Sooo...what says you???

[Giulietta]

Well, as you know I stay away from politics, but what do you say now?? (I have no affiliation here)...

I remember a while back, maybe a few years ago we had a discussion here about the then current political decisions the US government had made, to "starighten things out..and how "right" they were shown to me...

you know..lower interest rates, and other "prime time" excellent decisions....etc..so people could afford to pay what they couldn't afford to pay...you know...all is good we are spending..that's good for the economy...we are not in a recession...bla bla bla...

now that is more than proven it didn't work, like so many predicted, and the guy is bailing out....the conditions as I see are:

1)the US dollar is so weak, Mexicans are returning to Mexico to make money, (maybe they will open a "CASADEPOT" for Americans to get jobs...

2)Canadians and Europeans own half of the US corporate world

3) the governement has to feed money to the private sector to save them, like AIG

4) companies created by the governement to lend money are bankrupt

5) the house market imploded

6)forclosures at a peak

7) don't even mention iraq

8) hard core US corporations moved to India...

9) Dow'ds death..from 14,000.00 last year to 11,000.00 today

10) the "black and white" campaign...

and the list goes on and on and on..

so...having this ...what says you now???

[sailhog]

Alex,
Do you remember that son "American Woman" by the band Guess Who? Well, it seems the rest of the world is going to be singing it in a giant, global chorus.

[DJEVANS]

Ouch. But at least we'll always have friends like you, Alex, to kick us while we're down, eh?

[SVCarolena]

I say how difficult is it to emigrate to Portugal, and can I live on your boat?

Seriously though, one of the biggest problems in this country is a combination of political pandering and ignorance. It is time for the people in this country to wake up, get rid of the entitlement mentality, and realize that not everyone can have everything. How on earth can anyone say that they are entitled to cheap gas? Yet, there are ordinary people on the news everyday saying that the government needs to do something to get the prices down. Since when is that the government's job? And the politicians need to stop fostering these attitudes by saying whatever their strategists advise is most likely to get votes. Things like let’s cut the gas tax; let’s release oil from the strategic reserves, and let’s drill everywhere. None of these address the major issue, which is overuse and overdependence. Another example is taxes and government services - our country is going bankrupt, but no politician is willing to say we need to raise taxes and cut government services to get out of the mess. The list goes on and on. I'd rather vote for a politician who is willing to tell the truth and make the difficult decisions than one who keeps making empty promises. Guess what, not everyone can live in a big house, drive an SUV, buy a big screen TV on a whim, or own a brand new boat – but no one wants to hear that. Unfortunately, a successful politician of that vein will probably never come along, and, even if he or she did, the vast majority of people wouldn't vote for him or her - it is easier to live in a fantasy world than face facts

[sailingdog]

Unfortunately, most of what has happened today is due to a serious lack of anything remotely resembling corporate responsibility and due to a complete lack of ethics and common sense on the part of many involved. They were all eager to make money hand over fist, but when things went to ****... they bailed like rats off a sinking ship.

The Bush administration's complicity in much of this is obvious. They have been handing out tax breaks to the corporations and wealthy, while spending money like it grows on trees... and showing no fiscal responsibility whatsoever... proclaiming that the economy is doing fine, when in reality it was headed to hell in a handbasket.

[ckgreenman]

I think it's time we fire everyone in office and start over. Rewrite the entire tax code to just one line "Send 10%., no exceptions". Reform welfare to be a SUPPLEMENT not a full time paycheck. Spend more money on schools so that we can spend less on prisons. And finally, spend more money on alternate fuels so we can tell foreign oil producers to shove it.


I think that about covers it. Did I leave anything out?

[cardiacpaul]

Tried that 'bidness" guy once before and most people said he was nuttier than a squirrel turd. but, he was right.

H. Ross Perot, wherefore art thou?

Say what you want, that nutty lil bugf*kor was right on the money and no one wanted to see his charts.
The Truth? You can't handle the truth.

[sailingdog]

Also, being a politician shouldn't be a career... it wasn't intended to be, and it shouldn't be now. It should be public service... where you keep your day job and do the legislative stuff on the side, part time, uncompensated. There is no reason we should need Congress in Washington DC given the modern communication systems. Back when it was all horse and buggy, that made sense, in the age of fax, e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, it doesn't.

There shouldn't be a pension for congressmen or presidents/vice presidents for that matter... they should have to use social security, the same as the rest of us.

Careers that pay outrageous salaries but do little to help the common good should be heavily taxed... Why should a professional sports star make $5,000,000 a year, when a nurse, public schoolteacher, or fireman makes far less but contributes far more to society as a whole. Maybe, the sports pros would remember something about playing a sport for the love of the sport and not the big fat paycheck.

Public officials and employees, like police officers and firefighters, should be required to undergo random drug testing. If they're using on the job... they're not only endangering themselves, but the public they're supposed to be protecting.

Corporations should be forced to tie the compensation of their executives to the success of the company. How many times have we seen a company file for bankruptcy and watched the top execs walk off with millions. If this were the rule today, we probably wouldn't be looking at spending billions bailing out Lehman, AIG, Fannie Mae, etc.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by SVCarolena

I say how difficult is it to emigrate to Portugal, and can I live on your boat?

Seriously though, one of the biggest problems in this country is a combination of political pandering and ignorance. It is time for the people in this country to wake up, get rid of the entitlement mentality, and realize that not everyone can have everything. How on earth can anyone say that they are entitled to cheap gas? Yet, there are ordinary people on the news everyday saying that the government needs to do something to get the prices down. Since when is that the government's job? And the politicians need to stop fostering these attitudes by saying whatever their strategists advise is most likely to get votes. Things like let’s cut the gas tax; let’s release oil from the strategic reserves, and let’s drill everywhere. None of these address the major issue, which is overuse and overdependence. Another example is taxes and government services - our country is going bankrupt, but no politician is willing to say we need to raise taxes and cut government services to get out of the mess. The list goes on and on. I'd rather vote for a politician who is willing to tell the truth and make the difficult decisions than one who keeps making empty promises. Guess what, not everyone can live in a big house, drive an SUV, buy a big screen TV on a whim, or own a brand new boat – but no one wants to hear that. Unfortunately, a successful politician of that vein will probably never come along, and, even if he or she did, the vast majority of people wouldn't vote for him or her - it is easier to live in a fantasy world than face facts

What say I.........I agree 98% with this post

[ckgreenman]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Also, being a politician shouldn't be a career... it wasn't intended to be, and it shouldn't be now. It should be public service... where you keep your day job and do the legislative stuff on the side, part time, uncompensated. There is no reason we should need Congress in Washington DC given the modern communication systems. Back when it was all horse and buggy, that made sense, in the age of fax, e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, it doesn't.

There shouldn't be a pension for congressmen or presidents/vice presidents for that matter... they should have to use social security, the same as the rest of us.

Careers that pay outrageous salaries but do little to help the common good should be heavily taxed... Why should a professional sports star make $5,000,000 a year, when a nurse, public schoolteacher, or fireman makes far less but contributes far more to society as a whole. Maybe, the sports pros would remember something about playing a sport for the love of the sport and not the big fat paycheck.

Public officials and employees, like police officers and firefighters, should be required to undergo random drug testing. If they're using on the job... they're not only endangering themselves, but the public they're supposed to be protecting.

Corporations should be forced to tie the compensation of their executives to the success of the company. How many times have we seen a company file for bankruptcy and watched the top execs walk off with millions. If this were the rule today, we probably wouldn't be looking at spending billions bailing out Lehman, AIG, Fannie Mae, etc.

Um ya. what he said.