Bad American?

Heating up? Name calling? Jeepers, Bill. One guy makes the only comments posted since May 20 and you call that heating up and name calling?
I think you are viewing the discussion thru a jaundiced eye.

Actually I think the conversation here has been pretty civil. I actually kind of forgot about it. But kind of picking back up the Mortgage/housing topic, the blame isn't squarely on either Democrats or Republicans, but rather both parties and politicians in general.

The single biggest problem out there is lobbying. If you look at any campaign, regardless of party, the biggest contributors are from the financial, mortgage, and lending industries as well as lobbys from energy industries. This is done for one specific reason and that is to ensure that these businesses can run completely unregulated.

At the height of the boom, you had Realtors paying property assessors to artificially raise the value of real estate, lenders giving loans to unqualified applicants whom lied about their income. You had banks selling and re-selling packaged loans and selling paper which was paper that banks had paid rating agencies who marked them almost always as Grade A paper.

This all went unchecked. It was nothing short of outright financial anarchy and our leaders -of both stripes- let it happen because they dared not say a peep about it lest they lose their campaign contributions. That's the problem. It isn't about liberals or conservatives. Its about corrupt government policy.

One last thing. Now I know that the very word "Socialist" has been turned into this great evil word, particularly by the right. Its meant to conjure up images of the iron curtain and blok countries during the cold war. But here's the thing: Look up Sweden, Denmark, Norway, or New Zealand. All of these countries have government sponsored healthcare, retirement funds, education, and so on. But look at their quality of life and other related things and you'll find that they have the highest standards of living in the world. So despite what others say, I think it is very worthwhile to study what these countries do versus automatically cry foul the very second anyone mentioned government healthcare.

The bottom line is that people are generally stupid, do not save for retirement, do not pay attention to problems until they are major ( such as failing to get healthcare coverage and then going bankrupt when they get sick) and so on. I'd actually feel better if the government had mandated requirements. All I can tell you is that as a 31 year old male, I have absolutely ZERO confidence in the healthcare system as it is now, and zero trust in my private healthcare plan, where I seldom know if they will actually pay for my treatment. All I can say is that I dare not get really sick because I can just see going bankrupt in the process. So in my opinion, if we are all able to get healthcare that we know won't bankrupt us, I'm all for it. Call me socialist if you want.

To one and all. Some of you question Bills comment, so I will back him up on this.

A cumulative List Of Fallacious Arguments used:

(These words and phrases are , inflammatory, name calling and non-productive.)

"...Vehemetly supports them-Middle ages white males..."
"..Middle age protestant white males.."
"..Obama is a pitchman not a president.."
"..Clown.."
"...Birchers and their Ilk..."
"...McCarthyism..."
"..Hissing the words "Communist Socialists.."
"...Christian Moralists..."
"..Articulate Idiot or Liar.."
"..aging Baby Boomers who suck this country dry.."
"..race Mongers.."
"..right wing extremist crap.."
"..The Idiot on the radio.."


Arguments prove that the argument has to be justified, and supported through fallacies, because the proponent knows of no viable articulate alternative.

Well the bottom line is this. Its obvious people here and everywhere else have very strong opinions about how they think the country should be run, have ideas of what they think the perfect American experience aught to be, and how people should live their lives. These are all wrong because they are merely opinions. Nobody's opinions are fact. They are as mentioned- opinions.

Nobody is going to change anyone's opinion. That's basically it.

" There are two things in life that should be kept to yourself: Religion and politics"

-My Dad

Before continuing try this link, it will enlighten one on types of arguments:

http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html

Thank you. That name calling is exactly what I was talking about.
I do agree that we have presently a corrupt government, and, that both sides are equally to blame.
And, yes, the industry, particularly the utilities, though, I'm certain it includes other areas as well, is running the show for their own benefit.
That's more corruption.
Interesting how those 3 "socialist" countries are doing it better than any of the rest of us.
I do feel that if we got together, and, worked together, instead of bickering, we could do alot betteer here, in this country.
Bill Cahill

It it was up to me...since i'm the one who originally started this post...i would lock it down and take it off here. Its been beat to death already. Since i started this thread, i give permission to the mods to...LOCK THIS THREAD AND DELETE IT! And for those of you that will complain...bitch at me and not the mods! I will not post, reply to or read anything not radio or tv related on these forum's again. I had no idea that this was going to turn into a 3 month long pissing contest! I learned my lesson.
-Tony

!

edited for content.

I'm all for diesel powered tractors!

As does Tony, I think this post has been beaten to death.
I just had to delete another nasty comment. So, I am locking down this thread.
Sorry, guys, it's gotten out of hand.
Bill Cahill