Since Bush...
Housing prices compared to income have gone up dramatically- also the price of utilities, college, medical care, and gasoline. Annie Fey posted a great website with quick-shot graphics at TBR Forums showing the state of things since the change in administration. Good for a glimpse-as if you didn't know, right? . (Link to website)
24 comments:
Yeah, well - we can all feel it - can't we? It's damn hard to live these days - the cost of everything has sky-rocketed. The price of fuel, they say. The price of Bush, I say!
Those are excellent tools! I might use & source some of those myself. Thanks for posting that link up! :)
And yep, fls- THE PRICE OF bUSH FOR REAL...
obviously i can't experience it first hand but i am not in the least surprised
Price of Bush, adjusted for iration.
That George always did know how to run things into the ground.
Insufferable crapweasel.
We should have saw this coming after he ran two oil companies into the ground. With other people's money.
Lew-
The problem is that we did see it coming. Over half of us in 2000 & 2004. But after the BLATANT THEFT & discarding of votes, we became less than half.
You know what I'm saying...
Yes, Chuck! Thats right!
Who would have thought that fraud would happen in what we think is a watchful open society.
how deluded we are.
Yeah, and don't you just love it when "W." goes on and on about our strong economy. Stregnth? You been to the grocery store lately, George?
Thats the thing, they do ALL of this with others people's money and talk about it like its their entitled right to do as they wish without question and without accountability.
Why do we not behave as though our money is being seized for nonsense? If a person was robbed of half of their bank account and the theif used it for a cruise, the victim would be outraged.
When crooked people do this, we call it government!
Unfortunately when we look at cutting them back, we leave the insanity untouched and cut programs for children instead.
Just because the data indicates that the economy is unhealthy does not mean anyone is saying we are in a major depression. You miss the point. So the fact that we are not quite "Third Worldish" enough for your taste means we are acting and looking like a major world power? I think we can and should be better given the budget, You disagree? In what way?
Second, the rationale for many of the subsidies and the resistance to control things like pollution have been linked to a desire to preserve economic growth and we are not seeing that.It is simply an excuse to not regulate the things that harm people and regulate the things that do not hurt people.
And just because some people benefit from tax cuts (not most) and just because some people can contribute to their investments does not mean that the country is doing well by other indicators. So a healthy Charles Schwab is a better indicator than infant mortality, disease, academic performance, life expectancy, etc?
I think basically the point is this: If we are the supposed superpower of the world, spreading the light of Democracy and our correct world view, wouldn't you think we would be the leader in most everything? For the first time, we are even outranked in technology!!
You would have politics impair your view about such obvious bullshit?
And as far as children's "cuts" you must not be well versed in school policy and unfunded federal mandates. You must not be aware that the poorest people in America today are small children, and cuts in medicaid, education, head start, WIC, etc. impact these children. Glad your kids do not go to public schools or receive any services. (although they probably do in ways you don't realize-I worked in one of the wealthiest youth bureaus in New York and they even received aid, grants, etc.)
We can debate whether or not children deserve college aid, school lunch, or health care probably for eons. I think society benefits from healthy educated children. Maybe you don't.
But what IS clear is this: Subsidies to corporations do NOT have more merit. And yet we will cut the tiny tiny slice for people and not the huge slice of budget for pork barrel projects, earmarks, inefficient crony run bureaucracies like FEMA.. can you really defend such uses of tax money???
It’s funny that you put this thread on “propaganda and the politics of greed”.
You can’t just ignore 6 and 1/2 years of inflation at ~3% per year.
No, but the wage tables have been adjusted for inflation, have they not?
I think we can thank a puppet Fed. Who was not comfortable with the delays in raising rates.
Liz:
The puppetmaster being who, exactly?
(other than the FOMC and the board of governors)
I did not say that the budget should increase and certainly do not think that the answer to poverty is more money necessarily either. My concern about the budget is that we are getting in too deep and I am wary of the impact of foreign investors on our infrastructure and essential resources.
I am not into high taxes and bloated programs. I do not think handouts are ultimately empowering but neither is perpetual war and rebuilding what we bomb in the name of security.
I think we should have more effective programs and have a way to remove frivolous earmarks and paybacks to special interests.
My point about Charles Schwab was simply because it was the example used to indicate an adequate economy. Is it adequate? Maybe. Its adequate for a family to live beyond its means, own a huge house they cannot afford, and charge groceries. But not advisable! At a certain point something has to give and the hopes on a "bull market" salvation are not realistic.
Douglass,
Well by puppet Fed I mean that they do not necesarily do what they set out to do with monetary policy. Thats all.
We also see that they are willing to lie for politics.
Terminology...can you give examples? although we could guess.
Interesting.
What do you think of ideas like Colorado's "taxpayer Bill of rights" just curious.
Well I think an interesting piece was that it required a referendum or public approval to outspend expected revenues and to increase funding rates.
That was what caught my eye about it.
What blog are you at?
yes, there seems to be some good thinking there for accountability. I wonder why critics oppose the idea so much? I figure there must be a catch that I did not see in it. Or a consequence, unintended difficulty that escaped me when i read it.
Why would both the left and the right oppose this type of process? Weird. Based on what? Only the fatcats benefit from bloated unwarranted spending.
Well said, comrade!!! (kidding, commie)
I don't consider myself right or left these days-it narrows the discussion. I stick with the left because of social control matters but do not approve of big government really. Especially when it is at odds with our needs for government such as when it harms rather than protects us.. I consider myself a person who thinks government effectively serves the interests of neither. They serve themselves. I find myself agreeing with your take on Tax rights and much of what you say. Accountability is the real issue. They forget it is OUR money not their own.
I appreciate that you've been coming by.
This underscores the fact that there are the neo-con style conservatives and then there are those that simply want to reduce the redistribution of wealth by a broad federal government. I find your comments here to be very interesting. I am sure that I would redistribute a tad more than you though in the end! :)
I am less interested these days in which corrupt party gets the joy of abusing the public's trust and resources. i think the issue before us is the unchecked authority they have. The deficit being an example..of many.
I just watched my favorite movie again this evening "Kill Bill" and I think there is serious butt-kicking in there!
The free market idea is a myth. Regulation is necessary for the purposes of protecting the public from legitimate threats:
-assymetrical information
-safety/danger issues
-environmental impact, destruction, and cost
Business should not be let off the hook for their footprint on a planet we all share.
But what about social spending? Poverty?
A witness! you're pretty interesting, I have to say!
Yes, people can and should perhaps do more for themselves and their communities. I think on a certain level people expect government to do everything.
Then again, for the taxes paid/fees/licenses/application fees, perhaps there is a reason to expect that.
Post a Comment