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Back then, our national debt was about $1T, and we weren't paying over $500 Billion/year on interest payments. Now, by 1988, the national debt had risen to about $3T... and a whole another chapter on credit driven market was in vogue, which we will discover in 1989 with yet another recession. Even so, Reagan will tell you that he had to raise corporate taxes, and payroll taxes, and close loopholes that businesses were using to escape taxes.
We don't have as much freedom anymore. And we have not one but TWO messy wars to go with it. Besides the fact that we don't produce anything anymore (back in the 80s, we still did some).
Things are not pretty now but I"m pretty tired of Obama and the media blitz scaring everyone by this whole "Worst financial crisis since the Great Depression" stuff. Carter years weren't so great: double digit unemployment and inflation, gas lines, and he was off with his head in the sand in the Middle East.
I think he does that on purpose so when we turn around and are on our feet again, he will be raised to the level of the ultimate Messiah. I predict he will be performing a miracle right around the time of his next campaign. And sinc ehe campaigns for 2 yrs, I think we have about 2 yrs of this mess before the miracle is performed.
Here he goes again...doom and gloom and scare tactics to push for passage of the pork bill.
Obama: Catastrophe Coming If Stimulus Not Passed
By: Reuters | 04 Feb 2009 | 11:30 AM ET
President Obama said Wednesday the recession will turn into "a catastrophe" if the economic stimulus is not passed quickly, lobbying anew for the plan as its price tag climbed above $900 billion and drew more criticism.
Obama: Catastrophe Coming If Stimulus Not Passed - Economy * US * News * Story - CNBC.com (http://www.cnbc.com/id/29014724 - broken link)
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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There almost certainly WILL be a catastrophe, the only question is whether the stimulus can cushion the fall enough to avert total global disaster. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but it's worth a try.
Watch what happens after the California state economy collapses (assuming no federal bailout), we'll be able to see whether there is a domino effect on the other states, or whether they are resilient enough to handle a key player falling.
True Unemployment Rate May Be Twice The Government Numbers
The official unemployment rate may also be dramatically inaccurate based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics method of calculation.
If the government was still calculating the unemployment rate using the same criteria and methods that had last been used during the Clinton administration, the “official†unemployment rate today would be closer to 18%.
There almost certainly WILL be a catastrophe, the only question is whether the stimulus can cushion the fall enough to avert total global disaster. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but it's worth a try.
Um....OK. A little melodramatic, aren't we. Things are bad, but just as the thread points out, things were bad in the early 1980s. There are already some signs of life peaking around the corner. More important than a do nothing "stimulus" bill would be a real fix to the banking system and putting life into the housing market.
Some moderate and well targeted spending would be fine, but this mega-spending liberal free for all is NOT going to help anyone, while feeding the deficit and inflation. Doing nothing might be better than the so-called stimulus in its current incarnation.
GDP did not fall as much as '82 so things are not as bad as they were back then IMO.....
Well exactly my point. Unemployment isn't nearly as bad either, when you consider the growth in the employment pool and both percentages and absolute numbers of unemployed.
We've had so many years of growth and prosperity that many younger people were just kids or not even alive when we had our last deep recession. Compared to 1992 or 2002, the sky might seem like it is falling now. We're in a deep recession but we were due for one sooner or later, and the spike in oil combined with the poor practices our banking system and equity markets system hastened the onset.
They have been manuplating the unemployment data since JFK. If you remove the spending on the war our economy has not grown since 2001. The war was created to grow the economy and keep us out of a long recession.
The war was created to grow the economy and keep us out of a long recession.
OK...yeah, and the plane that hit the Pentagon is really on a desert island with Elvis and Jim Morrison. Enough already with the wacko leftist views.
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