On Mar 8, 11:34*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
Han wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in
om:

The bill that BUSH ran up?

What would you call it?
Reduce taxes (for the rich).

Start a war or two which even if justifiable somehow were mismanaged
for the first 5 years. *Oh yeah, wars cost money, kill people (mostly
not the rich), and war profits go to those with the chutzpah to
charge the government (mostly the corporations and executives with an
"in"). *Did I mention thaat wars have a tendency to resul in bad
things like injuries, physical and mental? *Theater medicine has now
improved so much that many injuries which formerly were deadly now
bring home the maimed. Hospitals, like VA hospitals will have to care
for those people for the next 60 or so years!!! *Does cost money, now
and in the future.

Deregulation has pushed people to push the envelop of greed and
legalistics. *Just in case you forgot, we are now spending 100's of
trillions of dollars to bail out "systems" that "cannot be allowed to
fail". *That is not because the capitalist system works so well when
not regulated. *Please note sarcasm. *I am not in favor of communism
or strict socialism, but of capitalism with responsibility and
regulation. Stealing is still stealing, and inducing people to get
mortgages that rely on their home's values to increase at 20% a year
is not responsible.

All these things might have happened under other presidents than the
last Bush, but he was in charge and is responsible. *Of course those
idiot congress critters running for reelection share some
responsibility, but it was Bush and his cronies that pushed the
envelop.

Thanks for letting me rant.

The trigger for your rant was government debt, but since you brought up

DEAD AND WOUNDED
Our dead and wounded were volunteers. They signed up knowing the risk of
being maimed but viewed that as acceptable for the opportunity to kill
people and blow things up. In that, there is no difference between them and
mountain climbing, sky diving, auto racing, or being married to my ex-wife.
Our troops were trained for war, they wanted to go to war, they NEEDED to go
to war!

The experience gained by our warrior class has not only sharpened the
spear's tip, but polished the shaft. You'd be hard pressed to find ANY
commander today, from sergeant to general, who has not led troops in combat.
Latest figures show that 85% of troops who've served in Afghanistan or Iraq
re-enlist. The remaining 15% retire, are invalided out, or are married to
harridans. They do what they were trained to do, they do what they need to
do, they do what they were BORN to do.

Several years ago, in an area not too far from where our soldiers are
currently deployed, a military leader said:

"Just there the barbarians huddle, sheer terror gripping tight their hearts
with icy fingers... knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered
at the swords and spears of three hundred. Yet they stare now across the
plain at TEN THOUSAND Spartans commanding thirty thousand free Greeks!

"The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one, good odds for any Greek. This
day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future
brighter than anything we can imagine. "

COST
President Bush inherited a modest recession. In spite of that, 9-11,
Katrina, and two wars, we had twenty-five consecutive quarters of economic
growth. The Dow-Jones doubled to over 13,000, unemployment dipped to a low
of 4.5%. Then the Democrats took over Congress, and, in less than a year,
managed to **** things up mightily. With a new president, we're currently at
10.8% unemployment, running up more debt than all previous administrations
combined, the Dow-Jones is at its lowest in 12 years, the S&P is down 45%
from its high, and, to continue the "****ed-up" metaphor, we are suffering
from double-penetration!

REGULATION
If you're talking about the banking industry, forget it. The banking sector
is the second-most regulated industry in the country (I submit guns are more
regulated). The one thing that started this snowball rolling downhill was
the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 under Carter, but perverted by
Clinton. In 1995, banks were REQUIRED to have a significant portion of their
loan portfolio in disadvantaged communities. [I've seen bank branches
(Washington Mutual, Chase, etc.) in neighborhoods that the only other retail
establishments on the block were drug dealers and hookers.] The only way for
a bank to do so was to virtually eliminate prudent lending criteria such as
having a job! That was a minor inconvenience for the banks inasmuch as they
could bundle these notes and sell them to Fannie or Freddie.

People could buy a $300,000 house for $500/month with a balloon payment in
five years. When the five-year threshold came, the house was worth $500,000
and they could simply re-finance. This Ponzi scheme collapsed when virtually
everybody who could take two consecutive breaths had a home and there was no
one left that wanted a loan.

The point is, capitalism isn't responsible - point a finger at government
interference in the markets.

BUSH RESPONSIBLE
Bush was in charge, true. From 2003 onward, on four separate occasions,
bills were introduced to reign in Freddie and Fannie. None made it to the
President's desk.

I appreciate your rant and the opportunity to offer a different rendition of
the facts.

Because Bush and the Republican Congress killed them.

TMT