I’ve lost a lot of my vituperous political vitriol, now that the Presdent-elect is close to being inaugurated. Obama has been reticent concerning Gaza, but vocal about the domestic economy. A few things concern me about the plan to spend our way out of the recession, which is shaping up to being a Recession with a capital “R”.
The feds have already borrowed up to the hilt, and interest rates are already as low as they can get. There’s no give in either direction, but we’re going to borrow even more money from China. Eventually, the Chinese are going to feel they’re in a position to dictate terms, the way Washington should be dictating terms — but isn’t — to Wall Street.
Something else that has been brought up lately by pundits is that the Great Depression wasn’t ended by the New Deal, but by World War II. This time around I don’t see how a war is going to help, because we’re already in a war, and in fact it’s one of the reasons why the economy is in such a mess.
Regarding how the stimulus package money should be spent, there’s a double challenge. First, immediate job creation would come from infrastructure repairs — roads and bridges — which would require relatively little planning and could be ramped up quickly. But bigger projects shouldn’t be for civil engineering, like FDR’s Hoover Dam, but must instead be for energy technology. People used to point to the offshoot technologies that came from NASA in the sixties, but those had only a minor impact on the economy. The creation of the Internet and the GPS were of incalculable value, and both came from Defense Department dollars. Let’s get out of Iraq and spend the money on the biggest security risk facing America — oil dependency.
Hi Cactus Lizzie! Your Mom had the gospel truth in her statement. The U.N. hasn’t worked out as it should. I remember seeing the film of Nikita Kruschev (sp.?) banging his shoe on the table at the U. N. I guess what I meant was it would be nice if world leaders talked over conflicts independent of the U. N. or somehow come to their senses.
Joan, that was the original concept for the United Nations. Remember learning that in school when you were a kid? But even way back then (it was a long time ago for ME, anyway!!!), as kids we knew even then that the UN wasn’t working the way it was planned. There was never any binding arbitration, so to speak. The USSR would routinely ignore the results of a majority vote by the UN, and the USA has also done the same when it has chosen to.
Are we ever going to be a race without war, you ask? Here’s what my great-grandmother used to say, according to my Mom: “As long as there are 2 men on earth, there will be war.” I’d like to think that’s not so, but my gut tells me there is a lot of truth in that statement.
Hi Doug! You know, I’d rather see all sides involved in any armed conflict anywhere be able to sit down and negotiate to an end result but is that ever going to be the way conflicts are solved—-peaceably? If the main tenet of all religion and even to those sectarian, is peace on earth, are we ever going to be a race without war or are we going to destroy ourselves? Morty Gunty may have been a comedian/kids show host, but he also captured one of the greatest problems facing modern man on record.
Hi Doug! According to Reuters, for the second time during the current 19-day conflict, Lebanese militants fired rockets into Israel with no casualities yesterday, with Israel returning artillery fire. The Lebanese government troops dismantled other weapons to discourage any more militant action. U.N. peacekeepers also strongly urged Lebanese militants and Israel troops to cease conflict. I apologize if any readers thought I meant a full-scale attack occured-this was shocking enough to me since one action is inflammatory enough.
Thank you for the clarification, Joan! Didn’t want DogRat to be the start of an international incident! ;-_
Hi Doug! On CNN they said 2 shells fired from Lebanon landed in a field in Israel. Sorry if I made it sound like a missile attack but I thought this situation was inflammatory enough. Let me check various news sites and see what I can find.
Hi Cactus Lizzie! Because you have been following this more closely than me and know more about the financial crisis, all I can say is “Amen!”. I’ve been trying not to follow all this too much because it’s too depressing, but like death and taxes I know it’s there and understand its unfortunate inevitability. I just have been avoiding watching the news but hear it when I have the radio on. I turned on CNN a minute ago to hear the headlines and heard the Dow had a triple-digit loss, Lebanon is firing on Israel [Joan, this would be huge and I see nothing about it. Plz chk. Thx — DOuG], a ten-day cease fire is on in Gaza (but is it going to last even that long?)……You know, if it weren’t for money, politics, crime and war, there would be no news. Like they said on “Hee Haw” of all places, “If it weren’t for bad luck we’d (I’d) have no luck at all!”.
Hi Joan! I’m a CNBC junkie. I have it on in the background most of the time, and I can often tell you who is talking just by the sound of the voice. Actually, whenever I’m home, I flip around between that channel, Bloomberg financial, and some other financial channels. So anyway, over the weekend, there was a program on TV that was comparing our current economic situation to the time around the fall of the Roman Empire. Now, I know that people have always been saying “the world is going to hell in a handbasket!!” – especially the older generation, in every decade. But, the show really kind of made you sit up and take some notice, of the parallels being drawn: the financial drain of too many foreign wars, government and economic corruption, serious financial problems, the income tax situation…all kinds of details regarding similarities.
Unthinkable that the United States could ever weaken from within, and slip from its position of being a land of vast wealth, the most powerful and influential country in the world? Let’s remember how “unthinkable” the deliberate extermination of Jews was, even to the German Jews themselves, who generally never thought things in a civilized country like Germany would ever get quite THAT bad. We often mentally recoil from thoughts too awful to imagine.
When I hear people protest, “We’re the GREATEST country in the WORLD!!!” I think to myself, “Yeah, maybe… TODAY, anyway.”
As for terrorism, and the “mindset” involved: One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. One man’s prophet is another man’s devil, or anti-Christ. Personally, I have no use for “fundamentalism,” nor religious/political zealots, of ANY religion. It escalates dangerously from intolerance to hate, to persecution, and then to violence. That has happened over and over again in the history of the world, and Christianity is certainly NOT exempt from that. America had the burning of witches, the Spanish had their Inquisition, and Europe had its Crusades, to name just a few horrendous events off the top of my head.
To terrorists I say, “Thou shalt not kill.” To big business, the financial markets, and to governments I say, “Thou shalt not steal.” Mottos for better living, eh?
Oh, I think I’ll just go off and become a survivalist in the Pacific Northwest….NOT!!!!
Hi Cactus Lizzie! I really can’t say what a terrorists’ motivations and mindset are like behind their actions except depravity, desperation, destruction and their own twisted deiism, but they probably see our economic woes as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Last night I was watching a show on VH-1 Classic that seemed to compare 80’s (hair) metal music and hedonism to the political climate at the time. What struck me was the careless attitude on both sides-headbanging, partying, self-absorbed (college) students (me included!) OR nouveau riche people living beyond their means with no worry of the future, and the “What, me worry?” political climate of no accountability. The 80s were a bang and blast that led to our current bust. I loved my college days but I see where we missed real-world signals as to 20 years in our future. What were we thinking?
Keeping with the tone of the previous comments: the economy STINKS! Unfortunately, the odor will last much, much longer than what you 2 gals have been referring to! As Doug put it, we’re in a recession with a capital R. Recovery for the stock market keeps getting pushed further and further out. Now, instead of the market starting a sustainable rise after the 2nd quarter of 2009 in anticipation of the economy improving by the end of the year, I’ve started hearing an expectation of the market not turning until the end of the 4th quarter. So, we can just write off this entire year, in other words. Sigh.
As far as the political side of the financial mess we’re in… Republicans have been criticizing the Democrats as the party of “fiscal irresponsibility” for as far back as I can remember. Would somebody give me convincing evidence of why I should trust the Republicans any more than the Democrats, after the last 8 years? It’s more like “the pot calling the kettle black,” as the old expression goes. At least we had a balanced budget when Clinton left the Oval Office, and we weren’t mired down in 2 wars, either.
Of course, I anticipate the Republican argument that we’ve had to spend so many billions to “make our country safe against terrorism,” since 9/11. Well, we didn’t have any jihadist terrorist attacks upon the 50 states during the Democratic Presidency prior to 9j/11, either. I think the internal problems of America’s current financial woes, serious lack of funding to sustain Social Security and Medicare as the Boomer generation is retiring, and many other economic issues pose much more of a long-term, real threat to this country’s way of life than the perceived threat of another terrorist hit.
Hi Jean! OY! You poor woman! Polyethylene glycol was in the stuff I had to put in the liquids I was drinking when I was prepping for a colonoscopy and it did what it was to do. The prep is even worse than the test! You poor thing–even that isn’t doing the job. WOW! Has the doctor suggested anything else to try? I don’t remember the brand name of what I used but it should’ve been called “Pooped Out” because that’s what you were and how you felt afterward! We need an engine to run on THAT too! In the economy news, I’ll read your link. Here in Sea.Pa, our roads are cracking due to the deep freeze and early thaw and the repeating freeze/thaw cycles.
“Roll that beautiful bean footage!” 😉 Joan, I love those, too. However, lately, it’s been the Rx Propynol Glyco or whatever the hell it’s called that’s making me bombard the house with sounds and smells nearly as bad as the ones Gracie the lab can concoct! and I STILL can’t go! Oh, we’re talking about the economy?
I agree that what we need are alternative energy sources! Get those windmills going. Around here, they never STOPPED working on the major roads, because they are so dangerous, running through the mountains like they do. They get potholes and ice ridges every winter that must be repaired all summer long.
They’ve just finished the strange pipeline thing. It’s DONE, and crossed right over part of Ferguson Valley, near where we live, and crosses over quite a few mountains and valleys. However, it has nothing to do with THIS:
http://www.dom.com/news/gas2004/pr0929.jsp
The Dominion Project is being ballyhooed as what’s going to save our state from going under during the upcoming “RE-cession!” We’ll see about that.
Hi Doug! I still haven’t been paying much attention to politics much since all the pre-election stuff snuffed both ends of my candle. It does seem so much of our infrastructure is falling apart. And I like the different things people are using for new fuel: vegetable oil, methane-including from cow patties, and other biofuels. Truthfully, if methane is a fuel choice, then why not make an engine that runs on the by-product that my sister makes with eating those damn Bush’s Baked Beans? I don’t stay in the same room with her after she has them but if you could drive on THAT imagine how far you could get on that stuff!