Oh yes I hate the thought of Romney, but must we take Newt? Santorum would be so much better.

And why do you have to renew your auto registration every year? It's all about revenue. The more the governmental entities can spread out their revenue collections, the more the people won't realize how much they're actually paying and the less likely the chance of a revolt. It's that simple.

Actually, corporations don't pay taxes. Either they 1) make enough profit to keep their investor/shareholders happy, or they 2) go out of business. In the case of 1), they managed to pass on their taxes to their customers while still maintaining enough in profit to keep the doors open, while in the case of 2), they couldn't manage 1) so they fold up, in which case the government receives nothing. All corporate taxes should be abolished.

Amen, also.

Hoping that the media might actually investigate Obama is like hoping to find a 50 caret perfect diamond in the ground when you dig out a hole to plant some flowers. It ain't gonna happen.

Yeah, I'm afraid of Newt. He's way too much of a shoot from the hip gunslinger for my taste. I really wish Perry had actually taken some time to prepare before he started debating, He has the conservatism and temperment (read that, he's enough of a politician to engage in politics while still being decent on the issues) that I think we could have settled on him. But I suppose if he was that lazy, that's a problem, too. Romney has been so inept at actually backing up the things he claims he stands for; how do we know he stands for anything? I like Santorum, but he frames his positions in ways guarenteed to offend too many independents. Yuch.

And if anyone thinks Obama will be asked any of these (actually many are quite reasonable) questions in any debate monitored by any mainstream news organization, then I have some swampland in Florida that you might be interested in. Fair questions directed toward Obama? Yeah, right.

A really dumb comment by Rick, similar to the one that Newt made regarding Mitt making money in the private sector with Bain. There is nothing wrong and a lot right with working one's way up in the private sector and making a lot of money if successful. Mitt should be congratulated for doing so. However, that doesn't mean I agree with the way he governed in Mass., or with other positions he has taken. The arguments should be there, not with his private sector financial success. In the same way, someone shouldn't be criticized for being a "life long politician" if during that time he/she took positions that followed the Constitution and maximized the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Oh please. Just because you keep repeating this same old fairy tail doesn't make it true. The economic down we are still in was caused by the bursting of the residential real estate market bubble, which was caused by regulations promulgated by the Clinton administration in 1995 under the Community Re-investment Act passed under the Carter administration in 1977. The Clinton admin. regs. forced banks to lend to "home buyers" who couldn't afford the loan payments, etc., etc. The Bush admin tried to reign this in, but were stopped by Senate filibusters led by Sen. Dodd and the Dems. For ten plus year this caused home prices to inflate, which allowed the unqualified buyers to recoup their $$ with profit by selling. But it didn't end well. Duh.

This is another example of the discredited "Broken Window Fallacy." Yes, what is seen is that the Gov spends the money they take in taxes (in fact FedGov spends MORE than they take in.) But what is not seen is how the money would have been spent in the free market had it not been expropriated by the various governmental entities. There it would have resulted in growth as determined by free choices of all the traders, with each trade contributing to profit for sellers AND buyers benefiting from those trades. Once the money goes through the Gov, this is lost since the Gov produces nothing on it's own, and in fact just distorts the market . Some Gov is necessary, but the less, the better for everyone.