Comments on: How Obama could prevent a second recession

By: SEKHONYANE

SEKHONYANE — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:54:03 +0000

MY VIEW TO THIS IS THAT IF THE GOVERMENT STARTS ON BUILDING MORE TOWNS AND SCHOOLS THIS RECESSION THING CAN BE PREVENTED.MOSTLY HERE IN THE FREESTATE PROVINCE IN SOUTH AFRICA PEOPLE ARE FACE ALOT OF PROVERTY WHILE THERE ARE THINGS THAT CAN BE DONE

By: James Raider

James Raider — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:58:31 +0000

@ D Sakarya,
“… Everything else is a charade to avoid admitting this.”

Absolutely. The denials going on and not being “called” by the MSM are astounding.

By: James Raider

James Raider — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:38:33 +0000

Before you pay for infrastructure, get the economic house in order.

Clean up WALL STREET, then recovery can begin but will take a decade.

There is a culture of omnipotence that has been very pervasive throughout all of Wall Street’s major firms during the past two decades. It has also been very destructive.

America needs to clean house before a serious recovery can begin, and confidence reinstated.

http://pacificgatepost.com/2009/08/ameri ca-end-your-fear-of-wall-street.html

By: D Sakarya

D Sakarya — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:33:57 +0000

“Warren Buffett’s stated concerns that all this red ink could sink the dollar”

The U.S. hasn’t had a trade balance since 1975. A “sinking dollar” is the ONLY thing that will make the U.S. competitive with the world. Everything else is a charade to avoid admitting this.

By: ross

ross — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:24:19 +0000

edward – stephen is right and you are obviously either a ‘greedy geezer’ or a pinko commie. Either way, the narcistic ways of those 45-95 in this country have left us under 45 and our kids to pay for their hedonistic endeavors of the last 40+ years and are complaining that they may have to actually show some sacrifice themselves! Hippies and the ‘greatest generation’ were not an all volunteer military going on 8 years of continuous wars – we are. But we’ll fight the fight that these cowards had to be drafted to do, and take the 21st century GI Bill as it is – 1/2 of what the greedy geezers gave themselves post WW2 (look into it, dumb-dumb and you’ll see you the real propagandist is!). At the end of the day, all of the nation’s good over the last 30+ years has been off the back’s of those born post 1965 and all of it’s ailments have come from the self entitled, aged, hippy, commie jerks who should have been sent over the way to their blessed Red states (small s on purpose…) like Cuba (for it’s universal healthcare), China (for it’s great gun control) or Russia (which Putin is clearly reverting back to the old ways. Then maybe they could start to be some restoration to our once great country. Otherwise, all true patriots will have to wait for you old nut jobs to die off and stop voting yourself more and more entitlements at the cost Weimar Republic inflation. In other words edward, you and your ilk are idiots and only worth worm food, at best.

By: Frediano

Frediano — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:22:37 +0000

The Boomers will simply be the first generation for whom the political promises weren’t kept in an unsustainable defined benefits program. The boomers labored their entire lives under a 15% earning payroll tax, to pay the benefits for a generation that labored under a 6% payroll tax. The demographics don’t support this model in perpetuity. It makes no sense at all that, as the Boomers leave the near or at peak period of their income earning and tax paying years, — that is, paying in the largest demographic subsidy into these programs– these ‘pay as you go’ defined benefit programs are already broke! It is exactly government inflation of our economies– a hidden tax — that has made this even possible at all. With an extra 30 million in the deongraphic, at or near its peak subsidy level, it makes no sense at all that these programs are already broke!

This one is easy, if not painless. Convert these programs to ‘defined contribution’ plans. Paint the old ‘defined benefit’ plans as a one time, well deserved ‘thank-you’ to the Greatest Generation, whose generational pain was all front-end loaded, and whose sacrifices created all the free world economies which followed.

This means, significantly reduced benefits from those pipe-dreams that are criminally advertised in advance by the SSA for the Boomers, and the Boomers generational pain will be back-end loaded. (And, why not? Did we think we were going to miss out on that?) It also means that their fewer kids will not be asked to labor under any greater a FICA/MEDI overburden then they did. The history of this is a political nightmare — 2%, then 6%, and then the Boomers 15% of earnings, taxed away to keep all the political promises flying. It’s insane. Cap it at the current 15%, don’t touch it, and restrict benefits to revenue, period, in this ‘pay as you go’ program. If a generation wants more benefits from the program, then it must do what the Greatest Generation did — have more kids, feed them, bandage their skinned knees, send them to school, actually create those future economies — and not what the Boomers did , which was, buy the second Bass boat and vacation home. That defines generational fairness, a defined contribution ‘safety-net’, not an unfulfillable promise to endlessly grow benefits…

By: edward

edward — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:41:24 +0000

Way to flog that straw man, Stephen! That’s the way, invent a boogieman, assign him attributes, then give it to him good! It’s THEIR fault! Blame THEM! Use a really wide brush and spread the tar thick!

You should have worked for Dr. Goebbels…

By: alan

alan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:48:04 +0000

See you at the burning….

By: stephen

stephen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:39:51 +0000

Interesting how the first comment bears out the truth of the second comment. Alan, the baby boomer feels entitled to his FICA and medicare. Fred points out that we (‘our societal values’) are not prepared to take the required steps.

I think the baby boomers worried for the last twenty years that social security was not really an insurance program but a tax in disguise, so Alan at least must have been warned that he shouldn’t expect a life of ease just because he’s worked hard. (At how many times in the history of the world was there such an easy correlation between working hard and right to spend the last twenty plus years playing golf and shopping in Europe.)

Yet regardless of all that hand-wringing, the baby boomers kept on electing idiots to run the country, or decided to concentrate on their precious careers and self esteem instead of engaging in civics. Now their political immaturity has come back to haunt them. Sorry, but it’s too late to march on Washington.

The baby boomers sold out, starting with the Reagan era of institutionalizing The Big Lie method of governance, up to the time when Cheney was cannibalizing the constitution. It’s sad to think that the most highly educated work force yet seen in the history of the world opted for a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption and narcissism over wisdom and moderation, but that’s the way it went down.

Just think, the baby boomers could have remained politically active (while growing up from the drug use of their hippy days) AND engaged in the productive, creative work that created incredible wealth. But instead, all that wealth was squandered on over-sized cars and energy-wasting houses spread across socially sterile suburbs. And now they want to protest.

After the march on DC, don’t forget to get a massage.

How about this: Instead of feeling entitled and betrayed, why not try to give back to the society that allowed you to become so successful. Go out and invent green products or systems that can get this country out from the clutches of the Saudi royal family. Or at least invest in a company that is searching for solutions. Please note that all that coal smoke from China is going to blow over the Pacific and ruin your fun here. You’ll have to wear oxygen masks on the golf course. Might as well stay in inside and study up on how to make a difference.

Having said that, I want to add that if the US is able to reinvigorate, it will be because the baby boomers do something more useful than grab for what they feel is theirs.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:21:09 +0000

I am always amazed how the “conservatives” propose giving more money to those who already have too much at the expense of those how don’t have enough.

Perhaps a good campaign slogan would be “Taking the sting out of being rich in America, Vote “.