Recent content by Mike

  1. Mike

    Fed Reserve Unveils Proposed Rule to Limit Debit card swipe fees

    Transaction fees are the bread and butter of credit card companies since they are profitable for any account holder that uses their card (even if they pay their balances in full each month). Without the fees, I would guess that most credit card accounts would carry an annual fee, higher...
  2. Mike

    Tax Cuts

    The Dems had a super majority from the time Franken was seated (first week of July 2009 due to the lengthy recount court battle) until Kennedy died. If my memory is right, that was about a two month period - although I don't know if Kennedy was actively casting votes in the Senate during that...
  3. Mike

    Tax Cuts

    Why yes, tax rates had everything to do with American economic power in the '50s and '60s and it had nothing to do with any of the following: - half of Europe was under Soviet control - all of Europe and much of Asia was rebuilding following WWII; the US mainland was never bombed or invaded...
  4. Mike

    Tax Cuts

    It's funny how you selectively point to GOP opposition while ignoring the opposition from the hard left in this post. The reasonable people on the panel from the left and right supported the plan - which is precisely why it won't gain acceptance in Congress, since that chamber is run by the...
  5. Mike

    High Five vs High Three

    Overly simplistic and way way off: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1415708320100114 - FY 2010 combined spending for Iraq and Afghanistan operations = $136.8 billion. While significant, that's not even 15% of the deficit we have. In fact, the total cost of the conflicts since 2001 is a hair...
  6. Mike

    Tax Cuts

    The extension is idiotic, and the rebates or whatever they are calling them these days are equally stupid. I like the deficit commission's idea of lowering rates and gutting the bulk of the credits/deductions. Just tell us what effing rate we are going to be paying, and get rid of all this...
  7. Mike

    Pay Freeze Announcement

    Reducing the federal workforce through attrition is one of the items in the proposal to be voted on today by the deficit commission created by Obama. That is bipartisan, *not* "right-winger".
  8. Mike

    High Five vs High Three

    It's sad yet comical how strong the entitlement mentality is in some people. Lest some of you forget, we have a trillion dollar deficit. We have a debt that is approaching our GDP. These things must be brought under control, or investors will lose confidence in the country's ability to repay...
  9. Mike

    High Five vs High Three

    As long as we use fiat currency that can be created out of thin air by educated-yet-idiotic-and-reckless bearded men, all roads lead to inflation, not deflation.
  10. Mike

    Pay Freeze Announcement

    Not getting a cost of living adjustment is peanuts compared to losing your job. I'd say we federal employees got off easy on this one all things considered. I would have no problem with a reduction in force, either. I can think of at least ten people I'd fire right now at my place of...
  11. Mike

    TSP Millionaires

    Yeah, surprisingly, I am. I've been pursuing a good-looking ward clerk for awhile, but it hasn't led anywhere... yet. If a federal employee is "fabulously rich", an investigation by OIG will soon follow. :p
  12. Mike

    TSP Millionaires

    Was she attractive? ... and now they're all broke?
  13. Mike

    $50 billion ponzie

    This just proves the rich are stupid and gullible - same as the members of Congress who approved $700 billion in federal spending without any protection whatsoever against companies using the funds to fork over huge bonuses to their management. Honestly, how dumb can people be? Anyone...
  14. Mike

    TSP investors suspending contributions

    Offering up easily accessible educational courses on TSP funds and investing in general would do a world of good. While I agree with Rod that people "should educate themselves", the simple fact of the matter is most of them fail to do that. Maybe it's because they fear the complexity of the...
  15. Mike

    $50 billion ponzie

    The president's job isn't to "manage the economy". The Fed apparently believed its job is to do that, and now we are seeing disastrous results of that misguided thinking (lowering interest rates too far and for too long creates a cheap lending environment which leads to lots of leveraging /...
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