And the alternative to fixing the current situation is????

"Half the respondents said that fiscal and monetary stimulus has provided the basis for a sustainable recovery."

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...ad-to-Recovery

Originally Posted by KayakerNC

"Half the respondents said that fiscal and monetary stimulus has provided the basis for a sustainable recovery."

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...ad-to-Recovery

We need to define "recovery."

If "recovery" means that worth-less cash has flooded the marketplace, and that the worth-less cash has provided money today (which must be paid back in the future at interest by e veryone) to bail people and businesses from bad decisions, then "recovery" is happening.

If "recovery" means we have corrected the problems which created the fiscal fear (terrible balance of payments, Communist-made goods flooding the market and sold at "dumping" prices, federally-backed home loans to people who could never afford to make the payments unless all conditions are perfect), then we are far from even coming close to recovery.

Without a fix to the conditions which created the mess, the mess will reoccur.

I’m sure some of you will disagree as you look at big government as the answer to everything but..

Here's my fix to the conditions, just to name a few.

Freeze all new government spending.
Balanced budget amendment.
No bailouts.
Capital gains tax cut.
Abolish the death tax.
Make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Then revamp tax code to a flat tax.
Congressional term limits.
Reform Freddie and Fannie. (Return to loaning money to people who can actually pay it back)
Reform SS and Medicare (make it a real lock box, not the lock box they lie to us about)
TORT Reform.
Then look at health care when the books are back in order.
Cut funds to the UN.
Expand nuclear, clean coal and natural gas.
Oil - Drill here drill now
Cut all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and any other totally useless social programs funded by the tax payers.
Further welfare reforms.
Secure our borders including deporting the one’s we can find who entered illegally.
No free health care for illegal’s.
No more citizenship for babies born here if you entered the US illegally.

Then watch the economy and consumer confidence rebound... and stay there.

Originally Posted by Laker14

Since we're so deeply in the "I told you so" mode, I saw this coming 6 years ago when we invaded Iraq.

Wars are expensive. Viet Nam was followed by years of high interest, high inflation, while we paid that one off.

We embarked on this one, without raising taxes to pay for it. Probably because those who desired this war knew resistance would be much higher if we actually had to pay for it.

A trillion dollars later, and not one of those dollars going for the aching needs of our domestic situation like education, healthcare, a more efficient energy plan....

Basically we're screwed. But the screwing didn't start with Obama. It started with you know who.

so, yeah, open your wallets.

Well put.

dklassen, You are so correct. Unfortunately, it will never happen. Congress would lose their power. I've decided that our fearless leaders in Washington, in both parties, don't care about the country. They just want all the perks and prestige that they get. Even worse, I think some, I won't name names, want this country brought down.

Dklassen, you nailed it. Unfortunately, Sally is right, too. I don't have a solution as to how to implement what you see as working. Hopefully, someone does and is working on it now. I still want to know why only those with boo-koos of money run for office and get elected. Maybe that's where we need to start. It bothers me that they all campaign about helping the "common man and the poor" while spending millions running around the country patting themselves on the back. How many hungry would that feed instead? Why are we so concerned about getting someone else's economy fixed when our own is in shambles? Why are we so concerned about the conditions some other kids live in when we have the same in areas of our own country? All they seem capable of is talking, talking, talking and some of them (Pelosi) can't even do a good job of that. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble.

All we need to do is elect the right people... most of them not incumbents. 2010 is our chance. A big turnover and the majority back to the conservatives and they will get the message.

Originally Posted by SteveZ

Education, health care, immigration, government social spending - these issues have been going on in high gear since FDR. And the result despite a herd of presidents from both parties, and Congresses of all cloth, are:

1. Public education has been on a downward spiral since 1960.
2. Health care costs have gone up higher than anything else (but we ar living longer than ever)
3. Immigration (legal and illegal) has been handled in apathy and funded by pittance since 1946 by both parties, all administrations, and every Congress.
4. Government social spending has continued to rise despite WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf I, Panama, Grenada, Haiti, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and a couple of other incursions which haven't received press.

And by the way, the quality of life and standard of living has increased in this country despite all of the above, mainly at the expense of the family unit in the quest to have more money to buy extras that greed and good marketing have make desirous..

It's easy to blame "war" for all of the financial problems of the nations. Unfortunately, the "wars" are what keep us free and able to seek greater and greater opportunity to care for others. That's a nasty truism which almost everyone wishes wasn't true.

I used to drive by areas inhabited by Amish. Their anti-war position is legendary, but the only way they can live the way they want is because others have provided them the protection to do so despite their reluctance to participate in their own defense. Again, an ugly truth, but a truth nevertheless.

I am no fan of any war, having participated in the experience firsthand. However, I accept that species homo sapiens is not the logical, sane, and agreeable critter we wish it was. That's why there are about two dozen wars ongoing around the globe today.

There is a fine line separating living in peace and living in tyranny. That line has diplomacy at one end and war at the other. If only diplomacy worked all the time.......

I generally agree with most everything you post. I would like you to explain how our efforts in Viet Nam helped to keep us free from tyranny.

Originally Posted by dklassen

So you are anti-war, we get that. We are however fighting a global war on terror like it or not. Obama and the liberals in congress like to ignore that fact as do others. Wars cost money, always have and always will. Don’t think for one minute we are safe. .

We can never make ourselves "safe" from terrorism. We can make ourselves less vulnerable. But there will always be a danger. If someone is willing to trade his life for the chance to kill a bunch of us, we will be in danger.

There are just too many places for them to hide and re-organize.
What we can do is decimate our resources trying to something that is impossible.
And that is what we are doing.

No matter how long we are there, no matter how many we kill, no matter how many dollars and human lives we sacrifice, as soon as we are gone, the re-organization will start.

Originally Posted by dklassen

I’m sure some of you will disagree as you look at big government as the answer to everything but..

Here's my fix to the conditions, just to name a few.

Freeze all new government spending.
Balanced budget amendment.
No bailouts.
Capital gains tax cut.
Abolish the death tax.
Make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Then revamp tax code to a flat tax.
Congressional term limits.
Reform Freddie and Fannie. (Return to loaning money to people who can actually pay it back)
Reform SS and Medicare (make it a real lock box, not the lock box they lie to us about)
TORT Reform.
Then look at health care when the books are back in order.
Cut funds to the UN.
Expand nuclear, clean coal and natural gas.
Oil - Drill here drill now
Cut all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and any other totally useless social programs funded by the tax payers.
Further welfare reforms.
Secure our borders including deporting the one’s we can find who entered illegally.
No free health care for illegal’s.
No more citizenship for babies born here if you entered the US illegally.

Then watch the economy and consumer confidence rebound... and stay there.

Most of what you have on there, I'd agree with.

I'd add, getting out of Iraq ASAP,

I'd be a little worried about "drill here, drill now"..I'd like to see some effort to reduce our need for so much oil...

I kind of like National Endowment of the Arts...

as far as the flat tax, I have a hard time asking the guy who makes 40 grand pay the same % as the guy who makes 500G...

But the rest would be good by me

Originally Posted by Laker14

I generally agree with most everything you post. I would like you to explain how our efforts in Viet Nam helped to keep us free from tyranny.

Please see: http://www.geocities.com/matlock.cvma/why-vietnam.htm

Originally Posted by SteveZ

Please see: http://www.geocities.com/matlock.cvma/why-vietnam.htm

With all due respect, these "gains" he describes are very very questionable.

I hope I am allowed to make a distinction between my support for those who served in Vietnam, for whom I have nothing but respect and admiration, and my loathing for the policy that was the war.

I don't want to hijack this thread to start a point by point dialogue between you and me on purported gains of that war.

Let me just say I don't agree with him.

Originally Posted by Laker14

With all due respect, these "gains" he describes are very very questionable.

I hope I am allowed to make a distinction between my support for those who served in Vietnam, for whom I have nothing but respect and admiration, and my loathing for the policy that was the war.

I don't want to hijack this thread to start a point by point dialogue between you and me on purported gains of that war.

Let me just say I don't agree with him.

The "he" is me.

I am not praising the American policy, but am recognizing that other nations had their reasons, totally distinct from the Kennedy/Johnson viewpoint, for their participation. The "law of unintended consequences" applied due to the Vietnam War, and no one in the Kennedy/Johnson administrations ever considered anything but their points of view. That's why it is so important not to look at the world solely through one set of nationalistic eyes. That's why having a robust, insightful and pragmatic intelligence collection-and-analysis operation not concerned with current-administration political posturing is critical to diplomatic and military planning and operations.