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Today's Poll: Are you worried about the country heading into another recession?

By Howard B. Owens
Ed Gentner

Thanks to both parties who never seem to understand the basics of economics or the lessons of history, we are heading into another crisis. The whole debt ceiling scheme ignores the need for revnue as well as massive Government stimulus to jump start a flatlining economy is sending Wall Street into a panic as evidenced by yesterdays 500+ drop in the market. Today will most likely see even more loss of both equity and confidence in the already weak market.

Meanwhile, our elected leaders take of on a 5 week paid vacation that will undoubtably include the traditional junkets to exotic destinations on the taxpayers dime.

Aug 5, 2011, 10:10am Permalink
George Richardson

It has already been over two years since the Reichwing has sucked your 401k's dry, it is overdue to happen again. Put that teabag in your pipe and smoke it.

Aug 5, 2011, 10:49am Permalink
John Roach

Yea, couldn't be no faith in Obama? Or the fact our debt is not decreasing and the Fed might print more money out of thin air to pay for it (inflation), or that other countries either don't have the money to loan us, or are not too sure they want to

Aug 5, 2011, 11:32am Permalink
Bob Harker

So tell me, Edmund, how's that last "stimulus" package working out for you?

And I'd like to know how many GENERATIONS of your descendents you are willing to have fund another "stimulus" package.

If I'm not mistaken, you are the ONLY person left on the planet that thinks the fist one did anything but waste $1,000,000,000,000.00! Even comrade Geitner admits that.

Stumu-less indeed.

Aug 5, 2011, 11:43am Permalink
Mark Potwora

If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand." - Dave Ramsey....Could this be the reason why......too much DEBT

Aug 5, 2011, 11:46am Permalink
Charlie Mallow

Well, maybe we are seeing turmoil because only 14% of Americans believe that Congress has a clue to leading us out of our problems.

If the government doesn't work together, government doesn't work. Maybe its time to eliminate the insane right and left.

Aug 5, 2011, 12:06pm Permalink
George Richardson

Rex, you can spend your way out of debt. You have to have access to money to make money. You don't have to have any money. Many businesses have been started on credit card debt and eventually they flourished. Debt is not bad, without debt I wouldn't own a house or several cars. And I don't even drive but my family does. Don't worry, it is no different than it ever was.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-BOFnXiQMs]
Chill.

Aug 5, 2011, 1:45pm Permalink
Bea McManis

"The point is that it’s now time — long past time — to get serious about the real crisis the economy faces. The Fed needs to stop making excuses, while the president needs to come up with real job-creation proposals. And if Republicans block those proposals, he needs to make a Harry Truman-style campaign against the do-nothing G.O.P.

This might or might not work. But we already know what isn’t working: the economic policy of the past two years — and the millions of Americans who should have jobs, but don’t."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/opinion/the-wrong-worries.html?_r=1

Aug 5, 2011, 1:55pm Permalink
George Richardson

Bea, it says a lot for you that you still care. If I am still alive at your age, I doubt I will. I also strongly doubt that I will still be alive at your age. Although I do care now I think I will care less with each tomorrow unless something changes. Maybe all I need is rain, or love. I know I love rain.

Aug 5, 2011, 2:30pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

Gee George if it works so well then why are there any poor at all?
Nothing will ever change untill we cutback on the entitlements...Everyone of you knows someone, maybe more that could work but live off the goverment. Untill that stops we will dig further into a hole that our kids and grand kids will be stuck with . I am 56 and I have heard the same thing for years no one has the guts to take these life sucking programs on.

Aug 5, 2011, 3:46pm Permalink
George Richardson

Rex, please give me a list of where the unemployed people I know who are living off of the government could get a job. Would you hire them? I would have to be really rich and think twice before I would. Unless it was a government subsidized job, then I might say OK.

Aug 5, 2011, 4:00pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

There are lots of farm jobs but we have to bring people in from other countrys to do them. and I am not only talking about unemployment how about all the people that can work that live off disability or ssi. the problem is people dont want to work or dont have to when theres work its just "beneath them" Thats the problem with these great social programs they reward lazyness.

Aug 5, 2011, 4:17pm Permalink
George Richardson

Rex, I did farm work as a teenager and if I did it now I would die. Do you just want us to die? I feel that way constantly and it sucks. Rex, can you lift a hundred pounds over your head? Do you think you could do it in thirty years? I hope you are right.

Aug 5, 2011, 5:09pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

I dont want you or anyone else to die I just want people to pull there own weight. There are jobs out there but you have to wnat to work.
Wanna help? Stop buying imported crap from China and the likes.
I can name 10 people that live off the goverment that have nice houses, and I even know one that rides a new Harley. How fair is it to the people that work there butts off to just get by when they see these layabouts get treated so good? and dont tell me its not true. Not all farm work requires you to lift 100 lbs but what ever.i fractured the T-9 vertebra I could be getting aid but my father brought me up better then that. The problem is simple pure lazyness.

Aug 5, 2011, 5:47pm Permalink
Ed Gentner

@Rex, would you realy work for the wages and benefits offered to migrants, or the under the conditions they have to work under? My guess is that you wouldn't.

The overwhelming majority of people who are on disability or SSI are not there because they want to be. No one that I have know who has disablity wanted it, it isn't a gift or a prize. When I hear the blow hards who spout the crap that the disabled are somehow lazy or shouldn't be cared for in a civil society, I wonder if they would continue to sing that song while confined to a wheelchair or subject to any number of conditions that qualify for disability.

Aug 5, 2011, 6:02pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

I have a friend thats confined to a wheel chair and he works. If I had to work as a migrant to support my family you bet your butt I would! What about the alcoholic's and drug addicts that get aid? liberals sit there and say oh boo hoo that person souldnt have to work for that little or that hard, but there the same ones that shop Wal-Mart and places like that that sell nothing but imports fron China and cry if the farmer trys to make a buck.

Aug 5, 2011, 6:13pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

What we need to do is reevaluate all the people getting aid and see if they really need it. Yes some people do but what I am saying is that the system is full of cheets and lazy people, if we cut the waste in the system we will see billions of dollars in savings and thats a good start

Aug 5, 2011, 6:23pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

If all fraudulent recipients were charged, and possibly jailed, they still ride the dime. The inefficiency of government makes it cheaper to allow cheats.
Any attempt to target people solely because they receive benefits would certainly rile up the ACLU.

Aug 5, 2011, 7:52pm Permalink
Chris Charvella

So what percentage of people getting government assistance are cheating the system Rex? You realize they already do fraud prevention and reevaluations, right? Just how many of Reagan's fake welfare queens are out there? Please, educate the masses.

Or were you just using the same rambling, ridiculous platitudes that everyone without a clue falls back on?

Let's drug test 'em!!! Oh, that costs more than it would save? Nevermind.

Let's weed out the abusers!!! We already do that? Oh.

Let's cut benefits!!! Which ones? Well I don't know.

Screw it, let's just create a new economic class in America. We can have the upper class, the middle class, the poor and the governmentally imposed homeless and starving. That sounds like a great idea. They can just pull up a box next to the millions of folks who are already homeless and starving, maybe they'll throw a no-house warming party.

Did you know the programs you hate so much kept 15 million Americans out of poverty last year and reduced the depth of poverty for an additional 29 million? I went to public school, so I know that means that 44 million Americans were able to survive because of things like the Earned Income Credit, food stamps, housing assistance etc...

If I was out of work, unable to find a job and unable to put a roof over my daughter's head, I'd sure be appreciative of a little help to keep the flow of Ramen noodles and fucking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches going while I tried to get back on my feet and I wouldn't give a damn about the miniscule percentage of people who abuse the system.

Folks like Rex who hate assistance for no logical reason though? They just look at the few abusers and transfer those behaviors onto the people who just need some help buying diapers or paying the rent.

Let's do the experiment though. I'm so sick of listening to this nonsense that I'm willing to move to Canada while the Rexians do everything they want. When you're kids end up working in the shoe factory at nine years of age a la 1902 just to help put some gruel on the table, feel free to call me. I'll try to help you fix it.

Aug 6, 2011, 12:28am Permalink
Dave Meyer

Yes...thanks Chris.

To take Mark's example above a little further. If that family wanted to REALLY address their debt situation, in addition to making meaningful spending cuts, they might seek additional income. Maybe mom and dad would get second jobs to help pay the bills.

Congress (mom & dad) should get serious about reforming the tax code to make it fair and make sure that those who have benefited the most from this country pay their fair share (bring in more income).

The teapartyA$$holes say that additional government income (in the form of increased taxes) only leads to more unnecessary government spending. Ya know what?? Instead of being part of the problem, how about being part of the solution? How about working together (and this applies to ALL of congress) to bring in additional income AND making meaningful, appropriate cuts in government spending.

Standard & Poors announced today that the US credit rating has been downgraded. It's time to get serious.

Aug 6, 2011, 7:56am Permalink
Charlie Mallow

I am more upset over the $100 billion a year in aditional interest that the drop in US credit rating is going to cost our country. People sent these Teabaggers to Congress to save money and instead their incompetence wasted us $100 billion a year to pay for a political stunt. That doesn't take into account the increase we all are going to pay in personal interest increases.

Oh never mind it's easier to beat up on the poor.

Aug 6, 2011, 8:17am Permalink
Ed Gentner

In the final analysis it comes down to what kind of society we want to live in today and what kind of society we want to pass on to future generations. Do we as a people invest in the future building new infra-structure to replace the old and worn out, rebuilding and preserving the best of the old? Or, do we simply ignore the problems because they require spending money and returning to a tax rate that provides the most benefits to the largest number our fellow citizens and retain the current rates that benefits the few at the top while slashing those things that benefit the majority in one way or another?

Aug 6, 2011, 8:42am Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Rex, we could save billions by drawing down our military, cutting or stopping foreign aid, and reducing government.
Have you ever been in a position where you need a little extra help? Most people dislike receiving this help, but to keep a roof over head and feed their families, it is a necessary evil.
Would you go to work for $7.50/hour, pay for child care, a vehicle, gas, and end up further in the hole than you were before you took a job?
With so many unemployed, employers are taking full advantage, demanding more for less, and if you don't stand on your head for your job, there are hundreds of applicants ready and willing to take your job.
As a teenager, I worked on farms so I could buy school clothes and supplies, I couldn't imagine trying to support a family on those wages in this miserable economy.

Aug 6, 2011, 9:35am Permalink
terry paine

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong…somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!”
:Secretary of the Treasury in 1939, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. reflecting on the New Deal

The government can't create jobs and history has proven that. In the last 40 years we have gone from #1 in economic freedom to 8th losing out to Canada last year. Stop the 100 year war on the free market.

Just to put in prospective how much government involvement you've asked for, in the last 3 weeks
around the country law enforcement in 4 different states has shut down 7 kids lemonade stands with the threat of fines and or imprisonment.
This is the amount of government the majority of the minority has voted for, so now its time to pay for it or stop needing it. Looking to the person in a different tax bracket to pay for what most people voted for is not the answer.

Corporations are not evil but corporatism is.

Aug 6, 2011, 10:24am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Terry, I differentiate between corporations and conglomerates.

A corporation is just a legal entity. You can be a one-person business and be a corporation.

A conglomerate is another word for trust or cartel. Bigness leads to greater market power, leading to greater corruption in the private sector and government and causing an imbalance in the market thereby hampering free trade for all.

Aug 6, 2011, 10:42am Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Howard, I remember when this country was almost 100% self sustaining. Even oil was in abundance. Getting back on that track will produce jobs and fuel our economy.
Lobbyist and lined political pockets have help create the imbalance you speak of.

Aug 6, 2011, 11:14am Permalink
Rex Lampke

I don't want anyone starving in the streets Chris I want them to be gainfully employed, I see the attack on the"Tea party" from the left as the blame for the budget fight but no one blames the leftist at all, it takes both sides to make a fight and both sides are just as wrong on some things and right on others,Working together would be a great idea but that takes both sides not all one sided. For the first time in our history our nation has been downgraded in our credit score and its the blame of both sides not just the Tea Party. A flat tax with no loopholes would be a great start.Everyone should contribute. It has became a sin to do well.
As far as living on 7.50 per hour alot of us are with out goverment assistance. Short term help is a must but for life? Its like winning the lottery for some of these people. I have no numbers that I can quote as to how many but I see lots of them every day. If someone wants to hit the pipe its none of your or my busniess as long as there pulling there own weight but to get a goverment chack every month because there a abuser is just bs.Every child born in the United States should be cared for but adults are on there own. It would be wonderful to make sure every person in this nation was cared for and had everything they needed or wanted but thats just not a reality that will ever happen untill there is a major break through in cheep energy. I guess I will shutup on this as it is obvious that I am some sorta of uneducated wacko but I dont see any other ideas out there but raise taxes and we have seen over and over where that leads.

Aug 6, 2011, 11:19am Permalink
Ed Gentner

@Terry, your quote from Secretary of the Treasury in 1939, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. is accurate, however the second wave of unemployment that occured early in the second term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a direct result of FDR's knuckling under to the demands of Republicans, notably Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. to scale back the New Deal and the Works Progress Administration program in particular.

Aug 6, 2011, 11:34am Permalink
C. M. Barons

Someday we will take off the rose-colored glasses riveted to our faces by myth-builder- Ronald Reagan and see the reality. Until that happens we shall languish in the alternative universe of a dried-up B movie actor who managed to lure this country into collectively adopting his delusions.

Aug 6, 2011, 11:36am Permalink
Charlie Mallow

Rex, our downgrade occurred because of a political maneuver by the Tea Party. That big political "win" will cost our country another $100 Billion a year. That doesn't come from me, that comes directly from S&P. I would like the Tea Party to pay back what they have stolen from US tax payers

Aug 6, 2011, 5:55pm Permalink
C. M. Barons

Frankly, Howard, individual liberty was held aloft in his speeches and ignored in practice. ...Like his Plunge Protection Team that put the Secretary of the Treasury, Chairman of the Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in charge of manipulating free markets or the Tax Act he signed in 1983 that raised payroll tax and led to out-sourcing jobs overseas or (on a more personal level) his National Day of Prayer that (as of April 15, 2010) was ruled unconstitutional.

Aug 7, 2011, 4:05am Permalink
terry paine

It's fascinating watching all these comments from the different teams. The Republicans made the great depression worse,the tea party caused the downgrade (which was going to happen anyway because it should have) Reagan's failed policies where the worst and so on.
If you look back in history the worst decline in US history (by all metrics used to measure a depression) occurred in 1920-21. Its was
short lived due to the fact the free market made the necessary corrections.
The one we read the most about was 9 years later and labeled great because we were taught the government saved the day with hundreds of failed programs and policies(it took over 9 years).

I hope everyone can just stop looking to the other team as the cause of these problems and look at the fact that their both exactly same.
Both parties spend too much of other peoples money.
We need to stop trying to afford failed programs like,
The Department of Offense (return to the Department of Defence)
The Patriot Act
The TSA
The war on drugs
The war on producers (small business)

Aug 7, 2011, 9:09am Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Rex, are you suggesting taking children from parents who can't/won't work? The way protective services operate in this county, it would cost a small fortune. Family Court, lawyers, letters, summons, petitions, stamps, huge waste of taxpayer dollars. Probably enough waste in 1 case to feed a family of 6.

Aug 7, 2011, 11:35am Permalink
Rex Lampke

No I am not suggesting to take children away from anyone... but no kids no support from the Goverment. If you f up your life through poor choices how is it everyone else's responsability to take care of you? I would like to see a flat tax against everyone and a straight across the board cut to all goverment. Get the goverment back to basic's not mico managing our lives.

Aug 7, 2011, 12:22pm Permalink
Bea McManis

removed - can't argue with people who believe that people in dire straights are there because of poor planning...everyone knows they are in a bad place because they want to be there.

Aug 7, 2011, 1:04pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

Bea you seem to be under the misconception that everyone that is getting goverment aid is in capable of living any other way. If a person commits a crime (poor choice) we lock them up . If a person decides to abuse drugs ( another poor choice)we reward them with a life long income. I have never said that tempory aid is wrong just the abuse of the system. Anyone can get into dire straights and they may need a hand but not for the rest of there lives.

Aug 7, 2011, 1:44pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

I wonder how many of you add some extra money when you pay your taxes? If these programs that you feel are so important then you should gladly pay extra. Funny that it seems that the tax cheats incharge of our Treasury advocate that others pay more... Sad joke I guess

Aug 7, 2011, 1:50pm Permalink
Charlie Mallow

Terry, this was different. Never in our history has one party decided it needed to destroy our economy for it's own political benefit. I also think the time has come to stop taking sides and understand that our two party system is now dangerous. Our nation was down graded because S&P determined that our political system is no longer sufficient.

Your also right, the downgrade would have happened anyway without action, how long down the road, who knows? But, It sure the hell wasn't going to be this weekend without the worthless Tea losers.

Aug 7, 2011, 2:05pm Permalink
Bea McManis

Save your breath, Charlie.
The main concern for a lot of people is to get that BLACK guy out of office. They will do anything to make him a one term president, including destroying our economy.
They found the perfect path...appeal to the bigots and let them spread the vitriol.

Aug 7, 2011, 2:15pm Permalink
Charlie Mallow

Bea, the same thing goes for this debate about welfare. When the racists close their eyes, they see the black welfare queen or a dead beat Mexican using the system. If their perception was closer to reality they would understand more often than not it's little white kids going hungry. Compassion evaporates when a person of color is down on their luck. Even though in this day and age it's still tougher for them to find good jobs.

Aug 7, 2011, 2:35pm Permalink
Rex Lampke

I dont think you have read anything that I have written,WE NEED TO CARE FOR THE CHILDREN nothing was said about welfare at all thats not even the problem but you have no answers except tax and spend so all of a sudden it becomes a racist thing ,see a clasic example of how the left turns

Aug 7, 2011, 2:38pm Permalink
C. M. Barons

Rex, racism may not be your underlying basis for blaming social programs for our economic downturn. However... Racism is indeed a factor- how large a factor is a matter of debate. Most people who blame social programs will not admit to racial bias. I could cite anecdotal evidence, I could cite racist blogs and websites. I could cite the undeniable influence of KKK and John Birch Society influence on certain right-wing organizations, political and religious groups directly tied to GOP.

This subject is an untouchable part of the American psyche. Most people are surprised (or do not believe) that the majority of people supported by the public safety net do not fall in the category: racial minority.

Obama may well be subject to derision (number-wise) similar to former-president Bush. I don't recall anyone calling Bush's birth certificate into question, suggesting that his name was sufficient cause to question his national allegiance or donning minstrel show black-face to defame him. ...Nor did I see any anti-Bush T-shirts with an image of a monkey eating a banana, no posters for Bush's Health Care program showing him attired as a native witch doctor in loin cloth. And I did not see Bush's image on a mock Food Stamp certificate posed with a bucket of KFC chicken, barbecued ribs and slices of watermelon.

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Aug 7, 2011, 5:26pm Permalink
Bea McManis

Rex, sorry you did mention welfare and ssi (which most elderly receive)

Posted by Rex Lampke on August 5, 2011 - 4:17pm

There are lots of farm jobs but we have to bring people in from other countrys to do them. and I am not only talking about unemployment how about all the people that can work that live off disability or ssi. the problem is people dont want to work or dont have to when theres work its just "beneath them" Thats the problem with these great social programs they reward lazyness.

Are you asking senior citizens to take up a job in the fields? Should we send those in wheelchairs into the fields? When, exactly, should a senior be able to relax and enjoy what is laughingly called the 'golden years'.
Painting everyone who receives assistance as "lazy" is just another way of saying you buy into class warfare.

Aug 7, 2011, 6:53pm Permalink
kevin kretschmer

Per David Beers, the head of S & P's sovereign ratings; "The downgrade announced on Friday was not due to the budget positions of any political party."

Aug 7, 2011, 7:49pm Permalink
Charlie Mallow

Kevin, I mentioned Fox because, that's where I heard what you said. I find it interesting how the propaganda ministers on both sides can ask a question in a way that taints the actual meaning of statement like the one S&P actually released. If your read the actually statement it's pretty clear that the positions of both parties are to blame. With the members of the Tea party being called out indirectly for brinksmanship and taking an uncompromising position.

Aug 8, 2011, 6:19am Permalink
terry paine

Charlie, I'm not defending the current Tea Party (racist neocons) but when you say "Never in our history has one party decided it needed to destroy our economy for it's own political benefit".They had little to due with the following

16 trillion in debt
Double digit inflation (which effects the poor the most)
The printing of trillions of dollars
Trillions in increased spending
16% unemployment
Andy Como's housing crisis
6 wars (maybe a few of them)
2010 tax increase on people making less than 20k
A bankrupt ponzi scheme called Social Security
The war on businesses and producers
The egregious laws that make it impossible to save for your own retirement
The loss of freedoms and liberties

Just an observation, but in your past posts GWB and most of the right where the cause of all the problems. Now that its clear that Obama is exactly the same,you've now turned your blame to this small group of thugs. As a recovering Republican, I know its hard to admit my past votes played a part in this mess, but once I realized the two party system is really just one the solutions became a lot clearer. The blame should be shared with everyone that has voted for the lesser of two evils.

A default is going to happen, its just a matter of when and how much worse the recovery will be. This country is bankrupt, the sooner we realize that and start making the necessary adjustments (cuts) the better off our children and grand children will be.

Aug 8, 2011, 9:53am Permalink
Rex Lampke

I can see how our goverment is in the mess its in. One side offers solutions and the other attacks with there normal blinders on with the same crap as they see it. I look at a person I see a person , you look at a person and see a black or white or yellow and you dare call me a racist! And I love how you people show grandma pushed off the cliff when what was offered had no bearing on anyone that is retired now or in the next 10 years.And where were your crys When 316 Billion was cut from Medicare by your buddys. Say what about depicting Bush as a nazi or I thought the shirt with him getting shot in the head was real special.Do a simple google search on images of hate Bush and see the nice things your people made for him.

Aug 8, 2011, 9:41am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Look at that list of problems Terry posted, just to emphasize the point: Nothing there is the result of one president or one party. It took multiple generations of Republicans and Democrats to drive the country to the brink of ruin. A pox on both their houses.

Aug 8, 2011, 10:22am Permalink
Charlie Mallow

Terry, I hope you’re not looking for me to defend the two party system, its broke beyond repair.I don’t see us disagreeing about much. GBW’s flawed policies escalated our financial problems and Obama continued them.

The problem I have with the worthless Tea party is that they intentionally used a routine debt-ceiling vote to disable our economy to make the president look bad. They tossed our fragile economy into turmoil for the hopes of political gain. The results of their reckless action is crushing our markets, just like the administration said they would if there was no grand deal. The Tea Party is gutless and is incapable of making a deal large enough to solve our countries problems.

Aug 8, 2011, 10:29am Permalink

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