Let Grandpa Thompson tell you a little holiday story about the Economy. You will fell all warm and fuzzy about it, common sense be damned.
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What planet do these people come from?
Nothing in the video isn’t already known by most intelligent people.
Yes, by all means, now that Republicans are out of power, let us rail against the dangers of overspending.
Fred’s right. But where was he and his ilk for the last 8 years?
I gave up half way through…his condescending style bothers me.
And he couldn’t resist the “liberal economist” jabs. Is Phil Graham a liberal economist? The same Phil Graham that was likely to be McCain’s treasury guy? And wasn’t he the one saying this was all just a state of mind and that we need to keep on going the way we were? Hm.
Fred is blessed with an effective TV persona, but otherwise he’s a moron.
# 3 Hyph3n said, “But where was he and his ilk for the last 8 years?”
Imploding the Repub party?
Paddy-O,are you calling Gasparrini unintellegent?
One of his ilk is named Dave Ramsey, and if you have a modest amount of personal debt, or possibly a huge pile of it like my fargin’ (soon to be ex) wife generated, read his website. And buy his book. He’s on the radio, too. XM/Sirius in the afternoons.
I’m just a satisfied customer.
This guy cracks me up. He’s an ex actor, not a very good one, but an actor.
He acts like Washington Politicians are one of our major problems. Oh wait, he’s one of those politicians.
You see how the Republicans are trying to set this entire economic problem up as the Democrats fault.
Wasn’t it just a short time ago that the Republicans and George Bush were telling us it was our money and we deserved a rebate check that they promptly sent out to us. Then the gas pumps took every penny of it and then some almost over night. Checks spent, gas prices fall.
It’s a great shell game they play, blame one side a few years, then blame the other side a few years. In the mean time we work our fingers to the bone to pay for it, they live on expense accounts and tell us it’s the other guys causing us pain.
Nothing to see here, move along.
There’s some good stuff here and a lot I agree with. I think that his version of the policies of the Obama administration isn’t any closer to what they actually are than the PR version the Obama campaign put out, though. It’s just on the opposite side of reality.
I believe that what will actually happen is we won’t get the amount of change that was promised and won’t quite get what we need, but we’ll get more change than McCain would have done. More importantly we’ll get SOME change in government transparency. Some of the things that Obama promised are things that the President can pretty much just do and I’m hoping that those are some of the things he actually follows through on.
There is also a large group of people out there that was really fired up by Obama’s campaign which I’m hoping will lead to more involvement in and awareness of what Obama actually does do. Both sides of the aisle have been seemingly work to disenfranchise as much of the population as possible: to divide us up into Gay vs. Straight, Pro Life vs. Pro Choice, Rich vs. Poor, White vs. Minority, Christian vs. Everybody Else… This means that you have a very clear group to pander to and pushes everyone else out of the process.
Everyone who isn’t a rich, soccer mom type American just gets used to a government that doesn’t care. The soccer mom’s are too busy running their kids through their forced march of a week to really follow up and make sure that all those “family values” they voted for are actually being upheld. The politicians win and everybody else loses.
That and the “people don’t understand” issue really gets to me. Yeah, the people won’t understand if you don’t bother explaining…
Of course, the other side of this is a DINK (Dual Income No Kids) couple pulling in over a quarter million a year combined was talking about doing “their part” to help the economy by really tightening their belts. While spending more than you can earn is bad, squeezing your pennies until they bleed when you are doing quite well may help you, but doesn’t help the economy…
It’s called “satire,” people.
#10 Mac G – Yep, how observant of you. But his message is still there. He is correct on all his snarky points but is trying to tie the current situation to them nasty liberals. This is where his satire falls apart and becomes just more republican sour grapes and spin management.
Dumbass conservatives.
[Ed. – comment deleted for violation of posting guidelines, keep it up and you’ll be blacklisted]
The video is largely right in the explanation.
Although this is being picky, I dislike the use of the word “we” in the video because “I” didn’t borrow and spend like the 95% of the rest of the country.
“We” don’t need 3 HDTVs, interest only mortgages, a $50,000 SUV.
And I don’t think I’ve been alone in repeatedly posting comments here well before the financial “crisis” about the insanity of a “consumer culture” by a country that exports nothing.
# 13 HMeyers said, “The video is largely right in the explanation.”
Yes, I know he’s hard to listen to but what he’s saying is basically true.
#7 One of his ilk is named Dave Ramsey…
Dave Ramsey is great. But he wasn’t in Congress, like Freddo. I’m not denying that there are members of the Republican party who are budget hawks, but I remember more talk about Terry Schiavo the financial responsibility in the first 6 years of the Bush administration.
It’s called SARCASM. He’s trying to point out the sheer folly of doubling down and continuing down the same path.
And that you guys don’t see that is particularly telling.
# 16 Matt Garrett said, “It’s called SARCASM. …
And that you guys don’t see that is particularly telling.”
I know. Exasperating is what I call it.
Fred Thompson is a complete and utter fool. He knows about as much about how the economy works as Dubya does.
When the economy is in contraction, cutting back on spending is a fool’s game. (See what happened in 1937 when FDR cut back spending and the US entered a new recession during the recovery from the Great Depression.) And consumers, like it or not, are 70 percent of our GDP with their spending.
I agree that we need to get back to saving more, and I am in no way suggesting that regular folks go out and load up on more debt, but calls for the US government to rein in spending during a downturn (especially when the moron calling for this was one of the idiots voting for tax cuts paid for with huge deficits/borrowed money when he was in office) are the calls of someone who needs to be ignored.
Fred Thompson is a buffoon.
# 18 Roman Berry said, “but calls for the US government to rein in spending during a downturn ”
Umm, the gov’t is out of money. There is NOTHING to spend. It has to be printed 1st. I think you need a few lessons on economics, not him…
Just because grandpa said it doesn’t mean it isn’t so. Fred Thomson speaks as an outsider for the most part and his message has always been consistent. He was always an ardent and outspoken critic of the biggest problem facing “we” the people which is entitlements. He along with other actual conservatives have consistently called for reductions and elimination of government meddling but the sheer number of “give it to me now” liberals shut down all debate with slogans and trite comments about 62 year old men being grandpas. Simple spending curbs? Nope. Slight reductions in departmental budgets? No way. No the liberals(Rep and Demo) keep operating the same old way and “we” keep on voting for them. Fred is just using satire to wake us from this somnambulism. If “we” would only get past ourselves we might learn something.
Paddy, paddy, paddy. The gov’t had no money when Bush went in, and that didn’t stop GWB from cutting income and spending like a drunken sailor, running the deficit crazy. And that’s the dilemma…if gov’t cuts spending now, the shit hits the fan big time. But GWB put us in a deep friggin hole with his moronic economic deals over the last eight years. The “best” answer is a bigger hole in the short term, according to several economy experts I’ve heard recently. And they all agree it’s the least smelly option from a pile of shitty options.
Too funny! and yet so serious. I’ve been similarly puzzled since the first ‘stimulus’ package went out a decade (?) ago. It was rot then, and it seems like rot now.
What can I say but…Fix the economy stupid!
Thank God the Neo-Cons got run out.
Okay folks… it’s a comedy piece… I guess you needed a disclaimer at the start of this clip.
Sigh… the only comedy that most seem to understand these days is what you see on Funniest Home Videos.
It’s a sad reflection on the dumbing down of this generation. Or perhaps it is a reflection on the state of the education system.
The same people that think Fred was being serious are the ones that don’t get why the bit on Jay Leno’s show is funny. The Jay Walking segments… Those crack me up.
All is lost… ;-(
This guy is such a douche bag.
He should have let his legacy be Arthur Branch. At least he was loveable, if crotchety, on Law & Order.
Now, he’s a buffoon.
#23–Sarcasm King????????
Take off your “Mr Obvious” hat and give it another go:
“Glad to see Fred Thompson lending his credibility and energy to another important campaign.” etc.
#22 Stinker – I’m still stimulated. How about you?
Our economy has run on people going into debt for a long time. It is the only reason it has grown as rapidly as it has. If people stuck with buying products strictly on the money they earn it would have collapsed a while ago. I certainly agree that bailing out with borrowed money and increasing the federal debt is only delaying a major crisis for another generation. This is of course the way many businesses, governments, and many people run their lives. I can see a YOYO economy for some time to come. We would be better off swallowing the bitter pill of foolishness now and get things in order now!
I like RICH people telling ME to SAVE MONEY..
SPENDING is the ANSWER?? Or the problem??
HOW about the COST of goods?
$20 worth of groceries ISNT ALLOT any more.
SHIP 10,000 $40k jobs over sea, and you STILL have 1000 Boss’s getting over $1,000,000 per year in the USA..SHIP the Boss’s over and DROP THEIR WAGES.
dig holes?? and WHOSE the Boss, getting paid 100 times MORE and NOT DIGGING?
DUMP THE MARKETS…get the PRICES DOWN..
“Experience to GUIDE US??” from OLD RICH PEOPLE??
You have a $5,000 debt on my credit card. They are asking you to pay it off because you’ve been late a few times.
You apply for another credit with a $5,000 limit and transfer the balance. Cool. Now you don’t have to worry about paying it off for another month.
However, you still need to buy things and as you now have another $5,000 on card 1 to rack up, you do so.
So, you apply for a third card, $15,000 this time (because your “I Love Debt” rating is so high) and transfer both to that. But that’s ok because you can transfer that money back and forth between them and keep the credit card companies happy, all the while racking up more debt on the empty cards.
Unfortunately, the interest eventually gets you and you no longer have any room to shuffle.
So you get a 4th card . . .
Eventually, the credit card companies are going to catch on and stop issuing cards.
This is what has happened to our country. Spending money you didn’t have did not solve the problem. It only made it worse.
If Thompson actually believed what he said, he would have been a democrat a long time ago.
He was on the spending bandwagon just like the rest of the GOP.