Omaha Steve not on road to recovery

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7695640

Oh my.

One wonders what the hold-up is, the recovery.

It was supposed to happen at 11:00 a.m. January 20, 2009.

The primitives promised us it would.

That was more than a year ago, in case one hasn't noticed.

Omaha Steve  (1000+ posts)         Thu Feb-11-10 06:49 PM
Original message

My friend lost a second job in 8 months, daughter will probably loose her home
 
The recovery ain't here yet.

gateley  (1000+ posts)      Thu Feb-11-10 06:53 PM
NON-DONOR TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Original message

1. It can't come soon enough. I haven't had a job to lose! So sorry to hear about your daughter.

hayu_lol (1000+ posts)      Thu Feb-11-10 07:18 PM
NON-DONOR TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Reply #1

2. Sorry to both...a sign of the times.

Downsized 16 months ago...no callbacks. Lost 1/3 of my income and that hurts. How many people across the country have to suffer before some positive action gets taken?

Some Repugs and a lot of Dems need to get their butts in gear and get some sort of jobs program going.

The ball's in the Dems' court, not the Republicans'.

gateley  (1000+ posts)      Thu Feb-11-10 09:07 PM
NON-DONOR TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Reply #2

4. I honestly do think they're trying, but this was a long time in the making. Biden was on Larry King last night and relayed that his grandfather always said "when the people across town are hurting, it's a recession, when you're the one hurting, it's a depression." He -- and they -- know that no matter what the numbers say, people don't care if they don't have food on their table, can't pay the rent, can't fill their gas tanks, etc. But they're not FEELING it, they don't know what it's like, and if they ever went through a bad stretch, they've forgotten how scary and debilitating it is.

It just takes SO LONG for anything to be accomplished in DC! And now with the Republicans throwing a wrench into every little thing they're trying to do, it's even worse!

It's going to be a rough go, and I'm not sure how we're going to get through it, but somehow people always seem to survive.

Demoiselle  (1000+ posts)       Thu Feb-11-10 07:54 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. Please know that as much hope and good vibes as I can muster is coming your way..

OhioChick  (1000+ posts)       Thu Feb-11-10 09:20 PM
Response to Original message
 
5. No it isn't here, Steve...

Nor do I think it will be for some time to come.

shawcomm (855 posts)      Fri Feb-12-10 03:56 AM
NON-DONOR TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Original message

6. Hang in there buddy. 

So sorry to hear.

Why all the morose primitives?

After all, il Duce Bo's the president, so the primitives should be happy.

[Tantal]

hayu_lol (1000+ posts)      Thu Feb-11-10 07:18 PM
NON-DONOR TO SKINS'S ISLAND!
Response to Reply #1


Some Repugs and a lot of Dems need to get their butts in gear and get some sort of jobs program going.

Since they seem to have a lot of time on their hands, these asshats need to go down to their local community college and take a basic course on economics. The government doesn't CREATE anything except for government jobs. Problem is, money has to be taken out of the private sector to do it. If the government wants to create jobs, they could start with cutting taxes, regulations, and mandates. Our current problem is that businesses don't know what's coming next......higher taxes, more regulation, increased energy costs, mandates for health coverage, etc. Any time there's uncertainty, business owners tend to "hold what they got" until they're sure of what the rules to the game are going to be.

[USA4ME]

One wonders what the hold-up is, the recovery.

New campaign slogan

"I'm not the recovery you've been waiting for." - Dear Leader

Omaha Steve

... daughter will probably loose her home

Houses in Chains?  Sounds like a rock group.

While I'm not a Keynesian, if Dear Leader was going to go that route he had a lot better and more effective works projects than whatever it is that's going on now.  He could have arranged incentives for these factories that have closed to refit and build highspeed rails and the engines and cars, etc... to eventually use them.  This country has one of the largest and most extensive set of tracks in the world, they just need to be updated.  Pick out anywhere from 10 to 12 major hub cities (NYC, LA, Houston, Miami, Chicago, Denver, etc...), run the highspeed rails to connect those destinations, and from the hubs you have sub-hubs of which to reroute the goods.  From the sub-hubs, you truck everything.  Most of the trucks wouldn't have to go much further than 50 miles from the sub-hubs, with a few exceptions of isolated parts of the USA.  We got that up and running we'd lower the cost of shipping and be the transportation envy of the world.  If you wanted to do even more, use the land underneath the railroads to lay down the new energy grid  for the nation.  These things alone would provide many jobs for the next 30+ years, and in the end it's like building a new road to an area than can now experience economic activity.

Instead we're repaving existing roads and repairing a bridge here and there.

.

[Alpha Mare]

Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) -- A state senator from Ohio says his state is spending $1 million on road signs to advertise the use of stimulus money for road projects. In other words, the state is using your money to tell you it's spending your money.

The bigger signs can cost as much as $3,000 each, according to Grendell, who says this is just a big "thank you" to the Obama Administration.

He told CNN, "Send a fruit basket if you want to say 'thank you.' Don't waste a million dollars saying 'thank' you to Washington for giving us back our tax money."

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is spending $60,000 of its stimulus money on $2,000 road signs to highlight projects funded by the massive economic recovery package.

The large green signs mark about 30 of what PennDOT calls "higher visibility projects" statewide. Each denotes the project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and features the act's logo.

Nationwide, several million dollars are being spent producing the signs.

In a 52-45 vote, the Senate decided the signs should stay.

"Why on earth would you want to hide from the American people the fact that the recovery package we passed is putting people to work?" asked Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, who took the lead in defending the expenditure.

[Specbid]

In a 52-45 vote, the Senate decided the signs should stay.

"Why on earth would you want to hide from the American people the fact that the recovery package we passed is putting people to work?" asked Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, who took the lead in defending the expenditure.

Boxer's husband/son/nephew/queer lover probably owns the company making the signs.

[Alpha Mare]

Most states still use prisoners to make these signs,(Correction Enterprises) and have statutes that require " all Departments, Institutions and Agencies of the State shall give preference to Department of Correction products in purchasing articles, products and commodities. In other words, if the product can be obtained from Correction Enterprises, it must be purchased from Corrections. If Correction Enterprises can not meet your specifications (i.e. delivery, matching existing, etc.) an exemption letter from the Department of Correction must accompany that particular purchase request. ... "

Prisoners are paid a few dollars a day.

[Alpha Mare]

Well what do you know?  Follow the $$$$

http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/5397312/

[The Village Idiot]

Since they seem to have a lot of time on their hands, these asshats need to go down to their local community college and take a basic course on economics. The government doesn't CREATE anything except for government jobs. Problem is, money has to be taken out of the private sector to do it. If the government wants to create jobs, they could start with cutting taxes, regulations, and mandates. Our current problem is that businesses don't know what's coming next......higher taxes, more regulation, increased energy costs, mandates for health coverage, etc. Any time there's uncertainty, business owners tend to "hold what they got" until they're sure of what the rules to the game are going to be.

Your trying to use truth, facts and logic and those won't fit in the square hole of DUmmie-ism.

[The Village Idiot]

And we'll be subsidizing it to the tune of a trillion dollars a decade.

[BEG]

Since they seem to have a lot of time on their hands, these asshats need to go down to their local community college and take a basic course on economics. The government doesn't CREATE anything except for government jobs. Problem is, money has to be taken out of the private sector to do it. If the government wants to create jobs, they could start with cutting taxes, regulations, and mandates. Our current problem is that businesses don't know what's coming next......higher taxes, more regulation, increased energy costs, mandates for health coverage, etc. Any time there's uncertainty, business owners tend to "hold what they got" until they're sure of what the rules to the game are going to be.

EXACTLY!

[USA4ME]

And we'll be subsidizing it to the tune of a trillion dollars a decade.

High speed rail will cut down on shipping costs.  It's like building a new road; the upfront costs are high, but eventually the economic activity created will pay it back.  The reason companys truck now is that it's quicker than rail.  But rail, per shipping mile, is cheaper.  So create a quicker train.

See, this is where we as America shines over the rest of the world.  We can continually build a better mousetrap in order to do things better, more efficiently, and for less money.  Gov't should always have a limitied role, but sometimes it's not bad to have them nudge in the right direction.  And who else can get all the principles together, share the common goal, and ask what needs to happen in order to get everyone to cooperate?  Problem is, as with way too many things, politics gets in the way of government carrying on its legitimate role.

.

[Chris_]

And we'll be subsidizing it to the tune of a trillion dollars a decade.

Exactly.......every mile of railroads in this country was built with private capital a century ago........and if there was the remotest possiblity that high-speed rail would make money, it would get done here without government involvement.

Rail rates for freight transport are cheap because the infrasture is built, and paid for.........high-speed systems require a completely different form of roadbed design and rail construction that would require essentally starting from scratch......it would never pay off at today's construction costs, and provide freight rates that are competitive. 

A load of freight can travel cross-country by rail in about four days.......by truck, about the same.......if the time could be reduced to one or two days, who would be willing to pay a huge premium for that to happen?  You guessed it.....nobody.......Hell, there are companies that ship goods from, LA to Baltimore by sea container......to save money, and that takes weeks.......no one wants high-speed rail for freight, and passenger service doesn't make sense either......that's what airliners are for.

Everywhere in the world that has a system like this is paying huge taxpayer subsudues to support its operation.........they are simply political "showpieces", not moneymakers.......hell, if the government can't make AMTRAK profitible, why would we think that sinking billions into a high-speed system would be any different?

Let's not forget the lessons learned form the EU's financial disaster with the "Concorde".........it was nice, but nobody wanted to pay $4,000 to get there in three hours, when they could buy a discount ticket for $350, and arrive only four hours later........

doc

[dandi]

Since they seem to have a lot of time on their hands, these asshats need to go down to their local community college and take a basic course on economics. The government doesn't CREATE anything except for government jobs. Problem is, money has to be taken out of the private sector to do it. If the government wants to create jobs, they could start with cutting taxes, regulations, and mandates. Our current problem is that businesses don't know what's coming next......higher taxes, more regulation, increased energy costs, mandates for health coverage, etc. Any time there's uncertainty, business owners tend to "hold what they got" until they're sure of what the rules to the game are going to be.

And the DUmmies for damn sure don't want to create anything. All they're interested in is sitting around on their dead asses and reaping the benefits of what "the rich", i.e. anyone who has more than them, have worked and sacrificed and taken risks for. There's a thread over there right now promoting some prominent moonbat's idea of a 21-hour work week and ridiculing a culture that values hard work and productivity. Bunch of worthless leeches making pompous statements about how the money of the producers and achievers should be confiscated and redistributed. Of course it's never for them, it's always for "the people." Only at DU can you find someone who wants to stick their hand in someone else's pocket and at the same time belittle the work ethic that filled that pocket. Worthless POSs.

[The Village Idiot]

Exactly.......every mile of railroads in this country was built with private capital a century ago........and if there was the remotest possiblity that high-speed rail would make money, it would get done here without government involvement.

Government did help some of course in the old days, granting tracts of land and being one of the biggest customers and whatnot.

263,000 federal employees were off due to snow this week. If they were fired the taxpayers could save about $26.3 billion a year. How about they offer grants to private companies AFTER they build the rail system? How many federal employees could be fired without anyone noticing? A half million? A million?