PolicyMic

David Gray Not exactly. Prior to this decision negligence had to be proven. Ie you must have known the dog was dangerous in some way before the incident to be negligent. Under this ruling just owning the breed is enough to prove negligence (technically negligen...

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David Gray My point is that pit bull owners are not only ones who should be concerned about this ruling. I own a dog that has often suffered from breedism both in the past and presently. Everyone knows that German shepherds are often used as police dogs and as ...

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David Gray I agree Susan. Unfortunately a lot of people have heard several myths about certain breeds such as pit bulls and spit them out as they are factual when they are not. I love the facts, because they help my case :) Communication is the key. You have...

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David Gray I hope so, though court cases like this typically set a precedent that others use should they hear a similar case.

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David Gray Really? Are you an experienced dog handler? What are your credentials? What evidence do you have to support your claim? I have already stated that the interlocking jaw argument is a myth. If you want I can cite pit bull experts who have testified ...

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David Gray 12 attacks in one neighborhood. Either a lot of people own pit bulls and let them roam the neighborhood, or someone is being extremely negligent and not being held accountable. That isn't a pit bull problem. That is a stupid person problem. P...

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David Gray Exactly my point Max!

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David Gray Thanks for stopping by Marcus! No doubt you are correct about how stats can be manipulated and I do agree with you. My biggest concern is the slippery slope aspect. If we can defacto put a ban on pit bulls, what is to stop the government to putting a...

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David Gray Oh I absolutely agree with you. But statistics can easily be manipulated to tell a story and are often used to enact drastic public policy changes. It is the reality of the times. What we need to do though is fight fire with fire. It didn't t...

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David Gray That is also a good point Jason, but honestly I am not sure it matters when it comes to making public policy. The whole idea that dog breed X is more dangerous as dog breed Y is the problem. When it comes to statistics you can see that normalizing...

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David Gray Thanks for the warm praise Susan! I am with you 100%. ANY dog can be raised to be a loving a disciplined pet. It takes a lot of hard work, love, and care to make it happen though.

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David Gray I accidentally stumbled across this story while the news was on this weekend. In that story they showed a video clip of a man walking his pit bull who lost control of it as it leaped and attacked a person walking on the sidewalk. The man scrambled, g...

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David Gray I think you are taking way too simplistic of a view of what a government shut down would do. It would not be that simple.

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• 2 weeks ago

David Gray Heh...Unfortunately, I think the partisan bickering and the "its my way or the highway" is a trend that is gaining steam. Hard to shut down congress. I mean they would have to vote to shut themselves down. Funny how that works :)

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David Gray I disagree. This crisis in Europe has proven the euro experiment doesn't work as constructed. Most economists I have read say the breakup is inevitable. Countries must have macroeconomic tools at their disposal to help manage their own finances....

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David Gray Obviously it would not be as simple as that. I could see an instance where nations like the PIIGS form an alliance. That alliance could cause the rest of the Eurozone nations to come into turmoil and cause escalations to rise within the region. Then ...

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David Gray We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I don't think tying currency to a commodity is necessary for free markets to exist, nor do I think it eliminates future economic problems. We had plenty of them while under a commodity based curr...

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David Gray Not at all. We are starting to see the rise of more and more nationalism within Europe, which can be very dangerous when taken the wrong way. I don't necessarily think it will come to that, but wars are fought over money and oppression. If I wer...

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David Gray Thanks for the link David. It was a great read. I believe that the article is basically correct and that Millennials will flock to the suburbs just like previous generations have. They key factors in my view are crime and education. Urban areas notor...

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• 3 weeks ago

David Gray I am less concerned about market expansion and more about market mobility. Right now if you own a house you are stuck! Once the market starts moving again, that situation becomes less likely and allows for the economy to expand, which will eventually...

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• 3 weeks ago

David Gray I hope so. The housing market is what is keeping the economy from bursting at the seems. Once it gets back on the right track I expect everything else to rebound full speed ahead! Thanks for stopping by Douglas!

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David Gray Well the flexibility or lack thereof is part of the reason why many millennials are not buying today. In a market where prices are still declining, buying into a home can mean a lot of lost money and forces you to remain where you are unless you are ...

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David Gray No one was kidnapped. They were held until the proper authorities could asertain the proper thing to do in this situation. Guess what. The proper authorites arrested them (even though they shouldn't have). I don't see anything wrong with ne...

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• 4 weeks ago

David Gray We will have to agree to disagree then. Looking at it from another perspective. If I own that home, whether I am the bank that possesses the note or a landlord that hasn't been able to get tenants in the property, I would want my neighbors to ac...

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• 4 weeks ago

David Gray That's the difference though. This was not "vigilante justice". These two held the suspects until police arrived and took care of the situation. Once police arrived, they also believed what the Canoles believed and arrested the Kalonji...

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David Gray Jed and Mackenzie, you are both missing the point. The responding police officers praised these two for their actions. Once a powerful attorney got involved though, things changed, the Sheriffs office started investigating, and the DA pressed charges...

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• 4 weeks ago

David Gray I certainly am!

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David Gray One key factor is choosing a major that has a career path. Majoring in underwater basket-weaving will not get you anywhere.

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David Gray I believe you are right Richard!

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David Gray I know, I was just reporting the demographic used, not the actual dates comprised of millennials.

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David Gray Unfortunately our system is awash with the "money = power" mantra. Citizens United only affirmed it into law. Even if Republicans gained control of both sides of Congress and the presidency we wouldn't get real change. In the state of ...

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• 4 weeks ago

David Gray Thanks Susan. The economy and job market is improving, just not as much or as fast as some would like. Nonetheless, assuming a catastrophe does not happen overseas, I see this trend continuing into 2013, which I hope is the year no one will be able t...

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• 4 weeks ago

David Gray As an additional side note. I do not believe mortgage interest deductions on primary residences are a bad tax expenditure.

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David Gray The proposal would introduce a floor for effective tax rates but still allow for incentives up to 5%. I think this strikes an effective balance of allowing for some incentives, but not allowing too many which allows people to game the tax code. I ...

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David Gray I agree but Washington is not known for taking drastic leaps in direction when it comes to taxation. Eliminating all deductions would not be a bad idea (though I do like the premise behind them), but actually getting that passed as a first step maybe...

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David Gray Using your number of 18%, this plan would reduce taxes for most businesses if we went with the 20% rate. At 15% it would be a net cut across the board. I've seen the number of 12.1% average for business before, though I cannot remember where.

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David Gray We will. After November :)

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David Gray Dang I forgot about Clinton's reduction. This plan would be a complete rewrite of the tax code as we know it. By lowering the corporate rates so significantly, I still believe the effect on capital flows would be negligible.

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David Gray Also note Douglas, I am not against your proposal at all. I think it would work and it would be preferable to the current system. I am just proposing something that was inspired by the Buffett Rule, which really does fundamentally change our tax syst...

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David Gray What about when the long term rate was raised under Reagan? Revenue as a percentage of GDP was 17.5% in 1986. After rates were raised to 28% in 1987, revenues never dipped below that threshold (even during the 90s recession) and went up significantly...

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David Gray Douglas, I am not sure how your proposal of a 3 tiered system, each with additional tiers is simpler than my proposal. Sure I do not eliminate deductions, but if anything your proposal is more complex, at least looking at the amount of tax brackets. ...

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David Gray I've read Bartlett's analysis before. A lot of his numbers are flawed and assumes people spend everything the make. This is rarely the case so the effective tax rate numbers he cites is often way off.

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David Gray Exactly Benjamin. Long term capital gains has only been set at 15% since 2003. This is a historical low. Have we seen massive capital investment in the U.S. since 2003? I am not sure you can say we have.

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David Gray Richard also keep in mind the capital gains tax rate was changed under Reagan to 28%. Under my proposal the rate would be lower than that for the first two tax brackets and would be slightly higher for the upper tax bracket. At most we are talking ab...

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David Gray I own both books and listen to Boortz all the time. I wish it wasn't a lost cause, but without a leader behind it I can't see it gaining enough traction. That is my biggest problem with all of the so called 'leaders' in the GOP. ...

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David Gray Three reasons Richard. 1st, taxing income as income simplifies the tax code. 2nd, it would make the tax system more transparent. 3rd, it makes the system appear more 'fair'. I disagree that this would reduce capital supply because I am t...

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David Gray Nice intro Max. I actually do support the FairTax. Unfortunately, I believe it is highly unlikely to pass. Why? What leaders in Washington have gotten behind the FairTax? In 2008 it was Mike Huckabee (he got my vote and won the state of GA because...

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David Gray Oh they are definitely designed for the campaign and not for actual implementation. Without a doubt, we won't be able to do anything worthwhile until November. I am interested in seeing what the lame duck congress will do afterwards. With so muc...

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David Gray I absolutely agree Richard. I just wish there were more self described conservatives out there that thought the way you do.

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David Gray When you average it out you are correct when you say that the wealthy pay a higher rate. The point is not all of them do because of the way the tax code treats different types of income. For example, I paid an effective rate of 12.1% this year. Romne...

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David Gray Again I don't think the law is really targeted at raising more revenue. It is more targeting at making the system appear fairer. Indeed if you look at those tax tables we talked about earlier, the effective tax rate for the top 1% is very close ...

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David Gray This is not the 1960s. The top tax rate today is half of the top rate during JFK. To assume that the same logic applies today is naive at best. We could very well be on the left side of the Laffer curve, thus raising tax rates would increase tax reve...

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David Gray I wish I could find that information. The effective tax rate table I use only goes back to 1979. If you can find one that goes back to the 1940s please let me know. Regardless, tax rates were raised and revenue into the treasury was increased.

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David Gray Thanks Nathan. I agree that the Buffett rule will not generate the revenue needed. In order to tackle the debt we need massive cuts combined with tax hikes. What I do like about the Buffett rule though is that it looks at income and taxes in a differ...

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David Gray Thanks Cole. I agree with your overall assessment. In fact, even though I tend to lean more Republican when it comes to fiscal issues, I would much rather have Obama in the Oval Office and Republicans controlling the House and Senate. If Republicans ...

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David Gray I understand where you are coming from O.C. but I disagree that they control Washington. I guess what I am referring to is a literal control of the government. If that happens in Novemeber, I don't expect the sort of drastic change that many cla...

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David Gray I have always found that government works best when the executive and legislative branches are controlled by different parties. Clinton and Reagan are perfect examples of how a split government works well. What doesn't work is what we have now w...

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David Gray You are right Doug, but only if they continue to care. Politicians have long known that the memories of voters are short. By the time elections roll back around what they did the first year often goes unremembered by the majority of voters.

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David Gray If that were the case why did we have to pass the 14th amendment? My point is that sticking to a strick view of the Constitution and abolishing precedents that have been ruled as based on the Constitution, such as the right to privacy, would have ...

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• 2 months ago

David Gray Good points Jeff! You hit on somethings that a lot of people either don't know or refuse to understand. Healthcare in this country does not exist in a free market model. Once you get past that concept, you can start to work on making the changes...

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David Gray Government inactivity in the current state of healthcare in the nation is a non-starter. Medical inflation is through the roof and is causing massive problems. It requires government intervention because there is no free market in healthcare in this ...

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David Gray Before Obamacare, the GOP was not moving on healthcare reform. It took Obamacare passing to wake them up. If the GOP sweeps both houses of congress and the presidency this year the box will move in their direction on healthcare. If not, it will be mo...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray How is social conservatism not antithetical to TP values? They were founded on the principles of less government intrusion and less spending. Social conservatism is government intrusion! When I said that getting somewhere is better than getting no...

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David Gray Come on! You and I both know that Ron Paul's approach to handling social issues is completely different from the other candidates we're discussing. The Tea Party never fought like they did in 2010 for a candidate. That is one of the reas...

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David Gray Well I disagree that getting no where is better than getting somewhere. I believe Republicans and the Tea Party are going to be shocked this November unless something drastic happens between now and then. You keep saying that Ron Paul is the clear...

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David Gray For the record, I never considered Allen West a real TP candidate. He rode the TP wave because he used the same inflaming rhetoric that other TP candidates used. Looking at his short record, it is clear that he is not a TP congressmen. My understandi...

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David Gray My hypothesis is testable whereas yours is not. Look at who the Tea Party has gone back and forth on supporting: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and now Rick Santorum. All of these candidates indicated their desire to get involved with p...

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David Gray BUT....The Tea Party is notorious for not settling on issues. One of the main reasons why Congress has been broken over the past two years has been TP congressmen insisting that they were sent there to do a specific job and compromising on their stan...

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David Gray As far as current candidates go, I don't understand how foreign policy has anything to do with Tea Party fundamentals and why Ron Paul's stance should disqualify him from Tea Party support. He is the obvious TP candidate, yet they are inste...

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David Gray Then why isn't the Tea Party up in arms putting up their choice? It makes no sense to compromise their support when the party was built on no compromises. When the Tea Party first started I wanted to support them, but they were quickly gobble...

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David Gray Wait you said if the GOP candidate gets elected and continues big government policies or if the GOP candidate loses the GOP will splinter? So the only hope for the GOP to remain whole is to be elected and change to a limited government party. If that...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Sadly I think you are correct.

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David Gray I think you are right Ben. The sad thing is, I truly believe if the Tea Party came out in full force to support Ron Paul, he could actually stand a chance and win. I still have hopes that somehow the Tea Party as it was founded forms a third party...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray How do you explain overall Tea Party support for Santorum then? All I know is that when the Tea Party first started up I thought it was going to be something I could fully get behind. As the first months of its existence went by, I started to noti...

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David Gray I agree that the individual mandate is an extension of Wickard and that the line in the sand may be drawn between the two, but I wasn't quite clear if you two (Gary and Ben) were also saying the same thing or thought Wickard was the problem. It ...

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David Gray But here's the thing about Wickard, it was cited as recently as 2005 by conservative Justice Scalia as reasoning behind his decision in Gonzales. Ie, in 2005 a conservative Justice reaffirmed Wickard. Does that not worry those of you that are ho...

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David Gray You are aware of the anti-federalists aren't you? Led by Patrick Henry they argued against ratifying the Constitution because they were afraid that this very thing could happen. They were also founders and they warned the Federalists. Nonetheles...

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David Gray No doubt Obama is smart. If this was intentional it is having the desired effect. It is all that Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh can talk about and has resulted in Santorum surging. Super Tuesday will. Be very interesting! Thanks for stopping by Chri...

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David Gray Agreed Haven! Thanks for the comment!

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David Gray I acknowledge that there is a distinction between inactivity and non economic activity. That may very well be where the line is drawn. In Wickard and Gonzales, the court found that Congress may regulate activity that has an effect on interstate comme...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Those that think the White House is actively involved in a conspiracy with the press on matters like this don't have a lot sway on me. I don't buy it one bit. Like I said before, the reasoning behind the question was sound, he just didn...

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David Gray I don't think George brought it up because the administration had tipped him off that this was coming. When I watched the debate it was clear as day what he was trying to ask and why, but he did a very poor job of explaining it. George brough...

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David Gray What about Gonzales which was more recent than both those cases? As I said, Lopez and Morrisson both tried to regulate through the Commerce Clause something that was clearly NOT commerce. The ACA undoubtedly regulates commerce. Justice Scalia in h...

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David Gray Both of those cases had nothing to do with commerce whereas health insurance undoubtably does. The case I cited where Justice Scalia said congress can regulate non economic activity, affirming Wickard, took place in 2005 well after both Lopez and Mor...

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David Gray The distinction between inactivity and non economic activity maybe enough of a distinction legally, but they seem the same to me. Of course I'm and engineer not a lawyer. I understand the clause stating the mandate cannot be severed, but SCOT...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Why does it first have to be defeated? Should it be defeated, waiting will just make the situation much worse than if a replacement was ready, waiting, and already sold to the public. I will say I will be surprised if come the summer SCOTUS finds ...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray I don't know why they didn't do it with a copay. It's something that added unnecessary fuel to the fire, though even if it did require a copay the argument would still be there.

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Thanks for the lively comments! One thing I love is differences of opinion and people that can actually argue without letting their emotions get the best of them. I look forward to more from you in the future!

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• 3 months ago

David Gray We'll just have to agree to disagree then.

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David Gray The employers over employees is just another angle that I think is being overlooked. Just because unions aren't involved doesn't mean this isn't an employer vs employee battle. I do agree this affects a small percentage of employers an...

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David Gray Thanks Jeanne! I agree there is still a long way to go!

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David Gray That is definitely how Republicans are trying to frame it. I don't necessarily think you are wrong, but I think they are losing 'the optics' on it to quote Rove from a past issue they lost as well.

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David Gray Interesting opinion. I am not sure what EPA ruling you are referring to. Mind sharing? Republicans have made a strategic decision to rely on SCOTUS instead of actively leading and coming up with a replacement bill for the ACA that everyone in the ...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Obama is not 'deliberately attaching the Constitution of the US.' That rhetoric is great to rally the GOP base, but it is meaningless. Obama has a difference of opinion on how to govern and lead our country than most Republicans. He does...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Contrary to what Romney says (and I'm a Romney supporter), employers are not people. The must follow different rules and regulations than individuals do. They are not free to not follow a regulation or rule they don't agree with. I am all f...

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• 3 months ago

David Gray Thanks Susan!

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David Gray Not if Republicans keep talking about it like they have been doing. They seem to want to make an issue of it, even though polling suggests it is a loser for them.

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• 3 months ago

David Gray I honestly do understand the point of view that this is an attack on freedom, but where I differ is that I think the GOP stance is to back employers over employees, whereas I prefer to back employees over employers. Like or not, most health insura...

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