if Russia has any brain cells it should immediately invade Europe since it will have a free hiway all the way to Paris. the US is so broke that it cant hold up its allies... the US is so strung out it can't fight for fries at a crowded McDonalds in Paris nor should we....
DX getting hosed tonite... loving it, Dennis Neale, your Mom gave you a gentle enema and took your temperature all is happy...
Scriabinop, Thank you for highlighting Medicare, Military spending, and Energy policy in your original post and for not mentioning Social Security as part of the problem (at least in your original post). I am in broad agreement with your well-thought-out post. The main political challenges will come in regard to Medicare and Military spending which together can eventually bankrupt us. Social security, by comparison is a very minor problem that can be fixed easily with minor tweaking, if done now and not put off. And the Social security program is one of the great government successes that has functioned efficiently and exactly as envisioned, and it ought not to be tampered with to satisfy the whims of neocon idealogs. Fixing Medicare, without going to a single payer, socialized system, will require that we deregulate medicine and introduce free competition. This ultimately will bring down cost as the present Government-sponsored AHA,AMA, FDA and Drug Company Cartel is dismantled. And of course that means recognition and acceptance of the fact that in spite of efficiencies that may be introduced, there will be less profit available. Fixing the military expenditure problem, so that we can shift our resources to building infrastructure, is going to require a major change in thinking. We will have to begin thinking in terms of an adequate military force rather than the strongest possible. We will have to move away from our permanent war footing. And finally, we will have to consciously stop glorifying war and start recognizing it as the scourge it really is. This will only happen if we turn a deaf ear to the fear mongering that has been the bread and butter of the defense industry for many years now. I too am an optimist, and i believe all of these goals can be achieved, but it will take extraordinary leadership from Washington.
I like your ideas ... can you outline your concept of medicare a little more ? how do you envision medical care with a free market model can actually work in a sustainable and *attainable* (meaning everyone can have basic medical needs met) manner?
greenspan/kudlow/pop-media propaganda. Any argument that is based on the premise that devaluing a currency is actually good for the people that earn it is absurd. Deliberate currency devaluation is theft of the production of the country. There are winners in the policy, but they are not the majority - take a look at the sources for your policy views and see if you can spot who the winners are, and why they may want you to agree with them.
Found logic flaw in the very FIRST sentence: "credit crisis causing a loss of faith in US assets." The credit crisis did not create the loss of faith in US assets, rather the reactionary measures by the fed contributed to it.