Well, people are saying that recent elections--particularly that of nude pinup model Scott Brown--have shown that republicans are going to win big in the next election. POPPYCOCK! It is still the republicans who are dragging down government at every level.
In particular, Scott Brown used a single issue to get elected, and it was something he could only have done in Massachusetts. Massachusetts, tired of the federal government not doing anything to reform healthcare, created health care reform on a state level, for the first time in this country. Since they already have health care, the citizens did not want to pay for this twice--once on the state level, and once on the federal level. That is how he got elected--not to mention that the Democratic candidate simply lost the election with a very poorly-run campaign.
Last I saw, 61% of the citizens wanted a public option in health care, 29% did not, and 10% were undecided. Splitting the undecided vote gives us almost exactly a 2:1 majority wanting a public option. Any republican who fights this should not be re-elected, period! For the republicans to claim that these recent elections mean that the public does not like Obama is sheer stupidity. He still has not pulled out of the problems left by the previous administration. And he can't do so quickly because they left us in such a precarious state. The ONLY way we can fix things is to get things back the way they were during the Clinton administration--ie, raise taxes on the wealthy. The best way to do this is to eliminate all of the ways that the wealthy people AVOID paying taxes. I hate to say it, but a flat tax, with a basic deduction for cost of living, and no other deductions, would go far to accomplish what we need to accomplish. Just making the rich people pay their fair share would help out this country a whole lot. I have no problem with a break for long-term capital gains, but I don't think that wealthy people actually do that much direct investment. Wealthy people have so many ways to avoid taxes that many of them actually pay NO taxes every year! That is simply not right!
Now we hear that the Greek government is in a sorry state, and needs to borrow money. This recession would seem to be never-ending, yet I work in retail, and we are beating last year's figures handily. Except for January, sales are not that bad.... If companies would just hire more people, I think they'd see sales go up.
I still think that Chrysler makes better cars than Ford or GM, and I base this on having owned four Chrysler products in the last decade or so, along with one Chevy, and a Mazda and a Volvo. Worst of the lot was the Mazda. These are not very current vehicles, ranging from 1986 to 1995 models, but I got to see two Caravans with 191,000 and 208,000 miles on them, and I now have a '95 Doddge Stratus with 112,500 miles on it, which beats the heck out of a Sentra or Corolla. It goes down the interstate far better than, say, a Hyundai Accent, handles well, rides well, and is quieter. Chrysler's cruise control is far better than the others, as well, beaten only in my experience by current Volvos. The new Avenger--which we are seeing used by many police departments--gets within a mile or two per gallon of the much-vaunted Malibu, and it is a noticeably larger car. You should look at Chrysler. Toyota, which I used to sell, and always respected, has lost my respect.
Gotta run....
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