BARACK OBAMA DAY

author=ankylo link=topic=2938.msg57368#msg57368 date=1232564614
One of the MOST IMPORTANT parts of our economy is the government spending money.

Wow. This is a dangerous attitude that leads to a nation of lemmings waiting around for the government to help them out, instead of individuals being empowered to help themselves.

The government is not a separate, ruling entity. WE ARE the government, and IT IS the people. It doesn't spend a dollar that it didn't take out of the market first, or print from thin air. (And since currency itself is no longer backed by anything of real value, diluting the currency supply without increasing real wealth is an indirect tax on everyone who has dollars. I didn't get a 20% return on several of my client base's investments just because of dumb luck.)

If you want economic growth, you don't get it by taking money away from the people who will spend it productively.



EDIT: Crap. This is my first double post EVER. And probably my last. I thought I was editing my last one.

author=ankylo link=topic=2938.msg57368#msg57368 date=1232564614

author=Feldschlacht IV link=topic=2938.msg57366#msg57366 date=1232564290

How will this fix the economy?

Read the article I posted and the other articles that article links to. And it helped because it provides work, jobs, and monetary flow to everyone involved. I've already read a few articles about how the huge ceremony was an economic pump to the surrounding area and the people involved.

What he said. Do you think all of that was free? how about the doubling of the D.C. police department? I'm sure those people were glad to work for a day. Also, there is a committee that does all of this, Obama didn't plan the inauguration. I guess if you only started paying attention now then you would have no idea what it was like 4 years ago, or 8 years ago. 4 years ago it cost about $167 million TOTAL, but this time when it gets to the $160 million range it's OMGECONOMYMELTDOWNOBAMASPENDSTOOMUCH. Do you think they just burned all that money and everything that happened cost nothing? provided no money into the economy? One of the MOST IMPORTANT parts of our economy is the government spending money.

I don't know if this rant was um, directed at me, but the least important part of my post was "how will this fix the economy?". That line was just a toss off. I do see what you're saying, but my point was mostly about public spectacle and distraction (the bush administration being horrendously guilty of the latter).

That said, it did not seem like the INTENTION of the massive festivities was to create jobs/work opportunities at all. It seemed like the intention was to create a massive spectacle, see also: bread and circuses. See also the massive media feeding frenzy.

author=Holbert link=topic=2938.msg57440#msg57440 date=1232585650

author=harmonic link=topic=2938.msg57370#msg57370 date=1232564903
Wow. This is a dangerous attitude that leads to a nation of lemmings waiting around for the government to help them out, instead of individuals being empowered to help themselves.

The government is not a separate, ruling entity. WE ARE the government, and IT IS the people. It doesn't spend a dollar that it didn't take out of the market first, or print from thin air. (And since currency itself is no longer backed by anything of real value, diluting the currency supply without increasing real wealth is an indirect tax on everyone who has dollars. I didn't get a 20% return on several of my client base's investments just because of dumb luck.)

If you want economic growth, you don't get it by taking money away from the people who will spend it productively.



EDIT: Crap. This is my first double post EVER. And probably my last. I thought I was editing my last one.

I think this was kind of a knee-jerk reaction. It sounds good in theory but when you actually think about it, it is kind of naive. Think of all the money that the government has to spend just to keep thing running ... defense, security, public works like bridges and highways, information technology, education. Do you realize all the jobs that creates? You're a teacher, right? Your paycheck probably comes from money that the federal government gave the state as an education subsidy.

Unless he's a private school teacher... those guys have it pretty rough. At my alma mater, most of the younger teachers held second jobs (my lit teacher was a bartender) or they had spouses who brought in more.

I don't really know where I stand on this. I guess I'm kind of an old-timey republican because I believe that peoples' hard-earned dollars shouldn't be taken away from them. I know that's kind of a simplistic view of things, but plenty of people work really hard in this country to see income tax put a sizable dent in their wallets and go to things they either a) don't support or b) would have supported (through charity) if they'd had the cash to spend.

However, I do know that government spending is very important, especially if we're going to be socializing health care...

Socialism doesn't work, but it doesn't seem Trickle-Down did much for us either. I'm a capitalist in theory (private business in theory should promote competitive prices/products to compete with one another) but it doesn't seem to be working out like it should. The problem is, I don't know of a single economic or political stance that works the way it ought to.

All I know is that a World War against undeniable evil got this country (as well as the rest of the world) out of a global depression before. I'm not suggesting that someone spawn another Hitler here, but what we really need is something to give a crap about (promoting nationalism) that would spawn A LOT OF JOBS (e.g. the weapons industry in WWII).

Basically the summation of my post is: Nothing works, but something needs to happen!

Why is everyone talking the goverment spending money suddenly? I went from the first page of on topic talk to this page of completely off topic talk. All well.

Because conversations flow and evolve, especially since it's what, 4 pages now?

McCain would have been 20 times worse the economy then Obama.

I like how you used English there. : )

The word 'naive' has lost all meaning!