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Forums - General Discussion - What is Your Opinion on NJ Governor Chris Christie...

 

What is Your Opinion on NJ Governor Chris Christie...

Right-Wing Nutjob 29 41.43%
 
I Will Not Vote for Him 10 14.29%
 
I Can Be Persuaded 2 2.86%
 
He Shares My Views 7 10.00%
 
Chris Christie 2012!! 22 31.43%
 
Total:70

Now that I've actually watched the video, I love him. He reminds me of Nigel Farage. He's somebody who is dissatisfied with the way things are run, and isn't afraid to voice it. He doesn't sugarcoat his ideas to get votes. He doesn't pretend to be somebody he's not. He's direct and honest. It's brilliant.

Unfortunately, that gives me the impression that, like Farage, he's a complete nutcase. It's a shame that governing ability and the confidence to speak one's mind so rarely go together.



(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective

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Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:

he's a Republican, that makes him a Right Wing nutjob by default.



Nancy pelosi is a leftwing nutjob by default because she's a democrat. See what I did there?


the Democratic Party is Centre Right, the Republican Party is Far Right

seriously, would it kill people on here to learn some basic politics?


That's not true at all. I've never heard of the democratic party being centre right. Democrats are on the left and republican's are on the right. Then you have people that are extreme on boths sides of the isle. You also have your moderates.


hahahahahaha, oh wow, hahahaha, seriously, I cant stop loling at that

the Democrats are VERY MUCH Centre Right, have been for some time

if you ever met a real Left wing person, you would probably die of shock if you think they are Left wing...wow

Dude I'm from America and follow politics all the time. I watch news all the the time and never and I mean never heard of democrats being labeled centre right. Republicans are considered on the right and Democrats are considered to be on the left. You have far right republicans and far left democrats,then you have your moderate republicans and moderate democrats. Your profile saids that your from the U.K.,so I ask you this. How often do you really follow american politics?



oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:

he's a Republican, that makes him a Right Wing nutjob by default.



Nancy pelosi is a leftwing nutjob by default because she's a democrat. See what I did there?


the Democratic Party is Centre Right, the Republican Party is Far Right

seriously, would it kill people on here to learn some basic politics?


That's not true at all. I've never heard of the democratic party being centre right. Democrats are on the left and republican's are on the right. Then you have people that are extreme on boths sides of the isle. You also have your moderates.


hahahahahaha, oh wow, hahahaha, seriously, I cant stop loling at that

the Democrats are VERY MUCH Centre Right, have been for some time

if you ever met a real Left wing person, you would probably die of shock if you think they are Left wing...wow

Dude I'm from America and follow politics all the time. I watch news all the the time and never and I mean never heard of democrats being labeled centre right. Republicans are considered on the right and Democrats are considered to be on the left. You have far right republicans and far left democrats,then you have your moderate republicans and moderate democrats. Your profile saids that your from the U.K.,so I ask you this. How often do you really follow american politics?

often enough to know that the Democrats are Centre Right, please do some research on Left Wing politics online, from reliable sources please.



numonex said:
mrstickball said:
HappySqurriel said:
numonex said:

Aggressive cuts to health, education, public service job cuts. Tories increase taxes on the lower and middle income classes who pay for the rich and business tax breaks and concessions. Republican Tea Party = cynical politics driven economic ideologue stooges. Chris Christies is a conservative stooge with a bitter cold axe to grind against the low to middle class. Tories/Republicans only serve the rich corporate elites and powerful interest groups driven by neo-liberal ideology as free market fundamentalism. 

Tories shaft the young, poor and working classes to please the business/firm owners and rich elites. Republicans are right wing extremists pushing their politics to comply with their Victorian 19th century conservative Christian views on society. Tories encourage wage freezes or wage reductions on lower classes to increase the bottom line for the rich business/firm owners.

So, being that New Jersey already had one of the highest tax rates in the country and had the largest debt and deficit in the country, where should they have gotten the money from to balance the budget?

Increasing taxes on the wealthy will only result in the wealthy increasing their gross income, avoiding taxes through loopholes, passing on the costs, or moving out of the region (capital flight); increasing taxes on businesses will only result in New Jersey being at a competitive disadvantage, and businesses (and jobs) leaving the region to more business friendly regions; increasing taxes on the middle class will only result in decreased economic activity as people can afford to buy less or leave the state.

This leaves cutting spending ... From my understanding of American State finances, the vast majority of spending is on education and social spending; and this means that education and social spending need to see significant cuts.

 

You might want to maintain your belief that this government spending translates to increased economic activity which justifies the spending, but the current position of states like California and New Jersey would indicate the opposite.

Don't forget that NJ has one of the worst business climates due to taxes already. Raising more taxes would see few returns due to flight, as you said.

Most of the jobs are outsourced overseas to cheap labour markets these days to  help these multinational business owners to make bigger profits. There are huge costs associated with international free market economics which has resulted in high rates of unemployment in developed nations and the rise of the developing nations. Weak or no unions in America and higher rates of unemployment and underemployment. High rates of unemployment due to companies outsourcing jobs overseas and flooding market with cheap labour. More tax payers are needed to contribute towards the New Jersey economy. 

Fox News and Republicans will tell you  that the Democrats are Socialists/Communists and the Republicans are the good white knight who will save the day. Chris Christie does not have a chance at becoming the next President of the US. Fox News and the American people are already sick of Obama. Obama came with lots of hype and hope in 2008 but his popularity has fallen dramatically over two years. I have a feeling that  Sarah Palin will be elected the Republican Party's candidate for the 2012 Presidential election. Sarah Palin as President of America is a very scary proposition.  

You're making a very large (and false) assumption that all jobs that are moved are low-skilled manufacturing or telephone-support positions. Quite often the jobs that are moved are the highly skilled jobs within the corporate headquarters that are located in a region because that is the most effective way to change the corporate taxes you pay. Typically this is done by "building up" a regional office in a lower cost area while laying off individuals in a higher cost area until the regional branch is established enough to act as the corporate headquarters. If you want to see an example of this, look at Canada and focus on the growth in the number of corporate headquarters located in Calgary. A city with a population in its greater metropolitan area that is an order of magnitude less than many others in Canada (and North America in general) is one of the primary places in North America to locate your corporate headquarters.

With that said, you still haven't explained what you would have done to balance the budget ...

 

On the topic of who will be the presidential candidate in 2012, I really don't think we're in a position to make an accurate prediction right now. The results of the mid-term elections and how the government and a variety of politicians perform in 2011 will likely determine who will be the candidate for 2012. I wouldn't be surprised if Sarah Palin runs, and I wouldn't be surprised if she does fairly well early on due to vote-splitting, but as more candidates drop out she will likely fall behind quite quickly.



Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:

he's a Republican, that makes him a Right Wing nutjob by default.



Nancy pelosi is a leftwing nutjob by default because she's a democrat. See what I did there?


the Democratic Party is Centre Right, the Republican Party is Far Right

seriously, would it kill people on here to learn some basic politics?


That's not true at all. I've never heard of the democratic party being centre right. Democrats are on the left and republican's are on the right. Then you have people that are extreme on boths sides of the isle. You also have your moderates.


hahahahahaha, oh wow, hahahaha, seriously, I cant stop loling at that

the Democrats are VERY MUCH Centre Right, have been for some time

if you ever met a real Left wing person, you would probably die of shock if you think they are Left wing...wow

Dude I'm from America and follow politics all the time. I watch news all the the time and never and I mean never heard of democrats being labeled centre right. Republicans are considered on the right and Democrats are considered to be on the left. You have far right republicans and far left democrats,then you have your moderate republicans and moderate democrats. Your profile saids that your from the U.K.,so I ask you this. How often do you really follow american politics?

often enough to know that the Democrats are Centre Right, please do some research on Left Wing politics online, from reliable sources please.

provide me a link with these reliable sources.



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oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:

he's a Republican, that makes him a Right Wing nutjob by default.



Nancy pelosi is a leftwing nutjob by default because she's a democrat. See what I did there?


the Democratic Party is Centre Right, the Republican Party is Far Right

seriously, would it kill people on here to learn some basic politics?


That's not true at all. I've never heard of the democratic party being centre right. Democrats are on the left and republican's are on the right. Then you have people that are extreme on boths sides of the isle. You also have your moderates.


hahahahahaha, oh wow, hahahaha, seriously, I cant stop loling at that

the Democrats are VERY MUCH Centre Right, have been for some time

if you ever met a real Left wing person, you would probably die of shock if you think they are Left wing...wow

Dude I'm from America and follow politics all the time. I watch news all the the time and never and I mean never heard of democrats being labeled centre right. Republicans are considered on the right and Democrats are considered to be on the left. You have far right republicans and far left democrats,then you have your moderate republicans and moderate democrats. Your profile saids that your from the U.K.,so I ask you this. How often do you really follow american politics?

often enough to know that the Democrats are Centre Right, please do some research on Left Wing politics online, from reliable sources please.

provide me a link with these reliable sources.

well, if you want proper Left Wing ideas, Marx is a good place to start, you need to read the Communist Manifesto and the like to get a good idea of what he says, in the less extreme manner, you might try reading up on Keynes, though he is closer to the Centre ground imo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism

wikipedia's unedited articles on this arent too bad, but if you want to be sure click the links they use as refs.

Democratic Socialism is a Centre Left ideology, show me how the Democrats follow that or at least are close to it, then we can talk



oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:
oldschoolfool said:
Homer_Simpson said:

he's a Republican, that makes him a Right Wing nutjob by default.



Nancy pelosi is a leftwing nutjob by default because she's a democrat. See what I did there?


the Democratic Party is Centre Right, the Republican Party is Far Right

seriously, would it kill people on here to learn some basic politics?


That's not true at all. I've never heard of the democratic party being centre right. Democrats are on the left and republican's are on the right. Then you have people that are extreme on boths sides of the isle. You also have your moderates.


hahahahahaha, oh wow, hahahaha, seriously, I cant stop loling at that

the Democrats are VERY MUCH Centre Right, have been for some time

if you ever met a real Left wing person, you would probably die of shock if you think they are Left wing...wow

Dude I'm from America and follow politics all the time. I watch news all the the time and never and I mean never heard of democrats being labeled centre right. Republicans are considered on the right and Democrats are considered to be on the left. You have far right republicans and far left democrats,then you have your moderate republicans and moderate democrats. Your profile saids that your from the U.K.,so I ask you this. How often do you really follow american politics?

Homer is actually right:

www.politicalcompass.org

If you look at their methodology, it shows that most Dems are center-right. Of course, by their methodology, most are. Only the extreme Democrats, communists, greens, and such are considered 'left'.



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

HappySqurriel said:
numonex said:
mrstickball said:
HappySqurriel said:
numonex said:

Aggressive cuts to health, education, public service job cuts. Tories increase taxes on the lower and middle income classes who pay for the rich and business tax breaks and concessions. Republican Tea Party = cynical politics driven economic ideologue stooges. Chris Christies is a conservative stooge with a bitter cold axe to grind against the low to middle class. Tories/Republicans only serve the rich corporate elites and powerful interest groups driven by neo-liberal ideology as free market fundamentalism. 

Tories shaft the young, poor and working classes to please the business/firm owners and rich elites. Republicans are right wing extremists pushing their politics to comply with their Victorian 19th century conservative Christian views on society. Tories encourage wage freezes or wage reductions on lower classes to increase the bottom line for the rich business/firm owners.

So, being that New Jersey already had one of the highest tax rates in the country and had the largest debt and deficit in the country, where should they have gotten the money from to balance the budget?

Increasing taxes on the wealthy will only result in the wealthy increasing their gross income, avoiding taxes through loopholes, passing on the costs, or moving out of the region (capital flight); increasing taxes on businesses will only result in New Jersey being at a competitive disadvantage, and businesses (and jobs) leaving the region to more business friendly regions; increasing taxes on the middle class will only result in decreased economic activity as people can afford to buy less or leave the state.

This leaves cutting spending ... From my understanding of American State finances, the vast majority of spending is on education and social spending; and this means that education and social spending need to see significant cuts.

 

You might want to maintain your belief that this government spending translates to increased economic activity which justifies the spending, but the current position of states like California and New Jersey would indicate the opposite.

Don't forget that NJ has one of the worst business climates due to taxes already. Raising more taxes would see few returns due to flight, as you said.

Most of the jobs are outsourced overseas to cheap labour markets these days to  help these multinational business owners to make bigger profits. There are huge costs associated with international free market economics which has resulted in high rates of unemployment in developed nations and the rise of the developing nations. Weak or no unions in America and higher rates of unemployment and underemployment. High rates of unemployment due to companies outsourcing jobs overseas and flooding market with cheap labour. More tax payers are needed to contribute towards the New Jersey economy. 

Fox News and Republicans will tell you  that the Democrats are Socialists/Communists and the Republicans are the good white knight who will save the day. Chris Christie does not have a chance at becoming the next President of the US. Fox News and the American people are already sick of Obama. Obama came with lots of hype and hope in 2008 but his popularity has fallen dramatically over two years. I have a feeling that  Sarah Palin will be elected the Republican Party's candidate for the 2012 Presidential election. Sarah Palin as President of America is a very scary proposition.  

You're making a very large (and false) assumption that all jobs that are moved are low-skilled manufacturing or telephone-support positions. Quite often the jobs that are moved are the highly skilled jobs within the corporate headquarters that are located in a region because that is the most effective way to change the corporate taxes you pay. Typically this is done by "building up" a regional office in a lower cost area while laying off individuals in a higher cost area until the regional branch is established enough to act as the corporate headquarters. If you want to see an example of this, look at Canada and focus on the growth in the number of corporate headquarters located in Calgary. A city with a population in its greater metropolitan area that is an order of magnitude less than many others in Canada (and North America in general) is one of the primary places in North America to locate your corporate headquarters.

With that said, you still haven't explained what you would have done to balance the budget ...

I have no idea about economics. I do not know how the State government could balance the budgets. Spending cuts are needed but the right cuts need to be made, wage reductions/freezes for public service. Tax cuts across the board would increase the deficit, not reduce the deficit. 

On the topic of who will be the presidential candidate in 2012, I really don't think we're in a position to make an accurate prediction right now. The results of the mid-term elections and how the government and a variety of politicians perform in 2011 will likely determine who will be the candidate for 2012. I wouldn't be surprised if Sarah Palin runs, and I wouldn't be surprised if she does fairly well early on due to vote-splitting, but as more candidates drop out she will likely fall behind quite quickly.

Sarah Palin as President would be a dire move for America. Palin knows nothing about economics and she would be disastrous for the American economy and international affairs would be a joke. Palin is a religious nut case who believes the Earth is only 6,000 years old, she is a moron. Anyone instead of Palin. Hopefully a  more moderate, intelligent and sensible leader for Republican Presidential candidate. 





numonex said:

I have no idea about economics. I do not know how the State government could balance the budgets. Spending cuts are needed but the right cuts need to be made, wage reductions/freezes for public service. Tax cuts across the board would increase the deficit, not reduce the deficit.

Higher taxes don't necessarily translate to higher tax revenues in the long run, especially when you're talking about higher taxes at the level of a state or province. When you increase taxes you get increased revenue from those taxes, but you also get decreased revenue from individuals and companies leaving the state. Depending on what the current tax-rate differential is between your state and comparable alternatives for individuals and companies, the loss of revenue from increasing taxes can actually be greater than the increase they produced. If you're already in this position, reducing taxes can actually increase tax revenue.

 

Now, you were upset with the cuts he made but you don't have any idea where that money should have come from? When you look at New Jersey's budget nearly 66% of it is spending on healthcare and education. Even if you tried to protect these areas from spending cuts (in all likelyhood) the majority of spending cuts in dollar value would have to come in these areas.

 



Kantor said:

Now that I've actually watched the video, I love him. He reminds me of Nigel Farage. He's somebody who is dissatisfied with the way things are run, and isn't afraid to voice it. He doesn't sugarcoat his ideas to get votes. He doesn't pretend to be somebody he's not. He's direct and honest. It's brilliant.

Unfortunately, that gives me the impression that, like Farage, he's a complete nutcase. It's a shame that governing ability and the confidence to speak one's mind so rarely go together.

The greatest leader this country every had, John Adams, was very much like this. He spoke his mind, and was not universally liked for it.

His opinion though was he was not in office to make friends. He was in office to govern. They didn't have to be, and often couldn't be, the same thing.