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i've kept my doctor, my whole family has kept all their doctors, my health insurance premiums are about $200 less per year than they were in 2007, and some of my son's prescriptions are cheaper now than they were before the ACA went into effect. also, my son can no longer be denied coverage because of his pre-existing conditions, and i get one more covered dental visit per year than i used to.
thanks for asking.
thanks for asking.
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Politics
Sanders has one clear advantage over Clinton despite a massive delegate deficit
Bernie Sanders is still behind when it comes to delegates and votes, but he has one clear advantage over his Democratic and Republican presidential rivals — a lot of people actually like him. By 48 percent to 39 percent, more Americans have a favorable than an unfavorable opinion of Sanders, giving him the best net-positive rating in the field, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Unlike the other candidates, Sanders also is doing better as more Americans get to know him: His favorable rating is up from an earlier AP-GfK poll. The numbers speak to Sanders' rapid rise from a relatively unknown Vermont senator to a celebrated voice proclaiming political revolution. They also reflect just ...Read more
Sanders has one clear advantage over Clinton despite a massive delegate deficit
Bernie Sanders is still behind when it comes to delegates and votes, but he has one clear advantage over his Democratic and Republican presidential rivals — a lot of people actually like him. By 48 percent to 39 percent, more Americans have a favorable than an unfavorable opinion of Sanders, giving him the best net-positive rating in the field, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Unlike the other candidates, Sanders also is doing better as more Americans get to know him: His favorable rating is up from an earlier AP-GfK poll. The numbers speak to Sanders' rapid rise from a relatively unknown Vermont senator to a celebrated voice proclaiming political revolution. They also reflect just ...Read more
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Well why don't those two clowns go out and earn some money to give to others, instead of trying to cheat working people out of what they have earned... Charity is not giving away other peoples money ..it giving your own as a sacrifice to Christ ...not for the glory of some pope or politician but to the glory of Christ.
I've read that Bernie Sanders made $205,000 in 2014. $174,000 of that was from his government salary.
Now, for all those in favor of wealth-redistribution, what % bracket of earners does Sanders fall into? (e.g. - top 75%, top 50%, top 25%, top 10%)
Also, how much of his $205,000 should he get to keep?
Now, for all those in favor of wealth-redistribution, what % bracket of earners does Sanders fall into? (e.g. - top 75%, top 50%, top 25%, top 10%)
Also, how much of his $205,000 should he get to keep?
well, i can tell you all right away that this ain't gonna be a popular post .. but here goes:
Luke 16. the parable of the shrewd manager. read it, please. think about it.
this manager was in trouble for being dishonest with his accounting, so his master told him to get ready to be audited, because he was being fired. so, looking to when he would either have to beg or go hungry, he gave away his master's money -- but Christ said, that instead of being reprimanded further for being even more dishonest with the book-keeping, giving away what did not belong to him, the master praised him for being shrewd.
Jesus told us what we ought to do with money. He said:
this is what Sanders, and the pope, were talking about. that money should not be seen as its own end, but should be used to do good for others. this is what Christ teaches us with this parable: you cannot serve both God and money. if you cannot give it away, and you think of it as your own, forgetting that God is the one who gives you strength to work, and who blesses what you do or does not bless what you do, then money is not something that you use as a tool; you are the servant of money.
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
He said to them,
“You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others,
but God knows your hearts.
What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."
(Luke 16:14-15)
you scoff at this, and you say "that's my money, let him give away his own money" -- you value material wealth and think of it as belonging to you, not to God. this is detestable to God.
if you loved your neighbor, and had compassion for the poor, you would be glad that God has raised up a man who cares for them and wants to use lawfully gathered taxes to do good. but because you love money more than your neighbor, and the things of this world more than the things of the kingdom of God, you call him a thief and speak about your greed like it is a virtue.
you cannot serve both God and money. if you think of money as your own, and not belonging to God, unwilling to part with it for the sake of someone else's benefit, you are serving money; it is not serving you. 10% doesn't belong to God. all of it belongs to God.
Luke 16. the parable of the shrewd manager. read it, please. think about it.
this manager was in trouble for being dishonest with his accounting, so his master told him to get ready to be audited, because he was being fired. so, looking to when he would either have to beg or go hungry, he gave away his master's money -- but Christ said, that instead of being reprimanded further for being even more dishonest with the book-keeping, giving away what did not belong to him, the master praised him for being shrewd.
Jesus told us what we ought to do with money. He said:
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves,
so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
(Luke 16:9)
so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
(Luke 16:9)
this is what Sanders, and the pope, were talking about. that money should not be seen as its own end, but should be used to do good for others. this is what Christ teaches us with this parable: you cannot serve both God and money. if you cannot give it away, and you think of it as your own, forgetting that God is the one who gives you strength to work, and who blesses what you do or does not bless what you do, then money is not something that you use as a tool; you are the servant of money.
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
He said to them,
“You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others,
but God knows your hearts.
What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."
(Luke 16:14-15)
you scoff at this, and you say "that's my money, let him give away his own money" -- you value material wealth and think of it as belonging to you, not to God. this is detestable to God.
You may say to yourself,
“My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”
But remember the Lord your God,
for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth
(Deuteronomy 18:17-18)
“My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”
But remember the Lord your God,
for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth
(Deuteronomy 18:17-18)
if you loved your neighbor, and had compassion for the poor, you would be glad that God has raised up a man who cares for them and wants to use lawfully gathered taxes to do good. but because you love money more than your neighbor, and the things of this world more than the things of the kingdom of God, you call him a thief and speak about your greed like it is a virtue.
you cannot serve both God and money. if you think of money as your own, and not belonging to God, unwilling to part with it for the sake of someone else's benefit, you are serving money; it is not serving you. 10% doesn't belong to God. all of it belongs to God.
my mom had an affordable insurance plan. pays more than she did before obamacare and comes with a $6,000 deductible. She does not qualify for medicaid because she makes too much (because school bus drivers who can barely afford rent at a trailer park are so rich) she had to take out a loan to pay for the surgery to remove skin cancer. she would have had a $10 co pay before
Like it or not socialism is coming here, in some form. Maybe not a "hard" type as in Sweden, and some other European countries, but it is coming.
We already see hints of it. In fact it has started.
It is just going to make it easier for American citizens to agree to a one world government system, whenever that happens.
We know the bible is never wrong, so it is going to happen. I probably won't live long enough, but my kids will see it, I think.
We already see hints of it. In fact it has started.
It is just going to make it easier for American citizens to agree to a one world government system, whenever that happens.
We know the bible is never wrong, so it is going to happen. I probably won't live long enough, but my kids will see it, I think.
But America is literally the only major country in the world that doesn't guarantee health care for all its citizens. And the other major countries of the world are far from tyranny. The more democratic-socialist a country is, the happier and healthier its citizens tend to be, along with their societies being healthier, wealthier, smarter, and with lower rime rates. I think so much of the opposition of socialism, in the sense that Bernie Sanders supports, comes from people simply not knowing what socialism is. They think it's some kind of communist regime like Stalin ran, when it's nothing close to that.
The manager got a better deal for his boss and his debtors and probably righted his wrongs in the process. Bernies socialism is not comparable to this parable. 
since usury was forbidden by the Law, we might be able to assume that none of these debtors were being charged any appreciable amount of interest on their debts -- so that by reducing arbitrarily their debts, the manager was causing his boss to take losses - essentially giving away his assets.
the parallel here is how we view money & wealth -- whether it's "our own wallets" that God or anyone else wants to dip into, or whether the reality is that God has been giving to us freely out of His wallet, and all ownership is His.
yes,
Sanders is a "democratic socialist" -- not a "socialist" -- and he's not advocating wealth redistribution or government takeover of industry or anything like that. he's just talking about using taxes to benefit all citizens, in particular the "least" among us.
but you can see all over the place in this thread and others like it, that the people opposed to him bring up all kinds of arguments that really have very little to do with any of the reforms that he talks about.
if he was a more shrewd politician, he'd distance himself from that word "socialism" and make it more clear what the difference is. *shrug*