I thought this was interesting!

[buckman]

Just a little food for thought.
TO ALL MY FRIENDS....LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE........FYI only.

George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. The first six the economy was fine.
A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%.
4) the DOW JONES hit a record high--14,000 +
5) American's were buying new cars, taking cruises, vacations overseas, living large!...

But American's wanted 'CHANGE'! So, in 2006 they voted in a Democratic Congress and yes--we got 'CHANGE' all right. In the PAST YEAR:
1) Consumer confidence has plummeted ;
2) Gasoline is now over $4 a gallon & climbing!;
3) Unemployment is up to 5.5% (a 10% increase);
4) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $12 TRILLION
DOLLARS and prices still dropping;
5) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.
6) as I write, THE DOW is probing another low~~
$2.5 TRILLION DOLLARS HAS EVAPORATED FROM THEIR
STOCKS, BONDS & MUTUAL FUNDS INVESTMENT
PORTFOLIOS!


YES, IN 2006 AMERICA VOTED FOR CHANGE... AND WE SURE GOT IT! ....
REMEMBER THE PRESIDENT HAS NO CONTROL OVER ANY OF THESE ISSUES, ONLY CONGRESS.
AND WHAT HAS CONGRESS DONE IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
NOW THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT CLAIMS HE IS GOING TO REALLY

GIVE US CHANGE ALONG WITH A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS!!!!
JUST HOW MUCH MORE 'CHANGE' DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND?

[Jenn]

WHAT? youre not blaming it on Bush????

[Nebe]

I thought better of you Buckman.

[Joe]

4.5 X 1.22 = 5.49
Unemployment is actually up 22% over the two year period...

[spence]

Originally Posted by Joe

4.5 X 1.22 = 5.49
Unemployment is actually up 22% over the two year period...

Hence highlighting why some conservatives are against education.

Nice catch.

-spence

[Joe]

Bryant College night school - while I was collecting welfare...

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Joe

Bryant College night school - while I was collecting welfare...

I almost fell out of my chair.

[JohnnyD]

I would agree with you, except for the fact that absolutely nothing has been accomplished policy wise. Thus, the policies that were in place before the last legislative election are pretty much the same as today. Anything Congress wants to pass, Bush threatens to veto and everything Bush wants, Congress votes down. In terms of policy making, both branches of gov't make up one big lame duck.

I don't feel Oil prices can be directly blamed on either party. Worldwide, countries are facing increased fuel prices due to the Middle East conflicts and OPEC's desire to throttle their output. Americans are getting hit harder (on a percentage increase basis) because the dollar is in the toilet.

Guess those Bush tax cuts weren't so good after all - well aside from grossly inflating the national debt.

[spence]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

I would agree with you, except for the fact that absolutely nothing has been accomplished policy wise. Thus, the policies that were in place before the last legislative election are pretty much the same as today.

I was going to say the same thing.

You know, I would have thought at least that there should be a quote attributing this to the real source as it's obviously a cut and paste. But I guess if Joe Biden forgot to quote I'll give a pass...not on the content though.



-spence

[buckman]

And during"the worst financial crisis since the Depression" they go on recess.

It was a cut and paste from another site. I thought I would run it by you brilliant libs to provoke some interesting perspectives. Well done, you even got in the usual personal attacks.

[spence]

Originally Posted by buckman

And during"the worst financial crisis since the Depression" they go on recess.

It was a cut and paste from another site. I thought I would run it by you brilliant libs to provoke some interesting perspectives. Well done, you even got in the usual personal attacks.

Congress does go in and out of session you know.

And who attacked you personally? Sounds like more fake outrage, it's a good thing nobody mentioned lipstick or you'd be all in a tizzy.

-spence

[slapshot]

The price of gasoline dropped quite a bit while Congress was on vacation......

[EarnedStripes44]

The pubes have set a modern history with all the legislation they have blocked. I would not entirely credit democrats with congress' lethargy.

I posted this a few months back (December 20, 2007). Buck missed this one.

The Republican Senate minority today filibustered an omnibus budget bill, setting a modern-day record for blocking the most legislation during a congressional session. A new report released today by the Campaign for America's Future details the 62 times conservatives have used the filibuster to block legislation (or force modification of bills) in the first session of the 110th Congress. In just the first year of this two-year Congress, their use of the filibuster in the Senate topped the previous record, reached during the entire 107th Congress.

courtesy of -
http://home.ourfuture.org/media/reco...ervatives.html

[Joe]

Now it reads....
"The buck stops with the guy before or after, just not here. Unless the news is good, in which case it stops here."

[The Dad Fisherman]

That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell

[sokinwet]

"Unfortunately the results of economic policies often take years to be felt, so the people who put them in place typically don't get the credit."

I guess that also explains why I haven't got my share of Regans "trickle down" economy dollars!! :-)

[buckman]

Dig deep boys. It's your Patriotic duty. Multi trillion dollar budget, and they can't find a way to cut waste? I'll admit some of the blame falls on Bush. Now you admit Pelosy and the ilk are a bunch of pathetic blame pointers that have done nothing good since 2006.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by buckman

Dig deep boys. It's your Patriotic duty. Multi trillion dollar budget, and they can't find a way to cut waste? I'll admit some of the blame falls on Bush. Now you admit Pelosy and the ilk are a bunch of pathetic blame pointers that have done nothing good since 2006.

Buckman, I strongly disagree. Pelosi and her ilk also did nothing good PRIOR to 2006

[buckman]

[spence]

Originally Posted by buckman

Dig deep boys. It's your Patriotic duty. Multi trillion dollar budget, and they can't find a way to cut waste? I'll admit some of the blame falls on Bush. Now you admit Pelosy and the ilk are a bunch of pathetic blame pointers that have done nothing good since 2006.

I guess you think the raising of the minimum wage was a bad thing.

Or the higher fuel economy standards Bush signed into law last year.

I'm sure if I whipped out The Google I could find a lot more, but I won't throw good money after bad.

-spence

[buckman]

Originally Posted by spence

I guess you think the raising of the minimum wage was a bad thing.

Or the higher fuel economy standards Bush signed into law last year.

I'm sure if I whipped out The Google I could find a lot more, but I won't throw good money after bad.

-spence

I credit Bush for these not the Dems. Look who signed the bottom.Try to stay consistant, at least in the same thread.

Great accomplishments? Why would I be against raising the minimum wage?

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by buckman

I credit Bush for these not the Dems. Look who signed the bottom.Try to stay consistant, at least in the same thread.

Great accomplishments? Why would I be against raising the minimum wage?

If Bush is the one to credit because he signed the bottom of all the good policies, then he should be the sole one to blame for signing bad policies that got us into this mess and no blame can be placed on the Dems (or Repubs for that matter) that are in the legislature.

We all must remember that specific laws signed into place are always bundled with dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of other "laws". That said, signing off on a minimum wage increase could have been a concession made to have other legislation put through. Unfortunately, i don't have time to look up specifics right now.

We have a Legislative Branch for a reason and in most situations, the President is advised to sign as opposed to actually reading every one that passes his desk.

[buckman]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

If Bush is the one to credit because he signed the bottom of all the good policies, then he should be the sole one to blame for signing bad policies that got us into this mess and no blame can be placed on the Dems (or Repubs for that matter) that are in the legislature.

We all must remember that specific laws signed into place are always bundled with dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of other "laws". That said, signing off on a minimum wage increase could have been a concession made to have other legislation put through. Unfortunately, i don't have time to look up specifics right now.

We have a Legislative Branch for a reason and in most situations, the President is advised to sign as opposed to actually reading every one that passes his desk.

I agree 100%. The President can be forced to sign bad legislation in order to get a single thing passed that he is looking for. Like say,a bunch of useless pork that is attached to a bill that will provide our troops with the supplies they need to do the job.

[buckman]

Or the fact, FACT, that the federal budget has grown 8.3% for 2008 over 2007 You can't blame the war,it was going in 2007, Blame the hypocrit, big goverment Dems who run the budget. We don't need higher taxes on anyone. They are using the economy as a reason to hike taxes and spend more. It's our damn money and they just piss it away. We should all be fedup, pissed off and they should all lose their jobs. Dems and Republicans

FYI- Cars today don't get much better milage then cars of 25 years ago. I had a VW that got 56 MPG when I was in college. Better then a Hybrid of today.

[spence]

Originally Posted by buckman

Or the fact, FACT, that the federal budget has grown 8.3% for 2008 over 2007 You can't blame the war,it was going in 2007, Blame the hypocrit, big goverment Dems who run the budget.

And who's signature was at the bottom of the bill?

Yea, checkmate.

-spence

[Nebe]

I have an ingrown whisker. It really hurts.

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by buckman

It's our damn money and they just piss it away. We should all be fedup, pissed off and they should all lose their jobs. Dems and Republicans

Agreed, nothing that a big "walking tall stick" wouldn't cure.

Egos and quest for power is what Washington is all about.
Nothing more and nothing less.

Good solid common sense people who would want to put the country first and return the country to it's best have no chance.

It's a wonder anyone runs for public office anymore ,with all the nastiness and slander they and their families have to face.

[buckman]

You guys are friggin being scammed. Your falling for the oldest trick in the book. Don't watch the people that are porking you. Blame Bush for everything and let the rest ride on blame free.Nancy Pelosy get's off blame free but Newt Gingrich was the most powerfull man in the U.S. Double standards don't play well with me.
Spence, Can you really make the case that the Federal Goverment needs to take more money out of the pockets of hard working people. For the most part rich people work as hard if not harder then most. You don't make 250K or more a year by being lazy and stupid. The goverment has enough of our money and just like you and I, they can do with out if they don't have enough.

If you think that Biden and Obama are going to change things in Washington and they get in, I pray your right. But I feel McCain/Palin are a better bet not to take more money out of our pockets and to make goverment work for the people that pay them. Palin even has the Republicans in Alaska hating her for outing them for bribes from big oil.

Obama has gone from " lowering the taxes for everyone" to "it's the wealthy's patriotic duty to pay more taxes" in less then 2 weeks. We need to have a Republican president just to keep one party from running everything.

[spence]

Originally Posted by buckman

You guys are friggin being scammed. Your falling for the oldest trick in the book. Don't watch the people that are porking you. Blame Bush for everything and let the rest ride on blame free.Nancy Pelosy get's off blame free but Newt Gingrich was the most powerfull man in the U.S. Double standards don't play well with me.

Pelosi isn't getting off of anything, rather than you said the house has done nothing and I showed you wrong.

New is evil by the way.

Spence, Can you really make the case that the Federal Goverment needs to take more money out of the pockets of hard working people. For the most part rich people work as hard if not harder then most. You don't make 250K or more a year by being lazy and stupid. The goverment has enough of our money and just like you and I, they can do with out if they don't have enough.

We have a progressive tax system (i.e. weath redistribution) that has in effect allowed for the Middle Class to rise and make America unique in the world. It's this paradox that the Right can't seem to reconcile behind closed doors.

Personally the tax cut I would see under Obama or McCain is virtually the same. What exactly is the best rate schedule is up for debate, but there's no argument that the top taxpayers have more ability to absorb increased rates. You could also argue that the top taxpayers have been the biggest receipients of stock market gains, and as such should foot a larger part of the burden to socialize our investment banking and mortgage systems as Bush is proposing.

If you think that Biden and Obama are going to change things in Washington and they get in, I pray your right. But I feel McCain/Palin are a better bet not to take more money out of our pockets and to make goverment work for the people that pay them. Palin even has the Republicans in Alaska hating her for outing them for bribes from big oil.

And Palin in Alaska was the ear mark princess while McCain has surrounded himself with an army of lobbyists including his top advisors to guide his campaign.

If it's the Government working for the People that you're after, I wouldn't feel confident in a Palin/McCain ticket.

Obama has gone from " lowering the taxes for everyone" to "it's the wealthy's patriotic duty to pay more taxes" in less then 2 weeks. We need to have a Republican president just to keep one party from running everything.

I think that was a single line were he probably meant to say most everyone. Regardless it's never been stated tax policy, so to say they've changed position is patently false.

-spence

[spence]

Here ya go Buck, McCain's economic insight working for the people...

McCain on banking and health

OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain’s article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American, in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.

Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/mccain-on-banking-and-health/

-spence