Combat Ranting (formerly known as Famicom Mini)

[A Black Falcon]

Yet, liberals are against private investment. It's true that people can't save enough money for their own needs, because SSI and Medicare deductions kill that. They have to pay for everyone benefiting now. It's a terrible way to operate and it's no wonder the system is failing. Yet, liberals want to extend and preserve it no matter what, even though it obviously cannot work anymore. They do everything they can to scare people from making private futures investments, when that is truly the answer. They will not even budge to allow governmental assistance on the matter. They want full control over the tax income, and are dooming future generations for it.

Totally insane. For proof look at pre-1940s America.

Yeah, middle class people sure did a great job of saving up money before Medicaire/SSI, yup! Oh wait, only in your demented imagination...

SSI and its related programs is one of the best programs the government has ever started. That alone easily would make Roosevelt one of our greatest presidents.

And the system isn't failing because it's a bad idea. Actually, it's in financial trouble because it's a good idea. It's failing because 1) not enough money is going into Medicare/SSI -- every time there's a budget problem money is stolen from it. 2) more and more old people every day. It puts a big strain on the system even in our system which isn't nearly comprehensive enough. (The only ways we have, long-term, to solve this are either to restrict benefits or raise taxes... there are no other options.)

And, with the poor, it is again the liberals who, in the name of compassion, think that providing a living for someone poor is the answer to destitution, when the reality is that not only will such a program only ensure beyond any doubt that the poor stay poor, but that we can't afford to do it. But as with investment, they don't budge. They do whatever they can to make sure the poor cannot move up in the tax bracket. It's like you people want to prevent them from earning a living for themselves.

And then you fail to mention that many federal student loan programs offer enough money to get an education and to make living slightly easier to those with the desire to better themselves and with the prudence not to screw up their lives by having four kids by the time they're 22. I understand that some people truly do have no way up because their youthful indiscretion stymies them, but there's no reason the rest of us should pay for a quick and very impermanent fix to their mistakes.

It's pretty depressing to see you continue to believe such delusions about poor people... I have said fifteen times before why this view of yours is lunacy so I don't see a point in repeating myself yet again.

As for the student loan part though, it's rare to get a full scholarship, which is what poor people would probably need (or full enough to pay the rest with a job), unless you play sports... and not many people get sports scholarships. And anyway, a lot of families need those people to work and can't afford to have them off in a school making nothing... after money that's the biggest reason they don't go as much.

I agree. It's getting to the point where businesses can, with some upfront cost, create manufacturing plants that do the same jobs, at probably the same rough cost. But old habits are hard to break, I suppose.

Our trade relationship with China can be seen much simpler though. While we do have a huge deficit in trade with them, their entire economy is completely dependent on our demand for their goods, to a greater extent than our economy is dependent on their supply. If there were a total stop it would hurt us badly and totally cripple China, but we still have the upper hand and I can't imagine that there isn't some leverage in our favor as a result. It's just a matter of how it could be utilized to help the overall condition and that's something I don't have an answer for.

I still can't understand why conservatives hate Clinton, given that he was so strongly middle of the road and a centrist who was quite pro business...

Anyway, maybe we could try something with China but it'd be tough... especially since a lot of Washington people seem to not care enough about this and think that because of the economic situation between our countries that they're untouchable...