Counting down?

[Torsten]

Hi, it somehow still seems quite unreal to me but in 7 days the world's country number one will have a new president. Can you believe it?

TOEIC listening, question-response: Whose responsibility is customer service?

[Yankee]

Yes, hopefully we'll have a new President-elect here in the US by Wednesday next week. However, the new president won't officially take office until January 20, 2009. That is the official date of the inauguration.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Jamie (K)]

I can believe it, but I'm very scared. I lived through the Jimmy Carter administration, and I don't want to live through it again.

[Torsten]

I can imagine the pain you and your nation must be going through, Jamie. I also grew up in a socialist country look what has become of me!

TOEIC listening, talks: New accountant is introducing himself to his co-workers and supervisors

[Yankee]

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I survived Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton quite nicely. I didn't care much for Johnson, though.

I've been voting against Republicans for quite some time now, and I'm especially eager to cast my vote against them this time. ;)
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Torsten]

Amy, so are you in favor of socialism? If I understand Jamie correctly, he is of the opinion that Obama is a socialist who 'lacks the ability to think clearly'.

TOEIC listening, talks: Charity worker is asking for donations in kind through a phone call

[Jamie (K)]

Amy, I'm glad you enjoyed the 16% interest rates on car loans, the outrageously high unemployment and the gasoline shortages that all resulted directly from Carter's policies, because we may be in for them again, since Obama's policies are Carter's on steroids.

In fact, I can already see the run-up to them starting. You wouldn't believe how many small business people are already telling me that they plan to close their businesses if Obama ever implements his plan, because it won't be financially viable for them to continue. It would be one thing if it only affected the owners, but these owners employ people who are going to lose their jobs if this happens. It won't only affect their employees, but all the freelance people they employ, from the janitors all the way to the painter and the roofer. Some of these business owners will simply retire earlier than they had planned or wanted to, and they'll live off government money of various kinds.

Experts also say that the Obama plan will increase the advantages of public assistance enough to make it rational for many people who are currently working to quit their jobs and stay home on government assistance. I heard some Obama supporter on the radio saying, "Who would actually quit his job to collect public assistance!" It's a question that shows he's never worked a low-income job, because if he had, he would have known plenty of people who have done so.

I no longer think that Obama "doesn't think clearly". I think he knows EXACTLY what he wants to do, but that he uses words to confuse people. His description of his own plans, and McCain's plan, are basically a shell game. Over the past four years, the Democrats have been following the advice a cognitive linguist gave them in a book called "Don't Think of an Elephant". His big revelations are things about language use that market researchers already commonly knew in the 1950s, but they basically involve hijacking the opposition's terminology and using it to label your own program. This can be seen, among other things, in his use of the word "tax cuts" to describe a system of higher taxes and more welfare, including welfare for people who don't actually need it now.

Another thing that makes Obama scary will be that he wants to institute what East Europeans know as "brigada" for high school and college students. He calls it "service", but it basically involves forcing students to work a certain number of hours per year as forced "volunteers" for party-approved causes. My students don't have time for this, and what they're already doing is the best way for them to contribute to the country: They're working their jobs, raising their children, and studying for better careers.

As you know, I don't like Democrats that much, but I never thought that most Democrats who have run for president would be catastrophic for the country, just an irritant. Hillary Clinton would have sent the country in a direction I might not have liked, but she's pragmatic and would not have done too much serious damage to the country. I would say that even about Al Sharpton! But if Obama really does what he says he wants to do, we're in for serious problems that could outlast the single term he would probably serve.

My prediction: If Obama gets elected with a Democratic Congress, we'll have a longer, deeper recession, Michigan- and Ohio-like unemployment for the whole country, and a federal deficit even bigger than the one we have now. There will be an increase in terrorism around the world (like there was under Carter), and the Democrats' majority in Congress will last only two years into an Obama administration, when the Republicans will be voted back into the majority again. Obama himself will probably last only one term as president, and we'll get a Ronald Reagan figure four years from now.

[Foah]

[Jamie (K)]

Here is a quote from a famous economist that expresses perfectly exactly what has been bothering me about Obama since the first time I've observed him:

[Yankee]

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Well, I've now cast my vote. Voter turn-out appears to be much larger than usual all over the US, and my neck of the woods is no exception. (There is no early voting in my state.) The enthusiasm of many of the people waiting to vote today was remarkable.

I tried to arrive at the polls at a time when the lines were likely to be the shortest, and as a result, I only had to stand in line for an hour. The woman in front of me said she had originally planned to vote at 7 a.m., but because the line was so long at 7 a.m., she decided to come back later in the morning. Although I only had to stand in line for an hour, it was by far the longest I've ever had to wait in line in order to vote.

The final count-down is on. :D
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Prezbucky]

Let's hope the undecided voters go for the Maverick Centrist instead of the Left-Wing Democrat.

We need less Socialism, not more.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Jamie (K)]

Hard to know if those long lines are caused by fear or euphoria, or both.

[Prezbucky]

Are the lazy welfare recipients going to show up to vote other people's money into their pockets?

That is key.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Looks live the US is turning into yet another socialist country. My condolences, Tom and Jamie. Do you think the level of socialism will get as bad as the situation in Germany or is there hope that the free enterprise system in the US can at least partially survive? What will all the industrious and ambiotiousus American entrepreneurs and business are going to do if socialism will indeed be installed in the US?

TOEIC listening, talks: Host of a film celebrity event announces the next keynote speaker

[Prezbucky]

people generally don't like it when their taxes are increased here, and Obama keeps revising his plan of whose taxes will be increased.

At first he said only households making $250,000+ per year would have their taxes increased.

The other day his running mate Joe Biden mentioned a revised amount of $150,000.

I'm betting it'll go lower, such that half of those in the middle class will end up paying more.

With Congress likely to remain in Democrat hands, Obama would be able to pass many of his policies, leading to higher taxes, more welfare, higher unemployment, higher consumer prices and fewer entrepreneurs. I was too young to remember Carter's presidency, but i've heard horror stories.

I could see a little more oversight on the lending indistry, but i would not touch tax rates. The more we control our money, the better off we are. Government programs are notoriously inefficient. (plus it's just wrong to steal from some to give to others. people should be allowed to choose to donate money... shouldn't be forced to give.)
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.