What is the state of the Union (in your opinion)?

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Permalink Reply by Chris Tomlinson on January 27, 2010 at 1:26pm

My state of the union? We're in deep deep doo-doo. Is it Obama's fault? Nope. Bush's? Nope. It is government - period. For decades now "we the people" have been led to believe that they have our best interests in mind, but they don't.

Do I believe our current president has the ability to instill confidence in "we the people" more than Bush? Absolutely. Do I believe he can do it alone? Of course not. Will it be fixed tomorrow or even by the end of the year, no.

People want more control, want they're power back and government run as a leaner-meaner machine, but how do we do that when the two parties can't even look at each other without saying "Your a poopie face and I'm telling my mom!"

I'm going to live in my little bubble of NE Indiana, keep my business going as best as I can and hope for the best. Pandora managed to keep hope alive in her chest, so I'm going to do the same. What else is there any of us can do?

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Permalink Reply by David L Hillary Jr on January 27, 2010 at 2:56pm

I am not sure it should be called the State of The Union. I believe that most of us are acutely aware of the state our union is in. It should be a discussion about why the leadership of this country have failed to perform their jobs. I am sure that for people out of work and out of money do not care what political agenda is being presented. People out of work with foreclosed homes and wondering how to feed their children just want to know how the problems are going to be fixed. Why do we have so much attention being paid to things like healthcare instead of fixing the economy? People with no money cannot afford healthcare at any price even if they are forced to buy it. If you cannot afford to put a roof over your head or feed your family, is healthcare really a priority?

I would really like to hear something about how the government is going to throw a ton of money and support to small businesses across this country. I hear a lot of lip service about how small business is the backbone of the country, but why does all of the money and support go to the giant companies. Part of the stimulus package provided a very small tax break to most workers. At $13 per paycheck that did not amount to enough to stimulate anything. The total cost was about $125 billion. Imagine if we used $125 billion and gave $100,000 loans to small businesses and required that there would be at least two jobs paying $25K per year. We would help or create 1,250,000 small businesses. If each of those had two employees we would put 2,500,000 people to work. The pay would not be great, but it is certainly more than unemployment pays. One of the best parts is that 2,500,000 people are once again tax payers and contributing members of society. I will bet that it would do a lot for the country's morale as well. The last benefit is that we would recoup most of the $125 billion as they would be long-term loans fashioned much like a student loan. I have many more details, but I am sure you get the idea.

We need to have a government that will begin working in new ways for a new world. The old status quo politics just will not work any longer. We need to be fast and nimble to keep our competitive edge. Let's roll up our sleeves, break out a box of good old American ingenuity, quit bickering about everything, and solve our problems.

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Permalink Reply by David Lawrence on January 27, 2010 at 6:30pm

Lots of problems, few solutions. Everyone has plenty of gripes, but nothing they want to sacrifice.

I'd be surprised if even two posters in this thread have contacted an elected official in the past year to express their concerns. My experience with our representatives is they really do care, but they only hear from the elite,the desperate and the media.

If you see something truly wrong, make the effort to do something about it. That's what has changed. Some time ago, we all disengaged, went about becoming successful and hoped everything would be alright.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Tomlinson on January 28, 2010 at 9:27am

I've actually spoke to representatives several times in the last few years about issues that either affected me directly or indirectly. My experience has been that they heard what I was saying but weren't listening. That's the biggest frustration for me dealing with politicians both locally and on the state level.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Florence on January 27, 2010 at 9:35pm

No, the State of the Union isn't great; but it is better than it was a year ago. I believe jobs are slowly coming back, not as fast as we would like; but I believe we are making progress. I can see the economy getting better, but we have a ways to go.

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Permalink Reply by Jeb Banner on January 28, 2010 at 12:27pm

I happy with the direction we are taking and feel positive about the future.

I thought the SOTU speech was outstanding.

Between technology, life sciences and "green" jobs I feel we are on the right track to replace a good deal of the jobs we lost over the last couple years. As far as a readjustment goes I feel this is going smoothly overall. It's a little bumpy but nothing like the 1930s.

It's easy to focus on the negative, I prefer to focus on how much opportunity we have in front of us right now.

I am frustrated with the national GOP. I wish they were more like the Indiana GOP which has done a good job of controlling spending while still making the right (overall) investments in the state.

If Daniels runs against Obama in 2012 I might be tempted.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Wilkerson on January 28, 2010 at 5:45pm

Corporatism is at the root of our country's problems. We have given too much power to the mega multinationals who have shipped our jobs overseas, to the arms dealers who feed off the government's so called "black budget", to the private military contractors, and to Wall Street.

1% of the US owns 49% of its wealth. This year's Wall Street bonuses = 1% of US GDP. Yet there are precious few jobs. What happened to trickle-down economics?

Military soldiers of fortune make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year fighting alongside our enlisted men and women who get a pittance for compensation and come home to no jobs, untreated PTSD and worse.

When 9/11 hit, our president told us that our patriotic duty was to go shopping. Yeah.

Our values as a democracy have been severely undermined by all of this. No matter whether you're R or D, liberal or conservative, libertarian, whatever, we all feel that our elected officials are failing us. This should unite us, but the moneyed interests like to keep us divided, fooled by false dichotomies, red herrings and other distractions.

I think President Obama is doing the best he can given the above. People who think that he is a socialist and a radical need to take another look at what the government does for the big corporations, Wall Street and military contractors and compare this massive corporate welfare to what little it really does for individual citizens and small business.

All that said, hope springs eternal. Many here on Smaller Indiana are providing their own small engines of business growth and prosperity. Innovation is everywhere you look. People are retrenching, cutting conspicuous consumption, buying locally, growing food and reducing their carbon footprint. We re getting smarter, faster, better.

We are a great country and there are still many opportunities. But it's tougher now that it has been in most everyone here's lifetime, and way more difficult than it ought to be.

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Permalink Reply by Douglas Karr on January 29, 2010 at 7:24pm

Rick,

I don't think that Corporatism is at the root of our country's problems, I truly believe Government is. Corporations have given us incredible growth and employed the majority of our population. 1% owning 49% of the wealth is actually pretty good compared to other countries. Don't forget that that 1% also pays 90% of our taxes! I don't have any problem with anyone getting filthy stinking wealthy... I do have a problem when our 'public servants' get wealthy, though.

People always view wealth as some sort of pie and that if someone is rich, the other person must be poor. It's not a pie. Both people can be rich. There doesn't have to be 'have nots'... it's a myth. We live in a world with unlimited potential and tons of untapped resources.

If I were to criticize corporatism it would only be that people should own corporations, not corporations owning people. I see a trend in this country where companies are getting more rights than people - and that's a huge problem.

You're right about our great country! Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Doug Biggerstaff on January 28, 2010 at 7:16pm

We, (all Americans), have been guilty of NOT holding the Congress and President to the articles of our Constitution. Sadly, we have let slip by a wonderful government system rivaled by the entire world: a Constitutional Republic. Since the education of our children for years has NOT included our Constitution and Bill of Rights, it is no wonder that high school kids (and college kids) have no clue about the FREEDOM that they used to have.
Our leaders have marched this great country down the path of Socialism for decades. When the middle class is finally, completely drained of all cash and possessions, then what will our leach government do about handing all those freebies to people who will NOT work, people who make babies only for the increased money the government will bestow on them, and the people who come across our borders illegally to collect social security to which they have not participated, and free health care (clinics and emergency rooms), courtesy of the U.S.Government. Like they say...."the only thing wrong about Socialism is, you eventually run out of other peoples' money" Uncle Doug, Indy

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Permalink Reply by John Belden on January 29, 2010 at 7:06pm

I think overall the country is strong, and as economics is cyclic, things will get better. As a nation and a people we'll adapt to any coming changes. If perception is reality, and prophesies tend to be self-fulfilling, then we are in dire need of more optimism. Of course, if extremists on the right or left are truly going to destroy this country as I'm often hearing, then I'll take comfort in the fact that while Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was it destroyed as quickly. If George W. Bush was our Nero, then the American Empire isn't due to split until around the year 2200.

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