Terrorism Disguised As News

 

 

It came to me after seeing the rants of both Rove and Trump that they are terrorists.  If one looks at the definition of the term one finds that it states among other definitions that a terroist is “a person who terrorizes or frightens others.”  An interesting discussion on Morning Joe observed that there are those who profit from exploiting the bias and hate that permeates our society.  This group of supposed analysts continues to present a position that does little but reduce any serious discussion to name-calling.  That we face a gridlock in our government is owed to the fact that this minority of supposed objective observers are little more than snake oil salesmen selling a product that does little but enflame the fear that they create.

The fact is this operation is only about making money and if the country is broken beyond repair they smile a wry smile for it means that they can sell more junk on its commercial breaks and books and papers.  That a sacred trust, The First Amendment, can be torn to shed in the pursuit of profit should be a telltale sign that fair and balanced is only a slogan, a fabricated catch phrase.  Any discussion of Fox must be done in the context of News Corp, its parent company.  A corporation found to have violated decency and privacy to get sensationalistic stories to adorn its front pages.  That a corporate culture can allow a young victim’s phone to be hacked in the pursuit of its “reporting” demonstrates that there are no depths, no gutter too slimy for this company.  That a man with a vision colored in slime can then become a force in American journalism affirms his view that there is sizable gullible population ready to buy into its own bias.  The formula for success was quite simple:  First, populate air waves with a legion of leggy blondes (see Mr. Murdoch’s British papers and its reliance on sex to sell), Second hire an army of glib analysts, and lastly enlist zealot politicians.  In short, round up a large collection of whores willing to sell their souls for money and feed their ambitions.

That this collection of reprobates actually had duped a vast majority of Americans is to realize that humanity often times like the lemmings willing rush head long without an idea of where the throng is going.  That this collection of supposed journalists can interpret reality to further enhance their wrongheaded opinions is to realize that honesty in the face bullying stands a formidable opponent.

One hates to put limitations on rights, but the question remains how can an Australian sleaze merchant get to operate a “news” network in the United States.   How?  Of course, sitting on the throne of power is Roger Ailes, a media consultant for Reagan, Nixon, and Giuliani.  One can only imagine how this Jabba the Hut like character presides over the operations, indeed the Star Wars analogy is not that far off.   One thing is certain with Fox is that you either stay in lock step or you are banish.  When Beck stepped out of line, he was banished to the internet.  No one messes with Jabba, no one.

This collection of supposed news people have garnered a sizable audience, proving little save that people are hungry and need the solace of drones who feed them what they want to hear.  That presentations are caustic and inflammatory provide an outlet for the angst that seethes inside.  That glib blondes and vociferous egg heads pontificate about morals and issues while ignoring decency and ethics and get away with by calling it fair and balance is a paradox of 21^st century media.  All the while, this farce continues to stroke the hatred that consumes individuals, the nation, and the government.  That the electorate sent a resounding message of compassion and concern should give this monolith of hate and ignorance a wake-up call, but it won’t, for there is still a profit to be made in stroking the flames of hatred and ignorance.  Lincoln’s words ring out, “You can’t fool some of the people all of the time.”

Looking at the demographics, it is clear that the country is changing.  We are no long a white country with a black minority.  No, the face of the nation is changing with the many hues and combinations of humanity itself.  If we look deeply at our history we see the many wrongs perpetrated with the ideal that there was some who believed that it was their god given right to do whatever it felt like doing.  Adding profit and greed to this affliction made the tragedy left in the wake no surprise.  What the future holds I believe is that the many who followed the nonsense being peddle at Fox with continue to diminish in size and influence.  This election shows that the white scourge of hatred and supposed superiority is but a diminishing influence.  That is why Rove and Trump can scream and yell and claim that everything is wrong.  Indeed from their perspective it is.  Fortunately, their reality doesn’t exist and their influence diminishes as their audience fades away.

Our Dirty Little Secret

 

 

The long arduous presidential campaign season is coming to close.  Thankfully, we all have endured the constant and deafening cries of half-truths and lies.  The candidates have done much to obfuscate and stay clear of issues that are the more compelling, like gun control and global warming.  I lean to the left on all issues and hence my man is the president.  I dislike “etch-a-sketch” Romney not so much for what he is but what he isn’t.  He reminds me of the hard sell snake oil salesman who will do anything; say anything to make the sale.  He is a man without a core, a vacuous salesman.  The only true portrait I have seen was on the Daily Show.  Obama didn’t do much when he had the chance and the fact that the “know nothings” and the “do nothings” Congressmen can point that out is unpardonable in my opinion.  Rather than attempt to work with the troglodytes, on day one of his administration he should have pushed through a budget and a single payer health care.  That said, I still have got to stick with the only hope of turning the corner on the mass stupidity that seems to have a grip on our government. 

Underlying this election, indeed the past four years, has been the rampant racism that still holds this country in a death grip.  While the right will scream at Obama yelling he is dividing this country with his penchant for class warfare, the truth is that the right and its noise makers are little more than a bunch of racists.  So bigoted are they, that if they were to be truly honest with the people they would don white hoods when they go on the air waves.  The sad and most troubling aspect of that scenario would be that they would not lose a single devoted follower. 

Fact is Obama started his presidency with three strikes against him.  Remember that for the longest time, a black man couldn’t be a quarter back in football because of their supposed inferior mental ability.  What preconceived notions did we hold for black politicians.  Our society has place the bar for a black person to be accepted so high that only the truly superior can measure up to it. Thus, we can have a mediocre even an inferior white man, like George W. Bush, and he can sail into a second term based on little save the ability of the apparatchiks and devious handlers, especially the likes of Karl Rove.   To touch a raw nerve of many conservatives, we can see a senile old B actor raised to the status of an icon, based on the some glib remarks and an affable smile.  Yes, President Reagan was slowly slipping into that dark and murky world of an Alzheimer patient while in the oval office. 

We have a president who is bi-racial and has overcome the stiffest of all odds to become a highly educated man.  Yet we can have a nincompoop like Palin mock him as “jive ass” while she is little more than that.  We have Sununu speaks of an endorsement as a racial thing.  Behind all this blather is a deep seated prejudice that I would bet this collection of bigots would deny and scream that the race card was being played if it were mentioned.  Yet the race card was being played time and time again, and it was they who were playing it, not overtly but subtly in all they said and didn’t say.

The election will be tough and close because this country was never really the land of the free.  It was basically the land of the free white people.  It is ironic that the same folks who misread the constitution claiming that it is Christian government oftentimes merely overlook the key amendments to the constitution that truly made this country free, at least on paper. 

To understand how deep the divide is among us, just look at the break down of who is supporting Romney; it is the white folks, especially the old white males.  Interesting to say the least.  Obama needs to be reelected for no other reason than it is time for this country to shed that skin of prejudice.  Like a snake, we need a new skin.  We need to wiggle ourselves from our past.  Most importantly, we need to give the President a fighting chance to do the things he wants to do.  If the old bigots and hate mongers don’t want to go along with this change than we need to do all we can to vote these people out of office and send them back to their caves where they can live out their days in the darkness that have spent their life in.

 

  

It's The Structural Deficit, Stupid

Man oh man, doesn’t any of these so called experts who bloviate on the tube get it.  Really you would think that if you were being paid to have an opinion you would least understand things.  First and foremost, the current deficit didn’t arise in past four years.  There is a fundamental teaching in Buddhism that goes, “If this, then, that.”  A simple concept to be sure and easily understood.  This follows that. 

               To hear the neocons and the blowhards on Fox, you would think that Obama created the budget deficits.  Let get with the facts, when Bush was handed the presidency by a bias court, the budget was balanced.  He then proceeded to propose and get passed a budget with a substantial tax cut.  Then his vice along with the secretary of defense proceeded to plot and plan their adventures in the Middle East.  September 11^th gave these dark and nefarious “evil doers,” the opportunity they were waiting for.  Two things about the misadventures in Iraq will illustrate my thesis.  It was a greedy grab by two disreputable curs to 1) get the oil and dump American crap like Wal-Mart on the Iraqi people and the rest of our toxic capitalism and 2) give Halliburton open access to the US Treasury.   This incursion into the Middle East was really costly, but the Bush Administration with a budgetary sleight of hand was able not to budget for the war.  How that happened is a mystery but how the Democrats let it slip by is unpardonable. 

               When you have a structural deficit, it means simply one is spending more than one is taking in.  Most states are required by law to balance the budget.  So if you hear an ex-governor, like Romney, speak of his experience of balancing a budget, remember it is the law that does it not him.  Of course, governors can fudge the law by developing authorities and other such things, but this is not a discussion of public administration.  Suffice it to say, the federal government is unique because it can print money.  So, here you have these Fox knuckleheads screaming about the deficits when it is their asinine positions responsible for the deficits.   The irony of ironies is that these collections of “No-Nothings” scream their craziness on a supposed business channel.  Only in America, well, not true, this scenario could be played out in Wonderland, because it is very, very curious.

               Where are the Democratic apologists?  Where is the President?  When talking about the deficit, they, he needs to put it to them.  Of course, the “No Nothings” never deal with facts or reality when confronted with an opposition to their inane policies, practices or acts, they merely scream some untruth or resort to name calling all the while adopting some smug know it all demeanor.  That people actually buy into this bull never ceases to amaze me.  Of course, Obama has a hand in this fiscal debacle.

               When Obama was awarded that Peace Prize he should have quoted both Gandhi and King and proceeded to effectively stop the wars.  That act would have been both a political and budgetary act worthy of his campaign.  To have bought into the military BS that a surge was needed was to adopt the policies of Bush and the nefarious characters he had surrounded himself with.  Second, he should have opened an investigation in the actions of the vice president and his cohorts and uncovered the rat’s nest that that office had created.  What I am saying is Obama’s election was a seminal event in this country and the world, his actions from day one should have rose to the lofty historical event.  Unfortunately, the wheels of mediocrity and bullshit spun like it always had.

               Once there was an opportunity to truly part ways with the so called tried and true practice of governing.  There was a window that would have allowed this country to forgo its insane jingoistic practice of economic colonialism.  We should have tarred and feathered the crooks on Wall Street who flagrantly put our economy in the throes of a recession. To employ a line from “On the Waterfront” and to paraphrase, “We could have been a contender” in the ring of a truly new order where the lives of our greatest minds and their dreams could have shaped our actions towards a world order often talked about but never seen.  Alas, the moment has passed and we are stuck with choices.  We live in a world confused and befuddled with moguls strutting about proclaiming their greatness when in fact like us they are bounded by the limits of being human.  To look into the world and not see the absolute horrors that abounds and to blithely assert that there is super class of entrepreneurs who know how to get things done is to close one’s eyes to the present and not have a clue of how we got here.  We are stuck in the bog of our past, chained to positions that make no sense, guided by forces of greed and entitlement.  That the job of president might just be a ceremonial office of bounded by an inability to do what one wants is a reality that might be at the heart of our difficulties.  J.K. Rowling on the Daily Show commenting on the state of our political system suggested that perhaps we should reaffirm our allegiance to the Queen and adopt a parliamentary form of governing.  Because, perhaps, just perhaps, this grand experiment of governance has meet its match in partisan bickering where truth is buried in ideologies, and incompetence reigns supreme, and where knowledge has no place in the face ignorance, and where high ideas are jettison in the pursuit of nonsense.

               Our political parties are merely shades of grey. 

The Bullshit Paradox

 

               My oh my, it is hard to imagine that there was ever a time when more bullshit ruled in the course of an election  then what we are seeing this cycle.   Even though the history of this country is marked by an almost pathological disposition for candidates to wallow in the mud and to lie through their teeth to get to their asses elected, it would seem in this era of television bullshit has soared to new heights.  Spin masters and the candidates themselves have perfected the art of bullshit.  In essence one simply keeps bullshiting even in the face of serious questions or facts.  There really should be no surprise when we discover we have idiots, thieves, degenerates and other disreputable characters passing laws.  To make matters worse our elected idiots then appoint their ilk to seats on the Supreme Court.  It is a wonder this grand experiment in democracy hasn’t blown up before now.  Given the fact that the news room has been converted to a beauty salon reduces our ability to get an honest reporting of the election.  For the most part, all we get are talking heads mouthing bullshit in an attempt to convey the essence of debates.  One cannot watch a single partisan spokesperson explain something without being bombarded with bullshit.  From ignoring reality to just plain lying, we see air time being devoted to bullshit.  Which leads me to the conclusion that we should have political debates conducted in a muddy pig pen and let the candidates have at each other.

               I am a Democrat, have been and will always be one.  Therefore, I find Republican bullshit more distasteful than Democratic bullshit.  I guess I like to think of myself as a man who believes in honest science.  I say honest because there are a whole bunch of dumbbells out there who think science is picking out select passages of Scripture and proclaiming truisms based on stuff written when people still believed the earth was the center of the universe. Now some will say that is a mischaracterization of the Republican Party.  Well, if you hear pronouncements from idiots, like Aiken of Missouri or West of Florida and don’t disavow yourself from them, well, birds of a feather flock together.  Sure I pity a true conservative who has watched his party taken over by folks who defy the characterization that homo sapiens are a rational species.

               This brings me to the current election and this pairing of Romney and Ryan.  With Romney we have a man who will say anything to get elected to whatever office he is running for.  If he is running in a liberal state, well, he espouses liberal positions.  If he is running for the nomination of a party taken over by crazies, well, he espouses the crazies’ position.   He is truly an etch a sketch candidate.  I don’t want to get into his religion, but the whole premise of Mormonism tends to fall into the category of all religions but with a somewhat modern twist, (modern being a historical reference).  Being a Mormon, there is creed to make the world a better place, and I might ask for whom?  What is scary is that the dude is a bishop; now shouldn’t a bishop walk around with something to signify him as a bishop.  A bishop is a serious dude with a serious vow.  I guess Mormons need to go underground or something unlike the Catholics who prance around in gowns and funny hats.  What I am asking is shouldn’t people who have this tie to a specific hierarchy identify themselves and detail his pastoral duties?  Maybe he is mandated by church cannon to turn over all of the nation’s vital statistics so the church can baptize everyone, living or dead.  The elders did do that with Jews who died in concentration camps.

               As for Ryan, he is a person who has embraced ever neocon position, every tea party tenet, and every evangelical aspiration.  He is the poster child of the “no nothings” who parade themselves as patriots, who haven’t a clue of what the world is about or if they do they choose to ignore it.

               Obama is plagued by bullshit as well.  In the second debate, he couldn’t answer many of the questions directly preferring to use the opportunity to skew his opponent.  It seems more important to stay on message than to be genuine.  That the man was at least conscious in this debate spoke volumes to how these candidates are packaged and programmed.  Hell it is like both are Manchurian candidates. 

               Well, time is rapidly approaching when the partisan bullshit will end, and the country can get back to its steady diet of bullshit offered by a whole economy designed around selling stuff, from erections to aluminum siding, from drugs to reality shows.  That a company can spill millions of gallons of oil and then tell us it is working on the environment, to beer commercials touting the benefits of alcoholism among the young, to car companies showing youth how to kill themselves driving too fast, our 21^st century society is a society functioning within an economic system that thrives in a world where truth is relegated to “positions” and it is mandatory that bullshit be given equal time.  Of course, if the folks who bullshit can afford it, they can have all the time their money can buy.

              

The Less Than Great Debate

Hubris

 

                There is a moment in a Greek Tragedy when the main character meets his disastrous fate not from forces without but from the character flaw that drives his persona.  In last night’s debate, we witnessed the flaws of the two men who aspire to be the president in the next term.  Romney is clearly a brash bully who feels entitled, a flip flopper who will say anything to win the hearts and the minds of the electorate.    Obama presents himself as the cool detached man who resides in and presides over a bubble.

                In the case of Romney, we have a man who forces his way into the issues and hammers on points either different from his previous pronouncements or based on fabrications.    He is a skilled prestidigitator, almost a shift shaper, appearing at once both your ally and nemesis.    That he ran and won a party’s nomination on the basis of being more conservative than right wing fanatics and screwballs speaks to his deft ability to appear to be whomever it is you wish to see.

                The president, on the other hand and after four years in the white house, seemed to convey the studied and even temperament of an intellectual armed with reason and civility.  He repeats points as if they are truisms that should be taken by all as gospel.  His gestures and demeanor showed that he is detached from the reality of confrontation.   He was, in short, speaking to the TV audience while his opponent was doing that as well but attacking him directly and indirectly with a barrage of concocted facts and premises, all the while, shaking the  etch a sketch.

                In the end, we got little more than a reality show, which of course has nothing to do with being real.  Fact is that if these guys need a “debate school” to “pimp” them out for a public display then I will conclude Romney had the better “paint job.”  His team took a standard sedan and made it into a hot rod.  While the Obama folks thought they could squeak by just hand waxing the Prius.

                Fact is that neither showed the vision one would expect a leader should demonstrate in these troubling times.  Romney spouted sad allusions to the great nation with the (and I hate this word) awesome military.  To be quite frank, anyone who would admit that they like Snooky of the Jersey Shore should be disqualified for the Presidency on that basis alone.  When asked that question he should have responded, “I don’t watch that shit.”  The president continues to demonstrate that he is no liberal.  He certainly didn’t bring the righteous indignation that most of us liberals harbor.  To stand across from some conservative who talks in clichés and false hoods and not call him out is tantamount to being perceived as weak.  Of course, Obama had abandoned us left wingers a long time ago.  For example, when Romney attacked “Obamacare” where was the retort with the facts to show this country supposed great health care rankings.   Hearing Axelrod the morning after is to hear the strategy, “be cool, be presidential, show the country you are a level headed operator.”  Problem is sometimes the game plan needs to be adjusted to win the game.

                I have a libertarian friend who posted “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” as his take on the debate.  That may have captured the debate from his perspective.  I believe that Romney supporters were energized because people follow bullies.  It is on the rare occasion that someone steps into the fray.  Check out the moderator, a decent man, letting the bully bully.  Underneath all this rhetoric of god and country and conservatism is an outright distaste for people of color.  As for Obama, he will continue along his path being cool and detached.  Unfortunately, I am afraid he will appear as his handlers want him to appear and that is something less than what he should be.  He said it last night when he insisted that at times one has to say no when principles hang in the balance, but where the hell was the passion to defend that position.  Problem is that he had abandoned the high road when he continued the wars, when he opted out of the fray and avoided a single payer provider in the health care law.  He has in short alluded to following the role of Lincoln but he hasn’t even come close to channeling him.

The Insincerity of Referencing Future Generations

Politicians are quick to point out that their polices are designed to protect the next generation from the excesses of the current times. The Republicans point to the budget and scream that we are enslaving our children by running deficits. They will puff up their mighty indignation and point to a society that has gone off the rails in doing too much for too many who parenthetically ought to get off off their lazy asses and go to work. That the only employment available is minimum wage jobs that would take at least a sixty or seventy hour work week to maintain a substandard existence is of little concern to those well-to-do folks who benefit from all kinds of incentives to keep them wealthy. To think that some average Joe actually buys into this bull is truly amazing.

Romney just recently went to a white board and demonstrated how a fool with some polish can make the most outrageous assertions seem viable. Ryan, on the other hand, cherry picked the conservative Rand's writings to rationalize high military budgets, more tax decreases for the wealthy all the while gutting social programs. When compared to a street walkers who make no bones about what they are offering for money, Ryan looks like a duplicitous whore who would parade himself as an intellectual all the while taking money from the citizenry and giving nothing but a goofy smile and some allusion about the future generations. It is said he wanted to be a politician since a child. Well, Atwater (the man who mastered hate and lying politics in the modern age) and Rove must have schooled this neo con zealot in how to package bull in patriotic wrappings.

The fact that Ryan's fiscal plan is being questioned by even Reagan's budget director makes you wonder just how far a flimflam man can go before people truly understand just what the hell he is selling. That aside, there is another area where the current crop of Republicans are full of it. That is the environment.

When any of these clowns talk about the future the question should arise what kind of a land and water quality are they proposing to leave as their legacy. Sure, the troglodytes can contend that the burning of fossil fuels and releasing carbon into the air has nothing to do with climate, but that doesn't mean that it “ain't” happening. In his book, “The Fate of Species,” Guteri talks about tipping points. They being a point in time when the effects of a consequence cannot be reversed. That the earth has already gone under some major extinctions in the course of its long history should raise a caution flag. That many of the catastrophic events have come, in geological terms, quite fast should be reason enough to look at polices and practices that have dire consequences. Something to the effect that you can't use your drinking as a place to dump your sewage. That dire changes could come upon humanity at a faster pace than models suggest would surely get thinking people to look at the issue without the bias of moguls who profit from those elements that are causing the harm. The focus should not only be on this country but the world as a whole. The fact that the United States thwarted the Kyoto Accord speaks volumes to the ostrich-like policies and practices of this nation.

This high handed reference to future generations that the vast majority of neo-cons are wont to allude shows that they are little more than profligate, insincere liars. Their practices and polices as well as their laws and their court decisions will do little but leave this country and the world a vast barren land, under water, with only the roaches surviving the upheaval befalling this small planet. Funny thing is that the world will survive and will take on a composition that will eliminate the need for reality shows, and politicians who claim that their god has charted the way for a country and its fools to do whatever the hell it wants without an iota of concern for the fragile nature of this small planet.

By the by, the Democrats can stop feeding at the troughs of the bankers and other bastards whose only concern is how to acquire vast amount of capital. One noble gesture would be to transition this nation from a war state to a peace state.

The Madness of Neoconservatism

Richard Jenni, a brilliant though troubled and tortured comic, once observed that it is within a man's ego to look upon himself and see nothing but what is in his mind. An overweight sow can assume because he has plastered his eyebrow down with spit he strikes an image like a matinee idol. So it is with the Republicans politicians who parade their idiocy and think that they are astute. The country is awash in debt and the right wing revisionists point to public service workers and safety nets programs as the sole source of our economic difficulty. To hear this collection of troglodytes pontificate on a balance budget is to think that they know the way to fiscal solvency. Yet the facts remain clear. You can't spend treasure on unfunded wars, you can't cut taxes when you are increasing government spending on military systems of dubious and questionable value and you can't keep proposing policies that are responsible for the mess.

Now we have Romney selecting Paul Ryan, who somehow has been labeled an intellectual, and a budget genius when he proposed among other things to create a voucher program instead of Medicare. Paper is the last thing our health care system needs. The system is awash in paper. Fact is simplistic solutions which do little but create more confusion to an already confusing and bewildering system will never do anything to improve health care. Vouchers will do nothing but unleash a host of providers who will spend millions, if not billions, to scream out to potential subscribers the benefits of their programs probably with no entity verifying their claims. Of course, the ghouls of our healthcare industry ( that would be those giant corporations who sell insurance) are just waiting to scoop all those vouchers from unsuspecting senior citizens and giving them nothing but denials and a whole lot of paper work. We need to eliminate the ghouls who have somehow gotten their greedy dirty hands in the middle of the relationship between doctor and patient. We don't need someone sitting in an office in Hartford to determine what are medical necessities and we don't need them determining who should get coverage and we definitely don't need politicians sucking up to these guys for campaign contributions. Yet, we have a fool like the Senate Minority Leader telling us that our healthcare system is the best. It is obvious he doesn't have a clue of how to read world wide statistics. Facts, though, never got in the way of a fool's proclamation.

The question is how did the government programs that attempted to build a great society become the problem when all the fault lies with corrupt bankers, fool hardy and chicken hawk politicians, and conservatives who think that the only government necessary is government that gives them tax breaks and allows them to operate free of any restriction in their pursuit of capital. In this curious world, environmental protection is tantamount to a crime while pollution is touted as a cost of doing business. Conservatives claim unions are at fault when in fact they were responsible for the iconic middle class which has shrunk due to the absolute ignorance of those who can't grasp a fundamental law of economic. If you give the rich a tax break they buy rich people things which benefit a few, while a working person will buy a house and housing, of course, is a good indicator of a vibrant economy though that would assume you keep the thieves out of the equation.

So, here we go folks. The gauntlet has been dropped. The “necons” have secured the Republicans. They are back with their fear and saber rattling. They have all the answers. They will talk of job creators and a country that is strong and possesses all the greatness it always has. They will talk of god as if they have had a personal audience with the almighty. Bottom line, they are full of themselves to such a degree that they cannot see the forest because of the trees. They have, in fact, been calling the shots along with the thieves on Wall Street for a long time. Industry has dominated the landscape forever while the public sector and the blue collar workers who once occupied a sliver of a middle class have faded because of a hostile environment created by two bit snake oil salesmen who have charmed the electorate with guile and deceit all the while waving a flag and singing patriotic tunes. This country is in a decline and I fear Romney, the newly anointed pied piper, is tooting a tune that is nothing more than a call to the masses to follow him as he leads them to the precipice, where, if perchance, he convinces them, they will, like lemmings, fall into the abyss of inane conservatism. The truth is the true conservatives have long opted out of the fray for the crazies are in control.

The Economy of Crap

 So the new growth rate was a rather paltry 1.5% which when compared to home prices and personal income was a downer. As an uneducated student of economics, I looked at the explanation given by the talking heads and asked, WTF are they talking about. Let see, we are stagnating because a) people are saving b) were not running out and buying new crap. Hmmm, does this make sense. It wasn't too long ago we got into a shit because people were spending too much and not saving, relying on credit cards to fuel the insatiable consumerism created by the constant bullshit that bombards every American on any electronic device 24/7. The depth and extant of this pernicious need to consume smothers the world in junk, for if there is one constant among all the crap we buy it will all become junk. To base an economy on junk is little more than an attempt to squander resources in the pursuit of an illusion that the present is more important than the future, or to think only in terms of the immediate effects, something like a child consuming too much ice cream. If the world is ever going to get off the hamster wheel, things will have to be recalculated using measures that will fully account for all the variables going into a product. For example, when we calculate the value of a new product, we need to include the cost of disposing of the shit that it comes in, and for the matter, the cost of producing all the crap it is wrapped up in. To look at new consumer goods as the be all and end all of prosperity is to deny what the hell it cost to produce and to junk it. We are so fixed on this madness that we can't see the consequences of the practices that need to be addressed before we have the “new” product in our hand. That brings us to a point, is it better for someone to save or to spend? I would argue that it is better someone save for the building up of capital makes it possible to buy more durable goods. Of course, that position can only be proven if the people who safeguard the monies aren't a collection of thieves. Alas, we need some regulations, well no, we need to arrest and convict those who betray the public trust and make it hard for the rest of them to steal, something like the steel doors in a bank, but only tighter for scurrilous pin stripped bankers. To be frank, I don't know a lot about economics but what I know is that buying shit shouldn't be the basis or the measure of how well we are doing. If the modern grid were to fail, let's face we would all be in a shit. Our towering cities and suburban enclaves would fail on a scale that only a doomsday author could fully detail. Our foothold on the world was demonstrated at Fukijima. In one horrific storm, that modern shell of comfort was destroyed. Somehow, we need to refocus our energies and our models to reflect a positive move forward. It is absurd to base our economy on merely production and waste. Funny thing, since most of the junk we buy comes from China, perhaps we need to understand the value of permanence and to appreciate that if something lasts it isn't bad. We don't need all this crap, we need stuff that lasts. So as the summer rends its way through the dog days and the candidates continue to babble and the reporters talk of numbers that really don't mean anything to anyone but to the people who calculate them, we need to ask what the hell does it all mean. I would think that, for me, it is time to save and to hold off buying useless stuff I don't need. If that is impacting the economy then it is the economy and how it is measured that is at fault not me.

Silly Season in a World of Bullshit

As the country bakes, the candidates ramped up their campaigns. One can only imagine what the final two months will be like though I imagine it will be like television except instead of banal commercial commercials we will have the banal political ones. That we are bombarded with bullshit from the great bullshit manufactures in the hopes that the brain numbing sales pitches will entice us to part with some of our diminishing cash reserves is a sign that in the end this economy is merely an illusion propped up by those whose only purpose is to acquire vast sums of money so they can bemoan the welfare state and buy politicians who will make them more wealthy. The fact that any common man without a portfolio or Swiss bank account will sign on to the beliefs that a) capital gain taxes are bad, b) that a public health system is socialism, and c) that capitalists know what is best for the country and the economy is a testament to Menken's admonishment that no one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the American public. While the noise machines of the right continue to incite their lemmings to action, the country flounders in a sea of greed, theft, and incompetence. That congress is little more than house filled with elected officials whose behavior can only be classified as juvenile, though to be fair, kids often acts with some degree of ethics and morality. The house is a joke parading as a deliberative body; and, the senate has turned out to be totally ineffective institution with the requirement that anything that passes that body needs 60 votes. The lazy bastards did away with filibustering so that they can spend more time at the trough of big campaign contributors than standing in the well and defending what they believe. Forget the banks. Daimon, who the president praised as a smart banker, has lost billions on risky investments. The explanation he gives sounds those of a dude with a gambling addiction. That the person responsible for the losses earned 28 million is unfathomable. That these thieves, they being the bankers, screwed consumers and municipalities with their fast talk and rate rigging and not having been brought to justice is proof positive that in this world we are in the hands of those who don't give a shit about anything but their own greed. What makes it all the more ironic is that “they believe they deserve everything they stole.” Mort Sahl made that observation many years ago. Unfortunately, it holds true today. Now for Mitt, here is a dude that claimed he is a job creator and he points to Bain Capital. Interesting, now that it has been shown that Bain was a job destroyer, he claims he wasn't in charge, just the CEO. Only in the curious world of politics can you have it both ways. As for Obama, he cites that his biggest mistake was that he failed to tell a story of hope. I think what he meant to say a narrative. We have had enough stories. What his biggest mistake was his dreaming some phantasy about a Lincolnesque team of rivals, when he should have hit the ground and kicked ass. Listening to those republicans early on, when he had a super majority in the senate and majority in congress, was tantamount to masturbating, though that act at least has some conclusion. So, here we are facing the dog days of summer. The super rich are ponying up their large checks so that they can get the ear of candidates. A recent article in the Atlantic, showed that the only people whose income went up where those with the most. The average joe is whipsawed by prices and a diminishing economy. The banks continue to get free money, while everybody's investments deteriorate. The rich will tell us they have the answers, but only a fool would believe them because these rich people have been in control and have had the politicians in their pockets and the only thing we got for all their bullshit, is crumbling schools, roads. We have squandered treasure and lives on senseless wars. We have gotten pollution. To make matters worse, we have to listen to idiots praise the rich and redefine what is good. Zealots with no morals tell people how live. Thieves manage are money. Hacks gum up our political institutions. Bullshit remains the underlying principle of this country and its economy. The candidates will begin pumping us with their unique brand of bullshit. The irony is that they are the only ones with the dough to wast on useless crap. Don't look for the news program to help decipher the bullshit. They only repeat it.

We are so screwed

Well the quadrennial popularity contest is upon us. Bullshit will be flying fast and in amounts never seen before now that the Supreme Thugs allowed robber barons to participate in the media frenzy that accompanies our national effort to reduce everything to tv spots. Forget a meaningful discussion of issues. Slogans and catch phrases will be hurled at us, always with the backdrop of some patriotic symbol. Fact is that our entire political system has been reduced to electronic bullshit. While there may be a real difference in the two candidates, the end result always seems to be the same. Money and monied people drive this country. We, the people, only matter at the polls and given the fact that the majority of us either don't give a shit or are too blinded by our own biases make the deciding faction a small minority. The candidates are, for all intensive purposes, sides of the same coin. Last time, the country went for hope and change, and all that was delivered was despair and the status quo. This year the deficit seems to be the issue. Luddites on the right scream we need to cut all social programs while maintaining tax cuts for the wealthy and expanding the military and its doomed missions. To hear this collection of “know nothings” is to hear the murmurings of the lemmings as they race toward the cliff's edge. They have no common sense. They huddled in circles and mumbled their prayers to a god that we can only be thankful does not exist. They reduce everything to faith and their faith is stooped in Byzantine knowledge. The movement of the right grew out of everything ugly and hateful in our history and to make it palpable they wrap it up in fundamental Christian thought that has nothing to do with Christ save the misappropriation of his name. As for the left, and in the interest of full disclosure, I am of that persuasion, we keep pushing the idea of equality and social services but we don't have a clue as to the dynamics under which the game is played. We have ideas that are, at times, strangely based on new age thinking that can be down right faddish. We supported Obama as if he was a messiah demonstrating that we are as fool hardy as our brethren on the right in our belief that we live in a system that can be shaped by the will of the people. What we got was but another four years of the failed polices of the previous administration. That a man as articulate as Obama could not have seen that the road to meaningful change comes from meaningful action not bullshit is beyond understanding. How can we believe that Congress is at fault when he was elected with a super majority and did nothing with it? To have waltz his way into this quagmire after four years is at its best a sign of incompetence. Underlying it all is the possibility that in this game of politics it is the moneyed people profiting from it all. Instead of Paul Volcker we got the wall street pigs who proceeded to suggest that they knew how to correct the mess they made. It was like to house breaking a pup by giving him a new room to crap in. To even suggest, as Obama did, that JP Morgan's chief guy is an astute banker is about as close as you come to drinking the Kool-Aid as you can get. If he is so damn astute, does he need a regulation to keep his subordinates from sashaying up to the dice table and pissing away a fortune? Give me break. I believe but I am not stupid. We are all plugged in and hopefully that maybe our salvation If we could only have an American Spring and move this country toward a meaningful path to a future filled with the promise that our science has given us. Politicians to the one are mere bull shit artists who work at convincing us at what we already know. As I look across the vast expanse that divides this country, the problem as I see it is that as much as we have been able to progress in terms of knowledge there is an opposing force just as certain in their ways to returning the country back to a time that never existed. In the meantime, the moneyed people sit in their glass tower smiling in amusement at the antics of the masses. For in the final analysis, as long as there are two factions fighting one another, neither will have the time to ferret out the real culprits.

The Legacy of Reagan

The Legacy of Ronald Reagan

It is hard to imagine looking at this year's Republican Primary and wondering where in the hell have all the conservatives gone. There exists in the annals of the GOP, many giants. Nelson Rockefeller comes to mind though to be honest he was more Democratic in his leaning than ever Republican. There was also Javits a senator from New York, Brooke of Massachusetts. Let's not forget Ike who warned the nation about the Military Industrial Complex. Add to this list, Drisken and many others. These men were all politicians but somehow they contributed to the great experiment. They had ideas, they promoted programs, they advocated policies. In short, they helped to steer the great ship of state through the troubled waters of time. Where have men of this caliber gone?
I think the fall of the Republican party began with the ascent of its recent icon, The Gipper. Ronald Reagan stands at the juncture between meaningful dialogue and manufactured bullshit, better known as “spin.” Reagan made stupid an art form. He could disarm and counterpoint the most salient of points with a down home, “There you go again.” Reagan was the senile grandfather whose greatest gift was his ability to make stupid seem common sense.
History shows that during the campaign for the presidency he won that he was dimwitted, not unlike a recent soccer mom with a pit bull ego. When asked serious questions, he showed nothing but confusion about history and geography. In fact, some analysis of his behavior suggest that he may have already been suffering from Alzheimer's. In the early going of that campaign, it was clear by his operatives and his wife that he was not up to the give and take of the campaign. What happened was that all of his contact thereafter was staged. The great modern conservative icon was scripted.
What is significant about this turning point in politics is that dumb became the new common sense. People related to Reagan, in large measure, because he was one of them. His smile and demeanor always at the ready played to the American sense that you didn't need to be smart. In fact, there was once a popular bumper sticker, that proclaimed, “if you so damn smart, why ain't you rich.” It was at this time “trickle down” economics became popular. The idea was if the rich had enough money, they would create opportunity. There was also something called the Lafer Curve used to prove supply side economics, and was about as sound as using a sieve to hold water. This popular leader played the tune of cliches and non statements that got the populace dancing. A program at the time, The Lives of the Rich and Famous extolled the virtue of excess and the masses sat in their homes and lived vicariously. Another push at the time was the assault on government. Regulations became the bane of the Republic. And of course, the ghouls who pushed this once B actor onto the main stage waited with baited breaths as the checks to their greedy nature were stripped away giving them full reign to do whatever they wish to do. What followed was the Savings and Loan Debacle.
The south plays into this revolution. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act and their inability to control the Democratic Conventions with their arcane penchant for segregation in all its ugly expressions, they flocked to the Republican Party and began with the slow sure progression of a malevolent force to seize control. Against this backdrop, enter the Elmer Gantries who with the help of hired guns like Reed and Atwater shaped public discourse with hate and fear.
It is a sad commentary that one party out of two is so far removed from the century we are living and the issues we are facing. Intolerance seems to be an underlying theme. Santorum can actually call out a president for being for education. It is absurd, when education has been the corner stone of all progress. I know the Senator is a Roman Catholic, and I would like him to point to one progressive act the church has taken in last one thousands years. I would dare say that the Rome of today would probably censor the Jesus of Biblical times for his positions expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. The irony of this current primary is that candidates can proclaim outright foolishness and prove their point by saying it is what I believe. It is like Reagan standing there on the platform and rather than answering the question come out with his “Aw shucks, there you go again.” The only thing more scary than that is me learning that after the primary season, the Republican candidate takes up the violin.
A great nation does not fall because of its lofty goals but its belief in things that have long outlived their usefulness.

Reflections From The Tropics

The amazing thing about the new right is that individually and collectively they are so self absorb in their twisted logic that to prove their outlandish position they need need to revise history, name call, outright lie or bend the facts. The conclusions they reach defy science and common sense. For example, they argue that the deficit is the chief problem but they don't want to raise revenues to reduce the deficit and if that wasn't enough they want to double down with tax cuts. The irony of this logic is that what they want to do will only exacerbate the deficit. It is so ironic that in the face of these deficits, most still rattle the sabers calling for more military expenditures. They also feel that business needs to be unshackled for its potential to be realized. They argue that any government regulation is onerous. A cursory look at the history of abuses of industry in this nation shows example after example where the public health and safety was compromised in the pursuit of profit. From child labor to the love canal to the financial collapse in any decade, we find greed and outright corruption at the heart of each and ever disaster. A most recent example of this insane approach to non intervention is the antics of Halliburton, a connected company, overcharging the government in Iraq. Unregulated business is but an open door to the law of jungle.
What is most striking about this new conservatism is those who elbow their way into the public eye and who bring equal amounts of bombast and viciousness to their glib critiques of anything outside of their limited political philosophy. They have mastered the art of name calling. They are little more than the executioner in the public square or the cruel and sadistic Caesar turning his thumb down towards the crowd. It is sad but true that we humans have a sick propensity for violence and enjoy both inflicting and observing it. It is to this perverse side of our nature that these ghouls of conservatism play to. That they are successful in their efforts causes me to shudder for out of this insanity lies the death, chaos, and mayhem of man's inhumanity to man as exemplified in the genocide so replete in human history. This collection of mad antagonists sow the seeds of hate. They care not for the consequences of their actions. As a result, political hacks looking to take advantage of public sentiment kowtow to these fools The sad result is a nation divided, a dead lock congress, an ineffectual president and a country incapable of dealing with the issues that need addressing. The antagonists drone on pushing the lemmings to the cliff's edge. What awaits is the pit of decline, wherein a great nation collapses into a fragment of what it was and its potential withers under the strain of hate, intolerance and ignorance.
Against this backdrop parade the fools who proclaim they are ready to play the tune so the lemmings will find some measure of calm as they hurry towards their sad fate. Fools and protagonists form a chorus whose shrill voices sing the song of a past history that existed only in the mind of the deluded. The masses crowd into cathedrals of ignorance nodding and cheering each and every inanity. Their cacophonous utterances drown out any hint of reason or science. Their only desire is to see any liberal skewed on their skews of indifference. “To hell with education” “To hell with the rights of women” “Death to the unbelievers” Then, with a pause, they stand to sing the National Anthem, though no one knows the words and they fill the empty spaces with monosyllables that tax their cognitive abilities. Slaves to simplistic explanations, they nod and affirm the nonsense they are fed.
Liberals are no better. They cling to a promise of equality while they hurry to whore themselves to the moneyed class. They, when given the opportunity to change things, procrastinate waiting for the succor from the moguls. They crave money so they will be able to continue in their role. Even the staunchest ones among this collection are tarnished with the benefits accruing to their station. Their idealism long ago sold away for thirty pieces of silver. Their constituents hold to the belief that their representatives are doing good, but the reality is that liberal and conservative dance the dance of politics which demand that the spoils be evenly distributed though the majority gets just a little more.
Our country has always had a spotted history. We freed the slaves but held them in chains with Jim Crow Laws. We offered reforms in the stock market after the crash only to unleash insatiable hogs who dreamed up schemes with the help of rocket scientists. We talk of worker safety while we send the coal miners down to their tombs. We sacrifice the good earth. We sacrifice our youth to misadventures. All the while deceiving ourselves with bullshit. America isn't so beautiful when looking from the window of a tenement while your child wheezes from the stifling air. All the while those who have made it to the pinnacle of the dung heap complain about food stamps as their distended bellies push away the excesses of their greedy eyes. Their offal more food then some children in some distant land will see in their short lives because hunger will snuff out their brief life.
As I sit and write this, I too am part of the pampered lucky ones. I have been able to eat my way into obesity. I have been able to draw dole from the Treasury for services rendered. I have gamed the system and am able to do things that others before me couldn't even dream about. I have stood and observed things that defy description, like a sunset from the deck of ship in the middle of the ocean. I have broken bread with those who haven't a worry about finances. I have heard them decry the liberals for wanting too much. I have heard them begrudge the poor for the relief they receive. All the while, they bask in the benefits of a system designed that allowed them great wealth. It is an irony the satirist Mort Sahl described in this fashion, The Rich Conservative Believes He Deserves Everything He Stole.

The Hypocrisy of Piety

To hear officials of the The Catholic Church express their outrage at a rule that would require their hospitals and schools to afford birth control to its workers you would think that their institutions were bastions of morality and ethics. The Catholic Church has always presented itself as the keeper of the sacred scriptures and arbitrator of all things moral. While it sanctimoniously claimed that any rule that spoke of contraception was morally reprehensible, dioceses had to be dragged into court to protect the innocent children who were being abused by those who had taken sacred vows to minister to the congregations. The outrageous hypocrisy of these “saintly” folks defies reason.
First and foremost in all matters related to the health care of an individual, it is between the patient and doctor. No one can supersede that bond. For a bunch of old men to declare what a woman's right should be is as ludicrous as some of the actions taken to protect the guilty pedophiles who haunted the sacristies looking for victims. To be quite frank, any moral high ground these so called church leaders once had was eroded by their own fulsome acts of protecting the perpetrators in their ranks.
Second, the leadership of the Catholic Church has a long history of displaying an abysmal showing of 13th Century thought. While birth control could do wonders for the developing world under the See, the papacy and its band of bishops, have continued to subject many third world nations to continuing poverty while spreading dogma no longer relevant in the 21st century. The history of the church is replete with example after example of adherence to standards and practices clearly tied to the dark ages. Lest we forget the obstacles placed in front of Galileo, and the more disturbing example of its actions during the years of the inquisition. Let's remember, Luther's protest was based on a corruption so deep and pervasive as to subvert the very teachings of Christ. Isn't it ironic that today anyone would look to the church for any matter related to science or health?
It is sheer chicanery to separate practice from pronouncements. The old adage practice what you preach applies. Rather than getting all bent out of shape over a rule concerning a woman's health, the church and all its ministers should be focused on helping the victims of their neglect. Then maybe the church can regain some semblance of respect. The hypocrisy of talking about a moral issue related to health while ignoring the damaging effects of years of abuse at the hands of its priests is outrageous.
All this mumble jumble coming from the right about the separation of church and state is another example of how this country is slowly becoming an intolerant society. What is so different about Sharia law and bishops dictating what health care a woman can receive? I contend the same disturbing trend of intolerance guided by ignorance that conservatives like to point to when discussing their enemies is exactly when is occurring in this country. All this talk of rights and religious freedom is but a smoke screen that bigots use to defend their stupidity against science and logic.
Morality and ethics are only relevant when they are back by meaningful actions. To claim a right to intervene in the doctor patient relationship based on a moral position is pure hypocrisy. While I wish the church would drag itself at least into the 19th century, I fear that it will remain cloistered in its ignorance. Perhaps, the single most damaging impediment to the ability of the church to move forward in its thinking and actions is its singularly male dominated hierarchy. Not only is it time for women (if there are any so inclined) to become priests, what the church needs is a woman pope. Perhaps then it can metamorphose into a a force for good.

Mitt the Shit

Mitt the Shit

OK, the pundits will sit around their tables all with sagacious interpretations to describe the recent embarrassment of Romney. It seems this guy can't get over 51% of any primary race. He is whipped by crazies like Newt and Rick. The only fools not able to capitalize on their “Not Romney” tactic are the three idiots who possessed a severe case of hoof and mouth disease. It seems Mitt who had sold his soul to the neanderthals who now control the Republican party is finding himself the chameleon splayed on the table with a scalpel hanging over him like the sword of Damocles. “What Shall It Profit A Man To Gain The Whole World And Lose His Soul.” Well, it seems we need to dig into both myth and the bible to understand what is happening to this caricature of himself.
The Republican party is a haven for scoundrels and crooks. It wasn't too long ago Haley Barber was being portrayed as presidential timber. Well, he is an example of the outrageous crap parading as conservatism. Here is a man who was a leader of the party selling pardons like some street corner dealer who doesn't give a wit for the consequences of his criminal acts. Fact is the Republican Party has been taken control of by a group of thugs and criminals with a throng of no nothings filling the ranks. Karl Rove, a spokesperson for conservatives, was directly involved in breaking the law. Sure a president can pardon a criminal but that doesn't undue the crime. And the slick vermin of the party having reduced politics to single silly issues, like gay marriage or patriotism or deficits (without owning up to their part in it) are now reaping the fruits of their labor.
Santorum and Gingrich can spout the craziest shit imaginable. Like Newt talking about the sanctity of religion while violating every commandment. Santorum can talk of Christian values while ignoring the key tenets of Jesus, Charity and Forgiveness. Against this backdrop of craziness, Mitt, not being a dullard, realized that he had to move a 180 degrees from his previous positions to attract enough nuts to support him in his presidential bid. Unfortunately, trying to please a nut can only be accomplished by those who understand the crazed machinations of the insane. One can say one needs to be an accomplished nut with no moral underpinnings.
The Republicans beginning with Atwater gave up its ethics and morals and reduced American politics to a sham attracting in the process the conservatives of the south who longed for the days of Jim Crow laws. One mustn't forget that harvesting this segment of the American electorate one needed to stand in the foot prints of George Wallace and other of his ilk. It seems to me that the chickens have indeed come home to roost and the Republicans and their allusions to the golden era of Reagan (which wasn't so golden)have painted their candidates into the corner of intolerance and bigotry and ignorance. The candidates must appeal to the lowest of low. They must seek to preach separation while alluding to sheer poppycock, like solving the debt by attacking the liberal agenda, which most can't even explain what it is they believe save with trite cliches pumped into them by men who have not an iota of conscious. Poor Romney once a man of principle must now appear as a no nothing, with simplistic solutions to complex problems set forward by men who sought only to gain the throne so they can pilfer the treasury. Indeed, what does it gain a man . . . .”

Calling out an Asshole

Oh, if the reporters assigned to National Politics weren't such a collection of fools. Bob Shiffer of CBS finally gave a retort worthy of the Fourth Branch of Government (The Press). When listening to Herman Cain state his qualifications for Secretary of Defense, he responded, “I've been on ship but that doesn't qualify me to be Secretary of Defense.” It was a most seminal moment in this circus of presidential politics. Now, every reporter worth a penny of the salary should start questioning these candidates about the fundamentals of what they are saying.
For example, does the meanest SOB, the vainglorious Newt, really believes he has been traveling on the high road? Never has there been a more petulant self serving hypocrite then the likes of this character. He has set a new low in terms pompous self promotions. How can a man who spent his entire self serving life in the pursuit of ego and monetary aggrandizement possess the temerity to proclaim he has the qualifications, based on his experience, to be president?
Thankfully, Perry and Bachman are headed to the hinterlands with their respective tail tucked between their legs. Their gumption to even enter the race parallels the ranting of self delusional despots of the ilk of the North Korean nut who just passed away. Now there are two crazies still to contend with. Ron Paul who is as loopy as a yo-yo, yet at times makes more sense than anyone in office or running for office. Like when he says, we should stop wasting treasure and our youth on misadventures in a land where no one wants us. I am reminded that a broken clock is right at least two times each day. Santorum, who has a humble origin, has spent too much time in catechism classes, and is about ready to be president as Kermit the Frog. No, take that back, Kermit is more ready than a man who is so out of touch of the time he is living he might as well don the garb of a Swiss Guard. At least then people would know where he really stands.
Now for Romney, a man who actually had some good governing experience, but now seems to contradicts anything good that he did do and opt for sounding like a nut who is trying to outsmart the psychiatrists who are trying to commit him. If only, he had the intestinal fortitude to stand up for the good he accomplished and demonstrate how he could really make a difference by delivering programs that work.
This country is in a frightful state, when the people who are running things and those who want to run things are so far off base that they cannot grasp the dire needs of a country that is awash in craziness that cannot be contained. In the beginning of this rant, I made mention of the Fourth Estate the press, now there is a powerful force the Fifth Estate, Big Business and the Sociopaths who run the companies. At the top of this economic food chain are slugs and incompetents. From thieves on Wall Street to greedy small minded men, the country is being systematically destroyed by incompetency on a level heretofore not seen.
I am no fan of those captain of industries who built their empires on the backs of the poor. But at least they were competent. They drew upon people now held in low regard to build efficient factories. Their rise was marked by ingenuity and persistent. Unfortunately, when they rose to their lofty levels they destroyed competition and suppressed the workers. Anyone who thinks that industry unchecked is good is living in a fantasy world. Sure Wall Street was once a means of raising capital for legitimate start up businesses; now it is little more than a casino rigged in such a way as to actually destroy companies and make the working a man a pawn in a power broker game of high finance where evil and greed are the characteristics that the culture demands of its sycophants. The ones who display the qualities of a true psychopath are the ones who are elevated to sit at the top of this dung heap.
The first GI bill did more for this country than all the businesses combined. Unions did more for the development of a middle class than all the job creators who ever created a single job. The FDA, when it had teeth, did more to protect the food supply than any agribusiness king pin. All those tea party folks who think they know what this country is about haven't been schooled in the history of this country. They think healthcare as it is being administered today is good. They don't want universal coverage, only their own Medicare. When the talk this campaign season turns to the problem with entitlements, take note for the very safety net people have come to rely on is being attacked for being too costly. How this argument can be made when the whole tax structure is out of whack and fool hardy military campaigns are siphoning off the capital needed to sustain a nation is a question that is never addressed. All the while, the capitalists who build weapons are reaping trillions of dollars. Wealth falls to a small percentage, yet the political pulse continues to feed on that which will eventually stifle life. When there is little difference in policy and direction of a nation when there is a change in administration, it is time to realize we exist in a farce where the joke unfortunately is on us.