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The Rich Are Destroying the Economy
Ever since the Great Recession shook the foundations of the U.S. economy, President Obama has been promising recovery. Evidence of this recovery, we were told, was manifested in the massive post-bailout profits corporations made. Soon enough, the President assured us, these corporations would tire of hoarding mountains of cash and start a hiring bonanza, followed by raising wages and benefits. It was either wishful thinking or conscious deception. The recent stock market meltdown has squashed any hope of a corporate-led recovery. 
The Democrats fought the recession by the same methods the Republicans used to create it: allowing the super rich to recklessly dominate the economy while giving them massive handouts. This strategy, commonly referred to as Reaganomics or Trickle Down Economics, is now religion to both Democrats and Republicans; never mind the staged in-fighting for the gullible or complicit media.
When it becomes obvious to even the President that the economic recovery never existed beyond the bank accounts of the rich, questions will have to be answered. Why, for example, did nobody in either political party foresee the disastrous consequences of the bailouts? Not only did the U.S. deficit drastically increase but the same U.S. corporations that caused the recession were given reinforcement for their destructive actions, ensuring that it would continue unabated.
In his book, Crisis Economics, Nouriel Roubini outlines the insane response to the recession by Republicans and Democrats. Because both parties simply threw money at the banks and hedge funds instead of punishing them, a condition of "moral hazard" was created, meaning, that banks would assume another bailout would come their way if they destroyed the economy again -- too big too fail, remember? Roubini explains how the Democrats allowed the "too big" banks to get even bigger; how Wall Street salaries based on short-term profits went unregulated; how the regulations that were put into place were inadequate and filled with loopholes; how nothing of any significance changed.
Roubini has also written extensively about how the post-bailout Federal Reserve policies were fueling a commodity bubble that may be in the midst of bursting, possibly triggering a double dip recession. Essentially the big banks and rich investors were borrowing cheap dollars from the Fed and investing abroad in commodities with the hopes of higher returns. Roubini states:
“The risk is that we are planting the seeds of the next financial crisis...this asset bubble is totally inconsistent with a weaker recovery of economic and financial fundamentals." (October 27, 2009).
This investor-created commodity bubble pushed up prices in oil, food, and other basic products, causing further pain for working families and the economy as a whole. This speculative bubble was easily predictable but ignored by both political parties, since they claimed the bubble was a sign of recovery.
Another mainstream economist, Paul Krugman, also admits that the rich's death-grip on the U.S. political and economic system is causing pain for everybody else:
"Far from being ready to spend more on job creation, both parties agree that it's time to slash spending - destroying jobs in the process - with the only difference being one of degree...policy makers are catering almost exclusively to the interests of rentiers [rich investors] - those who derive lots of income from assets, who lent large sums of money in the past, often unwisely, but are now being protected from loss at everyone else's expense." (June 10, 2011)
Krugman explains that this process continues because the rich dominate the political system through campaign contributions, "access to policy makers,” promises of high paying corporate jobs after their congressional term is over, and good o'l fashion corruption. Because he's a true blue Democrat at heart, Krugman nevertheless focuses most of his rage on Republicans.
Krugman's repeated calls to Democrats and Republicans to create jobs have fallen on deaf ears. Both parties agree that the "private sector" [corporations] should create jobs; until they decide to hire, nothing will happen. This is not merely "bad policy,” as liberals like Krugman like to fret about, but the conscious agenda of the rich. Corporations and rich investors love high unemployment. The Kansas City Star explains why:
"Last year [2010], for the second year in a row, U.S. companies got more work out of their employees while spending less on overall labor costs." (February 3, 2011)
It really is that simple. High unemployment creates a downward pressure on wages, allowing employers to work the remaining employees harder and thus to increase profits. This dynamic, combined with the above commodity speculation, has been the entire basis for the corporate recovery, while working people have literally seen nothing beneficial.
This process is an extension of the bailouts, in the sense that more wealth is being transferred from working people to the corporations. Since consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the U.S. economy, policies like these ensure that another crisis is inevitable.
Further complicating matters is the ending of the Federal Reserve's Quantitative Easing program (printing money), which amounted to the Fed buying $600 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds since last fall, essentially funding the U.S. debt and driving down interest rates.
Since the Fed was buying 60 percent of the bonds, a new creditor will need to be found; and this lender will likely require higher interest rates before loaning to the U.S. government, to make sure the loan is profitable. And although different nations buy U.S. debt for different reasons, much of this debt is bought by rich U.S. citizens, who will put the squeeze on the rest of us that have to pay back this debt. The Washington Times explains:
"...Bill Gross, the head of America's own Pimco bond fund, the largest buyer of bonds worldwide, recently reduced Pimco's holdings of Treasuries to zero out of concern that they weren't yielding enough given the risks of inflation and deficit spending." (June 7, 2011)
When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to satisfy these rich investors, the economy will likely take a further nosedive. It appears, then, that the rich have a win-win situation: they got free bailout money, which increased the deficit; and because the deficit is too high, the rich want higher interest rates for investing in U.S. Treasury Bonds. In both instances working people pay the bills.
This insanity cannot be stopped by conventional measures, since politicians are tone deaf to anything that doesn't ring of corporate cash. The jobs crisis continues as a result of the policy agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans. The labor movement has a special role to play in reversing the above policies.
The corporate-led discussion around cutting social programs to fix the deficits -- on a state and national level -- can be challenged by a nationally coordinated campaign of unions and community allies demanding: Tax the Rich! This demand is significant because it can address both the deficits and the jobs crisis: a massive public works program can be funded by taxing the corporations and the wealthy to pre-Reagan levels. And it makes complete sense because the growing inequalities in wealth over the past three decades has meant a spectacular concentration of wealth at the top. The rich have plenty of money to spare.
Organized labor needs to bring masses of people in the street all over the country in order to get attention and pressure the government to respond to these demands. And it can succeed, especially if it organizes a serious, protracted campaign and especially if this campaign does not get funneled into supporting Democratic candidates, the surest way to kill campaign momentum.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently spoke in favor of a strong, independent labor movement. This is the direction it must take, rather than relying on the Democrats. The labor movement must get its act together, unite to put up a fight and demand specific policies that can concretely address the crisis faced by millions of working people.
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Show AllI'm afraid that organized labor, as it presently exists is totally incapable of the task Mr. Cooke suggests. The Gomperian trade union system that is now on its knees, was allowed to be put in place because of its relative impotence and was part of the effort to crush genuinely political unions like the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) after the end of WW I and then the Communist Party USA after the end of WW II. The collusion of the trade unionists in the suppression of these genuine threats to the status quo has sealed the fate of unionism generally, composed as it is of isolated locals, alienated leadership and membership that have little solidarity with their fellow working folk. It seems as though we have to go back to step number one and create an organization that is capable of action.
I believe that it is not the "rich" that have caused America's grave economic problems, but rather "shareholders" who demand that the corporations that they control produce more profit no matter what dire domestic consequences their actions cause - obviously these shareholders are not all American but include the rich of the world, most of whom could care less about the betterment of the US economy.
With globalization, corporations based in the US have taken actions to maximize their profits by off-shoring jobs to where labour is cheapest and making capital expenditures abroad that otherwise might have been made in the US - a prime example, among countess others, is Apple that has ZERO workforce and manufacturing expenditure in the US.
Makes you think twice about unfettered capitalism, doesn't it?
Someone I admire very much, Catherine Austin Fitts has made the same point about shareholders in her latest blogcast. Her remarks there tie into Siouxrose's complicity remark as well. As I heard it, she was saying that people become caught up in Empire's machine without realizing it and then come to a realization they are faced with a choice. The example she gave was "pushing the big red button". She was giving a talk on the "tapeworm" economy and how blackmarkets/ money laundering are intimately tied into our current economy. This button would for example, stop all money laundering in our country, once it was pressed. She then asked the audience, "who here would press the big red button, if given the chance?" There was only one taker in an audience of about a hundred. She asked the others "why not?" and they all gave examples of how it would hurt them in the short term to have transparency restored to our government and economy. This is the problem in a nutshell. Even though we value democracy and transparency, we don't value it enough to suffer through the fallout... yet.
Of course you're right, chet380. One wonders when more people will wake up to this all-too obvious fact.
According to the AARO (Association of American Resident Overseas, 5.08 million Americans (not including military and I guess their dependents) reside overseas. A large percentage work for American companies.
Apple is very actively recruiting currently. They have 300 retail locations in the US. They have open positions in 42 states. Most retail positions do not require any degrees. They have many corporate positions.
You appear to have missed my point - Apple, like many other American-based companies, derive a substantial proportion of their revenue from US sales, yet because of the drive to maximize profits for shareholders, they have chosen to manufacture their product outside the US to the financial detriment of the US.
lol. Retail positions pay crap wages - everybody (except, apparently, you) realizes this. The bulk of jobs in America are service jobs - retail, restaurants, etc.. Do the math.
Corporate positions are sweet, yes - if you can get them. 25% unemployment in this country and only a handful of sweet corporate jobs to go around. That still leaves- golly gee, around 25% unemployment even if they are all filled.
The masses need MANUFACTURING jobs, root. Those are the ones that created the Middle Class is America, allowed every American to pursue the "American Dream," put their kids through college, own 2 cars and a home, and save for retirement. Those are now almost gone. Stop shilling for the corporate fucks ruining this country and start paying attention to your neighbors.
Manufacturing requires three things: Cheap energy (gone), resources (rapidly dwindling), and a skilled labor force (gone).
I recently read 'Conspiracy of Fools', which documented the methods of Enron's unprecedented wealth, and eventual collapse.
The same methods that made a few of Enron's top officials insane amounts of wealth were all blatantly illegal, but allowed to continue, as it made the fellow gamblers/shareholders insanely wealthy as well.
Those IDENTICAL methods are now Corporate S.O.P.
The SEC and other 'monitoring' bodies are hostage to the very Corporations they are supposed to control. These non-physical entities then buy politicians to 'amend' legislation that once punished them and protected the people.
Then along came Bush, and even the pretense of civil behavior was dropped.
The fall of Bernie Madhoff when his ponzi scheme was revealed.
The ruling of Citizens United.
The recent expansion of Citizens United.
I'll try to be honest. And very, very blunt.
The USA is FUCKED.
No, not fucked. Violently repeatedly gang-raped, abused and debased in every possibly degrading manner.
And still, you do >NOTHING<.
You're passive. You wait for 'someone' to come and save you. You turn to a now worthless Constitution and Bill of Rights that was long ago stripped from you. And you did NOTHING.
You cheer on the brave youth in the Middle East, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, the CIA patsies of Libya. While deep inside you know, you KNOW that not one of you has the guts to stand up to the common uniformed thug who threatens to 'smash your fucking face' if you take a picture of him.
You passively accept authoritarian decrees of 'free speech zones'.
You passively accept the thieves of Wall Street deciding how little they will leave you when they are handed control of the economy.
You passively accept surveillance and abusive 'pat-downs' by more uniformed thugs.
For all this, and thousands more passive actions where you eroded your own freedoms, gave away your rights, and abandoned your own welfare to that of a Fascist Totalitarian State, you deserve what is going to happen.
One man, alone, without support does not have nearly as much choice as he would like when facing security at checkpoints such as airport terminals. It would be different if he knew that others there would step in and support him. Should he protest then a second man watching has a bit more choices than the first man but but his choices are also rather limited. It would be different if he know that some of the others there would step in and support them.
I considered then, what if when I went through the checkpoint I wore a black and white armband. I would meekly submit to the procedure except the band would be a badge worn in silent protest of the treatment. How would they react?
How would the gatekeepers react if there were many like me, meekly going through the checkpoint, publicly wearing the black and white armband which protests this insulting and unnecessary treatment and says that it is wrong?
How would I react if there were many going through that checkpoint wearing the band like me. Would it be as necessary for me to be as meek? What if someone was hassled? By this point I suspect that there would have been discussion and consensus beforehand to work out how to react to different situations, somewhat tempered by experience. . . .
OK, so in reaction it has been decreed that there will be consequences for wearing the black and white armband. Some hand signal or gesture or other innocuous communication now replaces it. Normal people are learning to recognize each other and communicate in front of them . . .
Hopeless? Helpless?
No.
ARES: In all probability, you are likely the retread of yet another obnoxious former poster who's taken on this moniker to piss me off. Your post is also a crock of shit. And by the way, the word is exalted, not exaulted.
Human beings are largely creatures of conformity. A limited percentage has the guts, brains, and fortitude to march to its own drummer, and bear the consequences of likely becoming psychologically exiled, and/or targeted (for punishments of all sorts) for NOT remaining in linear formation. There are penalties for stepping out of "order." That's why the education of "the masses" is so critical to the development and evolution of any society.
You take the apparent net result, a bored and misguided people, and extrapolate from that outcome, a cause to blame the victims. Nice work. What would you possibly gain from leaving out the elite powers, those who operate the puppet strings utilizing elaborate subliminal controls (like buzz words, specific types of music, titillating content) to manipulate the behavior of the masses in order to manufacture consent? What glee do you gain from placing them off the hook?
Furthermore, by once again blaming voters for the piss poor selection of those limited choices allowed by the corporations that run the show, you use a despicable form of deception to place blame where it ought not go.
Each person will be held to account at their level of complicity. There are many who simply do not have the intellectual tools to recognize the degree to which they are being lied to by their "trusted' news personnel. There are many who have been programmed since birth to accept religious delusions as the truth. Taught further NOT to question authority figures, they swallow the pabulum as if it were food from heaven. They know not what they do, or believe. I think these "sheep" will be cut slack. On the other hand, the darkly intelligent who use their knowledge of human psychology, and the secrets of its manipulation as revealed by the likes of Bernays, purposely lead large segments of the population towards the slaughter, of themselves, as well as foreigners, those designated as the next necessary U.S. enemy.
You are one who TRULY needs to take in the words of The Master in sofar as removing the board from your own eyes, before you cast about for those to blame.
Certainly identifying with the god of war suits you. And this same archetype is also that of the ego bloated out of proportion due to its own self-importance... to the point where it can no longer witness the humanity of any other sentient being.
"Corruption is all that they understand. Corruption is the only thing the masses in the world respect."
What a disgusting analysis. IF you really believe your own tainted hogwash, you are one toxic soul, indeed.
You're full of your own pompous B.S. I hardly lack courage... and if anything, I am a committed messenger of and for Higher Truth. You, as a tunnel-vision narcissist, only identify truth through that which reinforces your own narrow agenda. And it's one based entirely on condemnation. As if you stand above those accused...
You also might wish to learn how to use paragraphs. Your post is largely unreadable.
So, what are you advocating here, Mr. Agent Provocateur, that the people stand up with arms loaded and point at those who have perpetrated a great many sins against them? Is that what your idea of courage is? Or are YOU the one with excuses, you comical fraud? Maybe you should be out forming your own private Ruby Ridge, no?
BE FOR KIDS: Thank you.
I am convinced a poster like ARES is really just here to invoke division, use name calling while presenting himself as the injured party, and where possible deploy any other dis-information tactic he was TRAINED to use.
If anyone notices, Sunday tends to attract these types of posters, almost without exception.
Out of excuses? What does that even mean you deplorable little troll? Pray tell, how does one go about voting for someone that "(is) FOR the things you stand for" when that candidate does not even exist? You admit in earlier posts that both Rethugs and Dims are complicit in the extortion of the masses, and then you claim voting is the answer? You are a contemptible shill that has absolutely nothing productive to say. You sit on your pompous horse tossing stones at the masses, while you remain complicit in their plight. Crawl back under the rock from which came.
I'm with Siouxrose, ARIESGODOFWAR is a bought and paid for troll stirring up the pot. Best to leave him to his own devices, nothing productive can be gained from his arrogant, incoherent ramblings.
deleted by author.
"The solution is rather simple. You vote FOR people who are FOR the things you stand for, and you vote AGAINST people who are AGAINST the things you are for"
What A shallow, ignorantly uninformed statement- Do you really think that the American people actually elected George Bush for presdent in 2000 and 2004???
I would strongly suggest you watch the documentary 'Orwell Rolls in His Grave"-Watch it 3 or 4 times- Reading the book 1984 would do you well also..
Things just are not as simple as you imply-American Politics has become A psychologically calculated, subliminal and evil agenda...
I am in agreement here with Siouxrose.
Well put, Siouxrose. But I don't think it's possible to dent the armor of a "blame the victim" personality.
It is true that Americans have enjoyed a lifestyle supported by people laboring in grinding poverty while our leaders sent the Marines to their countries to quell uprisings protesting living under US supported vicious dictators. Americans lived in happy ignorance of this, never questioning what the complicit media was telling them.
The way the Bush and then the Obama administrations worked 9/11 was classic fascist playbook. Terrorize the populace, maintain a constant state of war, strip civil liberties "to protect the public". By the time Obama granted himself the right to assassinate any American citizen he deems a terrorist, based on secret evidence, no one blinked except for the usual rabble howling from left field; all the pieces were in place. Now environmental activists are terrorists, but Christians assassinating abortion doctors are not. The fourth estate no longer exists - as everything else, co-opted by the corporations, and the Constitution has become irrelevant.
I have to say that I agree with you Ares. People can only have their backs rode if they bend them and the vast majority of this country is bent over and allowing a lot more than their backs to be rode. My mom always used to tell me " a muthaf**ka will only do to you what you let them" and we have allowed all this to happen. By closing our eyes, mouths, and minds we have let the elites step all over us. People are still scratching their idiot heads trying to figure out what the hell is going on when it should be painfully obvious. I am in no way advocating for violence but I feel it is high god damned time to get the f**k up!! The government and the elites know that we're all too busy watching reality tv, stuffing our obese faces with GMO tainted snacks, going to medicore (at best) schools and haven't picked up a book in ages. They know not to be scared of us because we have shown they have no reason to be. When I see outrageous sh** happen I think to myself "is this the day people will stand up" and then we stay seated and quiet. No one in the government is going to save us, republicans and democrats are each a wing on the same corrupt bird, each babies sucking milk from the same corrupt titty. It's time we all move beyond left and right and make something happen. I don't want to move to another country but it's looking more and more likely *sigh*
I'd completely forgotten that I had login here, but I was going to sign up just to respond to your excellent encapsulation of our present dilemma. As such, it left a lot of things out, but that's the best you can hope for when you're staring at a massive puzzle of a size and scope the size of Wall Street and K Street combined.
Damn straight on blaming the victim here. Most Americans struggle day by day to stay afloat, and then find a way to escape the weight of it all one their downtime. We work our asses off and try to balance work and family and other responsibilities keeping up a presence in the modern world. And SO many distractions. Professional sports, reality television, television in general, video games, movies... shopping... gambling. Sex and drugs and rock and roll. All avenues of escape for people desperately needing it.
The American addiction to capitalism is grinding us all down a little bit at a time as we reach for all the things we've been told we SHOULD reach for, and find ourselves being dragged a little bit farther away with each passing second.
Financially we're being nickeled and dimed to death. We have stagnant wages and the slow deadly creep of inflation... even with 2 incomes it's hard to get by. Any failure could harm your credit, and without credit... They might as well brand your credit score on your forehead. It has that much impact on your life now. We are, collectively, running a deficit. Well, so are we as individuals. We have a sanity deficit. A peace of mind deficit. A breathing room deficit. And the need to find a moment where the weight of the world isn't crushing you. It is this, and this alone, that truly reveals the difference between the rich and the rest of us.
Despite the needlessly nasty tone this thread has taken, I'm afraid I will have to agree with some of the points made by ARESGODOFWAR. Here's how I understand this statement by this poster: "I say the masses of America and the world are getting exactly what they deserve":
What is happening TODAY is the result of bad choices made BY THE PEOPLE in the past. Simple case in point: the refusal to heed the message of Ralph Nader by a vast majority of the voting public and the gall of some Dem supporters **to this day** to blame Nader for Gore's loss in 2000. This, while enjoying the fruits of Nader's activism in the past. While an Al Gore might have started talking about the environment and climate change from the late 1980's onward, Ralph Nader has warned about environmental pollution almost 20 years before. To pin him as a "consumer advocate" would be grossly unfair, as this is a man that truly cares about justice and the welfare of the people and is willing to fight the fight, while maintaining personal integrity. And yet, if people did not know enough about him, it was because they allowed themselves to be drowned by all the other noise from the media. Some of this drowning was voluntary, and the roots of this problem lie much deeper.
What I mean by deeper roots is that Americans, like people in many countries, did not question the origins of their apparent prosperity, cut off as they were from nature and ignorant or forgetful or unmindful of the history. The history is one of violence and greed and extreme unfairness. The Civil Rights Movement may be one of the lone exceptions when people joined together to fight for the common welfare. Most other fights were for personal benefit of some kind.
The deep disconnect with nature has produced an extremely unsustainable system. People may blame capitalism. But the main reason most people do not bother to fight capitalism, IMO, is NOT because they are afraid to take on the system, but they simply don't bother as long as their lives are ok, even though warnings have always been there about what this system would do in the end. Just look across the border to Canada: the people are happily cheering for their "local" NHL hockey teams while a few more Canadian cities cannot wait to get their own "local" team bought and transported from the U.S. where cities can no longer afford to buy the tickets and thus support these teams. They just reelected a conservative government with a comfortable majority (without the shackles of a minority arrangement) despite everything that is known about this gang. The last time around in 2008, they dumped the Liberal Party even though it had a leader who talked about "sustainability" (in his Quebec French accent), because apparently he was not charismatic enough! Look at Australia: Kevin Rudd, who took the first tentative steps for bringing Australia into the list of nations that admit that climate change is a serious problem and action needs to be taken, had to go, handing over his position to Julia Gillard. And what do the Australian people do in last year's elections? They increase the number of seats for the right-wing Coalition, even though Gillard's Labor Party is nominally "left".
I know there will be some bright spots here and there if one searches for them around the world where the people have consciously made the right choice towards sustainability. But for the most part, people do not care about long term sustainability, are easily manipulated and scared by politicians doing the bidding of corporations and generally do not care about the ethics of their government's foreign and military policies. If they do care, it is not visible.
This is the reason I keep harping on the mindless distractions that people indulge in - such as cheering for their "local", commercially-owned sports team, various "stars", etc., not bothering to look closely at the implications of their distractions. A society would only be a reflection of its parts. So whatever values are dominant would, over time, be reflected in its culture, tradition, and even laws. Societies are never static, of course. But the lack of struggle to right the various wrongs when the economy "appears" to be doing ok and when people have their basic needs met (though in an unsustainable manner) shows that some of the blame has to lie with the people. This is NOT blaming the victims, as I refuse to accept that people who act mindlessly during an apparent "prosperity" are victims. The first step to regain or gain power for the first time is to get over this victim mentality and face up to our collective guilt and collective karma and admit that we may have made stupid choices in the past, condoned violence and brutality carried out in our name and have enjoyed ill-gotten wealth in the past.
Thank you for finding something positive to post in the dustup.
"fac(ing) up to our collective guilt and collective karma and admit(ing) that we may have made stupid choices in the past, condoned violence and brutality carried out in our name and have enjoyed ill-gotten wealth in the past."
Facing up to these will be a good start. Change will require (among other things) a group of people who are committed to telling us history accurately, politics be damned. If they are to be credible we will need that they be dispassionately committed to reflecting the truth accurately. We need this if we are to reach out and discuss cooperation with people who are not in agreement with progressive thinking.
memento,
While we reach out we have to remember that people committed to deflecting the truth are fearful of the truth, because they don't understand it's the only thing that can set them free. I sense that many people are deeply terrified (mostly of their own inner shadows) and they do need to be treated compassionately and gently encouraged to see things from another perspective.
Yes, tact, compassion, and understanding are needed along with the commitment to seeing the truth. Also we must not forget how very easy it is to fool ourselves, and thus retain some humility.
Allcyon, I also have to agree with some points made by ARESGODOFWAR. Yes, the public is misinformed, brainwashed, and given fake elections with prefab choices. Yes, they are victims. But as you say, part of their passivity lies in the fact that they are satisfied, and will remain satisfied as long as they are comfortable. By the time they are made uncomfortable, they will find the security state so tightly controls their action that they lack any recourse. I'm afraid we're on the cusp of that now, if not already in it.
What part of the average US citizen's passive acceptance of a hugely corrupt system is lack of power, lack of knowledge, lack of concern, or self-acknowledged compliance for the sake of one's own comfort is a matter of opinion. True, all that educates us, from the media to the schools to most of those around us--certainly those we see as successful--point to the virtues of blind compliance. Unfortunately, most do the math and realize that to join the corruption increases their largesse, minor as it may be. That requires a voluntary self-corruption.
What really bothers me is the level of nastiness I've been seeing on these threads lately. Attacking people who you have more in common with than not is not useful. Driving people out of the discussion makes this a sterile forum of conformity. I'm always up for a good debate, but accusations and suspicions as I've seen lately are more hysterical than anything.
Nice.
There is karma for ignorance that starts with "ignore."
It's never too late to embrace the truth, for a change, or to at-one.
I think Ares and you are saying there is some point where we, the common man, must wake up and see our own complicity in all of this. Rose is right too, there is a certain blind ignorance in conformity, which makes one a victim, meaning one is a victim, first and foremost, of his or her own ignorance. People worship the rich and famous because they want to be just like them. You have programs after the prime time news about their lush lifestyles and behaviors.
I disagree wholeheartedly. The problem is the people know they are being financially raped, but they have no recourse to stop it.
The Government, assuming it is funtioning as it should, is supposed to protect the little guys from the financial beheamoths through laws and the enforcement of those laws.
Well, the system has malfunctioned to where the exact opposite is happening. The goons are protecting the richfilth from those of us who would like to make richman's bacon (out of richmen.)
When 80% of the population is angry and believes hteir government to be opposing them, watch out. The first carelesssly tossed match will cause an explosive revolution. There are gazillions of small arms in this country, and with reloading supplies available at every gunshop across the land, the material for bombs are prevelant.
So, Mr. Blankfein, Mr. Diamon, Mr. Fuld, et al...you might want to rethink your plans before you die the most horrible death imaginable.
Yes, that was my first thought, too: the unions aren't nearly strong enough to pull off major political pressure. And as you say, that is at least partly because of their own political decisions. Nor do they have an effective electoral arm, so the Democrats can just smile fondly and figure the unions will give in and vote for Democrats like good little boys and girls.
There is, however, a progressive electoral party that supports labor and a just economy: the Green Party. Trouble is, they aren't strong enough, as things stand, to make a major impression, either. In particular, they don't have ballot access in enough states.
A movement that can throw open our political process and threaten the grip of the rich would have to be a coalition: Labor, the Greens, other progressive organizations like Nader's, and the discontented young people willing to sleep in the streets, as in the Arab Spring and now Europe. That begins Oct. 6, with a planned street occupation now being organized: http://october2011.org/.
Without a broad coalition like that, we'll be out in left field catching foul balls again. I don't for a minute believe the unions are ready for Shamus Cooke's ideas or mine, but would be thrilled to see it happen. Things seem to be just bad enough to give us a chance to turn them around.
You are correct. I think big business is using illegal aliens as SCABS. "A 1997 study by the American Academy of Sciences found that the cheap labor of illegal immigrants and poor immigrants caused a 44% decrease in wages among the poorest Americans from 1980 to 1994." White Collar jobs are being lost to VISAs. The working class fought so hard to get rid of child labor. They fought and died for a 40 hour week and time and a 1/2 for overtime, minimum wage, safety on the job and the right to have unions and arbitration. All that is coming down along with the standard of living. Companies are shipping jobs to foreign countries that have slave labor and low standards of living. That's why we need the birth of a new IWW.
When's the first meeting?
Eat the rich.
A cannibal was walking through the jungle and came upon a restaurant opened by a fellow cannibal.
Feeling somewhat hungry he sat down and looked over the menu...
Broiled Missionary: $10.00
Fried Explorer: $15.00
Baked Politician: $100.00.
The cannibal called the waiter over and asked, "Why such a price difference for the politician?"
The cook replied "Have you ever tried to clean one of them?"
moonpie,
you gave me the biggest laugh today!
Aw, man! You beat me to it! that was MY Modest Proposal. They A) all have personal trainers, and B) shop at Whole Foods, so they're guaranteed to be lean and anti-biotic free, although they'll need to be field-dressed carefully to avoid botox and silicone contamination.
Oh, oh I will make some good Soylent Green. I am a free-range working poor who spends the litttle money I have on healthy food.
Make it past tense...what's done is done!
Here is another tale that really adds another dimension to this article:
Roll Over, Karl Marx
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burnett/roll-over-karl-marx_b_874817.html
It ends.....
"Finally, if Karl Marx were alive today, he'd observe that in America the Republican Party is the political arm of capitalists but there is no comparable vehicle for the concerns of workers -- whereas in European countries there are Labor or Social Democrat political parties to represent the proletariat. Since World War II the Democratic Party has become a centrist Party, "capitalism lite." Because of the obscene amounts of money involved in American politics, Democrats have found it increasingly difficult to take a hard line on capitalism. That's why, with the exception of Senator Bernie Sanders and a handful of other brave Congresspeople, workers have no consistent voice in the American political process.
Marx was half right. Unfettered capitalism has promoted class polarization in the US. But it's far from inevitable that this will produce class conflict, revolution, and a new social order. American workers are too weak and disorganized.
Karl Marx is rolling over in his grave."
What has happened since Marx's day is that the industrial organization that most workers are employed within is much different. Assembly lines, mines, and mills fostered a sense of solildarity and common purpose but these environments are fast disappearing in this country. Now, most workers, and especially white collar workers, are isolated and powerless before their employers.
"When it becomes obvious to even the President that the economic recovery never existed.."
If only the President had known things would have been entirely different. Instead of bailing out the people who caused the problem, he would have helped the people losing their savings, homes and jobs. He would have created a real recovery.
If only he had known...
Meanwhile, here in the real world, he knew, and knows.
Yes, the trickle down theories are destroying our economy but pundits seem to view this with equanimity. Chris Matthews asks if this downturn is a reset of the economy and lists the reasons why. Maybe Chris can accept it. Will the American people? The rich are destroying not only our economy--they are destroying our politics. They are destroying not only our politics but the fabric of decent civil society. Uncivil society follows. I myself would like to see every expert on that Chris Matthews panel suffer retribution for telling us, (no matter how politely) to shove it, to give up hope of employment at decent wages.. I want them to suffer unemployment and have them meekly accept it, as I'm sure they believe the American public will. And if these newly unemployed pundits dare to ask for more--then I would say to them what they have said to us. Let's make them the ones who are expendable--off with their heads.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Ares's analysis and conclusions. Equally so, most will probably find the Ares analysis to painful to accept. And better than accepting an unpleasant reality, they will continue to make excuses, counter with deep-intellectual analysis, to continue their "anybody better than theory of politics...," and then support and vote for the robbers and the murders yet again (i.e., the "smarter" guy, the "better educated Harvard" guy, etc), hoping they will stop being robbers and murders; hoping for change! (Ins't this a commonly used definition of insanity?)
You're about as honest as you are intelligent. How DARE you conflate my opinions or positions with that of getting someone like Obama re-elected?
You said (in complete error):
"This is why I have no sympathies for SiouxRose or the people he/she wants to forever make excuses for.."
By relating how the population itself is programmed by powerful agents with all sorts of efficient conditioning tools at their disposal, is hardly the same thing as my wishing to get the same compromised political players elected. The premises are completely unrelated!
Do you even understand basic language? You obviously can't follow a point to its logical conclusion.
And I see that as is typically the case, the dumber the poster, the more likely the tag team will appear to reinforce the post. So, I'll tell you what, rather than waste my Sunday dealing with the likes of you, why don't you and the jerk reinforcing your posts just jerk each other off, instead?
And this little ad hominem:
"SiouxRose has already laid vicious chops ..."
Since one of my chief messages is that Mars (i.e. Aries) is the dangerous, out of control principle, that wields a disproportionate influence over Amerikan affairs, and you specifically elected to show up in this forum (as if a newcomer) using "Aresgodofwar" as your screen name, naturally YOUR provocation was directed at me. So who laid their vicious chops into whom, ding-bat?
I read this site every single day and I have never once seen a post from ARESGODOFWAR. AND given your obvious ignorance of all things that Siouxrose happens to stand for, YOU obviously have never posted under this pen name before. You are a hack, a fraud, and a liar. You are the one out of excuses. You are the one that is the problem. You run around ragging on the ignorance of the masses, as if everyone on this site is not acutely aware of that condition. People on this site in general, and SiouxRose specifically, are trying to shed a little light (i.e. truth) on the masses, so that one day we can all move past this unfortunate human condition. Your defeatist attitude and ad hoc insults accomplish nothing, quit pretending like you're part of the solution.
I second that...
...third
Fourth....
Thinking for myself is very easy task and one that I do on a regular basis. I've got plenty of archived comments that can prove this too. But wasting my time on a douche bag, like you, is just not that conducive to my time in this world.
I thought Odin was the God of War. I know what you are saying. But it's way beyond just thinking for yourself. And you are the God of War. Are you ready to take up arms and lay down your life for what you believe in? Cause that's what it's going to take - What's worth dying for? (lot of preps at the end of the sentences)
Double post.
I thought Odin was the God of War.
Most people ignore the truth of what you say because to accept it would mean some action or effort on their part, hence, the word ignor-ance. We should call for the removal of Clarence Thomas. He is one big conflict of interest. It's easier to just let the A** H*** sit there, cause we'd rather just watch a reality show while our own reality disintegrates.