Summing Up the Republican Candidates

[BigLouie]

Just to sum up the Republican candidates:
Romney: "I don't care about the poor"
Santorum: "I don't care about the unemployed"
Gingrich: "I think elementary school kids will make great janitors"
Ron Paul: "If I had been president during Hurricane Katrina, I'd have said 'That isn't my problem'"

Republican White House hopeful Rick Santorum said on Monday he did not care about the U.S. unemployment rate, perhaps the nation's most closely watched economic indicator, despite being embroiled in a campaign largely focused on the still-sputtering economy.

In 2006, Rick Santorum, less than two months before suffering one of the worst losses in Senate history, was named one of three “most corrupt” Senators by CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“The officials named in this report have chosen to enrich themselves and their families and friends by abusing the power of their office, rather than work for the public good. Their collective corruption affects all Americans,” stated the executive director of CREW, Melanie Sloan.

“Sen. Santorum’s ethics issues stem from the manner in which he funded his children’s education and his misuse of legislative position in exchange for contributions to his political action committee and his re-election campaign,” CREW notes, on page 207 of their exhaustive report (PDF), which delves into deep detail across eleven extensively-footnoted pages.

In February of 2006, CREW had filed an ethics complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee against Senator Santorum, “alleging that Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) violated the Senate Gift Rule by accepting a mortgage from The Philadelphia Trust Company, a bank that serves affluent clients.”

Charging that “ethical trespasses have become the norm for Sen. Santorum,” CREW’s Melanie Sloan cited Santorum’s “contempt for the rules” as “particularly ironic given that Sen. Santorum has long attempted to position himself as the poster child for public morality.”

[Don't Be Daft!]

The whole lot of em' are bloody rubbish!

[Sexyeccentric1]

I am reading a fantastic book right now "Why Nations Fail The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty by Daron Acenoglu and James Robinson.

Book Description:
Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?

Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence?

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories.

Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:

- China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?
- Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?
- What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More
philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions?

Says a lot about what America is going through right now with the political system.

[IIFFOFRDB]

All 3 of you WIN the AWARD.

http://www.ibeatyou.com/competition/...le-of-dog-poop

[Sexyeccentric1]

Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB

All 3 of you WIN the AWARD.

http://www.ibeatyou.com/competition/...le-of-dog-poop

I think the one who wins this award is you!

Obviously you did not read my whole post or comprehend it nor are you read on the book I was talking about. Biglouie is posting about the candidates who basically (are in my mind corrupt) and have little care/regard for the American people other than their wealthy constituents and political backers, the same is true of Santorum and the others. This book is in line with his “Summing up the candidates” post because the book talks about how politics and a corrupt government and or corrupt elected officials can lead a nation into ruin. The book talks about economic institutions that enrich elites at the expense of the rest of their society. (Which is what I am seeing happening here in America) It goes back to a great deal of history and demonstrates why certain countries such as America have done better than other countries such as Peru, Mexico and place in the middle east because for the most part we have the power to vote out people like this and keep things in check (and much more). However we are headed for decline due to numerous issues which include some of these corrupt individuals who are getting into political office and ruining the very things that make our country prosperous and great. Might do you some good to educate yourself and maybe read this book first before posting such an asinine illiterate comment.

[BigLouie]

- China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?

The way China tightly controls it's currency will be it's undoing.

[Sexyeccentric1]

Originally Posted by BigLouie

The way China tightly controls it's currency will be it's undoing.

I agree because China's economic growth spurt is in part due to major technological breakthroughs and industrialization but the current economic growth cannot last as you have pointed out "the powers that be", politically corrupt will bring this to an end through their economic policies which they ultimately control and monopolize.