Wallmart and the general collapse of society

"I am so sorry people like you insist on missing out on so much of the world." --mra

Thanks, mra, but actually, I don't miss out on much. I have conservative friends and relatives who send me daily e-mail messages bashing Obama, Michelle, the Democratic Party, and liberals in general, keeping me fully informed of the right wing's tactics. So, while I appreciate your sympathy and concern for my well-being, I get along.

John

President Reagan inherited a complete mess from carter. Double-digit inflation and interest rates, recession and rising unemployment, over-regulation of the economy, and oh yea, the Soviets taking over countries right and left. It was so bad people were saying the job of president was too big for one man.
In order for the economy to come back, inflation had to be cut. This always has the "side-effect" of a bad (or in this case, an even worse) economy. This then has the "side effect" of increased deficits. Tax cuts were needed to stimulate the economy, furthering deficits until the economy came back. Investing in our futures by fighting and winning the cold war didn't help either. But the increased defense spending of the early eighties paved the way for decreased D. spending in the late 80's and 90's. The discipline on keeping domestic spending from rising too fast is something you just don't see anymore.
The retirement accounts advocated by conservatives of the 70's and 80's (and opposed bitterly by "progressives") helped increase the savings rate and increased the quality of retirement for millions. I suppose you still don't like them, (just look at the stock market now).

Bush jr. had to deal with the bad economy following the collapse of the internet bubble and a tight FED.
Obama has to deal with the mess caused by the housing bubble, which was caused by the FED and adjustable mortgages, repeal of Glass Steigel -in the 90's, certain right wing Republicans (no regulation needed for banks...), left wing democrats (everyone gets a house, no matter how badly they can't afford one). Bush jr. and McCain (definitely not my favorites) tried to stop it before it was too late by proposing more regulation of the financial industry in 2003 and 2005, but they were shot-down (from both sides).

Quote: I don't miss out on much. I have conservative friends and relatives who send me daily e-mail messages bashing Obama, Michelle, the Democratic Party, and liberals in general, keeping me fully informed of the right wing's tactics.

Watch it John, this could get you on Raham's "fishy" list. Speaking of Carter and Regan, my wife and I are going to the SS office tomorrow to sign up for retirement benefits (We both turn 66 in a couple of months). She gets her's but I get screwed because of the GPO-WEP offsets which doesn't allow me to collect monies I have earned because I was a Federal and State employee as well as in the provate sector. I can only get a lousey 20% OF MY MONEY and to add insult to injury, I'm not eligibe for survivors bennies should my wife pre decease me. Most of the blame for this goes to Ronnie.

mra,

i see that you completely ignored the fact that we have a national debt in the trillions. there's nothing inherently wrong with deficit spending (spending more money than you receive in taxes) as long as you have surplus money sitting somewhere. what reagan did was to spend money we didn't have at all, either in a secret vault or in his mattresses.

Well, good ol' Ronnie was an overrated President, plain and simple. The man loved his country, I'll give him that, but as Eddie keeps pointing out, Ronnie did create a deficit we are all still stuck under.

As far as the media goes, if you're only listening to FOX and making the claim they are the only ones who deliver FACTS, then how is that true if you don't bother listening to the Independent or Liberal media? How can you listen to one side, call it the facts without listening to the other side? Remember in the Godfather, "You keep your friends close, but you keep your enemies closer". Is it not wiser to listen to all sides of the story, then USE YOUR BRIAN to filter out the facts from fiction? In my experience, all media forums bend the truth in their favor to support their party. Each of them have some facts mixed with fiction, thus we get more propaganda than truth. The way I see it, you either listen to ALL news media, take their info in and do your own research to find the truth, or don't listen to any talk radio or television at all. And when you research, try to stay clear of .com or .org sites that lean in favor of the party they support. Try to stick with .gov sites that are obligated by law to inform the public of the facts and truth. Of course, if you're one of those that doesn't trust the government, then you're shit out of luck finding any facts or truth out there because your brain is washed into believing only your side is the only truth out there. In other words, my trying to help is pointless.

Let me also point out that your broadcasters in the news media are well paid actors. They will side with whoever pays them the biggest paycheck and can draw ratings. Don't believe me? Glenn Beck use to be on CNN just a year ago. In January of 2008 he had some surgery done and had his own little battle with health care. He ranted on his show on how poor the system was and even had him complaining in his bed a couple days after his surgery. Now Beck works for FOX and he's singing a different tune than he did in 2008. He now supports the health care system we have in place and rants on how well it's run and how we don't need reform. Don't you just love a hypocrite!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8dsqLDtfWQ&feature=PlayList&p=4BA3AF774DBA268C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZHycYmewng&feature=fvw

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[Post edited by Tim Raynor on Aug 16, 2009 - CDT 4:48 PM]

tim,

your advice that people should listen to all sides and then make up their minds is too much common sense for some chodes to understand.

I just want to post something to make Eddie write "chode" again...

sean (...or c.h.u.d. i guess...)

CHODE = Conservative Hostility Over Democratic Environment