By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
If you think politics have heated up this summer, you ain't seen nothing yet. The presidential campaign is going to get underway in a serious way soon and expect it to get nasty.
I'm not making any assumptions about the Republican candidate and what he or she will say on the stump. I'm making this prediction because I think we're going to go into an election with a bad economy the likes of which we have rarely seen.
Take a look at the chart below. It shows American GDP trend growth over the last 125 years. Those red patches at the bottom are when we go below the long-term trend.
Source: The New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/3hke7h7)
As you can see, we are now at the longest period of below-normal growth since the great depression. And it doesn't seem likely to pick up anytime soon.
Take a look at another chart, this one from an upcoming special we will be doing on jobs. This one tracks how fast job growth comes back after recessions. You can see, over the last ten years, a new pattern has emerged in the American economy - jobless growth.
Source: McKinsey Global Institute (http://tinyurl.com/43z4gg6)
Why is this happening? Well, we don't know for sure. Clearly the immediate cause is that we went through a massive bubble in housing which burst. Beyond that, we have gone through a period of about twenty-five years where we all accumulated too much debt - government and people - and we are going to have to start paying off that debt. History shows that this process of de-leveraging, as economists call it, makes it hard to grow fast.
We also have these two big forces - technological change and globalization –that encourage businesses to become much more efficient - and need fewer workers - and also gives them almost unlimited places where they can hire workers and set up new factories, often more cheaply than in the United States.
I know that these forces have been around for a while, but over the last 20 years they seem to have gathered enormous strength. All of which is to say, we're living through some very difficult challenges. No one - no one - has ready answers to them. But that will not stop politicians from demagoguing. So expect a pretty raucous election season.
For more of my thoughts throughout the week, I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Twitter and to bookmark the Global Public Square.
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With so many right-wing fanatics running for office, what should one expect? We now have two major political parties, both on the right so we have no choice between war and peace and one can only expect this country to follow in the wrong direction and deteriorate further and further!!!
What should one expect, with Obama in office, ? We have the obamacratic loyalists supporting socialism in America, one can only expect this country to follow in the wrong direction and deteriorate further and further!!!
Twosmallvoice – I am afraid you are one those who in denial and refused to see the light and going through denial. This will not get better for long time. In fact, it will get worse before it gets better. The current state of our economy has nothing to do with Obama or NObama, Republicans or Democrats. It has to do with a misquided mindset of greed, self-indulgence, instant gratification, and self-entiitlment . This generation of Americans, includling my self, do not know the virtues of patience and looking ahead for tomorrow. For the past 30 years we spend more than we earn. The Democrats spend too much while the Republicans deceived american people with less government and tax cut mantra. As a result, some people have relied on goverment spending (such as defense, medicare, social security) to help them. Others, rather than save their tax cuts, spending it with no regards for saving for the future. We are in for a rough ride my friend. We need people in the white house and congress who will tell the american people the truth.
The only socialism we have in this country are the trillions in welfare payments to corporations. Ask British Petroleum to give up their share of the annual $2.6 BILLION gifted by the taxpayers... not including write offs and special programs. Ask Rupert Murdoch to give back the $4.8 BILLION in welfare he got through NewsCorp... and used to buy Sky Broadcasting in Britain. It never stops. Ask AIG to give back the taxpayer's money instead of paying exorbitant executive salaries for FAILURE. Wouldn't you like a million dollar bonus every time you failed at something... the ultimate "good job" for crashing the economy.
typic brainwashed obamacrats who can't see the forrest because of the trees, honestly, no one with common sense would vote for Obama again; for those that do I pity the fools but not to worry, America is firing Obama in 2012
We had 8 years of free market capitalism under George Bush. What it delivered -Scandals of Enron, Worldcom,
Tyco, Healthsouth, Bernie Madoff and,of course, housing bubble and Mortgage based Securities that busted
the banks and spawned huge contraction we are still living with.
We need active government to curb the nefarious activities of the free marketeers.
I heard you shoe size is the same as your IQ..
Pitty...
Heh, yeah! Right on! Vote for Bachmann – she is sooo smart and will give us $2/gallon gasoline again! Or vote for her twin Sarah Palin who can bring world peace overnight! Yeppirs, you betcha!
Hogwash.
Dear TwoSmallVoice. Just for fun, try stating at least one fact for why you don't like what Obama has done.
Dear Bert in UT,
If I might chime in on behalf of twosmallvoice. How about the "Affordable Healthcare Act" (Obamacare), which is neither affordable nor has anything to do with healthcare. It is actually a cradle-to-grave way of controlling the populace and eroding the best heath care system in the world. This was done in the dark of night, with Obama's minions arm twisting, bribing and coercing (spell that "threatening") several people into going along with this boondoggle. And of course the reassurance from the former House of Representative Majority leader, Nancy Pelosi stating, "we won't know what's in it until we vote for it!". How is that for starters?
Todd NTX: Health care reform in the US had nothing to do with eroding the best health care system in the world, because the best health care system in the world is no in the United States. We have the most expensive heath care system in the world, which is not the same thing. We have poorer outcomes on most measures than Canada, England, Switzerland, Germany... claiming that the US had the best health care system in the world is ignorant and best and jingoism at worst.
If you're so against 'socialism', don't use the library, the schools, the interstate, the hydroelectric power generation, etc, etc. Either that, or continue to be an uninformed hypocrite that hasn't taken the time to educate yourself either to the definitions and realities of the term, or to the positive effects of community cooperation.
Why do I have a feeling that you do not even know what the word SOCIALISM means? Hint, it's not just a talking point on false news by Rupert Murdock...
Yo No says it well. If you want to see how "socialism" (haha) works, come up here to Canada. You'd open your eyes perhaps when you realize that in fact we have more freedoms (in reality and perceived) than Americans do.
Socialism? You don't know the meaning of the word buddy. Another puppet for Fox and the rest of those banjo's with no decency...
It is Bush and the GOP which destroyed the economy. GOP had a surplus when he entered office and after 8 years he left Obama and the Dems with a complete mess. America was on the brink of a depression when he left. GOP only care about tax cuts for the MIllionaires and Billionaires. The rest can go and take a flying leap......
i didnt vote last election for one reason. in the 8 yrs bush had ruled this country he had made it such a mess. he started wars with the wrong country for personal reasons. he was given an open checkbook by this country and he used it far roo much. he took a surplus and made it a deficit. he put the patriot act into play. people still have no idea what rights and freedoms this piece of paper has taken and will take. our economy is shot, our ecology is last on the list. in the say 4 months before bush left office the tent cities popped up. people who had been paying on their homes for 20 yrs had lost them. even working 2 jobs still lost them.the amount of money we owe ONLY china is beyond imagining. so i decided i didnt want to be a part of what would be a living h>< for the next pres. who ever won had my pity. this mess couldnt be fixed in 4 yrs. not in 20!!! i wouldnt do that to my worst enemy. place blame where it belongs. if as you say obama has done nothing? then hes done better than bush who ruined us.
Rampant unemployment, social security paid by taxpayers, medicare paid by taxpayers. Where is the socialism/ I see rich people not paying taxes, along with rich corporations, that is capitalism not socialism. Capitalism has not America very well in he last few years with globalization; moving jobs off shore ; along with profits untaxed as well.
khan, you should get your facts straight when it comes to Enron and Worldcom, they were both under Clinton not under Bush.
Kim, You're the one that needs to get your facts straight. Enron declared bankruptcy in late 2001. Worldcom in mid 2002. Both during the Bush administration.
TwoSmallVoice: This was a LONG time coming and has been at the hands of BOTH Republicans and Democrats. For you to blame one party is completely wrong. For you to blame one man (Obama) is insane. And before your reflex kicks in and you call me a "typical Libtard" or some other kindergarten insult, I am a Libertarian who feels that the two party system is a failure and has bred team fanboys who simply love one team and hate the other blindly.
You are all mouth and no facts. Please, look-up "socialism" in a dictionary and then open your mouth. "Social programs" do not equal "socialism". In fact, social programs have saved this country over and over from the hubris of die hard capitalists who ignore the boom/bust nature of pure capitalism.
The Socialism nonsense is a rightwing label that just doesn't wash for those of us who aren't rightwing nuts. So say what you want, we are about to go thru a political war that will only divide the country more. Someone may win more votes but close to half of the country will hate them and start campainging against them before day one of their presidency.
How can you read a fairly thought-provoking article and then reply with such a thoughtless comment?
Obama has loyalists? I don't like Obama, and I won't be voting for him, but to blame this on one man is idiotic. His presidency has been a continuation of George Bush's policies - every one of them. Don't mention Obamacare if you aren't honest enough to mention Medicare Part D, another example of government interference in health care, brought to you by George Bush.
We had free-market capitalism under Bush? If only! No, we had the typical unholy alliance between Big Government and Big Business - just as we have today under Obama.
Twosmallvoice, everything you say is regurgitated from the neo-con media. Why don't you try thinking for yourself?
ROB, it see this everyday. I also know that the current situation is the product of conditions in the US which spanned for decades. These conditions include the fact that the US in general is hostile to manufacturing facilities and many places overseas are more inviting. US facilities closed one-by-one and their overseas counterparts sprung up.
To get these facilities back to the US, leveling the playing field won't be enough. The gameboard needs to be TILTED. That means to make it better for a facility to operate in the US than somewhere else. I don't see this happening because of the mindset that US citizens have that businesses OWE them something.
It's not going to get better, so what ROB says above comes into play – people need to do a better job of planning for a dismal economic situation in the US.
Looking at the right wing Lunatic, religious,apostolic, nuts in the republican party running.. Only a stupid fool would Vote for one of the republicans. So anyone with a little bit of commonsense would be Voting the "right" way for the current Presidents re-election the choice is clear. Lunacy or sanity ?
Jim, think you for proving me right that Eron was all done under Clinton. Reason I say this is Bush only became the President in 2001. Therefore, Enron screwed their investors during the Clinton years.
You are right that worldcom (MCI) was under Bush, but worldcom didn't fail it was in bankruptcy. The Bush administration charges people at worldcom with crimes and got guilty verdicts and those people are in Jail. But if you think the what happened at worldcome only happened when Bush was in office then you are wrong.
I'm afraid Obama didn't do this.. he has however managed to perpetuate it with a lack of leadership... Clinton had a surplus and a balanced budget just before he left office. The Republicans were in control up until 2006.. However, it only took 6 years to blow through that surplus and put us into deficit. I find it hard to accept that Dem's had less than two years to spend, spend while there was a Republican in office. The economy began it's downward spiral after the fall of Leahman Brothers... and Bush, on the advice of Bernanke started the Bailouts with AIG and the other to big to fail banks.. Then Obama carried that out with the bail outs of the Auto Industry.. Now, as for what Rob said.. I've been saving and not over spending ...doing the opposite of what most Americans were doing.. I don't believe in having too much debt and I save as much as possible..Obama won, basically because we didn't have much of a choice in candidates.. Palin was a loud mouthed pretty face.. and McCain was stodgy congressman without much wit.. Obama spoke his way in to the white house.. Now, we're stuck with the same style of candidates with this next election.. Perry and Romney have great presidential hair.. Bachman..She was will to risk our economy at the last minute with the debt ceiling crisis..(She didn't ask me what I though about that. I don't consider it an option to default if it means screwing up my life for it.) Work on the reducing the debt after raising the debt ceiling. Anyway.. if you want real change.. You need to vote Ron Paul for 2012!!! he isn't the same old status Quo that Obama and the rest of the candidates represent.
You have to love the way RepubliTards™ don't have a clue what "socialism" even means, but keep trying to use it as a buzzword.
sajid-
So Uncle Bernie and mortgage securities are Pres Bush's (II) fault? The Madoff ponzi scheme started in the 1990's and the changes in the law that ultimately resulted inthe mortgage securities meltdown were signed by Pres. Clinton.
Just because something ended under an administration does not mean it started there. Some of this type of crap has started under EVERY president. Charles Ponzi was doing his thing around WWI – corruption and greed has been around as long as there has been money.
This is awesome. We (Americans) are sitting here flinging our poo at each other like a bunch of monkeys in the zoo while the Chinese, Russians, Indians, Brazilians sit back and laugh, waiting for us to tear ourselves to shreds so they can come in and pick out the juicy bits leaving only skin and bones for us. We are becoming the House Divided that Abraham Lincoln spoke of in the 1858. Wise up, people. Either we stand ogether, even though we have what are really minor ideological differences, or we all fall alone.
All this talk about socializing the country is unfounded propaganda. I can't believe people are dumb enough to believe it.
"typic brainwashed obamacrats"
Typical comment from a brainwashed right-wing drone who lacks the ability to discuss issues. Use a derogatory nickname and make a sweeping, unsupported claim. Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have done more damage to American politics than most people realize.
Enron occurred under Clinton's watch, was uncovered under Bush (Oct 2001). Most of WorldCom's occurred during 1999, 2000, uncovered early 2002. Madoff was first investigated for operating a ponzie scheme in the mid-90's. The housing crisis was brought on by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – both protected from investigations by Rep Frank and Sen. Dodd.
Very obviously a troll. Sorry you all fell for some teenager getting cheap thrills. Grumpy old Grampas (who sometime hold similar opinions) spell much better, have better grammar and punctuation...because it was important "way back then". Take your silly noise elsewhere, grown ups are trying to work this out.
twosmallvoice, step away from the crack pipe. It should be no surprise that teabaggers are notoriously racist, poorly educated, badly misinformed and conspiracy theory religious mouthbreathing wingnuts.
I have lived and worked in socialist countries and from first hand experience I can tell you that there is NOTHING socialist about anything Obama is doing!
Please remember that the cold war ended a looooooooooong time ago and you need to update your information and joinn the rational majority!
Dear Cunamara,
You forgot to make the leader of you "best healthcare in the world" list with the enlightened socialist (I'll be nice) state of Cuba. Why is it then that the Newfoundland Premier came to the United States for surgery if Canada's heath care system is so great? The vast majority of Americans don't want Obama's socialized medicine show and we cannot financially sustain it!
I don't care at which end of the political spectrum your at, Social Security and Medicare are going to bankrupt this already bankrupt country. How in the world will we be able to manage this behemoth of a healthcare system?
I wish we had more socialism in America. We'd be doing a whole lot better.
Kim (and Jim), let's be honest, those companies would have existed (and did) no matter who the president was in power. The president doesn't have anything to do with what those companies did, the rules that allowed them to do what they did were put into place by presidents and congresses that have been changing rules in favor of big business for generations. So, to say that it was one party or another who is to blame for the position we're in just makes us feel good by being in the "other" party when we say that, it was done by politicians as political favors to their biggest contributors.
How come none of you right wingers know what socialism means, i.e., government owning and running the means of production. Come on, Obamais not a socialist. You guys just spit out a word you hear on fake news, and you have no idea what you are talking about.
When will the people realize that the Republicans want the nation to FAIL so they can blame the President for the failure? The Republicans have blocked everything to help the nation and cut off funding to make things worst! I believe the people will realize it before the election. They want to come back with the same failed economic polices and try again. Racism is ugly....
I don't know what is more pathetic, the useless and ignorant nonsense spewing forth from the Right or Left. Ideological idiocy and partisan blindness has a lot to do with why we're in dire straits in the U.S. to begin with. The US lacks a sense of united purpose and all of this childlike oversimplication of our woes (blaming single individuals for all that is wrong with our society and economy) is not going to do anything but keep us all stuck in the mud as other more unified societies (even within great diversity) eat what was once our lunch. We're broken down on the side of the road arguing who is going to jack up the car - instead of just rolling up our sleeves to get the blown tired changed as a team. How is Bush or Obama responsible of our individual debt problems? How is it that Bush or Obama caused a housing bubble that burst and destroyed so much household "wealth"? How is it exactly that Bush and Obama created a American malaise in education such that we slipped from being number one decades ago to number fourteen in the world currently? Look in the mirror people! We're all part of the problem and while finger pointing and gross over simplications (scape goating) is convenient, it's not expedient nor productive. Bush and Obama both have their serious issues and it's proper to question and challenge their political platforms - but to blame them exclusively for an epic and systemic cultural failure that has been brewing for decades is completely unreasonable.
@Chitbob You're absolutely right, but what I worry about is that it is going to be the new strategy for all political parties who aren't in power. Rather than do anything that actually benefits most Americans they are going to do what they can so that the other party fails and makes them look good.
Clearly, you feel the same hate for Obama that we felt for "W" when he was in office. Now you know the level of disgust one can have when it is not "your man (or woman)" in office!
You boob! The chart stops at 2007 and Obama was elected in 2008! He's trying to clean up a mess that started long before he took office.
Socialism????? You obviously have never lived under real socialism. Please confine your comments to things you REALLY know something about.....not your misguided ideas meant to enrage others by your narrow point of view.
Do you even know what socialism is?
I have to be honest here – America is dying... Why? Because the left is so afraid the right is going to get too much power and take away freedoms. The right is afraid the left is going to turn the country into late Rome which was nothing more than a corrupt, sin filled empire where even the leaders wanted it burned. Too late for both – and it is time to start planning for the aftermath. America will die from the inside just like Rome...
@Todd NTX, who said:
"Why is it then that the Newfoundland Premier came to the United States for surgery if Canada's heath care system is so great?"
The answer to that is easy. He believes that because he has money he deserves to skip to the front of the line. Since he can't do that very easily in Canada's system, he went to the U.S. instead. After all, we're perfectly happy with giving preferential treatment and better care to monied individuals.
You need help!
twosmallvoice - you are the kind of idiot that had helped Republicans destroy is country and will never see what is in front of your face because of your hate, anger and bigotry making you–an otherwise possibly intelligent person to have discourse with, to a mindless parroting slave of Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck. They own you like a dog, and it is noticeable by how you speak.
So if you want to know why politics are becoming more and more dirty and ugly, with less statesmanlike discourse toward the cardiac arrest of our once great nation, you only have to look at THE REPUBLICAN MACHINE and the damage it has done throughout the years. It's right there–in history books and online for you to see. And you can't see it–those FACTS right in front of your face, you have to ask yourself: ARE YOU WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?
You have nothing constructive to say. You can just scream and call people names. Keep it up. It makes your entire cause look sad, uneducated, and backwards.
Obviously you did not read the article or even look at the pictures( the charts) This downturn happened before Obama was elected. It followed the same Republican strategy of tax cuts that helped cause the Depression. the lowest tx rate was the years before the Depression and second lowest were 2001 until now. You can point to Obama all you want but tax breaks do not and never did help our economy. Facts are facts.
Not socialist? Do any of you have any idea what % of U.S. citizens now work for the gov't? You should really check into that. And then there are all those people indirectly employed by the gov't (like lawyers and everyone working for a firm operating on gov't contracts). We're plenty socialist.
This is a perfect example of pointless name calling that has replaced meaningful dialogue in America.
Oh yeah, because the next President is going to make 14 Trillion dollars of debt vanish. The state of our economy isn't all Obama's fault, you like many others just blame people without actually having any facts. And no, I didn't vote for Obama. Stop being an idiot that focuses on party affiliation instead of picking the best solution for America.
@onesmallvoice: Always with the negative waves. What a depressing life you must lead...
Oh, that's right.
We're all supposed to do the PC thing and celebrate and praise our total destruction like you deranged liberals do everyday.
At Truthvs.Libs
You are the ones that screw the world economy with the stupid posturing on the deb ceiling debate, and now claim victory for failure..
@Truthvs.Libs
Even your name is untrue
Indeed. You people need to spent less time worry about the headlines and more time living constructive lives. Left vs Right. It's boring and simple.
@Truthvs.Libs
Deranged?, your foaming hatred gives away your hypocracy, its your kind and your masters that has been destroying America.
ROFL!!!!!!!! ty for the giggle. truth vs libs!!!! im a lib but that was WONDERFUL!!!!! a giggle with my coffee.
ok lee show me some positive? positive thats happening on the same scale as the injustice we see every day. when you can do that ill share some of your" positive waves. maybe if you took A LOOK AROUND YOU AND THE PEOPLE LIVING THRU THIS MESS , START MAKING SOME NOISE AND COMING UP WITH SOME SORT OFIDEA TO FIX IT, I WOULDNT HAVE THAT MUCH ROOM TO COMPLAIN.
Truth vs. GOP: "Deranged Liberals"? Until you give EQUAL damnation to the deranged members of the GOP who ALSO got us to this point, you are nothing but a mindless team cheerleader.
@Truthvs.Libs: "Oh, that's right.
We're all supposed to do the PC thing and celebrate and praise our total destruction like you deranged liberals do everyday."
Brainwashed drone talk. Get back to us when you think you're prepared to intelligently discuss and issue. Any issue.
i think you're the people he's talking about
IM SURE I AM BUT GODS THAT WAS FUNNY!!!! if you cant laugh at yourself you dont need to laugh at all.
For the past 25+ years BOTH parties were happy to tell us things were always getting better. We could have lower taxes, more government programs and an increasing standard of living as long as consumers continued to spend more than they made and government borrowing continued to grow. Although nobody will say it publicly, we are now facing the difficult task of dividing up a shrinking pie. Unlike the growing pie story we were told and chose to believe, in a shrinking pie somebody is going to get less tomorrow than they do today Expect the fighting to get very nasty all around, as the name-callers seek to drown out any voice of reason or talk of shared suffering. America in the 21st century is all about ME and nothing about US (pun intended).
I always looked at is as the Dem's were tax and spend, and the GOP was spend it anyway, G&d will pay for it.
Indeed. This is the most honest comment I've read here so far.
But this administartion said they would give me free medical, free college, free money. I wouldnt have to qualify or work for any of it. Somebody else would pay. That is why I voted for this president. They promised that to me. I was lied to. i dont want to pay more taxes I just want what is owed to me for free. I am not alone either. I represent the 90% that voted for this president. NO TAXES FOR US, FREE EDUCATION AND MONEY. VOTE DEMOCRAT!!!
the problem i see with the pie theory is this. 2% of the people in this country control 90 % of the money. that leaves a meager 2% for the rest of us to divide. now that the economy is so bad the 2 % have no extra money to spend. this in turn makes the 90% who own most of the businesses raise their prices to keep their current state of living. in short the 90% are greedy and dont want to lower their standard of living but we, the common folk, are told to tighten our belt buckles. i guess they think it would be easier on us since were starving out here anyway.
@BRiNk: ""But this administartion said they would give me free medical, free college, free money."
If you have to tell lies like this you must have a pretty weak position.
"Somebody else would pay."
If you limit access the health care to those who measure up to your personal standards you're starting down a very slippery slope. If you limit education to those who can afford to pay for it the result will be a strongly classed society the founding fathers didn't want.
"The rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the General Government are levied. ... Our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus applied to canals, roads, schools, etc., the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spend a cent from his earnings." — Thomas Jefferson to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1811. ME 13:41
"I represent the 90% that voted for this president."
You represent millions of brainwashed idiots who, instead of educating yourselves about issues, have allowed people like Rush Limbaugh to tell you what to think, fear, and hate.
Thank you, skytag. You are consistently one of the most reasonable voices on these forums. And that is a great quote from Jefferson which I will use in future debates. Kind of puts the whole 'the Tea Party values represent the Founding Fathers values' claim out the window.
Thanks, Mike. You might like this one too:
"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise." — Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785. ME 19:18, Papers 8:682
Oops, that was supposed to be addressed to skarphace.
@skytag: You must have played some very unusual games of Monopoly when you were a kid. I don't remember the version in which the government tried to "lessen the inequality" among players. Of course I do remember the laws created during the Clinton years that attempted to do that very thing by making mortgages available to people who really couldn't afford it. But I don't think that turned out so well.
@John: "@skytag: You must have played some very unusual games of Monopoly when you were a kid. I don't remember the version in which the government tried to "lessen the inequality" among players."
That is because of two reasons:
1) The 'government' in monopoly was the players. The players of monopoly only care about one thing: winning the game. This meant getting all the wealth and all the property. This is capitalism at it's finest, and is definitely reflective of right-wing agenda. The well-being of the common people do not matter in such a system.
2) Monopoly is a game. It was not meant to reflect real world governments. If you base your system of government on a game, then you get what you deserve: wealth, property, and means of capital concentrated in the hands of the very, very few. This is what is wrong with a class-based society, which the right-wing agenda is supporting.
Mike, that was perfectly put! It is refreshing to see someone realize that it isn't one parties fault but both. There are a surprising amount of idiots nowadays.
This is a result of American culture where nobody wants to hear the bad message (truth) and in stead shoot the messenger or look for easy silver bullets. Well, the reality is here and face the result of all your misdeeds
Exactly. Unable to cope with the reality that we're in a bad place with no easy fix the right endlessly blames Obama.
So anything opposite of Obama is a "right wing fanatic" right? That is why you lose.
The problem is no GOP candidate frontrunner for president in 2012 is showing any indication that they're anything but extreme right-wing. That's the issue leading to this perception.
dont forget also they are all jesus freaks.....
the USA is centuries behind the world and thus we havent even had our Spanish Inquisition yet, course all the Red States dont even know what they is because it was removed from the school books.....
Questions that start with "so" never accurately portray what the other person believes. Try something better than a straw man argument.
The answer to your question is no- not everything opposite is wrong. What is wrong is blaming him for our economic problems. The article points out when our problem started- it was per-election of 2008. The article shows that the 2001 tax cuts did not help our economy at all but it did under-fund our government. It did show that an unfunded war hurt us.
The blame cn be pointed to the Congress- first Republican, then Democratic and now Republican agian for not allowing any of the Presidents proposals to go through with diluting their intention. The stimulus was originally set to put 40% of the money into infrastructure projects that would have created jobs. congress changed that. Healthcare reform would have actually helped far more than it will because now it too is diluted and almost useless, but they still blame Obama.. You want to place blame, do it to those that deserve it- Congress. They could take a wet dream and screw it up.
GOP are destroying the country to protect the Millionaires and Billionaires from paying their fair share. You know the job creators. Look at all the jobs they created after 8 years of the Bush Tax cuts????????
BRiNk
But this administartion said they would give me free medical, free college, free money. I wouldnt have to qualify or work for any of it. Somebody else would pay. That is why I voted for this president. They promised that to me. I was lied to. i dont want to pay more taxes I just want what is owed to me for free. I am not alone either. I represent the 90% that voted for this president. NO TAXES FOR US, FREE EDUCATION AND MONEY. VOTE DEMOCRAT!!!
bull dung
Troll
I know you feel that if you repeat a pack of lies often enough it becomes true, but this just isn't the case. Try thinking outside the Beck box once in a while. You may actually see that both sides are right and both sides are wrong.
You do need an education, that's for sure. Maybe just completing high school would have helped?
If you view the DNC as being right wing then obviously you must sit to the left of Stalin. lol!
As for the subject, the reason this election will get so nasty is very simple, neither side views their actions and/or comments as nasty.
Obama has no record to run on, so he will have to revert to nastiness.
You mean he's going to become Republican?
of course he does not have much of a record t run on...every peice of legislation proposed by the democrats was filibustered
All I've seen Republicans do it bash the president. Clearly they have nothing to sell. You're projecting.
They're all fanatics...
All the charts in the world can't express what's really happening: People can plainly see that this Emperor Has No Clothes!
Your email moniker says it all – onesmallvoice! What a narrow minded point of view. Have you forgotten all of your far left buddies? whom I sincerely hope will NOT make a contribution in the political world as Nobama has screwed this country enough.
With all the socialism going on now, why even look for a job when the social programs pay more? Unemployment now seems to be forever. US citizens fat and lazy and free money flowing for all different directions? Why the heck work?
"With all the socialism going on now"
Brainwashed troll talk.
"why even look for a job when the social programs pay more?"
Why ask this when they don't?
"Unemployment now seems to be forever. US citizens fat and lazy and free money flowing for all different directions? Why the heck work?"
This is fact-free babbling because you're frustrated but lack the ability to intelligently discuss issues. Your ignorance is of your own choosing.
to Bobby, do you even KNOW what socialism means? Do you know that police departments, fire departments, schools and roads are socialist endeavors, where we all pay something and all benefit? I can hardly wait for the day when we have to pay tolls every 5 miles to private companies because the building of roads has been privatized. Do you people who rant on about "socialism" ever think about the true end result of privatizing everything, or do you just not think beyond the next pronouncement of Rush Limbaugh and company?
Wow dude that was a realy Bias set of statements...Shame on you for that...
also Gloria is right about the real concepts of our public sector...although I dont believe it should be labeled socialism..
u r either with us or u r against us....
the christian taliban war cry..... accept the faith or die. thats peace and luv for u.
"both on the right"..... Are you insane, Onesmall? Did the democrats initiate DOMA? No. How about any pro-life legislation? Nope. In fact, the democratic party opposes those things. I will be very happy on the day when BOTH parties start initiating and passing laws that are at least socially conservative in nature.
anyone thinking that the Dumbocruds or the Republicant's are gonna 'save' us need to get an education fast...look...neither party is looking out for American or Americans...they're just out to line their own pockets...get real...with our current political system...this country is doomed!!!!
well someone has to do that job dumb a.s.r.se
Everything should be great for republicans – Obama has continued every single Bush policy, continued the Bush Tax Cuts for Billionaires and continued the two Bush wars. The debt was never a problem when Bush took the Clinton surplus and turned it into trillions of debt. What’s the problem ‘Baggers? Don’t expect any of the GOP candidates to change anything – they’ve all promised more tax cuts and more wars – how’s that workin’ out for you?
Obama has absolutely no track record to run on, so his only alternative is to be uncivilized and smear anyone in his way. So predictable!
You're projecting. You yourself are just smearing Obama. For almost four years now the Republican strategy has been to smear and bash Obama, which really only makes it obvious they have nothing to sell.
Why are there only right-wing fanatics ? In modern age, outside of the Taliban, it always seems to be only left wing movements and governments the inflict violence upon their people in order to control them. The left always speaks about freedom, yet they almost always install conformity by means of force.
You can't negotiate with the liberal dog. He must be defeated. We must be willing to go to all lenghts to defeat the liberal dog. To borrow a phrase from Obama, if they come to the fight with a stick, we bring knife. In short, it will get nasty, but the liberal dog must be defeated at any cost, even a civil war.
Lets face it, both the Left and Right have their shrill voices.
Those surrounding the President are just a visious and partisan as any on the Right.
Ah yes, it's always those right wing fanatics fault, it's never the left wing fanatics at all. Nice polarized comment.
Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Obama is not a socialist.
Ban ALL Political Parties. All elections should be non-partisan. Let everyone on Congress vote what the electorate that voted them in wants. Stop consolidating power in the political parties. As George Washington said, Political Parties are the bane (something causing misery or death) of democracy.
Until we get past the falshoods, and pettiness, we are doomed to remain gridlocked.
The writer is disohonest when he stated that we just don;t know why the economy tanked.
We do know.
It's the housing boom, and then bust, caused by Congress. Congratulations to them, they accomplsihed the goal of increased minority home ownership, at any cost. Problem is, the ownership didn't last very long.
So, here we are. Instead of actually trying to reason out the issues, we devolve into name calling.
I am hoping and praying that we can do better than a group of 3rd graders on a playground.
Politics will get nasty because that's what we want, apparently. Take a look at the boards, and pray for a human with an IQ above room temperature. I see very few.
If you spoke of right wing nutjobs, bigots, liberal loons, racism, or nazis, you are part oft the problem.
hate.it's what drives the progressives.
snake oil salesmen come in all sizes, shapes and colors. all i need ask about obama, is the same thing i asked about nixon; would you buy a used car from this man? the answer in both cases is not just no but H E L L no. the difference between nixon and obama is one was a known crook and the other covered it up well until now. so if you can say you are better off today than you were four years ago, vote for obama. if not, vote for anyone else, just not obama.
online town hall meetings might be better. i hate going to stuff where i might be accidentally shot. i want to hear the points without the trauma. but i understand that trauma exists in some of these things...so i want to hear that also, but not to the point that i feel like i need a bulletproof vest or anything. maybe they could open the board and let people get it out of their system...then have a real town hall meeting. we were taught that our voice actually matters...even in things like nuclear power plants and such.
the bottom line is this. obama and the democrats ran the entire show for nearly three years. nearly a trillion dollars spent on what.....paying off the unions and other donors for their massive "donations" to elect a completely unprepard, never had a real job, telepromter reader. what happened to the "shovel ready jobs", oh yea, obama chuckles and says that they weren't as shovel ready as he thought. I watched CNN all morning, and got the same thing that you see on msnbc, obama reelection headquarters mouthpieces. the ceo of ge, beneficiary of enormous taxpayer subsidies, pays no taxes in the united states, so obama names him the "job czar", and puts him in the expensive seats to watch obama deliver his latest version of his FAILED economic policies. this administration prevents boeing from employing thousands of people in north carolina because the unions own this president. obama says "pass this bill" which includes more trade agreements w/ south american companies, while these agreements sit on his desk waiting to be signed, why? because of the unions, that's why. they own this man and are doing everything they can to stifle job growth. Wake up people. this man is a dangerous, one-man army that is doing everything WRONG. NOTHING he has done has worked, nothing. CNN is an absolute JOKE.
Yes, slow growth, high unemployment and enormous deficits is the reality we see. Furthermore instead of realpolitik folks in the Congress and the Administration induge themselves in cabals and brinkmanskip.
Fareed, I can no longer agree with you on this particular issue where Republicans are exploiting unscrupulous campagn tactics to sway ill-informed listeners of Fox News. The American people seem incapable of using their own conscience, but rather heavily rely on broadcast and prints information in order to make a decision. All we need now is to be vigilant, mindful, and proactive to shun any turpitude politican trying to plant some seeds of divisiveness.
David-Dallas... this seems a bit contradictory, please elucidate.
It is true that no one forces people to watch Fox News. As a civil libertarian, I think it important for those who believe in science, including evolution, climate change, the role of stem cells in medicine, etc. to make their case. I don't believe people are so ignorant that they aren't capable of acknowledging fundamentals of science. They are very scared – the era when blue collar workers without advanced education could make a good living is over in the U.S.
Combine that with a good dose of old fashioned religious fundamentalism, throw in a fair dose of racism (which even without Obama has been a mainstay, first of the Democratic Party and in recent decades, of the Republican party) and you have many voters in big time denial.
After they get tired of blaming the groups even more distressed than they, they'll figure it out.
drdr: "Combine that with a good dose of old fashioned religious fundamentalism, throw in a fair dose of racism (which even without Obama has been a mainstay, first of the Democratic Party and in recent decades, of the Republican party) and you have many voters in big time denial."
Ah, right. Racism. That's cute.
Can you point to any instances of racism in the Republican party that don't involve you merely assuming that Republicans have racist, ulterior motives?
"Ah, right. Racism. That's cute.
Can you point to any instances of racism in the Republican party that don't involve you merely assuming that Republicans have racist, ulterior motives?"
And most republicans have worked/voted with Obama on what issue?
@Mark...
Ah, now I see... If I don't agree with you I'm a racist. People like you scare me. Typical lefty. Don't have a point, so you try to intimidate folks by calling them bad names.
-Dg
@DeadGuy – Your name says it all!!!!!!
@Nah: "Can you point to any instances of racism in the Republican party that don't involve you merely assuming that Republicans have racist, ulterior motives?"
I can. I will give two instances. The first, where a GOP Official emailed an image of Obama as a monkey (google Marilyn Davenport), and the second, where a GOP Rep referred to Obama as a 'tar-baby' (google Doug Lamborn). There are many, many more examples. Just use google and have your eyes opened just a bit.
racism? that horse aint gonna run anymore. it is dead and gone as an excuse except for progressives and liberals who desire to divide the country. and as far as i can see, the dems are trying hard to raise that one from the grave. all i can say is what party had the president who was responsible for the immancipation proclamation? it certainly was not the democratic party, now was it. the man who blacks hold up as the prime example of freedom was a republican and that is indisputable. so try something else other than racism.
@egm: I was not talking about the history of the Republican Party. I was talking about the current-day Republican Party, in particular the Tea Party faction. In addition, if you think that racism no longer exists in America, I urge you to speak with a minority. They will quickly disabuse you of that notion.
david: "Fareed, I can no longer agree with you on this particular issue where Republicans are exploiting unscrupulous campagn tactics to sway ill-informed listeners of Fox News."
Brilliant conclusory statement. Which "unscrupulous" campaign tactics would those be?
Or can you not substantiate your assertions?
Hmm birthers????
That "Obamacare" is the cause of the debt problem
WHICH unscrupulous campaign tactics? Oh hmmm where to start? How about the consistent use of divisive and derogatory terms like nazi and socialist rather than focusing on facts, it's an attempt to paint their opponent with a broad brush. Taking quotes out of context and then blowing them all out of proportion (or even worse, purposely MISquoting what was said), Tom Tancredo calling for a literacy test for voter eligibility thus singling out the poor and minorities, especially legal immigrants, Rand Paul's open repudiation of The Civil Rights Act, Michelle Bachmann's attempts to paint anybody not of her faith or not following her Ayn Rand agenda as at best, unpatriotic or at worst as treasonous, not to mention that her open vow to close down the EPA is a blatant pandering to the mega-corps to allow them unrestrained pollution and exposure of the workers to any vile thing they want while they rake in even more billions and pay less taxes.
please explain to me why illegals should have the right to vote in this country in the first place.
@rowan: they don't. This is exactly what the far-right wants: an uneducated, naive, gullible working class.
I believe most US citizens can clearly see what is going on without anyone saying a thing about it. This stuff hits home in the pocketbook, my friend. Amazing how liberals are even showing their disgust over the way things are going. The facts are the facts.
david dallas, you sound like a real smarty pants. but here's the real deal; people, because of outlets like fox news are now getting the other side of the arguement. cnn, msnbc, abc, nbc, cbs...well, you get it, are all still big supporters of obama. i just watched cnn all morning, and am just amazed at how blantant they are about doing all they can to make republicans look bad, and this failure of a president look, somehow, well good. all of the obama cheering media outlets are trying to fram this debate to make it seem that the entire success or failure of the economy is dependent on them giving this president what he wants, when in fact the democrats got EVERYTHING they wanted as they controlled the house, senate and executive branch for the first two and a half years of this presidency. don't you remember obama instructing the republicans to go "sit in the back" so we could all watch a real man at work. well, he failed, and now he wants the republicans to jump on his bandwagon as he finishes this failure of a presidency he and the democrats have begun. the people are thankfully not listening. the reason the republicans are winning elections is because they are smarter than people like you and the obama media.
Globalization is ubiqitous and inevitable. However we have not developed the narrative around the concept of globalizaiton, one of which deals with how we communicate with each oher in a globalizing world. Emgee publishing has a new book on Amazon – Communication in a Globalizing World, Muriel Glasgow – It might be something that you might want your followers to read – short, simple, succinct, loaded with quotes on globalization and communication – One of our shortcomings is that we have lost the art of communicating, or relating, of being tolerant, of patience, of understanding cultural differences, without attention to these there might always be challenges encountered. I look at President Obama's demeanor and the way he deals with issues – one of his strengths, in my opinion, is that he understands cultures, that he always borders his speeches on tolerance and respect, two characteristics that are not usually present in the way the developed world interrelate or relate to others. Hope that we correct this going forward.
Um, tolerance and respect does not put cornbread on the table. Tolerance and respect of a bloated government that wastes money like there is no tomorrow is over and done with. It is time for a little of that tolerance and respect to be directed at the workers that have a total obligation of their hard earned wages of 47% to the wasteful spend thrifts.
You who are against taxation of the rich always seem to assume that the 47% of eligible workers who are not currently working, (yes, that stat was correct, I will give you that much), don't work becaue they do not want to work. This, for the vast majority of them, (I have a job), is complete and utter nonsense.
You are assuming this is the case, because the propaganda machine at Fox told you this was the case, and your assumption is false because it is based on lies.
The state of the education of the public is out of step with the job skills needed by the new technologies, the people have not kept up as they have not had the funds for or the direction to be educated in future careers.
I agree with your comment. Getting a practical education in America is both difficult and expensive. The human resource is the most valuable resource, but the educational system in America fails to take advantage of that. This shortcoming has been decades in the making and will take almost that much time to correct.
Getting off foreign oil and developing a new American energy policy could provide almost boundless opportunities. Imagine America leading the world in safe, eco-friendly sustainable energy. The oil and coal industry lobbyists won't let that happen however, until they've exhausted their resources and maxed out their profits. It's a long run down a dead end that will cost Americans a fortune.
Compounding the problem is right-wingers who equate any efforts to switch away from a petro-based economy to socialism.
Did you notice how both graphs cut off at the end of the Bush presidency, and does not continue further into the Obama presidency? Typical CNN (Commie News Network) Marxist propaganda. This is what is ruining our nation.
What a farce, as usual.
LOL. you right wing maniacs are getting funnier and funnier. You started out as scary and have evolved into a cartoon, a caricature of yourself. It's amusing.
Since it means the complete destruction of our nation, I fail to see what's amusing about it at all.
"me", who have you been propagandized by? "Total destruction" would mostlikely come at the hand of Perry, Bachmann, or Palin. Or whatever empty-headed reactionary demagogue you chose.
Truthvs.Libs, at first glance, the graphs do appear as you suggest, they seem to cut off near the end of Bush's presidency. However, that's not really the case for either graph.
The first graph starts in the year 1877, with the labels on the horizontal axis (year) representing ten-year intervals. The last year to end with a "7" happens to be 2007, but the data in the graph do go beyond 2007. Look at the 1877. Notice that the vertical axis, if you extend it down, would go between the "8" and the "7" in 1877. Likewise, if you would draw a vertical line upward from between the two "0"s in 2007, the line would intersect the graph near the beginning, the left-hand side, of the most recent red area. The data do extend beyond 2007, into Obama's presidency, apparently to the year 2010, the last year for which complete data are available.
The second graph has the following label for the horizontal axis: "Year in which the recession began." The year 2008, during Bush's presidency, is the last year in which there is a consensus that a recession began. That's why the most recent year on the graph is 2008. Further, as the graph indicates, it has been six months so far since “real GDP return[ed] to prerecession peak,” and still counting until the time “when employment returns to prerecession peak.”
Thanks for explaining how graphs work to these stupid repubs. I can't get enough of their comments. They're so retarded.
And they VOTE!
"Cut off at the end of the Bush Presidency"?
Uh, you did, like, notice that the increment on the axis is 10 years?
So, the next "cut-off" is in 2017...
That's the right's problem, they can't do math!!!
How conveniently you liberals forget that the economy started to fall from a thriving position the instant the democrats took control of the House and Senate in 2006.
Even now, you parrot your tired and worn-out, Blame-Bush propaganda when the monument of history and reality is right there in front for all to see.
What a sad existence.
Germany realized this exact same existence too....Only when it was too late to do anything about it.
This is what happens when America surrenders and allows mindless liberals to alter our history books.
First off, please stop assuming all liberals are crazy socialists; it's the same as assuming all conservatives are evangelical bigoted nutjobs. It's not true.
As for blaming Bush: it's not a tired argument. Don't forget that Bush contributed half the deficit through unguided tax cuts, two wars, and bank bailouts (yes, a bona fide Republican did something anti-free-market...).
Finally, blaming Democrats for our current financial woes because of when they got elected is like blaming Bush for terrorism. Correlation is not causation. Those financial issues were years in the making; an obstinate Congress can't cause damage like that. But an obstinate Congress can cause a bad situation to become much worse.
Are you a product of the Texas school system?
Outstanding observation!!
Learn how to read a graph dude. Or better yet, just learn how to read period.
To suggest the disbanding of the army of brave souls (students, teachers, laborers, farmers, etc) that rose up to liberate their country this early in a revolution whose gains are constantly being threatened by Gaddafi's thugs and mercenaries is the ultimate in naivete. Who does this writer suggest should take the responsibility of keeping the citizens safe from Gaddafi's vengeful thugs? He, and his mother????
Huh? And this has what to do with the price of opium in Afghanistan?
With Obama in office, what should one expect? We have the obamacratic loyalists supporting socialism in America, one can only expect this country to follow in the wrong direction and deteriorate further and further!!!
twosmall, if you're not making more than $250,000 AGI, then you're terribly ignorant. And if you are, I think you're short sighted: as we are nearing Mexico's level of income inequality, mostly a result of laws designed to concentrate wealth at the top (not the result of their industry, except in hiring very good lobbyists). Do you want a Mexican two-tier culture for your kids and grandkids?? The sad part is that many believe in the magic that they will be the .5% who will be sitting on the top, never imagining that, like winning the lottery, it's actually a low probability event, particularly in the long run with these policies in place.
If Obama were turning rock into gold and reducing debt by billions daily, people like twosmallvoice would still be unhappy. It's useless to get into any kind of debate with them; their hatred is so deep-rooted and irrational that talking to them is like talking to a stone wall.
But they aren't racist, they treated Bill Clinton pretty much the same way. The proper term is seditious. Unfortunately sedition is no longer illegal...Pity.
Those jobs are gone forever and the country is over unless we're able to decide, together, on a long term, general direction. A house divided cannot stand and neither can a country.
easy answer to that, Obama has caused America's decline with his socialism, obamacare, etc., we just have to vote him out of office in 2012 for America to recover from the failed policies that he has inflicted on the American people
Thank you for proving my point. Half the country likes Obama and his policies.
hmmmm, failed policies like FEMA through Hurricane Irene (Obama administration) vs. FEMA through Katrina (George W. Bush administration). OR, Bin Laden dead under Obama administration vs. Bin Laden chased throughout Afghanistan wasting billions of US defense $. OR, Iraq war creation during Bush administration vs. Iraq war exit strategy during Obama administration. Could come with more...but why waste my time. Just look at the Republican strategy while Clinton was President compared to the Republican strategy during the Obama Presidency. It's the same. Big fat cry babies because they're not in power, and then when they gain power through the 2010 election, look what they do? Jobs, Jobs, Jobs is the rhetoric (still no jobs strategy) while religion, obstruction, and no jobs is the reality since the 2010 election. I don't know about everybody else, but there's NO QUESTION in my mind.
absolutely brainwashed obamacrats who can't see the forrest because of the trees, honestly, no one with common sense would vote for Obama again; for those that do I pity the fools but not to worry, America is firing Obama in 2012
@Who Knows... half the country does not agree with obama... according to latest Gallup Polls, only 38% of the country does
tooSmallMind, your Dominion religion class on the apocalypse has started, time to get off the internet. Take truthvsLiberty with you, you both are late to mind control.
how much are the republican lobbyists paying you trolls to post this garbage on every board you can find? i'm so sick of these ridiculous and indefensible statements by so called "republicans". it's just like watching faux news, all vitriolic rhetoric with no rational explanation. rejecting all evidence or arguments that are contrary to your hidden agenda. this is why our country is on the brink of disaster. i hope that any moderate, thoughtful person will read this tripe and realize that you don't want this type of person running your country when there is actually work to be done.
The country is over and jobs are gone forever? Quite melodramatic, but nonsensical. World history shows something closer to a circle: everything is up part of the time and down part of the time. We are in a down cycle, courtesy of George Bush, with nasty help damaging our credit rating by the Teabagger Terrorists. So, are we going to work towards improving things or scream the typical Republican hatred and fear mantra?
Hard to say if the shrub succeeded in destroying our county or not. That will take about 50 years to find out, possibly as little as 20. But the old style of manufacturing /blue collar jobs are things of the past. Something will eventually occur to use that man-power, nature does abhor a vacuum, but until it does, AND WE HAVE THE TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR THE NEW WORK FORCE, we are screwed. Used to be people with Master's degrees bagged groceries, now they are lucky to get job's flipping burgers. Neither occupation is what most would consider a "living wage"
After reading some of these comments it is easy to understand why the movie IDIOCRACY represents the " soul " of the right wing. The movie unfortunately is proving to be true. This is where we are heading with the right wing circus clowns leading the way. Ignorance is indeed bliss!
The right-wing, the racists, the fanatics, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Wake up already and learn to think and speak for yourself.
Wipe the liberal media fog from your eyes and take a good, hard look around!!!
Trust me, Obama is laughing in victory at you as well!
Wow truth, you're really reaching. At least Obama's family didn't act shocked when he won the election like Bush's parents did. It's pretty embarassing when your own parents can't believe the public is stupid enough to buy the Rove rhetoric about the virtues of a second Bush presidency.
Liberal meda fog? I was a Republican until Georgie Porgie pudden and pie kissed the world and made it cry. After seeing him in action in Texas, when the Republicans nominated that crook, I kissed the Republican Party goodbye. So did a lot of other sensible people. Now the corporations own the Rep Party and have no humanoids left except Teabagger Terrorists. Guess the Supreme Court is going to have to let corporations VOTE if they want a party that isn't full of religious nutjobs terrorizing the country. Corporations think they can buy the nutjobs... but the nutjobs are going to bite them in the a** as religious nutjobs always do.
Truthvs.Libs... and what family would that be? Half of his family lives in Kenya and 3 of them are/were illegal immigrants in the U.S. How do you know if they were surprised or not?
The only ones laughing are the Rich.They love to watch the lower classes fight each other, while they grow....well.....Richer!
I agree. Ignorance reigns supreme and that is scary. Democracy's success depends upon an informed electorate that can put their emotions and hate aside. The extreme right had been successful in exploiting the bias against an African-American President to push their agenda to take the nation backward.
We have been slow in investing into the education and training for the high tech industries. We ignored President Obama's efforts to get the alternate energy industry started. Our representatives, in order to protect their funding sources, obstruct anything that may be needed in the future. Our system forces our politicians to constantly raise funds for the following elections which results in unending electioneering and little time to attend to the affairs of the state. The elections in other industrialized countries last no more than four months. More on that read my blog at macqurashi.com.
The race card is so pathetic and boring...
Brian my dear...
Did you see the manifesttions by the tea party? I seen them in fox new my darling, where an old hag had a monkey on her arms, the other one a blak man on an african atuendo, and so and so on..
do you find them ironic, or racist?
I get it ..!! you go out at night on your cute pointy hat and bed sheet..
@Brian: if you truly do not believe that racism is alive and well in America, then you have a white sheet over your eyes. Google 'gop racism obama' and have eye-slits cut out of that sheet so you can see better.
Boy is that an understatement or what? I think this will be the most mean and vitriolic election since 1860. And with the amount of money coming in due to the Citizens United decision, I will be turning off the TV and radio for all of 2012.
Bottom line, we no longer need about 30% of the population to work today and the amount needed will continue to decrease as automation and productivity continue to increase. By 2040, there will only be need for 50% of the people to work. Then what??
We'll make up new things to do, there is always a lag after technological change. The original prediction that there would be NO JOBS BY 1960 did not hold true, either.
i DIDN'T READ YOUR POST I SAID THE SAME THING. The whole world is going to have the same problem. 3RD world people are going to be better off than America.
at the end of the 1700 workers would breack into factoires and break machines, machine did the job of fifty workers, what happened is that the industrial revolution created more jobs, not less.
After the Nixon visit to chine in 1970, the world has being on a transition period, a period were the true world economy will emerge, but for now we are on atransition period, the problem is no one knows how long it will last, nor what will look like after.
When I was young only 50% of the people worked and everything was fine. Women stayed home and took care of the household while men went to work. With only one income households were infinitely better off than they are today as companies paid a living wage. People were not in debt, actually had savings and the banks paid very good interest. I said it 45 years ago, when women insisted on working, that the companies would begin lowering wages to the point where 2 incomes would be needed. That is exactly what happened. With globalization don't expect anything to change very soon. Do like me, become self employed and tell corporate America to stuff their jobs and their products.
Well said George. Not many are willing to elaborate on the differences between then and now. You fix a problem by first learning what caused it. Huge work force = low wages.
"Obama so loved the world, he left his only begotten, starving brother in Kenya to save it."
Don't know whether to suggest antacid to you, or prunes. Maybe both would have good effect?
Silly certainties like yours generally indicate ignorance. Lots of ignorance.
WOW you are such a parrot. That is his half brother by another woman. If you kept your mouth shut, we all would not know that you are a fool. And that's just to start off with.
I enjoyed watching Fareed's discussion with Ms. Noori of Pepsico. She is certainly a very smart lady as recognized by Forbes Magazine for the past five years. I agreed totally with her idea of bringing the factories back home by giving the manufacturers an important tax break that could benefit in others private investments. But, with all due respect, I feel that her idea of making America a medical destination (like Costa Rica) for people around the world as a way to bring more money into the economy, was thrown in there without much thinking. We already have a country where poor and middle class people can not get decent health care due to high cost and lack of health insurance. Rich people from all over the world already come here for our excellent doctors. Adding incentives to attract medical tourism would only cause more doctors to limit their services to these cash paying clients to the detriment of our suffering sick Americans.
What we need is for the administration to realize that small businesses are failing left and right. Some are splitting their companies to avoid the mandatory health insurance because they cannot afford it. The economy would have been better served by giving the small businesses and the citizens all this country all the money that the government wasted on the banks that put us in this mess in the first place. I love, rallied and voted for President Obama. Now I wonder if he can really stand up against big business to give the rest of us a chance to survive. Well, we small people can always move to Costa Rica.
There is no possible additional "tax break" for returning manufacturing to the United States. Manufacturing here is already 100 percent tax deductible. The only other option, which I am sure is what is requested... is to GIVE MEGACORPORATIONS WELFARE CHECKS to manufacture here. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. How about we cut the megas lose... deport their CEOs and upper management to third world countries and let their families worry about being kidnapped for ransom? We should work with smaller national corporations instead, and cut these global corporations loose. The CEO of GE said in a taped interview that he did not care what happens with the U.S. economy, because his corporations is now GLOBAL. So why are we giving GE tax writeoffs and welfare checks? NO TAX BREAKS FOR GLOBAL MEGACORPORATIONS... they are big boys now, they don't need U.S. taxpayer welfare checks. Only give tax writeoffs to national corporations... so long as they stay national. OUTSOURCE GLOBAL MEGACORPORATION EXECUTIVES TO THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES.
I suggest we get out of Pakistan and let the 67 corporations who outsourced their manufacturing bases to Pakistan start paying the full cost of manufacturing in an unstable third world country... instead of supporting them with American military expenditures. Why should the American people support these 67 corporations in their outsourcing? They should be paying a war tax to repay U.S. taxpayers. Go to the Pakistan Chamber of Commerce to see how they word their COMMITMENT to Pakistan, with no commitment to the U.S. Shouldn't their CEO's and top 10 execs be required to move their families to Pakistan??????
ABBOTT LABORATORIES (PAKISTAN ) LTD.
ACE INSURANCE LIMITED
ACNIELSEN PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
AGILITY LOGISTICS (PVT.) LTD
AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY ( PAKISTAN ) LIMITED.
AT&T GLOBAL NETWORK SERVICES INTERNATIONAL INC.
AVANZA SOLUTIONS (PVT.) LTD.
BECTON DICKINSON PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
BP PAKISTAN EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION INC
CAPTAIN-PQ CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES (PVT.) LTD.
CHEVRON PAKISTAN LTD.
CISCO SYSTEMS PAKISTN (PVT.) LTD
CITIBANK, N.A.
CRESCENT BAHUMAN LIMITED
COCA-COLA BEVERAGES PAKISTAN LTD.
THE COCA-COLA EXPORT CORPORATION
COLGATE-PALMOLIVE (PAKISTAN) LTD.
Continental Biscuits Ltd.
DUPONT PAKISTAN OPERATIONS (PVT.) LTD.
ELI LILLY PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
EL PASO TECHNOLOGY PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
EMC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (PVT) LTD.
FMC UNITED (PVT.) LTD.
GERRY'S INTERNATIONAL (PVT.) LTD. (FedEx) .
GILLETTE PAKISTAN LIMITED
IBM
INTEL PAKISTAN CORPORATION
INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISES (PVT) LTD
JOHNSON & JOHNSON PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
JOHAN (PVT.) LTD.
J.P. MORGAN PAKISTAN (PVT.) LIMITED
KARAM CERAMICS LIMITED
LEVI STRAUSS PAKISTAN (PVT.) LIMITED
LMK RESOURCES PAKISTAN LTD.
MCR (PVT.) LTD. (Pizza Hut)
MICROSOFT CORPORATION PAKISTAN LIAISON OFFICE
MOTOROLA LIMITED
MONSANTO PAKISTAN AGRITECH (PVT.) LTD.
MULLER & PHIPPS PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
NCR CORPORATION
NEW HAMPSHIRE INSURANCE COMPANY
NETSOL TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
OBS PAKISTAN (PVT) LTD
OPTIMUS LTD.(HERTZ)
ORACLE CORPORATION SINGAPORE PTE LTD.
PEPSI-COLA INTERNATIONAL (PVT.) LTD.
PFIZER PAKISTAN LTD.
PHILIP MORRIS (PAKISTAN) LTD.
PRESTIGE COMMUNICATIONS (PVT) LTD.
PROCTER & GAMBLE PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
RAFHAN MAIZE PRODUCTS CO. LTD.
RENFRO CRESCENT (PVT.) LTD
RIAZ BOTTLERS (PVT.) LTD. (Pepsi-Cola)
S.C. JOHNSON & SON OF PAKISTAN
SHERATON MIDDLE EAST MANAGEMENT CORPORATION
SINGER PAKISTAN LIMITED
SIZA FOODS (PVT.) LTD. (McDonald's)
TERADATA GLOBAL CONSULTING PAKISTAN (PVT) LTD
TRG (PVT) LTD.
UNISYS PAKISTAN (PVT.) LIMITED
UNIVERSAL LOGISTICS SERVICES (PVT) LTD.
WACKENHUT PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
WPP MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (PVT) LTD.
VISA INC.
VISION NETWORK TELEVISION LTD. (CNBC)
3M PAKISTAN (PVT.) LTD.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
SUNSOFT (PVT.) LTD.
and while America is getting out of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraqistan, America is firing Obamastan in 2012
Your twosmallvoice must be also directly related to your twosmallbrain!
You are correct – Obama MUST go!!!
What do you have to say about George W Bush who declared Musharaff as his best buddy and
showered him with Billions. Should Bush also move to Pakistan with family?
"If you think politics have heated up this summer, you ain't seen nothing yet." I think most of the comments above support Fareed's assertion. I think that on the distant horizon that the time is approaching when this discord can't be settled politically but only militarily. We have to diametrically opposed viewpoints, no desire to compromise so what else could the result be? If this doesn't change soon I am outta here and going to a place that shares my values ie Canada, Great Britain, anywhere where the government and society cares for their fellow citizens. Call me a socialist or some other nasty name but its better than living in this mean spirited supposed country that is only a shadow of what it once was...
I think that time is coming if Rick Perry is elected in 2012!
Brad, you nailed it. Countries that care for their citizens, or citizens that care for each other. America is in this mess because coporate America wants it that way. They keep the common people fighting each other while they are stealing all of the wealth. It doesn't matter who you vote for, nothing will change. NAFTA came under Clinton, supported by Rebuplicans, now Obama wants to add free trade with more countries. We are supposed to compete with people working for $5.00 a day in third world countries. I'm seriously looking to move to a civilized nation whose population have some education besides Fox News.
Malcolm Gladwell's theory (which he attributed to another economist – sorry I can't remember the name) that the great increase in disposable capital (of corporations) allowed those at the top to demand much higher wages.
However, there is a much bigger effect in evidence. If you look at a graph of income inequality vs. time, you will see an increasing acceleration of the inequality starting in the very late 90's. I see this as likely the result of structural (read, legal) mechanisms such as the Bush Tax Cuts and changes in inheritance law which systematically have given advantages to the highest income brackets.
While the theory is a neat academic theory, I suspect it explains, in an analysis of variance analysis, less of the variance of income inequality as a dependent variable than these legal maneuvers that have so augmented the wealth of the already wealthy.
And btw, I am a physician, so I have experience with this: my income, as a sub-specialist, has not gone up nearly as fast as corporate lawyers, business executives, but because I was already in a high income bracket, I have greatly benefited by these Bush Tax Cuts and inheritance law "revisions." It's not right – it's not what's best for my children and grandchildren. I want them to live in a country that doesn't have a two-tier setup like Mexico.
It's all about an "inconvenient aristocracy."
George W. Bush
- "crusades against the evil-doers"
Rick Perry:
- evolution is just a "theory"
- we teach "creationism" in Texas
- we pray for rain
Michelle Bachmann
- runs a clinic that cures GAYS with Christian methods and charges Medicaid for it
- will use the military to make the US the "top dog"
Rick Santorum
- Christian world-view is at war with science
Mitt Romney
- believes Joseph Smith is "God"
And folks wonder why the US is falling behind the rest of the world.
We can fix a lot of problems with intelligent solutions but over half the electorate is Jesus-delusional.
Thanks for that post; clearly one of the most accurate so far!
Gotta correct you on the Joseph Smith comment. There is not a Mormon alive who believes Joseph Smith is God. They may believe that in some future he may become A god, but none believe he currently is God.
What you people all fail to see is that liberals have destroyed this country with their bleeding heart social progams and unyielding support of special interest groups not to mention the destruction of family and moral values. This has all been done over the course of many years.. Yes, liberals have grown the national debt to what it is and caused the financial crisis. Yes, Bush was the king of arrogance and started 2 wars but the country had been crumbling into the ground many years prior by liberal agendas.
blame it on the liberals.... what you forgot to mention was what clinton did with the economy of this country. i didnt see tent cities them. i didnt see whole families children included at soup kitchens then. i knew very few unemplyed poeple then. as for what libs have done, civil rights movement. equal work equal pay for women.equal education no matter what color your skin is.freedom of speech.more rules and watch dogs for our ecology. and i hate to tell you this but all those social workers youre complaining about? cut their jobs put them on the street and watch our unemployment rate go higher.you want to fix the deficit mess? ill give you a hint. 2% of this countries people control 90% of its money. yet the conservatives want to put more taxes on the middle class ( who are rapidly entering the ranks of the poor). so we tax the 2 % and leave the 90% alone? tell me how that makes any sense at all? as it stands the middle class can barely afford to eat. theyve already lost their homes they have nothing left to give. if they want to eat that is.
Hatred of those who dare call themselves religious (including but not limited to Christian) is part of this country's problem, yet you wield it as an ostensible solution... Tragic, but telling of the times.
Hatred by those who call themselves religious (including but not limited to Christian) is part of this country's problem. There, fixed it for you.
What's so disturbing about Scotty's comments is that he is going along with the narrative that religion has largely become medieval and, with respect to our century, quite ignorant and therefore bigoted. I'm hoping he's just talking about that solid 25-33% of the electorate that would vote for a Bachmann or a Perry or a Palin. They may be a majority in the Deep South (they are), but they are not a majority of religious Americans. I fault the rest of us for letting them give religion such a bad name.
When technology is so determinative of our future, I do not understand how the other 67-75% of Americans allow these people to be taken seriously.
Politics will get nastier because party faithful are a hive-mind getting whipped into a frenzy. Fareed is a globalist d@uche.
I don't understand the second graph.
What is the y-axis?
Someone smarter than me to explain please?
It is the number of months it took for the jobless rate to return to the same or higher level as it was before the downturn.
it is going to get nastier as the recession deepens, as more jobs are lost, as no new jobs are created, as homeless americans increases, as the need for food stamp increases. and neither the democrats nor the reps have any solution for this mess . the tea partiers are just going to shout to get every foreigner out of this counrty. As if that will solve the problem. now that nobody can solve this mess they just going to attack each other.
the problem is rash spending both by govt and people. there has just bubbles and bubbles, the dot com bubble, the housing bubble and now the health care bubble. some body needs to fix the fed and the bank, but nobody will.
Somebody help me...a vaild GDP number from 1877...or even 1897?
Prithee...how could any such number be accurately determined back then? Was there even a concept of GDP then, let alone a definition?
Who are these bogus people with their bogus charts???
Well, since records were kept by the government for taxation purposes even as early as 1861 (see Revenue Act of 1861, also Revenue Act of 1862), those records are on file and have been kept in government archive and are available through a Freedom of Information Act filing, as are all records of income and taxation, figures on the GDP are readily available to those who know where to look. While you (of course) have the right to not believe the figures are accurate, it might help if you did a bit of research prior to calling anything bogus, etc. I am not saying that their claims/figures are or are not valid...simply that the information IS available and has actually been kept since the founding of the country since a government needs to track funds for taxation, etc if it is to be able to calculate a budget , pay it's debts and all other aspects of a fiscal nature.
Mr. Fareed, politicians in almost every country are nastier, because in politics people believe they can make easy money, today generally speaking mankind's ego has been shooting up and up, human beings are not humble as they were decades ago, that's the reason why human beings are going through crisis and crisis.
These people are more concerned about getting elected and staying in office than they are about helping the country. If nasty works, then nasty they will be.
If we imprison the corporate and political thieves and freeze their assets. Like they did with Mubarak and now Gadaffi. Start putting duty on all imports including outsourced serviced. We have no economy to worry about and USA will back to golden era of Eisenhower in couple of years.
Fareed and CNN once again carry out vicious political attack on those who DARE to oppose Obamism.
You readily confuse attempts at finding truth with radical behavior. Projecting a bit?
Fareed and CNN in search of the truth ? When the hell has that ever happened ?
United we stand, divided we fall. Drop your petty differences, people, and UNITE.
I saw you on a billboard.
One major issue not listed is population growth, primarily through immigration, both legal and illegal. The population of the U.S. increased 10% in just the past decade, so jobs created would have to e sufficient for new residents in addition to young people entering the workforce. Good luck with that.
I have been saying what you said for quite a while. Population increased by 39 M in the latest census, an average of 3.9 M per yr. At aprox. 3.9 ppl per family (husband & wife, 2 kids), that means at least 1 million jobs per yr. needs to be created just to keep up with population growth. Co's are only concerned with the bottom line. They will continue to outsource & eliminate jobs. The days of low unemployment are over. Prez is right, we need to put more into education or the country will continue to decline & ppl will have to work for p'nuts. Middle class as we have known it is over, thanks to the greedy ppl at the top of the food chain.
It won't stop politicians from promising the moon either, both sides. Both sides will point the finger at each other and say they have the solution when neither of them have the solution that is needed. The economy has now been in the hands of politicians who are fiscally incompetent for so many years and the mess that they have created is so great that it is highly unlikely for anything constructive to get done for some time. Probably the best thing they can do is nothing and let the economy sort itself out.
Why is this happening? It's really very simple. Jobs are replaced through computerized automation. Jobs are sent overseas where the workers work for much less. Meanwhile the population is constantly expanding and eventually most people grow up and want money. They set out to try and find a job where one does not exist. What is there not to understand about this? Other nations are smart to buy bonds from the US and they will continue to do so until America is bankrupt. The value of the dollar remains high and their money stays low. Therefore, the few jobs that have not been replaced by automation are mostly overseas because it's cheaper to manufacture there. This is the problem and the only way out is for the US to get its independence back and get rid of the debt. It will take time, but everyone must cough up the dough and trim government spending in order to fix this. Everyone!
as long as the government is so heavely influenced by big business and oil companies there will be no change. it seems this country took a very good idea capitolism, and turned it into something evil, greed. when 2 % of the population controls 90% of the money, theres a problem. honestly i dont think it matters what we do now. greed is like a cancer. and its spread. thr rich could be happy with less. but the poor couldnt survive. i agree with you about machenery coming in and taking jobs. that was the first blow. then the large companies sending their business overseas for cheaper wages. we couldnt work any cheaper here. not to mention some of these companies actualy got tax breaks for having to move. were already coming down to tent cities with whole families living in them. we dont have much further to go and well have another depression. this one worse than the last. the average person is getting it from the front and behind from the government. during bush's reign the senate decided not to give min wage raises for 7 yrs. during everyone of those 7 yrs they voted themselves a raise. no raises and raise the taxes.
United we stand, divided we fall. Drop your petty differences, people, and UNITE.
'nuff said.
I agree.
Throw Obama off the ticket.
Draft Hillary now.
Unite.
Thats a GREAT IDEA NW! Just what America needs right now. Another straight faced liar (she's told too many to count) to help set the world straight. Get an f'*ng clue moron and try uniting your brain with your mouth.
Geez. Another genius. Hey Fareed, why not check out the boob in the White House? He preaches civility to everybody, then calls people he disagrees with his enemies, VP Biden calls American citizens terrorists, Obama tells people to "get in the faces" of people they disagree with. Look no further than the clueless, incompetent boob in charge.
Draft Hillary now.
Fareed, just read the Shock Doctrine, it will all be made clear. This is all part of a plan to starve the government, and drown it in a bathtub. No kidding, that is the plan. Why are you leaving out the biggest factor, the elephant in the room? The faction of the government that is trying to destroy the government? That has a very large effect, too large to ignore.
Could the design be to leave the global mega-corporations in absolute full charge? Looks like.
its already in charge. sad to say. the general population are handed crumbs and feel lucky. a few get bigger crumbs to keep the smaller ones working. big business owns this government. knowing how fossil fuels pollute our planet and how dangerous it is to move from place to place, watching oil spills ruin our beaches kill our oceans. watchiing trees and other plants die because theyre too cose to the road hence the exaust from the cars. knowing this evaporates and goes into our water supply. do you really think that people would allow that if not for someone with money pushing it? solar and wind power can do what fossil fuls can. the government and private companies wont do the research , nor the upgrading that needs to be done. do youreally think gasoline as all that in the begining? no it had to be refined. machines had to be rebuilt to use the stuff. same with wind and solar. if we do not study it, work with it find ways to amplify it and make it small and affordable ro be feasable well run on fossil fuels until it kills off most of this planet. if the nukes dont do it first. greed is killing people our planet and our animals.
ask the families now living on the street, eating at soup kitchens if theyre lucky and dumpsters if theyre not. ask the familes who worked 2 jobs trying to save their home and lost it anyway, now living in tents on the ourskirts of towns they used to live in. ask the children who are ashamed to go to school because they have no bathroom facilities, and no clean clothes. ask them what this government is doing for them. we dont need a civil war. we dont need a revolution. we need people in power to open their eyes to the fact, that eventualy most of the middle class will be joining these tent cities. and they will not be able to buy from the companies that call the shots right now. and the government needs to open its eyes to what happened when they bailed out big companies, banks and even walstreet. they blew it. the public didnt even get HAND UP, much less a bail out.dear government your country is not big business. your country is made up of PEOPLE. help the needy not the greedy.
The reason politics is going to get nasty is because the disgustingly biased media is in obama's back pocket, and because he has nothing positive to run on. The only thing he, and the media can do to try and win the presidency is to launch an all out assault on his opponents. And even worse is that the media, and the President no longer cares if they are being honest or not. Just look at the blatant lies spread about Rick Perry so far;
-That he said he wants to secede... LIE, politifact even says so
-That he is George Bush version 2... LIE, he actually hates Bush and helped Al Gore run against him in 2000
-That he is a right-wing extremist... LIE, he supported Al Gore's campaign in 2000 and grew up in a democrat family... he supports light punishment for nonviolent crimes, he believes states should make their own drug policies, he created $5,000 tax incentive plan for hybrid cars, and he has been elected as a democrat into politics before.
-That he is stupid... LIE, he was an Air Force C-130 Transport Plane Pilot
All the elites in the media and the presidency can do to win this election is to go on a vicious, and disgusting attack mode
He also supported a limited version of the DREAM act that allows for children of illegal immigrants to apply for in-state tuition... considered a moderate view for Republicans
And don't forget Ed Schultz's disgracefully edited video to make Rick Perry look like a racist, when he was CLEARLY not in any way referencing the President or race in any way
Perry thinks Senators should be "appointed", NOT elected. Great for the business interests of the appointers. Not great for the rest of us. Perry IS NOT stupid. Hitler wasn't stupid either. The guy is gonna scare many voters in 2012. His views are too extreme.
lol brian lies??? you want to see some big ones go back and looj at bush's 8 yrs. if not for that idiot we wouldnt be in this position right now. as for obama. i didnt vote that yr. i felt toosorry for ANYONE coming in and trying to clean up bush's mess. it cant be done in 4 yrs. it cant be done in 20.
to remark on your statements of the "liberal media" lying about Perry...
1.) while he may never have said directly that he wants to secede from the US he did make a remark implying that Texas seceding was an option worthy of consideration.
2.) That he is Bush version 2.0 is merely a comparison being drawn to Perry's support of corporations and businesses. Furthermore your reasoning of why it is a lie is absurd. While Perry at one point may have been a Democrat his policies on nearly all topics could not be further from Democratic ideals, and haven't been for years. Furthermore a person need not like someone to have the same ideals as them, in fact in politics it is common to have rivalries between candidates that have near identical policies as a way to draw a difference between one another for voters.
3.) Being an Air Force C-130 Transport Plane Pilot has nothing to do with being intelligent. While it is a highly refined skill our country has trained monkeys to be astronauts. So far as I am aware there never has been an established a positive correlation between piloting and IQ. Perry's recently released transcript from Texas A&M however shows that while maybe not a complete idiot, that education was not a priority of Perry while attending college. Furthermore our president during an economic crisis of this magnitude should understand economics a little better than Perry does (the transcript shows that Perry got a D in econ).
Be careful you confederate idiots what you wish for. You are pushing us to the brink of civil war because of some grand ol lie your grandfather told your father. The truth is your lies are unsustainable more than debt. We do need to pay off the debt but what you are going to find is upwards of 50% of Americans on government assistance. WHY BECAUSE of no jobs. It has nothing to do with taxes, regulations, bla bla bla. It has everything to do with AUTOMATION.
roland youre right! no jobs; no taxes can be collected. and no debt paid.
Do people really not understand why these jobless recoveries are happening? Seriously. We spent decades exporting our wealth overseas by running huge trade deficits and followed that up with a mis-guided "green" movement that has all but shutdown our ability to exploit our natural resources (see: ANWR). On top of that, we tacked on massive deficit spending by the government to the extent that the national debt is now nearly equal to the GDP. In the meantime, the rest of the world caught up, and in some cases, passed us in manufacturing, engineering, and education. Where America and the American worker used to be unique and exceptional in the world, now, we are merely good. We spent decades exporting our standard of living to the rest of the world. These economic adjustments are the reckoning. The economy declines and people are laid off, but as the economy rebounds, those workers are no longer needed. Hence, jobless recoveries. Every time we go through one of these things, the number of people with a lower standard of living than they had before the collapse goes up. We are making more poor people because there are better educated and trained people overseas, so companies do not need to hire expensive Americans. This will continue until the US finally decides to seriously compete on the world stage rather than trying to get along with everyone else in some misguided liberal notion of fair play.
The best advice for anyone looking to enter the job market is to be sure to pick a career that MUST be kept on shore - medical (doctor, nurse, etc), military, fire fighting, police, IT (system/network administration), law, and the like.
so we just continue polluting and make what money we can? let our 4x grandchildren deal with it? if theres anything left to deal with that is. toure solution is to continue to do wht we have been doind, on a bigger scale. when tats what got us here in the first place? lets see what was once said about prople whodothe same ting over and over yet expects a different outcome everytime? we have to change. it seems our best bet is to attack whats costing us the most. we need to hire people to work on solar and wind power to make them powerful and more affordable. the technology is there. but the people with the money dont want to invest. the reason being is their friends with money make THEIR money thru fossil fuels. fix our energy problem and were on our way to fixing our economy. new machines will be needed to use the energy. new homes better insulated will need to be built. the problem is the poor would gain from this. the " old' money would suffer. the best thing about it? we would leave a cleaner planet for our children. we would be healthier. fossil fuel will run out. so do we want to let it run out and ruin our ecology. or replace it now? when we need the help with our ecology AND our economy.
GOP AND TEA BAGGERS ARE THE CAUSE OF ALL AMERICA'S PROBLEMS. BUSH STARTED IT ALL.
Your comment is childish, irrelevant, and dead wrong. A liberal trifecta! The Democrats would be SO proud of you.
Er .. I believe he was being sarcastic. But don't let me stop your liberal-bashing, you seem so good at it.
I think Americans would feel much happier if the nation gets split.
wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong
Some Americans would, that is for sure. Then they could bring back slavery, which is so good for the economy. In their eyes, the 'all men were created equal' only applies to white evangelicals anyways. Everyone else is either godless or part monkey.
What will people do as their jobs are made obsolete by technology? It's not just a brick and mortar store going out of business because of an online retailer. What do cabbies and long-haul truck drivers do when vehicles drive themselves in 10-15 years? What will programmers do when computers program themselves or learn themselves in 10-15 years?
The end result of technology advancing is people no longer doing their same old job. We're getting to the point where the whole dynamic is changing... working, spending and living in a capitalistic society with high automation will be new for everyone.
Good point. It will be a very interesting adjustment.
Certainly automation is a factor.....but....50 cent/hour wages in China is the main reason jobs have disappeared from the USA. American style of Capitalism is BAD
Wal-Mart loves american-style capitaliism; no problem to them that so many manufacturing jobs have "migrated" offshore.
It kills me when people start blaming one side or the other. Its both sides fault you stupid morons. Our political system is so corrupt its only going to get worse. It dosent matter which side is in power.
judicious selection of colors, red = republican = below par growth / blue = democrat = milk and honey. luckily, there is an abc.com editor in charge who's internal dialogue is something like..."the American voter is not too educated, but the can recognize bright shiny colors, noes the chance to send a message"
I don't think we will ever accomplish anything until we stop name calling and start working together. Not sure how this could all get much nastier, but I said that 10 years ago, and it has.
The thing is, we have jobs that need to be done right here in the US. We need our roads and bridges and water mains, just to name a few examples, to be fixed. It serves both the public and private sectors. Why can't we even agree to employ people to fix things that need to be fixed?
America will not get better until the wicked politicians we keep electing are so discredited that wake up to the realization that the political parties are the problem, both of them, and decide its time to rebuild America without them. We have got to bring jobs back to America. We have got to stop buying more than we sell as a nation – we must balance the trade deficit. And when we have done that (and not before), we have to stop debt financing our economy. The federal deficit plays absolutely no role when someone decides they can't afford a new car or any other major purchase. It is their own debt that stops them from buying. American's have been tricked (thanks to Alan Greenspan) into taking on more personal debt than they can really afford. And it's going to take a decade or two for the effects of that mistake to wear off.
The Wars of the Roses, the Hundred Years War, the Dynastic Wars...
Those were "nasty politics" that killed hundreds of thousands of people, all to settle who was going to be king or queen. By comparison, the Dems versus the GOP are like kittens fighting.
Politics is not getting nastier, you filthy liberal!
I agree. This election will be the nastiest thing we've seen in a while. I believe the reason for that is the way Obama has polarized this country. He is the one igniting class warfare. It was he, who during the '08 election exhorted his followers to, "Get in their face!" He, Obama, has exacerbated an already perilous economic situation. He used the crisis, at Tim Geithner's direction, to push his radical agenda down the unwilling throat of the America public. We are going to see some real nasty stuff this time around. And you can put that down the Demagog in Chief.
The Rich declared "class warfare" in the 1980's when they elected Ronnie Ray-Gun. The right wing neo-fascists (nie..Republican party) are the REAL reason for class warfare...not Obama!
Class warfare is too mild a term. The neofascists in the Reactionary Party are committing class genocide against the American people.
HU,
It's PaPa Bush's sorry as caricature of the American Shiites vs the Sunnis but both would cry like little itches if they had extend their courage beyond yelling louder at the other as they both sink...
GET SOME FROM THE NASTY NATION!!!
What's with these stupid arguments between Republicans and Democrats, especially on this Blog. NEWSFLASH – both parties failed together, and both parties are killing America. Both parties are paid for and owned by special interests. It does amaze me how Fox can bash welfare and people on food stamps and then somehow convince them they are republican and should not tax the top 2% of earners, though. Either way I would take true, real socialism over this government at this point right now. The problem is the large majority doesn't even know what socialism truly is and they think it's like a swear word now because republicans hijacked the real meaning. Ask the people in the real Solialist party what they think about democrats and they will tell you democrats are not even close to socialists.
I agree. The American media should interview the French Socialist Party, or the Norwegian Socialist Party (which does happen to be in a coalition with the ruling Labour Party) .
IF YOUR LISTENING! I know this sounds communist, socialist, whatever but think for a moment. Elect people based on what they say they will accomplish in 2, 3, 4, 5 whatever years. When they do, then re-elect them and new agenda, if they do not give them the boot. Tea baggers you're wrong. Work through it don't try and change it in one day.
Sounds like you've got your talking points down pretty well there, BADGUY. The only way to help everybody is to create conditions conducive to business and let the free market work. Obama's not about creating wealth. He wants to take what already exists and spread it around. In his sick mind, it's a zero sum game. That's about as ignorant as it gets.
I had hoped for some mature discussion of the content of this article. Instead there were more of the usual tropes of the undereducated. When incapable of making any serious attempt to address an issue, the typical fallback position is the “socialist” accusation. Blissfully ignorant of its meaning when a simple internet search will reveal its definition, it is wielded with the same venom as communist was during the McCarthy era. Unaware that every society in the history of mankind had relied on some form of socialism to succeed, they are certain its present day equivalent is something close to slavery. Even worse, living in France, or San Francisco. Devise a new term, or better still, study the issues and come up with solutions that don’t involve treating the opposition as if they are the spawn of Satan. Otherwise get out of the way at let the rest of us come together and try to get something done. Because right now, you’re the biggest problem we face.
Many people don't realize that the Scandinavian countries are socialist. I agree with you, they use the word as if it is a cancer symptom.
To: twosmallvoice,
Your hatred blocks you from common sense reasoning... In due time, it will eat you alive... you're the walking dead!
Maybe you Americans should try producing something for a change instead of just sleeping in your office chairs and waiting for a Mercedes and a sack of gold to fall out of the sky.
from looking at the comments on this post and many others like it, maybe it is indeed time to consider or at least talk about if this is a one viable nation any longer...seams to me the left thinks anyone who does not agree with there vison of what america should be is a racist, fascist ect ect. and visa versa from the right....maybe our differences are no longer brigable and its time we look at trying to divide this country up in to 2 visons of what we thing this country should be.....a "liberal" government controled economey and society or a "consevative" free market economey and government and them let the people vote with there feet and money with what they think is best for them and there families and there belife of what ideology offers a brighter future....i thinks its very telling that at one i would have felt like getting in afistfight with anyone trying to sugest that.....and now?? ....im at least willing to listen.....and thats a sad state of affiers fort this nation.
Maybe all of the blue states could be part of the former and all the red states could be part of the latter. First republic to fail loses.
It disheartens me that some have posted emotional statements relying on labels and cliches rather than logic. The problems we face are too important for that.
We are between a rock and a hard place since we need a stimulus and need to balance our budget. Cutting expenses will inhibit any needed for stimulus. Raising taxes on the very rich probably wont effect their spending decisions and therefore wont hurt stimulus efforts.
We have no chance of significantly affecting our deficit without expense cuts and revenue increases. No one really believes that our tax code doesn't harbor unfair advantages for the ultra rich. Warren Buffett wrote an interesting letter about this issue. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html
Obama and Boehner struck a “grand deal” of 4 trillion of tax increases and spending cuts. That was probably the minimum amount to make a difference in the budget, but the Tea Party coalition killed the deal, holding our economy hostage. They pushed a smaller adjustment with spending cuts only. They scared S&P and if interest rates go up even .05%, (I don’t think they will); the effect of the cuts will be negated. It is amazing to me that we have an impass in Washington over raising any tax even one dollar—regardless of the merits.
Some have argued that raising taxes, no matter how unjustified the tax, will hurt job growth. I don’t buy this argument. I know from my experience that I hired people if I determined that the market supported my expansion regardless of my tax rate. Studies don’t support a correlation between tax rates and job growth. (See chart by Center for American Progress suing 1950-2010 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Tax Policy Center.)
A wealthy CEO or a … hedge fund manager has as low effective tax rate as anytime in the past 60 years. (PolitiFact) Clinton’s economy was pretty good even after he raised taxes. Bush's tax cuts didn't avoid a recession and Obama's extension of the cuts obviously hasn't pulled our economy out of its depression.
A statement arguing that the poor don’t pay income tax doesn’t paint the entire picture. When it comes to state and local taxes, the poor bear a heavier burden than the rich in every state except Vermont. People forget that the income tax is less than half of federal taxes and only one-fifth of taxes at all levels of government.
Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance taxes (known as payroll taxes) are paid mostly by the bottom 90 percent of wage earners. That’s because payroll taxes are stopped after you reach $106,800 of income. I suggest that the rich continue to pay payroll taxes all year like the common man is required to do.
According to 2007 data the federal tax burden on the richest 400 has been reduced, thanks to a variety of loopholes, deductions and other methods. The percentage of their income paid in taxes, according to the IRS, is 16.6%. Adding payroll taxes barely nudges that number.
Corporate profits rose from 2000 to 2008, yet taxes decreased $249.9 billion (15.2%) to 230.1 billion (12.6%).
Taxes and efforts to fund national programs, including welfare, haven’t seemed to keep the very rich from continually distancing themselves financially from the rest of Americans. Studies reveal that the dramatic gap between the income of the ultra rich and the average income grows exponentially each year.
At some point too much discrepancy between the super rich and the common man can create a de facto aristocracy that hurts the health of our free enterprise system and democracy.
Nasty, it is a sad pathetic cartoon in this country, with the exception of the people that follow these blogs...
Want a fix to what ails us? Just follow the "Buy American" law, passed in the 1930's and STILL ON THE BOOKS. Lock the borders. Tell Samsung, Toyota, Hundai, etc to build here or leave the American market.They've been doing that to us for the last 40 years. I think turn-a-bout is "fair trade" play. And when we say "build" here, we DON'T mean just "assemble" here. We mean build ALL the parts and subassemblies as well. Don't import 95% of the parts and assemble them in some plant in the USA. The "wealth" created by using imported parts, stays in the home country. It DOESN'T COME HERE!
Neither party can lead. Should we bring back a guy that's not up to the job or should we throw in the towel and let the haves have it all? It's not much of a choice. For me, I'm supporting Ms. Clinton whether she still wants the job or not.
So the Rich don't feel "picked on", raise income taxes on everyone. We're in a national crisis with high unemployment and NO prospects that America's economic model will start producing jobs anytime soon. We ALL are going to kick in to pay for the hurricane and earth quake damage on the East Coast. Why is it so strange, that we ALL kick in to support a Federal jobs program to employ the unemployed?
the problem with your idea of a federal jobs program is that sooner or later the money runs out and all u have done is create another layer of dependency on government.......i bet you have all sorts of problems with the "military industriale complex" and its influance on government....how woudl this be any better?
Just exactly what is the problem if the rich feel "picked on?" Let them. Through Bush Tax Cuts and inheritance law, for starters, as well as corporate tax law, they have plundered the US economy. It is *one* of the causes of the income inequality – they have been quite smart in doing this while at the same time blaming those from whom they've taken money for being lazy, unproductive, etc. Don't fall for it.
What comes after "let them eat cake?"
Storm the Bastille
Fareed, were you not on tv today? (Sunday). All I saw on CNN were waves. The hurricane happened and I appreciated some of the uninterrupted hours of reporting wind and waves but enough is enough. Please tell your bosses that once they say the same thing 100 times, its okay for them to put something else on, like your program.
Common people like a little WWF! it might as well go virtual, with a little smack-down every so often and blossom into the full blown circus it aspires to be. Yet another election with NO HOPE OF A CHOICE; that the successor will do anything but go on vacation and pass the bucking blame. All humankind needs to flourish is respect, love and care ....something government, here ...and around the world ignore. Surprised, they wonder why more bodies take to the street everyday, keep looking out your door, it'll be up in your hood one day. Peace!
I think part of the problem here is that even though "unemployment" is in the 9% range, not everyone deserves to be employed! Why do I say that? Because there are so many bad employees out there that it's amazing. Think of the last time you went to the DMV or to a USPS office - or think of the person in your private sector office who is always screwing around, or leaving early, or attending every "work birthday party" or "baby shower" while everyone else is trying to accomplish work-related goals. There simply aren't jobs for all of these screw-ups! And the world doesn't need any more bank branches, day-care centers or Walmarts. So where does that leave us? Maybe the "new normal" where a bunch of misfits don't have jobs. Cry me a river.
The comments on this article seem to thoroughly prove Zakaria's point, without even having to wait for the campaign to start.
Politics will get nastier for the same reason they've gotten to this point – it works. The growth of the ranks of the ignorant who, in addition to ignorance, blithely claim to be "independent" is the growth of those who will be swayed by nasty politics.
So vote Obama out of office... then vote out the next guy, and the next guy, and so forth... what does that accomplish?
Fact is, those jobs aren't coming back any time soon until the developing countries... well, develop. once they start demanding a higher standard of living, then some of those jobs will come back. Until then people had better realize that pulling out the rug from under people living at subsistence levels is a pretty bad idea. Fact is, we do have to raise taxes (especially capital gains taxes), and we do have to curb some spending. National Sales Tax here we come... and that's not a bad idea at all.
Now, will Democrats realize that now is not the time for unions to forward their own interests at the exclusion of non-union labor, and sometimes at their expense? Will Republicans realize that shifting the tax burden more toward richer people is also a no-brainer?
Probably not before it's too late.
"As you can see, we are now at the longest period of below-normal growth since the great depression. And it doesn't seem likely to pick up anytime soon."
Obama has had his chance and it's time to give someone else a chance. Frankly, I don't care if it's a Republican or Democrat as long as it's not Obama. Obama said on February, 2, 2009 that if he did not turn the economy and employment around in three years he would not be re-elected. That's one time he has been right.
Hey guys, will you visit ..... Help Faye . ORG ....... a friend of mine is Fighting for her life.... Thanks
Help keep a spam-free board and ignore this cretinous ploy for "Faye" which has been popping up for weeks on CNN comments pages. Always the identical spiel but a poster with a different name.
When you are in quicksand, if you do nothing.... and you will go down anyway. You do anything at all to get out.... you'll only go down faster.
I don't think a decent in political nastiness is inevitable. I'm fomenting a healthier discourse on my blog "Constructive Debate." All are welcome: http://bit.ly/nFmlp0.
The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying, "The trouble with this country is...” – Sinclair Lewis
My TPer friend said everyone should JUST EAT CAKE !
What is this "we" garbage that always get projected onto everyone when the blame for the economic woe is distributed. I didn't buy a house I couldn't afford. I have zero CC debt. I pay all my bills.
The people in charge of public policy are at fault. Period. They have the power to pass, or not to pass, any and all spending measures. To enact high taxes or to not enact higher taxes. To grow government or not grow government. To pass harmful legislation or to not pass harmful legislation. To shake down private industry or to not shake down private industry.
Take this "we" junk and stick it where the sun doesn't shine pal. You are part of the problem.
I always thought that the typical rightwing Merican was just arrogant, didn't realize how utterly stupid they are, represented by an ideology so warped that the world is laughing at them. The GOP is destroyed from within, and idiots think people will vote for them in numbers to bring down Mr. Obama? ridiculous, watch...
from Brazil we laugh at these nazi idiots who only want impose their garbage to the rest of people. That's what you get giving freedom of speech to nazis. We feel sorry for the real USA citizens, who want to make their country a democratic and better place. We already had the same problems, we faced fraud in our first democratic elections after CIA backed dictatorship, then we faced impeachment of the nazi who was elected by fraud, then another fraud in 1994 and finally in 2002 the people's will was respect and Lula become the best president we ever had and started to consolidate democracy. In 2010 elections, idiots like this one of the picture, wanted to transform the elections in war, but people don't fall on this trap anymore and voted right for Dilma and we will vote again for her or for Lula in 2014. The rightwingers nazis will never again put their dirty feet on presidential palace here. But I feel sorry for USA, there only have rightwingers and idiots like this psycho fascist of the picture. If you're a USA who don't know why we laugh at you... well, look at your politics and who you vote for. Good luck for real USA who wants a free and respected country...
God can
- Do anything.
Now let's look at the argument. People say right wing are extreme, yet Obama believes in Jesus.
Now who looks dumb? Who looks delusional? YOU! You think Obama is the messiah.. wait, no, you don't believe in God so "messiah" is redundant. Yet, at the end of the day, OBAMA BELIEVES IN JESUS.
We have to ask ourselves, what version of Jesus are you subscribing to? In order to do that.. look at which Bible Obama swore on when he promised us transparency, hope, change. and all that other stuff.. that i'm sure he wasn't thinking about at the golf course these past 2 weeks.
If God is the answer, Obama is against the answer.. because we have nothing against him.. until we have something against Obama (from a spiritual stand point) we won't get anywhere.
All we have to do is find out with version of the Bible Obama swore on... then use that Word against Obama because clearly it does not align to Obama's actions, IN MY OPINION.
Before you call the right extreme, look at Obama! is Obama less extreme? no.
People are slaving to ignorance every day...
People are slaving to ignorance every day...
When are they going to wake up? When are we going to wake up?
When is God going to return? Let's ask Obama. He's a believer... like all of us. Question the beliefs.
I'm so glad God's messenger is posting on here now and giving us the benefit of Her divine opinion.
anyone can be a messenger of God. but you, and most, choose to be the message of anti-God.
Not only that. You're anti-fundamental reasoning. By fundamental, just look up the word.
fundamental - "1. serving as, or being an essential part of, a foundation or basis; basic; underlying: fundamental principles; the fundamental structure."
I am offering fundamental reasoning. Find out which Bible Obama swore an oath on. Simple as that. Fundamental reasoning in action.
Obama is using the name of God in vain... God cannot be mocked. God knows who are His, however. You are not His. because you mock at His name, use it in vain, by electing leaders who you know are lying about their faith. Which is nothing short of THEFT and voter fraud. but the voters are frauds in this case.. because they are liars just like their leader. (Satan)
how much are the republican lobbyists paying you trolls to post this garbage on every board you can find? i'm so sick of these ridiculous and indefensible statements by so called "republicans". it's just like watching faux news, all vitriolic rhetoric with no rational explanation. rejecting all evidence or arguments that are contrary to your hidden agenda. this is why our country is on the brink of disaster. i hope that any moderate, thoughtful person will read this tripe and realize that you don't want this type of person running your country when there is actually work to be done.
I guess you will find out once you die! I bet God is gonna be the one laughing, that is if she exists!!!
Housing is definitely going to continue to plummet. If you look at inflation adjusted housing for the last 150 years, its had at least 6 bubbles, but it always comes back to the inflation adjusted price. The 1990 housing price was less than 10% off the 1890 inflation adjusted housing price. So – guess where we are headed back to? Another 30-50% drop in housing prices at least.
A major reason is that politicians, on both sides, are not listening to the American people, but governing for themselves and their party. In addition, politicians seem to worry more about who created the mess rather than finding a solution. It doesn't matter as much as who created the issue, what are you going to do to solve it?
On the economic side, the current administration has been less then business friendly and the left in general seem to attack business. What these people fail to understand is that businesses are what creates jobs. The country and those unemployed are not better off when politicians make it harder for companies to hire, on the contrary, it makes them worse off. These politicians are doing no one any favors, except perhaps themselves, yet still get large support from those who are made worse off by this politician. What a screwy country.
A third point to make, also in respect to the economy, are the unions. If you want a finger to point at why many jobs are going overseas, look to the unions. The main reason is that unions are essentially bullies to companies. They make outrageous demands, that are not inline with the unions' employees economic worth, and threaten to bring the company to a halt if its demands are not met. In Asia, people are willing to work for less and there are no unions, seems like a win-win from a corporate perspective. I'm sure many American firms feel that it's unfortunate to cut American jobs, but that is not their only or most important consideration. At the end of the day they have to do what's best for the company and its long-term survival.
I think I wondered a little off topic, but the point is, is that these reasons are what's creating the political turmoil we see today. These poisons, if you will, receive way too much support and are allowed to thrive in the American Political System creating the hazardous situation we have today. If these poisons are continued the ability to thrive within the system, it's only a matter of time before the entire system is poison.
The reason for the lag increase seems to be apparent, but I can't understand why they don't just say it. Debt! Not National debt. Personal and business debt. Everyone is in debt. Even when they start to recover it takes longer. In the 1930s not everyone was being crushed under massive amounts of respective debt (businesses and personal) and there were other tiers of jobs to do. Now, everyone and everything is in debt and there are no more manufacturing jobs or lower tier jobs that can (even slowly) get one out of debt. It's like going down the drain in a whirlpool slowly. We can and will drown if we don't either get manufacturing back, or get out of the wars and use that money to retrain the american workforce. We also need to raise taxes and cut spending. It sucks, but raising taxes for the right programs is an investment in a slow turnaround.
They say you get the politicans you deserve.
America is a has been nation, like the old British empire – they didnt realize it was over until it was too late.
I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords.
I have never in my life seen such a lackluster group of individuals trying to run for President ... and I was a Reagan stallwart until the GOP forgot who and what they are and began to look at the US treasury as the ATM for their financial backers.
The US has the best form of government that money can buy. It is bought and sold every day!
America is on the decline. The Gov't no longer works and this suites the GOP/TEA party just fine. They do not believe in Gov't and only care for Millionaires and Billionaires.....you know the job creators.......
I'm pretty shocked at how bad the GOP candidates are. It's like they made a list of the worst possible candidates they could nominate, and then nominated them. We've got the guy who passed Obamacare before Obama, the woman who one time called police and claimed she was being kidnapped by lesbians, the guy who has run against his own party about 8 times, and some guy from Texas who no one has ever heard of. I suspect the serious candidates are holding out for 2016.
Hi America! So how's that whole GOP vs Democrats thing workin out for ya?
most of our factory jobs have been sent over seas,these are the jobs that pap thehighest wges with out college degrees. what were left with is service jobs. jobs at fast food, jobs harvesting crops, even now even finding a yard to mow is becoming an adventure. untilour government starts giving america some breaks instead of other countries nothing will change. if we refuse to pay our people enpoguh to survive on and have the people at the top not live so lavishly things will get worse. just as they did during the great depression. already we have tent ciries filled with whole families now. not just adults. not drunks not junkies. just the poor. did we learn nothing from that horrible time in our countries history? rich and poor we may be but the erich can not livve with out someone to work for them. better to raise our own country than those countries who would gladly see us nuked.
American politics is crippled by the extremes. Yes, the extreme right gets a lot of press for their frankly Anti-American and deliberately destructive behaviour, but let us not kid ourselves, the extreme left is just as bad. The only difference is that the extreme right has actually gained a measure of control over their party. They are no longer the fringe, capable of being suppressed by the rest of their party when they get too unruly.
Ideologues, zealots and nutbars, these are people for whom compromise is an alien word, for whom slogans and chest-beating replace debate and give-and-take, and who frankly have no idea how politics works. These are people who would be just as happy to see their house burn down around them rather than compromise on the colour of the paint.
Yes, The extreme left would be just as bad if they ever gained power, but they are not, and there is no threat of it.
Now even moderate Rightists find themselves being pulled further right lest they be declared 'socialists' or 'libtards' just for the sin of trying to work out a deal to keep the country going. The goal of these people is not to run the country, or to improve the economy, or to help Americans, it is to evice Obama, and if they need to destroy everything that makes America what it is in order to do so, thats fine with them.
As anyone on the right this Hypothetical: Would they rather see a strong, wealthy, growing, prosperous America under Obama, or a poor, humbled, humiliated America under someone else. Dont let them squirm away without answering. 9Oh, and you can do the same to the extreme left by replacing Obama with whatever right wing ideologue you wish).
If you are reading this post, and you would prefer a broken America led by someone else, then realise this: YOU are a traitor, and YOU are what is wrong with this country.
Of course it's going to get nastier. Politicians blame each other for not "creating jobs", even though none have any idea how to do it. Americans continue to blame each other for America's decline, even as corporations continue to ship jobs overseas.
Interestingly, the US achieves positive GDP Growth only in times when it is at war. Look at the chart: the blue areas roughly correspond to the Spanish-American War, WW1, WW2, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Afghanistan/Iraq War, etc.
I'd rather live in a the third world country that doesn't feed off of other people's misery.
Main problems are the sore Losers of the 2008 presidential election. Their only thing to do now is to do everything in their power to make Obama fail. which is why we are in this mess now. Now i will gladly add the blame to the spineles democrats who are too chicke sh**t to stand up against the republican lies and back up Obama. I can tell you if Perry or Bachmann wins. expect extreme changes. severe rollbacks on our freedoms and complete erosion of all the great programs that made this coutry great. best I say is this, LEARN SURVIVAL SKILLS. The things that will matter will be food and water. Teach your family how to grow and produce your own food. becasue unemployment benefits would be cut back severely. people are gonna have no jobs and no wellfare to relly on. it would get very UGLY, under their rule!!!
Book and article recommendation: Authors of both: David Campbell and Robert Putnam. Book: "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us." An article in NYT Aug 16, 2001: "Crashing the Tea Party." Helps to clarify composition of Tea Party and helps to understand where they are coming from.
It's only gonna get nastier because people allow it to continue down that road. People of all walks of life.
Millionaires and Billionaires are the only people that matter for the GOP/TEA party. They are elitists who believe in their own divine,self rule. Is it no wonder America is on the decline........
ToddNTX on Obama Healthcare:
"It is actually a cradle-to-grave way of controlling the populace and eroding the best heath care system in the world."
Facepalm. America's healthcare is not the best in the world by a long way. This is pathetic blinkered jingoism. I am a scientist in the area of health services research. Although you have (I am a Brit) the best healthcare scientific research in the world (currently 30 Billion "socialised" funding per annum from the NIH – nice!) and some of the best doctors; on the larger picture, your healthcare provision works poorly. You pay $7,960 per capita in healthcare costs, compared to e.g. the UK at $3,487, Germany at $4,218, Canada at $4,363 (OECD Health Data 2011) – way more than all other countries – for much poorer real outcomes.
In my opinion (and I'm not alone) – this is because your healthcare is NOT socialised like police, roads, firemen, education, etc. Rather than leave healthcare to people who care about you, it is left to people who care about you and also profits. The administrators at Medicare have a big problem with companies looking for loopholes to rip them off – and that adds bureaucratic burden too. The philosophy of "market forces work best" is fine for buying a car or house – but generally speaking rich people do not choose to have more expensive cancers. Yes, you have market choice in insurance policy, but when you have people who cannot afford it and go uncovered, you have a dangerous system.
Great post. Thanks.
I'm a bit surprised the article didn't mention a huge potential factor: China (it did mention globalization I guess). The Jobless Recovery graph shows that recovery has been becoming more difficult since the 1980s: the same time as China's economic reforms. Since then, jobs have been moving to China in enormous numbers and it's my impression that the whole West (not just the U.S.) is finding it more and more difficult to replace those jobs i.e.it is getting harder and harder to find things to do that the Chinese can't do for cheaper. There might be some correction though if the West remains in recession for long enough: China's export based economy would probably have to follow.
Maybe we'll get lucky and the south (GOP) will secede from the union again, like Gov. Perry suggested....
Fareed points out that the political debate will heat up, that NO ONE knows the answer to the economic situation, that the demagoguing will continue ... and still everyone chimes in with their "it's their fault" rants.
If you're so smart and know hoe to fix everything, quit complaining and run for office. Until then, at east read a column before you comment on it.
A big reason politics is getting nastier is because journalistic integrity no longer exists. There is bias in what is covered and/or how it is presented. Polls from sham organizations created by publicists are reported as though valid. Candidates can get away with anything because the media has lost the backbone to be accountable or hold candidates accountable. Its the closest I've seen to 'yellow journalism' in my lifetime, all because news reporters have placed self-righteousness above objectivity. They've gotten it into their head that they shape public opinion, and become giddy with the temptation of 'making a difference' in a way that suits their personal perspective.
Agreed.... and it when everyone around you are losing their heads, it becomes harder to be heard without losing your own head and joining the shouting slogans match.
Fareed just made the politics even nastier.
...because no Party is for me. Do yourself a favor, America, and drop your party affiliation, if you have one. The sooner the better. Regardless of how you lean on any issue, wouldn't it be harder for politicians to claim they're doing "the people's work" if no one was registered in their party? Then maybe we'd see that the party labels are superifcial at best, and the work they really do, whether they're blue or red, is the work of corporations.
Is there anyone among you readers who truly feels like any of these parties represents your views 100%? If not, why are you a member? Is it because you have common cause with them, in some area you feel is important? If that's the case I'd ask you this: what area of common cause is more important, to every one of us, than the fact that we're *human beings*, and deserve to be treated equally? Are you a corporation? Does a corporation live and breathe, have cares and dreams and worries, play with its kids, kiss its spouse goodnight? Then why are corporations considered "persons", the equal of you and I and our friends and families? They're not, and it's a sick injustice that we've allowed them to make that claim.
Just because you can't see your chains doesn't mean you aren't enslaved. Our politicians don't see red or blue, they see green, only green. Someone told me a long time ago that they thought that anyone who *wanted* to be a cop or a politician probably shouldn't be allowed to do either. As a general rule, I'd have to say my life's experience has tended to affirm that judgement.
Ask yourselves: if money is considered speech, then how can speech ever be equal? To be equal, everyone must have the same capacity and ability. We all of us have voices, cares, thoughts, opinions, but only a very few of us command the kind of "speech" that influences politics.
Anyone who's read this far down the list of comments is a masochist like me, but maybe also a little hopeful. I'm tired of doom and gloom, tired of people saying it will never get better, never change. Look at our country, just look at it! It *has* changed, drastically, bit by bit, year after year. We've made horrible mistakes, but also some wonderful achievements. Things *do* get better, but only if we're constantly vigilant, and only if we can see through the rhetoric that our duopoly is using to divide us. YOU are not red, or blue. YOU are a human being, with much more in common with your neighbor than in contrast.
There is evidence that several corrupt DoJ, DoD and CIA employees had taken bribes from Al Quida in exchange for information and logistics support during the four years prior to 9/11.
When one considers that the 9/11 terrorists could take jumbo jet flying lessons, move about the US unobstructed, live for several weeks less than 2 miles from NSA head quarters and be on State Department watch lists, even without the supporting evidence of bribery this makes sense.
If FBI and DEA where less concerned with enriching themselves by stealing from suspects and taking bribes and more concerened with doing their jobs, 911 may never have happened.
They use corrupt California narcotics officers to kill suspects.
All of us little people fighting among ourselves, while the ruling class stirs the pot.
Democrats=BAD Republicans=BAD
Our entire political system is in dire need of an overhaul. Let's put an end to the two-party strangulation of American politics. Washington is so deeply mired in partisan filth that a third, or even fourth party contingent should rise from this muck and create a viable alternative to the Beltway b.s. (I'm not thinking Tea Party here). We in these forums feed off the garbage, snipe at each other, and accomplish nothing while the fat cats snicker and flush our futures down the drain.
When you have a far left wing Biased Media and a Socialist/Marxist President who has Divided the nation on Race and
a democrat party in power that Lies , Bribes, calls Americans Terrorists, Racists, Ignorant and stupid then DEMANDS Civility of course its going to get Ugly!..I blame the Democrats..Name calling Insults, personal attacks with the support of the propaganda networks are all they have..They CANNOT run on Obamas Failed presidency so they must resort to the usual Yelling and Screaming from the Democrats..Throw in the usual Union Violence and election fraud and you wonder if the Democrats learned NOTHING from Nov 2010...Apparently NOT...Shellacking Part II the "Teaquel"
Matt, neither party has or ever has had a monopoly on insults, personal attacks, propaganda or stupidity. Countless examples on both sides abound.
there's nothing wrong with this economy, go flip those burgers
"Why is this happening? Well, we don't know for sure."
Actually we know precisely why it is happening. Our global industrial economies depend on access to cheap natural resources and cheap fossil fuel energy, we are running out of both! we live on a finite planet with too many people exceeding their ecological footprints and a continuing attempt to push growth at all costs without understanding the negative consequences of growth!
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is its inability to understand the exponential function!"
Dr. Albert Bartlett: Arithmetic, Population and Energy
Nice article, but wrong. Politics are no longer about running this country, state or whatever municipality anymore. Politics has evolved into one thing, power. Both parties have only one goal in mind....destroy to opposition. Both parties will do what it takes to accomplish this, even if it means crushing the spirits of the very people they are trying to represent. Collateral damage they call it. I call pathetic. This is why politics are getting nastier, not the recession.
again the atm's and automation are to blame? what an idiot, globalization is simply another word for our jobs going outside the US because of dem regulations, tell it like it is, BLAME pres obooboo, he is the real cuplrit, he caused the housing crash with community organizin at acorn intimidatin banks and now he is doing it again, IMPEACH INDICT INCARCERATE
Reading these posts is a lesson in stupidity. We have met the enemy and he is us.
Finally, a voice of reason.
Republicans are the ones that often top the game with negative and violent rhetorics.
The sad part is that Clinton ruined our economy but he did it in a way in which future administrations would have to feel the effects, so Bush and Obama are getting blamed. The next administration is finally in a position where Clinton's policies will not have any effect on the decisions, so the recovery can truly begin.
Unfortunately, because of the partisan fighting, it might not happen.
The current acrimony amongst Congresswo/men is a result of unshared sacrifice. From 1948 through the 80s, the majority of the elected government shared the history of WW II service. Kennedy was a Catholic but no one questioned his patriotism.
If you would believe the right wing today, ALL soldiers and their supporters can ONLY be Republicans. Nixon, in his wildest desire to be President in 1960 would NEVER have allowed a 'Swift Boat' attack on JFK. Instead of standing quietly on the sidelines, he would have been the first to denounce any such scurrilous campaign. He and Kennedy were both veterans of the USN.
Today, the first attack is against a persons patriotism or love of America. America is more segregated today than it was post WW II. Not by race, although that still exists, but by lifestyle and 'class'. A Garwood Lipton and Dick Winters of today have not shared the history which built the respect those 2 men gained by their wartime experiences.
Even the civilians of WW II shared the experiences of 'pulling together' for the country. From Victory Gardens to scrap collections, from the 'wrong side of the tracks' to the mansions on the hill, they were ALL Americans striving to win the war.
We're still all Americans. One side believes in helping ALL Americans achieve 'the Dream'. One side believes the locks in the canals should only be available to those who can afford the passage.
Tell me more about nasty politics Fareed. Who knows more than you ? Yours and CNN's support for corrupt politicians in India can be seen through CNN's reports on India's movement against corruption. You love your dad's friends, who are most corrupt people in the world.
CNN tried to defame Anna Hazare, whom majority Indians regard as second Gandhi. Need proof, google "Anna Hazare" and/or "Ralegan Siddhi" and know your self. Also go through CNN's coverage of entire movement of India Against corruption. You will know the truth. Also, read Fareed's background and know How Fareed is related to corrupted people in India.
TruthvsGOP
That "Obamacare" is the cause of the debt problem
***see above quote***
Lies from a tea party moron, as Obamacare doesnt go into affect until 2014.
They scream about anything Obama, and anything democrat, yet all they have are lies.
The real problem is american's worship of their aristocratic oligarchy. The Republican supporters are particularly bad in this regard because the working class conservatives are fully willing to sacrifice themselves and their families so that the wealthy bankers can prance around in their bailed out mansions at our tax paying expense. It is time to stop worshiping multi-national exploitative corporations with huge tax breaks and sending all of our money to bail out renegade wall street hedge fund bankers. It is time for americans to lose faith in their exploitative wealthy masters who have robbed our country blind and kept us in a permanent unsustainable oil baron war.
Do the politicians of recent past accept the responsibility of their failures? -> That's what lead us here
Will the current politicians accept responsibility of their actions now? -> If not, then why elect them...
What will the american public do when we are tired of being tax slaves for the rich? -> commit genocide on another nation...
"I'm not making any assumptions about the Republican candidate and what he or she will say on the stump"
Uhhh... that statement alone tells me Fareed is (as they say) "in the tank" for Obama.
Just looking at these comments makes me certain that civil war is inevitable. You can't have this level of hatred and division and expect this nation to unite for ANYTHING.
I'm sure glad I've got my guns. It looks as if I'm going to need them.
"Why is this happening? Well, we don't know for sure."
This one liner from the article is an approximate summation of Moron Zakaria's take on the situation, which is entirely at odds with what everyone else not dependent upon the corporate media for their living knows only too well. Reagan's former Assistant Treasury Secretary, Paul Craig Roberts, puts it down to twenty plus years of steady outsourcing of the employment and manufacturing base during the 90's and 2000's. Both the corporately owned Demokrat tweedle dee and the Rethuglican tweedle dumb regimes slicked those skids down well enough during their respective tours in office. When are Americans finally going to wise up to the circus that they exist in, where they're constantly led around on a leash like the dog faced boy that's been trained to bark on command, and that everyone pities but can't help staring at because its so ugly and stupid.
Thank you for a great post. I totally agree. But by the time Americans DO wise up, our empire will be in ashes. I'd prefer to say "Republic" rather than "Empire," but our Republic died a long time ago.
You're welcome. Yes, the USA yesterday, today and tomorrow is a corporate empire being propped up with everyone's hard earned tax dollars, from Afghanistan, Libya, Israel, Europe, selected CIA fiefdoms in South America, to Wall Street. Every money making adventure has its hand out for Uncle Sam's wallet, which means your tax dollars at work on behalf of the corporate ruling class. And in return, they can't even offer decent paying jobs with some measly benefits for your and yours. Talk about loyalty.
Politics are already nasty enough. I have never seen this level of division in my lifetime, and I'm 61.
I say "a plague on both your houses." I despise what I see on both sides, and especially the lack of civility. You people would kill each other before you would compromise. You would rather see this country go down in flames than unite with the people you hate. It's likely you have members of your own family and loved ones who do not support your politics. Do you hate them too?
Unite under whom? Crackpot Paul and his merry band of 'beggar thy neighbor' goons? The fleecing of Amerika is nearly complete. Anyone who takes corporate money for their political campaigns should be considered as a traitor. Corporations are multi-national and therefore have offshored their headquarters to foreign tax havens to avoid contributing their share to the common good. Corporate campaign donations amount to bribes from foreign countries. It's funny how all the so called patriots don't seem to have a problem with any of that, as they'll go off and vote lickety split for the next puppet to come along who's on the take.
Are you voting for Obama, then? Don't tell me he didn't and won't take corporate money. I agree with you about the corporations. They are destroying America to make themselves richer. That makes them traitors, in my book.
No Cynic. I called the demokrats the tweedle dee party, operating in tandem with the tweedle dumb party of the rethuglicans. Does it sound to you like I'll be voting for any of these corporate front organizations any time soon?
All he had to say is that Obama can't run on his record and therefore he and the Democrats will be demagoguing attacking their opponents in the nastiest way possible. You've already heard the tip of the iceberg with the renewed attacks on the Tea Party by thye likes of Maxine Waters.
If 30 million decent paying industrial jobs flee the nation in 30 years, there's gonna be an awful lot of people out of work. I did not vote for Obama(I voted minor party), but anyone who thinks McCain/Palin would have made a difference are economically incompetent and deluded by blind partisan politics.
The world is being polarized into two camps: Those who blame everything bad, everywhere, anytime, on Israel / The Jews,
and those who have the logical ability and courage to stand up to the hoard of people who are members of the first group.
There's just as many Jews and people of conscience who categorically reject what Israel does in the name of all Jews. As the majority nearly everywhere, secular Jews are forced to contend with what every other religion has to contend with, which is exclusive minority elements from within practicing dangerous fundamentalism.
Maybe politics will get nastier but people WILL NOT, we all saw what our passion did, TEA PARTY GOP CONGRESS, I dont think people will care as much any more. I can say that my passion to fight with someone and pouncing on something is gone just because its POINTLESS.
Hey Zakaria, you still meeting with Obama each week to get what you're supposed to report on? Though some people may like what you have to say, most don't. And your time at CNN is short, you're ratings are terrible and you're message is Anti-American. We're on to your game and know about your meetings.
I don't know the criteria by which CNN selects emails to post, but I wish to God they'd eliminate all the inflammatory, and/or disrespectful posts. It would be nice to be able to follow up the reading of an article, with viewing thoughtful, reasoned, and respectful posts. CNN, are you listening?
Unfortunately, Kevin, if CNN did this, there would be no comments at all.
LOL, Yes, I suppose you're right. However, one would have to assume that over time, people would learn to curtail the dismissive and demeaning rhetoric, and post something constructive, and respectful.
Well,,,,, I can but dream.
That's part of the problem though isn't it? The two ring circus in Warshington and the goons on Wall Street can get away with practically anything, and everyone is supposed to be polite about it. If people get ill-mannered and decide to protest against the order of things, they'll send their police out to beat and arrest anyone they can get their hands on. This is a fact in modern day Amerika.
I'd like to think that "We the People" might set aside our name calling and dismissive tone long enough to hold an adult conversation about the issues facing us today. Perhaps without all the emotional drivel one finds in these posts, we might actually agree on many things that take our society and Country back on the right path? Naive, I'm sure, but I can see very little positive coming at the governmental level, when "We the People" cannot even discuss matters with civility and open minds at this level.
People have to forget about those born and born again liars from both parties, including the corporate funded tea party elitists, and talk about what is best for their particular street and community. All politics are local as the saying goes. Forget about the artificial divisions being sponsored by the liars, and talk to one another as human beings. Ordinary people from every walk of life and background have more in common with one another than they will every have in common with the ruling class super rich organ grinders, and their bought and paid for dancing monkey politicians. Shun them all and rely on eachother instead. Reject traditional politics as usual, and anyone who comes along with the same old tired like of wanting to 'clean up' Warshington. Turn them all out of their ill gotten offices. Anyone who preaches war and depends on divisions in society at the street level to make their careers should be ridden straight out of town. Come together as one and shout down these liars, scam artists and fakers wherever they rear their ugly heads.
Much of this has to do with how horrible our education system has become, and how we have lost our edge in science, math and citizens with high levels of education. The industrial society is OVER, its not time for the digital society and if you are not ready, then you will be left behind. Our educational system, and encouraging our children to seek an education, not just 4 years of college, but masters and Phd's, is the long term answer to our future.
Fareed, I am surprised you don't know why politics has become so nasty.
First, in response to the Republican claim that the media has liberal bias causes media like CNN not to report the ugly truth. Instead, the media lumps together the two parties by assigning equal blame. The Republican Party owns more than a hundred TV and radio stations that put out propaganda 24/7. Dems have none.
Many T-Bag Republicans actually believe the angry lies on their signs. Listen to Rush or Beck, etc. for a few minutes. They pack each angry sentence with multiple lies intended to deceive listeners and make them hate Dems, and they do. Check the difference between what Republicans say and their actions in Congress. Their policies always make the rich richer, but many T-Bags are not rich and are very confused.
Which party declared corporations are people and can give unlimited funds to pols? That tells the story - Republicans do all kinds of evil for the love of money, country be damned.
I see Fareed is being a debbie downer again. This level of acrimony and political intransigence is nothing really new. It's been a staple of American Democracy since the founding of the Republic. Only the tactics have changed, not the strategy.
Politics will get nastier because we, in the United States, are divided into two groups:
1. Those who earn money, and
2. Those who want to redistribute it through government seizure.
The interests of these groups are 180 degrees out and cannot be reconciled.
Gimme a break zakaria...when was politics anything but NASTY ?
I dread this election season. The toxicity it will produce will not heal anything no matter who "wins.' We will be more divided than ever. Sometimes I believe, that if geographically or economically possible, we should divide into separate fragment nations along our inflexible fault line of rigid ideals. Every group could have their own little fiefdom where no other ideas or thoughts are permitted, we call each other infantile names to dehumanize our adversaries, compromise is is a dirty word and we all go our separate ways.
People should drop the democrats and rethugs like yesterday's news....like 8 track cassette players in the digital age. Go with someone, anyone, who hasn't taken a dime from the corporations...go with someone, anyone, who can't be bought. By now, people should abandon their party memberships in droves, and let the clowns who remain and their mouthpieces in the corporate media babble amongst themselves.
I believe the United States has reached a tipping point. This country is no longer a 'democracy,' but a plutocracy. The middle class is fast disappearing and the country is turning into a second-class nation that in the future will invent nothing, excel in nothing and have no international influence.
Will the last person to leave please turn out the lights?
Remember the days of Reagan's trickle down economics? The only thing that has actually trickled down has been third world conditions across Amerika from sea to putrid sea. Corporate profits are doing well enough though for the time being, and the market is holding its own. All the real action affecting those statistics are being played out overseas,, where Helicopter Ben's bailout bucks, quantative easing funny money, and banker's dream "liquidity" windows have allowed more inflationary computer cash to float around the world making even more money for the super rich. Little of any of that taxpayer underwritten largesse was invested back into the USA.
A quick jumpstart to the economy would be getting gas prices under control, average price is $3.70 a gallon, before this all started it was under $1.70, everything that moves needs gas, it drives all prices up, it's more expensive to get to work, so people stop spending money, fix the gas prices and you'll fix the economy.
Is there anybody left who is happy with Obama?
“We also have these two big forces – technological change and globalization –that encourage businesses to become much more efficient – and need fewer workers – and also gives them almost unlimited places where they can hire workers and set up new factories, often more cheaply than in the United States.”
So what it really comes down to is large corporations really don’t need or care about the American public, there are cheap labor and more profits somewhere else. The worship or power and money, nothing really changes.
All the charts in the world can't express what's really happening: People can plainly see that this Emperor Has No Clothes!
But the empire has a secretive all powerful national security and domestic intelligence network to ensure that the emperor can walk where he pleases and do whatever he fancies without any need to be concerned about what the population thinks.
I hate to be that guy, but that second chart is a crappy chart. Who designs these things? Who illustrates timespans with a bar chart? Note to the world: if your chart data could be conveyed almost as well in a table, then you're doing it wrong. Here's a hint: if your point is that something takes LONGER or SHORTER, then perhaps some physical element in the chart should look LONGER or SHORTER than others.
If you read the comments here, you will understand why politics will get nastier. You have two extremes that are fighting it out to the death, and you have a bewildered middle who is just flabbergasted by the overuse of rhetoric, disinformation and paranoia. What has made America great in the last 80 years is that we had a chance to make everyone's lives better (Starting with The New Deal), and about 50 years ago we started with some really amazing leaps forward, but over those 50 or so years, there has been very little long term and substantial political and personal follow through to be responsible with our own country. The proverbial can has been kicked down the road so long, and people have been placated with an unsustainable dream, that now that the bills are do, and we are all in a bad place, we can't find a place to juggle the politics with the outcomes. No matter who is elected, no matter what pledge they make, sadly this recession and slow growth will continue. Even if America "grows" it will be superficial, because we have a workforce that is unskilled and undereducated, so until the rich people start needing more indentured servants, we are at their mercy. The only good solution is to try and ease burdens on *true* small businesses and start by rebuilding local communities with permanent local jobs that keep communities together.
Turning things around can only happen if we seek ideas to do so and believe in them, that is what has worked in the past. And despite what the health people say about wine, it is a depressant that does just that, depress people.
First off lets start by NOT giving home loans to POOR people who can not re-pay them. You libs are so concerned with helping the poor (with my money) that your killing our country. I say let people go hungry, it;s a great motivator to WORK. NO WORKY, NO EATY....:o) They rich are not the problem...its the poor in this country that have their hands out so much no wonder they can't find work. Most (47%) of the population pay no taxes!! EVERYONE should PAY their share. Even the poor.....
Long term home values and the rental market are an indicator of what is going with labor. In other words, they tried to generate a market in housing with all kinds of innovation during the free trade era that is still ongoing, but what it finally came down to is that the wages weren't there because the industry was not strong enough in markets to pay those wages. HW Bush thought free trade was great, partly because the high end investor which was supporting the republicans back then could get a good profit from free trade. They do, just not the rest of us. Clinton was like Obama, honestly trying to bridge the hate gap. and thought he knew something about economics having put Arkansans to work in Tysen chicken plants as governor. In his comments on free trade basically promised it would work or he would eat his hat. It was a very big deal, and still is as the chart shows, at least a modification in policies is the smart way unless Trump is right and the president is not smart. I think the bubble was an attempt to make things ok, but you can't make something out of nothing.
The public is to blame for some of these problems. We need to elect people who are willing to compromise. Last election you voted for people who said that would kick washingtons butt and would not raise debt limit. They did what they said they would and we are to blame. Elect reps that will work together and not these extremes
Nasty defines this country and soon a civil war will get much nastier.....
GOP plan for making US a third world country.
Bachmann – Ban EPA so the corporations who bankroll her can mine/drill our forests and oceans and pollute our country
Gov Christie/Perry – Cut funding for schools/reaserch programs. So we can create a future army of mimimum wage workers and no innovation
Perry – No new industry or innovation, just move jobs from other creative regions to cheaper wage locations .
Paul Ryan Cut Medicare/SS# for seniors
Taxes for the top1% billionaires.
GOP vision screw the middle class, kids, seniors and profits for the corporations who bankroll them.
There is NO free market capitalism when government gets involved with it. The market is no longer free. So, I would appreciate it if people would stop using that phrase. Secondly, things are going to get a lot nastier because of people like Mr. Zakaria who don't often tell the truth about anything because instead of reporting the news, they are only interested in reporting their own opinion, skewed by their political ideologies and who their best friend might happen to be.
I agree 110%. Truly free market capitalism does not exist in this country. I'm not really sure it ever has.
Moderation is the key to solving our problems. The tea party will only swirl the country into further economic chaos. It is clear that cutting taxes will not work and that the country's health care sector is bleeding us try. Example. My husband went to the dermatogolist two weeks ago. A 10 minute consultation was $577. The doctor's fancy BMW sat in the shade outside. I'm sorry–I cannot understand or tolerate the 'rip-off' of the normal American by doctors and pharmacutical companies. Wake up America. Free market will NOT keep healthcare costs down. Supposedly Healthcare is one of the only GROWING industries in the US. That is scary in itself. Growing jobs and keeping healthcare costs down are a start. Making oil companies and the rich pay their fair share is another. Staying out of long conflicts like Iraq is another. Have Americans forgotten how costly the Iraqi war really was. Could we afford it. So, moderation is the key. Now to find a true moderate with a half a brain. Only Obama seems close. Palin, Perry, Bachman are scary. So, America, so unless a brighter, more moderate star emerges than Obama, we should focus on the Congress and elect MODERATES who have our countries welfare in mind.
Anna,
Whilst I agree that "moderation" is a "reasonable" sounding term, it does not always lead to success. One can be driving toward a cliff at 100 mph, then decelerate to a "moderate" 55 mph, and still go over the cliff. Though I am not a "Tea Party" member, I do not believe they want to "swirl our country in to further economic chaos". Like you, they want the madness to end, and for sanity and "moderation" to rule. However, our government is broken. As bad as the situation is, I'm not sure that a moderate approach will work. If taxes are a reality of life, then all must shoulder a portion of the burden, both rich and all but the poorest. If social services are a reality, then those who most need them, should have this refuge available to them. Those who play the system, should be kicked off the dole. Wars should be avoided at all costs, not courted by our government officials for dubious reasons. I've often thought that if we passed a law, forcing the sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of all elected officials to serve on the front line of any war that is started, we'd soon find out just how important is the cause to America. I'm sorry that I've rambled on, but I think we all want the same here. We want America to be great again.
The problem, Anna, is not so much a lack of moderation as it is a lack of truth.
Nothing punishes a politician more than simply stating the truth as-it-is. Whether it's realizing that we might need to edge up social security and medicare retirement ages by a year or two (or maybe three) over the next decade, or perhaps insti.tute some sort of deductible system into medicare, or perhaps patents need not guarantee 45% profit margins for decades before generic medications come in and drive prices down through competi.tion and somehow "innovation" will need to find a way to coexist with "competi.tion" of this sort (and it's so funny hearing the right-wing capitalists argue the opposite... you would expect something like that out of the big-government "socialists"), or perhaps a family of four with only two people old enough to drive can make do with fewer than four automobiles in their driveway and garage at night and still manage to tolerate the reduction of "quality of life" that comes from "only" having two, or perhaps GDP simply cannot grow at 3% to 4% every year into perpetuity and that "sustainable" GDP growth is more like 0.5% or 1% if we're lucky given the fact that the era of cheap oil is over, or perhaps that just because we have the greatest military in the history of the world perhaps it is not the right thing to use it in an attempt to solve every perceived foreign policy issue we have, or maybe the results of standardized testing is not the be-all end-all of an American primary education...
You know, saying any single one of these truths gets you labeled as an extremist wacko–whether you are Ron Paul or Paul Ryan or Bernie Sanders or Ralph Nader. Saying that "it will all be okay, as long as the extremists are ignored and we get more moderates in," while understandable, ignores the fact that we face some very real issues that simply cannot be solved by proper governance as long as truths like these are swept under the rug as examples of "extremist" rhetoric.
But of course in the end it doesn't really matter. Sadly, I think this country is on its way down, that the nasty politics of today are the fiddle we are playing while Rome burns. I only hope that reality and truth, while they certainly won't be denied, come down a little less severely upon us than I think they might...
This entire area of the U.S.A. is so polluted that its beginning to look like Alabama or Phoenix, where are these aliens from? they should renounce their citizenships and return to Europe.
There is no free market, what we do is that we subsidize the corporations and bail out banks and other business affiliated with banks and this is called welfare for the wealthy or if you wish corporate socialism and this has been going on forever.
Mr. Zakaria has this uncanny "DESIRE" to stay in the limelight with all these "PROPHESIES" by "merely" stating the obvious by sewing & weaving already published facts....something that's not much of a no brainer to majority of informed Americans!
He does this typically by making broad, sweeping statements often times encompassing both sides of the aisle, leaving him just enough room to wriggle out in the event of an unsavory situation! Often times on issues closest to his heart, including support for Muslim issues all over the world, anti-Semitism, or America bashing we see him unleashing his passion with a variety of cherry-picked data, half-truths to further his cause.
Mr. Zakaria has this uncanny "DESIRE" to stay in the limelight with all these "PROPHESIES" by "merely" stating the obvious by sewing & weaving already published facts....something that's not much of a no brainer to majority of informed Americans!
He does this typically by making broad, sweeping statements often times encompassing both sides of the aisle, leaving him just enough room to wriggle out in the event of an unsavory situation! Often times on issues closest to his heart, including support for Muslim issues all over the world, anti-Semitism, or America bashing we see him unleashing his passion with a variety of cherry-picked data, half-truths to further his cause.
Sorry for repeating the paragraphs....got copied twice.
The third paragraph needed to be:
Having said that, Mr. Zakaria is on this crusade in his quest to “capture” a coveted, influential public position such as the US Secretary of State to further his overarching Islamic, anti-Semite agenda. No wonder there was web site that propped out of nowhere during the Presidential campaign in 2004 appealing to the future President to appoint Mr. Zakaria as the next US Secretary of State. His efforts at commenting/ prophesizing on everything under the sun (many of which he knows precious little about!) is a balancing act at depicting his overall concern for world/US affairs in fulfillment of his coveted Islamic, anti-Semite agenda!
If you're looking for proof at how nasty the upcoming campaign will be, you only have to look at the readers comments here. That irony is, I'm sure, lost on those using these boards not to actually discuss the merits of the article, but to insult each other.
Our capitalist system can not sustain our current population. We don't need the number of people we have without creating a a very large segment of extremely poor people. I for one do not want to see parts of the US looking like the favelas or barrios in Brazil or parts of Africa.
So was is it going to be? Either we take care of the less fortunate or we continue on the path of the survival of the fittess.
Is this a story about nasty elections or have you found yet another crafty way of spreading your doom and gloom outlook about America, careful to use the word "we" repeatedly. Yes, we know this is longest period of below-normal growth since the great depression, we know jobs are going oversees, as far as technological change and globilization, we wrote the book.
everyone is acting exactly the way 'they' want you to act
the rich people who control this country want this discourse – this anger
makes people forget and react stupidly – making it easier to impose more restrictions upon the poor, to impose more taxes upon the poor, all in an effort to make it easier for the rich to stay rich
it this country – if you are not a billionaire
you are a tax slave
if you think you are not – then you are fully infected with their point of view of you
More and more money is being concentrated into the hands of fewer and fewer people at the top.
The system is skewed to favor people who already have wealth making it easier for them to acquire even more wealth while those at the bottom are finding it harder and harder to live let alone acquire wealth.
.
Mr. Zakaria has lost his street cred as a Keynesian long ago, and now he seemingly wants to blame nasty politics on the economy, when in fact the nasty politics he's talking about stem from a core American idea that the federal government not only is able to, but ought to, "do something" about the economy. This idea comes from history and the (apparently?) huge success of things like the New Deal (and a big war, which was a different kind of government employment program) in turning a really bad economy into a great economy.
But what the author neglects to mention (perhaps he doesn't realize it) is that–in spite of the fact that the public is demanding the federal government "do something" about the economy–there is no indication that the government is (1) capable, let alone (2) willing, to "do something," whether that something is some huge Keynesian infrastructure stimulus (which Zakaria isn't even supporting, since he's instead embracing this quasi-private infrastructure loan program which is not at all Keynesian any longer) or that something is some huge decimating of federal spending (aka "balanced budget" combined with "tax cuts") and maybe even a default on our financial obligations (which apparently relies on magic to not cause a negative-GDP trend, or in some cases these people don't care about GDP nosediving because they don't really understand what that means) or if that something is just gutting every federal regulation there is and "trusting" businesses to do the right thing (or perhaps not really caring if they do the right thing, because the right thing usually cuts into the bottom-line).
That is, politics is nasty, and it will only get nastier, because the public still believes the federal government is either the cause of the problem itself or that the inaction of the federal government is the cause of the fact that the problem won't go away this time. As our collective illusions get shattered, and we come to realize that government is not only unwilling, but also incapable, of "doing something" that would right our economy, our emotional response to the loss of those cherished illusions will be worst than our emotional response to the loss of our middle-class quality of life.
Very simple reason Mr. Zakaria. This President does not have any record to talk to public so all he and his alike will do is personality assassination. They had done that against Palin and now they are doing against all the possible candidates who can be a threat to Obama. You can but not hide. Enough of 9.2%+ unemployment, policies to please unions that simply kills jobs as companies would rather move to a place where they are not blackmailed, enough of substandard, high cost health-insurance plan that will wipe out health insurance provided by the companies. We need a President who understands what is needed by the common man, small scale businesses etc.
And once the unions disappear, we can obviously trust the corporations to fairly share the largess of profits they get from productivity gains with labor, because nothing concerns the "risk takers" and the "job creators" so much as the idea that some of their employees might be unhappy or unfairly treated by the processes of capitalism.
Right...
Ford understood that paying his employees a living wage did several things: increased productivity, increased retention of critical workers who understand factory processes (no matter how "automated" these processes might get, there is still a surprising amount of craftsmanship going on inside of factories today, and insti.tutional knowledge drains kill productivity over time), and something that always seems to get missed: increased demand for his products because his middle-class workers went out and bought his cars.
The gutting of labor unions and the absolute disdain that modern capitalists seem to have for labor (they view it as a commodity, which it most certainly is not) is a key part of the problem. Business is benefited by high unemployment–it puts them in a position of power relative to labor, and drives labor costs down. That's why Wall Street is doing well while everyone else is feeling the pinch of unemployment and stagnant/falling wages.
"Nasty politics"? That's a new word for rising fascism.
It will get nastier as long as the public is more interested in being right than solving the problem. In a republican system of government politicians are reflection of the people, for good or ill.
why don't all of you shut up and elect Ron Paul.
LOL after the straw poll it was hilarious watching the media try to ignore the fact that he basically tied Bachmann for the win.
Watch: he'll win the GOP nomination before the media acknowledges that he exists at all, and then they'll say something like the GOP just shot themselves in the foot because he's still "unelectable" in spite of winning a nomination he was supposedly not supposed to even register above the noise of his "dedicated supporters." Then they'll marvel at the fact that he won the electoral college by like one or two electoral votes in the general election, and try to ignore the fact that he just got 60% of the national popular vote...
Here's one for you repubs to chew on: after the fall of Lehman Bros., the Bush administration saw the handwriting on the wall-economic free fall. The then turned to Government Spending in the form of the TARP to attempt to save the economy from their own "tax cut" policies. They employed a liberal action (spending) to rescue the "free market". I guess those "liberal" tactics aren't so bad after all. In a truly "free" market, AIG, CITI, etc. should have been allowed to rise or fall under their own "ability to survive in the "free market". Chew on that "liberal" action.
Apparently my comment was not much welcome...........not being posted I assume that CNN does not appreciate the truth.
You need to break up some words-within-words, or the auto-moderator censors you. Some examples:
insti.tution: because we wouldn't want anyone offended by "ti.t" you know
cu.mulative: ewww... did you say "cu.m"?
It's an idiotic system that doesn't accomplish what it sets out to accomplish and only frustrates well-meaning people who want to write something down and get their conversation-placebo-fix for the day...
Maybe Obama doesn't have any answers but there are plenty of candidates who do. I say we give them a chance!
The Tea Party is the worst thing to happen to this country in decades. They attack and intimidate which is why so many spineless Republicans refuse to stand up to them. Romney is a perfect example.
"They attack and intimidate which is why so many spineless Republicans refuse to stand up to them. Romney is a perfect example."
Don't forget Boehner.......
you're right. the tea party is the worst thing to happen to the liberal movement in decades. the party that survives by creating a whole dependent class of people should be concerned.... americans are tired of supporting people who lack the desire to take care of themselves.
Its The Economy Stupid
If the republicans want to win the white house they will endorse a candidate that talks of nothing else but the economy. Any talk of god or values isn't going to cut it. Those select few voters (of which I am one of) that vote democrat or republican (you know the margins that decide an election) are not going to be swayed by religious diversion but rather be very, very turned off.
All these comments are silly.... The basic premise of the article is silly
All we need to do is to return to the glory days of the 1973-74 oil embargo as those years were the good years according to this article... doesn't pass the simple smell test.
I have one thing to say to Obama haters and Racist lovers: elections have consequences. Loosing an election means you have to shut up and let the adults manage what is best for the country. If you don't like it and don't want to shut up, 2012 December is coming to take you to the paradise you all have been longing for. Don't make your last days on earth miserable.
W.T.F ?
I'm sure vpcam is talking about December 2012 in the sense that it is a month before January 2012 when whomever just won the election in November takes office...
It would be hilarious, though, if they were talking about the whole Mayan calendar thingy and pitting the November 2012 elections against the end of the world against that, as if these people would be most-lamenting that they lost the election when the world is crumbling beneath their feet.
true it will get nastier, because in one word (hypocrisy) and self-righteous, intolerance, people that scream patriotism and good-ole christians
Read your post and then the remainder of the posts here. Who is civil and who isn't.
to those business execs, small and large corporations, who sacrifice their own (American citizens) for a profit overseas. of those that moved MAJOR amounts of jobs out of this country I would like to know, what was your corporate bottom line BEFORE you felt a need to take advantage of the global economy? were you making a profit? what was your profit percentage? You claim to be a true blue American citizen (U.S.A greatest country in the world and all that) but your love of country ends when given the choice between your neighbor or your overseas investors. I've said this in the past, there is no such thing as an AMERICAN CAPITALIST. You are either an American or a capitalist. An American loves their country a capitalist loves their money. We speak of past American economic greatnesss. that was at a time when NO ONE, business leader or political leader, would even think of using foreign labor to replace our manufacturing sector. that is why those days are gone. that is why the common man has begun to accept that 'those jobs are gone and aren't coming back'. that is why faith in our economic growth is non-existent. Our economy is now service based. which means we just pass what little wealth there is between ourselves. we buy something made overseas (retail employees make some money). they pass their money to another part of the service sector (grocery store, restaurant, service station, repairman, etc). who pass their money back to them (retail again)
The business execs really had no choice. Had they not maximized the bottom line, the shareholders would have sued them–and won their lawsuit–because corporations are required BY LAW to maximize shareholder value.
I'm not saying that, given the choice, the business execs would have done the right thing and stayed satisfied by "only" 15% profit margin when 25% profit margin was attainable through outsourcing. I'm saying that they never had that choice to begin with.
...that makes it sounds as if these people operate in a vacuum, execs and their shareholders. They don't. They're people, just like you and I, it's just that they're very greedy, greedy people. At some point each person has or had a choice: to exploit others, or not to.
Actually, it's not people so much as it is automated algorithms that make near-instantaneous buying and selling decisions in the stock market.
And you are wrong–the law does insulate these decisions and pretty much makes them happen in a sort-of "legal vacuum".
politics will bet nastier because that's all the liberals have left. spread fear and hatred. make people get emotional so they lack rational thought. it's easier to whip them into a frenzy.
What most are not talking about is the enormous trade imbalance, in particular with China. While the Chinese use predatory practices such as intentionally devaluing their currency, so as to make their wares more afforable for their own people, purposefully shutting out American goods, we are having drastic economic repercussions here in the US, together with job losses. The trade imbalance is something that no politician, especially those in the Obama Administration is willing to touch.
Yeah, let's elect a bunch of Republicans again (as was done in 2000), so they can rip us a new one.
There is bitterness and anger and bullying (and a serious lack of self-awareness) on both sides, right now.
I'm a liberal. As a result of political discussions for the last several years, I have been told I should be killed, imprisoned, tortured, "sent to Gitmo", or that I should kill myself. One particularly nasty neoconservative became obsessed with me and repeatedly tried to bully me into killing myself – repeatedly sending me personal messages indicating I should "end the suffering" and take my own life.
I find that kind of behavior disgraceful beyond the power of words to express.
The Tea Party is far from practicing the Christian ideals most of them preach; I will say that.
However, I see the viciousness going on, on the left, as well. Phrases like "Republican'ts", "Republicons", "Republitards", et cetera do nothing to advance the discussion, and just make the Tea Party yell louder. It may be true that the Tea Party is "worse" – I don't see a lot of people on the left telling others they should be in jail, prison, or the grave – but it's really splitting hairs to dwell on that point. The bitterness, hatred, and yelling are definitely there on both sides.
I miss the days when people put policy before personality.
Andrew, I appreciate your comment, but I'd like you to consider something you might not have considered (indeed, it only recently occurred to me in a recent CNN opinion piece talking about the power of Sarah Palin's message): people are done with the policy wonks.
That is, many people have been saturated with arguments for or against this or that policy, competing economic theories that seem to have no obvious answer (and no obvious champions any longer, as people on the left such as Zakaria has basically abandoned Keynesian economics even though he still likes to wear that ti.tle) and seemingly "magical" connections between the policy and the desired result (e.g. 1. balance the federal budget while cutting taxes, 2. ????, 3. PROFIT!), but they've reached a point where they view it all as just one more politician defending one more "special interest" or whatnot (whether that special interest is greedy corporations or slothful and corrupt union bosses or whatever), and are sick and tired of anything resembling a policy debate.
They don't want another policy debate. They want "action." Moreover, they want people to take that "action" and run with it, and reassure them that it will all work out in the end, and then turn around and flatter them by saying things like, "we need to have more faith in the American people, because they are what made this country great, not some government program" so that they can carry out their government programs and pretend it's not a government program at all but rather the "American people" doing what they do when we restore our "faith" in them.
Not sure... Optimism is very powerful as a political tool, at least to get elected. Policy is dead. Remember Al Gore? Remember when SNL made fun of him and painted a picture of his Presidency as an unending series of fireside chats where he methodically educated the American people on dry economic theories and policy wonk ruminations?
I think people walked away from policy a long time ago. Personality is the new policy...
Zakaria needs to stick with international events. His articles on domestic policy are listless!
He is not in international events. He is in to International issues related to Islam only. He did not say single word about "India against corruption" movement. Where huge (1 million +) amount of angry people on the road without single incident of violence for 13 days. That is not a significant event for Fareed Zakaria. Few articles by CNN in favor of corrupt politicians in India, were the only coverage on CNN.
I find it humorous that any of you people think your rants are meaningful in any way. I believe you all just want to see your own skewed beliefs in print.
And yet here you are, adding your two cents in with ours. Granted, anyone willing to read through all of these comments is a masochist, and yet here we all are. That in itself makes it meaningful. How else do ideas get exchanged?
I realize it's hard to find "ideas" amongst the rabid outbursts, but there are a few there. And I like to think we're not just preaching to the choir, so to speak.
Runmoe, this is a website. What is written here is not "in print."
The difference between the printed word and the online word is significant–and shouldn't be underestimated. Equivocation of the two technologies results in a critical loss of understanding of both modern culture and history.
I felt certain that my comment would flush out at least one condescending voice, whether it be in print, cursive, hieroglyphs, drum beats, or by smoke signals. I rest my case.
LOL, Runmoe, at your objection to a "condescending voice."
Pot, meet kettle.
As long as the pols get to choose their voters via fantasy shaped voting districts, there is no hope for us. Look up "gerrymandering"
with this kind of vote fixing there is no incentive to make any sense to 80% of the residents of the country, just appeal to your base (left OR right). crazy.
What Mr Zakaria is telling us is that Obama's tired, old, 1960's, extreme left wing policies were absolutely the wrong solutions for our problems, and Obama has failed totally damaging the country beyond anything we've seen outside of the Great Depression. and Obama may take us there yet! So with a record of total failure, and millions upon millions UNEMPLOYED and living in misery Obama has no chance of being elected except to go totally negative and scare people that the Republican nominee would be worse than him. We saw how dirty Obama could get in the 2008 primaries when they went after Bill Clinton as a racist. So brace yourselves folks the 2008 candidate of change and hope will be the 2012 candidate from the Sewer! The Republicans had better be ready. They've had plenty of warning?
The thing is that the President never enacted anything resembling 1960's progressive policy. The most-significant idea he's managed to "ram" through Washington was a Republican health care reform idea, which was not at all liberal, let alone 1960's liberal.
Normally , a presidential candidate would run on his record of past accomplishments , however , since Oblamo has none , his only recourse will be to trash the opponents . His goal will be to make them look worse than himself . This process has already started . His minions are busy tearing apart any and all opposition on a daily basis , while not stating why voters should cast their ballot for the messiah . Tactics straight out of the terrorist handbooks .
WHEN WILL AMERICANS START THINKING? Thinking for themselves instead of spewing the same old political rhetoric or the same old talking points by their political leadership/media. Look at the comments here! How many people get so passionate to the point of name calling or worse! Do all of you fools really believe so blindly in the political leadership in this country to the point that it justifies a complete breakdown in how we treat each other as fellow Americans or a complete breakdown in your ability to have an intelligent discourse subject to critique and debate? Doesn't the political leadership today really represent the LAZY indulgent mind of the average American? The criticisms here against either political party have ALL been said before. When will we learn that a NEW WAY OF THINKING and WORKING by ALL Americans is required to tackle the complex challenges ahead. WE NEED TO DO THIS TOGETHER. Does anyone REALLY believe in America anymore?
Why does it have to be a new way of thinking? Didn't some of the old ways work, might they not work again? How about the old "New Deal" type of thing? Or perhaps if you think that wasn't what got us out of the Great Depression, how about another world war? THAT got our manufacturing back on track...
Maybe the new way of thinking is to stop thinking, and the new way of working together is to do so while thinking you are fighting each other... woah... that just blew my mind!
THINKING!!!!11!!!1!ONE!!!!
LOL. Same ol' song and dance, indeed.
Nice post Jay.
I think though that I have lost all respect and belief in our political system at this point. Both sides are supposed to be working for America, but the aren't. Right now Republicans are doing everything in their power to sabotage Obama and America so that America will think Obama did a bad job and want to elect Republicans.
When they get elected they are going to work for their corporate masters who pull all the strings. All lower paying jobs at American companies now belong to workers in China and India etc because they don't have unions and are willing to work for a bowl of rice a day under horrible working conditions unlike Americans.
All industrialized countries on Earth have Universal Health care except the US. All pf them cover 100% of their citizens except the US. All of them pay half what Americans pay for health care. The US is ranked 37 behind Costa Rica. Illness is tue #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US. 44,000 Americans die every year because they didn't have health insurance. Another example of our superior way of dong things. According to Republicans our health care is second to none and Universal Health care is impossible without raising costs even though every country with it, which is ALL of them pay half what we do.
We are all idiots following whatever propaganda is thrown at us without even bothering to check out the rest of the world.
It will indeed get nastier. Only because more and more people will get tired of the likes of Mr. Zakaria and countless other academics trying to force their point of view upon the rest of us.
Personal freedom demands personal responsibility.
The comments, in general, are so ironic it's not even funny anymore. Here we have a piece called "People are gonna get uglier", and by my estimate roughly 80% of the comments go along the lines of this:
"Ugly? Oh yeah? Well it's because of ugly people like YOU that things have gotten so darn blasted UGLY, mister smartyuglypants!!"
I'm replying to myself to change my name to JayV, because it looks like there's another "Jay" here.
Only SOCIALIST REVOLUTION will save America. REAL socialism, not makebelieve socialism that Corporate lapdogs like Obama preach, while fascists call him a "socialist" because he isn't a BIG ENOUGH corporate lapdog.
Nothing is going to change until the stock market collapses, and that will be VERY soon.
NO ONE can fix our economy because it doesn't serve the planet anymore.
We will be forced to invent a system that takes care of everyone's basic survival.
Systems like this are not "invented." Rather, they just happen.
Very little active thought or control actually goes into systems like this. The only controlled economies are centralized, and they tend to collapse as well, like the Soviet Union's economy collapsed and China's economy evolved into something more-organic and less-controlled.
Nobody is in control. We're all along for the ride...
Aren't the posts on this article proving Fareed's point rather well??
You're just saying that because you're ugly.
The posts to this article were caused by a recession that probably can't be fixed by government action or inaction?
This country and ALL Americans need to send a STRONG message to BOTH parties that we are sick to death of their bickering, blaming eachother, abuse, irrresponsibility, spending and unethical behavior... It's time a very strong independent steps forward and says loud and clear that we aren't going to take their B.S. anymore!! Now is the time.
This upcoming election will be "Political Implosion" and no one will be victorious.
Kinda feels like Germany in 1933, doesn't it??
I have no idea. My father wasn't even born then. Were you alive?
Actually, it feels nothing like 1933 Germany.
Or were you about to blame the Jews for unemployment?
The fact is that the economy is about as predictable and controllable as hurricane Irene. You might as well try to get FEMA to build a machine that accurately predicts the weather and the consequences of that weather more than 48 hours ahead of time–it will be about as effective (perhaps more effective), relatively speaking, as using government programs (whether they are some form of stimulus spending or tax cutting or regulation gutting or whatnot) to affect a $15 trillion (and probably declining as I write this) economy in a manner that makes things better and not worse.
THAT's why it's going to get nasty. Not because people can't agree on solutions to "fix" things, but because people will do anything to not acknowledge that we are powerless to "fix" things, unless "fix" means something like accepting a lower quality of life (defined in current middle-class luxury terms) that continues to decline over time.
"I'm mad as heck, and I'm not going to take it any more!" Well, you're mad as heck, but you should probably realize you are going to continue taking it.
If it makes you feel better, the billionaires will suffer the most, because they will lose the most. Blessed are the poor, for they have a lot less to lose...
"If it makes you feel better, the billionaires will suffer the most, because they will lose the most. Blessed are the poor, for they have a lot less to lose..."
The billionaire will still be a billionaire and the poor guy will still be worrying where his family's next meal is going to come from.
Maybe the billionaire would be willing to trade places with the poor guy for awhile.
It seems that every revolution happens when you have a good number of people in the populace that are poor and desperate that see another group with all the money they could ever hope for basking in the lap of luxury complaining that they pay too many taxes and that the poor don't pay enough.
Shipping manufacturing jobs over seas has been a boon for corporate profits Salaries in high white collar positions has skyrocketed especially CEO type positions while a good number of Blue collar jobs are lost forever to countries with no unions, lax labor laws, bottom basement labor prices. It's been a boon for China as well, but even they have felt the pinch because Americans are buying less now that they are poor and unemployed.
If the 2012 election is going to come down to the economy, then do you vote for the party that has created the economic crisis or for the party that's left with the daunting task of fixing it? And if the GOP had the answers to economic growth, then why are we dealing with the worst economic crisis in America since the Great Depression? And if the voters are going to ask president Obama why he didn't create twenty million jobs in four years, aren't they also going to ask the GOP what workable solutions they brought to the table? That is other than casting no votes to every legislation?
And if president Obama has failed America, then where exactly has he failed America? Yes, it's true that this administration hasn't created twenty million jobs in two and a half years but the reality is that it's impossible for any administration to create 20 million jobs in two and a half years, whether there are roadblocks by the other party or not. Subsequently, that is why when president Obama took office in 2009, the Federal Reserve explained that due to the dept and severity of this crisis, significant job growth in the millions would take at least time, specifically at least six to ten years. This is a process and the realitiy is that significant job growth would be gradual and it would take time. Furthermore, significant job would only be delayed more with the constant and deliberate roadblocks and policy delaying tactics by the GOP.
Now, as far as the other issues are concerned, the GOP and their Tea Party would not admit it but every other issue that this administration has dealth with whether foreign or domestic has resulted in success. For example,because of president Obama's stern, progressive and undeterred leadership, we have averted a government shutdown TWICE. And I believe that this is something that our Founding Fathers would be proud of because when they created our systen of Checks and Balances and a Two Party system, the main objective here was not to have one Party prevent the other Party from governing and moving the country forward, but rather for both Parties to work together and find common ground that's in the best interest of our Union.
And we now have comprehensive healthcare where some 30 million of our citizens previously uninsured would be covered and we now have a financial reformed systen where an economic crisis such as the present would be averted in the future. We are winding down both the Iraq and Afghan wars as our troops have started coming home from Iraq and our credibility and trust around the world has improved significantly under the Obama administration. Osama Bin Laden is dead and no longer a threat to us and to the free world and we have been successful in the Arab Spring as Egypt has stabilized and Libya is beginning to do so. Furthermore, the sussess and accomplishments for this administration goes on and on. But of course, those to the right refuse to acknowledge the obvious because they have bigotry, prejudice and hatred in their hearts and their only interest in in the wealthy.
Bu as a concerned American, when all is said and done, despite all the lies and propaganda and hatred spread by the GOP, their Tea Party and the mainstream media, that is Republican owned and operated CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, Jack Cafferty, etc I'm confident that the American people will once again come through for Obama/Biden in 2012. No ifs, ands or buts about it!
You are completely clueless about why the economy is tanked so the rest of your post is failure after failure. The Democrats and Republicans have failed us year after year and Obama/Biden 2012 is not going to do one single thing to improve it. Nor is Palin, Romney, Perry, or Bachman.
Secondly, all you morons who tout a "Clinton surplus" need to wake the heck up. If there is ever a surplus, our national debt will go down. It's that simple. Still, you people use media regurgitations and accounting shell games to try to support a party like your life is vested in their success. There was a Republican congress and a Democrat President and BOTH failed us just like the ones before. They spent and spent and claimed a surplus so that the ignorant could buy into it and use it to support their team. I don't care which party you support, if you buy into it, you are the reason there will be more polarization.
End the two party system, move back to liberty and personal responsibility.
"...it is ludicrous for us to believe that large scale political violence cannot happen here while we simultaneously wallow in a social climate that has become conducive to it."
I wish I knew the name of the person that wrote this because he/she sees the true danger facing our country- no outstanding leadership and a want for greater good. But do not fear. Once we have ripped each other apart some foreign power will come in and make our hard decisions for us.
Yep!
Blame Bush, Blame Obama – Cut the crap. The country also has a Senate and House that vote on things. Bushes' Deficit? Didn't Congress vote on those appropriations? The President can't spend a penny that Congress doesn't instruct him to spend. Vote for Congressman with a backbone, the President is irrelevant.
A jobless recovery shows the resourcefulness of american small businesses. In order to survive they find ways to do the same job with less people and better technology. For better or worse, companies both large and small are doing more with lless. Another reason, is people are taking their own jobs more seriously thus being more productive so not get fired.
Sure, it shows their "resourcefulness," but it does not address the fact that the "resourcefulness" of the "small businessman" (a myth, but whatever–you pretend the "small" modifier makes this guy into an ordinary-Joe-schmoe dude that you go and drink beer with) gets rewarded in a way, relative to the poor sap who lost their job, that is disproportionate and unfair.
That is, why must an economy reward this sort of "resourcefulness" and punish a whole class of people who lack this "resourcefulness"? Is that at all sustainable in the long-term? Doesn't this "small businessman" need customers to buy his stuff? What if all of his customers run out of money because all of the other "small businessman" exercise their "resourcefulness" and lay 20% of their workforce off, or 30%?
Oh, and with the remaining, more-productive workforce, how much of this newfound profitability should be shared with those people who are making this possible? If you are "resourceful," the answer is clear: as little as you can get away with...
I rarely agree with This commentator but for me, I agree whole heartedly with this opinion. So with that said, if personal and govt debt is one of the root causes of the delayed recovery, what do you all think of the fed saying that keeping interest rates low is important to the recovery. What am I missing....?? sounds like insanity to me!!!
I think we all need to step back a bit and review the state of our Nation with open minds. President Bush got a surplus from Clinton (who by the way I agree had some not so great foundation for our mortgage system). He squandered this surplus in 8 years and what Obama inherited was much more than is aperent to us all. It is like a case of a train that went of its track and headed for a football stadium and it was eventually diverted into a very small neighborhood. Yes a ouple of deaths were eventually recorded and people are screaming why was it allowed to kill anyone. Imagine if it got into the stadium. Please constructively criticize Obama for not focussing enough attention on job creation but dont say he is the reason why we are where we are. If you say that what would you say about GOP who continues to believe themselves that continuing the tax break on $$naires will create jobs? with one 3 tri $$s stuck up in cash how many jobs have they created? We dont seem to learn from history. Clinton taxed these milionaires more than bush, between the two of them who do you think created more jobs? Everyone should get their facts right before they offer comments on this board
Go back to playing with your toy trains. You don't comprehend what a surplus is or you wouldn't be touting it.
honestly part of the problem is old people..... people are living alot longer and working alot longer they have in any other time in history. people who would of retired by now or have died are still holding work positions of power and because of this, is causing a backlog of both Jobs for people waiting in the wings, and a need to continue to pay for social security for people living 70+ years and getting more out of both social security and medicare then they ever paid in.
thats the issue at hand but because the AARP is the biggest group in washington they wont change a thing about either one until its too late.
Jesse – I do hope that you have the opportunity to get old, because the revenge will be so so sweet. Even when I was young I didn't think I knew it all. Now that I am old, i know how little i do know and appreciate the act of learning more every day.
Be careful Jesse or us old people will open "camps" for people like you who threaten us.
One other thing Jess baby. I have paid many, many, many thousands of dollars in taxes and produced even more through companies I have helped to build and run. I have also paid many many thousands of dollars to Social Security and Medicare that could have gone into considerably more productive savings and investments. So nobody is carrying my load but me. Like many here you need to do a little more homework little boy BEFORE you so readily display your ignorance in public.
So ......... how about this , one gets social security for , let's say , 7 years , OK ? After that you're on your own ? Ok , I'm sure there would be a lot of support from those that don't need it , don't you think ?? But things would look pretty darn ugly on the streets ...... how about the disabled ? the vets ? How about a honest euthanasia program , would you be happy with that ? Who gets to decide ? Would the decisions be purely financial or would ethics and morals play a part ?
Well I guess by reading this posts the author has made his point. Both parties have an equal share of the blame. Democrats like to spend money on social programs (buying their bases vote) and Republicans give tax breaks to companies/individuals who do not need it (buying their bases votes). We need to do away with the income tax and go to a consumer tax. Use social programs for the truly needy. There needs to be a discussion about what is the "poor." Someone who is disabled, orphaned, laid off those situations are "needy." Someone having to many kids or born in the wrong neighborhood , while they may be poor this doesn't mean it is the role of the Federal Government to support them.
Boy, nothing like proving the point of the story made by the comments to it!
From the article: "We also have these two big forces – technological change and globalization... I know that these forces have been around for a while, but over the last 20 years they seem to have gathered enormous strength."
LOL! Indeed, Technological change and globalization "have been around for a while." Hilarious!
Not a single person here gets it!!! We just keep jumping from one idiot bandwagon to another. Republicans! Democrats! Pick your poison. We are long overdue for independent representation, and liberation from a two party system.
Zakaria is one of the reasons politics continues to get ugly. He is an Obama apologist that tries to hide his bias by being a "global" reporter.
Who are you trying to kid? The nastiness was worst when Bush was in office and those like you were throwing hate in every direction. This is just a continuation of what you and those like you started. What has YOU worried is that your political views will now be the target and not the thrower.
We shouldn't be striving for nastier. We should be striving for the kinder gentler nation, that HW once promised. We are speeding down the wrong road.
i'm just waiting for the political ad were a candidate claims the other strangles puppies or eats kittens. watching politics in this country is like watching children on the playground. "my dad can beat up your dad" and "liar liar pants on fire" is really the only thing i think we're missing.
Why not consider our own personal skills at discussing issues with people who have opposing views. We seemed to have morphed into a society where people think there is a right or wrong when it comes to political opinions. We have liberals who are all for diversity, all kinds of diversity, except for political thought. We have right wing extremists who think it impossible to discuss anything positive about governments role in our lives.
Maybe debate needs to become a required subject in school again. Our teacher used to assign us to argue a viewpoint that opposed our own personal ones. He taught us to see that there are more than than six sides to a box, especially if we saw outside the box as well as our view inside our own boxes we create for ourselves. Seriously, most of us would have to admit we have little tolerance for those with opposing views, and then we act shocked that our politicians, who have only come to be elected by conforming to a cookie cutter approach to issues, have little ability to negotiate and think outside the box.
We are no longer the United States but instead the "divided states of America" red versus blue with one side wanting to destroy or dominate the other. Our poised and toxic politics have fed this with the constant demonizing of any ideology other than their own. Both sides are to blame. Politicians only caring about self interest and party loyalty above all else. Add to this huge corporate greed, a welfare state, old vs young, red vs blue and everyone in between and no one willing to face reality and it is a scary and dark future my friend. Nothing will change until we take drastic steps and give up our sacred cows both on the right and left and do what is right for the counrtry then nothing will get better. Corporate greed nearly caused our economic collapse yet you would not realize that the regulations they came up with to prevent that from reoccuring are being defunded by the Republicans at the behest of corporate lobbyists. Our system is so broken and our politics are dysfunctional in the extreme. Both Democrats and Republicans are morally bankrupt. The politicians have been printing money devaluing the dollar now worth less than all major western currencies. I could go on and on but you get the point. It's hard to have any hope that things will change until they are forced to.
The REAL Zakaria.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bar_Sinister
The Repubs want nothing more than the middle and lower class to disappear while the rich roll around in their money. The Dems want to make sure the governement takes care of everyone no matter what the cost. Republicans still think less taxes equates into jobs, yet while many corporations enjoyed substantial tax breaks, the CEO's kept getting bigger and bigger bonuses even while the companies they ran were run into the ground financially. Those same companies kept sending jobs overseas because they said they couldnt keep up (Here is a news flash: DONT PAY A CEO $250 million when they run they company inot the ground. PAY THEM $0 and kick them to the curb!!!!) Repubs like to blame the job shifts on regulations. The problem is if you don't regulate commerce in some fashion, people get SCREWED!!!! The Dems on the other hand seem to think they can spend their way into earning the votes by giving away everything. Case in point are the illegal immigrants demanding rights. The Dems are giving them whatever they want to get their vote and stay in power. The only way this all stops is if this country would pull its collective head out of its you know where and vote out both parties. As long as our current two party system is in place, nothing will change. For those of you that keep spouting the same rhetoric of both parties, save it as I am not interested. Neither party is for the good of our country anymore.
Chris.. you're delusional. Spouting the same tired old crap doesn't make it true. Grow up and get back to us when your brain matures a little.
it is not a delusion that business has been getting tax breaks (among other things, for setting up a factory overseeas), it is not a delusion that tax rates for the upper income folks have been steadily declining since the 1970s. it is not delusional that social security was set up to be self-paying, but congress saw all that money in the trust fund and put social security on the budget. took the money and replaced it with IOUs. there are no simple answers that we can throw a dart at and lean back like we did something. as many have noted, the citizens have failed: to become knowledgeable on issues, not just buy what someone says over and over. find out for yourself, and look without preconceived ideas as to what is right or wrong. the good of the many outweighs the good of the few.
I know part of a reason, why it is bad in India. It is because Journalist like you who support Corrupted politicians in India, just because they are friends of your father.
They'll get nastier because president downgrade can't run on any achievement whatsoever. He's driven this country into the ground. Therefore he'll lash out at everyone else. All he has is character assassinations and nothing else. All the R's have to do is point at anything obumbles has done and say they'll do the opposite, they don't need to name call. For obumble's media sock puppet Fareed, anyone pointing to president downgrade's record is getting nasty. Good thing obumbles has the media to protect him or he'd be back in the corruption capitol of the USA.
Thanks for the self-fulfilling prophecy, Zak. Maybe if people were more open minded and viewed more than one news source, they could become more empathetic to other views. But I won't hold my breath here, or on Fox news either.
Please someone explain to me how it is that Bush is to blame for our current economy? Doesn't it stand to reason that if ONE man could jack up our economy so bad, than ONE man should be able to fix it! If you want to know who's responsible for our current economic crisis, look no further than the mirror. How long do you think we could continue to live so far above our means before the payments came due? We bought stuff we couldn't afford, with money we didn't have, on credit we didn't deserve. And when it all falls apart, we blame President Bush or President Obama. "Yeah, it's there faults!" Take responsibility people!
no it doesn't stand to reason that something is reversible. there is plenty of "blame" to go around. but Bush: 1. gave the budget surplus away in a tax break, 2. started two wars that have cost us trillions (once you get in, getting out is not as easy), oversaw congress running up huge budget deficits, 3. winked (like Clinton did) at deregulation and look-the-other-way regulation so the subprime bundled securities debacle brought down the financial system. And like it or not, Obama reversed the high rising government employee salaries, then capped them. Obama took steps that are widely acknowledge to have prevented a second Great Depression, though the stimulus package that came out of congress was not sufficient to jumpstart the economy.
What is the function used to detrend the GDP curve? Without specifying that, your chart is at best meaningless, at worst, deliberately misleading.
Bernanke has kept the wolves at bay .. However, Volcker remains THE ONLY central banker to have solved a major macro-economic challenge in the last 200 years. The fact that Obozo did not ask him to become Chief of Econ Advisors is a tip-off that Prez Obla Bla still has no clue. Fareed Zakaria is a fraud.
Oh look, another right-wing troll chimes in with childish vitriol.
This is a comment I found on the normal CNN forums some time ago by a poster known as Fistface. I re-post it here. Everyone is clamoring for ideas. Here's one I agree with. I am not a "liberal' or a "conservative" What I am is just a simple guy, you'd walk right past me on the street and probably not even notice me. I'm the guy that when you go into your local restaurant that is back there busting his hump flipping your eggs and making sure you like your breakfast. What I am is an everyday normal poor American, but My Freedom is just as important to Me as it is to Joe Q Banker. So here's the idea. Take it for what it is.
Fistface says
Okay Lets fix things....
----------------------------------
Lets start from Scratch:
0. Fire the Republicans and Democrats this election and demand that are Fed and states stop force feeding us a two party ballot.
1. Reduce Bloated Government Spending to the bare bones basics
a. Military & Agencies that protect America
b. Vital Government Infrastructure
c. Foreign Policy
d. Emergencies
e. Several Miscellaneous items that are vital for Fed Govt's Role
f. Effective Objectives regarding Clean Energy & Sustaining Energy Autonomy
2. Tax Fairly. No more than 6% for anyone that isn't wealthy.
a. Fair Tax or
b. Flat Tax
3. Make Social Security Untouchable and stop raising the retirement age too something we could only hope too live too.
a. When I say untouchable. I mean. The money YOU put in is YOUR money. Just like a 401k. It isn't there to fund anyone else It is Social Security protection for ME.. and MY family in the event that it is really needed. That WE pay into four OURSELVES.
b. Or just get rid of it all together. Give us our money back at 2% interest and let us take care of our own retirement fund. Those that cant or wont, are SOL.
4. Stronger Foreign Policy in regards to other Countries and Global Corporations in terms of trade, revenue, tarrifs, JOBS, and IMMIGRATION.. Especially ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
a. We have brilliant Mathematic and Economic individuals in our nations colleges. Proffessors and the like. I am sure gathering a whole bunch of them in a room will produce a better taxation, budget, spending, and revenue model than any "Partisan or "Corporate Backed" politician ever could.
5. Stop Government from pandering to the Rich, Corporations, AND Special Interest Groups
6. VOTERS: Fire Democrats and Republicans. They have collectively run this country into the ground.
a. They are so completely out of touch with the Mass Majority Common American that they are beyond the point of any hope of return.
7. VOTERS: Force the Fed to shrink with your vote.
a. How often do you hear of the FED threatening states that they wont get funded if they don't follow the "Fed".
b. Give power back too the states, let them tax and make laws based on the specific needs of the local populaces they govern.
c. Force the Fed to stop directly taxing citizens and let the states handle that role. Let the Fed address Revenue with the States. The Fed should not be directly taxing its citizens. This should be an indirect tax that the States handle... as the mediator between Fed and State
d. Demand from the Fed and State that you do NOT want to be force fed a ballot of just Dems and Republicans.
8. Force the Feds and States to do FAR more too Support the Middle-Class. Income and Cost of living has been stagnant in this area for half a lifetime... as Corporations and Government policies Destroy it.
9. HOLD CORPORATIONS FAR MORE ACCOUNTABLE for:
1. Business Practices
2. How they treat the Middle Class
3. Shipping Jobs Overseas
4. How and Why they go about "lay-offs"
5. What they do too impact our environment
6. How they act as an "Autonomous" American Citizen
7. What they do that could possibly undermine our economy.
10. Shrink Government. It is FAR to big and bloated on the STATE and Federal levels. Implementing programs, policy, and "Feel-good" items
11. Reform the prison system so that it is cost effective.
12. Reform the Judicial System so that it is cost effective.
13. Reform the Insurance Industry... (All Insurance)
14. Reform the "War On Drugs" tactics...
1. Focus more on the Borders, to include Immigration
2. Legalize Marijuana and tax it. (I am not a smoker by the way)
3. Focus more on street crime and criminals on our streets that done have the common sense to keep their dark trades behind closed doors.
15. Give Citizens the right to vote out Politicians before they serve a full elected term if they do not stick too most of the policies and positions they stated during the election process.
16. Make it law that anyone appointed to a Federal Government level law making position... be stripped of any and all ties too any political party at that point.
1. This can be done by way of it being a "National Security Issue"
2. Destroy partisanship all together and get these people focused on the Mass Majority. That is what politicians should first and foremost be about. The Mass Majority.....
17. GET PRIORITIES STRAIGHT!!!
Temporarily Cut All Unnecessary Spending, Programs, and Federal/State Government time spent on frivolous issues like "Gay Marriage", "Don't Ask Don't Tell" etc..
a. This is not a political statement for/against such things. It is a matter of (PRIORITY). The MASS MAJORITY of AMERICANS COME FIRST! Economic, Environmental, and Corporate and Foreign POLICY COME FIRST!
b. Fix this broken government (Voters can really help by firing them all), Fix the Economy, and all the stuff listed above...
c. THEN focus on the little things, or better yet, LET THE STATES HANDLE THEM
One answer to this budget issue NO ONE would like, ELIMINATE BOTH social security and Medicare.
what about national defense. our spending is more than the top 30 industrial nations combined... wonder why we keep ending up in wars? because we need to. It's a shame too.
o.k bill just do away with social security, and medicare. and after 32 years of working, and putting in 235,000 dollars. (ya i have been working ) and hearing clowns like you speak up ,no wonder why this country is like it is!
It's ridiculous how mane haters comment everyday. If you were in a room where somebody could see you i bet you would act civil. But here you are, anonymous, so you can act all tough like. Haters in secrete. Kind of weird wouldn't you say?
All that hate and brilliance all over the place is getting old. Does anyone out there have any concrete ideas they think would help or are we in 2nd grade just calling names and pointing fingers?
Because we have enough 2nd graders already. We don't need any more.
The real problem with the Economy is a mirror of our government. The past 30 years we have spent a ton on credit. Times were good. Now it is time to repay the loans. Sure you can blame banks and whatnot. But we each need to blame ourselves for the spending sprees we all went on. Now it is repayment time. Compound that with the insane housing bubble and those who profited dearly ( bad loan practices ), expecting your property to increase in value 50% per year based on nothing... and we are smack dab where we are now.
We have to pay our dues. We can dig out, but we need to look in the mirror first.
With so many left wing fanatics running for office and the most partisan President we probably have ever had in our history currently in office, no wonder there is no middle ground anymore.
I agree that the 2012 campaign will be nasty but not for the reasons you state. It will be nasty because Barack Obama will have $1 billion to spend and no record to run on. That means Obama will try to destroy his opponent on a personal level and expand his scapegoat list to include even a few Democrats he will throw under the bus. Without a record to run on what else can this pathetic man do?
I fully expect the republican party to be as nasty and negative as we have come to expect from them. Some of you seem to forget that we get a 24-7 endliess and mindless droning of right wing hate speech and demonization of everything left of the Tea Party. My god...we are so used to this that more of it just rolls off our backs. In the end, Obama will prevail because he is a decent human being and has at least some class. There is nothing even remotely resembling that coming from the repugs and they will again be crushed in the general election.
Fareed is a CFR, Bilderberg, Globalist, American Sell Out. It's not left vs. right anymore its the establishment vs. the people. Wake up Everyone! Both parties are lying and stealing from us!!
Obama is a murderer just like Bush. Won't end the wars, won't end the patriot act, won't end the torture, won't end the federal reserve paper fiat ponzi scheme,wont bring back true free markets and sound money...
Following the 2012 presidential campaign is one thing I will not be doing. Let me save you the trouble of waiting for it to play out: Obama will say we could have done more if it wasn't for the GOP, the GOP will say the president hates america. They'll blame each other the whole time and both campaigns will have lots of special interest cronies on them so, no matter who wins, little will change.
The only thing that will change is we'll see even more hatred directed at both parties because neither of them really care, in the end, what happens to the average citizen.
Big corporations and big business corrupted the congress the government with lobby and money in to free trade and globalization all through the 80's and 90's. They let the Americans to consume by borrowing and and leveraging. The same games were played with the tax payers money to borrow from social security and issue bonds to borrow from the world to run the over blotted government and it's spending. The most expensive military in the world. The only super power running the world on borrowed money. We need to come down to earth and produce at home with lower standards to compete. The minimum wage of $2/hr. People need to start living like the old days with less to spend. That means poor Americans making less and spending less to same levels as Chinese and Indians.
Sarah Palin intelligent enough to be President? Incredible that some actually believe in this moron. Republicans are indeed nuts.
if i was a business and he was the ceo he would be fired; cost cutting is part and parcel of the job obozo doesnt has the nuts to do so because he is in constant beauty contest viaing for votes; he has done nothing that he said he would do instead he did more of the same and expects who ever is left working to support his everything for free agenda; cut cut and cut is what is needed all he has done is create a police state and higher health care and more wars and again expects who ever is left working to pay for it; he needs to go back to fund raising; but he has definaly proved he isnt the man for the job; and until this mess is fix no one deserves 2 terms from either party
Mr. Zakaria is trying to predict, but Americans have an annoyingly cute resiliency when it comes to reading about unemployment and job loss; If Americans are working, the news will be ignored, and if suffering exists, signing up for AFDC and TAN-F aren't stigmas these days. And if you really believe, people, that publicly-sponsored government benefits when you are in deep trouble financially aren't really there for you, you're dead wrong! Despite any new reports to the contrary, not that much has changed in those departments and suffering people in the US are encouraged to apply for help when their home life situations go badly.
Okay, Obama is 38% approval and 1 in 4 democrats want a challenger for Obama – no signs of a recovery in sight and Obama is on vacation. Since Obama is bound to be a one-termer, there really isn't going to much going on.
nobody gets it ! its over, its done, its final. our jobs are gone, and not coming back, china wins! our banks, our people, our cities and towns are bankrupt. now look at the cost of fuel, food , and the cost of life itself. one more final run on wall street will do it. high debt, high unemployment, low wages, and a broken political system , we been had! wake up its over.
It's amusing to see the posts blaming Obama, the Democrats, Bush, Republicans, Limbaugh, O'Reilly...etc. The American people are both the CAUSE of our current economic problems and the SOLUTION we need. The bottom 95% of Americans collectively possess the most powerful economic weapon in the HISTORY OF MANKIND.
OUR PURCHASING POWER.
The United States is BY FAR the biggest market in the world for all but the barest of necessities, food, and we produce that better than any country in the world. But not only do we not flex our economic muscle, we actually do it irreparable harm. The vast majority of us do not think TWICE about buying cheaply made foreign goods to save ourselves a few dollars so we can afford to buy MORE cheaply made foreign goods.
Consider this. In 2009, 211million tvs were sold world wide. 35.6million were sold in the United States meaning the U.S. was about 18% of the market.
The population of earth is around 6.77BILLION, of which about 307million, or about 4% are Americans. So Americans are about 1/25 of the population, but is about 1/5 of the market. So what happens when say 1/4 of Americans say "If it's not American made, I'm not buying it"? Guess what? There are NO American television manufacturers. So how big of a rush will there be to relocate factories TV factories in the United States so they can stamp "Made in USA" on the side of the box? Here's a hint. These factories will have an exclusive customer base that will be buying about 7.5MILLION TV's. That's more than Sony sold worldwide last year. And SONY employees 168,000 people worldwide. 41,000 of them produce TV's.
People with jobs are not spending and and people without jobs are filing bankruptcies. we are in the pickle. This will be a long haul. Tighten your seat belts, it's going to be a rough ride for next 5 to 10 years.
Most accurate way to judge a political leader is to compare that leader's record with what probably would have happened under other leadership. Yeah, I know it's speculative. Even so, it's more more relevant than a snapshot in time. Unemployment rate of 10% is good, if the alternative would have been 11%. And unemployment rate of 3% is bad, compared to an alternative of 2%. All of that is why I think President Obama has been a good president. Things would be worse under Republican leadership.
GOP is mouthing off without substance. They have no ideas to solve any problems instead they are the ones to get us in this mess in the first place.
Fareed,
Based on what I've seen in the comments section so far I would say you are absolutely correct. It is getting nastier and will only escalate to the point of chaos. Humility, Civility and Decency are words that have left the american dialect. But also, our problems have been growing for years (beyond Obama, Bush and Clinton). After another economic downturn (late 70's) we had a fundamental shift in economics with Reagan (yes, I'll blame him) and the Voodoo economics of "Trickle Down Theory" he latched on to.
I'm not going to go on a diatribe like some people, but let's all realize that what we are experiencing now is a result of those policies 30 years ago. And it will probably take another 20-30 to clean up the mess, if we can.
If we are going to place blame anywhere it is that person you see in the mirror. 'We' all need to work 'together' to get this thing fixed for 'everyone'.
As long as we continue to think in the "Conservative" and "Liberal" boxes, we will continue our free fall. The problem core problem with the economy is simple, oil prices. There are no near term solutions for this problem, so we will have to learn to live with a new concept, there is limited wealth as long as our technology is based on limited resources. Until we solve the oil problem, the world economy will stagnate, and soon begin shrinking. Blame Obama or Bush, it changes nothing. If you don't believe that oil prices are what changed to create the new economic norm (debt is what we focus on, but oil prices are what turned the tide to make all the underlying weekness show) , you know nothing of the modern world and how it actually works.
will , all things aside, you have wrote the best points on this website today. oil is the cruse of our nation!
As always, Fareed shows great insight . . .
we need more republican super heros, you know the kind nixon, reagan, bush, bush, now all we need is a romney or a perry. oh boy, do you people really think things are going to get better ? just vote for those republican super hero's !
Politics is nasty not because of the problems we face, but simply because courteous people cannot win an election. We voters are ignorant enough to vote for a candidate simply because he or she spews bile and invective at those who disagree with us.
Conflict is a politician's best friend but it is a poor way to run a country.
WHY is AMERICA so Full of Hate and FEAR? Why do you Think? SATAN – America – In order to 'Overcome' The NAZIS Became FASCIST – We INCINERATED Hiroshima and Nagasaki even though Surrender Talks WERE ALREADY UNDERWAY – However, It was Not Until after 911 when The 2nd Beast – Which Spoke for the Beast convinced us that it was NECESSARY to Skin Teenage Boys Alive in Secret TORTURE Dungeons in Egypt run by the CIA because of 'National Security' – The SAME REASON Your Email and Cell Phone Conversations and Even What BOOKS You Read at The LIBRARY are now recorded by The Forces of Darkness at'Homeland Security' – That SATAN took DIRECT CONTROL of the GOP. EVERYTHING They and Their Brown Shirts in The Tea Party is ANTI-LIFE – Denying Global Warming – Denying HEALTH CARE to Children – Denying FOOD to the STARVING and always the Drumbeat of The FOREVER WAR.
Those who can't have a real discussion about what needs to be done, tear at each other instead.
Republocrats and Democracans are two sides of the same coin,,, and they're the only coin we've got. Maybe its time to diversify?
Abortion should be the woman's choice. Period. It's her body. Her decision. All of these Anti-Abortion idiots need to get a real life. These same people watch reality shows because they believe it's real. Morons. No matter what the issue is......... you will always have ignorant, misinformed people against it.
Firstly, Fareed is God – the most intelligent analyst in the Media.
Second, why is anti-intellectualism so able to control the debate in America. What is wrong with reasonable debate, and sharing the load to get out of the present economic mess you are in? Why is it now perfectly OK to personally denounce and belittle your President? The World is moving on, as America sinks into it's own overblown egotism. America is now demonstrating how prosperity keeps everyone happy while suffering is someone else's fault.
What does this idiot know.
I have a comment for OneSmallVoice. In Ayn Rand's book "The Fountainhead," Ellsworth Toohey, who writes a column called "One Small Voice" in the Banner, is a tool. Why would you want to compare yourself to him? Just curious.
Dear ToddNTX
The Premier of Newfoundland went to the US for his surgery for many reasons.
1. He owns a home in the Gulf Coast of Florida, so had the procedure there, where he could recover in the much better weather.
2. He could certainly afford it, being a multi millionaire. In the same way, Americans who live near the border can have surgery here in Canada, paying for it out of their own pockets, at a far lower cost, THOUSANDS less! And they often do, because they cannot afford American health care, Our health care is at least as good.
3. It is against Canadian law for the premier to jump ahead of another patient who may be ahead of him on the list for surgery. Proof our system works, premier or not, wait your turn. Again, he could afford to choke down the cost.
4 Don't knock Canada. It is a much cleaner, better run, stable banks, superior infrastructure.
Every week I read a few thousand comments in various online news sources – NYTimes, WashingtonPost, LATimes, all 3 network & cable news, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, Reuters, USAToday, ChicagoTribune, BBC, TheGuardian, HuffingtonPost, etc.
The tenor & content of most commentary is simply deplorable (not to mention grammar & spelling). Those that are thoughtful, logical and informative are few & usually drowned out by the others. I have come to the conclusion that people with little education cannot & do not make the effort to understand how our economy actually works. The level of ignorance is appalling & is not due to a lack of college education. It is a testament to a failure to teach or to learn basic economics, history & civic government in high school.
When we confront this fact in our society, we can begin to understand why people live on credit beyond their means, why they failed to save for emergencies like being unemployed, why they are suckers for slick sales media, and why they fall for political hucksters of either party. It further explains why they think a country this large & diverse could possibly solve problems with simple solutions; and it explains why they indulge in trivial pot-shots full of vitriol.
Two forces have brought this country into a state of such ignorance, pessimism & politicization: television & the Internet with an almost entirely negative content that is absorbed by ordinary people on a 24/7 basis. Today, everybody & everything is highly politicized. It doesn't have to be this way.
Our country was built by ordinary people with great optimism – an essential element of building a future regardless of politics. To this end, I am starting a quiet movement to TURN IT OFF – in protest, beginning this week with this post.
Anyone care to join me? Hugs – Moms
American style democracy is not working, and definitely not good for the economy, and jobs creation. US politicians and Congress is now internationally recognised as a circus and very colorful clowns. The best solution to clean up American politics, move this once wealthy country forward is though .... COMMUNISM. But only for a short term – like 10 years. So America... take it and dont leave it. Comunism is good for you because there will be no more circus in Washington.
Politics is a nasty business. If we all looked at the politicians in office and campaigning, and those in office re-campaigning, and said to ourselves, “this person is first and foremost interested in getting (or maintaining) a seat in power” – then perhaps, collectively, we would start to realize that true change can only come from the people.
Just look how government has been run in the U.S. Abraham Lincoln said it and it has rung true ever since, “Corporations have been enthroned and a new era of corruption in high places will soon follow.” This is old news. And as long as we have an unfair capitalistic society operated by self-serving corporations then of course they’re going to create less jobs if they think their profit margin will be increased by moving to another country.
And while this article mentions the economy it doesn’t mention the key factor to it. How does one nation pull itself out of harsh economic times when all the economies around the world are connected and struggling? One nation, such as the U.S., seeking to save itself will only disrupt the balance of the whole system by not seeking to do what is beneficial for the global economic system.
This is pretty basic: if the economy is like an orange tree, and each nation picks oranges from said tree, then those who seek to pick more will cause the tree to bare no fruit. Well, perhaps that’s not the best example
but essentially if all economies are tied together, and they are, then one nation doing what is only in its best interest will cause the whole system to suffer. And – it may come back to bight them in the long run anyway.
We have to educate ourselves and come to expect more from our politicians because they have shown, time and time again, that they do not understand the integral world we each live in. We can’t expect them to suddenly start putting the needs of the world first unless we pressure them to do so.
Just look around: Irene is fueled largely by global warming. Oil is peaking. The educational system is a joke with such low test scores. Jobs are becoming more scarce… The list goes on and most of these problems are shared throughout the world.
But America thinking, we need to first and foremost get America back on track, without considering the needs of the rest of the nations, will not work in today’s globalized world.
So it’s time for us to study this global world. Realize that we all share similar problems with economics, education, ecology, etc. And only then can things start to change for the better.
we would need an informed citizenry and we don't have that.
the corporations busted unions and outsourced to china with no regard for this country whatsoever. they used us. we need to change the charter for corporations, and protect our own governments and the actual humans. they made laws so all of the money runs into their pocket. time to tip that over or the game is over.
"Why is this happening? Well, we don't know for sure. "
Why: Lack of Clear Thinking.
Solution: Introduce 'Clear Thinking' Course by R. W. Jepson MA based on a 1936-1946 view of the World.
It comes from the US and the rest of Western Democracies thinking making a living is easy or even worse the World owes us a living.
hello there. the reality of all these already start the economy of the usa if not of all world its patroly by illuminate system beleive or not, i like the point that zacarias have say I know that these forces have been around for a while, but over the last 20 years they seem to have gathered enormous strength. those corporations work not for american people, not for money if u want to know.. cos these they have alot they control american bank aswell american government what they do they do for power and aswell illuminate agenda its all in your face people weak up its start already be to late...raise your voice.....
I wish some technological advancement would go away. Music, Book and movies are some examples. There is a different feeling when you pick out a new music or new book from the store. Same with renting movies. The most unnecessary technological invention is social networking. I know any company or anyone can just build it. It's useless and it creates more zombies than human being with real personality. And also kids with computer games. Kids used to learn so many things by playing with toys. Now they look at computer screen all day. I don't think human beings should start adopting technology offers to us. We have to think how it impacts us as human.
why respond to ranting. solving problems almost always involves rational, unemotional thinking within a value system. we are behaving like scared people. the country was better before all the "conservatives" ran to the Republican party and all the "progressives" ran to or were driven toward the Democratic party. before ideology was in both parties and they came to discuss how to resolve differences of viewpoint within the party, then between the parties. stop arguing back and forth and using name-calling and discuss what you mean. for example, if you think that people on hard times should not get help, say that instead of "handouts" if you think the roads shouldn't be fixed or FEMA should not give money to disaster victims, say that. it is unproductive to anonymously sling mud instead of taking advantage of this forum to generate ideas from the people, and not wait for experts (hmmm) to give us solutions.
Moms hugs, most people believe that their education stops when they leave school. in fact, we should be learning and trying to use our knowledge all our lives. Thomas Jefferson was a firm believer in schooling: only with a learned citizenry can democracy survive.
You're right, Fareed. It's going to get really ugly. It's going to get ugly because all your little, frothing friends on the Left have no more arrows left in their quill. They've shot their wad, Fareed, and now it's time to rely on what they've always done – destroy others and dirty everyone. Liberals make life dirty, Fareed.
"The idea is not to succeed but to avoid failure".
The problem with a volatile political landscape falls on the media. In a rush to sell/promote their product they reach out to sensationalism and fanatic actions to increase sales. The advertising community knows this and builds campaigns around this very point. In essence there is a lot of money in politics just angering the Citizens and recording their reactions. People have forgotten about the real design of politics, to organize citizens and find common solutions for ISSUES that affect them. The discussion has gone past issues and now lives in the personal attack of character to persuade the public. People have lost focus of fixing problems because they are too busy BLAMING and then react to the decision instead of the solution. But that is what SELLS! It is time that leadership in political offices and in the media change this behavior! We need leaders who can rally people around the issues and stop finger pointing!
oh my god, you should definetaly turn your story in to tvb and have tvb make this into a series! I stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish the story. Thank you so much for such a wonderful and suspendful story.
AMERICA # 1 PROBLEM ?? OUTSOURCING THE JOBS TO CHINA...HOW COME THE PROTESTERS HAVE NOT MENTION IT ?????OUTSOURCING OF THE JOBS IS KILLING OUR COUNTRY...
I KNOW WHAT NEED TO BE DONE, BUT THE POLITICIANS WHO CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN, WON'T, WHY ? CORPORATIONS OWN THEM......WHAT NEED TO BE DONE ??? 1. END OUTSOURCING THE JOBS--2. END LEGAL IMMIGRATION, WE DO NOT HAVE THE JOBS TO CONTINUE LEGAL IMMIGRATION...--3. TROOPS ON THE SOUTH BORDER, BORDER AGENTS CAN'T DO THE JOB.--4. JAIL TIME AND HUGE FINES ON EMPLOYERS WHO HIRE ILLEGALS-–5. END ALL H–1 VISAS...6. --END FREE TRADE-OR-FIX IT.. 7..-–TERM LIMIT FOR ALL POLITICIANS-6 YEARS AND OUT.. FIX THOSE 6 PROBLEMS AND WE CAN TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK. THAT IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE..
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