[Mr 5 0]

Originally Posted by RBatson

I'm not the only one, Jim. I think anyone reading your post and then re-reading mine will find were the logic lies, not just "hyperbole". I'm glad you are doing so well in your retirement years while the working class are finding cuts in benefits that they EARNED as part of their compensation. Folks, like me, are finding they will have to work an extra 10 year to retire (I have to work 43 yrs to retire now instead of 33) and many are having to rejoin the work force(after retirement) just to afford health care. Exxon just awarded their ceo a $400mil retirement bonus (quite a dent in a Billion dollar enterprise) while their pension plan is underfunded. I find your comparison of the average American worker and the CEO receiving a $400 million bonus not only repulsive but disgusting.

As far as alternative energy, that you find pleasure in dismissing, you need to look no further than Bush (the man you support so much) to see that its not only viable but necessary. I find it quite interesting that his plans for alternative energy don't take effect until a year or 2 after he is no longer in power (I also find it very interesting that OPEC says there is no need for oil to cost as much as it does but.. it does).

In other words, anyone reading your posts that actually has a mind of their own can easily see right through it. Its more than just trendy words and "hyperbole". You will undoubtly continue to sway those that can't think for themselves but you won't sway me. I'm living in the trenches and hoping for the best. Apparently you have no idea what the middle class, working American, is going through.

Rick, what happened to your 'last word' on this stuff? So much for your credibility. I suspect that the only 'last word' you will ever accept is your own, so I'll give that to you and promise not to respond to the next post you make on this thread in order to end this fruitless exchange. How's that?

I don't know where you got the idea that I'm 'in my retirement years'. Not from me. I'm no spring chicken but I'm not ready for the retirement home just yet. Gimme a break! I earn what I have and I don't appreciate silly little lectures based on incorrect premises from a guy with a chip on his shoulder against anyone who isn't employed as a manual laborer. You are clearly suffering from class envy and apparently like it that way, as it gives you something to whine about and blame 'business' (and President Bush) whenever things don't go right. Hardly a viable bais for a political philosophy but one many on the left seem to share.

Bush's alternative energy proposals are generalized and recognize the need to get away from our dependence on oil. However, that is far easier said than done, something you seem to ignore, as if we can just convert to wind power or whatever with no real problem. Hardly.

The cost of oil is partly determined by the oil futures market, which is volatile. It's a complex subject that has been covered here before. You must of missed those posts but I don't have the time or the patience to rehash the issue all over again just for your personal benefit.

Rick, you seem to pride yourself on being some kind of middle-class 'everymen' with all your resentments and finger-pointing intact. I don't see it that way. Life is tough - but it's far less tough in America. If you cannot make a decent living and sustain yourself in a manner you feel is appropriate, I'm sorry. However, your eagerness to, in effect, bash the capitalist system and your longing for a guaranteed future is both naive and totally unrealistic. That kind of mindset also makes you vulnerable to leftwing, socialist fantasies of a governement-ordered Utopia where no has more than anyone else. Don't count on that because it hasn't happened yet.

You do have lots of baseless class resentment against 'big businesss' and management, as well as anyone making more money than you do. You seem to expect an employer to take care of you when you retire and frankly, that is pretty lame. I never expect anyone (but myself) to take care of me, now or ever. That's why we have 410(k) plans and invest. You want it all done for you and get angry when, 30 or 40 years out, things can change and the retirement isn't as you planned it. Rick, stop looking to usually temporary employers and the fickle government to take care of you. They will very likely disappoint you, which is why conservatives disdain them as providers for our, or anyone's, old age.

Oh and Jim, stay away from those ridiculously extreme right wing websites... unless it benefits you, which apparently it does.

Actually, the few conservative ('right-wing') websites I visit simply mirror my own views, which is why I don't spend much time on them, as they don't add much to my knowledge. The leftwing sites I've seen, however, tend to be vicious and hysterical and can't do much for anyone's mental health. They really should be avoded.

PS I think mustangworks needs a political forum. It would beat hijacking threads in the lounge, imo.

I am pleased to end this post with my favorite statement: I agree (but I doubt there is enough interest to jutify a separate 'political' forum).