Obamanomics: Bad for the economy...

[luluc 6]

Lu, I watched a lot of footage of his meetings and I never saw anything to suggest that world leaders wrote Obama off because he was black. And the "qualified vs. unqualified" thing is dead / moot (Even though that was the rally of the republicans) since Obama is the president now.

plain - i was actually referring to the fact that the US has a harder time w/obama being black vs the rest of the world. they've caught on - more so than here.

i do agree the qualified / unqualified stance is over.

[plain 12]

Oh, I see now. Ok, gotcha.

[plain 12]

Obama has been willing to step up to the plate and give it the ole college try. He is sure taking his lumps for it and he may wind up being wrong. But his is the only plan that is viable that has been put forth.

Agree. Republicans are sitting on their thumbs. When they criticize without having another option, they look like a bunch of asses.

I believe that the jury is still out and I also believe that raising cain and accusing Obama of being a socialist is fruitless.

Well, I think that statements of dis-satisfaction are allowable, especially if one is unhappy with the direction the country is going. I happily agreed with the rights of the Bush bashers to express their opinions (even if I challenged the validity of said opinions, they sure had the right to say it. Heck, they're saying it even now, right BJean?). To offer emotional babble ("Obama is the antichrist!") is fruitless.

I asked you once when your taxes have been raised since Obama took office and you ignored my question.

Personally, my taxes weren't raised. I don't make enough money. But just because I don't fall into that bracket doesn't mean that I don't see the basic unfairness of bearing down on the rich.

I also asked on other threads when he said he wanted to take away people's guns.

It was Obama's attorney general Eric Holder that said he and the president were mulling over certain gun control measures (specifically banning assault rifles.....BTW, I can provide links for all the stuff I post. If you want me to, just ask).

And when has he said that he doesn't want the border laws enforced? Much of what people (not necessarily you) are yelling about just isn't what's on the agenda right now - they just ain't happening.

Of course he doesn't want to get tough on illegal immigration. That would take away the votes of America's fastest-growing minority group. Although I will give Obama credit because I think he'll send some troops to police the border (not to "tighten up" the border, but because Mexican crime is out of control and seeping over the border)

[plain 12]

i see both sides of this coin. i worked in high tech sales, and i had a contract that said every qtr, my bonus was XXXX in addition to my commissions. i expected that to be fulfilled, like others in that same spot now.....

So you can see better than most how wrong it is for Congress to go after those AIG bonuses.....because if they can go after them, they can go after yours.

Oh I almost forgot to ask - and this is a serious question because I do not have the answer - how many businesses has Obama snatched up? How many corporate CEOs has he fired?

I could dig and get an exact number of companies that have taken TARP money, if you want an exact number. But Obama has lead the government in buying large shares of stock in finance (Bank of America, Citigroup, AIG,etc), the automobile industry (GM and Chrysler), housing (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), and life insurance (Hartford, Prudential, etc).

Obama has so far fired one CEO - Richard Wagoner.

[BethFromVA 5]

And from what I'm reading and hearing, he is forcing either a merger between Chrysler and Fiat OR a bankruptcy of Chrysler. He said today that "WE decided this needed to be done." I know who "WE" is.

[BJean 16]

Aren't you saying, plain, that Congress voted to give Bush the authority to bomb Iraq, not that Congress voted to allow Bush to bomb Iraq? To me it isn't the same thing. It was a gross error on the part of Congress to give Bush free reign to make a decision like that - and Bush was very manipulative to get them to agree to it. And many people who did vote to give Bush that power were very sorry that they did.

Since the Congress is normally directly involved in any decision to declare war, I do not feel that America declared war on Iraq; George Bush declared war on Iraq. And the term "shock and awe" was used over and over and over, ad nausem, by Dubya. Before he coined the phrase, most Americans were relatively unfamiliar with it. The author is irrelevant. It was just a tool.

[BJean 16]

So plain, you must be one of the people who believes that you shouldn't pay taxes, eh?

If you agree that they're a necessary evil, then why in the world would you support a policy that allows the wealthiest Americans to get big tax breaks? If you say that it makes sense because it will benefit the economy for the rich folks to get richer, that has been proven to be totally ineffective in helping most Americans.

Furthermore, the proposed increase in taxes for the wealthiest Americans is a rate that is still less than what they paid under President Reagan.

The propaganda that is being put out that rich folks are being taken advantage of and gouged is B.S. And if you believe that taxes are necessary, then you should understand that the proposed tax increase for the top very small percentage of Americans is exactly what is fair to mainstream Americans. The rich folks have for some time now had practically a free ride.

[BethFromVA 5]

BJean, you can try to rework it any way you wish, but Congress gave Bush the authority to bomb Iraq, 77 to 23.

[BJean 16]

Beth, do you disagree that many people who voted for giving him that power later regretted it?

[BethFromVA 5]

Beth, do you disagree that many people who voted for giving him that power later regretted it?

What does that have to do with the fact that they voted for it? They gave him the power to do what he did. Regret doesn't unring the bell, they GAVE him the power.

[BethFromVA 5]

So plain, you must be one of the people who believes that you shouldn't pay taxes, eh?

If you agree that they're a necessary evil, then why in the world would you support a policy that allows the wealthiest Americans to get big tax breaks? If you say that it makes sense because it will benefit the economy for the rich folks to get richer, that has been proven to be totally ineffective in helping most Americans.

Furthermore, the proposed increase in taxes for the wealthiest Americans is a rate that is still less than what they paid under President Reagan.

The propaganda that is being put out that rich folks are being taken advantage of and gouged is B.S. And if you believe that taxes are necessary, then you should understand that the proposed tax increase for the top very small percentage of Americans is exactly what is fair to mainstream Americans. The rich folks have for some time now had practically a free ride.

BJean, the ONLY folks getting a free ride are the 32 percent who pay ZERO taxes, yet somehow get a "tax break" or "tax return."

If ALL people paid their fair share, I would be just fine. FLAT TAX is the way to go. Everybody pays a set percentage, not a floating percentage based on income, essentially rewarding some and punishing others. ALL pay.

[BJean 16]

When people regret something, it is a sure indication that they wish they hadn't done it. Hopefully Congress, and America, understands why the law was put into effect that doesn't allow a single person to make the decision to go to war and they won't make the same mistake again.

[BJean 16]

But Beth, with all the tax breaks and incentives that rich folks and corporations have enjoyed for the last decade, THEY sure aren't paying their fair share.

How many really wealthy folks do you know personally? Have you asked them how much they pay in taxes every year - the bottom line amount?

[BethFromVA 5]

But Beth, with all the tax breaks and incentives that rich folks and corporations have enjoyed for the last decade, THEY sure aren't paying their fair share.

How many really wealthy folks do you know personally? Have you asked them how much they pay in taxes every year - the bottom line amount?

I know they pay a helluva lot more than WE do.

How can you complain about certain tax breaks for people when 32 percent of others pay no taxes whatsoever? Let's get them paying something first and see what happens. It's likely we wouldn't have to require more of the "rich" if one-third of this country would pay to be here like the rest of us do.

[BethFromVA 5]

When people regret something, it is a sure indication that they wish they hadn't done it. Hopefully Congress, and America, understands why the law was put into effect that doesn't allow a single person to make the decision to go to war and they won't make the same mistake again.

And the law was used properly -- a single person did not make the decision to go to war.

Regret or no, they still voted for it, and their vote is what put it into action.