bostonbubble.com

[balor123]

I'd like to have seen more banks than just Lehman Brothers fail. At the very least they shouldn't be profiting from this. Sure the economy would be a wreck for 1-2 years but we'd recover.

[JCK]

I'm not sure that's true; look at Japan and the Great Depression as to examples of what happens when the government let's 'em fail.

[GenXer]

[john p]

JCK, I see you as a realist, and it can seem cavalier to just say let them sit in the mess that they've created. If we made people sit in their own self created hardships then we'd be up to our ears in yogurt, I see your point. I also agree with Gen X-er because although you don't want all that yogurt to surface, you're just building more and more of it out of sight and further down the road.

I think the way to stop the hemmorage is to first admit we have a problem and then to build the values necessary to curb the bad behavior. I have alway thought that things that a society was good at were things they valued and things they stunk at were things they didn't pay enough attention to. Massachusetts is great as far as sports because we value sports and we're bad about paying the tab for our spending because we don't value fiscal responsiblity.

I think a spending bill may have been necessary, but there were too many earmarks. McCain said that he wanted to make a law that every representative had to attach their name to every earmark so that they would be accountable for the pork they requested. Obama didn't call wasteful spending "pork", he called it "Investment". In the Reinvestment and Recovery Act, we were paying for a frisbee golf course. If McCain was in charge, we'd know the name of the irresponsible a-hole that put that one in. Further, Candidate Obama said he wouldn't allow earmarks and then voted for a bill that had something like 8,000 earmarks....

[JCK]

[CC]

[GenXer]

Nobody ever promised lower taxes in MA. People who want them do either one of two things:

1) Vote with their feet
2) Hopelessly try to vote for lower taxes (and get ignored and outvoted)

The result is the same. Unions and big government hacks and beneficiaries keep voting for Kennedys and Kerrys. Corruption is unbelievable. The hacks who get elected promise handouts and entitlements. This is why they are voted in, and this is why Obama was voted in. Nobody in their right mind would vote for a socialist, whose goal is to subsidize his supporters and voters through wealth redistribution.

Just like for a Corporation, there is a balance sheet. No use pretending there isn't. And someday, we'll have to pay. They day will come in MA, just like it is imminent in CA. Look at Democratic vs. Republican states. Look at Texas vs. New York, CA, MA and NJ. Look where the growth is, and where the socialism basically destroyed any growth with taxes. People are not dumb. There is no incentive to hire or expand because taxes and expenses are so huge that its not worth it. Also, don't forget regulations (don't get me started on that one).

Intentions don't count. Deeds do. And we know what socialism leads to - poverty and dictatorships as well as total loss of freedom, one law at a time.

[balor123]

[nickbp]

[nickbp]

[GenXer]

nickbp: How about the biggest wasteful spending ever (this is what Socialist countries do)? Bailout of the car company unions (returning the favors)? Closure of the Guantanamo and demoralization of CIA? Defense department cuts? Raising taxes on the most productive taxpayers (wealth redistribution, pure and simple)? Well, in 4 months he accomplished a lot. I just don't know if we'll be able to afford another term of this guy.

[Renting in Mass]

[GenXer]

Part of the same script. Blame USA for all of the world's evils. Blame capitalism for all the world's evils. I don't think you will want to live in a socialist country where health care is socialized and where your salary and benefits are mandated by some higher authority. I don't see too many people from USA moving to Sweden and Norway, but I see plenty of immigrants wanting to come to USA. It used to be that they came to make themselves a new life using the opportunities available here. Now, we mostly have people come here to get a handout - in-state tuition, hospital care, public schools and everything else that comes for free if you are an illegal alien. Of course, this is not Obama's doing, but he will be happy to perpetuate and expand this, and given his voting record in the Senate, he supported everything along these lines, making him probably the most socialist Senator in the Senate. By himself and in 4 months he didn't do a heck of a lot (yet), but we are already on the slippery slope towards socialism. I think I made up my mind that he's a socialist when he openly mentioned redistribution of wealth, just like that, as if its common sense that you can steal from the most productive taxpayers to pay for his own voters' social programs. This is what Chavez does in Venezuela, but its not the American way.

[nickbp]

[balor123]