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THE CHATTER BOX

	The Chatter Box : Blathering On
	The Presidents Budget by tucsonmike on 28 February 2009 4:51pm   The Republicans are having a leadership conference in Washington this week. They are working to paint President Obama as a "European Socialist." It is ironic. Republicans do not even mention Bush. They see him as someone who wrecked the party. Rush Limbaugh called the President a Stalinist and said "I want him to fail." I found I always said "Bush" but now it is President Obama. I don't like a lot of what is in the package, but we are in a mess.   Re: The Presidents Budget by MMMmmm... on 28 February 2009 9:34pm   Take heart, Mike. Clinton got us out of deficits and into surpluses. The Obama Adm. is using a similar formula of what worked with lessons learned. You have to invest in the whole of the country for the whole of the country to prosper. You don't get something for nothing - which is all most Republicans seem to want to do. Always only wanting to benefit the wealthy. It doesn't work, as we've seen. The banks banrupted many of the people with deregulation and predatory lending. All they wanted was for people to buy and spend - they didn't care. They set the rules of the game, so they always win, until now - their own game began to beat them. But they're still getting off pretty easy so far.   Re: The Presidents Budget by mrsthing on 1 March 2009 1:00am   The difference this time is that it's a world wide recession, and for once, the oil companies aren't raking in profits. I've been reading about the Great Depression, and the parallels are amazing. I don't think we're all doomed to a decade of thin soup and ratty clothes, but I don't think it's going to get better any time soon. I'm a bit disappointed in Obama's plan, but we have to do something. I don't like the fact that he's building up troops in Afghanistan, even as he smiles and talks about leaving Iraq. I'm still glad I voted for him, though.   Re: The Presidents Budget by bIG bLOGGER on 1 March 2009 2:23pm   Apparently Pres.Obama intends to leave between 30,000-50,000 US troops in Iraq,for training and support purposes. One of our leading columnists,Simon Jenkins,has written some very stern articles about the wisdom of building up troop numbers in Afghanistan; the Russians gave up after a 9-year struggle to wrest control there,in the face of an implacably hostile Mujahideen; the British army historically has never been in control for very long,and lost catastrophic numbers of troops; so I don't really see the US army "winning" there either. On the subject of his budget,he seems to be "spending" millions,billions,trillions,even squillions of US dollars,but how come he never mentions to the US citizens where all this money is COMING FROM? Is it because,if they really knew,they would have a fit??   Re: The Presidents Budget by geordiegirl on 1 March 2009 10:09pm   You are right, I think, about Afghanistan, Peter: historically so difficult to live with, and about Obama: he's still on Honeymoon I'd guess so will not be questioned too much. ('European Socialists'? I presume the Republicans mean Angela Merkel, Christian Democrat & a fine politician. Or Nicolas Sarkozy, right-wing French President & doing some good things there too? Or Silvio Berlusconi, well-known Italian nutter?)   Re: The Presidents Budget by mrsthing on 1 March 2009 10:36pm   We all know where the money for the "stimulus" is coming from. We just prefer not to think about it. We know it'll be visiting us in taxes for the rest of our lives and into our childrens' lives. I have no idea what a "European Socialist" is, but "socialism" is a word that evokes a huge knee-jerk in America. Many Americans pretty much equate socialism with communism.   Re: The Presidents Budget by tucsonmike on 2 March 2009 12:52am   On CNN, John King on State of the Union was speaking with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen went over Afghanistan. Military people agree, it cannot be won with a purely military solution. Following on Fareed Zakaria's GPS, four people discussed Islamic radicalism and stated we can get the Taliban to drop support of Al-Queda, which allegedly is beginning to lose some force in the Islamic world. We may not like how the Taliban lives, but we also have to face reality.
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