General Music Chat

Tough sledding for Obama and nation ahead. It's too bad any political decision-making seems predicated on future elections and not current problems this country is experiencing today. I'd wish our governement would simply come together and solve the problems we elected the officials to solve. Continuous politicking is making me sick. Are we ever going to see meaningful legislation, ever? The politicians are more worried about their jobs than about the common folk. Everything is about THEM and nothing is about US. What a bunch of B.S.....

One reason for the sharp rise in popularity of these "Tea Parties"
and the re-affirming of the 10th Amendment on the part of some who would see us revert to what we once were...so long ago...

And to those who think we simply cannot be 50 states with a high degree of autonomy anymore...why not?

there, my politics for the day.
phew, glad that's over..


Rich

I took great offense at his presumptions about the banking bailouts-

He knows we're pissed but says we shouldn't be because it had to be done? Well that's a dodge x infinity - we're pissed because the gov didn't force the banks to account for the money, and instead allowed them to screw the lending market anyways.. which goes back to why we gave them the money, to KEEP th elending markets open. And the execs all got bonuses.

So in light of all that, Obama then suggests we give the "smaller" banks a bailout for the same reason as the first bailout. How freekin dumb do we look?

Oh.. yeah .. if you look at the people in the tea party rallies, yeah, we do look pretty damn stupid.

Guess we're screwed again.

I hear you Bob. It's pathetic, really. You're 100% correct...

State of the Union:

ALL SCREWED UP !!


Don't take no hour to say that now does it.

Im not sure how accurate this is but I saw or read that at the current deficit every household in America owes $100,000 towards the national debt.

To me that is the first thing to be addressed. before you spend money on anything, or start anything new.

When you or I have a shortfall we have to really cut something soemwhere to make ends meet. I knwo I have and from comments on here I know a lot of you have.

The problem is to really cut spending, someone down the line like you or me is going to lose something.

it's wierd, he was talking about education too- and about making sure we reward successes and not failure..

That was much the same speech GWB gave right before the 'no child left behind' act that ironically left more children behind than ever, and strapped school districts nation-wide.

So, does that mean more of the same, or even increased 'de-funding' of schools just because the students aren't getting good enough grades???

Pardon me but that's like trying to fine someone for being poor, no?

I voted for this guy, but OMG he's just following GWB's policies to the letter, with a different style of speaking, but the same policies across the board.

I just don't feel good about this, if we listen to him speaking, he's fantastic, inspiring, and pleasant. But when move past that, and actually listen to what he's saying, it's downright worrysome.

Anyways, we need to cut the PORK that congress shoves into bills, cut mindless spending like synfuel (a total FRAUD industry cooked up by crooked businessmen and endorsed by current & former congressmen... argh).. that industry alone has leeched 3-4 billion per year off us taxpayers for more than 25 years straight now.. why do our schools have to pay for it?!?

(edit: synfuel: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 41,00.html )

Frustrated lol. Time for a drink. Make it a stiff one.

Kramer, All I hear is that if we spend more money we can fix the problems. We dont have the money to fix the problems that way, I dotn knwo what the true answer is. But, the country is broke right now. You cant spend what you dont have. Its time for some major adjustments.

Did anyone catch how much of John McCain's platform, President Obama is now embracing? Not the least, the energy positions of supporting Nuclear as well as more domestic drilling?

Wow!

Just goes to show, they end up looking pretty similar, once they get into that office! You think they fear something? Or maybe they just get filled in, on what the real deal is... who really pulls the strings, etc...

Maybe they already know all that though, and that is the very reason they are "allowed" to get there in the first place?

Kramer, All I hear is that if we spend more money we can fix the problems. We dont have the money to fix the problems that way, I dotn knwo what the true answer is. But, the country is broke right now. You cant spend what you dont have. Its time for some major adjustments.

On this we agree. We're just spending what we DO have on the wrong things, was all I was adding

Just goes to show, they end up looking pretty similar, once they get into that office! You think they fear something? Or maybe they just get filled in, on what the real deal is... who really pulls the strings, etc...

I think what happens Craig is that they see just how hard it is to do anything.

We had a guy elected to a local county commissioner job a several years ago. He ran on a platform of "change" - I'm going to change this and I'm going to change that!

Then he got into office and found out there were actually a bunch of regulations and laws and rules that prohibited him from making those changes. There were also lobbies and unions that prevented him from making those changes... He found out it was a lot easier to say you were going to change something than to actually do it.


That is the unfortunate reality of government.


I know where I work, in a county government, I see it even at my small level. When I took my job, we were tasked with building software to handle timecard management for our employees. At the time it was a 100% paper process that took three people a total of five days to process.

One of our biggest hurdles was that we paid employees every month, on the last day of the month, for the hours they worked DURING that month. Do you know how you accomplish that when you intend to pay them on the last day and it takes FIVE days to process it? Your employees have to GUESS the final week and a half of work hours that they fill out on their timecard. GUESSING. Have you ever in your life worked at a place where you fill out your timecard by GUESSING?

I told the people in charge, "Hey, software isn't clairvoyant, and neither are your employees. All this guessing makes the software way too complicated, and we have to allow changes to past timecards for mistakes that employees made in 'guessing'. Can we change to a two-week pay period and pay people the following week like most normal companies? Then the software is easy to write, and it all works out."

The answer was a firm "NO WAY IN HELL".

Why? "Because that's the way we've always done it."

That was four and a half years ago. This month we're moving to a two week pay period. It's taken four and a half years to get this change. Something so simple a monkey could have seen it needed to be done, and yet internally we had to fight the bureaucracy of the system and the people in charge.

It's been absolutely ridiculous.

And that's just a local county government. That's not even a big state government, let alone our federal government where politics and lobbyists and political parties hold so much sway...

It's easy to get elected Craig. Because you can make promises that - even though you don't know it - you can't keep. And because you don't know you can't keep them, even YOU can believe what you say.

I have no doubt that a lot of what candidates say, they believe. But they get into office and they see the reality of the situation and it's all they can do just to make SOME change happen, even if it's small...

Colors, you're probably right. That may be alot of it.

On the other hand, you would think their political advisers would know, what is possible, legally or not.

I still believe, that when you get to that level, there are more influential people than the President, calling many of the shots, or at least letting them know, rather persuasively, what they will accept and won't accept.

When it costs HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars now, to become President, you answer to some pretty heavy hitters!

Colors, you're probably right. That may be alot of it.

On the other hand, you would think their political advisers would know, what is possible legally or not.

I still believe, that when you get to that level, there are more influential people than the President, calling many of the shots, or at least letting them know, rather persuasively, what they will accept and won't accept.

When it costs HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars now, to become President, you answer to some pretty heavy hitters!

There's no question about that. We see it eluded to in movies and fiction. You know it's based somewhat on fact.

There are people who hold a lot of sway. When I corporation or an individual pledges millions to a campaign to get you elected, they expect favors in return. That's the way our system works. That's part of what makes it abhorrent.

Fix the economy? Cut taxes!
We'll all keep the music stores busy!!

Fix the economy? Cut taxes!

Prune pork and programs instead.


There's a GREAT scene in the movie "Dave". Kevin Kline plays the president - maybe you've seen it. It's a great scene about the budget and cutting stupid programs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcwKI4ld-l8

That scene - I am sure it's nowhere near realistic - but I love it. It speaks to me. Ever since I saw that movie, that scene has stuck with me.



If you or I have budget problems, we have to CUT SPENDING. We don't "raise taxes" - our incomes are FIXED.

Our government needs to operate like its income is fixed too. CUT SPENDING.

There are undoubtedly programs funded by our government that could be cut and save money...