Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[Diomedes]

Inflation really isn't that bad.  Food and energy costs account for most of it--they are practically siamese twins so long as people refuse to buy locally what they can--but the increases are so far isolated to those sectors.

[Cerevant]

The cool thing about inflation is that it keeps reducing the relative cost of the federal debt.

[PhillyPhreak54]

In my business we rely on shipping to get our materials. Most of it comes from other parts of the country and we get a lot of imported products in too.

We are having major problems with the trucking industry because we cannot find trucks to haul the material. We had a load of walnut and red oak sitting on the ground for two weeks in Kentucky because no trucks would bring it down here because of the cost of diesel. Truckers will not go back empty, so unless they have something to haul back east or west with them we have to wait.

The costs of materials are now starting to jump too because of the gas prices. We were able to get good buys but now most of this stuff is relatively new and the costs have jumped big time.

This economy has to be fixed. The starter home market has all but dried up. Cabinet makers and mill work shops are the main customers of ours and they are slowing down, some are closing shop and the only ones thriving are the custom home builders and contractors because they are doing work for the wealthy who have disposable income.

And this is all in a market that is considered lucky because we haven't seen the major problems like Cali and Florida and the northeast as far as the home markets.

[Diomedes]

This economy has to be fixed.

Ya well it starts with each of us.  Stop buying kiwi except perhaps on extraordinary occasions...it doesn't grow where you live.  Stop driving a wasteful car.  Stop borrowing more than you can afford.  Stop supporting the military in every idiot endeavor the corrupt politicians send it.  Save some of your goddamned earnings no matter how meager they are, rather than spending them all, or borrowing to augment your "lifestyle."  Use cash whenever possible. 

Seriously...until Americans adopt a responsible fiscal attitude..."fixing the economy" is a wet dream.  The government can't do shtein about it.

The starter home market has all but dried up.

Good.  It should.  We have plenty of housing stock that wastes away in cities AND rural communities.  Time to re-think this shtein. 

America is in for a wholesale wake up call and it's about time.

[PhillyPhreak54]

My only real vice is cars. I love my truck and Mustangs; they both eat gas.

But I agree wholeheartedly about saving and not exceeding your means. Once I hit my one year on the job my 401 will be maxed out each month and I reduce my debt each month. I hate credit cards and I refused to get them for a long time. I caved and got some because I needed to establish credit a few years ago, I did it and I paid them off. I have three and I use them to buy things and then they get paid off.

[Geowhizzer]

Fully agree on that.  Got rid of the revolving credit about 2 years ago.  Still have a credit card to use for emergencies, but for nothing frivilous.  Live on the budget.

We're managing to save some for retirement, save for college, and still pay the bills.

With the gas, my wife and I are trying to consolidate our trips.  We keep lists of what is needed, and get things as we go on other trips (to and from work, etc).  We try to stay at home as much as possible without going postal on each other and the kids.  As it is, I go through about $200 per month on gas just for my car to drive to and from work (28 miles each way, fill up once per week).

[PhillyPhreak54]

The gas really is an issue. I am lucky in the sense that my work pays for my gas. But when I see people having to spend $100 to fill up, it sucks. Rather than giving people money to boost the economy, how about lowering the gas prices? That would do more to help than stuffing money in peoples pockets to blow on things. Hell, most people probably used that money to fill their cars up.

Its ridiculous when companies use free gas as promotions.

Free gas to buy a car!
Gas cards when you give blood!
Gas cards to open a bank account
Using reward points for gas cards

One of my customers was telling me he thinks that the gas will go down eventually because all of these big businesses are in cohoots with each other. He thinks that the auto industry is struggling so much because of this that they will pressure the oil companies to give them some help. I don't buy it.

[Diomedes]

Gas prices are not going to go down.  The spike in prices is real and justified.  China is positively exploding with new wealth, new roads, new drivers, new buildings, etc.  India is growing extremely fast as well.   The governmnent can't do anything about that.

The other reason fuel has risen--and this is much less a factor, but still worth noting--is that we have a weak dollar.  Why is our currency weak?  Because we're in massive debt, from each personal american living on credit cards, to the government's irresponsible financial tactics.  The war is a very large factor.  We aren't paying for it, we're borrowing for it.  Same with this tax credit that icehole Bush wants us to use on teevees...it's borrowed money.  Insofar as we can eliminate the national debt, we will strengthen the dollar and each one will buy a little more gas than it does now.

But that's small fry.  A new or increased tax on the ridiculously profitable oil companies makes sense to me, but that won't bring prices down either.

Basically, we're farged.  I do think the situation is just going to get worse and worse, forcing us onto trains motorcycle bicycles and other less wasteful means of transportation.  A real and permanent change in lifestyle is coming.

[MadMarchHare]

Or, hey, how about using a renewable fuel source that doesn't farg up the environment?
That might have happened by now is Doofus wasn't elected and the trillion dollars we spent in Iraq was used for research instead.

[Diomedes]

McCain, characteristically out of touch, admits that it's sometimes hard to be proud of America:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/McCain_doesnt_pick_up_on_Michelle_Obama_joke.html

McCain doesn't pick up on Michelle Obama joke

So a man finally got a question into McCain and he had a very different sort of question.

The questioner noted that he had been educated at Princeton and Harvard and made more than $300,000 a year.

"How can I be proud of my country?" he asked.

Get it — he was mocking Michelle Obama and her statement earlier this year that her husband had for the first time in her life made her proud of her country.   

Well, McCain either missed the joke or decided to ignore it and answer the question literally. I think it was the former because the individual asking the question had a thick accent that sounded to be either Indian or Pakistani, perhaps suggesting to McCain a recent immigrant grappling with America's image abroad. 

"I'll admit to you that it's tough, it's tough in some respects," McCain said, seeming to lend credence to Michelle Obama's observation.

McCain said America needed to be "more humble, more inclusive."

He observed that one of the ways to be proud of the country was to look at our history — and the sacrifices U.S. troops have made abroad. 

McCain let his questioner follow up and the individual repeated, but didn't clarify, his line.

In closing, McCain said he was proud of America in part "because of you and what you've been able to achieve and accomplish."

It is hard to be proud of this country.  I'm not particularly proud of it myself..rather ashamed actually.  Last time I was outside the country, I apologized on our behalf a few times, because what this country has done to itself and the world since WWII, and especially under Bush, is pretty disgusting.

[Rome]

No need to qualify "disgusting".  I'm ashamed of how this country has behaved especially since 9/11. 

[Diomedes]

Reprehensible since 9/11.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

This economy has to be fixed.

Ya well it starts with each of us.  Stop buying kiwi except perhaps on extraordinary occasions...it doesn't grow where you live.  Stop driving a wasteful car.  Stop borrowing more than you can afford.  Stop supporting the military in every idiot endeavor the corrupt politicians send it.  Save some of your goddamned earnings no matter how meager they are, rather than spending them all, or borrowing to augment your "lifestyle."  Use cash whenever possible. 

Seriously...until Americans adopt a responsible fiscal attitude..."fixing the economy" is a wet dream.  The government can't do shtein about it.

The starter home market has all but dried up.

Good.  It should.  We have plenty of housing stock that wastes away in cities AND rural communities.  Time to re-think this shtein. 

America is in for a wholesale wake up call and it's about time.

Incredibly, I agree with everything Dio says here.

My wife and I started buying all our produce at the Farmer's Market, and it's been better for our health and our wallets.  We have no debt except our 30-year-fixed mortgage.  I drive a relatively gas-efficient car-based SUV, but I don't drive any more than I have to and try to do multiple errands (!) in one trip.  And, naturally, despite all my bitching about paying too many taxes, we save as much as possible for long-term needs (retirement, child's college) and short-term (emergencies, home improvement, and other STUFF).

But seriously, Dio is spot on.  This is the fault of the American people's habits... not the government's.

[shorebird]

I think Obama has his heart in the right place as far as gas prices go, but the windfall tax he wants to hit oil companies with will not get prices down, it will just drive them up, just as the additives the gov. makes them put in the gas during summer did.

23 billion dollars of profits, and it still isn't enough.

[shorebird]

On the other hand,
Mcain doesn't have a clue, other than alternative fuels.