Deficit Issue

[R2D2]

Not only was nothing mentioned about politictions taking a paycut, now the lawmakers on capital hill are on August recess...! Nice the whole month of Aug. off..

 

[R2D2]

The fingering pointing and blame game are in full swing now that we lost our triple A rating. Edging a little closer to a complete fiscal meltdown, all parties failed the American people again.Until all entitlement programs are reformed and harnessed, i don't believe we will get our house in order, leaving our children a dim future.When will they learn, that they cannot give out more than they take in...? Why do we give benefits to people entering our country illegally..? Why do we have to give money to help countries around the world while we go down the tubes and can't take care of our own buisness...? We live in a very disfuntional country. Our leaders are in denial and unable to do their jobs...

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

you said it... i'm not sure all the "well its THEIR fault" is helping the case that what we REALLY need is grown ups running the country. i would have been impressed if anyone stepped forward and said, gosh we need to work together. right.

i'm pretty embarrassed for all of them.

 

[Boogity]

Does anyone think that we'll ever see or hear an elected official stand up and address the citizens with a speech encouraging us to STOP buying foreign made products? How stupid can "We The People" be? We purchase everything we can from foreign countries and then wring our hands because there are no jobs in the USA. We're not only idiots when we're in the voting booth but we're also idiots when we're in the stores. Some of you have said that you MUST buy that Chinese junk because it's so cheap . . . now look at how much it is costing us. A double A credit rating is going to cost every one of us dearly.

Bend over America! We're going to get just what we deserve.

 

[FarmerJamie]

I hear the heart of your message about buying American. But it is a very complicated situation. I remember the crap American cars in the '70s and how foreign quality products ate the auto industries lunch. Grew up in a very blue collar household and remember stories of floor sweepers in an auto plant making 60K per year. I'm not bashing unions, I think there is a place for them. The solution is not as simple as just "buy American".

The hard fact is that it is now a global economy. The economic theory of "comparable advantage" needing to be factored into our thinking, IMHO. YMMV

 

[Wifezilla]

The unions had a purpose at one time. Now they are just more thugs squeezing money out of the tax payers. I grew up in a union household. I saw when it did good. I saw it slowly go bad. FJ is right. It's not that simple anymore.

 

[Boogity]

Yes, I agree. The American auto manufacturers brought the foreign cars to our shores by making trash and charging too much for it. The UAW somehow got a strangle-hold on the manufacturers and abused their power to the extreme (and in my opinion still does). I think all of us are aware that unions were much needed but soon became the problem. I think I blame the manufacturer's management for their problems. They tried to screw the workers and the union was started. Then the management was too stupid or lazy and allowed the union to become too strong. But this is not a forum to discuss unions, is it.

 

[Britesea]

cars are only one item. There are a lot of other things we buy that are made in other countries. Just yesterday, I was buying some frozen fish. I grabbed the farm raised tilapia first, because it was the cheapest... turned it over and it read from Vietnam. Next I went for the sole because it said Wild caught... turned it over and it read from China. I finally found some wild caught Cod from American waters... but it took some time to find something that came from this country, and it did cost more than the foreign stuff. But if we are serious about getting our country out of the hole it's sliding into, we are going to have to make some effort. I am making the commitment to buy things that are american-made whenever I can.

ps: I drive a Corolla, which was built in Fremont, CA. And I got it used.

 

[R2D2]

Its all true, the global ecomony, which were tied into big time and the high cost of well paid labor in the US is making it tough. It's a "Perfect Storm" of fiscal matters.When a nation like ours loses our leading edge to produce in any arena, it's going to cost us.This has been going on for years.Americans want good paying jobs,and we had that for a long time.Some sectors in our economy are still well payed.Since we've gone global and the worlds population has exploded, we really don't have that luxuary any longer. The world is getting meaner and leaner on a daily basis.The strong will survive.Our leaders need to adhere to the voters wishes and get our fiscal house in order. We absolutely cannot continue on our present path.The debt ceiling situation has not been resolved, the danger is very real and stil present...IMO

 

[FarmerJamie]

Don't forget environmental regulations, too. That plays into higher costs of goods produced here, too.

Went to a picnic today and drove through a part of Cleveland that used to house several large steel mills. There is now a Wally-World and a U-store-it place sitting on the site. Also, we were sitting on the shore of western Lake Erie, looking at a coal-loading facility. It loads Ohio coal onto ships to send to China, because it can't be burnt here, from what the local guy was telling me.

We have to find a reasonable balance.