Who is going to win the VP debate?

Why spend wisely when you can just print more money? Money in the US is not backed by anything, no gold, no silver, nothing. Money is only paper and bits in a computer. If they want more they just print it or transfer it electronically.

The value of our money is only a perceived value. Until people start losing confidence in the US Dollar they can print as much as they like.

Very true. Which makes the R&R battle cry of reigning in the deficit even more pathetic.

(Side note intended to derail thread): I'm voting for Mosler!

have we ever not had a deficit? during any administration and if so, how far back were we debt free?

We were debt free during Clinton administration and by time he left office, I believe.
Then came the Republican years of both Bush administrations which was what caused the deficit the Obama inherited.

The surplus under Clinton wasn't actually a surplus. It was an artificially inflated economy, built on a bubble. Also, most of the shady ways that Mitt has made his money, is thanks to regulations that started under Clinton. Also, all the talk of social spending that is dominating the talks now, is spending that was started under Clinton, built on that artificially inflated bubble. Go Bill, thanks a lot.

Here's an article I just came across this morning:

Does your purse feel a little lighter? If so, it might be because the House Republicans have almost maxed out their whopping $1.5 million budget to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal gay ban that yet another court has just ruled is unconstitutional.

Itemized details of the House’s spending reveals House Republicans dolled out $702,205.57 in 2011 and $745,791.16 in 2012, totaling $1,447,996.73, ensuring America is protected from the scourge of loving gay couples being able to have their marriages recognized by the federal government and therein access the more than 1,400 federal benefits they are currently denied.

You may remember the original DOMA defense budget of a still substantial $500,000 was tripled by the House Republican leadership last year and without a formal vote when it became apparent that defending DOMA was going to take more spending power than Republicans had thought.

Needless to say, House Democrats are mostly furious about this, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi saying in a statement:

“For more than a year, Speaker Boehner and Congressional Republicans have committed valuable taxpayer dollars to defending discrimination and preserving inequality — only to lose case after case in their effort to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act. There is nothing effective or efficient about this utter abuse of the people’s trust or the public purse; it is simply wasteful and wrong, and Americans deserve better.

“It is unconscionable for Speaker Boehner and Republican leaders, including Chairman Dan Lungren who authorized the contracts with the outside law firm, to continue to stand on the wrong side of history at taxpayer expense. Yet, rather than join Democrats to create jobs and strengthen the middle class, Republicans refuse to abandon their reprehensible fight to deny basic civil rights and justice to an entire group of their fellow Americans.

“The American people should no longer have to foot the bill for Speaker Boehner’s campaign to appease the most conservative forces within the Republican Party. It is time for the Speaker and Congressional Republicans to drop their frivolous, taxpayer-funded lawsuits without any delay. When they do, we will all look forward to the day when DOMA is relegated to the dustbin of history once and for all.”

The Obama administration in February 2011 took the decision that, after careful review, it could no longer defend as constitutionally sound Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, though it would keep enforcing the law as it is so obligated. The administration has since filed on behalf of plaintiffs challenging DOMA.

The Republican House leadership took up defense of the law and so contracted an outside legal team headed by Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general under the Bush administration, to defend in court that the Defense of Marriage Act is a viable and constitutional act of Congress.

DOMA Defense: What You Are Getting For Your Money

In defending the law, the House’s legal team, known as BLAG, has been heavily criticized for using every tired argument in the book.

Not only this, but Paul Clement’s team has seized on a recent and demonstrably flawed study about gay parenting to try and bolster their arguments.

Clement’s team has also been accused by a researcher of distorting her findings in order to support their contention that same-sex parent families are detrimental to children and therein that there is a legitimate government interest in maintaining a same-sex marriage ban.

Throughout the entire process, House Speaker Boehner has refused to disclose where exactly he is drawing the DOMA defense money from, his earlier contention that he would defund the DOJ for the appropriate amount having been proved untenable.

So far, the House has lost all five cases in which it has defended the law — so, clearly, this has been money well spent.

DOMA Is Ruled Unconstitutional (Again)

On Thursday, a Manhattan federal appeals court for the Second Circuit joined the First Circuit in finding the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, saying that the law broke the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection when it mandated that 81-year-old Edith Windsor be treated as a legal stranger for the purpose of estate tax, causing her to have to pay a heavy premium on the estate she had shared with her same-sex spouse.

Bigotry Just Cost You $1.5 Million, And It’s About To Cost You More

Readers may be interested to know that the $1.5 million ceiling set by the Republican House leadership always came with a caveat — further spending was negotiable at the time the cap was reached.

Given that there are now several DOMA cases either waiting for the Supreme Court of the United States to take up in November of this year or climbing their way to the SCOTUS as we speak, it seems unlikely House Republicans will back down at this juncture.

Well, at least Boehner’s managed to create some jobs for his lawyers.

Related Reading:

U.S. House Votes to Tie Obama’s Hands on DOMA

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/america-just-lost-1-5-million-to-bigotry.html#ixzz2AKE2ogV1

We were debt free during Clinton administration and by time he left office, I believe.
Then came the Republican years of both Bush administrations which was what caused the deficit the Obama inherited.

Do you know the difference between the national debt and the deficit? Clinton did not eliminate the national debt. Clinton drastically reduced military and intelligence spending during his administration. Many claim that this left us open for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In fact since 9/11 occurred during the first year of Bush's presidency it could be claimed that the war in the middle east was a result of Clinton's policies.

Not only did Clinton reduce our ability to defend ourselves and reduced our ability to know what was going on in the world, he also pissed most of the Muslim world off by launching cruise missile strikes against Osama bin Laden which missed their target.

Osama vowed to retaliate, which he did on 9/11. Thank you Bill Clinton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile_strikes_on_Afghanistan_and_Sudan_(August_1998)

I support immigration. LEGAL immigration. ILLEGAL immigration is a crime.

The Obama administration is preventing immigration agents from enforcing the laws that they are sworn to uphold. Some of these agents are suing the Obama administration for preventing them from doing their jobs.

The Obama administration is spending taxpayer dollars defending a policy which prevents these federal agents from doing their sworn duty.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/23/immigration-agents-sue-stop-obamas-non-deportation/?page=all

Another viewpoint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prmGb1o3dcQ

i am with rotor on the immigration issue 100%. I support jan-gov of az
Legal is Legal and Illegal is Illegal

We were debt free during Clinton administration and by time he left office.

He did this predominantly by terminating military personnel. 90% of the job cuts he made were directly from the military. I personally know a few people that were directly affected by this and one of them predicted a major attack on the US due to the reduced military.

I am not a democrat or republican, I personally believe they are BOTH destroying this country because no one can see the center anymore. I am however a very patriotic person. I believe in our country and what is was founded on. I also fully support our nations military personnel and all the sacrifices they make to keep me free and safe.

It may sound silly but I wish every TV station could play the Disney Hall of Presidents presentation from now until the election. Maybe it will remind people of what our government is supposed to be.

This is the fuel that fed Obama's Apology Tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=208t80uceSg

The hypocrisy is that you can't name a single country that wasn't formed through violence, conquest and territorial acquisition. So why is America the great evil?

http://front.moveon.org/brilliant-a-simpsons-animator-works-his-magic-on-a-rousing-obama-speech/?rc=email.10262012

We were debt free during Clinton administration and by time he left office, I believe.
Then came the Republican years of both Bush administrations which was what caused the deficit the Obama inherited.

Do you know the difference between the national debt and the deficit? Clinton did not eliminate the national debt. Clinton drastically reduced military and intelligence spending during his administration. Many claim that this left us open for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In fact since 9/11 occurred during the first year of Bush's presidency it could be claimed that the war in the middle east was a result of Clinton's policies.

Not only did Clinton reduce our ability to defend ourselves and reduced our ability to know what was going on in the world, he also pissed most of the Muslim world off by launching cruise missile strikes against Osama bin Laden which missed their target.

Osama vowed to retaliate, which he did on 9/11. Thank you Bill Clinton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile_strikes_on_Afghanistan_and_Sudan_(August_1998)

This is our real worry. The extreme right wing is now in charge of our economic engine and it is being systematically destroyed. This is why I will never vote for a Republican. I am encouraging all my friends on the US mainland to vote for OBAMA.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/frankenstein-economics-is-killing-capitalism-2012-10-23?link=home_carousel

Class Warfare Rhetoric and Reality

"The Old World societies of stratified classes were the product of governments that determined the winners and losers. With the expansion of government and political redistribution of wealth in the United States, politicians have been increasingly picking the economic winners and losers, separating us into warring factions that appear to be coalescing into distinct and lasting classes.

The two classes that I see emerging in America today are the taxpayers and the tax consumers -- the economically productive and the politically dependent. When politicians like Obama and Warren single out "the rich," the rest of us who don't want to depend on government support should be very concerned, not just because "the rich" are often society's wealth-creating benefactors, or because we might someday be rich ourselves, but because government is so big today that "the rich" can't possibly fund all of government's payouts. So it will be the tens of millions of middle-income Americans who will end up paying for the bulk of Uncle Sam's extravagance."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/class_warfare_rhetoric_and_reality.html

You know how Democrats are always against voter ID cards, claiming that they discourage voting among the poor and elderly. Explain to me why then do you have to get a voter ID card to vote in the Virgin Islands. When I moved here 14 years ago I went down to register to vote. They required that I show them my Social Security Card. Now I knew my SSID number but had not seen my actual card in almost 40 years. No one had ever asked me for it. I had to go over to the SS office and apply for a replacement card, then go get my voter ID.

I now have this nifty government issued photo ID which allows me to vote. What is wrong with that?

Now I understand. You remember ACORN. That little under the radar vote registration organization that Obama was affiliated with. They like to register such voters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to vote for their Democrat friends. ACORN is now gone, another one of President Obama's failures. But the fraud continues. Why not require a photo voter ID card to vote?

"Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys, including Quarterback Tony Romo, were names that ACORN workers attempted to register to vote during the 2008 presidential election.

Now, four years later, the name: John Adolf Hitler, was one of those turned in on a voter registration form collected by another group in Cincinnati, according to the Hamilton County Board of Elections."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/03/hitler-appears-on-ohio-voter-registration-form/