Melanie_Alnwick's Blog

I so agree with Graham!! I am not Rich by any means, but to think ,in America , your life can change in one day or in 5 years with good plaining is amazing!

Yet, most Americans would rather complain,(while they eat Macdonald's, smoke cigarettes and watch Jerry springer) instead of taking a good long look in the mirror and face the music.

We have become a nation of whiners-making excuses for dumb decisions and poor plaining.

These losers want superman ,spider man Batman and the "Obama rhetoric" to rescue them from mediocrity instead. They refuse to follow the tradition that has been laid out to us for many decades and also has kept America Great -a little hard work, luck and perseverance.

In at least 80% -90% of the world nations, only The United States will guarantee one the ability AND FREEDOM to pursue these 3 important things I've mentioned. ONLY IN THE AMERICA!

It has been proven over and over again , when America experience something like this,new millionaires are born! I am oging to try my damnest to be one of them .

Name me one country on our planet where my chances are higher??????

Meline you've made some observations and raised some questions a media journalist should find an interesting challange in to investigate ...

...I started becoming a believer after watchin' the values of my investments dive for the 5th straight quarter ...now when you're in retirement that's a convincing experience to give you pause, let me tell you! ...maybe someone's tryin' to suggest to me I should be glad it's only as bad as it is...

TAxes went up in Maryland to fund Gov O'Malley's social programs---remember the guy managed to spend the entire budget surplus the Ehrlich administration left AND then some. As for the elctric bill in Maryland going through the roof----thank State Senate President Mike Miller for that one! There was a bill in the State Senate a few years ago to keep those costs under control, but somehow, Miller managed to let the session close before it could be voted on. So if anything or anyone is to blame for the high taxes and high electric bills in Maryland, blame the state government and blame the morons who actually voted for O'Malley and Miller in the last election cycle.

I think Gramm is right in saying that we are in a "mental recession." While we are not in a true recession, things have gotten tight. The rise in gas, groceries, if you live in MD the cost of your electric bill, Maryland taxes went up this past year, along with many other comodities. We had a huge housing market boom which not only jacked up the costs for homebuyers, but the rental market tagged along. While we have seen the rise in cost for almost everyting, Salaries have not cought up. This is, and I have seen it, causing consumers to back off certain things. For the first time that i can remember, i have not had a wait at a restaurant on a Friday night, thats almost unheard of...until now. Consumers budgets are being squeezed, and until the econemy balances out, we will continue to feel like we are in a, at least a "mental recession." Of course, its not helping that the only thing we see inthe news is about the gas hit yet another record high, the struggling stock markte, and how foreclosures there were last month.

...one that politicians and special interests shape and one that constituents suffer...

I think Phil Gramm (hmmm...Graham?) is a typical politician who is so far from the people that he'll never get back. I'll bet he still thinks Americans are all rich to go along with the "whining." What the hellll are politicians thinking today? It wouldn't dawn on the jerk that if we ARE complaining, it is because we have only fools like him to represent us. This used to be the greatest nation on the earth. I put the blame squarely on political do-nothing-for-people, rhetoric ridden fools like him. THEY are incompetent and would blame their incompetence on THE PEOPLE...shame on you GRAMM and all others like you.

Politicians and those who are OUT OF TOUCH with reality in terms of how the REST OF US have to try to eake out a living are the ONLY ONES telling us that "things are not that bad".
WAKE UP!!!
Just because THEIR SALARIES and retirement pensions are GUARANTEED FOR LIFE,(thanks to those ever-trusty taxpayers), does not mean the REST OF US have the same idyllic outlook on life!

The only group in America with the means necessary to help solve this crisis is the FARMERS.
The major export in the US is FOOD.
If the OPEC countries want to charge us $250.00 a barrel for oil, our farmers should reciprocate by charging $250.00 or more for a bushel of their produce!
These foreign countries are heavily dependent on our precious food supply. The farmers need to take a stand and stop letting the greedy politicians wheel and deal at their expense and ours. Any produce for export should be marked up CONSIDERABLY!
Most American farmers are barely getting by but THEY provide the necessities that sustain the world! If anyone should be compensated for their efforts, it should be them!
When every last bit of farmland has a shopping mall or a townhome community on it, WHERE WILL THE FOOD COME FROM?
Politicians and greedy businessmen would sell their last drop of water or bite of food just to die with two dollars more in their pocket! They could care less about what's right.
If the farmers went on strike, the world would take notice!!!!

Phil Gramm is so ignorant to the people's needs that it's not even funny.

How can you call it "whinning" when you have a man that can't find a job because he doesn't have enough money for gas? You call it "whinning" when you have a single parent that has to make a dicision between buy high priced food for her children or pay the growing light bill?

...and I thought Bush was out of touch. Man...what kind of people John McSAME is trying to bring in here?

Farmers are pretty well-paid. Through the Farm Bill, they are given government subsidies---not to plant crops.

RE: combating the growing electric bill

I solved that problem in my home: I turn off lights when I’m not using them. I unplug appliances when I’m not using them. The clocks in my home run on batteries so they aren’t sucking electric current 24/7. When the weather is nice, I open the windows rather than using the air conditioner.

I’m ‘green’ by default because I don’t want to spend too much money on utilities.

RE: gas money as deterrent for finding a job….

Come on, Smoov! There is public transportation—even down here in SoMD, there are bus lines that go to downtown. Furthermore, every morning I see a guy in a Panera Bread uniform bicycling his way to work. Not having gas money or even a car didn’t stop him from finding a job or going to it once he got it.

Grandma, I just wonder how many people will be able to tighten their belts. I worked my way through college and there were times when I had to choose between going to Florida for spring break or using that money for my tuition or for rent. So for people who haven’t had to make those choices, it’s going to be hard.

For the people who need to choose between putting food on the table or paying the rent, it’s equally difficult. This is going to get me in trouble, but some of these people don’t even make “good” choices. I see people buy cartons of cigarettes or bottles of vodka, but they feed their children boxed mac and cheese. It always leaves me scratching my head. Ditto for the ladies who ha