Congratulations to the Romneys

[MorningStar]

Stop driving so much.

I have a truck and only spend about $75 a month.

BTW the OP's gas price when Obama took over is incorrect, even though its been posted all over

Source: Consumer Reports

I have four children. I would love to drive less, but it's not possible in our situation. I also teach piano/voice at my students' houses.

[mnn727]

Its always possible, it just depends on your on balancing your needs against your wants and desires.

I lived in South Dallas and worked in North Dallas, if you've ever driven through downtown Dallas during morning and evening rush hours everyday, you'll understand why I sold the home in south Dallas and moved to within 6 miles of my job in North Dallas thus saving both gas and my sanity.(although some here will probably question the sanity part)

[Guest]

That made a lot of sense when people would get a job at a company and work there until they retired. But now is a person supposed to move within walking distance to every job? We couldn't afford to live where my husband's office is, and besides, we can't bank on how long he'll be there.

[MorningStar]

For me to have back to back students right after school, I have to drive. There's no getting around it. Gas has also been over $4 per gallon here. It's over $60 to fill up my minivan. It's also not safe for my kids to walk to school and there's no bus, then I have to get them to Scouts, orchestra, etc.

[pam]

I get 70 mpg driving this baby to work and school. Mine looks a little dustier than the pictured one however.

Yeh but not very practical during the winter in Utah.

[jerome1232]

Yeh but not very practical during the winter in Utah.

I'm not a very practical person.

Plus I live in Southern California, in the 120 degree's in the summer part.

[Guest]

Gosh, I dont know, Skippy. Who would we take over and gut?

I'm fairly certain this was meant as a joke...

But, this is actually better talked about in seriousness.

If you remove politics from the discussion, there are times when the best way to save a bleeding company is just to take it over and gut it out. There is a reason that it is bleeding money. Pumping more money into it is just going to throw money down the drain. It is a lot worse for the PEOPLE tied to that company to keep running a failing system than just to kill the thing, cut your losses, and divide up the assets. This is the plight of Bain-invested GS Technologies. The steel company was bleeding because it can't compete with modern steel makers. Bain decided it was a good enough risk to take to invest in modernization. But due to Union strike, management failed to restructure the union pensions, etc., and the bleeding continued. Due to the union contracts, GS Technologies had no other option but to shut down.

Now, if the company is otherwise sound, but simply mismanaged, you don't gut it out. You fire all the people that caused the problem, hire better ones, and restart with new capital. This is Bain-invested Staples.

This is the plight of venture capitalists - you win some, you lose some. The venture capitalist survives by winning more than they lose.

Now, without venture capitalists, everyone loses.

So, the question - who would we take over and gut out is answered simply as - those whose bleeding cannot be stopped is going to be gutted out. Now, it takes a very specialized skill to know, not only how to make a venture succeed, but also, recognize when to gut. And this is a skill Mitt Romney - the venture capitalist - possesses.

Now, apply that to a government with $1T/yr deficits. Trust me, if you don't start gutting out govt programs, everyone is going to lose. It takes somebody like Romney to be able to look at something and decide if a govt program's bleeding can be stopped or if it is better to cut the losses and gut it out.

Let's take Obamacare, for example. Regardless of whether you are for Universal Healthcare, fact is that it is a bleeding proposition. You don't solve healthcare problems by putting a program in that the govt can't afford. Romney recognizes this and will gut it out and replace it with something that doesn't bleed (we all know he believes in healthcare coverage as he has instituted Romneycare). We know he has the expertise to structure this because of his time with Bain. Bain should have been a good thing instead of a bad thing for him.

Unfortunately, when you add in politics, people don't get it anymore - because it's everybody for their own needs. GS Technologies can't be shut down because then people will lose their jobs... They don't see that keeping GS Technoogies open is not just going to have people lose their jobs, all the people who are invested in it (those with 401Ks, pensions, etc) would lose all their retirement funds as well. But no... All you have to do is put up an ad by somebody who lost their job and Bain Capital is TOAST.

This is the same with government... If you want to stop the 16T debt, you have to get rid of government programs. But no... All you have to do is put up an ad from some guy who lost his unemployment check and Congress is TOAST.

Suckers.

[HoosierGuy]

The Apostles said we should pray for him and "come together" as a nation.

They did not say we should quit calling the President out for having cooked the books on PPACA.

We revere the office and grudgingly respect the man, but we will expose and - if we can - utterly throttle the agenda; before it destroys us all.

Thankfully those with your views are in the minority.

[pam]

Thankfully those with your views are in the minority.

Actually I'm thankful that those with your views are in the minority.