Chron: Bush apologists can't wish away the economic truth

My preference would be to remove politics from deciding when a recession starts and stops. Let the National Bureau of Economic Research make the call.

GWB like all of his predecessors shops for economists who agree with his fiscal policy.

BTW, there is also intellectual dishonesty in crediting Clinton/Reagan for the economic boom during his presidency. Unfortunately, most voters are not intellectually honest with blaming/crediting the president with the state of the economy. When it benefits them, politicans will play to this (GWB blaming Clinton for the recession and Kerry blaming GWB for the lack of recovery).

 

God, Andylib is still as overly sensitive as always and still denies what he really is. Yea gods, the left here still wears their precious little bleeding hearts on their sleeves.

 

I have done real work, hoss. As a youngster, I worked on shrimp boats, flipped burgers and did landscaping. I slaved over 10 years combined in the USMC active duty/reserves defending your right to sit on your butt and "work" as an IT guy. I worked as a night-audit at a hotel to help support my family in college after I got out of the military. So don't lecture me about work, because I've done more than you could ever imagine to get where I am now.

As for your situation, I empathize, yet my empathy can not dodge economic realities. I'm sorry you had to do that, but hey, stuff happens. Like I said earlier, you and I serve at the leisure of our employers. The day the Associated Press decides I'm not needed, I'm gone. The day the radio station decides that my show sucks, they will find another loudmouth. I am a real person.

Maybe you should have saved more money (I save and invest tons of both mine and my wife's paychecks). Maybe you bought too much car and house for your means (I put down over 30 grand on my house when I bought it and every single vehicle I have is paid for).
Decision-making also plays a part.

And just because I deal in reality, doesn't make me an *******. You can either accept the things you can not change and move on....or you can rage against things beyond your control and live in a hell of your own making. It's your choice. I wish you the best, but don't b**** about the economy because your situation isn't the rosiest. Quit thinking so much of yourself and look at the greater picture.

 

Yeah, MB, **** you for losing your job!

 

Not anymore due than the Kerry-Edwards ticket will hurt it by saying, "Well it must have been a u-turn."

Who's talking what down now? So then if Kerry wins, what bed is he making for himself?

Smart, Dems, smart.

 

2001? Hmmm, what happened in 2001? Say around Sept. 11? That certainly didn't help matters.

 

I served in the Navy for 6 years so that I could sit on my butt as an IT guy. I'm so glad you served but it isnt like you were the only one, GI.

You can speculate about the decisions we made all you want. I dont think there are too many people out there that can go without work for 4 months and be financially stable. I'm 26 years old. I dont have years of savings to fall back on. It isnt like we made tons of money while in the military. If anything, we barely scraped by. We bought out house 8 months before I was unemployed. We have good credit. We pay our bills. We save what we can and we invest for retirement. I feel like we are pretty financially savvy and do things the right way.

I feel like we (my wife and I) are some of the most positive people that you can find. We dont ask people to feel sorry for us because we have it pretty damn good. I make over six figures now and my wife can easily stay home with our children both of whom are healthy and beautiful. We own a nice home and have decent things.

We have both been poor. My wifes family lived in Section 8 housing growing up. When I was in the military I had to have a second job just so we could barely get by. We got to where we are through hard work. So I will tell you what pisses me off. When jackoffs constantly brag about their Porsche or how much land they have or how others tell people that get laid off that they should just roll over and thank the coporate dickheads that fire them so that they can make an extra buck.

 

MB, sorry about your situation. That really sucks. I had my own work related situation, where I had gotten sick, was working 2-3 jobs, didn't have insurance, and wasn't able to pay all my medical expenses.

I have a college degree, was working, and earning enough that I didn't meet the requirements needed for the major medical benefits. Without healthcare I wiped out my savings, and went into debt. So too would get angry when people talked about anyone who didn't have healthcare should get a job etc. I had multiple jobs, and those people didn't know what they were talking about.

Things have gotten much better now, and I hope they get better for you soon. I know there are many more out there in similar situations to yours, and it really bothers me that these families seem to be being ignored by this administrations policies and others.

 

Hey, dont feel sorry for me man, we are more than cool now.

I just resent people who talk like big corporations have no responsibility to society. The "doing it for profit" is a cop out. I am all for making a profit, but sometimes you have to weigh making a profit and hurting people. I understand that cut backs a necessary sometimes but I also know that it can be abused. I know how these unemployed people feel and I their are still plenty of people hurting financially. We rebounded quite well since I received a nice pay raise when I finally did get employed again. Even though we came back strong doesnt mean that it wasnt stressful and difficult. Its been well over a year since all that happened to us and I hate for it to happen to anyone else.

 

AMEN! i've been saying that for a long time.

 

Absolutely, MB.

This kind of sentiment:

ignores a key premise; that any MNC doing business in the US is ultimately serves at the mercy of the consumer -- which is you and me, and is afforded legal protections via powers that ultimately stem from the citizens of the United States of America -- again, you and me.

 

those that can still find jobs waiting tables .

 

They don't have any responsibilty to society, at all. The only responsibility they have is to make a profit for their shareholders. That is the cold hard truth, but it is the truth. I'm not slamming you, but you've got to face reality. I know it sucks to lose your job, but no one has a job for life. It's just the way the world works. My father once gave me some great advice and that was that the big, bad world doesn't owe you a damned thing." He was right. They don't OWE you a job. As I said before, you serve at the leisure of your employer.

Yeah, I'm proud of what I'm accomplished, but is because I never gave up and although I took a few hits along the way, I found a way to adapt and overcome.

So if you hate me because I speak the truth, so be it.

 

So in other words, corporations are charity cases that exist to provide you with a job? No. They exist to make profits for their shareholders. I know I sound like a cold-hearted b*stard, but hell, that is the cold, hard reality. So they owe something to the people? Of course not.

 

During Bush's presidency, 2.8 million manufacturing jobs have been lost. Manufacturing is the hardest-hit sector of the economy, accounting for 95 percent of jobs lost and having lost jobs every month since Bush took office.

 

or selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door...

Hi, my name is Steve. I come from a rough area. I used to be addicted to crack but now I am off it and trying to stay clean. That is why I am selling magazine subscriptions.

 

bama: this is a textbook example of why you aren't taken seriously.

Find one single solitary sentiment in the post that you quoted of mine that indicates "corporations are charity cases that exist to provide you with a job".

There is nothing of the kind in it. All I did was remind you that your implication that "Your job is not a right, but you serve at the priviledge of your employer" is at best incomplete -- it's a two way street: corporations that do business in the US could not do so without consumers or legal protections ("privileges") granted them by the citizens of the US.

I question whether or not you actually read my post, and if you did, how you could misunderstand it so badly as to generate such a non-responsive retort.

 

That is a bogus stat when connected to Bush. We were attacked and suffered an economic downturn. The same would have happened under Clinton for chrissakes.