America needs a New Deal and monetary reform ASAP - Dennis Kucinich

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Permalink Reply by Persian Paladin on January 11, 2009 at 10:34pm

Surprising lack of interest of this....its an important speech.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Wagner on January 13, 2009 at 9:33am

The lack of interest doesn't surprise me. Kucinich has had a loyal but limited following for years, but not enough to get anything substantial done.

All of you internet financial wizards fail to realize that most American workers focus their lives on a smaller playing field than you do. They focus on managing their own family income, investments, debt etc rather than trying to repair the political / financial machine that has been nothing but a work in progress since America declared it's Independence in 1776. I along with millions of others put a higher priority on my personal assets than how government thinks such things should be handled. It's worked well for me, I've managed to get to a point that I could retire comfortably at the age of 58 and thumb my nose at all the old people out there that are still working hard to change the system that is holding them back.

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Permalink Reply by Mechafenris on January 12, 2009 at 7:24pm

If he wasn't such a fringe kook, maybe people would support his position more, but the campaign trail is littered with his (and Ron Paul's) foot-in-mouth disorder when it comes to certain topics. Perhaps he's not a kook in real life, but the public perception of him as candidate is not all that favorable among those who are in the business of telling the great unwashed who to vote for.

What we need is for the government to stop paying people not to work. We've created a voracious monster that rewards sloth and discourages personal responsibility and the honor of taking care of ones' self. (Those who cannot legitimately so are of course exempt from this, but the able-bodied "career seekers" who spend more time on the public rolls than on the tax rolls are crippling this economy.)

We also need the government to stop solving every problem by getting bigger. The Federal government is a behemoth that sucks up revenue like a shop-vac on "tornado." Dennis is a culprit of that, voting for programs that expand the government for no decent benefit other than the run up our deficit. It's not a Republican or Democrat issue, because they are both to blame for this nonsense. Why is it, with the TRILLIONS of dollars the government collects in taxes and fees we never seem to have enough? No one has stood up and said the government needs to go on a diet. The Congress takes money from the SS fund and leaves "IOUs", the President allows for tons of "off budget" spending to occur that benefit very little but the congressional district where the money's being dumped. Since it's not the government's own money, they freely waste it and ask for more, like an undisciplined teenager on Spring Break. If you check out the main watchdog sites, the amount of money going to absolutely useless crap in the Federal Budget is staggering, in both amounts and sheer audacity to even spend on such stupid nonsense.

The "New Deal" didn't get us out of the Great Depression. World War II did. So let's be careful what we wish for in the Nuclear Age. I've lived long enough to know that we're approaching an era where the amount of people putting _IN_ to the economy (through taxes and work) is going to be outnumbered by those who are done putting in and are now taking out. You can't fill up a bucket with a shot glass if there's 1000 holes in the bottom.

Will we see this reform in our lifetime? Judging by the current crop of "alternatives" in Congress... no. But I'm optimistic someone gets a clue before we become Europe and spend 150% of our GDP on our debt. :)

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Permalink Reply by Persian Paladin on January 13, 2009 at 7:47am

I am afraid I disagree with that.

If Dennis Kucinich was a "fringe kook" as you say; then why do the people of Cleveland continue to vote for him? Even people I've spoken to who don't completely agree with his policies will vote for him - due to his integrity.

He voted against the bail-out, and he certainly doesn't believe in this wall-street and corporate-controlled system which has encouraged all this waisting of peoples' money in the first place. If you consider his humble background (which he never forgets); then waisting peoples' taxes is the last thing that he wants. The fact that he wants monetary reform and to get rid of the fractional reserve banking system is HUGE.

The New Deal was neccessary short-term to get the economy going again; and the recovery was apparent even before World War 2 (which was a horrible event). Better to create jobs and rebuild infrastructure than just to do nothing or simply cut taxes (which will not encourage spending or alleviate the extent of the problem).

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Permalink Reply by Persian Paladin on January 13, 2009 at 8:33am

"Ignorance is bliss. Remember the line, war causes economic growth -- but Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. disprove this well.
Economic growth only for arms traders and the institutions loaning the money to both sides at interest!" - Elizabeth Kucinich.

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