Bernanke to brief Congress on the economy

Of course they have to be briefed. They don't drive their own cars, The Government buys alot of their food, the Government provides their health care. In short they don't live in the real world.

"Numerous difficulties" is what you call it when you're pulling down a seven-figure income. For the rest of us it is called a nightmare. These guys are not you and me. Every day businesses pass on their added costs to the consumer. Gas costs more, so trucking costs more, so the goods cost more, so the consumer pays more. The consumer, however, is also dealing with increased gas costs, food costs, housing costs, and every other kind of cost, however we are not able to "pass this cost" along to our consumer (employer). I can't go to my boss and tell him my costs have gone up so I am going to have to charge him more for my labor. In short we end up paying for corporate america's increased costs for fuel, etc, as well as our own increased costs. Do you think that qualifies as numerous difficulties? Do any of these people in Washington have any concept of what is really going on every day in the "real" America? Don't think so. Just sayin'

I agree and to top it off we're being screwed by our own government. The main reason all this is happening is because the politians were'nt held acountable for all their wheeling and dealing at publics expense. All the news media and the political hotshots are doing is flapping their jaws. Shoulda coulda but never done.It's almost comical the way they all talk and get nothing done.

By the time this president is done this country will be sold to the highest bidder, in this case China.

Your last question is right on the mark. There was virtually NO regulation of this industry. And why? Because republicans believe industries should be allowed to regulate themselves.

Of course this concept of self regulation has repeatedly been proven to be false, as companies won't do what they don't HAVE to do. But republicans will continue to sell it to the public regardless of the facts.

Let the foreclosures roll. I have saved my a$$ off to the tune of over $86K sitting in FDIC insured investments. I would love to pick up a $300K house for $200K and then put $70K down and live with a $130K 30 year mortgage with a low rate since my credit score is 792.

Greed of the Republicans and STUPIDITY of my fellow Americans have created this mess. Why did you vote that idiot into office a 2nd time?

Why was the jerk elected in the first place? Oh, I forgot he bought a baseball team with dads money and influence. Made a dumb trade or two then sold before he had a chance to show what a wonderful businessman he was. Therefore he was qualified to become President. For the last eight years he and his lack of brain trust have selling the country out to the highest bidders.

Did you forget? He wasn't elected in the first place. He was appointed by the Supreme Court packed by his daddy and Reagan.

In this democracy THE STATES are responsible for conducting elections and counting the votes. THE STATES are required to have rules in place to handle recounts if needed. Florida had those rules in place and was conducting a legal recount per those rules. The Supreme Court stepped in and told the state of Florida to stop counting votes that were their duty and right to count under the pre-existing rules Florida had in place for just such an eventuality.

But Jeb was governor and Katherine Harris was attorney general and the Supreme Court was Republican.

The second round was won by stealing votes in Ohio. But we'll never know the truth behind that because the head of Bush's Ohio campaign, who just happened to be attorney general of Ohio, made sure the voting records from the 2004 election were destroyed, contrary to the very laws he was sworn to uphold.

Bush might have flushed America down the toilet but he made his fortune doing so. Why do you think he still has that arrogant, sh!t eating grin plastered all over his face every time he swaggers up to the cameras?

Pork isn't the problem. That helps American workers actually work and the money goes to someone in the U.S. rather than to India or China. However Americans have been living on a credit economy because two working family members can no longer support their family. This started with Reagan who was the first president to claim the average household now needed two income earners to support it. Bush has finished the job! It the supply of employment is way lower than the supply of workers we can't get the raises necessary to keep up with rising costs. Bush has made sure employment opportunities have been limited so large corps get cheap labor and profit. Now they want to take the rest of your money and give it to Fanny and Freddy but you can bet the CEOs won't take a cut off their $67,000,000.00 salary! They should all sink and Americans should bring back unions!

It's $58,358 per year and it's not listed as income on his tax return.

I think it's a disgrace that a multi-millionaire like McCain finds it OK to take money from the federal government but then has the AUDACITY to call Social Security a "disgrace" even though most people who receive Social Security benefits average only $900 per month. If McCain deserves a disability pension then certainly people who PAID into the Social Security system deserve their Social Security pension as well.

The true disgrace is McCain.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/22/nation/na-pension22

McCain's disability pension may renew questions about his fitness

By Ralph Vartabedian
April 22, 2008

Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a "disability pension" from the Navy.

When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return.

On Monday, McCain's staff identified the retirement benefit as a "disability pension" and said that McCain "was retired as disabled because of his limited body movements due to injuries as a POW."

McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was technically disabled. "Tortured for his country -- that is how he acquired his disability," Salter said.

Certain types of military and veterans pensions are either partially or completely tax-exempt, depending on the seriousness of the disability. In McCain's case, the exemption is 100%.

If McCain had to pay taxes on the full amount of the pension, it would have increased his tax bill by about $18,000 based on the percentage of his income he paid to the federal government.

McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. After he was released in 1973, he returned home on crutches and began a painful physical rehabilitation. He later regained flight status and commanded a Navy squadron before retiring from the service in 1981.

McCain would be the oldest man to enter the White House if he is elected president, and questions have been raised about his health.

McCain has twice developed melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer.

The fact that he is legally designated with a disability pension may raise further questions.

"It is a legitimate question to ask about the commander in chief: Is he fit to serve," said Robert Schriebman, a senior Pentagon tax advisor and tax attorney who recently retired as a judge advocate for a unit of the California National Guard.

If McCain can hike across the Grand Canyon, then why should he be getting disability payments from the government that are tax-exempt, Schriebman asked.

McCain shattered his knee and broke both arms when he was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967.

In his autobiographies, McCain said that his knee still bothered him in cold weather and that he was unable to raise his hands above his shoulders.

Elmo Baker, a retired colonel and president of a Vietnam War POW group, said many former POWs were receiving some type of military pension that was partly or fully tax-free.

Baker said he was receiving payments that were 70% tax-free, but that he "didn't have as many injuries as McCain did."

Many of the Vietnam POWs are receiving payment under a program known as "combat-related special compensation," which provides benefits and tax exemptions under a complex system, based on such factors as the type of injury and the years of service.

Paul Galanti, another former POW in the group, said that while McCain's injuries were serious enough to qualify him for disability, it would not affect his performance as president.

"I don't know of any physical requirements to be commander in chief," Galanti said. "He would have a nice car to drive around in and a nice airplane to fly in."

I, for one, didn't ask for a loan when the 'credit was easy to come by'. It now looks as though I will have to put off owning my own home because I have to 'bail-out' those who were financially ignorant (this includes the greedy mortgagers). Bernake should legally change his name to "Captain Obvious", as any middle school-age kid could see that financially, we are "Going through 'difficulties'" . Why should I have to pay to help those who were too greedy and stupid to look ahead and see that what goes up, will, most assuredly, come crashing down? I agree with you BitterCritter that there is no permanent 'high' for economies and there are always lows that follow, but why must you and I pay for others' shortsightedness?.

This economy hasn't been good since Bush took over! Two recessions in eight years? I saw it coming. When Bush doubled the size of government payrolls to make everyone believe we're doing just fine and then print a bunch of money to pay for it what do you think will happen? I saw credit card debt getting out of control and everyone living off of their homes equity. Yes an economy has ups and downs but for the last seven years its been a down. I don't think this is a standard business cycle!

Cake costs too much. Let them eat raman noodles.

Cat food might be cheaper!

"Let Them Eat Cake" comes from the French Revolution. When the Queen (Marie Antoinette) heard that the people were complaining that there was no bread, she said "let them eat cake." We are in a mess and now is the time for solutions. There is plenty of blame...but now we need to solve this crisis. Any ideas?

Actually, the quote is thought by some to be mis-attributed to Marie Antoinette.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/227600.html

As for solutions -- the American people are so divided you'll never get enough of them together to force any solutions, and that's exactly the way the people who keep us divided want it.

So...the only solution is to make the American people realize it isn't us against us, it's us against the people who succeed by dividing us. Good luck in that endeavor. {sarcasm}

I think my grandparents beg to differ. Then again, maybe a good depression would knock Bush and his cronies off their high horses.

Bush will be living on his 100,000 acres in Paraguay by then with private mercenaries from Blackwater and CACI protecting him and his co-conspirators.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/23/mainsection.tomphillips

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/28/2544/07385

America -- land of the fleeced and home of the...SUCKERS!

Now wonder this snot-nosed rich brat is still so arrogant, even with the walls crumbling around his presidency. He played this entire country like a cheap fiddle and he's never going to be held accountable for it. It's his life story and America has allowed it to continue. SUCKERS!

We're whiners,gluttons,tax payers.We are thought of as idiots,not Americans.Well what the hell do we know?

Phil Gramm calling us whiners and saying it's all in our heads -- how ironic when Gramm is the guy who is responsible for the current sub-prime meltdown as well as the Enron bubble.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/9/five_ways_wall_street_and_washington

http://www.apfn.org/enron/gramm.htm

I agree!! Unfortunately it is but a dream. We would have to eventually vote in independent senators and congressmen who would then give in to the piles of bribery money thrown at them by lobbyists. If we could take the bribery out of the equation also then we would have a chance. None of this will ever happen.

If the vast majority of American voters believe as you do,then you are absolutely right. Vote for the independents...remove the current two-party autocrats... then work at dismantling the lobbyists who control Congress. Take one thing at a time but start somewhere! Your viewpoint is hopelessness and surrender. If indeed that is where most Americans are coming from,then it will indeed take spontaneous revolution to effect change. And if it comes to that,it won't be pretty.