Gap widens between the Rich & Poor and Osama is still a free man!!!

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> September 11 has changed America, and regrettably the changes have not been for the better. During the five years since those tragic attacks on the twin towers, the Pentagon and the third target that was believed to have been Capitol Hill, but was diverted and crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania, the Bush administration has been slowly but surely eroding individual liberties, restraining freedoms, and going against the very grain of the American way of life.

Among the laws that were passed was the USA Patriot Act, and attempts to wiretap into the telephones of American citizens. To speak up against the administration's folly in Iraq, its complete lack of respect for the Geneva Conventions by establishing legal limbos in Guantanamo, or more recently its saber-rattling over Tehran is to be labeled "unpatriotic."

Just this week Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld accused critics of the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq and the war against terrorism. Rumsfeld said of the war critics, "They seem not to have learned history's lessons," and then the secretary of defense compared the critics to those in the 1930s who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany.

Rumsfeld called the Islamist terrorists "a new type of fascism." Totalitarian may have been a better description.

Is all this supposed to make America feel safer today? Are the majority of the people more prepared, better equipped to respond to an emergency of terrorist nature in a major metropolitan area? </div>

Analysis: How safer is America today?

The part in bold pisses me off the most about the Bush Administration. They've turned the "war on terror" into such a broad description, they can use it to justify anything they want.

The gap is widening between rich and poor, because people aren't smart with their money.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">your kidding right? the gap is widening cause the rich are getting richer which creates inflation + higher interest rates and poverty is accentuated that much</div>

Wrong. Inflation is created because the US Treasury has been producing more and more US currency. Those bastards just got rid of the MP3 indicator as well, to make it harder to track the money supply.

Higher interest rates are a tool to slow inflation down. A higher interest rate is incentive for a person to keep their money in the bank and not in circulation.

People are very stupid with their money. Most people are living outside of their means right now because it's so easy to get credit in the US. 70% of the GDP is consumption, and most of the consumption is bought on credit or from people cashing out the equity of their homes, creating more and more debt by consumers.

When people are overspending costs go up, people have to borrow more, and the cycle continues. China is the one getting richer, their banks own a majority of our debt. This enables China to keep their dollar relatively weak so their labor and production costs remain low. So the US is taking it in the rear on both ends.

The worst is yet to come, the 4th quarter is expected to be brutal for businesses, and a lot of homeowners with 5 year ARMS are going to be in a world of hurt once the interest rates go up again.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">agreed= the chief culprit behind inflation is a rise in the money supply which outstrips consumer need and interest counters inflation. but as u inferred- its intended to create savings which chides against everything (consumption) american. shape u remember bushs comments to the nation after 9/11? "spend" cause osama hates that. nevertheless, my point is that high interest and inflation has disastrous effects on the poor.

and don't hate the chinese; most economists believe the only reason why the greenback doesn't get gutted is because the Tigr's (the economies of the pacific) keep large reserves of the US dollar. although, china has recently decided to consider going the Yen route; that decision alone is more of WMD then anything u could find in Iran or Iraq.</div>

I don't hate the Chinese, I'm part Chinese myself. They are smart enough to take advantage of all the technology the US shipping ports refuse to use because it will take away jobs from the Union workers. I think China is importing and exporting 100 times more than the US now. At one time the US dominated.

Ultimately the poor are effected the most from inflation because businesses go under and unemployment rises.

Of course Bush wants people to spend more. When you buy something it feels good and is a temporary distraction to your problems; a lot of which are caused by his administration.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">its intended to create savings which chides against everything (consumption) american</div>

This is exactly my initial point, a majority of people are stupid with their money.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">that is the textbook definition but to me i underscore the part about the lose of purchasing power cause to be american is to own stuff. most western socities are rights based and so is america, although, america adds a condition- property. the lose of purchase power really means the lose of rights (property).</div>

It's too, much of a generalization you're making. More purchasing power doesn't mean people are going to spend it on property or assets. I'd argue most are going to spend it on consumption of entertainment or materialistic items.