Truth is, the American people don’t know what they want
There’s a lot of fodder for thought and debate in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. But I’ll pick three questions in particular to start the evening conversation. The first involves the attitudes of President Obama and the Republican Party regarding business.
The second addresses the federal deficit and how it might be reduced. It’s easy to criticize our political leaders for refusing to tackle the issue seriously, but these poll results suggest that they’re merely reflecting the lack of seriousness among their constituents they represent. Mathematically, the only way to make serious progress on the spending side of the ledger is to start hacking at entitlements and defense, but 70 percent say they’re uncomfortable with that approach.
The other half of the equation is of course revenue. Fifty-nine percent say they’re uncomfortable with trying to close the deficit by increasing taxes. If you’re a politician, the message from the folks back home is that you can’t cut spending and you can’t raise taxes but you better cut the deficit.
Which is why, I suppose, we get treated to political grandstanding on an earmark ban, which will save a total of $16 billion a year. The public demands that something be done, and that nothing be done, which leaves theater the only option.
As U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., points out, ”Our problems are worsening at a rate of $8 billion a day — so earmarks represent basically two days of our problem. It’s almost impossible for people to comprehend. When I talk even to sophisticated audiences and try to clue them in, they react like kids being told a bedtime story. They want to know, ‘Where’s the happy ending?’ ”
In the third question, Americans are asked about their feelings toward various political figures and institutions. The results suggest that the intense animosity directed at the president from the right is largely contained there, bouncing around in the conservative echo chamber. Overall, Obama’s approval rating in the poll matches his disapproval rating, at 47 percent.
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321 comments Add your comment
josef nix
November 18th, 2010
7:05 pm
Just my opinion, but we’ve gotten ourselves polarized by “spokespersons” of a liberal or a conservative bent each with a list of what it is that we all should believe. They are so hide-bound by their party program that the idea that the overwhelming majority of the population may be way left on issue A and way right on issue B. America is composed largely of people who make up their own minds and resent anybody from either “side” telling them what they must think.
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:05 pm
md: referring more to the headline and portrayal of the “news.”
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:07 pm
Hey Jay, you do know that Obama expanded that “unpaid for prescription drug benefit”, right?
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:09 pm
josef nix: America is composed largely of people who make up their own minds and resent anybody from either “side” telling them what they must think.
America is composed largely of people who THINK they make up their own minds, but who in fact just follow whatever news story they are told FIRST. Any news after that, even if it refutes the original story, is not believed. And people think because they have supposedly heard both sides that they have made up their mind. Some still think that they have made up their own mind hearing it from ONE source.
md
November 18th, 2010
7:11 pm
“md: referring more to the headline and portrayal of the “news.””
Well yeh, it is Fox………one has to take all “news” into perspective of where it comes from and then adjust accordingly. One would be wise to do that with ALL sources, as very few are pure.
With that being said, I find it troubling that we don’t know the full story on this issue in a time when we have our backs to the wall.
Matti
November 18th, 2010
7:13 pm
America is composed largely of people who make up their own minds and resent anybody from either “side” telling them what they must think.
Agreed! The problem is that there are enough idi– I mean, er, fellow citizens who allow themselves to be shaped, molded, and led by bullpoop inflammatory rhetoric that the rest of us are (a) thoroughly disgusted, and (b) exhausted from trying to reason with block heads who think reason and logic are elitist ploys to be rejected at any cost.
F. Sinkwich
November 18th, 2010
7:14 pm
Wow, Adam, you have convinced me. Only two weeks after an historic drubbing, Obama’s as popular as ever.
But it may be because he skipped town for the last two weeks. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
AmVet
November 18th, 2010
7:23 pm
md, the cons went ZERO for 36 in 2006. This is widely known though never acknowledged by certain members of a certain political party. A record that will never be touched. And 2008 was almost as bad.
In those combined elections they lost a jaw-dropping 93% of the contested races for the US Congress, state houses and of course, the White House.
But enough of that great unpleasantness.
Lets celebrate some local and recent victories!
The GOP just elected a walking cesspool of ethical misdeeds, and birther, as our new governor!
As for Lt. Gov., the best woman won.
After enduring 13 years of the spinally lacking Thurbert Baker, we needed a guy who was willing to prosecute public corruption and vast corporate malfeasance, instead we got Sam “Ship ‘em back to Mexico and repeal Obamacare!” Olens.
School Superintendent – Hey 48th nationally in the SAT ain’t that bad! Instead of electing one of the most qualified educational policy experts in the state, with a fabulous resume in Jim Martin, the loathers of liberal academia elected John Barge.
And so it goes.
Republicans could care less about results. That is why the ones in DC act like such valorous paragons for begrudgingly cutting bakc on earmakrs that represent ne half of ione percent of expenses.
As for the other 99.5%, nah, not so much there…
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2010
7:25 pm
The public has demonstrated that they can’t grasp the simplest of macroeconomic concepts, so if I’m a congrefscritter I’m inclined to tell ‘em to GFY.
but that’s just me. And I’d never get elected, being that I’d never express proper fealty to Jeebus and our sacred Constitution.
md
November 18th, 2010
7:27 pm
I know the stats Am, just not sure why you are comparing apples to oranges. I wouldn’t toot any horns in either direction until after 2012, when an actual comparison in length of time can be made.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:28 pm
“Truth is, the American people don’t know what they want”
—————————
Too bad that ignorance doesn’t do anything to reduce our 10% unemployment, trillion-dollar-plus deficits, or debasement of our currency.
F. Sinkwich
November 18th, 2010
7:28 pm
Hey, AmVet, we here in Georgia are obviously neanderthals, as you constantly point out.
Please move to California, Michigan, or New York where you can enjoy liberal utopia.
No need to thank me.
Just leave.
md
November 18th, 2010
7:29 pm
“Hey 48th nationally in the SAT ain’t that bad! ”
You are aware that this is a false flag stat – right??
Do your research as to how each State reports SAT scores……
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2010
7:32 pm
I can remember a couple of weeks ago when people were going on and on about how 40-something approval ratings were the WORST OF ANY PRESIDENT EVER.
see also:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Approval-Center.aspx
For those unwilling to click the linkee–Reagan’s numbers were a bit worse than Obama’s at this point in his first term. And they sunk down to 37% before they got better.
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
7:34 pm
Just a few comments this evening – then I must sign off. I saw the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson saga this afternoon in the movie “Fair Game” from Plame’s and Wilson’s separate books. Sean Penn plays Wilson. Naomi Watts plays Plame. Pretty good film about her being outed as a CIA operative after her husband, Wilson, exposed falsehoods coming from the White House about Iraq seeking nuclear weapon material from Niger. You may remember “Scooter” Libby was convicted for his involvement in this, did not serve jail time, but was not granted a pardon by Pres. Bush.
In reliving this recent history, I thought how much our deficit has been run up as a result of that war of choice.
This a.m. I saw Sen. John Kerry speak on “Morning Joe,” MSNBC, via DC satellite in which he made a compelling argument that America is falling behind other nations throughout the world in our transportation and energy policies. He said we are losing influence around the world, as a result (my insert: not because of Obama) of falling behind.
Kerry said we are not making investments in these two areas of our intrastructure and we are losing here and abroad as a result. Of course, when the mindset of the nation is to cut, cut, cut taxes
to the point that we almost have no government; we are, also, as a result creating no investments for our future.
Here is the irony. Our big corporations are doing just fine, because they are going worldwide in energy and transportation investments, but that, of course, leaves our nation with fewer jobs and limited investments here for the future.
The political parties must work together to cut the deficit in meaningful ways, but we must also start to look to our future as a progressive world leader, again, and make the investments for the future of this nation that will ensure that happening. In other words, we need to stop saying “No” as a tactic for political power and start looking for a creative vision – together – as a nation, once again for our own survival on the world stage.
josef nix
November 18th, 2010
7:36 pm
Adam, Matti
I suppose I’m just a naif, but I have a higher opinion of my fellow human beings. If y’all will forgive my impertinence, there is within your response a certain air of supercilliousness that, I submit, plays directly into what is alienating the mass middle ground…
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:37 pm
(b) exhausted from trying to reason with block heads who think reason and logic are elitist ploys to be rejected at any cost.
Hear hear
Mick
November 18th, 2010
7:39 pm
I know what I want: legislator…leave that social security alone..
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:39 pm
josef nix: I am actually basing my opinion on a study done that shows people are FAR more likely to believe whatever they hear first in the news, regardless of the source and regardless of its truth. The study also shows being presented with counter evidence, regardless of truth or falsehood, causes them to believe what they saw first EVEN MORE. It’s an American mentality thing. Not sure if I can classify it as “human” though as I do think this type of mental approach is a learned behavior.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:39 pm
Mary Elizabeth: [Kerry] said we are losing influence around the world, as a result (my insert: not because of Obama) of falling behind.
—————
Of course not. He’s only the president. Wasn’t the Idiot Messiah supposed to do something about all that?
Idiot Messiah: Liar. Failure.
RW-(the original)
November 18th, 2010
7:41 pm
Adam,
I’d love to read that study if you can scare up a link. Thank you in advance.
Matti
November 18th, 2010
7:41 pm
jo nix,
GOD KNOWS I’ve tried, Hon! As I explained to a persistent ex-BF just the other day, I’m just sick of believing in things that aren’t there. I would welcome proof that I’m wrong. (He offered none on his behalf, btw. SSDD.)
Mick
November 18th, 2010
7:42 pm
lbb
Your hate is a projection of some troubles in your life….every ting gonna be OK man.
sickofemall
November 18th, 2010
7:42 pm
I can’t speak for everyone, but the people I speak to regularly want jobs. Not illegal immigrant wage jobs or unemployment benefits.
They are tired of working for next to nothing for only 6 months a year.
They are tired of being called lazy or leeches.
They want to be able to purchase health insurance that they can AFFORD.
They want to take care of their families.
They want to be able to purchase a home.
IS THIS TOO MUCH TO ASK.
The American Dream is dying rapidly thanks to the politicians (dems and repubs) that have enacted laws and trade policies that are against the people that made this country great.
The politicians voted down extension of UI benefits to hold people through the holidays until the new congress is sworn in to create ALL THOSE JOBS THAT THEY PROMISED FROM THE TAX CUTS.
Never mind the 99ers that will be starving and homeless this holiday season HAPPY F@$&ing Holidays
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:46 pm
RW – I’ve been trying to find the link since I mentioned it and Google is not helping me! Maybe I’m using the wrong terms but I know I read this. It may have been a print article, but I sure hope there’s a digital equivalent. Iw ill keep looking.
AmVet
November 18th, 2010
7:46 pm
…we here in Georgia are obviously neanderthals…
FStink, I’ve told you repeatedly that you are qualified to speak for no one other than yourself.
If you deem yourself one, than at least use the proper pronoun, neanderthal…
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:46 pm
How many years should unemployment benefits last, parasite?
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2010
7:48 pm
They’re making a decision about whether to end federal subsidies to a decades old news organization because of Juan Williams? More to the point, the GOP rank-and-file could force a vote on a federal spending cut, and they picked NPR? I have a sinking feeling that this is what the GOP intends to do for two years: ride populist base fads into trivial nicks in spending, while never facing up to fiscal reality.
F. Sinkwich
November 18th, 2010
7:48 pm
sickofemall is a loser.
Move along, nothing to see here.
AmVet
November 18th, 2010
7:48 pm
Sorry md, I’m multi-tasking here. And I had to swat that gnat. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can…
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
7:49 pm
“The politicians voted down extension of UI benefits to hold people through the holidays”
What disgusts me is that those same politicians will go home to happy, warm, food-filled holidays and then have the all out GALL to give thanks to the God who abjured us to CARE for each other. It sickens me.
F. Sinkwich
November 18th, 2010
7:49 pm
Get your plane ticket yet, AmVet?
stands for decibels
November 18th, 2010
7:50 pm
How many years should unemployment benefits last
they should be extended to 99 weeks, as they have been previously under Democratic and Republican presidents during similarly troubling economic times.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:51 pm
Unemployment benefits have already been extended o 99 weeks.
So my question stands…How many years should unemployment benefits last, parasite?
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:52 pm
RW – The study is called “When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions.”
There are a lot of news stories available on the study. However, when I first read it I found an article that said NOTHING of politics, just “news.” Interesting because most of what I see is all about how conservatives and liberals react differently. Now I kind of want to read the whole study and see what kind of conclusion I can draw from it.
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
7:54 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout @ 7:39
Out of everything I said – you focused only on my aside to give support to a president that I think is an outstanding president.
That being said – and I wanted to go on record with that statement – that was not the crucial thing to think about.
Rail advancement in Europe, and now in China, is moving past us. Energy techniques for the 21st century are surpasssing ours throughtout the world. Our values in this nation are becoming more and more anti-intellectual to our own detriment, i.e. Sarah Palin.
We had better wake up fast or we are going down quickly in world influence. This is not a game about winning and losing between political parties. This is where will America be in the future on the world stage we need to be focusing on.
To end with Kerry’s last remark: “Is America going to step back into the past, or are we going to embrace the future.” That is the point of my write up was – not for people to just take some easy, and in this part of the nation, popular shots at Obama. So easy to do. The problem is the lack of a progressive vision for this nation. Not Obama. He has the vision. We need to start seeing it, too.
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
7:54 pm
You can say that again, but as Edwards pointed out, there are two Americas. Actually there are several. What jumps out at me is so many didn’t have a positive or negative opinion on Boehner and McConnell, and similarly a low number on Reid, but then they haven’t been demonized like Reid and Pelosi for two years in the media. There is no happy ending, but the filthy rich are going to have to step up to the plate and do the heavy lifting. The remaining 98% will have to match their total effort, no small task. Why wasn’t GM an October surprise? Might hae saved a few seats for the Dems.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:54 pm
Doggone/GA: It sickens me.
———————
How much have you donated to charity to help these folks out?
You were expecting somebody else to pay, weren’t you?
Adam
November 18th, 2010
7:54 pm
RW – The study itself is here:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bnyhan/nyhan-reifler.pdf
It does indicate they used fake news articles. Whew. After reading some articles I thought they were talking about presenting ACTUAL news articles.
AmVet
November 18th, 2010
7:54 pm
As soon as you come and pick me up, you’ll find out, neanderthal!
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
7:58 pm
Mary Elizabeth: The problem is the lack of a progressive vision for this nation. Not Obama. He has the vision. We need to start seeing it, too.
———————
10% unemployment for going on two years now.
Trillion-dollar plus deficits for the next decade.
Escalation in Afghanistan, and still flailing.
Some vision.
Mick
November 18th, 2010
7:58 pm
lbb
It’s time to grow up and debate like a man or rule the roost with willow on facebook….
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:00 pm
What’s wrong with extending unemployment benefits until the person is employed? That money spends just like what the slacker at Lockheed gets. Remember when the trust funds for each state were so flush under Clinton that the tax the BUSINESSES pay was suspended? No politician in America is anti-business. The debate is over how much of the tax burden they should carry. Some people don’t realize they just collect taxes for the government, not pay them.
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
8:00 pm
“It’s time to grow up and debate like a man ”
You’re not holding your breath I hope.
Southern Comfort
November 18th, 2010
8:01 pm
Unemployment benefits have already been extended o 99 weeks.
So my question stands…How many years should unemployment benefits last, parasite?
Take 92 weeks and divide that number by 52, which is the number of weeks in a year, and you should arrive at the answer you seek. Thank you in advance..
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
8:01 pm
“What’s wrong with extending unemployment benefits until the person is employed?”
I put it as “as long as it’s needed” – but we’re both saying the same thing.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:03 pm
Doggone hasn’t donated a dime to charity to address the very problem it’s bitching about. It’s expecting someone else to pay.
Hypocrite.
josef nix
November 18th, 2010
8:03 pm
Adam
I, too, would be interested in seeing said study in order to better judge if by who was conducting it, under whose auspices, and what was the target sampling…
Matti
Come in tomorrow night and I’ll see if I can’t find something to cheer you up! Seriously, though, there is so much beautiful in life and so many wonderful people if you just go looking for them and try not to judge them too harshly. You are only as happy or as miserable as you allow yourself to be… and, as you well know, there are those days when I go looking for a fight myself!
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:04 pm
Southern Comfort
November 18th, 2010
8:01 pm
Shame on you. You’re too astute. I missed it.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:04 pm
SoCo, you have nothing to complain about then, because unemployment handouts were already extended to 99 weeks, long ago.
md
November 18th, 2010
8:05 pm
“How many years should unemployment benefits last”
Also a false flag issue when the majority of folks without jobs aren’t receiving anything. Nobody ever mentions the other 3/4 of folks that already get nothing………………
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
8:05 pm
“It’s expecting”
Are you related to “White Man” – or did you just study under the same sorry teacher on how to hold a “discussion” on a blog?
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:06 pm
Like the 50% of young African Americans who are unemployed thanks to their Idiot Messiah’s great and wonderful progressive vision?
Nice Guy
November 18th, 2010
8:06 pm
“What disgusts me is that those same politicians will go home to happy, warm, food-filled holidays and then have the all out GALL to give thanks to the God who abjured us to CARE for each other. It sickens me.”
Ok, Doggone. Fine. But tell me, what is the appropriate amount of time to give a person unemployment benefits?
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:07 pm
Didn’t want to assume a gender, assuming you have adopted one yet.
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:08 pm
josef nix
November 18th, 2010
8:03 pm
Greetings my friend! At least I hope you would consider me one.
Have you or your fellow combatants ever ended up at the ER or hospital? For someone as sophisticated as you to have that violent a streak puzzles me.
Adam
November 18th, 2010
8:08 pm
josef nix: I posted the PDF earlier of the whole study. It’s a pretty interesting read.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:10 pm
Doggone hasn’t done a thing to help the folks whose two-year stay on the welfare rolls has come to an end. Why is she so greedy and hypocritical?
Adam
November 18th, 2010
8:10 pm
Nice Guy: The appropriate time is as long as it is needed, in my view. But that’s obviously not fiscally responsible, so I’ll settle for just doing what we’ve always done in recessions and extend it as much as we always did.
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
8:10 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout @7:58
Remember Jay’s chart of a few weeks back. Job loss month after month in the Bush adminstration culminating in a terrible near Depression Recession. Even Bush said this week TARP was the only reason we did not have a Depression. All this under Republican rule. Back to Jay’s chart again. The first couple of month out job loss starting stablizing and gradually getting less and less. Under the line = Bush’s year Over the line = Obama’s years.
Also, more private jobs were created in the first 10 months of this year than ALL of the Bush years put together. That speaks for itself. You cannot change the fact that the Great Depression 1929 happened after a decade of Republican rule and policy just as the Great Recession 2008 happened after almost a decade of Republican rule. That stands.
Tax cuts for the top 2% will make deficits so much worse – Obama is not for that. Republicans are.
Obamacare will help the deficit over the next decade. Republicans are not for that.
You failed to address probably the most important thing I mentioned. America’s corporations are moving their financial interests overseas and money is going out of our nation like lightening month after month as a result. Your dislike of Obama is clouding your thinking.
Matti
November 18th, 2010
8:11 pm
jo nix,
You’re sweet, thank you. Just because I’ve lost faith in the things I used to believe in does not mean I’m miserable. It just means I don’t *bleeping* trust in people. Sure, that makes for bad days, but I’ve always been pretty self sufficient. The fruits I brought forth are indeed a source of great joy and hope. But I feel guilty for the muck they have to wade through, and I’m not going to sugar-coat the truth knowing reality will just come crashing down later.
Nice Guy
November 18th, 2010
8:11 pm
“that the rest of us are (a) thoroughly disgusted, and (b) exhausted from trying to reason with block heads who think reason and logic are elitist ploys to be rejected at any cost.”
Gosh, Matti, I think you and I agree on something. Whodathunkit!
Adam
November 18th, 2010
8:12 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout: seriously? Who among the commenters here is made of money? I would place bets that none of us are well off enough to help out welfare recipients on a personal basis.
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
8:12 pm
“But tell me, what is the appropriate amount of time to give a person unemployment benefits?”
I’ve already answered that question.
md
November 18th, 2010
8:13 pm
“You are only as happy or as miserable as you allow yourself to be…”
Yeppers……..we choose everything we do…………..
Nice Guy
November 18th, 2010
8:13 pm
Adam – “that’s obviously not fiscally responsible”
Good job Adam. You have a kind heart but understand that what is ideal is not always the best option for the country. Many on here are unable to make that distintction.
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:13 pm
But what will tax cuts to the rest of us do to the deficit? Make it about 4 times worse than the ones for the top 2%.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:14 pm
Mary Elizabeth: Remember Jay’s chart of a few weeks back. Job loss month after month in the Bush adminstration
—————————
Why has unemployment during the Idiot Messiah administration been higher in every month than it ever was during our President Bush’s eight years?
Some vision. And it only cost us $800 billion.
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
8:14 pm
That’s “first couple of months out (in the Obama administration, I should have inserted) job loss started stablizing.
Nice Guy
November 18th, 2010
8:15 pm
“I’ve already answered that question.”
Ah, yes. 8:12pm and the attitude is as strong as it is at 8:12am. Nice.
I’m late the party tonight. Forgive me if I don’t read though hundreds of post to find you answer to that question.
Is it too much to ask for you to repeat yourself?
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:15 pm
I’m not wealthy enough to, but I’m doing it. Much to the chagrin of my wife and ridicule of my sister.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:15 pm
Adam: I would place bets that none of us are well off enough to help out welfare recipients on a personal basis.
——————
If you’re not willing to help, who do you expect to do the job?
Hypocrite.
Mick
November 18th, 2010
8:16 pm
matti
I’ll be thinking of you when I make my traditional key lime pie extra tart and extra sweet for thanksgiving. A good dose of reality keeps one on their toes….nothing wrong with that.
Jay
November 18th, 2010
8:16 pm
Just to make sure this is clear, the vote to extend unemployment benefits is to keep them at 99 weeks, not to extend them longer.
Adam
November 18th, 2010
8:17 pm
Nice Guy – Well as with quite a few things, there needs to be a balance. Extending it seems to be a good idea, fiscally in the long term. But only if it’s not extended for too long. So it’s a delicate balance. Making it a hot button “we must stop all spending NOW” issue is also irresponsible.
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
8:17 pm
“Is it too much to ask for you to repeat yourself?”
Yes. Since they added the “show all” function it’s just not the big a deal do search for answers
Nice Guy
November 18th, 2010
8:18 pm
We’re clear Jay, or, I am at leat. Thanks though.
99 weeks is already too much and a very nice gesture by the Feds. If it was to be extended, well, that just wouldn’t be “fair”, as Obama likes to say.
Comfused
November 18th, 2010
8:18 pm
We scream we want less government, a hands off government, a get out of the way governemnt while screaming we have a do-nothing Congress. Sounds like cognitive dissonance to me. I remember a young tea party member boastfully saying to the camera, “I want the government to spend my money on what I want them to spend it on.” She didn’t have the brain capacity to understand that another 99.99999…% want the same thing, but fifty percent of those disagree with what she wants. Therein lies the problem people think people who agree with them are either being ignored or they are the majority.
Adam
November 18th, 2010
8:18 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout: Wlefare is the government’s program. They use tax dollars to do it. And I’m ok with that. I wish that they would put people in the offices who would actually be willing to HELP people who need it rather than having prejudiced views on who should or shouldn’t get the help.
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
8:18 pm
Barry: Because we had almost a depression under Bush. The Recession happened in 2008. Under Bush’s watch! That is why. Anything that dramatic will have repercussions that will last years. The Great Depression of 1929 lasted until WWII. Think with a sense of history and time, please. Everything is not instant. Bush’s Recession is still lingering. That is why.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:19 pm
Come on, Mary Elizabeth, help me out here….why is unemployment higher now, after all the great jobs the Idiot Messiah has created, and all the hundreds of billions spent? Why is President Bush’s record on unemployment better than the Idiot Messiah? Why isn’t unemployment going down?
Nice Guy
November 18th, 2010
8:19 pm
“Yes. Since they added the “show all” function it’s just not the big a deal do search for answers”
Great. Thanks for the cooperation Doggone.
The arrogance on this blog blows my mind sometimes.
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:20 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:14 pm
It hasn’t cost us a damn thing. Our tax payments are so low we’re barely paying for 2/3 of the government our politicians have given us, if that. The Fed and the Treasury are doing it with the credit rating of the U.S. Government. It helps to be able to “print” money or make an entry into a ledger, tho. We will have to service the debt, however, but much of it is just on paper, too.
md
November 18th, 2010
8:21 pm
“America’s corporations are moving their financial interests overseas and money is going out of our nation like lightening month after month as a result.”
And do you think that would slow down by raising taxes?? They are leaving for a reason……costs here are going up, costs elsewhere are lower……..the genie isn’t going back into the bottle……….we are the ones that must adjust………
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
8:21 pm
Barry: And please stop referring to the President of the U. S. as the “Idiot Messiah.” I find that offensive.
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:21 pm
But Mary Elizabeth, you’re forgetting Jay’s chart where he showed that the Idiot Messiah’s job creation was “above the line”…and yet here we are two years in and unemployment is still near 9.6%.
What gives?
josef nix
November 18th, 2010
8:21 pm
TnGelding
Hello, friend! The “fight” mentioned at 8:03 was metaphoric! However, I have been known to go to brawl and while I’ve not wound up at the ER therefrom, some of my opponents have! I’m a bit too long in the tooth to engage there in these days, so I come here instead!
Adam
I pulled it up and scanned it briefly. It DOES look interesting and I will be going back to give it its just due…
Matti
My favorite sister-in-law inscribed my junior high school autograph book with something that has stuck with me and been a good rule to live by all these years…
“Love many, trust few; and always paddle your own canoe.”
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:22 pm
Tough cookies, Mary Elizabeth. I’ll call the Idiot Messiah whatever I damn well please. Two words and they say so much. I also just LOVE the little bit of ambiguity regarding the object of the modifier “Idiot”.
Comfused
November 18th, 2010
8:22 pm
All this week ABC Evening News has been broadcasting from China. A Chinese businessman who was educated in the US said, “Americans will debate an issue for two years while in China we say let’s get it done.”
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:24 pm
The Bush recession is over for everyone but the unemployed. Obama and the Dems saw to that with the stimulus and some of it still hasn’t been spent.
Adam
November 18th, 2010
8:25 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout – ha I tried to comment something regarding free speech and I used quite a few words that apparently triggered “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
Perhaps we should put the word “messiah” in the filter. I think it’s downright stupid to call him that in the first place.
md
November 18th, 2010
8:26 pm
Mary – you do yourself no favors when you try to tie every aspect of the economy to one President or party. Too many moving parts to be that tidy………………
Paulo977
November 18th, 2010
8:27 pm
Mary
Elizabeth
8:10 pm
Thinking? Now , now you know that this is probably the result of long years of emphasizing mainly memorizing in the schools!!!
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
8:27 pm
Barry: Unemployment needs to go down. We all want that. But the percentage is still better than it was during the Great Depression when a third of the people of this nation were unemployed – thanks to the stimulus funds.
Again, when you come that close to the brink of financial disaster, the problem is not solved simply and quickly. Some say the lack of regulation on Freddie and Fannie had a lot to do with the Recession. Both parties were guilty of that. But all of that disaster happened on Bush’s watch. That is a fact that cannot be denied.
Mick
November 18th, 2010
8:28 pm
**I also just LOVE the little bit of ambiguity regarding the object of the modifier “Idiot**
Could that be a projection of your reflection?
Lil' Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:29 pm
Strange, I never see that message about awaiting moderation.
Mary Elizabeth
November 18th, 2010
8:29 pm
Go ahead and call him what you want, Barry. It says more about you than him.
Southern Comfort
November 18th, 2010
8:30 pm
SoCo, you have nothing to complain about then, because unemployment handouts were already extended to 99 weeks, long ago.
I did not nor was I complaining. I was simply trying to point you to the answer you were seeking.
TnGelding
November 18th, 2010
8:30 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
8:22 pm
But you’re only making yourself sound like an idiot. You have many reasons to be upset with Obama, but most of the stuff you cite was preordained by the previous decades. Do you think he wanted to invest in GM and Chrysler, and add a trillion dollars to the debt?
What about Wee Johnny Dixiecrat for your new monicker? And I’ll change mine to TnStud!
md
November 18th, 2010
8:31 pm
“Americans will debate an issue for two years while in China we say let’s get it done.”
Well yeh…….over there they have one group of folks doing the dictating and any dissenters go to the re-education camps.