Jesus takes care of more important things... But actually I firmly believe presidents have far more power than they think they do... And far less power than people think they do. Obama could do something great but he won't. I don't think it's meant to be...no republican or democrat can make a difference. So the question isn't relevant to me.
It is going to be tougher to make changes than people think. On many issues you still have the GOP as well as some conservative Democrats who want to continue basically the policies of the last 8 years. Tax breaks with some rhetoric about cutting out government waste etc. They wish to continue the same militaristic foreign policy. These policies are pushed by an incredible amount of lobbyists whose corporations benefit from these policies. There are also conservative ideologues who sincerely believe in these policies, though by objective standards they don't economically benefit. I guess we will find out if Obama is going to be willing to expend his political capital, risk pissing off enough folks to make big enough changes. So far he basically appointed a lot of moderates and conservatives so his popularity is high. Changes will still get down to votes that will be opposed bitterly. I personally don't see Obama as having the support of important social movements as FDR and Johnson did, the only presidents who really changed things for the better much for most people. Reagan made more thatn the usual changes, but basically he was just the beginning of the policies we have just seen fail under Bush II-- tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation, invasions of countries that don't threaten us much and huge deficits.
its really not all on obamas shoulder to turn around, he's just the president, the thing people complain about that ticks me off is 7% unemployment, since when is a 93% success rate an epic failure? Please take a look at total jobs created in the last 20 years and you'll see we have way way way more total people employed today than ever in the 90's when employment rates were much lower. The sad fact of it is we have too many people who want to be compensated too highly. I have alot of friends that I got my MBA with who literally refuse to work for less than 100K. That is ridiculous kids today grow up with this fantasy in their head that everyone is rich and powerful and it's shameful to start at the bottom. When a computer engineer in America charges $100/hr to code the same system that a guy in India will do for $5/hr we're in trouble. In America we care too much about having to make so much to buy our new plasma tv, our new benz, and a bigger home when the same computer engineer in India is happy to just have food on his table and not much else. Its a harsh reality but I firmly believe our standard of living must actually fall in America for us to advance forward. Less material things and less credit card debt will actually be a better thing for this country.I'm also not a 60 year old baby boomer speaking like this I'm actually in my 20's and understand where our problems stem from.
I’m not suggesting that infrastructure spending could be the sole solution to the problem, but it is a huge issue. Do a search on aging infrastructure and you’ll find a huge number of articles on the issue. Here’s part of one from a couple of years ago. This work has been piling up for many years, but in the boom times it was almost impossible to see how it could be done without spending an enormous amount of money. Now, however, seems to be a perfect time to both take advantage of the downturn, and in the process put millions of people back to work.
Unless no one will lend you the money, it still likely makes the most economic sense to borrow and buy now at the discounted price. This is work that will need to be done in the not too distant future anyway, remember. Here’s another article from a couple of years ago.
History's against Obama on making an economic recovery. Even if that "green thing" picks up, there's a load of debt waiting to crush us with its mighty weight.
I just want to point out that the collapse of the I-35W bridge was due to a design flaw in the original design compounded by further loading of the bridge beyond tolerences that the DOT wasn't aware of.
I see that there has been a recent report to that effect, one which came out after that article was written. I think it is also important to point out, however, that that bridge had many major problems dating back to the early 90s, and was most recently declared structurally deficient in 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_Bridge#Maintenance_and_inspection It may well prove to be that the collapse was due to an unrelated issue, although it may also be true that had the rest of the bridge been in better shape those redundancies may have made a difference. In any event, given the state of that bridge I doubt that we’ve heard the final word on the cause of the collapse. Whatever proves to be the cause of the collapse in that case, however, the point I was making remains unchanged. Note that the Wikipedia article states that 75,000 bridges in the US were also considered structurally deficient in 2007. Many of those will have been built in the post WWII era and will be well past their design life at this point, and now they’re all falling apart at the same time.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/obama.abortion/index.html looks like barry the savior is already trying to help those who can't afford an abortion by using our government money to help guess who....the broke succesful majority that put him into office. This is going to be a fun 4 years with all the big american giants outsourcing jobs to save on the massive taxes he thinks he can levy on them.Yay for change it starts today!!!
mar1juana over prostitution. But its not "governmental" enough to consider. Though it would be a minor but noticebale revenue. stream. And NO I've never smoked anything in my life. Cant they have like a "trial" period of legalization? The entire world community agrees that times are extra rough. Govt could just say starting...NOW for the next 8 years its all okay, have at it and report back. Later you'll receive a national warning in advance, similar to the message to switch to digital TV tuners, where you're notified we're discontinuing the exemptions & restoring the previous laws and restrictions... But this isnt about any of that.... Were problems viewed as this bad months ago around when Obama was elected, have they gone up/down/remained constant? Or has Obama's impending inauguration help bring to attention the actual true severity of all the problems we face? If Rick Adelman has been announced as new head coach in the paper, and before the press conference we find out Jeff Van Gundy months prior supplied Yao Ming, McGrady, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant with herione which gets them all banned from the league, holding Adelman accountable as a "savior" would be a bit far reaching. He's still walking into the increasing mess the previous person put there for him.
There was a report on one of the Sunday News shows this week that said that contrary to all of the antecdotal evidence, the highway system in the US is the best it's been in 50 years. There have been many more national and state highway projects done during the past 25 years of relative good times than during the decades before that, and virtually every urban center has built some sort of mass transit to attempt to unload the roads. According to the report, the only region with major road maintenance issues is the Rust Belt. (I tried to find an article, but couldn't.) For anyone who has traveled by road a lot, you can vouch for the sheer volume of road construction. I know there are some other infrastructure issues that need work (the canal/levee system in South Louisiana comes to mind immediately), but most of those are less "shovel-ready" than road projects, and less valuable for "stimulus". My mother's stepmother was a Federal bureaucrat, a career civilian assistant to an Air Force Colonel over a base. (Always the same position, the man in the position changed every few years.) Every year, around the end of the fiscal year, they would start a whole bunch of road resurfacing projects so that they could use all of their budget money, and wouldn't get their budget cut the next year. Many of these road surfaces were two or three years old, and in perfect shape. I'm absolutely sure that a lot of the money will be spent exactly this way. On the other hand, some of it will be used to expand infrastructure, which might be needed, but if history holds, it will make our maintenance issues worse. The US highway system funding is split between Federal and State, with the Feds paying a large percentage of the fees to build the road and a smaller percentage to maintain. For example, the Feds match State funding 9:1 to build new interstates, but only 1:1 for maintenance on those interstates. So some States have built highways that they can't afford to maintain. Louisiana did this for years, and didn't change their ways until they built casinos to pay for it.
I do have great hope about Obama turning one thing around, at least partially, and that's the feminization of our culture. In addition to leading the executive and bully-pulpitting Congress, the President is the face of American culture. Obama is a true gentleman, and for 16 years, we've lacked that in the White House. We've had two two-term Presidents in a row that lacked the dignity that suits the Presidency. I don't know if that was a reflection of society, or if it was reflected in society, but I hope that having a gentleman in the White House will spark a revival of real manliness.
Obama can not turn this country around, we - the people, have to do it. But, that can only happen if the people believe the country is going in the right direction, Obama can do that. The best thing a President can do is to make people feel confident. DD
Same way here. I was actually against legalizing it for years because I never smoked it, but in recently I changed my mind about it because of how wide spread the use is, and the need for additional revenues. Prostitution is much more touchy, and it would really depend on how well it can be managed. It clearly isn't a problem when done in a small area like in Nevada, but it becomes harder to manage as it would become more widespread. Even the p*rn industry had to shut down because of Darren James(I think that was his name) getting HIV.
I never expected Obama to "turn things around" - that's not why I voted for him. I voted for him because I thought he's our best shot for our future.
No way he can turn things around. He is a man and not a god-king. My personal expectations are low. He has a lot of crap to deal with. Four years probably won't be enough. I just hope enough of his supporters are realistic too. Talking to your average Obama voter around here (Los Angeles), I get the feeling that they expect him to pay their mortgages, solve their marital problems, and buy them new cars.
