23 thoughts on “Sunday Open Thread”

  1. President Obama made the following statement just last week:

    “I think it’s important for us to look at rebuilding our transportation infrastructure in this country. That could put people back to work right now — construction workers back to work right now. And it would get done work that America needs to get done. We used to have the best roads, the best bridges, the best airports. We don’t anymore. And that’s not good for our long-term competitiveness. So we could put people to work right now and make sure that we’re in a good position to win the future, as well.” (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/07/obama-news-conference.html)

    I thought that’s what the stimulus bill did? What about all that funding (borrowed $) it had for public infrastructure? And what’s with that constant annoying phrase of “winning the future”?

    1. (as I recall you’re a republican?) so. Coming at this from not the same place as you – what’s with any of it. I have no idea. I’ll assume he is having a brief brain-fart and hearkening back to huge public works projects in days of yore that put hard-body men back to work, like the CCC camps that built a lot of stuff in our state that you probably take for granted today. Projects that built up our American backbone and strengthened the nation.
      It’s funny now, if the commies come to invade our infrastructure will be crap. Our people demoralized. Our men flabby. Easy pickins.
      But don’t worry none Hunny. O’Barry ain’t gonna do nuthin’. That was just a sad nod to his former base, all of whom are too busy banging their heads on hard surfaces to even notice him talking . Kinda like some beat-up grocery store rose offered by a husband who’s cheated 335 times just this last year.
      You’re probably the only one who gives a crap. Even Michelle has gone shoe shopping.

      1. and yeah. “winning the future”.
        Where’s his award-winning advertising team? Winning the future, well yanno, kinda obvious the flip-side of this WRONG-HEADED p.r. phrase is

        …wait for it…

        Losing The Present

        (and the crowd goes wild)

      1. If it isn’t clear: I knew Obama and McCain were both going to be shit presidents, but I figure Obama sadly is the better choice between the two.

        Obama is a Neoliberal, just like every other president after Ronald Reagan was. That was enough of a reason for me not to want to vote for him. Yes I realize I’m throwing away my vote, but perhaps you stupid conservatives who follow Reaganomics should hit rock bottom that we’ve been trying to stop for a long time.

        I’m sure you’re familiar with this picture.

        Check out the date. September 25, 2008. Oh it’s so easy to just follow the leader, praising your side when most people fail to realize the issue of why our country is not getting better is because both sides are working for Wall Street. The conservatives who worshipped Bush should look at what he did. You bring up legit points forgetmyscreenname — but way to always focus on Obama when – gasp – Hey look! The stimulus package! Fancy that!

        Neoliberalism at it’s finest.

        This is why I am laying down a flat: Fuck you to National level politics, and focusing on state level. That is where the real change happens.

    3. I thought that’s what the stimulus bill did? What about all that funding (borrowed $) it had for public infrastructure?

      That’s certainly how the stimulus was sold…spark the economy and make critical infrastructure improvements…roads and bridges. Especially on the heels of the I-35 collapse and the audits on bridges that found so many of them deficient. They took advantage of the fears, and presented the stimulus as an investment similar to that of the Eisenhower Administration.

      Yet something like shameful like less than 5% of the stimulus actually went to such projects. And a chunk of those were pork projects. Wisconsin even has a number of it’s own bridges to nowhere. One I did quite a bit of research on one that actually dead-ended a few miles beyond the bridge and as far as I could tell, looked like it was almost exclusively undeveloped, developer-owned land.

      Best of all, when the stimulus…surprise surprise, didn’t actually do much good, they have the gall to say, “well the problem was, it wasn’t big enough.” It’s like airdropping food & supplies in when warlords intercept it all and thinking that you should just drop more.

      1. Even if the stimulus bill did fund shovel ready projects… has anyone yet figured out what happens when the government stops paying people to dig ditches?

        I think the answer is pretty obvious…

        Nothing.

        …and that’s the problem with “fiscal stimulus”.

    4. And what’s with that constant annoying phrase of “winning the future”?

      It’s so we can point out to people who criticize it that they must be in favor of losing the future! 😉

  2. Yet something like shameful like less than 5% of the stimulus actually went to such projects.

    And we can thank Repubs and Repub-lite Dems for that. But hey, at least the stimulus being turned mostly into tax cuts proved the conservative theory that tax cuts stimulate the economy wrong…yet again.

    And a chunk of those were pork projects. Wisconsin even has a number of it’s own bridges to nowhere.

    Flag on the play: extremely subjective (define pork!) anecdote with no source backing it up.

    Ultimately, one needs look no further than the fact that all this austerity and budget cutting is leading to 10’s of thousands of public sector jobs being lost every month, which is right now the biggest drag on employment numbers. Not that that shouldn’t have been common sense before hand.

    1. Flag on the play: extremely subjective (define pork!) anecdote with no source backing it up.

      I suppose you never criticized Ted Stevens’ lobbying to get the Gravina Island Bridge built? You don’t consider that pork? Subjective – sure, but extremely subjective…if that bridge which would’ve had 350,000 riders a year was the bridge to nowhere, then Wisconsin bridges that see a tiny fraction of that – some as little as 10 vehicles a day – is all that & then some.

      So there’s my source. How about yours for:

      the fact that all this austerity and budget cutting is leading to 10′s of thousands of public sector jobs being lost every month, now the biggest drag on employment numbers.

      1. I remember reading that article when it came out. But don’t you think there’s a big diff. between the Alaska “Bridge to Nowhere”, which would have been a new bridge where none existed before, and all those rural bridges in Wisconsin which were existing bridges already slated for replacement since they were a threat to life safety? So in that case one person’s pork is a farmer’s or trucker’s life.

        RE: austerity: “A measly 18,000 jobs were added in June, carried by an increase of 57,000 jobs in the private sector but dulled by losses of 39,000 jobs in the public sector”

        But then, that’s a feature, not a flaw, right? Nothing to do with jobs, everything to do with drowning gov’t in a bathtub. If only conservatives had the courage to sell themselves to the electorate that way.

    2. Also…couldn’t help but notice, you didn’t defend the dishonesty of how the stimulus was sold. We were lied too and manipulated to get support for the stimulus when at best, that was a tiny fraction of how the money was spent.

      1. I think I did address that:

        Yet something like shameful like less than 5% of the stimulus actually went to such projects.

        And we can thank Repubs and Repub-lite Dems for that.

        It wasn’t dishonesty, it was “moderate” Repubs and conservaDems (always driven by their fear of the rightwing outrage machine, thinking if today they just give the bullies their lunch money up front that the bullies will be their friends and not come back for more tomorrow) who slashed out infrastructure in favor of tax cuts in the sausage-making process. Not to mention, of course, petulant Governors who were later elected and turned down huge chunks of infrastructure spending that was allocated.

      2. Further, you seriously are representing the exact reason Dems should in no way be willing to negotiate anything with today’s GOP. They propose massive infrastructure spending, they get slammed by the right for pushing “boondoggles”. They negotiate with the GOP to end up basically at the GOP’s initial position, get almost no GOP votes for it, then get slammed by the right for not spending on infrastructure like they promised. Pretty nice racket. But I’ll admit it’s the Dem’s fault for being so stupid and gullible.

  3. Locke we are lied to on a daily basis…I blame President Obama for many things, and the biggest thing I blame him for is attempting to work with and appease the republicans. I think much of that falls on the shoulders of his team(rahm,Geithner,Summers, Bernanke, etc…). Again he hired them and he should not have. He keeps capitulating to everything the republicans want, it becomes a disaster and then they run to fox and criticize him. Had he had the Cajones to stand up to them, and tell it like it is and do the right thing then he would be having a different presidency.
    The Stimulus was overloaded with Tax cuts and nowhere near enough spending.

    “He could have easily said the republicans refuse to work with us on this stimulus unless we overload it with tax cuts. Well we tried their way for the last 8 years and it was an unmitigated disaster. We will now invest in our country and get people working again. “

    2. $14 trillion in debt and you say there was nowhere near enough spending. How much money do you think it would have taken and what result would it have produced?

      1. You say $14 trillion in debt as if all that debt was created by President Obama. Tell me….who’s responsible for how much of that debt?

        2. Oh my bad, Obama is “only” responsible for a couple of trillion of that. But, I thought he was supposed to be the President who was going to change everything for the better, not keep adding to the problem to make it worse!

          My point is, we are in the hole big time (plenty of blame to go around), and people like Jeff want to keep digging saying we didn’t spend enough. Then you slap me down for expecting the very hope and change that was promised to us in 2008.

          1. I’d settle for the type of change that spends money to improve things here at home, instead of spending money we don’t have on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If George W. Bush had spent as much time and money focused on domestic issues as he did on Iraq and Afghanistant, perhaps he wouldn’t have left our economy in the shitter.

          2. i want that hope and change also Forg,…we just arent getting it unfortunately.

            At least he buckled into the republicans and extended the bush tax cuts that really helped the economy….o wait.

            What I really want is everytime ryan/cantor/boehner/mcconnell say anything laugh at them and do the opposite! Thats the change im after!

Comments are closed.