What does Danica Patrick have to do with all those issues (except YouTube Videos)? Gary forgot the 0 on her car number, but otherwise it looks about right.
@Libsmasher – I agree with you. Jimmy Carter made mistakes but it showed an incompetence with a genuine desire to make the government more hospitable to the masses.
Obama decided that the current economic system was too unforgiving to the masses so he set about using the Government to loot and destroy the economic institutions that we have all come to rely on (i.e. Private Health insurance, banking, investing, and a tax base that at least tried to pretend to be fair).
The problem he ran into is that many of us do feel like we have paid way more then is fair when half the households aren’t paying anything. Yes they are paying SS and Medicare but the liberals all point to that as an insurance policy when they talk about benefits but they point to it as a tax policy when they talk about funding.
If we want this country to start moving forward again, the government will have to start expecting that Obamas supporters ALSO contribute to the government which means: Staying off drugs, avoiding Pregnancy before they can support children, staying in school till they get a High School education, Living within their means, saving for a rainy day, etc. etc.These suggestions all sound like common sense to the people in my community but go directly against the values sustained by Urban culture.
The problem isn’t that the rich and upper middle class aren’t doing enough and paying enough. It’s that the lower middle class and the poor aren’t doing enough and taking too much.
More of the usual BS investigations that endlessly continue to spend tax payer money while accomplishing less than nothing. Not as exciting as starting another trillion dollar war.
@Ted Lind – What do you mean accomplishing less than nothing. Democracy can’t survive as long as citizens placidly allow the governing class to do what ever they want without thought to the Constitution, Laws, and Rights of the citizens.
It isn’t exciting to find out that the government has been illegally snooping in our private affairs, ignoring the very laws they are expected to uphold, putting citizens and law enforcement agents and local citizens at risk by putting illegal weapons on the street, etc. etc. But it is important that we discover the extent of the corruption and hold the leaders accountable. Otherwise, the next President (Liberal or Conservative) will take even more from us.
You don’t like it because you still believe in Obama’s Hopey Changey message. But you would be mad as hell if it had been discovered that Bush or Reagan was doing the same thing.
The President isn’t a King – He is bound by the same laws that we are. Obama just seems to conveniently forget that and the MSNBCs of the world turn a blind eye to it because they forgot that the Ends alone Never Justify the Means.
I hope I’m alive in twenty years. By then I’m hoping all the Kool Aid clouds have worn off and someone does a fair assesment of Obama’s administration. I also hope there will be a good long look at how both parties have used the IRS and the Media. And lastly, I’m hoping the moderate elements of both parties will break off and present new parties with more choices to the voters rather than Kool Aid Kult Red and Kool Aid Kult Blue. Sigh. While I’m at it, I might as well wish for that race car I wanted when I was six. I never got that either.
@Ardvarck – I don’t live in an Ivory tower. I grew up in a middle class household, earned my way through college and graduated with no deb,. Have kept constant and gainful employment all my life, married (and stayed married) raised my family and expected my kids to keep the values I espoused above. And guess what – they are thriving and living comfortably as well. They learned self discipline and self respect early on in life and it has carried them through their own good times and hard times.
There is nothing Ivory tower about expecting people to live and act like adults and live within their means.
I used to believe in the Safety nets that society created but unfortunately too many have decided to use them as a hammock while the rest of us are expected to support them. The free ride is coming to an end for them.
@Night-Gaunt49 – I think you and I agree that the Government has made decisions that have put pressure on the middle class. But the Middle class has been under much harsher pressure from: Globalization (Where I can get my products made cheaper in a more hospitable labor environment), Automation (where I can replace 5 blue collar workers with 1 white collar computer programmer – think Amazon), A consumer base that isn’t loyal to American made products (I’ll shop at Walmart where I can buy shoes 5 cents cheaper), A consumer base that will go without frills (I’ll bag my own groceries and bus my own table).
It isn’t waging war on the middle class to replace workers with automation – It’s good business.
It isn’t waging war on the middle class to shop around for the best price on your purchase – It’s good consumer economics.
It isn’t waging war on the middle class to do much of your own home maintenance – It’s being a responsible homeowner.
But each of those decisions eliminates workers from the middle class. They aren’t doing it to stick it to the middle class. They are doing it to maximize their utils (in economic terms).
We really can’t stem the erosion of Middle class jobs without tariffs (and they tend to be counterproductive) so the real answer to saving the Middle class lies in making sure that kids (and adults) are training themselves for the jobs that will get them into the Middle class and keep them there.
@echoraven – I agree. Those on the Government dole will fight tooth and nail to stay on their because they look at it as taking their due from the Government. They should realize that they are taking it from their neighbors.
blaming Congress is silly; Since Jan. 2009, when the D party owned both the White House, the Senate and the House, and therefore all court appointments, the R party has been helpless.- Even when they won majority of the House for Jan. 2011, all the work and all the bills they passed to correct problems were received at the Senate and immediately dumped into the Black Hole Wastebasket belonging to the Ds, under Mr. dingyHarry Reid, who never even read a GOP passed piece of legislation!-What the Ds passed, especially the O’Care ACA monstrosity, was passed without a single vote from an R member; and D leader Pelosi told Americans that their elected congress would have to pass it to find out what was in it!-I oppose this D tyranny.
SpicyNacho Premium Member almost 10 years ago
What does Danica Patrick have to do with all those issues (except YouTube Videos)? Gary forgot the 0 on her car number, but otherwise it looks about right.
Mephistopheles almost 10 years ago
@Libsmasher – I agree with you. Jimmy Carter made mistakes but it showed an incompetence with a genuine desire to make the government more hospitable to the masses.
Obama decided that the current economic system was too unforgiving to the masses so he set about using the Government to loot and destroy the economic institutions that we have all come to rely on (i.e. Private Health insurance, banking, investing, and a tax base that at least tried to pretend to be fair).
The problem he ran into is that many of us do feel like we have paid way more then is fair when half the households aren’t paying anything. Yes they are paying SS and Medicare but the liberals all point to that as an insurance policy when they talk about benefits but they point to it as a tax policy when they talk about funding.
If we want this country to start moving forward again, the government will have to start expecting that Obamas supporters ALSO contribute to the government which means: Staying off drugs, avoiding Pregnancy before they can support children, staying in school till they get a High School education, Living within their means, saving for a rainy day, etc. etc.These suggestions all sound like common sense to the people in my community but go directly against the values sustained by Urban culture.
The problem isn’t that the rich and upper middle class aren’t doing enough and paying enough. It’s that the lower middle class and the poor aren’t doing enough and taking too much.
Theodore E. Lind Premium Member almost 10 years ago
More of the usual BS investigations that endlessly continue to spend tax payer money while accomplishing less than nothing. Not as exciting as starting another trillion dollar war.
Mephistopheles almost 10 years ago
@Ted Lind – What do you mean accomplishing less than nothing. Democracy can’t survive as long as citizens placidly allow the governing class to do what ever they want without thought to the Constitution, Laws, and Rights of the citizens.
It isn’t exciting to find out that the government has been illegally snooping in our private affairs, ignoring the very laws they are expected to uphold, putting citizens and law enforcement agents and local citizens at risk by putting illegal weapons on the street, etc. etc. But it is important that we discover the extent of the corruption and hold the leaders accountable. Otherwise, the next President (Liberal or Conservative) will take even more from us.
You don’t like it because you still believe in Obama’s Hopey Changey message. But you would be mad as hell if it had been discovered that Bush or Reagan was doing the same thing.
The President isn’t a King – He is bound by the same laws that we are. Obama just seems to conveniently forget that and the MSNBCs of the world turn a blind eye to it because they forgot that the Ends alone Never Justify the Means.
Tim Culberson almost 10 years ago
Great concept, who’d think we would miss the Carter Administration
warjoski Premium Member almost 10 years ago
I hope I’m alive in twenty years. By then I’m hoping all the Kool Aid clouds have worn off and someone does a fair assesment of Obama’s administration. I also hope there will be a good long look at how both parties have used the IRS and the Media. And lastly, I’m hoping the moderate elements of both parties will break off and present new parties with more choices to the voters rather than Kool Aid Kult Red and Kool Aid Kult Blue. Sigh. While I’m at it, I might as well wish for that race car I wanted when I was six. I never got that either.
Mephistopheles almost 10 years ago
@Ardvarck – I don’t live in an Ivory tower. I grew up in a middle class household, earned my way through college and graduated with no deb,. Have kept constant and gainful employment all my life, married (and stayed married) raised my family and expected my kids to keep the values I espoused above. And guess what – they are thriving and living comfortably as well. They learned self discipline and self respect early on in life and it has carried them through their own good times and hard times.
There is nothing Ivory tower about expecting people to live and act like adults and live within their means.
I used to believe in the Safety nets that society created but unfortunately too many have decided to use them as a hammock while the rest of us are expected to support them. The free ride is coming to an end for them.
Mephistopheles almost 10 years ago
@Night-Gaunt49 – I think you and I agree that the Government has made decisions that have put pressure on the middle class. But the Middle class has been under much harsher pressure from: Globalization (Where I can get my products made cheaper in a more hospitable labor environment), Automation (where I can replace 5 blue collar workers with 1 white collar computer programmer – think Amazon), A consumer base that isn’t loyal to American made products (I’ll shop at Walmart where I can buy shoes 5 cents cheaper), A consumer base that will go without frills (I’ll bag my own groceries and bus my own table).
It isn’t waging war on the middle class to replace workers with automation – It’s good business.
It isn’t waging war on the middle class to shop around for the best price on your purchase – It’s good consumer economics.
It isn’t waging war on the middle class to do much of your own home maintenance – It’s being a responsible homeowner.
But each of those decisions eliminates workers from the middle class. They aren’t doing it to stick it to the middle class. They are doing it to maximize their utils (in economic terms).
We really can’t stem the erosion of Middle class jobs without tariffs (and they tend to be counterproductive) so the real answer to saving the Middle class lies in making sure that kids (and adults) are training themselves for the jobs that will get them into the Middle class and keep them there.
Mephistopheles almost 10 years ago
@echoraven – I agree. Those on the Government dole will fight tooth and nail to stay on their because they look at it as taking their due from the Government. They should realize that they are taking it from their neighbors.
kline0800 almost 10 years ago
blaming Congress is silly; Since Jan. 2009, when the D party owned both the White House, the Senate and the House, and therefore all court appointments, the R party has been helpless.- Even when they won majority of the House for Jan. 2011, all the work and all the bills they passed to correct problems were received at the Senate and immediately dumped into the Black Hole Wastebasket belonging to the Ds, under Mr. dingyHarry Reid, who never even read a GOP passed piece of legislation!-What the Ds passed, especially the O’Care ACA monstrosity, was passed without a single vote from an R member; and D leader Pelosi told Americans that their elected congress would have to pass it to find out what was in it!-I oppose this D tyranny.