Confidence in institutions is down, with one notable exception...

[PixelPusher]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/americans-losing-their-faith-in-faith.html

http://pcd.dreamhosters.com/538/images/institutions.PNG


Paging Julius Caesar...

[ChumpDumper]

How does one have confidence in one's television?

Mine is still under warranty, so I guess it's "great."

[George Gervin's Afro]

How does one have confidence in one's television?

Mine is still under warranty, so I guess it's "great."

I have full confidence in my TV.

[Extra Stout]

So if there's a military coup, a majority of Americans will be pleased, then?

[Spurminator]

So if there's a military coup, a majority of Americans will be pleased, then?

Support the Troops.

[johnsmith]

I have an older TV in one of the guest rooms...........I'm terribly shaken that one day it won't work.

[DarkReign]

Once again, a duplicity in my life.

My business depends on auto companies...who are failing and I condemned the bailout.

Now, my company is being inundated with military contracts/supplierships. Its extremely lucrative and will keep our doors open (if not expand) well beyond 2012. Yet, I dont endorse our nation's foreign policy.

*sigh*

[DarrinS]

Once again, a duplicity in my life.

My business depends on auto companies...who are failing and I condemned the bailout.

Now, my company is being inundated with military contracts/supplierships. Its extremely lucrative and will keep our doors open (if not expand) well beyond 2012. Yet, I dont endorse our nation's foreign policy.

*sigh*


You can work on military contracts AND be against our foreign policy. I see no conflict there, unless you're a conscientious objector and you're working on weapons.

[johnsmith]

Once again, a duplicity in my life.

My business depends on auto companies...who are failing and I condemned the bailout.

Now, my company is being inundated with military contracts/supplierships. Its extremely lucrative and will keep our doors open (if not expand) well beyond 2012. Yet, I dont endorse our nation's foreign policy.

*sigh*

You disgust me.

[Winehole23]

You disgust me.What, for being honest?

[balli]

You disgust me.
Paging doctor self-righteous. Oh wait, he's already checked in. Per usual.

[smeagol]

Paging doctor self-righteous. Oh wait, he's already checked in. Per usual.

I thought johnny-boy was being sarcastic . . .

[braeden0613]

Medicine and maybe the scientific community are the only things I have a "great deal" of confidence in from this list...and those are a stretch

What else do people have a great deal of confidence in?

[boutons_]

Medicine? :lol

It's all about $$, not about health care.

[LnGrrrR]

Paging Julius Caesar...

Woot! Go military!

And look at the press! Guess being full of a bunch of hacks will do that to your reputation, huh?

[LnGrrrR]

Once again, a duplicity in my life.

My business depends on auto companies...who are failing and I condemned the bailout.

Now, my company is being inundated with military contracts/supplierships. Its extremely lucrative and will keep our doors open (if not expand) well beyond 2012. Yet, I dont endorse our nation's foreign policy.

*sigh*

Hey, I'm in the military and don't endorse alot of our foreign policy. It happens.

[boutons_]

The military is ripping off America.

bullshit weapons systems, and over budget and dysfunctional, mismanaged materiel, no control over contractors, 700+ foreign bases, and they can't win two wars against ragheads.

[DarrinS]

The military is ripping off America.

bullshit weapons systems, and over budget and dysfunctional, mismanaged materiel, no control over contractors, 700+ foreign bases, and they can't win two wars against ragheads.



Fuck you

[LnGrrrR]

The military is ripping off America.

bullshit weapons systems, and over budget and dysfunctional, mismanaged materiel, no control over contractors, 700+ foreign bases, and they can't win two wars against ragheads.

You must have strong arms, to be using so broad a brush to paint with.

[DarkReign]

What, for being honest?


Paging doctor self-righteous. Oh wait, he's already checked in. Per usual.

He's joking, gentlemen.

[fyatuk]

I have full confidence in my TV.

I don't, the colors are off in the upper left corner and the speakers fade in and out. I have little confidence in my TV.

[DarkReign]

You can work on military contracts AND be against our foreign policy. I see no conflict there, unless you're a conscientious objector and you're working on weapons.

Yeah, dont get me wrong. I dont lose sleep over it.

But I liken it to the automotive bailout for good reason. I am anti-bailout for anything or anyone, always and forever.

(disclaimer: I realize, with no equivocation, that my opinion means absolute dogshit on national matters. Whether we as People agree or disagree with a national financial policy means little to whether said policy will be instituted.)

If I were a more selfish person like the other companies I work with and the individuals who run them, I would have been picketing Capitol Hill to bailout the auto industry.

I understand why they supported such an endeavor...their well-being depends on it. Theyre running a production facility on contract from companies that may go bankrupt without federal dollars. If GM/Chrylser go under, they do to.

But even the most intelligent and informed care little for the implications of a federally subsidized manufacturing titan. What that means to American business and enterprise and how in the future, others in similar circumstances will come to the government teet for its suckle.

The precedent has now been set in stone that American companies, no matter how international they really are, can expect taxpayer money to subsidize their bad decisions. There are a only a couple arbitrary criteria to fulfill in order to reasonably expect such action.

Honestly, thats a strange and potentially fatal path to walk as a nation with the principles we supposedly hold dear.

I understand that there are some private sectors that *could* be nationalized and still be seen as The American Way. But the manufacturing sector isnt one of them...IMO, its the furthest from.

I mean, what is the required tenants of socialism? That the government controls the country's means of production wholesale. Well, if GM keeps taking federal dollars on the monthly basis it currently does, at some point the amount of money owed to the Fed is going to be more than the company is worth (especially if their foreign vehicle markets/brands keep drying up at the rate they are).

At that point, we will see the largest automotive company in the country wholly owned by the government. It will get to a point (soon, IMO) that the government will just rest control from private enterprise, condense the two ailing companies and then be in direct competition with Ford! (Ford has not taken one dollar from taxpayers....yet)

Think about that! Where does that leave Ford? Will the government have to subsidize Ford like they do farmers? Because no private enterprise can realisitically be expected to compete with the United States Government, nor should they.

Like I said, its a weird time to be in the business.

[johnsmith]

What, for being honest?


Paging doctor self-righteous. Oh wait, he's already checked in. Per usual.

:lmao:lmao:lmao



He's joking, gentlemen.

[101A]

Think about that! Where does that leave Ford? Will the government have to subsidize Ford like they do farmers? Because no private enterprise can realisitically be expected to compete with the United States Government, nor should they.

Like I said, its a weird time to be in the business.

You mean Ford would have to compete with the Federal Government?

The UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT?

I think Ford will do just fine; it'll take about 5 years, and Uncle Sam will be producing Trabants from old Soviet design schematics...trying to sell 'em for 60 grand!

[AFBlue]

The military is ripping off America.

bullshit weapons systems, and over budget and dysfunctional, mismanaged materiel, no control over contractors, 700+ foreign bases, and they can't win two wars against ragheads.

Clearly you're ignorant of the requirements justification process for government services and materiel contracts. It involves an insane amount of red tape, including various levels of approval authority based on dollar thresholds.

I can guarantee you that more money is spent in man-hours to justify these contracts than is actually spent on the contracts themselves.

[AFBlue]

So if there's a military coup, a majority of Americans will be pleased, then?

I read it as the general public has confidence in the military's capability to lead in its field. And I'd say the technological and training superiority gap between us and the next highest threat is significant enough that it's not misplaced confidence.

But I will say the Chinese are making advancements in technology everyday...

[velik_m]

I have great confidence in electricity - it brings light into my life every day.

[braeden0613]

Medicine? :lol

It's all about $$, not about health care.
I was referring to doctors and the medical community, not pfizer and gsk

[boutons_]

doctors are not pro bono, they are paid extremely well for flipping patients as fast as the can.

That said, I'm sure there are 1000s of doctors who'd love to just do medicine, but the fucked up for-profit system forces them into high overheads for paper chasing. I read where an sole-practice doctor has to bill $250K/year just for overheads, before he can start billing for himself. The doctors are ground down by the system as much as poor/uninsured people are excluded.

Something like 50% of doctors wouldn't be a doctor again.

[boutons_]

I'm so relieved that DoD's $600B+/year budget contains not a single $B of waste, extravagance, and/or fraud.

[AFBlue]

I'm so relieved that DoD's $600B+/year budget contains not a single $B of waste, extravagance, and/or fraud.

:lol

Waste, extravagance, and/or fraud is present in any organization. In fact, you might argue that the waste is created by the levels of beauracracy that they have to go through to get requirements approved and on contract.

Here's the one example where I concede the point....

In my time in the Air Force the only practice of open "extravagance" was the ordering of supplies at the end of the fiscal year. The person in charge of the funds would go around asking if you needed cork boards or ball point pens because they had a couple thousand to spend...and the theory was that if they turned it in, they wouldn't get that same amount the next year. In essence, we were encouraged to spend money on items even if we didn't necessarily need them.

But those items did stay behind when I left, so maybe the Air Force got use of them after all. Either way, I don't think you can speak to the military's wasteful spending without even knowing the process for how things get on contract.

[Yonivore]

Once again, a duplicity in my life.

My business depends on auto companies...who are failing and I condemned the bailout.

Now, my company is being inundated with military contracts/supplierships. Its extremely lucrative and will keep our doors open (if not expand) well beyond 2012. Yet, I dont endorse our nation's foreign policy.

*sigh*
It as if Obama is intent on running up the unemployment numbers.

[boutons_]

"Obama is intent on running up the unemployment numbers."

L I E