After The 8 Years Of The Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now You Get Mad?
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden. You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.
You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.
You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.
You finally got mad when a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!!
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iwog says
This is VERY relevant.
Recents statistics said there are now 4 - 5 applicants for each opening.
Imagine we go back to 1950-s ways such that, as far as professional positions go, women (~55% of college degree holders and thus a similar fraction of applicants now) and "coloreds" (say ~1/3 of the remainder) need not really apply. We then drop to just ~1.3 - 1.5 applicant/opening even in the middle of present unprecedented recession, and virtually any somewhat decent applicant (as long as white anglo christian man) gets a job. Just imagine how many millions of great job openings would there be today if all positions presently occupied by those who couldn't have those jobs in 1950-s were suddenly vacant? When the pool of competing applicants is enlarged by ~2 times because of women, by another 1.5 times because of non-anglo whites, and still more because of immigrants, how can this be irrelevant to your career prospects?
In a Freudian slip, you yourself phrase it thus:
"Why did one man earn enough money in 1950 to afford a house, a wife, a car and 2.5 kids?"
Correct, MAN and specifically, WHITE MAN. What could women afford - go to church dances strutting their stuff in front of men who could support? What could non-whites afford - a nanny room in that house?
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Fisk says
IT DOESN'T MATTER! You're identifying potential victims of an economy that potentially discriminated against women and minorities. It's a separate discussion and unnecessarily complicates the main issue.
The main issue is this:
Pie per person bigger now.
Wages per person higher now.
More people in poverty now EVEN with two people working per household.
There ARE no solutions that don't redistribute wealth. NONE!!!!! Unless you pipe some of that wealth creation back to people who actually spend it, the economy is finished. You cannot play a game of Monopoly after everyone is bankrupt. There are no customers left. That is where we are now. RIGHT NOW.
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I think Fisk has a point. Japan is holding things together by keeping women out of the career workforce.
This pushes households into one wage-earner families, which is arguably better for everyone, given the "Two-income trap".
The poverty of just 50 years ago was immense compared to now.
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Troy says
I don't think poverty rates today can be compared to 50 years ago. Poverty has an entirely different meaning in an era where you can find a shack to rent for $20 a month.
I do know that 50 years ago, anyone who was competent could hold down a job and support a family. That is not even close to the situation right now.
The other point is that we're just past the peak looking into the abyss. Things could degenerate very quickly from here.
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iwog says
I don't know about you but I lived through the 60's and 70's and they sucked. Vietnam war, Cuban missile crises (we were truly on the brink of nuclear war),the growth of suburbs destroying the cities, race riots in all the major cities, terrible economy for almost 20 years, real fear about the total collapse of the America political system over watergate, oil embargo's, hostages in Iran. The 60's is where everything came to a head and the 70's is when everything came apart.
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iwog says
It means that you posted less than a half truth in response to my correct claim that the vast majority of Democrats voted for the Patriot Act. You responded with info on the roll call for the Patriot Act renewal. (You are technically true for 2006 because more Democrats in the entire Congress voted against it, although the Senate Democrats were 38-10 for renewal).
One would have to truly ignorant or delusional to believe that opposition to the Patriot Act started in 2006, and that when someone refers to the "Patriot Act," they are referring to the vote to renew it 5 years later, and not to the Act itself. I believe you are neither ignorant nor delusional.
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iwog says
And likewise, (assuming your numbers are correct) one could argue that the Democrats are going to hold a 1.5% tax cut for the working class hostage unless they can take 4% more from the richest Americans. Hyperbole can cut both ways.
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Troy says
Having read most of it, I generally agree.
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Paralithodes says
We either restore progressive taxes, or the economy burns. You have no other options. The Monopoly game only ends one way.
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WillyWanker says
But shouldn't the government step in when parents are screw ups?....good parenting would eventually result in a better economic outlook for our country and stronger national security wouldn't you say?
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RayAmerica says
@Ray
You do realize homes were actually affordable prior to 1980 right? A family could be raised on one income as well, which left mothers to raise a different class of children than what we are seeing right now.
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iwog says
We afford more not because of the economy but because of the dual incomes and actually we afford less on the coasts where greed has run amok. Our children suffer from a lack of solid parenting as a result of the greed.
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Clarence 13X says
The point I was attempting to make re: Iwog's post was that he pointed to the SINGULAR issue of taxing the "aristocracy" as the only means by which America prospered in the post-war era. Such a position is complete, absolute nonsense. The reasons for the economic boom in post-war America are multi layered and numerous. Iwog discounts the fact that mainland America was the only warring, industrialized nation in WW2 that did not suffer ANY destruction to its manufacturing base, which enabled the U.S. to be the supplier of manufactured goods to Europe, Japan and much of the Pacific rim.
As far as your point re: two incomes in order to afford a home mortgage, you are absolutely correct. But I don't agree that both parents working was done out of greed, but more (by and large) out of necessity. At least initially, most American parents wanted a better life for their children than they had, and that included locating to where the better school systems were located, almost always in higher priced neighborhoods. Americans morphed, IMO, after that into a more materialistic lifestyle where the more you possessed was incorrectly being interpreted as the BETTER you were, which has led to numerous social problems with dysfunctional families and children, etc. So in that sense, I think we agree?
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RayAmerica says
Agreed, I see a 65k Cadillac Escalade at every corner....and can't imagine that the folks driving these vehicles arent over extending their dual income households.
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I agree as well.
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4X says
I imagine.
We've just bought a car of similar price (though not a Cadillac) for cash.
I am a govt. scientist and my wife is a nurse, some aristocracy indeed ...
With after-tax income of ~140 K and house paid off, why spending 65 K on a car would be over-extending? Lots of dual-income couples make more than 200 K pre-tax, btw.
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Is any car worth $65K worth of utility? Add to that the fact that driving it off the lot costs you at least 20% of purchase price if you try to resell. Why not buy a used car for about $10K. You can get a nice car for $10K. And invest the savings in something more profitable and meaningful.
Spending that kind of money on a car is a bad financial decision. And most of the excess you spend, goes to fund the excess of someone even more well off than you. But if it makes you happy, I am happy for you.
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AdHominem says
That is what i say...buy used with around 25-35k miles on it.
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Fisk says
Sure, lots of them in raw numbers... Approx 4.5M out of approx. 117.5M households. You're in the top 4% or so of household income. Good for you (no sarcasm)!!!
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Iwog said:
"1. adjusted for inflation, oil was MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper in the 1990s and most of the 2000s than in the 1940s. 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Same goes for nearly every other natural resource. It’s not even close.
2. 3. 4..."
I often disagree with what you say, but this comment was excellent!
cheers.
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Lets talk about the WHITE RAGE going on in America.
Mad at the Black President cleaning up Bush and Clintons blowback.
Mad at the Goverment all of a sudden when we start spending for cleanup but didnt care about the 1T spent on killing of innocent Arab peoples.
Not willing to owe up to slavey and inceasing educational opportunities for blacks
Not willing to increase the diversity clauses in the workplace
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Clarence 13X says
Yep, it's all about racism! That's why liberals hate white conservatives - because they're racist! Too bad that for many liberals (black or white), the only thing worse than a white conservative is a non-white conservative, especially a black one.... Who do they think they are, getting off the plantation like that!!
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Paralithodes says
Thanks for taking the bait, not a bad response. My point is that we can spend 1T on war but cannot spend it on healthcare, social security or anything that benefits the middle class or poor. Black conservatives do nothing to address the defensive mechanisms that are causes of poor blacks issues:
1. Education - No desire to educate themselves
2. Impoverished thoughts - Refusal to go to school, work or engage in business
3. Enslaved Mentality - Refusal to participate in the conservative business culture.
4. Parenting - 75% of the households are single parent
5. Culture - Most youth (including whites) are now latching on to the hip hop thug culture
All of the above are the result of 400 years of rejection. These 5 points are the defensive mechanisms that our grandparents developed as a result of not being included in society as far up to 1980. These are all defensive mechanisms that no conservative is willing to acknowledge aka show empathy for.
If you were rejected for 400 years do you think you would be open to engaging in activities which were once restricted or do you think you would say "I aint doing that punk shit!" or "You talk white" or "School aint gonna get me paid"? They were right to say these things in 1960 and the mentality has been passed down through generations. Most dont really know that they have an opportunity because they have convinced themselves there is an imaginary white man out here holding them back. Which is totally untrue.
All I am asking is that conservatives show empathy (Increase education spending, affirmative action, etc.), and if the poor blacks dont respond then you can talk shit my friend. Until then, you and all conservatives are holding on to your exclusive rich whites only club, without even offering a hint of reparation for any of the poor peoples within America.
I realize this is about rich vs poor....not black vs white. I just like to put the bait out there to see just who is insensitive and without empathy for the poor.
Good responses.
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Clarence 13X says
And actually all they have done is leave the plantation field to the comforts of the house where they serve their masters tea. How can Clarence Thomas side with the bigotry of the Republican party who call Obama a monkey and chant "take back our country".
Who are they taking their country back from if not from the Black President.
Are Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly not smart enough to decipher these codes from indoors at the dinner table?
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American in Japan says
Except it's simply not true. Only in 1998 was the price of oil cheaper than any previous low price. Even then it was only a couple dollars a barrel cheaper than historical average prices for 47-73 or 85-96. Starting in 99 there was a sharp rise with prices going very quickly through all of the 2000's.

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Clarence 13X says
I reject this totally. Black families made upward financial gains in every decade from the civil war until the 1960's. Baby's born out of wedlock for black families in the 1950's was something like 3%. What happened in the 1960's that changed that? The great society, aka welfare, which enabled and encouraged single parent households (to this day more whites than blacks collect welfare in single parent households, so it's a social issue not a racial issue) along with a mass exodus of jobs from the northern cities to the rural south, and the explosion of drugs (easy money and crime) in the cities devastated by job loses, as well as the total loss of the middle class in the cities due to suburban flight. Black families were caught in a tsunami of economic and societal changes that they are still pulling out of. Don't play the victim of history card. Black families were moving up in society and improving their lives for almost 100 years prior to the 1960's.
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Clarence 13X says
Yeah, whatever... Keep it going... The unfounded, assumed cries of racism are simply diluting the importance, meaning, and impact of the accusation. Sure... Someone who didn't support nationalized healthcare under the Clinton Administration in the past, doesn't support it now only because Obama is Black.
I applaud you for your efforts and contribution towards making "racism" something that people who disagree with you can soon be immune from... For helping to ensure that people will not be scared about whatever they say, because they know that since disagreeing with anything anone on the left states is "racism," the charge has absolutely no meaning.
Clarence 13X says
Maybe he see's it as no worse than the bigotry of the Democratic party who treated him no better? You mention people calling Obama a "monkey." I'm curious... was it the Republicans who treated Condoleeza Rice in a worse manner, or those whom you share an ideology? Inquiring minds would like to know....
Clarence 13X says
Yeah, I understand. As an apparent Democrat, one of the things you must do is question the intelligence of black conservatives.... If they were smart, they'd stay on the Democratic plantation which simply replaced slavery and segregation with destruction of the black family. Ya, go ahead with your claims of racism, etc. Whose policies have more to hobble the legs of black Americans being able to stand on their own? The road to hell is paved with good intentions (and maybe not all of them are so good to begin with).
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bob2356 says
Bob. You make some good points about the marriage rates. However, you fail to mention that blacks couldnt even go outside their neighborhoods prior to 1970 without being harassed. That is not what either of us would call progress. The next generation during the 60s is where all the rejection of white American society started. Prior to 1960s blacks idolized the lifestyles of Sinatra, Crosby....as exemplified by Nat King Coles generation. The teens of the 60s got caught up in the civil protest, rejecting everything white including speech, education and lifestyles. The 60s was the years of the black panther party. This group of individuals is known as the BASTARDS OF THE PARTY aka the originations of the crips and bloods.
Right when the community was set to obtain a little freedom they decided to turn their backs on those that enslaved them.
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@paralithodes
1. You never answered the question, what are they taking their country back from? I have no frickin clue. Politicians? Black President?
2. Why would I ever vote republican knowing that 50% of the party consists of the bigots who left after the passing of civil rights? Admit that they dont give a damn about poor blacks, because I have.
3. Ward Connerly is looking to take away affirmative action educational benefits which are aimed directly at what we are discussing....reversing the black plight after slavery through education.
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Clarence 13X says
What question were you actually asking? You were simply "begging the question," meaning that it wasn't really a question in the first place... It was a statement that you already know that it means they want to take it back from a "Black President" and that any answer they or anyone else gives you to the contrary will fall upon your deaf ears on the matter.
Clarence 13X says
Good point.... Better to stick with a party that didn't kick out the "50%" who were against the passing of the civil rights bill. Robert Byrd was definitely a better person to stick with than Strom Thurmond because ... um... why again?
Clarence 13X says
Yes, I got it already... You believe that in order to pay for the sins of their fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers (even if those people were anti-discrimination, died for the North in the Civil War, had no ancesters in the US before 1920, etc.), non-minority children today should be second fiddle to minority children due to the sufferings of their ancesters. It is not character that matters, it is content of pigment in skin. You, sir, are nothing more than a disgusting race hustler....
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Paralithodes says
Then let me ask the question with open ears, what is being taken back and from where?
Paralithodes says
That would be to stick with the party that does not ignore issues of poverty and the party that passed civil rights, women rights, equal opportunity, social security, medicare, and many other programs that the party of NO denounced as terrible ideas.
Paralithodes says
And apparently you believe that repairing the ills that resulted from that history deserve NO compassion. DO you also feel that Jews, Armenians and Sudanese deserve no sympathy for the holocausts their people suffered through?
...or is this just because poor blacks here in America are lazy in your eyes?
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Clarence 13X says
Yes, absolutely, they do, thank you so much for drawing our attention to the terrible plight of these victimized groups.
We should immediately start large-scale affirmative action programs for Jews and Armenians (those who suffered in Sudan are blacks who are already covered by the existing one). I count on the strong support of black community and expect congressional black caucus to introduce appropriate legislation without delay!
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Fisk says
I agree. And what about children? There used to be child slave labor in this country, therefore, all children should receive some of that large scale affirmative action. Also, many of the Irish suffrered from all those drunk jokes, etc. They need affirmative action too. Maybe a couple of cases of Scotch for each living Irishman .... I mean ... Irishperson?
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I still see no compassion in any of the comments made here. Unlike other communities who have suffered opression, blacks were systemically refused the opportunity to join the business community here in the US. It is apparently clear that no one is compassionate about what has occurred and are unwilling to add any kind of value to the discussion on how the current situations can be repaired.
Continue to turn a blind eye and pretend that the past 400 years never occurred if that makes you feel better. The black community will be fine without your empathy, just dont run to church talking about how much you love god and his mercy when you cant offer the same to others.
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Clarence 13X says
The operative word is "were" as in past tense. Today, that is not the case. Literally, nothing is holding Blacks back from doing anything they want. Many Black people don’t achieve for a variety of reasons, such as lack of education, motivation, lack of training, etc. which happens to be the same reason many Whites are non-achievers. Blaming the past for present day failures is nothing but a crutch. The opportunities are there for anyone in this country to achieve their dreams. Every single Black person I know, that has been a success in their life does not dwell on past injustices. Living in the bitter past will only keep you there for the rest of your life.
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RayAmerica says
After a good nights rest and a discussion with my wife on the theories of BLACK THOUGHT, I agree 75% with your statements above. The only thing holding the people back is their "crutches" and the continued belief that they are being held down by an imaginary white man. Asians, Africans all come here and easily blend in but the continued reference to a negative history is holding the people back.
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or maybe I agree 90%, as I still believe with the poor, ederly and mentally ill we need to show empathy and acknowledgement of their issues.
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Clarence 13X says
I agree. There are people in our society that couldn't exist without the help of others. The problem is, IMO, that there are an awful lot of able bodied people that take advantage of the system that has been set up to take care of the needy, making them, in effect, leaches on the very people that these programs are designed to help by draining resources away from those that have real needs.
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iwog says
Pesky facts!
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Clarence 13X says
I got into it with this young black guy on Xbox Live, he accused me, and eventually all whites of being violently racist, claiming needs for reparations etc... At some point I just went off about how I never enslaved/beat/tortured anyone and my family moved from England to NV after the civil war so why the hell should I be paying reparations to his black ass when he never witnessed and wasn't even alive for all of said 'injustice'. Of course, that didn't slow him down a bit...