ClassicCar

That's what we get for havin an Abomanation.

X marks the spot X

Both major parties have sold us out. We are owned by big business interest so legislation is being done to support them, such as Goldman Sachs getting more bail out money than all small business put together. Ever wonder why there are 3 insurance company lobbyist for every member of congress? What about the oil company and drug company lobbyist ? I say, kick all the lobbyist out of Washington for a start. Term limits would be next, as our forefathers never meant for us to have "professional" life time politicians that build their little kingdoms at our expense.

Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

In America, the top 1% own nearly 40% of all the wealth.

10% of the population owns 70% so we now have 90% sharing the 30% left over.

Widening income inequality was clearly a factor in the growing concentration of wealth. Income inequality did not change much during the 1960s but has risen markedly ever since the early '70s. The wealthy save proportionally more than the middle class. So when the wealthy get a larger share of total income, their share of savings will increase even more. Not surprisingly, between the 1960s and 1980s, the percentage of income saved by the upper third of families has more than doubled, from 9.3 to 22.5 percent. That increase was partly spurred by generous tax cuts during the Reagan years, which were intended precisely to bring about that result.



In contrast, the middle third of the population saved almost 5 percent of its income during the 1960s but by the 1980s saved virtually nothing. This drop in savings reflected the growing squeeze on the middle class from stagnating incomes and rising expenses; the Reagan tax cuts did not produce their predicted effects on this group. The bottom third has historically saved none of its income, and the Reagan years did not turn them into savers and investors as Jack Kemp's happy vision suggested.



According to my estimates, the chief source of growing wealth concentration during the 1980s was capital gains. The rapid increase in stock prices relative to house prices accounted for about 50 percent of the increased wealth concentration; the growing importance of capital gains relative to savings explained another 10 percent. Increased income inequality during the decade added another 18 percent, as did the increased savings propensity of the rich relative to the middle class. The declining homeownership rate accounted for the remaining 5 percent or so.

In short, wealth went to those who held wealth to begin with. For those who didn't have it, savings alone were not sufficient to amass wealth of great significance.

:eek:

Term limits for the President were voted in as a Constitutional Amendment after FDR, so they are a part of the Constitution now. We could do the same thing for Senate and House if we wanted. Any law passed by Congress is subject to Constitutional scrutiny, except Constitutional amendments, which become part of the Constitution itself.

Mike (WA) wrote:

Term limits for the President were voted in as a Constitutional Amendment after FDR, so they are a part of the Constitution now. We could do the same thing for Senate and House if we wanted. Any law passed by Congress is subject to Constitutional scrutiny, except Constitutional amendments, which become part of the Constitution itself.

Forgot that part of it - thank you for reminding me.



What I like about the current situation in Washington is the Republicans were screaming to the hills that Obama's bail-out for the big cats on Wall Street ignored the man on Main Street.



So, banks are paying back the loan money and Obama wants to use it to help the little man on Main Street. And the Republicans - screaming to the hills we should use it to pay down the debt (no doubt so they will have a cushion to help the fat cats when THEY get back in power.



Trouble with trying to vote politicians out of office is that they are elected by those who don't vote - not those who vote. Believe it.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

tombia wrote:

Think about it . We do not have enough machine tools anymore. How would we even make the nuts and bolts to hold our war machine together if we really had a war with someone like China? Corporate excs. cut workers and make the remaining ones work harder under the threat of job loss if they don't produce. We don't even make tires anymore

That's dead-on Tom. The US owns a lot of it's industrial might to the fact that we have (did have?) the most machine tooling in the world and could make everything esp in times of war. No one seems to notice the problem with selling it all those production machines to the Chinese. We're not making much in this country now except bad paper. When something is made that's tangible it adds value to the economy and makes the economic pie bigger. No one is talking about how to make the pie bigger for everyone though, they're arguing over the pieces. Then there's plenty who's sole occupation is working an angle to get a piece of everyone else's action when they make something. Not do'ers but takers. Or people who make money on their money but add no value.



Our economy is a closed circle = You need money to get an education = you need a job to get money = you need an education to get a job. So where is the entry point into the economy for the majority of people? There needs to be one or else most people find themselves outside of the circle. People who are left out of the economy often create their own economy, and then you get black markets and all the crime that goes with that.



Anyways no question we're in a recession and what they're arguing about in Washington is who is going to feel the pain of it. The banks said they're not, the big companies said they're not, the local townships, school districts, counties have been raising taxes instead of making cuts so they're saying they're not. Credit card companies say they're not, and even the medical industry said they won't bear the pain of the recession. No one wants to feel the pain of this thing, so it gets passed down hill to the people who have the least say or power to avoid bearing the pain. So the middle class gets squeezed and suffers despite cutting down their lifestyle. All the costs of living are going up at a time when your average person can least afford it. To add insult to injury we're all told to accept less and like it, as if the real problem is what we need in wages to live a decent life is asking too much and we need to be competitive with Chinese workers. Look, not everyone really wants to do what is needed to get rich but everyone wants a life of dignity where they can at least have a house, raise their kids, and maybe go on the occasional vacation. Some monkeys are keeping all the coconuts on our island though and not taking any of the risk. If there is no middle class in the US then there's a sharp divide that cannot be maintained, that's when you can start worrying.

tombia wrote:

Ever heard of term limits? Uncle Josh . Don't blame the current admin. This Whole economic crap started with The Rebublican Hero !!Reagan!!. Trickle down economics they called it They are only part of the problem, but they are not helping it

Yes... we should not ever blame this administration for ANYTHING ever..... they are perfect and they are making jobs- ha, ha! Everything that is wrong is because of somebody else. I hope Obama enjoys his well earned Nobel peace prize (while engaged in a war) and Gore enjoys his Nobel award for his global warming scam (or should we call it climate change since all the global citizen scientist idiots were wrong as the earth is in a 10 year cooling trend). This is all a big fat joke and big government has NEVER fixed anything nor can it spend money more wisely than that people they take it from and who earn it.

Aaron D. IL wrote:

Yeah global warming is a dirty liberal plot to keep cowboys from drilling for oil and stop us from being wild and free to start hunting moose on the great Alaskan wilderness. Just one more liberal conspiracy like space program to convince people we put a man on the moon. Or that rediculous conspiracy about the nazi holocast. When will those pinheads learn?!

1. Which Holocast? Jewish? Or the one that no one makes movies of or ever mentions? The millions of Polish non jews that were killed, etc. The Japanese did much of the same. It is documented that a few Japanese even ate the livers of young captured fighter pilots as they thought it gave them the strength of their victim.



2. Global Warming is a huge scam. How many industrialized countries were around in the Ice age? It is a cyclical event. The earth is cooling and has been for ten years now. Why do you think the libs now call it Climate Change and not global warming? It is a cause picked up by the socialist commie Berkeley types that got booted after Regan won the cold war. The Global Warming socialist scientists got busted for doctoring info which legitimate scientists already knew was false. The Polar Bear population has increased significantly as has the whale population- both supposedly still endangered. Wolves are still eroneously listed as endangered, spotted owls, etc. It was recently announced that the ocean can absorb 3X's the amount of carbon dioxide than previous declared.... how can these idiots be off 300%? Are there environmental issues, yes. Global warming is nothing but a liberal global citizen political agenda.





3. It is the hunters and sportsmen who use the outdoors, appreciate the outdoors and that pay and support ALL the game reserves and ALL the most successful wildlife programs - ie: Ducks Unlimited. Too bad they don't issue hunting licenses to shoot Terrorists and known Gang members.



4. Everyone knows that it was really the Vikings who discovered the moon....

two points - What does any "liberal" have to gain exactly by fabricating a giant global warming scam? What do they win? You give this group of people too much credit for being able to pull off a global conspiracy. That would assume scientists and politicians are well organized and that we all know isn't exactly accurate.

Second, please make it a point to debate ideas or philosphies based on their merit and not attack other posters. It's one thing to attack ideas it's another to attack the person expressing them. Let's not get all personal now. Just because we're on the internet let's not throw out civility. We're not vikings.

I was going to stay out of this one until you started the "man on the Moon" stuff (cleaned that one up?) There smacks a bit of not being able to identify the fly specks from the pepper here. I thought about responding with a level of experience and logic here; but, I decided that those who do not accept our Space Efforts would be better googling "Flat Earth Society" and getting a membership. I think it was a Viking (minnesota type) that started that speculation to keep the Chi-coms from getting credit for being the first to discover America?

Another US P.O. rant. Went to send some Xmas gifts. Long lines and the clerks carrying on a LONG conversation after taking care of their needs with each person,no hurry,no problem. You can tell they are not worried about their job!! It's too bad!! Another federal agency that just cost TOO MUCH and really provides a necessary service,but just very poorly. I guess that I just don't understand how they could be losing money when in all rights-you have a monopoly!

Clutch guy wrote:

Another US P.O. rant. Went to send some Xmas gifts. Long lines and the clerks carrying on a LONG conversation after taking care of their needs with each person,no hurry,no problem. You can tell they are not worried about their job!! It's too bad!! Another federal agency that just cost TOO MUCH and really provides a necessary service,but just very poorly. I guess that I just don't understand how they could be losing money when in all rights-you have a monopoly!

My local town (has a tree lined stone street that dead ends into the city center) has less than 200 people. Our post office has a staff of two. They also deliver to more than 200 miles of rural farms/streets. Went there Saturday about ten and the Post Man called me by name with a friendly retort and there was one other person (my brother and neighbor) there. My brother bought me lunch at the local 50's diner. I think this is what the post office should be--they did not even make me take off my cowboy boots like my wife does at home......