no numbers, ideas, detail or plan......
Posted By: Duchess Bridger on 2009-03-26
In Reply to:
DailyKosTV has great video from the big announcement of the GOP budget today. The big news is that there really is no GOP budget. No numbers, no ideas, no details, no plan. They are the party of "NO" -- No future:
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
The racist detail is only one...a chimpanzee...
You may want to find a book/article about racism and how monkeys and chimps were used to make racial epithets/slurs. To me, this cartoon doesn't show anything but racism. If this Sean guy was drawing a cartoon about Nancy Pelosi, he would not have drawn a chimp...plain and simple.
Please describe in detail the racist nature of
the cartoon....if you can.
E-mail, memos detail Katrina’s political storm
see link
best ideas
Hey, i get some of my best ideas when I am "smoked into a frenzy." Sounds like fun.
Your ideas
Any idea for change is better than what we have now. I think your idea for registration is a good one. Most people have a a birth certificate, driver's license and social security card. If, as you said, registration was done at a central place and all 3 documents had to be presented it would do away with voter registration fraud. Going back to paper ballots might not be a bad idea too.
No, because they don't have any ideas. Just want to
It is sad that grown, supposedly adults, just want to come here and slam any and all suggestions.
I guess they wish for another 8 years of the downward spiral that Bush led is into.
It is very easy to point out others' faults and issue warning Subject line zingers, but not one person who has done this has come up with a viable alternative.
We'd have to ban you, too. Or are any ideas
Get a grip and go back and learn what this country was founded on. You obviously have ZERO idea.
prehistoric ideas
What, dear neocon, was wrong in my statement? Not a thing..but, of course, you and your attack dogs have a certain way of disputing reality and truth, you say the same thing over and over and over and over and then attack the poster/author/lecturer, instead of dealing with the facts. Nothing in my post was wrong, nothing. I think you need to go back to the prehistoric age, where your ideas and beliefs are still stuck. Nothing in this country has ever gotten done due to staying the same and being afraid to move on and progress. Everything has gotten done in the country by progressives, people who realize with life and time, you must move on and change with the times and rethink things and adjust to the reality of the day and time. Hey..what..hmm..oh, I think your dinosaur is growling for you, better go get him and ride back to prehistoric times..bye..bye.., sweetie..
You were not being attacked, you ideas are
You don't debate, you scream and holler and fling insults and names.
Where are you getting these erroneous ideas?
Especially about the taxation? Obama's tax plan is going to be of bigger benefit to me and everyone I know than McCain's ever could be.
!["](http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n197/dignifiedyucca/baracktax.gif")
Decisions vs ideas.
nm
Even the worst of ideas
and plans that don't and won't work can be presented eloquently and there certainly will be people dumb enough to believe that those ideas and plan will actually work. This is all a bunch of fluff to get elected. Obama does give hope....it is called FALSE HOPE!
NOBAMA!!!!
Good ideas, especially #2.
The "parties" are the problems. I would also see that spending billions on crappy TV ads by the candidates wasn't done. Instead of the ridiculous debates, how about FREE TV time where ALL qualified candidates could stand before the PEOPLE and present their agenda for change in words of 1 syllable so the PEOPLE would know where they stood. No canned and doctored "questions."
I would have a weekly address to the PEOPLE and the Speaker of the House and what's the head of the Senate called, forget right now, would stand beside me and give account TO THE PEOPLE of what they had accomplished during the week.
Here's my not so genius ideas...LOL
First of all (even though I do believe in unions) the auto unions needs to work with them on this one. They can't afford to re-tool and pay high wages at the same time. At least some people who would be laid off during this time of transition could find jobs in the transition process itself. They need to simply quit producing and selling SUVs and gas guzzlers to the general public. They would have to continue to make available some things like trucks for businesses. Start making electric cars for general consumption as well as fuel efficient cars. Lower the price of cars as much as possible to undercut imports or, like you said, just stop importing them. Then we can start on the Pickens plan of using natural gas for larger vehicles.
I'm sure Obama will be calling soon for my adivse. 
You do have some good ideas
Although reading I'm thinking isn't this a little drastic? :-), but I do see your point and agree with you. This is what I would do...my brainstorming and I think it is reasonable (well maybe just some of it is reasonable)
1. Cut all politicians salaries by 25%.
2. Cut sports players and hollywood people in movies/shows by 25%.
3. All the weathiest people, lets say those who have income of half a million or more tax them at a rate of say 40% (sort of like when Bill Clinton was president but instead of taxing the middle income that outrageous tax he did, we would tax the wealthiest instead).
4. All CEO/execs of companies get a 25% salary cut.
5. Any company that is found spending bail out money on lavish parties, spas, etc, a return of the money immediatly, the company dismantled and the execs thrown in jail.
On a personal level (people like you and me). Every one should have some type of garden to be able to grow food. Our founding fathers were farmers. Why? They had to eat. Take some of the dependence off the stores (only for stuff you really can't grow or make).
Get rid of Apple computer and downsize Microsoft. Do we really need IPods and IPhones. I have a portable CD player (I bought 6 years ago) with earphones and I can hear my music just fine with that. This downloading music or whatever is just a big gimmick. I also have a cell phone I bought at radioshack and I can talk to people just fine on that. What's up with "texting". If I want to text I come home and use the computer.
Get rid of a lot of autos. Half of them are not being bought. Horse and buggy worked very well in the past and could work again too. But if you don't do that, then anyone driving around with their music playing so loud it rattles the dishes inside of the house as it passes - those people should be fined big time!
Better yet instead of cutting politician salaries by 25% do away with them. Have a representive from your own state but get rid of the whole DC congress thing. Politicians should also only be allowed one term. No 2, 3, 4 or 5 year terms. If the politicians don't work for the people they need to be fired. No more career politicians.
Every person in America should know how to feed, cloth, and protect themselves without dependence on others, and any body caught breaking into someones home should be shot on the spot - no trial. They were breaking in with the intent to steal and possibly injure or kill whowever lives there so the criminal can take what is not his/hers. Take them around the back of a building and immediately put down like the animals they are. Think of all the money we'd save not having to feed and clothe them.
Get rid of some of the TV stations. Do we really need over 400 channels of TV programs? And most of the time I still can't find anything decent to watch. I grew up in the 1960s (when TV's had tubes in the back - to this day whenever something happens to our TV I will still say, maybe there is a bad tube :-) ) But I grew up on 12 channels (except we didn't get channel 8 or 11) and I always found something entertaining to watch and when there wasn't something to watch mom taught us quilting, sewing, canning, knitting or we played a good ol fashion board game of monopoly.
I think there is too much stuff in this world people do not need.
As for taxes...we should pay, but there should be a list available of who is getting what taxes, and like when I give to charity I give to what charity I want to give to and therefore I should be able to decide which organization I want my taxes to go to. And taxes should be a flat rate. That way people who make 20,000 pay the same percentage as people who make 120,000. Unlike people like John and Teresa Kerry who paid only 6% in taxes a few years back while I paid 27%.
As for all that's going on in the country. It is very sad and depressing, but in 4 years none of us are going to care if the Mayan calendar is correct.
Discussing ideas is antagonistic?
I, personally, have been very respectful. If discussing ideas and having a dialogue with someone is antagonistic to you then I'm afraid you're in for a very difficult road in life.
His website states his ideas and how he
I was undecided until McCain picked Palin. C'mon people - she was the mayor of a town with 9,000 people. God forbid if something should happen to McCain - would you want her to step in. It's Obama for me - I've always liked Joe Biden - he doesn't think he's above everyone else and even commutes to and from work like us "normal" folk.
I have some ideas about auto bailout
Let the oil companies bail them out since they directly benefited from some of the bad management decisions.
Don't bail out the companies. Give the money to the workers for re-education, etc., while the auto companies restructure.
My first suggestion was a little cynical, but I'm not sure why the second hasn't occurred to anyone. ...
not questioning your ideas or beliefs -
I am just wondering how is that? Are you and your husband both American? I am just being nosy and I guess you don't have to answer me if you don't want to... just curious how that happened or how it works and if it was something you chose.
Please share your ideas for economic
What do you think would be the best course of action?
Here, some party sign ideas
Tea Party Sign Ideas
* We The People ARE FED UP
* Cap and Trade = Broke and Poor
* I would rather live under a bridge than live under socialism
* One Bad Ass Mistake America
* Revolution! Nuff said
* The sleeping giant is now awake
* Is this what you voted for?
* Government is Broken
* FAIR TAX
* RIP America
* I’m sorry I didn’t do more to stop the madness
* Tea is only the beginning
* Do you know what happened after 1773? We Do
* We don’t want pork, We Want Liberty
* Special Interests Get the Pork, We Get the Beans.
* Pay for Your OWN Mortgage
* Free Markets, Not Free Loaders
* No Public Money for Private Failure
* Reward Responsibility, Not Irresponsibility
* Andrew Jackson was Right: No to Bank Nationalization
* Cut Taxes, Not Deals
* Next Time, Read the Bill Before You Sign It
* You Can’t Borrow to Prosperity
* Don’t Mortgage the Future
* Solve Problems, Don’t Sweep Them Under the Table
* 220 Years to Build the Republic, 1 Month to Destroy It
* Obama has a Crisis of Competence
* Why Should I Pay for YOUR Bad Decisions
* Restore the Republic, Revolt Against Socialism
* Sleep? I’ll Sleep When Conservatives Run Congress
* Netizen Warriors, Not Dependent Whiners
* READ THE BILL NEXT TIME
* No Taxation Without Deliberation
* No Taxation Without Deliberative Representation
* No Spending Without Deliberation
* No Spending Without Deliberative Representation
* Join Our Cause: Restore the Republic
* We Don’t Want No Stinkin Socialism !
* The Very Small List: Things Government Does Well
* REPEAL THE PORK
* REPEAL THE BAILOUT CONGRESS
* We the People…are now owned by the Chinese.
* Atlas will shrug
* Stimulate business, not government
* Honk if I’m paying your mortgage
* You can’t borrow prosperity
* Home ownership is not an entitlement
* I’ll pay for my house, you pay for yours
* Party like it’s 1773
* Proud American capitalist
* Repeal the pork or your bacon is cooked
* Your mortgage is not my problem
* No taxation without deliberation
* Give me liberty or give me debt!
* You can’t spend your way out of debt
* Wake up America, stop the insanity!
* R.I.P. Free market economy
* Save trees, stop printing money
* Don’t tread on me (Gadsden flag or First Navy Jack)
* I want your money (recruiting picture of Uncle Sam)
* Wall Street got a bailout and all I got was the bill
* TARP = $750 Billion
o Stimulus = $870 Billion
o 2009 Deficit = $1.75 Trillion
o U.S. Dollar = WORTHLESS!!
* Just Say No (word “Socialism” with circle and slash)
* Liberty is all the stimulus we need
Quotes:
* “Man is not free unless the government is limited.” Ronald Reagan
* “The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” Vladmir Lenin
* “Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.” Ambrose Bierce
* “It takes as much imagination to create debt as to create income.” Leonard Orr
* “Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.” Wendell Phillips
The numbers
If there's one thing that surprises me about the ratio, it's that I truly believe it's a much higher number of soldiers that suffers from PTSD. I believe this is a disease that doesn't show itself immediately, so my bet would be that these numbers will rise dramatically, assuming the entire truth is shared with us by the government, once this is all said and done.
ISP numbers
The administrator of this site has her pets (some of the Conservatives on the Politics board, for example), no doubt about that, and has done some bizarre things with people's posts and ISP numbers. Just check page 3 on the Company board under the thread dated 8/18 transcend job - looking for work and see the administrator's defense of this company. I thought it was bizarre, and she was even questioned as to her connection with this particular company, which she didn't answer, and instead responded indicating that she had tracked ISP numbers of some posters and made some sort of accusation that I didn't understand, but I think it had to do with one poster using more than one moniker. I can't find where she has jumped to the defense of any other company. It did seem to stop people from posting about the company, though, which I assume was her intent. I mean, who can feel free to post anything about a company, especially if they are still employed there, if they are afraid their ISP will be tracked if the administrator doesn't agree with the person's opinion of the company?
Just be careful what you post on these boards. Big Sister is definitely watching and is taking down numbers.
Having said that, wouldn't surprise me if my ISP is tracked and compared now. Probably just time to leave this site altogether and find one I can trust. It's just not worth it any more.
Nine numbers.
1. 1,841 soldiers killed in Iraq as of August 12, 2005.
2. $300 billion spent on the Iraq war as of August 12, 2005.
3. 0 - number of WMD found in Iraq.
4. 4 - the multiple by which North Korea has increased its nuclear weapons arsenal while George Bush led us into Iraq.
5. $236 billion - the surplus Bill Clinton left George Bush.
6. $333 billion - the current deficit under G.B.
7. 1 in 5 - the number of American children below the poverty line - an increase of 13% since Bush took office.
8. 5 million - the number of people who have lost their health insurance since Bush took office.
9. 0 - the number of mistakes Bush admits to making during his first term.
And the scandals...Supreme Court right off the bat, corporation scandals, Enron et. al. , Iraq lies and stupidity, hurricane scandal, Michael Brown, Chertoff, Delay, Frist, Scooter, homeland security debacle...it just goes on and on and on. I really think that finally the jig is up for Bush et al. Some pretty well respected tenured people in his own party have had about enough and are becoming vocal about it...Thank God.
Numbers do not mean a whole lot...
when you consider that SIX of them took out THREE THOUSAND of our people. And it would only take a handful of them with dirty suitcase bombs to do unmeasured damage to this country. Not to mention a handful with bombs strapped on them in malls across this country. Teddy, friend, you better WAKE up. And don't think for a minute that the so-called peace-loving Muslims in the world won't jump on the bandwagon when the tide turns in their direction. If they are so peace loving, why are they not standing on rooftops and denouncing what is being done in the name of their peace-loving religion? Put their money where their mouth is so to speak. Curiously silent are they. That should speak volumes to you. Look at Iran...there are a lot of people there who might want a different life, but they are not willing to buck those in power to get it. And neither are any of the other millions of peace loving Muslims around the world, or they would be taking care of this problem in their ranks THEMSELVES. How do you rationalize that??
The numbers in the name actually
Refer to numerology, not the number of letters in the name. This works as follows.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
a b c d e f g h I
j k l m n o p q r
s t u v w x y z
So Barack Hussein Obama would be 2+1+9+1+3+2+8+3+1+1+5+9+5+6+2+1+4+1
This comes to 64. When you have a 2 digit number, you add those together. So Obama, a 64, reduces to 10, which reduces to a 1. That's the name.
You have a different # for the date of birth, which is the life path. You add the day, month and year (all digits) and reduce the same as above. The numbers you don't reduce are 11 and 22. Those are master numbers and stand alone.
You can also do this for every day of the week, month, year, etc.
So, I have trouble understanding abstract ideas AND
I have no sense of humor. Anybody else?
sorry, it was ''the erroneous ideas'' post.
The link is in the above post, though. Look down toward the bottom, where it says LINK/URL.
Comesin handy when you are fresh out of ideas
su
Now these are numbers you don't hear about.
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.
Not emails. ISP numbers.
Last week on the company board, someone asked about a certain company. I worked for this company. I responded to the post as honestly as I could.
My post was responded to by the administrator who defended the company and suggested that all the problems were caused by my sound card and not the terrible platform that this company has. (It's a company-wide issue, and this problem is experienced by most employees.)
Someone else responded, confirming what I said to be true and wondering what the administrator's connection to this company was. This was never answered by the administrator.
The administrator instead responded to her OWN post (subsequently disputed by another poster) as I have copied and pasted below.
This made me wonder what motivated this administrator to go through the trouble of tracking ISP numbers of posters. She must have some sort of personal connection to it, so other posters posting about other companies MIGHT be safe, but who knows? Obviously, if someone is unhappy at this particular company and posts her experiences on the board, only to have the administrator track her ISP number, that causes concern as to whether the administrator is sharing these ISP numbers with this company. For that reason, I don't trust this site or the administrator any more, and I'm searching for another, more ethical site to frequent. It's one thing to come to a political board and express your opinion. It's quite another to do it on the company board where people's jobs could be in jeopardy for speaking the truth.
Ok, what I see are the same IP ranges for some of these posts where sound quality is
[Post a Reply] [View Follow Ups] [Company Board]
Posted By: Administrator (sm) on 2005-08-19
In Reply to: Are you sure the sound quality was the platform and not your sound card? Also, I don't know of ma - Administrator nm
concerned. The same poster claimed that the services VR was released too soon, yet another poster says they are making good money. Someone isn't being fair and it's the person posting the same thing more than once.
The rest of the numbers. TI
This is reality in Israel: From 29 September 2000 through 11 January 2003:
5,041 injured, 717 killed, 15,992 attacks
IDF Spokesperson 12 January 2003
Injured: 3,585 Civilians + 1,456 Security Forces = 5,041 Total Israeli Injured
Killed: 503 Civilians + 214 Security Forces = 717 Total Israeli Killed
Total Attacks*: 7,139 West Bank + 8,203 Gaza Strip + 650 Home Front =15,992 Total
* Does not include attacks with rocks or fire bombs.
This is a death toll greater (in proportion) than America suffered on 9/11 and the American people would never tolerate this! So why should Israel have to endure this year after year while the world does nothing? The same people that hate Israel are the same people that hate America!
I see these numbers are through 2003...sm
Had the conflict calmed down from 2003 - 2006?
Also, mind you, the death and injury toll I posted above is from this latest one month conflict alone.
Whose numbers? Limbaugh's
Proof please. He's still #1 on the talk radio circuit. If he loses a few thousands here and there it's hardly a drop in the bucket. Liberal shows can hardly keep their power on. There's really not an argument there. The proof is in black and white.
Exactly - verifiable numbers
are presented. I can get past whether SP is her friend or her mortal enemy. Give me the meat, I'll go from there.
Maybe she should give someone else the numbers
xyz
Unemployment numbers
The unemployment numbers came out at over 6%, but the number of people working part-time who would prefer full-time would actually be 1 in 10, leading to around 11%. 10 million people are unemployed right now in US. That is a lot of people needing help and it looks like a lot more are going to need help.
Except for your numbers don't account for everything
Do you have any idea how many people, especially minorities in Georgia work "under the table"?
And obviously if an African American is employed and a white is not, then the African American makes more.
Don't even get me started on welfare and how minorities get first dibs on that too.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: It was never about equality, it was about payback. Minorities have more opportunities than ever and more help than ever, while lower and middle class white people are just SOL. They can't get food stamps, they can't get scholarships, they can't get any kind of help the way minorities can.
Any ideas on how paying down too much debt could be a terrorist threat?nm
These numbers are taken out of context and distorted
Don't believe everything you read, especially from anti-American organizations like this that you cite.
I don't think you will get it...Re-read the numbers I posted...nm
Those numbers are GROSSLY exaggerated. sm
By most counts, even CNN, maybe 100,000. Funny, but two weeks ago, there was a prolife march in Washington with over 100,000. I never saw anything about that on the news. Tell me again they are not liberal.
Some grossly minimized the numbers sm
I think the DC Big Brother cams in Washington counted 125,000. Count inside the Mall was 300,000. I do not what figure is accurate, but from pictures I saw the Mall was filled. There was a lot of people there.
The media are corporate and work for the state, not the people. The American people are seriously uninformed and misinformed because of it. This is why we are called The Sleeping Giant in other countries.
I think you're numbers are wrong. The top 5% of
the U.S. makes millions and billions. $200,000 is NOT the 'top 5%' of the country. It's definitely more than a single, head-of-household MT makes, but depending on where you live, it won't put you in that mansion on the hill, either.
When he talks about raising taxes on the top 5%, he's not talking about YOU. He's talking about people like Bill Gates. He's talking about huge corporations (like the oil industry, tobacco industry, HMO & insurance industries, etc.) that rake it in, and then have a jillion and a half loopholes and secret cubbyholes to stash it in.
Then give me the numbers and let me compare them....
simple enough request.
You only seem to understand numbers on paper,
live in the real world? Don't you see, hear and read about this and other issues every single day?
What would be the point in producing a numbers, especially to you? Numbers can be tweeked and skewed to produce whatever result you want them to. (Not unlike the words in the Bible, or the Quran, for that matter).
You know EXACTLY what I and others on this board are talking about when we present our views on the issues, and your constant response, 'Show me the numbers', has gotten a little too repetitive to have much in the way of value.
Denial won't turn those numbers around.
I wouldn't expect too much out of the debate tomorrow either, especially McC caves and makes good on his threat to talk about Ayers. Can you say plunging numbers?
If your not hung up on numbers then don't post about it.
I'm not defending Bush, I'm just getting tired of the Bush bashing. I addressed that below too.
I didn't say you thought Bush was cute or funny, I said you think your comments are cute and funny (they are not).
Bush IS an embarrassment. I will be glad he is not the president anymore. I'm just tired of the Bush bashing and comments made about his IQ (which you did). We get it already, you don't like him. Not sure many do, but enough is enough.
Yes, it's been a hard 8 years. The fact is its been a hard 16 years. Clinton was no better with his gomer pyle attitude and shucks and golly gee. He disgraced the office way long before GW ever took over. The blame for disgracing the office begins with him.
I do hope to see some trials come up. He and the rest of the crew should be held accountable for what they did, but the Bush bashing is getting real old and when you make statements like "A triple digit IQ will be a welcome change for the country" when you know that Bush has a triple digit (that is if you read any websites) your comments are just as offensive as all the other lies put out. I'd find it equally repugnant if people put down and lied about Obama and said he had just a double digit IQ. These lies are getting old.
I'll be glad that Bush is leaving, but there is no reason to celebrate yet. The country is in a world of hurt and we don't know what kind of person Obama is yet. I don't have high hopes as I see people losing their jobs, homes, health care, retirements, etc. That is nothing to be celebrating. If Obama does good and the economy picks up heck yeah, I'm going to be celebrating but not until then. I will celebrate on the anniversary of him being in office, or depending on what happens I will be looking forward to the next election.
You keep trying to defend yourself against what you said, but I find nothing but offense to your original post.
No matter what each of their IQ scores were Obama graduated from Columbia and Harvard, and Bush graduated from Yale and Harvard. You have to be smart to get into those schools. Both of them are. Bush's actions he has displayed - not so great in my books, but neither is Obama's past and what he had done, and especially who he is picking for his cabinet. Definitely not anything to celebrate. I celebrated when they left office along with The Impeached Clinton. Now those nincompoops are back??? Definitely nothing to be celebrating there!
Just please, enough with Bush bashing and calling him names. It's getting real old real fast.
Hte to break this to you, but the rating numbers
say NOTHING about where millions and millions and millions of Americans really go for their news. The internet has given us access to global media. MSNBC is still mainstream and, as a leftie, I can tell you that I find their coverage almost as frustrating as CNN and Fixed News. I need the much broader perspective found on local, national and international English-speaking radio talk shows and news accounts from outside the homeland borders found on the net.
I suspect I'm not the only one, considering the numbers reflected in these ratings are so puny when compared to the actual number of adult US citizens who have soundly rejected US monovision mainstream media outlets all together. Then there is the other side of the coin, those Americans who do not listen to the news at all because mainstream is SUCH a turn-off.
Unemployment numbers. What is 12.5 Million?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506405,00.html
What I do not get is it states 4.4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began, but now at 12.5 million. So, about 8 million have been unemployed during, well, basically this year and last year? I guess I am in SHOCK a it is hard for me to want to believe it.
*************************
Unemployment by the Numbers: How Bad Is It Hurting?
Friday, March 06, 2009
* Print
* ShareThis
More people are unemployed in America than live in Ohio or go to church in Texas.
Unemployment statistics don't usually leap off the page, but the latest report from the Department of Labor offers some astounding figures. More than 651,000 jobs were cut in February, continuing a steep drop that has raised the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent, its highest level since 1983.
Matched up against some of the latest stats made available by the Census Bureau, those numbers really do begin to add up.
• 651,000 jobs were axed in February, a number larger than the populations of:
- Baltimore
- Seattle
- Denver
- El Paso
- Washington, D.C.
• 12.5 million people are unemployed in the U.S., which is more than the number of:
- people watching ABC's "Lost" this season
- women attending college
- male scientists and engineers
- Americans who grow herbs
- people who played tackle football in the past year.
• 12.5 million people is also a number larger than the populations of 45 states, including
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Virginia
• 4.4 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, which is larger than the population of the entire San Francisco Bay Area.
• 2.6 million jobs have been lost in the past four months, which is like every Presbyterian in America getting the ax in one winter, or about the number of senior citizens in Florida.
• 8.6 million people have been forced to work part-time for economic reasons, which is more than the population of New York City, or more than the number of people who try to quit smoking every year.
The roll continues, and it is a stark one: construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs in February, factories cut 168,000 jobs, retailers sliced nearly 40,000, professional and business services got rid of 180,000, financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000, and leisure and hospitality firms chopped 33,000 positions.
Despite all the doom and gloom in the Labor Department's numbers, at least one sector had a pretty rosy February: the government boosted its number of employees last month.
Click here to see the Labor Department report.
Numbers aren't looking good for
Only 38% of Americans now think the country is headed in the right direction.
Only 42% favor universal healthcare, and when those who favor it are told that they will probably lower their level of coverage and increase their waiting times, fewer than 20% support it.
59% oppose legalizing marijuana and taxing it. And, when the amount of taxes this would actually raise is given as a percent of the national budget (less than 0.003%) and the potential costs to society are explained, the number who oppose the idea rises to nearly 80%.
Obama's approval index remains low at only +6 (% who strongly approve minus % who strongly disapprove of him). He started at around +30.
A generic Democrat and generic Republican continue to run neck-and-neck in a hypothetical race proposed to voters - +1 to -2 points either way. Not long ago, the generic Democrat was beating the Republican by a substantial margin but this is no longer the case.
The American voter is waking up - and Democrats attending the wake for the Republican party will look up from their drunken revelry to find that the deceased has jumped out of the coffin and is now vigorously engaged in kicking them in their sorry arses. It seems he was never dead in the first place. Consternation reigns.
|
