I kid you not. John McCain’s speech trying to connect to the failing Republican-led economy compares his piddling campaign troubles last year to the U.S. economy. “I feel your pain” it is not.
Sure, you lost your job, your house, the dollar is weaker than the loony, but that’s just like John McCain carrying his own bags.
Oh, and he picked a failing Ohio factory as backdrop for his argument in favor of free, unfettered trade.
trying to connect to the failing Republican-led economy
Republican led? Hell, I could have sworn that a Democratic majority took over Congress on January 21st, 2007. It’s been almost a year and a half. Things really have been different.
The GOP has the executive branch and is roadblocking things in the Senate. Plus, the current state of the economy comes from the cumulative effect of the last 7 years – which had Republican control of the entire government.
Well, see, if economics is all mental anyway, why wouldn’t we see big changes in 18 months after 7 years of crap?
The GOP has the executive branch and is roadblocking things in the Senate.
Translation: The Democrats haven’t done shit.
Plus, the current state of the economy comes from the cumulative effect of the last 7 years – which had Republican control of the entire government.
Funny how now it’s a cumulative effect.
“Translation: The Democrats haven’t done shit.”
Translation: Jay Caruso is a fucking retard.
The Republicans were in charge for seven years, which you completely disregard, yet you want to focus on the last year and a half where the Democrats were in charge of one branch of the government. The Democrats don’t even have a large enough majority to stop Republican obstruction, and you still blame the Democrats.
Fucking hell, the economy was starting to tank in 2006, BEFORE THE DEMOCRATS RETOOK THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, yet you still blame the Democrats.
You are a fucking embarrassment to the human race. Fortunately, you are not part of the human race, as you have so clearly shown in the past.
Bush’s policies passed by his party lead to economic problems.
Clearly the Democrats are to blame.
I get this funny feeling that as soon as the economy shows positive signs, it will become hugely important and causal in oliverwillisland that Democrats have been in control of Congress since the beginning of 2007.
Typical Republican talking point. They run the country. Their policies destroy the economy. People start getting pissed. The Dems come in. Now its their fault. Nice Jay.
Apparently Jay has selective amnesia as people have been pointing out how crappy the economy actually has been for the last several years. Remember Bush’s negative job growth in 2004? It was a big campaign issue. Wages falling. People warning that the Bush boom was based on CREDIT. Dangers of the housing bubble. Massive deficits, the steep rise in the price of oil. War. Famine. Inflation. Layoffs. Outsourcing. All things Jay doesn’t seem to recall.
Haplo9: I get this funny feeling that as soon as the economy shows positive signs, it will become hugely important and causal in oliverwillisland that Democrats have been in control of Congress since the beginning of 2007.
Translation: When the leadership changes, and then another thing which the leadership controls changes, you can’t credit the change to the change in leadership.
Or, in words Haplo9 might follow, 2 2 is not equal to 4.
Aww, phft. Economy’s all in your head anyway.
Sean, I think you are paraphrasing me to say that when the Democrats take control and the economy goes well, then they shouldn’t take credit? You miss the point. Politically, yes, of course they should and will. If they didn’t, the Republicans would.
My point was to poke fun at the silly game that Oliver likes to play when it comes to the economy – anything bad = Republicans fault, anything good = Democrat’s doing. Not that it is unusual- all politicians do it, from both sides of the isle, and its a bunch of posturing crap in both cases. Since Oliver enjoys this game, my point was that he will most certainly start giving credit to the Democrats when and if the economy starts sounding a little more positive, regardless of whether the Democrats have anything to do with it. The same thing applies to Republican partisans, who will of course note that Democrats currently control the purse strings. Its just a bunch of fingerpointing nonsense.
Haplo, tell Democrats that the 9/11 attacks were the result of the “cumulative effect” of the Clinton administration not doing jack shit about terrorism and watch them twist themselves into pretzels, spittle, and see neck and forehead veins pop as they say the 9/11 attacks happened because Bush was cutting brush at his ranch. He was only in office for 7 months but it was all his fault. It wasn’t the “cumulative effect” of having a passive attitude towards terrorism from 1993 to 2001.
That’s why their bellowing about the “Republican recession” is more transparent than tracing paper.
CS, good to see you back. Spouting useless drivel and insults as always. When do you have to go back in the cage?
Eh, I’m a bit lukewarm on blaming Clinton for not doing much about terrorism. Sure, in theory, if he had been more aggressive, 9/11 would never have happened. However, I don’t see where he would have gotten the political support (and cover if it turned out badly) to do much more than he did. One of the consequences of having very partisan politial parties is that it makes political leaders very risk averse. It takes a big event (like 9/11) to push past that. So I can’t really blame Clinton for being, well, a politician, in a time when terrorism just wasn’t nearly the big deal that it is now.
“My point was to poke fun at the silly game that Oliver likes to play when it comes to the economy – anything bad = Republicans fault, anything good = Democrat’s doing.”
Fucking lies. We can point out the crap the Republicans have pulled to hurt the economy, so you are lying when you claim it’s partisan politics.
Jay: “CS, good to see you back. Spouting useless drivel and insults as always. When do you have to go back in the cage?”
I noticed you didn’t do a damn thing to argue against my point. I’ll assume that’s because you can’t. You can’t argue against it because I’m right and you’re a fucking Republican.
And yet Jay can’t name a single thing the Bush administration did to fight terrorism pre-9/11. Nothing. Instead they moved anti-terrorism efforts down in priority. Moved agents over to fight prostitution. Ignored warnings. Tried to refight the cold war.
All he can do is generalize. Oh. 7+ years of Republican destructive policies to our economy has to be the same as 8 years of Clinton anti-terrorism efforts. Right. Name some policies the current congress enacted that led to the economic clusterfuck. Go on. Which law that was passed. We can point to dozens of laws that were blocked.
Name the Clinton policies that undermined anti-terrorism efforts. We can point to dozens of things the Bush administration did or failed to do. Christ they couldn’t scramble a fighter to protect the capitol for over an hour when it was known we were under attack.
And Jay, the passive stance toward terrorism that you are talking about was instituted by Reagan.
>Fucking lies. We can point out the crap the Republicans have pulled to hurt the economy, so you are lying when you claim it’s partisan politics.
I can see why Jay thinks so highly of you. I might be going out on a limb here, but if I were to point out things I think Democrats have done that are bad for the economy, you would probably disagree or find them less important than I would. (You don’t seem to think the Democrats can do much wrong, in any case.) Similarly, were you to point out things Republicans have done that are horrible to the economy, I might disagree or downplay their significance. Unfortunately, measuring the economy and what affects it is not objective fact, as much as you might wish it to be so. Sorry.
I noticed you didn’t do a damn thing to argue against my point.
Oh would that be the “fucking retard” ‘point’? Sorry, but I stopped reading after that.
Eh, I’m a bit lukewarm on blaming Clinton for not doing much about terrorism.
Me neither. There was enough blame to go around extending back the Carter administration. I was just making a point similar to yours.
We can point out the crap the Republicans have pulled to hurt the economy
and
We can point to dozens of laws that were blocked.
Go for it already. Stop with the generalities.
The three key economic factors right now that are causing problems are:
1. The housing mess.
2. Energy prices
3. The weak dollar
Now, you’re such experts. Tell us specifically what GOP policies led to these things. Not generalities. Not “Bush is blocking Senate efforts” and other inane left wing psychobabble. If the GOP is TRULY to blame for what is going on right, you should have no problems telling us what policies they enacted (or refused to enact) that led the above three problems.
Let’s see it.
Like shooting fish in a barrel, it is…
1. Deregulation of banking in the 1980’s by a Republican president began this mess by allowing banks and non-banks to make risky loans and still have them bought by Fannie Mae. This allowed banks to make risky loans to unqualified borrowers while at the same time shuffle off risk to the public. The artificially low interest rates of the post 9/11 period fueled cheap mortgages, which in turn over inflate housing prices. Most people buy houses on the monthly payment. Lower interest rate, the more expensive house they can buy. The market adjusted to this reality.
2. Energy prices: To me, the most important catalyst was the repeal and relaxation of the CAFE standards by the 1990’s Republican Congress. This allowed manufacturers to build non-fuel efficient behemoths rather than working to increase fuel economy. The average car sold in Japan gets 45mph. Why? Because taxes and laws make the cost of gas guzzlers prohibitive. If we had the same policies here, gas would be lower priced because there is less demand. Also, Republican policies shovel welfare to agribusiness for inefficient corn ethanol while discouraging sugar cane ethanol, which is more efficient. Republican efforts to cut federal funding for mass transit also play a part, along with efforts to fight managed growth in our urban areas. Cutting of highway budgets means roads fall into disrepair, causing congestion that wastes gasoline.
3. Low Fed Funds rates combined with a weak dollar fed policy flood the market with liquidity. More dollars means each dollar is worth less. This is exacerbated by the slow growth in the past 2 years, which guarantees that the economy cannot absorb the excess dollars.
Aside to Haplo9: Thanks for clarifying in reply to my last post and you are exactly right that it is a silly game and both sides of the aisle to it. Personally, I find the Republican policies and actions more damaging to the country than the Democrats, but the Dems certainly are responsible as well. For cowering and letting the Repubs get away with it if nothing else. But, yes, there is sufficient blame to go around to both sides and those who are so vehemently that it’s all one side’s fault are not always demonstrating the level of reason they claim they are capable of.
But, hey, sometimes it’s amusing to sit back and watch the show. So join me in some popcorn and lets see J, JT, CSS and EL go at it.
A few obstructions off the top of my head:
Prescription Drug Price Negotiating Act
Different blockages of bills and amendments seeking to withdraw our troops from Iraq.
Energy legislation seeking to cancel subsidies to oil companies and direct the funds into research and development of alternative energy.
The fact is the senate republicans blocked by filibuster more bills in 1/2 a term than any other congress did in a full term.
Energy prices?
I’m pretty sure the misguided invasion of Iraq had something to do with it.
Jay: “Oh would that be the “fucking retard” ‘point’? Sorry, but I stopped reading after that.”
And that’s your fucking problem, Jay.
Good god. It’s like you are trying to proof you are sub-human. It’s like its your fucking goal in life. You committed the Style Over Substance fallacy, and you are proud of it. You are willfully ignorant, and you brag about it.
It would be laughable, except there are so many people like you out there.
Haplo9: “I can see why Jay thinks so highly of you. I might be going out on a limb here, but if I were to point out things I think Democrats have done that are bad for the economy, you would probably disagree or find them less important than I would.”
Instead of saying you could do it, fucking do it!
What did the Democrats do in the time they retook the legislative branch and the time the economy started to collapse that cause the economy to collapse? Keep in mind that the housing bubble was starting to pop BEFORE they won in ‘06.
Jesus Christ! Do I have to explain the concept of linear time to you people?
Sometimes it is not an issue of partisan bickering. Sometimes one side is wrong and the other is right. Saying otherwise is the Golden Mean Fallacy.