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Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:41:46 -0000

I agree that many if not most young adults have not been prepared to work. I also cringe at the facial piercings,and tattoos, and the fact that I am afraid their pants will fall down. I agree that even if you hire them, they don't have a clue how to work, and have never done anything before.

However back in the seventies when I was 16, we were not perfect either. Our boys had long hair, and that was fine in construction, and even some stores. Other guys got away with a neat longer style, or tying it back and after a while the long hair was not so shocking, because these guys actually worked. They learned to do their jobs, because they started young, and screwed up at an age that screw ups were expected. You don't have to be perfect to keep a McDonald's job, or work in a convenience store, or pour concrete. As a matter of fact no one cares what you look like when you are pouring concrete.

The difference is that kids now days aren't encouraged to get that first job at 16, and learn how to behave and dress. They haven't had years to build that work ethic by the time they enter a job that really matters. They wait till they are out of college, and have never worked, and then try to get the first big job of their career. They go to work for the first time at the job they borrowed $80,000 in college loans to get. The pressure is on, and they don't even know how to get dressed for work in the morning. They don't have a clue how the coffee machine works even. LOL That is just backwards. Kids need to work at McDonnalds or Target or somewhere that is simple to start out. That is what those kinds of jobs are for, not for grown up people who need real money, but the adults are taking all those jobs cause they can't get anything else. That leaves no room for the 16 year old. These kids need to work while in high school and college, and then when they are out of school, they will know at least the basics, like dress code, getting to work on time, and what not to do if you want to keep a job.

The problem is that there are no jobs for 16 year olds and they are not encouraged either by school, society or even parents to get a job as soon as they are able. I worked from the time I was 16, and so did my husband... really before that, we were the kind of people who were always working at something. Kids now days don't know how to work, but I am not at all sure if that is their fault or ours as parents, teachers and role models.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:32:19 -0000

You need to get your mayor to submit a request for whatever they want. It is that simple but many mayors are not making requests yet, and if they want the money then they need to ask. These are all requests made by mayors. They have not been edited or picked between that is our job, to help decide which mayor's requests are legitimate and which are most important. I haven't voted on all or even most, because without more info, there's no way to make a decision.

You are right we should not be discussing the need for the whole bill on this one page, but there were some comments that I felt were very one sided. I was just giving the other side.

Re: Most active projects scrutinized in the press

freakycat125 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:44:51 -0000

Kitty Cat, the people paying taxes are not the ones with the problem. The people who USED to pay taxes are the ones with the problem. A lot of people would be grateful to have an income large enough to pay taxes again. People paying this 35 percent tax rate, who make over $300,000 a year are not the ones I loose sleep over, and neither should you, theywill be fine, if we keep the economy from folding, and if it does fold, then they do need to worry... because eventually they won't be paying taxes either. There are worse things in life than Taxes, namely not making any income to tax, and not owning anything to tax, and not being able to buy anything that has taxes added to the cost. As long as you are paying all three of those kinds of taxes, you have nothing to worry about. So just be thankful for you can pay taxes, and have a little compassion for the rest.

Re: Most active projects scrutinized in the press

freakycat125 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:27:24 -0000

I totally agree with what you are saying, but that needs to be the second step. We need this first step also. I think your plan would be an wonderful suggestion to Obama and I hope some of his staff read it. The home owners and the banks though are not the main problem we have. It is just the NEW problem, and the only problem the media wants to talk about. The REAL problem is the loss of jobs, and that is what this first step is designed to do, that and replace each state's lost revenue, because unemployed people don't pay state taxes.

The New Deal kept people alive through public works projects, and maybe if it had happened BEFORE the markets crashed entirely, as the case is now, it would have helped more. I think that public works is a good START to this situation. IT sort of CATCHES the bottom rungs of society, and keeps them from starving to death. That is NECESSARY and I hope it works. It also feeds the economy, by giving money to people who will spend it. The less money people are accustomed to having the higher percentage of it they will spend. The Billions pocketed by Bank CEOs will not be spent, but the $30,000 to 40,000 a year you pay to a construction worker will be spent each week, 80- 100 percent will be spent on groceries, rent, resturants, toys, housewares, and utilities, They might even buy furniture, but they WILL spend it. That is what boosts the economy. It is an important first step and probably the most expensive one. The rest will be a plan to get money flowing in the right direction again. Alone though it would do nothing. Certain things have to be fixed, or in two years when the power grid is fixed, and the buildings are all refurbished we will be in the same mess all over again.

I am confident that Obama will not make the same mistakes as FDR and the Public works projects were not part of the mistake that FDR made. Even the experts agree that was a solid decision that preserved the lives of many people. You are right though, the new deal had two holes, and one of them expecially could be a problem for us too. FDR put money in, but he didn't seal the leaks, and that was the problem. We have to seal the leaks, and we will. Obama knows these things have to be done I am sure. He and his economic advisors have studied the New Deal, and they know what all those economists say about it.

According to the experts the main 2 flaws in the new deal were not enforcing anti-trust laws, and having fixed wage requirements that we just 25% to high. Now I don't know about wage fixing, but the minimum wage is not to high, and I think we need a maximum wage law, similar to what Obama put on Bank CEO's... and under the circumstances even that is too high, but anyone who cannot live on $500,000 a year has serious problems, which are certainly not the government's problem. LOL At any rate I do not think we have a problem with wage fixing, at all. I think we definitely have a problem with anti-trust laws though.

Corporations are getting bigger and bigger, buying each other out, and growing into monsters, that suck up what little money our economy is still producing, and puts it in a few very deep pockets. WE do not want our tax money falling into deep pockets. We had enough of that with the Bush administration. This problem started when Clinton encouraged all business. Now I believe that Clinton was a genius at job creation, and economic growth. His term was a wellspring of prosperity, to the point we thought we'd never be hungry again. Jobs were plentiful, and he created more jobs than any other president in history, Even as the population surged, and people came off welfare, and some industrious peple worked two or more jobs there were still plenty to go around. Clinton created more jobs by giving small business loans, and encouraging industry and retail than even his growing army of workers could fill. As a consequence we have a larger workforce than ever in our history, but Unfortunately without continued oversight we have lost all the jobs Clinton created, and even more to boot. The prosperity did not last, and in fact it proved to be worse because we had so far to fall.

Jobs were lost on a huge scale over the past 8 years, now we could argue whether it was the last 7 or the last 9 years, because there was a small trail off during the last year Clinton was in office. That could be argued, but either way we have world trade and globalization to blame for our woes.. We went from having a surplus of jobs, to having a frightening loss of them. It is not the Mexicans who come here to COMPETE for some of the hard labor, construction and farm jobs that are the problem. We've always had some minority, or immigrant to do those kinds of things, and the point is only desperate people want to do those sorts of work. The jobs pay very little and they are backbreaking work. No the problem is that almost all the $40,000 a year factory jobs are gone. American factories could not compete with the flood of cheep and second rate goods that started pouring into our country, while paying a livable wage to workers. These people on the other hand deserved a living wage, because they were working hard physical jobs, and taking risks with chemicals and machinery, and contaminates. They could not be expected to work for nothing. In addition to the cost of labor, there are NEEDED government regulations on factory waste, and also laws to somewhat protect working conditions here in the states, and the government did not choose to give these factories incintives to stay in the country, so they moved over seas.

In third world countries, they can hire a worker for a few American dollars a day, because our economy is/was so inflated compared to theres. These people can at least somewhat survive on three dollars a day, and we could not in any way shape or form survive on it. Even if we lived in a tent in the woods behind the factory, there is no way to live in America on three dollars a day! Fruther, I can only imagine the unchecked polution flowing into the rivers, and steaming into the air over there, since they don't have government regulations on that. Polution is a global problem, and companies are international, but outside of the USA and Europe, ecological concerns are easy to ignore... even if you are poisoning the villagers.

The United States Government has allowed this to happen without even trying to stop it. At first is was just a few companies, and no one cared, but over the last 8 years, all factory work is gone, and nothing has replaced those jobs.

The idea of a service economy, is just silly. We can't do that! It not only displaces too many workers, It causes trade deficits, and takes the GNP down to nothing. America has to produce again, whether in small cottage industires, which I think would be preferable, or in huge factories who are environmentally conscious. We could even pick and choose items that we can prduce cleanly and safely. WE need something we can use ourselves and export. Without that, no effort will be a perminant fix. I hope that Obama knowns that, and I can only assume that he does. It will take time to set that up though, whatever we decide to produce, and in the meantime we need this public works package to keep us alive.

The phase you mention needs to be fixed also! and I hope Obama either reads this suggestion or thinks of it on his own. I am sure that what you suggest in helping people keep their houses, and owe less morgage is exactly what he wants.

We also need antitrust laws to protect small businesses. After the clinton years, small business got squeezed out entirely. Big business was swallowed by bigger business, and the small businesses were forced out altogether. Anti trust laws and trade regulations are key in keeping that money out of the deep pockets, and in circulation.. However if we do this step first, and foster small businesses, then they will go bankrupt just like the previous small businesses did, due to the working class passion for Walmart, and their need for cheep Chinese goods. Sure they'd rather have nicer stuff, but they buy what they can afford, and what they can afford is JUNK from China and Japan and Vietnam. This has to be stopped with finely structured import laws. I do not know exactly how to do this, but we need to give American companies an edge in at least a few areas so that we can have production again.

As it is now the American worker cannot compete. If you look at the statistics you see that the 40,000 a year crowd is the average ameriican, and the majority of americans make that wage, or near it. Those are the jobs disappearing the fastest, and the displaced people are seeking jobs in both directions of that figure. it is like taking the middle out of the economy, so that everyone is either rich or poor, and the poor far outnumber the rich. There is no middle, and anyone wiht any sense knows what side they will fall on if it all falls apart. If you aren't in the top five percent, then you are or will become poor. That is why we have to keep the money out of the deep pockets of the Sam Walton family, and the Mobil Oil tycoons. WE have to have money circulating, and this bill does that. It keeps money moving.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:12:31 -0000

Ohio was hit first by mill closings. While I am sure that some areas in Ohio are just fine, there are some horribly underprivilaged areas. Many areas that were nice are now suffering as well. When people who once paid taxes cannot any more the state and local governments suffer from lack of revenue.

http://povertynewsblog.blog...

Low-Income Children: 38% (1,029,154) of children live in low-income families (National: 39%), defined as income below 200% of the federal poverty level.

http://www.nccp.org/profile...

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:14:28 -0000

You all think this started with banks and loans? Freddie Mae and Fannie Mack aren't the biggest problem. We wouldn't be in this trouble if we had enough jobs. Let the banks all go busted. They won't, they were faking. There is no real banking crisis, just a few executives who couldn't figure out how to make all the money they wanted to. They are making a killing, but it isn't enough, they want more. They ALL deserve to be fired for all the disreputable stuff they have done. It wasn't the government who FORCED them to do anything. They deserve to be humbled and all forced to work for minimum wage. All those CEOs. Bush cared about the banks, cause they contributed billions to his campaign, and he gave them plenty of government money back as repayment. A lot more than they deserve. The first time they squeeked he produced a huge amount of cash. Obama is dividing a nearly equal amount of cash among all of us, and you guys are complaining. Go collect your tax money from the bank CEO's if you want it back.

Obama is trying to take care of the poor, which are the majority by giving them jobs. and by creating jobs he stimulates the economy from the bottom up, which is the ONLY way to stimulate the economy. Bush only cared about the top 3 percent income bracket. He wrote the rest of us off, as useless. Obama only cares about the lower 95 percent income bracket. I figure those people can take care of themselves. Which side of that number are you on. Do you make more than $350,000 a year or less? If you make less then this should help you. It might still help you, because if we don't the economy will just freeze, and there will be no more income eventually, cause eventually everything will dry up. IF this country doesn't start producing it will die. The trade deficit is what is wrong. The unemployment reflects that, and we cannot accomplish anything with this massive unemployment.

Poor people don't care about the banks, and they don't care about the stock market. They only care if they have a job, some cash in their pocket, and food in their bellies. I don't think that is too much to ask. The rich will make it, one way or the other. The resourceful and smart people with common sense will make it, but under what conditions? and if smart resourceful people with common sense are suffering, then what about the others?

Bush wasted at least this much on that stupid war in Iraq, and GAVE almost as much to millionare bankers, who were pocketing the money like it was their christmas present. Obama is going to use THIS money to help people who really need help. If you want to complain about wasted money, then look no fruther than G.W. If you want to know why Obama is doing this, then look at G.W and the mess he made... and as far as additional costs down the road... just wait till the UN wants us to pay war restorations to Iraq. Just wait till those soldiers, get out of that warehouse hospital in Germany I think, and actually start getting medical care for their missing limbs, and shattered psyche's. That is going to cost us more over a lifetime of care each, than bailing out the workers. We are going to have to do both though, and it is all thanks to Bush. Another fine mess he has gotten us into.

People do deserve a home of some sort, and just because bank CEO's are able to steal a hundred times more than a factory worker gets paid in a year, doesn't mean the CEO deserves a better home than the factory worker. That factory worker actually works for a living instead of figuring out how to con people, and lately the government.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:01:54 -0000

I can relate to what you are saying here. My concern is not for people who were riding high on credit. I've always thought that was foolish. Not foolish enough I am willing to let their children starve to death, or watch them die of exhaust inhailation from lving in their cars, but foolish enough I agree they should learn better. Overall there are a lot of different situations that do need to be addressed. Giving money to the banks was not the answer.

The problem started with exporting jobs. and the loss of small and locally owned businesses. I say that because that was the first thing that led to this. The bank problems came much later, and came as a result of the former. It was a chain reaction. I know this may not be what you educated people learned in your economics class, but it is how things work in the real world outside the ivory tower of the stock market mogels. It is what the stock market really reflects.

Imagine it is an ecological system, not a economic system. Of course the people who cannot function at all are at the very bottom. The people who make minimum wage are also among the bottom rungs.The mill workers, and other working poor used to picture themselves at the middle since they made average pay... kind of like the folks with the 100 IQ they were average, even though people treat them like they are the bottom, they really aren't they are the middle and the middle class are rich from their POV. NOW though they are at the bottom of the food chain,because they lost their jobs. The TRUELY middle class, which most people call the blue collar working class are the first and foremost casualty of this whole situation. They were the backborn of the buying chain.Individually they don't have much money, but because there were so many working poor, and which are the working middle class, They were not only the middle they were over half of the country. Industry amounted to a huge demographic until recently. When they suffer we all feel it, in the same way a forest full of preditors feel it when the rabbits start to disappear. Everything from the true middle to the bottom, percentiles 1-60 frequent walmart.now, and the dollar store. If they must purchace a gift they might go to Belk Legate, or even go to the mall. Before Walmart they sometimes went to smaller local shops, but now everything at the Walmart. Now if you take everything that the bottom 60 percent make,all 60 percent it does not equal what the top 1 percent make in a year. Not even close, but they spend it. They have to in order to live. They might save a bit, but overall they have to spend at least 80 percent of their income. Whether they work for it, or it is given to them, they do not get to keep it. It flows upwards just like the food chain. The bread of the lower 60 percent is given to the stores, the utility companies, and occasionally the used car dealer. IT accounts for MOST of the liquid money in the economy. Liquid money might sound like an odd term, but it is very different than what I will call Solid money. Solid money is in bank accounts, and it doens't move. It is in the stock market perhaps, but it is still only shifted from stock to stock, and playing the stock market does affect the economy in unfair ways, but it doesn't actually DO anything. The stock market's minor fluctuations are an illusion. the only thing that really matters is the productivity of industry, and the net profit or loss of retail. If industry is not giving money to workers in the US and contributing to the GNP it is useless to us. It should figrure as a negative rather than a positive in our thinking. It does nothing for us, and is taking financial resources out of the country. If the workers in an area do not have ANY disposable money, to go out to eat, or go to the movies, or go out to the local shops, then they are the first to feel it. It takes many areas of closed mills for the larger chain stores to feel the loss. Because of this small retail are the first to loose out. Small chains are next. Regional chains feel it next. Then the big chains. Walmart was impacted powerfully last quarter, and what did they do? They laid off workers.

The more workers who lost their jobs the less liquid money is flowing. That means all of retail suffers. All services start to suffer, and when retail doesn't move merchandise they don't order more. This shuts down more industry, and cuts the profit of middle man distributors. Now this is not some illusional action based on consumer confidence or the confidence of investors in stocks, this is real. The real bottom line is impacted for everyone.

The stock market fluctuates due to confidence, and that can have some strange effects, which are not based in any sort of reality, but when a company is really no longer making money... well the investors either stay in and loose their money as the business goes bankrupt, or they sell out and fruther bankrupt the company. Either way a store that doesn't sell enough merchandise ot offset the cost, goes bankrupt. The distributors that don't have enough orders to keep their truck drivers busy, lay off and if it gets bad enough they close too. The factories who do not get orders also lay off and eventually close. Even imported merchandise is piling up in China and Japan. The whole world is feeling the fact that our working class cannot afford to buy things.

In this environment we will now talk about those yuppies who lost their houses. The yuppies were allowed to borrow on a house to the tune of 1/3 of their income, and they did. The got credit cards and ran them up. They bought new cars, and they were paying for all of it. They were fine, as long as their companies did well. Some were self employed, some were sales reps, and others worked as executives in companaies. As long as profits were up, and they made sales, things were OK, barely oK cause they lived on the max of what they could borrow, but still they were making the payments. NOW they make less, or they lost their jobs, so yes they are hurting worst of all now. Plus they were able to get enough credit collectively to really impact the banks. It was not like that a year or two ago, when the working class was already suffering. NO one cared when the TRUE middle and bottom were suffering. Even though they are really the AVERAGE american, they have been made to feel so much lower, and people treat them like they do not matter. ONLY when the yuppies could not make their payments did eyebrows raise, and a crisis was declared. Now the crisis has been going on for years, but SOME people think it just started, cause it just now hit the Yuppies, which seems to be the lowest group the rich recognize.

Now in the 1st through 30th percentile are dirt poor. They can't even get much credit. They live pay day to pay day, Many of them are being displaced as more desirable workers float down the food chain, to take their jobs. The 30th to 60th percentile may have had some credit, and perhaps took some bad risks but in general they make about 40,000 a year and so the credit people will not LET them go too far in debt The debts of the middle.... the working class, are not enough to throw things off, but their purchasing power, and lack of it over the last seven years, is what wrecked the economy to start with.. I agree that among percentile 60 - 80 there was way too much house trading and car trading. These people were as you say living debt ridden lives. Still had things gone on the way they were, we would not be having this conversation. It was the export of obs that is at the bottom of all this. Percents 80 and above haven't felt much yet, except in stock losses, but they are scared, and selfish. The top five percent make over $350,000 a year. Those are the people crying the loudest over Obama's spending, They are the ones who need to worry about their taxes. Everyone else is getting a tax break. Now it may not seem fair that these people have to make more, however we see how these people live, and what they make for what they do is unfair. Like the bank CEO's and their multimillion dollar bonus money. It is what they are accustomed to. What is it these people do that is worth millions? From what I understand they make poor decisions... are they not the very ones who aledgedly messed up? Now I personally do not believe this was the start of the problem, but if it is, then all the more reason they do not deserve $50,000 a year, much less $500,000, and certainly not more. No one deserves a million dollars a year, PERIOD No matter what they do. Some of those people like the Haliburton corporation and the oil corporations were profiteering off the misfortune of poor pople, and they should give something back.

1. Poor, uneducated people loosing their menial industrial jobs, These people live pay day to pay day and not on credit, but they don't have much savings, and very few options when looking for work. These people started suffering long before the crisis you speak of started effecting Yuppie credit using people. The problem stared at the very bottom many years ago, and it has just now come to roost on the yuppies. Cotton mill workers don't use credit cards much.
2. Overly competitive job market leaves workers vernerable to abuse.
3. Young people who would normally get a job at 16 or 18, are now waiting till after college to get their first job. I think this creates abnormal dependency on the parents, and yet nothing is available. This is causing developmental and psychological problems for young people. It is interupting their move from childhood to adult hood, and as a result those people will be late to grow up, and late to get a job, late to be married, and late to have kids. It might have massive sociological impact on society as a whole.
4. The excessive forclosure on homes, is lowering the price of all homes. This is creating a huge gap between the price paid for the home and the current value of the home. People wanting to sell, and people who are paying on homes, are faced with the fact that their $250,000 home is only worth $80,000. That is rough when you are making payments on $250,000.
5. We have empty homes, and homeless people. It makes no sense. Let people keep their houses, and pay it back when they can. IF we bail out the banks then at least give the people a break to have more time to pay off their loans, and perhaps refinance for what the house is really worth, or let them split the difference with the bank.
6. Overall loss of solvency in our economy due to lost industry, and retail...and GNP which is the bottom line. Let the stock market be hanged. IT doesn't represent real growth or real loss, except by reflection. The real point is real industry, and real sales. Producing and selling and servicing, that is the real bottom line, and we are not producing.. It all started with a closed cotton mill, and a closed furniture factory, and it spread.

It spread because we cannot compete with people who can work for 3 dollars a day. Our people need $40,000 a year. No one can live on much less, and live in this country. WE need to level the field, with tarriffs or stiff penelties for american companies who exported jobs. It has to stop.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:39:38 -0000

Those people wanted to succeed under G.W. and I guess they still want to, but you can't blame Obama for that. This country is in a terrible mess. It was not in this big of mess 8 years ago by a long shot. I have nothing against them succeeding. IMO if they can get away with it more power to them. Unfortuantely we don't all live in those states. I was wishing I did when Obama won the election. It was going to be a night mare if McCain got it.

As for welfare, it is like this I do not need welfare, and even when I might have, I didn't take it any more than you did, WE haven't been reduced to that yet, and lets hope it never gets bad enough that one of us has to be. Still any of us could be hit by a bus, or a drunk driver, and end up paralized, and then we would have to apply for disablity. I think you need to consider this for a moment, before you start judging people who need help so harshly. Not everyone has a college education, not everyone has wealthy friends, or a wealthy family. There are a lot of people in this world who's wealthiest realitive lives in a mobile home. (I know that is a Jeff Foxworthy joke, but it is true, and not as funny when you think about it.) A lot of people wish they could afford to live in a 1970 model mobile home, on a rented lot in a trailer park... I know it is hard to imagine when we have it so good, but there are people who are suffering.

Not everyone has an IQ of over 100 either. As a matter of fact 100 is average which means half of the people are smarter and half of the people are slower. I've got an IQ of 136 and if I am ignorant, just think what the other people are dealing with. Not everyone is able bodied. Some people are handicapped, or just physically unsound in some way. In short human beings do not live on a level playing field. We don't have all the same advantages. Some people don't even own their own computer... or have a car to drive, or live in a neighorhood where they can safely walk to a neighbor's house.

It is all well and good to brag about how independent we are. Most of us here on this forum have a computer. We are sitting in our living rooms, or offices, and we are warm, safe, and out of the weather. We aren't hungry, or cold. We have IQ's well above room temperature, or we couldn't read this site. A lot of us have some college, Some of us at least are not physically, or mentally handicapped. I think that it is ignorant of some of us to assume that everyone has the same blessings we have been given in this life. I get so tired of rich yuppies and preppies and repblican politicians, talking about the lazy poor, and how all they need to do is get a job, at the same time they think these people are given too much when these people are making a wage that is one tenth what they would consider.acceptable for themselves.

The point is that you and me are OK and we will be unless the whole world colapses and goes into some kind of black hole vortex. We are not at risk of starving to death, or freezing to death. There are people we could turn to, and we have our own mental resources and qualifications to rely on. No matter how much money the government owes, or what happens with that, it's not a huge life or death thing for us. We will live. Some people are not so lucky. Some people are walking on a lot thinner ice, by no fault of their own. Some people are dying for lack of medical care. Others are hungry, and cold. There are children who won' t be able to afford College without help, and other childern who aren't bright enough to go to college, who need vocational training just to learn how to put on their own socks.

Just the fact of having an IQ of 130 or above, puts us all in a different category from the average guy. Just having a bachelor's degree, or even an associates in a technical field helps. Not everyone can get that, or has time to get that. Some people have been working since they were sixteen, some people work three jobs. Some people are accustomed to living that way, and then they loose their jobs. Not everyone even has a highschool education... and no that doesn't mean they are lazy. It might mean that they sacrificed their long term success to earn a living to support their younger siblings.

There are a million different circumstances that keep people from having all the skills abilities and strengths they need to survive when things get tough. It doesn't all start with getting laid off. It starts when we are born, with who our parents are, what values we are taught, and how much is put into our college fund. It also starts with the ease of our birth itself. That often impacts IQ more than any other factor. Did we get oxygen deprived at birth? Did we inherit any illnesses that might impact our ability to make money. You see none of us had a choice on any this, so how DARE we be so concieted as to say that WE are independent because of any virtue of our own. It was God's grace that kept you from being born to a poor ignorant family, and end up retarded, and ugly. LOL

Since none of us selected our circumstances of birth, nor did anything to deserve our beginings, it seems unfair that things like this keep us from ever rising above it, but without pell grants, and welfare, and various educational programs, some people would not survive at all. You may think this is not your fault and not your problem. If so that is a reflection on your own morally impoverished upbringing. Personally I was raised better.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:11:15 -0000

18 -28 year olds cannot find jobs. If experienced workers can't find jobs then no way are they going to hire first time workers. Jobs that used to be for teens, and high school students are being fought over by adults, and the kids do not stand a chance.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:03:06 -0000

LOL my house was built in 1920 by my grandfather, it is structurally sound at least for the most part, but past that... It needs re-modeling, I still use a sink from the 1930's and the age of my appliances would shock you. but like you we don't choose to go in debt. My cars are all over 10 years old, so I suspect they do get less gas milage than some of the new ones. I am not an impresser. We probably have more money than a lot of people, but we still live tight, no credit cards. WE experimented with a couple of cards about 10 years ago, but now we just have a debit card. Credit cards are a rip off.

My husband makes good money. We are both self employed, but my own business was suffering, at least till a few weeks ago... but that isn't what I am worried, about, nor am I worried about the yuppies who can't make their payments. I own a concession stand at a flea market, and have for over 20 years. I see the poorest people in the community, as well as a few people who just have an eye for a bargin. I see people every week who have just lost their jobs, soldiers home on leave from war, I see widows selling off their jewelry, and familes who can barely afford to feed their kids. I give away food if I see a kid who looks hungry. I am not talking about the stupid yuppies with the house payments. I am talking about mill workers, who lost their jobs years ago, and who are now doing odd jobs and construction. I am talking about the wives they left, because of fighting about money, and these women who are trying to raise kids by waiting tables. That is what I am worried about. These people aren't greedy. They just don't have a pot to pee in. They never did, but now the wolf is no longer just at the door, he's sitting in the livingroom eating their popcorn.

I dont' care that now the yuppies are suffering, that is kind of funny in a way, though I do try to be compassionate. They were all so snooty, and living high on credit, Yes I know, and other than for their kid's sake I try not to care. I still do, cause it is just the way I am. Most of all though concerned for the truely displaced, and the people who were secure in their working class lives, but now everything is upside down, cause daddy can't find any more jobs. Everything is closing, and laying off and there are no jobs. I know people who are out of work, and people who are working only half the time because of week on week off layoffs. I know people who are scratching by, only by selling off the toys they had in better times, and they are running out of stuff.

There is one woman who comes by my shop regularly. She has a beautiful little red haired girl that she is raising by herself. I always give her a couple bags of snacks, but I know that doesn't help all that much. I can tell they have nothing, and their clothes are ragged. The little girl is getting thinner. She's not the only one, but the little red haired girl just touches me, so do the other kids. I see people my age, and older who used to look kind of dignified, but now they are loosing their teeth and have no money to fix them... and I am putting some dental work myself because it is so high. I got an estimate, and dentists have gone up insanely. I haven't been to the doctor for myself in 10 years, though I have taken my kids a few times. I cannot afford it, and so I treat myself with herbal remedies. I am not doing well, but I know it would cost thousands to find the problem, and I am just having faith that I will be OK. I don't have much faith in modern medicine anyway.

The only thing stupid these people do is frequent the Wal Mart store. I try not to, but it is inescapable. It takes money out of our community, but it is all we have, That and the dollar stores, which I prefer, cause they are cheeper. Independent retail is gone, except for the flea market, and I buy all I can there. That does put money into the community. Walmart takes money out by the truck load, and it is by no means balanced by the pay envelops their employees recieve. It almost entirely goes into the pockets of the Walton family, which are so deep that money will never see the light of day again.

This country is in dire shape at the bottom. It is barely better in the middle and eventually the corporations will fail, if nothing is done. Right now though there are hungry kids in America, and cold children and kids who need doctors and dentists. Their parents try to hide the poverty, because DSS will just come and take your kids, if you don't provide. That is going to change though, and obama will find a way. People shouldn't have to live in their cars, or in tents in the park. People should have jobs.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:33:57 -0000

Thanks for all these links. That is a lot of reading. I also wanted to thank you for a really good discussion. I really enjoyed talking to you. It is hard to find anyone who really has studied history, and politics. How are you on comparitive religions, and ancient cultures? (my other favorite subject) Anyway it's been a facinating discussion, and I just wanted to thank you for stretching my brain a bit. If you do teach I envy your students. This conversation has been facinating.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:48:03 -0000

Thanks for this. I agree that anti-trust laws are very necessary, and that no good could come of suspending them or ignoring them. That and keeping wages artificially high seem to be the two main factors listed in this article. I do not think that wages are kept high now. We need minimum wage laws, but they are barely adaquate, in that people cannot live on minimum wage. At least I don't see how. People are though, and to me that is a huge part of the problem, not that people make too much, but that they are making too little and it isn't keeping up with inflation, but we do have minimum wage laws. They keep people from having to work for a quarter a day. Both these factors were in play throughout the Bush administration already. We have seen an incredible amount of Bank Mergers, and yet no one is questioning the ramifications on Anti-trust laws. In addition the Media is in danger of also violating anti trust, however they are international. It is frightening to think that the same half dozen corporations control nearly all the TV stations, movie studios, magazines, and newspapers throughout the world. Were it not for internet, this would entirely derail the concept of free press, and free speach, as well as being a violation of anti trust laws.

However I am not sure that anti-trust laws should or even could be extended to foreign markets. That is the problem now. We have no control over foreign markets, not that we have a right to, but if our companies go international, then our government looses control of them to whatever degree they become involved in that foreign market. The main problem right now is that our government cannot oversee the conditions of American owned factories in foreign countries, and we certainly cannot control the environments in which foreign goods are manufactured. Yet our consumers are exposed to these goods, and can get sick from them. Fruther we cannot control working conditions for foreign workers in American owned factories. Personally I'd like to pass a law that American companies have to pay at least minimum wage, and fulfill all the rest of US Labor laws, even if they are in foreign countries, and working foreign workers. That would bring them home fast, and if not it it would at least raise the standard of living in foreign countries, and perhaps open new markets for selling our goods.

Anyway I totally agree that Anti-trust laws are necessary, and that the current situation is in violation of them, but that happened before Obama took office. Fruther, with the banks it has seemed necessary. The buy outs were the only thing that saved them from bankruptsy and what can you do when the bank is bankrupt. The trend towards buy outs of huge corporations by even bigger corporations have been going on for a very long time. It is the Hugeness of these corporations that I was complaining about to start with. They compete unfairly with small local business. It seems OK if Walmart has a store, in a small town, but when it becomes the only store in a small town due to an unfair advantage and driving all the little stores out of business, then we have a problem. It creates a monopoly, which it does, slowly Walmart is taking over all reatail. They are good at what they do, and it doesn't seem fair to punish them, but their activities will soon give them nearly a monopoly on retail.

As for keeping wages high? Wages have to be kept in line with prices or you have all working poor. Working as hard as you can and still being poverty stricken, is not acceptable, and it does not help the economy. No one wants to live like that and they shouldn't have to. How is it right that a CEO makes a multimillion dollar annual sallery, while people who actually WORK for a living make, $15,00o to $40,000 a year. I think CEOs have to tighten their belts and I aplaud Obama for forcing those who take government money to do so. Personally I think $500,000 is still way to high, I think they need get only a tenth of that. A lot of people would do the job gladly for $50,000 a year.

At any rate I am against ignoring anti-trust laws, which we have been doing for eons. I see where those polices could have caused problems then and are causing problems now. but what does that have to do with this stimulus package? The article does not say that the public works program was a problem, it cites only Anti trust law violations, and wage fixing. Public works was necessary and good.it kept people alive and working.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:08:00 -0000

this problem started after 9/11 which amounted to Bush's former business partner's little bother got his followers to blow up some common targets for terrorists. Israel's inteligence tried to warn us for months. They had survalence on a house in florida, and were blocks away from terrorists down there. They notified us and we did nothing. Among Bush's first actions was the protection of members of the BenLauden family who were in the US. He got them out by plane immediately, and then opened season on the rest of the Muslims in the country. He encouraged mass panic, and got on TV, many hours later,.. he is always slow to respond, and started talking about the axis of evil. He's nuts right? So anyway that was the begining, but he should have been able to pull it out of the fire, in seven years, but it just got increasingly worse. No one cares about terrorists anymore, but we are at war.

Libertarians are cool, they just can't get the press they need, or the votes. Personally I hate some of the democrat stuff too, especially gun control.

If democrats say that Reganomics didn't hurt this country then I do not agree with them, and I can only say they must have slept through the 80's like rip van winkle. I was awake during that time and I remember it well. It was awful. Nixon did the same thing when he was in office. Republican eaual lay offs and recessions... in the past, but now it seems they equal factory shut downs, and total colapse of the economy.

I did read your post, and I commented on it. It was an interesting thing to read, and I'd like to see how they managed to travel back in time and try another senerio. In short modern historians and economists have a lot of interesting theories on past occurances, but it seems that they don't really stick to the facts. Or rather they see it from a higher point of view.

When you are in the trenches lving it, it seems a lot different than what the economists seem to know about. Regan's cancelation of so many people's disability, forced them to go to back to work, able or not. I know a man who died because he had to go back to work with a heart condition. It may not have hurt the whole country, but it sure hurt him, and he was not alone in that either. REgan caused a good number of deaths. Bush caused enough deaths between the war, poor handling of Katrina, and the economically related suicides to be called a mass murderer, and maybe a genocidist.

I think that Democrats have their faults to be sure, but Bush, and Regan were just plain mean. They didn't care how much suffering they caused, and they caused a lot. I don't have a beef with Gerald Ford, or some of the old time Republicans, but the Reganites have to go.

Religion came into play from 1980 to 2005, in politics I hope they retire from the practice, but they really threw off the vote. The fundie churches stopped preaching the gospel and started preching flag waving republicanism. IT caused people to vote against their own best interest based on lies. Ideas like all Republicans are Christians with family values, and all Democrats are satanists, can really hurt when you are dealing with the fact every knit wit in this country has the right to vote.

In general regardless of party, or race or any of the other things that have come up about Obama, I think he is doing the right thing, not because he is a democrat, but because he is smart and he is trying. That is two things I could not say about Bush.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:03:13 -0000

How can experts pretend to know what would have happened IF FDR had acted differently? I appreciate history a great deal also as a learning tool, but one cannot go back in time to see what would happen. One could run computer simulations, but they aren't always an accurate depiction of reality. I'd like to see their evidence, their simulations or whatever they are basing it on. I'd seriously be very interested, in how this hindsight theory works.

I was under the impression that Hoover tried to stimulate the economy by giving corporations money to keep their factories open, and that when given the money the factories closed anyway, and the owners sort of retired on the money, in the same way bank CEO's were going to keep the stimulus money.

I know that Hoover did his best however, and he refused salery for most of his term. I do not know that it was his fault in any way, but I know that he blamed himself for the whole depression. He felt personally responsible. He tried all the standard Republican tactics, and nothing worked, I was unaware that he tried any public works projects, but I am not too suprised that he tried that after his more conservative efforts failed, He was ready to try anything. Unlike politicians today he was not stuborn and arogant. He was just trying to get us out of the mess we were in.

World war II came and ended the depression... or at least changed the character of it. It made an impact on the economy which would be unrepeatable... at least I hope so. None of us want another world war, but it did cause production, and demand for workers, at a time when most able bodied men were out of the country. It was the begining of women working outside the home, at least in large numbers. It was something that caused all the people to pull together and sacrifice willingly, and finally it was taking our resources fater than we could produce them. It threw industry into the forefront, and made it produce more than agriculture for the first time in American history.

World War II more than anything else ended the depression, but Hoover and FDR kept the people alive during the depression. They prevented utter chaos, and held their own against organized crime. Organized crime also stimulated the economy though. IN a mess like that even the worst things can help. It all worked together to help keep people's heads above water and generally our presidents did what they could to prevent starvation.

In fairness though you have to consider that history rewritten is not history. For example the Regan years have been touted as a time of prosperity recently, but anyone with a memory knows they were not. "I will work for food" signs were so common that most days I saw a dozen. The unemployment lines were up and down the stairs out the door, and around the block all day every day, for months. I know cause I was standing there listening to grown men cry. I think a lot of the problem is that some people are unaware of the problems of other people.

Sometimes we are wrong about something at the time and learn later that our leaders had great foresight. Carter was not appreciated in his time. Even I complained loudly about his restrictions for fuel efficiency on cars, which impacted the quality of autos in the eighties. That problem long outlasted his presidency, Now though I realize that he was right. Just think if our cars were still getting 10 to 15 MPG during the summer of $5 gas. What would we have done? Carter's insistence of fuel economy seemed excessive at the time, but now we see he was right about that.

In general though everyone has a different version of history. A Nazi once pointed out that whoever wins the war gets to write the history, and that is true. Rich people get to write history, and occasionally someone will dig out a diary or a comment by a poor person, but in general the weathy believe what they want, and they never know the suffering of the poor.

It may be that the depression would have righted itself, without government action, but what is a president supposed to do? Let people starve? Support them in soup kitchens and flop houses till it is over? Build a poor house for all the homeless families? Let them starve and freeze in the streets? No the government has to do something, simply because it is our Government. These people are supposed to serve the public,and if the public is suffering, then the Government is obligated to serve their interests and try to make the suffering stop.

Bush didn't seem to feel that responsibility but most presidents have. Hoover felt it, and Carter. Obama feels responsible for our well being and he should. It is his job. I don't know what you do for a living but say you are a history professor. It is your first year teaching, and it comes to your attention that half of your class is failing. You could blame yourself or you could blame the previous teacher, or you could blame the students, but the fact remains it is your job to teach them history. So if you are interested in doing your job, you try different things, you make them lists, and study guides, and you try to make your lectures more interesting. Will it work? Who knows, but if you continue in the same way you were teaching you run the risk of having to fail the lot of them, and no good teacher wants that. That is all Obama is doing. He is doing his job, the job we hired him to do. That ls all Hoover did, or FDR. They did the best they could. It was obvious those men were trying. I did not get that feeling from Bush or from Regan. I don't think they cared, because we suffered and they did nothing. They were willing to let half the class fail, but now we are all failing even the smartest ones.

I'd like to see the evidence and the articles on how the economists figure FDR was so wrong. I am not convinced they know what they are talking about, but it would be interesting to read. Do you have a link to a website, or the title of a book I could read.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:05:53 -0000

I don't know if it was a goal so much as a result. I am sure our own founding fathers would not be pleased with the current mess we are in either. For one thing Washington said we should not have a two party system, a standing army, or to engage in foreign trade to the extent we do.

Nor would the Russian Revolutionaries who gave their lives in that bloody war be too thrilled with Stalin. Feudalism wasn't so great either, especially for a surf. For the poor Cuba was much better after Castro. Prior to the mid 1900's England was a rough place to be poor, and now it is one of the best places to be poor, because of socialized medicine, and a lot of other socialistic practices. Socialism as described by Karl Marx is not a bad idea at all. It just depends on what people do with it, and what people you choose to lead it.

As long as we are a free country, we can practice the best of all the policies and as long as our leadership and our law enforcement do not join hands to oppress the rights of citizens this will be a good country. All the security since 9/11 makes me very uneasy. It does make me think of the Soviet Union. I think think basic freedom should be a priority in this country since that is what we preach all over the world.

Helping poor people is always a good idea in my opinion it is a duty if one is in leadership to make sure everyone is fed clothed and housed. Hopefully people can do that for themselves but if not then someone has to. It is not right for people to be put out on the street with nothing, especially the sick, the elderly and the mentally ill. No one should have to do without necessities while others live in luxury. It leads to crime for one thing. Americans have only needed this degree of help twice in our history. Once in the Depression and right now... they needed it in the 80's too but they didn't get it because Regan was president, but asside from those times vast efforts were not needed to save the citizens from starvation. Some people have always needed help, but that help has come through small government efforts and the work of private citizens. Now though we have a crisis which has crippled the poor and working class, and threatens the middle class. eventually it will take out the rich too, even if they move to a foreign country because the world economy is based in American consumerism. WE have to either fix this or adjust to the fact our way of life is gone.

I know a guy on another forum who says let it all go to pieces. Trying to fix the problem and keep our consumerism is just prolonging the agony and destroying the earth. Let half the population die. Rebel and kill the rich and then start over without government and have total anarchy. I think my friend is nuts, but at the same time, I think if we do nothing he will get his wish, cause that is exactly where this is heading.

I was chatting with a British friend of mine on line, about another friend who lives in the USA. He asked me to help this mutual friend of ours get his medication. It was nothing short of amazing how he told me to I should go about it. I told him it just didn't work that way here. He was absolutey amazed that the government does not pay for our meds, even if we cannot afford them ourselves. He kept insisting that there had to be some government agency that would GIVE this guy his pills, and he was convinced the mutual friend was just to stupid to know he could get free meds. I assured my british friend that even thoug our mutual friend needed his meds, He asked what if an American had a life threatening disease like and needed Heart medication, or insulin or some other med, or they would die... and I replied that unless they paid for it, they would just die. Now I know there is medicade, but to qualify for that is really embarrassing,and unless you are willing to prove beyond a doubt that you are completely indegent you can't get it.

As for Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union and other horrible places in history, any country can practice totalitiarianism and rule with an iron fist. There are hell holes all over the world many of whom our government supports who are just as bad. The Contras in Nicragua protected a government which was just as bad as Hitler, The Sandanistas were trying to become free of the awful dictatorship in which human rights violations were a matter of policy. Unfortunately our government stepped in and took the Contra side. Remember the Iran Contra scandle. They supported the status quo, and tried desperately to therward the revolution of poor people against wealthy and cruel dictators, simply because in the course of trying to figure out how to proceed the Sandanistas looked to Castro as an example and decided to go comunist. Today Nicragua has already had the leadership of Sandinista leaders, and looking back they were not half bad. Our senators on the other hand when told they could no longer support the Contras took up money among themselves, So that many of our Senators personally contributed to the Contra regeme.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:53:47 -0000

Have the oil companies been punished? Have the speculators who helped drive up the cost of oil been punished? Has G.W. Bush been punished? There is no justice when it comes to the rich. As far as I know no one did anything about the toothpaste or the baby formula either, but I gather the Georgia Peanut factory is in trouble, and they should be. But the larger point is that they are in the US and they aren't all that rich either, compared to the Oil people.

I am not against corporations in general, but I am against the ones who take their plants overseas and ship products back here and pretend they are American made. I am against the ones who try to avoid inspections and put out faulty products. I am against insurance on general principle, because they are controling the health care profession and that does murder people, People die every day because insurance companies make decisions that doctors need to be making for themselves. I am against the way the FDA is handling the pharmacutical companies. I also don't think drug companies should be peddling their mind altering drugs on TV, or allowing teachers and school systems to push their products to school children by way of their parents.

Corporations who exported our jobs are obviously to blame for the current crisis. It all started with the factories closing and moving elsewhere. WE cannot recover from that loss. WE cannot function long term without industry of some kind. The trade deficit is the problem, and that is the place of the government to get a handle on. WE cannot compete with workers who make three dollars or five dollars a day. We can't live on that. The government has to step in and fix the problem. I do not know how either, but they have to. WE have to produce something as a nation or we will go under. It is that simple. The whole service economy thing will not work. People need goods and services, and mostly we need good paying jobs.

We might loose all our comforts if we continue in this way. We are feeling the effects already. It started with the poor, but now our stock market has been crashing, and the banks are in trouble. Interest rates are so low that you might as well put your money under your pillow. Corporations are going bankrupt, especially in retail, and overall things are getting worse. WE need to stop the downward spiral and get people back to work. That is the whole bottom line of this project. To replace the jobs that corporations exported. Our standard of living is already going down, and some people have nothing at all now.

It doesn't have to be this way. We can build TVs, Design Video games, and make towels and cars and cat food. WE don't need to import these things right now. We need to get back to work and make stuff for ourselves, but until we can regroup and get more businesses producing, we will have to work somewhere. Obama is providing a place for us to work, and he is replacing some of the tax revenue that the states haven[t been getting so that our system doesn't fall apart entirely. Without this bail out we are looking at reducing teachers, reducing police force, and reducing all government services. WE are doing without dog catchers for god sakes. There's only one guy in our whole county apparently. So yes the states and local facilities need money.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:25:51 -0000

No one is construing facts except you. Ignorance is not looking at the evidence, and your argument sounds pretty ignorant right now. How could you possibly blame the democrats for anything that has happened during the last 8 years?

The religious right, who's denominations caved in the face of blackmail under the Regan and elder Bush administration, and agreed to con their flock into voting for Repubs, insured that the Democrats wouldn't get a smell of a representative in Washington. We were a vast minority for the last 8 years, and only now are they realizing Bush was pure evil, and not really a "Christian"

They used the mass vote of the conned religious right to get in office, and then betrayed them along with the other poor. Just as Democrats knew they would.

When you think you are buying made in America Crest or Colgate toothpaste, because the lable give an address in the US, and later the news reports that it was made in china and has antifreeze in it, then you are ripped off. Not all corporations are crooked, but the ones who exported our jobs are not Americans any more and should be deported and exiled.

As for blame, I know that democrats make bad decisions as well. Everyone makes bad decisions sometimes, but overall policy is another thing. It is the overall policy of the Republican party that is rotten to the core. They set out to hurt the poor, and that much is obvious. Look at your economic indicators I challenge you to to YOUR homework it is ignorant of you to blame both parties for Raganomics for example, or for the current mess. Republicans have had the majority in house and senate and held the presidency for the last 8 years. It was fine when they got it. IF not the Republicans then whom do we blame. Clinton left it in good shape, and Obama is inheriting a mess. I blame Bush personally.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:33:06 -0000

Honestly I agree about feeding most politicians to the zombies, but based on the actions of Obama so far, I'd work with him. I like that he started work on this so early in the game, that he got organized, and that he is asking private citizens to tell him what the problem is.

Government in the past has gotten more and more removed from the people, and Bush was completely unapproachable. You couldn't even post a comment on his website. Comments were to be E-mailed and if they made it through the committee that looked over them, then they were posted... and obviously the only ones posted were just slow witted people who liked him. There was no discussion or any way to express anything to him.

Obama says we are supposed to judge him on the success of this program, and I am sure people will, but I hope they remember that he didn't cause this crisis. He's only been president for less than a month and he has done a lot in that month. Based on his rediness to take action and the actions he has taken so far, I'd gladly wade out into the zombies with him. LOL I' would do my best to cover his back, cause I have a feeling he's got mine. I like feeling that way about our president. I just couldn't feel that way about any of the ones before.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:15:58 -0000

Why not try new Kool Aid? We've been drinking the Fascist Kool aid for 8 years, and it tastes pretty toxic.

How have the corporations ripped us off?
The OIl Corporations Charged us $5 a gallon for gas last summer. Do you really think that was just?
The Matel corporation exported the job of making Barbie dolls to china, and sold them here. They were cheep and all us parents bought them, but now we find out that they painted their little faces with lead paint... and a lot of other toys too.
The toothpaste companies manufactured toothpaste in China, and it turns out it contains antifreeze. You know? that suff bad people poison their neighbor's dogs with! You've been brushing your teeth with it!
The Credit card companies go up to 25% interest if they find out you lost your job.
The Credit card companies also go up like 10 -15 percent on the interest if you are even a day late on your payment, and that rate does not go down... and that is the day they claim they recieved it too, not the date you mailed it!
The Banks took aid money under the condition that they go easy on the forclosures, or at least that is what the American people were told, when they were bailed out, but instead they took home millions of dollars in bonus checks while forclosures continue.
Do you honestly think it costs over 100 dollars to produce and market a pair of tennis shoes? or that their profit margin is so low doing that, that they have to outsource their jobs to people they pay pennies a day?
Do you honestly think that designer perfume companies spend $40 to $150 an ounce to make perfume?
Do you think a Bank CEO's labor is worth millions a year, while a teller's labor is only worth $30,000 a year? A guy working in a steal mill gets $45,000 a year, and his millionare employers begrudge it to him, while making millions and millions in profits. They claim they can no longer afford to pay his salery, so they hire a vietnamese man less than 5 dollars American to do his job.

Who makes these decisions? Why can Vietnamese, Africans and Chinese work for so little money, while we need so much. The answer is simple. We have inflation, our dollar is over valued in comparison with their money, and while their standard of living may be lowerin some cases, it is not THAT much lower. We are not SPOILED RICH americans, most of us any way. WE have lost sight of the fact that over half of us do not live like those people on TV. We all struggle even under the best of situations just to pay our outrageous power bills, and gas for our cars. We struggle to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. WE areNOT a WEALTHY people. WE are a people who have a few rich people exploiting us. They tell us we NEED their products, and in the past we did need to buy that stuff, cause we made it, and without the purchases we would loose our jobs. Now? WE have lost our jobs. It is time to realize we don't need all their crap, and if it is made in China, maybe we shouldn't buy it. It is time to start factories here again, and cut our losses with the current mogals who have ripped us off.

I noticed some demographics in some of the annual sallery graphs I was looking at. The median income is 40,000 dollars. That means half of the people make less than that, and that is barely a living wage in this economy. Another 25 percent of us make between $40,000 and $75,000 and that isn't exactly rich either. I mean people at that rate still struggle with costs, especially since so many prices went up. That is 3/4s of this nation. We are a nation of POOR people. We are poor because even though we have worked hard, stuff costs so much.

What are the causes of inflation? Insurance for one. People and companies have to have insurance to protect them from lawsuits, or in case they get sick, or wreck their car. Insurance, Pharmacutical companies, and the Health Care industry have formed an unholy trinity which puts a dollar sign on life and death, sickness and health.

In other areas insurance also gouges. They are trying to change social habits right now by rewarding building owners for fobiding smoking on their premises. Is this because they fear fire... even in the paved parking lot? Mostly it is an infringment on personal freedom. A simple power trip. For many years tobacco had a powerful lobby, but they lost their foothold to the insurance companies. Common sense lost out in both accounts. We went from people smoking in hospital rooms with emphasemia patients, to people in hospital gowns smoking outside in freezing weather with IV polls. Neither is right or sensible. These people are being turned down for a lot of procedures, including transplant of kidneys because they smoke. kidneys have nothing to do with smoking obviously. We have been robbed of our common sense, by laws, and medical regulation because of insurance corporations. That is definitely a rip off.

Corporations are murdering us. They are conning us and coercing us every day with advertising to co-operate with their various agendas.

Do you have any idea how many people are on antidepressants? How many kids are on Ritlin and other ADD drugs? Do you have any idea how much they make off these things, since they convinced us, and our doctors that we need these things. Over half of the people in this country are clincally depressed. Does that make sense? Well it does under the cirumstances, but are drugs the answer? WE also have pubic service announcments telling us to just say no to drugs, which though illegal, also arguably make people feel better. They are harmful, but so are the pharmacuticals. So the legal drug dealers are telling our doctors how to practice medicine, and how to run our lives, making changes in our behavior patterns on a large scale, in the same way the pusher on the street is changing youth behavior patterns.

WE have all been conned, and we are all being controled. Government is allowing corporations to commit crimes. From Drug peddling, murder and outright theft, to simple con schemes, our government has enabled business to rip off the American public every single day.
I could go on, but I think you get my drift.

Re: Purchase new police crusiers - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:54:30 -0000

Under President Clinton this country had prosperity and jobs. Small business was thriving, and more jobs were created than ever in history, before or since. The economy was in great shape. We even had a balanced budget.

The republicans singlehandedly destroyed our economy, just as they do every single time they gain control. Just spend some time looking at graphs of economic indicators like unemployment, job creation, GNP, trade deficits, and ect, Pull up those graphs that go all the way back to 1900 if you like.lay them side by side and mark the presidents terms of office, and who had the majority in senate and house, at which dates, You will see time after time, the story is told, and it is plain to see that Republicans do not know how to have a prosperous economy. They start wars, and some people think that makes them superior in foreign policy, but that is a dubious honor.

Republican government is oppressive. No one depends on government for help except the rich, who get far more welfare than the poor. If we relied on government, we'd all starve during the Republican administrations, and barely get a meal after their 4 and 8 year terms.

This time they went over the top though with unprecidented oppression and polices that bordered on genocide. When the government deliberately tries to starve out it's population then it becomes obvious that something has to be done. The government is responsible to "promote the general welfare," under our constitution, and that is all this package is doing. We have a right to have a government that represents the people, and not just the wealthiest three percent, as has been the case for the last 8 years. It looks like Bush tried to kill us all, and should be tried for war crimes and treason... not just offenses against Iraq, but against the American people. His attitude towards Katrina was reprehensible.

The current crisis was completely caused by Republicans and there is no way you could ever come up with any reason why it wasn't. It is simple Republicans = oppression, regulation, favoritism towards the rich, excessive force in law inforcement, and most of all RECESSION. Everytime they take office there is a recession.

Without opposition in senate and house, and with the extra power he commendeered with the Patriot Act, Bush finally succeeded in doing what every single republican, except Gerald Ford has been trying to do since the invention of the party. He SUCCEEDED in getting all their favorite policies through. He got more and more of the Republican agenda through every year, and we saw the results. $5 a gallon Gas, higher food prices, massive unemployment, homelessness, rampant inflation of necessities, Bank CEOs taking home millions in bonus money, and poor huricane victims, being called refugees and shot for basic survival. We saw war protesters trampled, and injured soldiers warehoused in foreign countries because our government was ashamed of how it was treating them... or more like NOT treating them medically. Soldiers injured in this war are not getting medical attention they need, and neither is anyone else. Most of us cannot afford medical care or dental care. We can no longer laugh at the brittish for having bad teeth. LOL I've seen a lot more people in the last 5 years in OBVIOUS need of dental care, than ever in my lifetime... and that is just the stuff that shows. WE are litterally paying through the teeth for Bush's pandering to the rich, and it is time for it to stop. WE DESERVE the money back that Bush allowed the corporations to steal from us. I think we should get refunds for buying gas all last summer for one thing. Oil companies should be made to fork it over. That was gouging, which is illegal if your local gas station does it, and it should also be illegal if the oil company does it.

Since Bush has been able to Succeed in destroying our economy so that our country is unlivable for fully half of the American public, it is time to decide. Do we let the lower economic half die? Or do we save them? Do we punish the rich for profiteering off us? Or do we just lay down and take more bullying. If certain corporations want to move to foreign contries then let them. We will build new corporations better than the ones that left. We should import nothing from them, and see how long they last. Let them market in Europe and Japan, and the Third World! I say if it is made here, then we buy it. If we can make money off raw materials from other countries then OK If and only if we can't make or grow it here, but corporations are either American or they aren't and if they aren't then their CEOs and major stock holders should loose their citizenship, and be forced out of the country at risk of prosecution and maybe execution if they come back.

When I was a child there was a bumper sticker which said get your heart in this country or get your er... (bad word for behind) out. I fully agree. It is time not for globalization, but for a bit of isolationism. For years we have helped the world, but we can no longer help the world if we can't help ourselves. We are only spreading the poison at this point. Did you know that ever since the gulf war. Babies in Iraq are showing signs of neuclear poisoning, and that we are now carpet bombing their country with even more dirty nukes. We are not in the position to help anyone, and we are only making it worse for them at this time. WE can't buy their stuff, we can barely buy our stuff. WE can't send them aid. We need aid ourselves. We can't do anything right now except draw together as a nation, and try to fix ourselves before we go trying to fix everyone else. People have a right to move out of the country, and they should be allowed to do so, but once they are out they are out, at least till we get ourselves back together.

PS. IF corporate tax rate is so high, why do many people have S corporations so that we don't have to pay so much in taxes? I know from experience that you pay ALOT less taxes if you run your business through a copropation than if you pay taxes on a job, OR if you have a partnership or sole proprietership. Ask any tax lawier, the loopholes, and various deductions more than make up for the higher tax rate. Any accountant will tell you that S Corporation is the way to go, due to paying a LOT LESS in taxes.

Kim

Re: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Green Roof - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:36:31 -0000

I thing the Green Roof technology is an excelent idea. It will save energy and help the ecology and air quality. I wish all of Charlotte's buildings had green roof now.

Re: Green Roof Conversions - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:30:06 -0000

LOL I had to google green roof. I think it is an amazing concept I have tons of questions, the largest one being the added weight on the roof, especially after rain, when the soil gets saturated, but presuming someone checks to make sure it will not over burden the structure, I think it is a wonderful idea.

Re: Clow Airport, runway improvements: widen existing runway to allow use by larger planes. - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:08:16 -0000

Thanks again for clarifying. It's very helpful

Re: Clow Airport, runway improvements: widen existing runway to allow use by larger planes. - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:06:53 -0000

I wondered the same thing about my own home town till I realized it is up to our mayors to request this money. I e-mailed some people in city management and reminded them to send a list of things we need. I hope they do. Maybe your mayor needs a nudge too. I fear a lot of local republican politicians are going to try to ignore this money till it is gone, and then they will wish they had it.

Re: Downtown Parking Structure- The City would greatly expand parking opportunities with the construction of a 416 space parking structure in Historic Downtown Crystal Lake. - StimulusWatch.org

freakycat125 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:58:28 -0000

Thanks, this is the kind of comment that helps. We would not have known otherwise.