Knabe, I've always agreed with the fair market system as well as the overwhelming majority of your views. But we no longer operate in a fair market system. With things like Nafta and sister accords, tarriffs on raw steel, but not steel parts, imports from other countries that are subsidized either directly by their governments or indirectly through manipulation of the value of their currency, it is no longer a fair market. Our governments policies have led directly to the continuing shrink of the middle class due to the loss of higher paying jobs. A good blue collar job like my father had was one generation away from the touted education that you espouse. Not many of those around any more. Lots of $15 an hour manufacturing jobs and $7 an hour service jobs. I realize in CA the values are higher, but so is the requirement to live. Fortunately I am able to work for me. Last time I applied to get a job two years ago, similar to the one I lost because my company moved it's operation to the Philippines, they wanted to pay me what I was making in 1994.
fair market is subject to interpretation of what's fair. one wouldn't want to protect farm labor rates of the 1940's that were eliminated by mechanization? oops FDR did that and extended the depression. improvement always has a cost. that's why education is important. education need not be obtained through school.
As far as oil company profits go, you put a nice spin on that profit figure. 5% of $100 is not an obscene profit. But 5% of a gazilliontrillion is an obscene profit. To tax them would be asinine since they would only pass that along to us and of course we would pay the tax. But to cap a price of a gallon of gas would force them to quit under utilizing their facilities and become more efficient. As far as I am concerned 1/10 of 1% of what they make is an obscene. If government policies can take away good paying jobs, why can't it help those who it has hurt by limiting the price the oil companies can charge for a gallon of gas. If nothing else, the money that was used in that ridiculous farm bill that just passed could have helped more farmers and all Americans by using that money to subsidize the oil industry.
who allowed the oil companies to consolidate? if we just had one company in america, like the soviet union (not really, as 25% was capitalism, but no one admits it). capping the price is a tax, just ask FDR and look what happened, the depression was extended.
Oh and yes your vote for Ralph Nader or Alfred E. Newman is a wasted vote. You may not FEEL like it is because they may match your values more closely, but voting for someone who has no chance to win is a waste. Or worse yet, a vote for Perot was a actually a vote for Clinton. Which is exactly what I did, just as you.
i guess betting against big brown was a waste? betting against america during the revoution was a waste? after the crossing of the delaware it was a waste? only 30% of america was betting on america. how do you think groundswells in opinion happen? that's how gay marriage happened. used to be less than 5% of children were born outside a traditional family. now, with blacks, it's about 70%, hispanics 50%, whites 28 or 38% i can't remember. numbers have a way of changing and if no one changes, the public will be changed.
And JBARL, while it is true the security of Israel is not related to its relationship with the US, I would infallibly argue that the security of the US is related to it's relationship with Israel. That fact alone is enough reason not to vote for some one with a freakin' Muslim name. And btw, I am very proud to be a redneck, hillbilly, or what ever else you deem us poor ol' uneducated, back woods Southern inbreds to be.
i'm not of redneck heritage, but hillbilly on both sides. to me, this is why it's important to stick up for israel, a quote from wwii.
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
As far as the voting goes, it's obvious that McCain is much more popular with the vast majority of folks here, which of course live mostly in rural areas which still make up the majority of land area in our country. However, the larger cities where more people live are largely for Obama. This is a product of the vastly different values of rural people and those who live in more densely populated areas. The electoral congress was set up by the founding fathers because at that time, they felt the public was too scattered geographically and too ignorant to make a wise decision. Isn't it ironic now that people who claim to be so well informed and highly educated, the so called elite of our society, are the ones who want to vote for Obama?
other than a few obvious positions such as the war, abortion etc, there isn't much of a dime's difference of change between mccain and obama. both have no clue what a business is, in spite of the fact that mccain's wife is in the alchohol distribitorship business.
I am not a fan of our current President by any means, although I voted for him. But if you think he is bad, wait until which ever one of these guys get in. Although the real problem lies in Congress. The only way to turn our government around is to have term limits for Congress and that ain't gonna happen. America has become apathetic since WWII because we have had it so good and so easy. Those times are on their way to a halt. There is nothing to keep the price of fuel from continuing to climb, there is nothing to keep more good paying jobs in our economy, there is nothing that is going to ease the credit crisis the economy faces, there is nothing to keep health care costs in check (although the elimination of illegal immigrants would solve the health care crisis in an instant, not to mention my property taxes). Every one of the issues I mentioned is a direct result of government policy. In the next ten years things are going to get bad in our country. Maybe then the public will get off it's duff and take an interest in who it sends to make the policies that dictate not only our ability to pursue happiness, but life and liberty itself.
innovation keeps good jobs in our economy. with collectivism the desire of most countries except china, it's pretty much a guarantee that good jobs will be here. the credit crisis will pass, it was overenterered based on bad fundamentals and when we allow that to correct (unlike fdr who extended the period to correct) we will be much better. with america as overweight as it is, it's pretty much a given that the health care crisis will only get worse. illegal aliens use of the system is a much lower cost per visit than overweight clogged arteries americans. it's one reason i went to the comapny i'm at now, it's pretty much an expanding market (cardio problem prediction). natural gas has doubled since last year and we are converting our electricity infrastructure to it meaning this puts more pressure on the taxpayer to pay the govt to give handouts for heating for the poor who have had their jobs exported, again why education is important. the best thing to keep health care costs intact as a whole (not individually) is to be healthy, but we are only getting worse as a population. there is indication that things are changing already. we don't need to wait for the govt to help us. opinions have already changed dramatically for offshore drilling, no one is buying full size suv's anymore, and as china and india convert to low efficiency energy infrastructure, we will have an advantage as efficient energy comes on line and some manufacturing may shift back to america. just as in the depression, there is opportunity for those not extended living on credit.
) jbarl
