B...b...but [insert opposing political party's most recent president here]

B...b...but Bush could. He created a gangbusters economy just thinking about tax cuts. The current slowdown is restricted to lazy homeowners who cannot understand a mortgage contract but yet own 3 plasma screen televisions.

DISAGREES

Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

MindStalker:Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

1 copy of your newsletter please.

Can turn on a dime and give you nine cents change.

/usually used with stop on a dime

You can with this craphole we're in, comparatively speaking. Oil prices are 1/3rd of the reason Americans are spending less. Close the enron loophole and start raising interest rates. Oil will go down like a crackhead who hasn't had a hit in 4 days. Strengthening the dollar + lowered oil prices = 2/3rds of the work solved for you. It isn't going to happen over night but give it 3-4 months. It'll be a shiatload quicker than McCain could turn it around.

MindStalker
Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Look, I understand the anger towards the predatory lending. No one made the farking schmucks sign the paper though. Thats not something you can just blame 1 side for. Predatory lending is one side, and farking idiots who borrow more than their house is worth are the other.


/Common Sense, let me show you it.

What the hell is the submitter talking about? What preconceived notion is he referring to? Or is this just more Obama idiocy, where I'm supposed to bemoan Obama for not curing cancer?

Cynic without a clue?

Third Day Mark:You can with this craphole we're in, comparatively speaking. Oil prices are 1/3rd of the reason Americans are spending less. Close the enron loophole and start raising interest rates. Oil will go down like a crackhead who hasn't had a hit in 4 days. Strengthening the dollar + lowered oil prices = 2/3rds of the work solved for you. It isn't going to happen over night but give it 3-4 months. It'll be a shiatload quicker than McCain could turn it around.

MindStalker
Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Look, I understand the anger towards the predatory lending. No one made the farking schmucks sign the paper though. Thats not something you can just blame 1 side for. Predatory lending is one side, and farking idiots who borrow more than their house is worth are the other.


/Common Sense, let me show you it.

I have enough hatred in my heart for both, the predatory lender and the idiot who signed a 5year arm w/no money down for a $250,000 home on a $50k/yr income @ 9.5% and has 3 kids

Unknown_Poltroon:MindStalker:Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

1 copy of your newsletter please.

I'll do his plan PLUS I'll throw in a plasma screen tv for every new subscription.

Third Day Mark:You can with this craphole we're in, comparatively speaking. Oil prices are 1/3rd of the reason Americans are spending less. Close the enron loophole and start raising interest rates. Oil will go down like a crackhead who hasn't had a hit in 4 days. Strengthening the dollar + lowered oil prices = 2/3rds of the work solved for you. It isn't going to happen over night but give it 3-4 months. It'll be a shiatload quicker than McCain could turn it around.

MindStalker
Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Look, I understand the anger towards the predatory lending. No one made the farking schmucks sign the paper though. Thats not something you can just blame 1 side for. Predatory lending is one side, and farking idiots who borrow more than their house is worth are the other.


/Common Sense, let me show you it.

omg THIS

news today said nothing could be done about oil prices in the short term

how about also reducing our trade deficit and put more value in our dollar create some jobs some how and bam we are optimistic again

A good president wouldn't turn the economy on a dime, but they might be able to turn the tide. After all someone that makes decisions on how to spend around $3 trillion dollars has a little bit of impact on the economy.

generaltimmy:
I have enough hatred in my heart for both, the predatory lender and the idiot who signed a 5year arm w/no money down for a $250,000 home on a $50k/yr income @ 9.5% and has 3 kids

Don't get me wrong, I do too. There are plenty who can be fiscally responsible with NOTHING, but there are idiots who take out as much money as they can then start shiatting bricks when they can't pay it all back. Their ineptitude spilled over into the economy and now we all get to suffer. If that doesn't give people enough incentive to get angry over the situation, I don't know what will.

I'm no expert, and I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but it all seems pretty simple to me. Let the banks eat the bad loans, let the speculators who ran the housing market up suffer the losses, let the "regular folks" who made bad choices and spent their equity keeping up with the Jonses lose their houses.

It's payback time. Whatever the government tries to do to soften the blow will only make things worse. The Fed has put the value of the dollar in the toilet. The strategy is clear: pay today's debts with tomorrow's dollars, but make tomorrow's dollars worthless. It's been done before, but this time the game has caught up to the con artist, and that trick won't fly.

It's responsible people who are paying the price, watching their savings become worthless. Thank FSM I am not holding dollars or any dollar-denominated securities.

But when Obama wins the elections (and mark my words, he WILL win), that will be the day the oceans stop rising, the economy turns to gold, hunger and poverty will end overnight, etc. etc.

Dubai Vol:I'm no expert, and I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but it all seems pretty simple to me. Let the banks eat the bad loans, let the speculators who ran the housing market up suffer the losses, let the "regular folks" who made bad choices and spent their equity keeping up with the Jonses lose their houses.

It's payback time. Whatever the government tries to do to soften the blow will only make things worse. The Fed has put the value of the dollar in the toilet. The strategy is clear: pay today's debts with tomorrow's dollars, but make tomorrow's dollars worthless. It's been done before, but this time the game has caught up to the con artist, and that trick won't fly.

It's responsible people who are paying the price, watching their savings become worthless. Thank FSM I am not holding dollars or any dollar-denominated securities.

What's it like in Dubai? Is it as ridiculous as most of us would think it is? I have a buddy who was there with the Navy, he said they have 7 star hotels and shiat like that.

/Go Gators
//*just* Because your a Vol.

MindStalker:Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Great idea, except for two things...

1.) Corrupt mortgage brokers deserve to pay the money they stole from us back - every last cent.

2.) In many of the housing markets these homes won't fetch 5% of their value - that's how bad the devastation is.

What's worse is that entire neighborhoods have been wiped out and that kind of stability will never be returned by selling these homes to investors - ever.

Other than that, nice plan. [guffaw]

Third Day Mark:You can with this craphole we're in, comparatively speaking. Oil prices are 1/3rd of the reason Americans are spending less. Close the enron loophole and start raising interest rates. Oil will go down like a crackhead who hasn't had a hit in 4 days. Strengthening the dollar + lowered oil prices = 2/3rds of the work solved for you. It isn't going to happen over night but give it 3-4 months. It'll be a shiatload quicker than McCain could turn it around.

MindStalker
Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Look, I understand the anger towards the predatory lending. No one made the farking schmucks sign the paper though. Thats not something you can just blame 1 side for. Predatory lending is one side, and farking idiots who borrow more than their house is worth are the other.


/Common Sense, let me show you it.

Agreed. but lets go a little further...

Part of the problem with foreclosures is most of them are on properties that are exorbitantly over valued. Why anyone would want to lock themselves into a $500,000 30 year mortgage on a shack anywhere in the country. Homes are supposed to be places to live first and investments 2nd.

somemoron:But when Obama wins the elections (and mark my words, he WILL win), that will be the day the oceans stop rising, the economy turns to gold, hunger and poverty will end overnight, etc. etc.

Don't forget the homeless, they'll disappear in a puff of smoke and urine.

And the polar bears, they'll be fine. Gas prices will drop and doves will fly over the middle east. Bunnies will erupt out of my ass crapping rainbows from which unicorns will spring forth, providing children soft serve through their enchanted horns.

atomsmoosher:somemoron:But when Obama wins the elections (and mark my words, he WILL win), that will be the day the oceans stop rising, the economy turns to gold, hunger and poverty will end overnight, etc. etc.

Don't forget the homeless, they'll disappear in a puff of smoke and urine.

And the polar bears, they'll be fine. Gas prices will drop and doves will fly over the middle east. Bunnies will erupt out of my ass crapping rainbows from which unicorns will spring forth, providing children soft serve through their enchanted horns.

As opposed to the alternative mainstream candidate who has a plan as soon as his assistant digs it up out of the campaign headquarter's files.

While I realize that all of this is an exercise in Fark snark, I don't think you all are watching the big picture. The economic event on the horizon is something that everyone here is going to become swept up in, myself included. Worse yet, it ain't going to be pretty.

SnarfVader:B...b...but [insert opposing political party's most recent president here]

moops:B...b...but Bush could. He created a gangbusters economy just thinking about tax cuts. The current slowdown is restricted to lazy homeowners who cannot understand a mortgage contract but yet own 3 plasma screen televisions.

B...B...But stimulus checks!

Random Reality Check:As opposed to the alternative mainstream candidate who has a plan as soon as his assistant digs it up out of the campaign headquarter's files.

Mariachis will goose-step from my urethra playing Dem Golden Slippers and Random Reality Check's sphincter will loosen 3 nanometers.

While I realize that all of this is an exercise in Fark snark, I don't think you all are watching the big picture. The economic event on the horizon is something that everyone here is going to become swept up in, myself included. Worse yet, it ain't going to be pretty.

Omigosh, teh economy is bad! No, it won't be pretty. It'll be bad for a few years, if the gov't helps a little, then get better, unless the gov't does too much and it gets worse. You'll get used to it in time.

Ed Willy:

B...B...But stimulus checks!

Hey, don't knock it, it paid for my sewer repair. Sure, we're hedging against the future economy, but poopie water isn't flowing into my basement anymore.

atomsmoosher:Random Reality Check:As opposed to the alternative mainstream candidate who has a plan as soon as his assistant digs it up out of the campaign headquarter's files.

Mariachis will goose-step from my urethra playing Dem Golden Slippers and Random Reality Check's sphincter will loosen 3 nanometers.

While I realize that all of this is an exercise in Fark snark, I don't think you all are watching the big picture. The economic event on the horizon is something that everyone here is going to become swept up in, myself included. Worse yet, it ain't going to be pretty.

Omigosh, teh economy is bad! No, it won't be pretty. It'll be bad for a few years, if the gov't helps a little, then get better, unless the gov't does too much and it gets worse. You'll get used to it in time.

I don't think you're watching too closely. This isn't another Savings and Loan Scandal - nothing at all like it.

There are entire sections of some cities that are now abandoned and in Detroit there are actually areas starting to be reclaimed by nature.

The middle class is moving to a point of nonexistent and the percentage of people living below the poverty line in America (after adjusting for the real cost of living increases) is about as high as we can stand it.

This will affect you - sooner rather than later.
Good luck with that spiffy new sewer repair.
It will be one of your least concerns in a year or so.

And no, neither candidate can fix this.

If I got a mortgage or a lease for a house or car I couldn't afford, I wouldn't be surprised if I lost it.

All the people who got mortgages or leases they couldn't afford are not victims. If you let someone sell you something you can't afford, you are a sucker, not a victim.

If a law gets passed saying you can't sell dumb people what they can't afford though, it might calm down, or stop the foreclosure trend. Laws prohibiting illegal excursion are almost unknown in this country. They seem to do a lot of good in other countries though, and might be worth looking at to improve things here. In this instance, at least, I define illegal excursion as issuing a mortgage, or lease, or collecting money in the form of mortgage/lease payments on a property you know or knew would default, with the knowledge that you would probably make a sizable profit on the defaulting of said property. Not to mention packaging that probability with a hundred others and selling it overseas as a sure thing, and then begging for government money to regain solvency when it all caves in... The rest of the world are the ones paying for it all, so it's no surprise they are starting to hate us for this whole fiasco.

On a semi related note, does anyone have any reference on the nationality's of the majority of, and/or key speculators behind the drive up of the oil speculation market? Is it US speculators? Is it the same US speculators behind the mortgage fiasco? Could any type of regulation ever really stop these people from destroying world economies just to turn a profit? I doubt it.

Random Reality Check:
And no, neither candidate can fix this.

Tell me why what I laid out wouldn't work? Thats what Obama's plan is. Maybe not the interest rate part but the fed is going to raise rates at least once this year, preferably 3 or 4 times.

1morerun:
On a semi related note, does anyone have any reference on the nationality's of the majority of, and/or key speculators behind the drive up of the oil speculation market? Is it US speculators? Is it the same US speculators behind the mortgage fiasco? Could any type of regulation ever really stop these people from destroying world economies just to turn a profit? I doubt it.

Thats one of the problems with the "Enron Loophole". No way to track who's doing what. For all we know it could be Exxon-Mobile and the other players jacking up the price.

Third Day Mark:
/Go Gators
//*just* Because your a Vol.

Go Big Orange!

And because you seem to be a good sort I won't even play grammar Nazi.

I've been in Dubai for 11 years; Mrs Dubai has been here 25 years. We are set, but anyone trying to come here now had better be very careful: it's extremely expensive, and not at all the land of milk and honey it was as recently as five years ago. A big part of the reason for the change is the precipitous decline of the dollar.


Dubai is the only place to visit or do business in the Middle East, which is why they can charge such a premium. If your company wants to send you here, make sure you get your housing paid for, at the very least.

Meanwhile, if you know what's what, it can be good. Gas is $1.36/gal, I just bought ribeye steak for $3.08/lb, and beer is cheap too. $3.19/6 for Carlsberg.

And don't forget, no taxes.

So does this article stipulate that the economy is getting better or worse? Somebody should give Bernanke a clue because he has none.

MindStalker:Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Go for it, you'll ruin the whole economy.

Third Day Mark:On a semi related note, does anyone have any reference on the nationality's of the majority of, and/or key speculators behind the drive up of the oil speculation market? Is it US speculators? Is it the same US speculators behind the mortgage fiasco? Could any type of regulation ever really stop these people from destroying world economies just to turn a profit? I doubt it.

That's one of the problems with the "Enron Loophole". No way to track who's doing what. For all we know it could be Exxon-Mobile and the other players jacking up the price.

Isn't there talk of closing that loophole, though, and requiring transparency in the speculation markets? I'm not naive enough to think it would help the current situation, but it would be a step in the right direction.

Random Reality Check:I don't think you're watching too closely. This isn't another Savings and Loan Scandal - nothing at all like it.

There are entire sections of some cities that are now abandoned and in Detroit there are actually areas starting to be reclaimed by nature.


My, someone has been eating their drama flakes.

This has been going on much, much longer than the recent economic downturn. Same here in Philly, except for the parts that have gotten drastically better and still improving.


The middle class is moving to a point of nonexistent and the percentage of people living below the poverty line in America (after adjusting for the real cost of living increases) is about as high as we can stand it.

I'm sure you can find a chart that plots that, too. The poverty line has been about the same since the 1970s...about 10-15% of the population. Meanwhile, the upper class has grown. Trends are inc

This will affect you - sooner rather than later.
Good luck with that spiffy new sewer repair.
It will be one of your least concerns in a year or so.

And no, neither candidate can fix this.

Of course they won't, silly. They never could. That's why I'm putting my money into shotgun shells and canned goods.

atomsmoosher:Omigosh, teh economy is bad! No, it won't be pretty. It'll be bad for a few years, if the gov't helps a little, then get better, unless the gov't does too much and it gets worse. You'll get used to it in time.

I'm sick of playing cheerleader for RandomRealityCheck today, but you just don't get it. We're looking at multiple core sectors of our economy either already having gone tits-up or well on their way. Most of the rest of what's not flagging is too weak to pick up any sort of slack. When the construction sector purges jobs, you can't fix that via service industries. We're hemorrhaging jobs at a decent clip, and that's even with the doctored unemployment numbers. China's happy for the moment to keep paying out rope while we tie an incredibly elaborate noose, but eventually they will jerk it taut and we will hang. We're looking at some of the darkest days in America's financial history at best, and complete societal meltdown at worst. Even a moderate bad scenario will make the Great Depression look like a hiccup.

Random Reality Check:

I don't think you're watching too closely. This isn't another Savings and Loan Scandal - nothing at all like it.

There are entire sections of some cities that are now abandoned and in Detroit there are actually areas starting to be reclaimed by nature.

The middle class is moving to a point of nonexistent and the percentage of people living below the poverty line in America (after adjusting for the real cost of living increases) is about as high as we can stand it.

This will affect you - sooner rather than later.
Good luck with that spiffy new sewer repair.
It will be one of your least concerns in a year or so.

And no, neither candidate can fix this.

first, some of Detroit NEEDS to be reclaimed by nature.

Second, things are not going on a continuous plunge. It sucks, it will get a little worse, then slowly get better. Are you going to get the 90's back? Not anytime soon. Eventually we'll have another bubble, a roaring economy and another tank. It happens.

I think how bad things get will depend on the upcoming election, but positive thought and consumer confidence goes a long way, and if the new candidate helps change peoples outlook, thats going to be reflected in spending habits.

Occam's Chainsaw:

I'm sick of playing cheerleader for RandomRealityCheck today, but you just don't get it. We're looking at multiple core sectors of our economy either already having gone tits-up or well on their way. Most of the rest of what's not flagging is too weak to pick up any sort of slack. When the construction sector purges jobs, you can't fix that via service industries. We're hemorrhaging jobs at a decent clip, and that's even with the doctored unemployment numbers. China's happy for the moment to keep paying out rope while we tie an incredibly elaborate noose, but eventually they will jerk it taut and we will hang. We're looking at some of the darkest days in America's financial history at best, and complete societal meltdown at worst. Even a moderate bad scenario will make the Great Depression look like a hiccup.

Dogs and cats living together?

Damn you, Bill Clinton, and your blowjob of DOOM! You make the housing market go all flaccid, you bad man you.

/Buck Fush

Occam's Chainsaw:atomsmoosher:Omigosh, teh economy is bad! No, it won't be pretty. It'll be bad for a few years, if the gov't helps a little, then get better, unless the gov't does too much and it gets worse. You'll get used to it in time.

I'm sick of playing cheerleader for RandomRealityCheck today, but you just don't get it. We're looking at multiple core sectors of our economy either already having gone tits-up or well on their way. Most of the rest of what's not flagging is too weak to pick up any sort of slack. When the construction sector purges jobs, you can't fix that via service industries. We're hemorrhaging jobs at a decent clip, and that's even with the doctored unemployment numbers. China's happy for the moment to keep paying out rope while we tie an incredibly elaborate noose, but eventually they will jerk it taut and we will hang. We're looking at some of the darkest days in America's financial history at best, and complete societal meltdown at worst. Even a moderate bad scenario will make the Great Depression look like a hiccup.

And what will you do?

What happens to you personally? are you planning on living in a box? are you stocked up on canned food in a house thats totally paid for? Or are you going to work every day, paying your bills and living your life like normal?

When we start moving toward Hoovervilles I'll worry.

Random Reality Check:MindStalker:Put me in office, I'd have the government take every single foreclosed house in exchange for not putting the lousy mortgage brokers in jail. I'd then lottery them off for 50% of value and pay off some national debt.

Great idea, except for two things...

1.) Corrupt mortgage brokers deserve to pay the money they stole from us back - every last cent.

2.) In many of the housing markets these homes won't fetch 5% of their value - that's how bad the devastation is.

What's worse is that entire neighborhoods have been wiped out and that kind of stability will never be returned by selling these homes to investors - ever.

Other than that, nice plan. [guffaw]

The main reason for the 5% of the value is places where there are more homes than people to live in them/jobs. The land itself is probably worth what the going rate is. Bulldoze the places that won't sell for a decent value, hold onto them as government land.

Right now I'd settle for the candidate who recognizes we're in a hole, didn't help dig it, and promises to quit digging.

A presidential administration is only one man? I always thought it was thousands of staffers and appointees at the highest levels of government, including the fed chairman who is quoted almost daily in publications such as the WSJ.

adamgreeney:And what will you do?

What happens to you personally? are you planning on living in a box? are you stocked up on canned food in a house thats totally paid for? Or are you going to work every day, paying your bills and living your life like normal?

When we start moving toward Hoovervilles I'll worry.

I live in right across the road from an excellent field for growing crops. I'm a little light on ammo but good on guns. Canned food... enh, I lack variety. I'll probably need to stock up on preserved meats. My landlord is six states away, over 70, and owns the property outright; I don't fear eviction when the shiat well and truly hits the fan.

For the moment, I'll continue to go about my life while conserving my resources as best I can. If it all starts to come unglued, I'll do some targeted looting, hole up, and thank FSM for my rural location and position overlooking a blind dead end.

As to Hoovervilles, do foreclosed neighborhoods count?

Maybe we should start another war?
...that'll fix it!

Bomb Bomb Bomb
Bomb Bomb Iran...

Occam's Chainsaw:

As to Hoovervilles, do foreclosed neighborhoods count?

No, not really. There have always been massive amounts of squatters. What i mean are the classic Hoovervilles. Tent cities. Marches on Washington. You know, the good ole' days.

As to the rest of your post, my question was more about what you will do when the economy just tanks. Not Mad Max, just Great Depression. We aren't going anarchist anytime soon, and roaming bands of raiders won't be stopping at your door. You'll just lose your job and your landlord will still want money. So what then? Why is your job so secure, and what type of jobs should young people be looking into to stay afloat?

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/06/dana-milbank-economic-anxiety-disorder- or-one-nervous-bushie/


Vid from Washington post on the jobs report and economic anxiety disorder.

One person can make the economy fall like a rock.. Bush has proven that with a horrid housing market, and doubling the gas prices.

To make it go down, it requires avoiding the assassination attempts by big oil

adamgreeney:No, not really. There have always been massive amounts of squatters. What i mean are the classic Hoovervilles. Tent cities. Marches on Washington. You know, the good ole' days.

Why bother with a tent city when there are perfectly serviceable empty houses right there? Get tossed from one, move on to the next. And there's a big difference between squatters living under an overpass and squatters living in entire vacated neighborhoods. As to marches: there's no organization, and we're too damn complacent. People will riot and loot before they'll march anywhere.

adamgreeney:As to the rest of your post, my question was more about what you will do when the economy just tanks. Not Mad Max, just Great Depression. We aren't going anarchist anytime soon, and roaming bands of raiders won't be stopping at your door. You'll just lose your job and your landlord will still want money. So what then? Why is your job so secure, and what type of jobs should young people be looking into to stay afloat?

I work in the hotel business in a town with the only casino for a few hundred miles servicing multiple large markets. History has shown that even as society collapses, the haves continue to participate in excess, especially gambling. Add to that the fact that seven separate business would have to fail before I get fired, and I'm not too worried. By the time I'm unemployed, we'll be at Mad Max.

Young people? I'm the last person they should ask. I'd suggest something that cannot be outsourced, something essential even when all but the elite are starving.

but don't forget folks.
Its the hundreds of thousands* single family/person that made a mistake once that's at fault.
Not the company's who made the same mistake HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES.

They say "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." What do they say when you were fooled as many times as these companies?


_{*that number sits in the place of whatever the real number is. I don't know what it is offhand.}

SilentStrider:but don't forget folks.
Its the hundreds of thousands* single family/person that made a mistake once that's at fault.
Not the company's who made the same mistake HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES.

They say "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." What do they say when you were fooled as many times as these companies?


*that number sits in the place of whatever the real number is. I don't know what it is offhand.

In 2007, 2.2 million foreclosures affecting 1% of all US households. And rising.

What I am getting sick and tired of hearing about is how many idiots in this country, both sides of the isle, expect the President to solve these problems. First of all, the President doesn't write the law, Congress does. Second, the President doesn't control the purse, Congress does.

Sure, the President may have some influence over these things as a figurehead, but wake up folks! It is your Congress that will ultimately decide these things, not the President. So no matter who the next President is, if we don't give him a good Congress to work with, it will be another 4 years of business as usual in D.C.

/ie screwing the little guy

Regardless of who gets in office, I hope the nation's financial and political savvy is a bit more advanced than it was back in the late 70's. Carter inherited a mess very comparable to whoever takes office today will get handed. (A hot pile of steaming ____.) Most people still try and blame him for the horrible conditions of stagflation and the like, when the truth is that it was simply a matter of the economic chickens coming home to roost.

I really think this is why the Republican playbook has been updated recently and the comparisons of Obama to Carter have already started. Like Obama would be responsible for the crappy economy created by the run-away spending, the hand off of huge tax cuts to the extremely wealthy which is increasing the division of wealth and for blowing huge holes in the national debt by engaging in a seemingly endless war in Iraq. But then again, it wasn't like Carter was the one responsible for the sputtering of the economy due to the oil crisis (which began 3 years before he took office), the rising inflation rates (which were excaserbated by Nixon's/Ford's choices to run the Fed), and the general mess caused by all the damage Nixon had done to the country during his "outlaw" regime days.

If Obama wins, you can bet the Republicans are going to do everything they can think of to somehow blame him for all of the failings of the Bush administration and the 6 years of Republican dominated Congress since 2001. I just hope everyone isn't foolish enough to believe that Obama responsible for digging the hole that got us in this mess, instead of placing the blame on the jokers who are still digging. (It worked with Carter, I wonder if they will get away with it when they try it with Obama, or if the public is now wise to this?)