The Economy is in Trouble - What do we do to fix this? Ideas Welcome -

[HUGGY]

The American entrepeneurial spirit is alive and well thank you. But it needs a more conducive environment to thrive in, and right now such is not the case under Obama's mismanagement.

I agree to a very finite point. I am an inventor and a CNC machinist so I know quite a bit about the hands on process of manufacturing. I have worked in several machine shops and even been farmed out to do piece work for some of the best customers on the planet. I helped design and manufactured and installed all of the computer controlled window blinds, shades and other window treatments for the Bill Gates compound in Media.

The bottom line is that in our system the customer is king. Nothing is made that is not wanted and purchased. In the past that has been a symbiotic relationship here in the USA. That relationship has foolishly been destroyed. Big business only see their responsibility is to provide products for sale and profit for their stock holders. They have totally disregarded their responsibility to keep and sustain the viability of American workers as customers for these products. Just keep selling shit and let the masses figure out how to pay for it..it just isn't their problem.

Now we gain productivity mainly through speculation and bubbles then act all surprised when our gambling ventures collapse. What is rarely talked about in regards to the last collapse was how many of the people that owned houses in the last bubble refinanced their property to extract their make believe profits AKA equity as supplement to stagnant wages or loss of employment. It will be a long while, if ever, before THAT well can be drawn off of again.

 

[lehr]

Engaged and active public demanding a 85% cut in military and Pentagon spending. End all three wars and bring the money home.

Ramp up education. Ramp up industry.

Remove the elephant from the room.

stop building up red china - stop giving millions to communist groups like ACORN & NPR & AMERICACORP - stop spending money on education - they are teaching that capitalism is bad and crazy stuff like - GLOBAL WARMING & CAP AND TRADE & PROFIT IS BAD -

remove the jackass from the room

 

[HUGGY]

Engaged and active public demanding a 85% cut in military and Pentagon spending. End all three wars and bring the money home.

Ramp up education. Ramp up industry.

Remove the elephant from the room.

stop building up red china - stop giving millions to communist groups like ACORN & NPR & AMERICACORP - stop spending money on education - they are teaching that capitalism is bad and crazy stuff like - GLOBAL WARMING & CAP AND TRADE & PROFIT IS BAD -

remove the jackass from the room

Do you need help finding the door?

 

[AVG-JOE]

I understand that my backwoods idealistic views seem unrealistic and unpopular - I know that when people see what I have to say they feel a burden placed on them and they do not want to feel responsible for their own choices - I felt the same way when I started this whole thing - I was gung-ho to buy local - and buy American - then I got to the store and I was dumb founded by the amount of time it took just to figure out where things come from - and just because they are made one place doesn't mean the company that owns them is from there. We are in a world market now and imports cannot be stopped - there are many things that are not made in the USA at all anymore. It is my goal to seek out specific ways to help local businesses keep money in their communities first and then help them be part of this world market instead of being eaten up by it. If communities share common goals and are better educated on the money that leaves - never to return - I feel they will work out different ways to stop the economic bleeding. No man is an island - his actions affect others - if we live in a community then it is our job and responsibility to make things better. There is always a way

I recently bought a Stanley hand saw from Home Depot for $18.95... said "MADE IN USA FROM GLOBAL MATERIALS"

What the fuck does THAT mean?!?​

Even stuff that's 'Made in USA' puts a dollar in the Chinese treasury it seems.

 

[Zander]

In spite of the doom and gloom that many have fallen swoon to, my business is growing, my income is larger, and my life is better than ever. I am doing my part.

 

[AVG-JOE]

I wonder if the VA is as ruthlessly efficient as suggested?

Even Medicare runs at better than 95% efficiency - you certainly can't argue that private bureaucracies are a less expensive way to collect premiums and pay the bills compared to public bureaucracies. The best private bureaucracies run at 73%.

Is a single payer, public bureaucracy THE answer? Maybe... But once again, the answer probably rests in a blend of the two. I wish I could buy into Medicare to cover 80% of my basic medical bills (which I have none right now, knock on wood) and purchase a supplement from a robustly competitive private sector, selling across state lines, to cover what Medicare doesn't. If nothing else, I won't feel so guilty about filing claims against the tax-payers when I hit 65 if I spend a few years kicking my $310 per month in insurance premiums toward Medicare instead of buying 2 1/2 Ferraris for insurance executives between now and then.

Baring that, I'd like to get my health care concerns OUT of the hands of my employer and have as many health insurance carriers to choose from as I do auto insurance carriers, with just as much ease in telling one to fuck off in favor of another.

 

[percysunshine]

Single payer for health care to start off with. The VA has shown government can do a million times better than private insurance companies where a CEO can have a paycheck of $120,000,000.00 while not producing anything of importance simply by skimming insurance policies.

The VA spends 94 cents for every dollar on the patient. The other 6 cents going to administrative costs.

Show me how private industry can match that when they own private jets, eat off gold trim plates (Cigna) and can pass out a paycheck of more than $100,000,000.00!

rdean...you are a gem. When a lib moron is needed in a time of crisis, you step up to the plate. There should be a statue of you somewhere in San Francisco.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Single payer for health care to start off with. The VA has shown government can do a million times better than private insurance companies where a CEO can have a paycheck of $120,000,000.00 while not producing anything of importance simply by skimming insurance policies.

The VA spends 94 cents for every dollar on the patient. The other 6 cents going to administrative costs.

Show me how private industry can match that when they own private jets, eat off gold trim plates (Cigna) and can pass out a paycheck of more than $100,000,000.00!

rdean...you are a gem. When a lib moron is needed in a time of crisis, you step up to the plate. There should be a statue of you somewhere in San Francisco.

There's a helpful post - NOT!

 

[percysunshine]

Single payer for health care to start off with. The VA has shown government can do a million times better than private insurance companies where a CEO can have a paycheck of $120,000,000.00 while not producing anything of importance simply by skimming insurance policies.

The VA spends 94 cents for every dollar on the patient. The other 6 cents going to administrative costs.

Show me how private industry can match that when they own private jets, eat off gold trim plates (Cigna) and can pass out a paycheck of more than $100,000,000.00!

rdean...you are a gem. When a lib moron is needed in a time of crisis, you step up to the plate. There should be a statue of you somewhere in San Francisco.

There's a helpful post - NOT!

Isn't your birthday comming up? I will buy you a sense of humor if you need one...gratis

 

[rdean]

Single payer for health care to start off with. The VA has shown government can do a million times better than private insurance companies where a CEO can have a paycheck of $120,000,000.00 while not producing anything of importance simply by skimming insurance policies.

The VA spends 94 cents for every dollar on the patient. The other 6 cents going to administrative costs.

Show me how private industry can match that when they own private jets, eat off gold trim plates (Cigna) and can pass out a paycheck of more than $100,000,000.00!

rdean...you are a gem. When a lib moron is needed in a time of crisis, you step up to the plate. There should be a statue of you somewhere in San Francisco.

There's a helpful post - NOT!

The right can't handle the truth. It shakes the foundations of their imaginary world to the core.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/701221/000104746910002486/a2197149zdef14a.htm

Two former employees with the insurance firm Cigna, one a chief executive officer, have left on very good terms. Both left the company with $120 million in compensation packages.

Former Cigna executives get fond farewells - Business & Economics - Catholic Online

http://www.hillconnections.org/ri/potter09oc.pdf

Weeks later, as Potter flew to a
meeting on a CIGNA corporate jet,
enjoying a meal on a gold-rimmed
plate, using gold-plated silverware,
he remembered the people that he
had seen in Wise County.


[T]he thing insurance companies
fear most is a single-payer plan.
They fear even the public option being proposed; they’ll pull
out all the stops they can to defeat that to try scare people into
thinking that embracing a public
health insurance option would
lead down the slippery slope toward socialism...putting a government bureaucrat between you
and your doctor. They’ve used
those talking points for years,
and they’ve always worked.

-----------------------------------------------------

This is why the truth hurts the right so much. Why they scream and rant and call names. It's all they have.

 

[Grace]

The older I get, the less meat I eat. Shopping your local farmers market, you KNOW where those veggies, fruit, nuts and honey came from. Your local farmer.

Looking at labels in the grocery, you will be surprised at how little is made in the USA, which can be misleading. Made in the USA, but MANUFACTURED in Portugal, etc.

 

[rdean]

The older I get, the less meat I eat. Shopping your local farmers market, you KNOW where those veggies, fruit, nuts and honey came from. Your local farmer.

Looking at labels in the grocery, you will be surprised at how little is made in the USA, which can be misleading. Made in the USA, but MANUFACTURED in Portugal, etc.

It's why we need government inspectors. I think right wingers are wrong with they say, "Let the market take care of it". You can't say that to a mother whose baby is sick from drinking poison milk from China.

China's Poisoned Milk Scandal Spreads - BusinessWeek

 

[Shogun]

trade restrictions with nations that do not trade equally.

It's time to invest in America again instead of capitalistas who would sell out their own nation for a 13 cent discount on pickles at wal mart.

 

[waltky]

Whilst Congress is constipated an' can't pass a thing...

... Granny says dem bankers an' politicians...

... is drivin' us all to the poorhouse.

 

[007]

The most important thing, number one on the list, must do in 2012... is FIRE OBAMA!

Then, and only then, will we be able to make the sort of changes that are needed to get this country back on track. The radical, socialist pile of dog crap, sock puppet of George Soros, obama, is hell bent on just the opposite of what is good for America. He wants to see America's economy in the toilet, plain and simple, just as his master Soros has said, "we must see a systematic decline in the value of the dollar before we can move towards the new world order."

 

[sparky]

Americans have been "taught" that they deserve all of their individual rights but owe nothing back to society for this privilege. They have been taught that to pitch in and help is optional. They have learned that selfishness is a right. This gives cover to all that prey upon the freedom of our system. We only prosecute crime when it can compete with Jerry Springer for headlines.

We rarely indict the largest fraud and theft. A few years ago the perpetrators of massive fraud were prosecuted. Now they are rewarded. Name one person involved in the recent biggest heist in human history that has been charged and is facing prison. Nada...zippola. What kind of a message does that shout to the hill tops? People can go to jail for un paid parking tickets or un paid debt when they honestly put their hear and soul into a business that fails. Yes America is being "taught" very well indeed.

The education you are dreaming of is being torn down as your hopes whisper into a howling hurricane of opposition.

.

well said Huggy.

so, wouldn't this be the experience for any top heavy country?

it's all about convincing any given populace to focus on a target they can understand without peeking at the man behind the curtian

 

[midcan5]

Buy American what ?

American cars - the ones made here, and lots lots more. Make this attitude known to business. If you call for service and get a foreigner, ask for a worker in America, if there are none write the company. Look for products made here.

How Americans Can Buy American

Made In Usa Bumper Sticker | Made In Usa Stickers | Made In Usa Decals | CafePress

MadeInUSA - Home- Recycling American Dollars Through Patriotic Spending
American Made Products Directory - Made in USA, United States Manufacturers
Made in USA, Made in America, US, American-Made
http://www.uaw.org/uawmade/index.cfm
Union Label

UNION BUILT PC - servers, desktops, training, software and web development
https://unionbuiltpc.com/netbook_ubu100.php

made in usa symbol - Ask.com Search


"An entire century of human progress separates the worst-off from the best-off groups within the U.S., according to the latest update of the American Human Development (HD) Index. Read the report." A Century Apart: New Measures of Well-being for U.S. Racial and Ethnic Groups — Measure of America: American Human Development Project

 

[sparky]

i suppose acknowlegding Fair Trade practices would be prudent as well

 

[sparky]

Thus, nearly eight in 10 voters support a coordinated national manufacturing policy, with some 90 percent favoring policies like rebuilding aging infrastructure with American-made materials, enacting tax breaks for companies that manufacture new products in the U.S. and adopting a tougher approach to unfair foreign trade.

Is America no longer number one? - TheHill.com

 

[mudwhistle]

This thread is being set up for a PRODUCTIVE discussion on what we can do as American citizens to help our own economy. If we expect Washington to stop the reckless spending then maybe we should also practice what we preach and stop the reckless spending in our own lives. After speaking to a few industry leaders - I am on a quest to find solutions to help recirculate American cash in local communities without changing the average American's lifestyle. I do not pretend to have all the answers and welcome productive banter. I am at the point right now believing that the most effective solution is shopping local and buying more American products until the international trade balances itself out. And yes - I do know that this task of figuring it out and spreading awareness is huge - but isn't that what we are all here for?
So Shop Local, Buy American = More $$$ and More USA Jobs = More Evenly Spread Taxes because more People with jobs to pay taxes & more businesses to pay taxes = lower deficit - Right?

The solution is to make fun of the Republican plan.