- Description
A conversation about the effects of a rising deficit on Social Security and Medicare with Pete Peterson, the author of "Running on Empty: How The Democratic And Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future And What Americans Can Do About It".
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Ruth Powers 04/03/2008 01:54 AM Report
I just turned off your "conversation" with Pete Peterson - not for any of the reasons stated by other commenters - but because of you. You have always interrupted your guests, but I think it is getting out of control. How can you call it a conversation when you refuse to allow your guests to answer the questions you have posed? I honestly tune in often because you have guests in whom I am interested. You often pose good questions - but I do NOT tune in to hear your opinions. I don't care what you think about these issues. I want to hear them. PLEASE STOP the interruptions. Thank you!!!
Hudson 04/03/2008 01:34 AM Report
Charlie,
You asked Pete Peterson the question why are we in this credit/financial mess, and I'm not certain he gave a simple answer. The simple answer is: the credit card.
Before the credit card, people saved to get ahead in life, to get a little extra, to pay for their children's education, their retirement, etc. That was the ethos of the post WWII era.
My mother saved Green Stamps. When she came home from the market she pasted those stamps in the booklet, and when she had so many booklets she collected her prize, something modest like a new toaster. People banked their income checks and saved. If they couldn't afford something, they looked at what they had rather than what they didn't have. That was the way people lived in the late 1940s through the early 60s.
The credit card changed all that. Instead of saving for modest reward, the model became to spend as much as you could up to your credit limit. As long as you could pay the interest on the card, you were OK. Of course many consumers became addicted to spending and were not OK.
Buy now, pay later. And there never really is later. No tomorrow, no crash, no hard times. That's basically the world we live in today.
jeanne m. tucker 04/03/2008 01:31 AM Report
Just tonight, while listening to Peter G. Peterson, did I figure out why I am recently unhappy with your show. Most of the time it is excellent and I share your feelings about great discussion. But this guy represents the worst of America, especially following on the heels of Ted Turner, who actually likes the average American!
Peterson is an old, rich, white guy who is totally out-of-touch with America. Even as I write this he is still speaking. We can't have univeral health care coverage in the U.s. - our plan is better - we have more MRI machines. What does that have to do with actual health care coverage? I can look through the dealer's window at a sports car but if I can't afford it, just because it's in the window doesn't mean anything.
IF CANADA AND ENGLAND DIDN'T LIKE THEIR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE PLANS they would vote it out - which they haven't done! The reason - rich and poor folk get treated alike! Those who want a deluxe plan beyone what is equally distributed have the money to pay for it.
Don't talk to me about the unfunded Social Security system - what we have wasted in Iraq would have funded the system for the next 50 years!
Charlie, you only have rich folk on your program - the ones we poor folk are supposed to be interested in hearing what they have to say, What about throwing in an average American every so often? Ah, but I doubt the rich folk would listen....
jeanne m. tucker