Except inflation steals from the poor more than the wealthy. If you own a capital investment such as a home or hotel, your investment will increase in dollars as inflation increases. If you do not own anything, your paycheck buys less and less as the value of dollars decreases.

You have just had a glimpse into the typical liberal mind.

I ran out of space.... The family farm is alive but it is not small and it cannot survive when it is small. The family farmer now is probably 55 or 60 years old and has his son, daughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law also helping out. One of them is likely to have a degree in agriculture and maybe an MBA. They track the futures markets and plant their crops based on educated projections from computer models. They attend seminars on the latest growing techniques and talk to their neighbors to figure the best techniques for growing the best crops. They are partners with the big Agribusinesses and follow their advice. Please view video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX153eYcVrY

YES, YES, YES!! "Or maybe it was just the quintessential sound of American icon, the late Paul Harvey, whose voice wraps around you like a warm blanket on a cold day." When I heard that commercial, I was transported back 54 years. I was 8 again and sitting in my parents cold kitchen in Chicago (wishing I could be wrapped in a warm blanket) listening to Paul Harvey dispense his sage wisdom. For about 30 seconds I felt safe again and had no worries. Alas, all my worries soon came back, but one worry I do not have is that we are running out of farmers. My wife grew up on a farm and she still has friends that have farms. The natural economic process is taking place in regards to farms, just like it has for the last couple of centuries.

Jerry from Chicago Regarding the president's previous political experience, his tenure in the Illinois Senate should be totally discounted. An Illinois senator from Chicago has less prestige and less authority than a Chicago alderman. They are considered in the same light as a "dog catcher". It is a hack job that gives a pay check to a usually worthless Chicago hack. as payment for walking the precinct and shaking hands. Add to that his tenure in the U.S. Senate and all he did was vote present. He had no valuable experience in politics and it showed in his presidency.

I grew up in Chicago in the 50's and 60's and I remember the Democratic precinct captain coming to our house to pick-up my grandfather and grandmother to drive them to the polling place to vote. Before they would get in to his car the precinct captain slipped my grandfather some money. Neither my grandfather nor my grandmother could read or write so the precinct captain had to help them vote. I always wondered how they voted. Yeh, we don't need no stinkin BADGES!!

Atheism is a belief system. Prove that God does not exist. You cannot. Therefore you have made a leap of faith to say there is no God. It is human nature to have faith and beliefs that cannot be proven by logic. You choose to believe their is no God. Please save us your condescending attitude. Even Einstein believed in God, "Spinozza's God".

Another phenomenon that occurred during the Clinton administration that everyone ignores is the high tech explosion. PCs were coming onto the scene and they gave all business a tremendous efficiency that is hard to quantify. Nearly every industry improved because of computers. We were able to produce more with less labor. That is what creates wealth! If one man can build 200 widgets and he used to build 100 widgets then he is worth more to his employer and will be paid more.

These graphs only tell a part of the story. The graph represents spending in a fiscal year compared to GDP for that year. Discretionary spending has a one year lag, ie the money spent this year is from last years budget process. GDP is representative of the relative health of the economy and is the result of actions taken and laws passed 1 to 5 years previously. Laws and rules enacted today may prompt a car manufacturer to build on new plant in Kentucky but it will take 3 years to build that plant and another year or two to realize the new efficiencies that plant brings to manufacturing that car and thus affect the price or sales of the car. In other words, the economic climate established under Reagan & Bush I may explain GDP growth.

Re. question 10, what advice do you remember from your parents, I got the same advice from my father, who was a Chicago cab driver for 15 years!!! Only he directed this at the Chicago cops not South American cops. There is a good example of the free enterprise system working out the details of commerce without the cumbersome rules dictated by "government".