The interviewer, Barbara West, must be a Freeper for the McCain campaign, and her questions are so obviously hostile they border on parody. Here are some background statistics before I continue this rant:
Federal deficit (Carter years): $54.5 billion annual averageFurthermore, it should be noted that the federal bureaucracy grew by 5% during the Reagan administration despite campaign promises and years of rhetoric about shrinking the size of government. But wait, there’s more:
Federal deficit (Reagan years): $210.6 billion annual average
Federal budget (Carter administration): $590.9 billion (1980)
Federal budget (Reagan administration): $1.14 trillion (1988-89)
National debt as a percentage of GNP (Carter years): 31.5%
National debt as a percentage of GNP (Reagan years): 70%
Personal savings rate (Post WW-II to 1979): 8 to 10% of disposable incomeMy point: The current economic meltdown has roots going back to the Reagan administration, and the Republican mantra for almost 30 years has been “smaller government” and “fiscal responsibility” that, hypocritically, was never put into practice until ... you guessed it … Bill Clinton, a Democrat, who was the first president to actually balance the federal books.
Personal savings rate (1985): Zero.
(Since Bush #43, household debt now exceeds household income.)
Now the Republicans are trying to demonize Obama as a socialist. It is an outrageous lie when one considers that 20 years of Republican mismanagement set the stage for the current meltdown. Wish the kids a Happy Halloween for me.
Socialism isn't scary enough, seeing it's success in other countries - they're calling him an outright Marxist if not a Maoist.
ReplyDeleteIf a big lie is good, a bigger lie is better, right?
I don't find socialism scary because I'm generally a socialist myself.
ReplyDeleteAs for the interview - Way to go Joe!! How refreshing to hear someone respectfully call a bad question a bad question.
And the interviewer was fascinating - she looked only marginally invested in her own questions & numb to Joe's reprimands.
Forgot to say -
ReplyDelete- compelling stats, Octopus. Or should I say FACTS! They pretty much say it all. Yet in the face of them for YEARS we have been sold on a democrat / republican paradigm that is completely false as to who is responsible for what.
Octo, the best definition of "socialist" I've heard yet is "somebody who likes mixing at parties." Since I don't much care for parties, I guess that means I don't qualify.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's always the old Soviet-era joke:
Group Leader: How do we define capitalism, Ivan Ivanovich?
Ivan: Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man.
Group Leader: And how do we define socialism?
Ivan: Socialism, we say, is the reverse.
Dino, I'm going to add that joke to my repertoire.
ReplyDeleteOchen' horosho dlya vas, tovarisch octo! (Very good for you, comrade octo) I think I heard that one when I was studying rrrooskie yizikh in college.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you hear the one about sex lives of statues in a public park?
ReplyDelete