Where is the US economy headed?

Why anyone still listens to Bush and believes what he says is another mystery of our times. Some people still claim he doesn't lie. There's no cure for stupid.

Substitute the name, Clinton, and your statement would become infinitely more true than the one you used, ci. The fact that this couple is still receiving even one vote is an amazing thing, indeed.

okie, You wouldn't understand facts if it stared you in the face. FYI, Hillary won in NH. Your opinion about the Clintons' seem about 180 degrees off.

I don't live in NH, ci, and just because someone thinks something does not make it a fact, witness the polls on people that believe martians landing at Roswell. Maybe you are one of those people?

I do not understand lefties wearing their blinders. They have 20 20 vision when it comes to the faults of Republicans, but are totally blind to the faults of Democrats.

Just as I do not understand righties wearing their blinders. They have 20 20 vision when it comes to the faults of Democrats, but are totally blind to the faults of Republicans.

Come on now, we're all friends here. Can't we agree that the national debt has ballooned, Federal giveaway programs have mushroomed, and personal liberty has declined under Bush, AND that Clinton's and Obama's promises will further wreck the economy and socialize the nation?

There's not a nickel's worth of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. We've been screwed for the past 50 years by BOTH of them.

Jim wrote.
Quote:
There's not a nickel's worth of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. We've been screwed for the past 50 years by BOTH of them.


Now that you have made this profound statement. What would you suggest? The fault lies not with the political parties but with the American electorate since they fall for the lies fed them by politicians looking for election.
Presently we have a politician fighting to be the democratic candidate for president whose entire campaign is based on nothing more than a promise of change. I can't count the times in my lifetime that I have heard that BS. What the hell change is he talking about. And for that matter what separates his call for change from the other two principle opponents

Salt City Mayor Rocky Anderson has these words about USA

"We must avoid the trap of focusing the blame solely upon President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. This is not just about a few people who have wronged our country — and the world. They were enabled by members of both parties in Congress, they were enabled by the pathetic mainstream news media, and, ultimately, they have been enabled by the American people — 40% of whom are so ill-informed they still think Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks — a people who know and care more about baseball statistics and which drunken starlets are wearing underwear than they know and care about the atrocities being committed every single day in our name by a government for which we need to take responsibility.

"As loyal Americans, without regard to political partisanship — as veterans, as teachers, as religious leaders, as working men and women, as students, as professionals, as businesspeople, as public servants, as retirees, as people of all ages, races, ethnic origins, sexual orientations, and faiths — we are here to say to the Bush administration, to the majority of Congress, and to the mainstream media: "You have violated your solemn responsibilities. You have undermined our democracy, spat upon our Constitution, and engaged in outrageous, despicable acts. You have brought our nation to a point of immorality, inhumanity, and illegality of immense, tragic, unprecedented proportions.

"But we will live up to our responsibilities as citizens, as brothers and sisters of those who have suffered as a result of the imperial bullying of the United States government, and as moral actors who must take a stand: And we will, and must, mean it when we say 'We won't take it any more.'

"If we want principled, courageous elected officials, we need to be principled, courageous, and tenacious ourselves. History has demonstrated that our elected officials are not the leaders — the leadership has to come from us. If we don't insist, if we don't persist, then we are not living up to our responsibilities as citizens in a democracy — and our responsibilities as moral human beings. If we remain silent, we signal to Congress and the Bush administration — and to candidates running for office — and to the world — that we support the status quo.

"Silence is complicity. Only by standing up for what's right and never letting down can we say we are doing our part. Our government, on the basis of a campaign we now know was entirely fraudulent, attacked and militarily occupied a nation that posed no danger to the United States. Our government, acting in our name, has caused immense, unjustified death and destruction.

"It all started five years ago, yet where have we, the American people, been? At this point, we are responsible. We get together once in a while at demonstrations and complain about Bush and Cheney, about Congress, and about the pathetic news media. We point fingers and yell a lot. Then most people politely go away until another demonstration a few months later.

"How many people can honestly say they have spent as much time learning about and opposing the outrages of the Bush administration as they have spent watching sports or mindless television programs during the past five years? Escapist, time-sapping sports and insipid entertainment have indeed become the opiate of the masses.

"Why is this country so sound asleep? Why do we abide what is happening to our nation, to our Constitution, to the cause of peace and international law and order? Why are we not doing all in our power to put an end to this madness?

"We should be in the streets regularly and students should be raising hell on our campuses. We should be making it clear in every way possible that apologies or convoluted, disingenuous explanations just don't cut it when presidential candidates and so many others voted to authorize George Bush and his neo-con buddies to send American men and women to attack and occupy Iraq.

"Let's awaken, and wake up the country by committing here and now to do all each of us can to take our nation back. Let them hear us across the country, as we ask others to join us: 'We won't take it any more!'

"I implore you: Draw a line. Figure out exactly where your own moral breaking point is. How much will you put up with before you say "No more" and mean it?

"I have drawn my line as a matter of simple personal morality: I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has voted to fund the atrocities in Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who will not commit to remove all US troops, as soon as possible, from Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has supported legislation that takes us one step closer to attacking Iran. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has not fought to stop the kidnapping, disappearances, and torture being carried on in our name.

"If we expect our nation's elected officials to take us seriously, let us send a powerful message they cannot misunderstand. Let them know we really do have our moral breaking point. Let them know we have drawn a bright line. Let them know they cannot take our support for granted — that, regardless of their party and regardless of other political considerations, they will not have our support if they cannot provide, and have not provided, principled leadership.

"The people of this nation may have been far too quiet for five years, but let us pledge that we won't let it go on one more day — that we will do all we can to put an end to the illegalities, the moral degradation, and the disintegration of our nation's reputation in the world.

"Let us be unified in drawing the line — in declaring that we do have a moral breaking point. Let us insist, together, in supporting our troops and in gratitude for the freedoms for which our veterans gave so much, that we bring our troops home from Iraq, that we return our government to a constitutional democracy, and that we commit to honoring the fundamental principles of human rights.
"In defense of our country, in defense of our Constitution, in defense of our shared values as Americans — and as moral human beings — we declare today that we will fight in every way possible to stop the insanity, stop the continued military occupation of Iraq, and stop the moral depravity reflected by the kidnapping, disappearing, and torture of people around the world."
http://www.energygrid.com/society/2007/10ra-rockyanderson.html

All the frustrations mentioned in Rama's article will continue on into the future of this country; most Americans are not aware of the tragedies we have wrought against ourselves and the world.

That's the reason there has been no reaction by Americans while they lose their health insurance and their homes. It seems more people will need to become desperate to react by our votes. I don't see it happening in 2008.

C I
Me too. I had lost my hope.
The Americans want to change the jackey but the horse( system) is ild.
New actors will never make a old drama enlivening.

AU - you are absolutely correct. The problem is that our Congressmen and Senators (the ones the Comnstitution has given the purse strings to) have done exactly what we hired them to do - lower taxes while at the same time increasing every give away program imaginable. When I said that both the Republicans and Democrats have been screwing us for the past 50 years I was only partially correct. We've been doing it to ourselves.

And the solution? For The People to realize that tax and spending is not the route to prosperity, and to rise up and demand this insanity to end. Just as The People rose up last year and demanded the Amnesty Bill to be voted down.

whenever i hear the word CHANGE uttered by a politician or business leader , i shudder .
people usually asume that CHANGE means "to change for the better" .
that of course does not always happen ; change can also be for the worse .
when i was reporting to the company president some years ago , i suggested an IMPROVEMENT in certain procedures . he corrected me and said : " tell peolpe that there will be changes and they'll be happy , and if the changes don't turn out to be improvements you can simply point out that improvements were not promised , only changes ! " .
of course , he was right . it's easy to promise change , it usually costs next to nothing to make changes ... and you've got your a... covered .
hbg

To put it mildly no one knows what HE is talking about and moreover, I doubt that even HE has any insight into what he's talking about.

Apparently his fellow citizens in Illinois are willing to put just about anyone into the Senate.

Obama is no JFK and he's certainly no Stevenson.

Miller
neither He nor his couterpart can uplift the deamaged image of USA.
Bush
V R not with U nor with your comrades

Obama reminds me of the box that this mornings cereal came in. It was marked new and improved. They must have been talking about the box since the cereal was the same as it has always been.

same-o, same-o

ISN'T THIS THE TRUTH!




Did someone say Buy American Made products? Where does one find products manufactured 20 years ago.

Try an antique store.

Indeed, the flip side of “a world awash with liquidity” is a world facing depressed aggregate demand. For the past seven years, America’s unbridled spending filled the gap. Now both US household and government spending is likely to be curbed, as both parties’ presidential candidates promise a return to fiscal responsibility. After seven years in which America has seen its national debt rise from $5.6 trillion to $9 trillion, this should be welcome news – but the timing couldn’t be worse.

There is one positive note in this dismal picture: the sources of global growth today are more diverse than they were a decade ago. The real engines of global growth in recent years have been developing countries.

Nevertheless, slower growth – or possibly a recession – in the world’s largest economy inevitably has global consequences. There will be a global slowdown. If monetary authorities respond appropriately to growing inflationary pressure – recognizing that much of it is imported, and not a result of excess domestic demand – we may be able to manage our way through it. But if they raise interest rates relentlessly to meet inflation targets, we should prepare for the worst: another episode of stagflation.

If central banks go down this path, they will no doubt eventually succeed in wringing inflation out of the system. But the cost – in lost jobs, lost wages, and lost homes – will be enormous.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz95

The U.S. economy in 2008 will be like a cat on a hot tin roof that has already used up eight of its nine lives," said Stuart G. Hoffman of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Amid rising unemployment, higher oil prices and troubles in the credit and housing markets, "you worry about the cumulative effect that it all has on psychology," he said.

On the political front, most of the respondents expect a Democrat to be elected president this year, although they personally prefer a Republican. Some 56% disapprove of President Bush's handling of the economy, about the same as the 59% of the public who disapproved in a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119990867859778525.html


Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing the growing threat to the economy from fragile financial markets and weakening employment, opened the door to "substantive" cuts in U.S. interest rates.

Mr. Bernanke's comments yesterday suggested that after months of being out of step with the nation's markets, the Fed is drawing closer to their view that much lower rates are needed to keep the economy from stalling, despite the risk that rate cuts could fuel inflation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119998596045681265.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.130743

The economy is already in stall mode. It can't be reversed by a 50 basis point reduction in the interest rate; people have maxed out their spending/credit, and the reduction in the cost of borrowing will do nothing to obviate what is obvious; a huge downturn from now till....