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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Thanks for your thoughtful response.
I guess our biggest area of disagreement might be the spending. I'm not sure people will stop spending out of being scared -- they didn't get scared away from spending after running up huge debts they had no strategy to pay off so I don't think a left-wing blog post is going to be a major impediment.
I think spending will stop when the credit spigot runs dry, which has to happen at some point.
I may be older than you, but I'm only in my late 30's and remember when our national debt was around $400 billion -- about 20 times less than it is now. So, from my perspective, the debt looks like a march in one bad direction, not a steady state.
IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF HOOBERT HEEVER, "PROSPERITY IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER," FOLKS! THE SURGE IS WORKING, TERRORISTS AND ISLAMOFASCISTS ARE ON THE RUN, THE "ECONOMIC STIMULUS" REBATE CHECKS ARE IN THE MAIL, YOUR PHONES ARE TAPPED, HURRICANES ARE A MERE PUFF OF HOT AIR, POLAR BEARS ARE MULTIPLYING AND HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!!!!! SO SING THE PATHETIC IMBECILIC CRIMINALS Bush, Cheney, Bushland Uber Allies(Rice, Gates, Paulson, Mukasey, Addington, Mueller, Hayden, BETRAY-us, Yoo-HOO, Rove, FOX network, MSM, all right-wing-nut repugnicant-rethug-repub fudge-pachyderms in congress, their lobbyists, supporters on talk radio, TV and print, AND OH YES, John McPAIN IN THE BUTT!!!!!). WHO THE _UCK DO YOU HIGH WAR AND UN-CIVIL CRIMINALS THINK YOU'RE FOOLING? BOMBASTIC IGNORAMUSES, IMBECILES, DOLTS, MORONS, ARROGANT TWITS, DASTARDLY FOOLS, DESPICABLE CHARLATANS, LOATHESOME MOUNTEBANKS, ASININE IDIOTS, PONTIFICATING PILES OF _HIT!!!!! McPAIN THINKS HE'S HITLER/NAPOLEON AND WANTS TO LICK THE HOLE OF FRANCE, AND Sarcozy IS JUST "VICHY" ENOUGH TO LET McPAIN DO AS HE PLEASES!!!!!
Let's hope President Obama knows his history of the Great Depression, or has sound advisors who do.
I recently heard a good saying, directed at the Right: the Government is your enemy, until you need a friend.
I recently heard a good saying, directed at the Right: the Government is your enemy, until you need a friend.
I heard one too.
There are two kinds of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
(Who is responsible for this enormous outpouring of venomous "common sense"? Who linked this to where, now?)
All in good fun.
It seems to me that parts of the issue are generational, and parts are educational. Comparing the quality of life of American society to most of Western Europe is humbling, and for anyone examining the issues fairly, to deny that merely indicates provincialism become chauvinism.
It would be amazing if everyone who wanted to learn how to contribute something could get an education here in the US. That's a good "real basic" goal to shoot for. It might even help our electorate make some better decisions in the long term.
My partner (retired) spends a lot of time investing and reading up on economics, recession/depression, etc.
I got a chart that shows recessions/depressions throughout our contemporary history -- some "worse" than others (although, to people trying to make ends meet, ANY recession/depression is bad). Anyway, after looking at it and the underpinnings of each recession/depression, I was impressed by a couple of things:
1] Nearly all of them started/resulted from Republican economic/tax policies, combined with deregulation and an overemphasis in "investment" spending without any emphasis on the longterm outcomes.
2] The recession in which we currently find ourselves is different than past recessions because mortgage investment firms have sold off so much of their debt (MBS) to foreign countries, who are selling them off as our dollar dives.
3] It's different because the financial services sector has been traveling under the radar for a very long time (back, at least to the 80s) and now the result is coming due.
At least this is the way I understood the explanations.
Liberal,
You make a lot of very good points and I would probably have to agree with you in that there are several thousands, if not millions of people that are in serious debt and are now stuck paying them off...My mother in law is one of them, so I know all to well about some of the spending sprees that people have gone on..My grandfather went through the great depression and always taught me the value of a dollar, so i do cherish it and understand through his eyes how bad it got...i would like to think that our government is smart enough to not let history repeat itself, but you never know..what i honestly think will happen is, because of all the debt people have put themselves in we may go into a slight recession, but in due time we should be able to bounce out of it..
When I see unemployment at 4.5% and companies are still hiring, I believe the economy will be fine..Set back, but fine..I think with what we have gone through, schools should make finance and budgeting a pre-req number of courses to educate our next generation in order to not make the same mistakes we did, because some people just don't understand the word saving and spending what you don't have..One lesson my grandfather taught me that I still use to this day is, if you put a purchase on a credit card, you should have the cash in your bank account to pay it off..I have always lived by that, so I don't go out and buy ungodly amounts of junk that I know I couldn't pay off if something were to happen to me..But I do try to help the economy where I can..When there were talks 6 years ago about a recession after 9/11 occured, the first thing I did was buy an American made car..And that is kind of what I am talking about..Not to go out and just spend to spend, but try not to stop how you live your life because there are talks of a recession..
I was recently laid off and have been without a job for almost 2 months, but last week I did finally find a job and things are good.. It was the money I saved that helped me and my family get through this..Unfortunately, most people aren't like that or can't afford to..
And as an FYI, I am not republican or democratic..I am just me..I have my own theories and opinions and don't let political parties sway my decision one way or another..
And you are slightly older..I am early 30's...I was just a teenager when the last recession occured in the early 90's..
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
