Politics. (You've been warned. Hehe.)

[kimana517]

It’s not that I want to punish your success, I just want to make sure that everybody that is behind you, that they have a chance for success too. I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.
Barack Obama

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
Karl Marx

Same thing, just different words.

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Did you know?
The top 1% of wage earners pay 40% of all income taxes. The top 5% pay 60%. The top 50% pay 97%. That means that 50% of the taxpayers pay 3% of the taxes. The poorest people not only do not pay any taxes, they also receive a tax credit on April 15th.
You tell me who needs a tax cut.

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Quote from someone in a LiveJournal community:
"People will fight socialism if it's pushed by mobs and led under a red banner -- but if it's sold as universal health care, they'll eat it up."

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ABC Finds FDR Partly to Blame for 10-Year Great Depression

On Saturday’s Good Morning America, ABC ran an unusual report that placed some of the blame for the Great Depression’s length on government intervention by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as Herbert Hoover, and concluded by questioning whether the current plans could do harm. After an unidentified economist contended that "the government from Hoover to Roosevelt made it worse by intervening too much and too arbitrarily," correspondent Bill Blakemore concluded: "And now, is the Bush government intervening too much arbitrarily with its $700 billion bailout? That’s a million dollar question, so to speak, for those trying to guess when this crisis will end."

Blakemore’s attention to this often ignored take on government intervention came at the end of a report that looked back at the Great Depression. After giving Roosevelt credit for injecting America with a "can do" spirit, Blakemore noted that the Great Depression ended its 10-year run as a result of World War II. He then asked the question of why the Stock Market Crash of 1929 resulted in the Great Depression:

BLAKEMORE: So what made the crash of ‘29 lengthen into a depression?
WOMAN: Because the government from Hoover to Roosevelt made it worse by intervening too much and too arbitrarily.
BLAKEMORE: And now, is the Bush government intervening too much arbitrarily with its $700 billion bailout? That’s a million dollar question, so to speak, for those trying to guess when this crisis will end.

Anchors Bill Weir and Kate Snow then tried to provide context by cautioning viewers that the current economic situation is not near the scale of the Great Depression:

WEIR: If you do look back, 90 percent drop in the stock market, 25 percent unemployment, the Dust Bowl, huge drought.
SNOW: We’re nothing like that.
WEIR: We're nowhere near a Great Depression. Some context is good.

Below is a complete transcript of the story from the Saturday, October 11, Good Morning American on ABC:

BILL WEIR: Well, as we wind down this week, you know, we’ve heard the words "Great Depression" thrown around quite a bit.
KATE SNOW: Scary, yes, scary words. So we thought we’d take a look back. What led to the actual crash in 1929 and the terrible times that followed that? And what lessons can we maybe learn from it? ABC’s Bill Blakemore has that for us.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT: -that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
BILL BLAKEMORE: 1933: four years after the Crash of '29. The Depression was still going, but new President FDR calmed the country asking everyone to think about their own fear, their own psychologies, and get a grip. Irving Kahn, 102, remembers. He became a trader on Wall Street just before that crash came.
IRVING KAHN, FORMER WALL STREET TRADER: And I didn't like the business after one week. I’d get off the floor on the exchange. It was like being in a casino. Yelling, make a lot, lose a lot, not a real business.
BLAKEMORE: And then, as the story goes, FDR arrived, and Americans started pulling together, reflected in those 1930s Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movies where the "can do" spirit takes over with a vengeance.

[MOVIE CLIP WITH MICKEY ROONEY]

BLAKEMORE: But it wasn't just enthusiasm that ended the Depression after 10 years – World War II did. The hard question, say scholars, is why did the crash of '29 become a depression in the first place?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Markets do crash. We've had credit crises, many crises, many, many times without depressions.
BLAKEMORE: For example, the market crash of 1987.
WOMAN: ‘87 was more like one of those events. If you woke up a year later, you wouldn’t even remember it.
BLAKEMORE: So what made the crash of ‘29 lengthen into a depression?
WOMAN: Because the government from Hoover to Roosevelt made it worse by intervening too much and too arbitrarily.
BLAKEMORE: And now, is the Bush government intervening too much arbitrarily with its $700 billion bailout? That’s a million dollar question, so to speak, for those trying to guess when this crisis will end. For Good Morning America, Bill Blakemore, ABC News.
WEIR: If you do look back, 90 percent drop in the stock market, 25 percent unemployment, the Dust Bowl, huge drought.
SNOW: We’re nothing like that.
WEIR: We're nowhere near a Great Depression. Some context is good. We'll be back.

This is why I *hate* the bailout, and why I hate Obama's (and every liberal's) plans to increase gov't spending.

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And finally, some humor:

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Comments

[pansyprincess.livejournal.com]

I loved that Obama finally spoke up with that socialistic quote, because so many liberals I've argued with have tried to say he's never uttered anything like that. Now they can't argue with it. But the thing is, you still can't convince them what a horrible idea it is! It's frustrating how stupid Obama supporters are. :|

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know! I hope McCain jumps on that. I really hope he makes a commercial of that clip and then puts up Marx's words afterward. I doubt he will though. He never goes on the offensive when he has such good ammo; it's like he feels bad about saying the truth about Obama if it might be taken as mean.

[adr0ck.livejournal.com]

that last video is awesome. i LOOVED when they brought up the bradys. and then their time spent with . . . DUN DUN DUNNNNNN EACH OTHER.

*gasp*

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

Isn't it hilarious? "John McCain knows - DUN DUN DUN - Barack Obama." LOL!

[chestnutcurls.livejournal.com]

That's a lot to take in! Thanks. :)

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

De nada. =o)

[modmerseygirl.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you so much for this, hon!

Very interesting thoughts about the Great Depression, too.

I LOVED that video about McCain and Obama! HAHAHA!

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! =o)

Isn't it? I had never heard it put that way before.

Me too! SO FUNNY!

[gothelittle.livejournal.com]

Ahh, not only do the top x% pay most of the taxes, but the highest couple of brackets pay a higher percentage of the taxes after Bush's "tax cut for the rich" than they did under Clinton.

That's right, the richest people pay a higher percentage of the nation's taxes under Bush than under Clinton. What happened?

Simple... it takes wealth to grow wealth. Remember the parable of the talents? The guy who buried his started with one and ended up with one... BUT... the guy who invested two ended up with four and the guy who invested five ended up with ten. The top guy's profit was more than the middle guy had altogether!

Let the rich get richer. A rising tide lifts all boats.

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

I don't know how people don't realize that cutting taxes on the rich really does benefit all of us. Most rich people are not Howard Hughes hoarders. Most give away crazy amounts to charities, and invest crazy amounts, helping the poor and our economy. When you take more of their money away, you not only cut down their charitable giving and the stimulation of the economy, you also force them to cut jobs and/or raise prices. I swear, everyone should be required to take a basic economics class before they're allowed to vote.

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

I gather from everything I've heard that maybe I should have watched the debate last night. I just don't see how more people don't see how scary Obama is.

I didn't know that about the people who don't pay taxes (that they also get tax credits). And Obama's just going to make it worse.

I already knew that about FDR. The bailout was not a good idea.

Funny video, hehe.

[kimana83.livejournal.com]

I don't either! People don't seem to know that not all "change" is good. Nazism was change too. (Not that I think an Obama administration will be as bad as that, though there are a few similar ideals.) I'm pretty sure Obama will win, and as insanely much as it sucks, part of me is going to enjoy the destruction he and Pelosi put on us. I will just sit back and say a smug "I told you so" to all the blind idiots who are voting for a socialist. I don't see why we need to become like every other country in the world. There are enough socialist countries; if you want to live in one, move. Don't force the rest of us to endure that crap.

Yes. I already knew that (learned it in my economics class in college), but I saw proof of it when Isaac did some pro bono tax returns for some poor people in church. They got a refund on April 15th... despite having paid absolutely no taxes all year. So basically they got a refund without buying anything. CRAZY, huh?

I knew it too, it's just shocking that a liberal news network is admitting it! FDR and the New Deal are almost as beloved by liberals as JFK and ObamaMessiah. I also liked how they put the current financial crisis in perspective. We are nowhere NEAR the problems of the Great Depression. Not even close.

[bluiidmommy.livejournal.com]

I also don't understand how people can still think socialism is a good idea. What? We'll be the only socialist country that actually works? I hope someone really good runs four years from now, because I agree. Obama's going to win.

That is crazy!

Yeah, that's true. It is surprising. I was listening to some expert the other day online (don't remember who) who said that we're not even close to having another depression. You could tell the interviewer didn't really believe him.