My Uncle Bob is a funny guy. He seldom reads, preferring to get his information from talk radio and Fox News. Despite often times irrefutable evidence to the contrary, he’s hell-bent on believing what he wants to believe. For example, Uncle Bob thinks President Obama is not a United States citizen. Oh, and our President is a Muslim!
Call me a masochist, but I rather enjoy discussing, OK arguing, politics with Uncle Bob. A few days ago, we were on the topic of who would be a better president over the next four years. Uncle Bob, voice raised, says, “Of course Romney would be better. Any moron should know that! He’s got lots of business experience. That Obama guy never owned a business.”
I guess Uncle Bob believes, that because Romney himself has touted his business experience a zillion times since he began running for president eight years ago, it must be true. It’s beyond me how anyone could consider “dismembering acquired companies and throwing folks out of work” business experience, but apparently some people do. Uncle Bob sure does.
Well, l had to admit that the economy was still in the doldrums from the worst crash since the Great Depression. I knew it would do little good for me to explain how President Obama inherited an economic mess, and things were slowly getting better. Been there, done that, FAILED. Anyway, Uncle Bob got me wondering whether prior business experience really gives a president a “one up” when it comes to guiding our nation’s economy? So, I did some research and what I found was rather interesting.
I couldn’t wait to share my results with Uncle Bob. So, I go over to his house, and even before we went through the usual perfunctory greeting, I say to him, “Do you know we’ve had ten presidents since 1960? Of those, only three had any business experience prior to taking office: Jimmy Carter (peanut farm owner), George H. W. Bush (oil business), and George W. Bush (oil business and co-owner of the Texas Rangers). Since 1960, the GDP grew the most under the three administrations of President Kennedy (5.66%), President Johnson (4.24%) and President Clinton (3.64%). The slowest growth occurred during the administrations of President Carter (2.72%), President George H.W. Bush (1.96%) and George W. Bush (1.42%). Hum, so much for business experience! Even Mitt Romney’s tenure as governor of Massachusetts belies your ‘a businessman is best theory.’ During that time, Massachusetts’ job growth was 47th in the nation, it had the 2nd largest labor force decline in the nation, and it lost 14% of its manufacturing jobs.”
I was pretty proud of myself and thought I had Uncle Bob just where I wanted him. He looks at me dumbfounded and utters, “Governor Romney should be president because he’s got business experience!” Uncle Bob’s a funny guy!
Tell us again, how printing money out of thin air in three quantitative easings with a possible QE4 is going to help the middle class, let alone the financial standing of the USA's world reserve currency. At least Uncle Bob doesn't tune into Mike Malloy. Amusing opinion piece. Here's an undisputed reality; the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money. As with the Soviet Union, the European Union is coming undone. Before long, the socialized areas of the USA will follow suit. Democrats do not deliver people out of poverty, they ensure that people stay there. http://www.cnbc.com/id/49564413/Europe_s_Poor_Ask_for_Food_Aid_as_Crisis_Bites
Let me answer for Racerx Gto. Well, we've got the best military in the world. We have police and fire protection second to none. We've got the best freeway and road system in the world. We've got social security and medicare (my 94-year old father is very thankful for those). We've got public education that serves us all. All of those "areas" can be considered at least partly socialistic, and I'm damn thankful for that!
http://www.romneytaxplan.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TiXUF9xbTo&feature=player_embedded
Talk about severe disconnect....but then he is the standard bearer for the 1% and their water carriers.
Funny you don't mention that the Ryan budget, adopted by Romney, will have to cut all federal funding not directly related to entitlements; stuff like FEMA. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said last August that Ryan's budget would dump the cost of dealing with disasters on state and local governments. I suppose that's a fabrication?
Sorry, I'm a tad late on this response. I'm not sure there are any completely Unsocialized areas in our society. If you look at a political/economic spectrum, with say communism on the far left and unfettered free enterprise on the far right, I think a case could be made that most elements of our society are a combination of free markets and government involvement. There may be examples of unfettered capitalism, but I can't think of any. HELP, HELP!
Two--Center on Budget yada is highly partisan. Do you quote Huffington Post, the Tax Policy Center, or thinkprogress.org as "fact" as well? Three--grow up and learn the difference between real facts, opinion, and partisan "facts"
Of course someone is suggesting (or had suggested in the past) that FEMA be cut without superior replacement (OK, I'll admit the last part is opinion). In past speeches, Romney has suggested the federal government get out of the emergency response/recovery business. He thinks (now, he's changing his mind on this issue like he's changed his mind on just about every important issue) the states can do it better. And, he's suggested that the private sector could do it even better! Ya, right. Tell that to all the Hurricane Katrina victims! So, M.Legison, do you think turning emergency response/recovery would be better handled by the states like Romney dies?
My apologies. I hit the "submit" prior to proofreading my previous posting. Try this one. Of course someone is suggesting (or had suggested in the past) that FEMA be cut without superior replacement (OK, I'll admit the last part is opinion). In past speeches, Romney has suggested the federal government get out of the emergency response/recovery business. He thinks (now, he's changing his mind on this issue like he's changed his mind on just about every important issue) the states can do it better. And, he's suggested that the private sector could do it even better! Ya, right. Tell that to all the Hurricane Katrina victims! So, M.Legison, do you think emergency response/recovery would be better handled by the states like Romney does? How about the private sector?
Don't count on it, John..
Romney replied: “We cannot – we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids..' It doesn't get much clearer than to state 'we cannot do those things...' when the question of disaster relief was posed to the ultimate flip flopper. But I guess when you see things through a perversely skewed prism up is down and down is up.
At a GOP primary debate in June 2011, Romney, when asked about FEMA's budget woes and how he would deal with it, had said, "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better." During that debate, the moderator, CNN's John King, had gone on to ask if that included "disaster relief." Romney suggested it did. The Center for American Progress, a liberal group, called attention to Romney's remarks in an email to reporters on Sunday. Asked for clarification today, Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said the GOP nominee wasn't implying he would get rid of FEMA, but rather that he simply wants states to play a greater role in disaster response.
Facts are not in dispute, Romney wanted to do away with any federal disaster aid before he was for it, just like every other issue he's embraced before he ran away from it. Keeping in character we now find him lying to voters in Ohio, and that he refuses to stop lying even after being called on his lies by GM, Chrysler, and even other conservatives. (Of course they're not real conservatives, since they are not as divorced from reality as you and the Romney Ryan ticket are.)