bostonbubble.com

[john p]

mpr said:

The irony is that many who accuse Obama of being a "socialist" because
of his positions on health care are surely quite happy to let the
government help them refinance or borrow at low interest rates.

[john p]

I'm harping on this political stuff because whatever our disposition is towards entitlements, unions/pensions, fiscal discipline etc. will determine how we gear up when the babyboom retires here. I know that there is huge advantage for retirees to relocate because of the lower property taxes. My parents are in the same square footage house in Florida as they had in the Essex County and they're paying less than 1/3 the property taxes... During the bubble, the Homestead Act in FL prevented lost of people to buy because two identical houses might have different tax rates depending on when they were purchased. People who paid the bubble prices had to pay the bubble taxes. Right now, people are buying homes at 1/2 the price of some bubble areas so I'm not sure how the taxes will be handled. I am concerned that the "ME Generation" here in Massachusetts gave out too many entitlements, made it too lucrative for Unions increasing public projects costs which strapped future generations with debt and have unions and special interests with a death grip sucking out the life force from our State. I'm afraid that the younger generation will have to deal with the hangover from the Me Generation.

[mpr]

[john p]

MPR:

If anyone sent goons to my house to harm my family, I'd torture them for days in my basement find out who sent them and hunt them down and torture them.

What is remarkable about that passage is that the value system of the Democrats and the goals and objectives set forth by Obama do not align with the actual policy and reality with what is happening today.

The wealthy control both parties. The wealthiest towns in Massachusetts went for Obama. The education of Massachusetts is lopsided because the wealthy do not want to live with the poor in this State. If the wealthy in Massachusetts cared about the poor, they would live in their neighborhoods and they would have done more already to balance things. They don't because the poor live with more criminals among them and when they catch the criminals, the Liberals do everything they can to keep them on the street. Republicans want to put the bad guys behind bars and make the poorer community safer, and somehow people think that the Republicans don't care about the poor. The Liberals who refuse to be tough on crime allow the pollution of the poorer communities. Liberals try to make people accepting of the pollution and the corruption. It was a Democratic Governor who pushed for casinos in Massachusetts. What more evidence do you want? Casinos prey on the weak and poor of a society, how is that a Democratic value? How is Deval Patrick any different than Jack Abramoff? The corrupt choose the political party in power in the area they want to operate. The corrupt choose the Democrats in Massachusetts and the Republicans in Georgia, why? because it is the path of least resistance. Typically the party that is out of power that has to tell the truth because they have to rebuild, almost like how GM is going to have to make a good car. The political party in power is too busy screwing the pooch.

As far as your comment regarding the Middle Class. The United States got the opportunity to build a middle class after WWII. A middle class is a great thing, but it makes certain things cost a fortune. It is a big gorilla that needs to be fed. Without cheap labor it is hard to build very much. What has kept our middle class fed in the past two decades is that we prey on other nations economically. We treat our middle class like an endangered species, but we promote class warfare by being a consumer nation and have other countries make our stuff for us. This way we can make these fantasy ideas and make believe that we live by them. We have child labor laws, but buy billions of dollars of stuff from countries that don't have child labor laws. Now that we're in a global economy, how can we sustain a balance of different economic strata and classes? So cap and trade will just push more manufacturing overseas. It's kind of like how Boston got safer because it got gentrified.

The reason why I am currently a republicans with respect to economics is that we will get a greater range of company size if we cut taxes on small companies. I think we need more smaller companies right now because it is the younger, energetic, hardworking and intelligent people that always seem to help motor us out of hard times. They are the shot of adrenaline that our nation needs. The lazy socialists that want government to bail them out are the parasites that hurt us. Liberals are trying to create an entitlement society and make it socially acceptable to have permanent support from your government.

The new edition of "The Economist" does a comparison between Texas and California. Texas is thriving and California is just about bankrupt. Texas spends less per citizen than just about any State, but has a lot of bad qualities such as it pimps itself out to every polluter company and has horrible public schools, etc. The parasites in California are killing it as well as their liberal spending and lofty, unrealistic ideals. Now I am idealistic, but I bring to bear the reality of the resistance that we find in reality. Liberals like to feel good and don't like the negative cynical energy of planning for the worst. They think their "hope" is a force field from negativity. I think liberals are dangerous because they don't burden themselves with reality, and hard core right wingers are dangerous because they don't think anything very much positive is possible. I think that in my final analysis, peace loving people are self sufficient because they believe that it isn't right to take from others. The socialists eat like a dog that gets into the food bag until they run out and then they go out hunting and become predators like the Nazis. The republicans at least promote industrious values that will help us become less independent on others.

[john p]

MPR:

If anyone sent goons to my house to harm my family, I'd torture them for days in my basement find out who sent them and hunt them down and torture them.

What is remarkable about that passage is that the value system of the Democrats and the goals and objectives set forth by Obama do not align with the actual policy and reality with what is happening today.

The wealthy control both parties. The wealthiest towns in Massachusetts went for Obama. The education of Massachusetts is lopsided because the wealthy do not want to live with the poor in this State. If the wealthy in Massachusetts cared about the poor, they would live in their neighborhoods and they would have done more already to balance things. They don't because the poor live with more criminals among them and when they catch the criminals, the Liberals do everything they can to keep them on the street. Republicans want to put the bad guys behind bars and make the poorer community safer, and somehow people think that the Republicans don't care about the poor. The Liberals who refuse to be tough on crime allow the pollution of the poorer communities. Liberals try to make people accepting of the pollution and the corruption. It was a Democratic Governor who pushed for casinos in Massachusetts. What more evidence do you want? Casinos prey on the weak and poor of a society, how is that a Democratic value? How is Deval Patrick any different than Jack Abramoff? The corrupt choose the political party in power in the area they want to operate. The corrupt choose the Democrats in Massachusetts and the Republicans in Georgia, why? because it is the path of least resistance. Typically the party that is out of power that has to tell the truth because they have to rebuild, almost like how GM is going to have to make a good car. The political party in power is too busy screwing the pooch.

As far as your comment regarding the Middle Class. The United States got the opportunity to build a middle class after WWII. A middle class is a great thing, but it makes certain things cost a fortune. It is a big gorilla that needs to be fed. Without cheap labor it is hard to build very much. What has kept our middle class fed in the past two decades is that we prey on other nations economically. We treat our middle class like an endangered species, but we promote class warfare by being a consumer nation and have other countries make our stuff for us. This way we can make these fantasy ideas and make believe that we live by them. We have child labor laws, but buy billions of dollars of stuff from countries that don't have child labor laws. Now that we're in a global economy, how can we sustain a balance of different economic strata and classes? So cap and trade will just push more manufacturing overseas. It's kind of like how Boston got safer because it got gentrified.

The reason why I am currently a republicans with respect to economics is that we will get a greater range of company size if we cut taxes on small companies. I think we need more smaller companies right now because it is the younger, energetic, hardworking and intelligent people that always seem to help motor us out of hard times. They are the shot of adrenaline that our nation needs. The lazy socialists that want government to bail them out are the parasites that hurt us. Liberals are trying to create an entitlement society and make it socially acceptable to have permanent support from your government.

The new edition of "The Economist" does a comparison between Texas and California. Texas is thriving and California is just about bankrupt. Texas spends less per citizen than just about any State, but has a lot of bad qualities such as it pimps itself out to every polluter company and has horrible public schools, etc. The parasites in California are killing it as well as their liberal spending and lofty, unrealistic ideals. Now I am idealistic, but I bring to bear the reality of the resistance that we find in reality. Liberals like to feel good and don't like the negative cynical energy of planning for the worst. They think their "hope" is a force field from negativity. I think liberals are dangerous because they don't burden themselves with reality, and hard core right wingers are dangerous because they don't think anything very much positive is possible. I think that in my final analysis, peace loving people are self sufficient because they believe that it isn't right to take from others. The socialists eat like a dog that gets into the food bag until they run out and then they go out hunting and become predators like the Nazis. The republicans at least promote industrious values that will help us become less independent on others.

[balor123]

[mpr]

[GenXer]

[john p]

mpr:

I want a strong middle class. My father told me in the mid 90's that the worst car made then was better than the best car you could get in the 50's.

I am about moving the line of scrimmage forward so that everyone can benefit. Poor people today in the United States are better off than the middle class decades ago. This is a good thing. My point is that we can't take that for granted, especially now that we're in a global economy. Also, farming out the manufacturing isn't a good thing because all the support industry goes as well and if you believe that all men are created equal, it won't be very long before the emerging nations get the design capability and the whole alpha scope.

I am glad you brought up Germany, I too see them as a pretty good model (in the ways I'm aware). At the back of the Economist magazine they have the statistics of exports and imports and I was floored to see that Germany exported so much, floored. The people of Germany have a ton of industrious values and have a tremendous work ethic. They provide a lot of benefits to their people because they work hard and achieve. In a society, it is better to be one of the minority of people that work hard and provide for others, the more that push that sled forward, the more that can benefit. The reason why Germany can provide for their people is that they have enough sled dogs to pull the line of scrimmage forward for everyone. Now that we have a babyboom retiring, we need to make sure that the remaining workforce here in the United States is hungry and ready to provide.

Another point, mpr, is the notion of "tooth to tail". I believe that the most succesful societies can transfer the raw to the cooked. There is a tremendous advantage to understanding process, sort of a heightened awareness which builds and lays out the neurons in our brain in a creative, constructive, fruit bearing way. Once you understand how to make something you become happier and more productive. People who are stuck get cynical and trapped and feel hopeless. People who are hopeless need to work harder and see the fruits of their labor so that they can realize that their contribution can result in something positive and that feeds off itself.

Once people overcome resistance, they realize that they can prevail and then they won't have as many barriers to discourage them. This is why I prefer a leader with experience, because they have faced resistance and prevailed. Think about how frightened John McCain was when he was being tortured. He had the courage to admit that his captors broke him and it was his fellow sailors who gave him strength to heal back and not be deformed and be a broken man. To me, this showed that he understood that he wasn't a superhero and he depended on his society for strength. I'm not thrilled with how McCain treated his first wife as it sounds like he hurt her very much, but that was a private matter, and in my view McCain was forged, had faced the heat and healed stronger not broken. Obama had never really faced the fire and was the sweet talker who downplayed the importance of hands on experience. That in of itself is destructive to a society because all the young people who look up at him realize that working hard and sticking your nose to the grindstone is a waste of time because you can waltz through the front door without a proven track record if you can b.s. your way in. Being in a professional industry, I see fewer and fewer younger people spending the time getting professional licensure because they realize that they can get away with not having it. The result is that we have a weaker profession because these kids aren't learning their facts.

Thanks Gen-Xer for the support, I think mpr was having a bad day. I have plenty. The fact that he cares about wanting a society that provides for as many as possible shows that he's one of us. I can disagree on what the right pathway to that goal and write off any emotion as exhaust in the debate of a free society.

[john p]

Baylor:

I would recommend reading the current "Economist". The things I wrote were based on what I read. I guess my response to your post (regarding that it wasn't as awful as the reputation was) is that in this article, it talked about big differences between the haves and have-nots, and perhaps the ares you describe might be different than some of the other areas? The article also talked about how the latin americans were going to be the majority somewhere in the next ten years or so. I would imagine if you had a significant amount of kids with english as their second language, they would have a harder time scoring on standardized tests. I realize this doesn't reflect their mental capabilities, perhaps having to live with the challenge of having two languages might elevate their metal capabilities through having to work their grey matter harder.

[Renting in Mass]

Probably the only outlet not controlled by the government media is the talk radio

Boy have I got good news for you! Here are some media outlets for non-fascists that you must have missed. I think you're going to like them!

On the TV: there's this channel called "Fox News" that you'll totally dig.
In print: Check out the Washington Times or the Wall Street Journal editorial pages. I hear they sometimes let non-fascists present their opinions.
On the internets: there's this place called redstate.com that is full of thinkers operating at your level.

Have fun!

Are their any other media outlets that have been overrun by fascists that you need help navigating?

[john p]

You know, what fuels a capitalistic society are the minority of people who actually care about achieving and chase the carrot. In doing so, they pull the sled of society that is filled with deadbeats. The deadbeats sit in their drunken delusion and get mad when the sled slows down. They expect more and more from the fewer and fewer sled dogs.

You take the incentive away by taxing and taxing and regulating and then Atlas Shrugs, and we end up like the Soviet Union where people did not work to their potential and they fell behind.

This country is an experiment of capitalism and democracy. If we act irresponsibly, we will fail.

I know plenty of really hard workers and achievers that are Democrats and left wingers and I really scratch my head and wonder why they feel like it is necessary to support the creation of this entitlement society. To me, an entitlement society is doomed to fail and why would you ever want that? Liberals think it is mean to send someone to prison and blame violence on a bad environment, but fail to see the reality that if that person isn't purged from the society, they will just pollute the society further. I mean people cheered when O.J. got acquitted. I mean this guy stabbed his wife to death and they cheered that he got off. Then on Sept. 12, 2001 we saw dozens of demonstrations of extremists buring the American Flag and cheering that thousands of Americans were slaughtered and when you hear some left wingers, you'd think that George W. Bush was the enemy. They waterboarded a few really evil guys, guys who's goal is to destroy the United States. So, I scratch my head when people try to blame Cheney for evil in the world. Cheney had the dirty job of being responsible enough to see the world as it is and not how we'd like it to be. So the three basic choices are: destroy evil (Republican notion), appeal to the angels within our enemies (Democratic notion), and use political peer pressure / diplomacy (Obama's strategy). I think Republicans now understand that the cowboy approach was appropriate after we had a sneak attack, but would prefer the "Walk Softly But Carry a Big Stick" approach (Ronald Reagan). Ronald Reagan did all of the above and the left made him out like he was some moron. I give credit to Clinton for dealing with Miloshevich, but history will show that by being too nice we encouraged evil people because they saw us a weak and not having the stomach to respond. It was a good thing that we gave some of the bad guys an ass whipping after 9/11, it will save lives. Voting Bush out was America's way of saying, we've dished out enough and continuing to do so only throws more support to those that wish us harm. The key is not having the pendulum swing to much in the wrong direction and forgetting important lessons we've learned in the past.

This decade in front of us can be totally screwed up through over spending, empowerment of the lazy and hamstringing those that can actually pull us out of this. Worse yet, if we are weak, we will encourage those that would love to see us fail and be destroyed. Dick Cheney's world wasn't a happy place to be in, but he did it because he realized that evil existed and he did not want that evil to come to our nation. We resent the guard dog because they remind us of the evil that we're trying to push out of our minds.

[GenXer]

john p: Don't bother - they will find out on their own hide. All those who cheer the mass robbery in the name of misguided ideals will pay for it out of their own pockets. Cap'n'trade will make it impossible to sell a house without multitudes of government-mandated 'upgrades' which will cost a small fortune. Other provisions will result in massive tax increases on businesses and the 'rich' who run them. The so-called 'green' energy will also result in massive energy price hikes paid for by all of us. The so-called healthcare 'reform' will result in a huge liability which will only be paid for by the 'wealthy', but at some point the wealthy will simply start becoming poor, and will not be available as a cash cow anymore. While 43% of the population is paying no taxes, the productive ones will have less and less desire to earn more to pay more. To these people its a game where only good intentions count, but the resulting national poverty will always be 'Bush's fault'. The government will take our freedoms one by one through regulations and taxes, and after a while we will not even be allowed to express our opinions as anybody criticizing the government is increasingly under pressure to simply shut up (or else the will slap a 'fairness' doctrine to shut them up). The media is cheering all of this on, because all of them are card-carrying members of the Democratic party. So I wouldn't bother trying to bring people to their senses - you just have to let history run its course. We will try to vote them out at every turn, but I think (and hope) that history will be their ultimate and harsh judge.

[balor123]

Cap'n'trade, while expensive, will result in a reduction of pollution. That will make us uncompetitive perhaps but I don't see what it has to do with entitlements or taxing the rich. I also don't like the tax the wealthy approach but mostly because of what it's being used for. Rich people are perhaps being treated unfairly and they will hate but you can be sure that they'll continue to work as long as being rich is better than middle class and so on. Are you really going to stop being an engineer if you get hit with more taxes and start waiting tables? Will you even work less? Doubtful. I'm not saying I support it just that the argument against it isn't a very good one. Personally, I'd rather see higher taxes on everyone and use of the money to dig us out of this enormous hole that we've dug ourselves into rather than entitlements and special interests. That is, long term strategic spending. Something this country stopped around 1980.

[balor123]

Before I get flamed for my higher taxes suggestion, I also add that I'd like to see more efficient use of money we're already collecting. Perhaps you can't do both at the same time but there's one place that you can spend money very efficiently: paying down debt.