POLITICS: Bush Holds First Primetime News Conference of Second Term

U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to hold a news conference tonight at 8 PM EDT, the first such prime-time conference of his second term. The President plans to discuss social security reform and how the government is trying to solve the problem of higher energy prices. The conference will be held in the East Room of the White House and should be carried by the major U.S. television networks.



The President has made headway with the Social Security issue by convincing Americans that a problem exists, but has failed to convince people that his solution of partial personal accounts is part of a good solution. I expect he'll use this time to help move that agenda forward and try to help calm fears surrounding the higher oil prices to help boost is popularity in poll ratings.

The conference will be streamed live on the Internet on the Voice of America link provided below:

Related News Links:
www.voanews.com
abcnews.go.com

Those of you who need to watch this should watch on CNN. That'll fix Fox.

I usually don't watch these things, as the wife could care less (she gets her info from me...so that's kind of ironic) but I think I will catch this one tonight to see how he fares. Can we expect some rediculous promises and ideas, seeing that his approval rating is so low?

I think he did a fantastic job! His description of his social security plans was the best I've ever heard coming from him personally.

Edit:

Here is the transcript of the Presidential news conference: FOX News.

[edit on 4/28/2005 by djohnsto77]

Hmmm...

Spongebob. 'Nuff said.

This president is without a doubt the least respectable, and I thought Clinton had established a new, unbeatable low.

By the way, isn't this PTS material?

Oh, and I get the choice of staking my retirement on either the stock market (rigged) or the full faith and credit of US treasury bonds.

Laughable. This monkey-president is running out of gas. Pun intended.

[edit on 28-4-2005 by WyrdeOne]

It was more scripted then Joey and Will and Grace that was suppose to be on. I swear, at least the fake town halls are presented as fake town halls where the people were picked by the GOP and given the questions to ask/script to read.

Ya cant make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Oh, and I get the choice of staking my retirement on either the stock market (rigged) or the full faith and credit of US treasury bonds.

It's better than being forced to stake it on the Treasury bonds which is the current situation.

Well I guess his fix and pre arrange town meetings with rehearsed actors is not working, he is not facing the real American and the regular Joe.

That is why he knows he is in trouble with his agenda and now has to go into prime TV to reach the regular Joe, without having to face the mob.

The accounts may sound good for the younger generation but for people in my age range is just a give away for the wall street to make money out of my 40 percent cut.

Let the young people work with it and leave us the older generation alone.

dj
I disagree, the treasury bond can't be nearly so easily rigged as the stock market. Any idea how much money people are making in a single day off that numbers maze? It's enough to boggle the mind. Meanwhile, companies with actual assets and capital languish under a penny because of a vendetta on the part of the SEC, dirty, lying thieves that they are. Check out USXP for a brief glimpse into everything that's wrong with the stock market.

I wouldn't touch the stock market with a ten foot pole, nevermind my retirement. But that's because I know better. My father was a bond trader for a good many years, and I myself did extensive research into owning the system, but it's a game where individuals play at a severe disadvantage, several crippling disadvantages actually. I used to play 3 card on the streets of NY, and I learned quickly not to mess around with dirty dealers. It just doesn't pay.

Most people don't know any better. They have a minimal education regarding the MO of the market, and they see it as roughly equivalent to gambling, but with 'better odds.' Of course, in gambling you're against the odds, but most casinos still offer games at 49/51 if you know how to play. The stock market is run by those who have extra hours in the day, insider information, corporate collusion, and of course, press releases designed to drop prices for the benefit of options traders, then more press releases to stimulate buying frenzies by the rubes, so the cycle can start over again. It's a rigged game in every sense, and only a fool plays against a dirty house. On top of all that, with a few lines of code, they can institute changes in the running board, and set the pack of amateur players in a predictable direction, so as to make money off their predictability.

Wall Street is a shark tank, and private investors are the guppies. Food for the machine. This is not some fanciful rant, this is true. The machine requires capital, and those people who buy stocks and commodities without insider knowledge are blood sacrifices to the god of capitalism. They'd be better off going to a casino. There's always blackjack at the casino.

Take my advice or don't, it matters not to me. But for the benefit of all those who value their retirement, there are better ways of spending it than putting it in the hands of others so they can get rich. Don't fool yourselves, putting money in the market takes you out of the loop. Pick whatever horse you want, the race is lost or won based on factors entirely out of your control, factors entirely in the hands of 'your betters.'

With the amount of money most people make, they could put aside a dollar or two a day, and retire to Puerto Escondido at the age of 50 or so, and sleep in a hammock for a dollar a night, drinking quarter beers all day long, until they die, relaxed and happy, many years later.

You might wanted to realize that Bush is telling the truth about the Social Security: there is no money in it but a lot of IOUs.

I have an interesting analogy for you:

You see a rare-looking bottle of wine and according to the winemaker, the wine is very, very valuable and worth preserving. It would taste better when aged over the years. So the winemaker leave it in the cellar for the time being.

One day, few years later, you sneak into the cellar and grab that bottle of valuable wine, uncork it and pour on a glass. You take a sip or two, tasting it and then you realize the wine is indeed very good when aged! You take few more sips then put the cork back on it tightly and firmly, then put it back in the cellar.

A time passed and you couldn't resist anymore as your desire to sip a few mores of that wine became strong. You went back to the cellar, grab the valuable wine, uncork and pour on the wine glass, filling up to near the top. You slowly sip some, then drink the rest, savoring its near-tawny, cherry-like taste. Sweet, full bodied stuff. You put the cork back on firmly and put the bottle back into the cellar.

You keep returning to it from time to time and eventually the bottle of wine became empty as you've been drinking it over the times. Then you realize there's no other wine like the one you've drank and you'll worry that the winemaker will notice it one day. You're thinking of something fast, what to do?

Aha! A simple solution! You vow that you'll find a bottle of wine somewhere in the world that is much like the one you've drank but you also don't wanted the winemaker to know that yet. So what did you do is to fill that bottle of wine with WATER! Cork and seal it just like it was new before. Place it back to the cellar and hope that the winemaker won't notice it amid countless other wine bottles he have in the cellar.

The point of this story? If the government keeps taking money out of the trust fund to quench its financial thirst, it places an IOU back to it and hope that there'll be real money to return to the trust fund sometimes in the future.

Remember, the President doesn't have the power to take and manage the money, only the U.S. Congress does. The US Congress is the worst spender of money for all kinds, thanks to its elected politicians using money to fund their pet and pork projects (by dipping into the Social Security trust fund too often for decades!). Its appropriation committees are out of control and out of touch with the American people.