Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
Last time I looked, I wasn't on the Ways and Means Committee, so I use the term they.
If you think the economy is bad, you must be pretty young. It can get worse, a lot worse. Believe me.
Actually, I am amused by all these young Obama enthusiasists. They have only known an economy that churned out ever increasing numbers of high paying jobs to support their increasingly expensive lifestyles.
I predict a lot of shock and outrage when their dreams are shattered by the reality of dealing with a socialist economy.
Of course the economy can get worse, that doesnt mean its not bad now. I suppose you would like to wait until then before we do something about it?
About the young Obama enthusiasts, I do understand where that generalization comes from, just like I understand where the old pro-mccain "bomb everybody thats not white" generalization comes from, however I think we can all agree here that generalizations are useless and just plain stupid.
I'm young (21) and I'm for obama. Why? I will tell you just to prove to you that (whether you think im right or not) your generalizations make more apparent the biases that you have that keeps you from making a logical decision.
One thing more, this was written a couple days ago for my peers , hence the explanatory tone.
What I really hate about "picking a side" is that no matter which side you pick, you automatically become associated with the corresponding extremists. If you vote Mccain, you're automatically lumped in with pro-every-single conflict rednecks, and ridiculously wealthy people that can't stand the idea of paying 12% of their 10 million a year in taxes, instead of the 2% they're accustomed to. If you vote Obama you of course become associated with protesters who really are only protesting the fact that its not the 60's anymore, and green young people who think some cricket in Alaska is more important than the economic future of our entire country. I hate it. Oh well though.
What I think is important is that people realize that our country is not a static place. The world, and America especially, is more dynamic than ever. Information is exchanged at the speed of light. If a bomb explodes in Bagdad, minutes later that news is beamed into our living rooms in New Jersey and then sent to a Blackberry in LA, then streamed wirelessly on a mac in Hong Kong. Decisions are made, deals are struck, and lives are decided all in the blink of an eye. The world around us is changing at a blistering pace as well, and we have to react equally as fast. I think we can all agree that the world, and our country, are constantly changing. How then, can we adopt a "conservative" or "liberal" view and expect to remain that way indefinitely? Do you really think our country needs the SAME solutions all the time? Of course not, because it doesn't have the same problems all the time. The problems of our past our not the problems of today and vice versa. We have to look at the country in the context of now. Not 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Now. A very famous economist once said "when the facts change, my mind changes". Yet politicians in this country (and a lot of regular people as well) seem to think that the facts never change, our situation never changes, and or country never changes, so they don't have to reform their opinions and ideas. Is this day and age, thats ludicrous. That being said here's my take on our current situation, and what I think will help.
The Economy
This is in the forefront of everybody's mind, as well it should be. The problems with or economy are as follows (in no particular order). Credit crisis, energy costs, housing depreciation, inflation, and unemployment. So what gives? Why is our economy in the crapper? I'll give a brief overview, and this is more fact than opinion. It all started with the secondary market. People usually invest in stocks and bonds. We know what stocks are (you better), but bonds are less understood I think. Basically, a bond is a loan. You lend your money out, are paid interest, and then get your principal back . Who does the money get lent to? All kinds of people. You, me, the federal government, cities, counties, companies. Anybody that may need a loan at some point. Here's how it works. You want to buy a house, so you go to get a loan. You get approved at the money is given to you. Who gave you the money? Well the mortgage company of course, but it doesn't end there. The vast majority of mortgage companies don't hold on to their loans. They sell them. The mortgage company calls up some bond guy on Wall street and says: "Hey, I have a loan here for $250,000 at 7% interest for 30 years with 10 down, do you know anybody that wants to invest in this?" The Wall Street banker than calls his customers who want to invest their money. The customer then sends the $250,000 to the Wall Street banker who then sends to the mortgage company (pays them some kind of fee) who then transfers the debt over to the Wall Street banker and his customer who now get to make the interest off of their money. Everybody's happy. It's the mortgage companies job to find people who need loans, then sell the loans to Wall Street, who then find people to invest in the loans in the form of bonds (mortgage backed securities). Of course this is not exactly how it works, the mortgages are pooled into billions of dollars and bond holders have no way of knowing who has their money, but i hope you get the idea.
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