:lol: like so many others, we're all waiting to see something good he has done..... and that's from the perspective of a Canadian
On the flip side of the coin (this is from my best friend): Are there more people working than there were in Jan 2009? NO, labor participation is at a 30 LOW !! Are food prices lower than they were in Jan 2009? NO, they are almost DOUBLE. Food prices rose 5.5% in ONE MONTH (April) !! Are energy prices lower than in Jan 2009? NO, they too are almost DOUBLE !! Are college tuition prices lower than in Jan 2009? NO, they are 23% higher on average Are more people insured than in Jan 2009? NO, more people are being KICKED off of their H/C plans by companies that can no longer afford it, thanks to Obamacare. Are H/C prices cheaper than they were in Jan 2009? NO, after a year of BS and a trillion dollars Are there more homeowners than in Jan 2009? NO Are there more business owners than in Jan 2009? NO Is anything better than it was in Jan 2009? NO,NO,NO !!!
True, but a majority of the electorate believes that the current president has a better chance of solving these problems than does the challenger. I'd venture to say that the most common opinion is that: - The previous administration caused some of the root problems - Things have been turning around, albeit slowly - We'll give the president the benefit of the doubt and hence a little more time I don't necessarily agree with this opinion, but the president won the election on its premise. Better that everyone wishes for future success than hopes for failure. Do we want the country to succeed and work towards that, or will we just stand aside and invite failure so "our guys" can win the next time? The latter is always a danger when an electorate is so deeply divided along party lines, and failure becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I might add that another "side effect" of Obamacare is reduced hours. Imagine being a single mom, working full-time to make ends meet. You're excited about having health care for the first time. You come to work one day, and find your hours are being cut from 40 to 30. Why? Because the company can't afford all that health care for "full time" workers. So not only do you NOT get your health care, but you now are not getting the hours and therefor lesser take-home. And this is being done so the companies can stay in business, NOT because they are greedy. Let's talk about mortgages. The Demacrats fussed about not enough lower income people owning homes. The forced the banks to give loans to people who couldn't pay them off, then fussed about how mean the banks were being. These people were SET UP by the Demacrats, and of course the greedy bankers were made out to be the bad guys. Auto bail-out? Our tax money going to support companies that went bankrupt. If I remember right, the only company that REFUSED the bail-out is the only one "making it". You know, what age should a young person be off of their parents' insurance? And if the young 20-something is married and has kids, they should probably be dependent on Mom and Dad, too? Heck, let's make Mom and Dad wait until they're eighty to retire, just so they can go on supporting their children and grandchildren! After all, I'm SURE Mom and Dad can afford it!
I was talking about the politicians. People are against it and active against it, but the politicians don't do anything. They talk about it during an election, but when they are voted in they do nothing. I don't believe it is a necessary evil in the history of the USA. The US has been historically offensive and not defensive. Even the original troops were offensive. Also, in the past 100 years there have even been instances of the US government/forces ousting a democratically elected leader in another country and putting a dictator in power. So yes, I would say that the USA is historically for war. Individual people may not be, but the powers in the government are.
If you look at this then it may seem obvious, but there is so much more to it than that. What happened in 2008 (prior to the election) was HUGE and the repercussions are continuing to be felt. Add to that the continuing cost of war that Americans cannot afford and you don't have progress and economic growth. I don't think any one administration is to blame. They are all messed up.
I agree that no one administration is to blame. NOONE is willing to take steps needed to get spending under control! But Obama's policies has really made things worse. Let's see where we are in a few months; I know I'm going to really concentrate on stockpiling food, because I'm expecting food prices to double within a year.
I don't believe in democracy. Ignorant masses of people voting for who smiles the nicest while killing innocent people abroad with drones makes me sick. I believe in freedom. Democracy and freedom are two different things. There are basic rights that everyone has that no one should be allowed to vote away simply because they have the majority. If the majority wanted to kill all Muslims to "make us safe" that would be evil. I don't really care how many of the majority voted for it. Democracy is not the will of the people it is the will of some of the people. I wish all the freedom lovers would actually vote instead of refusing under the premise that no one has the right to vote another person's freedoms away. People mistake that not for despising the system but complacency, which is why I voted for Gary Johnson. The fact is though that it was not my will to tread on other nations sovereignty. It was not my will to place tariffs on goods from China. It is not my will to kill innocent people with drones. It is not my will to bail out banks. It is not my will to lock out immigrants who want to move here for a better life. Quit saying it is my will. That's a lie. It's not even the will of the people who voted for Obama because the majority don't have a clue what he is doing. Ask them what the NDAA or the disposition matrix is and they will give you a deer in the headlights look and not even believe when you pull up the documents online. Give them their bread and their sand (the Romans for you who don't catch it) and they will be complacent. Obama has beat Bush at his own game. There are still troops in Afghanistan. There seems to be some strange longing to start a war with Iran now. The people are freaking out and hyperinflation is rampant because they expect war and believe their money will be worth nothing once it starts. There has been no declaration of war and yet drones are flying over Iran. The don't want to admit it but really how did the Iranians capture one and when one is shot it is in International Airspace. Hmmm.. I'm a skeptic. Bush of course gave us the Patriot Act but Obama took it way further and gave us the NDAA which states that they can detain people indefinitely WITHOUT A TRIAL. Hello, that is a major red flag. You simply don't give that power to a anyone, it's downright dumb. Now we have the disposition matrix. What a crazy creepy thing to have. Basically the President (by most voters view I guess omniscient) can assassinate people one by one and yes even American citizens. I was against Gitmo because I believe human rights are given to us by God and not our government so I think you have rights even if you aren't an American citizen, gasp. Well, I guess since that was so accepted they thought they would share the lack of trials with American citizens. So Bush started the whole taking away rights for safety but Obama knocked it out of the park. Bush managed to spend more then all previous presidents but once again Obama trounced him big time. You may think that all went to poor people but if that is the case I think you are naive and ignorant. Not only did he bail out major corporations and banks but all you really have to do is look at what percentage of the budget actually goes to welfare and you will realize welfare and helping the poor is small pickings. Money gets transferred more often from poor to rich and to cronies and to middle class welfare than to people in need I don't know why Republicans argue welfare all the time and for the wrong reasons. I'm all for helping people but politicians don't work for the welfare recipients, they work for lobbyist who will get them voted in at the next election. Messing with price signals is the best way to bring about inefficiencies and many of the laws that Democrats love to feel good about end up hurting poor people. Not only that but you have systems with faulty incentives and they are not the little welfare systems no, they are the huge middle class welfare systems such as Social Security and that includes disability. Disability recipients have been greatly increasing because the structure of the system discourages people from getting off of it even if they can work, especially since if they lose their job again after finding one they are toast and can't easily get back on disability and with job prospectives looking grim in many areas of the US, what do you expect? This was the case for welfare too before it was reformed in the Clinton era. To mess up the incentives for a tiny portion of the population as in those living below poverty are not going to destroy price signals and entire markets like making the entire middle class and some of the upper class welfare recipients. I could go on for hours like this, education (we went from "No Child Left Behind" to "Race to the Top"). Heck, even the prescription plan Bush came up with was dwarfed by Obamacare but you have to admit Obama had help from a Republican on that one so it was definitely a team accomplishment. What we have is another FDR on our hands turning what could have been a short depression into a lost decade and all the while taking away basic human rights, except the main target isn't the Japanese this time. Meanwhile, Republicans are crying out that he is a Muslim because everything is about if you are on the red team or the blue team even if both teams seem to have the same goal and tend to take the same actions. In the end though it may be just as well, for the Church is stronger, people in general are smarter and stronger when life isn't so easy. As far as states are concerned, Most countries don't supply all their own energy, food, or other needs. The British after all are not starving and the U.S. doesn't meet all it's own energy needs. Most countries in the world don't have a military like the U.S. does either. Nations change. A couple hundred years is really a short amount of time. The future will be different from now no matter what we do be it because of politics, technology, environmental changes or whatever. I find it interesting that people at almost all points of history think that things will always be like they are now. They think their government will always be the good guys and things like that can never happen here, when they see bad things happen and people have said that since there were civilizations. It's really quite fascinating. I'll be honest, I feel as if I live in a colony much like the original 13. I live in Alaska. Our votes mean nothing in the Congress due to our small population. We are barred from most economic activity. Agreements that would allow us to sell resources to Asia are always slashed. Money does come from the states but if you look at how much of that is military your perspective might change, that and our inability to have any say over the land and what happens up here. Honestly, the idea that someone in California or Washington D.C. knows anything about what is good for Alaskans is ridiculous and yet, in many things we simply have no say. I don't think the petitions will accomplish anything anytime soon but just saying I disagree with most of the assumptions on this thread.
