Interesting factoid regarding Al Gore:

Gore has done well for himself since he left public service. In 2000, his net worth was estimated to be between $1 and $2 million. By 2007, it had reportedly reached $100 million.

Al Gore gets 10,387 more Apple options - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Brainstorm Tech

Serving as a lightning rod for activist shareholders has its rewards

Al Gore took his lumps at Apple's (AAPL) shareholders meeting Thursday.

Sitting in the front row with the other outside directors, he had to bite his tongue as two pro-environment proposals were voted down and a gadfly named Shelton Ehrlich took the mic to call him a "laughingstock."

"The glaciers have not melted," Ehrlich said, referring to Gore's frequent warnings about the effects of global warming. "If his advice he gives to Apple is as faulty as his views on the environment then he doesn't need to be re-elected." :rofl:

But Gore is amply rewarded for serving on Apple's board. Last year he received in cash and stock options the equivalent of $436,372. The 10,000 options he was granted in 2008 are now worth nearly $750,000.

And according to an SEC filing published Friday, he has just received another 9,397 options — more than any other director — in addition to 990 restricted shares. Net value of last week's haul, including those restricted shares: more than $227,000 at Apple's closing price of $204.62.

:thumbup:. Hey moolis where are you deffending you boy Gore too???:stickpoke Hippie

First off, you don't know me. Call me what you want, I really could not care less. You actually seem a little off balance to me.

Yes, I support Al Gore. You know very little about him, obviously.

:rofl:There you are :bustingup

Enlighten please, what do you "support" about him and what do you "know" that everyone else does not?

What I know about Al Gore is that President Clinton gave him the task to balance the budget. Think about it, a DEMOCRAT who BALANCED THE BUDGET, and at the end of the Clinton administration there was a $238 BILLION DOLLAR YEARLY SURPLUS.

He is also a HUGE part of all the clean up and recycling efforts (green economy) we are doing today. How is that a bad thing? Oh yeah. it costs money to clean up our messes and leave the world better for our children.

I think this one says a lot. It assumed the Bush tax cuts would go away and the economy would grow. I think now we are in a hole we cannot dig our way out of. Thanks Obama!

http://perotcharts.com/images/challe...nges23-640.png

what happened when that peak fell, oh yeah, terrorist attacks and two wars....they have a funny way of removing a surplus. That has very little to do with taxing or even spending.

The point was that since 1968, no one else figured it out, and a trillion on one of the two wars wasn't necessary.

I am not an expert on US economics, and since I don't have a better source I will just take as read the graph that viperfreak2 posted.

However, what I don't understand about your post is that the budget surplus peak appeared to fall in the year 2000, some time before the Sept 11 attacks that you refer to. Also, you note that two wars removed the surplus, it wasn't a spending issue. Wasn't the money being spent on the two wars?