http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/01/17/business/20070117_LEONHARDT_GRAPHIC.html

With that 700B, you could provide universal health care for everyone in the US who needs it.

For almost seven years.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 4:30 PM. Reason : inflation]

9/25/2008 4:30:31 PM

[old]

inflation will be a bitch

9/25/2008 4:31:03 PM

too bad that nearly anyone that can't afford health care can get it from the government already

9/25/2008 4:32:11 PM

for $700,000,000,000 I would probably get a swimming pool, and I'd give to charity, and then I'd convince bojangles to go public and buy a bunch of their stocks.

9/25/2008 4:34:18 PM

world banks this week went from

$70,000,000,000,000

to

$34,000,000,000,000

that's trillion, with a T

9/25/2008 4:36:23 PM

is our national debt measured in trillion with a T as well?

9/25/2008 4:38:27 PM

dur de dur

9/25/2008 4:41:00 PM

..... and the rich bitch about welfare..

9/25/2008 4:42:38 PM

Quote :

"too bad that nearly anyone that can't afford health care can get it from the government already "

not true

9/25/2008 5:02:00 PM

No, I don't think the bailout is a good idea.

^^ That is one of the reasons. I'd leave this country if I could.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:03 PM. Reason : adsf]

9/25/2008 5:02:35 PM

^^oh, but it is true. that's why rural counties like mine have such a high tax burden. those who work and have to pay property taxes on what they work for wind up footing the bill for medicaid. it's a large portion of our budget, and they keep coming back to the same people wanting more money. Our local hospital had to sell out to Cape Fear Valley because they don't collect from a huge portion of the patients, but have to treat them anyway. The hospital's urgent care even gives a 30% discount if you pay within 30 days because such a large portion don't. healthcare is available to anyone, but those with insurance and those without insurance who pay their bills wind up absorbing the cost for everyone else.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:07 PM. Reason : ...]

9/25/2008 5:04:32 PM

EPIC

GOVERNMENT

HANDOUTS

9/25/2008 5:05:10 PM

While I hate Medicaid as much as the next person (Trust me, I work in a pharmacy), I still think that's money well spent comparing to what we're throwing away in Iraq.

9/25/2008 5:06:53 PM

however John McCain said yesterday that the bailout was 700 Trillion
isnt it awesome to have a presidential candidate that out of touch that he doesnt even know the numbers. hahahahhahahah

fucking old ass man

but universal healthcare is not something i would want. thats about my only beef with his platform

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:08 PM. Reason : sdf]

9/25/2008 5:08:12 PM

agreed: we want someone who will make fewer mistakes in pronouncing giant numbers. The american people demand it

9/25/2008 5:16:45 PM

9/25/2008 5:18:33 PM

i think the bailout and universal healthcare are both terrible ideas

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:22 PM. Reason : and maybe we could trim medicare and start to phase out or limit social security while we're at it]

9/25/2008 5:18:36 PM

I'm moving to Italy, where they don't have this problem, because as I was writing this sentence, they went through five governments.

9/25/2008 5:19:25 PM

me too

9/25/2008 5:19:30 PM

take advantage while you hang me out to dry

9/25/2008 5:20:39 PM

i'm fully prepared to admit that I know little enough about this shit to not have an opinion. other than if it is because of intentional mismanagement, we need to hammer some balls to the wall

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:22 PM. Reason : eilolsza]

9/25/2008 5:21:51 PM

Intentional? No.

Deliberate? Yes.

This entire situation makes me so sad. My only comfort is the fact that Bush will 100% go down as the worst president in the history of the USA.

9/25/2008 5:23:32 PM

i heard there is an FBI investigation.. but I do agree that balls need to be hammered/nailed.

9/25/2008 5:23:37 PM

Quote :

"My only comfort is the fact that Bush will 100% go down as the worst president in the history of the USA."

Wow, that is quite the stretch. You must be posting this from a concentration camp.

9/25/2008 5:24:36 PM

^^^ I'm not saying I like Bush, but he didn't cause this.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:25 PM. Reason : ...]

9/25/2008 5:25:02 PM

plz to point out the vital differences between "intentional" and "deliberate" so i can better understand your meaning

9/25/2008 5:28:50 PM

Intentional means that someone wanted this to happen.

Deliberate means that someone acted without any regard to the well-being of society.

It's a very fine line, but some of these people knew what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway in a quest for profits. I don't think there's anyone who wanted this to happen. It's probably a case of willful ignorance.


Please to point out a president worse than Bush?

9/25/2008 5:31:17 PM

Quote :

"deliberate adj. carefully considered, intentional; slow, unhurried, methodical "

Quote :

"Please to point out a president worse than Bush?"

McCain obviously

9/25/2008 5:32:35 PM

grant? nixon?


If only I could channel that history channel series about the presidents; we've had some real winners.

9/25/2008 5:34:31 PM

Words are only as meaningful as their connotations allow them to be. If I'd wanted to use intentional, I would have. Deliberate seems to have a slightly different slant on the meaning, which is why I used it.

Grant was bad. But he didn't actively fuck shit up like Bush has. He was just kinda there for the ride. A lot of corrupt people in his Cabinet. If Bush had sat back and done absolutely nothing, we'd be better off than where we are right now.

Nixon had Watergate and that's about it.

Bush is by far the worst. The laundry list of bad shit that's happened on his watch is unprecedented.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:37 PM. Reason : ]

9/25/2008 5:35:21 PM

so does this mean since i'm delinquent on my school loans, the government will bail out the institution and it's water under the bridge?

of course not. i say let our economy crash, deal with the fallout for x years, learn from our mistakes and be all the stronger for it. lets not continue taking steps away from capitalism and toward socialism. i'll pay off my own debts thankyouverymuch.

9/25/2008 5:37:45 PM

^ Yup

9/25/2008 5:38:28 PM

Quote :

"i say let our economy crash, deal with the fallout for x years, learn from our mistakes and be all the stronger for it. lets not continue taking steps away from capitalism and toward socialism."

bravo, i am all for this

9/25/2008 5:50:47 PM

As am I.

The Great Depression changed the country, and the generation that matured during it was a very handy, practical, resourceful one. A good portion of Americans need a very hard slap in the face when it comes to priorities and what's important. It's my hope that another significant depression would do good things for this country the way that one did.

What's that? Life's gonna be really tough? No shit. It's about time, and that's the whole point.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:54 PM. Reason : lkjdf]

9/25/2008 5:53:41 PM

^I concur

9/25/2008 6:07:38 PM

Quote :

"i'll pay off my own debts thankyouverymuch."

I believe you are missing the point of the bail out.
It's not to encourage corporate greed although that may be a side effect.

But if all these companies go under then all of their employees are out of a job.
I don't know what your job is, but most of the jobs left in this country are service related and if people don't have jobs they certainly aren't going to be paying for services.....so sooner or later your out of a job too. Trickle down effect.

......now how are you going to pay your own debts with no job?

9/25/2008 6:15:45 PM

Quote :

"but most of the jobs left in this country are service related and if people don't have jobs they certainly aren't going to be paying for services"

...

Give me a source on that first tidbit. And more importantly, the division of 'service' jobs. Yes, waitressing positions will sharply decline as restaurants fail; cashiering at wal-mart will probably decline, but won't go away.

Service jobs aren't going away completely because the economy sucks, because 'service jobs' is an incredibly broad classification.

9/25/2008 6:18:55 PM

I'm kind of hoping the economy fails too so we can get back to a better America. My only worry would be the crime rate that is sure to increase.

We have a house we are gonna try our damndest to keep and as soon as I get a job life will be a-okay as long as we manage our money properly. Which we've already had numerous talks on how to prepare for the huge economic downfall that will hit pretty hard in the future.

9/25/2008 6:37:08 PM

No. The gov't might as well do this:

Quote :

"With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their "distressed assets", i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we'd give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government's help! Use the form below to submit bad assets you'd like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets."

http://www.buymyshitpile.com/

9/25/2008 6:54:14 PM

Quote :

"And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think they are worth. "

sawahash will come in here saying that album is worth at least $50

9/25/2008 6:57:59 PM

Hahaha. I <3 this thread. It's made more sense than any of Soap Box.

9/25/2008 7:24:23 PM

Uhm. . .sooo. . .I haven't really thought this out, but couldn't a lot of debt just be canceled out.

Like I owe you 100 and you owe me 100. . .so in the end we owe nothing?

9/25/2008 9:58:37 PM

no I do not.

^^^^ That is A+++



[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 10:07 PM. Reason : .]

9/25/2008 10:00:09 PM

anyone wanting our economy to fail is fucking retarded
none of you were around during the great depression; be thankful for that.

9/25/2008 10:02:47 PM

i like when people argue about shit they don't understand

9/25/2008 10:06:35 PM

my grandmother was around during the great depression
i do not want to live through what she did.
period.

9/25/2008 10:07:18 PM

I don't think anyone WANTS the economy to fail but I also think this bailout sets a bad precedent.

9/25/2008 10:08:39 PM

no...defies capitalism

9/25/2008 10:09:36 PM

Depression != fail

Great depression = fail

Things like the FDIC? Going a long way towards preventing fail; even should it 'fail' in that people lose their homes left and right (other than the idiots who bought houses outside their means), that people are competing as hard for jobs as they did back then

...social support systems have come a long way. Sure, I'm young and idealistic (although some people might call my cynical, but they're full of it ), but unlike most 23yos, I spent some time as a kid not knowing where the hell I was going to live, whether or not there would be food on the table, and for the first few years I had any money whatsoever, I gave it all to my folks.

...And that's why I'm so practical now, don't play the blame game, and am not afraid of hard work. Some of these positive traits? I can trace back to a single incident.

I came home one day from work to my mom crying, because she had to raid my savings to keep the electricity turned on. This was before freshman year, before I knew how financial aid had worked, and I had saved all of my HS graduation cash to pay tuition.

Quote :

"i do not want to live through what she did. period."

Fortunately, most americans won't have to. It's the illegal immigrants who will.

Quote :

"I don't think anyone WANTS the economy to fail but I also think this bailout sets a bad precedent."

Exactly. Given the choice between this massive bailout, and letting the economy tank some more...I'd rather see the economy head south.

Shit...if people can't afford a damn thing, at least that will make a little headway into the obesity problem. That + some manual labor ...yeah

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 10:12 PM. Reason : lfjkd]

9/25/2008 10:10:09 PM

set em up

9/25/2008 10:14:59 PM