" The election is finally over. Even though I didn't vote for him Obama will be my president too. I will pray for him and hope that the country will thrive under his leadership. I am glad to see that people of color will have a president to whom they can relate. I just wish it was a black person with a different political philosophy. I hope it works out. "

" Until we get back to a sound form of real money, our economy will never be the same. Americans are learning to stop buying, buying, buying and relearning that maybe the headaches and worries over the bills so you can keep up with the Jones' just isn't worth it. We are in for some tough times like you said, but my hopes are that materialism and greed are waning and we will get back to caring for each other as communites and families. No, I don't think Obama has that power either. It lies in us and in order to get through this "crisis", we will have to tap back into our hearts and start caring again for our neighbors as we care for ourselves. Heck, we might as well. There's nothing on TV tonight anyway ;) "

" Now that the presidential election is over, can economic recovery be far away?
---
Yes it can. The Republican deregulation Ponzi scheme has wrecked not just the U.S. economy, but the world economy. Ruthless GOP greed has saddled us with years of trouble. "

" With food prices higher we are still on the 1944 menu plan. Beans, and potatoes, and what is left on day 2.
Mac n cheese with lettuce salad if lucky. Tuna salad and fruit. Beans
and rice. Bake a chicken, add stuffing, and have greenbeans. What is left of chicken becomes chickensalad.
Chicken with bisquick dumplings is good and make some biscuits drop style on pizzapan is good with this as well.

Cheaper buy Mcdonalds one dollar burger.
Or the $1 chicken. Clipping coupons isn't a saver usually. Buying generic pays. I liked the $1 frozen veggie sale.

We fillup on popcorn often and water.
We hardly felt the big pinch as already eating this way just costs more now for just this type meals. "

" Now that the presidential election is over, can economic recovery be far away?
++++++++++++++++++++
Sorry, but it takes more than being in a post-election period to magically fix the economy. I takes a lot of things, but to improve the chances of it not repeating itself it to regulate in a way that politicians (of either party) can't abuse or benefit from it.
Stripping of the cheats and manipulators of their golden parachutes, and bonuses. Put this money back in the pot to assist in the recovery. "

" The Question wrote on Nov 7, 2008 12:44 PM:

" Now that the presidential election is over, can economic recovery be far away?
---
Yes it can. The Republican deregulation Ponzi scheme has wrecked not just the U.S. economy, but the world economy. Ruthless GOP greed has saddled us with years of trouble. "
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Q, don't forget your Democrat stars Chris Dodd, and Barney Franks! "

" Wow...

The paper actually put into print, "Whitaker pointed out the way to spark the economy is through lower taxes, lower regulations and free trade".

Sounds like Whitaker might be a right-winger...lower taxes, lower regulations and free trade. Better institute the "Fairness Doctrine" and have some liberal say how Whitaker is wrong and that we need more taxes, more regulation, and the elimination of NAFTA and WTO precepts.... "

" The Question wrote:

"The Republican deregulation Ponzi scheme has wrecked not just the U.S. economy, but the world economy. Ruthless GOP greed has saddled us with years of trouble. "

That's bologna.

I guess you don't remember the deregulation fiasco of the '80's do you? Even though the lenders now should have known better from then than to provide easy credit to high-risk borrowers, it was still up to Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae to properly insure (FDIC) the mortgages presented to them.

I guess you don't know what Franklin Raines, an Obama consort, did prior to being Obama's finance expert, eh?

And I guess you never heard Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, Lacy Clay, Gregory Meeks, and Christopher Dodd say that everything was hunking-dory with how mortgages were being handled back in 2004?

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN31-nKndg8.

IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN UP TO Fanny and Freddie to make sure that the mortgages that that were provided were sufficiently insurable.

As a safe driver, how would you like it if you paid your car insurance company, but then found out that your insurance company was insuring people that were habitually drunk drivers or had killed people, and they were insuring them at less than or similar rates as you?

And then when the bad driver did something stupid and the company had to pay out excessively for it, there was nothing left for you when you had a minor accident?

So stop sipping the cool-aid the left's pouring down your throat.


"The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn away from the truth and turn aside to myths." "

" sapient

What does color have to do with it, it should be enough that he is an American. "

" Get real, you pathetic apologists. You "free market" Republicans pushed deregulation for all it was worth for 40 years, even getting some dim, cowardly Democrats to sign on. Well, you Republicans own this skunk of an economic disaster. Good luck trying to get the stink off. "

" Poor Neo is taking this election pretty hard, isn't he? Relax buddy, things can only get better. "

" The Question wrote

"You "free market" Republicans pushed deregulation for all it was worth for 40 years, even getting some dim, cowardly Democrats to sign on."

"Yeah I agree republicans should own up to "getting in bed" with you socialist democrats."

They should have never let a worthless RINO like the People's Republic of Illinois very own Denny Hastert be Speaker of the House under GWB either. SEE... absolutely nothing good politically comes out ofthe PRI, either party. Too much Chitcago influence.

As for conservatives....well...we'll just keep rubbing Maxine Waters, Gregory Meeks, Frankllin, Raines and Barney Fwank into you dems nose over the whole Fanny/Freddy fiasco.

I don't why their giving money to Ford and GM now either. There just gonna go belly-up too. "

" Every time something went wrong in his administration Reagan tried to blame Jimmy Carter, so why are we surprised the the Bush excuse makers and apologists are trying to blame the Dems for Bush's failures? That's sort of a Republican tradition, isn't it? "

" Go Question!! "

" The first thing we need to do to get the economy on track is to start paying down the deficit and balancing the budget. You don't do that by just raising taxes. You need to cut spending and that doesnt seem to be part of the president elects plans. Start by cutting spending and then we can talk taxes. "

" "Whitaker pointed out the way to spark the economy is through lower taxes, lower regulations and free trade"

Taxes low - check.
Regulation low -check.
Free trade - check.

You'd think since all of these things are currently in play, the economy would be booming. Trickle down, trickle down, trickle down -- has it ever worked? No. Go study how we got out of the Great Depression.

Historical fact always trumps blind partisan banter. "

" So Question, you're saying the Democrats have no complicity whatsoever in 'this economic mess' that by the way was working just fine for the first 6 years of the Bush administration until, strangely enough, the Dems got control of Congress? "

" I see that Bush wants to destroy the EPA before he leaves office. Under his leadership as governor of Texas, Houston has become one of the worst places to live as the result of his allowing the biggest polluters in the state to rewrite the pollution laws for Texas. This idea of weakening the EPA has Dick Cheney's corrupt fingerprints all over it. It smells like a Spiro Agnew/ Dick Cheney type payoff deal.

Has this man no shame?

Just another corrupt action by Bush that Obama will have to correct. "

" Locke wrote:

" "Whitaker pointed out the way to spark the economy is through lower taxes, lower regulations and free trade"

Taxes low - check.
Regulation low -check.
Free trade - check.

You'd think since all of these things are currently in play, the economy would be booming. Trickle down, trickle down, trickle down -- has it ever worked? No. Go study how we got out of the Great Depression.

Historical fact always trumps blind partisan banter. "
__________
You really can't be serious......

A little something called WORLD WAR II brought the US out of the great depression. After WW2 there was only one economy left standing, the US of A. All the other leading countries were decimated. Our ability to mass produce things after WW2 brought us to economic success then not high taxes. As a matter of fact Truman dropped taxes too....come to think....

I guess JFK dropping the marginal tax rate from 91% down to 77% bad thing huh?

And I guess the boom economy from the 80's when Reagan dropped the marginal tax rate twice and we had the single largest expansion of our economy in history was a fluke too?

I will say this, Whitaker did leave one thing out. A massive cut in spending by our government would do a world of good. "

" "Even though the lenders now should have known better from then than to provide easy credit to high-risk borrowers"

While this element was a small part of the problem the main problem was the banks/financial firms selling these bulks of mortgages to foreign markets over and over and over. Basically defrauding them all because many of these mortgages didn't even have legal papers. The derivetive paper out ther is 10 TIMES more than the entire worlds money supply!!! This is not mainly the fault of the default mortgages. They are just being used as the cover of Wall Street selling nothing to foreign investors at a phenominal rate. It's called FRAUD!!! And it's the CEOs and insider traders that are guilty. Yet, we still aren't prosecuting ANYBODY!! Why? I just don't get it. "

" Becky wrote...

"While this element was a small part of the problem the main problem was the...

I'm not sure I understand everything you posted...but yes... I think I agree... especially concerning the part about repackaging of the derivatives "

" The Republicans can continue to point fingers at the Democrats while the Democrats prepare to lynch the Republicans, and the Independents can continue to blame everybody. None of this will alter the fact that we are all to blame. By either passively sitting back and allowing government to work unchecked (how many out there voted for the first time in their lives recently that are well over the age of 21?) or by actively demanding government support for pet projects or easy money, we all have fingers in this pie.

The government has behaved no differently than many of us have behaved in our private lives. We have spent more money than we earn with little thought to the idea that one day what we bring in may shrink. We carry credit cards from stores, gas stations, and financial institutions, many times spent to the maximum. We flocked to the banks for loans in droves after lending requirements were lowered without thinking about how we could continue to pay the mortgages in the long term. We did not examine or question the contracts, but blindly signed our names, grabbed the keys, and ran. And when outflow exceeded influx, we went after even more credit.

And think about the lessons our children have learned. I listened to one young man of 13 recently as he recited his Christmas list. It contained five items, all electronic. But his family has been hard hit by the times, so he decided to pick the item from the list that cost the least. The item cost almost 200 dollars. He believed that his request was reasonable because he chose the "cheapest" item. I suggested that he aim lower, and wait a year to see if things improve since this item would still be available then. Just the idea that he should wait for what he wanted until it could be better afforded was a concept of ridicule for him. He learned his lesson well. Don't wait. Buy it now. Don't save for it. Let someone else pay.

We all need to start conducting our financial lives in the same manner that we expect the members of government to behave with our public funds. Get rid of the credit cards, stay away from the rent-to-own stores and quick cash scammers. Pay cash for what we buy. We do not need the latest gizmos immediately. We do not need all the bells, buzzers, and lights that are available. Most older cars still drive in a straight line and get you where you need to go. Plan activities that don't require much funding, and pay for your real needs first. Start practicing the tried and true method of living within your means. And save, even if it's only a dollar monthly. Put your pennies in a jar instead of casting them away.

The government and financial institutions may have had a large hand in our current situation, but we still had to sign on the dotted line. In order to pull a scam, every con artist out there had to start off with a sucker. And we fit the bill nicely. "

" Neocon, here's an excellent article about the subprime/derivative bubble.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/derivatives-new-ticking-time-bomb/story.aspx?guid=%7BB9E54A5D-4796-4D0D-AC9E-D9124B59D436%7D "

" Becky...
It came up saying ...

Story not found. "

" Psst.... use tinyurl.com, per the Comment Policy area - long web address links get butchered around here.
lol "

" Harry Potter wrote on Nov 8, 2008 5:17 PM:
" Every time something went wrong in his administration Reagan tried to blame Jimmy Carter, so why are we surprised the the Bush excuse makers and apologists are trying to blame the Dems for Bush's failures?..."

Everyone please remember this quote as we now prepare to here Bush blamed for every problem of the Obama administration. "

" Why eddie, do I detect a note of bitterness here? "

" Everyone please remember this quote as we now prepare to here Bush blamed for every problem of the Obama administration.
--
You won't "here" it, Ed, but you will hear it, and plenty. Bush has left Obama with an UNGOVERNABLE DISASTER. "

" Here's the cure for the economy:

Begin drilling, begin construction of about 40 nuclear power plants, begin constructing Futuregen.

Our economy would be sizzling within a year. "

" The Question wrote on Nov 12, 2008 12:55 PM:
" You won't "here" it, Ed, but you will hear it, and plenty. Bush has left Obama with an UNGOVERNABLE DISASTER. "

Thank you grammar czar for pointing that out.

I see you are already making excuses for your President and he hasn't even taken office yet. Hmmmm....sign of things to come.

If you didn't think Obama would be able to set the country on the right path, maybe you should have voted for someone else. "

" "If you didn't think Obama would be able to set the country on the right path, maybe you should have voted for someone else. "
---
Let me explain a little lesson in logic to you, Ed. Having Obama try to help the country recover, and possibly fail, is an infinitely superior choice to having McBush stumble ahead with the failed, corrupt Republican policies that have wrecked the world economy and U.S. foreign policy. The slim possibility of success is always preferable to guaranteed disaster. Capiche? "

" Techno-less has hit the nail on the head. We can point the blame anywhere we want to but matter of factly it lies on us. Blame the government thats fine we vote those people in office. Blame the oil companies fine we keep on filling our tanks just the same. Now that its down probably driving more. Thanks to the new electronic pacifier that we call TV our kids want more and more and thanks to credit they get it. Unfortunately I don't think it matters really, people are just gonna keep on doing what they were doing, keep voting corporate thugs and devalued politicians up, keep spending beyond their means. Until every thing that was built up before us has crumbled. Gluttony, Greed, and massive consumerism have soiled our country. The "free" trade economy has obliterated the working man. The manufacturing industry is in shambles, it is cheaper to build in 3rd world countries and then ship it back over to the good ole US of A. Heck we're to good to build that stuff anyway. We need to get out of this funk of trying to have every country wait on us and do somethings for ourselves. We can barely cook or make tea on our own anymore. Then there is our children to think of look at that, they are going to grow up in a world where they can charge whatever they want and have no responsibility for it cause they can just blame it on the government. It is time to take responsibility and be real example for how we want our children to live. "

" Thanks for posting HP's hypocrisy Ed Miller. "

" who cares who caused it or if it has happened before, the point is the monster is here along with a few more and we need to stomp them, we must be united to do that, we are still whimpering about the campaign and who sat in what church, the years Obama spent in his church obviously meant more than McCains adulterous threshold of religion, so get ahold of yourselves and lets try being productive, if everyone looked past what they've learned before, sought the knowledge, and attempted to use common sense to explain these issues they might find Obama was the better choice and they should back him "