Fannie and Freddie did not help the situation, but to blame these institutions and low income people for this is shameful and a typical right wing tactic of looking for scapegoats. This was a real estate bubble and everyone was trying to get rich. To many people jumped into the wagon and now over a million or more people will lose their homes.

There is plenty of blame to go around here, but it’s mostly greed and lack of decent regulations and controls over the market. This happened on the Republican watch it’s a result of their BS. There were Wall Street Democrats who went along with it, but this is mostly due to people like former Sen. Phil Gramm has a lot to answer for. Like I said there is plenty of blame to go around. I also think Barney Frank should resign from the chairmanship of Financial Services Committee.

I hope Majawill for your sake that you have 30 year fixed like I do. If not good luck with that. Is your job secure? Do have enough saved in case you get laid off?

I guess the 8 years of the Bush tax cuts really worked to help the economy. How do you explain the current financial mess, your a genus enlighten us. Please don’t start with Fanny and Freddie as they are not the main reason for this mess.

The other thing is I don’t think Obama is going to raise taxes right now on people making more than 250k. Did you not notice he has stopped mentioning it.

First, as our parents (or maybe now grandparents), they had the FIRST responsibility to teach us that hard work, pride in country, and whatever other values they hold to be important.

Second, and more importantly, their leadership has lead us to this point where we as a country are saddled with debt, bogged down in 2 wars, have crumbling infrastructure and schools. We are looking at having to pay for all of their tax cutting and expeditions and are going to be far more constrained in what we take on than they were. We are looking at having difficulty getting and keeping jobs, trouble getting and paying for health insurance, sending our young children to schools in terrible shape, all while watching the planet melt – so, yes, we are ready for a different direction than they have chosen, we maybe even ready for a little social engineering, whatever that means.

I would suggest that they start hoping that we are up to the challenge instead of criticizing us for wanting try something different and having different priorities given we are facing different problems, problems that require a lot more in the way of collective action than what they have chosen to tackle.

http://shinymetalobject.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/i-am-not-proud-of-my-country/

3% on 33% is approximately a 9% increase in your tax bracket if as a couple you make more than $200,000 and file jointly. That couple has already stepped up to their personal responsibility and is paying significant dollars. Bush’s tax cuts went across the brackets from high to low; all shared in the relief.

Why is the answer to the question raise taxes, as opposed to cutting spending? That’s the kind of sacrifice we could all tolerate.

Also, the references to personal values and social engineering by both remain unexplained. The hint is that it’s about THEIR social values, to which I say No Thank You.

If this is really to be a time of coming together, America, consider the sacrifice of tolerating a reasonable tax increase so we can address the many needs that face us. Get off the tired old stereotypes about people living off the government, and step up.

I’m embarrassed that our president has been on vacation for the last eight years and that the man our next president ran against doesn’t know that Spain is in Europe. And both of them are so totally out of touch with the economic circumstances of the average American — that, too, is embarrassing.

So yes, I’m proud of my country for the first time in a long while because we didn’t give in to racism, because millions of Americans, in the privacy of a voting booth with the curtains closed, choose to vote for a black man. I’m proud that American’s watched the debates and could see that Obama was simply more competent and more capable of leading a divided country in crisis. For listening to the RNC rhetoric about community organizers and electing a community organizer.

And if that is an insult to soldiers who’ve been fighting for this country, I don’t really know what to say.

I’d think companies would rush to dedicate a Nap Room in their offices, complete with reclining chairs, drapes and only cinema floor lights, to help their employees take advantage of scientific research and increase their productivity.

I don’t know a liberal or conservative alive who’s heart doesn’t swell when the American flag stands taller even during silly times like the olympics.

What pride in country IS related to is the GOVERNMENT. The people in power on capital hill and the white house who make POLICY decisions that affect our lives.

P.S. Obama’s mom was one of those “welfare queens” that republicans love to spit on. They want to ban abortion but are unwilling to care for children and pregnant women. With their lack of knowledge about science, they don’t seem to understand that embryos become children who require food, love, and responsible parents.

The only group working their tail off in the last 10 years are the middle and lower classes, plus poor workers in 3rd world countries. Employers and CEO’s have done NOTHING but BENEFIT from thier hard labor and increased their profits. None of these profits were used to INCREASE jobs, workers wages, or healthcare benefits.

The republican narrative of calling workers “lazy” people requesting “hand-outs”, while they sit in an office doing NOTHING but pushing paper and making phone calls has got to STOP. Americans have bought this lie for too long and need to PUSH-BACK and stand up to these bullies.

“Hold on honey there’s a new dawn coming
And a big bird to sweep us away
Keep on dreaming soon there’ll be a reason
To see it through one more day…”

I am a 45 year old caucasian male of British ancestry. I’m the descendant of immigrants, both legal and illegal. I’m a firm believer in the concept of the rule of law and all that implies. It is my most fervent hope that America will wake up from this long nightmare of greed, racism, illegal war, torture, suspension of habeas corpus, to a new dawn so eloquently described by Thomas Jefferson when he said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (people) are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Let us wake up and embrace the dawn!

Siestas are not European as such, but a practice of those who live near the equator simply because the ambient temperature is too hot to work during mid-day. You will find people who live and work in these regions of the planet take a mid-day “siesta” and then return to work until late into the evening i.e. 10/11:PM. This was the case most in places until the advent of air-conditioning.

Written in 1892, The Pledge of Allegiance was officially instituted during the WWII in 1942. The “under god” portion added in 1954, is a relict of the cold war.

FYI >>http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance&lt;&lt; “Francis Bellamy (1855 – 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).”

Personally, my allegiance is to the United States Constitution, and not the symbol of any Republic. The nation and the symbol (the flag) have no meaning without the Constitution, however the Constitution is meaningful regardless of the nation or its symbol.

Lastly, health care; European countries and Japan have nationalized health care and their industries are more competitive than America’s. Simply on a business level, if the United States had national health care, that cost of doing business, could be excluded from the cost business. US industry would again become competitive with this one step alone. I suspect the US auto industry does not support nationalized health care because; the auto industry and the insurance industry are invested in each other.

To the business owner in Iowa, imagine if you did not have to factor in the cost of health care, at all. Imagine if you could go into work everyday knowing that your family your employees and you all had the same level of health care as our Federally elected representatives.

But rest assured, this is NOT President-elect Obama’s plan. This would my plan, but then again I’m the lefty weirdo who works until 10:pm regardless of the ambient temperature, whose allegiance is to the Constitution, not the flag, and believes in “equality, liberty and justice for all.”