1/25/10: White House Press Briefing

White House Press Briefings are conducted most weekdays from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing.

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News & Politics

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[WinterHaven]

Unemployment is probably around 20% considering once one's unemployment checks expire THEY ARE NO LONGER COUNTED.

[eameece]

Bernanke doesn't get my vote! No transparency; support for bankers.

[juliannemyron]

This is exactly what i was looking for.

[TingGuGe]

撐Google

[eameece]

@Kuner1 My opinion: it is pork projects meant to boost political standing. Social engineering is a buzz word, but if society needs to use less oil, for example, then policies should encourage that.

We're talking about high salaries, the CEOs and other financial jugglers get 1000s more than workers who equally deserve it, just because they run the company. Wealthy people have too much power. Therefore, it's not wrong to tax them at a higher rate; higher than we do in the USA.

[Kuner1]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree there.

My personal opinion: Social engineering is what constitutes throwing money away

[Kuner1]

Sure we pay their salaries by buying their products (or investing in their business otherwise). But at least we are free to not buy their product, if we don't approve of it. With the government, we don't have that choice, we don't give to them, they take from us.

[eameece]

@Kuner1 Good, we agree. I also agree that governments throw away money; we need to hold them accountable. I am a financial moderate, but we disagree about what constitutes throwing money away.

[eameece]

@Kuner1 I don't think it's right. We all pay for the high salaries, because we pay the prices and invest in their businesses and financial instruments. The market doesn't work to limit how much people make, if some people dominate the market and the company others works for. CEOs get high salaries because they rule their company. Wealth = power, so when someone has too much money, democracy is in danger. We do in fact live in an oligarchy in the USA. Money rules.

[Kuner1]

Sure, some CEOs earn tons of money. But what's wrong with that? It's not you or me who is paying for it. If some corporation owner (or owners i.e. shareholders) agree to pay a guy 100 million a year since he earns the company 500 million, then that's their deal. Why would one want to interfere, that'd be the same as if one would limit the amount of money a plumber can charge. If someone charges too much, he'll be out of work soon enough.

[Kuner1]

@eameece

Agreed, you gotta spend to create conditions for growth, like infrastructure, education etc. Got no problem with that at all. You want the state to build roads, bridges, you want health inspections, fire fighters, police etc. You want these things to work and the ones responsible for them to answer to the people, not a corporation. Totally agree.

It's juast gone way beyond that, the governments are throwing money out the window and are hurting the economy and the people themselves

[eameece]

Cutting taxes can stimulate the economy, if its given to the people, not just the rich. The rich need to pay more; they cause the problems with their speculation, monopolies, pollution, low wages and bad working conditions. But cutting taxes alone causes huge deficits, and if you cut spending on the wrong things, you don't create conditions for growth. Mixed solutions are best; not fanatical right-wing, free-market libertarian economics. It's just a religion; it doesn't work in the real world.