Quote:
Originally Posted by Stinkhorn
Maybe he is just tired of all the bashing that he takes for every single problem in the world, maybe he is tired of always being blamed by the hippies for every mistake made by the liberals.
Maybe he is tired of having to clean up the democrats financial mess that they not only fostered, but created by giving minorities home loans they could never afford, you know what I mean, the illegals that are currently in every local news paper under the forclosure section.
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Personal view of history: This started with Reagan deregulation, when restraints were removed that had kept corporations from doing whatever they wanted to do. Restraints, or regulations, ARE necessary to keep things in line.
I know this is a point of debate, but just let me say THANK GOD the energy company is still regulated in the state I live in. They need state approval before raising rates. Well, last year they decided all by themselves that they wanted to raise rates 20%. That's a huge raise. It hurt many people, given the level of inflation we're living with, and loss of jobs, etc. They went ahead and started charging increased rates all on their own, without approval. Everyone's bills went up. The state finally got its act together and declined their 20%. The state allowed 5%, which is still affordable for most people. The power company had to refund all the over-charges, which they did, but we have no way of really knowing if they returned all the money. If they didn't, basically they stole it from us.
Without regulation [call it conscience, or responsibility to others] all the corporations have gone berserk since Reagan. There are no usury laws now. No one knows the word any more. Usury laws were in place for a long time in this country. They were intended to protect ordinary people. Interest rates were capped at 18%. I don't know how it happened, really, but all of a sudden in this country interest rates could be anything anybody wanted them to be. People have been hurt by this. Corporations have benefited.
I don't know how it happened, exactly, but all of a sudden the monopoly laws don't seem to apply anymore. There used to be laws preventing one company from gobbling up all the other companies in particular industires. Now almost all the media are owned by only a few companies. There are no independent voices anymore. This is a result of monopoly. What happened to these laws?
There used to be laws requiring open bidding on government contracts. These laws were in place so that politicans could not give contracts to their friends. These laws were intended to keep the system open. All of a sudden, there are no-bid contracts [Halliburton]. What happened to these laws? Now all these very lucrative contracts are in the hands of very few people. Local contractors in New Orleans were NOT ALLOWED to bid on government-backed rebuilding projects in their OWN community!
It started with Reagan and has continued ever since, yes, through the democrats, and back into the republicans. And here we are today, at the end of the road this has created. This road has ended exactly where many people understood it would lead.