Apologies to the US peeps
Okay, I don’t have specific names and numbers handy here at work, so I won’t address these points at this given time, but here’s the response to what I can respond *to* right now.
quote:
Originally posted by trillian:
[b]*and did you hear that people are drowning an average of $10,000 in debt? I don’t think that happened since January. When did it happen? Maybe when they were being told all is peachy, jobs are going up, hey, I bet there’s gonna be a worker shortage! Baby, your guaranteed a job at this company FOREVER! Go ahead and buy a new ‘fridge, ‘cuz it’s all OK.*[/b]
And where does the $10,000 figure come from? Whose statistics? How does that compare to the figures (adjusted with inflation) from the administrations of Reagan and Bush Sr.? Where is the frame of reference?
quote[quote][b]*because the companies thought everything was peachy because Govt. projections said it was, interest rates kept low. Let’s go ahead and give them a raise, we’ll make it up in five years with profit, because everyone’s spending, and we’ll keep our employees happy. Do you see the viscious circle this creates? It’s all fed on one another, until something would go boom, like getting a President that no one has confidence in*[/b][/quote]
So, the economy was bad because people made more money, because their companies gave them raises, because spending was up, which meant profits were up, which meant that government projections were good (based on the evidence), which meant that interest rates were down, which meant that the economy was good? In short, the economy sucked because it was good? Or, at least, was good until Bush II came along and told everyone that a slowdown in growth meant that we were all *dooooooomed*?
quote[quote][b]*nope, most Republicans will tell you that it is Reagan’s policies that took years to come to fruition. [/b][/quote]
Either way, most Republican pundits will admit that the economy was booming, but will try and place the credit on a previous Republican administration. Either way, Democrats and Republicans agree that the economy was doing extremely well during Clinton’s administration, but disagree on where to place the credit.
quote[quote][b]*this I will not get into, I REFUSE to discuss abortion on a list, it’s not discussed in my house because this house has agreed to disagree on it. It’s far more complicated than the black and white issue everyone wants to make it out as*[/b][/quote]
I am not saying that abortion is either right or wrong. I’m not making that arguement at all. I’m talking about telling overseas medical facilities that they cannot discuss a legal medical procedure, else they lose funding. Whether you think that abortion is right or wrong, the procedure is legal in those countries where it was being discussed, and we’re talking about restricting funds because of medical advice based on a legal medical procedure. The morality of the practice is not being called into question, as the practice isn’t being funded. We’re talking about a restriction on speech, not an ethical question about abortion.
quote[quote][b]*who says he’s a religious zealot? Does he shave his head and sell flowers at the airport? Just wondering, becuase this is the first time I’ve seen this issue*[/b][/quote]
Well, he doesn’t sell flowers at airports, but he was more than willing to speak at (and implicitly support) Bob Jones University, which has a conservative Christian agenda just to the right of Hitler, he is a devoted follower of a faith that does not allow cursing, smoking, drinking or *gulp* [i]dancing[/i], he has consistently used his faith’s opposition to homosexuality as a rule in his political work (voting against hate-crime bills twice, in 1999 and 2000, opposing nominations based on sexual orientation, etc.)…I could go on.
quote[quote][b]*What? Bush lost the popular vote? hrmm…that darn rascally electoral college, not paying attention to the media’s wants.[/b][/quote]
Oh, stop playing that tired “liberal media” card. It has no basis in this. The fact is that Bush received *fewer votes* than Gore. Bush LOST the popular vote. Bush is President because of the electoral college *alone*. Unless you count the Supreme Court (oh, and since you’re adamantly in favor of honesty in politicians, what are we to make of the Bush campaign’s statements of “we are not taking this to the courts,” but when recounts began to make it look like Gore was coming in ahead, they were the first ones at the courthouse doors?)
–Aleck