I just watched Mr. Obama’s speech to Congress. What a refreshing change to have a leader lead, to have a leader concerned about the run of mill citizen, to have a leader paint a picture of a shared future.
Obama gives me hope.
The 4 things that concern me most are health care, the deficit, energy, and education, seem to the the things that concern this president most.
Obama gives me hope.
It is time we forgot short term gains, and made long range plans. It is time we quit ignoring the problems. It is time we started attacking the problems.
Obama gives me hope.
I believe that our government should govern scientifically. We do this by identifying the problem. Gather whatever information, experts, etc we need to come up with a solution, implement that solution, and most importantly put it on a feedback loop. If the solution does not work, then we go back to step 2, but we keep working on it. And we do this until the problem is solved. I believe this President will do that.
Obama gives me hope.
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Well Said.
I like the part where he spoke about honesty in accounting and being straight with the American people about the cost of war… We have been at war for 7 years but the previous admin did not list the cost of running the war in the normal budget.
Am happy he talked about the deficit. All of us fiscal conservatives have been scared bat-shit even before the bottom fell out of the stock market…. when we had over a trillion dollar deficit due to running the immoral war and tax cut the the billionaires.
I like the fact that he is ushering in an era of *Personal Responsibility*.
All he does is flaps his lips and tells us how bad it is. A leader encourages his troops. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. lol
I’m sure that we just need to agree to disagree.
I supported Hillary in the primaries, and I felt like Obama was cutting line. I’m not sure I am totally on board with him, but he does give me hope.
We need to do something about healthcare. I was laid off in October due to an influx of imported programmers working cheaper and the economy. That means I lost my insurance. COBRA insurance is not affordable for a single person collecting unemployment. I do not know how anyone could pay the family rate. That rate was $1200 or $1300 a month which is a lot if you were working. I’m on 3 different maintenance medications. If I do not find something soon, I will be out of them and their cost are outrageous. We need to reform the health care system.
In 1983 the economy went south in Oklahoma. The company I was working for went bankrupt. My ex was working for the Oklahoma Commission on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Their government funding dried up due to the economy, and she was out of work. We were without insurance. She had an ectopic pregnancy and nearly died. We spent years paying off that hospital bill. We need to reform the health care system.
The only reason I managed to get a college education was because we (me after I got married) were so poor that I was eligible for Pell grants. Otherwise, I might still be working in factories. Kids now days have to go so far in debt to get a college education it is ridiculous. If this country wants to stay competitive without importing tech/medical/etc workers from China and India, we need to fix that.
I’m going to support anyone willing to tackle those issues.
Instead of Slick Willie, we have Slick Barack. He is a very good speaker. And he is very, very slick.
I like a lot of what he says and dislike a lot of what he says. But he’s coming across as just another pep talk.
He keeps reemphasizing the large debt and problems his office “was handed” (politically correct way of blaming the Republicans). But, what in the fuck was he doing the last few years as a Senator???? His Senate passed the Wall Street Bailout and now he says there is no accountability but “his” stimulus does have accountability. Why didn’t he use his “leadership” to stop the passage of the Wall Street Bailout unless there was accountability?
As Senator, did he introduce legislation for a balance budget, to create jobs, to get out of Iraq, to tighten credit requirements PRIOR to the bubble bursting, not no, but hell no. Politics, let the controlling party dig a deep hole and THEN come to the rescue. Politics, politics, politics, not leadership.
And my number one rule concerning politicians is “don’t believe a single word they say and only half of what you see”. So he is just another politician until I “see” some progress. And even when I see some progress, then I’ll have to decide if it is because of his policies or capitalism just working thru the problems. Right now I’m guessing the latter. (I’ve been hearing more and more about the economy not bottoming until 2010, and if it does take that long, it’s probably just due to capitalism, not any steps Obama or Congress has taken.)
I don’t know what would be a better system, but as capitalism is practiced here and elsewhere bothers me. The heart of capitalism is self-interest that usually mutates into greed. Greed is not one of the better human traits. The other trait of this economy is that it must have continual growth. In biological systems we call that cancer. Continual growth is not sustainable long term.
I didn’t mean sound so negative. I have more faith in Obama than most of the politicians (but since he is politician, I may just be as gullible as most African Americans).
I just don’t have any confidence in politicians trying to ‘manipulate’ the free enterprise system. A very large number of Americans are over extended, leaving beyond their means (including me), and the best way for them to change is to pay the price for their greed/indulgence. Sure, some lenders made it very easy for borrowers to get credit but the blame for a person getting in over their head should fall on them, not the banks/systems. And if a home buyer didn’t understand what they were getting into or didn’t understand the risk involved, they shouldn’t jump into the fire. Leaving beyond their means is a financial mistake/poor judgment that the individual needs to learn to be responsible for and should be accountable for.
And the government should be overseeing the lending world and when it starts to get way out-of-balance, step in and change the rules before the situation gets too far out of hand.
During the housing boom, risk takers were rewarded – getting that larger house and getting it with a 125% loan and getting it with a mortgage they could afford with an interest only 3 yr APR, but not understanding the terms of what they getting into has to be their own fault.
If you see at 2008 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab Z71 advertised for $10,000, aren’t you going to ask some questions about it – mileage, body damage, no title, hurricane (water) damage, etc. and test drive it? If you pay cash, sight unseen, risk is very high there is a problem with it.
I do not believe government should stifle innovation and motivation, nor do I believe that they should save you from your own stupidity.
Having said that I do believe government has a role to play as an unbiased referee in our capitalistic system. Their primary duty should be to the many, and not to the few. As of late I feel this has been reversed.
These large problems we are experiencing now need leadership to solve them. Where is it going come from besides our politicians/government? Left to their own devices our korporations will continue to milk us for everything we have, and continue to ship our future overseas.
Unfortunately, AV, there are some problems with saying that the government shouldn’t save people from their own stupidity. Primarily, that the victims of the housing bubble bursting aren’t really the people guilty of the worst stupidity or those guilty of unethical conduct.
Picture it this way. You say that you, like so many others, live beyond your means. Ten years ago, it didn’t look like life beyond their means. If you were working a corporate job making 80k a year and looking at the economy you were anticipating continued fiscal health. All the experts are telling you to anticipate fiscal health, right? Like the song says, “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.” Seriously, did you expect the internet bubble and the housing bubble to burst the way they did? Hindsight is 20/20, right? In truth even the hedge fund managers aren’t as evil as we probably make them out to be. The USA had the world by the balls, or so thought. Why not extend credit to those people who are shaky? They’ll bootstrap themselves up. Yes, we know there is some risk if they fail but look at the rewards if they don’t.
To return to my initial argument- those most culpable, the unsavory lenders, aren’t going to be hit the hardest. And those most foolish, the hedge fund buyers and traders, aren’t going to be hit the hardest. Those hit hardest are homeowners, who are primarily guilty of being hopeful, optimistic, and slightly misled/undereducated, and stockholders, who really have almost no culpability at all.. they simply placed their faith in the market like all the experts told them they should. The real lesson of this crisis is one that is not new but simply being reiterated. Unregulated capitalism has led time and again to a fall. That greed and foolishness and “market forces” are no match for well thought out regulation.
Do people not know how the government works? Even if every Democratic Senator and Representative had manged to pass anything in their respective houses, do you really think the Republican nut job in office would sign it???? HELLO!!! Republicans were in complete control for the majority of the last 8 years and here we are. I’d have loved to have Slick Willy in office another 8 years. We were in a surplus situation when he left office and it took Bush minimum time to blow through that. He managed to make everyone fearful of the boogeyman muslim from Iraq. Unfortunately, it’s his Saudi buddies sheltering the real culprits. And why the hell couldn’t he find Osama??? Big Deal. He got Hussein. Nobody with a brain was concerned about him. That was for Daddy Bush. At least Barack can speak with intelligence. Wow, did I miss that for the last 8 years. No more electing a president unless he can properly say “nuclear”.