Comments

Like you I was not real thrilled with Obama’s performance. And as for McCain, he is more of what we’ve already had.

Maybe we are finding out that Obama is not capable of any better performance than what we’ve seen. Certainly, that would be news to many who have expected so much more. The again maybe that is all a part of his election strategy. If you recall the debates between Bush and Kerry, in the first debated Bush sputtered and seemed pretty much out of it. But that came too soon in the campaign and he had two more chances to redeem himself and show himself to be more on top of the issues. Kerry held his own in the last two debates but because Bush seemed to recover he was given even more credit.

I don’t know whether that is all we are going to see out of Obama or whether he will razzle and dazzle us in the last two debates to ice this election. Guess we will just have to wait and watch.

I agree! Amazing, I know, we actually agree on something. Honestly, I don’t think either man is qualified or should in the end be the President of the U.S., but unfortunately one of them will. I just hope that whoever it is makes some changes for good. I do think that people, more so on the Obama side, are overlooking the real issues and stances the candidates have taken and are just turning it into a popularity contest without thinking through the long term effects either of the leaders will have on our country and the world. All I know is that if I wanted to live in a socialist nation, I have plenty to choose from across the pond – and I don’t.

Stephen, for the last 7 plus years we’ve been living in a socialist nation. The only problem is that only the top 10 percent seemed to have benefited much from the experience. It’s like a game of monopoly, toward the end of the game the guy with all the properties can call the tune and drive the other players out of the game. If you want an example of how this works just look at the way we handled one of our protectorates throughout the 90s, the Northern Marianas. All you have to do is look at the increase in volume of no bid contracts and who profited from the Iraq war to understand. It trickled up not down. And McCain is going to fix this?

Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often and for the same reason. It is time to change politicians.

I have to disagree with the statement that we are currently living in a socialist nation, although I see where you are coming from. I want less government, pure and simple. I want welfare gone, I want all ideas about nationalizing healthcare gone, I want the government to lay off of private industry like the mortgage industry – without the government meddling in their affairs and “encouraging” them to loan money to less than qualified people in the interest of what they perceive as “fairness” – we would not be in the banking mess we are in today. Do you really think that the banks would leave themselves so exposed financially? I am pretty sure as a businessman that they would not have, but they were persueded to instead under Bill Clinton. I am not going to get partisan here as there are a lot of things that Bush did that I oppose as well, but he has done as lot of good things too that everyone – at least in the media – has decided to overlook. I know the feeling about needing to change poloticians, but at the same time we need to make sure that we do not have a knee-jerk reaction that screws us all. I am tired of paying for other people’s irresponsibility, I am tired of seeing these lazy people living off of taxpayer’s money and not doing a damn thing to get themselves out of that dependancy. I am tired of seeing human life and people’s religious beliefs trampled on in the name of so-called “progress.” John McCain is not the best man for the job, but Barack Obama is a far, far worse threat to our freedoms and our way of life. He WILL raise taxes on businesses, which will, in turn, cause our economy to falter even more than it already is as a result of politicians trying to dictate lending practices to the banks. Businesses will close, people will lose their jobs and want welfare, more work will be outsourced, and the ever expanding government under Obama will happily swell in size to take its place.

I will not allow this to happen and I will fight for the rights that my ancestors fought and died for until we either regain those freedoms or my life is taken from me by God or by man. Mark my words, if the government moves more to the left than it already has…. there will be a revolution, and the so-called progressive liberals that are just vying for power and material will run for their lives.

This should give you some idea of one ofthe primary sources of the problem. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95357008

You advocate less government regulation and yet for the last two weeks all we’ve heard is that it was the lack of regulation and oversight that contributed to this mess. That does not square.And now we’ll see the pendulum swing in the other direction.
If you want a litmus test of what happens when you give business free reigh all you have to do is look at the case of the Northern Marrianas Islands (one of our protectorates) and see for yourself how unbridled greed and power work together.

I am more inclined to see the role of government as FDR saw it, The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Ours is a great nation and that greatness is best when all of our boats are lifted together. In the past 8 years only the wealthiest in our country have seen their lot improved. At the same time, while US workers have been some of the most productive in the world we’ve actually seen their pay decline. Somebody is making the money and it is not the people doing the work.

@RichMc & @Stephen: Sorry for leaving you guys alone …

“I want less government.”

I think that is one of the great (old) American Illusions: there is no such thing as small government.

Our modern societies are complex and complicated. You need lots of Government to govern all the intricate details of our globally connected nations.

I agree with you that all Governments need more efficiency.

Another illusion is the thought that Free Markets or Companies are more efficient or better in caring for the needs of the people.

All the economic crises in the recent years have shown that companies shamelessly plunder their own “ecosphere” and kill the own markets they depend on.

Some more tidbits:

Those “socialist” European Nations are not as badly hit and threatened by the credit crunch than the US. The reason why: true central banks that have actually watched the industry and tighter regulations. Instead of throwing even more money down their hungry throats many banks have been nationalized in Europe – so there will be benefits for the state / people as well as high burdens.

The Higher Taxes myth: Americans always cry for tax cuts – do you really think that your infrastructure problems, gigantic national debt, two wars and your credit crises will be fixed magically?

Socialized Medicine: very funny! America actually spends as much money on Health Care than those pesky Europeans – BUT – we have here universal health care for everybody. So why not spend the same amount of money, and get health care for everybody. It’s a question of efficiency, organization and distribution. Not of higher costs and selling your soul to Stalin …

I generally agree with you Dieter.

I think the Keynesian model is probably the one that best suits our needs, that is a mixed economy of free markets coupled with a limited amount of government involvement. I think few Americans can argue that the Postal Service is not doing its job. And, just because Bush could not run the government efficiently does not prove the government cannot be run efficiently. As Dieter points out our European neighbors seem to be doing pretty well.

Frank Rich hold that the misgovernment we have experienced under Bush and the Republicans is not the result of incompetence in handling the affairs of state but a result of ideology of the Republicans.

How many times do we Americans have to experience being robbed by the greedy on this scale before we learn?

@RichMC: I think in most cases it boils down to good administration and efficiency. If it works it works.

Politicians always love to discuss dogmas but rarely good administration and efficiency.