My education was partially funded by the Feds. But I had to spend 3 years in the Army (9 months in Nam) for me to qualify.
Get rid of these Schools for profit (Like University of Phoenix) and a good chuck of that problem goes away. These colleges are just paper-mills. Their diploma’s are almost worthless.
A great many Americans are just out of touch with reality. They might as well live under a rock. And that group is growing in number and the chasm between their understanding and the political/economic reality of today is becoming immense. Politicians and causes are marketed to US with great success for THEM not US. More and more we are becoming a nation of desperate people struggling to just get by from day to day but feel we owe it to ourselves to take a vacation and pay for it on plastic, rationalizing that it will only increase the minimum monthly payment slightly. We have traded our future for immediate gratification and the interest on the debt is quite high. Look around your town. How many pay-day loan offices do you see?
We will continue to decline as a nation as long as our leaders look to the accumulation of wealth at the top as an indication of the nation’s well being. Only when leaders look to the well being of the average working family will meaningful changes be made. The Republicans were picking our bones. The Democrats have slowed the picking some. But the picking continues.
We will continue to decline as a nation as long as our leaders look to the accumulation of wealth at the top as an indication of the nation's well being.
And that’s the problem. Most people in Congress and the Senate are millionaires. They have no idea of the struggles of the working class. I work for one…He hasn’t a clue what it takes to put food on the table and a roof over your head. He was born into money and lived that way his whole life. Nice guy…but he doesn’t understand the struggles people who work for him go through just to survive. He pays a competitive wage, but the cost of living in the Boston area is very high. We have to educate these people before there’s going to be a change.
Will the politicians keep themselves isolated and insulated from the struggles of working families until there is civil unrest, Mike? When those who are out of touch with reality rise up and revolt the leadership that they install is usually as bad or worse than what they revolted against.
In this country we don’t need to revolt, just vote. That is the big problem. In the small elections, the primaries and runoffs, the voter turnout can be very small. A highly motivated minority can control the general election by controlling the primaries.
Really us folk that are more in the center need to vote more in those small elections so that we get more centered candidates into office.
I do not want to disparage our current president, he has not turned out to be the nightmare I first thought he was going to be even though he is still a little bit left of my tastes, but he is a prime example of someone who was perceived to be a fringe candidate at the start and wasn’t given much chance against the more centered and mainstream candidates, but his followers were very motivated and they all voted in those primaries.
This is not restricted to the Democrats either. It seems that the Republican party is getting further to the right with every election. It is being taken over by the ultra wealthy who are taking advantage of the religious right by claiming to be against abortion (lets not go down that path please). Republicans are never going to allow abortion to be outlawed because then they would loose the thing that motivates the religious right to vote if they did.
I believe republicans are never going to allow abortion to be outlawed because that’s the wrong thing to do. To me it’s a decision that should reside with the prospective mom, the prospective dad, and the doctor. I don;t believe it’s political any more than I believe that the anti abortionists promote banning it for political reasons. The difference is that the abortion supporters don;t try to force everyone to have abortions, but the anti abortionists try to force everyone else not to. Let’s let each individual follow their conscience freely, based on their beliefs and their medical advice.
Keith, one cannot say “let’s not go down that path” and then go down it.
One can hope though.
Abortion is just an emotional banner that the GOP waves on occasion with great success.
Gee, I thought it was an emotional banner that the DEMS wave on occasion…
“Let’s go over the cliff”. I’m tired of worrying about that. I was in high school in the late 1950s. My suggestion is “Let’s go to the hop” and forget about the worries of today.
Equal opportunity there, with each side choosing to ignore the basis for the other’s position. Hard to even start a conversation at that point.
I second the motion.
" The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. . . . It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit."
Remember this quote ? Remember who said it ?
CSA
Nope. But I know that if I use my money to take out more and more loans until I can no longer service the debt on my existing income, the solution is not to take out another loan or credit card effectively “raising my debt ceiling”.
I also know that the pool of money available to raise the government’s income (the taxpayers) is not infinite. There’s just barely enough spring water flowing into the pool right now to keep those relying on it to live from dying of dehydration. Attempt to place another outgoing conduit on the pool, or increase the flow in one of the existing outgoing conduits, and people will begin to suffer the effects of dehydration.
And a trillion dollar platinum coin won’t help one iota.
You’ve Got It TSM.
Also The Senator That I Quoted Is:
Sen. Barack Obama, in 2006.
CSA
Ronald Reagan?
Well, CSA, he did say he was an instrument of change. Apparently he meant in himself as well.
I know I didn’t make a mistake with my vote given the alternative but gee, can’t we just go into cost cutting mode for a few years?? Can’t we? I can’t tell you how many times I had to cut another 5% or 7% or even 15% out of my budget at work. I did it, we all did it. Not fun but we had to balance our budgets and I never laid anyone off. I’m sorry for all the federal workers that would not get a raise or would be on lay off for a few months. I’m sorry for all the federal contractors that would have to cut back, and I’m sorry for all the grants that would be cut back to non profits around the country that provide all kinds of studies and subsidies. But gee, can’t we just do it for a few years? Instead all I hear is another massive program to make it look like we’re making the kids safer and everyone patting themselve on the back to doing what they wanted to do for the last ten years but never told anyone about.
I’d like to hear instead “We’ve lost too many kids to the flu this year due to outmoded vaccine manufacturing and I’ve directed the CDC and the Vice President to give me a list of ways to correct it. Other than than, don’t bring me any ideas that are going to cost one dollar more than what we are currently spending for two years”. Now that would be leadership.
Keith, Are You Still Here ?
I wanted to make sure you didn’t go into shock or faint when you found out it wasn’t Reagan, but Obama, the campaigning version. It is a bit surprising.
CSA
If suddenly I was made aware of my wife gambling and spending money, running up credit card debts and failing to pay bill with the income that was deposited to live on what should I do? Should I just walk away from the past due mortgage and the cars with the clothes that will fit in a garbage bag? That’s the plan from those who want to immediately cut the budget to bare bones. It doesn’t sound very smart to me. At that point I would be forced to borrow more money and spend it wisely and likely empty my retirement account and work a second job, paying 100% of my income to get things cleared up.
This country cannot put the wealthy on a pedestal and pretend that their wealth is sacrosanct. The wealthy took their wealth from the rest of US who worked too cheaply. The country is bankrupt because taxes were cut on the wealthiest among us while we entered a war that poured even more wealth to the wealthy but left the rest of US covering the bills. I wouldn’t pull my kids out of elementary school to shine shoes and deliver papers if I were broke. Would You?