Democratic agenda Options

[pebkac]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1981688,00.html

The proposed legislation from the Democrats includes:

· Ethics reform, with a ban on gifts from lobbyists to congressmen and other controls;

· A rise in the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour;

· An end to the Bush administration's restrictions on stem cell research;

· Implementation of the recommendations of the commission on the 9/11 terror attacks;

· A plan for the federal government to negotiate cheaper prices for prescription drugs;

· And the halving of interest rates on student loans.

I suppose the minimum wage thing is debatable, but I like most of the stuff on the agenda (although I really don't know much about the 9/11 committee's recommendations. I do like the last one the best though.

Another interesting part...

In a much-anticipated speech, Mr Bush is expected to reveal his new strategy on the war as early as next week, amid widespread speculation that he intends to bolster the US presence in Iraq in the short term by an additional 30,000 troops.

That troop "surge" and a White House request for an additional $100bn (£51bn) to pay for the war this year are expected to encounter strong opposition from a previously supportive Congress.

This should turn out to be interesting. Wonder what the Dems are going to do if Bush does decide to try a surge.

[GOB]

you're drawing it back to 00-01 which is absolutely not when gas prices were high. the market was shitty at that point due to the tech bust, and it's done nothing but rise since then; "destroyed" would be not improving at all.

one of your oil articles was written in the middle of last summer when the barrel was at its' highest ever. hmm, there weren't any nutcase market speculators at that time, were there? and the farm economy? right, that hasn't been tanking for the past 20 years...

did you actually look at the values of these indices, or are you just looking at the graphs? there was a huge gap to overcome after the late 99-01 recession, and the market has done just that. the scale of the graphs you posted are misleading because they date back to the inception of the index-- look at a 5 year historical chart and the change is much more clear. you're arguing that historical, actual, real (as in, it really, really, really did actually happen) positive returns are bad.


at this point in 2002 compared to today:

the s&p is roughly 300 points higher now
the dow is about 2000 points higher (not that this index matters for most average investors unless you're a strictly blue chip douche)
the nasdaq is about 500 higher
wilshire 5000 is about 4000 points higher
russell 1000 is almost 200 higher
russell 2000 is about 300 higher
russell 3000 is 200 higher

i could list all of them, if you would like. or how about an excel spreadsheet with the historical returns so you can take a closer look?



edit: i'm not arguing against your views on minimum wage increase, but it's ridiculous to say that the economy sucks when it's doing quite well. companies are making money, jobs are available, i don't see the problem.