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Surviving the Bush Economy: An Open Thread

By TChris, Section Blog Related
Posted on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 10:35:27 PM EST
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A Sarah Palin enthusiast says:

“I’m a grandmother trying to put money away for retirement. I fear what America’s going to face with Barack Obama as president,” said Diana Ross, 59, who said she works for a company that helps provide apartments in Columbus to low-income residents.

I hate to break this to you, Diana Ross, but George Bush is president and your retirement investments are of questionable value thanks to Republican governance.

In the spirit of optimism, this open thread is brought to you by the other Diana Ross performing Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive."

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    Surviving the Bush Economy: An Open Thread | 32 comments (32 topical)

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    Repost:: Do NOT vote the straight party ticket (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Lora on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 10:53:13 PM EST
    By request (from themomcat)I am re-posting from the previous open thread:

    An alert to all those voting on electronic voting machines (Lord help us!) this election:
    Do NOT vote the straight Democratic party ticket!

    A couple of states have separated the presidential race from the straight party ticket, which could cause some people to forget to vote for President.

    With plenty of other states, the software is questionable and your vote may not be properly recorded.

    Vote for each race separately and you will have a better shot at getting your vote counted as intended.

    Straight party ticket (none / 0) (#23)
    by sj on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:59:55 AM EST
    I remember hearing about voting machines of my parent's generation that had a mechanism to vote straight party line with only one action.  I have never seen such a machine, and I have been voting for a loo-o-ong time.

    Are there really machines out there that still do this?  

    Parent

    Apparently so (none / 0) (#25)
    by Lora on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:41:19 PM EST
    I could not find the link but I expect that I read it on either the Brad Blog or Black Box Voting site.

    Apparently some of the electronic voting machines now in use have an option to vote in all races for one party with just one vote.  The warning is that they might not all be recorded, particularly the presidential choice.  Better to vote each race individually.

    Parent

    i've always loved the (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by cpinva on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:05:35 AM EST
    obvious stupidity of the "conservative" cant that "lowering taxes increases revenues". if that were indeed true, then the smart rate would be -0-, which would result in trillions of dollars of additional revenues.

    somehow, that just never happens. go figure.

    According to the NYT, (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 01:24:07 AM EST
    even Warren Buffett loses sometimes:

    Property and casualty insurers tend to be somewhat less vulnerable to investment fluctuations than life insurers, but they are also showing signs of strain. Even the A shares of Warren E. Buffett's well-known holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, have lost market value, closing Thursday at $114,000, down $4,000 a share, and off 17 percent in the last five days.
    A rising tide lifts all boats - then... (none / 0) (#17)
    by Fabian on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 07:59:10 AM EST
    What happens when tide goes out?

    Parent
    I'm so sick of ... (none / 0) (#19)
    by Robot Porter on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:24:01 AM EST
    Warren Buffet.  Especially being told what a genius he is.  I hope the economic downturn causes him to disappear off my TV screen, and from the public consciousness.

    Parent
    Ha. He may be the new Paulson. (none / 0) (#21)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:34:22 AM EST


    Parent
    Ditto (none / 0) (#24)
    by Wile ECoyote on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 11:35:19 AM EST
    on Soros

    Parent
    There's plenty of blame to go around on this (none / 0) (#1)
    by BrassTacks on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 10:45:21 PM EST
    Depression.  Democrats could have done some things differently too.  And I don't think that raising taxes now is going to help put more people to work.   Obama needs to think of ways to encourage business to hire people, not ways to tax them more.  We'll all pay if they are taxed more because they won't hire people and they'll pass those taxes right on to us when they increase prices on what we have to buy.  

    I hope to God that Obama and Congress know what they're doing and they don't make this depression last a minute longer than it needs too.   I know my kids won't be able to get jobs in the next year, I just hope that it doesn't last 10 years.  My economist friends think that it will.  

    Need I add that I don't exactly have a lot of faith in this Congress to do the right things?  They're such idiots and so incapable of doing anything worthwhile for anyone.  I am feeling really down about all of this.  It's going to be a very long haul.  

    How well I remember (5.00 / 6) (#4)
    by Steve M on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:03:12 PM EST
    that disastrous, job-free nightmare of a decade we had after Bill Clinton raised taxes in the middle of an economic downturn.  If only he had someone as smart as you or Sarah Palin to advise him that taxes kill jobs.

    Parent
    Gosh yes (5.00 / 6) (#5)
    by TChris on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:03:37 PM EST
    Dems could have done many things differently.  They could have gotten themselves elected to Congress with a veto-proof majority.  But since they didn't, don't blame them for the Bush policies that have prevailed for 8 years.

    Making the wealthy again pay their fair share of taxes, as they did before Bush, will be good for the economy.  It will fund government spending to rebuild bridges and to hire teachers and to develop new sources of energy. All of those initiatives will create jobs.

    The wealthy 5 percent do not hire people.  Small businesses create new jobs. Obama will ease their tax burden while making corporations that shelter profits offshore behave patriotically by paying their fair share.  Contrary to Republican doctrine, the government can help small business create jobs while easing the tax burden on the middle class.

    Don't worry about it, my concerned friend.  Your economist friends seem to be feeding you the regurgitated Republican talking points they ate for breakfast.  It's just not true.

    Parent

    amen TChris (none / 0) (#29)
    by Iris on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 04:18:05 PM EST
    I think many liberals/progressives have forgotten all about this very important graphic when they complain that Democrats haven't accomplished anything much in this Congress.  One of the few bills that made it past the de facto "60 vote requirement" due to GOP filibusters was S-CHIP, and Bush vetoed it.

    Parent
    Here's a plan: remember the man (none / 0) (#2)
    by oculus on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 10:52:50 PM EST
    who left his girlfriend on the toilet seat forever?  Well, according to AP, he has won the lottery three times--twice w/i the past year.  

    You are confusing (none / 0) (#6)
    by CoralGables on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:14:45 PM EST
    your lottery winners I think. The man you are talking about hit once for 20,000. He is in Kansas. A man from Idaho has hit 3 times cashing between 15 and 100 thousand each time.

    Parent
    Guess I should correct myself (none / 0) (#7)
    by CoralGables on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:16:47 PM EST
    Looks like your guy has hit twice for 20,000

    Parent
    It's all roadrunner's fault: (none / 0) (#8)
    by oculus on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:42:29 PM EST
    A Kansas man whose girlfriend was physically stuck to the toilet in their home wins $20,000 in the state Lottery, for the second time this year. Kory McFarren cashed in his winning $2 Bonus Crossword ticket in Great Bend Monday.


    Parent
    some guys . . . (none / 0) (#9)
    by txpublicdefender on Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:54:02 PM EST
    . . . have all the luck

    Parent
    I'd let em (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by CoralGables on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:05:18 AM EST
    keep the $20,000 not to have someone stuck to my toilet seat for that long.

    Parent
    Bad news on the voter suppression front (none / 0) (#10)
    by txpublicdefender on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:04:51 AM EST
    The Republicans in Ohio prevailed in front of the federal judge on their "voter fraud" lawsuit.  The judge apparently bought the argument that there was no interest more compelling than "maintaining the integrity of the Presidential election" without apparently considering that denying hundreds of thousands of people the right to vote might, you know, damage the integrity of the election.

    Shoot. I wanted to see (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Cream City on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:17:03 AM EST
    if that new Ohio voter Jimmy Johns, the one with the sub shop as his address, was gonna show up at the polls.

    Really, ACORN badly over-reached in so many cities, including mine, that you had better expect more actions elsewhere that will redound on real voters.  That's what over-reaching does.

    Parent

    Cx: Jimmy Johns is an Indiana "voter" (none / 0) (#14)
    by Cream City on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:35:08 AM EST
    registered by ACORN.  And the Dallas Cowboys were registered in Missouri by ACORN.  So who's it gonna be in Ohio -- a guy named Mick Donalds or the roster of the Chicago Bears?

    Still trying to follow the story to figure out why the Indiana ACORN effort was run from my city in Wisconsin -- where some workers were indicted, but we have yet to enjoy examples of their creativity.  

    Parent

    Is ACORN responsible for the (none / 0) (#15)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:59:27 AM EST
    Ohio registration and same day voting by people picked up from homeless shelters?  I heard about that on NPR.  Kind of surprised me.  But one new registree/voter sd. it was super convenient.  Guess so.

    Parent
    One of several organizations (none / 0) (#26)
    by Cream City on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 12:42:34 PM EST
    doing it per some video I saw from van Susteren's show last night on the Ohio situation.  I wouldn't have thought that it could get worse than it was under the GOP's Blackwell, but the Dem Secretary of State there now seems to be, well, a bit of a fool.  See her office's communications with student journalists, for starters.  And the video of the woman from the allegedly nonpartisan organization taking homeless to vote -- she talks about telling them to vote for Obama until she realizes that perhaps is not what a nonpartisan ought to do. :-)

    Parent
    so Jimmy Johns really is going to show (none / 0) (#31)
    by of1000Kings on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 04:26:08 PM EST
    up and vote with an ID or registration card?

    ok...I'll pay to see that...

    voter registration fraud (based upon people registering getting paid per registration) is not the same as voter fraud, as much as Faux News would only like to have evangelicals and rich people vote...

    Parent

    so homeless people shouldn't be allowed (none / 0) (#30)
    by Iris on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 04:21:03 PM EST
    to vote?  

    Parent
    Yes, if they can satisfy the state's (none / 0) (#32)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 06:26:14 PM EST
    requirements.  

    Parent
    With the end of the automobile (none / 0) (#18)
    by Ben Masel on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 09:06:07 AM EST
    it's a good time to invest in the manufacture of buggywhips.

    U.S. LIFE ON MARS remake ... (none / 0) (#20)
    by Robot Porter on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:29:40 AM EST
    aired last night.

    I love original UK version.  One of the best things on TV, either side of the pond, in the last decade.

    The US version isn't anywhere near as good.  But it's a lot better than I was expecting.  People who haven't seen the UK version might find it even more enjoyable.

    Either way, worth checking out.

    Have no fear.... (none / 0) (#22)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:38:58 AM EST
    A real life legion of super-heroes are on the case...no one goes hungry on their watch.

    Sun god bless 'em.

    That's awesome (none / 0) (#27)
    by CST on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 02:18:30 PM EST
    Good for them.  I love the costumes, especially the one on the right.

    Parent
    I think that is.... (none / 0) (#28)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 03:34:12 PM EST
    Guido-man...lol

    Parent
    Surviving the Bush Economy: An Open Thread | 32 comments (32 topical)

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