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Episode-1048- Listener Feedback for 1-2-13

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Join Me Today as I Answer Your eMails

Join Me Today as I Answer Your eMails

It’s the first show of the new year and time for another round of you your feedback, questions and commentary sent to jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com.

Make sure if you submit content for a feedback show that you put something like “comment for jack”, “question for jack” or “article for jack” in the subject line to assure proper identification for my screening process.

Today we discuss the fiscal cliff that wasn’t, the real danger of the Feinstein Firearms Bill, food shortages, the 2012 Arkansas blizzard, libertarianism and more.

Please understand I receive several hundred emails a day and can’t get them all on the air. I do put out a lot of information on Facebook from emails that I can’t fit on the program though so keep em coming.

Join Me Today As I Respond to Your Emails On

  • Why the fiscal cliff never mattered and the nonsense coming next
  • The real danger of the Feinstein Firearms Bill, it ain’t what you think
  • What the hysteria in the gun industry can teach us about a food shortage
  • Lessons from the Arkansas black out and blizzard of 2012
  • An update on the acquisition of our new homestead
  • Pizza hut demotes a delivery guy for defending himself during an attack
  • Tom Woods on Libertarianism in NH
  • The best way to protect the 2nd amendment, will you answer the call?

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

Comments

Episode-1048- Listener Feedback for 1-2-13 — 59 Comments

  1. Maybe one of you guys in the know could answer this for me – what happened in the original assault weapons bans to existing 30 round mags, were they illegal to even possess, or if you had them already were they grandfathered in? Similarly with the firearm itself, could you still, say, take it to the range after the ban if you already owned one? If so, could you use a pre-ban 30 round mag? Sorry if this is well known, but I’ve found conflicting info online.

    • @centraltx, you could possess and use them but they had to be “pre ban” under the law any 30 round mags made after the ban had to be stamped with “military and law enforcement use only” and those were the ones you couldn’t own, as you might imagine criminals were still happy to use them.

  2. My family and I was in Hot Springs over the weekend for my sister’s wedding. We actually almost lost our hotel reservations (came late because of weather) because so many people had lost power and were staying in local hotels! Having heard that roads were closed because of down trees, I thought to myself, how hard is it to clean up some trees? lol As you know, it was a lot more than “just a few down trees”. Hopefully those that were in hotels will take a look at preparedness so they can avoid rushing to a hotel over a power outage.

  3. EXCELLENT IDEA. I use to be a very anti gun person and felt they all should be gone period. No reason to shoot Bambi or his mom. Crime wouldn’t happen if there were no guns. I got my beliefs from my brother who use to make me clean his room at gun point. Dad would laugh when he would chase my boyfriend (now hubby of 34 yrs) down the drive way with a shot gun. Of course I hated guns. That’s what I knew.

    After being with hubby he has shown me the truth. He took me out let me shoot. Took me hunting showed how safe and humane it was. He cooked and showed me how tasty the meat was. I resisted at first. Mainly because he had a big gun that was hard for me to hold. It also made a very loud noise. It wasn’t until I was able to shoot a 22 revolver that I got it. I could understand how the bullets went in. How the bullets came out. It didn’t kick and it was not big and scary or loud. Looked much like a cap gun or a cowboy gun. He built on that familiarity. Now he hates going gun shopping with me. Cuz I have expensive taste. Plus I always want just one more.

    Just proof that this will work even for females.

  4. Great show! Our local club has an annual Women’s Day – we treat them to a free breakfast, then introduce them to the range, under the supervision of
    qualified members. The response gets bigger each year!

  5. With all the gun control stuff going around after the Connecticut shooting, I was surprised by a post made by an east coast friend, very angry about guns and how they all needed to be banned, how the 2nd amendment needed to be thrown out, used as toilet paper, etc.
    After some discussion I realized he didn’t even understand what the 2nd amendment said, but has turned off by all the “it’s my 2nd amendment right” he’d been hearing. How he sees the NRA simply as a group scaring people so they’d buy dozens of guns to make more money for the gun and ammo makers, etc.
    I explained how my father-in-law would never go into the wilds of Alaska in his small plane without being armed, and he was OK, guns are fine for protection from wildlife, and I see how you’d need something bigger than a .22 for a bear. But that you don’t need guns if you live in town.
    Then I explained how my neighbor with motion detectors caught a thief trying to going over his back fence, neighbor was armed, confronted the guy, who quickly dropped his loot and took off into the woods where the police caught up with him, how I was glad my neighbors on both sides are armed.
    He seemed OK but not comfortable with people protecting themselves with firearms. He went from saying ban all guns to let’s ban assault weapons, still has a way to go.
    I also think all politicians who want to ban guns, should not be given protection by gun welding staff themselves. Anything they think should be outlawed, their personal secret service crew should not be using either. Only fair. Most Americans do not have armed security guards following them around day and night.

  6. Enjoyed the show, Jack. Couldn’t agree more with your takes on the fiscal miss, coming sequestration (lack thereof), and anti-gun “compromise.” What are your current thoughts about continued “easing” in 2013 and it’s potential impacts? I believe when QE3 was announced, you thought it’d take a few months to start to impact things. Think we have to get through the political BS a few more months before we see that false “pop” you’ve been waiting for?

  7. Jack,

    I accept the challenge to take someone out who has never shot before, with a .22 pistol and my “scary” AR-15. I know just who to take. I plan to do this in the next week or so. Will report back in with how it went.

    Good show as always. Missed you over the holidays.

    –Steve the Backwoods Engineer

  8. Currently I don’t have or do I really feel like i need a high capacity magazine except for maybe a 22 hand gun or rifle mag(ruger 10/22 or Mossberg 700 series ie) . This is because I KNOW HOW TO SHOOT!!! I LEARNED MANY SHOOTING SKILLS FOM RANGES OPERATED BY THE STATE OF MISSOURI. A 357 MAG revolver will get the job done 6 times with a little practice. An 1894C Lever action carbine can be fired for an eternity if you just pop a couple rounds in after shooting off a couple. But then again I like lever guns and their not very “Scary” to most folks

    That said I think it’s still wrong to not allow a person to have more ammo capacity.

  9. Today’s show made me think of two things: 1) I always feel smarter when I come to teh same conclusion as Jack (i.e. the physical cliff and the feinstein motivation being a con to get ‘reasonable’ elimination of our rights) though I usually feel more depressed too! Also reminded me of TireIron’s post, specifically where he talks about the Enemy as compared to the Adversary: http://youtu.be/69mqP5kfwS8?t=1m20s

  10. Jack love your suggestion about taking someone out. I posted an open invite on my facebook page tonight, lets see if anyone takes me up on it! Good show glad to have it back! 😉

  11. People who want to ban ARs believe their ace-in-the-hole argument is that these guns aren’t used for hunting. But semiautomatic rifles with high capacity mags are ideal for culling feral hogs.

    In fact Texas has legalized hunting feral hogs from helicopters using ARs with high capacity mags. Youtube “hunting hogs by helicopter” and you’ll get a visual of scale of the hog problem and the effectiveness of culling hogs this way. Texas Monthly magazine did a story titled “High on the Hog” were a reporter goes on her first ever hunt. If you Youtube Cedar Ridge Aviation Texas Monthly shoot there’s a video of the hunt.

    Texas Parks and Wildlife est that because hogs are prolific breeders up 60-70% of their numbers need to be culled each year just to keep hog numbers stable. A hog causes and est $1400 in crop damage during its life. They pollute waterways with their wallowing, and they are a threat to ground nesting birds and other wildlife. Seems to me the Sierra Club ought to support AR use since they support eradicating hogs through hunting.

    We tried deer rifles but about all you could kill was one or two hogs out of a dozen. We’ve since used ARs to cull hogs on our farm and range land and got up to 6 out of 11. IOW I have a legitimate environmental use for semiautomatics to manage what environmentalists call a pig epidemic.

  12. Jack,
    About pizza hut and autozone work policies.
    Some years ago I once worked for a company that had a non confrontational policy.
    I approached my boss on this issue. I informed him that that I have a concern about the policy. Is the policy indicating that they are taking the responsibility of my safety away from me and that they are assuming the responsibility for my safety? If this is not what it means let me know.
    My boss said “he would send my concerns upstairs since no one has ever put it that way.”
    Upstairs came back with, a re-evaluation of policies at this time. However for the present they would stand by all policies as they are stated.
    In the mean time I informed my wife that if something happens to me while I follow their policy she is to sue the pants off of them for wrong full death suit. If I survive I will sue them for not providing the proper safety they implied by me following their policy.
    I was there for a couple of more months when I got a better job offer and took it. I never heard anything from upstairs.
    But when I left I told my boss what I had told my wife. He thanked me for my work and the perspective on the policy. He indicated in so many words that it would be an interesting conversation topic when he got home that night,
    I don’t know if there is a legal leg to stand on. But I am glad my wife never had to find out.

  13. Is is just me or that lady ‘Chase” from NH is saying to prove how much we don’t like you coming here we will trash our state? Sounds like me saying I hate the noise and music coming from the neighbors So I am going to beat my stereo with a hammer then run it over with my car. Did I really hear that? I swear I must have missed something. Did I. I just can not compute this. I have listened several times still can’t compute.

  14. I’m 61 and last year I took my older brother to my home range to shoot. As we shot, other shooters came by shared experience and shot with us. After 20 minutes my brother ask, are all shooters this friendly? He said the
    Public perception is we are all red neck killers. These people are nice folks he later commented. A year later he owned his first 9mm handgun. I had always shared my views with him, but like you said, until he experienced shooting and the good people who shoot he truly thought gun enthusiasts were criminals! On AR’s, when ask why a person would want an AR I simply challenge that person to go to the range with me and fire a 20 round mag through my AR as fast (and safely) as they can. When done the smile spreading across their face answers the rest of their questions. It’s just plain fun!
    Thanks for the show Jack and keep up the good work! You are the person who woke me up and got me prepared!

  15. Jack,
    I shared the youtube video on my FB page and on my uncle’s. He can be kind of a card carrying, kool aid drinking republican, so I figured he could use a good dose of “Spirko Common Sense”. It worked completely, and I think he will be a regular listener. Great idea on a way to share the show. Often it is hard to do this. I tried to turn on a fellow prepper to the show the day you did the DRT episode. If you weren’t a regular listener you were like, “What is this, this isn’t the survival prepper show I was looking for?”

  16. http://gunowners.org/a01022013.htm

    It has been suggested by Gun Owners of America that under the “nuclear option” trickery, the Senate can achieve 50 votes for passage, which they have a majority control to obtain.

    If the Senate goes this route they can pass the Feinstein Amendment which would be catastrophic.

    America would be fundamentally changed forever.

    • @Sage so you think we live in a world where one branch of congress is all that you need to pass a law? When did that happen?

  17. One of the thing that I like to hear is analysis of what happened after the disaster. I like to hear what those who were not prepared how that handled things i.e. what where their inconveniences and challenges. I helps me to learn and prepare off of their mistakes. It was funny to hear that people were buying 1500w electric heaters to run off their generators. For me a Mr. Buddy 4K-8K BTU propane heater on a 20lbs tank is heaven. Again heat the central room where the family is located not the entire house. I would have cooking from a propane stove as well. Just a small example. At any rate glad you and the family made it out unscratched Jack.

  18. Jack
    Some may accuse you of rambling but I found this episode one of the most enjoyable ever. Combination of news (political) analysis, personal stories and current events works well.

    And I will give Pizza Hut a call or 3. Along the lines of “no weapons” policy, company truck drivers have the same problem. The term “weapon” is never defined. Truck drivers (OTR) -long haul- are expected to brave winter conditions without a knife and park in bad alleys without a pistol. This is unreasonable. The lawyers and insurance companies place higher value on not facing liability than they do on driver’s lives.

  21. I like the idea of doing part of the show as a video. I watched the video when it first came out. Like many listeners, I listen in the car. Any chance you can put the portion released on video at the end of the podcast? That way there’s no need to fast forward through it when we’ve already watched the video.

  22. A little advice – particularly when bringing women for the first time but this could certainly apply to others as well.

    There is a pretty prevalent need for guys to want to force a larger caliber into peoples hands before they are ready for it because you know a .22 is not going to stop anyone. Stop it. People need to slow down. For many people shooting for the first, second or even 5th time, there is a lot background of fear that they are facing. Bigger calibers will come and people will (generally) get over the fear of recoil and boom but some new shooters will in fact be turned off by a bad experience with a big scary gun.

    Also, emphasis safety (as Jack indicates) and don’t get too hung up on form problems. While people like shooting tips and may begin to ask how they can improve, again there is a lot going on in the early trips to the range.

    Unlearning bad habits is hard but there is a bit of a balance to these things.

    Finally, (this thought is generally for the women out there) look to see if your state as a Second Amendment Sisters chapter. (http://www.2asisters.net/ has the state by state map, http://www.2asisters.org is the main site). If they do, then see if you can help them. If not, think about starting a local chapter. The NH group does a monthly ladies only shoot where shooters of all levels are invited to come and learn and then do some shooting in a less intimidating environment. The NH chapter generally has between 5-10 first time shooters every month.

  23. I shared the video of the Feinstein Bill discussion with a friend that was a little too worked up after watching Alex Jones and it calmed him down. He reminded me that this was a case of the Overton Window, not the Glenn Beck book (which I’ve read), and I think he was right. It is worth being familiar with that concept so you can call your wobbly kneed Congressman on it.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

  24. Jack, I’ll understand if you don’t want to answer this as maybe it’s a bit intrusive but I am curious. I know you’ve mentioned that it’s been difficult in the past to get some of the prepper mentality passed on to your son but now that he’s 21 what are his thoughts on getting a CHL?

    …I liked the story about your son and two strangers sharing a rental car to Arkansas. Reminds me of myself when I was younger. I’m always amazed at the stranger’s I meet and all it usually takes is a “hi, how you doing”.

    • He is 23 and I have on occasion made the recommendation to him, in the end as a grown man it is his decision.

      The reality is I think he should the exact same way I think every adult in a place where you can should. I don’t push harder with a family member then any other person, I think to many people do that and in the end it usually back fires.

  25. When people ask me what I want for my birthday, I tell the I want them to go to an Appleseed with me. Last year 3 went.

  26. I really enjoyed your first-hand account of the power outage- what wasn’t available, where it was available, Cracker Barrel being overcrowded – the whole thing. Meat & potatoes stuff. Great storytelling & all good “real world” information.

  27. I have been listening to you since the Star Telegram article turned me on to the podcast. I joined back in October and have taken advantage of the discounts offered by your vendor supporters. In my opinion today’s was the best podcast you have ever done.
    I was at a neighborhood party New Year’s eve and was talking to a neighbor about guns. He hunts so I knew he had a gun. He said maybe a 30 round clip is too many and should be banned. I gave him the answer that Tom Gresham told us about on his Guntalk show. Well if thirty is too many what is the right number? He could not say. Then I proceeded to tell him that once they got their foot in the door there would be no stopping until only one bullet in a gun was “too many”. We have to do whatever we can to make the clowns in government understand that we are serious–NO GUN CONTROL of any kind is acceptable.

    Keep up the good work and welcome back to Texas on Jan 15th.

  28. On the Pizza Hut story, a red flag went up when I heard the source was “Fox News”. A quick Google search revealed one glaring omission from Jack’s podcast: Pizza Hut released a statement denying the employees allegations. “He was not demoted, his wages were not lowered and his hours were not cut,” wrote Doug Terfehr. “He remains employed with Pizza Hut and the situation is being handled internally with the utmost concern for his well being.”

    So now, because Fox News reported one side of a story as fact & Jack believed them, we’ve got TSP members all over the nation calling the poor 19 year-old kids taking orders at Pizza Hut & rambling on about something that probably never happened.

    • @Mike there is no reason to doubt the vetting of a story on Fox News vs. a story on any other major news outlet. Also if you actually WENT TO THE REPORT the individual in question is ON TAPE and explains the attack and states that Pizza Hut did exactly what Fox News reported.

      So are we to believe the guy or Pizza Hut? I believe the guy, what possible reason would he have to lie about this. Sounds to me like Pizza Hut got caught with their balls in a vice and are now trying to get them out with minimal damage.

      • I did see the report. & no he doesn’t say on tape that “Pizza Hut cut my hours” He only recounts the attack. Nobody’s questioning his account of the attack. However, Pizza Hut IS denying his allegations that they demoted him & cut his hours. TSP and Fox News are the only 2 media outlets I can find that didn’t report Pizza Hut’s strong denial. If you want to personally assume the kid’s telling the truth & Pizza Hut is lying, that’s fine. But please tell us the whole story & let us make up our own minds.

    • Exactly Shaun! Unlike Mike I have actually been featured on Fox Programming, I was vetted when that happened, they did a better job then I would have preferred to have done. Certain things you don’t want to divulge are asked about. I was also vetted heavily by Beck’s staff and I imagine many came with him from Fox. They are of course biased as ALL MAIN STREAM NEWS sources are and in fact as ALL NEWS SOURCES are but no real reason to fudge this one is there? I bet the guy who was attacked is now being coddled and well taken care of because Pizza Hut did get in a bad pickle when the story broke. In fact even if they didn’t do it, if they even thought about it isn’t it great that such a back lash occurs? We need to be clear that we are sick of people being denied their right to self defense in any way.

  31. Your idea for ten minute youtube podcasts is very good.

    Our church got a defib and a firefighter / paramedic came to train us. I told him I was a former EMT and we have been emailing. I told him about TSP and he is just all about it now. Really digging into the site. Also told him about the emergency response team plans. He had never heard of TSP and is really excited to learn more.

  32. I just started listening recently and I’m quickly becoming a big fan! I’ve been going back through past episodes and I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t teach me something. Thanks for all the work that you put into it!

    I’m a part time delivery driver for Pizza Hut, and have worked at three different Pizza Hut locations off and on for close to three years. All locations have had an official policy against weapons, although at the first (inner city) I was told to get a weapon and never be caught without it.

    I appreciate the support of delivery drivers and the push to allow us to be armed, but I would like to point out that delivery drivers choose to work where they do. They realize (or should, anyway) that it’s a potentially dangerous job. I was told at my first interview that it was not a matter of if I was robbed, but when. If someone chooses to work there, unarmed, they are responsible for that decision. If they choose to violate company policy by carrying a weapon, again, they are responsible for that decision. I do think it’s ridiculous if Pizza Hut punishes him for it, but the rule was in place before the incident happened so I don’t see how we can cry foul when he’s the one who broke the rule, regardless of how stupid we think the rule is.

    I break the same rule at the same company every night that I work. I accept that I alone am responsible for my safety and I accept what consequences that decision may bring with it, both in the eyes of the law and my employer.

    Please don’t call your local Pizza Hut. Call corporate or the franchisee that owns your local store, but don’t call and harass the “little guy” who you’re trying to defend.

    • You know what 200 franchise owners calling the head office and saying, hey this sucks and we need to change it will have bigger effect then 2,000 people calling corporate.

    • Absolutely, and that’s more likely to happen if we call the franchise owners or someone in their office directly. Calling the store will just put you on the line with somebody like me or this poor guy in the news story.

  33. I agree the ‘cliff’ was to a large part theatre. However, two things were important to me, one ended up a win, one a loss.

    1). AMT. Win. Without a correction, many of us middle class taxpayers were about to get slaughtered by the un-indexed to inflation AMT. The bill ended up making a permanent inflation index a part of the AMT. Without this, a lot of us would have owed a buttload of extra taxes on *2012* earnings if we got caught in the AMT.

    2) Payroll tax. Loss. Look – as much as anyone (even Jack apparently) wants to call this a “payroll” or “social security” tax, the fact is it is an income tax, pure and simple. When the amount you owe is a direct function of your income, it is an income tax. Whether or not they promise you credits that you can use when you’re an old geezer is irrelevant. We got screwed on this. And please no do not buy the argument that “well this is just returning to what it was”. Yes, it is in a sense, but once a tax is decreased, that is the new level. Any increase above that new level *IS* a tax increase. How about we say we return to the 90% top bracket during the Truman era, oh is that not a tax increase? Is that just returning to what it used to be? No.

    So Dear Leader once again was caught in a lie: “no increases if you make more than 250k”. Well, here’s a nice big nasty one, and it’s going to hit everyone regardless of income based on a tax on the fruit of their *labor*. Nothing could be further from Libertarian ideals. The fruit of my labor is not a profit – I exchange my labor for my wages – there is no gain there. Yet that is the system we live under. Couple that with yet another year of unemployment ‘benefits’ for those who don’t want to work?!?

    “From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs.” Sound familiar? That’s what we’re living under.

    • @metaforge as much as I enjoy smacking Obama around you CAN’T in anyway say he increased the payroll tax because HE IS THE ONE THAT cut it temporarily in the first place. It was always designed to be temporary.

      By your reasoning if you worked for me and I did a temporary wage cut after it ended I could tell you that I gave you a raise.

      It amuses me how transparent this game is and how hard it is for people to actually see anyway

      • Yes, I can, because even though you’re right in that he presided over things when it went to 4.2% in 2009, he then in 2012 campaigned on no tax increases if you make < 250k.

        • @metaforge, again no you can’t, the return to the standard rate was no more an increase in taxes then as I said me cutting your wages temporarily would amount to a raise in pay when the cut expired. If there is a difference between the two please explain it.

        • When someone campaigns on “no tax increases”, that needs to mean nothing goes up as of election day – that what is there is what will stay. Otherwise, he should have specifically said so.

          I understand where you’re coming from with your analogy, but I don’t think it fits because one doesn’t get to elect or re-elect one’s private sector boss. It’s a different story with the assclowns in government.

        • It’s unfortunate too that this income tax (yes that’s what it is, let’s admit it & not sugar coat it & pretend it’s somehow sacred or special) was allowed to jump immediately.

          If they were going to let it go back to 6.4% they should have done it gradually/given people some warning. As it was done (by both parties) we just get the shaft as always – an additional 2% of paycheck just instantly gone… no chance to plan or budget for it. They should have at least ramped that 2% back up over 4-6 months or something, say 0.4% increase per month until the 2% was fully restored.

        • @ Metaforge- I hate to break this to you, but the expiration of the payroll tax was in Boehner’s proposal. If Obama had his way he would have fought to extend the lower rate as he did in 2011 & 2012. It’s called compromising. Neither party got exactly what they wanted, but they go the deal done. However, make no mistake, it was a Republican proposal to let the payroll tax expire. So now the only question is, “how does it feel to agree politically with Obama?”

          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/john-boehner-fiscal-cliff_n_2233936.html

        • Sure, whatever Mike. The valid part of your point is that Boner & his pack of RINOs agreed to it. Look we can argue back & forth about whether it was an increase or not. The bottom line is your check is lighter in January than it was in December – call it whatever you want. And for what? Not just a Ponzi scheme, but a lottery now – because you know how they’re going to make it “solvent” right? They’re going to 1) add means testing and 2) increase the age at which you can collect. #2 makes it a lottery – how long you think you’re gonna live to get your own money back, punk?

          And now even Obama supporters are crying about their taxes being “increased”: (granted they’re not that smart to begin with)

          http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/6/obama-supporters-shocked-angry-new-tax-increases/

        • Ok so HuffPo says it was Boner’s idea, assuming you can believe them. The bottom line is Boner AND Obama both agreed to it, as did all the other RINOs and Democrats. It was a royal bi-partisan screwing. Obama promised no tax increases on < 250k, most of the Republicans promised no tax increases period. So fine, they both broke their word, I have no problem saying that. I know 99.9% of them are worthless, believe me. Again, bottom line, lighter check – and for what? To steal more money from us so that it can be stuffed into the general fund and spent on lord knows what – there's no SS lockbox, and even if there were, that's a Ponzi/Lottery. So again to get back to my original post, this was the part of the cliff that was real and does suck. I agree that 95% of it was theater.

        • Hey Mike, here you go, your favorite news source HuffPo with this piece:

          Obama Administration Not Sticking Up For Payroll Tax Cut
          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/payroll-tax-cut-obama-administration_n_2194356.html

          Additionally: “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in September the tax cut should be allowed to expire. ”

          As far as “me agreeing politically with Obama”, nothing could be further from the truth. I wanted it to continue – you know why? Because that extra 2% would help me pay down debt & shore up my preps for the eventual economic reset we know is coming; and I know if they take it I’m basically never going to see it again, at least not at the value that it is today. Obama *may* have wanted it to continue, it’s unclear now based on these two articles. But if he did, you can bet it was to keep things cushy for the masses so he could buy votes for Democrats, not for the same reasons I wanted it. But by all means, if you’re so happy about it, I suggest you feel free to pony up an extra couple % as donation to the SS fund.

        • Jack, how about if you reverse your analogy – give me a “temporary” pay raise for 3 years, then allow my pay to revert to what it was. Think I wouldn’t see that as a pay cut?

        • You would see it that way but that doesn’t make it so. If I brought you a pie every Friday for two years you would begin to feel you are entitled to a pie, doesn’t mean you are though does it. Problem is you so wish to hate Obama the facts don’t matter to you. Go listen to my show on the great lie of dichotomy again.

        • @ Metaforge: Let me say that you are making 2 excellent points here that I completely agree with: 1.) It’s a huge burden on poor folks like us (household income < $100,000k) to have the payroll tax rate increase 2.) We need to keep S.S solvent.

          From your article: "Democrats demanded an additional extension at the end of 2011, and while Republicans initially balked, the political repercussions of hiking taxes on struggling families proved too much to bear. " Look at that statement. Notice the Dems are pushing for the lower tax & the Republicans only balked because of "political repercussions"? Let me remind you that you'd side with the Dems on this one since you're also pushing for the lower rate.

          Now why did Obama & the Dems back off? Because, LIKE YOU & ME, they also care about Social Security's solvency. Would they prefer to keep the rate low AND keep S.S solvent by replacing the lost revenue from the enormous coffers of the 1% instead of us? Of course – they'd hardly notice it. Would Boehner allow them to do that? NEVER.

          So, like I said, Obama was forced by Republicans to compromise so that a deal could be made. Like Jack pointed out, it was his idea to lower the rate in the first place. It's just silly to argue that, despite his campaign promises, this is what Obama always intended.

  34. With regards to the pizza guy, it’s no surprise to me that it happened in the People’s Socialist Republic of Maryland, the (embarrassing) state of my birth, and 2nd only behind perhaps California. Kudos to this guy, and I hope he is doing well now!

    • You went on and on but you couldn’t in any way dispute the actual facts as it related to a wage cut. You made my point, thanks.

    • Sorry Jack, no idea what you’re talking about here. As I said above, we can debate on whether it was a tax increase or just a restoration to what was. Please see my response above.

  35. Love the video segments, wish there was the fiscal cliff part as well, and look forward to more 🙂

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