We need to coin new terms

tort reform, medical malpractice reform... we need a "death tax" type term to reshape the debate on these issues.

I believe that where these types of laws of passed (states) there has been no or little savings in insurance rates - thus the whole argument is bogus.

The real issue is that with lax regulation (getting laxer by the minute) - without the ability to go to court - citizens/consumers have NO redress when malfeasance or extreme malpractice has happened. The term has to capture that sentiment.

"Bad Doctor Protection Act...." Reminds folks that it is aimed at protecting repeat offenders... and keeping those offenders practicing, is what keeps the insurance rates so high.

Other suggestions?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=1969426&mesg_id=1969426

this is the most interesting and, i think, most productive discussion we can be having now

:thumbsup:

because it conveys the real policy issue - while sounding horrifying.

for the assualt on clean air. People really don't like living under constant danger smog alerts

schemes have ended up costing tax payers much more than the original costs of the services when they were run by the state. Look to florida - particularly their dept of family services (or the equivalent) - privatized big chunks of things like managing foster care and work has had to be redone ...

The theory that the private sector is always more efficient (better services at lower cost) has NOT borne out - and we need a way to point that out - esp since it costs us MORE. A big problem is how contracts are handed out - nowhere is this more apparent than in Iraq rebuilding contracts.

Frauditization? Surely there is a simpler (and more catchy) way of phrasing this concept?

The "privatizers" have a track record of helping themselves and their pals more than the regular public, and that's when the public isn't footing the bill entirely.

Remember one of the last great love-fests between the public sector and the "deregulation uber alles" crowd? The S&L scandal which added a trillion dollars to the debt?

Never forget that piracy is also a "high risk for high gain venture". These aren't privatizers, they're privateers.

And considering how likely its ill-gotten profits are to end up in some Caribbean pirates cove offshore account, call it what it is:

Pirateization

works also to go back to the track record of military contractors in the eighties... we are back to the days of the $300 toilet seat.

Tax policies that promote rather than curb back the pace of outsourcing?

Greedonomics for the policies that encourage corporations cutting pay/jobs in the face of HUGE profits ...

...because we're not (or at least I'm not) against the sort of low-level greed that amounts to trying to provide more for your family, or even live a good life yourself.

What we're against is the naked, soulless avarice that has no concience, for which nothing is ever enough, which always seeks more, and will do ANYTHING to get it.

? As in, we need to constrain the Pork Authority of the GOP. Helps remind folks that it is those in power that are accelerating the size and pace of porkbarelling in the each budget bill.

Policies that increase hunger.... eg promote having no food to put on the table...

Bad Doctor Protection Act is a great start.

and the trigger points that most people will respond to - in part because they reflect the TRUE problem/danger of the GOP position. Hey if we generate 100... and 2 or 3 are powerful (and get into the right hands) we might just help accomplish something... the reframing of issues is going to be key to winning in the future.

as anti family.... those policies that increase economic hardship - promote the direct destruction of families - as economic turmoil is a leading cause of divorce...

When describing Repukes, here are some good terms/phrases to use:

Cold hearted
Spend and borrow
Overzealous
Fanatical
Tax cuts for the wealthy
War-like
Narrow-minded
Elitist (let's turn this one back on the Repukes)
Ownership class
Undemocratic
Unfair

agreed with the rest.

something happened in the conference committee of the prescription drug bill.... that highlighted a trend of this administration and the GOP approach. It made NO sense - and could/should have been trumpted as it represents their MO so much.

The bush folks wanted to constrain the burden on the government by encouraging companies to act in good faith who had promised retirees health benefits as part of their package. Not a bad thing. There was a tax break or credit that companies who retained these policies would be elegible to take (the incentive).

During the conference committee - the tax benefit remained - but the requirement (what it was there to induce) was stripped. Corporations got an additional tax break - but continued to dump their retiree health plans. Now the tax payers pay on two fronts.

What do we call this? The story broke - but should have been framed -and used to highlight the administration use of tax breaks for... ahem... tax breaks sake even thought they are initially sold as targetted to induce some behavior that is of benefit to the public.

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/rockridge/taxation

Talking about "tax investments" or "tax dividends" -- just like you pay to belong to the YMCA, you pay to belong to this country!

hope that their work is being tapped into by the growing number of progressive issue groups.

from the middle class to the very wealthy. This idea doesn't seem to sink into the American consciousness. It might if it were understood to be not a corrective or return of wealth to those from whom it was taken but an actual choice to take from the middle class what is theirs by right and give it to the undeserving rich. Someone--maybe Kerry?--talked about how the tax burden has shifted from those who earn passively (i.e., in the money and stock/bond markets) to those who earn actively (i.e., through labor). I wish there was a word or phrase that captured this injustice.

;)

like a tooth extraction... costs are skyrocketing, salaries are stagnent, an increasing number of jobs are being exported, and all I got was this measly (if at all) tax cut.

Or twist poppy's voodoo economics.... bush and his buds got a huge tax cut... and all I got was this doodoo economics (ala walking in sh*t)

reform on consumers without going after the credit industry who pushes their risky credit granting...

that makes bankruptcy much harder to file - but does nothing to curb predatory lending/credit practices. Each time it reappears it seems more draconian (maybe that is just an impression). Already heard it is on the docket for a major push. The irony given our "debtor nation" status is astounding.

:thumbsup:

Ideally, though, you need a phrase journalists will start to use uncritically, as they did "partial birth abortion" and "death tax." I wonder if "wealth concentration" is such a phrase. "Wealth piling." "Burden shifting." "Burdening down the tax structure."

Everyone knows the Bottom Line, which if you don't meet means debt or bankruptcy. But what about the Top Line? It isn't as clearly defined, but above it you're gaining not by the creation of new wealth but by the looting of someone or something else.

Lax Regulations = Free-Range Quack Habit

clever

Or would it be easier for people interested in this topic to find it in one place - a dedicated forum - rather than having to hunt down threads.

in the past we have gone to a slower moving forum (that used to be the meeting room) to have a long discussion (one that would last a month or more....) that might be one idea - but have to keep announcing that it is there and pointing to it initially given how fast the various fora now move.

for establishing the common ground and language of the debate could be much more easily mined by the party for new ideas. Just a thought.

Here are what I pretty much use for the Orwellian crew, some mine and some from others:

Christian Right = fanatics
the Right= anti-democracy party
pro-life = anti-choice
Clear Skies = Pro-Pollution Act
Leave No Child Behind = Starve the Schools Act
Healthy Forests = Clear the Forests Act
Mandate = I love Big Brother
Bush Foreign Policy = War is Peace policy
Bush Reaching out to Democrats = Room 101 policy
Bush supporters = the Kool-Aid drinkers


My favorite terms for the voices of anti-democracy:

Ann "Two Minutes Hate" Coulter
Sean "Chickenhawk" Hannity
Bill O'Whiny
Wolf Shitzer
B.S. NBC
BOTCHED Views Network (More popularly known as FAUX News Network)
Joe "Eyes of a Murderer" Scarborough
Michael "Weiner" Savaged
Rush "Stoned Pig Boy" Limbaugh
Bush, the Giggling Murderer