State Of The Union Address

[Scruffy]

By law, the President of the United States of America is expected to report on the state of the union annually. Every President since Woodrow Wilson has given this as an oral speech.

Tonight Barack Obama will be reporting on the state of the union at around 9 pm.

Are you going to watch it?
If so, what kinds of things are you looking for him to talk about?

Do not post your opinions about Obama as a person or a President here. This is strictly regarding the State of the Union address.

[XxDarkAngelzXx]

No. I wont.

[[MPGH]AVGN]

The State of the Union is Embarrassing.

We are quickly losing our status as a global economic super power.

Government spending is out of control.

Our nation deficit is so bad be can barely pay the interest on our loans from china etc.

We cant do what other countries do, due to over-regulated policies and big-government.

We need to cut down on big-government and useless programs.

that just my opinon tho

and yes i'm going to listen to it on the radio

[CyberGenius]

DO NOT CARE I LIVE IN AUS

[Evelyn]

i am completely looking forward to this! I am going to watch it live online, CNN Live yes!

CNN.com Live - Breaking news, live events, and today's top stories

As you stated I won't comment about Obama as a president, But I am expecting him to suddenly sound "republican" after the recent increase in "tea party" members and the current unhappy tune being sung about Obama's policies he really only has two ways to turn. Address the issues and incorporate both sides, or face more opposition. I expect to hear more things such as "less regulation" and "Allow business to proceed" coming from him. I also expect him to discuss the economy and the horrid increase in unemployment. I honestly love his charisma and how he communicates with his audience, so i can not wait purely for the effect. Even if you do not live in America, or particularly care about politics I do recommend viewing such events.

[[MPGH]Liz]

Christ its at 9pm EST...

Also it is available at the white house website and youtube.

[Juan]

is this your homework assignment?

[Scruffy]

Christ its at 9pm EST...

Also it is available at the white house website and youtube.

Originally projected for 8pm like a couple days ago
9pm it is, then.

i am completely looking forward to this! I am going to watch it live online, CNN Live yes!

CNN.com Live - Breaking news, live events, and today's top stories

As you stated I won't comment about Obama as a president, But I am expecting him to suddenly sound "republican" after the recent increase in "tea party" members and the current unhappy tune being sung about Obama's policies he really only has two ways to turn. Address the issues and incorporate both sides, or face more opposition. I expect to hear more things such as "less regulation" and "Allow business to proceed" coming from him. I also expect him to discuss the economy and the horrid increase in unemployment. I honestly love his charisma and how he communicates with his audience, so i can not wait purely for the effect. Even if you do not live in America, or particularly care about politics I do recommend viewing such events.

I suppose you're not aware that Obama has been doing all of these things already? He's had to become a little more conservative in his policies as of late. We're in a deficit, of course he has to.
Also, national unemployment rates have been going down gradually lately. Of course, Florida and New York are sucking wind right now, a lot of other big states are on the rise, and smaller states are seeing better employment rates than they've seen in years.

Agreed, though, about his ability to give a speech. The man can talk.

is this your homework assignment?

No, politics just interests me and I'd like to have one topic in general that isn't covered in stupid 12 year old spam and flame.
--------------------------------------------------
To anyone:

Out of the four big issues:
Education
Healthcare
Economy
Foreign Policy

Which is of the largest importance to you?

[[MPGH]Liz]

I think Healthcare is hugely important to address, specially with the recent Republican, symbolic repeal of the healthcare reform. These people are truly hypocrites, the same people who refused to approve a bill that helped 9-11 first responders since 2002.

We also need to stop letting corporations control the government, it should be the other way around.

Education, more specifically higher education, needs to be more available, and cheaper for future generations. Parents should not have to decide b/w paying for groceries and paying tuition.

It's no secret I am a huge Obama supporter, I believe he is one of the best and most honest presidents we have had in many decades. As far as higher leaning towards the right, just shows his willingness to work together, when he is literally forced to. The republicans threaten to stop every single move he tries to make. Why Americans, or rather the old people of America decided to vote republican is beyond me, its like they forgot the Bush years existed.

[[MPGH]Austin]

No because canada>america

[Obey]

No because canada>america

Get outta here. Fuck that shit mang.
I won't be watching it. i'll prbly come across it tmrw sometime and watch it.

[Scruffy]

I think Healthcare is hugely important to address, specially with the recent Republican, symbolic repeal of the healthcare reform. These people are truly hypocrites, the same people who refused to approve a bill that helped 9-11 first responders since 2002.

We also need to stop letting corporations control the government, it should be the other way around.

Education, more specifically higher education, needs to be more available, and cheaper for future generations. Parents should not have to decide b/w paying for groceries and paying tuition.

It's no secret I am a huge Obama supporter, I believe he is one of the best and most honest presidents we have had in many decades. As far as higher leaning towards the right, just shows his willingness to work together, when he is literally forced to. The republicans threaten to stop every single move he tries to make. Why Americans, or rather the old people of America decided to vote republican is beyond me, its like they forgot the Bush years existed.

You really hate Republicans
I partially agree with your government/business comment, however, I believe there should be no link between business and government other than to enforce law on a civil level. Even the Better Business Bureau is a corporate entity.
Also, I too believe higher education is far too expensive, but unfortunately the lost money from our wallets has to come from somewhere... and where will that be?

Tonight's speech in text format, for anyone interested.

[Ryan]

You really hate Republicans
I partially agree with your government/business comment, however, I believe there should be no link between business and government other than to enforce law on a civil level. Even the Better Business Bureau is a corporate entity.
Also, I too believe higher education is far too expensive, but unfortunately the lost money from our wallets has to come from somewhere... and where will that be?

Tonight's speech in text format, for anyone interested.

Agreed.
The government getting involved in the affairs of corporations is just a step towards socialism.
Over the last 5-6 years, maybe more, higher education has become somewhat overrated.
Not only is it difficult to get into a decent college, but it's so expensive that it's crippling.
Lots of people are also finding no need to go, and are just working up into the higher ranks of wherever they work their day job. That definitely doesn't apply to everyone, but the option to just work for your salary is rising in popularity.
Aside from that, where would a degree in business management (or another of the like) get you in this day and age? With the terrible economy and low number of job openings, you're just another resume. That in itself drives people with degrees and higher education to get whatever job they possibly can. I just helped train a guy at my store who has his bachelor's in business management, and his master's in finance. But he's getting paid 8 bucks an hour, part-time just like me.

On the second subject, the best way to start moving out of debt isn't to force people to pay more for college, but to cut back social security benefits. And people would freak out, sure. But what did we do before the late 30's when social security was brought about? We were fine without it.
Not completely removing it, but reducing it.

[why06]

Meh... I like Obama. It was an okay speech. I don't really think one president can change the things for the better, though he's done a good job of not screwing stuff up any worse so far. I like what he said about education though last night. Too many people think they can just get a business degree and get a good job. College is far to expensive and with little to no benefit in the long term. Somethings gonna have to change. People either get new skills or something. You can't hope to sustain an economy off of paper-pushers and desk jobs. Those jobs will become increasingly consolidated. I think people just expect someone's gonna be able to put them to work. It's not like it used to be, they need to wake up and start acquiring skills that are valuable. Some people expect the government to make sure they keep a job, but then want the government not to become socialist. You can't have both.

[Scruffy]

Agreed.
The government getting involved in the affairs of corporations is just a step towards socialism.
Over the last 5-6 years, maybe more, higher education has become somewhat overrated.
Not only is it difficult to get into a decent college, but it's so expensive that it's crippling.
Lots of people are also finding no need to go, and are just working up into the higher ranks of wherever they work their day job. That definitely doesn't apply to everyone, but the option to just work for your salary is rising in popularity.
Aside from that, where would a degree in business management (or another of the like) get you in this day and age? With the terrible economy and low number of job openings, you're just another resume. That in itself drives people with degrees and higher education to get whatever job they possibly can. I just helped train a guy at my store who has his bachelor's in business management, and his master's in finance. But he's getting paid 8 bucks an hour, part-time just like me.

On the second subject, the best way to start moving out of debt isn't to force people to pay more for college, but to cut back social security benefits. And people would freak out, sure. But what did we do before the late 30's when social security was brought about? We were fine without it.
Not completely removing it, but reducing it.

Meh... I like Obama. It was an okay speech. I don't really think one president can change the things for the better, though he's done a good job of not screwing stuff up any worse so far. I like what he said about education though last night. Too many people think they can just get a business degree and get a good job. College is far to expensive and with little to no benefit in the long term. Somethings gonna have to change. People either get new skills or something. You can't hope to sustain an economy off of paper-pushers and desk jobs. Those jobs will become increasingly consolidated. I think people just expect someone's gonna be able to put them to work. It's not like it used to be, they need to wake up and start acquiring skills that are valuable. Some people expect the government to make sure they keep a job, but then want the government not to become socialist. You can't have both.

Quoting both since they essentially said the same thing.

Regarding higher education, I think that there is plenty of benefit in having that degree in the field of interest you are searching to make a career out of. It gives you the skills and knowledge that is required to succeed in that field. College, in my opinion, is the best way to attain skills for life and career, bar none, while giving the greatest chance of success to get, and hold, a well-paying job one can enjoy for years. It is far too expensive and stressful for most individuals though.
However, it's all about opportunity cost and which way you wish to go about things. As for your example, Ryan, this span of crappy economics in our country can not be used as forms of citation for what it's going to be like when we get out of this slump. When it picks back up, employers are going to be looking for people and it's going to be the educated and experience who get high paying jobs, and they'll all be hanging up their college degrees in their offices.

Could not agree with you more on the last statement, why06.

In my opinion, push back the age requirements for Medicare and Social Security. I found out that if we changed the age requirement of Medicare and Social Security to 70 years of age, it would save this country $418 billion by 2015, and almost $400 billion by 2030 ALONE. Throw in policies to remove troops from Iraq and Afghanistan which is already being done, and we save another $100 billion by 2015. Allow the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%, and we save $150 billion. The Medical Malpractice form act that is being passed saves about $20 billion as well.

It won't be long until things start going back up, unless someone fucks up.