Gee, and it only cost us trillions of dollars, which we will be paying down for generations. Thank goodness your school district isn’t cutting “as many” jobs. If people like you think the “change we need” is saving a few teachers’ jobs by spending more money than the human brain can comprehend, then this country is truly doomed.

I know you believed everything that Obama sold to you, but the fact is, much of it was simply lies. It was largely the Democrats who took money from the financial sector and it was the Democrats who softened the financial regulations. Republican attempts to re-strengthen the regulations were shot down by the Democrat-run regulatory boards. Shot down by the likes of the Democrat Senator Dodd (who was head of the board responsible for these regulations!), who took the second largest sum of money from financial institutions such as AIG. (The only Senator who took more money from these folks was Obama, by the way!–And this is all a matter of public record, not wild speculations.) Senator Dodd was so infamous for doing what financial institutions wanted, he was often called “The Senator from AIG”.

In short, you’ve been bought with money your grandchildren will still be paying back, and fed lies that you want to believe. Nothing has changed. All you’ve done is voted in someone who made the same mistake so many American families made which put us in this mess in the first place: borrowed a crap load of money with no plan on how to pay it back, except a hope and prayer it all works out in the end.

And for the record, I’m not a Republican. I just prefer to vote based on research and fact, instead of emotion and catchy slogans.

Respond to this. Delete it. I don’t care. I’ve been following A-Vault since before it’s long hiatus, but I’m finally removing the bookmark. I don’t come here to read politics or support people like you.

Wow! Caver I am sad to see you go! I truely am. However, I do not think you should shun our entire community based on one person’s perspective. That is why we have opinions. You dont have to read me. I appreciate the reply though!

I was never sold on any slogan or catch phase. But I do give props when I see real results. When I see a school system struggle because of forclosures and adequate funding and real tangible results like this happens. It was just nice. Whelp I hope you come back.

I am all for engaging conversation and I thank Michael for giving his perspective. I would hope someone as knowlegable and passionate as Caver would stick around to give us more of his thoughts and views. We need counterpoints and arguments, it’s what makes us all tick. I sincerely hope you stay to give us your thoughts in the future.

The stimulus will create and has created jobs, how many is up to debate. But it comes at a huge cost. We are increasing our national debt by insane amounts. The loans plus the interest we have pay to lender countries is going to be hanging over everyone in the US for a long time. It is in the long run going to decrease the value of the dollar, which will give each person less spending power. And we don’t have a budget that will allow us to start paying back this debt even in the most minimal way.

I agree something had to be done to get things rolling again but I am not sure a spending package of this size should have been done. Even if the amount was near what we needed, it probably would of been better to make a package a third of the size see if it helped and then add more money if it looked like we need to. I know the argument that it had to be huge to stimulate everything at once. But with the risks of multiplying the national dept and the possibility that it could fail to help in any significant manner, I would of liked to see more caution.

That all being said I am glad you will get a good job because of the stimulus and I am sure at least in the short term some people will be helped out. The problem was there was no other option on the table as an alternative to the stimulus plan. No one came forward (that was reported anyways) with any other type of action. And as we did nothing for years while the economy slipped that obviously was not an option either.

The fact is this has been coming for a long time now. From the deregulation of the banks and Wall Street, to the massive loss of manufacturing in this country, to the insane and plain stupid momentum in the US during the late 90’s to early 00’s that “America was moving to a service economy and that is a good thing.”

Deregulation was the first sign that the economy should have been watch more carefully by everyone from the Federal Reserve to the Treasury. This started with Regan and was continued by all administrations up in till the last election. Enron should have been the first major sign of what happens when deregulation and greed meet. But even at that point we were at a decline.

The loss of manufacturing is one of the biggest hits to the US economy and it ties in with the whole “service economy” idea. A country that doesn’t produce tangible products does not exist. A service economy is replaceable; call centers can be anywhere, like oh lets say India or China. Accountants, Stock Brokers, Investment Bankers (just to name a few) can live anywhere in the world and do there job for any client due to technology. Machinists are a type of skilled worker in manufacturing that we are not only losing jobs for but in the process we are losing people who can do the fabrication work necessary to make the products we all rely on. As a country that is so dependent and obsessed with technology we hurt our selves by sending our money out to other nations that have the industries we need and rely on for our way of life. The US does not manufacture one TV and good luck finding a computer component made in the US. We have lost and continue to lose Tool and Die manufactures/workers at an alarming rate. These people and companies make the tools, and intricate parts that allow factories to be built and operate. A loss of any number of them is a loss to the whole country and its economic viability.

The argument that Americans get paid too much in any field to be competitive on the world market is also false. There was a story a few years back on a news magazine show about how a Airline executive renegotiated the contracts of the companies mechanics to avoided having to lay off people. The executive who was already making a seven-figure salary got an eight million dollar bonus for this. Now my question is if all the CEO’s cut their salaries. Lets say to half a million dollars a year and gave up their bonuses, how many jobs not only could have been saved but would not of needed a reduction on pay or benefits? I am sorry I didn’t write down the articles details but at the time it just seemed like another corporate greed story to me. But this is the reason US companies many times, not all, but most have issues with worker pay and benefits. Its greed at the top. I have no problem with CEO’s making multi million dollar salaries but only after they meet the responsibilities to there company, employees, customers, and share holders. It’s the preservation of cash at the top that killed us. AIG is a more recent example of this. A company that took huge speculative risks with other peoples money and then they insisted that failed and incompetent management still deserved not only huge pay checks but million dollar bonuses as well. The other side of this failure is companies like GM, who after moving many car plants over sea’s and decades in business couldn’t hold themselves afloat and needed the public to bail them out. Because if they were to go under thousand would be out of work not only from GM but also from the multitude of other private businesses GM has contracts with.

At the same time Ford while not in the best shape is more than soluble and foreign manufacture Toyota has so many car plants in the US, employing US workers it might well be considered a US company at the moment.

My point in this long rant is that a lot contributed to the hole were in and no one is sure what to do. Putting the country in massive debt to try and fix every thing I can’t see working out, but since no one else has a plan we have little choice but to make it work where ever and when ever we can.

Also I can understand why Caver is upset about this post. This is a gaming site and that’s what it should talk about. Then again I can help sticking my two cents in the conversation.

“I don’t come here to read politics or support people like you.”

Caver – I hope that you are still reading this thread. I respect your right to your own opinion and definitely understand that you do not want to read about politics at Avault, especially any kind of endorsement to a specific political affiliation or philosophy. But this is Mike Moody’s personal blog (that we happen to host at the site) and in this area he’s allowed to write about anything that he feels is relevant to his life as a gamer and as a person.

By the way, I’m the one “supporting” Avault. We currently do not accept any paid advertising or endorsements at Avault. The banners that rotate throughout the site are offered at no cost to companies that helped my previous ventures in gaming. In essence this is a zero revenue organization, where people that are associated with it are doing so because of their passion for the industry, commitment to truth, and an interest in expressing their views without obstruction or compromised censorship. All operational expenses are borne by me.

We all try our absolute best to bring people exactly like you (critical, intelligent and uncompromising) the real scoop on gaming. People like you are our only true asset, I sincerely hope you stick around as we continue to advance Avault to higher levels of perfection.

Liberal Propaganda!! Just Kidding Mike! Keep up the good work!

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