I think part of the problem is the current two party system. now it has be come a battle between liberals and conservatives trying to prove each other wrong . who gives a crap just do what works!!!! it was a good idea starting out but we need more variety in places of political power. the system is flawed and I don't think there is any going back. we are done for just like all great political power houses before us "Its all crashing down mannnn"

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financial planning 101

1 the less you spend the more you have
2 things cannot make you happy
3 work hard and smart, especially school
4 invest wisely and conservatively, this includes homes and cars.

The few people not blaming others in this topic know and live by these rules, but, there is enough blame to go around, government/corporations/people/developing economies. Where we go from here is the sixty four thousand dollar question.

I have many "things" that make me happy.

I retired from a union job that gave me a nice middle class life. I was even able to retire early at age 58. Are unions the problem, like you are probably now thinking? No, the countless CEO's and top officers of my company came and went every couple years. They all made more in 3 months than I made my entire career, and they did nothing more than sell off assets to increase the bottom line and make the major stockholders rich too. They knew nothing about my industry, nor did they care to. They all pilfered a once major industry that was a leader in the world and highly rewarded for that.

A lot of jobs have over time moved to right to work states. Is that the end of it? Too bad for the overpriced unions? No, the employees in these states will see their jobs go "Hell in a Handbasket", as their homes go on the market, as they are replaced by the same low paid, often illegal, worker that now works the fields of our corporate farms, and they now can't even join together and do anything about it. Or, the jobs will eventually move to another state, or overseas. Believe me, the search for cheaper labor will never end.

We're seeing the discontent throughout the world now as people protest. So is this the situation throughout the world? No, look at just about anything you bought in the last few years. I just bought a English Vox amp, and it was made in Vietnam! The socialist and communist countries are booming in the far east, parts of Europe, and most of South America. They will pass us up soon, especially since we now can't even afford to educate our children on the same level as they are doing theirs. All that seems to hold our interest in this country is our vast military fumbling, right/left scares, and abortion rights! I think of a friend that has a very successful son. His son's job puts him in a constant fight with the union, and he hates them. His father told him that's OK, but just remember that he is a successful manager because he has an excellent education that was paid for by his father's good union job. Non union workers in his industry, didn't make enough to do more than give their children a free public high school education.

today it was discovered that portuguese debt is even worse than it was... the original value was about 720 million euros... well turns out it's actually 3,4 billion tell me that there is no political greed involved... and now we have to suffer due to these weird things the internationl monetary fund is asking that in my view and everyone elses view won't solve anything and are only there to irritate us... i may have to stop my diy project... darn and i just found the perfect strat for me to work on and the custom shop guy even gave me a good price to paint it... i'm gonna have to start writing "guitar$" the following way and "$tratoca$t€r" and "t€l€ca$t€r" will be written this way for the following moments until things get better

I wont even touch the american education system....... that is a huge failure. the youth is the future and I have no faith in most of the children today. IMissStevieRayVaughan aka FenderGuy1 is a good example of that our society has done a fantastic job of breeding obedient consumers kids now grow up with only the drive to acquire instead of achieve.

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All true plus the ordinary person is getting sick and tired of always being the whipping boy. For example here, the RBS (Royal Bank Of Scotland) was run so poorly that the only way it could survive and stay afloat was through being bought over by the government and being bailed out by taxpayers money.

Ok so that's bad enough, but the CE of the bank who presided over this fiasco was given a massive £700,000+ per year pension! Not bad after bringing the company to the very brink of bankruptcy eh?

That pension is worth a total of £16.9m over the long haul. Now this is what ordinary people are finding hard to stomach. The people who have contributed massively to creating the problem, instead of being held accountable and being dismissed from their posts with the bare amount possible, are instead given pensions the likes of which no one can even contemplate. The figures are in the stratosphere

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

well i'm a college student here in portugal we have doctors working on cash registers on grocery stores while we have cuban doctors filling in for them there is no future for anyone here it ain't easy... portugal was unable to catch up to the huge and i mean HUGE industrial development it's suffered over the decade and i believe that's the reason we are where we are... we tried to make our selves look like we're advanced but the truth is we couldn't make it... as for children... welcome to the emo/twilight generation... or better welcome to bieba feavaaaaaaaaa!!!! kids today don't know the value of things and don't appreciate whats given to them... i say that at this rhythm no one will want to work cause people don't know the value of a dollar... i blame parents as well they are too light on their kids and buy them everything they want... these kids of today need to know the value of respect...

It doesn't matter if you're making 20,000 a year or 20,000,000 a year--if you spend more than you make, you'll eventually go bankrupt.

It sounds like you're going down the right path--paying cash or paying as you go along.

However, it is a necessary evil in this world that requires each of us to have a credit rating and requires us to establish some credit. He best way to do that is to buy something small on credit--my first credit purchase was a home stereo system when was 19. It drove me nuts that I had to pay interest on something I could gave just as easily paid cash for, but I did this to establish credit. I later bought a car and paid it out, too...but by doing so, I was established and able to buy a house at age 21.5.

Pay cash as much as possible, but we have to establish credit, because most of us would never be able to pay cash for a home or for certain things like that.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



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

One huge reason that the world economy is in such a shambles is that there has been no personal responsibility from most of the people when it comes to working or managing their money appropriately. I'd venture to guess that many of these disenfranchised people who are raging against the man have spent themselves into near poverty just to buy the new tv, ipod, ipad, etc.

Just my thoughts after speaking with a group of young angry protesting kids who were all dressed very well, all had many new tech gadgets etc and were mad that they were broke.

Hmmm

I think every child should be required to bale hay for one summer of their lives to lear what hard work is

kids are raised now with a sense of entitlement and no pride. a perfect example is my cousins son. he was unhappy with his parental's so at 18 he "faked" attempted suicide and filed for mental disability. he has not worked since high school and that was 3 years ago!!!! and sadly it does not bother him the slightest that tax payers pick up his tab. the kid is fine but due to a flaw in the system he gets a free ride. he also has CHILDREN! and claims he does not work to pay LESS child support!! its scum bags like that that ruin our society. to top it off he still lives with his parents!

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Capitalism exists with growth. So if you want to help the economy, you need to spend as much as you can. Much appreciation to the folks who suffer to help the economy by spending more than they have.

Our problems were caused by greed. Banks and Wall Street gambling with our money. They did good for a while, then they lost. Wait a minute, they can't lose. We lost. So now we have to suffer and fix it. It will take a while to get better. Meanwhile, corporations who can make a lot of money in the USA will move to another country to make a dime more profit. To hell with America and her workers. Their greed is why we don't have enough jobs. All this needs to change. Who will do it?

not if you are sending it rite to china!

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It's hard to buy American if all the corporations move out.

it will be at first. but once they realize the demand is back they will start manufacturing again. manufacturing is what made the uninted stated grow so rapidly to begin with. not our ability to import and resell. it took me weeks to find a freaking usa made belt! my shirts socks jeans boots and even hair care products are all made in USA of domestic made and harvested materials. it can be done and every penny I spent went rite back into the US economy. not through a middle man to another country. it will be an inconvenience at first but it will balance back out eventually and for the better.
it will never happen though

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