NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/08/congress.economy/index.html

gee sure is great of them to tell us this. Actually right now I am just numb to the whole economic thing going on. How much more screwed can we get, honestly? The only thing left is muslims and christians sleeping together, because right now that is more improbable than cats and dogs. More than anything this just seems like a way for them to say, "I told you so" if anything goes bad. Maybe Rush told them too.

Why travel the road to disaster when you can blunt it up and go on the Road to Zion (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mmAuHieD7Q)?

And like you, I am too numb to think or care about the economy. What ever happens will happen. I can't control it, so why should I worry about it. If something bad happens, I will be able to fend for my self and my own. That's all that matters.

Well to be fair, Clinton did cut spending and raised taxes in order to balance the budget, and I'd like to think that is what gave us our economic boom in the 90s and early 00s.

Obama apparently plans to cut the middle class taxes, raised the upper class taxes, and spend....how that'll work out remains to be seen.

The real problem is the fact that all these politicians belong to different parties,and regardless of whether or not they like the ideas presented they are going to oppose them just because it makes the other party look bad.

I say we fire half of Congress, and I'm not kidding.

The real problem is the fact that all these politicians belong to different parties,and regardless of whether or not they like the ideas presented they are going to oppose them just because it makes the other party look bad.

I say we fire half of Congress, and I'm not kidding.

While emotions would teach us that this is a good thing, logically speaking its one of the worst ideas ever. We can't just get rid of them. Many of them have a lot of experience in many areas. We'd have to fill all those shoes up quickly, during a crisis, with noobs. Once we are on a path up again, then we can get them out of office, through elections. Its gotta be gradual though.

Maybe we should just consolidate into the Straughn Party. I call dibs on speaker of the house.

Maybe Rush told them to.He did.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-rush8-2009feb08,0,3472238.story

Maybe we should just consolidate into the Straughn Party. I call dibs on speaker of the house.
Party?
It's like a party in my mouth and everybody's throwing up!
You're right about disaster on that one. *nods emphatically*

While emotions would teach us that this is a good thing, logically speaking its one of the worst ideas ever. We can't just get rid of them. Many of them have a lot of experience in many areas. We'd have to fill all those shoes up quickly, during a crisis, with noobs. Once we are on a path up again, then we can get them out of office, through elections. Its gotta be gradual though.

No, I'm talking a permanent reduction in size to 1/2 the current Congress, both house and Senate. That would save about 8.5 billion a year in government spending garaunteed, plus all the pork barrel spending, expense accounts, and etc. If a Corperation can fire half its workers in time of a crisis than we should be able to fire half the politicians in time of a crisis, and reserve the right to remove anyone from office at any time; that will make them cooperate with each other if only in the interest of keeping thier jobs, and maybe we'll see some actual accomplishments, not just a lot of money getting thrown around and pretty speeches being made while everyone else suffers.

hmm that might be fun but we get to keep the democrat!!

to be honest both parties seem to be leading us to disaster.

My favorite part of the article is this

But Lawrence Summers, the head of the administration's National Economic Council, said Republicans have lost their credibility on the issue. Watch Republicans criticize the stimulus bill »

"Those who presided over the last eight years -- the eight years that brought us to the point where we inherit trillions of dollars of deficit, an economy that's collapsing more rapidly than at any time in the last 50 years -- don't seem to me in a strong position to lecture about the lessons of history," Summers told ABC's "This Week."



Kind of hard to rebut that.

My favorite part of the article is this



Kind of hard to rebut that.Somehow, it was Clinton's fault. Somehow, someway.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/08/congress.economy/index.html

gee sure is great of them to tell us this. Actually right now I am just numb to the whole economic thing going on. How much more screwed can we get, honestly? The only thing left is muslims and christians sleeping together, because right now that is more improbable than cats and dogs. More than anything this just seems like a way for them to say, "I told you so" if anything goes bad. Maybe Rush told them too.

I just did a history assignment on that article. Literally. And yes, they're being idiots.

Well to be fair, Clinton did cut spending and raised taxes in order to balance the budget, and I'd like to think that is what gave us our economic boom in the 90s and early 00s.
There's no difference between the 90s boom and the 2000s real estate boom. Both were inflationary asset bubbles caused by governments (not just in the US but also around the world) intervening in the credit markets and forcing interest rates down to unnatural and unsustainably low levels.

Bush will go down in history as the worst president of all time, but the Clinton era's not free of blame either. Greenspan shouldn't have lowered interest rates in the early 1990s and also in response to the 97 Asian crisis. LTCM should not have been bailed out in 1998. Today's economic crash is an unraveling of systemic economic problems and inefficiencies that have been accumulating for many, many decades.

I honestly don't know how much this will all help, personally I don't mind a little government inefficiency if it delays the rapacious need of the markets to force efficiency down our necks until we're all doing 18 hour days with just the Sunday off in order to squeeze out a little more growth.

The system is built on competitiveness and it's no surprise the the BSDs of Wall St are the most competitive people on earth.

For the few that need to compete, the rest of us are dragged along in the dust.

I honestly don't know how much this will all help, personally I don't mind a little government inefficiency if it delays the rapacious need of the markets to force efficiency down our necks until we're all doing 18 hour days with just the Sunday off in order to squeeze out a little more growth.

The system is built on competitiveness and it's no surprise the the BSDs of Wall St are the most competitive people on earth.

For the few that need to compete, the rest of us are dragged along in the dust.

The most efficient use of labor (that's you and I) almost certainly doesn't involve anything close a maxed-out work week. Only due to the explosive rate of (government-mandated) inflation, "tax bracket creep", and other price-fixing measures by the government that raise the costs of living do we have to work like hamsters on a hamster wheel just to make enough money to scrape by.

And nowadays labor doesn't even have jobs, because the government induced the construction and overproduction of real estate assets that nobody needs - this is the very definition of economic inefficiency. All the jobs that are built around expectations of the real estate bubble simply vanish, which needless to say has caused true misery and tragedy.

I've rewritten this post a few times, it's really all far too complicated and there's better writers with a clearer understanding out there than me.

I will say that we elect these governments, to just lump the blame on them is probably fair enough, but the demand for protectionism and over-regulation etc., is caused by us.

We seem stuck in a rut that deepens everyday, an education system geared for the 19th century, economies increasingly dependent on service, mass production of low quality, higher entry costs to live in society.

I honestly don't know the solution but to allow unfettered markets reminds me of the maxim that capitalism is the exploitation of man by man whereas communism is just the opposite.