Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 2/26/09
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I think Mike from the UK is right. This is a huge lesson in humanity and I for one am sooo happy to be able to witness it.
Please give me a heads up before you start the octuplet mom porn story....I just ate.
Erica – I know! I kind of wish the show would return to the two-hour format I'm told it used to have. Simply can't cover everything in an hour.
And I'll have to check out that NYT piece.
Some of the budget should be spent on big mean auditors that can stop a lot of the fraud and greed. I'll bet they would pay for themselves.
1 Trillion = 1 month of GDP. Easy to wrap your head around. Now you can use that airtime for something meaningful.
There are bound to be things about this current administration that don't go as swimmingly as they might hope. But let's be honest, people. Compared to the lies and deceit of the last administration, Obama is off to a fabulous start.
@Glen...consumers "saving" money is a bigger problem right now. That is, "we" are holding on very tight-fisted and not letting it go. No wonder, we're loaded down with tons of retail debt and trying to dig out.
In case no one knows this but it does cost money to make improvements to the system. If previous administrations would have addressed our education system, health care system, and energy in an effective way, President Obama would not need this much money to try and fix these problems. It would be much less. I am all for investing in our future. It is much better than spending billions in Iraq.
By increasing the taxes on people earning more than 250K , Obama plans on meeting his promise of cutting defecit in half – How is that his effort? It is the effort of all those people working hard and making the 250K and handing it in a sliver platter to Obama to take credit .
Dear Anderson,
When my husband moved to Mexico for a job, those horrible stories came to light. I worry about him every minute of the day, just as much as I worry about what life would be like if he lost his job or had not been fortunate enough to finally find a job to support his family back home. ~ L.C.
I agree with Lori from IL about the troop withdrawal extension. We jsut got rid of a President who never changed his mind, who never adjusted to reality. I'm much happier with Pres. Obama.
@Melvin, I totally agree. The republicans need to give the president a chance. Besides, his ideas seem better and more practical than any I've heaed in the longest time. We can't afford to do nothing.
I really just would like to know where the money is coming from! I really hope we won't be indebted to other countries too much. If we borrow too much we will inevitably lose our standing within the international arena. We would be owned!
econ 101 had pres bush raised taxes during war time we would have not been inthis mess.
i dont get it the republicans say that they are the only patriots, but when comes to taxes they become whimps.
Why do people insist on ignoring the fact that Obama voted on much of this deficit including the bank bailout without strings attached. He should shoulder some of the blame.
Why is it that no one remembers that for the first 6.5 years under Bush the economy grew and added jobs? It hasn't been 8 years of doom and gloom.
ahhh Sigmund...if he were here today he would think we're all nuts...billions...trillions
@Fay...every budget has been put out for everyone to see..Obama is doing nothing new!!
Cindy..Ga.
Explaining a "trillion"... i liken that to a friend once trying to explain 'string theory" and a "10 dimensional world" to me – way beyond my conceptional abilities, so hard to truly understand or grasp the full impacts.
Hi, everyone. So many good stories ahead - from the disturbing and sobering piece on schools, to Michael Ware's piece from Mexico to Iraq. I feel like we have so much information and not enough time!
Not sure if anyone caught the NYT piece this morning on Iraq's budget issues, but def worth a read.
Good panel tonight - I thought David Gergen was right on the money tonight - always appreciate his wise counsel.
@ Brandi: I completely agree! I don't think anyone actually wants to see that. We do not want to have to rinse out our eyeballs!!
Things just keep getting better and better for Nadya Suleman don't they? *rolls eyes*
Honestly-I could less about Mexico-I don't shop there....We got our own problems mounting right here.
Why don't people realize that it always boils down to who gets the money and the benefits of government activity? Preferably we would all benefit accordingly, but that's not really possible in a capitalist system, so choices have to be made.
An old political idiom is that one is entitled to one's opinion, but not one's own facts. The reality is that over the past two decades wealth has been redistributed upward to the already wealthy and working-class and poor people have gotten poorer.
I think we were all likely to be shocked when the budget became "honest", with nothing hidden. I do find it disturbing that the very people who were in Congress the last 8 years are now so self-righteous about cost. Everytime something didn't get vetoed for those 8 years, I got more worried.
hey melvin he only been in office a month but he's spent more money than anyone in last 200 some years this country exsisted. And as far as weapons we gave the iraqi's more than enough time to get rid of them just ask the syrins
thats really funny that Tom Forman used Oprah as the example
ha 4000 Oprahs that's a financial relelation or as the generous portion of Oprah's would say "a real ah-hah moment"
Gia, I believe David meant that there have been other factors for some 30 years at least, contributing to this. The last 8 years were just the capper. A big capper, but not solely responsible. (I personally feel they are solely to blame for the international attitude towards us and our loss of reputation, but the recession was just pushed over the edge by them. It was a big shove though).
Anderson, where was David Gergon's explanation of Obama's programs three months ago?! Of course people will pick ice-cream over a sandwhich every time... Get smart people, we can not pay for all of this!
I feel the income tax raise at 250 000$ for couples is perfect. Unfortunately the country needs help and if that means a couple bottles less of wine for the comfortable. So be it. Either way..you still pay less tax then we do in Canada.
THANK YOU for speaking about the terror going on in Mexico right now. It is absolutely horrendous and frightening. I live 5 minutes from a Bordertown and am terrified to travel across the border right now, even though I NEED to. I have a friend whose backyard is literally the border wall and right now she is petrified of letting her kids play outside. I live roughly 30 minutes from Matamoros and pray that nothing gets closer to us. It's scary. Juarez is one of the most jaw-dropping areas I have ever seen. It's infrastructure is hideous and its citizens are suffering. I pray that this will surpass soon.
Is difficult to visualize a trillion dollars !
Is difficult to explain what a trillion dollars!
ugh…video porn? after octuplets??? need mouthwash, i taste puke.
I agree Brandi!!!!
Chris, let me ask this: why should rich people pay _less_ taxes (per capita) than poor people? The drawback is that rich people have recourses to avoid paying more taxes: charitable donations (which at times are only loopholes), moving money and/or productivity offshore, leaving the country outright... many a rock band "moved" out of England (in order to avoid it's "1 for you, 19 for me" 95% income tax law), back in the early '70s. If rock musicians can do it, so can any other rich person. If everyone did their part, we might see the economy rebound more quickly than anyone could expect!
a trillion dollars? That is a crazy amount of money...even with all the comparisons I can't wrap my head around that much money....I wonder if John King is jealous that Tom Foreman gets to play with the Magic Wall?
The porn industry for the Octo-Mom Really?...I really think that her 15 minutes of fame are over!
About the bailout...isn't the idea behind Capitalism that a company who is no longer serving the needs of it's costumers should fail, allowing new companies with new ideas, etc, to take their places? This is what has created the ingenuity and drive that America is known for. Why are we so afraid to see a bank or car company fail....perhaps we are shooting ourselves in the foot in the long run by stifiling the creativity and determination of the American spirit!
Tom Foreman....it keeps stacking up...3.6 trillion... Does anyone really understand Oprah's figure s ...?.
What if all this money is spent and things turn for the better? To the average person who gets his job back, gets to keep his house and feed his family, how much the government spent will be a distant memory.
I read every post here and I must admit I'm incredulous about some of these responses to Obama's plans.
After 7 years of war (at a billion dollars PER MONTH), what choice does the President have? As he was campaigning, he pointed out (many times) we have to spend money to get out of the abyss we've been shoved into by the Bush administration.
Add to that the fact that we live in the 21st century. In the 19th century, the idea of a million dollars was mind-boggling. Today, our country has more than ONE MILLION millionaires.
Our thoughts and opinions must adhere with the times we live in. Don't like it? Thank the Bushes...
Casey J – Palm Springs, Ca, That is true, but a lot more is riding on these uncertain projections this time around.
People can not afford homes, so if the taxpayer was to hire all these people by spending money, could it not be used to employ those people in better jobs in creating a New United States Postal Service.
The Obama budget – welcome to Canada. We have had similar budget orientation – more government is better – but have managed to show surpluses because of higher taxes especially on the rich. Our banks are still profitable and we do not have a housing crisis. No wonder Obama said "i love this country" during his visit last week.
Fiscal irresponsbility in the past cause for bigger responses now.....we need to make this 3 trillion budget work....
I guess if we want change we need to pay the price tag for that change.
Does not the government only use dollars
no smaller than 500 dollars. The money
is not a part of the money distributed to
the public.
I love the touch screen!
I guess im stupid, but judd gregg says it triples the debt in ten years, i thought we just heard Obama says he was cutting the deficit in half in 5 years...which is it....???
Hey all, Shoutout to Anderson, Erica, David G, Esma, Vanessatx, ChrisSosa and everyone else. Just got out of class. Rushed back to get to the blog.
I wish I had a Trillion dollars!
The sale of used and new houses fell.
This only shows the situation of housing market, beginning of the problems of the current crisis.