or maybe a f150 online bailout courtesy of the 31 yr old going on 60

 

Actually I've read The Jungle twice. It is a very good novel (i.e fiction). Something you should know BEFORE you go touting the accuracy of that book. Upton Sinclair was an avowed socialist. The reason he wrote the book was to "enlighten" the masses to the virtues of socialism. That book has more spin in it than any of the obviously spun news articles in the media, both left and right leaning. It is a good example of persuasive writing but it is far from completely accurate.

If GM had been allowed to fail, most likely a new company would not have formed to take its place. The remaining companies would have increased their product lines and/or capacity and split GM's profitable market share among them. Allowing excess capacity in the market place by allowing companies that are too big to fail remain is a bad idea. It keeps profits so low that it becomes almost impossible to have a thriving economy. One large point you seem to miss is that a free market will regulate capacity. When there is excess capacity companies will either fail or come up with a more efficient method of making money. Profits will go down during these times. If a company fails the portion of the market they had will be redistributed to the remaining companies in the market. These companies face with a increase in demand will add employees, but not the same number that lost their jobs. Companies will continue to fail until there is not enough capacity in the market place. Once that point is hit prices will start to rise. This leads to companies becoming profitable and once profitable more companies enter the market until there is over capacity. It is a cycle attempting to break that cycle is not only futile but a huge waste of money.

The area I live was severely impacted by hurricane Katrina. Many people lost their jobs. By the time I moved here many employers were hiring again, but the unemployment rate had not gone down. Signs could be seen in the windows of many businesses in the area wanting help. Talking with the managers, many people would apply for the jobs, but they would commit all of the "errors' to getting a job. The mangers had to pick from the best of the worst. Normally the people they would select would not be able to be contacted (i.e phones were disconnected, nobody would ever answer or return calls, etc.) This continued until the expanded unemployment benefits ran out. Once those benefits ran out it was almost impossible to find a job around here. Before the unemployment benefits ran out I could have gotten a job working the french fries at McD's paying $10 per hour with a $4k sign on bonus.

 

Very good post 1, and you are 100 percent correct about "The Jungle".

 

Are you saying that employers at the time the book was written were good to workers? Did they not seek out young strong men and work them to death for pennies?

 

So all employers back then were all money hungry douche bags? Hardly.

 

Mmm. Most truck drivers are Republican, just saying. Good luck.







If abortion wasnt so frowned apon I might not be here with a 15 year old mother. My gun saved my life just 3 days ago when I was attacked by a coyote taking my dog on a run. So no matter what in life brings me, never will I be a demorcrat, just not for me. Im the only one in my family thats a Republican.

 

No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is using a novel as support for anything is foolish. Using that book in particular as your reference point of what anybody wants in relation to labor standards is ignorant. It was a book written by a socialist in support of his agenda. It will paint employers in a very bad light and most likely embellish the details to make them sound worse. Sinclair has no requirement to maintain any level of accuracy, since it is a novel written as a piece of persuasive literature. Using a novel for any support for any argument is no different than using a fictional movie as support for something in today's society. Literature was the mass entertainment of the time when "The Jungle" was written.

 

Yes The Jungle was fiction but he did accurately portray the conditions of the work in the Chicago slaughterhouses. He moved to Chicago to research for his book.

The point is still that the GOP is in the pocket of Corporate America. They would love to end all gov't safety nets and have labor beg for work.

 

So you think because Sinclair did some research, that automatically means he was accurate?

Oh, and FWIW, Democrats get as much if not more money from Corporate America and Wall Street than Republicans do. So by your logic, the dems must want to end safety nets and have labor beg even more than the Repubs do.

I'm a conservative first and a member of the GOP second. Based on your posts, it is obvious to me you have no freaking clue what the GOP or conservatives want.

 

HERE IS THE MAJOR PROBLEM. Republicans AND Democrats. Both parties, instead of working in the interest of their constituants, work in the interest of themselves. Its all about how many kick backs, pork dollars, and benefits they can get during their 2/4/6 year term. The whole system is screwed up. The constitution means nothing now.

What we really need is a viable third party *cough*libertarians*cough* to help balance the power and shake up the status quo. Ron Paul for President.

 

This is blatantly wrong. Kaynsian econmics don't work. The war brought economic recovery, but those were special circumstances. Government stimulus just delays the bubble, until it finally bursts... The easiest way to stimulate the economy is to lower corporate tax. Doing this creates jobs, which in turn means more people have disposable income which puts more money into the economy which helps stimulate more job growth... Ronny knew what he was doing. It was reagans policies that helped the economy during Clinton's administration. It was alot of the Clinton era policies (such as increased government regulation) which created the housing bubble, which compounded with the NECESSARY wars in Afghanistan and Iraq creates one bad monetary situation. It doesn't help that we now have a president that thinks that increasing corporate tax will help the economy, when really that will just stimulate the outsourcing of more and more jobs, and create a further downward spiral.

 

I suppose you think the movie Black Hawk Down was an accurate portrayal of what happened in Mogadishu, or maybe any cop movie is accurate. They are researched. The Black Hawk Down book was somewhat accurate, but not completely. The point is ALL forms of mass media is inaccurate, unless it is one of the few forms that is meant to be completely accurate (a novel is not one of these forms). If you think "The Jungle" is accurate then maybe you also think one of the editorial reporters like Olberman, Madow, O'Reily, or Hannity are completely accurate. Relying on those reporters to give a completely accurate account of anything is very foolish, even though they have a responsibility to give the story as accurately as possible they are still giving their opinions. Sinclair did not have the responsibility to give anything accurately he was writing a novel, not a news report or history book. His novel was pushing his agenda of how much better socialism is. About the only thing that can be said for sure with the book is that there was a slaughter house industry in Chicago and it was hard work (this is said tongue-in-cheek).

Your last statement is exactly wrong. It is what the Dems believe the Republicans want, not what is accurate. Many conservatives do want to reduce the safety nets, but that is a far cry from getting rid of them completely. A perfect example is welfare. Why should society have to pay for a person and her family to it on their butts for 40 years when she is perfectly able to work? Yes I've talked to and dealt with people who have been on welfare for that amount of time. This doesn't mean we should end welfare, but it does mean that is should not be such a gravy train and there should be reforms that would in the long run reduce costs and the number of people abusing the system. Guess what most of their children do. Sit at home and collect their welfare check. It is a cycle that as long as the program is there will be abused, but changes can be made to the program that lessen the potential for abuse. Things like home visits, random drug screenings, the requirement for completing school, the requirement for a small number of hours working for the county/city/state for those who are in the system for an extended amount of time or repeatedly over time. Welfare has the potential to be a good system, but it was intended to be a temporary program to offer a help up, not a lifetime of sitting on ones butt not doing anything like many of it's recipients are doing.

 

Not going through 9 pages, but will add my comment/.02

This problem goes further back than Bush-Obama. Read some history. Roosevelt was a tyrant. FDR,,,Truman, etc. We, as Americans, have not spoken loud enough and let Gov't do their thing and look what position it has put us in. I will say this, Obama has been nothing but horrible and to the OP of this thread.....How much of your wealth have you spread around? Handouts need to stop, get you butt's outside and find a job. Capitalism does work u libtards.

Oh, and this up healthcare. You DO KNOW that you will be paying taxes on it because YOUR Kenyan President has is set up to where it will show on your taxes as "earned income." Yeah, free health care my butt. Kiss off you dems, libtards, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, his wife and all that support their crap!

 

Then why did obozo promise to do away with big government then surround himself with the very same people he wanted to get rid of? You better hope you grow old then some young stupid person can wipe your a$$ when you can't. Healthcare is not cheap. How do you think it's gonna be paid for?

 

I agree.