What! The Rep's want to increase capitalism in the belief that the hardworking will find a way to make money. Bush's tax cuts were in effect for years before Obama and where did they take us? It's too late for Obama to change the effects caused by the Rep's. They will just keep the process in limbo forever. Hell in a few years Socialism will look really good.

Heck of a job, 1%, for melting down the World Economy.

Whoever conceived the 1% vs. 99% idiocy should stop examining their own colon , and wipe the sh*t out of their eyes long enough to see that 50% of their 99ers' were already on the dole (AND NOT PAYING TAXES) before the recession(s) in the U.S., so they do don't even COUNT in the ludicrous equation. Then if u use the "gubamints" calculations of 8+% unemployed, that leaves 41% of us 99ers' working and paying OUR FAIR SHARE + the "EVIL" 1% paying more than their FAIR SHARE to feed, medicate and house the rest of you. Suggestion 1 : STOP BLAMING EVERYONE BUT YOURSELVES FOR YOUR PROBLEMS. Suggestion 2: Stop relying on this POS POTUS to save your sorry self pitying ass*s. HE ONLY CARES ABOUT CREATING A FAUX LEGACY FOR HIS OWN POMPOUS AS*. Suggestion 3: PLACE the FAIR SHARE OF BLAME where it lies....On both Political Parties. The Republican Party is NOT out to GET YOU!!!! The Democrats were part and parcel of our countrys' issues, and walk hand in hand with the Republicans on the current status an future of our country. Grow some balls and catch some American Spirit. Otherwise, STFU.

And I thought the entitlement mentality was out of hand here in the US. We're seeing what happens when children's minds are filled with garbage. And then you listen to the Leftist that say these countries' troubles are all due to the treatment of the working class where the promises made to the "working class" by the politicians to get elected are what caused the whole mess in the first place. Their solution? More of the same. The Liberal/Socialist mental disease has truly engulfed the host body that is the EU. We've got a pretty bad case here in the US but hopefully it is not too late to initiate the cure.

I was in Spain in September. We were making small talk with our taxi driver and he said he was moving back to Columbia. I was surprised by this and ask him why and he said "The economy is much better in Columbia."

I was like whoa...this must be pretty bad over here if you're starting to hear that.

It's a shame, because the Spanish people are a vibrant, proud group of people. They have a beautiful country and Barcelona is stunning.

Sven-

The same entitlement mentality of our neighbors to the south who enter the country illegally and think they have a right to be here while they take jobs and receive assistance at taxpayer expense

Blame, blame, blame. Western nations had it great and now when things TEMPORARILY collapse they turn to being babies and blaming everybody but themselves.

The article says housing tripled in the 90s until 2007. That means a 100,000 home at the very least was worth 300,000. Today it ha fallen by 1/4. That means the home is still worth considerably more than it was back in the 90s. All is not lost.

The construction guy paying 3,000 euros each month for home was nuts. He was living large. Who pays that? He just kept extending his credit and then when business dried up he had such high overhead he couldn't make the payments on the equipment he had bought.

Back 7 years ago, my family bought a small business and then 2 years later started another. WE COULD NOT GET A BANK LOAN because of the nature of the business. Our credit was excellent, but the industry has a 85 percent failure rate. So I can't really blame the banks, can I? So we took out a equity loan on property we owned outright. Big risk. I am extremely conservative with NO DEBT. The loan was big to us. 6 figures. Scary. We worked very hard and paid it off in 2 years. Yes, every dime went to pay off that dang loan. We then expanded the businesses again and paid it in cash. We have since done several large remodel jobs fixing old infrastructure to decrease our energy bills. We paid for that with profits from the business. NO DEBT. We went from 1 employee to 30. It has been very tough and lots of worry. We can see the economy is starting to fall apart again, and thus trying to make the very best business decisions we can to hold on during this recession.

The truth about Spain was that most households prior to the housing boom had little debt. That all changed which was the big mistake by consumers. They bought into a bubble and bet the farm with no safety net for themselves in case it was a bubble.

The biggest problem I see across the globe is that people do not have basic math skills. They waste a lot of money. The busiest place in our mall is the nail salon. What does that tell you about priorities in this recession?

The US sends way too much money to countries who wont help themselves. too many govt programs and too little tax revenue to pay for it. This is what Obismal wants to do to the US. Its coming. give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, and then expect a fish tomorrow, teach him to fish and he will feed himself

Flip-flopping,

Republicans hate the poor.

Because of the GOP/Tea Bangers failed, greed based policies from the Bush admin. unequal distribution of wealth in the United States, is now comparable to that seen in developing countries like Rwanda and Nepal in international rankings.

LOL!!!!! Yeah Republicans hate the poor. If we are to take your premise that the GOP is all about greed as reality does it really makes sense to take the middle class and make them poor just so the GOP can hate them? I mean how are the rich to get rich if they don't have any middle class to exploit? Can the poor buy the rich's products? If everything was about greed then you would think that the GOP would want to see the poor rise above the status of government dependents? The more poor the rich GOP can get into the middle class the more money the greedy bastards can make. Son, here's where the problem lies. The more government money that is used to support the poor the more the poor depend on it. It's like crack. The more government money that is involve the more actual greedy bastards come out of the woodwork to get their piece. They come out and support the programs that support the poor and in turn themselves. They attach themselves with their mouth parts to the bloated body of the Federal government and grow fat off the lifeblood that is the taxpayer's money. Their fake altruism hides the fact that they are only in it for themselves. Here's a quote from Ben Franklin that sums up my position on government entitlements. I know, I know, he's some old guy from hundreds of years ago that didn't even know what a cell phone was how could he know anything about today?

“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

Oh, and by the way. I'm not a Republican. :)

I have friends in Spain, and love that country very much. The problem with the EU is they don't have a money printing press like the USA does. That is the problem. I don't blame Germany for Spain's problems, it's Spain that created them. For all you who don't know squat about Europe, Spain has some of the best infrastructure in the world. Their freeways, rail lines and bridges make the USA's look like third world, it is awesome. Something Obama said he would do, but instead he did nothing, shovel ready my rear, he paid off the unions instead of "change we can believe in", we got a "good for nothing" POTUS. He said he get infrastructure done in 09, yet when he held both houses he rammed health care down our throats, boy good job, my insurance sure is cheaper, lol, it's gone up 30% in 2 years, and we'd get immigration reform. Here we are 5 months from election and now he's starting to talk about all the things he was going to do in his first year. Liar in chief. Spain is destined to fail because it promised to much for to long. My friends children all live in the US because there is no work, only mounting tax increases that are crushing everyone. Yeah, they have free health care, so what?, they pay over 60% of their income in taxes, the social experiment failed, just as it will here. We either deal with the debt or it will consume us. I see no way that Spain as we know it survives, the numbers do not add up. Sad indeed.

Little does that 1% realize that THEY are killing this world in their name of more more more! Yet the more they get the more of the mass is destroyed!

Yet allow me to ask,

As more and more money gets spent on new technologies I wonder who is taking care of the people in this world. Is technology really more important than life, clean water a roof, and food????

The time has come to think and think hard on what is priority and what is not!

As usual the right wing fanatics think that these are worthless lazy folks, who enjoy living off social welfare. Perhaps if the elite didn't run our economy into the ground with reckless gambling and fraud, then maybe the people would have work and our Govt. would not need to pass out as much welfare. Either way of course, the Govt. would still pass out all the benefits, tax exemptions, and the social entitlements as well to the greedy elite and right wingers.

Flip-flopping Republican

I work for every dime of income I get. You and people like you have your hand out for a nickel of each of those dimes. Too damn bad there isn't that cushy job out there that you think you are entitled to, get out and pick up cans off the road or something. I owe you nothing!

The family of four now lives on 641 euros ($800) a month in public assistance and they could face eviction at any time.

Isn't this typical? Do you ever see an article that says, " the family of X now lives on $800 a month they earn doing odd jobs as they can find them." NO, it won't happen, the poor homeless and starving shouldn't have to earn their own way, after all they didn't ask to be born into this world, it is other peoples responsibility to support them.

I know it is easy for me to say from this keyboard, but I have and still am preparing for the on coming crisis. Has anyone taken notice to how similar the issues that brought Spain down are to our own problems? The only conclusion I can come to is, It must be Bush's fault.

Those comments above only show the ingnorance from the left. Socialism does not work , is just a fantasy for people who want to see the government as the provider, the ones that want to play Robin Hood. Russia is a good example that socialism doesn't work, nothing change , the " 1%" shift from the monarquy to the members of the Red Party full of corrupts politicians like most of the left. The EU is living in disaster thanks to the Socialist in Spain, Greece and most of the EU countries who follow the same path of Russia. Socialism is unreal, is stupid,

Socialism not encourages the growth of the economy, not encouraged the creation of jobs in the private sector, the Government is which grows, socialism demand tax increase, but at the end collection is lower.

More taxes = less revenue.

No socalism

NOBAMA

Republicans and Tea Partiers really are amazing - it was Bush and Chaney who said deficits do not matter. So why would anybody not see the flip flopping that Republicans do because now deficits do matter. So if Romney gets elected who do you think is going to be charged with reducing the Deficit. Want to bet it will not be the ones who caused it.

Isn't it great how our Country sends aid and food to other countries, while they are busy writing city laws not to feed the U.S. homeless people (many of whom are Veterans and very small children), because they are lazy shiftless people that do not want to work and are an embarrassment to their city. They don't want their streets cluttered with the homeless, nor do they want to look at them. And naturally, they don't want them to have social welfare benefits, either, because the Recession is their fault behind Obama.The Orlando, FL area elite did just that as-well-as Winter Park, FL. The organizations, who received no financial support from the city or officials, were fined and arrested if they fed the homeless more than once or twice a week that were in designated areas far away from the city.

My girlfriend lives in the Basque country, and it seems to be doing a little better than other parts of the country, but it's a shame that they've been sold out by their government and the banks.

INCREASE PROFITS AND SHAREHOLDER RETURNS, if that means they have to put Americans out of work.

Another ignorant statement from the leftist. Most Americans have their retirement found in Stocks and it increase base on the return of their investmet.

If you do some research on the whole Fanny Mae situation you will see who is behind all this mess!! Check out the 1999 issue in New York Times and they spelled all this out! 

In 1999, Fannie Mae came under pressure from the Clinton administration to expand mortgage loans to low and moderate income borrowers by increasing the ratios of their loan portfolios in distressed inner city areas designated in the CRA of 1977.[18] Additionally, institutions in the primary mortgage market pressed Fannie Mae to ease credit requirements on the mortgages it was willing to purchase, enabling them to make loans to subprime borrowers at interest rates higher than conventional loans.[18]

In 1999, The New York Times reported that with the corporation's move towards the subprime market "Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s."[19] Alex Berenson of The New York Times reported in 2003 that Fannie Mae's risk is much larger than is commonly held.[20] Nassim Taleb wrote in The Black Swan: "The government-sponsored institution Fannie Mae, when I look at its risks, seems to be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, vulnerable to the slightest hiccup. But not to worry: their large staff of scientists deem these events 'unlikely'".[21] In his 2006 book, America's Financial Apocalypse, Mike Stathis also warned about the risk of Fannie Mae helping to trigger the financial crisis: "With close to $2 trillion in debt between Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae alone, as well as several trillion held by commercial banks, failure of just one GSE or related entity could create a huge disaster that would easily eclipse the Savings & Loan Crisis of the late 1980s. This would certainly devastate the stock, bond and real estate markets. Most likely, there would also be an even bigger mess in the derivatives market, leading to a global sell-off in the capital markets. Not only would investors get crushed, but taxpayers would have to bail them out since the GSEs are backed by the government. Everyone would feel the effects. At its bottom, I would estimate a 30 to 35 percent correction for the average home. And in 'hot spots' such as Las Vegas, selected areas of Northern and Southern California and Florida, home prices could plummet by 55 to 60 percent from peak values."

Fifty percent unemployment. Although real numbers are masked for the U.S., the truth is, we aren't far from Spain's plight. If you're not unemployed, you are likely underemployed and have been struggling for some years now to meet rising costs with little income.

Unemployment brings down local governments who depend on revenue like property taxes and sales taxes to function. It has dealt a blow to the federal govt because if you are unemployed or underemployed, you aren't paying taxes. And it's likely that you are defaulting on bills to meet basic needs.

A vibrant working economy provides benefits for all. Programs like social security and medicare are amply paid into and the Treasury has enough money so that it doesn't have to go after people who lost so much, defaulted on bills, and now asks that those people pay taxes on their debt!

The Republicans have no plan for restoring the economy beyond giving more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and taking away health care insurance and social programs. Note that they most of all benefit from those plans or won't be affected by the dissolution of them.

It's alarming that most people do not think things through and base their views on what Eric Cantor or Mitch McConnell thinks. These guys pay themselves first and they don't really give a darn about the people that voted for them.

FlipFloppers quote "America's working men and women didn't engineer poor loans, cheat consumers, and transform financial institutions into giant casinos"

You rants are quite crazy. No they, the banks, didn't engineer those loans, those loans were requested by people like Barney Frank, the "everyone should be able to own their own home" guy. The American people got houses with zero down because the "government" allowed it, then paid "interest only" loans, then borrowed against their homes, using there HOME as an ATM machine. And YOU wonder why their became a housing bubble. You don't know squat about how money works. How exactly did these institutions "cheat" anyone? By loaning them the money they asked for? often lying to the very bank they borrowed from regarding the amount of money they made, which was made harder for the bannks to find out about, because the government thinks "everyone" should have equal ability to become a homeowner. Equality for all, even those who do not make enough to own a home. That is why this economy has tanked. Casino's eh? The average American idiot buys lottery tickets with the money or the sell their food stamps to buy them, and you say "casino's". There are only casino's in this country because the American people behave like children, gimme, gimme, gimme. And yes my old company worked for the people that invested in it, to damn bad, I wasn't in the charity business. Though I started one when I retired to fix peoples teeth that can't afford it. What have you done for your fellow man other than write on a keyboard about how much OTHERS have compared to you. You are the problem.

Flip floper

How about you going back to school and get an education that will allow you at least an understanding of the fundamentals of economics??

When you do a cut and paste at least be honest to do it right.

"Eighty-seven percent of upper-income Americans -- those making $75,000 or more annually -- own stocks, as do 83% of postgraduates and 73% of college graduates. ( I guess it doesn't includes you) Sixty-four percent of Republicans hold stocks, compared with half of Democrats and independents. Men are more likely than women to be stock owners. Those aged 50 to 64 are the most likely of any age group to say they have money invested in the stock market."

Doesnt sound like the average American owns any stocks....they cannot afford them.

Wrong again.

"Although one in three stock owners see stocks as the best long-term investment -- a higher percentage than is the case for Americans overall -- essentially the same number think real estate fits this description, similar to opinions among all Americans."

Socialism doesn't work but it's one hell of an easy way to get yourself elected.

"Lopez would like to hand over the apartment's keys to the bank and have done with it, he said. But he can't because most homeowners in Spain can be pursued for mortgage debt even after their properties have been repossessed."

I talked with two young men from Spain who were visiting Costa Rica last year, and they told me that Spain does not have American style bankruptcy laws, so a bad loan stays with them indefinitely. How depressing that you get stuck for life with a bad personal decisions - but they probably also think more carefully about their decisions first as well.

To a liberal the truth is how he/she wants it to be, not how it really is.

Hello folks, everyone is tired of bad news, but if we want to live in reality we are compelled to review the facts that we have a planned banking problem compliments of a corrupt Federal Reserve that is trying to consolidate the world’s economies. As I see it, Europe is currently experiencing severe bank runs, the banking system is running excessive leverage and risk (1.4 quadrillion derivatives casino), the costs of servicing the ever-increasing amounts of government debt are rising rapidly, and the economies of Europe, Asia and the United States are slowing down or are in full contraction. ? Iceland kicked out the banksters and their economy is doing very well.

There's no sugar coating this folks and we have to stop listening to politicians and central planners who continue to downplay, obfuscate and flat out lie about the current economic reality. Stop listening to them and do your own research. The central planners (Federal Reserve, Wall Street, their lackeys, our current CEO just like the last CEO and his congressional cohorts the Senate and congress) are asking you “who are you going to believe, us or your lying eyes”? The outcome if not purpose of the Federal Reserve System is designed to bankrupt countries and it is playing itself out in Europe? If you buy into this easily provable system design you have to ask yourself the question, why

NOTHING the central bankers have done up to this point has WORKED! All efforts have simply been aimed at keeping the financial system of countries from imploding in the short term and exacerbating others as the virus spreads. QE I and II haven't worked. LTRO I and II (Long Term Refinancing Operation by the ECB) hasn't worked, and the most recent central bank initiatives are not even producing short-term benefits at this stage of the crisis. Just take Spain, for example. Following Rajoy's announcement of the $125 billion bailout loan for the Spanish banks on June 10th, Spanish bond yields were trading back over 7% one week later - the same yield level at which other euro zone countries have been forced to ask for further international aid. The market still doesn't even know what entity is going to pay the $125 billion, let alone when the funds will actually be released or whether the Spanish government will have to count it as part of its national debt. In the plan Italy has to cover 20% of the bail out and has to loan Spain the money at 3% but has to borrow the money on the markets at 7%. Spain is the fourth largest economy in the euro zone and larger than the previously bailed out Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. At this point, it's not even clear if the ECB will be allowed or can bail out a country of Spain's size, let alone Italy, which is now asking the ECB to use bailout funds to buy its sovereign bonds.

The situation in Europe is becoming an exercise in futility. The positive effects of LTRO I and II, which combined pumped in over €1 trillion into European banks back in December 2011 and February 2012, have now been completely erased by the recent bank runs in Spain. Of the €523 billion released in LTRO II, roughly €200 billion was taken by Spanish banks. Of that amount, roughly €61 billion was estimated to have been reinvested back into Spanish sovereign bonds, which temporarily helped Spanish bond yields drop back to a sustainable level below 5.5%. Fast forward to today, and despite the LTRO infusions, the Spanish banks are all broke again after their underlying depositors withdrew billions over the past six weeks. The only liquid assets Spanish banks still own that they can sell to raise euros just happen to be government bonds, hence the rise in Spanish yields. So in essence, the entire benefit of the LTRO, which was a clever way of replenishing Spanish bank capital and helping calm sovereign bond yields, has been completely reversed in roughly 14 weeks. It's as has been said before, it's not a sovereign problem, it's a banking system problem. This is why Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy is now pleading for help "to break the link between risk in the banking sector and sovereign risk” (maybe we can lend them the glass steagall act since we aren’t using it). Without a healthy sovereign bond market, peripheral euro zone countries simply have no way of supporting their bloated and insolvent banks. The bond market will only get more volatile as Spain and Italy’s true debt becomes exposed. When the bond yields of these countries are unsustainable and the ECB is no longer able to prop these economies up the bankers will once again rely on you know who? The taxpayer to bail them out. This time it will require a bailout from the global taxpayer and how do you coordinate the bail out?

The banking problem is leading us to one of those Problem – Reaction – Solution historic opportunities for the banksters. Since an economy that utilizes a central bank is operating at a deficit from the interest it acquires from the very first dollar it borrows and as a result, it must perpetually rely on debt to run its economy. As a result it is logical that our banking system has led to the point it is at today.

Volker Kauder, floor leader of the German conservatives' parliamentary group recently stated (when speaking of bankrupt Greece) “the new government could, for example, try to speed up the pace of the privatization of state assets”. The banksters are getting impatient in their desire to consolidate the globes finances and hope to bring the economies associated with central banks under one umbrella.

Problem – Global banks, especially the largest, associated with central banks (Federal Reserve) are insolvent (bankrupt). All large banks associated with central banks are financially attached and as one goes so do the others. It’s so interwoven that a small country like Greece can threaten to take down the world’s banking system.

Reaction – Global economies are nervous and in fear of losing their pensions, 401k’s, homes, financial way of life, etc.

Solution – Create a World Bank and consolidate all finances to “alleviate” the global economic collapse.

You may think this is far fetched but how else are the banksters going to stay in charge when their fractional reserve banking system finally crashes the world economy? Folks that is exactly what we are witnessing right before our very eyes. They will have to offer a solution that the entire globe buys into and hopefully enough people will have awoken and not allow those that have caused this problem to benefit from it.

This is a great opportunity for countries to reclaim their sovereignty and in our case to legalize our constitution and re-instate our civil liberties. We need to change the Federal Reserve Notes to United States Notes!

Tell the facts: Don't forget, it was the mortgage companies "demanding" lower lending standards, and, you forgot the most important part of your story (funny how that happens):

But Fannie Mae’s computer systems could not fully analyze many of the risky loans that customers, investors and lawmakers wanted them to buy. Many of these products were so new that unsafe bets could not be identified by the mathematical models and computer programmes correctly. “We didn’t really know what we were buying,” said Marc Gott, a former director in Fannie’s loan servicing department in the New York Times on October 5, 2008. “This system was designed for plain vanilla loans, and we were trying to push chocolate sundaes through the gears”.

"We also set conservative underwriting standards for loans we finance to ensure the homebuyers can afford their loans over the long term. We sought to bring the standards we apply to the prime space to the subprime market with our industry partners primarily to expand our services to
underserved families.

Unfortunately, Fannie Mae‐quality, safe loans in the subprime market did not become the standard, and the lending market moved away from us. Borrowers were offered a range of loans that layered teaser rates, interest‐only, negative amortization and payment options and
low‐documentation requirements on top of floating‐rate loans. In early 2005 we began sounding our concerns about this "layered‐risk" lending. For example, Tom Lund, the head of our single‐family mortgage business, publicly stated, "One of the things we don't feel good about right now as we look
into this marketplace is more homebuyers being put into programs that have more risk. Those products are for more sophisticated buyers. Does it make sense for borrowers to take on risk they may not be aware of? Are we setting them up for failure?” As a result, we gave up significant market share to our competitors." ‐ Daniel Mudd, then President and CEO of Fannie Mae, states in the "Opening Statement as Submitted to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services", April 17,2007.

Then in 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis began. An increasing number of borrowers, usually with poor credit ratings that were unable to continue to pay their mortgages ‐ particularly with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM), caused a steep rise in home foreclosures. Consequently, house prices fell as more and more foreclosures added to the already large inventory of homes and stricter lending standards made it increasingly hard for potential borrowers to secure new mortgages. This fall in house prices led to mounting losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which back the majority of US
mortgages.

iwonder

Agree with you.

For a liberal, the truth is how he or she wants to be, not how it really is. Liberals live in denial

All those people who decry social programs and govt handouts--yeah, let's get rid of Fema. If your house or city floods away or gets burned up, rely on your unregulated insurance company to help you. They stonewall you? Too bad, govt can't help you. Free enterprise, private industry doncha' know?

I'd think people be proud that they live in a country that takes care of seniors who have worked hard an entire lifetime with a program that working Americans pay into over the course of a lifetime. Yes, the more people working, the bigger that fund is. No, Romney doesn't need the program. Nor do members of Congress who engage in insider training. And after all, we the people, give them lifetime medical benefits even though they do nothing but grandstand while people in this country suffer.

Yeah, go ahead and vote for that.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. revealed that $50 billion in losses could hypothetically bring down the bank. Experts suggest JPMorgan could lose $50 billion on assets of $4 trillion, much of which is complex derivatives, in a euro-area breakup - a likely event that could easily trigger the biggest financial crisis in world history.

When elites are held in check, typically by effective legal mechanisms, everyone else in society does much better and sustained economic growth becomes possible. But powerful people - kings, barons, industrialists, bankers - work long and hard to relax the constraints on their actions. And when they succeed, the effects are not just redistribution toward themselves but also an undermining of economic growth and often a tearing at the fabric of society.

Do you think the Fed has the U.S. taxpayer's best interest in mind?

Please sign the petition to the U.S. Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committee asking for improved
oversight of federal banking and market regulators.

To read more about what we’re trying to do and to sign the petition, click here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-senate-banking-and-u-s-house-financial-services-committees-use-technology-to-provide-oversight-of-u-s-banking-and-market-regulators?share_id=HTpDoOQNJgpe=d2e

It'll just take a minute!

"Eighty-seven percent of upper-income Americans -- those making $75,000 or more annually -- own stocks, as do 83% of postgraduates and 73% of college graduates. ( I guess it doesn't includes you) Sixty-four percent of Republicans hold stocks, compared with half of Democrats and independents. Men are more likely than women to be stock owners. Those aged 50 to 64 are the most likely of any age group to say they have money invested in the stock market."

This was supposed to argue against the fact that most 'average" Americans don't own stocks? By highlighting demographics that are outside of the 'average'? Great argument. (nb - sarcasm)

"Although one in three stock owners see stocks as the best long-term investment -- a higher percentage than is the case for Americans overall -- essentially the same number think real estate fits this description, similar to opinions among all Americans."

Ah, the idea that housing is an investment and way to build wealth. That surely couldn't cause any problems. (Again - sarcasm)

theboys - I liked your post, no blame to a specific party...one's demise is most likely their own fault.

I am currently doing better than ok why? I am doing ok because I don't live above my means, I will do most anything reasonable and legal to make a dollar, I save and I manage my finance well. I work hard and at 63 expect to continue doing so for a while yet.

Who is to blame for all the mess we are in EVERYONE and most often it is extremists on both the right and left most responsible.

I have to tell you all, housing prices in Spain have been sky high for many years. Believe it or not, 3000 euro/mo might not have bought this guy a mansion. Flats in major cities are very expensive, and only the well to do have houses. I remember a few years back telling my cousin who lives in Sevilla (in a 2 bedroom flat with 6 people living in it) that we lived in a house and we had 2 cars. He thought I was related to the Rockefeller's. As to the arse who stated that Spain needed to loot more from the Indians, Really? Get a life!

Many may deny the real reasons for the economic mess.

"World leaders" (US, British, French and others) invented Iraq wars and danced as Saudis, oil companies, bankers and other greedy directed.

They gave us:

1. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and other rich ME sharks became richer by manipulating oil prices too high.

2. Oil companies and their lobbyists also benefitted. Oil prices, which were hardly $30 a barrel before 1991, shot up to $140 a barrel.

3. Since 2003, future traders, rating agencies, Wall Street and oil companies and their lobbyists transferred five trillion dollars from oil importing countries to oil exporting nations.

We have PIIGS.

Wait and watch, EU will collapse just the economic mess. EU "world leaders" will be crippled beyond repairs and battling in their offices!

Now we have austerity measures!

But "world leaders" do have plenty of monies for interventions/wars in Syria and Iran.

Who with little sense impose sanctions on Iranian oil and manipulate oil prices higher from $40 in 2009 to around $100 now?

Here's how I suspect this whole mess got started:

People got into Congress and realized they could vote any benefits for themselves that they wanted. So they gave themselves lifetime pay and health insurance. Then those who owned businesses said, "Hey, if I can get in there, I can change regulations to help me make more money." So that's what they did. Then they decided they wanted to pay fewer taxes, so they voted to cut estate taxes, the capital gains tax and the top income tax rate.

Then real estate investors and stockholders in Congress decided that a housing boom would be good for them. So they encouraged people to go out and start buying homes. Bankers began packaging up these mortgages and selling them as credit default swaps (CDSs) to increase their profits even further. When all the qualified borrowers had been exhausted, they lobbied for looser lending standards so unqualified people could buy, too. It was a win-win: more demand to drive up housing prices, and more loans for CDSs.

Then when the whole thing went bust in 2008, the bankers turned to their pals in DC for a bailout. After all, they were going to lose all their precious investments! And the government cronies basically HAD to bail them out, because, after all, they were the ones who had changed the rules. And so it continues: toothless banking regulations, cuts to social services, fewer taxes for the wealthy...and on and on.

Millionaires among the general US population is about 1%. But 47% of politicians in Congress are millionaires. And people wonder why this cr@p keeps happening. Our representative Democracy largely represents the country's wealthiest minority. Check out the job histories of people making decisions at the EPA, FDA and Federal Reserve. Nearly all of them are former executives of oil companies, ag companies, food companies and financial giants.

Need any more proof? Corporate welfare exceeds social welfare by a few billion dollars. And while CEO compensation has risen by 300% in the past three decades, the average worker's pay hasn't even kept pace with inflation during the same period. We now have laws that give corporations the same rights as individuals. You think some lower middle-class guy came up with this idea? Get real!

Someone once said, "Democracy will never work, because eventually the people will realize they can vote for themselves bread and circuses." I bet they didn't think to apply that statement to the country's leaders. Seriously, this is not about Democrats vs. Republicans. It's not about Capitalism vs. Socialism. It's about people in power making decisions that only benefit THEMSELVES at the expense of their constituents. Romney has taken campaign money from Wall Street. Obama has taken campaign money from Wall Street. Many of the people sitting in Congress have taken money from Wall Street and regularly invite executives from major corporations to weigh in on their decisions. This is not capitalism. It's not socialism. It's not democracy. It's plutocracy.

Meanwhile, they have us arguing over which of their two puppets we'll elect in November. Wake up.

@shamrock, Spoken like a true nut. Make an idiotic statement and don't offer 1 idea as to why it's the US. Could it be we are still in a depression that won't be over til 2014. I suppose you forsaw that EU was going to go to H377 in a hand basket? Don't give me that crap. You wanted World Market, you got it. One thing this country and the people in need to realize is you need to know what the warning signs of a depression are. Companies need to change their line of thought to how to get through this and the H377 with the Stock Market. A low but solid steady profit for a period of time is better than going under. Companies need to change the way they view the dollar. When it looks like impending doom is going to hit. shift gears and go in that direction. At that point in time it's survivorability to outlast the situation. If you are working today and want to know if you will be working next month you need to pay close attention to what is going on in the world today. In the situation that we have today Forecast of projected growth are out the window. If I had a going business the last thing I would do is be on the stock market with it. I'm not motivated by greed are you?

Many blame the greed of Wall Street for causing the problem in the first place because it is in the US that the most influential banks, institutions and ideologues that pushed for the policies that caused the problems are found.

Shamrock ...Pure Unadulterated Liberal Poop (P.U.L.P.). So EU Banks, Governments, and Citizens are "sheeple" of the U.S. banks, institutions and ideologies??? Your illogical logic falls apart as soon as you Liboturds start blaming Bush for ALL the economic woes and ills of our country. You now insinuate that the EU subscribed to the Bush ideology????? What an asinine piece of P.U.L.P... They were more than likely listening to those 2 idiots in DC Dodd and Frank. the EUs' PROBLEMS are self inflicted brought on by Socialist policies and ideologies that everyone can liv e a regal life. Nothing more, nothing less. As a matter of fact, MANY of our issues are the result of several DimoCraps in DC initiating EU concepts into the AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE. BTW, Why don't you GET ONE, and grow a pair.

Shamrock,

Morgan Stanley and a couple other US banks were instrumental in hiding Greece and Spain's debt when they were gearing up for the Euro. They bought all of their high-risk debt and essentially packaged it as bonds so that Spain and Greece could qualify.

Start looking into it and you'll be surprised.

BK,

Easy there bud. shamrock is just regurgitating the tired Leftist mantra that all that is bad in the world is caused by the US. It's almost Pavlovian. No original thought. Just lazy aping of those he thinks are his betters.

shamrock who do you think provides most jobs, it aimt the govt, like Greece tried to do, its govt getting out of the way. How many jobs have you provided? How about Steve Jobs? how about Bill Gates?

Exactly, Flip. Ernie, General Electric, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Chevron, Cisco, Intel, Stanley Works, Merck, United Technologies, and Oracle — they cut their workforces by 2.9 million people over the last decade while hiring 2.4 million people overseas.

$130.00 for 240 hrs of work gotta love slave labor.

Ps, Apple provides maybe 27,000 jobs here in the US, But, it is safe to say they also provide 400,000 jobs in Shenzhen China. These 400,000+ workers make everything Apple sells Look on the back of your Apple product it will say: ""Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China." it should say "manufactured in China" not just "assembled" but we won't get into that.

They also want to bring the profits back into the United States with as little as tax liability as possible. Ernie that's a lot of American jobs those billion dollar companies are providing, lets give them a tax holiday.

Shamrock: Apple also makes millions selling downloads stored on servers in the U.S. from american artists but billed from a small office in Luxemburg which has no corporate taxes so they don't pay a dime. People say high corporate taxes discourage job growh but ignore the massive amount of income they hide.

shamrock66646

The US caused this whole mess. Poverty is coming faster to you than you think. Just sit back and enjoy the show. It's gonna get uglier.

Mexico's illegals that have invaded the US and steal American resources caused this.

Isn't it great to be able to live like a king with fake IDs?

(sarcasm) Dang, I could work for FOX T.V.

Just entire industries and housing markets.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

stonepipe

Let us all be thankful we live in the U.S. and a bunch of banksters could never drag an entire country down like they have in Europe.

The smartest thing I learned from the Jewish people, Do not trust the banks.

Let us all be thankful we live in the U.S. and a bunch of banksters could never drag an entire country down like they have in Europe.

But the banksters are here. They own the federal reserve (a private owned bank) and they loan us money which they themselves don't have (fiat money) and they also control the printing presses which print that money. And with that money they bail out their failing banks while at the same moment they take away our homes because we cannot pay their banks the money we owe them.

Are you sure about that?

ha

LOL! Listening to the twits post on here is making my day. None of you could ever have a car or a house without a bank. I'd love to see any one of you losers buy something with cash. Oh, and not your parent's cash, your cash that you actually worked for. LOL! I deal with banks all the time. They want my business. I read the contracts. I take pencil to paper and figure out if the offer they are making me is beneficial to me. I then determine if I want to do business with them. See this is a grownup activity. I don't go into contracts thinking that I can bail on my responsibilities if something unforeseen should occur. I make sure I have a contingency plan in place in the event a financial hardship should befall me. If I can't come up with one I don't do the deal. When ya'll can look in the mirror and recognize that the biggest problem you'll ever have in your life is staring right back at you maybe then you'll take the next step towards adulthood.

EXCUSE ME SVEN,

But I didn;t use a bank to buy my car and truck----- pd in full after years of savings!

House I paid off most of it along time ago for I despise paying interest on a good deal. Sure I may be broke but I gotta roof over my head, some food in the fridge and water stashed in case of emergencies.

In the same respect while the creek that runs down the road into town is at a trickle---the wealthier than thou and you have pipes sucking water out of the same creek so that they can have a green lawn----. In the meantime the town 11 miles away has no tap water---their water is supplied by the creek.

Do the wealthy really need a green lawn when neighbors have no water. The wealthy destroy much more than they can even begin to imagine!

The smartest thing I learned from the Jewish people, Do not trust the banks.

They are the banks! Why do you think they are hated?

Sven, That's exactly right. The children who massively signed those loans that they really couldn't pay back are the same ones now passing blame. Nobody FORCED their hand and they were too careless to read for themselves and say NO THANKS.

Our biggest problem is too many adult children who will do anything for instant gratification.

If others did simply what you did here, todays modern depression could not have happened;

I don't go into contracts thinking that I can bail on my responsibilities if something unforeseen should occur.

I am 73 years old. I have known many bankers and not one of them ever gave me bad advice. I did not always take it, I would be much richer if I had.

Karen: Clearly a bank CEO earning only 40 million a year couldn't figure out giving a no doc loan for a million dollar home to someone who actually worked at McDonalds was a bad idea. I mean how could he know they were lying?

World economy will crash

It already has!

(It was sarcasm)

@shamrock - what association do foodstamps have with bank cooking?

The greedy 1% will not share where do you think the money is going the sheep are heading where they want you, and then they vote them in power and expect them to care about you

Charles, that 80 billion will rise even higher, when the rest of us apply for assistance. Due to the banks losses when the sh*t hits the fan.

@shamrock Gotcha. Thanks. Don't you think bailing out companies, military budget contribute to the countries problems also?

@shamrock, Bet you are standing in line to get your share.

Yes, Charles I do. @6dogs no, not yet.

Shamrock, if you vote Republican this November not only will public assistance costs not rise, they will be slashed.

Hope that let's you sleep sound and secure tonite :)

Yeah. Lots more homeless and hungry and lost children. But we'll cut those darn safety nets down. Eating is overrated anyway. Ask the North Koreans. They get by okay without food.

What the @!$%# does that have to do with people of today? They should be punished for their ancestors? Name one continent or country that has not been taken over by another race.

@JUAN, you shouldn't feel that way. In the days of Kings the only thing that was saw as wealth was Gold. Not just Spain but all advanced countries were on a Gold quest and looking for trade routes. Mexico and The Americas were discovered by Columbus searching for a trade route to the Far East. Yes I know about Americus Vespucious but Columbus is given credit here.

Yes, let's copy the extreme deficit spending programs of European countries. Never mind that they are all going bankrupt. Can you tell me one country in which the Socialist model is working and they are on good economic footing? They are all in some stage of economic decline. Yet our President tells them government center stimulus is the way to go. Yet has the same model ever worked here?

They can't afford to come to the USA. Obama HAS done everything he can to make it much worse!

You silly person, you do realize that the Dems have majority power (Presidency & Senate). Opps, did you want to forget about that so you can blame all their mistakes and failures on the GOP?

They don't control the Senate...it's close to even currently. Tea party Senators are growing and are the loud minority.

RAY, As compared to us here is the US are in the toilet and sinking fast WITHOUT the extensive social programs that Europe has? Seems to me we're all in the same boat, but of course if you don't want to belive it, it isn't so.

@Ray: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Danmark, Australia, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands to name a few. All have living standards matching or exceeding those in the US.

jvvlimme: Your truth does not fit the narrative those nuts want to tell.

"Sweden, Norway, Finland, Danmark, Australia, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands to name a few. All have living standards matching or exceeding those in the US."

Yes, and all have nearly 100% of its citizens paying national income taxes AND all/most have the value added tax. Germany, the country that's been expected to continue throwing it's taxpayer money away to failed nations has a 19% VAT in addition to the high income taxes. The German taxpayers are getting tired of their hard-earned money going to support entitlement societies and may soon close their wallets. What'll happen then?

If most of the working in this country actually paid federal income taxes we would not nearly as bad off. The liberals want no one but the rich to pay and all the poor should live like the rich but on the gov't dole. All you people blame it on the GOP but they hadn't slowed the spending we would be much worse off and the deficit would be much worse, and if the master spender himself is re-elected fire up the printing presses so they can keep up.

Justredd64 - and why are most of the working people not paying Federal Income Taxes. Romney just paid 15% on his 30 Mill could that be a reason. The ultra rich have been taking the Lions share of any growth and that is why there is not enough money going into the General kitty. Bush and Chaney started it with there Tax cuts for the people but slanted towards the Rich. But of course I'm wasting my time because it's all the fault of Liberals. Even though facts prove different. BUSH inherited a suplus, Obama inherited a deficit. Republicans is that true or false.

It's not the "working people" (read as unwashed masses/ middle and lower class) who aren't paying their share. They live in poverty, it isn't like they are living the life of the 1%er who gets all kinds of deductions, cuts, credits and basically gets federal welfare in the form of tax loop holes.

The "working people" have carried the 1% long enough, and are getting pretty sick of it.

Yep social security, a plantation economy for the disabled, even the working disabled and for the elderly that spent their lives in anticipation of a reasonable comfortable living by the taxes they paid into that system and are entitled to, unless of course you couldn't get social security or supplemental disability because you don't qualify with what remains of your 401k or other retirement portfolio.

Social Security was never intended to be a complete retirement program and every thinking person knows that. The baby boomers in particular were warned of its financial instability decades ago and were told to look at alternatives. Most of us did just that with only 22% of baby boomers planning on SS alone for their retirement.

Good thing too since obama insisted on a 2% payroll tax decrease from a program that was already faltering. I don't think a revenue decrease was what Geithner, Sebelius and the other Trustees meant when they called for substantial legislative action in both the 2011 and 2012 SS Trustees reports.

Fast Z... allow me to point out to you that any other "alternative" would almost certainly involve forking over your money to banks or insurance companies- directly or indirectly, whether it be a 401k or IRA or any other vehicle you can name. Further, I believe that when Raygun tripled SSI in the 80's it was to address some of these issues. It keeps coming back to banks and insurance companies, all of which would now be defunct if we, the taxpayers, hadn't bailed them out. Say what you want about Spaniards and Spain, but banks are still at the heart of this. Without a taxpayer bailout, all of these "alternatives" would have gone done the toilet.

Fast Z - Social Securities issues have been compounded because the income of the Middle Class has fallen behind, there is not enough money going into the Pot. The 1%'s are taking all the money and now Wall Street has it's greedy eyes on Social Security. Bush tried to give it to them and Romney will as well if elected. Be careful what you wish for.

true so really it does not work only for a very few and they give crumbs and people are happy but when the crumbs disappear they might do something about it

Honestly, I'm on this string daily because I'm retired and love to drive Republicans nuts, if they already aren't. Are all you guys unemployed or what?

Dave: How do you explain 7.6% unemployment in Findland, Norway (somewhat socialistic nations) where as Ireland (far from socialistic) has 14.2% unemployment?

Don't confuse Republican's with facts and numbers, they never believe them.

GoSteelers -

7.6% unemployment is hardly anything to brag about. Unemployment here is just slightly higher than that, and people are acting like the world is going to end if the government doesn't hurry and fix it. I think it's overly simplistic to compare unemployment rates in the way that you are. Why did ireland have record low unemployment of 3.7% in January 2001? In fact, unemployment in Ireland was extremely low from about 2000 - 2008. During the same time period, Finland's unemployment hovered between 7% and 9%. Historically, Norway's unemployment has remained relatively low (over the last thirty years; there was a spike to 6% in the early 90's). I really don't see any correlation between the three.

A euro -

Learn the difference between "facts" and "conjecture."

Kg14051 - "Conjecture" is that what Bush and Chaney used to start an illegal war or was it " facts " like WMD's.

I'll help you out, A Euro.

Fact

NOUN

1. something known to be true: something that can be shown to be true, to exist, or to have happened

2. truth or reality of something: the truth or actual existence of something, as opposed to the supposition of something or a belief about something

"based on fact"

3. piece of information: a piece of information, e.g. a statistic or a statement of the truth

Conjecture

NOUN

1. guesswork: the formation of judgments or opinions on the basis of incomplete or inconclusive information
2. something guessed: a conclusion, judgment, or statement based on incomplete or inconclusive information

My post has facts. GoSteeler's post is conjecture. There's no way GoSteeler can use the statistics he pointed out to prove that socialism creates lower unemployment than capitalism. Because if you look at historical unemployment rates for all three nations, there's nothing that really connects them together. In other words, it's coincidence.

See the difference now?

"Conjecture" is that what Bush and Chaney used to start an illegal war or was it " facts " like WMD's.

Conjecture in this case would be all the nutcases citing international law as a basis for "proof" that the Iraq war was illegal. Or the nutcases saying that the war was illegal because we didn't find any WMD that the whole world knew Saddam had before/during/after the Gulf War.

But what does any of that have to do with the topic at hand?

yes we are zombie sheep ever hear the expresion what can we do, the most disgusting words you can hear guess its to late for the sheep to do anything anyway, then they get people without brains to blame everything else except for what the real problem is thats greed , go ahead 1% you can have all mine because someday you will be with nothing too

As I perceive the situation (Spain), their leadership flat lied to the people, and everybody just kept going on business as usual, even though signs showed them that it business was declining. Comunist Russia didn't say a word to their people. one day when people got up and found the Berlin Wall was unmanned, there was no security at the border check points. People went to work and found out they didn't have a job. Now that's a left hook out of nowhere.

romney basically is a robber baron, look what he did with bain, he would throw you under the bus too if it meant making money

Let Romney bankrupt everything...

"We need serious reforms and changes to our system. Un-electing President Obama is the first step. We then need to hold our leaders, from BOTH SIDES, accountable and responsible for their actions. We need fiscal responsibility and economic planning"

Then place measures on the ballots cutting your politicians salaries and deficits as well as limiting their spending percs...by 40% for x=# of years.
Then let them see and feel what's its like and know why there is no money for closed down schools or education and other things in yourlocal and state economies. What time is it, oh...time to vote my next salary hike!!!

All of Washington, will run our A$$ over with that bus, Romney isn't the only one. Don't get it twisted, we don't attend those $40,000 lunches. Washington works for the banks. We should send a message to Washington, vote for neither party. The last 30 years we have voted Rep/Dem who do you think they work for? They sure as hell don't work for we the people. All I see is old half dead rich people up in Washington.

Yeah how much would that save cutting city and county from the top down?

And of course they'll have their sticky fingers in their campaign financing dinners...which should be taxed...50% for every campaign dollar.

Shamrock, with the sorry exception of Obama, I have voted for neither party for years. Most people told me I was throwing away my vote even though they agreed with me. This presidential election many are taking my route. Change may be slow, but we cannot keep being sheep for either party.

wtfwwus , you got it right. We need to roll up our sleeves voice our opinion and get involved in the politics of this country. We need to educate are children about how dangerous, stupid , screwed up , twisted , and convoluted Modern Liberalism is.

You're right, let's elect Romney to fix things like Roosevelt did.

Gee, let's list all the jobs Roosevelt sent overseas in order to make a huge profit for himself. Let's see how Romney would do like Roosevelt and see that workers (in the case of Roosevelt, mine workers) could get a pay increase while working fewer hours. Doesn't ROmney want a smaller govt (eliminatingthings like the FDA), which would be unlike Roosevelt who helped the well-being of people by passing laws such as The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and The Pure Food and
Drug Act.

Yes, elect Romney and see what happens. It will be just like Theodore Roosevelt......NOT!!!!

You decree Socialism and then say exactly what they are saying, make up you mind.

We need to educate are children about how dangerous, stupid , screwed up , twisted , and convoluted Modern Liberalism is.

And Modern Conservatism. They're both equally bad...bought and paid for by different masters. Same result.

While I would prefer a government run by the citizens , I would much rather have to deal with a socialist government then a corporatist or fascist one. I will not vote for socialism, corporatism, fascism or theocratism. I guess I throw my vote away, again.

Illinois is a Democrat held state. They just cut the medicine subsidy for the poor and elderly. Closing prisons. Why? Because they rank number 50 out of 50 for states with the most debt. What is their solution? Raise the taxes on cigarettes, so more people go out of state to purchase them in more tax friendly states. Missouri is thankful for the extra purchases.

@ Notatroll, excuse me but, $800 a month might sound like a lot to us, but ones needs to consider their inflation rate. I'm not sure what that is. Givin that it may boil down to say, $300 or $400 a month here. Makes eating and surviving most diffacult.

RickGaffron, and Pennsylvania is probably grateful for those coming across the border to buy not only cigarettes but gasoline. Gas is usually $.15 a gallon cheaper if I go South instead of North.

What a JOKE does anyone really think it matters who they vote wake up

makes me wonder - you are exactly right. All these people who post on here bashing one party while raving about the other party are delusional. It doesn't matter one iota. Nothing will change. They have sold out the people in favor of voting blocs a long time ago. Very sad indeed!

I know exactly what will fix this. And it's an ugly solution, but it's one that I fear is going to happen, not only here, but around the world. All I can say is, stock up on ammo now.

OOps...And those salary cuts go to every government employee, across the board in that realm....as far as they're concerned..actually their salaries get cut across the board, and I haven't left out the State.

I'd rather take my chances with pure capitalism than pure communism. There is much less opertunity with pure communisum because it works more against the nature of man than pure capitalism. The history of communism and socialism is much more evil than capitalism.

Capitalism isn't failing in Greece. Socilaism is.

@Charles, Yeh sports, Jeepers Mr. Owner I just can't survive on $8,000,000 a year. I have got to have $15,000,000 than I might Squeek by.

Give me $4,000,000 a year and I'll play my heart out for you for as long as you need me.

Heynow: Socialistic Sweden (7.3% unemployment), Norway & Finland (both 7.6%) are doing fairly well, thank you.

Actually, what we are seeing is what happens when a socialist-leaning mixed economy runs out of money. Europe needs to privatize and deregulate its labor markets.

GoSteelers.....read post #3.3...Idiot.

Gostreelrs...they nearly ALL pay federal income taxes in those countries...do they here?

Big Jim From Texas - I assume that Big Mouth Jim from Texas, If communism is so bad how come all our debt is owned by China.

Was in Malta many years ago, in a small bar in Pretty Bay all US and UK regalia on the walls and in the center was an 8 foot wooden spike in a glass case it's heading was " Texas Tooth Pick " looks like the word had spread.

Do you even know what capitalsim is, or how it works. Capitalsim is a free market system it allows people to invest there own money into goods, and be paid for labor at a free market value. People vote what is good with the wealth they created in a capitalist society. Through market compeition that it provides goods are not only cheapier but of much better quality.

Europe in the last several decades has been anything but capitalst they have tried socalsim. In France for example you have to have goverment aproval to fire someone. When oopsie no busniess would hire new workers (especially if they were young and inexperaince) France tried to make an exception for workers 18-26, and there were riots on the street. And Spain is even more socalist with there green economy.

Socalsim weather it's communist or the democratic soft socalsim progressives like so much always ruins economies. Big goverment strifling busniess while it tells the worker that working is optional.

@aeuro

China is no longer pure communsim a euro in fact it embraces the growth and market that pure capitalsim provides. The problem is Chinease culture and still some what communsit goverment isen't really worth crap when it comes to actually prodcuing something. Everything that China produces was engineer in america and has an american company in it's name.

Did Congress recently vote themselves a raise?

Half will.

Listen to Glenn Beck?!?!? You got to be kidding!!!

First off don't mention Glenn Beck you just ticked off people like Johnniee from not hearing the message. Use some of Glenns sources. Anyways he had someone on his show the other night who did resarch into Spains green economy (the same one that our Presedent wants to bring here). For every green job that Spain spent a forturne for over 2 more were lost some where else in there economy.

Yes we filled that ditch with gold and yes it's not as deep. 4 million jobs created only cost us a few trillion. You do the math, I have. But then we were told in advance some wealth would be transferred.

There are two basic methods of honestly sharing our economy's profits: a fair share when it is earned, or redistribute what has been dishonestly piled up by a few. We are replaying the old Labor vs Capital game which has been around since our founding.

Due to greed or human nature, pure capitalism really isn't capable of honestly rewarding all who participate, it will always have to be moderated by some method.

Even Jeb Bush admitted Obama saved Florida from a meltdown. Without the massive aid to the states millions more would have been fired as states property tax revenues plummeted. People who opposed bailouts to states to allow them to slowly adjust to falling revenue have no idea how bad it would have been.

So smart. Control is the issue. Most people are oblivious to whats really going on. This is a bad time to be alive. This is just the beginning. People need to wake up. We are being distracted and diverted to whats really happening.