What is going on in Europe?

[Homesteadmom]

Then explain why the only stocks that were staying stable & not dropping have now dropped since he started talking healthcare. The stocks were in healthcare BTW. Still speaks volumes to me. there is nothing he can do to fix it, it is just a cycle & needs to run its course. Let these banks & businesses fail & we the people will pick ourselves back up & move on again.

 

[On Our own]

BTW, quarterly reports are due out soon and will show even more devastation as the truth of more corporations exposure to the Credit Default Swap crisis becomes apparent.

Expect another nose dive. Nothing to do with anything O does, it is still the S**** rolling down the hill.

Could be O, could be McCain, could be the next incarnation of Buddha, this ship is too rolled to right itself.

 

[Big Daddy]

BTW, quarterly reports are due out soon and will show even more devastation as the truth of more corporations exposure to the Credit Default Swap crisis becomes apparent.

Expect another nose dive. Nothing to do with anything O does, it is still the S**** rolling down the hill.

Could be O, could be McCain, could be the next incarnation of Buddha, this ship is too rolled to right itself.

I'm afraid you may be right. You know right now may be a good time to invest in a used school bus.

Yes I believe this country might be a lot like the Titanic. The end result could be very close to the same, as far as who has the lifeboats.

 

[VT-Chicklit]

Everyone (even me) keeps talking about Obama, Bush and sometimes Clinton as if one or a combination of the Presidents are the sole fault of the current crisis. The issue is much greater than them. We must remember that the President has limited capibility to spend, without it comming from Congress. Presidents come and go, and at most, they will be with us for 8 years. The Congress, who for the most part is in charge of the purse strings and creating the laws, does not change radically from term to term. This may be the real problem.

The changes in the laws regarding mark to market and the Glass Steagall Act came from congress. These changes in accounting practices and the allowance of mingling of the investment banking with the Commercial Banks were a big part in the banking crash. Add to that a congress that didn't see anything wrong with creating laws that made it easy for people who did not have the money to pay for the house they wanted to get the house with little or nothing down. These laws allowed greed to fester in our financial industy as these bad morgages were sold over and over again in any number of permutations until it came time to pay the piper! Congress created a climate that condoned and even promoted these bad morgages inorder to get the poor and even the illeagle into a home of their own. Unfotunately, no one cared that these same poor people could not affrd these homes once their special rates expired. Many struggled to even pay the taxes and the repairs on these homes before their ARM adjusted.

Congress has also spent like drunken saiors for many years, BOTH the Demacrats and Republicans love to spend our money equally and they don't care if they spend our children and grandchildrens money too! We all need to stop focusing only on the idiot at the top of the government and start paying closer attention to those in Congress as well, because they are the ones that do most of the spending, taxing and law making. We need to get past their bribes to us,their constituants, and see the bigger picture. Is a new museum, bridge, research project or other pork project in your district really worth pileing more debt on your children and grandchildren? Remember your representative, with few exceptions, has piled on his/her share of pork. We all need to remember this as we dog talk any of the Presidents. We also need to remember this come the next election in 2 years.

 

[me&thegals]

Excellent point! It's just easier to focus on one at the top rather than hundreds in Congress.

 

[Wifezilla]

I am not an Obama fan, but I seriously am beginning to think the guy was totally set up.

 

[love blrw]

It is just corporate greed, the bigwigs have taken their corporation's money and hidden it in Swiss bank accounts or other foreign investments. Maybe they are afraid that, with the end of oil, there will be too much upheaval and they are too chicken to help pull the country through the change. Only thinking of themselves.
Other countries have been addressing the coming change and we were not. Now we have to try to catch up in a shorter amount of time.
I think the US is trying to get info on the Swiss accounts so that the US can expose some of the people who are evading taxes. I heard that the total in one Swiss bank alone the assets that are held by US citizens are $860 billion.

 

[Homesteadmom]

I have been saying for over 10 yrs we need to clean house in Washington & take back "our gov't". A lot of people have laughed at me like i am crazy, but now they are seeing my point & why.

 

[love blrw]

I think that we have let corporations and banks get too big and spread too worldwide. I don't believe that it is our government is as corrupt as the large corporations. The comparison of greed and overspending in Washington is nothing compared to what corporations are sucking from us. The people in Washington just don't make that much money when you compare them to the corporate executives.
The executives now have power over governments, can take money and hide it, pay off accountants and lawyers so they are untouchable. When many individuals make six million a week there is little a government can do to stop them. But we as a nation must try. The only thing we can do is keep our nation intact and fight corporate greed. One step at a time. Let them leave if they don't like the restraints that will be imposed on them. I don't want to keep paying tens of thousands of dollars a year for insurances, medical premiums, or interest and lining their pockets. I get nothing from them in return.
At least the government gives back, not in all the ways I would choose, but I think we should pinpoint who the real problems are.
My personal belief is that Bush did not know what to do when he saw the problems that were facing him/us, so he sat on his hands. That has left the present government with the task of fighting Goliath. Our presidents are good people, they want to serve, they have something inside them that wants to make the US strong, but now corporations are stronger. If we aren't behind David, then we are might as well give up. Because Goliath needs to be brought to his knees. And we need someone in office who is not afraid to fight. Let's stop arguing and give Obama a chance. We are on the outside looking in, and we have to have faith that most decisions are being made in our best interest. We can argue in three years when the next election comes up.
Once we take back some control over mega-corporations, then we can build our country back up. If we don't take power away from bully corporations then, we as a nation will suffer. We will become like a third world country and our money will be worthless, our land will be bought by corporations or foreigners. Our government will just become weaker and weaker until we have no voices and will not even have the ability to argue about these points on the internet.
What we are spending in our government right now is nothing compared to what we will lose if we don't tackle this problem head on.
Please don't jump on me, I am an old weak woman.
Lin

 

[me&thegals]

I totally agree. When I hear that Monsanto has 80 lobbyists at one summit involving agriculture, I have to think they're rolling in it. I think campaign finance reform would help, at least until corporations figured another way in. It costs too stinking much money to get elected in America. That can't be a healthy situation for our politicians, when the guy with the most money wins. Corporations have this perfect set-up for stacking the system to suit them. I'm not morally opposed to globalization--I think it would be like trying to stuff the genie back in the bottle--but I am opposed to the way it allows some corporations be even more greedy, hire third-world folks for a pittance and not do the right thing again. I think we have this climate where corporate greed is becoming the norm and there's not nearly enough outrage about it.