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Well a year ago before the congress changed I didn't know anyone who was losing their house. Now a few friends have and they also lost their jobs after they lost their house. The economy has never been this bad, and the turning point seems to have happened when we change the congress.
If war is not the reason of economics downturn, I wanta know where is the money supporting the war from?
Originally posted by whaaa
My economic downturn started in 2004 when the President was elected for his second term. But I am not so naive as you to think that it is the presidents fault. Market forces are very complex and varied and to place the blame on any political entity is just plain stupid or trying to bolster an ideology that doesn't allow for actual complexities of the real world.
I once bought a carton of sour milk, that damn cow!!!
See your logic?
Originally posted by whaaa
It won't be caused by the dembs but by the policies of the President and his gang of corrupt, greedy cronies that care much more about their corporate lobbyist/bosses/political donors, than they do about the American citizens.
Poverty Rate For Families (Two-Year Average) -
2001-2002: 9.40% (GWBush's 1st two years)
1993-1994: 12.95% (Clinton's 1st two years)
1993-2000: 10.50% (Average for Clinton's full eight years)
* The % of families living in poverty is lower after two years under GWBush than after two years under Bill Clinton - even lower than 7 out of 8 of Clinton's years in office.
Inflation Rate -
GWBush's 1st three years:
Jan 2001: 3.73% (before GWBush)
Jan 2004: 1.93% (after 3 years of GWBush)
Difference: 1.8% Decrease
Bill Clinton's 1st three years:
Jan 1993: 3.26% (before Clinton)
Jan 1996: 2.73% (after 3 years of Clinton)
Difference: 0.53% Decrease
* The Inflation Rate is lower after three years of GWBush than it was after Bill Clinton's first three years.
* The Inflation Rate declined over three times greater under GWBush than under Bill Clinton.
Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Cybercast News Service he is concerned that the Democrats' plan relies so heavily on "investments" and increased government spending, which could lead to higher taxes.
"We have a pretty low degree of taxation in our country, and it's no coincidence that our economy's good," Darling said. "In countries that have high taxation, the economies are terrible.
"If we want to regulate and force businesses to pay people more and tax the rich, that may make for good sound bytes and rhetoric, but it will help to destroy our economy if we're overtaxing individuals who are creating wealth," he noted.
But at the far more expensive level of presidential politics, most Democratic candidates are heavily dependent on Wall Street. In the 1990s, many Democrats were complicit in the financial deregulation that invited Enron and later the sub-prime mess. Leading Democrats who are liberal on other issues, including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Chris Dodd, signed a letter warning then-SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt to lighten up or they'd cut his appropriations. The financial meltdown ought to be the perfect issue to distinguish Democrats from Republicans. But just enough Democrats have their fingerprints on it that the issue isn't producing much partisan traction.
The truth...
For fiscal year 2006, federal revenue as a share of Gross Domestic Product was 18.4%.
The post 1962 average for federal revenue was 18.2% of Gross Domestic Product.
The federal budget deficit for 2006 was $247.7 billion.
This represents 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product which was 13.1 trillion dollars.
That is below the average for the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s.
The deficit as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product for 2006 was 1.9%
The deficit as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product for the 1990s was 2.2%
The deficit as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product for the 1980s was 3.0%
The deficit as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product for the 1970s was 2.1%
Economists state that Democratic tax increases will reduce federal revenue and increase the deficit as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product.
So, you all keep electing those Liberal Democrats and keep blaming the only ones that can pull you out of the mess the Libs create.
(CNSNews.com) - Both the House and Senate have now passed budget plans that envision tax hikes for most Americans.
On Thursday, most House Democrats -- all but 16 -- voted for a 2009 budget plan that includes the single largest tax increase in the nation's history, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt said.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the "fiscally responsible Democratic budget plan" reflects "our national values."
Originally posted by sy.gunson
Did the Democrats invent Collateralised Debt Obligations ?
...No
Did the Democrats invent Collateralised Mortgage Obligations ?
...No
But they are the cause of this crash.
The solution for the mess we are in now was simple but the new congress was asleep at the wheel. They could have put some pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to stem defaults.
Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
I'm afraid that the solution you suggest is not that simple, nor will it help "the mess we are in". In fact, every time that the Fed succumbs to Wall Streets' demands, and lowers interest rates, it devalues the dollar, leading to inflation, and loss of the worlds' confidence of the US dollar. Countries already are refusing the dollar in trade, and theoretically, if all countries did this, the US dollar would become worthless. Since we are not 100% self-sufficient, it would be a disaster unprecedented in the history of our country, making 1929 look like a tea party.
Before you cheer every time the Fed lowers interest rates, stop and think what it is doing to your savings, your investments, and future generations.
The "simple solution" would have been not to pass laws(e.g. the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, revised in 1995 ) forcing banks to lend to people that really cannot afford them, not lowering interest rates in the first place (ala Greenspan for years), and suckering people that don't understand economics into those loans, which were destined to default.
A nice first step to try to at least partially undo the damage done to the dollar would to to recover $150,000,000,000.00 a year by disengaging from the Iraq war, and not spending it on something else. In a few years, we would actually strengthen the dollar significantly, provided the fed doesn't continue its fire sale on the US dollar.
The low dollar is great for America.
How do Americans pay for it?
They pay for it by giving up ownership of existing assets--stocks, bonds, companies, real estate, commodities. America used to be a creditor nation. Now America is a debtor nation. Foreigners own $2.5 trillion more of American assets than Americans own of foreign assets. When foreigners acquire ownership of US assets, they also acquire ownership of the future income streams that the assets produce. More income shifts away from Americans.
Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
You CAN'T be serious? The low dollar is destroying savings, increasing the cost of imported goods, as well as increasing the reluctance of other nations to accept the dollar in trade.