I think Americans should increase tax on imported goods, as would be done in a growing economy of an LDC, if they want to encourage companies to manufacture products in America.
Although I'm sure someone will come along and point out why this is an awful idea. I don't pretend to be and expert.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

Some of you are dead right. What's happened to America is the direct responsibility of All Americans. We all have the right to vote, and to make our own choices. Trouble is that we have made some incredibly irresponsible choices. By not paying close attention to the issues on the ballet at voting time. We've let the hounds in the house, so to speak. Now there chewing up every thing in site. We've got to better educate our voters to the issues and do it right this time. An alternative would to teach ourselves Chinese. It wont bee long and weel need it. Wake up America.
----Danny,

America has an unnecessarily large war budget. Cut the war budget in half, end the war, focus on your own country's affairs rather than another's.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

America's "war budget" is a drop in the bucket. But... I cannot see, in this day and age, why we have American troops in 124 foreign countries - that's from where, according to NBC last night, American service personnel watched Monday Night Football.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

o_o

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Yes, corporate greed (and corporatism) have destroyed a good portion of the economy, both in the US and abroad...and yes, it's mostly their fault.

However, the fine moron consumers who buy things they don't need and often can't afford are partially to blame as well.

Lady Armadillo and I live well within our means. That means we don't have two new cars (eight and four years old), we live in an older home (our home that we have leased out down in Texas is forty-seven years old, and the home we're leasing here in Texoma is thirty years old), we don't have a seventy inch TV (thirty six is plenty, thank you), we don't have cable/satellite TV service and we pay cash for most purchases, large or small. If we can't afford it, we don't need it.

Yes, we have luxuries--I have more guitars than I need (don't tell anyone I said that!), she has more shoes than she needs, and the Armadillo 'Tween is not lacking for toys, books, musical instruments or clothes.

...but then again, maybe people who spend more money than they have are just following the example of their government.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Corporate greed is the cause of the USA problem. American corporations are not patriotic. Neither are the raiders of the 80s (Romney), who closed viable companies for the cash in them and the workers retirements. In the 60s, the "man" was the villain. War for profit. In the 00s, more war for profit. What has always amazed me is how the man recruits blue collar workers to join his goose stepping dance. I guess they feel they are part of something big.

Armadillo, I'm hopefully getting a job as a mechanic when I turn 18. I'll probably be able to support myself well. I don't plan on buying a new car until I know I can pay cash (my boss might sell me his Mustang, hehe). I pay cash or do work for everything I own currently. Do you think I'm on the right track?

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

"Corporate greed" I'm not sure that is the entire problem. Corporations are made up of people. Those people employ many others. The more they grow the more they employ. If they are going overseas it is because of labor unions and corporate tax rates. China has a lower corporate tax rate, Canada is half of ours and they are growing, and they are considering lowering it another 1% next year.

I'm not arguing that all corporations are good. However, without them who would provide jobs? If anyone tries to tell a corporation what to do (except for the people that made it successful) it takes the motivation for success away. Our politicians did not have to except any lobby to make or change laws, but they did. I think that a environment that rewards success and promotes opportunity for all that are willing to work harder than the next guy at something is best way to go. I feel much more betrayed by our government and their thirst for power and bribes (lobbying) than I do by the private sector.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

Watch this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqAF-Alc7CM

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Ron Paul Plants good seed for thought. All thinking Americans should take a listen to what he has to say in his "What If Speech". Thanks for the reminder Mike.
----Danny,

to this day I have never purchased a Chinese Mexican or Korean guitar so I am doing my part.



I do not trust anything stated on the public news channels. they are run by the people that want you to buy their crap I currently do not own an antenna or have any form of satellite or cable either. I rely on many small internet sources for my news.

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Things are so bad, governments cannot disclose the whole deal to the people. It is being handled with small installments of truth.
The model for growth and GDP-based policies seems to have expired.
Unions´demands and pension plans are un-viable when growth stiffles.
Contraction is the way of the future, yet everything is organized around growth.
We´ve become incompatible to ourselves.
Yet I´m optimistic, not in a newly elected government, but in new standards born out of need.

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FIGHT!

"Out of chaos, there is profit." -- Tony Curtis as Lt (jg) Nicolas Holden in "Operation Petticoat".

The silver lining to the US economy is all the over-extended ding-dongs who are now dumping their tasty vintage gear just to put tuna salad on the dining table or keep the wolfish landlord at bay. But for those GASaholics like me with sufficient disposable income and an assured comfort level it's now a buyer's market. My modest collection has grown exponentially in the last eight years even as friends and colleagues foundered simply because they had no grasp of economic cycles and the dynamics that determine them. They were ignorant, and happily so. Right up until the day the foreclosure notice got nailed to their front door.

For the fiduciary anemia of others I am blameless.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Just to be clear. Less than twelve percent of Americans belong to a Labor union. Don't buy the consevative BS.