Myth Busted: Republian Party = Whig Party n/t

[Ozymanithrax]

[krispos42]

1. It remains to be seen. The next two years will be very interesting n/t

[Ozymanithrax]

2. The next two years are going to be like the last two on steroids.

To keep the base happy and get a promise return in 2012, they just have to convince them Obama didn't fix the economy.

So they send up bills Obama veto's and say, he did it. Economy stays bad.

In 2012, there are 20 Senate Dems up for reelection, so the ground in the Senate favors Republicans. If the Economy doesn't get better...

[krispos42]

3. The economy won't get better under the pro-corporatists

Ergo, it won't get better at all. :-(

[Ozymanithrax]

4. The economy has improved... slowly

1. In 2008, we lost an average of 317,250 private sector jobs per month. In 2010, we have gained an average of 95,888 private sector jobs per month. (Source) That's a difference of nearly five million jobs between Bush's last year in office and President Obama's second year.

2. In FY2009, which began on September 1, 2008 and represents the Bush Administration's final budget, the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. In FY2010, the first budget of the Obama Administration, the budget deficit was $1.291 trillion, a decline of $125 billion. (Source) Yes, that means President Obama has cut the deficit -- there's a long way to go, but we're in better shape now than we were under Bush and the GOP.

3. On Bush's final day in office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 closed at 7,949, 1,440, and 805, respectively. Today, as of 10:15AM Pacific, they are at 11,108, 2,512, and 1,183. That means since President Obama took office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have increased 40%, 74%, and 47%, respectively.

As is the nature of economies, it will continue to improve though slowly until some major malfunction drives it down again, even under corporatists. Economies go through natural up and down cycles.

Though I doubt they wll do anything to fix it, and cutting spending could very well be that malfunction, if it does continue to improve they reap the benefit.

[krispos42]

5. However, wages are stagnent. Costs are rising.

The employees remain at a bargining disadvantage. More and more of the taxes paid are regressive, as cities and counties replace lost federal and state money (from progressive income taxes) with property and sales taxes (which are regressive). People hate their jobs, as many are being forced into customer-service jobs with crappy wages and hours, or having multiple jobs. Over the last few decades the hours worked per week are rising, the total weekly hours worked in a household has been rising, and yet purchasing power is stagnent. Health insurance costs will continue to rise way above inflation, even though it will be tempered somewhat by the "Obamacare" bill.

The power of the dollar continues to be diluted as well due to deficit spending and loss of manufacturing jobs. The industries that actually generate wealth by aquiring raw materials and turning them into finished goods are deteriorating as those jobs are shipped overseas, and they've been replaced by service-sector jobs that generate money but not wealth.

Under these conditions, the economy will do badly, and thus "good", a relative term, will continue to be redefined on a downward-sliding scale.

:-(