Georgia on my mind

[jonottawa]

Who cares if current economic conditions meet somebody's technical definition of a recession or not?  That's just more Repug distraction from the real issues with respect to the economy:

 

Bush inherited huge budget surpluses, virtually nonexistent inflation, miniscule interest rates, miniscule unemployment, rising living standards, reasonably steady rich/poor gap and a strong dollar.

 

8 years of Bush's war crimes, mismanagement, corruption and class warfare (massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich) have led inexorably to huge deficits, rising unemployment, the return of significant inflation, collapsing infrastructure, an energy crisis, falling living standards for most, a massive and growing rich/poor gap and the collapse of the dollar.  Oh, and did I mention that the first baby boomers turn 65 in 3 years?

 

8 years ago America was the undisputed superpower of the world.  Today, America is in decline and China is in ascendancy.  Mostly due to a stolen election 8 years ago.  Everyone's talking about this election being the most important election of our lifetimes.  Uh, no, you morans, the one in 2000 was.  This one's a squabble over deck chairs on the Titanic.

The economic turnaround started prior to January, 2001. It was hardly a sign of economic health that people were willing to pay several hundreds of dollars per share for companies that had no earnings, as long as they had a website. It was nice while it lasted, but it wasn't going to keep up irrespective of who won the 2000 election.

Similarly, unless you seriously posit that something Al Gore would have done would have prevented the 9-11 attacks, a fair share of the 21st-century negative economic conditions in the United States were going to happen one way or the other.

If 4.2% unemployment is miniscule, then 5.7% isn't all that horrible.

What do you think Gore would have done to prevent China's ascendancy or America's decline?

Depending on your thoughts on Global Warming, I could see the position that Gore could have done a lot to make a better country in 20 years, but as for the short term, I could more readily see a worse 2008 economy under Gore, had he committed massive amounts of federal funds (and imposed massive restrictions on businesses...you know, those entities that provide most of the jobs) in response to Global Warming. Particularly as money allocated to the budget stays allocated year to year, and the economy was well overdue for a cyclical contraction regardless of who sat in the White House.

The tech bubble burst long before Bush took office.

 

Gore wouldn't have invaded Iraq. Gore wouldn't have politicized the Justice Department. Gore wouldn't have cut the inheritance tax to zero or given a huge income tax break to rich folks. Gore wouldn't have let the oil companies write his energy policy. Obviously Gore wouldn't have let religious wingnuts dictate policy. He wouldn't have tried to create the 'common enemy' of 'islamic extremism' in order to distract the electorate from the important issues that affect their lives.

 

Gore would have acted as a rational check on the Repugs in congress and vice versa. Just like Clinton and the Repugs in the 90's.

 

Would 9/11 have happened with Gore in office? Maybe, maybe not.

 

Would have, could have, should have. The fact is we don't know. He certainly couldn't have done any worse than the cokehead/cultist/cheerleader in chief has done. You can argue that while Bush earns a 20% we'll never know if Gore would have gotten a 15%. But I suspect Gore would have been an 'average-plus' president and we'd be doing okay, if not great, still infinitely better placed than we are today, if they had counted the votes in Florida in 2000.

[P_Marlowe]

<snip>

What do you think Gore would have done to prevent <snip>

America's decline? <snip>

One thing: Available Money.

 

Bush said, we have an (assumed) tax surplus, the economy is

running fine, lets give it back to the peoble, ... sounds great.

 

The economy slowed down, the (assumed) tax breaks did not

materialize, does not matter, still go on with the tax break to get

the economy going again, ... sounds great again.

 

And of course Gore may not have gone to war against Irak, a war

who was unecessary and risks loosing some more important battles,

Afghanistan (and for that matter if you loose this war, you are going

to loose the battle in Paksitan, something really to worry about,

because Paksitan has nukes.)

As it is this unecessary war also costs lots of money, which is missing.

 

Dont you think, that there the propability, that the US may

be slightly better of now, is non zero?

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

 

PS: If you have money available, you may even be able finance some

unnecessary changes due to global warming easing the burden of the peoble.

[kenberg]

In 200 the country was at peace with a thriving economy and Al Gore was vice president. Under these circumstances Al Gore should have won in a cakewalk if the Republicans had revived Abe Lincoln and put him on the ticket. The fact that the election came down to how some chads were hanging in Florida does not speak well of his political abilities. In one debate he practiced the art of sighing, in another he seemed to be trying to physically impose himself on Bush, in all he looked like an idiot. What the hell is a controlling legal authority? The cops? To be beaten by George Bush is a humiliation but you have to ask yourself how anyone with any talent at all, holding the hand he was dealt, could let it happen.

[Al_U_Card]

Before "W" I would have said that it made little real difference who the figurehead in the whitehouse was. Having seen him front for the last 7 years has been eye-opening to say the least.

 

Having made their power-play and gotten all the control they needed, only their political incontinence (Justice/CIA/FEMA/legislator peccadillos) has caused some hesitation in their advance towards total control.

 

They have looted the economy.

They have stripped your rights.

They have rigged the electoral process.

They control the media.

 

Is it too late for the people to wrest control back from this plutocracy to refresh and renew the democratic principles upon which the nation was purportedly founded? Only time will tell.

[Winstonm]

Excellent journalism - Non-U.S. source, of course. ;)

 

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas...4333715324.html

[Winstonm]

And, of course, how quickly we (and the U.S. media) forget Kosovo:

 

The Kosovo situation shows us with complete clarity that the geopolitical interests of Russia and the West are in fundamental conflict," says Alexander Dugin, head of the International Eurasian Movement, an influential grouping of nationalist intellectuals, businessmen, and policymakers. "Russia should regard this as an opportunity to enlarge its own zone of influence," by recognizing statelets like Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moreover, he adds, "this will be a signal for Russian minorities in eastern Ukraine and other places to organize for their own separation.... [Western behavior has shown us] that geopolitical interests now prevail. Any talk of morality is just a disguise