Yes.....but the question remains for me.....with ruthless immoral friends like Kenneth Lay did W and his admin. turn a blind eye to a few things they should have been paying attention to.....possibly on purpose? There is a reason W had the lowest popularity rankings ever for a sitting president. Something was amiss there. This underscores another point I have been making. Until the right steps it up and admits W wasn't all he was cracked up to be this disharmony will continue to fester and this nation will be at a standstill. The right fights for it's political life at all costs......the left does the same... and in the interim we American citizens twist in the effing wind.
If Sean Hannity goes on the air and says "Bush was not all he was cracked up to be" will your house be worth more tomorrow?
George....it's not so much the admission...it's the acceptance and willingness to move on to good gov't. W put the GOP in a big hole and the only way it seems that they see out of it is to get defensive and attack the opposition.....which by the way has such a big ass problem to solve it makes them an easy target. A lot of good any of that vitriolic rhetoric does by either side. It's a useless tactic and is why Bayh is bowing out.
Michigan ranks pretty highly.....in negativity: http://www.gallup.com/poll/125672/economic-confidence-wyoming-michigan-negative.aspx
You get the kind of government you vote for. 4 yrs ago we chose to not vote for a job creator in Dick Devos and instead voted for a political hack who ran "against the Bush economic policies." The auto workers and other union members are getting what they selected, ie. completel worthless leadership. On the national front we are getting the same. We got shoved down our throats one year ago today a stimulus package that was held out as a cure for our economic problems. What it did was preserve the jobs of millions of state government union workers but did almost nothing to increase private sector jobs. The average non union, non government worker has finally awakened to the fact that he's been getting the shaft while the chosen are getting taken care of. The pendulum that is American politics is going to swing sharply to the right. I hope this time there is retribution.
Why are democrats bailing out like rats going over the side of a sinking ship? Could it be that they don't want to be present when the other shoe falls and the ultimate effect of the outrageous spending of the last 14 months kicks in? 14 months ago they had the ball and a wide open field in front of them. Whats up?
Have to wonder George......how loud would be the decibels if they stood by and did nothing and we were either in or on the brink of a Depression? Even keeping status quo from Nov.2nd 2008 with no dramatic action from the Obama admin. would have brought howls of derision from the opposition. I suspect our economic numbers would be much worse.....with some huge bank failures and getting credit for individuals for mortgages and loans for business would be at a complete standstill. Our economy would be on lockdown and not just sluggishly growing. The only people making a killing would be the Wall Street fat cats who after all.....even in a Depression....would be making the case that without their supreme, very unique talents we would all be much worse off. :roll:
Dave, Your scenario above is a self-serving rationalization for the actions taken by the administration and by congress. Personally, I believe that we should have let nature take its course. We should have called the bluffs of the banks. The big guys would have suffered greatly, but they wouldn't have failed. We should have let the auto companies fend for themselves. Again, they couldn't have ended up much worse than they did. We would not have had another Great Depression. What caused the original GD was a combination of no regulations on stock speculation and a panic-driven run on the banking system. The limits placed on stock speculation via the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the regulatory presence of the SEC, the effectiveness of the FDIC in protecting bank deposits, all of which were not around in 1929, would have greatly diminished - even eliminated - the causes of public panic. I believe that the kneejerk actions of this administration in just one year, more based on political motives than on intelligent thought and anlysis, have created a long-term debt crisis that our children and grandchildren and their children are going to be burdened with long after we are gone. IMO, this kind of thinking is the primary factor in the delay of any meaningful recovery in the employment sector. I'm sure that a moderate, pragmatic Democrat like Evan Bayh sees this scenario playing out and just shakes his head in disbelief. No wonder he and other sensible Democrats are jumping ship.
"The big guys would have suffered greatly, but they wouldn't have failed" Sid....not sure why you would know that. Were they hoarding money somewhere? Credit has been extremely tight and was damned near impossible in the fall of '08.....much to the detriment of many industries.....and I believe was a huge contributing factor in my job loss ( my boss met with his bank on a Tues. am.....scheduled my lay-off meeting with me that afternoon ). I'm not sure what magical rescue was going to make that situation any better than the terrible situation that it was. The credit crunch along with fuel skyrocketing in the months before the freefall of the economy were the final straws for GM and Chrysler. One other thing....Obama wasn't even in office as of the date ( 1-14-09 ) of this article about BOA and the tab was already at 700 billion.... I know of a salesman who was in my competing field 30 years with his company....attended the same carrier meetings I did....dealt with the same clients I did.....and he was laid off 2-3 months after I was. Thing is.....I understand GM still owes his company 3 million dollars from before the bankruptcy.....hence another reason people like he and I lost our jobs.
Or...... they could have frozen spending and cut taxes across the board and let capitalism taker over. After 14 months I think we can see that socialism isn't working.
"let Capitalism take over"..... ....not that I am against Capitalism but I am against unrestrained greed placing our entire economy at risk and costing millions of jobs of hard working Americans. I seem to remember we were on the brink of financial collapse before the gov't stepped in. Hmmmm....short memories abound here. I guess when you lose your job you have a clearer memory of the circumstances. According to T Tom though anyone who lost their job deserves it.....at least until he loses his.
When is the last time an uneducated man with no capital offered you a job? You have a basic distrust of all things "capitalism" and it has frozen your thinking into a state of paralysis.
George, I used to trust things implicitly until I came to the realization that other people's actions....contrary to some opinions I guess.....could actually cost me my job. That and the implosion of the housing industry and subsequent erosion of wealth and my home equity.........the complete stagnation of the stock market for 10 years.........the unfettered and unbridled way in which credit card companies go after hard earned dollars without provocation....the 400% increase in my healthcare premium costs and copays for policys that drool at the prospect of denying a claim...the list goes on and on.....all the while Wall Street execs who helped lead us into the abyss are whining and groaning about multi-million dollar bonuses. Trust what George...... :roll:
Only those in Government who don't have to pay for their own health care would be opposed to this bill: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35513309/ns/politics-the_new_york_times I think everyone including gov't. workers should have to pay for their own healthcare......no freebies. Maybe the cost would become more affordable for the rest of us getting robbed.