If I recall correctly you live in Vegas, which happens to have the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the country. What you see isn't what the rest of the country sees.

I can only report on what I see in my area, and for the most part that is Northern California. I saw what happened to my little town here during the recession, and I see what's happened as we are slowly recovering. I posted pictures from the recession here on GFY; Construction just stopped. We had two condo complexes and a restaurant that just stopped half way through. I saw my home town go from big boom to dead stop over night. It was stunning.

Robbie, I like you and your wife. (Mostly your wife.) But you ONLY see things from the Republican standpoint. In the past four elections I've voted Republican twice, and Democratic twice. I vote for what I believe is right, not how what my party tells me to vote.

I believe there are some valid Republican candidates out there, but no one sees them because of Trump. Every year the Hispanic vote gets more and more important, and Trump will never have the Hispanic vote. Remember kids, Mexicans are rapists.

I don't know how old you are, but the Carter years were the worst. Double-digit unemployment and interest rates. Terrible inflation. And I still remember my father cursing until he could find a gas station that actually had gas. That's right, there was gas-rationing, with the green, yellow and red flags at gas stations.

I'm 51 and I remember that like it was yesterday.

I never blamed Obama for the American dream becoming harder to achieve. I blame the overall job market in this country which is a result of 30+ years of bad policy making by all of our leaders.

The recession is playing a major role in this.

Let's look at some numbers that were on Bloomberg a few months back. They break jobs down into 3 categories. A low paying job is any job that pays less than $13 per hour. A mid paying job is a job that pays $13-$25 per hour and anything over $25 per hour is a high paying job. Before the recession when jobs were created about 20% of them were high paying jobs, 20% were low paying and 60% were mid paying jobs. Now since the recession has ended about 20% of all new jobs created are high paying, 20% are mid paying and %60 are lowing paying. So yes, jobs are being created, but many of them are low paying jobs.

Add into that the reality that we now have an entire generation of people who have been sold the lie of college. They were told to get a degree and they would get a job. Many of them now have degrees and the debt to go along with them and they are working for $12 an hour because they can't find a higher paying job. Why can't they find a higher paying job? A couple of reasons. One is that fewer are being created and another is that with the recession a ton of retirement savings and investments were lost so many baby boomers that would have otherwise retired are continuing to work.

So a person can lease a BMW for $300...so what? Is the American Dream to have a nice car and a house and be so buried in debt that you can't afford to do anything but sit in your house and watch TV? To me the American Dream is to have a decent home and car, and live a life where you feel secure in your future, have some money saved up so you can take a vacation every year and not have to worry if you lose your job that you will be losing your house and car within a couple of months.

Here in Portland the average price of a home is $291K. So at 4% that means your monthly payments are around $1541. Add in a BMW at $300 a month, add in a second car at $250 per month lease. Just house and car you are at $2091 per month. Add in food, property taxes, gas, insurance, utilities and other monthly expenses and you could easily get another $1500 on top of that. So you are at around $3500 per month after taxes which means you need to make around $4600 per month pre tax. That is around $28 per hour on average. According to Bloomberg that is a high paying job just to have the average house and average life. In reality the average wage in America is around $16 per hour. For $16 per hour the average person clearly can't afford the average house.

This is the biggest problem Trump and now the republicans have. Going into this election the republicans had a tightrope to walk. They needed to have some kind of immigration reform ideas that would get enough of the Latino vote to help them win the white house, but not so much that it would piss off the base. Trump has slammed them all the way to the right and forced them to now either take a position that might piss off the base or take a position that would piss off the Latinos.

"big man" "tough guy" ????

Get over yourself Mark. You exaggerate and try to misrepresent things and then when you get called on it you throw a fit.

Take a deep breath and grow a set.

Is this what our country has come to?

Instead of leaders leading and trying to do the right things for the country, it's all about consolidating power for the 2 ruling parties.

No wonder we're fucked. :(

It is exactly what we have become. This country is so politically divided these days presidential nominees are only worried about what will allow them to win the majority of battleground states.

yeah, dems let illegals come in droves in the past and gave them free access to everything so that today they will return the favor and keep dems in power. Such a shitty strategy to give the country away like that but it worked. Trump's right to want to keep dangerous criminals out, but when he says so he gets this negative backlash.
I dont understand how anyone can oppose violent gang criminals being deported and a solid wall on the border, makes no sense to me.

if you think our economy is doing well your an idiot :2 cents::2 cents::2 cents:

Robbie,

I dun goofed, thinking that your boy Trump called Kelly a Bimbo. Your Bro Dynamo called me a LIAR for it. He didn't say I made a mistake, he said I lied.

As for "growing a set", consider this: I state my opinion on things here in public, and popular or not, I do it under my real name. Your bro Dynamo on the other hand, insults everyone, picks fights with everyone, and does it always under a fake name. My "Tough guy" nick name for him is antithetical, but I'm sure you knew that.

Liar says what?

and you know what else the Republican party needs to get the Latinos? They need to convince them they actually care about their plight...but they can't even ACT like they care. They're collectively a bunch of unsympathetic, xenophobic assholes and that can't be changed with an "autopsy". A generation or two needs to die before that quality of their character is filtered out. If they're lucky.

:1orglaugh

Actually Reagan gave them amnesty and W relaxed policies.nothing to do with Dems.

Partisan considerations aside, it is the economy. It always has been.

And never more so than when it actually sucks.

For what it's worth, my guess is that the general election will be about Trump vs. Biden or Sanders.

This is the conventional wisdom and until now it has been spot on. Thing is, Trump's appeal is all over the place and includes (a good many) documented Latinos who fear having their wages driven down by the continuing avalanche of new immigrants.

A Santorum, a Bush or even a Rubio dare not say as much to them ... but Trump can.

Trump somehow gets away with saying shit that no other politician dare say. The continuing Megyn Kelly brouhaha being a prime example thereof.

And that is a huge part of his appeal to Gringos and Latinos alike.

The LEGAL latinos i know all do not want a path to citizenship for the illegals or reform. I do not know if they necessarily want Trump. But i bet you deep down they agree with what he is saying.

Anyone who has gone through the legal process of entering the USA and obtaining a citizenship knows how much red tape and how difficult it is to achieve.


By reforming the laws for those currently their illegal you're basically slapping the face of those who respected a countries laws and did things legitimately.

These online polls for me do not mean crap. I bet when it comes to the real election more latinos will be voting for Trump then first thought. Huge amount of latinos do not like him.... but i bet you most of them are illegals.

How many times has Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg had to declare bankruptcy of an operating division of the respective businesses?

Trump's record speaks for itself.

The last know nothing, GW Bush, had a great solution for the economy ... Now you tout a known bankruptcy artist because you like the way he talks tough :upsidedow

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/h...ll-stay-on-top
How Does Trump Repeatedly File For Bankruptcy And Still Stay On Top

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/d...ird-bankruptcy
Donald Trumps Casino Company Files Third Bankruptcy

Exposing How Donald Trump Really Made His Fortune: Inheritance from Dad and the Government's Protection Mostly Did the Trick | Alternet

You think this clown is going to make America great again -- for who?

The most dangerous men in history have came into power by using nationalism to hate a particular group of people. It's amazing to watch the low level thinkers fall for it over and over.

bullshit :1orglaugh

your middle class is RIP

you want to know whats keeping america great? =======> imagination :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

once a man could have one job and take care of his entire family....then that went to shit...then women started working back in the 70-80s women started to work and "the american dream" lived on a little longer...

when that went to shit you guys started living on borrowed money, printing money and keeping the "american dream" alive with your imagination...not to mention your mafia like foreign policy that rapes the world and keeps your printed $$$ enforced...

even with all this underhand crap and money printing the USA has managed to accumulate 18 TRILLION$ debt...the only thing that is alive and kicking in the USA is the debt :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I honestly do not know how you make your brain believe your economy is OK....

Carter certainly wasnt a great president but most of what you listed started in the Nixon admin. We were already in a deep recession and the oil embargo began in 1973 due to Nixon supplying arms to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.

Not for his own greed, that much is a safe bet. It's not like he needs any more money.

The guy is an egomaniac. No way in hell does he want to go down in history as an ineffectual, failed or even average president. Trump no doubt thinks he can make great things happen. Can he do so for real? Who the fuck knows?

But were he to somehow get elected, congress would be in such a state of shock that they might actually follow the public mood and pass some fucking legislation for a change.

The Koch Bros don't need any more money either, yet they spend a billion dollars to get their man elected.

An ego maniac with the temperament of a 12 year old, yea, that's what we need as the most powerful person on the planet.

Carter was a genuinely nice guy and he would, no doubt, have made a decent Secretary of State for someone ... but he was a terrible President.

His malaise speech will probably live on until the end of time as the most godawful string of words ever mouthed by a living human being.

The Koch Bros have a reactionary religious agenda. That's their motivation.

The so called "ego maniac with the temperament of a 12 year old" wants to go down in history as a president who was equal parts popular and effective.

Can Trump actually deliver on such? Maybe not.

But I'd rather roll the dice on someone with a worthy goal than any of the usual talking point monkeys that turn up every four years.

There was certainly an oil embargo that hurt during the Nixon administration. The one I was referring to and remember better was in 1979, part of the whole Iranian mess. I believe they released the hostages as Reagan was inaugurated.

I'm sure a lot of it had to do with my youth and a certain naiveness, but the Reagan years were a great time to be an American.

What the fuck are you yapping about now? Siding with fox news so you can make a tough guy comment.

Jtfc.

What the fuck are you yapping about? I didn't call you a liar, you fucking nitwit.

For the fucking nitwit that can't read good.

dynamo isn't my bro. I've never met the guy in my life.

And when I said "grow a set" I meant don't go off the deep end when I'm busting your balls. I wasn't trying to get crazy with you. I did say you were "lying through your teeth" and that was a bit too far.
But you don't have to get all pissed off about it.

I'm just debating the issue with you and not meaning for it to actually make you angry or anything. :)

Buffett has had TONS of companies file bankruptcy. Here's one of his latest:
Warren Buffett?s ?big mistake? ends up in bankruptcy court - Energy Ticker - MarketWatch

Both Bloomberg and Gates only have one company. Not hundreds.

Weird how I state that Megan Kelly of FOX news represents everything wrong with the media and ********** sides with FOX news on that just so he can try and insult me with a "tough guy" slur. And yap on about how I insult everyone and pick fights all while claiming ima bro.

Fuck that, new libtard high :1orglaugh

He compares hating particular group of people with hating criminals (illegals of any shape, size or color).

What's funny is that before this...Mark would have told you that Fox News isn't "real" news and that Megyn Kelly wasn't a real reporter.

Now...all of a sudden...all the Democrat politicians who have said the same thing over and over AND all of the talking heads on MSNBC and CNN who have constantly attacked Fox News and said that Megyn Kelly was just a pretty face with no substance...all of a sudden she is one of the greatest news reporters/journalists of all times! And Fox News must be defended.

It makes me laugh when I watch the exact same talking heads who have attacked the reporters on FNC turn around and pretend that never happened and that they are outraged over this attack on the dignity of the media. lol

:thumbsup:thumbsup

For someone that doesn't even live in this country and doesn't speak English as your native language you sure spend a lot of time obsessing over sucking right wing American cock.

:1orglaugh

This article points out the true numbers of our economy

ObamaCare is creating an illusion economy | New York Post

Obamacare is hurting the economy, more people unemployed than the rate details

holy shit, that's insane! :warning