Save Big Bird

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by exotix, Oct 4, 2012.

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  1. exotix

    exotix New Member Past Donor

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    Yes Romney's big moment last night was his debt reduction plan ... eliminate Big Bird ... [​IMG]



    Romney's 'Big Bird' comment stirs social media

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/onpolitics/2012/10/03/big-birg-romney-debate-pbs/1612171/

    Who knew Sesame Street's Big Bird would play a role in Wednesday's presidential debate in Denver ?


    About 30 minutes into the verbal contest between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, the former governor explained that he would cut what he considers non-essential items in the budget, including cuts to PBS, which employs debate moderator Jim Lehrer.

    "I'm sorry Jim.
    I'm gonna stop the subsidy to PBS.
    I'm gonna stop other things," Romney said.
    "I like PBS, I like Big Bird, I actually like you too."

    At that point, someone in the Twitterverse responded by creating a @FiredBigBird account, which, as of this writing shortly after 10 p.m. ET Wednesday, had almost 9,900 followers.



    [​IMG]
     
  2. AceFrehley

    AceFrehley New Member

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    If that's the brightest spot for the evening you can come up with, you're in even bigger trouble than I thought. To say Big Bird will disappear without government subsidies is just plain silly, and reeks of blatant and transparent DESPERATION.
     
  3. BestViewedWithCable

    BestViewedWithCable Well-Known Member

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    F Big Bird and sesame street.

    making ernie and burt gay was the last straw.

    If they can make it on their own merit fine, but tax payers shouldnt be forced to fund democrat indoctrination channels like PBS.
     
  4. Dispondent

    Dispondent Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    What a genius plan by Romney, if he can generate enough private support for Big Bird he'd have even more ammo for defunding PBS! Go Big Bird, gets those private funds and off the dole...
     
  5. trucker

    trucker Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    big bird is just a socialist shill for pbs , could you imagine big bird acting conservative like this to michelle obama

    [video=youtube;ltDePH9fptc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltDePH9fptc[/video]
     
  6. glitch

    glitch Well-Known Member

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    This was one of the many specific examples Romney gave last night. One of the reasons Obama's talking point that Romney won't give any specifics sounded so lame. Romney came on the stage and layed out numerous details and specifics. Obama seemed unprepared and couldn't seem to adjust his talking points to fit reality, so just continued to repeat that Romney won't give any specifics even though this was clearly wrong. Made Obama look rather dishonest and lost up there.

    And of course the government has no business funding PBS.
     
  7. Taxcutter

    Taxcutter New Member

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    Big Bird and Sesame Street will do fine in the real world. Probably get a raise.

    Other PBS programming? Not so good.
     
  8. exotix

    exotix New Member Past Donor

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    See Bush (on tax plan) on on Oct 4, 2000 ... you saw the same identical thing from Romney last night ... ironic .. Leherer also moderated the debate.
     
  9. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    another repeal and replace with a secret plan?
     
  10. Not The Guardian

    Not The Guardian Well-Known Member

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    lol...I just tweeted this. Over 2k hits so far!

    A msg for @MittRomney http://tinyurl.com/9375oot from @BigBird #PBS Pls R/T!
     
  11. AceFrehley

    AceFrehley New Member

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    Oh and I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. I saw the lady in charge of Big Bird on CNN. She says Big Bird receives very little of his funding from the federal government, and will survive regardless.

    Snake eyes. You lose.
     
  12. AceFrehley

    AceFrehley New Member

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    Too bad it's all bull(*)(*)(*)(*). But hey, it's all pointy-headed liberal cretins have coming out of this debate- spreading fear about Big Bird. Pretty sad when you think about it. By the way, when will those cops be coming to arrest me on those charges you've trumped up???

    ROFLMAO!!! Have an AWESOME day!
     
  13. HB Surfer

    HB Surfer Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    ROFL!

    Thread win!
     
  14. HB Surfer

    HB Surfer Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    That is what I thought... Big Bird clearly can pay his own way. He is able bodied and a maker... not a taker.
     
  15. exotix

    exotix New Member Past Donor

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    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
    Dispondent and (deleted member) like this.
  16. glitch

    glitch Well-Known Member

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    Are you making crap up? Bush went with an across the board tax-cut for all taxpayers while Romney said very clearly that he would not do that. I know you want to make this election about Bush but making up lies doesn't cut it.
     
  17. keymanjim

    keymanjim New Member Past Donor

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    I'm sure Big Bird will do just fine in his future endeavors.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  18. glitch

    glitch Well-Known Member

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    People associated with that show are millionaires. They rake in mega-money selling their merchandise. They certainly don't need the government cheese.
     
  19. exotix

    exotix New Member Past Donor

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    I see ... well how many podunks can take a $50,000 tax deduction ?


    Romney’s $17,000 Deduction Limit Part of Tax Plan Concept

    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/2500-ALLTOP-BBEXCLUDE-BGOVALL/2012/10/04/id/458697

    Mitt Romney’s idea for capping individuals’ tax deductions at $17,000 would impose a burden that would fall hardest on the wealthiest taxpayers, who make the most use of the breaks.

    The Republican presidential nominee suggested capping deductions this week as an option to help pay for his proposed 20 percent cut in income tax rates and elimination of the alternative minimum tax.
    The cap would be one piece of a three- part concept for broadening the tax base that would also limit personal exemptions and the tax break for employer-sponsored health insurance, said a campaign aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the policy options in more detail.

    “This is targeting high-income people and would hit them pretty hard,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington.


    The effects of such a cap would vary greatly depending on details that Romney didn’t include when he floated the idea.

    He didn’t say how it might apply to tax breaks that aren’t deductions, such as the child tax credit.
    The former Massachusetts governor also didn’t say whether the $17,000 cap would apply per individual or per married couple.


    Three-Cap Idea

    The aide said yesterday that the deduction ceiling would be part of a three-pronged set of limits on tax breaks.
    The $17,000 cap would include deductions and credits, said the aide.
    Among the undetermined issues is how to handle the fact that a $1,000 credit, which is a subtraction from a tax bill, is different from a $1,000 deduction, which is a subtraction from income.


    A second ceiling would apply to personal exemptions and a third cap would apply to the health-care exclusion.

    The amount and details of the limits could be changed to meet Romney’s targets for revenue and distribution of the tax burden.
    The aide emphasized that the three-cap idea is only one option being considered.


    One way to limit deductions “would be to have a single number,” Romney said in last night’s debate with President Barack Obama.

    “Make up a number, $25,000, $50,000,” the Republican said.
    “Anybody can have deductions up to that amount.
    And then that number disappears for high-income people.”




    Itemizing Deductions

    About 30 percent of taxpayers itemized their deductions in 2011, according to a Tax Policy Center estimate.
    Of that group, fewer than one-third deduct more than $25,000.


    Almost all of the top 1 percent of taxpayers itemize their deductions, and those itemizers average $173,670 in deductions.
    More than three-quarters of those tax filers deduct more than $50,000.



    “Governor Romney’s tax reform plan will jump-start economic growth, cut the tax burden on the middle class, and lower tax rates across-the-board,” Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said in a statement.
    “He will pursue revenue and distributional-neutrality in reforming the tax code.
    There are a range of policy options, Governor Romney referenced one illustrative example, to achieve these goals.”

    Obama has been criticizing Romney for not spelling out details of his tax proposal.
    He has maintained that Romney’s plan would mean a shift in the tax burden from top earners to the middle class, though Romney has promised that avoiding such a change would be his top priority.

    ‘He’s Been Asked’

    “He’s been asked over 100 times how you would close those deductions and loopholes and he hasn’t been able to identify them,” Obama said during the debate with Romney.

    Ben Ginsberg, the Romney’s campaign legal counsel, said at a Politico Live 2012 debate event in Denver yesterday that Romney will provide more details “in the next five weeks.”


    By itself, a deduction cap probably wouldn’t raise enough money to offset the cost of the tax-rate cuts Romney is proposing and prevent the tax burden from shifting from top earners to others.

    In an August paper, the Tax Policy Center found that almost all tax breaks for annual income exceeding $200,000 would have to be eliminated to offset the rate cuts for that group.

    Romney’s deduction cap alone would fall short of that mark, because it would allow some itemized deductions. Romney said there could be a lower cap on deductions for higher-income households. Many tax breaks also don’t take the form of deductions.


    Won’t Solve Problem

    “This by itself will not solve the problem,” Williams said.

    For individual tax filers, the effect would differ depending on their financial situations.
    The heaviest users of tax breaks would pay more.
    Others would benefit more from the 20 percent rate cuts, even if they are losing deductions.

    “My view is that we ought to provide tax relief to people in the middle class,” Romney said during the debate last night.
    “But I’m not going to reduce the share of taxes paid by high- income people.”


    The largest deductions in the current tax code are those for charitable contributions, home-mortgage interest and state and local taxes.

    Capping the total of itemized deductions would effectively limit the benefits of those tax breaks.
    The standard deduction, used by tax filers whose deductions don’t exceed that level, is $11,900 for a married couple in 2012.


    Income Percentage

    Romney’s idea echoes a proposal from Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University economist who advises him.
    Feldstein has proposed capping deductions not at a flat dollar amount but as a percentage of adjusted gross income.

    About 80 percent of the benefits of deductions go to the top 20 percent of taxpayers, and about one-quarter of the benefits go to the top 1 percent, Williams said.

    Obama has proposed caps on itemized deductions paired with tax rate increases, not rate cuts.
    Obama’s plan would limit the benefits of deductions, credits and other tax breaks of individuals making more than $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000 to a 28 percent rate while also raising the top tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35 percent.
    That plan hasn’t advanced in Congress.

    The Obama campaign said Romney’s suggestion of a cap on deductions means he would constrain tax breaks used by millions of middle-income Americans and noted that many families deduct more than $17,000.


    Romney “is now admitting that middle-class tax increases on housing, health care and charitable deductions are on the table,” Adam Fetcher, a spokesman for Obama, said in an e- mailed statement yesterday.
    “But regardless of the twists and turns, Governor Romney has never been able to explain how he will pay for his $5 trillion tax plan without raising middle- class taxes.”




    [​IMG]
     
  20. paco

    paco New Member

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    Did Al Gore look like a bumbling, stuttering idiot that night, too? Ironically, I'd even vote for Al Gore over Obama at this point. That "altitude" excuse that he used to try to cover Obama's lame ass after last night...well, you've got to admit, that was rather clever! :grin:
     
  21. exotix

    exotix New Member Past Donor

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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Hoosier8

    Hoosier8 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You can tell that for the left, nothing could be better for the US than borrowing more money from China.
     
  23. RichT2705

    RichT2705 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Did they do that??

    Wow, if so...Im so glad my kids grew up, and tuned into sesame street at a different time. Thats not something I want to subsidize. PBS can survive on it's member donations, and if that falls short...go with advertising like every other station.
     
  24. exotix

    exotix New Member Past Donor

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    Gay ?


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InZNBcJTmWs


    [​IMG]
     
  25. fiddlerdave

    fiddlerdave Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    They have made it BIGGER than ANY private effort. Sesame Street has made FOOLS out of private industry efforts, and generated TONS of money for Public TV as well.

    They are a good example of why public efforts have great merit. Along with fire departments, police, and roads and highways.
     
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