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#106 |
Bah, humbug!
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Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA
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[QUOTE=Nate the great;660448]In the 60s, Many cars sported the bumper sticker, "Love It or Leave It." I prefer to love it, and stay and continue to work for an even more perfect union.
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#107 |
Wizard
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Device: Palm>Ebookman>IPaq>Axim>Cybook>Kndl2>IPAD>Kndl3SO>Voyager>Oasis
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Re: The stimulus package
No matter how it was spent, and no matter the short term consequences, I think it'll turn out as a mistake. I used to complain when I heard G.W. Bush was spending 1.5 billion on Aids in Africa. It would be wonderful to help all of the poor and the under-privileged in all of the world, but when your budget is upside down you can't just take out loans on the future. Now, I hear that Obama has sent $60-some billion for the same purpose. I believe that the Bush administration did not make fiscally sound decisions. And the Obama administration has proven to be an order of magnitude worse. Sometimes, the best medicine for an illness is to hunker down and let your system get better. Applying leeches might make you feel like you are doing something, but it can make you sicker in the end. In regard to the stimulus package, I do expect that it has/will improve the economy. Money spent is money in use and the trickle down/up/sideways impact will magnify the results. But where does the money come from? How do we absorb debt-payments in the future without stifling our economy in the future? At one point, the fed was actually buying up treasury securities in order to prop up demand for them. This would be like using your credit cards to pay your mortgage. My forecast is for a near term blip as the stimulus and time create a mini-recovery. Long term, I expect the dollar to sink, especially against China and the Asian economies. Inflation will rise sharply and our buying power will sink. To me this is the 'government bubble'. During the Internet bubble we saw crazy behavior as so-called investors chased stock prices up when the companies had no hope of profitability. Experts called this the new economy until it came back to earth. During the real estate bubble, we had some of the lowest loan rates in history, yet 1/3 to 1/2 of buyers were buying on variable rate loans. Anyone could see the consequences. There was no way that those variable late loans were ever going to get cheaper. In fact, the history of interest rates would tell you they were going to go up. Of course, those who could afford the stuff they were buying would never choose a variable rate loan. This meant that there was a guarantee that defaults would be huge once the loans reset to normal interest rates, and/or the rates rose. The government bubble assumes that money is limitless. To a large extent this view is a problem we have had for many years. The problem has cut across political parties. If we need more money we can just 'create' it with a budget and borrow it from the Chinese and the Saudi's. Obama's folks have taken this to an unbelievable extreme -- at least to me. I thought the spending of past administrations, such as Bush's was short-sighted and possibly negligent. I literally can not believe the level of deficit spending in the Obama administration. And a few years from now, it will be obvious how bad these decisions were. The bottom line is that sound financial practices always seem to rise to the top. Whether it is tulip bulbs, the internet, real estate or government spending don't bet against common sense. You really can't spend more than you make on an ongoing basis. MLH |
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#108 |
Bah, humbug!
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Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.
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#109 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 11844413
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Tampa, FL USA
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Yes, the US is in bad shape not just because of the government but because of GREED! BOb |
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#110 |
Home Guard
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard
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#111 | |
Literacy = Understanding
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The World of Books
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Quote:
I suspect -- but admit that I do not know -- that most naysayers to national insurance who are currently uninsured by choice or by circumstance would be very unhappy if their access to the hospital emergency room required advance payment for all costs. |
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#112 | |
Wizard
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Denmark
Device: Kindle 3|iPad air|iPhone 4S
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Quote:
I feel that living in the system that I do, gives me the greatest opportunity to live a free, happy, fulfilled life. |
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#113 | |
Wizard
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Location: Southport, GB
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#114 | |
Literacy = Understanding
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The World of Books
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Quote:
Yes, cut the corruption. Absolutely. First step: do not let any congress person serve more than 1 term on any committee and require them to rotate through every other committee before they can return to one on which they have already served. Second step: Let no representative serve more than 4 consecutive terms and no senator more than 2 consecutive terms. If term limits are good enough for the presidency, they are good enough for congresspersons. Third step: Ban all lobbyists from Capitol Hill and even 1,000 feet. They are worse than sexual predators and if banning is good enough for predators, it ought to be good enough for lobbyists. In addition, require that any company that has a federal contract to pay a tax of 250% on all sums it spends on lobbying or "educating" any government official other than in public hearings that are conducted under oath (so that falsehoods made in attempt to influence legislation can be prosecuted) and broadcast in full on C-SPAN. Fourth step: Create a special US federal prosecutor whose district is solely government employees, including congresspersons and executive branch folk, and whose focus is corruption by politicians and civil servants. Create a parallel special prosecutor for government contractors and lobbyists who lobby the federal government. That will get us started on cleaning up corruption. Finally, yes, help those truly in need. Of course, those truly in need are not the Halliburtons, Goldman Sachs, and KKRs of this world nor are they corrupt foreign governments who happen to currently espouse what we want to hear (Karzai and Afghanistan come to mind). Rather, lets take care of our own beginning with our wounded soldiers who deserve better disability pensions and medical treatment, and proceed down the path to include those who are too poor to afford medical insurance or to bu food. Does it not bother anyone that we can ship tonms of food to places around the world to feed the hungry yet we have starving folk right here? Yes, DesertGrandma, let's keep our country safe by fighting the good war with equipment our military says it needs and not equipment our legislators want; let's fight corruption; and let's help those who need food and healthcare. Good thoughts for this holiday season. Last edited by rhadin; 11-18-2009 at 10:11 AM. |
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#115 |
Literacy = Understanding
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It can't be any worse than the system in place. Capitalism and free markets have their place, but they are not panaceas to all ills. Just as a free market military force (i.e., let private companies decide where, when, how to defend our country and to create and raise the forces to do so) would be an unacceptable way of defending our country, so, too, the free market system has shown itself to be an unacceptable way to provide universal education and now universal healthcare. Because the market has failed, let the government try. It has done a very good job overall with Medicare and the VA. I don't see many conservatives demanding that the goverment stop giving them Medicare.
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#116 | |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: DC Metro area
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Quote:
I am gainfully employed. I will pay for my own medical care. |
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#117 | ||
Wizard
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Southport, GB
Device: Kindle Voyage, PW Signature edition
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Quote:
Quote:
The focus of your healthcare system are the profits of the health insurance companies, shouldn't the primary focus of any healthcare system be the actual healthcare? |
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#118 | |
Wizard
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Location: Southport, GB
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Quote:
On another note, wouldn't this topic be better suited to the Lounge since even in the beginning it was never really a reading recommendation. |
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#119 | |
Home Guard
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Location: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard
Device: Kindle Oasis 3G, iPhone 6
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#120 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Location: Denver, CO
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What I'm finding astonishing is that she has managed to capture headlines in most of the media for the last week. Incredible. Even better than Ann Coulter.
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