Comments on: Think of him as a non-thinking man’s Nixon.

By: marty

marty — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:05:40 +0000

I’m overjoyed that Obama won, although I have to admit that I’m not totally without apprehension about some of the programs that might come out. Things like allowing people to count the Social Security ‘tax’, and thus get refunded what they paid into it. Yet, years later they will still be able to get SS payments when they haven’t help fund it*. The whole system is struggling as it is – lessening the amount going in will help NO ONE because everyone will be SOL when SocSec goes broke.

But I agree with you, Van – the amount of money being spent overseas in conflict-related situations could be spent in so many better ways.

* I know this scenario is simplistic – the timelines involved almost assure that SocSec will be broke long before someone would go who has paid nothing into SocSec would be eligible to collect. It’s just the principle of it.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:17:56 +0000

I do wish Obama well, and hopefully he governs from the center. Conservative values, at least economically, do have the benefit that most economist believe they work better – ask Paul Krugman, not a conservative by any means, about the need for free trade. If you look at why this crisis occurred, its a rather tragic confluence of events – Wall street, filled with hubris, wanted to get rich and didn’t account for risk, the federal government wanted to streamline lending to subprime borrowers, everyone was taking donations from Fannie and Freddie (yes, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama), and the people who regulated the system (Greenspan, Credit rating agencies, etc.) put on blinders when it came to appropriate measures to recognize and control risk.

As for the comment above, about Roosevelt saving the country from the Great Depression, maybe you ought to go read a history of the Great Depression. Economists point out that a lot of countries went through contractions in the early 30′s, but only one country did things well enough to have theirs called “Great”

First, Hoover helped start the problem by doing 2 things – raising taxes on the wealthy (63% top marginal rate) and putting up protectionist trade barriers (Smoot-Hawley). Sound familiar today? Roosevelt put measures in to stop the downfall, which helped – and some of them were really needed, like mortgage refinancing, the FDIC, and regulations on the financial sector, but many other measures later prevented the economy from rebounding. He stopped the fall but then mired the economy down.

Unemployment was around 25% at the start of Roosevelt’s administration, fell to around 14% in ’37 but spiked back up to 19% in ’38. Roosevelt himself would not have gotten re-elected in ’40 had the nation not needed to stick with a proven leader at a time of imminent conflict.

And of course, the aftereffects of the New Deal and Great Society are looming: a 50 trillion dollar net present liability for Soc Sec and Medicare might be a bit of a problem with the next president in 2016 realizes there is no money left to spend on anything else.

By: On a limb with Claudia

On a limb with Claudia — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:03:55 +0000

I read a post today that blamed the economy crashing on ACORN. I don’t mean, in part, I mean the entire thing.

The liars and haters are starting early.

By: corky

corky — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:58:56 +0000

So long, Bush and thanks for all the debt. corky´s last blog post..Amazing-Man

By: flutter

flutter — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:05:34 +0000

there IS such a thing as a sore winner, you know....just sayin'. Division starts and stops all in the same place. Be the change you wish to see. flutter´s last blog post..This mess

By: Kristin

Kristin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:51:45 +0000

I kept getting text messages from my Republican friends saying, “Congratulations”… I just kept texting back, “We’re all winners today!” like a lame monkey…

And wanting to kick a little sore loser butt.

By: dana

dana — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:40:20 +0000

i think Peggy’s not misinformed, i think she’s misunderstood. what i get from that clip is that all Peggy’s saying is with the new man in charge the economy should (hopefully) improve and jobs will be less hard to come by…and she will have better means to make ends meet… i.e. put gas in the car, make those mortgage payments. she won’t have to worry about it because the economy will be getting better…or at least that’s what we’re all hoping for come january.

when i told little van that obama won this morning he said “YES!! I KNEW IT!”
and he hopped out of the car and had a great day at school. i think that while he has no idea what this really means, he senses that something big is happening, and he’s right.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:31:59 +0000

In every election since I've lived here, ML has been overwhelmingly Republican. I fully expected McCain to blow out Obama here... Carolyn´s last blog post..Starbucks...

By: Terri@SteelMagnolia

Terri@SteelMagnolia — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:30:49 +0000

Peter, thanks for the note!! …. but, truly, it wasn’t Bush that has convinced me that our government is here to protect us … it’s on our Constitution … I got this online for you, read the second paragraph:

The Preamble to the Constitution has no force in law; instead, it establishes the “Why” of the Constitution. Why is this document in existence? It reflects the desires of the Framers to improve on the government they currently had (to be “more perfect” than the Articles of Confederation),

to ensure that that government would be just, and would protect its citizens from internal strife and from attack from the outside. It would be of benefit to the people, rather than to its detriment. And, perhaps as importantly, it intended to do the same for the future generations of Americans.

I’m really not a mean spirited person and I of course would want to help those that can’t help themselves… of course … and trust me … we’ve had our fair share of medical issues w/ our medically fragile baby .. running out of insurance w/ no hopes of purchasing private insurance … and there was nothing for us … because we were middle class and not at or below the poverty level …

we were being steered to poverty and told to divorce so I could be a poor single mom or give our baby up for adoption, in order to get Medicaid. We were told this by conselors and people in our state government….

So… I get excited about this kind of stuff…

I will probably not post anything politial again… I seem to get myself into trouble.

Terri@SteelMagnolia´s last blog post..Life goes on…

By: jenijen

jenijen — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:25:29 +0000

hey! i was giving the finger in my post, too, today. but i JUST saw yours, so i totally wasn’t horning in on your pissed offness.

jenijen´s last blog post..Mean people suck