Oklahoma drops to 48th in annual health ranking

[Hoss]

It's not rocket science- raising taxes chokes the economy and kills jobs. Raising taxes in a recession is even worse such as  what the doofus in the whitehouse is doing, he's choking the job makers, the very people who grow the economy... Mary Fallin knows cutting taxes makes more jobs, and cutting taxes grows the economy. Tax cuts also draw in more companies to the state and that expands the state's tax base. Fallin needs to totally get rid of Oklahoma's state income tax and maybe she can do it this time with republicans in the state house. Tax cuts are the key to a strong healthy economy.

Wow.  Can you really be THAT dense?

[carltonplace]

It would be just super if you can stay on topic and not comment about a poster. Please tell me what is incorrect about what I said. Raising taxes in a recession chokes the economy and kills jobs-- Cutting taxes grows the economy and makes jobs, giving people more money to spend too. Obama is destroying our economy and job market by raising taxes in a recession. The problem is too much gov't spending. Mary Fallin is on the right track!

So Mary Falin helped people make healthy choices and went jogging with them and helped them give up smoking? She closed McDonalds and eliminated food deserts?

Or did she just benefit because other states got fatter faster than we did.

Way to go Mary! We suck, but we are not as sucky as other states are right now!

[sauerkraut]

I did not realize it was so simple. We should then have zero taxes and then everything will be just peachy.

I never said that. When Obama spent $800 Billion on his wasteful spending package that $800 Billion had to come from somewhere, it came at the expense of the private sector and printing presses. We have a national debt of $16 Trillion and Obama wants to spend even more. The less money in the hands of gov't the better it is, the more money in  the hands of the private sector  the better it is. We are becoming another Greece.

[sauerkraut]

So Mary Falin helped people make healthy choices and went jogging with them and helped them give up smoking? She closed McDonalds and eliminated food deserts?

Or did she just benefit because other states got fatter faster than we did.

Way to go Mary! We suck, but we are not as sucky as other states are right now!

People need to make their own healthy choices, Michelle Obama wants to establish a food police telling others what to eat -while she can eat what she wishes. Michelle Obama's moto: "Do as I say & not as I do". Tulsa has a good system of jogging trails if people put them to good use and stop smoking the  health would improve for the residents of Tulsa-  We still have the freedom to make our own choices. I'm a life long runner when I started I just ran for enjoyment and R&R, today at my ripe old age I think more about the healthy effects of running. Mary Fallin can't make our health choices for us, that's something each person has to do, all she can do is make sure Oklahoma is a strong state with a good economy.

[Hoss]

People need to make their own healthy choices, Michelle Obama wants to establish a food police telling others what to eat -while she can eat what she wishes. Michelle Obama's moto: "Do as I say & not as I do". Tulsa has a good system of jogging trails if people put them to good use and stop smoking the  health would improve for the residents of Tulsa-  We still have the freedom to make our own choices. I'm a life long runner when I started I just ran for enjoyment and R&R, today at my ripe old age I think more about the healthy effects of running. Mary Fallin can't make our health choices for us, that's something each person has to do, all she can do is make sure Oklahoma is a strong state with a good economy.

You seriously need to lay off Drudge and Fox News. And the meds.

[AquaMan]

Sauer, you're just repeating what other people and bumper stickers tell you. You are among some of the most enlightened, educated (though polarized), economic thinkers in this city. Shut up and listen. THEN engage your brain to process what you've heard- divorce the politics from the meat- and see what comes out of your mouth.

When you call the president a doofus you lose immediate credibility and when you ignore other's rebuttals to your dogma as you have ever since you started posting here, people stop trying to 'splain stuff to you.

One example. Taxes were higher during several previous administrations, both republican and democratic. How do you explain the low unemployment/high income during those administrations? Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton. The deficits were also huge. And, at what rate are taxes low enough to stimulate?

There are no simple answers to complex problems. That is the key to why no one takes your posts seriously.

[sauerkraut]

Sauer, you're just repeating what other people and bumper stickers tell you. You are among some of the most enlightened, educated (though polarized), economic thinkers in this city. Shut up and listen. THEN engage your brain to process what you've heard- divorce the politics from the meat- and see what comes out of your mouth.

When you call the president a doofus you lose immediate credibility and when you ignore other's rebuttals to your dogma as you have ever since you started posting here, people stop trying to 'splain stuff to you.

One example. Taxes were higher during several previous administrations, both republican and democratic. How do you explain the low unemployment/high income during those administrations? Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton. The deficits were also huge. And, at what rate are taxes low enough to stimulate?

There are no simple answers to complex problems. That is the key to why no one takes your posts seriously.

It's not rocket science, cut taxes you spur the economy- raise taxes you choke the economy, you can't get out of a recession by raising taxes, and you can't tax your way out of a recession... Yes tax rates were much higher before but what is left out of the mix is way back then there were alot of tax deductions that lowered your effective tax rates. Today many of those tax deductions are gone, but they lowered the tax rates, now they want to keep boosing up the tax rates and all those deductions we had in the past are gone. The problem is not that we are taxed too little, but that gov't spends too much. Today in this Obama recession the states with the lowest unemployment rates are also the states with the lowest taxes. The states with highest tax rates have the highest unemployment rates.. As for the word "doofus" I was just figuring that Obama is our most un-experenced president we ever had and who's kidding who Obama is  in way over his head- he has not a clue of what he's doing... To be blunt Obama is just a "empty suit"...  Heck, People polked fun at Sarah Palin but at least she had tons more "smarts" and job experence than Obama does. Yes I think Sarah Palin would have made a good president. I'm a stong "T" Party supporter. I'd like to have either Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, or even Michelle Bachmann as president over that disaster we have in the white house today..

[AquaMan]

Do your fingers ever get tired and calloused from being kept in your ears so long? How difficult is it to run in that position? I'm guessing the only time you remove them is when a fellow T-partier is regurgitating.

[sauerkraut]

Do your fingers ever get tired and calloused from being kept in your ears so long? How difficult is it to run in that position? I'm guessing the only time you remove them is when a fellow T-partier is regurgitating.

What is incorrect about what I said? Does raising taxes help make jobs and grow the economy? Does less money in people's pockets help the economy grow? 

[AquaMan]

Take a course in college. Econ 10 would be good. Or pay me by the hour. More incorrect in your post than not. You can use taxes to stimulate growth in particular areas or retard growth as needed, then use that growth to create wealth. Internet is good example.

[Townsend]

I'm a stong "T" Party supporter.

Holler that from the rooftops.  That might make the more normal folks realize they need to stay away from the tea party.

You're one messed up feller.

[AquaMan]

What is incorrect about what I said? Does raising taxes help make jobs and grow the economy? Does less money in people's pockets help the economy grow? 

This one's for free cause I have a few minutes to waste.

Consider the plight of stagnating downtowns and how the tax code hampered their revitalization. Wealthy people know that they can defer taxation by purchasing old warehouses and commercial buildings cheaply in these areas, then board them up and depreciate them on their taxes. It was designed as a deduction to stimulate growth. Any "improvements" or expenses they incur are also deductible. 

But it didn't work that way in these areas. Normally these buildings would be a great attraction for small entrepreneurs who could rent them cheap and start the process of rebuilding dilapidated areas. BUT, there is no real incentive for these wealthy owners to rent them out. Its a big hassle with contracts, insurance, repairs, maintenance and financially weak tenants. SO, they refuse to rent them unless its a sure deal like a big franchise company like Spaghetti Warehouse (sometimes they even flatten them regardless of their value to avoid insuring them). Easier to just take the deduction off their high incomes. Sometimes they burn them and collect insurance money. Sometimes they put the taxpayer on the hook.

SOOOO, to end that deduction would be an income TAX INCREASE for the wealthy but would serve to stimulate growth in new, creative, job creating businesses like Joe Momma's.  So what should the government do Sauer? Its a complicated problem that you say is easy. Just reduce taxes and put more money in people's pockets right? But if you do that it means a concentration of wealth and valuable properties going to waste.

If the government is paying attention, they offer them tax concessions that make it more attractive to the land owner to open the building to rehabilitation. Stuff like grants, tax deferments, infrastructure improvements, aid in historical designations etc. BUT that is in effect using taxpayer dollars to subsidize wealthy folks. That wasteful spending stuff you Tpartiers hate.

What to do. What to do....

[Red Arrow]

Sometimes they burn them and collect insurance money.

That reminds me of an OLD joke about 3 "retirees".
2 fires and a flood.  You've probably heard it.

[sauerkraut]

Got it- raising taxes, making more rules, more choking regulations, more gov't spending and bigger gov't makes jobs and expands the economy sounds logical to me~ I know if I owned  a business or company under those conditions I'd be hiring like mad and growing & expanding, tax my profits away.... If a company or business was run the way the federal gov't was run it would be a disaster. Ok back on topic each person has to make their own health choices. Smoking is something a person does of their own free will. We don't need any food police.

[AquaMan]

Got it- raising taxes, making more rules, more choking regulations, more gov't spending and bigger gov't makes jobs and expands the economy sounds logical to me~ I know if I owned  a business or company under those conditions I'd be hiring like mad and growing & expanding, tax my profits away.... If a company or business was run the way the federal gov't was run it would be a disaster. Ok back on topic each person has to make their own health choices. Smoking is something a person does of their own free will. We don't need any food police.

Taxes are a tool (avoiding obvious joke here).    They work quite well to effect the public good. Not perfectly but better than most systems that rely on other methods to pay for public needs. Whether or not we are getting our money's worth is a valid question but saying stuff like your first sentence is just kids stuff. Just step back from where you are getting your information and consider other sources. Go back and read the history of our government and how it has grown in response to its citizens, and its industry.  Drop words like "raising taxes" , "choking regulations", "bigger gov't" and "logic". Then start thinking for yourself. We probably would still disagree but it would be at an informed level. As it is you're just like reading a bumper sticker on a HumVee.

The federal government IS run like a business since most of its leadership comes from the business world. Did you not know that? And most businesses effect pressure to make sure the government is run to benefit them. Do you deny or oppose that? Why? You learn from asking questions Sauer, not spouting political dogma.

Smoking gives lung cancer to those within proximity including children and old folks. If the government doesn't regulate smoking in public areas, who should? The guy with the concealed carry next to you?