I don't like the borrowing or printing either. But I don't blame the current administration for it. I blame the last administration for it. Bush was throwing mad money at Wall Street before Obama even came into office. Obama continued that as there is very little choice. If the economy did go into extreme melt down, as it was heading (remember the DOW at around 6200?), then it wouldn't simply be "pain in the short term". It would be soup lines for you and me and many many others.
Both Obama and McCain were invited to the white house by then President Bush to discuss the TARP bailouts, as one of them would inherit the consequences. To my disgust, both candidates agreed it was the thing to do... this was discussed during the second or third (forgive me for being lazy) debate, which was on all news channels. A bit hard to cry foul now. I would contend that it was the overstepping of all branches of government that led to this fabricated crisis... as the legislature and the courts ruled that banks lend to people that didn't normally qualify for loans... The Fed (oh man, one could write books on these crooks) and Wall Street have their blame, but they were playing the system as it was designed to be played.
Maybe the folks flying in the back of GV's now would be less hurt but the whole of the country would have been in ruins. On a global scale there would have been millions to die of starvation and millions more to die in resource conflicts.
If you are worried about millions of people dying around the world, I would maybe start with refusing to purchase ethanol... again, there's some research involved. But I digress...
That has been averted, for now, and it took lots of borrowing and printing to do it. But laying the blame for that is important and the blame lies with the GOP and 8 years of unfettered power. Getting us into massively expensive wars for no reason is a good place to start.
How, exactly has it been averted?!? We spent approximately $42,000 per car on the cash for clunkers program... ABC news is reporting (not FOX) that the stimulus jobs are being created to the tune of $160,000 per job... Biden admits that the bailout money given to car companies will probably never be returned... the US Government has nationalized (by bailouts) over 26% of the US economy (Healthcare will bring that to a figure closer to 40%, according to the CBO), and we haven't even touched the fiscal policy of the administration. This is your money!!! Not Government's!!!
You are correct, the GOP is guilty of a lot of things as well. But I guess you didn't read my last post.
I'm all for people getting ahead. That is the American way. I don't begrudge anyone making an honest buck. But there does need to be a balance. Everything in life needs balance.
So who decides where and when its right to take from others??? There is a place for charity, but not at the barrel of the IRS or an out of control government. Your philosophy that there needs to be a balance. What does that even mean... how do you come up with that? Think about the logical means to that end for a moment.
If you give everybody the same then there is no motivation to get better and that is socialism. I'm not for that. If you allow a system where the super rich are allowed to have ALL the money it locks everyone else down in poverty, unable to climb no matter how hard they try.
I think your heart is in the right place, and I'm not patronizing you at all. I love the fact that we can all rise up and succeed in the US. What I said in my last post I meant. We have the greatest system that the world has ever seen. The founders were very careful not to establish a static class system through their fiscal policy (as evidenced in the federalist papers and the constitution). We are progressing to a dangerous point in our short history, where by the policies of corporatism and special interests, the common man has lost his voice, and may soon be discarded into a feudalistic system of serfdom. The easy thing to say is "make everyone equal, down with the rich, its not fair!" You strive for a Utopia, but get instead the tyranny of the lowest common denominator.
For the past decade or so the pendulum has been swinging toward the later and it needs to be corrected back a notch or two. Not all the way to "everyone has the same"...but a bit back towards that direction.
Yes, the pendulum is too far from individual liberty. So, there is this misconception of left v. right. I contend that it is always liberty v. tyranny. What you say "a bit back towards that direction" is a very, very slippery slope.
There is no way 1% should own 90% of it all. That's too far. Ya know how to tell when it's too far? The 1% become unable to convince the 99% that it's in their interest to keep the system the same and the people revolt and vote in "Change You Can Believe In".
We agree!!! The government shouldn't own any of it!!! (okay, so maybe you don't find that funny, but it was worth a shot)
I don't think that 1% owns 90% of it all. We all have the right to private property in this country. That includes money, wealth and all your stuff. Your house, your land, etc. Some may have more than you. Get over it brother, there's always going to be greed and envy...
How about the FAIR TAX!?! We'll all be treated equally (no sarcasm)!!!
By the way...aren't you all in a Union? A union sole purpose is to keep the 1%'ers (management) from hoarding all the benefits for themselves and force them to share with the 99%'ers (YOU!). You would think you union supporters would be more in line with the Dems. I know ALPA always supported the Dem ticket every time in my magazines.
Nope, not in a Union. Being a contract (now full-time) pilot, I miraculously managed to negotiate my contract all by lonesome. I think you need to review your history of unions. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all of the work that ALPA and others did for this industry as far as safety and work rules, but I think you'll find that they are now just another special interest player peddling their wares.
Lastly, I do not think everyone who disagrees with Obama is a racist. I think many on the right are, but not all...not by a long shot.
Uhhhhh, what? That's like me saying many on the left are racists, but...
But when you resort to disagreeing with OUR president to the point that you call into question his middle name or which part of Africa he is referring to when defining "African-American", I have no response except to consider that you are either retarded or a racist. Maybe both.
While I am not a "birther" - I think the President could do a lot to eliminate most of this criticism. Traveling abroad to Pakistan as a young man with a foreign passport raises quite a few questions. So does attending a college while on a student visa. If those things are false, he can un-seal a lot of documents. I am not saying that the President has to make available every little thing because of the kook fringe, but there are some legitimate concerns due to things that he did as a young man. But, how does that make someone a racist???
PS, the edits were to clean up grammar lest this all gets lost on spelling or sentence structure.
I hear you man, no worries.
As for your earlier post about the government services that we have, and which are socialist... um, I think you may want to check out Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It's really interesting. Then go to the tenth amendment, its even better. If you're curious... that's my opinion on what we should have as programs.
Suggested Reading List:
US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers...
oh, and a great read: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. (Not published by Glenn Beck or FOX News!!!) The name may scare you, but its exhaustively documented with some neat history.
