I Don’t Have a Ticket to The Game
Can you even imagine in your head what would happen if someone said that Barack Obama should be proud of “playing games” with the United States of America?
The world’s second most out-of-touch man, Lindsey Graham, defended Mitt Romney’s off-shore tax-free bank accounts.
Mitt Romney shouldn’t be criticized for using off-shore tax havens because “it’s really American to avoid paying taxes, legally,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday …
“It’s a game we play,” Graham said. “Every American tries to find the way to get the most deductions they can. I see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up to be a game.”
Okay, those of us without a large room of lawyers sitting around figuring ways to not pay our fair share, do not have a ticket to The Game, dammit.
To be honest, I have been speechless for two days over this. Me, speechless. I know, impossible.
Of course Graham sees nothing wrong with it. He’s a playa too!
1I think Lindsey has spent way too much time rearranging the shoes in his closet.
2Paul Krugman said it best (again):
3“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask how you can avoid paying for it.”
I am slow on the uptake. I am. I read that three times before it started hitting me. “it’s really American”. “it’s a game”. “We set it up to be a game”. Really? REALLLY?
4Graham’s comment should be given wide publicity by the Dems, especially in borderline red states. Upping the reality factor ups the disgust. Romney ain’t like you, folks– he’s an arrogant b******.
5Shouldn’t he be creating some jobs with that money? He is a perfect example of how the “job creators” – don’t. Stashing the dough outside of America is what the 1% really do when you give them all the breaks.
6“We set it up to be a game.” The “we” being those who then “legally” get all the advantages of the game. Note that he didn’t say the game is fair.
7May be a game to the Senator, and to Mitt, but to people who don’t have health care, and the kids who won’t have school lunches, or breakfasts, or the teachers who got laid off, or the fire fighters, and police officers who got laid off, and the people who have to drive over the bridges that may be unsafe,
and the folks who don’t have jobs…..
It’s NOT a game…….. in some cases…. it’s life or death.
8BTW —-
These folks don’t have a “ticket to the game either”.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/12/515504/house-committee-food-stamp-vote/
I gotta quit reading the news after lunch. Some of this stuff makes me want to Barf.
9Greed trumps patriotism every time.
10The comparison between Romney and his dad is intersting. George Romney disclosed 12 years of tax returns and stated that one year could be a fluke. Mittens has only released one year.
Romney has been running for POTUS since 1994. You would think that he would have cleaned up his returns and closed is offshore accounts so that he could release more than one years worth of returns.
Mittens gave McCain 23 years worth of returns and McCain ended up going with Sarah Palin after looking at those returns. There must be some really interesting material in these returns if these returns caused McCain to pick Palin over Romney
11Hal Sparks on The Stephanie Miller Show (Current TV/radio) yesterday said something that I think would really get those less than crazy GOPers thinking. Romney “says” his money is overseas but he paid all his taxes on it – so it wasn’t like he avoided taxes at all. Sparks said then what you wanted your $$$ to have a vacation? Why not bring it here to a credit union or local bank and they could on the basis of their deposits loan funds to SMALL BUSINESS?
My opinion? He has too much money and is too lazy to work at cheating the government and IRS so he puts his money where it’s all secret. I’ve never worried the rich would pay their fair share — they have a million ways to find a loophole but in the good old days they had to work at cheating and usually paid a team of tax lawyers who in turn paid employees who in turn supported local businesses. I miss the those days. Me? I just went and filed my own, claiming a renters deduction and paid through the nose.
12Just remember you are not in same game .
13When will the American people realize it is “a game” and they can’t get in on it. These GOPers make me sick!
14@Kyle, I think I recollect that in 2008 the Nazi gasbag had more influence getting the former Governor on McCain’s ticket than anyone or anything else.
15I have a feeling that there will have to be 2 blogs the closer the election gets.
16One momma safe and one for the rest of us.
I am getting less inhibited in my advancing age.
And the republicans are getting nastier, dumber, meaner, more hypocritical etc. etc.
Because my reactions to their lack of understanding of ‘real’ Americans is getting louder and more colorful.
Because I’ve been sick and unable to work for three years, I almost lost my house last year. I had to break into my IRA to save my butt. It cost me almost $3000. to use my own money. I have a Ph.D. and have been an educator for 30+ years. I’ve never made any money to begin with. Romney and his crew create many opportunities for me to practice and practice and practice forgiveness. I’m still not there yet.
17Is there some way we can get this jackassagator (my mother’s bad word) to “self deport” along with his money?
18It’s not “really American to avoid paying taxes” if it is done by hiring lobbyists to get sweetheart laws written just for the rich.
19For a reality check… I seem to remember the gamesmanship tax rules were put on the books during a long 40-year reign of a Democrat majority in Congress. Never mind the GOP-Critters were their BFF’s all that time. . . when bi-partisanship was tried & true throughout the halls of Congress. So it’s no wonder Sen. Graham figured it was safe to open mouth & insert both feet.
20And… btw… were it not for all the games put in the IRS Code, the rate of unemployment would be at least several % points higher. Tax Games is a major driver of economic development!
All the universities & colleges would have had far fewer biz-acctg-finance courses, professors & students… not to mention FAR FEWER donations, too!
Don’t forget All the nice golf courses, football stadiums, basketball arena… and nice restaurants, of course… wouldn’t exist without all those biz expense accounts.
21Reporter: So, Mr. President, do you believe in your country? Should we invest there?
Romney: Meh.
22This same line of reasoning was all over Faux News yesterday. One wag said, “It just shows what a good money manager Mitt is.” Essentially they are advocating cheating the rest of us out of what little taxes they pay anyway.
23What this boils down, the very real basics is if you pack a lunch bucket, you are screwed.
24Yeah I hope Obama’s political teams ask out loud whether Sen. Graham is now willing to turn lose of the last ten years of his tax records to let US in on how well he’s been “playing the game” he & his buddies have “set up that way.”
25Romney’s surrounded by phonies like Graham & Rove, Kyl, etc. The “genuine” factor & “authenticity” quotient go to Obama every time!
Romney’s such a pathetic phoney.
Jerry