Educate yourselves. Educate yourself about the issues; educate yourself about your congress members. Be informed, and get out there and vote for the people who have the same values that you have, vote for the most qualified people. Forget about "party lines", and get rid of "the good ole boys", (Kent/Ravenna) what have they done for you lately?

I agree with most of the comments made on this blog. If we would take time to spend with our children, maybe they would see how time is more precious then what money is. You can not put a price on sharing with others.

I also think we need to rethink the way we buy items. Do we really need them or are they just feeling a need to fit in or show off. I do not believe that the Federal Government should be bailing citizens out of trouble. We are not teaching others to be responsible. Part of the housing markets problem is from greed and not being responsible.

To those who have lost jobs or ran out of savings this comment is not about you. I do believe we could live to learn with less though and be just as happy if not more.

I only have pity for some of the people loosing their homes. Others have refinanced over and over again to pay for more toys and things and now have spenders remorse. The economy is bad but people need to learn to live with less. Kids don't need cell phones, we survived without them. Give up the cable, drive less, walk more. Play games with your kids, eat at home, make pizza from scratch. It's not the govt's responsibility to fix our over indulgence.

If the next big war starts soon it will likely have been triggered in order to distract attention from our economic woes. Once chaos sets in there will be food riots and starvation around the world, including in America . And yes, the police and military are getting ready. The war will be a handy excuse to lock up people by using the Patriot Acts and various executive orders signed by President George W. Bush. Canada and Israel have already signed a joint public safety "partnership," which doubtless includes cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

At this point you would expect American policy-makers to realize that the U.S. has no strategic interest in maintaining its military forces overseas in such a vulnerable posture and would start withdrawing. You would also expect that they would do what President Franklin Roosevelt did during the New Deal which was to utilize public credit to rebuild the U.S. public and private infrastructure before the economy collapses altogether.

The fact that none of the mainstream political leaders, least of all McCain or the Democratic front-runner Obama, has any intention of taking such decisive action proves that policy is not being controlled from within the United States . When a person or a nation fails to act in its own self-interest, there has to be a reason. That reason is usually that its actions are controlled from outside.

The fact is that the U.S. economy is controlled by international finance, not by the U.S. business establishment or by our own political system. So the U.S. cannot change anything, especially in taking effective and rational measures to get the nation out of debt. Similarly in the area of foreign and military affairs, the nation appears unable to backtrack from its march to catastrophe.

So whether the people of this nation want it or not"and a majority do not"wars are being waged, with the one against Iran likely to be followed by a general world conflict"the battle for Asia . It will be the financiers and their personal military forces"chiefly Israel , which is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons"who will be left to pick up the pieces once the U.S. and Russia have reduced each other's forces to rubble.


From the website, "The Market Oracle" Written by Richard Cook

Here is what is going to give:

The luxury of driving a full-size V8 4WD to work, just because you like it and do not want to take the bus.

The luxury of buying more food then one needs and then getting too fat and buying expensive medicines to treat all the symptoms of the unhealthy life-style we can afford.

The luxury of isolating one's self from their community by cheap HDTVs, DVDs, Cable, and other meaningless distractions.

What will give is the luxury to buy it today on credit, and maybe pay for it tomorrow.

The luxury of a vacation far from your home.

The luxury of paying to water your lawn so it looks nice.

The luxury of leaving the lights on, the heat high or the AC cool.

The luxury of throwing it away and getting a new one.

What will give is the luxury of not thinking before we buy, consume or purchase.

I don't want to sound mean and I know that this may not apply to families that may be living hand to mouth now, but for most of us, we will still be living better off than the majority of the world.

What is going to give, that is the question?

Its the same in Streetsboro. My hubby and I drove through the industrial park last week and there was only about 6 businesses going compared to what it was 2 years ago. Most of them are up for sale. This area is starting to become a ghost town something needs to give.

And gasoline in Europe is how much?

I think we need to change how we think about this problem. The solution is not to do something about gas prices, it's to do something about gas *usage*. And you can do that yourself as well as anybody in government can. Bike to work. Carpool. Shop local, which aside from cutting down on gas costs also helps the local economy. And as long as we're encouraging people to patronize local businesses, that should encourage some folks to start new ones and employ more people in them. Portage County has an amazing bus service compared to most communities of its size and yet few people take advantage of that.

It's not about the size of the government, big or small. The free market doesn't have a soul, it doesn't care about Ravenna's well-being! If it's cheaper to take business elsewhere, big corporations will do that. But the federal government doesn't really care either--you matter exactly as much as any other federal taxpayer, no more and no less. The people who care about Ravenna are the ones who live in Ravenna, work in Ravenna, the ones who were born in Ravenna, who were raised in Ravenna or intend to raise their kids in Ravenna.

In other words, it's you. So the question is, what are you going to do about it? Do you care enough to change how you live, work, shop? Is it worth that much to you, collectively? So far it seems like not, but I desperately want to be wrong.

Why do we always look to government for help? The gas issue is beyond any government intervention at this point. Maybe if the dems had let us drill a decade ago... but that ship sailed long ago. It is simply supply and demand; not enough supply and too much demand compounded by speculation.

Ever wonder why other parts of the country are succeeding when we just keep loosing jobs? I think this article clarifies our situation somewhat http://www.weeklysta...r=jwpeu . Mr. Barnes is a conservative and I know that this fact will put some folks off, but try to briefly forget his politics and consider the underlying points and facts he is presenting.

We really need to help ourselves rather than look to government for a fix. Big government is part of the problem not the solution, unless you are just looking for a handout.

DON NOT RE-ELECT YOU CONGRESSMAN, HE'S DONE NOTHING FOR YOU! VOTE FOR THE CHALLENGER!