We are the country of the "quick fix".

[Raven]

It took years for us to get into the shit we're in. Years. Obama is supposed to turn this around, fix it, in a matter of months. It's not just the wingnut conservatives that are screeching, it's people here on DU.

In addition to Presidents and Fed Chairmen and Wall Street Masters of the Universe who bear the responsibility for the economic swill we are all drowning in, it was many of us who decided that plastic was the way to go, saving money was passe, buying a house you couldn't afford was achieving the "American Dream", swallowing every TV ad that said it was OK to spend money we didn't have, abandoning the frugal habits of our parents...Jesus! we all bear a certain amount of responsibility for what has happened to us. It is going to take time, hard work and careful thought to get back on a solid footing...not just Obama's hard work and careful thought...our own. There is no quick fix, there just isn't.

[Lisa0825]

1. Yeppers.

I don't recall who I stole my sig from... some creative DUer... it's true....

[AllentownJake]

2. How about this for an idea

How about we re-instate all the regulations that prevented people from being dumbasses.

You know the usary laws, the regulations on what you can sell as a mortgage, all those good things from oh 30 years ago before this insane society existed.

Here is the deal, if you make something legal, people will make it into a business, someone is going to market something to them and than dumbasses are going to buy into it.

The banks and consumer society has an army of trained human psychologist working for them and training their sales forces on what the best way is to sell shit people don't need.

The only control our previous generation had, was their access to credit.

You can't put the apple in the middle of the Garden and act surprised when a bunch of people are eating it after a snake told them to.

[Cant trust em]

14. I'm patient with a process, but impatient with tactics.

If something needs a year, call me at that point and then we'll evaluate.

But if there are ways to speed up the process that are being ignored, then we should say so.

[AllentownJake]

17. The process moves slow

but there really is no one besides a very few wanting to try to put the genie back in the bottle.

In reality all you are seeing is people trying to figure out how to make a proven broken system work again.

When I see the FHA gauranteeing no money down loans to try to save housing prices, I know we are essentially fucked, all they are doing is ensuring that they are going to be cleaning up another mess in a few years that they created in an attempt to fix the last mess...which is what we have been doing since 1981 when Reagan booted Carter who made the mistake of trying to be honest with the American people.

[Cant trust em]

21. I'd prefer stuff like the repeal of Glass-Steagal and breaking up the big banks

The housing market is one thing, but teh corruption of the banks is really something that I want to see tackled. They're interrelated for sure.

[AllentownJake]

22. Isn't going to happen

I have yet to hear one person from the administration come out in anyway for either of those things.

They seem to have an idea the Federal Reserve can supervise the Too Big to Fail.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

27. The fact that it hasn't been a priority

to get these laws and policies reinstated, makes me wonder at times how unforeseen the economic collapse really was.

It has occurred to me more than once that some very powerful forces were at work to remove vast amounts of public wealth
off the table. We think in terms of how incompetent and irresponsible these people are, but what if they knew EXACTLY what they're doing.

[ZombieHorde]

3. If your child was on the battlefields you may feel differently. nt

[FSogol]

4. Yup. Check out the thread right above yours.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7082373

[noiretextatique]

5. wall street got bailed out, and market is doing much better

that was indeed a quick fix. our congress has no problem at all bailing out wall street, and continuing to spend obscene amounts of money on two wars. where there is a will, there is a way. we lack the will.

[JuniperLea]

6. I bet they tap their feet in agony...

While waiting for the microwave.

I've started up my long-empty ignore list... this thread should line them up nicely, thanks!

The last time I used it, during the primaries, I ended up clearing out a lot of concrete pizzas... I bet history repeats;)

Rec'd!

[Stinky The Clown]

7. We're seeing worse than a quick fix

We're seeing too-small bandaids being applied to sucking chest wounds

[Skittles]

13. CORRECT

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. I don't expect quick fixes. But I'd like the car pointing in the right direction, at least.

[enlightenment]

9. Thank you.

It isn't the speed - it's the direction.

[Raven]

11. So what's your plan for the economy?

[JuniperLea]

23. Excellent Question!

:popcorn:

[enlightenment]

30. Is that supposed to be a put up or shut up comment?

Because I know it's not a serious question.

Next?

[Caliman73]

10. That is true.

I don't expect the President to solve all the problems and to do so right now, but I do think that some of the decisions being made aren't really solving much and are continuing the same policies that created the problems we are in now.

[Skittles]

12. it would help to be simply going in the correct direction

we are way off course

[ixion]

15. hell, I'd be happy with progress, much less a real fix

but all I see is a Bush third term with happy face branding.

[John N Morgan]

16. I have to agree with the post upthread,

this generation of people are no less frugal than the past. They had meaningful regulation on the financial markets to ensure safe steady growth.

[John N Morgan]

18. Testing the signature

Being an unknown in the district is an uphill battle, so here's a little something for the search engines.


John Morgan Democratic Candidate For Florida House of Representatives, District 82

[AllentownJake]

20. Human nature hasn't changed in probably 5000 years

For 200 years we developed laws and regulations to manage it, 30 years ago, we decided human nature had somehow changed.

[JuniperLea]

24. LOL!

You're dreaming! Greed is King, unfortunately. Bigger, better, faster, more... and charge it!

[John N Morgan]

28. I'm not sure I get your meaning. Greed was always king, always will be. It's not a new development

The values changed considerably over the last 50 years. After the depression, Americans distrusted the banks and so they were regulated. The Republicans deregulated the markets and opened Pandora's box. The vast majority of people began to trust the institutions.

There are many examples, how many small farms were lost after being totally set up by the markets. Greed in the financial markets is a prerequisite now and in the past.

John Morgan Democratic Candidate For Florida House of Representatives, District 82

[JuniperLea]

29. You said this:

"this generation of people are no less frugal than the past" and I'm saying that's dreaming... I know very few frugal people under the age of 50 or so.

So, how long of a battle do you suppose it will be to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act?

[tekisui]

19. This line of argument gets weaker each passing week.

[JuniperLea]

25. How long do you think it should have taken...

For all of us to feel the change?

[tekisui]

31. I'm just saying, at some point, that argument won't hold up.

For many it no longer does. Not because everything isn't fixed. But, because the direction is disappointing.

[JuniperLea]

32. I don't see how anyone here can accurately judge the direction...

I think that's my point. We don't have Obama's access to intelligence reports, and most of us don't share his intellect either. Add to that the uncharted waters, the lack of history to look to... just too many variables to actually assign an expectation.

I do know that 8+ years of heinous behavior by the past administration is going to take a hell of a long time to set right... and Obama has no support... not even from DU...

[Prism]

26. It's more of a lost journey, really

Think of it like this. The Bush administration was dragging us to hell. We're, at present, somewhere in Chicago. We elected President Obama to help us get to Los Angeles. Now, granted, that trip will take awhile. We all know it will take awhile. So we take our seats, have a snack, and prepare for the four year trek towards progress.

Then we hear on the intercom, "This is President Obama. We hope you enjoy your flight to Baton Rouge this evening."

That "WTF?!" you're hearing from the back of the plane is the fact that, on too many issues, we're not moving in the right direction. We're sidling sideways at best. Oh, sure, we're not actively back on the way to hell, but we're not exactly getting to where we need to be. The cherry on top of it all is that hell has a gravitational pull, and if we don't start moving opposite in quick time, we can quite easily get sucked right back into it.

It has never been about "immediate results" and intimating such is just a giant, fluffy, bunny-slippered straw man people like to bust out and gnaw upon to make themselves feel better.

It's about direction. This administration needs to swing a left. Maybe not a massive one, but any change in that direction at this point in time is absolutely vital to this country. On just about every. single. issue.