are y'all better off than you were 4 years ago ?

[DianaMallory]

My answer is YES! I Have learned a new form of multitasking~! Grabbing the remote, searching for the mute button,at the same time yelling at the political ads on T.V. to shut the BLEEP UP! SO SICK OF THEM! especially the ones that I see repeatedly! If I was undecided the ads would decide for me. Not for what they say, simply because I am sick of seeing their ad and would not vote for them for that reason! I don't know were you guys are but if you are in the state of OHIO you know who spent the most on ads! And it wasn't President Obama!

 

[ScottnLydia]

Yea, local Sheriff is a good friend an over half of his budget goes to paying medical. Most of which is people that got there selves locked up so they could get free dental.


As I said, I use to volunteer in EMS. I make about $700 a month an was spending around $300 of that on fuel for my truck to run medical calls. Most of those calls were people that made more money than me an did not have an emergency but calling 911 cause it was free an they would call for a runny nose as act like I owed them something.

No one in my family is wealthy. I think my brother brings home about $32K so he is our high mark. I see people fighting to get medical every day so I understand... But Socialism is not the fix.

You're absolutely right, Socialism is NOT the fix! The big problem here is that socialism is a theoretical form of government, or "political system of communal ownership in which the means of production and distribution are controlled by the people, and operated according to equity and fairness rather than market principles." -Encarta World Dictionary We are a capitalist democracy, nothing and no-one will change that.

We've been discussing socialized medicine, or nationalized healthcare if that sounds better. We already have it in Medicare and Medicaid. Congress has their own special, bang-up type!

Nobody hoots or hollers over having 'socialized' police and fire protection, do they? The fire chief doesn't show up when your house is on fire and ask " Will this be Visa or Mastercharge?" The police don't verify your income and turn you down because "Unless you can pay us in cash up front we just can't check out that prowler."

Rebelcowboy, I commend you on your 13 years of volunteering in emergency response. That shows real dedication! Volunteers are truly needed to serve in many areas that wouldn't have any coverage otherwise. Just this morning we heard on the radio that in our own county, a womans son fell off of his horse and was severely injured. When she called a nearby town for an ambulance, she was told ther were none available. She pressed them, "Until when?" The response was "No ambulances available to the western half of the county." Apparently she was an EMT with some volunteer fire dept. so she called a Life Flight chopper in herself! The radio said she knew how to prepare the scene for them, etc.

As I have said, I surely don't claim to have the answers, but I think the way this system works stinks! Why should a millionaire get better medical care than an elderly grandmother on Social Security? Do we assign value to a person by their humanity or their wealth? Is one just as much a person as the other? There's nothing wrong with money, but without our humanity, we're nothing more than pigs in the mud.

Oh, and about Pfizer. According to Fortune 500, just so far this year they have made a profit of over 10 BILLION DOLLARS ! That's up 21.2% over 2010, and the year isn't even over yet. Some research showed that Pfizer made $180 billion on just 4 drugs, but settled fraud charges with the Dept. of Justice over them for $2.3 billion. Still a tidy profit for something that they were pushing fraudulantly!

So obviously, this is a complex issue, and we won't settle it here. It is good to discuss various viewpoints. For myself, I will not lose sleep over whether Big Pharma makes another billion or not. I do lose sleep worrying about those that some call "the less fortunate" among us. I was brought up to care for the poor and downtrodden. There seems to be more and more rhetoric these days to make them a little 'less than human'. History has taught us the dangers of thinking like that, I hope.

~S

 

[Mtn Laurel]

My answer is YES! I Have learned a new form of multitasking~! Grabbing the remote, searching for the mute button,at the same time yelling at the political ads on T.V. to shut the BLEEP UP! SO SICK OF THEM! especially the ones that I see repeatedly! If I was undecided the ads would decide for me. Not for what they say, simply because I am sick of seeing their ad and would not vote for them for that reason! I don't know were you guys are but if you are in the state of OHIO you know who spent the most on ads! And it wasn't President Obama!

Yep, I feel your pain! I'm in the northern end of Virginia and am sick to death of the ads, the phone calls, the flyers in my mail, and the disruption to daily life. Seems that one candidate or the other is always in the area campaigning which means that traffic - which is bad on a good day - will be horrible and I'll need to find an alternate route to get where I'm going.

Last election Obama showed up the day before the election and they shut down the roads BUT didn't tell us what roads or when. Well, I was on one side of the roadblock and my daughter - who I was on my way to pick up - was on the other side. They refused to let me through to get her. She found someone that was heading out of the blocked off area where she was and caught a ride. I had to wait at a grocery store parking lot miles away. Once she arrived, we couldn't find a clear road home! I mean, at least TELL us what you're blocking off so we can have a chance of getting our family members home.

Not to mention, I find it insulting that they think these ads are what we base our opinions on. It's almost as though they feel we can't read or think for ourselves. Arggghhh . . .

 

[RunningRabbit]

Romney was in my town a couple days ago. Our Main St was effectively .shut down without warning.

I find it hilarious that he wants to cut government assistance programs, yet visits a town where 1 out of 3 people are on said assistance. Not his brightest campaigning idea. The general consensus in my town is that he was trying to pander to us low income folks, trying to make it look like he cares about our troubles. Funny man, Romney is.

 

[jbirds2012]

Not to mention, I find it insulting that they think these ads are what we base our opinions on. It's almost as though they feel we can't read or think for ourselves. Arggghhh . . .

yes, i think all politicians see the public folk as sheeple. unfortunately i also see a large percent of folks as sheeple (no offense), that's just the way i see it. example: they advertise the heck out of a movie or a taco and it does great and they advertise how great it is doing and it goes platinum. huh ? i must be missing something here, thank you jesus.

 

[WIChookchick]

I know I am better off than I was 4 yrs ago. I worked at a wonderful small non profit that helped women firefighters, EMT's and paramedics, both paid and volunteer.
The office was closed locally, and shipped to another state, I then found out that my boss didn't pay any unemployment, apparently non profits don't have to at least in my state.
So no unemployment, I took on a job being a nanny for my husband's cousin. I did that for 3 years... then tried to do a job as a subcontractor fixing exercise equipment. I had to stop
doing that because i was not getting paid by my company AND my carpal tunnel flared up very badly.
So back to being a nanny, until they decided to cut my hours to near nothing... I got a great job working part time for a auto parts store.
We moved to a more rural area in order to cut our rent down, I am driving an older vehicle, prepaid cell phones, no cable.
BUT I still have my chickens, my horses, and am comfortable.
YES I am better, both financially and mentally.!

 

[oldrooster]

yes, i think all politicians see the public folk as sheeple. unfortunately i also see a large percent of folks as sheeple (no offense), that's just the way i see it. example: they advertise the heck out of a movie or a taco and it does great and they advertise how great it is doing and it goes platinum. huh ? i must be missing something here, thank you jesus.

Yes and these stupid talk shows and soap operas and "reality" shows like survivor and these stupid desperate house wives and Jersey shore shows require a person to be stupid or grow stupid watching them, where are their priorities in life???? they think springer guests are normal, they may becoming more normal but I refuse to become a dumbed down person! I know I am far from the brightest person and I need every brain cell I have and I won't waste my time on that trash.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Yes and these stupid talk shows and soap operas and "reality" shows like survivor and these stupid desperate house wives and Jersey shore shows require a person to be stupid or grow stupid watching them, where are their priorities in life???? they think springer guests are normal, they may becoming more normal but I refuse to become a dumbed down person! I know I am far from the brightest person and I need every brain cell I have and I won't waste my time on that trash.

Boy you said a mouthful there oldrooster and I agree too LOL esp on the needing every last brain cell part LOL

Jeff

 

[jbirds2012]

Yes and these stupid talk shows and soap operas and "reality" shows like survivor and these stupid desperate house wives and Jersey shore shows require a person to be stupid or grow stupid watching them, where are their priorities in life???? they think springer guests are normal, they may becoming more normal but I refuse to become a dumbed down person! I know I am far from the brightest person and I need every brain cell I have and I won't waste my time on that trash.

thank you, i couldn't agree more. i never stomach any of those shows

 

[oldrooster]

I realize some people watch the amazing race just for the glimpses of countries they could never visit in real life and some view it as a world wide scavenger hunt, and there are some music/talent shows, and others that are similar in nature that help people to achieve change in their lives I can't hold a negative light to those FEW shows....