Comments on: The Big Sell-Out Must Stop Now

A Strategist For John Edwards Says Democrats Must Emphasize Economic Fairness

[nottellin1]

BobEBenson

Right back at you, you're points are also very relevent.

[bobebenson]

Great point nottellin1!

Send them a dollar bill and a paper letter (not e-mail) and say, "I would have sent more, but...", and then let 'em have it!

[bobebenson]

We need to start:
Simplifying!
Living within our means.
Saving.
Carpooling.
Planting Gardens.
Renting (no mortgage, taxes, repairs, interest payments, homeowners insurance).
Using the Bus line or Subway. (No parking problems, no accidents, no road rage and WHO CARES WHAT GAS COSTS!).

We also just need to start helping each other out. When Americans see a need and get inspired to help, we are the most imaginative and motivated people in history. This is probably our greatest asset, and our truest natural resourse. Money-Schmoney.
Welcome to June :-)
End of Sermon.

[nottellin1]

No special interest group is bigger than the American voting public. Want to be heard? Rather than contacting our legislators, contact their National Committee, RNC or DNC and tell them that the party will not get another cent from you until they have a candidate that is against this type of legislation, in any form. If they won't hear our voices I guarentee they will hear the lack of money.

[bobebenson]

I'm tired of Americans whining about our "terrible economic situation". People (most, not all) remind me of the enormously FAT lady I saw in one of those buffet-style restaurants who I heard say, "I need to stop, I'm watching my weight these days....but I just GOTTA have some of that BREAD PUDDING!".

I ride to work every day seeing giant SUV's and vans with only one person in them. People are taking home equity loans of 125 percent (!) in order to pay off their 19% credit balances for their sixty-inch televisions.

People have driven housing prices through the roof (this will change, starting soon.) because they were dumb enough to let banks talk them into some stupid teaser-rate, interest-only, no-credit-check, no-money-down mortgage. Soon-very soon, they will all be moaning about how they were "Duped" into their terrible financial situation by some low-life, rich person who is taking all the middle class's money. "GOLLY, I can't even afford the Electric bill! How am I gonna watch my digital-signal football game on my 60-inch plasma TV???".
Hey Americans, we're doing this to ourselves!

[heresmy2cent]

It no longer matters who you vote for and hasn't for the past several decades.

All candidates are bought, paid for, and controlled by special interests.

Moreover, once they get in office they are then controlled by lobbyists (more special interests) who see to it that the laws are crafted to protect their interests.

America is hurtling toward an inevitable economic collapse. Only then, will you see a drastic change in our policies.

[heresmy2cent]

It longer matters who you vote for and hasn't for the past several decades.

All candidates are bought, paid for, and controlled by special interests.

Moreover, once they get in office they are then controlled by lobbyists (more special interests) who see to it that the laws are crafted to protect their interests.

America is hurtling toward an inevitable economic collapse. Only then, will you see a drastic change in our policies.

[itwasntme000]

Sharn, nobody cares about immigration except the Republican batwings. The majority of Americans think immigrants should be granted a path to citizenship.
The folks that are talking our jobs are not the lowly immigrants, but the corporate behemoths who outsource white collar, high paying jobs overseas.
Posted by notime4lies at 06:04 PM : May 31, 2007

(((SMART ONE NOTIME4LIES... LET THE IMMIGRANTS COME IN, DRAIN OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, GIVE THEM FOOD STAMPS, AND LET THEM COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY.)))

Why don't people who want to live in a "European style democracy" move to Europe rather than forcing this on people who don't want to live in such a society?

If there is one country on Earth that is supposed to value freedom over equality rather than equality over freedom, it is supposed to be the United States. I thought that was the point of why people came here. Land of the free, rather than land of the equal.
Posted by davidlar2 at 06:37 PM : May 31, 2007

(((DAVIDLAR2 SRRY TO TELL YOU BUT THIS IS NOT A FREE COUNTRY... EUROPE IS MORE FREE THEN WE ARE AFTER ALL WHICH COUNTRY MAKES CERTAIN SUBSTANCES ILLEGAL TO ITS CITIZENS. SUBSTANCES THAT IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM CAN HURT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF...

[nottellin1]

2 pages of saying a lot of nothing. So John Edwards says we should address economic inequality but I don't see how anything stating how the issue would be addressed. Where is the plan. Oh, I guess we don;t get to hear about that until after we elect.

[nottellin1]

2 pages of saying a lot of nothing. So John Edwards says we should address economic inequality but I don't see how anything stating how the issue would be addressed. Where is the plan. Oh, I guess we don;t get to hear about that until after we elect.

[omega39-2009]

Dennis Kucinich was the only presidential candidate, on either side of the isle that stood up and said if elected, he would do away with NAFTA.

[sharncedar]

It is better for individual business if unskilled labor costs less, but it is better for the country if unskilled labor costs more. Why is that? Because a country is different than a business in one very important way - you cannot rid yourself of unproductive workers. It's like if you had a business where you couldn't choose the workers you get, and you couldn't fire anyone. Then to maximize productivity per worker instead of firing the unproductive and incenting the most productive with bonueses and lots of cash, you would maximize profits rather by concentrating on getting productive work out of everyone by spreading the wealth out. the poor producers you must keep canb hurt you more than your top producers can help you. The whole economic modle changes.

Our problems com about when little minded people weaned on the lies of the Wall Street Journal try to apply their ruthless and stupid business theories to a whole country, which is not that much like a business. Because you can't fire anyone. You can't offshore your unskilled people. You can't divest of unproductive assets, so you must maximize them by pouring in more investment capital.

[cfin5]

I just shake my head sometimes on issues like this. Both parties economic policies are so out of touch with the "SUM" of the impact it has on middle class folks. For example: The republicans still like to trumpet the "Trickle Down Economics" thing but forget to tell you where the end of the trickle is now,"OFF INTO THE GLOBAL BLUE YONDER", no thanks to them very much.......The democrats smooch up the union working man trying to give his family a decent standard of living yet have killed off 47 million of their "AMERICAN UNION-MADE PRODUCT PURCHASING CUSTOMERS" through the american abortion'olocaust. I think those Unions could use those "customers" now could'nt they?..........I don't have all the answers for this mess, but what was wrong with a well-balanced "isolationist" economic america first policy like in the past. It served us workers better then than what's going on now people!

[JJASMAN]

Democrate and Republican politicians are owned by big business.
I guess there is nothing more evil than a Democrat. At least George Bush is opne and up front about being a sleazy crook, Democrats like Pelosi make a lying, hypocritical pretense of condescending to the "poor" while they do everything they can to ruin their lives.

[willstark1]

This issue cuts across all lines of race, gender and religion. There are a lot of people in this country who work hard EVERY day and still find it hard to get ahead. This is not what my history and civics lessons taught me about the American experience.

I think we are in serious danger of losing what makes us great. We can't sustain this mountain of debt much longer.

I know people who once thought they were going to be much more successful than their parents who now are working at jobs much less stable and rewarding than their fathers.

One of the greatest expectations that a mother or father has is for their children to exceed the distance or success than that they thenselves achieved. A lot of people now and for some time now have begun to doubt this. It is very sad.

John Edwards may be a rich guy now but I remember hearing how he grew up in a poor household. I guess he did not forget it.

[davidlar2]

Why don't people who want to live in a "European style democracy" move to Europe rather than forcing this on people who don't want to live in such a society?

If there is one country on Earth that is supposed to value freedom over equality rather than equality over freedom, it is supposed to be the United States. I thought that was the point of why people came here. Land of the free, rather than land of the equal.

[Razzl]

Propaganda is successful when its perverted assumptions are so ingrained in speech that people can't even realize that there is another way of looking at the issue. Our public has been subjected to almost a century of pro-capitalist propaganda from Hearst to Murdoch and the Republican propaganda machine from 1980 forward has spoon-fed a generation of people in the press and media who can't see how absurd it is to say that flat-rate taxes are "fair" or that repealing inappropriate tax cuts isn't the same thing as "raising taxes". And of course the Clintonites have done their damage on the Democratic side by shutting down all specific discussion of beliefs and issues in favor of linguistic smokescreens that hide everything. (Ever notice how a Bill Clinton or pre-2003 Gore speech sound like a recording with all the key words edited out?)

It will take a long time to shake out the pro-capitalist slant that's been inserted into our public discussions, but given the public mood for change it might be possible with clever leadership to transform the country into the European-style democracy it needs to be in one quick season if the Dems can take the White House and Congress all at once in '08.

[davidlar2]

Another comment:

Economic fairness= unskilled labor very expensive= we export less than we currently do since most things can be made better/cheaper elsewhere= high cost of living and lower salaries for skilled labor= high tech and educated workers won't move here (not wanted anyway by the advocates of this view)= we export even less= also equals less economic incentive for education= less well educated workforce, especially in sciences and engineering= less to export= declining standard of living for Americans- we become more equal, but less wealthy

Do we want to live in a position where we look at the rest of the world as wealthier than we are, with a greater diversity of products to buy, even though our salaries are more equally distributed?

Do we want to live in a country that is generally less well educated than the rest of the (developed) world, where our economy is based upon high salaries for domestically born unskilled uneducated labor?

I don't.

[davidlar2]

I lived in Scandinavia for 6 years. I didn't stay because I didn't want to live in a society where politicians decided everything about my personal finances. If John Edwards wants to turn America into such a society too, I am happy to leave the country again to live in some non-socialist society. The only problem is that unlike basically every other country, America taxes its citizens who live in other countries, so that John Edwards can redistribute my foreign salary to his voters. I'm sure that sounds fair in some way I don't understand to those of you who support this ....

[notime4lies]

Sharn, nobody cares about immigration except the Republican batwings. The majority of Americans think immigrants should be granted a path to citizenship.

The folks that are talking our jobs are not the lowly immigrants, but the corporate behemoths who outsource white collar, high paying jobs overseas.

Economic fairness means forcing companies to pay their fair share of taxes instead of giving them giveaways so they can take our jobs to India and China.