O/T: A Question

[Lew Hodgett]

"The economy is fundamentally sound".

Who said that as recently as today?

Bush?

McCain?

Both of the above?

Can you tell the difference?

Lew

[jo4hn]

Sound bites on TV today, both W and Paulson said it verbatim. Exciting. twitch, jo4hn

[N Hurst]

I believe Obama said the same thing a while back, and McCain's camp yelled about it, then McCain said the same thing yesterday morning, and then was saying something completely different that afternoon.

And I tend to agree, fundamentally, our economy is decent. Our exports are up, manufacturing jobs are starting to migrate back to the US, and a much needed correction is occurring in the financial market.

IMO the last thing we need is a bunch of short-sighted politicos monkeying with the market forces. We need to let nature take its course (which it's currently doing), and we should come out of it stronger than we were. I'm glad the Fed decided to not interfere with the Lehman Bros or Merril Lynch deals. We as a nation can't afford to keep propping up greedy Wall Street types. Our free market wouldn't be free any more, and there needs to be some tangible penalty for taking on too much risk, which regular government interference would remove.

-Nathan

[Robatoy]

Amen. Well said.

[mac davis]

Well, from where I'm sitting, (Mexico), I'd say the US economy is sound.. or more like sounds like it's in the dumper again..

Ride the wave, good times will be back as well as bad... Spend a little time down here in the land of $2.50 a gallon gas and cold beer in a bar for $2 and relax a bit.. Just don't buy sound bites with the money in my SS account ;-]

mac

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[Lew Hodgett]

keep propping up greedy Wall Street types. Our free market wouldn't be free any more, and there needs to be some tangible penalty for taking on too much risk, which regular government interference would remove.

I tend to agree with you; however, it is a two edged sword.

These days John Q Citizen is invested in the market. (Pension funds,

401Ks, etc)

When one of these operations goes belly up, it is the share holders, which includes John Q Citizen, who ultimately take the hit.

Not suggesting bail out. but it is not a simple problem.

Lew

[Nova]

I happened to watch "Modern Marvels" last evening. The show was about the pork industry. One of the things mentioned was along the lines of an item that can be found at:

"In some areas hogs would be turned out to find their own food. Hogs would roam freely, eating what they could find - acorns from the ground or roots, which they dug from the ground with their snouts. On Manhattan Island, New York, the hogs rampaged through grain fields until farmers were forced to build a wall to keep them out. The street running along this wall became Wall Street."

I think we should rebuild the wall.

[mac davis]

VERY good... some of the best medical folks in the world here..

We pay about $3,500 a year for very good medical insurance, including medivac by air if needed... We were paying about $10,000 a year in the States for much worse coverage..

It would be a lot cheaper here, if I was younger.. ;-] When we signed up, the rates were based totally on age.. no checkup, etc.. Since my wife was 48 and I was 60, my rate is double hers.. I think her part of the $3,500 is about $1,100

Our local Dr. is wonderful.. even makes house calls if needed.. He's been in San Felipe for almost 30 years and is very experienced.. (and is on the list for or insurance)

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[B A R R Y]

I volunteer to help.

I've flown some of those hogs from Teterboro and Westchester to the Vineyard and Nantucket on small turboprops...

[Upscale]

What's the medical care like down there?

[Charlie Self]

Fundamentally, we haven't got anytihng like a true free market economy.

[Rod & Betty Jo]

When just a 10 yr. old I embarked on a serious week long mission to capture a escaped wiener pig......after a cautious approach over a small mound..... the steady crunching of prune pits..... inspired a quick evaluation of capture method, technique and possible harm. Thus requiring a quick retreat and a trip back home for a large salmon net to assist in the then later capture of said escapee. Ironically at the final eventual moment of capture, inside a very small cattle shed, with no room for swinging nets, that sound of crunching pits still loud in my mind...... I flung down my net and with my still cherished fingers, with all caution to the wind grabbed the squiggling beast. Rod

[Rod & Betty Jo]

snip

South is even cheaper....with insurance not required at least then. My younger brother when visiting a friend in Belize was privileged to get Malaria...once they decided he wasn't a white gringo going south with AIDS (not welcomed). He spent a week in the hospital for $30.00, meals and toilet paper not provided. Rod

[Highland Pairos]

Like Lew, I 'tend' to agree. I understand the desire to 'let nature take its course' and let those that made bad business decisions suffer the consequences. However, won't letting some of these companies fail have just too disastrous an effect? I got the impression that if AIG failed John Q. would see his money disappear as well. While I also believe that John Q should bear some responsibility for where he put his money, wouldn't the result be far too disastrous?

I don't know what the answer is, but I definitely believe that there need to be some repercussions for taxpayer bailouts. Whether it is in the form of regulatory safeguards, penalties, or anti-trust actions. The threatened impact of an AIG failure made me question why one company has been able to control such a large portion of the financial business. What became of anti-trust actions in this country? Would measures such as those have been appropriate in this case?

As far as the "fundamental health of the economy". Someone commented that they agree with the positive assessments, and stated that 'manufacturing jobs are returning to the US'. Is this in fact the case? It seems to me that the great weakness in our economy is the fact that we rely so greatly on our own consumerism for our economy and the fact that we are an economy of buyers. We buy most of our goods from someone else. Its seems to me that to be truly healthy, we need to be selling goods and services to elements outside of our own economy thereby injecting new wealth into our economy. I believe I heard that 2/3 of our economy is based on our own consumption. The current vicious cycle of economic downturn causing people to spend less, thus leading to further downturn illuminates this weakness.

I truly worry that the majority of our "healthy" economy is based upon financial wheeling dealing, and our own ability to buy consumer goods. I also worry that this country may have to slide to the state of a third world economy in order to bring manufacturing back to our own shores.

Just my worried opinions, maybe I am off base. I would love to hear that I am.

SteveP.

[Rod Jacobson]

Highland Pairos wrote: snip

As a country we produce 25% of the worlds wealth...... when the dollar drops(exchange rates) our goods become cheaper for export and U.S. manufacturing exports improve.

That's not a weakness but rather the purpose. Just imagine working all week and instead of buying groceries you starve but have oodles of money under your mattress.

Approx. 20% of our jobs come from manufacturing....think doctors, teachers, lawyers, mechanics, farmers etc. as the other 80%. Some of those are actually useful professions and possibly as valuable as a new toaster.

Sounds good until you think empty belly with money under your mattress. Imports or export surpluses both have serious advantages as well as major liabilities. China is currently selling tons of stuff our way but the average Joe there sees only modest benefit if any...the benefit of his work and effort is going to us.

I believe

Actually it is 100%.....2/3 is direct and the other 1/3 is to build the infrastructure including machinery, factories etc. to produce the consumer

2/3 share. The sole purpose of the economy is to efficiently provide for the needs and wants of the people

I truly worry that we have way to much reliance on credit or debt.....both the Gov. and the consumer.....Examples abound that without true limits people will go way overboard. Whether it is a consumer needing the biggest most plush house on the block (without the means) or Gov. programs paid with borrowed money. Rationally the Gov. should only borrow to get through a hard time such as war, recession or disaster and should run a surplus or pay back the debt through all normal times.

We are currently the worlds 3rd largest exporter.....amazingly Germany is number one with China a understandable number two (over a billion people).....with around 9 million people Sweden is number 19 (I'm half Swede).

Suggesting that we would want 3rd world wages to compete with 3rd world manufacturing makes no sense at all. In fact our standard of living is considerably improved with cheap imports or their cheap labor.

Valid enough concerns...... but I think the facts really paint a different picture. Rod

[Lew Hodgett]

Anybody have any up to date experience with voice recognition software such as Dragon.

Years ago tried it's predecessor, Naturally Speaking, but it lacked a lot.

Lew

[G. Ross]

Never tried it. Tried another one years ago and it could not understand southern dialect.

[notyoung]

It would be cheap to find out. After rebate, version 12 is about the price of shipping.

Use promo code EMCYTZT58843 for $60 off, plus the rebate - link on the page above

May > Anybody have any up to date experience with voice recognition

[Lee Michaels]

There is a joke in there somewhere. But I don't want to rile up the southern boys, so I will just leave it alone.

[Morgans]

I have some family that uses it regularly, and they say it is amazing. I've not tried it.