Collapsing Presidency

[Guest]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-the-loner/2011/10/10/gIQAF2u8ZL_blog.html

We are just biding time until the election. This guy is the worst ever in history.

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/10/10/the-boulevard-of-broken-dreams/

[Guest]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-the-loner/2011/10/10/gIQAF2u8ZL_blog.html

We are just biding time until the election. This guy is the worst ever in history.

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/10/10/the-boulevard-of-broken-dreams/

I can think of someone who is easily worse that President Obama. :boom:
Thankfully, he has zero influence and is delusional. :boom:

[Guest]

I can think of someone who is easily worse that President Obama. :boom:
Thankfully, he has zero influence and is delusional. :boom:

Who is that? Bill Clinton?

[Guest]

I can think of someone who is easily worse that President Obama. :boom:
Thankfully, he has zero influence and is delusional. :boom:

Must be Jimmy Carter.

[Guest]

I'm starting with the man in the mirror,
I'm asking him to make the change.

If you want to make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself and make that change. :boom:

[Guest]

I'm starting with the man in the mirror,
I'm asking him to make the change.

If you want to make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself and make that change. :boom:

If the man in the mirror thinks wealth redistribution is the answer, we should be asking better questions.

[Guest]

I'm starting with the man in the mirror,
I'm asking him to make the change.

If you want to make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself and make that change. :boom:

Good point! Now let's just hope that you have a mirror! :boom:

[Guest]

Good point! Now let's just hope that you have a mirror! :boom:

:highfive:

[Guest]

Must be Jimmy Carter.

Must be Bush,Jr.

[Guest]

If the man in the mirror thinks wealth redistribution is the answer, we should be asking better questions.Just a quick question...Rick Perry created the Texas Enterprise Fund and gave it $440 million Texas' taxpayer dollars to distribute. The objective...and now the claim...was thousands of new jobs would be created.

So what do you call this fund? Is this "income redistribution"? Or is it government injecting itself into the economy that would be best managed by the private sector?

Tell me what the differences are between what Barack Obama has done, albeit on a larger scale, than what Rick Perry has done in Texas?

By the way, the Wall Street Journal (a long way from a pinko, left-leaning rag) has analyzed the Texas Enterprise Fund and has determined that money was directed to Perry's political supporters and that the job growth that Perry claims as the result of the fund is no where near what Perry claims. Here's the article...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203791904576606852823058940.html?K EYWORDS=rick+perry+texas+fund

As I've said many times before, don't listen to what the candidates say...they'll say what they think we want to hear. Rather, watch what they do and what they have done. That's a much better predictor of how they'll govern than anything they say in a campaign stump speech.

Those who claim that Perry is a conservative surely must not be considering how he has governed in Texas as governor. He's a religious conservative for sure. But fiscally, I can't see very much space between him and Obama, based on how they have actually governed.

[Guest]

VK, you just proved your point. Government can not create jobs of any kind. I see that Perry's bill worked as good as Obama's bill. Now, do we want either of them to occupy the WH?

[Guest]

Figmo: You obviously weren't around Boston during the heyday of the Big Dig. Coming into Boston from the south there was a FOREST of construction cranes (I've never seen anything like it before or since) too numerous to count. There was a LOT of the "multiplier effect" from those construction jobs.

[Guest]

VK, you just proved your point. Government can not create jobs of any kind. I see that Perry's bill worked as good as Obama's bill. Now, do we want either of them to occupy the WH?I don't necessarily agree. Dplong makes a good point above. The funding of infrastructure projects can create new jobs while at the same time producing the construction or replacement of infrastructure that will ultimately enhance further economic activity and development. There are all kinds of successful examples...the interstate highway system, all the CCC projects of great depression times, and so forth.

But it's important that the infrastructure projects that government funds actually be needed, and the cost of the projects properly planned and managed. Many projects sought by government don't meet those tests. The bridge to nowhere or the museum in an Iowa cornfield were pure pork and don't meet the test. Frankly, neither does the "Big Dig" in Boston. That was a needed infrastructure project and created thousands of jobs, but for a variety of reasons cost the taxpayers a multiple of original cost estimates.

To answer your question though...no, I don't want either one in the White House on January 20, 2013.

[Guest]

I agree with the above Perry is very dangerous and yes so is Obama. I like Cain but as a vise president with his foreign policy talent that can hurt him

[Guest]

I agree with the above Perry is very dangerous and yes so is Obama. I like Cain but as a vise president with his foreign policy talent that can hurt him

Cain is an honest financial/economic brain, and since most of our country's foreign policy boils down to THROWING MONEY at problems in foreign lands, and at wars in them, Cain's good sense of money management would be a breathe of fresh air.

[Guest]

Figmo: You obviously weren't around Boston during the heyday of the Big Dig. Coming into Boston from the south there was a FOREST of construction cranes (I've never seen anything like it before or since) too numerous to count. There was a LOT of the "multiplier effect" from those construction jobs.

The Big Dig was the biggest boondoggle ever. There were crooks everywhere, many still serving time. And the thing leaks.

From Wikipedia;
The Big Dig was the most expensive highway project in the U.S. and was plagued by escalating costs, scheduling overruns, leaks, design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials, criminal arrests,[2][3] and even four deaths.[4] The project was scheduled to be completed in 1998[5]at an estimated cost of $2.8 billion (in 1982 dollars, US$6.0 billion adjusted for inflation as of 2006).[6] The project was not completed, however, until December of 2007, at a cost of over $14.6 billion ($8.08 billion in 1982 dollars)[6]as of 2006.[7] The Boston Globe estimated that the project will ultimately cost $22 billion, including interest, and that it will not be paid off until 2038.[8] As a result of the deaths, leaks, and other design flaws, the consortium that oversaw the project agreed to pay $407 million in restitution, and several smaller companies agreed to pay a combined sum of approximately $51 million.[9]

Think twice about Union Infrastructures.

[Guest]

VG - Nobody, to my knowledge, is in jail. Bechtel basically got away with everything. Paid some in fines when the woman was killed by a collapsing panel in the Ted Williams Tunnel.

The corruption was rife - no doubt there. On the plus side, new construction techniques were pioneered, perfected and in some cases, invented on the spot. That takes money.

What also takes money, apparently, is the shakedown that Boston got from everyone. I swear I'm not making this up. Spaulding Rehab Hospital is right near North Station. They tripled the size of their building knowing full well the Big Dig was coming near them. So what did they do? They demanded that Boston buy their new skyscraper and relocated them to some place in Newton.

Boston decided to change their construction plans so that the building and surrounding property wouldn't be touched. What did SRH do? They ran a publicity campaign saying that (I can't make this stuff up) people at the rehab hospital would DIE because of a lack of visitors - that family members would be scared away by the reduced downtown parking and construction detour confusion (never mind they were within walking distance of four subway stations and THE hub for all north side commuter rail).

It's not just the unions - everyone has their hands out when a big project happens.

Will we learn from this? I don't know - but I suspect that stories like these only contribute to American's "Can't Do" spirit.

[Guest]

That whole project was corrupt and many thieves made a fortune. They still have hundreds of leaks because of faulty and lazy construction.The contractor paid over 400 million in fines and that was probably a drop in the bucket from the Billions he made from taxpayers money. It will not be paid for until 2038!!!