Jump to content
×
Are you looking for the BariatricPal Store? Go now!

"Our Government is Officially Insane" (Surprise!!)



Recommended Posts

July 14, 2009

Our Government Is Officially Insane

In the bizarre through-the-looking-glass world of Washington these days, maybe it should come as no surprise that the reaction to the failure of the stimulus bill is to call for more of the same.

The deficit today crossed the startling trillion dollar threshold, a number never before even contemplated for a full year of federal borrowing, but that we have now breezed through in just half a year. Such a deficit represents a crushing future tax burden for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren -- who will pay back every penny with interest. The so-called stimulus bill was slammed through on partisan lines despite the overwhelming anger of almost everyone who was paying attention. The bill, we were told, was our economic salvation (purely a coincidence, of course, that it happened to contain every item on the left's big government wish list). Now the verdict is in, and it's ugly.

Unemployment -- which the stimulus was supposed to keep under 8 percent -- is officially at 9.5 percent, and is 16.5 percent if you include people who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who wish they were full-time. Businesses continue to slash investment, close facilities, and hoard cash. The economy remains firmly in recession, with recovery now long overdue. The average post-World War II recession lasts 10 months; we are now 19 months into this one with no end in sight.

So, in the bizarre through-the-looking-glass world of Washington these days, maybe it should come as no surprise that the reaction to the abject failure of the stimulus is to call for more of the same. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said the stimulus didn't work because is wasn't "as targeted as it should've been" and "we need to go back to this and do this again. We need to do more of that." If the old quote often attributed to Einstein is true, then Dodd and other supporters of another stimulus are insane -- they want to make the same mistake again and expect a different result.

We should know better. The new stimulus being floated has been called "Stimulus 2," but that ignores the failed Bush stimulus from last year. Of course, we most famously stimulated ourselves into oblivion back in the 1930s, when ever-bigger spending packages spiraled us deeper and deeper into the Great Depression. In May 1939 FDR's Henry Morgenthau, the Treasury Secretary, gave up on spending, saying: "We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work."

It's actually pretty simple economics. The government does not create resources by spending; it simply moves them around. Every dollar the government spends has to come from somewhere, but the only three options all make people poorer. Higher taxes take money out of people's pockets, and deny them the freedom to spend, save, or invest that money according to their own values. Simply printing money is inflationary, and destroys the value of every American's savings, slams people on fixed incomes with higher prices, and creates a huge hurdle to new investment.

The only other option, which we have relied on to the tune of over a trillion dollars already this year, is to borrow. But borrowing is no free lunch either; every dollar borrowed by the government is a dollar no longer available for private investment. Moreover, we have to pay back all the money we've borrowed, with interest, meaning that in the long-run the only two options are huge tax hikes or skyrocketing inflation.

Quite simply, it is impossible for government spending to make us richer when every way the government can raise money makes us poorer. We can't afford another stimulus, a government takeover of health care, the cap-and-trade energy takeover, or any other radical big government policies. A six-month deficit of over a trillion dollars is enough. Taxpayers deserve some time to pause, catch their breath, and worry about their own jobs, lives, and families. Washington has "helped" quite enough; it needs to leave people alone.

Phil Kerpen is director of policy for Americans for Prosperity, which runs the anti-stimulus Web site No Stimulus!. He can be reached through Phil Kerpen | Economic Policy Analysis and Advocacy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

nah - that's boring, but the conservatives should schedule another tea party.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

nah - that's boring, but the conservatives should schedule another tea party.

Hells Yeah! Yee - Haw!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

It's always a past presidents doing. Don't you know that?:) We can't blame Obama for the spending that he's doing. Bush got us into this mess, and by Golly, Obama's gonna spend us out of it. It's the American way!:)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Isn't that what we all do? Spend to get out of debt?(rolling my eyes again!)It's a lose-lose situation. No matter what they do, WE lose.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Anybody notice that some of the biggest banks are posting huge profits this week?

And it's all Bush's fault. :cursing:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

As a certified Bush Basher, I will go on record saying yes it is Bush’s fault. But I think Clinton gets a share of the blame too. Clinton started by deregulating us to the point that all of the financial shenanigans were able to start to take place. Bush embraced that deregulation, and added a bunch more deregulation that allowed Wall Street to really dig us into a hole. Then he drastically cut taxes for the extremely wealthy and turned Clinton era surpluses into huge deficits. Then, he started a stupid war that we had no business being in and had no way to pay for.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And now the new leader will do his part. (and I believe his part outweighs them all) What a shame. All we can do is pray for this country, and hope that our turning away from God will not hinder him from having mercy upon us.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

kartman you are spot on. And regarding the war and all the rest, the only way we might be able to get us out of this hole is by raising taxes. You think Bush didn't know that? Of course he did. So did he man-up and take care of business? Nope. He gave a token tax rebate and then he waited out the inevitable so that the Democrats could do the responsible thing, which they usually do. And then the next election, the Republicans will be bashing the Democrats for raising taxes. People with a brain can see exactly how this stuff plays out. The fact that so many continue to buy into this totally transparent political behavior is the mystery.

The Republicans are brilliant - they have the middle class believing that it is unAmerican to regulate corporations. Those corporations are feeding off the middle class to such an extent that we're almost to the point of having two classes in America. The very, very wealthy and the poor. What's been happening here is similar to what we see in many countries that mainstream Americans hate.

Now we expect President Obama to fix it without actually making anyone pay. He can tax us all heavily or he can make the corporations pay their fair share. Do you all really think that making corporations pay their fair share is unfair and unAmerican? The Republicans have you believing that it is going to put small businesses out of business. This is economy is what is putting small businesses out of business. Deregulation brought all this on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

bjean: "Now we expect President Obama to fix it without actually making anyone pay"

Obama could have "fixed it" with a teeny tiny tax hike to pay for the boo boo cut. But now (after he got his hand in the money pot and splurged away), He will have to "fix" a gigantic gash instead, and that wont just be with a teeny tiny tax hike, it will have to be enormous!!! He only far, far, far, far, worsened what others in the past have contributed to.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Democrats could do the responsible thing, which they usually do.

Of course they do dear. After they straighten out the mistakes that the bad ol' republicans make, right?

]Do you all really think that making corporations pay their fair share is unfair and unAmerican?

Nope. They will, however,make them either shift their operations overseas where labor and taxes are cheaper (putting more Americans out of work), or raise prices to compensate for the increased cost. That's the fallacy of taxing business heavily. Do you really think they'll just eat the increased taxes, or do you think the cost of living will skyrocket dramatically? BJ, you're a business owner....what would you do if your business costs increased (say they doubled)? Increase your prices or watch your business crumble?

The Republicans have you believing that it is going to put small businesses out of business.

Yup. Blame it on the republicans. That'll make everything ALL better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

plain, darling, I'm so glad you agree with me about the bad ole Republicans.

What a twittish thing to say: "They will, however,make them either shift their operations overseas where labor and taxes are cheaper (putting more Americans out of work), or raise prices to compensate for the increased cost."

They've already done that, dear. Their greed caused them to do that before anybody raised their taxes. Americans have already been put out of work because of it. That's exactly one of the reasons we have such a ridiculously high unemployment rate. Word to yo mamma.

What the new president endeavors to make happen is to put Americans back to work. He wants to create jobs to take care of the past years that we've neglected our infrastructure, our environment and all the other things that the greedy corporations and our government refused to spend any money on. And it wasn't just the corporations and the governement who were greedy. We as individuals played the game just as hard. So now we ALL are going to have to pay. And if we care about this country and if we want to preserve our glorious way of life, we can make some compromises for the greater good.

If we don't, we will go by the way of Rome. I jest a little, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility.

For instance, do you think Americans would be willing to give up their clothes dryers for a while? Do you think we might consider putting those unsightly clothes lines back out in our yards and hang our clothes out in the sunshine instead of running our electrical sucking machine to do the job?

That's a very small consideration, but all the small compromises we could make (reusing our grocery bags, maybe?) would add up when millions of people are not only willing but excited about participating for the greater good. That's the hope that our current administration has and it is the total opposite of what our past administration worked for.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Per VP Biden's quote today, "Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

Yeah, I know, I saw that the other day and thought, WTF?? Only a pinhead democrat representative would say something so God-awful stupid.

It's almost like it's a race now to see how fast they can ruin this country. :bored:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

plain, darling, I'm so glad you agree with me about the bad ole Republicans.

What a twittish thing to say: "They will, however,make them either shift their operations overseas where labor and taxes are cheaper (putting more Americans out of work), or raise prices to compensate for the increased cost."

They've already done that, dear. Their greed caused them to do that before anybody raised their taxes. Americans have already been put out of work because of it. That's exactly one of the reasons we have such a ridiculously high unemployment rate

Ok, so now the problem will get even worse. More business and jobs going overseas. It's ok though, we'll just blame Bush when the unemployment rates top 11%.

What the new president endeavors to make happen is to put Americans back to work. He wants to create jobs to take care of the past years that we've neglected our infrastructure, our environment and all the other things that the greedy corporations and our government refused to spend any money on.

Then why isn't he? Jobless rate is climbing fast and the only jobs the government is creating are temporary jobs. BJean, the government cannot create jobs as a viable plan. It just doesn't work.

For instance, do you think Americans would be willing to give up their clothes dryers for a while? Do you think we might consider putting those unsightly clothes lines back out in our yards and hang our clothes out in the sunshine instead of running our electrical sucking machine to do the job? That's a very small consideration, but all the small compromises we could make (reusing our grocery bags, maybe?) would add up when millions of people are not only willing but excited about participating for the greater good.

Of course, all the democrats already do this, right? Maybe they can persuade the rest of the world to adhere to President Obama's proposed can & trade policy?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Trending Products

  • Trending Topics

  • Recent Status Updates

    • Prdgrdma

      So I guess after gastric bypass surgery, I cant eat flock chips because they are fried???  They sell them on here so I thought I could have them. So high in protein and no carbs.  They don't bother me at all.  Help. 
      · 1 reply
      1. NickelChip

        It's possible for a very high fat meal to cause dumping in some (30% or so) gastric bypass patients, although it's more likely to be triggered by high sugar, or by the high fat/high sugar combo (think ice cream, donuts). Dietitians will tell you to never do anything that isn't 100% healthy ever again. Realistically, you should aim for a good balance of protein, carbs, and fat each day. Should you eat fried foods every day? No. Is it possible they will make you sick? Maybe. Is it okay to eat some to see what happens and have them for a treat every now and again? Yes.

    • NovelTee

      I'm not at all hungry on this liquid pre-op diet, but I miss the sensation of chewing. It's been about two weeks––surgery is in two days––and I can't imagine how I'll feel a couple of weeks post-op. Tonight, I randomly stumbled upon a mukbang channel on YouTube, and it was strangely soothing... is it just me, or is this a thing? 
      · 1 reply
      1. NickelChip

        I actually watched cooking shows during my pre-op, like Great British Baking Show. It was a little bizarre, but didn't make me hungry. I think it was also soothing in a way.

    • Clueless_girl

      How do you figure out what your ideal weight should be? I've had a figure in my head for years, but after 3 mths of recovery I'm already almost there. So maybe my goal should be lower?
      · 3 replies
      1. NickelChip

        Well, there is actually a formula for "Ideal Body Weight" and you can use a calculator to figure it out for you. This one also does an adjusted weight for a person who starts out overweight or obese. https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/68/ideal-body-weight-adjusted-body-weight

        I would use that as a starting point, and then just see how you feel as you lose. How you look and feel is more important than a number.

      2. Clueless_girl

        I did find different calculators but I couldn't find any that accounted for body frame. But you're right, it is just a number. It was just disheartening to see that although I lost 60% of my excess weight, it's still not in the "normal/healthy" range..

      3. NickelChip

        I think it's important to remember that the weight charts and BMI ranges were developed a very long time ago and only intended to be applied to people who have never been overweight or obese. Those numbers aren't for us. When you are larger, especially for a long time, your body develops extra bone to support the weight. Your organs get a little bigger to handle the extra mass. Your entire infrastructure increases so you can support and function with the extra weight. That doesn't all go away just because you burn off the excess fat. If you still had a pair of jeans from your skinniest point in life and then lost weight to get to the exact number on the scale you were when those jeans fit you, chances are they would be a little baggy now because you would actually be thinner than you were, even though the scale and the BMI chart disagree. When in doubt, listen to the jeans, not the scale!

    • Aunty Mamo

      Tomorrow marks two weeks since surgery day and while I'm feeling remarkably well and going about just about every normal activity, I did wind up with a surface abscess on on of my incision sights and was put on an antibiotic that made me so impacted that it took me more than two hours to eliminate yesterday and scared the hell out of me. Now there's Miralax in all my beverages that aren't Smooth Move tea. I cannot experience that again. I shouldn't have to take Ativan to go to the lady's. I really looking forward to my body getting with the program again. 
      I'm in day three of the "puree" stage of eating and despite the strange textures, all of the savory flavors seem decadent. 
      I timed this surgery so that I'd be recovering during my spring break. That was a good plan. Today is a state holiday and the final day of break. I feel really strong to return to school tomorrow. 
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • BeanitoDiego

      Now that I'm in maintenance mode, I'm getting a into a routine for my meals. Every day, I start out with 8-16 ounces of water, and then a proffee, which I have come to look forward to even the night before. My proffees are simply a black coffee with a protein powder added. There are three products that I cycle through: Premier Vanilla, Orgain Vanilla, and Dymatize Vanilla.
      For second breakfast on workdays, I will have a low-fat yogurt with two tablespoons of PBFit and two teaspoons of no sugar added dried cherries. I will have ingested 35-45 grams of protein at this point between the two breakfasts, with 250-285 calories, and about 20 carbs.
      For second breakfast on non-workdays, I will prepare two servings of plain, instant oatmeal with a tablespoon of an olive oil-based spread. This means I will have had 34 grams of protein, 365 calories, and 38 carbs. Non-workdays are when I am being very active with training sessions, so I allow myself more carbohydrate fuel.
      Snacks on any day are always mixed nuts, even when I am travelling. I will have 0.2 cups of a blend that I make myself. It consists of dry roasted peanuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and Brazil nuts. This is 5 grams of protein, 163 calories, and 7 carbs.
      Breakfast and snacks have been the easiest to nail down. Lunch and dinner have more variables, and I prepare enough for leftovers. I concentrate on protein first, and then add vegetables. Typically tempeh, tofu, or Field Roast products with roasted or sautéed vegetables. Today, I will be eating leftovers from last night. Two ounces of tempeh with four ounces of roasted vegetables that consist of red and yellow sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, small purple potatoes, zucchini, and carrots. I will add a tablespoon of olive oil-based spread, break up 3 walnuts to sprinkle of top, and garnish with two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese. This particular meal will be 19 grams of protein, 377 calories, and 28 grams of carbs. Bear in mind that I do eat more carbs when I am not working, and I focus on ingesting healthy carbs instead of breads/crackers/chips/crisps.
      It's a helluva journey and I'm thankful to be on it!
       
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
  • Recent Topics

  • Hot Products

  • Sign Up For
    Our Newsletter

    Follow us for the latest news
    and special product offers!
  • Together, we have lost...
      lbs

    PatchAid Vitamin Patches

    ×