Readers have strong feelings about economy

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5379101/

By Martin Wolk
Chief economics correspondent

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MSNBC
Most respondents say they have yet to feel effects of expansion

Updated: 1:21 p.m. ET July 7, 2004

By most measures, the economy has expanded rapidly over the past year, sending corporate profits up sharply and fueling a long-awaited surge in hiring. The Federal Reserve, citing the continued “solid pace” of expansion, has begun to raise interest rates for the first time in four years.

Yet many Americans seem to feel the current recovery is passing them by. Even though consumer confidence rose in June to its highest level in two years, recent surveys have found consumers more pessimistic about the economy than they were early this year.

A very unscientific survey of MSNBC.com readers bears out this trend. Last week we asked readers whether they felt they are doing better than they were two years ago, when the economy was just emerging from recession.


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[MichiganVote]

1. It sucks. Everything costs more. Hidden inflation filed away with WMD

[whistle]

2. War pays big profits, no doubt about that....

...but the problem is that it pays profits to the very few, while the vast majority have to pay the steep price of waging war in lost lives, shattered families, national treasure and the on-going military buildup and maintenance that perpetual war requires. Your post is a little dated, but the message is still the same. You could have pulled an archived newspaper article from 1917 and I'll bet the sentiment and grief would have been much the same.

Wait until the troops start to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan and the economy has to be turned back over to those displaced veterans and non-military priorities. Can our economy stand the shock of another 36 to 48 month recession? Would George Bush's policies based on lies turn things around for the majority of Americans? Could Americans go and fight in more theaters without major sacrifice and economic hardship by those least able to afford such sacrifices that such wars bring?

The issue of this election is the economy stupid and it is one that is leaving more and more Americans out in the cold. Latest numbers from the U.S census show 1.5 more million Americans have slipped below the poverty level in household income and that number is current and contrary to the Bush claims is growing, not shrinking. There are now 43 million Americans with no health insurance whatsoever, but there are tens of millions more Americans who are paying more for medical insurance, more in deductibles and receiving less health care as health insurance managers rather than doctors make medical calls based on the bottom line and not the health of the patient. So more people in America are becoming unhealthier by the day and at risk of serious catastrophic illnesses that will rob them of everything they have worked for. Bush's economy is total Bushit! Go, eat a Taser gun if you believe otherwise.

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3. I happened upon this article on MSNBC's website w/out frankly

looking at when it was published. I agree: Bush's economy is indeed total bullshit. It's beyond me how anyone in their right mind can support the nitwit; then again, I guess it is the "right" mind who does support him. Go figure, eh? ::puke: