Well, here I go. Defending his right to have the opinion, no matter how wrong I think it might be. In America, you have the ability to state your minority opinion just as often and loudly as those who expound on the majority opinion. Hey, isn't that what we're fighting most of the nuts around the world for? Aren't we fighting for the rights of their peoples to have the ability to say whatever without being, raped, nuked, gassed, or killed? Surely I am mistaken!
A rich man's son? Like he is in the States? Like his brother Jeb? (or Neil....but never mention the black sheep). America really is the land of opportunity! But maybe the office and the times makes the man, and he will rise above his abilities, and go down in history as a great President. God help us!! MD
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." (H. L. Mencken.) As another poster noted: Every war that was ever fought has been about money or rather, taking something from someone who doesn't want to give it up. Josh
Percentage of US children who live in poverty: 20% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) not disputing this. of course, what's not mentioned is that this figure has been in steady decline during all of the 20th century. 40% in 1950. and before that the percentage of children involved in labor was far higher than anything seen today. Robert Samuelson writing in Washington Post: "until this century [20th], children worked in homes, fields, and factories almost as soon as they could. Historians tell us that 55 percent of the cotton mill workers in Rhode Island in 1820 were children. In 1826 a 19year old became a mill super-intendent because he had already worked there 11 years. In the 19th century rural families almost universally depended on the labor of their children." also, if you want to take an honest look at the causes of child poverty, understand that children living in one parent household are FOUR TIMES as likely to be living in poverty than children living in two parent households. Child poverty in the USA, highest among the seventeen leading industrial nations. empty sensationalist statement. what are the rates in these other countries, and at what cost have they been achieved? Poverty's Effect on Children Unfortunately, not all America's poor have been so fortunate. According to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau in September 1996, 13.8% of Americans live in poverty. Many more are on the borderline. Poverty affects all ages, but an astonishing 48% percent of its victims are children: About 15 million children -- one out of every four -- live below the official poverty line. yeah, the poverty rate these hovers around 10-15%, no disputing that. but do one in FOUR (25%) or one in FIVE (20%) of children live in poverty? nice if you could maintain some consistency, otherwise some might suspect you're just throwing out the figures nearest to your hand just to stir the crowd. 22% of Americans under the age of 18 -- and 25% under age 12 -- are hungry or at the risk of being hungry. Everyday 2,660 children are born into poverty; 27 die because of it. Children and families are the fastest growing group in the homeless population, representing 40%. more sensationalist rhetoric. buddy, nobody is denying that there are SOME people living in poverty. apparently your position is that we need to drop everything, slow down this "death spiral of progress" and help the poor by, essentially, becoming one of them... and again, yes there is poverty, but the trend (you should understand that, being a trader) has undeniably been DOWN. from about 30%in the 50s to 10-15% today. and what about poverty rates of seniors, a group whose opportunities to help themselves are more limited than the rest of us: 1950s - roughly 50%. today - 10-15%. James Wilson, political scientist: "you need only do thre things to avoid poverty in this country: finish high school, marry before having a child, and produce the child after the age of 20. Only 8% of families who do this are poor; 79% of those who fail to do this are poor." whether what is true for the one is true for the whole is probably debatable, but the real point is that the "poor" enjoy the same rights to self improvement as every single other person in this nation. it is up to the individual to exercise it. and i'm not even gonna get into the demographic skew of poverty statistics. (debt-laden college grad, no assets, doesn't own his home, undoubtedly falls into "poor" category. is he really poor? fuck no.) A survey of 26 industrialized nations (the Luxembourg Income Study) found that the gap between the wealthiest 10% and the poorest 10% is greater in the United States than any other country except Russia (Wallechinsky 6). absolutely meaningless statistic, but it does betray your political views; that men should be equal. of course the definition of equal you lefties have is that of equal "results", whereas the capitalist prefers equality of "process" (which we undoubtedly have.) Real weekly wages in the U.S. rose until 1973, and have been declining since. So income is flat or declining. But unfortunately, expenditures have not followed income's example. Of the major categories of household expenditures, only food and clothing have shown declines over time (Segal 62). All others are up, many in excess of the general inflationary rate. wow, would you believe it, yet another meaningless statistic. wages are a component of inflation (the "price" of labor), so its actually no big deal that as other prices have risen, so has the price of labor. of course, the your statement is crafted to present the problem of inflation as that of inflation outstripping the purchasing power of wages, which is entirely untrue. the "evil" of inflation is that it erodes savings. nevertheless, you are correct in pointing out that REAL wages actually grew until 73. which is a pretty good deal for Joey Six, and even for the more educated professional, Joseph S. Pack. i don't wanna get into a battle of who's got the better "lies, damn lies, statistics", but i'll just mention that some economists believe that inflation during the 70s has been overstated to the tune of about 1% per year. in which case real wages are up 9.5% since '73. is household squeeze is mirrored on a national level. If we factor together the costs (direct and indirect) of the U.S. international military empire and its adventuristic tendencies (e.g. Persian Gulf, Panama, Grenada, etc.), welfare for the rich, the savings and loan debacle, interest on the national debt (now a trillion dollars every five years) and the expensive drug war, among other issues that might be mentioned, it seems apparent that literally trillions of dollars of national wealth have been squandered over the last 30 years by the economic and political elite to no good purpose and a lot of that money has ended up in the hands of that same economic and political elite and their good friends in corporate America. hahaha, this is leftist politics at its very best. well done. but what? no mention of the great social engineering debacles of the left like LBJ Great Society, New Deal, judicial activism (to name but a few)?? buddy, i too used to decry the evils of capitalism, until i started considering what alternatives there were; and realised that its either capitalism or, as the title of the great book suggests, "the road to serfdom".
It's really amazing how some here have developed a pretty amazing ability to stick their heads in the sand and pretend all is well. This has zilch to do about ideology, this is just about good ole common sense and some benchmarking. Percentage of US children who live in poverty: 20% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) Real weekly wages have been declining since 1973. A survey of 26 industrialized nations (the Luxembourg Income Study) found that the gap between the wealthiest 10% and the poorest 10% is greater in the United States than any other country except Russia (Wallechinsky 6). And, of course, what matters is where we stand vis-a-vis other countries, not that the number of our children living in poverty has declined as compared to a 100 years ago, lol. How many other leading countries have ghettoes and to all intents and purposes gang wars raging in their inner cities, an infrastructure that's been deteriorating for ages. Of course you can always find countries that are worse off, but that isn't really the point, now, is it. And 20 percent of it's children living in poverty, for a so-called developed country, is a disaster. Plain and simple. Add unto that that lots of our citizens don't even have health care or pension plans, and the picture gets even worse. $8000 Billion in wealth have disappeared in the biggest bubble we've ever experienced, this is the first time since 1939-1941 where the S&P 500 has declined 3 years in a row, unless we get a big move in the few remaining months of this year, and anybody should realize that we have lots better things to do than go on a war that no one else sees any big need for, apart from our big UK fan, not that the latter has his people or even his parliament behind him on Saddam. When you now add unto the equation that the national economy of the US including state, corporate and private households, have a total debt of $30,000 Billion, almost 3 times as much as GDP, costing us $2000 Billion in interest p.a., basically equal to all new credits taken up in recent years, then you get the picture. And yet we want to go start an absolutely pointless war, which is gonna cost us quite a bit more in the future. Time to get our priorities straight. In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep." -- Albert Einstein How the USA Stacks Up Among the 21 most affluent nations, the United States has the highest percentage of poor children. In fact, our rate is twice that of the country next in line. ...Nevertheless, our country has not won the War on Poverty. In 1996, millions more Americans lived in poverty than in 1964. A 1996 Fordham University report says the country's social well-being has reached its lowest point in a quarter century, with children and young people suffering most. http://www.heartsandminds.org/articles/childpov.htm
Finally, the admission that it is "we" instead of his usual wild pontification that it is a minority faction of the right. There may be hope for TigerZero yet.
LOL, it sure isn't even Bush's lil brother who's dumb enough to support Georgie on his crazy lil adventure: NEWSWEEK Taking Jeb to School Democrat Bill McBride is a Vietnam vet with an education planâmaking him a treacherous foe for the First Brother By Arian Campo-Flores NEWSWEEK Oct. 7 issue â Youâd think that in his quest to rally the nation for a war against Iraq, President George W. Bush could count on his loyal little brother Jeb for a helping hand. Not this time. As Jeb campaigns for a second term as Floridaâs governor, heâs been largely silent on the issue, instead addressing far more parochial concerns. âPeople here are focused on education, the environment and the economy,â says his spokesman, Todd Harris. ...W may want to talk war, but for Jeb, the key to the election is more butter than guns. http://www.msnbc.com/news/814610.asp Check out this pic of Georgie learning how to read: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=134949
what's really amazing is how some people can always find a cloud in every silver lining.. i'll answer the rest of your drivel later, but just quickly, when you post insanely stupid comments like the above, honestly, how do you really expect people to take you seriously? millions more americans living in poverty? well NO SHIT! look at the population increase since then. that is just too stupid for words. what criteria is that study based on that says social well being is at its lowest point in years? apparently just the writer's own ideas on what would constitute a well run society. pathetic. still, it's pretty standard fair from the left.. (and you say it's not about ideology...fiddlesticks..) i doubt that people like you will EVER get, sadly. keep cutting and pasting your diatribes, it's nothing i haven't heard before. what is the answer, my friend? that's exactly where you bleeding hearts liberals constantly fall down. your so-called brilliant "solutions" have failed to hit the mark just about every single time. but does this ever stop you? hell no. you don't even have the guts to admit you're wrong. a painful lesson that i wish you would learn, is that social welfare is NOT a solution. it is simply taking from someone that has EARNT his property, and giving it someone that HASN'T. if that's your vision of a just society, i want no part in it.
Drivel? That, from you, the top driveller? a cloud in every silver lining.. The epitome of denial of reality? How the USA Stacks Up Among the 21 most affluent nations, the United States has the highest percentage of poor children. In fact, our rate is twice that of the country next in line. http://www.heartsandminds.org/articles/childpov.htm The national economy of the US including state, corporate and private households, have a total debt of $30,000 Billion, almost 3 times as much as GDP, costing us $2000 Billion in interest p.a., basically equal to all new credits taken up in recent years, then you get the picture. LOL, I guess that's just great for you, no problem. But, sure, just do some namecalling, like BleedingHeart, Liberal, and you hope the problem will go away, that you're hoping people are still dumb enough to fall for this cracked up ideology bit and ignore the real problems. And, hey, let's go start a war, because, well, absolutely no idea why, but, then again, why not. Cause Bush says so, haha. And it'll sure detract from our national problems nicely.