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  1. Havakasha is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:06 PM #1

    Ben Stein Takes on O'Reilly on Taxing the Rich

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/0...my?via=siderec

    Ben Stein utterly CLOBBERS Bill O'Reilly on the idea that taxing the rich hurts the economy
    byMinistryOfTruth

    Since when the hell did Ben Stein come out as a bleeding heart liberal who thinks the Billionaires can easily afford higher taxes?

    Usually Ben Stein is on the side of the super rich when it comes to the last, oh, I don't know, 40 something years, but this time he decided to understand facts and recent history. Stein roundly delivered a thorough whooping to Bill O'Reilly's utter nonsense that if we make the rich pay tax rates that were fine under Reagan all hell will break loose today. Ben Stein delivers a scalding rebuke that would make a hard core liberal jump for joy, because it is full of facts and stuff.


    Remember, raising taxes on the rich is class warfare, but raising taxes on the poor is making sure that everyone pays their fair share, and corporations are people too my friend but you can't raise their taxes either. With ideologically consistency like this, who needs pathological liars?

    Transcript and more below the fold

    Hat tip to John Amato at CrooksandLiars.com for the transcript and apt commentary.

    Bill O'Reilly started his program off with his Talking Points Memo attacking Obama's vacation. See, Liberals were upset that George Bush took over 1000 vacation days were just as wrong headed as conservatives who say that Obama's 26 days off are more than Bush's downtime. He's the king of keeping it real.
    Bill did his usual propaganda, blaming all our deficit problems on Obama and says he's glad the President is on vacation. His real point of TPM (and mission in life) is to cut our social safety nets and to spread his anti-tax increase on the rich dogma. He's outraged at the idea we should raise taxes on the right-wing job producers because that's a job killer in every economic time and Warren Buffett is out of his mind in Margaritaville for saying we need to raise taxes on the wealthy. (He really said Margaritaville) Anyway, Fox News stock "market gurus" Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and Wayne Rogers (M.A.S.H) joined him to discuss Bill's brilliance. However, Stein didn't play the game and he's usually on board with the whole taxing thing.

    O'Reilly: Alright Mr. Stein, you know, you know that everything I said in the memo was true, correct?
    Stein: Absolutely not, I would say that almost every part of it is wrong except for the fact that it's better he's on vacation because he works terribly hard and he deserves a vacation...

    Not only are you dead wrong, BillO, but Obama deserves his vacation because he's been working his ass off cleaning up the mess Republicans made when the economy crashed and the deficit soared under Bush. Whatever Ben Stein is drinking, I'll have one of those.

    As a note, I love how Bill assumes you totally agree with his narrative, and if you don't he takes it as a sin, as if not agreeing entirely that every word Bill speaks is truth makes you a bad guy, because he loves a no spin conversation where it's Obama's fault and taxing millionaires like Bill O'Reilly is crazy talk. Right.
    And what kind of debate is this? Where are the differing opinions, other than Ben, who usually wouldn't come to his senses like this and mention inconvenient truths that screw up Bill O'Reilly's narrative. Seriously, it's an economic debate between a movie star, a corporate CEO, and a tv pundit, which gives you a wide array of opinions between millionaires and millionaires, only one of whom has any record of actually being educated in any way on economics, and even then that record is usually wrong, not withstanding this instance. We might as well discuss how to slaughter cattle with three men who know nothing more on the subject other than how to cook a steak, but I digress.

    More from the transcript . . .

    O'Reilly: You get more money the better the economy is
    Stein: Absolutely.

    O'Reilly: If you take (meaning taxes from millionaires) then you're helping the recession. You're feeding the flames of it.

    Stein: That's not true.

    O'Reilly: Sure it is

    Stein: There's no correlation, I'm going to call you Mr. O'Reilly. There's no correlation Mr. O'Reilly, between tax rates on millionaires and people above that level (billionaires) and the growth of the economy... We had the highest growth in capitol and productivity and in the economy in general in the 40's, 50's and 60's when we had much higher taxes then..(Bill: yea, but they were inaudible ) Higher taxes don't correlate with inaudible growth...

    I don't know what happened to Ben Stein this morning, though I surmise that The Ghost of Christmas past visited him a few months too early, but he is dead right, for once. Taxing the rich does not make a recession worse, anyone who understands American history can point to the 50's and show that is not true. Rather, I am coming to the point of view that the only thing that tax cuts for the rich creates is higher income inequality between the rich and the poor, budget deficits due to lost revenue, and excess capital for the rich which they will use to bribe politicians and speculate on Wall Street. Remember when Reagan raised taxes? I don't remember ever meeting a Republican that would admit that Reagan raised taxes, but he did. I am coming to the opinion that the ONLY way to bring jobs back, based on the last decade of evidence, is to raise taxes on the rich.

    continues on link above

  2. SiriuslyLong is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:18 PM #2
    More Daily Kos I see. Maybe I should post some Fox News pieces lol. Silly, just silly.

  3. SiriuslyLong is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:21 PM #3
    Here's the video. No need for Daily Kos.

    http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201108220035

    Hmmmm, "stimulus was not well spent".... Hmmm.

  4. Havakasha is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:23 PM #4
    Its Ben Stein on Bill O'Reilly. In case you forgot this piece its a Fox news interview. LMFAO.

    The commentary is something else. If you cant stand reading this particular daily kos blogger then just watch
    the Fox News clip.

    And what Ben Stein said to be accurate was that "PART" of the stimulus wasn't well spent. But he also said that the stimulus was better than the alternative. And that it prevented a much worse situation.
    You have a habit of getting a lot of facts wrong. I mean you did watch the whole interview correct? lol.

    So then you agree with Ben Stein or dont you? i cant quite figure out whether you like his analysis.
    Last edited by Havakasha; 08-23-2011 at 09:28 PM.

  5. SiriuslyLong is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:34 PM #5
    Just watch the video and stop depending on the Daily Kos for your information. The video speaks VOLUMES. There was a dialog, not a diatribe as the Daily Kos might suggest. I agree with Wayne Rodgers - just forward to the very end of the piece.

  6. Havakasha is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:39 PM #6
    So then you agree with Ben Stein or dont you? I cant guite figure out whether you like his analysis?

    Love how you cant apologize for incorrectly quoting STein about the stimulus. And then you only selectively quote him
    Not one of your best moments.

    Im going to start calling you Siriusly Angry. Lol

    If you stop using false Weekly Standard (remember 278,000?) figures then maybe we can discuss Daily Kos. :O
    Last edited by Havakasha; 08-23-2011 at 09:41 PM.

  7. SiriuslyLong is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:44 PM #7
    Can you read? I agree with Wayne Rodgers comments at the end of the piece.

    Yes, "part" of the stimulus was poorly spent according to Stein. Those are "precious" tax dollars from people like you and me and our kids. Happy about that?

  8. Havakasha is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:52 PM #8
    Ah so now you admit you incorrectly quoted Stein on the stimulus. Bravo. next time please try to get it right on the first try.

    You quoted Stein about stimulus but then didnt indicate that he thought stimulus was necessary and helpful. Selective editing makes you look particular desperate.

    By the way you do Know that Stein is a Republican that normally opposes Democratic position?

  9. SiriuslyLong is offline
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    08-23-2011, 09:56 PM #9
    You still haven't answered the question of whether or not you are "happy about that" (that "part" of the stimulus was poorly spent). Please elaborate.

  10. Havakasha is offline
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    08-23-2011, 10:05 PM #10
    i happen to think the Stimulus should have had less tax cuts and more true stimulus. We need more infrastructure spending and more stimulus to transition to alternative energy.
    I think if the stimulus was truly badly spent Fox news would have specific examples of how that was so. The fact that they have been able to point to very little that went wrong with it speaks volumes.

    I dont know what % Ben Stein thinks was badly spent. i would like to hear specifics.
    You still havent owned up to the fact that both speakers think there wasnt much else
    Obama could have done and that Stein believes the stimulus was necessary and helpful
    You seem to leave that out whenever you quote Stein. Wonder why? lmfao

    No one likes our money to be badly spent. I think thats pretty obvious.

    STill waiting for you to apologize for incorrectly and misleadingly quoting Stein on the stimulus. That was pretty egregious in my opinion.
    Last edited by Havakasha; 08-23-2011 at 10:12 PM.

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