Oil and Halliburton and CEOs

Like a few others, include me in the "better off" group.

More money. A nice house. Very reasonable payments. No credit-card debt.

The biggest negative is the state of our industry. Don't know that you can assign blame -- a skill too may have perfected -- to either party for that mess.

 

This is more than hilarious --- Republicans and Democrats arguing with each other about whose side is too blame for the mess we are in -- as if there has been anyone but those two groups in charge for as long as we've all been alive.

And the hypocrisy in here is amazing -- Republicans believe the prosperous 80's were a result of Reagan and the prosperous 90's were the result of a Republican congress and Democrats believe the prosperous 80's were a result of the Democratic congress and the prosperous 90's were a result of Clinton.

And oh yeah -- all the bad shit in between, it was the other side's fault........ :

You can't have it both ways -- Clinton from 1994 to 2000 couldn't lift a finger without approval from a Republican congress. And Reagan throughout almost his entire era couldn't lift a finger without approval from a Democratic congress.

And both were at the mercy of whatever was going on in the world at the time and both happened to be lucky enough to be in office during an upswing in the economy.

Also, we haven't had a conservative president -- at least economically speaking since, well, since -- I can't think of one, certainly not post World War II.

In fact the only time so-called conservatives in this country have acted like conservatives was in the 1990's when they were in control of congress and were hell bent on forcing Clinton to act like a moderate.......

And one last thing -- if you really think that W has anything to do with the state of our industry -- newspaper journalism -- you are kidding yourself.

This is industry a dinosaur and it was destined to be extinct the day Al Gore invented the internet.......

 

W has shown us stupid is as stupid does and an an accommodating media doesn't deserve to survive. An educated electorate - Jefferson would be so proud!

I love it when the GOP had total power and the economy tanks, the Kool Aid right wingers say "the Pres has no power - Ronnie/Dems - Clinton/GOP"

But, that ignores GOP/GOP - cutting taxes, losing jobs during war time in which thousands of jobs have been created by the war machine.

But, no nothing is the GOP's fault - not deficits, not not unemployment, not the mortgage crisis, not rising unemployment, poverty, stagflation, trade deficits, passing along Global Warming solutions to the next guy.

Thanks W and the GOP. America is great enough to overcome W and return to the moral and industrial leader we were in the 20th Century.

We will do it with Green industries, investing in education and doing it without starting needless wars.

SEven years after Sept. 11 and we're going put MORE troops in Afghanistan - way to lose a war the entire world supported.

Bin Laden spent $500,000 and got W to spend trillions without finishing off the Taliban.

GOPers, how do you suggest we pay for the costs of 30,000 vets that will need medical care for the next 60-plus years. Cutting taxes?

Just like the "personal responsibility" party. You go serve, we won't ask the public to sacrifice in any way and when you get back we'll screw you like it was the 1960s.

But, W gave up Golf so he's got that going for him.

 

Hate monger.

 

No, no. Beacon of tolerance.

 

Moving the goal posts a bit, eh?

You asked who's better off. Count me among those who is way better off. I was renting in 2000 and own a home now; It had doubled in value before the real estate crash, but it's still worth about $150k more than I paid. I also make much more than I did then.

That's what always kills me about the "Are you better off?" debates. It doesn't have jack to do with Bush, but I'm much better off. I was much better off in 2000 than I was in 1992 as well, and that didn't have shit to do with Clinton, either.

 

I can think of a half million people in America that aren't better off than they were at the turn of 2008. Those would be the people who have lost jobs this year.

My dollars went a lot further in 2000 than in 2008. College for my 4-year-old daughter is getting more expensive as we speak. I have a 529 set up for her and at the current pace of tuition hikes, I'll be lucky to pay for a year.

So, no I am not better off than I was 4 years ago and middle-class advancement has taken a nose dive from when I entered college in 1992.

Goal posts aren't moved, but then neither have real wages.

Better off just doesn't mean higher pay checks - as if the price of gas, tuition and energy aren't factored in.

Check the number of people who slipped into poverty in the past 8 years or the number of people laid off b/c the corporations they worked for were mismanaged but while they got pink slips the CEOs grabbed millions.

Better off also means looking toward the future and asking 'what will my life be if the current trends continue?'

but, b/c your house is worth so much more now than in when you paid, life is dandy - for you! But that's all the GOP cares about - the individual.

My bet is on the American people - a strong-1990s economy lifted the entire country up - people out of poverty, home ownership and millionaires created.

 

NONE OF WHICH HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHOEVER IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

 

Anti-poverty programs, welfare to work programs, Pell Grant increases - all happened during Clinton years. The US and A govt has reaped tremendous tax payments for investing in my college education - without Pell Grants, I would not have been able to afford college.

But government is the problem, not the answer.

An ill-advised invasion of a Middle East-oil-producing country has certainly had a negative impact on gas prices.

Here's a funny headline from March 2003 - about the time a government-based decision to invade a country that had no abilty to attack us was made:

Gas prices near record high

Latest survey shows average price up 5 cents a gallon over last two weeks to $1.72 a gallon.


http://money.cnn.com/2003/03/10/news/economy/gas_prices/index.htm


But, W and Dick tell us it's all China/INdia consumption that's led to oil spike. Of course, they have no buddies that are reaping mega-billions now thanks to govt-decisions. Their solution? more drilling - no not more drilling in the 68 million acres currently not being drilled by the oil bidness but offshore. So, do you trust these same people who got us in a quagmire in Iraq?

Politics influences every aspect of our economy. Sorry, there's no Santa either.

 

You want to talk about jobs? My wife, who has a nearly six-figure income as a staff accountant in Dothan, Ala., could possibly be laid off next month because of a fucking strike.

 

It has a good deal to do with the dry drunk who's spent us into perdition, and has lit the fuse for what will almost certainly prove to be the worst inflationary spell since Carter.

Way to go, Dumbo. Yeah, you're special.

 

Let's see, we're in a better house than 2000.

Mrs. AQB is in a better job that pays considerably more than in 2000.

I'm in same job but making considerably more than 2000.

Yeah, I'd say we're better off too.