State of the Union.

[darthtang aw]

Ok weigh in on your thoughts. I am going to watch it a third time before I finalize my initial thoughts. But I will say this right now. This is the first time I have COMPLETELY agreed with everything he said. Atleast Bush isn't going to coast his last year like previous presidents have. That shows me he does care. What does slightly piss me off, is this is his best speech since 9/11. Dude, Mr. President, where have you been hiding the last 5 years or so?
Ok time to watch a third time...I love c-span.

 

[ruaround]

he is just trying to make a grand exit... why do you think all the writters have been on strike??? it took em all focusing on this instead of silly sicoms and TV dramas...

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
Ok weigh in on your thoughts. I am going to watch it a third time before I finalize my initial thoughts. But I will say this right now. This is the first time I have COMPLETELY agreed with everything he said. Atleast Bush isn't going to coast his last year like previous presidents have. That shows me he does care. What does slightly piss me off, is this is his best speech since 9/11. Dude, Mr. President, where have you been hiding the last 5 years or so?
Ok time to watch a third time...I love c-span.
Recorded it and will watch tomorrow. Looking forward to a constructive discussion. (well, some of us will have a constructive discussion...

)

 

[crashbandicoot]

Did he address the issues of illegal imigration ?

 

[t316]

Yes...he did address illegal imigration. He said get the h*ll out of here. Just kidding, but he did address it.
Question...while you guys are reviewing, watch the Democratic response. I had walked out of the room, but I could have swore I heard that chick say something to the effect of..."Mr. President, don't ask us anymore what we can do for our Country, rather, don't ask anything of us at all". Again, I only caught the tail end of it, but still...

 

[nyyankeees]

I haven't cared what he has to say since he was elected, why start now?
(*Disclosure~ In no way is this meant to be interpreted as part of the "constructive discussion" you are hoping occurs here.*)

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by NYyankeees
I haven't cared what he has to say since he was elected, why start now? ...
Which, unfortunately, is why our country is so divided...

I'll be the first to say I despised Clinton, but I always listened to him and made sure I knew why I didn't like him.

 

[dogstar]

I prefer to evaluate what they do or don't do more than what they say.

 

[reefraff]

You have to pay attention to what they say to know what they are trying to do.
I disagree with a number of things mentioned. Foriegn aid? We should cease sending out aid in the form of cash payments, at least as much as possible. Why pay 10 times the price to help a farmer in another country with poor growing conditions to raise grains and veggies when we can buy it for a lot less from our own farmers and export it?

 

[mike22cha]

Originally Posted by reefraff
You have to pay attention to what they say to know what they are trying to do.
I disagree with a number of things mentioned. Foriegn aid? We should cease sending out aid in the form of cash payments, at least as much as possible. Why pay 10 times the price to help a farmer in another country with poor growing conditions to raise grains and veggies when we can buy it for a lot less from our own farmers and export it?
Well the benefit of that would be getting the other countries farmers to start making a living and maybe eventualy be able to take care of themselves, opposed to just handing out freebies for the rest of their lives.

 

[renogaw]

why should we care though? honestly, if they start making a living, that means they are competing with our own farmers, making it so THEY can't make a living...with enough work going offshore, why should we fund farmers out of the country?
ok, i realize that during the winter in the states, it's summer down south, but with all their cheap labor, they should have no issues making a living by themselves without us giving them money. stop taking my money to give it to someone else outside the country (well, inside the country too, but that's a different issue)

 

[aquaknight]

Didn't watch it, but did win $20 for going with a blue tie in my bracket

 

[stdreb27]

Didn't watch it, I did hear him talk about free trade a little bit. Didn't really think it would be all that interesting. Just a checklist of what democrats will be against over the next year.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by renogaw
why should we care though? honestly, if they start making a living, that means they are competing with our own farmers, making it so THEY can't make a living...with enough work going offshore, why should we fund farmers out of the country?
ok, i realize that during the winter in the states, it's summer down south, but with all their cheap labor, they should have no issues making a living by themselves without us giving them money. stop taking my money to give it to someone else outside the country (well, inside the country too, but that's a different issue)
The theory for foreign aid is that it builds the economies of the recipient. That allows them to become a more viable trading partner. (Think Japan, Germany, foreign Soviet Block Nations, etc. where this theory has been successful). In addition, the more wealthy a nation the more stable it becomes.
Millions invested in foreign aid now can prevent spending billions in war materials later. (Think Afghanistan after the Soviets withdrew and we quit funding the rebels. Had we tried to rebuid Afghanistan in the 80's when we helped drive out the Soviets we may very well have not had the Taliban)
It certainly doesn't always work (Think of the millions we have dumped into the pit that is Gaza and the West Bank).

 

[natemd]

I have to say i was impressed with his speech last night. He didn't push "his war" (I'm not saying its "his", I believe in this war and have many friends over there who give me reason to) and Bush offered a lot of good ideas that could really make a change this last year. I liked his idea of cutting earmarks by 50% which would save billions of dollars. I also liked his proposal on immagration. If we can find some way to allow these workers to come up here and work leagally they are then on a level playing field with American citizens because we can tax them. If we were to tax all the illegal immagrants working in the US today it would generate untold amounts of money for the government.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
The theory for foreign aid is that it builds the economies of the recipient. That allows them to become a more viable trading partner. (Think Japan, Germany, foreign Soviet Block Nations, etc. where this theory has been successful). In addition, the more wealthy a nation the more stable it becomes.
Millions invested in foreign aid now can prevent spending billions in war materials later. (Think Afghanistan after the Soviets withdrew and we quit funding the rebels. Had we tried to rebuid Afghanistan in the 80's when we helped drive out the Soviets we may very well have not had the Taliban)
It certainly doesn't always work (Think of the millions we have dumped into the pit that is Gaza and the West Bank).
once your job is outsoursed to one of these underdeveloped countries, or your business closes down, firing everyone because they are doing work outside the country because it is cheaper, you may change your tune.
we're making all these countries so much more financially stable and strong that we're hurting ourselves. imported products are destroying the american made products in price, and now people in the US are losing their jobs, where the foreign countries are getting stronger. when in history has the us dollar been worth almost the same as a canadian?? the euro is kicking our butt, and everyone wants to send our money out there to make them stronger... when will we worry about making US stronger

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by renogaw
once your job is outsoursed to one of these underdeveloped countries, or your business closes down, firing everyone because they are doing work outside the country because it is cheaper, you may change your tune.
we're making all these countries so much more financially stable and strong that we're hurting ourselves. imported products are destroying the american made products in price, and now people in the US are losing their jobs, where the foreign countries are getting stronger. when in history has the us dollar been worth almost the same as a canadian?? the euro is kicking our butt, and everyone wants to send our money out there to make them stronger... when will we worry about making US stronger
lol, then quit shopping for the cheapest price.

 

[darknes]

Originally Posted by renogaw
once your job is outsoursed to one of these underdeveloped countries, or your business closes down, firing everyone because they are doing work outside the country because it is cheaper, you may change your tune.
we're making all these countries so much more financially stable and strong that we're hurting ourselves. imported products are destroying the american made products in price, and now people in the US are losing their jobs, where the foreign countries are getting stronger. when in history has the us dollar been worth almost the same as a canadian?? the euro is kicking our butt, and everyone wants to send our money out there to make them stronger... when will we worry about making US stronger
The american consumer brought it on themselves. Businesses do what they have to do to stay competitive and lower their prices for the consumer. This isn't the 19th century anymore, we're entering a world economy. It might hurt americans now, but I think in the long run it's going to be better for the world.

 

[dinki]

The speech is nothing more that a wish list of the things he would like to do (or have you believe he would like to do). Without the support of congress he's really dead in the water. Didn't he speak about the guest work er program last year?
I voted for the guy twice and have to say that I am extremely disappointed in how things turned out. What's even more depressing is the choices (or lack thereof) of candidates for the upcoming presidential election.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by renogaw
once your job is outsoursed to one of these underdeveloped countries, or your business closes down, firing everyone because they are doing work outside the country because it is cheaper, you may change your tune.
we're making all these countries so much more financially stable and strong that we're hurting ourselves. imported products are destroying the american made products in price, and now people in the US are losing their jobs, where the foreign countries are getting stronger. when in history has the us dollar been worth almost the same as a canadian?? the euro is kicking our butt, and everyone wants to send our money out there to make them stronger... when will we worry about making US stronger
The world is changing. In order for the USA to remain an economic leader our working force will have to adapt. We have to remain competitive. Jobs will get outsourced sooner or later... Unless we want to go back to the Tariffs of the 1800's.
Creating stability doesn't hurt us. A more stable world means more trading partners for our exports. (The weak dollar at the moment, btw, allows our American produced products to out-sell foreign made products)
Currencies rise and fall. The US Dollar was weak in the 70's, rose in early 80's, fell again in 85-87 (where it lost half of it's value in 2 years).
In the 90's we saw various currency rise and fall; Early 90's the British Pound and Mexican Peso... late 90's Asia's currencies (including the Russian Ruble)...
Including the dollar. Part of the world-wide recession in 94 was attributed to the weak US Dollar. Clinton made strengthening the dollar one of his priorities his second term.
The weak dollar is an issue that needs to be addressed, no question, but we've seen this before.