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pan6467 · 12-06-2009, 03:38 PM

For the past 25+ years the problem has existed. We just were lucky or unlucky to find presidents that were able to cover things and make them not seem so bad. They never improved anything, just band aided and passed it on to the next guy. Now, it's caught up to us and it's a bitch.

Over the this time the reasons we have gotten here people saved less and relied more on credit. Interest rates to save were not stimulus enough to do so. Hell, when the interest is 1-5% there's no reason to save. Technology took off and everyone wanted the latest toys. The stock market was unnaturally growing. Companies merged to form MEGA CORPS but did so by leveraging their futures that very rarely they made and thus it ended in people losing work, pay rates decreasing, and so on.

It's not just the out sourcing to other countries it's the lower pay rates and loss of good paying jobs that have hit us in the groin. Companies couldn't really raise prices even though their materials, taxes, health care benefits and so on may have increased. So they had to pay less and ship jobs overseas to compete.

That caused a vacuum. Real estate and high end goods began to suffer, so government laxed rules for credit. With the credit people could buy houses and get cheap credit cards but prices had to go up sooner or later.

The true killer was $4 gas and ARM rates going up. Once those two factors hit, credit crunched, and people found they couldn't pay... thus losing houses, not being able to pay their creditors and so on.

Now, as this has been going on, government could have been using tax dollars to truly rebuild the infrastructure and thus creating better paying jobs. Government could have regulated the health care industry and placed price controls to limit growth and costs. It did neither. It worked to keep the stock market artificially growing, it worked to keep interest rates down but sat on it's hands to truly preventing us from getting here. In other words, government continued to help the very rich but did nothing for the little guys.

My problem with Obama is that he is negative, he doesn't truly have a plan to recover except to throw money in places that help very few.

Unemployment may drop, but for jobs making minimum wage aren't going to help much, especially if taxes go up and inflation does come.

If you go out and put the money into rebuilding the road, the bridges, the electrical grids, the cities, sewers, landfills and so on. Companies will sprout up that specialize in these areas and start paying better. Government thus rebuilds a tax base.

Then you look to manufacturing and start offer incentives, tax credits for research and development hiring... thus rebuilding industry, creating jobs and a tax base.

Finally, you make education affordable again. You lower tuitions to reflect what graduates will really be able to pay back. You help fund colleges to start programs that focus on technology. You go to the elementary schools and make them viable again, looking to the past and taking what worked and using it as your guidelines to improve.

Obama could truly be great in the rebuilding of this country but it doesn't seem that is what he truly wants to do. I find his attitude too negative.

12-06-2009, 03:38 PM	#21 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	For the past 25+ years the problem has existed. We just were lucky or unlucky to find presidents that were able to cover things and make them not seem so bad. They never improved anything, just band aided and passed it on to the next guy. Now, it's caught up to us and it's a bitch. Over the this time the reasons we have gotten here people saved less and relied more on credit. Interest rates to save were not stimulus enough to do so. Hell, when the interest is 1-5% there's no reason to save. Technology took off and everyone wanted the latest toys. The stock market was unnaturally growing. Companies merged to form MEGA CORPS but did so by leveraging their futures that very rarely they made and thus it ended in people losing work, pay rates decreasing, and so on. It's not just the out sourcing to other countries it's the lower pay rates and loss of good paying jobs that have hit us in the groin. Companies couldn't really raise prices even though their materials, taxes, health care benefits and so on may have increased. So they had to pay less and ship jobs overseas to compete. That caused a vacuum. Real estate and high end goods began to suffer, so government laxed rules for credit. With the credit people could buy houses and get cheap credit cards but prices had to go up sooner or later. The true killer was $4 gas and ARM rates going up. Once those two factors hit, credit crunched, and people found they couldn't pay... thus losing houses, not being able to pay their creditors and so on. Now, as this has been going on, government could have been using tax dollars to truly rebuild the infrastructure and thus creating better paying jobs. Government could have regulated the health care industry and placed price controls to limit growth and costs. It did neither. It worked to keep the stock market artificially growing, it worked to keep interest rates down but sat on it's hands to truly preventing us from getting here. In other words, government continued to help the very rich but did nothing for the little guys. My problem with Obama is that he is negative, he doesn't truly have a plan to recover except to throw money in places that help very few. Unemployment may drop, but for jobs making minimum wage aren't going to help much, especially if taxes go up and inflation does come. If you go out and put the money into rebuilding the road, the bridges, the electrical grids, the cities, sewers, landfills and so on. Companies will sprout up that specialize in these areas and start paying better. Government thus rebuilds a tax base. Then you look to manufacturing and start offer incentives, tax credits for research and development hiring... thus rebuilding industry, creating jobs and a tax base. Finally, you make education affordable again. You lower tuitions to reflect what graduates will really be able to pay back. You help fund colleges to start programs that focus on technology. You go to the elementary schools and make them viable again, looking to the past and taking what worked and using it as your guidelines to improve. Obama could truly be great in the rebuilding of this country but it doesn't seem that is what he truly wants to do. I find his attitude too negative. __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"