Well.... if you make $394,000.00 per year plus you should love Barrack: http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/24/news/economy/middle-class-economy/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 Otherwise the rest of us aren't doing so well. Still waiting for these corporate profits and personal riches to "trickle" down.... :wink:
Yeah the stimulus package should be kicking in anytime now. Almost one billion pissed away that we have to repay over the coming years. When Obamacare hits employers the **** will really hit the fan. Of course that's why the start up date was moved past the midterm elections. Energy and construction jobs that could have been created with the building of the Keystone pipeline have been deep sixed so that the environmental whackos and Warren Buffet can have their way. Jobs in the coal industry also have been decimated by Mr. Job Creator.
The scorched earth divisive tactics Obama and his cult used to get elected and re-elected have come home to roost. No one can agree on anything, country is completely bogged down. There is zero trust. I read today that some banks are limiting withdrawals fearing a run on deposits. Healthcare is a disaster, Iraq is pretty much under the control of AlQaeda, we've de-stabilized Syria, Libya and Egypt. We owe China more than our annual budget, we just celebrated our 55,000,000 abortion which makes Hitler look like Mother Theresa, heroin use has reached epidemic proportions, there are more people under the poverty line now than there were before the war on poverty began in 1964 and trillion of dollars ago. We have a half dozen scandals that make Watergate pale in comparison that have pretty much been ignored by everyone. 38% of the available workforce is sitting home waiting for the daily mail. All mention of a God is being systematically removed from schools, currency and public discourse. The nations infrastructure is crumbling around us. Taxes are up as are insurance premiums. Unemployment is likely much higher than advertised as is inflation. Mall shootings and the Knockout game were the runaway hits in 2013. While all this goes on we have a stunning leadership vacuum at the top. And Congress ineptitude is borderline treason. Trickle down? That's all you got ?
White House: Obama To Offer ‘Concrete’ Proposals On Inequality Concrete proposals? That will be unprecedented and a first for the Adminstration. Via Washington Examiner White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer on Sunday said President Obama would offer “concrete” proposals to address income inequality in his State of the Union address and was ready to take a number of executive actions to move his agenda forward if Congress failed to act. “The president will say to the country he’s not going to wait. He has a pen, he has a phone. He’s going to use those to move the ball forward to create opportunity,” said Pfeiffer on “Fox News Sunday.” Obama will address Congress — and the nation — on Tuesday and has said 2014 will be a “year of action” on the economy and in particular on addressing income inequality, which he has called the “defining challenge” of our time. The president has vowed, though, to use executive actions bypass Congress where he can if lawmakers fail to take up his domestic agenda. Last year, Congress failed to act on a number of Obama’s priorities, including gun control, and saw immigration reform stall in the GOP-controlled House. “What you are going to hear from the president on Tuesday night are a series of concrete, practical, specific proposals on how we restore opportunity through a wide set of means,” said Pfeiffer, previewing the address. “These will be some legislative proposals but also a number of actions he can take on his own.” Pfeiffer said Obama is willing to work with Congress. “This president has a legislative record that stands up to any: the Affordable Care Act, Wall Street reform, an array of issues we’ve made progress on,” said Pfeiffer. But he added that Obama would move ahead if lawmakers failed to act. Pfeiffer also disputed the idea that Obama had failed to act on the economy, saying that while there was still work to be done, much progress had been made. “We are working where we can with Congress and acting on our own where we can,” he said. “We have divided government, the Republican Congress is not going to rubber stamp the president’s agenda, the president is not going to sign the Republican Congress’ agenda, so we have to find areas where we can work together. We can start by passing unemployment benefits for 1.6 million Americans, pass a farm bill, pass immigration reform, infrastructure, those are things we can do together. “No one is going to get everything they want,” said Pfeiffer. Obama will travel to four states after his address to hammer his economic message.
I know right? Since 2001 we have endured the worst terrorist attack in history on our soil....losing the World Trade Center in the process, started a war with the aforementioned Iraq..... losing thousands of American lives in the process and spending hundreds of billions of dollars in doing so....., have seen healthcare costs rise beginning in 2001 faster than any period in our history, endured one of the most devastating scandals on Wall Street leading very closely to a complete economic collapse from which we have yet to recover and we endure a polarized Congress in Washington which can only point fingers it seems with grandstanding filibusters and other such nonsense instead of offering up any real solutions. It's definitely a mess.... :wink:
You forgot the dot com bubble bursting, which is what really started this slide in my opinion. The American economy was struggling mightily in the 90s, but fueled by the dot come explosion, the economy began to turn around. It was only after people realized that 75% of these businesses were nothing more than scams pretending to be a real business until the stock could go public, that we began to realize the economic surge of the mid to late 90s wasn't all it was cracked up to be. What I find funny is that no one was willing to blame Clinton. It was all Bush's fault, even though the economic numbers clearly show a free falling economy before he ever took office. Then, it was all Bush's fault during his 8 year run. He was somehow blamed for everything despite the fact that he faced a combative Congress that dug in over every last silly issue. Now, I'm not saying he didn't make some piss poor decisions, especially in his last 3 years. I guess, what amazes me was the 'fact' that he was immediately accountable for everything including the sins of the previous Administration..which was a Democrat. Insert the replacement for Bush, and immediately everything is NOT his fault. He's not held to the same standard of accountability. We 'give him time to work out of Bush's mistakes' although there is quite clear evidence that he's made several fiscal blunders of his own right out of the gate. He hasn't fixed a god damned thing. In fact, he turned the insurance world upside down and will be using the IRS (America's most lethal and effective enforcement bureau) as the muscle to enforce it. Now, he has faced a combative Congress. Of course, his biggest measures were all passed because he took marginally legal remedies to pass them. He took actions that would have led to Democratic revolt if Bush had taken them. What really spins me around, is that this guy still isn't accountable. So here's my question: Why was Bush accountable for everything including Clinton mistakes, but Obama isn't accountable for a damned thing?
I do hold Obama accountable.... but he inherited such a friggin mess it's hard to get a gauge on his progress..... except as the article I posted clearly illustrates his time in office for whatever reason has greatly benefitted the ultra rich while keeping the average American in economic tatters. RE: Clinton I don't think an economic surplus was all smoke and mirrors. And he didn't start any major wars he couldn't finish. And healthcare costs in America rose at their slowest pace of the past 40 years. There was a lot to like about the Clinton years unless you just can't get over the BJ like many panties in a wad Republicans cannot seem to ( or better yet pretend they cannot seem to get over solely for the purpose of political points made... )
I've said it before and I'm saying it again, when the Democrats controled the House and had a filibuster-proof Senate they did not do anything to correct this "economic inequality." In fact they even agreed to extend the Bush tax cuts!!! The reality is, the American worker is not under attack from the wealthy in this country, he is being surplanted by workers in other parts of the world. So while the standard of living her is stagnant or retreating, the standard of living in other countries is rising. And it's not just manufacturing jobs that have disappeared, everything from accountants to X-ray radiologists are being replaced by foreign workers. Poor Americans are having their meger resources drained by rules and regulations created to appease the environmentalists and climate change morons. Regulations have forced an increase in the cost of electricity, automobiles, and everything down to light bulbs. All this to appease the believers in perhaps the biggest hoax of all time.
I have seen the thick smog in LA, flown over the Detroit River in the mid-70s as it spewed a thick brownish green colored plume of pollution into Lake Erie and I have seen the urban blight of Cleveland in 70s, Newark in the early 80s, Times Square in the early 80s and yes.... now the destruction in Detroit in the year 2013. I have also stood on the banks of the Ribault River in Jacksonville when I was a kid hoping like hell I didn't slip in the grimy mud into the scarily polluted water. It's all very ugly... unwanted.... and in most cases much improved today over those past years of inattention and abuse. That makes me damned reluctant to return to China like disregard for what industry can do to the environment. However.... I just spent a week in Sou. Cal. and the reason I went is because the industry I am in has lost manufacturing in that state due mostly to excessive regulation. Between that and a world labor force inexorably sucking the dollars out of our labor force it's a very tough economic environment for average Americans. I think most of us can understand how difficult it really is.... and more readily develop patience for this long recovery except for the fact that the filthy rich just keep getting filthier and richer while our essential expenses like healthcare shoot higher every day. That last scenario is unacceptable..... untenable..... and it won't fly in the next election if not addressed. Think George Sr. in 1992..... it didn't fly then and it won't come this election time.
Dave There is a BIG difference between fighting air and water polution and obstructing the property rights of American citizens for some "environmental" reason. We all know of the battle between the Tellico dam and the snail darter. Then there was the lumber industry and the spotted owl. Neither of these cases had to do with cleaner water or air. But there are lesser know but still notorious incidents where Americans are damaged because of "environmental concerns." In California, thousands of homeowners have lost their homes due to wild fires. One of the recognized preventative steps to fight these fires is to remove brush which feeds the spread of the fire. Here's a perfect example of how preverted these environmental rules are. http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/the_environmentalist_fires.html Then there is the case of the farmers and the delta smelt. Our laws would rather see farmers and their livelyhood destroyed than harm some insignificant fish. http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/the_environmentalist_fires.html If sorry, that's insane. What I find incredible is that these same einvronmentalists that destroy businesses for darters and smelt are proponents for windmills that kill birds by the thousands, including bald eagles. There's a big pile of hypocracy there and it smells to high heaven. I'm sitting here on a day where we set a record for the all time low for this date of -9 this morning. We are .3 in. from setting the record for the snowiest month ever here. (We're due to break the record by Thursday) And I wonder how all this can be happening when the earth is warming???
I have read before that increased atmospheric moisture due to global warming would increase the amount and severity of snowfalls and snowstorms in the midwest. http://www.wunderground.com/news/global-warming-winters-20130328 Now.... throw that bit of cheery news in with the fact that I have seen firsthand over the last couple of summers some extraordinary blistering summer heat in the midwest and I feel for ya Gipper..... freezing snowy winters and blistering hot summers for Detroit for the future it seems. Meanwhile in Tampa our winters get milder and still..... a typical record hot day in summer may be about 96 degrees believe it or not. 8)
Sure. And of course the increased moisture due to global warming is causing drought in California. :roll:
Help me out on this. Increased moisture --> global warming --> more severe cold weather and snowstorms? It looks to me like the global warming advocates are twisting the facts to suit their agenda. They must think I and the rest of the public are pretty gullible. :roll:
Sid...just sayin....as I am sure that you can attest to.... the winters of the last 4 or 5 years have been pretty severe with the possible exception of 2011. I experienced 31 winters in Detroit and only about 4 or 5 of them would rival 3 of the last 5 years up there. At the same time the heat extremes in certain summer spans the last couple of years have been significant. Each of the last two years has seen periods of scorching temps nationwide including the midwest.... and I have been up there during some of that time to experience it myself. It's not a proof of global warming..... but it bears watching. A more scientific explanation: http://qz.com/163636/how-global-warming-can-make-cold-snaps-even-worse/
Hold the phone, I'm not diving into envirofantasy just yet. You have a man with a noose around his neck. He doesn't even know it yet. He takes the oath and discovers the noose around his neck, just as the box is kicked out from underneath him. You continue to fault the man for whatever thrashes he took in an attempt to remedy himself. Another man eventually takes his spot in the noose. You continue to blame the man before him, even though he's clearly on the vine of his own accord. Unlike the first man, he knew just what deck he was being dealt. I do not understand this call for rationality and patience with the 2nd man, when he knew exactly what he was getting into and worse, he won that spot on the noose because he swore he had a plan to get out of it. At the same time, you've blanket blamed the 1st guy who wound up in a whole world of **** that no one saw coming. Hell, you continue to blame the first guy when it is clearly the actions of the 2nd guy now. At some point in time, when we're done waving flags, can we please revisit the original problem and ask 'why was there a noose and who kicked that god damned box out from underneath?' I think the second you answer those 2 questions, the closer you are to real answers to this situation.
In other words..... can Charlie Weis win at Kansas? :wink: It's a daunting task.... may be impossible. Ol Chollie may not be up to it..... Question is..... is there a Nick Saban or Steve Spurrier out there who can win anywhere under the worst of circumstances and so would win at Kansas? And do we just forgive the lame brain coach who got Kansas into such a pickle? Or is it possible that in the world of highly competitive college football Kansas just can't ever get there after digging such a hole?
Glen Mason won at Kansas. Mark Mangino did as well. You want to blame a 'lame brain coach who got you in a pickle' without ever quantifying the dimensions of the pickle. You just want the part that serves your interest in blaming said coach. That's my problem. Can we figure out what the god damn pickle is and what's the size before we start hanging more people? History can and must be examined both in the micro as well as the macro. That's our problem. We just can't accept that there can be 2, or more, realities. That's why some nations laugh at us for being a short-sighted selfish little infant of a country. To an extent, it's very true. We still have a lot of growing to do as a nation. The problem is, while other cultures and nations may be so refined, they are also so ****** up that the infant wound up running the show because they couldn't handle their own greed. So here we are.. learning while on the march. I'd contend that much of our economic woe is due to our own hysteria fueled by the media and a government that serves corporate interest over its electorate. It forms a vicious cycle of redundancy that is coming home to roost. A lot of this seemingly starts with Reagan. Up against a wall of self-loathing, he turned out to be a pretty damned good leader. The criticism of his domestic policy is that it often seemed short sighted. I'd agree with some of that. Another criticism is that he created a lot of boogeymen within the Republic. Lots of straw men to win political favor and talking points. I think some of it was pandering to win over the American South, which has both served and hurt the GOP in time. Enter Daddy Bush.. a fairly mundane leader. We got what we deserved with him. You take a former head of the CIA and put him in charge of the country, you get a man afraid to lead with his balls. He's probably a pretty good guy, but he couldn't take a piss in the early 90s without consulting 3 polls and 5 firms on the subject. This led to him making some bad policy that actually tied him to his political opposition. Ultimately, it was his undoing. Enter Clinton.. A Charismatic guy, ala Reagan. You couldn't not like Bubba. The problem was, he had a lot of REALLY BAD economic policy. When you put down your party flag, and trace back a lot of economic policy woe, it runs right into the heart of the early to late 90s. What saved him was an economy that took off on its own. The GOP Congress shouldn't get credit for it. The President shouldn't get credit for it. The best and worst thing both of them did for that economy was to get the **** out of the way. The problem is, they eventually began to turn a blind eye and stop asking questions. There's a difference between giving something freedom, and ignoring it. Hello dot com bubble. Bubba was strong on some social issues, but absolutely ball-less on others. His economic ideas were horse **** and his legacy should be NAFTA, which was not a good idea and destroyed the American textile industry. It also launched a wave of Mexican immigration that hasn't slowed today. Enter W... not a bad guy. I think he was the right guy for another time in American history. He got a bad draw of the cards. The economy was just on the cusp of freefall. He also got 9-11, Katrina and a whole assortment of shitty cards dealt to him. He showed flashes of great leadership. His downside, like his father, is that he stopped leading and started listening to his consultants. We don't seem to have Presidents anymore who seek a broad based pool of consultants anymore. The result is a lot of short term help, to stave off the disaster but he would also give in and enforce economic policy that was just not true at all to his alleged conservative ideals. The end result, was a guy who would have been a stout manager of good times.. but not the type to dig his way out of a jam. I think history will be kinder to W in the macro, but he will never be remembered as anything other than an OK president. Enter Obama. A guy who is quite strong on social issues. I think most of you would be shocked to know just how many of his talking points I agree with. The reason I say talking points, is because I don't think he actually believes more than half the things that leave his mouth. He sees them as weaponry and leverage, that's it. Aside from that, this guy has been a grade-A ***********. He blames everyone else for everything while taking all the credit for things that really aren't much of his doing. His programs aren't just failures, they are colossal 'plane-crash-into-2-passenger-trains-that-wind-up-crashing-into-a-school-and-then-a-mall' bad. There is some policy that has nothing to do with the GOP AT ALL...and they are clusterfucks...and he'll accept responsibility, but not blame... and I think that best sums up this President at this time. He says it, but doesn't do it. He still has time, which is both promising and frightening.
I don't believe a god damned thing that comes out that clown's mouth. I have never seen anyone so completely devoid of talent and leadership qualities. He is a stone cold idiot and you could tell last night that many in his own party know he's full of **** now too.
... and you're NOT referring to W here? :shock: On Obama.... lesser of two evils and he wasn't my choice to begin with. I would like to have seen what Hilary could have managed.... and manage is about all you could expect. I never really get true acknowledgement from you guys just how effed up this country was when Obama took over.
This country had serious problems in 2008. But they pale in comparison to where we find ourselves now.