I have this analogy....

Put an average consumer in a bank, it's like a kid in a candy store. If you loan him as much money as he wants for candy, he'll go home with six POUNDS of the stuff, as much as he can carry

He doesn't care that it will make him sick, rot his teeth, and take forty years to pay for out of his allowance..!

But the candyman knows that... He knows it as certainly as the sun rising in the East! So it's the responsibility of the candyman to only sell him what he knows will get payed back and not make him sick and rot his teeth.

But lately, the candyman has become a little kid himself... His dad left him the store when he retired, and he has not the slightest concern about long term potential problems, as long as he can make a short term buck, he goes for it! (No wetback candymen, either, if you are looking for a minority to blame!) The short term buck is just too tempting...

So, what do we need here? Of course... ADULTS Someone to tell the candyman he CAN'T loan enough to the kid to make his teeth rot and break his piggy bank...

And THAT, my friends, is the government's job... They are, in a sense, in loco parentis. They tell the kid 'this will rot your teeth' and they tell the kid selling the candy 'Don't sell him more than he can carry'!

But when the ADULTS start acting like little kids as well, well, you can see what happens. SOMEONE has to be the grown up, and it's time we insisted our representatives do so. Every kid dreams of a world with no adult supervision... Lord of the Flies pretty much describes what happens when they achieve it.

We are living through our own Lord of the Flies right now... You can already hear the squeals for Simon's blood.

Simon the wetback...

I love this analogy, but...

The FATHER (literally speaking) of the kid in the candy store should have taught the kid NOT to buy as much as he wants, but as much as he NEEDS, just like we teach our kids NOT to accept candy from a stranger. Thern we wouldn't need the government to play adult.

And this happens more and more these days, adults behaving like kids in a candy store... Have not felt it myself yet, (don't have kids) but have cousins a mere 15 years younger who do not realise what the real world is about. They think that they can get a job at whim, that problems are solved easily.

History teaches us that everyone wants everything, to hell with the consequences. Do you think that people in the past didn't TRY to get more from the candy store than they could afford? Only, back then, the candy store owner was more cautious, and the ADULT in the room, forbade him to loan it.

You can take that as proof that we behaved better in the past, but human nature being what it is (pretty unchanging, IMO), I simply take it as proof that without the stringent controls on the lending industry, things would have been just as bad then as now...

A few thoughts on this topic...

1) The economic crisis has enough blame to spread around to just about everyone. Gov't (Deregulation), Gov't ("do nothing" legislators), Wall Street execs (Greed/corruption), middle class families (living too much on debt, etc...) should all smacked...

2) Try as I might, I can not find a meaningful reason to vote for John McCain.

3) Obama is not destined to be a one term President.

4) Economically, we enjoyed much better conditions during the Clinton years...Not saying he was to thank for it all but it was under his watch things were pretty good. There is a 3-5 year lag for many major economic programs before we see how they really panned out...

5) I've heard neither candidate even mention funding for the Arts in our schools...

6) I'm torn between not wanting all the power in one party and wondering if that's really, for better or worse, the best way to try and forge a new direction...

7) I think experience is over rated in Washington...

8) Intelligence/brains matter and again, IMO, McCain just doesn't measure up...

9) The country would benefit from a legitimate 3 party system...

10) Call me gullible, call me stupid, whatever...I have two college degrees and have lived through raising a mentally challenged daughter who put us through everything you can think of...I'd like to think I'm a somewhat educated middle aged man, who's worked in both corporate and private business for over 30 years, succeeded in both my marriage and raising our kids, (btw, the child mentioned above just completed her 5th straight honors list semester at College...) I feel like I'm pretty aware of things and that I give important things some serious thought before coming to an opinion...

I hope, think and pray Barack Obama will be the right person for the job. Of the two options, he resonates with me far more than JM does...

We'll see, eh?

------------------
Bill in Dayton

Slowly, bit by bit, the middle class is starting to realize who the Republicans REALLY owe their allegiance to... and it sure ain't us. Sure, we're their base, and they still trot out the hot button talking points for us to get all riled up about, but when push comes to shove, it's their billionaire and millionaire supporters that reap the benefit of their largesse. (Not that the Democrats are much better, but at least we get a LITTLE piece of the pie )

While the economy is strong, we can delude ourselves that they really DO care about us, but when things tighten up, it sure ain't us that gets that $700B handout, is it?

You are on your own, my friends... better find a scapegoat QUICK, or you'll have to perhaps own up to the truth. While things SEEMED fine, you let the Republicans sell the store, allow their millionaire buddies to reap windfall profits from deregulation, while you wrung your hands over abortion issues, and protecting us against nonexistent 'terror alerts' (or barely effective) foes, and deciding the 'right to life' of brain dead cabbages.

GW should NEVER have been allowed a second term (and wasn't REALLY given the first!), but at least, after fawning over this 'smaller government, let the market regulate itself' for thirty years or more (since Reagan), you are finally waking up to what happens when the right is allowed to implement it's agenda without effective opposition...

The rich got MUCH richer, and the rest of us worked harder and harder for less and less.

Proof enough for me, at least. But maybe Palin's airline stewardess winking will keep blinding some of you despite all the facts.

Sadly, I think Barack will only get the one term, because eight years of Bush 'tax cut AND spend' have left the economy so bad, there won't be a penny available for what he proposes to do, and the Republicans in 2012 will hammer this as 'proof' he can't keep his promises. This isn't a one term problem, but I have a feeling the 'instant gratification' generation don't have the patience to let him have the time it is going to take...

And so it goes.

Yes, the problem with our society as a whole is GREED ... not by any one 'class'- rich, middle, or low income, not by any one group - white, minority - WHOMEVER that may encompass - whatever ... the greed is perpetrated by ALL people who 'have to have' what they cannot afford ... As far as the foreclosure crisis, are lenders to blame? - ABSOLUTELY - but as it has been said by others here, so are the borrowers ... Does anyone think for a moment that the people who cannot now afford their mortgage only have THAT expense that they cannot afford??? ... How many of these people are up to their ears in credit card debt ? Is that the fault of the 'lenders'???
My brother-in-law used to sell cars for a living - one of the honest car salesman I've ever known - He used to tell me that people would buy a car on their CREDIT CARD !!! - not that they NEEDED the car, but because they WANTED it ... Even when he told them they COULD NOT AFFORD IT, they would respond "If you don't sell it to me, someone else will" ...
How many people do not have health insurance, but yet have the latest I-POD or whatever? -TOO MANY !!! ...
I was recently in an SUV with a friend of my son. Now this young (40ish) man is doing well, but I get into his Lexus SUV and he has a built in navigation system, satellite radio, On-Star, and who knows what else. Now, he is doing well enough that he can afford it ... but how many people have navigation systems who don't need them and really CAN'T afford it??? ... and why do people need these things anyway??? If I'm going to take a trip to someplace I haven't been, I get on a PC and use MapQuest, Expedia, or Google to get me there ... and if I get lost I go into a gas station and ask for directions!!! And if I didn't have a PC I would but a map ! All of a sudden, a navigation system is a necessity that wasn't even thought of a few years ago ... And that's only one of the 'toys' people 'absolutely need today ! ...

As far as the presidential race is concerned, I have not made up my mind yet ... but there is one thing I wonder about ... And I ask this honestly - Why did Hillary make it perfectly clear that she would not be Obama's running mate? ... If she felt he would win and make a good president, wouldn't it serve her well to 'ride his coattails' for 4 or 8 years and then make a run as the former VP of a 'successful' administration? ... Or does she believe he will NOT be successful, and does not want to be part of a failing administration? ...
(or perhaps she just didn't want to play 'second fiddle' to another president )

As far as Obama is concerned, to me it seems that his whole career has been targeted for politics... Even out of law school, I don't know if he ever practiced law, or just used that as a 'line on his resume' ... And then, as the result of one great speech, he seems to have been cast into the limelight ...

I just don't know ...


t.

PS ... I will be away for the weekend (starting Friday) to attend my 50th anniversary High School class reunion ( I graduated when I was 6 yrs old )... It's our first reunion ever - should be strange -

I am saying this because if there are any responses to my post I will not be able to respond until next week ... I do not have a lap top because I DON'T THINK I NEED ONE and there is no point in spending money on something I don't really need ...
t.

I believe there is a natural tendency to want to live a bit better than your parents, to slowly see life improve, to see our economy grow and prosper...

Now, that is all well and good when our politicians and economists try to set the economy so that, as it grows, we ALL reap the benefit from this. But when the tax cuts benefit primarily the ultra wealthy (did you feel 'stimulated' by your few hundred dollars? ) and everything that they control, including our energy costs, health care and our children's education (things we simply cannot do without) goes up at multiple times the rate of inflation, we feel stymied. And then, when a bank or credit card company comes along and offers us the ability to at least LOOK like we are doing better than our parents, that is a temptation few can resist.

You work your asses off, and yet you STILL can't afford what your parents had? That's an economy with REAL problems, and hard to accept when we can see the millionaires and billionaires doing better than they EVER have before. A century ago, it was enough to promote revolution in many countries. Now that we can't use credit to fool ourselves that we aren't being shafted royally, don't be surprised to see the mood in the US turn ugly, REAL fast.

We are FAR better armed than the Russian peasants were

Economic and class warfare is the last step in a dwindling culture. Either we start to make progress making ALL our citizen's lifestyles and opportunities go up AND down together, or we are no different from the French, the Russians, the Mexicans and everyone else that has had to have armed conflict before we stop hearing 'Let them eat cake' from the fat cats while we starve, slowly.

Don't think it can't happen here... we have a long history of using violence to solve our problems

I have no problem with the first statement ... But how many young people want to SLOWLY see life improve ... from what I've seen, young people today, when they leave their parents home, want the EXACT same things as what their parents worked all their lives for ... I didn't have that, and neither did any of our friends, nor did we expect it ...
When my wife and I bought our first house we bought a 2 family so that we could get some income to help with the mortgage ... was it more work for us? Absolutely, but we did it with the intention that someday we would have a one family home, which we eventually did ... how many young people today want to start out like that???


And young people today have more available than what their parents ever DREAMED of having ... but they want it NOW and that's part of the problem ...

t.

Yes, I agree, to a certain extent... but then again, we are the parents who often cosign for these things, when we should know better ourselves

The role of the media in bombarding our younger generation with the 'bling life', the fast fix, the losers mentality if you don't have the necessary gadgets cannot be overstated, either, though. The very media controlled by the mega-corporations, the shapers of public opinion and attitude. These are things we had to deal with to a FAR lesser extent while we were in our formative years (deregulation, once again).

But when we all see our basic living costs, our energy needs, our education needs, our health needs go up at MULTIPLE times the rate of inflation, it is a simple case to look around and go 'who is getting rich off of this?'. And it certainly isn't US... Nurses make less and work harder, teachers work harder and make less... the people that do the WORK are getting shafted, and the leeches that OWN the corporations are giving themselves $400,000 vacations and golden parachutes.

This HAS to stop. We don't want revolution in America, but we aren't exactly the most patient people in the world...

It is time to cut lobbying influence, cut pork barrel spending, cut tax loopholes for mega-corporations, and spread the wealth AND the pain evenly throughout our society. The rich cannot exist without the poor and middle classes (as much as they try to lock themselves away in gated communities and PRETEND they can) and we can't exist without them. But balance needs to be returned to a system that has tilted to the right and the wealthy for thirty years or more. Time for America to rediscover what a great 'society' means. Equality and liberty and justice for ALL, not just the wealthy.

Do I sound like a populist? I SHOULD BE... I am part of the population. As are we all. Not a serf for the lords to do with as they please!