As usual, 9 weeks will turn into 12, 16, and so forth.

I should have took the fucking buyout :/

Is the goal socialism? I honestly don’t think so.
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I don’t think so either.

If the goal were socialism, we would be taking money from wealthy bankers and stock holders and redistributing that wealth to the American public. Instead, we are taking money from the American public, and redistributing it to wealthy stockholders, bankers, etc., who happen to also be significant campaign contributors to Christopher Dodd, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, etc.

I think the *goal* is a merger of State and Corporate interests, Thomb, pretty much as you describe:

“Are we so partisan that we think one side must dominate the other? Do we need complete free market? Do we need communism? I think we need symbiosis. The goal should be a prosperous US. Prosperity means businesses succeeding, workers earning decent wages, and investors making a decent return.”

Who cares what we have — as long as the State mandates it, we’ll all be prosperous, right?

Fortunately our wonderful President is pulling all the strings he can to protect the UAW cancer. The GM bond holders are screwed, and the GM stock holders are super-screwed. But the good old UAW cancer will emerge from this as strong as an ox. Thank you President Obama for screwing everyone except your UAW buddies who got you elected.

1. Social Security is in trouble now because politicians (starting with George Bush senior) raided the fund year after year to artificially lower (aka, falsify) their deficit. This should have been illegal and impossible. Now we (those under 50 today) will pay the price for George Bush trying to look less incompetent as a president.

2. Medicare/Medicaid. Much needed programs without which many people would suffer or die unnecessarily. I suppose that is what you’d prefer.

The problem with them is that doctors and others keep committing fraud and charging for services never performed. That is a small part of it. But the largest cause of rising costs is that the entire medical industry can basically write its own price for services it performs. Each year the cost of medical treatment has gone up (nearly every year so far) far higher than inflation, in 2008 it increased at twice the inflation rate. Medicare and Medicaid are hostages to that runaway industry.

How would you like it if grocery stores could increase the price of food every year at 2 or 4 times the inflation rate? You’d be pretty unhappy that you have to shop at a grocery store sometimes, no? The problem in Medicare and Medicaid is they are on a “Pay for Service” basis so doctors and hospitals have an incentive to perform a LOT of services, irregardless if the patient needs that service or not. They are going to switch to a “Pay for Outcome” basis with a focus on better health. So don’t blame the government. Blame doctors’ $$$ GREED $$$.

Not sure what it has to do with Volts, however I love the flying kind of RV….

Thanks, I like the second picture. I will make it a screensaver.