Morning Folks!!
I just don't get it. Like you, I am ripping my hair out. Folks want to save the world, build schools, hire teachers and all the rest. They don't seem to care about $4 BILLION a DAY in interest. $4 BILLION a DAY. How many could you feed, clothe, educate, etc. with that $4 Billion a DAY? I just don't get it.
Never in my life have I watched a President Squander his good will. Never in my life have I seen a President basically abdicate his duties with over a year remaining in his Presidenctcy. Never in my life have I seen somebody blame everybody in sight. Never in my life have I seen a President that can't seem to lead. And when he does lead, he goes where the majority do not want to go.
Michelle Obama and Jill Biden got booed at a NASCAR event this weekend. There is a reason for that.
Don't take my word for it, just listen to some of the more responsible Democrats. Even lefies like Chris Matthews is ripping his hair out. This country is in DEEP shit. Obama is fiddling while the country goes bankrupt. There is no excuse in the world for what is going on. I can narrow it down to 2 people. Harry Reid and President Obama. The only thing good about 'Gridlock' is they can't do anymore damage. Actually they can and are. Each passing day we dig deeper into this financial hole we will likely not climb out of without great inflation.
Sorry, but even the Democrats are calling for Obama to not run and have Hillary Clinton instead. We are in perilous times and it is self induced. The train is derailed and the guy in the Whitehouse seems perfectly content.
My biggest question is why would he run again and a bigger question is why would America hire him again as their CEO when he isn't doing the job he was elected to. Leading is a job. Having ideas is a job. Harnessing the power of Americans is a job. Turning the country profitable again is a job. The money people are going towards Romney. Lots of them. Last time most supported Obama. They are abandoning him and that is a great rebuke.
Lastly, his campaign to divide people is doing quite the opposite. He can try class warfare, but that is unbecoming a leader. That is a divider not a leader.
His support of Occupy Wall Street, along with Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi is probably the final straw for most folks that have a job and a mortgage. But the very worst thing he does is talk down his own country at every opportunity. I would call his administration a thugocracy and I can only hope the majority is as sick as I am. I don't like these years of intimidation when you don't feel free to speak your mind for fear of retribution. I never saw that until the last 3 years.
He is an incompetent CEO and a disappointing President. Look what I wrote about him on inaguration day. Look what I wrote about the world and our enemies. I just hope the Republicans put up somebody electable. This country will not survive a president that has his heels on the throats of business. He is choking the economy with uncertainty and fear. He is strangling the lifeline of our economic engine. It may or may not survive the year. It is MATHEMATICALLY impossible to survive 5 more years of meandering. It will all come down to the vote and we will be responsible for the outcome even more than Obama.
Personally, I think there will be clarity after the 2012 election because America will speak loud and clear. There is still right and wrong. There is still a sense of 'Can do' and I think the words of Obama will be what comes back to haunt him during the months ahead. The buck stops where? With Obama you never know who he will blame next. Who he will try and shut up or who he will try and shut down. He can try and pit Americans vs Americans, but that will fail. Americans want an optimistic leader with bold ideas and the wherewith all to carry it out.
Romney would probably be the most acceptable to the broadest electorate but getting through the primaries will be no small task at a time where Republicans want a true conservative. Going to be an interesting year. Mark my words on this one no matter which side of the political spectrum you are on. But if I were a liberal, I would be going crazy pissing away $4 BILLION a day when that money could be used for the very things we will have to cut.
In 2009 I suggested we 'Give them Seattle' to satisfy the debt, today we would have to give away everything west of the Mississippi. How sad!
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
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mywe666
If remember correctly it was Bush who got us into this deep hole. Certainly Obama should get some blame but not all of it because the country was already in a big debt when he came into power.
Rick Schwartz
That’s true. But I would compare it to being on a plane at 35,000 feet. I really don’t care about what the last pilot did, I just want this pilot to land safely. Last time I looked he wanted the job. Complaining at 35,000 feet does not instill confidence. That is where we are I think.
Domains, Oil, Gold, Land, and Food
I don’t consider myself liberal or conservative since with each subject I can lean either way, but I voted for Obama this last election. That was a bad mistake.
What’s even more sad beyond the scope of the economy is his poor record on many areas not even talked about since the atmosphere has been so dire.
For example, he has done an abysmal job with protecting the environment. He’s turning out to be almost as bad a Bush in that regard. Endangered animals are not being added to the protected list anymore, he’s done absolutely NOTHING for the outdoor community of fisherman and hunters, he’s shut down domestic oil production but has committed the U.S. to buying Brazilian oil, etc….
I hate to say it but history may look back at Obama as being the worst president ever. They’ll say he had an opportunity to turn things around but squandered it, and then America dove to the depths of a miserable Depression (which I think is coming and will be much worse than 2008). He will be despised and talked about for generations to come, sadly.
mywe666
You’re right who ever wants to be the next president should reduce the debt at least a little bit and not make it worst.
But do you really think getting a new person in the presidency will make things better?
I simply don’t have faith in them unless they get together and agree to make it goal. Which is a DREAM if they do it. It simply wont happened.
No matter who comes into power next time, the problem will not get fixed because it involves a lot of people and getting all of them on the same page would take a miracle. In my opinion this the main problem that keeps this country from moving ahead.
But for those that are in desperate time don’t hope for the government to get you out of your economic situation. I have done much better during this time than when the country was in a surplus.
There is plenty of opportunity to make a few extra dollars online just get focus on what you want to do and get informed as much as you can. And I’m not talking about domains because there are much easier ways to make a good living.
Melodramatic
In this case how can you not care what the last pilot did. Because the last pilot died at the wheel with the plane in the air.The new pilot is doing what he can to land the plane safely, but you have so many passengers trying to tell him how to fly the plane. You have others grabbing at the wheel instead of trying to cooperate. Obama may have made some mistakes, but it was the last pilot (Bush) that got us into this mess. He took us on a plane ride to Iraq and that is where the plane crashed like in an episode of Lost. Now the new pilot (Obama) is doing what he can to get us back. There’s no way you can discount what Bush did. It took Bush 8 years to do what he did, and now everyone expects Obama to come in and fix things quickly. It’s just not going to happen. It took time to get things this way, it’s going to take time to get them back. And I wouldn’t trust not one of those republicans (the money people) to run this country. They are only for themselves.
Matt
RON PAUL is the only candidate that wants to go after the true source of our ills. The Federal Reserve!!!
Why are Americans so stupid???
Romney, Gingrinch, Cain are all puppets of the oligarchy,…
yet most Americans still think Ron Paul is a kook and is too fringe [this is because they have allowed their perceptions to be managed by the MSM].
And….the Tea Party & the OWS are many of the same people. In fact, I give OWS more credit for advancing the ball further down the line.
Rick,…we need to stop with the Left/Right game….there are only those who favor statism,..and those who do not!!!!
Occupy.TV
I agree with most of your post but this caught my eye”His support of Occupy Wall Street, along with Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi is probably the final straw for most folks that have a job and a mortgage.” – on closer inspection I guarantee you will find that most people who are in or who identify with the whole Occupy thing actually do have jobs and mortgages, or at least did until recently..
Occupy.TV
LOL and as for ‘support of Occupy Wall Street’ he didnt even do that very well! I guess Bloomberg and that nice fellow at UC Davis didnt get the memo.
Bill Roy
Rick, it would seem that you are at odds with the American people – all the latest polls show Obama ahead against Republicans. So I do not think people are looking at Obama as the cause of the problem but looking beyond the propaganda to the Republicans, who by being in fear of the Tea Party have shown themselves to be unable to lead anyways.
Given the recession, high fuel prices, unemployment, etc., it is amazing that Obama is not 20 points behind ANY Republican, just goes to show that perhaps the American electorate are indeed wiser than pundits would have us think and they (the voters) can distinguish between the propaganda and the truth when it comes to whom is responsible for the mess.
Matt
Bill Roy,
You actually believe the polling numbers that the MSM presents? Lol.
Trust me on this…..Obama ain’t liked (A mandate to buy ObamaCare,..really???…in the land of the free???).
http://www.barefootsworld.net/prophesy.html
James
America started losing the plot when they started trying to run the world. That has to stop for a start…how can the US pontificate to anyone when it’s obvious it can’t even run itself properly?
There needs to be a settlement day. Nearly all countries have been run by idiots who would all be bankrupt if they ran their own finances the same way.
Biggest economy in the world and it has the biggest debt = shut it down. Seriously, what would happen if every country on the same day just wiped off it’s debts and started again? Something? Nothing?
Melodramatic
It doesn’t matter who you put in the white house. Folks will have a problem with whoever is there. He or she just isn’t going to do what everyone wants, including you. Just look at some of the things that are being complained about on this board. I also think that you are going over the top on some of the things you said. You feel intimidated, and feel that you can’t voice your opinion for fear of retribution is a bunch of bs. You make him sound like he’s Hitler. Those republicans are just slicksters. A bunch of conniving swindlers, that will say anything that you want to hear. They put on this show of great patriotism, but it’s all a front. Just watching Perry explain his love us guns was enough to make you want to vomit. And Romney and his illegal immigrants. And when asked about it, it’s not his fault, it’s the lawn company’s. Not once, but twice. Same company, and has the nerve to say that”employers in America are acting as “magnets” to illegal immigrants who are looking for work and whose legality is never properly checked. He’s already pointing fingers.
Kevin
What we really need are TERM LIMITS on the President, the Senate, and the Congress.
These folks get elected and then become intrenched for too long a time period and then listen to the lobbyists instead of the people.
We also need to dramatically cut the waste, corruption, overcharging, and overspending in all sectors of governments Federal, State, and Local. Defense spending is really the biggest spender we need to reduce.
Matt
@ Melodramatic – the illegals need to be shipped back and/or severe penalties on employers for hiring them. They are ILLEGALS for Pete’s sake. If we cant agree on common sense policy,…than arguing mere politics [re:Perry] doesn’t make sense as all it does is reveal biases.
@ Kevin – Here – Here !!!
Bill Roy
The same way I would take any of the polls from RealClearPolitics.com (a Republican ‘leaning’ site), which is where I do take polling results from. Unfortunately it would seem that others choose all to often to be somewhat biased in selecting which data to accept.
As far as ‘trusting’ you or anyone else, all I have to do is look at the figures and not peoples personal and biased opinions – I find that the figures are so much more reliable! :)
David J Castello
Good points Rick, but as long as the GOP insists in living in the Stone Age when it comes to social issues I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole. Obama is going to win in 2012 unless the GOP gets behind Ron Paul – and they won’t.
Bill Roy
Kevin, the Presidency is restricted to two terms as I understand it.
SL
Too harsh, imho.
It’s hard to deny that he’s accomplished more in three years than any other president (as of last year):
http://realdealtalk.com/2010/11/09/what-has-president-obama-accomplished-in-2-years/
Much of this spending would be more tolerable if Bush didn’t double the national debt from $5T to $10T. It’s much more difficult to deal with now that it’s a higher portion of GDP.
But the real question is whether the spending will pay off in the short and long run.
For example, short term gains by cutting wasted spending in the defense sector, saving money by cutting funds for the ridiculous abstinence-only education, etc.
Long term savings by investing in the country’s neglected infrastructure, shoring up the biotech sector by repealing restrictions on stem cell research, etc.
All of that in the face of Republican’s stated concern that their absolute priority is to limit him to one term, not tackle the enormous problems we face:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sen-mcconnell-making-obama-a-one-term-president-is-my-single-most-important-political-goal/
His biggest mistake appears to have been spending too much political capital on reforming Medicare over the jobs situation back in ’09. Medicare/Medicaid is indisputably the largest long-term financial crisis we face. But we’ve learned that this country needs to take its medicine slowly, not in one gulp.
Fwiw.
C.T.
From a sign at OWS:
“If they enforced bank regulations like they do park rules we wouldn’t be in this mess” :
http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress-engine/files//2011/11/if-they-enforced-bank-regulation-300×199.jpg
Kevin
@ Bill Roy
Yes that is correct and I think 8 years is too much time for ONE individual to have so much power over the most powerful country on the planet.
I also think we should consider changing the Office of the President from 1 President to a team of 3 Presidents, with one Republican, one Democrat and one Independent. This will give us a much more balanced center of power and be more like a CEO team instead. Same setup for VP’s as well.
The government has become too complex and too unmanageable for a single individual to do all the necessary daily CEO style responsibilities. Look how old and aged Obama looks after just a few years so far. He’s got white hair already. It’s too much grind and pressure for one guy to handle effectively.
Gnanes
Everybody keeps lending money when they don’t even have money to lend.
Mark
Nice job Rick, creating controversy and attention…look at all the comments already and it’s not even noon. Gotta hand it to you, you’re very good at what you do:)
Rick Schwartz
I am just happy to see a reasonable discussion after over a decade of polarization. Long overdue.
C.T.
I would love to see Ron Paul get the nomination. Trouble is he makes sense and tells the truth. He knows what’s going on.
As staunch a free market congress person as RP is, he was still smart enough to vote against the repeal of Glass Steagall. He voted against it not because he was against the free market but rather because he saw that as it was proposed it put the US tax payers at risk should the banks fail. RP is no dummy or corporate shill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LxYlMakG28
jblack
Rick, agree completely with your post. But the fiddling is purposeful, toward an objective. Obama is doing what you always recommend doing first. STOP. He is stopping. Stopping is the first step toward changing directions completely. His intention is to halt the economy. To usher in the”necessity” of massive federal government intervention and control.
jrb
The economy needs a good flushing out. The US can’t go on forever increasing their debt and borrowing, they have to cut spending and raise taxes, it’s the only way out. How else, it’s just like a household that spends more money than it takes in, eventually the shit hits the fan. Except with a country it’s on a huge scale. The problem is most people fight agressively against raising taxes, and most people don’t want government spending to be cut. Just like what’s happening in Greece. Maybe there is another way out, but it all comes down to cutting spending and/or increasing the money that comes in. The solution will be a mess and hurt a lot of people, but I can’t see any other way out.
Yan Huang
$4 billion a day…that’s insane!
As far as the politics, it is always two sides of the same coin. But regardless, it shall be interesting to see.
Kevin Davis
All the politicians are so full of shit their eys are brown.Time to do a complete clean out of the system.
Matt
We must stop the NWO.
Americans better wake up fast.
None Dare Call it A Conspiracy.
Bill Roy
@ Kevin,
The idea of ‘three’ rulers always seems to sound nice, unfortunately there seems to be little evidence of it ever working out so, the Rump legislature in France appointed Napoleon, Sieyes, and Ducos to rule on equal terms – guess that didn’t quite work out.
At the moment the US has elections for President once every four years, with voting for congressional seats to coincide with the Presidential election or half way through the term, this is to act as counter balances against a single party being able to gain a strong upper hand in the White House or Congress against the peoples will (at least that is my understanding of it put simply). To reduce the Presidential term to one of three years would not only increase costs but also reduce the effectiveness of the office of President as no sooner had one been elected that they would have to start preparing to fight another campaign. This may be heaven for those who want the Government to consist of 7 people, with three of them being cleaners, but would actually reduce the effectiveness of government to a shambles. What long term planning could be achieved for one thing?
The reason Obama has aged, as do all politicians, is that they are ‘working’ 24 hours a day 7 days a week, even in their ‘off time’ they are on call. Perhaps this simple fact raises another question though, how effective is a career politician who has not aged?
The Government is not unmanageable because of its size but rather because it is complex, hence the reason there are Secretaries of State, etc., to take on running certain departments within the Government, just as with VP’s in big organizations. There is though the problem of the executive not being able to get policy through because of the blocking techniques employed by political rivals, vested interest groups, those who oppose anything that the President stands for (opposition zealots), and of course the wide array of missinformers, etc..
The USA has perhaps the best democratic political system in the world, unfortunately it is wide open to abuse by politicians and idiots. What the US does need is for people to realise just how lucky they are and work to make it even better – that does not mean taxing the rich out of existence or making the poor pay a higher percentage of their income in tax than the rich.
Bill Roy
JRB, very well said.
domain guy
well again where to start 4 billion a day…thats interest accumulated since 1969 nixon…the last president to balance the debt clinton.the gop started the war over an energy policy,concealed and lied the amt to congress…and used every american resource to fight a war to bring more oil onto the world market. and then passed tax reduction to move the cost of the war to the middle class..8 yrs..not to mention papa bush who interfeared with kuwait to stop irag.and spent only 20 million dollars to convience amercan to get involved in kuwait(read house of saud house of bush)
with america in the tank obama passed the stimulas and is moving america passed fossil fuels.no more keystone pipleine, no more drilling offshore,no more tax subdidies for oil and gas…its that simple…a complete reversal of american energy policy. instead we have training for energy efficient retrofits in the us insead of more consumption.And this is being financed by the deficiet since bush used every resource possible for a war that was not in americas interest.And then the us has to pay for 70 million citizens on food stamps…a bailout of fannie/freddie due to the loosening underwriting guidelines..dodd/frank…borrow money to keep state gov afloat…no compensation guidelinesfor bankers in the stimulas so banks sit on piles of money.and you are going to see a socal shift to domestic policy due to 50 million latinos
with no mexican immigration laws.obama is a leftest and the only resource left is printing and borrwing more money.obama stated it before the election”i’ll print more money” so why are you surprised? Now when we see the bush tax rollbacks implemented the wealthy pay their”fair share” instead of the middle class,a national energy policy implemented after none fromthe last 10 presidents, a national healthcare plan you are going to have higher tax rates to pay for the bush regime…more than a decade since bushpacked his shit and moved to texas.MOPPING UP TAKE YEARSIT TOOK FDR 2 TERMS AND A WORLD WAR TO STAIGHEN OUT THE US.So sitbackand PAYFOR THE 257 VOTES FROM fLORIDA since fox news lied and voters walked away from the polls,the florida sec of state who is associated with bush and the supreme court judge who was put into office by papa bush.
Theo
Come on Rick .. the bill had tobe paid sometime..
And to put it on Obama i dunno if that is all fair…
When i look around here (Europe).
I see some countries who really fokked it up.
I also see countries that are caught in the downward spiral..
And i see winners here.
Bottom line is we ALL pay the bill regardless who is in charge in whatever country.
We enter the era where have to pay the bill.
15 years ago i was at this presentation of a large credit supplier..
This CEO claimed that it was good to finance your flipping hamburger..
You need to finance your flipping hamburger you are taking a wrong exit.
Simple as that.
People who invest in the stockmarket and tell me that china is the way to go…. You might want to zoom out and look at the massive real estate bubble that is building up there..
The massive debt the USA been building up is not something that happend overnight.
I can’t judge if Obama did the right or wrong thing. He’s not my president. But to blame it all on Obama … nah … shit didn’t hit the fan all due to Obama.. Zoom out and get the big picture.
David J Castello
Yep, I gasped when they repealed Glass Steagall – which was incorporated after The Depression. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
Bill Roy
David, unfortunately ‘history’ is written by those with a bias, the unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of people who do not even understand the value of history and its interpretation – hell it is even worse than archaeology!
Matt
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/a-majority-of-americans-including-both-ows-and-the-tea-party-agree-on-the-most-important-issues-we-just-dont-realize-it.html
Dumb and Dumber
Every citizen is complicit in this FRAUD that is out economic system. How many of us watched people getting 500K loans for houses with zero down and NO JOB. We did nothing. The education system is full of cowards, like what happened at Penn State. Everyone is out for themselves.
A real champion human being would not allow stupidity and immoral things to happen. Lending people money for houses and not being responsible if they don’t pay is immoral and it should be criminal.
You know what else is immoral and criminal? People in the domain industry allowing scam extensions to proliferate and then allowing scammers to run wild on the message boards selling that SHIT.
That is why domain forums are Ghost Towns, and the ethical people have left. Scammers like Michael Mann and his phoney .co sales scam where he robs everybody blind. These people do NOTHING for the domain industry.
And how come Ron Jackson NEVER calls any of these people out for these dogshit business practices that set domaining back years?
Get with the GOD DAMN program and look in the mirror. It isn’t Obama’s fault. He was dealt a garbage hand by your PAL George Bush. Wake up and do something about it yourself.
Matt
@ Dumb & Dumber
George Bush,..really? really?
Why not go back to Clinton as his decision to sell out Americans to the idea that Globalization will help Americans? NAFTA,…granting Chine most favored nation status….all these grand ideas sure havent helped America [unless you like the giant sucking sound of out-sourced jobs].
Heck,..why not go back to Lyndon Baines Johnson?… and his ‘Great Society’ program that spent money America didnt have….which ultimately would force Nixon to take America off the gold standard.
Agree with everything else you said but that last sentence is a doozy. Enough with the blame pacing…it is sad. imvho.
Johnny Dangerous
Still would love to see Newt Gingrich in a broad & deep Debate vs Obama …. BO would get essentially get”schooled” … Newt would rout him big time !
Newt might not win the nomination, but pound for pound, he his the smartest, most knowledgable (in the majority of key areas), experienced and toughest of the bunch (All candidates on both sides)
Will Hillary eventually enter the mix ?
DOC HOLLYWOOD
You can put God in office in 2012…he’ll be voted out in 2016.The problems we face as a nation were brewing long before Obama came to the job.”Can Do” optimism is wonderful.”Can Do” realism dictates that our problems won’t be fixed within’ a four year time frame.You may get some psychological comfort from voting someone new into office…and that’s about it.It’s (mostly) because we all (to some degree) really don’t want to make the cuts & sacrifices it would take to balance the budget and/or (more importantly) pay off the massive debt.(I DO NOT INCLUDE TAX HIKES AS A PART OF THAT SACRIFICE) Everybody likes their particular bailout/welfare/handout/tax loophole/subsidy/make work contract.A bunch of pots calling a bunch of kettles black.You may may get your Republican in office Rick. You won’t notice much difference.
George
Excuse my ignorance. What does it mean”thugocracy”?
I think maybe you meant Theocracy.
Thank you.
George
Dumb and Dumber
Newt may be knowledgeable, but he actually had the nerve to say in a debate that he wouldn’t trust anyone would did NOT believe in God to run the country.
That disqualifies him from serious discussion. He is booted off the island and you cannot take him seriously. That type of superstition is what holds mankind back and keeps us from achieving all we can achieve.
If you would vote for someone who believes that you must have superstitious beliefs, then you , my friend, cannot be taken seriously either.
jeff schneider
Seasons Greetings Rick/one and all,
Obamas fault= Perhaps
Bush,s fault= Perhaps
Humans fault= Perhaps
All of the above= Perhaps
AustraliaHouses
So as to appear the good guy for historians, in the final days of his presidency, Eisenhower warned Americans of the powerful manipulation, and exploitation, of the American people, by the ‘military industrial complex’.
If America truly wants to be a positive source of energy in the world, and gets its finances back under control as well, for a start, stop wasting your money, and sacrificing your citizens, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then when that’s done, you may want to ask someone why your millionaires pay less tax than you and I do?
ScottM
Nobody is going to get all or even most of what they want in any candidate. So whoever the Republican nominee is you must support him or her unless you want to guarantee Obama gets to inflict 4 more years of economic damage and carnage on this country. Plain and simple.