What have the Republicans done for us? (employment, Israel, healthcare)
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Yea it was. Besides all of FDR's social programs, WWII was probably the decisive factor. Not sure if he spoke for all, but a certain Republican named Prescott Bush advocated staying out of the war. And "half of Americans were unaffected by the Great Depression" is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on this site. You realize everyone was effected by it? Working class people had no money, local businesses and corporations didn't have clients and it kept spiraling. And I know those weren't just bankers and stockholders living in Hoovervilles. If not for FDR and his programs, it would've gotten a lot worse before it got better. And not sure who you've been hanging around with, but most Americans and people who understand history and/or economics believe FDR and his policies were generally effectice.
Are you advocating we should start a war everytime the economy starts tanking? And secondly, saying that everyone was AFFECTED by the great depression is sort of misleading. You can make the case that more people were affected by this great recession than by the great depression.
In the great depression the vast majority of Americans didn't own homes nor did they dabble in the stock market. Unemployment rose to more than 20%. But the vast majority of Americans did not lose their jobs, nor did they have houses that "lost value" nor did they have a stock portfolio that lost value. About 40% of Americans were not negatively affected by the great depression. Those are the facts.
This recession in many ways was worse because more people are affected by real estate and stocks, but unemployment is only standing at 10%, so of course this recession seems less harsh. Secondly, things like unemployment benefits and food stamps and the bailout of the banking industry/fdic have kept Americans from having to live on the streets.
But do you think borrowing trillions of dollars from China to pay for all of this is a good idea? Do you not see increased debt combined with lack of funding for social security as being a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off any day now.
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I'd really like to see a figure displaying how Americans pay billions a year on subsidies. And keep in mind this kept farmers in business at the time. Another accomplishment by the DNC
Wow you are so ignorant its sad.
"The U.S. Agricultural Department is required by law (various U.S. farm bills which are passed every few years) to subsidize over two dozen commodities. Between 1996 and 2002, an average of $16 billion/year was paid by programs authorized by various U.S. Farm bills"
And for the most part it's allowed hard-working people to be able to retire comfortably. Another DNC accomplishment
You do realize that people used to retire before there was social security in much the same way we retire today. And secondly, the social security trust fund is not going to be there soon, which is why they are constantly talking about privatizing social security or transferring outstanding entitlements in the fund back to the people for them to make their own investments. And things are probably just going to get worse.
And I wish it was theoretical hogwash. Did you know that the national debt last year included almost 400 billion in interest, in 10 years just the interest on the national debt will run almost 1 trillion dollars. Right now the interest on the national debt represents about 8% of the entire budget. That number will approach 15% in 10 years unless the economy grows by huge numbers in that time. If you want to make a comparison. The total cost of welfare only represents about 1.5% of the entire federal budget. You know, that welfare that everyone complains about.
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Considering countless more people would've starved to death and lots of businesses may never have recovered, the bank industry would've been screwed, people could've never retired, yes. Besides, his plans worked out a little better than Hoover and his policies after the crash.
I don't know exactly how bad it was. I know that the worst hit were farmers in the areas hit by the dust bowl. But I do know that the economy didn't recover at all during pretty much the full extent of FDR's first two terms, but the media absolutely loved him, and they encouraged every new program he tried to pass, even the ones that were unconstitutional or failed. Especially when he "went after the barons of industry", and raised their taxes considerably during an economic depression. Sound familiar?
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And guess who orchestrated the Marshall Plan? Truman. And guess was party he belonged to?
I'll give you the Marshall plan, it was exactly what was needed at the time. Although, I am sure the Republicans supported it also.
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Just when I thought nothing could top your "TGD only effected bankers and stockholders" statement. The north for a while was just as bad as the south in terms of treatment of blacks. Ever heard of the bussing riots in Boston? The de facto racial wars of Philadelphia? Add in the facts blacks had lived in the south for centuries as well as their families, cities in the north were vastly overcrowded, and the treatment was arguably just as bad as down south.
Listen, if the majority of Americans didn't support the civil rights movement, there wouldn't have been any pro-civil rights politicians elected to pass the laws. Since there obviously was American support for it, there were obviously areas of the country that would have been "friendly" for African Americans. Which at the time was primarily the rust belt.
I just don't see the necessity for the federal government to get involved in matters that should be the affairs of the states. What do you think a state was originally intended to be? Its own country, and only UNITED for the defense of the greater nation.
The very definition of the United States has been so long distorted that no one even knows what it means anymore.
Besides getting the USA into 2 wars, and bailing out Wall Street and BiG Business and cutting taxes for the wealthy?
Hey dumbass, those tax cuts of 2003 were largely aimed at the middle class. You know the ones about to expire next year? Get ready to have your tax bracket instantly shift up 3% or more. Unless of course those wonderful Democrats pass a middle class tax cut. I'm not holding my breath.
The last GOP president who did something FOR us was Teddy Roosevelt, truly a legend, a president who gave us progress against such ills as child labor, filthy food, destruction of natural resources, etc.
Since TR, it's been all downhill for the GOP.
and you don't think Reagan did anything positive...??
They have created a welfare state that destroyed the bonds of the family and the community. Aided in the escalation for the rate of divorce, and of single-parent families.
Created division and resentment in society by creating unfair policies like affirmative action. Which has exasperated racial tensions.
They have supported globalization and the exportation of American jobs and capital through the world trade organization, IMF, and the myriad of free-trade agreements.
They have created immigration policies that are slowly destroying society by allowing millions of immigrants to come into the country yearly, worsening unemployment rates, lowering wages in many fields, and greatly increasing crime.
They have created our global empire of more than 700 foreign military bases. They are responsible for the deaths more than 5,000 American soldiers in the war on terror. And the staggering cost of this world empire and our wars will be passed to our children and grandchildren.
I could only wish that the democrats and republicans have done nothing. Nothing would be a huge improvement.
Republicans have created a welfare state and are responsiible for the increase in divorce? How do you get that?
What have politicians of any party done good for us in the past 50 years? Really, when was the last time Congress or the President actually took a step forward in doing something for this country? Eisenhower's Interstate highway system?
Are you advocating we should start a war everytime the economy starts tanking? And secondly, saying that everyone was AFFECTED by the great depression is sort of misleading. You can make the case that more people were affected by this great recession than by the great depression.
Nope. Just stating WWII, and the freed Jews happened at the hand of a Democrat. According to you, they've accomplished nothing. Pretty big accomplishments in my book.
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In the great depression the vast majority of Americans didn't own homes nor did they dabble in the stock market. Unemployment rose to more than 20%. But the vast majority of Americans did not lose their jobs, nor did they have houses that "lost value" nor did they have a stock portfolio that lost value. About 40% of Americans were not negatively affected by the great depression. Those are the facts.
Yea actually they did own stock. Tons of people invested tons of money in it. The crash of the stock market is why so many Americans were effected.
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This recession in many ways was worse because more people are affected by real estate and stocks, but unemployment is only standing at 10%, so of course this recession seems less harsh. Secondly, things like unemployment benefits and food stamps and the bailout of the banking industry/fdic have kept Americans from having to live on the streets.
And these bailouts and what not are keeping people with jobs and stimulating what's left of an unstable economy. If it were up to the GOP you know how many more people would be out of work right now? Basically you're advocating people should go homeless and starve.
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But do you think borrowing trillions of dollars from China to pay for all of this is a good idea? Do you not see increased debt combined with lack of funding for social security as being a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off any day now.
And it was Reagan who began the US borrowing spree. And no he's not a Democrat.
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I'll give you the Marshall plan, it was exactly what was needed at the time. Although, I am sure the Republicans supported it also.
No they didn't. The only reason it was named the Marshall Plan instead of the Truman Plan is because of bitter partisanship.
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Listen, if the majority of Americans didn't support the civil rights movement, there wouldn't have been any pro-civil rights politicians elected to pass the laws. Since there obviously was American support for it, there were obviously areas of the country that would have been "friendly" for African Americans. Which at the time was primarily the rust belt.
The majority of Northerners were abolitionists too. Doesn't mean they treated blacks with respect. Ever heard of the race riots in Newark, NJ? Racial wars in Philadelphia? Bussing riots in Boston? And why should blacks have to move? If I'm not mistaken, they'd been in the south for centuries. This is America. You shouldn't have to move if you don't want to.
Nope. Just stating WWII, and the freed Jews happened at the hand of a Democrat. According to you, they've accomplished nothing. Pretty big accomplishments in my book.
That may have been a consequence of the war, but that wasn't the reasoning behind the war. On the contrary Mao and Stalin killed more than 100 million people between the two of them. And our participation in WWII enabled them to commit genocide of their people. On the other hand Hitler only killed 6 million jews. Still feel proud?
Truman also fired Macarthur when he wanted to invade China in response to China directly engaging the UN forces in North Korea, yes, Mao the murderers China was spared by Truman. And that is also why we still have a communist North Korea.
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Yea actually they did own stock. Tons of people invested tons of money in it. The crash of the stock market is why so many Americans were effected.
Is that what you think? In 1929 only about 4 million Americans owned stock, the population of the United States was almost 130 million. Only about 1/3rd of Americans owned homes.
Now almost half of all Americans own stocks directly or indirectly through company-sponsored investments. And almost 3/4ths of Americans own homes.
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And these bailouts and what not are keeping people with jobs and stimulating what's left of an unstable economy. If it were up to the GOP you know how many more people would be out of work right now? Basically you're advocating people should go homeless and starve.
I am not advocating that people go homeless and starve. Did you know that welfare is run on a "matching funds" system, where the state government matches all federal government funds for food stamps and other assistance. Do you not believe the state governments or even local communities can handle their own welfare? Do you not believe local communities can handle their own housing assistance programs?
The problem we have is, because the federal government is allowed so much power, corporations and their lobbyists have been controlling economic policies that have subsidized those industries. This has created corporations that are "too big to fail". If banks were still ran locally, then the people taking out loans wouldn't be some "faceless person", and they would be more likely to want to work with you. Federalism breeds Corporatism, and it has destroyed the community. Instead of supporting charity organizations in our communities, we expect the federal government to be a massive centralized charity group, and then we are upset because of its inefficiency and corruption.
Instead of promoting community ties and responsibility, by promoting localized government and promoting charities. The federal government has destroyed the family and the community by trying to run a huge nanny state, where people no longer have to associate with each other. I am pretty sure if times get bad you could always "move back home". But the entitlement personality has allowed our young people to make their parents and other family members the "enemy of their fun". If you don't like the fact that your family doesn't approve of your drug use, excessive partying, out of wedlock pregnancies, your sexual preferences, your abortions, and lack of a desire to work. Hey, the government will give you a place to live and feed you. *********r family, you don't need them.
And if you want an explanation for much of the economic problems of this recession and the great depression. You can actually point your finger heavily at the federal reserve. The federal reserve had greatly inflated the money supply since its creation in 1913.
"The Great Depression was the inevitable outcome of the easy credit policies of the Federal Reserve during the 1920s. Since its enactment in 1913"
"Uniform central bank policies allowed banks with poor lending policies to have easy access to credit—as easy as conservative banks. Austrian theorists hold that the key cause of the Depression was the expansion of the money supply in the 1920s that led to an unsustainable credit-driven boom."
And it was Reagan who began the US borrowing spree. And no he's not a Democrat.
Who says I like Republicans? The only difference between Republicans and Democrats is, Democrats are tax and spend, and Republicans are borrow and spend.
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The majority of Northerners were abolitionists too. Doesn't mean they treated blacks with respect. Ever heard of the race riots in Newark, NJ? Racial wars in Philadelphia? Bussing riots in Boston? And why should blacks have to move? If I'm not mistaken, they'd been in the south for centuries. This is America. You shouldn't have to move if you don't want to.
Abolition of slavery was a moral issue. If you are Christian, you cannot possibly believe in involuntary servitude. That doesn't mean ANY American was interested in actually living next to "people of color". Most Americans originally wanted Africans to be sent back to Africa once they were emancipated. We founded the African country of "Liberia" for this goal. But it just wasn't practical, because Africa was and still is a cesspool.
The vast majority of Americans are racist, but they won't admit it because racism is a huge taboo. They automatically and voluntarily seek out people "like them" to associate with. This country in many ways has become more segregated since the civil rights movement rather than less segregated. It is especially noticeable in our major cities.
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