Yes, Mr. Obama you have a point. (Not a great point, -But a point.)

Maybe it is also fair to say that we should quit foolishly spending $$$ on anything that is not an absolute bare necessity. Maybe we could better our economy by giving up Starbux? Movie tickets? Video rentals? Then we could just as easily stop throwing away good $$$ for the convenience of Micky D's, Taco bell or having it our way @ BurgerKing.

Obviously, if we can live without these things, then we should find giving up cigarettes and Alcohol a breeze. This will help alleviate the need to go to Bar's, Liqueur stores, Sportingevents and foolish places like Las Vegas! I feel we should also make a stand against Cruise ships, for they must be the biggest and most irresponsible $$$ ever spent on a boat. (excluding the Titanic of course!) Maybe we should give up a couple hundred T.V. channels as well? Why does anyone need 22" wheels or cell plans with unlimited call plans? Why do we need to be Earth friendly and Green? In this day and age, do we really need College or Health insurance?

I was always taught to lead by example. So, I suggest that Mr. Obama might lead by example. By saving us all about $300,000 a year for the rest of Mr. Obama's life by actually executing a responsible cut on an obviously irresponsible $alary...

two thumbs up on this one!

Something has gone radically wrong with the American economy. A once-robust system of "traditional engineering"--the invention, design, and manufacture of products--has been replaced by financial engineering. Without a vibrant manufacturing sector, Wall Street created money it did not have and Americans spent money they did not have. Americans stopped making the products they continued to buy.
Even before President Obama took the oath of office, his economic advisers projected that without hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending, the U.S. economy could lose another 3 million to 4 million jobs on top of the 3.1 million lost in 2008.
It turns out they were optimistic. Even with the $787 billion stimulus package that President Obama signed in February, more than 4 million jobs have been lost in 2009, the worst year for job losses since World War II. The jobless rate that advisers projected would peak at 8% has topped 10%+.
Since 2001, the country has lost 42,400 factories, including 36 % of factories that employ more than 1,000 workers and 38 % of factories that employ between 500 and 999 employees.
An additional 90,000 manufacturing companies are now at risk of going out of business.
Since the recession began, manufacturing employment has fallen by 2.1 million jobs; three-fourths of this drop occurred in the durable goods.
I don’t mean to be a downer, but this is real friends.
Thank You  Thomas J. Dammrich

Buy made in the U.S.A     
I'm pissed off. Thanks for letting me vent.

Butte-Ski

Living the New Amercan dream...

Unfortunately, we have created a "microwave fast" -gotta have it now society. We must have everything quick and cheap. To Hell with waiting and/or quality.

We simply do not employ the same work ethic and spirit of the Baby boomer era and we have become a complete embarrassment to the great people who forged ahead undaunted by great depression and WWll... It was by and through these Great souls that "Buy American" and "American pride" was birthed. Patriotism still meant something and "the pursuit of Life, liberty and Justice for all" were words to Live by.

Free enterprise eventually allowed many American manufacturers i.e. the Auto industry, to take advantage of it's own people by building sub-par products that sold for inflated prices... The Japanese then held them accountable with far superior products sold @ far better prices. (this should have woke up our auto industry long ago...) Now we actually build the same "imports" for the Japanese right here on our own soil with the same workers who could have been building and Buying American autos...

In this new era, of "microwave fast," Drive thru, keep up with the Jones' mentality, We have allowed and created even bigger sink Holes. We demand Cheap prices and extended credit so we can get more and get it faster. Appliances are No longer designed to last 20-30 yrs. They are now designed to last approx: 10-12 yrs.(many do not even make it 5 yrs.) The thread counts in shirts, pants, towels, etc... are about 1/2 what they once were, They now wear out in the washer and dryer... (There are far too many examples to list!)

Yes, this has brought the pricing down, along with the quality. We're are not getting raped by high priced inferior products anymore, as we have now settled on being raped by Low priced inferior products. To add insult to injury, we don't even care where these products are even made anymore! "Just make it cheap, I'm still payin' on the rest of my microwave fast stuff"...

Fast, Good or Cheap? -You can only pick two, -all 3 together is generally impossible... i.e. You can have it fast and cheap, but it won't be good...   You can have it Fast and Good, but it won't be cheap...   You can have it Good and Cheap, but it won't be Fast...

"We The People" have created this mess. And "We The People" must wake up to the Hole that we have put ourselves in. i.e. *Hurry, Hurry, Cheap mortgage loans,(mortgage loan industry collapse...) * Hurry, Hurry, Cheap fast food,(obesity, diabetes...) * Hurry, Hurry, Cheap Beef & poultry,(Hormone/chemical laden meat & poultry...)  Hurry, Hurry, Cheap prescription med's,(treat it, don't heal it or make life style changes...) Hurry, Hurry, Cheap products, (who cares who made it or how long it Will last...)

Our present state of the union is the unfortunate cost of trying to live this "New American dream"...

Last edited by h20dawg79 (Sun, Feb 14, 2010 2:09 AM)

Brining troops home is altruistic but not very realistic. It's bad enough we've set a "deadline" in Iraq to withdraw... virtually guaranteeing increased turmoil as insurgents will just wait until after August.

We have a volunteer military and they have made a decision to put themselves on the front line in our defense. Words cant describe my thanks.

Can't argue with you that the financial costs of the wars has been high... although I disagree that this is in any way connected to our economic problems.

The good news is it sounds like the new strategy in Afghanistan is working very well.... winning the hearts and minds of the people over there is a lot of hard work but everything I've read seems like our troops are doing great.

Interesting concept on a complete import export lock down... it would probably do the trick... but in the globalized economy it will never happen.


The bargain that our parents signed on to was this: "Get a job in a factory, making widgets and insurance and websites." Learn to do the work, show up on time, work hard, and we'll take care of you. We'll give you health insurance and pay you well, and even a retirement package after you put in your 30 years. It worked great for a long time. But now with tougher competition and new technology, the deal isn't there any more.

Our economy is deemphasizing goods made of atoms.  Anything that you can build in the United States, China can build for pennies on the dollar, in quantity, and fast. I certainly don't contend it will be a higher quality product, but as h2odawg said, China makes things good fast and cheap. Anyone with some know how and a translator can set up a factory overseas and torch US competition. Our ski manufacturers build the majority of their wakeboards and all of their bindings over seas. Look at Chevrolet. Their auto workers union bankrup the company (along with other managerial failures). Over $50 per hour to work in an auto factory? Are you kidding? No wonder they're owned by the government now.

Newspapers are a great example. You can get it all online. Water Ski Magazine is down to 6 or 7 issues a year. Atoms cost money to produce and create junk. The entire industrial revolution (which just ended, ladies and gentlemen) was based on the idea that you can produce atoms to create wealth. Now that our culture is moving away from that since the digital revolution started, there's no doubt that economic woes are going to happen.

Butte-Ski wrote:

Since 2001, the country has lost 42,400 factories, including 36 % of factories that employ more than 1,000 workers and 38 % of factories that employ between 500 and 999 employees.
An additional 90,000 manufacturing companies are now at risk of going out of business.
Since the recession began, manufacturing employment has fallen by 2.1 million jobs; three-fourths of this drop occurred in the durable goods.

Case in point. The tough part to swallow is that those jobs aren't coming back, either.

I think Seth Godin is pretty much on top of this stuff. His contention is that in a post-industrial revolution economy, seeking for a job as a 'cog' (factory worker that follows instructions) will never yield job security. The only way to make yourself invaluable to a company now a days is to invest emotional labor in your work... to be an artist. Artists are indispensable. Each one of us has to add human value to our work in order to be successful in the new age. The path to success for the past 200 years has been:

1) Get a job in a factory. (factory in this case is a metaphor for just about any job you can think of)
2) Show up
3) Follow the rules

But now there is a demand deficit for unskilled workers... especially for those who don't invest emotional labor in their work. "Say a restaurant has 4 servers, 3 work hard, the other one is good... but is also a master problem solver. He can placate an angry customer, finesse the computer system, and mollify the chef when he's had too much to drink. Who's got the most secure job? "

Mediocrity is not acceptable. Average is no longer good enough.


I'd recommend Seth Godin's Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?... which influenced a lot of this post was quoted a couple times.

skiron07 wrote:

You guys totally missed the point (amazingly, but not unexpected)...Obama didn't call buying a boat (of any kind) irresponsible, he said that doing that when one can't afford paying a mortgage is...HUGE difference guys.

As a dedicated slalom skier myself it never ceases to amaze me how people hear what they want to hear

Still sounds like he needs to get his priorities straight! (the boat payment should always come 1st!)

h20dawg79 wrote:

skiron07 wrote:

You guys totally missed the point (amazingly, but not unexpected)...Obama didn't call buying a boat (of any kind) irresponsible, he said that doing that when one can't afford paying a mortgage is...HUGE difference guys.

As a dedicated slalom skier myself it never ceases to amaze me how people hear what they want to hear

Still sounds like he needs to get his priorities straight! (the boat payment should always come 1st!)

Got it! If I can't afford a boat, don't buy a house I like the way you guys think.

It doesn't matter how your budget balances so long as it does.
While I find it strange that someone would choose a garbage $400 apartment in order to drive a BMW, that's your choice not mine.


I just love the delicious irony of being lectured about debt from an
executive branch that does not, to my reading, have a plan of attack
to reduce it's own debt.


So long as I can hit the snow in the winter and the water in the summer, I am hard pressed to worry all that much.

As a life long boater and skier I get really tired of the class envy card always being played at our expense. I work my butt off to afford a boat and it is the best mental health plan on earth. Every spring when I am getting my 22 year old MasterCraft ready for the season I ask myself (is it worth it?) Then the words hit it come out of my mouth and I get out of the water on my new Radar ski and the question is answered. Being from the Chicago area I know all about the Chicago style politics and class warfair. We have to take anything Obama and his fellow flunkies say with a grain of salt. I can only imagine what he would say to my 2010 ProStar 197! Like jipster43 said lets get back to sking! Support your local pro shop and buy Radar!