I totally agree with your comment - evil insurance companies it's all about the money while tons of people are suffering. Very greedy if you ask me.

 

I don't really like hte way you responded to me inside the quote. I was confused and trying to figure out what i had typed before I figured out you ahd responded inside htat quote... kind of confusing looking.


Tariffs would hurt the poor more than they would help. Goods that are now cheap would be expensive, and it discourages American Industry from being productive enough to compete on a global market. It also gives industry the opportunity to have tariffs raised. What you end up with is an inferior American product that is more expensive than what you could have had in the first place. Plus, the poor suffer more by having to pay for more expensive products. The answer in my opinion is not to go back in time 50 years to a manufacturing economy, but to go forward with a technology/innovative/medical technology based economy.

Education is expensive enough as is. College was initially free in many states, but too many people wre going. The idea of tuition was to make sure the people who wanted it the most got it. Tuition has since gotten out of hand. It was intended to be affordable to the students and it isn't.


LGBT... better learn that one IT's Lesbian, Gays, Bisexual, and Transgender... kind of grouping all those people into one. Basically, are you in favor of marriage rights or do you favor a marriage amendment to restrict it?

 

Technology is great and all (I'm on my way into the IT field myself) but as more and more stuff becomes automated there won't be any more need for more people as more servers become centralized over a greater area. It's a well paying field, but there is little incentive to innovate here compared to other countries where labor is far cheaper. Things did not get much cheaper when production was exported. The companies that made those products pocketed more profit in the process. So in reality it didn't benifit the poor much from the get go. I was originally a business major before I changed majors and to be completely honest I can't blame businesses from a strict monetary standpoint. Products are just as expensive but inferior (look at car parts for example). This means more have to be bought. Most people will simply go for the cheaper product and it will end up costing more in the long run due to the inferior product. I would go more in depth but I have to go to work now. Thanks to Nissan, I have a job that can pay the bills and my education but most are not so lucky, especially those who can't lean on their parents.

 

I will agree the epa is bs now, there in our town digging up lead filled yards but its odd that one yard can have lead but the neighbors yard dont or its just there driveway its so retarded how they operate, as far as everything else i stay outta politics so im not gonna comment on em

 

The EPA is a horrible department within the government. It needs to be reigned in.
Lead and asbestos were good bases from which to build upon and were used in many products before they were found to be toxic. That is why lead and asbestos contamination is so wide spread.

 

I do agree that with modern automation there will be fewer manufacturing jobs than ever before. However there would still be jobs available. The only thing that the free trade agreements has benefited is the stock holders and corporate officers. I remember a time when you went to a department store and everything you picked up said made in the USA and something made elsewhere was an oddity. Now if you find something made in the USA that is the oddity. I want to return the made in the USA label back to American store shelves. I think nullifing free trade agreements and adding tariffs to foreign made goods will facilitate that.

 

Mopar I totally agree with you. That was my whole point. Labor cost is much lower, shipping cost does not make up for it, yet products made overseas did not get any cheaper. Not to mention the inferior quality means more has to be bought. I think this is by design. The differences in price we pay products deals more with the QUALITY of products than it is with where it's may. I'm talking price WE pay vs the manufacturing costs.

 

Duane I posted the way I did previously so that I could continue to read your post as I responded because I wanted to answer every part of your response. I am sorry I made it confusing.

With the trade issue, the poor and middle class have already lost. We were promised inexpensive goods. We never got them. What we got was same priced goods at lesser quality. We also got higher unemployment because the manufacturing jobs went overseas where labor is cheaper and the taxes are less or nonexistent. These other countries also have lax environmental rules. By imposing tariffs we would force some of the manufacturing jobs back to the US. We will not be able to sustain the standard of living we are accustomed too performing a serviced based economy. For the first time in history it is projected that our children will make less money and have a lower standard of living than their parents did. We are living the proof that free trade agreements are good for big business, the stock holders and the corporate officers. It is no good for the middle class which has dwindled in numbers and the poor which absorbed most of the former middle class.

With education, you are correct it is expensive. You have to look at education as you would a business. The start up investment is expensive but with the correct nurturing the benefits reaped are substantial. We need to view and fund education in this manner. There will always be a few that slip thru the cracks and end up in college with no business being there. But to that end every college has admission requirements and those will weed out many that don't belong.

As far as the LGBT issue is concerned I have the following view. What two concenting adults do behind closed doors is none of my business. I don't understand the lifestyle, but it is not for me to judge. I don't have an issue with them getting married. When you get down to the whole thing a marriage is its lowest terms is a piece of paper and a contract between two people. Male and fe$ale couples get married all the time and get divorced soon there after. The institution of marriage isn't what it once was. Male and female couples, male and male couples, female and female couples home make all the time and break up home all the time. The marriage certificate basically gives them the right to make decisions concerning each other and to the joint property in the event of a split. The problem is that everybody gets hung up on sex. You don't need a marriage license to have sex, all that is required are two consenting adults irregardless of their gender. Sex also has such a small part of a relationship and is such a small part but that get a huge focus. It is a phsical act that takes as little as ten minutes to a few hours, yet we allow it to end relationships and ruin lives. I think there are more important issues than who is sleeping with whom.

 

The way I see it, the government shouldn't have to issue a marriage license. In all reality all it is as far as the gov't is concerned is another source of revenue. That's why they even do it in the first place. While I personally think homosexuality is wrong, it's absolutely NONE of my business what people do in the privacy of their own homes. None whatsoever.

And great job elaborating on my point about products not getting any less expensive.

I've had a few prominent figures in the county approach me about running for a county office. The more I think about it the more I feel that maybe they're onto something. I've been involved in local politics for a couple years now and most of the county already knows me, or at least knows my face (and my cowboy hat). That being said, with me in limbo as to whether I'm getting deployed or not, I'm not going to run this next election cycle. Maybe the following cycle when I'm done with school and home for a while. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this may be something I'll have to seriously look into further in the future. I doubt I'd try for anything higher up the state legislature but at the same time I do not know the future, and if enough people ask me to run, then my sense of duty (same reason I enlisted in the military) will obligate me to answer the call yet again.

 

As Peter Griffin once said, if gays want to get married and be as miserable as everyone else they should have every right to it.


Lots of good people won't run for President becuase of the time involved, the media scrutiny, the money it costs to get involved, the debates, the cheap shots at your family and friends, the investigation into your past, etc.

Gregg, better get all those skeletons out of the closet bud!!!