Mr. President...We've got a plan

[tsetsefly]

Mr. President...We've got a plan is the CNN report on how Americans think Obama should help the economy. I got 3 main points out of reading this:

1. the underlying tone of almost everyone interviewed was ¨government needs to give me this, provide this etc.¨

2. There is a lot of resentment against anyone who is wealthy, regardless of how they got it.

3. There is a lack of knowledge on basic economic and business principles that reflects in the answwers.

I think it's dissapointing to see people so disconnected from what is going on, I dont know if the education system is to blame or lack of interest from the people...

[mercerbear]

Re: Mr. President...We've got a plan

I think government has largely been successful in making the average American dependent upon it. The maverick American spirit is all but gone from mainstream society.

I think there has been a shift from Americans having an internal locus of control to an external locus of control. Now, when people have a problem, they expect someone else to solve it for them. Or, when someone has gained wealth, they feel that it had to have been through questionable means.

Big government has basically created a demand for more big government through creating a society where people are so uneducated and uniformed that they can no longer do for themselves. It's maddening to me.

[RebbePete]

Re: Mr. President...We've got a plan

I only had time to read about two thirds of the quotes, but I got a different take-away from it.

Mr. President...We've got a plan is the CNN report on how Americans think Obama should help the economy. I got 3 main points out of reading this:

1. the underlying tone of almost everyone interviewed was ¨government needs to give me this, provide this etc.¨

What I saw, instead, was that people were tired of seeing the FIRE economy getting bailed out while the real economy suffered. A lot of the interviews I read there were from small business owners that were frustrated that large companies got the bailouts, and the small businesses were being punished by "collateral damage." I do think that small businesses are the engine of job creation, not the huge firms that are getting all the government money so far.

2. There is a lot of resentment against anyone who is wealthy, regardless of how they got it.

Once again, it was resentment against the well-connected FIRE economy recipients of the billions of dollars given out so far.

3. There is a lack of knowledge on basic economic and business principles that reflects in the answwers.

I think it's dissapointing to see people so disconnected from what is going on, I dont know if the education system is to blame or lack of interest from the people...

I disagree. People are reacting to the way things have run for the last few decades, but the asteroid has hit and the dinosaurs are telling themselves that the sun will come back out "any minute." They've been educated by the likes of the economists and financial advisors that predict that every day will be a sunny day.

My dad is a retired machinist with very little formal education. He lived through the Great Depression, and is therefore very cautious in his investments. I think the next generation coming will be even more cautious, if you get my drift. :eek:

- Pete

[jtabeb]

Re: Mr. President...We've got a plan

I think government has largely been successful in making the average American dependent upon it. The maverick American spirit is all but gone from mainstream society.

I think there has been a shift from Americans having an internal locus of control to an external locus of control. Now, when people have a problem, they expect someone else to solve it for them. Or, when someone has gained wealth, they feel that it had to have been through questionable means.

Big government has basically created a demand for more big government through creating a society where people are so uneducated and uniformed that they can no longer do for themselves. It's maddening to me.

Just drink the cool-aid Sir, nothing to see here, move on, move on...:confused: