How do you guys think Obama has done as President so far? I don't think he is doing that great with the economy. His "Stimulis Packages" don't seem to be doing very much.
Right now the people of the U.S. have partial ownership of General Motors. However we did not do this willingly. The government just took control. Because it was our tax money you're right, each person has partial ownership in the company. However, we cannot run it. My dad can't go to GM and say he wants things done a certain way. That is where the government does things for us because they are elected to represent us. WE own it, but we don't RUN it, the government does.
General Motors =/= means of production
business =/= means of production
paying for running it with taxes =/= owning it
one person =/= the entire proletariat
And the government and not us running it is something that's because of how apparently perfect and glorious our governmental structure is. We elect people to represent us, they represent us. You can't expect that to be a valid complaint on how the USA is doing when it's been that way since the USA formally got off the ground and the Articles of Confederation were rewritten.
But we don't want to spend all this money or run GM.
You're not speaking for everyone - and who says they have to accurately represent the people? They do - whether they do a good job or not is immaterial. One of the many faults in the US governmental system. You have to live with it.
Jeez. I left this for a few days. I didn't expect it to get this big..
Obamas a big topic, whether its people attacking him or defending him, there's not as much neutral ground as might be healthy.
But we don't want to spend all this money or run GM.
Alt said it, but a part he didn't mention is the fact that GM is a major US corporation, responsible for thousands upon thousands of jobs. Republicans attack Obama quite frequently because the unemployed rate is almost to double digits, but think what would have happened if he didn't inject that money. GM probably would have went under and people working at its factory's and stores would have lost their source of income, the unemployment rate would have spiked, and consumer confidence would be down at seeing such a large American company go down, all in all increasing the crisis to higher levels. It may not seem to make sense to you on a small scale level if you don't get a part of it, but America didn't buy GM, the American Government did, and there's a difference. We may fund the American Government, but we don't get all of that money back, so why should 300,000,000 unqualified people get a say in how GM runs?
Just make sure we all know the difference between socialism and Obama. It always makes me upset when I see or hear people saying: "Obama is a socialist! Oh my!".
I don't think he'll be any better than any other president. You're just letting the fox back into the hen house by giving tottering companies such as GM money like that. The one thing I agree with is Obama taking control of 60% or more of GM and firing some of their CEO employees.
who says they have to accurately represent the people
In case you haven't read the constitution lately we elect these people to "represent" us. The people in the House of Representatives are called representatives. They have that title because they were elected by the people to represent our wants and needs.
Capitalism is a poor system to represent the people, since the people do more things with private investors than with the federal government, and more importantly, each other as fellow citizens. That's why I'm a socialist, public schools for example are a great way for kids of all social classes to come together and become friends, even if that doesn't always happen so easily.
They have that title because they were elected by the people to represent our wants and needs.
and are they always doing this? you elect the represantatives once in a couple of years and in that time they can do whatever they want. you have no chance to get rid of them
I'd say something like "What is this, the 1960's?", but then we wouldn't have internet so I couldn't say that in the first place. Stupid rate of technological advancement Paranoia and false accusations about governmental systems we're afraid of because of the possibility of them taking away our personal wealth aren't really going to be that accurate. Communism has nothing to do with the levels of corruptness, its just the typical Western idea of a non-familiar system. Besides, China runs much, much more like a capitalist country than you seem to realize, its not the original idea of communism, rather a party calling themselves Communist, and not really running the country as a communist state despite being in power
In case you haven't read the constitution lately we elect these people to "represent" us. The people in the House of Representatives are called representatives. They have that title because they were elected by the people to represent our wants and needs.
Right. They do represent us. Whether they do a good job or not is inconsequential.
You seem to misunderstand.
representing us =/= doing a good job representing us
