is what most people would call "debt". That's why I said:
I think you're confusing debt with deficit.
I don't think anyone expects the current U.S. debt to disappear within a year or even in the near future; it's at around 94% of GDP, so even with crazy high taxes it would take a while to get rid of the debt.
On that note, it's much more meaningful to use % of GDP to express these figures than raw values. Debt can grow as a raw value while becoming lower as a % of GDP, i.e. being easier to handle.
Just a note, there has always been a overall deficit... There is a BUDGET SURPLUS for the last few years of the Clinton administration but the government still owned money it just was reducing it.
Nope.
I found this site which has a neat chart but I can't ascertain who is behind the site (like to avoid the ad-homi-nom-noms, y'know?) Blue below the base line is a surplus.
You can play around with the chart making app.
I saw some other references to 1969 being the last surplus year until 1998 but I can't seem to find them now that I'm home and searching for them.
1) In CT you have to show your drivers license at the polling place. They compare it to the list of registered voters and check you off.
2) Voter fraud is real, it does happen, people go to jail for it.
3) I've heard there are some groups out there who want you to prove US citizenship when you go to vote, how do you do that? Would you have to carry a copy of your birth certificate with you? I don't have a "citizenship card" and in many states non-citizens can get drivers licenses.
4) Has anyone recently registered to vote? What sort of "proof of existence" was required to register?
5) Here's a crazy idea, let's vote via fingerprints! When you fill out your ballot rather than fill in the circle you dib your finger in ink and leave a fingerprint in the box! With computer scanners the system could figure out if anyone voted more than once.Nope, that would deprive us of the right of the secret ballot.
6) How do you preserve the privacy of voting and insure no one cheats?
5) Here's a crazy idea, let's vote via fingerprints! When you fill out your ballot rather than fill in the circle you dib your finger in ink and leave a fingerprint in the box! With computer scanners the system could figure out if anyone voted more than once.
Unless you get a partial print, in which case do you count the vote or not? Also, your vote should be anonymous, having your identity tied to a vote is a huge violation of privacy.
5) Here's a crazy idea, let's vote via fingerprints! When you fill out your ballot rather than fill in the circle you dib your finger in ink and leave a fingerprint in the box! With computer scanners the system could figure out if anyone voted more than once.
Unless you get a partial print, in which case do you count the vote or not? Also, your vote should be anonymous, having your identity tied to a vote is a huge violation of privacy.
I mentioned the secret ballot/privacy issue in my 'hidden/white' text. Why didn't it show up when you quoted me?
5) Here's a crazy idea, let's vote via fingerprints! When you fill out your ballot rather than fill in the circle you dib your finger in ink and leave a fingerprint in the box! With computer scanners the system could figure out if anyone voted more than once.
Unless you get a partial print, in which case do you count the vote or not? Also, your vote should be anonymous, having your identity tied to a vote is a huge violation of privacy.
I mentioned the secret ballot/privacy issue in my 'hidden/white' text. Why didn't it show up when you quoted me?
He probably selected part of your post in order to quote it, only quoting the bits that he selected. Such are the dangers of white text.
3) I've heard there are some groups out there who want you to prove US citizenship when you go to vote, how do you do that? Would you have to carry a copy of your birth certificate with you? I don't have a "citizenship card" and in many states non-citizens can get drivers licenses.
I hear passports are a rare commodity in this day and age.
What is the virtue of "citizenship?" I did not do anything to earn it. My right to vote is an accident of birth, a perk of geography. If an alien esteemed our culture and opportunity enough and took the risk to get here, I say he's done more to earn his vote than I. Let him vote.
Ah. See, Steve has actually tried to make arguments about how people wanting to immigrate should just join the military, so I didn't even pause to consider the reference.
Ah. See, Steve has actually tried to make arguments about how people wanting to immigrate should just join the military, so I didn't even pause to consider the reference.
It is a quick path to citizenship and a Starship Troopers reference.
There is also a path to citizenship that involves investing lots of money in the US. Don't remember the name of the actual program but I have read that the slots available via this method are never completely filled.
In many ways I admire Heinlein's ideas as to what society should be like. But some days I wonder if I would really want to live there.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I know Heinlein didn't agree with what he wrote in his books, just because he wrote them. He was quite adamant that most of his ideas were merely thought experiments in service of a good story, and that anyone who thought he agreed with his fictional politics and characters were simply mistaken.
In many ways I admire Heinlein's ideas as to what society should be like. But some days I wonder if I would really want to live there.
I suppose it could be done - after all, the French Foreign legion essentially does that - Service Guarantees Citizenship, if you take them up on it when they offer it.
I'm assuming you're notseriouslysuggesting forcing immigrants to join the army.
If you replace "immigrants" with "anyone who wants to vote or hold office" and "army" with "army or service organization such as Americorps" it's really not such a bad idea.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I know Heinlein didn't agree with what he wrote in his books, just because he wrote them. He was quite adamant that most of his ideas were merely thought experiments in service of a good story, and that anyone who thought he agreed with his fictional politics and characters were simply mistaken.
He was also, I think - unlike many of his readers - aware that the fictional preconditions of his thought-experiment societies were, in fact, entirely fictional. Never forget, for example, when reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, that the politeness and order of the society is based on the fact that if you fuck up in Loonie society you promptly die, whether because your neighbors won't help you in an emergency or because they actually throw you out an airlock.
If you replace "immigrants" with "anyone who wants to vote or hold office" and "army" with "army or service organization such as Americorps" it's really not such a bad idea.
I strongly disagree. Andrew and I argued about this for nearly two hours last night. Voting is a right, not a privilege to be conferred by government. The right to vote is a truth we hold self-evident, and should not carry conditions (I would even argue against age restrictions, but that's another flamewar). When you start controlling who can vote and when, you start controlling the outcome of the vote. Also, there can be no taxation without representation.
Comments
Ah, it's good to see stuff made with Xtranormal.
On that note, it's much more meaningful to use % of GDP to express these figures than raw values. Debt can grow as a raw value while becoming lower as a % of GDP, i.e. being easier to handle.
I found this site which has a neat chart but I can't ascertain who is behind the site (like to avoid the ad-homi-nom-noms, y'know?) Blue below the base line is a surplus.
You can play around with the chart making app.
I saw some other references to 1969 being the last surplus year until 1998 but I can't seem to find them now that I'm home and searching for them.
1) In CT you have to show your drivers license at the polling place. They compare it to the list of registered voters and check you off.
2) Voter fraud is real, it does happen, people go to jail for it.
3) I've heard there are some groups out there who want you to prove US citizenship when you go to vote, how do you do that? Would you have to carry a copy of your birth certificate with you? I don't have a "citizenship card" and in many states non-citizens can get drivers licenses.
4) Has anyone recently registered to vote? What sort of "proof of existence" was required to register?
5) Here's a crazy idea, let's vote via fingerprints! When you fill out your ballot rather than fill in the circle you dib your finger in ink and leave a fingerprint in the box! With computer scanners the system could figure out if anyone voted more than once.Nope, that would deprive us of the right of the secret ballot.
6) How do you preserve the privacy of voting and insure no one cheats?
Sources
I'd say it would be better if showing ID was compulsory.
There is also a path to citizenship that involves investing lots of money in the US. Don't remember the name of the actual program but I have read that the slots available via this method are never completely filled.