The sadness that is America

[AtheismIsReality]

Let's face it, contrary to popular propaganda, we've been running "conservative" fiscal policies since Reagan.

In that time, the US has ascended as the world's only Super Power. And we pissed it away in less than a generation.

I can only laugh.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Let's face it, contrary to popular propaganda, we've been running "conservative" fiscal policies since Reagan.

"....whose contribution$ to the woe$ of our times have yet to be fully appreciated."​

Ya' must be psychic!!!

​

 

[always]

Let's face it, contrary to popular propaganda, we've been running "conservative" fiscal policies since Reagan.

In that time, the US has ascended as the world's only Super Power. And we pissed it away in less than a generation.

I can only laugh.

YOU can ALSO LEAVE too, America will never miss you!

 

[Greco]

"YOU can ALSO LEAVE too, America will never miss you!"

So spoke Barney Buffoon (aka - always), the mental dwarf that shows up here daily to bash America.

 

[AtheismIsReality]

YOU can ALSO LEAVE too, America will never miss you!

I miss America. And I never had a chance to actually live in it before our civic virtue got flushed down the crapper to make room for the profit motive.

 

[LooseChange]

I miss America. And I never had a chance to actually live in it before our civic virtue got flushed down the crapper to make room for the profit motive.

It could be worse....I mean ALWAYS and ASUR could be running this country....

 

[BigRob]

Let's face it, contrary to popular propaganda, we've been running "conservative" fiscal policies since Reagan.

In that time, the US has ascended as the world's only Super Power. And we pissed it away in less than a generation.

I can only laugh.

HA. What a laughable assertion.

Was it a "fiscally conservative" policy to bail out Mexico in 95, Asia in 97 and Russia in 98 and in the process bail out all our Wall Street banks? Maybe it was "fiscally conservative" to explode a sub-prime lending culture giving people 0% down loans who had no credit history, and in some cases no job? For example, a migrant fruit farmer making $14,000 a year was given a loan in California for almost $700,000. Big surprise he defaulted.

How is any of that fiscally conservative? That is the policy we have been following since around 1994. Perhaps you meant the "fiscally conservative" TARP bill, or the stimulus... maybe the $7 trillion in bank assurances? Do tell how how this qualifies as fiscally conservative?

 

[PLC1]

Let's face it, contrary to popular propaganda, we've been running "conservative" fiscal policies since Reagan.

In that time, the US has ascended as the world's only Super Power. And we pissed it away in less than a generation.

I can only laugh.

You might as well, the rest of us are.

Do you truly believe in the mutability of the past?

 

[AtheismIsReality]

HA. What a laughable assertion.

Was it a "fiscally conservative" policy to bail out Mexico in 95, Asia in 97 and Russia in 98 and in the process bail out all our Wall Street banks? Maybe it was "fiscally conservative" to explode a sub-prime lending culture giving people 0% down loans who had no credit history, and in some cases no job? For example, a migrant fruit farmer making $14,000 a year was given a loan in California for almost $700,000. Big surprise he defaulted.

How is any of that fiscally conservative? That is the policy we have been following since around 1994. Perhaps you meant the "fiscally conservative" TARP bill, or the stimulus... maybe the $7 trillion in bank assurances? Do tell how how this qualifies as fiscally conservative?

Not being able to pay for our bills and having to take on debt was a hallmark of Reagan. Remember? Deficits don't matter.

Your AV is fitting. Has China cut us a check yet so we can expand our presence in Afghanistan?

Speaking of subprime, where was all the whining when Bush started the ball rolling?

 

[AtheismIsReality]

The monetary policy of inflating our currency is probably the chief driver of our ills. After all, it's difficult to have so much imprudent lending if you don't have easy money lying around everywhere.

Some thought the issue would have to be dealt with during Reagan's downturn, but it got sidestepped, the inflating continued, and we are out even further on the limb.

 

[top gun]

It could be worse....I mean ALWAYS and ASUR could be running this country....

ding ding ding ding ding and there folks is today's winner of the most truth spoken in the least amount of words...

please come back and play again tomorrow.

 

[BigRob]

Not being able to pay for our bills and having to take on debt was a hallmark of Reagan. Remember? Deficits don't matter.

I do not recall Reagan ever saying deficits did not matter, I remember Cheney, and some others saying it, but not Reagan. Perhaps I am forgetting?

However, we are kidding ourselves if we think that the United States had no debt before Reagan came to office. Certainly it did increase under Reagan, but that is a more an offshoot of tax cuts with really no real spending cuts to go along with them.

Additionally, I think most of the argument of "deficits don't matter" was politically as I recall. Saying that voters are not overly concerned with the deficit, and apparently that assertion is seemingly correct.

Your AV is fitting. Has China cut us a check yet so we can expand our presence in Afghanistan?

Doubtful, China has become a net seller of Treasury assets as of late.

Speaking of subprime, where was all the whining when Bush started the ball rolling?

Sub-Prime loans started in the mid 1990's... Bush became President in 2001, so attempting to lay the sub-prime debacle at his feet is laughable.

 

[AtheismIsReality]

Sub-Prime loans started in the mid 1990's... Bush became President in 2001, so attempting to lay the sub-prime debacle at his feet is laughable.

Laughable? What do the facts say?

Back in 2002, Bush announced a plan to increase minority home ownership by 5.5 million homes. His plan had the following components -

http://www.policyalmanac.org/social_welfare/archive/wh_minority_housing.shtml

* Substantially increasing, by at least $440 billion, the financial commitment made by the government-sponsored enterprises involved in the secondary mortgage market specifically targeted toward the minority market.
* Launching twenty-five different local initiatives across the nation, geared toward eliminating the specific homeownership barriers faced by minority families in those communities;
* Raising $750 million in below-market-rate investments by 2007, which will work in collaboration with local homeownership initiatives and be targeted to heavily minority program areas;
* Pursuing strategic partnerships in 20 top housing markets between homebuilders, lenders, local officials, and community leaders to develop approaches that address the local challenges to building homes for minority families living in urban centers;
* Establishing faith-based housing partnerships between the participants and at least 100 churches, mosques, synagogues, and other faith-based institutions;
* Aggressively developing new mortgage products so that conventional market alternatives are available to combat the predatory loan products that are disproportionately targeted to minorities;
* Creating new mortgage products to meet the unique needs of recent immigrants;
* Dramatically expanding financial education efforts for minorities, providing financial counseling to at least 380,000 minority families, and taking measures at the local level to reduce predatory lending; and
* Establishing multilingual, consumer-oriented Internet Web sites designed to help minorities overcome barriers to homeownership, including creation of a central data bank of affordable housing programs made available to real estate agents when working with clients.

Wow, there's the blue print that created the subprime mortgage meltdown - Increase the government's stake in underwriting subrpime loans, have Wall Street buy securtized subprime assets, then repeat.

What happened after Bush made that announcement?

Wow. The subprime market exploded. Again with the added benefit of having our financial sector heavily invested in that bubble.

Yeah, poor Bush. Clinton made him do it.

 

[PLC1]

I do not recall Reagan ever saying deficits did not matter, I remember Cheney, and some others saying it, but not Reagan. Perhaps I am forgetting?

You're not forgetting. It was Dick Cheney who said that Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. That statement seems to have been a guiding principle of both the past and current administration.

 

[AtheismIsReality]

I do not recall Reagan ever saying deficits did not matter, I remember Cheney, and some others saying it, but not Reagan. Perhaps I am forgetting?

Reagan didn't have to say it. He lived it.

A unbalanced budget seems to be a "conservative" fiscal strategy, according to Dutch anyway.