Ian, I wasn't reallyhappy with my response to you, so I'm going to try again. PE Obama, as he introduced his stimulus plan, said "The time has come to build a 21st century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded." I want to hear people say, "I wanta job so I can work hard,pay off my debt, and get a fresh start."Rae
Ian, I have sympathy for those in over their heads (have been there myself and dug myself out of the hole), but I'm sorry, it really isn't fair or right for the rest of us to have to bail them out (through our tax dollars, remember -- there's no magic grandpa here). I don't have a flat screen tv, have a ten-year old car, and don't own a home, all because I can no longer afford them. What you are suggesting is that I work harder to pay for those who have over-spent. Not fair, not right, not necessary. I will not pay to support those with consumer debt in the style to which they have become accustomed. To me, the consumer debt "crisis" is a correction -- a lifestyle correction that all of us must make, however painfully. We should all have food, we should all have some place to live, and we should have access to medical care and public education.Beyond that, no one is entitled to anything except the ability to work really hard to earn more.
Spent a number of years analyzing medical research data,and I read medical journals.Before I posted this I did a quick search to make sure no one had invalidated the studies I'd read some years ago.I'm sure you knowhow research works -- someone gets a result, hypothesizes a relationship/"cause" and then a bunch of folks try to either replicate or invalidate or find a different explanation or better understand the result. Try Google. Everyone should know how to look up and assess the quality of research results.
Terry, Oh. Did I mention I have no sense of humor? Thanks for clearing that up.
Terry,
On the contrary, lots of things please me. Like PE Obama. That fella' can put a sentence together. Have you read his books? Like my fellow citizens who recently attended a community meeting on Health Care and came up with great ideas for the Transition Team and Senator Daschle. Like Margaret and Helen, Naomi Klein,Common Dreams, Jon Stewart, and sometimes Huffington Post.No problem -- I will hang out in places where I'll be inspired rather than disheartened.
Not angry. Just bored. And too busy to look up facts that have been all over the Internet for a year. Thought it might be good for you to look them up for yourself. And I never make up facts. Sorry if you took it for anger.
LOL, Herb. Hemp saves the world? You guys have fun. I'm heading to a serious blog.
You are aware, bioron, that oral ingestion has a strong correlation with testicular atrophy? That, of course, is your choice; just thought people should know since you're recommending oral ingestion over smoking.
Not a bad idea to provide education about civics and economics in high school, and in fact I've suggested that a couple of times on this site. However, I don't believe people get in over their heads because they don't realize what will happen. It's like gambling. People do it because they have trouble resisting, not because they don't understand they'll end up losing money. Maybe we need to teach people to be more skeptical about marketing in general; after all, the purpose is to convince you that you need things you don't really need. It's not so much that we're victims, but that companies, whose job it is to sell after all, have learned how to appeal to our weaknesses and we don't fight back. Same goes for attack politics. Whose fault is it really if you allow yourself to be manipulated?
Do you read news? Over the last year we've seen at least a poll a week from various sources asking people what they consider to be the important issues. Google away -- I'm sure you can find them.
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Ruckus