Under President Obama, Big Government is Back

"Hello. I AM EAGER TO KNOW ABT AMNESTY. FOR THE MILLIONS OF ILLEGALE WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES WHO WORK EVERY DAY BUT DO NOT PAY TAXES OR HAVE THEIR OWN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. I THINK THE GOVERNMENT IS LOSSING BILLIONS OF TAX MONEY EVERY YEAR THAT WOULD HAVE HELP OUR ECONOMY."

Under Obamas plan if we gave all these people amnesty they wouldnt be paying taxes. No illegal is upper or even middle class. They would be lower class, getting free health care and foodstamps. Take a look at Cali... If you want a free ride, jump the border there and suck off the preverbial teet of the United States.

cg,h 10:33AM April 30, 2009

Hello. I AM EAGER TO KNOW ABT AMNESTY. FOR THE MILLIONS OF ILLEGALE WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES WHO WORK EVERY DAY BUT DO NOT PAY TAXES OR HAVE THEIR OWN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. I THINK THE GOVERNMENT IS LOSSING BILLIONS OF TAX MONEY EVERY YEAR THAT WOULD HAVE HELP OUR ECONOMY.

PRUDENTIA WASSO of MD 3:35AM March 23, 2009

All our problems begin with President Reagan and his emphasis on cutting taxes, deregulating and subtle effort to break the unions. It is no coincidence that the decline in workers wages and prosperity began with the decline in union members. Corporate America and the manufacturers complained about union wages, regulations holding them back so they could not compete in global markets. Well, thanks to the Republicans we deregulated but did not keep some kind of oversight and what do we have? Thanks to the greedy, amoral Republicans and the gutless Democrats we have a financial crisis that is killing Main Street America. It's amazing that Corporate America and Wall Street had no problem with the multi-million dollar compensation packages and bonuses that they received and would not even consider that is what kept them from competing--excessive managemant pay. For the past twenty years, CEOs and execs have been paying themselves 340-400 percent more than their workers. At the peak of the Bush boom in 2007, the typical American worker was earing barely more after inflation than the typical worker made in 2000! We are in this mess because we have greedy Republicans and gutless Democrats who have been in office for WAY TOO long. We need to get rid of all the old timers and don't kid ourselves with that we need "experience" stuff. The only experience they have is they learned how to "game the system" but now are biding their time to retire with a bloated benefit package they did not pay for but have at the taxpayers expense. They will retire with $200,000 per year while the taxpayer will have to settle for Social Security and what we manage to save out of our meager wages, since our 401ks went out the door thanks to Wall Street and Washington. As workers, we must keep in mind that weak unions mean an under-paid, under-served and unprotected Middle-class America.

Layed off worker of IA 3:47PM March 21, 2009

Neither big government nor free market forces should be in complete control. Johnson's big government led to lackadaisical, cold-hearted government workers "just doing their jobs" and huge red tape problems a la "Rube Goldberg" agencies. Allowing "free market" forces too much leeway without oversight led to inept managers and executives, the majority of whom either did little effective work or ran their companies into the ground trying to force growth by brute force. A balance MUST be found, or a less severe pendulum of Democratic big government and Republican free market promotion put into effect. Perhaps forcing 8 or 16 year governments of each party.

While I support Obama's efforts to "steer the economy in specific directions" and rein in incompetent "free market" forces, there should be a plan to roll back the overbearing red tape and government interference at some set point in the future. Perhaps set review in 5 years and auto-roll back in 10 years unless overwhelmingly pushed back another 5 - 10 years. This would prevent the stifling effect of lackadaisical government workers stymieing growth once we've overcome the current meltdown. Healthcare MUST be reigned in. So to energy and our decaying infrastructure of roads and bridges. But once done, loosen up a little to encourage free market competition and growth.

We need Obama's type for now, but not the pork-slingers in both parties who are glomming onto to his coattails to promote their own short-sighted agendas.

R Moses of MN 2:22PM March 20, 2009