Just a speech?

[George Sklenicka]

Originally Posted by EliteMike

no republican can explain why the economy was soo much better in the late 90s and even when bush took over. The clintons did something right.

Yes HE did. HE didn't raise cap gains taxes from 15% to 39% like SHE and Obama want to.....

[EliteMike]

I don't want major tax increases, but something needs to be done to un F*** what Mr. Bush did.

[George Sklenicka]

Originally Posted by EliteMike

I don't want major tax increases,

Then again, VOTE MCCAIN.

[Ezliving_Jim]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=khuu-RhOBDU

Obama is a Mack Daddy.

[JustTans23]

I can't understand why anyone on here would want to vote for Obama or Hilary. They hate small business! They will increase taxes for us and all others who work their asses off and then give the money to people that are too lazy to work at all and expect handouts. And I dont think that is the way to fix the economy. IT would put some of us out of business.

[EliteMike]

and making it so no one has money to give us is a better option?

There is no GOOD way to fix the economy, one better way might be to stick to these oil companies so they have to lower prices

[Tanning Queen]

You have to stick it to the supplier of oil, not the manufacturers. SO go yell at the Saudis and everyone else that we buy oil from to lower the cost of crude.

Remind me again, who was it that wanted to raise min wage? Republicans or Democrats?

[BIG AL]

Mike, you have a short memory. The last year and a half of the Bill's term in office, the economy was bad. Remember the dot com bust. We didn't come out of it till after 9-11. If Hillary knows what to do to bring the economy back, why didn't she do it when Bill was in office. If you want to bring the economy back, we need to stop sending our money out of the country for oil and to China.

We need to drill for oil in Anwar SP, off the coast of Florida and California. Lets see, who was stopping us from doing that? Oh yeah, it is the Democrats. Let's see when did the economy start to go down? That was a little over a year ago. Something else happened about the same time but what was it? Oh yeah, the Democrats took over the congress. Who has a lower approval rating than Bush does? Again the answer is the Democrat controlled congress. So the answer is the Democrats can fix the economy. My logic comes up with a different answer.

[EliteMike]

raising min wage is NOT the answer to anything.

I'm not sure you can place the .com bust on the gov....

[Tanning Queen]

I didnt say raising min wage WAS the answer. Just that it hurt many businesses. If you hurt the people who hire the min wage people, they cant afford to do much as far as growth without charging the public more.

The people complain how much it costs to tan but you have to pay that bed cleaner $8/hr now. SO you pass the costs on to them, just to break even. Now they need to work more in order to tan. Thus costing companies MORE in wages, etc. See the cycle?

SUre wasnt the Republicans that wanted the increase...

[BIG AL]

I did not say you could. You can't place the blame the high oil prices on the goverment either except that they refuse to let them drill in areas that have the oil we need. The oil we are having to buy from other countries could be staying in our economy but it can't because we won't drill. That is the biggest drain on our economy today and it will not stop until someone has enough balls to tell the Democrats, shut up we are drilling.

[tuscantan]

watch FOX News....that's all I gotta say.

[JustTans23]

Originally Posted by tuscantan

watch FOX News....that's all I gotta say.

mmhmmm

[George Sklenicka]

I used to be opposed to drilling off our coast. Our tourist dollars are very important to us and obviously an oil spill would have an effect on our west coast beaches. I now am for it along with drilling more in AK.

There is WAY too much money leaving our country and deepening the pockets of our enemies. It must stop. I haven't heard much out of McCain as far as the environment goes. Perhaps we will this fall. We need about 20 years, from what I've heard, to come up with alternative fuel and energy sources. There is plenty of oil in the Gulf and Alaska to supply us for well over 20 years.

If and when there is a vote, I will vote yes to drilling.

[FIT]

LMAO - everything that has been positive for our country (is there anything) has been the result of the Republican executive branch. Everything negative is the democratic legislative branch. We've heard it all before. Give me a break!

Me Me Me Me My My My My = The Republican platform

[FIT]

Over time...

More taxes = weaker economy and stock market.

Basic economics

Basic economics:

Tax breaks + uncontrolled spending + 2 Trillion for a war that has accomplished nothing = Unparalleled debt = Loss of consumer confidence = Crippled economy

Add in the end of the housing boom and you have big trouble. If you think either party can correct the budget crisis facing us in the next four years without rolling back tax cuts you are very foolish. What did the first Bush say? "Read my lips ... no new taxes!"

If you don't think the next President (Dem or Rep) will not have to dig into your pocket to fix the out of control deficit you really don't understand basic economics. The increasing entitlements are not going away unless we start euthanizing (sp?) anyone over 65.

[George Sklenicka]

Originally Posted by FIT

LMAO - everything that has been positive for our country (is there anything) has been the result of the Republican executive branch. Everything negative is the democratic legislative branch. We've heard it all before. Give me a break!

Me Me Me Me My My My My = The Republican platform

"FREE" "FREE" "FREE" "FREE" change change change change = Democrat platform. LMAO!!!!!!!!

[George Sklenicka]

Originally Posted by FIT

Basic economics:

Tax breaks + uncontrolled spending + 2 Trillion for a war that has accomplished nothing = Unparalleled debt = Loss of consumer confidence = Crippled economy

Add in the end of the housing boom and you have big trouble. If you think either party can correct the budget crisis facing us in the next four years without rolling back tax cuts you are very foolish. What did the first Bush say? "Read my lips ... no new taxes!"

If you don't think the next President (Dem or Rep) will not have to dig into your pocket to fix the out of control deficit you really don't understand basic economics. The increasing entitlements are not going away unless we start euthanizing (sp?) anyone over 65.

So you would be in support of paying off the debt via large tax increases (or roll backs as you called them) before "FREE" healthcare then, right?

[FIT]

Few probably read or heard Barack's entire speech. Even fewer read or heard it with an open mind. In time, it's my belief that it will in fact become historical. It brings to mind MLK not because it has the same message but because it's a new message. It doesn't just ask you to listen to the plight of the underprivledged and make change. It asks the underprivledged to listen to the plight of those who hold them in contempt. Here is several paragraphs. Please take a moment to read it with an open mind before you criticize:

But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination -- where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments -- meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.

That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families -- a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.

And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods -- parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement -- all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.

What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it -- those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.

That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations -- those young men and, increasingly, young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.

For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.

That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Rev. Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.

That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.

But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.

Their experience is the immigrant experience -- as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.

They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.

So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation.

Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle-class squeeze -- a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.

And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns -- this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is real. Both sides. JustTans says the following:

They will increase taxes for us and all others who work their asses off and then give the money to people that are too lazy to work at all and expect handouts

Should we criticize her? Should we ask her how she was raised? Who raised her? Where did she get the money to open her salon? What opportunities did she get that someone her same age born in the projects didn't get?

Barack says no. He says her argument has merit BUT can you also look at it from the other perspective? Can we as a nation stop pointing the finger? Can we stop playing the blame game? Can we unify JustTans and her counterpart and make a more perfect union?

I'm 37 years old and I registered to vote for the first time in December 2007. I did it for one reason. I believe if we are willing to follow we have a candidate who will lead us to a better place.

Will it cost me an extra $2000 this year in taxes? Maybe. Will that money help someone else who needs it more than me? Maybe. Maybe not. Will that $2000 make or break my personal financial portfolio? No. Will it force me to close my business? No. Will a weak economy cost me 5x that? Yes. 10x that? Maybe.

I'm not soliciting anyones vote. There aren't enough people in this forum to make a difference. But if I can open someone's mind to NEW thinking I'll feel like I contributed.

Best of luck to all,
FIT

[FIT]

So you would be in support of paying off the debt via large tax increases (or roll backs as you called them) before "FREE" healthcare then, right?

George I call them "rollbacks" because at this point that's the only thing the Democrats have vowed to do. You say they will increase taxes but they haven't said that. Chances are you're right but as I said before so will the Republicans. It's inevitable.

As to health care. The person I've pledged my vote to is not advocating free health care. He's advocating making health care affordable for all and mandatory for children. The jury is out on whether or not he can accomplish that but at no point has he used the word free.

As to my personal opinion. If he lowers my health care burden I'll be happy to use the extra money (in concert with every other American) to lower the national debt.

Like many in here I'm sure I pay the maximum for Social Security. I'd like to see that "investment" returned to me someday. It will never happen at the rate we're going now.