Careful who you compare yourself to

The saddest part of this commentary is, if you ran Zombie Regan in the republican primary with the exact same platform he ran with in 80', the mouthbreathing flea-partiers would be calling him a socialist welfare queen appeaser!

If you want to appeal to your base, nominate someone named "Skeeter" who lost at least two fingers to a fireworks accident and flunked out of high school when he threw a socket wrench at the teacher who suggested the American Flag used the same colors as the FRENCH flag! Someone who gets bottle-smashing mad when he sees Roosevelt on the dime instead of Jesus!

That's what the thuglican party wants!

Proofreader needed!It should be "Careful WHOM you compare yourself to" (or, better, "Careful to whom you compare yourself.) Carry on.

Probably everyone wanted more people to own their own homes. The problem was the way the loans were repackaged into financial products.

It was the Clinton administration who put pressure on Fannie Mae to give out more high risk loans. And that's according to the New York Times. The article even went on to say what could happen by doing this. Funny thing, they were right.

The problems we face were caused by the housing bubble busting and the financial crisis (both resulting from de-regulation).

These are policies that Reagan initiated and the GOP have pushed since then.

Guff...Pretty short sighted comment. Have you seen the job creation stats since he took office? Or the stock market levels? Or the money saved by seniors since the health care overhaul? Have we heard from Bin Laden lately? I could go on but I'm sure it'll make no difference. Emperor?? I think not but he's a*****good president.

Obama at the helm, sort of like that cruise ship captain. He,s running the country aground while he plays wanna be emperor.

Right, liberal cherry picking is revelation, just ask em.

another cherry picker

Hi Michaelwg I have a couple of question for you. Which citizens need to pay "their fair share", right now between 47% to 51% of Americans pay no income tax at all. So exactly who are you saying isn't paying their fair share? You also said that "It's common knowledge now that 'trickle down' economics doesn't work" Really? and just how is this great revelation common knowledge? Trickle down worked under President Calvin College. Took the US out of the depression of 1921 and lead to the roaring 20s. (This is where you say but that lead to the great depression) and I respond actually wide spread market manipulation lead to the crash of 1929 and FDRs new deal lead to the great depression. But back to my questions about your post. You said "Bush is the only President in history to cut taxes during a war. Actually, Reagan did it, If you count the Cold War, but I know the Cold War is kind of a different kind of War so let's go back to Kennedy, he cut taxes

Wow....talk about cherry picking data! You're the king. If memory serves me, Reagan also RAISED taxes when it was necessary and he did it more than once. And to say that the mess Reagan inherited is worse than the current one is just plain wrong. Nothing has been as bad as this since the Great Depression and Obama has been handling it masterfully. Thank God he had a Democrat majority in both houses for the first two years of his administration because together they kept the economy from tipping over the abyss. The republicans have been no help at all since they took the house and use the filibuster so much in the senate. We're just lucky that Obama is at the helm.

Rick, amid the news the that the economy added 243K jobs in january was a tidbit from the bureau of labor statistics that showed the work force shrunk by 1.2 million workers. obama can show an increase in jobs, and lowered unemployment number, by simply making the "job pool" smaller each month. The report states the jobless pool increased from 86.7 million to 87.9 million, and stands at 63.7%, a 30 yr low. But obama added 243K jobs right?? Don't look for this report in the MSM anytime soon...

But Im glad you are checking your actual statistics at the government web site.

You should read your history books though. Inflation was controlled by the Fed under Paul Volker in the Carter administration. He raised interest rates to painful levels that probably helped Reagan to be elected.

More recently - the danger has been deflation.

Rick - if you look at the statistics on how the overall standard of living has changed for Americans (since Reagan's innauguration), all the advances have been for the very wealthy - and they have done very well. But there are more poor and the middle class is worse off (and smaller). You can cherry pick statistics all you want, but the bottom line doesnt support your argument.

Phan, you are saying that the middle class was doing fine in the late 70's when mortgage rates were over 20%, inflation was over 10%, there was an oil crisis and they had to wait in line for overpriced gas? Reagan ruined all that? I must have missed something somewhere...

Rick - its probably not a coincidence that the middle class is worse off now than when Reagan was first elected, and that the downward spiral started about the same time he was inaugurated.

Hi Rick! To ask citizens to "Do their fair share," during a recession, and with a war on, is the complete opposite of cutting taxes. It's common knowledge now that "trickle down" economics doesn't work, you can ask Apple's $100,000,000,000 they are sitting on. Bush is the only President in History to cut taxes during a war, a contributing factor to our debt. And even with Reagan's tax cuts, the max tax rate at that time was far higher than it is now which kept debt from rising higher than it did. Our manufacturing jobs were still in the U.S at the time, not overseas (i.e Apple). And the Arms race was on; their were jobs to go around. So, I think you're making an unfair comparison. As for now, reducing the size of the military is completely appropriate. Military size, and effectiveness are not always the same thing, and sometimes the opposite. Plus we increased size for Bush's Wars, we're simply going back to normal. How's the coal stove working out btw?