WELFARE for the country as a nation, what a concept.....sm
Posted By: Cyndiee on 2009-02-21
In Reply to: Then Obama should be honest and call it welfare. - But, that would make him look bad.nm
a president with who is really fighting to find a way for the suffering folk, those that are down and out, or should we "just let them eat cake," Marie Antoinette? Now there's a leader who used her head, right to the chopping block, and it seems that the corporate raiders who raped this country into this mess were thinking the same thing, "Hey, I got mine!!"
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It is all OUR business because we are putting our country's welfare in this...sm
governor/mother/grandmother's hands.
She will eventually have to face those questions of how she can perform such an important job and tend to the needs of her daughter, her daughter's baby and her own baby.
Not a new concept
all kinds of stuff. Bush was blamed for Katrina (blowing up the levees and then deliberately not sending aid) and 9/11 (it was an inside job, you know - Ask Rosie O'Donnell.) According to a popular conspiracy theory, AIDS was created by the US government in the late 1970s (Carter's watch - go figure) to kill black people. Only fair to *spread the wealth,* so to speak, when blame is assigned and give Obama his share.
Hey wait a minute! Maybe none of these conspiracy theories is true and stuff just happens?
Do you understand the concept of some? SM
Apparently not. Evident on the board....let's see, how about wishing all the Bush family to burn in hell for starters? How about accusing Laura Bush of being drunk when she was driving and her friend was killed? Hummmm....how about saying repeatedly that President Bush planned 9/11 for his own nefarious reasons? And the list goes on. As far as Judge Robert's son, the NYT article was discussed on here and had you read it and the followup, you would know this is being discussed. The word SOME means NOT ALL. Look outside the box.
exercise - what a concept
Put down that liter of diet coke and that supersize bag of Cheetos and meet me at the teeter totter.
Do you understand that concept of
The economy, national security and human rights as promoted in the EU and US are SECULAR concepts. When contemplating international relations, it would be best to keep that in mind.
Clearly, the concept of NWO is not monolithic.
In the brevity of this article, the author cited 5 entirely different models as expressed by HG Wells, the American Presidents/League of Nations (LON), W, conspiracy theorists (CTs) on the blogosphere, and Kissinger. These separate sets of ideas are not interchangeable, nor are the mutually exclusive.
A common feature of Wells (benevolent global social democracy), W (imperial capitalism) and the CTs (a wildly elaborate weave of systemic paranoia and fear-based theories that defy logic or precise definition) is the idea of world domination, while the LON and Kissinger models are grounded in international diplomatic cooperation and, to a large extent, would preserve national sovereignties.
Supporters of the W and CTs models are pathologically phobic vis-a-vis the initiatives and agendas of the Wells, LON and Kissinger models. Resolution of territorial disputes, peace and security, disarmament, basic human dignities, human rights and humanitarian aid, definition, apprehension and prosecution of war crimes, outlawing torture, fighting global hunger, disease, illiteracy, educational and economic parity and such, all WAY too threatening for them.
You and I both know that the fringers, gloom and doom and Armageddon brigades will get themselves all whipped up into a frenzy over this, but apparently Kissinger has mellowed in his old age and is able to recognize a gifted leader with the capacity to renew our aspirations towards such lofty diplomatic goals and get back in touch with our higher purpose.
A NWO is in order. The time is now to make a clean and distinct break with the past. The leader is there and the conditions are ripe for fruition. It will drive the detractors to distraction and despair, but they cannot hold back the hands of time any more than they can stop the evolution of the human race.
Are you familiar with the concept of
For example, African Americans, who are 1 in 13 of our pupulation, comprise every 2 out of 3 death row inmates. Do you honestly think they commit 2 out of every 3 murders punishable by the death penalty?
If a truly a serious discussion is to be had on this topic, the racism practiced in the criminal justice system when it comes to arrest, sentencing, time served, parole and execution rates disparities must be factored into the equation before assuming that the AA population commmits 40% of the nation's crime.
To answer your question, I do believe that Obama will make the greatest strides to date of leveling the playing field in the education, health care and poverty arenas and that it will undoubtedly enable that sector of the population to which you refer to strive to achieve better/higher goals by their own initiatives. He has already had a huge impact there just by virtue of having been elected and in the future, I believe his lead by example approach to this will have an even greater impact. I also think his message of hope rings the loudest where it is needed the most.
Very disturbing concept.
I don't believe it will pass the constitutional smell test, but you're right to be concerned about the potential for abuse - i.e., being used against citizens in the name of "national security". This very possibility is the reason the military services are strictly prohibited from conducting anything but humanitarian operations within the contintental US. It is also one of the reasons we have never had a federal police agency (as opposed to federal investigative and special enforcement agencies).
The record of such paramilitary organizations in other countries is rife with examples of abuse and we should absolutely march in the streets if necessary to prevent such an organization from ever being formed in this country.
Do you have any concept of what abuse of power is?
if you can turn off the hate machine long enough to remember how to do it. It was not Governor Palin's role to interfere in divorce/custody proceedings. Sister Palin could not have done what Governor Palin tried to do. She abuse the power of her office. We have already had 8 years of that kind of malarky. Most of us are not up for another 4. Got it?
What a concept, a politician who come to the Senate.....sm
with tons of experience in screwing people....and is not ashamed to record it!! I say she is uniquely qualified for the politics! IMHO
Agreed. Problem is that concept consistently
nm
The concept is similar to any group plan.
without compromising the care. It is the FEHB (Federal Employees health Benefits) program. It is really good coverage, low deductibles, several choices. Heres the home page website:
http://www.opm.gov/insure/05/index.asp
You seem confused, dear. Militant is a military concept.
As soon as you and your party sports its bigotry and hate toward an entire religious population and their culture, attempt to pass it off as some sort of twisted, chest-beating patriotism, add insult to injury by labeling that patriotism as an universal American value and then proceed to use that to justify defaming a fellow American of such extraordinary class and character, you have earned every single drop of anger that you receive in return.
Wanna know who is truly angry and bitter? That would be those "lower bracket" citizens who have lost their homes, are 3 months behind on their mortgage payments, are unemployed, have been outsourced and sold out by their own government and are not making a living wage in an economy of runaway housing, gas, food, drug and medical costs. They are the ones who will be giving the boot to the party that would expect them to endure 4 more years of being lied to about the obscene, senseless wars they wage, politics of fear, corporate corruption and bankrolling tax cuts to help their struggling rich upper crusts and prop up their their trickle up economic schemes. We are down to counting lame duck days in measures of months, weeks, days, minutes and seconds. We have jumped the Hope Train to a better, brighter future and our destination is just around the bend.
Pathetic is knee-jerk support of a concept
just as long as you think it will serve some sort of political gain. If you can't defend you, your party of its candidate can't explain or defend their viewpoints, how then can they expect to win an election. I'm pathetic because I am calling you and the rest of the posters here to simply explain what it is they are endorsing? NOT.
So souls are inhaled at the hospital? Interesting concept. (sm)
I don't think any of the Jewish people I know believe that but I will ask them.
Whoa, that is actually like a Christmas Present from the IRS, what an unheard of concept!!!....sm
True, you can do it yourself, the IRS just makes so daunting and intimidating with all those forms, and then you worry if you make another mistake, you will get another penalty.....Just those three letters together give most folk the heebie geebies.
Also, taling about not needing a service, most people do not know that you DO NOT need those miriad of services who will "talk down your credit bills" and renegotiate. Especially in these times, banks are very eager to get payment and work with you, most banks have a "hardship" department where you can talk to reps who can negotiate lower settlements, eliminate fees, figure out a very good payment plan without fees, etc. You can do it yourself without paying a debt relief service.
Not only do I have a thicker skin - I also have a FULLY DEVELOPED brain-what a concept!!
I know it's hard a concept for the dems/libs, but Rush says what he means.
He doesn't sugar coat. He's got his problems, but he owns them. He doesn't dance around them, sweep them under the carpet, double talk his way out of it. I mean, we aren't going to wake up tomorrow and find out Rush has been hanging with terrorists, is a closet muslim, or the antichrist.
There's a certain honesty to Rush that some people like and others don't.
No. I love the country side in Alabama...I'm a country girl...nm
I had a friend on Right Nation who went down there. SM
He lives about an hour away. He did not gestimate anywhere even close to that.
A great nation. sm
As an outsider, I could give you another perspective and one not nearly so dire as yours. However, I also realise that my view is slanted as I simply adore this country and Americans in general. In short, given the information at his disposal, George Bush’s decision to oust Saddam looks altogether reasonable--though, again, not necessarily right. To argue otherwise demonstrates both ignorance and bad faith. So what are we to make of the downward spiral of sectarian mayhem that is currently drawing Iraq into the abyss? The violence seems senseless to us . . . but perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps our enemies recognize that the great exploitable weakness of the American military is that, in the wake of Vietnam, the American public’s grasp of geo-politics runs only as deep as the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.” This is a weakness every bit as real, and every bit as deadly, as a missile with a faulty guidance system or a tank that stalls in its tracks--and it will remain a real weakness until the American public is knocked upside the head a sufficient number of times to outgrow it. What the degeneration of the mission in Iraq indicates most profoundly is that one 9/11 was not enough to crack through the platitudes of the late 1960s--which are deeply embedded in the universities, television networks and editorial pages of major newspapers. There remains, in such circles, the delusion that the jihadists are ultimately live and let live types, that totalitarian Islam will eventually just peter out, that the principles of the European Enlightenment will simply dawn on a billion Muslims without us cramming them down their throats.This may in the end prove the deadliest error in geo-political judgment Americans have ever made. Members of the genocidally well-meaning baby-boom generation will likely go to their graves believing they “gave peace a chance,” having spared themselves the anguish of killing hundreds of thousand Muslims . . . and likely bequeathed to their children and grandchildren the anguish of killing scores of millions.
the nation really isn't interested
It's just a device used by the neocons to keep the attention of the stifled. They know that the repressed loonies in the county slobber over anything pertaining to sex. Just look at O'Reilly. Nearly every night he has some story about prostitutes, strip clubs, girls gone wild -- he is complaining how horrible it is, yet they always have tapes behind him of half-naked coeds grinding away. If it is so horrible, must we see the tapes over and over?
We are not a nation of businesses.
nm
I am with you, Shelly. Also, it seems our nation is
nm
I think it's a symbol of what our nation has become
Greed...from the top to the bottom. You couldn't pay me enough to get me to go out on Black Friday.
Obviously we are a divided nation.
Do not see how any of this will work. With no republican vote, that speaks volumes to me. Obviously cannot work together or see eye to eye with the future.
#1, The Nation is extremely partisan. #2.
Tillman didn't talk about why he went into the service to anyone. We will have to assume that what his mother is saying is true. Has the wife spoken out? I would think if he told his deepest heart's secrets, it would be to her. She was his high school sweetheart. Here's a snippet from a Newsweek article.
He joined the service just after a honeymoon to Bora Bora with his high-school sweetheart, Marie. He and a younger brother, Kevin, slipped off to enlist in Denver, where they could avoid publicity. Kevin, who gave up a budding minor-league baseball career, remains in the Army. Pat Tillman wanted no attention, no glory, for joining the rank and file. He didn't want to be singled out from his brothers and sisters in the military, says former Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis. Tillman apparently had made a pact with his family to stay silent about his service, a promise they have kept. They have gathered to grieve inside the comfortable family home in a leafy enclave of San Jose.
His was no simple case of patriotism; Tillman was never known as a flag-waver. His agent, Frank Bauer, told reporters he had suspected that Tillman might quit to teach or to practice law like his father, Patrick Sr., but not to join the military. Snyder, his college coach, said Tillman never used the word patriotism when he explained his plans to enlist. He just seemed to think something had to be done. When players asked why he enlisted, he didn't want to talk about it. McGinnis says there were reasons Pat said he had that he didn't want to divulge, and the coach respected his view and his right to make his own path. Tillman had always been different. When he joined the pros, he rode a bicycle to practice because he didn't own a car. He refused to buy a cell phone. A sports publicist at Arizona State once described him as a surfer dude.
It seems his mother decided the pact no longer had any merit. Personally, I see another Cindy Sheehan, disobeying her son's wishes.
Prayer vigil for our nation
I posted this on the Faith board but I also wanted to post it here just in case...
The North American Mission Board has started a prayer vigil for our nation before the election. If you want to participate there is a sign up and prayer guide at
http://ilivevalues.com/prayer
It's 40 days of prayer and then 40 hours of prayer at the end. Check it out! I think it will really do some good and if God's people work together and call out to Him together to heal our nation, He said He would hear us and do so!
Have a great day!
God Bless!
p.s. this wasn't meant to start a riot or to have a bunch of people who don't believe in prayer or God to get up in arms, it's just for those who would like to participate, so please don't go there. Thanks!
most pedophiles are found in the nation's
(nm)
How many pubs on this forum and in this nation
being a qualified candidate for VP and ready to step into the highest office in the land? This is not just about Palin. This is about a party who expects to be taken seriously in the Congresss, Senate, 2010 and again in 2012. So far, all we have seen these past 2 days is a GOP collective who cannot abandon the witch hunt and mob stalking of Obama long enough to address their own shortcomings.
The presumption on the part of these folks that they should be taken seriously by anyone except themselves in view of the fact that they can turn a blind eye to this kind of basic deficit in their party and the judgment of their leaders is LUDICROUS.
Palin may not be a front burner issue for much longer, but the shambles that is the republican party will be there for a long time....a very long time, if their own members cannot get off their high horses long enough to take a long, hard look at themselves.
If we claim to be a nation of laws, then
we need to BE a nation of laws. JTBB has said it all and said it well.
With our nation in dire straights
knowing that 79% of my compatriots are feeling optimistic about our future with only 14% expressing pessimism. What's up with that?
For me, its about FINALLY having our long-awaited closure and moving forward instead of backward. I'm sure some will say "it's just a poll" but when I see that sea of humanity gathering with excitement, enthusiasm and joy, with smiles all over their faces, DESPITE the precarious state of our nation, I know in my heart it is much, much more.
Those numbers help me keep things in perspective (especially when reading the posts of this forum) and focused on what's really important. I will take great pride in doing my part, to whatever extent possible, in becoming part of the solution, and not the problem.
Obama and the State of our Nation
Obama was VOTED in, not 'given' the job as President...You know, I cannot believe some of the things tht come from the brains and out of the miouths oif some indivuduals. This is indeed a historic moment; that I am in agreement with, and I also agree that 170M for the Inaguration was excessive but I will tell you what I find even more excessive - the lying, stealing criminal former administration who ripped of the American people (regardless of political affilation) and basically thummed their noses at us because they felt and still feel they are above the law. The former president and his administration didn't give a durn about the economy and reputation of this country do you truly believe that they cared whether you, your husbands, sons and other relatives lost their jobs and homes? Do you really think they were concerned about whether YOU have enough to retire on after dutifully putting away funds in your 401k? I don't think so. They gutted us and left us twisting in the wind; and while we worry about how we are going to pay the light bill and have enough to buy grioceries let alone our mortgage - they dine well and live like kings, their families and frineds in their inner circles do not have to concern themselves with such mundane issues...why would they? Their gods are Franklin, Harrison, Grant, et al.WE PAID FOR IT and will be for years to come.
So much for promoting unity in our nation........... sm
While there may have been an UNOFFICIAL white caucus all these years, I believe the key word is "unofficial." Were blacks denied membership into this caucus based solely on the color of their skin? I rather doubt it, but I am certain that the black population would probably say they were.
I am all for equal opportunities when it comes to education, housing, jobs, etc., for all people regardless of skin color. However, forming special interest groups does nothing to promote equality. Rather it only promotes the reverse racism and devisiveness we are seeing here and will continue to see in the future.
Godless nation....hmmm...(sm)
Now that would be an improvement. This country was not founded on christianity or any other relgion. I agree that Obama was downplaying religion, but I also believe that that is exactly what he needed to do. Bush turned this whole mess into a big "us against them" mentality...."us" meaning christians. I believe Obama had to negate this idea by downplaying religion, thus deflating the whole notion that we are in a religious war (which is exactly what Bush wanted and subsequently turned it into.)
What I find really interesting is the idea that you insinuate that we MUST be identified as a nation by a specific religion. Since we are talking about this in the context of politics, exactly why is it you feel we MUST be seen by the world as a "god-fearing" nation? What would be the benefits of that?
If you are talking about the Obama Nation post...
it was written by a black pastor and it is his opinion. He was not hired by nor affiliated with the McCain campaign. There are several black preachers who do not agree with black liberation theology. There was nothing in his post about hatred. He said homosexuality was a sin..it is. He didn't say he hated gays...just that the Bible says the ACT is a sin..and it is. Just like lying, adultery, murder, etc. It does have the distinction of being the one sin that God classified as an "abomination." All the preacher was pointing out was that when Obama said there was nothing specific in the Bible regarding homosexuality...he was wrong. Again...there is no hatred in that post. He just doesn't agree with Obama's philosophy. Where you get hate from that I don't know....did you even read the post?
And by the way....sniping and cattiness must be your strong suit? You seem to excel in that area. Can you just drop the cattiness and sniping (as you asked that I do) and go figure, as you told me to do? Thank you so very much.
Our party's not the 1 who brought nation to its knees.
nm
haha - like half the nation is planning on doing!
;)
Don't you wish that me and half the nation which shares this view
x
American undeveloped nation by 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqW1-aA5aMg
Yes killing this country - have you been out of the country the last 3 months or so
Don't you have a clue as to what is happening in America? Where have you been? Don't you listen to what is happening or are you still drinking the kool-aid. That time is over. Put the aid down and wake up. The country is being destroyed. These have been the worst 4 months in the history of bad presidents. Foreclosures are on the rise, unemployment is on the rise, 3+ trillion more in deficit and on the rise, companies shutting down, Clinton for SoS. Napolitano - one of the biggest tragedies to happen to America. The list goes on and on and on and on.
Dubya is not in office anymore. You think dubya "pulled the trigger", well the O keeps reloading it and continues to pull the trigger.
Bush Breaks Nation's Promise to Veterans
This isn’t new (it’s from May), but it’s the first I saw it. I found it interesting but not surprising. Our Veterans deserve much better.
The source is: http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.aspx?c=klLWJcP7H&b=727693&printmode=1
VETERANS
Bush Breaks Nation's Promise to Veterans
Appearing yesterday at the Arlington National Cemetery to honor generations of sacrifices by American servicemen and women, President Bush said, "At our national cemetery, we take comfort from knowing that the men and women who are serving freedom's cause understand their purpose and its price." Yet the reality has been that the administration that most recently has sent those men and women to fight for freedom's cause has failed for live up to government's age-old promise to "care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan."
BUSH'S 2006 VA BUDGET HITS VETERANS HARD: President Bush's 2006 budget proposal included legislation that would raise veterans' premiums more than 100 percent on prescription drugs and add an annual $250 enrollment fee for veterans who want care for conditions not directly caused by military service and who generally earn more than $25,000 a year. The administration has recommended these same proposals in each of the past few years, only to have them beaten back by Congress each time. The user fee would increase costs for nearly 2 million veterans nationwide.
WAR VETERANS EXCLUDED FROM COST OF WAR ON TERROR: Conservatives in Congress rebuffed an effort to include $2 billion in emergency money for veterans' health care in the recently passed $82 billion Iraq war supplemental. The president's request increased the VA budget a mere 2.7 percent (including the increased co-pays and enrollment fees), hardly sufficient to deal with an expected influx of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans in the coming years. Nearly 28,000 soldiers who served in Iraq and were discharged have already sought care at a VA facility. Of the nearly 245,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan already discharged from service, 12,422 have been in VA counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson has said the budget circumstances are not "dire," yet Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Larry Craig (R-ID) was forced to increase the 2006 budget request by $1 billion. Dave Autry, a spokesman for the Disabled American Veterans, said, "Vets are owed a debt and the government has said they are eligible for health care. The government needs to pay for it. It's a continuing cost of our national defense."
BUSH WANTS TO SHUT DOWN VETERANS HOSPITAL IN HIS OWN BACKYARD: Veterans in Bush's backyard, near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, are protesting his administration's decision to close a VA hospital in their town. "It would be, in my opinion, a tragic mistake to shut down our hospital, especially during a time of war when tomorrow's veterans are in harm's way today," said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Waco). In May 2004, then-VA Secretary Anthony Principi announced he would be closing three veterans hospitals nationwide and partially closing eight others. For his work, Principi was rewarded with an appointment to the chairmanship of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission.
VETERANS GROUPS SLAM BUSH BUDGET: More than 300,000 veterans' claims are pending before the VA, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and the number of claims pending for more than six months rose from 47,000 in 2003 to 75,000 at the end of March 2005. The deteriorating condition of VA health care has elicited plenty of criticism. The American Legion called Bush's budget " the wrong message at the wrong time to the wrong constituency." The Vietnam Veterans of America said the budget did a "disservice to those of us who donned the uniform to defend the rights, principles, and freedoms that we hold dear." And the Veterans of Foreign Wars decried Bush's decision as "especially shameful during a time of war."
No problem, sugar. Vote him into office. I'm sure the nation will
I highly doubt this man will make any difference. He's certainly eloquent and able to hypnotize the masses with his line of BS though. If only words solved problems.
An earlier poster stated that about 76% of this nation is Christian
This, proportionately, means that 76% of what you see, read, watch, or are "bombarded with" is at least 76% done by Christians (feel free to make the Jew media comment, but they get their Commandments in the same place you do).
Therefore, it can be taken away that there are Christians who do not believe the same thing you do. Do you want to silence them, too?
If this nation is to survive, it is no longer US VERSUS THEM, we have to find a way to .....sm
stand united, and when our representatives are proposing or propositioning or supporing something that is NOT supported by the PEOPLE, their constituents, then we have to make calls, write letters, fax, vote, ect. I believe this two party system is doomed and that it is antiquated, there is such an ideological wall between the two parties that nothing will get done with all the finger pointing, blaming, etc. The American people are wise enough to know what is good for them, what works for them (and I mean a majority of us, not "chosen few" of Wall Street, lobbyists, oil interests, etc)., the representatives have to come back to the people. So sick of the blame game and insults, if we love this country and "the American way of life" we had all better band together, work together, LISTEN to each other's fears and needs, and concentrate on now and THE FUTURE, the long-haul. Just my humble opinion, this is all getting old and tired, and such a waste of time and energy. Instead of insulting on this board, perhaps we can spend time getting in touch with our representatives' offices, and perhaps getting a broader base of support for the Independent Party (isn't independce what we are all about?) IMHO
The Great Recession. American a thrift nation.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891527,00.html?cnn=yes
Sometimes we change because we want to: lose weight, go vegan, find God, get sober. But sometimes we change because we have no choice, and since this violates our manifest destiny to do as we please, it may take a while before we notice that those are often the changes we need to make most. We ran a good long road test of the premise that more is better: we built houses that could hold all our stuff but were too big to heat; we bought cars that could ferry a soccer team but were too big to park; we thought we were embracing the simple life by squeezing in a yoga class between working and shopping and took an extra job to pay for it all.
Now we're stripping down and starting over. A platoon of TIME reporters and pollsters fanned out to every corner of the country to measure — anecdotally and empirically — what's changed in the way we set our priorities and spend our money since the Great Recession began. Most people think the pain will be lasting and the effects permanent: only 12% expect economic recovery to begin within six months, half believe it will be another year or two, and 14% believe we are at the start of a long-term decline. (See TIME's special report on how Americans have adjusted to the recession.)
Our institutions watch for economic vital signs. But maybe, for individuals, the sickness is what came before — the hallucination that debt would never need to be repaid, that values only rise, that bubbles never burst. When the markets collapsed, that fever broke. In our assumptions and attitudes and expectations, the recovery is already well under way.
Talk to people not just about how they feel but about how they're living now, and you hear more resolve than regret. Nearly half say their economic status declined this year, and 57% now think the American Dream is harder to achieve. And yet pain and promise are a package deal; even after all this, fully 56% believe that America's best days are ahead. It would be nice if it took something short of a heart attack to get us to work out, eat better and spend more time with our kids. But in the end, where we wind up matters more than how we got there.
Unlike any other downturn since the 1930s, this one has affected everyone, either the fact of it or the fear of it. Even when prosperity returns, 61% predict, they'll continue to spend less than they did before. Among people earning less than $50,000 a year — roughly half of U.S. households — 34% have not gone to the doctor because of the cost, 31% have been out of work at some point, and 13% have been hungry. At the same time, 4 in 10 people earning more than $100,000 say they are buying more store brands, 36% are using coupons more, and 39% have postponed or canceled a vacation to save money. Forty percent of people at all income levels say they feel anxious, 32% have trouble sleeping, and 20% are depressed. After a season of big news, of war and storms and swindlers, pirates and poison peanut butter, 43% are watching the news even more, taking the medicine even if it tastes bad because skipping it could be risky. (See the worst business deals of 2008.)
The calculus of life suddenly offers new equations. Insurance agents see clients raising their deductibles to lower premiums, or skipping collision coverage for older cars so that they bear more of the risks themselves. Twenty-seven percent have raided their retirement or college savings to pay the bills. Violent crime may not be up, but fear of it is: 40% of people say that since the downturn began, they are more worried about their personal safety. Gun sales at large retail stores have jumped 39% this year, according to the SportsOneSource, a research firm that tracks the sporting-goods industry, and shops are reporting ammunition shortages; they can't keep up with demand.
For all the reflexive analogies, this is not the 1930s, when Babe Ruth took a $10,000 salary cut (roughly what A-Rod earns per swing) and New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker told theaters to show only cheery films. And yet we're channeling our grandparents, who were taught, like a mantra, to use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without. Now, if you can make it, you don't have to buy it: just replace the lawn with a vegetable garden, eat your fill and then store whatever is left. Sales of canning and freezing supplies rose 15% during the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year. Cough- and cold-remedy sales are down 9% because you can make your own chicken soup; vitamin sales are up, maybe because you hope you won't need to. Common sense is back in style, meaning we're less willing to buy what we can have for free: bottled-water sales have dropped 10%. The 137-year-old Los Angeles public library system set record highs in circulation and visitors. And film and camera sales have plunged 33% this year, because who would want this winter in their album?
There's a natural longing to find the upside in the downturn. A college-admissions officer, watching families reassess their means and ends, suggests that maybe the insane competitiveness will recede. The yoga instructor says living more simply relaxes us, as if the entire country needs to slow its breathing. The buyer at the used-car lot feels both frugal and green: that hatchback isn't used, it's "pre-owned," and this counts as recycling. The discount shoppers view their task as a scavenger hunt and take a certain pride in finding the bargain, cutting the deal; 23% of us are haggling more, a profitable contact sport.
No one wishes for hardship. But as we pick through the economic rubble, we may find that our riches have buried our treasures. Money does not buy happiness; Scripture asserts this, research confirms it. Once you reach the median level of income, roughly $50,000 a year, wealth and contentment go their separate ways, and studies find that a millionaire is no more likely to be happy than someone earning one-twentieth as much. Now a third of people polled say they are spending more time with family and friends, and nearly four times as many people say their relations with their kids have gotten better during this crisis than say they have gotten worse.
A consumer culture invites us to want more than we can ever have; a culture of thrift invites us to be grateful for whatever we can get. So we pass the time by tending our gardens and patching our safety nets and debating whether, years from now, this season will be remembered for what we lost, or all that we found.
MT on welfare.
I took my first MT job in 1974 when we were still respected hospital employees with benefits. In 1976 I had my first child and in 1980 I became a singe parent. Between 1974 and 1992, I worked between 40 and 50 hours every single week of my life, worked all holidays because I needed the extra pay and had an interval between 1986 and 1993 where I did not take one single vacation day because I bought a home to get my son away from the gang problems that became concentrated in apartment complexes. During those years, I developed hypertension at age 34 and progressive, unrelenting back pain in 1987. With the help of ibuprofen and regular exercise, I worked through it and never skipped a beat. For those who may not remember, 1986 was when outsourcing happened and in the years to follow, not one single start-up MTSO offered medical benefits.
In 1992 I began to develop significant insomnia due to the chronic pain. One morning, after tossing and turning through the night, I got out of bed and found myself unable to stand erect because of the pain. For the next week or so, I had to crawl around on my hands and knees and was unable to work. I got behind in my bills, depressed and was utterly exhausted. I had a physical and "nervous" breakdown that landed me in a psychiatric facility where I received much needed rest and treatment. I couldn't afford to pay that bill.
I lost my car, my job and my house. My son had to go to live with his father since I could not feed him and at age 40 I had to move back in with my aging mother. I tried to apply for social security disability just long enough to get job retraining and get back on my feet again. I was denied those benefits. I applied for unemployment and food stamps and entered the county medical health care system. I was not able to achieve rehabilitation and recovery sufficient to enable me to return to transcription. I ended up out of work for 7 years while I figured out my own rehabilitation and lived with my elderly mother who could not really afford to support the extra expense of feeding me on a fixed social security/retirement income. My unemployment benefits ran out, but I stayed on food stamps for 3 of those years for her sake until I returned to school on a student loan and later on scholarship. When mhy mother's health deteriorated, I became her terminal care attendant and had to leave school.
I am no slacker. It took me 7 years to recover from the disability I sustained from medical transcription and single parenthood. When I was able to return to work, I did. I still transcribe and at age 59, have developed the same back problems I had that disabled me in 1993. I am simply trying to scratch my way to retirement, which probable will commence for me one I drop dead in front of the computer. I would not wish this fate on anyone, but if any of you, your family or your friends ever do encounter such circumstances for whatever reason, (i.e., death of a spouse, for example) and need assistance, you will come to understand the importance of welfare and will never view it with the cold-blooded, icy, self-righteous indignation that some on this board have expressed.
Before you come back with "that's the exception, not the rule," don't bother. I saw plenty of others in my situation along the way, especially during the 6-8 hours I spent in the waiting rooms at the county hospital before MD appointments. I am no better and no worse than any of them. Same human beings, facing the same struggles, each with their own special needs going unaddressed for the most part. Poverty is a cycle that is destructive, not only to the welfare recipients and their families, but to the society at large. Outrage is not going to solve it. Insight will.
Afer 8 years of W, nation deserves good chuckle.
the dems know how to throw a helluva party. You're invited, so come on down.
You lefties are so naive. Obama has plans for worse for our nation.
Oh, you mean as opposed to bigger tax cuts for the upper 1/3 of the nation? Really, still waiting f
nm
Counterinsurgents thrust nation into full blown depression.
How is that possible? Looks like we still have quite a ways to go before we hit the Rovian rock bottom.
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