No, but seriously, teach a man to fish needs to actually start happening. Stimulus and TARP have done nothing but spend more and more money and have the exact same result. And if you believe that unemployment is only at 9% you're very very wrong. It doesn't include people who have stopped looking for work.
Matt, by "teach a man to fish," do you mean that unemployed people should just suck it up and go find a job?
I'll wait for your clarification, but for now I'll just say this: I'm dead-positive most unemployed people would love to get a job, but the jobs just aren't out there. Sure, a college-educated person with years of experience could go get a low-paying job at a department store, but let's be honest: we need REAL jobs. Corporate profits are as high as they've ever been, but that's not translating into good, decent-paying jobs.
The stimulus has had some positive results, but hasn't been enough. Why? It was too small, and included too many tax cuts (which Republicans demanded.)
TARP infuriates me so much that I can't make an objective, rational argument for or against. All I know is that the banksters who decimated the economy need to go to jail, but our politicians are so beholden to them that not only do they avoid jail time, their bonuses are bigger than ever.
Re: unemployment > 9% due to people who have given up looking- totally agree.
I think I’d have less problems with the Stimulus if it actually was stimulating something instead of just how do I word this, dumb *bleep*… Like the signs being used for road work, I’m sure that cost money why was that needed. The fact that it’s been used for such things like building a turtle tunnel and millions were spent on it pisses me off.
What I meant by “teach a man to fish” is like say in NH, they’re using the stimulus money to help people of lesser means go and get some sort of vocational training, I think that’s a
GREAT use of the money, it’s reinvestment and I’d rather read stories like that then paying for hookers to get STD treatment or tunnels for turtles or big *bleep* signs saying “This road project paid for with stimulus money” my taxes already are supposed to go to roads, it’s included in what I pay each and every month, why the hell are we using stimulus money for it? Also, the mismanagement of the stimulus pisses me off entirely; we have people that are elected into office that can’t even tell where the money went. Monies have gone to areas that don’t even actually exist. If they don’t exist, where the hell is my money? I paid for it; it should have the oversight of a fine toothed comb. I mean it had some initiatives in it that were potentially great, like the college and pell grants available, but here’s the thing, if colleges weren’t subsidized in the first place, wouldn’t education be more affordable by allowing those super top tier education establishments to charge what they want, and everything else be more affordable? It’s the same problem with the health insurance industry.
As far as tarp, it pisses me off and the more and more and more I read about it, the more I get upset. People continually talk about Bush and his ties with Oil, well the more I read about Tarp, it was the same thing, Obama’s cabinet is full of people that should be in jail from AIG and Goldmann Sachs, however; they were given high paying cabinet jobs after betting our money and then if losing, they were just reimbursed by the taxpayers. Why in the hell they were bailed out is beyond me. It’s done nothing more than give these idiots more gambling money; our money. They should be in jail, if you or I ran a ponzi scheme like this we would be, yet, they were rewarded.
Going back to the “teach a man to fish”; my friend works for an unemployment office in NY. The stories he’s told me of the lengths people go through to not have a job and continue on unemployment benefits is downright hysterical, if they’d go through these steps to find a job, maybe there would be less unemployment. Maybe it’s because I live in Northern Virginia, where the unemployment is only around 6.5 to 7%, but there are countless places hiring. I see signs almost everywhere, hell my company alone is looking for three well qualified persons right now and we’ve only had six people apply total, the job rec has been open for 29 days and we’re listed on all of the major job boards and our recruiters are telling us no one is applying. All three positions pay between 60 and 70k but we can’t find people to fill them. Do I think there are people actively looking for work and not finding it? Yes, I have friends that have been unemployed for almost a year; do I think something should be done for them? Of course I do, but here’s the thing, the banks that were bailed out with our money are supposed to be making these small business loans are not making them. If a business cannot get the money, how can they employee people? It’s a very vicious cycle and it’s just continually being perpetuated by the same banks that we bailed out, yet still completely in business and still making millions if not billions of dollars. The banks got theirs; it still hasn’t came back to the individual. Which goes back to TARP and how it’s royally screwed us in the long run totally, if TARP hadn’t happened and these idiots were in jail like you and I both feel they should be one could say that stimulus might not have had to happen the way it did?
I’m not trying to blame Obama for all of this nor Bush, I’m blaming policies enacted by our governing powers and I think both the current and previous administrations have put us into the giant crap sandwich. Thing is, Obama has had multiple opportunities to actually fix it, and I think it could easily be fixed by one simple thing. Ending the unconstitutional wars. Thing is though, he’s as much to blame for them happening as the next guy. Had the senate had some *bleep*, they would have stepped in and used the power given to them by the constitution to put a stop to it before even happening. They had the power Democrats especially had the power and they didn’t use it. So democrats who continuously say this is 100% Bush’s fault either A: have far too much love of the democrat party, or B: are just so indoctrinated in everything that the media gives them. I say this as a former Marine, one who was on active duty at the time. By ending the war you can effectively slash the absolute *bleep* out of the defense budget and blam… we have money for years just by that simple act alone.
By the way, I enjoy these discussions with you and Amy, while we agree probably on very little, it's always a very good discussion with well thought out posts and zero name calling, even if we disagree, I still very much respect the opinions shared.
Community Forum
Topic: "We the People..." send Obama a message... (Read 8855 times)
October 11, 2009, 04:00:07 pm
