Seems like only yesterday when you were thriving, At the top of your game! Bringing joy to the world! This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "Here today, Gone Tomorrow!" You will definitely be missed by many! I dont see how we can go on without you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj01Sqi0zic
too late for me... but you guys who are in 20's, 30's and early 40's..are going to get porked.. and you offspring as well... Below is the difference in our generations Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House. The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri . His wife had inherited The house from her mother and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there. When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.. After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There were no Secret Service following them. When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale." Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise." As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food. Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale. (sic. Illinois ) Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference! I say dig him up and clone him!!
^^^ x3!!! ^^^ Today's politicians should see this...not that it would do much good, IMO. Too much Greed and Ego in Washington today.
I think they should have taken the 2 trillion bucks and paid off everybodys mortgage. Then the money would have flowed uphill..... because we can all see it is not flowing down. ..
You correct a problem by solving it's source. So the mortgage companies started this problem so why bail them out. Bail out those that got sucked in, then the mortgage and banking companies get a bail out also. Financially helping the money bags did not help us at all. ..
I'm just tired of American mindset that money and profit are inherently evil. That and all the talk of what's fair. Did ANYONE outgrow kindergarten?
I don't believe there is any issues with profit...but the there are severe issues when it comes to greed... and putting WIFM first above all else.. especially in public service.. Now with politicians the focus and goals (imo) have been to promote ones self and office; for a price and personal profit (not while in office) but after they leave rather than do what is best for the people they serve in the long run .... as compared to providing deals to the few who supoport their political endeavors... there is no honor or integrity with many of those who are supposedly leading this country.. just power and greed in many cases... look at how the stimulus money and pork deals are being distributed..
No, I'm not talking just about politicians, but the culture. That people who seek to make money and who have money are always evil or greedy. Look at any movie, tv show or comic book or book from the past oh fifty years. Nine times out of ten, who's the big bad villain? Some rich guy.. its never the little guy's fault, even though he ran up tons of debt on his own. No, its the EEEVIL rich people on Wall Street. Yeah, there are a few bad eggs, but the fact that its like bible verse that rich people or people who have more than you are up to no good and need to be punished is just well, old. I used to buy into that, and then I started thinking for myself. The whole point of this country is having the opportunity (not the right) to make the best of your situation and to thrive. Not to look to the government to make things fair and not to scapegoat the guy who made something of himself. In the past year I've gone from being financially independent to being completely dependent on my husband all because of the stupid decisions some bank management made, but also because I put too much trust in bank stock to continue to make money. Yeah, I could cry and cry about damned old Wall Street Fat Cats, but I know I could've studied up on my finances and made smarter decisions. Because I was too lazy, well, now I'm Suzie Homemaker more than I'm ChargerGirl. /soapbox
not to stir a pot.. but making money is a good thing... being greedy is not.. the current financial crisis we are in is directly due to "greedy" bankers, mortgage brokers and investment firms; Enron, Sallie Mae Freddie Mac, Madoff just to name a few. their bottom lines profits were justified by many; especially investors.. No some were just frauds and deserve to be hung out to dry and all of there possessions seized .. those who put their well being at risk may have just made bade business decisions.. but in the "loan" market it is very obvious that they were packaging bad loads and quickly selling them off knowing things would eventually go bad.. but as long as it was not in their house ..who cares.. I guess many of us do now.. either because long term debts are incurred or many lose their jobs and pensions/retirements.. In the banking world they had their special interest groups persuading many of the politicos to look the other way.. and not put too much regulation or oversight on their businesses and to trust the "free market"..well...
This is true, but you have to also understand the Federal Government made this happen by initiating Federal regulation. The Banks and Mortgage companies were forced to do what they did. Remember everyone can buy a house program a product of Clinton? Well when this little program was started so was the regulation of banks and mortgage companies to give unwarranted loans by the millions. First it was the banks that lost money then the mortgage companies, they were going to go bankrupt, some still did. I'm not a fan of any sort of stimulus paid out by the Government then in-turn by us Tax Payers. I never voted for Clinton or Obahma either.
Its deeper than that, just the government contributes to it because its in their best interest. How many high school graduates nowadays can balance a checkbook or understand that money doesn't magically sprout from an ATM kiosk? The government is just reinforcing the fact that when you screw up, there are no consequences. It was the right to PURSUE happiness, not a right to happiness itself. So by that token, you have the freedom to succeed AND fail, and the truth is, you learn more from when you screw up (unless you're an idiot) than when you succeed. It also makes you appreciate your successes and respect and understand others more. When you're a spoiled brat with everything handed to you, you feel entitled to everything and could care less about anyone but yourself. Welcome to what we have going now. All this nonsense about a RIGHT to a job, and a RIGHT to a house and a RIGHT to healthcare. Really? Really? You have a right to apply for a job, you have a right to purchase a house if you can afford it and a right to access to healthcare and no emergency room is going to turn you away if you're bleeding out, they just have to bill someone afterward, you or the insurance company. But no, people choose to be stupid and lazy and then wonder where their freedoms went after the fact. Oh and don't get me started on the whole "blame everyone but yourself" business. Ugh...
Now it's the greedy investors fault. I bought BP because of the good dividend for my retirement fund a month before the accident. Now I'm a greedy bastard, (investor) and much poorer too. I guess it's better to live off Uncle Sam and drink home brew on the porch of my squatter shack. The only reason I keep working and trying go make a little something is to buy improvements for my car. If you don't want to have a median income, I'm sorry but you have to be driven, by something and that something is often wanting more than the next guy. Oops, sounds like greed. Time to become socialists and happy about mediocrity. Les Edit: It's the home brew talking
Fannie Mae created by........... The New Deal. Banks forced to make bad loans to people who can't afford them by.... Federal Banking laws. Bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while their executives skated with hundreds of millions of bonuses and no Capitol Hill grilling, Dwarfing the private banking bailout, close to trillion. From 1913, when douchebag Woodrow Wilson, with the help of a republican senate, introduced the FED and the income tax , you can see it is the growth of government that has failed us. Now, truly, the parasite is getting bigger than the host.
