PureAuteur Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 I noticed some things today that make me feel proud to be an American. 1) Dukes of Hazzard No. 1 at the box office. (30 million)2) You can rent DVDs at McDonalds!3) Gas prices now 2.39 for regular unleaded.4) Perry Homes billboards: show your love for Houston by moving to far out suburbia! Turn left or right wherever you see massive retail sprawl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirzania Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 1) Dukes of Hazzard No. 1 at the box office. (30 million) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>:slap: No! NO! Back to your corner... Go on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PureAuteur Posted August 9, 2005 Author Share Posted August 9, 2005 I'm not sure what you meant by that, but hopefully you noticed the sarcasm. I wanted to make the list longer, but those were just things I noticed today only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 When I read the title I thought it was actually going to be serious.moo...I have heard terrible things about Dukes of Hazard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 http://www.tpj.org/page_view.jsp?pageid=667&pubid=422 one SWEET excerpt: "Perry was the largest individual contributor to the Texas Republican Party during the recent 2002-election cycle (calendar 2001 & 2002) giving $905,000." YAY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Add this...while the US is giving BILLIONS in tax subsidies to "poor little" oil companies, Texas is taking away subsidies that helped actual poor folks (including the elderly and disable) to reduce their electric bills.What a great world this is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 And Enron was supporting Bill Clinton during his second election to the Presidency. Oh wait, i though energy companies on support Rebpublicans. Enron realized that the pointless Kyoto treaty would make billions for them by killing the coal industry. Enron cut back Republican contribution and redistributed to Democrats.Anyway, we are living in great times. Corruption now versus corruption back when is no different. Big business always existed even back in colonial times. Shoot, the Romans made decisions on how to pay for thing through lobbying with wealthy traders.I know that I'm happy. I have a good job with security, I have a house I love, I live in a great American city, and the US economy is stronger than ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunstar Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 and the US economy is stronger than ever.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>What are you basing that on? The high rate of unemployment, our huge federal deficit, the struggling dollar or the record high gas prices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 What are you basing that on? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why, Fox News, of course! What a bunch of kidders! I accidently hit Fox News instead of TCM the other day, and the announcer was talking about Robert Novak's little hissy-fit (I paraphrase): "Yes, that's how our friends over at CNN do things. The minute the conversation started getting interesting, they cut him off." Well, no. Not. Totally wrong. After Robert Novak got backed into a corner by James Carville, he used an expression more appropriate to barnyards than prime-time television, and flounced off the set. But heck, we can't hold him accountable for his childish behavior. Must have been the liberal meda's fault! It's true that CNN beeped Novak's vulgarity. I'm sure conservative viewers appreciate that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Look, I know James Carville and most of his family. The are from a (excuse me they own a ) small town on the Mississippi in Louisiana. James is great political strategist but he does go off the end and get way too excited. Rober Novak rarely goes off. I'm surprised he lasted at CNN for so long. I would have went off on James a long time ago. Just like many people I've know to do in his family and in and around his hometown.Truthfully, Mr. Novak was putting Carville into the corner and James had to interupt so Mr. Novak couldn't make his point.The economy:Unemployment is lower than the Tech boom under Clinton. The economy is also stable.The deficit has shrunk dramatically because the tax revenue has dramatically increase because of the Tax Cut. Look up the Laffer Curve in google to understand why. This concept was proven under JFK back in the sixties. Under Reagan in the 80s and now again under GWB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Wikepedia has a good explanation of the Laffer Curve effect too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Unemployment is lower than Cinton. This is true under the government definition of unemployment. It does not include people so discouraged by the job market, that they have given up looking for a job. It also does not include the under-employed, i.e., engineers who work at Starbucks because engineering firms are not hiring. Nor does it include part-time workers, who clearly do not earn a sufficient wage.The "real unemployment rate is as high as 9.5 to 10.5%, about the same as Europe, which claculates their rates differently.http://www.underreported.com/modules.php?o...rticle&sid=1380Now, how you figure the deficit has shrunk dramatically is beyond me. But, the Laffer effect doesn't explain it. Maybe the "Laugher Effect", for the way the administration calculates it. They started by saying it would top $500 billion, when everyone else said it would be in the low 400s. Then when it was in the low 400s, they said they knocked out $100 billion in debt. Of course, they left out the $80 billion for the war (I can understand them wanting to ignore THAT), so did it really drop at all?And that is just this year. Bush has increased the National Debt $3.2 Trillion in just four and a half years, double what it rose under Clinton in 8 years.http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htmThat's dramatic all right...but not dramatically shrinking.Now, why don't you tell us how cheap Bush's Social Security plan is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Deficit reduction is based on incoming tax reciepts the federal government is receiving (actual money) and current running debt which does include the current spending in the Iraq war.The Laffer Curve stress there is a happy medium to the tax rate and revenue earned. If people are taxed too hight they will not see the value of working and the revenue will drop. Businesses won't reinvest to hire either if taxes are high, job creation drops. The fact that this concept was proven true twice and that it is occuring again is pretty amazing.As for the unemployment, if these people are truly discouraged and not working, then they should be going after some unemployment? If not, they're missing some free money. If work is not available to you, then you must adapt. My dad graduated from College in the mid 70s after serving in Vietnam. He had teaching degree in History, but know jobs were available at the time. He jump in the Dept. of Labor being an unemployment fraud investigator. It's not the job he wanted, but he decided he had to work to support a future family. He did very well doing this probably a little better than teaching, which is what my mom did. He, in not getting a job teaching, had to train himself to do something completely different.To me, someone complaining that the job isn't there doesn't want to look for it. If you have to work at a minimum wage job in the interim until you find someting better, that may be your only option. It's better than just claim being discouraged. Seems like an easy excuse.Also, the US government is willing to hand out million in grants, loans, and other assistance to people willing to learn new skills to get a job. Vocational Schools and Junior Colleges across the country are specialling in this. It's up to the individual to take advantage of this.Also, many people complain that the job they want is not available where they live. For example, many manufacturing jobs are moving to the southern US from the north to get away from the unions. Who can blame them. People getting paid around $60k a year to screw parts into a car. A little high for me. You may just have to move to get the job you want. People do it all the time. If I moved back to my home town after college, it would be hard for me to find a job in my field, but moving to Houston made it a lot easier.A word about the national debt. The only way our debt hurts us is in our Credit rating to other countries and banks that lend us money. The percentage of our national debt to our GDP (very similar to a debt/income ratio use when getting loans personally) is extremely low. It's lower than most countries in the world. The US is seen as a good risk to lend money too.There is also the other facet which seems stupid and silly at first. It is technically possible for the US to print money to clear it's debt. The reason this isn't done is because it will bring about inflation. The possiblity is there. And all lenders to the US know this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 "There is also the other facet which seems stupid and silly at first. It is technically possible for the US to print money to clear it's debt. The reason this isn't done is because it will bring about inflation. The possiblity is there. And all lenders to the US know this."that would be horrific Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Minimum wage job? $5.15 per hour for 2080 hours equals $10,712 annually. Subtract from that 819.47 for SSI/Medicare and you are left with $9892.53. Divided by 12 months that is $824.38. I'll bet that is less than your mortgage.BTW, once you finish receiving your 26 weeks of unemployment, you are dropped off the unemployed roles...which is why the rate is artificially low. And Pell grants and other financial aid? Your favorite administration REDUCED those. How can people get them when they aren't there?Another word about the national debt. When the government prints more money, it causes the value of the dollar to drop. It also causes concern in those countries that buy our securities. The government must then raise its rates on bonds to assuage this fear, which adds more to the debt in the form of interest. Already, many of the countries like Great Britain and Japan have expressed concern over our huge and growing debt. It is in the news on a regular basis.The national debt as a percentage of GDP is now 72%. If all of George W.'s proposals (Private accounts, make estate tax and income tax rates permanent) are approved, it will double the national debt to $16 TRILLION by 2015. That's 144% of GDP. How great will our economy be then?EDIT: Germany's debt as a percentage of GDP in 2002 was 59.4%. France's was 56.8%. Both are substantially lower than the US, and neither is adding to debt at the rate the US is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunstar Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 And to return to the topic at hand, I agree that the aughts have been a terrible decade so far. September 11th, recession, war, a tidal wave that killed over a hundred thousand people in the blink of an eye, terrorism at epic proportions. I'm just waiting for the locusts. I'm sure everything seems worse when you're living through it, but it's hard to remember a more difficult time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Locusts have already hit. France is having a horrible time with them and since they don't use pesticides (they're banned) all the crops are being eatened.By the way, no one should look at a minimum wage job as a goal for a job. Any very few companies are paying minimum wage because qualified workers won't take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 unfortunately, there are so many unqualified/uneducated workers (or workers-in-wait) out there, and jobs they might be qualified for are taken by the underemployed.hell, for a while after i graduated from college i worked retail earning change... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 "I'm sure everything seems worse when you're living through it, but it's hard to remember a more difficult time." 1770s 1860s 1910s 1930s 1940s 1970s (have you watched VH1 lately) However, I would agree that many have had a very difficult new century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 ^^So true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all doing direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)The more things change, the more they remain the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Hopefully the 2010's wont follow the 1910's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Hopefully the 2010's wont follow the 1910's!<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well at least you will know the twenties are around the corner. Well that won't be so great if you are a farmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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