TheThinker said:I have a question for you guys.
Millions of Americans cannot afford health insurance, and millions
cannot afford a college education. Does that not concern you?
Should we keep embracing our policy of everyone-for-himself? The idea
that "I am insured and I have a degree so I don't care about the others?"

We should be less selfish and help them out. The billionaires have so much
money that even a 5% tax can help a lot with the problems Americans face.

But no, we are the country of extreme capitalism. Everyone for himself and to hell
with the unfortunate and the needy.

preserved

TheThinker said:German Pope, you have the maturity and intelligence of a 5 year old.
You are one pathetic old man.

preserved

Razorwyre said:TheThinker said:
We should be less selfish and help them out. The billionaires have so much
money that even a 5% tax can help a lot with the problems Americans face.


Why all the taxes? Why not encourage Billionaires to give their money to non-profits who will use the money much more effectively than the government? Why not give the people with the wealth the ability to chose where their money goes? It's theirs, they earned it....

preserved

TheThinker said: We are not talking about making good money, we are talking about making an insane amount of profit while everyone else pays record highs at the pump. Don't you find it very disturbing that Exxon makes more profit than any company in America, at a time when people are paying more than ever for gas?
Exxon, the boogeyman of big oil, ranks 127th out of the Fortune 500 in profit margin.
link. That means there are 126 companies, out of just the Fortune 500, that are better at making $ than they are. The reason they have so much profit in absolute terms is because they are so large. Of course you also confused absolute amount of government debt with GPD percentage, and that's the same mistake you're making here.
TheThinker said:
When one person makes $20 billion and another person is working 3 jobs to make ends meet, the disparity is too extreme. Yes, there are rich people and poor people. But sometimes the difference is just extreme. Even if that person with $20 billion in the bank would have to give up half of the money so that children can get a good education and have food on the table, it's worth it.
You mean like these people link who just had the second richest American donate more billions. We also lead the world in donating to charity link, let me give you a choice quote "Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7 percent. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73 percent, while France, with a 0.14 percent rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany."
TheThinker said:
Don't even get my started on health care. Our health care is the most expensive in the world, plain and simple. And yet we are far from having the best quality. Studies have shown this.

What does this have to do with "US economic collapse", your topic? You've just decided to retreat to another position because every other position you've adopted has been so thoroughly discredited.

Dear OP

Our president is trying his best to ditch US economy by the name of war. He worked hard to bring the budget from surplus to deficit. Already our gas and gocery prices have inreased. Moreover dollar value has also decreased.

All the tax money we pay is used for Iraq war whereas Bin laden is ready for his next venture.

People should know that you will not know when the economy is sliding but we will realize when it has already drowned. That will be too late.

I still remember in the year 2000 when very few economists said that Oracle & CISCO will fall below $20 and lot of people laughed. But those went even below $10 in a year or two.

All my international funds are yielding more when compared to the local funds.

God bless us(US).

This whole thread reeks of politics and it should be shut down asap. When you are discussing the direction a country is going in its impossible to refrain from discussing the policies of the current administration.

Talking points about class disparity, health insurance, and Osama Bin Laden have no place in a non political economic discussion. GDP, growth, long / short term market predictions, interest rates, monetary policy, exchange rates, etc. do.

TheThinker said:kenblakely said:It's really, really, REALLY time for the mods to deep-6 this thread. It was pointless to begin with, and it's even more pointless now.

Oh really now? Don't you think the future of the economy is relevant
to a finance forum?

When it's just you soliloquizing that's providing 75% of the content? No - no I don't.

On the subject of health care and education: I happen to live in the UK. In this country, higher education (what Americans would call 'college') is *not* free. In most cases, it's more expensive than 4 years at a medium-grade American state university like University of Texas. If you think it's free, you're simply wrong.

The UK does have a free (after taxes) national health care system called, strangely enuf, NHS. Reference the NHS: The overwhelming refrain that I hear from my British friends is that the NHS is great as long as you don't get really sick. Sniffles, a cold, maybe some bog-standard emergency care like a broken limb, it's brilliant. If you've got something complex going on, or maybe you need to see a specialist tho, you're in for a world of harassment. The Brits that I speak to >>PAY THEIR OWN WAY OUT OF THEIR POCKET<< when they want quality health care that they can depend on getting sometime this decade.

To sum up: NHS is great if you're not sick, or if you're poor. For most Brits tho, it's a millstone around their neck that they have come to accept as a cost of doing business. It is *not* a net plus, and taxes that go to the NHS are widely considered to be wasted.

And with that, I renew my call that this thread be locked and that The!Thinker be forced to watch hentai with Michael Moore in a sauna.

It's interesting watching Bernanke squirm.

There's simply no good choice for him to make at this point in time.

1. Raise rates = bad
2. Cut rates = bad
3. Do nothing = bad

I think he should try #1, and forget about housing and the stock markets.

I have some observations concerning the US economy.
1. Salesmen make a rather good living. We have advertisers, political action comities, and propaganda in abundance.
2. People seem to like being told, and sold what to do with just about every aspect of there life.
3. The average American is in credit card debt some $9,000. Our national debt spread among Americans would add another $90,000 to the pile of debt.
4. We like spending more than we earn individually, and as a nation.
5. Healthcare is rather expensive, and is part of the problem.

My thoughts
1. Look in the phone book for insurance salesmen. Drive about town, and look at all the insurance agencies everyplace. America sure does have a lot of insurance salesmen, and branch offices.
2. Can’t we cut the middle man out somehow? It seems the other first world countries have done so with a national healthcare system.
3. Would cutting out all the effort in getting our insurance business be a net benefit to the economy?

Darkrose50 said:
2. Can’t we cut the middle man out somehow? It seems the other first world countries have done so with a national healthcare system.

You don't cut out the middle man with national health care, you just move the middle man from the private sector to the public sector. And add a little more red tape.