Comments by economistisajoke

and that is working out really well (not the sarcasm) in the assimilation of Muslims in Europe, now isn't it? Even France banned the burka. I'm all for equal treatment of anyone and practice your religion (whatever that may be)but when it limits the rights of women as Islam does then it's a problem.

Not sure if he will get the nomination but a lot of us on this side of the pond who lean right would pay money to see Newt debate Obama.

For the record, the housing bubble started the markets collapse in 2008. Why did this happen? Clinton, Dodd and Frank. They all pushed legislation so banks were forced by congress to lend to people who could NOT repay the loans. Look it up. Then disaster. Now our current POTUS wants young, unemployed, mindless, pot-heads to take to the streets in protest of "racial inequality", pushing his class-warfare agenda and these mindless drones happily accomodate. This movement will go no where and the American voters will do the right thing and give Obama the boot in 2012. Thank God elections have consequences.

Of course your readers agree with them. These are nothing but a bunch of socialists railing against income inequality, all ginned up by our President (thanks to his stand on class warfare). They are a bunch of sheep and most of them have no sound or solid message. They are all "takers".

Steve Jobs will be missed, but the most important lesson we can learn from his legacy is this: his innovation and creativity were fostered in a climate of Capitalism. Today you could NEVER start a company like Apple here in the bankrupt "golden state" due to high federal and state taxes as well as regulatory issues, not to mention the expensive union labor (most apple products are designed here now and assembled in China). My point is an important one. There are people running our government now encouraging young people to "take to the streets" and rail against income inequality. This is counter to the "American Dream" as Steve Jobs himself helped create and foster. Capitalism in a strong America has brought the world: The internet, the airplane, microsoft, facebook and yes Apple. We now face a presipouse: if we go down the socialist road, these great innovators and inventors may never create in a somewhat hostile environment. Preserving America's capitalism is the only way for us to pave away for someone to truly follow in Steve Jobs' footsteps and create something as he did that we never dreamed we couldn't live without.

@sharpsbug:

The second amendment (the right to bear arms) was intended by the framers to ensure the citizens can protect themselves from outside forces as well as a tyranical government. They understood that the first step to totalitarism is to disarm everyday law abiding citizens. Statistics have shown over and over that whenever a local government (recent case=Chicago) outlaws guns, crime goes up. All you do is disarm the law abiding citizens and allow the criminals the advantage of being armed. My husband is in law enforcement and pulls semi-automatic weapons off the streets all the time and those are illegal here in California. Just because they are outlawed, does NOT prevent criminals from getting them. In the Chicago case, once the supreme court upheld the second amendment and forced chicago to lift the gun ban, crime went down. But don't take my word for it, look it up yourself.

To compare the second amendment to the government mandating us to purchase something (health insurance) is ridiculous. So to summarize: we have the right to bear arms, and the government should not force us to purchase something. If you are not from the US I know this all may sound strange to you but that is true to anyone here who understands the US Constitution.

Comparing this movement to the tea party is like comparing apples to oranges. The tea party has a strong and simple narrative: small govt, low taxes-all what the framers intended. The movement took a strong hold after Obamacare was rammed through (thanks to the boondoggle of the progressives in Congress and the whitehouse). The movement was to get America back to her core values and it was done in a non-disruptive way and done largely at the ballot box with positive results: the 2010 election. I am not a tea party member but I do agree with their core principals (I do not think govt is the answer to everything).

this new movement is nothing but a bunch of unemployed marxists who do not want to work and disrupt those who do. They have been interviewed in the media and most of them don't even know why they are protesting. there have been hundreds of arrests yet the tea party rallies have seen very very little if at all.

But I have no issue with a peaceful protest, even if I disagree with why it is being done. I do have an issue when your protest disrupts hard working people trying to get to work and live their lives.

Should I be surprised that people who read this UK publication think Obamacare is constitutional? No. Because most of the Economists readers don't KNOW or live the US constitution. The same poll taken here is overwhelmingly that Americans feel it's unconsitutional. Never before in the history of this nation has Congress or the feds ever forced us to buy something. If this is accepted, then they have the power to say what kind of cars we can buy, ect. It's not what the framers intended and very likely that the conservative block of the supreme court will throw this horrible law out. Americans do NOT like to have the govt run things that should be done in the private sector-they usually screw it up (look at social security as an example). It's in our fabric to not depend on the govt for anything, and even though insurance companies are not saints-we'd rather deal with them then have a federal beaurocrat tell us what treatment we can or can't have.

If the law were to fix our system (which needs to be fixed) I would be for it-but all 2000 pages of this law (which members of congress did not read before they passed it). Most of us out here believe it was a power grab by Obama and one that we cannot afford.

@gozwoggle: your argument is weak. I live in California and you can forgo having to buy car insurance if you do not drive or own a car. That's a huge difference from healthcare insurance where there's no opt out. The other difference is it's a states issue. States can try to force laws such as this but the US constitution does not allow the feds to do this.

Obama promised unemployment will not go past 8% if we past the first stimulus. It's now almost 10% and he's added 4 trillion to our debt and climbing and still wants to spend more. He promised to be the most transparent administration ever then rammed a 2,000 page Healthcare bill that was not only unpopular, but way too expensive and the worst part is no one read it before passing it. He now wants to extend unemployment benefits past 99 weeks. That's not unemployment, that's welfare. I am sick of going to work to pay for those who will not. I personally know people who turned down paying jobs simply because they made more on unemployement. Face it people, we hired a community organizer who's never balanced a check book to run the biggest economy in the world. Now we are paying for it. Time to hire a replacement with some experience.

Ah, a critique of the liberals. The past several years have been spent widely in this publication bashing the conservatives so this is a breath of fresh air, IMHO. I shudder to think what would have become of us during 9/11 if we had Gore as president. I highly doubt he would have kept the nation safe as Bush did. Liberal critics brow beat President Bush and they still blame him unjustly for all the ill wills of the current state. While he is not fully blameless and was a fiscal liberal, he did keep us safe post 9/11. Just like Reagan, liberals chide conservatives but when the world gets ugly and people cry out for defense, we all want a strong leader who is feared abroad-not someone who wants to make friends with our enemies and mistreat our staunchest allies. If this nation is to survive at all, we will wise up and choose our next leader based on his values, integrity, character and experience. Liberals are well intentioned, but they live and act based on feeling. Conservatives live in reality.

Tax reform is needed NOW. 51% are not paying anything and the current administration wants to contiunue to tax the ones who are contributing. Flat tax is the answer and will increase revenues. Cap the spending, make the necessary cuts on the pork. Enact term limits on congress and reduce their generous pension plans. Stop the ridiculous regulation and government interference that plague businesses who want to expand here instead of overseas. Cut the fat everywhere including in the pentagon (yes I am a conservative but also a realist). Thats a good start. I doubt it will happen as long as this POTUS still occupies the whitehouse. I am not an economist but I do have common sense. Why doesn't Washington DC have any? It's not rocket science...

@Mezzigiorino:

LOL, so you're a journalist? How typical of you to look down your nose at us "underlings" given your patronizing posts but that makes sense since you claim to know it all. YOU came after me in my own post, did you not? My original post was not directed at you but you made it a personal attack and apparently you must do for sport, I assume. This was my issue with you. You think you're the authority on American politics because you once lived here and reported on it? How long ago was that exactly? The current climate here as a very ugly one of which the likes of few have ever seen, so I doubt you could "teach" me much. But, thank you for the offer-I've always wanted to be schooled by a pompous know it all and now my life is complete. Good day to you, sir.

@Mezzogiorno: You'll notice that I don't comment on the British political stories. I know nothing of the politcs across the pond so to comment on something I know little about would be rather..."obtuse". I enjoy reading what others write about what happens over here and I like to see what goes on outside the bubble of the US. But I'm not arrogant enough to comment and challenge Brits on workings I know nothing of. And guess what? Most Americans could give a flip about what people like you think. We expect our politicians to have some sort of decorum since they are sent to Washington to serve the people. Not to have the people serve them. Most voters over here are sick to death of politicians thinking the rules don't apply to them. If we wanted that, we'd still be British Colonies. Regarding to your comment about dismissing the girls being underage: That could be a valid issue the girls were underage but they are not which is why I dismissed it. Do you like to spend your spare time taking shots at Americans posting on American politics? How very sad for you.

@Oikos Nomad-

It doesn't matter that they weren't underage. It matters that he LIED through his teeth about it and came clean only when he had to. I would have way more respect for him if he came clean right away instead of lied about it for 10 days, spun the story and tried blaming someone else. This guy is a public servant and the arrogance astounds me.

@mezzogiorino:

Spoken like a true lib, and you wonder why the rest of the country is starting to push further right? Take cheap shots at Palin when the real one with the character flaw is Weiner's. Weiner is a public servant and I am not-so your analogy is irrelevant. I am paid by my company and if I do something to embarrass it, I would expect to be fired. Weiner was doing these things on the taxpayer's dime-during work hours. While that is not the biggest issue to me, the cover up was. He dragged the media to his office and lied through his teeth on the taxpayer's dime and the only reason why he finally admitted to it was because he had to, he was backed into a corner and now he won't resign. It's shameful and the fact that you look the other way while excoriating palin for a simple gaffe shows how immoral your own character is. Put politics aside for one second and look at the morality issue and you might feel different.

I am conservative from California (I am very much in the minority here in my home state as well as a minority posting on this). I am not a Palin fan. I like what she stands for but that's about it. But I think taking a shot at her gaffe and comparing it to a married congressmen tweeting naked pics to underage age girls is a bit of a stretch don't you think? Sarah Palin may have her faults but she's not a cheater or a boldface liar like Congressman Weiner (his name is very appropriate). I do not understand why the need to trash her when her character is not as flawed as the congressmans, you could have written two separate articles and had more credibilty on this stance.

@nschomer-

Comparing AG Eric Holder to John Adams a pretty far stretch, wouldn't you say? Give me a break. My point should be obvious, Holder spent a good chunk of his career defending the very people we are trying to now prosecute and this same man won't even use the word "terrorist". He will comment in public to congress against the Arizona SB70 Law, yet he never read it. He's a poor excuse for an AG. So what exactly is your point in comparing him to one of our founding fathers? I would say there's pretty big difference and you're really reaching with that analogy.

@ Maxmas says:

"I cannot imagine any other explanations. Assasinating in cold-blood a sick OBL surrounded by women and children because of a possible danger for a team of Navy seals with the advantage of the surprise is ludicrous"..

Boo-hoo poor UBL, a mass murderer. Spare us the bleeding heart bs. Where is your bleeding heart for his 3000 plus victims..they were also unarmed. It has also been reported that UBL had several guns within reach. I fail to understand how we still get judged by people like you. We are damned if we do and damned if we don't so guess what, we don't care what you think. The US's #1 most wanted criminal is now gone. One less mass murderer in the world makes it a little safer, don't you agree?

Mesbah Ul Haq@ He may have not had a gone on his person at the moment he was killed but there were several within close reach. While you may mourn his death, we are still mourning those 3000 plus innocent victims who were also unarmed that he murdered.