BillW wrote:rebuild an electric infrustructure in America, jobs at home, medical care for Americans, food for Americans, education for Americans - turn the economy over, new capitalization that creates more capitalization.
That sounds pretty much like the Republican Platform ... although there would be a bit in there about National Security as well. As far as The Economy goes, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Since mid-to-late '99, I've been primarilly a "Short Seller", and I've done very little buy-and-hold acquisition ... except for snapping up some IBM last fall when it troughed to $55(wish I'd gotten more ... but what the heck). Dollar-Cost-Averaging is lookin' pretty good right now, making a lot of the bargains out there very attractive as long-term position additions. I've been doing a lot of buying the past couple months, and very little Short Selling. In fact, I've been burned on a couple short positions in stocks that had previously been consistent Short-Sell profit-makers. Its my feeling that "The Next Boom" has started, and now is the time to move on it. By the end of the year, the Bull Market Bandwagon is gonna be packed.
Hey, Bill ... the curtailment of the H1-B visa program is gonna put a big dent in "Foreign Hires"
The "Homeland Security" part has for the most part been pushed out to the States and locals to fund. But, there has been a minor amount of new expenditure - mostly to reorganize 11
agencies and create 1 new agency and one new cabinet level Department.
H1-B
don't know much about it - I figure a lot of the personnel here are hold overs from the good old Clinton years
I know some are.
timber, As of yesterday, our investment accounts are ahead by 95 g's. Last year, when the average investor lost 30 percent, we were actually ahead 4.5 percent. I don't 'play' the market like you do; don't need to.
Anotehr thing that the immigration rule tightening affected is higher education. International students pay through the nose at most state school, and must pay up front! Since the beginning of the Spring 2002 term, fewer foreign students have enrolled in US universities.
UMBC, (the finest research university with "County" in its name) had for years run a program for maths and sciences teachers in Egypt, where they came to the school for a semester to learn how to integrate technology into their classrooms. This was an infusion of cash for the University System of MD, a win-win situation. After 11th September, the government interened the students for a month, making them fail to complete the problem. It also held up visas for students for the Spring 2002 session,and the following academic year that UMBC cancelled the program. HTis hurts many people on many levels. The USM needed that money for its budget growth (similar programs in Bio at College Park, and Social Sciences at Towson suffered the same fate). The Egyptian teachers lost a great source of education,and,as always, this has negatively effected public opinion about the US in the Middle East.
hobit, I'm afraid public opinion of the US in the Middle East has been deteriorating for a longer time period. The US support of Israel is one of the reasons.
Many "Help Desk" functions have been moved to India - no visa required. There are special English courses taught to recognize questions and answer. If you go outside of that parameters, you get no help!
That's a brilliant way to increase science teachers when the shortages are so acute.
What about English teachers
A lot of IT jobs have moved to The Phillipines, too. I expect there will be even more moves toward legislation to disincentivize "Outsourcing" introduced this fall.
Two most recent signs of the corruption inherent in this regime:
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Voting Machine Controversy:
Quote:Columbus - The head of [Diebold, Inc.], a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
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bin Laden Relatives, Associates Flown from US in wake of 9/11::
Quote:Americans who want to understand an important aspect of what has gone wrong with the Bush "war on terrorism" must read Craig Unger's stunning investigative story in the October issue of Vanity Fair. He provides a definitive account of how members of the bin Laden family and relatives of the House of Saud were spirited out of the country on private aircraft during the days following the Sept. 11 attacks -- when almost all aviation was prohibited.
Now, if I were a different kind of Texan, I might be inclined to super-size my Freedom Fries, buy a "Bush Country" T-Shirt with the red states colored in, plant a "I support our troops and Bush/Cheney" sign in the front yard, put in a Toby Keith CD, crank up the volume, and recite the wisdom of Britney Spears vis-a-vis trusting "the president in everything he does".
But instead I will continue to expose the hypocrisy.
Hey, somebody's gotta do it.
PDid, Ain't it some'n when this administration does everything in broad daylight, and nary a complaint from the "party?" May all their souls go straight to hell, with a detour to Iraq.
And you're doing a fine job as usual, PDiddie.
I read the Craig Unger article and was dumbfounded as to how this is all being shuffled under the rug by so many journalist -- the righties on FOX are certainly going to avoid it like the plague. It really is business as usual in Washington despite Dubya's claim that he is not a Washington insider. He is now. It doesn't take long for the machinery to claim someone like Bush as just another cog in the grinding wheel of political machinations. I don't believe he sincerely wanted us to believe he was going their to do things any differently than before. It's a fools game and requires a fool to run things.
Not a Washington insider - the culprit behind Willie Horton. GWB is, was and always will be a scumbag insider.
"Fair and Balanced"
Craven, The money for the 32" flat screen TV (which I actually don't have and which,thank god, isn't on my Visa card!) doesn't go to Americans. Not really. Nor the money paid for my actual new Honda. There are an awful lot of goods (and now services) which we get which may appear to be American sourced, but they ain't.
Tartarin, if that 32" TV is a Sony, it, just like your Honda, was probably built in the US ... Sony and Honda both have major production facillities here ... its cheaper to build 'em here in the volume required than to ship enough to satisfy the market.
Tartar, In the current world marketplace, your Honda was assembled in the US. Honda employs 17,000 American workers in their plants in the US. Many US conglomerates also own companies in Japan that employs Japanese workers. Here's a link from the WSJ about Honda plants in the US.
http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/archive/03jan/AUTO.htm
Just fifnshed watchin NOW with Bill Moyers, on the exploitation of women in the global economy. Scary stuff. I'm about to start reading (tomorrow) Amy Chua's World On Fire.
