USA election thread - If you're not interested, then don't look!

[Steve]

There is something of a myth that FDR and the Dems ended the Great Depression. Ain't so - WWII spending ended it. My father told me the US was sliding back into depression after WWII' date=' until the Cold War started and military spending went up again. The WWII vets were rightfully pissed off when they came home, shed their uniforms and couldn't find civilian jobs. Also, all of the wartime price controls were removed - and houses and cars suddenly went sky high. The vets couldn't afford them.

 

[/quote']

 

I've said the same and most historians agree. I also don't give Reagan or Clinton credit for the '80s and '90s economic booms.

Volcker can take credit for kick starting the '80s and the tech boom kicked started teh ''90s and kept it going along with other industries.

 

Military spending helped the '50s but there was also a massive amount of spending on the infrastructure. The modern national highway system was due to Ike and he used the cold war as an excuse. That spending kept a lot of people employed and a host of related industries.

 

 

So why not do the same now, repair the infrastructure? Use U.S. made materials, U.S. labor, and keep the economy going? We needs the work and the repairs.

 

I know Obama talked about it but I don't know what is being done about it. There are a lot of bridges, tunnels, etc. that are dangerously close to collapsing. A couple already have (was it Michigan?) and there was a lot of finger pointing. I know for sure there are parts of the Philly subway and rail system that have been designated by government and private engineers to be in a state that it should not be used but is still being used every day. It can collapse at anytime.

 

There were lots of talk of high speed rail like what Japan, Europe and other countries have but have gone no where. These projects are not 'sexy'. These projects employ a lot of people, and the bidding could be limited to American companies, using american only labor but we'll never happen. I guarantee you special interest will find a way to milk it to the point of massive costs overruns like Ted Kennedy's highway expansion and Ted Steven's road (or was it bridge?) to no where in Alaska.

 

There are a lot of schools that need to be built, especially early elementary schools that are overcrowded in a lot of areas. FOrgiveness school loans could be awarded to college graduates to teach at these elementary schools. You could major in anything, it doesn't matter, the kids are 7, 8 and 9 years old. You don't need specialized knowledge at that age, unlike HS where you really do need to know Chemisry, Biology and History to teach those subjects properly.

 

Same for hospitals in underserved areas like rural and urban america where we could forgive part of medical school loans if they serve in these areas for a time. I think there is presently or it is proposed but I've not seen it on a large scale if it has.

 

There are so many ways of keeping money here, employing Americans but we don't do it. Look at the money spent on housing and keeping bases globally and the wars? After the cold war ended there was this talk of a 'peace dividend' but we found a new boogie man (terrorism) to keep it going.

 

I'll go off on another one of my tangents into a socio-ideological rabbit hole. We had a few posts about social welfare and the like. If we really want to seriously curtail social welfare, teen pregnancies and such, especially in the inner city, the biggest weapon we have is: Education.

 

The girls I knew and the girls I saw that had babies had NO hope of the future. None of my brothers had kids out of wedlock and I have a bunch of brothers (7). Why? Yes, partially it would embarass the family and my dad would kill us..lol...but we knew we wanted to do something in life. If not college, the military, a good union job, something. The girls I knew who were college bound and had sex were very, very strict on condom use. It was a deal breaker.

 

Early elementary education is the key. Nowadays the classes are huge. Its 25 or 30 kids packed in a small room on the low side, LA has 40 or more in a lot of cases. It was big in my day. A teacher simply can't do any good. By the time you reach Middle School or HS its too late. You instill it early and you need attention early. Kids I knew gave up on learning quickly because they had no confidence after testing. They were passed along and were always behind.

 

What we can do for the ones that are in the system now is teach a trade. There are a ton of males who will graduate with no skills and under educated. I propose giving tax breaks to companies who would guranantee a job for a certain length of time to a HS graduate who has passed a carpentry, auto mechanic, plumbing, etc. course and enter an apprenticeship program. The government buildings and cars need reapairing as well so the city, state and federal governments can and should be involved.

 

Girls are still gonna get pregnant, that won't change but the size of the problem will be greatly reduced. The fact is the more you move up the economic ladder the less likely you are of having unwanted pregnancies. The more hope you have the less likely.

[Bangkoktraveler]

When they will grow up' date=' they will be recruited by the GOP.[/quote']

 

Nah...won't need to. The "vast left-wing" of the Demoncrap Party will disappear in another generation. The queers won't propagate and those that do conceive will abort.

 

HH

 

 

So true! Look at Larry Craig.

[Bangkoktraveler]

With Republicns in power, now we can shift public opinion against the Iranians so we can invade them. Then we can go after the real target - Saudia Arabia.

 

Whoever owns the oil, rules the Worls.

[cavanami]

Here's your (not) free Obama health care...and they will dig into Medicare to get $$$...

 

Citing health overhaul, AARP hikes employee costs

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_aarp_health_plan

 

AARP's endorsement helped secure passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. [color:red]Now the seniors' lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise partly as a result of the law.[/color]

 

In an e-mail to employees, AARP says [color:red]health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next yea[/color]r because of rapidly rising medical costs.

 

And AARP adds that it's changing copayments and deductibles to avoid a [color:red]40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law[/color]. Aerospace giant [color:red]Boeing also has cited the tax in asking its workers to pay more[/color]. Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax.

 

"Most plan co-pays and deductibles have been modified," Jennifer Hodges, AARP's director of compensation and benefits, wrote employees in an Oct. 25 e-mail. "Plan value changes were necessary not only from a cost management standpoint but also to ensure that AARP's plans fall below the threshold for high-cost group plans under health care reform."

 

AARP officials said [color:red]medical inflation is the main reason employee costs will be going up[/color]. The health care law is "a small part," said David Certner, legislative affairs director.

 

Although the tax on so-called "Cadillac" health care plans doesn't take effect for years, employers are already beginning to assess their potential exposure because it is hefty: at [color:red]40 percent of the value above $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for a family plan[/color]. The tax is intended as a savings measure, to prod employers and workers into more cost-efficient plans...

[Old Hippie]

When they will grow up' date=' they will be recruited by the GOP.[/quote']

 

Nah...won't need to. The "vast left-wing" of the Demoncrap Party will disappear in another generation. The queers won't propagate and those that do conceive will abort.

 

HH

 

 

I'm sorry, but there is a flaw in your reasoning...if queers don't procreate, where did the current batch come from? must have been from heteros...which means at the heart of the "gay problem" are all the heteros having gay babies...

[Flashermac]

San Francisco puts something in the drinking water that changes children to be gay. Cav told me about it.

 

 

 

 

[cavanami]

...so heteros should stop having sex! or at least stop making babies

[Bangkoktraveler]

San Francisco puts something in the drinking water that changes children to be gay. Cav told me about it.

 

 

 

 

 

Naw, the chemicals were put in all of California's water.

[Hugh_Hoy]

...so heteros should stop having sex! or at least stop making babies

 

I'll tell ya Cav, if I'd ever had thought there was a risk that I'd be responsible for bringing a Demoncrat into the world to pollute the planet, I'd have had my tubes cut.

 

(Last week I drove by the local Demoncrap Party office. Ya know what I saw? Friggin' life-sized pods hanging from the ceiling! Cav...It isn't the water...they ain't human!!!)

 

HH

[Bangkoktraveler]

Sounds like you are a little bit curious.