Gadgetory

I think it'd be hard to 'fix' it in one term. The issue with people in the US beyond the insane need to drive Environmental Assualt Vehicles is the lack of savings. Personal savings give bouyancy to an economy. Its not just mortgages that are at issue. Its credit agencies and their insane Universal Default Clauses, escalating interest rates on credit cards because people were late for a month when they'd paid the card on time everytime for 20 years suddenly their 'credit' history doesn't extend past one month and your interest rates go from 12% to 39% which means for many people they can't met their minimum payment and they may use another card to pay the credit card ..which means more credit. All of which makes banks and credit agencies happy. None of these practices exist in other countries who are also not experiencing a 'credit crunch'.

As for mortgages your right no-one made anyone get a mortgage with a flexible interest rate but thats not terribly politically helpful...they politically need to rescue them. Personally I think let them drown and maybe they will learn but for the most part people are stupid and they are not going to learn from their mistakes of the past. The whole leanding/credit industry needs a major overhaul with more prhibtions against current banking actions. This is of course not something banks want which is problematic and is not a stance the GOP would generally take but it needs to happen.

nuttyjoe

Very correct; Gary! The only real issue to me is the cost of our being in Iraq. Some reports have placed this figure at upwards of 12 million dollars (or even more) per month. Okay, if we accept what PN has told us when he stated that he definitely sees improvement there; can we not think that such amounts of money pumped back into our own economy will help us also? This is what I truly believe Americans are seeing (and thinking) everyday.
Now, you are more than correct when you say that nobody was forced into their current financial situation. Lesson number one in Personal Finance 101; people: NEVER agree to terms that you are not comfortable with! I think we can all see the disasters coming from the lack of this lesson.
We can (and will) disagree all we want as to whom will be nominated and elected as our next President for whatever reasons we believe. But Gary is correct. If we cannot start to exercise some better judgment on our own behalf in many situations; politics are a moot point. We'll be screwed no matter who is in the White House!

Gadgetory

I think people are doing this not voting for him but against Clinton. But I don't think a woman no matter who her husband is or was is ever going to a a shoo in. People forget the gains women have made are fairly recent. For instance my grandmother couldn't vote when she first turned 18, she didn't have the right, she had to give up her job when she married and so forth.

The media is going to 'report' whatever is the most sensational 'newsworthy' item and spin it in a way that best sells the media outlet they work for, which gets more advertising revenue, not all but the main outlets, this is not a cyncial view of the media its the truth, the media is a business. As the Dems can't decide the media is going to concentrate on them and well they seem to be running out of Hilary stories so now we are getting negative Obama stories. But as a look into how the media spin everything..the Hilary statement with regards to Obama and the Islamic Faith..the 'not as far as I know' stories..this is what she actually said

Mr. Kroft: "You don't believe that Sen. Obama is a Muslim?"
Mrs. Clinton: "Of course not. I mean, you know, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says. You know, there isn't any reason to doubt that."
Kroft: "You said you take Sen. Obama at his word that he's not. . . . You don't believe that he's. . . ."
Clinton: "No, no. There's nothing to base that on, as far as I know."
Kroft: "It's just scurrilous . . .?"
Clinton: "Look, I have been the target of so many ridiculous rumors that I have a great deal of sympathy for anybody who gets, you know, smeared with the kind of rumors that go on all the time."


Did anyone see anywhere in the general media where she said he when asked if he was a muslim she said "Of Course Not!"..no that doesn't sell anything we got the "not as far as I know".

Obama has to be careful if he is the Dems candidate and he up against McCain..McCain is going to find every instance when for instance Michelle Obama said negative things about the US (and she does everytime she speaks) and anyone that ever knew him bad mouthing the US (regardless of if we deserve it or not, badmouthing tends to piss people off) and paint him as a cross between Malcolm X and a member of the Black Panthers. Which isn't true but the media is interested in presenting the truth in a way that makes them more popular. When matched up against McCain Obama is just behind and Hilary is just ahead, polls are unbreliable but they are all we have. The people to worry about are not people who always vote for GOP of the Dems but rather the so called 'undecided' voters, if you believe the demographics about the undecided voter they tend to be white people from middle America..just saying the whole America sucks rhetoric some people associated with Obama have engaged in is not going to win him votes anymore then his often pompous and arrogant stance is. If people want pompous and arrogant they already have Hilary and McCain to choose from he needs to be different. And stop playing the race card for sh1t sake...

garysher

Make that 12 BILLION (with a B) dollars every month being spent on the Iraq "war".

That could be paying for a lot of schools, teachers salaries, hospitals, roads, bridges, refineries etc, etc.

Not hard to see why most European nations opposed this war.

The defence budget for 2009 is $515 BILLION, excluding additional Iraq War spending bills.

Eventually the American people will have to decide if all this is really necessary to sustain "freedom".

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nuttyjoe

Thank you for the correction, Gary. That's also one of the figures I heard; but I thought it best not to overstate myself too much, as there is a lot of difference between "million" and "billion".
You've said it all. We are sacrificing the items you mentioned above(very important items) for Iraq. It seems that we are getting nothing for our money. In investment terms, that's called a very poor ROI (return on investment). The question is: for how much longer do we want to sink more money, time, and the lives and health of our troops into this investment?

garysher

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mikelew007

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nuttyjoe

You were exactly right about the numbers, Gary. Good Job! I still disagree with your analysis, though. It's not about whether Obama can win in the certain states he didn't win against Clinton. He won't be running against her in November (or she against him; if she should somehow get the nomination). He would be running against McCain- Democrat versus Republican. I do not believe that the last eight years will get the GOP any brownie points with the voting public. I still believe the Republicans have lost the White House for the next sixteen years at least.
So Hillary has survived to fight another day. She definitely does have the willpower to stay on; I'll give her that. This was good for her to win, but bad for her in that I think it was really not large enough to change any minds as far as any superdelegates are concerned. So, I guess this means that we must have the same scenario for the next primaries; North Carolina and Indiana. Any predictions, Gary?

fxashun

Skills absolute skills. Very impressive Sensei.

No wonder you've nearly maxed out the meters.

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pensacola_niceman

Instead, part of that money is being spent on ME