Jimmbbo asked:


Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’ :

“President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJsSb4qtILhg&refer=worldwide

Christina

Classical Liberal (libertarian) asked:


After Obama has HIMSELF ADMITTED long term trends are not sustainable, and that we are out of money?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJsSb4qtILhg

May 14 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGo83FofDhU – “We’re out of money.” – Barack Obama

So, the spending continues DESPITE these acknowledgements, and yet it is still “stimulating the economy”, or “cleaning up Bush’s mess”, or whatever other lame excuses you guys use, right?
Reality Has, either you’re a troll or you’re the biggest jackass on answers. Did you not see THE ENTIRE QUESTION?

Why would Congress and the President plunge us into further debt AFTER ACKNOWLEDGING what is said in those links?

Chad

Umapirate asked:


President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries. “We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=abXWfVxx_e8w&pid=20603037

Clinton

Berlin asked:


Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment
and tax fairness. No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.
The only rational conclusion is that, despite their cynical “family values” propaganda, the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people
in favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.

so republicans: explain yourself please

Jerry

eyescrazychris asked:


Here we go again. Maybe we should let a major bank “fail”. After all they really don’t need the money. And nobody knows what they did with the first 350 billion.-CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bank of America is asking for a second dip into the $700 billion in bailout money Congress set aside for banks, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Sources tell the paper that B of A needs help to digest Merrill Lynch, and that the Treasury is willing to help. That acquisition went through January 1. Merrill Lynch lost far more money than was anticipated in its final independent quarter.

It comes at a time when Bank of America is weakened by the economic climate. “They have two major integrations to accomplish, they are laying off 42,500 people across the entire franchise at the same time they are dealing with consumer credit quality issues and the deepest recession since the Great Depression,” UNCC Finance Professor Tony Plath said. “The bank is not at risk for failure, but boy, do they have a lot of work to do.”
a link to the article and it’s commentshttp://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-011409-mrn-bofabailouts.3ab838e.html?npc

Dan

– asked:


Why not pick some low hanging fruit, how about reasonable limits on jury awards for medical law suits?

If you really care about health care costs, consider the all the costs passed onto the medical consumer due to trial lawyers and fear of litigation:

1) the cost of unnecessary tests, procedures and operations patients
are forced to endure and finance, for fear of lawsuits.
2) the “run-away” jury awards, which trial lawyers take 35% – 40%
3) all the frivolous law suits- trial lawyers initiate 20 suits, hoping just
one pays off where they can be compensated $10,000 per hour for
the time they spent on the case.
4) the high cost of malpractice insurance, all health care providers
and doctors have to pay for and then pass the cost back to the
consumer.
5) America is by far the most litigous country in the world because
we are the only country where the plaintiff has no financial
obligation to the defendant for the cost to defend frivolous law
suits.

All these costs are passed onto the consumer, exponentially increasing the cost of health care.

Whatever you think of insurance companies, drug companies and capitalism, there is no argunment to oppose reasonable limits and caps on jury awards and judgements IF you care about the cost of health care.

Why do liberals stand against reasonable caps and limits on law suits?

If you oppose tort reform isn’t it obvious its really just about breaking the back of the health care industry to achieve socilaized medicine?

Ellen

Eric S asked:


I have always been a Democrat, but this Democratic National Convention is honestly one of the weakest campaigns I’ve ever seen in my life. The following questions have yet to be addressed at the DNC:

1) In what ways will Senator Barack Obama will make the most effective leader to carry out and deliver on Democrat policies, on national defense, on the war on terror, as commander-in-chief, etc.
“Who exactly is Obama, what should we know about the presidential candidate that we have not yet learned?”

2) What current policies does Obama specifically want to change (there’s of course good change and bad change)?
-Do you want to raise taxes on the wealthy?

-Do you want government to tax oil profits?

-How do you plan to finance universal healthcare?

-How long do you expect the investments on alternative fuels to
effectively reduce the consumer burden at the pump?

-How will withdrawing from Iraq immediately make America safer?

3) Does the Democratic party back up their campaign statements with fact? For example, Hilary Clinton said that McCain does not believe women should get equal pay for the same work. When did he say this? How did he imply this? We need references.

I’m not saying the Democrats don’t have strong potential arguments, perhaps they have a lot they can discuss!!!!

They just aren’t doing it for some reason. Am I right?
Also a lot of talk about alternatives to gasoline. About solar and hydrogen energy sources. How long will it take till these sources can replace gasoline and the new alternative cars are “affordable”.

This is what the people really want to know. These are serious issues, more important than ideology and making poetry and prose about women’s rights, etc.
LASTLY NAME ONE POLICY THAT IS CURRENTLY WRONG.

Here are just some suggestions:

Capital gains tax should be 20% instead of 15%? -Discuss real estate crisis.

Social Security – Retiring Babyboomers, why not discuss THIS crisis?

Lonnie

Uncle Sam Rothschilds asked:


The real economy contracting rapidly

Behind the reassuring statements from Paulson and others that the “worst is over” the reality of the credit collapse since August 2007 is a deepening economic contraction which I have said several times in this space will surpass the Great Depression of the 1929-1938 period. A good friend who is an unemployed homebuilder in a prosperous part of Arizona just sent me the following list of US department retail store closures. It is worth noting that over 70% of the US GDP is consumer spending and that the entire Federal Reserve strategy of Alan Greenspan after the March 2000 collapse of the stock market bubble, was to bring US interest rates to their lowest levels since the 1930′s in order to stimulate consumer spending on credit, i.e. debt, to avoid “recession.” Note the scale of the following store closings across America in recent weeks:

Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide.
Eddie Bauer to close more stores after closing 27 stores in the first quarter.
Cache, a women’s retailer is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide
Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. Talbots will close all 78 of its kids and men’s stores plus another 22 underperforming stores. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbots women’s and J. Jill.
Gap Inc. closing 85 stores
Foot Locker to close 140 stores
Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores. The 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
Levitz – the furniture retailer, announced it was going out of business and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910.
Zales, Piercing Pagoda plans to close 82 stores by July 31 followed by closing another 23 underperforming stores.
Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores.
Home Depot store closings 15 of them amid a slumping US economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the world’s largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store.
CompUSA (CLOSED).
Macy’s – 9 stores closed
Movie Gallery ­ video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery
and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video rental
chain closed last fall as part of bankruptcy.
Pacific Sunwear – 153 Demo stores closing
Pep Boys – 33 stores of auto parts supplier closing
Sprint Nextel – 125 retail locations to close with 4,000 employees following 5,000 layoffs last year.
J. C. Penney, Lowe’s and Office Depot are all scaling back
Ethan Allen Interiors: plans to close 12 of 300 stores to cut costs.
Wilsons the Leather Experts ­ closing 158 stores
Bombay Company: to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores.
KB Toys closing 356 stores around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.
Dillard’s Inc. will close another six stores this year.

For anyone familiar with American shopping malls and retailing, this represents a staggering part of the daily economic life of the nation, from furniture stores to clothing to video rentals to leather. The process has only begun and neither major party Presidential candidate has dared to mention this on the ground economic reality, because they evidently have no solutions to offer that would not jeopardize their campaign finances. Obama is tied to not only Pritzker but also to Omaha billionaire, Warren Buffett and George Soros. McCain depends on the traditional money contributions of the Republican Party which demand permanent tax reform for highest income earners and a pro-bank laissez faire treatment of millions of homeowners facing home foreclosure and asset seizure by banks.

Georgia

Quaestori ulterior Hispania asked:


Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’ (Update1)

By Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols

May 14 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

The president pledged to work with Congress to shore up entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare and said he was confident that the House and Senate would pass health-care overhaul bills by August.

“Most of what is driving us into debt is health care, so we have to drive down costs,” he said.

Then stop spending you moron!

Michele

_ asked:


Our health care industry is SO litigious, patients are forced to endure and finance needless procedures, tests and operations in fear of trial lawyers and run-away juries. The cost for malpractice insurance is passed onto the consumer, the cost for jury awards is passed onto the consumer too!

Why not have caps and limits to curb excessive awards that ultimately get passed onto the consumer.

I have never heard & never will hear a liberal present a genuine reason why tort reform (reasonable caps and limits) should not be implemented. Methinks the cost of health care is not really the issue, giving government control (socialism) is the real agenda.

Why not tort reform, reasonable limits on jury awards and excessive frivolous law suits?
Bobbi- trial lawyers take 35% – 40% of the awards, they initiate dozens of suits, hoping one or two will pay off “lottery” winnings. Every country except the USA, uses the English rule, where the loser of the suit pays the winner for their legal expenses!
Reasonable jury awards means no awards for 20 million dollars for an injury, where the lawyer takes 8 million.

Jerome