I'm looking for the US citizens (illegal aliens are OK too) that want to share their story of how things have "changed" for them in the last 19 months.....
Mine....I guess the biggest thing for me is that at the end of May I closed a business I started in 1990. I did everything I could to protect the 10 employees I had. It's hard having to tell someone that they'll just have to find some other way to shelter and feed their family. The worst of it came when I had to let go my brother-in-law.......you can imagine how good family relations were after that. I tried to take advantage of the "stimulus" but since I wasn't in banking or car sales and I didn't have union labor I was pretty much shit-outta-luck.
So......with my savings gone and my business closed I'm pretty much starting over. I'm going to keep plugging away because I only know how to work. I can't see collecting unemployment even if it means bagging groceries like I did at 15. What keeps me up at night is wondering if I can manage to make enough to pay my family's part of the overwhelming national debt.
Feel free to add your story of "Change you can believe in"
ps....I believe.....I really believe
Not sure yet. He's still cleaning up after the last guy.
Not sure how spending the U.S. into un-payable debt is "cleaning up".
he may not be perfect but he's a damned sight better than the alternative. it's amazing how people are so concerned about debt now and they weren't during reagan or either bush. it's going to take more than a couple years to clean up after 8 years of terrible policies. i imagine there will be quite a few beck, hannity, palin, coulture, bachman, malkin, savage, drudge, breitbart, o'keefe, and limbaugh fans in here to say how horrible things according to faux news, tho.
really? you believe that? 19 months in and it's still someone else's fault
how is passing healthcare reform "cleaning up"
is the climate bill part of the cleaning process?
maybe it was the "Don't ask - don't tell" legislation
wait...I know......it was the Childhood Obesity legislation that was aimed at creating jobs in the private sector
get a grip
edit: sorry for the retort....I'm actually, REALLY looking for "Change" stories (good or bad)
I might write a book
WHY? What requires years? The bill for all his legislation doesn't come due until after he;'s out of office so WHY?
wow, lantec. you actually believe anyone can be elected to any office and wave a wand and everything be fine and dandy?
My change story: no change at all. I am retired military and classified as 100% disabled and not allowed to be employed.
Wow Pas...your almost as good as Gibbs.....avoid answering the question by asking another one. "I" DON'T believe you can wave a magic wand to fix everything but I DO believe that the current administration/congress DOES believe that if you throw money at it will fix itself.
I guess it's time to invade another country. War's good for the economy, right?
lantec, the current administration is trying to right the ship. you may or may not agree with the methods used but the methods used by the previous administration obviously didn't work. i have not agreed with everything done thus far but i do support a majority of them. btw, gibbs is a jerk. i've said that all along.
As for me; nearly everything costs more, I've had to take a pay cut at my main job and I've lost some hours at my second job. We're more strapped than we've ever been. But even through this, God has shown us that He can provide in some amazing ways.
I guess in a way, the poor economy has strengthened our faith.
Thanks Lightstar & Bryan.
Pas, how bout the original question.....how have things changed for you?
Norway?
I'm a senior in college and I received $5,000 less financial assistance from the government this year.......for no reason other than "those grants have been discontinued." Every one of my friends received less financial assistance this year, so we're all forced to take out more high interest loans that we can work on paying off over the next 20 years. I'm just glad this is my last year.....
Like LightStar I am retired military but without a disability. Doesn't make much difference though, not a lot of jobs for people over 60.
Yeah prices of some stuff have gone up but others have gone done. The only thing that will cause a change for me in the near future is death. Not a joke here, I share costs of a big house with four other people, three of us are retired and over 60 so a death of one of us will cause a big change. The other 'kid' is only 52 and still working.
Been around long enough to know that Governments, not matter what political party is in charge, will pretty much screw things up at the end of the day. It's up to the rest of us to pick up the pieces and get things working again so the cycle can continue. We are pretty good at that, just too bad we can't break the cycle.
There are always lessons to learn in life, probably the most important is to never lose control to someone else over your own life.
Another one of lifes lessons is if you take the fork in the road that the politician suggests more than likely the bridge has been washed out.
Lantec, I think you're just starting to personally feel the impact of the recession personally, while the rest of us have been feeling it for quite some time now. Here's an article regarding our county from November 2008. http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/1284Nineteen months is not enough time for the kind of change necessary to take place, when the reasons for the pain we're experiencing right now have been in place since the 1980s, when we ceased being a manufacturing economy and, instead, became a service economy.
All you need to do is look around to see many changes, especially here in southern Ga., since it's where I live. . Plants closed, company's closed, homes foreclosed, downtown is shutdown pretty much. . No jobs, but lots of crime. . Sometimes my cats have more to eat, than I, but really gets me is "where's the changes and hopefully, when did it start"? Dad Burn It, reckon It started without a lot of people. . Good luck, and we'll keep digging for ya!
You don't need those people to see the reality of what's going on out there. That's the easy way of sticking your head in the sand and blaming "faux news". You might want to look into Journolist why you are at it.
Barney Frank is more responsible for the economy than "8 years" of Bush.
Lantec, the depreciation in the dollar due to our debts was incurred over 8 years of Bush tax cuts (which forced us to borrow from the Chinese just to pay for the day to day operation of our own country!), one unnecessary war for oil and vanity (which took our eyes off the real enemy long enough for them to regroup, costing us even more money in that arguably necessary police action), and an unregulated wall street/housing gambling "casino" run amok.
It took 8 years to take us from the surpluses at the end of the Clinton years to debts that were beyond our wildest dreams...in a time of prosperity mind you.
It's going to take years, if not decades, to undo that damage.
Over the past two years, the only reason anyone was spending any money at all on anything was there remained a glimmer of hope (because of the measured, prudent, and stabilizing policies of the current administration) that kept us just shy of worldwide catastrophe. If the insanity of the Bush years had continued under McCain, no one would have been able to spend any money on anything at all, and there's a damn good chance that your company might have gone out of business a lot sooner than it did.
I'm sorry for the tough turn things have taken for you, but for anyone to believe that any one man can undo the wholesale worldwide raping and pillaging of the Bush years in so short a time is quite patently absurd.
But all that aside, as a fellow businessman, I sincerely wish the best of luck to you, yours, and whatever your next entrepreneurial venture may be.
No, Barney is ALSO responsible. But to argue that Bush is less so defies the facts, history, and just plain logic.
macro-economic award of the day goes to you!
- you think wrong
I have no response that'll make a dent here because that's the typical mindset of the left.
I hate to say it Lantec...but the economy is going to get a lot worse before it even begins to get any better. And we are NOT in a recession...we ARE in a depression...let's call it what it is. And the ones to blame for this is "everyone." No one is blameless! Bush may be an asshole...but at least he got off his ass and did something...even if it was misguided...and everyone let him. People have become fat and lazy and only concerned about getting rich quick..."It's my money and I want it now!" Throwing money at failed banks is just crazy. Voting for novelty presidents is even crazier! When I hear the reasons why someone votes a president into office it makes my skin crawl...it has nothing to do with the issues and has everything to do with how they dress...who they screwed...how cute is the wife...what dress she's wearing...stupid reasons for voting someone into office...it's just insanity! Going to war with no clear agenda in hand is crazy. Giving billions of dollars to countries to help rebuild them that they just loose is crazy. Continuing a pointless drug war that has surely failed is crazy. Not reining in insurance companies that just rip people off is crazy. The list goes on and on and really the only ones to blame are the people for allowing it to continue. Allowing illegal immigrant to flow over our borders unchecked is crazy. And on and on it goes.
Here's some forgotten words by some great leaders and men that cared that still ring true today. These words should be pinned to everyone's walls so they don't forget.
"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence." ~ Charles A. Beard ~
"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential cause of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars..." ~ Will Durant - (American historian - 1944) ~
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they have resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress." ~ Frederick Douglas ~
"If there be a principle that ought not to be questioned within the United States, it is that every man has a right to abolish an old government and establish a new one. ~ James Madison ~
"There will never be a free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly." ~ Henry David Thoreau ~
No one stands up to fight for these things anymore...they just grumble and go back to their safe little lives. We need a serious revolution in this country if we are going to take it back and get on the right track. We need to get politics out of our lives and bring these politicians back to working for us and not against us. This almost rockstar status they seem to hold is nauseating and it needs to stop. Voting themselves a raise need to stop. How would you like your employees doing that! We need to create an environment in Washington where "they" fear loosing their jobs every day...not us. I know I'm wasting my time saying all thee things because no one cares. But I am absolutely disgusted with the people in this county anymore. I'm sick and tired of hearing how some president fixed this or that when they haven't done shit. The people of this country are the ones that make things happen...not one single man. New laws being written because "one person" has a gripe needs to stop. Old laws that are being ignored need to be enforced! Politicians (civil servants) need to be held accountable to the highest standards and punished under the strictest laws for failing to serve the people. Government incomes need to be held to the same standard of living as the rest of us. When was the last time you got a raise? During the period from 1975 to about 1999 congress got an increase of pay that went from $44,600.00 to $157,105.00!! Has anyone else's income increased that much during that time!? And we work a hell of a lot harder than they do!!! What the hell is wrong with people!?
The National Debt Clock. Watch your kids futures go down the toilet in real time! http://www.usdebtclock.org/ If you listen close you can hear the giant sucking sound!
"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." ~ Thomas Reed - (Speaker of the House of Representatives - 1886) ~
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy ~
"Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed." ~ Charles Colton ~
"I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'; ... Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe -- 'That government is best which governs not at all'; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government they will have." ~ Henry David Thoreau ~
As far as the job market there is absolutely no reason for unemployment! We have a situation right now regarding our future fuel and transportation needs and we have numerous things at our disposal that can and will solve those problems and many more and put people back to work for a very long time. But because of the ignorance of politicians and the apathy of the people it will not get done and just continue to get worse. What's happening right now to our economy has been sanctioned by the people...yet they still do nothing to stop it. We also have a failing infrastructure happening across the country....put people to work fixing it! It's not like we don't have any jobs out there...they just don't want to spend the money to do it. We need to stop this idea that government is going to fix our problems! They caused the problem!!!!! And we helped!!!! Hello!!!! Is anybody home!????
OH! I didn't cause this! I had nothing to do with this! I didn't do a thing! Right...the people didn't do a damn thing to stop this. So....how's that working out for everyone? Hey...I hear cat food is going on sale soon....better stock up!
"Before their thunder roars, there is a period of anticipation, in which more occurs than the literal minded tyrant can ever understand. A few overt acts of sedition shatter the heavy peace. But the greater force, unrecognized, rolls forward in near silence, as millions of individuals quietly withdraw their consent from the state. The pundits call it apathy. They could not be more wrong." ~ Claire Wolfe (101 Things To Do 'Til The Revolution) ~
"Those who seek to be truly free, must abolish any form of government which takes property from one in order to give to another, regardless of reason or rationale. Such a redistribution of wealth is little more than government sanctioned theft. Each man must be free to choose with whom he will share his time, his energy, his friendship, and the fruits of his labor as he sees fit. Government coercion and intervention in these areas is nothing less than tyranny."
"The right of revolution is an inherent one. When people are oppressed by their government, it is a natural right they enjoy to relieve themselves of the oppression, if they are strong enough, whether by withdrawal from it, or by overthrowing it and substituting a government more acceptable." ~ Ulysses S. Grant - "Personal Memoirs" (1885) ~
Viva Le revolution! Hey...the Simpsons are on! The revolution can wait!
Oh...and in the last 19 months I lost my job of 22 years...(working disabled for 3)...due to the economy and that people can't even afford a newspaper anymore.
I think the answer will not be found in either the left or right, Democrate or Republican or Liberal of Conservative form of thinking. At sometime this country is going to have to get back to the premise of 'what's right and good for the country' instead of all the little special interests groups. Unfortunatley that is not going to happen anytime soon.
Exactly!
An interesting read...
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reagan-insider-gop-destroyed-us-economy-2010-08-10
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