Community | January 20, 2009 | 31 comments

John Stossel goes to Washington!!!

source: http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?p=443

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critic
John Stossel goes to Washington and turns the idea of “consumer reporting” on government itself. We are all consumers of government services, so why not ask if things can be done better? Stossel starts by taking a look at taxes and learns Americans pay more in taxes than in food, clothing and shelter combined.
His investigation finds some federal programs have trouble even keeping track of their funds, much less spending them wisely.
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    News,  Politics,  WTF,  Obama,  12 more
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31 comments // John Stossel goes to Washington!!!

  • WhiteNoise
  • neocongo
    • 0
      neocongo  
    • Image

    • Wiki's not the best source, but the fact is confirmed by dozens of websites. You do the work. As for corporate taxes? The rate itself is a joke. Corporations have an army of tax lawyers that essentially ask the CEOs "how much do you want to pay? 1%? 3%? How about nothing this year?"

    • 3 years ago
  • neocongo
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike  
    • neocongo:

      Where do you get that from? The US pays extremely high taxes and not just on a Federal level. State, city, county, district,......would like a link proving that the US pays less in taxes than any developed nation in the world.....

    • 3 years ago
  • shanklinmike
  • Ragan
    • 0
      Ragan  

    • I listened as the man announced the Honorable George Bush as the President and wonder how can we the people look upon these muckraking politicians who address each other as honorable beings in view of the war, blood and terror they have created as a cruel and viscious plunderers of nations to force our ideologies on these nations by painting the earth with the blood of the nations youth. We keep the nations unemployment high to ensure we have a strong military to offer as sacrifice for more power. Today I heard as our new leader thanked the honorable George Bush for leading this nation to war and the destruction of Iraq. All during the innaugeral we heard these high earthly powers address the higher power of the invisible God as if we as a nation are drunk from the blood that has been spilled in our past history and talking to pink elephants and little gremlins as if to seek approval for our evil misdeeds. The innaugeral is entertainment our leaders offer in payment for the unlimited support of the peoples. This year the city was filled with citizens looking for either the entertainment or the change that they expect. When I listen to these politicians toss the word HONORABLE around like it is the permanent title to their name it is assurance that they place themselves far above the populace and the law. If these same ciitizens were to show up in support to make the changes necesssary to bring about the most important change and that is the repeal of the Federal reserve and the international bankers. Any president would need to be forced into this corner since his enemies may very well be anyone in the circle of government and maybe even a close associate. Lets wait and see if those changes occur. John Stossel has reported on many programs where government controls and interference have kept the people living in ghettos's and poverty, where thes same programs in the hands of the people gave them dignity and a reason to live as a responsible citizen. For too many years the government has been reigning in the very people they are to protect. The porblem is that the Government has taken over dictatorial powers and can and does often ruin the lives of too many people. The Federal Government should not have the authority to take over and dictate those problems that should come under local government and states rights. There should be no federal housing programs while there are state governments to oversee these projects. There is one very special program the Federal government should be involved in and that is the desolvement of the Federal Reserve Bank and the international bankers who mostly reside in Europe and the leutenants who are located all over the world. These are the financiers of the worlds problems.

    • 3 years ago
  • Alex2112
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • Bravo, Stossel gets a 100% for busting open doors ;)

      These past years were more than just the most shameful, corrupt and incompetent period in the history of the American legislative branch. These were the years when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula -- a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable. - Matt Taibbi

    • 3 years ago
  • glabadabadoo
    • 0
      glabadabadoo  

    • Great post !!! Wouldn't it be nice if your withholdings were itemized as to where your money was squandered
      Such as 10% war on drugs. 10% unpaid emergency room visits. 10% war cost. et als.

    • 3 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  

    • If you can’t admit there is merit to what Stossel is saying in this program, whatever your political affiliation, then you are an idiot. It goes beyond all measure of dignity to condone the carelessness and or corruption of the US government.

    • 3 years ago
  • diabolical44
  • shanklinmike
  • FallenMorgan
  • lovelander
  • shanklinmike
  • mbeharry
    • 0
      mbeharry  

    • I hope he can catch some of these idiots with their pants down like he does with the sexual predators, lol

      I personally think govt is freaking out of control!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • Stossel embodies everything that is wrong with big media, mainly that he could pass his intellectual pabulum for news or him as a journalist.

      If you crave the real thing ...

      White Noise is 100% behind these 3 journalist-musketeers with Greg Palast as their D'Artagnan...

      Greg Palast
      http://www.gregpalast.com

      Jeremy Scahill
      http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/jeremy_scahill

      Naomi Klein
      http://www.naomiklein.org/main

      Chris Hedges
      http://www.truthdig.com/report/category/hedges/

      Now dont get me wrong here, there is still, against all odds, great investigative reporting going on. Seymour Hersh, comes to mind and you just have to check here for more : http://centerforinvestigativereporting.org/

      Problem is; most of that work is diligently kept from the public's eye, as plainly demonstrated here : http www.projectcensored.org

      Just follow the money !

      It has become so bad that we can now accurately predict what stories will not see the light of day while we will be inundated with showbiz galore & people willingly hurting themselves on You Tube for a shot at their 15 minutes of cyber-stardom. www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2009/

      The narrative we are being fed has become reality and commentators regurgitate it as gospel.

      "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." - Noam Chomsky

      "A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself": Joseph Pulitzer

    • 3 years ago
  • shanklinmike
  • WhiteNoise
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike  
    • WhiteNoise:

      Go ahead, use your free speech to encourage a greater loss of free speech. You have NO idea what is going on in government and John Stossel is right. When did I ever say you couldn't say what you said? I am just saying you are unAmerican for forgetting liberty! THAT is the truth! You are a statist, YOU are a part of the problem!

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      Some dare to call it a clash of opinion, which is what freedom of expression is all about...

      While I can respect someone like Christopher Hitchens even if I completely disagree with some of his conclusions, Stossel reeks of showbiz drivel & blind right wing agenda propaganda pabulum that sadly passes for journalism in America.

      I'll fight for his right to do so as long as I can call a cat a cat or in his case a petulant brown noser for the power that be.

      "Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over." - Frank Zappa

    • 3 years ago
  • shanklinmike
  • WhiteNoise
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • WhiteNoise:

      LMAO there you go again Whitenoise, pimping your one size fits all political ideology. How the hell does “The Globalizer Who Came In From the Cold” directly or indirectly undermine anything in the Stossel presentation?

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      Dear trigger happy ;)

      If you had taken the time to read the exchange before firing a response you would have realized that I was but stating that I didn't believe in "Keynesian economics", as so wrongfully stated, by giving an example of what I do adhere too as an analysis.

    • 3 years ago
  • Ricky84
    • 0
      Ricky84  
    • WhiteNoise:

      Just like I said. You have a one dimensional, one size fits all theory of everything.

      “Stossel reeks of showbiz drivel & blind right wing agenda propaganda pabulum that sadly passes for journalism in America.”

      That pretty much says it all. In one sentence you affirm your distain for Stossel based on his “ showbiz drivel and blind right wing agenda propaganda.”

      Call me crazy but I don’t think its particularly intelligent to frame the revulsion of wasteful and ineffective government spending as right wing propaganda. All politicians are concerned with wasteful government spending. Seriously how does that not cross your mind?

      You feign enjoyment when someone directly challenges your ideology as un-American (which it is) yet when you take the initiative to classify a particular policy you denounce it with the same amount of venom. Truthfully the only distinction to be made is your reluctance to admit that government agencies, especially public utilities as shown in the video, can and do screw things up.

      So you hate Keynesian economics. Good for you, too bad your answer for Keynesian economics is democratic socialism which is an even worse policy than Keynesian economics. So yeah, Palsat’s “The Globalizer Who Came In From the Cold,” is not a direct challenge to Stossel, but Palast himself as well as the other democratic (or just plan socialist) writers you’ve offered are an indirect challenge to everything Stossel was trying to say.

      Spin things about as much as you like but your solution for ineffective, wasteful government spending is effective, economical government spending. However no where along do you ever propose what actually constitutes effective and economical government spending and who should we entrust to determine what is effective and economical government spending.

      Dear god man you can extremely pretentious at times.

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      Ask Canadians (which is a right-centrist social democracy) about health care or size ;)

      Dear Ricky, I thought we agreed a while ago to disagree on most everything... let it go bro !

      Stossel's work at large is but about knocking down open doors then vomits some regurgitated supposed common sense "father knows best" pabulum for the morbidly stupid covering up the mighty fine work performed by the criminally insane of the last 8 years & still going on... if you're satisfied with it, knock yourself out !

      Meanwhile...

      GOING UP !
      Top 1% share of total income
      Income gap between rich and poor
      Foreign debt as a percent of GDP
      Age at which one can receive Social Security
      Hunger
      Consumer credit debt
      Housing foreclosures
      Severe poverty rate

      GOING DOWN !
      Real income
      Real manufacturing wages
      Percent of single women and mothers in the workforce
      The bottom 40%'s share of national wealth
      Older families with pensions.
      Workers covered by defined benefit pensions.
      The savings rate
      US manufacturing jobs

      ALSO...

      Protest restricted/ignored
      Dissenter labeled terrorist/traitor
      False-flags
      Elections suspect
      Leaders benefit from wars/disasters
      Use of propaganda/lies & partisan mass-media
      Claims that War is needed for everchanging false reasons
      Secret/extrajudicial/torture camps
      Curtailed/suspended civil rights/liberties
      Wiretap/intercept/surveillance net
      Stealthily expands int'nl influence/power
      Judiciary/Opposition ineffective/ignored
      Legislation to defy Constitution

      NICE LEGACY INDEED

      BTW…Have you noticed that the good guys always win except on the news ?

      Obama's election was but an act of self defense that came 8 years too late cause Americans where systematicly lied too by Stossel & company.

      Balls & dignity also went AWOL when we needed to throw this whole executive branch in jail...

      So, have a party tonight but the meanest rebuilt of BRAND AMERICA must take place if we want to survive. No amount of "shock doctrine" will get us through though... the world is watching !

      “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous“ - Carl Sagan

    • 3 years ago
  • shanklinmike
  • flameworker
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike  
    • flameworker:

      LOL, that is hilarious! The guy who ran the GAO has been going around the nation trying his hardest to educate people about our debt but the media has backed up the government for decades now! It is going to be impossible for us to get out of this debt! We are in serious trouble!

    • 3 years ago
  • critic
    • 0
      critic [removed]  

    • Big Government = BIG TAXES!

      Money That Is Stolen From You!

      We Vote These People Into Government Allow Them To Steal Money From Us To Pay Themselves With The Money!

      When Are We Going To Wake Up People!

    • 3 years ago
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