2010 Midterm Elections Thread

[AGDee]

Michigan will have a Governor who is One Tough Nerd (Rick Snyder, Republican). It is looking like John Dingell, who has served my district for more than 50 years is going to be out He is a great man who really fought for the middle class. All of the incumbents in my district have been voted out. At this moment, I feel both helpless and hopeless because Wall Street has taken over both nationally and locally. Over-reaction? Probably, but it's been a really crappy week for announcements from work ... so tired of being treated like crap and then being reminded "Be glad you have a job, a lot of people don't". Somehow, I thought I'd get ahead the longer I worked, but I make less money every year.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Michigan will have a Governor who is One Tough Nerd (Rick Snyder, Republican). It is looking like John Dingell, who has served my district for more than 50 years is going to be out He is a great man who really fought for the middle class. All of the incumbents in my district have been voted out. At this moment, I feel both helpless and hopeless because Wall Street has taken over both nationally and locally. Over-reaction? Probably, but it's been a really crappy week for announcements from work ... so tired of being treated like crap and then being reminded "Be glad you have a job, a lot of people don't". Somehow, I thought I'd get ahead the longer I worked, but I make less money every year.

So let me see..

You are upset that a party which (in conjunction with the unions) has turned the state into a Northern version of Mississippi, has been kicked out?

Are you crazy?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

So let me see..

You are upset that a party which (in conjunction with the unions) has turned the state into a Northern version of Mississippi, has been kicked out?

Are you crazy?

I believe that the Bush administration killed our state. Our state died when the banking industry tanked due to lack of regulations and people couldn't get loans to buy cars. Our state died when Wall Street was in power. Now Wall Street is in power again and we have no hope of ever recovering in any way, shape, or form.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Our state died when Wall Street was in power. Now Wall Street is in power again and we have no hope of ever recovering in any way, shape, or form.

I must have missed it...

How is Wall-Street in power again?

Originally Posted by AGDee

I believe that the Bush administration killed our state.

Quite interesting.

What branch of government do you believe to be the most powerful?

Our state died when the banking industry tanked due to lack of regulations

That's some pretty interesting assumptions (that aren't really founded but you know, thats how it goes)

I'm not really a Republican/Democrat fan. But I do like logic.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

I must have missed it...

How is Wall-Street in power again?

Are you not watching election results?

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Are you not watching election results?

I am.

What does the Republicans gaining seats have anything to do with Wall Street anymore than the Democrats have to do with Wall Street?

(which is waaaaay too much. "When buying and selling is legislated, the first thing bought and sold is legislators"- P.J. O'Rourke)

And I really would be interested in which branch you perceive to be the most powerful.

[BraveMaroon]

There are no surprises here in Tennessee. Haslam (R) won for Governor, and though I was one of the 30% that didn't give him my vote, I hope he's as effective as Phil Bredesen has been.

I was appalled, but sadly not surprised to hear that Scott DesJarlais, a man who stuck a gun in his mouth for 3 hours to mess with his ex-wife, got elected. According to his website, he's "pro-gun and pro-marriage". Uh huh.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I believe that the Bush administration killed our state. Our state died when the banking industry tanked due to lack of regulations and people couldn't get loans to buy cars. Our state died when Wall Street was in power. Now Wall Street is in power again and we have no hope of ever recovering in any way, shape, or form.

WHOA! Come on Dee, you really don't think that, do you? The writing has been on the wall ( Michigan's economic blight) since the 90's when NAFTA was signed. Michigan had all of their economic eggs in one basket......the manufacturing industry, which had been in decline well before Bush took office. To blame GWB is so....partisan.

I'm glad to have a Republican Governor back in office in MI. Do you really think two penny Jenny Granholm was better than Engler??

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

WHOA! Come on Dee, you really don't think that, do you? The writing has been on the wall ( Michigan's economic blight) since the 90's when NAFTA was signed. Michigan had all of their economic eggs in one basket......the manufacturing industry, which had been in decline well before Bush took office. To blame GWB is so....partisan.

I'm glad to have a Republican Governor back in office in MI. Do you really think two penny Jenny Granholm was better than Engler??

Who said GWB??? I said "Bush" to start with. He was the one who refused to tax imports when other countries started to put such high tariffs on our cars that Europeans couldn't afford them. That was when the foreign auto companies started building plants here. Bush 2 did the same with foreign steel and put our steel companies out of business. The nail in the coffin was the de-regulation of the banking industry and the credit freeze in 2008, during GWB.

Michigan had all their economic eggs in one basket for a century. How can you blame Granholm for that? When Engler took over, our state coffers had a huge "rainy day fund" and he spent it all and left the state in debt! Engler instituted Proposal A which totally screwed up our funding for education. After we voted it down twice, he offered up two options, one of which was far WORSE than Prop A so we had to pick Prop A since it was the lesser of two evils. Engler was the worst governor we ever had. He shut down the entire mental health system in the state leaving the chronically mentally ill to live on the streets. Granholm's push for tax breaks for the film industry, her securing of contracts to build alternative energy methods have helped a lot (new car battery factories and wind mill factories opening soon). It takes time for the results to come to fruition.

As for EW: Congress has the capability of more power if they have a high enough majority to override vetoes and block filibusters.

Unions: Compare teachers' salaries in states with strong unions and states with weak unions. Union oriented states pay their teachers more. Compare hourly wages between a grocery store with unionized employees to the grocery store across the street from it with non-union employees. Union employees are above poverty level. Non-union are not. Where do you think our economy would be if all manufacturing jobs paid what they do in China or Mexico?


Dingell pulled it off, and by a 13-14% margin. Those early figures must have been from Ann Arbor. Thank goodness.

Rick Snyder's big thing is "get rid of the Michigan Business Tax". I realize that significant tax breaks can attract business and eventually bring more jobs into the state, thereby increasing the income tax and property tax revenues for the state. However, that will take time. There will be a lag between losing those tax dollars and the long term increase in revenues. What he hasn't told us is where is the money going to come from to continue state operations during that time? Or, what is going to be cut? I can't imagine what else could be cut. I'd like to know how state operations are going to be paid for in the interim.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Who said GWB??? I said "Bush" to start with.

Whoops, my bad. In this day and age when someone says, "I blame Bush", 99.99999% of the time they are speaking of GWB.

He was the one who refused to tax imports when other countries started to put such high tariffs on our cars that Europeans couldn't afford them. That was when the foreign auto companies started building plants here. Bush 2 did the same with foreign steel and put our steel companies out of business. The nail in the coffin was the de-regulation of the banking industry and the credit freeze in 2008, during GWB.

What's wrong with foreign auto plants operating here? Is it because they aren't UAW? They have created a lot of good jobs in TN and TX and IMHO, my neighbors Toyota that was built in TX is more "American made" than my mom's Buick that was built in Mexico.

Speaking of, I find it funny you complain about VW, Mercedes, Nissan, etc building plants here in the U.S. but you fail to criticize the Detroit auto companies for leaving Detroit to build their cars in Mexico so they only have to pay their workers $5 a day. I believe we can thank Clinton and NAFTA for that one.

Michigan had all their economic eggs in one basket for a century. How can you blame Granholm for that? When Engler took over, our state coffers had a huge "rainy day fund" and he spent it all and left the state in debt! Engler instituted Proposal A which totally screwed up our funding for education. After we voted it down twice, he offered up two options, one of which was far WORSE than Prop A so we had to pick Prop A since it was the lesser of two evils. Engler was the worst governor we ever had. He shut down the entire mental health system in the state leaving the chronically mentally ill to live on the streets. Granholm's push for tax breaks for the film industry, her securing of contracts to build alternative energy methods have helped a lot (new car battery factories and wind mill factories opening soon). It takes time for the results to come to fruition.

Too little, too late.

I never solely blamed Granholm, there has been decades of lawmakers that have focused on courting manufacturing as their number one money maker for Michigan, her included. All of these alternative industries that she has been pushing in the later years all came AFTER half the U.S. manufacturing industry left for China or Mexico and it became obvious that the jobs weren't coming back.