Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No one NEEDS a credit card, so I don't know where you are coming from with that.
There are thousands of public companies where CEOs are hardworking, honest people, they just don't make the evening news. Turn off MSNBC and look at the 99% of public companies that are honest and decent.
... Big business has been long overtaking the mom and pop farm making it obsolete just like small business in the big cities. The GOP just throws them a bone with government handout farm subsidies to get their votes. They really can't complete in this day and age with the mega corporation farming operations.
Small farms are making a come back.
In terms of the over-all percentage of food production small farms account for a very tiny percentage today. [So much of our food is grown overseas without EPA or FDA regs, or OSHA oversight. So even US corporate produced food has became a minor portion of our nation's fruits and veggies.]
In my region the number of small farms is growing each year.
I attended a marketing conference [farmers sitting down with institutional consumers like school districts, hospitals and restaurant chefs] this past spring. Among 20 farmers present 3 of them were 'new' beginning farms.
The government could simply control credit cards rates by setting a maximum interest of 10% or less.
not that it really matters, but you realize the percentage of people who would never qualify for credit if the max apr was 10%??
actually might be a good idea...they're probably better off being denied credit, than a 21% apr card that they'll immediately max out then claim they've been shammed!
(1) For as long as I can remember, I have not heard anyone in either party discuss the issue of unfair interestrates on credit cards. Anti usury laws are one of the most basic protections, but ours were repealed back in the Carter years because of the super high inflation rates, and we never restored them. Credit card companies are getting people into debt early in life when they are young and stupid and then have them over a barrel for years. Not only is this unfair to the person, but it's horrible for the economy: the economy is driven by consumer spending, and people buried in debt don't go out and spend.
(2) Currently, CEO's are making what, 400 times the average employee? We've seen cases where people are getting laid off, stock prices are falling, and the board votes to give the CEO several hundred million dollars. Why not have worker representation in corporate boards? And why has this never been suggested by the supposedly fighting for the little guy against Big Business Democrats?
(3) although this is given lip service often, reigning in oil speculators would not be difficult. They currently only have to put 6% down on oil futures, whereas with other commodities it's 50%. Stroke of the pen could change that. Obama could do it tomorrow if he wanted.
(4) our family farmers and ranchers are dying out, and our prices for food skyrocketing, at least in part due to anticompetitive behavior from our nation's meat packers. Four firms control almost 90% of the market and based on what I've read they are putting the squeeze on and violating our antitrust laws. And what is Obama doing about it? Helping his corporate cronies finish them off EPA Declares Hay a Pollutant in Effort to Antagonize Small and Mid-Sized U.S. Cattle Feeders
MY fellow Republicans should take the lead on this. Usury is, according to the Bible, a sin. Workers on corporate boards was done by the century's most conservative President Calvin Coolidge while he was Governor of Massachusetts. Oil speculation is feeding the environmentalists nonsense about wind farms. And it was Republican Teddy Roosevelt who first really went after abusive monopolies. None of this would contrast with traditional conservatism, it would however run afoul of the Ayn Rand cultist libertarian nonsense that has griped part of the GOP.
I guess that you were not paying attention...
Quote:
Elizabeth Warren, an expert on debt and the middle class talks to NOW's David Brancaccio about the problems Americans are facing as a result of the "tricks and traps" she says are buried in credit card agreements. Warren is a Harvard Law professor and chairs the Congressional panel charged with monitoring the Treasury's spending of the money used to bail out the U.S. financial system.
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- House Democrats are calling on President Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the next Senate recess.
Republican Nightmare: Putting Elizabeth Warren to Work Now
Quote:
No doubt Republicans in the Senate would try to derail her nomination to head the CFPB as they have done with numerous other nominations over the past year and a half. Their motivation would not be her views or expertise – she has earned serious Republican respect as a result of her COP role – just part of their electoral strategy to block the president’s agenda and to undermine an agency they have consistently opposed.
In terms of the over-all percentage of food production small farms account for a very tiny percentage today. [So much of our food is grown overseas without EPA or FDA regs, or OSHA oversight. So even US corporate produced food has became a minor portion of our nation's fruits and veggies.]
In my region the number of small farms is growing each year.
I attended a marketing conference [farmers sitting down with institutional consumers like school districts, hospitals and restaurant chefs] this past spring. Among 20 farmers present 3 of them were 'new' beginning farms.
That is great news!
I know that we try to support our local farmers here, as well as growing some of our own food. In a townhouse with about 200 sf of outside space, it isn't much, but every little bit helps.
No one NEEDS a credit card, so I don't know where you are coming from with that.
There are thousands of public companies where CEOs are hardworking, honest people, they just don't make the evening news. Turn off MSNBC and look at the 99% of public companies that are honest and decent.
I need a CC.
I use only pay my business bills in one of two ways.
Check or, CC.
I get about $1000 a year back from the CC and at the end of the year I can just go on line and print my expenses for income tax time.
No one NEEDS a credit card, so I don't know where you are coming from with that.
There are thousands of public companies where CEOs are hardworking, honest people, they just don't make the evening news. Turn off MSNBC and look at the 99% of public companies that are honest and decent.
In this day and age, you really almost do. If you are going to buy anything online, or even some brick and morters are not accepting cash....
But to the OP, I agree with the sentiment of most replies already (and I'm left-leaning). If you don't want to pay high interest, then pay your card off in full every month, like I do.
Gov't should not dictate how much companies pay their employees, including CEO's. If you don't support their business practices, then show them with your dollars (and spend them somewhere else!)
Can't really do a thing about oil speculators. It's a global commodity market. US can not (much less "should not") control this. That said, I do like the suggestion that a certain amount of cash must be put up for futures.
Again, with the employee board representation, there are companies that are employee owned and operated, and they get good support for this reason. We live in a free market, so vote with your dollars.
No comment about the family farm, other than the fact that if someone has something to offer that is unique and "special" then they can compete against the corporate giants. (Same as the big box phenominon. Don't hate on WalMart, just come up with better service or something else that sets you apart. They have price, but they can't compete on personal service. So if you want to be a family farmer, then do organics, or specialty products, or home delivery, or hormone free, or any other number of things....
I can't believe the OP calls himself a conservative/replublican, but then again, I guess I can. I'd probably vote a lot more with the GOP if their values ACTUALLY were fiscally conservative, but as far as i can see, it's just words with no actions to back them up.
I know that we try to support our local farmers here, as well as growing some of our own food. In a townhouse with about 200 sf of outside space, it isn't much, but every little bit helps.
My Dw is a produce Manager in a local grocery store, she attended that conference as a 'buyer'. Her grocery store chain has really dragged their feet on the processing of paperwork and giving her permission to buy local. In the last 2 months she has only gotten local potatoes and blueberries in. But her overall sales volume has doubled due to now having some local produce. Last week she was contacted by 3 more farms wanting contracts. So she is seeing where it really is picking up. Her customers want 'local'. They are tired to seeing Chile, Brazil, China, and Venezuela as country of origin on their fruits and veggies.
We are both members of our state's Organic Assoc; so we are able to see how many new small farms start-up each year. It is great to see.
I sell my stuff to a local Buyers Club. Where I rub elbows with other small producers.
If you have one acre of land, you can produce veggies and support yourself in the process. Potential new farmers are seeing this, and they are getting started.
One acre this year, five acres next year, ...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
