There's this poll on the Internet this morning asking which people which party they think is more responsible for the country's current financial situation, Republicans or Democrats. Now, while there has certainly asked some odd poll questions in the past, I think this one ranks right up there on the stupidity level.
How, exactly, is a specific political party responsible for a financial crisis? I read an article predicting exactly this type of financial situation about five years ago -- and the reasons for it made a lot more sense then blaming any specific group of people with the same political ideals. The article said people would start saving more and buying less (they have). It said that the housing market was a bubble that would soon pop (it has). It said that inflation would soon cause the price of staple items to increase disproportionately to wage raises (it has). And it said that rising oil prices would put a crunch on people as gas prices went up (yep, that's happened too).
The only one of those items that I can even associate with any political party is the fact that oil prices are connected to the war somewhat. But the price of oil is dependent on so many other things too (Katrina, Rita, and Ike ring any bells?), and it was going up prior to the war, so even there I think the connection is a little shaky.
Despite my opinion on various people in Washington (or lack, thereof, as some of them frankly don't deserve one), I think this poll is shooting in the dark. It's just one more attempt at passing the buck off on other people. The situation is frustrating, there's no doubt about it, and we want someone to blame for it. But the truth of the matter is, there really isn't anyone to blame, because the crisis has happened because of things we've all done, not just one particular person or group of people.
*sigh* Ok, off the soap box.
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